the older i get the more beautiful life becomes

New work & Move update

2012-02-06T20:34:00.001-08:00

Louis

and Domino

These two guys were created for a little boy named Evan. He loves dragons! They are made up of all sorts of bits and pieces of lizards, alligators, crocodiles, bats and this and that. I haven't ever done anything like them so they were a super fun challenge for me!! I am especially fond of Domino.

In other news only a week and a half till Texas! We are still so amazing at the opportunity to be building a house with the Phoenix Commotion. Even with all the tiles lined up to get us there I still feel like it's all some sort of dream that will vanish! I think I am most sad to see Sampson leave his school, I can only hope and pray that the transition is not too hard for him and that he can bond with his new teachers and classmates! (we love you Miss Hannah and Miss Cindy and everyone else! We will miss you!).

The kids and I fly into Texas on the 17th! I will stop taking orders in my etsy shop THIS FRIDAY. If you have your eye on something, now is the time! I am hoping to have my shop up and running again by Monday the 20th, even if it means working from my phone.

Marking today...

2012-01-28T20:33:00.000-08:00

This is my beautiful son Sampson. Sampson will be 4 years old on May 9th. He is an amazing child. For those of you who follow my blog you may know that Sampson is Autistic. He sees the world in a different way than anyone else. He is obsessed with letters, numbers, and pattern. He can say all his ABC's and recognize letters out of order and spell things out. He can count to 100 and even count by 10's. He watches countless youtube videos on trains, letters and numbers and has a knack for memorizing things from the videos. He can also identify objects and animals and colors, all sorts of things. That's kind of amazing. In spite of all these amazing things that Sampson can do there are many things that are difficult for him (which I will not go into too much detail about). I try to focus on the things he CAN do and encourage him. He likes trains so we spend a lot of time at the train museum. He is attending a state funded special education pre school that has been amazing.

One of the hardest things for Sampson to do is to communicate with others. He has trouble turning all his words into sentences. He can identify an 'iguana' but can't find the words to tell me what he wants or needs. For all the words he has learned, there are many that he has 'lost'. Some words he learns and then never says again. Since he started school he has regained some of these early words. One word he said only once to my knowledge was 'Mommy'. he babbled it as a baby 'Mama' but around a year it stopped. I heard him say it once when my sister was in town, right after Juneau was born when I walked towards him at the zoo. He never said it again. I try to not think about it, but it's heartbreaking. I just want him to call me, to ask for me. Juneau calls me "mommy" all the time (she is 13 months old). As much as I love hearing my little girl say mommy, I have been waiting almost four years for my 'first love' to call me mommy.

Well I am marking today and sharing these things because today Sampson did say 'mommy'. I want to type about it, to share it because it means a lot. He was in the garden with Dad helping him water the tomatoes....Sampson calls them 'trees'. He was crouched down and holding the hose, his face near the ground watching the water. He enjoys seeing everything up close. He looked to the side a little (we call is his 'side eye', it's something he does to look at people without giving direct eye contact) and he said quietly 'Oh....is Mommy' and then turned back to the water. He didn't say it to me, or ask for me, or call me...but he acknowledged me as 'Mommy' with words...and that is enough. Even if I don't hear it again for another year, it was enough. Today was an amazing day.

Twirl

2012-01-23T07:57:00.000-08:00

This weeks theme for Illustration Friday is 'Twirl' . We recently watched the full season of 'Life on Mars'. They continually refer to a girl as a 'twist' or a 'twirl'. I'm sure that I might have known it was used as slang in the 70's, but it wasn't a more common slang term that I was familiar with. They used it multiple times, so many times that all I could think of when I read 'twirl' was 'girl'. She actually started out with brown hair, but the piece was turning out so light I wanted her hair light as well so I redid it last minute.

Digital painting with photo collage, done with wacom tablet and Photoshop CS4. Any model credits can be found on my DA account.

Grounded - Illustration Friday

2012-01-09T08:36:00.001-08:00

This weeks theme for illustration friday is 'Grounded'. I have had this idea since I read the theme. I am glad I made time for it in between commission work! Sometimes I feel like I get so caught up in life and work that I don't get to do all the ideas I want to. I know that's probably a common feeling for an artist.

This is a digital photo collage/manipulation with overpainting. All model credits can be found on my DA account here.

Messenger - Illustration Friday

2011-12-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

This weeks theme for illustration friday is messenger. I had great fun doing the background of this one, and the little mouse. I struggled with her face a bit, it still seems a bit off to me! I am still happy with the whole feeling of the piece though! Digital painting & Photo collage/manip. Model credits can be found on my DA account.

In other news we are now only a month and a half away from our move from San Diego to Huntsville, Texas! We are boxing things little by little by little, and need to have another garage sale. Anyone in San Diego need a huge four poster bed? I know we won't be bringing it. Looks like the kids and I will be driving after all. Plane tickets + towing the car behind the moving truck was going to be too expensive! But I don't have to drive alone, my Mom will come in the car with me, the kids and the cats. My brother will drive with Chris. It will be nice to have my Mom make the trip with me. We will laugh a lot and we get along so well I know it will make the trip 100 times more bearable!

Still though, someone pinch me, because this whole move is still too exciting and wonderful!

Sinking In- Illustration Friday

2011-12-21T08:12:00.000-08:00

This weeks theme for illustration friday is 'Sink'. I actually come up with an idea of sketch for every week, but sometimes I can't pull off even my own ideas. Sometimes my ideas get away from me and it feels like I am so far from my inspiration 'word' that I don't know how I got there.

The way my sketches get away from me reminds me of one of my earliest memories...I was in kindergarden and they sent us home with a sort of 'finish this drawing' type paper. I know we started it at school and we were supposed to bring it back the next day. I spent all night drawing and at the end of the night my drawing had turned into an elaborate woven basket. I was very proud of all my twisty turny lines...I brought it back in and the teacher said it wouldn't count because we were supposed to draw something that had to do with 'Light'. I must have missed that part. I was devastated enough to have it leave a lasting impression on me.

So in any case, even when my ideas take on a mind of their own I am still ok with that, and in illustration friday pieces if I start with my one word inspiration and work and work away, even if the piece 'gets away from me', it all still started with that one word. I don't think they don't count.

Originally she was supposed to be on a sinking ship. I have no idea how it turned into this, but I am pleased none the less. I feel like the theme 'sink' still works, like she is sinking in her dreams. So I titled her 'sombrer dans' because she is making wine, and I guess that makes her French? I don't know. I am venturing out into painting expression and teeth and open mouths, which scare me, but I think she turned out nice. Any model credits can be found in my DA gallery. She is part painting part photo collage/photo manip.

Moving to Texas

2011-12-16T17:04:00.001-08:00

Big news!!!

We are relocating to Texas. Huntsville to be exact. We are picking up, packing up and heading East to build a home with Dan Phillips and the Phoenix Commotion . This is all very exciting. It's a dream come true for me and my family. Every day since we made this choice I have had to pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming! We are so inspired by what Dan is doing out in Huntsville. We have already made so many steps to live green and building a house out of reclaimed materials is something you only read about in magazines and think to yourself 'neat'. Well we are ready to do it. Whatever it takes. Not only are Dans houses 'green', they are like living breathing art pieces...each one unique. As an artist this makes me all giddy inside.

I was going to start a new blog about this experience, but I figure already have this blog that I can barely keep up with, so why have two? So I will be documenting our experience starting....now!

Why would we want to leave San Diego you ask? There are too many reasons to list and only one thing that has ever kept us here. The thing that keeps us here is family....but at this point in our lives the cost of living in San Diego now outweighs even that. I know we will miss my parents and they will miss us. Hopefully with the money we save on rent alone though we might actually be able to visit now and then!

Both Chris and I work very hard, both of us wake up every day at dawn and go to bed near to 12. We work all day long that's for sure! I run my etsy shop and paint and watch both kids, and Chris has a recording studio where he works as a recording engineer. Before that he was in the Brewing Industry (laid off after 10 years).

I love working for myself, it means I can attend both our children who need LOTS of attention. Sampson is almost 4 and was recently diagnosed with Autism, although we have been sure of his unique vision of the world long before now. Juneau just turned a year old, she was born with only one kidney and racked up lots of medical bills when she was born 6 weeks ahead of her due date. She is doing great though, in fact we just had an ultrasound today to check on her kidney and it's still doing it's job!

When you add our high Southern California rent on top of medical bills and insurance bills we can barely make it each month. My mother helps us with rent, but how long can we ask her to do that? It's not like things are going to change, and why should she work so hard to take care of us forever. Something has to change! We live in a beautiful city and we can't afford to enjoy it at all...even a birthday brunch for my husband at Denny's was over our budget last month.

We have wanted to move to a smaller town forever now. It never felt right before. This feels very right. We make the move in mid Feb. and at the moment are pulling all of our funds together just to get out there.

I am going to start posting on a regular basis about not just the building of the house, but what the move is like, what the town is like. I can already say that so many people out there are helping us make this happen there that we already feel like the town is welcoming us with open arms. It feels good.

These posts about the move may get a little personal and a little emotional...so apologies in advance!

Vanity

2011-11-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

This weeks theme for illustration friday is Vanity. I actually had completed this portrait last year, but as it's title is 'vanity' I can't think of any other illustration to represent the topic this week! I have always been really fond of this piece, but it's one of my less popular ones (if you are counting favorites on my DA account)

Digital painting and photo collage illustration. Any model credit can be found on my DA account here

Stripes

2011-11-06T14:44:00.000-08:00

Today Sampson (my 3 year old) was hogging the computer so I just started sketching. This wasn't intended for illustration Friday when I started, and I actually have a digital sketch going of something else I wanted to do for IF, but when I was finished I thought it fit this weeks theme...so here you go!

