Hello...

Hi everyone!
 It has been quite awhile since I last posted...oh my! over a month!
Truth be told, like many other bloggers and artists I have read,seems there has been some sort of "Funk" going around! heehee Not sure if it is the dramatic weather changes or just plain ole a little bit of burn out.
What ever it is, for me I refer to it as this; remember the "Hey Diddle Diddle" Nursery rhyme,where the Dish ran away with the Spoon?
 in my case, it is, my Mojo ran away with my Muse! LOL


So for today,I am going to show you a  bit of early this summer stuff.
Our paperdoll group had a Fairytale/Nursery Rhyme swap.
For my paperdoll to trade,I created two Humpty Dumptys 

 "it's always funny ...

 till the egg falls off the wall

 and cracks open!"

 Silly eggs!

My two  paperdolls went to Jeanne in Washington, and these are the dolls Jeanne sent me

Red and her Wolf

Rapunzel

 
I am working on linking a second paperdoll blog to this one, so you can go in and view all of the fabulous dolls our group players have been creating! Stay tuned!

Early July,three of our grandsons came for our week together adventure,and we had the best fun here,swimming in our newly cleaned pond pool!

 The boys call it the world's biggest swimming pool! LOL

 playing rub a dub dub!

 and they made up this game with Chum,they call "Scratch Dog" LOL

  Basically Monkey in the Middle with Chum chasing the big blue ball. Only he gets too close sometimes and inadvertently scratches the kids with his paws-hence, "Scratch Dog"
 they got the biggest kick out of their game and were in the pond a good 3 hours!

 time to shower up- they love showering when it is outside with heated water!

We had reservations for camping at the same spot as last year,Fair Haven State Park,but had to wait for our site to open up.
So Calem and I were off to the art barn to "play art".
bummer the other two boys are more into their video games and we could not convince them to join us. but we had lots of fun and he learned how to use stencils and mark making tools and different kinds of paints.

 

 

Calem's masterpieces!

After all the hard work of creating, time for a chill with Chum

















 Time to go camping!

 spending time with Chum

and these two knuckleheads found this board on the way to the private beach carried it all the way!

 but what fun they had, teeter tottering

 and playing...

walk the plank!

 Calem was busy building his city with a "Wall" to keep out,his words-not mine,Trump!
Sure is something when even the young ones are affected by all this nonsense.

He did a great job and when we went back a month later,most of it was still there!

and finally,while the kiddos slept in, I did some camping journaling

 and cut & pasting,while working on new paperdoll designs~ to be seen soon ")

Thanks so much for hanging in through the photos and taking the time to visit me! I do hope everyone is doing well and having a beautiful season, whichever it may be for you!

Peace & Love

Jackie

What's the buzz...Artist Trading Coins

 Happy Monday and welcome to Fall~like it or not!

 We have been busy putting up things for the season and finishing up my canning of tomatoes and grapes,and picking gourds,Indian corn and pumpkins and putting those all out for sale.

In between all of that,I have managed to find some studio time to play with the latest craze

Artist Trading Coins!

Have you heard about them? I never knew until I saw my art sister,Kim Collister post hers on Facebook and I was completely smitten! Kim's are fabulous,as is all of her art!

Well,I knew right away,I had to have some of these as well to make my own little pieces of artwork to share!So here they are...

I did take time out to vote in the primaries-and look at the sticker they gave us,Honoring 100 years of Women's right to vote!

You go girls!

 Exercise that right!

 back to the coins,

You see these are Artist"Trading"Coins. The key word here being Trading. I was so excited making these that I worked both sides of the coins.My Riley asked me where do you put your name? I said,oops!no room for name or other sharing info! I guess I'll keep these and make another batch! LOL 

I bought these from Kristen over at Retro Cafe Art,but you can also get them at Joggles,or even make your own!

 The size is  2.5" diameter and can be cut from any substrate,like chipboard,watercolor or mixed media paper.

The neat thing about when I bought them from Retro Cafe Art Gallery is they also sell stencils to use to add more design to your mini art works.

 More pictures,and close ups...

 for a few of the coins,I photocopied some of my own art work and printed them out small,but large enough to cover one side of the coin.

 

A bit of crackling on this one

 The possibilities are endless! 

 The other great thing about these is they are so small,it takes no time to make fun,mini artworks!

 The little box I house these in is something else I bought from RCA years ago and just now decided to use!Came in handy for a sweet little holder of my coins!(the ones for keeping,not trading) LOL

 

Anyway,I love these coins and have just received my second order and when I sit to create on these,I will do a step out for you,so stay tuned!

