Christmas Wish giveaway!

Milliande is making a Christmas wish come true.
Check out the details at Milliande.com

Another Journal Page

Here is another journal page I made this fall, but somehow missed it when I was uploading photos.
This spread was for Susan, and her topic was dragons, princesses and other magical things.
I just love the dragon, and his glittery fire :)

November - Already?

Wow! Time flies when you are having fun, or not.
I have been one busy beaver lately.
We are moved into our new home, but slowly getting unpacked. I just want everything in it's place. My husband packed the silverware, and he doesn't remember what box he packed it in, so we are still using what happened to be in the dishwasher on the day of the move. ARG.
I know it will show up soon, as we are running out of places to look.


I have managed to squeeze in a couple of art journal pages, the first topic was Water. I chose the frozen variety. LOL
It is done with only fabrics, and a few snowflake gems.


The second topic was Heart Garden, and it is done with light weight Spackle that you get at the hardware store. I lightly brushed it through the holes of a couple of stencils to get the dimensional flowers, and then I colored them with chalks.
The arch is out of a shimmery handmade paper. I just love the expression on the little flower girls face.

2 more Art Journal Pages

I know, I should be packing boxes for the move, but I am still lagging behind schedule, and just can't bring myself to not create.
One of these pages I did a week or so ago, but just haven't made the time to put it up. The other one I just finished, and am waiting to send it to make sure it is completely dry.

First is a page for Marion, her topic was School. I went a bit of a different way by going with Education and Knowledge. It is a little quirky, but that is a style that I know Marion loves, so I hope that she likes them.


Second is for Sharron, her topic was Italian Affair. When I think of Italy, I think of stone buildings, and dreamy fields of grapes. I cut out the window of the right page, and added a picture of a castle like building, and then added groups of grapes, which I then covered in Crystal Lacquer to give them that shiny plumpness.
The quote: "A hundred years can not repair a moment lost" is an old Italian Proverb, which to me tied in the dreamy aspect of the piece.

Tribute to Jackson Pollock

Getting some more art journals done, I was able to incorporate the same subject into two different books.
(remember to click on images to see them larger)
The first book is Karen's and it is on Freedom.
I chose to do Jackson Pollock, because his outlook on art is that of expression, not necessarily completion.
He created his works out of feeling, not a predetermined idea of what it would end up like.
To me I feel that is 'Freedom in art'. I created these pages without any idea of what they would look like when they were finished, and it was an amazing experience.

The second journal belonging to Abby was titled 'American Idol', and we were to incorporate someone we look up to into the pages, so I was able to stay with the Jackson Pollock theme.
Even though he grew up in New York, he was born here in my home town of Cody, WY.

Both journal entries were done with acrylic paint. Some thinned with water, and painted on with a straw, a stick, and a paintbrush. Something that Jackson often did was use unusual items as 'brushes'.

The fist pages for Karen were done with pastel colors on a black background. (directly in the book) Then the paint was let to dry for 2 days. (it's thick in places) Then I printed actual works from Jackson Pollock onto Canvas paper, and then heat set and sealed them so they would not smear, then adhered them around the quote from him.
The quote reads:
'I like to express my feelings rather than illustrate them. There is no accident just as there is no beginning and no end...The painting has a life of it's own.'
Jackson Pollock, New York, 1951.
The second pages for Abby were done with earth tones, on a metallic brown linen texture cardstock. Let to dry, and then I added a transparency where I put Jackson's photo, name and life dates on as an overlay to my painting. On the right side, I added a print of his painting 'The Key' done on canvas paper and sealed, matted with the same metallic brown cardstock.
I was really happy with the way they turned out, and how different they look, when still using some of the basic drip technique.

Getting in some art.

I have squeezed in a little art amongst the chaos, here and there, when I can. I am still WAY behind schedule, but I am trying to catch up.
Here are just some of the things I have accomplished over the last several months.

(remember you can click on the images to see them larger~enjoy)


This is my art journal Lighthouse page. I made a very simple how-to YouTube video if you want to check it out the address is : Lighthouse Art Journal Page

Here are some art journal pages I made just for personal growth:

(a new woman~made with parts and pieces from different magazine clippings of women)


Kindred Spirits~ Letters are found from items in nature.


Growth~ Altered Photo


The following are Round Robin Art Journal book pages and Tip-In pages that I made, that are traveling the world.

Love Letter~for Jenene


Wings~for Barbara


Earth Specimen~for Keron


Birds~for Hermine
(second picture shows left page with bird houses open)


"Out with the Old" Doors & Windows~for Diana


"Jeweled Mandala" India~ for Lorna

Whew~ I guess I have done more than I thought, I have been trying to do some 5-15 minute sketch prompts also. The key is to just sketch. Don't think about it. Just look at the image and try to repeat it. Don't erase.... just keep going. When the timer goes off~ STOP. Accept the results, and move on.
I think the 'accept the results' part is the hardest part, but it is taking my art to all new places and I LIKE IT!!!!!

Hopefully it won't be Christmas before I pop in again, but if it is, remember I blog without obligation. ;)
~ Letha

I can't believe I haven't blogged all summer!

I have truly been one busy lady! I intended to take the summer off from most of the hustle and bustle and get lots of art done, instead of all the usually running from here and there. I also wanted to get the studio/classroom set up so that we would be ready for fall... still not done. UGH!
We planned to go to South Dakota over the 4th of July, but plans were canceled because my mom got ill, and had to have surgery. So we have been taking care of her all summer. Back and forth every day. We planted flowers for her to look at, and cleaned off her porch so she could spend a few minutes outside each day~ Doctors orders!
Quincy turned 14~ that was a blast! We had a bowling party, and then went for pizza. It was Harry Potter themed OF COURSE :)

Both Quincy and Abby spent most of the summer doing art classes through the Cody Country Art League and Quincy did Tennis.
Beckie came to visit, which was nice, because she took care of mom while I took care of Bethany's kids while she had her baby. A big bouncing baby boy. Nathaniel River 8 lbs 5.7 oz. Nate is the cutest little plump thing! I was not so secretly hoping for a girl, but now that he is here, I don't think we will send him back- he is way too cute :)
Well, now we are getting ready for Mark's mom and sister to come and visit. Usually the girls fly out there and visit for a week, but this year they are coming to see us. The girls are excited to see them, and they are only going to be here a few short days, so we have a lot to squeeze in.
School starts in just a couple short weeks, and we need to do school shopping, so my plans for not participating in the usual hustle and bustle of the summer fuss went right out the window! HA-HA! Oh Well, maybe next year.

