Happy Halloween!

It's been a nut house around here tonight. We've had 106 trick or treaters... less than last year's record, but still high enough! Abby, the shepherd mix, has been going crazy and finally had to be put in the bedroom with a bone because she got more and more anxious (and slightly more growly) so it was off to a time out for her. Maya, the Akita, just wanted to say hi and see the costumes... mostly she laid down outside enjoying the weather - 50's in Texas is not something to take for granted! The ghosts and ghouls have worn us out so we're calling it a night.

Happy Halloween!

Contribution to a collaborative book

Sorry about the long delay between posts, I promise I'm working on my time management! This is a page I made for a collaborative book I'm participating in. I used watercolor paper as it's my new favorite surface to work on. I love how I'm able to create really vibrant or subdued colors just by using watercolor crayons, pencils or paint and adding water as needed for the effect I want. I'm also finding it to be very sturdy and holding up to lots of layers!

I'm getting more confident in my collage pieces and trying new things... sometimes it works out better than others! They great thing about the blog is that I can post whichever version I want. ;)

Hope you're having a good weekend guys!

Halloween Cards

These are pics of the Halloween cards I made this year. The little tombstone on the front opens and the little baby skelton is inside... so normally I find skeletons spooky but this one is too cute! The tombstone was inspired by a mystery series, the Sweeney St. George Series, I love by Sarah Stewart Taylor.

I've included a pic of the envelope art for these also. Remember the mail handlers love new stuff to look at. Now I have to clean up my mess! Have a good night guys.

Sorry I was away!

Hey Guys - sorry about the long delay between posts. We went out of town to Missouri over the weekend and have been recovering ever since. I've had bad headaches all week and actually stayed fairly medicated and asleep most of yesterday. I'm hoping to be able to work on Halloween cards tonight... have to go out in the mail!

I'll post pics of the cards, I've got an idea in my head so we'll see how well it translates.

In other news, my brother's band got a write up in the local paper so that was very cool. Yay, Scot!

Otherwise, happy Wednesday!

Headache update

The doctor gave me some fancy, and expensive, migraine medicine that melts in your mouth and works super speedy fast! So far so good, I'm a little nervous about claiming something works great since it's only been one day. I've been home the last two days because my head has just been out of control and I'm wiped out. I was in bed until 10am this morning... I usually get up at 5! After that the puppies and I just veged. Clearly our day was almost as exciting as this post.

I've worked on this piece that's a pic of my Dad and his Mom when he was little... No Mom, this isn't what I couldn't tell you about. You'll see, I promise. :) I'm not sure how clearly the pic will post but the front says "something Timeless" because there really is something timeless about your parents' love.

Tired

I'm kind of wiped out today and have had a migraine all day... it's actually been festering for a month but it's on full force today. Thank goodness I'm heading in to the doctor tomorrow. I've got a few projects going art wise but nothing with photos so I'll post one from a vacation I took with my friend Gwen in 2003. We drove to Colorado Springs, CO from Dallas, Texas over Thanksgiving weekend. It was a wonderful trip and we occupied ourselves by playing Lord of the Rings trivia... I realize I've crossed the geek line and there's no way back!

This photo was taken from our drive up Pike's Peak which I highly recommend. It's beautiful, seriously break your heart beautiful, so I can't say enough about packing up a loved one for a fun road trip. Important side note, not much to see on the drive until you hit New Mexico so have someone you really like to occupy you through West Texas!

Short but Sweet

This is the b-day card I made for my brother. He's kind of a tricky one so I decided to keep it short and sweet using some paper I bought at Art House in Portland. The paper is made by Bam Pop and I really love it. It's fun, funky and cheerful so you can't help but smile when you see it. I also find the tiny robots adorable!

Saturday Market in Portland

One of my favorite things that I did when I was in Portland was to visit the Saturday Market. There were a lot of amazing artists and I saw some fantastic pieces. This was one I loved. I stopped when we were almost ready to head out and I saw his booth. It's odd because these aren't pieces that I would normally be drawn towards but there is something wonderful about his work. It's whimsical and sweet but not in a way that I can clearly articulate. The artist, Theo Ellsworth, can be found at Art Capacity . I met him at the market and he, like his art, was charming and lovely.

I found some great earrings and gorgeous photos that I'll have to add later... can only spotlight one artist at a time!

Speaking artist's spotlights... it's time to visit my ETSY shop again. I've added some great new pieces and the holidays are coming up fast. :)

Hostess ATC for Halloween Swap

I always like to include a little something for a hostess swap when I participate in an exchange of any kind. I think it's my Midwestern/Southern background... you wouldn't dream of going to someone's house without a host/hostess gift!

This is an ATC I made for the hostess of a Halloween ATC swap I'm participating in. I really like this ATC because it includes my new favorite phrenology stamp and I just couldn't resist dressing her up a little. A girl can't go out without the basics - earrings and red lipstick!

Halloween ATC's and a new 'puter

My husband's on vacation this week and he started my new computer while I was in Portland. He finished it up today and I'm not sure how I got by before! Now, it's speedy fast and I can get twice as much done since I don't have to constantly re-boot or wait for something to load.

