Lady in glitter?

This is one of my favorite vintage images but she needed a little bling, as does every girl! I think she looks very pretty in pink.

Note: The grungy background was made with my new all time favorite thing (to quote Oprah) which is Micaceous Iron Oxide by Golden. It adds a gray film that I love plus it's got a rough sandy texture to add depth. It's awesome!

Valentine's Goodies

I participated in a Valentine's exchange hosted by the lovely Lelainia but it was an exchange with a twist. We sent some of our favorite things to our partner so we could get to know each other better and share what we love. It was an amazing idea and I had a blast putting all of my goodies together for my partner Linda. Linda does amazing things with fiber and fabric so it was wonderful to receive goodies from her! She also sent a bag of art goodies in a terrific palette of colors. There are blues, golds, yellows, cream - a wide spectrum of colors that I don't normally use but these are amazing and I can't wait to dig in! It was a lovely way to start the day.

From the hubby, I got the Dresden Files DVD, which is exactly what I wanted, and it's nice to have a husband who surprises you with something you love, even when he really doesn't! We're also going to dinner tonight, easier to get reservations and much less crowded, it's going to be a lovely weekend - I'm staying positive even if we woke to a hail storm and 35 degree weather!

Only a few more days until I head out for the Art Nest retreat! I can't wait to be surrounded by other artists who can love to talk about glue and paper all day - Rolland has big plans to that involve me not being home to veto his tv selections!

Ugly Bat gets girl!

Maija has worn me down until I could stand it no longer and I had to get some goodies from Everyday is a Holiday. Finally, these two lovelies are all mine! The bats always like company and are willing to share the bed. :) The painting is now above my art supply dresser and the ornament is hanging up at work to remind to be "arty" in all things. And that if I want to continue to buy art and art supplies I must keep working hard!

Happy Valentine's Eve!

2nd place collage

I've had this collage in mind ever since I had a really horrible day about a month ago. I finally finished it up and it's destined for a necklace with the phrase on the back having to do with 2nd place feels better than first. The story here is that I spent a lot of time with some people who were very concerned with getting ahead, being first, being the best, blah, blah, blah and they weren't the best people to be around. It felt negative and mean, nothing I wanted to be a part of so I decided then and there that 2nd would be more than good enough for me! It's just a reminder that being exactly who you are and happy, is always the best place to be.

Art Fun!

Today was our North Texas Art Group meeting and we met in Ft. Worth this time. I've only been to Ft. Worth a couple of times and it's a little over an hour drive for me but with GPS, I managed not to get lost! I call her my husband's girlfriend since he loves her that much, but I have to say she came in pretty handy today!  These pics are of my contributions to Livia's "Recycled Relatives" book and I had a blast making them. I'm thinking of doing an entire book with made up relatives - filled with the eccentric types that make the best relatives (and stories!).

On the way back home, I stopped to do a little shopping and couldn't resist stopping at Sprout's since I was sans husband. He hates that store in a way that's not quite right, and I picked up this clearly, packaging works! But, I love all things Burt's Bees so this will be a refreshing treat after washing my face at night.

Also, I couldn't resist this. It did not come from Sprout's. :)

Yep, art filled day all around!

What was that bright light!?

That's what Maya's thinking in this picture. She's too cute to resist so we had to torture her with the camera, unlike her sister Abby who comes running when she thinks she might get her picture taken! They're both adorable and it was Maya's turn after the last Abby post (ignore Mommy looking bad). 

I finally caved and went to the doctor where I had to wait for two hours to be told I had bronchitis. Of course, blood and x-rays had to be taken before I could find that out. I now get to take antibiotics and yummy steroids but I feel better. I'm also convinced this is the best thing ever! I highly recommend the echinacea immune support. My neighbor at work introduced me and I'm hooked, clearly not in time to off set above, but I'm on the right track now. I may have to start slipping it as a mickey to my husband, he's hoarse and coughing now. In between coughing bouts, he stops to glare at me!

I'm hoping to feel tip top by Saturday which is art day! I'm meeting my North Texas art ladies in Ft. Worth for fun and a gallery visit. I'll be bummed if I'm still feeling bad. I'm thinking good thoughts and want to get back to playing in the studio. 

It's almost that time of the year!

Yep, Valentine's day is quickly approaching and I'm thrilled to say I'm participating in a Valentine's Exchange hosted by the lovely Lelainia Lloyd. This year was super cool since we are giving a few gifts that say something about us, things we like, create, etc so our partner really gets to know us. Maybe more than they would've liked! :)

Here are my goodies, the bats thought it was their birthday!

