Before

I thought I should show before photos of all my girls. I stopped by Kinko's and made a few color copies of two of the girls. I thought I would try out different techniques on the same girl and see what happens. I have also started working on my house chunky book project and am happy with the way it is going so far. I will be excited to share them when I have made a little more progress.

Finally, after 3 days of sorting, I got to the bottom of the collage bag that Kelly donated to the studio at school. I was sorting all the goodies into focal points, background paper, and other embelishments. This sorting makes it much easier for little hand to find what they are looking for. As I was sorting I kept thinking I'd have to start journaling at school with so many iresistable paper choices! I'll keep you posted on what the kids make with them. Also, I can't even tell you how many of my 4th and 5th grades who have seen these portraits have said, "Can you do them with us too?" That's the part of my job that I love.

P.S.

See my blue haired painted girl journal page on Frenzy Stamper's blog! You can also see me if you scroll down to the post about the Friday Classes!

Grunge Round Robin

Even with Kelly in town I was able to work on the cover of my grunge round robin book as well as my two page spread. I finished them up just before bed last night and am ready to share them today. I added a clear acetate page to my spread with a three dimensional clear circular shape. When the glue dries I am hoping the circle helps make the face underneath pop. The glue has been drying since Friday night but the weather has been a little weird so it is taking forever! I am confident it will dry clear in time as it is getting a little better each day.

Tonight on our Tuesday night adventure Amber, Ayesha, Deb, and I went to Pedro's in downtown Glendale. We had to take Deb to the only Mexican food restaurant that we know of the Rod Stewart ate at in Glendale. She was thrilled! Afterwards we stopped for a scop of ice cream at Baskin Robins. What a treat!

Classes With Kelly Part Two

Day two and three of classes with Kelly Kilmer were great! Yesterday I learned tons of new journaling techniques and got lots of inspiration to get going on my new journal in the morning and in the afternoon learned how to use Caran d'ache Neo Art Aquarelle water soluble wax pastels for backgrounds and accents. (Sound fancy doesn't it!)
For dinner Kelly, Tristan, her mom, Jane, my mom Jane, and I all got to go to dinner together at Bucca Di Beppo in Scottsdale. While the side show (a.k.a. the huge party next to us) was very Scottsdale (a.k.a. very young, drunk, and hardly dressed) the conversation, when we could hear each other, and the company was a lot of fun!
Today I took About Face. A fun portrait class. I learned to mix flesh tones and to be brave with color. It was a fun and laid back class perfect for the rainy day it turned out to be. We had fun ordering in Baja Fresh (Debbie, I owe you $) and day dreaming about the classes we wanted to sign up for at Art Unraveled.
Taking classes with Kelly is always a treat! Her classes are fun and fast paced. I always wonder where the time went. She is generous with supplies. She even donated collage materials to my kids at school! And, if that weren't enough, the classes are so inspiring they keep me going for weeks. I am excited to read all of my handouts, which are more like giant idea books, and play in my new journal. (And, this is why you should vote Kelly Kilmer for president! HA! It just sounded like that kind of speech. I couldn't resist.) Lucky for me she'll be at Art Unraveled in August and back to Frenzy Stamper in October.

Classes With Kelly

Just an update on how things are going. I know some of you are reading this and thinking really? while others of you came to my blog in hopes of an update. I am having tons of fun! Yesterday I made a journal from and old book, learned tons of new techniques while painting half of the pages, and even started journaling. It just happened that the new issue of Artful Blogging arrived yesterday while I was at Frenzy Stamper. I have been dying to see it! Yesterday I also needed a few skeleton stamps that Kelly had out for us to use in class, a tiny clover stamp, some skull epoxy stickers, Heidi Swapps new mask letter alphabet, a new permanent ink pad (I fell in love with the Versafine pads in class. I had never tried them.) a pack of black Jelly Roll Glaze Pens (I had also never tried these they are yummy!) and a new type of glue stick that Kelly recommended.

Journal Pages

I have a few more journal pages ready to share before going off to play with Kelly at Frenzy Stamper. My round robin board book arrived a few days ago and I have started working on the cover. I am not sure if I will make any more progress on it this weekend because, did I mention, I will be off playing with Kelly? Anyway, I have so many projects going on now and I am excited about them all! Keep an eye out. I'm sure I will be posting pictures of what I get done in class this weekend.

