Home Sweet Home

So who receives adorable and great swap artwork from friends and sticks it in a drawer for a year? Okay, guilty. But rarely do I not find a way to display my swap treasures. In this case I had high hopes of finding tiny hinges to attach this row of an artist's dozen of matboard houses I received in Jeri Aaron's Row House Swap last spring. I would look at them wistfully, actually not in a drawer, but in my art supply cupboard slash armoire slash entertainment center slash holding spot.

Finally, I gave up on hinges and used that master of all adhesives: duct tape. The top two photos show the 11 houses I received plus one of my own, now on display in my studio. The bottom two photos show some of the houses I made and sent for this fun swap- one of my favorites ever.

I almost didn't join the swap because I don't have a good cutting tool for matboard and had visions of the very crooked B- mats I had cut in my art class in college back in the day. But like a hostess with the mostess, Jeri offered to cut out the house shapes for me in exchange for a trade of western US ephemera (old postcards and such) which I sent to her. So it was a win-win.

Jeri hosts wonderful art retreats in Texas and other areas, including the Smokey Mountains this fall. Check out her Artful Gathering blog for more info and lots of great art!

Home Sweet Home or By The Sea?

Home Sweet Home or By The Sea? I'll take them both! Maybe someday my home sweet home will be by the sea. I'm a bit fond of Myrtle Beach. The sweet houses, top, are the 11 luscious receipts from Jeri Aaron's House Row Swap http://artfulgathering.typepad.com. I made my artist's dozen to send while in Myrtle Beach, in fact, on vacation in April and blogged about them here http://lillysoflondonish.blogspot.com/2008/04/thinking-about-home.html.

I had almost forgotten about them when my package arrived from Jeri. I received great houses, from (top row, L-R) Virginia Madison, Jan Love, Sue Day, Kim Newberg (a fellow shabby sister), Susie Cazier and Anita Edmonds. In the bottom row (L-R) are Gloria H?, Gwynn Thoma, Susan Tidwell, Liane Ceglar and Gerdie Fisher. Many recipients are talking about adding hinges to make a folding screen-type display or mantle piece. Sounds like a great idea to me. I can't bear to put these away and not display them. For more eye candy and more houses, Jeri's blog is really a treat. Visit her older posts, too!

The 'By the Sea' page is a 4 x 4 I made tonight for the Chubbyville group all original page swap, hosted by Debbie Metti. I will mail this one off and get a different one in return. I am keeping all my monthly original receipts and other random 4 x 4's, and I will bind them into a book at the end of the year. My "Song of the Sea" page has a removable tag that can be used as a book mark. I attached the copper starfish charm and seashell with silk cord, after drilling a hole in the shell (and burning up a drill bit). Who knew seashells were so hard? I guess that explains how they survive for thousands of years. See you by the sea........

Thinking About Home

I am not at all sure what kind of wacky person "works" during vacation, but then again, I don't consider my art "work" - even though I have deadlines. So, it was with great pleasure bordering on wild abandon (okay maybe that's a tidge overstated) that I spread out all my art supplies that I had packed and set about making my dozen houses for Jeri's House Row Swap. Once I got going, it was a lot of fun, and I couldn't stop, didn't stop, until about 3 a.m. yesterday, today, whatever that is. I even packed them up and mailed them off from here, so I wouldn't have to drag them home. Some of my houses are titled "Green House," "Blue Beach House," "Secret Memories" and "Indian Fun House." I am satisfied with them and can't wait to see the swap returns. Ms. Laurie Blau-Marshall posted an exquisite one on her blog Living Out Loud http://loudlife-laurieblaumarshall.blogspot.com. I'm telephathically requesting it in my swap package. Laurie also paid me a very nice compliment, as did Heidi http://mermaidsdowry.blogspot.com which I need to post and pass on soon.

Something Old, Something New

North Myrtle Beach sort of looks the same, I guess. Or maybe I should say my pictures always look the same. New on the scene, though, is the Hard Rock Amusement park, opening April 15 with The Eagles' Life in the Fast Lane Coaster, Led Zeppellin gift shop and more. The Eagles and The Moody Blues (are they even alive?) will play for the grand opening. We will miss both, but I did learn there is now a free "backstage tour" offered at the new theme park. So, why not? There is even a "paying" hard hat tour. Not sure that will be necessary. Too many other things to do. Like shop. Sunbathe. Eat shrimp until I grow a tail. Will not be posting photos of any of these things.

On the art front, as opposed to ocean-front, I completed my first of 12 houses for Jeri Aaron's http://artfulgathering.typepad.com/ House Row Swap. I needed to make a haunted house anyway for an ARTchix contest http://www.artchixstudio.com/ and Stampington & Co is seeking vintage Halloween images until April 15 for publication, so I decided to do triple duty. My house is pictured here. That's handmade holey paper standing in for cobwebs in case you're wondering. Some of the elements used were required for the ARTchix part. I was thrilled that Jeri not only asked me to be in this swap but also in a "side deal," she cut my houses for me in trade for some ephemera. The houses are mat board, which is pretty heavy, and I usually can draw blood just using an ink pen. So I was appreciative of her cutting efforts! If you want to see some really cool finished houses, check out Kathy Wasilewski's at http://alteredantiquity.typepad.com/. They are really great!

And it is such a small art world, really. My dear new Blythe friend Angela, herself an accomplished and published artist http://geminiangelsart.blogspot.com/, invited me to join Altered Art Divas Reliquary on Yahoo, which I promptly did, and ran in to Jeri there! I have yet to look up 'reliquary' to remind myself what it means, but I'm pretty sure it means "bunch of broads with one foot in grave doing art." Don't tell Angela I said that. But our Blythes keep us young. Or, maybe it is just the scouring of vintage stores for valuable doll clothes that keeps us that way.

Back to art.