PW Tussie Mussie

I signed up to participate in Paper Whimsy's Tussie Mussie Swap and got Peggy Gatto's name! Yippee!!

I picked out the pattern I was going to use right away, but then I needed to wait until my order of flowers came from PW.

While visiting Nashville yesterday, I visited a WONDERFUL little store down there. I found all kinds of goodies to buy and added a few of them to Peggy's TM...hope she likes the extra treats INSIDE of the TM.

I used lots of items I already had on hand too. The large pink flower is one that I already had at home. I is a pin. I stuffed the cone with pink easter grass to give it body and to stick the flowers into.

Hope Peggy likes it!

Paper Doll Swap Idea and WINNER!

So...like I said...I had many ideas for Helga for the next Swap. This was the last one...and the one that I got up early to finish yesterday morning. This was my first paper doll. Other than the ones that I played with as a child.

I made the skirt and blouse patterns by hand and used the face from one of Helga's Art Blast Cards. The arms and legs are from one of her paper doll collage sheets...and the cumberbun was from another collage sheet. Oh yes, I used some of the hands from the ARTchix shop too.

I was so excited when I got home this evening after a fun day of ATC supply shopping with a friend and job hunting after that. I got home to check my email and see what the next swap would be....Tee! Hee!! It's going to be MY idea....Party Girlz Paper Dolls. Yippee!!! I'm so excited!!! So, come one (yes, Dawn...you're the only one :) come all and play with me in the ARTchix Swap due in September. BTW, there are new Paper Doll Sheets coming out next week...can't wait to see what they are.

Paint Chip Swap Idea

Ticket Swap Idea

Well you see....I just can't pass on any of Helga's challenges. The challenge this last week was to come up with an idea for the next Swap. So I came up with about 5 ideas....and made samples for two of them on Monday night and then couldn't stop thinking about the third idea early on Tuesday morning. The challenges were due on Tuesday...so I got myself busy and started on my third idea. My first idea was to use ANY theater ticket for your background and create a collage with that. The second idea was to use paint chips to create art with. So, I'll post those pictures here. My third idea that I couldn't sleep over was Paper Dolls. I had originally considered Halloween Paper Dolls...but once I got into the doll...it was just a fun doll.

Amelia Rose

The day my daughter was born almost 18 years ago was one of the happiest days of my life. We did not know if we were going to have a boy or a girl. We had picked out names for a boy, and we had picked out names for a girl. But, my husband was leaning towards going with his families tradition of just a first and last name if it was a girl. I wasn't sold on this idea, but my mind was open...that is until she was born. After she was born and we saw how beautiful she was, my husband said to me that I could name her whatever I wanted. I didn't skip a beat....she would be Amelia Rose. I knew that if it was a girl that she would be Amelia as I was always very interested in Amelia Earhart. The Rose comes from my Great Grandmother. And the name fits her.

Amelia is getting ready to end her High School years and begin her college years. She is our only child which makes the next couple of months that much more stressful for me. I'm thrilled to see her begin her new life, but I'm sad that I'm losing my little Amelia Rose.

This is a picture that I took of Amelia for one of her Senior Pictures. Since we're low on cash this year...I decided to take them myself....

I can't wait to see what she does with her life and creativity.

Oh! My!! New Pens....

Yesterday I got new pens...they're called Souffle Pens. I really wanted to try them out on something, but didn't want to use them on something that I might ruin. So you see, I had this image from the Dreaming in White ArtChix Collage Sheet, that is scary to me. Mostly because I had a doll as a child with eyes wide open that gave me nightmares. So, I decided that maybe I could make her a little more "special" and started doodling. This photo doesn't do the colors justice...they're much more ice creamy. After I finished doodling, I added the text heart and the vintage text background. The bird with the flower brad was the last to be added.

She is much more whimsical with all of the doodling on her than when she started out. I can actually look at her now and enjoy looking at her. Tee! Hee!!

Vintage White

I joined a group of ArtChix ladies that started a Round Robin for altered books. This is my first time to attempt these books, so it's been a challenge so far. This book...the Buffy's Vintage White altered book was fun, but a challenge to come up with something I thought was worthy of her book.

I started a page with an idea, but unfortunately, part way through...I ruined the picture and the page with my gel medium. The picture that I had printed on velumn completely smeared and went all over everything. So, I regrouped and this is what I came up with.

The page on the right is the one that I did first. The best part was I got my sewing machine out and stitched the picture, the muslin, and the mulberry paper to the page...then I stitched the lace onto the page too.

I hope Buffy likes what I've done!

Visitor to our Yard

We live in central Indiana in the boondocks. We have woods and meadow all around us and it's not uncommon for us to look out the window and see some sort of wildlife. We've had a large group of deer eating out of my flower garden this winter and we have many squirrels that entertain us every day. I have been noticing a fox farther down the road and have tried to make sure I have my camera with me while I travel. The one day that I could have had a great picture, I scared the fox off while fumbling for my camera.

This day was a different story...last weekend I was creating in my studio and I happened to catch something moving outside of my window. To my surprise it was the fox...and the best part was, my camera was sitting RIGHT THERE. I grabbed it and ran to the windows on the front side of my house and started shooting pictures. This was the best one of the lot. As you can see, a nice health fox. After I was finished taking pictures, I headed outside to make sure our cat was in the garage. I wasn't really worried for her, but for the fox. I've seen her chase a fox out of our yard before. She doesn't realize that she has no claws and that she's a cat.

I can't wait to see what will visit our yard next.

My First Follower

I am so excited! I just signed on to add a little blurb about a visitor to our yard last week when I saw that I have a follower. Yippee!!! I will warn you, I'm not terribly interesting...and sometimes I get wordy and forget that I'm not just talking to myself...but I'll try to make it entertaining. Now, I need to figure out how to spiff this blog site up.

Paper Whimsy Chunky ATC

I've joined the Paper Whimsy group and this was my second swap with the group. I got Mary Ann's name and this is what I created for her. Since I'm still new to the group, and I really only had a few sheets of papers, I needed to wait until my order came from PW to finish this up. I did know that I wanted to go with the turquoise color though, and had just recently purchased this crackle paint. I painted and waited for it to dry, and then I sanded down the edges to give it a worn look. After I got my items from PW, I knew what I was going to do and started creating. My favorite part is embellishing. A little of this and a little of that. I knew that I wanted to add a knob on the top, so I headed out to the local Hobby Lobby to take a look at what they had. I tried this one, I tried that one...but my favorite one was this clock face. Now that I think about it, I should have bought more. You know how it is when you find a pair of shoes or a pair of jeans that fits perfectly and you wish you had purchased more than one pair....

Anyway, this was my first attempt at a Chunky ATC and I'm happy with my results.

Starry Starry Night in Paris

Helga has given us another challenge...what would you dream about if you were to travel to Paris?

I started thinking about Starry Starry Night and how I could incorporate it into my dream. My dream would be to enjoy the Eiffel Tower at night...with all of the city lights, the stars, and the moon to light it up.

I got out my oil pastels and started recreating Starry Starry Night. I started with my black piece of paper that measures 6" x 7". I had already envisioned where the Eiffel Tower was going and what other pieces from ArtChix I was going to use. I hope to mat and frame this one and enjoy it further on the wall.

Now...on to make my dream a reality.