Thursday, August 29, 2013

CREATE MIXED MEDIA RETREAT 2013 - CHICAGO

Last week my friend Grace and I enjoyed every day at the annual CREATE Mixed Media Retreat in Chicago with a diversified set of classes. We chose our classes without consulting each other and discovered we didn't sign up for any class that the other had!! She attended in 2012 and enjoyed it so much that I was determined to save my dollars to attend this year. I'm glad I did.

This was the first time I participated in an event like this where the people were so friendly, eager to learn and eager to share. The teachers were generous with their knowledge and supplies. I learned a lot and need another week just to "play" with all the ideas swirling in my head. Oh well....

The only downside was that I registered for this before I knew that my daughter and husband had blocked off time at work to be here in MIchigan for a summer vacation. So I missed a number of days with them and their daughter - our 4 yr. old granddaughter Emmalee. I was able to spend several days with them, and was able to make a few "fairy gardens" for Emmalee to take care of while I was gone. Glitter certainly comes in handy (wink).

School starts next week and after a brief trip up north with my husband, I will get back to my other life as a substitute teacher, and hope to get a few cardmaking and mini-album workshops scheduled.

I am planning to host a two-day event in my studio where anyone who attends may use ANY of my products for $15 per day. Stay tuned for the dates.

This summer has been soooo busy that's it's swirled by me.

I will post photos of some of my finished projects from Create Chicago 2013.

Enjoy the weekend.........
cbs

My finished projects from CREATE Chicago 2013


Friday, August 16, 2013

"FREE" - Title of Mixed Media Canvas


I am enjoying this canvas project, but I tend to let it sit quite awhile before I add to it.
The birdcage is a diecut I bought awhile ago. It has several coats of decoupage paste on it because I had planned to use it as a stencil with one of my GelliArts™ printing plates.

It's new use is to swing freely from a filigree brad at the top edge of the canvas. I added some feathers from my cockatiel bird "Cinnamon" to the cage as well as on the bottom left side. (He was not injured in the process....honest!)

The photo transfer is of my granddaughter - somehow she sneaks in to most of my projects and doesn't even know it!

This canvas has lots of textures created from background pages, corrugated cardboard and embossed cardstock. I really love the way this is going but need to add some more paint to the top of it.....it looks maybe a bit too "contrived" right now.

OH! I also used a cute little brad on the birdcage from an older collection by Teresa Collins Designs which has the word "FREE."

Most of my work lately has been in small journals. I'll post some of them soon.

Next week, my friend Grace and I are attending CREATE Mixed Media Retreat in the Chicago area. She attended last year and loved it. I'm soooo excited to attend --- one of my favorite things is to immerse myself completely with little other distractions in my ever-changing, ever-expanding art.

Comments are always welcome!!

Enjoy the weekend............
cbs