Snibblebitz

New

2012-01-01T17:50:00.001-08:00

This month's theme at creative Every Day is New. Traveling home from up north I had fun playing around with a new spread for my new journal! I even had some new "Smash Journal" fixins'...very fun!In my spread I reflected on the new challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for 2012! Happy New Year everyone!

Winter

2011-12-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

This month's theme at Creative Every Day is "winter". I found this great music box at the antique store near our cabin in West Virginia. It really reminded me of my grandparents. It seemed to need some inhabitants so I had fun at the cabin creating some winter gnomes. The hats of two of the gnomes are antique thimbles. I also had fun on their photo shoot :>

November 30th

2011-11-30T02:06:00.000-08:00

Well....we did it... 30 straight days of projects and blogging! It has been wonderful to connect with all of you and check out the amazing work that you are doing. My head is spinning with all of the terrific ideas and inspiration that you have provided.

For my last project, I did one of my favorite things. I took a journal page that I had been working on and sliced and diced it. I don't know why I find creating these grid designs so satisfying....but I do. It really helps me focus in on the essential elements, especially color and texture.

Thanks again for all of your support this month! It has been a fun challenge!

November 29th

2011-11-29T01:50:00.000-08:00

While the boys were home froom college this past weekend, we went shopping in St. Pete. They are both big vinyl buffs so we spent almost an hour in Daddy Cool Records. Evidently my music is not very cool because they had nothing that I listen to. Being rather bored, I started checking out their other merchandise. They have these little decorate-your-own figures called Munnies. I thought "Why Not?"

When I got it home, I started decorating it with permanent markers. As I worked, the colors and patterns got wilder and wilder. I decided that she looked like a circus performer so I gave her a colorful suit and headdress. She is currently swinging on my tree.

November 28th

2011-11-28T01:59:00.000-08:00

For today's post, I completely re-did an old journal page. I was never super happy with it. Inspired by reading some fellow bloggers' posts about the layers they used in their journals, I painted over this previous spread. I had fun zooming in on some of my favorite parts.

November 27th

2011-11-27T02:36:00.000-08:00

For today's post, I created a small beach drawing. I photographed it then played around with different photo effects apps on my phone. I printed them out, cut them apart, and created a journal page. I like the way that the edited pictures share common colors but have a variety of patterns and textures. I will definitely play around with this process again.

November 26th

2011-11-26T02:58:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun creating my woodland imp yesterday that I created another for today using watercolor and pen and ink. I then cut the figure out and added him to a collaged journal page.

November 25th

2011-11-25T05:55:00.001-08:00

I'm getting excited to visit our cabin in a few weeks time so I created a woodland sprite with watercolor and pen and ink. I cut him out and added him to a collaged journal page. I have been admiring folks partial photos posted on the web lately and decided to play around with the composition while photographing my green man. I like it. It feel like he is peeking out at me.

November 24th

2011-11-24T05:47:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I decided to just have a little fun for today's post. One of my goals during my week off was to clean up a bit around the house. I found this rather dramatic looking woman sporting a turkey. While the timing made me smile, I thought that she looked a bit bleak. I continued playing around with my bird of paradise to craft my own holiday "bird" attire (Florida- style). It makes a rather jaunty headpiece. For a more extensive full body embellishmen,t I turned to Audrey Hepburn. She can pull anything off!

November 23rd

2011-11-23T05:09:00.000-08:00

I was reading an art journaling book yesterday and saw a suggestion for ways to use a cellular phone to help with the creative process. I thought that this would be fun to play around with. First, I created a quick watercolor pencil drawing of a bird of paradise. Next, I cut it out and experimented with placing it on various backgrounds in my journal. I used my phone to snap some pictures. I chose the three that I liked best and created a triptych.

November 22nd

2011-11-22T05:10:00.000-08:00

I feel really lucky to have this week off from school! I have so much to do for my classroom and to prepare for the holidays that I can really use the time. It gives me some time to create as well!
My first grade class will be studying South America for an upcoming theme. Inspired by Arthur Dorros' story Tonight is Carnival, I decided to make arpilleras with my students to kisk off the theme. Arpilleras are folk-art fabric wall hangings that include day to day scenes. Dorros' entire book is illustrated with them. I just love the 3D elements. Today's post is a sample that I made to show my kiddos...a more simplified version using pom poms, pipe cleaners, fabric, and glue. I also created 15 backgrounds and prepped lots of felt shapes to get them started. We are going to have so much fun!

November 21st

2011-11-21T05:17:00.000-08:00

I made this collage for a thank you card for my son's girlfriend. She gave me a lovely box of soaps and other goodies from Lush for my birthday....hence, the bathtub theme. I had a lot of fun making the tiny 3D bottles with beads!

