A Little Late with A Lot on my Plate.

I have been swamped with great things in my life lately. It seems everything from teaching art to kids, getting my real estate courses finished, keeping my home life running smoothly, going on a mini weekend vacation to opening up a shop at a local crafters mall in San Juan Bautista has kept me running.

Oh yeah, Did I mention taxes are due???

And I know I forgot to mention that it is also time to reveal our monthly TAGALONG!

So here we go, Keeping with my theme of 1950's housewife, I felt it was time she learned to do the taxes. As you can see she did not have such a swell time. She crumpled up the forms and is calling for help.

I used my fab silver gellyroller pen to accent her dress but only after coloring in the black and white image with chalk and adding rick rack to her waist line. 

The phone has a rolled wire cord and the receiver has been cut away from the phone and placed in her hand.

I inkid the edge of paper that resembles the table.

I am very pleased with my tag this month, I had a lot of fun making it.

She is wearing a red seed bead bracelet and feeling just exhausted and overwhelmed. (kinda like me at times).

I added two pop dots to the back of her head and arms to make her really POP off the page. 

This was my original image. Ironing!!!

I Love Crafting!

  _{I ` Crafting}

My Sweetie is so wonderful, he not only presented me with a new car,(See it in the background? Her name is Coco) he went the extra mile and ordered me custom plates,  HOW CUTE ARE THEY?

Well, the trio piled in and a crafting we went. My daughter and my neighbor Sandy went to my mothers to find a tree to craft into a masterpiece. 

We hiked a bit up the hill to find the perfect Manzanita branches stripped of their natural foliage so we could create a more magnificent work of art. 

We have no idea how these are going to turn out, but of course it’s the bonding and the process that really matters right? 

After painting the branches white with a hint of nickel silver we wrapped little battery operated lights around the branches. Then we painted some leaves and stuck them where WE thought they should go. 

Then Sandy had the brilliant idea of applying spray adhesive and silver glitter to some DEAD Hydrangea flowers from her garden. Perfect! We glued those around here and there. 

Next come the bird nests. We starting with spanish moss swirled into a circle and then those clever little creatures seem to have collected things from my jewelry box. 

Of course they all needed crowns because Sandy said so, I have never been into crowns, but I can play the game. Crowns it is! Too cute!  

 Next are the bird houses, Thank heaven for Michaels 50₵ each.Oh yeah, 

while you are at it, just put anything on it!

The final touch is graphic cards decorated in lacy ruffles. This was found by Sandy while perusing The Graphic Fairy. She printed them out and decorated them up real pretty for us. Thanks friend! 

This was a fun day of creativity and now I am going to clean up the studio for our next adventure. be sure to pop over to Gammy's Little House to see her creations, she just loves visitors!

Why Do We Do THIS?

That time of the month is here again. I Mean the reveal of our Happy Homemaker Tag Along. This is to occur on the 10th of each month, and TODAY is the 10th. I get so excited to see what others have chosen to represent the month in our swap, and what new techniques we will see amongst the taggers. 

 I was asked by a very close family friend, "Why do you do this? I mean what is the point, what will you ever do with them? Isn't it a waste of time?"

OBVIOUSLY the family friend was a MAN and did not at all see the big picture, but none the less it did get me thinking about 'WHY' we do this. I wanted to have a bang up answer that would really show him...............Still thinking...........

In my recently acquired job of teaching art to children I introduced them to the 'TAG' world. I started my lesson by creating a power point presentation to teach about ATCs (artist trading cards). You can check out their work at my blog Little Hands Big Art.

While preparing my lesson I was especially pleased with slide # 8. 

(The Whole Presentation is at the end of this post)

It explains a few reasons 'Why We Do This' and leaves room for more reasons. If you have another reason, I'd love to add it to my list for future students to hear.

Now on to my Tag......

In keeping with my theme of 50's housewife, This sweet woman is setting up the living room with a new portable TV. Yippee. 