On the art front, I made these ATC's for a Halloween Swap I'm in. I had a lot of fun working on them since I got to use my new heat tool, my new watercolors and a couple of color techniques I learned from Art & Soul. Now that I've got a lot of new toys, including a glass grinder and strip cutter, I need to buckle down and get some stuff made!

Here's a pic of the ATC's and a fun one of the British Museum... just so you get the full effect. :)

Back from Portland

I took an earlier flight so I got in this morning at 5:30 am. We came home and crashed! It's been a rushed day now that I'm back home and am ready for another vacation. Portland was great but difficult to navigate... I'll post stories over the next week.

My class, Holy Rolling Hot Wheels, was amazing and I learned a lot, unfortunately I was kind of in a funk and feeling more than un-inspired so I really felt bad for Michael DeMeng who was really working hard to make sure I got a lot out of class, I did. I just really missed my studio and the thousands of odds and ends I have here. I tried to pack super light, which I did, and really under-packed in the art area. Ultimately, I think I'm really a homebody and by then I was just unbelievably home sick and wasn't feeling great. The class was fabulous and I learned a massive amount about color theory, metal craft and treating your art as something to treat as a sacred object...not in a pretentious snobby way but just that it's something you created and should be treated with respect.

It was an amazing experience, in part, because we really looked at all the pieces and talked about what was fabulous about them and what was the artist's point of view (trademark Project Runway!) and then we took all of these amazing art pieces and put them on a Hot Wheels track. It was a really lovely and charming combination of reverence and whimsy that really turned around the day for me. If you ever get a chance to take a class at Art & Soul, ArtFest, etc, I highly recommend it.

Lois Lane or Superman? What was your favorite costume?

Inspired by Halloween, I continued with the bottle caps and came up with these little babies. They inspired the question "what was your favorite Halloween costume"? I don't really remember a lot of my costumes. I remember being a clown, with an adorable outfit made by my Grandma (I think that one made the rounds for a few of us). I remember my brother getting painted up and wearing a flannel shirt and going as a werewolf, he was pretty cute. But my most memorable was in junior high heading out to the thrift store with my best friend and buying men's suits for $2.00 and venturing out to the haunted houses as game show hosts.

I hated those haunted houses as being scared is something I hate. My husband even cut-off Carnivale because I couldn't take the creepy factor anymore. But, I wore that suit jacket with a t-shirt and funky jewelry all through high school!

This is probably the last post until Monday when I get back from Art & Soul! I'm really excited and made a special trip to the bookstore to stock up for the plane ride. I got Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris who writes the Southern Vampire series in addition to this one. She's a fabulous writer who can really bring the element of the unexpected to her work. I may have also purchase a slightly cheesy romance novel for the trip as well. :)

Otherwise, I definitely need to get a move on in the packing department. My clothes are clean but definitely still hanging in the closet. I do have directions to most all of the art stores, Sat Market and a great seafood restaurant my friend Lara is dying to visit. Of course no trip to Portland would be complete without a pilgrimage to Powell's. Anyway, the packing's not happening until I turn off the computer!

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GWEN!!! You're the best!

Boo Season Continues!

I made some fun little bottle cap charms yesterday. These were made from images scanned from my Halloween Tarot deck. It's one of my favorites. I love all of the images and the colors used are gorgeous. Typically I use earth tones and relatively neutral colors so I really admire pieces with bright rich colors and these cards get it right!

One more day and it's time to head to Portland! I'm ready for a break and my friend Lara and I have scoped out some great places to hit for shopping as well as general artiness at the retreat. I'll be away from the blogging while I'm gone ... maybe I can convince the husband to do some stunt blogging but I doubt it! :)

Halloween spirit!

October is one of my all time favorite months. Fall is my favorite season ... it used to be winter but I live in Texas so I had to give up the dream of snow. Normally, the air is getting crisp and the windows are open letting in the cooler breeze but this year it's in the 90's so not so much with the cool breeze.

I'm not giving up though. The house is decorated for Halloween, inside anyway, need to continue nagging the hubby about outside lights, and I've pulled out the Halloween jewelry. I've got enough that I think I could wear a new piece almost everyday for the month but I do have a few favorites. This pin is one of them. I made it last year when I was still pretty scared of the soldering iron but I risked it for jewelry. Seriously, you've got to have priorities!

The other pics are of what is normally my dining room table but has now been transformed into an Halloween wonderland. My husband helped with the wiring logistics which involved two trips to Fry's (electronics superstore!) for the uber-power strips. We're good to go now.

Only 2 more days until I'm headed to Portland for Art & Soul ... must go nag about outside lights. Have a happy Tuesday!

"Man with Secrets" Charm

"Man with Secrets", that's what I'm calling the new charm I made yesterday. I'm experimenting with charms using colored glass. This one has a yellow tint and has bubbles similar to antique/vintage blown glass. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, although I found out that only certain colors will really work with the glass. For instance, yellow hued papers (which I did not expect) really look better than say a cream that becomes tinted yellow.

Also, I've been busy getting the house ready for Halloween. I want it all decked out this weekend since I think it's going to be a rush getting ready for Art and Soul next weekend. I'm really excited about the trip and have found a ton of places I want to visit in Portland... I may need to plan a return trip since I'm only there for a weekend!

I'll post some house Halloween pics when I'm finished spookifying the house.