Happy Valentine's Day!

My jewelry for today.... courtesy of my 'Art Charms' swap buddies.....

Mahalo Nui Loa (thank you very much) everyone!!!!  I think there are 50 to 60 charms there, can you believe it?  And each and everyone is wonderful!! Peggy and Chris cut off the Valentine's swap at 30 but so many more artists still wanted to participate they opened a Valentine 2 swap.  Several of us couldn't stand the thought of missing out on any charms so we joined both!  So glad I did!


Here are my charms....


The first is a little collage in a metal bezel with bee on a flower and a little 'mine' text added.  I added a two part resin to fill the bezel for a glass affect.  Love the Envirotex Resin--looks very cool and it isn't too stinky to work with like regular resins.  I was really hesitant to use the stuff--think I had it setting on a shelf for a year or so before I finally got the nerve to try it.  So easy.... what was I afraid of?? :)  Had my hubby take pics when I was making these so I can put together a little tutorial to show you how easy it is in case you are nervous about it like I was.  (I did drill a hole in these and add a jump ring but for some reason can't find the pic of the finished piece--sorry about that)

My second heart charm is made with copper wire.  I twisted a little stylized heart then pounded it with a rounded hammer to flatten the wire and add a texture.  Then I used Liver of Sulphur to patina the copper since this swap was to have 'gun metal' colored wire.  Added some glass beads for a little glitz.  Funny--two other people, Emily and Nancy both used wire and glass beads to make stylized heart charms too!  I think the 3 compliment each other nicely on the bracelet!

Thanks again for the fun jewelry everyone!  And special thanks to our fearless leaders, Peggy and Chris!  BTW, Chris and Peggy have a great book out, Mixed Media Art Charms, with lots of wonderful instructions to get you started in this fun little art endeavor!

Whales at Ma'alaea....

Well, 2011 is starting to pick up.....  Didn't start off so well with a bad cold as soon as the kids left after the holidays that turned into pneumonia.  It's been hard to shake but I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel--oops--not that light!  Haven't been out much but have managed to spend a few mornings parked at the sand to watch the whales.  Just can't tell you how cool they are!  Something you have to experience for yourself.  So cool you can watch them right from the beach.

Ma'alaea Beach at dawn....

Mom (on the left) and baby spy hopping

Baby practicing it's tail slaps...that's Mom's pec fin on the left

Hey look--kayakers--let's say 'Hi'!

'Look what I can do!'

Some cute little green sea turtles came by to say hello too.

The Whales are back!

Well, yep, the hardest part of November's 'Create Every Day' was posting what I made! Seems that I pretty much do create every day so that wasn't so hard. As you can see by my number of posts...I'm a terrible blogger! I think I read on Peggy K's blog one time "it's much more fun making things than writing about making things" or something like that...how true for me too! Mostly for November I made jewelry, jewelry, and more jewelry---earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and pins! I keep putting my beads and metals away to make room for other projects, then I'll see something that gives me an idea of something new to try and I get it all back out again. But that means I have lots of new things to post to my Etsy shop--Yay! Hopefully I'll get to that later today--tomorrow at the latest. Stand by--I'll let you know when they're up.

But back to the topic....

Winter is my favorite time of year here on Maui. Yes, you can't beat having 80 degree weather, mostly clear sunny days all year round which makes for happy, friendly neighbors and visitors, but this time of year we get special visitors--Humpbacks! Every year they travel from Alaska to visit our little island to enjoy our waters, have their babies, and make more babies for next year. I can't tell you how exciting it is to be driving down the road and see these magnificent animals the size of a school bus leaping out of the water!! And of course when you run into them unexpectedly....

This is a pic our our daughter, Keely on her trip out year before last. She heads to Maui every winter from Connecticut on her teacher's break. LOVE this pic! We were paddle surfing at Cove Park, across the street from our condo and ran into a Mom and her new calf. I'm sure the escort was around but we didn't see him. You always stay 300 ft away from the whales but if they come up to you, you should sit and wait for them to leave. That's called being 'mugged' by the whales. This Mom seemed to be showing 'people' to her baby.

This part of the mom's back above the water is only about a third of her--they're pretty big! I'll try get some breech pics this week and post them. Our friends at our vacation rental saw three day before last right out in front of Makani a Kai. Way cool! The water in Ma'alaea Bay is shallow and the Mom's have their babies there and hang out for a couple of weeks until the babies are a bit bigger. Love Ma'alaea!

Found a great little book called "What's New Cupcake" at Lowe's of all places. Hubby was returning some things and I was carousing the book shelf. What a fun book! Used some of their tips to get ideas for a desert I needed to take to a friend's for a dinner party. Aren't they perfect for a Maui winter dinner? :)

Enjoy your Sunday!

