A birthday dedication to an amazing father

I know this may be a bit strange to write about, but today my father would have been 100 years old.

I also know that if cancer didn’t take him from us, he would have made it to 100.

For those of you who follow my blog, we are of Middle Eastern decent.  Big family.. lots of love, laughs and eating…. you know how that goes in big families… and yes a bit of craziness too.

My dad was born in 1912, came to America as a young boy, went back to the old country to choose a wife (yes, choose) and brought my mom back to America to live a bring up a family.  A family that grew into the 7 of us.. mom, dad, 4 girls (Joan, Liz, Linda and Judy) and 1 boy (Joe).

Dad was our King and Mom is still our queen.  His love for his wife and children was second to none.  He was always there for us, no matter what.  He would be so proud to see his 12 grandchildren grow and succeed and now his great grandchildren come into this world and join the family.  Yes, dad, you now have 6 great grandchildren and 2 more on the way any day now.   How proud he would be to see all of this.  But, I know he is looking down on us and is proud.

It’s hard to believe the 12 years has passed since he left us, but he is always thought of… always.

It’s interesting that the number 12 is coming up a lot.  He was born in 1912, passed away 12 years ago and has 12 grandchildren.   l love when that happens.

On behalf of my 4 other siblings and my mom, who is our rock to this day, we want to say Happy Birthday to an amazing father.  Happy Birthday, Dad.. we love you and miss you.

Love,

Your Number 5

Judy ♥

One Pan Pasta and Meat Sauce

Well, this month and next are just crazy with my youngest daughter graduating from high school and heading to college… THEN my oldest moving into a house with other college students for the next year.  So, between proms, award ceremonies, senior dinners, graduations and parties, that puts my art time at the lowest of priority, don’t you think?  Then add a full-time job to that.  All I can say is I better keep my day job to pay for all the hubbub and tuition.  So, I won’t complain about working full-time anymore… well, I can’t promise that.

Ok, am I whining?  I don’t mean to.. but honestly, once the end of the high school years get a little closer, I can’t wait for it all to be over. I know, I know.. enjoy the time when they are still young and blah blah blah.. well, I’ve enjoyed it since pre-school, folks and it’s time to move on.  There, I said it and I feel better now.

As for “empty nesting”.. well, that’s another story.  I’ll deal with that in September.  God knows, I better like my husband enough to spend all this alone time with him.  Honey, you need to get a hobby… soon.  Cuz, when I’m finally up in my studio enjoying some “bubble” time, don’t come a knockin when my art is a rockin.  Oooo …that felt good too.

So, I don’t have any mixed media art to share right now.. but I do have some culinary art…

What makes me feel better and comforted?   Pasta.  C’mon you feel the same don’t you?

Well, here is a ONE PAN meal that I make that the family loves.  Having the pasta cook in the meat sauce gives is a creamy texture and taste. .. and ONE PAN, people.. one pan.. gotta love it.

JUDY’S ONE PAN PASTA AND MEAT SAUCE

Ingredients:

1 TB extra virgin olive oil
1 small sweet onion chopped small
1 small red pepper chopped small
1 package of ground chicken
1 box of pasta (rigatoni, shells, elbows, penne, etc)
1 can of Pastene Kitchen Ready  tomatoes (my fav is Pastene)
water – to make up for liquid to boil pasta
granulated garlic or fresh
salt and pepper to taste
basil, oregano, sugar (to taste, optional)

First, this is what I use to chop my vegetables.  I love this.. I can’t tell you how much this has saved me. It’s by Tupperware.  So fast and simple.

Swirl olive oil in large sauce pan.  Saute the onion and pepper until carmelized and soft.
Add chicken.  Stir fry it up until chicken is no longer pink.  Add your first layer of salt, pepper and garlic.

Add the can of tomatoes and the second layer of salt, pepper and garlic, plus the oregano and basil (and sugar, if desired).  Let come to simmer.

 

Add the box of pasta and stir until the pasta is coated.  Then add water (start with a cup) to the empty can of tomatoes to get the rest of the left over juices and add that to the pan to cover the pasta so it will simmer in the liquid.

 

Cover and let this simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.  Keep it on low or the bottom will not burn.  You are not boiling this like normal pasta.   If you burn it by chance, DO NOT scrape up the bottom.. Just transfer everything into another pan WITHOUT the bottom layer that’s stuck.

The sauce will be absorbed into the pasta to give it an infused, creamy taste.  Add parmesan cheese in it and on the top if you wish.  Some nice Italian bread (make it garlic bread..mmmmm) and a salad would be a great addition and you’re done.

.. and did I say ONE PAN already?  No separate pan to boil the pasta in and no strainer.

Enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

College Art Exhibition

I recently had the privilege to attend my daughter’s first college art (minor) gallery exhibition with 7 other of her art class peers.

She didn’t tell me too much about what she was creating to keep it a surprise, so I was amazed at her work when I got to the gallery.

First, let me say, the talent in the class was so impressive.  I know what kind of hard work goes into these kind of pieces and according to Megan, they all worked for weeks on these to prepare for the show.

Here are some highlighted photos of what I captured.  CLICK ON PHOTOS TO GET A CLOSER LOOK

This is the invitation to the show.  Meg is on the bottom left.

Meg’s work was more mixed media art.. love it!  We’ll start with her pieces.

Her statement and by exhibit

  

    

Now, the rest of the students…

Left, below is corrugated cardboard and air brush painting.  Right, below is ballerina painting on fabric.

Below is wrapped canvas around a metal pole then the pole is put into a big rock. I love this.  Look at these faces?

 

Below, each drawing is done with thousands of tiny dots. Amazing!

Below is driftwood art and animal eyes.  Just beautiful!

 

Congratulations to all the students on their first art exhibit.  I was just blown away by all of the creativity and energy in the gallery.  I wasn’t able to take photos of all the art, but they were all great.

I’m hoping some of this art will inspire me to get back up in my studio when work calms down a bit… a lovely thought.  If I keep repeating it, it will happen. Right?

I hope you enjoyed this little peek of the art show.  Naturally, I am so proud of Megan.  I can’t wait to display some in my home.. if she’ll let me.

Thanks for dropping by.

Judy ♥

Miss USA Pageant – Voting Time, Please.

So, here is an interesting request for you.

My niece’s best friend and roommate, Andrea Rogers, is Miss West Virginia 2012.  She will be in the Miss USA Pageant this summer.  Caitlin asked me if I could give a shout out to Andrea on my blog and try to get some votes.

We are trying to get many many votes for her to be in the Semi-Finals.  This is not something I would usually ask for, but this lovely lady is just amazing.  She is as beautiful inside as she is on the outside. A true beauty with a heart of gold.

So….. please vote for Miss West Virginia.  Would you?  Could you?

Go HERE and scroll down to find “West Virginia”.  There is a VOTE icon right next to Andreas picture.  Just put in your name and simple info.  You can vote as many times as you wish.

The family will definitely be cheering Andrea on during the show.  Go Andrea!!!

Judy ♥

Playing Around with Expressive Drawing

Ok.. I just want to scream.  Somehow, someone stupid (me) must have deleted all my pictures off my camera.  I had LOTS and LOTS of pictures on there.. art, food, family.  I don’t know what happened.. I just don’t.  I had done some recipes which included homemade mozzarella cheese.. I know… and it’s gone.  I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
I digress.

I feel better now.. thank you.  AND I will make another batch of Mozzarella cheese and blog it.  So fun!  AND I was able to download some other recipes on Picasa a couple of weeks ago.  Thank goodness.

So, what I do have on the camera is my little art time I had this weekend.  First, it rained all day on Sunday.  Now, call me crazy, but I LOVE a rainy day.  I was so happy.  It was also great, because we needed the rain badly.

Nope, I wasn’t going to vacuum the house or wash the floor.. no way no how.. I was taking advantage of the perfect day.

I gathered my little art bag filled with watercolor Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, gel sticks (these are great), water, paintbrush and black tip marker.

I was in the process of reading a new book that I got called “Expressive Drawing – A practical guide to freeing the artist within”.  This book helped me realize that not all drawing is about portraits and perfect lines.  This freed me to just go ahead the make my marks on paper.

Here is the first one I did.  I just took black oil pastel crayon and just make lines and whatever I wanted.  Then I took advantage of areas to put color in.  These gel sticks are creamy goodness.  Once you make your mark with them, you just take a paintbrush, dip in water, and just brush it over the color… It’ turns into a watercolor, semi-transparent yumminess.

This next page was a little more doodily. I used my black tip maker and just started making lines and shapes and didn’t think too much about what I was going for.  Once I had it all outlined, I took my gel sticks and colored in the open areas.  Fun, yes?  Can I get an “ohhh” and a “ahhhh”?

I did have other steps on how I got to these pages, but the camera ate the pictures.  Now, really, do I have to start having a love hate relationship with my camera now?

As I begin to face new challenges and bigger responsibilities at work very soon, I keep asking myself, how the heck am I going to keep this life/work/art balance thing going.   Well, I’ve done it so far and won’t give up my love for my blog, my art and my readers.  Give me an “HELL YAH”!

So, that’s just a little diddy on what’s shakin over here.

Thanks for stopping my.. I mean it.

Judy ♥

Art Instruction Blog – My Mixed Media Art

I was recently contacted by “Art Instruction Blog“, an online resource for free art lessons, asking me if they could put one of my tutorials on their site.  Of course, I was thrilled and said “yes”.

I had never heard of Art Instruction Blog before today.  What a great site and resource.  Everyone should bookmark this link.

Thank you, Ralph, for reaching out to me and noticing my art.

Here is the link to check out my lesson…

http://www.artinstructionblog.com/mixed-media-collage-tutorial-step-by-step

I hope you enjoy it.

Judy ♥

Hand Art and more from the studio…

Let me lend you a hand, shall I?  A little LOVE for you.

I had fun painting my hand to contribute to Art is You.

I’ve also been working on a piece using Wood Icing.  I love this product. Not sure how I’ll finish it yet, but here’s how I got there…

I started off with a piece of cardboard from a cereal box (12×6″ish).  Gessoed it, let dry.    Then spread a layer of Wood Icing with a palette knife.  Then I made marks on it for texture, using a butter knife and the little center plastic thingie-majiggie from a roll of transparent tape. After the Wood Icing was dry, the cardboard started to bow a little, so I let it sit under a heavy book overnight.  That did the trick.

 

I spread brown paint all over the Wood Icing and smooshed it into the textured grooves and patterns.

  

Then I wiped the surface off with baby wipe or damp paper towel, but leaving the paint in the grooves. Groovy!

I just love this look.  The surface has a bit of a crackle to it.  It really looks like wood.

  ‘

Once the “stain” was dry, I stared to spread some Cobalt Teal Heavy Body acrylic paint along the edge.  Yes, you know this is my favorite color.  Then I spread some Raw Sienna and Nickel Azo Gold acrylic paint.

 

I took a tiny bit of black acrylic paint and rubbed it in sections then wiped it off quickly.  Just to give it a worn look.  I’m not done with this, but this is what is looks like now.. I love these colors.    Wood Icing is pretty amazing.

 

Next up are a few background papers I was playing around with when a friend (hi Raine :^) ), came over and we took over my kitchen table and painted and sprayed and had a blast.

I used deli paper for the surface of these pages.  Lots of spray inks and acrylic paint and stencils….

 

For this surface, I used a Tyvek envelope.  Tyvek is the same material that Federal Express uses for their envelopes.

Acrylic paint (yes, I know.. teal again). Rubber stamps and stencils.

Where are you going?  I’m’ not done.

One one of my recent posts about my cousin, Wayne.. SEE POST HERE, I decided to take a piece of corrugated cardboard and see what I could do with it.

Here is my mixed media piece.  It’s about 4×6″ish.  Gessoed first, then added my handmade polymer clay Button ‘n bellishments, copper wire, stencil background with small bits of newspaper, image, handmade copper/patina paper that I had hanging around that I made years ago.

Getting up in the studio has been a challenge lately with my corporate job taking up a lot of my time.  I still try to balance my personal and business life.  Do I succeed?  Sometimes, I don’t think so.  All I know is that when I finally get up in the studio, I’m happy and peaceful creating art… for me… and for you.

More art and more recipes to come.  I’m reading a couple of new art books that are really challenging me to try new things.  Stay tuned on that….

… and as always.. thanks for stopping by my blog and your interest.

Judy ♥

Roasted Vegetables & Chicken Burgers

Time for a recipe.. after all, it is ART of the CULINARY kind.

Now, if you know me, I kind of make up my own recipes.  I did one similar to this  in the past.. see that HERE… and on the grill HERE.  I got the no measuring from my mom.  She makes all her middle eastern food with no measuring.. ever.  Course, after all these years her recipes are in her files in her brain.  Perhaps some of Sito’s  (grandmother in Syrian) recipes will find a place on my blog.

This just my take on making a delicious, healthy, pile on the veggies, dish.

I chopped the following vegetables in to about 2″ size pieces:  head of cauliflower, 1 large purple onion, carrots, colored peppers and fresh beets.  You can see from the picture below.. this is a lot of veggies.

Toss them in a bowl with some extra virgin olive oil, about 1/8 of a cup or until they are lightly coated, add salt, pepper, any spices you wish.

Line large casserole with aluminum foil.  Foil is your friend.. repeat after me.. “foil is your friend”.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes.. depending on how you like them.  Toss them around gently with tongs 1/2 way through.  Sometimes if I’m in a hurry (who me? never), I jack up the heat to 500 degrees.

Look how cute these little peppers are that I found at the market… they are only about 3″ tall.

Here are the veggies after cooking… see.. just the little charring on top.. onions carmelized. Oh my!

I pared it with some sweet potato oven fries.  Next time I will lay them on a rack to cook so they won’t be soft.

I also made my famous, well famous in my house, chicken burgers (mix of ground chicken and chicken sausage).  You will never miss a beef burger again once you bite into these babies.  Again.. I don’t measure much or follow any recipe.. this is just my own creation.

Judy’s Chicken Burgers:

1/2 large sweet onion – chopped fine
1/2 large sweet red pepper – chopped fine
1 package of ground chicken
1 package of mild italian chicken sausages – take out of casings
1 Cup’ish of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 Cup’ish of grated parmesan cheese
salt, pepper, granulated garlic.. all to taste.

First, in small frying pan, add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and add the chopped onion and peppers.. fry this up until they are carmelized.. about 15 minutes.  Put aside to cool down.  Once cool or just warm, add to the raw meat mixture.  Side note:  This is how I make my meatballs too.  The carmelized onion and peppers make the meat so creamy, sweet and delicious.  You could skip the pepper and use just onion.. but use a whole one.  Remember, this is your world.. so do what you like.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl (don’t over mix; will make them tough) and make burger patties.  To make it easy to form..rub your hand with a little oil so the meat won’t stick.  In addition to burger shapes.. I make sausage shaped burgers.  Those are great to put in sub rolls or hot dog rolls. Pile them high with the roasted veggies.  See where I’m going with that?  Again..your world.

Time to grill those babies … add the cheese the last minute and that’s it.

Here’s the finished healthy plate… (well, real muenster cheese, but you gotta have some real cheese, right? None of that artificial stuff… No fat = No taste.  I don’t mind lower-fat, however.  Use whole wheat buns also.  I didn’t but I usually do.

If you give these a try, let me know how they come out or if you have any questions.

Thanks for stopping by, as always.

Judy ♥

Teenie Tiny Faces

I haven’t been in the studio to create for a few weeks.  Life/work gets busy, I guess.   I really miss it and can’t wait to create more pieces to share with you.

But… I’ve been playing around in my 3.5″ x 5.5″  Moleskine Grid Notebook.

I started making these little goofy faces in some of the squares.  Mind you, each is 1/8″ square.  I don’t pretend to be any sort of good drawer or sketcher, so I just started pencil sketching tiny people while I was just watching tv or relaxing . This was very fun and zen-like.  Gets the creative juices flowing.

It’s best to use a mechanical pencil so the point is really small.   Try it.  It’s definitely a challenge to stay small.

I try to do something creative everyday and that does not always happen.. but getting little creative things like this in, makes me happy even though I can’t  won’t get in the studio.

The weather here in Mass, has been OUTSTANDING.  We have lots of bloomage.

I hope you are enjoying good weather wherever you are.

Thanks for stopping by…. again!

Judy ♥

Artist Dedication – Wayne Gowell

Today, I am dedicating my post to my cousin and genius artist, Wayne Gowell.

I’ve always admired Wayne’s artistic style.  I spent a day with him, about a year ago, in his basement studio where we created copper dolls (paper doll style).  Just watching him was amazing.. just amazing.  I said to myself, people would pay for a workshop like this, and here I am having the pleasure to just hang out with him and  be part of his artistic genius.

He has so many titles besides artist such as graphic designer, photographer, electronic wizard (although he’s to humble to say it, so I’ll say it for you, Wayne).

I asked Wayne to describe himself and his artistic style and passions.. he says…

“I’m just a nutty guy that likes to draw and create things from nothing.  Imagination is the fuel that drives my boat!  I love using (these days) recycled materials cardboard, water-soluble crayons, ink, spray paint, dirt, cloth, industrial paints,  anything to make marks on two-dimensional surfaces, even three-dimensional. I always thought of myself as an artist, not a realist or abstract expressionist or any particular label…Someone who comments on the times he lives in.  

As far as passions, I have many.  Lately it’s integrating art and technology for social commentary…I always felt an artist should express something about the times they live in, with an emphasis on making things more positive and joyful. Humor is another vehicle I love to insert into art, I don’t take anything too seriously and love to do things I don’t know how to do…It gives me permission to just work things out, take advantage of happy accidents, follow the flow wherever it may lead.  As Rauschenberg said,  “the world is my palette”.   Always loved that line, it’s so true -  there is subject matter everywhere & anywhere, you just have to be open to exploring life and taking chances.” – Wayne Gowell

Self-portrait of Wayne….

I recently visited Wayne and he allowed me to take some pictures of some of his current work.

This is his series of  his cardboard people called “People from All Walks of Life” … enjoy!

Can you guess who that is, below?

Three workers: water soluble crayon & gouache

Below, Wayne saves his cat’s (Floyd) food tins and puts his oil paints in them.  He created this cardboard crate to hold all the tins.  This is his garage.  Look at all the boxes in the back.  Serious business.. I mean, really!

Beatles sketch…watercolor pencil & water soluble crayons

A little bit of clay and electronics.  The body of this person is an old radio transistor board.   He also loves to make his own Automata art.  I know!

This Automata, below, called “Creep in the Window”, will show the face in the center moving up and down.  So cool.

This is how he describes it:  “Automata – made from recycled  cardboard, computer graphic, watercolor, enamel, ink, spray paint, wood and a spring wound motor.  From a series of “People from all walks of Life”.”

BEFORE…

AFTER.. Click to watch it in action.

Just one (of many) of his work spaces.

Wayne also is a flea market lover.  He will pick up vintage electronics or toys and fix them and sell them on ebay along with his sketches.  You can check out his ebay store HERE.

Wayne has graciously given me his email address to share with you if you’d like to say hello or ask him any questions.  He is literally one of my favorite people in the world.  Meet him. Tell him Judy sent you.
His email is:  wgowell@comcast.net

Wow.. well, I don’t know about you, but I”m inspired.  So much so, that I got hold of some cardboard and I’ll be making some art with it… a great palette once it’s got a few coats of gesso on it.  Wayne even makes his own wood frames to hold the cardboard like stretched canvas.  I know.. he’s #1 in my book.  Maybe he’ll let me video tape him in action one day.

I hope you enjoyed this art dedication.

As always, thanks for stopping by.  We love it here.

Judy ♥

New Blog – Open House

here i am.. finally in the blogging world. i kept putting it off thinking maybe blogging wasn’t my thing. i guess i will find out.   do i have to be a writer?   can i put my thoughts down in this “journal” like my other blogger friends?   they seem to have this blogging thing down to a “t” .   i don’t write in a journal now; i’d like to but i don’t.  maybe this will help me just get my artistics thoughts down on “paper”.  i will try to blog every week and share my art with you. .. and maybe a recipe or two along the way.   i hope that you will like my art and you will share my blog with others.    i would love to hear from you.    so… here goes…..

i’ll start my first blog off with my recent project; a book i made for my niece who recently got married.  first, i have to say the the front and back metal embossed covers of the book were inspired by donna downey  http://donnadowney.typepad.com/;  thanks, donna!   from there it was gluing pages together, drilling holes, adding fabric, fibers, pictures, embellishments, you name it. i had such a great experience making this book.. i learned a lot along the way.    you can see another book i did as a tribute to my father’s life after he passed, on my website here http://www.judysheart.com/alter-collage.htm

so, i leave my first post with pictures for you of my niece’s love book. 

 

If you would like to see the entire book, you can view it on my Picasa Web Album, here  http://picasaweb.google.com/judysheart/TaraJeremySJourneyBook?feat=directlink
 

Finishing Art & Online Classes

hello again…well, what a week.. busy at work, home and just plain ole life.   don’t you just love fridays?  haven’t been up in my studio lately.  i guess i needed a break.   but now its time to change that.  my next goal is to finish some online classes that i started and have not finished.  and hello? thank goodness for online classes.  have any of you tried them?  they are sprouting up all over the place now.  for me, it started with Joggles offering on line workshops.  then artists like Paulette Insall, SuziBlu, Wyanne and Altered Diva offering mixed media classes also. there are others.  i definitely challenged myself.. but how else will we learn?  years ago all i did was polymer clay pieces and now i have evolved into this mixed media artist still using the clay in my work like the vintage buttons you see above in my blog header.   i have and am learning so much and have done things i thought i’d never do like draw, paint, wax (my art that is, not my legs.. ouchie).  it’s fun and you know what.. i am pleased with my pieces.  below is the final mixed media paintings from SuziBlu’s “Les Petite Dolls” workshop.  it’s created on birch wood… i just love creating backgrounds; no rules, no pressures, just fun.. take a look… i did this.. yes, me.. who knew?  enjoy your weekend and do something creARTive!

  

 

 

this one above was a test before i did the bigger one on top

Altered Shadow Box

i purchased this adorable wooden shadow house box from Outside the Margins; another fun place to shop on line.  i had so much fun altering it and filling the shelves.   i used crackle paint, glitter, charms, music sheet, polymer clay.. well hopefully you can see some of the details.

Judy’s Stuffed Mushrooms

my dear friends, amy and karen, suggested that i put in a recipe on my blog once in a while.  thanks, art dolls.  when we get together for art days and it’s at my house, i love to cook for them.  i do the main meal, and each will bring a salad or a dessert.  i am not a – following the recipe exactly –  kinda girl.  i cook mostly by eyeballing the ingredients and making things up.  

i thought i’d share my stuffed mushrooms that are usually a hit with my foodies and at parties.  i don’t have this written down anywhere, because i just wing it every time i make them.  sometimes it different ingredients or what i have around.  i try to keep it light and vegetarian or you can use meats also.

ingredients: 

• large stuffing mushroomsor you can use portobella.  you can also use this stuffing to put in hollowed out zucchini or summer squash boats.  clean the mushrooms with a damp cloth and scoop out the stem and scrape the inside with a spoon to make a nice clean hole.  save what you scoop because that’s going in your stuffing.
• chopped fine: 1/2 sweet or purple onion, stems from the mushrooms, red bell pepper, 1/2 zucchini, garlic…..really anything you want to chop and put in.
• up to 1 cup of broth (vegetable, chicken, beef) – you won’t need a whole cup, just enough to absorb the bread crumbs.
• up to 1 cup bread crumbs- i like panko brand.  they are a japanese bread crumb and uses only the whites part, no crust.  they are plain, but also come in italian.  they come out so creamy.  you could also use day old bread, chopped.
• 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese.  parmesan is fine too.

okay.. take all your chopped vegetables and saute in about 2 Tblspn of olive oil in pan over medium high heat.. you want to get them to be thoroughly cooked through and the onions are really translucent.  season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil, oregano, parsley… whatever you want.  you can spice them up and use red pepper flakes or even add your favorite pasta sauce.  you can see where i’m heading here.. it’s your world so go for it.

once veggies are cooked, add the broth until they are soaked. start with a 1/2 cup.  take pan off the heat.   the more broth you use, the more bread crumbs you’ll need.  sprinkle the bread crumbs and stir, then once you have the consistency of stuffing, add the cheese.  mix

now it’s time to stuff your mushrooms.  spoon stuffing into the mushroom and really stuff it so you make a nice mound of stuffing on top.

line a baking pan with foil (i love reynolds release).  preheat oven to 375 and bake about 30 minutes… the last 5 mintues, add extra cheese to top of stuffing; finish baking until cheese is melted and starting to brown.  again, to your liking.

in my picture above, i have the mushrooms accompanied by summer squash parmesean circles that i baked in the oven after i tossed them in olive oil and dipped in grated parmesean cheese.  i baked them at almost 400 degrees until i was happy with crispness.

I hope you try it and enjoy!!!

Judy

Sewing Project

this week, i had to share a new experience that may come easy to some of of you, but for me it has always been intimidating….  SEWING!.. on a machine..  i bought a new “huskystar” sewing machine about 2 years ago..  my intention was to so some fabric dolls, mixed media fabric art and maybe repair some clothing  for the family.  well, i did one thing  2 years ago and put it away…  this year, i decided to take the machine out again and push myself to learn the basics. with a little help from my mom (the best mom in the world, by the way; happy birdthday mom.. 83 this week!!) i was able to tackle the bobbin loading and winding, learn some different stitches and had some fun.  i did it.. i passed the hyperventilating stage of machine sewing.  before that, the last time i sewed on a machine was when i was in the 9th grade in home economics class..  we had to sew a skirt and in order to get a good grade on it, we had to wear it to school.   i remember making a patchwork skirt that had a ruffle on the bottom of it… god it was so ugly and not to mention that i didn’t have a cheerleader body either.  so the day came to wear it to school. i walked to school everyday.. i had a slip on and it kept riding up to my waist….that was a blast.  oh, and this was 1974.   i was the only student in that class that wore my skirt.  (“debbie downer” sound from SNL, please.. waa waa waaaaaa).  i think i got a “B”.  isn’t it funny how we remember these stories from school and i can’t even remember what i ate for dinner last night.  ok, enough of that dreaded memory… i’m sure i can find others… it’s actually more funny than sad…at least it is now.  send a comment on an embarrassing/funny school memory if you have one; i’m sure you do.

back to my original sewing intentions.  i recently saw online, somewhere, an art supply fabric wrap.   i decided to challenge myself and make one; here is how it came out..