Illustration Friday

2011-11-01T09:06:00.001-07:00

This weeks theme for illustrationfriday.com is 'scary'. I started working without a sketch, which I don't do often. I just let it go where ever. This always means that my paintings will take longer, but I am usually really happy with how they turn out. I was just going to do a portrait, but it turned into a full scene. I wanted to give her a name so I named her 'Pelottava', which is Finnish for 'scary'. I know she is not super scary, maybe a little more spooky than scary but I still love her.

Here is a close up detail of her face and hands. Digital painting with photo collage. Credit on stock references and uses can be found on my DA account .

In other news I have been so busy that I have not posted too much, but it's not for lack of work! I am overwhelmed with commission work, my etsy shop and life! My 3 year old son Sampson has been diagnosed as Autistic and we are working on getting him into a special pre-school. He has already been accepted, but we are still working out all the details of his individual schooling plan...so yeah with his school and Juneau coming up on 11 months old...super busy Mommy!

Ferocious - Illustration Friday

2011-09-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

It's about time I get another illustration done for illustration friday! I have been so busy I haven't been able to do any art for myself so this is it! Originally she was going to have a real 'mane' but I liked just giving her big fluffy hair instead.

Here is a close up of her face.

Digital painting/photo collage illustration done in Photoshop CS4.

"Uma"

2011-08-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Finished a new commission this week for a little girl named Uma. I really enjoyed doing this one because it's so cheerful and very Alice in Wonderland!

Her favorite animals are owls and obviously she plays the violin. :)

I also wanted to share some of my references and inspirations. This work is a digital painting as well as a photo collage or photo manipulation. I never really know what category my artwork should go under on DA, so it always ends up under mixed media. Some were just references and others were used as collage elements. Whenever I use stock photos though I always paint over them or repaint them entirely to make them fit each piece. Full credits can be found on my DeviantArt account here. All in all this took about a week. I wasn't keeping my hours though so I kind of lost track. I have a few progress shots up on my FB page.

Oh and BIG NEWS I also got picked as 'Pick of the week' over at illustrationfriday.com I am super stoked, honored and excited. This is the first time I have ever been picked so I've been doing a happy dance since Friday about it!

Swell

2011-08-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

This weeks theme for illustration Friday is 'swell'. I kinda have my plate full right now with commissions and the kids and life, but I wanted to make sure I fit this in because I really liked the sketch I did and wanted to finish it!

This is part painting part photo collage. I meant to keep up with posting in between IF posts but I guess I forgot!

Imperfect - Portrait of the Artist as a Child

2011-08-06T10:39:00.001-07:00

This weeks theme for illustration friday is 'Imperfect' and I actually thought of myself growing up. That's how I always felt. When I was about 5 years old I got glasses. Not little glasses either. Big big glasses. My mom still tells the story of how I refused kid glasses and opted for adult frames. And rose tint. I demanded they have rose tint just like my Nana had. I thought they were amazing.

It wasn't until I actually started school that year that it became clear that my 'amazing' rose tinted glasses were not everything I thought they were. Did I mention that my prescription for my left eye was twice as thick as my right side and made one eye look oversized. Yeah. This was before 'featherweights'.

They were huge. I also had a habit or wriggling them up with my nose instead of pushing them up (I still do this when I am wearing glasses). There are tons of pictures of me as a kid making ridiculous nose wriggling faces as I scrunch my glasses up my nose.

It wasn't until about 5th grade that I got featherweights and then not until my freshman year of High School when I finally got contacts. I admit that putting back on my glasses in public still gives me anxiety.

Samantha at the Shore

2011-07-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted to share my most recent work. This was a commission piece for a friends Granddaughter. One of the reference pictures she sent me (below on left) was just so perfect I went with that as my theme. I like working on commissions because they push me to do things I might not normally think of. I think she turned out really cute. I feel like I am getting better at sand and beaches, it's my first time doing water like this.

Below is my final image, 'Samantha at the Shore'. Digital painting, Photo collage, and photo manipulation. (credits can be found on my DA account here:: Samantha at the Shore)

Gesture - Illustration Friday

2011-07-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

This weeks the theme for illustration friday is 'gesture'

I decided to paint the ASL symbol for 'I love you'. I hope it translates correctly!

Tots and Giggles

2011-07-17T08:03:00.001-07:00

Yesterday my Baby Juneau was features on Tots and Giggles 'Gallery of cute'

This is one of my favorite pics of her, she looks like she is running for office! She is almost 4 months in these pictures. I can't believe she is going to be 8 months old on the 3rd!

The comments are great too. My dad thinks she looks like my Grandma MOG (which stands for Mean Old Grandma) So the first comment is kinda fitting. My Grandmother had picked that name for herself. Juneau makes classic MOG faces all the time.

The second comment makes me laugh.

Morning!

2011-07-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted to share some pictures...

First up is a before and after of my most recent digital painting 'Stay'. You can see how I sketch out a piece and then follow it (as much as I can) to the end. I took my stock image of a Dik Dik fawn and first manipulated the proportions so it's head and eyes were larger, then sketched over the top of it, I did the same with my pose reference. (credits BTW can be found here )

Then I start painting over the top of it. I import stock images and photo bits into the work as I move along and paint over and around them and blend everything together. I'm looking into how to film myself working on a piece much like I see other DA artists do. I just have to figure it out because it would be more than on session. I would say this took a total of about 6-10hours (I wasn't keeping track and it was over the course of a few days).

This next photo is a new sketch I am starting. A commission mother daughter portrait. I think its going to be super cute!

New work

2011-07-13T19:10:00.001-07:00

A few days ago I completed this work for a trade. I also wanted to enter it for illustrationfriday.com , This weeks theme word is 'Stay' so it really seemed to fit.

I feel like I have worked so hard to get to where I am with my artwork. I am doing a lot more painting and taking a lot more time on my work. I really like how this turned out. My references and photo bits I used were also perfect. My work sort of hovers somewhere between painting and photo manipulation. But even when I use photo pieces I paint over them and change them so much to make them my own! I just never know where to put my art on DA, I always end up shoving it in the Mixed Media category because of this.

i like pink.

Big sale...

2011-04-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

So I have submitted a sale proposal through Heartsy...If accepted you could be seeing 50% or more off of anything in my shop!!!

So to make sure this sale happens go here http://heartsy.me/deals/1375/like and click 'yes, definitely'. You don't have to sign up, but you can log in through your FB account!

yay.

Four Seasons

2011-04-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

I painted first my Miss Winter. I actually played around with color versions of her hair and was having such a hard time deciding!

It's not often that I do color variations of the same painting...I can only recall doing it two other time time. Once with my Simona and her Dreams II in red and in brown. The second time was with My fishy friend and My fishy friend II.

It occurred to me that these four girls reminded me of myself, my daughter Juneau and my two sisters...All of us born in the four seasons! Well I guess Juneau and I are kinda both Winter, but she was close enough to November to still be Fall!

It's been over a year!

2011-03-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

So it has been over a year since my last post! That is a pretty

long time yes.

Now that I am home again I have promised myself to get into updating my blog more often. I get so busy with the new baby I forget sometimes! Also I think I have been treating my FB fan page as a sort of quickie blog!

You might notice from those photos that since my last post there has been an addition to our family. Her name is Juneau Lynn Grundy and she is almost 4 months old. I apologize for not keeping you updated on her growth, I was so busy with an admin job, watching Sampson and having a very difficult pregnancy that by the time I got home the last thing I wanted to do was more typing!

Juneau was born 6 weeks early, she spent 10 days in the NICU but is doing very well now. She is the final piece to our family and is the exact opposite of Sampson so far. She was also born with only 1 kidney, but will be just fine. No surgeries required.

I think her hair might be red. This would make me so happy!!!

Breaking Away

2010-01-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

today I worked on something inspired by a flyer my sister made a while ago. Its all digital painting in photoshop 6 with some added texture for color overlaying. I feel like the more I practice with my wacom tab and the more used to my medium the more and more I am beginning to come into my own style....something I have greatly desired. Although I admire so many different artists I am happy to keep with the feelings that all of their combined art brings about...I don't want to make things that just look like everyone elses....I just want to be able to do my own thing and really feel like its mine...

did that make any sense at all????

I think this painting really represents those feelings...

to check out some of my favorite art pieces and inspirational artists that I have 'collected' over the years check out my 'favorites' gallery on Deviantart.com

Phobias

2010-01-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

two painting I am pretty happy with.

I am starting a new series based on Phobias, inspired by a recent contest I entered on deviantart.com. These are the first two.

Anthophobia is an abnormal and persistent fear of flowers (from Greek roots anthos, flower, + phobos, fear).
Though sufferers generally understand that they face no threat from flowers, they invariably experience anxiety at the sight or thought. Any genus or species of flowers can instill fear, as can any flower part, such as a petal or stem

-I admit this has to be one of my favorite painting I have done in a long time. I am just really happy with the colors and how it turned out!

