The Lilypepper Blog

Christmas Open House

2010-11-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

This has been such a busy week and it is just flying past. I have been furiously working away all week long in preparation for our Christmas Open House this week end at the shop. I have been adding new things to my section of the store all week as have all the other girls involved in the street of shops. Just a flurry of activity. Be sure to stop by the Open House and visit if you are in the area. You can find the hours, some more pictures and more information about the shop and our Christmas Open House here.

Holiday Happenings

2010-11-14T21:20:00.000-08:00

With the Holidays fast approaching I have been busy working on a variety of new items. Here is just a sneak peek at a few things that I have taken out to Something Special - Street of Shops this past week. I have drawn this image and put it on a old coal shovel. I have added some greens to the top and it turned out so cute. I would look great hanging by the fireplace or even on a cupboard door.

Here is one of my grubbied electric candles. This one has a cute little snowman picture that I have drawn.

This little snowman guy sits in a antique colander. The colander has stars on it and I have lighted it so that when it is turned on the light shines through the stars on the bottom!

Two sweet little snowmen in an old flour sifter with a tea light. This little sifter turned out too cute I just loved it.
I have lots more items but not enough time to show them all. We will be having our Christmas Open House at the shop this coming weekend. I hope to see you there!

Raspberry Oreo Volleyball Brownies

2010-10-18T17:59:00.001-07:00

I have made these brownies/cupcake treat for the volleyball team for several years now so they are affectionately called "Volleyball brownies" at our house. I have had many requests for the recipe so while making them today I took pictures to help me explain how they are made.

This recipe should make about 34 - 38 brownies. There are several steps to these so I usually start the day before I want to take them somewhere. I first make the Oreo topping. This step requires 1 package of Oreo cookies and 1 - 8oz package of cream cheese and about 16oz of white chocolate.

Mix together the package of Oreo cookies and cream cheese with your mixer until it is a dough-like consistency.

I then use the scoop ( pictured later on this post ) to scoop the Oreo dough into balls.

The you will need to melt the white chocolate. I like to use these melting discs as they melt really easily in the microwave in about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes.

Once you have your melted white chocolate you just dip the Oreo balls in it until they are covered. Let the chocolate harden, cover and refrigerate. These will be used when topping the brownies.

Now for the brownies...... These brownies have a brownie layer and a cheesecake layer so I always make the cheesecake part first. For this you will need 3- 8oz packages of cream cheese, 2 eggs and about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar. This is where I really have problems with writing this down as I am not really a measuring type of cook. I am more of a mad dasher....adding without really measuring.

It is best if your cream cheese is at room temperature. It makes it blend easier an is nice and smooth. Just blend the cream cheese with your mixer adding the eggs and sugar. It should be fluffy when done. Set aside.

Now to make the brownies I like to use Betty Crocker Triple Chunk Supreme Brownie Mix but any brownie mix will really work. I use 2 boxes of the brownie mix. Prepare according to the package directions. If you use this brownie mix you will need 6 tablespoons of water, 1 cup vegetable oil and 4 eggs.

I also recommend using the foil type cupcake papers. I find that they work much better than just regular cupcake papers.

After you have mixed your brownie batter put about 1/4 cup in each cupcake paper.

Bake the brownie according to the package directions. I baked these at 350. I am not sure how long they were baked for. I threw the box away earlier today so I'm not sure what the directions say. I bake so many I can just tell when they are done. You can insert a toothpick into them and when it comes out clean they will be done.

For the next step and also for making the Oreo balls above I find these tools the best. They are both from Pampered Chef. The top is a cookie scoop and the bottom a little frosting spreader.

As soon as the brownies come out of the oven I put 1 scoop of the cheesecake mixture that I made previously on each brownie.

Then I spread the scoop of cheesecake mixture all over the top of the brownie and put them back into the oven. I cook these until the cream cheese springs back when touched. About 5-7 minutes.

When they are done they should look like this.

Allow them to cool before topping. If you are not going to be using them right away you can top them later just keep them refrigerated. When I am taking them to a party that is in the early morning or early afternoon I usually make the brownie and cheesecake part the day before and will then top them the following morning.

For the topping you will need Smucker's Simply Fruit - Red Raspberry and some more white chocolate. You will also be using the Oreo balls and fresh Raspberries.

First you will want to clean the raspberries.

Put the Smucker's Simply Fruit into a bowl. You will be microwaving this so make sure it is a microwave safe bowl.

Chop the Oreo balls into little pieces.

Place a generous portion of the Oreo mixture on top of each of the Brownies.

I cut the raspberries in half. I love the look of the whole raspberry but find that cutting them in half makes them easier to place on the brownie and they stay on better.

Put 4-5 raspberry halves top of each brownie.

For the next two steps I use these pastry bags with a tip. The tip I use just has a small round hole in it.

I place a piece of tape on the tip before filling the pastry bag. This keeps the contents of the bag from spilling out before I am ready for it! I take the tape off when I am ready to drizzle.

I then place the bag in a cup with the tip end in the bottom of the cup and fold the open end over the side of the cup. This makes it really easy to fill the bag.

I take the Bowl of Smucker's Simply Fruit and microwave it for about 10-15 seconds. I should melt into a syrup. I stir it to make sure it is really smooth before putting it in the bag. Using the

bag I drizzle the syrup over each of the brownies.

I then prepare another bag the same way as before. I then melt the white chocolate. I takes about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes to melt the white chocolate.

I put the white chocolate into the bag and drizzle it over the brownies.

If you do not have the bags and tips you can also use a plastic baggie and snip the corner off and use it in the same way. If doing this I recommend using two baggies. Just put one inside of the other. I have done it this way before and have had the baggie split at the seam when I was drizzling it. Double bagging will help if this happens.

I transfer them to a tray, refridgerate them for a little while and they are ready to eat!

These are absolutely delicious and I hope you like them.

Fall Fun

2010-10-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

I have been quite busy this fall. Here are a few of the items that I have made. I am just finishing fall and starting to work on Christmas items. I always hate the switch from one season to another especially fall to winter. I so enjoy working on Fall and Halloween items.

A fun acorn and leaves with a tag.

A sweet little owl perched in front of a Harvest moon.

A little bottle and drieds arrangement.

Some more spooky Halloween bottles.

And just a few more.

A old ironing board that I have painted.

A too sweet little pumpkin man holding a piece of candy corn.

A adorable little pumpkin man with a tall hat lighted arrangement.

A closer look at the arrangement and the front of the basket that holds the little pumpkin man.

If you would like to take a closer look at any of these pieces they can all be seen at

Something Special!

Seneca County Opportunity Center Craft Show

2010-03-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow March 20th I will be participating along with the other girls from the "Street of Shops" in the 2nd Annual
Seneca County Opportunity Center Craft Show
located at 780 E. CR 20
Tiffin, OH 44883

The show is open from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
Here is a little sampling of some of my offerings..........

Hope to see you there!

Springtime Happenings

2010-02-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

It has been way too long since I have had time to update my blog! Here are a few items that I have been working on for Spring!

I am just in love with this crazy little bunny.

I made several of these little guys all with different colored eggs. I also made some little crazy chicks but I don't have a picture of them but they are at the shop so stop in and check them out.

I have also been working on some cute little chick penny rug style pillow hangs. I have also done some bunny hangs. I have been busy, busy, busy getting ready for our Spring Open House at the Shop. We are also going to be doing a Craft show in March. I will post the information for this later this week.

Some things I have been working on......

2009-05-06T13:51:00.003-07:00

Just a quick peek at some of the things I have been working on the past couple of weeks. I have been extremely busy making things to put in the shop. I have begun to concentrate on doing some Americana items. Above is a picture of Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty that I recently finished. The picture above did not turn out very well. Here is one that is a little better.

I have also done up some prim stars......

Americana hand drawn tags, prim mini flag ornies, a stack of stars

and some prim Americana candle mats.

I have also been working on some little prim pictures with some larger ones to follow. Here are just a couple of the ones that I have completed.

And to end up this little message a "Dirty Ole Cat".

All of these can be found in Something Special - A Street of Shops.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T02:48:00.000-07:00

The Smell of Cinnamon....

2009-04-08T17:57:00.000-07:00

I have been making some wonderful pantry cakes over the past week and they smell so good. Here is a picture of a few of them.

I also finished a angel that I was working on I call her the Hospitality Angel.

I better get back to work now. More pictures to come. I also have completed a Hare and a Dirty Ole Cat but have not taken their pictures yet.

Hard at Work....

2009-04-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

My creative juices are in full swing!

I can't believe it is Tuesday already. I actually spent most of the day thinking it was Monday. I have been busy, busy, busy creating. I have managed to make several items which are all in various stages of being completed. Several have the need for a touch here and a touch there to finish them up. I did manage to get some complete and into the shop this afternoon. Some I forgot to take pictures of, but here is a peek at a couple that I remembered to snap. I just love this little Americana Shredder Hare above and the Americana Shredder Cat below.

I am trying to get as many things as possible made before our SPRING OPEN HOUSE at the shop. I needed to take a little break so I thought I would post. But now I had better get back to work..... will try to add some additional pictures as I finish up the other goodies.

"Something Special" has been occupying my time!

2009-04-01T15:59:00.001-07:00

Absent again for a few weeks I have been quite busy. The day after writing my last post I was invited to participate as a vendor in the opening of "Something Special" - A Street of Shops. I had to really concentrate all of my energy on getting ready so my posting went by the wayside once again. The shop opened yesterday and I am quite excited. Above is a picture of the area I am occupying in the shop. I am sharing the space with my mom who has Antiques for sale in the shop. I will be doing my usual prim items and other goodies. There are several other vendors in the shop with many different items available. A shoppers delight! If you are interested in coming to visit us be sure to check out our blog.... Something Special - A Street of Shops. Our hours are posted on the blog along with driving directions. We will also be posting about the vendors and their wares, new additions to the shop and special events we are planning!

