Fun Mail Day

I ordered some "Metallic Myst" from my pal Ank at Stampinback

and it arrived today! I just ordered it like a week ago and its already here, clear from the Netherlands! Anyway, being a sucker for anything metallic I HAD to give these a try.

I just tested these out on a scrap piece of linen textured paper for fun.

The scan does not show their shimmer-but its gorgeous! I can tell I am going to have fun with these :) And, Ank also included a card-isn't that little girl image so cute? that image is from

Time To Stamp and the wonderful backgrounds are from Stampinback!

Thanks Ank!!

Blog Candy! Help me name this fella!

Help me! I need to name one of my newest pieces but I am just no good at naming them! I would really like him to have an old fashioned type name! Comment to this with your suggestion and if I pick the name you suggest you will win a manilla envelope of collage fodder from my own collection :)

Sharing a favorite blog

I just have to share one of my favorite blogs!
If you haven't checked out "The Altered Page" then rush right over! GREAT blog, and Seth is just too cool. He has some great stuff there that is sure to inspire!

prepping for a juried art show

I MAY be a little quite over the next week or so.........I am frantically preparing for a juried art show. I have one piece done, actually two, but I have two pieces I am working on at this very moment. I need to have these all done, sealed and ready to hang by the 9th. My muse is just soaring high right now, so I am going with it! I am giving ya a little glimpse of one of them I am currently working on. Just a little peek is all :)

Last year I did GREAT in this show-I am hoping this year I will be just as lucky :)

Think Monday-Think ATC: Africa!

This was a hard one.......I really didn't have any African related images at all! I then remembered I had some from years back that I handcarved myself for a group I belonged to for a challenge or something.

It was really fun revisiting alot of my old carved stamps! I will have to bring more out and use them-I have alot of them! I LOVE the look of handcarved images!

Step Outside your box Saturdays-Fabric

This was a hard one! But, since I recently did a inkjet transfer to fabric I thought I would do another one and incorporate it into a collage. The brown piece behind the collage is one of those frame thingies that old photos come in-I cut it into two pieces, to use another for later :) I handstitched the image transfer to the substrate-which is a piece of canvas with old text adhered to it.

The little girls are from a favorite photo from my own collection. I very often use photos from my very large collection and add color to them ,etc :)

4x4 Friday:Watercolors

I used Twinkling h20's for the background on this, and got out my bottle of white india ink and splotched in some areas . Cemetary Angel is from Collagestuff and text background stamp is from Time To Stamp

Wednesday Stamper: Bookmarks

I was in the Frida mood today, so that was my theme :)

Stamps are by Vickie Enkoff (RIP) available through Alluring Impressions

The phrase, however, is from her daughter, Melanie Sage.

Theme Thursday: Warm Colors

The Theme Thursday Challenge is Warm colors!

This is a n atc made using oil pastels and gesso, and black gesso around the edges

Text stamp by Time To Stamp-my favorite text stamp on the planet :)

Circle by Inkastamps

little girl by Stampinback

More Copper ATCs

I am having just way too much fun with this copper. I have some more ideas-I will definitely have to play around more with this wonderful stuff! I did a couple more ATC's :)

The one on the top is done with images from ISC

and the one on the bottom is done with Time To Stamp images. I used a ball peen hammer to them after I mounted them to matboard for stability. I used Mica behind the focal image on the one on the top-its hard to get a good scan that shows that.

Copper ATC

I stamped on copper for this one! I used a newspaper clipping background from Inkastamps

and pounded the heck out of it with a ball peen hammer after I mounted the copper piece to matboard :) I applied the eyelets and wire, then the copper wings and keyhole that I applied copper paint to! I love how this came out! Too bad I just could NOT get a good scan.

My house now reeks of rotten eggs from the Liver of Sulphur! My kids are walking around with their noses covered!LOL But it was alllllll worth it! Going to be doing more copper stuff too-but I am on my way out the door! Had to share though :)

My first ever inkjet transfer to fabric

I LOVE the little imperfections about this! So kewl!! Doing transfers to fabric was definitely on my "to-do" list for this year. For some reason I just was in the mood to try it tonight, so I did this on a whim. I am so pleased with the way the transfer turned out. I made a simple ATC with this-my beloved sewing machine has been in storage for a few years. I may need to get it out again :) I used to do alot of sewing years ago........

I lightly colored parts of the image in with colored pencils.

One World One Heart Prize Arrived!

I received one of my OWOH prizes today-what fun!!! These are amazing necklaces done on dogtags-the pics don't do these ANY justice! Jan Coffey made these :)

Aren't they fabulous?

