Creative Arts and Crafts Spot

Airy Wire Purse

2011-04-12T15:50:00.000-06:00

Like the item in the last post, this is also one of the purchased wire purses that I decorated. On this one, the wire can actually be seen (it's the white areas).

The shape of the wire can also be seen clearly on this purse. I used yarn that was fuzzy with little "tufts" every so often, for an airy,"barely there" look.

By the way, this picture isn't that great - I couldn't use a camera, so I scanned it, but I had to put fabric behind it so the light wouldn't come through and "laser" my eyeballs, ha!

Hippie Fringe Purse

2011-03-29T14:39:00.000-06:00

Many, many blog posts ago, I put in a picture of a wire purse I decorated. Now, here's another one.

The base is a wire "decorative" purse, not meant for use as a handbag. Pieces of fuzzy and ribbon-like yarns were looped through the wires. The flat, ribbony yarn was also wrapped and glued around the handles. Lastly, the insides were lined with tan felt - I don't know why, since it wasn't meant to be carried around with junk in it! ;)

Irish Today Card

2011-03-16T15:27:00.000-06:00

Here's my St. Patrick's Day blog contribution, an Irish-themed card that I made quite a while ago.

There are two layers of paper on the card, a green-with-blue-dots paper (hard to see the dots!), and a striped paper. On top of the are layered two card stock shamrocks, white and green, then the lovely green bottle caps. I colored the background of some black-and-white letter stickers with green marker, and used them to spell out "Irish Today".

Hearts and Crafts

2011-02-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Here is yet another project using a heart image. Actually, there are four different images on this particular project, one of them just happens to be a heart! It's a little wood "book" with two pages.

Torn pink paper is collaged on a 2" square wood base. Cut-out hearts and tissue-stamped word are layered on top. The wood square is attached to another sqaure with jump rings.

Hearts and crafts, two of my favorite things, and they just happen to go together beautifully, in my opinion!

Heart Card

2011-02-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

I create a lot of projects that include hearts, so I thought I would post another heart item.

This one is a card. Two bottle caps and a red doily is layered on a tea-dyed heart, with fringy yarn around the edge. One bottle cap has a round sticker says "family", the other has a a round sticker with a picture of three women (they look like family members to me). I made this quite a while ago.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm Back, With a Heart!

2011-02-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted on this blog for a long time, but thought I'd give it another try. Let's see how long my good intentions last!

In honor of Valentine's Day, here is a picture of a potpourri heart. It's made from a paper mache' heart that is hollow in the center. It was painted, splattered gold and collaged with vintage-look floral images and tissue paper. A ribbon was attached through the top. The potpourri was inserted through a heart-shaped hole in the front, then the hole was covered with lace.

Wake Up, Blog!

2009-10-01T14:54:00.004-06:00

It's been quite a while since my last post! Oh well, I never intended this blog to be a diary of my life, anyway - I just wanted to share my art, even if it's with only a few people.

Here's the art part: Since it's windy here today, I thought I'd post a picture of my "Bad Hair Day" tip-in page. Everyone has a bad hair day when it's windy, right? I know I do, because the wind blows my hair up, and it doesn't go back down, ha, ha!

How I made the page: Background stencilled with bottled inks, added a few postage stamps, magazine cut-out face and hand, "sweater" from purchased textured paper, all types of wild, wooly and stringy yarns for hair, crow cut from craft foam sheet. Appropriate "found" words cut from books were added, such as: "See it?", "natural", "unusual effects", and "eye-catching".

Inchie Wall Hanging

2008-12-15T19:54:00.002-07:00

I've been collecting so many inchies from swaps and trades, and I've been wanting to display them in some way. I finally decided on a large fabric wall hanging. It's made of some sort of loopy upholstery fabric, so that inchies with velcro on their backs will stick to it. This also allows me to add/remove/rearrange the inchies whenever I'd like.

