Fantastic Blog Award!

I received this sweetest of blog awards from the incredibly-talented Jade Adams of Jade's Funki Junk. Jade has a great Zetti style and has been published in Stamper's Sampler and Somerset Studio too many times to count. I think we met via ARTchix, so it is appropriate that Jade was tagged by Helga, owner of ARTchix, to tell seven random things about herself. Jade tagged me, but everything about me is so random, I am taking the lazy way out. Jade also has super cool jewelry and collage sheets in her Etsy store. Check out her blog and shop. Jade and I have met in person, along with her mom Vonda and her sister Coral (her other sister is Amber!). We shopped and swapped at Crafts 2000 in Monroe, MI. Since then we've crossed paths some more in The Faerie Zine, ATC World, ZNE, Flickr and more. She's become a special art friend.

A is for Asparagus and ATCs, B is for Banners, Boxes, BSU and Burt's Bees, V is for Vegas and Vacation, W is for Winter and Whining

Hello....I am typing this post with gloves on, so I will try to catch all the typos ahead of time! Why gloves? Two reasons: (multi-tasking as usual) I bought some cotton gloves and hand cream from Burt's Bees to work on my dry cuticles (it works!) and due to the slow spring and snow in Indiana and the loose storm window over my desk, it is freezing in my home office. It is also freezing in my basement studio. Yes, we have indoor plumbing and heating, but I refuse to set the thermostat ridiculously high in March! I'd rather whine!!

So enough of that! First off, thanks to Kris L. Hurst of Blissfull (sic) Elements http://krislhurst.blogspot.com/ on etsy and her website, for my beautiful new spring banner. The blog needed a facelift! So cheery! And, she is so talented; you'll see her work on many blogs.

Now, on to last weekend's art fest here (in said cold basement). I finished up two sets of artist trading cards for the ATC World swaps, and I randomly made another mermaid theme charm bracelet for etsy http://www.hpsgsmith.etsy.com/.

Plus, managed to squeeze in a traditional Easter dinner with ham, asparagus, et. al., two! naps, a couple of new articles written, magazines read, Blythes dressed and photographed and some thought given to what to pack for vacation (10 day countdown) and what to take to Art & Soul (36 day countdown). My co-workers are in Las Vegas this week but not me (zero day countdown); so I am grouchy.

I also got an email from my alma mater BSU about sending final exam goody boxes to students, and it made me cry. Why? When I lived in the dorm (back in the day and long enough ago so as not to cry), a dorm of four halls and hundreds of girls, the staff sent letters home seeking boxes of candy and gifts for all the students to open the night before Finals' Week. I was the only one who did not get one at the frenzied opening. I guess my letter got lost. It was traumatic to say the least. But, I'm sure I aced my finals for spite. That's how I rolled. I need to go send a box to someone....

What I Did on my Work Vacation a.k.a. 'The Weekend'

Did I do all this this weekend? Yup. Did I eat and sleep? Yes. Did I go out to eat, do some laundry, lose Larry the Cat in the coat closet for three hours? Check. One of my always-inspiring Art and Poetry on-line friends said it looks like I cram a month into my weekends. And I guess I do. That's because I love love love doing all this stuff so much, and there is never enough time. Whoever heard of working 5 days and having a two-day weekend? Someone needs to re-write that book! Let's put on our lawyer pants and walk down that road (fave new line from a stupid commercial).

So what have we here? A canvas for The ZNE Book Club, studying Traci Bautista's Collage Unleashed ("See Rock City"), an altered nicho or dream box from ARTChix Studios for The Faerie Zine's 3-D Fairytale box swap ("I hope you dance: In emergency, break glass for pixie dust"), 32 charms (Mermaid Ballerinas) for Art & Soul swap, Tulip earrings for Cottage Style Street Team (CSST) on Etsy, listing 3/15/08, Barbie and Cancelled Stamps (Love is the center of the Universe) for Artists' Trading Card (ATC) World Yahoo! group swaps, and nautical and purple mother-of-pearl charm bracelet I made over the weekend, listed on etsy and promptly sold. I think I may miss this one! Send caffeine!

The Sugar Skulls are Back

I had fun messing around with some more sugar skull artist trading cards (ATCs) for etsy http://www.hpsgsmith.etsy.com and for Artist Trading Card World http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ATC_world/. Four will go to a swap, and four will be for sale in a minute. I used water color paper, watercolors, gel pens, rhinestones, glitter, Stickles glitter glue, micro beads and silver and gold leaf. I think the idea behind The Day of the Dead and baking and decorating sugar skulls is a really positive thing- a nice way to celebrate the lives of those who are gone. I don't know why people get creeped out by skulls; we all have one.

I nearly broke mine just now though, as I was carrying a cookie sheet of these (that's how I dry them) down the basement stairs to my studio when I tripped in my too long jeans and high-heeled boots which I failed to take off earlier. I almost always work in my pajamas or sweats, and now I know why. Besides that, I always get dirty with ink, glue, paint, glitter, etc. Back to work after I list these and change.

Check out My Latest Review

Check out my latest book review pf Kaari Meng's French-Inspired Jewelry at http://www.vintageindie.com or click the headline above to go straight to the review (hint: I liked this book!). The author has also written The French-Inspired Home which I will be reviewing soon. Vintage indie has tons of great ideas, links to sites and just a lot of good eye candy.

