More Totems

I'm still making more garden Totems, slowly. I also did a couple birdbath/feeders, which could also become butterfly feeders. I have a few more of them to make , too.
I haven't done much in the flower beds at all. The weather, except for a few days that have been perfect, hasn't been good for me working outside. We had June and July weather for all of May and now that June is here we're having April and May. It's just plain goofy. And we are in the 10th year of a drought, which is now listed as severe. I'm not watering flowers this year. I did last year, when I said I wouldn't, and it only made for a high water bill (after we ran out of rain barrel water) and the flowers still didn't do good. Watering keeps them going but they don't thrive like with rain. So, most of them being perennials, this year they're on their own. Lost a few plants to late snow and then 3 freezes after that. Luckily TODAY we are having a cool day but our first nearly all day rain! In May we broke records for heat and humidity. I did nothing on those days but sit at the computer or sit out on the deck. Humidity makes me ill and I swell, horribly.
I've also been putting off THE DIET but now I'm trying to get serious about and get going again. Not sure why it's so hard to start and keep going longer than a few days at a time. I have to start back walking, too, but I'm needing a good pair of shoes. Everything I have right hurt my feet. I had to go for a physical (UGH!!) and so far it hasn't been too bad. Almost everything wrong is WEIGHT / AGE related and so the diet. Being heavy I was hating to have the reports come back on cholesterol and triglycerides. I was most pleasantly surprised, as was the DR. to find neither was bad at all. However I was borderline diabetic for the first time ever and also something doing with my heart, high something or other, didn't make him too happy......ergo diet and walking.
I do Medifast for a diet. 2 years ago I did it and lost 87 pounds in just over 5 months. But then there was a family disaster and I quit, then I had cellulitis in my legs and spent a Winter in bed. I ate my through both and found nearly all of those pounds and let them back. It was dumb but it's what I do and what I really do best in my life is eat! I eat happy, I really eat sad, I eat well mad, I eat grief, I eat depressed, I eat bored and then I eat the past. Inbetween I eat regular meals. Eating and snacking is comfort and maybe a tad of security for the few times in my life when I had no food. I gave thought to blogging my progress and thinking it would help push me to get it done this time BUT I think I'm not that brave. Maybe I don't believe I'll succeed and I don't want everyone in the world knowing. I have lost 14 pounds but that's a small dent in what I have to lose.

So here's pics of a few more Totems.

This last picture is of the 2 bird feeders or birdbaths. They aren't mounted on a pole, they just sit on the ground. They're all lined up along the driveway and fence waiting to be sold!

                                         

New post and New class!

I'm either a bad blogger or it's SUMMER and I have other things to do even tho' the blog is on my mind. Maybe it's just both!

So the first thing before I start to ramble on is that there is exciting news from Sharon at http://allnorahsart.ning.com/, a NEW class is beginning. I already told you about her FACES class, which is still going and by all means, just take the class if you still haven't!! There's no end so you can begin at any time and even have fun along the way and Sharon is always there to help if you need it. And yes, she'll critique your faces and art as well.....not mushy gushy and say that every one's face is perfect, nope, she'll tell you nicely what you can do to improve it or add to add to it or maybe remove something. It's learning in a fun pleasant way! No FEARS! So now begins another class on faces.....TECHNICOLOR faces, having fun with color and learning where to use color as shadow and highlights. Kinda like going back to Kindergarten or Sunday School and everyone has already grabbed the white, black, green, red and the flesh ......now you are left with purple, yellows and shades of blues and greens to color with. How cool will that class be? So go register and see for yourself. You truly get a big "BANG" for your bucks, too!! If you don't want to check out the Ning site first then just go here http://allnorahsart.blogspot.com/ to read about it and see a peek of what you'll be learning. Just DO IT!!! I really can't afford another class but you know what, I'm gonna do it anyway because I want it and what are credit cards for anyway? It's worth it for the smiles and good feeling Sharon brings!!! And if Summer gets in my way of art, then it'll still be there waiting for me!!

Ok so I was gonna go on but I think I'll leave this post as it is and I'll go start another new one. Two in one day to make up for a month of none at all! So while I go round up some pictures of totems for the next post, just go ahead and check out Sharon's blog or class site.......go......just do it!

