Busy Day....

...let's see, this morning I got to play with my Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland 8x8 paper stash. Cutting away and arranging things all day yesterday. Today I got to start gluing....don't you just love the colors in these papers?????????????????

Then at 2:30 it was time for Erin. We've got a schedule going here. It works pretty well. But after she hits the door.....everything changes. We did homework, walked the dog, played 3 games of Crazy 8's....that she won, then she helped make spaghetti with Poppie and was off to Soccer practice.


The little one comes in next....spaghetti, makes brownies with Poppie, takes a bath, then off to the After Hours in Peoria to have the doctor look a boo boo on her eye. She's fine, but then it had to start pouring. Mom was there to meet us and that's a good thing.

So, now, "peace and quiet and open air"...oh I got carried away with West Side Story there for a minute. This is the bracelet I keep telling you about. I got it at CHA in Anaheim. Always makes me smile and remember what's important every day. Remember to Play!!!!

These gorgeous earrings were my purchase at the Lincoln Art Festival Saturday. They're copper etched pieces that have been either torched or colored somehow. The artist was so busy, I forgot to ask him. BUT, the cool thing is the triangular copper piece is from a roof that was destroyed by Katrina that he somehow managed to get and has used in his jewelry. A sad piece of history on each ear.


That's it for today. Maybe, just maybe I'll get the Halloween piece done tomorrow and get more shots up. It's kinda cool if I do say so myself. At least it's been fun!!!!

And I Remembered to Play!

A Little Update

I am terrible about taking pictures at classes. I usually remember when everyone starts to pick up, give hugs, and have to leave.

Having said that, I did remember to get a couple of shots of the girls at Prairie Art Stamps finishing up. These are a couple of the Masters....very diligently putting glue to paper.


And these were 2 of the Newbies who had a great time in their first class here.


Everyone was happy with their results. And they all were great. They have lots of beautiful papers that were left over, so their little heads were busy planning on more projects when they get home.

By the end of this class, we decided to meet again for the Desk Organizer coming up. So that class is full! Yay!!!!! We did to add a couple of more seats, so call to check if they're still open.

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Here's the UPDATE: If you're in that class, your Organizer will be at the shop for you to pick up and paint on Saturday!!!! You can be ready to go when you get there if you feel you'd like a bit more time to prepare your wooden pieces. No pressure.....if you don't have time to pick it up, you'll be fine, we'll have plenty of time for everyone, no matter what!!!!

And here's the next class coming up. It's at Scrapbook Friendz in Bloomington, Illinois! It's part of their Christmas Workshops that they have every year. You can make both of these fun Wall Hangings for yourself, or keep one and give the other as a gift. You'll have lots of extra papers to make several cards or gifts with the leftover sheets from class.

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You get all 10 sheets of the Graphic 45 LeRomantique 8x8 papers in your kit and 2 new pieces of Vintaj from their collection of Arte Metal Decorivets: the Butterfly and the Frame ! So give them a call and sign up....hope to see you there on October 9th.

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Have a great day!

Experimenting in the Studio

Today was a quiet day. Read the paper, drank coffee, lounged around in my jammies....Bill was having breakfast with the "boys." Decided to read some chapters in the book that's been calling my name for weeks.....


Then I couldn't stand it any longer, and had to go play with something in the Studio. It can only last for so long....

I had cut the cool Lavish Trimming that has the elastic middle, in half for a previous project, so this gorgeous piece of trim was sitting there, lonely.

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The Baubles are so wonderful, you know they have to be used for something really special. SO.......put them together!!!!!

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Glue the trim around the oblong pearl with the fabulous eye pin center, and just keep gluing and turning until you've used about a foot of the trim.

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Draw a couple of leaves onto the Grungeboard Swirls leaving them attached at the center in a bow shape. Use Distress Inks Bundled Sage all over and Forest Moss on the edges.

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Punch a hole with the Cropadile in the center. A permanent black pen creates the outline and center of the leaves. One single leave is made to create the set of 3. The grouping was sprayed with Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist.

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The Bauble fits nicely through the punched hole. This piece can be added to whatever project you like.

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Ranger Products Used:

Distress Inks: Forest Moss, Bundled Sage

Perfect Pearls Mist: Sunflower Sparkle

Baubles: Teardrop Pearl

Lavish Trimmings: Decorative Elastic Trim

Grungeboard: Swirls sheet

Glossy Accents

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Other products:

Write 4 All pen-Stabilo

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So, there you have it! Now, let me know what you'd like to see here on the blog. I see a lot of people looking, so tell me what you want to learn or know about. OK?

