happy new year

i hope the new year  ushers in an abundance of health, wealth and overwhelming joy for each one of you.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU

thank you from the bottom of my heart for stopping by through out the past year.  i appreciated reading your  thoughts and comments while plodding along next to me on my art journey.  i look forward to our friendship in the new year.  may god bless you and your families during this holiday season.

christmas ornament

i saw this ornament tutorial over at little glimpses studio and decided to give it a whirl.  i photocopied one of my paintings on cardboard to use as the image.  i am going to do my best to get a few more done as i think they'd not only be great tree ornaments, but i might use them for christmas present embellishments/tags. has anyone else made any christmas ornaments?

another blue finger production video

art time .... finally

i finally found some time to do art.  i usually don't do atc sized cards because i have so many already, but this morning that is exactly what i found myself wanting to work on.  i don't know if i'll ever tire of birds.  it seems most of my work is drawn to incorporating them some how.  i often wonder what it would be like to have wings to fly. i can only imagine the places i'd go. is there something you find yourself using a lot in your work?

and the winner is..........

sharon borsavage said...
Count me in please Roc! Great stamp, and thank you for the chance!

thanks for all the wonderful comments and following my blog!
congratulations sharon!  i hope you can find lots of uses for the stamp that will be coming your way!

a free giveaway

i am giving away a free unmounted teesha moore stamp.  i received this stamp as a gift from a recent purchase i made from teesha moore's online shop,  but i already had this stamp in my collection.  so i am paying it forward.  all you have to do is leave a comment to be entered to win this red rubber, unmounted stamp. if you become a follower of my blog your name will be added twice for the drawing.  one lucky winner will be picked at random on friday, december 10th.

blue finger production video - molten metals

a mini journal

my dear friend, danny, had an idea for a mini journal that is folded from one sheet of paper.  it really is the cutest little booklet.  the theme is text/quotes.  this is one my little spreads for the journal. 

this particular page is especially important to me, because just recently someone felt that by me following my bliss i was being selfish and not caring about anyone else other than myself. 

i realize that life is too short to find our value in anything or anyone outside of ourselves.  if there is one thing i learned (over and over again) in my life so far it is that we can't please everyone all of the time - it is most surely an impossible feat. howener, i do know we can love and honor ourselves for who we are.  i hope you will follow your bliss.

a blue finger production video

making buttons

it is funny how one thing can lead to another and another and all of a sudden you find yourself creating something that you've never done before.  so it was the other day when i had my paper clay out.  i found myself making tiny buttons.  i made a few others but these are the few i had time to paint and put crystal effects on.  i hope to find myself using them in my art projects. i am really quite fond of those little birds and want to make many more of them.  so what have you found yourself creating that might be different from what you normally do?

monkey business

holidays are so much fun when you share them with people you love.  i was blessed to spend the day with my grandson, benjamin, on halloween.  i got to dress him up in his little monkey suit and take him out trick or treating.  we had so much fun!

journaling

i remember quite a while back i met someone at a spiritual class i attended and during lunch she shared her views on past lives and our souls.  she felt that we could have been anything in a past life, even a head of broccoli.  i don't really know why that has always stuck with me, but when ever i think of her telling me that, i smile.  i wonder what i would have been - surely something sweet and delicious perhaps?  so tell me, what fruit or vegetable do you think you could have been?

making a canvas

after painting that piece of  cardboard the other day i decided to keep painting and pulled out a 6 x 6 canvas to gesso and get ready to use.  i decided to let the cardboard painting as it was but i did use some old vintage text on this painting.  i really like the added interest.  i will do another one because i have an idea of something different i want to try.  doing this canvas made me reopen my etsy shop...if you'd like to purchase this piece of art please check out my etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/rocnic23

alcohol ink background technique

painting on cardboard

i saw this technique some place online that said you can wet cardboard and peel away layers to reveal ridges to add texture to your art,  so i decided to give it a try it.  i ripped off cardboard pieces from a packaging box i received in the mail and cut a piece 6 x 6 inches.  i put a layer of gesso on the cardboard and let it dry. i painted the background with acrylic paints and scraped paint around with a credit card.  once that was dry i just drew a design and painted it.  i used a charcoal pencil to outline the drawing. i'm not sure if it is done or not. i feel like i want to add some paper to the background. but for now i'll just let it sit til i decide if it's done.

