studio|mecca

Help Me Raise Money for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital

2010-03-31T13:56:00.002-07:00

PLEASE NOTE: THIS POST WILL REMAIN ON THE TOP OF THE PAGE UNTIL MARCH 31st. TO READ THE LATEST ENTRIES, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN.

I don't know how many times I have told myself that I wanted to start an organization for children. Being that my funds are simply waaaay too low to do such a thing, I thought maybe I could help raise money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. I often donate when they send me the package in the mail and I thought I could bring this to the "airways" by putting it up on my blog. I have attached a widget here and in my sidebar for donations to St. Jude's. The money first goes into my account that I set up for this, and then once the deadline is up (March 31st) I will then send a check in that amount to St. Jude's. I will personally send each person who donated an email containing an invoice from me. This helps you be assured that your money is going to the right place. The widget shows how much has been raised so far and when I write the check, it will be for that exact amount. The only problem I see is certain people may think that this money is going to me, and not benefiting the cause. That would be considered fraud and I just could not do such a thing. This is my (and your) opportunity to give a little something back to the world. Especially in these confusing and stressful times. Imagine when a mother and father find out that their child has survived a battle due to your help. Every little bit counts and we can all make a difference. So here I am today to ask you, fellow crafters, bloggers, artists, mother, fathers, friends, and everyone all around, to do what you can to make a donation. Even if it is a small one. Any little bit helps. And if there is anything I can do to assure you that your donation will go to the kids it belongs to, then by all means let me know. I thank you all for taking the time to read this an especially to those of you who can help out a little bit. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, and even the hearts of the little ones who need you most.

Okay...one last thing...and I think this will make you smile a little... For those of you who donate and leave a comment, you will be entered to win a fabulous prize!!!!! Remember, the deadline to donate is March 31st and I will be picking the winner April 1st! Don't worry, no April Fools :p

A Few New

2010-03-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. I've been gone for a bit but I'm back. I didn't do last week's WOYWW becuase we were busy busy that day but this week for sure.

Okay...side-tracked...derrrr, back to the main reason for this post..

MARCH!

March is a month full of chaos for me. I say me because nobody else really does anything around here so I can take all the credit and bitch as much as I want about it too! So what's March all about? Well, the 2nd is the anniversary of my Grandmother's passing and the 5th is the anniversary of her funeral day. The 15th is my mother in law's birthday so I have to prepare something for her. The 28th is Breana's birthday so I have to plan her party (which by the way, has changed from unicorns to Wizards of Waverly Place...but it can only be WWP if Justin is on the party favors because of course you know, he is her boyfriend after all!) and then the 29th is my sister in law's birthday. Not to mention that I have to plan for Easter and get baskets and whatnot ready. This is a month full of hair pulling. Well.....more hair pulling than the other months but STILL! Ugh...so as to why I'm here telling you all this??...I've made some bday cards for my MIL and SIL. We saw Alice in Wonderland in 3-D on Saturday with the kids and it was wonderful!! I'm definitely getting this one on DVD. Since I was in the Alice-y mood I decided to make their cards with an Alice theme. Tell me what you think.

Here's a quick supply list:
Distress Ink- Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipstick, Bundled Sage, and Tumbled Glass
Stamps- Alice Collection from AlphaStamps, and the checkerboard stamp by Cherry Pie Art Stamps
Rhinestones were colored with Copic Markers

Okay, on to the next card. This one is my sister in law's card.

Supply list:

Distress Ink- Frayed Burlap, Wild Honey, and Black Soot

Stamps- Hero Arts dot background stamp, Alice Collection from AlphaStamps

Paper- Bo Bunny Sweet Nothings

Rhinestones colored with Copic Markers

and here are the Copic colors I used.

Don't mind my pajama pants and the awful glare :p
I also ~~made~~...no, decorated envelopes for them (mind you I will NEVER make an envelope again and if you wanna know why you can search to find my post about it) but they aren't anything special (or worth me getting up to snap a pic considering that I'm being lazy) so I'm not gonna post them. Maybe I'll remember next time.

