Art Talk

Some new work...

2012-01-28T20:59:00.000-05:00

It's been a few weeks and how time is flying... I have a few new projects to share with you all! Wish I was at CHA with the rest of the scrapbooking/ craft world but my kids and work need me. Maybe this summer I'll get to go again! I thought I'd first share the rest of my Scrapbooking From the Inside Out January kit.

Art

This layout was created with lots of negative space scraps... I had cut some frames with my cricut and decided I'd use them to frame journaling, but then I also found other scraps (like the backing to the chipboard shapes) that I could use as well. I wanted this page to reflect creativity and art with random embellishments. I love the colors in this kit and wanted that to be the focus so I used Kraft paper as the backdrop. Those Cosmo Cricket words strips are AWESOME too!

The journaling talks about my love of teaching young artists and the hope that I allow them to explore techniques, concepts, artists, and their own creative decision making. It is not just a job for me... it's a passion I have for inspiring kids to explore materials and be brave enough to try new things in their artwork without fear of being "right or wrong".

Another detail of "Art"

Be Different

This is my favorite page of all the projects this past month! I love the colors, textures, and the photo! I had this photo taken at the Pepsi Co. sculpture gardens in Westchester, NY about 10 years ago! I was saving it for something... The sculptures are from George Segal. I love his Plaster cast figures. The simplicity of them but the story they tell which can be someone complex at the same time. I find it fascinating that they are life sized and taken from real people. The need to interact with these artworks is irresistible! This was when I was a young teacher and struggling to find myself as an artist. I wanted to fit in but find my own style at the same time. It was a conflict that still eats at me. I understand now how artists can sometimes be either ahead of their time or not take enough chances because they are afraid of rejection. I hope to find my voice where I can be certain that it is true to me and not just appeasing the "in crowd".

Detail and journaling

Tags made from fabric, paper scraps, and chipboard shapes.

I Am

I am a complex person who sometimes finds faults with herself where others do not. I'm a perfectionist, procrastinator, moody, and much more. I find myself dissatisfied with my world and my role in it sometimes. I want to make a difference. I want to do and be more than I can imagine. Whatever I am, I have to be the best I can be... sometimes I fail. I try to do good, but I'm human and often fall short. I can be overwhelmingly confusing to others. I love my kids, job, husband, and life! I am an artist...

Detail of "I Am"

Now that January is almost behind us, we are looking ahead to the shortest month of the year (although one day longer this year as it is a leap year!). The new Scrapbooking From the Inside Out (SFTIO) kit is due to be revealed on February 1st... so, I thought I'd give you just a few sneak peaks from this amazing kit! It's called "Dream" and I can tell you that it is in fact dreamy!

I can't wait to reveal my complete work for this kit! It's one of my favorite kits ever! You will love the colors in this one.

I have lots more to share but I think I'll save it for another post tomorrow... I'll be showing some of my CHA projects!

Stop by tomorrow afternoon to see!

Individuality

2012-01-03T22:56:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to be able to share my first group of projects from the January kit "Individuality" from Scrapbooking From The Inside Out

I loved working with the papers and embellishments from this gorgeous kit... it just inspires creativity! So without further ado... Individuality:

Okay, I am only showing 2 of the 5 projects I did with this kit and promise to show a few more soon! I want to tease you, but I know you will love this colorful and unique kit! Grab yours now before they are gone! I have more to share from my other DT gigs soon... can't quite yet.

It's been a great break from school but today we went back... to be honest, I was kinda hoping for a snow day today... we got about 6 inches overnight but it petered out by morning. BLAH... so off we went and there were some cranky kids today! My son was one of them.. he was counting on being able to sleep in some more. Oh well, kiddo. We all have to go back to work or school sometime. It's cold here and I'm dreaming of warm weather and sun already... I think it's gonna be a looooong winter!

Top 10 for 2011

2011-12-30T12:11:00.000-05:00

It's the end of another year and time for me to reflect on the year's worth of work! I love looking through what I've done over the last 12 months and picking my favorite projects. It helps me to see my own trends and techniques that I focused on. I have a few that I can't include because they are being published, but the rest are the 10 that I can share from 2011. This year FLEW by and it wasn't just me that thought so. Everyone I've talked to agrees that the time flew by! Months went by in a flash! I hope 2012 goes a bit slower and brings a lot of creativity and patience with it... Here are my top 10 favs for this year:

Well, looking back, this year was full of altered art, scrapbook pages using COLOR, and fun art mediums! I like that I'm using more bright colors and think that will continue into the new year. We'll see what 2012 brings. I am grateful for the opportunities I have to create for some seriously wonderful companies and blogs! I hope that 2012 brings even more creative energy!

So how will you be ringing in the new year? I have absolutely NO plans... I will probably make a special dinner at home for my family, have a yummy dessert and bottle of champagne ready. Everyone will be asleep by 9-10pm and I'll be watching the ball drop on TV in my sweats by myself. Sounds sad, but really... I kind of like it. Of course if my hubby told me that we'd be going out on the town all dressed up, I'd jump at the chance, but I plan to make art while having some champagne!

Link up your top 10 favs of this year in the comments so I can see what you have done all year too!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-12-23T12:07:00.000-05:00

I wanted to pop on here and update my blog before the big holiday rush! It's been so crazy busy getting ready for Christmas. We are hosting the dinner and festivities for our families at our house and I haven't even started baking yet! Not to mention how much wrapping I have to do tonight!!!

Gingerbread house from Nikki Sivils papers!

It's been hard to get into the holiday spirit this year. I'm not sure why I feel like such a "Bah Humbug" lately! Maybe it's the rush and the stress at school. Maybe it's the lack of snow here (which is totally unusual!)... I don't know. I'm just ready to be on break and get this holiday over with. I guess I need to just be with my kids and remember the reason for this holiday. I wish you all wonderful holiday greetings and time spent with family this week!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Busy Busy Busy

2011-12-05T15:23:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I popped on here to update my blog! I have been so busy! It's been a whirlwind of a month. I had my professional state conference last month and I agreed to teach 3 hands on workshops.... yep, you read right... 3! That was crazy! I spent the ENTIRE conference either worrying about, setting up, teaching, or packing up my workshops! I took one other workshop and attended one keynote... other than that, I was a stressed mess. I love teaching workshops and each one was very successful. People packed in, I ran out of handouts, and there were lots of positive responses and sharing going on! I LOVE that! That's what art teachers do. We share and support each other. I did get lots of good ideas. I learned about different ways to introduce curriculum and assess. It was in Long Island and the drama from the hotel was not to dampen the positive vibes of our teachers! Here are some highlights through photos:

Printmaking - Monoprinting workshop!

My Mixed Media Mania class!

Using Faber Castell Aquarelle pencils!

Texture paste relief

Loving those Gelatos!!!

Image transfer onto canvas with Gel medium

Some of the results of the evening's fun mixed media playing with DMC products!

My student's work at the Student Art Exhibit

Love getting ideas from other schools!

On the scrappy side, I have some exciting news! I was selected to be on the Scrapbooking From the Inside Out DT! I am so super excited! I think I found a community of women that are honest, willing to try new techniques and explore their own emotions and life. It's perfect for me right now! Check out the site! They have amazing kits that come with all the big name products! I have also gotten on another DT that is still hush hush... I can tell you that it's a really cool opportunity and I'm excited to be a part of a huge group of rock star scrapbookers on this team!!! YAY!

My term ended at Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker and I was so sad about it, but I've been with them since they started and it's time to move aside and let some new scrappers in to enjoy Nikki and Dan's generosity and creativity! I will never forget my time there and want to THANK them for having me on their DT for so long! I loved working with Nikki's papers and stickers while making some of my favorite pages! It was fabulous!

That's it for now... I'm setting up holiday decorations, celebrating family birthdays, and getting in the Christmas spirit!

Scrapbook updates and a Steal!

2011-11-11T12:50:00.000-05:00

It's definately Fall and the air is growing crisp with that bite that happens before winter. I'm getting excited about the holidays too, but I'm also having some very creative bursts of energy right now. Wish I had the time to sit and do it all but I plan to start this weekend! I'm going to White Eagle for a scrap retreat with some girlfriends! We are going to laugh, drink, scrap, make art, gossip and maybe get some good girlfriend pics in! It's always a blast with these girls! So, I packed my entire art room (okay maybe not that much but at least half of all my stuff!) and have some projects in mind! I plan on making layouts, altered items, maybe even work on some necklaces and pins for a craft show coming up. Whatever my little heart desires. No kids, no hubby, no responsibilities! I'm bringing 2 bottles of wine and some creative inspiration! But before I go, I wanted to leave you a little peek at some of my new creations. I also have an exciting opportunity for you to steal some Nikki Sivils tomorrow!

Pumpkin using Nikki Sivils Boo-tiful papers. Tutorial here:

Some cards that I did with Studio Calico papers and veneer shapes! This card is a gift card holder upcycling a coffee sleeve from Starbucks!

Let it Snow card using Studio Calico papers and chipboard shapes! So cute! The snowflakes are wooden and colored with DMC Gelatos in Metallic blue!

That's it for now! I'll be back to post what I made this weekend later.

Tomorrow at 9am there will be a Scrapbook Steal for all of you who love Nikki Sivils papers! Check it out here tomorrow (Saturday 11/12). I'm off to scrap the weekend away! Ciao!

DesignTeam Calls

2011-10-24T20:42:00.001-05:00

Just thought I'd share a really fun opportunity that I had. I was asked to be interviewed for the new DesignTeam Calls website. It's a great place to find DT calls, pick up some tips, find opportunities to be published! If you want to check out my interview... check it here: http://designteamcalls.com/designer-details-an-interview-with-jennifer-matott/
I'm super excited about having this chance to share my experiences and that they asked me!
Some more exciting projects coming up soon!

October Already???

2011-10-11T21:25:00.000-05:00

Here we are in October... REALLY? Where is the month going? September FLEW by! I'm so behind in posting. So, please forgive me for being absent. I have a rather hectic teaching schedule this year and keeping up with my oldest's sport practices and games is becoming nuts! So, in my sparse spare time, I'm creating some. I'll share a few from my DT assignments. First up Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker. I love Nikki's lines! They are so fun with great patterns! I have a few more to finish and post later!

Read To Me (using Nikki Sivils School is Cool line)

Just Like Daddy (School is Cool line)

Detail of Just Like Daddy

An Apple A Day (Get Well Soon line)


My Monster Artist (My Little Monster line)

Check out our monthly challenge at Nikki's blog! I missed out on this one because school started and I lost track of time, but you can still play along! Don't miss out!

Next up is a project or two from Faber-Castell:

Gelatos with Brenda Pinnick stamps! Love those Piccidilly stamps!

Secret Garden - altered wooden miniature drawers

You can read more about this project on the Design Memory Craft blog. I love Gelatos so much and working on wood is fun and a whole different surface to alter... I'm looking for my next fix!

Finally, some random layouts that I thought I'd share. Why? Well, because they were fun to create and I need to just make something fun without boundaries sometimes. This first one was a bunch of random extra pieces and fun punches.

Why?

Curls

This one was one I made with all Bella Blvd. product. I love their colors. The white is Gesso smeared over black paper and stamped into.

Family Outing

Finally, the last one is from the last sketch at Pencillines Sketch blog. Check out the great sketch here.

My life is crazy right now with sports, teaching, and family. I promise to post more often... lots going on and fun things on the horizon! I've been busy!

Truly last Italy post AND back to school!

