Just can't pull myself away . . .

I really have to get ready for my trip, but just woke up this morning and HAD to make one more piece. It says something when I would rather stay home and make art than go on "vacation". I wanted to leave a little something 4th of July-ish, sort of.

Dreaming Mona


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/29/09
This is a 5 x 7 collage using a Mona face from the public domain, a body from flickr's Okinawa Soba, legs and wings from the public domain and boots scanned from a magazine. The crown is from Becky Loyal's whymsicalmusings.etsy.com. The word dream is from flickr's Nancy Baumiller and the stars were purchased from a digital scrapbooking site. All of these pieces were printed in black and white, except the word dream, trimmed with scissors, hand-colored, and attached to a background made from layers from flickr's 'Playingwithbrushes', Joes Sistah, and anwphotography.

Also wanted to leave you a couple of free to use pictures. These are from the Library of Congress. Just left click to get the larger size and then download. Enjoy!

I'm off again . . .

I have one more day until I am off again and it will be full of chores and errands. We leave Tuesday for Missouri. We are driving this time and I look forward to that, but it involves a little more work. So, I'm not sure what other than chores I will get done Monday.

I'm also not sure that this piece below is done. I am tired and kind of half finished it. I'll look at it in a couple of weeks and see what else I want to do. For now . . . it, or its idea, is dedicated to Lumi of Lumilyon and Susan of Broken Heart Art who helped me open my eyes to parts of me I had long since shut away. Those things, even the scary and sad and hurt parts, need to be thought through every now and then to gain perspective. My eyes have been opened a bit, at least as far as seeing myself. So, thank you, you two, for a very meaningful few days.

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/28/09
This is a 5 x 7 collage using a face from kumareeboo.etsy.com, a body from flickr's FatmaD, eyes from flickr's s11ver, boots scanned from a magazine and hats made from scrap. All were printed in black and white, trimmed with scissors, and hand-colored. These pieces were attached to a background made from pieces from flickr's Joes Sistah and borders by Sande Krieger.

Before I take off I want to show you some of the very special mail I've received lately. Melissa of Honey Girl Studio blog sent me a scrumptious matchbox set in a recent swap we were a part of. The matchbox contained 5 mini-ATC's, a silver seahorse charm and a tiny shell. All of this was just amazingly beautiful.



Melissa also sent me a pendant she made. On the front, Melissa captured a guardian angel for me with a little blue triangle up in the corner because she is so durn thoughtful and clever. The little blue triangle comes from this post of mine http://tumblefishstudio.blogspot.com/2009/06/somethings-in-my-cloud-mystery.html That is just about the coolest thing EVER!



This is the lovely back of the same pendant. Thank you Melissa! You are a sweetheart and a very talented artist and I love the pieces you sent me!




My friend, Verna Rosenblum of Bird Bee and Bloom blog, sent me two pieces too. You may remember she and I were going to trade bee fairies. Here was mine http://tumblefishstudio.blogspot.com/2009/05/busy-as-bee-today.html Verna, being the super cool sweet human she is, sent an extra piece after I mentioned how much I loved her Egg Snatcher piece. She made one just for me! I love them both, Verna. They are spectacular! Thank you dear friend!



And last but not least, Janine Davies of Bits and Pieces blog, sent me this pendant and hand made card from the One World One Heart Event. They are beautiful and special and I appreciate them so much!



Okay, so my Etsy is closed down for a couple of weeks. I will be checking here off and on but the first and last few days will be mostly car, driving, stretching, motel-ing days and it may be a few days before I check back in. But I will and I will be checking on all of your blogs too as much as I can. After this trip, I should be home and working a good long time and I can't wait to really dive in!

It's almost July! Wow! Happy 4th of July everyone!

