Incredible Artists Share Unforgettable Beauty That Will Add Endless Flavor to Your World

ANNOUNCEMENTS: It is midnight on the East Coast as this TST goes live. I had to do it now as I have been asked to work on a project that I'm excited about tomorrow; I will tell you all about it in days to come. Sooo that means I will be away for the beginning of the day BUT if late submissions come in overnight (I know end of day means different things) I will get them in tomorrow evening!

Also, I have been working my tail off this week to get up to speed with life but I will be responding to emails and visiting blogs very shortly! I miss all of you!!


I'm in love with this TST and totally bummed that my piece is not finished. That means there needs to be a Mini-monthy soon because I want to share!! I love these flavors. It was amazing to see each person celebrate something wonderful within. I am inspired, humbled and truly grateful for the work created by these amazing, professionals.

Please join me for a delectable meal filled with flavor that will change your life and inspire YOU to celebrate YOU!




Catrina, creator of GrumpyKitty, created this wonderfully delicious piece.

"I guess I went more literal with this than was expected, but the first thing to pop into my head was Strawberries!" said Catrina. "I like them because of their vivid color, their sweetness, and the tartness behind the sweetness. I think that my personality has a few of those elements.

This was created in Photoshop using one of my watercolor paintings and stock photos. There is more info here. To see more of my art, please check out my blog.

Althea, creator of Salvaged Expression, created this truly stellar hat titled, The Glance.

"This hat is called The Glance because under it you will see the thousand different flavors of me," said Althea. "I've been saying forever that I needed to make something for myself. So this week I decided to spoil myself. I picked out my favorite yarns that I'd been saving for that perfect project and looked at photos until I came up with a hat design I wanted to make no matter how much material it would take. I let as much cat hair get on the hat as I liked and even worked one or two of my own hairs into this thing I think. Most importantly the hat ended up reminding me of things I like about myself, names of colors and numbers I worked into the stitches are special to me. It's tough, quirky and is a reminder to let myself shine because I can and still know how. I'm still a work in progress myself but if I come out anything like this hat I'll be pretty happy so thank you for this theme to remind myself that!"

http://salvagedexpression.etsy.com















Felicia Kramer, creator of Another Bright Idea, created this sensational piece titled, Imagine It.

"Inscrutable? Not so – I imagine I am many flavors," said Felicia.

http://anotherbrightidea.etsy.com
www.feliciakramer.blogspot.com















Amanda, creator of Persistent Green, created this magnificent collaged art journaling page titled, A Whole Lotta Flavor.

"A little flavor? Ha! You know me, I can't just stick to one," said Amanda. "This week I finished the 100 in 100 creative challenge (100 art journaling pages in so many days), and to my surprise, instead of being fed up with it, I immediately wanted to begin a new art journal. Here's my first tasty entry!"

http://PersistentGreen.etsy.com
http://PersistentGreen.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/PersistentGreen















Phoenix Ravenswing, creator of KittyHawke, created this fabulous piece.

"What's Your Flavor? Spicy & a Bit Mysterious," said Phoenix. "I took inspiration from the advertisement when re-purposing some old window-hanging strands and one-piece mobiles. The colors make me think of both salsa & Hallowe'en, hence the title."

www.kittyhawke.etsy.com














Phoenix Ravenswing, creator of Kitty Hawke, created this fantastic piece.

"What's Your Flavor? - Cool & Serene," said Phoenix. "Continuing the life-theme of opposites-that-complete, the other re-purposed-piece I've finished so far is this one. It reminds me of a snowy winter's night, cool, calm, silent, and peaceful."

www.kittyhawke.etsy.com














Phoenix Ravenswing, creator of Crow Tarot, created this phenomenal piece.

"What's Your Flavor? Connecting the Opposites," said Phoenix. "This sterling-wrapped unakite shows my flavor. It's a wrap newly finished that had its start back another lifetime ago, or so it seems. :-P It's all about concluding the old cycles lately, so that movement forward into the new ones can happen. :-D It's also about finding the way to conclude the old cycles, as w/this wrap that I didn't know how to finish until two days ago. :-)"

www.crowtarot.etsy.com












Trina, creator of Woven Chains, created this gorgeous piece titled, "Spring Flowers".
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30678833

"Over the last few months, my flavor has changed," said Trina. "It is much lighter, much more cheerful, much more optomistic, and absolutely, positively full of life. Spring Flowers represents all of that."

http://wovenchains.etsy.com













Maureen, a talented artist, created this exceptional 9x9 watercolor.