We also made our Valentine's day dinner reservations, for the Sat following, so we could actually have a romantic dinner for two instead of 200 hundred! Just a reminder not to wait to the last minute, or to remind your husband now. :)

Vail pics plus a follow up since Vail!

Here are a few pics of Vail, including Rolland and I with our favorite statues.

And me kissing a frog 'cause someone had to!

Photo Rolland took of me at the conference. Healthy, happy and smiling.

And this is me now, after having been sick for a week with some respiratory thing that shows no signs of going away. I'm not happy! I hope to have more pics, and better health soon!

Please note: Abby is not sick, just tired and in need of a Mommy pillow!

Snow, Snow and a little more snow

I'm in Copper Mountain, Colorado and it's awesome! Today I went to Vail for a while and it's very cool. Lots of good shops, restaurants and picture taking possibilities. Since all of my stuff to update with photos is still at home, you'll have to wait to see the sights. It's snowing tonight with a chance for more tomorrow and we're heading out tomorrow so let's hope the snow stays in the mountains and doesn't impact the trip home. So that's the quick update for now, more later with lots and lots of pictures, I promise!

Busy Day, but not as busy as some people!

This is a photo of a desk of someone who is leaving at work. He's a good guy and a really good sport. He thought this was awesome - it kind of is, but he handled having to unwrap his pens and water bottle a lot better than I would have after 8 hours! Plus, sitting on aluminum foil all day, Yikes!

Now the other one is the opposite of busy, in fact, she couldn't be bothered to move when I put her blanket back down. Not to worry, this is the back up bed in case the two over sized paisley puppy beds next to my side of the bed get tiresome. It's rough, this life Abby leads. Filled with constant stress in worrying about whether to sleep on her beds, our bed, the two chairs or the couch. Oy, all that indecision can leave you exhausted.

Yep, art day down the drain

Mostly, I got very little art down because of stinkin' real life stuff like cleaning the house, washing the sheets, making cheesecake (I don't eat it, just make it). I did manage to get a background done of something I hope will be great. In the meantime, I did organize some of my flickr images from my day of photos from downtown. I hope for more art progress tomorrow. But for now, it's a school night again and I've got to go to work tomorrow. So night everyone.

Happy MLK day!

Flea Market Saturday

Yesterday was flea market day in Fair Park and I found some goodies. Mostly more photos, but I also picked up some flash-cards, a cameo, a great 40's coal mine photo, another vintage dog statue from Japan and the dog will have company with my occupied Japan Tahitian girl (she's amazing, regardless of how many people think she's tacky. I love her and will not be swayed). I'm starting to get quite the dog and photo collection. Hmm, I wonder if it's because I can't bear to have homeless photos or puppies!? Speaking of which, don't forget to donate to Bernie's shelter with this handy badge in the nav. I mean, it's there and you're here so just go ahead.

After the flea market we had burgers at the always tasty Twisted Root. If you're in Dallas, it's a must stop. Better yet, call me and I'll take you, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Just for you! This brings me to my new venture, a food blog that can be found here. If you're interested in food, check it out, if not. Stay here and I'll keep you entertained with art and stories of falling down. A little something for everyone.

We hadn't yet had our fill of fun so we headed for the theater to see Juno. One of the best movies I've seen in a long time. It's awesome! The acting by everyone was terrific and it had J.K. Simmons, for Closer and Oz fans, as well as Allison Janney from The West Wing and Drop Dead Gorgeous. If you haven't seen it, stop reading go get it, watch it then come back and tell me how fabulous it was. It's ok, I'll wait.

Today was more flea marketing for me in McKinney, I struck out with only seriously real junk to be found, I resisted the urge to take home more crystal candlesticks for a $1.00. After a chai tea from Saxbys, my new favorite thing, I finally dragged Rolland out of the house with bribery (new macs at the Apple Store to be seen) and we headed out. We made the odd choice of seeing Sweeney Todd. Mostly it was a time thing. The movie was really beautiful and the costumes were to die for but the rest was eh. It's a musical, not my fave, and then lots of fake blood just pushed me over the edge. Watch it on DVD for the lovely costumes and truly great sets, otherwise just stick with Juno and catch up on The Closer in case we get new eps for the summer.

That's it, I've got to go feed all the beasts and you're probably tired of me by now. But, I'm off work tomorrow and have big plans for you! Stay tuned.

