I made a little Christmas Ornament!!!

I made this little Christmas ornament out of a dollar plain wooden ornament from Michaels.  I had so much fun with it.  I painted it with a coat of off white paint, then covered it in Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, and then applied a coat of decoupage medium to the whole thing.  Then I covered it in Martha Stewart's White Marble glitter.  Then I added embellishments-mother of pearl buttons, a fleur-de-lis to honor my husband's french heritage, and different ribbons that I had in my stash.  I glittered some Tim Holtz grungeboard letters and the top of the ornament in Martha Stewart's white gold glitter.  Then I took some chipboard wings, covered them in Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, applied a coat of decoupage medium, and then started to paint and scrape gold paint, red interference shimmer spray, and then blue shimmer spray.  When that had all dried I applied another coat of decoupage medium and then sprinkled Martha Stewart's coarse white glitter over the wings.  When they were dry I hot-glued them to the little house.  I am soooooooooooooooo in love with this ornament.  It turned out even better than the vision I had in my head.  I think I'll start a new tradition, where I make one special ornament every year.  FUN!!!!!

Lil Angel

This is a layout with pictures from when William was just 5 days old, and soooooooo tiny and perfect and sweet!  He's a big 18.4 lb. 4 month old now!!!

Anime style girl!!!

I took an online class by Danita, an artist that I really like, and this is how my girl turned out!  She's kind of me in a lot of ways, although I dyed my hair red instead of blue!  I love how I am the mama butterfly and then the little baby stroller has the baby butterfly!  Baby William is my little baby butter!  And of course there is the "Big C" lurking in the background...I had a lot of fun fingerpainting distress ink into rock candy crackle paint!  Very happy hands that day!!!

Lifebook 2013

http://tinyurl.com/lifebookdanita
I can't wait to take this class!

William is Born!!! (Scrapbook Layout)

At long last I have created something!  William is now 3 months old and just adorable.  This layout captures those amazing moments as he was born and just after...hopefully more layouts and art to come!!!

Huge Giveaway!!!!!!!!!!

In honor of World Cardmaking Day, which I believe was yesterday, Pamela's World of Scrap is giving away a huge prize on her blog.  Here's the link: http://www.pamelasworldofscrap.blogspot.com/2012/10/huge-wcmd-giveaway.html
Good Luck!!!

Lots of news!!!!!! Cancer, etc...

No artsy pictures today as we are currently "in-between" cameras...Baby William is 2 months old now and perfectly delicious, delightful, and adorable...all 16 pounds of him!!!!  I just found out that I have thyroid cancer, a minor, treatable cancer and will have surgery in 2 days to remove my entire thyroid.  That is a very difficult thing to deal with, with taking care of a new baby.  But I am managing incredibly well with the help of Mr. Awesome Hubby!!!  I also have a new, CRAZY-FUN haircut in defiance of the cancer.  But no pictures of it yet due to the whole no camera situation. Sunday I started a new painting in my sketchbook and last night I made an entire scrapbook layout!!!!! (I just have to do the journaling)  The first art I've created in 3 months and it feels soooooooooooooooo good.  That's life these days in a nutshell...

A day at the Sandy River

A recent scrapbook layout.  I might be taking longer breaks between posts as I am now 9 months pregnant, and finding it a little harder to create these days!!!

A Commisioned Painting

My sister-in-law requested me to paint her something very similar to a painting that I already did last fall.  This is the result!  Mixed media fabric, paper, and paint.  It's also the largest painting I have ever done, about 24"X36".  It was a challenge as I am 8 months pregnant and it took some maneuvering!!! :-)

A Wedding Card for my Nephew and his bride!!!

Webster's Pages, Pink Paislee, and a little Making Memories accent.  Et Voila!

My sweetie's first father's day!!!

Awwww!!!!  Just 4 more weeks to go!!!

Circus Painting!!!

This is for the baby's nursery!!!  It is very mixed media, combining lots of collage with an original painted figure and the whole thing sealed in beeswax.

And her fabulous purple blinged out composition book!!!

 Front

Back.

I don't love the way the mod podge soaked through the ribbon, someday I will have to figure out a better way, but at 8 months pregnant this is the best I can do!!!

A pretty birthday card for my other niece

She's turning 21!!!  Very girly girl and loves purple...

Baby shower thank you note!!!

I'm going to take it to Kinko's and have them scan it and then print out like 30 or so, that way they are still unique and handmade but I don't have to make 30!!!

My niece's blinged out composition book/diary for her birthday!!!