So that seems to be it. Nothing else going on other than the usual cleaning and schtuff. Having a brand new washer and dryer sure does make things easier. OH!! And for those of you who have decided against buying a Crop A Dile Big Bite II because of price attached to it, then head on down to WalMart and see if they have them on sale there! I picked one up at ours today for $10!! They we're $35 and I guess they didn't sell well so there went the price. And good thing too because I kept eyeing them and forcing myself not to buy one until now. Glad I waited. Anyway, have a good evening all of you and hope to hear from ya.

Toodles.

WOYWW

2010-02-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Another day gone by and I almost forgot to post!! I haven't gotten to make much this week since I've been trying to catch up on some school work. Some instructors give you no homework, others an ass load. Ugh, it's never ending chaos. I wanted to up date my desk though so you could see that it isn't a disaster like it was last week. There's not much going on with it other than a drawing and some calligraphy practicing.

See? I told you it was nothing exciting.

Oh, and I wanted to show you how I store my mini misters.

This is a vintage lipstick holder that I found at the antique shop. I loved it so much that I had to have it even though I had no idea what the heck I was gonna use it for. Oh well, buy it anyway (that's me talking to myself). So I did and then when I got home I was like WOOO! I Got an idea! And now the misters live in the holder. Ta da.

Gotsta gooo......toooooodles.

Free Word Art Download For YOU!

2010-02-24T01:10:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Just wanted to stop by quickly to let you know that I have this word art kit here to download for free. Each one is hand written by myself and ready for you to use. Instead of breaking each individual word down into it's own file, I kept each word on the original page but as a PNG file. That way you can just grap a layer and drag. Easy. This was made in Adobe Illustrator CS4 and edited in PSCS4 but will work in almost any program since it's a PNG file. Hope you can use them. And if you do, post a pic or send me a link so I can check it out!

Okay, so here's the link to DOWNLOAD

Have a great day everyone :)

Toodles

Midnight Carvings (no, not craving...carving)

2010-02-21T00:38:00.001-07:00

I guess I should say good morning to you all because it is technically morning being that it's 12:28 am. I have been playing and playing with lino carving blocks. I am so in love with this that I went and bought out the store (bought out as in bought the last 2 that they had, ha) and ordered more from MisterArt. This is so fun and you can do almost any kind of image with these since they're sooo easy to carve into. I have a few images printed out that I'm going to start carving but for now I just went with freehand. If you're interested in starting something like this I suggest Speedball brand of supplies. They're a trusted brand and they provide such great help with all their materials. Make sure you get the pink carving tool too! All the different carving heads fit inside of the tool so you never have to worry about losing the pieces. If anyone has questions about carving and/or the supplies, let me know. But for now, here's a photo of a couple carvings I did tonight. Nothing professional but I was just playing around. I hope to learn more techniques and make some really detailed and intricate carvings.

Sorry about the quality of the photo. I took it with my phone in some horrible light. But anyway, this gives you an idea of what you can do. Imagine all the possibilities!!

Well, I'm off to bed now. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions. OH, and don't forget to read about St. Jude's! We've already had two $10 donations!! Every little bit counts.

Toodleoo

WOYWW

2010-02-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

Here's an overview of the mess I created. I have a plethora of nonsense sitting here. I was in mid construction so lots of things had to be moved to accommodate the rearranging.

Here's an up close pic of the mess. I do have a bunch of new stuff though. Especially those yummy Oxford Impressions stamps.

Panning to the left, this paper holder was the root of my messy desk. After assembling it I had to find a place for it so all that was on the cabinet had to be tossed on my desk for further organizing. Ugh...not looking forward to doing that.

So...you've seen my mess for the day. Can't wait to see yours!

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T21:14:00.002-07:00

Hope everyone had a love filled holiday. We had a good time here. The kids got some Valentines and my love got me a bouquet of tulips, a box of See's candy, and a new Elliott Lucca purse! He's a freaking doll if I've ever known one :)

Okay...on to some art. Since it was a day of love I figured I would make something referencing love. He's what I came up with.