2011-09-05T22:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I said the last post was the last of the Italy pics, but well, I have a few more to share. I had such a great trip there that I just had to share all of these photos. It's not as good as being there but the photos are here for me to look at and remember all the sights, art and memories we made there.
Here are the last of the photos:

Greve, Italy (in the Tuscany region... Chianti Classico)

Vineyards

Ruffino Santedame Vineyards (makes a variety of local wines as well as Olive oil)

Fig trees growing on the grounds

Eduardo teaching us about the region and why Chianti and Chianti Classico are different in name.

Breathtaking views!

The barrel room

Dinner at another Ruffino estate. GORGEOUS!

Amazing etchings everywhere!

dessert... Tirimiso!

My new favorite wine!

Murano glass chandalier!

Leather markets in Florence

All the awardees... final night dinner celebration!

5 courses plus wine with each course! WOW! It was a wonderful time!

That is it for my Italy trip! Let's just say that it was a trip of a lifetime! I'm so proud of my husband's success and recognition. I'm so lucky that I got to be there with him!

I'm getting ready for school to start on Thursday and going back tomorrow for opening day festivities and getting my room ready. It's exciting and I have butterflies yet again! It never gets dull!

Final Italy post...

2011-09-05T21:07:00.000-05:00

It's been over a month since I've been to Italy but I'm still not done with posting my trip... LOL! I have a final post detailing how I spent the rest of the time in Florence. We left after the Palio and dinner and drove on to Florence. Our hotel was really nice! We stayed at the Hotel Helvetia & Bristol on via de'Pescioni which is in the luxury shopping area. Our room faced Cartier! So gorgeous! Here's a view from our window that opened up...

Went to the Palazzo Strozzi for the Picasso, Miro, Dali exhibit! It was great! Mostly early work but fascinating to see how Dali and Miro were inspired by Picasso. I got a great book for my classroom about it. Great find!

Duomo in Florence

Baptistry doors by Lorenzo Ghiberti

My hubby on the streets of Florence

Next, we went to the Museo di Palazzo Vecchio to see the gorgeous rooms and artwork there. It was awe inspiring! So much power there... it used to be the ducal palace in the 14th century and then became the house of the Florentine government around late 1600's. Pretty amazing. Matt liked it because it was one of the settings of the movie, "Hannibal".

This was in one of the fireplaces... so cool!

The view from one of the balconies in a chamber.

Overlooking the main hall. Gorgeous!

Map room

Medieval potty! LOL!

The balcony in Hannibal... actually it's the mayor's office.

LOVE this bicycle against this graffiti door.

Ponte Vecchio bridge.

This is the coolest... All these padlocks are hanging on the chains around the bridge. I heard the represent couple's commitments.

We walked to the Pitti Palace next and breezed through the rooms which were opulent and amazingly small but so many of them! The colors, details, and history are surreal!

Egyptian obelisk in the gardens.

Avenue of trees.

The palace from the gardens

Up high on the garden grounds.

Street performers!

Window displays are works of art!

Chalk painters on the streets - there were new artworks each day!


The Arno River at night.

I have one more day to share... There are just so many photos and exciting sights to see!

It's My Birthday... and other stuff

2011-08-04T08:12:00.001-05:00

It took my husband to figure out my age this year. I thought I was going to be 38 but apparently I've lived all of this year and thought I was 37 already, but no, I'm actually turning 37 today. Why am I a year behind? Math is not my strength apparently. I better start writing it down for next year. LOL! I still LOVE being pampered and spoiled on my b'day but I guess the year just doesn't matter anymore. When you are a kid, you wish to be older and when you get to the teen years you just can't wait to be 21! Once you get older (past 21) you wish everyone would just forget your real age but still celebrate birthdays. So, I guess I'm at that stage where I forget my own age and just like the cake, presents and hugs part. This morning I got hugs, kisses and some sweet gifts from the hubs and kids. I've gotten gift cards to a salon and many gifts to itunes! YAY! LOVE my books on my ipod and music too. I'll be using them! I'm giving myself a gift today... dropping the kids off at daycare for the day and going out to run errands on my own! I have a hair appt. at noon and plan to have lunch at Panerra as well as go get my art room desk fixings. I need to get my room in order and I have big plans! Here is my inspiration:

Here's my thought... I have one of those 9 cubby shelves from Closetmaid and I'm going to get another and see what table top I can find for the work surface. I'm thinking black so that I can match it with the black leather drawers I have. I also need a new chair... something comfy but taller. I have a beat up office chair right now that is comfy but falling apart. I also need a new tool bin for pencils and scissors and such. I'm not asking too much am I? I'm hoping today is a lucky day to find it all and get it together. That would be a great gift to myself. I am also getting my hair done and that always makes me feel good! Maybe I might go out tonight too... dinner? Not sure. I'll be back with the finished look when I'm done!

Italy-Day 2

2011-07-29T13:57:00.000-05:00

It takes so much time to blog! Especially when I have so many photos to upload. Be patient with me as I upload Italy photos. Here is Day 2 of our trip!

The first day we toured Siena and all it's pre-Palio race hoopla! It was relatively light in traffic. The second day(July 2, 2011) was filled with lots of fun things happening. We got up late and I went down to the pool hoping to get in a short sunbath and swim. That didn't happen exactly as everyone was around a table having some discussion and the President of the company was coming down with his family. So, I enjoyed some time meeting them. Matt came down and someone from the hotel asked if one of us wanted to have a complimentary massage. I was chosen after a little hemming and hawing. It was wonderful but a bit weird. First of all, it was a quiet, dark but cozy room that was off the main reception area. It was very private and had a table, sauna room, and claw foot tub in it. The masseuse was very nice, but I couldn't understand much of what he said. He handed me a little package (I do mean little) and asked if I would change into it and lay on the table. He left so I could do that. I opened it to find a TINY transparent paper thong and nothing else. OMG> I was ready to back out of this but I sucked it up (and sucked in my stomach) and did as he asked. I grabbed a towel and put it over my backside too. Tee heee... he seemed to be fine with this and took it as a hint that I was a self conscience American. He asked me where I was from and where I have the most stress. I told him in my shoulders and he went to work. It was fabulous! He was very professional and i was very relaxed. After I was done, I got dressed and found the everyone was in the small banquet room eating lunch. Oops.. Well, I came in and felt very much like jelly. It was a delicious meal of homemade mozzarella cheese bundles, tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, meats and salad. yum!! Marty, the President of Constellations Brands spoke about each of the people chosen for the award and presented them with a pin to represent their hard work and dedication. Very nice! Here's a shot of them all. My husband is third from the left in the blue.

Snapped a shot of this little girl drawing on the easel out in the yard. I can see why artist's are so inspired here to draw and paint. It's gorgeous! She was no exception... probably only 7 or 8 years old.

Once we were finished eating, we checked out the hotel and got in a van to venture to a small town called Greve. We toured the main square a bit and learned about the region of Chianti Classico. It was nice to hear the history surrounding this wine region. They are also known for their olive oil and meats. We then made it to Siena and it was PACKED! People were everywhere! Here is a shot of the streets as a small parade of contradas went through.

We made it to the Piazza del Campo and you can see the dirt track around the perimeter. It is cobblestoned and they bring in dirt and pack it down and add the fence around the center for spectators. Here there are not that many people yet. It was sprinkling lightly and we were hoping that they would not cancel the race!

It stopped and once the parade started on the track, people started taking their seats and places in the center. The center fills to about 40,000 and the stands and balconies hold another 10,000! WOW! The seats in the stands are about 500 Euros each! We were in a much coveted balcony which was something we would never be able to do if we went on our own!

Filling up!

The seats in the stands.

A scuffle where people who were on the edges didn't want to let others in because they might lose their spots! It was tense for a bit watching this!

Twig brooms to clean the track. This group of workers did all the dirty work ... even scooping horse poop! Ewww..

Matt and I in the balcony.

Medival style light fixture... so cool!

Flags of important Siena families

Banners and members of trade organizations

look how full it is now!

Orca flag throwers!

Mississippi- Orca Contrada's horse. He had a design shaved into his hindquarter hair that was so cool!

The non-competing contradas.

There were only 10 contradas that were running the race. Overall there are 17 contradas. Here is a site that his lots of information about each one. The horses are chosen based on speed and strength. They very much value their horses but these are the best that each contrada has. I heard rumors that they drug the horses so they are more aggresive and faster but not sure how true that is. I hope not. One did die the night before the race of a heart attack which makes me sad and the other contradas were very sad that this happened. They contrada did march in the parade as well though. During the race, the jockeys are not important to the final outcome. If one falls off a horse, the horse can still win the race. It is all about the horses and the bragging rights for the contrada. Power is a great motivator.


The bell tower... gorgeous!

A cart pulled by 4 white oxen. They were HUGE! I think the mayor of Siena was riding in the cart.

Full! If you have to go to the bathroom during the race, you are out of luck... once you are in the center, you cannot get out until the end!

Our view down from our balcony.

There were about 15 of us in one balcony! it was a handbag store's backroom!

Okay, unfortunately, I got so excited when the race started that I forgot to press my button to record it! BLAH! So, here's a view of it on YouTube. The winning horse was Orca! We had a little bet going in our group and Matt and I had pulled the name Bruca (which was the horse in the lead initially, but the rider got knocked off). The race lasted about 4 laps. It was very exciting!There was absolutely NOTHING like being there in premier viewing (not among the packed crowd!) of a tradition that spans centuries! Unbelievable! I feel so lucky that I got to go and see this with my hubby!

The aftermath of the race! The winning contrada was pouring out and hugging and yelling. We thought it was a brawl but just their emotional winning!

Those stands came down so fast! Everything was literally back to normal within an hour!

This is where we ate dinner outside of Siena. Gorgeous place and food was AMAZING!!!! Wine with every course again!

Finally we got to our hotel in Florence by midnight and it was very fancy. Lots of fabric and glass. The windows overlooked Cartier in the upscale shopping area! WOW! Nice!
Okay, next post will be Days 3-4!

Ciao!

CHA FUN!

2011-07-22T16:02:00.000-05:00

I just got back from Summer CHA in Chicago! I've been a traveling fool! For the last month, I've been to Italy and now Chicago! I still need to post my time in Italy because I have tons of photos and fun stories, but today I'm going to share my favorites of CHA!

This was my first time at the Craft and Hobby Association's show! I was super excited to go and represent Faber-Castell's new Design Memory Craft line! Being on the DT there, I knew that I'd have a blast teaching others how to use the fabulous products! I really do LOVE LOVE LOVE them! Plus, I couldn't wait to meet all of the other girls! So off I went on Monday to Chicago...

Niagra Falls from the air! On my way to Chicago...

Cool slumped glass and art in Chicago's O'Hare Airport

More glass

Welcome to CHA!


Faber-Castell's DMC booth #1607

I was asked to work in the DMC booth and the people at Faber-Castell are so generous to bring all the DT girls here. I designed the make n' take project that we would do. Here's a photo of the mini banner we did with visitors to our booth and more booth shots:

ART banner with lots of techniques

My yellow banner!

A few of my projects for the booth. I made this bag using all the products and some gel medium and modeling paste.

A traditional opening with bag pipes and drums! They walked up and down the aisles and played on the first morning.

Melissa Elsner visiting me! I was so excited to meet her in person. We had only talked online and it was so cool to see her! She is super fun and I wish I had more time to hang with this girl!

I roomed with Mou Saha. What a talented and nice person to share my first CHA experience with. She was so patient with me and we enjoyed lots of conversation and laughs. I helped with her workshop for DMC in which participants got to play with the new products and make a mini album.

Next up, I had projects in Nikki Sivils booth! I got to meet her and the other girls for the first time in person. They are as sweet and wonderful in person as I thought. Her new booth is gorgeous! Here are a few shots of the booth and some of my projects.

