I'm in the process of cleaning and purging some things in my studio this weekend. I'd like to do some sort of giveaway with the goodies that I decide to purge. So stay tuned for that!
Here's a new painting that I did this week. I am REALLY happy with it! I love collecting scrapbook papers and this is how I decided to use some of them. The background behind the paper circles was colored with Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Paints. The "CREATE" was done with Tim Holtzs' Grungeboard letters. This one measures 10 x 10. Have a great day!
Okay, here's the deal. I painted this early last week. The background started out as a collage of some very cool papers and then I painted my bird. Well, for whatever reason, it just wasn't clicking for me so I painted over the background and this is what I ended up with. Not sure about it and would love some HONEST feedback from anyone willing to comment. Is something missing in it or is it just me being too critical of my work? A painter I am not, but I enjoy it none the less. I love bird images in art, so that's where this gal came from.
I was visiting the blog of artist Roben-Marie Smith the other day. She had posted a giveaway for some absolutely gorgeous altered tags she had made. Not only is she giving some away, but she was gracious enough to post a video showing how she created them. I watched the video a couple of times and decided yesterday to try and make one. The pic above is my creation. I didn't have any of the beautiful stencils that she has, so I made do with a simple one that I had on hand. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with it. I'm going to add some text and embellishments to it and I think I'll use it as a bookmark for my new eye candy book, Stitch Alchemy by Kelli Perkins.
I've been getting settled into my new routine of going to work at night. While I'm in training for the first 4 weeks, I go in at 6pm. After that my regular hours start which will be 4pm on Mondays and 5pm the rest of the week. All is going well so far! The job seems like something I can do and will get the hang of fairly quickly. The boys and the hubby are adjusting. Although my husband seems like a bit of a zombie when I get home, lol. He's an electrician and works out in the heat all day, then comes home and takes care of our 4 yr old and 18 month old. We'll all continue to adjust and I'm so excited to be bringing home a paycheck again!
I finished my "Red Dress" collage last night. I see a few little things that I want to fine tune, but other than that it's done. I spent quite a while searching for a quote that pertained to dresses or dressing and when I saw this one it felt like a good fit. Enjoy!
My hubby started installing this shelf in my studio 3 weeks ago! He measured and marked and never put the actual shelf up (not sure why), until yesterday. Now I can display some of my Etsy purchases and my own work as well that have been stashed away for a year now. The shelf itself was given to me and that adorable birdhouse and linocut print on the end are bargain finds from Hobby Lobby. I got both of them for low, low discount price of $4. 
I've been noticing a trend with me over the last 4-6 weeks, maybe you have too? I've started 3 or 4 new projects and not finished any of them. In thinking on this I came to the conclusion that I am hurrying to get creative time in before life changes drastically next Monday evening. That's when I go back to work for the first time in 4 years. It's a night job for Bank of America. My days will be as usual, just me and the boys. When hubby gets home from work, he'll take over and off I go. Mondays I work from 4-whenever (11 or 12pm) and the rest of the week is 5-whenever (usually 1 or 2am). Not sure how this is going to work as far as getting sleep, since I then will have to get up at 6 when hubby gets ready for work. I'm going to put my best foot forward and see how this schedule works out for us.
Here is the pattern I chose for my new bag, it's by Indygo Junction. It's a great little backpack that will showcase each of the fabrics with it's patchwork layout. I got my first side of 5" squares sewn last night and I'm headed to the quilt shop to pick up the fabric for the sides, bottom and straps. Not sure what I was thinking when I only picked up 6 fat quarters. A backpack that won't make! I'll work on it some more while the boys nap today and hope to have it done by Sunday. Have a blessed day!
Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a batik collector. Pretty much my entire fabric stash is made up of batiks. Well the other day I was at Olde Green Cupboard, our local quilt shop, and saw these Michael Miller fabrics. They are so bright and fun I just had to grab a few fat quarters and try them out. I've got some purse patterns that I haven't tried yet so I thought I might use one to make myself a bright, funky new purse. I love a black and white pattern thrown into any piece of art whether it's a collage or painting or a fabric collection. So, sometime before I go back to work on August 17th I'll try and knock out a new purse and show it to you.
Here is the first page of the layers journal that I did after seeing Donna Downey's video. Can you believe it's made from a simple manila folder? It's been fun to sort through our pics for images to use in this. I'm planning on making one for each of the boys and one that is "family" pics. The 3-d elements you see on these pages are from the Tim Holtz Grungeboard collection. This stuff is so fun to use. You can paint it, add textures, bend it, wet it, collage it, whatever! It's been worth the investment and I'm looking forward to using more of it.
