Random Thoughts....

Isnt this pic cute? -Hee hee- Its of our furbabies Rupert and Binx (brother and sister) I have another pic of Binx sleeping with her mommy (Libby) but I'll share that another time. Tim (my hubby) has a real nac for catching the sweet moments with them.

I thought I would share these cool little things that were sent to me today....

This first thing is really a nifty idea, and if I had the money at the moment I would buy one on the spot because I think its a wonderful unique idea and I would love to show off my creations.. it would be an AWESOME way for me to advertise my shop too! So maybe I can splurge sometime and order one.. who knows... to see what Im rambling about visit this site: http://pursueyourart.com/ Let me know what you think of it!

The next thing was actually part of an aol article about Most outrageous requests at hotels.. and this was amusing to me and sort of a silly fact to know I guess:

Sheep and Flies
Salvador Dali was a regular guest at the Meurice Hotel in Paris. The rooms have high ceilings, parquet floors and 18th-century, Louis XVI-style furnishings. Dali once asked the hotel's concierge staff to bring an entire herd of sheep to his rooms, so he could shoot blank bullets at them. On another occasion, he asked the concierges to catch flies for him in the Tuileries Garden.

I changed my banners and things for the shop and its blog, (and this blog as you can tell), I like it better.. I think its more legible..so I am happy with that. My Stag drawing has 11 views already but no one's purchased it yet. Im just psyched that 11 people checked it out! I even started working on another drawing tonight that should be up by the end of the weekend. Im really hoping to get this shop going, I enjoy creating the things for it and sharing what I have created... its all relaxing and fun for me. Maybe just maybe I was being silly for a little while there, now I am for sure this is what Im supposed to be doing.... its not wasting my life, is it?

Newest Drawing....The Grooming Stag

This is the newest edition to Altered Whimsy. It is the first in the Original Drawings Series...It is an original 11x14 drawing created by yours truly. The drawing will come in an 11 x 14 frame and will not be created or reprinted again. It is being sold for $50.00 at http://alteredwhimsy.etsy.com

Please do not use this image with out written permission from the artist.... thanks

The completed Puzzle

Here finally for your viewing pleasure is the finished Altered Frog themed Puzzle. I want to give a SPECIAL thanks to Candy, Ginger, Jacquie, Jean, Jan, Kari, and Colleen for putting together such beautiful pieces for this puzzle. I couldnt have this wonderful piece of art without all of you! I really do cherish this puzzle!

p.s the puzzle measures an amazing 18x24!!!!

The final pieces...

After a long wait, my altered frog puzzle is finally complete! *YAY* I was so excited to put it all together, its been months in the making! I put together a majority of the final pieces myself as I didnt want to chance sending the final few in the mail and them getting lost etc. PLUS I have been waiting so long already I am to impatient to wait longer *HAHA* So these are the final pieces created by yours truly....

My Halloween Experiment w/ clay...

I've never really worked w/ clay in the past, but today I decided to try it out to see how I like it. Just for kicks, something new and interesting to try... I thought creating something for Halloween would be nice, since it is right around the corner....

Everything is created from various colors of baking clay (Premo' Brand) I decided to make her faceless. Im a BIG fan of folk art... and if you are familiar with folk art, there are alot of creations such as angels that do not have faces... I thought this would make her a little more FOLKY. :) The biggest challenge for me was getting her to stand without help, luckily thanks to some toothpicks and a lot of patience, I got her to stand up through out the baking process. She isnt really that big, maybe 4 inches tall, and about 2 inches wide. I didnt think a big project was a good idea for a beginner such as myself. I really love how she turned out and hate that I am selling her *but what's the point of having a business if you cant unattach yourself from everything and sell it* hee hee... She is for sell... I will be selling her on my etsy site and also I am putting her in a yard sale this weekend. She is only $3.50 plus $1.00 shipping. If you are interested in purchasing my folk witch please email me at Grl4ART@aol.com :) Thanks so much :)

The Results are in....

