Bathing Beauties Post Card

The theme for this months post card is bathing beauties.

I send to Michele this month.  I hope you like it Michele and that it brings a smile to your face!

LEE'S ASIAN PAGES

Yep! These were not done on time either!  But they are DONE!

Both pages are made totally from fabric.  A beautiful background fabric with bamboos.  Wonderdul sari ribbon.  The images were also printed on fabric. Everything was then sewn on fabulous Fabriano paper.

THIS IS THE MOST HILARIOUS THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!

HOW MANY OF YOU CAN RELATE TO THIS???????

SMILE FOR THE DAY

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

From Julie Fei-Fan Balzer Pinterest posting:

FINALLY DID SUE"S PAGES!!

A long  time ago my friends and I did an Asian themed round robin journal.

For some reason, and I can't even remember why, I never did pages for Sue's journal.

For a long time now, I could not bring myself to do any more Asian pages! LOL!

This weekend, lo and behold, I finally got them done.

Sue really loves haiku poetry.  I found this wonderful haiku about a geisha and knew that she would love it.

I apologize for the delays honey. You know I love you! It's on its way to you tomorrow.

MEN ONLY

I mostly represent men in divorce cases.  Women tend to use their children as weapons in divorce cases and I have never wanted to be a part of that

I have always avoided representing women and over time I have come to be known for representing men.

A client sent me this picture yesterday

I guess he knows huh?

MAKE YOUR OWN WASHI TAPE!!

I came across this tutorial today and I think it's fabulous!!  I love the idea of making my own washi tape.   Mind you, I will never use the 3000 rolls of washi tape I have!!!  But the idea of being able to do anything I want is really great.



I plan to do some of these this evening.  Will let you guys know how it goes!

EILEEN'S RR JOURNAL

Eileen and I are participating in a round robin journal with our kindred souls group.

The theme of Eileen's journal is faces.

When ever a journal has this theme, everyone uses women's faces.  When I think of beautiful faces, this picture of John Lennon is the most beautiful and soulful face I have ever seen.

 I hope Eileen loves this image as much as I do.

Zimmerman Verdict Watch

As much as I try not to get too wrapped up in these high profile cases, this case intrigues me.  It intrigues me not only for the legal issues involved, which as an attorney I find interesting, but for the societal issues underlying this case that everyone is trying so hard to ignore.  The proverbial elephant in the room.

My opinion?  If the jury does its job without fear of the consequences of its verdict, Zimmerman will be acquitted.  Do I think he is innocent?  Hell no.  That child is dead because of his vigilante actions. But no matter what side you are on, how do you avoid reasonable doubt in this case?

We will see how this turns out

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPI

Happy birthday papi.  You would have been 78 yesterday.  I couldnt bring myself to write you a letter yesterday but thought about you all day

I still miss you so much.  I thought this was supposed to get easier?  I guess I am luckier than most.  So many people say "I never realized what a great dad I had."   

I always knew.

MERMAID CIRCUS

Back in April I bought MERMAID CIRCUS,  an online class by Jane Davenport and Teesha Moore. I love Jane Davenport and anyone who knows me at all knows that Teesha is my hero!

The class was pricey ($200) but it sounded like so much fun!  I ADORE mermaids so how could I not LOVE this class right?

I hope everyone who is taking it really loves it.

I have to admit to being disappointed.

I can't even put my finger on why,  but I really am.   Maybe I am just not INTO it yet you know?  But that is my biggest issue with this class!  It closes in August (I believe on the 30th) and you have no access to it any longer.  THAT bothers me.  ALOT.

If I pay $200 for a class I expect to be able to access it 4-ever or at least to be able to download it.  I guess I should have looked into this in the first place but I have purchased other Jane Davenport classes and they have not been limited like this.

I guess five months should probably be enough to do a class but not all of us have the time to do that and other times we are just not "feeling" it yet.  You know?

I don't know.....  maybe it's just me.

DJ PETTITT!! Last post!

Okay, so where was I???  Oh yeah, we gessoed our pages in the hotel room and brought them into class the next day.  Sitting at our tables at 9 am enjoying Momma's breakfast we were all really excited to get started.

 Two fabulous artists with two INCREDIBLY different  personalities!!!  I think Donna scared DJ a little!!

DJ's pages,  page wraps made out of fabric and the gorgeous spine on her book,

Jacquie did her book about her mother.  The picture on the front is actually an altered picture of her mom.

We had a music break to dance and celebrate Eileen being the first one that finished her book!! And it is AMAZING!

 

Eileen did her victory dance and Jacquie got DJ to shake that thing!  (and if you know how quiet and sweet DJ is you understand how awesome this is!)

