Weekend Wrap-up

I keep feeling like there is something missing in my life.  But I'm also overwhelmed with so many people that love me, admire all of my talents, cherish my friendship, and want to be in my life.  How can I feel both?  I guess those struggles within myself are the perfect ingredients for my art.  My art is not always lollipops and rainbows.  You'll never get grey with me, just black and white.  I keep it real.

So in my art world this weekend - I did a lot of digital editing and ordered prints and framed prints.  Tomorrow night I'll be painting canvas and wrapping up my August projects.  September is quickly approaching! 

Here are just some of the frames I bought today at Jo-Ann's...only one of them is mine --the beautiful doggie.  All of the others are gifts for family and friends. 

While at the arts and crafts store I remembered that I also needed gift bags and gift boxes.  So I started loading up my cart and then stopped myself.  I thought "What am I doing?  I can make this stuff at home and mine will be WAY cuter!"  So I put everything back.  Here is a sneak peek of one of the gift boxes/containers:

Super cute, huh?  The tree is chipboard by Maya Road.  I misted it brown and then embossed it with clear Ultra Thick Embossing powder.  The bird is by K&Company, I think.  I made the litle wings by cutting out scrapbook paper and then layered them with pop dots.  I also added the googly eye because I didn't like the eye that was printed on the pressboard bird.  I know, how innovative is that?  Using pressboard cutouts?  Kudos K&Company!

On Friday afternoon, Keira and I had the entire 7th floor to ourselves.  So we decided to blow bubbles.  I'm so glad that I carry my cameras with me at all times.  I LOVE the way this turned out:

The Artistic Journey

This Fall I will be participating in an event called The Artistic Journey. As part of that, participants were asked to design a tag that describes their artistic journey. I wanted to incorporate all of my favorite altered art elements: wings, crowns, chipboard, and something vintage. The photos included an artsy picture of me, because let’s face it, I’m far from ordinary, a picture of one of my canvases, a picture of one of my photography subjects, and a picture of a tag that I made recently. All of these things describe where I am creatively on my artistic journey, because when it comes to my creativity, there is truly no pattern necessary.

I pulled out all of these materials and then some to make my project come to life. And seeing this, makes me want to rush home and play in my studio.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. I first misted a large tag with a shimmery brown mist – just in case my next step rendered any tears. I dried the mist with a heat tool.

2. I took a vintage piece of dress pattern, crumbled it up and then unfurled it. I adhered the pattern to the tag using a glue stick and then cut away the excess around the tag.

3. I distressed the edges of the tag with a distress tool and then distressed the body of the tag with black soot distress ink and vintage photo distress ink. This really made the creases in the crumbled pattern pop.

4. I traced the crown and the wing on metallic eggplant colored paper and cut it out.

5. I painted and misted all of the chipboard pieces.

6. I glued the cut out wing and crown shapes to the back of the coordinating chipboard.

7. Arranged all of the images under the film strip, taped them down and then placed film transparency over – stapling it into place.

8. Matted my picture on a piece of purple cardstock, distressed the edges of the cardstock with a distress tool.

9. Glued the wing over my picture.

10. Cut out second picture of myself – cut around hair outline to allow wing to show behind my shoulder.

11. Glued chipboard pieces to tag.

12. Added sticker letters to tag.

13. Colored stones for crown using eggplant and raisin alcohol ink. When dry, glued to crown.

14. Stitched on tag and upper left edge of tag.

Thanks for looking - hope you liked my tag.  :)

My BIG Announcement

Friday, September 17, 2010

Mi Gente Photo Exhibit by Ms. Ruin

Martin Luther King Center

Dallas, Texas

::HUGE SMILE:: Yes, I am having a photo exhibit on this day and I'm sooooooo thrilled! At this time, the exhibit will be featured for one day however there is a possibility that it will be extended. My friends and family are so excited for me. And me, well, I'm completely ecstatic that I was sought out and given this opportunity. I never expected that my hobby would take off like this. Last week alone I was approached by 5 different people about doing photos for them. ::sigh:: Unfortunately my schedule is jam packed through mid September. But I hope to get some sessions in here and there.

So I’ve got a few weeks to develop my exhibit and I’m taking a four day trip over Labor Day Weekend to take some photos for this exhibit. But shhhhh…it’s a big secret! I mean, not so much where I’m going, but what I’m photographing. So I’m completely stoked about that!

Then in October there is a Burlesque Festival and I have been asked by one of the organizers to sell my altered art/canvases at that festival. So I’m trying to get some art work done before that time to really make it worth my while.

So yes, I’m busy, busy, busy – however, I don’t ever want my creativity to become a task. I don’t want to lose the passion because otherwise it just becomes a job.

Anywho – Sevendust tonight! I’m out.

I am just a girl that hurts...

This is probably the best page I've ever made.  Well, according to all of my livejournal readers.  I miss them.  Hope they make it to my new blog soon.  :)  Lots of emotion in this page.  Definitely a favorite of mine.  This was inspired by life and by the song "Rockstar" by My Ruin.  Before you ask...yes, I hand stamped every single letter! I'm crazy, but it was so worth it. The X's is a stamp by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous. 

I stamped this heart on cardboard and then cut it out. Then I stapled it down the middle...not to the paper, just on the actual cardboard. I used pop dots to adhere it to the paper. Stamp is by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous.

This is a chipboard scroll by Maya Road. I misted it using Tiger Lily and Coffee Shop Mists by Tattered Angels. I then stamped over it with another Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous stamp.

I really wanted the "Hurts" to pop --that's the emotion I poured into this page. So again, I stamped on cardboard and then cut out the letters and adhered them with Scrappy Glue. Stamps are by Inkadinkado.

12x12's

I'm not awesome at scrapbooking.  But time to time I do play around with scrapbook pages.  Here are some of the pages I've made:

Birds

I love birds.  Mainly black birds, but newsy birds like the ones I made for this tag and cards are awesome too.  The birds were hand drawn on vintage pages from books printed in the early 20's.  Old books make me giddy.  :D

This one is actually a canvas: 

Jewelry, really?

I'm not gonna lie...I've tried to make jewelry in the past but I sucked at it!  But these were easy.  A little bit of altered art around your neck.  Aren't they cute?

My other half

This man drives me crazy.  We disagree on most everything and he annoys me to no end.  But I love him bunches.  If you asked him about me, he would tell you I nag him to no end, constantly criticize his choice in clothing, and I hog the sheets in bed...but he would also tell you that he loves me bunches. 

I'll never forget the day that he told me he loved me.  It was monumental.  We had ended our long distance relationship because we were 9 hours apart, living in two different worlds.  But four months after saying goodbye he came to his senses and said he wanted to make it work.  Not sure how leaving his dirty socks in the middle of the living room seven years later ties back into making it work...but here we are, an old married couple.  At least we keep it real.

First Post!

Hello blogspot friends!  This is my very first post.  Hope you like my projects.  /ms. ruin


This first project is a canvas piece.  A little bit of art therapy.  I love music, love lyrics - my friends joke that I speak in lyrics.  These lyrics are from the song "Special Pets" by OTEP.

More pictures behind the cut...take flight.