I didn't have tacos tonight

but I took the night off and went to Taco Tuesday. I just had chips and salsa. Just wasn't hungry but it was good to get out of the house where I have been planted for days.

One more "need to do" piece done. I think this one is spoken for (if it works for the customer) but we'll see. I've been working larger lately and it takes me so much longer. This is an 8 x 10 and it took two full days from start to finish - about 20 hours. One "need to do" piece left and then I will be all caught up! Then I can catch up on my Etsy making and blog visiting and flickr visiting.

Sea Stroll


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 9/8/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, print, download or use this image in any way without my permission.
This is a large 8 x 10 collage using a face from kumareeboo.etsy.com, a body from lisasalteredart.etsy.com, wings from Itkupilli.etsy.com, fish from keeperofthenest.etsy.com, legs from flickr's Alice Fox, and shoes scanned from a magazine picture. These were all reprinted, trimmed with scissors, and all hand colored to some degree. The red and white borders and metal borders are from Lorie Davison at Studio Lorie and Scrapbookgraphics.com purchased with a commercial license agreement, reprinted and hand trimmed. The waves, crown and sidewalk were purchased with a commercial license from designer Nicole Young, reprinted and hand trimmed. The scalloped border was purchased with a commercial license from designer Sande Krieger reprinted and hand trimmed. The black and white border is from Crowabout.etsy.com. also reprinted and hand trimmed. The sky is from flickr's SkeletalMess. The clouds were made from a 100 year old encyclopedia page. And the words were adapted from a quote by George William Curtis.

Tomorrow is the first day of school for us. I'm glad and sad. I think I will actually miss having the kids around. Even this afternoon as my son helped me move shelves and organize piled art supplies, my daughter came in and we watched and made fun of Twilight yet again (as I paid bills). My kids have such a great sense of humor - they make me laugh so hard and are my favorite entertainment. My daughter is a Twilight freak but she has shown me many spoofs on the movie and it made the real movie so funny today. And then there are the reinactments by the two of them . . . I am still giggling at them. But my son will be a senior and he is so excited and starting to really get into the idea of college which a few months ago was not that interesting. He's talking about picking up fencing again because he'd like to go to CalTech eventually and they have a fencing team. And my daughter is excited about 3 different soccer seasons coming up - AYSO first (first game tomorrow night - she's playing U-18 even though she is 15), then the high school season, then the club season. She'll be a junior this year and is already aggressively checking out colleges and career plans.

Okay, I have to get up early tomorrow so I'm off to bed. Before I go I have two last things for you. First, I just want to highly recommend Lisa's Altered Art (lisasalteredart.etsy.com or lisasalteredart.com) for her great collage images. I don't know if Lisa's real name is a secret or not so I'll just call her Lisa. Let me tell you, if you haven't noticed, I use Lisa's images for my bodies and faces all of the time. They are unique and wonderful and she goes out of her way to take care of her customers. She has done me favors more than once and I so appreciate her willingness to go the extra mile. She did something for me over the weekend and I just want to send a great big thank you to her.

And lastly, I made this custom piece for Elena of The Life of a Traveling Princess. What a gorgeous princess she really is! It was a pleasure to do this for her and thank you, Elena, for your business! You are such a sweetheart and do so much good for the world with your remarkable charity!

Princess Elena

copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 9/4/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, print or use this image in any way without my permission.

This is a 5 x 7 collage using a face from Elena, a body, crown, and wand from lisasalteredart.etsy.com, wings from greatmusings.com, legs from moonfaires.etsy.com, and boots from a magazine. The background was made using black and white pieces from Crowabout.etsy.com, and all other background pieces used with a commercial license from Lorie Davison at Studio Lorie at Scrapbookgraphics.com. All but the sky, flowers, and grass were reprinted and hand trimmed. The body, face, wings, legs, and wand were hand colored with ink and pastel.