Jumping Jellyfish, Batman!

Hello again Dear Ones!

Sorry, this post has absolutely nothing to do with Batman.
I just couldn't help myself....haha!

I'm doing 2 posts in one day!  Unheard of around here!
I thought it would be a good idea to keep this show and tell separate from the Giveaway below, but I just couldn't wait til later in the week to post again.  I just don't have that kind of patience when I have new art to share....haha!

This is "She Dreamed"

5 x 7 inch mixed media on canvas

 

I just love hunting through old books and finding just the right words to put together.  I've used this saying before.  Of course, I'm a big fan of dreaming.....and consider it lucky when I can find the word in the text :)

 

 

The eyes of an art piece are always what speak to me most.....I think hers are filled with lovely thoughts.  What do you think she is dreaming of?

 

 

She and her jellyfriends are currently in the shop :)

 

I'm keeping this post short and sweet....

Hope you have an amazing week ahead, and please don't forget to visit the post below for a Giveaway, if you haven't done so already.

 

Gotta jump in my Batmobile and run to the store now....

Hugs all around!

Cam

Tired of Swimming Yet?

I never thought I'd say this....
but I think I need a little break from Mermaids for a while...haha!

Though, when you see this little Sparkle, you might not agree :)

 

This is what  I received from Heidi of Little Nore.

Here's the last installment of Mermies that I've painted.  (Thanks to all the patient ladies who waited for their naughty Hostess to finish her end of the bargain!)

"Feeling Shy"

"Kelpie Princess"

 

"Reflection"

 

"The Mer-Girl with the Sea Dragon Tattoo"

I know, I know...I'm a pun loving Dork :)

"Sea Turtle Dreams"

 

I can't wait to see who gets what!  It's always such a fun surprise to learn which Mergirl went where :)

Well, that's enough saltwater and scales for me right now...I'm going to see if I can squeeze out a bit more Halloween before it's all about Christmas gifts in the Etsy World!

 

Hope everyone's been keeping their head above water :)

Big Hugs,

Cameron

Jump in, the Water's Fine!

This week is the last call for all Mermaid Swappers!
If you have already emailed me, keep in mind that the last day to have your envie postmarked is Friday, Sept. 21st.  It can arrive anytime after that.

I've had people ask me if it's too late to join....Nope.
You can email me on Friday and say, " I'm running to the post office, I want to send you a mermaid, what's your address?'
Well, you probably won't, but you could :)

When a mermaid comes in, one of these new girlies might go out in it's place....

Sea of Stars

 

Namaste

 

Little Star

 

Ancient Symbols

 

Narwhal Love

 

 

I've painted 18 mermiads so far....and still have 6 more to have enough for all who are participating.  If you did intend to join in, but Life has gotten too hectic, please just let me know.....

 

If I'm able to paint a few extra, I'll list them in my Etsy store :)

 

Well, I gotta run!



Give your family, friends, narwhals, etc a big hug today!

Cam



Finding Some Style

Hello Bloggy Buddies!

I don't know if any of you have noticed, especially if you go on Pinterest at all, the trend to re-purpose/re-style clothing that you would otherwise donate.  T-shirt redos are very popular, too.

With Maggie growing like a weed, she is always in need of new, comfortable clothing.  She is only 6, but very tall for her age, and I'm just not happy with a lot of the choices available in her size but geared for older girls.

So, armed with a bag of clothes, a sewing machine and my limited stitching skills, I gave it a try.
Now, I will repeat, again, I am a novice sewer, so I'm warning all you accomplished sewers now....there will be visible wonky stitches, raw edges, crooked cutting and other sewing don'ts....haha! 

A friend of mine gave me a shirt that was much too big for her daughter, and not the style or color that she liked....but, c'mon...it's Hello Kitty....every little girl wants a Hello Kitty shirt, right?

 

So I started by cutting off the neckline and sleeves...

 

 

Then I added a black and white striped ruffle and made a cute flower with the stripes and a bit of leftover T shirt material.  Luckily, Maggie doesn't care about that awful wavy stitching....haha!

 

 

I forgot to take a picture of it before, but I found this cute raglan top at the 99Cent Store of all places!  It is a nice, thick shirt, too!  I took some of the cat fabric leftover from Maggie's room decor and appliqued this cute heart onto the front.

She says it's perfect because she loves cats :)

 

 

Last time we went to the Thrift Store, she picked out that tie dyed shirt on the left which is cute, but plain.  The dress on the right is too small for Maggie now, but I just loved that ruffly part on the bottom (which I just now realize you can't see in this picture.....oops!....haha!  You'll see it in a minute) :D

 

 

I took one of my Hubby's old Tshirts and added a collar insert and a second layer to the bottom to make it look like a layered Tee....and give her more time before it's too short to wear.