CASSIA, DONNA and KARMA

As they always do, Bill and Donna treated everyone to a limousine ride and a nice dinner.  These dinners are always a lot of fun and this one did not disappoint!

The paint all over my hands matched my nail polish!!!

 

DJ (left)       OLGA and CASSIA
                I know both these wonderful ladies from home!
 

 Way too soon it was over!!!

SO HERE IS MY JOURNAL AND MY THOUGHTS ON IT:

SPINE

LIKE:  I like the way the spine looks with all the buttons. As  usual, my A-type personality required tons of buttons!

DISLIKE:  In hindsight I woud have used much thicker fabric on the spine.  The fabric is beautiful but way too thin and the spine is really really flimsy.

SOLUTION:  Take it apart and put it back together with a stronger spine.

FRONT COVER ( A Little Birdie Told Me)

LIKE:  I like the colors and the bird

DISLIKE:  I hate the way the writing with acrylic paint came out (especially since I screwed up the T).

SOLUTION:  Gesso!!!

BACK COVER:

A COUPLE OF THE INSIDE PAGES:

LIKE:   I love the super heavy gesso (Liquitex) and the colors.  It is wonderful to use the same colors throughout the book (black, teal and mustard) because you do not have to worry about putting the pages in any kind of order.  The circles are a theme throughout the book (I LOVE circles).  Used different things to make them.

DISLIKE:  These are 6x6 pieces of watercolor paper.  We cut them from huge sheets and since they did not fit in the cutter and I could not see myself measuring square by square I tore them.  Didn't do such a great job.  Some are 6x6 and others are not.  It doesn't really look bad but I would like it to be more even.

SOLUTION:  Do it better next time!

Right side page of the layout above is part of the FABRIC WRAP.  The fabric wrap is exactly what it sounds like.  You sew pieces of fabric together and embellish and then use it to "wrap" your signatures.  LOVE IT. 

Left side of layout above is part of the fabric wrap.

SIDE VIEW OF JOURNAL:

LIKE:   A thick yummy book with many many pages.

DISLIKE:  TOO MANY pages!

SOLUTION:  Since I have to take it apart to do the spine again, I will probably divide this into two journals (since I did double what DJ suggested!).

SO THAT'S IT!!!  My awesome experience with DJ Pettitt!

NEW MARY ANN MOSS CLASS!!

I have not done Ticket to Venice or finished Full Tilt Boogie but I just had to buy this one!  I LOVE Mary Ann Moss!!



Who else is taking it?

JULIE'S NEW STAMPS!!!

I received Julie's new stamps today!!  5 beautiful girls, a gorgeous set of border stamps and some sweet wings for the girls!!!

Can't wait to play with them!!

KEYS 4 ART 2014!!!

As every year, it always seems that I am staring to plan so early!  After all, the retreat is not until March!!!  However, 8 months go by so QUICKLY!!!!!

The 2014 retreat will once against be in Key Largo from March 23 - March 29!! So exciting!!

Stay tuned for a wonderful surprise!!!

PART 3 - EXCITEMENT!!

So here we are, it's Thursday, and I think that a lot of us are star struck by DJ.  There were some in the class who had never been to Donna's studio so I am sure they were double star struck!!!

We got a personal look at DJ's fabulous book (see part 2) and were ready to rock!

The first thing we did was to cut our pages and gesso them.  Jacquie and I used Liquitex Super Heavy Gesso.

This stuff is AMAZING!!!  The texture it makes on your pages is outrageous.  Smooth and just gorgeous.  Donna recommended it and let us take it back to the hotel to gesso our pages (it absolutely needs to dry over night).  We also used paints, sprays, gesso and everything else we could get our hands on to color our fabric strips.

Bill has the greatest personality!

Donna had bought Karma a few days before the workshop and had her in a little bag the entire weekend to "bond" with her new baby!  Is she not the cutest thing EVER?  (Karma Donna, Karma!)

WE WERE ALL IN HEAVEN!!!!!

 

And so we end Friday!  The days don't last!!!

In the meanwhile, Donna's mom cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for us!  

She is a wonderful cook and everything, as always, was great!

Then of course there is Donna's candy bar!

The best part????? A container full of Bit O Honey!!

The day went by so quickly!!  We took our pages back to the hotel and gessoed them.  Jacquie and I had pages all over our hotel room.

We were tired but so anxious to go back the next day and DO IT.

TOMORROW:   The last post on this wonderful workshop and pictures of our journals!  I was very happy with my journal despite the fact that there are certain things I will do differently once I take it apart!  LOL!!!