The Perfect Hostess Throws the Perfect Playdate.

LINDA is absolutely the hostess with the mostess. She invited a group of us over to make shrines at her fabulous "farmhouse" with its great big playroom in the basement. If you click on the link under Linda's name, you will be taken to the Web site she and her family have for their letterboxing adventures. You will also see her wonderful home. The view is terrific from the living room window. Well, actually, every window has a great view.
Before I left for our afternoon art adventure, however, Nikki came by to claim her prize for being the 2,000th person to visit this blog. That's been a while ago, but we finally connected. She got her framed lady-face picture - with other collaged images and trinkets - and it was good to visit on a sunny afternoon. This is Nikki, her daughter Caitlyn and the picture.
Back to our trip to Linda's house: JoAnn picked me up, then we got Sylvia and Darlene followed us in her car. It was a short over the river, almost through the woods and we were there.
Dawn arrived minutes after us and we all trooped down to the basement and claimed our work spaces. There were the shrine pieces (back, walls and "floors") all cut out and painted with matte gel (both sides on the foam core board so it didn't warp) so we were all ready to begin. I went in a couple of different directions with the materials. There was a four-armed Indian Ganesha finger puppet. It appealed to me, but the Mexican influence called strongly. I gave in willingly.
I painted the walls and floors on one side and papered them on the other. Very colorful paper, too. Linda put on great, inspirational music - Mexican folk music and then we visited other countries with reggae and Irish music. Very international afternoon.
Here is JoAnn, at right, dabbing purple paint on gold. A great way to decorate the back and top of the shrine.
Below are Linda's elegant hands painting the edges of the box - four pieces glued together at the corners - that will then be glued onto what is the base (or back) of the shrine. Following me here? I hope so.
Sylvia's shrine (below) is taking shape. I love the goldy-orange of this paper and borrowed a piece for my own project. Linda had lots of milagros, devil heads and skulls and pictures we could cut out. She was just so generous!
We worked along until finally someone noticed it was getting to be "hungry time," so we took a break. We pretty much all agreed that art captured our attention so completely that it was one activity where we didn't much notice the passage of time.
Upstairs, we had pumpkin scones, plums, tasty tofu dip, fresh veggies, blueberry cake and apple slices with delish caramel dipping sauce. After eating and conversing, with a cup of tea in hand we went at it again. Back to the shrines.
Darlene had brought some recycled wooden pieces with her and decorated those as a shrine. This is her piece with the two bowed wooden pieces on top. I liked the tin hearts. I'd like to find more and try those out.
Dawn's shrine had the purple-blue background with a mermaid and other images and a devil head in the center box.
I think I told you we were making Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) shrines, but not so. These shrines are just in honor or remembrance of someone or something. They are artworks and not for that holiday.
JoAnn's shrine (right) has dried marigold petals in the glass ball. (The dead can find their way home with the scent of marigolds.) I like her stack o' skulls, too. Hanging things from ribbon was an inspiration. It's easy to make holes through the foam core board and then knot the ribbon above.
Here is Sylvia's finished shrine with a lovely rat on top. This "enclosure" with the crosses on top is really neat, with the skull picture inside decorated with flowers. I also like the skulls she used. And the jeweled flowers. Nice touch.
Linda's gent in the tuxedo and wings adds a slightly sinister edge to this shrine, I think, along with the heart. He looks like Mr. Heartbreak to me, the angel who comes at the end of a love affair. (Maybe not. I'll wait to hear from the artist on this one.)
And here is mine (left). I call it "Defending the Homestead." I didn't like the senora as much as the Ganesha, but when I put the pistola in her hand she took on a whole new dimension. I would imagine sharp shooting was a handy skill back on the Mexican frontier during the Revolution.
All in all, we had a great day. If you're still reading with me, congratulations. I hope you'll try your own shrine. Out of foam core board, cut out one "house-shaped" piece, paint both sides with gel medium; cut out two longer skinny pieces foam core and two skinny shorter pieces, coat both sides with gel; let dry; paint everything or cover with paper; glue together those four pieces into a four-sided enclosure; glue to house-shaped piece; stick inside whatever fits your theme. I may make one for Hanukkah - femminismo

The 2,000 Visitor Arrived from England!

