ANOTHER FIRST

Yup, another first for me! This is an assemblage I made for the Moonlight Journey Art contest on the Creative Souls group. I first heard about this contest via my good friend and super talented artist Terri Khars, who is on the Moonlight Journey design team. They have some super fabulous collage sheets to work with. This project nagged at the back of my head all month, because I really didn't want to do another atc, or regular collage, I wanted to do something different. Today it finally came together. I saw some tumbled marble pieces in work ( I work in a large tile store) , and really loved the organic quality they have. I made an alterish type thing out of the collage sheet , cut out the arch, and cut out the woman, and added the butterfly wings.
I made another butterfly from the sheets and put that one to rest on the step, found a really neat pewter bee, and added some flowers. I used broken pieces of marble around the base to secure the arch, and added a blingy crystal drop to hang over her crown. This was a blast!
Let me just say that I NEVER ever would have thought a few months back that I would be doing assemblage! I never thought I would try anything other than jewelry! But I am so glad I continue to try new things. I want to mention that this idea of assemblage came from some great inspiration from Cat Kerr of " In the Light of the Moon". Her altered pieces and assemblages are really wonderful! Check her blog out if you haven't already! Also, check out Terri Khars blog for some super collage inspiration!! And as always, thank you to my very good friend Lenna, my mentor and wonderfully dear friend. She is always a source of inspiration and encouragement
Thanks for visiting everyone...and for your constant support!!

PERSIA

I am fascinated by the lotus flower, and I find myself time and again reinventing jewelry around my thoughts of them. This is how these were born. The subtle swirl in these handmade local artisan lampwork beads reminds me of water and the flower itself, cragly brown wood beads of roots and mud, white of pureness, and hill tribe stamen charms of reproduction and rebirth. The red lotus was introduced to Egypt from Persia.

Another glimpse into the workings of my mind.

YOU MUST

My sweet sweet wonderful friend Cindy of Sweet Bead Studio has teamed up with her good friend Jeanette Ryan and together they have created a venue that YOU MUST see! Clicke here, or on the badge to get the full scoop of ART BLISS, a unique and spectacular art retreat being offered on the east coast this fall. You'll be amazed at the intsructors and classes . But I am not going to give you all the details....you will have to go visit the site yourself!

A BIG congrat's to Cindy and Jeanette, and a culmination of a dream!

WHO

(click on the pic for a better look!)

Gale, of Paper Whimsy, is hosting a whimsical art challenge. The challenge is to create 3 atc's using Gale's wonderful whimsy kids from her incredible collage sheets, and also use paper whimsy backgrounds. Once you have done that, you then may be dubbed a WHO, whimsical of the highest order!

So here they are, in all there whimsical glory! I hope I am a WHO now!

Thanks for visiting everyone!

BLESSED AGAIN

Tarnished Peach

I have been blessed again to have a pair of my earrings featured in the June issue of Bead Trends! The folks there always do such a fabulous job with the photography. These pics here are mine, but check out the June issue if you can and you will also see a few other artists you are familiar with.

Thanks for looking and Happy Weekend all!

GLUEBOOK

I am taking Mary Green's online Vintage Gluebook class. Mary's great, and what attracted me to this class are the beautiful images that Mary supplies (and of course you can use your own too), and the idea that you only need to work with paper and glue. It is basic in concept but teaches you so much about composition, color, and design. I am really enjoying it. These are the pieces I have done so far, the first starting at the top to the most recent at the bottom. The bottom one was today's lesson of challenging yourself to only work with 3 different pieces of paper. I found it very hard, but very useful.
All you have to do is check out Mary's blog and you will be so inspired!

Thanks for visiting!

MORE

I'm still in etch mode, and still loving it. This time I made earwires out of Barbara Lewis's lovely enameled headpins. The lavender color is really different for me, but I liked the color with the flower design, I thought it looked serene. I have been drawn to purples lately, and hope to incorporate it into some more pieces. We will see if I can break through the neutral barrier!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, and as always , thanks for visiting!

