Tag, You're it!

I've haven't been tagged since, about, 6th grade! I've just been tagged by Pam Carriker at thebagladysart. Pictured above is a piece of art that Pam posted on ZNE's See it Say it Saturday back in March. Pam doesn't know it but she is one of my art heros. I want to be like her when I grow up, she is a wonderfully gifted artist, juggling art and family...and as you see in her "tagged" post, still can fit into her wedding dress. Plus, she is published in all the best art magazines. She'll have a 7 page feature in the July/August Cloth, Paper Scissors Magazine! How much cooler can it get!!

The rules of the game are:

1. Link back to the person that tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.


3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your entry.
Here are the six unimportant things about me...

1. I ran a marathon ( 26.2 miles) in the mid 1980s....it took me 5 hours and 45 minutes.
2. I collect bowling balls. They are lovingly displayed in my yard, and I have great intentions of turning them into some interesting altered art
3. I refuse to wear panty hose. I believe they cause cancer in labratory animals....can't you see the testing now...little mice and rats tugging at their panty hose to keep them up....
4. In college I filed a complaint with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, declaring that the University of Missouri was violating my rights under Title IX of the Higher Education Act. The University in 1972 had different rules for men and women about curfew. Not any more. The school had to change their policies or lose Federal Funding.
5. I took ballet lessons as a child until my dad saw the photo of me in a tutu.
6 I secretly want to be named Samantha, I'm annoyed that my mother didn't ask me. I have a dog named Sam.

Now to tag 6 people.......hmmmmmmm

1. Stacy Merrill has been posting some really cool art for the ZNE Convenzione Art show..
2.Lynlynch has some wonderfully cool photos and she sounds like a woman after my own heart with her garage sale purchases.
3.Kristy's Musings, the art world and work of fellow ZNE Design Team member Kristy C.
4.Susan Tidwell 's blog Artful Musings. Beautiful work! Check it out. On the ZNE Design Team, too.
5. Ann Butler's Designs another fabulous Design Team Member on ZNE
6. TiffanyJane Marshall's blog has beautiful images and music for the soul. ( also Design Team member on ZNE)

Charms, Fun & More

Next month, I'm heading out for my first summer art adventure to the ZNE Castle in the Meadow event in Detroit, Michigan. In addition to a fun castle art project, tour of the Dodge Castle home, and wine and cheese tasting, all of the attendees are going to particiate in a "charm" swap. I've never done a charm swap before. I have been experimenting with solidering and want to do more. So here is my project. I have the initials of the participants and have taken scrabble tiles, "double face" taped them together, applied the copper tape and jump ring...and started solidering. Each one is of course unique ....since there is no quality control. But I am pretty pleased with the results....not bad for a beginner. I have tied the charms to a coffee stained tag with a bit of red twill tape.

I use these giant tin snips to hold the charm, I ordered some steel bench blocks this week from Otto Frei I think they will help in the whole process. Sally Jean Alexander uses them in her book "Pretty Little Things", and suggests them for her workshops. ( which I hope to be able to take in August....more on that later.) Here's the little charm with just it's copper tape and jump ring ready for solider.
I've set up a little "portable" solidering spot on the back patio. We need to do a lot of work out there to clean up from the winter ( and last summer and fall and spring) but I'm not comfortable doing the solidering in the house yet. ( My father's daughter, obsessing about "hot" things left plugged in!)


Of course you have to have some music, even on the patio. Today we listened to Voices of the Wetlands. Check out this musical line-up.
Doesn't this look tidy....the only thing in the whole house ( in or out). It all stacks up on the vintage gingham trays to be stored on a shelf in the house, you don't want to leave your solidering equipment out in the elements. Rust is good, but not on your anvil or other tools.
The table, coat rack, and vintage trays are "rummage sale" treasures.

Collage Lost & Found

Another fun project for the ZNE Book Club. We're currently "altering" our way thru "Collage Lost and Found" by Giuseppina Cirincione. Creating unique projects with vintage ephemera.

