More of The Journey and a Winning Heart!

I thought tonight I would share with you the artist trading cards I received as swaps on the Artful Voyage to Mexico cruise.

Remember to left click on the photos to get a closer look at the detail on these mini works of art!

Below are the atc's (left to right) that Tim, Wendy and even MARIO created to trade on the cruise:
That's it for the "eye candy" tonight. I went back to the day job today, and I'm just getting home. You know, as much as I enjoy my job, I don't think I would have any problem leaving it if someone told me I could cruise and create art the rest of my life! *smiles*

Stay tuned for more of "the journey" this week. But while you're waiting, go over to Domestic Underground and look what Tia made that I won today! And while you're over there drooling over my Malediction Voodoo Heart, check out the scherenschnitte pieces she cut and framed. TOO cool!

¡Es tiempo de montarse el transatlántico artero de viaje!

one of the atc's I've made for the cruise swap

Translation for the blog post title is Spanish for "It's time to get on the Artful Voyage cruise ship!"

NO more ironing . . . NO more "day job" . . . NO more laundry . . . NO more washing dishes . . . NO vacuuming . . . NO bathrooms to clean . . . NO grocery shopping NO cooking,
(Taylor will be preparing his own meals while I'm away. I bought "survival" food just in case though) . . . NO etsy shop items will be mailed out. However, if you purchase something, I will be sure to get them in the mail on Monday, October 19th (I'll still be on vacation!) . . . NO setting the coffee maker in the morning. . . and with Wireless Internet Access (Wi-Fi) at 55 cents per minute, $28.00 for an hour or $38.00 for an hour and a half or, well, you get the picture - I probably won't be blogging or e-mailing while I'm away either. And please don't text or call me on my cell phone. International rates are outrageous. I'll be spending my $$ on mojitos*insert BIG smiles here*!

Yes my good friends, the day has finally arrived. At noon, Lezlei and I will be boarding THIS ship and sailing away at 5pm along with approximately 150+ artsy people from AROUND THE WORLD for what I know will be 8 days and 7 nights of pure BLISS on the Mexican Riviera!

¡Véale cuando regreso! . . . That's "See you when I return!"

Trying to Get Back in the Groove

I hadn't realized just how much the passing of E Lynn had affected me, until I noticed that the only creating I had done since I posted last week was to prime one canvas with black gesso and another one white gesso. I even pulled out some manila shipping tags, but that was as far as I got.

So last night I decided to start back with the atc project. These are some of the cards I completed last night.

And these are some of the cards that have NOT been completed. I had set myself a Sunday evening goal to finish them up:

THEN, as I was looking for more background papers to use, I ran across a pack of GrungeBoard. I thought . . . huuuummm, I could cut some of this up into 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" pieces, ink them up using my distress ink pads and use them as atc substrates. How cool would THAT be?!
I'm thinking I may need to adjust my Sunday evening completion date/time . . . *sigh*

ATC Undertaking

I've been reading on the Artful Voyage Yahoo Group for the October Tim Holtz/Wendy Vecchi cruise, that several of the art "cruisers" are planning an artist trading card get-2-gether the night before the cruise.

I got all excited when I read about the swap and thought WOW, just think, I could possibly come back home from the cruise with 100-175 pieces of art from all over the world!

So I got busy the other day and started making some backgrounds. These heavy recycled matboards that I cut to size are covered with decorative paper and cardstock . . .

I found a 1953 Sears Catalog and started cutting out Sears models. Here are some I have started collaging on some subtle graffiti paper backgrounds . . .

I used some of my acrylic & watercolored serendipity paper towels for these backgrounds . . .
Got lucky with THESE papers! I love the way the Sears girls look on them . . .
I painted the backgrounds for these with acrylic paints . . . Blues and Reds . . .
more paper, acrylic paints and some vintage book pages . . .

Thought this Blue Chip Stamp paper was just perfect for the retro look I'm going for! . . .

A few more of the ladies. Gold paint pen used on the borders . . .

I thought it would be cool to put some sayings on the cards that related to the art cruise or just some funny or witty sayings that I thought went with the photos. Here are a couple that I have completed . . .

Because I live close enough and don't need to stay at the hotel the night before, and Lezlei will be flying in from Texas and staying with me before we sail, we won't be attending the swap at the hotel the night before. I guess we'll have to do our swapping onboard.

Hey, Lezlei are you making atc's to swap too?

Can't tell you what I was thinking when I took on this undertaking, but I can tell you what I'm thinking NOW. I'm thinking that I had better get off this blog and get back to work if I'm going to make close to 200 of these! I've only COMPLETED TWO!

Got Talent?

WOW!

PAUSE MY MUSIC IN THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN OF MY BLOG

THEN CLICK ON THIS LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Forty-seven year old Susan Boyle wows the judges with her performance in the auditions for Britain's Got Talent, singing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables.

