No boom boom

This isn't a very patriotic post, unfortunately. I love the 4th of July but it is different for me these days. It was a holiday I celebrated with my parents, always my vacation every summer for the last 20 some years or so. Last year was my first 4th without them and still this year I have a hard time getting in the mood to do much. So, while I consider myself very patriotic, not so much on the obvious day I guess. No big boom boom here. (Though there is enough going on around us that my dog Scout is hiding under the bed for the third day in a row.) Anyway, how wonderful to live in a country where you are free to do as you wish . . . so I am exercising my freedom and right to work and be artsy today and a little untraditional. I do wish you a very Happy 4th of July, if you are here in the United States and a very happy summer day for everyone else!

You are a Goddess and Beautiful Sideshow


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen, July 2011. All rights reserved.
Digital Collages. Image credits: all from my own Tumble Fish Studio kits including Divas, Journal Words, Journal Scraps, Journal papers, Hats Crowns & Wings, and Paper Things.

New Stuff . . .
I've been working hard to catch up on work work and house work this week and have a lot of irons in the fire to finish up this week. I do have a couple of new little pieces done and some new kits in the shoppe at DeviantScrap.com. I'm nearing the end of listing all of my "old stock" with the last few re-releases in the next 10 days or so before starting on all new kits. Most everything in my shoppe is on sale now through the end of July (with just a couple of exceptions) so don't miss out on stocking up on a lot of great deals for your image stash!

Journal Words



Journal Papers



Journal Scraps



Beloved and Life Shrines


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen, June 2011. All rights reserved.
Digital ATC's. Image credits: from Tumble Fish Studio - Happy Place, Vibrations, Borders Bunch, Jiant Journaling, Miscellany, Divas, City Skies, Remembrances, East is West; arrow and crown in Beloved ATC are from Sherrie JD's SteamPunk kit; paper clip in Life ATC is from Christina Renee Designs.

Altars & Shrines . . .
There's a lot going on at DeviantScrap.com this month including a very fun ATC swap to compliment our theme of Altars & Shrines. The picture ad below is from DeviantScrap.com's The Deviant Muse . . . you can get the July issue FOR FREE from here! And we'd love to have any one of you join in on the swap! Anyone is welcome, any medium, any images . . . it's just a friendly swap! You can join in and get more information here.


Image credits: cards contributed by Balinda, Anubis 1, Glitterbug, and me. Full credits can be found on the last page of July's The Deviant Muse or in the swap gallery here.

Inspiration . . .
While perusing one of my favorite sites to peruse, Creative Souls, I found the gorgeous work of Mary Jane Chadbourne. Mary Jane lives and works in the Las Vegas area and her work can be found in numerous galleries in the Southwest. It was a stroke of luck that I discovered her work just as we were preparing July's theme of Altars & Shrines at DeviantScrap. Not only did I fall in love with Mary Jane's work but found endless inspiration for possible themes I look forward to exploring myself. One thing I find very exciting is her ability to use images in her dimensional pieces that many of us might limit to flattened cut and paste or digi work. She thinks "outside the box", literally, in her work and I get lost in the details of her dimensional compositions. The photo's of Mary Janes work below were used with permission and are linked to Mary Jane's Facebook Fan Page, Desert Dreams Studio.

The Beauty Within


Journey This Day



Frida & Diego - Unsettled Showers



Find Your Way

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!

I *embrace* Mondays

It's (almost) Monday! And that means new products at DeviantScrap! Well, it also means a new week is upon us and another weekend to look forward to. It's always good to have something to look forward to!

*Still slowly working on my blog appearance . . . excuse weirdness that may pop up occasionally.

More "Work" Done
I don't know what woke my muses up recently but I've gotten more work done in the last week than the last few months put together. (knocking on wood, throwing salt over my shoulder, turning around 3 times with my fingers in my ears, crossing toes)

Friends


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 2011. All rights reserved.
Digital journal page. Image credits: everything from my own images at DeviantScrap.com. Kits used include: Girly Whimsy, de Beaute, and Hats, Crowns and Wings.

Trapped Fairy


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 2011. All rights reserved.
Digital journal page. Image credits: everything from my own images, most at DeviantScrap.com. Kits used include: Girly Whimsy, Whimsy Frames, and Hats, Crowns and Wings.

