Funky Art Queen

This is a mixed media piece I completed yesterday. The little tulips were created from muslin, machine stitched, stuffed, gessoed, embedded with vintage dictionary, glazed and protected. Then I added the little striped stems and added them to the already prepared canvas. I added the letters GROW. The frame was built by me from a yardstick donated to me by my good friend Renea. I knew I would find a good use for them some day. I don't like how I kind of did a wash on the frame. I am thinking of painting black and white checks. Here are the sides.....what do you think? I think I may have cracked the code for crackling fabric! I don't know if I told you but I have mentioned it on facebook about trying to figure out how to crackle fabric! Man, I have tried so many things! (I have been using muslin). Finally yesterday, I used these steps to create a fairly descent crackle on muslin. I'm still going to try another thing I read about yesterday called one step crackle by deco art...

My goodness, I just realized today that this post will be my 400 th post since beginning this blog in 2006. Did I really have that much to say? Does anyone really want to hear from me that much? I think YES!!!!! OF COURSE THEY DO!!! SO, I continue on Dahling ! I love blogging, love my blog friends, love the feedback, love the creating part of typing up a post and adding the pictures that fit the subject just right, love the give aways, contests, and challenges....what's not to love about blogging?!!! ! It is all a blessing to have this much fun, I think! I will continue to blog as long as I have something to blog about and the mind and hands to do it. I completed this fabric soft sculpture heart this morning....very early (since I could not sleep-day 2 of the interrupted sleep cycle-probably hormonal and a whole other post). I wanted this piece to have the crackle effect and it does in some places, just not as much as I wanted.....I'm experimenting with different techniques ...

H ere it is just a few days until Christmas.....(211 days to be exact). So, to celebrate, I created these two little elf stuffies. LOL....now you surely think I am going crazy especially after the last post. No, I just decided to participate in the Cloth Paper Scissors reader challenge for "winter holiday critter stuffies". I'm telling you, this CPS for May/June 2009 was one of the best ever for me. I was so inspired and challenged by several things. I was first inspired by the article by Pam Carriker on page 51 and thus moved to create this piece of art. Then, because of all that inspiration, I got out the Jan/Feb issue and found inspiration in the article by Sharon Tomlinson about incorporating images from paper napkins in your mixed media and came up with this: Anyway, I sent in my email about my stuffies and I hope they get accepted. But, even if they don't, I was moved to create and that makes me happy! THANKS CPS!!!

Esther and Fred? Who Knew? Oh my! We have quite the scandal in Fru-Fru town. I was not going to say anything......I found out about the actual elopement last month. I just thought it was not my place to say anything.....but everyone in Fru- Fru town is whispering this and that.....oh the gossip is flying. So, I feel it necessary to explain what happened. It seems that Esther really did like Fred . They took off and eloped on April 21. (Purchased on Etsy that day-LOL....oh just go with it!) Who Knew? OK, Esther was the new school teacher that came from the town of Bla-Bla for her first teaching assignment. Fred, was the local banker. Everyone knew that Fred kinda liked Esther at first but she said she thought he had "little man syndrome" and she did not care for him. Well, she must have liked him in private because they just up and left and got hitched! Yep! They got married. They came back after about a week or so after spending some time in Bla-Bla with her family. What a ...

I finished these fabric flowers yesterday. I loved the polkadot material. I just used fabric stiffener and I baked them some to make the fabric hard. I hot glued the stems and tied pretty ribbon. These are my kinda flowers......I can't kill these. Just dust and go. LOL Then after thinking about it a bit, I decided to make some round ones....kinda like pansies. That was not enough though.....I wanted them to be sort of primitive so I tea dyed them and baked them to stiffen. I also added polyurthane.....which by the way, I don't like as it seems to have a very mild stickiness even after they dried. So we live and learn....anyway....here they are. Then I decided to so something else with fabric....something different and unique. Oh my goodness, sometimes I can't leave well enough alone. I do not like this creation but I like the concept so I might have to play with the idea some more. I wanted to make a fabric sculpture piece of art that you could hang on the wall. This is ...

Oh, today was such a lovely day. I started off by taking a lovely walk with my biggest fan; Sebastian. We decided to be a bit more leisurely about our walk today and take the camera. I took a few pics so that I could share the beauty of my neighborhood with you. I am always seeing things that I want to take pics of but it is not convenient to carry the cam...so today.....I did. After all , it is Sunday......a day of rest and respite. The above photo is of some flowers that have these little brown tubes sticking out from the middle. I thought they were arranged in the shape of a heart. Then, I found this sign and a few others around the Little League Baseball field. Don't worry, I did not go in there! Oh these are just a few of the pics I took. You can see all of them on my flickr ....just click on the striped legs on the side bar. Later on, my husband and I went to Scenic Mountain to eat our lunch. We stopped and bought some Tacoritos -from Taco Villia (much like the double decke...

Oh...I am so inspired by memories of Mom's gardens of the past. I long for one of those country meals full of vegetables from the garden. We lived in the middle of a cotton field in my adolescent and teenager years. My parents grew gardens that I can only dream of now. I can remember the best meals that primarily were created from their garden stuffs. Oh black eyed peas, cornbread, tators, fresh sliced tomatoes, cantelope, fried squash and okra. I used to ask Mama to burn the okra just a little for me. Yumm! That is the inspiration for my little container gardens every year for the last few years. I planted my tomatoes, jalapenos, and bell peppers in the container gardens in our backyard this evening. I also planted some radishes. I want to get some cilantro and some squash and okra and I will be satisfied. I planted my little container garden right after work today. It is so therapeutic to come home and get right to the watering of my "garden". I find it very relaxing...

