CRE8

My how time flies....seems like a few months instead of weeks since I posted. I did not make it to any of my art ed convention. Instead, I spent quality time with 3 beautiful girls.

Isabelle, Alyssa, and Makenna just turned 2 in early oct. When my sister-in-law said they knew their alphabet I'm thinking...how cute... they probably know part of the song. Oh NO, these girls are SUPER SMART. Saturday when they woke up from their nap I was playing with them in the room and there is a table with the alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors on it. I am not kidding when I tell you they went straight to the table and started recognizing and IDENTIFYING correctly EVERY letter, number and shapes. I was shocked. I have no idea how Kim and her mom do it everyday. I was aching all over the next day, but enjoying every single minute of chasing them around, feeding, bathing and playing with them and especially the hugs n kisses. Sweet babies.

I actually got most of the things done on my to-do list. I completely went a new direction on the blog prizes and they are cute. I'll be getting them delivered soon. The blog contest I had in July will now be a Christmas theme prize. Funny thing is, some of the ones I owe a prize to will be like "Blog prize? what blog prize? What IS a blog?" LOL. (Not you Jennifer F.)

I've been working on my Christmas projects. I hope to get my strange computer issues worked out soon so I can actually upload photos. From experience I know blogs are much more interesting with pictures.

Kirk and J.T. are doing well. Both are hunting...literally this afternoon. Kirk is still doing well in football. Again, luckily we've had some good old-fashioned Tornado football where the score is "on up there" and he's been able to play. J.T.is more excited about hunting this year than ever before.

I already have 3 Christmas trees up, how about you? I'm working on decorating this week. I like to do a little at a time. Actually, I'd rather do it at once, but I usually end up doing it a little at a time.

Check back soon for PHOTOS of some of the projects I'm working on. I've also created an "etsy" shop and will upload items to that soon hopefully. WHAT is etsy, you ask? Well,check it out. www.etsy.com It's a site where people sell all kinds of cool, strange, great home made stuff.

CRE8.
get it? CREATE. (one of my new art projects at school is for the kids to create their own license plates. I did one as an example and I love it. It may show up in my car...although J.T. says he would not ride with me if I do. LOL.) You can see it on our artsonia site. www.artsonia.com enter zip 71038.

Suzy

Touchdown and Choir...

Well, my boys never cease to amaze me. It's been quite a week since I posted. No, I DID NOT get the 3 things done on my list. I DID "finish" the blog prizes, but I don't like them...so I"ll have to alter them a bit. I DID get 2 things painted for the frolics. They are cute. Mostly "piddly" things. Not sure if "piddly" is a word...but you know what I mean, right?

So, you ask...what does Touchdown and Choir MEAN for a post? Well, not sure if I even mentioned it, but Kirk decided to PLAY football. OKAY. Makes the game a little more stressful, but hey...I LIKE the idea that he's playing. Well, he obviously missed all of the "HARD" work all of the other team has had for months now...but he was practicing kicking. Luckily we've had a couple of weeks of good old-fashioned Tornado football...you know like when I WAS in school and the score was always highly in our favor. We didn't really MEAN to run up the score, it just happened. Especially when the band played "Sweet Caroline". Okay, I'm digressing here. ANYWAY, Kirk MADE 2 kicks in the first game that he got to play in...yea Kirk..put 2 points on the board. Well, last week the score was way on up there and Kirk went in as Wide Receiver. HUH? OKAY...forewarning: this is ALL from a mom's perspective here: SO, my nephew was in as QB and Kirk is in the end zone...Justin throws a pass and Kirk CATCHES IT FOR A TOUCHDOWN!!! Talk about exciting. I mean it WAS just 6 points out of the 52 we racked up...but STILL. That video will be shown every Christmas LOL.
And since my good, sweet boys are surprising me lately...J.T. tells me that he's joining the choir. I've mentioned it a couple of times when he and I are in the car singing like CRAZY to KLOVE. I thought he was blowing me off, but ON HIS OWN decided to talk to our choir director and he went to his first practice last night. DID I MENTION I'm so proud of my kids? They are the best. Not because of what they do...but because of who they are.

