My Very First Etsy Treasury

I've listened to the rumours and heard how difficult it was to get one of these things and how fun they were to do and then I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and thought, "why not!"


Of course I wasn't the least bit prepared for putting in my picks...at all.

Took me over an hour and I kept changing stuff.

Bah! What was I thinking? I've avoided doing one of these for so many reasons and not being prepared is a biggie.

In the end I think it turned out wonderful and I'm very proud of it. Will I ever do another one? Eh, not so sure...but maybe...

AND after trying to get the actual page to show up here and trying to print a screen shot also and being highly unsuccessful at it I give up and just added it as a link...boo!

It really does look good, hehe.

Oh and as a total ps I had someone show me how to go about using a thumbnail catcher so my treasury is now permanent, wahoo.

A Sneak Peek at Something New

Although now that I think about it showing the actual item in its' entirety and in its' finished state isn't a 'peek' but I shall call it a 'sneak peek at a new direction' and call it good, hehe.

I had first experimented with this guy and paper mache and enjoyed it quite immensely but got so busy with other things I never really got to play with paper mache again.

Well friends and neighbors that has all changed and I've got a succession of photos to prove it!

I thought it was interesting to take in progress shots for these guys and while there aren't very many photos I still thought they were informative enough.

I had to draw the eye on there just to give myself an idea of how he was going to look.

I really rather like the group of white birds, kind of look like doves, fat doves but I digress.


Doesn't it look as though the big one is teaching the little ones how to read?

I also prepped a stack of canvases with vintage pages for a slew of Ralph paintings.
You all know who you are...

Some More Altered Tags

Been awhile since I've been involved in any swaps on Craftster so I set about joining the altered tag swap. I of course ran out of time because of the megaphones and ended up getting these out late but they have all just shown up at their new homes so I'm free to finally show them here.

I based each of these tags on the list of things that each of my partners liked.

This one my partner liked blue and retro.

I have very little of my old 1943 yellowed newspaper left but this fabulous image was begging to be used.

Illustrated Insects.

I really wanted to hand draw these insects but just didn't have the time as they were already late. Gotta love clip art and those vinatge text pages.

Skulls and the color red.

I love skulls but always struggle with trying to get them realistic but look creepy too. More of that vintage text.

Anatomical Heart.

I loved doing this one as my partner has become a good friend along the way.

Bad Hair Day and Spiders

Yes, his "beard" is crooked. I told him he shouldn't be shaving it so close and he got a little careless and now look at him!


Now everything is crooked! Silly Egg.


I can actually hear everyone saying a collective, "Ewww" or "Yuck".

That's right, it's very audible.

I even heard a couple of gasps and the sounds of scrambling to get away from the computer screen.

Hehe, sillies, she can't get you from here. She's safely tucked away just outside my back patio door.

Yeah, she even made me squirm as I tried to edge closer to get a better picture.

Me no likey spiders.

Cheerleaders and the last Hurrah

For more years than I care to remember at this point I have painted Cheerleader megaphones. It's official, this year was my last year.

What was that you ask, megaphones?

That's right, those plastic cone shaped bull horn-y things the girls use at games to rile up the fans. They didn't have them during my time in High School and we only had 6 Cheerleaders. These days squads usually consist of about 18 girls and some even include a handsome boy or two.

I got into painting them years ago quite innocently enough when I worked at the uber cool Dick Blick Art Supply Store and a Cheerleader came into to ask about what to use on her megaphone. I think I stunned her with my long list of do's and don't's and what she should use because after a brief pause she said, "Would you be interested in painting mine for me?"

I enjoyed the rollercoaster ride that is early June through late August and got busier and busier every year. I never advertised but word of mouth soon spread like wildfire and some years were chaotic at best. One year I know that I did over 120 of them. Not bad you say, but remember it was only during that three month period.

I generally holed up in my house for 3 solid months and forgot the faces of my friends and family even going so far as to tote them along on trips and family reunions to work on them. Once I even hauled them up to a friends log cabin building party in the woods to work on them.

Every year I would whine and cry about the things I didn't get to do and the places I didn't get to go because I had to work on my megaphones and my friends and family would ask me why I continued doing them. I would tell them that I'm going to say no next year, ha! Until that first call came and the voice on the other end told me how great they were the year before and I did such beautiful work...I was putty in their hands...absolute putty.

Last year I stood firm and told them when they picked them up that I was retiring. I felt vastly relieved...and totally guilty.

I had one squad that over the years I had enjoyed so much working with as their Coach was such a joy to work with that when she asked me for one more year I felt I could not say no.
This is why I have been absent from my blog lately...


The part of the squad that didn't have megaphones from last year and unfortunately I managed to cut Elena off the picture on the right side.


Here I managed to get Elena in the picture but also managed to get the setting sun right in their eyes. It was only 100 degrees as the sun was setting.


Doing some great stunts!


Yay!


I'm not sure which girl this is but I love this shot.


True Friday night Lights!

Long Time No Blog

Yikes!
Where has the time gone? Wasn't I just here blogging my little heart out just yesterday? Three weeks you say! No way!

It's amazing the many different things that fill up your day and most of them you don't even want to be doing...ever, let alone every day. Le sigh.

I'm supposed to be working on a little side job painting Cheerleader megaphones. I have officially retired this year from doing them but I took one last job as the coach was someone I've really liked working with over the years and it was only 11 of them.

It's not what I want to be doing right now. I need to paint stuff, I need to work on and mail out my tags for a swap, I need to finish some ATC's I've been working on for another swap. I really need to update my blog which I've sorely missed. I really need to take my dogs out for a car ride some place a little cooler than this heat. I need...

Aren't I so whiny, hehe.

I promise to astound with the many pictures of...stuff...on my next post, Hopefully it will make up for the very long absence. I do apologize.

Dragons In The Garden

I need to put a disclaimer on the top of this post before I even get to the pictures.
*I am NOT a photographer*
I just learned how (and where it was) to work the macro feature on my camera just recently, sooooo, given that the disclaimer is out there for you all to see I give you some fairly respectable pictures of a very picture savvy dragonfly.

He let me put that camera within inches of his face and whenever I or one of the dogs startled him enough to make him fly off he always managed to return, and in the SAME spot.
At one point he even cocked his head towards me and I could almost hear him say, "This is my good side"












Hehe, I hadn't realized he had flown off until after I took this picture.

Isn't he just gorgeous! Maybe I had never noticed them before, I'm not sure, but I really don't remember seeing a dragonfly around here with this coloring before.