Tuesday, July 31, 2007

More glassine to come...


Well here I am today trying out Emilia's photo placement tips. Emilia is a master of placing many pictures per post, so I asked her for some tips (blogger and I don't get along). I've been a one picture per post gal because every time I add a second photo, I lose the ability to enlarge the pictures within the post.

justjohanna images, glassine envelope, distress ink and machine stitching. I am still working on "tags". How's this one?

Thanks for coming by today!

Monday, July 30, 2007

Pardon our dust....

Not only is Godelieve a great stamper and friend, did you know she also runs a tech blog? I would have never been able to mess around with my template's html without her help. If you want to shake things up a bit, you should study her tech site! Thanks, Godelieve!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Artword: Candid


Candid thoughts. This is a page in my notebook for this week's Artword.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Smells like mackerel, tastes like chicken..


I am obsessed with capturing sun flare in pictures, so at the risk of permanent eye damage, I bring you these pictures.


Last night, over the skies of Southern California, there was a great example of my all time favorite weather phenomenon- The Mackerel Sky. There is something about it…something in the air makes me take deeper breaths and gaze a little longer. I am not sure, but I think there tend to be a lot of Mackerel sky conditions during fall, so maybe fall memories stir up my happy thoughts.


I was a good student, but not a meteorologist, so I won't trick you into thinking that I can ramble off the definition of Mackerel sky without a little refresher, so here goes: “A mackerel sky is an indicator of moisture (the cloud) and instability (the cumulus form) at intermediate levels (2400-6100 m, 8000-20,000 ft). If the lower atmosphere is stable and no moist air moves in, the weather will most likely remain dry. However, moisture at lower levels combined with surface temperature instability can lead to rain showers or thunderstorms should the rising moist air reach this layer. In the winter it is often said to precede snowstorms and flurries. There is an old saying, "Mackerel sky, mackerel sky. Never long wet and never long dry." The phrase 'mackerel sky' came from the fact that it looks similar to the markings of an adult king mackerel.”


Football season is right around the corner. Soon we’ll be at the pumpkin patch with the Carry-on (who, by the way, is probably heavier than the allotted weight a Carry-on can be these days...). It was great to see the stores setting out their Halloween and fall decorations this week! (Oh...we had chicken for dinner.)

Friday, July 27, 2007

My first video post.... can you blame me? This is a gem!

1500 plus CPDRC inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines at practice! This is not the final routine, and definitely not a punishment! God bless the Philippines!

Time for a refill.....


It was time to re-fill my collection of watercolor background paper. The colors I mixed looked so pretty last night, I made a quick collage. I love to watch paint dry. The swirls and striations the watercolors leave are so beautiful to me...

I also worked on a new blog banner. I took the picture of those antique (faux antique?) frames at the flea market a couple of months ago. I was going to post it only as a photograph, but then started to mess around in photoshop with it and voila! A new banner is born.

TGIF! Stay cool where ever you are..

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Singing Bee

Joey Fatone or not....this show is awesome!!

Sing




I always have trouble thinking of things to go on tags…I always question what the tags are for. I guess nothing, really. So this card is just for my personal collection.

I saw a glassine envelope project in an issue of Somerset a while ago and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on some. Rather than hunt week after week at the flea market for vintage glassine, I bought new envelopes and discovered that they age beautifully with distress ink. I attempted to age them with acrylic, but the water was too much for the envelopes, causing it to warp and buckle.

This envelope is colored with Tattered Rose distress ink. I also used Tattered Rose to dye the ribbon on the tags to match. I spend the extra money to buy satin double faced ribbon so that it is nice on both sides. Throw on some machine stitching, die cuts from my Revolution, a little justjohanna, dymo labels and you’re good to go. I really enjoy the “dirtying up” process…I love to include the hand drawn pencil and pen doodling on all my projects. It’s part of the Julification process.

Thank you for coming by today!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Thank you, Tova!

Imagine my delight when I found this in the mailbox! No envelope....just like this! All the way from France! Thank you, Tova! This was the best one yet! (I am amazed it went through the mail...I bet all the carriers along the way had a smile on their face! Yeah!!)