P.S.

Did I mention Kelly is coming?

Living Canvas Part Deux

Last night for Girls Night Out Ayesha, Deb and I headed back to Living Canvas. I mentioned yesterday that their are few reasons to go to a tattoo parlor. Tattooing being one and piercing would be another. After five years I finally pierced my nose. Yes, it's a miracle. I finally worked up the courage to do it. I wasn't afraid of the pain, I was worried about the reaction to the piercing. For the record, it hurt less than my ears or my cartilage. Actually putting the ring in hurt worse than the piercing.
Deb did decide to get the last tattoo in her circle. This one was a swan fymbol or true love. Ah, we do love Ben!
I have a really fun picture of the three of us at the shop but it is not a photo that I would want my superintendent to see. He does not need to see Ayesha or Deb's back, clearly he can see my nose any time. No need to attract any further attention for teacher's gone wild in our district.
We ended the adventure with a tasty dinner at Pita Jungle in Tempe. Yumm!

Living Canvas

Today rather than actually doing the school work I swore I was going to get done today I went with Ayesha to Living Canvas Tattoos. Of course their are few reasons to go to a tattoo parlor. I was going to hold Ayesha's hand while she got the crescent and star from the Pakistani flag tattooed on her back. Sadly for Ayesha there was a no hand holding rule but I got to watch the whole process from a very close stool on the other side of the counter. It was fascinating. (Hey, tatooing is an art form.) I am still too wimpy to actually get a tattoo and I don't have any symbol that is so important to me that I feel I need to have with me wherever I go but Ayesha's tattoo turned out super cool and I'd love to watch more tattooing.

February ATC

I made my February ATC today. I know you're thinking it is a little early for that but I have to keep up with my swaps and that is the next one due. The next swap I'll be working on in the House Chunky Book. I'll be using In This House as insperation.

Emily Dickinson or Kelly Kilmer?

After looking at my mom's copy of In This House I decided I need a copy. I went with my 50% off coupon to JoAnn thinking they might have a copy and sure enough they had just one left. Feeling like I had just won the lottery I went up to the cash register and the girl checking me out said, "What is this Book?" I told her it was a book about altered art. After getting the confused look I went on to explain that several different artists had each made a book in the shape of a house and they were all shown in this one book. The girl started flipping through the pages and happened to stop on Kelly's page. I am not sure why but I continued the conversation saying, "That's one of my favorite artists." "Oh, Emily Dickinson." was the girls reply. EMILY DICKINSON??? I couldn't even correct her because I was in shock-no really.
I was talking to Ayesha as I was coming home and had to tell her the story to be sure it wasn't just me who thought this was ridiculous. We learned that Emily Dickinson died in 1889 and confirmed our belief that she was only a poet and not an artist. We were dying laughing and trying to find out if she even had red hair like Kelly when it hit us that she would have only been photographed in black and white. At least it was a good laugh! Do you see any resemblance between Kelly and Emily?
This sounds like something that would happen to Kelly when she was out shopping for books.

Oh My Gosh!

It has been such a long week with no time to blog but, don't worry, here are the highlights:

1. Girls night out was an adventure to Phoenix City Grill. I was excited to visit PCG again. The last time I was their Buffy was busy delivering Baby Kakes and while the restaurant was great I could not give it my undivided attention as I was off daydreaming in Auntie Land. Amber was able to join Ayesha, Deb, and I and that is always fun. We love Amber. Lucky for us she gets to join us again next week as Prince Charming a.k.a. Peter will be out of town on business.


2. I finished my Have Some heART chunky book pages. It's a little hard to tell but the top layer has a diagram of a real heart and the Quote , which I adore, says, "I read once that the ancient Egyptians has fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to and is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that." I'm not sure who said it but I found it on a lovely site called Story People that has the best compilation of quotes ever.

3. I visited Frenzy Stamper today for my ATC monthly swap. The swap was fun and I also decided I had to sign up for Kelly Kilmer's last class on Sunday. Ah, that's right I get to spend all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday making art with Kelly. Now, here's the super cool part!!! My mom just called to tell me she had emailed Kelly to offer to help her with a sewing project and get this a) we are making dinner plans while she is in AZ and b) she will be working with us in an upcoming project. HELLO! I am trying not to be starstruck but I am a little and even if fI wasn't I'd be so excited because she is super cool, has excellent taste in art supplies, is a great artist, and a great teacher.