She was the initial inspiration.

I cut her out and thought about our family watching TV in March.

 'The Luck of the Irish' is a movie my children watched over and over and over and over.......

you get the idea.

 I was not sure everyone had heard of this nor did they have the same tradition as us, so, covered up went 'The Luck of the Irish' and in came something I was sure all my tagging friends could relate too.

please welcome the TV Dinner, 

and what would we be watching?  

Just look in the TV Guide. 

Not sure what this has to do with March, 

but at least you can see my process in creating this month's tag.

My daughter gave her input and strongly suggested that 

I add letters since the previous months both have lettering.

TECHNIQUE:   To the black part of the TV I added Glossy Accents by inkssentials. This gives the appearance of glass when it is fully dry.

I found a TV Guide on Google (I'm telling you they have everything) and yes it is from March in the 1950's  I then found pages from the inside of a TV guide and sized them to fit, printed them all out, glued them together and fastened them with a staple. 

I also added copper wire for those good 'ol rabbit ears. You remember right?

I like the angle of this photo because it really shows all the depth of this card. 

I HAD FUN CREATING and That's Why I Do This!

Now for a Feature Presentation!

 

SLIDE # 8  Remember The Question?

Thank You for sticking with me for this whole post. I am going to give away an Artist Trading Card /Tag that I have made to the first 4 people who leave a comment stating that they would like one. See you around blogland!!

A Swap A Swap!

I am finding a bit more time for my 'blog' and fussing about in the studio for me! I am excited to be a part of Sandy's swap. I am ready to 'create' and share some Easter Goodies while making new friends. My school class has kept me busy, but very happy. I feel I am growing along with the kids. Check it out on my other blog Little Hands Big Art.

A Blog in Progress

Have you ever tried to quickly fix something on the blog dashboard and found it will take more time and brain power than you have available at the time? Well if not, you are lucky. I am messing around with things to see how to get just that look I am going for. This isn't it, but stay tuned, It will be delightful and change with the seasons.

Gung Hay Fat Choy !

Gung Hay Fat Choy !

Well, it's the 10th of the month and that means.....Tag Along Time! Yeah, Unlike last month, I am on top of it. I planned out my monthly tag for the year long swap. Going with my 'Theme' of 1950's Housewife, I also wanted to incorporate the Chinese New Year.

I was able to find on Google, (man I love Google) an image of a Chinese woman that looked the part.

I was however not happy with the basket of wonderfulness she was holding. I wanted something more in the spirit of Chinese New Year.
Well, I simply took that image into my handy little computer program and enhanced her blouse to cover those veggies right up. Now how do you like that? Google & I are a team not to be outdone.

Once I had my image correct, I needed something Chinese.
I found these great lantern stickers from my friend Martha. You know,  Ms. Stewart.

Well I am fixated on going by E's rules and being creative with our one time purchase, so I made my own lanterns with a Fiskers paper Crimper. (sorry, I forgot that photo).

My sweet pea pumpkin head and her new kitty come to check on my progress often. they think I am nuts but love me anyway.

I inked the edges for a more aged look, after all, they are from the 50's right? Popped up my layers to different dimensions, added a bit of bling to the top of each lantern, my favorite clear jelly roll pen to her blouse, ( hard to see in photo, but it glimmers nicely in person) and Walah!!

I used a small flower punch to make some blossomsout of our paper purchase and glued them on with stickles.
February's Tag complete before the 11th hour this time. Had fun, now.......What to do for March???????????????

Art -Art-Art

I have been so busy with my newest endeavor I have not been on my blog. I have however been in band.
Did you know there is a blog about WHATEVER you are interested in? Well, what surprise. I have a new little hobby and I made a blog about it. Now I have two. Wow, I am movin up I think.

Here is what I have been up to lately.....

These are some samples of art I am teaching to children.

Stop by my new blog to see how the children did with their pieces.  It is called Little Hands Big Art.
I have art from second graders posted now.