A Creative Imaginations ATC Raffle

Well, before I talk about this artwork, I'd like to say "Happy Thanksgiving!" to those of you who live in the States.  Be thankful for what you have.  I know, sometimes it's difficult to not think of the things that aren't "right", when you're trying to think of the things that are.  But, it's so important to focus on the things that you love about your life!!  What you focus on g-r-o-w-s!!  So, whatever you want more of... focus on that!  Do you want more chaos, sadness and grief in your life?  Then, by all means, focus on that!  Because that's what that will get you.  If you don't want any of that, don't focus on it.  Don't talk about it; don't blog, incessantly, about it.  Give your attention to the positive things!  And, be grateful, each and every day!  Some time in your day - in the morning, which would be a great way to start your day - or, in the evening, which would be a wonderful way to go to sleep - write down five things that you're grateful for.  Think of those things during your day.  Dwell on those things... not all the not-so-good things that are going on in your life!

OK... stepping off my soapbox now.  :)

So, I've had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with my family.  All four of our kids were with us, which is a rarity these days!  The oldest was there, with her boyfriend - they've been together for three years, but he'd never had Thanksgiving Dinner with us before.  So, that was nice.  Our older son's girlfriend was there, too - that was also nice.  We had a wonderful dinner, played a couple of games and had a nice visit.  I have much to be thankful for, that's for sure!!

OK... so, about these ATC's.  Creative Imaginations is hosting an ATC Raffle.  They have a line called Luminarte  - various kinds of paints, in bottles with dauber-tops, sprays, little pots of shimmering watercolors, called "Twinkling H2O's".  All great products!  If you go to the Creative Imaginations website, they'll tell you all about the raffle.  Your ATC is your raffle ticket, which could win you Luminarte paints and "Luminarte Friendly" products.  So, I put the background down on this "sun and moon" one first.  But, I actually finished the "autumn greetings" one, first.  For the sun and moon, I put down, with the dauber-top Radiant Rain Color Concentrate (which is a watercolor/acrylic paint blend), some Hot Cinnamon and Mallard.  This was done on glossy paper, cut to the size of the ATC.  (always 2.5 x 3.5")  I wasn't sure I liked what it looked like.... so, I sprayed on some of the Shimmering Mist (Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist) in the Ginger Peach color.  I started liking it at that point.  :)  Then, I saw that I had some of the color, in puddles, on my craft-mat, so I took a pre-made ATC, made for acrylics, and put that, face-down, swirling it all around the puddles of color.  That's how I got the background for the "autumn" one.  I continued with the autumn one and got it finished.  I just now came back to the "sun and moon" one to finish it up.  I stamped the sun and moon stamp, with Jet Black Staz-On ink.  Then, I used an acrylic flourish stamp, with some VersaMark watermark (clear) on it and stamped over at the left....kind of around the black stamped image.  Then, I used True Blue Pearl-Ex pigment powder, by Jacquard) (I LOVE pearl powders!!) over that flourish.  I heat-set that, by misting it with water in a mini-mister (a Ranger product by Tim Holtz) and dried it with my heat gun.  I then took a couple of pieces of Tim Holtz' tissue tape (I'm pretty sure mine is the Nostalgic set, but I'm not sure - I threw away the packaging!) and laid those cross-wise, how you see them.  Photos just don't do these kinds of things justice... you kind of lose some of the shimmer.... or brilliance... of the whole thing.  Oh, well. 

Oh, the other cool thing about entering that ATC raffle is that your work could be included in their travelling exhibit!  How cool would that be??  I'm only making two, but I'm doing it because I've been in ATC-making mode, anyway, and it's good practice.  It also makes you do things that you might not get around to doing when you have a dead-line!  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Creating!

       ~ Teri

Playing with alochol inks

Here's a little piece I just spent the last hour and a half on.  What fun!  This was my first time of really playing with alochol inks.  I layed down the inks (from Tim Holtz' Ranger line) and then started doodling over them with a few gel pens.  Those inks are *so* cool!!  I can't say enough good things about Tim Holtz' products!!  My first love, of his products, was the Distress Inks...these are the second.  I did this on a glossy, 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.  I layed some ink down and then used the Alcohol Blending Solution - putting it onto the same piece of felt that had the inks on it - and patted it around a little more.  Fun, fun!!  I'm looking forward to getting some clear, plastic or

acetate pieces and playing around with the inks on those.  I'll let you know how it goes!  For now, it's bed-time!!

Ciao!

   ~  Teri

I'm not sure how I missed this little guy... I made him two years ago, and, somehow, he never made it to my blog!  His name is Ollie.  That was a friend's idea... I'm not sure why.  But, it's a cute name, so I stuck with it.  :)  The pattern came out of Martha Stewart's Living magazine.  I know, it's a little early for Christmas stuff... well, not if you're making things, but for general decoration.  I like to enjoy the beautiful colors of Fall before we jump into Christmas.  We already have some Christmas lights up downtown!  They're beautiful, don't get me wrong... but, already???  Really??

Wow....it's shaping up to be a gorgeous, sunny day!!  Cool, but sunny!  Yay!!

I hope it's a beautiful day where you are!

       ~  Teri

Surrender to What Sets Your Heart Free - latest mixed-media art

Hi!

