It's Been a Long Time...

Wow! It has been about a year and a half since I last posted!  A lot has happened in that time and I just didn't make blogging a priority.  Last summer I bought my first house (yay!) and then one month after that my parents sold their house and moved into a new one.  Ever since then, the new house(s) have been the priority.  I now know what people mean when they say, sarcastically, "The joys of home ownership."  I had every wall and ceiling in the house repainted, then I recarpeted the whole house.  However, when we pulled up the carpet in the basement we discovered that the floor was cracked...like, a jigsaw puzzle!  PANIC!!!  I had an inspector come out and he told me that part of my house had "sunk" about 1/2 inch.  I had to have the back corner of the house lifted on stilts...well, they call them piers.  YIKES!  That was definitely not in the plan...not in the budget!  But, I have gotten over it.  I now love my house! 

Much time has been spent trying to figure out the best way to arrange my craft area in the basement.  The basement is a walk out, which I love!  But it is part "entertainment" and part "craft space".  The problem is, I need more craft space and I just don't have the room.  I guess I could get rid of the couch and chairs...but I don't think it would be fun to have everyone over to watch movies and make them sit on the floor.  Hmmm...summer project?

I have been doing some crafting during this time.  I still make mini albums, but I recently got into Mixed Media Art...it is so exhilarating!  I am kind of a perfectionist when in comes to mini albums and they take me forever to complete.  But, with mixed media there are no rules...no expectations...it is so liberating!  I feel FREE when I am doing mixed media. Granted, I don't have much experience under my belt, but I am learning.  I have been watching TONS of YouTube videos and learning new techniques...and buying a ton of new tools and paints and yummy Faber Castell Gelatos and all sorts of templates and masks and Mod Podge and gesso and all that goodness.  Today I signed up for an online class called FACEcinating Girls, which is starting in a few days on May 1st.  It is taught by the fabulously talented Andrea Gomoll who lives in Berlin, Germany.  She came up with this brilliant idea to help people to paint whimsical girl faces by providing them with clear stamps that are elements of the faces--3 sets of eyes, 2 noses, 2 lips that you can mix & match to make adorable girl faces. She is going to be teaching us how to position the face parts correctly and then she'll show us techniques on shading and making backgrounds using mixed media.  I am so excited to start this class!  Here is the link to her class if you haven't already signed up.  Check out her blog anyway because her work is amazing and so inspiring!  Andrea Gomoll - FACEcinating Girls Class

I plan to post my completed works if they turn out okay...but in the meantime, here are some pics of my first mixed media canvas series.  These are 6x6 canvases...I thought I should start small since I was experimenting.  I loved doing these.  They were so quick and easy and fun!  It was also fun to scrounge around in my stash and use up some things that I had been hoarding.  Remember, these are my first canvases...so they are not the greatest!  I am still learning!!  Excuse the mess...I just snapped these shots right after I finished so I could email them to my mother.  I need to set up a space to take pictures of my crafts.