There was a time, when men were kind
And their voices were soft
And their words were inviting

There was a time, when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting

There was a time it all went wrong
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living

I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid

No song unsung, no wine untasted
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they turn your hope apart
As they turn your dreams to shame

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my dreams with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'd come to me
That we would live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from the hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed

Got Paper?

You can see over on the right column of my blog, that I joined the group Creative Every Day 2009.

I thought what I'm doing today might be something you would be interested in doing as well.

Jessie over at Sweet Jessie has put together this really neat project! You send her 50-70, 6" x 9" pieces of paper: ledger, graph, lined, sheet music, wallpaper, etc., $8 to cover shipping and binding charges, and Jessie will send back a 50-70 sheet bound journal of papers from other participants. Now isn't that just the coolest?

Your papers need to be in her hands by January 23rd, so don't dawdle if you want to participate. I've paid my $8 (through Paypal), selected my papers, cut them to size, and am ready to put them in the mail on Tuesday. I can't wait to see my new paper journal!

and the winner IS ! . . .

Drum roll please . . .


The winner of the Inchies Give-Away is ROBIN.

Robin does not have a blog, but is an avid scrapbooker and all-around arts & crafts person. I met Robin earlier this year through an on-line yahoo group we both belong to. We met in person at the last Stamp in the Hand Original Rubberstamp Convention in Carson, CA in July.

Congratulations Robin! Have fun creating inchies *smiles*

And thank you all for playing. Everyone submitted some really interesting themes! And Sarah, you have proven that you DO know your alphabet. LOL

PS I'm going to have an Artist Trading Card Give-Away on TUESDAY, that will be very similar to the Inchies Give-Away. Please stop back by and enter to win. And tell your friends! xoxo

Scrabble Tile Charms, Halloween Swap, and Blogs

Remember my last blog give-away? http://gotart4u.blogspot.com/2008/10/no-tricks-only-treats.html , below is a photo of the winner (Renee James) wearing some of the Halloween-themed scrabble tile charms I made. I love how she lined them up on a choker necklace. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And here are the charms I received from the Halloween Charm Swap that Michelle Cummings from Faerie Dust Dreams hosted:

This is a pin that Michelle Cummings made as an *extra* surprise

Michelle Betaudier made this coffin and charm. The eyes and teeth glow in the dark!

These are the other charms and goodies I received from Melissa Merrill, Valerie Myers, Tracy Laine, Susan Carroll, Pam Hoffman, Diana Pohl, Michelle Cummings, and Mahala

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you're wondering where my list of blogs that I frequent have gone, just click on the "View My Complete Profile" under my photo to the right.

I'm using the new blogger feature called Blogs I Follow. So far I like the new feature, and it doesn't take up room on the front page of my blog anymore.

AND, it looks like I can have an endless list! At least so far. If you are using blogger, you will see that I am listed on your Dashboard as someone that is *following you*.

And if you're following ME, you'll see yourself under *Follow This Blog* here on my blog in the right-hand column. So that's where my blog list went.

Who ME? Speechless?

I can't type fast enough to tell you about and show you all of the mail goodness I've received these past two days!

First up - Monday's mail

I did an artist trading card swap with Gaby Bieberle from Germany over at Colorful Adventures. Gaby also included some pages in German, cancelled postage stamps and other paper ephemera. Ohhhhhhh, love these atc's! . . .

Then there was this beauty that I won over at Bulles Dorees from Anne Le Toux . . .

Also in the mail on Monday was this package of paper-eeeee goodness from Mary Ann over at I Am Very Mary that I won on one of her many blog give-aways . . .

Then there was today's mail - Tuesday

This is the box that I retrieved from the mailbox this evening . . .

Tearing into the Brown paper packages (you know the tune). . .

A peek inside the box . . .

Oooohhh, the tea cozy that Vallen from Queenly Things made that I also won on one of Mary Ann's blog give-aways. You should FEEL this cozy! It's so soft and cushion-eee . . .

In the bottom of the box were all of these jewelry goodies!!! . . .

But this is what I've been trying to get to so fast . . .

Look at THIS!!

Here's a close up of the inside mannequin cavity with a hanging bird in a nest

Several months ago Mary Ann suggested that we challenge each other artistically. We sent each other 20 random items to create two projects from. Well, this is one of the pieces that Mary Ann created from some of those items. I think this is just FAB-U-LOUS!

I have a pretty extensive collection of mannequins that I have been collecting for several years now. But I've got to tell you, THIS ONE tops them all! I was almost speechless when I unwrapped it.

I LOVE this Mary Ann! Thank you so much for creating such a beautiful piece of artwork! I think I'll name my new mannequin Mary Ann. Yes, that's her name - Mary Ann*smiles*