Here we are with Susan Mintmire! Susan was the one who brought me on board with DMC and I'm so grateful to her. I loved meeting her and can't wait to see her again in other endeavors!

Silly photo ops everywhere! This show seemed big to me, but I hear that the winter CHA is 4 times larger! WHOA! Maybe I'll get there someday!


Chicago lit up at night!

I have to say that I got to walk around very little. I was so busy and missed tons! But I did find a few of my favorite things in the new releases! Here is a top 10 of sorts in no particular order:

1. Crafter's Workshop templates... Julie Fei-Fan Balzar has designed some of the new line and they are so fun! I love the punchinella and woodgrain the best but can't wait to get my hands on many others!

2. Prima's Printery Line... OMG> Completely up my alley... black, cream and white colors. Lots of fun letters, artsy stuff! I love their nests too. I guess I still have an obsession with Prima and their booth was lovely.

3. Maya Road Kraft tags and shapes, trims, and more! WOW... this booth was fun of fun things. I walked around for a bit and loved the gorgeous trim so much.

4. Tim Holtz! Love his new birdcages, pocketwatch, and papers! He was demoing his distress inks in a bottle and I was hooked instantly! Lots of possibilities! He was also staying at our hotel on the SAME floor! We rode the elevator up with him!

5. Hambly screens! I love this lattice one and the cameras! They have rub ons that are the BEST in the industry! I had a great conversation with the owner and designer, Allison! She did some hot glasswork that I admire and I'm doing some fusing with kids this year so we had a fun time discussing that! She is super cool!

6. Studio Calico! OMG OMG OMG... this was my FAV! I loved ALL of their lines! The basics, the Autumn line and all the embellishments that went with them. They have stamps that they paired up with Hero Stamps and are fabulous!

Die cut papers

I have to have the entire line!!! Amazing colors and details!

7. Felts. This was a total surprise! This booth was next to the DMC booth and I loved the colors and soft fuzzy feel. I love felting but it takes forever. They have products that are already done and ready to use. I bought some of the felt balls, sheets, and needle to make the leaf scarf with. I'm in love... so cozy!

8. Amy Tangerine for American Crafts. Those of you that know me, know that I have a fetish with Thickers. I love them, hoard them, and collect them. These are awesome from her line... adorable fonts, great colors... fun!!! I also love the papers and embellies too!

9. Webster's Pages bling and new lines! It's funny because I would love these lines even if I didn't know the designer personally! I went to school with Brandin all the way from Nursery school (preschool) through high school. We were best buds growing up. We found our cliques in jr. High but still were friends. I love this girl! She is genuinely the NICEST person. I am so happy that she is so wildly successful in life because she deserves it. Brandin was always involved in so much but found the time to be friendly to every one. She is talented, beautiful and the sweetest person I know! I was so glad we got to see each other and I hope we can keep in touch! This was the highlight of my trip!

Brandin and I! We've known each other since nursery school! It's great to be able to catch up!

10. Now, I have to say that Nikki Sivils and Faber Castell are two of the best companies to work for! I am truly blessed to be working on the DT of both. Here I am with Nikki's DT coordinator and right hand woman! It was great to meet you girls! So happy to be able to hug you all and see the booth in person! Dan and Nikki are the real deal and so sweet to boot!

I am serious when I say that the DMC products are my absolute favorites! I can do so much with them and LOVE promoting them and teaching others to get excited over what they can do! In my book, they are truly innovative and high quality art supplies. I will never get tired of using them!

Well, if you've hung in this long, I hope you will let me end this with a heartfelt thanks! I had the best time hanging out with the FB DMC girls and my roommate, Mou. We braved crazy cab drivers, 100 degree heat, and long days on our feet together but it was the most amazing 1st CHA that I will ever have. I am so happy to have been able to attend and work with these girls! I know I missed so much that I will just HAVE to have but these are my favs from what I saw. Hope you enjoyed them! If you leave a comment, I'll pick a winner for a few of the DMC Gelatos ! I'll pick a winner next Friday and I'll be back to blog about the rest of my Italy trip and share some of my CHA projects soon!

Ciao! Arrivederci Italy!

2011-07-16T11:19:00.000-05:00

I'm finally posting my adventures in Italy with my husband and 6 other couples/ pairs. Matt found out in May that he won a very prestigious award through his company. One in which he was one of six awardees and the only one from New York state! He was surprised, I was not. He is a hard worker and loves what he does (most of the time). To say he deserves this honor is an understatement! I couldn't be more proud of him. Now, this trip was a complete surprise to both of us. Spouses or one guest were invited. I was thrilled to hear that we would be spending one week in Italy in the Chianti region between Siena and Florence. Here is the story of our adventures:

We left very early on June 30th. Matt, of course has to get to the airport way too early because he's petrified we will be late or something major will happen there if we don't. So, we get through security with no problem because we are one of maybe 20 people in the entire airport at 7am! Our plane doesn't leave for 2 more hours! So, we get to the gate and decide to have coffee and breakfast and the little snack shack in the terminal. Our hometown airport is not very big, but they have FREE wifi... so I was happy browsing the internet and purchasing books on my ipod touch for the trip. I also fully charged it so that it wouldn't need charging until we got to Germany (which is where we picked up the flight to Florence). Very pleasant and quiet time spent before boarding. Got to Chicago and made it to our gate early again. We went and got lunch at the Tuscany Cafe (very appropriate) and I enjoyed a minestrone soup and panini sandwich. We got a bottle of wine to pass the time too. Very relaxed and happy were we. The next flight was the longest (8+ hours) over the Atlantic Ocean. Matt needed that bottle and more to relax. He is a very nervous flyer. Not me... I love to fly! We met a couple that were in our group there. Tom and Cheryl were from St. Louis. It was nice chatting with them at the gate. We flew business class... whoa! I don't want to fly any other way now. The seats were HUGE and we arrived on board to a glass of champagne and out own private movie screens built into the back of the seats.

The seats actually reclined into a bed! Although I didn't sleep one wink. Matt slept 4 hours, but I was too excited to sleep. I got out my journal and went to town. It was great! Once we got to Frankfort, I was tired and needed some coffee pronto! This was a short and small flight.

Once we got to Florence, we had to take a van to Siena to where we were staying. Here is a photo of us outside the estate.

All stone and probably pretty old! It overlooked the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. The mountains of Chianti could be seen along with vineyards, olive groves, cypress trees and spotted with other stone houses, estates, and even a castle or two. Gorgeous! It's no wonder artists flock to Italy to paint! It's inspirational!
We had some time to ourselves while we waited for the others to arrive. We met another pair... Matt and his dad, Mike. They were from Kentucky I think. Matt took a nap while I went down to the gorgeous pool area. I took a quick dip and as soon as a sat to enjoy the view, it started storming. My luck! It was very cool though to see the storm sweep across the mountains/hills and over the landscape. We had lunch inside and enjoyed wine, caprese salad (the tomatoes were the sweetest I've ever tasted!), cantalope, cheeses, and salad. I was so content! Once the others arrived, we changed and went to Siena for the night. We toured a bit and had some wine at a little outdoor seating of a restaurant. Fun to meet everyone and talk about where we were from and what we do.

A side street with a contrada flag.

Cars movie poster in Italian - My kids would love that!

The first bank of Siena - started by the Medici's.

Heads of the bankers??? Not sure. But I think it's funny to think so.

Walking through the streets of Siena... lots of contrada flags up in each district

This is the back view of the bleacher seating. You would pay $500 per seat!

Me in front of the Piazza del Campo

The bell tower in the Piazza

Smile honey!

Balcony seating... we are going to be in one. VERY expensive to get and the best seats of the house!

Cool brick pattern... reminds me of Chevron patterns that are hot right now in art.

Town hall

Gorgeous designs and gargoyles

The forest contrada flag and starting point of race.

Then we went to the contrada Oca (goose) for dinner. It was amazing! Seriously AMAZING! There are 17 contradas in the city that have a community dinner before the Palio to celebrate and cheer on their horse. There can be between 500 - 2000 + people there. It's amazing how the organize it and bring in hundreds of tables and chairs for this to line the streets and community courtyards. They had 4 courses of dinner... Appetizer (which could have been a dinner for me) of fruit and cheeses, pasta course, meat course, and dessert. Wine overflowed the table... when one bottle emptied, it was replaced with a new bottle. We were guests of the Ruffino winery. It was an honor and very humbling to be sitting with the local people listening to Italian conversation, toasts, and singing. Here are a few shots of the night:

Walking down a hill to the contrada Oca

Tables set up at another contrada

Beppe, who was our representative from Ruffino. He acted as our translater, guide, and anything else we needed. He is amazing! Thanks!

A better view of the hill down. We had to climb up after much wine consumption! Whew!

Oca contrada's tables set for the dinner!

Sunset view of the contrada

A very cool door... I'm kind of obsessed with doors in Italy.

The first church in Siena. Overlooks the water supply.

Waiting for seating at the dinner.

Another view of the people waiting.

The dinner with the head table seating the important people... jockey and officials/ leaders.

A closer view of the head table.

Here is a video clip of them chanting and singing about the race and their horse. The horse's name was "Mississippi" by the way. LOL! He won the Palio! We ate with the winning contrada! They didn't race until the next day so we didn't know at the time. I looked it up and this contrada has the most wins of the Palio overall. 62 wins! Here is another video of a group of teens/ older boys singing.

We were very full and excited about the evening. The walk back up that hill was KILLER! Once we got back to the hotel, we were so tired and jet lagged! What a good night's sleep we got!

Since this is a long post, I'll break it up... the next day was very full of information and photos because it was the day of the Palio race. I will post that one soon!

Crazy for Cricut!

2011-06-19T21:57:00.000-05:00

I'm so lucky to be working with Nikki Sivils! She is not only gorgeous, but so talented! Her designs are so fun and versatile! I love being on her design team! We had the opportunity to be a part of a cross promotion with Provocraft! As a HUGE surprise, we were to get a Cricut Expression and guess what arrived on my doorstep a couple weeks ago???

I opened that box and tore through the wrappings! I was so excited to see all the goodies inside. It took me a little while to find time to sit down and read up on how to use the machine, which was REALLY easy btw! I put the blade in, plugging it in and chose the first cartridge to start with. I'm in love!!!

Imagine the possibilities! This was the first cut... Imagine on the Home Accents cart. At first, I was setting the dial too large and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't let me cut! After asking some other Cricut owners, I found out that the measurements are top to bottom not side to side! SOLVED! So, here is my first page using the Cricut Expressions:

The scroll flower cut out is from Home Accents and also the border design! Gorgeous!! I also cut the journaling shape too! I'm loving this machine. I can't wait to see what else it can do! Thank you Provocraft!

Good things!

2011-06-01T21:42:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to share some exciting news....

I'm going to Sienna, Italy!!!! June 30th - July 6th! Matt got a very prestigious award at work and we are being sent to Italy for the Palio races and tour of some of the wineries! Not only am I so proud of his accomplishment and acknowledgment of his hard work for the company, but I'm over the moon excited to be going back there 13 years later! I went to Italy the week I met Matt, for 6 weeks with Syracuse University and their Inclusive Education program. I was a grad student, nervous, but adventurous! I remember being in awe of the scenery, art, and people. It was overwhelming as a young woman who had never been over the ocean... now I'm more experienced and am ready to see it through a more adult set of eyes. I can't wait!!! What to bring, what to wear, what to do to prepare???? When Matt went 2 years ago, I was so mad that I didn't get to go with him, but this will be romantic, crazy, and just plain exciting! I better brush up on my Italian!

