Terrible Day

This has been an unbelievably bad day so I think I'm going to go to bed and watch bad tv and wake up tomorrow to a half day at work heading into a 3 day weekend. Then, life will be good and art will be made!!!

These are the backgrounds I made when I stamped while putting in the floors. I like how they turned out.

Night guys!

The floors are in!

I'm very excited that the floor project has finished! We did have a few casualties... we had to buy a new bed. I'm really bummed because my Dad had made my bed when we got married, 11 years ago! It broke at the joins so happily it happened while sitting in the dining room and not when the puppies were sleeping under it!

Anyway, we bought a hold over bed from Ikea until we decide on the king size version of the bed we really want. Also, we need to start saving the pennies since we've done several home projects lately. My husband was going crazy while we were working on everything. I would run in the studio to play with my new stamps while he was cutting pieces in the garage. Somehow he always beat me back.

I must not have driven him too crazy since he bought me this. He really is the sweetest man ever!

Too Much?

This is my newest collage inspired by this movie by Sofia Coppola. I've really been wanting to do something really fun and over the top. This may have done the trick! I had a great time picking out the really loud and obnoxious paper that I loved and found gorgeous instead of gaudy... I recognize this is a line I'm not always on the right side of but I'm really happy with how it turned out.

This piece is on a 5x7 canvas so it's not a really large piece but it's definitely larger than my microscope pieces that I've been doing a lot of lately. It was fun to put that scanner to good use and blow up those pics!

On the floor front, we're about 2/3's of the way through and it looks really pretty but rugs are going to be a must. We had a storm come in this afternoon and Abby wouldn't leave my side so we just heard tiny nails running across the floor. It was kind of cute today but at 3am I'm not going to be happy!

100th Post! Light house project

The 100th post is a good one as this has probably been my most ambitious project yet. I couldn't have gotten it done without my friend Kate who claims she acted as my "sous artist". I think she's selling herself short on that one! We managed to get this done in a few hours but this is definitely our sample piece now that we've worked the kinks out of it.

The collage images are of my Grandfather and his family. The blurry Samuel pic is my Great-Grandfather. The two couples is the same man with his brother and their wives (one of whom is my Great - Grandmother :) ). The pic of the "Mills Boys" is my grandpa and his brothers. The 57 image is my grandparents, my Uncle Sam (everyone should have one!) plus my Mom.

We really worked hard on this one so I'm really proud of it. Kate's dad made the beautiful stained poplar base with the light kit so it lights up and looks all glowy. Kate really went above and beyond on the friend's list!

Almost 100 posts!

I'm coming up on 100 posts! Who knew I had this much to say... well, nevermind, let's not dwell on that one! We're putting in laminate flooring in the bedroom this weekend so I spent today hauling everything out. I knew I had lots of stuff but sheesh. Until you spend an afternoon unloading bookcases, you really don't know how much stuff you have that's acquired dust.

All of this home remodeling is because the sweet and adorable Maya has allergies. She's allergic to 28 of the 32 things she was tested for, including carpeting, but it's worth it if it stops her attacks.

On the art front, I'm going to my friend Kate's tomorrow and we're making lighthouses like Sally Jean's so I'm printing some old family photos. I really hope it turns out!

Hubby needs help with something so I've got to run.

I got to meet Edward Norton... and here's some art!

I work for an entertainment company in Dallas and we occasionally get some really great perks. One of which was Edward Norton came in yesterday promoting "Down in the Valley" we got to meet him and get an autograph. He signed a copy of the 25th hour for my husband and a movie poster for me... also, I had a picture taken with him! He was unbelievably gracious and really took a few minutes with everyone so I was thrilled. Luckily I didn't trip going up or down the stairs but I did look ever so slightly star struck in the photo. I'm hoping no one will notice since he's in the photo! Anyway, he was really lovely and it's a truly great perk.

Also... here are some more collage pendants I made. :)

Happy Wednesday guys!

