Disintegration Collaboration #2

Preparing my paper lantern for Seth’s Disintegration Project was so exciting that I just had to make another ‘bundle’ for the experiment.   I began to wonder if my lantern would make it to the first of May as it is quite delicate.

I had originally wanted to use this rusty wire basket anyway.

I lined it with today’s Real Estate Section from The Washington Post;  something that has already disintegrated a good bit

layering bits of rusty this and that between the pages, some pieces from Pat at Ooglebloops

a drink coaster made of nice spongy paper

some interesting chapter titles and paper textures randomly torn from encyclopedias and books

it now hangs from a tree near my paper lantern

see the little orange thingy in the background

there is a rusty garden angel hanging over the basket

the papers are weighed down on one end with a rusty pipe along with a few other odds and ends

This one should withstand the possible upcoming snow storm and weather we’ve been promised this weekend!

To find out more about my first ‘bundle’, visit here.

*stay tuned for periodic updates on both*

WS: Silhouettes

This is my second card for the Wednesday Stamper challenge.  I  did not care for the first one I made at all.

When I came upon the black and white cowboy playing card in a deck from the dollar store,  it finally came together.

I stamped the print background and the boot

Pink Saturday at The Pink Palace

More Florida Pink

The Don Cesar Hotel on St Pete’s Beach, known as the “Pink Palace”, is quite a place

We did not stay at the hotel, but did enjoy the walk through

It  faces the white sands of the Gulf of Mexico and was built in 1928 to resemble a Mediterranean-style castle

St. Pete Beach is adjacent

“come all ye who seek health and rest, for here they are abundant”

it certainly looked inviting…roarrrr

For lots more PINK offerings be sure and visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound

Disintegration Collaboration

I did not want the sun to set on another day without joining Seth at The Altered Page in his

Disintegration Collaboration Project

Seth has come up with an absolutely brilliant concept

Here is part of what he had to say:

“Over 50 artists are now participating in the Disintegration Collaboration. Bundles of every imaginable material, shape, and color are hung, tied, buried, and submerged all around the world. Nature is working her magic with snow, rain, hail, sun, wind, earth, fire, and water all interacting with and disintegrating bundles of bundles. On May 1, each artist will reveal the results on their own blog. Between now and then, I will be tracking and spotlighting the process on this blog.”

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I am a little late getting on board, I believe the number is now over 70 artists participating!

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Lots of ideas were buzzing around in my head, I decided to begin with a fold out paper lantern

I gathered together some book pages (one from a book called Demand Peace) crumpled…rolled…folded,  a real photograph of flowers in our garden, a sand dollar collected with our friend Carol in Florida recently, dried roses, a Salal leaf, a black feather, part of a tea bag envelope (Yogi Tea, Chamomile), assorted tissue papers, even a frilly purple tissue paper garland, a bit of blue cardstock and a turquoise drink parasol

I found a clock face sticker that I tore and put on the oval opening on the top of the stuffed lantern

it is now in place, wired to a a grapevine near an old shutter in our garden, just in time for some rain or snow; not really sure what the weather will bring

You can find the list of Disintegration Collaborators on Seth’s blog

I am headed that way to see what everyone is up to

UPDATE: 28 Feb 09

I created a second bundle, you can find out more about here….can you tell I got excited about this

*~ She’s Done It Again ~*

My sweet blog friend, Estivalia, who is young enough to be my daughter, has rescued me again all the way from Chile with her technical know how.….notice my new “I Am Published In” button on the sidebar……it’s even clickable

Estivalia and I met here in blogland awhile ago.  She creates beautifully designed greeting cards and more, with a special eye for detail and color.

She is a true artist with amazing drawing skills.  Here is just one example of her talent.

You can see lots more of her creativity here on her newest drawing blog.

Estivalia, you are not only amazingly talented and helpful,  but also SO sweet and cheerful to take the time to help me out on the last day of your summer vacation no less. You are a real doll!!!

~*~ Many Many Thanks to you Dear One ~*~

Speak to me of the Sea

Here a 3″ x 5″ skinny I created for the Theme Thursday Beach/Nautical challenge this week.

