Collage Obsession Challenge - Flowers

This week Collage Obsession's Challenge was this beautiful still life of flowers. We were to do whatever we wanted with it. I decided to just play around in layers for awhile and see what developed. I have not done this challenge in awhile and felt like I am not spending as much time on my digital work lately, it seemed perfect.

I did several renditions and I decided to go with the cool blues. It is 80 degrees here today, small wind and the blue in life always cools me down. Hope everyone is having a cool but, sunny Monday!

The original image

Spring and Summer Mean Stings!

This morning I awoke to the sound of the painters! Yes it is that time of year where the house needs some major sprucing up. As one of the painters was up on my roof he noticed an empty wasp nest and asked me if I wanted it. Of course! He then replied he was so glad it was empty. Then began the bee and wasp sting stories.

After I had gone in the house it occurred to me that it was vinegar time. Yes vinegar. You see vinegar is the best sting reliever I know of. It is good for all insect stings and at the beach it is wonderful for jelly fish stings. I keep a small bottle in my car and another in my cupboard - just in case. If you do not have vinegar and some one gets stung - throw a pickle on it. Yes,a pickle works great also.

One of my boys was stung pretty badly by a yellow jacket. He called and said "Mom what should I do? I do not have any vinegar." I said to throw a pickle on it. He called back later and said, "Mom it worked. My roommates thought I was nuts till they saw the swelling and pain go away." So there you have it - an old Southern remedy!

Art Creations Friday - The Gatherer

This week the Art Creations Friday Challenge was to use this darling image of this little girl. I decided to color her dress pink and go from there. I created this forest floor scene and then threw in the goat from the Graphics Fairy just because. It all reminded me when I was little and my grandmother would give me a bucket. Then she would send me out into her yard on some mission to gather something, peas, flowers, grasshoppers...anything to keep me from underfoot. I am calling this The Gatherer in her loving memory.

Earth Day Freebies

These are by far my favorite globes!

I find this to be almost magical. What a way to map the earth.

My favorite spheres!

I love the layers in this with the blue background.

This is just the most beautiful of hand colored engravings.

The seasons of the earth. My we have stepped into one of my favorites - Spring.

Ah the French have such a way with their expressions. Such attention to detail!


Celebrating Earth Day today I thought what better freebies than some of these images of how man use to view earth. I am always amazed at how they figured some of these out. The engraving are so complex and beautiful. I hope you all enjoy them!

Gothic Arch Attempts

The girl is from Paper Whimsy, the flower and birds are mine.

I was able to use more of my new tape here. I love the metal corner pieces.

Another Paper Whimsy girl and more flowers and birds. I am trying to use up all my scrap with these.

I worked with this young woman's image in photoshop before printing her out and using her. I hated the background on this one till I just kept playing.

This is the first Gothic Arch. Dealing with the top space has been a real challenge for me. The girl is from Paper Whimsy.


This past Sunday I was traveling around the blog world. When I was finished the two things that really stuck in my mind were a Gothic Arch challenge and the second was an artist who was trying to make a collage a day. Having never done a Gothic Arch, and loving to collage I thought I would give it a go for a couple of days. I have realized that even to committing to something once a week can be hard { I did an ATC a week in 2008} - one a day even harder. I decided to start with small ambitions.

First I had to make or find a template for the Gothic Arch. Googling it I found several different styles and was able to come up with several ideas for size and type to make my own. I decided to mount mine on 4" by 6" card stock or heavy watercolor paper - postcard style. Then I could make a book, send them out into the world, etc...Here are my first five Gothic Arches. I am finding it an odd shape to work with an admiring all the Gothic Arches and their makers much more than before.

Gothic Arch Template

Here is the template I ended up using. It is very simple. I printed it out on cardstock and four arches should fit on a normal size piece of paper. Hope you will explore the world of Gothic Arches.

