Happy New Year!! Cheers slm
happy christmas holiday! busy-insane past couple of weeks, but all good *wink. i hope everyone's holiday was(is) good! mine has been great, spending it with my family and a lot of great friends!! AND, we had a WHITE Christmas! ... i love that.to start up our holiday a week early, bobby comes to me and tells me that he wants to get ethan a boxer puppy for christmas. ..meet CHAMP 
bobby and his girlfriend drove to topeka,ks., in a snowstorm to pick him up. i was at a wrestling tourney all day watching eth. when i got home, bobby had the pup and had stopped at the petsmart to pick up this santa hat and a black hoodie (he said he had to get the hoodie because then the dog would be like ethan -of course always with a hoodie on) this is the classic part... right before ethan got back from the tourney, the pup had gone underneath the christmas tree and fallen asleep! bobby put the santa hat on him, and when ethan walked in the door, the pup was asleep underneath the tree dressed in hoodie and santa hat!! it was perfect, and the look on my son's face was completely priceless. he is so in love with this dog, and even though i enjoyed not having a dog to worry about, i missed our labs and their companionship too! and so did eth. i've always had dogs growing up, and it's nice having this little guy around. this is a first, but i've heard a lot of great things about the boxer... so we'll see. he was 7wks when we got him. it's amazing how quick he's grown, now he looks like he's doubled in size already, and all legs! the diff. in these pics is just 9 days!
i finally got back into the groove of a little journal work. i started a dec. page in my yearly journal. (skipped oct/nov, so it's back to playing catch-up....again). this situation was the seed for the layout of the page.. - we were having a snowstorm here in kc, and my printer was running out of ink, so the pics i printed turned out -not so good- to say the least! i wanted to work with them, so i decided to make a collage, distressed the photos a little and used red dye to stain the entire collage. festive, yet in my normal out of control self of altering!i used a little left-over christmas wrapping paper, beeswax, plastic wings, red dye, dip pen and ink. pretty simplistic really... 
the negative areas where the dye didn't stain are covered with beeswax; resist. 
i'm anxious to get this journal complete and ready to start on my 2008 journal! what i'm really looking forward to is sitting down once 07 is comp. and going through it month by month. my life has changed sooo much in the past year. a lot of good mixed with some bad, yet it's all good!! i'm blessed. i'm happy. i have a great life with a lot of great people in it! time for another time capsule. (i still love to look at this piece; it's still hanging in my studio) what i also love about this time of year is the feeling of renew. the curiousity and mytic of the upcoming year.. people, places, daily happenings.
merry new year!
XXX- slm
amazing that it's christmastime already and i'm making these fun santa-winged tags for my gifts. i'm on journal burnout at the moment-lol. i'm hoping to get back into my groove so i can finish oct/nov/dec pages in my 2007 alt. journal! 
small art seems to get me motivated
i used making memories tags, foofala wings (i roughed up by bending, and useing gold metallic rub-on to make them appear more 'realistic'). book text, beads, wire and braided candycane string jazz these up more. they photographed bad so i altered the images with photoshop
this is what's been taking up my 'free' time lately! hope to get some wrestling journal work done this weekend. i've got some new pics to work with, and i'm anxious to dive into something fresh! 
(my univ.journal assignment is DONE, and i had to step out of the 'workspace' for a few days. understatement)
talk to you L8R! (soon) slm
wow... it's been a FAB weekend! a lot of journal work,(journal assign. is in the home stretch!!) family, friends, amazing FOOD! -lol. seriously, it's been a good time.
here's a fav journal page of mine. one of the elements of my grandmother's home that i will always remember 
is a painting of a little girl she had hanging in her back room that she said reminded her of me. she had another one that looked like my cousin wendy. good-size paintings, and i wish i had mine today. anyway, i've had this female image used here for a long time, and just never found the right thing to use it in. it has always reminded me of my cousin lindsay. to me it looks just like her! i used it for my page titled 'grow'. i made wings from strips of masking tape that i walnut-inked. the amazing thing about these 'taped wings' is this... they look like they have veins in them!! so cool 
how this turned out. i used a red acrylic wash to cover the background, and the tiara is made from a metal ephemera piece. on the tips of the 'tiara' i adhered tiny shards of glass that a girlfriend of mine brought back from NOLA after the hurricane! -how cool is that! i love the end result of this. a lot of meaning here. book text was cut out and adhered to the wings giving a time-line of her life's growth. from a girl to where she is in her life now.
all weekend i've had big kids in my house playing this game- guitar hero. i've had fun watching them have fun playing it! cool game 
! i had fun with photoshop in this pic< it's bobby challenging his girlfriend, (eth in the background). this is me and my dad
have a fab week! the countdown to the holidays is ON! SLM
happy, happy thanksgiving!! what the heck though, it was just halloween. insane, isn't it.
this is the turkey platter i have of my grandmother's. i'm using it, and i love the fact that it was hers, she used it, and it's so dang nostalgic and cool *wink (it works well with my fiestaware too)!
so i'm having thanksgiving dinner at my house. 
a lot of work, but i love my family and friends being in my home. especially at holiday time. it's all good. we have the traditional dinner with turkey, etcetera. and i love it-! i'm completely stoked to eat! being serious, i try not to take too much for granted in my life, and am thankful for it all. good and bad.
