It's Time for More Bad Art......

This was my first (and last) attempt at sculpting polymer clay. When I was growing up my parents and I always went to the State Fair in Columbia, South Carolina. We would do the rides and games, but my favorite thing (elephant ears with powdered sugar) was to see the animals and to look at the crafts and art submissions. I would walk up and down the isles looking at the paintings and drawings. That was where I saw my first ever "fairy in a jar" art. It was a large jar and the fairy was sculpted out of clay. She was so delicate and her wings shimmered and she wore a tiny burlap dress. She was standing with her hands pressed against the glass looking out at me. All over the inside of the jar were the tiniest muddy hand prints where she had fluttered around trying to get out of the jar. The jar sat upon a stack of antique books about fairies and there was a large magnifying glass lying along side. It was the most enchanting thing I had ever seen. I looked at it for so long and then would have to move so others could come by, but I would go back and stare.

That had to have been 18 years ago and I have always remembered it. I was so thrilled to see the new fairy jars start to emerge in the mixed media art world. Soooo, I thought I'll sculpt a fairy and stick her in a jar too. Well, this is my attempt and it looks like the missing link:) Not fairy like at ALL! LOL!!! I might try again someday, but for now I am going to leave this to the experts:)

Free Image Tuesday...EBAY find...Journal page...

Look!!! Sweet Mrs. Nancy Maxwell James of Vintage Papers made a card with one of my free images!!!! Yeah! It is a beautiful card. Thank you Nancy. I am tickled that you used it and shared with us:)

This is a full plate tintype I recently purchased. It is about 8 by 6 in size, so large for a tintype photo. The coolest thing about it to me is that I think it is a tintype copy of an ambrotype photo. So it really is one of the earliest forms of photocopy. Cool, huh? You can see the edges of the ambrotype and where the original photo had been in an oval frame. I also love the little girl and the sad face of the mother.

This next photo I found on EBAY and it went way to high for my pocket book:) But I wanted to share it because it's so unusual. Poor little things. At least they were found and taken care of by someone who cared. You can enlarge the back of the photo to read about them. It says,"I found them in a stable on one of the coldest days in winter without fire, or clothing. Their bed was in the dirty straw taken from under the horses. Parents drunk and of the most unpromising kind."

This is a journal page.

New Favorite Thing and Journal Pages.....

First here is my newest addition to the living room. I found it at my favorite antique store although it is not an antique. It was one of those things that you see and immediately you know you have to have it. My husband is not so sure about it yet but I will make it grow on him:)

These are journal pages. I can't stop painting the eggs! I should just call my journal '"The Egg Book". LOLOL!! Sometimes my fear of creating something poorly is a tremendous block. I freeze instead of work through it. The last page addresses that blockage.

Free Image Tuesday.....

I found these at an antique store here in town. Score!! Hope you like them Mom!! I hope these scanned ok and if you use them in your art let us see your creation. Thank you everyone for your wonderful support and kind comments. I am amazed daily at this community and the joy it brings me.

To Miz SmoochieLips, With Love....Bad Art..and My Muse....

This is for MizSmoochie Lips. It's to make up for being such a lame swap partner. She sent me a wonderful box full of wonderful things and I only sent my 1 art piece. I am soooo not cut out for swaps. I hope you like it Tia. I don't know why I felt the need to turn Glinda the Good Witch into a cupcake, but there it is. Did you know she was 53 when she played that role? Amazing!
Last week Tia called for people to post their art mistakes and I LOVE that idea. I've got tons, so I'm gonna post them every once in a while. Sometimes our mistakes help us grow to be better at what we are striving to accomplish. This is the first collage I ever made. I looked at Altered Art for over a year and collected things before I ever even put gesso to paper. I was so terrified of not making something good. Something I loved. I went about it all wrong. It has no soul. I basically went down a mental checklist of things I loved about collage and made sure each element was in the piece.

• vintage photo? Check!
• vintage eggs? Check!
• Crown? Check!
• little random triangles as border? Check!
• old text/ music paper? Check!
• wings? Check?
• bird? Check!
• mysterious phrase snippet? Check!

How could I go wrong? My husband took one look and said, "That looks like Monty Python". Ouch. I didn't make another piece of art for over 6 months.

I started small and this piece spoke to me. The haunted eyes of the children and father. The absence of the mother. Her image is the same one I used in my first collage. I like her better here.
This lovely lady is my Muse. She has no name, but I know she was meant to be mine. There is an old farm house across the highway from our neighborhood. The sweetest couple lived there and they always had huge, beautiful vegetable gardens. The man would let my son (then only 3 and brother less) ride his tractor and pull onions. He finally became to old to keep up with a 100 year old home and the land and it all was sold. He was so sad to leave his home and it broke my heart.

