Bombshell Stamps Blog Hop

The Bombshell Stamps August Hump Day Hop theme is "Let's Hear it for the Boys." We were free to interpret this however we like, and all I can really say is that I pretty much assure you that you will be singing that oh-so-popular 80's song from Deniece Williams for the next week. 

You're welcome :)

I decided to try the sketch... 

 

 

Now you know my interpretation of sketches can be a little loose.  But the elements are all there, I promise. The scallops, the circle in a square, the line down the left... it just all went to Funky Town.  

I decided what's more 80's than neon so out came the cool neon variegated thread that I JUST. HAD.TO. HAVE!!!!

OMIGOD! Can you imagine if they made hyper-color thread?

Or hyper-color NEON thread...

*head explodes*

It was a great chance to use one of my very favorite stamps in the whole wide world, Senora Muertas.

 

 Now go visit the other girls :)

Bombshell Blog 

Alison 

Alex

Rachael

Alaine

Kelli

Jodi

Laura

Sparkly Mary

Terra

Kim
Stempelientje
----> Nicole: You Are Here <---

Glittery Katie

Kas

Kathi

Dave Ramsey Money Envelopes Collage Style

Do you follow the The Total Money Makeoverby Dave Ramsey? We have for over three years and one of things I love to hate about it is the all cash system. It's THE BEST way to save money. Seriously. The Best! But keeping all those categories straight in those crappy envelopes drove me nuts. So last year I started altering Dave's envelope refills to better meet my needs. I get so many compliments on them whenever I'm paying for things that I thought I'd make a couple extra this time in case any of you would like a set.

Each one starts with a thick piece of cardboard that I cover in a piece of hand painted paper.

Then I trim it to size and Mod Podge it onto both sides of the cardboard. Then it sits out to dry overnight.

 

Then I goof off and play around with the cover until it's just right, in this case I used a print of one of my collages and added a quote.

"Dreams are necessary to life" seemed appropriate for a budget system.

 

 Inside of the front cover:

There are SIX category envelopes for things like groceries, eating  out, gas etc. and then a sturdy zipper pouch which I treat as a seventh category but friends use for coins and coupons.

And behind that is four pages for writing in your purchases. I always rip them out and use the plastic pouch as my back cover. It's nice and sturdy.

Hope you all liked this project. 

I have several more to share over the next few days. 

Available in my shop

Do What You Can: Original Collage

Do What You Can With What You Have Where You Are

 

 Love the boots...

Love the off-the-shoulder 80's inspired top...

 

 

Love the sassy short shag with sparkly barrette.

 

Available on Etsy 

Two New "Fan Favorite" Prints in my Shop

 

Available on Etsy

The title was meant to be tongue in cheek. I don't have fans, I have friends and for those who aren't friends yet, readers. But these two Modern Girls are the ones I get requests for all the time... like weekly... sometimes daily.

So I decided to offer them as embellished prints. What that means is I have mounted the prints on MDF, edged them in black paint (this is all normal so far) and  for "She Knew She Could Conquer the World" added jewels and liquid pearls.

Available on Etsy

 

This is a great opportunity to get a larger print (they are approximately 12x12) at an affordable price. Originals that size start at $125.

P.S. Did you see my new header? 

What do you think? 

Dia de los Muertos Catrina Collage

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any amount of time knows two things about me.

1. I love Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, and I find Catrinas so beautiful

2. I get really bored doing things the same way more than a few times.

So what I needed to do was make a collage that was really different (in this case, she's sitting on an over-sized chair) and I wanted to include my passion for Day of the Dead imagery.

 

What do you think?

Different good? Too weird?

My favorite parts are her collar bones (first time and I love them!), her necklace and the fact that she isn't a waif. This girl is stacked! *grin*

 

It's making me pretty happy. I'm really enjoying branching out and the challenge of trying to make new, more difficult poses. I tell you, any collage artists out there - go buy yourself a bridal magazine. They're AMAZING inspiration.

I'll be adding this to my Etsy shop. It'll be $50 and you can contact me directly if you'd like to purchase it before it's listed.

P.S. Did you see the texture! Love it!

Beautiful Young Girl Collage

I made this as a custom order for a very special, incredibly beautiful young girl.

 Her favorite color is teal.

 

And she has the most gorgeous wisps of  gold in her hair. It was so fun trying to capture it with paint.

One of my goals when making collages of children is to make them a little ageless so that the collage will grow with them through the stages where they don't want anything too 'babyish". I want the look to not be adult but to show a glimpse of the woman they will become.

 

My hope is that the recipient to love her art all through the many years and stages of life.

 

Dribs and Drabs

I thought I'd write a little of this, a little of that post.

My diet: is going well. I was wondering if I had the balls to put REAL numbers on my pictures but I decided it's a disservice to women everywhere not to. Seriously! I'm tired of seeing articles saying gorgeous, tall, big-boned, boob & booty-ful celebrities are 125 lbs. It's just not true.

(I had said a whole paragraph of other things but realized it may not have been read with the level of kindness and humor intended. No body snark here so I deleted... but let's just leave it at that I have LOTS of opinions.)

Anyhoo... My goal is 136. *sigh* Still a long ways to go.

Health: Sucks. And that's all I have to say about that.

Kids: Wow! Am I one blessed mama or what? My eldest knew I was going through a rough patch so he arranged for me to go back to David Estes Studio to pick up the painting I wanted so desperately. He bought me a painting!!! I can hardly believe his generosity. That was close to a whole month's tutoring wages. He's such a kind, lovable kid and his level of consideration puts me to shame. How he managed to think up (and execute) the perfect gift just blows me away.

 

Sorry the pictures aren't fantastic. It's in a stairway and I was trying to block the bright sun with my body while taking the picture at an angle without glare. No small task :-)

My Etsy: Has been thriving. I am happily swamped with custom orders and my originals and prints are flying out the door to homes all over the world. I want to thank everyone for the overwhelming and completely unexpected response to my work. A thousand times thank you! My latest print in the shop is this one:

Buy it here

Food: I'm in love with this chili recipe. Seriously. In Love.

And we've made every zucchini dish known to man lately as I've finally - after 39 years - managed to keep a plant alive. These zucchini tots are delicious!

Also made:

The dish that everyone insist it's incredible yet no one eats it. Hmmm.

Fire- roasted salsa. I can't make this fast enough, my family eats jars of it every week. I'd call that a good problem :)

Thanks for the visit!

Warmly, Nicole

Forever is Composed of Nows: Collage

 

Trying something a little different, a little larger.

 

 Featuring gorgeous Basic Grey paper

 

I think his shoes are my favorite part :)

 

Forever is Composed of Nows

*SOLD*

You can see more of my original work HERE