look-- I got Pearls! (sort of a 3-Day Tuesday post)

but first, more domino pendants in progress... it's a challenging size, that's for sure! I don't hae a lot of patterned paper where the patterns are small enough to be recognizeable in a 1 x 2 inch space... but, that's what's fun about it, too. I love that Martha Stewart brand butterfly punch-- the vintage novel letters that spell the word "Fly" were definitely a pain in the neck, but I really like how these have turned out. The other day, I remembered I had some glass flat-back marbles, and made a pendant using one of those. Which I love, too, because it magnifies the paper underneath. So, my birthday is later this week. I've never been big on birthday celebrations, so it's not that I'm really looking forward to it, but I know I have some birthday money coming... My first two thoughts when I get "free money" are always "art supplies" and "books," not necessarily in that order- LOL!! But, then I thought again. I have sooo many art supplies and books already, did I really want more, when I don't have enough time to use the supplies and try all the ideas I already have?? And, add to that the fact that I did a 4.25 mile 3-Day training walk on Sunday morning in the wrong pair of shoes... I wore the shoes I wear for "everyday," and they are definitely not up to "walking" standards. (not a good idea, I know, but for some reason that fact didn't dawn on me till the next day, when I was trying to figure out why my feet hurt so much-- then, it was like, Duh!!) And, I know I need to buy "real" shoes that will be up to the challenge of 60 miles... Anyway, long story short, I decided to use my birthday money for a pair of running shoes, which is soooo not like me, since anyone who knows me knows that I am so much more about relaxing on the couch reading a book than being outdoors walking, but as soon as I made the decision, it just felt right. (weird, but true.)

Here they are!! (the brand is Pearl Izumi- never heard of it, but apparently they are a pretty good-quality running shoe.) They look much high-tech up close, believe me!! I might not be able to recognize my feet when I have them on-- LOL! I haven't been this excited about a pair of athletic shoes in I-don't-know-how long (like, probably never). Thank goodness I went to a running store; the sales associate was so helpful, I didn't feel embarrassed about my clueless-ness at all. She analyzed my gait using a camera, then brought out pair after pair of shoes for me to try on. I asked her, "how will I know which ones are best?" and she answered, "just walk in them- you'll get a feel for it." and I did, amazingly enough... these feel great on, even though my feet still kinda hurt from Sunday. Then, we went on to have "the sock talk;" where I learned all about moisture-wicking fabrics, and toe-socks. We stopped there, although I know there's more stuff I need to know about, and I will, of course, buy pink shoelaces at some point. (there's lots more to running and long-distance walking than I ever would have thought!!) Now, I just have to wait till Thursday, when I will have time to test them out- I'll let you know how they work!

random ART (mostly) photo catchup (edited to add a couple details)

more pics, this time of some of my latest art projects: the fruits of my first foray into encaustics, which is painting with colored/melted wax. I got to try it at AZ Art Supply in Phoenix, as part of the May ATC exchange event. I've seen some gorgeous pieces using this medium, and of course, what I came up with looks nothing like anything recognizable! It was difficult to control the melted wax on the iron, and I ended up overmixing some of the colors, so ended up with "mud." After that, I decided to go for an abstract look! Not sure what I'll do with these, but it was fun to try out. (I think I'll stick with paper, paint and glue for the time being.)

Not an art project, but I had to get a pic of Pandora in here... it's hard to see in this pic,but she is a bit lumpy, with water under her shoulder after getting an injection of fluids at the vet's office. She's been losing weight (a LOT of weight) for a few weeks now (she's down to 6 3/4 lb currently), and is now being treated for a kidney infection with a 6-week course of antibiotics and fluids, which will hopefully help her stay hydrated, flush some of the toxins out of her system, and tackle the infection. This afternoon, the techs at the vet's office showed us how to administer the sub-cutaneous fluids so we can do it ourselves at home. (wish us luck, because we might need it, knowing her calico anti-social personality!)

I've been making pendants to sell at our 3-Day for the Cure fundraising event in June. I have wanted to make these for a while, but didn't really have any reason before, and decided this was the perfect time! The larger ones are collaged paper on dominoes (dominos?? this is one of those words I can never spell-- neither looks right, and I don't feel like looking it up), and the smaller ones are scrabble tiles. Top, L-R: a stamped and colored image right on the domino, hand-marbled paper (made using shaving cream, if you can believe that!), and a collaged napkin. Bottom, L-R: collaged paper with rhinestones, 3 scrabble tiles with scrapbooking paper, and a gorgeous patterned Japanese paper. I bought individual scrabble tiles at Frenzy Stamper, but I am scouting out a Scrabble game from the local Goodwill to make more...

This is an 8x10 canvas experiment... Edited to add: this experiment was inspired by some of the techniques in the book Mixed Emulsions, by Angela Cartwright. I painted the background last month at our Mixed Media group meeting, but couldn't decide exactly what to do with it. I just started experimenting with digital images (and I would love to try Photoshop) but this one was done using Picasa, which is a free photo-editing software. It's a double exposure using two photos: the first is lawn chairs in front of my sister's little pink house, and the second is a texture photo of cracked cement (borrowed from this Flickr user- I believe I used this texture), overlaid on top and printed as one photo. I added some original "poetry" text, and lots of layered paint. I think it still needs something more in the upper right corner, though... I'm not sure what yet, but it'll come to me. Oh, and I've also been doing some more sewing using my sewing machine... I really think I must have Crafter's ADHD!!