Happy Earth Day - Journal Page

This journal page started as a big mistake. I had split some very dark blue ink on part of the journal page. I decided to just go with it and grabbed a baby wipe and spread the ink all around. Then stamped the clocks with white chalk ink and let every thing dry while I cut out the flowers. They are some freebies from a few weeks back. The quote is one of my favorite springtime quotes.

I hope everyone is enjoying this Earth Day. I awoke to clean pollen free air and the sounds of the birds singing. I realized how very lucky I am to get up and just walk to the shower, flush a toilet, open my frig and make something to eat...All things I take for granted. The simple act of turning on the faucet and getting clean water for many is unheard of.

We all can make a difference on this planet. The world of blogging alone should open everyone's eyes to the power we actually have. So I am challenging each and everyone of you to think of one thing that you can do to make this world a better place to live. What can you do or give up that will help this place we call earth? I personally have been thinking about this quite a bit and have decided to have at least one car free day a week, to again cut down the amount of plastic that comes into my home, to turn my thermostat at least 5 degrees higher or lower than I regularly would, to plant a tree for each of my children, and to reuse, recycle, and rethink everything that comes into my house and out. What ways are you helping the earth?

Art Creations Friday - Springtime in Paris

Springtime in Paris

This week the theme for the Art Creations Friday Challenge was this beautiful freebie I gave out some time ago. I was so honored they used one of my freebies. Of course, this is one of my favorite images and I had to meet the challenge.

I decided to do a springtime digital. Some of my best Spring's were spent with my first husband in Paris. There is just something about that city that makes my heart skip a beat. Everyone should put on their bucket list a trip to Paris in the Spring!

The original image.

Four Letter Words - Nest

Bird Nest Freebies

Wood Thrush Nest

Meadow Lark Nest

Purple Martin Nest

Green Heron Nest

Flycatcher Nest

Red Wing Blackbird

This week for my freebies I though I would go with the bird/egg thing I have going on. I had a request for some bird nests so here we are. I tried to pick a variety for you. I hope you have fun with these. If you listen carefully when you are outside you might notice a few nests in your own backyard. Right now I have a Red Wing Hawk nest, a Wren nest, and a Mockingbird nest that I know of.

The Journal Cover

This is the start of my Journal Cover for the Dina Wakley class - Art Journaling - I am taking. The beautiful image of the woman is from Terri at Pringle Hill Studios. I think she is so beautiful and what a magnificent dress. This journal is still very much a work in progress. Last week I had almost no time to work in it, so the past few evenings I have tried to get some collage down on every page so that I can move on to the text part. As I work on the collages I am making up little stories in my head and how they relate to what is going on in my life.

Week Three Journal Pages

This is the first page of my journal. I did this page last as I was not pleased with the way the paint part came out. Then after working on all the other pages with their collages I realized this would not be too bad.

I am in love with the vintage photographs, cabinet cards, along with antique botanical's and prints. About half way through the collage part of this journal I realized that I was so influenced by what I was seeing and hearing outside. All the trees getting their leaves, birds making their nests, the flowers blooming, kids out playing.

She is an old photograph I played with in Photo Shop then turned into a stamp. I love black and white with that limey green color.

This was the second most hated background page. After I painted it, the thought that I should probably paint over them entered my head more than a few times, instead I said there is still so much more stuff to put on them, wait, then maybe you won't notice. Now these two pages are some of my favorites. Go figure. [the other one is the parrot page]

Here is one of Modigliani's beautiful women. I have had a strange fascination with him since college. I also, have had the privilege to view his work at the Jewish Museum in New York City, right off Central Park in Manhattan. They have a wonderful collection there, if you are ever in New York City you should definitely take an afternoon and visit.

More Week Three Journal Pages

Here are a few more pages I have done step two - collage on - for my Dina Wakley class. I think you will see a theme of birds, wings, eggs, flowers, and women and children in them. That has pretty much my life the past few weeks.


After deciding to just collage all the pages before putting text on them - I am avoiding here - things have gone pretty fast. I have the start of 20 pages and the cover. Not bad. This is King Crow. He is definitely giving the hawks in my backyard a bad time.


