No Time for Art... :-(

If you read my main blog you have probably figured out - our wait for adoption is finally over. We went to Korea on March 29th and returned home with our precious baby boy on April 4, 2009. We are SO Blessed!!

Isaac has been home for almost 2 weeks now, and is really doing well. He's really adjusting to his new home, new life and new family. We, too, are adjusting to our new life and this amazing, precious sweet little boy who never seems to sit still for a minute. He's 10 months old and is constantly crawling, standing, cruising along the furniture as he is trying to learn to walk, and getting into everything! :-)

Needless to say....I have to put my paints, pens, art journals and craft supplies up for now....I absolutely have no time for creativity right now....Yes Isaac takes 1 or 2 naps...but only about an hour to hour and a half...and that time is used for household chores, the budget/bill paying, laundry, answering emails/returning calls. The time at night when he goes to bed is spent with hubby. We are not one of those couples who goes into separate rooms to watch different TV shows, read or do things separately. We spend our time together and really enjoy it.

Maybe someday I'll find my way back to my art journal (perhaps in the car on a long trip to visit family) or to my craft/art supplies...I still have a project notebook with ideas, lists, sketches of things I'd like to make...but for now they'll have to wait.

I'll have to live vicariously through the art of others for now....

Foam Core Sculpture....

My latest project....A Retro-Mod "Welcome" sign for our front door.

I have a collection of front door 'decor' - all purchased - that represent various holidays...(Christmas Wreath, Halloween signs, Fall/Harvest, Spring, Valentines Day, etc). but nothing that truly reflects my obsession with all things retro. So I decided to create my own.

I wanted to make this out of wood...using MDF (medium-density-fiber board) or other thin scrap wood . However, I don't have access to a scroll saw. (My brother-in-law who lives in Kentucky, about 8 hours away has one...but that's too far, and he works too much as a contractor! Phooey!) So, I had to come up with an alternative material to use for my first - attempt - my prototype, if you will.

So, I decided to do what I call a "Foam Core Sculpture"...lol. I drew and cut out all the pieces from foam core board. I primed each piece with water based interior primer, painted 2 coats with acrylic paint and sealed with matte acrylic sealer. The large boomerang is 1" foam core. The rest is 1/4" foam core. I used a heavy duty epoxy to glue the pieces together, and colored wire to hang it.

I would like to make more retro-modern sculptures....but I am have no clue when it comes to metal or welding. Maybe I'll set my sights on picking up a used scroll saw from an estate or garage sale....until then I might experiment with more foam core. The nice thing is it is light weight, and doesn't make noise hitting the door, when you open & close it, like some of my other signs/wreaths.

For now, I'll see how this one holds up...what feedback I get...until I have my next design planned out.

Painted Chair..."After".

Here's a picture of my completed project -- my hand painted funky chair.
Click on the photo to enlarge

I'm still not sure if I'm crazy about the white polka dots over the red base color...I think there's way too many dots...lol. I just got possessed with Dot-Fever I guess, and went nuts...lol. I love the red heavy cotton fabric I recovered the seat with.

I used a 3" thick piece of foam from the fabric store, for the cushion...That was tricky to work with, since it was so thick. We laid the foam on the floor, over the back side of the fabric...trimmed the fabric...then laid the wood seat base on top of this....Hubby stood on the wood, to flatten the foam and I stretched, folded, and stapled the fabric into place. I'm glad we did it that way, because it made the fabric nice and taut...and the cushion feel nice and firm to sit upon.

I think I'm gonna experiment this summer with other garage sale items...benches, picture frames, clay pots, and other things to perhaps use outdoors. Maybe even make a cute Time Out bench for Isaac for future use...lol.

Painted Chair Project

I bought this old 1950's dining chair at a barn sale this past summer for a whopping $2 bucks! I sorta have this thing for random chairs. Anyway...thought I'd paint it funky and recover the seat.

(Click to Enlarge)

The seat is currently covered in this green textured vinyl with gold flecks...it's pretty cool looking, but it's really old and sort of brittle and the foam is petrified inside...lol, so I figure it can use a make-over as well.


I first removed the seat, and cleaned the chair. I used an electric sander and sanded the chair really well, and primed it with regular household primer.


Then I color-block painted the chair, using acrylic paints, as shown below.

(Click to Enlarge)

Next I painted various designs on the chair...and today I'm sealing it with spray Gloss Acrylic Sealer....

I need to get a sheet of foam and finish by recovering the seat with some heavy red twill fabric I bought. I hope to finish it this weekend. I will post the final photo when it's done.

I hope to find a few more garage sale pieces and alter them this summer...perhaps a footstool or wooden storage box.

Have you painted any furniture or home decor items? Share a link to your photos and/or blog post!

Life's Crossroads

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I am at a point where my life is going to (again) change Forever...

My whole life has been a physical/emotional/spiritual journey of change. This is the next phase. Perhaps the biggest change of my life. So my head and heart are overflowing with emotions and questions...hopes, fears...and dreams of the future.

If you read my regular blog RetroGirl: Surviving The Suburbs - you may already know, we've been going through the process to adopt a baby from Korea. In the next 60 days, we will be traveling to Seoul South Korea to bring our baby boy, Isaac, home forever. I am going to be a first - time mom at 42 years old and my life is about to change forever! (Did I say 42? I demand a recount! Where did the years go?!)

I am going through the stages of all the last minute doubts, hopes, fears, anticipation...hoping I've learned enough...hoping I'll do everything right...hoping I can be the best mom I possibly can...knowing I will be responsible for this beautiful little baby...a gift from God. I have so much love in my heart just waiting for him. The time until we bring him home seems to be moving so slowly....but my heart and head are racing!

So here I stand at the crossroads...there's no looking back. The REAL adventure is about to begin!

Journal Pages

Here are a few pages I've recently done in my composition journal...

I had painted a bunch of background pages just before we left for our Thanksgiving trip. I really didn't have time to journal much while I was away, with all the family hub-bub. But over the last week or so here at home, I found inspiration at odd moments and sat down and finally did a few pages. They're nothing spectacular...but a spontaneous record of my thoughts/feelings/emotions at the moment.

Anyway, I put them in a short slide show, using the newest version of Picasa...(which is totally free!!) I know it's really short...but just wanted to try it out.

Some of the collage elements used were in the fab package I received a short while ago from my friend Apple! Had fun incorporating them into my pages!

Journal Pages

It's been awhile, I know....

Life has been so busy for me the past few months. I've been working out like a maniac, trying to lose weight as required by Korea for our adoption...(Lost 23 lbs so far! - Reached my adoption goal weight! Yay!)...putting together the nursery and buying baby stuff....working around the house...selling things on Ebay....Whew!

These are a few of the pages I've done over the last month. Several were done last week. These are out of my every day, composition notebook journal (much of which is largely private). Several contain snippets of song lyrics, song titles, quotes etc. I've been listening to a lot of different music lately...and the words have sorta woven their way into my pages...

I've not worked in my main art journal for awhile...(I've been doing more real art in my private journal...so the difference between the two is just that my private journal has alot of really raw uncensored writing...)

Click on photos to enlarge....

This one is kinda personal...it's just a pure rant...venting...but I liked the layout...lol

What creative endeavors have you been working on lately?

What type of music do you like to play when you're crafting or painting or journaling (or whatever your creative outlet is)???