Twas the Friday Before Christmas...

One week to go! I'm not ready, are you? ;-)))

First up, a birthday card I made for one of my numerous nephews (I have 6 of them).

This is the sketch I used:

I used Sketch #45 from the Card Patterns challenge blog, and picked patterend paper that had circles, stars, and stripes, which also qualifies it for this week's Pick 3 Challenge. Oh, hey! I made the Top 3 in that challenge last week with my 2-fer Flip card. I was excited and very honored :-)))

More Christmas cards to show...I told The Hubster that his family is too big and he said, not if you would buy cards instead of making them. Then, I said, well, do their presents just buy themselves...and wrap them? Case closed. winkwink

My personal favorite:

My second favorite one:

The film strip frame is a Sizzix diecut, as is the swirly frame on the Noel card.

Something scary/beautiful this way came...

This 4x6 piece is titled "Sunburned" and is the result of something scary that I did this week.

I have been a lurking fan of Nancy Baumiller's for...seems like forever and a day. Any time I need cheering up or somewhere to escape into, I end up looking at her art. You can literally get lost in it, there is so much eye candy in each collage. Nancy owns her own style, to be sure, but in describing it, I'd have to reference Zetti-guru Teesha Moore, the ultimate creator of Zetti style (zettiology).

So, anyway, for the past several months I've been drawn to other artists on Flickr who have that same Zetti-esque look, and last week my mind seemed to focus on that and long story short, I discovered that all my Zetti friends were at Nancy's Collage Play With Crowabout challenge. The reason I focused on this was because an invitation appeared in my inbox out of nowhere -- to join Collage Play!

Each week Nancy uploads a collage sheet for us to use in our own collages (a minimum of 3 images used is the rule). Our collage uploads are due by Friday night, and on Saturday Nancy chooses a winner to receive goodies, and a new collage sheet is uploaded for the next week.

This may sound plain silly, but receiving this invite to play sent shivers down my spine from excitement AND immense fear. It took me several hours of Olive Oil indecision before finally choosing to just-what-the-hell-go-for-it. What excited me so much was that I truly lovelovelove this style of collage art. What scared me so much was that I had no idea, really, how to plant my style foot down on it and make it my own. And even pure copycatting would be inferior.

I had no real idea just how intimidating this would be for me.

All week -- from the moment I joined Collage Play -- I remained as creatively barren as could be. It was an artistic freeze jam-up. The pressure was on to do something I had no assurance I could do. The Collage Plays are weekly and a week's time ticks by fleetingly.

I was not a happy camper. I had other art to make. The Crowabout challenge could not rule my world, especially if I was skeered of it!

What I finally did was to remove the deadline. I would purposefully turn mine in late for the first few weeks. I'd miss out on the drawing for goodies from Nancy -- not a small thing -- but that finally did the trick. See, part of the pressure is that the first entries that get uploaded use the collage images in all the cool, nifty, why-didn't-I-think-of-that, clever ways, so even if you didn't copy someone's, it still could very well look like you jacked someone's fab idea. (Not that anyone would accuse, it's just my own hang-up.) Plus, most of the collages that are uploaded are freakin brilliant! I practically had to just accept that mine was gonna just not be worthy in comparison.

Another problem I was having was, what was I making this for, other than the Collage Play? You know me, I gotta have form AND function. I'll be playing this by ear every week, but for my first collage, I've managed to find a dual purpose for it. See the girl's face, the red cheeks? See the word "ROT"? Well, on my ToDo list was a 4x6 post card with a May Special Days theme. May just happens to be National Skin Cancer Awareness Month. The card is like PSA for proper skin care.

I found a magazine image of a woman modeling casualwear at the beach, in the same proportions as my collage image head, and used it as my card base background. I took my red zig markers and extended the sunburn to her neck and arms. I painted Waterslide Blue acrylic paint almost all around it, to cover the ad wordings.

Then, I made from scratch my border, out of recycled junk mail business envelope interiors, with my Fiskars Threading Water border punch, my fabuloso Ancient Page dye inks and my black gel pen. I lovelovelove this border so much, I scanned in the strips in case I wanted to print out and use again and was short on time (otherwise, I can surely make more).

I cut out the letters from the various words and phrases on the other collage sheet images to make "Soon to be peeling rot". The butterfly on her bodice was also a collage sheet image, so I used 3 images and then some. The "Sunburned and" text I printed in Word.

What do you think? It's definitely a change in artistic style for me, not one I hope to master, but one that I'm happy to play in for the time being, along with my other art. I have to say that I exceeded my own pitiful expectations. I honestly didn't think I would come up with something even this good. But I did master a major hurdle this week in finding the courage to have a first stab at it and actually make something "crowabout". I need to say unequivocably, I do not consider what I made to be Zetti style. I'm not there yet, by any means. Not there in my head. I am only aiming right now to get into freeform whimsy that could include zetti, or steampunk, or vintage or retro. And as far as what style that "Sunburned" is, who knows? It's mine, that is all I know.

