A winner! (and I can't seem to load any artwork on ZNE, so.....)

Here it is!


What we have here is my ZNE Book Club final project; to create an homage to Claudine Hellmuth's Collage Discovery Workshop by recreating the cover.

We were supposed to use some of the same elements; a map, a landmark, and a car; and the words, "I discovered Claudine Hellmuth's Collage Discovery Workshop," plus some technique words and our names.


I thought mine turned out pretty okay. Two things I wish I'd done differently, though: 1)I wish I'd noticed that Claudine's name was on a piece of torn paper and then affixed to the image. I don't like the way my initials look just sitting there bare; and 2) I'm not fond of the way the title turned out at all. And I struggled to get what I got! I think I shouldn't have tried to work on such a small scale. The entire piece is only 4" x 5 1/2". Otherwise, though, I'm fairly happy with it. I like the colors and the cute car - that's my Grandmother in the driver's seat - and I'm from Seattle so I'm liking the addition of the Space Needle.


These tags are the August ZNE Design Team Assignment. We were to make two tag templates, slated to be included on a future ZNE collage sheet and then we were to make two tags using the templates we created. We were to incorporate butterflies and/or stars. The sales of the collage sheet will benefit the Hope Sees a Star project that resulted from the tragic deaths of two young women.


This was a lot of fun for me. We were supposed to decorate the edges of a tag so as to leave the middle free for individual embellishment. I wanted each template itself to be interesting. I had just done three projects incorporating stars (2 of them are below and one of them was a page for the ZNE Cercles d'Ame journal project) so I opted for the butterfly theme.


The results are both similar and completely different. I didn't set out to create two different moods, but I'm pleased with the results. I created the striped tag using my Microsoft Word "draw" options. I love that program. I make my own digital Christmas gift tags each year. I'm planning on putting some in my eBay and Etsy shops this year. I'm still trying to figure out pricing.


Anyway, I'm just thrilled with contrasting black elements.


The last two pieces are my July ZNE Design Team Assignments. Yes, July. We were having some kind of weird uploading problem wherein your pictures all came out tiny. Well, I didn't want to upload tiny pictures so I waited it out until the problem was fixed. Then, when I went to upload (okay, a week after it was fixed, I admit) my pictures - I couldn't. For some reason it's not accepting the "add pictures" command from me.


The July assignment was to take a ZNE collage sheet and make two pieces with it, one of which was to be an ATC/ACEO. I got the collage sheet featuring ATC backgrounds designed by Joanna Grant and featuring stars. The ATC features a picture of my Aunt Laurie (who I was named for) at about 6 years old. I like the faraway look on her face. On the background I used my cool new rolling pin stamp that, it turns out, features designs inspired by Klimt. I saw it advertised on the Cloth, Paper, Scissors website.


The house piece used kind of a stream of consciousness design process. I'm not sure about how it turned out. I just started cutting and gluing without any planning (very unlike me) at all.


In other news:


Big, big, big, GIANT spider in our house last night..................................................gulp!


I’m not a fan of spiders of any size, but this was huge! I saw it out of the corner of my eye and I thought for a minute it might be a little lizard. But, noooooooooooooooooooo! My DH managed to capture it and take it outside – although he did protest somewhat. I don’t know why, I can’t imagine he’d want something of that size in the house either. He’s kindhearted, that one, I’m not sure that capturing is the first thing I’d think of if I were by myself. Luckily I wasn't.


And Lastly...We have a winner! A few posts ago (was it really over a month???) I posted a contest. Basically a list of my favorite movies and a list of my reasons for loving them. The contest was to match the reasons to the movies. I got just a few entries, but one person got more answers right than all the others - Kathy Wasilewski!!! Yay!!!!!!!!! With just 3 wrong answers she is the winner! Kathy, I've been gathering up a box of goodies for you! Email me your snail mail address and I will send it out to you! My email

Here are the correct answers for those of you who are curious:

1. Wings of Desire
n. The most poetic movie ever, it uses actual lines of poetry by Peter Handke.
2. The Usual Suspects
g. I love a good plot twist - whenever it occurs.
3. A Room With a View
j. "Poor Charlotte!"
4. All That Jazz
c. The whole movie is about flirting with death.
5. Charade
h. Could Cary Grant be any more attractive???
6. Persuasion
k. The look between Anne and Captain Wentworth when they finally realize they love each other makes this better than the Oscar winner that came out the same year and that was of the same ilk.
7. Breakfast at Tiffany's
d. Did you know that every single song in this movie is a variation on the main song?
8. Best in Show
a. "Oh, they always jump."
9. Auntie Mame
o. "We need a little Christmas! Right this very minute!"
10. Election
i. Every expression that emerges onto Tracy Flick's face is priceless.
11. The Unbelievable Truth
e. I agreed to go on that 1st date with my husband because he said he had a "Hal Hartley" sense of humor.
12. Existenz
m. This entire movie is a plot twist - at the end you have no idea what was real.
13. The Professional
b. When is the last time you could say you loved a hit-man this much?
14. Swingers
l. I knew these guys - and that answering machine scene, yikes!
15. Four Weddings and a Funeral
f. I love this because it reminds me of my single years and the great group of friends I hung with then.






It's taken me all day and part of last night to write this post. I'm trying to catch up on my housework so that in case there's a parade of bike guys roaming through the house in the next couple weeks I won't have completely humiliated myself. Cleaning and organizing, cleaning and organizing - it's becoming my life, ugh. I'd really rather be doing anything else.

Rexy's not helping at all, either. First of all, she's three. She doesn't see the point of hiding all her toys from herself. Secondly, due to the Autism, we're fighting this thing she does where she'll just dump a container on the floor and walk away from it...to the next container where she does the identical thing. She doesn't like some things to be in containers at all. The therapist says if we catch it early we can keep it from becoming a compulsion (like an OCD thing). The only problem is that she does it in her bedroom a lot and I'm not constantly with her when she's playing so I'm not there to immediately tell her to pick the stuff up. Telling her later on or the next day makes her feel like she's being punished (her mother's daughter?).

Last, but certainly not least, my Gratitude Journal:

1. My sweet girl (yes, again! and again, and again...)
2. Pole Pruners
3. Car CD Players
4. Summer days
5. Sesame Street