Feelin' Productive Now!

Besides the post below with ATCs for the ARTchix pink post contest, fat book pages, skinny book pages and more, I got these four ATCs with embellished sugar skulls done for ebay. Not only did I get them listed, I managed to squeeze in some tags to satisfy some ebay group contests, such as "numbers" for CaaT and "Halloween" for AWLA. I was feeling very productive until I noticed it was 2 a.m. Oh, well! This is my 85th post, so getting ever closer to the 100th post party. But I digress. Back to Sugar Skulls.....just love them, think they are fun and whimsical, and they have a nice history. Just got a decoupaged cigarillo tin with a sugar skull on the front. I have my business cards in it. Also, I have a "blank" metal lunch box, and I am thinking of decoupaging sugar skulls on it. Why? I do not know.

Is This Obnoxious or What? (Yippeeee!)

I was so excited to come home from work (after about 300 miles) and log in to all my various spots to find I had won some awards from one of my ebay groups! CaaT - Complementary Art And Things held a collage sale contest starting Aug. 31. This announcement had been up almost all month, and as a lover of collage, I couldn't wait to list my entries. Unfortunately for all the sellers, collage did not do very well, but I was thrilled to win (can I say it?) ALL THREE prizes!! Wheee! They were: most entries (natch), highest sale and most unique bids. I entered prints of some of my collages pictured here on my slide show below as well as 3 different styles of my ZNE August Book Club beeswax collage "I Saw a Spirit." What actually sold, though, were collaged domino pendants, also pictured here.

I hope the slow sales don't indicate bad things for collage in general; but we shall see. I have enjoyed collage for as long as I can remember, including collaging one whole wall of my college dorm room. I also remember helping my brother collage the walls of his antique shop in the 1970s, and those were like 20' high walls and huge rooms. Ahhh, the 70s.

Welcome to Zetti Pre-School

I created this 8 x 10 paper collage on artist board today, using some heads I got in a Zetti swap with ARTchix friend Jade from Michigan. I made this for my Flickr Zetti group. There are nearly 300 members, fans and afficionados of artist Teesha Moore. There are also over 1,000 gorgeous pieces of art to view here http://www.flickr.com/groups/zettiology/ including some of mine.

Some of the bodies are from Lisa's Altered Art on ebay; some of the heads and hair were drawn by me. The wings are from a wall paper border (what a clever idea!) given to me by my CaaT friend Sue Young in Tampa for our Art & Scent swap.

The teachers' instructions are helpful: please leave extra-large wings, wands and heads at home on gym day. Bring nap mats and cupcakes on Tuesday. I did have a rabbit head girl I drew also, but she wouldn't fit. However, I have four Zetti postcards due October 15 for a Swapbot swap, so I am sure she will come in handy.

If you haven't scanned all the way to the bottom of my blog, there is an ever-changing, ever-growing slide show running, courtesy of Ning, the new home of the ZNE Talk art group, and home to a bunch of fabulous artists.

A Few Childhood Mementos

I took these pictures for my ZNE Book Club assignment and decided to post them here, too. Our assignment was to reflect on where we stash our little treasures we accumulate and what special life mementos we have kept.

There are a couple places new acquisitions go, depending on what they are, and I consider them in a "holding pattern" until I decide what to do with them. Besides having a candle shelf in my linen closet, I have sort of a junk jewelry drawer for all small miscellaneous. That drawer presently also has some coupons and a crocheted bird in a fabric bowl. That's where my high school charm bracelet, pictured here, resides. It is too noisy and kind of tattered to wear, but I still love to look at it. Every charm means something. This is "back in the day" when brides gave their maids a charm instead of a new car for being in the wedding.

There is also an armoir in my office, full of my yarn stash, mailing supplies, a jewelry box, and my grade school girl scout sash, pictured. Look at all those badges! I see one for scultping- I have no idea what I did to earn that.

And finally my baby shoes and a little silver spoon my mom gave me, although not my baby spoon, are tucked (usually) into the drawer of the little antique desk in my office that is too rickety to sit at.

We were supposed to solder a charm and make a magic wand to close out our assignment. I did actually get the wand started, and it is painted silver and gold at the moment. It is also in a holding pattern and may get moved on to my witch hat swap holding pile (along with my stuffed crow and rat that were in the armoir) since it would be a key accessory.

Our new book for September is Alphabetica by Lynne Perella. ZNE is absolutely a wonderfuly group of talented people, and we are having great fun right now with our new and improved chat home on Ning. Come check it out:http://zneiscraft.ning.com/.