THANKFUL. 1. my boys (crazy in love with them). 2. my family. 3. my amazing friends! 4. my love for art and to create what and how i want. 5.my job and the fab people that i work with. 6. memories; i have vivid memories of holidays' past and the people within them. 7.possibilities/opportunities and my initative to go get them! 8. the fact that i have evolved and like me and my life!! *wink 9. me being continually inspired by life itself. my life influences my work, and just like my life, my art is continuing to evolve and is different (daily), and is very interactive! gotta love that-haha! 10. faith.
OK
more Journal work (this dang journal is about done/less than 20 pages against my 01/08 deadline, and me being the competetive person i am, i'm going to beat it as soon as i can! lol) seriously, it's all flowing for me now. the word for this page is sacred space. cool, huh-? this is another pic of me 1.5yrs ago. the lines emulate wings (love wings.. so symbolic of so many things)
. i left the page very simple because the meaning behind the page is so bold. 
the next page is power.look close... i overlapped the photo over the envelope flap and cut along the edge of the envelope to allow it to open without hurting the photo (funny to hear me say that.. when i'm all about distorting, omgosh!) it's cool though. 
i drug a bronze ink pad across the page. bronze because bobby placed 4th in this national tourney. bronze. the third layout is invisible. i used a piece of a photo i took of a friends' daughter on halloween. i also used camoflage masking tape. so cool element! then on the library pocket, i used water and spray paint.. you know, when you spray paint into water, put your paper in it and the paint grabs onto the paper in a swirled effect when you life it-? here i used green, brown and black spray paint. the pocket is attached to the page with some old wire piece. -have NO idea what it's used for, but works here! and let me say, i love the camoflage concept for an altering element with this word!
happy thanksgiving!slm
making progress on this journal! 
and this piece right here is a prime example of evolution... this morning i started this page, and i have to admit that it was one of those pages that you say to yourself "i'm going to throw this together and call it good". i started with the plastic piece (it's a piece of packaging from something); stamped the camo/acrylic clock, then added 2 velvet RED leaves to emulate wings. 
then i sat and looked at it for about 2 hours thinking "steph- just throw something on here and move on". something kept me with this; adding more.. i painted the background with green watercolor, added half of a library book envelope for the journaling spot, added a tab, then it all started to fall into place. i added the pic underneath the plastic piece, and it isn't attached so it moves freely. i stained the leaves (wings), added beeswax and walnut ink to give the aging appearance. then i added a small round washer, and the rusty wire piece and key are adhered together with beeswax that creates the clock hands. NOW... this is probably one of my top favs of this journal! it's symbolic for me, but i love the whole appearance. 
the page is titled wishful thinking- can you figure it out-? lol
here's a couple more recent pages 
i like these pages a lot too.. my niece in san diego, and 'embrace'; me and 41!
studio overkill, THERE'S MORE!!!
great night- i'm in the middle of a CSI marathon on Spike TV (38) *wink, i love mystery... maybe that's why i love art so much. it's all a mystery until you put the pieces or 'elements' in place. wow- never thought of the connection before, until now. just more of my deep thinking...
this time change kicking anyone else's butt -? it always takes me forever to adjust to the winter time change!
stretched; just a bit
it's november
SHOCK! 
i've spent so much time in my studio lately that i just had to take a break the past 2 nights!! you ever have that feeling that you just wanted to 'clear' off the countertops -? ...scream maybe?... k, seriously out of control. here's the funny twist- tonight i photographed a few of the project journal pages that i've been working on, and as i'm working on the images, i'm liking the end results, and feeling the mojo re-emerging!! it's crazy, i know. getting down to it, here are just a few visuals.. on the first layout check out the bottom-rt... i used spray paint and scroll-ey cut out ribbon (sorry for the lame detail) -as a mask! a very useful thought going forward... *wink 
2nd layout is titled "healing my wounds" and the pics used are from a photo shoot of me 1 1/2yrs. ago. -may/2006- SHOCKed! geez, haven't looked at these for a long time. when i worked this page i 
remembered why. it was a very low point in my life, and i'm 360 deg. for the better today! wow. but i'm liking this end result, and the wire 'tangled' heart is my fav element in this. for added texture, i painted the wire with black acrylic then used my heat tool to dry- which made it bubble in the thicker areas. it fits. -then-. actually, i feel like me creating this layout was the final step to the evolution of that whole process. irronic how you work through things in art, huh-? i love that outlet. 
