Teeny Tiny Sewing Machine and Cat Shown Actual Size

Hello there...I was 'sew' excited to find my sewing machine arrived when I got home from La Florida yesterday. What good is this, you ask? It will sew through paper, fabric, do leetle repairs and most importantly, assist in all forms of altered art. Plus, it is the least intimidating sewing machine I have ever seen- considering I haven't seen one since eighth grade- and even then, I didn't like them. No blue ribbons in 4H for skirts and aprons for me. In fact, no 4H for me, which is why I "made" Adrienne do it. But that's another story. Even Lester is not intimidated by this. Got the little gem from Stampington for $10.95. (Go pitiful Notre Dame today). Off for a pedi.

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.

Finally! Time to Get My Hands Dirty Again!

Yippee! Finally some time to spend on art after a one-week hiatus. Where to start? It actually took me awhile to get going. Everything I started on looked bad. I just didn't feel like anything was working. So, I took a break and hooked up my new color copier, scanner, printer which had been sitting in the box for two weeks. It was super easy to set up, but my laptop died, then my second battery died, then I discovered my power cord went missing from my suitcase, having been right on top when I left Florida. So I hooked it to our other computer, and being wireless, it will be easy to hook to my laptop when I getting it going again.

With that accomplishment out of the way, I went on to finish my page for the All Originals Fat Book monthly theme swap. As the theme is pink and breast cancer awareness, you can see my contribution. Be sure to visit www.savethetatas.com. I also photographed two of my entries for the ARTchix Pink Post contest. Can't wait to hear the results of the Pet Post contest!

Still on a mini-roll, I assembled nine of my background pages for the Altered Abbey Skinny Book swap. I have 27 finished (obvy) double-sided pages due in less than 3 weeks. So, a lot of pages left to make, and finishing these pages is yet to come. Don't have any idea yet what I am going to do. A lot of the coolest pages I've seen have birds on them, but I'd like to think of something myself. Maybe I'll think of birds!

Finally, these rubber stamps were on my work table, just asking to be photographed. My Stampin' Up monthly club order came, as well as a cute crow in a dress from Invoke Arts. So much to do!

Another Yummy Entry

pink
Originally uploaded by Zalita

Still "stranded" with no access to my art or photos to blog, so I borrowed another fantastic cupcake from my Flickr group and talented member Zalita. Just felt the need for some new eye candy!

Hello From Sunny Florida

No pictures to post; no camera here; but I feel incomplete if I don't blog regularly! I am in sunny Florida, from sunny Indiana, for a week of work. My base is Orlando. Today I saw a power station and one of the towers of wires and such, out of many, was shaped like a mouse head with the famous ears. I wonder how Disney arranged that? Today was spent seeing clients in Tampa. Did not spot a single art-related store, although an ARTchix pal told me a couple exist. We were going to meet up, but she teaches school, and I was in and out of Tampa during the day. Being in ZNE and ARTchix and other groups makes it kind of fun to know there are kindred souls all around. In fact, I recently mailed an art card to an Artchix chick in England who is sending me one in return. I was a little skeptical when the post office charged me only 90 cents, but Charline in Lincolnshire tells me it arrived, finally. Can't wait to get home to work on my 27 skinny book swap pages (front and back!) and I have one 4 x4 page due in Oct. for breast cancer awareness. I want to get all this done before vacation beckons!

Zettiology Group Postcard Swap

Here are four postcards I just finished yesterday that are going to Maine, Massachusetts and Florida-somebody's mailman will have raised eyebrows for sure. I see I still have a little fine-tuning slash Botox-ing to do on these. The digital camera can be so unkind! I made my postcards reminders for Zetti Pre-School Photo Day. One says "Smile your Best Smile....limit one head per child, other restrictions may apply." You know the drill. Well, probably you don't and find this awfully weird, but 270 group members cannot be wrong. Check it out here http://www.flickr.com/groups/zettiology/. I am also uploading one I have received from North Dakota-very colorful and super fun! Thanks, Jan Williams.

The Cupcake As Art? Definitely!

These are just the most incredible, sweet, beautiful things I have ever seen! Who could eat it? Wouldn't you want to save it to show everyone?! These were made by ( karen ) of Flickr and Cupcakes Take the Cake group fame here http://www.flickr.com/photos/karenilagan/1428592838/in/pool-82187133@N00/?addedcomment=1#comment72157602126486018. I am so glad she gave me permission to share them here. I am in charge of a baby shower at work. I don't think mine will look like this! Such talent!

The Cupcake As Art? Maybe Not.

The cupcake bug has really bitten me. I love looking at the beautiful works of art on Flickr as I have mentioned before. In fact I've requested permission to post another incredible work of art; meanwhile, here is my somewhat lame attempt to decorate Halloween cupcakes.

It was fun; they are colorful. But, they look nothing like the creations from my cupcake group! I guess practice could help in any arena!