Along with that exciting news, I found out that I will be attending the Summer Craft and Hobby Show (CHA) in Chicago, IL in July (just 2 weeks after Italy)! My first time at the trade show with a manufacturer!!! SO very exciting! I can't wait to meet people I have only "talked to" online and meet my other DT girls! I will be working the DMC Faber-Castell booth there. I will be doing a make-n-take project and helping at the booth and workshops. It will be very exciting and very busy! I can't wait! I have lots to do to get projects ready for the show! I am planning to stay an extra day to explore the museums there and have a little "me" time too... ;)

Now, on to a few other announcements...
Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker has organized a scrapbooking supply round up for the Joplin community. THe tornadoes destroyed homes, lives, and the community but they are rebuilding! Nikki is collecting scrapbook supplies to send to victims who have lost everything. Just to help them get started.. here are the details:

I will be busy making CHA projects and will be back soon with some more exciting news to share!

Rain, Rain GO AWAY!

2011-05-05T22:10:00.001-05:00

Okay, it's getting ridiculous around here... not only have we had a long, cold, snowy winter (we even win the snowiest city in the country!), but now it's the wettest spring on record here. We have had over 9 inches of rain in 20 days! I'm so sick of rain! We even have ducks in our yard! Yep, a pair of mallards ended up on our lawn one morning.

To stay with this rainy theme, I thought some "rainy" artwork might be appropriate.

Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker line "It's Raining, It's Pouring" is the perfect spring paper line! I love the little umbrellas and the colors in this line!!! Here I used it for my current Scrap That Baby prompt.

I had fun playing with Faber-Castell DMC Gelatos on this paper umbrella. I wanted it to look like dripping rain and colored and added Prima flowers and bling. April Showers bring May Flowers!

As a final parting project... I made some flowers using Nikki's "Beatrice" line. So, even though I can't be outside enjoying the real flowers, I have some colorful paper ones to look at! I hope the sun shows itself soon (and stays around)!!

Easter fun

2011-04-30T20:57:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was Easter and we were busy! I had the kids decorating eggs one night. I had found these egg holders in Target and knowing that it's hard to hold onto eggs when you are a little one, I thought they would be perfect! So I bought 2... They had a blast painting them and then when I pulled out the Faber Castell Pitt pens, well, it turned into a Zendoodle party!

I also found this cute stamp set~ it was adorable but didn't work as well as I would have liked. Maybe foam stamps would have been better. Too hard for Christopher to use. He did like to paint with the "inks" though. Here he is drawing over the painted egg.

Here are our finished eggs... one was dropped and cracked. Good thing I hard boiled them first!!!

I love these little masterpieces and it's going to kill me to throw them out soon. Fun night for all!
On Easter morning we had a little scavenger hunt that the "Easter Bunny" set up the night before. Late that night might I add... So, due to that fact, the last clue was totally screwed up! We could NOT find it! SO, I had to pull out the baskets and ruin it all or it would have lasted all day. Oh well. They had fun and I better double check the clues next year before I hide them (and write down where I hid them!).

Okay, I promised to give away a fun basket of Nikki Sivils goodies! Here is my winner (randomly picked):

Katie said...
Wow! What gorgeous stuff! You just HAVE to get picked! My favorite thing about spring? Definitely sidewalk chalk! There is nothing like playing with your kids and drawing on the concrete!

Katie, email me your address and name and I'll get that little basket of goodies out for you!!! I love sidewalk chalk too! Being an art teacher and artist, I go all out with my kids too! I just bought a new box to draw with alongside my boys!

Thank you to those that follow me and leave sweet comments for me! I'll share more work soon!

Sharing

2011-04-21T12:32:00.000-05:00

Just a little post to share some new work! I haven't shared in a while and sharing is good. So, while I'm working on teaching my toddler to share nice, I will do the same here! I might even have some nice goodie sharing to do at the end of the post!

First up is this layout for the current "Scrap That Baby" challenge blog prompt. Sonograms was the theme. I used one from Christopher as a little bean! I think this was the one where we found out he was a boy! I used Prima papers, My Mind's Eye kraft embellishments, Prima flowers and bling, and Thickers letters. The ribbon was from a recent baby shower I went to. Recycling! Check out the challenge and link a page up there to be in the running for some Nikki Sivils goodness!

Cute... that's my sweetheart! My little Christopher looks adorable in this photo from a year ago. I created this page as part of my PencilLines DT application! Haven't shared it yet, so I thought I'd do that now. The sketch was great fun to use!

Another cute photo of my boo.. Here I used a Studio Calico kit for the page and it was my first PencilLines sketch challenge page! Lots of Sass here. Here's a link to the challenge page.

This is the current Pencil Lines sketch page! I used lots of Faber-Castell products here and featured this page on their blog for my Technique Tuesday this week. I love the summery feel and the warmth of the glazes! I soooo want to go back there where it was warm and sunny. It's cold and snowing (in late April no less) here! BLAH!!

So, those are some of my most recent projects. I have a bunch of Nikki Sivils stuff to share too in a minute, but here is a Spring project I made using ALL Prima flowers, papers, and embellishments. I submitted this for my DT application (trying once again... hmmm hmmm) in hopes that they see how I can use their product. I absolutely LOVE how this turned out. I had an old cake dome in which the base broke. I used my Slice die cutter to make the leaves and also used some Prima felts to create the foliage. The flowers were sprayed with mists and added Ebling to it. There are 4 layers of design here.

Here it is without the dome so you can see the layers better. This took me forever to do! I have it sitting on my dining room table now for Spring.

Okay, so now some Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker pages to share. I absolutely love their new lines. This is one using the 'It's Raining, It's Pouring" line:

Mark was about 2 at this time. He was so cute jumping in puddles. His brother now does the same at his age. I need to get some photos of that soon! I used Faber Castell's Gelatos to make the mists here.

Another page this time using "Max and Mollie" line. The photos are from our Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk in October this year. The back of our shirts said, "Fight like a girl".

I have a couple more, but I save them for another posting this week. I told you that I'd have a little giveaway at the end. So, I will give away a little Easter basket full of Nikki stuff! A couple mini pads of papers, cord brads, flags, and some of her sticker treats along with some candy goodies. This is open to US participants only unfortunately. Not sure the candy will be okay to ship overseas. So, if you post a comment about what you love about Spring, I'll pick a winner on Friday, April 29th! Thanks for visiting!

XOXO
Jen

Bits and Pieces of Perspective

2011-04-14T10:32:00.000-05:00

It's been a long while since I posted. It's been a busy couple months! Between school, home, and designing for some wonderful companies, I'm a little crazy! It's bound to slow down soon. I hope.... Well, at least for the next week, I'll be on "vacation" for Spring Break!!! YAY! The kids will be off and so will I. We plan to play, make stuff, and relax! At least for a few days and then I'm sure I'll be pulling my hair out with trying to figure out what to do with them!

So, I'm going to share a little of what has been going on in my world lately. First, I have been featured here and here. The blog, Just Perspective, is one that I found by chance. The owner of the blog, Sue Mylde, is one of the girls that I design with on Pencillines Sketch blog. I was asked to create 3 pages with 3 different words that mean something to me and give me perspective. So, I chose Ability, Communication, and Inscription. I LOVED doing these pages and the canvas that hasn't been shown yet. I used Faber Castell products for the color and am proud to say that I came up with a few new ways to use the Gelatos. One is on this post here at the Faber Castell site. I created these sprays and I have a new post coming up next Tuesday that shows how to make glazes or paints from them! It's a lot of fun!

Now on to my work life... I have been so busy with getting work hung up, labeled, teaching, and Open House! We've had 3 artshows in the last 2 months + one BIG fundraising event called Empty Bowls. I wrote about that several posts ago. Well, it was a HUGE success and we raised over $600 for our area Food Bank! So happy that the kids, families, and staff has such a great time. I know I did!
Here are some photos of the events and artshows:


My son at the Empty Bowls event. He's standing in front of the kid's bowls!


my bowl for the "celebrity bowl Auction"


My son with his artwork and just a sampling of the over 3000 artworks at the Adventures in the Arts exhibit!

Adventures in the Arts was our district wide Elementary showcase of the arts. There were over 3000 artworks there from 8 of our Elementary schools! Music concerts were played for the attendees featuring our student bands, orchestras, and chorus. I worked a hand's on activity table making Artist Trading Cards with kids who came to the show. It was fun for all!!! LOTS of work, but a well attended and worth it-kind of tired!

Our Open House was this past Tuesday so here are some photos of the artwork hanging in our halls for the event!

I'm so proud to teach the kids in grades Kindergarten through sixth grade here! What fabulous work they do! It makes my job crazy to push them to do this kind of work but LOOK at it! WOW! It's worth it!

I'll be posting more work from me later! Have a great week!

YIPPEEE!!!

2011-03-21T22:28:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to announce that I made the Pencil Lines sketch blog DT!!! This is amazing news as I LOVE this blog and now to be a part of the team is just fabulous! Here's the announcement:

There are so many of my favorite scrappers on here! I am honored to be joining this team. Check out their current sketch... I will have my first page on there soon.

Thanks for letting me shout my announcement!

Pencil Lines sketch

2011-02-20T13:51:00.001-05:00

I have loved PencilLines blog for some time now. I haven't really had an opportunity to play along until I was asked to guest design for them back in November of last year. I am hooked now! The current sketch is so cute! I love the banner! Here is the sketch:

And here is my layout:

Snow Day

Okay the weird little thing is that I did this layout in January! But it totally looks like the sketch right? I did it BEFORE I saw this sketch. Don't believe me, well look at a few posts below! I think that we are on the same wavelength! Weird! I used some scrap papers and made my own sprays using Faber -Castell's Gelatos and water. I also used the Pitt Artist pens. Anyways... I thought I'd link it here with the sketch to compare and show off my ESP abilities. I'm working on another layout using the sketch as inspiration so I'll post that when I finish as my OFFICIAL take on this sketch. I just couldn't help comparing the sketch to this previously created page. I don't know about you but these cold, snowy, blah days are getting to me! I wish I was somewhere warm. My parents keep tormenting me with photos of West Palm Beach and Key West! They are having a great time and won't be back until the beginning of April. I'm jealous and sitting here wishing that I had a warm location to jet off to. It's mid-winter break and I have the winter blues!
Here are a few more pages that I've done lately... when there isn't much else to do except be inside, I get my mojo moving!

Family

Just one for me... Love this photo of us from last April in Florida

Detail of layered part

The Wheels Are Turning

This was for the Scrap That Baby DT prompt this month. That is my Christopher with his funny face.

I Love You

This month's prompt at Scrap That Baby AND a layout using Nikki Sivils new "We Are Family" line.

I have some more but I'll save them for a future post... gotta have something to keep this blogging thing going. Hope you are warm somewhere!

What a Banner Day...

2011-02-19T10:15:00.000-05:00

Some exciting news to share... I'm now a print ad.
This is not the ad, but the artwork that I made in the ad...

Being asked to be on the DMC (Design Memory Create) DT for Faber-Castell art products, I made a canvas and cardboard banner with their blue mixed media product line. I used a multitude of techniques on the entire banner and really loved it when I was done. After sending them photos of it, they decided to buy it from me. YES! I'm a paid artist now. AND... a few weeks ago they asked me to make three more in each of the 3 color packs that are in the line. So, I made one in yellow, one in red, and one in green. I can't show those just yet as I have to mail them out to them and wait to see if they are going into print too. I recreated the one in blue to take process shots and to keep for myself! I might have to recreate the others now because they came out fabulous (if I do say so). I'm so happy that I'm finally a working artist. I've always thought things happen for a reason and when the approached me I realized that this was that opportunity! I am so lucky to be a part of this team! Thank you Faber-Castell! So, check out their blog with lots of "how-to's" and product examples. I am over the moon about their mixed media line of products. The watercolor pencils and Gelato sticks are my absolute favorites!!!! I won't use any other pencils now! I also love their artist pens so much that I use them for everything.

