Happy Birthday Ian!

Today is Ian's Birthday! 15!! Yikes! So hard to believe. I don't have a picture of him alone from this year so had to crop from a picture when we met the kids in Florida this winter.

Ian had his last track meet on the 20th of this month and had his personal best run!! Congrats, Ian on another great year in Track and Happy Birthday! Kids are traveling back from Grand Rapids as I type this. They had to attend a graduation and ended up celebrating Ian's BD too.

check out the next picture and you'll see how tall Ian is!! He's on the left and his dad is on the right! Must be all the running he does!

I have been busy working on three different projects and of course playing!
Laura Kemshall showed how to make collagraph print designs and prints so I had to try it!

I didn't have any etching inks (but I have ordered some!) so I used my Trapsuutjies paints instead.
They actually worked out nicely which is a good way to use up these paints. My friend, Mary, and I ordered them two or more years ago and we did play with them. They really are nice to use in screen printing and general painting but I often forget to use them. Mary gave me some of hers since she wasn't using them so this was a good project to try them out on.

I uploaded my pictures backwards so.....this is my collagraph design printed on watercolor paper. It's suppose to be a Hosta leaf. Just pretend it looks like a Hosta leaf! I just printed it using my rolling pin since I didn't have a pasta machine! It still worked!
This is my collagraph plate design on cardboard made with masking tape and packing tape. I didn't take a picture before I put the paint on it otherwise you might see the tape(s) better. When I get my Etching inks I'll take pictures in progress which will be much better I'm sure. This was a very quick design and I didn't use small pieces of tape like Laura did but I will with my next design.
and I'm almost finished making a beaded bracelet for myself. I made one for a friend and wanted one for myself. I've been working on this while watching the Tigers on TV...I'm also working on my Cardinal and I'll show pics of it tomorrow.
And this is a sneak peak at my MQAI - Art of the Kitchen quilt. The exhibit is in Sept. and the quilts are due in July. I want to get this piece finished as it will be my last target date piece I have to do for 2011! Yippee!! Then I play and create when and what I want! I'll show the rest of the piece and the process once it's finished.
We're watching the weather (man) right now as storms are severe and even some hail is being predicted. It was in the high 80's today and yesterday and we actually had one day with no rain! We've even had the air on for the past two days! We'd prefer to have the windows open but it was so humid and hot you couldn't stand it. Feel like we're in Miami, Florida! Now I know why i don't go to Florida in the summer! I'm not a fan of the high temps at all. Fall is my favorite time of the year! Well, off to watch the Tigers if the cable doesn't go out!