November 20th

2011-11-20T01:29:00.000-08:00

I found my little angel mask from yesterday and I decided to play around with it. I traced around it on a small slab of Sculptey clay to create a negative image and then I baked the clay. My reasoning was that I wanted a sturdier mask which would last longer. Unfortunately, it was harder to cut detail onto the clay so the image was less refined. When I then spray painted using the mask, the resulting image is downright clunky. Oh well, you live and learn!

November 19th

2011-11-19T05:03:00.000-08:00

For today's post I did a little playing around with masking. I cut a tiny angel figure from tracing paper. I experimented with spray painting, using the mask on various stamped backgrounds. The bad news is that the mask became hard to use once it was saturated with spray paint :< The good news is that I was happy with the results of the masking and I think that the origional cutout looks pretty cool in two-tone :> More good news is that I could probably use it again now that it is dry :> The bad news is that I managed to lose it already :< The good news is that I still have a picture of it :>

November 18th

2011-11-18T02:32:00.000-08:00

I had a great b-day! My husband came in to my classroom for The Great American Teach In. I love introducing him to my first graders since they are like my extended family :> Today I am posting one of the little cards that I made to thank folks for birthday goodies.

November 17th

2011-11-17T02:01:00.000-08:00

As a birthday present to myself, I created this necklace. I found the beads at a local bead shop. I'm not one of those organized folks who maps out the piece as I buy the beads. I'm more of a "throw a bunch in your basket and hope for the best" kind of gal. I am really happy with the results this time. I even have a few left over for future projects :>

November 16th

2011-11-16T01:53:00.000-08:00

For today's art card, I again I played around with the pictures that I took of some found objects. I printed the picture of a glass heart on an ink jet printer, sprayed it with water and tried transferring the image to a dampened sheet of watercolor paper. I love the way that the image was degraded. It was only partially transferred, leaving two partial images (the origional and the rubbing). I carefully cropped the origional, added some other 3D elements and created an art card for it.

November 15th

2011-11-15T02:44:00.000-08:00

For today's art card I used one of the pictures that I took of found objects (a tiny metal starfish sculpture) and carefully cropped it. I backed it with cardboard and combined it with other goodies to create a 3D embellishment for my art card.

November 14th

2011-11-14T02:01:00.000-08:00

While in a little gallery in Carmel, California last spring, I discovered some lovely photographs. The artist created very simple arrangements with natural materials such as shells and stones. I made myself a mental note to try similiar arrangements and picked up some small, fun items to photograph. They have been waiting for me in a little basket ever since. The heart and shell photograph was my first attempt. I began thinking of all the things I could do with these images. So I took a picture of all the objects that I plan to manipulate in some way.

November 13th

2011-11-13T09:45:00.000-08:00

We celebrated our son's 21st birthday this weekend. He came home from college and invited his girlfriend for dinner. In honor of the occasion, I created this arrangement. That is the beauty of living in Florida....plenty of fresh flowers from the garden year round to work with.

November 12th

2011-11-12T03:21:00.000-08:00

The puppet that I created yesterday was so much fun to make that I just had to make another! I again used bits and pieces left over from various 2D and 3D projects.

November 11th

2011-11-11T05:23:00.000-08:00

I decided to turn the jewelry piece from yesterday into a little puppet. I gave her a bead and wire nest and made her clothes out of scrap collage papers. She was lots of fun!

November 10th

2011-11-10T02:04:00.000-08:00

For today's project, I continued to play around with my jewelry materials. The various beads evolved into a head dress. Now I get to decide where to go from here. Perhaps a tiny doll? Lots of fun options!

November 9th

2011-11-09T02:15:00.000-08:00

For today's project I used two of the hot glue "gems" that I had made as well as some other goodies that I had on hand. I arranged them all in a circular medallion background. I just love digging out my jewelry "fixin's" organizers. I always forget from one project to the next what materials I have acquired. So it is like discovering a hidden treasure when I dig them out every few months or so. I rarely end up wearing what I make, but I sure enjoy the process!

Nov.8th

2011-11-08T02:05:00.000-08:00

Todays project combines the recycled can die cuts, some glue "gems", and the opalescent transfer paper that I have been experimenting with. I love working on dolls, so this was a fun way for me to use these items. I have no clue what I will do with this partial doll. But the process was thuroughly enjoyable!

Nov. 7th

2011-11-07T02:41:00.000-08:00

For today's project I tried experimenting with this pearlescent transfer paper and gloss that I discovered in the jewelry section. I learned from my bracelet the other day that in order to be comfortable, pieces need to be embedded in a backing. So I transferred the paper on to Sculptey clay and fit it into the pre-made medallion. It is a pretty cool material. I would like to do some more experimenting with it.