Stencilled Peaches

2008-09-03T18:45:00.003-06:00

In the past, I've stenciled paper, fabric, wood, leather, etc., so it's seems only natural that I would progress to stenciling fruit! That's right, fruit! Actually, I didn't stencil the peaches on purpose. With a limited number of peaches on the tree this year, it was disheartening to watch the squirrels and birds consume most of them before they were barely ripe. That's when I decided to cover the few remaining peaches with pieces of net. When I removed the nets, I found that the sun had reddened the peaches, except where the nets were blocking the sun! Wa-la, stenciled peaches! BTW, they taste good, too! ;)

Colorful Stenciled ATCS

2008-07-07T11:50:00.003-06:00

Since I made some mini stencils for one of GPP's crusades, I've been waiting for an opportunity to use them on ATCs. TMTA's colorful theme this week was the perfect excuse! The shapes were stenciled all over the card stock, using acrylic paints. Some everyday items, like nylon mesh and foam placemats were also impressed on the card stock. Then words and embellishments (brads jewels, clips, mini feathers) were added to these fun fantasy cards.

ATC Received

2008-06-23T13:25:00.005-06:00

It's been a l-o-n-g time since my last post! Seeing that this is basically an art blog, I didn't think I had much to post. Then again, I could've posted all the serendipity backgrounds I made . . . . or the inchies I've received . . . . or a few "art junk" items that I found . . . .maybe I'll post all of that stuff soon!

Today I received an ATC from Lia. The picture shown is Lia's charming ATC - the lady seems to elegant to deadhead her own roses, doesn't she? In return, Lia ia getting my "Bird & Boy" ATC, which I posted previously for a TMTA challenge.

Lia is otherwise known as "art junk girl", and she had a great blog here. Lia's blog was one of the first that I started following regularly. Her "artjunk" blog, along with a few others, became an inspiration to start my own art blog. Lia also inspired me to try inchies, which I now love! Thanks, Lia! :)

Stencils, Part 3

2008-05-02T19:34:00.003-06:00

GPP Street Team, Crusade No. 19 (third time): Wanting to make some stenciled backgrounds for inchies and/or ATCs, I decided that I needed some very small stencils, not found in any store. Of course, I made my own! The very tiniest ones were made with shaped punches, the rest I cut out of plastic with my heat tool. Acrylic paints were used on all the backgrounds. The pink one uses the stencils and their masks. The center one is done over a mixed text background. The one with all the different designs (the long piece on the far left in the photo) was the most fun to make, I just went crazy with all the colors!

More Stencils

2008-04-14T18:13:00.003-06:00

GPP Street Team, crusade # 19: I don't have a stencil cutter, so did some experimenting with my multi-purpose heat tool. The tip that the package designates as stencil cutter seems to melt my plastic sheets too quickly with too wide a path. A little testing taught me that the "universal tip" cut a finer path, so that I could cut more detailed stencils this time. (A few were cut with scissors, too.)

Not enough time to try all the stencils I cut, but here are pictures of some stencils and samples using them. On the orange flower sample, I cut flower centers out of the masks. If I don't want the masks to have centers, they can be covered with tape temporarily. On the purple flower sample, both stencils and masks were used, to make positive and negative images. Both samples were stenciled with acrylic paints and outlined with fine-point pens. Now I've got lots of new stencils, in the sizes and shapes that I want! :)

Stencil Cutting

2008-04-04T13:46:00.011-06:00

GPP Street Team Crusade #18, Cut your own stencil: A long, long time ago, when I first started experimenting with all kinds of arts and crafts, I cut my own stencils. I haven't been cutting many stencils lately, so I think it's time to get back into it! I usually cut stencils with a scissors or razor knife. I have heat tools with stencil-cutting tips, which I tried for the first time - they worked just fine! I made multiple-layer stencils for my angel drawing, even one for "background" or "shadow" stencil. Here you can see the "used" stencils with paint still on them, and the angel stencilled with acrylics in my art journal.
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A bit of shameless self-promotion here: Check out my handmade items; Retro Fashion Pins and shell angels, seen in these photos.

