Lochthyme Antiques

Fall Issue of Spinetingler

2006-09-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hi all. The Fall 2006 Issue of Spinetingler is now available. This is a huge double issue. Nineteen stories. 23 reviews(including a bunch from yours truly). Profiles and interviews with Crème de la Crime, Peter Robinson, Reggie Nadelson and Simon Kernick, as well as a special look at joint promotion with Barry Eisler and JA Konrath: find out what they really did at Thrillerfest.

You can download, or choose to read online from here:
http://www.spinetinglermag.com/issuedownload.htm

Stories:
Roudabout by Patricia Abbott
The Killing by Stephen Allan
The Devil To Pay by John Barr
I am Sam by Bill Blume
Prey For Change by Betsy Dornbusch
Boys Will Be Boys by Sam Douglas
Killing Carol Ann by JT Ellison
Bad Dreams by Andy P. Jones
With The Help of a Stranger by Lauri Kubuitsile
Lucy Comes Calling by Sarita Leone
Camera Shy by Ed Lynskey
Haven City by Beverle Myers
Natural Causes by James Oswald
When Kyle Comes by Colleen Quinn
Tip Your Head Back by Stephen D. Rogers
In The Bones by Tracy Sharp
Cat¹s Pay by Pam Skochinski
Nuts to You by Paul Svendsen

Profiles/Interviews
Chris High profiles Peter Robinson and interviews Reggie Nadelson and reviews their latest works.

Sandra Ruttan interviews Simon Kernick and profiles publisher Crème de la Crime, who has exciting news for North American crime fiction fans

Andrea Maloney reviews:
Twisted Perception by Bob Avey, Art's Bloody by Vicki Lane, Max Unlocks The Universe by Mark Bouton, Murder, Mather & Mayhem by ME Kemp, The Deadly Tools of Ignorancy by Robert Elias, A Dream of Drowned Hollow by Lee Barwood, Philippine Fever by Bruce Cook, Baby Shark by Robert Fate, Deadly Interest by Julie Hyzy, The Final Judgment by Michael A. Black, Blind Traveler Down a Dark River by Robert P. Bennett

M. Wayne Cunningham reviews, Framed by Tonino Benqcquista, The Last Days by Gail Bowen, The Joining of Dingo Radish by Rob Harasymchuk

Flood Gondek reviews Murder Without Pity by Steve Haberman, The Scout Master: A Prepared Death by Luisa Beuhler

Diana Bane reviews The Case of Emily V by Keith Oatley

Sandra Ruttan reviews The Flood by Ian Rankin, Pale Immortal by Anne Frasier, The Last Assassin by Barry Eisler, The Green Room by Deborah Turrell Atkinson

Web profiles: DevilDog by James Oswald, Mouth Full of Bullets by BJ Bourg
Staff Profile: Tracy Sharp
Bonus: Between the Hardbacks with Barry Eisler and JA Konrath by Elizabeth
Krecker and MG Tarquini

Welcome to the Wild Kingdom

2006-09-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

I went out my back door today to do some laundry in the basement and heard an awful racket coming from the bridal veil bush in our backyard. It's where the sparrows like to hang out. As I stepped towards it out shoots a huge Cooper's Hawk. He flew across the street, then flew back and landed on our chimney. Then from the chimney he shot down into the bush again and took off with one of our sparrows which he proceeded to eat. Later on he was back looking for another meal but with no luck this time but I was able to capture these great pictures.

Art Stamping Workshop Lesson # 3

2006-09-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

Just finished the 3rd lesson for the Art Stamping Workshop which was to carve a tag stamp. I did two: one plain and one decorated. I really like how they came out and think I will be using them a lot.

Decorative Paper for Backgrounds and Such

2006-09-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

I've seen loads of gorgeous papers in craft stores that are intended for scrapbookers but I use them in my art a lot. A bunch of them look handpained although they are printed. So I thought I'd try my hand at making some of my own with acrylic paint and such. They came out rather nice I thought.

Art Stamping Workshop

2006-09-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

I recently joined a great group called Artists of the Round Table and they have different workshops based on some great books. The one I'm doing now is from the book Art Stamping Workshop by Gloria Page. It's all about learning how to carve your own rubber stamps. So I've done my first project which was to carve a shadow stamp. I've done two different ones and here they are the actual stamp and the stamped image too:

A Bazillion Decos

2006-09-08T11:55:00.000-07:00

I have had a number of artistic decos(little art booklets) for way too long. But now I have finished working in all of them and it's time to send them on their way. Here they are:

They are Honey Bee Deco, Blue & Gold Deco, Together Deco, Purple Deco, Blue & Gold Deco, Pink Deco, Vintage Child Deco, Carnival of Curiosities Deco, 2nd Carnival of Curiosities Deco, Japan Deco, Odd Circus Deco, Women of the World Deco, Embossed Deco, Brown & Gold Deco, Cut Out Deco, Watercolor Deco, 2nd Watercolor Deco, Goddesses Deco, Celestial Deco, 2nd Celestial Deco, Artistic Nude Deco, Dreams Deco, Bejeweled Deco, Brown & Gold Deco and Travels to Italy Deco.

Pale Immortal by Anne Frasier

2006-09-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

I've heard a lot of wonderful things about Anne Frasier's new book Pale Immortal. It's on my list of books to be bought asap!! And check out this really cool video for the book:

And here's the description of the Pale Immortal :

Welcome to Tuonela, a sleepy Wisconsin town haunted by events of 100 years ago, when a man who may have been a vampire slaughtered the town's citizens and drank their blood. Now, another murderer is killing the most vulnerable...and draining their bodies of blood.
Evan Stroud lives in darkness. The pale prisoner of a strange disease that prevents him from ever seeing the light of day, he lives in tragic solitude, taunted for being a "vampire." When troubled teenager Graham Stroud appears on Evan's doorstep, claiming to be his long-lost son, Evan's uneasy solitude is shattered.
Having escaped Tuonela's mysterious pull for several years, Rachel Burton is now back in town, filling in as coroner. Even as she seeks to identify the killer, and uncover the source of the evil that seems to pervade the town, she is drawn to Evan by a power she's helpless to understand or resist....
As Graham is pulled deeper and deeper into Tuonela's depraved, vampire-obsessed underworld, Rachel and Evan team up to save him. But the force they are fighting is both powerful and elusive...and willing to take them to the very mouth of hell.

And be sure to check out Anne's blog for more!

August Reads

2006-09-03T16:42:00.000-07:00

1. Baby Shark by Robert Fate: Review to appear in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue: A terrific debut novel with great characters and a taut storyline.

2. Deadly Interest by Julie Hyzy: Review to appear in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue: Another great installment in the Alex St. James series.

3. The Final Judgment by Michael A. Black: Review to appear in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue: An absorbing mystery with a fascinating look into the life of a kick boxer/private investigator as he faces the toughest challenges of his life.

