Secret German Scrap ATC Swap

I almost forgot to post a picture of this ATC that I created for a secret swap I hosted. I included the German scrap of the Victorian girl and gold trim, and the little blue English Cameo as a "thank you" for participating in my Fashion ATC or Altered House Swap in August and participants could choose to keep the gift for a later project of their own, or to create an ATC for the swap. Only a few ladies remembered to do it, but it was fun. Lori and I found the German scrap at an antique show over the summer and it was nice to see some of it put to good use.

Halloween LFB

I stopped my lesson planning for the night and took a break to create a Halloween LFB page for Tuesday's swap at Stampassion. I want to try to go with Lori because I haven't been in a few months, and even though I'm busy with school, I miss her and the other girls. It will be nice to just take a night off from reading and planning to visit and create. I hope we will be learning a new technique and playing with some fun products.

Christmas Inchie Swap

These are inchies I created for Fran's XMAS Inchie swap in the In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group. She's so clever to have us create 6 inchies and she's swapping them back and having us use three on an LFB for a swap. I'm so excited about this new twist, and my first substantial attempt at inchies. It was a ton of fun!

Halloween ATCs

These are ATCs that I made for Miriam's Halloween ATC swap for the In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group. It's outside the realm of vintage and antique-y but I think the cutesy mummy worked nicely on a little card. I pop-dotted just his hands so it would look like he's sleep walking off the paper. The bat brads and various halloween buttons accent the focal point of the mummy. This was a much needed creative break from lesson planning and research.

Butterfly Tattoo Adventure

So, my younger sisters have been bugging me forever about us going and getting a tattoo together...and since they will be moving to North Carolina in a month or so, I gave in and we made an evening of it at Saratoga Ink. Our tattoo artist, England, specializes in small detailed tattoos...so that was perfect for what we were going for. Something small, meaningful, and in my case for teaching, hideable. Elise and I went with the traditional colors of the monarch butterfly and Aly went blue to match the tattoo on her chest. They all came out gorgeous and I was impressed with the cleanliness and professionalism of the place (they changed my point of view and expectation of tattoo parlors!). We were there from 4:30-9:30 and were starving by the time we were done. We settled down to watch Twilight on DVD with some pjs and a large cheese pizza and I passed out half way through the movie. It was a long day, and painful, but I'm sure once it heals and I can admire my minature work of art, it will all be worth it.

Bees Wax Workshop

My first attempt at Bees Wax Collage on Canvas

The lovely ladies in Marilyn's Workshop
Fran, Helen, Elaine, Beth, Melanie, Miriam, Berta, Pat,
Marilyn, Matthew, Tabitha, Lori

This workshop was a much needed return to art for me. The past month I have been innudated with school work and lesson planning while student teachings, and while everyone tells me I need to take time to myself...when I get it, I just sleep or watch tv because I have no energy left for anything else. Today was wonderful. I love this group of ladies and it was an awesome time (even thought I missed Ginger and Elise (and Peggy and Donna)).

Marilyn RockS! She led our group on a journey through the "beauty of bees wax" and I got to see the magical adhesive/sealant bring our collages to life before our eyes in a process much more involved, yet much more simple than I could have imagined. I think this is something I could really get into!

Godmothers Scrapbook Layout

I created this layout for Jeff to give his Aunt Sandy as a thank you gift for letting him stay with her this weekend in Miami for the Dolphin's game. The photos were taken of her, Jeff's mom, and his cousin Sadie at Sadie's Baptism over the summer. His mom and Aunt Sandy are Sadie's godparents, so I thought the Godparent quote was sweet. I love the strips of pearls...I even used them on Sadie's baptism card.

Mixed Media Mystery Mission: Revealed

front of cigar box

inside of cigar box

inside left

inside right

back side

After several months of planning, creating, and anticipation In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group's Mystery Mission projects were revealed and exchanged last Saturday. It was a lovely afternoon spent in the basement of the Alplaus United Methodist church with our close-knit group of talented artists. We celebrated Fran's birthday with Berta's fabulous home-made yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting and Ginger's home-made decadent cheesecake. Mmm...mmm...good! We drew numbers to see whose cigar box we'd take home. These are the photos of my completed mission project.