Weekly Challenge- "Create"

I love it when the weekly challenges match up with what I'm already working on! In this case, Tammy made the challenge relatively open ended with a nice long list of possible themes and her only caveat was that it had to be aged or vintage-y......so I decided that my vintage "center piece" for my Queen of Hearts chapeau was just the ticket! 
I used an image of an antique Queen of hearts playing card and mounted it on a doily.  Trimmed with a bit of red textile and mounted THAT on a piece of cardboard that I'd painted red and covered with micro glass beads.

My hat, cape and necklace

Peri was fascinated with my hat...

In hindsight, I wish I'd NOT used the white face make up it made my cheeks look weird in the pictures- but I'd wanted the heart on the lips to show up......and truthfully, I'm not wild about me with Heart lips as it is......ah well- maybe next time,I'll leave well enough alone!

but  there you go- my entry for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue AND my costume reveal as promised!  Pop over to Inspiration Avenue to see what everyone else whipped up for the challenge!  I'm sure the entries will be beautifully varied as always!
Happy Halloween for those of you who celebrate it~
Stephanie

Curiouser and Curiouser- Featuring Mermaiden Creations

"Ode to Persephone" by Mermaiden Creations

 Since it's almost Halloween and part of my costume was inspired by one of my favorite Etsy artists, I thought I'd do a feature on Julie Ferioli of Mermaiden Creations. I'm sure a lot of you are already familiar with Julie's magickal creations, but for those of you who are NOT; Julie creates the most whimsical beautifully crafted art ranging from her amazing handmade witches hats to a whole array of incredibly romantic and surreal jewelry.......I bought one of my favorite pairs of earrings from her- these "Gaze into my Eyes" and I always get the nicest compliments when I wear them!

I've been drooling over her statement necklaces, trying to find a way to make one work for my mostly casual style- I think I could pull it off with a cool shirt and some jeans, right?  Lol!  All I know, is that I love these designs, and one WILL be mine sooner rather than later!

Be sure to check out her other jewelry, her style covers an amazing range from romantic to steampunk to slightly surreal and the occasional homage to master artists

BUT, the main reason I'm writing this is to share my admiration for Julie's witch hats.....because in my post for tomorrow,  I plan on sharing MY humble witch hat inspired by Julie's art.....but, that's for tomorrow, let me move on to today.

Gothic Gorgeous Witch Hat Elegant Unique Chic

"There is a swathe of blood red roses hand formed from lush velvet to adorn the hat in the most striking manner....For the gothic gorgeous witch in you....be wicked."  This beauty is still available along with a handful of others at Mermaiden Creations, Julie's Etsy Shop.

"Dance with Persephone" (This hat is no longer available, but I love it so much, I just had to share it......)

"Channeling Frida"

So tho' I could go on and on about Julie's work, I must get back to my own piece inspired by her so I can A.Share it with you guys and B. Wear it to a party tomorrow night....I will give you a hint on my costume tho'- I'm going to be the Wickedest Queen of Hearts Witch ever there was.....see you tomorrow?  And be sure to take a peek at Mermaiden Creations....she has 99 items fror sale and each one is gorgeous!
I'm off to paint some roses.....Happy Friday!
Stephanie

Silent Sunday- Getting into an All Hallowed kind of Place....

Weekly Challenge- "Harvest"

Sorry Judy, I just couldn't squeeze any extra time this week to do something new for the challenge!  However, I do* have a fun little picture of my youngest in the ole pumpkin patch!  My sweet little punkin is now 11 and would never allow me to take such a picture now- so I cherish this one!
Anyway, here's my entry for this weeks VERY appropriate challege.  Ya'll go take a look at Inspiration Avenue to see what everyone else did- I KNOW some people actually made some new art for this....:)
Cheers,
Stephanie

Silent Sunday- Beginnings of a Studio

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Just a couple of words so you know what you're looking at! We just began converting our 1940's unuasable garage into a studio......

