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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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?

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…

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
 

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

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.

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

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

♥ 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

 

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

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.

 

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.

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!

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.

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

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

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.

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

… 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

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

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

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

Hey Blogsters… Thought it was time for another delish dish for you grillers out there.

First, I LOVE my grill pan… just love it..  I picked it up at Bed, Bath & Beyond.
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, once you get this pan.

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

• Put them over pasta with grated Parmesan cheese.
• 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 quesidilla with cheese.

If you can think of more ideas.. go for it and let me know what you did.

I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by.

Judy

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.

… 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?????”

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..

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