Q...is for House?

That's right. Q is for house. The Queen's house. I suppose that makes this a castle - although it isn't really in the shape of a traditional castle. Then again, I suppose I'm not a traditional Queen.

If you remember, a few posts back I posted a picture of the house/castle after it had only been painted. (Aileen at Outside the Margins sells them - along with loads of other cool things. They arrive unfinished.) Here's a quick review of the beginning:
I originally bought two of these - this "house" shape and a rectangle. I'll introduce the rectangle when it isn't nekked.

After seeing the example Aileen has posted,
I was really stoked to order one. But when I sat down with it, I was stumped. The "rooms" are little - and even though I have no problem finding small things around the studio to include, my problem was more like what I should include. I wanted my adornments to be cohesive. After trying more than a gazillion combinations (yep, it was a gazillion on the nose - I counted), I chucked that idea and decided to just put things I like in it. Cohesive or not, this was a fabulous project to use up a lot of odds-and-ends. The best part? I got to go through my extensive collection of vintage beads and findings while searching for things to include. Sometimes, going through my collections gets my creativity flowing...and sometimes it's just a whole lotta fun!

And this is what I came up with...

You can click on the pictures for a larger view.

As you can tell, my house is not very cohesive. Or, I suppose it doesn't look very cohesive. To a normal person. Which I'm not. (Helllooo...I refer to myself as "Queen"...)

Most inclusions are vintage. (Does that make it cohesive? Or am I reaching?)

Here are a couple of close ups...

(Note: Everything is vintage unless otherwise stated)

Upper left room: Brass flower charm, brass cabachon with lots of little holes, resin oriental man carrying buckets of water.
Upper right room: Three vintage flowers I glued together to make one flower, two lemon charms in resin, and a brass hat with a propeller on it. (The propeller really spins!)
Left side between floors: Silver fairy charm. Not vintage.
Right side between floors: An angel in flowing robes - was a button. I removed the shank. Not vintage.
Lower left room: Steel butterfly with Perfect Pearls. (non-vintage) buttons, thread.
Lower right room: Glass leaf charm, (non-vintage) square mirror with (vintage) cabachon, silver woman charm, (non-vintage) plastic photo corner tipped sideways to resemble a crown, (vintage) gold rhinestones.
Da Bling Room: Loads of rhinestones glued...everywhere!, resin flower finding, polymer clay face glued to the center of the flower. Perfect Pigments dabbed on her face.

Other little tricks and techniques:
I took a copper charm that says "be true" and has a spiral, and stuck a little crown charm on it. The blue sea glass was covered in 4 coats of UTEE, then had OPALS embossing powders sprinkled onto the hot UTEE. (The first link to UTEE is a great article on using UTEE...The second link to UTEE will take you to YouTube.com, where Suze Weinberg shows more creative projects. Fun stuff!)Vintage bird I think is just adorable - I've named her Gerty the Birdie. Gerty has a vintage red rhinestone eye. She is in front of a small Peyote stitched piece I did awhile ago - and in front of that is "Create" in metal. I used 4-5 coats of UTEE on that as well.And in the final close up...the "q" (for Queen, of course!) is a glittered letter that I added Glossy Accents to. Adding that layer helps to keep the glitter on the letter. A silver crown charm I added tiny real rubies to - I had pulled those out of a very sad ring I had. The word "Inspire" is 3D card stock, and "Hope" is imprinted in copper. The yellow flower is a very cool vintage finding - and I added a small blue vintage flower to the center. The yellow flowers are a strange shape and I can't wait to use more of them. In front, sitting on the shelf or "floor", is just an organza (yellow) ribbon scrunched into a fun shape. There is also a black plastic tag that says "bliss" on the far left and a cute little lady bug button on the far right - neither are pictured in the above photo.

I know this post is long - but when I look at creations done by others, I want to know how they created different things...and now you know all the little bits-and-bobs I used on my Queen House.

Which this non-traditional Queen prefers to call her unconventional Castle.

A Neglected Blog

I have been so busy with art that my poor blog has been neglected. I'm so sorry to everyone for leaving you hanging - I have been reading every one's entries for the current Woot Loot and I'm totally impressed with the resolutions posted. Ok, I'm really impressed with the comments that have been posted! Thank you to everyone who has posted and I wish all of you the best of luck. I wish I had a watch to give every one of you - but I promise there will be more Woot Loot to come. I wish I had an email address to comment back to everyone because I sincerely appreciate every single one of you who takes the time to read my ramblings and post a comment. In case I haven't said it lately, you guys rock!