4. The King of Lies by John Hart:

Jackson Workman Pickens, known as Work, is going about his life with little passion or hope. His business is failing, his marriage is passionless and his life in general is just unfulfilling. A little over a year ago his mother died and on the same night his father, Ezra Pickens, vanished. Ezra was a brilliant lawyer who created a legal empire that Work is now trying to carry on with but failing miserably.

Then suddenly everything changes when the murdered body of Ezra is discovered and Work finds himself to be a prime suspect along with his sister, Jean. For it turns out Work has been left a vast fortune by Ezra which the police see as a huge motive for murder.

Work’s life was always overshadowed by Ezra, his domineering father, who did everything he could to keep Work under his thumb. While Work lived his life under this father’s eagle eye his sister Jean’s life was practically destroyed by Ezra but was it enough for her to have killed him?
Fearing the worst about Jean, Work is determined that she not spend a day in prison so he sets about his own investigation. He finds himself at odds with the power-hungry detective investigating the murder who already has him convicted in her mind. Soon rumors start to fly and Work finds damning evidence that he is determined never comes to light.

Jean emotionally starts to crumble as the evidence against Work comes to light and he finds his own emotions bubbling up as he fights finally to get out from under Ezra’s domination and become his own man. He finds himself in a desperate battle to save his sister, free himself from the accusations flying about him and finally win back the love of a woman he has loved for most of his life.

John Hart’s The King of Lies is an amazing debut novel from an author who is one to watch. It is far more than a mystery, it’s the story of one man’s odyssey to find himself and the life which was taken from him at a young age. Hart’s writing pulls you into this powerful story with abundant descriptive detail, crisp and powerful dialogue and characters that are rich and full of life.

It’s at once a thrilling mystery and a poignant and heart wrenching story of a man who finds himself outside looking into a world he once thought was his own. As Work questions everything about himself and his life you will find yourself unable to put this novel down until you reach the emotional and electrifying ending.

5. Snow Blind by P. J. Tracy

The holidays are over and it looks like it will be a long, cold winter in Minneapolis. But this is Minneapolis and they love the snow so they sponsor a good, old fashioned snowman building contest. Everything is going along delightfully until two of the snowman are revealed to contain the bodies of two police officers. Suddenly what was a fun filled event turns into a nightmare for Detectives Magozzi and Rolseth.

Meanwhile the next day, the brand new sheriff of Dundas County, Iris Rikker, comes across another body in another snowman and soon it is feared a serial killer is on the loose.
Afraid that the new sheriff will be unable to handle the investigation, Magozzi and Rolseth head to Dundas County in a blizzard to help out. Soon they find themselves in need of help from Grace MacBride and her crew at Monkeewrench to search the web for clues to help them solve this horrible killing spree.

The mother and daughter writing team known as P.J. Tracy have done it again. Snow Blind is another thrilling installment in the Monkeewrench series with a taut and exciting storyline, beloved characters and humor sprinkled liberally throughout.

With Detectives Magozzi and Rolseth in the lead this time you get a wonderfully developed police procedural storyline with terrific character interactions, witty dialogue and woven throughout are social issues that will leave the detectives with an ethical dilemma showing that life isn’t just black and white but sometimes filled with shades of gray.

P.J. Tracy has done a marvelous job of continuing the evolution of these wonderful characters and I for one am looking forward with great anticipation for the next installment in this delightful series.

6. Dying Light by Stuart MacBride

Detective Sergeant Logan MacRae finds himself moved into D.I. Steel’s “Screw Up Squad” after the raid he lead into a warehouse rumored to be full of stolen property ends up with no arrests, no stolen property and one officer critically injured. D.I. Steel’s team is made up of the most inexperienced and/or worthless members of the homicide department.

Logan is desperate to show that he doesn’t belong on this team and he will do anything to make sure he isn’t there very long including working long hours on two brutal cases. One the police are desperate to solve is the high priority case of the murder by arson of six people including a baby. The second case is not high priority compared to the fire but still needs a resolution and that is the beating death of a prostitute down at the docks. Soon though the second case becomes a much higher priority when a second prostitute is found brutally beaten to death.

Both cases seem simple on the surface. Yet the more MacRae investigates the more he finds that everything isn’t as simple as it seems.

Throughout all this MacRae finds himself at odds with everyone he knows including D.I. Steel, D.I. Inch, his girlfriend Jackie Watson and his friend Colin Miller. Trying to juggle his personal life while dealing with murder and mayhem at work is a daunting task one which MacRae isn’t sure he is up for. Despite the overwhelming odds he is determined to get to the bottom of these brutal murders and also get himself out of the “Screw Up Squad”.

Stuart MacBride has written another thrilling entry in his DS Logan MacRae series. Darkly brilliant, Dying Light, pulls you in from the very first page and you’ll find you won’t be able to put it down until the taut and gripping ending. Don’t start this late at night unless you are prepared to not get any sleep.

MacBride’s dark sense of humor adds fire to the crackling dialogue, brilliant descriptive detail pulls you deeply into the city of Aberdeen and a storyline full of unexpected twists will leave you chilled and thrilled to the bone. A compelling read that will leave you looking forward with great anticipation to MacBride’s next entry in this outstanding series.

7. Blind Traveler Down a Dark River by Robert P. Bennett: Review to appear in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue: Great storyline that just didn't have the writing to develop it to it's full potential.

The reviews for Dying Light, Snow Blind and The King of Lies also appear on Spinetingler Magazine's review site.

Grrrrrrrr

2006-09-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

Grrrrrrrr! I can't post comments on anyone's blog if they haven't signed up for the beta version merging google and blogger! Unfortunately, you cannot post a comment on a non-beta blog or claim a mobile blog using your Google Account. These features are coming soon. What good is that????? Next time I don't sign up until all the bugs have been worked out. :(

Yes, I'm still Here

2006-08-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still here. :) Been busy trying to get some decos done that I have had here forever. Like maybe a year. I know I know....baaaaaaaaaaaad! But I only have about 7 more to do...I've done about 15 and then I can find someone to take them off my hands to see that they eventually get home to their rightful owners. And then from now on I won't take on more than I know I can do. Phew!

And if you are asking what a deco is see Lisa Vollrath's site where she has a terrific definition of them.

Next after I finish these I will be working in two awesome journals and then making an oriental themed deco. Soon I'll also be posting my reading for August. Not too good only read seven books this month. But there's always next month.

Fiery Artwork

2006-08-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite colors to use in art are the colors of fire. Red, yellow and orange. I like things bright and vibrant! When I create a new piece of art I usually don't have an idea of what I'm going to do. Instead I figure out what colors I want to use then go from there. Here are two of my latest spreads done in two different journals. The first is for a project in the Art Garage:

This one is created using red and yellow liquid acryic glazes. Then a cut image, a hand written quote, and stamped using various rubber stamps.

