MERRY Christmas and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you. I hope that you are all well. Have to share with you this hydrangea bloom with our new fallen snow on it. Nothing sweeter than waking up to a White Christmas in KENTUCKY. It has been 8 years since we have had a white christmas. LOVE it.

Well I found a website that you all probably know about called Picasa.com. That allowed me to put Paige's name on her wallets and we got them today. They are so cool with her name on them and look like they came from a professional photographer without spending $500.00. She didn't want the grad year on them - she said that was old school.

Learning about different applications like Pacasa to put some cool effects on Paige's pictures. I love the name on it. Should I put 2011 or not? That is the question....What is in style these days???

Oh my I'm tired. I took Paige's senior pictures today. It was fun. I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY. It helps too when you have a beautiful subject. I know I'm prejudice. She got tired on me. We only took 299 pictures. What is wrong with that girl. Can't believe she is graduating - I am going to cry now......

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

I hope you all have a goulish time. This is a piece I made last year for Halloween.

It's painted on wood.

My BEZELS are finished.

Well I LOVE THEM. I patina'd them and then poured my resin tonight. So now they are asleep under a box top and I will awaken them when I get home from work tomorrow. Not sure if I put enough in to DOME the resin - I was afraid it would run out and I didn't want a big mess. Well I am excited to make more - sometime. I have to get my classes together for Autumn Artiscape in 2 weeks.

Do you want to make these Bezels??? Well check out Deryn Mentock's or Sharon Tomlinson's blog and they will direct you there.

A Really FUN workshop On-line!

A really great on-line class with Deryn Mentock and Sharon Tomlinson called "Of Towers & Turrets." We first did painting with Sharon and now I am learning more about metal and especially bezels. I can't wait to soldering them and FILL them with resin. That is next week though. I am not very good with rivets yet so I need to practice. I know though that my soldering experience has helped me though. I will get a picture up of my painting later.

ART UNRAVELED......held in an OVEN. LOL

Well I am back from AU. The talent that this retreats holds is amazing. The teachers AND the students. Thank you to ALL my students for signing up for class. My classes went GREAT and from the response from students I think they were all happy. At least I hope everyone enjoyed their time in my classes.

As far as PHOENIX goes....well let me just say I need color in my life other than brown. IT WAS like we were walking around ON FIRE. One day it was 112 degrees. OMG right? Would never want to live there because of the heat. Well I am from Kentucky and will stay. I was thinking that we were there during their WINTER season really. Everything ugly and dead. But the people were very nice and their was PLENTY of shopping to do. Went to Sedona one day...what a difference in temperature. Wow.

I took the Glass Journal class from Thomas Ashman. My sister and I were very excited to actually be taking a class. When you teach you don't get to take many classes and I was long overdue. We really enjoyed our day and came away with an awesome book. Here are some pictures for you. I am ready to make more. The construction was mind boggling. How this man came up with this binding is mind boggling to me. The only thing I would have changed is I wish I would have had paste papers for the inside of my book.

Look what the mailman brought me.....

BIRTHDAY PRESENT!!!! Birthday Present!!!! Before I left for Art Unraveled the mailman brought me an absolutely beautiful handmade book. (I have just now found the time to pay my respects.) MADE by the one and only Pat Pleacher. Pat was my first book teacher. She is awesome....go see for yourself here. I LOVE MY BOOK - just love it. After you see it you will understand why. Oh by the way....I love to fish and all my girlfriends know it. So that is why it has that theme. THANK YOU PAT - U ROC girl. You also made me cry alligator happy tears.

Oh Marie Marie where shall we go?

Marie A. ----It's time to FLY!!! On an airplane that is....to PHOENIX that is for Art Unraveled (click here) (AU is what the veterans call it). I hope she will like it in my carry on bag. It will be dark in there, but I think she is use to that by now. Oh My - did I just say that. She was such a joy to make tonight. Now on to make some more. WHO needs sleep? Not me.....I'm a soldering machine. That's what happens when you sleep in to 11 am. You can't go to sleep at night. DUH!!! This is a fabulous image from Land of Enchantment on Etsy. She has wonderful images and is allowing me to bring some for my students to play with at AU. Thanks girlfriend!!! Hope I did her justice. I got kinda carried away with the wire embellishments! HA!