Mysophobia is a term used to describe a pathological fear of contact with dirt, to avoid contamination and germs. Someone who has such a fear is often referred to as a mysophobe. The term was introduced by Dr. William Alexander Hammond in 1879 when describing a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibited in repeatedly washing one's hands. This phobia is sometimes referred to as germophobia (or germaphobia, not to be confused with Germanophobia), a combination of germ and phobia to mean fear of germs, as well as bacillophobia and bacteriophobia. Mysophobia has long been related to the OCD of constantly washing one's hands. However, Harry Stack Sullivan, an American psychologist and psychoanalyst, notes that while fear of dirt underlies the compulsion of a person with this kind of OCD, his or her mental state is not about germs; instead, this person feels the hands must be washed

-This seems to be the more popular of the two according to 'faves' on deviantart....I still like the flower one best. I am kinda unhappy with the eyes on this one.

New beginnings

2010-01-10T16:20:00.001-08:00

Prints are up in my etsy shop www.solocosmo.etsy.com

And no, I am not pregnant...just daydreaming about it that's all.

I was thinking of doing a series of different girls same pose and then making baby shower invitations for my shop....could you see that? Ideas?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Nefertiti Painting

2010-01-06T14:41:00.000-08:00

This is my second entry for the "Ancient Egypt" contest hosted by feline-icity After my Cleopatra painting I really wanted to do another Egyptian Queen. It was a toss up between Nefertiti or hapshetsut...I still may do a third but I can only enter the contest twice. Aside from a base photo and some stock textures this is all digital painting done in photoshop 6 with my wacom tablet. Nefertiti's place as an icon in popular culture is secure as she has become somewhat of a celebrity. After Cleopatra she is the second most famous "Queen" of Ancient Egypt in the Western imagination and influenced through photographs that changed standards of feminine beauty of the 20th century, and is often referred to as "the most beautiful woman in the world". I modeled this painting after her famous bust which can be seen here Model: TwiggXstock to read more about Nefertiti: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefertiti other paintings in this series: Cleopatra Hatshepsut Please respect my copyright on this artwork.

Almost forgot! FREE PRINT TIME

2009-12-28T23:50:00.000-08:00

Another giveaway!

This time it is for the print " The sister who married an Eagle" Matted 8x10

The actual print area is 8x10 and is done on beautiful fine artists paper.

To win this free print all you have to do is:

1) post a response here on my blog with your email.

2) visit my etsy shop www.solocosmo.etsy.com or my deviant art gallery www.solocosmo.deviantart.com
And tell me in your post which piece you like best and why.

One week from today I will use a random number generator to pick the winner!

Cleopatra (new artwork)

2009-12-28T23:47:00.000-08:00

I have been working on something totally out of my comfort zone....I wanted to prove to myself that i could do something really realistic and eye catching instead of just cutesy stuff...

This is my entry for the "Ancient Egypt" contest hosted by feline-icit[link]

I have found that entering contests sends me in a good direction as far as inspiration goes. This is the longest I have ever spent on a digital painting and I hope it really shows. It took FOREVER. I used a stock photo as the base but this is all just painting in photoshop, the dress, the jewelry, the snake (all the way down to his scales). I am trying to use less and less fancy brushes and instead try to rely on improving my technique. The background uses a stock texture though (see links and credits below). There is also a texture on the fabric of the dress from my personal collection.

I chose to do the older story of Cleopatras demise where she is bitten on the arm as opposed to Shakespeare's version where she is bitten on the breast. Also some older accounts say it was an Egyptian Cobra, others say it was an asp. This is more of the latter.

Model: mmb-stock (nude) [link]

Background texture is a combination of painting and this stock image from dreamstime: [link] © Stephanie Swartz | Dreamstime.com

to read more about Cleopatra: [link]

Please respect my copyright on this artwork. Please do not steal this image.

You said to let go

2009-12-22T17:22:00.000-08:00

New work! I have been working on trying to let my imagination work a little harder. I have been just sort of playing with sketches and seeing where they take me....as opposed to starting with a completed sketch. The exercise is proving to be very productive. Here I present my most recent painting. It has photo collage elements as well for the flower texture in her hair and the overall lace texture.

For credits on textures please check my deviantart gallery. www.solocosmo.deviantart.com

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

WINNER!!!! Congrats DIANA!!!!

2009-12-21T23:40:00.001-08:00

I will be emailing the winner tonight! there were 10 entries total....

Next monday I will be doing another giveaway so check back with me!

Because I have always loved you

2009-12-19T23:25:00.000-08:00

I did a 'quckie' painting/photo collage last night. It was just a sketch that got away from me. I am pleased with how it turned out.

Prints are avail in my etsy shop

www.solocosmo.etsy.com

Or at my deviantart

www.solocosmo.deviantart.com

Check my sidebar for brush credits.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Eek!!!

2009-12-17T23:19:00.000-08:00

I dyed my hair brown and I am having some major regret!

Almost forgot!

2009-12-14T23:10:00.000-08:00

I am going to be doing a give away about every 2 weeks! So add me to your follow list!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Free 8x10 fine art print!!!!

2009-12-14T22:44:00.000-08:00

I am offering up a free matted 8x10 art print of my illustration
"The Sister of the 12 Ravens" to one lucky person!

The actual print area is 8x10 and is done on beautiful fine artists paper.

To win this free print all you have to do is:

1) post a response here on my blog with your email.

2) visit my etsy shop www.solocosmo.etsy.com
And tell me in your post which piece you like best and why.

One week from today I will use a random number generator to pick the winner!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sneak peek

2009-12-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

Just a little sneak peek at my new valentines stamp line set to come out in Jan.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sampson

2009-12-09T14:28:00.000-08:00

We enjoy the organ pavillion at balboa park. So much that we go there multiple times a week.

I knew I would update more with this new phone app!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Falling stars

2009-12-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

I have been ignoring my artwork for a few weeks now. I have been busy writing a young adult novel entitled Falling Stars.

The other night I didn't feel too much like writing...and even though I have hopes of another artist doing the cover, I took my mind off things by doing a painting of Lina, one of the main characters in the story.

Digital painting and photo collage done in Photoshop elements 6 with my wacom tab.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fancy fancy

2009-12-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

I feel fancy now that I can update from my phone! I am guessing I might be posting more often thanks to this nifty little app. Also, lucky me that the free version is the blogger version. Nice. Very nice.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Deviantart

2009-11-16T15:39:00.001-08:00

I have been working very hard to get all of my artwork up on Deviantart.com it has been taking so long. I have been a member there for 3 years, but had not posted anything in a long time.

One really exciting thing is that I can offer printing services through them. I am offering smaller sized postcards and photo prints of my artwork for under $2. Its nice because they take care of all the printing and mailing for me.

I am still doing the fine art prints myself though because I like to oversee each one, so the larger fine art prints are still in my etsy shop....

Also I have a painting I wanted to share. it was a special request from a member on Deviantart.com. I am so excited as she is totally airbrushed (photoshop airbrushing) right down to her flowing dress...which took forever to get right. I named her Sabrina after the girl who requested her.

Another fun thing is that I put up a section for stock images...I want to give a little back to all of those who have helped me out on Deviantart.com to become a better artist. I dont have very many up yet, but it is a start right?

snopes.com: Christmas cards for Noah Biorkman

2009-11-05T17:36:00.001-08:00

snopes.com: Christmas cards for Noah Biorkman

Posted using ShareThis

New work

2009-10-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

I have been busy working on stamps, but I somehow managed to fit in the time to make Sampsons Halloween costume (stay tuned for photos!) and I finished a new digital collage painting! This painting is based on a female figure in Assyrian Creation stories. She is Ea the Water Goddess. This is the second in my 'Creation Myths & Folklore' Series.I had such apprehension about te hair, wanting it to look like it was really floating on the water and moving under the water....I made her hair blue at first, but it was too hard to tell it apart from the water!
Here is a shot of my original pencil sketch. These sketches are usually done very quickly just so I can get my basic composition down. You can see my notes, I usually jot down the figures name, what group of people the myth or folklore is from and sometimes a page number from the book I was reading to reference later if I need more details on the figure.

Wedding Pics are up!!!!!!

2009-10-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

The wedding was everything we/I ever wanted and dreamed! I feel like I have been uploading pics to my flickr for days on end! LOL

I picked the white sequined shoes and they were amazing. I LOVED my shoes....like really loved them :)

Check out the Photos on my Flickr Set

only a few days left....

2009-09-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

until my wedding!!!!

but in between crazy wedding planning I had to share that one of my prints has been featured in a treasury!

find the treasury here!

Sampson and his new Blocks

2009-09-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

Sampson loves his bag of blocks....he looks very sneaky in this picture because he is about to throw a bunch of blocks over his shoulders...

"looks like this bag is going to take a long time to empty, Mom"

"Lets just throw the whole bag!"

Stamps Stamps Stamps!

2009-09-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

So I am totally excited to announce that my first two lines of stamps for Sunflowers and Dragonflies Creative Designs are now for sale! Please check out their shop here and here to see my designs. I currently have two lines up, a Halloween line....and an Alice in Wonderland Whimsical line.

Here is just a sample of one of my images...'The Queen of Hearts' both the black line and a color example.

Be sure to check out the Sunflowers and Dragonflies blog to see some great examples of my images put to use on some beautiful cards.

MMSC 20

2009-09-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

This is my last entry for Midnight Madness...I am (sadly) leaving the team to work on my digital paintings and stamp lines! Sampson is such a hard little pickle to handle too now that he is walking! LOL I hardly have any time!

For this card I used two DRS Stamps, the witches hat and the 'have a wicked halloween' stamp. Almost everything on this card was scanned into my computer and digitally assembled to create this Halloween Card!