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I'm here to serve!!!!! ha! Questions and comments are always welcome...it's no fun talking to yourself....

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Now go Create ART!

Secret Bird Society Altered Box

I LOVE turquoise and brown together. I LOVE the new KaiserCraft 6x6 paper pads, chipboard cutouts, tag books, and coordinating stamps. They take all the guesswork out of putting a project together. The tags are too cute, and they fit perfectly on the 6 sides of the box.

Having said that, this is a box that I made with the Secret Bird Society collection and all their products in this line. I used some Distress Ink, and Distress Stickles here and there. Tombow pens were used for added color on the top chipboard pieces.

Lots of Glaze Pen marks to add some dimension. Add chipboard scraps to lift the little pieces up a bit. The clear stamps have fabulous detail!

Their stamps were stamped randomly to cover every little bit of space I could find. The papers around the box lid are too wonderful. The pictures do not show the gorgeous gold metallic script in the turquoise paper, but it is my favorite of the whole set.

If you want a bunch of great stuff with everything imagined for you, you cannot go wrong with Kaiser.....thanks a bunch Melissa!!! It was great fun making this project.

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The class yesterday at PAS was fantastic. A mix of Newbies and Masters to create a great blend of fun. The Desk Organizer class was sold out by then end of the day....but they decided to add a couple of more seats! So act now!

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Hope you had a good weekend!

A Dream is a Wish .........

....Your Heart Makes. Lots of new stuff from Tim Holtz in this little piece.


I used the new Lavish Trimmings Roses and the Elastic Centered gorgeous trim. They come in a set of 3 trims. Very cool. I added the new Sapphire Distress Ink and Victorian Velvet to the edges.

The papers are all from the paper stash Shabby Chic. The Alterations Dies were Heart Wings and Ornate - On the Edge.

I diecut the edge off the one end of the chipboard rectangle, and glued it to the other end for dimension. I LOVE layers.

The saying is from the new 100th Collection set of Tim's - Odds and Ends.

The wings were painted with the Silver acrylic paint Dabber. Great new design in the soft bottle. So easy to use.

Have a great weekend...we're off to teach tomorrow with the Prairie Art Stamps lovlies!

Have a great weekend!

Studio...all cleaned up and ready; get messy!

Sometimes you just have to step back and reorganize....you life, your dreams, your relationships....and your STUDIO! Life's too short to waste your time doing things that make you something that you're not.

So just go with the flow, hang with the people that love you, and "Follow your own star...be who you are." I will make that into a stamp someday. Drew it up and threw it out there, but never followed through. Not enough hours in the day.

So I have the Studio the way I like it, somewhat. It could be better, but lots of stuff was put away, some into the circular file, and we're ready to Rock and Roll.

This AMAZING beauty was given to me by my dear friend Deb's husband Gary!!! Don't you just LOVE it???? Definitely "me" and definitely a Work of ART. He handmakes these pens, and the woodworking is out of this world. The inlay is gorgeous....love, love, love it!!!! THANKS GARY!!!!

Took down the cubby I'd bought at Archiver's years ago, and decided to put new labels on my inks and stuff them in there....right on my desktop. Wish I had more of these organizers...I got the last one that day. For those who check out details...you know who you are...I do have more colors, but I go to these the most. Nothing is set in stone....be flexible and bend with the wind.

Check out the Ranger blog for printable labels for your inks of all kinds!!! SO COOL! I used the hubby's label maker only because I had some already done, but Ranger's is too cool and too easy!

This side of the studio shows how I was using it before I got into stamping....it has some of my watercolors on the walls. And it has the 1st collage I made with stamping!!! Keep it there to remind me how I've changed, but remain the same.

Still LOVE collage in everything. The CREATE sign was done with found objects and acrylic paints from Golden. Great paints, too.

Be well and be good to each other.....

OH, see the chair...that was from my previous life of using Bright Metallic Paints on fabric....has to be at least 10 years old I think....do as the chair says..

CREATE ART!

Back To School-Oh Happy Day!

Well, the summer is officially over for the kids. It's back to school time for the youngest ones here. And they are BOTH so HAPPY! Yeah! Thank you for that. They got the teachers they wanted, but had to wait almost all summer to find out...and the anguish was bad. I love that commercial where the parents are gliding though the store on a shopping cart, soooo happy, because its time for school to start!