It's MY BIRTHDAY - AGAIN......where did the year go?

Below is the center of the card that POPS open - isn't she fabulous.

I can't believe it has been a year. A whole year. Where did the time go. IT FLEW BY. BUT.....I can always count on my friends to help me through these birthdays that I hate so much. But thanks to my many friends on facebook wishing me happy birthday to my best friend and family calling and singing to me on the phone to getting beautiful ART from my great friend Ms. Gaye. IT IS a wonderful card/book (above) - all about little ole me. It is made of her paste papers and she is the QUEEN of stamping. She is so clever and the best book/card maker I have ever known. Tomorrow night.....drum roll please...... CAKE!!!!!!

ONE....uno....une... month from now I will be in Arizona. I am excited and nervous. I'm not happy with planes. Soooo......I will just have to pay attention to my daughters, my sister, my mom and my niece. That will be enough of a distraction don't you think? They are all going with me and we are all looking forward to this trip. Not only about me teaching but also about the festivities. Fa la la la laaaa la la la la. It's also about me being with my sister and niece that I haven't seen in two years. SEEMS like forever. After I teach early in the week we are taking a class on Friday called Glass Journal. Totally psyched about that one.

To see more about Art Unraveled - click here! Also the shopping extravaganza on Saturday - WOW - I am so stoked about that too. Now the decision comes do I mail all my supplies or take them on the plane. Nervous about that one too. Since there are so many of us going we will have plenty of suitcases cuz Southwest lets you have 2 - yes 2 at no charge. Another good thing - it is a STRAIGHT FLIGHT. So there won't be the chance of them losing them - just need to make sure we get there early enough so the luggage gets on the plane. Ya know. Do I sound NERRRRVVVVOOOOUUUUSSSSS - well yes I am. I think I need a drink. HA!

Hydrangea time!

Here is my Hydrangea bush that is huge. It is a nikko blue - but it has all the colors. I LOVE HIM. I think it loves where it is located - what do you think. I am showing you the hideous air conditioning unit so you can see how BIG my bush is. Oh that didn't sound right. oops!

DID YOU GO AND EXPERIENCE IT???

I have to say again - that the lighting bugs are out of sight. They are simply amazing. Even my oldest daughter said she has never seen them like this before. I wish someone would explain it to me. Also the crescent moon (or at least I think it is a crescent???) is beautiful tonight along with the big dipper. What truly amazes me is how even YOU can see it wherever you are. My sister who is in Cape Cod can see it. That suck freaks me out. OKAY - DID YOU GO EXPERIENCE THIS WONDERFUL PART OF OUR WORLD???

LightNing Bugs Oh MY!!!

I DARE you to go outside tonight around 10pm here in Kentucky in your backyard and just sit and watch. The LIGHTNING BUGS are out of this world. I have never seen this many. I don't know if it is the rain or how the weather has been going but they are just OUT OF THIS WORLD. Never thought I would feel that way about a lightning bug. But I think I am in love. They are so magnificent if you really think about how they beam that light. There were tons of them outside tonight and we just sat and watched and it was like a strobe light audition. Some people call them fireflies. I have always called them Lightnin' bugs. When I was little we caught them every night and put them in a jar and it would GLOW. So coooool.

TRY IT one night = I dare you!!!! Let me know how it goes. Mother Nature is a beautiful thing. ENJOY!!!! Click HERE to enjoy a warm-up.

WICKED

HAVE YOU SEEN IT? What an amazing show and I wasn't expecting funny - but it really was very funny. Paige and I went this past week. Part of my Mother's Day gift. How sweet of my little sweet girl. If you ever have a chance to go see it - YOU WON'T regret it. It is truly entertaining and the music is out of this world. Of course, Paige had the soundtrack before we went so we have been listening to it - my favorite song is "Defying Gravity." I think the cast touring now are way better than the soundtrack though. go here and sneak a peak WICKED the musical. Donna Vivino (as Elphaba-green witch) and her singing "Defying Gravity" , but I couldn't find anything for Chandra Lee Schwartz (Glinda).