The Three Sisters

2009-09-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

in this fairy tale there are 3 sisters (princesses) who are married off to 1. a bear 2. an eagle 3. a whale. The three husbands were actually princes under a spell and the bear was a bear for 6 days and then a prince on the 7th. The eagle was an eagle for 6 weeks and then a prince for one week. The whale was a whale for 6 months and then a prince for 1 month. Eventually the little brother of the princesses found a way to save the princes and return them to their full human form for his sisters.

the sister who married an eagle- digital collage painting done in photoshop. She is waiting for her little egg to hatch.

the sister who married a whale- digital painting done in photoshop

the sister who married a bear- I would say that this one is more photo manipulation than painting. still have many painted elements though. Done in photoshop.

as always...prints available in my etsy shop. www.solocosmo.etsy.com

a little help please!!!!

2009-09-15T22:16:00.001-07:00

1.
which shoes should I wear for my wedding????? I have a tea length gown and fat ankles (lol) so shoes are important.

Forgetful bride....MMSC 19

2009-09-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

ok so the title of my card is not forgetful bride...I am referring to me! LOL I totally forgot to post my card today! I am like 2 weeks from my wedding...and I am a mess! We lost our site and had to move the wedding back to my moms house last minute...I am still too chubby to fit into my dress and have to have it let out (LOL) my veil has not arrived yet and I am supposed to do my trial hair tomorrow....and I still dont have shoes.

but....I did my card...and I love it. I used the DRS designs graduation border stamp, embossed in white and then glittered....I elongated to top of the card to show the couple moving up into the world above...kinda like now that we are together we are coming out of darkness into the light? am I crazy? thats what it seems like to me anyways.

So I am finally getting my card up!

Mr. Minkerton

2009-09-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we will be adding Minky (who we are already lovingly calling Mr. Minkerton) to our family. I will be driving to oceanside to pick him up and we can't wait to get him home to introduce him to Sugarplum...He is a 10 month old Blue Mink Siamese (Mix I think). We fell in love with the bottom photo...Rafael used to do this...let us pet his belly.

yay!

MMSC 18

2009-09-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

So I had a lot of fun this week again! As always! lol...I decided to work again on my digital scrapbooking skill and created this digital card....

Its not actually all digital! I scanned in mostly all of my elements or took photos of them and them cut and pasted and layered in photoshop.

I took one of my original drawings and stamped it with the DRS Designs stamp ' Have a Wicked Halloween' I then scanned them in and made them my top layer...I also changed their tones to sepia for a vintage look.

One might ask...WHY A DIGITAL CARD? well one example is my aunt....who loves my cards...but she has the tradition of saving every single card she gets and pasting it into a photo album...under the sticky kind of peel away...whatever those are called...well my cards just dont fit under that little sheet of plastic....now she can have a card with the look and feel of one of my real life cards. I print them out and make them into flat little cards.

They are also great to send in email form...for co-workers or mass card mailing...when not everyone can get a handmade card...they will be just as impressed that you made a card on the computer as if you handed them a real one!

Be sure to check out the midnight madness blog to get filled in on all of our sponsors....or just check my side bar!

Glittery Clear Cab Butterfly Tutorial

2009-09-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

Today I will be showing you how to make this butterfly. I have been making these butterflys for some time now..I use them on cards, as magnets, in scrapbooks and as brooches! I know I took a lot of photos, but I didn't want to miss any steps.
first we have supplies:

e-600 glue: I have tried many many many glues and this glue proves the best for the clear cabs, less bubbles and a stronger clear hold.

30x40 clear acrylic cabochon: I buy mine from allstarco They have the best prices and have all sizes available.

Scor pal double stick tape (or glue stick but I like the tape, less messy)

Printed out butterfly: I find lots of my stock images from the deviant art stock images...make sure that you read the terms of use for the image you choose as each person has different rules regarding the use of their stock images, some can not be used for commercial use so if you are planning on selling the butterfly in any way make sure to only use ones that allow commercial use!

Printed out vintage beauties: You can either do a search for Ephemera lady or vintage beauty, mostly anything taken before 1930 is in the public domain these days so its all up for grabs. Some people claim to 'copyright' these images on their site, but they cant because the images are public domain. They may however copyright the sheets that they made of a variety of ladies, but the actual images belong to no one.

pretty cardstock

black puff paint (optional): I printed my butterfly too big, but I hate to waste so I will be using the black puff paint to redefine the edges of the wings.

scissors (duh)

first we take our printed out butterfly, its doesnt matter if you print it on glossy or matte since we will glitter it. Today I used matte paper. sometimes I do glitter lines if I want to be more subtle...not today...I want ALL GLITTER!

I smear it around with my fingers and then puff paint where I want my new edges to be, dont worry if your lines are not perfect, we can trim them with our scissors when they dry.
ta-da! Allow to dry at least an hour or more (I usually do 3 hours because I curse myself when I think its dry and I go to pick it up and get black puff paint or glitter all over my thumb!)
now to do the cab...I have a bunch of pre printed sheets of ladies in all different sizes...
the best way to find the right one is to slide the cab over the different girls to see which one looks best magnified.
too light for this dark butterfly...but once you do pick one its time to glue. For some reason I can never seem to close my glue properly and I always have a hard time getting the lid to un-stick.
I would like to apologize to my dentist for how I get my glue open.

finally!

I chose a darker image because the blue butterfly is dark...just glob a big dot right on top! I need to note here that you MUST use matte paper for your lady, not gloss. The gloss paper when it dries bubbles...it took me a long time to figure this one out. You get less little bubbles under your cab when it dries if you use matte paper.
Just squish it right on top of the glue...i really like this part....till its flat. Don't worry about glue overspill...we can trim it later.
This glue needs to cure a little over 24 hours....if you try to cut into it early you will get glue all over your scissors and be very sad (trust me)

time to finish up now that everything is dry.

take your double stick tape from scor-pal (see their link on my side bar) and put it on the back of the butterfly, then stick your pretty cardstock on the back. This makes for a nice backing and keeps the butterfly thick.

you can now trim away the excess puff paint and you have a beautiful butterfly....

here is the back with the card stock.

now you can just cut around your dry cab trimming away all the excess glue.

so prettty!

a side note here is that these also look great in vintage blank cameo settings for jewelry!

Glue your lady down and here is your completed butterfly!

you can add a magnet or pinback to the back of the butterfly or leave the back plain to use on a card!

all done! Hope you enjoyed!

Some Updates:

the e600 glue I purchase at Michaels craft stores, I notice that they do not sell it at Joannes though. It can also be bought online...(but it is not sold in Austrailia I think)

If you do not want to buy the Clear Cabochons in bulk like I do you can buy little sets on etsy.com, just do a search under the supplies section for 'clear cabochon' or 'acrylic cabochon' the measurements 30x40 are in mm. Some sellers even combine 'try out' sets that include the e-600 glue and little cabs. I also like the 12x13mm cabs for small stuff on cards.

I have amassed literally 1000's of vintage lady pics and there are a variety of internet hunts I have been on to find them! One of my all time favorite resources is a flickr friend named suzee que here is her link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/suzee_que/sets/

she has a great set titled 'ephemera to share' where you can find images to download for your art, all that she asks is that you do not download the images and resell them on a cd or collage sheet. Make sure to check her titles she will always title the ones you can use as 'free to use' she shares her own artwork too so be sure to check out her collages and skinny cards! there are so many great resources on flickr!

Here is a great ephemera resource where I got some of my butterflys:

http://www.gallery.oldbookart.com/main.php

thats their main page...a site that share great vintage book art that has passed into the public domain. Check out their European Butterfly gallery..

http://www.gallery.oldbookart.com/main.php?g2_itemId=19715

you can either download the full plates of butterflys or download them individually. They have an interesting way to download...all the images are free just click 'add to cart' on the ones you want to download and then when you are done update your cart and they will download as a 'zip file' or you can download them individually by the good ol' right click and save method.

I have another alternative to trolling the internet too...CD's. I have purchased many a CD full of clipart and vintage images that you can use in your artwork. Some of my favorites are from 'Barnes and Noble' I do not know about how other 'barnes and noble' bookstores are set up, but at mine they have a bunch of 'clipart' books that come with cds of all the images in the books on a spinning shelf unit in the 'crafting' section'. My favorite one is a CD or Art Nouveu Women from vintage ads. You can also find CD's on ebay too for cheaper...but sometimes the images you get are too small or degraded, and its hard to make sure that all the images are public domain since they are usually hand made cd's...so make sure to buy form someone with good feedback. these days I try to stick to cds from the bookstore or images I find on my own so I always know what I am getting.

The Water Nixie in the Pond

2009-09-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

Last night I finished a new Digital Painting......It actually turned out quite like I envisioned...except without her hands being up because apparently even with reference material I suck at drawing hands...I also have some new brush artists to thank for letting me download and use their brushes...please check my sidebar link to see their profiles on DA.

This was my original sketch....you can see how I wanted her hands to be beckoning you to come to her...but translating them into my painting they just kept looking like little stumps....I am forever practicing my hands (in drawing)...hands and feet....

Tahoe...our first family vacation!

2009-09-05T23:23:00.000-07:00

So Tahoe was our very first family vacation ever! Sampson had such a blast...he woke up early every day and stayed up way past bedtime as if he was going to miss something! The pics are kinda out of order...but here we are on the top of squaw mountain after taking the gondola up.

ordering room service! lol
my baby loves the water. If he was swimming all the time he would be stoked....nothing like swimming on top of a giant mountain!
My dad and my step mom Keli joined us. Without them we wouldnt have known where to go or what to do at all! They were awesome.

I dont have many photos of all three of us together so thanks to Keli I finally got some!
He loves to jump off the side of the pool to me!
This was Sampsons favorite part...walking in the shallows.

and splashing...lots of splashing...