 

i used an upholstery book sample that i recently purchased from skybluepink.     you can make the pockets any size you want to fit your own art supplies.   

that’s a wrap!

judy

Nina Pods

♥ this post is dedicated to my niece, Christina♥

when i began to sell some of my polymer clay pieces at two quaint stores in Massachusetts about two years ago, i came up with an idea to merge one of my clay designs with a young, aspiring writer’s talents.   that young writer is my godchild/niece, Christina.   i’ve had this special bond with her since she was born 30 years ago.    i wanted to create a pod-like piece (which became a series) that was mysterious to it’s owner;  a special story to go with it.    i asked nina to write a poem for our pod.  the “nina pod” was born and is now named after her.   just imagine being a very young girl and listening to the magical story about her little “nina pod”.    i know, as a young mother now, nina will read this to her own 3 year old daughter, riley; and believe me, riley will hang on to every word.

here is a picture of the “nina pods” and the poem she wrote.  deep inside the pod is the tiny dragonfly.  each pod came with the poem typed on a ”vintage” scroll. it has been a hit with girls of all ages and has been given as baby gifts.

enjoy the story of the magical “nina pod”.♥

The “Nina Pod”

Deep in the forest,

Where the stars shimmer in the night,

Lay peacefully sleeping, Nina the sprite.

But something awoke her,

A warm golden glow,

Which lighted a path

For her to follow.

With each gentle step,

Her discovery bloomed,

And within this magical flower,

She was consumed.

She picked one up,

And couldn’t believe her eyes,

For inside she found,

 a golden dragon fly.

Now she would like to share this treasure,

Though it may seem odd,

For it has been named for her –

the “Nina Pod”.

- Christina E. Smith

© 2009 Christina G. Smith

 

Playing on Vinyl

OK.. no more lower case text for me.  It certainly does take more thought and energy to type that way.   I guess my education and 30 years of administrative skills is in my blood and I cannot change.  What is that saying?… “you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl”.   Well, never mind. You know where I’m going with that.

Moving on……….

I needed to cheer myself a little this week.  I had a old and huge vinyl banner from one of our marketing events at work and I cut it up into several 8.5 x 11 inch sheets.   I played around with some “Color Mists” I purchased long ago from Outside the Margins.   Then stamped some text and shapes in white a black ink.  I used some gold candy wrapper papers and made hearts after I put some alcohol inks on them.  One of the candy wrapper hearts didn’t look good after I glued it down, so I pulled it off and it took the ink with it.  It left this strange shape showing the vinyl white background. It reminded me of a bird’s little belly.. so I went with it and made this sweet little bird in green.  I love accidents like that.  Can you see where the shape of the heart was from looking at the bird?  Perhaps I should paint/draw a cutesy girly girl next to the bird… I think it needs to be singing to someone…  or add a big tree with funky branches?     It needs something to make it more interesting or to tell a story.  Do you have any ideas?   Stay tuned for the FINAL VINYL in a future blog.

I think I can have a lot of fun with this vinyl.. cutting it up into shapes, …..maybe even sewing it with fabric and fibers.. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Thanks for visiting.

Judy

“Studio” Paints Color Chart – Quick Tip

As some of you know,  Claudine Hellmuth, Mixed Media Collage Artist, now has a line of products with Ranger Industries called Claudine Hellmuth Studio.  Her semi-gloss paints are luscious, creamy and highly pigmented.  Claudine was kind enough to make up a color chart with all her paint colors and the new colors you can make by mixing any of them together.  You can get that on her blog in the above link, to the right, under her demo video.  I printed the chart and cut the color sections equally, laminated them with my Xryon machine, punched holes, threaded and hung with clip by my side.  Now it’s waterproof.  This is so much easier than keeping the paper copy next you, losing it and/or making a mess of it.  Here are a couple of pictures to share and hope it helps you  in your “studio”.   

Thanks for stopping by.

 

PolymerCafe Magazine – I’m in!

Back in October, I submitted an entry for a Mixed Media challenge in PolymerCafe Magazine.   I was so excited to find out that I did make it in the current issue.

This piece is called “In My Mother’s Eyes”.  I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to get this published, as it means so much to me.  Of course, I gave my mom her own magazine and she also keeps the piece in her home, proudly displayed.

Goddess Canvas

Hi everyone…  Well, I was determined to begin to work on some unfinished canvases that I created some time ago.  I was successful with this one.  It includes, tissue paper for the sun rays, fabric for the sun center, fibers, music paper, stamps, Tim Holtz’s Grungeboard for the wings and Artchix Studios vintage stamps.  The background was done with acrylic paints and spattered water.   To add some fun to it, I drew a Goddess of Willendorf  (aka Venus of Willendorf), cut her out and sat her above the canvas about a 1/4″  by using 3D sticky square thingies (yes, that’s my term).  She’s a funny looking soul, isn’t she:… but she’s comforting to me.  Maybe because we have similar soft bodies.  What’s on her mind?

When I can finally get up in the studio, it’s fun to just get lost up there and create.. it’s just getting making the time to be creative.  I think we all can relate.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring Time/Catching Up

Has Spring sprung?  It sure doesn’t feel like it here Mass.  We get this teasing of nice weather in the 60′s then, boom… back to the 40′s.  I know I’ll appreciate this coolness when it’s in the 90′s in July.

So, I need to do some catching up with my art, don’t I?    I’ve been taking a couple of on-line classes which has been feeding my soul.  Trying to get my practice drawings in when I can.

Ok.. so I’ve continued my backgrounds on vinyl.   Remember the background with the bird and I felt like it needed something?

I added a branch and a nest… see below. (sorry about the different lighting; I was playing around too much with my photo editor)

Here are a couple of other backgrounds I did just having fun with music paper, acrylics, stamps….these are also done on those vinyl sheets I cut up.

Thanks for stopping by..   Next up.. stay tuned for clay charms and canvas backgrounds with decorative napkins.

Art and Health

First.. Health: 

My good friend and artist, Amy, is part of the 37 day challenge (please click the link to read about it).    “The object of the challenge is to do something small that is doable, actionable, recognizable and to do it consistently for 37 days.”  For Amy, she is challenging herself to cut the sugars down in her daily diet.    Although, I am not doing the “challenge”, I have had a wake up call.. ironically on the same day that Amy started her challenge.  I had my physical on 3/30, and yes, I am overweight.  The blood work came back showing high cholesterol and a bit high on my sugars.. in other words, if I don’t clean up my act, I’ll end up a diabetic.  Ok.. so just seeing the “D” word really scared the beans out of me (not the having a high LDL number didn’t)  so……..I called a Nutrtionist, set up an appointment and asked her to be my partner in helping me really change my “weighs”.  So, now I have this one on one relationship with her..  No weekly Weight Watcher classes that I’ve done dozens of times. Don’t get me wrong.. WW is a great program and very sensible and I have been succesful on it several times… see the key word is “several”.  

I learned so much from my Nutrionist, Kim,  that really opened my eyes.. and it really comes down to the sugars/carbs in our diets.. and of course portion control.   She also told me that the USA is the only country that spends billions of dollars of trying to figure out how to make foods sugar-free and fat free and we are still the heaviest country.   She says I should be taking 10,000 steps a day… “excuse me, what did  you say”?  She gave me a pedometer… I got up to over 4000 which included my walk. It takes 5 miles to take 10,000 steps… gulp!   I can only imagine how many steps I did when I wasn’t active.. maybe 500.   I have to promise myself that I will not get obsessed with this..or I’ll burn out.  I just have to incorporate my changes into my life and if I miss a workout one day, I won’t beat myself up.  I will not deprive myself, but I will not over do either.  I am excited to meet Kim every month now as my personal coach to getting healthy.

Since my 3/30 physical, I have considerably cut my sugars/carbs, bought a used Elliptical (omg, that is hard to do) and have dropped about 7 pounds in 14 days.  I started my walking again too.  If I do the elliptical everyday I will get bored and give up..  So, between walking, elliptical, weight training, that’s should give me some rounded workouts.   I’ve also started to take a mult-vitamin every day, since my results also showed I was a bit anemic. 

Thanks, Amy, for sharing your challenge which led me to share mine, which, believe me,  isn’t easy.  Dieting has always been a secret for me.. maybe if I don’t tell anyone I’m dieting and if I fail, no one will know.  WHOA!…. where did that come from?  Today, I am brave.       Maybe sharing our experiences will help others share theirs and get it off their minds, chests, shoulders, butts.. whatever you want to get it off of.

I’d love to hear from anyone who is also trying to get healthy and their trials and challenges.

Ok.. now for some ART:

Have you ever used decorative napkins as a background in your work?  They are just so beautiful.  Using gel medium, they just “melt” onto your surface.

Here is a napkin before separating the 3-ply layers and below that, are the results of a small 6×6 canvas that I used it on for a background.

Separate the 3-plys in the napkin.  Spread gel medium on the canvas and lay the decorative napkin on top as a whole or rip it.. then brush more medium over it…be careful to to brush too much or the napkin will tear, but that may be what you want too.   I added paint applied by circle shape and through a doily, music paper and music paper with a resin coat (under Mona), polymer clay heart that i made and sewed with wire, ceiling glitter, the Mona Lisa angel is from ArtChix Studios collage sheets.. LOVE THEM!

Thanks for listening and stopping by.

Walk on!

Judy

Swap-a-roos!

I’m not one to do any swaps. With my schedule, there isn’t much time to commit to.  However, there were two that came up recently that  just caught my interest.  One was for a charm swap.  The other for a “twinchie”.. read on.

Below, at the bottom of the photo, are the charms I made from polymer clay using push molds.  They are about 1 1/2″ each.   I loved trying to figure out what I was going to do to each one.  I used colored pencils and glitter glue.  The 2″ square piece on top was impressed with a rubber stamp and decorated with glitter glue; that was just for fun and has ended up at a magnet for the refrigerator.

The set up for the 2nd swap:    This second piece I did was inspired by Ruth Rae.  One of her many talents besides jewelry designer is a mixed media fiber artist.  I had recently downloaded one of her mixed media workshops from Interweave.  I this workshop she shows the beautiful ways to layer fabric and other embellishments and sew them together.  I just fell in love with it, especially since I just developed a happy relationship with my sewing machine.

So………the piece below was created for Milliande, another creative, artistic  soul, who just celebrated her birthday.  She wanted to celebrate her special day with other artists by requesting 2″ square pieces of art called “twinchies”. The catch was that the twinchie had to be in natural shades of white.. in other words very neutral.  Here is what I sent her… and I threw in some other pieces of clay art to swap with her personally.. I can’t wait to see what I get back from her.  Here are Milliande’s YouTube videos… take a look.. she’s wonderful..

I layered ripped pieces of muslin, felt, lace, doilies and a music paper coated with resin and stitched all together.  Then I made a tiny polymer clay heart button and sewed that at the top.  I just loved the feel of this tiny piece of art in my hands.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the visit.

Judy

Recipe Time – Focaccia Bread

I think it’s time for a recipe… yes?  I love making my own Foccacia bread.. Well, actually, I don’t make the dough myself.  I use frozen (sorry, mom).

This is so delicious alone, spread your favorite savory dip on it, make a pizza out of it or even a sandwich.  Here I’ve cut it into strips to accompany a meal.

Get frozen or pre-made dough.  If frozen, let it thaw on a cookie sheet on top of parchment paper (your friend) and under a clean kitchen towel or cloth napkin.  I put my oven on for about 3-4 minutes on a high temp, then I shut the oven off and put the bread in to rise.. about 5-6 hours.  You can skip this and just leave it on the counter also, but I think the warm oven helps it rise better.

Once risen and pulled off the sheet, I put leave the parchment paper on the baking sheet and sprinkle with olive oil.  Now flatten the dough with your fingers until you get it spread as square as possible; well, like pizza.

Take olive oil and rub all over the dough.  For an Italian taste, I sprinkle basil, oregano, fresh chopped garlic, and grated Parmesan cheese all over it.  Imagine the themes you could do here.. Mexican, fruits or sweetened with cinnamon/sugar.. oh that reminds me of “Monkey Bread.  ok, sorry going off track here.

Now, once your bread is ready for the oven, take a fork and punch holes all over the bread so it doesn’t bubble up too much.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, but watch it.  Ovens vary.  You’ll know when it’s done when you lift the bottom with a spatula and it’s golden brown underneath.

Now, from here you could proceed with making a pizza.  If not, let cool and slice as you like.    The beauty of using parchment paper is the bread will just slide off the sheet… no clean up.  Who knew parchment paper wasn’t just for art… or is that the other way around?

Here’s a little dip tip (approx measurements):  Take a 1/4 C of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 T chopped fresh garlic and 2 T. of grated Parmasean cheese (you could use Ramono also).  Mix in small bowl and this dip is out of this world with this bread.  Helloooooooooo!

Enjoy!!  If you have any questions, let me know.. I’d be happy to answer.

The Little Canvas Project

I recently signed up for The Canvas Project.  You can read all about it here.  Basically, you are send 5  3″x3″ canvases with 5 random words that participants have submitted.  Each canvas has to be inspired by those words.  Talk about challenging your creativity.  They will be displayed in the Atlanta airport.  You have choice to sell them or not.  I do hope the take a picture of all of them and send it out.

My goal is to get them done before the end of May even though they are not due until early July, as my June’s schedule has left me literally no time for myself due to several family commitments.

As I stared at these blank canvases for a couple of weeks, I decided to just throw some backgrounds on them.  Here they are so far:

Let me start by saying and as some of your know, I absolutely love texture.  Here’s what I did to them – They all received a coat of gesso.  Then I used a wash of paints on each one.  On the top 3 starting from the left.  I used a crackle paste, once dry, I sprayed walnut ink and rubbed off with dry cloth.  The next one I used a glass bead paste and let a wash of paint drip down.  Next, I used light molding paste pushed through and old plastic doily in the corner, once dry I rubbed on gold paint and then added purple ink from an ink pad all over it.  Bottom two:  Left – spread heavy molding paste around the edges, once dry, painted over with wash and used gold paint again to highlight the peaks.  Right – light molding paste pushed through stencil, painted paste once dry with purple paint and highlighted peaks with gold paint..also painted the background yellow, let dry, then painted with deep orange and sprayed water droplets and when almost dry, absorbed droplets with cloth to reveal background.  Each canvas was edged with gold paint.  As you can see on a few of them, they have white circles.  I took an ink pen cover and dipped in white paint and stamped the circle.

Now I must give my little pieces of art life with the inspired words.

I will post my final canvases in my next post.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

The FINAL 5…

… canvases for the Canvas Project.

In my last post, I mentioned that we were given words to inspire us for each canvas.  I will tell you my words, but try to guess which canvas goes with each word:

Empress
sometimes
valiance
less & …
impound

Here are some details; I hope you can see enough of them.

I have to say I really enjoyed doing these canvases.  They were fun and less intimidating than some of the larger canvases I’ve done.  So, now they are off to Atlanta, where they will be displayed in the Atlanta Airport.  I opted not to sell them; I think they would look cool in a shadow box or on an altered piece of wood with a painted shabby background.  I’ll have to get hold of more of these little canvases to work on.  What fun!

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Somewhere Over the…….

We had a big rain storm this past weekend.  I told my girls.. “this could be a rainbow storm”.. and lo and behold… here is what I saw in our back yard….. this beautiful sight.  Can you see it?   I haven’t seen one in years.  We all ran around trying to find our cameras to take the shot before it disappeared.

I’ll be a bit busy the next week or more, as we gear up for graduations and dance recitals, which has kept me from the studio.  Between menu planning, cleaning the house and just balancing full-time work and home, it has all just stressed me out… Maybe because it’ s my first child graduating from high school?  I dont’ know.  But, I promise to get back up in the studio, create and share some art.  I can’t wait!  I’ll take some extra vacation time and make it happen……… 

I’ll try to remember to take some pictures of the food spread from the grad party and post.  That’s artistic too.. Afterall, it IS called “culinary ART“.

Ciao’….Thanks for stopping by.

Peace

Judy

Just Desserts

Hey there bloggers… well, my crazy days are much slower now and recital and graduation festivities were a success.  It was a beautiful day!  Why was I so stressed out?  Why do I do that to myself? I guess it’s just my make up.. ya think??  I couldn’t have pulled off the day without the help of my two sisters, Liz and Linda and my niece, Christina.  Seriously.. they were there for me all the way.. I’ll never forget it.  Family rocks!!

Well, here are a few pix to share.. check out the dessert table??  I didn’t get a chance to take a shot of the food table, and by the way.. I made too damn much…

Thanks for stopping by.  Next up… some cool found objects for my art.

Judy

Oh, the things we find…

Hey blogsters…

Still cool and cloudy here in Massachusetts.  At least it stopped raining.  Pssst….secretly (well, not anymore).. I love the rain.  I love thunderstorms.  I don’t mind the cool weather.  I know, some people love the heat.  I hate it.  My husband says, “this is what we wait for all winter, it should be HOT in the summer”  Oh pish, I say!   Just being in my studio on a rainy day is nirvana to me… with spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove.. the smell.. oh ya…hold me back.

So… I was on my daily walk/run the other day and I found some objects (hence, “found objects) on the road and thought I’d share them some pictures with you.  What I’ll do with them, I don’t know yet, but somewhere in my art, they will be included.

Here, I found a crushed abalone ring.  I can see that in a textured canvas.  A cigar holder.. hmmm.. that can hold something… any thoughts???    Then, under my cherry tree in my garden, I found the broken robin’s egg.  I will incorporate that into some mixed media work for sure.  Some of the yolk was still in it too.  You can see some yellow left behind.

Now, this is interesting.  The road I walk on was recently re-paved.  Somehow, this small branch of leaves was impressed into the pavement, but it was this off-white color… and I can’t figure out why.  I thought it would be paint, as if it were stamped into the road, but there was no other signs of paint anywhere; no lines in the road.  Then I thought that maybe the pollen and the rain settled on it and “melted” that way into the road.  I didn’t even think to touch it either to see if I could lift up the leaves.    Any thoughts?

However, I just loved it and when I got home, I jumped in the car with my camera and went to take some shots of it… (of course after one of my neighbors stopped by to ask what I was doing; he had a baffled look; don’t most guys look that way anyway??  Like when a dog tilts his head when you ask if he/she wants a treat?).   Anyway, I thought this could be a cool gel transfer on a dark background or print it on a transparency, then use it on a dark canvas or fabric.

To you have any found objects/pictures that you can incorporate into you art?

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Summer Time Grilled Veggies

As summer kicks-off, I thought I would do a re-post for all you grillers out there.  Enjoy!!!

I LOVE my grill pan.  I picked it up a  Bed, Bath & Beyond – see it here.  If you love veggies and love to grill, you can’t go wrong with this.

You can see what I cut up and put in the pan…. onions, mushrooms, red pepper,  green beans, zucchini and some summer squash.  I spray the grill pan with canola or olive oil spray.  In a separate bowl, I put in all the chopped veggies (all about the same size pieces).  In a small bowl or cup, I eyeballed and added about 4 T. olive oil, 1 T. balsamic vinegar and some spices (whatever you want).  Stir it up and pour over the veggies and give them a toss.  In the meantime, heat up your grill pan on the grill, get it hot with the cover of the grill closed.  When you are ready to start cooking them, just put them in the hot grill pan and listen to the sizzle… ahh.. music to my ears.  Keep the grill cover closed and give them a push around the pan every few minutes.  Once done the way you like, grab some oven mitts and pull them off the grill.  I’m telling you, you will never eat boring veggies again.

Now.. ideas for these veggies… besides a side dish, of course.

• Put them over pasta with grated Parmesan cheese
• Put them in a salad
• Veggie wrap
• Use as a pizza topping
• Pulse in a food processor and use as a spread or dip
• Toss with cooked chicken or shrimp and pasta
• Make a veggies quessadilla with cheese

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Vacation, Family and New Canvas

Hi Blogsters:

I’m back from vacation.  I took two weeks off from work.  One at Cape Cod and one hanging out at home, doing some art, visiting family and friends.

I was able to finish up my latest canvas.  I have no name for it yet.  The picture is of my parents in the old country after their wedding, on their honeymoon.  I am so in love with the pictures I was able to get from my mother after my dad passed 9 years ago.  Here is a picture of the book I made.  Yes, that is my actual father in his real Middle Eastern attire.  He was such a handsome man.  Reminds me of Omar Sharif.  Do any of you remember the movie “Lawrence of Arabia”?.. or am I showing my age here?  Anyway, making this book was a great experience for two reasons.. one was that I got to relive my father’s life, which gave me so much comfort and two… I learned to design my own book with my own style.

You can see the rest of the book at my Web Albums here.

I presented this to my mom on her 80th birthday.     There is just something about these vintage pictures that hold so much in my heart because of my parent’s background and their journey to America.

OK.. somebody stop me.. I’m way off track here…. moving on…. sorry.

Here is my new canvas that was inspired by a DVD that I just purchased by Ann Baldwin called Mixed Media – Collage – Text & Texture in Mixed Media Collage with Ann Baldwin.  You can see a preview here.

I love the colors; so rich.  What I’ve used on this canvas includes.  Crackle paint around the picture, molding paste with stencils, corrugated cardboard, heavy gel medium, photo transfer of tree, magazine picture of door, polymer clay and layers upon layers of paints.

Here are some close up shots.

I hope you enjoyed this mini journey with me and I hope that Ann would be proud.. Thank you, Ann.

If you have any questions about the canvas or any techniques you’d like to know about, please leave a comment; I would be happy to contact you in return.  Or just leave me a hello comment anyway.. I’d love to hear back from you.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Look Who Made a Journal…

… and that would be me.

Hello Blogsters:

Yes, I’m a bit behind… having the same trouble as my friend, Amy, (read her blog post) with sciatic pain.  Not fun, believe me.  Amy and Karen both had to watch me hobble around like an invalid.. Thanks, my friends for your help on our art day, which I wasn’t going to miss.. no way, now how…. on to art talk….

I’ve always have been intimated by making an Art Journal; especially the sewing of the binding.. Give me the heebie jeebies.  But, I’ve been intrigued by them.  I’ve seen plenty of YouTubes and other blog tutorials, but never was I gutsy enough to try it….  And then there is the piece of writing in it too… WHAT? .. what am I going to write about?  It’s enough to make the book and make the backgrounds, but now I have to write in them too? <insert running away and screaming sounds here>.

Wait.. who says I have to write in them?  No one and therefore, I don’t. (well, for now anyway.. one step at a time)

So with that, I asked an art friend of mine and amazing book maker and taker of many book classes, Raine, to show me how to make a basic book….. from scratch.  She did.  I wish I had taken pictures of each step, so I’m sorry I didn’t, but it was my first time, so for the next one, I will.

Here is the finished book and then I’ll show you some of the backgrounds I started to create.

We started with heavy cardboard for the front and back covers and a manila folder strip for the spine.  I used Weldbond glue to adhere the upholstery fabric to my front and back covers; a cotton fabric was used for the spine, gluing the manila folder strip to it.   She showed me how to do a Pamphlet Stitch using waxed linen thread.  I sewed 4 signatures in it.  How cool is that?  I put beads on the left over threads hanging down from the spine.  The button on the front cover is one I made from poly clay.  The size of the book is approximately 8″x8″.

Here are some pages I’ve background and for those who know me.. I LOVE textures, embellishments, found objects and playing with layers:

Some of the techniques/textures I used in this book so far, and I say ‘so far”, as I have not finished this by a long shot.  Materials: gesso, acrylic paints, color mists,  polymer clay, tissue paper, cheese cloth dyed with ink sprays, rubber stamps, wax crayons, decorated duct tape (yes, it comes that way, I’m not kidding; on the last page shown), resin music paper, ink jet transfer.

I can’t tell you how satisifying and accomplishing this project was and I have to thank Raine for helping me.  I appreciate it more than you know.

Here is a small vinyl book that used to be a calendar note book that I altered, but have not sewn any pages in yet.  Now that I know how to sew a signature, I can attempt this myself.

This was covered with crackle paste, then I used a Walnut Ink to stain it.  The bird, was an ink jet transparency that I put directly on the cover over old book page and gel medium over it.  Sanded around it and put beads on the ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up…”Do You Doodle?????”

Do You Doodle?

I love to doodle… I’ve doodled for years.  If I’m on the phone, I doodle.  If I’m in a meeting, I doodle.  If I’m bored, I doodle…  I love flowers,  swirls, spirals, checkerboard, stripes, dots, circles… whatever strikes me…  I’ve even given the “doodle disease” to my teens girls.  Except they tend to doodle a little in class… uhm.. how about paying attention to the teach-ah (as we say here in Massachusetts)?  Hmmm.. maybe that’s why I got a C in Math… never mind… let’s move on.

So, here is a background page that I did on canvas paper.   I stamped  some images and then I doodled around it.

Here are some fun sites for doodling:

Now, this is some serious but fun doodling going on here:

http://ww w.joyfuldia-doodle-art.com/pictorialindex1.htm

and……….

http://www.milliande.com/Doodle-Daily-Life.html

Millande has several videos on YouTube that you can search for in addition to her creativity site.

Other goofiness I did in a small grid journal is what follows.   The faces here are from any learnings I’ve taken from online classes  by Suzi Blu and Willowing.  You can also search for them on YouTube.  Great vids.  I love the fun and freedom they have with their mixed media pieces.  Please check them out and join them on their Ning sites.

Ok, what’s up with those girl’s hands above.. they look like crab claws..  Still working on hands and feet.. head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes… oh, stop me.. sorry.

Maybe a little Tim Burton’esqe?  No?

I try to get inspiration from magazine photos and in any of the Stampington publications.  Love them!

Well, that was fun.      So……… do you doodle?   Please send me an email @ judysheart@gmail.com with a picture of your doodle art and blog url and I’ll post it on my blog.  Have fun and do the doodle.

Thanks for stopping by.. I hope you enjoyed it.

Judy

Next up…. Carving on erasers..

Art Journaling Workshop

Hello again blogsters… 

I interrupt my regularly scheduled blog post for this important message………….come closer.

I am about to embark on a journey like no other.  I couldn’t pass up a chance to take an on-line workshop with Julie Prichard.

It’s called “ART JOURNALING SUPER NOVA“!

Check out Julie’s blog, read all about her and watch the Promo Video…. and won’t you join us? Click HERE

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Carve This!

Hey Blogsters:

I’m back again, as promised, to show you some fun eraser carvings I experimented with then using them for rubber stamps.

I started out with a “magic rub” eraser, linoleum cutters (handles made with polymer clay) and some micro carving tools.

Hold your cutters with a steady hand and begin to slowly cut designs in your eraser.  To make circles or spirals, turn the eraser in your opposite hand, not your cutter.  You can see some of the simple designs I made.

Safety note:  Keep your hands away from the front of the cutter as you move it; you don’t want to hit your fingers if you slip.

Once you make your designs, stamp it into an ink pad and start making art.  I did use a purple ink pad, but I am showing the black pad.

You could also draw a design with pen/marker and cut around it or into the lines, depending you whether you want a positive or negative image.  You can carve tiny weenie images on the tip of an pencil eraser too.  How cut would that be in a journal?