It's an 8x10 canvas collage. I really enjoyed making this one. I had some good music playing in the background (and by good music, I mean ANYTHING Robert Pattinson sings..........did you know he sang? I did) and the art just poured out. Veddy nice, veddy nice. You can find it in my Etsy shoppe.

I loved this canvas piece so much that I wondered what it would look like as a stamp. I haven't made it yet but I did use Photoshop CS4 to get it ready to turn into a stamp. You tell me what you think.....

Off to bed. Toodles.

Homemade envelopes are NOT my niche!

2010-02-12T00:01:00.001-07:00

So I made a card for my MIL and I didn't think much of the dimensions until it was time to get it in the mail. I realized that I had made a 6 x 6 card and DON'T have 6 x 6 envelopes! Mind you, I'm not going to go to the store and scour the aisles for envelopes. I just figured I would make one myself. Never had I made an envelope before so I thought about looking for tutorials. I found a few but none of them showed me what I needed to know. CURSE YOU ENVELOPE!!! I have the basics of how an envelope should be assembled but measurements are definitely not my thing. I used a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock and that STILL wasn't big enough! So, I took another small piece of the cardstock and added it on to the other piece. Of course it doesn't matter how it's cut considering that it's a square. If it doesn't fit, it just doesn't fit. So that's why I had to add an additional piece to make it just a wee bit longer. It's not the most fantastic thing I've come up with but it'll suffice. It's definitely sturdy so it should withstand the trek from Arizona to California pretty easily. Here's the card and envelope (front and back):

Paper: Making Memories Vintage Hip Collection-Gracen (flower patterned paper), and Cheeky Collection-Abby (pink paper).

Stamps: Oxford Impressions-French Script

The card was easy. Since I used a full 6 x 6 piece of paper, I connected them with ribbon at the top of the card (hard to see from the photo but it's sandwiched in between).

Front and back of the envelope.

Paper: Creative Imaginations-Marah Johnson

and some cheapie purple cardstock.

This envelope was such a pain in the ass. Last envelope for me I think.....

......anyway, the adhesive I used is Ad Tech's Permanent Bond Glue Runner. I'm loving this right now even though Jennifer is swaying me toward Tombow. Ay Chihuahua! So many supplies!!

Okay, well that's it for tonight. Hope to hear from you all soon! Toodles!

WOYWW

2010-02-10T20:42:00.003-07:00

It's STILL Wednesday! Just because it's 8:30 pm doesn't mean crap. So therefore I can still post this. I started a post this morning on this and forgot about it only to realize I didn't finish it and then it went into draft. Okay...sooo..this one is gonna be short...just a couple pics.

So here's the desk today. This actually isn't my creation, this is Breana's and she was having a good ol' time playing with paint. She actually didn't make much of a mess this time.

And just because she's so stinking cute, here's a picture of my sweet little Breana.

Okay, so you saw my entry for WOYWW, go over to Julia's blog to see the rest of them.

More Valentines and other nonsense.....

2010-02-09T23:21:00.000-07:00

You know what I just thought? In the morning, you tell people, "Good Morning!"...
In the afternoon you tell people, "Good Afternoon!"...
In the evening you tell people, "Good Evening!"...
but at night......you don't tell people "Good Night!" as a salutation....you say good night when you're going to bed. So why? Interesting......

Sorry, my mind tends to wander here and there.

So on to the Valentines.

This one is for my sweetheart Noah. He hasn't seen it yet and I'm trying to keep it hidden. I swear, even if it's a simple card, he STILL tries to find it. I don't know what's with him snooping for gifts!
Okay....supply list:
Paper: that same stuff from Big Lots and various K&Co. matte stacks.
Rhinestones.....I don't know, they're from Michaels :)
Stamps: Oxford Impressions Bonbon Plate
Inkssentials opaque white pen
Distress Inks
Copic Markers

So there's that one. On to the next.

This one was made for my BFF. All the supplies are the same as the previous card aside from the ribbon, which is some cheapie ribbon from Wal-Mart. I rounded the corners of this one with my corner punch. I just adore this set from Oxford Impressions. Perfect for Valentine's Day.