MMSC 17 'The Magician'

2009-09-01T07:07:00.000-07:00

So this weeks sponsor is DRS Designs....and I had a lot of fun with their stamp! You can click their link on my sidebar (be sure to check out our other sponsors too!)

I used the snow globe stamp that can be found here....as soon as I saw it I knew it was going to be a crystal ball! I did a collage card for Halloween with images from a vintage mystery novel. I stamped the image twice, once so I could have a clean base on the globe (which its hard to tell in the pic, but I embossed it and colored it silver and then glossed it) and then I stamped it again over the mans face and cut and pasted everything together. The girl laying on top of the globe is in her own layer. Its also covered in mod podge for major glitter (also hard to see in photos) Its just kind of a strange odd card but I am really happy with it :)

The Bride Step by Step

2009-08-31T22:49:00.000-07:00

so this is how it all starts....a sketch...either done in pencil and scanned in or like this one sketched directly into photoshop as the top layer...i wanted her forlorn at first and crying...like she got left at the alter or the flowers were all wrong..something like that...but the painting changed as I kept working.
I always do the face first...skin in one layer and the eyes on another layer, nose and mouth in their own layers too, each on top of the other. when I am happy i merge all 3.
with the face elements on their own layer I can go in with highlights, blush and undertones.
I accidentally skipped a few steps here because I got carried away and forgot to save...lol...but basically I lay in the hair basic tones, the skin and dress and dont worry about fine tuning yet...that comes later.
veil....
now that I know where the veil is going to be, I can go in and detail the hair.
after detailing the hair i start to go in with my brushes and erasers to add pretty swirls and flowers.
sometimes I get carried away, but I love the look of many layers upon layers.
I decided she needed arms and a bouquet last minute so i paint them in under the hair layer
I darken the hair, add eyebrows, lighten her arms (they were a little too red) and flatten my pretty little bride! voila! she is done!

Some new artwork and some big thank-you (s)

2009-08-31T22:10:00.001-07:00

So I have finished a new painting...all digital done in photoshop CS4. With my upcoming wedding in 4 weeks...being a bride is very much on my mind.

I also want to show a WIP of this painting, I will post that in my next post....but first here is the completed version:

I want to take a moment to thank all of my friends on deviantart.com who make and share their photoshop brushes for use. I think its such a great thing to share the art of brush making with other artists who work digitally. I have downloaded countless brushes for personal use, but recently have started seeking out brushes to use commercially (like in this painting). In my next post you will see how these brushes add just that extra final touch to my paintings.

Three people I would like to thank outright who have shared their brushes with me to use are: (I will have more people to thank later!!!)

Brenda (coby17 on deviantart.com)

Ailsa (For-Certain on deviantart.com)

and Romina (Punksafetypin on deviantart.com)

New Painting

2009-08-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

The Goose Girl....

I love all things fairy tale...and this is one of my favorites. I love dark paintings, but whenever I am working on my own paintings for some reason white and pastel colors become my favorite things...LOL

Done in Photoshop CS4.

Adventures in Printing!

2009-08-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of customer service....like big. You may have seen my post praising Apple and their care of my computer...now I must say how much I am adoring Staples as of last night.

My printer was purchased in December as a gift from my mom. Last night when I got home I wanted to print out my Snow White image for the lovely Kimberly....I have my printer down to a science....feeding one sheet at a time of the fine art paper as it is too thick to feed normally....I know all the quirks....saturation up 50%....printing it at absolute color metric...all the things to make it perfect....and then my printer breaks! I mean like breaks breaks...like it sounded like something inside went really wrong. I got a test print done but hadn't fed the good paper in yet.

So Staples isn't supposed to exchange things after 30 days, then you have to go through the warranty with the manufacturer....who told me on the phone that they would send me a new printer...ground....so it would take a few weeks...

On a whim I called the Staples I bought it from and explained my need to have a printer like right then....lol....and that I had the receipt but no box....they took it back and exchanged it. I spent another $120 because they didn't have my model anymore and I have been wanting to upgrade anyways and figured this was the time....

yay. New beautiful printer with 5 ink system...Thanks Staples for bending the rules!

that means Kimberly...your print goes out today!

MMSC16

2009-08-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have been really interested in digital scrapbooking for a long time now....my mom gave me a photo album of Sampson that looked just like a real scrapbook, only it was all digital....pretty cool. I think it would be nice to do one of my own. This was my first attempt at doing something like that. I am sure I made some mistakes, but I think with practice I could really love it. I am quickly running out of space in my crafting area....doing digital scrapbooking would certainly cut down on that! LOL...I did miss the glue and the mess though!

I also thought an all digital card suited the Digi clipart from Michelle that I used for this week!!!!

I am in Tahoe right now for the week, but had to make sure to post this! I will do some more details when I get back....Dont forget to check out the weekly sponsors for Midnight Madness!!!!! Please go to the Midnight Madness blog this week...my blog is suffering an overhaul...I am doing some cleanup and changes so bear with me that I do not have all the sponsors up....

Two New Paintings

2009-08-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

The Sister of the 12 Ravens

Snow White

Both were done in Photoshop CS4.

Midnight Madness Time...

2009-08-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

This digi was perfect for this week because we went to a five year old boys swim party....and guess what? He loves trucks! LOL

And now a word from the MIDNIGHT MADNESS Sponsors!

Just a little reminder that"Simon Says Stamp!" is our month end sponsor and will be giving some lucky player a $50 CREDIT VOUCHER!! "Simon Says Stamp!" has over 100,000 items in stock and ship USA orders over $60 and International orders over $120 for free. Be sure to stop in and check them out :)

Our Weekly Bonus Sponsor is
SUNSHINE’S STAMPS

They are being very generous with their give away this week and here is some cool information about Sunshine’s Stamps. Thank You Christina!

"Sunshine’s Stamps is the brainchild of Christina and Rob with a lot of wonderful input from Chrissy! There are a lot of Stamp Company’s forming up out there. Digital images seemed to be the way to go for us. We had been looking for a venture to do together for quite some time and after some poking and prodding I managed to inspire my Hubby Robbie into making his first attempt at a digital image. Now, I am very fortunate to have an accomplished artist as a husband. Not many out there can say that!! Robbie is an aviation and railroad artist of well known repute. His fine art can be found on his Website or on his blog which is dedicated to his mistress, theArgus this of course was the inspiration for our first image – Angus Argus.

A shortage of masculine images out there was really obvious to me, the mother of “my three sons”. Once we decided to go with manly images near and dear to Robbie’s heart we were on our way. Off we went. We have been developing different lines of stamps as we go and expect that we will continue to develop new lines as we grow and mature as a business. Currently we have the High Flyer series, Big Builders, Everyday Heroes and the two new series we are releasing here this week “Around the House” & “Teasers”. There are several other Series under development and we happily take image requests from our Design Team and our wonderful supporters. We thank our wonderful design team “SUNSHINE’S STAMPERS” for their wonderful creativity, enthusiasm and support. We hope you pop by our BLOG to see what is coming up and find links to the coolest cards and projects. Also watch out for our newsletter showcasing the tremendous versatility of digital stamp images.

WEEKLY BONUS GIVE AWAY FOR MMSC15

Bonus Gift Give Away:

JUSTRITE 2X STAMPER
100 PAK ADHESIVE RHINESTONES
50 PAK ADHESIVE PEARLS
SCISSORS
2XMAKING MEMORIES CARD VARIETY PAK
2 GOODIE GIFTERS
250 PHOTO CORNERS
PRIMA SPRITES FLOWERS
ACID FREE PHOTO GLUE STICK
DCWV THE ROCK STAR MAT STACK

Plus, the two digis below.....

Plus one digi of your choice from their SHOP

Below are the Design Teams samples this week and many are made with *Sunshine's Stamps images. Be sure to click on them to find out all the details of each.

Making up for lost time....

2009-08-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

so what I have Been doing in between Internet connection problems and computer issues you ask? WORKING! LOL I have been getting acquainted with my new favorite program, corel painter....and doing some photo collage paintings. Above is a photoshop fantasy custom morph that I did for the lovely Heather who is throwing an Alice in Wonderland themed Halloween Party....I started with a great head shot of her and then went about turning her into the Cheshire Cat. Floaty purple Mist and all. This one was so much fun to do and I am so in love with how it turned out.
I have been loving Corel Painter too...I will be doing a post on my process later this week, from paper to computer to digital painting, how it all works. basically you are painting in the computer stroke for stroke using a pen tablet...I have been working in digital oils and its a whole other process than working in photoshop. I have been working on a series of paintings based on fairy tales and nursery rhymes...above is 'Mary had a Little Lamb'. When we get back from Tahoe I will be making prints in all sizes available in my etsy shop (www.solocosmo.etsy.com)
This was the first painting I did in Corel of Snow White...still getting the hang of the program but I am a fast learner when it comes to stuff like this so I have picked it up pretty quickly (thankfully).
A Painting based on the story 'The Virgin Marys Child'...not to be mistaken for the Christ baby, its a whole other story.
Rapunzel and the one below (gathering strawberries) are my two most recent corel creations)

This Cinderella one is a combination of digital painting and photo collage.
Above is a digital collage/painting in photoshop. the original photo was of my mother age 3 years old. It has been majorly altered and painted over and colorized.
This is a photo montage of so many sources I don't even know where to start. One of my favorite creations though.