 

 

It's a little more interesting now without taking away from the tie dye design...

 

 

 But, but, but......I've discovered my most favorite thing to do to clothes!

Well, I'm getting ahead of myself, let me first show you this....

 

 

Yes, this was mine.  Love this shirt....hate the pit stains....

 

I wanted to marry the top of this shirt (sans stains, of course...haha!) with that ruffly skirt I mentioned earlier....well, that didn't work out so well.  I made the top part way too small for Maggie.  So as not to waste that cute ruffly part, I made it into a skirt and sewed some of the flowers onto it to make it more girly.

 

 

It's awesome that Tshirt knit won't fray.....I also love that with this kind of style, I don't have to be as exact with my sewing and can keep it loose and artsy :)

 

Here is what I wanted to share with you!

 

 

Even though I made the bodice too small for Maggie, I finished this dress off with a Tshirt ruffle from that same shirt of Hubby's to give to a friend. 

Look at this flower!

 

 

This is my new love!!  Cutting bits of clothing into pieces and sewing all crazy over the bits...and add a button...voila!

Pretty flower! 

I think I may need to do that to some of my shirts!

 

...and, in keeping with finding a little style, I finished this Mermaid with an edgier vibe to her.

 

This is "Roxy and Spike"

 

 

Isn't Spike a cutie? ;P

 

Well, we're getting ready for a 3 day weekend here in the States.  But, I wanted to make sure I checked in with all of you before picnics and sandcastles beckon.

 

As always, I treasure you coming here and visiting!

Sunshiney wishes,

Cameron

Mermaid Swap Begins Monday!

I've just been so excited about this Swap!  I was just planning to do quick mermies on cardboard....keep them loose and fun.....not too detailed...

...but, I should've known better....haha!

They are each having such a personality and a story, that I'm going to unwrap all those I've already prepared and scan them so I can maybe make some MOO stickers or other fun things out of them :)
I hope they bring as much happiness to their new owners as they've brought me!

I realize I haven't been sharing their titles with you. I'll remedy that now! I'll just preface them first by reminding you that I'm a pun-loving dork...haha!

Here is another installment of Fishy Girls....

 

"Eel Fated"

 

 

"Fish-anista"

 

 

"Violet Jewels"

 

 

"Good Boy"

 

 

I can't wait to see what your Mermaids have in store for me!

If you would like to join in and haven't yet signed up....no worries!

As long as your envie is postmarked by Sept 21st, you're good....so, please email me to sign up :)

 

Hope your weekends have been full of things that bring a smile to your face!

Warmest hugs,

Cameron

More Mermaidens

Here's what I've been working on lately.  More art for the swap....

What swap, you say?
Well, now....please click on the button to the right.  I'm hosting a Swap of the Scaly variety :)

If you already signed up....then one of these girls could end up in your mailbox....heehee....but which one, I wonder?

Isn't that part of the fun?!  You just won't know until you open the package :)

I'm having so much fun!  I've been cutting up every spare box I can find to use for these ladies.  I have 9 of you signed up so far....and there is still over a month to sign up and send your Mermaids to me!  Hope you'll join in :)

Also, I wanted to mention that Amalia at Pencils and Fireflies is spreading some Sponsor love today and included me in such a nice little feature!  I'm over the moon happy :D

You can also visit her wonderful Shop....she is an amazing artist!

Hope to "sea" your name on my swap list :P

Love ya guys,

Cameron

Mermaid Art Swap!!

Hello my pretties!

I can't express how happy I am to write this post!  You see, earlier this year my good friend, Micki at The Secret Hermit did a mail art swap....it was fantastic....her art is awesome...and I knew it was an idea I would steal, er...I mean borrow for my own little swappy poo!!

The difference is that this will be a swap of Mermaid Art!
Now, I'm not talking monumental masterpieces here...unless, of course, that's what you love to make and want to send...
But, as far as I'm concerned, if you created it, it made you happy to do so and it has a mermaid on it....please send it!  Can be any medium. :)

As for what I'm offering, I took a huge piece of currogated cardboard and cut it into rectangles approximately 5 x 7 inches in size.  Some are larger, some are smaller.
I simply sketched right on them with pencil and started painting them, coloring with colored pencils and detailing with black ink...

Here's what I've made to swap so far...

This swap will be active from Monday, August 27th to Friday, September 21st 2012.

Here's how it will work (again, thanks to Micki for figuring all this out and letting me mooch the parameters off her....heehee) :

If you would like to participate in this swap, please email me and let me know.  Send me a link to your blog (I want to share what I get from everyone and have a linky for you) and include your address, please....  I am so bad at reading return addresses on mail.

