Seeing the sun through the clouds...

Lots of rain here is Sacramento... and I know we need it, but I'm such a sunny girl... love the feel of warm rays against my skin... it's amazing how a little sun can change your whole outlook on life...

There's good news... even though we've had rain 5 days this week, and it's hard to wake up when the pitter patter of the hard weather lulls you back to sleep, I noticed the tree outside my window has the beginnings of Spring... little buds of joy... be patient and see the sun through the clouds...

A Declaration of love...

Joseph is lying next to me right now and I can't help feeling overwhelmed with absolute love for this man... I love coming home to his sleeping face, and having him wake up long enough to wrap his arms around me and shower me with "a thousand kisses." What can you say about a man like that? No wonder I can't wait to plan our wedding (I already have the guest list... shhhh!! Don't tell anyone...), he's too wonderful to imagine a life without him. The sound of his voice could talk me off a ledge and a night with him watching trashy shows on VH1 is the stuff kids dream of... :)

You are the love of my life, and I'm blessed to know you... I love you so much!!

xoxoxo
Your Peach

We have Internet!!!

After two weeks of not having internet in the new place, Joseph and I can finally spend our mornings surfing the web... it's the little things that make us happy... And now I can finally take Jessica Sprague's photoshop classes and become one of the many people involved in the digital scrapbooking realm... love that!!! Maybe now I can get my banner up on my etsy site... I can't wait to start painting!!...

Hope everyone's having a wonderful weekend...

Unexpected busy weekend...

So I got home on a Wednesday night to find my office floor was sopping wet... thinking that Joseph had just spilled a little water I placed a towel over the spot and went to bed... The next morning I went to the office demanding new carpet (this is the second flood in the past 2 years, and not the mention the incident involving MUSHROOMS growing out of my carpet a few months ago... yes, you heard me correctly, MUSHROOMS!!)...

Due to the fact they couldn't give me new carpet while I was still living there they gave me two options... 1. they could "deep clean" my carpet, or 2. I could move to a new unit within the complex. Well, I chose to move... It was a horrible weekend of manual labor, but it was a blessing in disguise. Not only do I have a brand new UPGRADED apartment (with brushed nickel hardware, laminate flooring in the kitchen and bathroom, new carpet and LOTS OF LIGHT!!), but I also get to start a new life with Joseph in a place we can both call home... Joseph said to me, "I love our new place." It's OUR place and now when he moves into OUR place in March we can save money and work towards the future we both dream of TOGETHER... It feels wonderful... even the tons of boxes crowding the floor can't get me down... I'm in love!! :)

...by the way... I'm planning on doing a huge painting for over the couch... just bought a 24x48 canvas... Can't wait to start painting... I wonder where all by brushes are?... I'm off to unpack...

Three Things to love... About Mixed Media Products

1. Acrylic Glazing liquid by Golden... I'm sure there are other products that are comparable to this one, but I gotta say that this stuff is THE BEST... I use this for everything, but my favorite use is to blend colors... It cuts down the drying time of acrylic paints and makes the paint glide over the canvas... well, I have been using birch plywood more and more these past couple months, which really absorbs the paint, so the Glazing Liquid helps to prevent that when you're trying to mix colors... LOVE IT!!!

2. Watercolor Colored Pencils... I use Prismacolor and Derwent and they're both wonderful... I use these more as a base for my shading... I put down a layer and then blend with water. I then go over it with different glazes of acrylic paint until I get the color that I want. I love it because if I don't have the exact color I want I know that all I have to do is add some more layers of color glazes until I get it just right (that's if I don't completely muddy up my colors first... haven't done it, yet, but there's a first time for everything)...

3. Gel Matte Medium by Golden... I have a lot of glue around my studio, but this is my favorite for mixed media pieces... and the part I absolutely love about it is that your application doesn't have to be remotely perfectly... just glob on a chunk of it, place whatever paper or 3D object on top, and messily smoosh with a brush... it's not perfect, but when it dries it sure looks like it is...

Reunion and Polly has a sister...

I was a bad girl... I called in sick all weekend... Bad nurse!!

On Saturday I had a good excuse... One of my very best friends and fellow scrapbooker, Tricea, who now lives in Atlanta (Booo!!!), came to visit and we spent all day shoppin' and gabbin'... all the good stuff I miss about her... Love her to death!!!... we even ended the day with margaritas and Mexican food with my Joseph at Chevy's on the River...

When I was driving home after dropping her off at her folks, I realized I hadn't taken any pictures... Duh!!! I was so mad at myself... I will hopefully visit her for the Taste of Atlanta in August, so we'll have an entire weekend to document our friendship :) I can't wait!!!

Then, I called in sick again on Sunday.... The excuse wasn't as good as Saturday's, but Polly has a new sister!! She's my first commission and she's so incredibly lovely. Her name in Becca, and her new home is with a friend of mine from work...

I have to say that I was a little stressed when she asked me to make a piece for her... my art has always been for me, and I love it, but now I was faced with the task of making something that someone else had to fall in love with... I was freakin' out!!! But, I just told myself, "She wouldn't have asked you if she didn't already love your art, so get over it!"... I eventually got over it, and all day Sunday my creative juice cup runnith over, and here she is... All I have left to do is beeswax her and then she's off to her new home...

I was on such a high from Sunday that Monday and Tuesday I started on a snowman!!!... His name is Edward, and he is keeping me from finishing my Italy scrapbook... I'm so stinkin' bad...

Mixed Media with Tim Holtz...