It's been a crazy month with work. I teach art to Kindergarten through 6th graders and let me tell you, it has been a very busy time lately with 4 grade levels making clay projects. I am constantly spraying clay, rolling clay, fixing clay pieces, loading and unloading the kiln, final glazing, and sorting into classes. It's exhausting! I am also starting new projects with 3 other grade levels so it's been hectic to say the least. BUT it's been inspiring to see what kids come up with when given minimal instructions and shown what to do but allowed to be creative with their own style. Emerging style as it is, but that's how we learn. Someone teaches us basics and we experiment until we do something that we are satisfied with. Then teachers try to push students farther.

We are preparing for our Empty Bowls dinner on March 29th at 5:15pm and 6:15pm at LBE. If you are in the area stop in for $2 a person you get a handmade bowl as a reminder of all the empty bowls in our community that need filling. You also get some excellent choices of soup, bread, dessert and a drink. Cheap dinner and help feed the hungry in our area.

CHA CHA CHA!

2011-01-28T12:18:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again... CHA or Craft and Hobby Association show. It's in Anaheim, Calif. and I really wish I was there in person. Although I can't be, some of my artwork is there representing some of my favorite manufacturers. I was given the go ahead to share some of my creations that will be featuring some new products!

First up is Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker's new lines! I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE her new papers, stickers and there are so many of them!!! I had so much fun creating these projects with them. Here is my birdhouse with 2 birdies that are holding a cute banner (from her papers!). It's using the new Summer line.

Up next is my kite made of "We Are Family" line. The little kites inspired me to try to make a kite out of the papers!

Finally, it took me awhile to figure this out but I made rain boots completely out of paper! I used the "It's Raining, It's Pouring" line to make the boots. The soles are cardboard but the rest is paper and glue!

I love this release so much! Nikki's gonna be a busy girl at CHA!

The other manufacturer that I design for is Faber- Castell's new Design Memory Create lines. The products are amazing! The watercolor pencils, pastel pencils, markers, and gelato sticks are just some of my favorites! I created the following projects for their booth #547:

This is a canvas and cardboard banner that I used a ton of techniques with all the new mixed media lines in blue and greens. I'm making 3 more with other color lines too! I'm so excited that this one will be featured in new ads in magazines for their new product and in their catalog! What an honor!
Here are 2 scrapbook pages that I made with the products in new ways:

Gelatos, Pitt Pens, and more!

I made some sprays out of the Gelatos (that I will be making a tutorial for on the DMC blog later) and also used Aquarelle pencils for the banner and the Pitt Pens to doodle.

That's it for today bloggers... I am home with a sick little one (and his 2nd birthday is tomorrow!) and have a bit of time to blog while he naps. I'll be back over the weekend to share a few more pages I've been working on lately.

XOXO

Jen

Grab a Badge

2011-01-07T23:46:00.000-05:00

For a chance to win a complete collection of one of these new Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker Spring 2011 CHA releases!

Here they are...

"Summer"

"Its Raining, It's Pouring"

"Max & Mollie"

"We are Family"

"Its Your Day"

and last but not least...

"Beatrice"

The Design Team Divas will be searching blogs for one of these badges, if

spotted you could be the lucky winner of one of the new

paper collections!

Without further ado, Connie wins my little giveaway!

connie said...
beautiful LO's! My New Year's Eve is quiet. Just checking the blogs I follow. Will spend New Years Day with my mom and kids.

Thanks girlfriend and hope your day was fabulous! Send me your addy and I'll get it out to you next week!

I was out all week with Strep and am finally feeling better! It's always something! Tomorrow I'm going to make art all day with my girls! I can't wait. I'll post some of the results when I blog again! Have a great one.

xoxo
Jen

The Sketchbook Project sneaky peek

2011-01-04T15:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I've finished! It's complete! I think.... is a journal ever done? Truly? I am declaring that I am done with mine! If you don't know what The Sketchbook Project is, it's a little like a concert tour but with sketchbooks. Each artist pays a fee and gets a sketchbook and a theme. I had them pick a random theme for me because I couldn't choose. I liked so many. I figured that it would push me creatively anyways. I got "Mystery Maps" which is funny because I've been saving all these map papers and atlases. So it was perfect to get me started! I started by gathering a bunch of stuff. Maps, atlas pages, stamps, favorite images, world themed ephemera, and all sorts of art materials (paints, pens, brushes, inks, watercolor pencils, and such). I sat down one day and glued two pages together. I decided to do that with the entire book because the papers were thin and there were so many of them that it was daunting. After using gel medium to glue the pages together, I jumped right in and started making backgrounds. I just painted, stamped, collaged, and made a general mess! It was so wonderful! I felt alive... like a journey. Excited and scared all at once.

Here are a few of my finished pages:

My cover

Soar... a bit of a zendoodle in wing outline over maps

X marks the spot... a fun pirate map page

Some fun fonts

Textured birds with map houses (There's No Place Like Home)

I truly LOVE my Faber-Castell watercolor pencils! YUM!

As the crow flies- I see a bird theme here... I can't seem to stay away from it!

There are many more but I am waiting on some matte medium to dry and then I'll photograph those to share. I can't wait to see the show and to see everyone else's interpretations. This was a great project and I'll definitely do it again next year!

Happy New Year!!

2010-12-30T22:27:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that it's the end of 2010! Where did this year go? Why did the months fly by?? What did I do to mark this year? Well, let's have a little review of the projects of this year. I like to look back over my layouts and artwork and pick my top 10 for 2010. I've been doing this for a couple years now, but I was inspired by Balzar Designs to post them... I probably would have forgotten to revisit my pages this year in all the chaos! Thanks! Here they are in no particular order:

Okay, so here is what I've noticed about my favorites this year:

1. I am still on a cardboard as background kick! I love to rip, tear, and expose the cardboard layers to add texture. It's something about the 3D element that I have to have!

2. Lots of layering of torn bits going on here. I'm using lots of scraps and recycling!

3. Drips and splatters are a staple of mine. I love to drip ink, paint, mist, stencil, etc... It's a favorite technique of mine!

4. Circles are in almost ALL of my pieces. I don't think I can make a page without a circle element showing up in it. Perhaps it is my dream of being well rounded. LOL!

5. Not alot of journaling. Just pictures and layering to tell the story. I like to talk but I guess I'm not a big writer. So, that will be my goal this year... to journal more... use text more.

Okay, so I've shared... now you link me up to your favorites on your blog! I love to browse other's pages! I have a little giveaway to share here too...

Nikki Sivils goodies to one lucky comment telling me what your New Years traditions are. What do you do each New Year's Eve to ring in the coming year and wave goodbye to the old?

I have a My Friend Birdie, Ellie's Day Out Mini pads, and 2 chipboard mini albums from Nikki Sivils to give away!

Leave me a comment by midnight on January 2nd... I'll pick a winner on the 3rd!

New Opportunities and Holidays

2010-12-21T21:59:00.005-05:00

This month has flown by! I can't believe it's the holidays and I've been so busy getting ready for Christmas that I haven't shared some good news in my creative endeavors. I have been asked to be on the Faber-Castell Design Team! The art supply company that I've loved since I was a kid has asked ME to represent them in the altered, mixed media and visual journaling arts! I'm soooooo excited and thrilled to have this opportunity! They have a whole new mixed media line coming out in January! It's full of fun, juicy and creative tools! The best of which are their water soluable pencils and art sticks called Gelatos! I am in LOVE with these things! I also love their new PITT artist pens that are India Ink and waterproof! They have 4 different tips and are amazing!!!
Check out their blog: http://designmemorycraft.typepad.com/design-memory-craft/
I'm thrilled to have my artwork in their catalog and at the CHA booth! I can't wait to play with all the new materials and create fun art with them. I loved them in the past and I'm swooning over the new stuff!!!

Elfie has returned and has been keeping watch over the little angels in my house. Mark is absolutely thrilled to be able to seek out Elfie each morning and he tells him all about what he's done that is helpful or good but forgets that he's around when he's acting naughty! We have to remind him frequently about his poor choices and how Elfie will be reporting back to the big man. This time of year is NUTS! I think this is the first year that I've completely felt like the holidays are bumrushing me and making me miserable! I am stressed, overwhelmed, and freaking out about how fast it's coming! I am NOT ready! Shopping is mostly done, but the wrapping, baking, and all the spirit is running me over. We have been sick around here and I'm so ready to rest! I need a vacation from the holidays. I know I sound like the grinch but really it's just that this year has gone so fast and I can't keep up. I am hoping the new year brings me more time, less stress, and having more "me" time. I need to make some goals, resolution, whatever you want to call it. Later about those! I am just happy that I have some new opportunities to create art and can't wait to get to it! Happy Holidays!!!

Down and Dirty workshop!

2010-11-06T08:52:00.002-05:00

I'm teaching a Visual Journaling workshop on December 3rd at Stampin and Scrappin Time in Bridgeport! The class will cover all the basics of starting a visual journal and some fun "down and dirty" techniques to get starting mucking your pages up as a base! Here are the details! Check it out and call today to get in on the action!!! The class will be 6:00- 8:00pm. All materials are included.

A few new to share

2010-10-16T19:46:00.004-05:00

I have a few new artworks to share from my scrappy weekend with the girls!

Mischief Maker
This one is for the Scrap That Baby blog prompt. I love this photo of my youngest. He is such a trouble maker! So, this photo with his striped pj's and gate bars is perfect to show his inclination towards getting into everything! Come play along with us!

This one is a mixed media artwork that I created with some of my photos and free clip art that I added to tags and cardboard with photo transfer techniques. I'm framing this one and showing it in an art show. Yes, that's a branch sewn on.

Play
This one is fun with my son and some simple strips of paper.

Brother Play
The boys at the playground. I created this framed template with some chipboard rectangles and cut out ones in different sizes and sprayed with glimmer mist.

I made a few more but I'll save those for another post! I think I'm going to try to post at least twice per week if you'll be patient with me! I have lots of ideas but time is something I don't ever have enough of! I'll be cropping next Saturday too and can't wait!!!

Jen

I'm Alive!

2010-10-14T21:33:00.003-05:00

It's been so long since I blogged. Life has been so crazy busy with school starting and getting back into the rhythm of the school year. We've already encountered rounds of illness for each of us... Hello, germ factory! However, I have to say that I'm feeling much more balanced this year. I find that things are not so overwhelming this year. Maybe it's because I've been through a year of teaching at the elementary level. It's still hard, but not as hard.
Here are a few back to school photos:

First day of school morning!

What a big boy! My 1st grader

Okay, so school started and I was invited to attend the NYSUT (NY State United Teachers) Leadership conference in Lake Placid, NY. End of September, peak foliage, a weekend away with other professionals and adult conversation? YES! So, off I went to learn about the new teacher evaluation process (APPR) and talk to other union members about issues facing teachers today. It was a fun, educational, and interesting weekend. The weather was great and the shopping was awesome! I got 2 new pairs of boots at the Bass outlet. Nice! Okay, any time I find a deal on cute boots is good in my book! Here are a few photos from the view from our hotel.

Last weekend was our annual scrapbooking weekend away in Hamilton, NY at White Eagle Conference Center. My girlfriends and I packed our scrap bags and off we went to create art, drink wine, and eat good food! We were not disappointed! Fun times had by all! I lost my voice on Friday at school and it was not a healthy weekend for me, but that didn't stop the conversation or creativity! I was on a roll.. I finished 11 different artworks! Whew... I'll share some soon as soon as I'm sure they won't be picked up in a magazine! LOL!

That's it for now... I will update SOON! Promise!