This piece measures about 3 by 6 and features a tranfered image of my mom and her brother cira 1937 or so, my mom would have been about 15. I've used this image on several other projects. I love their "stand up and smile at the camera looks" on their faces. They are standing on a box of some sort in front of a wooden fence or wall, well weathered. ( The fence, they were too young to be weathered. They look like they are happy and content, but I think they had a pretty hard life, by today's standards. I like the quote from an old "Red Pepper Burns" Book..."Doing well, everything satisfactory, and I've not a care in tnhe world." Ahhhh ... to live so simply!

And even more exciting.....in July...for the ZNE Book CLub, I get to lead the book club, and will update the ZNE Book Club blog. What an exciting opportunity. I can't wait to get started. Our book for July will be Kaleidoscope by suzanne simanaitis, ideas and projects to Spark YOUR Creativity. It is written in the style of an Art ZINE and very different from any art book I have seen recently. Topics will include...passionately curious? Identity, mark making, Sanctuary, Imagination, Reinvention, & Obstacles.

Be sure to sign up , so you don't miss out on this adventure. You can sign up here "ZNE BOOK CLUB" proceeds from the book club entry fees go to help support A Place To Bark

"A PLACE TO BARK is a no kill foster and adoption rescue, in Portland , TN, dedicated to the welfare of animals. Established in 2001, we mainly work with Animal Control Agencies, rescue animals from high kill shelters and foster them till they are healthy. This provides the best possible situation, for the animals. They are then placed for adoption through Humane Societies in various parts of the country. We cover all costs for the medical care of the animals with no cost to the Humane Societies they are going to. We also do some private adoptions after a strict screening process. " A PLACE TO BARK is operated by Bernie Berlin a mixed media artist and author of several books including Artist TRading Card workshop.

Check back and see what's happening!!!!

Self-Portrait

It was the 2nd Anniversary
of my mother's death
April 1, 2008
Gloomy and overcast
Spring peered out
from between the clouds
And Sprouted
on the trees
Tulips bloomed
along the path
yellow, red, pink
I chose a spot
to sit and think
and snapped
some photos
at arms length.




A day at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Japanese Garden
Ahhhh!!!! Spring!
A scrapbook page for the Simple Scrapbook challenge "Self Portrait" you were to scrap a page featuring photos of yourself, taken by yourself. I played with my camera on a recent trip to the botanical garden, it's hard to take a photo of yourself, smiling with teeth without looking like you just sat in gum or on a tack, or in wet paint. I obviously didn't show those photos. Ahhhh,...to be the editor of your own life!

Monday Night is Art Night

Tonight on Circa Arte, "blog talk radio"you will hear Chel interview Claudine Hellmuth, author of many beautiful art books, including "Collage Discovery Workshop."You can join in on the live chat board, or call in and say "hi" at 8:30 PM ( central time). This particular book was a ZNE Book of the month club selection in 2007. Featured here, are a couple of the projects I made for the club. Chel posts an assignment every week or so, and then the participants respond to the assignment on the chat boards and then Chel posts a summary on the book club blog. Check out the book club blog. The project at the top of the page was suppose to be inspired by the cover of Claudine's book. It was to include a vehicle, a map, a monument, and the text, I discovered Claudine's Collage Discovery Workshop. So there it is. Other projects used tips and techniques in the book and we were to make projects inspired by Claudine's work in the book. We rusted metal with bleach and vinegar....be careful....very stinky, and must be done outside and with protective gear. We worked on background images and made some transfer images and an altered tin, and worked on an art journal.


I was inspired by Claudine's work with an altered tin , transfered image and a playing card, see page 80 of her book.