I also interviewed ZNE Art Dolls group founder, artist and collector Judy Keefe here http://chelise.typepad.com/zne_dollz/2008/03/zne-art-dolls-g.html. You can check out my article as well as many other artists' profiles. Be sure to click on the links within the interview because Judy has some way cool doll photos and art.

So what's on tap for my weekend? I have some ATCs due in a couple of swaps: Sugar Skulls and WWBD (What would Barbie do?), both for ATC World on Yahoo! I have bits and pieces of jewelry findings spread out all over, having hit La Beada Loca today in Valparaiso, and needing to make 32 charms before April 1. I also got my watercolor paper cut for my Art & Soul pages, so now I just need to paint 44 pages front and back, so they can get dry and be ready for embellishing. Finally, I want to take some Blythe photos for the Blythe in America beauty pageant, and I need to make a 3D fairytale vignette box and get it shipped off.

Please someone make a staying awake pill that lasts 48 hours! Oh, did I mention I have a canvas due for my book club, um, tonight, actually, and chipboard thingies due for Shabby Cottage Studio design team and something tulip-y due for the Cottage Style Street Team campaign on Etsy? Must. back. away. from. computer. now.

Valentine's Swapping Busy-ness

Valentine's Day is such a perfect time for swapping with art friends! First of all, so many of us like pink, glitter, foo-foo, frou-frou, lace, sequins and anything else girly and over-the-top, and for this event we can really pile it on. Victorian images are also appropriate, as are children, animals, fairies, hearts, angels and more.

So it was no stretch to complete a dozen valentine ATCs for ATC World on Yahoo! There are six 'My Funny Valentine' cards and six "Vintage Valentine Collage' cards. Then, I made three embellished dresses for The Faerie Zine Vintage Valentine Swap, and the jar fairy is my January contribution to the Shabby Cottage Studio Design Team assignment http://www.shabbycottagestudio.com, using a collage sheet from SCS for the clown/cupid/fairy inside. Everyone needs at least one captured fairy. Don't worry; they don't mind being captured. Some images above by me and thanks to the following for other images: Shabby Cottage Studio, Paula's Kit Club, Sea Dream Studio, Stampington templates, spark*your*imagination, and the late Murphy L. Smith. Can't wait to get my swap exchanges back!

Lovin' Zentangles -My New Therapy

As prescribed by me and introduced to me by Jade Adams and her mom Vonda Robert of ARTchix, ATC World, ZettiZoo (and well, where aren't they?), Zentangles are the best relaxation therapy ever.

They take time; you have to concentrate and focus on only them, and it's fun! It took me a while to find a pen I like, breezing through Pigma Microns of various sizes, Uniballs, a Gel Extreme 0.5 and a Sharpie extra fine (Santa put some of those in my stocking).

Today I packaged up six of my first eight for an ATC World swap hosted by Ms. Vonda. Can't wait to get some back. Besides being relaxing to make, they also make you think when you look at them. For more information, go to http://www.zentangle.com/.

See what you see in my Zentangles.

More Art, Less Talk!

Just a quick post to get my new ATCs on the blog. Barbara from KY requested a Fairy Dreams card she saw on Flickr that I had made for the ARTchix swap http://www.artchixstudio.com/, and I realized I had mailed them all away and didn't even keep one for myself. I told her this, and she asked if I would make two: one for her and one for me (sneaky!). Anyway, I made 11; some are for swaps, and some are to keep. I may be needing them since I joined ATC World on Yahoo! They are swap-crazy there.

Here's a few I made Sunday. More on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12448123@N07/sets/72157601840823673/.

By the way, how can a four day weekend that really started Wednesday night be so dang short and pass so fast?

It Wasn't Even My Birthday!

Although the plan was for a Zetti-style Holiday ATC swap at lunch, I think this "Bonus Mona" might be my favorite. I feel like I should have headlined this post "I Did Not Make These!" And, if all this sounds like code, let me explain.

It was a gathering of ARTchix as Jade, her sister Coral and mom Vonda and I gathered, never having met before, with the original intent of Jade and I swapping a holiday card and some goodies. Goodies in the art world can mean just about anything, but usually ephemera and little bits and baubles to alter with.

However, I had my binder of ATC cards that I had made and so did Jade. Plus I had some that I have gotten from swaps (and am keeping) so we had a look-fest, and then the swapping began in earnest. I had made Vonda and Coral surprise cards anyway, and Vonda had one she had made with her (the purple-gray angel here) from her ATC Cemetery and Statuary group which she gave to me. Then Jade saw some more she liked and so did I. That girl is seriously talented and so is her family. Mom Vonda just won the ARTchix Fairy Dreams swap!

They also turned me onto Crafts 2000 as well as some cool Yahoo! groups: ATC World, Altered Heads, Zetti Zoo, Cemetery and Statuary as well as Zentangles. http://www.zentangle.com/. Ah! More stuff to learn and do!

The Christmas Greetings, Eighth Dwarf and Mona are all from Jade and the Crusty Tale Mermaid on an actual canvas is from Dana of fairydustedmermaids on ebay and Flickr.

Coral's goodies are coming by post, and not faux post either! That's an ARTchix joke. Okay, so I guess we artistas are weird. But, we're a (mostly) happy lot.