May is coming!

May is a very busy month for my family.  First, Maria's(oldest Daughter) birthday on May 1st then on May 2nd, it's grand-daughter Bella's birthday.  Next event is Mother's Day.  After that we have Rachel's (#2 Daughter) birthday on the 21st, then mine on the 24th.  After that it's Memorial Day weekend.  Whew! 

If that flurry of family events wasn't enough, I have 4 swaps I have joined and they are all due in May!  First is Kristin's Retro Cafe Art Mini House Shrine swap http://www.retrocafeart.com/pages/HouseSwap.htm, then I have a Paper Doll swap, an ATC swap and a Tag swap!  I've done the 4 mini house shrines for Kristin's swap, 5 of the 6 ATCs for the ATC swap, 1 out of 2 dolls for the paper doll swap and absolutely zero for the 3 tags I need to make for the tag swap.  These three last swaps are with Roses on My Table art groups.  http://rosesonmytable.ning.com/

Two of the Mini House Shrines for the Swap

 

 

Nature's Music ATC

 

 

I don't have any pictures of the paper doll yet, or the other two Mini House Shrines.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to photograph them before I've got to get them in the mail.

 

Right now, it's been taking me almost a whole day to find the inspiration and then create an ATC so I'm quickly running out of time to complete all these projects.  Sometimes creativity is hard to come by, other times it's so easy.  I just wonder why that is.  I have quite a few other projects that I could work on that I've got great ideas for, but if I'm to get all of these done in time, I can't take the time to work on the ones I have ideas for.  Guess that's what happens when the time crunch comes!

 

 

 

Bunnys, Owls and Lambs, oh, my!

Making Mlle. Lapin de Paques started a trend here.  I became obsessed with making more Bunny Ladies.  They turn out so cute!  Below is a digital composition I created with three of my Bunny Ladies.

Aren't they ever so elegant?

After these tree lovelies, I created a couple.  Just had to when I discovered I had a rabbit head in a top hat at my disposal.

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Hare, Newlyweds.

So, for the moment, I've gotten bunnies out of my bonnet and I decided to make another Owl Queen.  Many thanks to Marsha and Tumblefish Studios for the body, crown and inspiration.  The Queen's head is a finding of my own as well as the eyes.

Lastly, but certainly not the last, is another Easter project.  I made an Easter Parade wagon being pulled by twin lambs.  The wagon is made from a 2 inch by 3 inch chipboard box and the wheels are 1 inch vintage mother of pearl buttons.

And here is the wagon with Mlle. Lapin de Paques.

I'm sure more little critters are coming your way.  They seem to be springing from my brain lately!



Spring is trying to...Spring!

Well, I've done it again.  I've let almost 2 months go by this time.  So here's a belated Valentine for you from Owl Boy!

I've been experimenting with different things.  I tried journaling.  That was a bust.  So obviously not my thing.  So I tried Art Dolls.  Denise Phillips and Mary Jane Chadbourne make such lovely art dolls that I wanted to see what I could do.  My first challenge was that I didn't have any wood, or foam core to work with, so I decided I would make a Paper Art Doll.  Hence, Leticia was born.

I personally think she turned out just lovely. 

After Leticia, I just had to make another.  Here's Kathleen, the Kitchen Queen.

Kathleen look genuinely perplexed as she tries to figure out what to cook for dinner.

So, I got the Art Dolls out of my system for a bit. 

Another one of my Facebook friends/artists, Nancy Gene Armstrong inspired me with her Miss Bunny projects.  I decided I needed to have a Miss Bunny too.  So, using Retro Cafe Art's medium theatre shrine, I invented Mlle. Lapin de Paques.

I really love her, and she may result in a spin off of Owl Boy with Fille Lapin.  Lovely rabbit girls.  We'll see.

Lastly, for today, here is my Irish Owl Boy, Owl O'Boyo.

Well, back to creating more weird and wonderful stuff.  Hope you enjoy.

Chipboard Book Pages

Kristin over at Retro Cafe Art is hosting several swaps for Valentine's Day.  One of the swaps is for heart-shaped chipboard book pages.  Each person entering the swap, gets 4 book pages to decorate as they wish.  Once they are complete, they are mailed back to Kristin and she sends you back 4 pages from 4 different artists.  The four you have decorated also go out to 4 different artists.  

This is the same way the ATC swaps go and it's so much fun.  Kristin also did this with the chipboard Christmas ornaments.  I got 4 of the most lovely ornaments from 4 terrific artists.  They are all unique and reflect the artist's style and tastes.  

The fronts

I used vintage Harrison Fisher images for my 4 book pages.  I have a beautiful little book of Harrison Fisher prints that was given to my Grandmother Rachel back in 1914.  It has always fascinated me and I've been digitally collecting more of his prints for quite a while.  

The backs

And you know me, I can't stand a "bare" back on any of my projects.  So the back of the pages are decorated to the nth degree as well.

Hope you like.  I'll be posting pictures of the ATCs I'm creating for the same Valentine's Day swap.  And please visit Kristin's website.  She has the most amazing things to use in making altered art.

