Paperbag book swaps

In the past few months I have been in 2 paper bag book swaps. The first theme was "Nature". There were 12 people and we all did 2 sets of 12 pages. These are my pages for that swap. I haven't yet bound my book, but just recently bought a paper bag book from "Pages In Time" in Lincoln Nebraska. The owner, Karen has made several and they are beautiful. This gave me many ideas of how to bind the book and tidbits to add in pockets, in the bag opening itself. I hope to find time to get that bound soon!

The second book theme was "Da Vinci". There were 8 of us in this swap so we all did 2 sets of 8 pages. Mine is late. :-( But is now winging its way to the UK so all pages can be mailed out to the players. These are my pages for this swap.

I couldn't let go of the idea of using the Mona Lisa in a different way. I have recently been playing with a "Teleidescope" which is like a kaleidescope, but without wheels.....the images are in whatever direction you are looking, so they are real images, not patterns of whatever is in the scope. I bought a program that would do the same thing with pictures. I played & played with Mona Lisa images and these are the ones I used. It was lots of fun, although maybe now the Mona Lisa has been done More than Enough times. LOL


I transferred printed images onto muslin using Leslie Rileys transparency transfer technique and then sewed them onto cardstock & embellished.

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

Tim Holtz Holiday Hideaway 2009

Last weekend at this time, I was Happily in Prescott Arizona, attending Tim's Holiday Hideaway event. I was priveledged again this year to be invited. How Grateful I am that my friend Phyllis invited me as a guess the first year and I have been invited and able to go for the past 3 years. This is an Experience I can't really describe. Tim takes us on a roller coaster of Projects, Gifts, Surprises, Treats, and Mario cooks Wonderful meals for us each day and Michele, Keychain and Kim are the Wonderful Elves that help bring this all together. I don't know how Tim manages to surpise us even more each year. But somehow he Does. I feel like a little child who has been taken to Disneyland for the first time. This is 3 days of Wonder and Joy and there isn't even any time to let the stress of our lives even sneak in. :-)

The Festivities began Thursday evening at 5:00 at the Sprinhill Suites in Prescott who have been Wonderful to us for 3 Holiday Hideaways and 1 other retreat Tim put on in May, 4 years ago. We all stay there and we have an art room near the lobby. We do our projects, there, have our meals there, gather & visit & laugh & hug & Enjoy.

Mario and Michele had layed out a fabulous buffet of food goodies, and as always, there was a side table of Sweets & Treats. Cindy & Jennifer are our "Drink Elves" and had several Wonderful Christmas drinks for us this year including a White Christmas and a Christmas Mojito. :-) And we made our first project that night, a snow shaker Christmas pin.

By the end of the first night, my cheeks Hurt from laughing so Much. How often does That happen in life!??? :-) From here, every minute was filled with surprises & excitement. I'm sure I might have things out of order & have forgotten to include some things, but here I go:

Friday we began at 10 AM. We are never allowed in or to Look in the room before Tim opens the door as they are getting all of the surprises ready to go. When we enter, we then get to see the project we will be working on and all of the Goodies Tim has ready for us. :-) Also, LEST I forget................throughout the Whole Event, each table has a Gift Elf. When "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" song goes off..........the Elves go collect Gifts for our whole table. And the song goes off OFTEN! I can't even Believe the gifts we received this year. I have a Long LONG list. I watch The Ellen Show each day & last Thursday & Friday once I got home, I realized she plays the same song with her Twelve Days of Christmas. I couldn't help but Smile & Smile & Smile each time the song came on on her show. It brought me back to the FUN at Holiday Hideaway. :-)

Our First project Friday morning was a vintage necklace. We made roses out of Tims metal flower embellishments which turned out Great! We also made a bracelet using Idea-ology...

Mario cooked up a Wonderful lunch of Italian Sub sandwiches on croissants, potato salad, fruit & brownie bites. The morning drink was a Bloody Mary. The lunch drink today was the Christmas Mojito. Once Full & Content (and Sleepy LOL), we headed back in for our 3rd project of the day which Quickly woke me up & got me back to work. :-) We made Grungeboard roses for this project and layered them on top of vintage velvet that Tim had for us. I didn't quite get this project finished. I got Cute with the swirl by coloring it and adding bling..........And my placement of the flowers leaves me needing to add something above. I need to work on this a little more.

Our Fourth project of the day was a shadowbox. Tim had the hands and hearts for us as well as a table that was covered up when we entered the room. When he pulled the sheet off, there were Tins and Tins of Wonderful vintage items to use with this project that we could pick from. I did not quite finish this project either, but have a handful of vintage goodies I will add after Chrismtas. This was a Fun Project!

Then out to Mario's Wonderful Italian dinner.....Ziti with meatballs and marinara sauce, Chicken parmesan, Green salad with the BEST Balsamic Vinaigrette I've Ever tasted, Parmesan bread sticks and mini cupcakes & brownies. YUM!!!!! The drink of the evening was a White Christmas.

