I Should Write SOMETHING Here!

Yeah, I really should. I'm sorry that I haven't blogged much this month. I've been busy and still would have posted if only I knew what to say. I know, my lovelies. A lack of something to say has never really been my problem, has it? Guess I'll just do a roll call of my usual activities and see what comes out. Here's a bit of eye candy to start with... a partial set of charms and a pocket page with a tag.

The charms are meant for the ArtsyDoll Charm swap on arttechniques that is due to be sent out tomorrow. I bought a $3 bag of tumbled and polished semi-precious stones at The Valley of Fire State Park in NV when we went on a run there with the AMVIV group last month. An awesome run with over 200 MINIs and incredible scenery. I saw these in the gift shop and immediately knew how I could use them!

The pocket page with the tag is for a monthly theme swap on Chubbyville. I love this swap as it is one for one, so easy to make just two, one for me and one to swap. However, for some obscure reason, I cannot meet the simple deadline. Thank goodness for Denise with the busy schedule who ends up being my private swap pal! I just fear that we'll both end up with little fat books made by each other with no contributions from others.

The dogs are fine. They visited with their old canine and human buddies from the rescue group a couple of weeks ago for a Saturday afternoon at a local restaurant with a big shady patio and were totally wiped out by all the activity. I don't think I've ever seen Chance so exhausted by anything. He told me that dealing with his adoring public is fun but it takes a lot of energy. As soon as he saw all the people, he started doing his 'pathetic dog limping' hop instead of the usual 'hurry up, let's get there' hop. He's such a ham! They got groomed the day before and just loved all the attention. The rescue folks were all so happy to see how their efforts were able to help this pair of goofy boys. I was so sorry to see that the group is under attack by a woman with too much money for lawyers and the media. They really do care only about the welfare of the animals and I'm afraid that this battle will tear the group apart, waste its resources on legal fees, and besmirch its reputation. Here, Daddy is having to have a little talk with Chance about swiping his MINI5280 hat again.

So what else? Getting a new business (although it is not strictly my very own business) started is keeping me pretty busy - nose to the laptop screen and hands on the keyboard - to the point where when I get away from it, I just want to do something besides type, you know? But business is going very well, thank you. Actual employment seems inevitable, kind of like impending doom but with a paycheck. ;-))

I've been busy creating stuff when I'm not working. That's not to say that I've actually dragged my sorry ass to the Post Office to mail stuff. I definitely have a huge pile of things to go out tomorrow. So I'm hoping to get my metallic pages mailed out to Stacie for the BookArtz Monthly chunky pages on the True Colors theme. I am quite happy with the work I've been doing lately on these pages. I posted about last month's green pages and the depth I achieved with those. This month, I put on more layers of color and texture through pattern. Here are my green and violet pages - with some gold, blue, and black added. I might even be learning when enough is enough. Obviously, this is not yet enough as the page lacks a focal point.

OK, the one on the right is much better!

In the same vein, I have made lots of pages lately using this technique for the background, which is one of the ones that arttechniques breezed through in the last month. Sometimes the group goes too far (for my taste) into the vapidness of "that's great" and "thank you!", usually unaccompanied by any references, or my pet peeve, people using art materials without thought to what they are doing, whether or not what they are making will actually last until next year, or if they are endangering their health in the way they are using them, goes too far in the spirit of exploration of their and their materials' boundaries. Honestly, just when I think I can't take any more of it, they come up with something that is exactly what I joined for: wonderful techniques, links, tips, and resources! This group has changed a lot as it has grown. I think I joined at Christmastime and it has nearly quadrupled in size since then.

Next up is another project in this method, a book intended for the BookArtz monthly Mini Book exchange. The insides didn't work as well as the outside, so this puppy now belongs to me! I like it and will re-work the construction, a modified laguna binding done in 300# watercolor paper. It's a fun and easy construction that I'd like to do more with, so you'll see more of it in future posts, I'm sure.

The technique? I used matte photo paper (originally, everyone used glossy photo paper), drew on it with a Krylon 18 ct. gold leafing pen, then painted over it with Twinkling H2Os (two blues and two greens) in a pattern (the original method used acrylics, I think), then made big slashes of the darkest color over the top (you can see this in the pic on the right). I helped that to dry with the heat gun, then added an overall covering of a texture stamp, in this case, circles, with iris blue fluid chalk ink.

Here's a book cover (below, left) that got way overdone on the the left side (meant to be the bottom of the cover) with the nicer, not overworked paper on the right. Next to that is the inside front cover and the outside cover that replaced it. I had to add a charm made from the cover scraps with the recipient's initials on it because I am so completely hung up on soldering! I love it!!! The book is for Inkybru aka Sharon Bruner for BookArtz' monthly mini book swap. I hope she enjoys using it as much as I enjoyed making it. The paper for the inside cover was where I wiped the excess paint off my brush before cleaning it. Why waste it?

I've been hung up on circle motifs and just did not realize how many rubber stamps I've had for ages with circles in them. It was nice to use them.