Lauren Ferguson | There are no mistakes in art, just opportunites to embellish. (tm)

Off I go into the wild blue yond'r

Ok and that is all I know of that song...

Well today is the day and I am off to meet The Man himself... 

(hear Price is Right Music in the background)

T-I-I-I-I-M-M-M    H-O-L-T-Z

Promise to blog as soon as I get a chance. 

until we meet again,

Better Late than Never

Well, the MOJO FAIRY finally showed up her around 3:30pm and my 4th load of laundry. Now this is only a beginning but I am liking the direction that it is going in.  I still need to add my signature bling and my crown and dunce caps but all in all, I am lovin' the look.

I probably would not even thought as hard about this ATC as any others.  It is just that Tim Holtz is going to have this in his personal stash and I want it to be the one that stands out.

I mean lets be real how many people will be able to say that Tim Holtz made an ATC just for them.  Me and 13 others.  Plus, I wanted it to be a representation of me and my life and not just my contact information.

My friend Barbara sent me this comic right when the boys were born. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to take them to London to visit family when they were only 5 months old. I should have know that it was a crazy idea when I went to purchase the tickets online and the computer told me that I didn't have enough laps for my three kids.  I had to beg my parents to come so that the computer would let me by the tickets.

So now that I am really enjoying doing these things, I figured that I should get some VAULT and stay up all night.  I have 14 to finish and so far I only have one side done. I have by no means finished, but I thought that I should give you a sneak peak at what the mojo pixie dust did to me after my nap today.

Now I am off to wash my daughters hair and get more laundry done so I can finish these things.

until we meet again,

OOOOO Mojo fairy ...

OOOOOOOO where are you mojo fairy...

I am still waiting for the mojo fairy... I have not been able to get these ATC's done and tomorrow is my last full day to get it together.

I am not quite sure what I am going to do.  I hope that the pressure really works for me.

I really wish that I could just do art without feeling the mojo.  Or at least have mojo in a can and just drink it when I need some.

Maybe I need to pray to the mojo fairy. OK so here goes.

Dear Mojo Fairy,
I know that I am not suppose to ask for any big favors, but right now, I am under the gun.  I need to do laundry, make plans for my family, get on an airplane and besides all this, I need to have an ATC, actually 14 of them finished, in less than 24 hours.  So all I ask is that when I am asleep you sprinkle your mojo dust on me so that when I awake, I am focused, creative and bursting with energy.  I am sure that there are other starving artists in the world with bigger requests, but please please please just give me a few quick sprinkles and I promise I will make you proud.  I beg this of you in the name of all other creatively challenged artists throughout the world...  AMEN

until we meet again.

Nashville here I come...

I am so excited.  I just spoke with the owner of Timeless Reflections.

Michelle Luther is the bomb!!!  Do you hear me... DA BOMB!!!

She is remodeling the store and wants to have me come and teach in the store after the remodel at the store and at a Friday night crop. 

I am very very excited.  Y'all know how much I love teaching techniques stuff with the Ranger product. 

So I am making more samples when I return from Ranger Boot Camp and sending them off to her so that she can have them in the store.

Life is all good.

until we meet again,

My Little Altered Artists...

Now, y'all know how I always say, "I would alter my children if they would sit still long enough".  Well they beat me too it.

Well, since I am home this morning trying to be crafty, I decided to let the craft mojo flow
in my house.  SO I got out the markers and the Famous Rodent Coloring Book and sat them at the table in their chairs...

I even strapped them in...

Now my thinking is that if they are strapped in they cannot take the markers and draw all over the walls.  I will be able to control the mess and not have to worry about my husband losing his mind about "the living art".

OK, let me digress just for one second...

One day my daughter asked me what was that on my back.  So rather than tell her it was a tattoo, I told her it was "body art".  Well, why did I do that... You would think that I should know better.

A few days later she came running up to me and said, Momma, I want to show you my art.  She had drawn all over the walls. Mind you I did see the "Altered Art" potential.  But I really needed to stay focued so that she would live to see her next birthday.

Well, I watch enough Super Nanny and they say rather than scream and holler at her, I decided to ask her what, why, when.

And in her four year old mind with all the wisdom she could muster from all of her life experiences, she says "Momma, this is living art". 

