Good Weekend/Weekend Goodies

I hope you all had a good weekend, I know I sure did! On Saturday I went to Strongsville, Ohio with my friend Donna to a stamping convention. This is what I bought......

I'm very excited to use the new Tim Holtz rosette die you see above. I watched the guy do the demo and he made it look pretty easy. We had a lot of fun watching the demos and checking out the new goodies. I'd love to be a demo person for Tim Holtz products!

Donna gave me the recipe for this potato soup.....it's super easy and sooooo yummy!

Easy Potato Soup Recipe
In a large pot in 2T of olive oil saute 1/2 of an onion (chopped), 2 stalks of celery (chopped) and 1 large carrot, finey chopped until soft. Add 1 box of chicken stock (about 5 cups) to the pot and 1T of parsley flakes. Next stir in one packet of McCormicks Country Gravy and one bag of Oreida frozen hash browns. Bring to a boil and then turn down to low and simmer for about 20 mintues. I can't get over how delicious it is!

Today I got to play around tonight with Photoshop and make a few digital collages. This collage was created with the following elements: steward boy, Eagle Rock ticket, black and orange ribbon, pumpkins, and orange and white stripe paper in oval frame by Marsha at Tumble Fish Studio at Etsy; white box, corn stalks, metal oval, and books by Lorie at Scrapbook Graphics; black glitter lace by Lisa at Scrapbook Graphics.

I call him "The Pumpkin Steward" as he's the one you call upon to fetch your pumpkin from the field, his tall shiny black boots glistening in the moonlight as he makes his way through the patch with only the aid of a candle in a jar to guide him.

Speaking of pumpkins.......how about this crazy pumpkin that I took a picture of a few weeks ago. It almost looks like it's covered with peanuts! After some sleuthing on the net I found out that it's actually a type of squash called Cucurbita Maxima and I guess they are delicious.

Lastly I'm leaving you a with a picture of Veepers. He's hanging out in the pie safe which is decorated for Halloween and no he does not look happy.....that's because tomorrow is MONDAY and there's a giant spider tickling his toe! Have a bearable Monday! I'd say have a great Monday but we all know there is no such thing.

Got Frost On Your Pumpkin?

A special "Thanks you" to my friend Tracey of Glitterbug Studios for making me this new awesome Halloween banner! Isn't it cool?

Brrrrr, it may possibly frost this weekend here in Northwestern, Pa! The weather in this area around Halloween is a total crap-shoot. The big joke is that you know you're a Western Pennsylvanian if you buy your Halloween costume 2 sizes too big so that you can get your winter coat on underneath it! That saying inspired me to make this 3 by 5 inch collage. The witch is wearing her winter coat because it gets pretty chilly zooming around on a broom. The background was digitally created with elements from Tangie Baxter and the rest of the collage was handcut and glued from my bits and pieces from my own collection. of goodies.


The Autumn Key Pendant winner is Jill at Bucks County Folk Art. Congrats Jill!



Please visit the previous post to enter to win the Pumpkin Goblin!
Remember keep the frost off your pumpkin and stay warm! Smiles :-)

Halloween Give Away!

My friend Tracey over at Glitterbug Studios and I have decided to do a dual giveaway. To celebrate Autumn & Halloween we have worked on two little paperclay and fabric figures. Tracey made a fabulous witch. You can check it out at her blog: www.glitterbugstudios.blogspot.com

Look who I found stalking through my flower garden!!! He's a pumpkin goblin and he's what I'm giving away!

His head has been hand sculpted with rigid wrap and paper clay. Just look at that mischievous look. There's no telling what kind of trouble he's planning to get into.His 12 inch body is painted fabric and his arms and legs are bendable. He sports a felt cap and a skirt of autumn leaves and fibers. He's waving to YOU and saying "come enter the drawing for me!"

I'll draw the winner on October 10th. So to be in the drawing, you need to just leave a comment and if you're not a follower please consider becoming one by signing up on the right. If you have a blog it would be really groovy if you mentioned this give away and a link to it too.

I have no idea what his name is so maybe you can help me out and leave a name suggestion!

Works in Progress, Halloween Decorating and a Give Away!

Hello! Happy first day of Autumn. I love autumn....the colors, the smell of leaves, the cooler weather and the start of decorating! These little guys are part of my autumn celebrations. The head on the left is going to be a pumpkin goblin and the one on the right is going to be a kid dressed up as a leopard! I will choosing one of the them for a giveaway coming up soon so stay tuned!I put up the Halloween tree this past weekend. I made most of the ornaments on the tree, some friends have either given to me or I've bought. I think I like my Halloween tree better than my Christmas tree!

My mom and I made the pumpkin guy topper many, many years ago. We've always crafted together! The little beagle on the bench is the perfect dog.....he doesn't bark, doesn't need to be walked and doesn't move!

A shot of my mantle, shooting from one end to the other.

