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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Making and Baking

It's been over a week since my last post....and I feel like I have nothing to show for it...

I haven't been "making" anything in the last week.  With Thanksgiving festivities...which included multiple stops on multiple days and Maggie being out of school all of last week...there hasn't been much time for making stuff...

But there has been plenty of excitement for the upcoming Holiday...and I realize we've been "Making Merry" :)
Which counts....or at least is the excuse I'm using for my absence...heehee!

Here's a peek at what we've been up to....

The wreath My Hubs made for his parents over a decade ago hangs on our front door...


A cute little easel displays some Seasonal colors and a Happy Snowman....


Our front room was supposed to become our Formal Diningroom...but the piano my Hubby doesn't play but won't part with is in there...and it's not a huge room......sooooo, I put up a little place in the corner that I can dress up and satisfy my "Oh what a lovely table" urges ;P


...and of course, there's our tree...


Fake this year....a pre-lit one we got as a hand-me-down from my MIL who is Christmas obsessed.  I wound in 1 long strand of colored lights thru the entire tree which gives little hints of twinkling blues and purples and reds here and there.  I like the effect :)


The one thing I made over the weekend that I enjoyed the most is this....


That's right!  Homemade Dutch Apple Pie!  This was the last piece....and I ate 5 out of the 6 pieces we cut it into.  Low carb diet? What's that?!  Haha!
Trust me...I don't eat all fancy like this everyday.....I had to remember to slip it off the paper plate I dished it up on to take the picture.  I thought I'd better prove I actually do cook before all the evidence was gone :-D

I hope you and your families are enjoying eachother....and the Holidays you celebrate together :)

Biggest Hugs and Candy Cane Kisses,
Cam

Monday, November 21, 2011

Elixir of the Gods!

....or what we, in my household, otherwise call COFFEE :)
Who am I kidding?
I'm the only one who drinks the stuff....the one who panics when the cream gets low...the one who doesn't care how loud the whirring of the bean grinder is on the weekends.....the one who devotes an entire cabinet to the storage and display of coffee and tea, mugs, sugar, filters....everything I need in one spot perched above the coffeemaker....

I LOVE coffee!!!
It is the one ritual that defines my mornings...
....even when it's 100 degrees outside...
...even when camping (I make it in a French press)...
I have to, want to, look forward to having a cup...every morning!

So when my suggestion for a theme was chosen over at Butterfly Effect this week....
You guessed it!  Coffee or Tea.
I couldn't wait to create something...
Now, I've made art about my love of Joe before...

You can read that post here...

But that was before I learned all the nifty mixed media techniques I know now....so I wanted to make something specifically for it  ;0)

Betty over at Pinkglitterfae Art gave me the idea to alter a board book...

You see, Maggie's school has been saving their damaged books for me.  I witnessed them throwing them away once and just had to come to the rescue.
Humpty Dumpty, true to his story, couldn't be put back together again...
So I used his pages as my substrate....
First sanding....

Then gessoing....
Does anyone else uses this gesso?  It is a serious upper body workout trying to squeeze this stuff out, it's soooo thick!
After it dried, I thought the shape was perfect for this!




Does it make you want a cup?  Makes me wish I had an actual cup like that!
If you want this one, it's in the shop :)

While looking for something to write on this piece, I came across some great coffee related sayings.
I might need to make more just to use them...haha!

"Coffee: Creative Lighter Fluid"
"A morning without coffee is like sleep"
"Forever....the time it takes that first pot of coffee to brew in the morning"
"Coffee smells like freshly ground Heaven"

...and my favorite by Josephine Baker,
"He was my cream, and I was his coffee -and when you poured us together it was something"

Hopefully you'll be able to link up and play along, too!
Here's wishing all my Buddies in the States have a fantastic Thanksgiving...
Have lots of pie....
...and coffee to go with it!

Hugs to all my Bloggy Friends everywhere!
Cam


Friday, November 4, 2011

Class-ic

HI there Bloggy Darlings!!

I'm super excited to be blogging again so soon....with new fun things to share!
Yesterday was a good day.
A really good day....and I'll tell you why...

I know I've mention Amy before.  She is just a really cool person, spreading art love everywhere she goes, coming up with great ideas for collaborative projects, and is offering LIVE online classes......for FREE!  Absolutely free....she invites everyone to attend...

Anyhoo...yesterday was the first time my schedule allowed me to sit in...
It was a lot of fun!  More on what we did in a sec....

Yesterday was also a good day, because Geri nominated me:
You are supposed to share 7 things about yourself that you don't think your Blog Friends know...
Hmmm...okay...let's DO this!!

