GOTHIC ARCHES - "Cupcakes"

To commemorate Gothic Arches' 2-year blogging anniversary, the theme this week is "Cupcakes"~ CONGRATULATIONS to Gothic Arches on reaching this milestone! I am so happy to be able to create art for this wonderful group! To see all the wonderful arches this week, click on the link above!

Sunday Funnies - Men in Film

I'm sure many of you have already seen this video; it has been posted on YouTube for a year or so, and I recently saw it posted on Shabby Cottage Studio Blog. I had seen the morphing video that was done using actresses and the art morphing video by the digital artist, Philip Scott Johnson, and was amazed at the awesome job he did with digital manipulation. I was really intrigued when I recently watched this one. It's truly awesome. His videos are utterly fascinating! Enjoy your Sunday . . .

"Together"

Mixed Media Monday and Crazy Amigo Challenge have the same theme this week: Together. Here's my little contribution-a wall hanging made from a blank Bazzill Basics 3x5 chip. The lace and words are vintage. "Granny-sitting" is over for the week after this morning, and although I am crazy about my grandchildren, it is nice to have time to create this afternoon!

GOTHIC ARCHES - "Cities"

This week the theme for Gothic Arches was "Cities-make an arch showing your favorite city or a special place that tugs at your heartstrings"-this was a challenge for me. I LOVE San Francisco; this city holds a very special place in my heart. I looked and looked at vintage images of the city and, because so many old photos are about the 1906 earthquake, I chose to use one of my favorite landmarks in SF (and there are SO many there) on my arch. I found a copy of a hand-colored 1915 photo of this landmark, and started with that to create my arch. You can see more detail if you click on the photo of the arch.

The Palace of Fine Arts was built out of wood, plaster, and burlap fiber, one building of many exquisite ones, for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, a World's Fair held near the Marina in San Francisco. There were many elaborate structures created for this exposition which celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal and showcased San Francisco's recovery from the huge earthquake and fire of 1906, but the buildings were only meant to be temporary, and most were torn down after the fair was over. Looking at old photos, this was a very, very elaborate event, and I find it sad that most of the fair buildings were demolished. The Palace of Fine Arts was only one of two remaining buildings not destroyed. It fell into disrepair over the years, and I remember it was not safe to walk near the Palace of Fine Arts in the early 1960s when I lived there as a child. It was cordoned off, and we had to look at the Palace from a distance across the lagoon. The Palace of Fine Arts was saved and refurbished during the 1960's and then was renovated again and seismically retrofitted early this year (2009). Fascinating information about this beautiful structure can be found here and here.

I'm including photos below, the first one taken in 1915, the second a photo from Wikipedia taken in 2004, and then a photo I took when I was there just a few days ago, for comparison. Can you tell why I'm so fond of vintage things? Isn't it beautiful?!!!

Sunday Funnies - "Clara Bow"

Here's a sweet little compilation someone put together of Clara Bow and posted on YouTube. Happy Sunday!

GOTHIC ARCHES - "Little Boys"

Here's my arch for this week's Gothic Arches theme of little boys:
I scanned and enlarged a very old, faded photo of my dad. He is about 3 years old in the picture; it was taken in 1930. I don't know what he's holding in the photo--it almost looks like a seat pillow of some kind, maybe for the car that is behind him? I wish I knew. Anyway, I printed a copy of the photo, hand-colored it with chalks, and glued it to my background. I added some rub-ons this time, rather than stamping, and there you have it--pretty simple. I so wish I could go back in time to ask him or my grandma about the photo--even better, I wish I could jump into the picture and give that little boy a hug!

Sunday Funnies - "Blondie and Dagwood"

Here's a silly little clip from an old Blondie and Dagwood movie, circa late 1930s; Dagwood was played by Arthur Lake. You can read more about him here. Have a wonderful Sunday!

Theme Thursday - "Orange"

This week the theme over at Theme Thursday is the color orange! Here's the "skinny" on my skinny: I glued scrapbook paper to a 3x5 piece of cardstock, then attached butterfly wings to my vintage image and glued it onto the card. Next, I added the computer-generated French text and embellished the skinny with flourish stamps, antique lace, paper flowers, crystals, and orange Stickles. Finally, I ran turquoise Colorbox chalk ink around the edges, and, Voilà! (It's not perfect by any means, but I think it looks a little better up close and personal--just click on it!)

GOTHIC ARCHES - "Edgar Allan Poe"

Back from my trip, I've been working on trying to finish this arch for the past 2 days! So much to do, and so many interruptions, but I finally got it done . . . visit Gothic Arches to see all the cool Edgar Allan Poe arches this week!

Sunday Funnies - Al Jolson

I thought this was really funny, especially when he starts whistling a tune, using his fingers! What a dancer, too!!!!! Ha, ha!

Out of Town for a Few Days!

This little doll-baby is turning 1 tomorrow! I'm in Idaho right now visiting my youngest grandbaby, and my youngest son and my daughter-in-law, my mom, and my sister. Yesterday it was 98 degrees outside, and today it is cool and raining like crazy, with thunder and lightning! Well, as they say, "If you don't like the weather here in Boise, wait 5 minutes!"

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Originally uploaded by jann_cook

Lily Bug

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Originally uploaded by jann_cook

GOTHIC ARCHES - "Toys"

The Gothic Arches theme this week is "Toys - Vintage or Favorite from Childhood." Hop on over and visit--and view all the talented artists' creations!

Sunday Funnies - "Kids These Days!"