Thanks also to Falcon or Spastikat of Artists who Love Art on ebay for my crocheted flip flops in our secret swap and to Sue Johnson of CaaT for my incredible goody box in our Art and Scent swap. The candle is burning right now!

ARTchix Sepia ATC Swap

Another early morning as I was so excited about last night's completion of my sepia tone artist trading cards for swap in my ARTchix group that I had to get up early to photograph, upload, edit and post right here!
Today was also the opening day for the CaaT Complementary Art and Things collage and altered arts theme week. So, I had to get my 6 different collage prints uploaded and listed. Just try dealing with photobucket, photo editor, ebay, ebay groups, scanner, printer and camera- all at 6 a.m. Please search ebay under hpsgsmith and buy yourself a signed, suitable for framing print and help me win my CaaT challenge!
But I am done, done, done and looking forward to an artsy weekend! Friday to Monday is also the annual Blueberry Festival in Plymouth, IN - one of the largest arts and crafts festivals in the state and nation, or so they say. Hope to find some great goodies for my swap gifts! And I have lots of projects on the weekend's front burner, including some altered domino pendants that I will list for sale. Also, what perfect weather for a three-day weekend! O, happy day!

Of House and Home: Living In Color

Never one to miss an opportunity to get two birds with one stone (not really, would never hurt a flea, and BTW: what is it with me and birds lately?), I decided to do my ZNE Book Club http://www.znebookclub.info/ third week assignment to blog about "Home" and my ebay CaaT group, Complementary Art And Things Blog Cafe assignment on "Color" together.
Although we have only lived in this house two years out of more than 20, this is the first one that truly feels like home. Before that, I would often think of my childhood home as "home." But, this one - this one grabs me, gets me, and satisfies, for the most part, everyone under the roof. It is like living in the country, while still living in a subdivision.
Although it is an older neighborhood and older home by today's yuppie standards, it is so SOLID. I just love that. I feel safe, secure. It is is quiet. If you don't want to enjoy a storm, crickets, a train, whatever, you don't have to. But, if you do, we have two patios and a deck, although modest, they are outside with beautiful views. We have had deer at our front window (yes, looking in) and bunnies coming on to our patio, not to mention the neighbor's two golden retrievers, Grace and Ellie, who were used to handouts from the previous neighbors. Apparently those folks thought throwing bones in the yard was a good idea. (We spent weeks on cleanup and rehab).
Although there are some older features like non-buried power lines, the inside is thoroughly modern, Millie, and the 32' foot long kitchen is a dream, and was the selling feature (as the green and gold shag carpets were not). We are lucky enough to have a living room, family room and finished basement great room, so everyone has a place to go. The 4th bedroom in the finished basement is perfect for adult daughter, Pookie. (OT- I love the blog Pookie and Fig just for name's sake http://pookieandfig.blogspot.com/).
Another funky older feature is that the first owners had a chimney, mantle and wood stove in what was formerly the kitchen or family room, and is now the laundry room. Not too many people get a stone chimney and mantle in their laundry room (see pix). It is the perfect place for my Americana, basket and primitive collections in red, white and blue, of course. I do love color, and my son's bedroom is also r/w/b, although mostly because that is what it was before and this house came with a bedroom with red carpet - the ONLY carpet we kept. Lucky him.
Most of my walls are all off white, also old-school but so much the better for decorating. However, the kitchen does have two cranberry and two faded mustard walls, which I love.
Most everything else is a muted mix, earthy tones of tans, sages, browns, faded blues. I love my ocean bathroom and the brown bathroom. The main bedroom is robin's egg blue with some bright salmon paisley from Land's End, which somehow works great. My office has touches of lavender and is where I keep a lot of my whimsy stuff.
Although all my other country cutie crap has been relegated to garage sales, I just couldn't part with some of these red, white and blue items. I especially love my prim Americana angel I've had so long I don't know where I got her, and I am proud of my cross stitch sampler, a county fair blue ribbon winner. Also love the r/w/b fabric crow on an antique doorknob base.

New Halloween Trading Cards

I can't believe how many hours I just spent to make 10 Artist Trading Cards! It was over an hour per card. Then it took me another hour to photograph, upload, list on ebay, list in my groups, and now here I am! While listing them on ebay I realized my listing fees were more than my asking price! Talk about a smart business move! But in truth, I make them for fun, and I am amazed every time someone buys one. All the cutting, pasting, gluing and decorating are all just like playing to me. (The subject of our CaaT blog this week). They are listed under hpsgsmith on ebay, or click my link at right. Sorry, I can't bear to part with the "Little Witch." I raided my own vintage photos for that one, and by that I really mean MY own. So, I know it's a vintage photo of over 40 years old-ouch!

