Michelangelo-Creation of Adam

I have long loved Michelangelo's piece "Creation of Adam." I was so excited to see that I Brake For Stamps now has a stamp of them in the Stampinback line :) I did a great background several days ago called "Salty Glimmers" from the latest Technique Junkies newsletter and had to let it air dry. I used Color Mist Sprays and rock salt :)

Its a fun technique and they always come out different-and I love that! Around the image of the hands I dry brushed a little bit of white gesso-its not all that easy to see in the scan though. The paper underneath the hand is french text and I used a graphite pencil to draw lines through the text then brushed on some gesso to make the text more subtle.

Stamps used are:

Michelangelo 6

Holly's Tattered Background

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Art Journal Play day

I have been aching to get out all my supplies and just PLAY. I have not gotten my hands in paint in much too long. Its cheap therapy and soooooooo soothing. Now that Christmas is out of the way and the kids are occupied with their new toys, I got to dig out my supplies, crank up 80's music and mess around.

Supplies used:

Hand-carved leaf stamp (pictured)

Gesso

Acrylics

ink jet photo of tree brushed with light coats gesso

Stabilo pencil

Cemetary Angel from Collagestuff.com

Distress ink (Peeled paint)

As I was working on this it needed something around the edges to finish it off and bring everything together. I rummaged through my old hand-carved stamps (I have hundreds) that I did many moons ago and it just spoke to me. Its amazing to me how it pulled everything together so nicely. I stamped it in Gesso then let dry. I then added ink because it was just too white and it needed a light color. I went around it with the Stabilo pencil.

Ordered the Grand Calibur

So I have been eyeing the new Spellbinders Grand Calibur since it came out. With Gift Cards and money from Xmas I bit the bullet and ordered it this morning :) Should be fun. There is so much I love about it, and I know I will put it to good use. I LOVE that you can put a whole sheet of paper in there without cutting it down, so I can cut more at one time if I wanted.

Anyone else own one?

Michelangelo Images

I didn't think I would actually get ANY time at all for some creative fun, but I told my kids to go out in play (in the rain) and leave me alone for a while :)

Anyway-I have been dying to play with some new Michelangelo images from I Brake For Stamps. I used a new technique from the most recent TJ Newsletter under the Michelangelo image called "Texture Plate Smoosh" using Fiskars texture plates.

Images used:

Michelangelo 3

X-Large Leaf Flourish

Freddie Frog Scrabble Charm

I had the idea to use a digital image on a scrabble tile and it worked out just great!

This is Freddie the Frog Prince sized down to fit on the scrabble tile and painted in with watercolor pencils. I added some Stickles Glitter Glue to add sparkle to his crown.

My daughter has been eyeing this one, so I will probably give it to her :)

Digital image is from I Brake For Digis

Pinecone Collage

I actually did this over the weekend, but due to losing my dog I just was NOT in the mood to blog :(

Anyway, I did this for my Secret Santa person. I love how realistic this pinecone image is on the Pinecone Collage stamp from I Brake For Stamps :) Because I LOVE texture, I added a piece of burlap behind my main image.

Scrabble Tile Necklace Charms

A Few weeks ago I shared a part of a table that my friend had at a community craft fair-and I was selling some Scrabble tile necklaces. They got great response, and my friend asked me to do some for her family members as Xmas Gifts. She got me photos of family members for me to do them-the ones I had at the craft fair were not of photos, but of print paper and other images.

I think these came out really cute!

RIP Xena

My sweet German Shepherd, Xena, had to be put down last Friday. It came very suddenly when my son found her in a place out in our yard that was not her usual spot. She had a hard time moving and just was not herself. She looked at me with very sad eyes like "Let me go" that night. We waited to see how she was the next day and she was about the same. I had to help her get up some steps and then into the car-I knew there was something wrong since she could not do it herself. As I was helping her I felt her underside and found a lump. She had multiple tumors and a very large (almost football size) tumor of the spleen. It was the most difficult decision ever to put her down, but I did not want to see my girl suffer. It is not the same anymore looking outside and not seeing her near the door wagging her tail. My son says he does not like going back there anymore. My poor little Shih-tzu is depressed too. We miss her terribly.

Reflections of the past week

I have gone through a range of emotions this past week. Let me first say, that I have a very heavy, full plate. No one , even family members, know truly what we deal with from day to day.
Some days are extremely trying and exhausting. Some days I don't pick up the phone (it takes energy). I wear MANY hats. My husband also. We do the best we can to help others-sometimes there are things that are just out of our reach for our circumstances. But that does not mean we don't care! This past week my heart was torn in a hundred (or more)pieces. I don't know if I will ever recover. But I know I need to forgive. I have made a pact some months ago to surround myself with positive. I NEED to. I have done well the past couple months, despite our obstacles. My daughter feeds off emotion. Even though she doesn't understand it necessarily, she is very intuitive. This week has thrown her off completely I think because she can feel the heartache I experienced. I am grateful so much for those wonderful friends (and they know who they are *wink*) who understand my circumstances, and love us even if I don't feel like picking up the phone (and trust me, this past year has far been the worst). Friends who know we are good people, and do the best we can. I have to say, despite my circumstances, I do pretty well. Much better than some people could. I wasn't always that way. It has come through life experience, and most importantly, maturity. I once used to get mad & upset over petty things, and things beyond other's control. I have learned so much over the years. I have learned you truly cannot judge another unless you have walked in their shoes. NO matter what. I think life is just way too short to be upset over small things (or circumstances that cannot be helped). I used to hear people say that all the time, and never took it too serious. But now I know, it is true. So with that, I let things go. But at the same time, I will not be walked on. In life, we are only required to do our best, and that is just what I will do.
(photo is a journal page I did a couple years ago, and the broken heart truly went with how I have felt this week)

Advent Calendar

I was itching to get an Advent Calendar then I thought....hmmmmmmmmmm, bet I can make one! So I went on a search to find some ideas and happened upon one on the Design sponge blog here. She used envelopes that have an open end-but I tried to use what I have on hand (see photo with this post) and I had the standard envelopes. She kept hers white, and while they looked absolutely great, I wanted more :) What I did was I stamped these marvelous collage images from I Brake For Stamps onto the standard emvelopes that were all closed shut (had to stamp all 4 images 6 times each onto the envelopes). After I stamped the images, I trimmed off the tops. This made filling them super easy. I thought the numbers on the same Design Sponge Post went so nicely with these collage images I printed them up and attached them to the envelopes. They needed a finishing touch so I added some Distress ink (Brushed Corduroy) to the edges. All we had to do was fill 'em , and attach them to some twine with clothes pins :)

Easy and fun, and using mostly stuff we already have-doesn't get any better than that! :)