A January Calendar for You

I'm working on Valentine's things at the moment, but before I have them finished, I thought I'd offer a January calendar for you to download, print and use.  Oh, I know, it's already January 11th, but what the heck!  

Meanwhile, I've been struggling with asthma.  I really have no idea why it's acting up again (it IS cedar season though and that could have something to do with it) but I know that I wake up early (for me) every morning wheezing.  Right now I've got the Albuterol jitters since I just gave myself a breathing treatment.  For the past few days I've had to do a treatment at least once and sometimes twice a day.  The dogs get scared by the vapor coming out of the mouthpiece.  I guess they think I've turned into a vapor-breathing dragon!

My wonderful husband will be on vacation for 5 whole days starting late next week and we plan on visiting my parental units down in the Hill Country.  It will be nice to just get out of town for a bit.  Nothing big planned, but I'm sure we'll have to make a trip to Fredericksburg and Wimberly and maybe to a winery or three.

I'll be posting pics of my Valentine's Day projects soon!

Christmas Crafts

Once again I've almost let 2 months slip away without a post.  But honestly, I've been busy.  Really.  My last post was on Halloween and I was already working on Christmas crafts.  I entered an ATC swap with Denise Phillips and then Kristin Hubick of Retro Cafe Art hosted an ornament swap. 

These are the ornaments I sent in for the swap.  I recieved four ornaments back, each from different artists.  They are all amazing.

Then Mom asked me to make a large triptych for Margo Perez-Greene as a gift.  You may or may not know that Margo is the wife of Ken Greene, pastor of Blanco United Methodist Church, which is the church that Mom and Dad attend when they are in Blanco.  In her own right, Margo is an ordained minister and also recieved her PhD earlier this year.

Mom wanted me to use an Icon from St. Catherine's Monastery since we had all been there back in January.

This is the shrine that I made.  I asked Mom to call me and let me know how Margo liked it but instead Margo herself called me to tell me how much she liked it.  Mom said that when she opened it, Margo was just speechless.  Boy, that sure made me feel good.

My last Christmas project for this year was for myself.  I had purchased a little papier mache box that was shaped like a house a couple of years ago.  I always meant to make a Snow Village House out of it, but never had.  This year I decided it was time.  It was a lot of work, but well worth it.  Since the lid (roof) comes off I can put a battery powered tea light inside it to make it look welcoming and cheery.  There was no door, just an opening, so I made a door.  I put velum on the inside of the windows to make the panes and used almost a whole jar of SnowTex!  Before all that it took three layers of paint.  It was messy, but the end result is so cute.  I hope I can find some more of these boxes so that I can add to my "village" for next year.

Sorry the picture is a bit blurry.  It's the photographer, not the camera!

Last, but not least, I've been playing around with my digital graphics and made several pictures to post on Facebook or wherever.  There's a new Christmas Owl Boy (coming soon, a Valentine Owl Boy), a Christmas Greeting from Sheba and Shorty and just another little picture I did for the heck of it.

With Christmas only a week away, I'm concentrating now on just getting the house ready for the family.  This includes no fun stuff such as polishing the silver and washing all the wine and champagne glasses, dusting, etc.  Yech!  But it has to be done.

I'll be back next year with Valentine's Day crafts.  I've already enterd an ATC swap and a book page swap sponsored by Retro Cafe Art.  I"m waiting to see what Denise will propose for January or February as well.

Christmas Crafts

Oh, I know, today's Halloween and I've been working on Christmas stuff for a couple of weeks now.  But you know how it goes...time flies..or flys..or something like that.  Anyway, it seems that everyone is already in Christmas mode and I did want to have some ornaments made by Thanksgiving to offer to my family members.

The ATC above is for the last ATC Swap of the year with Denise Phillips.  Denise lives on Victoria island in British Columbia, Canada.  She's a waaayyyy talented artist and we've become Facebook "pals" and appreciators of each other's art since this summer.  Check out her blog at:  http://www.birdnutsmixedmedia.blogspot.com/

and her Etsy shop at:  www.etsy.com/shop/birdnutsmixedmedia

Next up:  two more ATCs I made just for the heck of it.  Some of you may recognize Owl Boy.  He's now dressed for Christmas, but he doesn't look too happy about it.

And here is just a cute Christmas "mum" ATC

Next are some ornaments I've been working on:

These were blank paper mache ornaments I purchased from Hobby Lobby.  Above is the front and back of one of my favorite ones.

Here's another ornament made from blank paper mache.  I posted this on Facebook not too long ago and someone wanted to know what Santa was smoking since he looked sort of dazed.  Well, I can't say for sure what he's smoking, but hopefully it's something relaxing..I mean, wouldn't you need to relax if you were living with all those elves?

And last, but not least, this one is made from the lid of a paper mache box.  I use the boxes to make lighted "shrines" and vignettes so I end up with a lot of extra lids.  Can't have those go to waste now can I?

Stay tuned.  There will be plenty more Christmas stuff showing up here now that I'm on a roll.