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sophie jo. 
my new niece is 6 days old today. she's so sweet and aly and josie love their new baby sister!
here's a few snaps, AND, i'm digging these BABY UGGS! i have never seen anything like them. they are real UGGS, PINK, embellished with rhinestone baseballs. no lie. one of my brother's players gave them to her. so cute. 
i've been playing around with these little jewels. i bought the heart-shaped cards at target and covered them with pattern paper from captured elements earth spice line. i used mica, glitter, booktext, velvet leaves, heart eyelets. on a couple i used the water/spray paint technique in the new issue of CK. i used a paper plate, filled it with water and simply sprayed-spray paint into the water. i submerged the valentines and library pockets 
into the water and the end result was this! 
SIMPLE. EFFECTIVE. BOLD. i'm sure this technique has been around for a while, but it's the first time i'm used it. fun stuff. i used red, purple and gold spray paint. [sorry for the bad photos] slm
so fun having friends who love the same things that you do, meaning ART. 
i've met and built many friendships through my artwork. one is this fab artist. i'm lucky that she's a kansas city local and one of my starbuck's buddies! anywho- she's a very talented paper artist, but makes fab jewelry as well. she made this necklace for me. a pink crown stamped on a domino with she stamped over that. 2 pink pearls and a silver charm that says 'be yourself' underneath the domino. so fun -thanks tracey, i'm wearing it today!
don't you just love surprises like this ?!
the 'mom' network works again! 
have to share this one...... this weekend we're sitting at a 
wrestling tourney, and one of the mom's comes up to us and says CONGRATULATIONS on Ethan! (priceless look on my face) of course i say 'for what'?- and she tells us that Ethan was nominated to represent the freshman class for courtwarming!! well, i informed her that Eth hadn't shared his news, and she laffed and said that her son was nominated too (senior) and she also found out through another mom! when we told Eth that we'd heard the 'news', he smiled and said "oh yea, i just found out yesterday". no drama, just matter of fact. so, we informed him that the fam would be at the school courtwarming assembly and when his name is announced, we'll show our immense pride! the look on HIS face; priceless. (no- we won't do that to him, but, the fear that we will is too much fun!). i reminded him, we always find things out! -just another priceless fam moment.
+edited for my friends in OZ! in the US, the high schools have a traditional dance for valentines that is called 'sadie hawkins' dance. this is the one dance that the girls ask the boys. there is a royal court that is nominated by their class. the seniors (12thgr) are the king/queen, and the lower classmen (11th, 10, 9th grades) nominate 'court attendents' who represent their class. eth was nominated to represent his freshman class. he refuses to get his hair cut- should be fun getting prepared for this event -sigh.
more freeform art... i'm on a roll! sheesh- i had to work on four collaborations this week. i loved it. it's been a while since i just worked on ME stuff. good for the soul kinda stuff. this is my page for a swap that i am hosting... it's titled Artist blah blah blah- which means i haven't fully decided on a title yet. sigh. anyway, the concept of this collaboration swap is for the artist to focus on HERself. it had to include a self photo, her handwriting somewhere on the page, and the page had to show 'who she is'. i haven't done any scrapbooking/art on myself for a while, so this was fun to do... across the top i 'wrote' in warm beeswax 'she is an artist'. then i filled in the words with red acrylic. the page is covered with beeswax, and the booktext words are descriptives that read (from top to bottom... art; to capture life. she is simple she finally emerges visual impressions it is essential. city, 1. Love our family a writer creative friend sipping coffee
i also used a card that was made and given to me by liz; my name spray painted on acetate. i used a pocket from the card to hold a piece from an old pocket watch, which i transfered a watch face rub-on onto. i adhered a booktext word 'her' to the front of the pocket. this is just my way of expressing 'her time' in a dimensional concept ;-)
this was a great piece to create, and i'm anxious to see the pages of the other 14 players. this will be a fab collaboration swap book to have! did i mention that the book will be 11"x4"?? so fun. i'll post the book when it's put together. have a good weekend, and if you're in kansas city- STAY WARM. R and i watched 3 movies last night- that's like a record lately! the weather was so crap outside that the movies started at 5pm-ish!
happy wednesday! i have been working on some collaborations. fun work. 
this is a 5x5 page that i just completed for a swap hosted by this fab chica who i love! the swap is titled:WISHES AND DREAMS. It's a pretty simplistic piece. i did an image transfer of a female image with fingernail polish remover. it was the first time i used that technique, and it was pretty cool. simple. i love how SHE uses HER decorative tape along the edges of 'stuff'. i love the raw -grunge appearance it gives.
freeform art. don't you just love that concept -?!
craziness! i've been so out of touch. it's crazy around here in every day life, good though. we just got back in town from a wrestling tourney; FUN. eth woke up this morning with the flu- wrestled GREAT but felt like CRAP! by the time the bus pulled in tonight, he said that half the wrestling team had the flu. not good. so it was a hot bath and chicken noodle soup at 11tonight {he had a 3hour ride home on a charter bus to look forward to- how's that on top of being sick AND wrestling all day} i'm going to post this photo because i love it so much. i took it of eth today overlooking one of the mats.! {this was my and rich's visual for two solid days! MATS} love this photo
eth let go of some of his creative gene and designed this on his headgear with strips of med tape! {sm image to rt}
when i got home and started to go through my emails, i discovered i have been tagged by HER, but i had already been tagged by HER last week! i just hadn't had time to PLAY!