a few more journal pages.. *you know my main battle is the very limited journaling on the pages- and i can't wait to get the write-ups collaboration from the art students. their journaling on my pages will complete each layout. very cool, and i'm excited to see the end results.. where they put the journaling, how they journal, and the most anticipated for me is going to be what they journal- 
!i'm excited. i'm challenging myself on this journal... being bold with color. no fear because it's not mine, but i'm loving the end results!! lol- i didn't realize the extent of how caged i am about using color in my own personal work! eyes wide open now! i used acrylics,lumiere (a pearl-like appearance), and spray paint on these pages.
the weather is getting nasty COLD in KC (40's.. not bad cold. i'm turning into a wimp!), which encourages me to stay in! perfect studio weather too.eth is at the farm finishing out the bow season; through SUNDAY! i'm going to insanely miss him, but enjoying the 'me' time. every year when he gets back from this trip is when his wrestling season FIRES up. so now through the holidays my life is serious madness. what will i do when he grows up -? -?!!! this is why i'm killing myself in the studio trying to beat a deadline -for once-!- (sounds good, huh-? {lol}!) i'll let you know how that goes *wink january8 is my deadline for 64 pages..
so tired. i know i will have to 'tweek' this tomorrow. i can't even remember what i've typed tonight! have a fab week/slm
all hallow's past; happy halloween present
1976. 
me and my brother. (the hobo and the gypsy!) this was taken back in the days where we made our own costumes. most did. sheesh- halloween used to be so much dang fun. kids EVERYWHERE on the streets, trick-or-treating. no fear. and no real reason to be. innocent fun in disguise. nothing more
(good candy)
i've enjoyed being locked in all weekend with journal work. -i did run out once today to go to the art store, but came right back and i'm working and watching a halloween movie marathon! it's so great! -lol
(i really need to get a social life)
to take a break from the journal project, i've been working on random stone tile coasters for my next class, saturday, nov.-3. i'm loving the end result of what i've done so far. these stone tiles have a smooth finish on them, so they're a perfect project to use HIS alcohol inks on. 
(Something i love about using my childhood photos is they have a 4x4 print, and beside it are 2 duplicate prints of about 1.5" each. i used one of the smaller prints on this coaster. fun to work with.)
alcohol inks are so cool to work with. you never know what end result you'll get- i like that. on this coaster < i dyed the tile, then used a fun mini kleenex with this eye design. (my excitement when i found this package of mini eye kleenex's was almost crazy) what can i say... simple things make me happy *wink
how the heck could you even think about blowing your nose on a kleenex this cool-? not even
happy trick-or-treating! be safe
new journal new challenge
and this is a BIG challenge for me! i'm actually compiling a 64-page journal that i can't keep! -lol it's for a university art assignment. i do the artwork, the students' journal the meaning behind the page-onto the page. very cool concept, and i'm excited to do it. they provided me with 64 words- some are very challenging. this is one page (partial visuals). the word on this one is stretched 
this pic is of me a year ago- funny when i see how short my hair was! pretty cute poney-tail tho huh?
laffing right now 
halloween party over the weekend was a lot of work and fun! last minute- decorated friday night and saturday, -for party saturday night. my house-more deck and kitchen space to hang out in. PERFECT night, weather wise! amazing, actually. cobwebs everywhere! my front yard was transformed into a graveyard. it was fun. 
so my 'make up' was to be madusa lisa. not easily seen here, but i wore a black shirt and shawl like mona lisa, but had snakes (glued to bobby pins) stuck all over my hair! -crazy eye make up. would have made sense to pose for a pic like the mona lisa, huh-? didn't. nice job steph. here's another fun pic. fricking charlie's angels or what-? i cracked up when i saw this one-! two of my good friends and me. we had a lot of fun. the most 'original' costume went to my son! Bobby came back home -straight from the woods (hunting), camo-ed out, and joined the party! i think his main reason for being at the party was to act as my chaperone! he stayed the night this weekend to be closer to his hunting spot, so i guess it all worked out good. my boys are so protective of me their friends' even give them a hard time about giving me a break! i'm flattered and proud of that though. overall, my friends came up with some amazing costumes ...from pirates, to zoro's girlfriend (with a bloody Z across her face; was pretty cool considering i'm not good on the reality of gore), to the grim reaper and his dead 'very cool' bride! and more!
crazy,stressful week, not to mention that it's only tuesday! this weekend i plan to lock myself in the house and do a lot of journal work -hopefully! i'm really feeling the need to WORK some things out through my art, not to mention i have deadlines! but craving a little soul work-kwim-? 
have a happy week!! 
the 'angels'!>
most original costume! my son, the hunter>
