Happy Halloween

Yipes! It's been like 8 months since I've posted anything on here! I've barely spent any time on my computer for a while, til recently, when Kear bought me a new desktop - luxury!! It's great but I'm still ironing out the kinks and figuring out my new programs, namely Photoshop, which I never had room for on the PC til now. So that's great...

This is my winning entry to ArtChix Studio's Halloween Collage Contest - back in May or June I think. I won $50 in Art Chix goodies! So cool!

I wish it was Halloween all year round. Hopefully I'll figure out how to get my photos on to my new computer soon, and I can post my Halloween decorations...

Crackle Study with German Glas Glitter

this is a canvas I did...inspired from Angela Cartwright's "Mixed Emulsions" - a jewel of a book, full of all kinds of ideas. it's a picture of my oldest daughter Ashley. I used Golden Crackle Paste, colored with acrylic paint and distredd ink. Also I used tim Holtz Distress Paint - a fun little product, yet a bit limiting. oh yeah, and also a few rub ons, I think all are Bohemia.

Sally Jean Alexander is right when she says German Glas Glitter has magical properties. It turned out to be just the right thing to finish the piece.

One World One Heart Winner

I was amazed and overwhelmed at the response to my art giveaway! I can't believe over 80 people have visited my little corner of cyberspace!

The winner of my collage is Susan Burgess!! Congratulations Sanna!!

Happy Valentine's Day

I put together this Valentine using a few things I am in love with - namely the Lynn Perella papers. I got her whole set from Stampington about a year or two ago, and I save every last scrap of the stuff - it has been such a great element in so many of my pieces. Also I used some mica - which I have been having a love affair for some time now. Also a piece of my favorite Basic Grey (well, one of my favorites) paper - to me it looks like old west stripes. Like on a pillow case.

Anyways, the card came out so nice I couldn't part with it, so I decided to give a valentine to all the wonderful bloggers who happen across my humble blog.

I am blown away that 80 people have visited this blog through the One World One Heart event!! That's 80 little pieces of paper I get to make today so I can do my drawing. What a great project though!! I have added a few blogs to my favorites list, and have left comments on countless other blogs as well. I realize how huge the art blogging community really is - HUGE!! So amazing, that all these artists throughout the world can connect with one another. I've always been a "low-tech" person, but I must say, hooray for the internet.

Tune in later today for my OWOH winner...

Wednesday Stamper: Valentine

I decided to use unconventional Valentine colors this year for my cards. i chose blue and brown - a recent favorite of mine. The stamping is very simple - just some flourishes atop the collaged elements - I used Tim Holtz Distredd Embossing Powder - very cool - it leaves a nice texture and lends a rustic feel to the card.

Wednesday Stamper: Asia

It took me a while to find something Asian in my art supplies. That is not a style that really does much for me - but then I found this collection of papers in my stuff that I've been hoarding for like 3 years now! I think there are 4 pieces in this beautiful gold embossed set of patterned paper. I collaged this Valentine postcard and used some flourish stamps and a newspaper text stamp to accent. TFL!

Gothic Arches: Valentines

I made two Valentine themed arches this week. The first one, "Lovers", I had a lot of fun with my embossing powders. Thank you to Angela Cartwright and her books, Mixed Emulsions and In This House...I've totally revisited my embossing stuff, which has been sitting idle upon my shelf for a year or more! Her techniques are amazing! The second one, "Together" is using a collage sheet image which I have been wanting to use for a long time. I think they are supposed to be sisters, but in my opinion they make better lovers. I saw once the heart paper clips used as a border like this, but my don't they fit well in the gothic arch!!

ONE world ONE heart

There's a place called ONE world ONE heart, and I'm joining in on this amazing art giveaway...the way it works is if anyone is interested in winning this little collage of mine, just post a comment here, and on FEB. 14, Valentine's Day, I'll draw from all (if any) the names and pick a lucky recipient to own an original Mary Franzenburg piece of art. This ought to be interesting...

The piece is a little 4"x4" canvas, with a bird and egg theme, and I used gel medium, gesso, transparency images, crackle paste, rusty chicken wire, and some aging technique. Actually it's a cute little thing...nothing eart-shatteringly profound or anything...just pleasant to look at.

Charmed, I'm Sure

Here are me pieces for this week's Wednesday Stamper: Charms. i had fun - did them in mica, and ended up with a nice verdigris effect by using aqua, butterscotch, latte, and copper alcohol inks. Then I edged it with copper Brilliance Ink.

Dawg

Here is mine for this week's Gothic Arches challenge: dogs. I got this stamp in the dollar bin at Michael's. He looks just like my dog, Maximus. The alcohol inks do the design justice I think!

Wednesday Stamper

My contribution to this week's Wednesday Stamper challenge: Button Fairies". i'm not usually one to copy other people's ideas, but this one was hard to resist. Plus, I discovered a way to use all those Maya Road chipboard corner scrolls I've got. I've found they don't work well as "corners" -at least on my artwork...But don't they make nice fairy wings? I made her into an Irish button fairy, in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day. I love St. Patrick's Day.
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Wednesday Stamper

Well, it's about time I contributed to Wednesday Stamper - lordy knows I've been lurking there for like, ever now...the Gothic Arch theme is easily worked in to my itinerary - I made o ne for the Gothic Arch blog this week for the first time as well...

