ornaments, wrapping papers, and fabric houses....

did you have a wonderful Thanksgiving?....ours was pretty relaxed. our college kids came home and because of the weather, it was just our family for the holiday. we were just thankful that they had made it home safely and that we could all hang out again for a bit.

on saturday i found some studio time to keep getting organized for the upcoming holiday....Christmas! i have new items in my etsy store just in time for the holiday.

check these out.....

love the mix of colors and the gold with everything....

and i have a good handful listed in my etsy store if you are looking for something special. and now for the wrapping papers....

above is a close up of one of the papers- i made the homemade wrapping paper in a variety of colors.

any package wrapped in this homemade wrapping paper is sure to stand out.

and last, but, not least are my fabric/ textile houses....listed 3 for you to chose from.

these fabric houses are just fun and quirky and a good mixtures of new and vintage, and machine sewn and hand stitching.

the houses all have matching sides

want to stop by my store and look around now?.....my store can be found here.

art journal page {documented life project}

this week's challenge at Art to the 5th was to use a mask. their prompt, "mask" arade.......

i, of course was totally down with that. i love masks and stencils. these pics are from my folder that tries to hold the majority of the masks and stencils that i have.

as you can see....i don't clean any of them. and i will warn you....sometimes this does present a problem especially if i am using the Dylusion's inks as those are water based and will reactivate; but, sometimes that is part of the process.

these pages were started with paint and ink, and gold already on the pages and i started building up from there.

a little help from my masks and stencils;....and the use of my stabilo pencils. i used my green and black.

this page is a bit of a hot mess.....but, i do love the runs and drips and the mix of it all. sometimes it is easier to start on a page that already has something on it; and if it is a hot mess....that is when a mask can be a huge help- in that you can pick out a favorite spot and then, paint over the page to calm it down and pull the page together- which was exactly what i did with that pink/ red to pull this page together.

again- i loved this challenge. 

happy monday!

retail therapy

in the big town yesterday and after several necessary errands, i was able to make a fun stop for some retail therapy.....

i can hardly wait to do some playing....new alcohol inks, fibers, threads, and ribbon, acrylic paint, ink.

apparently i was having a bit of a turquoise attack....good thing i was at the craft store. picked up a couple of staple colors for my color palette.

and who can pass up a little metal "k" for their studio?!.....well, certainly not this girl when the letters are on sale. happy to add this little letter. oh, and the box behind the letter.....glass ornaments. i hope that my idea works as well as it does in my head..... you know how that goes right? you have this great idea and when you actually try it.....sometimes it works and other times, it is a failure.

be sure to stop back and i will keep you posted on the ornaments. all those inks and ribbons are for my ornament idea.....should be fun!

happy thursday!

art journal page {documented life project}

painting in my art journal last night trying to keep the Documented Life Project challenge in mind, which this week is stencils, stamps, and masks. sometimes that transition from current projects back to more playful work seems like a struggle. i have been doing a lot of my printing and studio princesses which are small, tight, and confined within the tea bag and paper; so to go back to painting on even a large piece of paper- is a transition.

i started with a journal page that already had something down on the paper and no gesso this time; but, this pic is fairly far into my play at this point. i had used stamps and a stencil.

i love the juiciness and color lust of this pic.

i had a bit of a hot mess and needed to tone this page overall. i had glued some papers down, but, ended up ripping those back off revealing the white and original page underneath.

ended up with a bit of a mess, but, felt good to just play....happy tuesday!

she would be big

never fitting the norm; rubbing against the grain....she would not walk the straight line

cuz' she would be big....

happy saturday. 

are you a "local" follower? stop down at HGS Gallery today for the Holiday Studio Tour. i will be down there working today from 10am-4pm. 

do some holiday shopping and give an original piece of art to someone you love.

she would dream

she would dream and look at life through her rose-colored glasses

fall {holiday studio tour}

so for all of my preparedness for the holidays in september:

• updated etsy store- new items, revamped descriptions
• purchased super cute black n white polka dot tissue paper to wrap purchases
• new business cards
• black n white baker's twine to tie up wrapped items
• contemplating new ideas
• purchased frame sets for finished work

over the weekend (and i do know that it is november...) i just really realized that it is november. what the heck?! i could feel the seasonal panic begin to set in while i was contemplating all the work i need to get accomplished this week to prepare for holiday shopping; which includes this coming saturday.

what in the world is happening on saturday you ask? the holiday shopping season  kicks off with our local studio tour. i will be down at our local art gallery demonstrating/ working and being available to meet and greet shoppers and answer any questions.

and although, i feel like i have a good pile of new work,....that means i need to get it ready. and that part stinks....cutting, framing, wiring, varnishing..... the super boring stuff (but a necessity all the same).

hoping for a productive week to get all my stuff done......happy monday!

tgif

tgif.....#happyfriday

for the birds....

less studio time is for the birds,.....this past weekend however, was more like finding my flock.....

totally reworking old paintings and finding my own wings...

happy thursday!

printing

are you familiar with Art to the 5th and their Documented Life Project? each week they had chosen an artist to represent that week's challenge. this week's challenge was translucent papers and the artist is Lynne Hoppe.

her blog post for this week's challenge was printing using tea bags....and i have to say- i love it!! check out my studio princesses i made this last weekend using Lynne's technique.

it was apparently meant to be as i had started drinking a cup of tea at work in the afternoons and saving the bags to use in some sort of art project and then i read Lynne's post on saturday and was so excited!

the bags i had saved from work had a fold down the middle like the pink princess example above. so i dug in my cupboard to look for other bags without a fold. i did find that i had tea bags without that fold; which i used below. i noticed that this tea was a black berry and loved the color that was seeping through the bag. i laid the damp bags onto my paper to begin with and let them dry before doing any printing. 

for the purple one, i wanted to see if it would print onto a gesso'd wooden panel....and i think it printed just fine- i like the results; although, i am not sure i would get the color of the drying tea bags on the panel like the paper did. so if you liked that effect- stick with the paper.

happy monday.