Happy New Year

I  don't have art to show again today. I could probably dig around and find something but it can wait. I did work on some mail art last night while watching a movie ( The Secret lives of Bee's ). I only did the front of the envelope because it took me so long to come up with an idea I liked. Tonight I'll do the back, have the design in mind, just not sure how I want to do it. Because there's been a quite recent change in the life of the intended mail recipient, I think I might change the design as I had it set in my mind. I wanted to try something new, too, but I'm balking because I sure can't ruin a piece being done on an envelope with the card already sealed inside!
Anyway, thanks to all for the comments on my art and what I have to say. I hope to continue blogging in the new year and maybe even get better at it as I learn how to do better posts, pictures and so forth.
I don't usually make a New Year's resolution because I always break it  but if I wanted to try one, I'd say, once again, to lose weight and KEEP IT OFF and to do some art EVERY DAY! The weight part is a must.

And speaking of ART every day; The wonderful, most exciting, whimsical Sharon of Norah'S will be holding a video class showing how she paints her girly faces!!!
It will be on NING and probably sometime later in January! I'm so excited that I can barely contain myself!! I did tell Rocket that a class is coming up and no matter what it costs I wanted it to be my Christmas gift!!! So watch here for info, if you don't already:  http://allnorahsart.blogspot.com/  and if you haven't seen Sharon's work or her blog be prepared to be in for a charming treat! I sure hope I have what supplies I'll need on hand. That is going to be a wonderful start to the new year!!!

And to end the year....a BLUE MOON! How amusing is that? I haven't looked out tonight, not sure if we can even see much of the moon as we have clouds and snow on a freezing night, again. However, I did spend time viewing the moon last night a couple times when I had Ebony (teeny dog) out to do her thing. It was a very eerie but yet gorgeous moon.....it was enveloped in a deep tunnel of broken wavy clouds and created a reddish gold glowing halo. Hard to describe but I hope others in this area got to gaze at it. It was quite amazing. I can never get a good picture because we have a street light across the street too close and it ruins the picture.

Happy New Year!
Star

Blog Hopping or Stalking

I don't have a picture to show this morning but I did just have a thought roaming about in this head. Is blog hopping really a form of stalking if you continually go to your favorite blogs more than once a day or on a schedule every day? Just kidding, but really, isn't it?
Here's my routine every morning and trust me, I get cranky if  I can't follow it, unless I'm the one who decides to change it! I'm not a morning person at all; I can't get up and just hop to things for the day; if I get up early I get morning sickness, really, I get dizzy, have dry heaves and a headache! The few times in my life where I worked morning shifts were not pleasant beginnings. I get my bearings and come to life at noon or later. It's not a good thing that the world is timed opposite of me!
I get up, stumble to the bathroom and do that whole routine, go directly to the kitchen for the morning pills (old age) and then turn to the coffee pot, hoping the husband hasn't drained the pot before I get the last cup (because he arises around 5:30 which is middle of the night to me). I then usually start another pot of coffee and head for the computer, cup in hand.
First, I check e-mails and note anything that needs attention.
Next is checking in on my special fairy girls, see if there are new posts and how they all are.
Third is going to my blog and see if I had any comments or even any visitors. I decide then if I want to hear music or not. If I need it to wake up and get myself in the right mood, I turn the volume up and let my music play. If I need quiet a bit longer I turn the volume down on the speakers because I'm usually hopping over to others from my page.
Then, usually in the same order every morning I go visit my most favorite blogs and anticipate what wonders will open up! I visit 4 or 5 usually in the same order and then from those I might choose new blog links to peek at or I go back to mine and peek in on more of the blogs I visit regularly and maybe pick a new one from each of them, too.
By now it's a 3rd cup of coffee, I have too many ideas starting to chase each other in this over-loaded head, and I need to go tend to the e-mails and do any business things that need doing. Now it's 10:30 or so and I'm not dressed, but it's time to think about starting the laundry or other household things; I might even decide it's time to have actual conversations with the husband. If all else fails and I still don't feel like starting the day, I go back and check the fav blogs again, check the Fairies again and maybe play a card game until I know I have to get busy.
Later, I'll come back to get on the computer if I need to hunt images from a folder or something along those lines, and might sneak a peek at my blog or fav blogs again if I was anticipating a post being made.
I love my computer! I'd marry it but it has a dark side that makes me think of ex-husbands; not always loving, fun and easy to get along with! I live with depression and anxiety; some days I feel pretty good and manage just fine. Other days, I can't go out in public, don't want to see anyone (it's more I don't want anyone seeing ME). In the Summer, I love to spend mornings on the deck, watching birds, looking at the flowers, looking at magazines, reading or doodling but if too many folks are walking by and wanting to talk, I have to go back inside. Sometimes, it's 2 or 3 weeks before I can make myself go to the grocery store; I get ready but then can't go out the door. I know it's silly but it's how I am. So I love the computer. I can go where I want, talk if I want, look at things I love and even learn a thing or two! I can tell about myself but don't have the worries of anyone seeing me. I can be myself on here where as in real life it's too hard....in real life I'm not sure who I am. I lived my life to please others for too long and now I still try to fight that, become myself and be allowed do the things I love.

