i set fire to the rain . . .

is anyone else completely addicted to adele?  yes, of course you are, because she is phenominal!  i've been listening to her over and over while i work lately, and i sing along, loudly.  but anyways, time to talk about what i've been making . . .

i think it's about time to catch up on some swap lovelies that i've made, now that all their new owners have taken possession.

first are three airbrushed t-shirts i made for my personal swap buddy, atsuko.  these are based off some embroidery designs that she and her daughter enjoy, and i think they've found a happy home.

 night owl

 naughty birdie

curvy mermaid!  she's my favorite.  this mermaid has some junk in her trunk and she's rockin' it.

this is a painting i did for myloveasdeep as part of a personal swap.  she's got a thing for the whale vs giant squid story and i had a blast painting this.  i've decided that wood is my favorite paintable surface.  love how it turned out and was sad that i had to send it away.  it's a good thing she loves it or i'd ask for it back.


altered puzzle pieces!  i was involved in an altered puzzle piece swap with several other ladies, and these are the pieces i produced:

 shark and seahorse for an 'under the sea' theme

 picasso theme (the bottom one is a self portrait)

 fruit theme

there were a lot of theme ideas for these two.  i had fun with it.

phoenix fox i painted for phoenixfiredesigns

button tree i made for goldensunshine in a personal swap

that's all the painted goodies i can show you for now.  i have lots more, but i don't want to overwhelm.

thanks for looking.

jo

ack!

geez . . . i have not posted in for.ev.er!  so much loveliness has gone down and i have so many things to show you!  now, i cannot show you everything today, because your brain would bust from overload, and you'd be simply heartbroken at not having all of the greatness for yourself.  it's okay, we'll take this slow.

today, for you, some airbrush.  i keep getting requests for more airbrush, and so you're going to get it!  this is stuff i've been doing over the blisteringly hot summer, so enjoy . . .

here's one i did for a swap on craftster . . . i'm pretty proud of it

 (in process)

(finished)

more to come tomorrow!

jo

proof in the pudding . . .

so i do this airbrushing stuff, and at least a dozen times a day i get asked if the paint fades.  the answer is "not much . . . if you take care of it right". 

the right way to to iron or heat press the shirt before wearing the first time, then when washing turn inside out, wash in cold water, and line dry.

but who really does that?  i sure as hell don't.  i make shirts, iron them, then abuse them like crazy.  inside out, paint side out, hot water, cold water, soiled setting, and always always throw them in the drier.  sure, i don't care as much because i can just make a new one, but let's just call it an experiment.

so here's a shirt i made for my dear husband in 2009:

this is before i even took it off the shirt board - it doesn't get much fresher than this.

now, after 2 years of being worn and abused at least once a week, this is how it looks:

modeled here by my studliness himself.  a little faded, yes, but still looking awesome.  imagine how good it would look if i did care for it 'as directed'?!? 

so, in summery, the paint does stay.

jo

some things i made in recent history . . .

today i am going to post some airbrushed stuff that i made - and not stuff that i made light years ago - some of it i made just this past weekend!  really!

i know you're too excited for words, so let's get to it . . .


first, this is a shirt i made for the little man for our birthday luau coming up.  his little swim trunks are blue, green, and purple, so i made this to match.  progress pics!

 drawn out.

 add color.

plus name and white accents.  ta da!

some hats i got all colorful on:

 

 

 this is an old bowling pin i got from a local bowling alley, and i painted it to use as a first place crazy bowl trophy . . .

 after i painted this i made some other trophies that i liked better for this particular event.  so, if anyone needs a crazy bowl trophy, i got one for sale :)

gotta go . . . big double birthday luau to prepare for!

jo

look what i did this weekend . . .

these days it seems like i only get to making lovliness when absolutely forced to.  my little fox is sly as ever, and he is fast and sneaky and strong and smart.  oh, and me - i am exhausted.

thing #1 had a birthday party on saturday, and birthday parties require gifts!  i always try to make gifts for these little people, especially when i know that their parents have the means (and often times far greater than my own) to buy their child whatever they desire.  i have one small advantage, and that is that i do what i do.  so, here's what i made for the birthday girl:

it has a wall hanging bracket on the back, and i do hope she likes it.  i think i would have liked it when i was 7 :)

 i could not attend the party because i was at work!  yes, tis the season when i don the neon yellow shirt and slave away at six flags every saturday in the airbrush t-shirt booth.  this was my 4th saturday out there, and business is hopping.  before the rush started i knocked out this shirt for my little guy:

i know - it's adorable.  i was going to post a pic of him wearing it (this size is a bit big so he looks all 'thug' with it down to his knees) but he decided to take a header into the table and i don't need any more pics of him injured.

i also finished my t-shirt scarf!  you might recall my previous post when i started this project.  if not, see it here.  i have learned a lot from this project, the most important thing being that one needs to cut the t-shirt very evenly throughout or the scarf might look a mess when you're done!  moral of the story is that it is done, but i might make some adjustments to this piece before it's "final".

so, blogstalkers, that's what i did this weekend somewhere between the meetings, the crowds at six flags, and the runny noses i found the time to do what makes me happy.  yay for me.

jo

prodigal blogger

it has been a while since i graced this blog with my presence.  life is getting a bit crazy.  the little man is moving, and so are we!  buying a house with much more space, suitable for small mobile kiddos.  we are thrilled/exhausted/busy.

also, i have a craft fair coming up this weekend.  why not?  nothing better to do, eh?  so my life is cleaning, producing, and packing.  oh, there's some sleep in there from time to time as well.

today you get to see more of my airbrush stuff. 

first, some of the more cheesy, typical airbrush stuff that i made at work on a daily basis:

the not-so-typical:

this is the 'georgia bulldog' bulldog on a grey t-shirt.  it was painted for personal use, not for sale.

this is actually painted on a 12"x12" cork board

using the airbrush for other things:

white felt, painted rainbow, and used to make this dove barrette

 the fade from purple to pink on this felt barrette is paint - ta da!

again - airbrushed felt.  makes it a bit more special, don't you think?

alright, the natives are getting restless.  hope to post again soon!

jo