Friday, April 26, 2013

Inspiration Avenue Challenge-Talk to the Animals

Well, this week I got to choose the theme for our challenge over at Inspiration Avenue.  I've been collaborating on a special project with other designers from Pixel Scrapper to create a digital scrapbooking kit called "Talk to the Animals."  It will benefit animal that were rescued from a horrible, overcrowded situation.  More on that later.  Anyway, I couldn't resist the topic so I created a piece about an animal fashion show.  The title is "Animal Fashion Citations."

Hop on over to Inspiration Avenue to see all of the entries.  Just click here.
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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Inspiration Avenue Challenge-Blossom

My Inspiration Avenue sister, Shelly, provided us with the topic of Blossoms this week in the hope that it would nudge spring for those that are still buried in winter weather.  Well, I guess she succeeded here because the weather was in the 90's today.  In fact, spring got nudged so hard that today it felt like summer.  Oh well, no complaints from me.  I know some of you out there would welcome any signs of spring.

I'm sharing a 4x4 image I created for a swap over at Alphastamps.  The first example is the digital piece I created.  The second shows the image after I added embellishments like beads, glitter, and vintage flowers.  I hated to mail it off for the swap but will be very happy to receive three original pieces from other artists.


I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  See you next time.

Click here to see the other entries!
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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Another Senseless Tragedy

I've been trying to understand how a terrorist act at the Boston Marathon on Monday could have happened, so soon after 20 children and 6 adults died in a Connecticut school.  In fact, I cannot fathom how over 3000 people have lost their lives to gun violence in our country since the massacre in Newtown.  Add to that the fact that the Senate voted down a watery version of a new law requiring background checks on gun purchases.  I guess these things are not to be understood.

Although there were three deaths and many injuries, I was extremely touched by the story of a particular family who was torn apart by the bombing on April 15.  I couldn't stop thinking about the eight year old, alive one second and dead the next.  His sister, a little first grader, lost her leg.  She had recently learned to step dance and was passionate about it.  What kind of prosthetic leg will allow for step dancing, I wonder.  And what will life be like for that family after this horrific terrorist attack?  I can't imagine growing up without my big brother.

An art journal page seemed to be one way to process all of this.  I marvel at the resiliency of the people in Boston.  They will come together and support each other, and they will move beyond this.  That's what people do.  I only hope that the family in China who lost their loved one has lots of support as well.  My heart goes out to them, and to the other family in Massachusetts who lost their adult daughter.  I know how sudden, unexpected loss can pull the ground right out from under you.  I can only imagine how it's magnified when it occurs because of a violent act.
Dedicated to Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu, and Martin Richard.

Credits for image components:  Raspberry Road, Pewter 7, Lilac and Lavender, Cajoline, and DSF(Digital Freebies)
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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Collage Obsessions Challenge-Faces

Tomorrow the United States Senate is supposed to vote on a gun-control issue.  The compromises they are making do not feel adequate to me.  This collage was created in honor of the 26 souls lost in the December 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.  I believe our nation has a long way to go with creating sane legislation on gun control.  I also believe that the friends and families of people lost to gun violence deserve to have a vote in the Senate, as well as in the House of Representatives.  Tomorrow will be a start but this issue is far from being over.
26 Faces

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Saturday, April 6, 2013

Inspiration Avenue Challenge-April

Since I was in charge of the challenge at Inspiration Avenue this week, I couldn't resist opening it up to the idea of April.  There was the old adage about April Showers, as well as some great holidays to inspire everyone.  Of course, being the flower lover that I am, I had to go with April Showers.  And since so many of my snow impacted friends are tired of gray skies and icy landscapes that are not extremely colorful, I decided to blast in with some riotous colors. 
View the other entries here

Credits for image components: Brimm (Paint with Boldness), Raspberry Road, Cajoline, and Coffeeshop.  

Just a note-Deviant Scrap has announced that Beth Rimmer is retiring and her products will be retired as well.  There's a great discount on her kits at DeviantScrap.com
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