March journals on...

I have been working on some art projects, and some journal pages.
Here are the pages I have done and have photos of so far.
I have included the instructions on how I did them, in case you are interested :0)


March week 4 Yellow & Blue. These have to be some of the funnest prompts. Even though Blue is not one of my favorite colors, I didn't have to "think" about it, because it is a color- you just look for the color, and it comes together.
I painted the journal page yellow. While it was drying, I went through our magazine box, and started pulling out pictures of blue items. I did not really care what it was that was blue, just ripped out the item. Totally random. When I thought I had enough, then I cut around them all. When the yellow paint was completely dry, I put down a thick layer of gel medium, and started to randomly set down the images. I did not pay any attention as to where or what they were, so that is why some are grouped tightly and some not, because I didn't plan. It might be wise to plan next time.
When all the images were stuck, then I put another thick layer of gel medium on top of all the images. I let this dry for several hours. (best overnight, but I am an instant gratification person, so I hurried it with a heat tool, and then waited a few hours)
I then added some yellow dots, the word "blue" with yellow paint, and the word "yellow" with blue paint, then when the paint was dry I outlined the words with black sharpie.

March week 3 stitches. I started with pasting down a piece of pink cardstock to the white journal pages. Then I squirted red, white, and pink paint onto the pages, smeared it around with my fingers. That was messy but FUN!
The paint is really thick, so it took a full day to dry. Then when it was dry, I took some fibers, and threaded it into a tapestry needle, and sewed the edge of the cardstock. If I had to do this over, I would have just painted the cardstock first, then sewed it, and then glued it into the book- it would have been SO MUCH easier.
Once the blood stopped ;0)
I then started changing my mind about what I was going to be doing on my page.
I remembered I had all these bright colored stitched flowers, and I have been longing for Spring, so I started gluing them down. I then added stems out of this awesome ribbon I have been hoarding. I added a little embroidered dradonfly, the words made with fibers, and a little silver dragonfly for the dot on the i of Spring.
The coolest part is that everything but the background and the charm, is stitched or fibers!

March week 2 Who is she? I printed both of the images and sprayed with Fixative.
Coated both of my pages with gesso. Then tore the images out of the paper and set them down with gel medium, both under and on top. Then did another layer of gesso, heavy around the edges, lighter as I went in, and a very light brushing over the faces.
When COMPLETELY dry, and no longer cold. Take a fine line sharpie and outline the outside of images- one in a rectangle one in a circle. Then add the add the square spiral and the circle spiral over the "brain" area. Trace over small parts of the face to change the expressions with the fine line sharpie. With a heavier sharpie add the words.

March week 1 Postage stamp-I started the page by painting it with a sage green, light blue, and white, all marbled together, but not thoroughly mixed. Let dry. Then I added the words of mail I am not thrilled to receive. Then I painted a coat of pearl paint down on top of that- which kind of covered the sharpie words, but they still show. Adhered the letter, and wings. Stamped images with Saddle brown StazOn ink pad, and then wrote the final words with sharpie. Done!
(sounds fast, but it takes awhile for all those layers of paint to dry)

My Big Day

I have had some requests for "details" about my big day, so I shall share with you my day of pampering!
Since it was Friday, my husband had to work overnight, so he left for work Thursday night at 10:30pm, (I was still on my computer) which is often the case. ;o)
So at 11:59 and 53 seconds the phone rang- it was him, he called to wish me a happy birthday.
I told him he was a bit early, and just as I did the clock turned, so he really wasn't. LOL!
He is such a sweet guy.

I had actually planned to sleep in, but because he was at work, I did have to make sure my girls were up and getting ready for school. When their alarms went off at 6 am, they both got up and came in and wished me a Happy Birthday, and told me I could stay in bed!
(I didn't go back to sleep, since we often have some rough mornings, but it was nice to just lay in bed)
The girls were so good. They didn't fight about clothes and hair, and shoes, and all the other things that middle school girls fight about on a daily basis :0) it was a nice reprieve.
Mark got home just after 7 AM and took the girls into the school. They help out in the library before school starts.
I slept in til almost 10 AM can you believe it? Doesn't that ROCK?
I slept til my body woke up. I am such an insomniac, so it was rather refreshing.
I decided that since I needed to let Mark sleep since he worked all night, that I was going to treat myself to a bit of a spa.
So I filled the tub with a nice hot bath, and a sat there til every finger and toe was as wrinkly as a raisin. Then I got out and gave myself a mini-pedicure and manicure. (I used to be a cosmetologist way back in the day, so it isn't too hard)

I then got dressed had some lunch and checked my email- lots of birthday messages ~ YEAH!!!
My girls came home from school, so I spent some time with them, getting their school week stuff wrapped up, and their bags packed for grandma's house....
Then we finished up all our chores.
Off to grandma's house we went. The girls are going to spend the night, play art, lounge and get spoiled!
Mark and I headed off to dinner at the steak house. We had such a great dinner. It was delicious! I had a steak and baked potato, and Mark had baby back ribs, and garlic fries, we even got an appetizer- yummy mozzarella sticks. We were SO full we couldn't think about eating desert, but because it was my birthday, my desert was on the house, so the waitress sent a slice of New York cheesecake home with me for later, with a sparkler candle!
Off to the movie we went!