Newest Totem and sign

I finished the 2nd totem for this year and hope to work on the 3rd today. Sometimes finding the right fitting & matching pieces takes a bit. I have assorted color groupings put together all over. LOL! Also did the for sale sign to go with these totems. The weather is supposed to finally be nice and be done with this rainy cold snowy stuff by Saturday so maybe people will come past and see my sign. Every year people stop and ask about selling but I never have. It always seems that they want you to give your pieces away.....yet they'll go to one of our many festivals and craft / art shows and pay way more there. I don't get it. It's fine tho, what doesn't sell gets to go in my flowers! So I did a cobalt blue and now a Aqua color so today will be crystal and red, I think. Also going to do some short pieces for bird bathes or drinking water. Sometimes you have pieces of gathered glass that you think you'll never be able to use and then all of a sudden while you're playing and stacking various pieces a "DUH" moment comes on you! Hence the birdbath/water keepers. I bet they'd be good for mealy worms/grubs for the bluebirds, too!!

Speaking of which, yesterday I finally had a pair of bluebirds here checking out a home for nesting. It's on the opposite side of the yard from the house they chose last year. It's a Prim house.  Every year I have the same wren....Mr. Buddy Wren....come and usually nest at least 2 times. Last year he tried for 3 but just couldn't get a 3rd GF in time. He's such a slut! Anyway, he tried to give the bluebirds a hard time last year but now they're here and he's not. It's worrying me. Sure hope nothing happened to him. I loved watching him and he sings so pretty. Maybe I need to finish the birdhouse I was painting and give him a new home to build in. Some of the others are getting kind of shabby now. I never saw a oriole this year either.
And....were having puppies again! Just pretend puppies thankfully! I have a tiny Teacup poodle....Ebony (Star's Ebony Jill) and never had her spayed. I should have but wanted to breed her and then found out we couldn't, did have an app't made for spaying and a knee fix but that day the vet she was seeing was not nice and hurt her with a shot ( I believe he nicked a bone, she still has a lump after several years!). So I brought her home and cancelled the surgery. So it never got done. The bad thing is that she has always had FAKE Pregnancies! Every year she goes into heat and then a while later she starts licking herself to bring in milk and then at the proper time she has babies! Yes, ALL of her toys instantly become her new babies. For 13 years the first toy she ever had becomes her 1st baby! It's a terribly dirty squeaky yellow cowboy! It's so old I can't get it clean anymore and it's getting brittle but you don't dare take that toy away at any time. She makes nests under the beds, behind the couch and up on my bed. You don't dare move them unless she wants help. She gathers them together in a circle, climbs in and feeds them! If she's really proud of a particular baby she will come show it you! Then you have tell her how good she did and what a pretty baby before she'll go decide what nest it goes into. Just having the babies and then feeding and moving them goes on for over a month! I'll try to see if I still have pictures of Ebony and her babies. So now at night I not only get to sleep with Ebony, there has to be a mound of  'puppies' to feed and you best not kick one off the bed during the night!!

For sale sign. I can never paint my lettering straight or the same size! But I like this sign anyway.

2nd totem in aqua colors.

Cobalt totem (and please ignore the shabby house!!)

As always, click for a bigger pic.

                                                             

Catching Up & stuff

I've been on reading blogs every day but still I'm behind. Didn't have a whole lot to say here either. Spring arrives and it's a tug of war between inside duties and outside work and or sitting on the deck watching the birds and enjoying the sun!
Our Spring here came way too early....the flowers are coming up too soon! Now everything is growing, the weeds and leaves haven't been tended to and I have too much to do. Of course, as usual we'll be going down into the 20 degree range this week end and they're calling for 2 to 3 inches of SNOW! I can't cover the whole yard so it's not going to be good for the flowers. Gardening here in the Northwoods is a definite trick! It's had me in tears more than once thanks to late freezes (until the 2nd week of June) and critters and deer making snacks of my plants! I have learned they're only plants and things could be worse!

