after a 4 day migraine, things are finally getting back on track! it seems as if my lovely HOT days in vegas, in the dry, non-humid, constant climate environment left me a little ‘hung over’ and my sinuses freaked out being back in the damp and pollen-happy northwest lol… that and two lovely days of weather changes and the fact that the botox is wearing off all made for a tired, grumpy and headachy girl.

but ahhhhh… all is right again and i’m back in the groove. creating art and working on graphic design stuff for a few clients. i’m getting jiggy with it as they say and it feels good!

so… a few of you had emailed about getting a better view of a few of my new pieces [plus i have 8 more on the go for portobello west this sunday] so i thought i’d give you a better view of the lovelies that are being dropped off for stretching tomorrow…

I also have a couple of scrappy layouts/projects in my head at the moment, so that will be appearing soon too! think 6×12, panoramic landscapes with twinkly lights [hint hint!!]

in a mad frenzy to get a few pieces finished and off to my giclee printers in quebec, so i could have them back and stretched in-time for portobello west on august 31, i finished off 4 new pieces and thought i would give you a sneaky peek at these latest editions.

gotta say…. i love these. they are vibrant and soft at the same time [if that is possible!] and are going to be available as limited edition reproductions on canvas only. yum!

i’m off to land of casinos, pools and sweaty people [its 104F in las vegas!! holy $hit!] for a few much needed days of holiday with the hubs but thought i would leave you with a little eyecandy while i’m gone… i thought you might miss me a little and didn’t want you to be lonely ;^)

click on the thumbnail at the right and enjoy!

ok. so i was asked by Lu Braxton to contribute to her art slam blog - i was super pumped but also my head has been swimming with so much information and wicked deadlines at the moment, that i hit a bit of a creative stumbling block.

Lu emailed me today, confirming my ’slam’, and one little word in her email jumped out at me and led me down my chosen art slam path… digital. now that was a word. a word that led from digital to digital paper projects, digital scrapping, hybrid scrapping and on and on. so, with that pivotal word in my mind, the plan was set… an art slam about hybrid paper arts projects. so let’s get to it!

step 1: picking your subject…

for me, that was the easy part. my hubs. i’ve been with my hubs for 14 years [married for 8 of those] and he is often the focus of my photography and my favorite person to journal about.

step 2: picking your colour palette…

this is usually a little harder for me because i’m a mixed media artist and i love colour. but… lately i’ve been drawn to [almost hypnotically!] to blues and browns, with bright shots of white and contrasting black. it’s my favorite yum-go-to palette.

so… rifling through my vast inventory of supplies - i’m a manufacturer of stamping and scrapping supplies after all lol! - i dug up some of my favorite paper, a few of my favorite newish stamps, a couple of great ink pads, some rubs and kicked-up the computer so i could add some digital goodness to my chosen patterned 12×12 paper.

this is essentially the collection of supplies that i pulled together:

step 3: pick and print a photo…

again. easy. picked a great photo of my hubs terry and printed it in black and white so the colour palette would stay crisp and clean. then i mounted the pic on chipboard, rounded off the corners and sanded the edges for a distress look.

step 4: pick and digitally alter pattern paper…

i decided to use our paperWERX organic collection paper called mud bay since it had light enough areas for digital printing to show up on it. it was also a new and still current favorite of mine. plus i love that it has ‘visual’ texture without the bulk of actual texture. wicked!

i cropped the 12×12 pattern paper to 8×10.5 so i could feed it through my laser printer, then i opened up photoshop on my computer and loaded a digiWERX ledgerbook digital sheet. i converted the ledger page to b/w, adjusted the ‘levels’ of the paper and resized the ledger page to a 8×10.5 digital layout base. then i added a piece of graphic stock for the title frame and finally set up the title using a bold, blocky font.

i placed my cropped 12×12 paper in the by-pass tray of my laser printer and printed the digital layout onto the patterned paper. so cool! i took a regular scrapbook paper and customized it simply by doing a few simple things in a graphics program like photoshop. many paper artists know this as hybrid paper arts or scrapbooking. i just call it like i see it, cool as heck!

step 5: start scrapping…

so first i adhered my mounted, distressed and oh-so-handsome pic of my hubs on the altered pattern paper. i covered up the butterfly in the paper because butterflies aren’t that manly. LOL! then i layered on a hambly screenprints journaling spot and journaled in my own handwriting, i used a black sharpie pen for the journaling. love those!

step 6: breaking out da rubbah!

