The Art Girl Jackie

Introducing Artful Gatherings

2012-02-11T16:46:00.000-06:00

I feel so blessed to have been able to host my first Artful Gatherings painting event this weekend.

Thank you to my sweet friend Ashley who invited me to be a part of a fun children's ministry event.

The kids were completely adorable and they created such beautiful works of art to take home.

I look forward to doing many more Artful Gatherings!

I've created a page on my blog with all of the information about Artful Gatherings. Please take a moment and give it a look, maybe I can host an event for you.

Here are the talented kiddos from my innaugural event! Yay!

What a great looking group of young artists!

Featured in "Join the Conversation"

2012-02-09T14:25:00.000-06:00

I was honored to be interviewed for a "Join the Conversation" feature on the YourDesignPartner website yesterday. They have a really great site with lots of wonderful design ideas and inspiration. Thank you Marissa for inviting me to participate.

Click here to see the feature: http://yourdesignpartner.com/blog/?p=4294

Decision

2012-02-03T14:32:00.000-06:00

"Today I've decided I'm going to be more concerned about trying than I am about failing".

- Jackie

Clip on Tie Projects

2012-02-01T11:50:00.000-06:00

My sweet friend Jennifer surprised me with a bag full of wonderful vintage things that she said I could have to "make stuff"! Oh boy, I was so excited!

Just look at this pile of wonderful clip on ties! The fabrics, the patterns, the colors... oh my!

So many ideas ran through my head as I gazed at each colorful design. I could put several together and create a kind of peek-a-boo slip that would add a touch of chic to the bottom of a skirt. I could sew several of them together and create a retro purse. Hmmm.... all good possibilities, but I finally decided to sit down and see how many things I could re-purpose out of just one tie.

So I picked this one:

And I cut it into 3 different accessory pieces. (I'm still perfecting the details and may be able to get one more piece out of it so when I do I will post a tutorial).

For now, here's what I made:

A clip-on Phone Case

A Pen and Pencil Holder

A Mini Wallet/Card Carrying Case

Front View

Back View

What would you do with these great clip-on ties?

Maternity Photo Shoot

2012-01-23T20:52:00.000-06:00

I had so much fun with my friend Sandy on a warm but windy Sunday afternoon.

I was so excited that she asked me to do her maternity photos. Since she is also an artist and art teacher I knew we had to come up with some fun and unique artsy shots. So between the two of us I think we were able to capture some pretty great images.

I love this playful filmstrip of her trying to blow a big bubble.

And this is what we needed the bubble for

I love maternity photos because expectant mothers just have a joy in their eyes and a glow about them.

"You alone created my inner being. You knitted me together inside my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13

Congratulations Sandy!
I can't wait to meet baby Kaitlyn. :-D

Newborn & New Sisters

2012-01-23T20:31:00.000-06:00

These two beautiful little girls are very dear to my heart. I truly enjoyed taking pictures of them and look forward to photographing them many more times as they grow.

This is one of my favorite pictures from our little photo shoot:

She is only a month old but so very animated in her facial expressions and the noises she makes as if she is already trying to carry on a conversation with whoever will listen, adorable!

Family Photo Shoot for Jodi & Chris

2012-01-23T20:22:00.000-06:00

What a precious family. Love how their older daughter is running wild with the puppies in the background on this one.

I love these "Generations Shots".... especially the one with the grandparents stealing a little kiss in in the background, so sweet.

Christmas Projects Revealed - Part 3

2012-01-13T10:11:00.000-06:00

Photo Transfer Artworks

I had a great time experimenting and creating some new photo transfer artworks on wood and incorporating architectural and metal embellishments.

Here is an example of one of the finished pieces:

If you would like to see some basic steps on how I did these photo transfer artworks I have posted the project on my tutorials.

Christmas Projects Revealed - Part 2

2012-01-08T21:17:00.000-06:00

Sewing Project!

One of my best friends commissioned me to do a custom bedding set for her precious daughter who is getting a whole room makeover! I was thrilled to get to do this project and had such fun, especially when we got to go do some serious warehouse fabric shopping!

The complete set included: 1 bedskirt, 1 duvet cover, 1 pillow sham, 5 throw pillows of various shapes and sizes, and one throw blanket, whew!

I love the fabrics on this set and can't wait to see how it all looks in her new big girl room.

Side note: I mimicked the look of a twin bed by putting my living room ottomans together so I could "make the bed" and take a photo.

Christmas Projects Revealed - Part 1

2012-01-07T12:49:00.000-06:00

Since all the presents have now been opened I can reveal some of the Christmas Projects I worked on this year.

The first I'll share with you all is a "themed gift" that I really enjoyed putting together for my husband's cousin. Since she loves books and we are both on Pinterest I used ideas from her Pinterest boards to create an all hand made book themed gift.

First I experimented with an old book, I tried a few different things before deciding to take it apart.
I rolled the inside pages tightly and secured with a strong rubber band and then wrapped it with a piece of vintage ribbon and embellished with paper flowers and a jeweled centerpiece. It didn't look complete, so I went out to the garage and grabbed my (ok, my husbands ;->) Dremmel tool. I found a tip with a tapered point and went to work carving the word "Read" into the tightly rolled pages.

With the book cover I lined the inside with a beautiful fabric and made her a stationery set with cards, envelopes and a pen. simply secured with elastic.

The next item in the collection was a glass ornament. I cut tiny strips of paper from an old dictionary that had the definitions for terms like: library, textbook, poetry, reader, writer, etc. I curled the strips and put them inside and finished it off with a simple bow.
With the same dictionary pages I cut out a small section about reading and decoupaged it to the back side of a square glass charm and added a turquoise camio to the front.

Next it was time to create a whimsical paper weight from a smooth rock. I painted a cute little owl and finished it off with a clear acrylic top coat.
Finally, I added in a ribbon bookmark to the gift set. It was very simply embellished with a pearl bead on one end and a tiny picture frame on the other.

So there you have it, a book themed gift set inspired by the collection of vast and wonderful ideas on Pinterest. I hope the recipient enjoys it!

And maybe you will be inspired to create your own themed gift for someone special in your life....hmmm, any occasions coming up soon?

....yes, maybe for Valentines Day

Hand Crafted Anniversary Gifts

2012-01-03T16:14:00.000-06:00

My husband and I celebrated another wonderful anniversary during the Christmas Break.

One thing we promised to do this year was to make our gifts instead of purchasing something and I'm so glad we did.

Here are the gifts

one cut and carved and sanded by him

the other measured and folded and stitched by her

a wooden bread tray....

to use when she cooks and serves her family meals with love

a leather Bible cover....

to protect God's word as he studies and prays and leads his family with love

Crafty Ways to Start the New Year!

2011-12-29T12:38:00.001-06:00

My mom forwarded me an e-mail with several clever ideas and I thought it would be great to share some of them with you as we get ready to begin a Crafty New Year in 2012. Thanks mom!

Here are a few you might like:

Hull strawberries easily using a straw.

Rubbing a walnut over scratches in your furniture

will disguise dings and scrapes

Remove crayon masterpieces from your TV or

computer screen with WD40.

Stop cut apples browning in your childs lunch box

by securing with a rubber band.

Overhaul your linen cupboard, store bed linen sets

inside one of their own pillowcases and there will

be no more hunting through piles for a match.

Pump up the volume by placing your iPhone & iPod

in a bowl. The concave shape amplifies the music.

Add this item to your beach bag. Baby powder

gets sand off your skin easily, who knew?!

Attach a Velcro strip to the wall to store soft toys.

Use wire to make a space to store gift wrap rolls

against the ceiling, rather than cluttering up the

floor.

Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a

stocking over the vacuum hose.

Make an instant cupcake carrier by cutting

crosses into a box lid.

Store shoes inside shower caps to stop dirty

soles rubbing on your clothes. And you can

find them in just about every hotel.

A muffin pan becomes a craft caddy. Magnets

hold the plastic cups down to make them

tip-resistant.

Bread tags make the perfect cord labels.

Bake cupcakes directly in ice-cream cones, so

much more fun and easier for kids to eat.

Microwave your own popcorn in a plain brown paper

bag. Much healthier and cheaper than the packet

stuff.

Create a window-box veggie patch using guttering.

Here's hoping your holidays were blessed and wonderful!

May you have a very Happy New Year and may it be filled with fantastic new Art and lots of incredible Crafty Projects!

Tis the Season

2011-12-15T00:26:00.000-06:00

This is really a fun Christmas Season! Anticipating all of the wonderful family gatherings and parties. Celebrating new life with the birth of my new baby niece and remembering the most important birthday of all.... the birth of Jesus. And there's so much going on with holiday activities and LOTS of projects! However, since most of my projects are also gifts for people I can't post any pictures of them right now. Don't worry though, I'm taking lots of photos to post after Christmas.

Hope you are all having a truly blessed Christmas Season and treasuring all of the precious gifts in your life....

DIY Feather Headbands Tutorial

2011-12-03T20:30:00.000-06:00

I just posted a new tutorial on making these feather headbands.

click here to see

Brent & Traci Family Photo Shoot

2011-11-24T18:54:00.001-06:00

I had the best time with my Brother and Sister in law and their kids this week doing a fun family photo shoot. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and so were my subjects.

Here are some of our favorite shots:

A Holiday Open House Party

2011-11-20T20:48:00.000-06:00

My college roommate, who is a very dear friend of mine hosted a Holiday Open House this past weekend and invited me to be one of her vendors. I was so blessed to be a part of the event and got to spend the day with a group of really great ladies. Thank you Abby.

This was my booth display, with some of my new artwork.

I spent most of last week creating new stuff for this party..... unfortunately not everything got photographed. Here are a couple of things though (they will soon be listed in my etsy shop).

Thanks again Abby. We may have to make this a holiday tradition.

Love ya roommate! ;)

The Looking Glass Effect

2011-11-20T20:01:00.000-06:00

I recently a posted a pin on my Pinterest board featuring really beautiful photo of a lamp that was painted to look like it had an antique mirror finish using Krylon Looking Glass spray paint. This is the site it came from: http://www.ivillage.com/diy-hacks/7-b-363227#363228

So I searched all over and finally found some of this wonderful paint and tried it on a couple of projects of my own.

I made new Christmas ornaments and gave a lovely new look to an old glass candy jar. I have many more ideas in mind so I must plan a trip to the second hand store soon. :D

Check out the process & what I made in my tutorials here:

http://theartgirljackie-tutorials.blogspot.com/2011/11/getting-looking-glass-effect.html

A New Tutorial

2011-11-15T22:43:00.000-06:00

I just posted a tutorial about how I created this Bible cover.

Check it out here: http://theartgirljackie-tutorials.blogspot.com/2011/11/making-bible-cover.html

Signs that do Double Duty

2011-11-08T16:54:00.002-06:00

Anybody have one of these kind of signs in your home?

If so, I have a clever idea to share with you.

You can find decorative signs like this just about anywhere and if you display it on a stand like I do instead of hanging it on a wall then you might like to do this little craft and let your sign do double duty during the holidays.

Using scrapbook paper, scissors, Mod Podge, and a little paint and glitter I transformed the back side of this sign into something new. First I measured and cut the paper to fit and covered the back side of my sign gluing and sealing with Mod Podge. Then I distressed the edges with a little black and brown paint using a dry brush and added a little red glitter all around each side.

Note: I covered the holes on the back of my sign with masking tape, you could also fill them in with wood putty, glue or polymer clay if you don't plan to ever hang the sign. Mine sits on a decorative plate stand so I can just turn it around to display either side.

Here it is on the stand above my kitchen cabinets. Right now it has fall leaves all around it, but it will also work with my Christmas garland. Then after the holidays I can turn it back around the other way.

I'm not real fond of my own handwriting on signs like this so maybe next time I'll use stencils, but I still am pretty happy with the results.

What would you do with your sign? I would love to see pictures if you try this project.

Tie Dye T-Shirts with Sharpie Markers!

2011-10-27T20:40:00.000-05:00

Such a fun and easy tie dye project.

My 6 year old and I had a great time doing this together with stuff we had available at home.

Check out the tutorial here

http://theartgirljackie-tutorials.blogspot.com/2011/10/tie-dye-t-shirts-with-sharpie-markers.html

Special Promotion in my Etsy Shop

2011-10-11T21:20:00.001-05:00

Some of you recently received one of these postcards in the mail from me, but for many of you I don't have your mailing address so I'm posting my special promotion here for all to share.

Use this code in my Etsy shop to receive 15% off your next purchase

JPFALL11

But hurry, this promotion is only good through November 1st!!!

Happy early Holiday Shopping!

Creative Late Nights and a Whole LOT of Caffeine!

2011-10-03T19:20:00.003-05:00

Ok, I promise myself that starting today I will disconnect my IV drip of iced coffee and start getting more than 3 hours of sleep a night.... I promise.

But it has been so much fun. I have worked the last week like a mad woman.

I have immersed myslef in screenprinting, sewing and painting and have loved every exhausting minute of it.

Here are a few snapshots of projects that have graced the countertops of my studio, my kitchen, my living room....well, pretty much everywhere.

I was also very excited to receive my promotional postcards in the mail from vistaprint and have already sent many of them out (be looking for them they have a discount sticker for my etsy shop!)

P.S. If you are not on my mailing list and you would like to be send me an e-mail with your name and mailing address to jackiepatton@excite.com

I made clothes and accessories for homecoming week, screenprinted shirts, onesies, pillows, sketchbooks and canvases.

I sewed and painted and worked with leather and lace (ooh la,la)

The only thing is..... all that caffiene and non-sleeping did kinda lead to a teeny-tiny mistake or two.

Do you notice anything different in these two pictures?

Yeah, I didn't notice till Jeremy pointed it out but I did at least go back and fix it before I posted the apron for sale on etsy so people wouldn't think it said something like

"So many Artsy & Crafy (or accidentally think it said crappy) things to Make so little Time"

pretty funny, it was 1am when Jeremy came in from his football game and pointed out my mistake and I was so hyped up on iced coffee and delerious I couldn't stop laughing.

Love & Creative wishes to all!

P.S. Don't forget to stop by http://www.artfultrinkets.etsy.com/ to see all the new stuff I have listed.

Screenprinting

2011-09-24T00:47:00.001-05:00

This week I was hired to print some t-shirts for a church group. It was fun to get out my screenprinting stuff and get to work.

Here are some of my supplies, and a couple of designs I created a while back... thought I might test them out while I was at it. :)

It's been so great to have this workspace that Jeremy created for me in the garage. I have space to set up my screen, apply the emulsion, set up my exposure lamp and then do my clean-up in the sink beside the counter. Thanks babe!

Exposure times for the screen can be tricky and I'm still working on getting my more detailed designs to come out crisp and clear..... lots of trial and error. But that's ok, at least the church logo came out perfect this time. The other stuff can wait, it was just for fun anyway. But I will work on it again soon..... maybe print some stuff for my etsy shop.

Wash out the screen to reveal the printing areas.... so cool to see the design come through.

Once my printing area was set up, I brought over the dry screen and taped around the edges and covered parts I didn't need to get any ink on. Then I carefully lined up the logo on the t-shirts top left corner and used the squeegee to spread the ink and press it through the screen onto the shirt.

