new stuff

well, i have no idea why, but the post i had with this picture vanished when i tried to give the post a title... i think i may return to wordpress.  i really like their page option, and editing seems easier.. i think i said i have been busy lately, and am still working on putting together inventory for my ETSY store - bags of collage scraps.  it's way more work than i thought to put decent kits together. plus i am trying to do some collages myself and i started a new journal.  that's going slow because i keep coming online and finding new incredibly talented collagists and art journalists....need Art Addict Anon meetings...

ACEO batch 3

 

 

i got a slight bit lazy scanning these, i like adding a dark border, but really, my cards don't usually have borders, i like to use all the space - all 2.5 x 3.5 inches.  i would like to know how you ATC / ACEO artists back your work, or if most of you just use mattboard or watercolor paper, also very textur-y and ink hungry....?

sneak peek --- my ETSY

 ***** ETSY SHOP OPENING SOON!!!! *****

well, i have the storefront, and am madly matching a mostly minute menagerie of collage scraps!  i have sooo much to share that creating these kits has been taking up much of my time...it is so very much more challenging than i thought.  the OCD part of me doesn't want to give up, so again, my passion for "art" has been therapeutic. 

here are two items that will be up as soon as i put together several kits to post.  i hope to offer things that others don't have access to for their ATC /ACEO / inch-work / collage projects.  i will also be letting go of some back issues of Somerset Studio and assorted Stampington and scrapbook idea books and magazines. vintage and retro-ish styles are my loves, and i have at least 50 discarded and unwanted books to pull apart for sharing. i hope to add variety kits as well, including some of my vintage buttons and laces, as well as some new fibers and scrap papers that i buy too many of. please check back if you are in need of scrap-packs!!!  thanks.

 

inchies.....group 3

 

 

 

these i made just because i am addicted to inch-work.  it's amazing therapy...tuning out excessive thought and focusing on minutia.  some of them are on bazzill cardstock, thus the texture, which dries my pens out quite rapidly!  the top sacred hearts are on recycled cardboard packaging (uh, yes, tissue boxes rule, ashley!).  while i do love the textured bazzill, it's too hard for me to work with on this scale, and i want my pens to last longer than one inch.... 

thanks for viewing.

ACEO batch 2

 

 

 

~these are my most recent ACEOs.

i made a few mandala-style designs and tried using my prismacolor blender to haze some of the backgrounds, and i really like how it looks next to the non-blended hard lines.

i sooo wish bic would make more new colors - more light colors. the sharpies seem too heavy, i think the bics have a nice clear color.

i have been trying to gather opinions and suggestions for some new markers. of course, cost is an issue, but i might just buy single prismacolors in the lighter shades i don't have, using my hobby lobby coupons. i love the tips on my microns, and the control i have with ink flow. i did just purchase 2 pitts, fine and superfine, after reading about them on blogs/flickrs....can't wait to crack those open!   any recommendations on markers would be appreciated.

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a new journal

i have so many written journals, from college/post-college years, where i let the raw stuff reside. those will always stay private. then there is my large collage journal (magazine cuttings given new life).  i will get around to posting some of that...both had some drawings and illustrations, but not many.
but i have wanted to combine written and art journaling in the same book since i have wandered through some of the most amazing blogs-- where artists bravely put up their incredible visual journals depicting personal and sometimes difficult days...  it seems to me to be the most perfect creative endeavor...and i know from experience that it is the very best therapy.
here are the first few page layouts from a new journal i started. it's a Canson 10x10 -natural (tan) pages. the paper is smooth, and i used my usual microns, bic mark-its, sharpies, and colored pencils. i want this to be a written/illustrated collection of my favorite childhood memories.  we'll see how that pans out.

 

 

 

 

 

i finally figured out, with help from kgkeiser on youtube (thanks!) how to create a copyright overlay (or layer), which you can adjust opacity on, and save as a pattern to protect the art you post.  i have used a copyright image on the other stuff i've posted, but individually, and with only my name.  it was a pain, and doesn't work to protect smaller pieces, or work with lots of detail, as areas can still be cropped....yes, i AM paranoid, and new in the online posting world.
this can turn into a whole copyright/not discussion, and i have read many blog opinions on the topic, and understand the overall frustration with viewing copyrighted work. i see how easy it is to have your stuff ripped off too (like lauren nassef -or any of the other hundreds of artists here).  how depressing to go through that site....
so i will use this rather weak attempt to deter any possible infringement. which i know is completely impossible.
on THAT note!!!  thanks for viewing.

pet caterpillar transformation

8.23.09   10pm

rodney came home today with these two pretties, and immediately i said "let them gooo!". emma suggested we keep them and watch them turn into beautiful butterflies....

she had taken a butterfly "hatching" kit to kindergarten for her class to watch, but at 10, she's on a pet kick, and wants to have her own menagerie here at home...nature lover.

they were on a parsley plant, and he brought some home with them. we retrieved a huge pickle jar from our recycling (wal-mart, mt.olive, biiig jar less than 3 bucks!)...
you can get closer if you click on the photos - sorry if they took a while to load!

8.24.09   10pm

after a little while emma decided the caterpillars didn't like the smell of the picklejar, so she dug out a hospital tank for our fish.  i did some searching online and found a ton of info on caterpillars.  these are actually called "parsley caterpillars", or black swallowtails...i got excited as i read they are easy to care for and many people do it, so we set up the little tank and they chowed on parsley and dill.  they also love fennel, but we uh, were fresh out (?).

these caterpillars were large and sooo gorgeous, the black like velvet, very dark, and the green and yellow like blacklight colors.  they eat like crazy! and luka was amazed (he's 3.85). no wonder some people get rid of them...they plow through the stuff. well, they didn't just eat a lot, they pooped a ton!  easy enough to clean out, though, like pellets.