Not only am I celebrating the glories of the fall season but I'm celebrating the end of my back pain. For almost 4 months I've had a terrible pain in my upper back/shoulder area and have had a lot of pain when breathing. Long story short, finally found a dr. yesterday that found out what it was........

Two dislocated ribs!!!! He popped them back into place and instantly I could breath and the pain was much less in my back!

So to celebrate finally not feeling terrible, I'm offering one of my vintage altered key necklaces!

To be entered in the drawing, just become a follower and leave a comment. If you already are a follower, then just leave a quick comment and give me shout out on your blog with a link to this post. I'll draw the winner on Wed. (Sept. 29th).

The vintage key has been painted orange and wire wrapped with orange wire, embellished with a vintage starburst and 2 danglies of glass beads. The handmade fabric cord measures 18 inches long.

A Day of Crafting!

Hey, I haven't posted in a while, I've had computer problems.....I had two laptops come down with a bad virus to the point that they wouldn't even work. I'm seriously considering getting a Mac!

Today, my good friend Tracey from Glitterbug Studios came to visit me for a day of crafting!

This is the pumpkinman I made........his name is Angus. You can check out Tracey's pumpkinman at her blog. She went with a black/white theme and it's pretty darn cute!

First we started by covering my dining room table with every imaginable art/craft supply from our stashes!

Here's Tracey with the plain muslin dolls we started out with. We bought them at the Pat Catans. They're 12 inches tall and bendable......the dolls not Tracey.

The head started out as a plain old plastic pumpkin, you know the kid you get at the dollar store. I then covered it with Rigid Wrap (I got this idea from the current Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine). It's a roll of fabric covered with plaster that you can cut into strips, dip in water and smooth onto just about any surface. After the rigid wrapped pumpkin dries hard you can add a nose and cheeks with Creative Paperclay.

We took a break to have chocolate mousse........with chocolate sticks.

I took a break to try to create a mummy costume........not really, just kidding!So here is Angus sitting on a wonderful stack of black and orange books with a cute tag and ribbon that Tracey made for me. I think he likes it perched up on that pile of books.

Look at Tracey's pumpkinman.....he's actually a white pumpkin/gourdman. She has a such a creative mind! We're laughing because my husband took the picture and said, "ok, smile you little freaks"! Well, we had a great time and we're already planning on making more and having a giveaway....maybe even as soon as next Saturday so stay tuned!

Mail Art?

Do you know about "Mail Art"? Mail art is art which uses the postal system as a medium. The term mail art can refer to an individual message, the medium through which it is sent, or an artistic genre. It's also known as postal art or as Correspondence/Mail Art.

I'm in a Halloween Envelope mail art swap and this is the front of my "Junkyard Pumpkins" envelope. This past week I've seen a lot of roadside stands with pumpkins for sale so I was inspired by the orange spheres of Halloween joy! The person's address goes onto the face of the middle pumpkin and my return address in the corner in the little pumpkin. I bet the mail carrier gets a kick out of the envelope!

Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend. It's time to say "Bye summer, I'll see you next year"!

Colorful Shoes?

I have been in love with shoes since I was a teenager. I like unique, colorful shoes. I ran across these Alegria shoes. To say that I love these shoes is an understatement! They are the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. The bottom sole is thick and the inside is like walking on a memory foam mattress! (No I don't work for Alegria shoes!) I'm saving for a leopard print pair next.

Now these babies are really one of a kind b/c they were painted by me! I'm channeling my inner Elvis when I wear them. I started with a cheap pair of brown oxfords from WalMart....I got them for $5. I painted them with Lumier paints and sprayed them with 5 coats of mat clear coat. I think they'll look awesome with black jeans.

The other day Gary and I were out "ridge-running" when we happened upon a road by this name.......

I'm not so sure I'd like to live on a road called "Hellskitchen".....maybe if you were Chef Ramsey it might be cool.

So we are coming to the end of my favorite August fruit.....peaches! I like the Red Haven the best. These peaches are grilled and topped with a ricotta mixture (recipe below). They are so yummy, all warm and slightly soft with the sweet cinnamon ricotta. Actually it's kind of like eating a peach canolli.

Split the peaches in half, take out the stone. Lay on a hot grill, cut side down and grill for 4 minutes then flip them over and grill for 4 minutes on the other side.

Ricotta Filling:

Wisk together 1/2 cup of skim ricotta, 1 Tbs of sugar and 2 Tbs. of French Vanilla coffee creamer

Take peaches off the grill, fill with ricotta mixture and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Wouldn't it be lovely to........

With August almost half over I get a little sad to see summer go, and I start to daydream......

Wouldn't it be lovely to grow beautiful annuals all year around like these? Wouldn't it be lovely to to not have to go to work and play fetch with your one blue-eyed dog all afternoon long?

