Faith Hope Love

I'm so excited, a friend and I are going to be taking a workshop given by Lisa Kaus  at the end of  June. I love her whimsical style and also the bright colors she uses in her art. It's been several years since I've taken a class, and I'm so over due. Just stopping and cruising Lisa's blog inspired me to combine our styles in these two projects. I just couldn't wait until June, so I just had to fake it. I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Faith, Hope, and Love will be hanging in a church lobby in a week, and the little houses will be for sale at up coming art shows. If you are not familiar with Lisa's work check out her blog, you won't be disappointed.

Sweet Little Village

I love this project, I just have to smile every time I look at it. I found these wooden blocks a few months ago, while cleaning out closets. Some of the blocks belonged to my husband, and some to my kids. We kept them at our Grandmother's  "AKA Grandma Noodle" house. Whenever we would go to visit her, the kids would play with them on her turquoise shag carpet. Austin would build the city, and Godzilla, I mean Annie would knock it down.  I recently submitted these photos to be considered in a holiday magazine. We'll have to see what happens there. I thought it would make a great center or mantle piece. The snow is laundry detergent, it's kind of messy, but smells good. To me this was the prefect re-purposing project, that hopefully will be passed down to our kids. My husband grew up to be an architect. I'm not to sure what my kids will grow up to be. Maybe they will go into showbiz and  remake all the old Godzilla movies.

Vintage Bird Planters

Last week I found these cute little ceramic birds marked down to $1.25 at Michael's. There were four left so I bought them all. This morning I put together these two planters as gifts. They had brown clay pots at the hardware store, just the right color. I brought them home and using rubber stamps and cream colored acrylic paint, I stamped a script and an angel  motif onto the pots and trays. Next I made a polymer base and put polymer roses around it's edge. Last I hot glued the ceramic bird and centered it into the succulents that I planted while the polymer was baking. This was a fast and easy project that gives a lot of bang for your buck.  

Birthday Drama

Annie's Birthday Banner

Entry Decorations

 Well I am happy to report that we all survived the sleepover of 2011. Take one room, add a bunch of 5th grade girls, and what do you get? A boat load of drama. It brought back so many memories of my sleepover days, some good, some not so. Don't get me wrong, these are all great, kind, fun loving kids. But when they are all mixed together with cake, ice cream, and soda, something just goes wrong. I knew I was in for a long night, when a sleeping bag arrangement couldn't be made. I now understand why committees take days, weeks even  to make decisions. Without a little mom intervention, those girls would still be arguing about which movie to watch. I found that some of the girls, didn't understand the concept of compromise. It was their way or tears.  The Wii dance game was a lifesaver, lots of  songs, lots of  room to dance,and lots of energy to burn. All in all it was a great time, and Annie felt special and loved. Next year I'm thinking we can pack all that special love into a three hour party, and have one friend at a time sleepovers. It's strange my 15 year old son has had a few sleepover parties ( they call them sleepovers, but they never sleep) this last summer, and none of his friends argued about what movie to watch, or cried when things didn't go their way. My husband, who is an only child, was baffled by the whole drama. It's now Monday morning, everyone is at work or school. I think I'll have some left over birthday cake for breakfast and dance to my favorite songs on the Wii. If you have ever had birthday drama, leave a comment. I could use a laugh.

Vintage Window Remix

 I recently purchased 3 vintage windows, they are beautiful in their own right, but I had this vision in mind, to glam them up. Here is the first one. These are not the best pictures, I hope the details show. I placed tempered glass over the paned glass, so you can see through both. I'm really happy with it and look forward to fixing up the other two. I'm knocking around the idea of using all white on one and maybe a tree on the other. Do you have any other ideas? 

More Wool Roving

As you can see I'm still felting away. Theses are my experimental patches and samples to show how my polymer embellishments can be used. I will be a vendor at the Cloth Paper Scissors CREATE RETREAT in Costa Mesa this May. If you are planning to be there, come by and say hi.

My New Passion

I know it's been awhile since my last post. I've had so much fun experimenting with wool roving and polymer clay, that I haven't had time for much else. There's a lot of potential with these mediums. I have a few more pieces in a different color story. You'll have to wait to see these later. I'm giving myself through Monday to continue on this course, then I need to get back to some tempered glass pieces I have started.I hate to have unfinished work laying around. But I have to say, there's something relaxing about working with these soft fibers. I'm looking forward to seeing where this combination will go.

Happy Valentine's Day

Polymer Clay Cupcake

 I couldn't sleep last night, so I was up making this jumbo glitter cupcake. It is completely made  of polymer clay. Wouldn't a whole tray of these be cute? I need to make them smaller next time. I made this one for a very special friend for Valentine's Day. Her name is Vicky and she loves anything vintage. She just made a couple of birds that will look really cute with this. I'm hoping she doesn't check my blog today, so I can call her and be on the phone when she sees it. Everyone should have a friend like Vicky.  She has been a great support for me on my artist's journey. She has cried in the valleys when I have been disappointed , shouted from the mountain top with me to celebrate the victories , and has kept me laughing when I forgot how to laugh on my own. She loves me and my art, and has done so much to encourage and promote me.  She is one of the most gracious and generous people I have known, and her husband is the same. So Vicky I hope you like your big fat cupcake and this little surprise.  I know God put you in my life at just this time, to help me make it over this last hill. Do you think we'll get to the top to find a mountain? I hope not! But if there is, I know you will be one of  the people pushing me from behind. I just wanted to honor you and our friendship today. If you read this early, you better cry when you read it with me tomorrow. I'm joking, just call me. If any of you have a friend like this, you are blessed. Leave me a comment and tell me about them.