I seem to be so inspired when I do art at other people's houses. Again, I was at Suzi's house and we were in the creative groove. Suzi made the most adorable board book. Go to her website to see her work and take her classes. You'll love everything you learn from her.

I made this piece from beginning (blank board) to completion. It's the first time I've ever collaged and painted in a grid like this. I've done smaller grids, but this was fun. I especially like the black and white check on the side. I used Golden's crackle paste, which was fun. There is a lot of paint on this board. Strangely, my least favorite colors are yellow and orange. How this ended up being those colors is crazy. It just simply evolved that way. It was fun to step out of my color box.

I'm a huge fan of many of the Stampington magazines. I was inspired to do this particular grid process by an article in this month's Somerset Studio. The artist is E'layne Koeningsberg.

"For Tomorrow and It's Needs"

I liked the first one so much that I made another one for my pig loving girlfriend Elena. This one is super grungy...but it's purple so it's all good. Now purple...I like...no I love. I really enjoyed making this painting. I added beads and ribbons to it because Elena's a princess and she needed a little bit of glitz.

Grunge Panels

Recently took a fun class at Stamping Details with Carol Murphy and created these collages. She calls them Garden Girl Grunge Panels. There were inspired by Carol's Spotlight Artist article published in Somerset Studio Gallery Summer 2007.

Soldering 101

I've been lucky to spend some quality time with my friend and teacher, Suzi Blu . Every time we get together I make something fun. She totally inspires me. This particular day, we went bead shopping at South Sun Beads, and then ended up breaking out the soldering stuff. I haven't soldered in literally over 10 years when I took a stained glass class. Needless to say, it's not like riding a bike. (Actually, I got on a bike recently and that was not an easy or pretty sight either...so I don't know where that saying came from!) It takes tons of practice. However, there's something to be said about the rough bad soldering job too. I think it looks kind of old and rustic. Suzi gave me this pretty picture and I added some beads and made it into a little wall hanging.

Beading

I really like beading and I made these jewelry pieces for my mom. It's mostly turquoise and crystal. There's an awesome bead store in No. California where she lives. It's called Talisman. I usually try to go whenever I'm up there. She picked out most of the beads herself when I was visiting her last month. I brought them home, added a few of my own beads and this is what came of it. I made necklaces long enough to go over her head, and a memory wire bracelet because she can't do clasps. It's fun and relaxing. I hope she likes them.

BirthWeek

I told Dave that I feel like I'm at the age where from now on, instead of a "Birthday", I'm going to have a "Birthweek". He said, "Does that mean I have to get you a present everyday of the week?" WELL YEAH!!! (He totally stepped right into that one.) So today he buys me this beautiful new Boise SoundDock. My birthday isn't until Friday, but OMGosh, he learns quick. Thank you baby! You're my heart.

Fourth of July Goodness

Sparkler Girl

OMGosh! I've been so busy with my Suzi Blu paintings. I created Sparkler Girl all by myself. You know how I'm always talking about my Suzi Blu classes. You really must check out her online school. She teaches us how to make pretty girls with pretty faces. It's opened a whole new creative world for me. I'm a scrapbooker, but now I can paint pretty faces and I'm making pretty paintings all the time. Her classes are so inexpensive and you absolutely get way more than your money's worth. Taking her classes have changed my creative life and given me confidence in my art. Incidentally, that's what Suzi's teachings are all about...helping you not only learn how to draw and paint, but inspiring you to know that you can do it. She is a very positive influence that you will love.

Yesterday, Suzi taught us how to do angels in a class at Stamping Details. What a wonderful class. Right after class I had to come home and look at my videos again. Oh yes, she let's you keep the videos. I don't know any other online art teacher that lets you download and keep the videos. In fact, I don't want to show you my angel yet because, after watching a couple of videos last night, I now see things that I want to redo. In fact, I think I need to touch up Sparkler Girl's eyes a little bit. Ha Ha! Woooo Suzi, I'm addicted to Petite Dolls!

Can't wait for Mermaid class. I love making pretty mermaids.

Thank you Suzi Blu for all that you do.

My First This Year

There is so much unfinished business around here that my head swims. And there, right in the middle, is my first tomato of the season. It's called Husky Red Cherry. It's so cute!

My friend Debra use to grow tomatoes all the time and when I tried, I got worms. Not this year!

This year, I have three pots of beautiful tomatoes and I can't wait to eat them and give them away.

Dad has been working in the yard lately and it's all ready for summer. Things are trimmed and cleaned up.

I love taking pictures of florals and this year, I'm going to have a couple of plants to photograph and maybe collage.