calendar journal

it is hard to believe but i am still working in my calendar journal. when i first started doing it (june of this year) i was so intimidated by the thought of writing something. i thought that the small area of the calendar would be a great place to start because of the small space provided i wouldn't have to write too much to keep a daily journal.  much to my surprise i find that often times i want to write more than each square can handle and it is hard to pick just one or two things to squeeze into that small space.  i love doodling in it and looking back at what the previous months' recordings were.  i have to thank kate (thekathrynwheel) for the idea.  i saw the idea posted on her blog and asked her if i could do it, too. i am loving the process of it all.

another technique video

baby in a blue hat

time has a way of flying by, doesn't it?  my little grandson, benjamin,  is already 4 months old.  here he is at his little friend's first birthday party.  he sure looks like he is having a great time.  don't you just want to kiss those chubby little cheeks? and honestly, i don't think i'm being partial at all.

smooshed background tape transfer videos

smooshed background technique video

my great friend, terri kahrs came for a visit yesterday to make art.  oh, we made a little, but we mostly laughed and giggled.  we liken ourselves to lucy and ethel. terri brought along her satchel of greatness which contains everything including the kitchen sink! in that satchel was her new camera that had video capabilities. so terri performed the skills of a cinematographer and had arms like a tripod. i didn't realize that it would be so hard to demonstrate and talk at the same time, so excuse the "ums".  we decided that we would like to keep it real, learn as we go and just follow the progress as we bring more videos to you. so here is the making of our first technique and i hope you enjoy it.

something to crow about

it seems like forever since i got to sit down and just create some art.  i've been thinking about possibly making note cards and/or postcards to sell.  i haven't actually got any further than the idea of doing that, however.  it seems life just gets in the way of any good art time these days.  today was a little different in that i just decided to take the time to sit down and create. it felt wonderful to get back to the art room. i made this crow postcard.  i used some of new liquitex acrylics and my water soluable oil pastels.  i hope you find some time today to create something that makes you soul sing.

benny's baptism invitation

my daughter in law asked me to make benjamin's baptism announcements.  she wanted to use royal, black and white as the colors.  i made a waterfall card. you pull the ribbon and each section pulls up and goes behind, revealing all the information.  it was fun to do.

making bookmarks

there were a couple challenges this month for bookmarks.
one challenge is the theme of chickens and the other challenge is a theme for what reminds you of summertime. i have been working on some other projects and haven't had as much time to create art as i'd like.  it felt good to spend the day in the art room making things to trade.

envelope journal

i am hosting a chunky envelope journal swap. this is the first page i've done, front and back.  i took a legal sized envelope and cut it in half. each half will become a page and each half has an open side that will have an insert that can be pulled out.  the pull out must contain an uplifting word or phrase.
each page must have text, a number and something with wings.  it is proving to be a fun challenge, altho time consuming.  i can't wait to see what the finished journal will look like.

baby time

here is baby benjamin in his new summer hat.  he loves to float in the pool in his little fish life boat and of course any regular pool goer needs a big shovel brimmed hat.  i'm not too sure if he was trying to act tough or not, but he sure can give a good stink eye, can't he?  oh, he doesn't really scare us. we love him all the same!

altered envelope

one of my new favorite things to do is to make altered envelopes.  i made this envelope a couple of weeks ago for a monthly challenge i host,  but after completing it i decided to keep it for myself.  i really rarely keep anything - remember that bookmark? - well i didn't keep that. i ended up trading it.  isn't it funny how our hearts and souls pour out on paper when we create?  sometimes it is hard to part with all that emotion that is in front of you.  i do find that usually within a week or two i can let go of the artwork i create that i am very fond of.  but every once in awhile there is a piece of work that still sings to me and then i just have to keep it for myself. 

just because

it's been a pretty good week for me because every day i've had the opportunity to spend some time making art just because.  i made this postcard to trade.  my friend paula sent me that little girl collage image. i sewed a little pocket on her dress and used a gel pen to add a little more color.  i love that bunny ear punch i found at a local arts and craft store a few months ago.  i painted the background and added a tape image transfer from a vintage dictionary and then machine stitched around the borders.

