I had such a fun time making this!!

I am currently hosting a Moleskine Journal Swap.  There are a total of 10 fabulous artists participating, each with a journal and a theme of their choice.  The journals make their way around the world, stopping each month with a new person.  When we wrap it up in November, we will each have a journal filled with fabulous artwork based on our chosen theme.  I am so blessed by the group that we have.  Each is incredibly talented.  The themes are so creative and fun and each artist puts their own fabulous spin on them.

I just completed a spread for one of my very favorite artists.  Her style just makes me happy!  I really wanted to do a good job and create something that would give her as much joy as she gives me.  In the process, I had so much fun making this.  I love the way it turned out and hope to do more things like it in the future.

She described her chosen theme this way...

"Okeedokee, my theme is "in the kitchen". It can and in a perfect world would include any number of the following:
anthropomorphic food or talking flatware, etc
a drinking housewife
anything 1950s vibe
a recipe (no desserts or other sweets please)
rotten children
things not quite right - cat sitting in frypan on the stove, kid in oven, giant eyeball in cookie jar! etc
Think odd, fun, satirical, silly, drunk foodie."

Various swaps and fun art!

Had the pleasure of playing in an AFA art-a-thon a couple of weeks ago, the first one I've had time for in a while.  I've been having fun playing and experimenting with some Dylusions Ink Spray by Ranger and some awesome stencils from artistcellar.com.  I absolutely adore the deep saturation of color of the Ranger inks and the stencils are remarkably versatile and allow you to create some pretty amazing background effects.

Here are some of the cards and Twinchies I was able to create for the AFA art-a-thon...

Ive also completed some fun swaps at AFA recently, with some more fun ones on the horizon.  Here are some of the completed ones...

All Kinds of Birds Swap

Mainly Pink Chunky Swap

Steampunk Chunky Swap

Postage Stamp APC Swap

Torn Book Pages Swap

Zetti Parent and Child Swap

Ive also done a couple of Moleskine journal spreads for players in the Moley Swap I'm hosting...

I also had the honor of making a memorial piece for my sweet sister-in-law who we lost suddenly last month.

More fun swaps coming as well as some exciting commissions!  Stay tuned!

"Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop"

Keeping this one at the top while the blog hop is going on but be sure to scroll down to see some new art I just posted!!

Okay...lets try this again!

This challenge really could not have come at a better time.  After 19 years in the same house, we were forced to move...not once...but twice in less than 6 months!  Thankfully, we found a home and moved in in November.  At the time, I just wanted to get the stuff in and get it usable so that I could get back to creating.  Now...several months later...I need to be able to find things, have room to work and...well...be able to walk in here!

These before pictures show the level of chaos I had reached.

As you can see, the corner was knee deep and blocked by totes and boxes.  The closet was unusable and the table was a cluttered mess.

I was able to unpack and relocate at least a dozen boxes and crates of books from the closet, install shelves and organize it to hold most of my supplies.  My hubby found the wonderful chest of drawers for me which provides additional storage.  Best of all, I was finally able to create a place to showcase some of the wonderful art that Ive collected over the last few years...and I even have room for more!  The table is clean but that wont last.  I tend to work in a state of clutter but when I cant even make sense of my own mess,  its time to clean house!

I apologize for the pictures.  I've tried everything I can think of to get them to turn back to the way they are saved on my computer but I've had no luck.  If anyone has any suggestions, please share.

Check out the other Blog Hoppers and their studio cleanups!


Judi Hurwitt http://approachable-art.blogspot.com
Jim Parrillo http://thinkjimcreative.tumblr.com
Lisa Chinhttp://somethingcleveraboutnothing.blogspot.com/
Barb Forristerhttp://www.barbforrister.com/category/blog
Frieda Anderson http://www.friestyle.com/
Lynn Krawczyk http://fibraartysta.blogspot.com/
Cheryl Slebodahttp://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/blog/