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First off, congrats to the SOI winners! Just found out that Sam got THREE pieces in, and Nick Illuzada (who is still a student at MICA) won silver in Uncommissioned. Yowza! Gotta stay on my toes! Sam and I also received our copies of Spectrum 17 the other day--that Greg Manchess cover is the bomb and there are so many pieces in there that kill me. Awesome. Pick it up. So I've been MIA for a while now and owe you guys an explanation! I've been sequestered in my apt. working on a kid's activity book for Amtrak, simultaneously battling some cold/flu thing for a while, and even snuck in a trip for my cousin's wedding! When I was informed that I got the Amtrak job, I basically just dropped everything and had to get to work. To my great disappointment that meant that I also had to drop my Anthology Project comic. Sorry dudes, I hope to be able to complete a published comic SOMEDAY, and the work that's going into the Anthology Project is looking AWESOME. I'll be working on this book until early February, but I wish I could show you some sneak peeks! It's coming together. This is Amtrak's first kids book in about a decade, and they're going to be giving it away for free on the trains! For now, I can show you some of the illustration backlog I have piling up from previous work. Like these pieces I did for LA Weekly's Best Of 2010 issue! Each of the sections in the newspaper had an opening image & spots that corresponded to a different decade in LA. Darrick Rainey assigned me the roaring 20's for the Food and Drink section, and I was PUMPED to do the illustrations for this. If you haven't been able to tell from some of my past pieces, I LOVE art deco. It would be great to be able to do more illustrations with a 20's theme/style. Darrick remembered my Estelle LeBlanc poster and wanted me to do my illustrations in the same style. Here's the sketches I sent: We liked them both, but Darrick thought that the more streamlined style of the right sketch fit better, even though we both enjoyed the crowd scene. So I combined them into this: Upon reflection, I think I should have just gone with the 2nd sketch of the girl dancing. It probably would have had more impact. I guess I just wanted to draw a crowd! Here's the final. The colors are pretty modern instead of strictly 20's, but I figured upping the saturation would help it show up on newsprint. Darrick also needed some B&W spots to scatter throughout the section, so I decided to make a little story out of them (dining, dancing, and PROHIBITION) I was happy with how these pieces came out, but looking at it again I'm wondering if some texture might look nice (I was worried at the time that the texture might muddy on the newsprint). Hindsight is 20/20. On to the next.

I can't remember for sure who first showed me how to solder. I think it was my friend Kathie or else it was Debi. But as far as formal classes go, I have only taken from two artist - Sally Jean and Terri Brush. Both these classes were taken within the past year and I have blogged about both teacher. I found both Sally Jean and Terri Brush's classes valuable to my growth and interested in soldering. But neither of the classes gave me the close up personal instruction that my friend Margo Beatty gave me in my own home with her watching carefully over me and showing me all her personal tricks of the trade that she has finessed. Margo has taught me how to attach a jump ring without fear! About six minutes into the above video, Suzi interviews me and features some of the pieces I have made that there are also stills shown below. NOW, you too can have this personal attention from Margo. My two wonderful friends, Margo Beatty and Suzi Blu have teamed up to help you perfect the skills you might already have or to learn how to use those tools (soldering iron) that you purchased in the past and have sat (the tool) lonely on your shelf or in your art/craft drawer. Margo is absolutely amazing. She will hold your hand and take you step by step to some beautiful finished beginner projects. Please check out her class found on Suzi Blu's online class network. Remember, when you take a class from Suzi Blu, you own the video and the PDF's forever. You download them to your computer and therefore, can go back and review them 5 years from now if you choose! For this class Margo even prepared an EPUB (in addition to the PDF) if you have a mobile device and know how to get it into your phone, iPad or other mobile device. For the Android platform you can use a program for your PC called Calibre that will change an EPUD file to a MOBI file and now you can upload Margo's EPUB to your Kindle App. (Too much info?) Crown base made in Terri Brush class. Embellishments were added when I got home. Crown made at home during a playday with Margo See what happens when you don't use black backed copper tape? Currently I am really not into making jewelry. I personally wanted to use my soldering knowledge and add those soldering projects someway to my art and canvases. At the end of the above video you will see some of what I have chosen to do with my soldering. I did learn how to make my initial crown from Terri Brush. But in a huge class like she taught at the Urban Barn in Escondido, CA, there was only so much one on one any teacher can do. My second crown was done at home after Margo observed, demonstrated and assisted by explaining how I might better from the foundation. The soldering joints ended up so much neater and smaller after practice. Then I decided to include some of my Suzi Blu girls in my art pieces after resizing them in Photoshop. The two crowns I made are not large enough to fit on one's head (I wanted small crowns for "my girls") but look wonderful in my art room. Above canvas background was made at Elena's Charity Wings retreat "Seaside Soiree" in Oceanside. Liz Hicks directed with new products that gave us this wonderful water background. I then drew my own mermaid when I got home. But, I didn't feel she was complete until I had put one of my own crowns on her. Glass and technique to make this mermaid Shaker box pendant was from Sally Jean's Halloween Class I made this at home during PlayDay with Margo using my original art Shrine glass kit was purchased from Sally Jean My original art Photoshopped I just realized that my really small crowns can also be charms. Can't wait to do that next week when some of my friends meet at my home for our weekly intimate soldering "PlayDay." There are always new things to discover from all our friends. Keep you eyes and ears open and be ready to find new skills to either discover for the first time or to increase your skill level on old skills. Above, very small crown charm "work in progress" Less than 1 inch in width Again, see the copper when you don't use black backed copper tape Early soldering work before practicing and having Margo personally supervise my soldering Silly Sal concentrating on soldering the branches in the photo below. What great hangers. But, they need to be blackened. I learned from Sally Jean that you can solder just about anything! Beveled Glass 1 inch charms done right! The above fabric/paper/glass large wall hanging is a work in progress done in KC Willis style. I am doing all the sewing/embroidery by hand since it is a very special piece featuring the only photo that anyone has of my natural mother and father together dressed to the nines at Coney Island Park in New Jersey. When it is completed, I will post the finished project. *Still need to take a photography class. My camera skills don't seem to be improving.

Explore Lydia Felland’s 204 photos on Flickr!

Download this free watercolor earth printable for your home. There are four options, just the earth and three versions with different world quotes included.

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If you have tween or almost tween girls, you will want to grab this inspirational FREEbie, Looking Upward: Cursive Copywork from Homeschool Encouragement. Thanks Amy for sharing this resource for our daughters.

For about 600 years the Tower of London was home to the royal menagerie: Lions, tigers, bears, kangaroos, and many other animals lived there...Continue reading