Gothic Arches

After much lurking, i have finally decided to play at the Gothic Arches challenge blog. The theme is Guardian Angels. I just love working with this shape! i had fun using some of my new mica pieces from Art Chix Studio. i fastened it with eyelets - I've got like a zillion eyelets from back in my scrapbook supply frenzy period, which I eventually set aside because of what a pain in the ass it is to set the damn things. That is, until I got a crop-a-dile tool - makes setting eyelets rediculously easy. So here I am, setting eyelets everywhere...

Skinny Book Pages

i had a lot of fun doing these skinny book pages for the Altered Abbey's project. Chrysti Haydek is amazing. She must be so busy. And I've always been impressed with the multitude of work she produces!
I used a lot of gesso in these pages. That, and Greeen Pepper Press rubber. the ladies in the hammocks are from a picture frame I bought - they were the photo that came with it. I've been saving them for at least 2 or 3 years! (a testament to how much stuff you can imagine I have) I've joined another skinny project there - imbellished copies - which I'm halfway done with right now.

Happy New Year to all the bloggers. You, who represent so much of my social life these days. this whole global community, so cool...I've evolved so much as an artist through seing all of everyone's art, and the connections I've made, and the interractions...putting my own work out there has allowed me to challenge myself more than ever before, in a whole different way. I definitely would not be the person I am today without all the influences I've gotten from blogging. I've had a great time during the past year. And I've produced far more artwork as well. The positivity that permeates the blogging community has seeped into my real time life in such a great way. I hope '08 will continue this awesome momentum I am enjoying!

Where am I From?

After looking through all of my photos in my computer, I realized I really don't have any landscapes of where I live. Weird, considering there are thousands of pics in there. But then, to answer Michelle's crusade: Where in The World?" - I'd have to have many, many pictures to represent all the places I have lived in my life. All in all, I am a Yankee. I was born and raised in upstate, NY - Buffalo, Owego, Binghamton, Endicott, Ithaca, Cortland...I went to college in Providence, RI. I lived in Ann Arbor, Mi for a while - a very nice place. I was married and divorced there, changed careers there, and more or less found myself there. After that I went to Maui, where I was for a whole decade. It was there that I sowed mt wild oats. Met the love of my life, started my family, developed myself artistically and spiritually. I miss it there. From Hawaii I went to Oregon City, OR. And then, 2 years ago, I found myself back in my home town of Owego, NY. Here we all are, all seven of us, making it work and basically happy. That's it in a nutshell. i am so happy to be home, here in New York. I love this place. I love the winter, and how beautiful the bare trees look against the sunset. The rolling hills and autumn leaves. The spring flowers and the family of deer in the back forty. That's what I missed most while i was in Hawaii - the change of seasons. I think Autumn in NY is spectacular. I love this place and I'm so proud to be from here.

VIP Christmas Cards

These are my best cards this year, gone to my VIP's. I think almost all of my cards had my little glittered Prima flowers on them. I just love how they came out. I think it'll be next christmas before all the glitter is gone from throughout my house. I mean, it's everywhere!

LOST??!!

These are some of the tags I made for an Art-E-Zine swap:"What's Your Tag?" I sent them out a while back - thye were late, but they did get put in the mail...I've been waiting for my stuff to come in the mail...finally I go to the Art-E-Zine site, click to the page with the What's Your Tags, and mine aren't represented there. So I wrote the hostess, and she told me she never got them. NEVER GOT THEM??!! I am very distressed to say the least. I worked so hard on them. And they came out soooo good. And now, to think they have fallen into the wrong hands - well - I'm speechless. I think I may have some kind of jinx when it comes to Art-E-Zine. Of the 4 swaps I've entered, only one has come to fruition. One pkg, that went to Ireland, got there too late because I unknowingly insured it, thus making it so the reciever would have had to pay all this money just to pick it up. So it got sent back. Another, I signed up for and then forgot, so I backed out of it as graciously as I could. And then this! I love art-E-Zine, and I think Gillian Allen is amazing. The fabric tag swap I did there was spectacular. Now I'm almost afraid to join another swap there. But then again I want to just so I can save face. They must think I'm a total flake over there!

My New Art Journal

Here's some pages from my new art journal. I'm doing a little spread using the scraps and leftovers from whatever project I'm working on. I started it after my Halloween art was all done - I had a ton of stuff left, but couldn't bring myself to throw any of it away, even though I knew I'd most likely never use it. I love the freedom of an art journal - there isn't the pressure to make it come out perfectly - I find that the collages come out with a totally different feeling as any of my other artwork.

Oh So Glitter-y

I've discovered the fun of glittering everything in sight in the name of Christmas. In previous years I've thought of glitter as being a bit tacky...but no it sure isn't!!I've been covered in glitter everywhere. My face, the baby's face, hands, feet, etc. My whole house is all sparkly. i've experimented with a zillion kinds of adhesive and a whole bunch of different glitters. One of the best things I've come up with are glittered prima flowers. I've got there cream colored flowers that look so great with fine glod glitter on them. I used a glue pad (like a stamp pad) - pressed the paper flowers into it, and then dusted with Marths Stweart Smoky Quartz glitter. They look all winter-whitey antique-ish. I glittered little fake ivy leaves, which are cute too. The Provo Craft glue pen works great for fine line glittering. (see the swirls and outlines) I'm making these ornaments for Xmas gifts this year - thanx to Art Chix Studio for such a nice selection of vintage children and angel imagery!