OKAY...on to creative stuff. Well, do you ever just have so much to do you don't know where to start? I'm narrowing it down: (1) do baby paintings that I have an order for (2) more frolics painting (3) FINISH "piddly" things I've started. If I'm lucky I'll also do the blog prizes, paint yard signs and some fun thing I"m working on.

I also just found out that my sister-in-law, Kim is coming home with the girls (my beautiful triplet nieces). Isabelle, Alyssa, and Makenna. They will be here Thursday afternoon through Monday.

AND...I have/had this creative weekend planned...but things change. Some things are more important (like babysitting my nieces and watching Kirk play football). There is a Louisiana Art Ed Assoc. convention at Tech this weekend. I was looking forward to it. THAT's ANOTHER story that I'll save for another day. I do think I will make it to the Saturday stuff. But I'll miss something Friday night AND dinner at Squire Creek Saturday. I"m pretty sure I"m taking this workshop Saturday that is probably sure to fill my creative brain with more ideas. Tell ya more next week. Hey...MAYBE I'll have photos. Wouldn't that surprise you?
till then....

Create.
Suzy

A Day in the Life...

What does a day in MY life look like....
well, that may be why I haven't posted in a month LOL. I like boring though. It's nice sometimes, especially right before a fun and busy holiday season. Gives me time to think. Time to think of MORE ideas that I wonder if I'll EVER get done.

Well today looks like this: Couldn't find my school tshirt this morning...hello? HOW many places are there for it to hide? It'll turn up. School was good. My 5th and 6th graders started doing papier mache today. That is SO much fun. Really. It's theraputic. (sp?). Then I came home and cooked sour cream chicken enchiladas for the first time ever. another HELLO? WHY have I never cooked this? It's even J.T.'s favorite and super good and easy to cook. Then, I ran over to the football field to outline the Tornado so I did not have to re-paint it from scratch. We have not had a home game in a while, so it's faded alot. Will probably watch Dancing With the Stars and Color Splash (on HGTV) tonight right before a nice long hot bubble bath to wrap up the day. Nice. Thank goodness some kind soul at ABC created the Dancing with the Stars show right as I started teaching Fine Arts Survey. LOL. THAT IS our dancing unit. Not really, but ALMOST.

Okay, now that I've bored my blog reader...(notice the "reader" not "readers")(Hey Jenn...) I'll post about something creative.

Last week I made the cutest halloween name tags for my nephew's halloween party. I've had these canvas fabric squares sitting by my desk for a few weeks trying to decide what I wanted to do with them. Well, I hand painted little pumpkins and the kids name on them. My sister-in-law is attaching them to pumpkin cups with a ribbon. Since I was using FABRIC and I needed a way for her to attach ribbon....I LEARNED how to use my awsome new little tool that set eyelets and grommets in fabric. So cool.
Also last week, I finished the 3 paintings that I was doing for my secret pal at church. I did a cross, floral, and snowman family painting. We wrapped up a year having the same secret pal, and I just feel blessed to have drawn Donna B's name. She is a very kind and beautiful person. Our former secretary at the church (Ashleigh) had my name. Before she left, she revealed and gave me the NICEST platter personalized with our name (and other goodies). Have I mentioned we have the BEST sunday school class? It begins with our teacher who we honored this weekend, but I just have some good genuine friends. Each one of them different in their own way, but we make a good team. I enjoy the fellowship so much. 7 of us went to a Bed and Breakfast in Arcadia (The Dove House) Saturday for lunch. It was such a nice day.

Okay..this week...I"m holding myself accountable (or Jennifer... you can hold me accountable since you're reading. LOL) Here's what I'm doing as part of a new "Creativity Challenge". (#1) I AM finishing my blog prizes for Jenn F., Jenn.K., Kelli, Angela and Bethany...hopefully you'll think it's worth the wait since I did have the contest back during the summer. (#2) Paint atleast one thing I'm working on for our Tornado Frolics auction (I can't say what that is exactly) (#3) finishing my bedspring angels for Christmas.
You may have noticed the new "logo" on my blog that says" Creativity Challenge". Check out that website. www.donnadowney.com. She is one of my creative people. Everything she does is super cool and cute. Love her work.