Nov. 6th

2011-11-07T02:28:00.000-08:00

Again, life has a way of throwing you curve balls. I planned on uploading both days worth of projects when we returned home from our trip. Our son called to tell us that our cat Simba was being really lethargic. By the time we got home he looked really bad. We took him into emergency care immediately and it turns out that he was in renal failure. We had to have him put to sleep. So I am posting a little late.

For this art card I tried a new technique that I had read about. You are supposed to be able to make your own "gems" using a reflective paper base with a large dollup of hot glue. I tried tucking a tiny fern inside as well. Unfortunately, the hot glue clouded up each time. I still liked the soft green stone effect, but will have to try this again sometime using a totally clear glue.

Nov. 5th

2011-11-07T02:05:00.000-08:00

Well, things didn't happen exactly as planned. Our condo rental in Panama City had no internet and I couldn't noodle out a way to post from my IPhone. I spent the day racing from spot to spot on the course to support Jim on his Iron Man journey. I was too thuroughly exhausted after his 12 and a half hour journey to search out internet access. So I am posting a bit late.

I tried creating a bracelet using the recycled soda cans cut with the new die press. I tried adding seed beads around the edges to minimize the roughness, but it is still pretty darned scratchy. I had fun creating it but will probably disassemble it and use the pieces for something else. I really need a refresher course in soldering if I am to use the tin pieces for jewelry.

November 4th

2011-11-04T02:20:00.000-07:00

Today's art card includes some of the metal die cut circles that I am experimenting with, as well as a little ceramic jester hat element that I found in a shop of wonders in Brussels over a decade ago. I have to admit that my soul does hunger for another trip to that magical city! Tonight I fly to Panama City, Florida to meet my husband. He is running his first Ironman triathalon. I look forward to having time to create and catch up on everyone's posts in between glimpses of him on the 12+ hour course.

November 3rd

2011-11-03T02:09:00.000-07:00

This summer I bought a great necklace at a gallery in Lancaster, Pa. The artist used recycled soda cans which were cut into small circular shapes. Since I have been exploring a circular theme lately, decided to give it a try. I ordered a tin press on line. You cut apart the can, slide the thin metal through the die press and punch circles of varying dimensions.

I started by using the circles to decorate these gift boxes. It looks much better if you know how to solder and can embed the pieces in a metal backing. I am not quite at that place yet. It was fun to play around with though.

November 2nd

2011-11-02T02:08:00.000-07:00

I made a new art card, again trying to play around a bit with texture.In addition to the mesh circle, I added tiny art beads to the pond image. I find them to be really fun to work with. I am also working on pulling together backup costumes in case any of my first graders don't have one for our character parade Thursday. It is a good thing that I am such a packrat. It provides lots of fodder for my projects :>

November first

2011-11-01T02:27:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of the Creative Every Month challenge. For this art card, I used a Sculptey leaf that I created during the Autumn theme. I had also experimented with adding a mesh overlay to a painted background. I ended up cutting the sheet into circles. I added some other collage papers and left over lettering. One thing that I need to do is find a better adhesive for the transluscent sheets....a spray fixative perhaps? Any suggestions? I'm looking forward to sharing ideas with everyone this month....I just hope that I can keep up with the projects and posts.

Autumn

2011-10-25T02:41:00.000-07:00

October's theme at Creative Every Day is Autumn. Even though the leaves don't change color here in Tampa, it has been blessedly cooler....making it feel like Autumn! I decided to follow a "leaf" theme.
I found a book this summer that had patterns for making your own gift boxes. I played around with them and created these little gift boxes using oaktag, collage papers, ribbon, and Sculptey clay. Now I just need to make some fun jewelry or other goodies to fill them. Next month's challenge with Art Every Month should provide plenty of opportunity!

History

2011-09-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

The September theme for Creative Every Day was "history". The beginning of school and physical therapy have both been pretty intense! September managed to sneak by me. The image that am adding is one of my grandfather, whom I loved very much. he has been gone for almost 30 years now, but he will never be forgotten. My uncle sent me a digital version of my grandmother's old home movies. I was able to snap a picture of the video in process and manipulate it until I got an effect that spoke to me. The image is grainy, but really captures my young memories of Earl.

Red

2011-08-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

This month's theme at Creative Every Day is "red" I have been having fun playing around with the theme. First I created some flowers with stamped petals and silk petals. Next, I collaged houses with paint and various papers. Then I created my own "ladies in red" paper dolls.

Blue bird

2011-07-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

Recooperating from shoulder surgery has given me lots of time to play around with materials. This week I made a blue bird from mixed media. I think that this is a personal record for me....three projects on the monthly theme(blue)from Creative Every Day.

Open House

2011-07-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Well, shoulder surgery went remarkably well! One week out and I was able to clean out and set up my dollhouse for the first time since we moved in 6 years ago. It's amazing what you can do with a little free time on your hands...even if you only have 1 1/2 hands to work with. There is still some work to do but I'm waiting on parts, full dexterity, and Jim's electrical expertise. Here's what I have so far!

