My awesome friend Kathie Vezzani is doing a workshop!

While I was at the Art is...You retreat in Petaluma, California last year, I met an extraordinary and creative woman called Kathie Vezzani, a mixed media artist, passionate teacher and one very clever cookie!
She's a magician with plaster and wax and I'm very excited to announce her two week on line course called,
Plaster and Wax 101
portraits illuminated from within

And don't worry! If you don't know anything about encaustic wax and plaster, this is a beginning course, as the name implies, and we'll be in good hands. (Yep, I'm taking it too!) Kathie will guide us through the basics of working with both mediums, sharing her skills and humor in equal measure.
Plaster is an ancient medium that was used as the ground for the wonderful frescoes painted throughout Europe. It's luminous, yummy surface is the perfect place to paint our own creations.
Kathie will go over the basics of how to paint a 'pretty face' then she steps out of the box and shows us that we needn't conform to the rules. Yay!
She'll guide us through the steps of using layers of encaustic wax to make our paintings glow, adding oil paint to soften edges and add color.
This has so many possibilities for those of us who like to layer and distress. I'm looking forward to exploring ways to add to my mixed media skills and giving my imagination more language/tools to use.

This is a two week long online course and will be available for one full year, so you can learn at your own pace (I'm messy and a slow mover, so for me that translates into 'make a mess at your own speed'.) and begins;

May 19th!

Kathie is teaching her course online at Jeanne Oliver's great site 'Musings of a Creative Life' and you can get all the information you need to sign up HERE.

So come along with me and share an adventure!
I'll be blogging about my progress from time to time (I did say I was a slow mover) so look for some posts here as well.

There once was a girl who wanted an adventure.......

She sailed away with her maps and her charts.

Collecting specimens and keepsakes along the way......

Including one or two (hidden) treasures and an empty bottle of the best Caribbean rum to remind herself never to dance with pirates again!

She returned home with lots of stories, put them all in a book and became a famous author. Under a nom de plume, of course!

Join in the fun over at Alpha Stamps and play with the Vintage Voyage Kit....there's still time!
SUPPLIES LIST:
April 2014 Kit - Vintage Voyage 
Nouveau Exposition Collage Sheet 
Fourth of July Collage Sheet 
Shell Postcards Collage Sheet 
Travel Album Covers Collage Sheet 
Maritime Poisson Scrapbook Paper 
Maritime Boussole Scrapbook Paper 
Maritime Coquille Scrapbook Paper 
Maritime Sirene Scrapbook Paper 
Maritime Voilier Scrapbook Paper 
Maritime Ancre Scrapbook Paper 
Brass Ship Wheel 
Seashells in Plastic Tins
Small Brass Starfish 
ATC Book Box 
Glass bottle Similar to the Chunky Little Bottle 
Treasure Chest similar to this one: Mini Treasure Chest Charm
Brass Anchor Charm
Brilliance Ink Pad - Galaxy Gold
4mm Fused Pearls
Domed Apothecary Bottle


 

The Mode in French Fashion Shadowbox and Copic Marker Tutorial

A shadowbox I made for the Folks at Alpha Stamps along with a wee (only 17 minutes long...geez) tutorial on techniques and tips for using Copic Markers.
The shadowbox was fun to make, but I loved making the video. I'm still a rookie, but practice makes perfect....or as close as I can get!

Supplies list:
White Seam Binding
Gold Mini Rosette Dresden Borders
The Mode in French Fashion Collage Sheet
Various Copic Markers
Botanical Tea 'Fauna' Paper
'Botanical Tea' Scrapbook Paper
Brilliance Permanent Ink-Galaxy Gold
Brilliance Permanent Ink- Pearlescent Olive
Prima Paintables

Additional:
9x9 2inch deep frame

Hope you find some useful tips and enjoy the video below!

Thanks for watching!

Altered Altoid Tin Video

Hello all! I recently posted an instructional video on you tube. It's the second half of my Graphic 45 audition (fingers crossed) and the first video I've ever done.
This is a big deal, people!

Some of you may know this about me: I'm a bit of a technological klutz and I panic when I have to learn something new. I whine and wring my hands and drive MacGyver crazy.
I'm always convinced it's going to be a traumatic experience.  I'll anticipate spending hours struggling with jargon I don't understand, suddenly black computer screens, pulling my hair out in frustration and driving MacGyver crazy.
I know, I already said that, but it bears saying again, because I do and he puts up with it/me magnificently.