I haven't done too much art wise. I did do some Found Words pages but haven't tried to scan them yet. And then, finally I just got started on making Totems! I have the first one done and I'll show it. It'll be put outside for sale but not until after the week end and the weather clears. Tomorrow I'll start another one. So this isn't a great picture but you can see it ok, I guess. Please ignore the messy house showing! Other than that, I haven't worked on Sharon's faces class anymore but yet I have faces drawn on every scrap of paper around the house!!! I'm still uncluttering a bit, too. Although, I went for lunch and to the $ store again today so came home with MORE glass! I needed certain colors!

Besides gathering the glass and roaming outside, I've been visiting the DR. I have meds now to combat the wonderful latex allergy and other allergies that keep showing up. Just had to take my wedding ring off as it's eating my finger! Poor finger was all blistered and raw where the band was. Jewelry does that to me now and then. Also got started on a anti-depression/anxiety med and I think it's just starting to help a bit. On the next visit we'll double the dose and see if it helps a lot more. Then also got help for sleeping! Must be a sign of old age because now every morning I have a handful of darn pills to take. Also had to start a physical to appease the insurance so had blood draws and a mammo and soon a darn colonoscopy, too. Then, after all that I started back on a diet. That's a whole post by it's self! This a must diet and will take a while!

So that's what I've been up to!

Pretty Gifties

I know I haven't been on again in a while. I was here, just didn't have a lot to post, I guess.
But today I do have some pictures of some very nifty gifts that were given to me by my step Son who came to visit for a week end! I have to tell you that he always brings me the most wonderful gifts....he totally 'gets' me! He's also a wonderful step Son and not just because he gets me and brings me such wonderful things. He's just also fun to be with and his visits are always pleasant and interesting.
 This visit he brought me a most wonderful big wall calendar....ZOZO the Magic Queen! If you haven't seen this artist or her works just Google it! Then there's gorgeous ceramic sphere on a iron rod for the garden, a box of  different blank ATC cards, a big bottle of glitter glaze and it was all packed into a very shiny pretty satin tote bag that he made! Yup, I was in heaven!! So here's some pics to show of the calendar and some of the page art, the sphere and a not so good shot of the tote, but at least it shows the pretty colors of the satin.

The calendar!

ZOZO Queen Art

another page

and one more!

ceramic garden sphere!

Luscious tote bag!

More Mail Art

I finished another card and envelope today. Isn't it funny how some days you can sit down and everything just comes together; you're in a fine mood and you're off in La La land, humming away and the art is just almost making it's self?
Then other days, sometimes in the very same day, you walk away, come back, start something new and BAM! the magic is gone. So it went with this next card. I just had a horrid time trying to bring it together; finally got the card done and it's ok but I'm not excited over it like I was over yesterday's. This isn't balanced right and what I had in my head didn't quite make it on the paper. Then I went on to the envelope and oh boy, made a disastrous mistake but I guess I managed to fix it. I thought, I would've sworn, that I had sealed the little corner face. So I grabbed the gel when putting it all together and as soon as I made a swipe across the face.....it pulled and smeared the paint...hair, eye, skin; everything smeared! I won't say the naughty words that took over the humming sounds! I don't know why I do such things more often than not!
I want to be one of you who can (seemly) just sit down and dash off a pretty little piece of art sometimes!
But anyway, it's fixed as much as it can be and I did remember again to scan before the address went on. So that was good.

This the front of the card

 This is the envelope front.

 I didn't do art on the back of this one or the one yesterday, either.

Both faces were on tracing paper lining my art tables. They were both just practice, sort of doodling things but I decided I liked them and so saved them to use. Flowers and butterflies are napkins and then the usual caran d'ache for the faces, colored pencil and stamps.

New collage mail art

I just finished this card and envelope for my middle brother. I guess it's safe to show it on here because I don't see that he comes to visit very often. This card is late....nothing new for me....his b'day is today and I'm just now sending the card today! Better late than never! I kinda like this one. This is only the 2nd card I've ever done. I do wish I could learn not to smudge or get marks in the wrong places.
I really like the envelope. This time as I was out of time, I just did art on the front of the envelope but used it as the back so I didn't have to incorporate the address and postage. The other side is just plain with address this time.
And now I'm working on one for my middle sister who also has a b'day this week!
So no more writing, gotta get back to the art room.

