Cousin Lisa's wedding

My cousin Lisa got married this weekend in Rockford, IL. She rented a photo booth and everyone was welcome to take pictures all night long! What a fantastic idea, it was a blast! Here is a sample of how I did not waste this opportunity!

Catching up.....

Spring break was two weeks ago, but we were sooo busy I haven't had time to post. My hubbie and I went to Chicago to see the Body Worlds 2 Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry.... it was pretty grotesque but in a fascinating way. We also found time to shop and go to the art museums. It was a great getaway!!

Ice Storm 2007

ICE, RAIN, and SNOW!

That's the caption all over the news this week! We had a terrible ice storm that knocked out a lot of power lines, including mine. Jeremy and I and the animals ( 2 dogs and a cat) were without power from Saturday around 2pm til Monday morning. YIKES!!! It was fun at first- playing board games by candlelight and watching a movie on my laptop under 6 blankets... BUT it got old! Sunday we went to get a hot breakfast to find nothing was open anywhere around us. We ended up 20 miles away in line for 20 minutes at McDonalds. As a vegetarian. McDonald's is the last place you want to end up! Let's just say it is over and I am so thankful! No school since we have no power- that's one good thing!!!!

I found out you can still make 1 inch squares by candlelight- here is a sneak preview of some of mine for an upcoming mail swap, I made over the cold icy weeeknd!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Ok- I am a day late, but I really want to share all the crafty things I made for Valentines day!
Here is my Valentine gift to my hubbie, Jeremy. I made wind-up toys that look like us. I put an accordion in his hands, and paint and a brush in mine. the BEST part is- they really wind up and work!


These pictures are of Sophie and Marissa (my nieces). I made them papier mache puppets for Valentines Day. I made Marissa "sleeping Beauty in the burgundy gown and Sophie received Cinderella in the blue velvet. We had soooo much fun playing with them!

digitally altered ATC's!

I wish I had more time to work with the hundreds of photos I take every month. I enjoyed this swap because it was a chance to use photoshop again and received some really great altered ATC's from Kirsten. The top two are hers and the bottom two I sent out! Happy altering everyone!

Lisa's Bridal Shower

I helped host a bridal shower for my cousin Lisa who is getting married in March. She and I are both art teachers and I just adore her. Here are some photos of the great table we set for it. My cousin Laurie is a florist and artist in Tacoma and she made some beautiful party favors for everyone.

Here are all the cousins!

Beautifully wrapped chocolate bars by cousin Laurie.

ATC Crazy!

Happy Artmaking!

I have been finishing up swaps for January and have made a bunch of ATC's I would like to share.

CAUTION: this will be a spoiler alert for those of you who are receiving them!

Bare trees and Silhouettes for Zhenia and Metal ATCs for Linda , Chair ATC's for Kirsten!

New Art for the New Year!

I have been really bad about updating my work. Here is a few things from December... more to come!
These are the three ATC's I made for the Raw ATC's swap Zhenia held! Thanks Z - I loved the ATC's I received!

As for Holiday gifts..... paper bead earrings were my favorite gift to give this year. Thanks to Kirsten who kindly got me addicted to another craft this year.
I also made my sister this cute little accordian book about my neices.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Starry Night

My neice is such a great little artist. Check out this painting she made at home after learning about Starry Night in her kindergarten art class that week. I was so honored when she gave it to me! Maybe I am extra impressed since I am an art teacher as well!


Starry Night by Marisssa age 5

Mail In!

Check out these great ATC's I received from Kelli and Carol! I just love them!

Here are some ATC's I made for the hand sewn swap in October. The picture is from vacation this summer. My neice and I rode this roller coaster called the "Spinning Dragon" in Kansas City,MO.

Skeleton Art

I love Halloween and every year I teach my students about the Day of the Dead. I also am very inspired by Mexican art and the art of El Dia del los Meurtos. Skeletons srround me right now so... that means for me that I have been making a great deal of skeleton art! Here are a few I have finished and sent off to others!

California

Jeremy and I had a wonderful time in California this weekend. We went for his brother Donny's wedding. The wedding took place in a garden behind a restuarant called the Secret Garden.








It was a perfect day... so many sweet little touches that made the wedding so special. Everyone was to write a word that represents marriage on a small stone. Instead of a unity candle, they each poured a vase of sand into a bowl. Eveyone came up afterwards and put their stones in the sand.

















My gift to them was this old window frame. I cut up an old quilt to create their family tree behind the window. I was happy with how it turned out . They are expecting a little girl in January.


We also went to Knotts Berry Farm Halloween Haunt while we were in California! I LOVE Haunted Houses, so this was a dream come true!
This is a picture I took of a monster, as I was taking it another one jumped out at me......
The night was full of haunted mazes, freak shows, and monsters jumping out at you in a dark foggy amusement park! I loved it!!!!!

Monkey love....

RED HOT MONKEYS!!!!!

I thought I should share why I named my blog red hot monkeys! I am addicted to making sock monkeys. I started making them 5 years ago when my niece Marissa was born. I wanted to make her something special.

I then made my boyfriend ( husband now) Punky Monkey. I gave him an accordian that year so... Punky Monkey got an accordian as well!!!

Over the years, I have made many more.... here are a few of my favorite ones!

My First Homer!

I am so lucky to have Kirsten for a friend! Not only did she get me all into mail art,
but she secretly made me a deco themed "Birds" (my favorite) and it arrived home today! My first homer!!! What a wonderful surprise! Here is picture of the cover and one of the pages!

Mural in our stairway