ZNE Convenzione Submission

I finished this piece yesterday, actually I did all of this yesterday. I was bound and determined to " make art" and I did; this piece and some inchies, which I will post later. I have used this Dover Clip Art image on several projects. I like her. I've been trying to use supplies that I have to make my art, as opposed to going to buy more, or print more. ( You know it's Earth Day month, plus I'm saving up $$$ for my summer art trips!) The black wings are from ZNE, the 60 is a Brazilian postage stamp image, and the music and words are from a vintage church hymnal. Mystery is a Stamp Francisco image. The background is a piece of Basic Grey Scrapbook paper and a vintage playing card.

The ZNE Convenzione is in Pleasanton, CA at the end of August, and I have decided to go. This piece has been submitted for a juried selection for an all ZNE mixed media art show to be held at the time of the convention. To learn more about what I have been up to and adventures to come, check out this link.ZNE CONVENZIONE

Catch A Falling Star,See It Say it Saturday, ZNE BLOGZ

Donna Cook a/k/a bonniebluedenim

It's See it Say it Saturday in the Land of ZNE. Each Saturday a mixed media art piece is featured and you are invited to post a response to that work. Shown below is the piece for this week. A lovely piece created by Glenda Bailey. As a Zne Design Team member I got to pick several pieces to be featured. This was my first pick. I love the dreamy girl saving all her stars, to wish on, for something special. I think I was also attracted to the color scheme, my favorite combos of magenta and blue. It's a pleasing layout, very comforting, and the black and white accents make the image and colors pop right off the page.

My response is posted above. When seeing Glenda's piece, I immediately thought of the song "Catch A Falling Star" (....put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day. We sang that song in high school choir. The 4 part harmony was wonderful...but I digress as usual.) I love this Dover Clip Art image of the girl, with her umbrella casually laying on her shoulder. I think she belives her wishes will all come true. Look at all those stars!

The background was fun to make. Using gesso and my Alexstamping sky tool stamp, I made a background page on a large piece of blue cardstock, I cut out a 4 by 4 piece and then cut the rest into atc sizes for future projects. This stamp has a funny shape but your just smear it around your page and reink as desired, and you create some interesting effects.


The text letters are cut from headlines from my most recent L.L. Bean Catalog. ( I hope they don't mind, it keeps a little trash out of the landfill, of course I do recycle the rest of the catalog) The black and white borders are scrapbooking border stickers from " One Heart ...One Mind". I got a huge roll of them at "Tuesday Mornings". ( It was a deal I couldn't pass up")

ZNE is a wonderful online art community that has become my "virtual" home away from home. ZNE was founded by Chelise Stroud Hery . ( The loving Queen of the Land of ZNE) When I refer to ZNE as a community, I mean that in the most wonderful sense of that word. It is an international group of mixed media artists who support, educate, promote, care for, share with , and love each other.

Glenda Bailey

In the meantime.....wander over to the ZNE Blogz and tell us your response to Glenda's work. It doesn't have to be a mixed media piece, it can be a quote, your thoughts, a photo, a poem. Enjoy!

Her Father's Daughter

The Zne Book Club is working on "Collage Lost and Found" this month. A very cool book by Giuseppina Cirincione, you can see it below on my "book shelf". I'm a little behind on my projects. This one was to feature an art piece that had an element that you could open, such as a door or window. I have this lovely window stamp from Lost Coast Designs.(Oh no, I just checked out their website and I think they may have a few new things I "need". But, I'm saving up to attend a couple of art retreats this summer, so I will resist the temptation!)

This piece is made with the window stamped and embossed on some celery cardstock . The background papers are fromn Daisy D and Basic Grey. Scrabble tiles, and text from a Red Pepper Burns Book. We were to reveal something about ourselves inside of the window. I am a pretty open person, and pretty readable, most days, so I was having a hard time coming up with something that most people didn't already know about me.

But I ran across the text from the Red Pepper Burns book, "Courage for facing things - the unknown, and other piece of text " After all, she was her father's daughter." and "anxieties that really matter."

