Obsessed with Robin Egg Blue...............

Lately I've been using a lot of robin egg blue in my work. Maybe I'm just longing for spring and the blue represents this........maybe I just like the color.........or maybe it's because I ate a half a box of blue Peeps the other day! Whatever the case, this is my newest collage on canvas board. It measures 5 by 7. I was looking at Sally Jean's website the other day and the queen of collage used Parian doll heads in some of her soldered charm collages. I like the look of their clear serene little faces. They remind me of dolls that had Botox.....no expression! I tried to push myself to let go on the background and be a little more free flowing and not as controlled. I have to admit, it was fun dipping my fingers in the paint and smearing them on the background here and there! I've discovered there is fine line when doing backgrounds, between the contrived and the free flowing. I hope mine is the latter.

Just by sheer luck I found this vintage photo on Flickr with a little girl with a blonde haired Parian doll so I made an art tag to go with the collage.....

Mirror, mirror on the wall..........

Well, it was a mirror at one time but I painted gesso over it and collaged over it with these darling little girls. As I write this post it is exactly 9 degrees here in Pennsylvania and I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and not cuss at the weatherman when he comes on the TV, so I'm thinking of spring. I'm dreaming of flowers and the April showers and that's my inspiration for this collage assemblage......"Showers of April Flowers"! The frame was originally gold so I painted over it here and there with acrylic leaf green and robin egg blue then when it was dry I dry brushed over with Lumiere gold paint. I like the effect, it reminds me of a copper patina.

I bought white leaves and painted them with Twinkling H2Os then tipped them with glue and sprinked with this great spring green glitter. This assemblage is available in the Honey Girl Studio Shop.

This is how it started out after I painted the frame I then gessoed the mirror, waited until it dried and then collaged over it with text.

Painted Pastel Peat Pots for Spring.....

Well, as promised here are 4 finished pastel painted peat pots! Aren't they cute? I had a ball embellishing them. I copied vintage Easter postcards and shrunk them down to fit into the pots. A word to the wise......use lots of gel medium when adhearing paper onto the posts b/c the peat pots suck up the glue. I filled them with green Spanish moss and little goodies. There is glitter around and on some of the images on the pots but as usual the photo did not pick it up very well. They are available in the Honey Girl Studio Shop under the "spring things" page.

I made the forsythia from small branches and yellow crepe paper cut, twisted and glued to the branches.

I loved this little girl with the baskets of eggs and knew immediately how I has going to use her on one of the pots.

This pot is painted a real like pink and then lightly antiqued. The result is a great blending of the rabbits in the hydrangeas. There is ultra-fine pink glitter around the bunnies. The lace was tea-dyed.

His name is Montgomery nd he is ready for the Easter party complete with his Easter party hat and a bouquet of colorful posies.

How sweet are those two little rabbits kissing on the front of the pot?!

In Honor of Hollywood.....

Since the Oscars are on tomorrow night I created this ATC. I came across this picture which was taken in Hollywood during the 1930's. Aren't those little boys cute in their outfits? And how about that big old shiny car. I can almost see it gleaming in color with the green palms waving in the breeze behind it! The background had palm trees and white stucco houses but I had to cut it out to get the colored background in to give it a little more visual interest. I call these little guys the "two amigos". This card is available for trade, so if you'd like to trade just let me know!

Art Thief

I just finished reading a great article in this month's Smithsonian magazine about the art which was stolen by the Nazis and packed away into salt mines and underground bunkers during World War II. There was a small group of Allied Forces, mostly from the United States Army known as the "Monument Men" who found and did the research to return 4 million pieces of art and artifacts. It was a fascinating story and amazing how great works of art survived. The Mona Lisa was moved 6 times and hidden in the countryside in different castles! Reading this article inspired me to make this Artist Trading Card.....

Pastel Painted Peat Pots

Ok, say this three times really fast.......pastel painted peat pots! Quite the tongue twister, eh?
I painted these babies last night and I've got B-I-G plans for them.......stay tuned....

Has anybody out there crafted with them before?

The Song Sparrow Sings in Green

I got the new Somerset Studio magazine this weekend and the issue is titled "Green" which inspired me to start on a St. Patrick's Day paper bag album. Here is a sneak peek of the collages I have completed so far......I never really thought as green as one of my favorite colors but it's my husband's favorite color and after being together for 18 years now, it's a color I've grown to appreciate.

