A Wee Bit Warped - Shelly Massey

Free Collage Sheet + Guestbook

2012-05-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

I published my first free printable collage sheet over at my website (http://www.aweebitwarped.com/).

Just click on the "Click Here for Free Stuff" button. I'm hoping that it works ok for you to print out... eventually I may try creating digital collage sheets to give you, but for right now I haven't figured out how to make the file size small enough to share easily.

Hope you enjoy the collage sheet! The one little sheet out there looks lonely, so I'll have to add more free stuff!

I can't leave you without a photo, so here's a teeny photo of the collage sheet. The downloadable one over at the website is a full 8.5" by 11".

Happy weekend, all!
P.S. I also added a guestbook over at the website so you can leave comments there if you want to.

Facelift

2012-05-25T06:29:00.001-07:00

No, not a facelift for me, you sillies! (This is me cracking myself up this morning trying to take a photo of myself. Oh my goodness, I am so ridiculously bad at that.)

The facelift is for the website - www.aweebitwarped.com! Ok, yes, I know it's only half done (there's supposed to be more stuff on the right side where that big gaping white space is screaming at me. BUT, I just was so much happier with how this version was going that I decided to publish it anyway. Me and patience... not so much. My website and I are finally getting along though.

If I can manage it, the eventual vision for the website is to provide a spot for giving away some free digital stuff - collage sheets, starter journal pages, idea sheets, etc. AND (gulp) to maybe share some videos if I can figure that part out. AND (no gulp this time), I'm planning to add a little guest book so you can say HI if you want to.

And now for some other random stuff because I just feel a need to write it:
- Today is Harper's last day of preschool. I swear we were running so far behind schedule this morning that we almost didn't make it. We were running out the door, and Harper asked me if she could put her shoes on. Yep, that kind of morning.

- We bought six huge boxes of oatmeal at Costco yesterday. That's 330 packs of oatmeal. This house cannot function without oatmeal. (I warned you this was random stuff, right?)

- We had an alarm system installed at the house. My husband's idea. (Ummm... like I needed one more thing to remember?) I guarantee that I will be the first person to set the thing off.

- I have a very busy June coming up. I'm in denial about it.

- I need a haircut. Really, really. I've become one of those long hair flickers... always flicking my hair out of my face, off my neck, etc. Annoying.

- I'm putting judgemental people, politicians (of all persuasions), and negativity on my list of pet peeves. And mosquitos. And running out of ice cream. And ok, I'll stop before I have to put pet peeves on my pet peeves list.

- OoOOOOOO... I ordered some new art supplies from Dick Blick yesterday. Some colors of Pan Pastels that I've wanted for a while, some Copic pens (the fine line kind, sort of like Micron pens), some other Copic pens that I'm super excited about that look like fountain pens with the metal old school ink dipper tips but they have the ink inside the barrel (please be as awesome as I hope you will be little pens), a Caran D'Ache Neocolor II set of water soluble "crayons" (they should have found a simpler name for those little guys), some Sharpie extra fine point water soluble white paint markers and glue sticks for my Art & Soul students, and finally, some Bombay India inks.

P.S. Don't even try to steal all those lucious Dick Blick goodies off of my doorstep because I'm pretty sure the new alarm system has a super fancy setting with laser beams or something for art supply protection. Plus I plan to go sit on my doorstep starting right now to wait for the delivery.

Can't. Stop. Doodling.

2012-05-23T07:00:00.003-07:00

I can't seem to stop doodling pages long enough to paint the doodles in. Well, there's that and the fact that it's a lot easier to just doodle while sitting on the couch than to actually sit down at the table to paint. Below are some photos of more works in progress in The Mega Journal.

And Harper can't stop dancing. The photo below is from last night's performance. Might need to enroll this girl in a dance class or something for fun.

Mega Journal

2012-05-20T16:50:00.003-07:00

My Mom came to visit us last week. We had a really nice visit, and Harper loved spending time with her Grandma. My Mom is an excellent seamstress, so on the last day of the visit, I dug out the sewing machine from the basement so she could create a journal cover for me. I have to put a disclaimer here that I made Mom sew a lot more randomly than she usually would! Let's just say that I made her sew as crazy as I would have sewn it. All over the place.

