Wild Idea Exchange

It is Sylvia's fault! Sylvia, Patti S, and I decided to do a prayer wand exchange-that expanded to a prayer wand, amulet bag, spirit stick or bag, or something to that effect. I had several false starts. I thought I had great ideas, but my spirit told me I was wrong. I finally decided on two pieces for Patti S-a bag from leather with some treasures tucked inside, and a star shaman.

May the spirit guide you when the muse goes on holiday!

Prom

My baby, Alex or Allie to her friends, is growing up too fast. She is now a junior, and went to prom with her senior friend, Grant. Can you tell she is excited???

House Book

I love little houses. This was a deco book exchange hosted by Susan, and art was added to my book by Susan, Patti, Heather, Marilyn, Christine and Laura. An incredible group of artists! Although the round was finished last year, I just finished coptic stitching my pages!! I am a bit on the slow side on finishing! This book graces the mantle in my living room and is admired by all who visit my home.

Thank You Elaine

I vacationed in Rhode Island last summer with several artist friends. We laughed, ate, and created wonderful art. Elaine taught us how to make a book-it is a structure I love! Here is one I finished in the past month-Elaine provided the black tape with the white words, too. Elaine, thank you so much for the tutoring and the supplies!!!! One of my all time favorite designs that I will use again.

I Love Books!

I am playing with books-just making one or two when I can. Here are a couple of quick books that captured my attention.

Eraser Carving

I love to carve. I admired the carving of some of the people on the Stampsmith Yahoo group-joined a swap-and then just really got into carving. My latest carvings are two pigs for a Year of the Pig swap. The black/gray pig is the front of the page and the red pig is part of my signature page on the back. All of the pig pages were assembled in a fabulous book by Rabbit. Some of my carving were made into rubber stamps and can be found at:
http://www.jhone.com/stamps.html Hurry, she is selling out all merchandise!

Art in California

Although we spent much time visiting and taking in all of the sites, and trying to eat our way through Thousand Oaks and surrounding cities, we did manage a few hours to spend on some projects. I took blank journals to gift to all and we purchased canvas blocks to experiment with while we just enjoyed each other's company. The first photo is the front of my altered journal; the second is the back cover. I never have understood all of the copyright laws, but hey-these really are some of my favorite rubber stamps and scrapbook papers. Another favorite rubber stamp is on the canvas I created which is shown in the third photo. I really enjoyed our art time and watching everyone work. I usually am alone in my own studio, so playing in someone else's studio and using all of their goodies was great fun!!

California!!

In February, Irene and I set forth on a journey to California to visit Bobbe. Bobbe's daughter Jen joined us there. In the first photo, I challenge Bobbe to the biggest smile, and in the second photo, Irene, Jen, and Bobbe's Daughter in Law, Linda enjoy themselves at a favorite restaurant.

Books for a Friend

My friend Nina lost a close friend of her family. He had given her some pieces of Ostrich skin left over from some boots he had made. Nina asked me to make a book for her. Instead, I made two books for her from the skin she chose. It was such an honor that Nina asked me to do this for her.