She is my mystical garden princess. Watching over all things wild.


I thought I would use some of my flower freebies here. They have been so much fun to work with. Plus, I have been making my own paper gardens with them.


This suited my mood for the day. The pen heads are from Tim Holtz's paper that he put out a while ago. I do not know if it is in the stores anymore.


This is my last page of the journal. She is one of my favorite Botticelli images. He must have really loved women. The attention to detail in his work is amazing.

So these are the last of the collage part of my new Art Journal. Today I start the text. Then on to adding more layers! This should be a fun journaling week.

Windows Windows Windows

Red trimmed window in downtown house.

The better part of this morning has been spent on windows. Yes, windows. Last summer during all the storms we had my front door side light windows blew their rubber seals. I guess this is fairly common in an area that has abrupt pressure changes as we do. However, I have not ever had that happen before.

I am prone to big headaches when the millibars start going up and down, but blowing a gasket has never happened. That is how my window man - Lee - explained it to me. You see most outside windows are made up of two panes of glass. A rubber seal sits in the groove and keeps the glass apart. Let me just tell you by the looksy of the seals on both windows we had some tremendous weather pressure changes.

Good news the window situation gave me some photoshop time/bad news it was a big bill! Any hoo, I thought I would share a couple of local windows. I love them both and often wonder as I pass them who lives behind them.

This window is downtown on the main drag. When people drive through on the way to the beach they pass this cute little pink cottage with this Rock & Roll poster in the window. I get such a kick out of it. Rock on!

As you walk along the waterfront downtown in one of the buildings there is this window. It is actually on the third floor in the residential part of the building. I always wonder if it was a memento from a business, is there a business up there, are they open? What are they selling?

Isn't it funny how a window can be so much? A door into a place and a door to watch the world go by...

Egg Freebies

All week I have been thinking about what kind of Freebies I wanted to do. This morning as I sat outside enjoying the rain cleaned air and the cooler temperatures I realized if I listened I could hear various birds feeding their young. Then I saw the mockingbird making yet another nest. I decided to share some of my egg prints with you. I am giving you various sizes and colorings. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.

These are Guillemot eggs. I love the speckling and large size of these.

Some Cuckoo eggs. Who knew they would come in such different sizes and colors. Unfortunately, the Cuckoo is extinct in most of the United States. You can still find them in parts of the Southwest and Canada in North America. Unfortunately not in the South where I live. Everyone loved to collect its eggs and feathers.

Some of my favorite birds living here on the coast are the Egrets and Herons. They are very patient hunters. You can learn a lot from watching them.

These are Grebe eggs. They are water birds. I thought you might enjoy some of them.

Here are some smaller eggs. They are Wren, Nuthatch, etc... Every one needs some smaller eggs for their art work! I hope you enjoy these!

Digital Photographs- Spring Showers Bring Spring Flowers

a raindrop

the cherries in bloom

The Yahoo Art Techniques group is doing digital flowers and rain this month in their monthly challenge. I thought I would use a couple of photographs I took. The droplet is from a bush in my backyard and the Cherry tree is from a rest stop along the road I visited last week. Isn't it amazing what a little water can do?

Journal Pages - Week Two - Collage

A very happy party bird. I think he is celebrating spring.

I have been following Molly and Mcgee with their four little owlets every night before I go to bed. It is fascinating. I think they help inspire this page.

I sewed the image before I glued it to the journal page. It was much easier than trying to sew something to the page after I had painted etc... What cute sisters.

I just loved the hand and the bird is from The Graphics Fairy - thanks Karen.

Don't these two twins look like they have lots of secrets to share?

I am way into week two in my online journal class with Dina Wakley. So far it has been a blast. I have really enjoyed just doing the backgrounds. Then this past week we were to collage on our background pages. Just pick images that we are attracted to, speak to us, and might have something to do with what is going on in our lives. Easy and fun. This week we work on text. That is always the hard part for me.