This next one is for a Zetti Journal project. On this one the participant wanted artwork on one page and on the other page decorated but with space for them to write their thoughts and ideas. So here's what I came up with:

This one is done using red & yellow liquid acrylic glazes again then I doodled on one page ( I like doodling....it's loads of fun :0 ) The quote says: let your imagination soar. Then I used green ink around the edges. Around the yellow sections I used some textured acrylic medium. The little section on the right is the definition of flight from an old dictionary.

Cats and Gardens

2006-08-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd introduce you to our adorable kitty. His name is Punch and he's sixteen years old.

As we have found out we always want to keep an eye on our food and drink at all times. Because if you aren't in the room you never know what's going on:

Yes that is my drink he's drinking out of. I knew he would go after food including spaghetti o's, ice cream, chicken, steak and all sorts of food. But I never knew he would drink out of our cups...I don't even want to think about all the cups I've left on the table before. :0

Our garden is doing very well. We have been eating lots of cucumbers, eggplant and squash so far. The tomatos are almost ready too. Yummy!

July Reading

2006-08-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

Summer has been a tough time to get lots of reading done but i did read the following in July:

1. The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
The Book of the Dead is the conclusion of the trilogy by Preston & Child which started with Brimstone and continued in Dance of Death. Special Agent Pendergast is in prison for a murder he didn't commit and his brother Diogenes is planning a criminal event so extraordinary it will leave people reeling.

The New York Museum of Natural History has just received a parcel filled with brown dust. When it is revealed that the dust is actually the remains of the priceless gem collection stolen by Diogenes in Dance of Death the museum is left in the middle of huge scandal.

Meanwhile the Count of Cahors has offered made the museum an offer they can't refuse. He offers them ten million euros to reopen the Tomb of Senef which is an Egyptian tomb that was on display in the museum when it originally opened back in the early 1900's. When the display of the tomb was finished it was sealed up in the basement of the museum and forgotten. Realizing this is the event they need to get them out of the pit of bad publicity the museum director decides to take the count up on his offer. Of course the Tomb of Senef comes with a curse and soon bad things are happening again in the museum.

It's up to Special Agent Pendergast and his group of friends to stop Diogenes diabolical plans, help the museum get out from under the curse of the tomb and saves thousands of people from a fate worse than death. There's just one problem Special Agent Pendergast is locked up in a maximum security prison with no way out.

Preston & Child have written another thrilling novel of epic proportions that races along at a breakneck speed ending with a final battle between brothers that only one will walk away from.

They do a brilliant job of weaving together all the storylines of the many characters while making it easy to follow the story. Their characters at times are larger than life but that is part of their appeal to the reader. Each character has their own unique story that has been developed throughout Preston & Child's other books. To read The Book of the Dead you will want to have read Brimstone and Dance of Death although Brimstone is not absolutely necessary to follow the storyline.

Review also appears at http://www.spinetinglermag.com/reviews/home.html

2. Max Unlocks The Universe by Mark Bouton - Good read but with some flaws. Likeable hero. Female characters were too perfect. Interesting plot ending a little out there. Full review to be in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue.

3. The Poet's Funeral by John M. Daniel - Funny spoof of the publishing world with a good mystery too. Full review in Mystery Morgue's August Issue.

4. Murder, Mather and Mayhem by M. E. Kemp - Good historical mystery taking place in Massachusetts. Interesting characters, terrific mystery, great historical detail. Full review to be in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue.

5. The Deadly Tools of Ignorance by Robert Elias - Well plotted mystery with interesting baseball & academic themes. Some people might find it a bit dry in places with political observations, observations about the Catholic Church and it's problems, and observations about crime & it's prevention in the current day. Full review to be in Spinetingler Magazine's.

6. A Dream of Drowned Hollow by Lee Barwood - Not a mystery but a terrific ecological fantasy novel with a great sense of place, beloved characters and a dynamite plot. I loved this book! Full review to be in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue.

7. Philippine Fever by Bruce Cook - Terrific first novel from author Bruce Cook. Well develped sense of place (the Philippines). Gives a grim look at the devastating poverty and sex-slavery in the Philippines while delivering a first rate mystery with a cast of in depth characters. Not for those looking for a gentle mystery. Full review to be in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue.

And to see all my reviews plus loads of other great reviews check them out at Spinetingler Magazine's Online Reviews and Mystery Morgue.

New Zetti Journal Spread

2006-07-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

Just finished working in a journal for a Zetti Journal project I'm involved in. In this spread I painted the background with silver lumiere paint. Then I used dimensional craft paint for the background swirls and stamped a leaf stamp with green lumiere paint. Then I painted two tags I cut to shape with the silver lumiere paint and drew two funny figures using various markers.

Birdies Birdies Everywhere

2006-07-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend I noticed a sparrow outside sitting around chirping really loudly. He wasn't afraid of me much and I could get really close to him. I though he might be injured or really young. He was there Thursday and again on Friday. So by Friday night he was still hopping around on the ground and couldn't really fly. So I picked him up and put him in a box and called The Place for Wild Birds. It's a wonderful place locally and the only one local to me that takes in wild birds that have been hurt or lost their parents and rehabilitates them and then releases them back into the wild. It's a really great organization and relies on donations to continue their work. So if you are able please donate to this wonderful organization.

We brought the sparrow to them on Saturday and the woman who runs it checked him out. He's not hurt but is a juvenile. We found a dead sparrow on Friday that had been killed by a cat and we think that might have been one of it's parents. I had watched this sparrow and there didn't appear to be another parent feeding it. So that's why we brought it to the place for wild birds. Once he is old enough he will be released into the wild.

I also noticed yesterday two other sparrows chirping away like they were looking for food but they are better able to fly than the one we caught....but again I was able to get very close to them and they also appeared to be juveniles. So I'm keeping an eye on them to make sure they are being fed by their parents and don't get into any trouble.

Art Garage Journal Spread

2006-07-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

Just finished working in another journal for the Art Garage project. I kept thinking it needed something else but in the end I came to the conclusion that less is more.

The background is peel and stick fabric(by Delta called FabriCraft) which I just discovered...great idea! The text is written on more peel and stick fabric pieces. I printed the picture of the woman on photo paper, gessoed out the background and then painted the background gold. I then added the wings to the picture. And finally trimmed it with beaded trim.

The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

2006-07-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

Just finished a book I really enjoyed called The Book of the Dead which is the end of a trilogy written by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. It's like watching one of those epic mini-series they used to do on tv that would run a whole week except your reading not watching. Loads of interesting chararacters, different plot lines that all converge at the end and lots of action. To read my full review of this book check it out over at Spinetingler Magazine's Online Review Site.

Artwork, Summer and Stuff

2006-07-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Well I've been doing some artwork recently finally. Not much time with the girls home. Between reading books for reviewing, the girls being home, artwork, jewelry business I barely have time to breathe....and let's not forget the housework. :) But anywho here's a spread I did for a journal from a project at the Art Garage:

Next I worked in a Zetti Journal for a Zetti journal project and here is that spread:

And finally I worked in a deco for another group I belong to:

Now it's back to reading, more artwork and I have 4 reviews to write up.

