31 Favorites

Summer's nearly over (we do have 10 more official days).  I know it has been forever since I've blogged (sorry).  I've got a number of projects underway - the most recent is my "31 Favorites of Summer" - a play on the Baskin Robbins 31 flavors. 

One of my favorites (besides ice cream) are the singing tree frogs that fill my pond,

And the beautiful monarch butterflies in my flower garden,

And a full moon rising over the backyard.

3 of my 31....

More from the Florida Keys

The weather has been perfect, so there hasn't been much down time for my art.  I put more finishing touches on my watercolor of my backporch view.  I'll up load it when I'm completely finished. I also started a Flamingo drawing.  Here's what I have so far.

This one will have a lot of detail and I'm hoping I will have time to finish it when I get home (wishful thinking!!)  We're heading back to day, although I have to be back in Miami on Tuesday for business, but there will be no time for much of anything on that trip. Maybe I can tuck my flamingo family in my suitcase and work on it at night.  We'll see!!

Florida Keys

Just a quick watercolor from Cudjoe Key.  I sat today in a cute little adirondock chair overlooking our bay in our back yard.  It was hot, but the rum and mango juice helped....I just love spring break!!

Willow Roses

Spring is in the air - even though it is rainy and dreary, I can smell it in the rain, hear in the trees and see tiny signs of it everywhere.  So yesterday, I started working my class for April since I will be traveling over the next few weeks, wanting to get ahead for once!  I was initially leaning towards the FiFi/Fido lines with its spring palette of colors, but I just wasn't feeling it, if you know what I mean.  I just got those papers in this week and I haven't had a chance to think about it, walk around the table and look at them to come up with ideas for what I want to do with them.  I have had the Willow papers in for a while and I knew immediately at some point in this new teaching adventure, I wanted to take a different twist with them.  They were designed for family heirloom photos, which is fine and I am sure I will take that challenge on as well, but I was drawn to the ivory, rose, black and gray papers more so than the blues, so I went with it and, voila', my Willow-Roses design.  No Anna Griffin designer influence here - all me.

It's a two page layout featuring box-pleats on both pages and a lot of cutting with a craft knife (too many small details for scissors).  I even added a filet-style mat on the main page.  Tres' cool!  I was thinking "Mother's Day" when I designed it, which always makes me think of my grandmother who passed away from breast cancer.  So my teaching fees on this class will be donated to breast cancer research this time.

No dates yet for this class..Maybe the Sunday before Easter, otherwise with will be May 1.  Stay tuned.

Anna Griffin Classes at Scrapbooks-Plus!

I've had a long enough hiatus from teaching so I am starting a series of Anna Griffin classes at Scrapbooks Plus in Chantilly! With brand new lines that are fresh and funky yet still elegant and vintage, there's a whole lot of neat new designs on the way.  I'm pretty excited since I haven't taught since last May and I am really enjoying some of the design ideas from the crafty artists at Anna Griffin.  The Anna Griffin designs inspire my interpretation of the first page of the layout while I design the second complimentary page.

This first class is entitled "Carmen - Cool Flamingo"  It's the first of two layouts using the Carmen papers that I plan to teach.  In this first class, I used playful honeycomb, geometric and floral patterns reflecting a vibrant, south-of-the-border style. I selected the cooler combination of pink and greens complemented by shimmery gold foil. Featuring colorful hues popular in 1930's South America, there is an accordion fan (made by hand of course) that was used as a backdrop for a perfectly framed photo with a vintage flamingo diecut. The second page features gold edges and a large journaling block with retro stamps and flowers.  I'm scheduling this class for Sunday, March 27, 10am – 12:30pm. And as always, I will donate my teaching fees to a worthy cause, this time to one of my employees who was recently diagnosed with a very aggressive brain cancer. 

In the next few months, we'll use the spring-themed papers of the Fifi and Fido, some family pages from the Willow line and create a warm and sunny second Carmen layout.  I might just switch things up in the summer to a couple of lines from last year including Cecile and Calisto (which are just perfect for weddings and vacations at the shore).  Exciting stuff!!

New Years in Florida

Its been a while...that's how it goes with blogging I suppose, especially when you have four boys to keep track of and a company to run!

We spent the week after Christmas and New Years in Jupiter, Florida.  I put together a quick spiral bound book using a packet of double-sided K&Company card stock, a number of coordinating embellishments and silk flowers and butterflies I bought on sale at Michael's.

The pages were simple in design with most of the focus on the photos and the journaling.

There are about thirty pages in the book - too many to post them all, but it was a fun, simple project that I was able to do at the kitchen table while my guys were watching the NFL playoffs in the family room.

Enjoy!