Because we live in such a small area, there is not a lot of variety, and most of what was playing was horror flicks- I don't like them- I am not scared by them, I just think they are dumb, and a waste of time. I know- not a popular opinion, but it's my birthday, and I can't say what I want!
So- we could see either, Mall Cop, or Confessions of a Shopaholic. I chose Shopaholic.
It was definitely a chic flick, but it was funny, and cute. I enjoyed the movie.
When we came home, we happened to check the TV for the current temp, and noticed that the movie Penelope was just about to start in about 10 minutes. This is a movie we both have wanted to see, and never had a chance. So we snuggled down together and watched yet another great movie! It was so good. I didn't realized what a great movie Penelope is. It is a perfect family movie. I highly recommend it.
By the time the movie was over, it was awfully late, so sleepy time it was!
My birthday did not end on Friday though- No sir-re!!!
The kids are still at Grandma's!!!!
So Mark let me spend the whole day Saturday playing with Art stuff!
I painted a little, I drew a little, I did some journaling, stamping, beading, sewing, and I even did some photo editting and checked my email.
I played on facebook, and Ning.
I even took a little nap! It was glorious!
Ah! I love my birthday :0)

My Birthday/Blogaversary!

Today is my 35th Birthday and my 1 yr blog anniversary!
SO~
In celebration of my two big events. I am giving away a massive Priority box full of Mixed Media goodies!!!!
This will be a prize to be had. I can tell you that each day there will be items added to the box, and this box will be sent to anyone no matter where in the world they are from, whether they are a blogger or not! So sign up! To do so, just leave your name, and some way for me to contact you in a comment to this post only, and one month from today I will draw a winner from the list of names, and that person will get the enormous box of mixed media goodies!
Now- just to sweeten the "pot" so to speak randomly throughout the month whenever I am feeling giddy I will be picking a name haphazardly and sending that person a goody or two- you will receive a message in your email asking for your snail mail address, and you will be surprised as to what comes your way. So sign up early, your chances of getting picked throughout the month will be that much greater!
So help me celebrate my special milestones! Share this post with all your friends! Post a link on your blog, and enter your name in twice :0)
(to add a post just click on the word "comments" at the end of all the tag words at the very end of this post, and it will take you to a pop-up window to leave your comment. It is in green.)
If you post as "anonymous" you must leave me your name AND your email address, or I will have no way to contact you :( If you are not comfortable leaving the email online- you can email it to me- my email link button is listed in the left column if you click on "view my complete profile" Thanks!

Feast or Famine

Well,
I know I don't blog out of obligation, but I feel like I have left you all hanging for quite awhile. I just haven't been doing much with my blog, yet I have been creating. I have just felt rather overwhelmed, and just didn't feel like I could catch my breath much less take the time to post regularly. So here is going to be a huge long post with tons of pictures of what I have been doing. Down at the bottom will be some sketches in progress, and ones that I have done just for fun, that I have been doing to practice my face structure and placement. I WELCOME any critique or suggestion, as I have only been sketching for a few months, and am picking this up on my own, and am by no means a seasoned artist. Many of these are in progress, and I feel I am "stuck" as to where to go next. I think you will see what I mean as you view them.

Here at the top is my first comfort doll- created for a Paper Traders swap, it is going to a special lady, who has been through many trials this past year, and was completely done by hand. Not one machine stitch! I purchase hand-dyed batiks for the materials, and hand-beaded the body of the doll. Then stamped the face, and beaded around it with two different tones of purple beads. (hard to see the different colors in the picture) Once I got all that done, I was able to sew the body shape together and stuff her. I then beaded her arms, and added a teapot for her to hold. I sewed some cream and gold ribbon around the seam where the front and back meet, to give it a sparkly edge, and to cover the stitching, and then gave her some keys for legs. Added a filigree heart for a pocket, and a special little poem inside.
It sounds quite simple, but I worked on it for 2 weeks straight. (I know I am kind of slow)
The next project is a Tip-In Round Robin page that I did for a friend (also a Paper Traders swap) the topic was the Romance of Train Travel. I have to say this was not an easy topic for me and the first couple of cracks at it Did Not turn out well at all, so I was way behind at getting this done! I am lucky that she was patient, and kind enough to wait for me to get my act together. I decided to go a totally different route, and I was so glad I followed my muse, because I am so happy with the results. I ended up using a really mucky painted background, but I think it really added to the aged look of the pages.
The sign in was to be a train ticket, so there is a picture of that as well. It ended up being a fun project once I got my head around it.


Ok~
Here are my sketchings. (click on the pictures to see the details) If you have any comments please feel free to express them. I welcome any help, as I am learning, and need so much guidance right now, so that I can progress and grow. Thanks so much!!!
~Letha

New giveaways from Lisa Vollrath

Lisa Vollrath is doing it again!
Her kind heart is getting the better of her, and she is giving away free images from now until St. Patrick's Day. Don't delay, download them now. The link is to your right, under my tab: Fun Stuff!
You can also check out her other sites, where you can buy her awesome collage sheets and other fantastic products in her store, check out her website, her etsy shop, art gallery, creative booster- Go make something, and the most lovely "world according to Lisa" a must read!

One World One Heart Prize WINNERS!

2009 ONE WORLD ONE HEART FINALS

The folowing bloggers are the winners of my prizes!

#1-(fairy gazebo) Nikki @ Whimsy Love

***************

#2-(hearts, butterflies, daisies) Valerie @ It's a Wonderful Life

***************

#3-(chef, cookies, country) Charlene @ Puddle of Grace

***************

#4-(boots, fishing, denim) Birgit @ Swapping Howdies

***************

#5-(flowers, hearts, daisies) Franny @ Pickle Beans

***************

#6-(ducks, butterflies, baby) malleycc @ Guessing Game

***************

#7-(pansies, butterflies, tulips) Lisa @ Laughing Orca Ranch

***************

#8-(sunflower, daisies, herbal) Jennifer @ Gypsy Mare Studios

***************

Each of these winners have been emailed privately, if I do not hear from you by Saturday Night, I will draw a new name on Sunday.
I plan to have all packages mailed out by Monday or Tuesday.