A summer Friday

The Giver


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/26/09
This is a 5 x 7 collage using a face from kumareeboo.etsy.com, wings from Dover clipart, legs from the public domain, a body from flickr's chicks57, arms from the public domain, and boots scanned from a magazine. All of these pieces were printed in black and white, trimmed with scissors, and hand-colored. The crown was made from scrap paper and the hearts were made from scanned objects, also printed and trimmed. The pieces were assembled and attached to a background made from layers from flickr's 'Playingwithbrushes', anwphotography, and Joes Sistah.

Here are its parts.


I am supposed to be cleaning and doing laundry. Am I? No, but I am off to do that now, I think, I hope. The kids are off doing their thing, the house is empty and hottish. I have a lot of chores I should be doing and I can't seem to pull myself away from work. I need to! Tomorrow we are going to Santa Barbara for the day to take some cool old stuff to Art from Scraps, a place that takes donations of all types of things for artists, teachers, and students to buy cheap for their art projects, and hang out with some good friends a bit. Then there are only two days until I head for my Dad's again! Wow, already!

I meant to scan some very lovely trades and gifts that I received in the mail but I will get to it later. I feel drained and hurried and want to do it right.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/24/09
This is a 5 x 7 collage using a face from flickr's sassyarts', part of a body from the Library of Congress, waders and boots scanned from a catalog. The flower and wings were purchased from Jen Ulasiewicz Designs, the grass was purchased from Digital Delights. The top border was purchased from Sandy Krieger. The hat was made from scrap papers. All but the grass were printed, hand trimmed with scissors and hand-colored and glued to the background. The background was made from merging a layer from flickr's moosebites and one from anwphotography. The words and grass were added digitally. The character,flower and top border are not digital pieces.

Well mine own self is off kilter. I am happy, not stressed, not depressed but so off pace. I just can't move quickly enough lately and cannot seem to get anything done despite being very busy doing something, I don't know what! I only have a few days before I am out of town again, so I need to be makin' hay while the sun shines.

Interruption and amended post update! I've been making my blog rounds tonight, finally. It's about 3 or 4 hours since I posted this post and I just left Nancy Baumiller's Crowabout blog - you will not believe this. I swear I had no idea but when I visited her blog, but I found she had a piece, a beautiful piece, with the exact same words! You must see it http://crowabout.blogspot.com/2009/06/always-be-true-to-yourself.html#comment-form. Now this would be a little funnier if this were not the second time this has happened with us. Good thing we are not in the same office or classroom, we'd come to work together in the same clothes. I'm so sorry Nancy!

The kids are home. School is finally over this year. It doesn't bother me much as they sleep until 2 everyday - they seem so tired the first few days of summer. The "mom, I'm bored" thing and the arguing thing are not issues at this age. They are never bored and get along very well and actually entertain me quite a bit with their interaction antics. I cannot believe my little babies will be a junior and senior in high school next year. It seems like just the other day I was bawling my head off after taking my oldest to kindergarten the first day. Yikes!

Okay, now for a real visual feast for you. I met Mr. Dan Jones and his Tinkerbots after he stumbled across my flickr. Oh my, was the pleasure all mine! His work just astounds me. I just met him yesterday but got permission to post some pix of his magical pieces. The poor man. I wrote and asked if had a website or blog and when I found he didn't, I sent him a very long sermon on getting his stuff more "out there" than just on flickr. I am so excited about his work I am giddy! You must go look through every page of his flickr here. Until you can get over there, here are just a very few of his creations . . .



(see the tea kettle?)








(of course had to show you one with wings and pointy hat)

When Dan gets a website, blog, or etsy going, I'll let ya know. I'm keeping my eye on him. Ya all go over and give him some whistles on flickr!

Queen of heARTs

copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/22/09
This is a 5 x 7 collage using a personal picture, legs and body from 2 different images in the public domain, and wings from greatmusings.com. The grass, clouds, flowers, and basket are digital images that I paid for along with a licensing fee to use commercially. The brown background is from flickr's moosebytes. The crown and hearts were handmade. The legs were printed, hand trimmed, and hand colored and scanned back in so that they could be used behind the grass and flowers. The face, body, basket, and wings were all hand cut and hand colored to some degree and glued to the background.

