Happy Independence Day!

In honor of Indedpendence Day holiday, arguably the BEST chips on earth! We made homemade salsa tonight: fresh tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapenos, garlic, lime juice and salt whirled together coursely in the food processor! Delicious!

I have been neglecting my blog lately, not intentionally, but I did have to put all my art toys up into the armoire for a while. Because, you see, we have put our house on the market, and we need to keep it neat and picked up all the time. It's a bummer. I miss doing art. But I will be back, I think I'll go digital for a while, so stay tuned!

April 2009 Mosaic

This is our life in April. It was a very busy month!

Tribute to Mom

So many memories, so much I wish we could have talked about....
Then and Now.
You raised me, you taught me about living life,
And about dying with dignity.
You wanted to go home.
You did.
I love you still, Mom,
I miss you everyday.

Liberty, Please.

I have been trying, lately, to be more attune to the world's turnings. I am trying to, as they say "keep the Bible in one hand, and the newspaper in the other." In looking back at what our forefathers' vision was in establishing our governmental body, I'm wondering where we are headed these days. The direction seems to be a very big departure from they envisioned for the government's role in the life of the individual citizen. Frankly, I'm a little worried.....My prayer, among others is....KEEP US FREE!

Digital Collage II: I Am King

This is another digital collage inspired from Elizabeth Golden's digital collage entitled "King Crow." The crow image was taken from the really cool website: Word and Pictures From Old Books.

Digital Collage I: Do Your Part.

I've recently been inspired by Elizabeth Golden's blog: The Last Door Down the Hall, where she has been doing a series of digital collages. I thought I would embark on this journey as well, having also been inspired by the latest issue (Spring 2009) of Somerset Digital Studio magazine. This issue (see right) has some really useful ideas and links to play with. That way when we are on the road, I can still do art. no excuses!

4 X 4s Going Deep

These are my latest projects, done on 4 x 4 canvases with 1 1/2 inch sides. I had fun using acrylics, patterned paper, stamps, pencils transparency images. They will be hung in a 3 x 3 grouping. When they're hung, I'll snap a photo and post!

Valentine Tags!

Sanctify

This is a digital project I whipped up last night in the name of Creative Every Day while I was waiting for some glue to dry! It's inspired by the Sanctify t-shirts with the cool grungy intense Christian images. I got heraldy image from Bittbox, I added some the angel wing from ScrapArtist and cross brush from deviantArt, backgrounds art from nina. It didn't print real well on regular 12 x 12 scrapbook paper, so this gave me a good excuse to order some Golden digital ground from Jerrysartarama. I love using premium matte photo paper, but it's hard to find in 12 x 12......By the way, I will give credit to Jaron for helping me pick the Sanctify font!! The font itself is called EpoXY histoRy from a VEry cool site called dafont...

Family Angels #2

This is the final installment for the Family Angels, started back in hmm.... October? This has been a very fun project. I tried to pick out papers and images for the angels' bodies that I thought matched the family members' personalities. I'm thinking of possibly teaching a little art class at the Winn Home next year, around Christmas time. Of course, many details to work out, but I think it might go....

This is Ruthie Henshall singing "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret. Isn't she amazing! As an amateur vocalist, I love to listen (and try to emulate) big vocal singers like her and Linda Eder, etc. She's done several Broadway musicals, and starred as Fantine in the London version of Les Miserables. I first heard her in the recording of the 10th Anniversary Concert recording when it was on PBS several years ago. If you get a chance to hear her sing, "I Dreamed a Dream" or "Fantine's Death," you will be captivated by her too. I'm looking for the sheet music....and I found it!

Play!

My version of the PLAY! theme for this month on Creative Every Day. I really loved working on this, from the decided red/turquoise background palette to the star**LUCY**. I loved watching "I Love Lucy" as a child reruns in the mornings as we got ready for school. Are they on anywhere on cable or satellite?? I hope all those old shows we watched are still around somewhere, also including Andy Griffith Show, and the one with Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. Those were so classically funny in an innocent way. The comedies of today seem to be so raunchy! I really could do without all the skanky language and sexual innuendos, what about you? There are a few really funny modern day comediennes like Raven and Amanda Bynes. But, for the most part, they just don't make 'em like that any more......

