Free digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

NEW VINTAGE TEE SHIRTS

SAW THESE GREAT T-SHIRTS AT A FESTIVAL AND COULD HELP BUT PUTTING TOGETHER A FEW OF THEM FOR OUR LITTLE SPACE IN ROSWELL AND OF COURSE I HAD TO PUT MY OWN SPIN ON THEM. I'VE BEEN WEARING A COUPLE AROUND TOWN AND PEOPLE LOVE THEM. IF YOU HAVE A CUTE SAYING OR QUOTE FOR A SHIRT, PLEASE SEND IT ALONG.

Facebook (7) | Julie Anne Cooper

Facebook (7) Julie Anne Cooper: "Julie Anne Cooper PORTRAIT SALE! Thinking of having a HOME or DOG portrait done for someone special for the holidays? Send me your photo before October 31st and receive 20% off my regular price."

SOME PEOPLE DANCE IN THE RAIN,

OTHERS JUST GET WET.

WHICH ONE ARE YOU?

WELCOME BACK FROM SUMMER

Oh my, I guess I didn't realize how much time I really enjoyed myself this summer until I looked at my blog and realized that I hadn't posted anything send summer camp ended. Not to worry my blogger friends, I have been crafting away and photographing it all.

The Art Chix have been stopping by a few at a time each week to craft with me and share their secrets. I'm hoping all will be returnig this Friday. This mother Hen is ready to count her Chix and get ready for fall.

Fall is my favorite time of the year. As guess as a child, fall meant new clothes for school, making new friends, a fresh start with school, my birthday and the best holidays of the year, the ones that bring family together.

I'm going to share a few photos of somethings that I've worked on over the summer. Later this fall when I don't have anything special to blog about, I'll revisit them and explain them more in detail, but for now enjoy the photos of my newest work. Oh, I almost forgot> Bella and I have rented space from Nora at the ELEGANT ATTIC in downtown Roswell on Canton Street, just two doors down from the Fickle Pickle. There you'll find a sampling of our wears for sale.

We're just getting our little corner all fixed up.

Artist Trading Cards From Summer Camp

Again, this summer I have the privilege of teaching summer camp to some awesome kids through our local recreation and parks, which by the way has won numerous awards for it's outstanding programing. One of the things that I teach all of my art students young or old is about Artist Trading Cards. Artist Trading Cards are small original pieces of art that are made for the sole purpose of trading with others or simple giving them away. Artists across the continents are sharing and trading their art in this form.

The format for this art form is of a small : 2 1/2" x 3 1/2 ", you should be able to create many pieces of art in a short period of time. By creating art daily you sharpen your skills, evolve and grow as an artist. They are really great for children because it doesn't take them long to create one and there are "no rules".

I have made it a tradition to trade at least one ATC with all my students since I have been teaching. This week at camp the kids really got into the making ATC's. I thought I would share just a few of the ones that I traded for this week. I think you'll agree that I have some very creative students.

Antique Collages

Last week I taught a talented group of young girls different collage techiques at my collage camp through our local Recreations and Parks. One of the projects that I enjoyed the most were antique collages. We began by gathering old family photos. We took different types of paper, such as old sheet music, books and watercolor paper, then we soaked them in coffee over night to make them look old.

To build our collage we began with a 11x14 piece of cardboard that we tore to make look old. We then began to add the layers of coffee soaked papers ( they had been dried) and the photo on the top. We completed the collage by bringing it all together with vintage ribbon and lace that I had been saving. The two that I have posted are of my mother as a child and my dear Aunt Dot, when she was living in Pensacola Beach, Fl.

New Things to Share

It's been almost three weeks since my last posting because I've been so busy with summer.

The kids are going every direction possible, from camps to relatives to friends. What a great life for them. I just get to be the taxi. In between teaching summer camps and playing taxi driver, I have still been able to find a little time to do some creating. I was lucky enough to find a new wholesale bead source and went a little nuts. Take a look at my new creations. If you see something you can't live with out give me a call.

