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Inspire Me, Alphabetica Style

It's gone postal.  My "book" for the Alphabetica round robin has been mailed off to Becky.  I won't see it again for another 18-24 months.  But when it comes back, it will be  chock-full of art from 25 talented artists.   The theme is a little vague.  I want the other artists to share their favorite inspiration with me.  That leaves lots of "wiggle room".  The cover is shown in the previous post.  Here is what the inside pages look like.

Yes, the pages are manilla envelopes!  My inspiration came from Lynne Perrella who authored the Alphabetica book.  Lynne has long championed the versatility of manilla envelopes as a base on which to collage and paint on.  So it seemed like a natural choice.

What was not natural was getting the young guy at Kinko's to understand what I wanted.  It was bound wrong once.  He bound it on the long side.  I had to cut the manilla envelopes to size so that they would not stick out the open end of the mat board tag die cuts I had purchased from Christine a long time ago.  The way he first bound the book meant that the envelopes were completely open on the bottom!

But all's well that ends well.  They fixed it and didn't charge me.  Although the new envelopes I had to buy basically took care of the "free" fix.  The holes from the previous binding are still there  but covered up.

Here are some more views.

My simple collage on my sign-in envelope:

Here is the inside front cover:

Inside back cover:

I wasn't crazy about the sign-in page, so I am not going to show it to you!

Teaser

It's one of those 'art in the middle of the mundane' days.  Actually, it's more like 'no art for this busy mom today'!

Somehow, I find myself the awards chairperson of my sons' Cub Scout pack.  This is actually a whole lot better than the Tiger Scout den leader which I was for this past school year.  I managed to pass that off onto a dad who is just a natural at it.

Being the awards chairperson means I have to drive 45 miles to pick up these awards.  (That's in addition to the time and paperwork involved in putting the order together.)  However, I will fit my art in because I am armed with my Michaels 40% coupon, and I plan to shop at a Michaels I haven't been to (because it's 45 miles away)!

Here's the cover on my contribution to the  Alphabetica round robin.  I need to find time  later to post all the pieces and really do it justice.

What is it with monkeys?

The 2006-2007 edition of the first grade calendar has arrived and I have to tell you...

I don't think I'm aging very well.

I still have those mile-long eyelashes, but it looks like I've gone overboard with the collagen in my lips.  I certainly wasn't having a good hair day, and it looks like I've gained some weight.  (Why is it that he had to get that part right?!)

But, hey, when your child thinks you're as smart as a robot and as beautiful as a peacock's tail feathers, it can't be all that bad!

I do have to say that I think I fared at least slightly better than Geek Husband did on the June calendar page, but you'll have to wait until Father's Day to see that one.

Don't forget to check out what Kelly's kids have been up to!

Oh, NO!

In yesterday's post about internet friends, I forgot about Kelly !  Kelly faithfully plays along every Friday when I post Kids' Art on Friday.  She even leaves sweet comments on my blog.  She is not just an internet friend; I have met her in real life.  However, she did have to remind me that we had met in a Claudine Hellmuth class.  Bet she really thinks I'm a flake now. ;-)  Thanks, Kelly!

Internet Friends

Marilyn has taken it upon herself to help me out with my new camera and teach me how to take close-ups that have a blurred background.  She has been a very patient teacher.  Unfortunately, her student has been a bit problematic!  I've made progress, however, and the Photo gallery that I've added to my blog has the results.  The pictures of the pink carnation are a real test of this technique - the background that I was trying to blur was my very messy kitchen counter!  Thanks, Marilyn!

Audrey says I make her laugh.  As long as Audrey keeps laughing, I'll keep writing.  (She really doesn't know what she's encouraging.)  Thanks, Audrey!

Debra sent me a very cool CD.  Thanks, Debra!

And a belated Happy Birthday to Sarah, who's also a friend in real life.  She's 29, you know.  Thanks, Sarah, for all your inspiration!

As playful as a monkey?

This is part of a calendar that my older son made when he was in first grade.  The calendar went from June 2003 to May 2004.  This is the page for May.  The calendar has been hanging in my kitchen since then.  Yes, it has been May 2004 for the past two years in my kitchen!

But look at that picture of me.  I'm slender.  My eyelashes go on forever.  My hair is perfectly coiffed.  And just look at those lips.  Those Hollywood divas with their collagen injections have nothing on my lips.  I bet if you had a picture of you that looked like this, you would have kept it up for the last two years also.

However, all good things must come to an end.  His little brother (who's a first grader this year) just brought home the 2006-2007 edition.  I haven't seen it yet.  He promptly ran it up to his room claiming I had to wait until Mothers' Day to open it.

I wonder what I look like two years later.

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Happy Mothers' Day to the rest of the mothers out there.

Check out Kelly's blog to see what her kiddos are up to for Kids' Art on Friday!

Men, boys & toys

This one is self-explanatory.

Credits: 

Patterned paper from Sweetwater, cardstock from Bazzill, Sizzix and QK dies, Zig writer, ink, letter stickers from Creative Memories and Sonnets, brad, floss (The bottom was cut off by the scanner.  That little tag is not cut off IRL.)

Encaustic Wax

Bev Brazelton was in town teaching at The Artists' Nook this past weekend.  I took her Encaustic Wax class.  This was one of the pieces I made.

No paints were harmed in the making of this piece.  It was all done with encaustic wax.  (If you click on the image and have time for a large file to load, you can really see the cool textures that the wax creates.)

The Finished Product

Remember these guys?  The bracelets have been assembled and delivered.  The work that those girls at The Creative Underground must have put into the final fabrication... it's mind boggling!  Not to mention the work that 24 talented ladies put into the individual charms.  The assignment was to create a charm that showcased your particular passion/medium/talent.  There are wire-wrapped beads, collages shrunk down to miniature size, bottle caps, bottles, beaded charms, tags, dominoes, polymer clay, soldered charms, puzzle pieces and the list goes on.  The penny wrapped in copper wire is sheer genius!

It was hard to get a picture where all these little guys would show up - especially the smaller ones.  Denise has some cool pictures on her blog.

These bracelets were hardly wrapped up, and the girls at The Underground were already announcing their next swap.  It's an Alphabetica themed swap.  (Gee, where have I heard that word lately?!)  And yes... I signed up.  This isn't as intensive as my other Alphabetica swap. One collage based on one assigned letter (5x5), 27 copies, nothing dimensional.  Do-able!

It's Friday...

A cold, wet, rainy Friday at that (at least here).  Here's something to brighten up the day from my 7-year old.  (He's the one in the previous post.)