The only grandson is getting a mouth full of metal today......braces for the boy!

Alex it will all be worth it. Look at your sister's gorgeous smile. Try not to see the fangs that come out at night! Oh, Edward, she is here waiting for you.

I'll probably pay for that.....

Anyway. Finished up instructions that I had to write. They are the least fun in the course of making projects, but a must. Something fun for you guys and exciting to tell you when I can....you'll be the first to know. (nothing huge Lori, you're a hoot!) Stay tuned.



Off to the printer for class instructions and labeling tape for all the new Distress Inks....it's about time I did that. Need 6 more feet of desktop for everything. Had to order another one of these from RANGER....LOVE THEM!

And thanks to all of you who wrote to congratulate me on the Tim Holtz Design Team. It really means a lot. Not everyone has a link I can email back to, so just know, every comment is gratefully received! I will have some new classes that will definitely be in the area, and we'll use Tim Stuff for SURE!

Have a great day....and CREATE ART!

It's "Time for Tim!"

Hello Bloggers! As promised, I saw Friday the 13th as a sign to make something for Halloween! And the box of goodies from Tim just played right along with the plan...

If you follow me, you know I'm always on the lookout for something to alter. This box is just an unfinished piece I picked up at Michael's, I think. Painted it black (of course) and then sponged the front with a Lettuce Paint Dabber. The new and improved Dabbers are WONDERFUL! Really love them.
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I cut a square of orange paper, used the Halloween Night Texture Fade and trimmed to fit the top inside of the box. Black Soot Distress ink was swiped across all the embossed areas. Using Lettuce, White, and Copper Paint dabbers, I BRUSHED on color. The bats, crow, cat, iron fence, and spider web all had Distress Stickles added...hard to see...sorry. I also ran some Rusty Hinge DS around the edges. The cool thing about this technique is, you pick up the black DI in the paint, because it remains wet, so you create a shaded or slightly GRUNGEY color...especially with the white. So very easy. COOL, huh?

The Witch and Bats are cut with the new Die from Alterations-Bewitching Hour and chipboard. They're painted black and outlined in white paint-pen (I used a soft-tip one here as a roller ball pen didn't glide well enough on the wood.) Use the pen for pen marks on the edges, too. I used Lemonade PD on the broom and Lettuce on the witch. Copper PD was painted (with a brush) on the body of the witch and Tim's Skull component stamped on with Black Archival ink.

The side sections were traced and cut, embossed with the new Texture Fade-Halloween Words, and had Black Soot Distress Ink swiped over the top. The orange paper used here and on the skeleton piece are from the Retro Grunge paper pad. (back sides)

The Foundations were colored with Terra Cotta and Rust Alcohol inks. Then On the Fence was die-cut from the grey and white paper in the Vintage Shabby paper pad. I used the Checkerboard Texture Fade and a bit of Black Soot DI on the edges.

I cut out all the wonderful sections of the new Halloween paper with vintage cards and chose 4 I liked together. The Halloween words paper was cut apart to spell CANDY, layered on chipboard, and accented with Black Soot and Rusty Hinge Distress Stickles....hard to see, but it's there...really.

Select your favorite cards and glue away. Tulle was added behind the witch for some dimension. Foundations were glued on with Matte Multi-Medium from Claudine....that stuff is amazing!!!!!!!!!

Most everything used in this project can be found here from Tim Holtz's Collections, whether it be Alterations, Ranger, Idea-ology or Stampers Anonymous. Just click on his link and you'll find what you need. All other products will have a link to Ranger. And don't forget to support your LSS....try to imagine what life would be like without them. It's not pretty!

Now......go CREATE ART!!!

P.S..ordered my Vagabond...can not wait!

ROADTRIP to Springfield

Had lunch with our dear traveling friends in Lincoln yesterday, Harry and Joni. Always a treat and we need to get planning for another "trip!"

Then off to deliver the class samples to Prairie Art Stamps for Saturday's class and the Desk Organizer, too. Love those girls!!!! AND if you love ART SUPPLIES, this is the place to go!!! OMG! Just look at the supplies and drool.........love the flowered ribbons on the right. Yummy.

They just got a box of stamps in when I was there, and we all had to smell the rubber! (See all the Tim Alterations hanging there?) And Vintaj samples!!!! I'm just sayin', we have 2 pieces of Vintaj in the class on Saturday....could win some more in the door prize............

Stamps, stamps and more stamps..................