Kim Mailhot of Queen of Arts blog, has to be my number one cheerleader. Without fail, she sends me encouraging words, compliments, or keep-your-chin-up notes on just about every post I make. Her blog is a journey I have enjoyed reading about. I relate to her so well about so many things. But she is a far more giving and generous person than I am. She has a special Rock my World project that you can read more about here . She is one of those people that touches so many lives, she has no idea what an impact she has left here and there. There is an old saying about throwing a rock in a pond and watching the rings form and drift toward the edges - that is Kim, offering rocks that have a ripple effect on the world. On top of that, she is a very talented artist. When you visit her blog, be sure to drift through many pages so you can see her work. (she doesn't have a flickr)

I had told Kim not long ago, after she cheered me up yet again when I was away from home, that I would make her a "rock fairy". I wanted to fairy-fy her. I have to admit, it turned out too tough for me to portray the beauty of her rock project in a collage, so I chose to feature the love she spreads and sprinkles about in everything she does, every rock and blog message she leaves. So, Miss Kim, this is for you because YOU ROCK MY WORLD!

Lorrie and Julie

The two pieces below were made for a pair of very talented and kind sisters. They both work in more than one medium and their work just astounds me. If you haven't met them or visited their blogs, you are in for a spectacular detour. I mentioned Lorrie Isaac's Lily lovekin blog the other day. When you visit her again, and you should, from there you might want to visit her sister's blog too, Julie Haymaker Thompson. I have just recently come to know their blogs, and personally, mainly through Lorrie, but have seen Julie's work in many publications and other blogs and websites. Lorrie is just starting her blog adventure (which is scrumptious!), writes b-e-a-u-tiful poetry, and has recently been working with some gorgeous vintage fabric pieces. Julie is a well known and admired illustrator and her 3 dimensional pieces are just magical. The two of them sometimes collaborate, as you may have seen in the May/June issue of Somerset Studio magazine, and their love and support for one another is moving and uplifting. I made both sisters an original piece, varying slightly from the other. The signs they are holding say "Cut from the same cloth." and "Shaped from the same clay."

Sisters





copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/20/09
These two collages are approximately 8 x 10 in size using personal pictures, dresses from Donna67.etsy.com, wings from spicetitup.etsy.com, boots and legs scanned from catalog pictures and moonfaires.etsy.com, the crowns, signs and wands were made by hand and digitally. 20 separate pieces form the characters. All were reprinted, trimmed with scissors, and hand colored to some degree. The pieces were glued to a background made from layers and textures from flickr's Joes Sistah and Paul Grand and myself.

Paint me happy!

What a great day! It started off with us going to the 6th grade culmination of our much loved Matt, a very good friend of the family. It was such a great event and very moving. I cried. I stood in ovation. I laughed. I cheered. It was wonderful. Congratulations Matt!

But before that happened, I had a muse knocking on my noggin' this morning. Finally! I was actually able to start this piece, walk away from it for a few hours, and come back and finish it. Breakthrough! It flowed, not a lot of struggle. Yay! I am most excited about this piece because I, for the first time, digitally altered the face before I printed, trimmed, and colored it. I learned some new tricks today!

Whisper


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/19/09
This is an original 5 x 7 collage using a face from flickr's chicks57, that was digitally altered before printing, a body from lisasaltered.etsy.com, hair, legs, boots, and megaphone from various places in print and taken out of their original context. All were printed, trimmed with scissors, and hand colored with ink and/or pastel. These pieces were attached to a background made from layers from flickr's *Playingwithbrushes* and Theresa Thompson and combined with a checked layer made by me.

Here is the face I started out with, from flickr's chicks57.



After returning from culmination and starting back to work this afternoon, the barn door flew open! Holy moly, what a great afternoon! First, Circus Fairy sold from my Etsy and broke the jinx that has stalemated me there for the last week since reopening. Within minutes of that exciting event, I received some very wonderful regular mail.