Below are a few of the goodies I have made this past couple of weeks. They are all available for purchase at the shop!

2009-03-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

I have been absent from my blog for so long. I need to really work on getting back into the habit of posting regularly. I anxiously await Spring as I am tired of snow and gloom. Over the past year I have not done as much art as I would have liked. I am starting once again to create and make things. The past few months I have been doing some swaps with my online art group "An Affair with Art". I had been neglecting participating in the group over the past year. I have started doing more with the group this year and it has been quite rewarding to my spirit. Here are a few pictures of the the things I have done. Something quite different for me was the "Wand Swap" which I just completed recently. The theme for my wand was "As the Crow Flies". I just love crows and made one out of muslin to sit atop my wand.

This wand was so much fun to make. I will be receiving a wand from one of the other members in return and I can't wait to see it! I will be sure to post pictures when it arrives. Another swap that I recently did was an Easter Egg swap. I made 20 eggs and will be getting 20 eggs in return. This is one of the eggs that I made.

I will have eggs galore to decorate with this Easter! The most current swap I am working on is a "Altered Spoon Swap" for which I have to make 2 spoons and will then get 2 spoons in return. I finished one of the spoons last night and still have one more to do. Here is the first of my spoons.

I really enjoy participating in these swaps as well as being a part of the art group. It is really fun for me to be able to receive and enjoy the work of the other members as well as be able to talk with them about ideas and techniques. Many of the swaps that I participate in are not things that I would normally do and I find it very refreshing to venture outside of my normal range of art.
Well that is about all I have to share today as I had better get back to creating. I have been dabbling in quite a few other things that I will continue to share with you as the month continues.

Natural Color

2008-07-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

I don't have much time this morning and I have a very busy day ahead so I thought I would quickly post a few pictures. My daughter took these this past weekend when we went for a cookout at my parents house. Both of my parents love to garden and have such great flowers. They also have a couple of garden cats which are too cute. Hope these brighten your day!

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

I hope your 4th of July is filled with good food, good friends and glorious fireworks!

I have NOT fallen off the planet.

2008-06-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

It has been quite some time since my last post and I just wanted to let you know that I have NOT fallen off the planet. I am still here! I am just extremely busy with very little spare time lately. My life has been pretty much black and white this last month. June consisted of the same old boring stuff day after day. Hopefully I will be able to add some color to it and get back to my old routine very soon. I will once again start to do some art, start selling on ebay and posting more regularly to my blog. I have several things to accomplish today and then hopefully this evening I will have a little time for some art! I still have to complete the last book in the Altered Book round robin and I plan on starting that. In my absence I worked on the 3rd book which was called Herbal Delights. It was a wonderful book. The ladies who had worked on it before me did an outstanding job. Unfortunately I was in such a rush trying to get it finished and mailed that I forgot to take any pictures of it. I have continued to do some visual journal work but only becasue it is quite easy for me to drag around. In the next couple of week I plan on getting started on some Halloween. Hopefully working on Halloween which is my absolute favorite Holiday will help to get me back in the swing of things. I have been quite uninspired lately which is something I don't experience that often. I am sure that all it will take is for me to get started and then the ideas will flow!

Altered Book Pages

2008-05-16T05:37:00.001-07:00

As I promised earlier this week here are some pictures of the spreads I completed in the Altered Book round robin I am participating in. This round robin is with my wonderful group An Affair with Art led by Jeri. I have had so much artful fun since joining this group. I especially like it because they have such great ideas and wonderful swaps. I really like the swaps (even though I have only had the time to join in a few of them) for the fact that many of them are kind of outside the box of what I regularly do. I find it so fun to push myself creatively doing things I normally would not do or think of doing. These spreads have been done in Veronica's book. Her book was to have a lodge theme and it was definitely not a theme I have ever worked with but I had quite a bit of fun once I got started. This first spread is a cabin spread in which I incorporated another new thing for me the row houses right onto the page with a little row house cabin. I also added some metal trees and a canoe and paddle along with a couple of quotes.

For the next spread I added some made up poetry, a squirrel, leaves and acorns. The little acorns are removable. They open and there is a tiny page inside that can be written on. Veronica can gather her own thoughts or poetry in them like the squirrel gathers nuts.

The next spread has a half page pocket in the middle of it. On the left side is a Moose page with an image transfer and some Moose Information. The first side of the pocket is like a mini tackle box with tags that have pictures of bobbers, a fishing reel, and some fancy fish hooks on them.

The second side of the pocket has a little pocket on it. In the pocket I have added some more tags with pictures of fish. The last page of the spread is devoted to Bears. Much in the same way as the Moose page there is an image transfer and interesting facts about bears.

I have not yet received the next book that I am to be working but I do know that it will be Jeri's book and that her theme for her books is a Herbal theme so I am going to start working on some little goodies for some of the pages until the book arrives. I just love herbs and think this will be a fun and enjoyable theme for me to work with. I am anxious to get started. I will continue to post more pictures as the books continue to leave my hands.

My Life is a Blurr! Where is it going?

2008-05-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

Here it is already almost the middle of May! Where is the time going???? The last couple of weeks have gone by so quickly I'm not even sure what went on. I have been busy working around the house, in the yard, on projects, preparing for my daughters prom and graduation etc. etc. etc. I wanted to take some time this morning (now it is already afternoon) to write at least a little note on my blog. I have been so wrapped up in what I have been doing I have been quite neglectful about posting. I have not really even had much time for art these past couple of weeks. I am continuing to work on the visual journaling. Thanks for the comments on different markers. I will be trying some of the suggestions and continuing to experiment. I will try to add some pictures later in the week. I am working on the altered art round robin and almost have my spreads complete in the book that I am working in. I have to have this in the mail by the 15th so I have to be completing the finishing touches on this tonight. I also just finished participating in row house swap. I had to make three little row houses and send them to three different people. In return I will received 3 row houses back! I just finished these last night (a little Mother's Day down time!) and thought I would post pictures before I mail them out.

I will try not to be so neglectful of my blog and will post and add some more pictures later this week!

In search of a Marker for Visual Journaling

2008-04-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Altered Book for the round robin I am participating in. I was hoping I would have it to work in this weekend but it was not to be. Since I had anticipated working in the Altered Book and I was in an altering mindset I decided to work a little more with my visual journal.

Everything is working out wonderful with this process with the exception of what I am writing in the journal with. I am trying to find a good marker to write on my work. I do have some gel pens that work for some things but for the writing in my journal I prefer black and I am going through black pens like crazy this weekend. If anyone out there knows of something wonderful please tell me. My surface is usually painted, collaged, and has somewhat of a finish on it. I like to write over the top of things, sometimes paint over the top of the writing so it has to be a permanent marker that I can put goo over without it smearing. Another thing that is extra, extra important to me is......it has to be ultra fine tipped. This seems to be where I run into my problem as most of the markers that seem to do the trick are wide tipped which I just don't really care for as much. I also don't really like brush tip either. If anyone has any ideas please let me know and I will give it a try. Here are a couple of pages that I did this weekend. The pages are just sections really.My journal will not fit in my scanner because of the binder on it so I can't get the whole page. The first one with fine point markers (it actually took 3 because they stopped working for me which is why I am searching for something new).

This one I used a wider tip on and it continued to work for the whole picture but I also want to add some finer writing to this and can not do it with the wide tipped pen. I really am enjoying this process but the pen/marker dilemma is really starting to frustrate me. Hopefully someone out there will be able to give me some guidance.

Visual Journals

2008-04-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting for some time to start a journal/sketchbook, experiment book for different techniques and ideas. I have dabbled with this idea before but just never really had the swing of it. In the past I was working at it like a project I had to complete. I would become obsessed with having to "finish" it all in one setting. This way just never worked for me I always had other things to do and the journal work just did not fit in my schedule. I am now working on a different approach. I am trying just to work with it here and there with no real focus in mind. So far this has been working out really well for me and I am finding that I am really enjoying it.

I started this page but will be doing more to it eventually.....

I found several interesting blogs dealing with visual journals. Here are a couple that I really enjoyed. A Girl and Her Journal on her blog she has some great instructional videos that I found really simplified the process. She has one that has a list of supplies that she uses which is quite helpful if you are just getting started and don't already have supplies or have any idea what to use. Another blog that I found is Magical Musings there are several pages of her visual journals there and also some tutorials for altered books. If you have visual journals on your blog or know of any other interesting places I can look please leave a comment. I would love to check them out.

Catching up for the Week

2008-04-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

Last week was such a hurried affair I didn't have time to post all week. I have lots of catching up to do. For starters I was so excited to receive a copy of ACEO Magazine a great little zine that is published in Canada for ACEO collectors. I was featured in this quarters zine and was so thrilled. I had been contacted by Angela (be sure to visit her blog it is one of my favorites) who writes for ACEO magazine in the fall about doing an article using my ACEO doodles. Below is a picture of the article. If you have not heard of this zine and love ACEO's please go to their website and check it out.

The rest of the week during the day I was doing busy work around the house and yard (we finally had a few nice warm days but now it is cold again!) Then the evenings were spent traveling from town to town looking for a prom dress for my daughter. We finally we able to get a dress on Saturday which left me with Sunday for doing a little art. I worked on my altered book for the AB Round Robin I am participating in with gals from the online group An Affair with Art led by Jeri Arron. The gals in the group for my book are Gloria, Jeri and Veronica. I have to mail out my book no later than tomorrow so I really had to stick to finishing it. I have it all complete except for about 2 little details that I will finish today. I thought you might like to take a look at the finished spreads that I have done. The first two are my sign in pages in the beginning of the book. I have included the names of the gals that will be working on the book on the left side. On the right side I have a pocket with a tag for each participant to put their signature on, write a note on it or whatever strikes their fancy.

These next pages are my my blue pages. They are the ones that I still have to add to. I have a pocket in the middle page that I want to stick something in yet and I want to finish the little picture at the top of the third page.

