New Flat Files

I have purchased some flat files to store my art supplies in. What a deal I got. We found them on Craig's list & was able to purchase 4 of them! I can't believe how much I've been able to fit in there. It feels so good to be organized! Take a look inside those drawers!

Image Transfer

Good Friday morning! Well, my transparency transfers were somewhat of a nightmare. I can not get one to transfer to canvas. I get impatient when 4 or 5 of them turn out bad...so impatient I moved back to Sheer Heaven where I know I will get a transfer that works. This is what I came up with. Everything was transferred except the faint writing & the music. Those are both stamps. The image came from one of my art book cds that I purchased recently on Ebay. The photo is 6x8. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Stampsmith Stamps

Here is a couple more Stampsmith Stamp pictures. I used the Memories Mist background with some stamping around the borders. I absolutely love these rubber stamps. Find them at: http://stampsmith.net/. I am heading back to image transfers today. I am bound & determined to get a decent transparency transfer using gel medium. I've already failed twice this morning...UGH!!

The Lucky Girl Receives Another Award

I am so lucky to have met so many wonderful people in the blogging community. This is another award I received from Michi at http://michirhymeswithpeachy.blogspot.com/. Mich has a beautiful blog so please check it out. Thank you so much, Michi!
I will now pass the honor on to 7 other blogs, some of which are new to me. Please reference where your award came from & your picks for the honor. I thank you all for sharing your wonderful work! The award goes to:

Melissa @ http://pugnotes.blogspot.com/
http://sweetfigments.blogspot.com/
Reny @ http://renysplace.blogspot.com/
http://tinkers-space.blogspot.com/
Amanda @ http://ulixis.blogspot.com/
Ruth @ http://alloverart-nc.blogspot.com/
Kim @ http://retro-mama.blogspot.com/

More New Stamps From Stampsmith

This is a new stamp from Stampsmith http://www.stampsmith.net/index.htm. The picture is on Stampboard & I did a memories mist background using Gold, Blue Martini, Orange Juice & Copper.
I sprayed first & then dripped the other colors on. The rubberstamp is called Lady Anne & I do love her. I also did a little stamping on the borders. Picture is 3 1/2 X 5.
Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

New Image Transfer

This is a new Sheer Heaven transfer done on a 4x5 canvas. The image was from one of my art book cds purchased on Ebay. My sister is here from Washington State this week visiting.
We've been playing & experimenting with some different transfers. It's wonderful to have her here!

Showing off the beautiful work of others

I purchased this fabulous print of an original watercolor done by Diana Evans at: http://dianaevans.blogspot.com/ This one is title the "Cupcake Princess."
Don't let that inside tag (that's not inside) detract from the beauty of this piece.
I need to be a little more careful with my shots & my background material!




















Two very sweet little watercolors also from Diana.














These are a copuple of new purchases from Honor Bowden at:http://honorbowden.blogspot.com/. Check out her blog & etsy shop. Her work is fabulous! These are Giclee prints & the rabbit it titled "Magic" & the other is titled"Love Bites." Thanks for your beautiful work, Honor!

The sweetest blog award I have received

I returned home from my camping trip to receive a very special blog award from a very special person, Diana Evans at: http://dianaevans.blogspot.com/. It's really such an honor to receive this from someone I admire so much. As you can see from this lovely picture done by Diana, her work is awesome! Matter of fact, I just purchased one of Diana's pieces & I will post a picture of that soon. I am sure enjoying the blogging world as I have met some wonderful people (on line) & Diana, you are right there at the top of the list! Thank you so much for this sweet award!
Now I will pass the honor on to blogs I visit on a regular basis




















The award goes to:
http://thelastdoordownthehall.blogspot.com/
http://hrt2hrt4mike.blogspot.com/
http://tulipstalking.blogspot.com/
http://elainebarrdesigns.blogspot.com/
http://mkonvalinka.blogspot.com/
http://mai-liispeacocknotes.blogspot.com/

Home again!

This is one of the free images I got from http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk./ I say free but it was actually a $12.00 annual donation for the images. I did a Sheer Heaven image transfer to decorative paper & finished off with some rubber stamping. I love her dress!

Well, camping was great! The weather was just perfect.......around the mid 70's & a little overcast. We had around 40 people join in & we all had a ball. This little face you see inside the Chrysanthemum plant was a visiting squirrel. He ate every flower on the plant. He was adorable!

Gone Camping!

We're getting set to leave on a weekend camping trip tomorrow morning. We are heading to San Onofre State Beach for 3 days of camping & relaxation. Before I go I wanted to post one of my favorites. This is an image transfer done with my favorite, Sheer Heaven. I found a wonderful art CD book on Ebay of Alphonse Mucha (Czech Art Nouveau painter 1869-1939). His art is fabulous. I purchased the CD from Artist Light Images on Ebay. They also have a website at: http://artistlight.com/ He has some wonderful art material & a very nice individual to deal with. I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Once I received the Mucha CD, I immediately ordered two other CDs as well.
Photo is 5x7 & there was nothing else added. The image was simply placed on some beautiful pink, decorative paper (which I am NOT a pink fan) but seem to find tons of wonderful pink paper! I purchase 90% of my paper from http://makinmemories.org/ in Newbury Park. Love them!!
Everyone have a wonderful weekend & I'll be back on Tuesday.