T he other day, my daughter looked so sad to have to go to work-it was Tuesday. She told me she could not wait until the weekend. It occured to me that we all do this.....we live for the weekend. (Well not everyone-but I could relate to her feelings). I thought.....it is such a waste of 5 precious days to just try and get through so we can have our fun on the weekends. I reminded myself and Heather that life is so short.....we need to find joy in every single day...not just Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. So, I am going to focus on finding joy everyday. I am going to model that for my daughter and encourage her to do the same. Todays joys included an early morning walk with my dog Sebastian, cleaning the house to feel organized during the week, laughing with my husband and daughter at different times throughout the day and creating early this morning. Assignment for you and I for this week: Find Joy in Every Day. I would love to hear about it.

I had the best day today! I got up early (even though it was Saturday) and got ready to go to an arts and crafts fair (Festival on the Concho ) in San Angelo, Texas. I drank my one cup of coffee and woke up Heather and we were on the road by 7:45 a.m. Fun Stuff . Would I do this for just an arts and crafts show....maybe....but would I do this if I knew that my two best friends in the whole world would be there.........????? Yep, that is it! Lisa had a wedding in San Angelo and Renea and her husband stayed a lake nearby. How convenient.....and it all turned out great. Renea , Heather and me met downtown San Angelo and proceeded to shop for a while at a few shops while waiting for Ms. Lisa. She showed up shortly and we hustled down to the Festival on the Concho . I was a little disappointed in the Festival as there were not that many booths and many of them were jewelery. Don't get me wrong....I love jewelery.....it just got old. So many soldered charms both the round and the squar...

This is my newest piece of art. I was still inspired by Pam Carriker's article in CPS. I love the whole modeling paste thing. I was really concerned that some people use molding paste and some use modeling paste until yesterday I read in CPS (someone else's article...forgive me as I can't remember) that these are the same thing. Golden calls it "molding" and liquitex calls it "modeling". Any way, mystery solved! Yay! I want a big ole bucket of the stuff. Oh the texture it adds-love love love it!!! By the way, the substrate was a 12"X12" piece of wood. I love working on wood because of the durability. I was also inspired by Sharon Tomlinson's article in the Jan-Feb issue of CPS about using paper napkins in your art. (Page 62). The flowers in the top left are from paper napkins. Oh, they are so translucent. I want to experiment more with putting print behind them and layering more like she suggests in her article. Anyway, it is a good messag...

MY MOM's FIRST GRADE PIC This is a special day that we honor our mothers. I think it is important to have a day for them don't you? The above picture is one of my cherished favorites of my Mom from the first grade, I believe. Without getting all gushy and mushy.......I'm just going to make a list of 20 things that my mother taught me (not in any particular order). Thanks Mama..... I love you with all my heart. 1. We do not hate....we are to love everyone. 2. Less is more...and a little bit goes a long way. 3. Everything in moderation. 4. Saturdays are cleaning day no matter what-first work then play! 5. You can do anything you set your mind to. 6. Always make sure your meals are colorful. 7. Music is a good thing to have in your life. My mom always listened to music and helped me appreciate it. 8. Do not let people run over you. 9. Rolling your eyes at your mother is a bad thing. 10. Reading to your children is a wonderful thing. I will always remember my mother reading to...

which way to go Originally uploaded by Funky Art Queen The article in Cloth Paper Scissors by Pam Carriker (May/Jun 2009 Issue 24-page 50-53 )inspired me to do this piece today. I purchased all the paint colors suggested (except for the quinacridone mickel azo gold). I guess Hobby Lobby does not have the "Golden" paints. I wonder why? Anyway, when I went up to the checker and put the many tubes of paint on the counter.....she asked "are you a painter?".

KARMA BOWLS Do you follow the Junk Gypsies ? Oh, I do. I just always have to go and see what they are up to. I really liked these metal Karma bowls they featured on facebook today. You can buy them at their site here. They just find the best stuff! I also liked the recycled tin can word signs like this one. I know there are no gift giving opportunities coming up soon like Sunday or anything. So, I will just wait until something comes up. Hint Hint

live and love clay flowers Originally uploaded by Funky Art Queen One of my weekend projects. I did background with vintage dictionary pages. Transparent glaze and sponged off some. Acrylic vase with indian ink outline....polymer clay flowers also with vintage dictionary background-words "Live" "Love" ...striped stems (wood) and the entire piece is painted with beeswax. Hmmmmm-beeswax and clay together. I love mixing medias-the more the better! I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Lisa and Renea before fixing up our booths at Funky Finds last weekend. I am going to place this photo in my Sisters and Friends Photo collection on Flickr. Have you joined that group? I just started it a couple of years ago to have a place to share pics on the subject of sisters and friends. What would we do without them? Come and check out the photo collection here . On another note, I worked all morning on a book query that I intend to send to a publisher as soon as the package I am working on is complete. I have ordered prints of some of my artwork and I am waiting for those to come in so I can add them to the package. I am pleased with my letter. Who knows how this will go but if I don't try, nothing will ever happen right? This is a dream of mine and I intend to pursue it! Nothing ventured....nothing gained. So, wish me luck and stay with me to see how this all goes. It is a learning experience for sure.