2012

Roses .. One of my sketches

           Where has this year gone ?

              I'll tell you it flew right by . My life has been wonderfully full this year .My Crazy cute Grand Daughter  the light of my life  Antonia Rose is a little over a year old Now , it has been such a pleasure to have her here in my Life ..I spend as much Time with Her as I can because I know How fast the years Go By..
              My Amazingly Talented Bunch of Friends and I have been Exploring the world of ART .. Discovering New Art Forms and Rethinking Some old Ideas too. I only mase a few  Dolls this year and Must confess that a some of them  are Sitting on a shelf  with No Costumes ,But with winter approaching I'm sure they will all get finished .. I have been Dabbling this year..  I dabbled in Book Making and Altered Books  too , I did some mold making , Fooled around making Charms ,  I filled a couple sketch books with drawings ,doodles and Ideas ... I even keep trying the Elusive COLLAGE Hoping some day to GET IT !  .I Learned a lot about mixed media projects and played with many New products ,from Inks to patinas.. I even did a little Needle felting Again making  mice this time..I added a few photos of thing I have been playing with I hope you enjoy them... OH  please excuse the spelling mistakes for some reason the spell check on blogspot is on the fritz today ..
                                      

   Now on to a few of my Talented Friends

I donated her at
" Art is You "

      
       Who should I Start With ? .. I Know Who .. My Beautiful and Brave Friend Colleen Athens . Colleen Decided to follow a dream she has had for a while. A  few months ago She opened an Art Studio  Called " The Artsy Soul "  I'm so proud of her .. " The artsy Soul "is filled with wonderful Art supplies,  like graphic 45 papers . Dylusion ink sprays . interesting rubber stamps . An assortment of Clays, air dry and polymer , imported rubber molds .Several different types of patinas and ohh la la  the Vintage Bling is to die for !! jewelry findings , Kemper tools for sculpting .. German glass glitter and Dresden foil items too .. Just a few of the items I could think of .. Colleen offers Classes in Doll Sculpting and Has many other Artists holding one day classes and  longer workshops  in a variety of mediums  . I have been heading down to " The Artsy soul" once a month it is so worth the  2 hr drive ..
       Next  Miss Susan Milo .. The original "Art forms " Girl .. let me tell you when it comes to Artsy stuff Sue has done it All ! This year Susan was bitten by the Ceramic Bug .. She purchased a kiln the Clay and every thing needed to turn out all kinds of  tiny Ceramic things.. Tiny  decorative Dishes ,  Tiny houses , beads  ceramic Charms ..She is so smitten with Ceramics that she is researching a second kiln....I love her  incredible passion in everything she does ..
        Ellie G .. A new friend, I must thank Susan for introducing her to our group ..Ellie is a jewelry maker ..Her jewelry is outstanding , much of her jewelry is fashioned from precious metal clay and semi precious  stones ..just beautiful ! ..Ellie also does beading stitching up sparkling bracelets and neclaces from tiny beads . Ellie is a traveler and will hop in the car and drive almost any place to take workshops  a good flea market or a bead show , A girl after my own Hart ..
       Miss Tery Favo .. I have to say  we haven't seen much of Tery this year ..She has been following her own Hart , Diving head first into Jewelry Making . Using wire ,copper . Brass, patinas . rivets, semiprecious stoned even  etching metals  .wooooo mind blowing stuff is coming from her studio this year. I think Tery has found what makes her hart sing.
       Miss Stephanie Novatski ..An Amazing Doll Artist and Teacher is also enjoying her 2 little grand babies .. I don't know how she does it , She designs and creates fantastic Doll patterns that sew up like a dream  .. Every year Stephanie creates a one of a kind Doll entry for the Hoffman challenge let me tell you  they are stunning ! Stephanie  has been taking part in some fantastic swaps this year , & teaching  mixed media Book making At " The Artsy soul ".. Stephanie like all my friends has a most generous soul .. I'm lucky to have a friend like her ..
        Last  for today but By Far Not least in my book  is  the very Talented  Elizabeth Parsons.. Like me Elizabeth has a darling new grand baby that is keeping her busy.. But she is still the Queen of Paper. I seen several of the  books she has created this year and WOW ! is all I can say .. The last couple years Elizabeth has been creating one of a kind Dolls and  in her own words has " Fallen down the rabbit hole " and landed into the enchanting world of doll making ..and boy oh boy is she Good at it !! Elizabeth has been taking workshops from talented and amazing doll artists like Colleen Athens and Lillian Alberti and is an active member of the  "Warwick doll crafters guild " She inspires me to keep keep trying Collage , Telling me not to over think it ..

This  charm is close to actual size in the photo
I made  it from polymer clay useing a push mold.
Added a little paint with my finger ,triple thick
and ultra fine glitter .finished  it with a vintage bead .

      


This  is the second year I attended the " Art Is You" retreat . I connected with So many amazing talented , Fun ,Caring fellow Artists  .. I hope that the connections I made will grow in to friendships to last a life time  ..peace , love and creativity to all of you  xoxoxo
  
    


My altered book.. the pockets are made from Coin envelops ..I learned this
cool idea  from
Terri Sproul .



a page from one of the needle cases I have been making this year

another sketch

Taylor .. one of the dolls I made this year as you can see she is not totaly finished