A is for ABC Book

I decided to make an ABC book for my very bright son, Larry. I wanted to use items he recognizes and words he knows to support his rather extensive vocabulary, which, at 14 months, is about 50 spoken words and growing every day! In fact, in the last week, he spoke his first sentences (as opposed to single words): "Mama up!" and "Want down." Also this week at his grandmother's house, twice he counted "1 - 2" for the first time out loud while playing by himself and with no coaching involved. I'm so proud of that boy!

Larry Gene for President!

Ha! This is too funny!

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Americana the beautiful

Chunky page art for a swap I'm hosting in my LetterHeads group. Theme: Americana.

No digital work here, all collage, glue, pen-and-ink drawing, wire, chalk, a few artsy stickers, some button embellishments.


Both the pink tag background in the first chunky page and the American flag tag wedged in the wire house on the second chunky are hand drawn.

Vintage Halloween (Monte)

Monte whipped out another set of ATCs, this time with the theme of "Vintage Halloween." These cards aren't due until October, but they were so fun, he's way ahead!
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Monte started making ATCs with me about a year or so ago and has been making them every now and then since then. I asked him why he enjoys making these little artist trading cards, and this was his reply:
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"It's fun to create and I love being with my wife. It's a connection to (her). And I like to create. ATCs are instant gratification. You get to create something and see it immediately, not over a long period of time."

What a sweetie!
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Gypsy Soul

Postcard I made for Go Make Something's Make It Mondays challenge this week.

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Italy. On their terms

Postcard I made for Go Make Something's Make It Mondays challenge this week. The theme? Italy!

Aw shucks!!!

Got a shout-out from one of my favorites artists and instructors, Lisa Vollrath, who picked me and one of my ATCs as the featured Make It Mondays artist on her blog this week! Thanks Lisa!

Check out Lisa's blog post here.

And the rest of her site here:

HOW TO MAKE THE FAIRY WINGS

I've had several requests for instructions on how I made the wings in the above ATC. It's a fun technique. The wings are made from a colorful napkin, applied with a decoupage and collage gel to an ATC base.

• First, peel all the layers from your napkin, leaving only the thin, top printed layer. Position your napkin over the top of your ATC base (in the area where the wings will be). Use a thin, watery type of gel adhesive that freely slides and glides over your napkin without tearing it. I used a decoupage and collage gel from Artsy Collage, but I'm not sure they make it any more.

• Use your finger to smooth the gel all over your napkin onto your ATC base. Gently rub the napkin to smooth out the wrinkles. The napkin should sort-of melt into the ATC base. Don't press too hard or over-rub, as your napkin might tear. A few wrinkles are fine! Set aside to dry.

• Take your fairy picture, already cut to size to completely fit over your ATC base, and hand-draw your wings with pencil. Cut out the wings with a razor blade so you have the main picture with a hole wear the wings should be. I then use a silver or gold metallic pen to outline the wing area on the main picture. Glue the fairy over the dried napkin base.

Life takes Visa

My "Wish" postcard from my LetterHeads group, had to mail 08/08/08. I did a riff on debt with my wish spelled out on the back side. Sent this postcard to five people.

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Identified Flying Baby (Monte)

My dear husband, Monte, gets back in the game
with this set of Artist Trading Cards. The theme
was Mysteries of the Deep and Daddy couldn't
resist dressing up Larry Gene in some mysterious
gear and floating him Out There among the planets!
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Journal page: First words

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Larry has been amazing us so much with his verbal abilities. He's like a sponge. He wants to know the name of everything. But even beyond that, he "gets it." He'll turn around and blow us away by using a new word in complete context, and often days later. We couldn't be more proud. I wanted to capture some of that awe in my art journal.

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The colors of summer

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My chunky page in a monthly swap hosted by yours truly. This theme was to incorporate the colors of summer, using pastels and vivids that make you feel the season.

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This Wordle's for you!

Click on image to enlarge at Wordle site

Thanks to Lisa Vollrath at GoMakeSomething.com, I am now a Wordle fan! The site explains Wordle as a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. You can type in the words, or provide a link to a blog or Web site. What a great idea for art backgrounds! My cloud here is from my blog. Wordle says the images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

BINGO! ATC swap

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Someone was holding a BINGO artist trading card swap

in one of my groups and I couldn't resist. Whipped these

out tonight, combo of Photoshop and cut-n-glue collage.

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The organizer

I found this dusty rose and black art organizer

bag at a scrapbook shop last summer and salivated

over it until my mom offered to get it for my birthday. It's made by Tote*Ally. I love this thing. It has so many pockets and compartments, I can tote just about anything to my art group.

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For the basics, I always take my scissors, glue, ruler

pens and X-acto knife. I'm one of those people who

prefer the razor knife to scissors. Then,

depending on the project we're planning to do,

I'll add ephemera, tins of embellishments and

scrap paper. I mean, you never know, right?

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However, if it's too big or too much to fit in the

tote, it doesn't go with me.

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Vintage quilted art on canvas

My scanner cut off the edges a bit, but this is more or less the entire piece. This is a fabric collage that I hand-stitched onto a 9x12 canvas, with some edges hanging. The image, from the Queen's Dresser Drawers, was screenprinted on muslin and colored by me with Tombow pens dilutable and blendable with water. I love the vintage look, so I ransacked the Queen's fabric stash for rustic-looking fabrics. The doilies and fabric tape measure added an authentic vintage touch. I antiqued the bright muslin a bit with a chalk pad.
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I made this crazy-quilt collage over the weekend at an art gathering here in my town. What a sublime treat it was to rub shoulders with fellow altered artists for a few hours and create something yummy like this. I haven't been to the Queen's house for an art workshop in about a year because my son was so little and it was hard to be apart from him. Now Larry's getting older and more independent and I felt more at ease escaping for a few hours to create some art.
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Journal page: A year of smiles

(click on image to enlarge)

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Another journal page celebrating my son, Larry, and the joy I experience being his mother.

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It wasn't hard finding pictures of him smiling -- he began in earnest at about 6 weeks old and hasn't stopped since -- and these 40 pictures start with the very first time I captured him laughing on camera at 7 weeks old and continue throughout his entire first year.

The last picture was taken a week or so ago.

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First journal page: Light of my life

I love the idea of art journals, and there are so many good ones out there, but for some reason, I've always been reluctant to jump in. I have plenty of ideas, but I think I didn't want the pressure of committing to journaling (especially since I write all day). I decided to give it a shot after realizing that, hey, I didn't have to write a book or a startling revelation every time. I've always wanted, however, to celebrate the joyful and emotional experience of motherhood through my art somehow, so here's my first shot at both.

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Hot Mona

Mona is prepared for summer. Original digital art by me

for a "Seasons of Mona" swap. Can you guess

what her tattoo means?

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