Secret Santa Goodies

I made a collage using my secret santa goodies mixed in with some of my old favorites. The background is on watercolor paper with several layers of paint. Then I added in the text and a photo in the middle but didn't like it so I added an even bigger photo right over it - great thing about collage, you can just add more items, paint and glue if something goes wrong! I thought it needed something at the top so I drew in the scallops with charcoal and then filled in with more paint. Final touches were the numbers, the text on the right, outlined the photo with charcoal pencil (a few dots 'cause you can always use them! tickets and viola! The final collage.

I'm working on a new piece now for a swap tomorrow with the Mixed Media group I joined. It's made up of DFW area artists so I'm really excited to have a group I can bore to death with all my art notions and give my husband a break! I think I'll try to add some bright colors as inspired by Kelly Snelling. Her work is goregous with vibrant colors and layers of texture. Check her out since she's awesome! You can also see a better photo of the earrings I got in the 12 days swap, my photo is a little blurry.

The 12 days have started!

Here's what I got to open today for the first day in our 12 Days exchange. It was made by the unbelievably talented Edina Tien and I can't tell you how much I love it! It's perfect for the studio and it's sparkly!

I've also made a collage that I really like with some of the goodies I got in my MMCA Secret Santa exchange. I'll post those pics tomorrow since it's really late, for me anyway. With my husband out of town, I've just run wild with the staying up late and spending too much time in my studio when I should've been in bed to rest up for my 5am wake up call for work. The other day I stayed up until 3am and only had chai tea for dinner. Although it was really tasty tea! Luckily, he's back tonight so at least he can remind me to eat dinner. :)

p.s. I watched this really lovely and adorable movie tonight - love having a PC and a MAC just for such multi-tasking! Anyway, the movie was I'm Reed Fish and it's a perfect holiday movie since it's suitable for all ages so teenagers, parents and grandparents could all watch!

Secret Santa Goodies!

I caved and finally opened my Secret Santa goodies from the amazing Kris Henderson! I blame those MMCA girls who had opened all their goodies and seriously encourage others to also AND I just couldn't take it sitting their under my studio tree taunting me. It's a wonderful start to tomorrow's 12 Days countdown.

It's definitely an art filled Christmas and uber-thank you's to Kris who really did do an amazing job filling a cigar box with gorgeous paper goodies, a handmade journal that I love and a lovely pendant that I'm wearing tomorrow. Even the candy was art filled (and tasty!). My Ice Bats knew a good thing and wanted in on the fun!

Soldering late into the night!

Not really, I've been putting things together late into the night. I finished this 3rd necklace for my friend Ceeg. He's got two more he wants done, plus one from his sis-in-law. This is going to be a stylish family! I had another order for a pair of the domino earrings (my husband's favorite!). I am staying up way past my bedtime but I wanted to clear the decks to get some holiday stuff done.

I've done lots of shopping but no wrapping as yet and I definitely need to do an assessment of where we stand on the pressies! Speaking of pressies, the other necklace is a gift for a woman at work who's having a baby. In addition to her baby gifts, I wanted her to have something for herself to open. New mom's need gifts too! I have to admit to playing favorites, out of my recent charms that I've made (genealogy necklaces not withstanding) this is one of my favorites. I love the image and the colors, plus the back is pink and sparkly!

That's it, I've got to head to bed now, work will be coming very quickly at 5:ooam!

Lazy Weekend

Ok, we didn't manage to get in any movies but we did get the outside lights up. Unfortunately, it hasn't quit raining enough for me to get any pics! We did take the opportunity to check out the lights around town and there are a lot of great lights this year. If you have a chance to wander around McKinney, Texas there are lots of houses who went all out. We were shocked to see how many have scenes displayed in the front yard in addition to the regular festivities. I'm talking elaborate nativities, Santas in boats, under palm trees, with Mrs. Claus, sleigh and reindeer (my favorite!). Lots to see!

Also, I got my holiday order in from Lisa Kaus. She sent out a newsletter with a special offer and I couldn't resist getting a couple items for my studio that I've been coveting. They are both cupcakes, which is the nickname for my studio "The Cupcake Room" since the daybed is done with pink ruffled sheets and all girly colors. I thought it would be perfect to include some cupcake art and I love her work. Fun whimsical colors and all her work makes me smile. They are what I see while I'm working at my desk. I also have a wonderful pin holder (also a cupcake) from Mary Stanley. She sent it with her bag in the tote exchange I did this summer. It also rocks and is on my sewing table - keeping me inspired to try the sewing thing again!