"For "A little bit of flavor," Maureen tried to paint the way Florida Key Lime Pie tastes . . . sweet and tart and wild with deliciousness."

http://aquamaureens.blogspot.com






After viewing this moving, inspiring TST are you feeling creative? Are you ready to just dive in and start creating for the next theme??

Well, the next theme is theme is.........."A Vibrant, Fiery Fall".


Tune in Friday for more fiery fun!

Celebrate This Artist, CLine Creations!

Hellooooooooo everyone!!! Welcome to Wednesday! What do you say, do you want to celebrate someone today??

Today we celebrate an artist with an eye for color combinations and a distinctive style, CLine Creations. CLine has a shop filled with Chinese arts which include brush paintings and knotted creations. I remember when I saw her first knotted project, knotted earrings. They were a gorgeous, fiery red and now her shop has all sorts of delicious knotted treats like this:

Shades of Blue Hair Barrette

In addition, she creates gorgeous brush paintings like this:

Autumn Landscape - Original Large Painting (14x27)

Check out CLine Creations and leave a little love for this talented artist :) AND if you need a little more of the CLine, check out her blog: http://clinecreations.blogspot.com/

Body Art

ANNOUNCEMENTS: If you did not have a chance to read yesterday's post, please check it out and help create art for a great cause!!


Caffeinated Frenzy shared this amazing piece. Please visit her blog!

"I loved this idea, and all the posts associated with it.
Here's my post about it: http://caffeinatedfrenzy.blogspot.com/2009/09/power-of-word.html"









Aquamaureen created this moving piece.

http://aquamaureens.blogspot.com/

"This community of artists that swirls around TST never ceases to amaze me. Since January, when my association with the group began, I have experienced the most soul-expanding moments. Encountering your post about Janet's body painting was yet one more of those transformative times.

For the last few days, I'd been eyeing the walls of my house, feeling like I was supposed to paint something significant on them. But as soon as I read about Janet, I realized my body was the "significant thing" about to be painted. As soon as I saw her picture of "hope," I knew exactly what I was being called to do. A few moments later, just before midnight, this word appeared, in aquamaureen colors, over my heart.

I tucked myself into bed, hugged with warm and tender smiles, and wondered how the paint would last. Just now, the morning after, I snapped a photo. It shows the word mostly faded. I prefer to believe that the idea has only sunk back into the deepest parts of my heart, after surfacing for a little while to encourage me."

Thanks to you, Janet and Natasha, for having and sharing this wonderful idea.














Kris, creator of Lisianblue, submitted this beautiful piece.

"One word comes to mind - painfree. It needs to go on my back. How to write on my own back? Cutouts and stick it on then take a picture and text over.

Monday 1:30 a.m. thinking I'm late - Tears well up in my eyes spilling over onto the table.

Not late
just scared
scared to look at my back
add another word
in colors I do not wear

Brave

I want to be Painfree
and Brave

tears again.

I am loved and have everything else I need. It's good."

My husband and I tried this together. His words were, Family and Patience.

"My family is important to me and I need more patience in life," he said.

I chose my favorite color, purple. It's also a healing color. I painted the words Love and Trust on my palms and my husband painted Create on the backs. I want to create more love and trust within my life and share it with the world.

My husband painted Loved around my shoulder like a blanket wrapped around me as a reminder that I am loved.

I painted the words Engage and Explore on my feet as a reminder to resist complacency and get out there in the world meeting people and engaging them in conversation.

There were two others I wrote but the photos did not come out - bummer! My husband painted the word, Wanted, across my chest as a reminder that I am wanted in the world. I have a place here. And I painted the word Truth across my cheek. I painted it backwards as a reminder that no matter how it comes out, I need to share my truth.











Phoenix Ravenswing created this thought-provoking piece.

"While not a word, this symbol is something I've been renewing since last summer, and that seems to keep creeping into my life of late. It's a Celtic-knot-ish version of an infinity symbol surrounded by a circle. I was playing around one day last summer, and when I was done, this symbol was there. For various reasons, it's seemed appropriate to keep it there. It changes slightly over time, as it's only drawn on w/ink-pen, but that works, as Goodness knows, my life has been changing & flowing of late as well.

For word-words... hmmm. Peace, wholeness, believe. There are others, I'm sure, but these are the biggies right now. :-)"

Thank you again to Janet for her post about this and to the Superhero Journal for creating this amazing idea and sharing the experience.