4. My mom surprised me by ordering a set of Pilot Latte Gel Pen for me which came in the mail last night and I recieved today. I am so spoiled and lucky to have a mom who understands art supplies and is fast to act on them. Kelly mentioned them on her web site a couple of days ago and just for the record they are sold out now. (I will be playing with them following this post.)

5. My first issue of Juxtapoz Magazine came in the mail today!

6. I got to finally meet the little Boxer who lives down the street (and is a great escape artist!) She dad been to visit Jim twice when I was not home and I had only seen her in cell phone pictures. In a weird twist of fate one of our neighbors had her and asked us to take her until we could find the owners because her cat did not like her a a guest. As the neighbor was hanging up found dog signs she heard the owner whistling for her. I'm glad she got to visit but was happy she found her owner. He was excited and you should have seen her tail!

If you take the politics of work out of the mix it was a great week!

Time Flies...

Weekends pass by so quickly and it's funny how you go back to work and feel the need to journal about it. These are the journal pages I finished this weekend. It is definately harder to find time to be creative when I am orchestrating creativity for 850 kids. I also spent some time this weekend working on my heART Chunky book pages. Keep your eyes peeled to see them soon.

Girls Night Out

I realized yesterday the one thing I have been really terrible about recording on my blog are Ayesha, Deb, and my Tuesday Night Dates. Jim is out late bowling his Draft League of Tuesday so Ayesha, Deb, and I go adventuring on these nights. Before Ayesha Deb and I went to Stir Fry Paradise and Desert Swirl Frozen Yogurt every single time. (We love stir fry.) Ayesha broadened our horizons and challenged us to find cut little restaurants to try each week and this has proven to be amazing! Last night we tried 7th Heaven in The Esplanade. The food was so good! We discovered after we ordered that they have these amazing happy hour specials like a cheeseburger and fries, an order of edemame, or an order of shrimp cocktail for only $1.77. They even offer a cupcakes on the happy hour menu also only $1.77. Their desert case is amazing to oogle at so long story short, I wan to go back again!
Besides a great dinner and conversation after dinner we were walking past Cold Stone Creamery when I noticed Amare Stoudemire buying his daughter ice cream. I was star struck of course and called to the girls who were two steps ahead, "Hey, look how's in Cold Stone!" They came back to look and Ayesha said something to the effect of "Oh my gosh why can't I think of his name." When I blurted out "Shaquile O'Neil" Ayesha and Deb started laughing. After I said it I realized it wasn't Shaq but we were so excited about the whole thing. We must have stood there for two or three minutes before we realized we were staring and decided to move a little farther away from Cold Stone to stare. The best part was when Deb called Ben and said, "Guess who I just met, Girls who did I just meet?"
And as if the night couldn't get any better we went to Target before we went home. We all love Target but Ayesha found these silver stretch pants that she made Deb try on for our amusement. Deb said they made her feel like Rod Stewart which is a very good thing if you are Deb. It was the best night!
Shhh! Don't tell Deb tthis picture is on my Blog we'll see if she notices.

Sabado, Sabado, Sabado!

Today was fabulous! First off I actually slept in until after 8:00. I know, you're thinking ooh 8:00a.m., unless you know me and my early bird tendencies. 8:00 a.m. also means that I was able to sleep through the night with NyQuil for the first in days. (Not sleeping with NyQuil in your system is the worst!)
Second, my mom and I went to Frenzy Stamper to see the new store and for my mom's chunky book info session. The info session went well, shopping is always a treat, and I got to see, and touch, and feel the class samples for Kelly Kilmer's upcoming classes. I had already signed up for An Artist's Journal Part 1, Inspired:More Exercises for An Artist's Journal, and Not Your Kids Crayons. I had also been reading a post on Kelly's blog by another artist named Andrew, who had just taken Kelly's classes, and after seeing the class samples I NEEDED to sign up for Soft & Gentle Whispers too. I can't wait only 3 more weeks!
Next, my mom and I had lunch at Houston's. And in a moment of weakness had Cold Stone Creamery for dessert. I really had good intentions going in . I knew they would have at least one Sinless flavor. They had not one, but three, Sinless flavors but, look at this photo how could I resist Dark Chocolate Mint with Red Mints mixed in?
When I got home Jim was at a bowling tournament. Ayesha called and we went adventuring to Old Navy where I found a super cute outfit and a set of bracelets all on clearance! I'll be extra cute on Monday! (Because you know I'm cute every day.)
To end this fun day (and inspiring today's title) I decided I should eat a pointastic burrito due to the Cold Stone incident earlier. I went down to my local Federico's and ordered just a large side of Pico de Galo and a large diet soda. Yes, the guy thought I was crazy but I came home and made a tasty beast. I know you are dying to know. It was just a low point tortilla, 1/2 cup low-fat beans, shredded lettuce, and a ton of the tasty pico. Delish!
I also had time to read half of the newest Cloth Paper Scissors and a few articles from the new Sommerset Studio. I told you the day was great!

