Movies, niñas... and getting ready for school

We went to see Ponyo. I am not into anime, but since I have 2 kids I am into kid's movies. I could take more romantic comedy movies though :o).
So anyway my comments on the Ponyo movie... I loved the visual stuff, colors, characters, all the fish and the water in cartoon, very nice! The story? yuck! The mom drives like a maniac, doesn't listen to the guards, endangers her 5 year old kid and then leaves him alone to go back to the same spot where she was supposed to have staid. huh? OK, they needed drama, that's a way to get it hehehe



Once Ponyo turns into a little girl (a bit hyper for my taste too) she made me want to grab my pencil and draw!
Which takes me to the next part of the post... we are getting ready for school and after a loooong summer with no math, I felt we should have a little warm up, so we sit an hour of tutoring. They did math, I did the sitting :oP
While sitting and getting bored I took my pencil and a leftover paper from my son. He was going to do a sea monster but changed his mind and abandoned the paper.
This is the result:

The "sea monster" became part of the hat, can you see it? :oD
I never made little boys for my little "niñas" but I think it's a good thing. I was pretty happy with it, particularly since trying to make a 3D girl out of my drawings is what took me to the polymer clay and dolls.

My swap baby!

Today I received my swap baby in the mail... I'm so happy!
Remember when I posted about the one I made to send?
Here's the picture before I sent him:


Well I guess I forgot to take a picture after I tied the ribbon and added a baby toy to it...

And the winner is . . .!

Thanks to all the wonderful people that participated in this lil' giveaway.
I have the video of the drawing and congratulations to the winner!!




It took like 10 minutes for the video to upload....
My daughter picked 3 papers from the basket and from there selected the winner.
Congrats Catherine! yaay!
I hope you all had fun, I did!
And here's to another year of learning, creating and blah-ging!

Almost 4 years...

...of posting random artsy chitchat! wow... 4 years...
I never celebrated this blog's anniversary, so I decided to do so this year with something special to me.
A giveaway of a 4x4 inches mini painting, painted back in 2005. This is one I kept for a test to see how the colors held and I have to say they look like if I painted it yesterday!
Anyone can participate, from anywhere in the world! And if you subscribe to my youtube, your name gets listed twice, so double the chance!! :o)



I actually started to blog after the first reading about it in the Art Divas group.
Which by the way now I am helping moderate the Art Divas in ning, so if you hear any explosions over there it was me, having a little accident :o.

I had another blog, then made this one , took me a while to get used to it or remember to come and post.... In time, I got to meet wonderful people from far away places, learned cool new things and different ways people do their art. And also I get to share with others a bit of me, my endeavors, my craft, and post tips of things I enjoy doing, to help others as well.

In this past years I have changed painting methods, subjects, styles, materials... I went from painting back to sculpting; from stitching back to painting again...
I went from listing every day, to not listing at all... from large canvas, to small format, to polymer and paperclay.

The only thing that has not changed is my love for creating.
I have learned a lot, and hopefully I have helped someone out there to learn something new.
So, if you are interested in the Give away, please post a comment here, and week after the anniversary (which will be the 18th) we'll randomly select a winner.
Good luck!

Painting, thinking and how-to... how to?

I was invited to make a how-to video in Deb's group in ning. I love helping people, but I like helping in a helping way... does it make any sense?? lol
What I mean is, I like helping directly to the best of my ability, but never done a video like that, and if I make a tutorial I hope it really helps.
I had to sit and think.... how can I make something that will really help... in a video, that also looks good?
So... I have been doing a lot of thinking and learning on how to make a how-to video :oP I need a few elements.
I have to be clear and helpful (need to make lists and a script)... It has to look pretty (have to clean all the junk from my desk AGH!)... and since it has to be a video, it has to sound good too (which is half impossible with the kids out of school).... *moooom she brought the cat in!! moooom he took the cat out!! moooom I'm hungry.... meeeww!! (that's Panzon asking for food too)

An approx time line of all of the above mentioned steps would be:
- Working on a list of things needed- couple of hours
- Clear a huge amount of stuff from my working table- six months
- Actual video taping once everything is settled- interrupted sequences depending on the noise around, couple of hours a day, several days....
- Editing video till I like it- another six months LOL
I guess a good solution would be, hide in the closet with he camera rolling while the kids are having pizza. Oh well. ;o)

Like one of the first times I made a video for a doll

That reminded me, over a year ago I made a little slide show demo on how to paint a Frida with acrylics on canvas.
I will upload it in youtube again. I had it before and I don't remember why I took it down. But it will be up tonight. :o)
I am working on more videos and slide shows (doll related) so keep an eye on my youtube, you can subscribe too!

I want to make some demos on polymer and on painting ACEO art cards.
But for now, I'll leave you with the painting of my tropical Frida, circa 2007



(couple of hours later) Here it is:

WIP of doll swap and the beach...

I am so thrilled to show you these pictures! I rarely participate in swaps because it's stressing for me, but once a year or so, I can survive a swap :o)
So for this doll swap we are doing bundle babies. I won't say who is the person I am sending it to because it is a surprise... Xo)

Here is the sculpted head with quilting to form the body:


Here he is with his outfit and hat:


Cozy in his blanket... I still need to add a few touches , like ribbon


I guess he's about 5 or 6 inches by the time I wrap him and all.

....Oh! We went to the coast a couple of days ago. It was great to feel a bit of chill after so many days in the 100's here in town! (38 to 42 Centigrades) This time I did remember to carry our sweatshirts! We were enjoying the cool weather even when it was a bit overcast.

Doors and Moon

I wanted to share you a cool posting I found about doors. I LOVE doors! For a long time I collected door pictures. I would go on a trip and find some door to photograph. I don't know exactly why I find doors so awesome... they tell a story, they welcome you, that's the first and last thing people see when they are home. Just like people, each door has it's personality! LOOK HERE and enjoy.

Now, for the moon part of this posting:
We are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the man walking on the moon, (or did he...?) and here's a picture I took this past 4th of July. I like taking moon pictures :o)



*This post was originally part of another post but edited later on.

Blog Tips

I'll start this week with some fun tips for your blog. For those readers that are not techie or have not done a change of background in their blog yet.
I just can't help it... I like bright colors and backgrounds! I actually have change my background a few times and I always thought I was never going to do that, but then again "never say never"
So, Blog Tips: Visit this great sites, look their awesome designs, select one and then follow instructions, it is really easy! If you have any questions contact them, or ask me. I'll do my best to help :oD

templates by tenille

hot bliggity blog

the cutest blog on the block

bloggerblog backgrounds

update:
shabby blogs

scrappin blogs

Another update:
dottydotdot design

smitten blog designs gallery

17 years and counting...

Today is our wedding anniversary. 17 years of a roller coaster with my best friend.
I'll do it all over again :o) Love is a wonderful thing! Chocolate cake is second best.

WIP and stuff

It is hot out there, but that's ok with me!
I have been working off and on in my ADO project and other little things. Here's a WIP picture and he'll be ready tonight if I can handle the kids visits (which now include pets, mind you...) and cutting and stitching.

I found a new spot to take pictures and I've been trying to take better pictures as well. I love my light box but it was a bit limiting for some bigger things, so now I don't have walls in it, just the back drop. That way I can change backgrounds easier too.

I want to share some punch of energy with you all....
Panzon actually moved twice this week! LOL ... oh, who could live like a cat! (except for the nap-next-to-smelly-shoes part! ;o)


oh! I also added a "Label cloud" to my blog, on the right side, to find old postings easier and it looks cool. I thought it was going to be really hard, but it wasn't (cross your fingers it won't collapse on me!!) lol