Mom's Chair

It's been a long summer! Lots of things have been going on like vacations, resting and having tons of fun! So one day I was feeling very creative and decided to start working on Mom's chair. This is a chair that she found somewhere many years ago and painted it an adorable yellow and sponge painted white on top. After many years out in the weather it needed a little help. Mom asked if I would collage it. Sure, why not! I had just finished a table for my sister. I do believe that Karen O'Brien has created a monster in me...I just love to collage! Nothing is safe in my house. Someday my partner will come home and I will have collaged everything including the TV!

With lots of love, paper, glue and paint the process begins. My favorite papers to use are maps, book pages, music and a coloring book page (this makes for interesting marks). Layers after layers are put on the chair. Karen taught us NOT to fall in love with any one section because before you know it...it's changed. I love to watch it transform from one look to the next after each layer. Add a coat of transparent paint to the end and watch it change again.

Use what you've got around you...

Mom recently took an online class "Art of Silliness 3" by Carla Sonhiem
One of the assigments of the day was to make a face with what you have around you. This is what she came up with...too cute!! The paper under the face is a background I was using to paint on. The eyes are candles, nose is a nut, eyebrows and mouths are a peice of old cording...clever, mom, simply clever!!

Dogs Eat...Cats Dine

Thanks to Teesha Moore and YouTube, I got a chance to do something different in my journal. This was a blast! We started with a border around the edge of the journal page, added some cut-outs from a magazine and started a funny picture. Added some fancy eyes, whiskers, pail of fish, wavy lines and fun pen strokes....and there you go, a great page! Thanks Teesha for the inspiration and trying something new.

Grunge Meets Karen

Hello fellow journal people! Today was an awesome day for creativity! Mom and I went to another class with Karen O'Brien! Once again it was fabulous. We had been asking Karen to help us with the pages of our journals. She taught us how to create background pages....well, that's great, but what do we do with them now?? Today was just a small spattering of what we could do! With an image, glue, paint, tore paper and a few markers I came up with this little doll of a gal. Not sure what to name her yet, but it will come to me.

The left side of the spread is a grunge technique that we learned from a video we watched from Comfortable Shoes Studio. Leslie has some great videos on You Tube if you get a chance to see them.

Collaged Mats

Ok, this was a lot of fun! And I have to make more! Cat asked what would happen if you collage a mat for a photo....well, I wondered....why not!?! So the next time we were at Michaels Craft Store, we picked up a couple of photo mats that fit a 4x6 photo. I cruised through my old photos and found a couple that I thought needed to be matted. Away I collaged. I like to use old books, maps, sheet music and a little fun for the elements. Once again I have to thank Karen O'Brien for the collage lesson. That women rocks!


The first, of course, is Keiko the killer whale. We got a chance to see him when he was up in the aquarium in Newport, Oregon back in 1996. Huge, beautiful animal! It was stormy that weekend, so his water was a little cloudy. If you wanted long enough, he would appear from the murky water straight to the window and look at all of us. Oh, he was a site.

Next was a place called Fountains Abby in North Yorkshire, England. The architecture was amazing. Some people leave their heart in San Fransisco? I left mine at Fountains Abby. Mom and I got the chance to come back at night and listen to a men's choir sing some up to date songs. Seemed odd in such a magnificent place.

Our Family...

Our best friends, Dana and Fran, had a baby back in May. He is just about the cutest thing you will ever see. Sweet face, sweet nature, just a sweet boy. Sigh! I seem to cry every-time I see him. Not sure why, I just feel the emotions and smile....

While visiting them in October we walked into a baby store and I saw a wooden frame that was so-so done with the words "Our Family just grew by two feet". Clever, I thought, but I think I would like to make one for them and make it more personal. So, as Fran was giving Lee his bath, I asked if we could take a couple of pictures of his feet....so sneaky! Christmas was coming and I thought that would be a great time to give them something special. So Cat and I put our heads together and came up with a great wide black frame, the pic of his feet, some velum for the words and the collage technique Karen O'Brien taught, I was off and running....

Hollywood Journal

Well, I finally got the outside of the Hollywood Canvas Journal finished! Whew.... that can take some time looking for just the right closure and buttons and .....stuff! It has been fun adding stickers, letters and finding pictures to add to the inside of the journal for visual fun. The trip begins....


I have written before that mom and I are trying very hard to use things we already have or given to us. So, why not use a book of maps for the inside pages?? I tried to stick with the California maps the best I could....I have never been crazy about my hand writing so I found much easier to type out the trip on the computer.

We found a great little coffee shop very close to the place we were staying....



We visited with Cat's grandma Virginia before she passed about a month later. What a lovely visit we had playing cards and reminiscing with old photos. Miss Virginia, you will be missed.

This was a great experience and I think I will make trip journals in the future...