Short and to the point

I've got my nose to the grind stone today trying to catch up after taking a week off. So, no clever posts today (are they ever clever?). Just the current Nitty Gritty. I'll do something a bit more creative for my next post.

Two new kits in the shoppe today . . .

Flower Land Gnomes



Flower Seeds



Coming soon . . . on Seth Apter's The Altered Page . . . The Pulse!
I was one of 125 artists that participated in this ongoing collaborative project that surveys mixed media artists. I'm so excited to be a part of Seth's project. The series of posts about all the artists surveyed starts on the 4th of July and I speculate you'll see lots of familiar artists! Click the picture below to visit Seth's blog!

Now where was I?

I know I had a normal life around here somewhere . . . what a week it was last week! Graduation temporarily took things over but I am so ready to ease back into work and quiet monotony again.

New in the shoppe . . .
I did manage to get a couple of new old kits bundled together for the shoppe this week. Two kits are released today and two others will come out on Thursday, June 30.

Winged Splendor kit



The Cloudkeepers (new version)
This is a digital remake of an older cut and paste piece I made.


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/19/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital collage. Image credits: everything from my Winged Splendor kit at DeviantScrap.com

Favorite Pieces kit



I'm off to find my misplaced normalcy! Have a great week everyone!

All over the place . . .

It's one of those times that my mind and my life is all over the place . . . the following may seem random and disconnected but that's how I roll lately . . .

Flashback . . .
Do you remember Colorforms? I remember going to the hairdresser with my mom and playing with these while I waited. I must have been 4-5 years old because we moved from that area around that age and I remember being so sad that I wouldn't get to play with them anymore. I thought they were magical.



I was thinking the other day that maybe I love digital collage so much because it's just an advanced version of playing with Colorforms. Don't you think? There's a magic in being able to move images around instantly to make the ideal picture into which you want to escape at that moment.

While I'm being sort of personal . . .
My youngest, Lauren, graduates from high school this week. So much to do around here and as stressed as I am, I am enjoying the hooplah too. She has worked very hard, earned a full academic scholarship next year and will be one of 100 Honors students on a campus of 17,000. And, the icing on the cake is that she also made the soccer team recently. She's out training as I write this. I could not be more proud of either of my children and I am teary eyed just thinking about how fast time has flown. So, I need to stock up on kleenex this week - emotions all over the place (like everything else with me) between missing my dad today on Father's day, and graduation, and seeing family that I haven't seen for too long, etc. (By the way, for those that have asked, Lauren is finally feeling much better and I think we're out of the woods with the mono and strep she suffered from most of her senior year.)

This was taken a couple of weeks ago . . . father/daughter picture before Prom.



New kits in the shoppe . . .
Here are a couple of new kits being released later today in the shoppe. Normally new kits are released on Mondays and Thursdays but sometimes we sneak them in the evening before. The first one is a re-release of older kits and the second is a brand new paper kit.

Odd Magic



Dark Glow



Odd Girl


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital Collage. Image credits: everything from my kits at DeviantScrap.com - Dark Glow and Odd Magic.

Believe in Me


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital Collage. Image credits: everything from my kits at DeviantScrap.com - Dark Glow and Odd Magic.

New from Crowabout Studio B



It's another super fun kit from Nancy and so I couldn't wait to make a little something . . .

Eeeny Meeny Miney


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital collage. Image credits: everything from Crowabout Studio B's Odd People and Borders kit.

From this week . . .

There is a lovely journal prompt group in Flickr administered by my friend, the talented Roc of What's Up Roc blog. You can find it here. I created the piece below for June's prompt, "if you could have a super power, what would it be?" And that piece inspired my new blog banner above. Now, it depends on the day what power I'd like to have but lately, I've been thinking about rising above problems, rising to the challenge, etc. So mine was about flying above it all . . .

Fly Above


copyright by Marsha Jorgesnesn 6/14/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital collage. Image credits: everything from my own images, most at DeviantScrap. Kits used include: City Skies, Vibrations, Hats Crowns & Wings, and Divas.

This fascinates me . . .
Here's something I ran across that just boggles my mind. Can you imagine the patience and fine motor skills involved here? I have a hard time texting let alone working in such tiny detail. Click on the picture below to be taken to Green Diary to see more of this artists' amazing work.





