You wouldnt believe my week and weekend....

Hello lovelies. So tired but want to keep my word in posting some things...so ..at 2am here I am keeping my word. The week was very stressful and I could not wait for the weekend to get here..Friday I taught two classes and that evening had tons of fun with one of my besty art friends..making nice things...and today I woke up to yet another message that my privacy had been invaded...seems for over 72 hours as of this morning...someone had been trying to hack into my personal accounts. Had to delete my Facebook page and start a new one, my yahoo account is locked down its been a mess...and a real pain in the ass very honestly.  I'm very upset about it I ha 1177 photos on my facebook page all of groups and friends and family and art networking...YIKES...it sucks. I was not a happy camper but its starting to take shape back to some sort of normal but with a GREAT deal of security. I made a formal complaint to the cyber defense team and they claim they can find the IP addresses of anyone trying to access my accounts so I completely encourage the moron who has nothing better to do with their time to continue to try to hack me...keep it coming.
And so...here we are...its been a long day and tomorrow will be as well...so I wanted to come by and share a few things...
This was a take-out bag from Olive Garden lol I love paper bag paper for some reason...I made this Friday night and wrapped some artful goodies in it for a pal...you can kinda see the steps I took in making it in this photo I hope...

Really love the way that came out and cant wait to try it for the holidays...I think I may just make most all of my own gift wrap this year! Another one of those great recycling methods for creating cool things!

The next photos are some of the ATC's I've been working on here and there as time has permitted in the last week. I wanted to make a few to give you guys some feedback for the swap and while I have not gotten around to that how to video it is still in the forefront of my mind as something I would like to figure out how to do so that I can bring you guys some inspiration and feedback...especially for those of you who are new to the ATC swapping world and have had so many great questions about creating ATC's and the various techniques...I am still growing with it and been doing it for years..think I had burned mysel out on them for a bit and hasn't joined a swap or created any in a very long time so this bout with creating a few has been a real blast! Here are a few of those with some pointers on how I did a few of them!

Heard the song When Doves Cry on the radio before making this one...reminds me of childhood somehow...cut the birds from a small template I had..used newspaper script rubber stamps..swirl rubber stamps..music note rubber stamps and most of what you see for color was done with distressed ink or Gesso.. I layer the backgrounds prior to starting any ATC by collaging different papers.

This one has sort of a double meaning..while it reminds me of the story and move I've always loved "The Secret Garden" there is a loneliness and sadness for me felt in this card and reminds me of some childhood memories and me as a young girl...kinda lost in the wilderness of life... She was made very simple with black acrylic paint..a few stamps and papers...words from an old Once Upon a Time book a dear friend gave to me.

 I love this one possibly one of my favorites....reminds me a show Don, Kori & I use to be completely addicted to called Paranormal State...about of course...paranormal and ghosts..those souls that loved so deeply or had something left to say or do here...or someone left here they were unable to let go of and as you see even beyond the grave she loves..and waits for his love letters...still. Background is collaged and stamped..lots of distressed ink and vintage postal stamps..one of my favorites from the week!

 Another favorite and while this one looks quite simple it kinda was not and I spent a great deal of time on it...I love lately working with silhouettes and shadows to represent people...and this is a template I made myself I ended up using it for quite a few ATC's this go around but they all came out very different. the background layer is newspaper print...some stamping and ink stamp pads for the coloring..some acrylic paints...and I really love how this one came out too!

 My sister will probably disown me if she does not get this one she is in our swap and her work is fantastic...she is the one who got me into making ATC's years ago and she is incredibly talented with collage and ATC's...cant wait to see her's but I promised her if she joined us and met our deadline she would get this one so it may not be up for grabs folks...Her name is Vickie Pleins ( love you sissy)
This one took some time too...collaged background very selective with colors and paper for this one...stamps of course..staples...ink acrylic paints and Gesso...very pleased with this one and may have to get a print made for myself of it before it flies away!

 Not my favorite but love it none the less...reminds me of when I use to fear sharing my work cause I would always compare it to other peoples work...so its really the message I like more than the design..this one may not be done...to me it is missing something but that's just me it could be something entirely different if I get around to working more on it we will see! :)

 The photo of this one is not that great but this one looks pretty cool in person..i thought...I have had these silly eyes forever and a day and thought I would never use them for anything...they worked out great on Skully here..and he is a representation of my love for Candy / sugar skulls and my appreciation for the celebration known as Day of The Dead!

Hope you guys enjoyed this ...way more to come this was just a drop in the bucket but please be patient...life has been a bit demanding lately and stressful for me.