So I got off the topic; but what's the answer? Blog hopping for enjoyment and a learning experience or stalking?

One more Altered page/found words

I only have 1 page to show today. After this I need to continue to find words all the way to the end and be done with this story. When all the art is done I'll decide if it stays in this book or if I'll take these pages out and put then into their own book; which is what I'm leaning toward. We'll see, I may change my mind a hundred times before doing anything. It's that this a Readers Digest Condensed Book I'm working in. It has 4 different stories, meaning that for each section the words to be found change considerably. This section is the only one I'm trying to do as a complete story on it's own. The rest of the book is just doing a page where ever a word catches my eye as I browse the pages, I don't do them in order. I usually leave this on the coffee table along with some doodle sketch books and a container of markers and pens. While watching the games, races or a not so great movie, I play in these books or look for words. Sometimes, I push it all to the side, grab a stack of magazines, catalogs and junk mail, a trash container and just make a mess clipping and tearing images I might use some way, some how.
So here's the picture of a page I did yesterday. Today I fully intend to do some mail art that needs to get done and then I think I'm actually going to clear the table of paper scraps for a bit and haul out the paints.....if they haven't all dried up!

I read on another blog about using a CLEAR Sukura Gel pen as a resist. Of course, I don't have a clear but decided for this I'd try a WHITE Sukura Gel pen and see what happens. While searching for something or another, I spied the neglected container of  twinkling H20's. I picked out 4 colors and used them to go over the entire background. They worked out great! I always love the shimmer with these paints although I don't think it shows in the scan. I don't know why the container gets shoved where I don't have these ready at hand. Well, I do know, TOO MUCH STUFF! That's the other thing I'll be working on; packing up boxes of supplies to be sold on eBay and other boxes to be given away or sent to friends who need what I don't need! It would be nice to start the new year on a cleaner, neater, less congested work space.

Note: The stone angel on this page came from ART FREEBIES http://artfreebies.blogspot.com/

More Altered Pages/Found Words

I did 4 more pages in the altered pages/found words book over the week end. Before I show them I have to tell about an idea I had that went wrong.
I was wondering what I could do to protect the found words on a page so that it would be easier to do art on the page without having to stop and go around the words or get carried away and draw right over a word! I read somewhere on another blog about using water colour mask. I went to the small local office supply where they carry a small assortment of supplies and found 2 types of mask. The price wasn't great but thought I'd get both to see which I liked better. I bought a bottle of Winsor & Newton Art Masking Fluid and a bottle of Grumbacher Miskit Liquid Friskit. Not giving it any thought, even after reading the labels, I shook the bottles and opened them ready to test and play. I was pleased with how they both worked but took a bad headache so put them away and left the art room for a while. The next evening I got them out again and was going to try one more experiment before using them on a page. This time I had a horrid headache starting, my mouth, teeth & tongue were tingling & burning, my eyes burning and watering. Yes, you guessed it, a full blown allergy attack! Had I even been in the right mind I would've remembered that earlier this year I ran out of fabric band-aids and used some latex band-aids instead and it wasn't long before I was burning and itching where the bandage was. Now I do have allergies, but latex never bothered me until the band-aid episode and now I can't get near latex. So much for the Masking, it's liquid latex and as soon as I open the bottle and get a smell, the headache and tingling start (yes, I had to try it a couple more times just to be sure ). I guess I'll have to come up with another idea. Darn allergies! I really like the masking!