4th of July Weekend

2006-07-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well boy did we have a busy weekend. Friday night we saw the fireworks at 9:30 that are in our town every year. Yes, they never have them on the 4th...just other nights. They were great and my youngest daughter loved them...her first July night being able to stay up that late to see them. I was surprised she loved them because she usually freaks out about loud noises although the finale did see her covering her ears. :)

That Sunday we went to a cousin's house for a barbecue and it was awesome. Had a great time. The kids loved it...my cousin also has two kids so they had a blast playing together. Went into the pool, on the swings, played with toys and ran around. My youngest slept until 9am the next day...usually she's up around 7am.

On Monday the 3rd we went to Massachusett's Audubon Sanctuary in Marshfield. It was terrific...lots of birds, chipmunks, frogs, bugs (well ok they weren't terrific), butterflies and more. Here's one butterfly we saw and the chipmunk:

And speaking of butterflies I caught a picture of one on our butterfly weed (i think it has another name but that's what we call it)plus a few more garden pictures:

And on the 4th we went to the local 4th of July parade in the morning...another long walk from where we parked:

And then that night we went to the local carnival for rides, games and way too salty popcorn. The kids loved the rides...my youngest daughter even went on the ferris wheel. And let me confess I was way more scared than she was. It's so wobbly and soo00 high! Then I went on the bumper cards with my oldest daughter....she loves those. We also went down the slide...the really high and fast slide! All in all it was a busy and great weekend. Now I suppose I should do some cleaning or something.

June Reads

2006-07-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

Well it was a slow reading month for me....my girls are out of school so less time for reading. But on the plus side I already finished my first book of July. :) And here's my June list:

1. Blood's Burden by Alex Matthews
In the eight Cassidy McCabe mystery Bryce Palomar is home with his girlfriend Kit when someone breaks in and kills her. Or did they? All evidence points to Bryce with the doors being locked, the gun on the scene and a fight heard just before the killing. Even his father, Zach, has a hard time believing in his innocence. Zach is married to therapist Cassidy McCabe. Cassidy doesn't believe her stepson is guilty and sets out to prove his innocence along with Zach who is an investigative reporter.

Cassidy and Zach find numerous people who might have had motive to kill Kit including a drug dealing boyfriend and a minister father with something to hide. An unexpected pregnancy also gives someone a motive for murder. They are hindered in their investigation by Zach and Bryce's troubled relationship. They have an ongoing power struggle and any time they get together they just can't seem to stop fighting and arguing. Along the way there is another murder attempt, skeletons in the closet are rattled and this all leads to a breathtaking conclusion.

Although this is the eighth Cassidy McCabe mystery I didn't feel at all lost not having read the previous books. Matthews does a great job at filling in details from previous books needed to keep the storyline flowing. She has created a believable and likeable character in Cassidy McCabe. Cassidy's ever present inner voice gives insight into her inner psyche while adding depth to the story. Matthews does an excellent job at showing how Cassidy is an evolving character with flaws but one who is working on the flaws to be a better person. Blood's Burden is deftly written, tightly plotted and filled with delightful characterizations. The mystery itself has many twists and turns and will leave you guessing until the very end.

2. 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers by Troy Cook
Tara wasn't raised like other children. Her life didn't involve Barbie & Ken, instead she was playing with Smith & Wesson at a young age. Her father raised her to be a bank robber and she has become pretty good at it. So far they have managed to stay ahead of the law using the 47 rules that her father had come up with. Now she is twenty-two and ready to move out on her own but her lunatic father is not keen on that idea and he will go to any lengths to keep her with him.

If that was the only problem in her life things might be ok but it's not. Her and daddy dearest have scored their biggest heist ever in a little town in the Southwest. Now they find themselves being pursued by the local sheriff, deadly ex-partners and a task force of federal agents who would love nothing more than to catch Tara and her dad red handed. But as if that wasn't enough that's when Tara falls for the son of the local sheriff and things just go from bad to worse quicker than you can say stick 'em up.

Troy Cook has written a wonderful debut novel with an unusual premise. From the very first sentence the story draws you along on a wild crazy joyride thru the lives of some very quirky characters who are a delight to read about. You'll find yourself cheering for some of these shifty and shady criminal characters in spite of yourself. For when they are good they are very good but when they are bad they are even better.

47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers is a high speed adrenaline filled crime caper novel of the 1st degree. The writing is well done, the characters are quirky, unusual and exceedingly delightful and the plot moves along with the speed of a freight train. Cook has also done a resplendent job of weaving delightfully droll bits of humor throughout the story with a deft hand. A terrific debut novel from an author I know we will be hearing more from.

3. Twisted Perception by Bob Avey- Good mystery with lots of twists and turns, likeable protagonist.
Full review to appear in Spinetingler Magazine's Fall Issue( http://www.spinetinglermag.com/)

4. Art's Blood by Vicki Lane- A terrific mystery with an evocative setting and dynamite protagonist.
Full review to appear in Spinetingler Magazine's Fall Issue

5. A Shot to Die For by Libby Fischer Hellmann - I really enjoyed reading this novel. Great story, lots of twists, terrific characters.
Full review to appear in Mystery Morgue( http://breakthroughpromotions.com/mysterymorgue/)

6. As Dog is My Witness by Jeffrey Cohen- Love all of Jeffrey Cohen's books. They are very funny and terrific mysteries too.
Full review to appear in Mystery Morgue

7. Deadgame by Kirk Russell- Great book. Terrific details and I learned something too. Very likeable protagonist.
Full review to appear in Mystery Morgue

Sure They Can't Give Money to Education or Raise the Minimum Wage but they Sure Can Give Themselves a Pay Raise

2006-06-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well congress has voted to give themselves a pay raise again but they won't vote to raise the minimum wage. Fund education...heck no. But give themselves a pay raise...hell yes. That they can do. The Democrats are vowing to block the pay raise until the Republicans pass the minimum wage increase..I say go for it. The Republicans say they won't pass the minimum wage increase since it's bad for small businesses. Since when have they given a damn about small businesses???? The ones they like to help are the big corporations who go tromping all over the little guy. Help small businesses....puuulease! Give me a break!

The Garden

2006-06-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well the garden is finally begining to grow now that we have had some really warm weather. I didn't think our vegatable garden would ever get going but we are now eating some peas. The eggplant and tomatos are finally growing bigger, the lettuce is coming along and some of the flowers are blooming.

The rain has been taking it's toll on some of the flowers and they are now kissing the ground. And of course I'm behind in my weeding since it seems to always be raining. I did get some weeding done today but it's supposed to rain for the next 3 or 4 days so we shall see if I can do anymore. And in case you can't tell the grass needs to be mowed again but since it's going to rain tomorrow we are going to wait.

We are also growing peppers, basil and swiss chard. And we do have a number of herbs growing including oregano, dill, thyme, marjoram, orange mint, lemon balm, golden lemon balm, chives.

What Day is It?

