Howl"ing" at the Moon!!

Yes!

I've been invited back to ONE LITTLE SPARK in Little Egg Harbor, NJ to teach Halloween goodies again!  It sounds like a JAM PACKED weekend of fun! Read all about it here! 

I'll be teaching 2 classes on Sunday, Oct,7th.

Class #1 - Dark Shadows - Where we'll do some great backgrounds with the usual grungy twist.

Class #2 - Reliquary - we'll make a cute little album in an altered tin.

And of course, Friday night and Saturday, Heather will be teach her usual CAS with a twist cards, treat ideas, and party decorations.

Saturday night, Heather and I will be tag teaming some Make 'n' Takes at the Howl at the Moon party.

If you're in the area I hope you'll join us.

Happy Birthday Scott

I need a quick masculine birthday card.

So I pulled out this DaVinci Man stamp. It had never seen ink...it was due!

Stamped on Stampin Up! old speckled vanilla with Coffee Archival.  The sentiment comes from a Christie Tomlinson set.

Happy Birthday Scott!  I hope it made it in time!

Rebirth: Everything Happens for a Reason

To paraphrase Dickens, "this is a tale of two canvases..."

All year I've been taking Donna Downey's CANVAS CREATE classes. It's a different canvas and technique each month. I've really enjoyed getting out of my rut and trying new things.

This is the finished piece.
The photo below is where I started.

Donna's May canvas was done on a black canvas. And I tried twice to get the technique to work for me, but never liked the results. After the third try, I decided to give up and used another technique of Donna's to use up the paint in the palette cups. (There's a video on her blog, but I can't find it...)

When I finished this version my thought was....'THIS LOOKS LIKE A FOREST FIRE."

Then the Waldo Canyon fire had me evacuating...UGH!

Coming home again, I stared at that "forest fire" canvas for a long time and kept thinking I should just throw it away.  Then I decided to redo the canvas and create something I liked.

I started with modeling paste.  (Have I told you that I'm addicted to modeling paste now???)

And watercolor pastels, sprays, and Inca Gold.  IN LOTS OF LAYERS.  When I got to this point I didn't know where to go.  In the end I glued a flower bunch on the canvas that pulled all the cool colors together.

"Everything Happens for a Reason".

Yes. I believe that!

Laura Evylin Cinefro!

I have a new grand-niece!

Introducing Laura Evlyin Cinefro!
Born June 26, 2012

She's named after my sister, Laura Ann. And her great-great grandmother, Ruth Evylin and mother, Jessica Evylin. I love that Jess and Nate followed OLD Norwegian tradition naming children after their grandparents. (Ever wonder why there were so many Ole Olson's in the world?? grin)

I wanted to make a WELCOME BABY card that was an expression of me. I think the paper is a My Mind's Eye Valentine paper. But who said Valentine paper was just for Valentine's Day? The Red Lead faerie was stamped over the word LOVE. "WELCOME BABY" is from a PaperTrey Ink set.  I did a quick watercolor for her dress and used a glitter pen over her wings.

Of course big brother, Julian, who isn't quite 2yrs old yet also needed a card.  This little turtle from Inky Antics caught my eye.

Because he has a fun pop-up shell in the middle.

The Copics I used to color the turtle.

Getting Ready...

So, the first step in getting the basement finished, otherwise known as, the "mancave with girlie parts", is to CLEAN OUT THE BASEMENT.

Which I actually did over Memorial Day weekend. But a few things have delayed the start - fire, family reunion/vacation, family visiting, delays with the bank loan, you name it! Meanwhile, my house as been a mess (it looks like I'm moving with the boxes and stuff out of place).

THE GOOD NEWS IS THEY FINALLY STARTED YESTERDAY!!!

The future 3rd bathroom.

The future 3rd bedroom.  Or for me an office.  Notice that pole in the middle of the room?  Step one is moving that to the left about 1.5 ft.  Yesterday they jackhammered thru the floor to pour a new footer.

Standing in the craft room looking into the mancave section (where the BIG TV will be).

And standing in the mancave looking towards the craft room!

MORE SOON!

Sing Your Song

Unruly PaperArts has a Yahoo Group that has monthly swaps. I decided to join the "nature" swap. In this swap you create your art piece and post a picture to the group page. The hostess then assigns swap partners and you send your ATC directly to the new owner.  (BRILLIANT!)  So much faster than sending it to hostess, who sorts it out, and then returns it to you.

My little ATC here was the lone entry in NATURE. So I swapped with the lone entry in another category.  And got two back!

Thanks Shar!!

Wildfire Relief - Waldo Canyon

If you're interested in helping the victims and firefighters of the Colorado Springs/Waldo Canyon Fire, here's a great way!

Here's the link: WILD FIRE TEES.  All proceeds go to those that lost houses and/or firefighters!