I haven't posted in an entire week [gasp!] because I've been busy making art. Yay! I have some great new stuff to show you guys but don't have pictures yet, so you'll have to be a little patient. I do have pictures of some very easy cards I made and I'll post those. As always, I'm very interested in hearing what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome, as are any thoughts you have.

All of these cards come from Paper Wishes. Although I don't think this edition is available anymore (I could be wrong), there are plenty of other choices available if you are inclined to make something similar. I have to say there isn't an easier or faster project out there.

Clicking on the picture will enlarge it.

Even the backs of the cards are beautiful - with a special tag for your name.

And a hint of what's to come...new art postings, some cool news, and not one - but TWO - interviews. One is with Christine Street, the owner of Chocolate and Steel over at Etsy - who creates the most delectable "modern handcrafted silver jewelry" you've ever seen (ever...in your LIFE!)...and the other exciting interview is with the owner of Technique Junkies, Pat Huntoon. If you haven't visited Technique Junkies yet, you don't know what you're missing! I don't want to give away too much about these amazing ladies - so I won't say anything more. Please stay tuned - you are in for some great posts! xo

Get Your Sexy On with Silhouette

Ok. You've got to hear this. Seriously. I'm trying to contain my excitement and not allow my total dorkiness show. Really, I am. I'm so insanely excited about this I feel like a little kid!
This is the most whopper of a giveaway...I can hardly believe Simple-Finds.com is doing this. Giving away a QuicKutz Silhouette AND $150 in download credit proves there are people nuttier than I am! Yes, you heard me right. This is just insane. As much as I want to cut off access to their site - especially since they are already sitting at somewhere around 519 comments - I couldn't not post this for my dear and loyal subjects.

I will be wildly thrilled if one of you win this - of course, not as bonkers as I would be if I won it - and just FYI, will fully expect an open invitation to come play if you win as a result of this post. A QuicKutz Silhouette...just saying the words causes my eyes to glaze over and take on a dreamy quality. Say it with me...Silhouette. Ahhh Doesn't it just roll off your tongue like a lackadaisical stream flows over well-worn rocks? Mmm I love it! The folks over at Simple Finds are incredibly generous for offering this...but I honestly think their kindness borders on crazy when you add on the $150 download credit they are throwing in with the Silhouette. Have they lost their minds?? Apparently...because they didn't even stop there. They are also giving the winner FIVE colors of vinyl to top off this luscious giveaway. The QuicKutz vinyl itself is worth a whopping $40!! If you're trying to add it all up, this giveaway is worth a whopping $560. Yep. That's right. Five hundred and sixty smackaroos. 7,647 pesos. 16,457 rubles. That's a lot of pesos and rubles!

ASTONISHING.

Can you even think of a better way to start 2009?

Is anyone even still here reading??

This is a whopper. Enter my Woot Loot and then tear over to Simple-Finds.com and enter this smashing giveaway.

You can thank me with flowers.

The Zutter Bind-It-All v 2.0

The UPS man was good to me today. Very, very good to me. He brought my order from Marcos Paper. I could have kissed him. However, I've learned it isn't always a good thing to kiss people you don't know. Especially when they aren't expecting it.
How beautiful is this?? I talked myself out of the first Bind-It-All because I have one of the antwacky binding machines that I loved dearly. To get things straight, I never loved it (or even brought it home) for its sex appeal. Don't get me wrong, I loved it. Deeply. I would giggle with reckless abandon just thinking about the machine. I didn't care if it was a hottie or not - its true beauty was on the inside - and we were both ok with that.

However...HOWEVER...It always had some issues; "baggage" some would call it. For example, it was obese from the beginning. It really didn't ever have a chance, with the gray and black coloring it sported. The bold handle didn't help, since it was the only skinny thing on the beast. And the silver spikes donning the top (which I think are a valiant - but sad - attempt to pull the eye up and away from the heavy mid-section) just don't help.

Still, even with the fashion faux pas consuming its mass, I loved it. The dreams we shared for projects not yet dreamed up, "bound" us together. (Bahahaha! Sorry.)

But I can be honest and real about it - even with all my love - it is just plain gaudy. It weighs at least a gazillion pounds, uses only the unyielding plastic combs, and could easily injure with someone with all the pokey metal things protruding from the top. And did I mention it weighs more than the earth itself? Every time I lug it out I'm convinced I throw off the rotation of the planet...if even just a little.

