I am so lucky!!!

I WON ! ! !

Seth Apter of The Altered Page at http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/ has had over 100,000 hits on his blog so he celebrated by doing a give a way. I am so excited to be one of three winners. I love the textures and colors that he uses in his art. He said I will receive a package of goodies. I wonder what will be in it. ANTICIPATION !!!

THANKS SETH

A time to remember

Today is a time to remember those who sacrificed so much for us. To contemplate what was given, what we have received, and how we live now because of their service. Our country is such a wonderful place to live and we owe it's survival to the brave men and women who fought and cared for it.

Remembering my grandfather, father, and uncles who have now passed. Also the people who worked in the factories as my grandmother did to help with the war efforts.

Even though it is Memorial Day it is important to remember those who still live and those who still serve today. Thanks to my brother John, my sister Kay, and my nephew Tony.

Brain pieces everywhere!

I feel like my head is going to explode. I started a class on Adobe Photoshop at our local college. I hate realizing my limitations!!! I will learn this stuff. I love the Photoshop part, but I am so inept with my computer knowledge. It probably is taking me four times as long as the other students to do my assignments. But in a few weeks I should be able to start posting some of my collages (I hope).


One good thing is that my friend, Ella, took my gears to clean and rust so that she could use them. Thank you Ella! I do not anticipate that I will be working with them for at least a month.



I have taken over a thousand photos in the last ten days. One day at the Bio Park here in Albuquerque. I spent that wonderful day with my daughter Lisa just browsing and doing macro photography. A walk in the neighborhood with an artist friend gave me more. And then a day at Fiber Arts Fiesta gave me lots of inspiration and targets for my camera.

Trip to a junkyard

Went to a junkyard the other day with some girlfriends (I so wish I had a camera with me). It was a fun adventure and we found some really cool gears, springs, and odd things to rust up. If they won't rust I will paint them or some such thing.

Fabric Art Workshop

I have almost finished the Fabric Art Workshop from the group Artists of the Round Table. One more exercise to go.

This is a piece of upholstery fabric free motion quilted onto a piece of felt. The felt is melted with a heat gun creating a lacy background.

Layer Love

Julie Prichard from "The Land of Lost Luggage" is working to Julificationate the world with her Layer Love project. The techniques are wonderful and she is teaching an online class that starts on May 18th. Go to her blog and see this for yourself!!! http://lostluggage.typepad.com/the_land_of_lost_luggage/

She has created a video that is fun giving an idea of what will be taught in the class.

http://lostluggage.typepad.com/the_land_of_lost_luggage/2009/05/you-think-you-know-me-class-video.html

These techniques are gorgeous!!!

Backgrounds for AB101

I am involved with a group that is doing an online class for Altered Books. Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover http://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/ is directing it. I get a little bit intimidated trying to put this all together but with Elizabeth's and the group's input I will get through it and I will have grown again.

This is a paper towel dyed with old markers. It had some creases in it when I photographed it which created these awesome shadows.

This is a technique that Elizabeth gave us using acrylic paints and baking soda. I love it, it looks like suede. This was done on brown paper.


This is marbled paper done on a paper towel with shaving cream and Dyna-Flo.

A dryer sheet painted with acrylic and then swiped with black and gold acrylic (using an old credit card). I love the look. That credit card is quickly becoming my best friend.

This is a paper towel dyed with old markers then splashed with a wash from pearlized acrylics.

Brown paper bag rubbed with oil pastels and blended using Goo-Gone.

A paper towel dyed with old markers and then swiped with acrylic using my friend the credit card.

This is a copy of a piece of sheet music that was mono printed with ink sprayed on a plastic sheet.

Macro shots of fabric

I have been looking to find backgrounds for my immersion into Adobe Photoshop. I was going through some fabric samples and realized that I could do macos on them and get some really cool backgrounds. Since I receive so many samples I will keep an open eye when I go through them from now on. One twelve inch piece can give you many different images.

One more project completed

I finished nineteen ATC's tonight for a swap on Wednesday. I am happy with them.

They are on a matt board base, fused fabric, dyed gauze, hot glue with foil and crystals.

Disintergration Revealed

May 1 has come and it is time for the Disintegration Reveal started by Seth Apter last January. My bundle has been through the New Mexico sun, rain, snow, and canyon winds. When I opened it three hornets came out of it. That would not have been so bad except I had already taken it into the studio. They were not happy but I was able to get them back outside. My papers came through the ordeal quite well. They have faded and weathered but they still look strong. I have saved all the strings. Now I"ll have to figure out a cool project to make out of this stuff.