Carefully raise the screen. Yes! Success. Let dry and heat set with an iron.

Fourteen shirts complete... delivered.... and possibly more to do next week. Yay!

Now, I'm totally inspired to screenprint. Need more screens, hmmmm.... I think I can build some, maybe I'll talk to my hubby about getting some supplies for that next week. ;)

Senior Jeans

2011-09-23T09:44:00.000-05:00

This week is Homecoming week!

One of my former students asked me to make some special "senior jeans" for the occasion and that led to a second former student also wanting a pair. ;)

So once they brought me the jeans I took over the kitchen bar and set up shop.

There was a lot of cutting, ironing, gluing, embellishing and bedazzling going on.

Here are some photos of how they turned out.

It was a fun project and since they both seemed to like them so much I think I may be "jazzing up" some more t-shirts and stuff in the near future. ;)

Can Inspiration be an Addiciton?

2011-09-18T15:51:00.000-05:00

My goal this week is to not stay up past midnight getting inspired by all the cool stuff I find on Pinterest and use some of that time after my crew is tucked into bed to actually create my own things in my studio... and maybe get some sleep too.

Upcycled Leather

2011-09-07T13:33:00.001-05:00

I love upcycling projects and recently I've showed you guys a few leather bands and cuffs that I've made like this one here:

I've been putting my metal stamps to good use by incorporating scriptures and positive words or phrases and I love how it looks with a little distressing.

So, recently I scored big on a bunch of old leather belts at a resale shop and I made a little something for myself.

My new leather watch. Inspired by Fossil, but only a fraction of the cost, yay!!!

Making a Mess

2011-09-06T20:50:00.000-05:00

...is sooooo much fun!

Yay for art, any time any day.

Cuteness

2011-08-27T21:44:00.000-05:00

My littlest bundle of creative inspiration! :-D

Ok momma, daddy and sister are at school and it's just you and me.... I'm ready, let's get crafty.

5 Days of Art - Part 3, 4 & 5: Painting, Painting & Painting

2011-08-13T23:43:00.001-05:00

I also got to spend a lot of time working on some paintings. I've listed several new ones in my Etsy shop. Here are a few that I worked on during my 5 Days of Art.

Very large 24"x48" textured canvas, acrylics and gold mica flakes with the scripture Psalm 90:2.

Smaller canvas 16"x20" abstract acrylic, 2Samuel 23:4

24"x24" Misty blue sky abstract landscape

These two were commissioned pieces for one of the coaches at school. Pictures of his boys playing baseball. I used some baseball digest pages to cover the canvas and created the look of a baseball field in the background and gave it an aged look, except on the boys themsselves... to create a nice contrast.

Check out my listings on http://artfultrinkets.etsy.com/ to see some of my other paintings.

5 Days of Art - Part 2: Leather Arm Bands

2011-08-13T23:11:00.000-05:00

I've made leather arm bands and cuffs before and I love upcycling projects. I enjoy turning old belts into cool new arm bands but this time the project was just a little bit different. This time I took out some metal letter stamps that I've had forever and used them to hammer words and scriptures into my bands of leather.

This one has one word "Forgiven" on one side with a silver snap closure. I accentuated the lettering and textures by rubbing black paint into the crevices then I roughed it up using coarse sandpaper for a more earthy and rustic feel.

This one is similar but without any holes punched in it and it has the words "Not ashamed of the gospel of Christ" on it.

I also did a couple that were really long (almost 30") strips that wrap around your wrist and secure with snap closures. This one is the Proverbs band. Proverbs 16:9 A man's heart plans his way but the Lord directs his steps, and Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

P.S. This one sold within 15 minutes of listing it in my Etsy shop! Awesome!

And this one is the John 3:16 bracelet "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have life everlasting"

I also love the simplicity and urban look of this last one. I used part of a belt buckle and sewed a strip of the soft green leather to one side and fastened it with a snap closure on the other side.

Now I'm on the lookout for old belts and more scrap leather to create with, so if you were thinking of taking any to Goodwill.... hint,hint. ;)

5 Days of Art - Part 1: Sewing

2011-08-11T22:44:00.001-05:00

Sew.... last week when both my sweet girls were away with grandparents and my husband was at football practice I got to drag art & sewing supplies out all over the house and just create to my hearts content, without a single interruption.

Oh my goodness. Now you guys know, I love my babies and I was truly elated to have them back .....but that quiet "me time" was sooo much appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed.

I did mend a few things, hem a dress, and repair a wind suit jacket but the really fun stuff was in altering some of my shirts.

Since shirt style trends are longer these days I've had a few shirts that were cute but too short just taking up space in my closet for a while. I decided to take two of them and see what I could create with some simple changes.

This is what the first shirt looked like before. It's a lovely soft material in a deep eggplant purple with a light lavender camesol attached underneath.

I have a basket full of old lace and trim pieces that I pull out every once in a while for projects. I decided to use the lace to add length to the shirt and embellish it.

Layer number one.

And a second layer, because the first one just didn't feel like enough. ;)

Then with the same lace, I scrunched and wrapped and stitched until I had a full flower. I cut out a circle from a piece of soft white fabric and sewed on a pin so that the flower could be removed from the shirt for washing. It can also be used separately on a hat or different outfit.

In one of my jars of buttons (oooh I love buttons!) I found some pearelescent pieces that detached from their gold rings.

So I took several different sizes and glued them to the center of my flower along with a couple of tiny silver pieces.

And here you can see it all put together, a lovely longer embellished shirt.

I also had a green shirt that I did something similar to. I used part of an old skirt for this one, adding a layer to the shirt's length and then using a few strips from the same fabric to create little rosettes of varied sizes. I did sew the rosettes to this shirt instead of making three individual pins.

I always love these kind of wearable art projects.

More to come tomorrow from my 5 Days of Art .... on to another creative medium.

iPhone Cover Art

2011-07-28T22:33:00.001-05:00

Just created a tutorial featuring my newly designed iPhone covers. Check it out here:

http://theartgirljackie-tutorials.blogspot.com/2011/07/original-art-iphone-covers.html

Another Fabulous Vintage Silhouette Portrait

2011-07-14T21:17:00.000-05:00

I seem to have a trend starting with vintage portraits these days and I have to say I really love it.

My neighbor recently asked me to create a portrait from an old photograph she had of herself and her three brothers. It is such an adorable photo but I was a bit apprehensive because of the shadows and blurryness of the original. I wasn't sure that I would be able to show the characteristics of their faces in a silhouette well enough, but I gave it my best.

And here is the result:

I learned something wonderful from this experience. As I was sketching and painting and seeing all of the abstract shapes take form up close I was having trouble grasping the idea that it would be recognizable as people; but when I stepped back from my work and looked again it was incredible how it came to life.

Reminded me of my life: being too close to the messy details I can often feel confused and lost; but if I just have faith and step back to look at the big picture it's incredible the beauty that is being formed.

Newborn Portraits

2011-07-14T00:52:00.000-05:00

A dear friend of mine who recently had a baby boy gave me the privilege of doing some of his baby portraits this week. Here are a few of the images:

Aren't baby feet sooooo incredibly precious!

Look at that gorgeous smile!

Big blue eyes.

Me and My Camera + Their Family and a 67' Chevy =

2011-07-14T00:27:00.000-05:00

A Really Fun Photo Shoot

I had the best time taking family portraits for this sweet couple and their adorable little boys.

LOVE the cute expressions!

