Stepping Into Unknown Territory

Well, I have taken the plunge. I promised myself I would sign up for an on-line class in 2009 & I finally did it. It took me until 12-30-09 to do this but I did it.
I am taking a collage class with KC Willis of http://collagecamp.ning.com/ & it is working with fabrics & apparently some sewing. That's a place I thought I would NEVER go. I really don't like sewing but I've seen so many gorgeous collages come out of KC's classes that I had to give it a shot. After all, I can't keep bleaching photographs forever, even though I love doing them. This will be very cool to try a new process & I am quite pleased with myself that I took the jump. Check out KC's site, you will love it!

Bleaching wildlife photos

I am really cleaning out my husband's photo albums! The man had a million pictures. I thought the wildlife might be a nice change. As you can see, I did before & after on the one photo. My problem is I get so anxious to start dipping the photo that I forget to photograph it before I start. I think it's very interesting to see what the photo looks like before bleaching.
I probably won't post again before new years so I want to wish you all the best in 2010. I am looking forward to another creative year with all of you!

One World One Heart Is Coming

Stay tuned....One World One Heart is coming again in January. This is a HUGE event that attracts bloggers from all over the world. I encourage any of you that haven't had a chance to participate to do so this time. It is a wonderful event that Lisa Swifka of The Whimsical Bohemian has worked very hard on since she originated in all in 2007. Check out her blog for details.
Have a great week everyone!

Altering more pictures

Good morning! Once I find a form of art that I love doing, it's hard to stop me. I could stand for HOURS playing with this photo bleaching process. I thought I would do a before & after this time to make it a bit more fun.
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Wishing all my blogging friends a very merry christmas

I am wishing you all a wonderful holiday season. I send a HUGE "thank you" for visiting my blog on a regular basis & leaving such nice comments. Your friendship means so much to me. Once again, I want express my sincere appreciation for your support during a very painful time for me this past year with losing my husband. It would have been a much tougher road without all of you!! I am extending my arms to all of you with BIG BIG HUGS!

More Bleaching Photographs

Good morning everyone! I am posting a few more pics that I ran through the bleaching process. First, I will tell you I originally saw this process in a book titled
The complete guide to altered imagery by Karen Michel. I have included a picture of this book. The process is really quite easy with the only draw back being you need to use 35mm photographs. You can't bleach an inkjet print (to my knowledge.)
You dip your photograph in clear water & then on to dipping it in a 50% water/bleach solution. You can experiment with the time you leave it in. I do it for approximately 10 seconds or so. You can put gel medium over any part of the photograph that you want to resist the bleach. Once it's dipped, you wash it off in cold water again & let it dry. I add water colors & use the Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Artists' Crayons to add additional color. Give it a try...it's so much fun!
A note on the 2nd picture of the barn....I did not use any gel medium on this one. The entire photo was dipped in the bleach solution. It just gave it a bit of a different affect. The photographs I have used I pulled from some of my hubby's old photo albums. These are all from his original pictures.

Bleaching Photographs

I am feeling so excited this weekend! My friend, Minnie came up Friday evening to do a new project with Gail & I. We pulled out a bunch of old photos & we BLEACHED them & then added watercolors & crayons for a splash of additional color. Gail did one that I was absolutely astounded by. See the picture of the bird on the scenery background. How beautiful is that?? The tipi was done by Minnie & the trolley car by me. This is the first thing I've done for a long time that has excited me like this project. I love altering photographs! I thank Minnie so much for sharing her very valuable time to teach us this wonderful process.
Happy Sunday!

Finally Doing Some Crafts Again

I finally got my hands on some crafts this weekend. Each year around Christmas, my friend, Minnie picks an art project that she shares with her friends. We gather at her home & she teaches us a new project. This year, we felted soap. Felting has never really been something I was too interested in but I really did find these to be a lot of fun.
Basically, we took the white wool & did 3 layers of that...1st layer, lay the wool (a very thin piece) horizontally, 2ND layer, a vertical pattern & 3RD layer another horizontal pattern. Lay your soap on the wool & fold it over & pat it down. I added the colored wool to the top & back side. Then you place the wrapped soap in a nylon stocking. Dip that in hot water & rub a bit until the soap starts to suds. Remove from the stocking. You will need to rub the soap for a while for the wool to adhere to it. Once it starts to stick good, rinse in cold water & place it in the sun (yes, we still have sun in our beautiful state) & let it dry. That was it!
Pictured are Gail's 4 bars on the right & mine are the 3 on the left.
A big THANK YOU to Minnie once again for sharing this new technique with us.