It made me think of my father and how he and were alike...being worriers...among other things. We would worry about the iron being left on , or the coffee pot was plugged in, or to check the back seat of your car. Most were good things to be concerned about. But we would obsess about some of them at times. I think we did it, hoping to control some of life, when we have so little control over most of it. So I think we both would Choose Courage, to face the unknown....and worry about things that were really important....like our families and friends. This was an interesting project to work on.

Trouvaille et Part is a fun game on the ZNE Network. Trouvaille et Part translated from French means:Find and Share. It is a fun, interactive, and creative game on The ZNE Network! The game started with the first post, by "asking" for something. It could be a color, a theme, a thing, etc.The next poster uploads a piece of their artwork that directly relates to the "ask" - and then, they get to ask for their own color, theme, thing, etc.The asks can be as general or specific as the person posting 'the ask' wants them to be. Members can upload art they have already created or artwork they created specifically to relate to "the ask" - but time is of the essence in this game, because whoever replies with the apropriate artwork gets to generate the next ask.

A long story....here is my response to "50s furniture". My work here includes a 1955 photo of my mom with her new television. I was two at the time. It was my parents first television. Pretty cool. I think you can see the antenne. It was a big circle. There is a vintage silver paper doiley and vintage silver stickers with "mom" and 1955. The paper strips around the edges list events that I thought were interesting that occured during 1955. I had some "Easter Seals" from 1955 that I attached next to the strip about the Salk Polio vaccine being introduced.

Here are the events I included in my collage.

Salk Polio vaccine introduced April 12, 1955
Gunsmoke debuts September 10, 1955
James Dean dies in auto accident September 30, 1955
Racial segregation forbidden on interstate trains and buses, November 5, 1955
Rosa Parks arrested December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat.
President Eisenhower sends advisors to South Vietnam, January 12, 1955
Marion Anderson sings at the New York Met, January 7, 1955
West Germany becomes a sovereign state, May 5, 1955
Lady and the Tramp debuts June 16, 1955
Disneyland opens, July 17, 1955
Donna is two, August 16, 1955

Earlier I responded to an "ask" for pajamas....

An ATC featuring 1948 Christmas Seals....a boy in pajamas complete with feet and a back door. The fire looks cosy. My "ask" was for an airplane.

My new "ask", in response to the 50s furniture is for a harmonica!!

Take time to smell the roses

On See it Say if Saturday......last week, this great art work was featured, created by Joanna Grant. It makes me think about how I need to take time to smell the roses, and I haven't been the past week or so, (I did take some time on April 1 , I'll tell about it later.) I was way tooooo involved in setting up for our church rummage sale. I invested about 40 hours of work into the project over the past two weeks, it was worth the effort, we made about $850 and met some great people and sent our leftovers out into the world through "Free Cycle", sold some to a local thrift store who serves immigrants to our community, sent some books to an area book fair that is supporting one of the "old mansions" in St. Louis, and then this week we'll send some more clothes to an area shelter. Good work, but....it kept me away from my on-line fun for the past week. But I did manage to buy some goodies. Great things, that no doubt, will enhance my artistic endeavors for months to come. Check these out.

These cool buttons were on a fleece vest, that didn't fit, it was left at the end of the day, I took the buttons and sent the vest for recycling.

A future shrine, from a jewlery kit box.
Cute, tiny, vintage santa, made in Japan, has to be from the 50s.
I can feel myself becoming organized as we speak, two double drawer card files, I can see my little clipart pixs and ephemera filed in these.
This has to be a little church from a train set, I remember one of these either at my childhood home or grandmother's house. Hmmmm, it can become a pattern and who knows what else!!

There were a few other cool things I picked up, including some books, and bowls, and other assorted crafting things I couldn't live without.

Chocolate Unavailable for photos!

