Million Dollar Friend Award

WOW, The million dollar friend award!
I have been fortunate enough to receive this very nice award from Brenda at: http://memoriesandtreasures.blogspot.com/.
Brenda has been a good friend, popping in & checking out my blog.
Brenda does beautiful work so please check out her blog.
Thanks so much, Brenda! I am to pass this on to 4 blogs & visit regularly & 1 new blog. It's extremely difficult when you look at so many beautiful blogs every day. I'm going to TRY & spread the wealth around & not give this to the same people over & over. I have selected the following blogs:
Anne at http://bullesdorees.blogspot.com/ Jaw dropping beauty.
Nicki at http://nickileigh.blogspot.com/ Fabulous bath & body products
Melissa at http://pugnotes.blogspot.com/ Wonderful Pug/ animal art
Diana at http://dianaevans.blogspot.com/ Diana is an artist/illustrator doing amazing work
The newest blog I've been following is:
Jennifer at http://artisticallydesigneddiversions.blogspot.com/ LOVE her ATC's

Congratulations to all!

Promoting the work of others

I entered a contest last night on Jennifer's blog at http://artisticallydesigneddiversions.blogspot.com/. Jennifer is a part of the Stampsmith Yahoo group that I belong to also. She's a California girl & I'm always excited to meet someone from my home state. When I was looking through Jen's beautiful blog I noticed a link she referenced for another wonderful blog that also offered FREE images. It's not too common to see this so I jumped right over there. I am so glad I did!
The blog belongs to Gaby at: http://gaby-cajubrasil.blogspot.com/. She is a fiber & mixed media artist from Brazil & extremely generous with her images. This is just one of about 8 collage sheets that I saved. Check out both of these blogs...you're in for a treat!


Check this out! Stunning or what?? I was making my morning run through my favorite blogs & stumbled across this etsy shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=35796. Her name is Julie & her work is fabulous!
Please check out her beautiful items.

New image transfers to canvas using TAP by Lesley RIley

Lesley Riley who heads up the ink jet yahoo group has developed a new transfer paper called Transfer Artist Paper (TAP). I tried it on some canvas bags & was very pleased with the results. You can find more info on this paper at http://transferartist.com/. I find this paper to work best on fabric (at least canvas, anyway.) TAP will give you a nice bright, vivid transfer whereas Sheer Heaven is a little softer look. I love them both. TAP is a simple iron-on. There is no gel medium involved.....hooray!!! No little crumbs of white paper to wash away. No mess!
I will try it on some paper next. Have a wonderful weekend!

CELEBRATION!!!!

Well, we are celebrating at my my house. My sweet little Quincy, whom is pictured here, has FINALLY received a good report from the vet! Quincy was diagnosed with Diabetes about three months ago. We've had a terrible time trying to get his blood sugar regulated. He's gone from the upper 400's to a 128 reading this week. I just knew he was better as he looked so much brighter than he'd been for a while. He also complained in the car on the way to the vet's office & he's normally very quiet when he's not feeling well. We are so happy! He is 13 years old & we've had him since he was about 5 months old. His owner dumped him & his mother in a parking lot....What a gal, huh! Need I say...I have no use for an individual that would do something like that! We love this sweet boy very much!

New picture

Good Sunday morning! I'm still playing with texture & paint rather than my all paper backgrounds. This pic is 6x9 inches. I also did some experimenting with stamping Sheer Heaven & transferring the stamped image. It works quite well for borders or background. Reading a post on my inkjet transfer group today gave me the idea to try some more Lazertran paper. I really didn't care that much for it when I tried the first time but sometimes when you go back it's a different story. I'm going to give it another shot. I am heading out for a street faire in Thousand Oaks this morning. That should be fun. Have a great day!

I guess I've been slacking a bit lately. I have a couple of things to cover. First off, is this lovely jewelry that I purchased from Vicki at: http://vickiorion.blogspot.com/ & etsy at:http://vickiorion.etsy.com . I love these pieces. I told Vicki I wear the earrings daily. They just go with everything. Check out Vicki's stuff.
My next purchase was from Nicki Leigh at: http://nickileigh.blogspot.com/ who makes her own products. I bought this moisturizing lotion bar that you hold in your hand for a moment until it softens enough to spread around. I had never seen this before. It softens immediately & OMG...the wonderful smell is amazing! Thank You Vicki & Nicki!
Last thing I want to mention is.... The Technique Junkies at:
http://www.techniquejunkies.com/. I saw reference to them on Kathy Eddy's blog at http://kmeddy.blogspot.com/. The technique junkies have numerous tutorials that you can purchase. Needless to say, I couldn't let that one go by. Pat at Technique Junkies was extremely helpful & now I'm all set to go!

I wasn't going to post today but since I discovered this new blog link this morning I had to write a short note about it. It's called http://thesecretisinthesauce.blogspot.com/. This is a blogging community dedicated to supporting one another by leaving comments on your blog, a lot of comments! Please check it out & join in. When I peeked this morning I found over 300 blogs listed! They feature different blogs also & give away prizes. How much fun will this be?

New Transfer to Tissue Type Paper

Good Monday morning! Unfortunately, we are experiencing some pretty heavy duty winds this morning & there's a fire burning out of control. Seems like every time the wind blows in Southern California, we go through this. Today is pretty bad as I've seen several structures & automobiles burn already. Glad I live in the flat lands & not backed up to some brush covered mountain. On to more pleasant thoughts........I had to do at least one more (HA! like I would stop with one!) transfer to wipe that last one I posted from my mind. I just couldn't get comfy with that one.
This is a transfer to a tissue type paper (maybe mulberry) I am not really sure. Because of the texture of the paper it lays beautifully over a textured background. I played some more with my molding paste & some Lumiere acrylic paints. The transfer was done with Sheer Heaven & I am pretty pleased with this one. Used the thick canvas & not the flat. It has a gold border & is 6x8 inches.

New Transfer on Textured Background

Well....This did not turn out to be one of my favorites but.......it is fun to do something a bit different. This is actually a transfer over another transfer. The basic transfer was a photo shot from my upstairs deck directly into the sun. I was harassing my brother about living in Washington & never seeing sun. I shot the sun pic as a reminder for him of what the sun actually looks like. It was an odd but pretty nice picture. I played with it in photoshop tweaking the colors & effect a bit. I overlaid the mother & child directly into the sun itself. I did this on freezer paper that I did a little light background stamping on. Would you believe me if I told you I crinkled the paper before placing it on the canvas? Well, I can't lie! I had a heck of a time getting that freezer paper to stay down! I finally had to use stick glue & then polymer medium around the edges. The final touch...Golden Brand Metallic Gold Glaze. I love this stuff! Once I brushed that on every little wrinkle imaginable raised their ugly little heads! Once it dried I worked it & worked it to try & get it to lay flat. No luck! I guess you can't expect something to lay flat when it's placed on top of texture. After looking at it a while, it's starting to look a little better to me.

Texture Time

It seems like all my work is so FLAT. I like the smooth look but would also like to get some texture going on. This is my first attempt at using some molding paste & rubber stamps to achieve that look. Once everything dried I added the acrylic paint. All my supplies were Golden products. I will try to finish this off in the next few days & hopefully I will be pleased with the end result.

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!