Artist's Play Room #10

Scroll to end for theme!!

WOOHOO!! My Birthday Week Rocked!! It started on Monday with a truly warm and wonderful day, one of the first for Nanaimo this year. Usually, our weather is much better than it's been this Spring, warmer days start usually early in March/April. I spent Monday blogging and fooling around on the computer (I'm building a new blog that I'll be co-hosting with one of my favorite friends, Ellen of CardMonkeysPaperJungle.com). Then, I challenged my mom to a Yahtzee tournament and we drank loads of coffee and ate peanut butter crackers.

Tuesday we went shopping to Coombs, a very cool little market and specialty set of shops. The coolest thing is that they have goats that live on their roof! It's so funny to drive up and see a half a dozen goats grazing on the hay covered roof. The specialty shops are like artisan jewelry, specialty papers, hand made pottery, stickers, stamps & stuff, and lots of fun cafe's etc. It's a fun and happy making place to window shop.

Wednesday, my actual birthday was wonderful!! I did one of my favorite things, went to Starbucks, bought a specialty coffee and sat down to read my Kindle! I LOVE doing this and I totally appreciate that mom joined me as it's really not her thing. I was so lucky to spend the entire week with mom, totally blessed. We then went looking at pretty flowers and the local flower & garden shop. Back home we had one of my favorite meals, surf & turf, a baked potato and grilled mushrooms, YUMMY. Mom had baked me a chocolate cake for dessert too (gluten free of course). It was a spectacularly happy day, I'm a lucky girl.

The rest of the week I spent painting, my best love. I feel so relaxed, revitalized and wonderful.  Thanks mom, for making my birthday week so great. I want to also thank all my bloggy friends that sent me birthday wishes and left sweet, lovely comments for me. You've made me feel so well loved. 

Now, here's all the lovely artwork illuminating last week's theme of "Favorite Things" from some totally talented artists (they're all becoming my good friends, thanks for that, too!)

(Mine's first, birthday girl ya know, lol.)

Title: "A Few Of My Favorite Things"

Annie made a beautiful
altered journal, you can
tell she's a quilter,
such talent!

Victoria says her
favorite thing is art,
I understand THAT love

Kim did the sweetest
thing, she wrote a post
about me! Your owl
coffee cozies are SO CUTE!

One of Minn's favorite
things are words, I
love her drawing that
shows her love of words

Please meet Charlie,
he is Vonny's boy.
Both the painting
and her boy are
absolutely grand!

Darla's favorite
things are brushes,
paints, sketching &
little booklets.

Gloria's fave things
are color & tangles.
I love both things
too! This looks like
a quilt, wow.

Tracey was just the sweetest
to paint MY favorite things.
Chocolate & hazelnut coffee.
I love her and her painting!

Vonnie also loves bright
colored paintings, that's a
good thing as she does
them so darn well!!

Debbie combined
her love of color,
books and beads to
make this lovely
bookmark.

Andrea painted
beautiful things
in pretty packages
I totally love it.

Terrie has lots
of faves, jewelry,
cookies, beaches,
ribbon, books. Her
very Favorite thing
is her family!

Lou Anne just flowers and
what she's done in this
collage is picked flowers
that represent her friends.
That's so beautiful!

If you haven't read the rules & guidelines, please go here. If you've landed here after this challenge has been completed but would like to participate in a current or future Artist's Play Room Challenge, just either click on the APR button in the sidebar or click here and you'll be taken to the latest APR Challenge!

Are you having trouble using the Mr. Linky to add your submissions to APR? Well here's some help! Just click on HELP and you'll be taken to my Linky Help Page. Cool, huh? I've got your back!

This week's theme is inspired by a very good friend of mine, Tracey and her lovely and terrific daughter we'll call Phantom Steve (she's wonderfully quirky, as explained by Tracey, and whimsically likes to change her name up once in a while. Hey, we ALL should be this kind of creative). I think Phantom Steve is a perfect example of someone who knows how to live life, grab it by it's ears and not let go! She does it the way SHE sees it, and isn't swayed by what other's tell her. Trace, the spectacular mom she is, nurtures that in her beautiful daughter. I sincerely hope some day to meet these wonderful women. Trace and I get along over the web like a house on fire (much Like another friend I'm thinking of... E, lol) and I just want to give P.Steve a huge hug for being just so darn cool. So, this challenge is for you, P.Steve.

Let me explain...
P.Steve challenged Trace to a read-a-thon, who could read their one meter stack of books the fastest. They built their stack carefully in Trace's studio and diligently began unbuilding them as they read book after book, starting a new stack of read books. This inspired me to make this week's theme BOOKMARKS. Now, you don't have to make an actual bookmark, although I can guarantee I'll be doing just that, probably using my new "Silks" acrylic paints (taking Dion's course as we speak, it was one of my birthday presents). But you all don't have to do that, you can draw, assemble, create anything to do with bookmarks & books!

Here are some examples to help you on your creative journey...

Kim's handmade altered book and
bookmark/gift tag, beautiful!

A selection of my bookmarks.

Virgilla's book painting

Joni's bookmark is ripped canvas

Kara's painting of a famous book cover

Kelly paints right on old book pages

Melody's original
painted bookmark

Cheryl's quilted
bookmark

Tiesia makes bookmarks of altered book
pages, this page is from Delores Claiborne.

Ellen did a tutorial
on how to make a
corner bookmark!

I would love it if your creation had an actual bookmark in it but just to broaden the theme, if you only want to do something about books that's ok too. Have at it you talented creative people! Go, do your thing. Remember, as I say... You don't have to be great (although you all are), just create!!

Talk to you all soon.
Best,

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