Technical stuff:

I took advantage of some of my Nikon's awesome features including Active D Lighting and Continuous Burst Shooting. The photo shoot lasted just over an hour and we visited 3 different locations: a fort, an old train station, and a country road lined with trees. I took 918 photos! (yes, even I was surprised that there were so many) I narrowed it down to about 500 and did some special editing to about 15-20 of them before saving it all to a CD for the family.

They said they loved the pictures.

And that made me happy.

P.S.

This truck made me feel so nostalgic... thinking of simpler times and lovely slower paced days.

Kinda made me wish I had a classic old truck or car of my own to drive around in......along with a dreamy historic two story home in the country with a wrap around porch and a second floor art studio overlooking a little garden.

ahhhhh...... a girl can dream.

Love, Decoupage & Paint with Carley

2011-07-08T22:51:00.000-05:00

One day this week Carley and I got to hang out together in the art studio and get messy creating stuff together.

We started by getting a canvas and a whole bunch of decorative papers, paints, mod podge and brushes. Carley selected the papers she liked and tore out pieces to decoupage. I showed her the steps and we worked together to cover the canvas. Then I showed her how to dry brush a little bit of color over the papers. Everything dried quickly so she was able to go from one step right into the other very quickly. Her final touch was adding a giant "I love U" in copper metallic paint. She painted the inside of the heart metallic pink and added a string to make it like a balloon. Then she outlined her letters in metallic blue paint and put her artist signature and date in the corner with a metallic blue sharpie.

*She was really liking those metallics today. :)

I LOVE this painting and have it prominently displayed on the wall in my Art Studio so it's the first thing I see when I walk in the doors. I love you Carley! I have so much fun creating with you! You inspire me every day with your genuine, unconditional love. xoxo - mom

A Very Special Portrait

2011-06-28T00:58:00.000-05:00

I recently received a special commission for a portrait on my Etsy shop that I was so excited to create.

A very nice young lady in Pennsylvania wanted to do something unique for her grandfather's 90th Birthday party.

She sent me a beautiful black and white photo from the 1940's to work from. It was an image of her grandfather and grandmother when they were first married and he was in the Navy. My job was to create this beautiful silhouette painting with a background that had a vintage nostalgic feel and incorporated an oceanshore / patriotic theme in a subtle, classic way. I was definitely ready for the challenge.

I am so pleased with the results and I hope they will be too.
It was such a wonderful project to work on and I especially loved the story behind this one.

Here is a picture of the project "in progress" just after I finished sketching the image onto the canvas.

And here is the final portrait.

Estate Sale Treasures

2011-06-28T00:25:00.000-05:00

In case you didn't know this about me, or hadn't guessed it by now..... I love a good treasure hunt. Something my mom imparted to me on our many visits to flea markets, antique stores, garage & estate sales, and second hand stores throughout the years. (And apparently something my oldest daughter has already inherited as well. She finds awesome "treasures" everywhere!)

Well, it just so happens that one Saturday morning not too long ago my mom and I took off on one of our treasure hunting adventures with my two girls and ended up at an estate sale where I stumbled across the 50cent find of the year.... these old wooden shoe forms/stretchers.

Right now they are serving as an eclectic decoration in my Art Studio but I do have grand plans to use them in designing, shaping and creating a unique pair of handmade shoes.

Happy treasure hunting to all!

Visual Poetry

2011-05-10T22:53:00.000-05:00

Some of my very favorite souvenirs from trips that we've taken are my photos.

Here are a few that have a special nostalgic feel, the kind that stir up memories and emotions simply because there's just something about the image you can connect to in some way or how it represents something to you. Kinda like what I was explaining to my Photography students last week in class.... some pictures are "visual poetry".

Upscale Design on a Dime

2011-05-09T21:55:00.001-05:00

A while back I was out shopping with family and I came across a gorgeous flowing sheer top on a manequin in an upscale department store. It was that instantaneous love at first sight feeling you get when you see something you just know would surely look as great on you as it does on display. And then I saw the price tag and my heart sank even lower than my jaw dropped. I couldn't spend $169 on one shirt.

But..... I bet I could make one like it.

The crafty wheels started spinning.

I searched through old sewing patterns and found one I could modify to make almost the same kind of shirt I saw in the store. I also came across the perfect fabric at JoAnn's when getting some other supplies (oh, and I used a coupon too)

So I set up my workspace and began sketching, pinning, cutting, and sewing.

After a couple of hours my labor of love was complete and I was so excited to try it on.

Here's the final product, dressed up wth a wide belt.

I sewed a matching button closure on the back.

And there you have it..... upscale design on a dime. Gotta love that.

Shopping Cart Covers

2011-05-03T15:29:00.001-05:00

So a while back I decided I wanted to try making one of those fancy reversible shopping cart covers I'd seen in the stores.

Any excuse to shop for artsy crafty supplies!

I went out and got a pattern and grabbed a bunch of different fabrics, thread and other sewing notions and went home to figure it all out. After about 6 to 8 hours of work (not constant of course, way too many distractions going on at my house for a stretch of project work that long!) I completed Zoe's reversible shopping cart cover. It includes a seatbelt, toy strap and toy rings, pocket, comfey plush padding, and an attached stylish matching bag that everything folds up into for easy carrying. Yay!

We have actually put it to good use in many shopping carts and in restaurant high chairs, and the best thing is Zoe loves it; it keeps yucky germs out of her mouth (since she wants to chew on everything); and I can just toss it in the laundry if it gets dirty and it washes up beautifully.

So, ofcourse I had to make more of them. And I'm getting a little faster at it. :)

This turquoise and brown one was done for a friend of mine.

This funky floral design was created to be put on display in a super chic baby botique called Posh Little Pig. (Friend them on Facebook)

I participated in a "trunk shower" at Posh Little Pig not too long ago, and the store owner was kind enough to also display some of my silhouette paintings during the event.

Thanks Brina! Your store is gorgeous and the event was so much fun!

As a side note, here are a few snapshots of the shopping cart covers in progress.

Gotta make them comfey for the little ones with some soft batting sewn inside.

Here's what they look like before the elastic is added.

Photo Fun in the Ice and Snow

2011-02-05T12:13:00.004-06:00

Over the past few ice & snow days Jeremy took me on some "photo taking adventures".

It was about time I started experimenting with my Christmas present (my new Nikon D7000 with 18-200mm lens and 1080p HD video) Yes. It is awesome.

As we braved the icy, snowy backroads (my husband can sure drive a truck in bad weather) we came across many wonderful scenes.

In no particular order here are some of them:

This beautiful deer (there were about 8 or 10 of them all together big and small)

I think these are called cuckelburrs.

All of these fat little yellow bellied birds were burrowing down in the snow.

Majestic open fields covered in snow and ice.

Carley and I drew a big heart in the fresh fallen snow in our back yard.

A little old shed.

Serene, empty, snow covered back roads in the country.

Pairs of red birds were everywhere. This one stayed when the female went to hide in the trees. He just sat there in the road and let me photograph him.

I love the moss on the rooftop of this old building (before the snow arrived, obviously).

Dark berries on a tree.

Another shot of that pretty cardinal.

Red berries amongst thorns and barbed wire.

A view of the tracks.

Snow dusted yellow berries.

A softly winding snowy road through a tunnel of snow covered trees.

Each day is a journey. Choose your path prayerfully and be blessed as you let God lead the way.

Rainy Day Art Post

2010-11-02T13:26:00.003-05:00

It's a wonderful cold rainy day here and I really feel like I need to make something in my crock pot and bake something tonight.... mmmm.

Well, I thought I'd post some Art today. I recently rearranged my studio a little bit and I really like the new set-up. Here's what it looks like (while it's all still really clean and I don't have projects and supplies haphazardly strewn all over the place).