Not only do I love them, but so does my little buttercup, Breana. This is the card she made. She was so proud of herself. She plans on giving it to my BFF also. Knowing she's interested in this stuff just like me makes my heart do a happy dance.

I also made another coffee cozy to stick in my Etsy. This one is another Valentine-ish one. Lots of red, pink, and white. This one is my favorite so far.

So that's about the end of it. I hope to hear a little something from somebody out there in blog land. It seems so quiet lately. Anyway, a wonderfully good night to you all.

Toodles

Valentine, Oh Valentine

2010-02-07T23:32:00.002-07:00

So I know it's a late start but I've made my first Valentine's Day card. I've been waiting for my order from Oxford Impressions to come in so I can do the rest of my cards. I don't know if they'll be here in time though. Thought I'd share it with you. I can't remember who the patterned paper is made by but I can tell you I got it at Big Lots in a bundle pack for a great price. And they are all designer and thick cardstock. You should check out your local Big Lots' scrapbook section. they have some pretty awesome stuff. You just gotta dig. Anyway, the matte and balloon are from the K&Co. Angelica matte deck. The sweet monkey girl is from Autumn Leaves, Mindy's Zoo. The rhinestones were something I had just laying around. I plan to give this one to my sister in law and her family. She is also a crafty girl and she can appreciate a handmade card for what it's really worth. :)

Okay all, bedtime for me.

Toodleoo

Etsy Time!

2010-02-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! It's a rainy Sunday here in my parts. Hope everyone out there is having better weather than us.

I wanted to show you all this cool thing I got at Target. I have a few Copics and I didn't like them in the case they came in so I found this nifty thing to keep them in. Isn't it cute? I don't know if I'll get any more Copics, so I only bought one. The thing I like the most is that it spins! So cute. It was about $10 and they come in blue, green, and pink.

I also added to my Etsy. It is these cute little hand knitted coffee cozies. I'm crocheting like a madman and these are so fun to make. I plan to make many more and add them to the shoppe.

If you're interested in knowing how to make these, you can look up tutorials on YouTube. There's a few different ways and they're so fun. Not to mention it's a good way to be green. No more throwing away those cardboard cozies from the coffee shop. Now you can have your very own hand knitted one personalized just for you. If you're interested in one of these and don't want to make one, you can always contact me through Alchemy with a request.

Well, all, time to get the kiddies in bed and the house in place for a new day. Thanks for stopping by!

Enjoying Nature

2010-01-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love Arizona when the weather is right. Most of the time it's not right but we deal with it anyway. Today is pretty windy but it wasn't raining so I decided to go out and take a few photos of what's been happening in my yard over this 2 week storm. I thought I'd share with you a few photos.

This is my lemon tree. This thing was bare and ugly a month ago and now that I come outside to look, it greets me with all these wonderful lemons! I'm glad something good came of the rain.

These things are WEEDS! I KNOW they were not there a week ago! Even though they are grass killing fiends, they are kinda pretty.

These aren't from outside, but from my kitchen. My lovie likes to surprise me with flowers a lot and since I looove flowers, it makes me happy. These look so vintage and soft that I thought I'd change up the tone and saturation of the picture. Give it more of an old, worn feel.

Well, other than that, there's not much more to say for right now. I just though I'd share these photos with you. At least we are blessed to not have any damage from the storm as I'm sure many out there have been affected by this crazy weather.

By the way...the winner of my giveaway has yet to respond to me. I'm going to give it a week and if she doesn't get to me then I will pick another winner from random. So, Dizzy, if you're out there.....email me!!

Ta ta.

We've got a WINNER!!

2010-01-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo!! Good morning everyone! Today's the day!
I want to thank you all for coming and following. I really appreciate it and I hope to provide you with some great eye candy! This is my first giveaway and it was super successful! Yay!! Okay, enough babbling, I know you wanna know who the winner is....oh, before I tell you, just so everyone knows, I had to use the number of people who followed, not who commented...I'm sure you knew that but I was just verifying.
Ok....drumrollllllllll.....

The winner is......

DIZZY!

Congratulations and I will send you and email so I can get your address!

I hope you're going to like your goodies!