I had a class with Tim Holtz on Monday... it was so much fun!!! He is such a sweetheart and so down to earth and helpful... I had so much fun!!... and of course I acted like a complete groupie (I'm such a dork)... he signed my apron and took a picture with me... It was the last class of the weekend, and I was happy to see Tim as perky as ever...
I was surprised at how many techniques were involved in this one 12x12 canvas... I can't wait until he comes back next year... and this time I'm camping outside to shop, so I can sign up for more than one class... I have to admit though that it was the one I really really wanted to take... LOVE HIM!!!

The class was a mixed media Christmas collage and we used everything but the kitchen sink to put together this holiday piece... I loved the way it turned out... My plan is to put together a few of these for christmas gifts this year... a little something for family and friends from my humble little studio...
..they are sure to be filled with lots of love from yours truly...

Time to get back to the scrappin' roots...

It's been awhile since I scrapbooked... mixed media has kinda taken control, at lease for the last couple months, and now it's time to get back to my roots... Both of my Europe trips were in early 2007, so I thought it was wise to start scrappin' before I completely forgot what happened during those glorious couple months...

It's hard to switch your mind from mixed media to scrapbooking... mixed media is so complex... layer upon layer of mediums to where there's barely any dead space... it's full of love :) ... Scrapbooking, on the other hand, is pretty simple at heart and I found myself battling over the need to put more stuff on the page and just leaving it alone... And then I visited Ali E's page... one of her motto's is "It's ok"... I took a deep breath and said it aloud... "It's ok if the page is not completely covered, so stop stressin!"... besides, years down the road the most important part of these books is the stories behind the pictures.... so, I kept it simple... My Italy book consists of a few pictures mixed with some beautiful patterned paper and journaling, and I love it... Here are some sample pages (still have to write in some of my journaling, so mind the blank parts)... more to come later next week...

I have yet to do any sort of digital scrapbooking. I took a couple classes at Green Tangerines, but never got down to actually finishing a layout... probably because my computer had ZERO memory and wouldn't even let me open a new Photoshop document... I know, it's pretty bad... Anyway, I have since obtained a external harddrive and I'm ready to start doin' some digi stuff... I hear Jessica Sprague has wonderful digi classes, so my plan is to start there and gradually work my way to completing my Spain/Portugal all in Digi... I can't wait...

Oh... I forgot the saddest thing... I have to replace my craft sheet on my table... I don't know why this always makes me sad... I like to come into my studio and look of my craft sheet all covered with paint, stamping ink and stickers... all the "war wounds" left over from projects past... It's always so hard to replace it... well, guess I'll have to get started on covering the newone... Keep on creating...

Polly... Italy... Crap!!!

So I finally finished my polly from Suzi Blu's class... the class is over and I'm so sad... that was BY FAR the best class I've ever taken... I'll miss the weekly Suzi Love videos... so many techniques... so much love... Her mixed media network is still up and running, and we have tons of creative godesses to play with!!!... So much fun...

Anyway, here's my finished Polly... my favorite part of mixed media is how versitile it is... you can use whatever you have lying around!!!... in this painting alone I used woodburning, colored pencils, acrylic paint (three different brands), stencils, stamps, tissue paper, scrapbook paper, paper flowers, gold leaf, and beeswax... Tons of fun beautiful layers!!!... I can't even explain how much fun I had working on this piece... anyway, enough of my babbling... here she is!!!

I finally started working on my Italy scrapbook from 2007 (ummm... yea... a little late)... and thanks to the espresso I bought from that trip (mixed with a little sugar-free Swiss Miss hot chocolate... OMG so friggin' good!!) I have gotten the first three pages done before work over the last couple days... still have to work on the journaling... I may have to take Jessica Sprague's new FREE CLASS to get the ideas flowin'... I'll post my finished pages in a few days...

On another note... I am FUTURE TRIPPIN'!!! (a new term I picked up from my Karen)... with the economy the way it is and my CNA contract due to be renegotiated in 2011 (I know, I know... and little early to be flippin' out), I'm just a little worried (ok, ok... A LOT worried) about the future of my job and wages... anyway, just thought I would share my thoughts... enjoy your weekend...

Oh, by the way, my 30 mile ride turned into 12 miles... so, yea, I'm pretty pathetic, but Natalie assured me that she's going to start kickin' my ass, so we're doing a whopping 15 miles next time... I'm still hoping for some motivation to stick with it...

I love you my Honeybush!!!... Muah!!

MIA

I've been MIA lately... same ol' story... workin', workin', workin'... I finished the Suzi Blu class. (click on my Mixed media badge on the left to see my work... I'll post the finished product in a week or so)...

I have become the most impatient, cynical person... I'm so sick of myself!!! I'm determined to get back to my happy self... and here's my plan...

1. Exercise more... I need to get back on my bike (I'm going for a little 30mile ride on Monday
with a fellow biker friend of mine)... And I need some kind of relaxation/meditation (I'm gonna try some "Hot Yoga" with another friend of mine... may God be with me)

2. Don't let the clusterf*ck of my job get to me... It's a difficult process but I'm trying...

3. Don't stress about money... with my focus being on getting my house I've been trying to pay off bills, and save every available penny (and with my shopping addiction, it's not so easy) to pay off credit cards... I'm an instant gratification kinda girl, and it's so frustrating... I just want everything now...

4. PAINT, PAINT, PAINT... not only is this my major way of relaxing, but it also gives me a
lot of satisfaction and pride to create beautiful pieces.... not to mention that when I finally
get off my butt to get prints made, I can make some extra money on Etsy.com... I'll keep
you posted...

What do you think of my plan?... Think I'll follow through with it?... :)