The Good and the bad

2009-08-14T11:57:00.001-07:00

So here is the rest...on Wednesday we said goodbye to our beloved Rafael. He was about 17 years old and we miss him so much. Our other cat (who is only 2 years old) keeps looking for him in all of his spots so we are trying to give little sugarplum lots of loving. Chris is taking it very hard because Rafael was his little buddy. Our grumply old Tonkinese....

Better news...

I have been asked to design stamps by the Wonderful Beth of Creative Designs! It is nice to get recognized for my artwork as I have taken great strides to improve my art over the past year or so and get back to the skill level I was working at in High School...

I am so excited to be a part of her team make sure to check out her blog!

http://www.sunflowers-dragonflies.ca/blog/

Her website/store is getting a big revamp and my stamps will come along with the new site (her storefront can be found here http://sunflowers-dragonflies.ca/ )

I cant wait until the big unveil!!!!

So Much to Say, good and bad. 2 part post

2009-08-14T11:52:00.001-07:00

There are so many things that have been going on!

first off: Apple customer care is the best in the whole world! We took the MAC laptop (which it looks like I have claimed as my own) that I have been working with to the apple store because it wasnt charging...we had just bought a new charger chord too.

So we have had the laptop 3 years and its not under warranty anymore, but they gave us a new battery, new charger for free...but it still wouldn't recognize the charge. So they sent it away to be serviced...FOR FREE...just because we are good customers. They replaced just about everything in the computer, and fixed it in four days!!! I just got it back in the mail today...new charger, new airport card, new battery, new fans, new wires, new LED lights, updated operating system and the list goes on and on...ALL FREE!

WOO HOO!

So now I have my computer back.

RIP Mr. Rafael kitty..... We will miss you

2009-08-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

MMSC14

2009-08-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

I cant belive we have already had 14 weeks of Midnight Madness!!! Crazy. So this week Sue was our sponsor (check her link on my sidebar). I was so swamped with everything going on in my life right now I kinda dropped the ball on using one of her great Digi Stamps for the Sketch challenge. We sold both of my PC's (which were both crappy) and I have been using my boyfriends MAC laptop....but hadnt set up the printer yet and couldnt figure out how to get the bluetooth printer to work with the MAC, so I used a print I already had printed out of one of my drawings.

I am kinda bummed because I LOVE the cowboy digi stamp ( I love all things western) and I wanted to use it, but by the time I got my printer working I had already made this one! LOL

But seriously check out her shop, everything from digi stamps to envelope kits...

I also used the Sco-pal tape for the first time and I admit I LOVED it. I liked having such precision...usually i lose glue dots everywhere or make a mess with my glue.LOL

My Baby Polywog

2009-08-10T20:58:00.001-07:00

So all week last week and until Thursday Sampson has Parent Tots swim lessons. I already knew he was a little frog from swimming at my moms house, but he goes nuts in the pool. He loves to swim and is not afraid of going under or diving in off the side of the pool to me. I get such a workout though wrangling him in that pool!

MMSC 13

2009-08-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

It feels so nice to be back at the computer getting into the groove of things! I had a lot of fun with this weeks sketch, mostly because i used my own original artwork. The red riding hoof art on this card is made from multiple prints of my ORIGINAL digital painting, done from scratch brush stroke by brush stroke...just on the computer instead of traditional methods.
while I had no Internet i have been getting to know Corel Painter. Its ideal for me because to paint with Sampson around would be impossible...not to mention the mess and set up break down time. plus its nice to have an 'undo' button. LOL
I am currently working on a whole series from the Grimm's fairy tale series. I will be posting them to my blog later on in the month. I have finished red riding hood, Cinderella, and Rapunzel to name a few. Prints will be available in my etsy shop hopefully next month after a huge store sale to make room for a shop revamp. I will also be making bookplates, stickers and jewelry from my drawings and paintings.
now about the card! She is layered for a 3d effect and set under a plastic frame for a finished look. I layered the different papers and wove red ribbon around them to create the squares. little glittery flowers too. I am so happy with this card :) ( if I do say so myself)

I totally forgot to mention!

We are so excited to announce our very first Guest Designer for Midnight Madness. Our August Guest Designer is Melissa Bove. Many of you may know her from Splitcoaststampers. She is currently one of the “Dirty Dozen” girls. We are so honored to have her joining us for the next month. She is extremely talented and her work will bring so much inspiration to the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenges each week. She lives in Whiting, NJ, down near the Jersey Shore, with her hubby, Robert and her 3 ½ yr old son, Antonio who keeps her on her toes. She loves doing all kinds of paper crafts and her main passions are making cards and altering anything she can get her hands on, especially boxes! She loves to incorporate some type of stamping in almost everything she does. She started stamping about 3 years ago and it has quickly become an obsession for her. Melissa will be helping us choose our September Guest Designing Diva, so keep those creative juices flowing and be sure to let us know you are interested in being our SEPT Guest Designer. Please stop by her blog and give her a big shout out!

This weeks Masterpiece Award goes to Darlene over at darscraftycreations.blogspot.com CONGRATULATIONS DARLENE...this is such a well earned award. Darlene has played every week with us and is always blowing us away with her creations! Please check her blog out, you will be happy you did!!

Our sponsors this week are Scor-pal who have some fabulous products, so you might just want to check them out....there scor-tape is awesome.....so strong and easy to use...don't know why it took me so long to find this wonderful product!!

Our other sponsor for the month of August is none other than....Simon Says Stamp..whoo hoo!!! Check out the Midnight Madness site for all the details, including this voucher for $50.00 and how you could win it..........

There are many more exciting things coming up on Midnight Madness...so please stay tuned!

Jeni's Blog candy
Challenge Blog Candy”??? Oh Yeah!!
Once again, we are doubling the fun here!! Just like last month we have a bonus for our players.. Our team member Jeni has so generously offered up some challenge blog candy for the month of August. For every entry to the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenges this month, you will go in the drawing for the GRAND PRIZE Month end awards. As an added BONUS…if you "FOLLOW" Jeni’s blog and leave her a comment, you will get anEXTRA entry in the month end drawing, so hop on over to Jeni’s blog, stay a spell, post a comment and be sure to click the follow button. Thank you Jeni for this and all your hard work with the MM Marketing :) Check our her FANTASTIC “Challenge Blog Candy” below!!
List of items
BasicGrey 12x12 Sultry PaperPack
5 pc Opaline Pearls
Spellbinders Diecut - Blossom
Impress- Transfer On Booklet Alphabet
DCVW Vellum Quote Stacks -
Scriptures
4 Brilliance Pads: Graphite Black, Gold, Platinum, Coffee Bean
50pc mixed anodized metal roses
48 pcs prima nursery tales mini flowers
50pc kaiser vanilla flowers
60pc prima flowers mixed
40pcs mixed brads2 Ribbons
1 Chipboard Stickers
1 Box of SU watercolor crayons in "Soft Subtle" 12 pc

Grand prize entries will last MMSC13-MMSC16 and the winners will be drawn on Sept 2nd :)
***************************************************************

Congratulations to our very own DT sister Chris for having not one..... but two cards chosen in the top 10 over athttp://www.toptencreations.blogspot.com/ This doesn't surprise me in the least as Chris' creations always blow me away...she is just one of the most talented ladies I know. Enjoy the spotlight Chris...it is sooooo well deserved!!!!

if you are happy and you know it!

2009-08-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

so....we finally have Internet! After the longest month ever I am having to play some major catch up! unfortunately my blog kinda came last because I couldn't figure out what to update about first...so i thought maybe a Sampson post and then I will get into the crafting i have been doing on my Internet vacation! LOL So we have been taking Sampson to the beach. He loves the water. I mean like totally loves it. he would be happy to just crawl right into the ocean. This is a pic from Coronado....he loves to splash in the waves. Tomorrow we start the tiny tots swim lessons. I am not too excited to be in a swimsuit, but its for my baby! Besides he loves to swim at my moms house. I hold him in my arms and we walk around in the jacuzzi (without heat).

Here is a pic of Sampson and his Grandpa (my dad) learning all about the stars. My daddy was the best a kid could ever wish for, my life was full of camping, hiking and all sorts of outdoor activities. My dad always wanted a boy, so he and Sampson are going to have so much fun! My dad always lays on the floor because he hurt his back and he likes to stretch out like a seal. Its nice because he is at Sampsons level....lol

Also Sampson has now mastered WALKING and the art of smiling on command...this is what we get when we ask him to smile...

late as usual

2009-07-22T16:11:00.001-07:00

i seriously do not know how I got on in the world without internet! Our interent is scheduled to be up and running on the 25th...and then i should be able to be a little more active again. I had a lot of fun with this sketch...

OMG Midnight Madness!

2009-07-15T19:04:00.001-07:00

I feel so late to the game1 I did not even know I got an award!!!! Talk about surprised! My card last week got so much notice, and I am so pleased because it was one of my first photoshop drawings with my new wacom tablet.

I need to apologize for posting late this week on my MMSC, I will not have internet until August 1st it seems, so I have not been able to get to a computer till now. So I was really happy to open up my email and see my great new badge! Thanks Priscilla!

I have so many things to post, but I hate having to wait. My dad is chasing Sampson around his house right now I am sure waiting for me to get off his computer so he can work out (it 'boulder' nite) so alas...short and sweet...again!

MMSC9

2009-07-07T07:50:00.000-07:00

So I cant believe it has been another week!!! I am still without internet so I apologize for the brief posts....But Chris has now been approved for unemployment so maybe now we can afford our own internet instead of pirating off neighbors...lol (not really, they said we could use their WiFi)

So for MMSC 9 I chose to use my OWN ORIGINAL ARTWORK....I have been working like crazy in both Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter, soon I will share all my creations. But this is one of my own pieces of art, drawn by me and colored all digitally. I made a large card too 6x8, no sewing this time, but I am still in love with how it turned out! As soon as my internet is up I will be selling prints of my artwork in my etsy shop.

