Tree in Bedroom

I got these beautiful glass balls from a store in McKinney last week. The store is called Cherase Vintage Home. They have some wonderful home decor items for Christmas right now in stock. Go check them out. Another store on the square that has great stuff for the home and any color German Glass Glitter you need is Smitten. I bought some pink and they have it in fine and coarse grades. There is a rainbow of colors to choose from. I bought the silver ball ornaments with snowflakes etched on them in the picture below from there too.
I made these small brown metal ornaments from grungeboard, metal tape and molds from Ten Seconds Studio. They were fun and easy to do.

I constructed the art for the ornaments below using Basic Grey snowflake cardstock, printed words on the computer and charcoal pencil. Then soldered them between glass. There are twenty of them and each word is one that reminds me of this holiday season.

Here is the completed tree. It sits at the end of my bed on a bench.

Sorry it has taken me so long to get it posted. Things have just been crazy around here.

I also wanted to share a beautiful piece I bought from another antiques store in McKinney called Homepieces. The owner of the store told me the item came from Illinois and you don't see many of these that are dark colored. This is black and usually you see white or natural wood colored ones. I fell in love with it and had to have it. I figured it made a good birthday present to my self. My birthday is Sunday the 28th.

I wish everyone a Happy Holiday. Hope Santa is good to each of you tonight.

Christmas At My House

This is my Christmas Tree. It has gifts under it finally today, but it didn't when I took this photo. My raggedy old Grinch is sitting underneath.


I made this tree from a sweater last year. Not my idea. One of the girls in my stamping group came up with it. Her name is Traci Hutton http://www.art-t-dolls.com/bio.html She has a great website to sell her gourd dolls. Check them out. Anyway I sewed sequins and beads on the tree then printed onto muslin with my printer (peace). I like how it came out. it is mounted on a small piece of wood.
These are bottle brush trees and a few ceramic snowmen from Hallmark. The reindeer is from Prescott AZ. Monica brought it back from there for me last year.
This is my fireplace. The let is snow hanging deal is one I bought plain at Hobby Lobby then covered it in German glass glitter using Glossy Accents. It really sparkles!

Well that's it for today. Later on I will post a tree I have in my bedroom. I am not finished with the ornaments yet. They have to be soldered.

New Art to Share

I noticed I didn't post at all in November. Oops! It has been hard for me to keep up with this blog. I am sorry about this. I intended in the beginning to only put up my art. But I might have to start posting other stuff like family or whatever else I come up with. Just to keep something going. Sometimes it takes me awhile to do art for me. I seem to have other things to do too. Like working, family, etc..

Well the two photos above are of a candle holder I bought at Hobby Lobby last week. It was on sale so that made the purchase even sweeter. I have been playing with a scroll saw some. I am by far not an expert! It takes some practice to get the hang of it. I definitely need more practice. The two kids are glued to craft wood (1/4" thick) and then cut out. I painted the edges and back of them with black acyclic paint. It finishes them off. I crackled a wooden cube with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Crackle Paint. I glued the girl to the cube because in the photo she was sitting on a chair and I cut it out. Next I placed moss and such in the vase and attached the cube to a birds nest. Then placed the nest on top of the moss. I then glued eggs in the nest. Lastly I placed silk flowers in. Oh I did glue a crown, flowers and bow to the kids before placing them in the vase. It turned out really cute.

This photo of a shadowbox to the right is one I did either last year or the year before. I can't remember which. Anyway, the doll was purchased at Target and the trees came from Michael's. I made the paper fan deal on top by just pleating music paper and then attaching with glue to the top of the box. I added a red ribbon with a star to the center of it. I believe I purchased the box at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. Inside I glued paper to the background and rusted stars. Then added iridescent confetti as snow to the bottom. It was easy and fun to make.

Today is my baby's birthday (not Blair my son)! His name is Duke. He is 3. I took some photos of him on the couch with some pumpkins in October. Speaking of pumpkins I didn't carve any this year but I do have some of those Funkin ones I have carved in the past. They work really well from year to year. Here are a few I have done and a fiber optic cat. Can you believe I bought that cat in Georgia and brought him back on the plane with me? I did! Several years ago. He looks really cool because he changes colors.

Well, I will try to post some of my Christmas decorations later in the week. I can't believe it is December already!