I'm finishing up a couple of commission pieces and should have photos of those up in the next day or so. Busy, busy, busy! I don't know how Santa handles the pressure, although secretly I love it. I love this time of year with all the hustle and bustle. Everyone seems happier and a little more forgiving of each other. Definitely a perk when a lot can also go wrong during the days leading up to the big holidays!

Happy pre-holidays everyone!

Christmas has come to the house!

We got the final trees up and have almost finished the outside lights. I don't like to play favorites with my ornaments and decorations but here are a few favorites. The pig chef livens up the Eiffel Tower with a few more options from this terrific new book I got. It's the kind of cookbook that's perfect for bedtime reading with gorgeous photos. The snowman has a tiny little friend. I got him on our last trip to Missouri. I've been saving him up since fall. I'm not sure I can bear to put him up in January! The tree is in our bedroom and decorated entirely with ornaments we got in London. Most came from Buckingham Palace with a few from the Tower of London just to mix it up.

On the art front, I'm thrilled to be going to The spring Art Nest retreat! I'm already looking at the supply list and planning some flea market trips. :)I'm a big fan of all the workshop instructors and a weekend with other artists who won't get tired of my talking about glue, watercolor crayons and the new funky pads of paper I've become obsessed with.

Movie weekend so far has only included Hitman but it was exactly what I thought it would be and really liked it. Next up is American Gangster, No Country for Old Men and/or Mr. Magorium's Emporium. I'm doubting we can get all three in but there may be time for a double feature.

Hitman Friday!

I'm not sure if I've ever revealed my love of action flicks, but here you go! We're heading out tonight after work to see Hitman . We've been on an (inadvertent) movie hiatus with our trip, family in town, getting the house decorated, etc and there's a long list we want to see. I'm not sure how many we'll get in this weekend, but we're giving the movie list a try.

The other big weekend task is to finally finish putting up the Christmas lights and left over trees. The one for the bedroom and the kitchen tree are still sitting in the old dining room. On a side note: we're thinking of converting the dining room into a reading room/den kind of area since the kitchen, living room and "dining room" are all one giant room there isn't anywhere to sit and read or talk if you don't want to watch TV except at the table and we almost never eat at the table. So, we're thinking of setting up our bar, adding a couple of club chairs and then lots of bookcases/shelves for storage. Maybe a former kitchen table cut down for a coffee table with some footstools underneath for chairs/extra seating if we do want to have a "table". Thoughts yay or nay? Leave me some comments if you think we're brilliant and/or crazy!

I'll post some holiday pics this weekend.

p.s. Forgive me if I lost your link and it was here. The template was jacked this morning and I had to update it, loosing all my links in the process! *&%^ Blogger!

London Photos are finally done!

Ok, I've finally got some of the photos sorted, sized and up so check them out. I hadn't realized how many photos we actually took until I tried to sort through them. The trip was awesome and again, I realized how much I loved London. It's such a terrific city to see a wide range of sites. We visited some of the museums, markets and tourist must sees like Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Big Ben, Westminster Abby, etc.

Some of my absolute favorites were Portobello Road Market just because of the huge variety of things you could see and get from fruits and vegetables to heirloom silver. I stuck with some pashminas and stamps! We did visit Books for Cooks again where I found a couple of awesome titles that required me to lug them home in my backpack carry on. Like this one. And this one. Also, this one.

Another favorite destination was the British Museum. We visited there previously, but we took most of one day to check it out and really take our time. It was worth it since we were able to check it out several more rooms and really look at some old favorites. Including the "Living and Dying" room with this amazing Day of the Dead piece called "Apocalypse". This museum really has something for everyone and I especially love the Antiquities section with all the Egyptian pieces. I know there's a lot of controversy about these, but I'm staying out of it and just enjoying them. Another amazing thing about the museums that's very unlike here is that they are free and just request donations, which is the least we can do for such a privilege. After the museum, we visited a nearby pub, The Plough, for fish and chips and they were very tasty! Seriously, even the tartar sauce was yummy and this isn't a usual favorite of mine.

The final favorite of this post is Spitalfields Market. I was expecting a giant farmers market but instead, it's an urban art/craft market with tons of sellers with some amazing things. The market was ringed with some fairly upscale and yuppie shops like a Benefit Store and an organic chocolate shop. Both are yummy! This is also where Fairy Gothmother (as mentioned in previous post) can be found. Unlike Portobello Road, there wasn't an abundance of puppies wrapped in Pashminas!