2006-06-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

Ok folks...what day is it? June 26th you say? Are you sure it's not July 4th? Nope it's June 26th. Then why are the bleeping fireworks going off now? Someone had some extra spending $$ i'd say because it sounds like a war is going on out there. Explosions everywhere. The kids are running around the house, the cat is running around the house and it's chaos. What is it with people and things that go boom!

What is it About Email and the Internet That Brings out the Worst in People?

2006-06-26T17:07:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that people seem to be more willing to say anything through an email and on the internet than they ever would in person? I belong to a number of email listserves and every once in a while someone will take something the wrong way and respond in the most vile nasty way. What's up with that? And I imagine these people wouldn't dare to say anything like that in person.

Do they think before they speak? Or is it because no one is standing in front of them they feel like they can say anything they want? What happened to manners? Or if you have a problem with something someone said how about you contact that person? Instead of emailing the entire email list that sometimes consists of hundreds or thousands of people? What is it about the internet that makes peoples manners just go into the toilet?

Or are manners in general just going bye bye? There are so many more instances of road rage than there ever used to be. And you hear stories about people attacking people with 13 items in the 12 items or less checkout line? Why are people so angry?

Are you Feeling Happy?

2006-06-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

Well, acording to a London scholar you should be because today June 23rd is the happiest day of the year. Hmmm....I ain't feeling that happy. I've had happier days but what the heck maybe I should get up and do a jig.

And you may be asking yourself, well maybe your aren't but I'll tell you anyway, what is the saddest day of the year? January 23rd. What's with the 23's? And I might agree with that one January is pretty stinky...all that snow and cold and Christmas bills arriving on your doorstep. Not to mention it's cold and flu season too.

Finally Catching Up on Artwork

2006-06-21T06:28:00.000-07:00

Well i've been finally able to catch up on my artwork. I have a number of swaps and round robin's i'm in. First up I finished a spread for a zetti journal swap. The journal is titled It's not a Barbie World and this is my spread:

Next I did a set of three atc's for a swap started by Lisa Vollrath over at swap-bot :

I also did a swap for a group I'm in called PaperTrailArt. The group owner sent us 5 atc magazine backgrounds and we had to do our thing with them. Here are mine:

Next I'll be working on a deco, another Zetti Journal and an art journal.

Earth Surrounded by Giant Fizzy Bubbles

2006-06-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

My goodness we are in a can of soda! This is one of the better or at least funnier headlines I've seen in a long time. :) But it is an interesting article. Check it out:

Earth Surrounded by Giant Fizzy Bubbles

I Hate Colds

2006-06-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

It's summer tomorrow officially although we are having some wonderful hot weather. Now that summer is here what do I get you ask? A coffee coolata? A tan? A sunburn? Noooooooooooooo i get a cold. Summer is supposed to be the time when we don't get colds....but nooooooooo I go an get a stinkeroo cold one that feels like a huge cotton ball is in my head with a hammer. My eyes are drooling, my nose is running and I can't find the kleenex. And now it feels like this cold may be travelling into my chest and that's always a barrel of monkeys. Hacking and coughing all night long...wheeeeeeeeee!

An Inconvenient Truth

2006-06-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

I just heard about what I think is a very important book and movie. A must see for the people of the world. It's time we started paying attention to what's happening to our climate before it is too late. Everyone is so concerned about the almighty dollar that they push aside what is happening to our world. They want to earn a buck and push aside the fact that we could be leaving our children and grandchildren a horrible legacy. If you think nah it's just crazy talk look at our weather. Look at Katrina and all the other hurricanes that have hit recently. Just in Massachusetts the winters have been crazy either piles of snow and freezing cold (they even cancelled school two years ago because it was so cold) or else unseasonably warm. It's almost the end of June and we are just starting to have some really warm days. The heat actually came on here in June...that is unheard of. We are in trouble and we need to start taking it seriously...we need to pay attention. Check out An In convenient Truth. Pay attention. Make a change.

Cats

2006-06-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

I love cats. They aren't afraid of nothin...well except for maybe fireworks. But a bear? Naaaaaaah! Me I'm afraid of bears but this cat definitely wasn't.

Cat's are funny and here are a few to add a smile to your day.

Angry Cat
Gamer Cat
Acrobatic Cat
Nyah Nyah You Can't Get Me
I Think I ate too Much
Read Any good Books Lately?

Rain Rain Go Away

2006-06-09T18:56:00.001-07:00

Rain, rain, rain....bleah yuck! Auuuuuuugh! It seems like it has been raining forever. They said on the radio today that in the past 39 days we have received more rain than we normally see in six months! Yikes! It's dreary, depressing and downright nasty out. And it's been unseasonably cold too. My poor garden looks like a hurricane went through it. All the flowers are drooping and covered in dirt.

But instead of screaming constantly as was my first reaction to the rain I decided to clean and organize my office/studio. So I'm sorting thru stuff and it's a messy business. I still have stuff I know I have but haven't been able to find in a long time:

I'm slowly working thru things and listing some of my no longer needed stuff on ebay with more to come in the following days. The wooden bookshelves shown contain most of my mystery/thriller fiction...and yes they are double stacked there are books behind the books you can see. It also contains my jewelry design books and art books or at least some of them. There are more books in the office on the black shelves and in my bedroom. You can never have too many books.

Do you Yahoo?

2006-06-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

Do you belong to some Yahoo email groups? I do! How many groups are too many? I belong to 46 Yahoo email groups but of course not all of these have daily mail. I have groups that are about jewelry, groups about art and groups about mystery fiction.

Some of my favorite groups are 4_Mystery_Addicts which has group reads each month and just general discussions on mystery books, Art Techniques a mixed media art group that discusses new techniques and has swaps, Jewelry_Ring a group for the discussion of vintage costume jewelry, Joolcrafting an internet community for artists creating unique jewelry made from materials as diverse as can be imagined, Mystery Reader Cafe a friendly book group that loves to chat about mysteries, such as British, amateur sleuth, private detective, humorous, hard-boiled, historical and many more, Paper Trail Art This group is dedicated to original, hand-made Artist Trading Card (ATC) art, Tatt22edGoddess_Art a group showcasing the art of Sharon Busutill, Wire Wrap Jewelry A list for lovers of all things wire wrapping, beading with wire, and jewelry in general, Zetti Zoo ZettiZoo is a art group set up specifically for die-hard Zettiology & Teesha & Tracy Moore art fanatics! Entirely inspired by all things "Zetti", members of this zany group will enjoy skads of art swaps, mail art exchanges, zine discussion and more -- ALL based on the wild and wonderful Zettiology products.

I have many more groups too. Some are just for photos and some are just announcement groups. But I love my Yahoo groups...now if there were just more hours in the day so I could do everything I want to.