XOXO
Jen

Home Sweet Home

2010-08-30T09:31:00.006-05:00

Just back from our vacation to the Dominican Republic. Before I get into the long story of our trip, I thought I'd reveal my winner from the Scrap That Baby blog hop! I randomly chose:


Kristin Summer said...: Lovely layout Jen!! I'm dying to get my hands on that Nikki Sivils paper!!!

It's kind of funny, her last name is "Summer"... perfect! I'm dying to GIVE you some Nikki Sivils papers girlie! Just email me with your addy and I'll get those out to you! Thank you all who left comments here! You were so sweet!Okay, about our trip...I have to say that it was relaxing after we got there and adjusted to the heat, humidity, and kidless atmosphere. Lots of drinks, naps, and pool time was enjoyed. We met a few nice American couples to hang with at the pool bar. Mostly the language spoken around the resort was Spanish and Russian. There were so many Russians there. It was a mix of European and Spanish. Everywhere we looked there were thong bathing suits and cigarettes being smoked. The food was not stellar, the room was outdated and old, but clean. The air was sticky and everytime you stepped out of your air conditioned room, you immediately were sweating! But beyond the negatives, it was relaxing. We enjoyed the adult conversation and drinks. We slept in, ate when we wanted, dressing in swimwear and flip flops during the day and I got dressed up at night. Nice! The weather was hot and sunny! It only rained 2 nights and the day we left. I got a killer tan! Matt burned and is peeling now... LOL... Irish boy!

I also must mention our horrific travel back. This is the main reason that I will NEVER EVER go back to the Dominican Republic. The airport is slow as molasses and very disorganized! We got to the airport on time with actually hours to spare. We noticed that the flight to Philly (which was the only other US Airways flight out that day) was late in boarding. We went through security and their computers were down due to a power outage that afternoon. SO, they had to handwrite our boarding passes. Weird! The checked our passports twice before we got the gate. We waited and Matt was a wreck because it looked like the Philly flight was not leaving on time. We had only a 1 1/2 hour layover in Charlotte to get through customs, security, get boarding passes for the 2nd half of our trip and get something to eat. Not looking good. So, after 2 hours, they still hadn't departed the gate. Our plane was waiting on the Arrival side to move. So after a handful of people (including my hubby) asking them to move gates and board us, they finally decided to bus us over to the arrival side where the plane was. DUH! We got there and they checked our passports and boarding passes as we were to board. They hadn't loaded the luggage yet either... WTH??? Apparently time means nothing to them. BUT we had a connecting flight to worry about. They boarded us and we waited on the plane for over an hour before someone came on and let us know that there was a problem with some passengers passport information. Apparently they needed to double check over 24 people! So, a Dominican worker came on with a cell phone and reflective vest and was talking rapid spanish to whoever was in charge on the other end. He bounced for person to person with no order or timeliness. It was maddening! 4 hours later, we got the word that they were cancelling the flight due to not being able to get the Charlotte in time to met Customs. Meaning we would be stuck on the plane unable to deplane until morning. So, we deboarded and got our luggage and were placed on big busses to be put up in a Dominican hotel. No one knew what was going on. It was scary and frustrating! Matt and I were wrecks and HUNGRY! So, finally we got the information that we were being put up in an all inclusive overnight and had to meet the busses at 7am the next morning to do this all over again. Hopefully with more organization! After checking in and getting settled, we went to a buffet to eat at 10pm! Because I was so cramped up from sitting so long, I decided to go swimming after to stretch out. Nice! It was a warm night and perfect. The room SUCKED! It smelled moldy and old, but there was AC and a bed. My neck was stiff from the hard bed, but it was okay. We boarded the bus and got to the airport. They told us to eat because we may not have food on the plane... it's a 3 hour flight. So, we ate Wendy's food for breakfast.. LOL! We left an hour late, but we had real boarding passes and a connecting flight at 4:30pm. So, we had plenty of time. I was so tired and miserable... I just wanted to get home at that point.

All the relaxation and enjoyment w as sucked out of me after a horrible night. NEVER going to go there again! I think I may not go out of the country for a long while! TOo much work to be going through all this nonsense. We got home and got lots of wonderful hugs and kisses from the boys! We missed them so much but it was soooooo good to get home and I am so thankful to have such wonderful parents to take the boys and keep them safe for us! LOVE YOU SO MUCH MOM AND DAD!!! I can't thank them enough! I love the USA too! It's crazy to deal with 3rd world country issues! NO thank you! So I am home and getting ready to go back to school.

So, here are some photos of our trip. I didn't take as many as I wanted because we were relaxing and I was lazy!Tee hee...

Me posing in front of the beach.

They had elaborate carvings from squash and melons around the buffet each day. So cool!

The waiter took a photo of us at the buffet one night.

All dressed up one night in front of our building.

The pool area.

One of the days in the pool.

: Matt relaxing under the thatched hut.

Hello!

Gotta love those doors. So cute!

Ya Baby

2010-08-17T22:10:00.005-05:00

One of the fun things about being on the design team for the challenge blog, Scrap That Baby, is getting to participate in a blog hop! Read on for details:
***********************************************************************************************
Welcome to the Scrap that Baby's Sweet Summertime blog hop!!

Thank you so much for hopping along on our first ever blog hop!

If you didn't come from Sarah's blog or you popped upon this blog and didn't realize we were blog hopping you need to go to Scrap That Baby and start the HOP! You will need to comment on ALL of the blogs to be eligible for the grand prizes listed on the main site! Plus, so many of our awesome designers are giving away a prize on their blogs as well. You will not want to miss out. There are MANY MANY chances to win!

Our theme for this blog hop is SWEET SUMMERTIME!! The members of our design team will all be sharing fantastic summer projects, stories, tips or ideas for keeping cool and having fun in the summer with a baby along.

I'm going to share a layout that I did about my son, Christopher, who is 1 year old and adores blueberries! I love that so many fresh fruits and veggies are available at the local farmstands in the summer. We stop in often or pick our own from some of the local growers. I could eat fresh corn on the cob, blueberries, strawberries, squash, zucchini and just about any other of my favorite fresh item until I'm sick of it... that gets me through the cold winter. I also freeze a lot of our pickings! This layout is a "sweet" reminder of Christopher's love of blueberries. The kid would eat a whole pint of blueberries in one sitting if we let him! He shovels them in like candy! It's so cute and of course very healthy too!

As an extra bonus for visiting my blog... I'm giving away one set of Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker papers from her brand new release, "Blueberry Hill". You will get one of each of these papers. I'm fortunate to be on her DT and am willing to part with one of each of this line just for you all! So, leave me a comment about what your favorite summer food is and I'll pick a random winner for this prize pack! These papers aren't even in stores yet!
********************************************************************************
Our blog hop run from today, August 18th until August 22nd . Invite your
friends to play for extra entries. You must comment on all the blogs for a chance at the main prize The Scrap that Baby blog will be drawing for prizes on Wednesday August 25th! Don't forget to leave a comment about your favorite summer food here!

I will be going on a much needed adult anniversary vacation with my husband this week to Punta Cana, but I'll draw the winner on August 26th and post it here!
Thanks for visiting and sharing!

The next stop on the blog hop is........ Sara

Summer fun!

2010-08-01T08:59:00.007-05:00

It's summer vacation here and I'm officially going crazy! The kids are all over the place and I can't get a moment's peace (well, except at bedtime and maybe during naps). I just thought that I'd be relaxed and have time to refresh and plan for the coming year, but let me tell you that that is NOT as easy as it sounds. With a 1 year old and 5 year old who NEVER stop moving or talking, I'm just drained at the end of the day! So, finding fun things to do during the week is a must otherwise they drive me nuts! This past week we went to Green Lakes State Park beach and then out with friends later in the week for a photo shoot at what was supposed to be a sunflower field. More on that later. First, I took the kids and all our beach toys, snacks, blanket, and other stuff to the beach. Now, we are landlocked here in Central New York but we have a handfull of lake beaches around. Not too bad if you really want sand and water to play in. The sand is more like sandy mud around here though. At least at Green Lakes it is. But it's family friendly and a diversion. Here are some photo highlights from our couple hour trip....

Busy making sand holes and piles... or is that sand-mud?

Fascinated by the lifeguards and lifeguard stand!

Cute boy sitting for 2 seconds eating blueberries (before he got up and dumped them on the sand and proceeded to eat them before I could catch him! YUCK!)

It was fun but exhausting for everyone! We stayed 2 hours and I mostly ran after Christopher when he decided that he'd rather have everyone else's toys or blanket. I brought tons of snacks and he and Mark ate them ALL! Hungry boys! So, we headed back to the car after much fussing and changed. I thought Christopher would lose his diaper it was soooo swelled up from the water. I had forgotten the water diapers and I don't think they work anyways! On our way home, he fell asleep! Mark was pretty good and loves any and all water and sand that he can find!

The next outing was with my good friends and their kids. We were going to go get pics taken with the kids at a sunflower field. But when we got there, Nic realized that they didn't plant sunflowers this year, but CORN!!! Darn! We still had the kids get out and run around. It was pretty there by this little pond in Camillus. Lots of neat trees and cool rocks that were on the hill around the parking lot. From the middle of the hill looking up, you could see the sky. Nic brought a pretty pink chair for her little girl and Holly's little one to pose on, but mostly my boys thought it was fun to sit on it.

Mommy, there are sunflowers here! See???

Mark was obsessed with climbing trees! My monkey boy... here is one of my favorite photos of him!

Here's the chair! Christopher looks so cute on it!

Frankie just wanted his cup but they do look cute together!

Here we all are on the rock... I have to edit the car on Mark's shoulder and the rope he was carrying around. But all in all it's a good one! Love that sky behind us! Douglas took this photo!

Okay, naptime is done and I guess I better go get the kid up before he screams his head off! I hate to say it... but I'm soooooo ready for school to start again!

BEE Happy!!

2010-07-09T08:08:00.007-05:00

It's summer and that means I have a bit more time to create! I am trying my best to fit it in during Christopher's nap time and after the kids go to bed. Being a mom is never ending... you don't get breaks like in a "real job". It is hard and it is exhausting, but it is also rewarding and fun sometimes. There are times when I don't really enjoy being a mom... like when I have to be the disciplinarian. When I have to yell and get totally aggravated by behaviors that are inappropriate or or down right intolerable! Mark is going through that 5 year old stage (well, he IS 5) where he wants to do what HE wants to do and not what we ask or tell him to do. It's become a battle of wits. Not always fun! We have done alot of yelling and screaming on both sides here in and out of this house. Finally, I HAD it! I decided to try a system that I read about in a magazine. It is simple and had instant gratification all in one! He needs motivation to curb his wants. So, I made a reward jar. Simple glass jar decorated for him and using marbles and pretty "gems" as tactile symbols for positive behaviors and deeds. He gets one from myself, Matt, or one of the grandparents (when they are watching him) if he displays a positive tone, respectful behaviors or requests, and helpful deeds (either by being asked or on his own... like sharing or getting something for his brother without being asked to). He gets to place the marble or gem in the jar. When the jar is filled, he gets a reward. The rewards are of his choice: a special day with Mommy or Daddy, a play date with a friend, or some spending money. Now, I know some people think that this is bribery, but you know what??? I think whatever works to the end result that you want is fine! I am done with the yelling and screaming. I want to instill him to strive for positive things through determination and a goal. Whether that is intrinsic or extrinsic doesn't matter to me. 5 year olds are not intrinsically motivated in general. They do what they FEEL like at the time and don't think about long term goals unless there is something motivating them to do so. So, here is my solution and it's working great. We had been doing a chart but it's hard to keep track of and do consistently. This is much easier for everyone and FUN! Here's the jar:
I have more projects posted over at Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker blog HERE. Check it out! I am working on tons more right now! I can't seem to stop with the ideas flowing!