TST Rally for a Great Cause

Hello all you fabulous TST-ers! I hope that you are enjoying this Labor Day weekend.

I am writing in the hopes that you will help support a fabulous TSTer, Lorrie, in her efforts to collect 250 pieces of postcard sized original artwork to be raffled at the September 24th benefit for The Creative Center for Cancer (www.thecreativecenter.org).

Lorrie has been charged with soliciting unframed original 4 x 6 art in any medium-from acrylics to photography, collage to pen and ink and everything in between. This art will be on display and viewed by several hundred supporters which will include some gallery owners, art collectors and celebrities. Fine art by very well known artists will be auctioned off live, as well as celebrity art by actors such as Liam Neeson and Mia Farrow.

Currently, Lorrie is behind on her goal to collect the postcard art so she desperately needs our help!

Donating a postcard sized piece of your original art is a great way to honor someone who has been touched by cancer. The Creative Center for Cancer works very hard to bring art to people who have been touched by this disease. Please consider sending Lorrie something before September 20th. The address is:

Lorrie Veasey
c/o OUR NAME IS MUD
224 West 29th Street
Floor 5
NYC NY 10001

The value of your donation is tax deductable. Please include all your contact info on the back of the piece so that the person who wins your piece can contact you.

If you know any other artists who might participate in this event, please let them know.

I'm definitely creating a piece ...will you join me??

Theme 32: A Little Flavor

How you choose to interpret the theme is completely up to you. It simply needs to be tasteful – no pornography or messages of hate here. When you sit down to create, you cannot think about how people will or will not receive your work. You are required to simply enjoy the act of creating.

This song hits a vital cord within me. It speaks of something we all have..flavor. We have unique sensational flavor and I want to celebrate that. What flavor are you?

I feel strong and brave when I listen to the words. Part of my flavor is strength...is it yours as well? Do you have a similar experience? What does your inner strength look like? Or what is it that you "feel" when you hear the words? What does it look like? Let yourself play and create!





Important Guidelines

The work submitted must be something you have created and/or worked on between the time the theme was revealed and the Thursday unveiling. Please submit your response to Natasha@creativenachos.com no later than end of day Wednesday, September 9th if you would like it to be posted on Thursday, September 10th. OR send me a link to your response to include in the comments section of the post.





With your response please include:



1. Your name - either first name, shop name or both.

2. The name of your piece (if you choose to give it one)

3. Something you'd like to share (process of creation, idea behind piece) if you'd like to share anything. Please limit this to 2-3 sentences

4. The shop and/or blog links you'd like to include

5. Two photos of your piece or of each of the pieces (3x5 or 4x6 and 72dpi or a max of 96dpi - if you need any help with that please don't worry I'd be happy to help!)



Most importantly, delight in your flavor and then share it with the world!

Incredibly Talented Artists Create an Amazing Artistic Feast for the Heart, Mind and Soul!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: If you have not had a chance, please visit yesterday's post and share your photos and/or blog links on Tuesday. Please send all info to me no later than the end of day, Monday, September 7th!




The themes chosen and the talent shared this week are phenomenal. All of the work is filled with vibrant color. This TST feels like a celebration of the life. I invite you to bask in the rich beauty of these words, colors, and ideas. They will inspire, delight, and fill you up with all that's good in life.

Thank you to these fabulous, talented, professionals who once again challenged themselves to dream big and create magic for everyone....you are amazing!






Marcie Abney, creator of La Bella Joya, created this amazing hair barrette titled, Indian Summer.

"I chose the theme Bones of the Earth or You're My Rock. The name of this piece is Indian Summer," said Marcie. "It's a hair barrette made with seed beads and a large turquoise stone as the centerpiece. The stone had been sitting in my drawer for some time and I was stumped as how to use it because it is actually a bead and not a cabochon. The "Indian Summer" theme challenge has been floating around the web for a while so I decided to put the two themes together to create the barrette. It definitely lives up to its name because every time I look at it I think about the hot summer months!"

http://labellajoya.blogspot.com/

Amanda, creator of Persistent Green created these gorgeous Untitled mini watercolor paintings, based on the themes Explosive Celebration, Landscape of the Soul, and Whirling Colors in Mid Flight.