Air Conditioning Update

We had to flee to a hotel for a couple of days but they got the air conditioner back up and running today. We picked up the puppies from the vet where they were boarding so they only had to spend 1 night... they stayed home the first night since we fled our house at 2am. I didn't feel too bad since they were both conked out when we left. It was just too hot on Sunday so we took them in while we went shopping and stayed at the hotel. Basically it was a nice mini-vacation.

We did camp out here all day though and it wasn't fixed until 4 so I took the opportunity to turn the garage into a sweat lodge and just soldered this afternoon. I got my stamps in from Stamp Diva and I wanted to play! I order some really fun stamps and here are the mini-charms I made. My collages just keep getting smaller and smaller!

106 in Dallas, how could it be worse...

So it's ~106 and what could be worse? Having had your air conditioner serviced YESTERDAY and still the fan goes out today so no air conditioning. This is not good. I call the vet to see about boarding the dogs and heading for the hotel but they closed at 1 pm and it died at 2pm. Serious deja vu to last year when we had no air for labor day weekend. We are cursed! Cursed and doomed... ok, mostly we're ok and trying to find someone for today.

This has not stopped me from making some jewelry and this is a mosaic I did for my friend Kate for her b-day.

Happy birthday Kate!

Quick Fun

I decided to just play in the studio tonight and came up with a few quick ATC's. I'm really happy with them. This one is on a background that I painted one night when I was having a little bit of a lull. While the playing cards are still a small scale, they seem huge compared to my usual microscope slides!

I'm still on summer hours so half days on Friday's. Tomorrow, my friend Kate's picking me up from work at noon and we're hitting the glass store for an art weekend on the 26th. She makes gorgeous stained glass art and is teaching me to solder 3-d pieces so I could make things like boxes, dishes, etc. I have a very specific candy dish in mind and I can't wait to actually start it!

p.s. Thanks for the photoshop tip Bo! I'm still working on it but at least I'm not having the file size problem anymore!

Stamping is fun!

I sort of forgot how much fun it can be to just stamp and color... this is the flair I added to my fat box mailer. The other side is more collage oriented but this side was just fun & sassy! Ok. I just liked to say sassy but you know what I mean. This was just easy stamp and color without lots of worry about placement or scale, etc. I hope the postal workers like it... I've mentioned my Dad's postal years previously but just another reminder to give the postal workers something to smile about!

We're up and live!!!

Ok, it's still being worked on but there's a placeholder now! Check out www.pop-ink.net! My husband really is brilliant... he looked at a book and bought software and said "I can do this" and now, there we are! So far, so good.

Stamp, fold, trim, repeat....

I signed up to do a Fat Book for the Art and Soul Retreat in Portland in October and have to have 70 pages mailed out in the next couple of days. It was 55 originally when I signed up in June but it grew a little. Now, I'm folding and pasting away. It's kind of fun to think of assembly line art!

Henry Ford could've really had something there. Model T in black, stamp image on right, stamp image on left, add glitter, move on to the next... It's possible Staz On in large quantities acts as a hallucinogen!

Happy Tuesday Guys ... ps. I'm a little embarrassed but the husband and I are loving Gene Simmons Family Jewels on A&E. This can't be normal (note: see Staz On issue above).

Homage to my birth place

This one is my version of a self-portrait done accidentally. I had a vision of a very specific piece looking like rusted metal and using this fabulous barb wire ribbon (you really have to see it) I found. Instead, I made a relatively girly cowgirl piece that turns out to be really personal to me and where I grew up (part-time). I love how it turned out in the end but I had no idea this was where I was going when I started.

I should've known I was seriously of course when I painted the inside pink! :)

B-day card fun

This is the b-day card for my sister-in-law. I loved the background paper and thought I would just keep it simple but I had a hard time stopping, even when the rub-on stickers were completely blending into the background!

Anyway, I was fairly happy with how the flowers and polka dots turned out. I hope she likes my version of "Pretty in Pink" in birthday card form. This is also her b-day package with a bottle cap charm added for some extra flair.

