There and Back Again

Art & Soul Vegas was awesome.  Great students in all three of my classes!  Really generous, and a lot of fun.  I somehow didn't take photos during class, but you'll have to take my word for it that they made awesome projects. I was super impressed and inspired by all the creativity.  I had quite a few students who were attending an art retreat for the first time.  It was really fun to see them jumping in whole heartedly.

This was the first time that Doug came along with me for an art retreat which made this one fun too.  For Father's Day we took a helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon.  Doug had been there before and even hiked to the bottom and back up, but it was my first time seeing it.  Pretty amazing.  I'd just recommend that if you want to go that you find a time when it isn't so darn hot.  (See temperature gauge below!)

For me, Art & Soul was a great finale to my art retreat teaching experiences. I may send proposals to teach classes again someday. For now, I'm happy just to reflect on all of the lessons I learned and the great joy of so many talented and fun people.

Saucy Manner

I was making paper packs last night for my Art & Soul Vegas classes, and I found this.  Thought it was funny... especially the part about talking back to the teacher in a "saucy manner".  (You might have to click on it make it large enough to read it.)

Jumpin' June

Yep, you've been busy so far, June.  Just as we thought you would be.  So far this month, we've been to a wedding (hubby was best man, and I was impromptu photographer with my father-in-law)...

Oh, and I made cake toppers for their wedding cake.  The bride and groom for the top and the three girls for the lower tier.

And then there was a four day trip to Bismarck, North Dakota for work.  Ummm... no photos from that trip.  The people were a lot of fun, but I wouldn't say that Bismarck is especially scenic.  Sorry, Bismarck.  I'm sure I didn't see the best parts of the area.

Over the weekend, we went to the aquarium in Newport, KY where Harper got to touch her favorite animal, the sea star.

And I got to stare at the octopus.  Not as long as I wanted to though.  And it was on the move!  So fascinating.

I couldn't help but snap a shot of this spider crab.  There were three in the tank, and they were kind of creepy somehow.  They did seem more like HUGE spiders than crabs in person.

Harper got to visit Mighty Mike, a 14 foot crocodile.  She decided that blowing him a kiss would be better than giving him a hug.

 Harper loved visiting the jellyfish too.  That boy in the background, not so much, I guess.

 And we visited some birds... you can sort of see one in the background.

Ok, next up for me in Jumpin' June is work, work, work (of course) and finishing kits for Art & Soul Vegas.  I leave Thursday!

Oh, June.

Oh, June.  I've been simultaneously looking forward to you and dreading you, June.  Trying to take lots of deep breaths lately. Lots going on with work and upcoming travels which means less brain space for fun stuff.  If I'm very honest, I don't deal well with more than one upcoming function to think about.  And right now there are three things upcoming:  a weekend wedding (my husband's nephew), a work trip to North Dakota, and Art & Soul coming up.

I've been trying to doodle a bit to relax, but there hasn't been too much time or energy.  I've been wanting to fall asleep at 9.  Ok, my husband would say that's what I always do.  {Insert raspberry here.}





Doodles.  In the Mega Journal, I've been using a pencil to draw first for the first time in a long time.  Not sure how I feel about that.  I kind of like the spontaneity and challenge of living with the permanent marks I made with pen.  Plus I don't enjoy the physical act of erasing and all the little eraser pieces all over the place.  Silly, I know, but true. 

For Amy (and you too!)

My friend Amy of http://www.craftingbycandlelight.com/ posted a comment saying that she was hoping for more collage sheets soon. So guess what, sweet Amy?  I created another sheet a couple of days ago but didn't have time to upload it to the website.  I just uploaded it just now, so VOILA! :)  Hope you all enjoy!

To download the collage sheet, navigate to http://www.aweebitwarped.com/ and click on the "click here for free stuff" button.  You'll see a link there to click on to download the sheet.

Collage Sheet Journal Page

So I figured that if I made a collage sheet, I should at least attempt to use it too.  Oh my goodness, I am  rusty.  This was more work than play which means I should collage more often.

I'm not sure if my new page in the Mega Journal is completely done, but I know I need to move on from it so I can get some other things done around here!

I don't know if I've ever shared my process for using collage sheets, but in case you're interested, I always:
- Print out a regular copy of the sheet
- Print out a flipped (backwards) copy of the sheet
- Pick a few things to print out larger than the original (in this one, I only did the elephant head larger)

Maybe not the most earth shattering hints in the world, but it does help to have more options than just what you are given on one print out of the collage sheet.  Sometimes I mess with the contrast or saturation settings, but for this page, I just left those settings alone.

Hope you are having fun playing with the free collage sheet.  If you haven't gotten it yet, you can download it at http://www.aweebitwarped.com/ (click on the "Click here for free stuff" button).

Free Collage Sheet + Guestbook

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.