"Life lately has been topsy turvy, full of vibrant happiness and equally wild frustration," said Amanda. "I enjoyed painting out these feelings through my favorite watercolor techniques. These little paintings will become collaged covers for handmade journals."

http://persistentgreen.etsy.com/
http://persistentgreen.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/PersistentGreen


Explosive Celebration






Landscape of the Soul






Whirling Colors in Mid Flight














Janie, creator of Lifeartdesigns and MyPolymerClayCanes, created these truly unforgettable pieces.

http://www.lifeartdesigns.etsy.com/
http://www.mypolymerclaycanes.etsy.com/

On the Wings of a Butterfly
"This is the first butterfly cane I have ever made," said Janie.






Set Sail Upon an Ocean of Freedom




Where the Wild Things Bloom




Then Suddenly It Came to Life




Artistic Safari














Althea, creator of Salvaged Expression, created these awesome "Free to be me, by the sea" magnets.

"When this theme came out I started crafting immediately and it's a good thing too!" said Althea. "I managed to finish only these magnets "Free to be me, by the Sea" for the Set Sail Upon an Ocean of Freedom theme before I was innundated by 3 custom orders which have consumed my life since! These magnets really show my favorite things about the shore, both the serenity and the violent beauty and the fact that you can look at a sailboat on the ocean and still wonder if you're the only person left on earth."

http://salvagedexpression.etsy.com/














Maureen, a stellar artist, created these sensational pieces.

http://aquamaureens.blogspot.com/


Theme 6: Dreaming in Color: 6x18 watercolor. "I dreamed underwater," said Maureen.








Theme 15: Landscape of the Soul: 5x7 watercolor. "Mountains and suns and infinite possibilities," said Maureen.






Theme 10: Vibrant Chaotic Rainbow: 9x9 watercolor. "I have always loved hands and all they can do," said Maureen.








Theme 21. Then Suddenly It Came to Life: 5x7 watercolor. "The painting is covered in pollen from sunflowers that grew in my yard," said Maureen.






Theme 5: Where the Wild Things Bloom: 9x9 watercolor. "My flowers are lush this year and have lifted my soul every day," said Maureen.














Natasha, creator of Doodlestar, created these two journal covers.

"I'm going to make the surfer bigger and more colorful on the second one but I'd love some feedback," said Natasha.

http://doodlestar.etsy.com/

Theme: The Strike of Love



Theme: Purple Passion















Marja, creator of Glass Elements, these two absolutely fabulous pieces, Bursting with Love - Fused Glass Pendant and True Blood Red - Fused Glass Ring.

http://www.glasselements.etsy.com/

Theme: The Strike of Love Name of Piece: Bursting with Love - Fused Glass Pendant Link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30322444

"One of the largest and boldest pieces I’ve ever created, this gorgeous fused glass heart pendant embodies what it feels like to be bursting with love," said Marja.






Theme: Then I Saw Red … Name of Piece: True Blood Red - Fused Glass Ring
Link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30323078

"I think my fascination with vampires is showing, since when I see a red this deep and swirling, I think True Blood... A few too many books and shows right now I think! :)" said Marja.






After viewing this out of this world beautiful TST are you feeling creative? Are you ready to just dive in and start creating for the next theme??

Well, the next theme is theme is.........."A Little Flavor".
What flavor are you? What does your inner strength look like?



Tune in tomorrow for a little more about this theme and song..one of my all time favs...listen to those words...ahh

Celebrate Life With a Challenge!

The lovely and talented JanetDavies has opened the, Lilac Cafe. It's an amazing, thought-provoking blog that you simply have to visit. Her most recent post got me thinking and her link to the Superhero Journal post made me cry. I was so moved by the entire experience that I am posting about it here and inviting you to join me in a self-challenge.

What words do you most need to hear right now?

Sound like a strange question? Please visit the Superhero Journal to learn more. Read and review the pictures. I guarantee it will make sense and move you. Then, read about Janet's experience.

For Janet, the words seemed to bubble to the surface. For me, I heard them but held them down which is something I am trying to understand and explore. What words do you hear within? Did they rush to the surface or bubble up slowly?? What words would you want to see on the surface of your skin? What would they look like?

On Tuesday, September 8th I will post photos of my words along with yours or if you prefer I will post a link to your blog. As Janet said to me, "I was so incredibly blown away by writing words on the body!! I wanted to see if I could get a chain of bloggers or just people doing that and maybe linking to each other (?) Not sure how it could work. I want to see what other people would do, what would the words be? Where would they be?"

Let's challenge ourselves, make Janet's idea come true and keep the amazing work of the Superhero Journal going...what do you say??? Are you in??