Trying To Cut It Out

2008-03-31T16:58:00.004-06:00

All month, I've been making foam stamps for the GPP Street Team crusade, so I thought I'd finally try rubber stamp carving. I love making inchies, so I decided to try carving a couple on-inch stamps to use on those. The rubber carving material I bought crumbles very easily, so it was difficult to carve those tiny stamps, especially without the right tools. I used a wood-carving gouge, which wasn't delicate enough for those one-inch stamps. I managed to make three mini stamps: two flowers (back-to-back) and a face. Unfortunately, part of the nose broke off my face stamp when I inked it, so I trashed that one.

As you can see from the sample of my double-sided flower stamp, parts of those stamps have broken off the edges. I drew in the flower centers and leaves. Next time, I'm going to try carving a larger stamp! ;)

Texture Effects, Purple

2008-03-29T15:03:00.003-06:00

This time, I created two ATCs, for the themes at TMTA (texture effects) and Wednesday Stamper (purple). The texture effect is Bernie Berlin's painted paper towel technique. The paper towel was painted with metallic acrylics, torn in pieces, and glued to the card stock. Glitter glue was added to the stamped flowers. I'm not sure I like the one with all the glitter; I think I went overboard with all the different glitters! ;)

Cut It Out 3!

2008-03-24T19:52:00.006-06:00

GPP Street Team, crusade no. 18 (again!) Here is yet another try at the handmade foam stamps I've come to love! This time, my foam stamps have three layers: the design is cut into the top layer, the second layer is for stability, and the third layer is the backing with easy-pull-up tabs on the sides. I decorated a page using acrylics with these two stamps. (Someday, I'm going to try rubber stamp carving, when the novelty of foam stamps wears off!) Thanks for looking! :)

Happy Spring!

2008-03-22T15:34:00.004-06:00

I just had to post a picture of some of my many decorated eggs. We decorate an "Egg Tree" displayed every Easter. I try to add at least one new decorated egg each year. Happy Easter, Happy Spring!!!

Cut It Out Again!

2008-03-12T15:51:00.006-06:00

I believe I promised some more foam stamps for the GPP Street Team crusade, so here they are. I tried them out last night. These are what Michelle Ward calls "go-with" stamps - I made the dress top, dress bottom, and wing foam stamps to go with each other. The dress stamps are mounted on another layer of foam, but the wing is loose, so I can use either side, for right and left wings. On the journal page, I glued a head and drew a hairdo, hands and feet.

And I found out how to dry foam stamps quickly after washing them off: I put my cleaned stamps down and forgot where they were until I felt an unexplained wetness! I sat on my foam stamps and they dried - but my pants were wet!

P.S. - If you haven't taken this craft poll yet, go here and check it out, no registration required!

Cut It Out!

2008-03-10T17:31:00.011-06:00

I took a stab at GPP Street Team's Crusade No. 18, entitled, "Cut It Out" (create your own stamp or stencil). I wanted to get started on my stamps without having to stop at the store. One thing that I have a lot of is fun foam sheets, so I used some to cut my own original foam stamps. Here are a few of the foam stamps I made, a flower and two leaves. They are on another layer of foam, for backing. I made some other stamps,but I can't show them off, since I haven't had a chance to play with them yet! ;)

Although I mainly made the foam stamps to use with acrylic paints, I wondered how they would work with dye ink stamp on gesso. Here I have a gessoed page in my journal, with little bits of text added to it. Because of the smooth gesso, it was like doing potato prints! Also, the foam soaked up a lot of ink, so I could stamp forever without reinking!

If you are reading this you're probably interested in arts/crafts. If so, I'd like you to consider participating in a craft poll here. You don't need to register, the poll is free, and added your opinions/comments is optional. Your participation may help to revitalize the craft industry! Thanks for listening! :)

RAK for a Friend

2008-03-02T15:21:00.005-07:00

I don't know if I should post this, because it's a surprise ATC for a friend - oh, well, even if she sees it, she won't know that she's "the one" until she receives it! Anyway, she's so busy, she probably can't find the time to read my blog! ;)

The card stock base is scraped with acrylics, the second layer is wrinkled, walnut inked and punched. The third layer (colored circle) was created using a technique similar to Bernie Berlin's "Inky Layers" technique in her book, Artist Trading Card Workshop. (Of course, I can't do anything exactly like the instructions say, I've always got to put my own spin on it!) I hope my friend likes it! :)

Inchies Again!