next, i used two ink pads from the staz-on ink line in timber brown and jet black to stamp layered concentric circles around the edges of the layout. the cool thing about that was that it ‘inked’ the page edges without looking forced and contrived. love that. the randomness of the strong concentric circular stamps perfectly complimented the structured lines and rectangles of the printed pattern and photograph… cool beans man!

step 7: add the rubs…

suddenly as the stamping took over and i got all rubber happy, the layout started looking a little dark! dark stamping, b/w image, dark writing and journaling spot was all adding up to a heavy looking layout. not my plan… so as usual, flying by the seat of my pants, i hauled out the basic grey white rubs and started randomly applying them on the layout. i pretty much added the rubs whereever looked ‘right’ or was too dark. no master plan, just a quick ‘lets do this’ attitude. worked well IMHO =)

then, to spice up the rub-ons, i used a uniball signo white pen and added scribbles, fills and outlines to the basic grey rubs.

step 8: finishing up…

the final step in this fast and fun, add a ’subtitle’ to the layout. using my favorite, hard-to-find american crafts roosevelt jr. alphabet, i added the word ‘baby’. a small word, but one that fit the bill of this layout to a tee.

the final results of this layout are pretty dang cool in my humble opinion. the design of the layout is simple and clean. the graphics trendy, fresh and funky with a touch of tribal. the colour palette a favorite of mine, restrictive and simple - which means it works! it was a layout that took all of 30-45 minutes to complete and the results were quick. dirty. and lots of fun!

i hope that this piece shows you how you can combine what you already have, supply wise, and how you can ‘tweak’ your projects with digital hybrid media. hybrid paper arts are all about chucking everything in your arsenal of supplies, including the kitchen sink and your computer skills, at a project and seeing what sticks. there are no rules. nothing is wrong. as long as you like, or hopefully love it, it’s all good. use what you’ve got… or download digital media to make what you’ve got, better! now go forth and hybridize your projects.

lucrecer braxton of the famed ART SLAM inspiration blog and former design team member for both lazar studiowerx street team and hamble screenprints, has asked me, yep little ole’ me, to be her guest “slammer” this week. an honor to be sure.

i love this arty chick’s art journal/scrapbook work and photography and of course i said yes when she asked. like duh! so tonight, i’ll be updating the bloggy-blog-blog with some coolio new [and old] scrappy artwork, a brief tutorial and examples of hybrid scrapping. can’t wait! but you will have to, until laaaaaaaaaaate tonight or early tomorrow morning [depending on your timezone lol!]

in the meantime… enjoy the following post about RDJ <sigh…>

there is a really great interview with him on the stands now in rolling stone magazine. he’s so intelligent, quick witted and metaphorical about who he, his past and his life today, etc… makes for an interesting read. definitely NOT a fluff piece. it’s him. in a nutshell. warts and all. not that i see any warts at the moment. do you?? the photo is from the interview. and there are more… many more. like i said, it’s a good read. check it out here

i love him. and yes, my husband knows ;^)

i just can’t believe it’s almost mid-august! where has the time gone?!?

ah yes, it went to health issues and surgeries this year. THAT is where it’s gone lol! thank goodness i’m almost through that stuff. one more minor surgery on my pesky right eyelid to remove the cyst that is causing all my eye infections, and i should be all good!

anyways. i’m up to my armpits in boxes for the ‘crazy’ studio/warehouse sale this weekend and will probably be a little MIA from bloggin’ until after the crazy is over. so, i thought i’d leave you with this tasty treat eye candy early this week until i can get back in the regular swing of things…

this set of scrappy pages are from a mini-acrylic, ’see-through’ book i did late last year of my favorite girls at the waterpark. so summery and fun, i had to share it… again. enjoy!

to see the rest of the album, visit my flickr site. supplies for the mini-album include the following:

See-Throughs 4×6 mini-album, paperWERX Organic and Cellular paper lines, Lazar StudioWERX Concentric and Painty Splats unmounted rubberstamps, Staz On ink in Jet Black [used on transparent pages], Hambly Journalling rub-ons, Jenni Bowlin Studio Classic Labels.

here is another snapshot of a project that is near and dear to my heart… a tiny [and i mean TINY] altered book.

the book is a diminutive 2×3″ and was created in a miniature ‘joy of cooking’ book found at my local chapters bookstore. it was part of a round robin altered book exchange. the theme of the exchange was ’small altered books’ and i took the theme to heart, much to the dismay of some of the participants. LOL! initially the group grumbled about how small it was and how hard it would be to work in. carmi, you remember that don’t you? <big grin> but in the end, each of the artists loved the tiny book, holding onto it as long as possible. each person reveling in its petite-ness.