A free photo slideshow by Smilebox

Blue Boy

2011-07-12T04:58:00.000-07:00

On our return trip home from the cabin I got to tinker around some more in my art journal. I created blue boy with water color and ink. His hair looked rather nest-like so I gave him a friend.

Blue

2011-07-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

The theme for July at Creative Every Day is "blue". While driving north to visit family this weekend I had plenty of time to play around with the theme. I got on a cat kick with cut paper. The dashboard of our car was covered with multiple collaged cats. The resulting journal page includes some "cool cats" from my snibblebitzing adventure.

Mad Tea Party

2011-06-18T15:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our mad tea party. We are glad that you are here. Please pull up a chair and enjoy!

Metamorphosis 1

2011-05-29T07:14:00.000-07:00

Again, June's theme at Creative Every Day is very appropriate. I am scheduled for shoulder surgery in mid July and while it is a routine, out patient surgery, I am very nervous about the recovery time involved. My understanding is that I will have my right arm completely immobilized for 3 weeks. Since I am right handed, this has me very apprehensive. I am a person who goes stir crazy quickly and am not sure how I am going to entertain myself during this time. I am fortunate to be having this during summer break, but worried about being completely recovered to start off the new school year in August.

To help capture these fears, I created a small shadow box assemblage. The figure is cocooned in bubble wrap to express my concern about the fragility and isolation that recovery entails. The blades represent the surgery and my fear of the pain.The Tibetan prayer flag symbolizes my hope that things go smoothly. The silver garland represents the magic of the metamorphosis which I hope takes place through this process. I hope to have my mobility back and be pain free to start the new school year. I also hope that this break from running (which I am not at all looking forward to) will leave me fresh and ready to come back strong in August. I hope to have the post-metamorphosis project posted by the end of the June.

I also found a great animation application online, called Glitterboo, to add a bit of sparkle.

Big

2011-05-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

This month's topic on Creative Every Day could not be more perfect! It captures the spirit of our BIG adventure to Big Sur. The whole experience from the gorgeous scenery, to the great comraderie with friends, to the amazing race itself, was larger than life. My travel journal can't effectively capture the magic of the experience. But here are a few pages.

Small; project #2

2011-04-18T02:39:00.000-07:00

This month at Creative Every Day, the theme is "small". May 1st is the Big Sur Marathon in California and I am very excited to be traveling there with Jim and about 12 people from our running group. In the past, I have made good luck bracelets for my friends. This time my husband suggested shoe charms. Being an otter lover, I decided to make little sea otters with medals to guide us on our journeys. They are made from wire and clay. I just hope that my version is as tenacious as the native species and can hold on for 26.2 miles.

Small

2011-04-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

This month's theme at Creative Every Day is "Small". I loved the idea of creating a picture by combining a series of 1 inch square images. I started with a series of little critter drawings. I was having so much fun cutting and pasting, that I made more using drawings, stamps, photos, etc. I then ran the completed images through the cartoon feature of Kodak Easyshare.

Nest

2011-03-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

This month's theme at Creative Every Day is "nest". I was in the mood to play with fiber arts. I found a delicate wire basket which I cut the handles off of then went through all of my goodie bins in the garage for fibers to weave through it. I used ribbons, yarn, wire, beads, and even shells and artificial plants.

I am really excited to be going to Big Sur in April for a race with our running club. I haven't been there since Jim and I were first engaged over twenty years ago. This inspired me to create a "sea" themed "nest".

Passion 2

2011-02-26T15:15:00.000-08:00

Once again, the theme for the month at Creative Every day is Passion. I had created multiple collages in my journal on the topic early in the month. I uploaded my favorite...although I have such a "passion" for cutting and pasting (a compulsion really) that the collages tend to look really busy.
Last weekend I had a great time shopping for art supplies with my art major son. I bought some nice black paper to work on for a change of pace. On the drive back from Orlando, I drew this picture in oil pastel trying to capture my passion for running. When I got home, of course, I cut, sliced and diced it to put in my art journal. I tried my best not to make the spread too busy. Now it seems too static.

Passion

2011-02-12T17:31:00.000-08:00

This month's theme at Creative Every Day is "Passion". I created a two page spread in my journal on the topic. To me, passion is all about energy and love.

I have become completely addicted to my new IPhone. In addition to all of the communication opportunities it provides, I love taking and manipulating pictures with it. I then printed pictures of things that I am passionate about and created a collage in my journal.

