ONE INCH BIRD SWAP

One inch bird's are ready to leave the roost. They are many colors and many different personality's. However they are my last inches, just too small for me. Now I remember why I pretty much left the world of ATC's, I wanted to work bigger. More in my comfort zone, my eyes just don't have it anymore. So fly away home little one's I will be flying around in the big bad world of 4 x4's and postcards and canvas of many sizes. I worked in miniature for many years. Made miniature houses and stores all in one inch scale and believe it was the beginning of my eye problems. That would be a good post in the future my little world of miniature's. Shine on.... DIANE

ATC'S Artist Trading Cards

These are the first ATC's I have made in awhile..I have been working mostly on larger sizes so this was a fun project. They are all made for a swap I am in at another site. These exchanges keep the ideas flowing and the challenge always on. It is a way to exchange ideas and art with others and make new friend. The ATC is 2.5 x 3.5, the same size as the baseball card that have been traded for years. I have done a new size 5 x 5 just for fun and will share them with you later. Meanwhile ART ON PEOPLE.......................................DIANE

Seek Joy and Laughter

Laughter is a healing force that leads to JOY. December is a month to seek Joy and Laughter with friends and family not stress of shopping and cooking and cleaning...Learn to say no to stress by just letting something go. If you are running out of time and didn't get the refrigerator clean just pass a warm wet cloth over the most obvious shelves and do the deep cleaning after the first of the year....make food dishes that can be prepared 2 or 3 days ahead. Don't be afraid to ask for help from a family member. They may not do it just like you but let some control go....it will be good enough. And really....how perfect does vacuuming have to be? Most of all save time for yourself...Do your nails. Get your hair done. Do some Art. You will enjoy your family more if you are stress free and relaxed. The laughter will come easy and Joy will be with you through out the new year..........Hugs, Diane

GOODBYE SEPTEMBER

" RED.....A color whose hue resembles that of blood or of the ruby or is that of the long-wave extreme of the visible spectrum. In the color range between a moderate orange and a russet or bay". ( Webster )The red rose will be gone but replaced with leaves of gold and bright orange, some red. Sound so poetic and looking so beautiful. Changing the color of the mornings. Shadows that are longer. And then the M E S S ......WORK, RAKE, BURN. Love fall.



Got another package yesterday for the CHUNKY BOOK SWAP-GOT BLING....hopefully the others will arrive in the next 15 days..........Who0Hoo.....Diane

The Magic of Fall

Like a curtain that has dropped is Fall. We were down in the valley for a week and when we came home fall beat us to it. The back porch was inches deep with leaves from the 60 year old pear tree. The days are shorter and the temperatures much cooler. The colors are just starting to change. The air feels different, fresher..........After a summer full of smoke from the forest fires it would.

My Dad had his 90th. surprise birthday. It was fun to see my whole family together, three new baby's and one more on the way and two new boyfriends. Families grow and change. Love is the glue that holds us all together through the laughter and the tears. Today my brother is having a huge party to celebrate BEING ALIVE. He is cancer free for one year. He is the bravest person I know, a strong and quiet man. Celebrate LIFE today....it is precious. Love, Diane

Nothing is Worth More Than This Day

Postcard art is catching on with a fever. The size is 4" x 6" which is a great size for your art work. Although the 1" x 1" is also having a big following, at my age they are a bit too small for my eyes. I have made many Artist Trading Cards, they are fun and at 2.5 x 3" they are easy to work on and fun to collect. I have a large binder full of them. I have been collecting them for about two years now. I love the Chunky Book Pages too. I find for myself that I need to mix it up a bit or I get board...I always like to try new things and need to start a large canvas any time soon. Have BLESSED DAY......Diane

"FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR WORK"

Postcards are fun.....I really enjoyed making this one. Today I will start my" Sunday Postcard Challenge" and it really is gonna be a challenge. Alter a real postcard. Humm....still churning that one over in my mind. Relax.......Smile............Life is beautiful. Diane

MY FIRST POSTCARD

Well I just had to didn't I????? Here is my first postcard. I really enjoyed making it and I don't think I will will attack them too hard but there are definitely more in the works...I think I may do one for the Sunday Postcard Challengehttp://sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com/...The theme is Mystic.. I have something in the works but I will have to see if it works out...Meanwhile..Have a Artsy _artsy Sunday...Diane

Creative Cropping

You haven't seen the last of my lily's yet.....They are grand this year.. so many blossoms. Maybe they liked that shade the smoke created or something. The white one has a big bud on it that I check every morning before I go to work. I can't wait for it to open. I hope it isn't windy. When taking this pink one, I had to hold the top bud so it wouldn't move in the wind. Pretty tricky, to hold it and shoot at the same time. Wasn't sure what I would get. I really cropped out a lot of background, mostly the peeling paint of my 100 year old house. Beauty is all around us, look for the little things. Diane

EVERY GIRL LOVES BLING

Here is another 4x4 chunky book page for my swap...I hope there is no confusion as to where to sign up...On flicker I started a group site where you can up load your work for this swap, so if you are a member of flickr you can join there.http://flickr.com/groups/793762@N25/ If you blog only you can sign up here on the newest post or the original post. We still have lots of room and the due date is not until OCT 15th. so there is lots of time. Hopefully I didn't make it too far in advance. We are getting some really great artist for this so.... sign up. We have Amyfaire from AFA who does amazing 4x4's .
Have a Art Full weekend. Diane

Got Bling?