I know this is very basic, but I hope you get the idea.   I found a couple of good videos for you to see what I’m speaking of.  Someday, I will do the video thing too.. oh someday.

You can get a good tutorial watching Milliande’s YouTube series on carving print blocks here.   Darlene Wilkinson has a really fun video here.

Ok, that’s it for now.. thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up: Playing with Golden products…

Golden on my mind…

Happy Thursday, Blogsters….

I’m taking a long weekend away from my day job and spending time with my oldest daughter who is on her way to her first year at college.  She’ll only be less that two hours away, but I can still get a little weepy, can’t I?  I admit it, I one of those that cry at stupid sentimental situations on tv or if someone is telling me a story….. happy and sad.  Some of you parents out there know what I’m talking about.

So, as we take her to Maine on Sunday, I’ll have Labor Day to recover… and that, my little bloggers, means an art day for myself….<jumping up and down and whistling inserted here>…  AND…………… speaking of art………

……….as you may or may not know, I love textures.  Yup, I do.

Last week, after revisiting an on-line demo from my favorite Golden artist, Patti Brady, I pulled out some of my mediums to play around with.  Just watch her work these mediums.  This definitely isn’t Kansas anymore, Toto.

First, is the Fiber Paste.  This medium is amazing.  I never really gave it a good try before now, but the results are very fun.

I took a sheet of freezer paper (shiny side up).  With my palette knife, I spread a generous amount on the paper, as if I was frosting a cake, trying to minimize the peaks.  Let it dry overnight.

I peeled it gently off the freezer paper.  Now what do I do with it?  I stared at it for a bit and as Madonna sang in her “Vogue” song… “….don’t just stand there, let’s get to it………..there’s nothing to it”.    So, I did……

I took washes of Golden Fluid Acrylic Paints and made three separate sections of colors (blue, yellow, red).  This fiber paper, really soaks up the paint.  Let the paints dry.  I did some doodling, rubber stamping and some collage of resin music paper, handmade paper and the famous “spoil me” girl from Art Chix Studio.

This is very pliable as you can see from the top picture.  I think I may put this in a journal or on a book cover.

I just had another thought for this medium.   Put some in a small squeeze bottle and draw with it on freezer paper…. letters, flowers, doodles and once dry you have your own fiber thingamajiggys to put in your own art.

Ok.. now on to the Glass Bead Gel.

Shown below is what I used with the gel… fluid acrylic paint mixed into about a 1/4 of a cup of the gel.  I took a paper doilie, held it on top of this book cover and with my palette knife, spread the gel through the doilie.  Carefully, pull off the doilie to reveal the pattern.  Let his try overnight.  I say “overnight” because I’m usually doing my art in the evenings.

You never think is will come out shiny, but it does.  After all, it is glass.  I hope I captured the pictures well enough to do it justice.

Below is a closer look… the glass beads are shiny and smooth to the touch.  I’m going to paint over it and wipe off the excess and see what kind of resist develops.

I would love to here what you think about these pieces.. have you tried them?  would you like to? do you want to see other texture techniques?

Have a great Labor Day Holiday… and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Next up:  Perhaps another recipe???  Is it time?

Quiet Post … remembering…

I found this in my driveway coming back from my walk the other day… I just love finding these sort of things in nature… don’t you?  I think it’s appropriate, as our nation remembers 9/11.

A lovely celebration…

Hey Blogsters!

This week (Sunday, actually) I celebrated my birthday and turned the big 50!  Yes, I have completed 50 years of my life.  I got calls from everyone.  I kept saying I was trying to ignore that I was turning 50, but everyone kept reminding me… ha!

They say time goes by so fast and you really don’t understand that when you’re young, free and having way too much fun… yet it is true.  You watch your children grow from little peanuts to beautiful young adults, mourn family members whose time came to leave this earth, watch your nieces and nephews, that you held in your arms as infants, get married and have their own children………..and  BOOM, you’re 50!  Um, what just happened?  But, I must say, and yes, I must, that all is good and I could never ask for anything more than what I have right now, right this moment.. that’s all I can control.. right now.  Life is good.

So, with that said, after a lovely surprise dinner celebration with some of the most favorite loved ones in my life, I have to share a gift with you from my most amazing niece, Christina.  You remember Nina?.. named after my “Nina Pods”? She’s the one that wrote the poem to go with them; click here for the Nina Pod post.

Nina’s gift to me was 50 things I love… a huge basket of 50 things.. imagine that?  They weren’t big things, just beautiful little treasures that she knew I would love like body lotions, stationary, vintage images, beautiful tissue papers, candles.. so you get the idea, right?  However, I think my favorite part of her gift was her card she made me.  A handmade fabric card that just left me in awe of her work.  Take a look and you’ll see what I mean:

Measurements:  12″ tall x approx. 7″ wide (folded)

See what I mean… how special, don’t you think?  I’ll treasure it always.

Thank you Donnie (a great and supportive hunk of Irish joy), Megan (daughter 1: thank you for surprising me and coming home from college), Rachel (daugher 2: a great secret keeper), Nina (well, need I say more about her), Todd (Nina’s hubby, who’s just plain awesome and so supportive), Riley and Connor (N&T’s kids:  can’t say enough about how important these kids are to me.. love them).   You all made my birthday celebration the most memorable one.  I love you with all my heart!

Nina.. can you say “blog”? … time for you to have one and show your artistic talents.

I leave you with this video of Sally O’Malley (Molly Shannon) from Saturday Night Live doing her “I’m 50″ skit with Danny Devito.. so funny.. (you have to watch a short commercial first).  Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Next up:  Mini canvas fun art!

Judy

Mini Canvas Graffiti Art

Hey Blogsters…

This will be a small post to match the small art, so I thought I’d share some fun mini canvases I created.

First, let me say that I am, by no means, a good drawer and I’ve accepted that.  However, I was doodling around on some newsprint paper that was used to protect a fragile something I purchased and came up with some of these fun graffiti/cartoon-like faces.  I only drew half a face on the edge of the paper and tore around it.  I used gel medium to glue them down over a painted and stamped background.  I loved the way the thin paper just melted onto the canvas using the gel.  Tissue paper is awesome using this technique.  I then painted a bit more over and around the images and here are the results.   Seriously, these faces were a result of just goofing around with my black pen.

The size of the canvases are 3 1/2″” x 2 1/2″.  Very fun to play with.  I got them from Dick Blick; see them here.

Just start with smearing some paint on a background, let it dry, add another layer, then stamp around it.. no rules… just fun play.

Give it a try.. go on.   I’ll wait here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

A Message from the Universe!

Have you noticed, that the more you hurry, the slower you go?

The more you wait, the longer it takes?

The more you worry, the less you dream?

But the more you live, love, and laugh, the more you live, love, and laugh.

Weird?
- The Universe

The Colors of New England

Hey Blogsters:

Thought you’d like to see some pictures I’ve taken during this beautiful foliage season we have here in New England.

I hope you enjoy the peek in and around our garden and neighborhood.

The Hydrangeas are trying to hang in there; they are hearty.  .. oh and a peek of one little rose.

Black Eyed Susans leaving there presence behind.  They’ll be back crowded and beautiful next summer.

Autumn.. one more time.. with feeling!

Hey blogsters..  Well, I couldn’t resist taking and posting a few more pictures of the beautiful colors of the leaves this year.  Going on my walk, I just couldn’t pass these by and I wanted to share…

Just look at the red colors in this Japanese Maple Tree…

This orange leaf tree (don’t know the name of it), was far away in someone’s yard, but it just stood out.

This shot was taken while I was painting our bathroom on the second floor looking out the window in back yard. Can you see all the colors of the tops of the trees in the distance??

The final shot I also found on my walk.  I love to see the berries go from red to orange/yellow.

Ok… that’s the tour of our foliage.  Please exit left and come back soon.

Next up:  Handmade journal from online workshop.. lots of mistakes, but we made it.

The Canvas Project – A Great Ending

Hey Blogsters!

I’ve been creating some fun things in the studio to show you,  but first I want to share the results of my submission to the Canvas Project.   Here is the post that refers to it that shows my final 5 canvases.

They chose only 1 out of the 5 submitted canvases for each of the 700+ artists that contributed.  The 84 page book is below.

As you can see, they chose my “impound” canvas.

I’m excited to be part of this project and honored to share a little bit of success with my good friend and outstanding artist, Amy, whose chosen canvas is on the opposite page called “instigate”.

Amy reeled me into doing this project and I’m glad she did…. thanks, Amy and congratulations!

Thanks for stopping by!

Next up:  Time for some art and what I’ve been up to in my studio… also…my misfit journal.

Studio Time !

Hey Blogsters..

Time for what’s been happening in the studio lately.

In a previous blog post, I mentioned I was taking an on-line class with Julie Prichard.  You can still join all her wonderful lessons.  Check it out here.

One of the books we made was called LTS (Long Tall Skinny).  I had a hard time with this book so for many reasons. I could write a whole blog post on my mistakes.   When I take a class, I usually stray from the original lesson and take a detour and make it my own.  With this journal, I used scrapbook paper with designs to use as a deep background as my first layer.  I also wanted to use what I already had and not purchase more paper.  These pages were much bigger than the instructions, but I wanted to see how this could come out.

I used Weldbond glue, to glue the folded edges together to make the binding.  The glue was very stiff when it dried and seeped through the paper.  When I tried to open the journal and turn the pages the next day and after being clamped together overnight, they were all glued together and I mean TOGETHER, as in FOREVER.  I had no choice, really, than to pry open the pages and the centers tore apart.  Note to self: don’t do that again.

I love Weldbond glue, as it  is extremely strong; it’s used by NASA, however it’s not a PVA glue nor flexible in working with paper.  It’s great for gluing objects in your mixed media work, however.  Maybe the scrapbook paper was too weak for the glue also.

Anyway, long story, short… my pages were a mess… I had worked so hard on it by cutting the book board, preparing all the ribbon hinges and ironing them all.. yes, you heard it.. I ironed.  When I tried to open the journal pages and they would hardly budge, my jaw dropped and I said “what the bleepety bleep am I going to do” (I really didn’t say those words, I just bleeped out the swear).

I salvaged the center of the pages with scrapbook paper strips, textured the front and back covers with molding paste, tissue paper, stencils, caulking, fabric and polymer clay.  I started filling the pages with mediums, textures, objects and paints.

In the end, I’m happy to say, I love my misfit journal that I brought back to life.  I felt like I was in “Grey’s Anatomy”… “CLEAR!”

Here are some pictures of the book and some of the inside pages that I haven’t finished playing with.  It measures about 12 1/2″ tall x 6 1/2 ” wide.

front cover:

front cover, details

back cover:

back cover, details:

Some inside pages:

I enjoyed this learning process.  Making mistakes really challenged me and I embraced it.

Thank you, Julie, for a fun workshop and sharing all your ideas.  You are a great teacher.  I hope you like the journal.   You made it look so easy to make, but I guess I took the long way around to get the job done.

I’ll leave you with this eye candy for now… I do hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for stopping by and leave a comment.

Next up:   mixed media collage on wood and very cool funky fabric cuff.

Fabric Cuff

Hey Blogsters…

Well, as promised, I’m showing you my fabric cuff I made out of scrap material and fibers… you know bit and pieces of colorful things.  I can’t take the credit for the idea.  I got it from the ThreadBangers YouTube videos here. I said, “hey, I can do that”.. so I did.

Here is what I used:

Super Solvy
desired fabric length piece as a base
metallic gold thread
any cool colors of fabric, yarns, fibers you have
lace (gives it that nice touch)
elastic cord
polymer clay hand made button

I took the base material and used that as my first layer; I wanted the layer on my wrist to be softer.  Then I just added all the scrap pieces of material and the fibers on top of the base layer.  Really, just like in the video.   You then sandwich the fabric (it will be chunky) in between the Solvy film… or like a taco.   Sandwich.. taco.. you get the idea.

Hold it all together and sew that baby flat.  I used metallic thread.. up and down, all around for about 15 minutes.. make sure everything is sewn flat.

Here’s the fun part… now let it run under warm water and use your fingers to massage the ooey gooey stuff out of it…  You can’t believe it’s a solid piece.. at least I couldn’t, but it doesn’t take much to make me happy.

Now, let it completely dry.

Select and cut the cuff to the size to fit you and sew the button to one end and the elastic cord loop to the other and that’s it, my friends.  Here you go:

I received some really nice compliments on it and my niece gave me the idea to make just back and white.  So, I thinking black and white scraps with silver glittery fibers and silver metallic thread.

It was quite a fun project and using the Solvy is amazing.. Imagine the pieces you could make with it for fabric journal pages, purses and collage.. oh my.

Thanks for stopping by!

Next up:   fun textured collage on wood

Open Your Hearts

Hey Blogsters!

For the past few months, on my walks, I’ve found some interesting heart shapes I’ve captured with my camera………BUT…

… Let me begin here with a quote from Melody Beattie’s book “Journey of the Heart”. She does daily meditations that are so touching.  I thought this would be appropriate for my heart post.

“Let your heart open-gently, safely, surely and certainly.  Do not let others decide when or even if you will open your heart, when or if you will embrace love.  Those choices are too big, too important to let others make for you.  Only you can decide when and how.” ….

“Look around.  It’s not your location that makes you safe.
It’s where you are in your soul, your mind and your heart.
That place is good.  That place is safe.
Open your heart.
Embrace life.
Go joyfully on your way.”
- Melody Beattie

So………….. I share my hearts with YOU:

vine

puddle on ocean rocks in Maine – I know this is pushing it a little.. but can you see it?

stones off my driveway; at this glance it’s a heart of stone.

vine leaf coming through brick walk

heart rock

… and finally I reveal to you my wooden heart collage that I’ve been promising.

I just love this piece.  You could even say I put all my heart into it.

Size: approx. 18″ x 14″

This piece started out as an old wooden painting I found at a consignment store.   What I used:  spackle, caulking, molding paste, vintage papers, tissue papers, fabric lace, gold leaf, old jewelry, polymer clay (face and button flowers),  found objects, charms, gesso, acrylic paints, stencils, rubber stamps, metal hinge.. whew.. that’s about all I can think of.

I hope you enjoyed my heart post..  Would love to hear back from you.

Next up:  Two weeks vacation from work for the holidays.  I’ll be in the studio to share some fun projects with you.

I hope all you have a wonderful and safe holiday… 2010.. can it be?

Judy

A New Year.. Promise To Make it Creative!

Hey Blogsters…..

Happy New Year.  How long do we have to say that to everyone we talk to?  I think 2 weeks is time enough, don’t you think?.. and then that’s it.. alright, well, maybe just a few more here and there.

So, I hate the word “resolution”.  It’s sounds so demanding. YOU WILL RESOLVE TO GET THIS DONE.  How about just making promises to yourself?  Do things that you know would make you feel better and make you feel that you really have accomplished something.  Something that you know wouldn’t have happened it you just didn’t nudge yourself a little bit harder (or as they say in Boston.. “hahda”).

Course, my first thought is be more healthy and fit.  Ok, I said that one, so let’s move on to fun promises….  be more creative and do more art.  Ah, that feels like a promise I can keep for myself.  Reorganize and clean your studio/workspace  (ok, so maybe not so fun); donate what you don’t need anymore; give them a new life – you’ll feel the new energy surround you after you’re done.

One of my promises to myself is to learn how to video tape and load those videos on to YouTube or even in my blog.   With the help of my 15 hr. old daughter, of course.  It can happen.. it WILL happen.

Being creative just makes me happy.  When I’m working in my full-time job, I want to be in my studio.  When I’m not working, I don’ t get in the studio like I want to.  Why is that?  I own it, I know, my fault.   Ok.. I have a family to think about, yes.    Another promise – get in the studio; make more time and get in your creative bubble.

I’m keeping Melodie Beattie’s book next to my computer and I’d like to share another excerpt from her “Journey to the Heart” book.

“Let Your Creativity Blossom”

“Allow your creativity to blossom.  For too long you have held back.  For too long you have limited your natural creative learnings and talents….. You are creative.  You have a creative self within that wants to play, wants to be let loose, wants to create.  Set that part free!  Let yourself play – with life, with work, with projects. “

“Creating brings you into harmony with the universe…. yourself and the rhythm of life.”  – Melody Beattie

How perfect is that?  Very calming and freeing, to me, when I read her meditations.

Tell me what you want to promise yourself this year?

I’ll leave you with this beautiful winter early morning scene from the back of my house (not enhanced at all).  Love the teal sky.

Thanks for stopping by!

Judy

Next up… mixed media mirror frame.

Swaps

Swaps can be fun.  Here’s one I did for manilla tags.

On the tags I used: Clearsnap’s Colorbox Cat’s Eye Ink Pads, and smooshed those different colors around, rubber stamps, polymer clay button I either sewed on with thread or fun wire, embossing powder, ribbon and brads.

Swaps need a good coordinator and most importantly committed participants.. one person can ruin it all.  I’ve done a few, most are excellent, but a couple have fell through the cracks.  I’m still waiting for the results of one; it’s been almost a year.  People get busy and can see it through to the end.   Now, I choose wisely or not at all.. lately it’s been the latter.

Here is another I did for ATCs.  I made them out of polymer clay.  Now, that was fun.  The recipients were thrilled to get something so different.

Some, I stamped into the raw clay with rubber stamps then antiqued with brown paint or shoe polish, others were covered with decorated napkins once out of the oven.  The others were covered with a sheet of millefiori clay canes.  All of them have been embellished with clay buttons or beads.

I can’t help but use polymer clay thingamajigs on all my work.  they don’t seem complete without one, two or ok maybe three.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up…. Mixed Media Mirror Frame.. Oooo la la

Mixed Media Frame and Fun

Hey Blogsters:

Well, right about now, I am sick of the cold here in New England.  But, on a good note, the daylight is around a little longer now.   I shouldn’t rush it.  Time goes by too fast enough as it is.

I’ve finished my Mirror Frame that I did for a special family couple of their two children.  I hope they don’t read this post yet, as I haven’t given it to them.

The size is 10″ x 10″.   I put something in front of me while I took the picture so there would be no reflection in the mirror.

The frame is made from wood (purchased at craft store), covered with 2 layers of tissue paper applied with Golden Gel Medium.  Once dry, I painted it with Golden’s Fluid Acrylic Carbon Black.

The squares are made of chipboard, they are about 1 1/2″.   I used Claudine Hellmuth’s Sticky Back Canvas for printing my pictures on.  I gathered my pictures from my photo software and put them on MS Powerpoint, making sure they were the same size as the chipboard.  I always use MS Powerpoint for printing and arranging several pictures on one page and in one place.  Once I practiced printing on paper several times to get the right size of the squares, I felt confident to print on the SB Canvas.

Cut the pictures from the canvas.  Before you stick them to the chipboard, I used a black paint pen to paint edges of each chipboard square.  Burnish the picture to each chipboard.   If the canvas spilled over a little on the chipboard, I just used a craft blade and self-healing mat to trim to size.   Sandpaper around the edges to sand down the tiny “burrs” of the canvas.   With a make up sponge wedge, I pounced the sponge on a StazOn black ink pad and just went around the edges of the picture to give it a shadow’y (is that word?) look.    Important:  At this point I laid out all the squares on newspaper in a well ventilated area and sprayed on a matte sealer;  I used Preseve Your Memories (PYM) spray.  Great stuff!

Before you glue down the pictures to the frame, I took silver acrylic paint and went around the edges of the frame and the mirror with a sponge.  Now, the squares are ready to be glued down to the frame.  Arrange the squares to your liking and glue down with strong glue; I used Weld-Bond.

In the top left hand corner of the mirror, I made a tiny polymer clay heart and after it was baked and sealed, I wrote the word “love” on it.  Glue to mirror with strong glue; I used Liquid Nails.

I hope you enjoyed this small tutorial.  Give it a try.   Nothing beats a handmade gift -  made from the heART.

Here is another playful piece I did in my studio.

I was playing with some colors on my palette paper.  After I was done, I swirled and smooshed the colors around for a cool background.  If you think about it, palette paper is made for wet paints, so why not recycle the pages to put in your journals, etc.  It takes a lot of wet media abuse.

As you can see, I just doodled with white paint pen.  Then I took some scrap tissue paper and glued a 1/2 face size to the edge.  Painted that with Golden’s Titan Buff Fluid Acrylic paint; let dry.  Then just played and drew a face and painted it.  Nothing serious at all.

Let’s call her……..um…..Fiona………. I put that doodle in her hair.  I think she’s looking at it saying… “she really just didn’t put that in my hair, did she?  That is so ugly.”    She hates it, I can tell..

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Happy Birthday Mom!

Hey Blogsters!

This post is dedicated to my mom who will be 84 this week.  To all she touches, she is our mother, grandmother, sister, neighbor, chef (still cooking for her family) and friend.  One of the wisest woman you’ll ever meet.

How can I begin to tell you what my life has been like with such a wonderful woman, like my mom, guiding me all these years. Being the youngest of 5 siblings (4 girls, 1 boy), I may have been a bit more free wild growing up in the 60′s and in my teens in the 70′s.

My mom, Georgette, came to America, from the Middle East, with no education at all and not knowing one word of English and 14 years younger than my dad.  She was a stranger in a strange land.  My dad always related their life to the song sung by Tony Bennett, “Stranger in Paradise”.. and it was.  That song can be emotional for me; especially since my dad has passed (10 years ago).

You see, my dad (Fred) came to America, also from the Middle East, when he was 11 years old. He went back to Syria at the age of 32 to choose (yes, choose) a wife going door to door (yes,  “door to door”) over a ten month period of time visiting many families with single daughters.  I remember him telling me that if he wasn’t interested in the women, he would jingle his car keys to give the signal to his friend, who accompanied him, that is was time to leave.   At the end of his search, he chose my mom.  They married in Syria, then mom left her mother and siblings behind to find a better life.

If you’d like to see the handmade journal I did about my dad’s life journey, click here.

Dad brought her back to the USA to live with him and his family (his 6 siblings… I know).   She inherited 2 brothers in law and 4 sisters in law.  With no English to be spoken, she was a stranger indeed.

After 15 years and having 5 children of her own, we moved to a home of our own.  I was 2.     Even in our own home, mom was the go to person.  She did all the holiday parties at our house, did all the cooking.. gosh, I don’ t how she really did it, feeding a family of 7 every night..  I can’t hardly keep up with 4.

As my mom reaches yet another birthday year, we are truly blessed to have this strong woman still in our lives.  She always tells me how proud she is of all 5 of the kids, but we are more proud of her.

Thanks, Mom and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

All My Love,

Judy (aka #5)

… for the birds

Hey Blogsters:

I recently went to a fun filled workshop at Ink About It called Beeswax Birds. These were created by Autumn Hathaway.  Autumn is such a great teacher; one of the best.  What a fun time we had with her sense of humor, kindness and patience.   You can read about her, our class and see the “flock” of the birds made at the workshop on Autumn’s blog.  Thank you Autumn.  We hope you come back to Ink About It very soon… please!

Here is my bird (2 different lightings):

My next little fun project was a surprise find from a garden center store that was closing.  They were selling all their display shelving.  This was hiding in th corner, calling my name.  I knew I needed something in my studio to put my gels, mediums and smaller paints on and keep on my art table.

Here it is how it started:

I gave it a light sanding, painted everything but the shelves and started to add decorative papers/cardstock to the shelves.

Here it is after I painted the front of the shelves and added a crackle technique and stained it.

After everything dried, add did some rubber stamping  and paint doodles to the sides.

I am so loving that this sits on my table and at my reach.

Thanks for stopping by

Judy

Next up:  LOVE LETTERS

Love Letters

Hey Blogsters…

We are enjoying the 50′s here this weekend.  How nice to have the sun shining down on me when I was out for my walk this morning.  It may be a tease for now, but we’ll take it.  As they say in New England.. “if you don’t like the weather… wait a minute”.

About 5 years ago I started making mixed media customized wooden art letters for family and friends.   The look on their faces when they open the gift and see their own personal initial that has been decorated with them in mind, is the most satisfying feeling you can imagine.

Here are some letters I’ve made over the years; they are proudly hung in each of their homes.

This is just a few of them.  They are all made with each individual in mind.  All (except one) here was made for my adult nieces and nephews.  I’ve put some found objects that mean a lot to each of them.   For example… a key from my father’s basement from years ago.. or a my mother’s old jewelry.  They’ll now have a piece of their grandparents with them forever.

Most of them have copper tape running around the outside edge.  Take a closer look and you can see the details of the decorative paper,  found objects,  stamping, embossing, old and new jewelry and, of course, polymer clay.

If you need a creative gift for someone, consider making a Love Letter.. it will go a long way and anything made from the heart will never be forgotten.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up…. Painting Pottery

Painted Pottery.. just for fun

Hey Blogsters:

To mix things up a bit and to just have fun,  I did something different from my usual creations.  I went to a paint your own pottery place with my two teenage daughters (19 and 15).

There is a place not to far from us called, ironically, Paint Your Own Pottery (PYOP).  Check out this great place.   This is an open, clean and friendly place for ALL ages.  The owner Vaishali Patel, is wonderful, along with her staff.

After it took me 30 minutes to pick out the bisque (because of her large selection) I wanted to paint, I then spent another 3 hours painting it.  What?  3 hours?  I know.

I decided to paint a large serving bowl, about 16″ round.  I thought it would have been easy to just slap on the paint, but there really is a method to it.  Don’t ask me why, but I decided to paint a little girly face in the center of the bowl.. and that took an hour itself because I had to work down in the base of the bowl with these tiny needle nose bottles of color.  The outside is painted with turquoise and then I dripped a dark purple around the edges so they would drip into the center.  I then added red dots along the bowls edge.

Here is a picture of my bowl.   I am very happy with it and my girls are loving their pieces also.

Sometimes it’s good to do something artistically different from the norm.  Especially if you have a bit of a creative block.  Shake things up a bit.

Thank you, Vaishali, for a fun and relaxing visit.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up…. Buttons, Buttons, Buttons!

Oh Buttons…Oh My

Hey Blogsters…

As you can see, my banner above is full of buttons, beads and embellishments.   Those are all made of polymer clay. Well I’ve been busy in the workshop making some to show you.   I thought I would show you how to make my buttons.

Some call me a texture queen cuz I just love textures.  In clay and on my mixed media canvases, pushed into molding pastes, built up by using stencils.. I’m in love.

So, let’s have some fun, shall we?

Safety note:  Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after working with the clay.  Also, work in a well ventilated area when using the oven when baking the clay.  Make sure your oven is regulated.  If it spikes, it may burn the clay which will give off fumes.  You may want to test the temperature by using  a separate thermometer to show exact temp before you put your clay in the oven.  Please visit this site for everything polymer clay such as baking, brands, conditioning, safety, etc.  Just search via the index to the left.