Here's the pages I finished last night. Hopefully I scanned the pages better this time.

page 11

page 12

page 13

page 14

I'm not sure how many more pages there will be. I have 3 more with words found but the story pages I'm using are changing so the words are harder to find to finish my story. Maybe I'll have to wait and find another book and story to get the final words to finish my story. I'm considering removing these pages and putting them in their own little book.

2 more Altered Pages

I finished 2 more pages in the Altered Pages...or found words pages last night. I started the background around the words on the next 2 pages and maybe I'll get them finished today.
That's my plan for today, to work on art. Meaning no cooking, no dishes, just relax and do art.
Our snow storm ended today. We had snow, sleet, rain and more snow. Now the temps are dropping so we're going from fluffy snow, to wet snow and back to crunchy snow. The sun was shining this morning making pretty DIAMOND snow sparkling away but I couldn't a picture to come out right so no picture! I like when the smooth snow sparkles like diamonds.
The found words continue:

Page 9

Page 10

Altered Pages

I did a few more pages in the Altered Pages book. I went in the art room to do completely different things and well, you know how it goes. I sat down, picked up this book, happened to get an idea and there I sat. So much for anything Christmasy at all. This isn't at all happy art nor Christmasy so if it'll ruin your mood, don't look until a later date. I'm not feeling very happy this year nor in the holiday spirit but I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone else.
I had already shown the beginning of this story way at the beginning of this blog, so you can go back to earlier posts to see any changes. I decided to start all over and show what I have done in this series of pages so far because I did go back and do a bit more to a couple pages. Maybe not noticeable but still thought I'd show them again from the beginning.

The beginning of this story. Page 1

2nd page. Remember to click on the photo for a bigger view.

I can see I didn't crop these very well. I'm still learning the scanner and I get in a hurry and forget some steps sometimes.

3rd page, one that I went back and added images to.

page 4 not shown, page 5 is on left, a 1/2 page fold.

Page 6 on the right is a page I think I showed but went back and added images and some shadows. I didn't like it before, now I do. It was actually supposed to be a page divided in half but now as it turns out it's more of a single page.

Page 7 is a new page. I've gone ahead several pages and found words and now went back and covered unwanted script and added a image. Sometimes I sit with this book and can't find a word, let alone a thought. Other times I find what I want on page after page so I keep the words and go back later to work the page.

Page 8. I found the words, then several weeks later did the art to cover unwanted script. I wasn't pleased at all. Last night I went back, added the image, played with the art some more and now it's more to my liking. It was too happy before for this story. This story is mine, it has to be able to at least come close to conveying the feelings at the time. I didn't set out to find these words, they were on the page and needed me to let them out. They are feelings I try to keep hidden in the past. Sometimes it's just too hard.

New Mail Art

Finally the last piece of mail art I sent has reached it's destination so I can show it today. Once I mail a envelope then I worry worry worry that it'll get lost or damaged or even worse that the recipient won't like it. Wish I could just drop it in the mail and let go about it's merrily way, I had fun making it and thinking about who sees it along it's journey ( or is it just machines)?  So I should just be happy and not worry! Right? Nope, I worry. I was born a worrier and a worrier I'll always be.
And for all that worry, the birthday fairy who got the mail had an absolute wonderful reaction when she saw it! I'm very touched! The problem with these pieces of mail art is that no one knows how to open it without damaging the art. Once they settle down and really look at it, you realize you can slit it or cut it along the very top or a side. There's a card inside but it won't hurt the card. And yes, it's a envelope, a envelope has to have something inside it....it's a envelope, after all!!
 So here's the mail art for today:

I just went searching through folders to see where I got the fairy in the top picture but I can't seem to find it. If I find it later I'll come back and give credit if it needs it. And I believe the tiny fairies came from Lisa's altered art again but then again, without going in the art room to look, I could be wrong. But I'm sure they did. The front (top) was just pretty simple;  images cut and collaged with a bit of marking pens and glitter, of course! The hardest part was trimming those teeny tiny fairies! I cannot tell you how many times my stiff fingers lost grip and the fairy tumbled to the floor! Even picking it back up was a trick! After trimming that many teeny fairies I felt like I had done a much needed exercise work-out! Sheesh!

