Spreading some birthday love -- mixed media style!

Hey, guys!
Was it me that said I'd have more free time to craft, photograph, and blog in my last post (two weeks ago!)?? Surely not. :)
I'm living vicariously through a lot of different friends right now...some on family vacations, some at the Stampin' Up! National Convention and some at CHA! Let me just say I'm jealous of each and every one of you!!
Things have been busy, but I've gotten some new inspiration and a new found crafty love to share with you!
First things first, I have to give all of my new-found-crafty-mojo love to the ever so talented Christy Tomlinson. You may have heard of her...like the lady who build the most awesome kids playhouse on some little new craft show on TLC!! The title of 'winner' was robbed from her, despite her amazing creation. I loved how you could see her artsy, crafty touches all around (inside and out, may I add) her work.
After the show, I looked up her blog and
FELL.
IN.
LOVE.

Her art is amazingly inspiring, and her YouTube videos are the best! You can find her blog here and here's a link to her YouTube channel. (this is the specific video I watched roughly 17 times to learn heads from tails in mixed media land!)

Here's my try at some Christy-inspired goodness!!

Mom picked this one...

...and this ended up being Kasey's.

I made one for my mom's birthday and one for my best crafty friend's birthday. The hardest part was deciding who got which!! (Mom ended up picking because she saw them first.)

Here are a few close up shots with some detail:

Modeling Paste

Pen doodling

I've really never loved anything I've created as much as these two pieces, and I know they'll live in great homes from now on.
I'll check back in my next post with all of my materials, beginning your own mixed media art, and a few techniques I learned along the way!