THE BARTER CIRCLE

I wanted to use this post to share with you what I think is a great new blog and a fabulous idea. It is called The Barter Circle, and it is a wonderful concept come to life by the direction of Debrina, of Debrina's Altered Art Diary. Debrina is a great artist and a genius I think ! I have just stumbled upon her great blogs, looking as always for more wonderful artists to connect with and inspire each other. The Barter Circle is designed that by visiting the blog, and contacting Debrina if you are interested in bartering, that everyone that wants to barter will be put on the list. So when you are looking for something, you can visit the list and visit barterers and hopefully start bartering. I think this is a great idea because I for one and sick of spending, spending, spending, especially on art supplies. Things are so expensive these days, and so much is wasted, so why not. I think Debrina has the same idea...and it seems that we are slowly growing in numbers. So hopefully when I get my act together a bit more, maybe by the weekend , I would like to make a list on my sidebar of things I have that I would trade, and things I am looking for. Debrina and I have already found things we want from each other, and I am sure I can find others. So that's it, maybe check it out, and help someone else out, and I think this is definitely a green thing too.

FLOURISH

I just love that word...flourish. And I have always loved that particular type of design, so I was so very happy when my 2nd attempt at etching with one of my favorite stamps turned out just how I wanted. I had tried the etching thing a few months ago, but I was not at all happy with the results. Thanks to an excellent tutorial on Objects and Elements blog, I got it figured out. I see much more of this in my future.....the mind is racing, but for now I am happy with a good start. You know when you make something and inside it just screams "me". Well, this is one of those moments for me. I know it doesn't look earth moving, but oh I have been moved!
Thanks for looking , commenting and visiting, You all keep me moving!

available in my etsy shop

WE ARE NOT AMUSED!

An amusing zetti queen atc made for a swap with the theme of zany zetti queens with a quote. I enjoyed this, probably because as my teeth problems got even worse this week, I transferred that angry energy into the artwork , and thought the saying was appropriate! Some research told me that this very familiar phrase is attributed to Queen Victoria, but I don't know why. It doesn't matter...I liked it! Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day, and wishing everyone a brand new beautiful week!

Thanks for looking and all your kind comments!

SPROUT

I guess I am feeling the freshness of spring, and I do love it! The weather has been incredible, and the garden is pushing up buds all over, and it has gone to my brain....and I really don't mind! This is some lovely LeAnn beads (my all time favorite beads ever, ever, ever!), they are the cool kinda minty green cubes and one large round bead in there....they are so perfectly imperfect, green blister pearls, turquoise, bali, and a touch of czech glass.
My advice to all this weekend is to go out and inspect nature, appreciate it, and you will be inspired!

Thanks for having a look, and I will never be able to say it enough, I appreciate you soooooo much, you make me a better person and artist, I couldn't do it without you.

INTERTWINED

I recently met a terrific new artist, jewelry artist, and fabric artist, in work of all places! Which just goes to show you how close we all can actually be to one another. Nancy, of Blue Violet Designs, came into my workplace for help with a tile selection, which she mostly figured out herself! She has a wonderful sense of color, of course, she is an artist!, and it shows on her work too. Nancy gifted me with this amazing pin that she made out of felt, embroidery stitching, swarovski's, and and fabric. I apologize for the poor color of the photos, but it's late. I love this little pin, and I am amazed at her generosity. I think Nancy and I will be sharing some more arty type things soon. Take a look at her blog. Besides some amazing lampwork and sterling jewelry, her choices of beads are crazy good, she likes photography, and you can see some of that there as well. Maybe she will share more of her creations with us. I am grateful to Nancy for what she has shared with me!

Oh, the background for this picture is my pathetic attempt at Teresa McFayden's Freestyle embroidery that I started a few months ago. As you can see, I didn't get too far, but I do still love to do it. I will eventually pick it up again...maybe tomorrow!

UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE AND BEAUTY

As the title suggests, I think these are two attributes that anyone would feel fortunate enough to have, so they came to mind as themes for 2 atc's for a friend. I think I like doing these so much because so much can be said with so little, and they are still so open to interpretation.

Hope you enjoyed, thank you for visiting...I really love your comments!

FAITHFUL

The weather is helping me feel "pinkier" lately, but I never stray far from my toned down color palette, and that comforting word I treasure so much....FAITH. It has been a difficult week here, multiple teeth problems, even as I type this the painkillers are in full force. I have struggled all my life with continual dental issues, this is nothing new, but is has gotten me down more than a few times, and I find myself growing very tired and depressed. Combined with some problems from a car accident last summer, it is becoming increasingly hard to stay positive. When I don't feel good it is hard to concrentrate....I take a few days off to give myself room, and then I start again, mostly because I sooooo look forward to talking and exchanging ideas with all of you. So, when , or if you get down, what helps you to bounce back....I would like to hear, and possibly discover some new techniques. In any case, I will continue to keep the faith.

Thank you again for visiting.