Weekly Challenge- "Pink"

I finally finished my entry for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue: "Pink"
I must say, this one was REALLY difficult for me, there are a LOT more layers of paint on there than I uually use! Thank God for the forgiving nature of acrylics! I must have painted the face at least a dozen times- I would finally accheive some sort of satisfaction with it, but then the shading on the arms would be wrong....then, I started the design with an Oriental Lily behind the ear, which I just didn't like once I added color to it, and the more I did with it, the less I liked it....so I tried adding some cherry blossoms, you know, thinking along the lines of MORE pink.....hated them, I added the peony- ok, finally, something going right besides the fan.....BUT, then, the shape of the head was wrong, and when did I forget how to paint an ear?!?!? That ear has been in more positions than I care to admit. So I put it away yesterday and refused to give in to any temptations to "just try one more thing" knowing that at a certain point, all you can do is just make it worse- one of my artist friends calls this "Muddling" which I think is a pretty good term.
Today, I got out my biggest brush so I wouldn't be able to fall prey to those pesky details that tempt me so and cranked up my I-Pod and let the music muse me through to the finish.
So here we are, and as always, I can see more things I would do, BUT, also as always, the hardest point of a painting is deciding when it's done. I *think* I like it....really I just need to not look at it for a while, and I'll probably find that I'm pleased with it. Maybe.

Any one else have those kind of days/weeks where everything they do seems to be one step backward instead of forward?

What's UP in the Studio- Inspiration Avenue's Weekly challenge and a few Altered Journals

Happy Wednesday all! I've been busy this week working on my new series of altered journals plus my new painting for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue. The theme this week is "Pink". Here's what I've gotten done so far..... Mind, there is more red than pink at this time and even when I'm done, the pinks will be more along the lines of salmon instead of baby doll pink; hopefully this will be an acceptable entry for the challenge:)

 As for my journals, I included a variety of fronts, backs, sides and close ups for you guys to see without having to spend too much time looking.  I'll be adding them all into my Etsy shop over the next couple of days.

And now after struggling with Blogger's lovely new photo editor for an HOUR, I really must get on to painting.  If you get a chance, why not put something together for Inspiration Avenue's challenge- it's a lot fun and you'll automatically be entered in our monthly giveaway!

cheers,

Stephanie

Silent Sunday-Decatur High School's Homecoming Parade

New original acrylic painting- Klimtish-ness

G'Morning all! Now that my crazy week is behind me, I'm trying to get caught up on the really important things that fell on the wayside; like blogging, and housework- well forget housework, that will come in good time, it's blogging that gives me that warm fuzzy feeling!
I managed to finish my new painting before the Artist's Market last week- I just didn't have time to share it.
So here's my Klimtish-ness. I LOVED trying to use his style; it's so different from my own....for anyone who would like to see detail images, she's also up in my Etsy shop.

I've got to get ready for the Farmer's Market now.....toodle-loo,

Stephanie

What's UP in the Studio- Our House Benefit Posters

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted, but here I am......thanks again to all of you who entered my giveaway- the prizes have been sent and I hope everyone is happy!
I've been really busy this week with working on an annual fundraiser that I volunteer for; Our House- a childcare and support center for homeless families.    The theme for this year's event  is "Our House, Our Dreams" and  my part in the event was to create posters with hand lettered quotes and frames for pictures of each child.  After spending all week with these sentiments, my heart has been full of gratitude this week.......it's amazing how easy is it to take simple things for granted.
Have a great Friday,
Stephanie

And the winners are......

Sorry I didn't post this yesterday- since I didn't have a cutoff time posted, I wanted to leave it open as long as possible.  Anyway, I ran the numbers on Random Number Generator and the two numbers drawn were- 6 and 21.  So, the winners are:

Lynn of Her Creative Spirit

 AND.......

Top Hat of Infiknity

I've emailed both to let them know they won and to request a snail mail addy. 
Thanks everyone for following my week of celebrating blogging- I wish I could have featured each and every blog/blogger that has touched my life- but I'm afraid if I tried, blogspot wouldn't be able to handle so much information!
Hugs and thanks again- you all mean more to me than I could ever say!
Stephanie