10 Days of Creating.....

Well, here's what I've been working on...... Charms for my 'Art Charms' group's "Blue, White, and Silver" charm swap! These are made on cute little dominos. I drilled holes in the top - stamped a snorkeling kitty with 'stays on' ink (a great permanent ink) - used a couple of shades of light blue chalk inks for background water, backs, and around the sides and heat set the inks with my handy heat gun. They seemed a little plain so I added some charms to some, others I added beads to, and some I glued some button (with the backs cut off) sea stars and shells. Couldn't decide which I likes best and then realized I liked them all and it didn't matter that they all weren't the same -- except for those that signed up twice and might want to use them for earrings....you'll just have to be asymmetric!

I love how creative people are when they are sending off their charms in special little packages so I've really been making an effort to come up with different packaging ideas. This has been working out well since I've been going though all of my old magazines (I'm talking like 10 years worth--gads) and tearing the articles with techniques I want to try and then passing on the mags to my young, budding artist friend Maile next door. Little packages for trades are the perfect way to try out new techniques! Here's one I think was being used for a match book card. (ps: now that I have all these loose pages with great things to do someday, I'm putting them into plastic page protectors and then will put them in binders according to mediums -- oh I'll be so organized!!)

Used rubber stamps to decorate some extra large tags and folded them to make the little packets to hold my charms......

Aren't they cute? And last night I finished putting little ribbons on the tags and here they sit waiting for a padded envie to send off to Chris....

Isn't the mosaic table a nice background for photos? :)

Off to try more new techniques....or maybe an old one! 'Til tomorrow....

Aloha!

Well, I was right....the hardest thing about 'Create Every Day' isn't the creating.... it's the posting about what we create! For me anyway :) I know that isn't part of the challenge but something I wanted to challenge myself to do... I'll keep trying!

It's been over 10 days since I've posted but I haven't not been creating. Before I go on to what I've been up to I wanted to share with you the two tables that inspired my friend Brian to want to learn how to do mosaic tile and glass work....

I just love these tables. They are on our lanai at our condo in Kihei. The table tops make me smile when I see them since the tiles and glass pieces are special... A friend gave me some small pretty blue tiles left over from a tile job he did and the fish are from our kitchen backsplash in Redondo Beach, saved from a remodel. The little white tiles (the coral) are from leftovers my mom's house found in the back of a storage closet when I was cleaning out her house. Round glass and other tiles sent to me by an art friend. The little sea glass pebbles were collected by friend Mary from Lake Erie. When another friend was commenting on the bottom table after I posted it on facebook, I realized she had sent me the glass stars long ago. Don't you just love it when those things you've been saving forever happen to all come together and get up-cycled?!

btw.....I'm thinking I like the green grout best....think that's the little something extra our table needs Brian. Pretty sure I can seal the grout with some metallic paint right over the top...I'll let you know how it works.

Yeah!! The table is finished!

And it's about time isn't it!

Next step after gluing all the pieces down is to get the grout in all the groves and around the edge.

Looks like a muddy mess but it will be pretty -- not to worry!

After the grout sets up for a bit, you start taking off the extra with a wet sponge. It takes a few times to get it all off. Tomorrow I'll seal it and it's good to go.

Now off to other projects.......have about 40 charms that need making!

WooHoo - The table is glued!

Day 5 of Create Every Day.....

Finally finished getting the tiles on the table glued. I'll let it set over night and it will be ready to grout tomorrow--Yay! Here's a pic....

Okay, so it doesn't look so much different than the first day when we were planning out the design....but now it's glued down! And we started the grouting there on the bottom before Brian left so he'd know how to do it when he starts his project back home. I just love teaching people techniques so they can do art on their own.

That's all for tonight...Happy Arting!

Day 4....

Happy Day 4 of Create Every Day!

Don't have a photo of today's art again since it would still look the same so thought I would share this nice sunset from our lanai. Isn't it pretty? :)

My art for today was gluing down the tiles on the mosaic table top....man, the gluing takes a long time! Still not done so will be finishing up that tomorrow. Thought the designing was the most time consuming part of mosaics. Brian--come back and help me!!

'Til tomorrow!

No pic today....

Aloha Everyone--

Create Every Day....Day 3

Still working on the mosaic tile....just a quick bit of art today. Brian left this afternoon to head back to the mainland but got a quick lesson in how to grout tile on the mosaic table top we started. Only got a small portion grouted so I'll take pics tomorrow of the finished (I hope!) project. I've been wanting to do a mosaic on that table for the longest time. Thanks Brian for getting me started on this and for your input to the design--it was great being your art teacher again! (I was Brian's art teacher during Elementary and Jr. High School at Riviera Hall in Redondo Beach....another life time ago! And now he has a Doctorate in Math--even those left brainers need art!!)