The bottom (back of envelope) is using a print of a photo taken of two dear fairy friends, one of who's birthday it was this week. The photo was of them having lunch and eating strawberries so I added the cake. This side, I used a napkin for the flowers, the images, some stamps, markers and glitter.

So that's all until I do another and send it along on it's journey!

Mail Art 3

Just have a bit more to show this morning and then I better get busy and DO something artful today. Other than the piece of mail art and playing with a bookmark, I've done nothing in about a week other than cut and trim or browse through piles of images hoping a great idea will jump out at me. It's not too many times that I don't know what to do or don't feel like doing any art; no, it's that my head is so stuffed full of ideas, all different and all different methods of art so that I don't know where to begin! What I want is a huge open loft studio with huge windows so I can have different areas for different forms of art and be able to move from one to another at will! Wouldn't that just be the greatest thing? Of course, I need to be able to have all those different needful supplies and the right lighting for old eyes, and a library to hold art books and it all has to be neat but yet delightfully decorated! And and and..... I don't want much, hey? Oh well, if dreams were dollars, I'd be so very rich!

This was sent to a sweet fairy friend who writes wonderful fantasy stories (I told you about her in a earlier post and you can see a couple of her books on the book shelf). So this bottom picture (front of envelope) is combining my version of the wonderful NITESH white dragon with fairies and maids & things Renaissance and fantastical as she also dresses and sells her wares at Ren Faires. This is all collaged images with some paint and probably watercolor pencil.

The top is the back of the envelope and again is made from all cut and collaged images along with some paint and watercolor pencil. This is because WE ALL love a man in a kilt! I liked this so much I also did the page in the Fantasy Altered Book.

This was to another friend in Tennessee. I waited until the last minute and only had a couple hours before the mailman was due so I had to work in a hurry to get it out as it held a birthday card that was going to be late! So both sides are some hasty cutting and collaging along with some paint, watercolor pencil and glitter.

She's as lovely as a dragonfly and wants to spread her wings and fly!

This one went to a friend who delves into many things! One of the things she does is to make Sea Anchors ( like parachutes) for fishermen to use on their boats. So I decided to do a fish and under the ocean fantasy theme for her. This is all cut images collaged with touches of glitter and behind the fish to represent the water are torn pieces of holographic wrapping paper. I also did another take on the under the ocean piece in the Fantasy  Folded altered book.

Mail Art 2

Decided I would show some more of the mail art this morning. I'm hoping the newest piece I just sent will arrive to the special girl today and then I can show it. Can't show it this morning because I know she'll come on and peek!

 This was sent to my sweet baby sister. This was the first envelope I tried doing mail art on. The top photo is the back of the envelope.

It was done with some water color pencils and lots of  images collaged together with some stamping added. I use mainly Mod Podge and gel medium for gluing and covering, some water color pencils for more color and shading, sometimes some glitter mediums or other paints /inks. I print, cut and trim all the images. The envelopes all get a gloss protective spray before mailing to protect them.

The bottom photo is the front of the envelope. It has a napkin in the background and the girl is from Lisa's Art collage sheets, I think the hat might be also; the wings are filiment leaves.

This is another one I sent to my baby sister. This has some paint and layers of collaged images. The image on the left is from Patty Van Dorin from some images we were given when doing her Fantasy Folded Altered Book class. I just love this image. I cannot remember where the image of the 5 children came from but I love it, too. The old house in the back, the kids and the lady all made me think of myself and siblings when we were young. I am the oldest and always looked over the younger ones. It was amazing to me that each child truly represented one of my siblings, so I labeled them. The sister who got this piece is the youngest child as represented by the baby and she understood right away what I was trying to convey!

This one was sent to a dear friend in Canada. I was sure hoping it would go through customs unharmed and it did! The top photo is the front of the envelope. It's mostly all images collaged with touches of glitter and water color pencil.

This friend has an amazing garden and yard in Ontario,Canada, full of flowers and whimsical displays, hordes of birds and other creatures, we belong to a small close group of Fairies and she likes mushrooms and fantasy. So that explains that!