After a long wait on pins and needles to see if I did indeed get the Book Cover commission that I have been talking about for what seems like forever, the results came in finally on Sept 14th at around 11 pm in an email from Mr. Matt Monarch (the author of the book 'Raw Success') I have to say that I was actually scared to open the email, I had been waiting so long and that email was what was standing in my way from actually having one of my works published, and being completely heartbroken from the whole anticipation and getting my hopes up. But I opened the email and this my friends is the email and what it said:

_______________________________________
Subject: RE: Raw Success Book Cover design
Date: 9/14/2007 10:57:06 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
From: Matt Monarch *BLOCKED OUT EMAIL ADDY*
To: Andrea *BLOCKED OUT EMAIL ADDY*

Hi Andrea,
Thank you so much for your entry. We have chosen another book cover. Your book cover was almost chosen! It came down to your amazing book cover (with the female on it) and the one that we chose. Thank you so much! Can I get your address so that I can send you a complimentary copy of Raw Success for your amazing efforts? Since it was very close and you were the Runner Up, I would also like to give you a Raw Spirit Book (if you haven't read it) and any other Raw Food Book of your choice. Let me know which one you want.
IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD your book cover!!!
Thanks!Matt

_____________________________________

Of course I told myself repeatedly that I wouldnt get down on this if I didnt get it, but who am I trying to kid?!?! I was really sad about it, and am still a little down on the whole thing now.. but I will survive, and move on like we all do in life. He did share with me in a later email the bookcover design that he did choose.... and here it is:

It is a nice design but some how I feel that is is actually too much like my design but toned down and with less detail, am I wrong in thinking that? Here once more, for its final viewing pleasure are the 2 designs I created...

Perhaps mine was too Frilly for him but he liked the idea? Maybe it wasnt realistic enough for his book... Im not really sure, but I am glad that it was the runner up and appreciate the opportunity more than anything.... It was definately an experience that I can say I did.... who knows... maybe there will be more book covers in my future! The world may never know.

My Favorite Creation today....

This was an entry in a Unicorn themed deco... I really got inspired *unsure why* The background is handpainted by me using metallic watercolors... the definition came from that nifty ephemera book I purchased this week (I knew it would come in handy), and of course the unicorn that TOOK FOREVER haha! and the final additions were the decorative fringe and my name stamp :) I am really considering using this image and creating a new banner for this blog with it. I am really happy with its outcome.... I hope someone enjoys it and it actually makes it home to its rightful owner! <3

A deco signing CRAZE!

Today I went crazy with signing a few decos that I am shipping off in the mail on Monday... I wanted to do something different today and well this is what I came up with. Since Im no longer doing Taped decos, I did all of these pages untaped....there is one in particular that I am going to share seperately because its my very favorite and I want to show it off *hee hee* :) In order: Drew Barrymore theme, Maps theme, Wolf theme ,2 Dragon themes, and Red haired celebs theme ....

My wonderful finds of the week!

Hi all! I am so excited I just had to post a blog about all of my wonderful craft finds & deals that I got at Michaels today! I usually try to only go to Michaels once a month or maybe twice a month because I could do some MAJOR damage to the pocketbook if I went more often *haha* For everything I got today I think I did pretty well and CANT WAIT to start creating with my new items!

I found a 12 count Loew Cornell Watercolor kit *of tubed watercolors* for $4.99!

A wonderful package of gold nostalgic treasures by Dress it up for $2.99!

2 different types of decorative frindge by Patons for $1.00 a piece!

I bought 5 very useful Halloween themed Studio G rubberstamps for $1.00 a piece!

And my most favorite finds:

A martha stewart acrylic block w/ a handle for my unmounted rubberstamps for just $9.99

A 3 pack of Inkessentials mini-misters for $3.99

and A Definitions & words ephemera book by Paper Pizazz for only $9.99 ** I can copy the pages for use after use, and it has HUNDREDS of great phrases and things to use in my crafts! Im so excited for that find!**

I wanted to buy distress inks, and some liquid inks for creating BUT I didnt want to splurge for $6.00 a stamp pad and $15.00 for 3 bottles of liquid inks... eh... maybe next time, we'll see but for now Im thrilled to bits with what I did find and wanted to share w/ everyone!

