Saturday, February 27, 2010

FunScapes

2/27/2010

I have two classes coming up next week that I haven't completed yet.  Yes, I know.  I'm bad.  A bad, bad girl.  Usually I scold the other teachers about having samples and yet, here I am doing the same thing.  Eh gads!  One of the classes I have a pretty good excuse for.  I didn't get the stamps in until last night.  So, between last night and today, I've been busy, busy, busy making samples. 

I was so inspired last month by Ken's fun Stampscape cards over at StampersQuest, that I was inspired to make my own.  Here are the cards for Thursday night's class that I made....

Can't you just see it.  This would make a great card for someone who's having a bad day.  You can write something on the inside like, "It could be worse!"  Here's another one...

This one here is really a card on perseverance.  On the inside, you could write, "Need a Helping Hand?" or "I know you can do it!".  Definitely one of those where this card could go the opposite way too.  Have someone you don't like?  Well, I'm not sure you'd send them a card but if you had to, you could write on the inside, "Either way, you'll drown."  OK, that's not nice.  Let's stick with the positive affirmations!  Here's the last one. 


This is the one is very similar to Ken's at StampersQuest.  My husband, Patrick, said this was his favorite.  Specifically he said, "Now that's what I call fishing!"  Although if I was to give this card to Patrick, I'd probably kid around with him and write something like, "Too bad it got away!"  Or "It was ttttthhhhhhhhhiiiiiisssss big!, Yah right!

Tomorrow I have a few more projects to work on.  I did do some cleaning in the studio today but not much.  I had to stop to go to the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet.  For my poor little Tiger Cub, a three hour banquet was too long.  Heck for my neck, 1 hour was already too long.  Oh, I didn't mention that I've been holding a ton of tension in my neck the last two days.  Boy, oh boy does it hurt.  So, that being said, I think I'll go put something warm on it to relieve some of the pain.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Cuttin' it close...

2/26/2010

OK.  I'm cutting this really, really close! 

Last night I finally finished the metal cards.  One had been up for about a week but the second one was only just finished last night.  Started... and Finished... last night.  Yikes!  Everything I do lately is like that.  Last minutes, with moments to spare.  Oh, the insanity!

I've been running, running, running all day.  Weight Watchers, Appointment, another appointment which ended up being cancelled so I ran to Joann's to partake in the $1.99 McCall's Pattern Sale, pick up kids, doctor's appointment and then finally home.  I'm off again in a few hours to class so I'm going to go sit and rest a few moments before making calling for dinner.

Here are both of my metal cards, all ready for tonight...

I'm really loving the mailbox.  Very cute and wicked easy to do!  Funny... that is the name of the class.. Unusual and EASY metal cards! 

Both stamps are by Magenta and lately, I'm really loving the brass brush - if you couldn't already tell!

I hope you have a great day.  I'll be back again tomorrow.

Oh, one more thing... I have had a few people complain they can't tell which date my posts are written on.  I think it's the new format I'm using.  I don't know why the date and time won't show up.  So, if I remember, I'll try to put a date at the top of my posts.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Life and Art to share!

My husband, Patrick, recently got a promotion at work.  With this promotion comes added responsibility and many, many more hours of work.  Ugh.  With two school aged children, it means that for me, more running around.  This weekend, for example, is the Blue and Gold banquet at cub scouts.  Patrick will work until 5 and then race home.  The banquest starts at 5 so I'll pack up the kids, our appetizers and shuffle them off to save a seat for Dad.  Did I mention before that he's the Den leader for Bryce's Den?  Yah, so sitting close to them is probably a required task on my part. 

I do a lot during the day.  Not just housework (which I detest), groceries and laundry but also working on the newsletter, calendar and classes for the Scrapbook Cupboard.  I also answer emails several times a day from my great students at My Creative Classroom.  I write a monthly article for Stampers Quest Ezine plus participate in challenges and other projects on that site as well.  Twice a week for about 3 hours total, I volunteer for my local elementary school.  The same one my kids go to.  It's great to see my kids during the school day and to meet their friends but it's also a great way to help out my local school.  I also attend my weekly Weight Watchers meeting, go to sewing class, visit with my Mom and lately it seems as if we have a lot of dental or doctor appointments we've been going to (it's just that time of year!).  So adding in more projects seems insane, right?

Well, today is Patrick's only day off for another week and what's he doing?  Adding lighting and a TV into my newly redesigned studio.  I know.  He's a great guy!  Of course, I'm not really helping.  I'm working.  Typical, huh!

Anyhow, I wanted to tell you how the rest of the studio redesign is going.  S.L.O.W.L.Y... I've been at this for a while now and I don't know when it will be done.  I had to stop so that I could get out some projects with deadlines so it won't be until possibly Saturday before I get back in there to organize some more.  Yesterday I organized for a little while and look what I found...

Isn't that fantastic!  I might have shown it before on the blog, I can't remember.  It's a piece of Pearl colored metal, run through the Cuttlebug with a DreamWeaver die and then colored.  What did I use?  Prismacolor Pencils!!!  YUP!!  Just plain 'ole Prismacolor pencils to add all that beautiful coloring.  I think I might have to make another sample of this and throw it into a class!  The Pearl is a great color to use for this technique as it has a little tooth to it, being that its more of a matte than a glossy finish on it.  Try it and let me know you did!

I also wanted to share my latest creation on Stampers Quest Ezine.  Check out these adorable Elephants!

