My friend Lynne hosted an ATC swap and made a sweet holder, that's where I first saw it. Then some time after my friend Sue sent me instructions how to make the little holder.
Getting to the point now LOL, I've made a holder with 4 ATCs to fit into it. I'm going to put them on ebay later on, but here they are:
My good friend, Sue, has tagged me, so here goes:
Sorry, forgot to put in the link http://tryittuesdays.wordpress.com (still have to figure out why it's not clickable in the side column....)
This is the first week of the competition - we had to create a background following their guidelines then embellish it. Here's my entry:
I've altered some more cabinet cards, and re-worked a couple from before. 
I've been painting a watercolour but got carried away and too many colours, in short, I don't like it. Then I used some strips of white paper to make a frame and moved it around the painting to see if any of it could be salvaged. There are a couple of areas I can develop into small paintings, but I need to not look at it for a while to be able to see it with fresh eyes.
So then I started altering cabinet cards and was having trouble getting some Lumiere out and, you know what I'm going to say I'm sure, a huge dollop landed on the card! Sooooo, I had to quickly get some more cards to paint and had enough lumiere for 9 = they'll be part of a series LOL.
I have painted a textural piece which started off as flowers. But on looking at it with fresh eyes, I noticed that I could see a pair of shoes. So I changed the top to give an impression of a skirt. But now I'm stuck -- is it finished? does it need something else?? is the contrast not strong enough?? Any comments will be much appreciated.
I now have a button for Ebay but have nothing there to sell - Sod's law!!
Probably some will already know about this but for those who don't: Don Campbell wrote a book and then produced a CD with music for the Mozart Effect which has shown in research 1) to raise IQ by focussing attention, 2)enhances creativity by activating the 'right brain', and 3) reduces stress and tension by moderating heartbeat, blood pressure and body temperature.
Has anyone got the CD - and if so, do you think it works??
Last night, I prepared my canvas and did the texture with gesso, paper and cheesecloth. Today, I'm going to start with paints. It's ages since I did any 'real' art and I'm looking forward to it. I'm taking a break from ATCs but might do some cabinet cards -- I'll see how I feel.
I've photographed a couple of oil paintings on wood that I did a long time ago - here they are:
I've not been doing anything 'arty' whilst my mother has been, she went home today. The first thing I did (apart from loading the washing machine) was to turn out my wardrobe and be really ruthless and so filled a few bags for the charity shop. Then I mooched around and couldn't settle to do anything constructive. (There's another wardrobe to do, but that'll have to wait LOL).
I have decided that I NEED to paint something big - so I'm going to start on a large canvas tomorrow - my dining room will once more become my "studio" and I have screens to hide the mess I'll make. I have a few more of my paintings to post but haven't taken photos yet. And I have to find out how to add banners here.
But one thing I did today was some digital work with new brushes and I'm happy that what I wanted to do came out right. There's a great tutorial on 'Inspire Me Thursday' for this.
My mother has arrived to celebrate her 91st tomorrow - I'm doing lunch for her remaining relatives slightly younger than she is - should be fun - all sorts of skeletons come out of the cupboard after the wine's been flowing haha!!
Today my mother helped me to plant up the window-boxes and pots and I was trying to sweep up while the wind was playing havoc with the trees. Anyway, the garden looks nice and just in time for the visit tomorrow.
I've found some time to make another stitched ATC - it's like playing with dolls again and I really am enjoying dressing them. It's Queen Dottie on ebay - 