The passion page is all about energy...energy that I could barely contain as a child and the energy that I gain from the things that I am passionate about. This page includes a picture of Jim and I at one of our most recent trail runs and a picture of me with one of my old childhood friends. My uncle sent me a DVD of my grandmother's old home movies. I snapped a few pictures with my IPhone from the DVD. The image quality is poor, but the blurred quality seems somehow appropriate for these images from the distant past. The DVD brought back such great memories and reminded me of what energy I had as a child...I was a veritable whirling dervish.

The love page represents my love of family....my strongest passion. Includes pictures of both of my boys when we visited them at college recently. It also includes a picture that I took from the DVD of my grandfather. He has been gone almost 30 years now, but he is always in my heart.

I used the cartoon effect from Kodak Easyshare to manipulate the final image.

Cosmos

2011-01-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

This month's theme at Creative Every day is "Cosmos". I had a great time New Year's Eve shopping for jewelry materials, creating jewelry elements from fimo clay, and then putting it all together. Here are some pics of my new "Cosmos" necklace which I am sporting to ring in the new year!

Run like the wind

2010-12-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

I created 20 cards with mini running fairies for some of my running buddies. I handed these out with bags of "Running Fairy Dust" (peppermint scented epson salts) for holiday gifts. For this month's Creative Every Day theme I placed a grouping of them together for a photo, then manipulated the photo with the cartoon effect in Kodak Easy Share.

Day 30

2010-11-30T02:50:00.000-08:00

Wow, It is hard to believe that Art Every Month is at an end. It has been a challenging, yet fun month. It is so inspiring to see what others are creating. I wish that I could have visited them all but it has been tough to juggle it all.

I just received the "Impressionist" journal that I created last year for the challenge in the mail. I sent it off to Somerset Studios at the end of the challenge last year since they were doing an issue on Impressionism (the genesis of my theme). Exactly one year later, I am receiving it back with a very kindly phrased rejection letter. I had almost forgotten that I sent it in so I wasn't too heartbroken. None the less, it made me realize how much self confidence and spunk it must take to be a professional and have your work judged on a daily basis. My son, who is currently an illustration major, is a very independent thinker. Hopefully this will serve him well. He has his first art sale this week on campus and I wish him well. I admire all of you who put your passion out there every day.

Ok, enough rambling. My art cards today include a collage utilizing some of the pieces from last year's Impressionist journal as well as a photo collage to remind me to keep inspired everyday whether I am posting or not.

Day 29

2010-11-29T02:39:00.000-08:00

Today's project is an invitation that I created and sent to my sisters. It is kind of silly really because we already have a plan, but I have these great pics of our grandmother and her sisters in Florida. My sisters and I were all really close to my grandmother (who has passed a few years ago)so I couldn't resist. I know that they will get a kick out of them.

Day 28

2010-11-28T03:02:00.000-08:00

I am really excited that my sisters and their families are coming to visit over the x-mas holiday. It makes all the work between now and then to get the house ready worth it. I created this journal page to express my excitement.

Day 27

2010-11-27T06:51:00.000-08:00

My son (who is an art major at UCF) announces to us yesterday morning that he signed up to sell some of his drawings at a market on campus and he needs to have them ready to go on Sunday. His drawings are 4 x 6 pencil sketches from his journal so we spent a good part of the day making them into 8 x 10 copies on decent paper...not easy to do. The professionals at the copy counter at Staples wouldn't even attempt it. We then cut down 48 pieces of foam board to back them. We still have labels to make this morning before driving him back to school. This portrait is one of my favorites.

So, being the snibblebitzer that I am, I couldn't bear to part with the pile of scraps that had been cropped from the copies. I ended up weaving them into a design which I hope to turn into something this week as one of my projects. Wish me luck!

Day 26

2010-11-26T07:08:00.000-08:00

Make custom t-shirts at CustomInk.com

I found a great website where you can design your own t-shirts and other garments. My husband recently signed up for his first full ironman. He is a big guy and gets a kick out of designs with gorillas, Bigfoot, etc. taking part in sporting events. I created a Bigfoot t-shirt in time for the holidays. I drew the Bigfoot graphic and then was able to upload it into my design. It is a pretty cool site. Here is the link to my design.

Day 25

2010-11-25T05:06:00.000-08:00

Things have been a bit crazy around here. Who would have thought that vacation could be so much work! We have been taking advantage of this week off to do all of those projects around the house...painting bathrooms and door trim, replacing faucets, having contractors in to work on the roof and solar pool heater, ordering a new bed for our son,etc., that we never seem to get around to. My sisters are coming with their families for Christmas so we are trying to get the house ready for company. I also am taking two classes on line which I have been trying to work ahead in and we just mailed off all of our out of town gifts. Phew!So today's journal page expresses how I am feeling. Today however, our boys are home from college so it is time to take a deep breath. relax, and just enjoy them! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Day 24

2010-11-24T05:53:00.000-08:00

Today's project includes a card portrait that I used two slight variations of oil pastel color on. I then ran both through the cartoon special effect.