I had quite a bit of fun with these red pages and I really like the way they turned out. I tried an image transfer using paint which was something I had not done before. It was a new technique that I had read about. I did not have the materials that they had mentioned in the article but I forged ahead and tried it anyway working with what I had on hand and I just love how it came out. I even tried a few more on some other things. I show them another day when I have nothing to post about.

Last but not least are my Yellow pages. I had posted these before when I first started them. Here are the completed pages. I did a little found poetry on the left side adding a vintage image, butterfly and a fence. On the right I did a little drawing, stamping and doodling.

This is my first try at a AB project but I am sure it will not be my last. I just can't wait to get my first book to work on other than my own. I will be anxiously checking the mail for the package to arrive.

Inspired to Alter

2008-04-06T06:22:00.000-07:00

I didn't get any of my Americana items finished yesterday but should have some pictures tomorrow as some are almost done. I had some errands to run yesterday and it was so nice outside I took a little more time than I had anticipated. Today looks to be more of the same great weather. The sun is out and it is already warm outside. Hopefully I will be able to stay focused today. I can feel a case of Spring fever coming on so it might not be easy! While I was out yesterday I stopped at a garage sale (not on my list of errands) and found some treasures.

I explained in a previous post about the altered book round robin that I am participating in. It has been so much fun for me. As a first time book alterer I am feeling hooked. I found these two books and just had to pick them up for future altering. I especially liked them because of their size. You can't really tell from the picture but they are not very big books. I thought they would make great small projects.

My next purchase was this little boxed set of 45's. The box top is a little tattered but the inside is very nice and there are several records and sleeves in it.

I really have no idea how I am going to be using this yet but I am sure some inspirational idea will come to me!

The last of my found treasures was this photo album. It is almost perfect in condition. The inside has pages that are black and other than the first two have never been used. I am thinking of altering the cover and then adding my own pages among the pages inside and using it as a sketchbook/journal. They way that the book is put together should make it quite easy to add more pages.

Getting ready for Americana

2008-04-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

This has been such a busy week for me and I have been quite neglectful where my blogging and art are concerned. I have been working on a few Americana items but they are all in various stages with none being completed. Hopefully I can finish them up this weekend and get them listed for sale on ebay. I also have to complete the rest of the pages for my AB round robin as it must be mailed out by the 15th of the month. I have lots of things to keep me busy! It looks like it is going to be a wonderful weekend here. The sun is shining and the air is warm I think that Spring has finally arrived! I am anxious to get to work so look for a longer post tomorrow. I will try to have some pictures of what I have completed.

Birds Eye View

2008-03-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

I completed another Altered Doodle last night and thought I would show it off. I really like doing these and like the way they have turned out so far. I was going to list this one and also "The Bird" (shown in a previous post) on my ebay this afternoon but have yet to get around to it so I will probably get them on there later in the week. I very seldom am reluctant to sell anything that I make. That is how I am able to continue on with making all this fun stuff! However, I am finding it hard to part with these altered doodles. I am especially attached to "The Bird" that I posted the other day. Maybe I subconsciously did not get around to listing these this afternoon on purpose! Below are some closer pictures of the details.

Easter Greetings!

2008-03-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter to everyone. I hope all of you have a wonderful Easter day!

The Bird - An Altered Art Doodle

2008-03-19T15:27:00.001-07:00

I started a new piece yesterday and have been working almost non-stop with it. I have not completed an altered canvas in quite awhile. Last month I bought some new canvases and have been waiting for some spark of inspiration. This past week I have been working in my altered book and I'm in an altering mood. I wanted to do something with a bird and also kind of Spring inspired. I thought I would try something a little different with one of the canvases. I am constantly doodling and have done several projects with my doodles last year (which you can see in some of my earlier posts). Usually I will use vintage images in my pieces but this time I thought I would doodle my own image. I just had so much fun with this piece and wanted to show it to you. I really am having a hard time getting a good picture of it and might take some more later. But for now these will have to do.

Altered Excitement!

2008-03-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

I am participating in my first Altered Book Round Robin and I am having so much fun with it! The art group that I belong to "An affair with art" lead by Jeri is where the Round Robin is being conducted. There are four in each group and we will over the next four months pass our books around to be worked in by each member in your group. We are to start with our own work in our own books which will eventually come back to us. The members in each group were disclosed over the weekend (I have Jeri, Gloria, and Veronica in mine!) and also the theme that each of us had selected for our altered book. The theme that I picked was "A Pilgrimage into Color". Yesterday I had a little time and was anxious to get started on my book so I set to work....

We are each supposed to make four spreads in each book and this is the first one that I did. I don't quite have it finished I have some tweaking to do to it but I thought I would post the pictures of it anyway. I also have started another spread but I all I have really done to it is paint some flowers on it and have made some "found" poetry. I will be adding more to these soon and will post more pictures when they are complete!

Time Flies!

2008-03-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

I really don't know what happened to this week. Here it is Friday already. I have been keeping busy with several different projects which I have been working on. I have finished up the Easter Parade of goodies as it is getting close now. Just a little over a week away. I really was having fun with the bunny items so I may continue using the little guys and gals in my Spring designs. I am also planning on making several Americana items this election year! I have begun making some sweet little Spring ornies and drawing up some more penny rugs. My wool supplies were getting quite low so yesterday I took a little trip looking for some more wool.......

This is what I came home with! Actually there is a little more but I didn't get it all in the picture. I am just itching to get started making some more rugs!

I also got started on something I have wanted to make for quite some time. It is an altered art journal. I have had this wonderful spiral bound catalog that we had received in the mail some time ago. I had set it aside especially for this project as I really liked the size and the weight of the pages. Last weekend when I was snowed in I pulled it out and started messing around with it. So far I have filled the pages with backgrounds. I have almost completed all the pages (there are 20) and I even started fooling around with a couple of them. Here is a peek at a few of the pages.....

I started adding some goodies, images and doodling to this spread of pages.

As soon as I get more completed I will post better pictures. I want to add more images, writing and other surprises!

It's a BLIZZARD!

2008-03-08T06:42:00.000-08:00

The snow continues........ blowing and drifting also. I awoke this morning to even more snow and they are saying it is to continue on until around 8:00 this evening. The wind is blowing and howling around the house. I however am quite warm and cozy and hopefully will stay that way. Earlier this morning I put the finishing touches on some little chick in egg ornies. I think they turned out quite cute! I will be listing them this afternoon on ebay.

I still don't have email! This has really been a trial for me. I really was unaware of how much I depended on my email as a means of communication until it was not there. With this storm I really doubt that they will get in to work on the problem today so I am thinking that the earliest I will be getting it back will be Monday. If you need to reach me for anything you are welcome to leave a comment or use the Neopod (located on the top right hand side of my blog) it has a chat function. Have a nice warm weekend!

Snow, Snow and more Snow!

2008-03-07T12:59:00.000-08:00

We are once again having another round of snow. The snow started today around noon and it is expected to continue all day, night, and into tomorrow. I am not anticipating venturing out any more than I have to this weekend. I really love to look at the snow but hate to drive in it. So I am now planning a weekend of working on various projects. Earlier today I completed this little penny rug. I just think she turned out so sweet and those of you who know me well know that I love Yellows and Mustards. Right before starting this post I listed it on my ebay. This picture just shows one of the corners of the mat. I may start another penny rug tonight. I find them so much fun to work on kind of like painting or drawing with a needle for me.

While my email continues to be MIA my ISP assures me that they are working to resolve the problem. I did however receive some thrilling (to me) snail mail today. For Christmas my brother-in-law and sister-in-law gave me a gift card to Books-A-Million (my favorite Christmas Gift!) I have been carefully checking to see what I wanted to order ever since. I finally came to a decision last week and placed an order and they arrived today! I ordered The Decorated Page and The Decorated Journal both by Gwen Diehn. They looked quite intriguing but now that I actually have them in hand and after just a quick glance through them I believe they are going to be even more wonderful than I anticipated! I will be sure and let you know what I think after I have had time to really delve into them.

Feeling Detached

2008-03-06T09:36:00.000-08:00

I am feeling quite detached and cut off from the loop of my Internet neighborhood. There is some type of glitch in the system with my ISP and I am not currently able to receive email. Just wanted to let anyone know who may have emailed me and is wondering why I am not responding back. As soon as it is working (hopefully yet today) I will be wading through my emails and getting back to you! Thanks for your patience.

The Perfect Day for Art!

2008-03-05T04:14:00.000-08:00

Starting yesterday afternoon right when the schools were letting out for the day we were hit with a ice/sleet storm which continued on most of the afternoon and then turned to snow overnight. No school again today, even the kids are getting a little tired of Winter! I personally have been ready for spring for about a month. I know that I won't be venturing out anytime this morning (or probably at all today) so I think that I am going to work on doing some altered art this morning. This week I have been working again with some altered things after taking a little break from it over the last few months. I started out making some ATC backgrounds. I really like the way they have turned out and were a great way to use up some of my smaller scraps.

I want to make some Easter ATC's to send out for Easter cards. I want to incorporate my printable Easter tags into the design of the card. I have one that I am working on but am not quite done with. I just am not exactly sure what I want to add to it. I have it sitting where I can look at it just waiting for that spark of inspiration to hit me.

I am also thinking about participating in an altered book swap with an art group I belong to. I have however never done any book altering so I want to experiment with that a little before committing to the swap. I think today is the perfect day to give it a try. I am off to search for a book to work with. I will let you know how it goes and try to post some pictures if I am successful with it.

What happened overnight!

2008-02-26T07:03:00.000-08:00

This is what was happened overnight. It started snowing late in the evening last night. All the schools were cancelled for today and everything just looks so pretty. There is quite a bit of snow out there and it is still snowing now. The snow is very heavy on all the trees. Here are a couple of pictures of some of the trees around my house.