I also have been practicing some up-cycling with old clothing lately.

Here is one project I especially enjoyed.

I took a t-shirt that I never wore and did some creative cutting....

Then re-attaching in a new way...... and here's the result.

Ok, well that's all for now. Have a fantastic day. I'm going back to daydreaming of yummy comfort foods to start cooking. I LOVE this cool Fall weather..... now if I could only stay home all day in my jammies and really enjoy it. ;) Here's looking forward to Thanksgiving Break!

Busy, Busy...

2010-08-14T10:51:00.004-05:00

baby shoes

..and mommy's shoes

Well, this was our last week before teacher in-service days begin and school will start up on the 23rd so I guess I felt like I needed to see how much we could cram into a week cause we were busy, busy little bees.

We started off with a fantastic lunch gathering at our friends home after church last Sunday with great food and fun with the kids, and meeting some new friends.
Then it was off to a block party to help kick off IMPACT Week for our church.
Jeremy had two-a-days with football all week, and he managed to work it out so he could get up early one morning and help Chris with some IMPACT building projects at a food pantry before going to practice. I don't know how he was able to stand up at the end of that day but he managed to even love on his girls and help tuck them in when he came home that night.
Monday I made 9 pair of giraffe print baby shoes to ship off to a lady in Austin who is opening a childrens boutique.
I also finished my first pair of adult ladies shoes, complete with rubber soles! Yipee! I really like how they turned out. I also made a different style pattern and started on a leather pair of shoes but after I broke my second needle I decided to quit for a while and come back to it later.
I got a very special surprise sent in the mail to my best friend on Thursday so she should receive it this weekend, I'll post about it later. :)
Carley and Zoe and I helped stuff backpacks and make cards at the church one morning.
I created and ordered some really cool interactive business cards - I should receive them next week so I will post a pic then.
We had family come in for the weekend.
Went to a party at my sister's with two of my brothers and their families. Got to hang out with my nephew a while before he flys out to Alaska.
Played lots of dress-up, play-doh, coloring, painting, dolls, hide-and-seek, ...and cuddled a lot with my girls.
All-in-all a fantastic last week of summer.

Featured on Etsy!

2010-06-23T16:48:00.004-05:00

I was so excited when I checked my e-mail today to see a message that one of my pendants was featured in a Treasury Collection on Etsy!

Click on this link for the Treasury Collection to see.

Mine is the Orange Dichroic Fused Glass Pendant.

My Shop on Etsy

2010-06-08T16:54:00.002-05:00

Over the past couple of months I've been working on getting some things together to sell online in my shop at Etsy.com.

In case you're not familiar, it's the place to buy and sell art and all things handmade. I think they have somewhere over 400,000 sellers and you can find pretty much anything you could imagine and then some.....very creative, awesome things plus you can buy supplies for art & crafting stuff too.

I've been hooked on it for a while now and in fact I've had my Etsy shop since 2008 but have never done anything with it until now.

I decided to start out by selling the baby shoes I've been making, some random different jewelry pieces I've made, and custom portrait paintings. I plan to add quite a bit more over time so that's why the shop gallery pictures are now on my blog. It will show the most recent items I post so you can see what new things I have for sale as I list them.

I hope that if you've never been on www.etsy.com before that you will take a look. Be careful though, you just may get hooked!

Let me know what you think and if you like it please pass my shop info along to a friend.

P.S. I'm always happy to do custom orders. :)

http://artfultrinkets.etsy.com

Those of you receiving my blog posts by e-mail check out the actual blog by clicking on this link http://theartgirljackie.blogspot.com

Fun With Fabrics

2010-04-24T19:41:00.006-05:00

Over the past couple of weeks my Art Studio has become my Sewing Room.

I've felt like a kid in a candy store getting to play with all my pretty fabrics, ribbons, and buttons.

I open my blinds during the day and let the sunlight shine in while I work. Just outside my window is a lovely view of my front flower bed where we recently set up a water fountain and I can see some of my flowers beginning to bloom. Maybe I'll take Zoe for a walk this morning ...

Across the room you can see my sewing machine with a work in progress under its needle anxiously waiting to be all stitched up.

Here is a project I'm especially proud of. Jeremy and I are re-using the carseat Carley had but we updated it with a slipcover from Target online. However, it did not come with a hood cover to match so my mom helped me and we figured out how to use a coordinating fabric to cover over the old hood ourselves. Thanks mom! Not bad for an afternoon's work.

What would spring be without gorgeous flowers!

I turned these lovely blooms into hairclips for my little divas, and it was a no-sew simple project!

These itty bitty shoes are the most unique things I've sewn and I love them. I'm kinda wondering if any of the upscale little botique shops around here might be interested in having a few of them to sell with their fancy little girl outfits and accessories..... hmmm, maybe a few in zebra, leopard, hot pink.....

This next one is the first dress I made for Zoe. Unfortunately I made my pattern a little too small.

She wore it one time and I don't think she will get to wear it again. I'll just have to make the pattern bigger and do another one. No biggie. Good thing I got extra of this fabric since I thought it was such a great print. :)

Big sister Carley also got a matching dress. These are called pillowcase dresses that tie with ribbon on the shoulders.

After Carley tried hers on I realized that it also needed some adjustments, so I got creative and took the ribbon out and made straps with big buttons on the front. I think it gives it a more clean and finished look and it fits her better.

Here's a close-up. Who knew using a button hole foot on a sewing machine could be so entertaining. ;)

And for the finale, this is a coordinating top and capri pants set that I made Carley.

And here's my precious little model trying on her new outfit. Yay! Summer clothes made by mom!

Wow, that really brings back memories.

Thank you again mom for all the times you did stuff like this for us. Because of you Jodi and I are now passing on homemade treasures to our girls just the way you did for us and your mom did for you.

Zoe's Room

2010-03-15T14:47:00.003-05:00

Daddy and his little helper get started on putting the crib together...

My mom stopped by to see how things were going and got in on helping out too. :)

After a bit of trial and error (the instructions on the crib weren't very helpful)....Jeremy got it all figured out and put together and we love the final results!

Here is our baby Zoe's room.

The bedding my mom made looks fabulous!

After painting all of our mismatched antique and hand-me-down furniture pieces, doing a little distressing and changing the drawer pulls for sparkling glass the room has really come together and I love the black & white with the apple green and shades of pink.

It's actually a richer apple green color in person than it looks in this photo.

This is the view when you first walk in the door.

All we need now is to bring home baby..... :)

Time for a Little Art

2010-02-04T21:18:00.003-06:00

Art comes in all forms and styles ..... and it's FUN!

The other day after school, Carley and I made cupcakes and decorated them with icing and LOTS of sprinkles! I know it was a big temptation for Jeremy (who has been so amazingly dedicated to his healthy eating and exercise weight loss - but we did let him sneak one) :)
Shame on us, huh.

Carley, you are my best little kitchen helper and our cupcakes were totally yummy and beautiful!

I recently got the inkling to try making a watch out of random stuff so I purchased a watch face and got some scrap pieces of leather and thread and some silver brads and put this together. I used a magnetic snap button clasp on the band and it's actually a comfortable watch and well, I kinda like it.

This is a small painting (about 16"x20") is one that I did just for the heck of it in my Art II class at school while demonstrating a few oil painting techniques and color mixing for flesh tones. It's totally not my usual style but it was fun to do something so different.

Jeremy built this awesome shadow box art piece to put our family picture in and I like the way it came out with the iron cross and iron decoration in the picture area.

Ok, one last piece. This is a commissioned painting I just finished of a semi-abstract interpretation of an Australian landscape. It is a 24"x36" stretched canvas acrylic painting.