Front

Back

I made one of these for her little sister and it was quite a hit so I thought I would just make a personalized one for each of the girl's birthdays this year.  I'm 8 months pregnant and lacking originality these days, so it seemed like a good idea!!!

My cousin's wedding day card!

This is the first time I have ever made a card for a wedding, but I think I like how it turned out.  Very romantic.  On the inside is a stamped quote by Robert Browning, "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be."  Awwww!!!  I thought it was a nice sentiment too!

My mother's mother's day card!

My mom loves little birds, flowers, and the color purple so hopefully she will like this card, designed with her taste in mind!!!

Finally a new painting!

This is project number 1 from Suzi Blu's new book, "Mixed Media Girls with Suzi Blu".  I had lots of fun with it and tried lots of new techniques with it.  Some of the embellishments are handmade by me, and then I sealed the whole thing in beeswax.  It was a lot of work but very enjoyable.  I am already working on another painting!!!

A feminine birthday card for my French Sister-in-Law

Very collage-y and fun!!!

Finally! I'm gonna be a MOM!!!

These are all photos from the first half of my pregnancy, and I have a huge grin in them even though it was tough to be so sick all the time...because my dearest dream and wish was finally coming true, years after I had given up hope!!!  Thank you God!  You gave my dream back to me at just the right time, in just the right way, and it is more beautiful than I ever could have imagined!!!

Yay! New blog Banner!!!

My hubby is a Photoshop pro, and he helped me to create a new blog banner using my own artwork!!!  I am so pleased with the result!!!  Woohoo!!!

A Birthday Card for my Beloved Hubby!





He loves the color red, and I was totally going for masculinity, which I think I achieved here...

More fond first trimester memories

Some more memories of that first unforgettable trimester!!!

A birthday card for my mom!!!

This card was made in mind with my mom's favorite colors and her feminine, floral style.

And Maman!!!

Maman is French for Mama!!!

Future Papa!!!

He's going to do the journaling on this one!!!

It's a Boy!

It's a Boy!!! Yay!!!

First Trimester

Here's some photos from my first trimester.

Another Thank you Card!

And another one!!!

Thank you Card!

I'm starting to get ready for the baby shower in May, and part of that is making up some thank you cards ahead of time so they will be ready to go!

Baby Stay

This layout was very emotional for me. It's of the first ultrasound photos of our baby boy William, who is due July 24, 2012. I've had 3 miscarriages so I have been so worried this whole pregnancy that something will go wrong with William. This day I was so thankful to see and hear the little heartbeat...I remember how I was feeling around this time, saying to William over and over, "Baby Stay. Baby Stay. Baby Stay. Grow. Thrive. Survive. You are so very wanted." So far so good!!!

Spotted Canary Scrapbooking Course 4 classes/$25

Come join me, your friendly neighborhood certified scrapbook instructor, this Sunday, April 1, at the Michael's Store on NE Glenn Widing Drive in Portland for a top-notch 4-week scrapbooking course at an incredible price! With the Spotted Canary School by EK Success you can really let your creativity take flight! Discover the essentials of great scrapbook designs in this uplifting 4-week course. Explore scrapbook basics, design techniques, the power of the pen, and the art of adding finishing touches. Sunday April 1, 8, 15, 22, 2:30pm - 4:30pm. You can email me for more information, or contact the store directly for registration information.
Christinainara77@gmail.com
Michaels Store-NE Glenn Widing Drive503-256-5466

Birthday card for my niece's 14th Bday!!!

Belly!!!

For modesty I covered up certain parts of my anatomy with Pink Paislee artisan tape!!!!! And this is only belly shots from the first half of my pregnancy. More to come!!!

Baby Shower Invitations!

Since we didn't know what we were having, I made a boy sample and a girl sample. We will scan them and then reproduce them digitally for the actual invitations. I've been saving this Lullaby Lane paper by Webster's Pages for a long time and didn't know why...it's all so clear now!!! :-)

A Card for my sweetie!

This was actually his Valentine's Day card but I forgot to post it earlier.

Pretty Blue Fairy

This was a personal challenge. An artist that I like, Suzi Blu, was selling a kit to create a very similar painting for $45! I thought it looked like a really cute idea, so I decided to try and just freehand make my own, just by looking at the picture of her project. So yes, this is totally copying someone else, but it is also completely freehand, so hopefully that's not too scandalous! And of course I made it completely my own!!! The quote is one that I really like and has a lot of personal meaning for me, by the writer Anais Nin.

Et Voila! The Stars of the Show!!!