Day 23

2010-11-23T10:05:00.001-08:00

Since I have this week off from school, I am taking advantage of this time to get a jump start on an on line technology class that I am taking. When I complete this course in Pixie, I get a class lab set for my students.

So far, the program is easier than I had anticipated, but without as many options as I had hoped. There is very limited digital paint capability and a limited number of images to add as "stickers". I am hoping that I will discover ways to import more visuals and applications. So today's project is a "table tent" assignment which I created to explore the program and introduce myself to others in the class.

Day 22

2010-11-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

Today's art card is another portrait photo montage. I had fun playing with bits and pieces of magazine photos. Then I ran the image through the Kodak cartoon special effect.

Day 21

2010-11-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

Today's art card began as a portrait photo montage. After gluing together the different elements, I added oil pastels.

Day 20

2010-11-20T05:01:00.000-08:00

Today's art card collage uses some left over pieces from other projects. I continue to play around with the blog background. I would love to add my own image, but have yet to find an easy way to do so. So for now I am keeping it simple.

Day 19

2010-11-19T02:20:00.000-08:00

For today's card, I continued playing around with glitter images. I like the stamping glitter for the objects themselves because it is tiny and precise (giving good coverage and making it easy to cut around). I also found a great transluscent glitter with big flakes for the snowflakes in the background. I am so excited to have all of next week off! I have a race this weekend...so I will probably be sore. And I have lots to catch up on around the house...but it should still give me lots of time to play with projects:>

Day 18

2010-11-18T02:19:00.000-08:00

Today's project again combines the moon and bear glitter images. It is a little hard to see the baby bear agaist his mother's side. I couldn't think of a good solution for this.

Day 17

2010-11-17T02:55:00.000-08:00

Today's card mixes another glitter moon with a polar bear (created the same way)...and some additional goodies. Then I ran it through the "cartoon" special effect in Kodak.

Day 16

2010-11-16T02:27:00.000-08:00

For today's art card, I used one of a handful of glitter moons that I created. I used some scraps from a stamped image of Starry Night and then ran the whole card through Kodak's cartoon special effect.

Day 18

2010-11-15T02:33:00.000-08:00

I continued playing around with the glitter sunflowers. Today's art card is a more abstract collage using one of these flowers. I continue to fight with the blog background. Now I am having trouble even downloading one from the internet effectively. Last night I played around with some contrasting papers which I am hoping to import into Microsoft Publisher to create my own background design. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Day 14

2010-11-14T02:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent way too much time trying to find a new blog background...only to revert to the one that I already had...except it is not loading correctly. The two contrasting columns are hiding somewhere. Grrr...any suggestions would be much appreciated. I am looking for something fun and colorful.

I had seen on someone's blog this month a project which looked like a simple image covered in glitter and then used as an accent. I wanted to play around with this effect, and today's art card is the result. I covered the sunflower with glitter, cropped it and added it to a skelaton drawing. Since I am currently stuck with just an orange background....this seems appropriate.

Day 13

2010-11-13T05:57:00.000-08:00

Today's Art card began with a layered tissue paper collage. Then I added a linocut monoprint. I next added oil pastel and added the Kodak Easyshare cartoon special effect.

Day 12

2010-11-12T02:23:00.000-08:00

Today's art card project is a moon collage that I made using pieces that had been covered in oil pastel. I then ran the project through the Kodak Easyshare cartoon effect.

Day 11

2010-11-11T05:38:00.000-08:00

For my last paper doll project, I had fun with mixing in oil pastel and bits from old projects. I made her lily pad hat from left over pieces from last year's Art Every Month impressionist journal.

Day 10

2010-11-10T02:30:00.000-08:00

After yesterday's mermaid paper doll project, I had lower body parts left over. Today's collage makes use of those apendages....waste not want not:>

Day 9

2010-11-09T03:09:00.000-08:00

I recently found a stamp in my bins of supplies which creates the pieces for a tiny paper doll. I used the upper body pieces as well as some random scraps to create this paper doll mermaid.

Day 8

2010-11-08T02:59:00.000-08:00

Here is the last of the altered Grandm Edie in Florida images. The picture itself...the very proper ladies (Edie, Esta, Ella and Aunt Virgie) with the gator is my personal favorite. I wasn't as pleased with the way that the oil pastel turned out however.

Day 7

2010-11-07T01:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday on our drive to visit our son at college, I had time to play around with adding oil pastel (one of my favorite mediums) to a digitally modified image of my grandmother and her sisters in Florida. My husband was not too happy with the resulting crumbs of oil pastel coating his car...and even less happy when I got our the glitter....but I had fun!

Day 6

2010-11-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

While investigating some other AED entries the other night, I came across a post with a doodled drawing. It referenced a "Daily Doodle" challenge currently going on. This sounds really fun and it inspired me to make my own flower doodle.