A special THANK YOU to Lisa for hosting such a wonderfully successful project. With 910 participants this year, I can only imagine what next year will bring. I look forward to seeing you all then, and hope that in the meantime, we will get to know each other so much better.
Please remember to go back and check out all the blog addresses, and venture through the lovely art and works there is to see. Make some new friends and re-aquaint with some old ones.
Big fun!
~Letha

One World One Heart

PRIZES Awarded check link Here :o)
Please check out the rest of my blog by clicking on MY BLOG or you can click the blog header and it will take you to the front page- thanks for a successful and way fun project!

Yes! I am participating!!! I thought for sure it would be too late, and with well over 800 participants, there may be only a few visitors, but hopefully next year I will get with it sooner.
What IS ONE World-ONE Heart?
It is a blog-wide giveaway event. The original idea behind this was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. To see the list of all the blog givers, you can click on the globe above, or on Lisa's (oceandreamer)name here.

I will be offering more prizes as the comments increase. For every 50 comments, I will add another gift. So the more participants, the better your chances to get a goodie!
Please if you enter, make sure you have an email attached to your blog, or leave your email address in your comment post. All comments must be to this post only or they will not count toward the drawing. Last day for the drawing is midnight on February 11th Mountain Daylight Time. I will be posting the winner here on my blog on Thursday February 12th, and will contact the winners privately. They will have til Saturday night to return my email, or I will draw a new name. I would like to mail packages out on Monday or Tuesday. Thanks :0)

It is not required, but if you would like to, in your comment, I would love to know where in this vast world you are from, and how long you have been blogging?

I am from Cody, Wyoming, USA which is in the far northwest corner of the state just a few miles from the entrance to Yellowstone National Park. It is beautiful here, and we are blessed to live in this part of the world.

I will be having my one year blog anniversary in March, which is my birthday, so come back then, and help me celebrate! I will be having a massive party!

Prize one:

This is a flower fairy gazebo. It measures approximately 10 inches tall 7 inches wide. It comes with all 5 flower fairies. I may possibly continue to embellish it in the weeks to come, so it may become more jeweled and glorious before it reaches you :0)

I have been adding a bit to it, and here is a new picture. The fairies have faces, and the gazebo has a few more fun things. Sorry the picture is so dark- I was having trouble with all the shadows.


Prize Two:

This is a set of three packages of Jolee's Boutique dimensional stickers, in the following Spring styles:
pastel hearts
fluttering friends
white daisies

Wow- 50 comments already! Here is a third prize!

Prize Three:

This is another set of three packages of Jolee's Boutique dimensional stickers. These are all in comfy homey styles:
chef
ginger cookies
country breeze

I see we are up to 100 comments, so here comes another prize!

Prize Four:

This set is inspired from my little home town. Being from Cody, Wyoming- I had to throw a little Western flare into the prize fun! So the Jolee's Boutique stickers included here are:
wild west
fly fishing
denim jacket

I see we are up to 150 comments, so here comes yet another prize!

Prize Five:

Here is a lovely either spring, or wedding set which includes:
Vanilla flowers
White floral hearts
White daisies

OK, I am not going to prolong the torture any longer: I had every intention of adding more give-aways all along, regardless of the number of blog posts, so here they are. :0)

Prize Six:

Sweet little things! This set would be great for a new baby girl. If this is one you would really like, please comment for sure. It includes:
baby girl accessories
fluttering friends
she's expecting

Prize Seven:

Spring is on it's way! Let's celebrate- think warm weather, and watch for those flowers to bloom. It includes Jolee's, and some Daisy Hill dimensional stickers:
Pansies
Glitter Butterflies
Spring Flower

Prize Eight:

This is also a springy set, and a gardener's delight! It includes the following Jolee's:
Golden Yellow Flowers
Yellow Daisies
Green Thumb

AND possibly more, if I have time, or if there gets to be a ton more comments!

Don't forget- the more the comments the more the prizes :0)

I can't wait to meet all of you.
Thanks! Letha

LeeLou is having a Baby Shower

LeeLou blogs is sponsoring a baby shower in honor of two very special NICU babies.
When you get done reading the stories about these two babies amazing and inspiring stories, you too will want to do what you can to help. In the process, you might be able to win a prize.
Make sure you check out the LeeLou link to see what it is all about!!!

Queen & Co giveaway

The Queen goes Green!!!
Be sure to go to the Queen & Co. link and check out their new amazing products and giveaway.

Concrete Angel

I am still working on Round Robin Journals- this one is for Susan. Her theme is How Great Thou Art, and is to create a page that showcases our own personal style.

I actually found this a little challenging, because I am not sure that I have a particular style. I think I am kind of "all over the place" with my art, and am inspired by so many different artists and artistic styles.

I have been striving to increase my sketching skills lately, and I have not been very comfortable in sharing them, because I don't feel they are all that "good." Then I realized that I am not doing art to "impress" other people, but to "express" what is in me.

So here is what I created for Susan. It was inspired by the song Concrete Angel by Martina McBride. It is a very sad song about child abuse, and I am not sure what it is about the song that draws me to it, but it has such a powerful and deep message.

The girl is done with several layers of different weights of pencil. I used my fingers for blending- I am sure there are better techniques, but this is working for me at the moment.

(If you want to see her details-you can click on the picture to see her larger.)

The wings started as a white handmade paper with a silver swirl pattern. I used gesso, and several weights of charcoals, pencils, and lots and lots of blending, to achieve the worn look.

The background paper was also altered with gesso washes, stamped images, distress inks, more color wash and then another coat of distress inks. I printed the words from the song onto tracing paper. I have not done this before, but all the vellum I have, is really heavy weight and I wanted it to be really light, so the images would show through. I had to spray it with fixative, because I used an inkjet printer, but I love the transparentness that it has.