First, I opened an envelope that contained the new Somerset Studio, with my work in it! Woohoo! And, I'm not sick over what got published, I actually still like the pieces . . . sort of . . . a little bit. (page 112)



If you've followed me here or followed my flickr, you've seen these before, but here is what got published. (and you know I ussually hate what got published!)



Next, I opened an envelope from a recent trade I participated in and got some pieces from some of my most favorite artists: Roc of What's Up with Roc, Corrie of Fat Cat Studio , Renee Stein whose flickr lives here , and Danny of Fido Art. (not in order, though. clockwise from upper left: Fido Art, Fat Cat Studio, Renee Stein, What's Up Roc)



Well, that wasn't all! Even more treasures arrived, quite miraculously actually. My friend Terri Kahrs of Pringle Hill Studio sent me some beautiful artwork. Terri had posted a Pay It Forward giveaway and I won one of the pieces she committed to sending out this year. Oh, it is so beautiful! And she took the time to research what things I especially like and centered her work around that - magic. Well, she cast a magic spell on this mailing because the envelope arrived wet, stained and completely opened but not empty. I think everything she intended for me to receive actually arrived unharmed because she put it all in cellophane envelopes and the art was dry and GORGEOUS!






The backs of these pieces are as pretty as the fronts! Oh my gosh! I wish you could see them, feel them, look them over in person. I have never seen such a professional finished quality to everything I received. Even the postcards are just amazing! But her post, her blog post about this, moved me to tears. And then later when I was explaining to my family, I cried again. Terri brings out my mushy side. I am so honored, flattered, grateful. Terri, you are one very classy, talented, generous lady!

And last but not least today, early this morning, I got a blog award from my buddy Nancy at Crowabout. What a sweet and dynamic person, that Nancy! I sent you to her blog yesterday but it's worth another trip. And, don't forget about her flickr groups, Collage Play with Crowabout and Pointy Hats and Wings group.



I need another day or two to figure out who and how to bestow this very special award. I'll do my homework and get back to you! Thank you, Nancy!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

One secret and one new Etsy item

I've made something a little different. Okay, it's not very different. It's a baby step. It's in my Etsy . . .

Twink charm necklace and matted, signed print





The Secret. I'm gonna tell you a secret. Maybe not one you want to know, but a secret none the less. About a year ago from right now, I had pretty impetuously decided (along with my family of course) to quit work and pursue art full time.
The secret is that last year when I was realizing I could finally make art, anything I wanted, and that is all I had to do, I never thought I would end up working in collages! (are you gasping in shock?) I spent a ton of money last summer buying junk, good junk, antique junk, new junk, lots of junk to make 3 dimensional altered pieces. I have two 6' x 4' storage cabinets stuffed full of this junk and more stuffed away in other places. I had seen and been totally entranced with the work of the O'Brien's . . . Opie and Linda. That is what I set out to make. Honestly! And I haven't made one ding dang darn piece in that way. How in the heck did I end up here and what on earth am I going to do with all of my carefully collected junk? Truthfully, I have no idea. Truthfully, I made a necklace today and that is a baby step for me. It's not flat . . . completely. Truthfully, I am comfortable right now doing what I am doing. I'm not ready to part with my junk yet, so maybe some day soon . . . .

More magnificent miscellany . . .

You may remember that my blog friend Kate of The Kathryn Wheel and I decided to swap fish art awhile back. I posted my piece here. Just before I left to take care of my dad, I got mine from Kate . . . along with some moos and pretty flower and butterfly ephemera. Oh, I wish you could see this in person. It is so beautiful in every detail! I simply love it!



Several weeks ago, June of Arty Retreat and I spoke and decided to swap ATC's. We had a plan. She was going to make the backgrounds and send them to me. I was going to add some fairies and send them back. She's going to add some final touches and then keep one and send one back to me. All is going well with this plan accept for my inability to find my muses, wake them up, and have something artistic flow out of me instead of me struggling to pull something, anything, out at all. Here are the backgrounds June sent to me.