Big Girl Room

2009-11-18T20:52:00.002-06:00

Our little girl just got her room upgraded to a "big girl" room. With a little sister on the way and lots of changes going on we decided it was a good time to put Carley's convertable crib to use once again and convert it to it's last stage - a full size bed. So we spent a couple of weeks mattress shopping. We wound up going with a great one from Sleep Experts (where we got ours). The really do have great mattresses, and the best deals.

Anyway, as it turned out Jeremy was going to work on converting her room this past weekend while I was at my Art Teacher's Conference but on Thursday I got home early from Dallas and my friend and co-worker, Melissa helped me rearrange her furniture and set up the bed all before Carley came home from spending the afternoon at grandmas. Thanks Melissa! It turned out awesome and Carley and Jeremy were very surprised when they saw it. Carley couldn't stop saying how thankful she was. My mom got on to me a little for moving furniture, but I promise I didn't overdo it.

Here is her adorable room before.... with her crib as a daybed.

and the couch we would sit on to read books before bedtime.... (which will probably get a new slipcover and be used in baby sister's room).

After some serious re-arranging.... here is the new Big Girl Room (complete with Vera Wang bedding - yeah, I know it's a little over the top but it was on sale, and you have no idea how hard it was to find bedding that had the right color, for real.)

It's been really comfey sitting in Carley's bed at night to read stories together. There's still a couple more things I want to do in there but I think it looks great.

Ahhh, our first born baby is getting so grown up.

Little Van Gogh

2009-08-06T14:30:00.003-05:00

My child loves to paint!

And, I gotta tell ya it is a liberating experience to make art with a 3 year old. The messier we get the better, and it doesn't have to look like anything at all to be great art! The point is to just have fun, smear colors all around and mix them up. You can just call it whatever you want in the end and hang it on the refrigerator like the masterpiece it is!

So, this morning I took Carley to one of her first "real" art classes at a studio in McKinney. They have these themed workshops for 2-5 year olds and we chose to go to the Vincent Van Gogh class. Carley was very excited. We read her Van Gogh picture book before bedtime last night and got up early this morning to get ready.

The teacher was great fun and the parents got to sit on the sidelines and watch. There were only six kids in the class. They listened to a children's story about Van Gogh and his work, saw some pictures of his paintings and then learned about texture by making textures with play-doh.

After that they painted their own versions of Starry Night with acrylic paints. They titled their pictures and set them aside to dry during a little snack break.

Carley decided to call hers "A Dark Starlight Night".

.......nice silly face kiddo.

The second part was using textures again making a collage inspired by Van Gogh's Sunflowers. They tore their own construction papers and used glue sticks to put together their own flowers.

I seem to have an abstract painter/realistic collage maker on my hands here.

It was so neat to just sit back and watch and see what she would do under the teacher's directions without mommy's help.

Now we have two new masterpieces on our refrigerator. Great job Carley!

Morning at the Art Museum

2009-08-05T18:39:00.002-05:00

Carley and my mom and I had a girls day out on Tuesday. We drove into Dallas for "First Tuesdays" at the Dallas Museum of Art. It was a "free admission" day for kids and families. They had all kinds of art-making activities and fun stuff in their Center for Creative Connections. We also enjoyed walking through the museum and the sculpture gardens. And after we were done there we went and stuffed ourselves at a wonderful mexican food restaurant in McKinney called Christina's. Yummy! Thanks mom, we enjoyed our "girl time" with you!

BTW, all my blogging friends.......if you have never tried one of these "free days" at your local art museum you should totally get online and find out if there are any coming up in your area because it is a great thing to expose yourself and your kids to (especially when it's FREE!).

Tomorrow morning I'm taking Carley to her "Little Van Gogh" art class at one of the art studios in McKinney. I'm so excited to see her interact and create with the other kids in this kind of setting. I'll post pictures tomorrow. :)

Late Night Art Post

2009-07-26T23:54:00.003-05:00

Here are a couple of silhouette style paintings I did on some of my homemade 16"x16" canvases with 2" edges. I started each one by creating a collage of papers chosen to compliment the chosen image, then a pencil sketch was made. Next I painted with black acrylic paint, then embellished and added glitter or other elements, and finally sealed the artwork with a clear gloss medium.

This first one is my interpretation of a beautiful (but blurry) snapshot taken as Jeremy and I were leaving our wedding reception almost nine years ago. Our friends and family had lined up on both sides of us blowing bubbles into the beautiful December night air and the lights from the reception hall were twinkling behind us..... here we go, together.

You may not be able to tell in this picture, but the tissue paper is crinkled and iridescent. I have added small amounts of very fine glitter, some in the background and on my dress.
This next one is more colorful with whimsical patterns and imagery in the torn, collaged papers. Carley was about six months old in this picture (taken at my sister's wedding) and I love the joy in our expressions, especially Carley with her mouth open wide just laughing.

I can create a special painting like these from your photos too.

Visit my etsy shop http://artfultrinkets.etsy.com/

Through the Looking Glass

2009-07-14T10:01:00.002-05:00

I snapped this photo of Carley playing with a magnifying glass and I thought it looked so surreal - maybe I'll turn it into a funky painting someday.

Nursery for Baby Katelyn

2009-07-10T20:58:00.003-05:00

This certainly was a fun challenge! Jodi picked out her bedding first giving us a color scheme and funky garden theme idea to work with. We picked out paint colors right away and I drew up several ideas on paper. Once our final images were chosen we were off and running. It took a couple of days and one very late night but we got it all done! Now all that is needed is to bring in the furniture and bring home baby Katelyn! We can't wait to meet her!

This is the back wall where the gorgeous dark wood crib will go. Don;t worry, I made the flowers tall enough that they will stand up well above the top of the crib. :)

This is the fun and funky blooming tree with our favorite quirky long-legged bird. There will be a comfey rocking chair on this side of the room.

A close-up of our feathered friend....

And a closer look at Katelyn's flower garden.

The opposite wall has two small closets with a wall in-between where Katelyn's changing table will go. We painted that wall the darkest pink color and it really pops in the room. Her quilt will hang above the changing table and it goes with the colors perfectly! The wall opposite the funky tree is just painted the lighter shade of green and that is where her dark wood dresser and mirror will be. Hope you love your room sweetie - it was created with much love by your mommy and your Aunt Jackie.

Ridiculous Awesome Closet Renovation!

2009-06-19T09:17:00.005-05:00

My closet is now officially one of my favorite rooms in the house!

Some of you have been asking to see the finished project so here it is from start to finish.

Side Note: I must admit this post is also a great excuse for me to brag on my amazingly talented husband again! :)

In this first picture, Jeremy had just ripped out all of the original shelving (one long shelf with a bar underneath that wrapped around the 3 sides of the closet) and he had begun installing the new stuff. I might ad that none of this was pre-made. Nope, Jeremy had to make everything himself to match the design I drew. It always amazes me how he can take one of my sketches and make it come to life the way he does.
You can see the beginnings of our built-in armoire in this picture.

We also upgraded on our closet lighting fixture. A little over the top, I know, but what can I say. I always wanted one and I LOVE my chandelier! Much better lighting too. ;)

Here is the finished product (just before all the clothes & shoes went in).

Carley loves coming in there now and playing dress-up in mommy's clothes since she can reach the ones on the bottom rack. It's ok though, I love playing dress-up in there now too.