Okay, so that's it for now. Gotta go run some errands and maybe I'll be back later

Toodleoo

One More Day!!

2010-01-26T16:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! one more day til the giveaway ends. So if you haven't yet signed up to be a follower, do so!! I added a follow widget so that no one has a problem signing up.

Today is my first day back at school. I'm starting the advanced Photoshop class tonight and I'm so excited! I can't wait just to get this schooling over and done with and get to the real fun of designing. I also have an online class for web page design. It's not something I thought I would be taking but since it's required for my degree I figure, why not. I have dreamweaver so that'll save some time and money. The only problem I think I'll have is that sincce it's an online course, I won't have a real person teaching me. I don't know if it will be hard but I guess I'm ready for it. Something accomplished is good for me.

Well, class is going to start but I will be back to update a little more. Toodleoo!

Don't forget to FOLLOW!

Blog Giveaway!!

2010-01-22T17:24:00.003-07:00

UPDATE: I GOT A FEW EMAILS FROM PEOPLE SAYING THAT THEY DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO FOLLOW SO I DECIDED TO JUST PUT IT HERE ON HOW TO DO IT. IT'S VERY EASY, JUST GO TO THE TOP LEFT HAND CORNER OF THE WEB PAGE AND CLICK "FOLLOW". HERE'S A SNIPPET:

AND JUST SO EVERYONE HAS A FAIR CHANCE TO FOLLOW, I HAVE EXTENDED THE GIVEAWAY TO WEDNESDAY. WHICH MEAN, I WILL POST THE WINNER THURSDAY MORNING. :)

To start the new year out good and right, I wanted to start networking a bit more. I decided that I would have a giveaway. The prize is super yummy stuff!! Can't tell you though....it's a seeecret!

So here's all you gotta do....
starting...NOW, until Sunday (which means all of Sunday and I will post the winner on Monday) all you have to do is follow me. When Monday comes, I will go to random.org and generate a winner!

Sounds super easy huh? IT IS! So just follow along...and don't get discouraged by my previous amont of blog posts, I have much planned and much to share.

Hope to see many new names!!

Toodles for now

Loving My Computer!

2010-01-21T20:28:00.001-07:00

Oh how I love, love, love my new computer. I started getting going on Photoshop and this is one of the digital collages I came up with. The girls create much contrast with the background. Let me know if you like it :)

Rainy Days

2010-01-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Good morning all! The past couple days have been super rainy here as you can see from the picture outside my studio window. I can't even park my car in the yard because of the puddles the rain created. Other than this awful weather I haven't been up to much other than buying my supplies for school. Which includes:
my new HP Pavilion,
my new Wacom Intuos4 Pro tablet,
my new Blackberry Bold, and Adobe CS4 Creative Suite. Whew, that was a lot. This may sound like much but I really do need it for my degree. Well, everything but the phone but still....heehee. Creatively, I haven't been up to much other than what I posted last time. Really I just wanted to come and show face for once. I hope to get blogging more since I have my new, fast computer :)

Off to the doctor's I go...I know he's gonna tell me I have bronchitis. Sigh. Toodleoo.

2010-01-18T02:17:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. I just though I'd show some of the recent listings in my Etsy Shoppe. I absolutely adore those vintage earrings so whoever snags those is one lucky duck. The pillow thing is an aromatherapy pillow that I made. It has rice inside and it scented with lavender oil. It's soothing if you have a headache. All you gotta do it pop it in to microwave for 30 seconds and put it over your eyes.The other two are canvas art.

There's not much more for me to say...I'm a but anxious to get in bed since it's already 2:15 am! Editing pictures sure is time consuming. Can't wait to get my new pavilion!!

Ta ta for tonight.

Hand Soldered Ornaments -Listed on Etsy!

2009-12-09T14:36:00.006-07:00

I finally finished them! Yay! They are now posted in my shoppe so you can check 'em out. There's only 3 but I plan on making quite a few more depending on the feedback I get. I'm also available for alchemy so if you'd like something custom, just let me know :)

Here's a few pictures of them, front and back. Hope you all have a great Thursday!!

