Roses are Red

This week over at ABC Challenge the letter is R...

R is for Roses

Now I don't have a single rose stamp so I tried to find some paper with roses on it...nope none of that either...conclusion since hubby doesn't give me enough roses I must try to avoid reminders :)

I did find this image from Altered Pages and then everything started to come together. I hope you enjoy my Roses contribution.

Up and Running...Kind of

Well, I am finally back. And the studio is almost completely ready. I say almost because I don't have any off the art on the walls but everything is put up and I was even able to make a piece yesterday.

So on the left is what it looked like once I got most of the boxes from the move unpacked. Below is a photo of the fabulous new tool box that my DH bought me to store all my supplies in. Believe it or not the gigantic tool box is almost all the way full. There may be a drawer or two that is empty but I've got plans for those drawers.


Back in Mississippi I was able to put most of my supplies in the closet. It was a nice walk in with built in shelves. The closet here is by no means small but it is shaped totally different and I did find it a challenge to fill it in a user friendly manner. That's why there is not a good shot of that inside of the closet, I'm still working on it.

The items on top of the desk is the contents of the most recent Paula's Kit Club. She held my May box until I got moved it...I am going to go up and play with it in just a few minutes!



When I look at the clean pictures they don't seem that neat to me, my DD has a bunch of toys on the floor and I think the angle I took the pictures at was not great but I do promise that it is nice and organized.

I mentioned earlier that I was able to put a piece together. Since the start of the moving process over a month ago I have missed out on a ton of fabulous themes at One Powerful Hour.




The current theme is Lace so I decided to make a piece about a movie that I can't even remember I just know that the Title is "Arsenic and Old Lace" it is an old movie that I saw once black and white classic. Obviously it made a lasting impression but I could not tell you if it was a mystery or a comedy. I do however really like my piece and hope you do too!

A bird does not sing...

This week over at One Powerful Hour my good friend and fellow COF member has set the challenge as "In Flight"

A few months ago I went to a stamping convention and picked up a fabulous bird themed grab bag. Inside was a transparency with the phrase "a bird does not sing because it has an answer a bird sings because it has a song." I based my submission this week off of that phrase.

I cut out a number of bird shapes and used them as masks. Painting with various shades of blue metallic paint all over the card. When that was dry I overstamped using a music score stamp. Next I attached some bookprint that I had brushed with an orangish shade to match part of the bird.

The Fabulous yellow bird was part of an old celery advertisement that I received in a Paula's Kit Club. As my finishing touches I added a few yellow rhinestones and the phrase.

This card was a lot of fun to make and not counting the drying time it was actually really fast. I think I finished everything in 40 minutes total. Hope you enjoy.

On a different note this will most likely be the last piece of art that I post for a while. Next week all of our household goods will be boxed up and shipped out to CA. I am not looking forward to being without my art outlet.

Je Reve en Francaise

I took another spin over to the ABC Challenge site and this week the theme is

M is for Metallic

so you just know I had to play with this one. To me metallic is anything that shimmers like sparkeling h2o's and glitter. But I decided to challenge myself a bit more than just playing with my regular toys.

Alas, the photo of the card plain sucks. All the colored paper bits are copper and the Eiffel tower is copper so is the glitter around the woman's face. The words on the black are the closest embossing powder that I had to copper and the phrase "Je Reve en Francaise" (I dream in French) was originally red but I went over it with a black permanent marker. When you look at it with the naked eye you can't see the red but the scanner sure did pick it up. As a finishing touch I added some black glitter around the edge of the copper card.

I hope you enjoy and I wish I knew how to make a purtier picture of this card.

What an Interesting Life...

For a while now I have been wanting to try a "sketch challenge" a few of the women I follow do them all the time and the cards always turn out so pretty. So, I gave it a whirl today.

While searching for a Sketch site I also found ABC Challenge site and decided to incorporate their challenge: L is for List (1 ribbon, 6 brads and 3 flowers) onto my sketch.

The sketch site I finally decided on trying for my very first sketch is Creative Inspirations a fairly new Challenge site.

I had a very hard time with this sketch, maybe it was a bit ambitious for my first go or maybe this is just not how my brain works. But I did the best I could.

Over at Think Monday Think ATC the challenge for today is Peacock and I have the lovely peacock feather image but it is to large for an ATC so I used it as the theme behind my card.

The Quote says "What an interesting life I had. And how I wish I had realized it sooner." - Colette

The 3 flowers are blurry b/c I used Pearl Ex powder so they shimmer a bit but I sealed them with a matt finish and it left a bit of a film...off to see if I can repair the damage.

Hope you like my first attempt and I hope in the future after I am all settled from the big move to give it a go again.

Alien Huntress YA vs. Adult

Last Summer I started Reading books by Gena Showalter. The First book of her's that I ever read was Black Listed, a yyounge adult sci-fi, fantasty book and I ate it up! When I went to look up other books by this author I discovered that Black Listed was book 4 in her Alien Huntress Series (you can see all the books HERE) So I put myself on the list for them through PBS.

