What Can Ya Do With This Stuff? #5

Well hello all...boy have I missed being around here. Life happenings will always win out, yeah? Hope you all have been well, being happy, staying warm, and creating lots and lots of art.

I have been creating art on and off since my last post here and will try to get the projects up as time permits….But today, I bring you the latest installment of ‘What Can Ya Do With This Stuff?’. These pieces were made for my swap partner over at AFA in the Altered Gift swap.

Mini Matchbox Chest of Drawers

 

 

Now these charms were inspired by Roni over at Ink Stains. I totally fell in love with this idea when I saw it and just had to make some of my own. Thanx Roni! I did keep the blue one though. I made them to match the colors of the chest of drawers.

Magic Charms

Enjoy!

A new project...Pendants

Well hello again, hope is well with you all this day. Thanx for stopping by.

I have been busy with a few new projects for January (including school). Will post more soon...but first, here's a project that I truly enjoyed putting together. These pendants were made for a Pendant Swap over at iATCS .





The ingredients: Lots-o-fun, collage, Tooth Lock washers, jewelry findings, watch pieces, Key Holes (Tim Holtz), Turquoise nuggets, Alcohol and Distress inks.

Bottlecap Charms

Had so much fun smashing these gettin' them ready to collage. When I started out making these, it was suppose to be ten of 'em for a swap. I couldn't stop! Arrgh! Wound up making 20 and joining in on another swap. Those swap returns are gonna make one huge bracelet. Hah!

And I believe in Angels too

I was talking with a friend last evening that I had not seen since last October catching up on our lives. Wow, so much has changed for the both of us since then. She's moving into new realms with her music career as a healer and reaching for the world. Totally embracing it all. New doors have opened for her in many areas of her life. I am so proud of her!

Last we spoke, we were both on the verge of "something" and all was not clear then. But from our conversation yesterday, we saw that there have been positive and major movements in both our lives. Yeah! Without getting into the details ('cuz it would be pages long) the assurance of our Spirit Guides were in full swing all along. And some of them are Angels.


You may or may not know but in 2008, every month came with major changes for me. And I did not like it or know how to handle it all. A year of grieving and loss. I kid you not, from January through December. It was one of the most difficult years in my life. It's been about 19 years since something like this has happened. So I guess it was time for another one? Didn't see that one comin'.

I can now look back on it, thank the gods and goddesses. I now see how my Guardians, Angels, Protectors, Ancestors, Sisters, and Mother helped me through those 365 days. And still they help me. It is a year that will never be forgotten. I am humbled, grateful, blessed, and much more aware of my Spirit Guides now. In full force they come to help me. So friggin' caught up in the circumstances that they went unnoticed for a time, and they were knockin' hard too. But when I sat to quiet myself in my art, that's when I realized with clarity what was happening. Healing was taking place all over me, inside and out. The flow changed and I was on another path. With this shift, or transition as I call it, my Guides would visit often and comfort me. They are helping me with my grief, acceptance, letting go of things that I had no control over and taking leaps of faith.

It is best that I stop here and show you one of the pieces born out of that tragic year for me. She is called The Fiery Angel. Born out of the ashes you might say. Her creation started in April and completed in May of 2008. She sits in a shadow box that is 9x15". Found objects, vintage jewelry pieces, Coral, Lapis Lazuli, Mother of Pearl, handmade papers. Because she sits under glass, it is a bit hard to see her. So here are some pics before she was set inside.

Hangin' out with Tim Holtz

Been a while since I posted. Really busy doing artsy stuff. Soooo much to post, so little time. What a wild weekend I had! Finally stepped outta my hermit shell and took a plunge into the realm of Idea-ology Intrigue and the world of Generation Grunge with Tim Holtz around the corner at Scrapbook Territory on Saturday. Thanx Diane, for inviting Tim over to do the classes at your store! So freakin’ cool! The workshops were amazing, with 45-50 of us laughing, talking, and creating such wonderful pieces of art for about 3-4 hours in each class. Some of us took both classes, some took all three. There was a class on Friday that I did not take. That would have been waaaay too much for me. Tim and Mario were such gracious hosts and so much fun.

Mario, Deb, Tim

This was my first, and certainly not my last class with Tim. An excellent teacher. Funny, helpful, and such a warm spirit. He’s not the kind of teacher that stands in one place to teach. He’s interactive with his classes. Has conversation with you, looks you in the eye when he talks to you and makes you feel welcomed and happy to be in the class. You can see and hear his passion for what he does. Love his teaching style.

I have to give a big shout out to Mario (the other half of the well oiled machine) for his awesome prep work too. He put all the kits together, made sure all the tools and materials were set for each seat at the tables, and he even came to the rescue when someone needed something. That's 50+ kits for each class! The Idea-ology class itself had 6 projects per kit by itself. Multiply that by 50! Yikes! I luv a man. So kind and helpful. And that was just what I could see. Thank you for your hard work! Tim even threw in some extra goodies (full packs, not samples) of some Idea-ology products for each of us! Not sure if there were others who worked in helping behind the scenes, but if they did, thank you too! Two very generious students even brought coffee and donuts for the classes.

My first workshop started at 10am and ended around 1:30. That was the Idea-ology class. We played with, and assembled jewelry pieces with a lot of the trinkets from Tim’s Idea-ology line. Six projects in all! Man that was good! There were lots of tips, tricks, and ideas. A lot of oooo’s and ahhh’s, followed by instant gratification. Most satisfying indeed. I was having so much fun that I forgot to take some of the pictures, argh! These are before and after pics of some of the goodies that we got to play with.

The makings of the first piece.

It had all the makings of a necklace, but I chose to save the extras for a future use and use this piece for an assemblage piece that I will work on.

This is one of the pieces that I forgot to take before pics of. This is my favorite piece.

Think my daughter will like this piece. I will give it to her.

Loved working on this one

Adorable!

The Bird House

This piece is about 4.5" long.

Next up was the Generation Grunge class. That was at 3:30, ending at 7:30. We dove right into the makings of a mini grunge book. We played with inks, embellishments, paints, sanding, papers and various other tools as we put our books together. I did not get a chance to finish mine. It was labor intensive in the preparation of the pages (8 in all, front to back). So there are only two pics for now until I finish it. Will post more pics then. And ya know what, Tim and his crew stayed on after the class for those who wanted to stay and finish up their projects. Gotta love it!

The makings of My Journey

I was wiped out by days end. But I walked away very, very happy and satisfied. It felt good and I’m so glad that I did the classes. My ATC workshop was the next day at 11am, and I hadn’t even set up my classroom yet. Yikes! Was up till 3:30 getting it ready. But that’s another story for another day.

Tim, you have such a beautiful spirit and a passion for what you do. Never lose that sweetie. Thank you for being such an awesome teacher!