Imaginez mon plaisir quand j'ai trouvé ceci dans la boîte aux lettres ! Aucun.just d'enveloppe... comme ceci ! Tout le chemin de France ! Merci, Tova ! C'était le meilleur encore ! (je lui suis stupéfié suis passé par le courrier... que je parie que tous les porteurs le long de la manière ont eu un sourire sur leur visage ! Ouais ! !)

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Summer 1958



For Wednesday Stamper this week, the theme is to post some of our current favorite pieces. These days I am in love with my acrylic paints. I am reading books by Bernie Berlin and Claudine Hellmuth, plus throwing in the things I learned in my Michael deMeng class pertaining to mixing Golden fluid acrylics. This is a great time for me. I am learning to do so much! A big challenge I am having is to incorporate my justjohanna rubber stamps into the projects that I admire so much when looking through all of the books and magazines I have purchased. I have quite the library over here!


For this canvas, I used the circle dot background from justjohanna. This is a very versatile stamp. I am going to keep practicing with vintage images and justjohanna stamps, because…well, because that is what my brain is telling me to do. There are so many talented members on the justjohanna design team! I am in love with the images and all of the work that they create using them. If you browse through the justjohanna gallery, you get a really nice treat- the projects vary so much, there is always something neat to find!


That bathing beauty is my grandmother. The picture was taken while she was on vacation in Florida in 1958. The canvas has a really awesome sheen to it. I used my fingers to mix in a thin glaze of interference green paint. I could not use the camera to capture the sheen…the camera could not focus in on the small text.


I’ve got another 2 day class coming up on August 3rd and 5th. I can’t wait! It is one thing to read about these techniques in a book and another thing to hear (and see)an artist speak about them in person. We’re going to learn all about transfer techniques as well as more Golden paint techniques!

Luggage-cam

name this craft supply...

Feel better soon...


new images from justjohanna; prismacolor pencils.

Numerical

pen, paper, artword


Monday, July 23, 2007

In a berry mood....


One more card featuring the new justjohanna images which are due out soon! I colored these with Prismacolor pencils and added a little machine stitching around the edge. Just a simple note card to make someone smile!


Thank you for coming by today!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

No joke...

I am fresh out of jokes tonight, so you’ll have to settle for some jibber jabber. This weekend went by pretty fast! I’ve been pretty active...running around after the Carry-On, Luggage Dog, etc. I managed to crank out a lot of colored pencil cards and I sat down tonight after everyone was asleep to mess around with my paints. Oh..I also doodled 3 pages in my sketch book which I plan to throw some color on (markers) tomorrow. One of the pages is for the Artword this week- numbers.


Take a look at these canvases I am working on. Both of them started out with the same coat of base color. Look at what happens to them once you add layers of paint on top of the base! They both went in totally different directions and I am very happy with them both. I am working on a collage for this week’s Wednesday Stamper, which is “artist choice”. I have been reading Claudine Hellmuth’s book, "Collage Discovery Workshop". It’s a good book! I got it on sale at Michael’s for 40% off. Thanks, Nancy for telling me about this book!

See you tomorrow!

Happy Sunday with a cherry on top!

I have limited "art time" this week so I have been walking around with my Prismacolor pencils and blank images. This is another card I colored "on the go". These are brand new justjohanna images! Do you love them? I made this card to cheer up one of my friends.

More new images tomorrow! See you then!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

You're the Berry Best!


More brand new justjohanna images! Colored with Prismacolor pencils, pencil, black pen. It's been so long since I've done anything with a bright white background..I am not really sure what to do with myself!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Sneak Peek....


Brand spankin' new justjohanna images are on the way! Here is a little card I made using the new images! The top example is how the card started out....bottom is what happened after it was "Juliefied". Hope you like these new images as much as I do!

See you tomorrow with one more sneak peek!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Strike a pose..

Last weekend at Michael deMeng’s class, I started a second shoe shrine…I was able to work on it today and made some progress. I am still on the hunt for some religious medals I have stashed around here somewhere..those will get added one day. This shrine features a curled toe- perfect for Artword’s theme this week, “Curl”. Unlike my other shoe shrine, this shrine comes out from the wall.