The house sat for sale for over two years. Then I noticed a sold sign in the yard. The new owners began renovations on the old house and used bulldozers to scrape up and turn over all the gardens. One day there was lush beautiful vegetable plants (they were growing wild now) and the next there was sod laid out in neat rows. Then they bulldozed one of the two barns. I so upset and one Sunday afternoon, when there were no workers, I went over there to look at the other barn before it was gone too. My heart was beating out of my chest and I just knew any minute a police car was going to drive up and I'd be arrested for trespassing. There was nothing left inside and the workers were using it to store the new wood siding for the house. Still I poked around and took a few rusty nails and found a glass jar with a rusty lid. I was poking around in the chicken coup and when I looked down there was a black piece of cardboard in the straw. It looked like the cover of a book laying there. I picked it up and turned it over and it was her. Left alone for all that time, laying in the chicken coup. There I stood in a hot, dusty barn with chills all over my body. It may sound strange, but I know I was meant to go there and find her before they tore the barn down. So she is my Muse. I don't think she needs a name. But her influence was enough to call me across the highway to her and now she has a home.

From the Kitchen of...

First off look at my sweet boys "Arting" yesterday morning. My three year old is actually striking a pose for the camera with one hand on his hip. Very suave sweetie! Thank you for the watercolor book Mrs. Cheryl!!!
Ok. Lori at Faerie Windows tagged me for a recipe. Which if you haven't stoppped over to see her newest creation you are missing out 'cause he is precious!
So.You all know I don't cook so I concocted a simple meal which only takes 30 minutes tops. UNLESS you are taking pictures. And having some wine. So, honestly, I don't really know how long it would take to make it. At least it's easy. And there's wine involved:) So here's the most action my poor kitchen has seen in years. You might want to cover the children's eyes.
First you need red wine. Some to serve and some to use for the recipe. And music. Mazzy Star worked well.

And bread baked by someone that's not me:) I also served cooked shrimp and cocktail sauce as a before dinner snack.

List of ingredients:

• 1 bunch fresh asparagus ( or broccoli or any other fresh veggie of choice)
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 packages Fettuccine (I used the fresh 'cause it only takes three minutes)
• 1 container Light Alfredo sauce ( I used some you can microwave 'cause I'm a loser in the kitchen:)
• 2 pounds Fresh Sea Scallops (shrimp would do well too. Or chicken. Meat. Meat does well)
• Salt'NPeppa

Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to medium hot skillet.

Add scallops and Mr. Salt.

Don't forget Mrs. Pepper.

And one for my Homeys.

Saute scallops until they are browned on both sides. I kept them in the pan about 10 minutes.

And don't try to screw the olive oil cap onto the uncorked bottle of wine just because you usually re-screw a cap after pouring a glass of wine. Just........no.

Add the asparagus to your boiling pasta water and cook for 3 minutes.

Zap it for two minutes.

Remove asparagus and add pasta and boil for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain pasta when done.

Scallops should look like this when they are done. Transfer everything to plates and serve.
TA-DAAA!!!!

Hey, at least it's not Lunchables.

Now run on over to Stash Studios for dessert!

Free Image Tuesday and Home...

This cutie is one of the little girls I used for one of the tag swap girls. I think she is so precious!

This is the outside of a business letter from Sweden in 1863. I love it because it's such a beautiful blue, the handwriting is so elegant and you can still see the seal used to close it. Also the paper itself has such a wonderful rustle to it when it is handled. I LOVE the sound of old paper and old book pages. I wish I knew Swedish and I would know what it was about. Below is the invoice from the inside. No envelopes, just the contents folded and sealed. Very romantic, even if it's just a business letter:) These pages would make great backgrounds or papers for collage. Let us see what you create if you use them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RksdQrqLNs

"Home" by Zero 7. My new favorite song of the moment:)

She's Smoochie-licious!!!......

Look at what wonderful goodies my Cupcake swap partner Miz SmoochieLips sent me!!!!I LOVE them all and have had to explain to the boys OVER and OVER why they can't eat the cupcakes. The packaging and the presentation were as fabulous as the actual swap stuff! AND, I totally pimped out my car with the cupcake air freshener! LOL!!! I am so very pleased Tia. Thank you ever so much sweetie! Love, Jamie

Done Arting....

When you have come to the edge of all the light you have and step into the darkness of the unknown,
Believe that one of the two will happen to you,
Either you will find something solid to stand on or you’ll be taught to fly.
~Richard Bach

This piece is for my lovely friend Cheryl at Stash Studios. She is a constant source of inspiration, support and joy in my life. Thank you for everything. Love, Jamie

Free Image Tuesday and Arting....

