Well; I got through TWO art projects today. Woohoo! Boy; does this feel good.

This is a picture of a vintage postcard I altered. I used the peeling paint technique for background. This postcard is a RAK for a friend of mine who I've been meaning to send for so long.

My one goal, today, was to finish one art project! I made it. I have too many "starters" if you know what I mean. :)

This is a picture of a needle felting project I was working on and just completed. I did the "felt painting" technique, which I have to say is my favorite, and decided to make this into a 4 x 4 page for my Little Fat Book. The image is a transfer onto muslin, I used muslin pieces that I had stenciled using Shiva sticks, lace, I made the top rose out of felt, added some seed beads, added some silk rose embellishments and fibers. There are so many things you can combine with this felting technique; I'm having a ball! I have a long way to go in perfecting technique but just playing with this needle felting is so relaxing.

This is a picture of a needle felting project that my dear and talented friend, Ruth Setzer, created. While she is spending some time in Florida, right now, we communicate often and share our love of art with one another. Ruth sent me this picture of her project which I had to share. It is gorgeous! Ruth has incorporated silk fibers into the felting with really fabulous results. I love the "wispiness" of the fibers/silk together. The image is a Waterhouse image that Ruth printed out onto muslin. The hair of the woman is red silk-luscious!

I just LOVE this effect and I thank Ruth for sharing this with me.

Well - just what I need; another medium!! I'm hooked again. On Monday, I had the opportunity and privilege to meet a friend of mine, Laura Jones, who is a very talented and creative artist, at Art Connection to share some studio time together. Laura was kind enough to take time to share the world of needle felting with me. I saw some samples of this technique on the Art-e-Zine website and it was instant love, for me, and knew I had to try it. Of course, I had to purchase ALL of the tools and accessories to beqin my venture.

Laura was very thorough and we had a ball playing with this technique. My favorite is the concept of "painting on felt" with the wool. You can create landscapes, seascapes, skyscapes, any kind of background and then add your touches. This picture is my first attempt and note it's not finished. I want to add fabric images that I have, here, that I transferred images onto muslin using the Tranz It ink. Then adding metallic fibers, ribbons, flower and beading embellishments. Now; after working on this piece, I realize I just HAVE to get more colors of wool :) A note: you can also create small elements such as leaves, flowers, etc.

Thank you SO much, Laura, for spending time with me and introducing me to the world of needle felting.

This is another fairy moth I worked on today. I decided to make it into a pin for a friend of mine who is going to help me learn needle felting and I thought I'd make this for her.

This fairy moth has some "hair issues" but - the "hair" has a life of its own much like the fairy moth. One nevers knows where they will land :)

"Attitude Can Lead to Altitude"

Recently becoming a newbie to "Blog Land", I've always thought that Blogs of people who love art, had to post pictures of their art on a daily basis; ya know - it's all about the art. I'm beginning to realize that a Blog isn't always about that. I'd like to share something, with you, that inspired me today. It was one word.........................."altitude".

I was working on a crossword puzzle at a doctor's office this morning. I accompanied my husband to his follow-up visit with his heart doctor. He gets an "atta boy" by the way. He had a very good check up and he's doing fine. For those of you who wonder, my husband, Ted, suffered a heart attack November 30, 2005. We are very fortunate, it was mild and he's doing fine now. His treatments are working and he has a very competent heart doctor.

Anyway, while doing the crossword puzzle, I came across the word altitude and all of a sudden it dawned on me that this word is similar to "attitude". I realized that one can lead to the other.

This made me think back to my early days of beginning my art journey. I had a very bad "attitude". Ya know - the "C" word......................cannot. My passion for art started approx. 15 years ago and I started out with a Teddy Bear card that has now lead me to my love of altered art, collage, assemblage, and currently - fabric!!!! It wasn't until I started working hard on my "tude" adjustment that I now realize that I've come a long way since the Teddy Bear art. Not that I dislike Teddy Bears - I love them! But; I think you'll all know what I'm saying (I hope you do).

I did struggle and still do with a little bit of self-esteem issues. The Teddy Bear card was a huge step for me, back then, and throwing myself into taking different classes; talking to myself that I can do something vs. cannot. Just trying was an effort. But; along the way, I've met such wonderful people that have encouraged me and given me the wings to try to fly higher than I could have ever imagined. If someone told me a year ago that I'd have my own Blog; peeshah I'd say!! I just decided, to one day, sit down and do it. It was a struggle and without my friends, Patti Gramza and Laura McKeag-Krasinski who REALLY gave me lots of encouragement, not to mention "technical support", for creating my Blog, I wouldn't have kicked in to the positive attitude.