New kits in the shoppe . . .
I'm almost done moving all of my old stock into the shoppe. After just a few more, I'll be featuring all brand new kits this summer and can't wait!

Free kit! This first one is free, so be sure to go over and check out my shoppe at DeviantScrap if you haven't already. If you ever have any questions about DeviantScrap, just let me know. I'll be happy to show you around.

Glamour Tints - FREE here



Divas



Gothic Color



Have a great weekend everybody!

Happy, happy, happy

Happy Monday and happy new week! Hope your summer is going well so far. It hasn't officially started here as I still have one kiddo in school, graduating June 22nd. Graduation stuff is in full swing here until the 26th. You know what I mean . . . party planning, slide shows, end of the year and senior activities. Trying to maintain a "happy place" amidst all that's going on and coming to the realization that I am getting old with my kids teetering on the edge of the nest.

Happy Place


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 6/13/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital collage. Image credits: everything from my own images except for the sparkles which come from designer Nicole Young at DigitalScrapbookPlace.com. My digital image kits used: Happy Place, Couture Glamour, Get Freaky, and Remembrances. All available from Tumble Fish Studio at DeviantScrap.com.

More happy stuff . . . I want to tell you about something very, very exciting!
My friend Kate Crane of The Kathryn Wheel has a new set of DVD's available published by Craft Stamper Magazine (UK)! I am just so excited for her as I have been a long time fan of Kate's and have been so lucky to have her on my Creative Team when she has had time between projects. If you know Kate's work, you know what a fabulous source of inspiration these DVD's are sure to be. Kate mentions and uses Tumble Fish Studio images in the DVD's so I am doubly giddy about this exciting news. I haven't got my set yet, but you can bet I will be ordering them TODAY! Be sure to check them out and be sure to congratulate her too! The picture below is of the first DVD in the series and linked to Kate's blog where you can find out more.





I have two new kits available at DeviantScrap . . . (pictures linked to the shoppe)

Happy Place (kit)



Remembrances

fffffffffffffT

Hear that? That's the sound of how fast things are moving around here . . . . ffffffffffT. That's my best impression of it anyway.

Why you won't know why it sounds like ffffffffffT . . . .
I read HERE in another very informative post by the talented Seth Apter of The Altered Page, that 70% of blog readers he surveyed recently want mostly art on the blogs they visit and not so much personal stuff. I don't know if you've noticed but I have gotten much better about not posting personal stuff for awhile now. I had already been "advised" a couple of times by well meaning folks, that I shouldn't. So, I'm glad I'm accidentally kinda sorta on the right track. That doesn't usually happen for me . . . I'm usually embarrassingly on the wrong side of things, a day late and dollar short. (Go read the rest of Seth's great article on blog publishing!)

All of that to say, I wish I could share why things are moving so fast it sounds like ffffffffffT but that would apparently not interest 70% of you. I can't promise I won't try and swoon the other 30% of you from time to time with my personal blah blah blahs but tonight I'm staying in the good favor of the majority. I may sound cynical about all of this but, truly it is just a newly found confidence in being couth for once and trying to be funny at the same time.

(Edit - 6/9 . . . . I really don't mean to sound cynical. I am a huge fan of Seth's and have learned a lot from him, faithfully observing his own blog and his well written articles. Please know that I am not arguing the survey. I really am just trying to be funny and a little mysterious as I read somewhere else, artists should be! hee hee)


The Muse
I really don't have any fresh new pieces of art to share for reasons you now realize I am not going to share. So, below I wanted to share the cover of DeviantScrap's latest edition of The Muse, a free digital zine that you can download here. The cover was done by the very talented Amber aka Persnickety Chick (who I am so proud to mention is on my Tumble Fish Studio Creative Team). Amber has the most wonderful style in using images of herself or family/friends in her work as she did here in this cover.




I have nothing to show for myself except . . . .
the previews for a couple of new sale kits I have at DeviantScrap.com, released today. More new-old sale kits coming Monday!






And consider yourself invited back for some other mostly art posts coming soon!

P.S. If you're an Etsy seller, HERE is a great Etsy blog post on how to boost your business. Boy, do I need that!