This is the front of the card. it's collage using paper background prints and of the phrenology heads. The words are from a Dove's promise chocolate and then touched up with gold ink, markers and buttons. It's on a deckle card.

This is the mail art on the envelope to match the card. I do like this one a lot!!

It's just typical collage, all prints and cut-outs with a touch of stamping and water soluble pencils.

More Garden Art

I was over looking at Emelie's blog and her newest lovely picture http://emeliesartandsuch.blogspot.com/ when she made mention of a weather vane and it reminded me that I still had a few more pictures I could show for now. These are just some pictures of more garden art features.

This is the gate into the front yard and the taller gate is to the back door and yard.

It was due for a over-haul last year and it didn't get done....maybe this Summer I can re-paint and tidy it up again. What I really need is a new gate and fence! I wouldn't need the taller gate/fence to the back but because we have a tiny doggy, it keeps her from running out into the driveway.

Not the best picture, I had better ones, but lost all the pictures in a computer incident because someone (who me?) didn't back everything up correctly. Anyway, the wind was whipping around as I tried to get this picture of my little Caged fairy who flutters around in her cage hanging off the arbor.

And this is just a little gnome watching over the flower bed. He's a content little guy. The old window was retrieved from a friend and it marks the end of a pathway and the 'window' into the flowers.

Yard stuff

I'm always waiting for Spring and then when it arrives I'm impatient for the flowers and greenery to appear. Once it does appear, I start to lament that it'll be short lived and darn Winter will come too fast! I want to place a huge bubble over the yard to preserve and keep the prettiness and warmth all year long!!
Here's some pictures from last year showing what I'm longing for:

This is another totem....I covered a bowling ball with mirror tiles and it's sitting on a glass punch bowl with crystal dangles. I sprayed the inside of the bowl with stained glass paint for color.

This was a old pump from my family's Hunting camp in the U. P. of Michigan. My dad was going to throw it away!! I think not!! I left the paint on it just as it was at camp for years and years.

Bird House

I might as well make up for those days I didn't post and do a twofer today! I finished revamping the bird house and it's outside waiting for Mr. Wren to appear. It replaced a blue bird house that now needs to be revamped, too. I painted the blue bird house in 2003 and it has now worn away most of the paint. So it's next in line; maybe. Might be faster and less work just to work on a new house waiting to be done so I don't have to the dreaded sanding and stuff. I'm a stickler about prep work but I hate doing it.
These aren't great pictures of the bird house but good enough. I decided not to take time to paint and mainly used stamps and just filled in with color. Not a major piece of work, but it was fun. I'm sure the birds won't notice the mistakes.

Totems

I went outside yesterday and tried to take some pictures of the totems. It was so windy that it was hard as everything was blowing and swaying. I went out at the wrong time of the day, too, and I'm not the most camera savvy. Several of these Totems have been outside in the garden for 4 years and a couple just for 2 years. But they stay out there all year, we just bag them for the winter. So far none of the glass has cracked from freezing! They get dirty from the dusty dirt and dried rain but from a distance you can't tell. LOL! The birds, esp. the hummingbirds just love perching on the top of the totems. At the beginning of Spring I go out with a soft brush and give them a little TLC, maybe replace any baubles that came loose. I haven't done that yet, so these pics are the Totems after a long Summer and the Winter's nap. I've only ever had 1 to break and that was because when DH was snow blowing the blast of snow hit the same spot each time and it finally broke but it just came apart at a glued seam. He fixed it last Spring but last Winter broke it again so it's not there now. It'll get fixed again and set out in a new location! I also have some colored wine bottles that I decorate and put on stakes but they aren't out yet.

This one is 2 years old. It was a test to see what would happen if I set it close to the street. I wasn't sure if it would come up missing or someone might decide to have target practice with it. One never knows. But she still stands there in one piece! So I think you can see how this is made except for the very bottom that isn't showing. They all start with the same cheap flower vase as a base to start building on. This flower vase fits over a copper pipe which sets in the ground about a foot or bit more deep. You decide how tall you want the totem, you can set it close to the ground or raise it up. This one is nearly 1 1/2 feet off the ground. You can also forget the vase & pipe and start with a heavy bigger base and set it directly on the ground, building a shorter totem. Totems can be 2 or 3 pieces or however many pleases you.

