an altered jewelry box for my friend, Kim

when i was in Ohio visiting my friend, Kim (http://www.artdogslife.blogspot.com/), i stayed in their guest room. on the dresser, she had a collection of vintage jewelry boxes (something that i also collect!) on the top of all the boxes, was a really small one. i had never see a small one like this in that style - so of course i just loved it! so when i was leaving i asked if i could take it and alter it for her. god bless her, she is so trusting! she was excited and said yes. so in between unpacking all my A & S stuff, fighting this head cold - i decided to sit down for a minute and work on her box. here are the pictures of it finished. wish i had thought to take a picture of it before - but forgot. anyway, it was just a cream, plain box, no color or designs.

i decided to merge to techniques i learned at A & S from both Misty Mawn and Sally Jean Alexander's class. collage is my favorite thing to do, so it comes very easy to me. learning different background techniques has also been fun. Misty uses a lot of texture in her pictures - and anything goes with texture (sand paper, bubble wrap, shelf liner pads, rug liners, etc. all you do is after putting your paint down, while it is wet, just lay some sort of texture on top and press down (like a stamp). the texture will leave an impression. it's cool and adds a lot of visual interest. and of course, i had to add my favorite image - bird - to the top. my calling card so to say! i will be mailing this off to her tomorrow! hope you like it kim!

i also just grabbed a few minutes in tucker's hot tub, to ease my achy body! i only have the energy to lay in bed, but my back is so sore from doing just that! i slept half the day after taking a 1/2 tab of benadryl to ease the pressure in my head ( can you imagine if i took the whole pill?). i am still itching to get in my studio and do some work. i really want to get some work done on Carol's tiara - and then i have to get ready for the black friday show. as i told Francoise in an email this morning - i don't have time to be sick!

my friend, Sandra of the Warehouseartchix (http://warehouseartchix.typepad.com/warehouseartchix/2007/09/index.html) i s sending me a box of 8x10 canvas's. she's been ordering them and since i need some, figure i just order some from her! less work for me to do on my end. can't wait to get them so i can start working on some misty mawn type pictures (don't hold your breathe - i need a lot of practice on my people!) but practice makes perfect! i love looking at the class sample she did that she gave to me as class was over. i've got it in a little niche near my bed and for some reason it really makes me happy. maybe because it was so nice of her to just give it to me. i think i am always floored when someone does something nice for me out of the blue, that i wasn't expecting - especially since i am such a giving person. so when someone gives to me - it's always a shock! anyway, i also won some blog candy from Sandra, so she's going to throw that in the box too - yay!