November 5

2010-11-05T02:31:00.000-07:00

Last night while checking out some of the great projects that have been posted on AED, I was inspired to see someone digitally modifying family photos. I have three great photos of my Grandmother Edie and her sisters visiting Florida long ago. I am a big historic travel phot buff. She passed shortly after I moved to Florida so these pictures also have special meaning for me. I had fun playing around with these digitally last night and today's entry is a result. I hope to continue playing with the others this weekend.

November 4

2010-11-04T02:46:00.000-07:00

Todays' art card is again based on a design which I made for embroidery....then never had time to actually stitch. I am pretty over my interest in embroidery...but I would love to experiment with fiber arts art cards. I was inspired while reading 1000 Artist Trading cards: Innovative and Inspired Mixed-Media ATCs. Maybe this weekend!I have bins full of fun fabrics just waiting for me in my garage!

November 3rd

2010-11-03T02:24:00.000-07:00

My Blue Queen is another pen and ink doodle to which I added oil pastel. I then ran the image through the Kodak Easyshare cartoon special effect feature. I am really enjoying all of the work being posted at CED. I am always amazed at the variety of mediums, styles and approaches represented there. It is very inspirational! I am also wowed by how much some people can accomplish in a day. Maybe this weekend I will have the time for some more extensive projects. This always seems to be a particularly busy time at school.

November 2nd

2010-11-02T02:39:00.000-07:00

For today's art card, I had fun playing with a little bag of goodies that I found from our DC trip this summer. I went to a conference with Jim for a week. I'm afraid that there was quite a bit of doodling going on despite my best efforts to listen to the future direction of the Air Force. I added some color to a pen and ink flower drawing that I made and added a pretty little ribbon that the hotel bound our fingertip towels in every morning.

Irises

2010-11-01T02:53:00.000-07:00

This first project for Art Every Month comes from an art card that I made using an old drawing of irises. I believe that it was origionally a design I was going to do in embroidery...when I actually had time for embroidery. It now has a new life as an art card with oil pastels. I then used the cartoon feature from Kodak Easyshare (which I am addicted to) to manipulate the image.

Earth

2010-10-19T02:58:00.000-07:00

This month's theme at Creative Every Day is "earth". I have been having fun this month on long car rides making art cards from all sorts of 2D and 3D scraps. I then made collages from the art cards. The weather here in Florida is just gorgeous right now! This past weekend I sprinkled the area in "fairy dust" (tiny scraps or snibblebitz)by crafting in the convertible. Not the most practical workplace...but boy is it fun! I am now mentally gearing up for the November challenge of a project a day. Art cards seem to be the way to go.

Water

2010-09-06T07:26:00.001-07:00

I was able to take several of the art cards that were already completed and arrange them into 2 water collages.
One bonus of my recent obsession with art cards is that you can work on them when you have an available moment. Now that I am back to school and have a student intern that I am working with...this is key.
Come November, when the Art Every Month Challenge begins, I can pull one card a day to integrate into a new project. I found it hard last year to find the inspiration to know what to create for 30 days straight...so this will give me a jump start. I can just pull 30 cards that appeal to me and re-work them!

A Clean Sweep

2010-09-06T07:18:00.001-07:00

The end of August was spent organizing teaching files and crafting materials in the garage...a hot job in Florida! I am proud to say that for the first time in 20 years, our 3 car garage now has room for one small car! There is still work to do. But this is a real step forward for me!
Being a major pack rat...it pained me to throw out old pictures, files, papers, and crafting materials. What I started to do was to make art cards using the materials. The process has been a lot of fun! I probably have over 100 in various stages of completion.

Fire

2010-08-02T04:15:00.001-07:00

This month's theme at Creative Every Day is Fire. While staying at a conference last week, I was intrigued with the 3D effect of the fire evacuation signs at my hotel. They made perfect rubbing surfaces. I created some watercolor pencil flames and a portrait to add them to. Finally, I burned the edges off a gessoed book page for the background. All in all, I had lots of fun playing around on this one.

Life

2010-07-20T08:46:00.001-07:00

This month's theme at Creative Every Day is "Life". I created the following collages based on this theme. The first is a positive affirmation of the importance of life and the second expresses my belief in the miracle and magic of life.

Wonderland Challenge

2010-06-30T07:42:00.000-07:00

This month, Art Dolls Only is having an Alice in Wonderland challenge. I had fun preparing the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, and the White Rabbit for a tea party. Now I can't wait to see what others have created! Thanks for visiting my blog!

Bliss

2010-06-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

This month's theme at Creative Every Day is "bliss". For this collage, I experimented with a new paper punch which makes tags of various sizes. I included small images involving art, travel, and family. Not only does the topic involve those things which bring me bliss, but the process itself was bliss-like. I love to slice, and dice, arrange and re-arrange. This project made a very long car ride rather enjoyable.