Soldered Christmas Ornaments--in progress

2009-12-06T18:34:00.005-07:00

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted! School has officially ended for the semester. That means I have a few weeks to myself. I really need to get artsy, I feel myself going insane and it'll be some good therapy.

So, I've been having fun in the midst of our kitchen floor re-do. If you haven't seen the pics, add me on Twitter, my screen name is ntynda, and you can see the floor in mid-install. Anyway, so while I have to wait for the pieces to be cut to size, I have been sneaking away and assembling some soldered ornaments. The pictures I've posted are of them at this stage. I still have to finish the Santa one and then solder the jump rings to the tops. I thought maybe you'd like to see them while they're in factory mode. Lol.

This one is 2"x2". The girls are printed on transparency film and placed over vintage music paper. I didn't take pics of the back but it is the same vintage music sheet with a few snowflakes embossed in clear. When I get them in my Etsy shoppe you'll see them in full detail.
This one is a 1"x3" on frosted glass. I think that's why the picture is coming out so blurry. The image is printed on transparency film and placed over a vintage book page. This one has the embossed snowflakes on the back as well.
This is just as simple Santa image on a painted background that I made.
This is a ring that I made last month that I forgot to post. It is made with craft wire (don't ask me what gauge) that I hand wrapped. The foliage is from Tim Holtz.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures, the lighting in my "studio" (i use the " " because I still don't feel like I can call it a studio. It seems so professional to me, but my good friend Audrey keeps forcing me to call it that, lol...so I try) is crappalicious. I definitely need a ton of Ott lighting.

Anyway, there's my post for the night. I hope to come back tomorrow with the finished pieces but I'm not promising anything. Nothing gets done when I make promises.

Hope you have a good night!! I'll be dreaming of Christmas decor!! Ha!

Digitals

2009-10-20T20:19:00.006-07:00

So I finished my midterm in photoshop (I got an A!) as well as my final which hasn't been graded yet. I thought I'd post them up here for you to look at. Lemme know what you think :)

A Simpler Time-My Midterm

and

Egyptian Dream-My Final

I feel like a blogging failure

2009-09-13T00:51:00.000-07:00

So here I sit, in school thinking about how long it's been since I last blogged and all the things I said I was going to do and make and blah de blah de blah. I realized, it's been LONG and I haven't made anything I said I was going to make, or done anything I said I was going to do. You see, I started college classes and so far it's been great. I have more responsibilities now so I have even less time to do "fun" things and am just running around all the time. And I think I need to focus on that for a good minute before I commit myself to anymore empty promises. I'm looking at at least 2 years before I get my degree and maybe even longer if I want to pursue other things. So instead of promising that I'm going to post, I'm going to post when I have the time, and the thought and if I don't post for a month, then so be it. I realized I need to commit myself to the things that matter most. Hopefully I can better myself this way and be able to come back with tons of stories and experiences. Ahhh, it feels good to be free. <3

Fun and Easy

2009-06-12T16:20:00.003-07:00

Hi there. Today I wanted to show you something I made a while back ago but never posted on. It's a mini ATC album that I created using a trading card album I purchased at Dollar Tree.

This is the album before it was altered

And this is the album after

Sorry the pictures aren't very good. I took them with my phone. It's such a big hassle to get them from my regular camera to the computer.

I used Tim's Crackle Paints, Grungeboard elements, and stamp. I love that stamp sooo much. You can find it at Stampers Anonymous along with sooo many more gorgeous stamps. I also used Tim's hammer to bang up the brads for a more rustic look.

This album is so easy to make. All you need is some gesso, joint compound, crackle paints, and some visual interests

Anyway, that's about all for today. Hope everyone joins the challenge. It's a good one this week. See previous post if you wanna read up on it.

Have a great evening everyone!!

Weekly Wednesday Challenge

2009-06-10T20:02:00.002-07:00

Hi all!! I just came to post up the new challenge for this week.

The theme is : "What does your Muse look like?"

If your muse looked like something, what would it look like. You may have to delve deep into your soul to figure this one out. It can be any size you'd like.

I can't wait to see what you've got!!

Until next time.......