creating bookmarks

i have a friend who hosts a monthly bookmark swap and i've been making them since she started.  this month the theme was a house. the bookmark has to be roughly 2 x 6.  i made this house yesterday and then when i finished it i wasn't sure i could put it up for trade in her swap,  so it's resting on my art desk until i can make up mind. maybe i just need to make another one so i can keep one for myself. 

calendar journal

i've been wanting to start a personal journal for a very long time. for one reason or another it just never happened.  i think one reason may have been i felt intimidated about where to start.  but recently i was intrigued by a friend's calendar journal.  kate ( aka the kathrynwheel) was doing a calendar challenge.  the more i thought about it, the more i felt this would be a great place to start.  the blocks of the calendar were small and you only needed to add a picture or a word or two if that's all you wanted.  i felt i could do that in a very manageable way.  another friend of mine, deborah (aka thelandofnodstudio) had sent me some old books to alter. i thought one of those would make a great cover for my journal. i gutted the book and used the spine to sew in my signatures that i had painted with watercolors and then added some rubberstamping.  i will doodle on them and alter them with collage images as time goes on.  i didn't want to alter the cover of the book too much because i just wanted to honor the old book.  i put a label over the title area of the book on the front cover and added book binding tape to cover the stitching to secure my calendar pages. i use scrapbook paper to cover the inside of the front and back covers.  i hope you are inspired to try this too!

grandma gloat

it's grandma gloat time. is this not the cutest little baby face you've ever seen?  yup. that's benjamin todd nicholas as his finest. how could you not to want kiss those cheeks?  pretty hard to believe he's only a week old here and so perfect in every way.

creative team project

here is another piece of art i did for tumble fish studio's creative team.  i used all of her papers and images to create this nature inspired postcard.  if you are interested in seeing more of her collage sheets for sale, please visit www.deviantscrap.com . 

shabby journal

i've been working on a shabby journal.   mary ann moss offers a great class on making these.  this is a photo of my front cover.  the cloth tape measure was a great find in my mother in law's sewing goodies when we were cleaning out her house.  the heart is from an old quit i had cut up and there is hand tatted lace from my mom's collection that i used on top of the heart as well.  i have a few pieces of material on there from my friend, susie, who lives in england, and i used pieces of my old blue jeans, too.  i am working on the inside signatures but with all the sewing it is taking long to complete.   i love the whole concept of this journal as it encourages me to use up my scraps.

meet my grandson

here is my first grandchild.  benjamin todd nicholas was born, wednesday, april 28th at 7:14am.  he weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz and was 20-1/2 inches long.  he has his daddy's chin.  both mom and baby are doing well and resting.  babies are just such little miracles. i am surely blessed.

creative team member

a really wonderful friend, marsha jorgensen, aka tumble fish studio, is part of a new site called deviant scrap.  you can visit the site at:  http://www.deviantscrap.com/ .  marsha is offering lots of collage sheets for sale there.  if you've not had the opportunity of visiting her blog ( http://www.tumblefishstudio.blogspot.com/ )  then you are missing some really incredible artwork.

marsha has asked me to be part of her creative design team for this site.  i was really touched and humbled by her graciousness to include me in such an amazing endeavor.  here is a piece i created for her to sample her collage sheets.  all the background paper and paper images are from marsha's sheets.

the family

my youngest son, mike, got married on friday, march 5th.  can you believe i forgot my camera?  well i can hardly believe it either so now i am waiting for people to send me some of their photographs from the wedding. my nephew sent me this one this afternoon.  starting on the left, my husband, todd, my son, mike, me and my other son, josh.  it was a beautiful day outside.  my oldest son, josh, drove an hour to attend the ceremony but he couldn't go out to eat with us as he had to drive all the way back to go to work.  we were just happy he could be there to see his brother get married.  they are great friends.  i really do have a wonderful family and for that i feel very blessed.

holy cow - it's a surprise

it is hard to believe that i'm turning 50 today and i've never had a surprise birthday party.  my friends couldn't believe it either so they decided to make sure i could mark that off my bucket list.  my friend, jenn, organized a little get together with the stampin up girls and was the hostess.  here i am as everyone yelled "SURPRISE".  for  a handful of girls it sure was a loud surprise!  i just giggled and giggled. 