What you’ll need:

• 1 package polymer clay (I like Premo or Fimo Soft). I used a beige color to get the results I want, but you really can use any color; it’s your world.  A whole package will make several buttons.
• textures: rubber stamps, jewelry, other buttons, doily, etc..
• baby powder or water
• brown acrylic paint
• dedicated oven for baking polymer clay
• knitting needle or wooden skewer to make the button holes
• Future Floor Wax  or any other sealer or varnish
• don’t forget rags, paper towels, too
• optional: rubber gloves

Start out by conditioning your clay in her hands until soft and pliable.  I also have a dedicated electronic pasta machine to help with conditioning.

Depending on how big you want your buttons, make a log out of your conditioned clay.  Cut these into equal pieces if you want them to be all the same, and then roll into balls and then press with your finger to make a disc.   You can also use something flat, like a jar lid to smoosh it down.

Now, here is where the fun comes in.   Take your discs and start to impress them (maybe do a dance or tell a joke; just kidding) with objects or rubber stamps.  I am using a rubber stamp sheet that is flexible.

Sandwich in it between the sheet and press down making the textured impression.

Well, lookie there.  Are you excited yet?

Do this to all your discs, using the other textures… Here’s an old plastic doily that I pushed the clay into with a plastic lid.

Excited?   Okay, I’m exhausted.. I’ll do one more… tough crowd.

Now make your button holes using your knitting needle, wooden skewer or whatever suites your fancy.

Once you finish these steps with ALL your discs, it’s time for the shakin and bakin.. well, we’re not gonna shake, but we are going to bake.

Here are your buttons, ready to go in the oven.  I use a ceramic tile.

Bake these according to your clay package directions and visit the site I mentioned above in my “safety note”.

The timer has gone off and the baked clay is cooled, right?  Let’s keep going…

Here they are baked and cooled.

Feel like getting messy?  You may want to wear rubber gloves… or not… up to you.

Now, it’s time to antique them.   Take your brown acrylic paint and smoosh (there’s that word again) it into the grooves and crevices of the textures.

With a lightly dampened rag, wipe off the excess on top, so all that’s left if the paint in the deep textures.  This will also give the clay a golden vintage look.

Let dry completely or you can speed it up with a hair drying or heat gun, moving over it in a fanning fashion. Note: make sure your push your hole maker thingamajiggy back in the baked holes, as the paint will get in the and they need to be free of it.

Here they are all “antiqued” and “vintagy” (is that word? it is now)  looking.  I threw in a few turquoise buttons, one of my favorites.  Now tell me you’re excited.

One last step…….

Get out your varnish and brush on one coat on the buttons, front and back.

Let the varnish/future dry, or you can use your heat gun again.

Here they are finished.  So purdy.. I see you smiling.. you ARE excited?

Here are a few other techniques.  I used a burgundy clay with a gold antique, a black clay with turquoise antique and then the red button was baked with no texture then I stamped on it with a rubber stamp with black ink stamp pad.

You can certainly sew these button on sweaters or make smaller ones for shirts.  They can be washed, but in cold water and put the garment inside out.

My main uses are to use them in my mixed media art.  However, it you can make charms, bracelets, necklaces, mosaics. … Make a colorful bunch and fill up a glass jar.. put them in a cool looking bowl..just imagine.

Here is a small canvas I did with wire sewing one clay embellishment and thread sewing a button.  They are great for chunky journals too.

I hope you liked this tutorial.  I have such fun making these pieces.  They look so beautiful all in a pile; as you can see from my banner.

Please let me know if you have any questions… or have any feedback.

Please share this with your friends; it’s such a fun project with beautiful results.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up……. Polymer Clay Artist Trading Cards (ATC’s) Workshop.   Don’t miss it!

Join the “Jane Train”

Of course, I’m speaking of Jane Davies (collage artist, designer, writer, and teacher)……

Hey Blogsters..

Since I am still working on my next tutorial, as I promised, I am interrupting my blog to announce Jane’s workshops coming to Massachusetts.

I met Jane at a recent workshop I took from her.  We’ve been keeping in touch and I told her I would mention her upcoming classes.  If you are local to any of the workshop locations, don’t miss out.

Jane has published 3 books and one is on the way.  You can check them all out HERE. I have two of them and they are just great.

Take a look at Jane’s teaching schedule HERE.

You can visit her blog HERE.

Won’t you jump on the “Jane Train”, sign up and have some fun?

It’s Spring….. after all.

Judy

Thanks for stopping by.

Next up…. Honestly, it’s coming.. the Polymer Clay ATC tutorial.

Artist Trading Card (ATC) Swap and Tutorial

Hey Blogsters…

Did you think I forgot about you?  No way, I love you guys…

Just to give you a teeny weenie bit a background.. I am a member of “Lovin Mixed Media”.  LMM is a Ning network.  As a matter of fact, if I had to choose one place to just stay and eliminate all my other art memberships, this would be it.  It’s creator is Gary Reef; a fantastic artist who’s honest, fun and plain entertaining.  I want to hang out with him.   Well, the only way to describe Gary is to watch his YouTube videos.  He has an (as he would say) “amaaaaazing” staff running all different aspects of the site.  Gary has put a great team together to run “Lovin Mixed Media”.  You’ll notice right away, the hard work he and his staff do to create a phenomenal place to “hang out”.  It’s a well oiled machine.  Come join us!

On LMM I recently joined a new ATC group.  I’m not a huge fan of swaps because of some recent swappers or swap leaders not committing to the end, etc.. but, I think this one is honest and legit.  The leader is so excited to take this on.. and it continues.. there are no deadlines.

So, with that.. I decided to make my ATCs out of my first love, polymer clay and make it a tutorial so that whoever gets my ATCs can go see how I made them.

Here we go…..

As I said in my buttons tutorial, please keep safety in mind.. please visit that post for my “safety note”.

Here is what you’ll need to make these beauties:

• One package of Polymer Clay (I like Premo or FimoSoft) – you may get 2 ATC’s from one package.  Light colors clays work best.. I like beige to get my results.  It “antiques” well.
• pasta machine, acrylic roller or rolling pin.
• rubber stamps, textures to imprint clay
• baby powder, water or cornstrach to keep the stamp from sticking to clay
• 2.5″ x 3.5″ template of ATC.  I made one out of clay, but you can also use a playing card. Glue a bunch together to make a thick template.  Make an ATC window out of heavy cardstock.
• craft knife or clay blade
• piece of saran wrap or piece of paper
• dedicated polymer clay oven, if you don’t have one, read below.
• acrylic paints
• colored pencils (not water soluble)
• paint brushes
• stamp pad (I like StazOn)
• alcohol and cotton swabs
• sand paper (not too rough; 400′ish grit)
• glitter glue
• brown paint for “antique” finish
• sealer (I like Future Floor Polish)
• blow dryer or heat gun to speed up drying time
• gold paint or Krylon 18kt Gold Paint Pen

Condition the clay until soft and pliable.
Roll the clay to a 1/16″ inch thickness.  On an Atlas pasta machine, I use #3.
If you don’t have a pasta machine, you can use your rollers and measure as needed.  Here are some ideas from Glass Attic under “no pasta machine?”.

Lay your sheet out on your flat and clean work surface.

Spray with water or use baby powder.  Now push your rubber stamp into the clay making sure you get a good impression.

Lift it up and make sure you see good lines to color/paint in between.

Now take the template/playing card and center over the impressed image.  Cut around it with a craft knife or clay blade.

Here is the image of another one I started; my favorite.  The entire face won’t get on the ATC, but it will still look good… you’ll see.

Now, here is another option if you do not want to impress the clay.   You can stamp right on the clay with the rubber stamp and ink pad, just like paper.  Don’t press hard enough to make indentations, but just enough to get the inked design on the clay.  I’ll do one for you.  Note: You can also stamp it after it’s baked which will allow you to press as hard as you want.

Once the clay is cut to the ATC size, you want to smooth down the cut edges.  I do this with a piece of saran/plastic wrap or you could use a piece of paper.  Just slide your finger around the edge gently, just enough to smooth down the sharp edges.

Now it’s time to bake the clay ATCs according to the clay’s package directions.   I put mine on ceramic tiles to bake.   If you don’t have a dedicated oven, you can use your kitchen oven, but make sure you cover the clay.  You can use parchment paper on a cookie sheet, but cover the cookie sheet with another one or cover with aluminum foil.   Also, make sure your oven is regulated at the correct temperature.  Let it preheat as necessary.  You may want to get a separate thermometer to make sure it’s correct.  You don’t want the oven to spike while the clay is in the oven.   If the temp is not steady, you will risk burning the clay and the fumes are not good.  Remember, these ATC’s are thin; pay attention to your timing.

Now they are out of the oven.  Get I get an “oh ya”??  C’mon people.

Take your sandpaper and sand around the edges.. take off anything sharp;  get it smooth.  Lay the ATC flat and with a firm but gentle hand sand the image.  Specifically, the places you will be coloring.  You want to gently rough it up.  This will allow the color to grab the clay.  Especially with colored pencils.  Try one section with no sanding and the other with.. you’ll see the difference.

Now it’s decorating time.  You can choose to use acrylic paints or colored pencils.  Pencils, I used Prismacolor.  Paints, I have used Golden, Claudine Hellmuth’s Studio Paints and basic craft paints.  Try what works best for you.  Your world, remember?

Start painting in the design.

You can speed up the drying time by using the blow dryer or a heat gun.. but don’t stay hovering over the ATC with the heat too long as it will soften the clay again.  So do it quickly like a fanning motion…. or just be patient and wait.. go have a cookie or even better, chocolate… oh, chocolate.. be right back.

I worked on several of ATCs at a as time seen here.  These are ready for an antique application.

This next step is what will make you go “ooooo…. ahhhhh….ohhhhh”.

After I took the supplies picture, I realized I left out my Golden Heavy Body Acrylic in Burnt Umber which, I feel works best and gives the lines a nice deep color.

With a soft paint brush gently brush the paint over the entire front of the ATC and push the paint into the lines of the stamped image.   Use caution when brushing.  Don’t use a heavy hand.  If you push too hard, you will rub a little of the paint off.

Take a damp paper towel or clean rag and gently, I mean gently, wipe the paint off the top.

“Oooooooooooooo”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh”

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhh”

Let it dry.  Make sure the deep lines are also dry.

This is another favorite step of mine….. this will definitely make you feel the love.

Time to take out your sealer.  I like Future.  I guess  you could say “Back to the Future”..  get it?  No.. ok movin on.

Again, soft brush.. I gently brush on the Future and let dry.  You could do another coat if you wish.

Here is the ATC done with colored pencils… very pretty.

This just keeps getting better…

After the sealer is dry and you like the finish.. here comes the magic.  The whole process is magic.. each step just gets better and better.

Get out your glitter glue.. I like Stickles.  Start to highlight your image that makes you smile.  Bring them to life.  They are so beautiful, you’ll want to marry them… ok too dramatic?

This one continues to be my favorite.  It actually won 1st place in an ATC contest at a local art fair.  Woohoo!

Here is the ink stamped ATC with glitter…

The finishing touch is edging the ATC with gold paint.  I usually use an 18kt Gold Leafing Pen by Krylon.   After completely dry, brush a light coat of sealer on the edges.

Here’s a photo of my bunch of ATCs finished.   Lots of them will be going to England to begin the journey of finding new owners.

Be creative every day and have fun.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

I hope you create your own and show me your results.  I would love to see them.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Collage Box Workshop

Hey Blogsters…

In one of my recent posts, I spoke about Jane Davies and her upcoming classes.

Last weekend, I took her Collage Box class at the Scrapbook Cupboard in E. Bridgewater, MA.   Bev, the store owner was fantastic and a spectacular hostess.  It was such fun.   But, come closer…Can we be honest here?  I have a question that I don’t want to say out loud…..have you ever had issues with measuring?  Jane says… “now measure one hundredth of an inch x 1/16th x 1/32….” (just kidding, but that what it sounded like).  Remember Charlie Brown’s teacher.. “woh woh woh woh woh”.. Bingo!  I’m like a deer in the headlights.  What? Measure on demand?  Can  everyone leave the room first and come back in 15 minutes.. (ha, Amy).  That’s what I was thinking.  I know that sounds crazy and of course, I did measure fine.  Ok, well, one side of the box was a little wonky.. but you’d never know it.  Heck, I’ll blame it on menopause.

Here are some pictures from the workshop…

On the right standing is Jane in front, then Bev, the store owner and Kim, another great teacher.  (pssst.. the young girl to the left is my daughter, Rachel, what a sport.. thanks, Rach).

Sharon was preparing her collage box and cards for the upcoming holidays.  Go Sharon!

Above: This is my daughter’s

Above and below: My collage cards.  I used some fabric paper I made to collage the front.

My cards and inside my collage box.

Front of my collage box.

I had a fantastic time and learned quite a bit about making boxes.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up…  A new teaching gig for me…..Polymer Clay ATC Mini Accordian Book (I think that’s what I’m calling it anyway)  …more to come.

Re-post – Gel Skin Art

Here is a re-post of the “skins”, I made a while back.  Thought you would enjoy a 2nd go round on reading it and for the new subscribers and visitors.

The skin with the beads, is my favorite.  I’ve been tearing that up and using it in my work for about a year now. Here is an example of how I used it recently in my coffee filter art piece; see post here.

First up was Golden’s Self Leveling Clear Gel and the Clear Tar Gel.  I took a palette knife and spread a good amount on some freezer paper.. like frosting a cake.

I sprinkled some finer glitters and shiny things like colored micro beads, sequins or whatever I had.  The self leveling gel and the tar gel had the same results.  I think I will try mixing color into the gel to make it a solid color, then adding the pretty shiny things.  Adding snipped colorful fibers or fabrics would be an interesting effect, don’tchya think?  I’ve done it and it is.

Then I took fluid acrylics and dropped dots all over a sheet until it was crowded and ran a knitting needle around it making swirls and shapes.

I also took blobs of paints at the top of the freezer paper and spread them downward, but they came out too thin.  Not so great.  Using heavy body paints might work better.  But, still interesting and one of a kind.

Once they are dry, you can peel them off of the freezer paper.  Now what do you do with them?  How about adding them to a collage page, journal page or  cut into strips or chopped up to put into some dryer sheet collage art cloth… see my tutorial here on how to make it.

I haven’t been back up in the studio since before vacation.. sad.  I’ll get up there, get my creative juices flowing and be back with some fun stuff.

Thanks for stopping by?

Judy ♥

Workshop Announcement and….

Hey Blogsters!

I’m so excited to finally write that I will be teaching a 4 hour workshop on making Polymer Clay Mixed Media Accordian Books.  That’s a mouthful!

It is local in Massachusetts.  If you are local to the Scrapbook Cupboard, please join me.   The store has the class on it’s calendar.  Click on the link, then click on “calendar” and change it to June.  A BIG thanks to Bev, the store owner, for reaching out to me to teach.

I’m showing you a picture of some finished books I’ve made. They will be at the store shortly.

Front:

Back:

..and the pages in between:

I used pieces of my fabric collage cloth.. I’m thinking will will make up a few batches and bring it for my students to collage their pages with if they desire.

Am I nervous?  Yes.. I won’t lie to you my friends.. It’s my first real paying class.  I’ve done tutorials on our local cable access tv and have taught at the school to elementary children, but this is my first adult class.  I’m feeling anxious but at the same time, I can’t wait to share and inspire others to creative these fun small books.

More from the judio…

This is a piece of chipboard, covered with masking tape, painted, antiqued and polished up (with good old fashioned shoe poslish.. yes shoe polish). I put some handmade fabric collage cloth on top.  I’m loving this.  The masking tape method makes your pieces look like old leather.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up…A Dedication

A Dedication to ….. …my daughters!

Hey Blogsters..

I’m going to just jump in here and show two lovely young ladies how much I love them and how proud I am of them.  So, I’m dedicating this post to my two daughters, Megan and Rachel.

Their fun and humorous creativity just touches me.  How many times have I said to them “want to do some art in the studio”?  Their reply was usually “no”.    Is it not cool to sit with mom and be creative?  Maybe when they were younger, but the last several years has been a big fat NO.

With that said, take a look at creativity in action with some of their work.

First, there is Meg.. She’s going into her Sophomore year at college in the Fall.  She brought home her art portfolio from her drawing class; take a look.

These are canvas boards are 16 x 20″

This one below is a huge sheet of drawing paper about  18 x 26″.

Another large drawing; 22 x 30″.

Rachel is going into her Junior year in High School.  She made this book from the both of them for mother’s day; I just love it and will treasure it forever.  Sneak a peek at a couple of pages.  Size is 5 x 5.

I guess being creative myself all these years did rub off on them somehow.. I’m so proud of them in everything they do.

Love you, Meg and Rach♥

Mom

Thanks for stopping by.

Next up….. my favorite new books and dvds – a review

Journal Book Review

Hey Blogsters!

I’ve never done a book review before, but I felt something about this one… It’s their first book and they would appreciate the press on it.  After all, isn’t that what the blogging community is about… sharing cool work with others,  giving each other high 5′s and saying “you gotta see this”?  Gotta pay it forward.

This new book is by two amazing journal junkies.   Meet Eric Scott and David Modler.  Yes, men.. Both artist-educators.   I guess there are not many men that journal; at least I haven’t come across any.  Well, they are …and are damn good at it (can I say “damn”?).  I’m not a professional book reviewer, here,  so it will be a short one.

“The Journal Junkies Workshop” is almost a journal in itself.   This book is partly dedicated to the memory of Dan Eldon.   Dan was an extraordinary person and kept journals all through his childhood, teens  and until he died, tragically.  His family continues his journey.  To be inspired and learn about Dan, visit his foundation website here and here.  His story is amazing, inspiring and really grabbed me.

There’s lots of energy going on in this book.  They got materials, prompts, how to keep a visual journal, techniques and great ways to jump start.. it’s jammed packed.  Go ahead a take a look at some of the pages here.  I found myself reading this book, putting it down.. picking it up… putting it down…. and I’m only putting it down because I had to do something else.  Like I said before, this book is like a journal with rich colors and their own pages throughout the book.  I like their writing style.   Here is quote from the book:

“Prepare to be bombarded with ideas, techniques and suggestions as you allow your creativity to take hold.  The Journal Fodder Junkies are on a mission, ready to arm you with all that you need to explore artistic ways of recording your life and thoughts.  Part sketchbook, part diary, part notebook, part dream journal, part daily planner, part to-do list and part doodle pad, the art journal is different things to different people.  Whatever it is for you, the Journal Junkies Workshop contains all the covert inspiration and know-how you’ll need to get started.  Uncover your own path, your own voice, your own style.”

Their website is here…. and learn all about Eric and Dave.
You can read more about the Journal Fodder Junkies on the blog that Eric created here.

My work is done here.. good luck with the book guys.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up… Mixed Media Backgrounds

Mini Accordian Book Workshop – Reminder

Hey Bloggeroonies…

I just wanted to remind the locals that my afternoon workshop in E. Bridgewater, MA is going to be held June 12th at the Scrapbook Cupboard. There is still room if you want to learn to make these cool mini accordian books… lookie there below…..

Hope you can join us…

Backgrounds are up next, as promised… and a tutorial too!!!!

Thanks for stopping by..

Judy

Background Checks

Hey Blogmeisters!

Welcome to Friday!   Been cold and rainy here and down right brrrrrr for June in New England.

I’ve been working on some backgrounds and thought I’d share.  These just sort of came about as I sat in my studio playing with some new creamy crayons that are water soluable.  Click here to check them out.

This one, I used a gold paint as the first layer, then I mixed in cobalt teal by Golden in some light molding paste and pushed it through an old plastic doily.  It may look blurry, but it’s actually when the molding paste pushed through the fine mesh like plastic.. giving it a dreamy effect.

Next are yummy layers of acrylic paints, crayons, stamps, music paper, acrylic skins.  On the face below, I added glitter to her face and tried to capture it by tilting it.

… and below are backgrounds using credit/gift cards.  How fun to put them in mixed media backgrounds whole or cut them into shapes.

That’s it for now, as I prepare for my upcoming class tomorrow.  I’ll post pictures of the workshop.  I have some surprise goodies for my students.. here’s a sneak peek…..

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up:  Workshop Success !

Workshop Success!

Hey Blogereetas…

Well, my class was a success.  I guess I would measure success on that it was relaxing, my students/artists were so talented, social, humorous and down right fun.  Thanks, Kristen, Raine and Susan for making it easy for me.

The class was scheduled for 3 hours, but we could have gone 4.   The books just came to life with each step they completed.   We could have used about 30 more minutes, as 2 did not finish their books.  They promised to finish at home and send me pictures.  I’ll be expecting them, ladies.  Don’t make me come over there.  I’ll post them as soon as they do.

Here are some shots of the day and their work.

First, introducing our Hostess at the Scrapbook Cupboard, Bev.  Thank you so much for being wonderful and bringing me in to teach.

If you’re in the area, please stop by to visit and/or take one of their great classes.

Here’s my class, aren’t they cute?

Artist’s work in progress.  I wasn’t able to shoot more pictures than this, but this will give you the flavor of the class.

What fun!!!.. and Bev made us eat chocolate.

I’ll be back at Scrapbook Cupboard in September to teach my Buttons, Embellishments & More Workshop.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up…. Dryer Sheet Collage Paper

Mixed Media Flower Power

Hey Blogaholics…

I interrupt my dryer sheet collage paper post to sneak in another post that’s been keeping my creative juices flowing.  Promise to get my dryer sheet tute out.. (ya, ya, Judy, they’ve heard it before)  really, I’m working on it today.

I’ve been playing around with coffee filters.  Used and unused.  I’ve seen many demos on how to make flowers from them.   I’m not doing anything new here.. these crafts with coffee filters have been around for eons.   Soooooo…… I decided to give it a go myself and add my own twistaroonie to it.  What a fun I had for hours making these.

Ok, let’s Flashback for a minute……….. As a young girl, I remember making flowers out of tissues, the kind you blow your schnoz with.  You take a tissue and folded it up like an accordian fan.  Fold it in half and open up the layers of tissue to make a flower.  Did any of you do that?  It’s funny how you come full circle sometimes, isn’t it?   I also remember going to ceramic classes as a teen and now I love polymer clay.    One time I had this wart on my…. wait.. screech… stop… never mind… you don’t need to know that.  Damn memories.  Sorry, back to the post…  Anyway, did anyone ever make these flowers:

The bold flowers I’ve made below, are from unused coffee filters.  I sprayed them with Color Mists that I purchased from Outside the Margins. (Aileen also has a YouTube channel where she demonstrates the mists).   Then, I scrunched them up, dried them with my heat gun and manipulated them into some kick-ass (can I say that?) flowers.  Of course, I have to add my touch of polymer clay to them, so I made the centers from my handmade polymer clay buttons and embellishments.  Added touches of glitter glue and secured the centers down with a glue gun.

This picture shows the flowers and a gift I wrapped with a decorative napkin and added the flower to the top.   I’m trying to recycle what I have to make wrapping paper, decorations, etc.  Not only do the recipients appreciate the gift inside, but the wrapping is something to talk about… and in the end, it is appreciated when you recycle.

This weekend was my great niece, Riley’s, dance recital and instead a buying her the usual bouquet of real flowers that will die in a week, I decided to make her a handmade bouquet that will last forever.  I wrapped copper wire around the excess “tail” of the flower and created the long stems.  Twisted all four stems together and created a wrap for the gathered stems out of tissue paper I had.  Hearts and pinky.. how dorable.   I truly believe anything handmade has so much more love in it that purchasing a quick gift on the way to an event.   Here they are:

These flowers can be cut down to make smaller flowers or you can use cupcake papers for a more paper/crunchy feel.  The coffee filters have a more fabric/softer texture to them.  Put them in your journals and mixed media work.. glue a magnet on the back, glue it to the top of a pencil or pen, glue to an elastic hair band.. and you know what I’m talking about.  How about a small flower glued to a flip flop.   How cute.. awe.   Feeling any love yet.. yes? no? a little?

To use a used coffee filter, lay the filer on a flat surface and spread out the grinds to the ends.  Let this dry completely and then brush off the coffee.  Now you have a stained filter.

Here is a used coffee filter flower I made.  I enhance the stain by adding a walnut spray to it, some gold glitter spray and then put alcohol ink around the edges.  Looks like a little purple snuck in there too. The final touches were glitter glue around the petals and then a vintage pearl brooch for the center.

I hope you enjoyed the flower power love.  Have fun.. be creative.. make it your own and remember, it’s your world.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

Dryer Sheet Collage Art Cloth – Tutorial

Hey Bloggerdoodles…

I finally finished up my dryer sheet collage art cloth for you.

This process is so fun at at the same time, you are recycling your dryer sheets.  I hope you like it.

What you need: used dryer sheet, white glue, water, freezer paper, masking tape, brush for glue, paints and inks,  scrap papers, fabrics, ribbon, glitter…. just any kind of ephemera to make your layers and what makes you happy.

Tape a sheet of freezer paper, shiny side up to a piece of card board (taping it down to your work surface is fine, but if you use a piece of cardboard you can move it while it dries).

Mix glue and water in a separate container using a 1:1 ratio.  I play with it until it’s a syrup consistency.   Lay down the dryer sheet and pour the glue on the sheet and start to spread it until it’s all covered.

Here we go…. Let”s have some fun, shall we?

Now, you can start with anything you want, but here is what I did….

I started  laying and gluing down decorative napkins, tissues papers, fabric, ribbon and thin papers.  Don’t hesitate to use too much glue.. this will all dry clear and give the cloth strength.  Keep in mind, you are working on a very thin, transparent substrate; it’s needs the layers you’ll be adding to it.

Then I dripped alcohol inks all over.  You can use glitter spray too or acrylic paints to make your own free form designs.

It’s getting there.  Just keep adding, layers until  you are satisfied.  Press down the glued pieces, making sure they come in good contact with the layer below it.

Here’s what it looks like when I’ve completed piece.  I added glitter and gold ribbon.   I am a gold-aholic.. I admit it.  Nothing seems done until I add some glitter and glam to it.  Tip:  Go to the hardware store and buy a small bucket of ceiling glitter; it comes in gold and silver.

Once your done, put this aside and let it dry several hours.. even 24.

Peel it off of your freezer paper and now, you’ve created a one of a kind, all your own design, collage art cloth.  For some last minute, I think it needed something else, addition, I used rubber stamps on it once it was dry.

Oooooooooooo….. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.. lookie here…..

It is completely flexible.  You can cut it to you own shapes to add to your canvas art, journals, snip pieces to make greeting card designs.. it’s your world… go for it..

Click on each picture for a closer look.

Take a look at the back of the cloth… pretty cool too.

Thanks for joining me and stopping by.  I do hope you enjoyed this tute.

Judy

Next up:   ATC workshop and renewing friendships.

ATC Workshop & Renewed Friendships

Hey Bloggeroonies…

I recently did a workshop in Rhode Island to my dear friends from the Rhode Island Polymer Clay Guild.  I had stopped going to meetings there a couple of years ago, but was invited back for a workshop after the board members saw my blog.  We also have kept in touch since I left.