I think it exudes a sense of peace.

Here Kitty Kitty

These are the Tip-in Pages I made for Teri.

They are little quilties.

Her topic was anything with a cat or kitten on it somewhere, so I decided that I would design a pattern, and incorporate fabric into my pages. I ended up making the whole thing with fabric.

The cat and the mouse are quilted down, and then the "meow" is written in stitches. The mouse's tail is a little pink ribbon. The kitty's wiskers are made with threads, the eyes are jewels that I made to look like cat eyes.

I had this really strange bead, that looked like a ball of yarn, that has been "rolling" around my house for a year or more. When I got to thinking about making my pattern, I remembered that bead and wanted to incorporate it into the piece, so I made the cat batting at it.

I Love Pam's Class!!!

OK, it has only been one lesson, but it is so much fun. I love the way the class is going. I know many people go at a much faster rate, but I love that we get to play with the technique, and really get comfortable with it. I on the other hand, have been so swamped all week that I have not had a chance to play, so have only just begun. I can not believe how fun this process is, and the amazing results you get.

This is my very first attempt at the backgrounds technique. It is a little all over the place, but Pam assures us that if we are not in love with a particular background, then use those ones for collage, and save the best ones for drawing/painting faces, etc.

Well, I won't rattle on- I have more experimenting to do :0)

PS- sorry for my thumb in the picture :0)

Gypsy Women

Well, Finally I finished these Tip-In pages for Susan. I hope she will forgive me for my tardiness. She is such a lovely artist. With having been sick, and then the holidays, I just could not bring myself to throwing something together just to get it done. In all of this, every time I tried to do the transfers, they would not work out correctly. I can not count the number of times that I tried and failed, but I was determined to make this work.
There are times when the vision you have in your head is what is going to come out on paper no matter how you have to get it there. This was one of those times!

I have hand beaded the outfit on the gypsy on the right page, and added copper punchinella to the left side and red punchinella to the right side. The words are also transfers, and then painted with white pen. I have also added a plethora of luscious fibers. My favorite. The whole things is distressed with walnut stain- along with my hands, and clothes. (oops-perks of the job)

Art Journal January DAY 7&8

This is a combination of both day 7 and day 8.

Day 7 was the collage background, which consists of metallic gold tissue paper, red mulberry paper, some metallic gold and red paisley wrapping paper and a vintage looking background paper from I think Anna Griffin. Then I took a watered down gesso wash and brushed it over the pages. It made to metallic pages too milky, so I took a towel, and wiped a bit off here and there to let the metallic show through a bit. Most of the wrapping paper wiped rather clean, but the tissue soaked the gesso well, so where I wiped it off, it is just a slight slimmer when held at an angle. It is really quite interesting.

The prompt for Day 8 was to create the "soulmate within" the description:

~ create an expressions of those parts within you that long to be whole unto itself.

Many of my very closest friends and family know what I have been going through since I was just a young wife, and it seems the older I get the worse things are, but I just struggle so much sometimes with finding the help I need to get through the bad days. I have not been feeling "whole" within myself, so I felt inspired to do this page.

It may not have any significance to any of you, and that is ok.

Art Journal January DAY 6

This is my art journal January Day 6 - Self Portrait.

Wow- This was at first a really intimidating prompt. But the more I thought about it the more excited I got about it. The prompt was just the "excuse" and kick in the butt I needed to push me to try to do a realistic face sketch. I feel like now I need to keep going. I am not saying it is great, but there are parts of this sketch that I am actually kind of proud of. The funny thing is, I took SuziBlu's class on Petite Dolls, and she taught us about eyes, and the part I think I did the worst job on was the eyes. Somehow they are not level, and not the same size....Well, I won't go into it, but the part I really like, which is crazy, is my chin and actually my double, double chin. I really have a chin like that, and I think I captured it quite realistically. I know that sounds really bizarre, but hey, we all have parts of us that are "real" and I am not going to hide the fact that I have a poochy chin, so I might as well be real about it- right?

Anyway, here I am in all my sketchiness :0)

Art Journal January DAY 5

Here is my journal entry for Art Journal January with Milliande.

It is my Zendala, for the Zen style prompt. I chose to do it in pencil, so the image is hard to see, but I wanted to try something new. I really like how it turned out in real life. It actually has a lot of dimension since you can achieve different weights with the amount of pressure you apply to the pencil.

There is a lot going on in my zendala. There is quite a bit of symbolism in my zendala. I will point out a few. The child's face in the flower. The footprint that signifies the "walk with me". There is a heart in hand, Eye for vision, flowers for growth, circles for unity, stars for alignment. I will let you look for more:0)

Art Journal January DAY 3

Art Journal January Day 3 is to decorate the cover of your journal. I am not at all finished with mine, but here is a start. I want to do some more dimensional elements, but for now, it is all I feel inspired to do. At least it is not naked.

Priceless Journal Assessment

EWain, a friend of mine as spent a ton of time working with art journals, and trying to determine which ones are the best for different applications.
She has posted this information on her blog for everyone to use. Isn't that wonderful? I know for me it is absolutely priceless!
I am always looking for the perfect art journal, that will hold up to the rigors of the abuse I dish out when I am art journaling.
Please feel free to check out this massive amount of amazing information!
Don't forget to tell EWain how much you appreciate her time and effort :0)
http://ewian.blogspot.com/2008/12/dream-journal.html

(EWian's photo)

Art Journal January DAY 1

Saying goodbye 2008-

HELLO 2009!

I loved this prompt, as it gave me a chance to think about what I needed to make closure with in my life, and what I needed to make decisions about for my life starting now.

I don't make "resolutions" so to speak.

I do think that the beginning of the year is a nice time to make a good start. It does have a sense of cleansing, but at any point in our lives we can make decisions to change our lives.

I chose at this time of year to write down some personal thoughts about my life and feelings that have weighed me down over the past year or longer, that I will be leaving behind.