OK, in my mind and to myself I say, "It is going to be dead art when your father sees what you have done." 

So of course you know, I am an over educated woman and I need to know what does she think "living art" is.  So I ask, "What is living art".

She without missing a beat says, "Momma, I am alive and it is my art... L-I-V-I-N-G    A-R-T"  You know how they do that whole drag out a one syllable word.

Oh, yes, she lived and later that afternoon we discovered that the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser does remove "Living Art" from the walls. 

I could look at this two ways:

1. My nicely bathed and fed kids decided that since they could not draw on the walls, they would color all over themselves...
2. There was so much creative mojo flowing that it just overflowed.

I bet this is how Michaelangelo got started...

until we meet again,

ALETERCATIONS CLASSES ARE ...

UP!!! 

You can go here to see all the classes.

I am so fired up, I can just spit.  Yes, I know that I have a bunch of classes to teach.  But if you look at it they are really for only 2 to 3 hours.  Of course the Star Book class is all day.  And that is because it is very labor intensive.

I must admit that I am very excited. 

I am also thinking now that I have seen all the classes and the length, did I leave enough time?  I am thinking that I have taught these particular classes before and there is always that one piece of ribbon or that one bead that is just perfect at home.

So I am going to make sure that the ladies understand that they are going to want to add and improve on the basic design. 

OK, so now having said all this, I need to get to crafting, I have not done a single thing all day. 

until we meet again,

making major progress...

Or at least that is what I keep telling myself.

I had the best day with my friend Debbie Kissel.  We just laughed and caught up on old times.  Remember the shrine and the ATC with the pictures from China.  I made them for her. She is just wonderful.  I could give her anything and she would appreciate it.  She has the best heart.  And to think that we met at a Scrap Mania because we were sitting at the same table. 

We went over to Archivers and made more of these damn ATC Star Books.  I must admit that she was such a wonderful help.  I have three more done than would have been had I worked on my own.

I also go another sample done for the altercations conference. I have about two more things to do and then I can take pictures and put it up.

I also got a message from a friend of a friend in Nashville, TN.  She is interested in me teaching in her store.  So it is going to be a great time to see folks that I have not seen in now it is almost a two and a half years.

Well, I am off to get some more stuff done.  You know that I am now in the zone and need to get some crafting done.

until we meet again,

trip, stumble, fall...

OK, so let me just say this...

I am in the middle of a mental stumbling block.  I am having such a hard time coming up with an ATC for the Design Team.  I am just full of ideas and no execution plans.

And to top it all off, a very good friend of mine is meeting me tomorrow to help me get them done.  I just need to get one done so that I can have one for them to copy from.

I have to get the first one done.  Once I have a starting point, I am good to go.  I just need some inspiration. 

Inspiration, oh Inspiration where are you????

until we meet again,

To the Left... To the Left ...

To the left right left (sang in my best army voice)...

Well y'all, I have come up with a new category... RANGER BOOT CAMP

You know if you are not in shape, you really should not be on a design team.  They work me hard.  I love the people tho', I love them HONEST I do.  I love them like cooked food.

They force me to think out of my box, and most of the time, the box has a do not disturb sign hung on the front with the caption reading... TAKING A NAP COME BACK LATER.

I have been working on these ATC Star Book.  Why because at this point if I do not finish them, I will feel less than the super woman that I make claims to be. 

Plus, I have all of them almost done and decided that I am going to be glad to see them get out of my house. 

14 of anything is too much. 14 children, 14 magaritas, 14 husbands, 14 _____________  (you fill in the blank).

until we meet again,

Pull Out, Flips and Pockets

Hey Y'all,

I just wanted to leave y'all with a bit of eye candy about the stuff that I am going to be doing in this class. 

I wish that I had taken pictures of the wonderful finished projects.  They were all so different and fabulous and we all used the same papers.  It was great.
         

 

Here the sample that I had promised in the original post to finish with the new Basic Grey papers. I am so loving these papers. This is just another alternative to the same book.  I can do a gazillion of these books all different ways.  They are never finished until they are finsihed.

 

This class is going to be a blast.  I taught it just a few weekends ago.

until we meet again,