I was honored the asked me to teach my ATC workshop.  They were elated that my friend, Karen (you can see her post of the RI visit), and I returned for a visit.  In our honor, they had a buffet lunch and at the end of the day, and because I taught the workshop, they presented me with a Zentangle print shown below. Each of them did a square tangle and they had it professionally printed on one large board.  Seeing this in person is more amazing.  I love the one on the bottom right.. look at that little cat… can you see it?

Here a some pictures of the gang and their ATC’s.

BRAVO, ladies.. they came out gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s a call out to Toine, Bobbie, Sandy, Christine, Tricia, Arlene, Ilene, Rita, Tamala, Dora, Sarah, Toni, Pat, Sheila and my partner in crime, Karen.

Thank you all at RIPCG.. you are one terrific group of creative souls.   You haven’t seen the last of me.. I promise.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up…  Martha’s Vineyard, here I come (may not post next week).
When I get back… what I’ve been up to in the studio.

There’s No Place Like Home

Hey Bloggerholics..

I’m back from our vacation at Martha’s Vineyard.  Such a beautiful island.  Every town has it’s own special charm.  From funky (Oak Bluffs) to secluded (Chilmark).  Our favorite is Edgartown.  Here are some shots in case you have not been there.

Edgartown Harbor

Menemsha Harbor on the other side of the island

Aquinnah (used to be called Gay Head).  This is also around the same area where they found the plane and bodies of JFK Jr, his wife and SIL.  The plane spiraled out of control into the ocean in 1999.  Hard to believe it was that long ago.

The famous Black Dog Tavern.

…and finally, the resting place of John Belushi.  They moved his body at one point soon after he died because there was too much media and fans all around it.  Then we believe they moved him back when things calmed down, but we are still not too sure about that.

Ok, back to reality now.    As beautiful as it is on our special island, there is no place like home.

Now a little time in the Judio…

I stamped some cotton strips with rubber stamps and colored and glittered them to make my own embellishments.    If you have ever had your eye brows waxed.. you know the little strips they use to rip the hair and cause you pain?  Well, this is what I stamped on.  My salon guy gave me a bunch.  I also was playing with some copper wire and making spirals. I added some glitz to the centers.  Click the picture for a closer look.

That’s all I got for now, my friends.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up… a sneak peek into my art submission.

Sneak Peeks

Hey Bloggeritas and happy Friday…

Can is be true.. it’s the end of July?  Uncrazable!  It’s been a hot month here in Massachusetts.  I’ll never complain about the winter again.. promise, honey.

I’m working on a submission to a magazine and I wanted to give you a sneak peek of my art piece.  It’s a mixed media piece on an old tic tac toe board I found at the recycle shack at our local transfer station.  I used a lot of my recycled dryer sheet art cloth, polymer clay, gold touches (um, lots of it)  and textures.

The little fabric house is about 4″ tall x 3″ wide.   I sewed (yes, me, sewed) the house myself.. man I was proud.  It opens up to a pocket that will hold a heart.  All together.. “awwwwwwww”.  The entire board is about 10″ square.

Now, I am not done with this piece.. I have a little more to do.   I’m kinda stuck right now.. so I’m letting it sit a while and put it in a place in the house so when I walk by,  something will hit me, well, I hope not literally.

.. and more…..

I’ve did another dryer sheet art cloth; playing around with acrylics and rubber stamping only.   First, is front view…

Then I flipped it around.. pretty cool.  I just love the drippings.  I could never make another one look like this.  That’s what I love, each one you make is unique and your own.

A free weekend approaches.. don’t you just love no commitment weekends?  I’ll be in the studio playing and I’ll be sure to share more artsy fartsy stuff with you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up….. Published!

Published!

Hey Bloggersnooks..

Well, I’m excited to say that I am part of a self-published book that was created on our Ning site called Lovin Mixed Media.  This is the same site that the ATC Swap resides that I made my polymer clay ATCs for.

This book is a is the end result of a year long (maybe longer) Create and Pass Journal project.  Four journals, each started in Norway by our Ning King, Gary Reef (check out his YouTube vids) and traveled the world to about 70 artists creating their pages and then finally making it back to the organizer.

“Many Lands, Many Hands” is book self-published on Blurb, see it here if you want to order one.  What a GREAT coffee table book.

Here’s the cover:

Here’s a shot of my page:

You can actually get a look at Journal 1′s pages here. (I’m in #1 @ the 2 min. mark)

I can’t tell you (well, I actually can) how excited I was to be part of this amazing journey and this book.  My hat goes off (I actually don’t wear hats.. I have too much darn hair and… oh wait, never mind) to Gary, all the artists and our wonderful organizer Mary Helena.

Thanks for stopping by!

Judy

Next up….

Two Girls and 11 Pizzas!

Hey Bloggereenies…

At the last minute, and after telling me she had no plans for a lazy Sunday,  I decided to invite a good friend over for some good food and chatting.  Karen is a great artist.. believe me when I tell you what an amazing beader, knitter and jewelry maker she is.. Did I miss anything, Karen?   Everything she touches turns to beauty.  Oh, wait.. she works for a Upton Tea Imports and manages the office there.  This makes her an expert in teas from all over the world.. Check her “Art and Tea” blog here. Her jewelry website is here.  Get ready to drool.

The Chef and the Photograher

I decided to make pizzas on my bbq grill, hence  grilled pizza.  We had fun… I was the chef and she was the photographer.  AND.. no fun meal is complete without a cocktail.  I bought some champagne and we made Limosas.. that would be champagne and Limeade.  Let me tell you how easy that goes down.  Oh me oh my.

Let’s begin.. I’ll take you on our afternoon journey….and here’s to you…. CHINK!

I bought frozen dough from the market.  Let all 5 loaves thaw.  5?  C’mon Judy, is that necessary?  What can I say, I come from a middle eastern background and we do nothing small.  Sooooo, once thawed, make balls with floured hands, cover with cloth and let rise.

Grilled Pizza moves very fast one the bread hits the grill.  So, you have to be completely ready with all your toppings… you name it.. it’s your world.  I asked Karen what her “dream toppings” were.  She told me.. broccoli, artichokes and mushrooms…  so be it.. let it be said.. let it be done.

Chop all your ingredients and get them ready.. This ain’t no kids play going on here… this is serious stuff… now let’s keep going.

Time for form the dough into the pizza… and coat the tops with olive oil.

Get the toppings ready… I made roasted veggies beforehand, cooked shrimp, broccoli, artichokes, turkey pepperoni.  Of course, mozz cheese and I also used a low fat Caesar dressing.. more on that one later…

Ready to grill….

Like I said.. it’s fast so get the grill pre-heated.   Put the first pizza dough on, olive side down…  Now, you’re probably wondering won’t it fall through the grills.. but it doesn’t . .. it starts to bake right away…. hello!

Look at the way this puffs up….once you start to see it bubble (like a pancake).. then it’s time to flip it over..

Ooooooooooo…. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Now.. get ready… this is the time to put the toppings on…….. sauce, cheese, toppings.. close the grill cover and let it do it’s  thang….

Watch…

This last one is the shrimp Caesar one I mentioned.. Caesar dressing as the sauce, cheese and then shrimp/chicken.. I bet basil would be wonderful.. I’m hungry.

Ok people.. I made 11 pizza’s..  11 fricken pizzas.. what’s wrong with me?

There were more…but we ate them…  and the last two I pooped out and threw cinnamon and sugar on instead.. that was a delicious improv.  Two others I just grilled and made paninis out of them the next day… great sandwich bread.

If you have a grill and are ambitious at all, you must try making pizza this way.  The bread… just the bread is so amazing.   Make a foccachia bread and dip it in to olive oil, parm/romano cheese and chopped garlic…. HELL-OH!

I sent Karen home with a pizza or two and we’ve been enjoying them as leftovers here at home.

This is a great dinner party idea.  Go for it.

Thanks for stopping bye.

Judy

Next up…. Taking a workshop with Kelly Kilmer.. I know you’re jealous!!!

Kelly, Journals and Fun.. oh my

Hey Blogsters..

Well, let me tell you about my workshop last weekend with Kelly Kilmer.

First, if you ever get a chance to take a class with the Kell-ster, you have to. A fabulous artist and person. Makes you want to pull up a couple of comfy chairs, grab your favorite liquid consumption and snack (why do I always have to include food?)  and chat all night long.

The weekend was held at a private studio… AND.. thank you Susan, for hosting us.

Being my first class with Kelly, I was a bit nervous to learn how to make/bind a book, but I  felt immediately at ease with her and following her instructions was a breeze.

Ok.. let me stop the chit chatting and get to some pictures, since you’re all so impatient.. geesh.

.. and here she is our fearless leader…. and I do mean fearless.. hey she’s from LA, what do you expect…. just kidding, Kelly.  She is originally from the Bawstin area.

Let’s get to the journal pictures…

This would be my front cover… and my few pages below, top.

and another couple of my pages…

Ok.. screeeeech…let me stop for a second.. and show you the decorative tape that Kelly brings with her for her students…

.. and I have a feeling this isn’t all of it…  My name is Kelly Kilmer and I have a Tape Addiction.  Now, this is the kind of addiction I want to have.. where do I sign up?

Moving on to MORE delicious art…

So, there you go.. a fabulous weekend with Kelly Kilmer.  A great experience for me.  I definiely made some new friends that I will keep in touch with.

And here we are all journaled and focal pointed out.

(I hope I was able to capture a page or two from everyone’s journal; if I missed anyone, I apologize).

Fun, fun, fun… I need a nap.

Thanks again Kelly.. please don’t be sad to see us go.. we feel the same way.

Buttons & ‘Bellishments

Hey Bloggerdoodles….

Been a bit busy in the studio lately finishing up some pieces and oh ya, working full time.  I didn’t get a chance to blog last week, so sorry about that.

I wanted to shout out about my upcoming workshop here in Massachusetts at Scrapbook Cupboard in E. Bridgewater.   I am so looking forward to a fun class that I know everyone will enjoy.

I’m calling my class “Buttons and “Bellishments”.  Get that?   Bellishments instead of “embellishments”?   Hmmm. ok.    Here is a look at the samples I made for the class.

Look how purdy…

Buttons and embellishments made from polymer clay for all your mixed media, journaling, fabric and scapbooking with and edge, needs.  We’re gonna stamp, texture, glue, rip, antique and adorn these puppies and you will be so excited to walk away with as many as you want until you run out of clay or energy, whichever comes first.

If you are local, please join us for a fun day of making your own ONE OF A KIND pieces.

Check HERE for details.

.. and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up.. I’m still pondering that… maybe some resin paper???

Grow, Be Happy & Succeed!

Hey Bloggers: (just plain ole “bloggers” today)

I found this somewhere and don’t know who said it, but really makes you ponder.  Soooo….keep on dreaming, playing and be happy. (I said that)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

You have to laugh and find humor every day.

You’ve got to have a dream.  When you lose your dreams, you die.

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.

Anybody can grow older! That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.  Have no regrets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That’s the simple message for today…

I’m taking the day off from work to have a fun art day with a couple of my artsty fartsy friends.   What to work on and what I need to bring.. that’s always the tough part of having an art day away from your own studio.  Keep it portable and don’t bring EVERYTHING.  I think I’ll work on an online class I joined and have not had time to be involved.  That’s what I love about Julie & Chris.. do it at your own pace and the videos will always be there to play over and over. AND.. they will always help you even when the class is over.  Life is good.

Ok, my little “Labor Dayers”.. Have a great holiday weekend.  Yes, summer is over and pssst… come closer… don’t tell my kids, but one is back in high school and my oldest is off to college for her 2nd year and I’ll have the house to myself again….. Yaaaaay!!!  Ok, did that sound mean?  Really, I love having them here … if sleeping til noon means that they are “here”.  Let’s go….. contribute to society or else.  I love ‘em.  Someday I WILL miss it.. I know I will.  We had a great summer, but it did go by fast, as they all do.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Art Submission – Busting Your Boundaries

Hey Blogger Friends…

The New England weather has finally changed from hot and humid to crisp nights.  I’m just loving this.

The magazine, Cloth Paper Scissors, is having an art challenge for Artisan of the year.  I am biting the bullet and have submitted 3 pieces of my mixed media collages.  I’m really proud of them and whether I am selected or not.. It felt good to bust my boundaries by entering.

Here is what I’ve submitted, one picture in full, then two details of each piece:

Remember the sneak peek I posted, well, here is the final; I call this the Collage Garden.  The bottom half is created with my Dryer Sheet Collage Art Cloth.  This was fun and to think that the tic tac toe board underneath was being thrown away.

Details…

This is called “With Love”

Details…

Lastly, this one is called “The Key to my HEART”…

Details…

Well, there you have it..  you can go HERE and read the details of each piece.. I think you just have to create a username to see all the entries.  Look for mine.  Lots of BEAUTIFUL art I’m up against.  Good luck to everyone!

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up… Collaboration with a Crow

Happy Birthday…

….to me.

Yes, today is my birthday.  I felt like leaving a little something here for us to think about.  I get caught up in my age as I get older and I have to stop and remember this…

“Don’t just count your years…..make your years count”
- Ernest Myers

This is so necessary… we can’t control it, life moves on and we must make it the best life we can… EVERYDAY!!

Surround yourself with loving, caring, non-judgemental and giving people that make you laugh out loud, that support you and are there for you when you’re down, cuz we all get down now and then.

Another quote from one of my favorite authors, who’s been through hell and back is Melody Beattie :

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”

Have a great week and make every moment count.

And, as always… thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Workshop this Weekend!!!

Hello my friendly bloggers…

I can’t tell you how beautiful this Indian Summer is here in New England right now.  Ok.. I can tell you….. it’s delicious !   As usual, it went from hot and humid to cool and crisp so fast.

It’s hard to believe that my Buttons and ‘Bellishments class is this Saturday, 9/25.  I’m so excited to teach these fun creations with my students.   They will walk away with an overflowing handful  of eye candy to adore.

If you are local, won’t you join us in making yummy art pieces for all your mixed media and beyond creations.

You can read about my class here.

You can sign up through the Scrapbook Cupboard here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy <3

Mixed Media Workshop with Amy Crawley

Hey Blogsters!!

If you are local to Westford, MA, you must not pass up the chance to take a workshop with accomplished Mixed Media Artist, Amy Crawley.  She will be at Ink About It this Friday, October 1st.  She has a few more seats left.  Check out her workshop description and pictures HERE.

Here is what you’ll make… gorgeous!  I want one.

If you have a chance to take the class, go for it.

Thanks for stopping in.

Judy

Next up:  My workshop success!

Workshop Love

Hey Bloggerbeanies…

My Buttons & ‘Bellishments class was a lot of fun last weekend.  A great place to teach and I had some wonderful students.  Thanks, ladies.

Let’s start here by saying THANK YOU to Bev for hosting us in her great art store:

Here is a collage of the pictures I took while at the class:

Click the picture, then click again to get a closer look at pieces.  These are  yummy delicious to look at.

These are the pieces I created and remember the gel skins I made?  Well, here is another one full of  tiny dragonfly charms, glitter, beads, fibers, paint.  Love it.  I brought it to class to share…

Have a great weekend, everyone and thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Judy

Next up….. CitraArt

Choo Choo.. The Jane Train is pulling into the station again

Hey there..

I wanted to let you all know that Jane Davies is back at Ink About It in Westford, MA for two days and two great workshops.  This weekend, October 8th and 9th.

Friday, Scribble Collage

Saturday, Foam Core Collage

So hop on the Jane Train this weekend.  Don’t miss it.

Thanks for stopping by. Choo Choo.

Judy

Mixed Media Citra Collage Tutorial

Last year about this time I did two posts on the beautiful Autumn that we had… you can see the posts HERE and HERE.  Well, that was last year.  This year is a different story.  I have no pictures because the colors are dull this year.  The summer was so hot for so long, the trees just got too stressed and couldn’t generate enough chlorophyl.   I guess that’s like us really isn’t it.. sometimes?  Dontchya think?   Let’s hope that next year it comes back in full force with beautiful backgrounds.

Speaking of backgrounds… I wanted to show you a very cool technique that’s been shown here and there using CitraSolv.  It’s a degreaser used for household cleaning.. well, check it out HERE.  Then check out the CitraArt HERE.  Pretty darn cool if you ask me.. go ahead ask me… .. It’s funny you should ask… Yes, I thinks it’s so cool that I made a mixed media canvas collage with it.

Let’s start from the very beginning.. …(wait do you hear Julie Andrews?)  Sorry.

I looked all over for a bottle of Citra Solv.. nothing in the local stores even though the CS website listed the retail store locations.  So, I finally found a bottle at Vitacost.com.   Citra Solv works well with the National Geographic magazine pages the best, as it is contains a clay coating used for the crisp images the magazine is known for.

Moving on….

Here are the steps I took to make my Citra Backgrounds.  Start with your bottle of Citra Solv and a Nat Geo magazine. Now, you may want to work with a window open or go outside.. it’s not a terrible smell.. just a very STRONG orangey odor.  I got sick of it after a while.

I put my CS in a small plastic spray bottle instead of using a brush.  I thought it would be easier to spray.  I started to use a small plastic “solo” bathroom cup and a brush to spread it on and this is what happened…

Ummm.. apparently the plastic in the cup did not agree with the CS.  However, this plastic spray bottle is fine…

Let’s begin… can you stand it????

Open the magazine to some colorful pages and begin to spray.  Spray, turn to next colorful page.. spray,  next and so on…  now don’t be stingy with the liquid.. if it’s drippy that’s ok…

See how it begins to “melt”.. oh so fun.

Spray all the pages you want and close the book and let it sit for a while.. at least 15 minutes.. if you don’t see a change when you open the page.. spray some more and close the mag… some pages are better than others…. BUT oh look and see some of my results…

Do you see where I have the pencil pointing above?… I saw a face in that blotch and I started to enhance it further.  Look for images and play.

Above, I started to rubber stamp and play with the face.

So, there you have the way to make the Citra Backgrounds.  Now, let me show you how I applied it to a new mixed media canvas piece.

I started with a blank canvas, put down some fluid acrylics, letting each layer dry.  Then on the far right I put a large strip of heavy acrylic paint.

I let it dry then put my heat gun to it really close.  This will make the paint react with the intense heat and start to bubble… I got this technique from Gary Reef.  You’ve heard me mention him before.. such a love; you can see the video HERE.

Look at that beautiful texture.  I’m excited now.  When you are happy in bubble town, let it cool down (that rhymes, by the way).

I painted the white with gold acrylic paint and heated it again causing more bubbles… and then another layer of gold…

Once the paint was dry and cooled, I put random ripped masking tape over the gold.

Then painted it red then pulled the masking tape off revealing the gold underneath.

I DIDN’T LIKE IT…I needed to tone down the red.. just wasn’t working for me.

So, I painted the gold over it…..

Close up below.. love the texture…

OK… let’s get on with using the Citra Backgrounds….

So, here you can see the citra pages on the left and going up and on the top… Did a little rubber stamping on them and “antiqued” with some brown shoe polish around the edges..  On the bottom is a ripped resin music page.  It’s coming along, but still needs some lovin.

Ah Huh…. one of my favorite techniques.. pushing molding paste through stencil… Here, I tinted molding paste with black acrylic paint.. and mixed to make a black paste.

A little boo boo on the top left of the fleur-de-lis.  I’ll need to let it dry and redo that section.

Below is a picture after the fleur-de-lis was done and I added some gold trim along the red strip, hand made polymer clay embellishments, ribbon and gold paste that I rubbed over the molding paste design.  People, I’m just in love with Inka Gold waxy paste by Viva Decor.  I can’t get enough of it.

Here is the last picture I took.  At this point I’ve added, black tissue paper, black stenciling, fabric, lace paper and I blinged up a boring metal pendant.  However, I have to admit.. I know it’s not done.. it still needs a final image above the music paper.  It’s look very royal.. maybe a queen?  Beeswax?    What do you think?

I had so much fun creating this piece.  Hope you enjoyed the post and tutorial as much I as enjoyed creating it for you.   I’ll show my final canvas in my next blog post.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy  <3

Final Mixed Media Citra Collage

Well, here I am again to show you my final mixed media canvas, as a continuation of my blog post last week.

I’m tellin ya.. I had a dog of a time with finishing this piece.   Don’t ask me why.. just slap on an image and call it day, right?  Wrong!

My first problem was I tried to work on it at night.. no daylight, after my full-time job, dinner, dishes… What am I crazy?  Don’t answer that.   But.. no pain, no art.  Is that what they say…  pain, gain.. tomayto, tomahto.. you with me?

I decided to choose an image of a queen.  Now, the quest to find a copyright free image.  Thank goodness for Karen’s Whimsy.  A great site for images, free to use as you wish.  I found my queen..c’mon your majesty…let’s get transferred.

So, to bottom line this frustrated artist’s story… I transferred the queen image 3 times.  Let me tell you.. it was ugly, people.  The two before the successful one were done on cheap printer paper.  Rubbin off the backing paper after the medium dried?  It came out, but not as clear as I would have liked it.  Not my favorite way to transfer.  I never seem to get all the paper off… and just throwing on a coat of gel medium doesn’t make it much better.   I ended up ripping out the two layers of medium; again, ugly and frustrating.   My third try was done with an inkjet transparency.  I don’t know why I just don’t do it this way.  It’s practically perfect every time.  Note to self:  “Judy, use transparencies”.

Ok, here is the undone canvas I left you with last week:

.. and here is the final that I just finished today.

As you can see, I’ve added quite a few more enhancements:  I took another piece of my citra solv magazine paper (tutorial in last week’s blog post) and transferred the queen on it (using inkjet transparency and Golden Gel Medium, Semi-Gloss).  I also transferred some roses on my music paper and also under my polymer clay face.  I rubber stamped in a few places with titan buff acrylic paint.  Also added some foil melts.. fun.

Here are two details pictures:

There you have it.. citra collage papers used on a mixed media canvas.  I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and the final result.  I did enjoy creating this piece.. bloopers and all.  Lessons learned.. I love that.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Collage Redo

I just had to…. It was bugging me for over a week… the last post I did with my final collage was really bothering me.  I put it away for a week and took it out again.. I still didn’t like it.. too busy.. just too busy.  I felt like the transferred queen and the polymer clay face were fighting each other and the embellished metal piece to the right was just too much.  I got some advice from some artistic souls and I was inspired to attack it… gently that is.  Well, no …not really.

Here is the one I posted last week that I thought was final….

I needed another set of eyes to look at it.   I ask my husband and he says.. “ohhh.. nice”.. hmmm, that’s it???  I work for hours on this and I get a “nice”??  Men… do they really think about those things?  I mean, it must be like asking them “do I look fat in these pants”?   The safe answer is “no, honey, of course not”.  Ok… I’ll accept that.   I think if I asked him to really take the time to look at it, you’d know what he’d be thinking… NOTHING…. of course unless the Patriots are on the t.v. and they are winning .. ….fuh-get-aboud-it.   Then I asked my 16 yr. old daughter and she says  “that’s pretty cool” (as she lifts her head up from texting or watching some stupid reality show.. I mean really… REALLY? I’m going into my woman cave… make your own dinner!

Ok, that’s it.. I’m going in for the critiques from other artists.   Am I ready for that?   Well, I’m glad I did.  Amy told me that the blingy thing on the right was the first thing she saw.  I knew it.  I put it away in the closet.  That will be my “what not to do” collage.  Then my friend, Raine (and I can’t link to her, cuz she ain’t got a blog YET), looked at it and said it seemed too busy and little too much of this and that.  Yes, finally, I knew I had to change it.

I ripped off the embellished metal piece with the black fabric down to the bare canvas.. what a mess (it was secretly fun).  Then I went over it using the same method I used to make the bubble texture and then painted it the same.. see the tute here.  I also ran a black ink pad over the high peaked bubbles.

Ripped off the polymer clay face and replaced that with another piece of CitraCollage (see in the same tute above).

Then I added 3 of my handmade polymer clay buttons to replace the black fabric and embellished metal.

I painted black and white stripes on the sides and stained with walnut ink.

Here is the final final and some details.

So what do you think?  Better?    Thanks, my friends.

Happy Halloween!!!

Judy

A Mix in New England

It’s been raining here in Massachusetts for two days.  I secretly like the rain and I work in a home office so I don’t have to leave if I choose not to.  I am fortunate, I know.  How I wish I could just play in my studio listening to the rain pitter patter against the house.  A very comforting sound to me.

We also had our first frost this week.. it’s always a milestone to see the evident while layer of coldness on the grass.  The frost that has to be scraped off of car windows.  Brrr.. winter is coming; that’s what it says to everyone..so get ready.

Here is a couple of pictures of frost on my roses and hydrangeas.

This past weekend.. the strangest thing happened.. all of a sudden a huge flock of black birds (not crows) descended on our yard.. I mean hundreds of them.. I ran for my camera and caught this:

Front yard above

Backyard

Attacking my bird feeder. …. and then they were gone… never to be seen again.  Did someone tell them there was a free buffet or something?  Strange, don’t you think?  A sign.. or nothing?

I’ll be back in the studio next week and I take a few days off of work and enjoy some art play.  I’ll be posting some new works in the works.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Hello Morning!

Thought I’d share a early morning photo from our back deck looking into the next town over; before the change of daylight savings and it was still dark at 6:45a.m.

Hope you enjoy this… thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Birds of a Feather…….

I was never one to care much about nature as a young adult or even up to about 10 years ago.  I never really stopped to watch any outdoor life.  That is…. until I started to do art.   I think I just became more aware of colors, shapes, textures and yes, nature (but, please NO SNAKES).

One year, I was sitting with an old friend in her back yard as Robins flew down to pick in the grass.  She said to me “watch how they turn their heads to listen to the worms moving under the ground”.  I said “whatchyoutalkinbout”;  I thought she was pulling my leg, but damn if she wasn’t right.  I did watch and I was amazed.  Since then, I’ve always watched out feathered friends live their little lives –   flying, flitting, hopping and bopping around the yard.  Since that time, with my friend, Annie,  I put a hummingbird  and wild bird feeder outside our windows, and man, I’m so glad I did;  they are hours of entertainment.  Since the hummers have left the cold here, I still get to enjoy all the wild birds..  AND.. can they eat.. I can’t keep up with the food.  They love snow storms, rain, wind.. they never disappoint.  I can’t name all the birds, which makes me want to get a bird book to identify each one.

Sooooooooo.. where am I going with this? ……… sit tight…..

I dedicate this blog post to my beautiful friend, Annie… the “Bird Whisperer”.  Love you Annie. ♥

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I recently got a new Canon camera for my birthday in September.  I’m still learning the features, but I’ve enjoyed taking pictures of the birds that come to visit me.. Ok, well they are not coming to see me, but they know someone if feeding them.  So what if I pretend I’m Snow White; I’d like to get them to make my coffee.  Ok, imagine this is me… but forget the prince charming and cleaning the stairs and that voice.