I'm thinking of doing a mini Christmas workshop for The Art Factory kids. I'm thinking a 2 day thing (afternoons 3:30 - 5:30). Any project requests? I'm sure we'll paint something that you could use for family Christmas cards...but I'm stuck on the other "big" thing. What would you LIKE for your kids to make? A big giant snowman for your front door? Ornaments for their own tree in their room? Stockings to hang at the foot of their bed (there's a history lesson with that). A hand-painted Christmas photo album..notice I said photo album, NOT a scrapbook you would have to make! Let me know.
For all of you who cannot or do not know how to leave a message...email me at: toddsuzy@bellsouth.net

okay...I HAVE to post atleast within a week and be finished with my three things on my list. I'll let you know. So much for boring.

Create.
Suzy

Christmas Projects

Whew. What a few months it's been. I can't believe I've not updated since July. Alot has been going on. School has started and this is going to be my "goodyear". My classes/class size is just right this year, so I'm excited about that. Lots of cute projects have already been created. Check out artsonia.com

I have been making a few things myself. Mainly LISTS of things I want to paint. LOL
Here's my list I made today while I was at the spa (a.k.a. in my art room while my new housekeeper was cleaning my house). Talk about therapy. Don't know why I haven't done this a long time ago. I feel like it's my birthday.

Christmas Ideas (of things to make)
1. Bedspring angels
2. Handpainted postcards
3. mini Christmas paintings
4. Christmas journals
5. wooden reindeer families
6. lollipops
7. canvas door panels
8. wooden boxes
9. canvas ornaments
10. screen/wire snowmen
11. snowman family paintings

I think I need to just set a goal to make a certain# of each thing, but it feels good to get a plan in writing. I"ll post more pictures soon.
Gotta go to choir practice.
Check out my "Scrapbooking Superhero's" site (that's what I call this girl LOL)
www.donnadowney.com

OH...I HAVE NOT forgotten about the blog prizes. They ARE still in the works.
Create.
Suzy

Christmas in July

Here's a photo of the "bedspring" angel. I have to come up with a better name. Any ideas? I just finished a red one tonight.

Think I've figured the photo thing out. I'll try to post more pics.

Create.

Suzy

First day of Summer

Okay...for some reason, it feels like it's the first day of the start of my summer. Not too sure if that's good or not, but I like the feeling. We just wrapped up Art Camp 2008 last Friday with an awesome art show at the library. The boys arrived safely at Glorieta, NM on Monday. They are on a youth trip this week and I'm so excited for them to be able to go. I always wanted to go to Glorieta. Why you ask am I not there too?....well, I'm asking myself that. I think I'll go ahead and sign up for next year. They are going to Ridgecrest. Todd is working and that leaves me here at home alone.

It's been so long since I've just been home alone...relaxing with nothing pressing to do. Not that my house is clean or anything, but just nothing that HAS to be done. So, yesterday Tabitha came over and we scrapbooked. Haven't actually SB in forever. I finished 2 little books. I had already started them, but I was able to finish the pages that I needed to. I have this one CUTE book for my nieces (BTW, if you DIDN'T know...my brother and his wife have TRIPLETS...girls: Isabelle, Alyssa, and Makenna.). Anyway, Kim always KINDLY sends great 5x7 pics of them and I've put them in a cute scrapbook. One per page. very simple and cute. I painted the front cover of the SB today and I really like it. AGAIN ONE DAY when I figure out a fast way to add pics to my blog, I"ll show you.

Okay I used the word cute too many times in that paragraph. LOL. My students always make fun of the things I say, but it's usually the overuse of the word "fancy". I started this thing with them where when they came in to class, somedays I would make "announcements" and some days I would have "CUTE announcements". Use your imagination LOL.