And here are the fairies I made on the tops.



June, the kind and generous lady she is, also sent me these pretty presents . . . another ATC and a lovely necklace! Am I a lucky girl or what? I am, I am! There is nothing nicer than being away and coming home tired and beat up and finding a little present full of magic waiting for you!



So, even with my sleeping muses, I struggled through a little something to send in return. Oh, I am losing my touch but this is the best I could pull out today.



You may recongnize my fairy girl, Eva. She is one of my favorites to use. My friend and customer, Charles, did some photoshop work on her for me and she is just delicious to use again. I loved visiting with her last night and today as it has been awhile since I've worked with her. Now, though, I kind of wish I would have saved her for something else but I had already started things when I realized what June is going through right now. I really need to send June some happy pieces and Eva is a little pouty. June is going through a tough time with her grown son and his serious medical concerns (he had a stroke in February). He is having surgery today, I believe, so if you believe in prayer, send a few her way.

My friend Nancy of Something to Crow About has a new blog! Her old one isn't "on" right now, so be sure to visit her new Crowabout blog and help christen her new adventure there. Many of you know Nancy from her flickr Collage Play with Crowabout group. If you are looking for a fun challenge group with lots of juicy things to play with, this is a group for you! While you're at it, click on Nancy's artwork below and visit her delicious Etsy! (hope you don't mind Nancy, but you've let me post your work before - it's linked to your Etsy)



I also want to send you over to my new friend Lorrie's Lily lovekin tails blog. It has been so wonderful to watch her blog bloom from almost the start not long ago. She just made some amazing stamped fabric artwork you must see! You can visit her Etsy here too. I would show you some of her work but I haven't asked permission so you will have to trust me!



You can download the elephant picture above - it's from the Library of Congress. I am eating the proverbial elephant one bite at a time and it is slow going. (I would never really eat an elephant, you know. My friend John would always tell me "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.") I have been trying to clear my desk and scratch off the "to do" list and I am still way behind. But yesterday and today, I've been feeling that my muses won't wake up until I clear my head and shake the obligations a bit. I have some emails I still haven't answered and still have some trade pieces to start and finish before I think I will feel "right" about just cutting lose and working freely. So, I am off to try and do some of those things! Enjoy the rest of your day!

Nighty night

I managed to get one more simple piece done before turning in for the night. I probably won't get much made on Tuesday as it is a busy day full of non-making-stuff stuff.

Bedtime Vignette


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/15/09
This is a 5 x 7 collage using two images from flickr's chicks57, and legs from another flickr image sharing group (I've forgotten who specifically, sorry!), wings from spiceitup.etsy.com, and boots scanned from a magazine. Most of these pieces were reprinted in black and white, trimmed with scissors, and hand colored with ink and pastel. The pieces were then attached to a background made from textures from flickr's JoesSistah and pareeerica with scrap trims added.

I am slower than molasses

. . . . but I did get something made today. Can you believe it took me all day? The muses are not wanting to wake up. I did play around with the background a bit in Gimp, though, so that took a hunk of time.

Twink


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/15/09
5 x 7 collage using a vintage black and white image from the public domain that was reprinted in two pieces and hand colored. Wings are from greatmusings.com and were also hand-colored, shoes are from a scanned magazine picture, the hat was made from scraps and hand colored, and the red label is from flickr's wackystuff. The background was made in Gimp using a texture from flickr's JoesSistah and layered with stars I made and a door from the public domain.

The only other thing I got done was re-opening my Etsy. That's it! Not much! Happy Monday!

Slowly adjusting

I have slept and slept and slept this weekend and when I wasn't sleeping I was mostly laying around watching TV - it has been wonderful.

