Royal Bird ATC's

I created these bird atc's for Artchix "Royal Bird " ATC swap!! What could be more fun for me than birds?! But I must say it was a lot harder than I thought to keep the theme consistent with the 6 pieces, and actually they did not turn out at all liked I had wished, so I am a bit sad about that, but I had to go with it rather than a re-do. I still need to work on different techniques for backgrounds, that is what gives me the hardest challenge. I've been spending a lot of time trying new things, seems a lot of wasting time sometimes, although I know I am learning...but I still haven't found that look I love yet. These were done on scrapbook papers, ( I loooove papers!) and then I highlighted them with a white gel pen , and enhanced the color with Sennelier pastels, which have soooo much pigment in them, my fingers still have traces of stains.
Then I used Artchix Birds on a Wire collage sheet, and the crowns from the Royal ATC's sheet.
Can't wait to swap these with the other talented artists there! I think I'm taking a Slooooow Sunday tomorrow!!

FLUTTER

I can never stay away from the metal too long, and I felt like making some earrings that were earthy, silver, with a teeny bit of sparkle, but subtle enough to wear everyday. These are my kind of earrings, go with everything earrings, a favorite pair of earrings.

available on etsy

JOURNALING

The journaling continues, SLOOOOOOWLY, but surely! My problem is that I have so many projects going at once, but I guess I kind of like that. This entry will tell you about my continual fascination with birds, and another little bit about my life in general. And so it goes.........

( a special thank you to Debbie at Prairie Emporium, and LeAnn at Summers Studio Pottery for the beautiful feathers they both have sent to me!)

DANCE OF THE DRAGONFLY

I do have to admit, that I am a teensy bit proud to have one of my necklaces in "The Best of Stringing" issue, that just came out recently. Sorry again for the lousy photos, but to be perfectly honest, I am coming down with a cold as I type this...I feel it settling into my bones, and I AM NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT, plus, it's just been one of those really crappy days besides that, so I didn't feel like dragging out the lights for the photo, so I just "winged it", as we say. I made this pendant, one of only a few, that was an image transfer, and combined it with some wonderful Gaea beads, swarovski's, hill tribe spacers, and adventurine. Thanks to all my blog friends and visitors for encouraging me and helping me get to this point....you are all my muse, thank you, thank you!!

BLUE SKY

This is an ATC I did over the weekend for the Artchix group bi weekly lottery. The theme is enchantment. All I can think is that lately I have been enchanted by blue, just can't get enough of it! Since delving into mixed media I also have taken on an odd affection for pink. When I was in college I loved pink, and then at some point I began to hate it, and have not really used it for a looooooong time. But now I'm liking it again. You may laugh, but I think part of that influence comes from Esther! The first time I saw Esther's blog, there was a lot of pink floating around, and I was immediately enchanted with it....it looked magical! The little pink stars that float around when you move your curser on her French blog are adorable!! So I think that she has inadvertently helped me to appreciate pink. But back to blue, that's the obsession of late. Does anyone else ever have a complete reversal of color preference?

TREE NECKLACE

This is my translation of a tree. I soooo enjoyed working on this, the idea came from my recent thoughts of family and friends, and the need for strength, and my continual search for it, and the tree is just that to me.
The earthiness of the stones and their colors, that range from green, brown.....reds and yellows in autumn, the big blue lapiz for the reaching to the sky, the strength of the sterling bars as the branches, and the circles as the interconnecting with life and others. These are some of my Sunday thoughts.......

click on the photos for a closer look

KISS ME ATC

Just playing around tonight with a different style I've been wanting to try, and I wish they all came out like this! Background is from some absolutely beautiful papers that I won on Peggy Gatto's blog, woman, words, and postage transparency are from the famous Artchix, wings from Itkupilli,bird from Digital collage sheets, woodless watercolor pencils and walnut stain. No doodling!