8.26.09   11.50am

so, as i read online, the time would come when these guys empty their gutts in preparation for chrysalis development.  see?  there in the corner? and what was so cool, it was like synchronized butt-blasting - they are doing everything together.  a few hours before this, they were both head down in the same spots - does anyone know if they make some silk for their butts to stick to as well?   they began bobbing their heads back and forth on the branch, i guess stringing themselves up.  (soo much info and so many photos can be had with a simple google search if you want to know more-like here).

then they both tucked-in their heads, separated from the branches (except for their butt), and became motionless...

8.27.09   9.25am

i was dumbstruck when i peered into the tank this morning...maybe i'm not the only one who has never seen this evolution? i don't even recall ever seeing a video, even though science has always been one of my favorite subjects...

i had to get my glasses and a glass of oj and look again - yes, they had done their thing in the 4 hours i was asleep!  dangit! they went from plump, bright green, cute callapillers to dead-looking, crusty brown chrysalis'sesss (?).
later, emma came home from school and told me she saw one of them wiggling, and a crust came off and fell...wow- she got to see it! go see some videos on youtube, really, if you've never seen it...

they looked pretty creepy.  then luka saw them and almost cried.  he said "where's my callerpillars?!"   he insisted they didn't want to be brurflies....i took him to my computer and flashed through several videos (youtube - there are many) - so he could watch what was going to happen.  he wasn't impressed til he saw one butterfly poke his antennae out, one at a time, then he was giggling and went to watch our little ones.

if you click on these, you can see that the thread WEAVES through a section of the chrysalis for stability!  how?! how do they survive storms?  most don't make it...

8.27.09   12.30pm

according to the articles i sifted through, it takes 8-12 days for this miracle to happen, OR, they might overwinter!  i hope not, it's only august, and still 90, hopefully they will come out next week!

they even LOOK like twins, don't they?  along the middle area, you can almost see a wing pattern...they say the chrysalis will become almost transparent just before the butterflies emerge...i will keep posting to this same post, hopefully get a short video of the big event!

here is one more....nature is sooo cool, huh?

UPDATE:  9.21.09
well, nothing is happening.  the darker of the two shriveled quite a bit, it doesn't look good.  the other looks the same as the above picture.  i put in wet paper towels for moisture, then this week i tried putting them outside, thinking that the warm air would make them come out (it's been upper 70's-80's and extremely rainy) but nothing still.
it looks as though (and i have noo experience here) that they might overwinter? i'm not sure that they will come out any more this year, so we will follow directions we found on butterfly info sites to keep them dark and dry and cool. any other suggestions?   :)
meanwhile, here is a card in honor of the brave ones:

and two more photos....one is a close-up of the two of them, you can kinda see the back one is shriveled.  and the second is a photo of what i thought was a set of pretty creepy-looking bats or vampirish bugs!  they have faces and necks, and emma even pointed out how the darker one has a skeleton necklace! (hit it to blow it up) is this a protection thing?  it sure would keep me away if i was their size...

jumping on the web-way

today, after blogging to myself for over a year, i decided to *officially open* my site to everyone.
there are a few real reasons why today became the day:

1. 08.20.09 = 0+8+2+0+0+9 = 1+9 = 1+0 = 1
day 1, right? are ya with me?

2. 4 OTHER people in my life are taking the plunge -oooh- not a good choice of words - today-
let's say they are landing some new experiences that will change their lives.....
doing something that they have been putting off for years...new lives begin with one step!!!

3. i cannot wait any longer to become part of a society
of the most TALENTED and AMAZING artists in the WORLD!!! HELLO!!!!

WILLKOMMEN to MY humble little place in the mosaic! THANK YOU FOR PASSING THROUGH!

and please keep coming back, as i plan to expand a lot by adding MUCH more art,
THOUSANDS of links to artists i LOVE and am INSPIRED by,
photos of my many COLLECTIONS (thrift store loooove),
and personal anecdotes (because i love to write) about stuff you will be hopefully interested in.
i am working on my own FLICKR photostream,
and have an empty ETSY storefront i hope to embellish with art pieces and stuff to inspire!

now that i have built my own huge wall of goals, i shall share one of my favorite quotes:
"blessed are those who expect NOTHING, for they shall not be disappointed".
(who knew a 100-piece puzzle of a pathetic little puppy could stick with you forever!?)
i want to enter this community to share the crazy love i have for all things beautiful and REAL, and to meet others who are just as crazy (or who LIVE with someone who IS)....

WOODBURNED + CARVED BEADS

the creation of these woodburned beads kept me sane back some years ago, but i can still smell the wood burning....i will go back to do more of these when i get the energy! ...hopefully before my hands become more unsteady. i most love collecting the worn wood beads, like the small square ones that have their original wire loop in them.
i wonder if there is any interest in these for you jewelry artists? :)

more published!

i am so thrilled to share that two of my exemplars were chosen for the halloween issue of somerset!! since it's not on the shelf yet (sept 1), i wanted to share what i submitted and what they used.... what an awesomely talented group of artists i was in the company of!!!! thanks to all of you for the ongoing inspiration in each issue.... the two alphabets were included, but none of the others. i was going to add a photo of the CLUES alphabet with some side-lighting to show the shadows and lifted letters, but somerset still has my stuff :) .. i'll add it later.