We had 1 more project after dinner, a plaque we made using wood, grunge board images, die cuts, gesso, sanding tools and distress inks. These looked Horrible along the way, but once we were done with them.............they looked like something we might find in an old house or barn & be Thrilled to have found it! Very Very Grunge and Distressed. I Enjoyed this project! I'd Love to make a book cover like this. A couple of weeks before I found some old tin ceiling pieces in a scrapbook/antique store in Lakeside, Arizona while visiting my brother & family in Show Lo. A combination of this technique and those tin ceiling pieces could be Fun. :-) Hope I get a chance in January to try that.

I don't think we left until nearly midnight and Phyllis & I stayed awake talking & sharing the day until probably 1 or later each night. (Sorry Phyllis! LOL). But with starting projects this year at 10 instead of 9, we got to sleep in a bit & recover. :-)

Saturday morning we got started at 10. There were Bloody Mary's And Mimosa's as the morning drinks. And our first project was a Christmas Grungeboard journal to add all of our Holiday Hideaway pictures and moments to. We got the structure of the book done but will add our memories later. We got several different paper stacks to work with. I chose the Graphic 45 which was more vintage.

Saturday Mario made Mexican food for lunch.....Chicken fajitas, little crisp rolled tacos (which I have forgotten the name of as I type), and the drink elves made margueritas. :-) After lunch Tim gave us all an envelope with $20 in it and we descended on the shops of Prescott (Pres"Kit") to buy gifts for our Christmas exchange. We all have favorite stores at this point to head to, then try to buy something without the other people seeing it. We had 1 1/2 hours to choose something, bring it back & have it wrapped. This is Always Stressful when trying to figure out something, and Always So Much Fun that evening when they all get opened. We draw numbers and pick wrapped gifts in order, then can either pick a new gift or take an already opened gift from someone else! People have started forming Alliances to get the Gift they Want! Lots of Laugher & Fun.

But Before that, we start our last project, a layered Christmas canvas. We break for dinner after the first layer of vintage papers, music, journals, etc. Mario has made Barbeque! Barbeque chicken and shredded beef. YUMMY!!! Mario does the BEST barbeque.....Melt in your mouth Great! Dave is still trying to do ribs as good as Mario's! He Might have come close, but I think Mario still Rules. :-) Our food during the Hideaway is Absolutely Fantastic! We do Not go Hungry! ;-)

The drink of the evening is an appletini. :-) We get back to work on our canvases & they are all so Different as with all of our projects. Tim gives us a direction & we all take off with it. I Wish I had pictures of all of the other people's projects! But we get so Busy we hardly stop to breathe let alone walk around. LOL I Loved this project! It too is not quite finished, but here it is.....

We cleared up all of the supplies after this project and then had our Christmas Party. Throughout the event, we Continued to get so Many product gifts, we had More than a full suitcase full by this time. I Tried to write everything down, but by Saturday, the music went off So Often, I couldn't keep track. And Saturday night, after the Christmas party, Shockingly there were still More Gifts! Several more! The Biggest surprise WAS.....the music played, Tim announced that Someone in the room had a ticket taped under their chair......and that person would get a Big Shot!!! Ah, how Naive we all are. We ALL had tickets under our chairs!!!! All 38 of us got Big Shots. Amazing.

There was a final gift that brought tears to my eyes. The final gift was one Tim picked out for all of us. This was made by an artist that Tim met (and my Box is in a larger box being driven home so I don't have the name right now. I will update this once I retrieve that card!) We each got this key with a handblown glass bead around it. I have worn it every day since. :-) A Very Special gift.

Everyone stayed & stayed Saturday night, not wanting to say Goodbye. Lots of Hugs & Hopes to see each other soon. It is Such a Special few days, like nothing else I have ever experienced. I Am so Grateful to have been invited and have become part of this sharing, caring, artistic group of people that I have come to know and care about at this event. Thank you Tim! And Thank you Mario, Michele, Keychain & Kim!! Can't Wait to see you next year. :-)

We all made tags for Tim, Mario and Michele to go along with a gift we gave them after the Christmas party. This was the tag I made.

After a nice nights sleep and finishing up our room treats from the past few days, handmade chocolate pretzels made by Michele as well as another candy that was Delicious as well, Sunday morning we all met in the lobby around 10:30 and headed out to do some shopping in Prescott. We all head to the Newman Gallery (a Great Place owned by Great People!), and the local antique stores. 28 of us met for lunch, then continued shopping until around 4:30, then we all went on to Tim & Mario's house to hang out for awhile. We got to see lots of new products that will be coming out at CHA in January! What I can say is..........get your $$$$ together! There are some GREAT things coming out!!! I have already made my list! :-) New distress ink colors, die cuts, paper stacks................and Tim has a new Book coming out! All to look forward to next year. :-)

We all then came on back to Prescott for a last dinner together at a local restaurant. Then the Final goodbye's were said & off we all went, back to our real lives. With Wonderful memories to take with us. :-)

I actually stayed in Gilbert Arizona to visit my brother & family for a couple of extra days. They probably wish I Hadn't. I just kept Chattering On & On about Holiday Hideaway. Maybe I'll visit them another time of year next year. LOL