My three year old calls it "Arting" when I am working on a project. "Momma, are you arting now?" I think I will never call it anything else again. Well, I am arting and it is flowing so well. You know that feeling you have when everything is coming together just like your head envisioned? It is rare, but a total high when it happens. By the way, run on over to Cheryl at Stash Studios and see the wonderful frames featured today. She took Corey Moortgat's design and made it all her own. I LOVE them!!!!

Here are your free images for this Tuesday. The first is a book about the history of France. It was published in 1884 so no etching of the Eiffel Tower. I believe it was meant to be a child's book since it claims that it is written all in words of one syllable:) It has wonderful illustrations but sadly is falling apart from the binding.
Next is a photo of sweet Jennie Sliza. She looks like a teacher to me for some reason. I love her dress and the background used by the photographer. If you look on the table beside her there is a cabinet card photo leaned against the books. Possibly of her mother. It was a common practice to do this if someone close to you had passed away as a remembrance. Also the book she is holding looks to be a family photo album. Cool stuff!!

Ledger Love...Or, What We Did Before Computers....

To say I have an addiction to collecting ledgers is being kind. An obsession is more like it! I can't get enough of them and I cherish each and every one.

From the 1700's general store ledgers to the 1930's farming ledgers. They all offer a wealth of information and history. I thought maybe once a week or so I would share some of my favorites with you.

My all time favorite is a country general store ledger. It spans from 1891 to 1894 and has 834 pages of all of the transactions and accounts for those years. I love it even more because I have a photo of the store and I know some of the family history.

It came from the great Niece of SIMON HEBERLING and the store was called Heberling & Son General Store. Here is what the pages look like. I love how every one's name is written so wonderfully at the top. Mr. Heberling even has a special section in the back and for the account holder's name it just says, "Mother". Good Boy!

I can't believe they were willing to sell it, but at least it's in a good home. When I first got it in the mail I was so excited that I just randomly flipped out of order through the pages. About the 5th page I turned to had this name at the top and then I knew I was meant to have custodianship over this piece of history. Cool stuff.

That Ole' Black Magic.....

We got our new computer from Voodoo yesterday and I am SOOOOO excited! It totally rocks and I NEVER thought I could get so excited over a piece of electronics, but I have fallen in love:) When my husband first built it and ordered it to be made I was like, ok, whatever. He said it was the Ferrari of gaming computers and I was like, yawnnnn. But, once I saw it come out the box it was love at first site.
When we first opened the box it started playing music! It had a light activated music chip that was set off when we removed the top packing. The boys flipped out and of course spent the rest of the time in the bathroom turning on and off the lights to activate it. It also came with organic, chocolate covered espresso beans and Voodoo logo temporary tattoos and a tee-shirt. I love Voodoo:)

I love all the cool cut outs in the aluminum case. They remind me of Michelle Ward's art. The blue tubing (which I thought was just some new way to pimp out your machine) is actually liquid coolant that keeps the processors and video cards from overheating. LIQUID COOLANT!!! HOW COOL IS THAT? Totally! I am probably one of the most inept computer geeks of all time. Right, Lori?!? LOL!! So sorry for posting about this but, I think it's neat and thanks for indulging me. I may not have access to the blog until we get everything transferred and whatnot. In the mean time, I feel some art waiting under the surface ready to come out:)

I just thought of something! NO WONDER he didn't blink an eye at my little pile of books at the bookstore! I may just have to go back:)

Free Image Tuesday...Sweet Husband...

These are the wonderful things I bought at the bookstore yesterday. (We finally had to get out of the house despite the rain because the children were making us crazy:)

• The bottom open book is a book of 2500 royalty free images called, "Scan This Book Two" by John Mendenhall. You may use them anyway you wish, even altering them in Photoshop and calling them your own. Can't beat that!
• Then I got the newest Somerset Memories June/July issue which features another fabulous article by Linda Harre highlighting her grandson Chase's baby book. She was also in the April/May issue, which featured Chase's twin brother Hunter and his baby book. She is so very talented. Please run over and feast your eyes on her blog, Studio Stuff. It's one of my favorites!
• The Bird and Nest stamps from Cavallini Papers & Co.,Inc. are something I have wanted FOREVER and I just grabbed them and ran! (yes, we payed for them:)
• and the last book is called, "The Little Big Book of Birds" from Welcome Books. It has the most wonderful bird facts and tips for watchers. But, the reason I bought it is it has fabulous vintage images of birds on almost every page. And there are 351 pages. Sweet!

BUT, the best part is that my sweet man (who had herded the boys through the store so I could look alone) did not even blink an eye when he saw my pile of goodies. Thank you sweetie!

Here are the pics for today. I love the sad look in this beautiful gal's eyes. She must have broken lots of hearts. I included the gentleman (I use this term lightly because he looks a bit of a scoundrel to me:) because I think he looks like a younger Matthew McConaughey. Use these anyway you wish, but if you do please share your creation:)