michelle ward

and she sings too

Lisa told me about a girl who did journaling on youtube so I did a search and found this.  Miss SuziBlu is an Ambassador for Visual Jounaling.  She makes it look fun and easy.  Thank you SuziBlu for giving us your moving pictures and delightful reporting from the journaling homefront.  Those of us who love to journal applaud you for taking up the cause.  There is no doubt you will recruit many new members to the art journal brigade.  Bravo!  WATCH THIS!  and THIS!  (Visit more of her videos HERE, and her blog HERE.)

START TODAY!  Whether you are new to this, or have a journal that has been lonely, you will be totally motivated after seeing SuziBlu's videos!

(Edit:  removed embedded videos and replaced with links because they made my blog all wonky)

making headlines

See the news story HERE.  How about that headline?   I swear it was the author's choice, but it couldn't have been cooler!!  If you're here for the first time because of the article, here is the Marineland story:  READ  To order a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul:  Children with Special Needs, click HERE.  As you can imagine, it's a book filled with heartwarming stories.  (Great holiday or teacher gift!)

Got Dirt?

How beautiful is this?  In a few weeks my friend Judi gets to visit this cemetery in Paris.  I know she'll be taking many lovely photos that she'll incorporate into her art.  I'm so envious, aren't you?  If you visit the website you will see many famous people are buried there - from Jim Morrison to Oscar Wilde.  I'm crossing my fingers she'll manage to scrounge up a little dirt for me.  I'd love to give her shovel and a bucket but like that will happen.  Here's another site where you can look up the famous people resting there:  search.

I used to be afraid of cemeteries.  Not sure when I switched my thoughts on them....might have been when I lived in Boston and walked through several very old burial grounds right in the city.  The time-worn tombstones felt rich with history.  I've always been enamored with churches, and iron gates, you'd think I would have appreciated the graveyards sooner.  Not long ago I began an altered book that I call the "Dead Poet's Society".  It is slowly being filled with poetry and photography of the cemeteries I visit.  You could do a whole book just using carved stone angels, couldn't you?

There's another project I'm working on that has a deadline.  It's not for publication, it's for a gift.  The giftee already has a collection of grave dirt that we started for him so we'd like to add to it.  I'll explain more about the story below.  I would like to get the dirt from at least a dozen famous people but I'll begin with my top few.  If, by chance, you live near one of these grave sites I would love to make arrangements with you to get some dirt.  I'm thinking the easiest way to do it is to carry a film container in your pocket (you know, those kodak black plastic cylinders) and as you kneel down to pay your respects at the plot you can sneak out the canister and sorta gnash at the ground and score a little dirt.  Might be helpful to have a spoon with you.  I only need like a few pinches, enough to fill a small apothecary bottle which I'll illustrate below.  Sounds easy doesn't it?

ONE:  Edgar Allan Poe seemed impossible at first because if you notice in the photos the monument is surrounded by brick.  Like, there is no dirt.  Drats.  Then Carrie reminded me that there is another Poe tombstone erected at his original burial location.  Definitely some dirt there. (Maryland)

 

TWO:  This may seem like an odd choice, but the giftee has a tattoo of this dude on his forearm, so you know he'd appreciate if we could score some grave dirt of Charles Bukowski (California)

THREE: This is a long shot, since it's in France....but I got grave dirt from Denmark so it could happen.  If only Charles Baudelaire was buried in the same cemetery Judi is visiting.  Maybe I could convince her to add this location to her itinerary - although looking at the photo you wouldn't think there was grave dirt to be had....but just across the path there is some. (Oh, and giftee has a portrait of this guy on his wrist.)

FOUR:  There are no tattoos of these next two men on our giftee but I think he would like to have their dirt for his collection.   Bela Lugosi, famous vampire.  Is this song playing in your head?  I know there are a few of you who will be humming with Peter Murphy "Bela Lugosi's Dead".  (California)

FIVE:  Another long shot, Boris Karloff is in England.  I would have chosen Vincent Price too, but his ashes were scattered in the ocean off California.

