Sold!

Marching, 4x4 mixed media

This little piece sold today and is off to its new home.

I've been trying to add at least one new piece to my etsy shop each day, so check in often. Today I uploaded one of my favorites...Picture Day! Check it out here.

New glasses

I finished these just before Christmas...Eva had the flu and I had a little extra time on my hands.

Eyeglasses 1, 2 & 3, mixed media on 4x8 matboard

Ella, my 6-year old helper, solidly positioned herself next to me and got busy creating her very own art.

Ella's masterpiece

It was fun to work side-by-side...but a little nerve-wracking as well. Think acrylic paint-loaded paintbrushes soaring through the air right above my work and blue chalk pastel dust filling the air and you've pretty much got it.

I made it to etsy's front page!

And here is the screenshot...

AND I sold two pieces (including the eyeglasses piece pictured here)! I'm very excited if you can't tell ;)

New mixed media...and leotards?!?

I have a couple new mixed media pieces to show off. These are the first pieces I've done in MONTHS!

The Snowmakers, 5"x7"

Eyeglasses, 8"x20"

As you may or may not know...I have a short attention span. I tend to pour my whole heart and soul into something (soldered jewelry, art, sewing, cooking)...for about 5 minutes, then I'm ready to move on to the next thing :)

So, one of my latest passions is making gymnastics leotards for my girls. I've made them each so many leotards, that I opened a new etsy shop as an outlet. It all began one day about a year ago...the girls needed new leos and I didn't want to pay $30+ for a leo they would grow out of in 6 months...so I did a little research (a LOT of research actually). I discovered several patterns that had positive reviews, read up on some sewing tips for spandex fabrics, bought some fabric, and the rest is history.

If you're looking for a leo for your little lady, visit my etsy shop here and check out leos. I have tons of fabrics to choose from, so if you don't see anything you like, I can work with you to create a custom leo. Your little lady will stand out in the gym with a custom leo.

Have a great week!

~Alisa

My baby is 6!

I don't know how it happened...I swear it was just a couple years ago that my little Ella was born. How could it be that she started kindergarten a few weeks ago? Not only is she going to school all-day, but she is in gymnastics, went to cheer camp and is starting piano lessons soon. I still can't believe that she is 6 years old!

Ella age 2.

Ella turned 6 over Labor Day weekend, so I gave her a choice..."do you want a Chuck E. Cheese party (she always does) or do you want a themed party at home?" I was a little shocked and happy to hear that she wanted a princess/cooking/make-over party at home this year. After I assured her that we wouldn't have time to do all of the themes she wanted, she settled on a princess party.


The invitation - yes each "girl" had on a different party dress!



The thought of it was secretly flooding my head...we'll have a few people over, we can do it on the cheap, it will be fun! We can make the invitations, party decorations, food (we had lots of snacks, princess punch, princess parfaits and pink lemonade), etc. to cut costs...haha!


The food!

Well, my ideal small-cheap party quickly grew into a big, all-out princess bash! Could we really have it any other way? I quickly started assembling pink tutus (used to decorated the chairs and then handed out at the end of the party) and making giant pink and white puff balls.

The tutus!

Puff balls made from tissue paper!


The girls decorated magic wands and treat bags.

Eva is in the blue Cinderella dress and Ella is in the gorgeous white flower girl dress.

They slayed a dragon pinata and hunted for the king's missing treasure. Yes, I dressed like a princess too!



Then they had cake...but not just any old cake. The kiddos got to decorate their own individual 4" cakes any way they wanted.



Then Ella blew out the candles on her 3-tier princess cake and opened all of those wonderful presents.



That was a re-cap of the two-hour party in a nutshell. They girls stayed busy and seemed to have a great time! Yes, it was a TON of work and I had to take two days off to accomplish it, but the look on her face at the end of the day was priceless. Chuck E. Cheese has nothing on me!

Now...I wonder what kind of party Eva will want...

Microfilm anyone?

A couple weeks ago I was very fortunate to be gifted with a HUGE box full of microfilm and another HUGE box full of microfiche that the library was getting rid of. Lets just say if rolls of microfilm & envelopes of microfiche were money, I'd be off living it up on a beach in the Caribbean right about now.

The Looker, 4x8 on cradled hardboard

Here is my first attempt at using some of my new acquired materials in a collage. I was worried at first that the gel medium wouldn't work with the film or that my spray fixativ wouldn't stay put, but I'm happy to say that I didn't have any problems with the film at all.

So I'll definitely use it in future collages...probably every collage...for the rest of my life. Did I mention that I have a LOT of microfilm & microfiche at my house?

If you'd like to take some of it off of my hands, I'd be happy to send it out and spread the wealth a bit. Just shoot me an e-mail at lislis32@hotmail.com and let me know your name and address.

