Painting and Classes

It has been a few weeks of much progress!  I have resumed painting my outdated kitchen cabinets.  I am changing old dark kitchen cabinets into light yellow/cream color ( with a glazed for antiquing).  One more week and I hope to be completely done with the kitchen cabinets!  When they are done, I will post a before and after picture....

The downside of all this progress is that I have not been able to spend time and visit with my friends...near (Staci & Lisa) and far(June)!  As if painting kitchen cabinets isn't enough to keep me extremely busy during the day, I am trying to keep up with two on-line classes.  When I signed up I wanted to participate by doing the "classwork."  Well, I am behind but I have managed to participate to some degree.  I love to paint, but painting kitchen cabinets is really not fun for me. Now, painting on canvas is fun!  I have given up many hours of sleep to complete my first assignment for the She Art Workshop....but I think it was worth it.  I love that class!

I also love all things vintage and how to use old things in creative ways.  As an early Mother's Day gift, my gift is to take an on-line class with Jenni Bowlin.  Big Picture Scrapbooking provides many on-line classes with many great teachers.  Jenni Bowlin's class is Re-purpose, Re-think, Re-invent; it's a 12 week course.  For the first week, the assignment was to create an inspiration board.  With each passing week, we are asked to post a new inspiration item.  Below is a picture of my inspiration board and the items that inspire me.  First week - mother of pearl vintage buttons (& button card). Second week - vintage postcard (found in Roundtop TX) with roses which remind me of my mom who inspires me to be creative.  Third week - felted wool butterfly...I love to work with felted wool from old wool sweaters and as most people who know me well know, I LOVE butterflies!  Last week I created a scrapbook layout using vintage milk caps using pictures from our recent tour of Blue Bell Ice Cream Creamery in Brenham, TX.    I am learning so much...it's great.  And, yes, I have done my assignments late at night, but again....well worth it!

After reading about the She Art Workshop in Rachel Carlson's blog, I realized this course was perfect for me!  It's a mix media class that combines all my favorites....paint, paper (vintage, tissue, scrapbook, etc), various mediums (like texture paste), stamps, rub-ons, lace, ribbon....just about anything that can create layers and textures.

I have only had time to watch all the videos for week 1 but I was so inspired, I had to create the image in my head.  My first She Art had to have purple and butterflies!  Even when I am tired after a long day, sometimes I will find the energy to be creative late into the night.  I worked on her for two nights (until 1 a.m.) but I am so glad I did.  Here is my first She Art project:

 Here is the link to Christy Tomlinson blog where you can get all the details on her classes.  I can't say enough how much I love this class!