Jess

MMSC8 FINALLY!!!!

2009-07-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

so since last Monday I have had NO INTERNET! What a pain. I have been so stressed over getting my card up and I asked to come over to my moms to do it Monday night but she said she had the flu, so I couldnt bring the baby Sampson over!

Chris just does not understand that I was so worried over posting my card...LOL...it was kinda hard to explain to him. I know that this picture is not the best at all, but its because I had to take it with Chris' iphone and email it to myself since I cant upload any photos on line right now. I want to post so many of the new things i AM WORKNG ON....but I am at my friends house posting this so it will have to wait. I also have much better photos of this card titled 'the young swell'. I am not even sure if I will sell it because I am so happy with how it turned out :) I think the circles look like moons and the card it totally dreamy.

HOPEFULLY I will have internet back up soon.

MMSC7

2009-06-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

So....my internet has been down and if you can belive it I am at the City College Cafeteria trying to post this blog entry in time for tomorrow!!! LOL....that means I dont have access to the original sketch right now but I will post it later. We use our neighbors WiFi (with permission) and he said its down right now....so I am going to try and schedule this post...fingers crossed!

I actually did this sketch for the week, I sent it to Priscilla and she liked it enough to have us all use it! I ended up doing an Alice in Wonderland card. My little sister is obsessed with Alice in Wonderland. I will be watching her this summer while my mom goes back to work and she wants to make cards and sell them on etsy too. She is 12. :) The round discs are actually tea cups filled with silicone to look like tea...hard to see from the front view but they look great when you tilt the card a bit. I will post more photos when I am using my own computer!

Also sorry if I seem a little MIA lately...planning my wedding for Oct and starting school in AUG...not to mention our Tahoe trip...PHEW...

worth1000

2009-06-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

for anyone who wanted to view my past photoshop works ( i know a few had trouble)

go to this link

http://www.worth1000.com/stories/stats.asp?display=photoshop&uid=201058

below the fireplace thing and the stat chart you will see a chart...the far left is the list of the contests that I have entered if you look over a few columns you will see a spot that says entry and below them is all of my entrys (my works) for example the first line : the contest was 'pinocchio 10' and over on the same line you can click my entry titled 'winona ryder'

the little gold stars mean I ranked high and the 'fireplace' holds my 'trophys' for example I got first place on the 'unlucky day' challenge with my killer whale eating a penquin entry. I once had someone email me my own photoshopped pic claiming it to be a real photo...how funny is that????

MMSC6 & I am back in town!

2009-06-16T07:37:00.000-07:00

where did my week go???? Its time for Midnight Madness again! I made a card a little differently this time...I took a black and white print and actually finger painted it with glitter and gloss colors. I was so happy with how it looked I didn't layer it at all. Its sewn right into the card. Lots of glitter of course (it my great love) and I call it 'The Conquistadors Lady'. I made another one for a thank you card for the Lady at the Port Officials office for helping me with all my wedding site plans...and for waiving that $1500 deposit.

I think all my followers know about the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenges, but just in case:

Try your hand at our MMSC6 challenge!
MMSC6 Link is here

Also I am back from our trip to Lake County for my Uncles Funeral. 13 hours there and 13 hours back in the matter of 2 day. Kinda hard with a one year old! Also Sampson got a really bad Chicken Pox rash from his vaccinations and broke out all over his back...which didn't make being strapped to a car seat pretty much the biggest bummer ever. We are safely back though. I have been to be at 9 both nights we have been back though and have not gotten ANYTHING done...lol. I have been going to bed so freakin early!

MMSC5 part 2

2009-06-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

I ran out of time this morning to post this, but this is my second version of my lady in yellow. This one I went with brighter colors! She also has blue straps instead of brown. The circles are in fact resin over designer yellow and white papers.

Here is a peek of the inside with little resin yellow drops on the corners

PLus the complete package, the large envelo-box! Super sturdy and made from 3 sheets of glitter cardstock...because everyone knows how much I love glitter!

And here is the inside for the brown/blue version...slightly different. It has glitter circles instead of resin drop on the inside.

MMSC 5

2009-06-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

This week has gone by so fast! I cant believe it is Tuesday again already! I finally finished my card! I really loved this weeks sketch and at first thought I chose the wrong colors but once it all came together I was really happy with it.

Don't forget to head over to the Midnight Madness blog and play along by submitting your own version of the sketch!

Some Family History

2009-06-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

I have been a very busy girl...uploading old family photos all night! This one is my Grandma Barbara (moms mom)

my mother

Nana and her second husband

My Grandma Barbara (Christmas)

Grandma Barbara and my Papa on their wedding day

My Grandma

Family Christmas, Grandma Barbara, Uncle Jimmy, Uncle Ronnie, My Mama and my Papa

Grandma Barbara, Uncle Jimmy, Mom, Dad, Uncle Ronnie

The Western Set Album Cover

2009-06-07T22:13:00.001-07:00

So I made this for my Best friends band....Music recorded in his house, Him, his Girlfriend and his roomates....can be found on myspace...pretty cute stuff!

http://www.myspace.com/thewesternset

Alice in Wonderland

2009-06-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

I finished a drawing/digital collage. First I drew my Alice (original drawing by me) onto bristol. She was colored using prismacolor pencils and then I scanned her into my computer for soe background work using a vintage piece of ephemera. I added some shadows and voila! She is done.

I have made her available in 8x10, 5x7, 4x6 and ACEO sizes....also I am thinking of making a simple card out of her too.

1000 Handmade Cards

2009-06-06T14:46:00.001-07:00

Today at 9am I read this book while Sampson played with the train set at Barnes and Noble...

TALKS ABOUT INSPIRING!!! Totally worth buying even if just for the inspiration...but I am broke...so I will just have to daydream about buying it. Check it out....I wish I had known about this book when they were taking submissions!!! All the artists have credit and links to their shops/emails/blogs in the back. Pretty cool.

And....check me out!

2009-06-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

I been drawing too!!!! LOL.....beginning Ozma drawing.....

The Fool and his Dancer

2009-06-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

So I finished this card last week...and i love it (if I do say so myself! LOL) Mostly I am really happy with the colors and the bubble glass balloons.

There is a double sided pull out tab too! I think it would be great for journaling or an extra special note! This card went to a friend, but I liked it so much I am doing another one (as soon as I finish up my MMSC#5 card!)

Midnight Madness 4.......

2009-06-02T06:26:00.000-07:00

So if you have not checked out the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenges you should be getting on that! This week was my favorite so far. The square theme just screamed art deco to me and I found the prettiest vintage image from an old magazine cover from the 20's to put on the front! So pretty. I am really really happy with this one. I actually made two! The green and red one I am listing on etsy for sale later today. The are complete (of course) with glitter all over and envelo-boxes. Priscilla is doing some awesome rewards this month for anyone who particpates.

remember you have until Midnight EST 6-2-09 (today!) to get your last MMSC3 entry in, for the $100 shopping spree give away to Stampin Up. Priscilla will be doing the Big Video drawing for the Shopping spree tomorrow 6-03-09 so be sure to check back here for the winner to be drawn by video!

Priscilla is offering up to $500 HUGE CASH Prize for sketches #4-sketch #7. And this SWEET prize will be drawn at the end of July. Please enter one entry a week and Get your chance on this win!! See our main MMSC page on Priscilla's pageI was lucky enough to find two MATCHING pieces for the corners on this one! It's rare wit my vintage finds to find pairs.

This is the second one i made and I seriously had the hardest time picking out which one to make my official entry for this week, I couldn't decide, so I just picked the one I did first! LOL

I did like the box for this one best because of the piece I put over the closure.

In Memory Of....

2009-06-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

Clifford Brown. My Uncle who passed away....we will be going to his memorial on the 13th (back to Clear Lake). These are some of the photos we found of him. We will miss him. This is a photo from my dads wedding about 4 years ago.

This one is from my Grandmothers funeral last month where we spread her ashes at sea.

This is a nice one from my Grandmothers 80th birthday, My Grandma MOG, Clifford, and my Aunt Sandy.
This is one from my Dad and Keli's wedding in 06' (zoom in for a closer view) left to right: Uncle Jim, Noelle (cousin) Aunt Janiece, Alexandra (cousin) and Jims son (can't remember his name!) Chloe and my sister Danielle, ME, my dad, Keli, Justin (my sisters high school boyfriend and also my Dads best man), My Ex-Husband (Gareth), Uncle Steven, Aunt Linda, Clifford, Uncle John, Aunt Sandy and Brood and Uncle David.

my dad is the youngest of 7 brothers and then there is my Aunt who is the youngest. My Grandmother always said she just wanted a boy and a girl....so she kept having boys until she finally got her girl. Here are the kids with just Michael missing (who has passed away a few years earlier)

left to right: John, David, Janiece, my Dad, Clifford and Steven.

Some Photos

2009-05-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the day together as a family....It was a snuggly day and we were all bundled up. Sampson demands at least one long outing a day. Sampson loves the park so much by our house because there are lots of little kids, but I take issue with the park having no bathroom....I had a big coffee (decaf) and I had to pee so bad! The Nearest bathroom is Lancers (a local dive bar) and I am not taking my baby into a bar. Oh well.