I've been featured! (...and I've been crafty, too...)

My Etsy shop was featured today on Funky Finds, a blog that features and promotes independent crafters and artists!! How cool is that?!? I got an e-mail this morning from Jessica, the author, letting me know... quite a nice change from the spam and junk mail that sometimes makes it into my inbox! She has found some really interesting sellers; when I have time, I'm definitely going to read more of her posts. Now, to the crafting: I made a few new domino keychains... In this post, I showed a keychain with a tiny rubber stamped birdie... I decided that although the birdie was a pain in the neck to cut out, he was so cute that I would turn him into a series... Birdie could get into quite a few adventures, maybe do some travelling and exploring... This is Birdie Flies a Kite- birdie is enjoying the fresh spring air! (we don't quite have any of that here in Arizona yet, here, but hopefully sometime soon...) Find Birdie, and other Crimson Cat goodies, in my Etsy shop.

This is another of Birdie's adventures, Birdie Visits the Seashore. Birdie is keeping his feet clear of the waves, and relaxing on the beach (made from actual sandpaper). The waves and clouds were drawn with marker, and the sun was stamped and cut out. This one will be in my Etsy shop soon, so keep checking!

And now, for something totally different...

This is a 4 x 6 inch piece titled Dead End Road- Collage #1, made last night using various materials, including scrapbooking paper, pattern tissue, and pages from magazines and catalogs glued onto a background of watercolor paper and accented with markers and Staz-On ink.

It was created as part of a new creative venture... I joined a fun and motivating Flickr group started by some fellow Etsians for creating and sharing collage art, Collage a Day. I've never really tried "real" collage, although I guess you could say some of my ACEOs and keychains might qualify as collage, since the definition of collage is: " technique of composing a work of art by pasting on a single surface various materials not normally associated with one another, such as newspaper clippings, parts of photographs, theater tickets, and fragments of an envelope." I have a growing collection of "found" papers, scraps, catalogs, and such, but don't usually use them for this kind of art- Collage a Day will hopefully get me to be more creative with these materials, and actually use some of them instead of just collecting them. Although I did find myself digging through the recycle bin this evening, trying to decide "this security envelope pattern is kind of interesting; can I use it for a craft project??" Maybe this isn't such a good thing, after all... we'll just have to wait and see!

sad and neglected- a catching up post

yes, my poor blog, you are sad and neglected... but no more! Wow, it's been ages, hasn't it?? The holidays have come and gone, and my cold took at least 5 weeks to finally leave, too. Tom and I both had some time off over Christmas; vacation and work holidays meant that both of us had vacation from Christmas till after New Year's. We didn't do too much... visited some friends on Christmas Day, spend the day with our friend Dennis enjoying dinner and a movie (we saw The Golden Compass), and took a day trip to Bisbee, Arizona, a copper mining town about 3 1/2 hours south of Phoenix. (we toured a copper mine, which was really neat- I do have some pictures of that to post, eventually!)

The holidays were difficult for me this year, truthfully... It started with having to put Cleo to sleep, stress from lots of overtime at work, feeling under the weather from that terrible cold, and not being able to go back to the Midwest for the holidays... but, the new kittens have started to feel more like part of the family, the overtime is done with for now, the cold is (mostly) gone, and we did talk to everyone on Christmas- so, I'm feeling a little better, finally.

This photo is a Flickr mosaic- some of my favorite photos, put together into one place. I have a tendency to Favorite really cool artwork, cute kitties and dogs (mostly Shelties- imagine that!), and striking landscape photos. You can see the original here- underneath the Flickr photo are links to the original pics, if you want to check any of them out further. This year I didn't even make our Christmas cards; I just didn't feel up to it- not much crafting got done during my vacation either, oddly enough. But, I had to do a major cleanup of my craft room because our friend Dennis came to see the house, so I finally found the desk again! I've been making some new domino keychains; they're a lot of fun to make, and I've actually sold a few of them in my Etsy shop lately. So, these two pictures are two of my newest designs... the Journey keychain above was made with a bit of a vintage atlas- the map is of Bull Shoals Basin, on the Arkansas/Kentucky border. The word was stamped onto a separate piece of paper. The ink ran a bit when I sprayed it with sealer, which actually contributes to a rather vintage/aged feel, I think. I posted a pic of it on my Flickr page, and it's actually garnered quite a few views. (I finally posted it for sale in my shop- hopefully someone there will like it just as much!) This keychain turned out amazingly cute (if I do say so, myself!), and is already sold. I called it Birdie Love Song... It was actually an afterthought, made with a scrap of vintage music paper leftover from something else... the paper was colored with a light blue wash of acrylic paint. I liked the placement of the music and words on the domino, but didn't know what I would do with it till I thought of a bird, and birdsong. The birdie was stamped onto cardstock, colored with pencils; then I cut it out (!) and glued it to the domino, along with the tiny cardstock heart in the corner. I like this birdie, so I think he's going to have some more domino adventures soon! When he does, I will be sure to post them- I am going to try and keep the cobwebs and dust off my blog this year!