4 Jobs You Have Had:
1. filing clerk
2. bank card collector
3. bank card bankruptcy rep.
4. product designer/founder&owner of THIS
4 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:
1. practical magic
2. SERENDIPITY
3. the wizard of oz
4. a christmas story {i admit it, i'm on the christmas eve 24-hr bandwagon!}
4 Places you Have Lived:
1. moberly missouri
2. kansas city missouri
4 TV Shows You Watch:
1. boston legal
2. sex and the city
WHO has time to watch tv. seriously.
4 Websites you Visit Almost Daily:
1. www.capturedelements.com
2.blogs
4 Places you Have Vacationed:
1. colorado springs, CO
2. orlando, clearwater, FL
3. ozark, MO
4. *these are fam vacation spots
4 Foods
1. mexican
2. seafood
3. thai
4. italian
4 Places you'd Rather Be Right Now:
1. hanging out with my fam
*EDITED. i finished this early today. it's a mini book made from cd's; attached with beadchain and kept inside an AOL tin. i make so many sport journals/mini books that i have to constantly come up with different design concepts so no 2 are alike. one for each sport. each season. and yep, that's a lot!! but this is what i love, making these little jewels for my fam! 
sorry for so many images, but i photographed each side; front/back of the cd's individually. as well as the inside/outside of the tin itself. image1: cd mini book in place; closed with beadchain attached. image2,3,4: white acrylic to cover cd and photos attached with black electrical tape. image5,6: i used wrestling defined paper. on image 6 i cut one definition out of the paper and cut it in strips that i adhered to the cd. image7: i used cranberry and black alcohol inks. image8:i made holes along the edge of the acrylic covered cd, and with black/plastic string i attached MM metal letters that i covered with gold paint. the black side of the paper is underneath the acrylic, and i left one word 'un painted'. image9:again the black side of the wrestle defined paper with a photo attached using electrical tape. MM alpha magnetic stamps used. image10:i used 7Gypsies book tape and with white acrylic and the MM alpha stamps, stamped words; again attaching MM metal numbers to the cd. image11:white acrylic/photo collage, MM alpha stamp again. image12:white acrylic, definition cut from wrestle defined paper. image13:the inside of cd tin lid. spray paint, alpha stencils, MM alpha stamps and a trojan rubber stamp that i picked up when bobby was in high school, and i got it who knows where! image14:inside of bottom of cd tin. i used a section of the wrestle defined paper, attached photos; one of which i placed inside a MM label tag that i removed the paper from. book text. image15:the outside of tin bottom. i simply attached this photo and spray painted around it. i love the overspray on the photo! MM alpha stamps used to stamp VISION QUEST -eth loves that movie. image16:the top of the cd tin. the white side of the wrestle defined paper was adhered to the tin. then i smeared acrylic, attached a photo with electrical tape and book words were added. *the coolest effect of this is the excess paint that i picked up on this photo when i turned the tin upside down to spray paint the inside. looks so great in real life! this tin is a little 'bulky' with the cd mini book inside, so i'm keeping it closed with a large rubber band. just adds to the 'glamour' of the theme, don't you think ?? raw.
I picked up this fab domino bracelet kit at this store,made by this company. I had a lot of fun making these bracelets for Eth's Nana and myself to wear at his wrestling tourneys. Fun, chunky, wearable Art! I love that concept.
I used alcohol inks, this wrestling defined paper; tape transfer words randomly on some of the dominos, MM metal alphs, acrylics, beads,beeswax, red/black hair barette that I used as a [frame]. 
Visual of dominos before I strung them with flexible floss. (numbers= 135; eth's wrestling weight. Too bad no one who see's it will get it/ha!)
This kind of art is good for the soul!
*Freshman team (minus a few) Ethan is in the red hat.
Ok... not the most fab pix of the boys' and me! (seriously- remember that you have a TIMER on your camera- USE IT)!! 
The boys and I were sitting on Bobby's futon catching up on life. I just want to shout out to everyone that I have the two most fabulous kids! So blessed to have good kids who love me. Just in case you didn't know, I wanted you to...
Happy New Year to everyone from US3. I appreciate all of my friends; all of your support and continued enthusiasm towards my artwork and life insight! Here's to a happy 2006.slm.