I've Been Tagged!

2008-02-25T10:04:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged by Jeri. Be sure to visit her blog An Artful Gathering. The way this tagging works is I am to name 6 unimportant things about myself. First I will post the rules.....
1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. Share 6 unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag 3 random bloggers at the end of your blog entry.
5. Let tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs.

Here are 6 things you never needed to know about me...

1. One of my favorite meals is liver (no onions).
2. I really don't like to wear shoes and don't whenever possible.
3. I love to read.
4. I am extremely klutzy.
5. I love to get mail.
6. A 20 minute power nap will refresh me for another 8+ hours.

Well, now you know 6 totally unimportant things about me. Now I am going to tag some gals from my art group - An affair with Art - who have some wonderful blogs...

Barbara - she is just new to the blogging world but off to a great start!
Mary Lynn - her blog is bright and beautiful with great art work!
Toni - she has wonderful pictures and lots of interesting goodies and art!

Now because I hate posts with out pictures here are a couple of pictures of some table runners I did for a special order over the weekend.

A Fun New Tag Project!

2008-02-21T20:30:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share with you a new project I am have been working on and am really excited about. I am going to start offering printable tags on my blog! Pictured above is the layout of the tag sheet that you would receive. On each sheet there will be 2 (two) large tags and 8 (eight) mini tags. The large tags are 5 (five) inches long and 3 (three) 1/2 inches wide. The small tags are 2 (two) 1/2 inches long and 1 (one) 3/4 inches wide. These tags are made from my quite popular painted muslin tags. The tags will come to you in PDF form as a 8 1/2" x 11" sheet. After receiving your sheet all that is required is your imagination! You will be able to print them right from your own printer (inkjet or laser). Print them on Card Stock, Iron on Fabric Transfers, Sticker paper, Photo paper or whatever is your favorite choice of paper. They will be wonderful as tags or use them for Scrapbook, Collage, Card Making, all paper arts. The possibilities are endless!! I am starting out with a variety of Easter tags but if all goes well with these I will be expanding to include all holidays and general prim style tags too! If you want to check out the different tags I have them listed on the right hand side of my blog.

Just Catching up!

2008-02-18T06:21:00.000-08:00

I have once again been lagging behind in my posting. This past week my daughter brought a nasty cold home from school and very graciously gave it to me! I spent the first half of the week taking care of her and the second half of the week taking care of myself. I am finally feeling better and thought I would share this wonderful Valentine I received in the mail from Laurie. Laurie is a member of "An Affair With Art" a wonderful group that I belong too. I was just thrilled to get it in the mail!

Yesterday my oldest daughter and I attended a showing of WICKED. We have had the tickets since before Christmas and I was quite worried I was going to have to give my ticket away if I didn't get well enough to go. Thankfully I did not have to do so. We had a wonderful time and we both really enjoyed the show!

Coats for Baby Goats!

2008-02-12T15:29:00.000-08:00

I really have not been able to accomplish too much in the prim department today. I have spent my day making coats for goats! My brother has a Boer goat farm you can read about it at The Mae Farm Blog. They just started their blog so you might want to keep checking back as they add to it. There will be many pictures of cute little baby goats! If you need a goat for a 4-H project they will have them available for sale in the months to come. They have many goats that are expecting right now and we have been having such cold weather here lately they are putting coats on their baby goats. So that is what I worked on making today some little goat coats. I had a sample coat that I worked from. They picked up the little coats this afternoon but I have yet to see them on the goats. Maybe later I will get out there to take some pictures. Here is a picture of a some that were born yesterday. I'm not sure of their names. I know that there has been a Tucker born and also a Hilary. I do believe that they are naming one of the little ones born yesterday Obama but I am not sure if it is one of these little ones that are pictured or not.

More Penny Rug Madness!

2008-02-08T17:43:00.000-08:00

I have been working on yet more penny rugs. I just love doing this type of needlework. I finished these two Easter mats this week and have listed them on my ebay today. These pictures just show one corner of the mat but the same image is in all four corners. I hopefully will have more time before Easter to complete some more little mats. Easter is so early this year. It is on March 23rd. I personally like it when it falls in April and there is the possibility of a little warmer weather. It makes some of the Easter activities so much more pleasant if you are not freezing when doing them!

Getting ready for the "Wearin' of the Green"!

2008-01-31T19:49:00.000-08:00

I have been lagging behind in my posting. One of the things I wanted to try to do this year was to post everyday! It is quite evident that I have not been able to accomplish this small task but I am not giving up yet! This week like most of my days, weeks, months and years just did not have enough hours for me.

I have started working on a mix of St. Patrick's Day and Easter items. Pictured below are some of the St. Patrick's Day ornies that I have completed so far. I don't have pictures yet of any of the Easter goodies (they are not quite completed) but I will post as soon as I do. Hopefully if everything goes as planned I should be listing my first St. Patrick's Day items for 2008 on my ebay tomorrow.

There are some shamrock ornies, rainbow ornies and pieces of gold ornies. I love the way they turned out and think they just look so cute together on the tree.

Candle Mats with a Valentine Touch

2008-01-13T22:18:00.000-08:00

I have been feeling a little under the weather with not much ambition the last couple of days. I love to design and make the wool felt mats and I thought it would be a great way to relax a little this weekend. I managed to complete three mats and tomorrow I will be listing them on my ebay.

I took some pictures of the corners of the mats. The first one has this sweet little snowman holding a heart in each of the corners.

The second mat has a little love hive with some bees and hearts in two corners.

The last mat that I made has a couple of hearts in each corner. I have stitched and beaded around all the hearts as well as the edge of the mat which took quite a bit longer than just stitching but I really like how it turned out.

Sweet Nothings

2008-01-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I have been busy whispering many "Sweet Nothings" from my fingertips. I have already completed several different styles of ornies featuring hearts. The picture above shows a couple of them on a prim Valentine tree. I also just finished the sweet little Valentine light that show below. All of these can be found on my ebay. I hopefully will have time this afternoon to create some tags and tonight I want to start working on a couple of Valentine Candle Mats so I had better get to work.

Flurries???

2008-01-02T12:34:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of my gazing balls (or should I say Snowballs) that I took this morning.

I watched the weather report last night as it had started to snow during the evening. The forecast called for light flurries with approximately one inch accumulation through the day today.

This is what was had come down during the night and it has been snowing most of the day!

Wishing Everyone a Happy New Year!!

2008-01-01T15:31:00.001-08:00

I have a passion for old post cards. I thought I would share this one with you and wish you all the best in 2008!

Seneca County Courthouse Tour

2007-12-31T10:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went on a tour of the Seneca County Courthouse. There has been much debate about our local Courthouse. I just love old things and the Courthouse proved to be no exception. The woodwork, flooring, plasterwork, staircases are just stunning. Taking the tour I could indeed imagine how the the Courthouse would look in its restored state. I find it hard to imagine that building a new structure could possibly compare to restoring the majestic structure that already exists. Hopefully in the upcoming month of January there will be additional tours. If you get a chance to tour the Courthouse please do so. I will post the dates as soon as they are announced. The Tiffin Historic Trust is working to save the Seneca County Courthouse and have it restored. If you are interested in helping them please contact them. If you are unable to take the tour here is a clip of some of the highlights.

Any of my wonderful Artful friends that would be interested in donating a piece of their artwork (altered, primitives, or whatever type of art moves you) to benefit the Tiffin Historic Trust - Seneca County Courthouse Restoration Fund please leave a comment and I will get with you or just email me. I am going to try to organize some fundraising with an Art Auction in the upcoming months.

Snowday

2007-12-17T21:42:00.000-08:00

Hi, this is Bridget, eldest and most wonderful daughter of Sue. My mother has decided to leave her blog open mid-update on my computer, and therefore I thought to invade. She was a scandalous woman today, not wanting to get herself cold, sent her daughter out to take some pictures. Unfortunately she didn't like any of those and fortuitously happened upon those from my last snow day shoot. Besides getting terribly cold feet from going out in the snow unequipped, it was a lovely day here. This was namely the result of the snow and the fact that I didn't have to go to school. If I didn't have exams the rest of the week I'd pray for it to be so all week, but alas, I'd rather take the things now then dread them all through break. Now I think she's forgotten about this post left open here, so I think I'll post this up for her to discover later when she can truly update you all with all the hard work she's been doing while cooped up in the house. Ta Ta, Bridget.

Bucket of Snowballs Candle Mat

2007-12-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

This is a corner of a new little Candle Mat that I just finished. I just love how the little buckets of snowmen turned out and I thought I would share them with you.

Gingerbread Anyone???

2007-12-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

Even though these little guys smell delicious, unfortunately they are not edible! But they sure do make my mouth water. I think they look so cute on this prim tree. I completed these gingerbread men ornies over the weekend. I also made some other goodies. I listed most of them this morning on my ebay.

Winter Penny Rugs

2007-11-29T04:28:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it has been a week since my last post! Where oh where is the time going?

This week I have been working with felt and wool felt. I have been making some penny rugs. These are one of my favorite things to work on and it has been a while since I have done any. I made these over Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving Wishes

2007-11-22T05:18:00.001-08:00

Wishing everyone a wonderful Turkey Day!

Jingle All the Way

2007-11-21T07:56:00.000-08:00

I have finally completed the faceless snowman from my post the other day. I have listed him on ebay He turned out just so sweet. I have made a little slideshow of him along with his sleigh. I have plenty of things to do today so I had better get working!

Snowman Convention

2007-11-16T06:31:00.000-08:00

All day yesterday happy little snowmen continued to arrive. They have begun to just hang about. I think my home has been chosen to host a snowman convention!

More Christmas Goodies

2007-11-14T07:44:00.000-08:00

I completed some great mitten ornies and some holly ornies yesterday. I will be putting them on my ebay later this morning.

This afternoon I have promised this sweet snowmen that I would work on him. He it getting quite tired of sitting around not being able to see or eat as I have not completed his face.