The back of the envelope is the bottom photo. It is just purely whim on my part using images I really liked. it's all collaged images and then some paint or alcohol ink, can't remember now. I liked these images so much that I used them again on a page in the Fantasy Folded Altered book. I don't doubt that I'll use them again in some fashion on something else! Trimming the flower head took a while, but I like doing the cutting and trimming as I watch tv!

This one was done for a friend's son who got injured playing soccer. That's him in the bottom center and he was injured shortly after that photo was taken! Both sides are all representing things and places he likes. He's a Dallas Cowboy fan so I had to give him images from the Cowboys BUT being a PACKER fan I sure did want to throw in a Packer! I resisted though! This was all collaged using layers of  printed images. The cats did come from a purchased collage sheet but at the moment my mind is blank as to where I got them.

I'll show more later today or tomorrow.

Shameless Plug

I wasn't going to do this on MY blog but it seems I always end up doing what I say I won't. There's a hundred stories I could tell from my life on that comment but we won't go there, either. Not now anyway.

I own a small home computer business. I own it, my husband (Rocket, to me) D J to others, runs the business and does all the work. Trust me, there would be no computer business if it were left to me to do anything much concerning those lovely machines. I play on computers and use them to spend hours browsing for information and artsy things.
We are Starock Diversity, a small computer shop refurbishing mostly IBM lap tops, and also building desk top models. Besides building the computers, Rocket will also fix most problems, get rid of viruses and other bad creatures lurking on your computer, clean it to allow it to run faster and do whatever else these lovely machines need doing. Don't be afraid of the word REFURBISHED, it only means that while the whole inside works have been checked and new guts (parts) put in, there could be a scratch or scrape on the case or maybe a small mar on the screen. Any imperfections are minor and are pointed out to you before purchasing. They are built to run like new and are many times much better than new from a store. These will come already loaded with anti-virus and other bug preventing programs, they'll also be loaded with other needful programs included in the price. No need to have to go out and spend another unspeakable amount buying the programs you need. Some programs are ala carte and you tell him what you need; they are available at a discount of what purchasing a new program would be. Most of the laptops are set up as wireless and again, is already in the price quote.

The good thing about being small and having a home business is that you can usually reach him at any time, 7 days a week with questions or for help. If he's out on a house call or other errand, he will always call you back where ever you are.
DJ is just starting his own blog and learning the ropes as he goes. You can see it here:
http://starockdiversity.blogspot.com/
And he also has a web page. It's rather confusing at first, but stay on and keep scrolling and it will bring you to a wealth of needful information:
http://www.starockdiversity.com/

So if you're having computer woes or in the market for a new laptop or desk top model, need some more memory or a crashed hard drive needs digging into, just call DJ. He'll help most of the time....if he can't help you out, he'll tell you and suggest what to do, if he can. Oh, and yes, we do have a limited warranty that is better than most stores offer.
Check it out. It might be just what you looking for and in these times we all need a real deal on things we need!

So there's my shameless plug. It could save you a bundle and many headaches, too!! Oh, and obviously I cannot figure out how to do a clickable link, so just copy and paste the link. sheesh.....more to learn.

Mail Art

I couldn't show these pictures of mail art before now for a real silly reason. I really didn't know how to erase the addresses from the photo. Somehow every time I tried cropping or cutting, I'd take out the wrong part of the photo. I don't always get along with a computer too well. But today, after a friend even offered to have me send her the photos and she'd "fix them" for me, I gave it one final try and I DID IT! I have no idea why it never worked before this, I don't see that I did anything different. Such a simple task that gave me such a headache! We own a small computer business and some days I feel real SMART when I can help a customer with some simple task on the computer or show them how to do something easy. This task was not one of them, until today! Mostly I leave all the computer things to Rocket and I stay away. I'm much happier reading a thriller or trying to do some art.
So here are some of my sent cards with mail art. I always try to do something that's meaningful to the person getting the card, using a photo or other images but I don't always come up with an idea or a photo I can use.

This was made for sweet friend in PA for her birthday. The bottom picture is using photo's she took while on a cruise recently with some added ephemera befitting her. Unfortunately this is the one card that did not reach it's destination and it's probably mangled and in some P.O. trash bin. It's my fault as on the front (the top photo) I added a small metal piece. I thought it was flat enough not to do harm, even added extra postage for hand cancelling but still it never made it for some reason. I couldn't do it again because as you know, you can never get it the same twice and I used up the napkins I used for the flourish border! The top photo was using napkins, a boy from Lisa's art again and other ephemera. I really did like the way this turned out and hate that she had to settle for a picture instead of the real envelope and card; not to mention that the card had additional art to match!