Spinetingler New Issue

2006-06-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

The summer issue of Spinetingler Magazine is now available online and it's a great issue. Some incredible stories, articles and reviews including my review of Murder @ Work. Be sure to check it out! It includes:

- Short Stories

*And the Devil Will Drag You Under* by Stephen Blackmoore
*Demon in the Storehouse* by Megan Powell
*Cursive Three* by Joe Swope
*A Dream* by Erato Sahapoglu
*The Kiss* George Burden
*DJ's Girl* by Sarah Weinman
*Downdraft From Tokyo* by Michael Obilade
*Tigergirl* by Daniel Arenson
*Domino* by MG Tarquini

- Interviews and Profiles

*Murphy's Laws For Successful Writing: Profile of Margaret Murphy* by Chris
High
*Colin Campbell: His Work, Love of Films & Tennis, And What the Future Holds
* by Chris High
*In Conversation With Cornelia Read: Blubber, Barf Buckets, Breast Size and�
The National Film Board of Canada? (part 2)* by Sandra Ruttan

- Reviews

Sandra Ruttan reviews Rhapsody in Blood, The Forest of Souls and The Field
of Darkness

Chris High reviews Through the Ruins of Midnight, Gone and The Lincoln
Lawyer

Andrea Maloney reviews Murder @ Work

Martin Edwards reviews Raven Black by Ann Cleeves (nominated for the top
Dagger prize this year)

Book Signing: On the Road with Lee Child and Cornelia Read by Angela Lynn

Fostering Online Communities on Author Forums: Sandra Ruttan interviews
moderator Jayne Massey, with comments from Mark Billingham and John
Connolly.

Spinetingler Staff Profile: M G Tarquini

They have also lauched a Cozy Noir contest.

There are four stories included, just to show you how broadly they'll define
"cozy noir".

*A Fistful of Cozy* by JA Konrath
*Unstuffed* by Bill Blume
*Favourite Things* by K. Robert Einarson
*Childhood Dreams* by Sandra Ruttan

Springtime

2006-06-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

I love spring. The trees are green, the birds are singing, the sun is shining and the garden comes to life.

Women Altered Book

2006-06-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished two spreads in an altered book i'm working in for a round robin. The theme was women. Here's the first one:

I applied crimson acrylic paint to the pages and then added gold foil. The woman is a photo a printed, painted the background black and applied various stamps using gold ink. The two women on the left are applied asian papercuts.

Here's the second spread:

This one was done with a layer of blue acrylic paint. Then I applied white gesso on a piece of paper stamped designs in it and transfered it to the blue background. Then I used the same stamp with green acrylic paint and stamped on top of that. The figure is cut from a music book and then painted with acrylic paints. The words are written with various markers.

Favorite Rubber Stamp Atc's

2006-06-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

I did three atc's for a favorite rubber stamp atc swap. Here are my three:

For the backgrounds they all have masking tape applied and then painted with two shades of acrylic paint in magenta and orange. The rubber stamps are from Paper Artsy's Ink and The Dog Line. The first one the image is stamped on corrugated paper, black ink is smudged on the edges and a key sticker is applied. The second one has been stamped on colored paper, black ink has been applied thru a screen and copper edging has been applied. Third one was stamped directly on the background and copper edging and photo corners have been applied.

Books Read in May

2006-06-02T13:10:00.000-07:00

Here's what I read for the month of May. You can find my reviews on Spinetingler.

1. Feint of Art by Hailey Lind
2. The Guards by Ken Bruen
3. Better Read than Dead by Victoria Laurie
4. A Vision of Murder by Victoria Laurie
5. Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell
6. Consigned to Death by Jane K. Cleland
7. The Dead Place by Stephen Booth
8. Tilt a Whirl by Chris Grabenstein
9. Deadly Blessings by Julie Hyzy

High on quality but not too high on quantity...I hope to read more this month.

Rainbow

2006-05-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

This picture is from this weekend. It's pouring rain with thunder and lightening and at the same time the sun is shining thus we had this gorgeous rainbow.

The Dead Place

2006-05-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

I just finished a great book called The Dead Place by Stephen Booth. If you are looking for a nice uplifting book this isn't it. It's a great police procedural with a very dark tone to it. You can see my entire review of it on the Spinetingler Review Site . It will leave you thinking about death and it's aftermath. Not something to read while feeling down in the dumps. Sit outside in the sun and prepare to be pulled into a deeply dark & disturbing mystery that will leave you chilled to the bone.

Speaking of death it was never something I used to think about and then I had children. Suddenly I found myself wondering about death, what happens after we die? Nobody has any real answers but they do have their beliefs about it. And I just sit and wonder what is death? What happens when we die? Before I had children I never gave it a second though but now it's in my mind much more often. I guess when you have children you start to think about your mortality. That and perhaps because I am getting older I think more about death than I used to. Suddenly my bones ache and body parts no longer work as effortlessly as they used to. Must be nature's/God's way of letting you know nothing lasts forever.

If If If

2006-05-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

Could the media please start reporting some news? Right now watching the news is like reading the National Enquirer. If it's sensational they will report on it but otherwise it gets no coverage.

What happened to the war in Iraq? How about all the soldiers who are being killed over there or the Iraqi citizens who are being slaughtered over there? That's not sexy enough to the news media so they aren't reporting it.

What do they cover? Why the bird flu. All I hear is If the bird flu mutates, If it comes to the US, If people start contracting it we are all gonna die. That's a lot of if's and they are just causing worry and panic. Yes if it mutates it could be a big problem so how about the give us some facts and not just run around screaming "The Sky is Falling".

How about they cover the fact that George Bush is a criminal? An imbecile? How about they cover the fact that George Bush went to war with Iraq for no reason? Where are those weapons of mass destruction?? Oh wait Iraq was a hot bed of terrorism....no wait it wasn't... but now that George Bush started this war it's become a hot bed for terrorists.

And what about all those poor people affected by hurricane Katrina? Everythings fine now right? No it's not fine it's still very bad down there but you would never know that from watching the news. The news people seem not to care anymore about the news. They say let's not cover any of the stories that matter.

Instead they say let's cover the bird flu non stop. Let's cover The Da Vinci Code so much that everyone wants to puke if they hear that name again. Let's cover every sensational story that doesn't matter. Oh and how about that runaway bride? Was that news that matters or what?

Beloved Books

2006-05-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

Sandra Ruttan posted an interesting question on DorothyL the other day. What books/authors made a difference in your life? I'll take it one step further...what books made a difference, inspired you, knocked your socks off, made your laugh, made your cry or just plain amazed you? For me some of my most beloved books are:

Summer of my German Soldier by Bette Green
Portrait of Jennie by Robert Nathan
Agatha Christie
The Nancy Drew Series by Carolyn Keene
The Hardy Boys Series by Franklin W. Dixon
I Know What you did Last Summer by Lois Duncan
Anthem by Ayn Rand
The Broken Citadel by Joyce Ballou Gregorian
Castledown by Joyce Ballou Gregorian
The Great Wheel by Joyce Ballou Gregorian
Tad Williams
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Edgar Allen Poe
The Guards by Ken Bruen
The Heat of the Moon by Sandra Parshall
Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride
First, Do No Harm by Larry Karp
And so many more I can't even think of them all.

