Sally Sells Seashells...

In January I flew down to Florida to visit my son and his family. Coming from the frigid winter Chicago was enjoying  suffering through, it was heavenly. One of the best activities we shared was going shell collecting at different beaches off the Gulf Coast. As soon as I saw this one, I knew I wanted to try my hand at painting it.
At first I tried water colors, but the paint just pooled in the ridges and the smooth, non-porous surface didn't allow the colors to blend. Next I tried acrylic, and it wasn't until another artist clued me into the trick of adding a little glue into the paint was I able to get some of my colors to blend. It was still a time-consuming, teeth-gnashing effort. It doesn't have as much dimension as I would have preferred, but I still am proud of my first attempt at painting on sea shells.
So proud, in fact, that I entered it into an Art Exhibit for veterans. I don't expect to place, as there were about 20 participants in the Acrylic category (the awards ceremony is in April), and some of those canvases were masterpieces. But I am putting my artwork out there in the public eye, which for me, I would never have dreamed of showing anything to anyone other than family and friends three years ago. I'm growing...

Pop the Cork

 Sometimes you have to look for inspiration, and sometimes, it stares you right in the face. One evening I was early, picking up a to-go order at the local Olive Garden restaurant. While waiting in the bar area where my meal would come out and I would pay for it, I struck up a conversation with the bartender, a very nice man named Sergio. We talked about our dogs (mine was in the car with my daughter. While talking, I happened to see this large glass column of corks from all the wine served throughout however many months it took (it was a mammoth column).
Just before my food came out, I asked Sergio what happens  to all the corks collected in the column.When he told me they threw them out, my Muse went into hyper-drive. I explained I was a crafter and would love to take some of the corks and create some art with them. While I paid for my order, he took the column of corks and emptied most of them into a paper shopping bag (their to-go bags are not small!).

As I thanked him, he asked me what I was going to make. At the time, I had no idea, and that's what I told him. We laughed and I promised to show him something that I created. My first attempt (above) at working with cork resulted in a nice trivet, which I often use at dinner time. Although there were plastic corks mixed in with the "real" corks, I didn't think they would take the heat from any hot pans  or dishes. I used some Stickles on the edges just for a little shine.

My second cork project is the one I gave to Sergio. I found a pattern for creating a bunch of grapes and made two, one bunch of green grapes and one of purple. I added greenery and twine with which to hang the grapes. I think they look sharp, and Sergio certainly seemed impressed with them.

I still have a ton of corks, but will probably visit Sergio soon for another bag so I can build up a good-sized inventory in case I choose to take part in a craft fair this year.

Shadow Boxing

Halloween has to be my favorite holiday, and my favorite way to celebrate the day (other than pumpkin carving/decorating) is creating a Halloween Haunted House Shadow Box. Every time I visit a thrift store, I'm on the lookout for shadow boxes, or things that could be made into shadow boxes. The base shown here today was a thrift store find that cost me $1.99. It started out as a wooden silverware divider.
Turning it sideways, I was able to balance my skeleton on an abandoned skull, while juggling three smaller skulls (that would have been where I'd have put my forks). Due to my generous inheritance of crafting supplies, I now have enough tiny Halloween figures, stickers, buttons, charms, etc., to make at least a dozen or more creepy shadow boxes.
I've even started facilitating shadow box workshops at a local antique store that supports local artists. I supply all  materials and shadow boxing is a favorite workshop offered there. So I finally found a way for my passion to (help) support my art!
Below are a few shadow boxes I offered as samples for previous workshops, to inspire participants

Both shadow boxes are single compartment frames. The black framed one above features a column of giant skulls guarding the doorway into a witch's castle, with a sinister skeleton welcoming the unsuspecting visitor. The black cat should be a dead giveaway, but I watch too many horror movies...
The white framed box below features a view from the outside of both the landscape,eerily watched over by a misty skull. The view of the house foretells a witch's supernatural power over the house (the giant spiders don't help the ambiance).

:A few details about the supplies I used: the haunted house is from a Christmas clearance sale on miniatures at a Dollar store.  I painted them black and rubbed the edges with a little silver ink. The backgrounds are printed on plain print paper from websites like The Graphics Fairy.

My first Haunted Shadow Box House took me a week to finish. It was shaped like a house with a lot of little cubbies which I filled with background papers, sometimes adding cardboard to vary the depth of each cubby. It measured over 24 inches high and about 18 inches wide. I sold it to the owner of the antique store for a good price, and she brings it out every October to lure her customer into coming in and signing up for the Halloween workshops. Here's a pic:

So now you know I have a kind of creative fascination with Halloween and the macabre. I'll leave you with one last piece of holiday artwork. It's a table centerpiece for Dia de los Muertos.

 Top, and side views

Exploring New Creative Outlets

When I've snagged bits of time to relax and craft, I've been poking holes in my comfort zone. Today I wanted to show you what I'm dong with Sea Glass.

 After checking out Pinterest for inspiration, I thought I'd bring my own personality into my canvases by water coloring the backgrounds before creating a sea glass scene. Who doesn't like a starry night,right? Here's a better perspective of the artwork.

While I like my starry night, I think my favorite so far is my jelly fish below. What do you think? 

Everyone in my family has a different favorite. Here's one more, last one, I promise!

