Zentangle Barbie

I don't think I'm quite finished with her yet, she needs something else on her dress and more paint on her legs, but this is my second altered Barbie: Zentangle Barbie

Before Picture:  (Again I got so excited about her I jumped right into it without taking a before "body shot" picture, but this was her face)

I may color a few more of her braids black also.  For the braids I dipped the ends in Elmer's glue to make them stiff and pointy.  The black braids were dipped in black acrylic paint.

Her dress is tied with black lace which you see hanging down in front of her painted legs.

Acorn Barbie

My newest artistic endeavor?  Altered dolls!  I find played with and loved dolls (Barbie and the like) and give them a whole new look.  If you'd like to donate to the cause that would be great.  You won't be finding these in your local toy store any time soon.

Notice the heads in the front of the picture.  During the creative process it gets a little ugly with headless Barbies being spray painted and hung up to dry in the garage but in the end all legs and arms find their way back to their rightful owner.  Well at least for now.

I got so excited about jumping into this that I forgot to take a "before" picture of my first one.  This was the stage that I remembered to take the picture:

Anyway, from now on I will document them from beginning to end.  This was my first altered Barbie and I aptly named her Acorn Barbie:

I love her and she's mine all mine!

Just one day late but...

I welcome you with open arms AUTUMN!!

(Photo taken by me a few years ago at the Newport News Fall Festival)

I Never Know What is Going To Inspire Me

I have started swapping again on Swap-bot because I've gotten back into ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) and this website is a great arena for swapping these.  While on there, looking at other swap groups, I stumbled upon a lady who was asking artists to "decorate" a fishing bobber for her father-in-law's birthday in October.  He collects them and she thought it would be fun to see what people came up with.  I love a challenge so I e-mailed her and said I'd love to do it.  There were no restrictions as to size or theme so at my local store 2" bobbers came two to a pack.  I rushed right home and base coated them:

After base coating I painted one black then remembered to take a picture for this blog.

I decided to do one in a Halloween theme because it is September.  And the other one I decided to do an underwater theme because it is, after all, a bobber.

And then my underwater theme:

Since it is September and my brain is already thinking Christmas... wouldn't these make great Christmas ornaments!  This is why I love art, because I never know when or where I'm going to be inspired but when I am it's like a whole new world opens up for me and I LOVE it!

Quilling on ATC's

What better way to practice quilling techniques than on ATC's (Artist Trading Cards).  I have been a member of Swap-bot for a few years now and I love trading ATC's.  I'm always looking for new techniques to try and ATC's are the perfect little size (2 1/2" X 3 1/2") to experiment with.

Paper quilling is the technique of taking strips of paper and manipulating them or "twirling" them to create beautiful objects.  There are three books that I love and refer back to often:
I Can't Believe I'm Quilling By Jane Cleveland
Paper Quilling For the First Time  By Alli Bartkowski
Thrilling Quilling By Elizabeth Moad

This swap was called 100 Hearts.  I used scrapbooking paper for the background, quilled the hearts and the little black dots are puffy paint. 

For my next one I wanted to try a new flower technique.  For my background I used a paint chip you can get at your local hardware store (trimmed to size).  Fringed my paper.  Twirled it around my quilling tool then glued each flower in place. 

 The next morning I opened them up and LOVED how they turned out:

 This swap was called Flower ATC but my partner's profile stated that she loves green butterflies so I wanted to incorporate both:

Owl ATC.  Again, another paint chip and then I painted the tree with acrylics.

This swap is called Ladybug ATC.  Shhhhhh... I haven't sent this one yet so my partner doesn't know what it looks like.

And here are some more that I've done in the past:

Lollipop, Lollipop... Oh Lolly... Lolly Lolly..

It starts with an idea...

I find that I love working with bright, bold colors

And usually end up with something fun and cheerful

  And this is my finished piece in my art studio

More Fabric Bowls!

Wow have my boys been keeping me busy this summer!  So I'm trying to keep up with them plus I've started writing another blog AND we are going on vacation in three days, yikes!  This post will be short and sweet, my fabric bowls are a huge hit at the art gallery so I challenged myself to make six more before we go on vacation, I knocked out four but didn't reach my goal of six.  So here they are:

I don't work with the color purple that much but I absolutely love how this bowl turned out:

(The purple bowl sold five minutes after I walked in the door with it!)



Thanks for looking and I'll be back in three weeks!

I've started another blog!

A few years ago I wrote about my art retreat.  It was my time to get away and just create.  I have always been fascinated with the Amish culture so on these art retreats I would go to Lancaster, PA.  Over the years my art retreat has turned into a mommy's getaway and I now like to mingle with the Amish more than focus on my art.  A few weeks ago I got back from my annual mommy getaway and every time I sat down to write about it here I realized something.  I have way too much to say for just one post so I have created another blog.  I will solely focus on Amish life and my experiences among the Plain people.  It is still "under construction" but it is called My Fascination With The Amish Culture: Exploring The Plain People.