Just a quick "Hello!" and post, to show you my latest piece of mixed-media art.  It's for a friend... I'm pretty sure she doesn't look at my blog much, so I'm hoping she won't see it before I give it to her!  :)

It was fun to do, although I always come to a point where I'm like a deer in the headlights!  I need to do some art-exercises, to get over that.  Choose a time where I won't get interrupted; I can't allow myself to stop... just go, go, go..until it's finished!  Otherwise, I get too "in my head" about it... and our muses can't work through us if we're doing that.

There's an exercise in the book, Kaleidoscope, by Suzanne Simanaitis, (who runs artitudezine.com) where you get all of the supplies out that they tell you you'll need and for each step ~ you set a timer; when that timer goes off, you move on!  You don't really *have* time to think too much!  You're also not allowed to read ahead, before you begin the project.  :)  I haven't done it, yet, but it's one that's definitely on my "Art-To-Do-Soon" list!

I had the background of this piece done fairly quickly....then, I put it away and had to think about it for a while.... for, oh, about two months!!  I was afraid to go on for fear of messing up my background that I loved so much.  (That's the part that I need to get over!) 

(Any tips or suggestions for working past the deer-in-the-headlights thing would be greatly appreciated!)

Thanks for looking and, please, oh, please, if you stop by, please leave a quick comment!  :)

Thanks!!

     ~ Teri

ATC Swap

These are ATC's that I just made for a swap that I'm participating in.  ATC's are Artist Trading Cards.  People trade them, sort of like baseball cards.  Only prettier.  :)  They are the size of a standard playing card, 2.5 x 3.5".  They are supposed to be traded, never sold.  :)

I'd never done one before.  The third one down, in fact, Music Makes the Heart Light, is the first one I'd ever done.  Some people think they're too small to work with.... too confining... they like a big page or canvas to work on.  Others love this little size, because it's less intimidating....not so much space to fill.  I can see both points.  Probably depends on your mood at the time!  :)  This last two weeks, for me, these have been the perfect size.  It does mean having smaller images on hand ("inchies" work well) or being able to print out images that you love - in a smaller format.

This "Boo to You!" one was made for my friend, Jana, who is hosting the swap.  It's up to her to gather them, spread them all out and randomly choose (without looking at the images) however many (if you put in two, you get two back; four, you get four back, etc.......)  for each participant and get them all mailed back to each person in a timely fashion.  I knew that Jana had originally wanted the theme to be Halloween, but we realized we'd run out of time... by the time people got them done and mailed to her, Halloween would be long-gone.  So, then, we decided to make the theme "open"... so, you could do anything you wanted!  But, I knew that Jana wanted Halloween ones, but also Thanksgiving ones... so, I did one of each for her, because I couldn't decide!  :)

I tried some new background techniques on these.  Another great thing about the smaller size.... it's not too much of an investment - either financially, physically or emotionally - because the area is so small!  That's not to say that it didn't still take a lot of time.  I'm not quick about these things.  Of course, I have other things I'm doing in my life, but even when I carve out time to do art and don't have too many interruptions... I only get one done a day...maybe the start of a second one.  But, I never got two completed in a day.

Anyway, they were loads of fun to do... I look forward to doing more!

I hope you enjoy looking at them!

Happy Fall and Happy Halloween!!

      ~   Teri

My own book - Victoriana

This is my own book, which five other people worked in. I did these three things - the title page, the sign-in page and the tags and then sent it off. It went to Oregon (about 15 miles from me), Western Canada, Arkansas, Minnesota and Maryland. It was so fun to participate in...what a journey, for my book and myself.

This first picture is the title page. Now that I have it back, I want to add more to that spread. I also still have to do the front/back covers.

This is the sign-in page. The dark-brown paper creates pockets, for the sign-in tags to go into.

These are the tags. Each participant signs one.... their name, where they live and the date is appreciated, but people can do whatever they choose.

Some people sent a little "gift" to the next person who they were sending the book to....that was fun, too. I got several little packets of goodies, because I was the hostess of the Round-Robin.

Now, a different group, that includes some of the same people, are working on an ATC swap. ATC's are Artist Trading Cards. They're always 2.5 x 3.5" and they are never to be sold...only traded. They're just a little piece of art. Here's a great site that has three pages of ATC's, so you can see what I'm talking about. Be sure to look at all three pages! Incredible work here!!
http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/atcnov03.html

I'll be doing the swap, so that means I need to make two ATC's, to swap... and one for the hostess. I'll post those after the swap is over, so the participants don't accidentally see them ahead of time.

Happy creating!

~ Teri

"The Beach".... my first Round-Robin book!

This was the first Round-Robin book that I did. The theme was There's No Place Like Home. I immediately thought of "the beach". I grew up on the beach.... I mean, I lived one mile from the beach, so I spent a lot of time there! The beach culture is completely different than anywhere else. Especially the culture in Santa Cruz, which is where I was.

I found that sweet scrapbook paper with the little huts, surfboards, guitars and bikes and just knew I had to use it in this spread! I loved the colors and the look of it. So, I used it to start from....chose my colors of paint accordingly. I made a little pocket out of it, where I put an accordion-style folded paper, talking about where I grew up and why I chose the beach. Then, I added those beads.

Such a creative process doing this kind of art!

Enjoy!

~ Teri