snowy day

I am still down and out with the creeping crud but feeling a little better than yesterday.
It's snowy and cold today, in the 20's and I am feeling bad for the birds. I took this picture of a Junco taking shelter in the dried morning glory vines.( I knew I had left them there for a reason) The little guy does look cute with the snow on his head.

Then they would fly sideways out to the feeder and back.
That's it for today....back to the couch.

sick days :(

Yep, been in bed for two days now. Having art withdrawal. But today the 101 fever is gone and I can get up a little, so here I am. Just thought I would post this picture of a journal/altered book I made using the puzzle pieces. I have other uses for them as well and will show you that in the future.

a little weekend art

I wasn't feeling real good this Sunday (sore throat and feel a cold coming on) but I managed to play with my alcohol inks some more and made these puzzle pieces...they were fun to do.

And this is my first attempt at putting bees wax on a painting. I just painted a simple cupcake to try it out. It's painted on a wooden block. The frosting had too much texture ( I used expanding paint) but I see where the wax gives more dimension. And the cupcake paper was paper. The next one will be better.

is Spring just around the corner?

I sure hope so! It is FREEZING cold here!

So I thought I would post my morning glories from last Summer to warm us up.

I had so much fun with the recipe boxes that I made some more using a different tissue paper.

Have an artful weekend and keep warm.

I think I feel some more paper doll fun coming on.....

jean bag

I have been getting a lot of compliments on my new jean bag, so I thought why not post it on todays blog. The above photo is the front. If you click on the picture to enlarge, I think you can see my pink flower watch that matches the flowers on the side.

This is the back.

A close up of the flowers. I free motion stitched the flowers and leaves and left a bit of the edges to fray. It's fun to see what it all looks like after you remove it from the wash. If it's not frayed enough, then just wash it again and again until you reach your desired effect.

good day...bad day? good day!

For my non motor-head friends. This is an engine with a blower on it, aka a blown engine. Engine art to me.

OK, I need to make up my mind. I'll take the good day. It started out good with the award, then I had a doctor appointment and after a painful breast exam and possibly not so good results, I was feeling down and was going to go shopping to make myself feel better. But then I told myself....no....just go home and do some work in the studio. So I turned the car towards home and there it was! Simple things make me happy. A '69 Camaro with a blown engine pulls out onto the road ahead of me. It was great! I stayed behind it for a while and with my window down, I sucked in the fumes of the mighty engine. Then the light turned red and I was side by side with this thing of beauty. We just passed a police with a car pulled over. The racing blood in me was boiling but I just wanted to see this car from the front, so when the light turned green , off I went. Shifting my gears, just to get ahead to view the car from the front and I did. And then he kicked it in a blew by me. I smiled all the way home.

award day

Today is a very good day already....I recieved the "You make my day" award from Blue Jude at Bluejudemusings.
She said I (my blog) makes her smile and gives her inspiration and hope. Wow, that makes me feel great today. I just like to put a little something out there each day. Something I am working on or maybe a cute photo of Harley or a pretty sunset. Or a quote.....but something artsy. And friends and family can check in and see that I am doing OK. And all of the art bloggers! I have a few favorites that I check everyday and they also inspire me.....so I have to let them know that I will be passing along this award to them.
I will let you know who they are later today.
Have a great day.
suze:)

happy 55

I got so carried away with the paper dolls this past weekend I almost forgot it was my DH's big 55 Birthday. But I didn't forget and I made him this card. It has a huge 1953 on it and a bunch of little fifty fives scattered about. He loved it!

play art sunday

I had other art plans for this weekend but Sharon over at All NorahS Art was having a Paper Doll party! Well, I couldn't resist a party especially a paper doll party. So that is what I did today and here they are. I couldn't make just one...kinda like Pringles.

Here is my first doll. Her name is Gracie. I started with a dress pattern and went from there. Her dress was done with alcohol inks. Then I gave her a hat with a flower and fishnet stockings.
And I gave her some yarn hair.

The second doll is Rose and she is somewhat a diva. Her dress is also alcohol ink. She has a silk flower on her hat. She see's the world thru rose colored glasses.

My last doll for today is Katy. Her dress has flowers from a paper napkin and she had to have a purse to accessorize her outfit. She wears a crown every where and has felt hair.

cats

Cat's are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!

I couldn't make my bed this morning as it was being occupied by one Harley. I didn't have the heart to disturb him....well just to take this picture. And he went back to sleep. AHHH the life of a cat. But then he can't create art, soooooo.....

Everyone have a great and artful weekend!

suze:)

sunday studio art

Here is what I was doing on Sunday. I am organizing my space and needed some containers to store stuff. I bought these recipe boxes at Michael's for a dollar a piece. (I told you already that I can't resist that dollar price tag.)
And with a little paint, some stamping and really pretty tissue paper, I turned them into these boxes ready to store my goodies.

the color purple

I like to take my walk when the sun is setting. And the cows are walking home. This was taken at the end of my street. I couldn't resist the purple sky and the cow couple walking towards each other.

quilt art

My friend Jan and I went to the Winter Quilt Show in downtown OKC on Saturday. We both had shopping limits and we blew them to smithereens (what exactly are smithereens?) But we had a good time shopping at looking at the quilts. We took a mini class on reverse applique and I said I would have one done by tomorrow...oops. Oh the day isn't over yet.

