Pif's

a few months ago, i put a note on my blog for 3 people who were interested in participating in a PIF with me. Basically you "pay it forward" to 3 people by giving them a piece of handmade art. the time frame was a year. the other night when i was busy making some mini snippet journals (pocket snippets!) to sell at Artnsoul in Hampton, i thought these would be perfect PIF's. these are the 3 i made special for my particpants. now upon receiving their PIF's they will pay it forward to 3 more people. "Snippets" are little fabric collages i make and will be teaching for the first time at Art is, in October.

new painting

today was rainy (again), dark and dreary. the only enjoyable part was the LOUD thunder that shook the house. no lightening though. dillon had his first driving lesson today and he had to drive around in that kind of weather. talk about your quick intro to foul weather driving. i decided i wanted to paint today after spending all day yesterday sewing mini little snippet journals to sell at Artnsoul in May. i've been wanting to paint for quite some time, but tend to put it off since it takes me awhile to paint (versus other things like sewing and jewelry that doesn't take as long for me). i was channeling my inner Misty Mawn today. misty does her hands like that and she can draw, but i am here to tell you that i tried to draw a hand today and it went badly! so i opted for this easy techique to save myself from the madness! i haven't decided if this is a keeper or for sale. (that's another problem i have with paintings, i have a hard time parting with them). i will be scanning it and using the image in more work though (like a treasure box for beginners....) i also have a few more things i want to do on it. on the back of the girl, i'm going to be adding a real pair of butterfly wings that Jeff saved for me when he found a butterfly in our garden. and then i wanted to add some sort of text, but need to think about what it will say. i wanted it to be something like a common bond between the girl with her wings and the butterfly. maybe something like "as different as we seem, one common bond brings us together" or something like that.

poker chip swap

Lisa Kettell held a "poker chip" swap with the theme of "circus". she altered a couple of poker chips in her new book, so thus the idea for her swap. i was paired with Lisa and another partner. the only rule was to use a poker chip and make two of them. i decided instead of building upon my chip laying flat that i would build it up. i pictured a circus tent. recently at the flea market i scored some really awesome vintage rubber stamps in their original box and they are all circus related. (so cool!) i chose the ringmaster stamp to go under the tent. so what the ringmaster is standing on is the poker chip, which i glued onto a piece of foam.

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in other news, it has been rainy, cloudy, foggy, windy and in general - YUCKY! when i dropped dillon off at the show, i was pleasantly surprised by some sunshine. when i came out of the building not 10 minutes later, it was still sunny, but pouring. i said to myself, "there's gonna be a rainbow soon" and sure enough- there it was. what's more special than a rainbow?

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"Little shop of horrors" play

tonight was the high school play, "Little shop of horrors". Dillon played the dentist (played by Steve Martin in the movie). he did a great job and in my opinion, stole the show! i am very proud of him and quite impressed with his acting and singing.

cast pictures

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i managed to get this one shot before the play (since i wasn't suppose to be there!)

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dillon being congratulated by family

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someone looks tired and ready to head off for some food with his friends.

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Mermaid hair

I'm flying out to San Diego (Encinatas) on April 22nd to take a 2-day class with Suzi Blu. we are painting mermaids. a few of us have decided to wear colorful mermaid wigs, crowns, bunny ears, etc. all in the name of fun!