Oh... another great surprise was the excellent unmounted stamp I purchased from Purple Onion Designs came in today and I had an extra unmounted stamp added for a gift from the owner since Im always going back when ever I can, I love her stamps! she is such a nice lady and is very helpful and quick with shipping, I just ordered the stamp on Tuesday and Its already here! *yay* Check out her site when you get a chance, I promise you wont leave without finding something you love! :) Below is the stamp that came in today!!!! I <3 it!

Art journal: Theme- Artistic Nature

Candy and I were really busy little bee's today! :) This is an Art Journal we created together to get things going in my group Artistic-Creations since our latest changes and redevelopments. The theme of the book will be Artistic Nature which involves everything from scenery and wildlife to butterflies and everything in between. Its actually made from a 4x6 index card book. The cover is done in a vellum background of flowers. There are pressed flower corners, the beaded ribbon with again a tag created from vellum embossed glitter stickers, a page from the previous book, and some scrap papers. I stamped the word art on the corner and basically Its complete. The book has 30 pages, but if you count front and back that will be 60 total pages to decorate. We are just starting sign up for this exchange and hope to get a good turn out. The change in this exchange however is that we are not shipping the actual book. We are asking for the participates to send in 'tip-ins' which are pages they create with the theme out of cardstock etc in the correct dimensions of the book and we attach them to the pages of the book ourselves. Its a simple solution of having a problem where we lose the book in the mail, or someone decides to be dishonest and keep it or we have lack of participation because of the weight and shipping costs of the book. So once we get things going with this project and we begin to receive pages back I will share them with you all. Thanks for checking this out! Hope you all have a great night and KEEP creating! <3

Altered Art book...the first of many

I've been wanting to create an altered art book for

many months now but just hadnt found the inspiration or maybe the muse to create one. So today Candy and I decided to create our first book together, it was a really fun project and is not totally complete but I was so excited that I had to share the progress :) First was the base coat of gesso to get the book paintable... then on top of that we painted the entire cover burnt umber w/ acrylic paint. Candy had this brilliant background paper that I just love that we decided to use as well and so that was cut and attached to the cover as well. This is actually Candy's book so she wanted to have a picture frame type cover for the book. So carefully she cut the center square out with an xacto knife and several pages as well. These pages were glued together to make a thicker, sort of shadow box effect. The white in the center is just a card we inserted so that you get the gist of how it will look w/ an actual picture. We then pulled out the pasta machine and clays... I created the 'faux hinges' out of black clay using an xacto knife. Those had to bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. once they were finished they washed with an antique bronze acrylic paint and then attached to the front cover. We both love tags so Candy attached ribbon to the inside of the front cover and pulled it around the outside, added some colored beads and I created the take using a page from the book, and some excess background papers, and a vellum butterfly sticker (its actually embossed with a light clear glitter but the photo doesnt show that detail well.) I then stamped the date the book began on the opposite side of the tag and attached it with the beaded ribbon. :) The final step for the night was actually making the faux picture frame for the center cut out.... Its made from----- drum roll please------ tin foil! I traced teh shape of the cut out and cut a larger outline of it in the tin foil. Then I crumbled the cut out. I took my burt umber and painted a base coat then washed an antique bronze once it was dry. Lastly I dry brushed sections with black. Once it was totally dry I coated it in a light coat of tacky glue for protection and let it dry once more. Then attached it to the center cut out. WHA-LAH :) The center picture still needs to be added *its yet to be decided* and then also the back of the book needs to be decorated but like I said I was way to excited to wait on that! :) *BIG smiles* Now I am anxious to get started on my own altered book, its going to be loads of fun, I already have a theme picked out and everything! Have a great night! Keep creating! <3

Book Cover Competition... and the waiting!