Happy Birthday Sandi!

Sporadic connections

My internet connection has been spotty and now my actual computer connections are ify. This is a brief post as I'm not sure how long I'll have access! This is a necklace and charm I made for my sister-in-law's b-day. She's an English teacher and loves kids so I'm hoping it's a big hit. She's also getting a butterfly scarf with gorgeous trim.

TRIM! Oh yeah, my friend Jen, who used to be a professional costumer, is making me a gorgeous skirt from a table cloth I got in the bargain bin at William-Sonoma. She also took me to a fabulous fabric store that has amazing trims. I found plastic/elastic barbed wire trim... I'll post pics when my connection is less sketchy!

Puppy purse & Buddha Bracelet

This is my new purse that my husband bought me a couple of weeks ago when I wasn't doing so great health-wise. I love it! It's pink and has puppies on it... what's not to love.

Last night, I worked on a simple bracelet using a Buddha charm I "liberated" from a different bracelet that used colors I didn't like. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I like the cream against the jade. I had to take off a couple of extra beads and then re-string again, but it was worth it to have it fit snugly with no chance of getting it caught on everything!

Fat Book Submission

This is my submission for the Paris Streets Fat Book for the Art & Soul retreat in Portland. I'm still getting used to sending things in for group participation and I worry that I'm not doing enough or that it's not meeting someone's expectations.

The thing is, this turned out exactly like I wanted. I thought it was different and it's very personal to me, which is what I always think of as making the best art. It reminds me of when my husband and I walked down the Champs Elysee for our 10th anniversary. It was a gorgeous day in October and we stumbled into this park in the middle of the city filled with huge pink cabbage roses. It was beautiful and romantic and it felt like just the two of us in the city. The photos are ones taken on the walk down the street and some of the unusual stores we saw. I didn't have room to include the McDonald's which is right next to the Mercedes Benz dealership.. it was two blocks from Cartier and across the street from the hip newly updated drug store where Parisian teenagers hang out late into the night, the more things change the more they stay the same!

Finished Projects & Best Husband. EVER.

So this is what my husband built for me out in the garage... see previous posts about soldering in the house. :) Regardless, it was 106 at a few points this afternoon and he spent all morning and most of the afternoon finishing this for me. He bought me a power strip that runs down the back so I can have lots of things plugged in at once! Also, he screwed down my dremel to the table top so the drill press isn't wobbling when I make holes. He's the best hubby ever.

I've already moved in and started unpacking as you can tell from the picture. He had thought we might share but he's got plans to build his own when it gets a little cooler.

I was able to finish my soldering projects, including the Bettie necklace, now that I've got such a fantastic work space! This gives me a ton more room inside to really go crazy.

Fun little necklace

I hadn't played with my large stock pile of beads in a while so I made this last night and wore it to work today. I loved the little button/pendant and it was even cuter in person. I have a pin that a really great friend gave me that sort of matches it.

This same friend called me today to let me know he's going through a rough patch with his health right now so I'm just taking a moment to encourage you to check-in with friends just to say hi and let them know you're thinking about them. Often I think we take friendship even more for granted than other relationships and it isn't until something happens that we realize how fragile the balance really is.

Anyway, enough of being sappy and maudlin. It's Friday night, go wild and walk quickly with your scissors ... well, briskly and keep the tips pointed down. :)

Out of control with pendant charms

Here are the front and backs of my latest pendant/charms. I like working in the smaller format with tiny collages behind glass. It appeals to my normal instinct of making fairly small but interesting vignettes but I need to start branching out into more collage and altered pieces again just to make sure I don't get too comfortable.

I wore one of my pieces to work today and several people, guys who normally don't notice what you're wearing let alone the accessories, noticed my charm on my necklace and commented that it was great. It was really nice that they noticed... not that I plan my entire wardrobe to show off a necklace or anything. :)

Hope you guys are heading into a great weekend... try to stay cool!