Did You Know Dolphins are Just Gay Sharks? - San Diego 2010

Hi everyone! Last Sunday afternoon we returned from our annual vacation in San Diego with my mom, Aunt Corrine, Sister and her three kiddos. It was a good trip; I'm not a "beach" person. Heck, I'm just flat out not a water person... we don't agree. And sand? Don't get me started on sand... that stuff goes everywhere and sticks everywhere! But we have a great little cottage we stay in that's actually on a pier. In fact, it's called Crystal Pier. They're very small inside, but just perfect for what we need for a week. And the beach is about a two minute walk away. Absolutely perfect. The first night we were there, Matt and I were outside on our little patio/deck and felt the earthquake you may have heard about in the news. My mom, Aunt and sister were freaking out... they were on the second floor and felt the shake more than we did.

We had an amazing few days at the beach and also another two days at Sea World. I'm a total sucker for dolphins, seals, orcas, etc... so I'm just going to forewarn you now about the following gratuitous photos... (oh and the post title is a line from, "glee." Sorry, I couldn't help it...)

** I couldn't get all of the photos perfect on the blog with the html. You should be able to click on them and get the full sized version. If you REALLY like the photos, I can send you a link to my zenfolio/San Diego account and give you the password.**

We also ate at Joe's Crab Shack two nights while we were there. We had the MOST awesome waitress named Laura (I think!). Emma just fell in love with her! Laura would get the girls to come dance with her and showed them how to "roll" and do disco fingers. Imagine Emma and Laura's surprise when we sat another one of her tables the second night. Emma jumped out of her chair and ran over to give her a hug. Too cute! Also, Emma, like her mommy, loves ordering from menus. She would politely tell Laura what she wanted and as always, like her mommy, added, "and ketchup, too please." Laura actually brought Emma her own bottle of ketchup. Emma thought was the coolest thing in the world.

Also, if you've been to the Mission Bay area of San Diego you have probably seen or been to Belmont Park. The girls love it here because there's a dinky little arcade and plenty of rides that they can go on.

Well, that's about it, folks! Just wanted to update you all since I hadn't posted for a while. I'm going to try *really* hard to post tomorrow morning!

Have a great day!

A Day with Tim & Mario...

Sunday was a Funday because I had seven hours of unadulterated mixed-media joy with the Amazing (Yes, Amazing with a capital "A") Tim Holtz and got to speak gleek with Mario, Tim's Business Manager and BEST EVER bestower of the 12 new Distress Ink pads. Before I show you what we created, let me show you this...

These are the trays of beauties we got to play with. Isn't Tim generous? This is from his personal collection of found objects from around the globe. I think all the air left the room from the gasps when he did the big reveal of the table. There was so much stuff to pick from! It was unbelievable.

Now here's the box. The first photo is the back of the box which is where we started collaging different papers from Tim's new Lost and Found stack. He also brought vintage french dictionaries, vintage ledgers, old newspapers, etc... for us to collage on. And by the way, I'm not a paper "Stack" or "pad" buyer. (If you're a scrapbooker you know what I mean). But his new Lost and Found stack is a MUST HAVE. I can't wait to get my hands on one!



OK, I mean seriously, gorgeous, right? I love everything about this box and making it was an absolute blast. We used a HUGE array of Ranger/Tim products such as (and of course) Distress inks, Paint Dabbers (OMG, the new bottle design is to DIE for. No more clogs, no more death-squeeze on the bottle), alcohol inks, reinker and perfect pearls... it was fantastic. This was my third class with Tim and my absolute favorite. Alright, what do you say, (for those of you ATT girls and guys) we go through it niche by niche?

This larger side piece started out as a glass medicine vial. We put a little reinker in it and water, slapped one of Tim's vintage "poison" labels and stuck it on in there! I also lined the bottom edge of it with some SUPER SUPER cool metal metal nibs.

Next are two little boxes in the center of the cabinet. The one on the left are two vintage printers press blocks. Of course I had to do something Ozzy in here, and then I had the Ruby Slipper charms at home that I added later. The one on the right is a mini light bulb and little and some little reactor thingies (welcome the corrections) and one of Tim's memo pins holding dictionary paper of the word, "crazy".

The next two niches are directly above the previous ones. The one on the left is a tiny transformer, an alcohol inked dice and a mini wooden ruler in the background. The one on the right has a couple watch parts stuck in the back of the wall and then when I got home I added his wooden padlock I had and rock candy crackled it. Also, I added a 7gypsies metal border on top of that and running over into the poison bottle.

