WIP

The last few weeks have been trying, hellish even. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in forever. I can't remember the last time I did. Rick is out of town and it's me and the dudes. We've been sick, up in the middle of the night, up against deadlines... blah, blah, blah...

The mini pictures above are for the Cabinet of Curiosities prompt COLLECTION. I have been creating jewelry for almost 10 years now. I have quite a collection of beads, semi-precious stones, charms, vintage beads, crystals, buttons and anything I could think to attach to a necklace. I used to be a hoarder, "Oh, I can't use that it's too nice." Then I realized when will I ever enjoy it? My collection is kinda out of control, but I love it. Rick was posing the "what if" we had to abandon our home and had a few hours to pack our car. I told him our kids and dogs would all be sitting comfortably on top of my fabric stash and the beads would be shoved in all the nooks and crannies in the car. I'm in the process of cleaning out the craft/office/guest/junk room. All my beads are already color coordinated, but I can't wait for them to have a home besides baggies in boxes.

The other artwork is the beginning of the INSPIRE prompt. I took one of my son't water color pieces and scanned it. I printed it up and matted it on top of some aqua cardstock. Next I used my favorite new Sakura gel pens (souffle and glaze) and doodled away. I was planning to collage on top of this with images and words I printed on vellum. I think I'm going to cut up the paper and make a banner with this.

Without Further Ado..

Yes, it's about darn time. Please accept my apologies. My hubby's on a TDY (temporary duty assignment) for the next 2 months and everything happened, of course. Both boys were sick, I was sick, and I couldn't keep up with everything I needed to do. I couldn't even find the snow shovel! Oh well, I didn't have to shovel! Tia, I'm emailing you right now for your address. Thanks to my wonderful assistant, Brandon. He was so darn excited to pick the winner.

heART Giveaway

Here are a few more pages from the journal. It's getting a little thick, but I've had so much fun. I'll be picking the winer tomorrow with the help of my mini-artist Brandon. Thanks for visiting.

Valentines LOVE

Here's my gift to one lucky winner that will be drawn on Valentines Day. Check out the wonderful story of how this all began on zUzU's blog. Just make a comment in this entry and my little guy will help me pick the winner. I made it from one of the mini compostion books I bought at Staples. The cover is above. My blog is called Creative Rants and since it is an artists journal, I thought it was appropriate.

The guts are from Keri Smith's blog. Check it out, she's got tons of creative stuff on it. There are all sorts of exercises to help you when you're in a rut, had a bad artists day or just need a little nudge. I found Keri's blog through Gina's blog, Joyful Purpose. Also another blog to check out. I get so inspired looking at Gina's work. It's absolutely beautiful.

I cut the cards out and put them in the book with embelishments. There are places for you to journal and additional places for you to decorate. Embelish away!! I'm not completely done with it, but I wanted to get the contest posted.

I can't believe I'm even doing this. I'm such a new artist to collaging and I have a little bit of fear putting this out there. I was like that for awhile with my jewelry. I have always had a dream of selling my jewelry and I'm finally taking the necessary steps with the help of my life coach. I am just really appreciative for all the artists in the blogging community and their generosity. It's contagious.

New Goodies

Okay, I'm an addict. I had 2 - 50% off coupons to AC Moore and I went shopping (as if you couldn't tell.) My big purchases were the Souffle markers and the Sharpie fine point markers. Oh, I'm in love.

I love the cheapo stuff (Alright and the not so cheapo stuff. That's what coupons are for!) I got this cute pink flocked bear, heart on a stick (or skewer through a heart depending on how you celebrate Valentines day), paint dish, the roll of ribbons below and the 2 adorable mini-composition books for next to nothing. I already have plans for the composition books. I'm joining in on the love and giving away a piece of my heART. I decided to join in after seeing Miss ZuZu's blog. What a wonderful gesture from everyone. I got such a lovely comment from her as well. I'm really new to the blog world and it's been wonderful "meeting" such talented people from everywhere.

I'll announce the details and post a pic of the journal tonight or tomorrow.

Our first REAL snow!

I've been weather channel deprived this week. I woke up Monday morning and checked the weather forcast on my phone. Yes, lame but I used to stick my hand outside the front door to check the temperature. I was totally surprised when I read 8. I was thinking 8 what, no way it's gonna be 8 degrees for the low and 16 for the high. Well, it was. With the wind chill it felt like -3 at one point.

Next I wake up to the weirdest noise this morning. It sounded like someone was power washing their vinyl siding. No, my neighbor was shoveling his driveway. I thought great it would snow heavily enough for shoveling and Rick is out of town. I finally get out of bed because I actually have places to be and the driveway needed to be cleared. I ended up getting out of the menial labor because I couldn't find the shovel. I didn't need the weed wacker, light bulb changer, rake, attractor (that's a story in itself). Who knows where we've buried the shovel. Anyways we got the real powdery looks like glitter stuff today :)