Hey, I like feeding people, ask my friends… and now I like feeding birds.  The feeder is directly outside our front door to the right, in the flower garden (which is sadly bare and brown now).  I can watch from the front window where I sit and  read and have my cup of coffee in the mornings before my work day starts and every weekend.

I would love to share with you here, my latest successful shots of my feathered friends.  As I said, new camera, I’m not a photographer with any experience except to point and shoot.

Enjoy…….. there a a lot of pictures…

Here comes the female Cardinal… munching away on some seeds.

Here comes the male… sorry for any blurring picture.. remember.. amateur here

Male Cardinal in the tree.. I find it amazing how the change their shape and puff up.  Sort of like the way we feel after a big meal.  I think a little Pepto might help him.

Oh look who came for a visit….. a Morning Dove…

… and here comes Woody the Woodpecker… we have two of them.. one smaller than the other..   Look how they grab the feeder.. such tiny feet.

.. and they puff up too.  So cool.

I believe this is a Red Bellied Woodpecker…

.. and now come the “jay walkers”… tough crowd, they are… These Bluejays have such a striking blue colors.  The are too big for the feeder.. although the try, but can’t stay on long.. they end up eating what is dropped on the ground.

“hey look, jasper, i think the crazy lady is taking our picture again”.

.. and finally.. I caught this little guy outside my office window..

It took me hours to get these photos.  They don’t stay in one place long enough; by the time I get focus and click they are gone.

My plan is to print some of these pictures and do image transfers in my art.

I’ll let you know how that goes with a show and tell.

Have a great weekend and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.

Judy

Styes, Watercolors and Holiday eating… oh my!

I sure hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving Holiday break.  It was nice having a 5 day break from the full-time job, but the days sure do go by so fast, don’t they?

I started last week with a sore eye… ended up at docs and found out I had a stye …geesh (ew, some of these images are gross.. mine is/was not that bad.. ..  So, hot compresses all day, he told me, but those didn’t seem to work UNTIL I added a tea bag to the hot compress and then it started to get better.  Plain old black tea bag or as my friend, Amy, calls it “dust in a bag”… love that.  The tanic acid seems to be a healer.. remember that.

.. and speaking of healing, I will need a healer after eating too much at the Thanksgiving gathering.  Everyone ate too much.. ok.. me.. there I said it.  I need to pull out my Weight Watcher’s food journal again and keep track of my eating.. god I hate the keeping track stuff.  If you can keep track of what you eat in the long run.. you will succeed… but who can?  I digress.

Maybe I can incorporate a food diary and art.  So making my daily food journal on some cool collage/painted pages.  I have to be realistic now.. will I really paint 10′s of pages to write a food diary on?  Maybe some quick swipes of credit card painting and some doodling?   God, that’s depressing (just kidding.. no I’m not…… really.. yes I am.. nooooooo).

.. and speaking of art (I needed to change the subject)…..   I bought some really cool Koi watercolor paints on ebay last week and I was playing around with  them as I lounged in front of the Christmas tree during some time off.  Yes, it’s up already.  Ugh.

These paints are so cute.. great for travel or just working in a different place than your studio.  I really like the effect they leave.. very light & dreamy.  I actually snuck in a little oil pastels (Portfolio) on the pages too… another nice effect.

Playing with them in my 5×7′ish (that’s a measurement.. no?) moleskine journal.. here’s what I did:

She is so funny.. as I look at her she looks like a beautiful cyclops.  That’s one big friggen eye.

This page was just the excess paint I smooshed around and blended when I changed colors.. no waste.  Rubber stamping on top of these pages will look so nice I think.

You can use any kid’s watercolor sets.. This one is just compact and I thought the price was decent.  Merry Christmas to me… a little early.  Shhh.. I have a few more gifts coming my way.

Now, go make some art.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

In the Artist’s Studio

Been away for a little bit..sorry.  Work has me shackled.

Here are some fun things I’ve been playing around with in the studio when I get up there..

First… a couple of crooked houses.. look how cute my black bird is on top of the roof… all together… “awwwwwwwe”.

Click to see more detail on any of the pictures.

Next .. paper towel paint spills and then sprtized and stenciled.

These were left hanging to dry on my easel.

…and, I’m working on this canvas… LOADED with textures (gel medium, beads, paper doilies, embellishments)..then once dry.. painted with pearl ex powders… yummy.

Click on the picture for a close up and click again to see more deliciousness details.

Be good and thanks for stopping by.

I’ll be back with more to show you and a tutorial…

Judy

Paper Towel Journal

Remember my last post about the paper towel painted backgrounds?  Well, I decided that I liked them so much, I was going to make something out of them or at least one.

Now mind you, I am not a journal maker or a sewing, so I combined two things I am not good at and here’s what I came up with.

Go ahead and click to see details and close ups.

Lots of trial and error here, my friends…  First off.. paper towels still rip.. Even if they are the “quicker picker upper”… they rip.  I still had fun, cuz it was just plain cool.

So, basically.. took the paper towel and sewed some lace trim around the edges and backed it with another piece of cotton.  I used metallic gold and turquoise thread.. and some beige for some of the inside cover.  I then sewed all around the front with gold swirls.. not as easy as I thought.   Then sewed another piece of fabric for the inside covers to putt batting in.. so it would be a puffy journal…   Sewed 3 sides, slid in the batting and sewed up the fourth side.  I took 4 pieces of watercolor paper and sized them smaller than the book size, which is about 5″ x 6″, closed.  I bound the pages with wax linen thread… put fabric beads I made with some other acrylic beads to dangle on the tail.  Sewed a polymer button I made to the front, highlighted with gold wax.  Made a loop-di-loop string to wrap it from the the back.  Does all that make sense?  Did I mention that paper towels rip?

Badda Bing.. Badda Boom.. there you have it!!  Quick and dirty paper towel journal..  Ok, it wasn’t quick it took me a few hours.. and my back.. oh my back..hanging over the sewing machine… glasses on.. glasses off.. change threads, change bobbins.. dog wants to pee.. string in my hair.. now I gotta pee.  Fuhgedaboudit!!

My thoughts:  I will definitley give this another try.  I wouldn’t use a paper towel again, but there are other non-fabric materials to use.. I think of Tyvek envelope paper for my first thought.  Of course leather is just..well, perfect.

I’m sure the front of this journal will not hold up if I abuse it, but it’s only for play… I think I will try to seal it with gel medium to make it stronger.

I’ve been playing with some used coffee filters.  Oh messy and vintagy.. love it.  I’ll be showing those soon.

I also finished my textured canvas piece that I showed  in the same blog post I linked above; that’s also coming up.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Photo Booth Laugh – YouTube Video – Bernice & Eunice

At our family Christmas gathering yesterday,  my nieces made a fun video using “photo booth”.  It’s up on YouTube now..  Bernice talks about her dating experience while her best friend, Eunice supports her.  Take a look.

What a riot… We hope the saga continues with Bernice and Eunice.  That is not their real names by the way, but I’m sure you figured that out.

Send this post along to your friends and family; we’re hoping B&E get a lot of hits and fans.

I’ll be back this week with some art.

Judy

Final Mixed Media Projects.. and more

Well.. here we are.. 2011.. Happy New Year EVERYONE!!!  What a great year it was and let’s hope that 2011 is even better.

Having the past two weeks off from work have been so refreshing.  Family, friends, art.. what else could a girl ask for?  Food?  Yes.. too much celebrating for sure.  I’m not making any resolutions.. I’ll just do my best each and every day.

Let’s get to some art, shall we?

Remember my mixed media texture on canvas.. here is the before picture:

After… click to see some details…

Well, you recently saw my post on my paper towel journal.  I took my second towel and turned it vertical to make a small/tall journal.  So cute!

Below are some of the steps I took to make it.

Click any picture to see more detail.

As I started to make the journal above, I thought of putting a patchwork fabric piece on the inside cover of the journal.  Well, after sewing and sewing.. I LOVED the result so much that I decided to make another journal out of it.  See below…

I just started to sew pieces of scrap fabric onto a 6×12″ piece of material.

Added more and lace around the edge….

I added more trim, ribbon, lace scraps.  Sewed in watercolor paper signatures, strung some ceramic beads off the binding and that’s it.

I decided to do some cleaning in the studio.  Donating lots of unused crafts that have been sitting around for years.  It feels good to re-energize, clean out and give to others.   It’s a “win win” to me.

What else is new you ask?    Well….

….  also wanted to share with you a few challenges and workshops that I am involved in that are FREE.  They are at your own pace, so no pressure.  I certainly won’t have time to do them consistently, now that I’m back at work.  That’s what I love about it.

1st:  The Sketchbook Challenge.. read all about it HERE.  Great artists hosting each month for the year, you heard me… a year.  One theme per month.

2nd:   Milliande’s Art Journal January

3rd:  Strathmore Visual Journal Online Workshops

Pass the word.. send my post to a friend.

Well, I’ve said a mouthful, don’t you think??? Whew… Lots to share with all of you and it’s all fun and good.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

Sketchbook Challenge – January

If you notice over in the right column of my blog, I have the Sketchbook Challenge badge.  I posted about it at the end of my last post.

I have to say (yes, I have to)…. I took the time to sketch.. Something I am not used to doing.. nor have I really ever done much.  I went to an fine art store recently and found some small visual journals.. one with watercolor paper and one with bristol board.  The notebooks only measure 5 x 3 1/2″.  Adorable.

The “Sketchbook Challenge” theme  for the month of January is “Highly Prized”…

I’m really loving this..  Take my little notebook with my black liner pen and my little  water color paint set and hunker down with a cup of tea and play… fun and portable. I plan on doing more of this.  Talk about feeling like a kid again.. hits the spot.

So, to me.. my home and my family and what’s in my home (not materialistic things, but family and love) means so much to me… is “highly prized”.

Here is my funky doodle-like home… made with love ♥

Remember this is only 5 x 3 1/2″.

I’m determined to learn how to draw trees better.

You can see the flickr group HERE for this challenge.  Run, don’t walk.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Winter What-a-Land – Massachusetts Blizzard 1/12/11

Well,  I’m sure you’ve heard of our winter blizzard hitting the New England area today.

As we are snow bound in our country home and lucky for me, I work at home full-time in my office (well, not sure how lucky that is).. so no snow days for me anymore.. those days have been long gone.

Here are some beautiful shots at the peak and toward the end of the storm today.

Total inches of snow – about 20″.

Click any picture for a closer look.

Below is our back deck looking out from the kitchen…

Below is the view from my office window.. I watched that pile up all day… cool.

Oh, look who stopped by.  Caught this picture at the exact time the wind blew the birds hair up like a spike.  Funny.   I’ve been waiting for a male cardinal to come by, but not today.

If you are experiencing the same today,  be safe and warm, my friends.  If you have some pictures, send them along or link us to your blog.

I’ve joined the Artchix Studio challenge this week called A Snowy Art Challenge.  I hope they enjoy my snowy pictures..  stop by their site and take a look at their beautiful offerings.

How many more weeks until summer?

Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

Judy ♥

Snow, Birds, Ruts and Art

I’m sorry I’ve been gone a little while.  I’ve been buried in work and snow.  This week, I was beginning to feel like an eskimo in an igloo.   We got hit with another snow storm this week.  Ok, the snow is pretty…..for December… but this is enough.  I think it will finally thaw out in June.

Take a look and see what I mean?   And this is the pretty stuff.. the town and cities are loaded with banks and banks of snow.  No place to walk,  no where to park in some cases and the streets are narrow.  Nuff of the complaining now… enjoy some pictures.

Back deck…

From the back deck to back yard… I can hardly see my grill.

Here’s a pretty one that hubbie took…before the storm…

All all my feathered friends did not mind the snow storm at all… I caught some really good pictures of them…

some played see saw…. (Titmouse and Woodpecker)

some played peek-a-boo… (Juncos)

some were anti-social….

Then some come together to socialize… they love that tree.. that’s where they all gather and chat…

I’ve been invited to an art day with some friends tomorrow.  I really need this.. I’ve been in an art rut… Know what I mean???  Work, family, life is just taking priority lately and I need to get a grip of it and get in the studio.  Not that I’m going to make my family last priority, but a little “me” time is due.  I don’t think anyone will come to me and say “honey, mom, we till take care of everything today, you just go relax and do what you want”.

As for my art rut, this is a discussion that I’ve had with some of my artist friends lately about kinda going “dormant” for a while, brain takes a vacation, chilling out.   Eventually it will come back.  It will, won’t it?

Have you ever had that happen… Blank stares at the canvas, at the art table and at the page?

I have signed up for some fun “me” workshops. I AM going to put time aside for myself.   There, Ive said it and “it’s in the books” (as “Uncle Buck” says).

In the meantime, I’m still fiddling (as in very little) in my little sketchbook for the “Sketchbook Challenge”.  Here’s a few pages to share.. size 5″ x 3 1/2″…done with fine black marker and watercolor paints.

The theme for January is still “Highly Prized”.. and I consider MY TIME.. the time I create, to be highly prized.

More art soon… pray for no more snow and  thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

Ready for Spring and Chili

This winter has certainly brought come challenges to New England.  Our latest is the ice dams on so many houses in the area.  Let me show you the latest shots from our recent storm which is just yet another layer of snow, forming ice on the roof which can equal troubling leaks in homes… and we did have some leaking.  As a matter of fact, two of my art studio windows has some small drippage going on.  So, I have to move my supplies out of the way and now I’m not able to play in my studio until the rug dries.

Here’s my little Dixie below waiting to get out of the damn cold and probably wondering why I’m taking pictures outside in my jammies.. God, hope the neighbors weren’t peeking.  Ah, give them something to talk about.

… and here are the trouble makers.. they are beautiful, but they shouldn’t be there… and these are the smaller ones.

I have to say.. being forced to move my art supply drawers and whatever was in the way, made me realize how much crap I have in that small room of mine.  So, time to purge things I thought I needed.. Back to basics.  I’m even going to throw away some of my art.. start a new.. NO MORE SUPPLIES to buy.  If I can’t create with what I have, then there is a problem.  No more printing out AC Moore, Michael’s or JoAnn coupons that I think I’ll use just in case I go shopping.  I print them and never go…..Why do I do that?  I’m wasting ink and paper.  I want to be able to say that I used something all up and I need to get more and only then, will I get it because I NEED it, not because I want it.  I want to dwindle down my supplies.  Ok Ok.. just one thing.. I have a $20 coupon to a great store..I need a heat gun.. but after that, I’m dwindling…. Stop laughing!

Well, at least someone enjoyed the storm or ignored it is more like it…

Be honest, have you had enough about the New England weather and my birds?  C’mon, you can tell me.  Ok.. no more weather.. promise.  But,  you have to love the birdies a little…

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Well, today is Superbowl Sunday.  Even though our Patriots are not playing, it’s always fun to watch with no stress.  I decided to make a batch of low fat-chili to let simmer for a few hours before the game.

Let me share the recipe, but keep in mind, I am not a exact recipe follower and this is just from my memory of making it for years.   You cooks know what I’m talkin about.

Judy’s Low-Fat Chili:

I used almost 2 lbs, split equally of ground chicken and ground turkey.  This will be chunky.  Isn’t that was chili is all about?

1/2 of a large sweet onion

Crushed garlic, as much at you want.. I used about 3 cloves.

2 cans of red kidney beans, thoroughly rinsed in a strainer.

1 28 oz. can of Pastene Crushed Kitchen Ready Tomatoes… my favorite, by far.
(you can put in a 1/2 can more of the tomatoes or a can of tomato paste, then add a cup of water).

Spices:  salt, pepper, ground cumin, chili powder and a dash of ground red pepper.
Now, these spices are all according to your taste.  But the cumin and chili powder is the magic.  See what I mean about just going with it?  But if you need a measurement…  start with a 1 tsp of cumin and about 2 Tblspns of Chili Powder.  Always better to add less than to put too much in and you can’t take it out.

Saute the sweet onion until just starting to turn golden brown.  Add garlic and saute just a minute; you don’t want it to burn.  Add the chicken/turkey.. Break apart with a wooded spoon and cook until no longer pink.  Add the beans, tomatoes and spices.

Let simmer for a few ours on low and enjoy.. stirring occasionally.    Add some low-fat shredded cheddar cheese on top and pair this with a garlic toasted lite english muffin.  I had them around.  Spread Olivio or something you like on 1/2 the muffin, sprinkle garlic powder, put under the broiler to toast.  When they start to turn golden, put some of the shredded cheese on the muffin to melt.

If you want to make a vegetarian chili, you can substitute the meat for a bag of frozen mixed veggies such as broccoli, carrots, cauliflower.  Thaw the veggies in the microwave, then saute them in the pot before you add the beans and meat.  This is a quick way without all the chopping of the veggies.

My favorite veggie chili is made with fresh produce such as summer squash, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, red peppers, whatever you love.  You can roast them in the oven tossed with olive oil first then add them to your pot or you can saute them all in the pot before you add the beans, tomatoes and spices.   You’ll never miss the meat.

Have a great Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom’s 85th birthday.  You can read about the post I did last year on her birthday here.

Happy Birthday Mom (“Sito”).  We love you so much. ♥ ♥ ♥

And the Beet goes on……..

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a local cafe for dinner.  On the menu was a Winter Harvest Salad.  The description of the salad was roasted winter vegetables (turnip, beets, potatoes and others I can’t recall) over greens with walnuts and feta cheese served with a balsamic dressing.  Wait.. roasted beets, turnips?  I’ve never had that… so I was SOLD.

I won’t go into how long it took to get our food or how not all the veggies described were on my salad…., but I will say it was so good and a great idea.. simple and delicious.  So much so that I decided to make it myself at home, but change it up a bit.

I didn’t take pictures of all the steps, but I have a couple to share below.

I cut up the following veggies in about 1 inch pieces:  red and sweet potatoes, sweet onion, red pepper, fresh beets, mushrooms, carrots, summer squash and zucchini…… all in a big bowl, cuz there were lots of veggies that I planned on saving for a few meals.   Toss with a little salt, pepper and olive oil so that they are coated.  Note: I couldn’t find turnips on my shopping trip.

In a large roasting pan they go…

and I always lay release aluminium foil (your best friend) on the bottom of my pans when I cook messy stuff in the oven.   Ok.. so..oven is preheated to 425 degrees.  Let them roast for about an hour but give them a stir about 3 or 4 times during the hour.  I wanted mine to be really done and golden, almost carmelized.  If you like them al dente, then adjust your timing.

In the meantime, I had a large fennel bulb to do something with.  I had never experienced fresh fennel before.  I see all the chefs cooking with it in fresh salads or sauteing it (I am a FoodTV Network, freak by the way). I tried a raw piece of the fennel and I did not like it at all.  So, I decided to slice it up and saute it with a little olive oil and garlic.  Much better taste.  I basically carmelized it to make it sweet.

Once everything was cooked, I created my salad….

Greens and baby spinach in a bowl topped with the roasted veggies, sliced almonds, and farmer’s cheese.  I didn’t have walnuts or feta, but these worked great as substitutes… fresh mozzarella would be great too.  I topped it off with Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette dressing; just a little to not drown the taste of the veggies.

I am in love with this salad… and roasted beets? …. oh man.. hello?    I never would have thought to use them.   And.. my opinion?… it was better than the cafe’s salad.   I can’t wait til summer to make this using fresh produce from the local  farmer’s market.

You can take these veggies and use them in many ways..

Remember my grilled veggie post?  Well, same idea…. and my grilled pizza post… they can easily go on the pizzas.  Or even if you have a take out pizza, top it with these veggies and put under the broiler for a minute.  Make a sandwich wrap or a panini.   Put them on top of pasta or in an omelette… but whatever you choose to do with them.. enjoy this luscious taste and how healthy they really are… it’s a win win people.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

In the Studio…& and a little surprise

Yes, I’ve been up in my studio again having fun creating.  I seemed to have push through my “rut” of not getting up there.  So, a few leftover nights and take out, got me out of the kitchen to spend time creating.  I just made the decision to not think about what I should do rather than what I WANT to do.. and that is to forget about chores and putting in extra hours in the office and concentrate on feeling good about my art and doing something about it.  Well, at least for one weekend anyway.  I think we all deserve that, don’ t you?

It’s still “wintery” here, so I will continue to hibernate, as they say in bear language.  What better way to enjoy a cold day than to be in the art studio.

Let’s start with my birds.  Well, you all know how much I love the birds that visit me by reading my few posts here and here.  They’ve inspired me so much that I’ve decided to create some of these little creatures with polymer clay.  I wanted to share them with you.  They are such a joy to make.

Ready?  Lots of pictures ahead…  Click each picture to enlarge.

This little fella is about 3″ long, 1″ thick.  I have him sitting on a wooden post that’s also about 3″ tall and 1″ round.  Painted the stand with a teal acrylic paint and rubbed some white over it.  Then gave the bottom and top edge an Inka Gold rub (love that stuff).

I’m loving the spiral wings.  This bird is about 4″ long.  I put gem stones on the eyes and a small heart on it’s back.  I’ve been making a lot of teeny tiny hearts for my birds.

Now these little guys are my favorites.  They are so tiny.  They all measure about 1″ long and 1/2″ wide.   I put the tiny hearts on their backs and one of them has hearts for wings. These hearts range in size from 1/8″ to 1/4″.

A gather of hearts and birds, above and below.

Now, I want to share with you my experience with Creative PaperClay.  Um.. good and bad.  I didn’t like working with it in its raw state.  Lots of cracking unless you keep it really wet.  Then it took forever (ok, not forever) to dry.  Me, no likey.  However, I decided to use this to my advantage by making some larger hearts that looked worn and rugged with an artistic flair.

Once I formed the “rough-looking”  heart, showing the cracks, I pushed sections of rubber stamps and textures into them.  For the smaller teal heart, I also carved out a heart in the center; I let them dry.  Because of their thickness, it did take 24 hrs or more to dry.  I even put them in my oven at 200 degrees for a few hours.  I painted them with acrylic paint mixed with a dot of  glazing liquid to give it a smoother finish and the paint wouldn’t drag on the roughness of the clay; let dry.  For the red heart, I painted the stamped textures with yellow and orange.

Then I used an antiquing brown paint over the entire heart and then wiped it with a clean paper towel so all the paint to sit in the cracks; let dry.  Then I used a gloss varnish to shine them up.

Now, let me show you how I further embellished these hearts.

By using the pearl pens and sepia accents (above),  I drew designs and dots on a non-stick surface, then once dry, peel them off and you have your own little bling.

Here is what I did with them.

I took the small dots and glued them to the hearts as you seen in the smaller teal heart and the red heart.  I took one of my tiny hearts and glued it into the carved out section also.

For this heart, I added a vintage embellishment and a gem.  This is my favorite.

Below, are some journal pages I embellished with the handmade bling.

and now………….a little surprise………….. my first video on how to make my little birds.

Enjoy and thank you for stopping by.

Big Bold Backgrounds

As I continue to do some Spring cleaning in my studio, I took a large piece of Wausau paper out the the wastebasket to give it a new life.  I thought, what kind of Mixed Media Artist would I be to throw this away.

I began to spread paint around with my old gift card, which make great small paint pallets by the way.  Layer after layer of colors.  If I didn’t like a section, I simply painted over it with white paint.  This was a big background about 14″ x 11″.  I love the size and decided that it will become a large journal.   Since I only had the one large sheet, I had to make another to make a book.  I had some white poster board lying around.  Poster board paper.. the kind you used/use in school for projects… takes a lot of abuse with paint, water, gel medium.. really standing up to what I was doing to it.  Actually better than the Wausau paper.  Samantha Kira Harding gave me that tip a long time ago.. Thanks, Samantha!

Here is a look at them so far.  I say “so far”, because I know that I’ll end up putting some fabric on their or some polymer clay pieces.   Click on the picture to enlarge, then click again for details.

Cobalt Teal paint (Golden Fluid Acrylic) played a big part in these pages.  Just my favorite color.  I also used Ranger/Hellmuth Studio’s “landscape green”.  That combo is perfect together.  I used heavy body white acrylic paint to spread through stencils, did some transparency transfers, rubber stamping, charcoal stick.

Few more section shots.. click to enlarge.

I also purchased some dauber bottles for paint… they are actually BINGO ink bottles.   In the past I bought the dauber covers that can go on any basic acrylic paint bottle (ex: “folk art”).. but I did not like those.  I was always banging the bottle to get the paint flowing

Here are 3 that I made.  Cobalt Teal mixure with water and a little Golden Glazing Liquid.  My own version of green and Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold.  All three of these colors are on the pages above.

So, my next step is to get hold of more poster board paper and make the inner pages… then binding it.  Not my thing, binding/sewing journal pages.  We’ll see how that one goes.  Stay tuned for more…

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Scraps, Stripes & Strips

Say that fast 4 times….

Signs of Spring are definitely here today.  Nice to see lots of green on this St. Patrick’s Day!  ♥

A short post today and a peek at some fun in the studio.  I’ve been using up the scraps from tearing pages for my large art journal I’m making – see the journal covers HERE (from my last post).

I love checkerboards and stripes; especially black and white.. so though I’d create my own colorful borders.  They are about 14″ long, 1/4″ to 1/2″ wide.  These were quick fun to make. When you don’t know what else to do…make embellishments.

Don’t throw your scraps away.. embellish them.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Beet Juice, Fabric Transfers & Sketching

Remember my post about my roasted veggie salad?  Well, I roasted some beets again… just lovely…. but with the pieces I trimmed off, I boiled in water and made beet juice to dye some fabric pieces in.. check it out…..

Here are some pieces of cotton fabric and lace.. before the dying.

I boiled the beets in water and let it cool.. then stored in a squeeze bottle.  And let me tell you.. this juice has some serious staining going on.  When I was peeling them, my hands were so red.. then I read that in the original Red Velvet cakes, beet juice is where they get the red from.  Who knew?

Even after storing my juice in a container, I put cold water on top of the still remaining pieces and it’s still as red as ever… AND you know what else is pink if you eat a lot of beets?  Well.. never mind.

I put the fabric/lace into an aluminum pie pan and squirted and brush/dabbed on the beet juice.  Using rubber gloves, I squeezed the remaining liquid and let them dry.

These pieces are so pretty… Not sure what I’m going to do yet, but maybe some transfers and some sewing to put on a mixed media piece or on a journal page…

AND….. speaking of transfers, I was playing around with some fabric transfers.

I printed out two pictures of my funky faces I drew and a copyright free photo of a fairy.

These are small pieces of muslin..about 4″x3″.  I printed (ink jet, rough side) on a sheet of transparency film and used Golden Soft Gel Medium to transfer onto the muslin.  I think I’ve mentioned before that the transparency transfer method is my favorite and always works for me.  You can see the colors of these transfers.. almost exact from my printed picture.  They are so vibrant alone.