This little snowman who will soon be joined by a few more like him has been following me around all morning. He needs a few finishing touches also but he doesn't seem to care. He's just a happy kind of guy and finds everything quite funny.

Christmas Frenzy

2007-11-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

Well I am finally getting down to business with Christmas. I began listing some Christmas items this week on my ebay and I will definitely have more to come. I have tons of ideas trapped inside my head just waiting to come out my fingers. Here is a small sampling of what has been going on so far. I have tags...

and towels

that are stitched, dyed and ready for painting. Now I just have to free up a day to paint. Yesterday I made these sweet little mini muslin cones....

they are the perfect size for a feather tree. I also made some medium size cones...

I baked these cones in the oven. They are cinnamon dusted and they smelled so delicious my husband thought I was baking something good! He was rather disappointed (but not surprised, he knows me well) when he found out I was just baking muslin!

Last on my list for yesterday was Candy Canes. The picture above is one of them. This is all I have to show for today but if I get busy I should have some more tomorrow!

Simple Goods

2007-11-04T06:03:00.000-08:00

I had a chance to attend the Simple Goods Show yesterday in Mount Vernon, Ohio.. For any primitive lover that has not been to this show be sure to mark it on your calendar for next year. They had some great vendors which I am sure many of you are already familiar with. I had quite a bit of fun just looking around. I especially liked meeting several of the vendors who up to this time I was only acquainted with through the Internet. Twigs and Fay from Mercantile Gatherings Magazine were the first gals that I met. Right inside the door they had a booth where you could sign up for a subscription to this great magazine. If you are not familiar with it then you really need to check it out. I have been a subscriber since the very first issue and have even had a pattern of mine published in it last year. They have their winter issue out right now so don't wait, subscribe today, you won't regret it.

I also met Cathy and Mike from Angel and the Crow, Sue Koenig of Bittersweet Susan, Donna Back better known as Crickets in the Corn and I saw several others that I was familar with but was unable to actually talk to them due to the huge crowd. All in all it was a great day of prim fun and it really helped to get me in the holiday mood.

Lily Contemplates Christmas!

2007-10-19T06:59:00.001-07:00

I have been so busy and had so much fun making Halloween items this year! Unfortunately Halloween is almost here so now it is time for me to start thinking about Christmas and Winter items.

My creative helper Lily is always ready and willing to assist me with this process. She is busy contemplating what new Christmas and Winter designs we will be making this year.

Always good at setting the mood Lily has decked herself out with some sparkling Red Christmas tinsel garland.

Swapping for Day of the Dead

2007-10-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

I participated in a Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos swap this past week. It was an ATC swap in the wonderful group "An Affair with Art" that I am so lucky to be a member of. The picture above is the lovely ATC that I received in the swap. It was made by Kathy. The picture does not really do it justice as I had to scan it. On the front of the card there is a medallion which made the rest of the card a little fuzzy when scanning. It has vibrant colors and is so cool. It is actually a print from an original water color that Kathy painted.

In the swap I was to send an ATC to a different person and that ATC is pictured below. My ATC is made with a wool felt base that I beaded around the edge of. I then added papers to the front sewing them on and doodled a skeleton. I also made little tissue paper flowers and added them also. This was my first swap with this group and it will definitely NOT be my last!

The Last of the Paint Chips

2007-10-01T07:37:00.001-07:00

Bee Pollen

Pastel Violet

Cheerful Hue

I have finally completed the last of my paint chips! Things have been crazy for me the last couple of weeks and I was beginning to think that I was never going to get them finished. This was such a fun project and I can hardly wait to see the paint chips that I will be getting in return. Several of the group have been posting some of their works on their own blogs and they just look lovely. If you would like to check them out here are a few of their blogs.........

Linda Manning Findley - The Art Sook

Kim - Images by Kim

Anita - Kirbanita

Angie - Angie's Art & Full Life

Barb - This Moment Today

Sandy - Dream Create Inspire

Autumn - Autumn's Antics

I hope you enjoyed this wonderful swap as much as I did and I will be sure to post pictures of what I receive back!

Paint Chip Swap Update

2007-09-26T07:31:00.001-07:00

Promenade

Flamingo Dream

Garden Medley

Lavender Grape

Ruffles

I promised the other day I would be posting more of my paint chips and I finally am getting around to it! After working on paint chips most of the day on Saturday I had a disaster. While doing an image transfer on one of the chips I spilled a bottle of acetone on some of my completed and almost completed chips along with the remaining chips I had to work with. What a horrible sticky mess this created with all chips I had completed that day destroyed. I started out early Sunday morning on a quest for more chips. Luckily I was able to obtain some more and get back to work. I am almost finished with just 3 chips to complete. I do have two of the 3 almost finished so really only one more entire chip to go! Pictured above and below are the chips I completed in the last 3 days.

Salmon Peach

Springtime Bloom

Window Pane

Rose Sorbet

Sun Shower

Time Flies!

2007-09-19T07:36:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that almost a whole week has passed and I have not had time to post anything. I have been keeping so busy this month. This is by far my most favorite time of the year. The weather is now cool in the morning and early evening. I have been working on many prim goodies this month. I just finished this Hanging Candy Corn and will be listing it on my ebay this morning. I have also done several prim tea towels (here are a few of them)

and some prim muslin tags (some of my favorites)

which I have already listed on ebay. They are all Halloween related. I just enjoy working on Halloween items so much. Soon it will be time for me to move on to Christmas items, but it is always such a hard transition for me. I will just have to force myself to stop making creepy little Halloween things and transfer a little of that creepiness to my snowmen! I am also continuing to work on the paint chip swap with the deadline for finishing quickly approaching I am scrambling to get all my paint chips completed. I will try to post some more of the completed ones tomorrow.

A Mixed Bag of Tricks Post

2007-09-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it is Thursday! The weeks just seem to go faster and faster. I have been busy working and listing items on my ebay all this week. I finished up this little Halloween Trick or Treat Mini Cat Trio last night. I think they turned out so sweet! I will be listing them when I am finished with this posting. I am really behind on my posting. I just can't seem to keep up so this posting is a mixed bag of tricks. I was tagged earlier this week by Mel Seigfried of Mel's Lazy Dayz here is how it works....

Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Just like Mel's my middle name is Marie

M - Mind - I feel many time like I am losing mine.
A - Age - I'm aging quickly.
R - Racing - I am constantly racing from one place to another.
I - Insane - I fear this will be the next step for me.
E - Enough - I never have ENOUGH time

I have not decided who I am going to tag yet so I will think about it and add it to this post a little later.

I also wanted to show you this wonderful Altered Post card that I received in the mail this week....

It comes from Chrysti Hydeck a fellow ZNE member and I just love it! I think it is so much fun to get mail and especially when it is mail like this. If you want to learn more about Art by Chrysti check out her blog and her website The Altered Abbey. Her work is great and I know you will love it as much as I do.

An Artistic Look at "Back to School"

2007-09-02T06:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's that time of year once again. This weeks Blog Carnival for the Esty Bloggers Street Team is being hosted by LazyTCrochet. Our theme for this weeks carnival is "Back to School". Back to School time can be the perfect time for mom's who are experiencing the little bit of freedom that back to school provides to expand your artistic abilities.

Online art classes and tutorials are a great way to do this. If you are a first time back to school mom or even a empty nest mom who's children have gone off to college you probably have a little extra time in your day. Most classes are structured so that you can fit them into your schedule. They come in tutorial form and have great pictures and directions. You can now find classes and tutorials for just about any type of artistic craft that you would like to try your hand at.

I have several places that are favorites of mine and I thought I would share them with you. I have my website Lily Pepper Primitives hosted through Prim Mart where they have a wonderful online community. They also have The Learning Center where they have several online classes as well as many free tutorials and other interesting goodies. E Craft Classes is another great place to find tutorials.

I have also found some great blogs that offer tutorials the first one is called Craft Tutorials they have a great variety of different crafts there. I also love Hazelruthes's blog. I've posted about this blog before but she is constantly adding new things. There are always great detailed instructions and pictures there too.

If you are looking for a specific art class use your favorite search engine to look for the type of art that interests you. You Tube is also a great resource for craft tutorials. You will be amazed at what you can find there.

The time from when you take your children to school in the morning until they return home from school will be enlightening and fun. It can also be an opportunity to introduce your children to art. You may find that from having art supplies available all the time you have a artist in the making right in your own home. This is a picture that my oldest daughter has done of her friend Eva. She started doing art at a very early age and she has progressed into a wonderful artist! She is still in high school but plans on attending college for art next year.

Late Night Posting Under the "Wicked Moon"

2007-08-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

It is quite late and my day is just about over. Today turned out to be quite productive with the finishing of several projects and the starting of some new ones. I will soon be heading off to bed but I promised in my post earlier today to have some more pictures so here they are......

This picture is of my primitive hanging "Wicked Moon. I really had quite a bit of fun making this. It is one of my favorite things that I have made so far this Halloween season. There is even a creepy little spider hanging from the top of the moon to enhance its wickedness.

I also managed to complete these little "Wicked Moon" ornies. They look so cute hanging on this prim little tree. The "Wicked Moon" and these little ornies will be going on my ebay later this weekend.

Finishing Touches

2007-08-31T06:53:00.000-07:00

Today is going to be a finishing touches day for me. I have several projects that just need one or two little things to complete them. I don't know about you but I often get thing just to this point and just can't seem to find the time or motivation to finish them. Different things can factor into this. Sometimes I have to look at the piece for awhile to determine what it needs other times it is simply a lack of time dilemma. Lately I have been just taking a day every week or so and concentrating on all the items that need "finishing touches" and this seems to be working well for me. I started early this morning right after taking my girls to school and so far I have been able to finish up two of my Halloween items.
The first is a Halloween Sifter Light. Pip berries, sweet annie, decorative sticks and some other little fillers surround some sweet little pumpkin heads. I just love the way this little light turned out. I will be perfect nestled in among someones Halloween decorations!