Inspired by mollusks (that is such a fun word to say) and a recent trip to the gulf, I used parts of a beautiful free download collage sheet from Gaby.    Encore Metallic inks, Lumiere paints and chalk all went into this piece.  The stamps I used are from Stampers Anonymous and Art Impressions, they seemed to melt into the paper.  The lady is from my postcard collection.  The green frill is from a sushi takeout platter.  I notice one of our local grocery stores is cutting back and no longer adding the green plastic “seaweed”.  Don’t they know that’s part of the attraction of even eating sushi!!!

As Benjamin Button said,

“I was thinking how nothing lasts, and what a shame that is. “

Tip: When I use paints, especially something like Lumiere, instead of putting my brush in water to clean it right away, I  stroke the brush back and forth onto book text or cardstock,  pressing it with my fingers at the end; then it’s ready to be washed.  You’d be surprised how much paint comes out of the brush.  The turquoise back drop paper for my skinny is from a brush cleaned just that way.

A Jewel in the House

The Dans ma maison challenge this week (last Friday actually) is a jewel in the house…..Dans ma maison il y a … un bijou.

Still trying to get back in the creative swing of things here.  My little wooden cut out house is covered in scrap papers and painted lace.

I Love the soft sweet face on this precious girl, her collar is so pretty too   This is a quick post…….Dashing off to the dentist.

Balance

The brilliant challenge over at Awfully Big Art Adventure is to alter a rock.  Now that is something I just happen to have plenty of.  This rock is from the Moorman River near Charlottesville, Virginia. The river bed was full of lovely flat rocks of all different sizes and colors and like seashells they look extra tempting when they are wet!

After a coat of Lumiere paint, I used Matte Gel Medium to glue a couple of my favorite papers around the image of a garden ornament we have hanging out back.  The tiny seashells are recent acquisitions.  While vacuuming today I noticed a pearl bead on the carpet, luckily it was not sucked up.  After I had the shells glued on my rock, I knew the pearl would be the perfect finishing touch inside the jingle shell!

The word Balance really speaks to me…….it is something I continually strive for.

“Work, love and play are the great balance wheels of man’s being” ~Orison Swett Marden

And another quote; there are lots on balance in life:

“Women need real moments of solitude and self-reflection to balance out how much of ourselves we give away.” ~Barbara De Angelis

Enchanted One

the TMTA challenge this week is the letter “E”

“Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger…”

~Oscar Hammerstein

The Key to My Mind

Gale has issued a brilliant challenge for the Paper Whimsy Forum group.  She provided a limited edition collage sheet that participants all start out with.  There are certain criteria… for example, use a key, door, flower, fish, the color blue in your collage; all inspired by the beautiful poem by Hilda Conkling.

A little stone door to my mind

Opens and shuts with a musical sound.

There is a gold key

Locks the door;

The door is carved like lace.

Spirits fly in and out.

Messages

Of love and things I ought to know.

Through the lacework of stone

Comes a sweet melody saying

Happiness… purity… strangeness

This the first thing I’ve created since being away for a few weeks and it feels so good to make something again.  For my background I used a photo of an old *watering can*.

*to clarify, it’s a closeup pic of a rusting watering can, so you cannot actually see the can just the metal

Pink Saturday on Sanibel Island

Just back from a couple weeks in sunny Florida

with blue skies

time to relax

and window shop

stroll

enjoy nature

and watch the birds

We saw lots of these growing wild on Sanibel.  Anyone have a clue what this plant might be called?

It grew about waist high, each flower about an inch long

Lots of pink in Florida

To see more Pink Saturday offerings, be sure and visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound

OWOH + What I Won = Unbelievable!

*thank you thank you Dear  Stacy!!!*

Just look at all of the lovely prizes I’ve won!

I am quite overwhelmed with my good fortune, you’ll see what I mean as you keep scrolling down

Did I mention that I was not even able to visit all of the 911 participants because we were out of town

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First of all, the generous and talented Nancy sent out ‘thank you’ cards to a lot of her OWOH participants.  How amazing is that!   You can see the beautiful card she sent me from her All Pulped Out blog.

Thank you SO much Nancy!

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Karla of Day Dream Studios sent me the most beautifully beaded and stunning bookmark.   It is my favorite color, turquoise, too!

Thank you SO much Karla!