Say What????? Yes, I ate all the chocolate! The members of the Zne Design Team had a great Spring Time Swap! We were to send 16 goodies off to the Land of ZNE in Pleasanton, CA ( where I get to go in AUGUST!!) And we received a bag of goodies back, just in time for Spring.! It reminds me of the time that I got to go with my brother and his date to the Mama's and Papa's concert in 1967. Huh???? WEll, you know, my brother was/is my hero and I got to go with him, on a date, to a concert, to see one of favorite groups, it was so cool, to play with the college kids, and I was just in 8th grade. It was so special.....well this is what playing in the ZNE Spring Swap feels like, all of these incredible artists who let me come along for the ride, and play along with everyone else.....just like I'm a real artist too! So here are some photos of some of the great stuff we received in the mail, minus the chocolate, they were no longer available for photos!

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The photo above shows my submission to the swap, it's an ATC/ACEO kit, including two vintage playing cards with pretty ladies and an altered photo I took of a huge street clock in New Orleans on Canal Street, taken from the street car. It includes several color coordinated pieces of cardstock cut to the standard atc size of 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches. There is also a similarly sized piece of mat board. And color coordinated fiber as well.
I love the Paris 4 by 4 and the little duckie assemblage...I need to reglue her to her crystal base.

More cool Paris ephemera and tags, and a beautiful domino pendant, and a French ATC, very pretty.
More beautiful pendants and tags!!!

A cute little girlie atc, oops chopped off her head, and a fimo clay atc

Copies of vintage photos, a little cone with a birdie, a bag of chocolate goodies, ( container only remaining with tag), little girle atc, a cute button, and other embellishments, little pom pons, and I know I've missed describing something, Study all the photos carefully and soak up some inspiration!!!!!!

The Art of Nursing and My Mom

The theme for this week on Illustration Friday is"Homage", homage to my mother and the Art of Nursing.

Women at Work was the theme for the week on Skinny Saturday. So this post covers two challenges for the price of one.

This piece features a photo of my mother taken in 1944. This is her graduate nurse photo for her Texas state nursing license. She graduated from City - County Hospital School of Nursing in Fort Worth, Texas. My mom worked at City Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, Bethesda Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri and retired from Deaconess Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. I'm amazed at the hard work performed by nurses all over the world. They care for people and save lives everyday. Where would we be without them?

I found this quote from Florence Nightingale:

Nursing is an Art:

and if it is to be made an art,

It requires an exclusive devotion

as hard a preparation,

as any painter's or sculptor's work;

for what is the having to do with

dead canvas or dead marble,

compared with having to do

with the living body,

the temple of God's spirit?

It is one of the Fine Arts:

I had almost said,

the finest of Fine Arts.

This art work measures 3 by 5 inches. I used a copy of a photo of my mom, a stamped image, a wing from a ZNE collage sheet, "Special" tag, and "Those who bring...." from a vellum scrapbook page. I'm not totally sure I like how the vellum looks, but I like the over all finished design and concept.

Journal Pages - Parata Di Arte

I'm still working on this whole concept of art journal. On Parta Di Arte Flickr group, the theme for the week is art journal, I posted the page above for the "contest". I used masking technique and rubber stamps for the background. The stamp came from Stamp Francisco, I believe. They have very cool rubber stamps, lots of vintage images. The photo is of my mom and uncle taken in the 1930, in some Texas oil town. My grandfather was a migrant oil worker in Texas and Oklahoma. My grandmother wrote that she had been married 35 years and had lived in 35 different places. My mother said she went to 16 different schools while growing up. Anyway. I think some days were probably good for them, and others , not so good. It was the Depression. But both my mom and uncle ended their lives living with Alzheimers, and the lesson I learned watching my mother was this: Enjoy the precious Present. Today. She may not have remembered yesterday, but whatever presented itself today: she enjoyed!
Both of these journal pages are a part of an art journal I started during the ZNE Book Club. This photo shows the Oklahoma City Memorial. I took this photo in Janaury or February 2006. I did some altering tips with water, sandpaper and marker. The stamped image is from Inque Boutique, added for the joural page. While it is not a dove, it makes me think of the spirit of the men, women, and children who lost their lives that day in OKC. If you are in OKC, take the time to stop by and see this memorial.

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