This is "Sadie". If you have been following my blog you might have seen her sister "Little Sylvia". Sadie carries a jumbo size Candy Corn. Her smiling face shows just how delighted she is. If you haven't figured it out yet Sadie has a "sweet tooth"!
Hope you enjoy this peek from my "finishing touches" day. I will be listing these on my ebay sometime this weekend as soon as I finish the rest of my items. I will try to give a update later today with any other items I manage to complete so be sure and check back .

Candy Corn Anyone?

2007-08-28T08:08:00.001-07:00

Candy Corn is one of my favorite Halloween candies. I finished some prim candy corns and I just love them. I have listed my Candy Corn on ebay this morning with many other goodies. Just thought I would give you a quick peek at them. I finally have a day where I have a little time to be at home and get something done. I seem to have less and less time everyday so I had better stop here and take advantage of the time I have.

Waiting to be Wired

2007-08-27T13:43:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy this last week with my girls going back to school, volleyball, band....the list goes on and on. I unfortunately have not had time to write in my blog much and today is no exception. I'm off to another volleyball game and when I get home I have this whole bowl of pumpkin and cat heads along with some skulls that need their wires attached. Look for them later this week (hopefully) on ebay.

This is so Fun!

2007-08-22T20:37:00.001-07:00

I have been quite busy this week getting my daughters back to school and while I was not really paying attention I have received some very cool awards! I received the nice matters award from Jeri ~ An Artful Gathering and also one from Laurie ~ Living Out Loud. They both are a couple of extremely talented gals and are so nice themselves. I truly am honored that they thought of me. I now get to nominate 5 people to receive this award. Because I received two I guess that means I get to nominate 10 people. So here they are!

1. Astrid ~ Easy Journey

2.Tracy ~ Magic Lantern Musings

3. Linda ~ Linda's Blog

4.Kelle ~ Two Dancing Crows

5.Linda - The Art Sook

6.Jan - The Polka Dot Barn

7.Judi - Vintage Legacy Studio

8.Chel - Chel in the Land of Zne

9.Kim - Garden Painter Art

10. Ashton ~ Ashton's Art

I also received The Rockin' Girl Blogger award from Teresa - Cedar Junction Studio. This is just such a fun sounding award and I love it! Thanks so much for thinking of me. I now get to nominate 5 people for this award too.

1. Angela - Angela's Art Diary - A real sweetie - Angela is taking a little sabbatical from blogging right now but her archives will keep you busy until her return.

2. Mystele ~ Hotwater Cornbread

3.Gail ~ Shabby Cottage Studio

4.Paulette ~ Paulette Install - Mixed Media Artist

5.Debra - Hip Hop Jingle Boo

Paint Chip Swap Preview

2007-08-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

I am participating in a paint chip swap with a wonderful bunch led by Jeri Aaron ~An Artful Gathering~. This is a swap using the Behr paint chips that measure 5 1/8 x 6 1/8. After getting off to a slow start I finally have managed to get working on my paint chips. This is the first swap of this type that I have taken part in so I hope my work is not found lacking. I wanted to post a few of the chips that I have completed so that some of the group would be able to take a peek at them if they want to. The theme I have used for each card I have taken from one of the chips on the back of the card. The chips on the backs of the cards have very wonderful names. The names of the chips that I am posting today are.............

Center Stage

Fading Rose

Mystical Shade

Rich Cream

and Royal Peacock

I have scanned these pictures and some of them are not the best. The embellishments that I have added don't let them lie completely flat in the scanner. I am using various found items along with vintage papers, photos and other goodies. I'm having a great time working on these. I have more of the cards that are in varying stages of completion and will be posting them soon. Feel free to leave any comments!

I've been tagged!

2007-08-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

I went away this week for a couple of days and when I returned home I had been tagged! Not only tagged once but twice. My first tag comes from All Sweet she has the cutest hair bows in her shop at etsy and is having a great back to school special on them.

Here are the rules of her tagging game....

1. List seven random facts/ habits about yourself.

2. Choose another SEVEN bloggers to tag and list their names in your blog.

3. Leave your seven tagged bloggers comments to notify them of their tagging and to direct them to your blog for tag instructions.

So here are my seven random facts....

1. I am very "klutzy".

2. Coffee is my favorite beverage I drink a pot of coffee about every hour and a half. Decaf or regular it does not matter.

3. I find genealogy fascinating. It is like a fun puzzle to me.

4. I am addicted to Sudoku. I do at least 4 - 5 every night before going to sleep.

5. One of my favorite foods is Liver.

6. I love to go to the drive-in movies in the summer.

7. My first job was as a car hop at a root beer stand.

Here are the 7 blogs that I am tagging.

1. An Artful Gathering

2. Angela's Art Diary

3. Cedar Junction

4. Images by Kim

5. The Polka Dot Barn

6. The Vintage Legacy Studio

7. Living Out Loud

My second tagging comes from The Krazy Kraft Lady's Blog a wonderfully prim blog with oodles and oodles of information for the prim lover.

Here is how her tagging game works:

1. Each player of this game starts with the 6 weird things about yourself.

2. People who get tagged need to write on their own blog their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly.

3. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Leave them a comment that says you've been tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog for the information.

My six weird things:

1. I was born on Father's Day.

2. I am seven years older than my husband.

3. I hate public speaking in front of people I know, but enjoy it in front of complete strangers.

4. I don't often dream but when I do I am usually flying like a bird in my dreams.

5. My one foot is about a half shoe size larger than the other.

6. I am a power napper... A ten minute power nap will refresh me for at least another 8 hours.

The six blogs that I am tagging are:

1. Hazelruthes

2. The Art Sook

3. Bead Jewelry by Shopgirl

4. Curly Monkey and Co2

5. Magic Lantern Musings

6. Ashton's Art

This was quite fun but I found it hard to come up with all these things about myself. Be sure to check out all blogs in this post by clicking on their blog name they are all wonderful places to visit!

A Carnival of Colors with ZNE Etsy

2007-08-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

This weeks blog carnival is hosted at Bead Jewelry by Shopgirl! The theme for this week is "Carnival of Colors". As you all should know by now if you have been reading my blog I am quite addicted to Altered and Mixed Media art. One of the best placed to look for this type of art is VariZoNE - A Mixed Media Art Group. ZNE is a fun and exciting group of Mixed Media artists from around the world and they know how to use Color. However they achieve it paint, dye, stain, tint, pigment, collage, sew, felt, it always turns out spectacular. There are ZNE Sellers on Etsy a great place to start your search for a "Carnival of Color" of you own. Just click on the picture and you will be taken directly to that artists etsy shop. You will also find highlighted links to many of these exceptional artists blogs for great reading and inspiration. I have am presenting a rainbow of colors for you starting with.............

YELLOW my favorite color...... I just fell in love with this little fabric art bird from Bread and Circuses. It is whimsical and cute!

"Fly me to the Moon" is a collage piece by Jan of The Polka Dot Barn. Jan always has especially unique pieces in her shop and her blog is a favorite read of mine.

ORANGE they simply Beautiful..... This first picture reminds me of a carnival. I love the combination of color. Titled "Get Lucky" this picture is done by Darcy Altaville.

Garden Painter Art is another artist that utilizes a assortment of color in her art. I have chosen this print "Morning Prayers" that features mostly orange.

In the Red...... "They dance for the treasures, gypsy dancers" a piece by Images by Kim. I myself would be willing to dance for some of the great treasures attached to this piece!

Another red piece is this deliciously sweet altered collage piece "I won't cry over anything" by Little Pieces of Art. She is currently donating 20% of all her sales in her etsy shop to the Hope Sees A Star Project.

Green with Envy at their talent..... "Watching the world outside" is a wonderful print from Curbside Treasure. She has several refreshing touches of green works in her shop.

If you don't have room for art on your walls. Here is a sweet little pendant to hang around your neck or just anywhere. Made by Allison Strine. This is something I think I should have! I am a true coffee addict and this is why.

Feeling Blue..... Well take a look at this wonderful offering by Teresa of Cedar Junction Studio and just get that feeling over with. I just adore this piece it really "got the giggle on for me"!

Here is another piece in blue "Heart in your Hand" made by Laurie at Living out Loud. I just love the name of her blog!

Violet..... Maybe you need to send some mail look to Denise of Wild Thread Studio to help you out. Pictured is a beautiful 4x6 postcard.

This is "Violette" which I thought was fitting. A sweet little 5 x 7 Altered Collage Print. This piece comes from Whimsies & Folksies.

Well I hope you have enjoyed looking at my "Carnival of Colors". This post took much longer to write than I anticipated. I kept getting sidetracked looking at all the wonderful offerings from the land of ZNE!

Smiling for Art

2007-08-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

I have just finished these little Halloween skull ornies and will be listing them on ebay this morning. They are smiling and happy for me because they know that I am going to try to sneak in some altered art today. I was asked to participate in a paint chip swap a couple of weeks ago. The swap is being hosted by my friend Jeri. You can read about the swap at her blog An Artful Gathering. I am so excited to be doing this swap! For the last 2 weeks all I have done is dabble around working on some of the backgrounds of the Chips but have not had time to do much else. I am feeling particularly artsy today and I think that it will be the perfect day to work/play on completing some of the chips. I have to complete 18 chips so I should stop lingering around here and get to work!

Trick or Treat!

2007-08-08T10:49:00.001-07:00

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet, Give me something good to eat! Can't you just imagine little trick or treater at your door on Halloween? I finished "Little Sylvia" a sweet prim trick or treat cat that I had showed you in a earlier post late last night. I have listed her on ebay this morning along with some other great prims. My prim JOL ornies which look so cute on a prim Halloween Tree (Set 1 and Set 2) and some little Candy Corn ornies too.

