Randomly speaking

Save a life at the Click of a button--

My dear  friend and fellow artist Bernie who runs A Place to Bark is in the running for the Chase Giving contest. The winning prize is for 100 charities and they will split $3M. Wow! That could go a long way to saving so many animals from death row and that's why we want her to win this amazing opportunity! Bernie is soooo incredibly passionate about her work....But we only have FOUR DAYS to get the word out. She needs votes!

Please CLICK THIS LINK and then go and vote! Then tell all your friends! Post on Facebook, Twitter and email your friends too!

Because of the recession this year has been very difficult for a lot of charities and A Place to Bark is not excluded. Time and time again Bernie has come so near to having to close and stop taking in dogs. But she forges on, with her own money and funds and the kindness of vets allowing her to carry a VERY LARGE medical bill balance.

With this money A Place to Bark would be able to pay off all the debt, and save SO MANY MORE lives!! This needs to happen. So please help us spread the word!! ONLY FOUR DAYS LEFT!

p.s.-----thank you Claudine Helmuth for letting my borrow your blog post to help Bernie out.....she is an angel on earth!

My fingers are full of paint....as it should be.

 

I spent my morning working with Luminarte Silks and Twinkling H2O's again....these products work so well together....like PB&J, cookies and milk, ham and chees....you get the picture. I made a couple of new videos the first was a step 2 of sorts to yesterdays video about using the Silks as a way to create resist. 

and the second video is about painting with Silks on Fabric, its just a quickie...super basic just to get a couple of points across.

hope these get you a bit inspired...ready to try some new things and as always....be creative in all you do

i am sure i will post again soon

 

Enabler Alert---AKA a new you tube video

 Philippa....you asked and you shall recieve along with every one else.

A first of many "Silks" Video for you. I am so enamored by this product! its like puppy love, love at first sight....twitterpation at its finest.

of course no post would be complete without a few samples.... and ATC using the technique from the video.

a couple more samples from the video....

You can order silks here.... (my inner enabler is coming out!)

 

I am off to play a bit more...perhaps another artist trading card or two.

ITS BRAND SPANKIN new!!!! SILKS by LUMINARTE!

Introducing SILKS....by LuminArte

This is a truly innovative new paint product....a semi gloss, glaze infused with mica, and the most incredible pigments ever. They are so amazing in person i want to LICK them....

I had to break them out and play....Silks are a waterbased acrylic so they make for a great resist. Using my handy dandy stencil brush, a couple really pretty CI stencils i was set to play. To start i put a bit of the silks on my teflon matt....that way i am able to remove the excess and spread the silks out to a smooth even layer....

holding my stencil brush at a perfect 90 degree angle and with a light pouncing motion i applied the paint over the stencils

you can see that the Silks are a bit transparent if you do a light coat and can be a bit more opaque with heavier layers or several layers.

love how easily silks blend together for a million different colors.

 

now that the stenciled background is dry...i can paint over it with my trusty Twinking H2O's....the Silks create a resist so that the twinks only color the white space...not the Silks.

can you say....DELISH!

i love the bits of writing behind the butterflies....

layer up the twinkling H2O's for a wonderful depth of color.

Silks are available NOW on the Check Out the Dreaming In Color Website....run, dont walk....get some to add into your holiday craft projects....you will love them more than chocolate. 

 

Jumpstart your Art!!!!

I've been having way to much fun lately....creating jumpstarts for your art. Yes....i did say your art (insert huge happy grin here) I travel and teach quite a bit and i am always talking about art journals, mixed media, collage etc.  The most common response i have heard was...."I dont know where to start" or "I would love to have a background i can run with" so here is the first in a series of (goodness knows how many) 

everything in the backgrounds are truly vintage...no reproductions, no digital prints

white space on pages are gesso layers waiting for your journaling or painting

this one has a Sherlock Holmes page---i love mysteries!

this one has a bit of my new french finds from an estate sale i went to yesterday

check them out on ETSY here....  let me know what you think or what you'd like to see

" Caged Grace" is finished!!!!

I like found words...."elementary truths"....so many ways to think about this statement

more found words

I added a bit of sewn ruffle made from vintage dress pattern tissue (going to be selling ruffle by the yard)

and added beads for feet and a bit of  Luminarte Radiant Rain  to finish it off... super happy with it (honestly i am going to hae a hard time selling her, but i think she needs to fly off and inspire some one, her ETSY listing is here)....I think i am going to make a series of them!

I made a birdcage for etsy

its still in process....but dang I think its so cool i had to share now!

started with some gesso a book cover and some wire

then i cut words from books....and covered them in a layer of modge podge

put the butterfly in the middle....she is made of feathers and landed in my collection years ago....

used the strips of words as part of the cage "wire"....those blobs of white are blobs of matte Modge Podge drying....making the strips more secure and thicker so that they are less delicate.

I will take more pictures as I finish the cage up tonight....

I also need to name it....any suggestions?

New Etsy Listings....feeling a bit motivated these days

I have been in a funk for a while now and my coping skill has always been to create. For some reason in the last few months, my creative self has been under the weather....the good news is. The urge is coming back and my fingers are feeling the love again. 

my sewing machine has become my new friend again....dang it feels good to lose myself in art. This piece was sooo much fun to make and is for sale on etsy

i cannot tell you how much fun this one was to create....i embraced my inner bad girl and created a piece that has a bit of a scandalous feel to it....you can see the etsy listing here

you know me....I always need a little Skully love and i thought this was even a tad humorous with the title "Return to Sender"...makes you think a bit about what happens after life....

this one was a bit hard to photograph since I used a lot of Luminarte and sometimes the mica is a bit hard to catch just right. Sophia was my inspiration for this one....she recently chose a religion to be baptized into and has really seemed to have found inner peace and comfort unlike i have ever seen her experience...This is listed here.

I have a several other goodies in my ETSY store that i have been working on lately...perhaps if i have time i will post them here as well.