2008-02-26T18:36:00.002-07:00

I'm still in love with inchies! Maybe that's because there are so many techniques that can be used on them. Here's an example, these paint technique inchies that were recently swapped. In the top row, I've used paint like a fabric to cover 1" chipboard squares. The second row has metallic-painted backgrounds. In the third row, the two on the left have torn masking tape under the paint, and the right two have hearts made of texture medium. These all use various metallic paints, and they shine much better in real life! :)

Watercolor Inchies

2008-02-15T15:10:00.002-07:00

Another inchies post today! These intuitive watercolor inchies were made for a swap which is now completed. We were supposed to see images in the random watercolor blotches, and draw them. My blotches just looked like bits and pieces, so I turned them into crazy quilt pieces!

Valentine Inchies

2008-02-14T19:01:00.002-07:00

These inchies are perfect to post on Valentine's Day because of their theme. They were created for swap and were distributed to the participants, so now I can show them here.

Most of them have some punched areas made with corner punches, or punch-out hearts. The two red ones in the lower right corner were my favorites, so I kept them for myself! ;)

Valentine ATC

2008-02-13T18:48:00.003-07:00

Wednesday Stamper Challenge: OK, I like pink, but this time I wanted to do something different, not your typical old-fashioned Valentine. This ATC is stamped with flowers, then brushed with magenta, orange and yellow inks. The vellum is stamped with a heart, torn edges are rubbed with magenta ink, then everything is attached with hot pink mini paper clips and a hot pink flower brad. My funky Valentine! :)

Bird and Boy ATC

2008-02-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

It's fun to take time out of my day to do the TMTA challenge, but it seems like I'm always trying to do to many things at once - many of you probably know what I mean!

Anyway, for the "child/children and bird" challenge, blue papers and torn music sheet is layered on card stock, with boy image and cut-out paper bird; everything is tinted with sand dye ink. It sayys, "Please, litle birdie, sing a sweet song to me"! :)

Asian ATC

2008-02-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

Wednesday Stampers' theme this week is Asian. A difficult one for me, because I only have one Asian rubber stamp. But it's good to make art with a no-so-favorite theme, because it builds skill and character, right? Well, I don't know about that, but here it is: On black card stock, large small Asian characters from printed papers, stamped and colored bamboo postage, two black mini brads. The large Asian characters mean "Harmony". I need to get offline, so I'll check out everyone's Asian art tomorrow! Thanks for looking! :)

New Collage Book

2008-02-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

I've heard about a new collage book called "Art from the Heart", by Catherine Matthews Scanlon. I haven't seen this book "in person" yet, I can't wait to get my hands on it! The link for the author's blog is here.

Cats ATC

2008-02-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

I don't have any cats, but I like animals, so here is my answer to this week's TMTA challenge. The green paper was randomly stamped with assorted rubber stamps. I chose a portion of the paper that had a mouse stamped on it, very fitting for a cat ATC!

The large image is cut from wallpaper, the one to its right is a postage stamp. The top two images are cut from bottle cap stickers. (Design Originals has lots of different bottle cap stickers here.) Thanks for looking at my kitty card! :)

Geometric ATCs

2008-01-28T18:54:00.001-07:00

This time I completed two ATCs with geometric designs for the TMTA challenge. The first has a vintage look, with a collage paper image, linen scrim and rick rack around the bottom, and circles and diamonds stenciled on the background. Unfortunately, the diamonds are mostly covered by the scrim, and the circles show up much better in person then on the scan.

The second ATC has a 1950's/1960's look featuring a man and woman image, two star brads, diamonds on the background paper and circles on the torn paper strip. The words are: "Close To You" and "The pleasure, I'm sure, is mutual", since these two people look lik they are having a great time!Thanks for looking!

