Sig and Gracie (in Print)

Have you heard that song by Pharrell Williams called Happy from the movie Despicable Me 2? It's nominated for an Oscar and topping the Billboard charts right now. It's a catchy tune that makes you feel happy when you hear it.

Well, that's how I feel today because I just received a magazine in the mail called Somerset Studio and the editors published my artwork in the Readers Expressions section of the March/April 2014 issue.

They regularly place calls for submissions and when the theme was "Le Cirque," I created Sig Sautelle and Gracie the Elephant and sent them in. If chosen, you receive a complimentary copy of their magazine. Here's a link to the current calls if you'd like to know more about it and maybe submit something of your own.

To Have and to Hold

The best part of a challenge? For me, it's exploring a subject that's not part of my normal repertoire like Weddings or Anniversaries, which is the theme for Wednesday's blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

I started by finding a great vintage photo of a bride and groom and thought I'd turn this lovely couple into a wedding cake topper. The cake was decorated with washi tape, acrylic paint and a fine tip marker. Distress inks, acrylic paint and a hand-made stencil were used to create the background.

Since I do a lot of "fussy-cutting" I thought I'd share a tip, especially when using figures from photos: After cutting, take time to ink the edges as this will help to blend them into your collage.

Making this tag was a lot of fun and a great excuse to play around. I never decorated a wedding cake before and I got to know this couple a little better. But why didn't the bride smile and what did the groom need gloves for?

Money Dance

I'm linking yet another tag inspired by SSS's Monday blog challenge, Making a Cameo Appearance. I've never entered multiple pieces in a challenge before but for some reason this cameo bit has really resonated with me.

I printed an image of foreign money (courtesy of Amy Barickman) and used gel medium to transfer it to the tag for an aged appearance. The center was cut out and filled in with paint to make a sort of frame for the dancing ladies. I used black and white fine tip markers and also a touch of violet watercolor to make the scroll work and background stand out a bit more. The bottom strip was cut from a gold doilie that I darkened with acrylic paint. I went back later and added some copper Stickles to the frame edge and just above the doilie.

When I was done I thought, wouldn't it be nice if, instead of boring old politicians on the face of money we could have dancing ladies instead?

Then I did a search for money art on the web and found that altering money is not a new idea. There are many collections including Pinterest and Tumblr boards and also bloggers who specialize in it. Then I wondered if it was legal and, in the United States:

Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
So when I alter my next $100 bill, I'll do it anonymously.