Oh if you have a chance you need to go to the Waxahachie Tour of Homes. http://www.waxahachiechamber.com/candlelight/ I went last weekend with my Mom and a friend and her Mom. We had a really good time. The houses were very interesting. They were built like in the 1890's and one was 1929. It goes on for the next two weekends with different houses each weekend. Check it out if you can. The houses are decorated for Christmas. There is a great scrapbook store on the square also. Check it out too. http://www.thecraftyscrapper.com/

Rubberband Meeting

I hosted a meeting at my house this past Sunday for the rubberstamp group I am in called The Rubberbanders. We made people from brushes. Everyone's brush came out different. We used bottle caps, metal house numbers, screws, and whatever we could find for the faces. Just simple stuff and they were so easy to make. It was a lot of fun.

Here is my brush person. Isn't he cute?!!

Classes at Stamp Asylum

Sorry I have not posted in a while. It's been a busy month.



I am teaching my Row House class at Stamp Asylum this weekend. Saturday November 1st from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. Call the store to sign up 972 596-1224. The cost of the class is $55.00









I taught a holiday card class last weekend. Here are pictures of the cards. It was a great class. Everyone enjoyed it.

Teaching Schedule

Here is my teaching schedule at the the Stamp Asylum http://stampasylum.com/ for the last quarter of the year. There are some great classes being taught there by other teachers also, so check out the web site to see the complete schedule.

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES UNDER GLASS – Sat. Oct 4th 10:00am - 1:00pm
With the help of solder you will incorporate collage, stamps and ink under glass with dangling beads for whimsical ornaments to give as gifts. You will complete two projects in class with one hanging from a metal key and the other ribbon. Create dimension using several pieces of glass and cut out images for an usual look. Bring tool kit, solder iron with 1/8” flat head screwdriver type tip, vise or clamp to hold hot pieces and safety glasses. ($65)

BUTTON TREE TABLE TOP CENTERPIECES –

Mon. Oct 13th 10:00am -2:00pm
Need a centerpiece for your holiday table? Come make three Christmas trees using buttons, pattern cardstock, string and ribbon to add a homespun look to your holidays. Bring to class several glue sticks, detail scissors, brayer, ruler, bone folder, one box each mini and craft glue dots. ($35)
CLEAR CHRISTMAS ALBUM –

Sat. Oct. 18th 10:00am - 2:00pm
Get ready for all those holiday photos you are going to take. In class, you will make a Christmas album complete with frosted covers and pattern transparencies for depth. Using rub ons, ribbons, cardstock and rhinestones for glitz you will complete this wonderful keepsake. Bring to class mini glue dots, vintage photos distress pad, scissors and a crop-a-dile if you have one ($55)

HOLIDAY CREATIVE CARDS –

Sat. Oct 25th 2:00pm -4:30pm
Need some ideas for your holiday cards? Come to class and complete six different cards with a Thanksgiving to Christmas theme. All supplies included. ($55)

ROW HOUSE ART –

Sat. Nov. 1st 10:00am - 2:00pm

Row Houses – a line of structures that resemble houses made using found objects, paper,
paint, metal, stamps and inks. In this class you will decorate three houses comprised of various items. You will make a frame to complete your picture, holding the finished row of houses. Bring tool kit and Pitch Black acrylic paint dabber to class. ($55)

WOOL FELT HOLIDAY ELF – Mon. Nov. 10th 10:00am - 12:00pm
This cute elf will add a whimsical touch to your holiday decorating. The felting has already been done for you on the parts to this doll. You just need to put him together and embellish. Bring your tool kit to class. ($20)

Bracelets

I made these bracelets using Tim Holtz Grungeboard and pieces from his idea-ology line. I emailed a photo to him and he is suppose to send me photos of what he did at CHA with these items. I hope he does. I really am interested.

Back From Florida

We have been back from vacation since August 17th but I have been busy trying to get caught up on things. We had a week till school started when we returned so inbetween buying clothes, supplies and shoes for school i was planning six different classes for work. But more on that later.
Florida was wet! It rained everyday we were there except two. Only two days of SUN!! It would stop most days for me to get out and ride my bike though. So that was good. I enjoyed riding to Seaside (the town we were near) and shopping or eatting at the beachside grill called Pickles. They had great fried pickles by the way. Eating ice cream and sitting on the porch of the book store reading my book and people watching was fun.