Anyway... the first plan was to make two journal covers, but then I decided we could make my DREAM-MEGA-SUPER-DUPER-RIDICULOUSLY-THICK journal! Mom sewed the two covers into one, and voila! The Mega Journal was born. I painted the pages yesterday so that every other page would have some starter color, and I sewed in the signatures last night. I'm in love and couldn't wait to start journaling in it today. Thanks again, Mom!

The cover (without pages sewn in yet)

Painting pages

Had to start with an octopus on the first page, of course

The side view with the signatures sewn in... so fat and yummy!

Second page spread already started...

And even a third one! This one will be "two heads are better than one", I think.

Harper kept busy this week too.

Clowning around...

And Harper and Grandma even made an adorable gnome garden complete with swing and gnome home.

Random Doodle of the Day

2012-05-10T15:48:00.000-07:00

A doodle from tonight. If I drew this again, there would be wheels or a city skyline instead of duck feet, but I draw in ink (no pencil first), so whatever happens just happens and I have to roll with it.

Journal Page Show & Tell on Facebook

2012-05-10T06:28:00.003-07:00

Hi all! I'm going to be posting some journal pages over at my Facebook page with a little bit about what was going on when I made the page. A little peek is below, but you can see the full page here -->www.facebook.com/ShellyMasseyArt or you can click on the Facebook Page link in the menu bar above. I'll try to put up a new one every few days. Hope you'll stop by!

Making My Happy Place

2012-05-09T16:46:00.003-07:00

Since we moved to Ohio, I've been trying to figure out how to find my tribe of artsies/friends here in Ohio. I decided to stop whining about it and to do something about it. Last night was a great first step. I invited a group of local people to start a monthly arts and crafts night. There were seven of us happily creating and visiting in the space you see below (already conveniently decorated from Harper's birthday party). There were so many things going on - crochet, polymer clay, ornament making, zentangling, scrapbooking, and painting. I would have taken a picture, but we were too busy having fun! And I finally made some progress on some orders I started a few weeks back. (Yep, Heather and Jen, those are your works in progress!)

The Fabulous Regina Lord

2012-05-08T07:13:00.002-07:00

Have you had the pleasure of meeting Regina Lord (http://www.creativekismet.com/)? If so, then you and I know what a lucky duck you are. If you haven't, I'm thrilled to be able to introduce you. I've had the fortune of becoming friends with Regina over the last few years and watching creativity just pour out of her. The minute you meet her, you just know she's a good soul. She's open, quick to smile, and just plain fun to be around.

A while back, she posted the piece of artwork that you see below on her blog, and well, I begged her to sell it to me. Instead, Regina proposed a trade, and I was IN. We traded, and you can see in the photos below all the other treasures she sent along. Oh, what a fun time I had opening that package! You can peek at the beautiful wrappings of handpainted papers she made in the background. So lovely, I almost couldn't open them. But, of course, I knew there was super goodness inside the package, so I made myself tear into them (carefully, of course).

I hope you'll go on over to Regina's blog and introduce yourself if you haven't met. AND she has an Etsy shop where she sells some of her sweet and beautiful work, so you can get some treasures too!

Hello. I'm four!

2012-05-07T16:47:00.001-07:00

More photos on our family blog: http://shellypaints.blogspot.com/2012/05/harper-is-four.html

Hide me please

2012-04-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

In other thoughts... Harper and I were playing with the states puzzle this morning. I decided to rearrange some of them to make my family and friends within better driving distance. Oh, and because Ohio needs some Atlantic coastline. Now I just need to somehow fit in Arizona, California, Texas, Florida and Georgia nearby. We might have to stack them or something.

Life Lately

2012-04-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

My creative life has been under seige by a mountain of not-so-creative activities - house cleaning, upheaving the entire upstairs for new carpet (see photo below- who knew new carpet would be so disruptive or so much messier than I thought), finishing wedding invitations (less creative than you might imagine), and of course work.

I did squeeze in a few creative things. I made birthday invites for Harper's party (we invited the preschooler girls to a painting party... WOOHOO!), and started some custom orders for friends.

Carpet installation - Thank goodness that's over.

It's a party! Harper's getting excited.

