Tag Girls MITI Details

Tag Girl MITI this Friday at Stampin' From the Heart in Los Angeles!  These Tag Girls are not named for the fact that they're mounted on 4 x 8 tags, but because they're actually donning tags themselves!

The Tag Girls are full of little details that make a big difference.  I can't seem to let something just be.  I always gotta be adding a little of this or that.  Some might say  I'm a bit obsessed with extra touches.  Yeah, they're right.  

Did I mention that we'll be spending time painting distressed backgrounds with acrylic paints?  Each time I sit down to create a painted background, I'm very careful NOT to repeat colors.  Handouts are passed out at all my MITIs so that you can re-create these painted backgrounds not just on tags, but on journal pages or small panels that you can mount onto handmade cards.

There will be a healthy dose of fiber too!  Fiber does the body good you know.  LOL!  I couldn't resist.  I know, I know.....

This is what the Tag Girls will look like once they're all put together.  You can make one, two or all three.  Can you tell I'm in the 4th of July spirit?  

Injecting fun in an evening of art making is my number one goal and I hope you'll join me this Friday, July 1st.  Check out my sidebar where you can get more info at Stampin' From the Heart's blog.
I'll have extra kits from my last MITI available for you to paint in addition to the Tag Girls.  Hope to see you!

Visual Artventures

As I walked through my daughter's former bedroom this image from the window caught my attention and then I grabbed my camera.

Taking pictures from a window with security bars is quite a challenge for me.  I had to meander the camera and in that process I could not get the whole picture.  Either the white roses got left out or as this photo shows, the deep pink geraniums disappeared.  Sigh.

So on went the sandals cause there was something in the corner that was calling my name and I just couldn't "reach" it from the bedroom window.  "I'm on my way!"  I shouted to the corner in the back yard.  Do you think I'm strange?  Don't answer that!!

Before venturing out into the yard for my visual experience, I had to put my super-hero shades on!  What do you think?  My pupils are almost back to normal.  They've been dilated for the past two days and hopefully I can dump the mysterious woman look soon.  LOL!   

I finally got out to the corner and I was so excited to see that my deep purple iris' and blue Lily of the Niles were happily blooming side by side!  

My yellow rose is still giving me blossoms.  Each year I think it's on its last year and that I'll be digging it out due to it's scraggly stems and poor looking leaves, but it manages to squeeze out just enough roses to hold on for another year!

I can't remember the name of this lily but I was drawn to it by it's variegated leaves.  There are several of these lilies sprinkled throughout the city but they all have dark green spiky leaves.  I surprised these lilies as they were just about to unfurl.

Hope you have a weekend full of visual delights that include lots of color and much happiness.

Womanly Artventures

Woman is the word prompt this week over at Every Inchie Monday.

I thought about all the women I know and the majority of them are strong, smart and not afraid to speak their minds.  Take "The Lady" for instance.  She's an avid reader, hard worker and ready to help a friend out in a minute.  For instance, she's recently began to help my parents with housework duties.  My mother continues to refer to her as "the lady" instead of her birth name.  LOL!  "When is the lady coming back?" my mother will ask.  Or "Look at how the lady lined up the water bottles!" or "Where does the lady live?"  LOL!  You get the picture.  Oh, and by the way, "the lady" does not care for the word lady.  She prefers woman or girl.  But on my inchie (and to my mother) she's "The Lady."  LOL!!  Ooo, I'm having fun with this! 

My best friend always greets me with "Hey girl..." and whenever she has something to tell me she starts off with "Hey girl did you hear.....!"  She also has curly hair like me so when I'm walking down the hall at school with my back to people, I get called by her name a lot - which incidentally is not "girl!"  But on my inchie it is.  LOL!   

When I first saw that the word woman was the word for today's inchie, I immediately thought of Rosa Parks.  She is one of the bravest women of my life time.  She is "The Woman."  In my opinion,  too great to be on an inchie.

Now go be the strong woman you are and pass it on to all the little girls who look up to you.

Sisterly Artventure

Sister is the word prompt from the Every Inchie Monday group.  I began with one inchie but it kept growing. 

I kept visualizing stamps from my collection that had a sisterly feel and for some reason "eggs" grouped together in a nest told me that there could very well be sisters resting in there waiting to make their debut one day. 

I made these inchies with my own sisters in mind.  We're survivors of a very dysfunctional family and have managed to stay connected despite of it.  Yes, the claws come out if anyone bad mouths us whether we deserve it or not.  Only we're allowed to do that to each other.  LOL!!!

Sisters can be cheesy around each other, cry with make-up dripping down our faces, tell each other how it is and be there for one another always.

I don't want to grow old without my sisters.  We grew up together and have a lot of history.  Besides, we're the only ones who can talk about our parents and get away with it.  LOL!
If you have a sister, biological or not, stay connected, love one another and be that shoulder they occasionally need.  Now go call her.

Merriment!

How fitting that this week's inchie word prompt is merriment.  Merriment is what I experience when there's a paint brush in my hand and globs of paint nearby.  The background used for my inchie came from a recycled drinking cup that I saved from this past weekend's Extravaganza at Stampin' From the Heart in Los Angeles.  I loved the pattern and immediately knew that I would have to use this as my background for this week's inchie.  It's got that color "POW" that  gets me going and fills my heart with "merriment!"

There were lots of busy hands at the Extravaganza.  Here are just a few working on the the project I created for this event.  In all there were four teachers and 17 students.  WOWZA!  That's a lot of inky fingers! 

Here I am with my second group of Extravaganza party-goers.  It was a party all right and by the third group I was wiping sweat from all the fun!  Jessica is the teacher at the table to the left of me.  She made some pretty cool bird collage cards.  Oh, and how do you like that hanging cord trying to be a crown on my head?! 

  

Here's the cover of a completed Memory Keepsake. 

It was a long day and I lost a lot of sleep last week and the day of.  Somehow my eyes stayed open long enough till I got home.  Was it worth it?  Yes.  Hearing so many happy voices and people delighted that they were able to finish their project made it all worth it.  And a huge THANK YOU to Roxy for helping to make life easy for many students (and me).  She did lots of paper cutting and as one lady put it, "We should all have a Roxy at home!" 
Merriment.  There was a lot of it on Saturday that's for sure.