This was done for my baby brother, an avid hunter and fisherman. I was in a hurry and really didn't do too well on the fishing painting (see that big pole...it comes from grabbing the wrong brush and not paying attention until the stroke was finished!). I figure he's deep sea fishing on a small lake! This was just fast simple painting with silhouettes.

This is front and back of a card sent to my middle brother. He's the only brother who "gets" my art and likes it so I can do anything for him! He is a PRINCE of a brother! The top was using a napkin background with added ephemera and again a boy from Lisa's art. The bottom (back) was done in mostly different images and some paint.

This one was made for my Daughter. The front (bottom) was using a napkin only.

The back (top) was using photo's of my Grandmother (center), my Mother (top left), myself (right) and center fairy on the bottom, and my daughter on the bottom on either side of me. I used the same napkin for background and added in some other elements.

That's it for now. I might come back later and show some more.

Blizzard!

This is part of my yard in June and July....

Below is part of my yard early this morning! The wind is still blowing and the snow continues to fall this afternoon.

Looking out the patio doors

I don't know how much snow there is so far. It's hard to measure because the wind is sustaining at 20 to 30 mph, so it's blowing drifting. I would guess about 8 to 10 inches. The school kids have their first Snow Day of the season pretty early!

I'm just going to hibernate until late April!

Shoes

Boy, I'll tell ya, if ideas were like money, I'd be RICH! Unfortunately, some of my ideas and visions cost too much, are too involved or just plain don't work. Now this one would work but I need a certain 'Man of the House' to help with the very end and hardest part. So far he refuses, so these shoes sit here and will probably end up in the flower garden or maybe given away as a gift. I haven't decided because I really want them to go where I wanted them to go! Not like I'm stubborn or anything! ((giggle)).
You've seen Shoe trees and Arrow trees out in the country or along a road somewhere? They intrigue me. I decided that in a small Industrial park right near us, where there's a little holding pond (when there's any rain) and surrounded by trees and a few dead snags that it would be perfect to do some sort of art and hang it from a tree.......at night when no one was around, just throw it up and let hang down, then see if anyone even notices. Watch to see if it stays there, gets taken down or maybe someone else will add more to another branch. I don't want it to be tacky, I want it to be a point of  wonder and fun! With my luck the City will figure out it was me and give me a ticket for littering or something. That's my luck.
I need help with the throwing part, these would be tied together and then thrown so it loops over a branch and hangs down. I can't throw or aim worth a toot!
Anyway, I did collage stuff on a pair of leather boys shoes. They're completely covered and the soles have glow-in-the-dark paint on them. I didn't paint the inside because I was thinking maybe a bird would build a nest in them or something. They could just sit on the deck steps or on the garden rocks planted with flowers, also.
So here's the shoes:

this isn't the greatest picture. I tried with the camera but they didn't turn out at all so I scanned instead. I had good pictures and lost them in the computer switch-a-roo. I can't take pics outside because it's cold and snowing. This shoe is covered with Paper Illusions wall paper, some paint, some swirls, jewels, a boy, mushroom and wand from Lisa's Art again, alcohol ink on the sides, metallic paint here and there and water color pencil for shadow. The swirls I cut from scrap, the butterfly is a print and there's also some swirls stamped on as well.

The glow paint isn't on this sole yet.

This one is covered with torn strips of holographic gift wrap, glued and covered with Mod Podge. It also has all sorts of images and definitions, assorted paints, and the bottom sole is covered with glow paint. It has layers of Mod Podge & varnish for protection.

That's it for today. It's time to start supper and get ready to watch Packer football tonight! We have friends driving to Green Bay for the game. I can tell you right now it's going to be COLD, windy and snowing on Lambeau Field. I'll be in front of the TV with food and wrapped in a blanket! You couldn't pay me to sit outside tonight; well, maybe for a million or so, I might get stuffed into a snowmobile suit, don the swampers and set a Klondike cap on my head over the face mask! Couldn't drink anything though because going to the bathroom could be a nightmare! Gonna be football, Wisconsin style tonight!! Go PACK!!