Couple of interesting things about my flight the other night I forgot to tell you. We ended up flying on the original plane that had a mechanical problem that caused the 4 hour delay. A four hour delay doesn't sound like much but when you get to the airport 4 hours early it made for a long, long night, biting nails over the whole plane thing. I was so tired when I got on that plane, I didn't have enough energy to be afraid anymore. I still rubbed the wings of my doll from Yoborobo and said my prayers taking off for like 30 minutes into the flight, but then I just tried to sleep. Well, like I said, it worked out okay. When we finally landed though, after everyone started to get up and get their stuff and get off, we had to sit back down again so police could come on board and arrest someone who wouldn't take his earphones off when the flight attendant asked - both taking off and landing. It was an exciting night after almost 3 long, long weeks - so a couple of days of sleeping was just what I needed.

I paid bills tonight and cleaned yesterday so I am poised to get back to work on Monday! Yahoo!

Oh! Dad is doing fine - body is finally cooperating better and he sounds good. He still has a bit of a long road ahead but we are over the biggest humps I think! I am so thankful.

I am alive and well . . .

. . . and HOME!!!!!! My plane finally took off about 1:30 central time yesterday morning and I got home into my bed about 4 a.m. pacific time. The plane worked, stayed in the air, and I actually relaxed enough to doze a little tiny bit during the ride. It was one of the smoothest flights I've ever been on as far as no bumps or turbulence. My hubby and kids were there at 3 in the morning to pick me up and that made me cry with tears of joy. I'm home, I'm home, I'm home!!!!!

I napped and laid around most of yesterday, caught up with the family last night, and today have a few chores I need to do, but I'm still going to take it easy most of the weekend. And, right now, I'm going to start figuring out something to make, dive back in and get back to work! Yay! Thanks again for all of your good thoughts and prayers that got me through a rough patch!

Okay, Roc, come slap me

I lied I guess. I am still in Missouri so if all goes better, this will be my last post from here this trip.

My good blog and art buddy, Roc, has offered to slap me several times. This comes from me telling her the flight attendants might have to slap me if I get hysterical on the flight before I made this trip. She quickly volunteers often with slaps if I feel I need them even if I am not flying at the time.

I am sitting in the airport. The airport is about 70 miles from my Dad's house. He and most of his friends are in their late 70's and early 80's and like to be done driving before dark. A good friend of the family brought me here today, since my dad can't drive right now, and left me about 5 so she could get back home before dark. I checked my flight status before we left and all was good. I checked in at the airport along with a few others that would rather be early than late and all was good with our flight until I just happened to sort of half heartedly ask the check in person if we were all going to get home on time. Well wouldn't you know he said "Actually, you have an hour delay". He didn't know why. Well that would mean my plane would leave here at 10:15 central time. Okay, an hour no biggie.

I called hubby. He called the airline. He called me back. The one hour delay has turned into a 4 hour delay. So I arrived at 5:15 p.m. for a 1:25 a.m. flight. The next flight on this airline isn't until Sunday night, so I'm stuck. And, I need to be slapped, Roc. You can only imagine what this does to my nerves cuz we all know this means something was wrong with the plane. Another plane was being sent to LAX from Phoenix and then those people that want to come here to Springfield will get here and we will take their plane back to LAX. Hope this plane is okay. Thank goodness the weather is okay. Hope the pilots aren't sleepy.

Last post from Missouri (this trip)

First let me just say that a couple of you may be very creative imaginative artists but you have no imagination whatsoever when it comes to seeing ethereal things in clouds! Party poopers. (see post and comments below if you don't know what I am talking about) (And I hope you know I'm kidding the party poopers - I love them.) I still say it is not a hole in that cloud but then I saw the cloud in person and the other pictures of it so I will cut you a wee bit of slack. I will work to provide further proof when I get home, consult with Leonard Nimoy, and have more of a chance to study the evidence in detail.



I leave here about 4 this afternoon to get to the airport (and allow my ride to get home before dark) and leave the airport about 9 tonight (when it is supposed to be the most thunderstormy). I hope I don't have too exciting of a ride to the airport or from the airport. I'm such a big fat chicken about flying, my stomach is already doing flip flops.