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I won a neat metal embossed 2009 p0cket calendar from Darlene of Artticulation, which she distressed beautifully.  You can see it on her 18 January OWOH blog post.  (for some reason it won’t let me link it directly)

Thank you SO much Darlene!

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Diane of the Diane Did It blog sent me a gorgeous fabric padfolio.  It has so many special details that you can see by visiting her blog.  What a lovely notebook I have now, with pockets inside and a fancy closure outside, it’s beautiful!

Thank you SO much Diane!

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I am wearing the lovely pair of freshwater pearl earrings that I won on Morna’s Bittersweet blog.  They are gorgeous and so delicate.  You must visit and see what she makes out of dryer lint = brilliant and perfect for a saver of such things like me!

You won’t want to miss a visit to her Etsy shoppe either.

Thank you SO much Morna!

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A sweet dress calendar magnet from Brenda at her Dragonlady Blog is now hanging on our fridge. You can check out her 19 January post on her blog to see her calendar dresses (another blog that wouldn’t let me directly link the prize post).

Thank you SO much Brenda!

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The UPS man just delivered an amazing mixed media painting that I won from Stacy at Minor Details.  You just have to see it!

If possible, it is even more fantastic in person.  The wood Stacy used is substantial and the details are just beautiful, including the beeswax finish.

It is titled LIFE IS SWEET, which has so much meaning for me on so many levels just now.  It’s fabulous!  The wrapping (see package above) was also beautiful and so much fun to open!

Thank you SO much Stacy!

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*there are  two more prizes on their way to me, I will add those to the list when they arrive *

- 23 Feb – the update -

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Lucky me, the tulip painting I won from artist Nathalie  Davis arrived today.  WOW, it’s a little beauty, you can see it here.

Thank you SO much Nathalie!

AND

Nora de Groot, from Soul Collages,  is sending me her lovely collage all the way from The Netherlands.  You can see it here.

Thank you SO much Nora, it will be special to see it in person!

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Many thanks to all of the lovely, talented and generous artists that participated in OWOH this year!  It has been so exciting getting to meet new bloggers from all over the globe!

The amazing Lisa of A Whimsical Bohemian has done it again!  Thank you Lisa!!!

All I can say is WOWEE+Thank you ALL many times over for so many lovely prizes!!!!

~*Honeysuckle Lane’s Simple Joys*~

Returning home from our getaway to some wonderful surprises!

I was the lucky winner of  Lana’s ~* Honeysuckle Lane’s Simple Joys *~ first blog giveaway!!!  Yippee Yay!  I received six beautiful whimsy heart in hand valentine’s created by Lana AND I won her guessing game too!   Lana is a treasure hunter (my kinda gal) and picked up a fantastic sofa at a great price.   I guessed what she paid for it, not thinking too much,  just going with the number that popped in my head!  I also received a beautiful altered scrabble tile on a ball and chain necklace.  Such  lovely treasures.

Be sure and pay Lana a visit at her Simple Joys Paperie Etsy Shop to see her special offerings.

***Happy Happy Birthday Sweetie***

You are my sunshine

and

the Light of my life

XOXOXOXOOXOXO

SPA Published in Artful Blogging Magazine and Me Too!

Mandy and Donna of Sunday Postcard Art received the very well deserved honor of being published in the Spring 2009 Issue (FebMarApr) of Artful Blogging (see pages 114-117) for their challenge blog.

Many thanks to Char for letting me know that my “Heroes” postcard for the MEN challenge back in October 2008 was included in the article (page 117).  Congratulations to everyone that had artwork published, very exciting!!!

The photo credit page numbers were botched,  but hey, it’s a huge thrill nonetheless.  They even printed what I wrote about participating in Sunday Postcard Art (SPA) on page 116 AND spelled my last name right

Happy Shiny Things

My greeting card for the WS: Shiny challenge began with black cardstock which I stamped using acrylic paint

I then took four round mirrors blending several colors of alcohol inks, more stamping with paint and gold krylon pen around the edges

For the large mirror I stamped words with black StazOn and glued on the image of the lady

the mirrors shine and reflect nicely in person

the final touch is Diamond Glaze as a sealer

Last summer I got so inspired by mirrors and mosiacs