i really want a party

i found these cool halloween tally cards at my fav antique store. there are six of them in the pack, two of each design. of course i am wanting to make invites for a halloween themed art night for all my artgirl friends. i have great plans for this art group that meets quarterly. a whole evening of art. show and tell of the amazing things we are working on, great things we have found, little trades for everyone, tasty things to eat. . .of course dark chocolate, and the time to talk about everything with each other. we would stay up late into the night creating, laughing, and then finally packing up and driving home feeling alive again.
i tried two times this last year to get something really going. it is hard, everyone is so busy. i'm not sure what to try next. . .hey gals, i really want a party!!

turn away thine eye

i ran over my neighbors cat last night. the shock and anguish. i was helpless there in the road as the cat writhed in pain with its thick red blood pooling on the black asphalt. my daughter looked out the back window of the car and screamed, then covered her face. "turn away thine eye from deaths last struggle"
the woman was so kind to me, her little children had tears streaking down their cheeks as they came to the door. i am so sorry i said over and over. the man lifted the small cat carefully into a box and closed the lid.

i am tired of black now.

vintage speedball

i found this vintage speedball carving set at a yard sale last summer and have had such fun with it. i started a black eye page in my little black book and needed a great big eye for my design, so i carved one! as i was surfing around on flickr at some of the groups for hand carved stamps i found these carved stamps by carambatack . (someone let me know if the link works, i'm a beginner!)





she is from norway and has posted such beautiful pictures of her homeland and her art. i really like how she created a background and details for her overall designs.

it is such a perfect day. i can't decide what to do first. i made yummy french toast with fresh strawberries for breakfast and treated myself to a lovely half hour of surfing other peoples art. lovely. i think baby girl and i will have a long soaky bath.

black magic

And deadlier, curse more dread. . .
a new page from my little black altered book. fitting for halloween don't you think.
the book is an old copy of scott's lady of the lake. it is only 3 3/4" X 5 3/4" so it is little and fun to work in. it has a publishing date of 1920.
the full spread

i'll have to keep the left side with only black ink drawings and text as i used modge podge over the black paint and cutouts. don't want the pages to stick together. done that.
the cool photo came from a net friend i met on flickr that i did a trade with this summer. she sent me some of her favorite black and white vintage photos from her collection scanned to a disc and i had them printed. i want to try copying them on vintage papers to see how they turn out.

every page has a black theme:
black eye, black spot, blackbeard, black look, black and blue, pitch black, black mail, black cat, black hole, little black dress, black sheep, black-hearted, black and white. . .
send me your blackest ideas. thanks

halloween treats

i have been dying to make some halloween stuff. i found some very cool papers and paint to get started.
first i dig through all my junk and pull out anything black, orange, or spooky. since last year i have found some irridescent black feathers and some terrific black and white photos to work with. the first thing i want to do is some witches with old photos.
i have a tiny black altered book that is all about black. it needs some new entries. for now, here are some fun halloween pics to get you in the mood.


the house is jacks from the nightmare before christmas. batgirl made it last year when i was making tiny christmas houses.

my family

i went to bed with a sore throat last night. i guess i finally got what everyone else has had. of course now i am much more sympathetic. i have drunk cocoa, cider and downed a couple halls honey and lemon throat drops. still feel yuck. i'm glad it is overcast and dismal outside. it feels good to move slow today.
i have not sat down with my ideas to create anything for so long. it makes me sad.
today i am letting the dishes go so i can work in my kids journals. i save little things they have drawn or notes of what they have said to glue inside. i am feeling rather melancholy lately about my 4 year old growing up so fast. when she takes my hand and whispers something to me or i hear her talking to the kitten while they are playing and peek in to see what she has built for kittens house i feel like this time is slipping away from me. she is the last little one to trace her hand on a little placemat for lunch or crawl in bed with me dragging a ratty worn out blankie and a pile of books we have read over and over to snuggle tight in against me.
kissahug dad, she says before he leaves in the morning and then squeezes her little arms around his neck to give him a good-bye kiss. muffin sits downstairs in my office with me when i work during the day. she drags a little table and chair in and loads it with paper and paints and all things to create with. i had saved this picture she made of our whole family to go in her journal. she loved picking out the fabric and ribbon to go with it and watched carefully as i sewed her picture around and around with yellow thread. we both love it! scarry how accurate some of the features are on all of us. xo. . . . .

first snow

saturday morning
the first snow of the year. the air was unbeleivable, sharp and clean. the views of the fall leaves at each bend in the road were breathtaking. i rode my regular ride up the hobble creek canyon trail as fast as i could and then without even changing out of my biking shoes i raced back up the canyon in the car with my camera hoping to catch a moment of the fall sun breaking through the clouds long enough for me to capture its radiance on the fall leaves.
this stretch of trees is at the base of the mountains where our family has a cabin. the view over the groomed green of the golf course is one of my favorites in the fall. you can just see the dusting of the first snow on the top of the mountain.
every year i watch the snow line as it creeps down the mountain, finally washing over our house and traveling out into the valley leaving everything outlined in white.



the mornings are dark now and the sky is filled with stars while frost sweeps over the soccer fields behind our house. then the sun will shine its remarkable golden light in the late afternoon for just a few more days, lingering, to remind me of our summer.