When Marcos Paper had an amazing sale on the Bind-It-All 2.0, I just couldn't resist. After realizing how small and easy it is to use the original Bind-It-All, I silently cursed my machine every time I used it. That was it. The love I had sworn for the behemoth creature ended. Abruptly. I couldn't help it. My mind had latched on to the smaller, brighter, better, pink Bind-It-All, and I wasn't looking back. My looks of longing were replaced with glances of disgust. No longer able to find beauty in the quirks of the GBC CombBind, I had fallen out of love with the machine I used to cherish. I put the honker in my office closet, cementing the end of our 8 year relationship with a simple email to Greg over at Marcos . The Bind-It-All's item number and my credit card digits., it was over. I haven't looked back - instead, I eagerly awaited the arrival of my pastel pink BIAv2.0 (Bind-It-All version 2.0).

I haven't had a chance to use my adorable new tool yet - but after watching the instructional video (again), and reading through the information which accompanied my new friend, I'm so excited I can hardly wait. I'm on edge until the childebeasts go to school tomorrow so I can clear off a large space and test this baby out properly. I can't do that until I'm alone with my tunes blaring - and no 'beasts whining about the music being too loud. (Even though they crank up their iPods so loud I can hear their earphones in the next room!) I wisely used one of my few remaining thinker cells to order a sample pack of Binding Wires (since the BIAv2.0 doesn't come with any) - so I'm good to go. Ready to roll. Amped up.

I'll let you know the results when I'm finally able to get jiggy with it. I've already put my other projects I was working on aside. I will still finish those other projects this week - but thought I would share a quick preview of two.
The first is a house I got from Aileen over at outsidethemargins.com. It's adorable even though I'm not yet sure what magical baubles will fill the little cubbies. It's hard to tell (with my camera quickly becoming one of my most despised possessions), but it's painted bright red, lime green and deep periwinkle. The dividers between the sections (or cubbies) is yellow - and on the front of the lime green roof, there are yellow polka dots. It's bright and reeks of fun!
This is part of a CD I massacred with sand paper, alcohol inks, rubber stamps, and embossing. I flambeed the disc, letting it melt into lazy curves and sloping terrains. Then I let my oldest tear up the CD before I glued some Opals/Fantasy Film Stained Glass Paper (technique can be found here) to the back. I singed the Stained Glass Paper quite a bit with the heat gun (even making a few cool holes in it), sprinkled some watch innards before setting a dimensional glaze with Franklin Opals, and topped the whole thing off with clock hands, Tim Holtz's Game Spinners, and a watch stem. I want to add another piece of the broken CD...and then it will be a completed pin. It would make a rockin' pendant - but I'm not sure the Opals/Fantasy Film Stained Glass Paper is strong enough.

So now that I've shown you previews of things I'm working on, it's back to my BIAv2.0.

Ahh. It feels so good to be in "new love".
Especially with something pink.
And I didn't even get in trouble for kissing the UPS man.
xo

Spanish Love Song

This has absolutely nothing to do with art - well, maybe I can tie it in to my blog by categorizing it as a "performing art". Yeah, that's the ticket (said John Lovitz style)! I've been looking at art sites all morning, while prepping myself to produce a whopping 120 pieces of art for a swap I'm involved in. Ay, all 120 pieces have to be the same. Production line here I come!

Anyone who looks at multiple blogs/websites knows how it goes, you follow one link to another. I ended up on Mom O Matic - which in itself is a great site and definitely worthy of your perusal. This allowed me to view the rather hysterical post, "If You Eat Carrots, You Might Be A Hore." And if you want a royal laugh, check out this post Mom O Matic made. (I feel it's necessary to state this post does contain one "adult" word. Many of her posts are adult related...just in case that bothers some.) In between some very hysterical posts, Ms O Matic discusses the world of Etsy, art and important information pertaining to that world. Explore the site - but be forewarned, you will get lost in the hysteria!

From there I wound up on kontraband.com - a site full of goofy (and abnormal) stuff. Right up the royal alley! I hadn't had the pleasure of scoping this site out until this morning. I was looking at the offerings and came across this. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. If not, have yourself checked. You may not have a pulse.

SPANISH LOVE SONG

Enjoy your week!

And a special thanks to Joan for allowing me to use the picture!