My first Gel Transfer in almost two years!

This is the first gel medium transfer I've done in almost two years. Once I found Sheer Heaven I threw the Gel Medium aside. This one was printed on a 4x6 piece of G & G digital glossy photo paper. I received several packages of this when I ordered ink. They were freebies. I printed my inkjet image from my Epson & did three coats of the gel medium, letting each dry well. I placed the print on the decorated canvas & heat set. Once that cooled, I applied a little water to work the paper off. This is the FIRST successful transfer I've done from my inkjet. I do not use Durabrite inks. I am not even sure if it's a pigment or a dye ink. Bottom line is....It worked!
I could not believe it!



















One of my new image transfers using Sheer Heaven.
The center image is a transfer & the rest is rubber
stamping Pic is 5x7 & I love her!

New Image Transfer

This is an image transfer I did this weekend. It is 12x12. This one is a regular canvas & not the flat one. I really do NOT like working with this type of canvas. I always have a terrible time pressing everything down. I had so many wrinkles in the paper it was ridiculous. Once the top coat dried you couldn't really see it too much. From now on...it's flat canvas for me!
My mind was running a little wild & I believe this pic is evidence of that. Very busy! Even though...I am still pretty happy with it. I did a lot more rubber stamping & only the one image transfer in the middle. The image transfer was done with my favorite, Sheer Heaven.
Have a wonderful week everyone!

Happy Friday with Zoo Pictures

Good morning with Santa Barbara Zoo pictures from last week. I love the Giraffe. They are so sleek looking & beautiful. I could just kiss their cute little faces! It was a great day in Santa Barbara with wonderful, cool weather.

How about this? An origami fractal.

Made with five, one dollar bills. No tape

& no glue. Cute huh!

NowPublic requests one of my photos for news story

I received an email last night from http://www.nowpublic.com/asking if they could post one of my Zoo pictures on their site for a news story they're doing on a Lion hunt in Belfast. I was more than happy to share my photo with them.
The photo was taken at the Santa Barbara Zoo last week. See the link below to read the story.


NowPublic says:Thank you for sharing your photo! This photograph appears in a NowPublic news story: 'Lion sightings' spark big cat hunt in Belfast.

Printing mistake = Psychedelic Transfer Of Dexter

I did this image transfer yesterday (using Sheer Heaven, of course) but my printer was running out of ink. Because Sheer Heaven IS pricey....I hate to lose even one piece of it. I thought I would just go for it & attempt a transfer anyway. It turned out a little different looking..almost psychedelic! The image was transferred to a decorative paper with light silver swirls in it. It was too bland! I took out the expensive crayons I bought 2 years ago & used them for the 1st time to add a little color to the paper. I placed it on a 5x7 canvas which I first painted gold & then added a coat of red. I rubberstamped the edges into the wet red paint which brought the gold back to the surface. I placed the paper with the image over that. After all, how unattractive can it be with such a beautiful subject?

Dahlias & Smooshing

This is a Dahlia pic that I shot yesterday. Once a year, the Love House Dahlias in Ventura, Ca. open the gates to their 4 acre ranch for the public to come in & look at the 300+ varieties of Dahlias. I chased this butterfly over all 4 acres I think, trying to catch this picture.












To Bee or not to be......















These are 3x5 stampboard pieces that I have done the "smoosh" technique on the background with Memories Mist. Again I spray the background with a light color (gold or yellow) then drizzle or splatter a little more ink about. Then, I put the two pieces together. The colors run together & you can even slide it around a bit for a little more variation. Memories Mist is one of my favorites. I love the different looks you can achieve with it.

More Stamping with Stampsmith

Meet Maude! I am so enjoying all my new stamps from: http://stampsmith.net/. In these two photos I did a Memories Mist background. First I sprayed with a light color on the stampboard
(gold is nice.) Then I did the "drip" thing & kind of splattered a little. I put the two stampboards together & did the SMOOSH. The smoosh is rubbing the two pieces of stampboard together smearing the colors. You can see the effect better on the Bling image below as I did no additional stamping on that one. I learned this SMOOSH technique from Elaine Barr at elainebarrdesigns.blogspot.com.
Elaine is my Memories Mist Guru!

This is another new stamp from Stampsmith. This particular stamp is called "Bling." I Love her!

Image transfers with Sheer Heaven & Stampsmith rubber stamps

This is a lovely image I purchased at Flax in San Francisco. I buy almost all my decorative paper from Makin Memories Scrapbook Store in Newbury Park. Their website is http://makinmemories.org/. They get new products all the time & they have the best paper around. I transferred this image using the Sheer Heaven again right on to this gorgeous paper. I finalized it with a little rubber stamping.