ISMAKI Challenge #7

I happened to find another challenge today while perusing some blogs. This one utilizes Sketches. Hmmmmmm.......I thought. Normally I am just NOT a sketch kind of girl!

But I had a total blast with this......my goodness, with all my stamps all over the place....decisions decisions. I was in the Mona Mood, so that was what I decided to use as my main image-her face :)

Anyway, this was just too much fun!

Oh, and stamps are all from Time To Stamp!

Arty Girlz #22 Green

This is for the Arty Girlz Challenge #22 for the color Green!



I used alot of different stamps here!
The man is from Katys Corner
The Circle is from Inkastamps
Crackle from Innovative Stamp Creations
Postcard from Time To Stamp
The border on the right side is from I Brake For Stamps

Created By Hand Challenge:Glossy Paper

Here's my contribution for the "Created By Hand" Challenge-this week's is Glossy Paper.


I made the background on Glossy paper using the versamark resist technique then overstamped the flourishes in brown Stazon ink. Flourishes are by Quietfire Design and the Glamour Girl is from Time To Stamp

Sorry-its not the straightest Scan :( I am reallllllly tired tonight!

You Make My Day Award

Deb over at Vintage Moon Studio awarded me with the "You Make My Day Award!"


The rules for the “You Make My Day” award are to re-present it to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blog land. Let them know through email or by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times, and if you do, consider yourself really, really loved.
So to pass it on and keep the love going ~ here are 10 of the 100's of blogs that keep me inspired and bring a smile to my face. Check them out when you have a few minutes... perhaps there are some new friends to be made!

Here are my 10:

Gayle

Debi

Sandee

Sherry

Inka

Kelly B

Debbi Baker

Lisa

Joanne

Mandy N

Think Monday-Think ATC:Insects

This is my contribution for Think Monday Think ATC

Taxonomy stamps by Rubber Baby Buggy Bumbers

Crackle stamp by Innovative Stamp Creations

Mixed Media Monday: Texture

I have never participated in "Mixed Media Monday" before , here is my first contribution to that challenge. Collage, gesso, molding paste, wax pastels, India Ink, gold leafing, vintage papers, handpainted paper. So as you can see, truly Mixed media here :) I love mixing all sorts of media. I did this on a small piece of canvas.

Hard to see in the scan but in the bottom right corner is the texture.

Forgot to Mention!

I found out yesterday that I was picked to be on the ZNE design team :) fun fun! I joined very recently and I am enjoying it so far.

I've been quiet......but I've been arting!

I have been quiet........but I have done some art! I have been working the past few days on a collage I am going to be entering in a juried art show. Just showing a glimpse of it today :) Still more to do on it......I am taking my sweet time but its getting close to completion.

One of my blog readers happens to be in the art association..........can't let her see now can we??? LOL

So far Its coming out brilliantly :)

Something really kewl happened today! I have a product I use, its been around for a while, but it was sold by a small business called "Collageable Planet" by artist Pat Murkland.

I LOVE this stuff and haven't seen any "Collageble planet" stuff around in ages. So, I decided to do some investigative work, to find she lives maybe 10 minutes from me!! How cool is that! So I phoned her and she called me back today! We talked for a while and she is just so cool! I swore I was the only one out this direction who was into this sort of stuff. She has taught at Artfest in the past and is just so cool. She has some of the stuff I am looking for plus more stuff so we are going to meet up soon! I am excited. I felt sort of strange calling her-I thought maybe I sounded weird or something (lol) but she said she was actually happy someone remembered "Collageable planet." My day started out really crappy but that phone call from her made my day.

Yesterday I HAD to get out of the house so I hit an antique store..........found some really kewl old books with some fantastic illustrations. Also a set of old tiny leather books-don't know what I am gonna do with them, but I needed them for something

Another Inkastamps Birdie

I just played with Inka's Birdie again :)

Not my usual style........

But I like the way it came out........was just in the mood to work outside my comfort zone a little !

Its fun to do something different once in a while!:)

More stamps from Inka Stamps

Arty Girlz #21 Stamping

I found a new challenge that I wanted to play in :) Its Arty Girlz and the theme is Stamping.

So today I played with some new stamps from Inka Stamps ! Birds! I love birdies :)

The past couple of days I have had NO creative time really, and I sort of start loosing my mind. So it felt good to do something! Gillian is sick ,actually has been for almost 3 weeks (at one point she seemed to be getting better) and the Lung Doc informed me today that it has gone to her lungs PLUS her ear is infected. sigh. Poor kid, but my goodness she goes CRAZY! Its like she doesn't know how to deal with it or something...her activity level almost doubles. AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just wanted to wish all my blog readers a very Happy Valentine's Day!

One World One Heart Winner!

Is Crazieinreallife! Please contact me with you info so I can get your package out! Congrats!

