Mar 31, 2013

Humongous Catch Up Post

Being behind has turned into a permanent state of existence for me I think.  What happened to the former me that used to be on top of everything, always early, always put together?  When I started this blog, I'd sometimes have so much time and so little to do I'd post 2 or three things a day!   LOL  That version of me has slipped further and further away over the last 3 or 4 years.   As it slips, I start to give up the struggle to keep "on time" here, but not without guilt and second guessing.

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.

Artful Gathering is an amazing opportunity to expand your creative horizons and attend virtual classes in a welcoming and well run online retreat.   There are lots of goodies to be had, events to participate in, and classes to be taken in a variety of mediums from a diverse group of instructors.  I'm not only one of the sponsors of the retreat but am planning to take classes myself.  My artist friend Mary Jane Chadbourne of Desert Dream Studios will be teaching a class I'm particularly excited about, The Spoken Soul - Altered Cards for Daily Inspiration.  This particular class may even feature some of my Tumble Fish Studio images!   I'll be sharing more about Artful Gathering and Mary Jane's class very soon!





From Mary Jane . . .


Mar 14, 2013

Random Journal Cards

Hello everyone!  This is just a quickie post . . . I'm smack in the middle of a working on a new big kit that will release soon, but I wanted to just put this out there before I get back to work.  I have a new little Journal Card kit in the shoppe and on sale.   I've been having a blast making these pre-made Journal Card kits this year.  I like to think of them as an alternative to a blank page staring back at you when you want to work but don't know where to start.  This kit is in the shoppe and on sale for a limited time . . . it's a great deal too . . . same price as my other Journal Card kits with more than twice the number of cards all ready to play with.  It's a little bonus kit to celebrate spring.   Printable jpg sheet version included in the kit.  The preview is linked to the shoppe . . .

Mar 4, 2013

Blah Blog Be Gone!

Happy Monday!  Look I'm actually posting twice in less than a month for once!

Actually, I've been working on streamlining my blog all weekend.  I've cleaned things up a bit and reorganized.  And, I visited all of the blogs I had on my Favorite Blogs list (on the lower right).  It was kinda hard but I said goodbye to some old favorites that are no longer active and added a few new ones.  I didn't leave a lot of comments but really thoroughly enjoyed visiting each and every blog.  It filled my inspiration tanks and lifted my spirits. 

Of course, I enjoy most of my "favorite blogs" because I know and love the people they belong to.  But, I have some that are just for my lurking and found a few new ones for that.   Here's some of the new blogs/sites I added . . . they are worth a peek:

http://www.whatimade.com/

http://ingriddijkers.blogspot.com/  (I'm probably the last one on earth to finally link up to this one)

http://bethconklin.blogspot.com/

http://erikatysse.blogspot.com/

http://arthouse577.blogspot.com/

I'm not sure I'm done with the "look" of my blog but am happy to have it freshened up.  Makes me feel like using it again even if it's still a bit BLAH.  I look forward to really developing it over the next few months and adding some pizazz.  It's a project I've wanted to get to for over a year.

Take note of my new "Proud to Sponsor" links.  I AM so happy and proud to be a sponsor for the 2013 Artful Gathering retreat  and Rachelle Panagarry's Eye Candy workshops.  Please check out the links in the upper right.  I'll be taking some of these classes and workshops myself and can't wait to share more about that with you!

Have a good week everyone!

OutStanding in his Field


































copyright Marsha Jorgensen 2/18/2013. All rights reserved.
Digital thought. Image credits: Tumble Fish Studio kits at DeviantScrap.com including Nitty Gritty, It's Official, Happy Place, City Skies, and Shades of Green.

Mar 2, 2013

Happy March!

Hi everyone!  I was off the computer for almost a whole week.  It was like camping . . . literally!   No really, we are getting our electricity rewired in the house along with all the indirect work rewiring causes - filling holes in walls, moving furniture all over the place to get to the outlets that need to be rewired, moving that furniture back and moving other furniture around, and now about to rip out the kitchen counters so that the wiring can be updated in there.  Anyway, slept on the floor a couple of nights, haven't had power in some rooms or outlets throughout the week, and had my computer in parts on the opposite side of the house until last night.   But I've got it set up (sort of) so I can work around the crews coming in this week to put in our new heat that caused all of this mess in the first place, and will gradually be able to get back up to speed over the next 2-3 weeks.

In the meantime, thought I'd share a couple of things.  I just got a new ATC swap going at DeviantScrap.com.   Anyone is welcome to join us . . . the more, the merrier!   You can use any images you like as long as you stay within this month's theme.  The picture below is linked to the thread in the Deviant Scrap forum where you can sign up to play (you may have to scroll up to the top of the thread to see all the info).












































I didn't get a chance to show my new Green kits I got in the shoppe last week before I went offline.   They are the first in a new color themed series of kits I'll be releasing this year.  The previews below are linked to the shoppe.  I'm going to leave them on sale a few more days.  And, maybe you'll notice I have a new kit preview design . . . don't want anyone to be confused.  I just decided it was time for a change.











































Well, things are likely to be very chaotic and I'll likely get very behind on things for a couple of more weeks around here.   Every day brings new dirt and clouds of dust so it's hard to get things out and get busy back to work until the house work gets done.   But, I'm hoping to use this time, now that I have my computer back, to do more looking and visiting and enjoying inspiration out and about on the web.   Hope you all have a great first week of March!