Colorful Inchies

2008-01-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

I love making (and receiving) inchies! I like "small stuff", and that includes creating small art projects. Until I found out about inchies, though, I never knew that art could be so tiny (and yet so fun to make)!

I have been participating in some inchies swaps lately. The photo is a set I made for an "intuitive watercolor" inchie swap. Colors were dripped randomly on watercolor paper. When dry, the "crazy quilt" designs were drawn on with a fine-point black pen. The watercolor paper was then cut into squares (slightly smaller than 1") and mounted on 1" black card stock squares. Last, the words and buttons were glued on.

Walnut Inky!

2008-01-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

Recently I spent a lot of time completing a special project (sorry, can't go into to details, since it is in the process of being published). Anyway, I mixed up a batch of walnut ink for this project, and I wanted to use most of it up before tossing the excess. So, I went crazy, walnut-inking many different kinds of papers: heavy card stock, watercolor paper, sketchbook paper, music sheets, paper doilies, even a couple pages in my art journal. I think sometimes brown is underrated, it's a good color!

Blog Revival

2008-01-08T16:49:00.000-07:00

I knew that it was a long time since my last post, but I didn't think it was THAT long! Well, it's time to revive this old blog - it's not dead, it was just sleeping!

Here is an ATC I made for a nice swap hostess; shhh, don't tell her! The background is acrylic-painted paper towels, torn and glued onto cardstock. The black and white images has some words, purple iridescent flower sequins and gold brads added.

Holiday Greetings Card

2007-12-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

Since Wednesday Stamper has an open theme this week, I thought I'd post a holiday card I made. This card is an unusual color for the Christmas season, pink (one of my favorites, could you guess?). It has ornaments cut from old wrapping paper over pink print paper, with a stamped strip on the left and a stamped greeting. The strip was stamped with lime green ink and colored with glitter glues.

I hope that you are continuing to enjoy the holiday season! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Christmas Tree ATC

2007-12-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

I missed last week's TMTA challenge, so I wanted be sure to do this week's challenge! The theme is "under your Christmas tree".

My ATC has "peace" under my Christmas tree - the 1969 Christmas Seals show children joining hands around a Christmas tree, and below, there is a stamped dove and Christmas message. Decorative ribbon and button stars provide added embellishment. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to all!!!

Busy Holidays!

2007-12-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

There's a lot to do at this time of year, so I haven't been posting to my blog as much as I would like. I've been spending quite a bit of time baking, which is one of my favorite things to do for the holidays. Mostly, I've been baking cookies and breads.

I thought I'd post something to make my blog look "Christmasy", so here's a Christmas card that I made. This one was very easy to complete: three "Madonna & Child" postage stamps and two red heart brads layered on red print paper over holly print paper. The stamps and red paper are both outlined with gold dimensional paint. I like to make use of those postage stamps I'm always saving! :)

Santa Claus Fest!

2007-12-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

I made this ATC especially for Santa Claus Fest, take a look! I added 4 different holly-print papers around the edges of a tape transfer of Santa with children. The ATC is embellished with a brad holding a decorated vellum tag (I drew the holly on it) and the word "Merry" on torn paper and paper ribbon. Santa Claus Fest is great! :)

Faith ATC

2007-11-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

Seems like I haven't done a Wednesday Stamper challenge for a while, I'm not sure how long it's been! This week's challenge is "words", a good one for me, since I like using word stamps. I made an ATC with background text and "faith"stamped on tissue paper, "wonder" and "love" stamped and torn, plus a gold glitter-embossed dove over gold mesh ribbon.

Hat ATCs

2007-11-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

Right now, my favorite art challenge blog is the "Think Monday, Think ATC" blog. Even if I'm not able to participate in the challenge every week, I still love to go over there and check out the challenges. This week's TMTA challenge must have been especially inspiring, since I made two ATCs this time!