I got my box of goodies from Tim and Mario Wednesday, so I must get to work to CREATE something of interest.

WOW, what a stash!!!!!!!! You'll be the first to know.....promise. Today is Friday the 13th....inspiration........

Now.........go play!!!

Today was a "me" day.....

Yesterday I worked hard on getting kits together. Today I decided to take a day and play like I haven't done in a long time....well, a month or so.

And this pencil holder I got at Prairie Art Stamps a while back was calling my name.......so here is my first project as a Tim Holtz Designer! I had a great time, and the hours just slipped away.

All papers are from Tim's Lost and Found and Retro Grunge. They are his Stamps, Idea-ology pieces, Tissue Tapes, and Distress Inks.

I used Wild Honey and Vintage Photo on the kraft paper piece. They REALLY go well together!!!!

The sayings are some of my favorites. They are good ones to get you through the day. The Tissue Tape just brightened up the sides a bit. I layered the 2 sayings on the sides to give them a bit more dimension. And the Word Sticks are what we all need in our lives....FIND TIME...to do what we LOVE!

Hope you had a great weekend, I know we did!

Linda

OK you guys!!!!!!!!!!

................I tried going back to the old classic blog template and lost all my gadgets, links and everything. SO, rather than start from scratch with that, I decided to tweak this one. And I figured out how to get the color and size again!

So we have the black background back again. I hope you're happy, cause I'm happy!!! BUT, lesson learned here, as usual.

The bright colors will knock your socks off for awhile from the old posts, which remarkably seemed to follow the blog. ISN'T THAT AMAZING????

And some more fabulous news....my dear friend Lin Brown from the UK is on Tim's Design Team, too. She is such a brilliantly talented person. YAY for Lin!!!

Shall we try a picture and see how messed up the new template can make that???? The flower is a project I made with Deb at CHA. Loved how the colors turned out on it. It was from Clearsnap. Could never in a millions years tell you how I did it! Luck is better than talent many days!

OK, it's only taken me 2 hours to get to this point... this is my son, the Over 30 goalie for the Morton Team that on the tournament last weekend. He's red, yes, cause it was HOT!

This is a really cool rack I found at an antique shop in Le Claire Iowa. I tried to get them for the classes, but they were out of stock for several months. This is the class that's coming up in Springfield at Prairie Art Stamps, without the rack, so call and get your spot. We're sure to have a great time!!!!

Your Humble Friend in ART,
Linda

GREAT News!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After much thought...........none...........and consideration......little if any...........I have agreed to become a member of..........

The TIM HOLTZ DESIGN TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm still tweaking this new blog template, but I have had to make some choices in the last 2 days that kept me very busy.

I thought I needed some changes in my life, so I started with the blog, and then this came out of the BLUE.

Can't wait to get started.........although I feel like I'm home. Finally get to do what I love best, again.

Be well and be good to each other!

Linda

New Template-what do you think?

I decided to change the look of my blog. It's been the same for years.

I guess I like it. But I lost my site counter, and that distressed me. Hopefully I'll figure that out. The colors from previous posts may hurt your eyes a bit...

You always have to be open to change. Bend with the wind, and be flexible. I learned that at the "phone company" years ago....and I mean years....when everything went to a paperless society and computers.

MANY, MANY people hated it, and refused to try. Needless to say, they made themselves miserable.

So talk to me, let me know what you think. And we'll see if this works. And another thing I noticed...I can't enlarge the text as I'm writing. I guess I'll have to get over that!!!!! Oh, and I can't change the color either....waahhhh!

CREATE ART!!!

Wedding Card Fun!

My daughter needed a Wedding card for her BIL and his lovely soon-to-be bride. I love the Petaloo Celebrations collection and the Peony Box Blends in white. I used a couple of pieces from Hearts and Bells, too.

The Lush collection from KaiserCraft if just the right color, as her brides maids were wearing apricot.
This is the inside. I used 2 Sotero cards from Bare Elements and Creative Imaginations,with holes punched for ribbons. The 6x6 pad from Kaiser have numerous punch-out pieces that go with the papers beautifully.

The corner stamp is from the Hippy Girl clear stamp set at Kaiser, as are the flower designs on the tag. The fine detail is remarkable!

The cool edge piece on the back and the circle are punch-outs from the 6x6 paper pack.

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AMAZING little pads of paper.....love them all!

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AND check out Margie's booth with Amy from the Paper Life on video! LOVED her dress form at CHA!!!!

Have a great day!