You can see the sequence of building the Totem. Usually I start with a wide and heavier piece on the vase bottom to start to give it balance. Not always....depends on how tall I think I might be going. This starts with the plate (usually, upside down so as not to catch water and debris), I glued marbles on the plate, a bowl over the plate, a very thin glass vase that I spray painted inside for color, a clear stemware glass, a candy canister also spritzed with paint for a hint of color, a candle holder, a fluted glass shade (also painted), a crystal ashtray, a bud vase, another candle holder and a Fairy on top so she can watch over the yard! The paint used was stained glass spray and then spritzed with Mess off spray to make it run and just leave a tint. Some might have a frosted spray. Click for a bigger picture.

I managed to crop off the top of this but it really doesn't matter. This is 4 years old and needs a good cleaning and maybe some baubles, which were pink acrylic cubes, replaced. This a plant pot base started on the vase, then a big black fluted flower vase (upside down), then a decorative etched plate (14 k gold!) left up to show the design and so it stays dirty, a Kahlua bottle from Mexico, a candle cup and topped with another iron candle holder. The pink acrylic cubes were mounded in the top and several glued on down the pieces to make look like they were falling out. The metallic pieces are from jewelery I had laying around. He wears one dangly earring but you can't see it too well in this picture.

This is 2 years old. This is a amber pie plate, a bowl, a liqueur bottle, amber stemware, smaller amber stemware, bowl, tiki vase, ruffled light shade and a glass bottle stopper on top.

This is getting old and was one of the 1st. It's a bit lop-sided. The top I had on it, weathered and I replaced it with a heavy fairy and didn't get it set straight to balance. Oh well, she still sits there!! This starts with a crystal lamp base (hardware removed), a frosted lamp shade, a crystal vase, a ruffled candy dish, candle holder and a Fairy. It did have dangly earring hanging off the candy dish but they have rusted and fallen off. She's about a foot or so off the ground.

This one is old also. By now you can look and see the what the different pieces are. In the early morning the sun hits this one and shines through the green glass, lighting it up!

This is the fav of most people and was the 1st or 2nd Totm I did. It was named Pearly Blue because I did have strands of pearls looped from each tier. I just took them off as they were too weathered now. The blue glass plates are a set of 3 footed cake plates! The delft bottle on top is a liquer bottle and there's a glass bluebird perched on top. ( I bought the set of tiered cake plates for my mom at a rummage sale....she never got them! See what happens when you start doing these creatures?)

As you can see, our snow is just barely gone and so yard work and raking hasn't happened.  By July the Totems are mixed in with the flowers.