Here is a picture of the Ornies on one of my feather trees. Don't they just look so Halloweeenish? I just love the way they turned out. I have more Halloween items to list today so I had better get busy!

My First Etsy Bloggers Street Team Carnival

2007-08-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

I just joined the Etsy Bloggers Street Team a group who blog about their craft, the creative process and others on Etsy. Each week they have a Blog Carnival which is hosted by a different member and they blog about a different theme. This week we are being hosted by A Pretty Rock and the theme is "The latest item you received/purchased from another Etsyer". Well I had actually had purchased something recently so I thought this would be a great week to jump in and try this Carnival thing out.

Run Alice Run is the shop where I found my items. I saw these sweet little note cards and just had to have them. I just adore the pictures of the birds on the cards. Each little card comes with its own envelope and is just perfect! She has several sets of different mini note cards in her shop right now along with magnets and other cute items so be sure to stop by her shop and browse through it today! It was a pleasure doing business with Alice! She also sent me a mini magnet along with my cards that I would love to show you but my daughter has taken it for her own! She is going to use it in her locker at school and has already hidden it away with her school supplies. Alice also included her business card in my package and I adore the look of it so I thought I'd show it to you.

If you would like to take a look at the upcoming Theme weeks for the Etsy Bloggers Street Team you can find them listed at MissMalaprop.com.

Shoe Confusion

2007-08-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

Well I did not accomplish much artwork of any kind yesterday. My day was spent shopping. My youngest daughter and I spent the day shopping for school supplies and clothes. It turned out to be a pretty productive day as far as shopping goes. We found everything we were looking for but upon returning home last night while putting out purchases away this is what we found .......

Now this is not an example of two different pairs of shoes that we bought. We actually had two different shoes! So today instead of doing working on art(what I really want to do) I will be again traveling to where we went shopping yesterday to exchange this lovely purchase. I will say it was quite funny to see the look on my daughters face when she opened up the shoebox!

Patiently Waiting

2007-08-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

This little Halloween Cat sits patiently waiting for me to finish her. I tried to finish her yesterday but I just kept getting sidetracked with other thing. She needs a little more primming and some cute little accessories to complete her look. This little cat along with a slightly larger Cat are my project for this afternoon. The lager Cat is still naked so I have to get her some clothes sewn and I want them both to have some other little goodies to go with them then off to ebay they will go. This week I have been concentrating on my Prims quite a bit and thought you might like a peek at what I have created.

Pumpkin Heads

2007-07-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a pile of little pumpkin head ornies that I just finished. Is now have to attach a hanger to them. Can't you just see their smiling faces on a sweet prim Halloween tree? They are just all piled up and patiently waiting on me. I have been busy, busy, busy. I have completed some more little doodle hangers also over the weekend which also need hangers. I just painted a sweet little black cat that I now have drying in the sun. I also have another cat the I am almost finished sewing. I have so much in the works right now that I have not been at the computer much. Just wanted to do a little post and now I'm back to work.

Halloween for a Rainy Day

2007-07-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

We are finally getting some rain here after not having any almost all summer. It looks like it is going to rain off and on all day so it will be a great day to get some art done. I am continuing to work on Halloween. I finished these Halloween hangers which I made using vintage post card images last night and have some smaller hangers to finish today along with many other goodies. I have lots of ideas just swirling around in my head and am working hard to get them all completed.

I have listed these on ebay along with my Halloween Doodle Hangers this morning. You can check them out here is you are interested. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZlilypepper183 I am selling these hangers in sets of 2.

Halloween Doodles - Primitive Style

2007-07-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

I know it is rather reckless of me to be posting twice in one day but I could not help myself! I have tried something new with my doodles and am looking for some feedback on this idea. I am obsessed with the Halloween doodles that I have been doing. If you have been reading my blog you probably are already aware of this. If you are new to my posting just check through some of my older posts and you will soon know what I am talking about. This weekend while working on some other items I attempted a new endeavor. I printed some of my doodles onto fabric. I then stitched them onto some fabric, added some fibers and gave them a good primming. I am now going to make them into little Halloween hangers. This is just a preview as I have not yet completed them. I just wanted to show you my doodles primitive style!

Fabrications - Butterfly Pages

2007-07-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

After much consideration I have decided that my fabric book is to have a nature/garden theme. The first few pages that I have almost completed are the Butterfly pages. I have used one of the painted muslin pages and I have placed a copy of a vintage photo of a sweet little girl with butterfly wings. I have also added some other fun elements to the page. This page doesn't feel quite complete to me and I am still looking for the perfect quote to finish it.

I have sewn a pocket on the next page using one of the painted muslin pieces. I fist created the pocket by collaging a monarch butterfly image and some vintage papers on to the painted muslin. I have tucked a little tag book into the pocket.

The tags have all been painted and collaged and each has an image of a butterfly on it. Then I put some great fibers on the ring that holds the tags together. I have only been working on this a little at a time and really don't have much done. Hopefully in the upcoming weeks I will have a little more time to work with it and get it completed.

Pumpkin Men all in a Row

2007-07-20T07:40:00.001-07:00

These little pumpkin men are out for a dash of sunshine. They are looking to get a really grubby looking tan today to enhance their beautiful orange skin. So far today I have been busy working on Halloween. Finished these guys early this morning and set them out to tan. I finally have a day where I do not have to be gone most of the day and I hope to get several things accomplished. Now this usually doesn't happen the way I have planned but I am off to a good start. I have some towels to paint this afternoon and want to start some new things as well as finish some I already have started. I also want to work on my work area some today as it is getting out of control! And to finish my day I want to continue working on my fabric book. I am loving the way it is turning out but it has been quite slow going for me lately. I will try to post some updated pictures of it on Sunday or maybe Monday as we have a Volleyball tournament again on Sunday. Well writing this down makes me aware I had better finish this post and get back to work.

Halloween Doodle-mania contines!

2007-07-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

After several days of doodling I have completed my second set of ACEO Black and White Halloween Doodles. I just find doing these doodles so relaxing and fun to work on. I just listed the cards in this set this afternoon on ebay. If you would like to check them out here is a link to them. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZlilypepper183 Hope you enjoy these fun Halloween ACEO's as much as I do.

Sunflowers - A Yellow Delight

2007-07-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

I only have time for a quick post today as I really want to try to work on some new projects that I have been putting on the back burner. If you have been reading my blog you have figured out by now that I love Yellow. It has always been my absolute favorite color all of my life. It is only natural that I find sunflowers simply delightful! Here are a few pictures that I took recently of some Sunflowers in bloom.

"Fantasy Relatives"

2007-07-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

This week my mom gave me a present of some old photos she puchased at a show she went to last weekend. While this may seem like an odd gift to some people, I personally just loved it.

I have always had a love of old photos. I have been collecting them forever. I had auction fever for years although I have not been to many auctions recently. I used to find one or maybe two pictures in a box of goodies that I had purchased. Eventually I started to accumulate a group of fantasy relatives. When I got the altered art bug awhile ago they started appearing in my art. I just find them fascinating. I love the clothes they wear, the look of their faces, hairstyles, backgrounds in the pictures, really just everything about them. I continue to always be on the lookout for more to add to my collection. The pictures my mom found are superb and they are are on wonderful cabinet cards as an added plus . I can't wait to do something with them! Below is one of my unfinished items from a previous post. He is now finished and will be listed on Ebay this week. He belongs in this post because he is one of the "fantasy relatives" from my collection.

Prim Fall and Halloween Tags

2007-07-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it is Thursday already! I really don't know where this week has gone. It seems like all I am doing is running here and there with the kids and not really accomplishing much in the way of Art. I did manage to draw some Prim Fall and Halloween tags yesterday and will be listing them on Ebay yet this morning. I have pictured just of few of my favorites from each batch. The Fall tags above and the Halloween tags below.

Take Time to Smell the Flowers

2007-07-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

I'm in a rush as usual! I don't have time today for posting. My daughter has to go out of town for Volleyball. I thought I would just share some pictures of some flowers that I took on the 4th of July. Even though I can't "Take time to smell the Flowers" today I Hope you can!

Fabrications - Progress on my Fabric Book

2007-07-07T06:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I worked on backgrounds for the plain pages in my fabric book. I was really happy with how this turned out so far. I have been reluctant to start throwing things on to the pages as I already have quite a bit of time in the book and didn't want to mess it up. It has been setting on my desk for most of the week calling to me and I have been turning a deaf ear until yesterday I could not ignore it any longer. I had decided to try and document this book from beginning to end something I have never done. Usually I just create my things and take pictures when I am finished. I know from experience that what I start with is seldom what I end up with and so I thought taking pictures throughout would be a good way to track this progression. Yesterday I began working on my backgrounds for the plain pages in the book. I wanted to add some texture to them as well as a base color to build on. The other thing I wanted to do was make some extra cloth backgrounds. I want these to use as a add on. I would like to create some pockets, flaps or what ever I fancy with them. Here are the pictures of my extra cloth backgrounds.

I have added some old pattern papers to the cloth along with paint, gesso, gel medium. I worked with the fabric somewhat how I would work with canvas if I was doing a painting. I then went to work on the actual pages. After leaving them dry for most of the afternoon on the clothesline I brought them in and sanded them with fine grit sand paper. This really takes any stiffness away and leaves me with a page that feels somewhat like old soft leather. Pictures of a couple of these pages are below.

This sure doesn't seem like I've done much but it took me the better part of the day. Now that I have the backgrounds started I have to work some on the layout of the pages and theme for my book. I am unsure exactly what the theme is going to be although I have given it much thought in the past couple of weeks and have several ideas rolling around in my head. This may seem like a huge problem to some but I find as I work the essence of the project becomes clear to me. Working with the backgrounds yesterday really got me excited and I can't wait to get back to this today! I will update again when I have completed more of the book.