My email address is : paintmyselfpretty(at)yahoo(dot)com

I will confirm your email and send you my address, too....and we can virtually hold hands and jump up and down with anticipation of doing such a fun swap together :D

Then, just send in your mermaid art within the designated dates.  Postmarks must be between those dates.  I'm giving everyone 2 1/2 weeks to prepare and 4 whole weeks to get their art here.  Don't worry my International Friends, as long as your art is postmarked by Sept. 21st, it can take as long as it wants to get here.  I will mail your art out to you after yours is received :)

I will be prepackaging these sirens up ahead of time, so I won't know who will be getting what...adds an element of surprise to the whole thing!!

Did I cover everything?

If I have left out any details, please feel free to ask away!

Hope to "sea" your name in my inbox....corny, yes....but I'm just so excited...heehee!!

Splash,

Cameron

Sew Grateful!

This is Jacque...I'd have to say, that next to my Husband, she's my very best friend :)

She's the kinda crafty, supportive, easy to laugh with, liked by everybody, dependable friend that we all wish to find in Life.

I was lucky to meet her when our girls were just turning 1....taking Gymboree classes together....over 4 years ago now!  My Mom signed me up for these classes to get me out of the house (Thanks Mom!)
I was slowly going insane being at home all day with a new baby....not knowing any "Mommy Friends" to hang out with.

Jacque and Jenna have rescued Me and Maggie from boredom ever since :)

Jenna and Maggie are as different as day and night...Jenna loving to dress up and play with Princess dolls....Maggie loving to pretend to be an animal or get dirty....but they can be so cute together!

here they are at age 2

They have spent so much time together and are learning to compromise when it comes to the games they play.  There is usually at least one episode of pouting on my daughter's part for the 2 of them failing to agree on something.....but, they bounce back and enjoy eachother's company again.

The point of all this being.......having good friends is awesome! Now that we've moved and don't live 10 minutes away from eachother anymore, we really miss being near them *sniff*

So, to change the subject a bit....but stay with me....if you recall some bits and pieces Sheree sent me to make a doll out of.....

Part of the criteria was that we were to give the finished doll away.  Initially, I had no idea who I was going to give it to.  I didn't even know if I could pull the dollmaking part off...haha!

But, I gave it a go....and created this....

I didn't use a pattern, just sketched right on the fabric and cut it out.

I tried to use every single different thing Sheree sent....from the buttons, to the pretty purple doily, to the sheer fuschia sari fabric....and that lovely, lovely face! 

I had to figure out how to put hair on her....something I probably won't do again anytime soon...haha!

What a learning experience this project turned out to be.  It really pushed me to try new things and to get more comfortable with my sewing machine! 

While visiting last week, I told Jacque that I had made a mermaid doll.  Jenna overheard and showed me a picture of a mermaid doll she had lost....and still missed.  It was then that I knew that this doll was supposed to belong to Jenna!  I put the hair on the next day and added the rainbow yarn just for her.  She adores rainbows :)

This is a pic Jacque took for me just after Jenna unwrapped it.  I'm still waiting to hear what she named it!

She and her mom have made our lives so much more fun, so much...well, just.... more! ....and I love them for it!!!

Maggie wasn't interested in having the Mermaid...but was a little concerned about me making something for Jenna and not for her...I laughingly mentioned I could make her a dolphin (1 of her top 3 favorite animals) and they could play together with their dolls...

I say laughingly cuz half the time she forgets or never says anything about all the things she wants me to make her...and I just let the idea float away....

But, I wanted to make sure I followed thru this time...not only because I love her, but because I wanted Jenna to cross her mind when she played with it....

Here's what I made....she named him Jumpers. I made sure he was blue, her favorite color...

Again, I didn't use a pattern....but I probably should have. I had to rip a few seams out here and there.

I'm really proud that I actually made something that looks like a dolphin...haha! 

So how cool is it, that one of my best blog friends gives me an assignment that helps me to honor my very best friend.....that, in turn, celebrates the friendship of 2 special little girls in the process!  So very cool!!
So a great big hug to Jacque, for being the wonderful person, friend, woman she is....

A huge thank you to Sheree for being so clever and pushing the limits of my creativity...

A giant smile of appreciation to you for coming back here to read my ramblings...I'm amazed you have stuck with me this far...haha!

....and a wish on a star...for 2 little girls....

That the childhood memories of their friendship will always be fond....and kept dear in their hearts forever....*sniff again*

Go hug your best friend today :)

If they look at you strangely....you can blame it on me ;P

XO,

Cam