I also completed this collage on canvas board which I have been working on for a few days. Still in the green vein. It is available in the Honey Girl Studio Shop.

I like how the young girl isn't directly looking into the camera. How about that cute little bunny she's holding! Also check it out, she's wearing a wrist watch...... that's unusual for the time when this photo was taken.

Rabbits Abound!

There is a huge black and white rabbit hopping around the neighborhood this winter. I think that he's someone's pet which escaped. He lives under our shed and comes out to forage in our yard as well as our neighbors surrounding yards. He's a big boy and believe me it's all I can do to keep my husband from sending him to bunny heaven! So I've been thinking about bunnies lately and wouldn't you know it, one appeared in my work!.......although it's pink......and wearing a hat! This collage has been created on painted canvas board (5 X 7) and is available in the Honey Girl Studio Shop. Thanks to all who have visited the shop and who have purchased items from me.

I won't be posting as much on Ebay because they have become "hoggish" in their prices. They went from taking 5.25% of the final auction price to 8.75%! And with postage going up it's really hard to not increase your prices. If I sell things my self in the Honey Girl Studio Shop, I can keep the prices lower. Appearantly the multi-gizillion dollar Ebay company wasn't sucking enough money off of the little guy so they had to up the percentage they take out. Maybe the CEO only got an 8 million dollar bonus this year instead of his 15 million! Yes I am ranting and raving but I'm getting so sick of turning on the T.V. and hearing about these companies making insane amounts of money and it's not only companies and their CEOs but movie stars and sports figures. For goodness sakes we have surgeons saving lives everyday and they make only a fraction of what a football or baseball player makes!!!!! Unreal! Meanwhile everything keeps going up from food to crafting supplies and it seems like us little people just keep getting squeezed!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day Blogland Friends!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments! I enjoy reading each and every one of them!

Recycling for ATCs and Carving Stamps

I was at Lowes last weekend and was looking at the paint chips. I want to repaint my bathroom when spring comes but I'm still looking for the right color so as I was checking out the colors and a thought came to me. Why not recycle and use these as backgrounds for ATCs!?!?! So I gathered up a few chips and trimmed them down to ATC size. I already made one and paper does adhear to the chips with gel medium.

Don't you just love names for the paint? I think that's what draws some people to buy certain colors. I know it does for me. For example "mocha latte" sounds much better than "beige"! "Magnolia Spray" sounds way better than "cream"! And how wonderful would you feel sitting in a room painted "seaside villa"?

A few weeks ago I tried my hand at carving my own stamps. Looks like a woodblock cut, but never the less, it works and I get good inking and a pretty good print. Carving your own stamp is harder than what you think, one slip and an "oh-no" moment and you've wacked off something you might have needed!

Here's the ATC I made from it......

Vintage Easter Paper Bag Album

I really enjoy making these paper bag albums, they are like mini works of art! They take a long time but are worth it. The current one I've made is a vintage Easter one using copies of vintage photos as well as copies of vintage Easter postcards and cards from the 1950s. I posted this one on Ebay last night. It has 4 side envelope pockets built right into the book for storage of the 7 tags, 4 larger cards, a pin and a clothes pin chicken which I created to go with it. There are 14 original collages (6 in. by 6 in.) including the cover and back.

Cold and Windy... Chicken Soup Weather!

Since it is such a cold and blustery day of wind gusts up to 40 mph and a 15 degree temperature, I thought it would be a good day for homemade chicken noodle soup. Can you almost smell it? I also made cinnamon swirl bread and I can smell it! There is no better smell than something cinnamony baking!

It's also a good day to stay inside and listen to the radio (NPR) and craft! I was up early and here's what I have so far......

These fine feathered gentlemen are guarding their pastel sugar coated eggs inside of a 6 inch by 6 inch shadow box. The background is stamped with "vintage French" stamps as a blue bird peeks from behind the gentleman on the left. These dapper fellows sport bird wings, bowlers and a rhinestone at their necks. They are slightly raised from the background by about 1/4 of an inch by foam dots. I really like how this assemblage turned out, it's both quirky and whimsical! It's available in the Honey Girl Studio shop under the "Spring Things" page.