Advent Calendar

This is what I've been working on an advent calender
 for our grandson.   I created different tags for each
package and then downloaded the numbers HERE
to make it more cohesive.

There are a million and one ways to make an advent
calendar from complicated to easy!  Check out my
pinterest board for more advent ideas HERE

Wooden Houses-Little Boxes

 

We were inspired by 

Cloth Paper Scissors 

Nov/Dec 2013 cover issue

 to paint some wooden

houses in my local

 art group Art Menagerie.

 

 It was such fun!

The song by Malvina Reynolds

Little Boxes kept playing in my

head as I painted them...yeah I 

weird like that LOL

Thankfully ours didn't all look the same :-)

Artful Play

Coffee & Artful Play!

Painted Tom Shoes

 

I recently stepped outside my comfort 

zone and painted a pair of Tom shoes. 

I was so nervous because the person who 

asked me to paint them didn't have a clear 

design idea so I was worried it wasn't

 what they might have imagined! Even 

worse what if I messed up painting them 

how could I correct it?!?

 

I sketched it out first and then began to paint it

With the shoes not being a smooth surface also

 made me nervous, but I used a combination

of Fabric markers and fabric paints to

paint the shoes.

I'm relieved and happy to say that the person was 

very happy with he outcome...whew!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Howl'O ween!

Click HERE for free Halloween postcards

Artist Trading Blocks

 It's been awhile since I've done any Artist Trading Blocks

Here are a couple from a recent swap with

 the theme Funky Houses...

 I used a plastic valve handle hubby 

saves and brings home to me for the base.

 The other theme was Words and Numbers

This one I used a faucet handle for the base.

Tag Art

 Here's a few tags I finished up for a friend.

 And a few Halloween Tags.

Cutest Fairy Ever!

I think out of all the fairies I've created this

teacup fairy I made for my friend using her granddaughter's

picture is the cutest one ever!! I love how it all came

together so easily which just tells me it was meant to be :-)

Halloween Themed Altered Matchbox

  I participated in an Halloween themed 

altered matchbox swap recently. 

I used my cell phone so they 

aren't the best pictures!

Before stuffing it with goodies

I decorated the bottom of the box

after I painted it with chalkboard 

paint.

Dimensional Collage

I'm back from oblivion!

Due to my laptop taking foreeeeeeeeever to 

do anything and then finally giving out on 

me! I'm back in action on my new laptop.  

Now if only I can master Windows 8 ugh!

Dimensional Collage

 We recently did a project in my local 

Art Menagerie Group creating 

dimensional collages.

We started with backing board

you could use book board, 

or heavy matte board.

Don't worry that it looks

ugly and incohesive at this point.

Begin gluing down your pieces using

quick drying adhesives and hot glue.

Add texture with stencils and molding

paste or heavy gel medium.

 Once its all glued down and dry add

 several coats of gesso.

 The more layers of gesso the

better (I added 3 layers on the one above).

 Once the gesso is completely dry I began

spraying it with my Color Mists which

are sprayable watercolors. You could
also use acrylic washes as well.

 To get the intensity of the colors

I spray and then use a heat gun

and dry in between coats
then repeat several more times.

 Once I was finished with the Color Mists

I used a magenta ink pad across the high points

of the collage along with a silver Krylon 

leafing pen to help bring out the details.

I also used a white paint pen to further

embellish it then  sealed it with

PYM II

Here are two others I did also. The tree I used 2 tree die cuts stacked together and  glued and sprinkled tiny watch parts around the roots and watch gears on the limbs.

The lady I used doilys stacked for her dress and headdress along with lace and paper flowers.

Click HERE to see other ones 

Graffiti Glue Book Journal

Recently I posted some spray painted graffiti 

papers (see post HERE) and this is what

I turned them into,at our local

Art Menagerie group, today.

Its basically a glue book-pages

are glued back side to back side.

For the spin we used sticky backed 

canvas.  I colored my canvas and the 

foil paper I used for the cover with 

my Color Mists.  I used some Tim

Holtz decorative tape trim  

I already had.

Funky and Bright

New additions!

Hubby re purposed some lattice recently over our side gate.

The plan is to plant some wysteria to grow across the lattice 

and over the gate.  I also repainted the gate to go with the lattice.

If your not familiar with our funky farmhouse I invite you 

to click HERE and take a little tour

Anniversary+Cool Weather=Heaven

We recently celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary

over in cool Monterey, CA.

At home the heat wave was on full force reaching 111 one day we enjoyed the cool weather of 64 degrees! It was heaven...that is until we had to drive back over the hill into what felt like the bowels of  hell!!

Thankfully we are on a cooling trend now...amazing  how 91 degrees feels like no big deal after 100+!

Below hubby made some friends with the local 

squirrels who happily ate out of his hands

Graffiti Journal Pages

At our last Art Menagerie Meeting we met up at the 

park and graffitized some heavy card stock paper using 

spray paints and stencils.

At our  next meeting we'll be turning our 

papers into a journal!

I had stopped by the dollar store a few weeks back 

and picked up a few things to use as stencils.  One was a 

grilling tray that I ended up loving to use for a stencil, 

and the other items were giant bubble wands. 

Card for a friend

It's been a long while since I've made a card 

for someone.I couldn't resist after borrowing my 

friends Tim Holtz Sizzix bird cage die.

I first used my Sizzix BigKick to embossed 

both the background of the card and the 

birdcage.  I used some graffiti paper I had 

recenly made to punch the bird cage out of.

Painted Backgrounds

I created some backgrounds this weekends with my 

Art Menagerie group.  They're still a work in progress.

Next month we'll be turning these into flag books

like this one HERE

Spring Has Sprung

My yard has never looked so bloomin'

beautiful as it does this year! I'm so

loving it!

New Additions

Meet our newest addition to the family

Jake Allen Hicks

3-28-2013

8 lbs 1 oz

21 in

Mr Kevin is thrilled to have his new brother

home with him :-)

While I was watching Mr Kevin, I gave him his first

haircut.  He did such a great job sitting still for me.