Doodling Again

2007-07-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

I've had my doodle on again! I truly have become addicted to these ACEO doodles. This is my first complete set of Halloween doodles. I had listed the first three on Ebay earlier in the week and have just this morning listed the rest of them. You can view my listings here: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZlilypepper183 I will be starting my second Halloween themed set next week. I belong to a great group on Ebay ACEO ~ Art Cards Editions and Originals where the month of June was Doodle month. This is what started all this crazy fun! Here is the link to the group if you are interested in finding out more about it. http://groups.ebay.com/forum.jspa?forumID=100016579 You can also search ACEO on Ebay for great works in all types of mediums (not just doodles!) from this group.

Gazing Balls

2007-07-05T05:53:00.000-07:00

My absolute favorite Garden ornament is a Gazing Ball. I love the lore associated with them and I think they are so pretty in the garden.. They really add an interesting element to your flower beds. I took some pictures of a few gazing balls in my parents garden yesterday while we were there for a picnic.

If you are unfamiliar with some of the history and lore attached to the gazing ball I suggest doing an internet search for gazing ball. You will uncover a some very interesting information. Here is one of my favorite links http://www.friendshipandwitchballs.com/index.php They have wonderful information as well as some exquisite gazing balls.

Happy 4th of JULY!!!!

2007-07-04T09:20:00.001-07:00

While looking around Etsy this morning I came across this too cute 4th of July soldered glass pendant that I just loved. This wonderful pendant was made by Debbie Lakies a fellow ZNE member. It is for sale in her Etsy store for just $10.00! What a buy. Here is a link if you would like to take a look at it or any of her other lovely items. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=20511

Now if must get off the internet. I have to bake a cake to take to a picnic. I hope everyone has wonderful plans for today. Lots of goodies to eat, plenty of fun, and some fireworks! Happy 4th!

Yellow Surprise

2007-07-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

Ever since I have been young my favorite color has been yellow. This morning while out walking I happened to look down and saw this beautiful yellow and rust colored moth just resting on the grass. It was like a surprise just for me! I thought I'd share with any other yellow lovers out there. Because I didn't have my camera and I used my phone to take the picture so you are missing out on just how vibrant a yellow this moth was but I hope you find it enjoyable anyway.

Halloween Doodles

2007-07-02T08:19:00.001-07:00

I'm having fun with Halloween Doodles! As I wrote in a previous post, last month was "Doodle Month" in my ACEO group on Ebay. Well now the month is over and I am still having so much fun making doodles that I have decided to incorporate ACEO doodles into my Halloween works this year. These little ACEO's are the first 3 that I have done. I have listed them on Ebay this morning as some of the first of my Halloween offerings. I just love the way they turned out and I think they will bring some Halloween cheer to someone special.

Fun With Beads

2007-06-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

I received my July/August issue of Cloth Paper Scissors last weekend. While reading through it I found and article about a technique for making beads that looked like fun. Yesterday I had a little time so I thought I would try it. Pictured are some of the beads that I made. Although my beads turned out differently than what was pictured in the magazine I really enjoyed making them. I am planning to do even more experimenting with it. If you are not familiar with this magazine be sure to check it out! I received a subscription from my husband for Christmas last year and I anxiously await each issue. There are are always some great articles and lots of beautiful pictures. http://www.clothpaperscissors.com/. Included in this issue was also an article by a fellow ZNE member Chrysti. You can check out her blog here http://chrysti.wordpress.com/ . ZNE is an altered art group that I belong to and you can find out more about that here http://www.zneart.com/.

Found Items

2007-06-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

I am always on the lookout for items to alter since becoming an alter addict. In one of my searches I came across this little box and thought it was quite interesting. It is covered in a light gray paper with snowflake type images on it. The inside was quite a treat also, it is filled with slides. For right now this is sitting on my desk just waiting for the right idea to make it into something delightful. I love the paper on the outside so maybe this will be a Winter type project to incorporate the snowflakes on the paper. A blending of the original with new. If you have any ideas you would like to share I'd love to hear them!

Fabrications

2007-06-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share some of my base pages for a fabric book that I am working on. I have had this idea on the back burner of my mind for a while. Although I have done some paper bag books that I really enjoyed working on I have never attempted a fabric book before. I completed these base pages along with two others that are not quite finished but now I really have to give a little thought as to how I want to proceed, as well as do a little experimentation. I have been trying to broaden my horizons with new and different techniques that I see as well as just making up my own techniques as I go along. I will post my progress on this project as it proceeds. This is a project that I would like to make into a class to teach provided that I am happy with the end result. I think I will title my class "Fabrications" the making of a altered fabric book. I would love to hear your ideas on this or any successes, failures or experimenting you have had working with fabric books.

Mini Collage Journaling

2007-06-24T06:16:00.000-07:00

I have never really been a journal type of gal. Now don't get me wrong I want to be fantastic at it. I want to have beautiful pages in my journal that I can use in other pieces of art, or just to have it setting around looking gorgeous. I have bought several (actually beyond several- I somewhat have an addiction) of the beautiful blank books of all different styles. Books you can write in, paint in, draw in and more. The problem is I never seem to do anything in them. I hate to start that first page. I have been enchanted by the look of collage journaling and I am going to try to make a tiny little collage journal. I made some great little cards with some great colorful painted backgrounds at the beginning of the year. I adored the way that they turned out and was unsure what to do with them. I ran across them yesterday while looking for something else. When I saw them I thought wouldn't they make a cute little journal if I were to collage on the wonderful backgrounds and then sting them all together.
The backs of the cards were blank so I decided to add watercolor paper to some for drawing, doodles or painting. On the remaining tags I added vintage music as a base background for whatever I might want to do. The tags are small 3 (three) 1/4 inches tall and 1 (one) 3/4 inches wide. This is really part of the appeal for me. I think this is something that I should be able to do daily that will not require vast amounts of my time. I plan on adding a hole in the end and connecting them with a chain. I can't wait to get started on this! I also think that this would make a wonderful swap idea. If you would be interested in a swap like this please let me know because I think I will be doing one in the future.

Sweet Annie

2007-06-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

I have completed one of my unfinished items from yesterdays post! I just love the smell of Sweet Annie and use it whenever I can in my primitives. It became my inspiration for the little quilted square that I had made while working on ideas for a fabric book. I would love to have your comments on this piece . It is my first venture into Altered Fabric works so your tips are appreciated too! I will be listing it on Ebay tomorrow.

Unfinished Business

2007-06-22T06:49:00.000-07:00

I've missed a couple days of posting! I get caught up in things and everything else just goes away. I've been working on several projects. I always seem to have several pieces in varying states of unfinished! Does this happen to you too? I always seem to have to work on a variety of projects. Sometimes one piece will seem to stall out and I need to give it some thought. Other times while working on a piece it will spark a whole new seed of inspiration. The way my mind works once I have thought of something it will usually not let me go until I do it. Thus, I will put down what I am working on letting it sit and start on another project. Now with this method you would think that I would never get anything completed but I do. I often see artists who seem to churn out an extreme amount of art. I would really like to know how they accomplish this. Each piece that I do seems to take quite a bit of thought along with the actual creating of it. I have read where other artists say just to create and not think about it. I do this on one level but I really hate pieces that have the look that no thought was put into them. What a quandary! Here are some of my current unfinished pieces...

two 12 x 12 Altered canvas pieces

a hanging altered

and a fabric altered that I started yesterday.

Lily thinks about Halloween

2007-06-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

Halloween is my very favorite holiday. I have been thinking about Halloween pretty much since last Halloween. It will soon be that time of year and I am always so excited to start working on Halloween items. There is just something about this Holiday that really gets my creative juices flowing. I know that for some of you it might be a little early to start thinking about Halloween, but, in my art I really like to use quotes so here is a little challenge to you. In the comment section leave your favorite Halloween-ish type quote and if I use it in a piece of my art this Halloween season I will send you a special Halloween treat! So put your Halloween thinking cap on and please post your quotes!

Asian Lilies

2007-06-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

I just love the Asian Lily (liliaceae) Lilium Asiatic.There are several varieties of the lilies. I think they are just beautiful. I find their colors extraordinary. This picture is of a couple of the Asian Lilies that I have in my backyard. My daughters gave me these a few years ago for Mother's Day which makes them really special to me. They always are so pretty when they bloom but this year they just seem to be exceptional. The orange lily is really full of blooms but the yellow one is just now starting to bloom. I just thought I would share these wonderful flowers with you. If you are looking for something to brighten your day as well as your garden I highly recommend the Asian Lily.

ATC / ACEO Envelopes

2007-06-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

I spent last night making these little envelopes for ATC/ACEO's. They are great for when you participate in swaps. They are also the perfect added touch when you are giving an ATC/ACEO as a gift. I always get wonderful comments about them when I use them. I have made these with a paper that has images of an original altered art piece that I did called "Friendship Flower". They are available on my Etsy site in sets of 6. I also have another design available and am working on new designs for the future!

Doodle Doodle Doodle

2007-06-16T05:59:00.000-07:00

I have been involved in "ACEO Doodle Month" on ebay. I decided to enter a doodle competition that they are having. That is what started me doodling. The doodles are ACT/ACEO size and were to be only black on white doodles. I did the one for the competition and then I could not seem to stop. They were just too much fun to do! I found that I really liked the absence of color which was surprising to me as I am really such a color freak. The doodle here is entitled "Take Time". I have my doodle ATC's listed in my ETSY shop "Odd Bird Art". Click on the ATC to enter my ETSY Shop to take a look at my other doodles.

THOUGHTS THAT MOAN

2007-03-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like you are bursting with ideas? That was what was on my mind when I made this ATC that I completed about a month ago. I love the quotation on this particular one because it is often how I feel. Thoughts about what to create moan from my soul. They can even interrupt my sleep. I will have to get out of bed and start a project in the middle of the night. Almost like I am being possessed by the spirit of creativity. There are times when I think this is such a blessing and other times when I think it is a curse!