Thanks to all of you checking my blog and who have mentioned it to me. I'm working on "prizes" this week for Paige, Jenn.K., Jenn. F., Bethany, Angela, and Kelley. You're the 6 winners.

I'm also working on my 2 "projects" from Canton (My "bedspring" angels and the scrolls that I'm using to paint the 10 commandments.) We'll see how that goes.

Artcamp parents: email me at toddsuzy@bellsouth.net if you would like the code/security key for artsonia so that you can leave/check messages for your kids. You can join their fan clubs and leave comments for them for free. I have posted ALOT on there today. Check it out!!!

I'm thinking about the adult classes. Call or email me if you're interested. Some ideas are: Make-N-Take classes for: scripture plaques, canvas letters, mini scrapbooking projects. There's also talk of some wanting to do a Scrapbooking Retreat.

I"ll leave you with this random bit of info for the evening...I just counted 26 birds at our feeder.

Create.
Suzy

www.artsonia.com

Okay...art camp is in full progress and I've posted pics from session 1 on artsonia. Check it out. Enter zip 71038 when you get there and click on Art Factory. Parents: I have your "security keys" if you would like them so that you can check your child's messages. For those who are not familiar with artsonia: it is a secure online art gallery for kids. I have my school students on there too. Anyone can log on and look at our gallery and specifically your childs gallery. They will never post photos of your child (that's why there's no photos of THEM on there) and PARENTS have to APPROVE comments left for their child. You can order things with your child's artwork on them, and just share the site with friends and family far away.

As ALWAYS...I'm amazed at what they are creating. It is so cool to see them put their ideas on canvas. I love giving a child the freedom to create something. Anything. I look at all of these painting in my house tonight and I realize why I keep doing this every summer. I love spending time with your kids and I thank you for encouraging their creative spirit. My husband came in tonight and was looking at the kid's stuff and said that he thinks these are the best projects I've ever done with them .....(um....thanks???) I took it as a compliment that he even noticed. LOL

I took a road trip last weekend to Canton. Mom and Ginger talked me into it, and I'm glad they did. I had 5 PAGES of ideas after the first day. Seriously. I did. I found some TREASURES. Some of you have seen my prayer bench. $45. I'm refinishing it. It's a real old prayer bench/alter. Can you imagine how many prayers have been said there? I like having a designated place to pray.

I also found these old wooden spools. They were in the "junk" section. Hello, people? Do you not KNOW these are TREASURES? Mom and Ginger thought I was crazy. Then, they said they wanted one of whatever I made out of them LOL. I had an idea to paint the 10 commandments on a long strip of canvas, attach to the scrolls and roll up like an old-fashioned scroll and tie with a ribbon. Sounds cute, huh? It's on my list. If you're a scrapbooker, or just like cute things...check out this scrapbook superstar's website. www.donnadowney.com Read her blog and look at her "shop" section. She's actually the one that inspired me on the wooden spool thing. I probably would not have noticed them had it not been for a project in one of her books.

I"m still trying to figure out how to get pics on my blog. I don't think it's that difficult, but I need to spend some time learning how. I wish you could see the 15 HUGE black canvases in my house tonight. Tomorrow there will be 15 HUGE colorful, creative paintings. I can't wait.

Create.

Suzy

#1 Fan

Thanks to Paige (aka my #1 Fan)...for actually CALLING and telling me that you have to create an "account" and log on to leave a message on my blog. Guess it's been so long since I created it that I forgot. SO, I understand why no one has left a comment. LOL.

Paige...you get the grand prize. Thanks for being such a good friend and always encouraging me. The next prize will go to the first person who tells me they're my #2 fan. You can tell me in person, leave a message or send an email.

Art camp is filling up fast. Feel free to share the information with friends, but as you know, I usually do not advertise. I cannot wait to see how the PAINTJAM turns out.

We have VBS at our church this week. We're doing an island theme, which is fun.

J.T.'s driving (as we "speak") as part of his Driver's Ed class. He's almost finished and I must say he is driving very well.

