Thank you Eileen!!!

I received my letter "R" from Eileen today and I LOVE it!!!! Thank you Eileen!!


The word REMEMBER is going to look so fantastic on my wall!!!







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

29 Faces in May

There is a new challenge which has intrigued me. It is called 29 Faces and the link for info is HERE. Essentially it is exactly what it says, you draw 29 faces in 31 days during the month of May. It may seem a little overwhelming and I am not sure I will be able to keep up with doing a face every day but it seems perfect to force me to practice the faces I want to learn to draw anyway.

I love the stylized faces of ADRIANA ALMANZA and yesterday was my first day doing one of her faces. Obviously it still needs a lot of work but it's okay! I figure after doing 29 of them I should be GOOD!!! Right?

Anyway, if you are interested in making faces, why not try the challenge? All you need is a pencil and some paper and you can do them anywhere! (Even at work!).

Kissable lips

Drawing lips is much easier than drawing eyes.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Drawing makes perfect

My goal for this year was to learn to draw. I have realized that anyone can do it. Some are born with an innate gift to draw and others - like yours truly - has to practice every day.

I dont practice every day but I am trying to practice at least a few days a week.

Today I am practicing drawing eyes. I really think eyes are the most important part of the face.
This is todays practice sheet.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My second letter!!!

Received my second letter today!!! Another "E"! This one is by my friend Teri Flemal! Thank you Teri!!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

THANK YOU DAISY!!

My sweet friend Daisy sent me these gorgeous gifts!!! She sent me this wonderful little box that opens up and has hand made thank you cards inside. The pictures do not do it justice. It is absolutely beautiful!

She sent me this beautiful bracelet she made me in my favorite color!

Finally, she sent me this beautiful letter E. When my gal pals were here for Keys 4 Art in March I gave some of them wooden letters which spell out the word REMEMBER and asked them to alter them for me. I have pictures of my dad, my father in law, my grandmother and my uncle, those people that I have loved so dearly and lost. I want to put the word REMEMBER on the wall over their pictures.

Isn't this gorgeous?

Thank you Daisy! I love you mama!!!

The Wendy Experience!

Okay, I've been knocked out with kidney stones and Percocet for the past two days so I have not been able to chat about my classes with Wendy Vecchi. So much better right now. Ready to share my Wendy Experience with you.

As I had posted, my BFF Jacquie and I took three classes with Wendy this past weekend (Friday and Saturday) at the Paper Niche in Plantation. Love that store!

I ofcourse knew who Wendy was and was quite familiar with her beautiful art. I had joined the All Things Wendy Yahoo Group to become more familiar with her work and her products but had not done anything on the group. Just collected her stamps. So when the opportunity arose to take classes with her at the Paper Niche I jumped and took them! And I am sooooo glad I did!!! Not only is Wendy a wonderful artist but one of the sweetest ladies I've met in a long time. She was truly a delight. If you ever have a chance to take her class do not hesitate!!! She may have replaced His Royal Highness Tim in my heart!!!

As I said, we took 3 classes from her. One on Friday evening and two on Saturday. The one on Friday was a project with the awesome art parts! I have never used art parts before and I was blown away by how cool they are! LOVE THEM! They are so versatile and so dimensional! Anything you make with the art parts is there for good. A beautiful long lasting gift for yourself or someone else. All the "doodads" on this project are stamped on grunge and distressed. This was my arts part project:

On Saturday we had a techniques class from 10 am to 4 pm. We did ALOT of tags using a bunch of different techniques and Ranger products. I learned more in these six hours than I have learned in all the time I've been buying Ranger products! LOVED it! I made some really cool tags. These are some:

Try our slideshow creator at Animoto.

Finally we did some absolutley wonderful journal pages using Ranger's new Specialty Stamping Paper. If you do not have it, if you have not used it - RUN AND GET IT! It is just absolutely amazing. I had bought it when it came out just because - well, that's what I do! I BUY everything! But I wasn't excited about it I mean what the hell, it's just paper right? Besides I love my Fabriano! Well, Fabriano has been dethroned! This truly is not a Ranger "gimmick" to get you to buy "paper". This stuff is totally and utterly amazing! These are the pages I made using wonderful techniques using Ranger products and the wonderful Stabilo All pencil.

Now, let's talk about how I almost committed murder this weekend.

You know that at every art event there is always one annoying person (hopefully only one). And OH BROTHER did we have one!!! This woman - who I don't know and who could be the nicest person on the planet - was making me and everyone else around us totally insane.

I have to believe that she has some kind of psychological issue - something that is beyond my comprehension. That woman started talking at 10:00 am on Saturday and did not stop speaking for more than 2 seconds until 8:00 pm that night. I SWEAR TO GOD!!! It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life! She was rude, pushy, obnoxious and had absolutly no connection between the brain and the mouth!!!