due to the tiny size of my book, i encouraged the artists/participants to create faux postage and mail art and to tip them into the tiny book. the mail art created inside the small pages is wonderful! it’s really a treasure to hold and see. the book is pretty much bursting at the seams, so photographing it is difficult. but… i thought i would include a little tease about how amazing this little altered book is. the edges of the pages are painted, beaded [carmi is famous for her beaded altered books!], inked and foil wrapped. each tiny submission unique and thoughful. i look at the pages often with admiration at the work inside and fondness for the women who participated in this project.

enjoy this tiny glimpse into perhaps the smallest altered book you’ve ever seen. i will treasure it always.

sorry gang… no posts for a few days. i’m dealing with yet another bout of my lovely, chronic eye problem blepharitis and this is a bad one. nasty nasty. won’t go into the gory details, but suffice it to say… i’m looking a little scary!

be back to regular posting in a few days… in the meantime, enjoy this!

maya road accordion chipboard mini-album. sprayed with glimmer mist oriental poppy. layered with jenni bowlin tiny papers, vintage ephemera, stamped image from lazar studiowerx design sheet on bazzill white cardstock and finished with american crafts thickers.

finally got my long awaited button magnet making supplies on monday and tonight i started playing. carmi, now i understand the obsession!

i pulled out my button maker. ripped open the bags of magnet supplies and started tearing out vintage magazine images to create teeny, tiny 1.25″ collages. i was soooooo happy with these diminutive art works that tonight i listed 2 new items on etsy. two sets of 3 - 1.25″ button magnets featuring original, mini-collages on each magent. so cool!

i love that they are originals and will not be reproduced. so… if you’re interested in art for your kitchen, desk or bathroom vanity - check these babies out =)

yeah yeah… i’ve been all doom and gloom lately. health issues [effing stones!] and main street store closing. sometimes life just gets you a little down. well today, a little drop of sunshine landed on my doorstep!

i receive a monthly e-newletter from a great photo website called photojojo. a while back they had featured ttv photography
[ttv = through the viewfinder] and using a vintage 1950s duaflex camera [as seen on the right] as the viewfinder. i was hooked. i HAD to have one.

check out this link to a flickr group focussed on ttv and you’ll understand why i had to get a duaflex… the images are so cool and arty!!

so after weeks of trying to purchase one of these elusive cameras, and being outbid on ebay by $0.23 on more than one occasion, i finally snagged one and my little drop of sunshine arrived today!

here is my first effort… my magic 8 ball and monster finger puppet. yeah… i’m physically 38, but my spirit acts more like a 16 year old. alot. LOL!

fun huh? there are a few more versions i tweaked in photoshop in my flickr sets.

i love the gritty, nasty and grimy texture in the digital photo that happens when shooting through the duaflex iv viewfinder. it is really quite cool, ’cause let’s face it… this thing is 50 years old! and it’s never been properly cleaned. it comes by its grimy demeanor quite naturally.

it’s so funny how as photographers and designers we often work really, really hard to ‘grimy up’ our perfect digital pics. with this vintage $10 camera, it’s naturally occuring. kinda like a mushroom… its a fungus and grows in manure, but add it to a plain pizza and something magic happens.

so. my favorite new photo recipe. add a ttv camera to your shot, point and shoot with your digital camera, and something truly magical will happen. i don’t think you’ll ever be able to predict the final image 100% of the time, but you KNOW it’s going to be tasty.

hey all…

getting ready this week for my next portobello west show.

i’ve got a bunch of new pieces in the works and will be showing/selling 3 LARGE pieces plus a couple of my abstract acrylic paintings in addition to my mixed media collage portraits. the 1st big one is done and i’ve just about finished the 2nd one. i love it! no. 2 is very girly with butterflies and pink, silver, cream and dark green colour palette. it’s a great 18×36″ size and looks pretty darn nice if i say so myself =) i have it hanging in my studio downstairs and will miss it dreadfully if it sells this weekend. oh well… that IS the point isn’t it?

the monthly portobello west date is this coming sunday and will be running from 11am-6pm at the rocky mountain train station in vancouver [just off terminal blvd, between main street and clark drive - behind the home depot].

so, if you live in the vancouver area, please take a trip to portobello west on sunday may 25 for a shot of inspiration and an infusion of art and fashion. you won’t be disappointed. the merchandise for sale at this monthly event is outstanding quality and showcases vancouver’s up and coming fashion designers and emerging artists.