Funny & Weird News

2006-05-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the news can be pretty funny and kinda weird.

With friends like these........

With Criminals like this there shouldn't be any unsolved crimes.....

Eeeek.........

Have they nothing better to do?

I know how you feel kid......

Light

2006-05-17T04:34:00.000-07:00

"Auuuuggggh! My eyes, it burns. What is thy light which shines thru yonder window? Thy talking heads say it be the sun. What is thy sun of which they spake? "

Sun: the luminous celestial body around which the earth and other planets revolve, from which they receive heat and light, and which has a mean distance from earth of 93,000,000 miles (150,000,000 kilometers), a linear diameter of 864,000 miles (1,390,000 kilometers), a mass 332,000 times greater than earth, and a mean density about one fourth that of earth.

Definition courtesy of Merriam Webster Online Dictionary
Photo Courtesy of USGS

When it Rains it Pours

2006-05-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well it started raining last Tuesday and we had a brief respite on Friday and this weekend just poured. Now it's (yes you guessed it) raining again and supposed to rain until Thursday. No wait I just checked and now it's showers thru Sunday possible...wheeeeee! I guess i'm lucky in that I'm not in one of the areas hardest hit in Massachusetts. These photos are from viewers of our local tv channel WCVB I'm in southeastern Mass and we haven't had as much rain as they have (they are on the north shore).

We really needed some rain but this is ridiculous. Schools have been closed and people are being evacuated. Rivers are overflowing and I keep expecting to see an ark go by at any minute.

New Jewelry

2006-05-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got around to creating some more jewelry thanks to a special order I received. I'm using a lot of copper and gold plated brass. I find copper to be a very soulful metal, it has much more life than some of the other metals in my opinion. I know a lot of people are really into silver and gold but I find copper speaks to me...it has such a warm a vibrant color to it. It just so full of fire.

The Poor Guy.....

2006-05-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

I nearly died when I read this in my local paper. It is from an article about a local hero and I quote:

"Cogswell pulled Wilton Wetter, then 37 of Plymouth, from his car after he went over an embankment and exploded on Oct. 21, 2004."

Poor Wilton he exploded! Or was it his car that exploded?

Tag I'm It

2006-05-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

Eek, I've been tagged! There seems to be a game of tag going on in the blog world and I've been tagged by Sandra over at Sandrablabber:

4 movies you would watch over and over:
Highlander
In the Name of the Father
Iron & Silk
The Matrix

4 places you have lived:
Massachusetts
Massachusetts
Massachusetts
Massachusetts

4 TV shows you love to watch:
Criminal Minds
Grey's Anatomy
Cold Case
Law & Order: Criminal Intent

4 places you have been on vacation:
London
Montreal
Disney, Florida
Washington, DC

4 of your favorite foods:
Pesto
Green Curry
Shrimp Scampi
Eggplant

4 Websites you visit daily:
Bloglines
Ebay
Paperbackswap.com
Sandrablabber

4 places you would rather be right now:
Italy
Florida
New Mexico
A Bookstore

Tag 4 People you think will respond:
Ummmm..hmmmmm....ummmm...

Keeping Track of Blogs

2006-05-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

Do you like to read blogs? Do you have a number of blogs you check out everyday? Ever wonder how to keep track of blogs and know when they have updated the blog? Well wonder no more check out Bloglines. It's a great service where you can keep track of all the blogs you monitor in one place. Here's a quote from the Bloglines site:

"Bloglines is a FREE online service for searching, subscribing, creating and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content. With Bloglines, there is no software to download or install -- simply register as a new user and you can instantly begin accessing your account any time, from any computer or mobile device. And it's FREE!

Bloglines is a window to a whole new world of dynamic content that is being created and distributed over the new "live" web. You can make your own personalized news page tailored to your unique interests from our index of tens of millions of live internet content feeds, including articles, blogs, images and audio. And it's FREE!

Bloglines shields you from the confusion of news feed standards -- RSS, Atom, and others. Bloglines allows you to search for, read and share any updates from your favorite news feed or blog regardless of its authoring technology. And it's FREE!

Last, but not least, Bloglines provides you with the tools you need to begin creating your own clip blogs and blogrolls. Become a publisher, share your thoughts and opinions! And it's FREE!"

This site saves me a lot of time. And I wouldn't be able to check out the blogs I like without it.

Not 18 Anymore

2006-05-10T05:10:00.000-07:00

How does it happen? You wake up oneday and suddenly realize you aren't 18 anymore. Ever since I started approaching 40 and then hit 40 suddenly my knees hurt, my hips hurt and now my back is going out on me. This weekend I was picking up the multitude of toys scattered throughout the house by my lovely daughters when I bent over to pick up toy # 1001 and my back screamed in protest...when did this happen when did I suddenly get old? And yesterday I was working in the garden doing some edging and pulling some weeds while sitting on the ground. I went to get up and suddenly wham everything hurt...and this morning when I woke up I had sore muscles I didn't even know existed. And where did all those grey hairs come from? How did this happen?

Good Girls Bad Girls Altered Book

2006-05-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

Just finished working on two spreads for an altered book round robin i'm in...the books theme is Good girls Bad girls. Here's my good girl spread:

And here's my bad girl spread:

These were done using vintage pages from various books as the background and then painting them with Twinkling H2O watercolor paints. The bad girl photo i printed with my inkjet printer then I smudged the background with water. Once it dried i painted the background with Twinkling H2O paints and let dry. Then I stamped and embossed with copper colored stamping ink. The good girl photo i printed out on my inkjet printer and painted the background with white gesso. Then I painted over the gesso with Twinkling H2O paints. Then stamped and embossed with black stamping ink.

What I'm reading Now and What's Next

2006-05-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well right now I'm reading Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell and I'm really enjoying it as everyone said I would. Next on my reading list will be The Dead Place by Stephen Booth which I won from Reviewing the Evidence. This is an author I have been meaning to try but never got around to it so now's as good a time as any. I've heard good things and can't wait to get started. After that I may read something from my growing TBR pile/mountain. One of my most favorite websites right now is Paperbackswap.com I love this site! I keep getting more wonderful books from them and they are really helping my mount TBR to grow. Although maybe that's not a good things since my bookshelves may collapse. Although nothing beats going into a bookstore...I just love the smell & the feel of new books! I could spend hours in a bookstore!

Just Finished

2006-05-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading the 2nd and third book in the Abby Cooper, Pyschic Eye series by Victoria Laurie. I really enjoyed the three books in this series and you can see my reviews of them all at the Spinetinger Review Site, But...you knew there was a but didn't you? But the heroine, Abby Cooper, is sometimes TSTL (too stupid to live). As an example in one of the books she goes to her house to pick up some things and her psychic intuition tells her there is something wrong. She finds a broken window indicating someone has broken in to her house and as she heads to the doorway her psychic intuition tells her that whoever broke into her house is still in there. What does she do you ask? Why she goes into the house. Auggggh! I hate it when they do that, I mean really let's use a little common sense. Would you go into a house where you know there is an intruder? No, you'd call the police. They do that sort of thing all the time in horror movies and it drives me nuts.