Moving upward this niche is on the top right. The Frozen Charlotte head (Tim had a WHOLE box of them!!! These average $15 a pop!) is sitting in some spanish moss, and has a vintage butterfly sitting on top of her head. I used two screw hooks (with Tim's help...lol) to wire some old pearls across the corner. The number 22 vintage Bingo marker sits in the sky and a key is lurking in the moss. Phew, I think that everything!

OK, everyone got a set of these vintage wooden italian hands (I forget their proper name) and they hold a UTEE/Distress Embossing Powder heart made by Mario. There's a thimble of twine, and a ruler with transistors wrapped around it. An old house number sits in background. The playing card in the upper left corner is from my own stash.

Mr. Bones is hanging in front of a vintage view finder that I distress inked. I added two little black rhinestones to his eyes when I got home. I also added from my own stash at home little glass bottle full of blue beads. It has the label "happiness" on the front of it.

This one is covered with some really cool mica Tim had. I alcohol inked it when I got home to give it a spiffy affect. There is a header at the top of the box that was crackle painted. Mona is on a mini canvas that is covered in vintage book paper. I totally kicked myself when I realized I put Mona on the words upsidedown. There are also a couple little inked up flowers and a scrabble tile.

We're down to the last niche! Phew! Tim had these awesome old cars there that I fell in love with. This one is driving down "Ruler Road" and I filled the bed of it with the leftover bones of Mr. Bones. The "spring" sign is dangling from the ceiling, and I got those blasted little screw hooks in there all by myself! There's also a little picket fence behind that and I alcohol inked the mini-domino.

Nope... not done yet. On the front we added one of Tim's new knobs and made an awesome little dangly bauble thingie for it. Because seriously, we couldn't just have it be PLAIN on the outside? right??? Lol. This is a lot of Tim's idea-ology line and I added some Heidi Swapp chandelier jewels.

And finally, I fell in love with these knobs, as well as the cars. And by the time I got done with my "insides" there was no place for this little beat up beauty. So now it sits on the top of my box, as somewhat of a crown. Love it.

Well, if you've stuck with me through the whole journey, thanks and I hope you enjoyed this artful curio. I feel very fortunate (Thanks Mom!) for being able to take this class and I again, had so much fun making it and spending time with Tim and Mario.

Have fantastical day!

Meet "Darbie" the Distressed Barbie

I wanted to start off with my creation for Tim Holtz's distress challenge. I wanted to do something different. I thought, "Hey self, what could I distress?" A phone... a camera ... some wooden fruit? Ugh, I couldn't think of anything and I had ALL those lovely new Distress Inks from Mario. Then Halle, my 4 year old daughter walks in, and asks me if I've seen her "Darbie Doll." (She can't quite pronounce, "Barbie") There was almost an audible *ding* in the room. So I hauled my cookies off to WalMart and picked up a $5 surfer Barbie and Darbie the Distressed Barbie was born. I mean, seriously, who NEEDS to learn how to "Embrace Imperfection" as Tim would say, more than Barbie? I ran pieces of her hair straight over distress ink pads and then had computer paper "foils" to absorb any extra ink. I then focused on her clothing. I quickly eye-balled a pattern for her shirt and cut it out of muslin and hand-sewed it together. I then used dark brown re-inker, glimmer mist and a mini mister to color the shirt. The apron (inspired by Tim's Ranger Apron) and capris are made out of grungepaper and distress inked.

Next were Darbie's shoes. Hmmm... I thought, she couldn't wear high heels in a studio. So she traded in her stilletos for birkenstocks. The soles are made out of grungeboard and the top straps are made out of grungepaper.

Now, just because Darbie might be a little rough around the edges, doesn't mean she can't accessorize. And accessorize she does with Tim's idea-ology line. She has the flower in her hair, the mini-washer/brad ring (Do you remember ALWAYS losing that ring as a kid? Well, they have removed the ring, but as an homage to Barbie's of the 80's I drilled one through her hand), she also has jump ring bangles and a ball and chain necklace. Did I miss anything? Oh, yes...

Inky Fingers!!!! If you've worked with anything Tim Holtz, you know you come away from your craft desk with VERY inky fingers. I mean seriously, don't even bother getting a manicure before you take a class of his. I often say it looks like I murdered Rainbow Bright with my bare hands when I finish a project. I actually had to use alcohol inks for Barbies hands and face, because the distress wouldn't work since her skin is non-porous. Gotta love the whole line of Ranger products.


Now the Time Has Come.....




For the sake of Crazy I'm going to just start another post for the next project... Two posts in one day? Someone must have slipped me some crack!