I Saw A Spirit - collage

Here is a little collage I did for my ZNE Book Club assignment this week. We are to create a mixed media collage one step at a time, by drawing random tasks from a bowl and performing them in order. Mine were: write, use Twinkling H2Os, sandpaper, sand again, stamp with bleach, distress in some way, use water color crayons, paint, distress, apply a photo, scratch, apply a transparency, apply magazine bits, apply background paper bits, apply text, overstamp, seal.

I made this copy, and also a sepia one, before sealing as I think I will coat it with beeswax or maybe spooky beeswax drips, I haven't decided.

Next up is a numbers theme ATC for my ATC/ACEO Enthusiasts group on ebay, and the collage will also serve for the August month-end collage challenge for CaaT. I am continually amazed by all the talented people on ebay! It would be so great to do nothing but create, post, sell, buy, read beautiful blogs, rinse and repeat all day long!

Tonight I picked up some more art supplies. I am going to try my hand at acrylics, so I got some paint, brushes and thick little fat canvases (5x5). I also got a bunch of paint swatches (Lowe's) and will be collecting wallpaper swatches for my next endeavor.

Finally, I am awaiting some domino-size tiles in the mail from my BkNq (book-nique) group, out of which I am supposed to make a tiny book. Not sure what my subject will be! I have gotten lots of suggestions at home for verrrry short books, such as "Guide to Safe Hunting," by Dick Cheney and so on...you get the idea...and I don't want a political blog!

Jewelry Art

Here are some of my favorite bracelets I've made using handmade ceramic beads from earthenwood studios.http://earthenwood-gallery.blogspot.com/. Check it out!

The Halloween one is my favorite and also includes a sterling web and spider from Penny Michelle http://www.pennymichelle.com/. Check that out too! Most of my other findings are from Bead Source in Fort Wayne. Some of my jewelry is for sale at Canal Street Gallery in Winona Lake and Boutique Exchange in Warsaw, both in northern Indiana. I used to also sell at Inspire Me! in South Bend and Park Boutique in Goshen. I probably should get some around on ebay or etsy! I need a business manager!

Melanie at Earthenwood pictured these on her blog, and http://earthenwood-gallery.blogspot.com/2007/08/by-gina-smith.htmlI am quite flattered. I just tried to take some better pictures to send her, so I thought I would go outside. My Kodak Easyshare usually works pretty good on "beach" setting for anything bright, but it was just toooo bright. The camera even fogged up- now that's humid and/or disgusting! Back inside in the cool..... taking a little time to add this to my blog.

Melanie also reminded me about another great artist: Karen Fincannon, who made the ceramic cat on my desk. Check out her beautiful beads, ceramics and paintings at http://www.karenfincannon.com.

There are so many things I want to make I don't know what to do first-plus, so many great magazines to read. I just got Art & Life #8 by Teesha Moore, an art journal zine in full color, and a back issue from 1992 of hers called "Play." She has great stuff for sale on her website.http://www.teeshamoore.com/.

I also got Somerset Home and Somerset Studio Gallery and Somerset Memories. But, no time to read if I am going to make stuff.

AWLA on ebay is having a challenge Aug. 10-17 for the best piece of art made with the theme "rock." I have some ideas so must get busy. I am also in a secret swap there, and would like to find a fat book or ATC fat book swap. If anyone has one, let me know.

Plus I just got some new rubber stamps and need to mount them. Stamp On It in Grand Rapids has nice, inexpensive blocks. Really, who has time to work? Good thing I love my job! Happy Creating. I am going to cook a fabulous birthday dinner now. Certainly food can be art as well.

More Artist Trading Cards!

I can't believe I finally made some ATCs. I have been resisting for months. I love seeing everyone else's. The talented people on ebay, ZNE, and in some of the published books, such as by Bernie Berlin, are amazing. I didn't think I could work that small, but I am pretty happy with how these turned out. I want to list them on ebay just to gauge a reaction, but I kind of don't want to part with them. I think the lady at the scanner place thought I was weird when she saw these, but I am hoping fellow ATC artists will think I am pretty O.K. The first one below is called "Free Bird."

My First Artist Trading Cards