Then I wrote down the things that I will be doing to change my life. How I will feel more centered and able to be a better me. I chose to write these things down behind the doors, because these are my personal thoughts. This will also help me to return to my thoughts later if I feel I am loosing myself.

Art Journal January

One of my main goals for the new year is to continue with my new found love of art journaling, and to take it to a new level.

So, when my friend Milliande told me about the Art Journal January program, I was very excited. Now, I am not much of a scheduler either, so we should be two of a kind - her and I.

I will probably not post every day, or share all of the things that I journal. Some days I will just doodle a little, or write some thoughts about my art exploration. I hope to share some things with you.

I will also be taking Pam's class soon, so that will be part of this mix.

If you would like to follow along with some of the prompts that Milliande has offered, you can catch them all on her website here at http://www.milliande.com/art-journal-january.html

I won!

I won one of Chrysti's prizes! It is the workshop from Pam Carriker called Visual Journalism 101. I am so excited! It starts January 12th, which is fabulous, just in time for the new year, and fits right in with my goals for the new year to do something artistic everyday.

I have been really working on art journaling this last year, and am loving it. I am hoping this workshop will help take me to even greater heights.

With one of my goals for the new year being to do something artistic everyday I think that I will be able to take my art to new places, as well as learn things about myself that I never really knew before. If it is only as simple as a doodle or a sketch, at least I am putting forth effort to create something everyday. I also want to work on really looking deep inside of myself, and arting from my heart. I know that some of the things that I might create may not be all that "attractive" to others, but I really want to create introspectively. I don't want to give up all that I have learned so far by any means, but I want to explore new avenues, and experience new things. I don't feel like I have really found my niche yet. I hope to post pictures of my progress through the workshop, I will keep you posted on that.

YEAH- Merry Christmas to ME!

29 Days of Sharing

Chrysti of Art By Chrysti is Celebrating with 29 Days of Giveaways.
The detail of the give-aways are at the link here:
http://chrysti.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/29-days-of-giveaways-for-you/
Don't forget to check it out you may just win some awesome stuff- you can't win if you don't enter!!!

Cutie Two Shoes

I participated in a swap with Paper Traders, called Cutie Two shoes. Connie was the hostess, and all the shoes I got back were FABULOUS!!!

Here are the ones I sent out.

Playing Catch-Up

Well, I have been busy creating art, I just have not been posting here on my blog. I guess I have just been busy. I feel bad for not posting, so I am going to try to catch-up and share a bit.

Here are my journal pages and projects that are still "in progress" for my Artist Dates on the Milliande Creativity Club for women.

This is a journal page, that I started by water coloring and then using a rubber band printing over the top. The challenge was to use rubber bands in your art process in some way. I plan to alter it still, and then to journal on it.

The next challenge was to make painted papers. We were able to do anything we wanted with the painted papers. I plan to adhere mine to some journal pages.
At the time I was working on a swap for another group, Paper Traders, the swap was Anything Zetti, so I used a bit of my painted papers for the backgrounds of my ATC's.

This last one is the Artist Date challenge called Belle of the Ball, and it was to invite the Strawberry Princess to the Christmas Ball. I am still working on mine, but I have my Princess drawn, and I am not sure yet how I will finish painting her, or making a background. It might just stay as a solo princess painting.

New Freebie Starts TODAY!

Check out the link to the RIGHT>>>>
It is Lisa's link from Go Make Something and Ten Two Studios, Countdown to Christmas. She so kindly has given us a freebie for each day from now until Christmas Day. Go to the link and read the instructions. Get your freebies from now til the big day!
Thank you Lisa!!!!

Art is in my Heart

A sweet friend sent me the link to this video, the message really touched me, that I felt I had to share.

White Rabbit

I have finished Teri's Round Robin Journal pages. Her topic was the journey of the White Rabbit. I am not terribly familiar with the story of Alice in Wonderland, other than that Alice is lost and wants help getting home, runs across the white rabbit who can't help her because he is always running late for something or another.

Well, I twisted it around a bit, and made a little play on the words of him being late for a very important date, and he is now late for his important date with Alice!

I had this "great" idea to make this little love birds page, and I found the cutest papers and embellishments, that all coordinated, but they were pink, hot pink, silver, black, gray, totally modern if you know what I mean. Not vintage at all, which is what Teri's journal is. But they were all coordinating, and they had the "feel" that I was after. So I was trying to think of a way to make them work and I was throwing ideas around with my mom, and we decided that a bit of gesso and some distress ink would do the trick. What do you know- It worked! Would you ever guess those background papers were hot pink, black and silver???

These are the close-ups of the pages, and the right page with the door open to show Alice. The pages are painted over the gesso and distress ink treatment with both watercolor crayons and watercolor pencils. The path is mostly crayon, and the weeds are mostly pencil. The mushroom is done with the watercolor pencils.

I have then added some paper flowers that were actually a gift from Teri herself, and then added some seed beads for centers and set them with crystal lacquer. The White Rabbit is carrying a bouquet of peach flowers for his "sweety". The teacup is the sign-in that we were asked to put our name and email on.

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by my friends Brenda in Australia and Trish in Ohio.

Here are the rules...
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules.
3. Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself.
4. Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.
5. Go to each person's blog and leave a comment that lets them know they've been tagged.

OK, on to my six quirky or boring things:

1. I am a night owl- I could stay up til 4 in the morning, and sleep til noon everyday if someone would let me.
2. I really don't like chocolate very much. Once in awhile, I will eat it, but I don't "crave" it like most women.
3. I HATE to cook. I don't like anything about it. If I have to cook a meal, I usually don't eat then, because after I have looked at it while I have had to cook it, it is no longer appetizing to me. Needless to say my husband does 99 percent of the cooking in our house.
4. I am a habitual procrastinator. I don't think that needs any explanation. LOL
5. I am a clutter bug.
6. I taunt my husband in his sleep because he snores really bad, and I can't sleep because of it, so I will pull his arm hair or poke him til he wakes up (which can take quite awhile). I don't think he ever really realizes that my taunting is what woke him. (tee-hee)

OK- here are my six friends:

Milliande- my lovely friend from the UK - I am sure she is far to cool to be boring, but I am sure she will try.
Connie- my mom (she has a lot of funny boring stuff to share)
Beckie- my big sis- she is also a great friend and I am sure has learned to be boring over the past few years?
Ruby Claire- I want to see if she can come up with something!
Kimmie- This is Wyoming- I am sure you can find lots to share- lol.
Leslie- Lie if you have too. :0)

Can't wait to see what fun things you come up with to share!

