Giveaway Winners and New Friends

I hope you all are enjoying a relaxing Memorial Day. Having been in the military(peace time so no comparison); I'm definitely thinking of those overseas today and hope they all come home to their families safe and soon. My two winners from my Mother's Day Giveaway are Lidia and Claire, two of my absolute favorite blogs to visit btw! By random draw, Lidia wins the keyfob and Claire wins two magnets. Email me your addresses ladies! Congrats!

Pictured above is a robe that I made recently and my brunch today. More on both shortly. I would like to welcome two new blog followers. The first is Patricia at Walk, Walk Fashion Baby. She is only 16 and has a fabulous fashion inspired blog. As we all know arts and fashion go hand in hand. I highly recommend her blog for inspiration. Also, Patricia is an excellent writer, very impressive! Thank you Patricia! The next is Laura at the Vintage Key.  She teaches scrapbooking classes and is a design team member for my favorite paper company...Graphic 45! Laura's projects are devinely vintage! Thanks for following Laura!

So, I wanted to show off my robe that I made with my new sewing machine. It's so cute cuz it has ruffles at the bottom and on the arms, as well as a hood(first pic). But there's a funny story to this...

My new machine has the embroidery functions, something I have never had before. Therefore, I wanted to embroider something on the robe. Clever as I am(wait for it...), I thought that I should probably practice in a scrap of the same fabric. After carefully following the manual, my heart sung over the darling hot pink butterfly that I was able to embroider! I ran to brag to my son(who could care less, he's a teenager), but I HAD to tell someone! Having been successful, I now proceeded to embroider the real deal, the robe. Now they tell you very clearly to make sure you don't have extra fabric caught up in the hoop. On God, I bet lots of idiots do that, I thought slightly haughtily...after all, I had done this once so now I was clearly an EXPERT. Well, guess what...yeah...here it comes...I GOT THE BOTTOM OF THE ROBE CAUGHT IN IT! If you don't know, you can't pick it out; the entire thing unravels...so I learned. BUT, I made lemons out of lemonade and used my sample and learned how to use the applique feature. Thank goodness. The results were good as you can see here.

For my relaxing day, I partook in a little brunch for myself. Some tea, perfectly, mouth-wateringly, sweet watermelon and a lovely tuna sandwich on toasted English muffin. 

It was delish and then I went to read Julia Child's memoir. LOVE it!

Faux-Pas Faux Fruit

It was a hideous mess doing this! Awkward and clumsy too. This is #10 of my Project 52.

It's ironic that they actually look better in photo than in person. Or maybe not so much? The goal here is to make paper fabric by gluing papers and napkins onto muslim, then creating the fruits and veggies. Kelli Nina Perkins gave a terrific tutorial in the CPS May/June '09 issue and I just loved the bright colors and whimsical idea! She has a fabulous stitch alchemy blog at "common life into ART". It is truly inspirational and candy for the eyes!

Somehow my banana went bananas when I sewed the pieces together and turned out all twisted. 

Bell pepper anyone?

And an eggplant just 'cuz I wanted to make something in purple.

I did learn through the process here. I now understand how tricky making cloth paper is! Also, I was able to use oil pastels for the first time. Love the effect of those! Alas, this method of creating is not really for me. The steps are quite time-consuming and I prefer more immediate gratification. Plus, I was not too crazy about using my brand new sewing machine for such a messy project. I just love my new machine that can embroider and I don't want to gum it up and paint it up yet! I have a much greater appreciation of Kelli's work as an artist.

Now you might be wondering what the point of immitating the artwork of others for my 52 projects. I know, it doesn't seem very creative. But here's the thing; I created my Top Ten list of reasons for doing so:

1. Immitation is the highest form of flattery.

2. I don't know what I'm doing so why not learn from the experts.

3. Force myself to learn new techniques.

4. Develop an eye for composition.

5. Develop an eye for color.

6. Find out which methods and mediums that I gel with.

7. It is a 'fun' resolution for this year.

8. I am happier when I make time to create and this ensures I will make time for it every day.

9. Increasing my arsenal of techniques to apply to future creations.

10. This is the BEST one...I have a terrific excuse to buy more supplies to add to my ever-growing collection! LOL

Glamourful Memories

Don't forget to leave a comment here for my May Giveaway!

I met my fiance about a year after his wife of 3 years passed away unexpectedly at only 43 years old.  In his apartment, he had some of her personal belongings in the bottom drawer of his dresser. When he and I moved in together he simply dumped the contents in the bottom drawer at the new place. I knew he just couldn't bear to go through them. That brings me to this layout.

It always bothered me that her things were just strewn in the drawer but I felt it wasn't my place to do anything about it. I did feel that it wasn't peaceful and there wasn't closure.  Recently, it was what would have been her third birthday since her passing; which he mentioned to me. So, I decided to make this layout in her memory. He has told me lots about her and she was quite a comedian and a bit of a smart aleck so this is what I came up with using some glamour shots she had done.