That's my request for now.....five men.  Hoping to get at least the two in California and the one from Maryland.  Who's up for it?  I'll make a trade with you.....like I did with Maj.  Ok, here's the background.....Last April we learned there would be a Meet&Greet with HIM in NJ.  When you have advanced warning, even if it's only a few weeks, you clammer to come up with cool gifts.  A group of us fangirls brainstormed and it was brought up that we should get Ville, the singer, something Poe related.  He not only wears Poe portrait shirts, but he got Poe's eyes tattooed on his back (by KatVonD!)  Grave dirt was an idea, but we discovered it would not be possible because of the bricked in area (none of realized that there was another burial place for Poe.  I think I remember someone saying they could get a brick!).  Then Deb, who is up in Boston, said she had H.P. Lovecraft dirt.  And Laura, from NJ, said she had some Elvis dirt.  (Very hard to get!)  So we met up in the parking lot before the concert and I poured the dirt into the bottles and packaged it all up.

 

The gift was a hit.  We heard him mention it in a radio interview, then we got hard evidence when this appeared in a rock magazine:

 

So who wouldn't want to collect and gift more dirt?  I made a post on my blog last June requesting dirt, and Maj responded.  I had not yet had the pleasure of knowing her, yet she offered to gather grave dirt from Hans Christian Andersen for me.  The guy is buried in DENMARK!  And I have his dirt, ready to deliver to my giftee. 

I should have brought the H.C.A. dirt with me in August but I didn't know there was going to be a Meet&Greet.  I have additional gifts that go with the dirt and didn't want to schlep it all if it wasn't a sure thing.  Example: Stairway to Heaven - The Final Resting Places of Rock's Legends, a book I know he'll enjoy.  (I got one for Graham, mostly because of the title, but it turned out to be an interesting book.)

We have tickets to see HIM on October 18 in NJ and December 1 in NY.  They are beginning and ending their Venus Doom tour here.  It's unknown at this time if we will be granted a M&G but we are crossing fingers!  I feel so lucky to have met them twice.....especially since they are from Finland!  I don't consider myself to have an obsession with grave dirt in an unhealthy way, it's really just an extension of a crush, and the things we do........(One last thing about the band.....their album entered the charts this week at No. 12 so THAT means I'm not the only devoted fangirl).

Got a crush to share?  There are a few days left of Crusade No. 12, come play!

If you are interested in finding graves of famous writers or musicians, THIS is a great site.  You can search by location or by person.  Maybe you live near a famous burial site and don't even know it!

And if you choose to take on the mission of assisting me with this intended gift PLEASE WRITE SOON!

enabling...........

More ETSY love.  Just today this ring arrived.  Do you love it?  Do you need one?  Not only is it a beautiful design, but it feels really good on my finger.  It's so clever to sell rings with an open design so it can be tweeked a little if it doesn't quite fit.  Go visit April on ETSY.  She has many stunning items.....mine arrived lightning fast!

I'm still preparing my post about the grave dirt....look for it tomorrow. 

the things we do....because of a crush

I'm not talking just about what a crush makes us do for ourselves....I'm talking about what someone else's crush makes us do.....for them. 

Like say for instance, I have a crush on caution tape.  My kids, and my friends, know I like to collect tape.  I have some great stories about tape - but one of the best ones was posted HERE, when my friend Penny had her son (who was visiting Greece), get me some foreign language tape...and then she made me a cool piece of art with it.  She KNEW I would go wild.....because she KNOWS I have a crush on tape, and because IT'S FUN when you know that about someone, and can get them stuff that will make them swoon. 

Above is my tape drawer, filled with some of my own finds, and some items that were gifted from friends.  Below are some of recent related scores....Halloween tape, found at my grocery store.  And how about those bandages????  H.C.I.T.?

And just today, I got to be a CRUSH-ENABLER.  Our son Peter is a huge gamer, and has been waiting for Halo3 since we pre-ordered it months ago.  It was released today!  So I got to run over and have it for him when he got out of school.  Nothing better than making someone happy with something you know they'll love.

Crush-enabling for myself:  Paul Potts.  I wrote about him earlier this year but in case you forgot, he's the gentleman who won Britain's Got Talent.  Because I watched this video clip nearly 100 times, and each time I got goosebumps, I had to have the album.  (Bought it today!)  Jolene remembered my post and reminded me to GET THE ALBUM.  She knew I was crushing on Paul.....so her little note was such a sweet crush-enabler.  Her thoughtfulness made my day - but she never would have been able to share that glee with me if I hadn't made that post.  It's a good thing to share your crushes, big or little.

EDIT:  I took out the embedded video of Paul Potts because it was screwing up viewing for some people.  (Thanks for the heads up Lisa). 

I could fill a month of blog posts if I shared everything that's been shared with me as a result of admitting a crush.  Like how about this from Judy, and this just in from Flo last week. 

Last year, some friends and I prepared a gift for a crush of ours.  It was a big hit because we know his crushes and knew he needed this, even if he didn't know it yet.  It even got mentioned by this person in a magazine as a favorite fan-gift.  I'd like to be able to add to the collection of grave dirt we started.  I already have one new thing to give him (dirt gathered by Maj in Denmark!).....just need a few more.  So, if you can help me out with this I will be forever grateful and will offer you something in trade. 

I will post details about this request tomorrow (or later tonight).  Yes, I admit I am crazy.  But it's a good crazy.

Know what your friends crushes are?  Start making a list of things you can get them because CRUSH-ENABLING is just as much fun as crushing!  Am I right???

Obsession Confession

Not a big admission because you probably already GOT that about me.  I have been addicted to cool graphics and imagery for years.  At one point, back in my 20's, I thought about going back to school to get a degree in Graphic Design.  And although my degree is in architecture, I have alot of self-imposed training in graphics.   I'm self-taught in Photoshop - THAT is a serious addiction.

A year ago I wrote an article about Maximalism.  I wasn't even sure if that was the proper name for the graphic style I was discovering, but I had found a book by the same name and it seemed the right thing to call it.  Here you can see how I began making journal pages from collected imagery in magazines, and then I began playing with layering images digitally.  I've gotten much better since these were done because I stumbled upon making custom brushes.  Hello?  How come it took me so long to discover THAT?  In my article I emphasized the words above.  When you are attracted to something (for me it was magazine and tshirt graphics) you TRUST that is is something worth taking notice of, even if you don't know where it will lead.  Then you need to STUDY.  Learn as much as you can about the thing.  Next is to IMAGINE all the possible ways you can incorporate this thing into your art.  How can you make it happen?  What tools do you need?  Lastly, you need to determine how to make it your own.  PERSONALIZE your inspiration by processing through your own filters to make unique, individual, signature art. 

My fascination with layered graphics has been evolving and growing for about two years.  In addition to my observation of interesting text treatment in magazines, I found printed tshirts to be a fabulous resource of inspiration.

The more I studied this artform, the more I found.....books, websites, artists, who really got my attention.  Here is one of the first guys that made me nearly faint.....

And of course, I've talked about this one before.....a household name by now.  What?  You don't know him but you shop at Target?  Pay more attention!  Crossing fingers he's the featured artist again this xmas.

I could spend an entire day putting together a post about tattoos.  And about KatVonD. (She inks V.V.!) And about L.A. Ink.  I have a CRUSH on that show!  My most favorite thing is watching them sketch out their ideas.  I especially love watching Corey draw free hand right onto the skin.  Makes you want to draw, doesn't it?  I do make a practice of drawing alot, like a few times a week....but he makes me want to draw first thing every morning.  But that's not what I'm introducing as my next crush.  It's actually about tribal tattoo design.  I love the stark, slick, linear and curving graphics of tribal ink.  I've turned these photos into b&w so if you are not into this kind of thing it won't gross you out too bad.  I'm totally working tribal into my new line of rubber.  Are you surprised?  Not!