The challenge is to use any type of headwear in on an ATC. For both of mine, I chose a hat. "The Girl in the Little Green Hat" starts with a white cardstock base stamped all over with pine boughs. Torn speckled paper, mesh paper and two square studs adorn the corners. The hat is cut from green paper, and her fur collar rests on torn mulberry paper. "The Lady in Red" is on red cardstock with torn music sheet over wrinkled and ink-rubbed Tyvek, with photo anchors and heart brads in the corners. Her hat is cut from red paper, and her outfit, earings and lips are colored with Glaze pen. Both ladies are lightly tinted with colored pencils, and both names come from old song titles.

Home ATC

2007-11-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't had the opportunity to participate in the TMTA challenge for a couple weeks (seems like forever!), I'm glad to be able to do it this time. Houses are the theme this week. My "Home Sweet Home" ATC is made up of pastel cardstocks, music sheet, tiny images of children, outlined with a black marker and topped off with a heart brad. Of course, the song on the music sheet is "Home Sweet Home"! So much of my artwork ends up with a "cute" style, I guess that's just me! Thanks for looking! :)

My Muses

2007-11-06T15:24:00.000-07:00

It seems like a long time since I got to do a challenge, so I decided to take a challenge break! The new GPP Street Team Crusade (no. 14) is called "Imaginary Friends". It asks the question, "Who or what is your muse?"

I think that my muses must be angels, because they turn up so often in my art. Whether they are vintage-style, cute or elegant, angels show up in many of my creations, as ornaments or wall decorations, on cards, altered books, wearables - everywhere!

Here is a children's board book that I turned into an angel altered book. The all-gold angel is on the front cover, and the all-silver angel is on the back cover. (Of course, all the inside pages have angels on them as well!) Thanks for looking! (HI Michelle!) :)

Halloween Inchies

2007-10-31T12:24:00.000-06:00

Since today is October 31, I thought I'd post this picture of Halloween inchies. I made these for a Halloween inchies swap, so they have gone to their new owners, but I still have the picture! The backgrounds are acrylic-painted cardstock (either orange or turquoise), Halloween images and words, plus stars punched from either the orange or turquoise painted cardstock. Happy Halloween! :)

Friends ATC

2007-10-23T15:35:00.000-06:00

While waiting today, I found a few minutes to make a friends-themed ATC for this week's Think Monday Think ATCs challenge. The image is from Renoir's painting, "Reading". The flowered print behind and in front of the girls is from a wallpaper border, and the crochet is cut from an old handkerchief. poetry words and two heart brads top it all off. Have a great day! :)

More Inchies?!

2007-10-20T17:53:00.000-06:00

Here are the last of my color swap inchies, violet. On purple cardstock, I layered various purple/violet paper scraps, images, words, and my choice of embellishments. These embellishments range from marker and glitter glue to jewels, buttons, or plastic doodads. In the swaps, we are asked to make each one different, in case someone has to get two from the same person. I don't mind doing that at all. Sure, it would be easier to embellish them all the same, but it's fun and interesting to decorate them in different ways! :)

Inchie Habit

2007-10-18T16:17:00.000-06:00

These are the indigo inchies for a swap. Indigo was by far the hardest color I had to make: I knew they had to be dark, but how dark, and should they be violet-blue or not? Finally, I had to stop asking myself these questions and just do it! The cardstock has various printed papers added to it, and most of the images are from postage stamps. The embellishments include mini buttons or mini confetti stars (iridescent or silver) or glitter glue (which doesn't show up much). Thanks for looking, hugs! :)

Inchie Parade

2007-10-17T18:14:00.000-06:00

Here is my inchie parade for today. These are a set of blue inchies for a swap. The bases are blue cardstock with assorted blue papers. Some of them have glitter glue (which doesn't show up), and the edges are colored. And I just noticed I forgot the words on the center one (with the shield)! All the images on this set are from postage stamps. Postage stamps have perfect-size images for inchies. I rarely use the stamps as-is, I usually cut out images from them or cut parts off.

Inchie Explosion!