Really, I need some advice on close ups. Seriously, give me your best tips!

Anyway, I purchased this decorative box and went throught the bottom drawer and placed her things in it. I think she'd like it as at the old apartment she had floral curtains similar to the box. I placed the layout on top and presented it to D(with a little trepidation at his reaction).

It turned out that he really loved the layout and he was touched that I did this for her and for him. We placed the pretty box in the drawer and he can look through it when he is ready. I felt that Chris was smiling down and appreciated the care of her things.

Yeah! An Award and Giveaway Reminder!

Happy Thursday! Don't forget to leave a comment for my Mother's Day Giveaway; you have till the 30th of May!

I'm so pleased to receive and award. I think this is an interesting one because it lets us have a little peek into other people's hopes, dreams, goals, and wishes!

Thanks to Sandy for this recognition. To fulfill the good wishes of this award I am to tell where I see myself in 10 years. Hmm...I think a list is in order.

1. In a good place with my grown son(teenager at the moment...VERY).
2. Happily married to my current fiance.
2. Having finished my second BA and a Master's in my new chosen career field of Geoscience.
3. Wishfully, having published my in-progress young-adult novels.
4. Living back at the CA coast.
5. Still creating and sharing in the blog world!

In the spirit of sharing, I am to pass this award along to 10 other blog friends. The rules are simple. Just post this award and link back to the person that sent you the award, then forward to 10 of your blog friends. Although some of these ladies don't know me well; I am a fan of their lovely blogs and so these are my picks to share with you. I am confident that you will enjoy browsing their varied blogs. Have a great day and here are my picks!

Claire at Blah to Tada!
Lidia at Breaking Barriers
Lisa at Nature Nutz
Laurie at Moonwild Art Studio
Jackie at Best of Times
Deb at Sparkling Scrapbooks
Lisa at What a Beautiful Mess
Jessy at Teacher Jessy's Blog
Jodi at Sweet Repeats
Nancy at Sugar Lump Studios

Welcome Blog Follower #5!

Thank you to Jackie for joining my blog! Follow the link to see her lovely scrapbook blog. Jackie loves her family and documenting their life with scrapbooking.

Welcome Jackie!

A Mother's Day Gift For Mine and For 2 of YOU!

Yeah! I have a GIVEAWAY! Back to that shortly.

Well, I completed #9 of my Project 52 and it turned out to be a good Mother's Day gift. I made this charming little magnets(I love them!) by cutting up wooden paint-stir sticks.

 Not wanting to waste the handle end; I saw the potential for a key chain fob. (Which I have already claimed.)

"Imagine" and "Laugh" were chosen to send to my own mom along with a matching card. 

Although I spoke to her today she hadn't gone down to the post office for their mail yet, so the jury is out on whether she liked them. 

(Let's hope she doesn't look at my blog and see them already!)

So, here's the deal on the GIVEAWAY. 

I would like to give away the key fob, "Journey" to one person. Also, I would like to give a pair of magnets away to another. Really, I don't need this many on my fridge! BTW, I would like to know why the one that says 'giggle' smeared when I coated it with gel medium and the others didn't? It's a conundrum, nothing was done differently with it!

All you have to do is tell me what you enjoyed about Mother's Day and  leave me a comment stating which you would like to have, the keychain fob OR two magnets of your choosing; please state which two. (Keep in mind that I sent my mom the above stated two.) I will choose two random winners on  May 30th. Good luck!

So, I would be remiss if I didn't thank Jodi Ohl for her inspiration in CPS Jan/Feb '09 issue. One thing that I did here that was slightly different was to draw with watercolor pencil around the words. Now, you should know that I have no idea what you do with said pencils but I bought them for another project. My best guess was to pencil around the words then go over it with a wet paint brush. I love the effect! Some of you pros out there might have some tips on what to do with watercolor pencils and they would be welcome!

Well, Happy Mother's Day all!

Un-Gridlocked

Project 52 #8   Another inchie project. This one was inspired by Shari Ulman's (ulman9@comcast.net) Wall Art Grids from the Somerset Studio Gallery Summer '09 issue.


What a stretch for me! These pieces are SO inside-the-box, neat and tidy; which is completely unlike myself. (I had the nickname Messy Nessy for a number of years!)

I have an OOPS on this red one...see how the skull came unglued in the center? I call this one "I AM". I didn't realize till later; so now it's fixed. What is the deal here? I seem to have forgotten how to take clear close-ups and frankly, don't feel like reading the manual at the moment. I have a procrastinated 'note to self' to figure that out!

And green..."CREATIVITY."

Another crappy close up!

The blue is entitled "UNIQUE".

It's a miracle! The close up worked!

This one I call "SHINE".

Really? Another botched close up? LOL!

It was really fun to dig through all my stash and find color themes. I have to say, perhaps this exercise will help me when making cards. I'm terrible with that, it's so linear to me; which is not so much my thing! Anyway, I love these grids and they have already been hung up in the hallway and add a nice big splash of color and look so professional!