Reunited with Friends at the Orsay...

Here are Judi and Pat talking to Catherine.  I wish I could remember the names of the other ladies in her group.  (so sorry!)  Kimberly Hanlon is at the far right across from Catherine and Jan.

Here I am with Susan and Sara.  Sara and I had actually met in an art group that Susan and Judi were also in at Tejas Stamps in Collinsville in 1999.

Here is dear Kimberly.  She and Sara feel like family to Sharla and I.  Sharla and Kimberly had barely met when the Hanlons had to move to Minneapolis.  Kimberly is a very creative young lady.  She has a degree in fashion design and later went back to get her law degree.  Her law firm is now in Minneapolis.  I have a bear that Kimberly made while living here in Tulsa.  ")  (Mr. Sammy Bear)

Orsay Museum

Our day at the Orsay Museum was to meet Catherine Moore and her group that were in Paris the same week as we were.  In fact, Catherine is the reason for our smaller group to be there.  I had seen her advertisement for her 2011 Artists' Workshop in Paris..........I had purchased the magazine in March of  2010.  I immediately called my friend Sara and suggested that some of us sign up for it.  She told me that she and her daughter Kimberly had already signed up and that I should call Catherine immediately.  Sorry to say, her roster was already full.  She had started a cancellation stand-by list and put me on it.  In the meantime, I talked to Pat Rogerson in England and Susan Wilkin here in Oklahoma.  Soon we were saying, "Why not form our own  group to go?" and we ended up with our group of six.  Here is Jan in the dining room of the Orsay.  We had lunch with Catherine's group and were able to meet the women in her group......well, and two men.....two of the husbands came, one being Dale Moore....Catherine's husband. 

Here is Susan sitting by Sara Hanlon at the other table.  Sara and Kimberly had recently moved to Minneapolis due to Kimberly's acute broncchial asthma.

Susan, Jan and Barb waiting on the rest of us to leave for the Orsay Museum.

Altered Bingo Card for Pat

This is the Bingo card I altered for Pat, my swap this month in my art group.  Pat specified that she wanted these Jenni Bowlin pink Bingo cards.  I first inked the edges of the Bingo card with a pink inkpad.  Next I used a cotton swab and sepia inkpad to add an aged look around each square.  I had the doll in mind already, but really wanted to leave the Bingo numbers visible.  I really thought about tearing papers and making a background, but that seemed to defeat the whole "Bingo card" idea.  I looked at Fifth Child Studio's blog and viewed some of the cards that Sara has altered.  I was thrilled to see (and read) that she chose to leave most of the Bingo card visible as a Bingo card.  So, after being inspired by some of her works, I continued on my altering journey.  I love the epoxy square and heart in the middle of the card.  I have had it for some time and knew this would be the place to use it.  The doll is put together from some of the rubber stamps from Catherine Moore.  I stamped this dress on several decorated pieces of paper to see which I thought would look best with this color theme.  I added a sticker heart border to the bottom of the dress and then used the peel-away portion of the sticker border at the top of the card.  I thought these red foil wings just really made her a stand-out doll.  ")  And, of course, she needed something to hold in her hands.  My first inclination was that it should be a heart.  But, while rummaging around in my embellishments, I spied these Bingo buttons, also from Jenni Bowlin.  It was just the perfect item.  When I tied the red string on the button, it just seemed natural to hang a heart charm from it.  (I did not have red string, so I cut a piece of string and dipped it into a bottle of Liquitex Naththol Crimson acrylic ink.)  I added two hand cut hearts from a reversable paper diagonally across to the "free" heart space.  (Notice that I used one side on the first heart, and the reverse side on the second heart.)  I chose this beautiful ruby red tatted lace (bought from Croppinsville) to decorate the left side of the card.  I stamped the word "Doll" on the right side of the card.  I then computer generated the quote and printed it out.  I cut around the quote, edged it with pink ink and adhered it to the lower left of the card.  I thought she needed a little hat, so I cut the little chapeau from a piece of ruby red felt and attached it to her head.  Last of all, I randomly added single heart stickers.