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Showing posts from June, 2010

photography and photoshop

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A couple of weeks ago I went with some friends to hear Andre Gallant speak. http://www.andregallant.com/ Oh my gosh!  He is so inspiring.  He does the most wonderful impressionistic photos.  I came home and started experimenting in Photoshop Elements.  This photo is a hyacinth combined with a photo of a mossy stone wall.   This is one of my first tries and I really like.  I'm not sure where I am going to go with this but I will figure it out eventually.

hot summer sunshine

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I was thinking that this piece is finished but now I'm not so sure.  Sometimes I wonder if some pieces are ever finished.  Sometimes I just get bored with working on some things.  Sometimes I rush to finish something because I just want it done.  That is almost always a mistake to rush it.  It is much better for me to put it aside and work on something else.  There are times when that works but there are times where I completely lose interest in the piece and it never gets finished.  Maybe that's not the end of the world.

take a stitch Tuesday

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The cloud filling stitch is what I have done here.  Sharon at http://www.pintangle.com/ showed how to do it a while back.  I've been meaning to try it ever since she showed it.  The top picture shows it done with some sari silk.  It really doesn't work.  I ended up taking out the sari silk.  Learn from my mistake.  Below I tried it with silk thread.  That works much better.  It's a simple stitch and I really like it.  I will definitely use it in my crazy quilting.

mixed media Monday a day late

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I made this file folder book for the 'something old' challenge at Mixed Media Monday http://mixedmediamonday.wordpress.com/ I used some Victorian scrap on each tag.  I  had purchased the Victorian scrap on ebay.  I also used some old ledger pages, again purchased on ebay. 

more play day fun

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These are samples of embossing powder adhered to cardstock wtih fusible web.  I also showed how to use gel medium to adhere embossing powder. Nancy also shared her new Kroma acrylic paints.  We used some crackle medium to get the crackle affect.  It looks pretty cool.   I'm not sure why some of it looks so whitish.  I guess it take some experimenting. Nancy is the hostess with the mostest!  She shared some silk yarn, silk worm pods, shisha mirrors and a hand carved stamp with each of us.  We often bring little goodies to share with everyone.  It's kind of like Christmas!

play day fun

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I have to say that I am very blessed to have such good friends!  Here we are having an art play day.    Nancy showed us how to outline a photo with a black permanent pen.  It really makes the flower pop out.  It is very relaxing to do - kind of like doing a zentangle. Lois showed us a fun technique using kids black markers.  You spray them with water and let the color run.  I am having trouble with blogger.  I think I'll just do another post about the rest of the day.

art journal exploding

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I have already removed a lot of pages from this journal.  I can't remove any more as I have something on all the rest.  I'm a little concerned about the how much it splays open!  Not good.  I was considering how to prevent it from falling apart when a Youtube video came to my rescue.  I didn't book mark it so now I can't find it again but that's okay I don't really need to see it again.  The woman in the video used ribbons to tie around a composition book that she altered.  I thought that was a great idea.  I have had a hank of sari silk for a couple of years now and have been wanting to use it but just didn't know how.  Well, I think it works great to hold my journal together.  You can see all the pretty colors that are in it!

kaleidoscope book

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I created this book as a gift.  It contains 12 of my kaleidoscopes.  I was wishing that I would have made two while I was at it.  It was kind of hard to part with it!

Illumination

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  I have belonged to the Royal City Calligraphy guild for six years now.  Over the years I have taken a number of workshops.  Some are more successful than others.  The teachers are always kind and generous.  I've been organizing the notes, supply lists etc. from these workshops.  This is a sample from an illumination workshop I took a couple of years ago.  I quite like it.  It's unusual for me to produce something worthwhile in a workshop.  How can you go wrong when working with real gold though?  It feels really good to have things organized.  I will have to post some pictures of what I have done in the way of organizing. 

swarovski crystal pen

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Check out the beautiful pen that my wonderful son bought me for my birthday.  Isn't it great!  I\m sure you know anything that sparkles makes me happy.   I don't know what they have done to blogger and I don't know how to work it now!!!!  It's really ticking me off.  Hopefully I will figure this out sooner rather than later. 

New Discoveries!!!

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Who knew!!!  I found this cool stuff called dubbing in the fly tying department.  I thought it looked suspiciously like angelina fibres.  I figured I would buy it and find out if it works like angelina.  I thought if it doesn't work I can use it in needle felting.  Well, sure enough with a hot iron this stuff works just like angelina fibres.  Of course, it being a product that men purchase it is half the price of angelina fibres.  Big surprise. The blue pictured above has lost it's sparkle as I ironed it a bit too long.  You do have to be careful.

Today I celebrate me!!!

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It's my birthday and I thought I would write a post for me, just me.  Read on if you like but I will probably sound very egotistical in this post.  I just want to celebrate some of the things that I am and have done right in this life.  I am an accomplished artist.  I have been published in a book and a magazine.  I have had my work accepted in a national show.  I a creative and clever. I am a  loving wife, dutiful daughter, good sister and dedicated mother.  I have three fantastic sons to prove that I am a good mother!! I am a fun and experienced teacher. I am a woman that loves to luxuriate in an extremely frothy bubble bath.  There is royalty in my family tree.  Does that explain my blog name!  I think so. I am a loyal friend. I am a strong and healthy woman. I am a blissfully simple and somewhat shallow woman.  There are many things that I just don't care to know anything about. I have run a small business for 18 years that contributes a little bit of money to our h

there's always time for art

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Even when a day is so busy that you think you don't have time for art you somehow you can find a few minutes.  I am so grateful that I have a good camera to use.  We had a good down pour of rain today and the sky is still rather grey.  I have been meaning to get some photos of the iris blooming in my garden so the overcast day was perfect for that.  I like the rain drops on the flower.  This could make a very interesting kaleidoscope.

bead journal project for June

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This bead journal project is very enjoyable.  I was concerned that I would not be able to keep up with it.  I am finding that I am very keen on getting each month finished though.  I had June finished at least a week ago!  I will start on July soon.  There is a fair amount of beading on this but you do have to look closely to see it as I was working monotones.  I looked forever to find the shell slices.  Aren't they great?