STAND BY ME

Sunday, August 23, 2009

MY FAVORITE NEW TOYS (AT LEAST FOR TODAY)

I buy just about EVERYTHING I hear about!!! Sometimes I am ecstatic about what I purchased, other times not so much.... These are the new toys for this week:

RAPIDOGRAPH PENS!! They are absolutely wonderful! Pricey but well worth it! They are pens used for detailing (before CAD I think). They use this wonderful India Ink (which comes in various colors). The ink flows dark and even and writes over just about everything! I have yet to find something it doesn't write over perfectly with an even and gorgeous ink flow.

If you are doing any type of journaling at all this is the pen to get!

SHIVA OIL PAINT STICKS: Wonderful flow, wonderful colors. I am using them on my journal pages and in my moleskin journal and I adore the way they look and feel. The colors are "dreamy" - smooth and gorgeous.

SENNELIER EXTRA SOFT PASTELS AND OIL PASTELS: The oil pastels are wonderful, it feels like you are drawing/painting with a lipstick!!! Beautiful sheen to the colors, easy to spread. The Soft Pastels are creamy and silky and the colors are wonderful!!! I think I like the oil pastels the best of the two.... have to play with them some more first.

SO MANY NEW THINGS!

I've been working on so many new things lately! I have pictures taken but haven't had the time to post them yet. Will do it in the next few days. I am going to be doing less and less ATCs though. I love them and they are fun but it's just not doing it for me any more!

I am really into the journals right now. I am enjoying them so much. I also have started a Moleskin Journal with different things I'm learning to do. I really love my Moleskin. Take it with me everywhere! You can draw in it, paint it, use oil pastels, colored pencils, markers, anything you want. I have some zetti pages (still my number one love), journal pages, portraits. Some pages have buttons, some have lace... Every time I see something I want to try I experiment in my moleskin. Sometimes they come out awesome, sometimes not so much but the overall effect of the journal is wonderful.

That's going to be my next circle project I think... a moleskin.... I am thinking that we can do a circle where everyone works on each other's moleskins but making pages so that the owner can journal on later. In other words, by the time the owner gets the moleskin back, she will have tons of pages already made for her to journal on.... have to get the details clearer in my head but I am smelling the scent of another round robin project!

ON LINE CLASSES WITH SUZI BLU

I was turned on to SUZI BLU by my friend Lillian in Canada. Suzi Blu is HILARIOUSLY funny and unbelievably talented! I got turned onto her just in time to sign up for two of her on-line classes THE GODDDESS AND THE POET and LET PETIT DOLLS. The Goddess and the Poet is a portrait class. She combines beautiful portrait faces with poetry. The Petit Dolls are stylistic "cute" dolls. They are really adorable and I would love to make some of them for my granddaughter's room.

If you don't know who SUZI BLU is... and I didn't until Lillian told me about her... google her and check her out. She is very talented which is awesome, but on top of that she is just very very cool. She is down to earth and funny and just a joy to watch. Check her out!!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

MEDITATE AND CREATE JOURNAL

I just realized I had not put in the text to my Meditate and Create Journal!!!!

This is my adventure:

Imagine yourself on a balmy summer night walking on the beach
when you trip on what appears to be a bottle. You pick up the bottle and laugh to yourself wondering “could it be a magic bottle? Yeah! Right!” But hey, there’s nobody around so just humor yourself and rub the lamp…… see what happens.

Within seconds of rubbing the lamp, an attractive middle-aged genie appears (well, we can’t have her be younger than you!!! That would just be depressing!).

Her name is Zelda and she is a mixed media artist!!! Go figure!!! Well, Zelda is so grateful for your releasing her from this bottle that she grants you one power:

You can paint the world in any one color of your choice.
What color would that be and why?

How's THAT for a challenge!!!

JOURNALS OF ALL SIZES





I am participating in a "mini-journal" in one of my groups (The Sum of All ATCs) called 'Meditate and Create". It's a 5x5 journal. There are 5 artists in each group who work on all the journals in a circle. The journal owner chooses a topic for the artists to "meditate" on and create a work of art from. I have chosen the following topic:

You are walking along the sand and find a lamp. (Yep! You guessed it!! It's a MAGIC lamp). The genie that comes from this lamp is a mixed media artist at heart and gives you this one wish: If you could make the world primarily one color, what color would that be and why?

Yep!!! Meditate my friends................. and create!

Oh yea, these are the pictures of my mini journal. The front, the side and the binding which I'm quite proud of!

I am hosting another circle journal called JOURNAL OF DREAMS. It is going to be so cool! Each artist (there are 16 of us) will create a journal page based on her dreams. I decided to do a hardcover journal for this. I have not been able to bind it yet because I have not received the binding cloth yet but this is the front cover. This journal will be 8 1/2 x 11.

Can you tell I love purple???

Thursday, August 6, 2009

QUESTIONS ABOUT ZETTI

I am thrilled that so many of you love Zetti! It really is so wonderful. I have received some emails asking how it's done - questions with regards to the pens I use. The markers that I use are the SHARPIE WATER BASED POSTER PAINT MARKERS. Those are the ones Teesha gave us to use at the retreat and they are FANTASTIC. The problem is that they are being discontinued!!! Can you believe that????! I'm ready to start a petition for Sharpie!!! I have been buying them up everywhere I find them and now ofcourse have enough to keep me busy for 10 years!! You can still find them on ebay and you can buy them cheaply in bulk.

One of the emails I received was from Teri who tells me that she follows Teesha's instructions in her "How I Journal" print out you can get from her website. She uses the crayons but then can't write over them. The markers write over EVERYTHING Teri. I also use the Gelly Roll pens (which we used at the retreat) to go over the oil pastels or Caran de Ache crayons.

If you love Zetti, you should really REALLY try to make it to one of Teesha's retreats (the next one is January 28th). They are in Port Townsend Washington which is on the other side of the world for me (I'm in Key Largo!) but it was so worth it. She only uses top of the line products (Golden acrylic paints, oil pastels, caran de ache crayons, the Sharpie Markers, Gelly Roll pens and Fabriano Artistico paper) for her classes. She is generous to a fault and a fabulous lady.

That's another thing. She has instructions on her website on how to make and bind a journal. It is EXTREMELY easy to do and the journals are wonderful. Use the Fabriano Artistico 140 lb hot press paper. You can order it from www.dickblick.com in the 22x30 sheets. With 6 sheets you can make a journal that will keep you busy for months and months (36 pages!!). That is the only paper I use and everyone who has bought it is using the Fabriano as their only journaling paper!

I'm happy to answer any questions you guys have so just let me know if you have any questions okay? Have a glorious weekend!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Carla's I Dream in Color Journal Pages



Got her pages done and they are on their way to Sarah! The pictures came out pretty awful but the pages are on their way to Australia now so I can't do anything about it!!!

Chunky House Swap





I've been feverishly trying to catch up on all my commitments and have finally gotten to the point where I can relax a little!!! These four little chipboard houses are for a chunky house swap on THE SUM OF ALL ATCS group which I adore. Of course they are Zetti since that is all I seem to be able to create lately!!! LOL!!!