Moments of magic

Twice this morning, Angelo sat up in bed, very sleepily and clapped when he looked over at me. He was happy I was there. I was happy I was there. :) Later in the day, he came up and said, "My friend Mommy is not gone." "My friend Mommy"! So sweet!

I think the fact that he is finding extra happiness that I'm still here, not going anywhere may be related to our ending our nursing relationship. I don't know if psychologically I'm ready to say he is weaned, and my body certainly hasn't gotten the message, but we have not nursed since Friday. I intended on doing extended breast feeding and following his lead for the most part. But, I've finally reached the point where I have to stop. I have to detox and get some energy back. I feel he's old enough, has reached a maturity level that I can reason at least a little with him. It has been tough on both of us, but going relatively well. That's all I can say right now.

I went to see Eat Pray Love today. A couple posts ago, I mentioned the Italian theme running through my life? Well, she goes to Italy in this movie! I didn't know that before I went to see the movie! I knew India, but not Italy! I was especially struck by the guy in the barber shop's description of Americans and her learning "the art of doing nothing". I think that's why I have enjoyed the company of Italians so much- I've felt this American need to go, go, go, do, do, do exhausting, pointless and nearly disgusting. That "American work ethic" combined with perfectionism has had me want to run for the hills! Why can't we just "be"? Hmm.. well, I think I'm getting the message. :)

Witch Shrine

When I showed my husband this finished piece, he said, "Who knew an innocent little fruit crate could turn into something so creepy?" :) Exactly!!! Painted the wooden clementine crate, ripped, stamped and inked some skull paper and reassembled into a background. More ripping and inking for the mat. I altered the antique photo myself. My friend Brynna (my friend Terri's daughter) gave me the skeleton. The shroud over the top is tea dyed cheese cloth. I made this last year some time.

Altered Book pages

These are the first pages I did in my altered book. Lots of painting and stamping with odd things. All the photos are from my own collection. I've done a lot since then and really love having a place where I can keep art all in one place and have backgrounds already painted and ready to go.

Lina Cavalieri "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World"

Lina Cavalieri, the subject of these two art pieces, was a cabaret singer, opera singer and silent film star at the turn of the century (1874-1944). She was born an orphan in Rome, ran away from the orphanage and started her career shortly after (after first taking a collection at a cafe). Known for her dramatic skills, her charm, generosity and especially her beauty, she was known as "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World".

Like the "coincidences" I noticed when I posted the Cleo ATC, I am struck by how many Italian themes that seem to be appearing in my life lately. Lina was from Rome. My family and I attended a party at a friend of ours last week, Monia (and her husband Daniel and children Matthew and Jasmine) who is Italian and her party was attended mostly by Italians. (We had a blast!! Everyone was so laid back, yet also fun and energetic.) When we turned on House Hunters International yesterday, an Irish couple was looking for a home in Italy. Lately I haven't been willing to watch HHI because they seem to all be American couples looking for vacation homes on islands. :P But, I decided to check it out yesterday and was treated to beautiful scenery. And today, I look up Lina and find she is also Italian. OK, so not as many coincidences and maybe not as strong a connection as when I posted the Cleo ATC, but still striking to me. Maybe it's also because we have been talking more about getting the Rosetta Stone to learn Italian so we can teach Angelo. So, if you haven't made the connection, my married name is Italian, and that's why I chose an Italian name for my son. My husband's grandfather was Italian. How many times can I say Italian?

These images are from the Art Chix's "La Belle Epoque" collage sheet. Both pieces are on a substrate of card stock sprayed with multiple mica sprays with cheese cloth over top. That cheese cloth also embellishes the top piece. I also added decorative papers (some inked), stamps and dimensional stickers and sprayed the lace on the bottom piece with gold mica spray.

Life's Greatest Happiness

I made this ATC using inchies for the Art Chix turquoise inchies challenge. Images are from their cool butterflies/beautiful garland kit and My Lil' Love collage sheets. I painted a book page and glued it to an ATC sized piece of cardstock, tore the vellum quote, mounted the inchies on the "left over" part and put the quote to the side. Dementional paint outlines the inchies (except the middle one- I used a glitter marker for that) and the ATC.

If you try to read the text, it is probably one of the happiest moments in the book it comes from- the teenager who lives a hard life in the Appalachian mountains gets her first kiss. The guy will be her husband shortly after. I think the "Lil' Love" and the quote tie in nicely with this part of the story, though not all of it was intentional. :) It's funny what parts of a story end up as a background. It is usually completely ironic (a preacher coming to visit the couple on Christmas and the art was Halloween themed) or entirely appropriate (randomly choosing a book page to paint and it being this part of the story and already using a collage sheet titled "My Lil' Love".)

Couple Halloween things

Love Halloween! Never too early for Halloween art!

Chipboard base, paper backgrounds and borders (Martha Stewart and Bethany Lowe's Vintage Halloween), images Bethany Lowe's Vintage Halloween and Dover.

Paper background, Martha Stewart; image - Dover; crepe paper border pleated and glued; Distress Stickles (Ranger) inner border.

More Art Stuff

The base for this piece is an egg shaped playing card. Found a tin of them at the thrift store- score!! Painted with gesso, then sprayed with "Sea Oats" Starburst mica spray. The text is from an antique spelling primer, the bird and branch were cut out with my Cricut cutting system and then sponged with ink. The bottom border is wax paper sprayed with multiple mica sprays.

I got this image of Mata Hari from Art-e-zine. I cut the ATC background from card stock I sprayed with multiple mica sprays. Then I used a large background stamp, added the image and embellished with Distress Stickles (Ranger).

The photo for this work-in-progress came from Somerset Studio's "art to borrow". I cut the party hats from patterned paper and added fibers for the trim and pom pom. I drew in the wand and added color with colored pencils. I will be using this as a birthday card base. :)

Show Girl Tag

Made this tag using Art Chix's "Saucy Showgirls" collage sheet. I inked the tag with multiple colors and covered in a used dryer sheet I sprayed with multiple mica sprays. The bottom border is wax paper sprayed with multiple mica sprays and the border at the top is gold paper. The stars are brads.

Charms for Art Chix Lottery

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Art I've made (sort of) recently

These flag garlands were created using Art Chix's beautiful Garland kit (and vintage buttons, wire and some paper from my supplies). The substrate was from a recycled frozen food box.

This subject is from Art Chix's Dreamy Paper Dolls collage sheet. The scrap paper, antique spelling primer, antique croqueted lace, and vintage buttons are from my collection. I inked the edges with gold pigment ink and sewed around the perimeter by hand with gold thread.