Photo Escape

We bought the fancy camera pre-London and we've used it a little bit but last Friday I decided I wanted to go on an urban photography shoot for an afternoon break from work. I've attached the inspiration/sanity wall I have at work (it explains why I felt the need to run screaming into the streets for a break!) and a picture of me on the photo hunt. I was inordinately proud of the artistic-ness of said photo. My friend Mark who was with me just rolled his eyes. It's not hard to keep humble. I'll work on getting the rest of the photos downloaded and up on flickr this weekend but now I'm off to bed early and Doctor Who dvds... I deserve it since my day started out with me braining myself with my messenger bag! Seriously, I have a knot and bruise. I defy anyone to call themselves a bigger klutz than I am!

Yeah, you think you have a worse self-inflicted injury? I haven't even started! I fell and bruised up my knee on a crack in the sidewalk while watching a bunny when I was walking between classes at college (yeah, my husband laughed until he cried, it wasn't pretty). It's still a story he loves to tell. Then, there was the time I was walking the dog and tried to jog across the street to avoid another dog and a baby carriage, yep, you guessed it. Wipe out in the middle of the street with me tangled in the leash. This involved a trip to the ER, one of those yucky walking boot things and physical therapy. They tried to teach me to walk on crutches but after falling down repeatedly, they just gave them to me since it was required and pushed me out in a wheelchair. Honestly, I have no idea what they were thinking! I guess my point here is that I'm lucky I got away from the messenger bag incident with only a headache, knot and bruise! If you think you can give me competition, I'd love to hear it. I'm starting to become concerned I REALLY am the only clumsy person on the planet.

Some fun news is that the Third Monday flea market is in McKinney this weekend and I'm going to hunt down the metal man I blogged about previously. A friend hooked me up with a great woman who wants me to make her windchimes from whatever I want. They gave me the perfect excuse to dig into metal pieces, sparkly things and whatever else I can find for hours! I'll be in heaven. This time, I'm taking my camera to document the excursion and and all of the metal glory.

My Morning Challenge

It's not what to wear, but what can I wear to show of all my cool jewelry! The photo only shows a small portion of my selection to choose from and it gets even trickier with gorgeous pieces like the close-up photo. This one was made by my friend, the amazingly talented Cindy Dean. She makes awesome jewelry and I coveted this necklace and then won it in her blog contest. I definitely did the happy dance of joy for that one!

I can't take credit for the cool earring holder made from the frame. My Dad made on for my Mom so then Rolland had to make one to my specifications while I wasn't in the garage driving him crazy! It's always interesting in our house. :)

Busy Weekend!

I had a terrific, but very busy weekend. Saturday was an art day starting with my meeting with the North Texas Mixed Media Group. These are some talented ladies! I'm doing a round robin with the group and the themes people came up with, and the work they've done so far, is awesome! I can't wait to get crackin' on my contribution to the books. My book is about loss and this is the cover. It was kind of a bear to get the colors right (maybe 8 layers of paint) and finally, only the charcoal pencil could help get the color and age I was after.

Part of the group fun was making these paper dolls and seeing which paper everyone drifted to and how they put they're doll together. I've attached a photo so you can see our "secret self-portraits". :) I think Livia said she got the idea from a new book she found called "Paper Whimsy" but I haven't checked it out yet, it sounds like it could be a new addition to the bookshelf.

After our meeting, some of the women and I went to lunch and art shopping. Seriously, I thought I could find inexpensive goodies. but I've got nothing on them! They went through the craft store with eagle eyes finding all the goodies in the $1 bin. It was something to see! These are some generous women, sharing not only their art brilliance but shopping tips too! If you get a chance visit Mary Lynn's blog (my soul sister in her love of all things girly) or check out the amazing Lisa who gives terrific art advice and the chance to find some more art goodies on her website. Saturday was a little bit of heaven for me, spending time with other artists and never once did they have to pretend interest in the discussion around altered books, the art world, etc. My husband's still in shock more people than just me care about any of it.

Today was an errand kind of day highlighted with my $10 jeans from Old Navy and football all afternoon. I have no idea when it happened but I've been converted into a fan. We also had some steak sandwiches I made based on a recipe I found here based on the recommendation of Weetabix's blog. She was right, those sandwiches are awesome and especially tasty with the addition of provolone cheese! Anyway, Ree rocks and if you ever wondered about life on a working cattle ranch, she tells you all about it!

It's Sunday, so I'm off to think about going to bed since Monday morning comes early in our house. Hope you had a good weekend and an even better Monday. Night guys!