Never again will I do wedding invites. Ok, maybe for Harper someday. Maybe.

Having fun playing on a custom piece for a friend.

And of course, work.

I hope things settle down soon so I can have more happy art adventures up in the studio!

Not gonna happen

2012-04-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

Growing Up

2012-04-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

I noticed that lately she's starting to hold her pencil more like a grown up. Well, some of the time anyway.

Wrong Address, Return to Sender

2012-04-17T05:25:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been seeing a lot of blog posts about taking time to rest. I woke up this morning thinking about all of the things I have on my plate and wondered which I should start with. And then while having my tea, I saw another post about taking time to rest. Maybe if I were someone else, I'd take the fact that all those REST messages keep showing up as some kind of sign. BUT, for me, that's just not the messages I need right now. When I see messages to rest, I think, gee, maybe I should, but in fact, I kind of want to yell, "BUT I'M NOT TIRED! I DON'T WANT TO REST" like my preschooler might yell.

For me, springtime is a time of energy and doing a zillion things. It doesn't seem to be bothering me that we're looking for a new car (a small SUV to haul stuff... YAY!), contracting for a large concrete pad with retaining wall beside our house, planning Harper's birthday party, making and addressing wedding invitations for our nephew, remodeling upstairs, working on two custom art orders, OH, and then there's the full time job and of course, Harper. [Edited to add: I should note here that I get more stuff done because I rarely really clean house or do laundry. We're going to have someone come to clean the house starting next week. YAY! And I have a mother-in-law who watches Harper during the day while I work and when we need to do stuff. And I work from home, so I get back time in the mornings, lunch times, and evenings.] We do rest, but I guess we just take our rest in small doses - a morning cup of tea, a movie on TV in the evening. And that seems to be working for us right now. GO MASSEYS!

Ok, time for some journaling doodles...

The REAL Danger of the Internet

2012-04-12T00:32:00.000-07:00

It's the ideas, people. The IDEAS.

Oh sure, there's those adorable, cute, small effort ideas like this one:

BUT let's say you're browsing random blogs and you see something like this: http://johanna-vintage.blogspot.com/2012/01/kalla-bolig-liv-g-illar-ideen-med.html

And then you think, "Hey, I have one of those. I could do that." And then four hours of frustration and cursing later when you're thinking that IDEAS should come with warning labels. Makes me wonder if the blog linked above (since it's not in English and all) says "Don't attempt this at home, you crazy nutter."

Announcing...

2012-04-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

My website!

Please visit http://www.aweebitwarped.com/ to check it out. Sure, I still have some work to do on it, but what the heck. It told me it wanted to be announced.

I even posted some original art for sale on there on the Shop tab. I'll be adding prints and greeting cards soon too.

I wonder...

2012-04-09T07:29:00.001-07:00

I wonder why birds don't want to move into my little bird house? I would totally move in.

Settling back in...

2012-04-08T15:15:00.002-07:00

We're slowly recovering from all the sick germs and pretty much keeping things low-key. (The Easter bunny comes on MONDAY, right?) :)

Spent the weekend settling back into the studio and trying to get things organized around here. I promptly messed that all up by starting some new art pieces.

Some stuff in the studio and a couple of new warm up circle flower pieces from last night.

A new piece just started. (And sideways, thanks to Blogger.)

The view from my chair. I'd say "let the messes begin," but it looks like I've already got that started.

Harper has been busy too. Watercoloring paper towels seems to be her thing right now.

Oh, Artfest...

2012-04-07T01:34:00.000-07:00

I had planned on posting about Artfest sooner, but I came home to a sick lovey...

Awwwww....

And then I got sick myself from some bug I brought home. (No picture of me, sorry. I'm not even remotely cute when I'm sick.)

I woke up at 3:15 AM feeling pretty miserable (did I mention that I'm whiny too when I'm sick?), so I thought I'd post the photos from Artfest instead of just being annoyed that I'm not sound asleep.

Teesha and Tracy at the opening welcome event

Workshop teachers introducing themselves

First day - journaling class with Erin Faith Allen and my table buddy Morganne

One of my journal pages - sideways for some reason

Another of my journal pages (I didn't draw the girl, I only wish that I did). I think I'll work on this one some more and maybe even draw the girl with all the hair this time.