THIS IS the information I have on my 2,000th visitor from Sitemeter. If this description fits you - if you live in England, visited melstampz.blogspot.com and then clicked on my link to visit on June 17, you WIN the "Mystery Woman."
The visitor will have to come back and check in to recognize herself/himself and let me know by leaving a comment and where you can be reached by parcel post so I can mail the artwork to you. (You are on your honor, but there will be clues to the right person!)
I'll keep waiting until Friday at midnight and then will choose the next person who visited after them. (This is a rotten way to have to do this, but it's the only way I know since I don't want to be harvesting e-mail addresses when you visit.) Let me know soon. Bye now - femminismo
Additional info on 2,000th visitor:
Domain Name: sky.com
IP address: 90.203.37 Easynet
Lives in East Sussex, Brighton, England
Microsoft Windows XP
Browser: Internet Explorer 7.0
Time of visit, in US, I guess: Jun 17 2008 9:45:56 am
Referring URL: http://melstampz.blogspot.com/

Clearing Out My Life.

YES, INDEEDY! I am clearing out, cleaning up, moving on. The Mister volunteered to help me organize my art space and I said "Thanks, but no thanks." Then I took a look in the room. I'd post the picture I took of it, but it's for my secret journal only right now.
Suffice it to say that when I took a real look at that room and was honest with myself I knew I would never clean it up.
He has the time and I don't. He has the ambition ... and, well, again ... I don't. So I thought what the heck. It might be interesting to see what happens. So far we're still Mister and Missus.
Tonight I came home to more "rearrangements" of certain items in the "office" of our house and I decided to tackle the multitude of books I have on shelves. Wonder of wonders, I was able to give up quite a few of them.
Do you live near me? Do you know me? Would you pay the postage if only you could have one of these books? Can you see any in these stacks you would like for your own? You may have them. Otherwise they go to the book sale coming up in May.
Some are winners. Some are losers. Some I started and never finished. Some I read and can't remember what they're about.
Right now they are dust collectors and I am feeling invigorated getting shed of them.
What was really interesting were the books I could never give up in 100 years.
Incidentally, look in the upper left hand corner for the latest visitor count. Remember that No. 2,000 gets the one-of-a-kind picture of the Mystery Woman. (If someone from Kiev claims it - Oy, vay! The postage!)
Thank you to the wonderful people I tagged. (Sorry again. I know it takes time.) However, I knew I could expect the best. Nice to meet you all and I've enjoyed viewing the blogs you tagged. - femminismo

Finished, done, complete.

I AM DONE with the Mystery Woman. I don't know what I've created, who she is or what she stands for. Perhaps she is just that - a mystery. Maybe she is me, contemplating what to do next, what to be next. Maybe the hands that hold her head or smooth her hair are also comforting me. I find the image to be so soothing. Not threatening. Maybe they are the hands of wisdom. The hands of my grandmothers and great-grandmothers back throughout the ages.
I'd like to think that, so I will!
This is the image I'm offering to the 2,000th visitor to my blog. It may be difficult to make sure the person who logs on as that certain visitor ever comes back by to see if they've "won," because people stumble across blogs all the time thinking they are places that might have the information they want or need. I have had visitors from Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands ... all over the world.
Please stop back by if you'd like to know if you're number 2,000. I'll post the information (again, your Internet provider, your city, state, country) and then if I don't hear from that person in a couple of days I'll post the next one ... and so on.
My cousin in Canada has told me to blog more often, and I will certainly try. I may not always have a lot to say, but I'm here at the keyboard or at the art table.
I must bind my November 2007 art journal pages together and then I will take a picture of all 12 journals so you can see them from April 1, 2007, to May 30, 2008. A full year of adventures, boring grocery lists and other minutiae. Good night - femminismo

2,000th Visitor Expected Soon!