Digital For a Few DAys

Ok, I know it's not much BUT, it's kept me in the "create" mode for the past few days! This is a flyer I created for our women's ministry events at our church for February....We'll be sending it out this week. I used some digital papers and elements called Bohemian Poetry by Tracy Collins, also known as retrodiva. Stay tuned, I'm finishing up the Family Angels this week!

Art Journal Cover

Above is how my ArT JoURNal cover used to look. Until TODAY, well yesterday mostly. But, I finished it today! Yes, it started as just a plain old sketchbook !Now it has been transformed into.......THIS:








I found the idea for a patchwork cover from iHanna's Creative Space using scraps from your art table, or basket in my case. I just can't bear to throw away any little left over bits. I use every bit! I really had a lot of fun doing it, and it was so easy! I added some rub-ons from Basic Grey and Journaling Stamps from Paperbag Studios. I used mostly ModPodge and Aleena's Tacky Glue for the adhesives and the black ink was Ranger Distress Ink in Black Soot. I prefer Ancient Page Ink because it is archival, quick-drying and doesn't resist the adhesives. But, I was out of the Ancient Page, a refill is on the way (I love ebay!)....Oh, I almost forgot, see that little oval Handmade sign and the old fashioned camera in the top left corner? Those are from a little collection of die-cut cardstock from Amy Butler for K & Company. Very cute stuff!

Family Angels #1

This is a project I started much before the Christmas hustle and bustle started slowing down my art-making, but since I have now committed to be Creative Every Day (see/click the icon at left), I have gotten back on it! Here are the kids' angels, Matt and mine will follow hopefully in the next few days!

Happy New Year!!

Christmas in Sedona

Can you spot someone in the photo above???







Fay Canyon. God was present.





These are a few of the shots taken in Sedona....it was a little warmer there!
Merry Christmas everyone!

It REALLY Snows in Flagstaff!

Who would have believed that 28 miles and elevation change of 2700 ft. would account for this much snow. Seriously, there was NO snow and it was a nice 45 degrees in Sedona, and then, in Flagstaff it was 23 degrees with 4-5 inches on the ground and that much more expected overnight! We warm-bloods from Texas were not prepared at all. We still had fun, though!

Yes! AND It does snow in Texas, too! (About every 10 years!)

This was taken a few weeks ago in our back yard after JJ hurt his knee in a basketball game and stayed home from swim practice. We couldn't believe it! It really wasn't enough to make a snowman, but it was still there in the morning...gone by noon, though ;D

Election Response

Early Christmas!

An early taste of Christmas.....I've been working on these ornaments for at least a month, they took longer than I thought, but they turned out better than I thought. They started out as a KIT from TenTwoStudios, but I personalized them...FUN..I must admit though I was ready to finish up and move on. I've cleaned off the MESS shown below, and contemplating my next project. I have taken off work tomorrow and Monday in honor of my birthday. Yes, I'm now 50 years young!! I've entered the 3rd quarter as Dad says! ;D Looking forward to it............

A Lovely Mess

Yes, I believe messes can be very very lovely, especially when artistic process is involved....This is a project I started quite a while ago, how long has it been since my last post? A month! Life has been that crazy!! But, that process sometimes takes a little time to brew. That's what I like about ART, you just can't rush it. And that's a pleasant good thing, when everything else in your life is hurry, hurry. Life is full all the time, but could be fuller if we take time to slow down......make sense??

Taking Classes from Suziblu!

View my page on Mixed Media With Suzi Blu

With One Stamp: ATCs

Through Hurricane Ike and no power for 5 days, I have been able to do some art!! These are ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). They are approximately 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" and can be anything you want. This particular one was a swap through the yahoo group Stampers Anonymous, and the instructions were to use a stamp chosen by stamp artist, Tim Holz, and we were to create 5 ATCs for 4 back. This particular chosen stamp was pretty challenging, but once I got going.....And as you know, that's how it goes with art. You can think you are stuck for a while, but suddenly a revelation comes to you, after you've stared at them for a few days. I llllove the process, and I'm learning to trust it, and be a little more relaxed about it....!!

Inchies!

This is my first experience with making inchies! They are actually called "Magnetic Poetry Inchies" I made for a swap. I sent these in to the owner of the swap (which ends Aug. 31st) and I should be getting some in return from others participating in the swap! Fun!

I actually found this medium quite challenging at first (it's such a small canvas!) but once I got going, it was great. My next swap will be for ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). Stay tuned!