We snuck away at lunch time to see the sound and to collect sea glass (when you collect it from the sound is it sound glass?)

Day 2 - Stephanie Lee's Plaster Sampler class

One of my plaster and wax pieces

Day 3 - Andrea Matus's Suspended Souls class. Didn't finish this one yet. This is just a piece of it. Not sure what's going to happen with it.

Did I mention that I DID finish my trades (at the hotel pre-Artfest)?

I was pretty happy to see this huge bed at my Seattle hotel.

And this dessert.

Showered and feeling more like myself again.

And the mountain came out to see me! Seriously, when I was driving to the airport, the sight of Mt. Rainier made me a little weepy. It always seems to come out on the last day of my trips.

I'm realizing now that I should have taken more photos - of my friends Lea and Dave and their adorable boys, of my amazing Artfest housemates Lisa, Lori and Kari, Fort Warden, of my Artfest friends, and so on... There are rumblings of another Port Townsend/Fort Warden art retreat in the works though, so next time!

Artfesting I Go

2012-03-24T17:50:00.003-07:00

I'm leaving early, early, early in the morning to head to Washington. I have a couple of days of working at the office and seeing my awesome friends Lea and Dave, and then ARTFEST!!!! I'm super excited! I can't wait to see all of my art buddies and to meet new ones. Hope to see you there!

Going to have to paint on the plane

2012-03-22T12:19:00.002-07:00

My Artfest trades aren't done yet. I seriously think I'll be using the paint pens at the airport... and on the airplane... and wherever I happen to be all along the way.

For those going to Artfest, hope you don't mind my posting these. You can act surprised. See you soon!

Spring

2012-03-20T07:01:00.002-07:00

And... here's Harper after her bath last night in her body pajamas. That girl loves the human body. A little sad though because she has now renamed the intestines (as per what's written on the pajamas) to "toot factory". I should have never told her what it said.

Real or not real?

2012-03-14T08:08:00.004-07:00

Most of the time my dreams are so crazy that it's easy to tell they aren't real. Sometimes though, they involve people I know, people from my history and what seem like normal events. Later I can't remember if that event really happened or if it was just a dream. Does that happen to anyone else?

Have been working on an assembly line of Artfest trades. I can't believe it's just a few weeks away! Really can't wait to see all my friends and to get some round the clock art time.

I believe in the photo below that Harper was trying to figure out how to get me to go to the back yard to swing with her. I know this because right after this shot, she started walking towards the swings and saying, "If you hear me, follow the sound of my voice." Always thinking, that girl.

Here are my two loveys hard at work on the computer last night.

Scenes from around the Massey house...

2012-03-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

Artfest trades are finally getting going...

Paint has been flying...

The Starburst supply has been depleting, but we're still flush in bottlecaps and paperclips...

I did that cool Pinterest ribbon holder thingy...

And up close, this looks like a happy and well behaved little family, but pull back...

... and you'll see there's been quite a bit of hoodlum going on around here.

Stuff to show ya

2012-03-05T09:57:00.001-08:00

Harper would like to show you her safety goggles. Well, her pretend safety goggles that say all over the sides that they're not really for safety, but just for play. Ummm... ok. What else?

Harper would also like to show you her new kitty. It has magnets in its hands and feet. Pretty awesome, but I'm wondering how long before we accidentally get those magnets near something like a USB memory stick that they're not supposed to be near.

I moved my furniture again. I keep moving stuff around until I'm happy with it, and obviously I must not be happy with it. The front room was supposed to be a dining room, but we don't have a real dining room table any more because we sold it when we moved from Washington to Ohio. Here's where the furniture was in the front room this morning... (I never did commit to a rug, so it remained rugless. Oh, and that piece of furniture in the corner wasn't supposed to be there.)

And then here's the furniture where I moved it to after breakfast. I'm already hearing grumbling from my husband (we went from giant open space to having furniture that you sort of have to walk around), so we'll see if it gets to stay there or not. I swear if this doesn't work out, I'm buying those giant Love Sac bean bags and calling it a day.

And here's some journaling from last week and the weekend...

P.S. My sink is STILL dishes free! WAHOOO!!!