He had a great annual check up last week at St.Jude. The doc said the X-Ray/MRI could not look better. That's always a relief and the words we're waiting to hear. J.T. has such a compassion for the kids at St.Jude. He knows how blessed we are that he did not have cancer and he is very humble about the things he goes through (not playing sports, getting IV's, MRI's etc). He never complains. And... thank you for your prayers. Not only did we get a good report, but they got the IV in on the first try. WHEW. what a relief since he promised he was "leaving?" if they didn't. LOL. We had two very nice men who have been at St.Jude for 20 something years each. I could tell they knew what they were doing.

I could go on and on about St.Jude. Many times I'm reluctant to share our story with too many people because JT didn't have cancer and when people donate...it's with the assumption that everyone there has cancer. I have to say we've never met anyone who didn't have cancer and it's a very humbling experience that I know has happened for a reason. I have to tell you about 2 really neat changes they've made in the last year. First, there is a new huge building called the Chili's Care Center. The first 2 floors are for patients. It's where they do the MRI's, etc. It's like walking in to a child's art gallery. There is patient art everywhere. AND there is a new cafe. Now, this is not like any other place I've ever seen. This is called the Kay Kafe, named after Kay Jewelers...the sponsor. You walk in and there is sushi, chinese, homemade pizza baked in a brick oven, a grill, pastry, dessert bar, BBQ, mexican and an ice cream shop. It is UNBELIEVEABLE. I assure you that every PENNY you've ever donated to St.Jude is being WELL USED. Children are so happy to be there because of the things they can do with donations. And as for the parents....it eases the shock. It's so important to see their kids happy at a time like that. They never have to pay a penny EVER. EVER. no matter what. WHAT you see on TV is true. They reimburse parents for gas, travel expenses, meals and provide lodging. There are local groups who almost daily are throwing "parties" at the Grizzly House providing supper and crafts or something. Again, I could go on and on.....but it was on my heart to thank everyone who has ever donated. I can tell you from experience that you are part of something great.

Well, as I was typing....Fan#2 called. Jennifer K. You win the prize. Don't worry...I'll do more. So now....just mention you're Fan#3.

Since about a MONTH has already gone by this summer....I decided to make Tu, and Th my "painting" days. M,W,F are my cleaning days...but on Tu,Th...I'm free to paint. ALL DAY. I LOVE the summer.

Gotta go pick up JT from Drivers Ed. Watch out for him on the roads!! Actually....watch out for Kirk. He's always in a hurry to get to Alayna's LOL.

Create.

Suzy

Art Camp 2008 ROCKS!!!!

I finally finished the registration info. for my summer art camp. They will start going out today. I hope you are curious and start checking out my blog. There's nothing like MAKING someone leave a comment by offering prizes !!! LOL

Clearly, I am no blog expert, but it is fun.

OKAY..this year's inspiration for art camp comes directly from NEW ORLEANS. Becky and I were lucky enough to attend our first NAEA (National Art Ed Assoc) National Convention. Talk about idea overload!! Imagine thousands of art teachers in one place with literally thousands of workshops to choose from. So cool. As a side note: I WON a Cricut. Maybe some of you scrapbookers KNOW what a Cricut is. ANYWAY....there was a guy there named Dan Dunn. He did the most AMAZING art performance I've EVER seen. His daughter put a video of his performance on YouTube and he is BOOKED forever and rich now. This was only about a year ago. Check out his website at www.paintjam.com and/or his performance on YouTube. Search PaintJam and you will find him.
So as I'm watching this guy...I"m thinking of HOW we can do a paintjam for art camp. I've decided to do a mini-version of what he does. They will be doing a LARGE painting on canvas TO MUSIC while I video it. Now, since I"m NOT technilogically advanced, if any of you have any great ideas on HOW I should video them, let me know. Maybe you have a flip camera or something. Right now, I'm planning on using my video camera which uses a VHS-C cartridge. I will give you a cartridge with your child's performance on it, and you will have to have it put on a disc. I know this can be done at WalMart. If you have more than one child attending, I will try to put them on the same cartridge to save you money. I"M REALLY HOPING that ONE of you parents are laughing at the moment and know of a MUCH EASIER way of doing this .....
email me at: toddsuzy@bellsouth.net

We are also doing painted ROCKS this year based upon a kids book titled: "Only One You". It is an EXCELLENT book that I highly recommend. That's kindof how I came up with this year's theme of Art Camp 2008 ROCKS. We're painting rocks AND doing the PaintJam thing to music. Along with that, I will be teaching them some drawing techniques and they will start a sketchbook that will be their's to keep.