Wanna see how I made them?  Check out the article at Stampers Quest here:  Sweet Grass Stamps

Tonight I have a painting class with Jean, a local Certified One Stroke Painting Instructor.  She mentioned that I should bring the directions from last class to class tonight.  Hmmm...  I'm not sure what pile they are in.  Guess I should go find them...

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A little about what I'm doing...

Let me fill you in on something I've been doing for a little while. 

I joined Weight Watchers last September.  Yup!  And I've been sticking with it.  Not great but good.  So far I've lost 27.4 pounds but I still have many, many more pounds to go until I'm where I'm 'supposed' to be.  Anyhow... last weekend, I had 5 friends over for an evening of drinking, eating, and Wii playing.  Barbara brought over Just Dance.  Have you heard of this game?  Have you tried it?  Why not!  It's a fabulous cardio workout.  We had such a great time with this game that 3 more of us now own it!!

Another workout I've been doing lately, redesigning my studio. A complete redo.  I have been working on it for about 2 weeks now, it's been consuming many hours of my days and I'm not done yet.  I've been purging like crazy too.  I had about 4/5 large totes worth of stuff that I've been pulling out for friends to go through.  I'm happy to say that I'm down right now to one tote.  But, did I mention I'm not done with my studio redesign?  Yah, so I'm sure to have more things to give away soon.  Here's what it's looking like so far...




You can see a part of the new shelves in the first picture.  Plus I have a new desk over there too.  Perfect height for sewing, computer work, writing, or whatever!  I don't have a chair yet but since the room isn't completely functional yet that's not a matter at the moment. 

I really wanted to be done with this project by now as it's frustrating me.  I totally feel stagnant in my art without a working studio.  I was able to throw something together this afternoon.  But, really it was for a card swap that was due tonight.  See, I'm not really getting things done ahead of time.  More like at CRUNCH time, which I'm hating.  Wanna see the card I threw together?  Simple.  Super simple.  The theme for the Card Swap was St. Patrick's Day OR Good Luck Cards.  We do our swap with a choice.  And it was great fun to see what people made tonight.  We got 4 good luck cards and 3 St. Patrick's Day cards.  Perfect!


The white around the card is the actual envelope.  It doesn't have any white on the card at all.  The Happy St. Patrick's Day is on a light green and the Shamrocks are all embossed with Green Tinsel embossing powder.

I hope you are having a great day.  I'm going to turn in early and hopefully wake up extremely productive!

3

It's been a little while since I've posted.  I've been crazy out and half out of my mind.  I am always feeling like I'm about 3 weeks behind in projects to be completed.  I seem to have overextended myself a bit.  So, I wasn't able to write and update the blog as often as I would like.  While I'm still about 3 projects behind, I'm looking in the right direction and can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

So, what have I been up to?  LOTS!  My classes have been running and enrollment has been good everywhere.  Within the last month, I've taught several classes at Scrapbook Cupboard, one at Ink About It and so far, we are in the middle of one at My Creative Classroom.  I have 3 classes tomorrow!  Yup, 3!  The last week lesson for the Metal Sampler will be posted, the first lessons of the Art Journals, Handbound will be posted (both at My Creative Classroom) and I've also got a class tomorrow night at the Scrapbook Cupboard.  Busy!

Let's take a peek at what else has been going on.

I took another Zentangle class:

That's not my hand or my Zentangle.  It belongs to my friend, Danielle.  She did a fabulous job!  Certified Zentangle Instructor, Toni Henneman taught the class.  She's a great teacher and it was great to learn something new and to finally get out for something other than to teach others.

I've been taking a beginner sewing class at Saftler's in Whitman, MA.  Again, no picture of me - just one of my sewing/WW/walking buddy, Susan.  Hard at work...

I've been surprised at how therapeutic this sewing class has been.  I'm just about done with my apron.  My first piece was an owl pin cushion. I don't have a picture of him but will get one up.  I've already signed up for another sewing class.  This time it will be on making villages.  And if you've read my blog in the past, you know - I'm big on houses!  So this was right up my 'alley'!  Sorry, I couldn't resist the horrible pun!

I also took another Stampscapes class.  Jeanne drove Bev and I up to Maine to learn a few new techniques!  Stampscapes are so easy to do.  And with little effort, they can look beautiful!  Here's the card we made in class: 

Hey, at least this time you get to see my hand!

So, I just started a course on building a better blog.  So, far my lesson is to decide in what direction you want your blog to go.  Keep it all business?  Keep it all family?  Keep it all art?  Integrate all?  Well, in an effort to find some photos of some past art I did, I had to look through my blog earlier today for the photos.  When I did, I found that I really did enjoy blogging.  Then I stopped blogging - or rather, I stopped blogging as often.  Why?  I think it's because I stopped incorporating my life into it.  I've been feeling like my blog is a big advertisement of what classes I'm teaching.  Where?  When?  What?  But that's not just what I'm about.  I have a life outside of that and I have a beautiful family too.  So, I'm going to go back to the old way of blogging.  Incorporate pictures and stories of the children.  Articles about my life.  And pictures of my art.  Regardless of whether the art is a class today or was something I found and made years ago.  No rules, no regulations, no restrictions.

I seem to have a theme with this blog tonight.  Everything I've spoke of, has come in three's.  I guess I've got a blog header today!  3!  3 great classes coming up.  3 great classes I've taken.  I'm teaching/or have taught at 3 great places this month.  I'm going to revert my blog back to talking about family, art and business.  I'm not going to limit myself to rules, regulations or restrictions.  Huh!  How about that!

Tomorrow, I'll post some pictures of the larger project I'm working on.  Plus tell you some more about what I've been doing in my life.  Maybe I'll show you some art too!  But for now, I must rest!

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