There is always some glitch, some small thing that throws me off whilst learning new technology. Like when I couldn't figure out how to turn on my Kindle.
Or the time I accidentally reprogrammed our house phones whilst calling my sister. (Susan, I never told you that one....I can imagine your snort of laughter and that is enough for me!)
And there was the time I (accidentally) made all my e-mails disappear.
Or the time I dropped my phone in the....well, that doesn't really count here. That was an accident.

The klutziness extends to things that have a cord or a wire or any kind of attachment that remotely resembles a cord and has any kind of plug attached to it.
Let me state it this way: if I fell off of a twenty story building and there was a cord or wire anywhere near me, it would save my life because nine times out of ten, it would be wrapped around my ankle.

MacGyver has thoughtfully provided me with technological items that are cord-free as much as possible. I suspect mainly for the purpose of avoiding situations where he has to untangle me, replace the dreaded cord and listen to me curse creatively for some time after the 'tangling' incident occurs.
He lives in hope that some day there will be a vaccuum cleaner that is cord-free.

All this to say: I made a video that did not stress me out, cause a town-wide black out or make my poor husband go screaming from the room.
It was so easy, went off without a single glitch.
I'm deeply suspicious.
I keep checking it, making sure it's still there, has not been replaced by a troupe of evil circus clowns or someone reciting bad poetry.
So I'm going to post it here, where it's safely cradled in my little cyber home.
I've never imbedded a video before, so if you don't hear from me for some time, I've probably transported myself to another planet.
Hopefully,  a cordless one.

Graphic 45 Design Team 2014 Audition

It's audition time at Graphic 45 and I've decided to give it a go this year!
These projects are a representation of some of the things I had the most fun making.

Time Flies....The papers I used were a combination of Olde Curiosity Shoppe and Communique Collection. I love the flip side of 'Society Page' with it's harlequin pattern and use it in lots of things!

I made these ornaments using the beautiful Secret Garden papers. Plus some raw brass flowers I hand enameled, some wooden finials and lots of silk flowers. You can see the tutorial for how to make these HERE.

A couple of detail shots....

Mr. and Mrs. Beed are two of my favorite characters. I have planned lots of adventures for them......

This little altered altoid tin was inspired by The Ladies Diary papers.
I love fussy cutting and the flowers on the front were a lot of fun!

There is some info on how I cut my 'facades' for the altoid tins HERE

Day eight of the Twelve days of Christmas. I decided to make it 'Eight Prima Donnas' and make them a Christmassy little boudoir complete with a Christmas tree and a couple of mirrors. Each Prima Donna has her own room (read hand made envelope) and a personality to go with the title of Prima Donna!
I used a Victorian exploding box for this piece and a combo of papers, the main one being Fashionista's Le Fleur.

This project is a sort of Steam punk wall plaque made with more Olde Curiostity Shoppe papers.

This is a tunnel book called 'Shipwreck' for obvious (and cheerful!) reasons.

A detail shot:

There is a wee tutorial on cutting and staging the different layers of the book HERE.

Another tin, this time using French Country papers.

A trio of cheerful bird plaques using Botanical Tea.

Steampunk Spells Wall Plaque. I had a lot of fun playing with these papers...the colors are great and are a fun alternative to the classic Halloween color combo.

Thank you for visiting and making it all the way down this long post! Thank you, Graphic 45 and best of luck to everyone who has auditioned!


P.S.
Baba Yaga House. Made from a matchbox, papers and hand made polymer
clay chicken legs.
Not really anything to do with G45, but I love it!

Like pain? Try wearing a corset!

It's all about corsets over at Alpha Stamps this month, so with that in mind,

I made this fun little corset book with a lot of supplies from the French Corsets Kit.
Because things are a bit girly for me, I had to be a bit of a smart-ass and have some fun with it!

So stop by Alpha Stamps and take a look at all the well-laced corset art in the Gallery!

Supplies List:
 
Die-cut Chipboard Corset
The Secret Out At last Collage Sheet
My Graceful Figure Collage Sheet
2mm Silk Ribbon
Pink Ruffled Ribbon
Pink Roses Dresden Scraps
Stickles Lime Green
Liquid Pearls 'Flamingo'
Liquid Pearls 'Key Lime'

Additional Supplies
Bo Bunny Vintage Dot, 'Passion Fruit" Paper
Graphic45 Botanical Tea, 'Hello Friend' Paper
Spacer Beads (similar to these)
Vintage Eyelet Trim
Various Copic Markers
Various smart-ass sayings gathered from Mae West and a few movies.