The present was an egg

Perched on a Frail Branch

Well, it's all I can do right now to just create a teeny tiny bit of art. And late at that... this is for a nature journal swap (due December 1, darn it). And oh boy am I super rusty. It took two attempts to get a page I was happy with. I think my creative pipes are all clogged up with process flows and template guidance and backlog ranking. Don't ask.

Still creating... a little bit

This is a 4 x 4 inch nature journal book page for a swap. Still not much time for creating around here because Miss Harper and I are prepping for a two week trek across the country. We'll wave at you all as we fly/drive by!

Progress!

I'm making art! YAY!

I made some good progress last night on the design for the 4x4 pages for the fatbook project I'm participating in for Artfest 2010. The theme is fairy tales. Once I get something finished, then I'll have to make 53 of them!

Here's the front (not the blue/green background part).
I kept it very simple because...If you pull on the bird, then a tag comes out.

Here's the back of the tag...Now I have to work on the back of the page. I'm thinking about making little mini books that have the Princess and the Pea story. I'll have to make a prototype to see if making 53 of those little suckers is reasonable. :)

I need an art fix.

Desperately. We've been so busy with life and vacation and travel and work and baby and surviving, that there hasn't been enough time.

I have plenty of ideas stored up, just not enough hours in the day. Oh, and did I mention that when it's colder and the sun goes down much too early, I feel like hibernating? The forecast for more hours in the day is not bright and sunny.

Hopefully I'll have something to show soon. I have a nature swap page to do, a steampunk page to do, 53 fatbook pages for Artfest to do, and 100 of something to trade at Artfest to do too. Plenty of things on the horizon.

Eggs

This may have better been titled "Rusty". It's been such a long time since I sat down to really make something that I realized quickly that I'm very out of practice. While I like this piece, there are about a million things I'd do differently if I were to remake it (which I may).

I was having trouble getting motivated, so I started by cleaning my desk. I'm not one of those people who can work in a space that is just too messy. I can handle kind of messy, but when I only have about a 12 inch by 12 inch space left to work in, I start to feel claustrophobic. Once the desk was cleaned off, I still didn't have a plan. I looked through a list of proverbs which is always a good starting point. I found a few that looked interesting, but I thought I'd do a Collage Play with Crowabout challenge to get me warmed up. It turned out that I needed all the help I could get because I spent the next two hours struggling with patience and just basic technique. In the end, what you see above was the result.

Oh, and if anyone is wondering why there's only one egg when the text on the collage says eggs, well, I just have the one sweet precious little egg at the moment. I could have added the other eggs that are still sitting on my desk, but just the one makes me happy for now.

Steampunk Swap

I just finished up Corrie's pages for the Steampunk Journal swap. I hope she likes them! The one above is an extra transparent page for the front using a packing tape transfer of an old dictionary page. It's sideways because Blogger is crazy. The rest of the photos are in the group Flickr site where you can see them in the proper orientation.

P.S. If anyone sees the Motivation Fairy, could you send her to my house? She's evidently been busy elsewhere for the last month or so. Ok, in reality, life has been kind of busy - especially at work. But I could still use a sprinkling of Get Movin' Dust towards an art project or twelve.

I *think* I'm finished

I think I'm finished with Sandy's pages for the steampunk journal swap, but you just never know. There's still open space that's screaming at me to be filled with stamping or doodling or something, but I'm waiting until the light of day to see if I think it's necessary.

What I'm Workin' On

Working on journal pages for a steampunk journal swap. These pages are for Sandy's amazing journal that you can see photos of at her blog! Just trying to decide what I want to write on them and add some more details.
These are some tags I included with my journal for the swap participants. I don't think I published this photo before... just found it when I was looking through some files. And THIS is my ridiculously large collection of yellow paint. It actually doesn't look like as much in the photo as it does in person. Who needs this many tubes of yellow paint?!? I'm still working on that owl I posted about a few days ago, and I went digging through my paint for all the yellows. They made up about a fourth of all of my paints! Crazy.

Yippee!!!

My Artfest registration is in the mail! Yippee!!!!!! The whole thing just sets my mind to whirling. I printed out my top pick classes last night and was poring over them. I'm definitely going to need more than one suitcase for all the supplies. Who needs to bring clothes anyway?!

I've been waiting...

And waiting and waiting to show you what this big black board turned into! And here it is! There are a few finishing touches (including attaching it to the wall), but I just couldn't wait any longer to show you my "little" project. It's four feet wide by four feet tall, and it weighs about 40 pounds. The last touch planned for the moment is to put these cute little white knobs all along the front of the bottom board. There's been a slight delay while we hunt for longer screws.