Art Journal Pages in COLOR!

So the situation I have created is this: I have my original art journal with pages half done. You see I got so excited after taking Kelly Kilmers collage class a few months back that I was collage crazy but never really finished any of the pages. When I caught myself doing this I was starting to work in my Black & White Journal so now I am going back to face the challenge. I though this was going to be really tricky but so far things are just falling into place. When I woke up this morning I sat right down and couldn't stop myself from going on from page to page. I have already noticed that color is harder to photograph than black and white.
Also, when I got home from the dentist the other day I found a little bag of art supplies hanging on my front door. My mom had picked up some treasures for me. Today I tried out these Metallic Zig Writer, Oh Mama, these markers are divine! They look amazing on acrylic, are so smooth, and have the perfect tip. If you are busy writing on acrylic paint you should get your hands on these!

January's ATC

Today I made my January ATCs. The theme this month was new beginnings. Today was the perfect day for this project for two reasons. 1) I received my new ATC label stamp in the mail from an ebay seller, and 2)I was especially excited to find not one, but two different calendar stamps in the super cool set of stamps I got for 30% off at Recollections today. (See below, or click link for a better view.) I had been eyeing the stamp set at Recollections and today they were the last set in the store so I figured the time was now or never. It was just icing on the cake when they worked perfectly for my project.

The Final Five

It is with mixed emotion that I am showing you the final five pages in my Black & White Journal. I was excited when I woke up this morning with only two double pages to go until I had this project completed, but somewhere in the middle of the last page I couldn't help but feel a little sad that this project was really coming to a close. I will be starting my January ATC cards, a heart themed chunky book, and I should be staring a book round-robin soon so keep your eyes out for new exciting projects. I'm sure I'll also be working in my colorful art journal as well.

Have I Got A New Year's Resolution For You!

What do all of these empty medicine packages have to do with a New Year's? While I'm sure you could think up some pretty interesting stories in the end you might find we have the same resolution for 2008.

So about three days ago I woke up with this nasty cough. I didn't feel completely terrible yet so I just took a couple of doses of this cough syrup (not in one sitting) that I had in the house and dealt with it. I pretty much felt fine during the day and bad at night, you know a normal cough.

Anyway, fast forward to last night. Jim and I knew we would be in bed before midnight because a) we are old, b) we are not drawn to large drunken crowds, and c) Jim had to work at 7 A.M. today. So we ended up at Rob's house watching basketball and sleeping on the couch. At about 9 P.M. Jim woke me up to go home to go to bed and I felt like my chest had been filled with cotton. When we got home I grabbed the cough syrup took a dose and realized it tasted awful. No, really awful, worse then it should, really. I checked the expiration date to discover that it expired sometime in the year 2005. I knew I wasn't in danger because I had already survived two doses earlier in the week so I tried to go to bed. It wasn't happening and at about 10:45 I decided to get some NyQuil. Luckily I decided to check the expiration date and low and behold the NyQuil caplets had also expired mid 2005. It was at this moment that I made a resolution to clean out my medicine supply. It was more like one of those God deals, you know the ones..Dear God, if you just let me live until the morning... Anyway, after sleeping for a few hours, sitting up, I did clean out my medicine cabinet, get new NyQuil and Mucinex, and now I can say I've accomplished my New Year's Resolution in only the first day of 2008.

Just for the record I had only one medication that I was able to keep from my medicine stash. Some of the medicines expired in 2000-no, I am not kidding. Check your medicine cabinet today.