I SAID I would do it, and I will. Yesterday - Saturday - I started on a piece of artwork destined to go to the 2,000th visitor to my small section of the blogosphere. It's not totally finished, but here's the starting point:
You can see the fanciful "clipped art" and the original drawing of the Mystery Woman. It's on a nice piece of Arches watercolor paper that adds a lot of stability to the piece. (It may need it if I continue to fiddle and add to it.)
I had no idea where it was going when I started it. I only liked the two colors - pale green and a pinkish brown - so that's what I went with.
Today I must do household chores and entertain a bit so I'm leaving you with the fun Creative Circle evening I had last night with fellow crafters who have great ideas and follow through on them.
Turquoize Moon, and other volunteers, lead us through a different type of craft each month. Last night we took small bottles and decorated them any way we wanted. Turquoize wanted to bottle up some joy. I think she succeeded. Here is a close-up of her bottle (the collage is inspired!) and then a photo of the creator (creatress?).
Doesn't she look like the picture of joy herself? I'll bet you agree with me. Let's all find time to do some art today, even if it's only a small sketch or an arrangement of spring flowers. - femminismo

The Unknown Prize in the Basket.

WELL, perhaps the last time you were here you noticed my "alert" that I am offering a prize - a piece of artwork - to my 2,000th visitor.
Perhaps some of you were interested in being the 2,000th person.
Perhaps you wondered how close you were to being No. 2,000 or, indeed, if it had already happened.
Let me give you more information: So far there have been over 1,200 people stopping by, either by accident or on purpose. There are an average of 10 visitors a day. Some people stop by twice a day! (You are special people.) Anyway, you can do the math. Depending on the traffic, you have as good a chance as anyone at being No. 2,000.
My Sitemeter "counter" tells me how many people have stumbled upon my blog and visited its pages. It also tells me your Internet provider (usually, but not always) and what town and country you are in. It does not tell me your e-mail address, your name or your mother's maiden name.
So you can see why I will have to post your information and then you'll have to check back to claim your prize. Leave a comment for me and you'll be signed in more than once.
There is only tonight, and tomorrow ... and then the next day, Saturday, the Mister and I leave for our Mexican adventure in Todos Santos. We are destined to find warmer 83-degree weather - it snowed here this evening!!! - and we have whale watching to do and margaritas to drink.
I have decided not to pack around my computer on vacation so I'll be totally away for a while, wondering what people used to do without electronics. (I may succumb to an Internet Cafe, however. Quien sabe?) Adios for tonight. - femminismo

LOTS TO CATCH UP ON.

LOTS is right! My large, extended family got together on Saturday, March 22, at my brother and (wonderful) sister-in-law's house for the yearly Easter egg hunt. They have a gigantic open back yard and it was roped off into an "easy" section for the very young and the more difficult section for the older kids. Our mom would have been so glad to see us all together celebrating family.
It is hard sometimes - not seeing her (physically) in her little white sweater watching over all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It's been nearly two years since her death, but time still hasn't taken away all of the sting and sorrow. I'm sure, however, that she would be proud of us for making the effort to get together so we might stay close. All of the brothers and sisters get along very well, and so do the grandchildren. Here is Hailey, above, one of the youngest, advancing toward the camera - going nose-to-nose. She enjoyed the egg hunt, but was interested in everything - not just the eggs.
MY SON, Peter, had a surprise for me that I want to show you. (He is the one with the green shoelaces holding the present in his hand.)
And, voila! Here it is ... open. A dragonfly necklace from Canada - a trip his family took - that he forgot to give me earlier.
LATER that evening my sister, Judy, and I went to an art gathering, Creative Circle, at Bodacious Beads. We used purple Sculpey to make amphoras, small "containers" to hang on a cord around your neck. You could make them larger, too, and hang them on a wall. We had fun! Here are the two sister's concoctions. Judy's has the heart-shaped stopper. She is very artistic!
One of the other women attending, Denise, made this very, very pretty white amphora. It is magnificent, I think! Someone - I don't know who - made an amphora with a stopper that had a face imprint on both sides. Clever, clever, clever! I am eager, now, of course, to try a lot more baking Sculpey - avoiding the toxic build-up in the oven, of course. Time to search Goodwill for an old toaster oven.
It's been a busy Monday, but it's good to touch base with my blog.
ALERT: I will be offering a piece of artwork - don't know what yet - to my 2,000th visitor. I will try and make it something special though. I can only track you through your "signature" on my Sitemeter, so I will post who was the 2,000th person to check in. You'll have to check back from time to time and find out if it was YOU! - femminismo