'Til tommorrow--

Cris

Day 2...

Ahola! Day 2 of Create Every Day and I'm posting--woohoo! Like I said yesterday, the hardest part of 'Create Every Day' will be posting everyday and here I am posting at 11 tonight--still the second here in Hawaii :) Today has been busy busy.... Voting ... off to the North Shore to see the big waves ... stopped by the Sugar Museum on the way back ... started a mosaic table top (the art for the day!)--worked out a great design with friend Brian visiting from the mainland who wanted to learn how to do mosaics ... off to the West Side for a sunset Luau complete with Fire Dancers ... back home and glued down half the mosaic design so I can show Brian how to grout it tomorrow before he heads to the airport.

Brian showing his mom, Carolyn, how to cut the glass tiles.....

Brian and I working out a design....

Just about there.....

Come back tomorrow for the grouting!

Aloha, Cris

Create Every Day!

Aloha!

Peggy our fearless leader at the Art Charms group mentioned she wanted to create art everyday during the month of November. Several others of us decided to join her. This is my first offering -- still November 1 here...but well into tomorrow for most of you!

We have friends visiting from the mainland so things are a bit hectic. Went to one of our favorite snorkel spots, Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve this morning and saw quite a variety of sea life. So nice to see this area recovering. Lots and lots of fish and even the coral looked like it's coming back. Always when I'm snorkeling I have great visions of coming home and doing watercolors of the beautiful fish....never seems to happen. Didn't get to it until this evening when we were watching the DVD, "Riding Giants" to give our friends an idea of the waves we expect to see tomorrow at Ho'okipa. Should be 25 to 35 feet--woohoo! Wonder if I can paint a nice little watercolor of that for tomorrow's art :)

Until tomorrow....

(I think my biggest challenge for this month will be posting everyday--I'm such a bad blogger!)

More Charms!

If you were following my old blog, you saw many, many posts of charms....still love the little mini pieces of art! Joined yet another charm group and sent in my charms this week for the first swap. Charm swappers just all seem to be such nice people! Peggy Krzyzewski and Christine Hansen are hosting this fun 'Art Charms' yahoo group. (BTW: they have a wonderful book fresh off the press... "Making Mixed Media Art Charms and Jewelry".... check it out)

Can't wait to see all of the charms that are swapped. There are 31 people in the 'Dangly' swap so there will be quite a variety.

And then there's Halloween coming up soon.....

Amber Dawn was so sweet and hosted a little mini, fast turn around Halloween swap for our 'International Charms' group. She isn't even joining the swap but is doing all the hosting for us. Thanks Amber!

Treasure Boxes!

On my last post you saw a nice, organized studio....I have WAY too much good stuff to deep it that way! Combining my Redondo Studio with my one here made for lots of duplicates --think I have enough supplies to last 4 or 5 lifetimes. Thought I would offer some treasure boxes and share some of those supplies with you.

I have filled 5 medium size priority boxes, jam packed with lots of goodies you will love to use in your art work. Lots and lots of different treasures....buttons, ephemera, beads, game pieces, tags, cards, fibers....

$25 will get you one of your own Treasure Boxes -- postage included!!

Here's a sample of what you will find....

I also have some small priority boxes filled with just game pieces or fibers and ribbons. I've been collecting these for quite awhile, from all over. The ribbons are all at least 2 yards, many are longer so they will take you through several projects. There is a huge variety of game pieces that will keep your creative juices flowing! Great for making charms and for those special finishing touches in your collages.

$10, shipping included and you can have a small priority box packed with goodies too!

Email me .... crispart@yahoo.com

Aloha!

Once again...long time no see :0 We finally made the complete move to Maui last January and in between making art, playing in the water and making numerous trips back to the mainland to visit family and friends, I have been trying to combine my Redondo Beach studio with my work space in my tiny little art room here. Have finally gotten to an organized, workable space -- yay!

Made this nice little album, Peacock Studio, on picture trail that I will share with you...

or you can click here to see a 'regular' picture trail album to see the images more clearly.

Off to spend time in my studio!

Aloha - Cris

Fun at Zinnia's

Whenever I am back in Southern California, I always make sure to meet up with my good friend, Chris. Our favorite thing to do is to take a class together at Zinnia. What a fun store--GREAT people, lots of inspiration and lots more goodies to use in your art. Best of all fabulous classes to learn and have fun in. Here are the C(h)ris-es taking a class with Paul. Had a another wonderful class with Joe the week before making polyclay beads.