Thank you for coming by today!

les boutons de rose

polymer clay buttons- justjohanna

I made these buttons for a justjohanna project yesterday. I am enjoying taking it easy and working on various projects these days. After these buttons hardened, I painted them with a color I mixed using Golden fluid acrylic paints. To add some pizzazz, I topped them off with some interference gold paint.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Series Finale



Don’t fret. You knew it had to come to an end the moment you first laid eyes on the beauty of 80’s Tuesday. Though the 80’s will live forever in my mind (and my iTunes for that matter), it’s time to say goodbye to ‘80’s Tuesday’ in Luggage Land.


I took a look back and reread all fourteen ‘80’s Tuesday’ posts and came up with the project above. Since the music of the 80’s was my favorite part of 80’s Tuesday (followed closely by the news of the decade), I took my favorite song from each post and put it into the project. I may just make a cd of these for the car….


Thank you, dear 80’s Tuesday fans for keeping the dream alive each week. I love you, man.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Sunday Night Joke


Saturday, July 14, 2007

I’ve got sole, but I’m not a soldier…



(Killers)

Ok…where do I start? I LOVE Michael deMeng! Come on… you know what I mean. I took his shoe shrine class all day today and I am going to go so far as to say…right here…that the class KICKED ASS!

I think a lot of you have known that I have been having mental anguish over making so many cards. Cards here cards there…happy this, thank you that…honestly- I am tired. I needed to get my hands dirty with something else and I am so glad I took this class! Everything was perfect!

El hombre taught us how to do so many things….from tips on how to better use the Dremmel, how to age paper with Golden fluid acrylics…about composition..how to mix paint…how to use interference and metallic colors…you name it…the class was all encompassing.

The best part was that it wasn’t a class where we had to sit and listen and feverishly take notes. It was free flowing and casual. Michael is so awesome to listen to…he teaches it so you “get it”...I don’t know how to explain it. All I can say is if he comes to your town- take the class.

Check out my shrine. I am in love with it the more I look at it. You can see how the shoe started out and how I changed the color using acrylic paints. The picture is of my grandfather in 1914…I also included sheet music in my grandfather’s handwriting. I love how this turned out!

Today was an “ah-ha” moment for ol’ Julie. I found something I like to do…and learned many things to try on other projects.

Thank you for coming by! See you tomorrow.

Live Earth...a tribute

green atc

This is an ATC I made using Stampbord, Distress Ink and justjohanna images. The white areas on the piece are where I used my scratch tool to carve into the Stampbord.


You can calculate your carbon footprint by clicking here. Do it. You owe it to our mother. With all the blog fun that travels around, I hope some of you may put the footprint calculator on your blogs too. Spread the word. It's not only about buying a Prius...it's the little things.


Friday, July 13, 2007

Press the button....


Wednesday stamper is on summer schedule these days which means instead of weekly challenges, they are having bi-weekly challenges...which is good because I too seem to be on summer schedule...which doesn't make sense since I don't really have a paycheck type job...one could argue I am always on summer schedule now....


Needless to say, I enjoyed taking my sweet time to complete this project. justjohanna images, foof-a-la buttons, doodlidees and some stardust pen. Oh...that's a tea cup from a sheet of paper I cut out and distress ink dyed background paper...or was it tea dyed...I can't remember..Pop dots on the birdie and tea cup. Thanks for coming by today!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Stay tuned....





Brand new cute justjohanna rubber stamps are on the way!! I've seen the designs...they're super cute and fresh! You can click here to add your name to justjohanna's email list- you'll be one of the first to see the new images!

Wooooowhoo!

I am taking a great class on Saturday! I finally forked out the money to give it a whirl... I am taking an all day class with Michael deMenge! I can't wait!!

baby cakes

Happy Birthday, Jakob!

Jakob turns three today and the Carry-On sent him this birthday card. justjohanna images on top of some butcher paper. I also threw in some stardust pen for good measure. The inside reads, "put on your birthday hat", which is also a justjohanna sentiment.


Thanks for stopping by today!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Daring Cardmakers- Text


The challenge this week is to make a card using "text". Heat embossing, justjohanna images, hand painted background, machine stitching.




Sew Happy


These seem to be getting more difficult each week! Isa is up to letter 'H'...my card is "happy". justjohanna images, vintage sheet music, machine stitching.

See you tomorrow!



Tuesday, July 10, 2007

My White Album

This has got to be the furthest possible project from my usual "style"...stop laughing...I do have style... Tami posts weekly color challenges on her blog. You can imagine my shock and horror when she challenged her readers not to use any color this week.