The surf was really rough but Blair and the two friends he took rode their boogie boards anyway. But they mostly watched TV and ate and ate and ate. I found these cool chairs someone painted in town. I love looking at all the different houses in town. A lot of them you can rent and they are painted all kinds of bright colors. It's a nice place to visit. I do hope if we return next year it doesn't RAIN as much!

Stamp Asylum Sketch Challenge

Stamp Asylum has a sketch card challenge posted on their blog http://stampasylum.blogspot.com/. It's their first one so go check it out!! If you make a card and bring it in to the store for them to keep you get a 15% discount on in stock items purchased. A great deal!!

My family and I will be leaving for vacation to Florida on Saturday so I may not have time to post again before we leave. I will return on the 18th. Hopefully I will have some great photos to share with you of the trip. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Watch Out New Teenage Driver On The Road

Well my son got his beginners driving permit last week. Wednesday July 30th to be exact. What a heart stopping thought that is!! He text me while he was in class that he got the thing and I just thought to myself "OH BOY". I got so nervous at that point.

When I picked him up after class I ask him if he wanted to drive and he said "Not from here. Take me to my old middle school where it's less crowded." So I did. The school is on the back roads per say near our home. He drove the rest of the way home. I was anxious but tried not to show it. He was sooo excited to be driving legally. I had taken him to the ball park parking lot by our home to practice a little. The only other time he has driven was hailing leaves from the front to the back of our house. We live on a dead end street on Lake Ray Hubbard so that was no big deal for him to be on the street. He did fine the first time out. Since then I have let him drive some everyday and he has gotten better and I have gotten less nervous.

Some of My Art

I added a new banner to the top of the blog. I created it in Adobe Elements. I used some pieces from digital kits I purchased from various companies. I must give credit to those companies and designers who designed them. The background paper is from Christina Renee http://www.christinareneedesigns.com/. She has some great grunge papers and a ton of distressed looking items. The vintage tape measure is by Lynn Grieveson and I bought it from Designer Digitals http://www.designerdigitals.com/. They have some great designers on this site like Katie Pertiet and Lynn. The flourish, postcard and label are by Rhonna Farrer which was purchased from Two Peas in a Bucket http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/. Rhonna is one of my favorite designers and Two Peas has a lot of digital kits to look through from her and other designers. Lastly the little girl in the photo is me. I must be about age 5 or 6. I really don't remember having the photo taken.

Well let's move on to some ART!! Yesterday I had a fun day creating with my rubber stamp group. They had a sleep over/mini retreat starting on Saturday but I had to work and teach on Saturday so I didn't attend till Sunday. I taught them how to make a metal embossed row house. Here is a photo of some row houses I have framed in my studio. The metal embossed one is the third one from the left in the photo. We used molds from Ten Seconds Studio http://www.tensecondsstudio.com/ to emboss with.

One of the ladies (Traci) taught us how to make a Poppet that she learned from Claudine Hellmuth at the fabulous INSPIRE retreat this year. This retreat is put on by Donna Downey and I heard was a real success. Here is the Poppet I made. It's just my prototype. It needs a bigger head. But now I know how to make them and I think a Halloween one would be great. The basic structure is made with a funnel, fabric, a dowel, paint and a wooden ball.

The mini retreat was really fun and a big thank you to all the ladies that put the time and effort into it, to make it great and relaxing. Everyone in the group has talent and are so friendly and willing to share their ideas and supplies. It's nice to be around people with giving hearts.

July 24, 2008 Day 1

Well I decided it was time to start my own blog since I spend so much time on the net looking at everyones. I am not a person of many words so we shall see how my posts go. I figure it will expose more people to my art and let them know more about me as a person and artist.

This first photo is from the class I am teaching at Stamp Asylum in Plano, TX this weekend. I work part time and teach at the store and have been since Feb. 1995. A very long time!! Anyway if your interested in the class and live or will be in the area of Plano, Tx where the store is located please call and sign up 972 596-1224. Class is from 10:ooam - 12:30pm and cost $55.00. You do not have to bring any supplies to class, everything is provided for you. In class you will construct six different cards using various techniques.