Not TOO SURE about WeePaint this year. We'll be doing SOME kind of painting on canvas. I initially planned to do the "Only One You" book and rocks with them, but I think they would be done in about 5 minutes and you wouldn't be able to tell that their rock is a fish. SO....I'm still thinking about this. Any ideas?

Leave a comment....and don't forget to:

Create...it's a verb. Just do it.

Suzy

Where does time go?

Gosh...1-1/2 months since my first post. Good thing no one has been actually READING this blog and expecting an update.

Here goes....
School: Done. We left THE DAY school was out (May 15th) for my favorite spot in the world. We have been staying at the Breakers in Fort Walton Beach since I was a little girl. It ended up just being the 4 of us going. The guys played golf alot and we had fun. I stayed on the beach about 5-6 hrs per day. 3 words. BLUE BEACH CHAIR. For 8 days. It was wonderful. I really feel like that is my other "spot" in the world. I have alot to share about the trip, but that could be another post in itself. The only thing I will add that was "out of the ordinary" IS.... I let my 16 year old son (kirk) do something that I ALWAYS tell him he could only do when he's 21 and I"m not there!!! I call it the rubber band thingy. You know...that crazy "ride" that pulls you up in the air and releases you. We ran in to Kirk's coach and his family and he talked Kirk into trying it with him. It didn't take much though. I was steadily telling Kirk that he DID NOT have my permission. Of course that was while I was FILMING the whole thing.

So, we're back home. J.T. is almost finished with Drivers Ed. He actually scares me alot less than Kirk does. If you know them, you would know that is kindof strange. Kirk drives like me (fast and confident) and J.T. drives like Todd. Slow. Thank goodness.

I'm almost finished planning my Summer Art Camp. I have the dates set and I am almost positive what projects we are doing. I hope to have registration forms starting this Sunday. The theme this year is: "Art Camp 08 ROCKS!!" One of the main projects we are doing is called Paintjam and is inspired by this performance I saw at an Art convention in New Orleans. Go to youtube and type in paintjam to check this guy out. One of the COOLEST things I've ever seen. I knew right away this was ART CAMP material!

My sister-in-law is getting married this weekend, so we have wedding plans Friday and Saturday. I"m excited. Fill you in on details later, BUT I hear it involves CUPCAKES.
(As a random side note...my friend and I are one day moving to the beach and opening a cupcake shop). It's a joke of course. But, one can dream. I have more cupcake stories, but again, I will save those details for later too.

I will be adding photos of some of my artwork soon. I've been doing notecards, baby paintings, canvas letters, and I have a new cross design. I'm going to post some work on ETSY and send in design submissions to a publisher this summer. I"ll try to keep my "rambling" to a minimum since I want this site to be about my artwork.

SO...LOOK FOR: photos of my work, information on my ART FACTORY: ART CAMP 2008, and links to my favorite sites. I"m also thinking about doing a series of classes for adults. I've had a request to teach (1) the canvas letters and (2) scripture plaques. What do you think?

okay people...start posting messages for me and let me know that you're READING my blog now. I DO LOVE to give prizes....but you have to leave me a message to win!!

Create...it's a verb. Just do it.

Suzy

ahh..the feeling of summer.

For some reason it hit me today. I have TONS to do in the next 2-3 weeks before school is out. But, along with that comes the wonderful feeling of having the whole summer off. The joys of teaching.
I have alot to post, but will save for later. Let me just say I think it includes sand, water, and a blue beach chair.