Here's hoping I'll gain more confidence the more of these collages I make, and then look out drawing, I want some of Nancy's goodies, lol. Check out her links I've provided above. And come join the Collage Play if you have a mind to! :-)))

You may find it weird (boring, tedious??? LOL) that I'm writing about my fears in such depth. I'm doing so on purpose, one: to illustrate just how silly we are when we let fear shut our creativity down, and two: as a reminder to fight through the fears to at least test them instead of just giving into them and letting them have their way.

Until next time,

art share blog candycalendars!

First, here's my April collaged calendar spread. I kind of abandoned the vintage theme, because of the huge amount of die cuts I had for Easter and Spring. I just loaded 'em on here, because that's what this calendar is for: a supplies dump. So, this is not my favorite page by far, but I did like how I colored it, winkwink. Now, onto the good stuff:

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ART SHARE BLOG CANDY!
**UPDATE: Sign-Ups Closed**
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I found this idea today on my fellow altered book group member Nola's blog . When it comes to my art, I've been exploring just going with my gut, and my gut told me to join in. I successfully did something like this on my own last year, so getting others to commit was my attraction this year.

Let's see if anyone else is like-minded. I would love to have you join me. It could be like a chain mail of art and pay-it-forward, all in one! And, it doesn't have to be any big thing that's involved, weighs or costs a lot or is hard to mail. Just a little sump-sump that shows we care enough to share!

Here's how it works:

The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something handmade by me! I will choose, but it will be made with you in mind. Could be any kind or size of card, bookmark, an altered object, but it will be something that can fit in an envelope or padded envelope for receipients in the USA, and in an envelope for those of you in foreign countries. Like I said, just a little sump-sump! :-))

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make, but I will try hard for that goal and I'll do my best work, too.

2. What I create will be made with you in mind so it will be unique.

3. It'll be done sometime this year (You old-timers know an entire year just might not be long enough, haha, but I am committing to it!).

4. I will not tell you what it's going to be. It will hopefully be a surprise.

5. The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must offer this blog candy on your blog! This is how we expand the love.

Re-post this on your blog, offer handmade creations to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog (then come here and post).

Add my name to the #1 slot on your card- I am your first participant. When you create your give away, you will become the first participant on the new list for the people who participate with you. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment here telling me they did (I will go to your blog to check that you have this posted) win a handmade gift by me.

Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

SO ...... who will be the first 5 folks????

1. Nola
2. Lida
3. Rose
4. Paula
5. Ann

Leave a comment on this post so I can add your name. First come, first serve. Hope to hear from YOU soon!

Until next time,

this pilgrim's progress...

{{{For all photos, please click on each one to enlarge if you wish...}}}

Happy Friday! Allow me to present my March collaged calendar spread (on March 6th, I might add...feels great to be caught up finally...here's hoping I don't lose steam...my next objective is to show April's on April no-foolin-1st).

I found myself in the groove of telling the story of March - of what happens there. This close-up of the clock for Daylight Savings Time (this coming Sunday at 2 a.m., by the way) is my favorite cuz it just looks so cool to me.

Here's a close-up of the section I made to celebrate Women's History Month...

...and panning out a bit to show the entire collage. I was tres pleased with how it came out. Never saw a collage for Women's History Month before, and I didn't realize that I'd used vintage images except for the laughing woman at lower right. It's like all of the vintage women were born before women could vote, and the one modern woman is joyous...she has their back. Who says collage is not sub-conscious? Mine usually is, which is why I get a kick out of doing it. :-)))
I included an entire poem for the first time in the section describing March weather, and was able to use clip art I had of a lion and lamb, as well as the umbrella girls. The kite was already on the calendar background. I used my white Sharpie paint pen and my orange Sakura Souffle gel pen to visually bring it forward to play.
Here be my homage to the most famous March event: St. Pat's Day. You may recall that I went overboard last year making Irish art cards and greeting cards, and I used up most of my printed images. This is the one section that I did not stick to using what I already had.

My lovely altered book muse and friend Elizabeth in NC offered some very sweet vintage image freebies on her blog recently, so I printed 3 of them out to use: the large boy, large girl, and the large harp. Thank you, Elizabeth! I love how each of them add phrases to the calendar collage that refer to St. Pat's Day and Irish traditions. Vintage stuff often does that beautifully... just one reason I love Vintage. :-))) So, continuing to pan out to the full view....
Here is the entire spread. I used crayon pastels to color the borders. I have no idea who makes them as they came in an art set that Missy left behind (another great find from her room!), and they glide on like butter, not like a Crayola crayon and not like a dry or oil pastel. So, I will just enjoy them and not worry what they technically are. winkwink

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I got very frustrated with my Canon Pixma ip4500 printer yesterday, and if it continues to act up I am going to just call it a day and get an Epson, I think. What ticks me off about the printer are the 5 finicky ink cartridges.

I have had a few ink jet printers in my time, so I know you have to practically print something every day or two to keep the ink fresh and flowing. And that's what I do. But every freaking time, I have to open the hood and pull out one or more of the cartridges, shake, and then put back in, make sure everything clicks back well enough for the computer diagnostics to clear, and then I can print.