Rainbow of Glass

The last 2 years at Summer's end, I said I wasn't going to worry with flower gardening or do any more garden / yard art. The flowers could just go wild and tend to their selves and as the rest weathered and died, then that was the end.
Well, that's what I say towards Fall when I'm tired of the yard and just want to sit and not do the work any longer. It's a terribly lot of work up here for maybe 2 1/2 months of flowers, if it's a good year. Trying to grow a actual big juicy red tomato is a chore in it's self!
But, with that being explained, now it's SPRING and there's hope and wonders to come in the air, the SUN comes more often and with it is the dreams of lush colorful gardens and soft green lawns. Well, ok, so maybe that's in the garden magazines, but one can dream of all the lushness. My yard and flowers are more willy nilly, I'm not a gardener, I plant and then hope it grows! My flower beds roam along a rustic fence line that curves along the front and side of the house. I don't mind mowing but I much prefer flowers, so the more flowers that go in, the less mowing there is to do! A whole yard of flowers and pathways with no grass would be fine with me. Anyway, I call what I have a Fairy garden, full of fairies, sprites, creatures here and there and always maybe a surprise waiting hidden among the rocks or plants.....maybe hanging from a limb. Butterflies and birdies, toads and lightening bugs abound. One must have wind chimes, not just one but a whole chorus chiming away with the chirping of birds and twittering Fairies!
I used to do a lot of wood cut-outs for displays but pretty much gave up on that mostly for lack of space to do that sort of work. Now I do smaller things that I can do inside the house or at least on the deck. I said I was going to stop all that stuff, too! Of course, I love bird houses, too!
Then, I went shopping with a friend on Saturday to my favorite little store that has tons of pretty glass! First, we stopped in a small Goodwill store, where I was just going to look through the books right quick. I did find a great little trilogy set of paperback books good for art and maybe even to read, first. Then I made the mistake of wandering to the next aisle and there was a perfect piece of glass beckoning to me. When I grabbed it, it had friends there, nearby, calling my name, too. I left there with 1 set of books and 2 bags of glass! So, on to the store we meant to go to.....a hour later I pushed a cart full of a rainbow of glass items to the check out. It took the gal checking me out to get through half of the glass before she finally had another checker looking over her shoulder and she asked "what in the world am I going to do with all this glass?" So I was explaining what I do with it and she was amazed as I did a small demo with a few pieces. There were oooh's and aaaah's all over! Then we came to the last item in the cart buried under the glass, 2 packages of napkins! They have colorful birthday candles on them, so she says, Oh, someone is having a birthday! I say, nope, at least not at the moment but these napkins are to be used for mixed media / collage art or mail art when there is a birthday. Now she just gives me the "ya, right" look. Soooo, I explain a bit about separating the napkin layers and using bits of napkin in a art piece. There were gasps of delight from the small crowd that gathered to see the crazy lady with boxes of glass and 2 little packages of napkins and stories to tell on what to do with these items.
So what do I do with the glass? Totems! Totems for the garden, made of mostly stacked glass. I said I wasn't, but it's Spring and rows of colored glass get me excited! If you catch on to doing totems, it's like all the other altered arts or mixed media; anything and everything is looked at as a possible art piece and nothing in your house is safe. Hide the antiques because Grandma's crystal sure would sparkle out there in the sunlight amid the flowers!! But I have other art projects and lessons waiting and I have Sharon's faces calling to me....and now there's glass and SUNSHINE and warmer temps!!
Here's what awaits me on the table. It all has to be washed and labels removed before using, of course. I hate that part! Good thing we never eat at the table!! I just finally had it all cleared for 1 whole day because I needed to use it for something else. Ha! Here's my table now:

Isn't it all just luscious? And don't for one second think that this is all I have. Ha! I have 4 plastic totes that will now be hauled out of storage to mix and match with this new load. Because, you just never ever have just the right piece or color that you have to have to make a perfect totem! Like art supplies or books, you need more and more! I'll do a 2nd post to show what this rainbow of colors becomes.

Another Mail Art

I am way way behind in getting packages ready to mail. I have several things I need to be packing up and sending on their way. For one thing, it's so expensive to mail packages now that I put it off. I mean to say that a lot of the time the postage or shipping costs more than the item in the package. That's just not right. I love sending cards and trinkets but it's pretty much nearly halted thanks to a tiny fixed retirement income for 2!
Then, too, I love doing the mail art on these packages or envelopes but they get held up until I finally get a brain storm on what art to do! Why can't I just sit down and dash off some great looking, pleasing art that also pertains to the receiving person in some fashion? Yet, other times, I find a certain scrap or image while sorting through and then can't wait for the right package or envelope to do the mail art on! Have I said I worry too much or I'm weird? Oh! What? I don't need to tell you this fact?

So today I'm happy to show another picture of a package with some mail art on it. It's awful how long this sat just because I really wanted to do art on this one. Had to find the right size box and then I had a theme in my head which didn't work at all. But, in the mail I got last week from Emelie, was the perfect napkin that gave me another idea and it fits the person perfectly, too! So here's today's Mail Art photo. I even remembered to scan before the address went on!

I used white freezer paper to wrap the box. Then I used Twinkling H2O's to paint a background. The rest of the picture was done entirely by tearing up one small napkin and rearranging it all and adding a butterfly. Then went back and did the ink work and such. It was a little too big for the scanner so it's not really cut off as it shows in the photo.

Tin Roof & allergies

I wanted to show the results of using alcohol inks on a tin birdhouse roof. It's a tin tile roof with a raised design. It was very easy to do but messy because you can't get into the corners or some low spots with the applicator, so as I said earlier, I took the cotton swab off the applicator and used my fingers to dab. It would probably be a good idea to use rubber gloves! However, I hate wearing gloves for anything, I have to be able to 'feel' what I'm doing. Besides that, until I find new latex free rubber gloves, guess I won't be touching what I have on hand.
I guess after the house is painted and it's put out in the weather for the birds, we'll see how the inks last. I'll probably use outdoor varnish or a spray to protect the whole house and roof when I'm done.