OH! I almost forgot to mention "Liberty" which is the most amazing department store I've seen! It's in this incredible building that must take up almost a block and they have almost anything and everything you could want. Most of it was way too pricey and too impractical for the plane home, but I did find some soaps and a couple of Christmas items that I couldn't resist. My suitcase smelled great by the time we got home. And yes, it's this suitcase (tattoo) we had to get in order to lug everything home! But I love it and incredibly enough, it has the University of Texas symbol over it. It was meant to be!
Edited to remove some photos since it was jacking up the blog!

Sick, tired and holiday decorations are all over the house!

We did finally get the London pics on the shared drive so I can easily access them for blogging and such but I haven't had time, or energy, to get a flickr account set up to make it nice and tidy. It's on the list but I've been sick for the last few days with the illness the hubby dragged over with him from across the pond. He was sick all of last weekend and half of this week. It hit Weds afternoon and I've just felt awful. I've stayed home hoping to rest up and maybe recuperate faster but so far, the sickness hasn't fallen for it.

Anyway, here are a couple of pics until I can do a full London post. These are of Spitalfields Market. Specifically the sign and one of the most awesome shops I saw while there. It's called "Fairy Gothmother" and they have some of the most gorgeous lingerie I've ever seen. This market rocked with some fabulous sellers. My husband picked up a fun and funky silk screened robot t-shirt and a matching leather change wallet for his truck (his last one was stolen from the truck while it was sitting in the driveway!) and I got some amazing woodblock mounted brass stamps. Crowns of course! Plus a RAF stamp with another crown! The gentleman at the booth rocked and he talked me through how you know it's a good one, showing me how all of them came out when stamping plus, a tip for embossing via halogen lights (must be at least 200 watts) that I'll have to try out as soon as I know whether I can get the bulb and a lamp at IKEA.

12 Days of Xmas Goodies!

Now that I've been home from our trip for a few days, I've just gotten stuff sorted out but now I'm coming down with something. Ugh! Husband has been sick since last Friday and I thought I dodged the bullet, but nope, it's my turn now! I have managed to get the new studio tree (love Target) up and decorated with the goodies from our 12 Days of Xmas exchange so maybe I can do a little each day until we're fully decked out. Also, I can't wait to start counting down! :)

Tomorrow I'll bug the husband to get all our picks on the shared drive so I can start boring everyone with the London goodies. The trip was awesome and even with the rain, I loved every second (except for the part where I hurt my knee and had to go up the tube steps) and can't wait to start planning our next vacation... where to go???

Cheerio!

We finally got some internet connectivity and I thought I'd throw in a quick post. It's been awesome with only a little rain today but it's definitely getting colder everyday. We checked out Portobello Road Market yesterday. It rocked! Today was Petticoat Lane, Brick Lane and Spitalfield's Markets. Spitalfield's also rocked and we got some great stuff! The British Museum was amazing and we were able to spend more time there and see even more goodies than last time. We also finally made it to Buckingham Palace, missed it the last time, and got some great shots. I'm going to have to sign up for flicker and show off all the pics. Here's a couple from the British Museum.

Halloween Swap Giftie

This is what I received in the Halloween swap (it's awesome Cindy!). I also got my gifts for this exchange in the mail tonight, international ones are going out tomorrow. I still need to pack since we're heading out for our London vacation tomorrow and I'm not sure I've cut it close enough! We'll have a little internet access so if I can, I'll post some pictures from the UK!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today's my Mom's birthday and we're heading up to Missouri for a housewarming for my brother so it will be nice to actually see all my family. When I told my Mom we were coming she asked if we were invited to my brother's in the afternoon or evening. I was a little confused but said afternoon, she then explained he's having two parties! One in the afternoon for the "old people" and one at night for all their friends - I'm wondering if I should be offended to be lumped in with the olds!? Although I am usually in bed by 10:30, but still! :)

Anyway, this is one of the things Mom's getting for her birthday. She requested a pin with the picture of her and her brother as a a baby with their parents. I hope she likes it!

The other photo is a pic of my new studio friends who keep me company. Abby puppy is almost always in here but for those times when she's not, I'm covered.

Have a great weekend guys!

Another commission piece

I had a lot of fun making this one. I know all the people in this pic so it was much easier to pick the text and images! I especially like the colors and how the polka dots and the beads synch up. Hopefully the giver and giftee also like it!

Commission Piece

This is a piece I've been working on for a little while that a friend commissioned. It's always tricky working with other people's images so I hope he likes it. The front has photos and the backs are little mini-collage with paper, flowers and text. It's all connected by smoky quartz beads. The only tricky part was the jump rings but the key has been practice, practice, practice!