It gets really annoying. I wonder, do Epson's good printers have 5 finicky cartridges, too? Am I just stuck with finicky technology if I want to use a photo printer that's a step up from an all-in-one? Do I just have a lemon? (I got this latest batch of cartridges straight from Canon, so there should be no excuse!)

If anyone has any experience or advice, please tell me in your comment! I am spending almost $100 to replace all the Canon cartridges, just to have half of them act like they are almost dry from the get-go. Not fun!

I cannot help comparing my finicky printer to my finicky car, as far as diagnostics that don't work right and get in your way. I do not look forward to any more technological advances if they are going to act like these!

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So, changing channels...I sit at the cusp of a potentially gorgeous weekend. The weather for the next several days here at Casa Miguel is for sunny temps in the high 70's to low 80's with cool nights in the 60's. Spring weather preview! The sun feels so nice on my skin. I do have a bit of @#$%@%^#% paperwork to complete, but otherwise I want to spend all weekend creating...and standing in the sunshine. :-)

march on!

Wow, what a fast month February was!

This weekend, I have celebrated turning 53. Because I am a Leap Year baby, I didn't really have an official day, more like 1 second at midnite between 2/28 and 3/1, winkwink. So, I did the smart thing. I took the entire weekend. I blogged about it over at my Antics and Rantics blog, if you wanna know the 411 on my Un-birthday.

I'm reading to dive into March, but first I need to finish up with February. I visited quite a few blogs last month and ended up also entering One World, One Heart, an international giveaway of gratitude, at many of them. Lo and Behold, I was blessed!

I won one of the grand prize giveaway at the blog of my Australian yahoo group buddy Brenda. She had made the cutest little Spool Sitters Christmas decorations. Such detailed work! Their faces are so precious.

I was doing my happy dance until I realized that it was coming from... Australia. I don't have the best luck with international shipping, plus it literally sends me into tummy aches to think of anyone paying to send it to me all the way from down under.

I still feel really guilty about having won dear Shirley's giveaway last year, so the idea came to me to ask Brenda if she would mind sending the shelf sitters to Shirley instead, since Shirley's down under, too. Her boys are still young and might enjoy them. I like when kiddos enjoy old-fashioned things. And, I admit to also wanting to give Shirley a smile or two what with all the trauma she's been dealing with because of the fires that got much too close to her home at one point.

Dear Brenda was happy with it, and Shirley got them last week. Here they are, as snapped by Shirley, in their new home:

Everyone and thing is safe and happy. I love it, cuz it's a great way to really say One World, One Heart all the way around, isn't it? winkwink

At Nancy's blog, even though I wasn't a grand-prize winner, I was a winner as she graciously and generously mailed goodies to all those who entered! And look what I got:

I wonder if Nancy realizes she just gained a reader for Life? What a kind and giving soul she is! Thanks again, Nancy. xoxo

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I'm working on my March calendar page right now and hopefully on April 1st I can show April's (No Foolin'). Then I'll be caught up {gasp}! I need to show you February's first, though. Remember, my objective with this calendar decorating is treating it as a Supply Dump, so the pages are of an eclectic floating collage style.

I got to use up lots of my itty bitty ladies transparency collage sheet images along the border edges.
As well, lots of heart candy and postage stamp stickers found themselves spots on the page.
A little gel-penning for doodles and outlining...
A lot of sweet vintage details on this month's calendar.

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This Aristede Maillol print of his painting, Woman with a Parasol, hangs in my home and never fails to relax me whenever I rest my eyes on it. When I saw that my blogging friend Elizabeth was doing a Pink theme for February, I was inspired to suggest my print. Thanks, Elizabeth, for letting me play with you. Being Pink was fun!
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My journaling sister Emily is having the coolest challenge. Go join the fun!
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My Gluebooks yahoo group owner Lisa Volrath is hosting more of her famous free image giveaways. On her studio blog, she's having another installment of her Original Printables Holiday Countdown that begins today and ends on St. Patty's Day. Additionally, she's having a Daily Eye Candy Giveaway. Pretty images and goodies for the price of a linked shoutout and leaving some comments.
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Until next time,

Valentine Blog Party!

I am playing a bit of catch-up as I got into this late, but I've joined Soul Journal Yahoo Group (with Collage Diva Kathryn). She's organized a Valentine Blog Party for today, as a sort of Meet n Greet for members, plus for anyone else who is interested. Membership in the group is not required.

The idea is to visit the participants' blogs (listed on Kathryn's sidebar), and she's leaving it up for a few days cuz these things sometimes take time. Many of us do have a sweetheart to spend time with today, too. winkwink

So, I'm inviting you to the Valentine Blog Party. After clicking on the link, read Kathryn's post for today, then look on her righthand sidebar for Valentine Blog participants. It is the first listing at the top. These are the blogs to visit, so click away on the links and have a great time.

I just went to one participant who was having a giveaway of a free digital journaling class membership (you bet I entered!), and several have freebie downloads of images and such. So, it might just be a party of riches for ya!