Pretty in Pink

Loooook at the eyes on this fly/bee whatever it is. So cool. Don't you just love macro on your camera?
What a nice little fly/bee or whatever he is to land on my rose at a perfect time. Makes it so much more interesting huh?

PRETTY in Pink!!! and when you stand next to them the smell is amazing. Their beauty makes you realize how wonderful mother nature is. How something so small can make you feel so good. I just had to share their beauty. Thanks Pop for my roses. (He doesn't even have a computer but I have to thank him everytime I enjoy them.)

Fresh from the flower garden!!!

The knockout roses in my backyard are going crazy. I also have 2 light pink rose bushes. All of these were graciously given to me by my step dad who slips roses and each year has about 100 of them. He shares!!! Like that man a lot. He has a big heart. I thought they would make a perfect background for my art. No photoshop here - just holding the pendant over the rose and SNAP a picture is made. This one will is up in my ETSY shop along with a couple of others.

The Kentucky Derby has come and gone.

Sad that the time is just FLYING BY. Can't believe it. But I did have to share a Derby Hat with you. WOW huh? The architecture is so wonderful. The best thing about Derby around my house is the DERBY PIE that we make - oh yummy yummy. Might as well just slap it on my thighs.

Great place to buy and see the COOOLest art and materials!!!

If you are looking for some of the coolest stuff to buy to make your art. You have to go over to Small Studio Productions ran by Ginny Carter and her hubby. (Look to the right for the site - I am still learning how to add it here.) They are also putting on some wonderful workshops this year if you are interested. I really really really want to go in November to play and take Lynn Perella's classes. But any of the workshops would be great - they are the coolest.

What I got at Artiscape/Ohio.

I saw over on Pat Pleacher's blog...Art Kerfuffle that she took a picture of what Gaye brought her back from Artiscape so I thought I would take a picture of what I got/bought.

I am into birds right now. I love everything that is birds. Marianna Larew from Warren, Ohio, of vintagearabesque.blogspot.com gave me a wonderful collage pack you see here on the left. I stopped by Stamp Your Art Out in Ohio on the way back and got the Tim Holtz mask letters and the 1 inch stamps. I got the stencil and the fantastic shoe size tags from Mike and Chris Meador of Coffee Break Designs. The little silver heart is from Carol Kimbal who teaches silver clay at Artiscape. Love everything that I bought. It was plenty for me. That is my new philosophy - I have to be in love with it to buy it because otherwise I buy wayyyyyyy tooooo much and never have time to use it. I didn't spend a ton either.

Artiscape comes to an end.

Below are the cutest flip flops in the world. Aren't they just adorable. Thanks Beth for making them so fast - we loved wearing them. She is so talented.

These were of course bumper stickers and the car was from California. I loved them all - thought you might enjoy a laugh too.

I can't believe it is over. That Artiscape has come and gone so quickly. It is such a well organized event. I had a good time and I want to thank my assistant "Vanna" for all her hard work. Thanks baby girl. Also a big THANK YOU TO all my students and friends who signed up for my classes. You sure know how to make a teacher/friend feel good. You are all so talented it was a pleasure being with you this past weekend. Here are a few pics from the weekend of fun. Now I need a week of napping and a call to the doctor for some silvadeen for my burn on my arm. Remember - don't lay your wrist on the soldering iron - it will burn the tar out of you.

SOLD OUT Classes at Artiscape next week.

I am excited that both my classes sold out at Artiscape. Thanks to everyone who signed up. We are going to have so much fun.

Have you all seen "Alice in Wonderland"....well we did. My oldest wanted to go for her birthday. But she had to draw her favorite guy who is plastered all over her room...yes...Johnny Depp. I think she did a pretty good job. Don't you. She can draw - I am still trying. It was a good movie. Totally a Tim Burton take on it though.

AND the bottle cap - so darn cute!!! If you know Jennifer - you know that bottle caps are her favorites. It was wrapped in this cool fabric.