Time continually slips away from me! I've been trying to fit art into my hectic life! I've been making snowmen as gifts too. I saw them in Cloth Paper Scissors & they were truely adorable! Plus I've been working on a quilt for my DH. I've made it out of the fronts & backs of special Tshirts & also pictures printed on fabric. Hopefully that gets finished today!

I've been reading Living the Creative Life by Rice Freeman-Zachery. What a great book! When I first got it in the mail - I thought this wasn't what I expected - ick! So I thumbed through a couple of times and it just clicked! I can't put it down! It is so inspiring and full of positive ideas to get creating! I've been in that dreaded "dried up" place! Each time I look at it I find another tidbit! Just awesome!

As if life isn't crazy enough... I got the great idea to get DH a kitten for his birthday! His cat got hit by a car :( So we welcomed RC into our lives! She is so bad!! But cute! It seems she enjoys sleeping in the branches of the Xmas tree. Turbo, our Chihuahua would join her if he could get up there! He thinks that she is his kitty. They love each other! That's good seeing as the big cats & dogs want nothing to do with them!

Crazy months!

I can't believe so much time has gone by since I posted anything! Things have been crazy at work! I had to let my assistant manager go - worked mega hours till I found a floor supervisor (promoted my floor supervisor to assistant manager). Finally found one 3 weeks before my vacation. My Dad came out to see me - I haven't seen him in 3 years. The second day of vacation - the floor supervisor quit without notice & had started all kinds of trouble in my store! Real bad! So off I went to Sedona to try & straighten out what I could - some has settled down. Back to looking for a new floor supervisor - I can't believe I was so wrong on the last one. I was very hurt because I liked her. Oh well - live & learn. Needless to say - not much art being created! I am working on something for my mother for her birthday but it's a surprise. Nothing on that till the end of November. I'm also working on an altered book about Lucy Burns and the Suffragettes. Such brave women!

We did do our second annual "Bra Making" Contest at work ( it's a bra store). I need to post the pictures. Each of the girls make a bra & we display them for the month of October & let our customers vote on the one they like best - we number the bras & we can't tell who made which one. At the end of the month, we count the votes & the winner gets a prize! We have alot of fun with it! This year I'm making "trophy's" for the 1st & 2nd place winners. I hope I get them done in time. I need to work on the today.

I have some ideas about Christmas gifts for all the women I have working for me. Hopefully I'll have enough time!

Look What I Got!

This is the carton I received! I just love the felt bead, art journal & the boxes are so lovely. I saw them on the blog & fell in love with them. The journal is beautiful. It included some of my favorite things: vintage & art deco. Thank you so much Susan. I will be mailing out my first 2 cartons next week.

Purple Angel

I finally finshed a wall hanging for my friend's birthday. She loves purple & angels. This piece was like hard labor - it just did not want to come!

It started out under glass but that just didn't work out! Such is life. I do like the way it ended up anyways! Susan just loved it & that's what counts the most.

At least I think I figured out the basics for this picture thing! Just in time too because my Art in a Carton is on it's way! I have 1 carton done & some pieces done too. Hopefully I'll have another carton done today. I'll try to get it finished on my lunch! If not then by Tues at the latest.

I had to run an errand on Thurday for my husband, so I stopped at 1 of my favorite antique stores on Glendale Ave in Phoenix. I found some great things! 3 wonderful rusty old doorknob plates with skeleton key holes, a rusty doorknob set, more of the glass picture slides & some great postcards & cabinet cards. Some of it will be wonderful for my class in Aug.

Great score at Goodwill

I had to go to Phoenix yesterday & decided to stop at Goodwill... I found so many great items! And most at 50% off. You got to love that! I found a spoon rack - but it has 2 hand carved triangles - like roofs & 2 stately columns separating them. It's coming apart but I saw so many possibilities and all for 1.99! I also got large plastic bags of buttons, threads, patterns, and other misc items in there. I haven't opened them yet - I want to enjoy each item. I finally found the fabric to cover the laptop project. I thought I'd try my hand at Steampunk - so there went the old laptop! That's one of my "in between" projects. I've been working on the pieces for Art in a Carton. This swap has been great for me! I've been trying all kinds of new techniques I normally don't do. I love the mini art journal I just completed - I made it with a clamshell template & used an ocean theme. Now I'm getting ready to make some different ones! It was fun to make. I work usually in a "production line". I have projects all over my table & work on which one feels right.