He looked really cute today.
This one is from Sampsons birthday, we took him to the aquarium at Scripps. He loves the water....he couldnt take his eyes off the tank for a decent photo. It was hot that day.

Poor Rafael

2009-05-31T13:31:00.000-07:00

I have been a little MIA this week...my poor kitty Rafael is very ill. He is 16 years old (a male tonkinese). About 2 weeks ago we took him to the vet because he had stopped 'yowling'. He has yowled at us every night since we got him as he trots around the house...usually around 7pm. We called this 'doing his rounds' or 'checking the perimeter' because he goes from room to room...checking each one and howling.

The vet said he has a thyroid problem and put him on some meds...which made him throw up about every hour..horrible. Then the vet makes us start to give him pepcid for the the throwing up...then he gets an allergic reaction and starts losing his hair. So the vet says now we have to give him benadryl....so then he is groggy and wont eat and starts throwing up again.

I fired the vet.

Chris and I decided we do not want Rafael to have to be on all sorts of meds, one after the other because of each side effect. Chris has been doing some interweb research and found a great all natural food supplement to add to his food that should help. We finally got him to start eating again (after trying 6 different kinds of food) he went for canned tuna. We were seriously trying to get him to each ANYTHING! I was sure he would go for the high end INNOVA, but wouldnt touch it.

He has stopped throwing up and is now eating and yowling and becoming a bit of his old self again.

Sugarplum is fine and has enjoyed all the food that Rafael has turned down because she is a piglet.

Its Tuesday.....MIDNIGHT MADNESS!

2009-05-26T07:58:00.001-07:00

So this is the card that I did for the Midnight madness sketch challenge....I really got going on this one! I put the rectangle in front and to the right instead of the square so I could do this card. I started with a photo of my sister holding her cat and then altered it using pastels and markers...then I drew a new face to make her a little goth girl and made her a little hat. Some of the photos the color is a little off...I have her behind a plastic overlay so it makes it look kinda shiny. I really liked the box for this one!

I am really enjoying these challenges because I am really tryiing to do new things. This card is really different for me!!!

workin hard!

2009-05-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

Today i went to the swap meet and got tons of goodies!!!! about 90 pieces of jewelry for cards and ring making, a beautiful double chiffon white nightgown....it looks too big but i always underestimate my size...LOL....so that means it will probably fit just fine. Also got some movies (VHS) for $1 each to add to my never ending swap meet movie collection. Picked up

Charlottes Web (cartoon)

Alice in Wonderland (Disney)

Tombstone

Ace Ventura Pet Detective

A Mighty Wind

Forrest Gump

The Jerk

Witches

Unforgiven

I think Alice in Wonderland was the only Disney movie we were missing that is not a pixar movie...so now I am stoked.I loved the movie Witches growing up. I meant to grab The Crow also but forgot....and Ace Ventura is for my boyfriend.

I have been working hard on the next Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge!!! I want to post pics because I am so excited about my card but I cant....not the one going up this Tuesday but a whole week you will have to wait! LOL

jess

Breaking news

2009-05-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

So I found out today the my Mother and my Step-dad are getting a divorce and have put their house on the market for sale....the house we were planning to host our wedding at in October....LOL....I guess I was wrong when I said this year could only get better?

Vegas anyone? LOL

Have decided that if we have to do vegas I do not want to wear a huge proper wedding dress....I found a lovely vintage dress today that is tea leangth a bit snug but it has a lot of extra fabric I can see on the inside that it can be let out...I only need like one more inch...much better for trolling the streets of Vegas....now I only need to sell my other one. LOL a bride with two dresses...one that is too big and one that it too small....what a mess I am.

jess

Two Cards

2009-05-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

So I totally forgot to post the pics of the two cards I finished a while back...one for mothers day for my Mother...and one titled 'April Showers Brings May Flowers' My Mom has been bugging me for about a year now for a card....and I finally made her one! lol

This is the April Showers card, originally the image was an Easter print, but i think it works well for other than Easter...

2009-05-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

It's that time again! I am so excited about the Midnight Madness sketches...I am really doing some great cards (at least I think LOL) because of it. I loved the first one, I love the second one. Can't wait for more. So here is the sketch for this week....

I took photos with and without the flash so you could really see some of the detail. I think she is so pretty and flirty!

I always feel this need to finish all four sides of my cards...lol...I end up using so much paper but my cards come out nice and thick and sturdy, like little books.

And of course I am addicted to sparkle!!!

Here she is with the matching envelope and my clear cab to close the front, the same image set under magnifying acrylic.

I will also be posting later tonight a duplicate of this card only in different colors on etsy..it is done in blue and peach. keep an eye out!

Dont forget to come play with us! The Midnight Madness Sketch Challenges are open to ANYONE! Just click the link on my sidebar to head over to Priscillas blog and sign up on her Mr. Linky.

Jess

New Mailing List

2009-05-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

Since I only post a few cards here and there, I would like to make it easier for people to know when I list a new card for sale.

Normally I do not send unsoliceted emails to people, so if you would like to get an email when i have a new card for sale just sign up here!

Now that I have my sons birthday party out of the way I should have a lot more cards to list, i am working on two cat cards right now. I just have to sew them tomorrow....

my baby is a one year old!

2009-05-18T20:16:00.000-07:00

ok so my photos are backwards because I have such trouble posting photos on blogger...it makes me miss my livejournal days....lol. So now I am finally done throwing my baby his first birthday party. What a time consuming event! It was the first party that we have hosted ourselves and we had it at lake Murray. It was a beautiful day and we had a nice spot under the trees. In this photo you can see Sampsons face at this gift, a 'Tickle me Ernie'. He is totally stoked. Thats my boyfriend (and Sampsons daddy) and me and then Sampson...my Big Boy!

He loved his cake, and I never give him sugar or sweets so this was an all new thing for him.

My best friend Chrissy (also my maid of honor in my upcoming wedding) made his cake, she is starting pastry school in the Fall. Cars is his favorite movie.
Me and my big Boy!!!!! I cant wait till I am done breastfeeding and I can fit into all my dresses again...I am always bursting out. We are down to nursing just a few times a day, morning, nap time maybe one more time and then bed time. this is my favorite dress.

Rough Year

2009-05-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

I just found out that my uncle (my dads brother) passed away last night. It looks like we will be heading back to Lake County for another funeral this year.

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #1

2009-05-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

So the first sketch for the Midnight Madness Sketch Team was launched today! I think everyone did an amazing job. It is so fun to see what everyone wan do with the same sketch, all the cards are so unique and personal....all so different. I love them all!!!!

This is the sketch we started with...

and here is my card titled 'Fools in Love'. I love masquerade themed things...and I had already had the image ready to go but had not decided how to use it. When i saw the sketch I knew exactly which image I was going to use. I am usually working on so many images at once....and since I already have them printed, layered and embellished it makes it easier to envision the image into the sketch. I used some borders that I had not used since valentines day (I don't know why I always forget about them!) and the most beautiful thick card stock and some vintage jewelry findings.

This card turned out so so so thick! The box to hold it was equally thick. Make sure to check out the rest of the team by clicking there names on my sidebar!

If you would like to participate in the sketch challenges head over to Priscilla's blog spot !

My baby is now a one year old!

2009-05-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

I have been really busy making cards...the one on the far left is for my mom for mothers day and the other is something I am almost finished with (in these pics they are not even close to being done) the one on the right will obviously not be an easter card but more of a spring card.

I am going to do two cards that are almost the same from now on since a lot of my cards go to a private collector (a friend of mine)....that way I can put the second on etsy.com. From my workspace you can see that I am going to do two of each print...organized chaos....lol. What a mess. I have attached my prints to cardstock so they will be nice and thick (almost like a book when you hold my card) and I have glittered them. They are now dry, but I still have to carefully cut them all out and layer them. I think I will be working on the ballerina card first and then the singing kitty cats....I think...

Today is my sons first birthday! I can hardly believe it....he is such a little man now :) We had such a good day for his birthday...we went to breakfast and then to the Birch Aquarium. he loves water and fish and lost his mind at the aquarium...so much for him to see! Also check out how Sampson picks out a movie...lol

His party is not until next sunday, but he did get to open a present early from one of my best friends that she sent in the mail. See how totally stoked he is on his new piano! He loved it so much he has been crawling around with it under one hand.

I am excited for tuesday when the first Midnight Madness Sketch challenge is launched!!! Check out Priscillas blog for more info. This is the first design team I have been a part of and I am really excited because it helps me to look at my cards in a new way and think of things that I maybe wouldn't have done, or had forgotten about.

Want this badge?

Lack of Drawings...

2009-05-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

ok.... So I had someone ask me today why I do not draw on my cards anymore. Trust me, I have not stopped drawing at all...I just do not draw for my cards anymore.

Truth is it takes too much out of me....LOL. But I think the real reason is because up until about 3 or four months ago I didn't have a printer! I was never crazy about stamping personally...I am too messy with ink I think...and so I started at first freehand drawing some images of vintage cards...which at first got me in trouble with my wording when I listed them. I had in fact freehand drawn them with the images as reference on my computer screen...I never said they were my original designs but thats the impression I gave without meaning to....so I had to fix that! LOL I didnt want anyone thinking i was being dishonest on purpose. If I had a printer I would have just printed them out but I worked hard on drawing them and piecing them together.

Then I started doing all original designs...and stated that they were originals....and that worked for a long while...

THEN I GOT A PRINTER :) And my card making could really take off with all the vintage prints I had been aching to use....I have about 4,000 images on my computer so sometimes I dont know where to start! LOL

I still draw...I just draw for personal stuff now :)