I know this is a lot to read at one time - if you skim, be sure to skim the Artful Gathering workshop information at the bottom of this post.
House Woes
As some of you know, our old (70 year old, in fact) floor furnace finally quit in early January. That occurrence forced in motion a whole plethora of house work that needed to be done to get heat again. We had to get the attic cleaned and re-insulated and the 70 year old half of our house electrically re-wired. The new heating system had to be installed including duct work since we had none. The re-wire left holes in virtually every wall that had an outlet or switch. The re-wire also required us to pack up all the books and things on shelves and move furniture until the holes could be patched and repainted. Some of the holes had to go through our 70 year old tile in the kitchen. So, our tile counters had to be replaced last week. Since the tile was new, the worn down finish of our old porcelain-on-cast iron sink and wood grain cabinets just wasn't going to make the grade anymore. Of course, we couldn't find a sink to fit the narrow width of the counters so we had to have a contractor come in and build out the counter and install the new tile. We started refinishing the cabinets ourselves, but the masking tape we used to tape off the cabinet frames from the white walls, peeled off the wall paint. The paint had been peeling in a few places and the masking tape made it peel virtually everywhere. So now we've called in a "real" painter to use the oil based paint like what was originally used so we don't continue to have that problem. We are midstream with the kitchen cabinet re-finish and we're now going on 3 weeks of not being able to use our kitchen. Let me say, that I cannot wait to be done with 3 months of unexpected and unwelcome house chaos! That former punctual me has dimmed to the point I don't know that I will ever revive her!
Newest Kits
I released this kit last week . . . it is one of my most favorites. I'm not entirely sure how I even got it done while the house was so upside down but somehow it finally got finished. About a year ago, Maggiebean, from my Creative Team, suggested a kit based on the fantastic imagery of French cinematographer and silent film maker Georges Méliès (1861-1938). She sent me a Smashing Pumpkins video link that used Méliès clips for the song 'Tonight, Tonight' to give me an idea of what she had in mind. While I wasn't able to work as much magic as Georges, over the last year I was able to gather up a small collection of images inspired by his magical movies. If you're not familiar with his work, I invite you to google him . . . you won't be disappointed. His body of work and life achievements inspired the 2011 movie, 'Hugo'. I hope this unique and unusual kit inspires some out of this world journaling, scrap and collage work for you!
There are over 80 images in this kit. The preview below is linked to the shoppe listing. Be sure to peruse the wonderful art my very talented CT put together as sample images. I am so lucky to have them.
And I made a new Journal Card kit to coordinate . . .
Here is a new Facebook cover I made using the new kit . . .
copyright Marsha Jorgensen 3/24/2013. All rights reserved.
Digital FB cover. Image credits: everything from my new Tumble Fish Studio kit, Méliè-ish.
The Explorer
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 3/2013. All rights reserved.
Digital portrait. Image credits: everything from my new Tumble Fish Studio kit, Méliè-ish.
April Deviant Scrap ATC Swap
The first of the month means there is a new ATC swap at Deviant Scrap. We love having a big group and new people joining us so don't be shy about participating. I'm the host so you can ask questions if you have any. You can find out more information here and on our DS blog here.
Great Art Workshop Opportunities
And finally, I want to mention Artful Gathering and the Art Eye Candy workshops I'm sponsoring. This time I want to talk about Artful Gathering in a bit more detail but will be adding information about both workshop venues soon.
Artful Gathering is an online art retreat organized by Zinnia (Cristina Galliher) happening this summer, June - August, featuring classes from 20 professional artist teachers. You can get class and sign-up information here. You need to pay a small $5.00 general admission fee to be ready for class registration which begins May 1st. By paying the registration fee, you can participate in activities to win sponsor door prizes as well as other events, whether or not you end up purchasing or taking any workshops.
From Mary Jane . . .