Now this part was fun...we had this perfectly finished dish, which we photographed, then we had to destroy it little by little, as if it was being eaten!!! It was so fun! The boat dish was really fun, we made it look as if it got caught in a whirlpool and the whirlpool ate the boat!!! I tell ya, we are just big kids at heart! But he did get paid for it, so not too bad after all!

Break Time? (Actually he was still working-it just looks like playing!!!)

He also had to help with some of the food prep.

The Beauty of a Gentle and Quiet Spirit

This is my new mantra for marital bliss, and it is soooooooooooooo hard as I am anything but "Gentle and Quiet"...so I made myself a sign that I can look at every day and meditate on!!! I have actually noticed some improvement!!!

Sigh, he's so cute no matter what he does...

What can I say? I'm totally smitten...

Dreams Reawakening (Getting closer to immigration)

This drawing was kind of an art-journaling type thing, processing my feelings about waiting to immigrate and start our lives (finally!!!) and trying to not completely lose hope because it kept us in this horrible limbo that really felt to me like it was endless.

Working the Camera

It has to be just so for stop-motion animation!

The moon is watching over you

This little watercolor painting came from my fears about losing the baby. The moon symbolizes God, watching over my little baby. I felt it was therapeutic and reassuring to make this painting, and to have such a visual reminder that God is watching over our baby, even in my womb. I made the baby and the room look pretty gender neutral since we don't know what I am having yet!

The Master at Work

Here he is, using his whimsical genius to create fun cooking commercials for kids to help them want to cook healthy food!!!

Contemplating Motherhood

This is an intensely personal painting. I am 15 weeks pregnant, and I have had 3 miscarriages. I am really afraid to think too much about being a mom because I am so afraid this baby will be taken away from me, like the other 3 babies. I went to a collage painting class last Saturday, and it was very clear that God had in mind for me to do this painting, on motherhood. I had no idea ahead of time, but God really led me through this painting. Talk about Serendipidity! Wouldn't I love to celebrate and dream and look forward to this baby's birth, and having the honor of being it's mother??? Yet I am too timid and afraid to really own this new identity. However, God is a wild, untameable God, and has his own ideas for us, which are always so much more right, and true to who we are than the things we try to force ourselves into. At least I try to force myself into being ultra cautious and sensible. Kinda like not letting myself be happy or something. This painting has really captured my heart and soul. It is totally an act of bravery, a very permanent reminder of this season of my life. In the left center is the heart, a photo of Aurelien and I, because I wouldn't be a mother without him! And he is that other crucially important half of this baby's parents, the daddy! Around that photo I have placed images with really important symbolism to me, the Odalisque, and mermaids, etc. to signify the unique woman that I am and will continue to be despite also being a mom. Then there is a silhouette of a pregnant woman in the center of the painting, which is of course me right now. Then the remainder of the painting is images of motherhood that I found personally poignant, beautiful, and meaningful.

Going to work with my sweetie

I got to go to work with my hubby a couple of days while he was doing a free lance stop-motion animation job over the summer in Paris. It was very fun and we actually discovered that we work really well together!!!

Awesome Scrapbooking Giveaway!!!

Follow this link to a pretty pretty pretty scrapbooking giveaway.
http://websterspages.typepad.com/webstershome/2012/02/win-everyday-poetry-the-whole-collection.html

Michael's Scrapbooking Course 4 classes/$25

Come join me, your friendly neighborhood certified scrapbook instructor, this Sunday, February 5 at the Michael's Store on NE Glenn Widing Drive in Portland for a top-notch 4-week scrapbooking course at an incredible price! With the Spotted Canary School by EK Success you can really let your creativity take flight! Discover the essentials of great scrapbook designs in this uplifting 4-week course. Explore scrapbook basics, design techniques, the power of the pen, and the art of adding finishing touches. Sun Feb 5, 12, 19, 26, 2:30pm - 4:30pm. You can email me for more information, or contact the store directly for registration information.

Christina
inara77@gmail.com

Michaels Store-NE Glenn Widing Drive
503-256-5466

Mix-Media Painting: Contemplation

Acrylic painting with some stamping and a pretty flower that I found for her hair bun.

Sunshine and Love!

This is my cutie, just being random, on the streets of Paris with me this summer as we waited to move back to the USA!!!

At Play with You!

This 2-page layout is just pictures of us running around Paris this summer, not doing much at all while we waited for all the final details of his immigration to go through. I love this paper line, it is one of the newer Webster's Pages lines, "All About Me".