Tomorrow, I am sleeping and sleeping and laying on the couch and watching movies and then my family and I are going to go see Up either tomorrow night or Saturday. I hope to be back at work and blogging and flickring by Sunday. Thanks for all of your help on this trip! You all helped get me through it, again! For the next trip I make here in a couple of weeks, I will have my hubby and kids with me so that will be easier - and no flying involved, I hope. (unless I have to come back sooner than planned)

The "Something's in my Cloud Mystery"

Do you all remember the old TV series In Search of . . . that Leonard Nimoy hosted? I loved that show. I was in grade school when we sometimes watched films from it in school, believe it or not. What Big Foot had to do with the curriculum I am not sure, but what a treat it was to hear "After lunch, when you are sleepiest and most anxious to go home, we're going to watch a completely useless but intriguing film that will scare the crap out of at least some of you instead of tortuously taking turns reading from your completely boring reading anthology books." One of my favorite mysteries, to this day, is the Bermuda Triangle. Well, I wish Leonard was here to make a film about my Mysterious Cloud. I shared this picture with you the other day and this morning I noticed something odd.



That little dark patch bothers me. This picture has not been manipulated in any way except for adding the arrow, of course. That little dark blue patch should not be there. Take a closer look. If you left click on the picture below it will open larger in another screen.



What the heck is that? It can't be the sky behind the cloud because the cloud is too thick and fluffy. Notice the edge of the cloud on either side of it - this blue "thing" seems to be in front of that edge on the right and behind a bit of cloud on the left. It really is kind of remarkable to me. It looks a bit like a butterfly wing, doesn't it? Hmmmmm, maybe it is an alien space craft made to look like a giant butterfly. Maybe it is an angel peeking at me and not hiding or ducking down quite fast enough for my speedy cloud picture taking skills. Maybe I AM losing my mind as I have recently suspected!

By the way, I am obsessed with taking cloud pictures here. I've taken like 400 of them. We don't get these kinds of clouds in SoCal often. It's either sunny or gray - no in between that often and not enough open space to take pix when we get the occasional vibrant blue with white fluff stuff going on.

We were in a Tornado Watch last night here. It's been a long time since I've been in one of those. Kinda got me nervous. I am not as scared of earthquakes as I am tornadoes sneaking up on me.

I get to go home tomorrow night. Wow . . . I can't believe it. I have mixed feelings about it. I can't wait to be home, dread the night flight, hate to leave, etc. My dad is doing okay, not as good as I hoped at this point but I had no idea what to expect. I am pretty worried about some stuff going on and am not sure what the future holds at all . . . AT ALL. I am trying very hard not to "borrow trouble". It's too difficult to write about right now. I am in one of those places of just having to completely trust my higher power and that it will have me be where I need to be when I need to be there and with enough strength to handle the next few months. I hope that is my guardian angel in that cloud.

Blog changes and free textures

Thank you for all of the positive vibes on my first digital collage below. I appreciate it and am a bit surprised. I can't wait to figure out how to "cut" parts digitally. I would have loved to cut the background away from those little girls so you couldn't see the background around them.

I did a little face lift here to make my blog easier to read. I miss the black but this is growing on me.

So, I don't pretend to be a photographer - I know very little about it and the camera I have with me in Missouri is just a cheapy little camera that fits in my pocket (when I am not wearing my "skinny" jeans that is), but here are some pix I took in the last few days that I am going to put in a free to use folder on flickr - they might work okay for background layers or something. You can download them from here or flickr. If you send something in for publication or flickr using one of them, a credit to Tumble Fish Studio would be lovely but I won't sue you if you don't. I have found that some people offer such lovely things for people to use for free without any stipulations and then pretty soon someone else is getting credit for them because they share them too and the original owner gets lost along the way. That's why I always give credit for what I use.


coyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/6/09


copyright Marsha Jorgensen 6/6/09


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/8/09


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/8/09


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/8/09


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/6/09


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/8/09


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/8/09


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/7/09