I'll leave you with one more page that I finished a bit ago. It's one of Mark with his lovey, Ducky. I love this photo so much! I printed it on watercolor paper for a soft feel. The papers are Tim Holtz's new line! LOVE these designs!!!
I used a variety of hole punches to create the eaten corners. Love the layered look with texture. He will not remember the words he spoke that day, but I will never forget them! I wanted to document them for him later. My sweet little boy is growing so fast!

Btw, you probably noticed that the blog has a new look to it. I changed the background and I might work on a new header someday. It was time for a new "artsy" look. I love Shabby Blogs site and their designs! Let me know what you think!

Jen
XOXO

Endings and some loose ends

2010-07-02T10:11:00.005-05:00

It's a sad day for me. I was abruptly informed that one of my Design Team positions is no longer needed. Major financial changes within Couture Cardstock's parent company, Cardstock Warehouse, has resulted in a complete reorganization and the result is a very abrupt and immediate end to the Couture Cardstock. I am not certain as to the future of Couture Cardstock, all I know is that the direction in which the parent company has decided to go, no longer includes the services of the former staff, including our president, CarrieAnne DeLoach, and all of us designers. If you have any questions, you may contact the Cardstock Warehouse staff directly.

I did not get the opportunity to work with Couture Cardstock for very long. I was honored to be asked to be their very first guest designer back in November and then joined the team in April. I absolutely loved working with the team leaders and girls who made up the creative team there! They are so talented and I know we will see their talents elsewhere soon! While I am still on a few other teams, I was sad to hear that my work and that of the team would not be going to CHA this year and that this company would no longer be as it was before! It was a shock and right in the middle of a wonderful dinner with my girlfriends so at least I had a group to cry on and have a margarita (or 2) with! :)

I will still be creating my art and hanging around other sites and blogs until the next opportunity comes my way. It was an honor to serve on that DT as long as I could.

Here are the CHA projects that I created using the cardstock and some partner company's products:

Survivor
I love this layout!!! I had to make a circle layout and I knew that I wanted to use my friend, Nicole's baby girl, Gwen. She has been through so much! She was a micro premie... meaning that she was born at 27 weeks and weighed less than 2 lbs! She has had a lot to handle. Underdeveloped lungs, some illnesses in the hospital that delayed her going home and slow growth rate. She is a miracle and so beautiful! This photo makes me cry... it's so gorgeous! Her little thumb in her mouth and napping! She is a doll!
I made the ruffles with layers of cardstock and patterned papers. The edges were punched with border punches first and adhered in a ruffled fashion around the edge. Lots of die cut leaves sprayed with glimmer mist! So pretty, just like this little girl!

Nature Found

This one was fun to make! I just got my MM Slice and had a blast cutting leaves, butterflies, and words from the cardstock! I layered and added lots! I sprayed with Olive Vine Glimmer mist and just went crazy! The photos are from a fun photo shoot where Christopher was finding a leaf for the first time! So cute!

Discover Beauty
This was a challenge... pink? Well, you know I'm not a PINK girl. I had fun ripping and layering here and created a banner with patterned papers and cardstock... lots of stitching too.

Celebrate Good Times!

2010-06-25T06:24:00.006-05:00

Okay, the major stress is over! School is out for the year... can you believe it???? I certainly was ready except that I didn't get my room all in order yet. Still gotta go back in to do that but other than than, we are officially on a more relaxed schedule! Mornings will not be rushed and afternoon naps may be reinstated! Lots of swimming and playing is mandatory!!!! Maybe even some laziness mixed in (well, as much as can be allowed with 2 little kids running around!). I might get some scrapping and artwork done this summer as well... maybe. Why don't toddlers understand the need to go play in a safe and quiet manner for more than 2 seconds!
Right now I'm working on some new CHA stuff for Couture Cardstock that I can't share yet until CHA comes and goes! Sorry for the tease, but I'm working hard on it! I also have some awesome news... I was asked back to the Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker DT for a 2nd year!!!!!! So EXCITED!!!! Nikki is so wonderful to design for! Her papers, stamps, and embellies are adorable and so versatile! I love her designs! So, I'm so excited to get the first group of new papers!!! Here is a sneaky peek of one of her collections debuting at CHA:

Blueberry Hill

Isn't that sweet??? LOVE the colors and that circle die as totally adorable!!! So can you see why I'm excited?? I have seen a few other of her new lines and can tell you that they are even cuter and more versatile, if that's possible!! I'm working on more new things with Nikki's papers too and maybe even combine Nikki and Couture Cardstock for a fun layout or two!!
Here are a few newish Couture Cardstock pages that I can post now.

Journey

Supplies: Bonbon cardstock & Cosmo Cricket Joyride papers, Martha Stewart ribbon, Riptide Glimmer Mist, punches (Fiskars hole punches & EK hole border punch)Remnants of Fall
I love the neutral color of the Confectionary line so I decided to use die cuts and punches of leaves and add some textures mixed with some patterned papers for a "fallen leaves on the ground" look.
Supplies: Nougat, Hot Chocolate, Hazelnut, Fudge, Bon bon, Fondue, and Caramel cardstock. Cosmo Cricket Joyride papers. EK, Martha Stewart and Fiskars punches. Cuttlebug dies and texture folders. Cosmo Cricket chipboard button letters. Martha Stewart ribbon. Glimmer Mist (Tattered Leather and Coffee Shop).

Happy Day

This is quite linear for me, but I wanted to use multiple photos and thought I'd keep it simple.

Supplies:
Cosmo Cricket Joyride, Canvas cardstock, Cosmo Cricket button letter, Adirondack paint, American Crafts ribbon.

I used punches to make the borders that layered with patterned paper from the Cosmo Cricket Joy Ride line. Kind of a play off my "Layers" page from last month but more linear.

U R Here

OMG.. did I have fun with this one! I started with Fondue paper and added paints, glimmer mists, more paint, more glimmer mist, die cut remnants, and a multitude of other things to this artwork.
The photo is from a big map in an ice cream parlour in Anna Maria Island, FL... where everyone that visits leaves their map pin in their hometown! So colorful and fun!

Supplies: Fondue cardstock, paints (FolkArt, Adirondack, Golden), Glimmer Mist (Marshmellow, Cinder, Pashmina, Lime), Cuttle bug die cut letters and texture folder in dots, bubblewrap, punches (EK, Fiskars, and hole punch), Tiny Attacher.

That's it for now! Off to lay by the pool... okay, maybe not lay... I'll be chasing a one year old around! BUT there is always nap time!!!!

NSD winner and Couture Cardstock artwork

2010-05-05T21:09:00.004-05:00

You have all been patient with me ! I have been way too busy with kids and work. Hubby is out of town to California for "work". I put that in quotes because, let's face it, being wine and dined in beautiful San Francisco and Napa Valley without kids or home responsibilities sounds delightful to me right now. I'm in charge of ALL things home and elementary art related. Today was an exhausting day... here's a summary of my whirlwind of a day:
It was an absolute crazy day!!! I didn't stop running for even a second from 5:15 am (when Christopher woke up crying) till now (9:30 pm)!!! I hopped in the shower while he was fussing in his crib so I could at least get a shower, he quieted down and I dried my hair... hair dryer won't blow hot or even warm airnow... damn! Then, I got dressed, got him dressed and fed, got Mark up and fed, out the door at 8am, to daycare, to my school, prepped 5 grade level's lessons, taught crazy class schedule today due to testing in various grade levels, had the worst group of 6th graders doing my grant project (which made a HUGE mess... bless the girls that stayed to
help clean up!) and home to pack the car up with the last of the garage sale stuff. Run over to mom's where the kids were and unpack car, price, organize, and set up sale stuff while mom ran after the kids and fed them, home to do baths and bedtimes (at 7:30-8pm) and then doing laundry because Mark has no socks and needs his baseball uniform for photos tomorrow! Wheww ... even writing it makes me tired! I am relaxing a bit doing some work and then off to bed for me by 10:30pm to do it all over again tomorrow! If I hadn't taken so much time off for sickness earlier this year, I would take Friday off for stress relief! I can't do it tomorrow because I have Kindergarten and need to do the grant thing with the 2nd set of 6th graders who hopefully
will be more cooperative. Calgon take me away!!!

Okay, if you are still reading this, then you are awesome! I'm gonna share some pages I did with my first papers from Couture Cardstock DT. In April, they partnered with Prima for an amazing combination! Here is one of my projects... I will post the others when I get the okay:

Layers
Just as the title says... layering with papers, distressing, textures.

Okay, now the winner of my little RAK pack (stamps, stickers, buttons, and papers from one of the Nikki Sivils lines)....

Erika M. said...

I really love the whimsical designs of Nikki's paper!

May 2, 2010 7:55 AM

Send me an email with your addy this weekend and I'll get that out to you early next week!

XOXO

Jen

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

2010-05-01T18:25:00.003-05:00

It's National Scrapbooking Day today and I'm late in posting this! I scrapped with some great friends last night at our local Scrap store, Stampin' and Scrappin' Time in Bridgeport, NY! It was a blast as usual... lots of food, laughs, honest discussion, venting, and creating! I didn't get much done but it felt so good to get out and hang with my peeps!

I have alot going on right now in the creating world. I am working on many different projects for both Couture Cardstock and Nikki Sivils! Can you believe that my term at Nikki's is almost up? I am part of her inaugural team and I'm excited to say that she is hosting another DT call now! Here are the details on her blog. If you love her products and lines as much as I do, you probably have a hard time picking a favorite line, but if you leave a comment over on her blog or here you can be eligible for a NSD RAK. I know I'm late the the scene tonight so I will be giving away a RAK in case her's ends before you comment. Leave a comment here about what you love about Nikki Sivils papers or products and I will give away a little goodie bag of Nikki products including burlap buttons, pocket of stickers, and a stamp set!

Hope you are sitting down and making some art or scrapping right now in celebration of our crafty holiday! Have a happy NSD and May Day!

XOXO girls Challenge #6

2010-03-25T20:50:00.003-05:00

Have you been over to XOXO girls challenge blog yet? NO, well get yourselves over there and lift a project! That's right, it's a scraplifting blog. You look at the DT work and pick out anything that you like to lift. Colors catching your eye? Bling bling? What about the design of the page? Using a certain material? Well, you are the artist... you decide! AND link your creation up to the post with the name of the layout or project that inspired you and you could win a prize! Sound good? Head on over to XOXO... Time is almost out for this challenge, so get your scrappy bootie in gear!

New stuff...

2010-03-14T08:53:00.005-05:00

I have been so behind in posting my new work. I thought maybe I would submit some to a magazine that wants never before seen work, but I have a hard time not sharing my work immediately. It's the gratification thing. I like to share. I love when people comment! I love commenting on other's work! So, I will share my newest Nikki Sivils projects with you now and then a few other projects that I finished this past month!

I adore the new products from Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker!

"Fly"

I love layers of papers and textures. I used lots of scraps for the layers here of the various Flaming Butterflies line! It needed more texture (IMO) and I had a coffee sleeve so I ripped that up and added that to give some interest. The Cutie Cut Ups are so fun to cut out for embellishments. The colors in this line are so bright and bold!Here's a detail of the layers.