The next book I received was the other Young Adult in this series, Red Handed. Which I enjoyed just as much as Black Listed. These books are fast paced, exciting, imaginative and just plane fun to read. Yes, there is sex and foul language but Gena's characters are not from top notch society and her use of some profanity and sex gives her books an element of realism even though they are set in the future.

After finishing Red Handed I just had to know what her Adult books were like. A friend of mine told me her Adult books were a bit heavy on the profanity and sex but I just had to see for myself if the story lines and action were as good. What really were her writing style differences between Young Adult and Adult.

Quick note on the story of Red Handed. I really liked that the main character was battling a bad past but yet did not come across as week. And she managed to get everything her heart desired by following some rules (emphasis on some) and still being herself without harming herself or others.


I waited until I had the rest of the series before delving into the other books. You do not need to read these books in order, I haven't. Each book has a common thread, Alien Hunting team, but the main characters in the books are different. Yes, they do show up in other books but the story told about them in their book is not key to solving the mysterying in the one you choose to read.

I read Awaken me Darkly in three days, yes, that is a record for me. I am a slow reader and in the middle of a move so you can only imagine how much I enjoyed this book.

So, what are the differences? Are the Adult books better than the YA? To be honest the only difference I saw was the sex was more detailed. And lets be honest it's not like every teen out there hasn't read, seen on TV or experienced sex for themselves. My conclusion this entire series is going to Rock.

I did find Awaken me Darkly's story line to be a bit predictable. Caution stop reading SPOILERS... the mystery portion surrounds creating the "perfect race" which in and of itself has been done before but what really bothered me about this particular one is that the Alien behind it looked one way and her perfect race looked the exact opposite, sound like anyone we know??? Can we say Hitler. To me this was a little bit to much of a parallel. But obviously it did not ruin the book for me. And who knows that may have been Gena's intent to really drive home how horrible this Alien is.

Okay I am off to start the next one...

Repeat Impressions

Here are my latest pieces for Repeat Impression which I had an absolute blast making. I think this was the funnest (yes, i know that is not a word) assignment so far.

Wendy asked up to make 2 pieces using various sea life images. I selected the tropical fish and seahorse images to use for the Yellow Submarine I created.

I found the template for the yellow sub online, it was a free coloring image for children that I printed off and then enlarged slightly using photoshop. All the black lines were part of the coloring image. I did however remove the small portal windows on the image and replace it with the large portal I made.

To make the portal I cut out a circle using my coluzzle system and then silver embossed the entire circle. Next I added some very watered down black acrylic paint that I let dry slightly before wiping off. To finish I attached brads all around to look like the screws that hold the portal in place.

The Fish images are colored with color pencil and the one fish in the smaller window I reverse stamped. To finish off the sub I added the image of Etta.



Last week for a One Powerful Hour challenge of circles I submitted an entry of some circular stickers with frogs on them. Well, here is the reward chart that I am using those stickers on.

As stated in the previous post my daughter is potty training right now so what could be better than stickers with frogs in underpants?

The way we are using the chart is every time she successfully uses the potty she gets to put a sticker on that day. We are not worried about her pulling her pants down yet or flushing (which she loves to do anyway) just focusing on the actual use. Once she gets it down we will add on more tasks required for her to earn a sticker.

All the stamps using on this and all other projects in this post are by Repeat Impressions.


With this assignment Wendy sent out a collection of lovely papers...I mean absolutely stunning, I didn't want to cut into them. She asked that we use at least one of the papers on a project.

I had a billion ideas but went with the fastest since life is hectic right now. The paper I used is the pink swirl overlay.

I cut it into little squares and placed it alternately over the queens. The three queens you can see I colored with colored pencils and then glued onto the solid black background. The queens under the velum are white embossed.

To finish it off I attached the overlay with silver brads and silver embossed the saying "Now Accepting Compliments" I am really upset that even with my stamp positioner I did not get the phrase on straight.


This is the second of the two ocean themed items Wendy asked us to create. I painted a 5x7 art board using shimmery paints one blue and one a greenish gold, really pretty. Once that was dry I affixed the brightly colored fish. They are painted with sparkling H2O's and black embossed. Each fish has some blue glitter coming up from them to form bubbled.

The bottom of the canvas I glued some actual sand on and then stamped the starfish and sea shell boarder on a sand colored paper and clear embossed. Cut it out and affixed it. To finish this piece off I added some blue bead work ribbon to dangle from the bottom.


This is the last piece that was required for us to make. Wendy wanted us to do something with the Fairy stamp. We could select which one we wanted to work with.

One of the first stamps she ever sent me was the cancellation stamp for postage. And I had not used it yet so I decided that something "Fairy Postage" like would be fun.

Using a green background paper I embossed an hexagon shaped postage stamp using a greenish powder, trying to keep them nice and lined up. I stamped the flower boarder direct to paper and painted it with Sparkling H2O's. The fairy image and the dragonfly in the postage stamp I colored and cut out of white cardstock and affixed them to the ATC after randomly stamping the cancellation stamp in blue.