I don't get alot of time to update my blog & still having issues posting pictures. I've been putting in alot of hours at work on top of that 1 hour drive each way, we've spent quite a lot of time cleaning up & repairing damage from the last kid that crashed into my yard! 5th time since we bought this house! We live on the corner by a wash - they love to fly ( & I mean fly!) through the wash & try to make that corner - doesn't happen! Which is why we have huge boulders outside our fence. This last kid plowed right through the boulders, the fence, stacks of firewood & landed smack into the middle of my greenhouse! Totaled his girlfriend's truck - snapped the axle off. Destroyed the greenhouse! At least this time the kid got arrested - the last one ran! So needless to say time is at a premium! Plus I'm trying to organize my studio - I spend more time trying to find things in there! I'll be working - the lightbulb goes off for the perfect item for the piece & I can't find it! Also I'll be getting ready to pack my stuff for Art Unraveled. I have all the required items but dodads... I need more ( I always need more!) I need to take a trip to the antique stores in Glendale. I always find fun stuff there! I never know what I'll find but that is the fun of it!

Back from mini-vacation

We had a fantastic time! Nothing like the woods to get my creative juices flowing. Living in the desert, I tend to forget creeks can have water in them... I've gotten use to dry creeks & washes! I sat on the porch early in the morning seeing the sun dappled woods & listening the the creek running & the birds. I filled page after page in my art journal. So many new ideas. I took alot of pictures too. I love my husband's digital camera! The pictures are so much better than my camera. I either have to confiscate it or buy myself one!

As soon as I got back, I pretty much ran into the studio to work on a few things. The Art in a Carton was on my mind too. Ideas for pieces that can fit in that carton! I came up with too. If I don't write ideas in my journal I forget what it was, sometimes that's good & sometimes not. So I force myself to write it down. It would be nice if I could draw, unfortunately I draw sickly looking stick people! Not so good!

Last night I made a few clay buttons - they came out kind of cute. Now I just need to perfect it some more. Plus after reading some back issues of Somerset magazines, I saw a technique using Ultra thick embossing powder. You just make a copy of a photo on regular copy paper & layer that over a printed paper. Use embossing ink over the picture & a layer of UTEE & melt with a heat gun. After several layers the printed paper shows through the photo! It looks awesome! I'll have to take pictures of it & post them. Plus I'll be making more of those!

I'm going to bite the bullet & organize my studio. I was looking good but I had to pull everything out & pile it here & there when I tiled the floor. So now it's just a big old mess! I can't find anything. When I have to keep stopping to find things ( and make a bigger mess in the process), I get frustrated. So today is the day!

Finally

I finally added the Copper Sun that my studio was named after! I also added a link to Art in a carton - haven't done the logo yet. Being involved in that has got my moving on getting my blog moving along. We've both been working so much, we decided to take a couple of days & go up north to the woods to relax. I know I'll find some great found objects while I'm there. Nothing I love better than finding "junk". Well, maybe getting a new flamingo item. The flamingo fetish started when my husband said he didn't want me to put 2 plastic flamingos at my pond... I now have all things flamingo including a small Christmas tree with flamingo ornaments! I even have a beutiful string of flamingo lights in my studio. He doesn't ever say no anymore!

I have lots of art projects going on. I just move from one to the other as feelings move me. And their never complete till I have them out & look at them on & off for awhile. I love to "experiment" with different supplies. If it works for 1 thing why not another? If it works I keep it, if it doesn't, I turn it into something else. If I could do anything I wanted in life, it would be to not "go to work" and stay home in my studio & create all day. That would make me very, very happy! Not that I'm not happy now. I'll add some pictures of art pieces soon.

Art in a carton

I was so excited when I received an email from Susan ( artangel) that they still had openings for Art in a Carton! You fill a 1/2 or 1 litre carton with art pieces & art supplies - mail 1 carton to the person mailing you one , 1 to the first persons name on the list & 1 to whom ever you want that will particpate. What a cool idea! I checked out some of the wonderful artists involved. It will be such a treat to receive those cartons. Plus I love mail that doesn't involve bills! I will be adding a link to the site soon.

The Journey Begins

This is my 1st attempt to blog, so bear with me. The name comes from the beatiful copper metal sun on my studio door. I love my studio! I can spend hours out there. It was the "Harley" building but my hubby was good enough to move the Harley outside(under a carport with 4 covers & bungee cords) & give me the space! I worked on the dining room table before & between eating & cats it was tough! I now can go to the studio with Turbo ( our adorable toy chiahuahua) and work - the cats & other dogs still come to visit!

I'm so excited about this years Art Unraveled! I'm taking a class from one of my favorite artist Michael deMeng! I just love his work! Last year I met so many wonderful creative people. I was rather shy there ( a surprise to people who know me) but I wasn't at the stage were I could call myself an artist. That took me many, many years to do & quite a few people calling me that first. So I'm looking forward to this year on so many different levels.

I will be posting some of my work. I'm still figuring out how this all works!