I was amazed to see this is my 78th post! Getting close to that all-important 100th post milestone which means prizes! drawings! free goodies! just for commenting. A time-honored blog tradition. Stay tuned.

I Got Tagged by Dale at Sea Dream Studio

This morning I was tagged by the Dale Zan McLain of Sea Dream Studio http://dalemclain.blogspot.com. She has a lovely blog with lots of art, photos and currently a music video from one of my faves, Jimmy Buffett. I also like to frequent her Etsy shop for ephemera. Dale is a fellow Zne-er too.

Anyway, getting "tagged" in blogland goes like this: link to your tagger and post these rules. 2. Share 7 facts about YOU: some random, some weird...all devastatingly interesting. 3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them). 4. Let them know they've been tagged by comment to their blog.

I procrastinated all day on this because seven devastatingly interesting things are hard to come by, but here goes......1) I despise popcorn (I would have said "hate," but that is not a nice word. 2) I also despise beer. 3) My name on my birth certificate is technically Gina-Mari-not nearly as interesting as all Dale's family names on her blog. 4) I was born with a funny little bump on one ear and my tongue attached to the floor of my mouth. That was fixed on day one, and I've been yapping ever since. 5) I did the books and taxes for my brother's antique shop, starting when I was in junior high - thankfully the period for litigation has long-since passed. 6) there was a time when I was fluent in three languages and 7) I've driven 455,000 miles for my job in the last 13 years. Whew, done!

I am tagging, you lucky girls, Jen Konz http://simplygigidesigns.blogspot.com; Michelle Geller http://michellegeller.typepad.com; Kat Tarra http://alteredkat.blogspot.com; Bernice Wagnitz http://www.myspace.com/berniceanthologyofart; Laurie Blau-Marshall http://loudlife-laurieblaumarshall.blogspot.com; Katey D http://blueyeduckstudios.blogspot.com and Cris Marsh at http://sassafraslass.blogspot.com. Have fun! Sorry if you hate this kind of stuff. Normally I might, but it's my first "tag," so I am honored!

My Hope Sees a Star Donation

I was so thrilled to complete this project today. I have been working on it for several days to donate to the fund-raising auction of my ZNE group, entitled "Hope Sees A Star."

In a news release, Chelise Hery, founder of explained: "ZNE is an international group of independent artists and crafts persons working in conjunction with the Oakland Zoo to create a permanent installation in memory of two teenage girls – Stevie McMoyler and Brianna Grant - whose lives were lost earlier this year in April and June, respectively.

Gina Gabriell and Iva Wilcox both of California, are two artists who share a tragic connection. Both women’s daughters were diagnosed with fatal diseases in late 2006. In April of this year, Gina’s daughter Stevie McMoyler died from a brain tumor at the age of 19. In June, Iva Wilcox’s daughter, Brianna Grant, was only 17 years old when she died from a rare disease ~ MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome).

When ZNE group members found out about the two deaths, they wanted to go beyond extending traditional condolences to Gina and Iva, given the magnitude of their loss.

In January of 2008, Laurel True, a world renowned mosaic artist, will begin designing a permanent mosaic art installation in memory of the two girls. The installation is scheduled to be installed in the Butterfly Conservation Garden at The Oakland Zoo in May of 2008. The memorial will incorporate the sentiment: “In Memory of Stevie and Brianna – forever loved daughters of the creative community.” In conjunction with the installation, a $5,000 donation will be made to the Zoo. Staff at the Oakland Zoo have indicated that they hope to use the funds to support an intern who will be a caretaker for the garden.

ZNE is holding an online sale and auction October 1 – October 15, to raise the funds needed for the memorial project. More information on the Hope Sees a Star website, http://www.hopeseesastar.com/, or email Chelise Stroud Hery at info@ZNEart.com.

My canvas is a 10 x 10 handpainted, stamped, collaged 3D project with removeable inlaid-turquoise antique pendant.

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.

The Bestest Things in Small Packages

Now, why anyone would think G stands for grump, I do not know. But, irregardless, I purchased this highly embellished artist trading card on ebay from Kim Laws of ajoy*2*bheld. The same day it arrived, this adorable charm from Michelle Geller of Hold Dear http://michellegeller.typepad.com/ also arrived from a trade we did. After some blog correspondence about fat books and skinny books (and books that climb on rocks), she mentioned some charms she was making for an art gathering and was gracious enough to offer one to me in trade for one of my domino pendants. Art people are just the greatest.

So not to belittle either artist, I decided these two just looked perfect together. Since the ATC wouldn't fit in a normal collector's pocket anyway, I decided to combine them for my bulletin board so I could enjoy seeing them every day. Thanks, ladies!

It's been another few days without making anything, and I am going crazy.....arrrrgh! (It IS National Talk Like a Pirate Day, according to Flickr, so there's my contribution). At least I can blog, and that gets us all that much closer to my 100th post- which means (insert drumroll) freebies, give-aways, goodies to commenters, as is a long-standing 100th post tradition. So, stay tuned!