It was a lot of work, but in the end, I think it was worth it!

Check Out This Sweetness!

Dear Blog Readers (all three or four of you),

You just have to check out this most fabulous and generous artist - Cindy of Yapping Cat Studios. I received my Etsy order from her yesterday, and it's all so fabulous and full of sweet surprises that I can hardly stand it!

Can you even see all the treasures? I hope you can click on the photo to see it larger. I ordered some cute ribbons, and Cindy packaged them on these amazingly adorable tags that she made. And the journal... I could go on and on for days about the Sweet Life journal I bought from her. It's so intricate, so well made, and has so many extra details. It's SOOOOO fabulous!

AND, an extra CONGRATULATIONS to Cindy for being published in Better Homes and Gardens special Holiday Crafts edition. Visit her blog to see her adorable creations!

Cindy's blog: http://yappingcatstudio.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Cindy's Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=64688

Cute or Ugly?

Maybe ugly is a strong word. My little wire doodle cage from last night is sitting offsides now, and I'm trying to decide if I want to keep it or squish it.

So, what do you think? A Keeper? Or Totally Squishable? [Really I'm fine either way at this point, so be honest.]

[Edited] Votes So Far:
Keeper - 1 (Suggestions: A garden trellis for ivy - Great suggestion ScrapinOrchid! It might be pretty cute on top of a pot!)
Squishable - 0

So the dilemma is...

No, it's not the sad looking wire cage-ish structure that my poor owl is sitting in.

That was just a wire doodle to distract me from the real dilemma.

The REAL dilemma is that with my desire to try new things, I'm realizing that there are so many things I could try that paralysis could set in if I don't pick a direction.

So far Mr. T.S. Owl was maybe going to be a steampunk owl, and then maybe a library kind of owl with his own open book to sit on, and then maybe a owl prince, and then maybe a retro 60's owl, and then maybe... well, you get the idea.

So, I sit here bending wire into sad looking cage-ish shapes because the wire is just sitting there with nothing better to do.

I'm putting Mr. T.S. Owl to bed now. Perhaps he will have a plan for himself tomorrow.

My next victim... I mean next project

Mr. Thrift Store Owl is all gessoed and waiting for his upgrade. Now I'm just trying to figure out what I can try on this one that's new for me. Maybe use some fabric? Maybe a new kind of painting technique? I really love his feathers, so I'd like to think of something that still lets the pattern show through. What I DO know is that he needs a crown of some sort! Every respectable thrift store owl needs his crown.

Any suggestions for Mr. Owl?

If Life Gives You Broken Chickens...

If you accidently knock a cute little pottery chicken from a high shelf and try to catch it as it bounces across the counterops, do you...

a) Cry while you wonder if you have a box that is the right size to bury your poor chicken in the backyard?

b) Stare at your broken chicken and sigh heavily (repeat as necessary)?

c) Look at this as an opportunity to create the chicken of your dreams?

d) All of the above

Ohhhh...my poor little chicken. What shall I do with you?

First I'll apply two coats of gesso as primer.

Then a coat of black acrylic paint.

Ladybug chicken, anyone? I'll draw on a design with chalk and then paint... red (the ladybug phase), green (the strawberry phase), and then blue and white.

Then I'll add eyes from a Dover clip art moon and enhance with a white paint marker. Little chicken is feeling much better now!

But something is missing! Every chicken needs a nest. I need an "easy" way to bend wire back and forth. Maybe this board and nails will work?

Ummm... that's not such a pretty nest. There must be a better way.

What if I just pinch the coil of wire like so?

Oh, that's so much better!

Now for a little shaping...

A little pistachio green spray paint, a little poof of sawdust, a little more spray paint... AND little chicken has a nest!

Don't you look so handsome in your new nest with painted box to match?!

Voila! A chicken is reborn!

Do YOU have any worn or broken objects around your house that you could refurbish?

Lately everything I see if a project waiting to happen... from the stuff hiding in boxes in my basement to the neighbor's worn out wicker chairs put out for the garbage collector.

I'd love to see any reworked pieces that you do. I started a Flickr group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/1151465@N24/) for sharing. Please feel free to join and share your work too!

Are you a wee bit warped?

Hello Blog Friends,

Welcome to my new blog - A Wee Bit Warped. I'm going to take an artistic adventure. Will you come along with me?

I've been thinking for a while that I'd like to stretch a bit artistically. This blog is the place I plan to share ideas, show my successes and failures along the way, and hopefully to inspire a bit. I hope you'll come along for the ride!