This is another Stampsmith rubber stamp titled "Butterfly Kiss." It's done on stampboard with a Memories Mist background.

New Rubber Stamps from Stampsmith

I am taking a little break from image transfers & now I'm going to show off some new rubber stamps I just purchased. I saw http://stampsmith.net/ referenced on another blog & loved their stamps. I was in such a buying frenzy that I actually double ordered one stamp. Estelle at Stampsmith, who was far more on the ball than I, caught the error. I don't believe I've ever had a better buying experience. Estelle was just wonderful. I was so impressed I joined their Yahoo group also. I'm enjoying that group also. Please check out Estelle's website...as you can see below, her rubber stamps are of excellent quality & she is fabulous! Thank you, Estelle!
All pics are done on stampboard from http://stampscapes.com/
and sprayed with Memories Mist background (mixed colors) from http://amstamps.com/.



Opening Night



























The Bellydancer

Halo & Laurel

Another Sheer Heaven Transfer

This is another Sheer Heaven image transfer. I found the image on line & everything is image transferred with the exception of a little rubber stamping on the background. I transferred a free Dover design under what was her white dress so the print would peek through the image.
I used a piece of brick wall on the side & some flower petals (Lilies, I think) at the top of the picture. I'm really enjoying the transfer of several images to one background rather than just one like I've done in the past. I find myself experimenting more now. I hope you enjoy.

Sunday Morning Art

Finally, something on a bit larger scale. Some have been urging me to go larger on my transfers.
This one is 9x12 & probably my very favorite. It is such a great feeling to create something that you feel very satisfied with. I can almost always find little things I wish I had done different but this one , I was pretty darn happy with! I have been an image transferring maniac lately! I believe I could do it everyday!!

This is a little 4x6 image transfer "Bath Time" I did using Sheer Heaven paper again. For me, I just can't see messing with the gel mediums, layer after layer, when I can spritz this paper with a little alcohol & get a transfer that looks like this. I have found only one place that sells this & you can see details at: http://www.dotcalmvillage.net/cre8it/sheerheaven.html. There's so many things you can do with this stuff & the image transferring just scratches the surface. There is also a Youtube video on it also at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAbuuIzCt1w. Don't you love her little blue shoes?

Inkjet transfer of Mother Teresa using Sheer Heaven paper.

The pic is 5x7.

Waffles anyone?

Good Saturday morning! I don't usually take pictures of food but......I could not pass up this adorable little waffle. My husband just purchased this waffle iron at an antique store in Paso Robles. We will take it camping with us next month. As you can see it makes beautiful little heart shaped waffles. You just hold it over the open flame or set it on the Coleman stove. I should have added a big strawberry & a dollop of whipped cream...yum yum! Reminds me of the days (only Fridays) that my Grandmother used to make us homemade waffles topped with strawberries & whipped cream. Those were the days for sure! The best Grandma around & I still miss her!

The open iron.












Waffle Iron

A Blog Award........Lucky Me

I was very pleasantly surprised yesterday morning when I received this very nice blog award from Diana Evans. Diana is a wonderful artist & illustrator with some of her work published in Children's Literature Magazines. Please check out her blog at http://dianaevans.blogspot.com/. You won't be disappointed!Thank you so much, Diana!

I have to now pick 7 of my favourite blogs and the rules are:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog

2. Link the person you received your award from

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4.Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominatedI'm passing this award on to these wonderful and talented blog friends. My 7 picks are:

Stephi http://nightowldesigns.blogspot.com/

Lisa http://tatteredtiara.blogspot.com/

Danielle http://dansnark.blogspot.com/

Lorri http://auslorri.blogspot.com/

Marilyn http://hrt2hrt4mike.blogspot.com/

Kristy http://kristychristopherson.blogspot.com/

Karin http://creativechaos.typepad.com/creative_chaos/

New Image Transfers

This was my second free image from abovethemark.com. The image was transferred with Sheer Heaven paper. I transferred quite a few images this weekend as they seemed to be coming out pretty nice. Once I'm on a roll, I could go for days! The only extras added to this one was a little rubber stamping. Picture is 5x7.










This is an image transfer using Sheer Heaven paper that takes on a bit of a different look. I started with transferring a rock wall. Once that transferred I placed another Sheer Heaven image of a white car crashing through a blue wall.
This is my first attempt at transferring over another transferred image. Picture is 5x7.

New Collage/image transfer

This is a new collage I just completed. I am very pleased with the image on the left which is an image transfer done with Sheer Heaven (I love that stuff!!) The image was free from
http://abovethemark.com/. They have great rubber stamps as well as art tutorials & free images. I think I'm going to do one more collage with another free image from them which is a pair of hands holding a small bouquet of flowers. It's very pretty. After that, I think I'll start a book. So many cool things to do! I love retirement!