No way to avoid being inspired

I've been missing in action for a few months, but it's not because I've not been working on creating. In fact, the reason why I haven't been posting anything is due to the opposite: I've been very busy creating!

I have been in demand making art work for others and the creative flow has been non-stop; no time for writing or posting, lol.  Here are a few of the pieces I have put together. Most of my recent work have included working with mixed media techniques that include watercolor, markers, fabric, cut files, digi artwork, and of course, my Make-the-Cut and my Silhouette Cameo.

Back in September I shared the first piece I was inspired to make. I made this and gifted it to my sister, a fellow lover of art and an artist in her own right (though she won't admit it, lol). I used cork board to make the woman cut out and colored it with a Copic marker.  I bought the fabric from Jo-Ann's and cut it by hand (this was my first attempt and though I don't sew, I tried my best).  The accessories were cut with my Cameo via Make-the-Cut and were from the Lettering Delights collection Create-a-Face-Bling.

This other one on the left was my second attempt at making my own artwork. I used a combination of files to put this together including the Create-a-Face and Create-a-Face Bling collections by Lettering Delight. I cut this one from brown cardstock from Gina K Designs. Again, I purchased the fabric from Jo-Ann's for $1.00.

From these two pieces I was asked to make pieces to give out as recognition awards to men/women in my church congregation and/or the community.  For some of these I simply used the person's photograph and created a silhouette I cut with my Cameo from Make-the-Cut and embellished with fabric, etc.

Digi art courtesy of Robert Jackson

Birthday gift for an 80 year old

Award for Cynthia Davis. The doll is a mini replica of her "Dolls of Hope" 

This last award was celebrating the leadership of the Organist/Choir Director of the Holman Choir, the senior choir at my church, in commemoration of its 55th  Concert of Negro Spirituals, held on February 22, 2015. Again, the digi art is from Robert Jackson. I used Gimp to alter the body of the digital file and painted the body with a musical notes pattern.

Prior to finished/framed work

Finished product put together by my sister Joni

I am giving full credit for inspiring me to God. Most of these pieces are followed by or include scripture and these usually come to me once I've finished the piece or based on information pertaining to  the recipient. 

I have other pieces to share and will do so at a latter date.  In the meantime, enjoy!

Inspired

Good morning, blog friends!

I hope you are enjoying this Monday morning. In my neck of the woods (Los Angeles) it promises to be a hot sunny day. This is typical for this time of year. Twenty-eight years ago today, I gave birth to my oldest daughter and it was HOT!

After my little vacay  (see previous post) I came back to chaos. I had to get rid of my mattress because I had a bed bug! Don't ask me how it came into my room (according to a pest control friend it could have come through the window - I live on the lower floor of my apartment unit) but it wreaked havoc with my body.  Prior to me leaving on vacation, I had been seeing these bites on different parts of my body (mostly arms and legs). What was different about these bites was, in addition to the extreme itching, my skin would inflame as if I'd been bitten by a bee (I'm allergic).  I brushed it all off thinking that it was some type of gnat bite.  While away, my youngest daughter came home for a spell (she's been living in China, where she works). She texted me to say she thought she was allergic to the food (after a year of eating vegetables and noodles she thought she couldn't eat regular food, lol) because she woke up with bites on her body. I replied back that there must be something in my room. So, she switched rooms and slept in my mother's bed.

When I got back home on July 9th, I immediately called my friend because he said that I might have bed bugs. He came over armed with a flashlight and proceeded to go over my bed frame. I have a queen size Queen Anne bed and it took a bit of looking for him to find the bug. Yep, there was only one (can you believe it) and that one insect caused me a pretty penny.  I had to get rid of my mattress and purchase a new one.

The one good thing that came from this was that I was inspired to change the look of my bedroom.  I decided to DIY my whole room by not only painting it (with the help of my youngest), but I also picked up the carpet and I'm working on putting down flooring.  Here's what the room looks like now without the bed and prior to putting down the floor.

As you can see, I painted the room Purple and Lavender (Lavender is my favorite scent, so it didn't take me long to figure out the colors I would use).  As of today, I'm still working on my flooring.  I should have it done in the next two weeks and will post photos of the finished space for you to see.

Because of the havoc that little insect caused, I was uninspired to make any cards for a while, but in August I had this burst of inspiration and started making, not only cards, but these framed pieces.  I will showcase just a few here for now.

Card
I purchased the image for this shoe from 123rf.com I printed and cut the shoe in MTC and used glue dots to make it 3D. I printed the Scripture in MS Word and cut it out and attached with glue dots. The background Damask paper is from mygrafico.com and the brown paper I printed from MS Word and embossed with Cuttlebug Anna Griffin  5x7 Pirouette embossing folder.

Framed Art

Card
Digi file purchased from Robert Jackson. He made this image file exclusive for me. I used Gimp to add a pattern to the dress and color in the skin, hair and purse. I then print and cut the image and attached it with glue dots. As with the previous card, I printed the sentiment in MS Word and cut and pasted it to the card. The background paper I used from a Kente file I had in my stash and which I created a background for in Word and printed in color to use for this card.

Framed Art