I am still playing with a few other pieces for this assignment. One of them is a clock using a different fairy image and then I also have a makeshift organizer for a grocery list that is proving a bit more complicated than I thought. And of course I want to play with more of the lovely papers. I hope I have time before I move.

Update

Hey all...yesterday's outpatient surgery went pretty well. I am of course at home now but my computer needs a bit of surgery itself to get it up and running so i won't be updating to much.

Just wanted everyone to know that I am doing well. Have not needed the pain meds yet and don't think I will if I take it easy, something I am not going to do, oh well.

However if I ever see the anesthesiologist again that man better run. After all I did tell him I was small and that meds worked really fast on me. The worst thing about yesterday is that I think he used to much "knock you out"med. I was sick all day and sleepy all day. so much fun to wake up b/c you have to throw up. Sorry for the over share.

Anyway I should be back to normal in time to make the big move. Joy!

I'll keep everyone posted as soon as I hear back from the doc, he is biopsying the lump today.

Paranormal, Sci-Fi and General Fiction

Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, Bk 4) is the latest in the series, alas all Briggs' fans must wait till February 2010 for the next chapter. I enjoyed this book, as I have enjoyed all of them in the series, some more than others.

This book goes back to Mercy's relationship with the Vampires which started in Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, Bk 2) which is my least favorite. She is still getting over a brutal rape that took place in Iron Kissed (Bk 3) and if you read my review of that book Patricia Briggs handled the intense situation in an excellent manner. Also, Mercy has finally decided who she will be with Adam or Sam, so the relationship between her chosen one blossoms in this book.

As you can tell I am trying to be vague and not put to many spoilers in. After all if you are a fan it is much more fun to read the storyline than have it told to you.

Overall this book is my third favorite in the series, here is the order in which I like them most to least.
1. Iron Kissed (Bk 3)
2. Moon Called (Bk 1)
3. Bone Crossed (Bk 4)
4. Blood Bound (Bk 2)

I am anxiously awaiting book 5, Silver Borne, and if you have read them all then you will probably suspect what I do, that this book will be about the fae. Hope Patricia finally gives us a hint as to what and where Zee is.


Gone, is the first Sci-Fi book I have read in a very long time, on top of that it is a Young Adult. When this arrived in my mailbox via PBS I was so excited I had to read it right away. Alas, it was a bit of a let down.

The overall story is one that has been done before, all the adults disappear leaving anyone under 15 to fend for themselves. Of course the author does have a few tricks up his sleeves that make it more interesting.

My main problem with this novel is that I did not like the "good guys". I understand that they are suppose to have some internal struggle about doing the right thing but in this case it felt more like a character flaw/weakness than a simple moral struggle.

I do however really like how he wrote/developed his "bad guys" they are truly evil in different ways.

This is the first book in the series the sequel comes out sometime this year and is called "Hunger" I do plan on reading it b/c I think it will have some more about the "bad guys" since that was hinted at the end of Gone. There are also some unanswered questions about how all the adults disappeared and why that I would like to see how the author resolves.

I'd say if you like Sci-Fi that this is a good read since it does approach a commonly written plot in a new and interesting way, just be prepared to think that a few of the main characters are a bit wimpy.



The Covenant was our latest and my last book club book. I say my last because I am moving. And I did not like it one bit...I think if I had read it three years ago, which is how long it has been sitting on my To Be Read pile that I would have enjoyed it but it was just to serious for me right now.

Also, I found it unbelievable. There are two main story lines, one where a father and daughter are kidnapped and the other is about 4 Jewish women who were in Auschwitz together. Somehow these 4 old ladies pull their resources and miraculously find and set up a rescue for the kidnapped father and daughter (who are related to one of the women). They do this all in about 48 hours.

I am of the opinion that this failure to make the plot believable is a failure of the authors writing ability. Come on I read fantasy and paranormal and sci-fi and I find a lot more of that stuff believable than I found this book.

My favorite parts were the flashbacks to the woman as teens in Auschwitz and learning who they because after escaping. I guess when I read the back cover I expected more 0f that.

So overall this one I found a little to heavy and unbelievable. But other members of the book club did enjoy it. Most of them being about 3-5 years younger than me so taking my theory of, I would have enjoyed it 3 years ago. this probably is a good read. You just need to want to read some heavy sad literature.

Circles

This week over at One Powerful Hour the theme is Circles.

I made these stickers for my daughter who is Potty Training. The stamp is one that Wendy from Repeat Impressions asked her Design Team to use. When I saw it I just knew it was perfect for Kudzoo's reward.

The paper is a full sheet mailing label that I washed with the Sparkeling H2o's then cut the circles and stamped the image on. To make them sturdier I covered them with clear embossing powder ( I wanted to use page pebbles but could not find any the right size) as a finishing touch I added some glitter.

I have also turned some of these into magnets so they can be reused!

This was a very fun art item to make and DD really loves them and that above everything else makes it worth while!