Ok....Here goes. I am hosting my first ever SWAP. GOT BLING? 4 x 4 Chunky Book pages, trade your 6 pages for 6 pages in return. I have been a participant in many, many swaps and finally decided to host my own. If you like vintage jewelry, you will love this theme. Here are three examples of what I want. Your style can lead you. Here are the rules,
Must use one or more of the following: Old jewelry pieces
Rhinestones
Glitter
Lace and ribbon
or all of the above..........
This swap is open to 15 people.
Posting will be on my flicker site.http://flickr.com/photos/artdglass/
You can sign up here or there just be sure to leave a link so I can contact you.
DUE AT MY HOUSE NO LATER THAN OCT. 15 th.
Always your best work of course. Your screen name and your real name artsy on the back.
Because some pages are chunkier than others I will supply the return envelopes. Just enclose the amount of stamps that it takes to mail your package with a label with your address.
If I have forgotten anything feel free to let me know. I am excited to do this challenge. Everyone will receive a special little gift from me. Lets just have some fun with this and use up some of that pretty stuff that we have been gathering for a while. Sprinkle alittle JOY today.

Chunky Book with rings

Got my CHUNKY BOOK together...what fun, I love it. Want more!!! Guess I will have to see if someone at AFA will host another...Maybe I should host a blog swap?? Hummm I will have to give that some thought.

The She Sells was done by me yesterday. Love that image, she was also the star of Jewels from the Sea Swap.

I LOVE the page I got from Cardina Soap Chef http://www.atcsforall.com/forum/member.php?u=1767 She is over at AFA. It is a great page. It was just one of the six pages I got in the Chunky pages with Quotes....

The Last page is from Mireya http://www.flickr.com/photos/art4mysanity We did a one on one swap over at flickr. and you can find her at AFA too.

My little book has 6 pages from Amy's Swaphttp://www.atcsforall.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3601, 6 pages that I made and one from my friend Mireya...

The SWAP idea keeps popping into my head...I guess I will have to see how many people are interested first. Stay tuned. Stay Happy........Diane

Visiting My Grandson's

It was good to get out of town for the weekend. Our Daughter-in-law's parents have a lovely home and beautiful yard with a great pool. It was so nice to just sit outside and have fresh air. (did I mention an amazing grape arbor??)
The smoke is still so bad in fact it got worse last night as they started some backfires. Very smokey this morning. The Grand kids are growing so fast, wish we could see them more often.


I received three swaps in the mail. I have to photograph my little packages of goodies from the Sea Swap. I didn't even open the little packages they were so pretty, wanted to take pictures first. Returns from the Chunky Book pages were awesome...all six of the ones I got were fantastic artwork. Great job Amy at AFA. And my Gothic Arches were wonderful with the fun Zetti theme. Mandy at Mail art World must have had a fun time hosting this one. Great Art.

Today: Sprinkle some Joy around.

MY FEATURED ARTIST

Another Favorite Artist and long time Art Friend has nominated me for the "BRILLANTE WEBLOG" award. I am honored Roc and the surprise is on you, because I had already picked you to be my FEATURED ARTIST. Roc and I have been trading art for a few years now. She is an amazing artist and her work just keeps on being imaginative and original. These three ATC's have always been on my workspace and not in my album, they keep me company when I am working and when I drift off to that other place I go. So....check out her blog, she is doing the most amazing POSTCARDS and I can tell she is enjoying working on the larger canvas. Check out her art here http://www.whatsuproc.blogspot.com/

I need to nominate 7 other blogs and leave links to them so I will give it some thought and post them at another time as I am out of time. Peace

Chunky Book pages

Today my chunky pages go in the mail. I wanted to take a picture of all of them together. They look so fluffy and cool...I can't wait to get mine. These were made for a swap at ATC's for All. It was very fun and I am looking forward to trading a few more. They are 4" X 4" .

Our satellite is down this morning and has not been working for a few days now..I think it is from the smoke in the air from the fires. So I am back on dial-up and really feeling the difference..I got spoiled in a hurry. Especially looking at every one's blog. Quite a lot slower.

Swim Anyone?

Well I have been going thru my art to see what I would up load today and got rather sidetracked....did a little house cleaning on my pc. Gathered up like subjects and re-filed them. Grouped some family all in one album, that sorta thing. Of course this means time spent that I really didn't have before I go to work. Maybe I could have called this posts drowning in digital....Have a Blessed Day.

FOREST FIRE

Well with the many fires in our area and the very smokey sky I thought I would share what the morning sky looks like here. Not as bad as a few years ago when you couldn't see across the street.

I mailed several things yesterday. Two Etsy sales.....and a few solo swaps and two group swaps.. Ended up costing me about 20 bucks pretty cheap entertainment.