MAKING MOBILES THE ART CHIX WAY

The art chix are at it again. While visiting my sister during spring break she taught me how to make mobiles out of drift wood and junk, something we art chix love. I brought home as much drift wood as possible and alerted the girls to bring on their junk. We began by using simple wire and fishing line. We added a few mirrors and beads. I purchased one 20 foot copper pipe at home depot and cut it up to make the chimes. Each mobile came out great. They all have a personality of their own. I took an old wind chime from Grandmother's back yard, that was falling apart and added some bling to it and now it is new again. Matt thinks it's a little to flashy for the backyard but Lucy thinks the Fairies in the backyard will love it.

Cute and Easy Bird House

A friend of mine lost her mother recently and when she was cleaning out her house, I asked if I could take one of the old cracker tins home. She looked at me a little puzzled but was thrilled that it was one more thing she didn't have to haul away. Well, I had a plan for that little tin.

Her mother loved her garden and birds in it. So have turned the cracker tin into a bird house to honor her. I'm going to drop it off at Pam's front door this week. I think she will be very surprised to see what I have done with it.

To make the birdhouse I simple used my favorite tool, the Dremel, and put two hole in top of each side. Then I used the same tool to cut a circle down at the bottom. This was a little harder.

I need to practice my circles. Then I hot glued an old spoon from the Goodwill in the hole so the birds will have a stand. To make the hanger, I used wire and odd beads that I had on hand. I thought it came out pretty cute.

Artist Trading Cards/ ATC's

OH MY, OHMY! it's been several week since I've posted here but there has been a crazy wind blowing around me for more than three weeks. I think it may have come and gone. The saddest of this crazy wind is we last my dear sweet Grandmother a week ago. She was 89 years young and was ready to go home. She taught me so many great life lesson sthat i will forever carry with me. I have celebrated her life with friends and family the last week by sharing wonderful stories and pictures of her. Thank you to all who have celebrated with me and prayed for our family.

One of the things that has kept me sane is creating ATC's with my good friend Bella. She has pushed me to join a few swap groups and I had a few deadlines coming up and had to get my cards in the mail. For those of you who don't know what a "swap group" is, it's a group of people who live all over, who connect through the Internet, they create something, then they mail it into one location and then it gets swapped around. In this case, I make three ATC's with a certain theme, mail them in the "swap coordinator" and then in a few weeks, I will receive 3 ATC's from other artists of the same theme. The two that I am involved in now is Alpha Stamps and Marie Antoinette. Take a look at my cards and I hope you enjoy them. I love creating and collecting ATC's. If you want to swap with me at anytime send me a message or just send me a card and I'll send you one back.

Creating Jewelry with Bella, Donna, 5 Dogs and the A-C Repair Man

Had a wonderful day creating new jewelry pieces with one of my favorite artist friends, Bella. We were joined by our Friend Donna, aka Miss Assembled, 5 dogs running in and out of the beautiful sunshine and the A-C repair man. She taught me some new tricks in wire wrapping, something she calls the "The Drunken Mary". The best part of creating with Bella is the TRADING. She works part-time for Alpha stamps and always has the latest goodies and she is very generous. Take a look at some of the things we created yesterday. If you are inspired to create some on your own go to http://www.alphastamps.com/ and you will find a huge assortment of new findings and really cool stuff. We used the 20 guage vintage bronze wire to do the "Drunken Mary". There is also a hugh selection of vintage wraps for beads.

Spring And Easter Workshop

Saturday was a great day of sharing Easter and Spring Crafting projects with my younger students. I didn't have a large group, thank goodness, a couple of the projects that I had planned didn't work out so well. Kids are great, they didn't mind at all. They were very willing to change course with me and try something else. Of course their favorite was coloring eggs. We tried several different methods but we soon found out the best way to get the perfect multi-colored egg is simple to lay 2 to 3 egg in a collard in the sink, splash them with white vinger, then drip regular old food coloring on them. It's the coolest. Don't waste your money on the "Egg Spinner", it was a flop. Happy Spring and Easter to all my little art chix.

Collage Challenge

Last Friday I challenged the Art Chixs to "paint with paper".

So when they arrived on Friday morning, I had ever type and color tissue paper available waiting on them. They pulled out their mog pog and brushes and got busy on their images. The one to the left was done by my friend Dawn.