I mentioned in the allergy post that I removed all the erasers from my work areas. However, until getting latex free erasers, one must erase. So I very carefully used the tiny eraser on the end of a mechanical pencil; sheesh.....still got the tingles in my mouth! Night before last I was in the art room and using the computer in there. I have a wireless mouse and keyboard and don't really need a mouse pad BUT I have a darling pad made and sent by a Fairy friend and so I keep it there beside me. After removing the erasers so I wouldn't be touching them, I was still noticing a reaction when I was on that computer or sitting at that table. Not as bad as to the erasers but still a definite reaction. So I went back to the list of latex items to watch for. Sure enough, mouse pads have latex! I took it away and now I feel much better when at that table. Who knew? I've been using that pad for a year!! So sorry, VAL, your pretty birthday fairy mouse pad now resides in the Starock office!!
Do you know that even remote controls have latex? Golly! Do you know how many remotes we have in this house; our coffee table overflows with them!

So here's a few pics of the tin roof. Not sure they really show how pretty it is but you get the idea, if you haven't tried the inks on tin.

More Mail Art

I just sent a small package with some mail art on it. We were exchanging napkins for mixed media art (http://emeliesartandsuch.blogspot.com/ ) so I had a quick idea for her package. This is the gal I just showed in the previous post. I decided she needed to go on a trip so I ripped her away from her confines and made her into mail art. I think she was happy to go on to Emelie. I like how the background changed her into a sassy Tattoo lady.
This was just done using the face done on tracing paper covering my work table, as I had already described and then the added elements are all things I printed,  cut out and collaged together.
Now I need to do another piece of mail art but the graphics I want are bigger than the package! Guess I need to re-size. LOL!
Haven't really done much of anything else. Worked on a idea for a painting or maybe journal page and I've been refurbishing a bird house that got crashed and needs to get back outside. It has a tin roof and I decided to see how alcohol inks worked on it. Turned out really pretty but my finger nails may never be clean again! I couldn't get into the sides and pattern good with the applicator so I pulled the pad off and used it with my fingers. I can say those inks do stain well! Now I have to decide what to paint on the house before nesting time gets here and passes me by. I see some of our birds already looking into houses and Robins and Blackbirds gathering nesting debris. Mr. Buddy Wren hasn't appeared yet and this is his house.....one of his many houses. He's so greedy to show off to his Females that he builds in every house I have out. He did allow Bluebirds to nest last year but there was a heck of a fight, first. Before that chick-a-dee's nested not far from the wrens but not last year.
Here's the Mail art:

Art?

I'm going to come on here one day and just surprise the heck out of everyone and show something really nice......maybe not good but nice.

I did have intentions of starting a mixed media painting 2 days ago! I still haven't because I can't seem to find the right size board. I mean to tell you that there just has to be something laying around here that I can use....really!
So I got 'in a mood' because I couldn't find a suitable surface to get started and retreated to the art room to work on a greeting card. Nothing too daunting or hard about that hey? But, nope, I have a start but for some reason an idea for continuing just isn't jumping out at me. Maybe I'm just trying to do too many different things at once and so accomplishing none? Here's what I have to start the card layout. This is another face (1/2 face) done on tracing paper that covers my work tables. I really have to stop doing that!! I cut her away to use because I really kinda like her even if she's not all there! This is as far as I got so far. I like her on the dots and I wish I had done a whole face. But maybe then she wouldn't have turned out:

Then I sort of gave up doing anything for the rest of the night so watching Idol last night here is what appeared next to my keyboard....on the darn tracing paper once again. This really is just unmindful play and testing of colors and a new pen. Notice one eye so much bigger than the other? Because that's how this started, with a playful folk art eye and as I played, it evolved into this gal who will now keep me company in front of the art room computer!

That's it for today! I think bigger pics show up if you click as per usual. For some reason sometimes they don't and sometimes they're too big. I haven't mastered this photo thing yet.