One more Sepia Aged photo

I am Loving this project!!! I should Probably move on to the next video, but I've wanted to know how to do this Forever. :-)

Online Photoshop class with Marie Otero

I just started an online Photoshop class with Marie Otero. I think this class is going to be Wonderful! We have 4 projects in Week 1, each has a video And a pdf file with pictures and instructions. Everything is very clear & well presented. I'm Excited to finally do something like this.

The first project I attempted is to take a photo, and age it. These are 3 pictures I did in order. By the 3rd, I think I'm getting a bit better at it. The first 2 look like I was trying to make them old. The third I think, works better.

Art & Soul Las Vegas Feb 2010 - Stephanie Lee Class

My 3rd class at Art & Soul was with Stephanie Lee. I had never taken a class from her before & am so Happy I finally did. She is a really good teacher. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these projects as I'm out of wall space completely......maybe make a large book. ?? But they were fun to work on.

Basically, we brought photos we wanted to work on. These are 2 of about 6 I brought. The pictures are of my mother in law as a child. We had black & white copies made of the photos & enlarged. Then glued them onto heavy (very heavy) watercolor paper. Then we painted out items, leaving only a portion of the actual picture left to work with. From there, we started adding some texture, and that is as far as I got. Stephanie's work then paints back in items, totally changing the picture, using very little of the original image. Again, I hope I get a chance to work on these further & add more color, images, etc.

I really enjoyed the retreat in Las Vegas. The smoke however, added with the allergies I already had, was hard to live with. I coughed, sneezed, eyes watered for the whole trip. I've been to Las Vegas several times in the past, even after I quit smoking 9 years ago.......newer casinos like Paris always had very good ventilation and it really didn't bother me. This time it was like there was no ventilation at All. Makes me wonder if they are cutting back on utilities in the economy. It would make me think hard about going to Las Vegas again any time soon. I love going to Las Vegas too, so I was very disappointed in this. Caesars was the same. It would be nice to Hope they will up the ventilation again in the future.

I have to add......Marian & I had fun playing poker machines (me) and slots (Marian) every evening. One evening however, it was a bit later and we heard music playing. We ventured on over & found it was a DJ, playing very current younger music and many 20 somethings dancing. We watched for awhile, enjoying ourselves, then decided to go on it, sit down & have a drink. Not long after we sat down, a young man and a young woman came from the dance floor, held their hands out to us & drew us out to dance with them all. ALL I can Say IS..........I had the Time of my Life!!! After midnight, in Las Vegas, at 60 years old, shaking my bootie on the dance floor with a bunch of 20 something's. :-) They were all Very Nice & we thanked them for inviting us out. I don't think either of us would have gotten up on our own. Much FUN! Marian, I'm Still smiling about that evening! :-)

Art & Soul Las Vegas February 2010

I went to the first Art & Soul in Las Vegas in February. Classes were held in Bally's. We stayed in the Paris hotel. I roomed with Marian McBryde & we had a Wonderful Time! Here is the view from our room (after an upgrade)


Here is Marian in Caesar's and me in the mirror in our room.

I took 2 Sally Jean Alexander Classes, a Bird Necklace and Totally Tiara. I LOVE her classes. I continue to learn more about soldering & Love it. Have joined several charm swaps since taking her first class in 2008 and am still learning but getting better at it.

This is the Bird Neckace which I did not finish. I got all of the pieces soldered, but didn't get jump rings on or chain. I do hope I will finish it someday. In my defense.....our classroom was rained out, so we lost some time being moved. Right in the middle of class, water started pouring down from a light fixture. Dangerous maybe? Someone had apparently left a bath running upstairs & it ended up in our room. Fortunately nothing was ruined & we moved out into the dining area which was actually Great. We had much more light and Windows! :-) Sally Jean dealt with the situation Amazingly. We regrouped & got to work in a much nicer area the rest of the day And the next day. :-)

This is the Totally Tiara class. I didn't get this finished either. The large piece of glass at the top (as of yet, until I add More wire), was wrapped with a different type of foil. This piece was heavy & the foil just didn't want to stick. I worked & worked with it, but at the end of the day, it was still basically falling off. I was quite Pleased with myself however, as when I got home, I Did remove it, rewrapped it with stronger foil and did get it soldered on. I am going to add more coiled wire and a couple of crystals. I Loved this class. Years ago when I heard about it, I wondered, Who would want to take a class like This!?? Well, that same year, I Saw what people had done & thought.........ME!!!! I would Love to take a class like this!! It was 3 years later before I saw her offer the class again & I was able to get in it. A Fun, Fun class! And as always, Sally Jean is charming, helpful and thoroughly enjoyable.

Part 2 to come. I haven't Yet started the art room cleaning project & if I don't at least get Started.............I won't get Anywhere today. ;-)

January & February ATC Swaps 2010

It's hard to Believe it is June 2010 already! I have not posted to my blog since December! It was a long, hard, busy tax season & I never got the time to post. Then I've been running off to art retreats every since. :-) This weekend I'm going to periodically post projects I have done since the beginning of the year and updates on the retreats I've been to.

I typically post only pix of projects I have done to my blog......a lot for a record of them for myself. :-) I'm going to try to post pictures of retreats, etc. this year too.

These are the ATC swaps I did in January (1) and February (4). The first is "Brocade". I used white brocade fabric, colored it with alcohol inks, sewed with a decorative stitch & then added a "brocade" polymer clay button I had made some time back.

Next is "Doors or Windows". I used a window. ;-)

3rd is "What's New). I used several new items on this.....the off white background is card stock sprayed with Homax Heavy Formula Knockdown Texture. Fun Stuff! I will use That again! I found it in the paint store when picking up paint for our living room. I sprayed that with "Smooch Spritz" which I saw at CHA & bought. It gives it just a bit of sparkle which you can't really see in the picture. The mesh is sticky back drywall tape. It's FUN to paruse the hardware store! :-) And the main new item is the flowers. I made these using a reporduction of antique flower making molds which I bought at CHA. Since I bought them, I thought this would be a Great time to use them. Hopefully I will use them Again someday as they were Quite Expensive.

4th is ATC trades I made for Art & Soul in Las Vegas. The theme this year was Alice in Wonderland.

5th is a "Metallic" ATC for DreamCreateInspire group.

Next up......after a couple of hours cleaning in my art room.....will be Art & Soul Las Vegas. If I can Find my projects in that unfortunate "hoarder" room! LOL