There is a filter that we all have between the brain and the mouth. It keeps us from speaking every thought that runs through our brain. Well this woman has absolutely no filter. NONE. It was an ongoing cycle of nonsense coming out of her mouth. It was as if every single thought that went through her brain just automatically came out of her mouth like vomit. She was rude to Wendy, rude to the other ladies and TOTALLY OBLIVIOUS to the vibes around her. Some people are obnoxious and know it - they just don't care what others think. This woman was totally clueless. TOTALLY CLUELESS. I was not only annoyed and frustrated by her constant blathering, but in awe of the fact that she really thought she was interesting and loved. I just diddn't get it!!

Then all of a sudden I GOT IT. This poor woman has some form of tourrete syndrome !! That is why there is no connection between the brain and the mouth - why there is no filter. Wendy was a surgical nurse for 30 yeaers before becoming her Royal Highness Wendy Vecchi so I ran that theory by her. Being the professional that she is she only smiled and said nothing but I saw that "aha" light go off in her eyes! And that is when I decided that walking over and knocking her out probably would not be a cool thing to do since she is clearly unable to control her unnatural behavior! Is that mature of me or what? The realization that this woman could not help talking for 10 hours without saying two things that were worth listening to - that it was not her fault - well, that made me feel so much better about it all! But I WILL tell you that the ONLY reason I didn't walk out of that class is because (a) I love Wendy and (b) it could very well be that I was the only thing that kept Wendy from knocking her out herself!!!

So, there you go - my Wendy experience!!

How gorgeous is this kid????

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Way to go Banana!!!!

Kristina walked into Savannah"s room and saw her sitting up for the first time!!!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My first Wendy project!!!

Just finished my first project with Wendy Vecchi!! LOVE IT!!

Although I own tons of her stamps (which I have never used)
I had never used her art parts!! LOVE IT!!!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

EILEEN!!!

If you look at the tag in Wendys hand it says "Hi Eileen!!"




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

WENDY VECCHI!!!

Jacquie and I are taking a bunch of classes with Wndy Vecchi this weekend!! I have never taken classes with her so I am quite excited!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

BOOK OF DAYS

If you want an incredible experience, both in art and in life, come join us in BOOK OF DAYS. I have been involved in literally dozens and dozens of courses and classes and this one has got to be in my top three!!! And you know the best part????? It's FREE!!!! So come join us!!!

Sunflowers!!

I had never grown snflowers before!! My son in law plantes them! How beautiful is this flower?!?!?!

I love sunflowers! They make me smile!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

On a date!

A rare day out with my other half just hanging out at TGI Fridays.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My beautiful babies

My grand daughters are getting so big! I am so in love with these babies.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My first Owl!!

I am in the 2 class of a 6 class course with Juliette Crane on making owls. Anyone who knows me knows I love owls.

Its a little soon to make my owl but I couldnt resist. I figure it could only get better from here!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New Journal Pages

Haven't gotten much done lately but on Saturday I got up early. The house was quiet but I knew that would not last long since Kristina, Derrick and the girls were coming over to spend Easter weekend. Did two layouts - one with a whimsical look to it, and one with yet another attempt at making a face!

These pages were done in the altered book that I started in the Marah Johnson class I took at the Paper Niche. It's nice working in a book. I didn't think I'd get into the groove of gluing pages together and working that way but I really like it. There a lot less stress in knowing you can screw it up and it doesn't matter!

PAPER NICHE AND MARAH JOHNSON

I still owe you guys the last day of Keys 4 Art (Kathy's class) and some shout outs but I want to share yesterday's experience first!

Yesterday Jacquie and I spent the day at the fabulous Paper Niche in Broward County taking classes with the fab MARAH JOHNSON. So WHO is Marah Johnson you ask? Well I didn't know either! I signed up for her classes (a) because it's a fun way to spend the day with my BFF and (b) I liked the samples I saw. Well, I am so glad we took these classes!

Not only did I enjoy the classes, but I really loved Marah! She is funny and laid back and funky and... well.... FUN! If you have the opportunity to take a class with her don't miss out@!

Your truly, Marah Johnson and Jacquie

We did an altered book with a niche. The idea was to do just the cover, a page and the niche but Jacquie and I decided to use the book as an altered book with pages before and after the niche to play on. This was my niche.

This one is Jacquie's niche:

We spent the rest of the evening just doodling and using the new Silk Acrylic Paints (YOU MUST HAVE THEM ALL!!!!) which we both loved!

This is Jacquie's very cool face on old book paper painted with silks and H2Os.

This is my face which I drew with pencil and colored the same way. She still is not finished but I am putting her in my journal!

We doodled different things which was a lot of fun too.

Again, if you do not know Marah, go visit her blog and find a new friend!