So for the class, Amy showed us how to attach fabric to paper using a sewing machine.
I used muslin fabric, watercolor paper underneath and black thread...because that's what was in there already.  Here's the back of my piece to show you the randomness of my stitches.
That leads me to my first thing...

1. I'm lazy...I don't like to put too much effort into certain things, like my appearance (jeans and a t-shirt EVERYDAY....splash my face with water and now that my hair is short...a few finger rakes...and I'm fine).
...or having my home be spotless...I'll clean like a fiend when company comes over, but push the mess aside otherwise.
....or in this case, changing thread colors....I'm going to just say, I thought black would look cool instead of that I hate winding those bobbin thingys and figuring out how to rethread my needle ;P

2.  An exception to the above is a bit of craziness in me  that makes me empty out every box in the garage or hunt the aisles of a million stores.... just to find and create some  vision in my head.  I don't understand where that drive comes from....but it is exhausting, and sometimes, just not worth it in the end.  Here's an example:
I was looking for something to use in my Mad Sea Party Post
Nothing I already had would do...
...went to 5 stores looking for just the right thing
...found this mermaid
...put her in a dozen places til I settled on this candleholder perch
...took the picture
...and returned her the next day. 
Why?
Craziness, I tell you...
She's not even that cute.

Back to the class, so after we did the sewing, we started drawing....she was showing us how she paints her cats.  They are more simplistic...more stylized...I have trouble with that.
I started to sketch this guy out. 
I sewed two 5 x 7 inch pieces....so thought, to be fair to her teachings, I would try to do something looser...and not be so serious :)

3. I find it funny, that even though I like to paint fantasy and whimsy, I have such a hard time letting loose.  I tend to lose the playful quality I want to convey...and instead, get hung up on details and minutia...

So I drew out another cat...and started applying the paint until I got this little guy...
Can you see the wonderful texture of the fabric?  Amy was right...it is really, really cool!  I'm sorry these pics are a bit blurry.  It's actually raining today!  I love the rain....but, it makes the lighting not so good for photo taking :)

4. I never use an umbrella.  I don't like trying to hold them steady when the wind catches them, I don't like the fuss of having to angle it just right or walking slower so others can share it.  I think I get just as wet trying to close the thing up as I do just going where I need to go.  Besides I don't mind a little water on my face...I don't have to worry about running mascara or messing up my hair...haha!  ;P

At first, I picked browns and creams....cuz that what colors cats are, right?!  Sheesh, I'm just so darn literal!  So when Amy made hers blue...I went and grabbed some, too...and some fuschia for good measure.
Fabric really soaks up the paint, so I learned that I could use a ton of water to move the paint around.  If I used plain water on my brush, I could almost erase parts of it and add subtle highlights.
I mixed fuschia and cream for the background and enjoyed how it gave me a mottled effect :)

This class was soooo much fun!  The girls across the pond were sipping wine...and I was jonesing for one myself, but it was noon here, and I had to drive to pick up my daughter from school not long after.

5.  I am a total light weight when it comes to drinking now.  When I do drink wine, I use one of those small juice glasses..and only fill it half way.  This is enough to make me "happy"....heehee.
I used to be able to drink all my dates under the table *sigh* good times...haha!

6.  I like being good at stuff.  Not that drinking is something one should excel at....but I like surprising people by being able to do/be more than what they expect.  I'm pretty unassuming when you look at me....so I guess I leave room for lots of surprises!
I had to miss the part where she showed us how to cover it all in beeswax :(
I've seen her do it before though, she has a tutorial here...
Besides, I don't have wax or a warmer anyways..

7.  I'm a boring artist.  I use the same short list of supplies all the time.  Of course, now that I'm not working, I can't afford new ones....but, even if I had the money, probably wouldn't get anything new.  It takes me a while to venture out of my bubble and do what the other kids are doing.

Which is why I'm so glad I could be a part of this class!  I woulda never tried or even have thought of this on my own.  So thank you, Amy, for helping me to branch out a bit :D

Thanks, to Geri, too...for the award :)  I'm supposed to nominate 15 other Bloggers now...but, I'm lazy, remember, so I'm going to break the rules.  But, feel free to grab the button and share 7 things abut you if you like!

...And, of course, thank all of you for making this creative journey of mine so much more worthwhile....it is always more fun to travel with friends! 

Just, as I'm finishing this, the rain has stopped...and the clouds are parting...
That's California for ya'....see, no need to get the umbrellas out ;P

Hope your weekend is a great one!
Much paint covered love,
Cameron





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