I Can't Believe It's Been This Long!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG! Time does fly. Seriously! I can't believe the last time I posted was in DECEMBER??? WTH? I promise to try to do better at this. There just are not enough hours in a day to do everything I want to do and really need to do! I know I'm not the only one with that problem, but I think its a good problem to have. That means I have a very full life. 

One reason for posting today is to share some fabulous news -- now this isn't the big surprise of mine I have been teasing you about. This is about my dear friend Ellen Smith Vargo. You must check out her blog at "ellen vargo ... ten thirty-six art". Ellen recently joined PaperArtsy as a guest designer. If you know Ellen, you know she uses her own hand carved stamps in her artwork. Well, in addition to Ellen designing for PaperArtsy, they recognized the artistic genius in Ellen's stamp carving and decided to produce Ellen's stamps under their Eclectica3 line. And I mean they are not only fabulous, they are MUST-HAVES: 

These stamps scream Ellen's distinct style and creativity. They are usable in so many ways that I would never think about. Check out her blog to see how she creates lovely borders and complete backgrounds with these designs. I've placed my order for the entire collection. I hope you will too. 

Now, what have I been up to, you ask? Lots! My 'big surprise' isn't quite ready to go public yet, but we are very, very close at this point. Thank God, I'm about to burst about it. I promise I'll share the very minute I get the go ahead! 

Dave and I have recently been featured in an article in the Baltimore Sun newspaper. Long story, but the nutshell version is that my breast surgeon, Kristen Fernandez, contacted me several months ago asking if Dave would be willing to be interviewed about male breast cancer. She had been approached by the director of MedStar PR about male patients. Kristen told the director that she had a patient that was married to a male survivor and told her the story of how we met and it became something else. We were on the front page of the Baltimore Sun on Valentine's Day and featured online here. Pretty cool! Next stop The Ellen Show! LOL 

Here's some of the art I've been playing with: 

I've been doing some collages and painted papers for those collages inspired by Jane Davies. I've also cut some of them up into mini collages. I really like how some of the pieces look when cut up. I'm taking some of Jane's classes this October at Art & Soul in Virginia Beach and can't wait. Here are a couple I've done lately. 

After making my first floor cloth (shown in my previous post), I had the idea that I wanted to paint another one for our laundry room. The room is painted taupe with white trim, the washer and dryer are taupe and we have a cornice over the window in a really pretty turquoise that our friend Jodi made. So that was my color scheme for the floor cloth and I bought a blank that was 2.5' x 6', just the right size to go in front of the washer and dryer. Here's how it turned out: 

And last but certainly not least, I started my own Etsy Shop, InkyObsessions, where I am selling some of my art pieces as well as some items custom made using prints of my original art, like wine totes and cell phone covers. Here are a few other pieces that are featured in the shop now.  I hope you'll check it out. 

That's all for now folks! Stay tuned for more art and fun to come! 

Happy Arting, 

Patti 

Holiday Projects in the Works

Hello to all! 

Busy time of year you say? I cannot imagine what this time of year is like for all the parents out there. Its busy enough for me with Dave and the pups and a very small immediate family. I don't know how all the working parents of small kids get everything done for the holidays. My hat's off to you! 

I'm taking the week of Christmas and the week of New Year's off and you can bet there will be a lot of paint slinging, ink splattering, paper cutting, cigar box gluing, alcohol ink blowing and tons of fun going on in my studio during this down time. 

Here are some pics of some of the projects I've been working on recently: 

 My friend Jen Cooke mentioned the idea of painting a floor cloth for her. I'd never considered that or even thought about a floor cloth...but I am now! I found an online vendor that sells the floor cloths preshrunk, gesso'd and pre sewn. Now anyone that saw my video of making the pencil cases knows that sewing a floor cloth was completely out of the question. But CanvasWorks FloorCloths saved me! So I'm still hung up on this turquoise/orange palette, I just love the pop you get from these two colors together. Here's what I came up with for my first one, more canvases on order! 

My online order of porcelain ornaments finally arrived. I made a few for some of my girls at work that traveled in for meetings this week. I'll be making more of these for our tree very soon. So much fun to make and I love the vivid colors of the alcohol inks too. Check out my YouTube videos of how I make these. 

I also made another cigar box for my bright-eyed little friend Juliette. She's ADORABLE and I could smooch those dimples right off her cheeks. Her Daddy, who works with me, called last night to tell me he couldn't get the box away from her and she was sleeping with it in her crib. She loves bright colors and animals of all kinds, so here's Juliette's box. 

Enough for art, now on to the pups -- Mojo and Babe lay on our bed every morning while I get ready for work. I came out of the shower to find Mojo in a bit of a pickle. No idea how this happened, but he was laying very still as if he thought he wasn't supposed to move the covers off his head. It was just funny to watch his eyes follow me around the room while he layer so still until I uncovered him. Goofball! 

Mojo and Babe in our first snow of the season. We didn't get much but enough for them to run around like crazy and eat their share off the deck. 

And my little friend Peyton visited this past weekend. She just loves both of our pups. Here she is hugging on Mojo. 

And on our chair and a half recliner that we call the Queeny chair. Dave bought this to accommodate Babe's habit of wanting to be a 98 lb lap dog. At least this way she can lay beside me rather than on top of me. There was enough room for little Peyton to join us and we played her new computer game laying over top of Babe. 

 And Peyton giving Babe some love. Too cute. Geezoowhiz!

This is how Babe and Mojo lay up on the sofa with Dave almost every night. This time Babe won top dog position.  #spoiledrotten 

I hope to be posting more while I'm off for the holidays and more videos and streams coming too! If you don't already follow me everywhere, here's how to find me and keep up with what I'm doing:

     YouTube

     Ustream

     FaceBook Art Page

I'll be applying the last coat of sealer to my floor cloth tonight after getting home late from a work dinner in Annapolis. Tomorrow night the tree goes up and I'll continue making some of my gelli notecards and matching envelopes for some gifts. More ornaments for our tree. Oh yeah, and I'll do some baking over the weekend. I'm sure there's more, thank God Dave's memory is still in tact! He'll remember what else I should be doing. Enjoy the crazy, busy times -- that means you have a life and loved ones to do these things for!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! 

Patti