I plan on creating more. These I created with a bag of sea glass I snagged at a local thrift store a couple years ago and happened onto them while de-cluttering and organizing. Before giving the bag away, I thought I'd try my hand with them. I just bought some stones from the dollar store to see what I can make with them as well...

Carving Out Time to Create

The New Year has really brought about big changes in my life. My time is now centered around family, especially my mom. I am also paying attention to my own health and well-being, incorporating doctor visits for the both of us, errands, and more time spent together. And of course, with all this comes a major overhaul in my plans for the year ahead.

After inheriting 2 carloads of crafting supplies, I decided that less is more. My house isn't made of elastic and no matter where I stash my stuff, it takes more time looking for it than working with it. But I can't get rid of the best remedy for stress, my crafting, so I have made a mission statement for this year that incorporates all the changes I have gone through and that I need to make.

The biggest goal in my mission statement is to maintain BALANCE in my life. No one thing should overtake any other thing. For instance, I am in the midst of major de-cluttering. My craft room is becoming a guest bedroom, and my basement needs to be more than a storage place for all my craft supplies. The work I've already put in and still need to put in must be balanced with my daily workout, my obligations to my mom, my daughter and my dog, my appointments, my friendships, and my need to relax, meditate, and create. 

Which leads me to my newest artwork. I call this Create Your Own Universe, for which I created a fluid acrylic paint base. I added sea glass to recreate the formation of a new planet, and heightened the look of a "galaxy" with charms, jewels and beads.

P.S. (That inheritance I mentioned? After sorting, I ended up with 8 bags donated to a local school, 6 bags donated to a local thrift shop, 2 garbage/recycling bags full of junk, and a tidy amount of  items I could use myself.)

A CHALLENGE WITH REAL CHARACTER

The tear 2020 will  be a challenging one for me - lots of changes related to family, health, time, finances, and other essentials. I'll be looking at the year with a new perspective, open to different paths, short cuts, adventures, challenges and determined to stay focused and flexible.
I'll also be on and offline due to life playing with my plans. But I did manage to create for the Path of Positivity's first challenge of 2020. It has a lot of character, at least the optional theme of the challenge is to somehow feature one of your character traits in your artwork.
Me, I may seem to be outgoing but I've always been a homebody, or as my cousins used to put it as I was growing up, a bookworm. Give me a book and some privacy and the sky could fall down and I wouldn't notice. What kind of books do I like to read? The question should be what kind don't I like to read? I like to go to library book sales the last day when they have bag sales, where you can fill up a bag for a set amount of money. It's like getting presents at someone else's birthday party!
Then again,I am an English Major, and I love the English language. I love words, and while in college, I had wanted to become a lexicologist, traveling the country, studying how people in different sections of the USA pronounced words or used words differently.
Nowadays I just get affronted when I read a book with several typos. I mean, don't publishers have proof readers any more? I want to write an article demanding to banish the apostrophe, so everyone can relax when they can't remember if the word is "its" or "it's".
But life is too full of adventures and inspiration and love and laughter and everything, to worry about punctuation, spelling, etc.  But I still like my cuppa and a good book...or an okay book...or a magazine...you know, something to read.

So, I don't have a Kindle (gasp), I just love holding a paper book, which means I use bookmarks, so I created one using 2 images from Bugaboo called AKVB SITTING DOG TOPPER (possibly retired) and BOOK STACK. I printed them onto a piece of Decosse's Dynamite Doodles paper from the Color of the Rainbow Chevrons Paper Kit before coloring them with Copic markers.I framed the bookmark with teal cardstock, added a tab and swag at the top, and couldn't resist a small strip of tiny jewels at the bottom. Don't you wish you read real books?? .LOL

Bugaboo Stamps is one of two guest sponsors this month,along with Scribbles Designs.

• In order to be considered eligible for this month's prizes, remember that general types of  projects/posts will not qualify for the prizes UNLESS they are also positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. Prizes this month include:
• $12 gift certificate from Bugaboo Stamps, our guest sponsor for this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all qualifying entrants.
• ONE image (value of $5 or less) from Scribbles Designs, for the post or project that the team deems most inspiring of the bunch based on all qualifying entrants.
• One digital image from Creative Bug Digital SnapShots for each person chosen as a DT Delight.

A Vintage Christmas

Over at the 12 Months of Christmas, we don't wait until November or December to start making holiday cards. We make them every month. And if you make and post two cards a month, you will be entered to win sponsor prizes (and have a nice stash of cards to give out).
My card features an image from  Luna Girl, which specializes in vintage images. I chose a collage sheet of German Christmas card fronts. Now that my sister lives in Berlin, and I've met her in-laws, I will be sending cards to Europe this year. I pulled out lace, a paper doily, jewels - I hope it has a vintage look to it. I also used a paper from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles' A Touch of Frost Paper Kit as a background.
The OPTIONAL theme at the 12 Months of Christmas blog is An Old-Fashioned Christmas. If you want the chance to win this month's featured paper pack, be sure to create a card that features VINTAGE items, like your image, papers, or embellishments.
Keep in mind that you don't need to follow the twist to link up your cards and earn a free paper each month or for a chance to win a $10.00 gift voucher to the Lunagirl store. You simply need to follow the twist if you'd like a chance to win this month's featured digital paper pack, An Old Fashioned Christmas.