Look who's visiting me!

Check it out! This handsome Pug man (& his mom) are staying with me for a bit. Lucky me! I not only wake up to a house full of wonderful cats but now this wonderful little Pug (KONG) is there to greet me in the morning too. We are all having a great time together. Isn't he a beautiful boy with his very shiny black coat!!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Getting desperate to do some art

I guess you can see from this morning's post that I am feeling a little anxious to start doing some art work again. The problem is....I have to have a couple of things done to my computer & I need a couple of printers hooked up that we had to unhook a couple of months ago. Hopefully, I will get that taken care of very soon.
The picture I am posting today is a gathering of materials that we took to the hazardous waste dump last month. This was just one of approximately 5 loads that we took. When I looked at the cans sitting there...I started thinking of a picture & altering it somehow. This is what I came up with. I know, I am a bit of a weirdo but I was just aching to do something artsy! The photo was altered at Dumpr.net
Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Happy Thanksgiving & Happy Birthday To My Baby

I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. We will be celebrating with my sister & her family. It is also my son's birthday & he is turning 44years old. He is such a great, loving person & I am very proud of him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM!
Your mom loves you so very much!

Dexter & I Thank Abby Creek Art

Check this out! I received this painting yesterday from Linda at http://abbycreek-art.blogspot.com/
This is Dexter! Dexter is my 3 yr old Bengal Cat. When I saw Linda's paintings, I knew I must have one of my Bengal boy. Look at the likeness here! Dexter & I are so pleased, Linda & we thank you so much! Check out Linda's blog..she does fabulous dog art with her own gorgeous model, Miss Maise.
Happy Sunday Everyone!

Countertops Are In

Finally, my countertops are in & it is looking like a normal kitchen again. Trying to re-do my kitchen has been a real struggle. Too many decisions to make when you have no decorating sense whatsoever! Now, I have to decide what kind of backsplash to use. I was going to go with the glass mosaic tiles but now I am not sure. I also need to finish my painting. Hopefully, this will all be complete within the next couple of weeks. Next....a bedroom makeover. I expect that to be a little more fun than the kitchen & hopefully a little less money!
Happy Thursday!

Kitchen Coming Together, At Last!

Good morning to all! I've had some problems downloading pics lately & that's why it has taken so long to post some new kitchen photos. My counter tops will FINALLY be delivered tomorrow. What a long haul! You can see the before & after pics. The kitchen has not been updated in several years as you can see & it was in terrible shape. I wanted to lighten the room up a bit giving it a fresh, new look. My son & one of his friends did all the work. I am so pleased with everything except the counter top waiting. How gross was that old kitchen?? Pretty gross!
I hope you're all doing well. Have a great week!

The kittens that light up my life

Cooper, Chloe & Cosmo






Good morning! You've all heard me talk about the mama cat & kittens that we rescued a few months back. The kittens are now 8 months old & I honestly think I would be lost without these little angels. They bring so much joy to our lives & their little personalities are just amazing. I am posting a pic of the three of them looking out the front door & watching the leaves blow across the front porch. I thought this shot was adorable.
My kitchen is ripped out & the acoustic ceiling will be removed today. The cupboards should be in by the end of the week. My stove just left for ALaska yesterday as the gentleman that purchased it had some problems with the shipping company. That thing was a BEAST to move! I felt sorry for the poor guys that had the job but it's gone now. I am hoping the gentleman will send me a picture once he has it set up in his home. He has a bed & breakfast in Kodiak.
Hope you all have a great week!

Oh My, An Award for Me

Good Friday morning to all! Anyone that reads my blog has surely heard me talk about my favorite Pug blog http://tweedles-georgie.blogspot.com/. I have been fortunate enough to receive an award from my dear friends, Tweedles & her Moms. It is the Scribble award...Can you believe that??
I am so honored that Tweedles would think of me. I would like to pass this on to all my other blogging friends that give so much of themselves to make our blogging world such a WONDERFUL place! Thank you, Tweedles!

My stove is moving to Alaska!

Good morning everyone. I got up this morning feeling a twinge of sadness. I sold my Wolf stove on Ebay for local pick-up only & it was purchased by a gentleman in Alaska. He is very excited to get the stove & has hired a shipping company to pick it up today. Apparently he has a bed & breakfast there. It's so weird to get rid of things that have been a part of your life for so long. Probably sounds silly for a stove but that stove has been in my kitchen for the past 20-25 years. On the flip side, I am so happy to be getting a nice little 4 burner with one little oven that will be easy to keep clean. Tomorrow...the new cabinets arrive. I am very excited about that.
Have a wonderful week everyone!