The original blog competition message: http://rawreform.blogspot.com/2007/08/very-special-announcement.html

A good friend of mine (Jenn) shared with me the link above to a blog for an author named Matt Monarch. He created a competition for his new book 'Raw Success' where he took submissions via email of designs created to use for his book cover. We were given at first 48 hours to create & share something, but then the time frame changed to a weekend. In that amount of time I created the design to the left and entered it into the competition. This was actually my second design, as my first had a female instead of a mail and Mr. Monarch emailed me and requested that I change it to a male to make the image a little more masculine and re-submit it, which is what I have done. Its been a good while since I submitted my entry with no word of who the 'winner' was. This would be an awesome achievement for me and I have been waiting on egg shells for weeks now. Finally I couldn't take the waiting any longer so I emailed Mr. Monarch and asked if their had been a design chosen and he informed me that the design has been chosen and the announcement will be posted 'after this week.' I can only assume that means that I have to wait another week for an answer... I'm going mad in anticipation! This is the first book design I have ever done, and I didn't have much to go with or a good time frame. I had never read the book but I just took the description and the title literally and this is what happened :) I used watercolors for the design and black ink... I tend to use inks a good bit now, and am enjoying the boldness of the pen against the smooth bright watercolors. I would love to hear your opinions on my design! I will definitely update when I hear news, as I cant wait to share whether I won or not... if not, its OK because I still had the opportunity and it was an enjoyable one :)

3x3 ATC's in Vintage Theme

I joined a mingle in one of my very favorite groups Altered Designs for 3x3 Vintage ATC's and so these are 2 of the 4 ATC's required in the mingle.... I am really enjoying ATC's more-so than I ever thought I would. I think this is my new little Niche :) I have received some lovely one's since I started exchanging them and I hope to share pictures of them soon.

I've just begun creating my own backgrounds and things to use with my creations. And this was sort of a creation of my own, instead of using any tutorials that I could find. I First took a white crayon and drew out the cirly-q's onto the paper... -> make sure to bare down pretty hard so that the white really sticks and the effect works <- Then I took my watercolors (I actually used the cheap cakes of watercolor that you can buy for like $1 instead of using my liquid watercolors, or my watercolor pencils.) I painted the paper with blues, and greens ina design that I liked.. putting some darker spots here and there and pouncing in places with a paper towel to make the white come through a bit. The water color will not completely stick to the white crayon and you can see the designs you drew previously coming through the watercolor, but like I said it depends on how hard you press when you draw the actual designs as to how much the design shows through once you paint over it. After that I took black watercolor and went around the edges sort of blending it with the rest of the colors. This is while everything is still wet, mind you. Let the piece dry completely.... then I attached my vintage print out that I found at the following website, its a wonderful place for finding vintage graphics to use on your creations: -> Click Here <- I then took a mini-rose stamp and stamped a few roses here and there with black ink to accent the roses the lady has on the table beside of her and using a vellum saying I found I attached it with vellum tape. The final touch was taking a white gel pen and going around the edges of the ATC and highlighting a few of the cirly-q's one last time. :)

The image for this ATC was actually a weekly challenge image for Altered Designs. Each week they post a new image to challenge the members to create something with.... This was my creation. I actually took a piece of decorative map paper for the background. Then I found this quote -> "As we sail thru life, don't avoid rough waters, sail on because calm waters won't make a skillful sailor" <- in my quotes collections (I loooove collecting thoughts, poetry, and quotes and have a great many of them in books and saved on my computer & 360 blog.) So I printed it out on regular printing paper. Tore it out and took brown and black watercolors to paint the page and make it look like burnt paper. I then took a small sun stamp and stamped the corner of the page with black ink. Then I just attached all of the components together and wha-la! :) I really enjoyed making both of these but I think that the first is my favorite for the amount of time and energy I spent on it. I really liked creating my own background technique :) Hopefully I can get to creating lots more ATC's as this is really fun and relaxing for me :) I hope someone can use my technique or I have inspired someone to create something today!

Porcionas de Amor <3