2007-10-16T18:25:00.000-06:00

I just finished scanning 4 sets of inchies that I've completed in the last few days. (While I had the time, I've been trying to get ahead on some swaps.) I've only been making inchies since the spring, and already I've made 401 of them. This includes inchies that I created, even the ones that have been traded. They added up pretty fast, since I started out making 27 inchies in my first sets. (The reason I started by making that many is I have some heavy cardstock in 3" x 9" strips, which makes 27 inchies on each strip!) Pictured here are the yellow inchies I made for a swap. They are made with two layers of cardstock; the top layer was rubbed with a yellow dye ink pad. The backgrounds have additional torn paper strips, marker or glitter glue. All have yellow images and descriptive words, some even have mini buttons or jewels!

Stamped Heart Inchies

2007-10-12T14:03:00.000-06:00

Today I whipped up some quick inchies. They wouldn't have been so easy to make, except the design was already stamped and colored, and the backgrounds were already made. This is one of my favorite stamps, with a dozen hearts on it. The hearts are really too big for inchies, so I had to place them diagonally. The design was clear embossed on white cardstock, colored with Twinkling H2Os, then the hearts were cut out. The hearts were applied on "mosaic" cardstock (cardstock with square and rectangles of paper scraps glued to it). I was inspired to make these by the inchie challenge at Wednesday Stamper. I have created many inchies, but I hadn't made any with rubber stamps until now!

Masked Lady ATC

2007-10-09T20:44:00.000-06:00

This week's challenge from "Think Monday, Think ATCs" is masks, in honor of Halloween, but the ATC doesn't need to be Halloween-themed. I chose to give my ATC a "party" look. I added a mask and glitter glue to a black/white vintage costumed woman image, with a song line and sequin stars over red cardstock wrapped with 3 kinds of fibers. The words from the song are: "hot time in the old town to night". Unfortunately, the glitter glue doesnt show up very well on the scan.

Spooky ATC Art

2007-10-04T19:43:00.000-06:00

After finishing some projects that I wanted to get done, I went over to the GPP Street Team blog to check out Michelle' new challenge. Crusade No. 13 is a "Get Gothic" challenge, to show spooky (Halloween) art or decor. I decided to make an ATC. On black cardstock, I applied parts of a Halloween napkin (haunted house, tombstones, web), a vintage woman image, and found poetry, with scrim (a loosely-woven linen fabric) on the back. It's hard for me to do gothic or spooky (everything I make seems to come out "sweet" or "charming", Maybe it's my personality, LOL! Thanks for looking! :)

Happy October!

2007-10-01T19:46:00.000-06:00

To start off the month of October, I thought I'd post a picture of a Halloween card that I made. I figured, why wait until Halloween day, why not post something for the holiday today? The bat card is made of cardstock, with glitter glue eyes and trim, punched cardstock stars. I enjoy the fun parts of Halloween, like decorations, costumes, giving candy/cards, nothing too gruesome or scary.

It's great to remember wearing costumes and going trick-or-treating as a kid. It was fun and exciting, I always came home with lots of candy. I still have that sweet tooth! Although some of my candy choices are more sophisticated now, I still love cotton candy! ;)

Sew What?

2007-09-27T13:05:00.000-06:00

Recently I got a compact (small) sewing machine from a yard sale. I don't particularly plan on doing any clothing or household sewing. Then why do I want a sewing machine? To sew on art and crafts, or course! I like to sew on greeting cards, tags, and and other paper creations. Since I recently started making ATCs, I'm looking forward to sewing on them, as well. Here is what my mew used sewing machine looks like.

Fish ATC

2007-09-21T13:02:00.000-06:00

This is my entry for the Wednesday Stamper challenge - better late than never, I always say! As you may notice, the theme is fish. I didn't have any fish stamps, so I used other stamps for the background and added the fish afterwards. Stamped green paper is layered on tan cardstock. The ATC is embellished with a strip of scrim (airy, linen-like fabric) under the fish and two spiral clips on opposite corners. It's a wonder you can see the stamping under all that, but thanks for looking! :)

Gold Gothic Arch

2007-09-18T12:29:00.000-06:00

I decided to try the gothic arches challenge this week; the theme is gold. I created an arch ATC on cardstock layered with gold flower print paper, gold cardstock, gold mesh ribbon, wrinkly gold handmade paper, music sheet, angel image and gold brads. I like the ATC-size arch; it's not too big, but there is still space to put on plenty of stuff!