Click to enlarge pictures.

Once I let them dry, I did a small touch up with some acrylic paints.  On my faces, I painted the lips a bit more with red acrylic and used gold sticky spiral and added gold glitter to some areas.  With the fairy, used the gold spiral and gold glitter to make stars.  Maybe some sewing with gold thread all around the fabric edges?  What do you think?

THEN….Just for fun.. During the American Idol commercials (there so damn many of them), I’ve been sketching some faces without too much thinking.. just going for it…. Here’s a bunch crowded together.  Funny to look at each one.. do they remind you of anyone?

That’s my studio play for now.  Hope you enjoyed the peek.

I’ll be doing an update on my LARGE JOURNAL I’m making.. using the Bold Background pages I made from poster board. They are coming out yummy.  So.. stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

Snow, Fabric Dying and Journals

Well, here it is April Fool’s Day and that’s what we got here in Massachusetts.. a big ole fat April Fool’s prank by Mother Nature…  I’ll leave you with this… and we’ll move on to art.

Last week, I showed you some fabric dying with beet juice.  This weekend, I was making some pancakes with blueberries.. wait.. blueberries?  I have to give it a try.   All I did was take hot water and threw some blueberries in a container and let them soak for hours.  Then drop in the fabric and let them also sit for hours.

Here are my results on some fabric and lace…  not bad.

‘

One of my readers asked me if they were colorfast.  I didn’t know the answer, but I did find HERE that if you boil the fabric in water and vinegar before the dying process, it will keep them colorfast.

Ok.. so once again, I refer you to one of my recent posts on my large journal covers, I started to create.  I’m happy to say that I have completed the book and it’s ready for art making.

I used my awl to make four holes for metal binder rings, spray painted the rings white, then smooshed them with some teal paint. I used a lot of the Portfolio Watersoluble Oil Pastel crayons… creamy, smoothy goodness.  I did all my shadowing with them.  Also, included on these pages are polymer clay, ink jet transfers, stencils, metal embellishments, rubber stamping and lots of layers on the bottom using paint, gesso, pastes.   I stained the edges of the inner pages with walnut ink….. LOVE LOVE LOVE ♥

Because I used poster board, one side of each page is a bit glossy.  I think I will need to gesso each page to give it some tooth.  A note about spray paining… I hated it.. the fumes, the smell.. never again.  I even did it outside.  I’ll have to find an alternative.. maybe THIS or THIS.  If they work for fabric, they should work on paper/canvas; unless it needs that absorbancy.   Hmmm.. fabric?  What.. no more beet and blueberry juice?

Here are many pictures of the front, back and closeups.. enjoy.. click to make them bigga…

FRONT COVER – this journal is about 12″ x 16″

DETAILS

BACK COVER

DETAILS

As the Beatles sang.. “All You Need is Love”. ♥  ♥ ♥

There is so much happening on these pages.  I will protect them with PYMII.  Love this stuff.. check it out.

Well, that was fun.. I had some time off from work this week and it was just so nice to not have to worry about anything but me and my art for those hours when the house was quiet.  No running into the home office to check on things.. ahhh.     I’m ready for retirement.  I can dream.

Thanks for stopping by and let’s hope this Fool’s storm is just passing by and will melt real quick

Judy ♥

Latest Work.. Mixed Media Canvas

I finally finished my latest canvas.   I started on a different path and ended somewhere else.  I like when that happens.  You begin a piece of art with different intentions and it takes a complete turn and you end up loving the result… in your happy place.

Here is how it started:

I took magazine clippings, map pieces, lace paper, scrap papers, doilies and glued them over the entire canvas.  Went in with a paint brush to cover up an white spots with cobalt teal fluid acrylic paint.  Then I gave it a wash with titan buff and water.  Let dry.  Then it sat around for a few weeks.

Here we go… first, let me say this is an 11×14 canvas.

I just started squaring off 4 sections with cobalt teal, raw sienna acrylics and dripped air brush paint on top.  Now, the cross lines and top right corner are made with “Wood Icing” by Mary Beth Shaw.   Mary Beth has a new mixed media book just out call “Flavor for Mixed Media”.  I just got it and it’s full of delicious art.. the culinary kind, too.  Right up my alley.  I felt a connection with Mary Beth, as we both seem to approach making food and art the same way.  I was lucky enough to be gifted a jar of this lovely ooey gooey paste (wood icing) by a friend (thanks, Raine!).

Continuing….

In the textured areas that I made with the wood icing, I painted with Golden quinacridone nickel azo gold acrylic paint and once dry, pushed in brown acrylic paint then wiped to reveal an antique look.  Went around edges with black portfolio oil pastel.  Pushed Golden Light Molding Paste through plastic doily tinted with cobalt teal.  I’m in love!

Bottom left: Fabric transfer on old dictionary page.. highlights, scrapings of paint with credit card.. lines, circles… what fun.

Here’s the final and details…

That was a great canvas journey for me.   I hope you enjoyed this post.  “Like” it if you so choose.

I want to take on a larger canvas next.  I think I may pull out my DVDs with Ann Baldwin, Ann

Win Online Workshops FOR LIFE

That’s what it says.  No kidding.  You know you want to try to win.. so go for it.

I can say first hand that Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen workshops at The Land of Lost Luggage are WONDERFUL.  Some of the best I’ve taken.  You can’t go wrong with any of their classes.  Smart, bright, vibrant, beautiful, classy, professional and non-intimidating.

Nuff said…..See you there.

Judy

In the Studio – Tutorial & Give-a-way!

It’s still darn cold here in Massachusetts.  We are all wondering where Spring is.  We’ve taken 1 step forward and 5 steps back.  I wouldn’t doubt if we went from cold to hot and have no Spring at all.

Well, I’ve been sneaking in some art work in the studio and made a little tutorial for you.

You can see from my photo below what I used for materials/tools – palette paper, acrylic paints, Staz on ink pad in brown, Portfolio oil pastels (optional), Wood Icing,  drink coaster (I’ve been collecting them from restaurants for years), blending tool, Stampbord shapes.  Also not shown below… cheesecloth and gel medium.

Note: Click on all pictures for details.

I started out by taking a piece of cheese cloth layed out on palette paper and spread it with Golden Gel Medium… let dry.

It will rip right off the palette paper with no sticking.

Rip it to the size you want and paint with acrylics.  Here I used raw sienna and turquoise.  Set aside to dry.

Take a coaster and spread it with Wood Icing.  Let dry. and do the same with the small shapes of Stampbord.  I only iced 2 shapes for this piece.

While the Wood Icing is still wet, you can stamp shapes into them; I chose not to for this project.

Once dry, I scraped into the Wood Icing with a sharp tool to make designs.

I painted the coaster and smaller shapes with Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold fluid acrylic.

Once dry, I spritzed them with Walnut Ink and rubbed into the surface.

Then I took the blending tool and brown Staz On ink and rubbed the edges of the shapes.

Oooooo… ahhhhhh… McDreamy.

Now, take the smaller shapes and spray more walnut ink to get into the scratch grooves you make and wipe off the raised areas.  Paint with acrylics or use Portfolio crayons to make beautiful colors.

Here is what I ended up with.  I scratched some circles and painted them and put some splashes of red in there to make them pop.  I also did a little rubber stamping on them.

I glued the cheese cloth on the coaster the added the finished Stampbord shapes.

Here is my end result.  Coaster measures about 6″x4″.

I love the colors of this piece.  Makes me happy.  So happy, that I am going to give it away.

Leave a comment here and pass it along to a friend to also leave a comment and I’ll pick a winner in one week (Wednesday, 4/27).  Make sure you leave your email address so I can let you know if you won.

Thanks for stopping by and playing along.

Judy ♥

…and the give-a-way winner is…….

FRAN

(I wish that WordPress would let me type more exciting, expressive fonts)

CONGRATULATIONS!

I’ll be contacting you to send me your address..

Thanks for playing everyone and more to come.

Judy ♥

Hurry up, patience..

Ok.. so picture this.. this is me…

I hunker down at my computer to catch up on some art videos on YouTube..  I begin to watch a tutorial on an art technique and the artists speeds up the process.. really fast.  I have about 10 minutes to go to the end, so now I’m getting a little impatient and I slide the bar faster so the video is done.. like.. right now.  Ok, got it.. that was cool, moving on.

What’s wrong with that picture… Have I no patience anymore.  Is being a mom, working full-time, chef, wife and artist making me more impatient? It think the answer is a bit fat YES.

The other day I tried doing Yoga from a DVD..  my first time ever doing Yoga… I was bored…but, I get why people love it.

When I go for my power walks, I have music that makes me move like nobody’s business… I just can’t go for a walk without music.  I have a purpose… go go go… get your workout over with and move on.  There, that’s done, thank god.

So with all my impatience and a busy life, like a lot of us lead, I thought I would share an excerpt my one of my favorite go to books, The Language of Letting Go, by Melody Beattie.

“The people who are most successful at living and loving are those who can learn to wait successfully.  Not many people enjoy waiting or learning patience.  Yet, waiting can be a powerful tool that will help us accomplish much good. 

We cannot always have what we want when we want it.  For different reasons, what we want to do, have, be, or accomplish is not available to us now.  But there are things we could not do or have today, no matter what, that we can have in the future.  Today, we would make ourselves crazy tyring to accomplish what will come naturally and with ease later.  We can trust that all is on schedule.  Waiting time is not wasted time.  Something is being worked out – in us, in someone else, in the Universe.  We don’t have to put our life on hold while we wait.  We can direct our attention elsewhere; we can practice acceptance and gratitude in the interim; we can trust that we do have a life to live while we are waiting – then we go about living it.

Deal with your frustration and impatience, but learn how to wait.  The old saying, “you can’t always get what you want” isn’t entirely true.  Often in life, we can get what we want – especially the desires of our heart – if we can learn to wait.”

Ahhhh… feel better?   Take care of yourself.  Pay attention to what you need and nourish yourself with it.  One step at a time.. breathe in and out.   Ya, right, who am kidding.. speaking of steps.. gotta hit the pavement.

No, seriously… I meant that… the part about taking care of yourself.

Thanks for walking by… really fast.

Judy ♥

Re-Post: Polymer Clay Artist Trading Cards

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mommies out there.  I hope your day is spectacular.  Pamper yourself; you deserve it!  I plan on it.  Well, that’s sort of a lie; I’ll be helping my daughter move out of her dorm for the summer.. but at least I get to be with my family.  That’s enough for me.

(click picture to enlarge for details)

I was going through some of my blog posts and thought I would re-post one of my favorite tutorials I shared with you about a year ago, since some of my new subscribers may not have seen it.

ATC’s are one of my favorite art pieces to make and share with others.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE POST.    I hope you enjoy or re-enjoy it.

As always, I thank you for stopping by and subscribing.

Judy ♥

A Wonderful Gift

Thought I’d put in another excerpt from Melody Beattie’s meditation book.  This one is about appreciating ourselves.

“It is time to stop the nonsense of running around picking on ourselves.  We have walked through much of our life apologizing for ourselves either directly or indirectly, feeling less valuable than others., believing that they know better than we do, and believing that somehow others are meant to be here and we are not.

We have a right to be here
We have a right to be ourselves
We are here.  There is a purpose, a reason an intention for our life.  We do not have to apologize for being here or being who we are.  Others do not have OUR magic.  We have our own magic.  It is in us.
It doesn’t matter what we’ve done in our past.  We all have a past, woven with mistakes, successes and learning experiences.  We have a right to our past.  It is OURS.  It has worked to shape and form us.  As we progress on this journey, we shall see how each of our experiences will be turned around and used for good.
We have already spent too much time in being ashamed, being apologetic and doubting the beauty of ourselves.  Be done with it.  Let it go. It is an unnecessary burden.  Others have rights, but so do we.  We are neither less than nor more than.  We are equal.  We are who we are. That is who we created and intended to be.
That, my friend, is a wonderful gift.”  – Melody Beattie

I sure wish I could write like that.  Although I have not and never have been in any sort of recovery/co-dependency, her writing touches my heart.  Picking this book up by mistake was, in fact, not a mistake in the long run.  It reminds me of how we are all the same in many ways.  We all want to be accepted and loved, don’t we?  We all just want our lives and the people in them to be good… I won’t say “perfect”… but “good” is good enough.

I’ll be back with some art very soon.  Work/life has been busy and consuming.. but stay tuned and come back.

Judy

In the Spotlight – Creative Catalyst Productions

I am excited to share with you that I was approached by Creative Catalyst Productions (CCP) when I was recently on their site and submitted some photos in my account.  Kelly, who works at CCP, saw my photos and asked me if she could write a post about me, as an artist struggling for work/life balance.  Hmmm…. I thought about it for about a nano second and said YES.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SPOTLIGHT POST!!

CCP creates DVDs with amazing artists as if you were in the studio with them.  I have several of their DVDs with some of my favorites artists like Anne Bagby, Ann Baldwin and Jacqueline Sullivan.  When I watch them, I am in my happy place for sure.

You must check out the array of DVDs from CCP.   Do it now!

Kelly, if you are reading this.. thank you so much; you did a great job with my story.

I usually am one that doesn’t like the spotlight, but this feels pretty good.

I’ll be in the studio this weekend working on some tutorials to share.

As always, thanks for stopping by and have a safe holiday weekend!  Yay, 3 days off from work.  Playtime!

Judy

Mixed Media Collage Tutorial

I so enjoyed the 3 day weekend that just passed.  I was hot here in Mass.  A little too soon for me, but that tends to happen here.. not much of a Spring and then wham.. summer.  Give me a cold rainy day and I’m happy.  Strange, I know, but very comforting to me.  Whatchya gonna do?  Make art… that’s what… and that’s exactly what I did.

Here’s a tutorial just for you on how I made a collage on Bristol paper.  I started out thinking I would work on 3 collages at the same time.  Two on Bristol paper and one on deli paper.  The idea was to work on one while layers on another were drying.  Well, I started out that way, but there was too much going on and I couldn’t keep track of all the steps of the techniques.  I ended up focusing on one page for now.

You’ll see that I tend to lean more towards the teals, as in my other work too.  See this post and you’ll see what I mean, jelly bean.

Supplies/Materials:
Golden Gel Medium
Bristol paper 11″x14″
Golden fluid acrylic paints
Claudine Hellmuth Studio paints
scrap ephemera
polymer clay handmade embellishment (gotta have the clay in there)
lace papers
ink jet image transfer
my own hand carved rubber stamps
Portfolio Oil Pastels

Let’s start by showing you some of the handmade stamps I made.  Ok.. let me also tell you how I (bleep swear) at carving.   So they are not perfect and my back and neck  and eyes were sore after hours of carving, but they are my own originals.  Now, if you want to see some beautiful hand carved stamps.. go visit Autumn Hathaway’s website.. she is the queen of carving stamps.  She even has her own stationery line.  Gorgeous!

Here are mine.. aren’t they cute?  The pink ones are the ones I did this weekend and my own designs.

CLICK ON ALL IMAGES FOR A CLOSER LOOK

So, I started with the paper and scraped down some turquoise paint with a credit card.

Then added some Quin Azo Gold…

I used a little of the studio paints for patches of red.  More layers of turquoise and then I gave the entire page a wash with Titan Buff.  Ahhhh.  Let dry.  Actually, let all layers dry one at a time.

… and now, my friends… I begin the fun process of collaging.

I start the design using one of my stamps (love saying that).

STOP!  Wait a minute.. what time is it?  Did I forget to make dinner?  Um, ya, I think I did.  Ah, heck…. everyone for themselves; leftover night.

Continuing………. More of my stamps, scrap papers, corrugated cardboard from a coffee cup sleeve; stamped with red.

Added an ink jet image transfer from a transparency.

More papers, and stamps and lace papers.  Lace papers just melt into the collage when you use gel medium.

Here I put a strip of masking tape to protect the page from paint so I could put in a black and white stripe… then pull of to reveal a perfect line.  Love this.. makes me happy.

Here’s what it looks like before I start using Portfolio crayons.

I rubbed the black crayon around the edges.  I also used orange, teal, yellow and white crayon around the page.

Here’s the final.. I added a handmade polymer clay embellishment on one of the leaves. Also added a piece of my handmade tar gel skin with beads and glitter (right next to the spiral lace paper).  I cut about a 1/2″ from all around the edge of the page and snipped the corners.

Here are a couple of closeups…
  

There you have it.  I’m going to shoot for different colors on my next collage.  Ones that I don’t usually use.

Hope you enjoyed my tute.

Don’t forget to rate and  “like” me if you enjoyed this.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

In The Garden

Ahh, another Friday and another weekend ahead…love it!

I thought I’d show some shots of our garden. This is one of my favorite spots. Every weekend morning, we sit and have our coffee and watch the birds from the window. The birds are all over the place.

Take a lookie; I captured these this past week…

The roses have taken off like crazy.  Be sure I will be using these flowers in some image transfers soon.

Peonies are popping also.

Yellow Finches..

Now it’s HUMMER-time….

and then.. as I came down to my office to work this morning, I was greeted with this guy outside my window in the bush…. CAN YOU STAND IT???  My god.. I hate snakes. (sorry for all you snakes lovers out there). Just gross.

I actually wasn’t even going to give this Sammy the snake any blog time, but I thought it was fascinating to see who joined him in the bush… In my 20 years living in this house, I have never seen a Chipmunk on a bush.  I think he was thinking he could take the snake…

I waited with my camera in hand to see if any action would happen but it did not.  I thought the snake was going to turn around and get chippy.

Brave chipper for sure..

Hope you enjoyed the show…

.. and thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Keep Your Finger on “The Pulse”

Well, I challenged myself and accepted an opportunity to be part of Seth Apter’s 5th Edition of The Pulse.   I am in some amazing, and I mean AMAZING, company here of over 125 artists who have also joined.  He’ll be posting all this weekend and every Sunday after that.  Embrace it, enjoy it and don’t miss it!

Mixed Media Collages/Used Coffee Filters

I’ve found some time to sneak up in the studio here and there with really no plans to make anything specific.  Maybe that’s the best way to approach art.. no thinking…. all intuitive.

These collage pieces started out as just bristol paper that caught some splatter paint somewhere along the line.  So, I decided to smoosh some paint around them for backgrounds.  Then I kept going.. Let me show you.. relax, sit back and enjoy...Click any picture to get close ups and to see more details.

Here is one large bristol page the I split into two.  As usual, I’m using my teal colors… I used stained music papers, paint, gel skin with glitter and beads (see link below)… rubber stamps, paint, Portfolio Crayons.

Remember this POST, when I made the skins?  I am still using the beaded skin I made.  You’ll see some of it in the collages here.  Rip a piece here and there.. adds so much to your work.

So, I challenged myself to get away from the teal colors and went with this….

Mauve’ish background, lace papers, my handmade polymer clay embellishments, swirl stencil, painted fabric strips, fabric flower in center of doily.

Now on to the used coffee filters.  This is so much fun, you can paint, collage and sew them.

Here’s what I did:

- Take used coffee filter or even take a new one and dip it in instant coffee, dry.
- Rubber stamp a woman’s face and color it as you like.  I used Prismacolor pencils and Portfolio crayons.
- Raw Sienna fluid acrylic background with music paper transfer.
- I ripped the filter to accommodate the stamp, as it wasn’t that big.
- Spray with fixative so colors won’t smudge.
- Glued the filter to a paper doily.
- Painted the edges of filter with crayon and the doily with copper.
- Ripped masking tape into strips and painted them copper and glued in a cruciform shape.
- Used my Citra solv paper for collage
- Added lace to bottom and top of collage.
- Rubber stamps, paint, by handmade polymer clay embellishments.
-  Lastly I added my beaded gel skin and a teenie tiny polymer clay heart in her hair.  I just love that effect.

Here are a couple of other coffee filters that I stamped, painted, collaged and sewed on.   Note:  I but gel medium on the front and back of these to make them stronger before I started to glue and sew on them.

I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with them yet, but you’ll be the first to know.

If you have any questions on this post, please contact me; I’d be happy to answer and help.

As always, my friends, thank you for stopping by.

Judy ♥

Mixed Media Art Page on Cape Cod

Well, it’s good to be back home… as Dorothy says “there is no place like home” and it’s so true.

We had a great time this week on Cape Cod.  One of our favorite spots to visit.  We’ve been going for years, whether to rent or stay in a condo we once owned.

Between taking long walks, playing some tennis, hitting the beach, riding our bikes (killer 15 miles, I might add.. ouch on the tush), eating great food and a visit to the excitement of Provincetown, I was able to get in a day of art.

I brought with me a small art bag which included Bristol paper, Portfolio Oil Pastels, watercolor paints, fine line black markers in case I did any drawing.. (I didn’t) and a glue stick.

I was inspired by the art in our condo bedroom.  So, I visualized a page with colors and smudging of oil pastels, took some pictures as I created it and this is what I came up with…

I started with a blank page and just made colored squares with my oil pastels and started to rub each section with my finger to smudge them.

After rubbing them, I put a black border around each square.

Then rubbed the borders in for shadows.

I wanted to add something to the page, but I didn’t bring anything else with me.. so I ripped a page out of a magazine and crumpled it up.  Then I scribbled oil pastels in columns and took a damp paper towel to rub it all in..

Then tore long triangles.  The idea was to make paper beads.

I used a pencil and my eyeliner stick to roll the beads on and adhered them with my glue stick.  Then I further painted them with my water color paints and did some drippings on the beads.

      

Here they are.  Now what?

I decided, just for fun to smash the beads and make them flat and put them around the edges of the borders.  Just having fun with what I had in front of me. Not sure I LOVE this piece, but it was a fun process.  I can imagine an entire page of these smashed beads.  They look/feel so organic and natural.  Something about the torn paper.

I worked on the colors of the squares, rubbing further and taking away the center colors a little.

Here is my end result… FOR NOW.   Back in the studio, I may play a bit more with it.  Maybe some fabric and fibers… maybe a transfer on top.. maybe rip it up for other projects…. endless, I tell you.. endless…..  what do you think?

I have to get back in the groove here at home.  I think I’ll be doing laundry until 2012.  Back to work tomorrow.. ugh.. I can see about 300 emails waiting for me.. damn.. where are those ruby red slippers when I need them.. I’d wish to be back on the Cape.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

Art Page Re-make – little handmade journal/book

Hello there friendly people…. I sure hope that everyone is getting some relief from this heat we’ve been having across the country.  It has just been perfect here in Mass. these last two days….  dry, sunny and breezy.. about mid 70′s..  You can begin to smell the fall coming.  I remember the days when I was a kid in school and you knew school was about to start; it was fall and you could smell it in the air.  Funny how things stay with you like that.

Ok.. moving on to some art sharing.

Remember this page I did with Portfolio Oil Patels?  Click here to jog your memory

Well, it was pretty, but I did nothing for me.  The smooshed beads all over the place?; it just needed something else.  SOOOOOOOOOO….I made it into a journal and embellished the front with my handmade polymer clay  “buttons n ‘bellishments”.  Size 5 1/2 x 7.  CLICK FOR LARGER PICTURES.

This is much better, don’t you think?

Inside covers are glued scrapbook paper.

 

The inside pages are made from poster board and each page is gessoed and ready to add mixed media love to it.

While I was making this one, I took the left over torn pages and made a small journal (5×3).  Front and back is covered with decorated duct tape (have you seen all the new styles yet?), some black trim across and a beaded thingamajig.  Inside covers is more old scrapbook paper I had. I used two polymer clay beads I made holding the sewn binding in place.  Made a nice big knot so they wouldn’t move.

I’m always happy to see a Friday come along after a long week of work.   Everyone needs a break.. don’t we?

Thanks, all, for stopping by.  I’ll be doing a give-away next week.. stay tuned.

Judy ♥

Give-a-Way time.. woo hoo!!

Sunday afternoon here on a hot muggy day.  Ok, nuff of the muggies and bring on some cool fall weather.

As we prepare our oldest daughter to go back to college tomorrow, today is a day of busy packing and seeing some family to have her say so long, for now.  I do find myself saying where has the summer gone?   How did her 3rd year of college come upon us so fast?  Seems just like yesterday I was balling my eyes out saying goodbye as we left her with strangers in her freshman dorm.  Ok ok.. I will probably cry again this time.  Who am I kidding.

Well, in honor of the end of summer and back to school, I am having a give-a-way.  Those are two good excuses to have a free give-a-way, isn’t it?

I’m giving away a juicy handful of my handmade “Buttons n ‘bellishments”.  These little treasures are so fun to put in any of your mixed media art such as:  journals,  canvases, wood,  paper…  Hang some of the buttons from your journal bindings, sew the buttons on your papers/fabric art.  Not only will you win my “B & B”s, but I will add in some surprises.

Here are some things I use them for:

Here’s how you can win:

Mention my give-a-way on YOUR BLOG with a link back to MY BLOG.  Then leave a comment on my blog post, here, linking back to your blog post.  Golly, does that make sense?

I’ll draw a winner next Sunday, August 28th.

Thanks for stopping by and playing along.

Judy ♥

In the Studio

Wow.. what a weekend… Hurricane Irene visited us, I’m sure you heard from all the media about it.  We were very lucky here in my part of Mass.  It was more like a big tropical storm.  I know many many others were not so fortunate and lost power, trees down and some fallen on houses.  Let’s hope they will all recover and get back to normal soon.  Now that the storm has passed, we are having the most beautiful weather… just perfect for me… cool, dry, sunny.. nature’s own air conditioning.

To the art table….

While we were socked inside, I was able to get into the studio for some play time.  I’m working on a new mixed media canvas with the idea of adding many of my “button n’bellishments” to the piece.  So, I took several hours on Saturday and on Sunday to create like crazy.

Here what I made:  Click picture for larger details

…and some details below

“Bliss” and “Art” hearts made with cheap dollar store aluminum foil as the filler.

I am always amazed how long it takes me to make these.. it’s definitely a process that is zen-like…. or “back-hurt” like.

If you’d like to see how I make some of my buttons.. CLICK HERE.

I received a few emails from followers that they did not have a blog to link my give a way on.  My apologies to all that could not enter.  Turns out that no one actually entered.  Well, that’s a big lesson for me.  Doy! (smack head here)

Let’s try this again, shall we?  JUST LEAVE A MESSAGE BELOW and you will be entered to win some of my “button n’bellishments”… and some fun ephemera for all your mixed media creations. I’ll pick a winner next Monday, 9/5 (is that September already?)… geesh.

As always, I’m so happy that you stopped by to hang out for a few minutes.

Stay tuned to see what I’m going to do with new fun b n’b's.

Judy ♥

Give-a-way Winner & New Mixed Media Woman on Canvas

Congratulations to……………

(my daughter’s hands; she drew the name)

Mandy Currie…. OMG how exciting!   Mandy, send me your home address to my email at judysheart@gmail.com and I’ll get your chock full package out to you.   Besides my “buttons n’bellishments”, I’ve put together a bunch of fun materials for you to start playing with your new mixed media creations.