"In Their Shoes" Art Project

2009-06-06T11:27:00.003-05:00

This post is about my final art project of the school year with my art students. They started out by each researching the works of famous artists throughout history (all different styles, etc.) in the computer lab. Once they chose an artist that they really liked they had to find out some important biography information and facts about them and fill out a research questionnaire. The next step was a little more fun, they got to choose any artwork created by their artist...... knowing that the goal would be to ultimately re-create that picture. We printed their selected images in color, got them laminated (so they wouldn't get all messed up by paint & water) and headed back to the art room.
Next, each student was responsible for bringing in an old shoe or pair of shoes to work with. Why? Well, because the cool part (and the difficult part) of this project was that they were not going to use a traditional canvas. We tied the project in with "Earth Week" and decided to use recycled materials (in this case old shoes) as our non-traditional canvas for the painting. Students were also encouraged to choose a type of shoe that fit the style of the artist or artwork if possible. In the following pictures you will see some of my students working on the projects in class and then a collection of some of the completed shoes.

Do you recognize any of the artworks or their artists?
(Don't feel bad if you don't - there is no Mona Lisa or Van Gogh Sunflowers in the list - some of the works are a little more obscure.)

Encaustic Painting

2009-06-01T17:02:00.003-05:00

I spent my Saturday playing with hot wax!

I went to an "Encaustic Painting" workshop taught by an artist named DeannaWood. There were only 3 students in the class so we got a lot of individual attention and time to experiment with all of the really cool techniques and tools used in this unique painting medium. The idea is to be able to achieve layers upon layers of translucent colors and imagery. This is done by using hot melted beeswax as paint and tinting it with oil colours. You can achieve so many cool looking effects and it is really fun to do.

Uh oh, I'm afraid I have a shopping list for new art supplies now. :)

This was our teacher, Deanna packaging one of her artworks for shipment. You can see some of her other paintings on the wall in the background. Also notice the hotplates with containers of colored beeswax on the table.

This is one of the small pieces I made during the workshop. I incorporated a fashion illustration and some lettering and the number 5. It is titled "After Five" - for the fun, sassy outfits we ladies love to wear on those fun evenings out on the town.

This one is an experiment with carving into the wax. I got the idea from one of the other ladies who was there. It's symbolic of handwriting but without any real recognizable text. (in person the etched areas are the same yellow as the top part of the piece giving it nice contrast and unity.

Jeremy is holding up the last one. It was just an experiment with non-objective abstractions, using a lot of texture.

It was a fun class!

Maybe I'll make some more this summer.

Summer.

Aaaaaaaah....... what a beautiful thought.

Field Trip!

2009-04-08T16:51:00.005-05:00

We recently got to take a group of 20 Art Club & National Art Honor Society kids to a really cool place in McKinney for an all day field trip - The Art House. We had a blast - just wish we could have stayed longer.

In this first picture Sona (the awesome lady who started the Art House) is demonstrating working with the clay - talking to the students about making "mini masks" and coil pots.
In this next picture, Colby (a professor from TWU) came do do a demonstration for us. He threw a 25lb. slab of clay and then a 50lb. slab of clay and made really big bowls out of them like it was no big deal - wow! I still struggle with making a 2lb chunk of clay turn into a good bowl or vase.

Here are some of the kids gathered around watching the demonstration - you can see the finished piece still on the potter's wheel.

Here the students are gathered around a table making their mini mask projects and their coil pots, bowls and baskets while some of the others took their turn on the potters wheel - these guys did some super creative stuff.

Outside again, we get to do a raku firing on some of our ceramic pieces. They fire it outside in this special kiln at extremely high temperatures under an open flame for about an hour (normal kiln glaze firing cycles are like 8 hours). Then they take the pieces out using really long metal tongs and put them into metal cans that have combustible materials like grass and newspaper.

When the piece goes in the can we throw some extra newspaper in and it catches on fire. Then we immediately put a lid on it and cover that with a wet towel to smother it. This causes oxidation in the "raku" glazes that are on the ceramic pieces and they come out with fabulous organic, metallic colors. A really cool process to see.

What a great day!!!

Aaaah, if only every week could include Art Field trips.

The "After Party"

2009-04-04T16:03:00.006-05:00

So after all that traveling we just had to get some family together to share pictures and stories, souvenirs, and of course a great sampling of the wonderful foods we ate in Europe and France. It's always great to have family over and just hang out together --- thanks you guys, especially for enthusiastically participating in the slide show of pictures (over 1000 of them.....whew that was a LOT of photos). You guys are the best and we love you tons.
Little goodie packages for our guests - treats from London & Paris (and bottles of sparkling grape juice to make a toast at the end of the party - hey, we have to be kid friendly and pregnant lady friendly around here - my sister, not me, just in case you were wondering).

Monika, Carley, Tim, Carlene and our dog Abby getting ready for the slide show.

Brenda and Monte - aren't they just precious! We had a great time with them staying here with us for a few days.

Michelle and baby Shayna. Look mom I can make a bow with your hair!

Let's take turns! Carley plays with Shayna's little car and Shayna tries to go round and round on Carley's sit-n-spin while uncle Todd encourages the fun!

Little ballerina girl sittin' pretty on daddy's shoulders. Notice the cool London shirt dad is sporting for the occasion.

Look at all that food! Croissants, tomato, mozzarella & pesto pizza, London style sandwiches with boiled eggs, turkey & ham, hot English tea......

Jeremy's mom Brenda and Jackie's mom Carlene - aren't they both just gorgeous! What a great photo.

Chris, Jodi, Carley and Monika ....and little baby Emerson in Jodi's tummy. We can't wait to meet you sweetie. We love you already.

....and Jackie making crepes with chocolate sauce and fresh strawberries - Yummy!

What a great day!

Remebering London & Paris

2009-03-30T22:24:00.001-05:00

Finally.....it's about time I got around to updating this blog, huh. It just took me a while to re-adjust after that awesome whirlwind of a trip over spring break. London and Paris were overflowing with history, art, monuments, amazing architecture, famous buildings and places. We walked, and walked and walked (averaging 11-15 miles a day) from early morning to late in the evening taking in everything we could while we could. There were sights to see, local cuisine to taste and smells to um, well....uh some we would rather just forget.....moving along. Our group was so fun to travel with and we all made memories and friendships that we will carry with us forever. To all of our friends and family who prayed for us while we were away, Thank You! we love you and we are happy to be home. Here are just a few pics from the journey that show a variety of the things we saw and did (out of about 1,300 total pictures taken) :)

P.S. One place I didn't post a picture of was the Palace of Versailles (definitely google this one, it's incredible!)

2009-03-30T22:09:00.003-05:00

This is our group. With the exception of Ellien our awesome fun friend and tour director (who was taking the picture). Thanks Ellien, we love you - come see us in Texas soon!

A view of us getting settled in to ride the Eurostar from London to Paris under the English Channel.

The National Gallery - did I mention that all of the museums in London are FREE admission - we went to some really awesome museums.

A view from Picadilly Circus or Picadilly Square.

2009-03-30T21:57:00.002-05:00

At the Tower of London (looking at the outside walls and the area that used to be the moat surrounding the castle)

This is the London Eye, a huge ferris wheel on the edge of the Thames River. Each pod can hold up to 27 people and the ride takes 30 minutes to go around once. Great opportunity to take aerial photos (some people even get married on the London Eye)

...a classic. The Red Telephone Booths. We really did use these to call home.

Great shot of the Underground where we rode the train each day to go different places.....remember to "Mind the Gap".

Seeing the Phantom of the Opera in the Queens Theatre in London was an extremely thrilling experience (the lights, the costumes, the music, the magical stage and interchanging sets.... I was blown away by it all.)

2009-03-30T21:50:00.002-05:00

St. Paul's Cathedral

Big Ben (which is actually the bell inside the clock tower - but everybody just calls the whole thing Big Ben)

We got to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

Jackie & Jeremy with Tower Bridge in the background.