so keeping in true fashion the girls bought me a neon pink boa to wear to my party.  and here i am, none to shameless to wear it either!

there were lots of helium balloons to mark this festive occasion, too.  i loved this holy cow balloon despite the most unfavorable grip.  of course that made me chuckle even more.  the girls made me grope that poor cow for a million photos.

 my friend, laura, was in charge of getting my cake for the party.  she did an amazing job with that task.  it was marble with buttercream icing. oh my gosh it was so scrumptious!    for those of you who like to tell me i'm full of hot air..well i guess you can see that i just might be! i blew my candles out so my wish should come true.  the hostess, jenn, said in the south the person who cuts the cake leaves the knife in the cake and the person's whose birthday is next gets to pull the knife out so i actually got to have two birthday wishes! lucky me!!!! 

here is one of the many amazing gifts i got.  isn't that shirt adorable?  thanks eri!  i appreciate it.   so a big double thanks to jenn, laura, cheryl, eri and amie for having a wonderful surprise party for me this past weekend. 

today is actually my real birthday and my family is coming momentarily.  we're having pizza and salad and more cake!  now how lucky can a girl be!

being inspired

i was recently inspired by watching teesha moore's utube videos on making a journal.  i've done 8 x 10 journal pages before and feel like they are a little too big for me, so using her directions for her 8 x 10 journal book i made one half that size. this is my front cover.  that's my face when i was little, well, minus the big eye on the left.  the scary part is i actually had shoes very similar to that except mine were tan and blue with big reddish brown soles.  i am looking forward to completing this journal.

being a grammy

sometimes i share personal information on my blog rather than my art, altho this particular post is art in its purest form - the making of a baby.   what a miracle babies are to us.  so without further adieu i would like you to meet my first grandson, benjamin todd nicholas.  these are two three dimensional photos from the recent ultrasound done to check on the baby's condition.  he weighs a little less than 2 pounds now.  his due date is april 29th and i can't wait to meet him. 

deli paper

my friend, marilyn, aka rockgran, has an amazing tutorial on her blog http://wwwmarilyninmyroom.blogspot.com/  that you just need to check out if you already haven't done so.  she uses deli paper to paint on and uses it in her collage work.  well i was really awed by it.  she was gracious enough to send me a few sheets til i can locate it on my own. when it showed up in my mailbox today i just had to try it out.  here are 2 samples i've done so far.  i still want to do some rubberstamping on it as all i've done so far is some foreign text.  i really love the feel of it and i know i will be making a lot more of it. thanks marilyn!

creating journal pages

 my friend, deb is hosting a nature journal swap and there are lots of great artists in it. i finished up a journal page for my art friend, melinda, who is also playing in it, and  this is the one side of it, those muddy feet crack me up.  in the upper corner, in case you can't read it, it says,  i love a glorious nature walk.  in a perfect world, and if i were on the ball like my friends marsha and terri, to name a few, i'd know all the collage sheet creators to tell you where those muddy feet came from, but sadly i am not that organized to know.  sorry about that.  i do know that the little ball border comes from my friend cassandra. she has a shop at etsy and you can find her tag on the right side of my blog. i hope you all have time to enjoy a glorious walk in nature today.

the holiday season

happy new year to everyone!  it's been quite a long time since i've posted to my blog. this holiday season had me spending a great deal of time away from art unfortunately.  i suppose it is good to take breaks periodically. it may rejuvenate the creative juices.  i was blessed to have a good family to spend time with for thanksgiving, christmas and new years. i had my family here today. we customarily eat at lunch time for our holidays.  i normally have christmas for my family but my sister in law asked to have christmas and, of course, i said yes, which left me hosting new years in her place.  i made ham with apricot glaze, macaroni and cheese, stewed tomatoes, coleslaw, applesauce and home made rolls.  for dessert we had brownies with vanilla ice cream drizzled with hot fudge sauce topped with whipped cream.  i never made a large ham before but it turned out well inspite of my  lack of experience.  i hope that everyone has ushered in the new year in style and i look forward to my creative journey with each one of you.