1/16/11 Hearts

I work at Columbia College Chicago and the college has partnered with Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute for an exhibit to be held on Michigan Avenue in February - National Heart Month.  Students, staff, faculty and alumni were asked to submit designs to be painted on three dimensional five foot high hearts to bring awareness to consumers about the prevention and treatment of heart disease.
Three of my designs were chosen - two focus on healthy food choices and one called the Faces of Heart Disease which tries to show that any and everyone can be affected.
Images from finalists can be seen on Columbia's website (type Hearts A Bluhm in Search box) or The Hearts a Bluhm website.

Front / "Heart Healthy Eating"

Back / "Heart Healthy Eating"

Front / Back "Faces of Heart Disease"

I've started the third design and hope to show it by the end of the week.  I'm really excited to be part of this campaign and I think this is a really creative way to raise awareness to these issues.  

1/13/11 Two More Swaps Done!

There's a lot going on that I'm trying to finish in the next week or so.  Committing to do things is easy - it's the actual follow through......but I'm getting there.

I just finished the Artchix swap - Steampunk ATC's.  The background was from some scrapbook paper I had and the men are digital collage images from Artchix.  Metal gears are from Tim Holtz.

Lenna Andrews / Creative Swaps has a Vintage Notecard Swap.  I used images she provided (two of which I colored with pencil) along with some tapes and stickers
I had.  I added an inner sheet of paper because the cover paper was printed on both sides and then did a quick three hole binding with linen thread.

12/29/10 All The World's A Stage ATC

The theme for the Paper whimsy ATC group for December lottery is "All the World's a Stage" - here's my entry.

I'm still working on a few things in PS Elements and hope to post them next week.

12/29/10 They really are geniuses

I took my computer to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store and it's back in working order!  They ran all  kinds of tests and patiently explained to me what they were doing and why.  It was just a bad file - not a hard drive problem.  So because I came so close to losing all my data, I bought an external hard drive and can now rest easy.

Almost there.....

So, just when I'm getting close to a break through in Photoshop, my MacBook dies. 
I was almost there - I've been organizing photos and images and was planning on spending a few days after Christmas to really sit down and see what I can do.
But, my screen is blank except for a file folder with a question mark on it. And of course, I haven't been great at backing things up, so I have an appointment tonight with one of the geniuses at the Apple Store and I'm hoping something can be saved.  Like my sanity.

12/8/10 Photoshop - What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

I've been trying to teach myself Photoshop Elements for awhile and it's just been frustrating.  I'm taking a class now - I've been in it for three weeks and several times each week I just want to stand up and scream "what the &%&$^$ are you talking about?"  But, because I was raised better, I haven't.
So, I brought my computer today and decided to work on the train.  Part of my brain heard about adjusting opacity, refining edges, changes/correcting colors, masks and layers. (the other parts of my brain heard blah, blah, blah)
I decided to focus on layers because even though they make sense on one level - I mean, you start with a piece of paper and when you add something on top, that's another layer.  Not really rocket science, but somehow on the computer I'm never sure what layer I'm on or what I'm trying to do with it.
I have digital collage images from Paper Whimsy  and decided to start.  I'm going to figure this out - even if it kills me.
I know there's a lot that should be done to these two collages- like maybe adding shadows, softening edges, adding some ground or a floor at the bottom, etc.  But I was just trying to take the different elements and layer them and hope that I would understand by doing it.  I can't say that's happened yet, but I might be a half a step closer.

This collage started with a textured background, and the separate elements are the jeweled star, the girl, the bird and the wrought iron railing.  I did something after I typed "the magic of christmas" which angled the type and so I kept it that way.

This collage started with a harlequin background and then I added the elements of the curtains, the girl and the jeweled star.  So, in both I was able to re-size the elements (not hard to do) and in this one I originally had the girl in front of the curtain, but I remembered something about clicking and dragging in the Layers Palette to place layers at a different level - so I was able to put her behind the curtain.

And, I used the zoom and the eraser tool to make the star look better in her hand.  Well, as good as it can look when you're working on a train with just a track pad.  Hey - a new excuse, it's the train's fault......

My grandfather always used to say "No honey, it's not you.  The whole world is wrong".  Hmmmm

11/2/10 Christmas Ornaments

These are sample ornaments using collage images, ribbons and frames from

Alpha Stamps 

Check out this website - they have three swaps going on now. 

 There is a Jolly Old St. Nick Tag Swap, Annual Ornament Swap and Angel Shrine Swap.  

If you're looking for some great Christmas collage sheets and other supplies, give this site a look.

Both frames are brass and have been dry brushed with acrylic paint.  Alpha Stamps has a huge variety of ribbons in silk, velvet, cotton - solid and patterned. 

The "crown" on top of the blue ornament is a Dresden Halo cut in half.