With all my heart

So Chartpak held a contest to try out their new mixed media paper and this is my entry, titled With all my heart, using some Rubbermoon stamps, StencilGirl stencil and DecoArt paints.



Even if I don't win I know I want to buy their journal mainly due to the "in and out" page feature. I mean, I love that idea. You can remove the papers and then place them back in, something I can get a lot of use out of since I have to remove the paper when I have them printed.



You can go here to see the entries, some are just fabulous and there are a couple which don't look like they used the paper that was sent to them, but maybe I am wrong. lol I'll be curious to see who wins.

Linking up to Paint Party Friday!

Seashell mermaid

Have you ever played with Grafix Shrink film? If not, you should try it, cause it's lots of fun and easy to do. So easy that you can take it with you to the beach to play with on those afternoons when the rain storms roll in across the ocean.

I had some awesome Rubbermoon stamps gifted to me recently and they were so easy to stamp on the sheets using my Stazon ink. Grafix sent me some of their new gold and silver metallic shrink film to play with. I love how shiny the colors are, my photos don't do them justice.

Next, just color them in, and I used my PITT pens, look how bright and pretty they are!

Next, you cut them out and make sure to punch holes in them if they are going to be a charms but they are also great for adhering to cards, and mixed media projects! 

My friend Bridgette found this little shell on the beach with the perfect hole at the top to hang the little mermaid charm from that I drew and shrank. I poured some DecoArt Glamour Dust into the shell and let it sit overnight to dry. Kristen has such an eye for things I never would have thought of, like using some broken shells as wings...omg, I loved that idea! I'll never look at a broken shell the same way again!

Linking up my seashell mermaid to Paint Party Friday!

View from our room.

Some of those rain clouds I was talking about, although it never did rain, it was just overcast and windy...very windy!

I don't know if you can see him but there is a small alligator tucked into those reeds. 

We had a spur of the moment mani-pedi day after brunch on Sunday. 

All smiles!

My niece who lives at the beach brought her little man up to visit his old grand aunt for the day.

Great trip: wonderful friends and family combined with some fun art,
life was fine this past week!

Etching, the problem solver

Potluck dinners, a sick or bereaving friend or church functions, those are the occasions where I bring a casserole or dessert, and then begins the fretting of getting my dish back. 

Yes, I fret.

After all, there is no such thing as Dish Karma.

 If you lose one, another doesn’t show up as a random act of dish replacement. 

The Land of Lost Pyrex is right down the street from The Land of Single Socks.

The best and easiest way to get your dish back is to etch your name a design on it.
Permanently into the glass.

Shattered Stencil designed by Lizzie Mayne

 I didn't want to etch my name into it because one day, someone might inherit my dish whether through a garage sale or through a hand me down moment so I thought I'd etch a design into the dish instead so it's more "user" friendly down the road. But you can do your name if you so desire.

The little dots are actually from the paper that I placed under the dish to get some contrast.

After etching, it's safe to wash in the dishwasher and safe to put in the oven

as long as the bakeware is intended for oven-use. 

And do etch on the outside area of any dish, just in case..

ya know what I mean.

I am sure you've gotten quite a few etching instructions along the way on the hop 

so I'll just mention a couple of things I learned along the way:

1. A painted stencil did not effect the etching at all, so you don't have to start off with a new stencil. This is a picture after the etching paste had been scraped off before washing the remainder of the paste off in the sink. And an extra tip, the spray nozzle did great for removing the paste in between small areas of the stencil design.

2. Areas on your casserole dish that have a raised area (like the name of the dish, size of the dish, etc.) won't etch quite as well because the stencil itself cannot lay flat,

 but overall I think it turned out very well.

The little dots are actually from the paper that I placed under the dish to get some contrast.

GIVEAWAY
One lucky winner will receive an etchall® Glass Etching Bee-ginner Kit,
reposition/reuse stencil spray
AND a $25 Gift Certificate to StencilGirl Products!
Enter to win by leaving a comment below.
Then be sure to visit the other blogs in the hop and comment to win.
The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN!
One winner will be chosen at random from all blog comments!
(One comment per blog please.)

You have until Tuesday, March 20th at 11:59PM Central Time to leave your comments.
Winner will be announced on
StencilGirl's Facebook page and etchall’s Facebook page on Wednesday, March 21.