2009-03-30T21:36:00.003-05:00

Victory at Samonthrace (in the Louvre)

The real Moulin Rouge in the district where artists like Henri de Tolouse Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, and Claude Monet once walked the same cobblestone streets and created their famous artworks.

Melissa getting her portrait drawn by one of the many local artists in the famous area known as Painter's Square.

At the Louvre....yipee! And yes, we did go straight to the Mona Lisa first just to make sure we got to see the famed artwork in person (if you didn't already know, it's not very big) There were lots of amazing artworks and artifacts in the Louvre (which by the way was once the royal palace)

The Venus de Milo also in the Louvre. Wow!

2009-03-30T21:26:00.002-05:00

Notre Dame Cathedral

The Arc de Triomphe

Notre Dame from the back

Eiffel Tower

The remarkable tower again at night when it would twinkle with white lights that danced all across it's surface. And this was the last place we visited on our last night in Paris after having a wonderful French dinner and going on a beautiful cruise on the Seine River.

A little rest tonight after hanging out and just enjoying our last evening together before traveling home tomorrow.

From the hotel lobby computer....

2009-03-17T18:45:00.002-05:00

Well, I only have about 6 minutes left on this login so I just wanted to make a quick post to tell everyone we are having a fantastic time in Europe! We go on our Jack the Ripper tour tomorrow night in London and then Thursday we are off to Paris. All of the sights and history here are absolutely amazing, it is breathtaking the things we are seeing. In fact, one of my long time dreams was fulfilled today when we got to do a special event not planned on our tour itenerary....a small group of us got to go to the Queen's Theatre and watch the incredible performance of Phantom of the Opera! I was speechless and it even brought me to tears. I am overwhelmed with wonderful emotions right now. Our group of students and adults couldn't be better and even though we are exhausted we are having the time of our lives. ##

P.S. Nana and Carley we tried to call you today but couldn't get through so we want to send our biggest lovies and kisses to Carley. We love you baby girl and we miss you. we hope you are having a blast with Nana. We'll call again soon.

Countdown to European Spring Break Trip

2009-03-06T21:16:00.004-06:00

This is London and this is Paris.....and these are the places we will be during spring break hee, hee, hee. Yipee!

It's the final countdown (ok, admit it you know the song popped into your head too).

Ok, less than 10 days till we depart from Dallas International Airport to head for Europe! Somebody pinch me. Jeremy and I have the amazing opportunity to be two of the sponsors taking a small group of our high school Art & Humanities students on this 8 day adventure. We will tour all of the major landmarks, museums, monuments and so forth and get to go to the front of the line wherever we are with our own personal tour guide. You can be sure my blog will host a plethera of photos when we return and wonderful stories too so be sure to stay tuned for the updates.

If you would like to keep up with us while we are on the tour you can visit our "Tour Diary" on the Explorica website and see daily postings and pictures from our trip. You can also view our daily itenerary online here.

Side Note to all the Excitement: As excited as we are there is also the need to ask for your prayers. This is a big trip and we will be not only away from Carley longer than we ever have been but we will be out of the country away from her. I know she will be in the excellent care of her Nana and they will have a wonderful time, but especially for those of you who are parents you can understand our hearts worries and concerns and we just pray for peace and safety during this wonderful time. Thanks so much, we love you all.

London & Paris here we come!

Time for Another Art Post

2009-03-02T19:04:00.002-06:00

Please feel free to share your critiques, as always.

Ok, well this first one is a ceramic platter. It has an impressed pattern on the surface. Pretty basic, but I think I want to try more platters later using the slab rolling table at the Art House in McKinney and do some more unusual shapes and experimental glazes. Hmmm...my wheels are turning, better keep going.
This next one is a silhouette style acrylic painting that I did for Kendall & Stephanie for Christmas this year.

This one is another acrylic painting but it has more texture to it. It was a present for Brenda and Monte for Christmas and was based on a photo that they took on their anniversary trip in Cape Cod in 2008.

This last one is an oil painting that I did partly as a demonstration piece for my students recently in class. It incorporates using modeling paste and acrylic gel medium to build up texture in the drawing on the canvas and then letting it dry completely before doing the actual oil painting on top.

I call her the "Scarlett Peacock" and I added some very fine red glitter in her feathers and her "crown" to maker her sparkle.

My Handyman Husband!

2009-02-10T16:51:00.005-06:00

I have to brag on my awesome handyman husband today. As some of you already know, Jeremy is no stranger to power tools. In fact, he has a true talent for woodworking, home improvement projects, and building furniture pieces. Our home has several examples of his handiwork on display including our beautiful built-in entertainment center in the living room.

Well, just recently Jeremy had one of his other creations featured in Handyman Magazine! Check out this link to see our ottomans and vote for Jeremy in their online contest.

http://www.handymanclub.com/FromHandy/Article.aspx?id=38156

And the Art Continues...

2009-01-29T18:07:00.002-06:00

A little book that I soldered a glass front & back cover on with collage designs under the glass.

Landscape - oil painting.

Mixed media collages of dictionary pages, printed window designs & 3-D embellishments including hand painted small crosses and 1"ceramic tiles for the words Hope and Faith.

Stained glass project.

Abstract oil painting entitled "The Proposal"

On-Line Art Show

2009-01-28T18:03:00.004-06:00

I've been thinking it's probably about time that the "art girl" finally posted some examples of her artwork. Feel free to critique these examples and make comments, suggestions, etc.

Colored Pencil drawing of Carley on a dry brush painted background.

Ceramic carnival style mask, painted with acrylics.

Micro-mosaic made of hand cut glass pieces on a clear glass background.

Abstract acrylic painted landscape.

Surrealistic style oil painting.

I will add a few more of my artworks later.

My Crafty Weekend

2009-01-27T17:41:00.006-06:00

Thanks to my friend Melissa for hanging out with me Friday evening and inspiring me to have a totally "crafty weekend"! We had a great time playing in the studio and making artsy stuff, including a bracelet made out of old buttons. Now this got me to thinking about other things I could make and stuff I could recycle...............Hmmmm, well on Saturday I came across an unattractive old pair of shoes in my closet and knew right away that I could give them new life as a classy & kinda funky pair of attention grabbers. No trash can or charity bin for these guys.....nope, they got a complete makeover and now I've fallen in love with them. Check it out.

The completed pair.

I used samples of upholstry fabric and some of my grandma's old buttons.

And this is what they looked like before. What do you think?

Most Awesome Art Festival Ever!

2008-10-07T18:46:00.003-05:00

Wow! This weekend Jeremy, Carley and I had the opportunity to go to one of the best Art Festivals ever. Well, I guess I was probably the most excited one.... I just dragged my sweet hubby and our baby girl along for the ride and tried my best to convince them that they were having just as much fun as I was. (Just kidding. Actually, it didn't take much convincing....it was a wonderful family outing and we all had such fun together.....there was even a really cool section of stuff just for kids). We got to see some of the finest art from around the country and visit with the artists personally. I actually met artists that I have seen on TV, artists whose work I've admired on-line and artists that I have even based lesson plans around in my classroom. So you can imagine, that for me, it was pretty darn cool. This Art Festival actually happens twice a year in Richardson but this is the first time I've had the chance to go to it. You can be sure it will be on my agenda from now on. In fact, how amazing would it be if I was able to someday be one of the artists at that festival.....keep dreamin' Jackie, maybe you'll get it together one of these days.

Well, here's the link if anyone wants to check out more about the "Cottonwood Art Festival".
http://www.cottonwoodartfestival.com/

Ok, so I finally gave in and created a blog

2008-09-21T17:58:00.005-05:00

Well, after all this time I finally made the decision to create a blog