Wouldn't it be lovely if perennials really were perennials and stayed in fresh vibrant bloom all year around?

Wouldn't it be lovely to sit outside in 82 degree weather every night and watch the sun set?

Wouldn't it be lovely to have a job taking pictures of sunsets......all around the world?

Well, I was just dreaming.....but really wouldn't it all just be lovely?

Trying Something New.....

So my friend Tracey gave me a few lessons about digital collage with Photoshop and I think she's created a monster! I'm totally obessed! I made this one today. I call it "Where To Next?" I'm not sure how it turned out as compared to other digital artist's creations but I'm learning!

I'm really more of a traditional collage artist as I like cutting and pasting but I think I'm becoming a "hybrid" collage artist using the Photoshop to get things the right size and color then printing them and cutting them out to layer in the traditional way with good old gel medium!

The elements I used for this collage are from Deviant Scrap and are from the Steam Punk pack.

Flea Market Finds!

The weather was gorgeous for the Hartville Flea Market in Hartville, Ohio and Tracey and I had a great time! You may know Tracey from Glitterbug Studios....she's a very talented altered artist with a wicked sense of humor......of course to travel through a flea market with me, you've got to have a sense of humor!

So these are my finds...... I like to look for old photographs. I found these class pictures from the 1930s for a dollar each. The first one is a group of 4th graders. Please feel free to use them in your artwork. This one is a group of 7th graders. Check out the boy in the very back row on the left....he looks like he's wearing a fur sweater! I love the teacher in the middle with her bow tie.

I had to get this little girl b/c of her ticked off look!

Ok, how stinkin' cute is Tracey's mini weiner dog? I LOVE her! Her name is Ruby and she's as such a wonderful personality. I really wanted to stick her in my purse and sneak home with her but I'm sure Tracey would have tracked me down and beat me senseless with either a large jar of gel medium or her computer cord! Check out that the stupid look I get on my face when I'm around dogs! Duh............

Sista giving sista a Photoshop lesson! I think Tracey has created a monster! I'm png-ing up the PSE!

"Hmmmm, what could one collage on this old shoe form?", she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Tracey got the buy of the day with this huge Halloween bottle brush tree for $2!!!! She has a forest of trees in studio. It was hilarious, her son Jake said "another tree!?!?!?!" when she got home with it.

Ok, this was the strangest thing I saw at the flea market........

It was like a purse sling with 4 holes for the dog's legs to stick through and both ends were open for the butt and the head. I have to wonder how comfortable it is for the dog?


Let me introduce you to Lori (that's her in the maroon shirt). She was set up at the Flea Market and has beautiful altered pieces for you home decor. She has just started a blog called "As I See It" so be sure to pop in and check her out as she will be posting soon.

Lastly, I think it's important to have goals in life, even if they are terribly mundane such as the one I set for this cherry tomato plant..........my goal was to get it to grow taller than me. I'm 5'8" so you can see that the plant made it to over 6 feet tall. I watered it every morning and every afternoon!

Alrighty then, Gary and I are off to get ice cream! Hope you all are having a great weekend!

To the FLEA!

OH BOY! I'm off tomorrow to Hartville, Ohio to the big flea market to meet my friend Tracey (you may know her from Glitterbug Studios. I'm looking for vintage egg timers, rusty square nails and vintage bloomers to collage on...... not really, I was just seeing if you were paying attention! Hopefully I'll have something interesting to post tomorrow after I return from the flea but until then here is something interesting for you to look at......LOL!.....



Circa 1974 from a catalogue!!! There is not a natural fiber on these two dudes and look at how the bartender is looking at them with a look of such utter disgust! Please feel free to leave a comment about what they are saying to each other. My friends and I have had a great time with this picture. In fact leave a comment about what they are saying to each other and I'll pick the one I think is the funniest....the winner will win one of my Beachy Bohemian necklaces!

August Daze......

I needed a mirror to take with me to the art shows.......not just any mirror.........a unique mirror.........one that when someone picked it up to check out how a necklace looked on them, they'd say, "cool mirror!" Enter inspiration and the Dollar Store! I bought a very ugly print on a 1/2 thick Masonite board and peeled off the very ugly print. Next collaged the entire board with decorative papers then using my Tim Holtz embossing plates embossed some white wash cardstock and blue cardstock. Sanded the embossed white washed cardstock and swiped over the blue with Distress ink then glueed then down. Sealed the whole piece with 4 coats of sealer. Lastly I glued on the mirror with E-6000 then glued the shells around it. Most of the time when I start a project I have no idea of how it will turn out but I like how this one turned out!

Next to my flip-flops, my Keds are my favorite summertime shoes but the plain white laces just weren't making it. So I used the same technique I use to make the fabric cording for the necklace and made laces! I think they add a nice splash of color. What are your favorite summertime shoes?

Just some new jewelry you can find over at Honey Girl Studio Jewelry........

Have a great day!