Blog Hop Order:

March 14
Mary Beth Shaw
Gwen Lafleur
Mary C. Nasser
Debi Adams
Tina Walker
Cindi McGee
Nadine Carlier
Joe Rotella

March 15
Belen Sotelo
Cindy Gilstrap
Kiala Givehand
Janet Joehlin
Anita Scroggins
Erin Reed
Candy Rosenberg
Susie Bentz

March 16
Carol Baxter
Sandee Setliff ← You are here!
Louise Nelson
Terry Ricioli
Christie Troxell
Steph Ackerman
Julie McGuffee

I'm linking up the blog hop to Paint Party Friday while I have a piece of Lemon Meringue pie...
the things I do for my design team...sigh
😜

Enough

There is a difference between giving up and knowing when you have had enough.

Well, another attempting to draw 29 faces and although I still didn't make it I did get further along than normal, so I guess that's a good thing. My problem is that I get bored drawing the same subject. However, I did learn to use my IPad a little bit so that's a big plus.

23 out of 29 faces completed

Linking up to

Paint Party Friday

Happy Birthday to PPF, wow 7 years?!!

Time does fly when you're having fun!

Twice as much fun

Mail art (also known as postal art and correspondence art) is a populist artistic movement centered on sending small scale works through the postal service.

My post is up over on the Rubbermoon Artsmosphere today and I would be honored if you stopped over there and left me some love. 💗💙💚💛💜 I made a short video of me making my card and matching envelope too if you're interested in watching it. :)

I'll link to their blog once my post goes live. I'm up EARLY this morning and beat them to it, lol I mean really, who gets up this early without meaning to? Sigh, so as you can tell, not sleeping real well these days. I remember when I was young I could sleep forever, now that I'm retired I can't sleep at all! ugh!

Linking up with

Paint Party Friday

a plethora of faces

Here are my faces for February, I know a few of you asked which digital program I am using. This one is called Sketchbook. It's a free program on IPad as I'm not ready to pay for one yet although it does have upgrades that you have to pay for. Do be careful, some say they are free but after you load them you find out it's a free trial and then they want you to subscribe. I immediately delete those. Also, for those who have tried digital drawing but then gave up, I totally understand. It is all about learning something new and my only advice is to keep plugging away at it.

This is a pic heavy post but since I've actually kept up with the challenge means I have a lot of pictures to share, lol

day 9

Influenced by Kae Pea's drawing style, you will see several...

day 10

day 11

Occasionally getting inspiration from a random artist
day 12

Then back to Kae Pea's style
day 13

day 14

Then I decided to create a whimsical portrait of Kae Pea herself!

day 15

And then back to trying to draw realistic portraits
day 16

And one of pure fantasy
day 17

And back to doing realistic portraits
day 18

day 19

day 20

day 21

The first time I have missed a day!

day22

my birthday!

BTW, I am off the couch, off the crutches and doing so much better!

Linking all my faces to

Paint Party Friday!

New life

Didn't you love it as a kid? A bonifide "do over"?

Well, in art, we can also re-think our art, and breathe in some new life to it!

Sometimes, it happens while working on a piece, maybe you sleep on it over night and wake up with a different plan. Sometimes you create something and just know it wasn't your best effort, and it sits there like a big white elephant in the room, staring at you every day, thinking, 

why did she abandon me? Doesn't she love me?

Sighs the artist, yes I love you but I didn't have the time...the direction...I was lost.
until now...

I totally love the redesign, just some simple touches with paper, paint and embossing powder and it has a new life breathed into it. I love the Art Deco Alphabet stencil, very cool lettering. I felt I need to jazz up the word "ART" a little so it could hold it's own next to the sophisticated "MATTERS".

I know you can easily see that I collaged the background with text paper, but did you notice that I also added assorted papers  to the paintbrushes and a few inspiring stamped words too!

The base was really easy to create with some Van Gogh Painting washi tape which I sealed with some Deco-page paste, added some Exotic Orient washi tape to the brush, a little bit of Dresden trim and some Mirror Gold embossing powder and I love it!

And speaking of embossing powder I covered the mug completely with all sorts of different Baked Textured powders designed by Seth Apter of The Altered Page and wow, it has a lot of dimension and depth now.

And some awesome products from DecoArt which helped me to pull it all together.

Now, guess who is also feeling a bit neglected now?

Linking up to Paint Party Friday where no one feels neglected!