I have been working hard lately. I still need to complete 2 bears for the swap but in the meantime I completed a miniature Tucker out of felt.

Isn't he cute? Almost as cute as the real thing!

I finished my rolodex cards for June. The theme is Italian Summer. I love this woman stamp. She is just called "Maiden" from Paper Inspirations but she has always seemed "Italian" to me. When I saw the theme I knew I had to use her.

I also completed my charms for a charm bracelet swap. I am such a bracelet nut I just had to join! I am a bit nervous though, I hope mine measure up. I stamped and masked them using a total of 3 different stamps. I then colored them with colored pencils. I rubbed chalks on the background and then sprayed them with fixative to seal in the color without giving a glossy glare.

These little bears are addictive. I can't seem to stop making them. They are only about 2 inches tall when sitting. Somehow I have to choose 2 to swap but they are all so cute I hate to part with any. Hubby has already claimed 2 as his own and Tucker steals them when I am not looking. LOL

I think I am going to go on a quest for some different colors of fuzzy felt, other than the traditional colors I already have.

Caught Up

I have been getting behind on all my projects. I spent today getting caught up on decos.

Below is my work in the Love of a Lifetime deco.

I also finished up my addition to the Bingo Queen deco.

And finally, I have joined a "Tiny Teddy" swap and have been making bears for that.

Now I only have to complete this months rolodex cards and some "charms" for a charm bracelet swap. Hmm, wonder where I am going to find the time?!

It has been ages since I have found even 5 minutes to create. Today I worked on a deco. The theme is "Mother Always Said". It is very cute. It brought back a lot of memories of all the things my mom said to me. Makes you wonder how some of those sayings got started in the first place.

The decos just keep coming. :-)

Today I completed the Big Trucks deco. I focused on images from Route 66. Lots of vintage/classic images. It is definitely bright and colorful.




I also worked on the Vintage Children deco. This is more of my style. I had a blast using my rubber stamps of old photographs.

I need to send a letter to a friend so I decided to include an ATC as well. I hope she likes it.

I just finished working on a challenge from the Art_on_A_Budget yahoo group. The challenge is to make 3 ATCs from junk mail. This was really a "challenge" because we don't receive junk mail. Yep, poor me. LOL

I ended up using some mailers and catalogs that I get on a regular basis. DH wanted me to use his computer parts catalog but that left me totally uninspired LOL

I worked on a deco today called Body Parts. I struggled yesterday with what part to focus on. Nothing was really jumping out at me. Early this morning I awoke with the idea of using noses....famous noses. So I scoured the net and found pics of famous noses. LOL

I experimented with color pics, color/printed backgrounds and finally settled on simple black and white. It seemed to let the focus be completely on the subject matter. I also cropped the pictures so that a little of the face is still seen. Just the nose looked gross to me. :-)

Finally I am back to my art desk. DH has been sick for a week and that left me with no time to create. He felt fairly good today so I shoved him and son out the door. LOL

I spent the morning working on the March Rolodex swap cards. The theme is April in Paris.

At work this week they gave us a journal so we could write down our thoughts and feelings. Guess they don't know what happens when you hand an artist a journal and tell them to put in it anything they want. :-)

I have started by altering the cover. No one will ever mistake my journal for their own. LOL

I found a few minutes this week to stamp. More stamps arrived in the mail.....don't you just love when new toys arrive? It is almost like Christmas!

Below are stamps from TuscanRose, Oxford Impressions and Paperbag Studios.

This is a card for my friend Marilyn. If she reads this I guess she won't be surprised next week LOL

I have been playing with 4 x 4 cardboard squares. In both of these projects I used a text page torn out of a book I am altering. I sanded it heavily in several areas then I wet it with water and then sprayed it with walnut ink and let it dry. Later I dry brushed off-white acrylic paint over it. The inks are all "Memories" permanent ink. I used this because I wasn't sure when I started if I would want to tint the images with chalks, water colors, markers...or nothing at all.

New Stamps!

I just received some new stamps in the mail and HAD to play with them! They are from Oxford Impressions, a fabulous stamp company!

I received their new April in Paris plate and stopped everything to have some fun. :-)

The past week was very hectic around here. My in-laws celebrated their 50th anniversay and we had to attend 3 parties. My sister-in-law was in town for the occasion and we had her and her husband over for dinner one night. Today was the first time I was able to get to my art desk in over a week. I was definitely going through withdrawal!

I have a couple decos sitting on my desk that I need get done this weekend. First is a Gypsy one. I had a week to mull this over and got to work on it this morning. The second is a Cupid theme and I have not even glanced at it yet.

I also need get cracking on a rolodex card for a friend, a going away card for another friend and I want to try out some new stamps that arrived yesterday. Thank goodness it is a 3 day weekend.

Below is my Gypsy spread.

I just finished the Cupid deco.

Today I completed my spread for the "Purple Passionate" deco. Purple is not a color I am wild about. Not that I don't like it but I am more into blues and rich reds.

The Grass Is Always Greener Deco

This is my "Grass is Always Greener" spread. I was working on a theory of the poor envying the rich. So far, I am the only one home and so I have no one to show it to and see if they "get it".

Decos

I am working on some decos tonight. I am trying to come up with something for one themed "The Grass is Always Greener". So far I am not pleased with the out come. It just seems disjointed and I am unsure how to pull it all together.

I want to portray sort of a "poor vs. rich" look but so far it is not coming together.

I think I need a break, maybe it will look better tomorrow....or something else will jump out at me.

I created this blog to post pictures of my current art projects.

Right now I am participating in a Rolodex swap. Each month the hostess chooses a theme and the players have to create Rolodex cards with their interpretation. The theme for February is "Greensleeves". You know, the song. Legend has it that Henry VIII wrote it for Anne Boleyn. However, historians say this isn't so. Either way, I used this ill-fated couple for my piece.