She started with an image she had seen in a magazine and a 11 x 14 sheet of watercolor paper. Most of the paper is thrown my hand and applied with mog pog. Some of the tree trunks were cut. Then she went back in when it was dry and out lined a little with a very sharp pen. She had printed the poem on a transparent paper and when she was completely happy with her image, she mog poged the poem on top. I can't wait to see it framed. makes me want to take a walk down that path. She really created great depth by using the colored paper in the right places. Way to go Dawn. I'm very impressed.

Just want to share this wonderful Quote

Found this quote on one of my favorite blogs this morning and thought it was worth sharing.

I Believe....

That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I Believe....

That it isn't always enough,to be forgiven by others. Sometimes, you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I Believe...

That no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I Believe....

That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, But, we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe...

That you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life Forever.

I Believe....

Two people can look at the exact same Thing and see something totally different.

I Believe...

That your life can be changed in a matter of Hours by people who don't even know you.

I Believe...

That even when you think you have no more to give,When a friend cries out to you - you will find the strength to help.

I Believe...

That credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe...

That the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; They just make the most of everything they have.

So Mom came for a visit two weeks ago and taught us Georgia Art Chix a cool new art lesson.

We made painted floorclothes. Very simple to do and so much fun. Simple purchase vinyl from your local Home Depot, cut to desired size. Paint with one heavy coat of Gesso. Once the gesso is dry, draw off your favorite design and begin painting with acrylic paints. We used student grade paints by Dick blick. Once your paint is good and dry spray with a clear acrylic paint to make sure nothing runs. Then paint or roll at least three coat of polycrylic on the cloth. This will seal the design and ensure that your can wash it. Take a look at some of the design my creative at Art Chix came up with.

Making something Old New again.

This week my challenge to my Altered Art Class was to bring in old jewelry items and turn it into something new. We did add lots of new pieces to the old stuff. I think everyone was pleased with their new pieces.

One of the ladies commented that now she knows why jewelry artist charge so much for their work at shows, "this is a pain in the #x*". I would agree with that statement. Take a look at the quick video and you'll see that we used some neat pieces to create with. So next time you're visiting the flea market, Great-Aunt Betty or a yard sale you may just look at that old piece of jewelry as a treasure not a piece of trash.

If you would like to try to make a few of these goodies at home you need to know a few basic jewelry making steps. You can find those in most beading magazines or this website will give you some of the basics. http://www.makingjewelryfun.com/inst-stretch.htm

Next Week we will begin creating ALTERED ART BOOKS. If you are interested in joining my altered art group, aka art chicks, we meet every Friday at my home in Roswell. We begin at 10 am and go to about 2 pm. The cost is $10 per class and it is pay as you go. Each week we work on different projects that interest the group. The bonus is that we also have lunch together.

If you would like to learn more about this fun group shot me an email at juliecooper@bellsouth.net.

We welcome newcomers with creative minds. My motto is anyone can be creative, you just have to find the thing you enjoy.

Paintings on Canvas

Today I'm off to teach my acrylic class at East Roswell Park. This class meets every Thursday from 11:30 to 1:30. It's a very relaxed class. Some of my students are beginning painters and some are very experienced. I run it like an open studio. Students are encouraged to work at their own pace and choose their own subjects. I am available to direct my students and help them with trouble spots in their work. The next session begins on April 15 and goes through May 20th. You can sign up for only $84 at any Roswell Park.

The video below shows some of the paintings I have created over the last year with my students and on my own. Most are for sale.

SAILOR'S VALENTINES

I recently read an article in "Cloth Paper Scissors" about sailors' valentine. SAILORS VALENTINES are love tokens usually made from shells and other found objects that are housed in a wooden frame. They were first made by sailors back in the 1800's at sea for their sweethearts at home. This week I challenged my Friday Altered Art Chixs to create one and here is what we came up with. I think the key to success is lots of sea shells to choose from, lots of hot glue and knowing you are creating for someone you love. Hopefully this get you thinking about doing something creative for your special valentine.

Just trying to figure out this blogging thing so i can keep my friends and students updated. It's a little confusing but I know it will be a blast once I've got it all figured out. I am feeling a little like the chicken lady at this point but I may have just made my first post. Cross your fingers.