Out to Art Door Hanger

I forgot to post my door hanger, so I thought I would post it now. Basically if this is hanging up, it means: BUG OFF- I'M BUSY WORKING ON ART! I CAN NOT BE DISTURBED!
It is supposed to be hung on the door to were you have your art space. I have a designated "art room" but it is in shambles, and has not been set up yet as a work room, so I have been working on my art in my recliner. My family is very familiar with how this all works, so when my "door" hanger is applied to the side of my chair, there is one mama that needs to be left alone.
I have to admit it works!
The only one allowed near my chair is Kota, who is my "art buddy" There is no keeping him away. You can see a tiny bit of his fuzzy paw in the upper right corner if you look really closely.
My door hanger is very dimensional. The bee is a very large embroidered patch, in a bright purple, orange and yellow. I added a gold metal crown... It is a Queen of course! All the flowers at the bottom are silk and/or paper and are about 3/8" thick. The little caterpillar is a printed chipboard piece hidden amongst the flowers. The butterflies are an embossed fabric foam, which is an interesting textural addition to the piece~ their color seems extremely bright in this picture, but they are the exact colors as the orange and yellow in the bee. I had to add the round epoxy word token because of the colors and it says "Happy Time" how perfect is that? To top it all off I added a tiny metal crown to the Artist Date Queen~ she must have decoration too! So this is my magical flower garden, and I am the Queen Bee!

Purple Tree

My first Page for the Milliande Artist Dates, is Purple Trees.
I started by drawing my tree and then coloring it with watercolor crayons. I am really trying to use these more. I like the soft look of them. I then covered it all up- go figure. :0)

I added a fluffy sparky eyelash type fiber for the large branches, and then seed beads for the smaller branches. I used dyed purple cultured pearl beads for leaves. I think they were really fun to use for this project, as they are just different and unique. I used the brown fibers below the tree, because all the grass has died off for the winter here.

I am trying really hard to work on my sketchings, so I wanted to add an owl in the tree. It is late fall here, and if you listen carefully just before night hits you can hear an owl hoot from one of the trees near our house.

Funky Birds

I have finally gotten a bit of my muse back. I have had a bunch of things that I have been needing to get finished, and I just couldn't get my head around them. I think I just had to keep at it until I got through the slump.

I created these two pages for Pam- she is in the Tip-In Round Robin project with Paper Traders. Her theme is Birds, Nests and Eggs. I did not include any nests or eggs, but I did the birds instead.

These birds are made with a real feather coming out the top of their head, and flourish stamps for the tails and decoration on the wings. They have little black brads for eyes. The background is done on heavyweight watercolor paper with watercolor crayons. I have not done a lot with watercolor crayons yet, but am really learning to like them, and the look that they create. Inspired by Claudine Hellmuth, the background is highlighted with penning.

Look What Happened At Our House

Wow! We knew we were having puppies, but for some reason we were not as prepared as we had hoped to be. I think things have just been so busy around our place, that I got sidetracked, and forgot to look at the calendar. Anyway, when we took her into the Doc, he told us 4 possibly 5 but not likely.

Well- Doc was WRONG!!!!!

We had a lovely batch of 6!!! And to top it all off 5 of them are boys.

We have a huge list of people who want girls- of course.

Meiya is doing swimmingly, but man, I didn't expect such a big litter. I know that there will be several happy families for Christmas, as these babies will be ready just a few days before the Big Day! I bet we have a few late deliveries on Christmas Eve :0)

And The WINNER Is...

KIMMIE!!!

I wrapped every one's name in a puppy treat and let Kota go crazy! The first treat he went after was the winner- and Kimmie was it. I am surprised he didn't eat the paper :0) I couldn't get a picture of him actually picking the winner, because it was so fast, but here he is sniffing the paper to make sure there isn't any treat left on it.
Kimmie- If you will go to my "view complete profile" you can find my email button there, and if you will email me your address, I will get all your goodies out to you!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
From Letha AND Kota

SuziBlu Revoblution! Give-away

Here is a sketch I did in celebration of the SuziBlu Revoblution Weekend Party!

AND I decided as part of the party festivities, I am going to do a PARTY BLOW-OUT GIVE-AWAY!!!

SO ANYONE who leaves a comment on my silly little sketch of "Kota" my little man, will be entered in the drawing for a magical 9X12" envelope of surprise goodies! (Believe me it will be good! I can guarantee there will be packages of new products in there from several high-end scrapbook and paper arts stores as well as other collage items!!!) I will do the drawing on FRIDAY OCTOBER 17th, 2008, so tell ALL your friends... let's see who will win!

Party on!

Letha

Be Brave

Inspired by a quote attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt:
"Do one thing every day the scares you"

The Be Brave Project was started to encourage artists and to help them get out of that rut that we sometimes get ourselves into.

If you want to participate in The Be Brave Project click on the link below to check out all the information on the project.

So remember:

"Do one thing every day the scares you"

~Eleanor Roosevelt

More Snow

The difference a day makes:
I am not sure I need to say much, I think a picture is worth a thousand words as they say, but it has not stopped snowing in the last 24 hours. We have had a few inches of accumulation, and it is staying cold.
The funny thing about this whole snowing thing- last week it was really warm... almost 80 degrees, I was out with my mom, and we were listening to the radio when a blizzard warning came on. It was the strangest thing. Then in the middle of it, they announced that it was a test warning for the county to prepare our cars, homes, schools and businesses for winter. I just thought it was interesting because I have lived in Cody for 20 years, and have only heard these warnings a couple of times. We have hard winters occasionally, but not regularly. I am thinking that this is going to be one of those years when winter comes early, fast, hard and sticks around for awhile. I guess we have been warned to be prepared.