This is my canvas I made using an image of Keely the Farmer. I added a little Tristan on his tractor later. You can visit her website 'Dancing Frog Farm' and see her menagerie--it's a mini farm...mini goats...mini horses! There are 'regular' size animals too....BIG dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, lizards...a fun place to visit.

I'm closing my crispart.net site for now....

so I thought I'd post some of my favorite artwork from there....hope you enjoy!

This was my daughter, Keely's birthday present this year...a little Hawaii for her on the east coast. We had fun filling the pocket's with touristy stuff. The sunflower fabric on the inside is from scraps of her bedroom curtains when she was little.

Love the way this turned out...

A friend's daughter found this shell awhile back and wanted to do something special with it. She saw some of my sea glass jewelry and asked what I could come up with. Love the way copper looks with treasures from the sea!

Let me know how she likes it Karen...should be there today or tomorrow.

(the pic is taken with the granite countertop in our vacation rental as the background - - isn't it gorgeous? It's called 'Jurassic green' and comes from Africa. Picked it out at Jurassic Stone here on Maui -- they are the absolute best ever. Reminds me of tide pools)

350 Event at Zinnia in Pasadena

Be sure to stop by Zinnia in Pasadena today if you are in the the Los Angeles area. They have put together a fun art show event for the day. Kyle and I contributed some paintings as well. Won't post photos of ours until after the event since the artists are suppose to remain anonymous until after purchases. (Zinnia is always a stop on my mainland visits--Great shop--Fun people--wonderful classes.)

Events are taking place all over the globe for the 350 event awareness so check out what's happening in your area. Here on Maui there is the Reef Check Hawaii Survey in Kaanapali and the Blue Line Project in Lahaina, Kahului, and Kihei.

And if you are back in our old home town in the South Bay beach area, looks like lots of friends will be having fun at the beaches as well. Hope to see some pics of the Amazing Waving Human Tide Line.

Have a GREAT day!

Aloha!

Well, we are back from another trip to the mainland -- and no, escrow still hasn't closed on our Redondo Beach home. Think we will hold the title of the longest escrow in history. But we're close! And when we get to come back home to sunrises like this.....you just kind of shrug your shoulders and say 'oh well, it will happen when it happens' and go on to enjoy another beautiful day on Maui.

This gorgeous photo was taken yesterday morning on the beach in front of our vacation rental in Ma'alaea. If you are coming to come to Maui and need a place to stay, check with us for availability. Here is a virtual tour of our condo...

http://www.islandvirtualtours.com/593/

Fruit....

Our neighbors, Mary and Maile left a bag of these pretty Star Fruits at our door last week. We had tried them long ago on a trip to the islands but I guess the ones we had weren't ripe---VERY bitter. Even the kids (who use to like to suck on lemons) wouldn't eat them. These were sweet and crunchy! Made my lips do the tingly, tongue swelling thing so Phil enjoyed the rest of them. (btw....how can you be allergic to something you've only had one other time, years ago?????)

Okay, I was the first of all my friends to ever eat an artichoke or an avocado and I've always I've shopped in odd markets looking for interesting foods all my life...at least to look at since I can't eat many things due to food allergies, but this one surprised even me! We wandered around the farmer's market at the Maui Mall after our movie looking at the pretty fruits and vegetables when we came across this..... Pretty, yah? Pretty weird! The thing was over a foot long and at least 8 inches across....all gnarly and twisted and spiky! Sent Keely a pic on the cell phone and she summed it up pretty well...."Looks like a giant pear from an alternate universe".

Found this web picture of it growing. Said they come from India......must grow it somewhere here on island too. The lady selling jewelry next to the fruit said, "well, it's an acquired taste...." Think we might be skipping that one!

Hope you are eating something yummy tonight for dinner!

Found my other photos..

Here are some more lovely jewelry pieces made with sea glass....

Watch for more--have lots of glass to play with! And now that I have my package from the mainland from Diamond Bits I'm getting the hang of drilling the holes. So much easier with the proper sized diamond drill bits!

Sea Glass Goodies

Have been watching for Sea Glass treasures on my beach walks and collected quite a few pretty pieces. Was showing my neighbors and they showed me theirs too.....Whoa!!! They've been here a lot longer than we have! And best of all---THEY SHARE!! (thanks Mary & Maile!) So now I've been playing....

Thought I had more pics downloaded from my camera but can't find them...oh well! Better post this now and look later or it will be forever until I add another post...I'm not very good about posting regularly in case you hadn't noticed!

Hope you're having wonderful end of summer weather where ever you are.