Intuition

2010-05-03T02:51:00.001-07:00

The May theme for Creative Every Day is "Intuition". Amazingly, I am actually on the ball early this month. This journal page includes some "intuitive writing" inspired by the words "rich shadows of life" which I found in an old magazine. Integrated into the image are the words, "Rich shadows of life surround us. Intuition illuminates the world in satin spleandor."

Treat for the senses

2010-04-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

Picture slideshow made with Smilebox

This smilebox creation includes many of the sights that helped to inspire this month's collage for Creative Every Day. I hope that you enjoy them as much as we did!

Treat for the Senses

2010-04-15T05:42:00.000-07:00

This month's theme at Creative Every Day is the senses. I just came back from a visit to Ft. Lauderdale and was struck by what a feast for the senses the visit was: the soft pastels of the beach in the morning, the exotic taste of "Saganaki" (flaming cheese) at a greek bistro, the thrum of music in the evenings, the feel of the wet sand massaging your feet and the competing fragrances of flowers at the gardens that we visited. I created this collage to celebrate the many sensual impressions of our visit.

2010-03-12T02:24:00.000-08:00

Personalize your own slideshow design

This month's theme on Creative Every Day is stories. I have been taking an online collage storytelling course this past month. The assignments took us on a visual tour towards self discovery. I turned my images into a Smilebox creation which tells the story of my journey.

I have also worked with my first graders to create an opera based on the story of the Three Little Pigs. It was a terrific...if somewhat daunting project. I am currently doing a follow up study to see how this project effected student comprehension and relationships. It has been a busy month!

Getting organized

2010-02-21T04:14:00.000-08:00

This month's theme at Creative Every Day is "home". One of the suggested activities was to organize part of your home. There is a terrific audio interview with Jennifer Hofmann, an organizational consultant, at the Creative Every Day site that inspired me to get a handle on my own creative space. You can check out my newly organized office in this smilebox presentation. Make a Smilebox free slideshow

Body 2

2010-01-17T04:20:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun with my first Creative Every Day "body" project, and Art Dolls Only is having a "Burlesque" theme challenge, so I decided to make another doll. I call her "Burlesque Betty".

Body

2010-01-13T02:38:00.000-08:00

The Creative Every Day theme for this month is "body". I have been having fun with doll making so I decided to make another doll with an unusual body. I used a lovely ornament that I got on after season sales and created my own elf.

2009-12-11T06:14:00.000-08:00

This month's theme for Creative Every Day is "recycling". I found an old plastic star sphere from a star theater kt that no longer works. I decided to turn it into a doll. I call her "Celeste".

2009-11-30T02:10:00.000-08:00

Well, this is my last entry for the month of November. I would like to thank Leah the opportunity to challenge myself this month. I would also like to thank you all for your kind words and support. We did it!

My final project for my "impressions" journal is a checkerboard design on Van Gogh. I combined some stamped images, some of my painted images, and some Van Gogh reproduction images. I will post some pictures of the completed journal over the next week or two. I am also looking forward to next months theme.

2009-11-29T07:59:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Van Gogh's sunflowers, I tried some of my own acrylic still life paintings. I tried to use more "painterly" strokes that is typical for me. It was kind of fun!

2009-11-28T03:22:00.000-08:00

Today I got to play around with my Starry Night stamp. I have grown infatuated with the transparent spiral design (as any of you that saw yesterday's post probably noticed. I made a rubbing on vellum using a textured plate. I was going to write some Van Gogh quotes in them, but I also just kind of like the image itself and the visual movement that it creates. This spiral pattern reminds me of the brush strokes in Starry Night. I am thinking that this might be a good design for journaling in my family scrapbook too.

2009-11-27T05:14:00.000-08:00

Today I played around with a Van Gogh Sunflower stamp and created 3 different layouts. Tomorrow, I get to play with a Starry night stamp. Sunday I plan to make my own still life paintings, inspired by Van Gogh. I hope to finish up the month (and my Impressions journal) on Monday with a Van Gogh checkerboard design. I will take photos of the finished journal and add those as well.

2009-11-26T05:37:00.000-08:00

Since I gave the gentlemen impressionists a checkerboard design before moving on, I decided to go back and create one for Cassatt as well. Tomorrow...on to Van Gogh!

2009-11-25T04:03:00.000-08:00

Since today is the last day that I am spending on Degas, I used the same type of checkerboard design that I used to culminate my Monet experiments. I really enjoy this process and may have to go back and do one for Cassatt as well. Then...on to Van Gogh. He's a post- impressionist, but he will be a terrific way to finish my impressions journal since he built upon the work of the impressionists.