A woman in our quilt guild was the featured artist. Her name is Lola Jenkins and she made the quilt pictured above. She makes a lot of super portrait quilts and she cranks out an amazing seven quilts a month!! I was drawn to this quilt. I love the color's and it's just different.

doughnut love

Ever have one of those days, you are driving down the road, minding your own business and there it is! The dog-gone HOT light is on at Krispy Kreme! And your car has a mind of it's own and the next thing you know is that you are in the parking lot. I cannot resist the free hot doughnut. Maybe I will put that on my resolution list for next year.

So you get your free doughnut and now they expect you to BUY some. So I bought four. Two for my DH and two for myself. A little setback on the diet but what the heck.

I didn't post my art from Studio Sunday yet because I am still cleaning. I did try to download my photo from Saturday's quilt show but it didn't want to download for some reason, so I will try that again tomorrow.

pin art

Today's art is a pin that I made after seeing one at the Houston show in November. A girl at one of the booth's was wearing one and I said I liked it and she said she just whipped it up that morning. The dress form is wood, and I painted and stamped it. Then I just added the ribbon's to form the skirt and a pin back......easy peasy!

flamingo thursday

Hello, no art today,YET. I made a few things this morning but nothing print worthy. But I went shopping and found some really cool stuff at Big Lots (for altered books,ect) and I am making something special for my best friend's upcoming Birthday...more on that later. I was in the store and it just hit me (the idea).
When I was back East for the holiday's I found this funky little shop in Annapolis, with a larger than life flamingo in the window....for all my flamingo (and pink) fanatic's.

card art

This is the back of the Birthday card I made for my God-Daughter (and great niece). I would show the front but I put her picture on it and her Mom would not want me to put her photo on the internet. And I would show the inside but it has a lot of other family member's pictures. So why show it at all, you ask? Because it is not only a card but a picture frame. They sell these at the craft store's. I think the brand is ME. It is heavy cardboard ready for painting or stamping or whatever you want to do to it. It opens and has a slot to put a gift card in it and after that is removed you can insert your favorite photo. It was her 13th birthday so I printed on the computer a bunch of 13's in different fonts and color's. Then put them all over the card and attached some to the ribbons and yarns on the side.
I just think it's something different for the harder to buy for teens and tweener's.

more ink art

OK, so Sunday I was discovering the joys of alcohol inks and the wheels started turning and I start to look around the studio for other things to ink. So I inked a box of washers (above)

Then I moved on to some old tickets.The girls at bowling give me their tickets and wonder what I do with them. This is one of the things I use them for.

Then I decided to make some tags and after inking them I attached some of the tickets.Today I found a metal stamper to make my own tickets...more fun to come!

I use the Xyron sticker maker to attach the tickets. That is one of my favorite tools.

ink art

Continued from the bottom of the page...sorry! These hearts are cut from the disposable art below.

Here are my tools from my Sunday art. A heart punch, metal tape (used for heating or something), alcohol inks (by Tim Holtz - Ranger) and embossing plates (or anything else around the studio I could find to emboss with)

This is what I made yesterday.
They are stickers.

I never worked with alcohol inks before. It was on my to-do list and I had bought them a while ago, because I had a coupon. Well, was it ever fun. (I was supposed to be cleaning off my table) Did I ever tell you that I am the Queen of getting sidetracked? Well I am, and I am always being reminded of that. But my philosophy is if I clean it all up then I won't be able to find it again and why not just do it now? The art I mean. So I do and I don't feel guilty because I am creating. Now that I have that off my chest.....back to the art.

Another thing I do is always keep the paper that I am working on. The one under the art being made. It looks messy but when you re-use it to stamp out shapes it looks really good and you can always add on to it using rubber stamps and other embellishments. It's on the top of the page and I can't get it to come down here.

I forgot to mention that alcohol inks are used for slick surfaces such as metals and plastic's.

Well, the wheels started turning last night and I went on to use these inks on other things. I am not pushing my luck with downloading too many things at one time, soooo.......more tomorrow.

thought for the day

The best things in life aren't things.Harley Joe

thinkin pink

Hey, look who's gone PINK!! I love it.

And that reminds me...time to schedule the dreaded mammoCRAM!
On a happier note, here is our beautiful (sky-art) sunset tonight.

crab art & recipe books

My grandson, Kasey and I had fun doodling on the paper tablecloth while waiting for our Christmas eve crabs to arrive. They were yummy!

A gift I decided to make for all the women in the family this year was recipe books. I made these from children's board books. Sanded and painted and decoupaged on the inside with favorite family and friend recipes.

Yep, some of these recipe cards (I made photo copies of the original recipe cards) are about to fall apart and are pretty stained with past ingredients. But a lot of them are in my Mom's handwriting.

I also embellished the pages with picture's of favorite dishes, shopping lists and kitcheny items.

Another reason I made the books were so these recipes could be handed down and not gotten lost.
I think everyone liked their books and I got some requests for others to be made. I want one too.

Now my girls can make their own Christmas cookies and since I am no longer in the area...someone else must master making the famous family potato salad!

artful new year!!

I'm back from my travels once again and wishing everyone an ARTFUL NEW YEAR!! Once again I am glad the Holidays are over and I can start a new year of art and inspiration.I have new projects planned and some new classes to teach. New idea's for some quilts and I vow to paint more this year. It's more of what I plan to do rather than giving up things. Hopefully I will be too busy to think about eating.....yeah right!

I will be back tomorrow with photo's of what I made for gifts this year.