What actually turned out to be a cool concept, this card photographed horribly. It is a card made out of acatete with a vellum insert. There are justjohanna images stamped in white pigment ink, heat embossed clear; white machine stitching.

I guess I am happy to learn that feeding acetate through my sewing machine doesn't result in a disaster... Thanks, Tami!

(In retrospect, I think white is actually a color...I should have post a totally clear project..lol)

mil novecientos ochenta y siete



Monday, July 9, 2007

Artword- Grunge



Head on over to the Artword blog this week and take a stab at the "Grunge" challenge. It's a fun genre! For this project, I used alcohol ink on glossy cardstock (there is a lot of gold mixative in there), justjohanna images, dictionary pages, dymo labels and black pen. I like how this one turned out!



Thank you for coming by today! See you tomorrow...

Remember the flower contest?

I didn't win. You can see the winning entries by clicking here and here. Thank you to everyone who voted for me!!

Sunday, July 8, 2007

May I present....

the Carry-On

I know....lots of photography going on....I am having fun with it. Time to settle down and make some art tonight. I got my new caran d'ache neocolor II's and they are calling out to me.....can't wait to use them! Happy Sunday!

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Don't rely on your neighbors to do these....you have to change!

Do your part to ensure a healthy planet by incorporating these ten simple actions into your everyday life.

1) Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). Look closely at labels when buying light bulbs. Those marked as CFLs last 10 times longer and use 66 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs while delivering the same light levels. As a result, CFLs accrue net savings between $30 and $45 over their lifetimes, depending on your cost of electricity, the wattage size of the CFL, and the lamp's lifespan (manufacturers make CFLs that last 6,000, 8,000, or 10,000 hours). The return on investment is 15 times higher than leaving your money in a bank account or the average return on Dows-Jones stock investments. CFLs also reduce the release of greenhouse gas emissions and are safer because they burn at a lower temperature (160° F or less) than incandescent and halogen lights, which can burn at temperatures up to 500° F.

2) Turn down the thermostat just three degrees in the winter and up three degrees in the summer. You can prevent the emission of nearly 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

3) Inflate your car tires. When walking or biking isn't feasible, you can do something to better protect the Earth while driving. Take a step in the right direction by inflating your car tires. Pumping them up can improve your gas mileage by about 3.3 percent -- a savings of about 7 cents per gallon. It's the right thing to do for your wallet and the right thing to do for the Earth.

4) Turn down the hot water heater. Set your water heater to 130° F. While you're at it, turn down your house thermostat during the winter to 55° F when you go to bed or leave home. These simple actions can have enormous positive consequences, preventing the emission of more than 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide over the course of the year, while cutting your energy bill by more than 10 percent. And that's just from you! Get your friends on board, and the benefits will multiply.

5) Choose your seafood wisely. We can't afford to wait until 2008. The world's seafood will be entirely depleted by 2048, according to an early November report in the journal Science. That means the moment to shape up is now. By buying and eating certain types of seafood, you can discourage harmful fishing practices and avoid the more depleted or threatened species. Take a look at Seafood Choices Alliance or Seafood Watch to make smart choices.

6) Purchase EnergyStar-labeled appliances. EnergyStar products are among the top 25 percent most efficient and can provide a 30 percent return or better through lower utility bills.

7) Wash and rinse in cold water. If everyone in the United States alone switched to cold water with their washing machines, we could save about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide each year -- and more than $3 billion in energy costs, collectively. And what's more? Cold water cleans your laundry just as well as hot water.

8) Buy locally produced meats and produce. Sounds like a good idea, but you don't know where to start? Just type in your zip code on Local Harvest's website to see a list of farms and farmers' markets close to home, as well as nearby restaurants committed to supporting their neighbors. Buying locally produced food cuts out the middlemen and the vast amounts of energy required to get your products onto store shelves. Most produce in U.S. supermarkets travels an average 1,500 miles before it is sold!

9) Drink more water from reusable glassware. It's great for your bank account, your health, and your planet. The average American consumed more than 400 beverage bottles and cans in 2006, leaving behind wasted glass, plastic, steel, and aluminum. That adds up to excessive amounts of fossil fuels and hydropower for mining, processing, refining, shaping, shipping, storing, refrigerating, and disposing of those materials. Of course, changing your drinking habits both at home and at work is applicable to just about every other habit, as well. You've heard it before and you'll hear it again: Reduce, reuse, and recycle.