*****************************************************************

And speaking of creations, this is my new mixed media piece that I just finished.  This is just one thing you can do with  “Button n’bellishments”.  I had a vision about a beautiful woman who had hair made of my handmade b&b’s.  This was just FUN FUN FUN!!!

Click picture for details and a closer look.  Measures 9′x 12′

Now… don’t get all excited and think that I drew this woman’s face.. I did not!! It is a paintover.  I could not, for the life of me, draw a woman’s face that I was happy with… wait, let me rephrase that… I could not draw a woman’s face.. period…… so…..I found an unknown face in a magazine and did a gesso wash over it and drew over the features, enhancing them a bit more with paint, watercolor pencils and glitter.  I exaggerated her eyes and eyebrows completely.. redid her nose and lips.  I tinted the skin with watercolor pencils and made her eyes look like a showgirl in Vegas.  There is some texture left under the face that is showing some lumpiness that I’m not too thrilled with.. but I  certainly learned from that tiny mistake.. love when that happens.

All around her, I used fabric, ribbon, paper, doilies, lace, paint and glitter.  Underneath all of that is a layer of acrylic paint and gesso that I put on thick for texture then painted over that then added glitter.

Now, for the hair, I used my handmade polymer clay “button n’bellishments”.. and in between the clay pieces it filled it in with sead beads.

Yay.. she’s marvelous.. she’s going up on a wall in my house.

Thanks for visiting and for everyone who entered the give-a-way… THANK YOU.   Please stop by again… I’ll be doing more of that.

Judy ♥

A “Nesting” We Will go…..

I’d like to take you on a journey to a beautiful vintage hideaway in Concord, MA called Nesting on Main.

I had the pleasure of going there recently with a good friend of mine, Amy.  No, I was not paid to talk about Nesting, I just wanted to put the warmth of their store in my blog.  Of course, I asked permission to do so and they were thrilled.

So, without further ado.. enjoy the journey..

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

    

   

   

Wasn’t that fun???  Now, if you live in Massachusetts, look up Concord, MA and get yourself to Main Street and check out Nesting in person.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

Let’s Go To The Hop… oh baby

Click here to enter the Art Blog Hop

When is that last time you went to a Hop?  An Art Blog Hop, that is…come join me and other art bloggers for some hopping around to beautiful, creative blogs.

If you have an art blog,  join us.  If not, just go to the Art Blog Hop and have fun ooo’ing and ahhh’ing at all the awe inspiring blogs.

I leave you with this;  I thought it was appropriate and I hope Mary loves it.  Mary is the owner of the ABH.  Thanks, Mary for being such a great hostess.

Many of you will remember this.. some of you will say.. “who the hell is that and what kind of music is this”.

Thanks for hopping by.. get it “hopping” instead of “stopping”??

Judy ♥

Getting Inspired with friends and Riley’s art

Well, it’s been a bit busy ova here lately.  Funny though I can’t even tell you why.  You know what I’m talkin about, right?   You get busy, the days fly by and you can’t even remember what you did the day before.  Oh wait… or is that just me?  Is that just me and my getting older?  Me being forgetful?  Me approaching menopause?  Me being……….. oh never mind.. I forgot.

Anyhoo… I want to share some lovely photos of a recent gathering I went to.  It was the Rhode Island Polymer Clay Guild’s 12th Anniversary.  I used to be part of the team there, but I stepped away about 4 years ago.  However, I do still keep in touch with the fabulous ladies there and they invited me back for the soiree.  We all brought some food.  The ladies all brought their art and I did not.  I just talked for about 6 hours.  What?

Here are some goodies that everyone one brought:

HULLO?  It was fantastic.  Thanks ladies for being such wonderful hosts… Toine, Bobbie, Sandy, Dora, Pat, Rita and Toni.

Some of the women there do more than just polymer clay.  The creativity and skills are vast, I tell you, in this small group.

I took some pictures that really inspired me.

Toine is a creative soul in that, if she could, would make her own shoes.  She’s told me this a few times.  That just amazes me.  She showed me a travel mini- watercolor paint palette that she made out of an mini eye shadow case.

You basically dig out the old eye shadow powders and fill the empty sections with watercolor tube paint and let dry.  She even uses the eye shadow brush as the paint brush.  You could just buy one of these eye shadow minis at a dollar store too.

Toine shared a site with me on how to make one.. it’s called INSTRUCTABLES.. great site to learn from.  I’m definitely trying this.   I just love this idea!

Toine also made her own mini watercolor pad.  It was about 3×4.  You can see it sitting next to her palette.  Another thing I must try.  Check out this one also at INSTRUCTABLES.

My partner in crime, Bobbie, was working on a new bracelet made out of buttons.  I recently sent Bobbie a bunch of my “buttons n’bellishments”.  She took my homemade polymer buttons and mixed them with regular buttons and hand sewed them to a thick black cloth elastic band.   I had made one in the past out of my polymer buttons, but hers came out much nicer.  I had too much space and you could see all the black band.

The red, turquoise, and bone-like buttons are the ones I made out of polymer clay.

Bobbie.. this came out deliciously gorgeous.  The trick to hers was the overlapping of the buttons so when you put it on your wrist, it didn’t stretch out and show the band.

Bobbie is also taking up water color painting.  Look at these beautiful pages she made that just made me salivate… ew.. not really… I behaved.

My creative juices went nuts when I saw these… oh the things I could do with those.  I can’t wait to see what she does with them.  It’s endless.

In other creativity news, I turn to children.  My great niece, Riley, is a great little artist.  I promised her I would take a picture of her door art at home.  Her creations here range over the past year from home art, pre-school and now kindergarten.  I share this now, with you, my blog friends.

Riley and her mom.

Mom, Christina, is another creative soul.  I guess it runs in the family.  You can see one of Christina’s creations HERE ..when she made me a special fabric card for my 50th birthday.

RILEY’s ART:

Isn’t Riley just awesome?  Look at these colors, people.  Don’t you think we should all display our art this way in our homes?   Don’t ever stop creating Riley.  I love you so much…. Love,  Auntie Judy.

I hope you are inspired.  Go make a mini water color palette or a button bracelet.  Be inspired by children’s art.

Thanks for stopping by and leave some comments for Riley.. she will love to read them.

Judy♥

A New England Fall Day Walk

My husband and I went for a long walk today.  It was just gorgeous out.  I decided to take my camera with me and take YOU along too.

The colors this years are not the greatest, but remember saying that last year and then two weeks later, it was vibrant.  But, we had such a harsh summer with the heat, that the trees got a beating.  Did I say that last year too?  Check out last year’s posts HERE and HERE – wow pretty last year.

Ok, ready?  C’mon.. bundle up.. it’s chilly and keep up.

Let’s start out heading down the road from our street… take a left..

I’m trying to get the effect of the “tunnel of trees”.   Are you feeling it?

There’s a little color, but no bigness here…. keep on going.. I tried to get some bigger trees…

I just love that this back hoe is just sitting there for years, nature growing all around it.  Don’t you wonder why someone left it there… Isn’t John Deere missing one?

Ok.. that’s better… close up next…

Let’s go down the road some more here.. we’ve only just begun.

And.. look what I came across.. tried to shoot a short video…

Ahh.. wasn’t that nice?  Thought you’d like that… c’mon there’s more…

Crossing over into the next town… my feet hurt.

That rusted horseshoe has been there for months, untouched.  I thought about grabbing it to make something out of it.. but it seems to belong there.

The honor system.

.. and there’s another piece of equipment.. an old tractor.  I think it actually works.

You with me still?  I know it’s a long walk, but don’t you feel good?  My feet hurt.

Oh, and look who took a quick top to check us out.  Cute.

I know, I know.. there are a lot of pictures… I’ve really cut some out too.  Hang in there with me, please.

Now, this tree is the same one in my post from last year.  Look at the difference in the colors.  Maybe it will pop in a week or so.

Once we get over this little hill, I have a surprise for you… watch..

It’s Laverne & Shirley (I actually just made that up..I don’t know their names).  They were never out this summer on my walks.. but so glad they came out for us today.

..and I took a little video for you

Enjoy that?

Ok, let’s turn around and go home…

It’s getting there…

..and there you have it… you just did about 4 miles.   Thanks for joining me.  I wish the colors were more fantastic for you this year, but it gives you the feeling of our Fall season right now.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Now go relax and drink your water… My feet hurt.

Thanks for walking by.

Judy ♥

Judy? Are you out there?

Yes Yes, I’m here.  I was only gone a minute, wasn’t I?

Wow.. what a couple of crazy weeks, I tell you.  Between working my day job and surviving the New England October snowstorm with no electricity, I have been completely un-creative.  I’ve lost my MoJu (get it? instead of  “mojo”   MoJu for Judy?).  No?

Just when we were enjoying our New England Walk, a freak Nor’easter hits us like we never expected.

I took a few pictures to capture what was going on.

The night of the storm, outside my front door in the flower garden:

Kind of pretty at night like this.  You can see my roses peeking out from the blanket of snow.   We really didn’t get a lot of snow.. about 6″, but the weight of the snow and the leaves that hadn’t fallen yet, is what did all the damage.

As we drove out of town, we took a couple of pictures along the way.

This is only a couple a SEVERAL trees that obstructed our roads.  Lots of wires were down on the roads also.

Check this tree out.  We actually drove underneath it which was probably not a good idea.

Many towns were out of power for about a week… and I believe that most have their power back.   The roads are still a bit messy and it’s disappointing that they are still not entirely cleared yet.  This is only the beginning of the season.  One can only hope these towns have their acts together and prepare for a tough winter so we can avoid another outage.

But, really, this is nothing compared to the devastating and tragic occurences that have happened in other parts of our country and around the world.  I am grateful that this is all that happened.  Just because I could never be a pioneer woman, doesn’t mean I can’t whine about it.

Well, Dixie doesn’t care.. she’s just glad to be home sleeping on her warm pillow… what a life!   Love the tongue.

Before the storm hit, I was able to get in the studio to create a few hand-made embellishments.

‘

If you follow my blog, you know how I just enjoy making these.  I love to manipulate them to make them my own. You can see that I added cheeks to the faces. I have many molds that I made when I first began working with polymer clay about 10 years ago.  I recall bringing wads of it with me wherever I went and when I saw a cool texture, I’d impressed it and carefully take the clay home to bake.  Yes, my family thought I was coo coo.

I probably won’t post for about two weeks now as I have a business trip coming up and then a week off to prepare for Thanksgiving at my home this year.  HELP!   I plan on getting in some studio time after the holiday since it will be a long weekend.  No Black Friday shopping for me…. no sir eee.

Thanks for your patience, everyone, and for stopping by to see if I was still in existence.

Judy ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Back from art funk, turkey coma and another give-a-way!!

Well, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  It has been non-stop family and eating the past 3 days and frankly, this needs to stop right now.

Thanks also for your patience while I have not posted.

I have been waiting for this weekend to be here for a while now.  Being gone for a week on a business trip and then having Thanksgiving here at the house has been weighing on my mind (in a good way).. and now, it’s over and I can finally get back in the studio… I think.

Back to my art – Day 1:

Here it is.. early evening, Saturday 11/26.  Can I be honest here?  Thank you.  This hiatus I’ve been on from my art has really put me in a funk.  Where in the world did my “moju” go?   My “get up and go.. got up and went”.    Well, that has to stop now too.  I started to write this blog, but now I will stop to go upstairs to see what I can start to create.

Back to my art – Day 2:

Sunday, 11/27… Taking Megan back to Maine to college.  Do I have any energy to drag my body back up in the studio when I get back… let’s see.

So, I did end up playing around a bit in the studio..

First, I took a small Moleskine notebook I got on my business trip and altered the front and back.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE AND SEE DETAILS.

This small notebook measures 5″ x 3″.

I started with a white gesso layer on the front and back covers (I’m thinking I should have used black).  Next layer of paint was colbalt teal (my fav).. then I added clear crackle medium.  Once that dried.. I rubbed in some dark brown acrylic paint into the cracks and wiped it off.  Once dry, I rubbed in some acrylic white paint and wiped that off.   I wanted to get the brown and white into the crevices of the cracks.  Added letters, as you can see and rubbed a little of distress ink on them to age them.  Then I took red acrylic paint and dipped a credit card edge on it and made some streaks.

On the back of the book, I glued an image and painted around the edge of the image to blend it in with the teal.  I added lace paper with gel medium.  Love that look.. one of my favorites.  Also, added a piece of an old doily to the back.

I may add some polymer clay buttons or some gems to finish this off.

Next……

Now, I’m working on an old passport covers that I got from my mom.  So far, I painted it with white acrylic paint, let dry.. then spread on some maroon molding paste and tapped it with a palette knife with black paint.

This passport measures about 5″x3″.  Maybe add some fabric or poly clay B&B’s (“Button n’bellishments” – my handmade polymer clay pieces).

I’m not done with these little books, but I wanted to show you what I’ve done so far.

More…..

After dropping my daughter off in Maine, we went to a store that has remnants of fabric for really cheap prices.. and then… they have fabric bolts of all kinds for $3.99 a yard.. yes, that’s what I said.  Here are a couple remnants I picked up.

Aren’t they cool?  I love that the music fabric is not consistent in some areas.  I imagine doing a simple fabric dye with walnut ink to stain it.  Can I get an “ahhhh…. ohhhh”?

So.. I feel like sharing in my good deals and in honor of turkeys, my art funk, back to blogging and my readers, I’d like to do a give -a-way of some of my favorite fabrics pieces.  I just love incorporating them in my mixed media work.

As a matter of fact, I purchased 6 yards of fabric for some curtains I’m putting (having made) in my family room.  I’m going to take the excess fabric and add it to a new mixed media canvas I plan on making for the room.  I need to get some art in that room since it’s been painted.

Ok ok.. off track again…  back to the give a way……

If you’d like to win some of my favorites fabric pieces, leave a comment on this post (U.S. only, please.. sorry) and I’ll choose a winner this weekend. (pssst… come closer.. I may add some other goodies too).  After all, we mixed media junkies need more stuff, don’t we?

That’s it for now.. as always.. thanks for stopping by and hanging in there with me.  You’re the best!!

Judy ♥

Give-a-way Winner and some Mixed Media Art

Congratulations, Vivane!!!!  You are the winner of my fabric give-a-way.   WOOT WOOT!!   I’ll be in touch to get your address.

Well, I did get up in the studio this weekend.  I started to play around in one of my small water color notebooks.. about 5″ x 4″.   I smooshed around some paint then added some old dictionary pages to the surface.  I began to draw a face.. nothing fancy, as I am not a good drawer.. just funky fun.. and it grew into this little girl with a dictionary dress and arms.. then I kept going with colors and embellishments.  Look how she turned out..  She a cutie patootie.  I plan on mailing this to a family member of mine… surprise.

This happens to me all the time.  I have a slight plan to start a project then I get up in studio and I do something completely different with no planning whatsoever.   So…. I picked up a large blank pre-made journal (8″ x 11 1/2″).  It was all black and very lonely.  I decided to mix media the heck out of it.

Here’s how it evolved:

Here is the journal.. very basic.. inside is just lined pages.

I began to glue the following:  left over paper towels from clean up, lace papers, fabric pieces, doilies, decorative papers, lace, polymer clay, resin music paper, burlap, coffee filter pieces and tissue paper casting (center piece) that I made.  I added some paint (cobalt teal) in spots that were white or bare..  Then I added a strip of checkerboard duct tape to the binding.

Watch the progress:  and click on picture for close ups and then juicy close up towards the end.

Juicy close up alert on the following pictures.. click and click.

I sprayed PYMII on all my work to seal it.

I hope you enjoyed that progress of my journal cover.  It felt good to get messy again and up in the “Judio”.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

Bigger is not necessarily better

Huh?

I took on a challenge to start of large canvas measuring 24″ x 30″.  Not as easy as gluing, painting and collaging things on it like my other smaller works.  There are bigger spaces and I do the blank stare.  You know the look I”m talking about?  What the hell am I going to put in that big space?  Well, let me show you how it started and where I am with it now.

I gessoed the canvas then put on molding paste to get some texture on the surface.

I put a wash of quinacridone nickel azo gold paint then added Cobalt Teal in certain areas using Golden Fluid Acrylics.

So far so good, right?   Then I added some more texture with molding paste, stencils, doilies.

Then I added “Wood Icing” texture.

Here’s what the canvas looked like after the texture pastes.

Ok.. then I added two fleur di lis with molding paste, stained the wood icing and then I went on to painting the checkerboard and the fleur de lis…   Some parts I’m loving.. some.. eh.. not so much..

I am not liking the checkerboard… too overpowering.. so I”m going over it with a blue crackle paste.  I know, I know.. don’t worry.. it’ll be ok.

While the crackle paste was still wet, I ran a metal comb around in a cirle to give a spiral effect. Cool.

Here’s what the crackle paste looked like after it dried.  Love it.

Next up was to add some fabric to the canvas.  I used a caulking I bought at a dollar store a few years ago.  Works great.. strong bond.  I don’t stay with necessarily one product for adhesives.  I use gel medium, caulking and one of my favorites, “Weldbond“.

Let me stop here and tell you how much I changed on this canvas.  I got so engrossed into it that I didn’t take some pictures.  BUT… after I covered the checkerboard, I painted over the doily texture, then I put gold leaf on it.. then I put fabric over that.  Next, I painted over the wood icing, then I put fabric upholstery over the bottom half of that. I just was not liking where everything was falling.  I have a larger space towards the bottom that I’m not sure how that will flow.

So, here is the rest of the pix I took and then the last one is where is stands now.

Below, you can see I added more fabric and one of my coffee filter art pieces, and modeling cream by Viva Decor.

I pushed white acrylic paint into the crackle paste section then wiped it off.  The white sank into the cracks.  You can see the fabric to the bottom left and the roses on top.  Also in that area, I added an old paper doily piece that was ripped.

I also added cheese cloth to the large space on the bottom right and gold leaf.

See..this is what I mean.. bigger is not better, it’s a bit intimidating.  But, I am convinced that I will finish this and once I do, I’ll feel confident to tackle another one.

See what I mean about all the open space…. dun dun dun…. (insert scream here).

My plan is to get this done while I am on vacation from work.  I still have so much to do to it…collage papers, polymer clay…. I can’t wait to find out what I’ll do next.   I’ll blog my final pictures.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE !!!

Thanks for subscribing and stopping by.

Judy ♥ ♥

Back and new stuff…

You’re probably wondering, where the beejeezus is Judy.  She never writes, calls or sends flowers.  Sorry, I’m here.. been a long stretch, but I have updates.

Anyway, I had two weeks off from work and it was nirvana, I tell you.  But the funny thing was, I thought I was going to be up in the studio most of the time, but it never really worked out that way.  Three of us got the flu and that set me back a week, daughter home from college, cooking, gathering.. and on and on.  So, here I am almost 2 months later from starting my canvas….  Nuff of that…  moving on now…

So, last time, I left you with the latest canvas I started.  Click HERE to remember.

I took more still shots  of my work, but not every single step in my progress.  I got so caught up in the fun creative process.  But, I have a surprise for you at the end of this blog.

Here we go…

So, here is the progress about 3/4 the way through.

I made some flower stems from fabric that I loaded up with gel medium and let them dry.  Then ripped a lace-like tablecloth in a strip and diluted it with paint for the “grass” for the flowers.  You’ll see in a minute.

   

I forgot to mention that I cut a necklace chain for the stem of the bottom flower.  Bracelets for the ground of smaller flowers that were actually bobby pins.

Then I made my polymer clay leaves for the flowers.  I must say, stamping into clay is so fun.  In the center flower at the top of the canvas, I also stamped text into the leaves.  I am loving that look.   I may take a small portion of a larger rubber stamp and if I don’t particularly like the stamp anymore, I’ll cut the section off that I like.   A small detailed scissors is great to cutting around a clay stamped image.

To see my tutorial on how I make my “Buttons ‘n bellishments, GO HERE.  This shows you the button process, but can be used the same for embellishments.

Here are some final pictures, but at the end, I’ll take you through the process with a surprise.

On my wall….

.. and finally, what I have been working on all day… a short video of me going through my canvas.  A few corrections on words I noticed I should have fixed, but I had already done the video once before, so I kept it in. It’s just me talkin it up with you.   I hope you enjoy and would love some comments.

MixedMediaCanvas by Judy Shea 12112 from Judy Shea on Vimeo.

As always, thank you for stopping by and sharing this blog adventure with me.

Judy ♥

Mixed Media Love Letter

What’s THIS?  FEBRUARY?  I”d like to know where January went, please.  Seriously.

I’m not going to complain that we have had a very mild winter here in Mass.  If  the temps stay in the 40′s, I can still go for my walks.  I can handle low 40′s but anything under that..fuhgeddaboudit.

My latest piece is what I’ve been working on since my large canvas was complete.  After working on something that big that took so long, I sort of crashed from all the creative energy.

Well, I’ve done many of these “love letters” in the past.. you can see a previous post HERE.

This particular letter was for my niece, Caitlin.  A gift for purchasing her first condo.  So excited for her.

Here are some pictures and close up of the “C” and then I created a short video about it.

    

Well, there you have it. I hope you are enjoying the videos.  I’ll be doing more once I get in the groove of the editing.

In the meantime, create something and enjoy every minute of it.

Judy ♥

Don’t Do This!

Oh boy.. I have a few of these to work on.  How about you?

Something to ponder, for sure.

Judy ♥

Source: Uploaded by user via Izzy on Pinterest

In The Studio.. Coffee Filter Collage Art

Ok.. where did we leave off?  Oh yes.. computer drama. Don’t remind me.  Let’s just get to arting around.

I”m getting in the studio as much as I can.. sneaking in here and there.  Today, I want to take you down the road of making used coffee filter collage papers.  You’ve heard me mention them before in this post.

I am a coffee drinker.. every day…so I started to save the filters. Once they had time to absorb the used coffee grinds, they are stained beautifully.  If you aren’t a coffee drinker, go buy yourself a cheap jar of instant coffee grounds and stain paper or even fabric which absorbs is like a sponge.  You can also use tea or even beets (see post I did here).

So, let’s begin, shall we…

(Oh, and a note before I start.. I”m trying to keep my pictures in a smaller format so that it won’t take forever to draw the picture for you.  Click on the picture to get a bit bigger shot.  Thanks.)

It starts with taking the filter with the coffee grinds still in in and laying it out on a plate, paper bag, plastic bag; you get the idea.  Let it dry – then wipe off the filters.  The plate on the right is after I’ve wiped the grinds off the filter.  The paper plate I used gets all coffee stained too and that can be cut up and used in your collages also.

I took the filter and did a wash of teal acrylic paint and water.  Let dry.  I love the contrast of the paint and the natural coffee stains.

  

I spread gel medium on one side, let dry then the other to make the filter a bit stronger.  Then I used “YES” glue to adhere my pieces. It’s not bad to work with; I wanted to give it a try. A little stiffer to spread.

   

So, I’m just taking whatever I have in my studio and start gluing to my filter.

This piece below is a coffee filter that I painted and glittered with many layers.. so I”m going to rip that up and use it. I just love my lace paper with the spiral. Yum.

Below, adding lace and tissue papers.  The tissue paper on the bottom was hand stamped with one of my tiny hand carved stamps.. so cute.

Adding fabric and painted doily.

Now, after I added some lace to the edge of the filter, I wanted to stain it.. so I used Distress Ink – Wild Honey.  I took the ink pad and rubbed it on my craft sheet (or you could use palette or freezer paper (shiny side) and spritz some water on it to create an ink liquid.  Then I just brushed it on the lace.  I dabbed a little of teal paint on it too.. cuz you know I’m a “teal” freak.

  

This fleur de lis was done with tissue casting.  Like paper casting, but I do it with tissues.  I’ve never tried the actual paper casting where they shred papers in a blender with liquids and smoosh those fibers into molds.   Little Miss Patience (me), has no time for that.   I found this site on paper casting with tissue paper and glue  just to give you an idea of what I’m talking about..

In the method I use, it’s layers of tissue (the kind you blow your nose with) and gel medium on a rubber stamp.. then I stained with inks, filled the image with glitter glue and dipped the edges in a little pool of Krylon Gold Leaf.

I tried to do a butterfly image transfer onto the filter, but it did not come out all the way.. so I drew an eye in the section that was empty.  I quite like it.

Here’s the final coffee filter collage:

Well, that was fun.

Wait.. I’m not done…  So, I had this little canvas, 2 1/2 x 3 1/2″, just hanging around.  I decided to paint/collage it and give it away.

Here’s how it came about….

 

I started by making my own spray paints using acrylic paints and water.. Sprayed the canvas using all the colors in different places and letting some colors drip.  I dipped a cap into red acrylic paint and stamped that on the canvas.  Cut out some old dictionary pages into circles.  Used oil pastels for shading around the circles.  Added my stripe border and stained it.

YOU WANT IT???  Leave a comment and tell a friend.  I’ll draw a winner by next weekend (US only please.. sorry).

Well, as you can see, I couldn’t contain myself  this week; especially since I was gone for two.  Hope you enjoyed the ride.

.. and as always THANK YOU for stopping by and checking things out.

Judy ♥

Snow…… Happy March 1st

Just when you thought you were going to squeak by winter with no more snow, since the freak storm in October,that is, and being one of the driest winters on record………… this happens.

              

…but I know who’s enjoying it the most…..

         

.. and it’s still snowing…  Enjoy.

Judy ♥

Extending Give-a-way!!

I’ve decided to extend my drawing for my give a way for another week.  So, if you’re interested in winning my mini mixed media canvas, you can still leave a comment until next Friday, 3/10.

 

Hope you are all having a great weekend.

Judy ♥

Give-a-way Winner and Mixed Media Page

Numbered everyone in order of replies.

My first reply was from Mary Nasser… Congrats, Mary.  Send me your address.

If you didn’t win this one.. I’ll be doing more give-a-ways.. no worries.

and….

Here’s my latest play in the studio….11×14 on Bristol paper.  That was another fun piece to do.  These kind of pages are never planned.  I usually start smooshing paint with my fingers or squeege, grabbing any papers, fabrics, etc. that are left on my table.  Some things I found on my walk, like a cigarette box that was teal colored; it’s in there. The tree trunk is a dictionary page that I ripped in tiny strips.  It was a ribbon, but I changed my mind and covered it. I even put in a cup cake aluminum paper holder (does that make sense?).  Those are great to save.. nice and light.

I was in a trance putting those dots on my black drippage of paint.  Ohm!

Well, I think we have seen the last of snow here.  We’re getting some crazy temperature days.  30′s, 60′s, 50′s.  But, I can feel Spring in the air now.

Thank you for stopping by and participating in my give-a-way. More to come.

Have a great weekend, everyone.. that’s an order!

Judy ♥