Next up is a layout from Willow Bee line. I love the graphics in this line.The honeycombs and the bees are so fun! I knew I wanted to do a page about my husband and his love of singing under the influence... LOL. He always sings "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" at weddings and with friends. It's a riot and cute. So, I started with a distressed piece of cardboard (from my mailing box- nothing goes wasted in this house!) for my back ground. I cut some of the honeycombs out from the Cut Ups sheet and layed them out on the cardboard face down. I sprayed with Cinder and Mimosa glimmer mist. After it dried, I removed them and used them on the page right side up. The papers are from the line but also from the 6" x 6" book of papers too which are the same designs only smaller for card makers or mini albums. I love to mix the small and large prints.For the letters, I used foam Thickers and Stickles. The diamond colored ones were perfect for sugar and the Marigold distressed Stickles were great for honey! I also used a 10" circle die cut paper for the top... I just cut it in half.

One more to share...

"Luck banner"

I create this little banner with accordian flowers ( you can find a tutorial here) and lots of little punched and cut out embellishments. The clovers are made with a little heart punch that I punched 3 times and then hand cut a stem. I glued them to the back of the burlap button to make the clover. Easy Peasy! The letters are Rusty Pickle and glitter added. All the papers are Nikki Sivils- My Sweet Cherry Pie, North Pole Lights, and Henry's Brillance. Punch holes in edges and tie with ribbon! A cute St. Patrick's Day decor!

Here is a layout that I did using Studio Calico's February kit. I think it was a sketch challenge over there but I didn't get it in time, so I just did it for fun.
It's kind of linear for me, but I like the papers in the kit and painted the letters for this layout with a soft pink. It's a soft layout and the photo is from back before I had kids! It was a girl's weekend out at Niagra on the Lake at a spa named the Pillar and Post. Those were good times! I ws much more relaxed then. I did treat myself to a "me day" yesterday. I went to Weight Watchers (lost another 1.2 lbs!) and the gym (Ouch!). I then went and got a manicure/ pedicure- sigh... so blissful! Lastly, I cropped the rest of the day and night with my good friend (the kind that makes your sides hurt laughing so much), Sherry. While she offered up her house (with no kids or husbands!), food, and time, we created stuff and laughed. I was so relaxed and happy! We ordered Chinese food for dinner and drank beer. YUM! I finished a mini album and she did a ton of cards and a project for classes she is teaching. I felt renewed and it was so needed! Thanks Sherry!!! HUGS!

Today is the last day for official hockey season for Mark. Matt got skates and a helmet so he can skate with Mark today. They did offer an additional 10 week session so we will be doing that in addition to T-ball in the spring. It's gonna be a busy week.... I better get going to cheer on my guys!

XOXO
Jen

Winner!

2010-03-08T20:16:00.003-05:00

Thank you all for participating in the Blog Crawl with Bella Blvd, Jillibean Soup, and Nikki Sivils! I enlisted the random number generator to pick a number from the comments to give my lovely garland away to and the random number was:
: And that means... the winner is:

Donna E. said...: this is BEAUTIFUL!!!
thanks for the chance to win :)

Thank you for the kind words Donna! Email me (mmatott@twcny.rr.com) with your addy and I'll get it out to you! For the rest of you, stay tuned for another giveaway on my blog soon of some Nikki Sivils goodies... I will be giving some products away in the coming weeks! Thanks for visiting and I hope you will return to see what new things I'm making!

XOXO
Jen

Blog Crawl Ya'll!!

2010-03-05T07:35:00.003-05:00

It's here! The Tri- blog crawl... What's a blog crawl, you ask? Well, it's a following of a bunch of fantastic blogs that are giving away some even more amazing prizes! There are 3 large giveaways at each of the manufacturers - Bella Blvd., Jillibean Soup, and Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker... Click on each one and go there to leave a comment and find all the other design team girls that are giving away handmade goodies. Now... before you go, check out what I made to give away.

"Spring Garland"

I whipped together this adorable garland. Garlands are all the rage right now. They were everywhere at CHA and I love them! I used pieces from three of Nikki's lines: Willow Bee, Flaming Butterfly and My Sweet Cherry Pie. The papers go so well together!! I love her graphics and fun patterns. So, I will be giving this approximate 6 foot long garland away to a lucky random poster. Leave me a comment about what you look forward to for spring this year or just say "hi"! Then, go and visit the other blogs and DT members to leave comments there. You have ALL weekend to do this so no rush but don't miss out on any of the goodies being given away. I will announce my winner on Monday (after school... so that's 3pm EST). enjoy!

PS.. this is open to all countries... US or International! GOod Luck!

XOXO
Jen

You are invited!!!

2010-03-02T21:25:00.004-05:00

This is so exciting.. there will be lots of fun and handmade giveaways! Join us at any of the blogs for these companies... Here is Nikki's blog link: Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker
Here's what Nikki says:
"What is a Blog Crawl you might be asking... Well, on March 5th you'll come to my (Nikki's) blog and you'll see a gift that Jillibean Soup is giving away on my blog, along with a handmade gift from me and a list of the design team girls that will be giving handmade gifts away using our products, you'll leave a comment at each blog & then move on through the list. Then you'll head over to Bella Blvd and see the gift that Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker will be giving away over there, along with a list of Bella Blvd's design team ladies and you'll do the same thing. Next you'll head over to Jillibean Soup and see the gift that Bella Blvd is giving away, along with all of Jillibean Soups DT gals, leave a comment then go to the next. There are over 50 handmade gifts and product giveaways!! Don't panic b/c you'll have the entire weekend of March 5th to visit all the blogs and leave a comment for a gift... it's an entire weekend of blogging and giveaways! We'll announce all the winners Monday morning!! Doesn't that sound like fun??!!

Us 3 ladies have become good friends and thought this would be an awesome way to bring 3 great manufacturers together for one fun event! We are all so excited!!"

I couldn't have said it better... I can't wait to unveil my little "prettie" that I will be giving away.
This is great fun and I hope you will join us!!! Check back Friday for pictures and a chance to win!

New Nikki Sivils!

2010-01-22T14:46:00.002-05:00

It's CHA time again and there are 6 new lines that Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker is releasing. They are amazing! I got to work with the first one and it is such a fun line! Check out all the papers and goodies on Nikki's website.

Aren't they delish? I am so excited to get to work with the Willow Bee and Flaming Butterfly!!! They are my favorites so far! I got to work with the Will He B The 1 line for the CHA booth and had a great time with those fun papers! I have some left and have some great ideas to make more with!!!
Here are some of my favorite new things coming out from Nikki:

New Stamps! Love this set with the cloud and sunflowers!!! So sweet!

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE these buttons! They are genius! So cute ... cute as a button!
Brand new stickers that match her lines... so fun and cute in their pockets!

So run and don't walk to her site to check it out!

I'll be revealing my creations soon!

XOXO

Jen

My Top 10 or maybe 20....

2009-12-29T22:31:00.010-05:00

I did a year in review of my creations last year and thought that it was a good way to reflect on my improvement in style and the techniques I've used, the themes that came up, and the design that I improved on. So, I've picked the top 10 (or so...) favorite layouts or artworks that I've done this year. I just couldn't stop at 10...

I've had a productive year, but all in all, I know I have room for improvement. I hope 2010 brings fresh ideas, rockin' mojo, and lots of opportunities to get my artwork out there... with exhibits, DT jobs, and some publications. I have a good feeling about this year!

XOXO

jen

Happy Holidays

2009-12-27T08:41:00.004-05:00

It's been a month of pure craziness! This holiday season has been a blur for me! I can't quite catch up... So, here is a photo peek of what's been going on:

Mark's 5th birthday!

Teaching Elementary kids- 7 levels of lessons going fast and furious!

Little drummer boy... lots of music going on here in the house!

Christmas preparations... were we naughty or nice?

Holiday photo taking... lots more layouts to make with these cuties!

So, this is just a small sampling of my crazy life. Add in shopping, wrapping, baking, parties, birthdays, relays at school, Mark's school, daycare, cleaning, and mothering and that = one tired momma!

I have just started completing many projects now that Christmas is over and the parties have subsided. I will post those soon!

Here are a few of my latest projects using the November Bad Girls kit! It was a wonderful kit full of fun items and gorgeous papers!

"Celebration Cake box"
I used the Golden Molding Paste that was included in the kit to "frost" the lid of the box here! The rhinestones and sequins made adorable sprinkles for the cake. This was so much fun!

"Imagine Paris" canvas
There was a canvas included in the kit and I transformed a doll house window into a whimsical art piece using the Graphic 45 Renaissance papers and the Molding Paste to distress the cardboard! It was fun and adding the little charms to the bottom made it very Bad Girls!
"Will You?"
This layout was inspired by my grandmother's wedding photo. She looks so classical and lovely. I loved many of the embellishments that came with the kit to add gorgeous accents to the page.

Check out the details of how I made each project when you purchase the kit on the message board at Bad Girls Kits.

Enjoy the beauty of the season and I'll be back this week with a Year in Review! Can you believe it's almost 2010?!! I hope this new year brings much relaxation and renewal.

Guest DT spots and more!

2009-11-24T20:55:00.007-05:00

I have been a bad blogger! It's been a MONTH since I wrote! Between work, sick kids, weddings, parties and more, well I'm pooped! Christmas hasn't even started here and I'm already falling behind! Okay, enough whining about time and lack there of. I have some good news to share! I was chosen as a Guest Designer for two wonderful companies lately. First, Genuinely Jane sent me 2 of their amazing wooden albums to transform! I created a banner with the bottle shaped one that would be sweet to hang in baby's room.

Here's my other project for them and for Bad Girls Elements d'Art...
My Head In The Clouds mini album
Lots of transfers here and glimmer misting!

Next up is Couture Cardstock... a brand new company that has an amazing variety of cardstock for any needs! The quality is superb and the colors are gorgeous! So, I made several projects that feature their Vintage Christmas collection. I'm featured on their blog today and later this week with more projects. Check it out! Here is the project that was featured today:

My Cornucopia of Creativity was made entirely of cardstock sprayed with Glimmer Mist and woven together in a cone form. I made the end with metal but the rest is cardstock! FUN and a bit tedious, but I like how it came out. The paper withstood my abuse and distressed beautifully!
I'll post the other projects as soon as they are revealed.

Onto other news... Bad Girls Project 52 has a new challenge up. Challenge #4 is fun and the examples from the Design Team are amazing!!! Check it out here for more information! Also, don't forget to become a FAN of Bad Girls on Facebook. You could win a fabulous prize pack just by becoming a fan to the Bad Girls page on FB. So cool!

Well, I'm finishing a few projects tomorrow and hopefully, taking photographs of some pages and projects I've finished! It rained today and I had to work all day with crazy little ones who just want to be on vacation!

Watch Your Language!

2009-10-21T08:29:00.004-05:00

Over at Candy Shoppe Designs blog, we are enabling you to be potty mouths... that's right. This challenge is all about using foul language! You know you do it... it slips out. You relish thouse naughty words. I know I do. I try not to in front of the kids, but sometimes when I'm with my girlfriends, I just let it all hang out! I have those kind of days where one little 4 letter word suits the situation perfectly and it feels so good to let it fly! Okay, I'm a teacher so those instances don't happen often in my day to day life, but I can THINK it! Here is my example from the challenge. You all have these kind of days where you just want everyone to leave you alone and go away!

The WINNER of this challenge will be voted for by the Lollipop Girls of C.S.D. and announced on the blog on Wednesday, October 28, 2009. The WINNER will win a 309 Piece Collection Kit by Sassafras Lass called "Starry Night" from the Life is Beautiful Line. So come on and let that nasty girl out!

Our Wonderful SPONSOR for this Challenge is Jill Coody, owner of Memorable Seasons. Be sure to check them out for all your latest needs when it comes to capturing the seasons of life. Sign up for her Newsletter to keep up with all the sales and promotions she's got going on, participate on her Forums and join in the fun challenges she hosts on the Memorable Seasons BLOG for even more fun.
You'll be SO glad you did! Link your work up here!