Sunday, July 29, 2012

Almost Vacation Time!

I was going to get all fired up on here and start pushing to make daily posts again when it hit me...  In a couple of days, my husband and I are leaving for a week long trip.  So... daily posts will have to wait until after that I suppose!

It will be good to get away for a little while.  I think I should make an attempt to carry a small memo pad and pen with me though, because I tend to get a lot of brainstorms when I'm away from home for some reason.  Well, to be honest - I get brainstorms ALL the time, but it's much harder to keep track of them on the go.  We will be on a motorcycle, seeing a lot of cool things in nature.

There is nothing like a motorcycle to experience nature as you pass through it - well other than a horse of course!  In a car you can see some of it, but on a bike you see all of it, plus you can hear, feel, and smell it all too.

We will be going up through the Colorado Rockies - much inspiration to be had there for sure!  I'll be snapping a lot of pictures as we go too.

I should also take something to gather up neat findings.  I tend to pick up cool leaves, rocks, feathers, and so on during any nature hike.  Many of those items eventually find their way into my creations.  Space will be at a premium on the bike - we will be carrying enough gear to camp off of the bike for the week - but I'm sure I can squeeze in a little pencil case or something for some little pieces of my home state.

I'm looking forward to the trip and I'm sure I'll come back charged up with even MORE creative ideas!








Saturday, July 28, 2012

New Greeting Cards

Ok, here, at long last, is a post with PICTURES!

These are some of the cards I've made over the past few months, all soon to be listed on ArtFire:








I used new techniques on several of them, including neoprene foam elements on several of them, a layering effect on the mermaid card, along with an actual dried starfish added on that one.  For the Patriotic/4th of July card, the white stars were stamped with my first ever handmade stamp.  It turned out much better than I had hoped!

I hand drew a star, transferred it onto neoprene foam and cut it out  Then, instead of ink, I used white acrylic paint, applied onto the stamp with a paint brush, and then went to town!  I was very happy with the results.

A few of the stamps used: the ducks, the mermaids, and the girls in swimsuits, are from the collection of vintage stamps that my Granny gave me.  (earlier readers may remember my obsession at the time with a certain chicken marching band stamp that also came in the box - I still haven't used that one yet, bit rest assured - I WILL!  mwahahahaha....)







Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Oh My...

So, once again, I tripped and fell face first off of the blogging wagon.

*sigh.*

I promise I am going to try and get better at this (again).

I have been busy,busy, busy creating new things.  In the works right now are many things, but at the top of the list are:

Several model horse-sized cross-stitch saddle pads.
A handful of custom painted model horses
Likewise, a handful of drastic model horse remodels/re-sculpts

Plus the usual random paper crafts and any other creative bug that bites me.

The studio organization has been an ongoing process.  A couple of days ago my wonderful husband bought me a few things I'd been after - more shelving and more binders to better house my ever expanding horse reference library.  Also a box of glue sticks to continue the reference book crusades. Setting up my reference pages is a bit of an art form itself.  Perhaps I'll share what they look like one of these days.

Geez, I really need to start writing down what all I need to take pictures of.  The ideas come and go, then it's "Ooo, something shiny!" and I'm off and away on another quest.  LOL

Also in desperate need of an overhaul is my ArtFire store, as well as Nail Necklace site.  Plus the still mostly vacant pages on my Studio site are constantly looming.

I have been pouring a lot of my time and energy into a fundraiser for a horse that I had sold to a woman in Australia last year.  A couple of weeks ago, he suffered a gruesome eye injury.  He was rushed to a top vet hospital where they did manage to save his eye it appears, but he has a long road to recovery ahead of him.  The vet bill is currently over $7,000 and I've been trying to help with that.

Take a peek if you'd like, the fundraising campaign is at:  Save Cazador's Eye

Cazador is a fantastic little horse and he was one of our beloved "kids" for 3 years before making the epic voyage "Down Under".  I have felt so helpless since he was hurt, being on the other side of the world.  I decided to set up the fundraiser and donate items from the Studio as "perks" for contributions.

Well, I guess that's enough of an update to, sort of, get me caught up here.

Until next time...  (which will hopefully be SOON!)