UPDATE 10/12/08:

When it was all said and done we got 9" of snow! Now that is a lot of snow!!!

It's COLD

I think it may be WINTER!

It is definitely cold outside here in Cody, Wyoming. Yesterday it started to snow, and last night is just got COLD. It stayed cold all night and has been snowing all day. It is not snowing hard mind you, but it is still snowing. It is so hard to tell in Wyoming if it is going to be 20 degrees in October or if it is going to be 75. The weather is just so unpredictable.

I went out just before lunch and took this picture of the our back yard. The sun is trying so hard to shine, but it is just SO cloudy that it can't peek through. You can see the neighbor's tree is blowing in the wind. That wind is just plain Nippy!

I actually wore socks today!- Now that is saying something, 'cause I absolutely Hate socks.

(I still have some of the same pairs of socks that I had from when I was in High school, because they aren't worn out - and that was - oh my - almost 20 years ago.)

I guess it is time to curl up with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate and watch a great movie!

Slowly Getting There

I have been working on getting my Paper Traders Round Robin Journal ready to go out for more than a month now, and it just has not been coming together as I had planned, but that is just how things work for me. When I am down to the wire, and I don't have enough time for the paint to dry, then that is when my muse shows up, and it all falls into place.

My Round Robin book is titled:

Monochromatic Me

The gist of it is for each person to create a two page spread in a color scheme that best describes who they are, or that they best relate to. If they don't FEEL a specific color, then to pick their favorite color or to just go to the paint store and grab a paint chip and design a page around that paint chip. It should be interesting to see what colors show up!

I have my cover finished and I finished my sample pages today-whew!

(I am green- and Chunky- tee-hee)

I love green, I always have, and I absolutely love, love, love a ton of junky, chunky stuff all over my pages. The more junk and ribbons the better. I seriously don't think you can have too much. I hope that everyone working in my book will enjoy junking it up as much as I have.

(If you click on the picture above which is the left page or the picture below which is the right page, it will get bigger and you can see the detail much better)

:0)

Super Hero

In an effort to try and catch up, I have finished the pages for Fred's RR Journal from last year. This is one of the journals that was lost somewhere in transit, and has finally shown up. Now if the other 3 would just get here, we could get them finished and back to the rightful owners.

Fred's topic was super heroes. This was a really hard subject for me, because I never watched tv cartoons about super heroes, or read comic books, I never even saw the Spider Man movies! I know I am probably strange, but it is just not my thing, and my husband really doesn't know much about super heroes either... so I was a little blocked but I did the best I could think of.

The best super hero I could think of was my little man- Kota... He is my 7 lb. Shih Tzu. He is a tiny little thing, but mighty. He wears his bowtie with pride. He will bound several feet in the air if he smells a french fry, and will talk to you plain as day "nummy, nummy" if you have his green jar of "nacker begger" treats.

He has some very special tools of power- his fruity & sketti spiders, (they are actually kitty toys, but the cat had NO interest- so Kota, "Bubby" claimed them as his own) woven potholders that my girls have made- great teathing toys I might add & of course his shop towel that he wears as a cape, that has been worn out and has holes in it so it has now been named "Holey Shop Towel".

His favorite place to sleep is definitely under the bed covers. I think that comes from when he was a puppy and I was trying to potty train him and he would not stay in his little box next to the side of my bed. He would jump out of it and onto my bed and under my blanket. When I would force him to stay in it he would just cry. He has been sleeping under my blankets ever since.

Help Support Breast Cancer

A blog give-away & help stop Breast Cancer all in one! Check it out!

First try at Zetti

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile. I actually wrote something on the 16th, but I just couldn't post it. I just figured noone wanted to hear me rant and rave about my mundane life crap, so I deleted it before I posted it, and yes, everything worked itself out like it normally does, and I am over it for now.

Anywho-
Here are the pages that I have made for Marion's Tip-In Round Robin Journal. I will be mailing them out to her today, so I thought I should post them for you all to see. This is the first time I have ever done anything with Zetti. It was interesting to say the least, but was really fun. At first I planned everything out, and decided basically how I wanted everything to look, then as I started to put it all together, I started changing things. Now that is how I think Zetti is supposed to work. At least that is how I think it will work for me, because I had so much fun letting it just take it's own shape, and boy did it come out weird, and in a good way I think.

I love the way the rock/egg eye with the face turned out- that was probably the hardest part. It took several trys to get that right, but the final result is exactly what I was after. I wanted that eye to look like it was coming right out of her lips, and the rock/egg eye, is cut out of cardstock and adhered to the background paper, but the stamp of the face with the ribbon hair is over the top of the rock/egg eye, and onto the background. Then another partial image (just the face part) is cut out of another piece of cardstock and adhered on top of the original stamped image, so it would be a perfectly clear image with none of the rock image showing through. It was pretty involved, for as simple of a look as you get, but when you see it in person, you can see that it is not just a simple process. The background is done with watercolor crayons and a wet paper towel, and the border is a Zetti stamp block of eyes. I stamped it several times and cut each image out, so that I could place all the faces with the noses pointing in wrapping around the pages.
One of the things that Marion asked was that we include a number somewhere on the pages, so I used 7 and 13. They are my two favorite numbers. So these pages are titled appropriately 7 & 13!
This was so fun! I can see how this can be addicting- I will definitely be making more Zetti art.

Artist's Creed

These were posted about a year ago, but are definitely worth revisiting.
They are amazing videos! Thank you Jan Phillips!

Patriots Day

In Honor of All Our HEROS, those who continue to fight for our Country, those who have fallen, and those who have fought for our freedom.

In Hope of PEACE: