Old and New:)

Hello Everyone:)

So this week I'm posting a little earlier than Friday as I have great hopes of being in my art room all weekend:)

In this household with all the pets, you never know if there will be time to grab for some art time, so I find if I announce that I'm scheduling time, usual the husband will take note and deal with the 'motley crew' and other creatures in our zoo:)

First off, it's become apparent to me, that all over

the Internet, Halloween projects are popping up.

I've even seen Christmas projects already being

posted, now usually I wouldn't get on the 'early train', 

but from an earlier post of mine, I've had this little

pile of goodies sitting on my art desk.

I tend to 'pile' things on my desk, in an effort

to get 'inspired' by usually a group of things

that don't quite make sense to me. It isn't until

I add something, or find something that triggers

an idea, that it begins to make sense. All I knew a few

weeks ago, is 'Halloween' when I saw this little group...

So, I purchased this little cardboard ornament from

Chris and Sharon at Red Lead a while back.

(Link to their wonderful shop in my Favourite's List).

I painted the ornament with Claudine Hellmuth's 

Studio Paint, Charcoal Black.

Using one of my favourite tools in my art room,

Glossy Accents by Inkssentials,

I glued the ribbon all around the outside edge of

the ornament.

I then took a plain mini paper doily, and used

Tim Holtz 'Distress Ink' Wild Honey and Walnut Stain

to cover the entire doily.

I used a paintbrush to cover a thin coat

of the Glossy Accents over the face of the

cardboard ornament, and placed the doily

on the painted ornament. Used a quick 

brush with my brayer to make sure that

it was sealed. After it was dry....

I chose one of my very favourite 

Vintage Photographs from my collection

You'll see these two girls from time to time,

as they're from my own collection, and they

print up on the printer really well:)

(A small project like this I wouldn't want to

use the original photograph. I'd only do that 

for a very special project piece).

I took a moon graphic and the 'girls' photograph

and printed them up, cut them out and placed them

on the doily along with picking out some head gear 

for them to wear:)

And of course, Fashion being what it is,

they also had to have other embellishments...

these are Kristin Hubick's new line of 

embellishment made by Coffee Break Design and

these were purchased from

Retro Cafe Art:)

(Kristin Hubick's Link in my Favourites List:)

(They're so fun to play with!)

I added a bit of Distress 'Stickles' to the glasses

'Picket Fence'

(Love the horn rim pair!)

And a couple of the pop out stars from the glasses.

(Even the salvage bits  can be used from these cut-outs!)

Next up...a greeting....

I LOVE THESE BEADS!!

Every time I place an order with Chris and Sharon

at Red Lead, I always try to remember to purchase

an extra couple of bags of these beads. If I could

afford it, I'd buy a case of them, as I love how

they make a statement in the black and white:)

So there you go, I'm officially taking the 

'Early Train'

on Halloween:)

I'll wait awhile before posting any more Halloween projects,

but then, Halloween is my absolute favourite of Holidays,

so don't hold me to that! :)

So that was the 'New' in this weeks blog post, and here's a bit of 

'Old' as I want to add more eye-candy for your enjoyment:)

It's been long enough now, that I feel I can post this past project that I did a few months ago.

We had a wonderful pet parrot named 'Connie' a few months

ago, pass away without warning. She's was a very special

pet of mine, as she was a gift to me soon after the loss of my mum.

We have had dozens of different species of parrots and other birds come through our home over the years. At one time we actually had 18 birds, 9 different species living with us.

Anyway Connie, was a Black-Capped Conure

And we referred to her as the 'Kitchen Conure'

as she was the only one that was allowed to live

in my kitchen, as she became a constant source 

of entertainment to me as she grew, and her vocabulary

was really out of this world!

(Most of our birds are rescue birds, and usually are difficult to be handled, but Connie was only 12 weeks old when she arrived, totally pliable and willing to learn).

I owed this little creature something really special

as she certainly was a main reason for dealing with

the grief of losing my mum.

So Connie the Kitchen Conure inspired this...

14x20 Mixed Media Canvas.

Caption says: 'Everyone who meets her,

marvels about her vocabulary.

What they don't hear or see,

is what she has taught me.'

I didn't know it at the time, that it would be just

a few months later that I would lose Connie as well.

Now, I'm so glad that she inspired me to give the canvas

a try, as it reminds me everyday of her, as I still

expect every morning when I go into my kitchen

to hear, 'wanna peanut!'

(Ok, so she was a little demanding once she figured

out the meaning of the words, but that's because she

was so brilliant!)

Anyway, now there's another parrot in the kitchen, our

dear old, (20+ year old), Chico who is a Maroon-bellied Conure,

and has her own vocabulary:) I figured it was time for

Chico to have a 'retirement' from the flock, and get real

one on one time. Now I hear, 'Kiss the beak' every morning, (grin).

And just so you know, the rest of the flock 

are actually in our living room:) 

We gave it over to the birds years ago, 

as we're suckers for a needy creature:)

So hope you've enjoyed the blog posting for this coming week.

It's a particularly long one, but hope you find it of interest:)

Have a great weekend!

Enjoy!