Birthday Card

This is a b-day card and ATC I made for my sister-in-law. I really hope she likes Paris and France! I may have gone a little overboard with the collaging but I'm doing it in 10 minutes or less... inspired by Claudine Hellmuth's quick collage to get my card in the mail (her birthday is Thursday and it must travel 2 states. I'm hoping for the best!) pretty quickly I decided on a French theme and away I went. Hopefully she'll like it, it's certainly not Hallmark! I added an ATC for her that she can pull out of the pocket on the card as an extra surprise.

Cranky

Okay, I was a little cranky when I started this but blogger losing my post has just verified that I'm now justified in my crankiness. I took it out on my sweet little ATC that was waiting for more romantic and whimsical touches. Instead, it's a little more cranky as well! There's always room to believe that the sweet little couple in the corner really did find true love...

I have no reason for crankiness except a fairly serious sunburn that's been plaguing me since I played in the herb garden on Sunday. My very sweet husband did drive all over Dallas to find homasote for me so I no longer burn my desk, wood blocks and cutting board while playing with the soldering iron. He's a very sweet man and a good reason to not be cranky!

Birthday recovery

I had a great birthday weekend. Dinner at Jasper's was lovely and my salmon was cooked perfectly. My gifts added up to a fortune in gift certificates to the bookstore, I have 3 shipments coming in the mail... online is much less expensive, and still a little saved back for upcoming new releases! I worked in the yard today and scorched my upper arms and shoulders so I need to remember to put on the sunscreen!

I did manage to get a few things done in the studio. I re-worked a bracelet I had made previously into a necklace and I love the new version of the materials. I used Chinese porcelain beads in turquoise and red with alternating black jade. I also made a longer necklace with howlite and inexpensive beads from the discount store. You can really stretch materials when you alternate pricier items with less expensive ones and it makes the less pricey items look better. With all my new clothes for the new job, I wanted to have some unique jewelry to dress up the relatively stuffy business attire.

My friend, and new boss, saw my ATC I made for my b-day and declared that she too wanted art so I made the ATC for her. She's an amazing artist who used to work in costuming for films, theater, etc so I had to use my corset stamp. I layered it over an earlier version of the stamp in chestnut to give it the look of actually being on a dress form. I really struggled with what else to include so I left it simple with just text. Also, she's one of the strongest people I know so I wanted to just give her a little push to reminder she doesn't have to do it all herself. I hope she likes it.

Expand Your Horizons

This is the message of a new ATC I made for myself for my b-day... well, it's tomorrow but I want to be able to hang it up in my cube at work. I want something that it's pretty and arty but also a reminder to get out there and take some risks. It's ok to make a fool of yourself and try something new! I think it turned out really well and love that it's all girlie with flowers and poofy ribbon... it's a very cute and cuddly tough love!

The hubby's taking me out to a snazzy restaurant for my birthday, but not too snazzy to have individual macaroni and cheese in cast iron skillets! I'm going to wear my still pretty new cowgirl shirt with sequins (by Vanilla Sugar which is my new favorite brand) with a black silk skirt that swirls if a twirl... not that I would twirl or anything. Anyway, I was inspired to channel my inner cowgirl after reading Deb Trotter's art blog ,which is fabulous, and watching a little too much Paula Deen on the food network!

Quick ATC

I want to try and do some type of art everyday and Claudine Hellmuth's Quick Collage inspired me to do a quick ATC. I'm going to add my updated contact info and send it to a friend at my old job as a way to say hi and keep in touch. I know it's not what I would've done if I had more time, but it was a good exercise to just focus on color, focal point, etc. It's girly and bold at the same time and it reminds me of my friend so I hope she likes it.

Weird Weather

I woke up today with a horrendous migraine so I didn't get as much done in the art dept as I had hoped. I worked on some jewelry and got two necklaces done, although I have to re-string one so by the time I'm done it'll be three, but it's good practice for me. I was also inspired by the ATC I did for the swap and altered a $1 photo album to hold the ATCs I make and receive. This was a fast and easy project that could be great for gifts and I'm all about stocking up so I can have holiday shopping done by October... well, that's the plan. Tomorrow should bring better weather and my headache should be totally gone so I can enjoy my last day off before I start the new job!

German Scrap Swap for ArtChix

I took advantage of my free time to finish my swap projects. This is my ATC for the German Scrap swap for Art Chix. I really like it but sometimes feel like I'm not working hard enough or it's not "arty" enough but I love the simplicity of the colors and stark image vs what's she's thinking but sometimes I feel like I should've done more, added more layers, painted the background, etc and really struggle with whether or not I've done too much, not enough, too simple.

This is my first ATC so I'm cutting myself a little slack and have decided I really like it. I'm anxious to see what everyone else has done with the theme (we had to use 1 image and 1 bit of black German scrap). I love the German scrap from Art Chix and find it alone can inspire a thousand ideas!