~Alisa

A couple new pieces

Yesterday I finally got around to finishing these two small pieces...the second piece is similar to the one I donated to Hearts for Haiti. I ended up shipping that one off to Germany, so I thought I'd make another.

Barbie!

I haven't felt much like creating art lately...maybe I've got the February blahs. The recent snow certainly hasn't helped matters much.

So, instead of posting about art today I'm going to share a few pics from our weekend visit to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis...and the new Barbie exhibit.

Now, let me start off by saying that I'm not the biggest Barbie fan on the planet. I may have owned one or two barbies as a kid, but I was much more interested in building birdhouses and working in the garage with my dad than playing with dolls. My sister was the barbie girl. She had the super cool barbie house with the elevator that really moved (when you pulled the string).

And when Ella was born I swore that she would never play with barbies...after all should little girls really play with super skinny, scantily clad little women? I know they have doctor barbie now and veterinarian barbie now, but these dolls can't possibly be good for a girl's self-esteem. Of course that philosophy went out the door in about 5 minutes...right after a very kind relative picked up a trunk-load of barbies at a garage sale and lovingly gifted them to Ella. I was fighting a losing battle...I conceded defeat.

Okay, now that I've said that...I absolutely LOVED the Barbie exhibit. Maybe it was the nostalgia...maybe it was all the cool activities...maybe it was barbie vault full of priceless dolls...maybe it was just me, but it was awesome!

Oh and the girls enjoyed it too! There were life-size barbies, barbies from the 50s through today. Who knew they made so many different barbies! Then of course there were Skippers and Ken dolls and god knows who else. They also had a runway where you could dress in the latest fashions, mix the music and take photos...and you could design your own fashions too.

So we spent a fun-filled Saturday with Barbie and her pals...what a great day!

~Alisa

My beautiful new book

Okay I'll admit it...I enjoy reading. I was one of those kids who actually did the readings for high school and college literature classes...and enjoyed them. At the time I would never admit it...I had a reputation to protect after all and would complain along with my classmates that I just didn't have time to read Homer's Odyssey or Dickens' Great Expectations. But I did read them...and enjoyed them.

Years later, I don't have to hide my addiction anymore. Although my free time has been drastically reduced by two little demanding girls, when they are in bed my books come out. One book in particular of late...a lovely book containing 7 Jane Austen novels.



When I stumbled upon this gorgeous book at Barnes and Noble last week, I knew immediatlely that I had to have it. Cracking the cover open, I was instantly transported to another world. This is what EVERY book should look like...beautiful, leather bound with golden pages. Nevermind the it is completely impractical. You can't very well tuck it into your bag and pull it out to read during your lunch break, but who cares! Everytime I open it I get this wonderful giddy feeling...pure joy! I'm currently re-reading Sense and Sensibility, but when I'm finished with Jane, I'll have to pick up another of these amazing books...Shakespeare or maybe Poe...I really don't care which, the books are so gorgeous!






On a side note...this book was a wonderful distraction and has allowed me to successfully fight this wierd urge I have to re-read the Twilight series. Am I crazy? Maybe...my brain is telling me not to re-read the series, but yet the crazy urge remains. Anyone else read the series and struggle with this?


What are you currently reading?

Little Girls

Aren't they the best? Okay I'll admit that I'm a little biased. Our household is made up of me (a girl), Ella and Eva (both girls), Dave (not a girl) and two little kitties (both girls), so please excuse me for being voicing my opinion that girls are the absolute bestest! Now, give the girls a few years and I'm sure I'll change my mind completely and wish to the heavens that I'd had boys instead...but for now I'll take the girls.

Here are a couple new girlie pieces of art...

Baby 6"x10"

Little Angel #2 6"x10"

I just recently got a few pieces back from a local coffee shop, so look for new art in my ANDstudio shop soon!

Check out my new etsy shop!!!!!

Yep, that's right...after much internal debate, I decided to transition away from soldered jewelry and focus more on my true passion mixed media collage art. So, I'm listing new pieces in my new shop ANDstudio and will eventually close prettylittlependant. It was a tough choice, but now that I'm working full-time, I need to focus my energy in one direction and not be so scatter-brained.

My new shop is called ANDstudio (my initials+studio) and I hope to have the first batch of new stuff listed there this afternoon.

Wish me luck!

~Alisa

Somerset Studio Aubergine

One of my pieces is in the current issue (Jan/Feb 2010) of Somerset Studio...and imagine my elation when I discovered that I shared the page with a dear friend and talented artist, Nancy Lefko! This was my first attempt at submitting something (solo) for publication...it wasn't as hard as I'd imagined. I'm glad I took the plunge and encourage you to do the same.

Find the current submission calls for the Somerset publications HERE.

Also check out the Cloth Paper Scissors challenges HERE.