It was nearly 2 years ago that Graham got his first tat.  It had the tribal flare.  Really cool.  NEVER did I think I would get a tattoo.  Even after he got his it was not even on my radar.  Then about a year ago I caved.  This is on my lower back......the b&w graphic on the right, you silly, not the "You Rock".  THAT was created on a website....a very cool little trick.  Try it HERE.  But back to my tat...I love it so much I may have a mini version done on my ankle.  Who knew I'd be saying this! 

EDIT:  Forgot to include a Shout Out to Laura of MadScienceCreations on Etsy, where I got this cool ribbon because it's TRIBAL!  Don't you need some?  Go HERE.

So there you have it......a SMALL SAMPLING of visuals to express my CRUSH on graphics.  The tip of the iceberg really.  You get the idea.  I wondered for a long time where all this interest would take me - beyond designing stamps.  This week Susanna and I began a course in silk-screen printing.  I am thrilled to learn we will be making our screens through a film and emulsion process - although cutting the stencils would have been fine with me.  I can hardly stand how cool it will be to make my own graphic ts.  Editing my ideas will be the only drag.

Have a crush to share?  Of course you do!  We are passionate people and have alot we crush on, and we use our blogs to share big and mini crushes everyday!  Come over and share a few with the Street Team and see what else we are crushing on. 

P.S.A. : H.I.M.

My pre-order arrived yesterday.  Released today.  I'm busy listening....back to regular blogging tomorrow.

Crushing....

Can't see myself wearing this, but....

 

{silver and brass brooch sitting on a beaded coaster}

Sometimes you just accumulate things because they move you.  You don't know why you have to have it other than it makes you happy to look at it, right?  This pin captures so much of what I love - the elements of design make me swoon.  I pretend it's the underside of a cathedral dome, looking down on me as I visit my favorite city. Why am I sharing this?  Because I'm on a Crusade. 

In the background, left, you can see part of St. Mark's Basilica.  Would love to arrive there by water.

One more view of architecture in Venice, and how about that chair?!  Need one!

And you can't talk about Gothic Architecture without mentioning the Palace of Westminster, more commonly called the Houses of Parliament.  On the far left is Westminster Abbey, and the far right is the Clock Tower, usually called Big Ben (nicknamed for the bell within).

A stunning close-up, or two.....

   

In addition to architecture, I adore gothic-style fonts.  Fonts, in general, are an infatuation we all share, don't we?  Here are a few of my faves, each style showcased as it's font name.

And I've been crushing for a long time on Lucky Brand jewelry.  Here's another cool line, very gothy don't you think?  More found HERE.

 

And to finish, some stamps I've done for other lines.  You've already seen my WayWard stamps.  Did you spy some Gothic influence?  You can be sure you'll be seeing more of that in my new rubber.  (Still toiling away on the designs.  Can't stop myself!)

Confessions of a Gothic Style Addict.  A style is defined by much more than architecture and jewelry, but these are images I collect to enter in my journals or pin up on my bulletin boards because I like to surround myself with images that feed me. 

I have lots of crushes, (yeah, I know you know that) and will share more soon.  In the meantime, check out some of the ones posted by the players on our Street Team.  And join us by sharing yours!

it was a tuesday

 

Back to Reality

Literally.  School started today.  Bummer.  End of sweet summer lazy days.  One more year of Mommy-hood feels like it got ticked off.  Sure, I'll always be their Mom, but our kids are getting older and these summers together are limited.  Next year Peter wil be driving and most likely working (we hope) so today I am feeling empty-ish.  There are Moms that have waited weeks for this day to arrive.  Not me.

A quote arrived by email yesterday.  Made me think of the free time that lays ahead of me.  Days to myself (well a few hours at least).  I do admit to loving this time in my studio.  I love that I have cleared my schedule of deadlines so my creative time is MINE.

Lots of things to get working on....unfinished projects & ongoing collaboratives.  Things that have been dormant while enjoying the family time of summer.  The beginning of a school year means so much to learn....for all of us.  Permission to embark on new adventures.  Sharpen the pencils, get out the notebook, set the course for a new season.

We had over 100 links for the last Street Team crusade so I decided we needed 2 winners.  Lots of NOISE!  Congrats to Marilyn and Fiona! 

We have started up Crusade No. 12, come over and play!