I have a very supportive family; my husband (well; he doesn't "get" the art) but he supports what I do. He gets a little crabby when I work on Sundays :) - but he's really a sweetheart about all that I am doing. My son gives me lots of love and support and my friends - well I can't even put into words the love and support I am getting back from each and every one. Thank you all for helping me with my "attitude adjustment". :)

Well; I've gone on about this long enough but I just had to share that when we get down on ourselves and think we can't do something, or when we're a little too hard on ourselves about our art, think....................'ATTITUDE CAN LEAD TO ALTITUDE".

Throw those cannots to the curb and soar!!! That's all folks! Love to all-Marilyn xxoo

It is a winter wonderland out there, on this Wed., Valentine's Day! I wish love and safety to all on this day.

It's a perfect day for me to catch up on some artwork. The weather kind of dictates that I slow down, today, honker down and I decided to treat myself to some art time.

These are pictures of inside of cabinet cards I altered. I'm in an Art Deco round with some very special friends. We call ourselves the "Divas". I'm sure you're all familiar with an Art Deco but just to refresh, it is a small handmade book that can be created out of anything, participants choose a theme, we work on covers and a page and then we send on to friends to create their beautiful artwork in. It's a round robin of sorts but these are small which cuts down on mailing costs. We actually have a formal mailing schedule set up and we take turns hosting. We love the activity, sharing and my favorite part is seeing what everyone comes up with for our themes. The picture on top is the inside of the front cover (the theme of this round is really altered cabinet cards). I chose to cut out images, put them in a library pocket so the participants can choose their image and create a page with it. The picture on the bottom is the inside back cover.

I got some art time in today between cooking sauce and balls, laundry and making sure my Mom got to her senior day activity. Today is a Valentine's party for them at the center so I didn't want her to miss it. :)

Here's a picture of the other 5 x 7 matboard collages I posted earlier. Last Sunday I took Kerri's class at Art Connection (Sensational Backgrounds and Foregrounds). We got to work on two 5 x 7 pieces and work with the background technique to which I am addicted! I'm using it a lot.

"Lovie" the Moth Fairy

This is a picture of my moth/fairy that I named "Lovie". The inspiration for this fun and very cool project came from my Sweet Patti Gramza from Wisconsin. Patti is a dear friend of mine and an extremely talented and creative artist. There isn't anything she can't do. I have her Blog listed on mine, here, so please visit Patti's Blog (Patti'sCreations) when you can; you will be amazed!! Her moth fairies are on her Blog and they are WOWZERS! She was kind and generous to send me, Melanie and Nancee moth fairies and even templates, instructions and accessories so we could make our own. I had fun, yesterday, starting my moth fairy with Melanie and Nancee. I finished "Lovie" today at home. This project is definitely going to be a class offering at Art Connection; it is so much fun, little sewing and some beautiful fabrics, embellishments - a moth/fairy is born! Thank you Patti!

This is a pic of one of the Sensational Background pieces that are shown below but with an image added. I added wings to this sweet little girl (another favorite image of mine) and decided to add the word "GIFT" with alphabet beads and wire. I enjoyed this technique SO much and intend to use it for so many of my future projects. Thanks to Kerri, she helped me get out of my "sepia box" and take the dive with colors with this technique. I usually have three tones of color that I like: light sepia, medium sepia, and dark sepia :) So; this technique really gave me wings to just jump in and play with colors. Thanks Kerri!

Sensational Backgrounds...............

This pic shows two 5 x 7 matboard samples of backgrounds that I worked on, yesterday, at Art Connection. I decided to treat myself to Kerri Posson's (her Blog link is here on mine) Sensational Backgrounds and Foregrounds class! I love Kerri's style of teaching and she's so thorough and inspirational. We used acrylic paints, stamps, textural items to create interesting shapes; such fun! If you click on the picture, you can see more of the detail.The backgrounds can be applied to anything from collages, card backgrounds, shadowbox treatments. I want to use this technique on ATC's and would be amazing to use in Little Fat Book page projects. I honestly didn't want the class to end. I intend to add images to each of these pieces and can't wait to start on some new backgrounds!

This is a picture of a 4 x 4 page I did as part of a project for our Little Fat Book club at Art Connection. All participants are going to create a 4 x 4 page, with their "signature art" and then we are going to mount the pages for display in the store. We will end up with a "paper quilt" of sorts. For my page, here, I began with satin material sewn (yes - sewn for those of you who won't believe it) :), onto 4 x 4 cardstock. Using Tranz It ink, I transferred my favorite image onto a piece of muslin, sewed (yes, again) that to the satin piece along with ribbon and lace and stamped the word Purity over the piece using fabric ink. I added some very special embellishments for a final touch.

Asian ATC's

This is a picture of 3 Asian-themed ATC's I worked on, last night, for Art Connection's ATC Exchange program. I used some fun background pieces for the ATC's that are done with black glossy cardstock, Lumiere paints and alcohol inks.