April Reads

2006-05-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

I'm a big mystery and thriller fan and do a lot of reading in my spare time. I also write reviews for Spinetingler Magazine: Online Reviews Site which you can find here:

http://www.spinetinglermag.com/reviews/

Here's a listing of the books I read this month and you can find my reviews on the Spinetingler site:

1. Murder @ Work by Yvonne Eve Walus
2. Artrage by Everett Aison
3. For Whom the Minivan Rolls by Jeffrey Cohen
4. Enter Second Murderer by Alanna Knight
5. Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton
6. Shooting Elvis by Robert M. Eversz
7. A Farewell to Legs by Jeffrey Cohen
8. A Test of Wills by Charles Todd
9. The Smoke by Tony Broadbent
10. Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye by Victoria Laurie

Jewelry Designs

2006-04-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

I also design jewelry and these are some of my latest creations. I love working with wire and polymer clay. The first one is just some gorgeous pink quarz beads and amethyst beads. The next two are made using wire with various techniques. And the second one includes some of my own handmade polymer clay beads.

Digital Art

2006-04-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

I've also started doing some digital art. This is one digital atc that I made for a purple & green swap. Just cut and layered the images then added a colored background and colored the images themselves.

Secret Garden Altered Book Asian Spread

2006-04-28T07:05:00.000-07:00

A spread i did for a secret garden altered book. This one is title asian garden and it ended up being rather abstract. Red acrylic paint for the background with gold leaf on the pages. Then some paper cut butterflies and flowers were added. Finally some asian writing was added to complete the spread. It looks much better in person the picture just didn't do it justice.

Art Garage Journal Project

2006-04-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

A spread I did for another journal in the Art Garage journal project. Acrylic paints layered for the background. Various papers and acrylic paint for the figure of the winged woman. And acrylic paint stamped using foam stamps on top.

Woman Deco Pages

2006-04-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

Pages from a woman deco I was working in. Took some photos I printed on my inkjet printer and on the asian one I used gesso of the background then painted with H20 watercolor paints. Then used black ink and stamped with some asian stamps I had. On the second photo I used water on the background to give it a smudged swirly cloudy look then again painted it with h20 watercolor paints and stamped with different color inks over the entire photo. Then added a paper hat. The edges of both photos were trimmed with fibers and then placed in the deco on pages I had covered with different text pages and colored with a mixed palette of h20 watercolor paints and written words and designs on.

Journal Project: Another Page

2006-04-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

Another page from the same journal. Same techniques and mediums used as the last page.

Zetti Journal Project Page

2006-04-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

A page I did for a journal project I'm working on. Used acrylic paints for the background. Book pages cut to shape for the woman and then acrylic paints to add color and style to her. Used stamps with acrylic paint too.

Zetti Repair Shop Altered Book

2005-12-15T04:40:00.000-08:00

Just finished these two fun spreads for a Zetti Altered Book round robin. The book is called The Zetti Repair Shop. The backgrounds are done with Luminiere paints on black cardstock. Then I added some fun images, text, fringe and acrylic gemstones. I had fun with these and really like how they came out.

Texture Deco

2005-12-15T04:33:00.000-08:00

Just finished this texture deco for one of my Yahoo groups. I glued down a piece of sandpaper and painted it with orange and magenta acrylic paint (love that color combination), then I added a piece of felted paper decoration. Last I put on the red fringe.

Niche Spread - Relics

2005-12-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

The last part of the book consists of a niche spread i've titled Relics. The background paper is a nice fancy copper stripe, the word relics is stamped in black ink and then embossed with verdigris embossing powder. In the niche there are 5 faux coins I've antiqued with acrylic paint plus a bunch of different clay pieces I made and antiqued with acrylic paint also. Over the niche I've attached a mesh screen with copper tape. The color is more accurate in the second picture but the 1st picture gives more detail of what's in the niche.

Spread 5 - Love Yourself as you Are

2005-12-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

Spread # 5 I've called love yourself as you are. First I crumpled up tissue paper and then applied it to the pages using gel medium. When that was dry I applied acrylic paint. Then I added the words and figure. And over the words and figure I added 1 ply paper towel which I had colored with acrylic paint and ink.

4th Spread-Ancient Civilizations

2005-12-09T11:31:00.000-08:00

The 4th spread is a 4 page spread. The backgrounds are Luminiere paints on black cardstock.

3rd Spread-Pockets Page

2005-12-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

This third spread is a tag & pockets page. The center writing is the song Dust in the Wind by Kansas. The tags have images of places from civilizations which are no longer around and quotes about decay. Over the images and quotes i applied one ply paper towel that had been colored with green and copper paint. The pocket pages themselves are copper paint, acrylic crackling medium and green acrylic paint which gives it that nice crackled look.

2nd Spread-Old Love

2005-12-09T11:22:00.000-08:00

Here's my second spread titled old love. Created using vintage vintage pages of a dictionary. Then applying masking tape which peels off some of the paper. Then I applied with a sponge green and copper acrylic paint. The words are handwritten using a green marker and outlined in black.

1st Spread: End of Days

2005-12-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

Here is my first spread showing an awesome sunset scene which I've called end of days. Again I used the masking tape and acrylic paint technique and then applied my images and some black cardstock.

Introduction Page

2005-12-09T11:13:00.000-08:00

Here is the introduction and dedication spread. This spread was created by putting down masking tape and then going over it with two kinds of blue acrylic paint using a sponge and paper towel to mix and remove as needed. And then over the words I applied a single ply piece of paper towel which I had colored with acrylic paint and inks using gel medium. This made it see through so you can read the words but have load of color.

Title Page

2005-12-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

Here is the title page for the book. Used copper paint, copper tape, combed patterns into the paint and stamped the words into the wet paint.

Art Garage Project Is Completed

2005-12-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

Well I finally finished the project I was working on for the Art Garage. It's a complete altered book. And I like how it came out. Here are the back & front cover. The theme is Random Thoughts on the Natural Progression of Decay. On the cover is an image of red riding hood and around it i used an elmer's glue technique to get that texture. You take elmer's glue, add acrylic paint, spread it over your book or page and then heat with a heat gun holding it fairly glose. Heat until the glue starts to bubble, let it go as high as it will go. Then when you move the gun onto the next spot the bubbles will collapse creating this awesome wrinkled texture. Now I suppose Red Riding hood doesn't have much to do with decay, although I suppose you could look at it as the decaying of society's manner, but the person the book is for really liked this image when she saw it on a deco I did so I thought it would make a great cover.

New Art

2005-04-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

Some of my latest atcs.

This one called bumble bee is done with acrylic paint on fabric.


This one is done with acrylic paint and gold Krylon pen on fabric.


This one is done with Luminiere paints and gold Krylon pen on fabric


This one is done with blue watercolor paint & modge podge over inkjet printouts.