Bring on Summer

I'm not sure how you feel, but I'm so ready for summer to be here. Only one more week of getting up and rushing out the door to get the kids to school. We were talking in the car this morning about all the things we can do this summer. I told them that we needed to hit the ground running, because there were so many things I wanted to get done. I'm sure they were both rolling their eyes as soon as they heard the phrase " hit the ground running", and were thinking to themselves, here we go again, Mom and all her big plans. They would love to sleep, eat, play videos, and watch TV. Then wake up the next day and start it all over again. But where does that get you? You wake up sometime in late August, and say where did the summer go? Not this year, we will look back and say "wow look at all the projects we got done, what a great summer!" Ok I'm not so bad, we'll fit some fun in there also. Whatever we do, we will do it together, and it will be fun. Because I'm Mom and I said so. PS, do you like my latest polymer and tempered glass window?
 

CREATE

I've had a very busy  week. I made everything you see in these pictures from Monday morning to Friday night. I will be attaining Cloth Paper Scissors "CREATE" retreat next week. On Thursday a friend and I will be taking Alisa Burke's class on stamp carving, I'm looking forward to that.  On Friday I will be part of a vendor's fair. I already had a pretty good amount of artwork and nick knacks, but I wanted to add some polymer elements, that other artists could purchase and add to their mixed media art. I'm hoping to meet other artists, and make some new friends at this event. If you are planning to be at Create next week, come by my booth and say hi. I hope you will be amazed by the variety, color, and texture of my art.


 

First Art Show of 2011

Soft Vintage colors

My new concrete cupcake, designed to go in your garden.

Wool Roving

Something bright and cheerful

Well, the art show season is under way. Last Sunday we were at Shell Beach Art in the Park. I was happy with my new products and setup, but  not very pleased with the weather. It turned out to be very windy, not a surprise, wind is the only negative about this venue, especially in the spring. If you live around the Central Coast of California, we will be at the Mother's Day show on Sat. and Sun., in the walnut grove behind the Halcyon Store in Arroyo Grande. Later this month I will be at the Cloth Paper Scissor Create Retreat in Costa Mesa on the 20th. On the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Memorial weekend I will be in Morro Bay Art in the Park. It's just the beginning of a crazy month. I promise to start up workshops in June. If you are interested email me at crimsonheartstudios@verizon.net. Hope to see you soon. PS I would really love to hear from you, if you have time to leave a comment. Thanks, Cindy

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?