10) Walk, bike, and carpool. In the United States, the car represents one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. However, you don't have to give up your car for a healthier planet, just expand your transportation options. You can significantly reduce your emissions by commuting to work. Try combining trips to minimize emissions, which are greatest at the beginning of a journey before the engine has reached optimum temperature and efficiency. When purchasing your next car, make it a fuel-efficient one. Hybrid cars can get twice the fuel efficiency of the average new car, cut greenhouse gas emissions by half or more, and reduce urban air pollutants. Carpooling saves energy, cuts on additional pollution, and allows you to take a turn as a passenger instead of driving everyday. Car-sharing (not pooling) is available in numerous U.S. cities. Car-sharing enables you to rent a car just when you need it. Each car-share vehicle displaces four to eight privately held cars, requiring less parking area and creating less road congestion. If you live within an hour's bicycle ride to the office (~10 miles), consider biking to work one or more days a week.

Related Links
What You Can Do -- Top 10 Things You Can Do At Work
What You Can Do -- Top 5 Things You Can Do Outdoors
Calculate your carbon footprint

ice ice, baby


This week's artword is CUBE. I originally shot butter, but then realized I am probably the only one who refers to a stick of butter as a "cube"..you all probably call it a stick.

Friday, July 6, 2007

DO YOUR PART

Live Earth- SAVE OUR PLANET 07-07-07

There is not time to act tomorrow.....act today.

¡Saludos del verano!



Tami's color challenge. I keep losing my doodles with my cropping...one of these days I am going to learn to take a straight scan.


I made this background paper with Ph Martin paints and some shimmer mist. The image and sentiment are from justjohanna. I aged the vintage sheet music with Tattered Rose Distress Ink.


Thanks for coming by today!

Thursday, July 5, 2007

My first real firework photos...



I know I post some of these fireworks pictures in the small collage below, but I wanted to show them larger because, well, frankly, I am proud of myself. Since the photography forum I post them in continually fails to recognize my existence, you get them here.

I spent probably about an hour yesterday reading tips on how to photograph fireworks. I stressed over it and miraculously, my camera proved very easy to operate – even in the dark, packed in wall to wall people and after I had been drinking booze.

I also wanted to show the difference between the first and third picture in comparison to the middle shot. The first and third pictures were taken using full manual controls and a tri-pod. After I had some acceptable shots, I turned the camera on the Carry-On and took a few of her watching the fireworks. After that, I pointed the camera back to the fireworks and took the remaining shots on full-auto. Yuck. Aren’t numbers 1 & 3 much better?

If you are considering purchasing a digital SLR camera, I recommend it. The picture quality and fun you can have with it is well worth the cost.

Thanks for looking today!

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

We had a great day!


Thank you, Wednesday Stamper!

Thank you so much for including my design in your weekly sampler!

I am so excited and honored!!

Happy Fourth of July!


Today will be a fun day! There is a community sponsored parade and BBQ this morning. Later this afternoon, we're having friends over for a quaint BBQ. I am making mini-cheeseburgers to snack on. At twilight, we'll walk down to the Towne Center to listen to some bands and watch a fireworks show. I'll bring my camera to share the festivities with you! I hope you have a great holiday!

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

86



Monday, July 2, 2007

G L A M


I had a tough time coming up with something for Isa's 'G' project. I actually had to look through the dictionary for words that started with the letter 'G'... Spin and Splash background using gold and silver alcohol ink mixatives. justjohanna images.

What? You have not tried any of Isa's challenges? Well, you should. She has a new point earning system and you can make projects to earn points to win stuff! You're not French? It doesn't matter...Isa writes her posts in French and English!

Thank you for coming by today!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday, Godelieve!

Happy Birthday, Cat!

Happy Birthday, Kim!

Sunday, July 1, 2007

The Laugh

HOW TO START EACH DAY WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

1. Open a new file in your computer.
2. Name it " George W. Bush "
3. Send it to the trash.
4. Empty the trash.
5. Your PC will ask you, "Do you really want to get rid of " George W. Bush?"
6. Firmly Click "Yes."
7. Feel better.

PS: tomorrow we'll do Dick Cheney...