Hello again!

WOW! I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. I am still quite busy with everything but art work. I am still trying to be creative even though I am concentrating on other things. I have been working extremely hard around the house.
My friend has been here from Texas for the past 6 weeks helping me out. She has been a tremendous help to me. I purchased some new den furniture along with some new curtains etc. I am posting a picture of that this morning. As you will see, my baby Dexter is loving my new chair. He thinks it was purchased just for him!
Next week...we rip out the old kitchen...what a job that will be. My new cupboards arrive Wednesday & I am off to buy all new appliances this week. It's been a long time coming but I am making progress. It helps a lot to keep busy but I am still trying to adjust to all the changes in my life.
Thanks to all of you that have hung in there with me.

Happy Monday!

I am posting a couple of things this morning. One is a spider web that I thought was beautiful. I don't know what kind of spider this belongs to but I loved the lacey look.
The 2nd pic is yet another journal page. I think I am just about out of journal pages now so I guess it's time to get to work.
Here's hoping you all have a wonderful, productive week!

Happy Tuesday!

Good morning to you all! I have to take a moment to thank so many of you for checking in on me. My blogging friends are truly an amazing group of people.
So much love & kindness sent my way....I am beside myself with gratitude to all of you.
I am trying to keep some posting going on here but it gets a bit difficult with so many other things to do. I am posting art that was done almost two months ago. I am hoping by the time I get through my journal posts, I will be doing some more actual artwork again.
I hope you all have a wonderful week. I am ready for fall!

Journal page

Good Monday morning to all of you! I am posting a journal page I did a while back. I have a few that I had not posted yet so that helps me out until I have a little time to spend doing some art. This was done using some collage sheets from Teesha Moore.
I hope you all have a great week!

Good Morning, Kitten Update & Thank You

Good morning to all my blogging friends!
I want to thank all of you for your notes, prayers & kind thoughts. These are the things that have gotten me through this horrible time in my life. I am so grateful for all of you!
I am posting a pic of the kittens this morning. It was taken just last week. They are 6 months old now. Look at those precious little faces.....how could that not bring a smile to one's face?? On the other hand...they are wild little kittens but we are loving them so much.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend coming up & thank you all again!!

A current update

Hello to all my friends!
I am going to slowly ease my way back to my blog & art work.I will briefly explain my absence (with a great deal of difficulty) but I do want to explain a bit.
I lost my husband 2 weeks ago in a fall. We were married for 38 years & together for 42 years. Needless to say....I am devastated but I am getting by. I have a WONDERFUL family & amazing friends that are certainly helping me through. I will be extremely busy as my husband was a lover of life & many hobbies. I'll have many things to go through but my sister insists I take time out for some art & fun. I know my husband would want that too. I thank you all for your kind thoughts & I will try & post some art next week.

Some time away.

I've had a family emergency come up so I will be signing off for
a little while. I hope to be back soon.

New Journal Pages for Gail & Diane

Yesterday Gail & I spent a little time working on our journals. I am posting a pic from each one. I would love for Gail to start a blog but I think she enjoys looking at everyone's work but doesn't necessarily want to maintain her own blog. She's become good friends with all my blogging friends & I am so happy about that. You can see from the pic I posted that my sister is a very talented woman. I love having her back in California so we can have all this fun together.
Today we are heading to the County Fair.
Happy Thursday!


Gail's journal page




This is my journal page

New Journal Class with Minnie

Good morning everyone! Yesterday Gail told me I was "slacking" on my blog...can you imagine? She's right! I need to get with it!
This past weekend Gail & I drove to our friend Minnie's house & she taught us a journal class. She had taken her class with Teesha Moore a few months ago. Anyone that knows Tracy & Teesha knows they are the king & queen of journaling. Minnie's journal was simply over the top! How stupid I didn't photograph it.
Minnie is a wonderful instructor & had all sorts of Teesha collage sheets among other great things for us to use.The class was a blast! I can hardly put my journal down. I want to work on it constantly. One of the best things about it is.............I actually WROTE in the journal! I bought gel pens & went for it. I was terrified to touch the pen to my picture..but I did it! This is my first completed page! It is 8x11 inches. There is more to come!