Hoping your week is full of creativity!

Peace & Love

 Jackie ")

Product List:
Retro Cafe Art~Trading Coins,Stencils,Fairy Box Kit
Finnibair's Art Alchemy Impasto Paints
Posca Markers

Images and graphics from:
Tumblefish Studio-Marsha Jorgenson
Ceremony
Miles Beyond The Moon
One CrabApple
Paper Whimsy


Diamond Glaze~Judikins 

Entering in:

Mixed Media Place~September Challenge

  Just wanted to share the links of where you can find these Artist Trading Coins,if you care not to make you own

Retro Art Cafe Gallery

Joggles

Altered Pages

Splendor

Hello everyone!
 Here today with a Tribe post for the queen of mixed media herself,Gwen Lafleur. (in my humble opinion that is LOL)
 As you know, I adore the Irresistible India Embellished Sari Scraps from Gwen as well as her most exquisite lengths of Irresistible India Embellished Trims carried in her store.
It was time to break out my stash and start using some of these glorious treasures.

I present to you,my canvas titled "Splendor"

To begin with,here is a canvas started quite some time ago. One that I quickly lost interest in and put aside.
I decided it was time to try again, and this time using Gwen's Art Deco Sunburst Background Stencil,
this dull canvas quickly comes to life!
With the stencil,I used heavy gel medium along with Sparks acrylic paint mixed together across the whole of the canvas.
 When this was dry,I spritzed the canvas with water and sprinkled mica powders in blue and copper in the water and let them bleed outward

Next,I started laying texture and colors down using patina pastes

first purple,then teal. And there ended the in process photos!

 At this point,I used Gwen's Art Deco Borders Stencil (the center stencil)  and placed this in the center of the canvas, again using heavy body gel and Sparks acrylic paint.

After I was happy with my colors I had laid down,I took out some gold leaf foil and applied it to various areas of the canvas.

Now came the Irresistible India Embellished Sari Scraps!

I cut from a few of  these gorgeous gem and beaded florets and adhered them to the canvas with heavy gel medium. While these were setting,I then cut up some of  Irresistible India Embellished Trims

I used these trim pieces with tear shaped gems and tiny mirrors  to outline and extend the center design.

The way I cut the trims and Sari was to get in as close as I could to the beading,without cutting the threads that bind on the backside. Once this was cut and placed on the canvas,using heavy gel medium,I took a small paintbrush and feather the same gel medium out from the beading onto the canvas. Making sure to get both sides of the visible Sari scrap.

hard to tell,but in the teal areas of the stencil,I added two layers of Diamond Glaze (above photo)
Using my fingers,I also gently swiped Metallique acrylic paints over the raised areas from the stencils as well as on the edges of the cnvas.

It is Amazing to me,how many different ways there are to use these Sari Scraps and Sari Trims!

To the right of the canvas, I added some of the Fabulous Florals Gold Skeleton Leaves
Found in Gwen's online mixed media store. These leaves were also adhered using heavy matte medium
One last thing I did was to dry brush Teal blue Opal Magic over the majority of the canvas as well as lightly across the skeleton leaves.

For my final addition to the canvas, I used this beautiful orangy gem which came in one of my Going Global Turkman Jewelry Parts packages from Gwen's store.
I simply nipped off the edges and glued on using heavy gel medium.

In all it's "Splendor"

 I hope I was able to inspire you to create something beautiful today!

 Thanks so much for your continued support and lovely comments!

Peace & Love

Jackie ")

Gwen is having a sale at the shop right now-once the items are gone, she will not be replacing them- so hurry on over!


Products from Gwen Lafleur's online mixed media store
Irresistible India Embellished Sari Scraps
Irresistible India Embellished Trims  
Art Deco Sunburst Background Stencil 
Gwen's Art Deco Borders Stencil
Going Global Turkman Jewelry Parts


Prima Finnabair's Products:
Heavy Body Gel~Transparent
Art Alchemy Sparks Paint~Butterfly Spells,Dragon's Eye 
Art Extravagance Texture Fantasy~Northern Lights
Art Ingredients Mica Powders~Blue,Copper
Art Alchemy Opal Magic~Teal Blue
Art Alchemy Metallique~Light Patina,Ancient Coin,Gold Amber

Gold Leaf Foil
Judikins Diamond Glaze 

Entering in these Challenges

 Simon Says Monday~Use More than One Stencil 

Mixed Media Place~August Challenge  

I was inspired by the opal looking colors as well as the sparkle of the bubbles