This Week it's Brown

So  at  first,  I  thought....what  can  I  do  with  brown  for  Kristin's  Summer  of  Color??   Well,  the  first  thing  I  did  was  look  through  my  papers, and  I  have  a  lot  of  browns.    I  love  the  vintage-style  artwork  in  the  sepia  and  brown  tones,  so  this  is  where  my  design  went--

This  was  made  on  the  reverse  side  of  a  gallery-wrapped  canvas,  which  ended  up  like  this  after  I  collaged  my  papers  onto  it--

I   added  the  lace  with  the  gel  medium  and  sealed  everything  with  the  medium.   I  love  doing  this  with  these  canvases--you  have  an  instant  shadowbox!

And then I used this wood house which I purchased on Etsy--

Indian Doll Artworks--an  amazing  doll artist,  but she  also  offers  these  plain  wood  house  shapes,  which  happened  to  fit  perfectly  into  my  canvas--

I  added  just  a  little  corals  and  yellows  to  enhance  the  browns.

....and  a  few  more  embellishments....

....for  the  final  touch.

Another  fun  color  challenge  Kristin!   .....and  there's  even  more  art  to  be  seen  over  at   Kristin's  blog--go  check  it  out!

And  I  wanted  to update  everyone  on  my  nest.   The  eggs  haven't  hatched  yet....BUT....I  see  the  Mom  AND  the  Dad  there  everyday...so  I  think  that  it's   just  a  matter  of  a   few  more  days  before  there  are  baby  birdies---I'm  keeping   my  fingers  crossed!!

Peace

First  of  all--you  guys--Thank  You--all  of  you.  I  knew  if  I  asked  for  help,  I'd  get  it.   What  I've  done  is  make  a  jewelry  folder  in  my  computer  and  I've  bookmarked  all  of  the  links  that  everyone  has  told  me  about.   I  bet  you  can  guess  what  my  winter  project  is  this  year!

I've  had  to  put  my  "jewelry  making"  on  the  back  burner  for  a  bit  (but  not  for  long).  I  still  need  to  get  back  to  my  "day  job",  because  I  have  ONE  more  show  to  go.  I  must  say,  that  I  enjoy  this,  but  next  year--easing  up  on  the  show  circuit.  I  completely  missed  Fall  this  year---when  we  didn't  have  the  gloomy  days,  the  weather  here  was  beautiful--at  least  I  think  it  was--I  couldn't  really enjoy  it,  because  I  was  too  busy  here  to  even  get  out.

Oh  well--about  the  post,  and  what  I've  been  doing.  In   keeping  with  the  style  of  the  Santa  that  I  showed  you  here,  and  the  Snowman  that  I  showed  you  here,  I  made  another  angel--

I  was  struggling  with  her  at  first,  but  then  I  just  listened  to  my  own  advice,  and  let  her  help  me,  and  everything  just  came  together--

I  just  love  to  use  collage  and  lots  of  texture  when  I  make  pieces--even  if  I  try  not  to.  I  guess you  should  do  what  appeals  to  you  the  most--right?

So  in  the  end---it  all  came  together--

This  is  fairly  large--about  24  inches  long,  and  no  matter  how  many I  took, I  just  didn't  like  the  photos--but  trust  me---it's  better  in  person.  And  right  now,  I'm  working  on  another  angel  type--a  little  bit  different  medium.   I  really  do  enjoy  making  angels!

Mardi Gras

This is the theme this week at Mixed Media Monday--Mardi Gras, so I decided to make a Mardi Gras box.

And here's a better view of the cover--

When I first saw what the theme was going to be, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do.  I wouldn't really call myself  a Mardi Gras type of girl.  If  I lived in New Orleans, I'd probably stay at home.  But then Lisa  from my Suzi Blu class (who I have a feeling would love to go to the Mardi Gras, or I may be wrong--which is it, Lisa? : ) said to me-- what is  Mardi Gras without a Suzi goddess, and she was right, so thanks Lisa for the spark!

I just started out with a boring unfinished wood box that you find at the craft store.  You might be seeing alot more of these boxes.  My first art fair is next month, and these are hot items there. Then I just made it colorful and glitzy with different papers, metallic paint, and "jewels", and then finished it off with a high gloss varnish, because it has to be shiny!!

I also think that this box would come in handy for a Suzi goddess--she would put all of her beads that she collected in it   : )  And you know who else would have appreciated this box for storing her beads--Clara of course. I think it's official--Clara is my muse--either that, or my alter-ego.  Or is that one in the same?

And I also wanted to show you the latest photo of my grandson, Bob. This is for my wallet : ) He just celebrated his 5th birthday, which happened to be on Friday--the same day as mine!!

My Journal And I Cooked Again!

I'm really getting into my art journal now. Actually, it's another Moleskine--the same one I have for Suzi's class.  I really, really love it, but it's black, so I knew that I had to do something about that--so  I covered it--

And here's the back--

Sharon at All Norah's Art  showed us this technique in her class.  Actually, the class is starting today --yay!  She put up a bonus video while we were waiting for today to come, and I really liked this technique, and thought it would be great for a journal cover.  And then I had some old jewelry that I added on for embellishing.   These 2 pieces were from a broken necklace--

They say harmony and growth, which I thought was fitting.

ALSO, I finished my journal page--

Well, it's really a 2 page spread.  I decided to take the text into the hair, also.  And thanks again Kristen  for giving me the inspiration for using the text on her face!  This is my first completed journal page ever--now onto the next, and I'm going to try not to involve a face this time.  I just love doing these, though.

And yes, I cooked again.  Now let me tell you, I hate to cook, so when I do, it's something that I really enjoy, which usually involves alot of calories.  Last Sunday, I posted my mac and cheese dish, but I actually ate it on Friday.  And  I made this dinner yesterday, but I'm posting it today.  And you know how some bloggers like to pick a day and have a theme for it?   Like Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover has Silent Sunday.  Well, I think that I'm going to start having Fattening Fridays.  Here's what I made--

 

Italian wedding soup with a big, buttery piece of garlic toast (which turned out exceptionally well).  I don't think this is as fattening as the mac and cheese, but I don't think it's low in calories, either.  It was delicious!