Fairy Proper

copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 2011. All rights reserved.
Digital journal page. Image credits: everything from my own images, most at DeviantScrap.com. Kits used include: Girly Whimsy, Dance-A-Thon (background), and Hats, Crowns and Wings.


Viola Won the Goldfish Pageant


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 2011. All rights reserved.
Digital journal page. Image credits: everything from my own images, most at DeviantScrap.com. Kits used include: Girly Whimsy, Whimsy Frames, and Hats, Crowns and Wings.


I'm Thrilled
You've seen this image before, but it's one of my favorites and I popped it in a frame for a kit preview.


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 2011. All rights reserved.
Digital journal page. Image credits: everything from my own images, most at DeviantScrap.com. Kits used include: Whimsy Frames, and Hats, Crowns and Wings.

In the Shoppe
So, I'm still re-releasing older image sets in sale priced and bundled kits at DeviantScrap. The previews below are all linked to my shoppe at DS if you're interested.


Girl Whimsy



Whimsy Frames



de Beaute



Hats, Crowns, and Wings



Banksy sighting
Way back in January I posted about the infamous graffiti artist, Banksy in a post called Another Miscellaneous Post found here. Well, I was so excited Friday night when my daughter spied this as we waited for our dinner reservation in South Pasadena. I finally got to see a Banksy in person. The quality isn't very good as it was getting dark and we used my daughter's cell phone.



His trademark signature . . .

Ima Crowin'

Happy Saturday peoples! Hope you're having a great weekend!

*Still slowly working on my blog appearance . . . excuse weirdness that may pop up occasionally.

Crowabout Studio B
Somehow with all the craziness going on moving to DeviantScrap, I've found myself creating lots of work lately. Today, I just wanted to share a couple of pieces I made with images from Nancy Baumiller's Crowabout Studio B digital image kits. I've been crowin' this week. Get it? Crowabout, crowin' . . . .

Ima Dreamer


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 2011. All rights reserved.
Digital Journal Page. Image Credits: everything but the words on right from Crowabout Studio B. Kits used: Alter a Shrine, More Borders and Bits, Funky Bod Parts, Body Language, Funky Creatures, Get Funky, and A Bit of Vintage.

The Pod


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 2011. All rights reserved.
Digital collage. Image credits: everything from Crowabout Studio B at DeviantScrap.com. Kits used: Alter a Shrine, Borders & Bits, Get Funky Elements, and Funky People Parts.

This one's a little different for me and not sure how I feel about it. I like the glass the most. Created by trial and error with layers, textures, and actions. It's me wishing I had a muse in a little glass box, waiting on me to use as needed.

Yonder Muse


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 2011. All rights reserved.
Digital collage. Image credits: everything except the shoes (my own stash) and some glass I created in a series of layers, is from Crowabout Studio B at DeviantScrap.com. Kits used: Alter A Shrine, Haunted Circus, Get Funky Elements, and Body Language.


Here's Nancy's latest kit . . . Alter a Shrine (linked to her shoppe at DeviantScrap)



Also wanted to mention . . .
It's time to sign up for the Sketchbook Project if you're interested. I've never done it and every year wish I had. I think they are making it easier and less intimidating every year. I'm workin' up courage to sign up. The picture below is linked to the site . . .

East really is West of here . . .

Hi everybody! Hope your week is going well!

Blog update
I'm doing a little facelift on my blog this week. It's not done so if you notice some funny stuff going on here this week, you'll know why.


East is West
Really, I do think of the East is being West of me since I live on the West coast of the US. Guess it's East for everybody else. But now you know the reason behind the name of these image sets.

New (old) kits are being released for sale at DeviantScrap.com tonight! I've bundled together the East is West series into two kits, both on sale! Here are a few little things I whipped up tonight using mainly those kits.


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 2011. All rights reserved.
All images from my own collections at DeviantScrap.com and my private stash.


A couple of postcards . . .

copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 2011. All rights reserved.
All images from my own collections at DeviantScrap.com and my private stash.


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 2011. All rights reserved.
All images from my own collections at DeviantScrap.com and my private stash.


The Kits
If you're interested in the East is West kits, just click on the pictures below to be taken to my DeviantScrap shoppe! They're on sale and have been freshened up for a repeat performance!