Fixing Gilly's glasses the creative way LOL

Gillian has had glasses since she was 8 months old.........the only problem is that she won't wear them! She broke them over a year ago-I think she was playing with them or something!

Anyway, her teacher told me today that she feels like she needs to be wearing them as she is not seeing things close up very well. Gillian is overdue to see the Opthamologist, so I called and I am getting her in next week. Anyway, I had an idea! I fixed Gillian's glasses with USPS mailing tape (its VERY strong) but I cut it so I just used the white part of the tape-the blue and red stuff would have looked SO stupid. Then I went by the Scrapbook store and grabbed these "Sticky Stitches" things-its like braided embroidery floss stuff that has adhesive on it-and I put it over the tape to disguise it! Had to put it on both sides to make it looked balanced! Taa Daaaaaaa! Now she can wear them LOL You can see it in the picture on each side LOL I hope it doesn't look too silly!

Wee 2x2 Collage

This is for a challenge on one of my groups-what a challenge!! This is a 2x2 canvas-talk about tough! I work in small format but not this small typically!! I like the way it turned out :)

More ISC fun

More samples for ISC

Created By Hand Challenge: Houses!

This weeks Challenge for The Tuesday "Created by Hand" challenge is Houses! Suzanne at Quietfire Design has a brilliant House Template that we used for this! What fun! I have not used a template like this in ages-so this was sort of a challenge. But I sure had fun doing this! All stamps are Quietfire Design. This was done on heavy watercolor paper, using oil pastels and gesso for the background.

Fun with ISC images

Here are some samples I have made for Innovative Stamp Creations :)

TMTA-Children and Birds

Here's my contribution for this weeks Think Monday Think ATC! What fun! Both Children and Birds are two of my most favorite themes! These are the first 2 stamps I thought of when I read what the theme was :) Isn't the little girl just so cute? Who could resist a face like that?

She is from Time To Stamp (actually all the images on the ATC are TTS :)

Tim Holtz Class!

The Tim Holtz Class was just awesome! He's SO great! If you ever get a chance to take a class, do it! He's so nice, and easy going........GREAT guy!

Today I also met Claudine Hellmuth! She helped in the class- My friend Mary and I were actually kinda joking with her though 'cos she was going around carrying a trash bag and taking everyone's trash!LOL She has a great sense of humor! She is exactly just like you see on her videos-very very nice. I got to meet an online friend, Neet (AKA Anita Hickson) who is out from the UK for the CHA show. What a thrill to meet someone I knew online! I look so trashy in the pic with Claudine!LOL I don't know what happened to my hair in the pic, but oh well, I will share it anyway!LOL And last but not least, a picture of the project I made in Tim's class! Sorry for the glare-its a mirror and that was hard to avoid :)

Eye Strain-ouchey!

I have been sort of quiet the past couple days, I know. I have some really bad eye strain and I have not been online much to give my eyes a break. Its quite a bit better today but I need to take it easy today 'cos I am taking a class with Tim Holtz tomorrow at CHA!!! I want to have a good time and not be miserable, ya know! My eye strain was so bad the night before last that I hardly slept. I think its due to the fact I have done alot of stamping, and unfortunately my stamp area does not have as good of lighting as it probably should. I am not used to doing so much stamping so I think that is why, combined with the computer time too! Since all this I am going to be stamping somewhere else in the house with better lighting-that should help I am sure. I kinda got freaked out because a friend I ran into this morning told me I need to be extra careful because I could loose my sight from bad eye strain. Scary!

I did make a Bind It All Book for my son, who needed one for his Science project to log his research and progress , so will share that with you. It came out really kewl and he is just so proud of it :) Very simple, but love the effect. I bet no other kid will have a journal that looks like this! And yes, that is indeed black gesso on there LOL

More Stamping

Just another quick one.

I have been having loads of fun with this technique. Actually, I have been doing this one for quite a while now......'cept I didn't use the sandpaper or sanding block as much as I used a paper towel to sort of "rough it up." This has been a favorite technique of mine for over a year :) I used this over old text. Part of it I used the black gesso on, then on the text I used white gesso. Stamps by I Brake For Stamps.

Wednesday Stamper: Asia

Its been a few weeks since I participated in Wednesday Stamper but thought I would do it this week, since I have been stamping so much lately. This week is "Asia" which is REALLY challenging for me. Asian is NOT my favorite theme and I don't think I do Asian too well. Ah well, here's my attempt :)

Stamp is from Time To Stamp-its a beauty :)

Stamping fun with Innovative Stamp Creations stamps

I am an ISC Guest Architect and have just started playing around a little with Betsy's stamps :)

Here's what I did today :)