TMTA Challenge

2007-09-17T15:23:00.000-06:00

The TMTA challenge theme this week is Coca Cola. It might have been kind of difficult to use a Coca Cola theme on an ATC, but I happened to have a picture of Coca Cola bottles just lying around! :) My ATC has four bottle images and red/white polka dot paper layered on red cardstock, with white corrugated paper, red flower punches and white mini brads on two corners. Fun, and not too complicated! Have a great day! :)

Blog Inspiration

2007-09-14T15:32:00.000-06:00

I wasn't going to post today (thought I had nothing to write), but I got a bit of inspiration from a couple of blogs that I visit regularly.

First, I visited Nance; in her post for yesterday, she showed a piece of her art work with a quote about patience. This made me think, because I haven't been having much patience lately, least of all with myself. I've been having some back pain, and I've been impatient to find out what's going on with that. Now I'm impatient for the therapy to start working, and I've only had one therapy session so far (insert sheepish grin here)! Also, I've been impatient with myself to get important projects done, not wanting to give myself time to think and play, and if I do stop to think and play, then I feel guilty! Well, I know better than that, I just needed to be reminded! Thanks for the internet butt-kick, Nance! ;)

Next, I visited Kira; her post today was about choosing an art journal, describing the different types of journals, papers inside, etc. I agree with her, heavier papers are easier to work on with a variety of media. (I hate excessive paper warping!) My two "gathering" journals (one for art/craft ideas, one for inspiring images) are both 9" x 11", spiral-bound. The idea one has medium-weight pages that are blank on half, with writing lines on the other half. The inspiration journal has very heavy pages, which is great when I decide to remove something - I can just peel it off and cover the place with something else! My art journal is spiral-bound, 5 1/4" x 8 1/2", with strange, thin pages. I had it lying around, and thought the pages were too thin, so I'm painting both sides of the pages with acrylics before decorating (I have a description of this process in a previous post, you can find it here). The colorful backgrounds shown here are waiting to be decorated. :)

Inchies for a swap

2007-09-12T18:41:00.000-06:00

I made this set of inchies for a private swap with a friend, I put them in the mail today. The background is printed lightweight cardstock, two layers ( one layer as backing). The images were cut out from a large sticker sheet. For embellishment, I added words (they are song titles) and white pearl dimensional paint. I'm really hooked on inchies - they are SO small, but lots of fun to make! :)

Slide Mount ATC

2007-09-10T21:05:00.000-06:00

This week's TMTA challenge is using slide mount(s) on an ATC. My red slide mount framing an old cowboy imageis layered w/red plaid paper, black mulberry paper, metal gun charm, square metal brads and thin jute over tan cardstock. Since I missed last week's challenge (the theme was men), this one would that theme as well! :) Thanks for looking!!!

Fun Mail!

2007-09-10T16:06:00.000-06:00

Today I received a wonderful ATC in a swap with Alice K. Her ATC has some beautiful purply-blue tones and metallics, with plums and a leaf attached with a brad. Very elegant! And not only did Alice send the ATC, she also included some awesome extra goodies, seen in the second photo. I always say, one can never have too much ephemera! (Of course, I also saved the great Finland postage stamps from Alice's envelope!) Thanks, Alice!

Good Old Junk

2007-09-08T15:52:00.000-06:00

Yesterday and today, I found some cool stuff at yard sales: some 1960's magazines, rubber doll face, plastic doll head and hands, mini buttons, and paper doilies, among other things. Those doll parts will come in handy for mixed media projects! Great images in the old magazines, and I read some of the articles, too! Check out these stylish hairdos from a 1960's magazine. :)

I'm looking forward to making some more inchies for swaps, and also some ATCs, but first I have a must-do project I need to finish. I'm going to try to get as much done on it as I can this weekend. Need to go to the dentist for some fillings on Monday - arghhh!

Wednesday Stamper Sampler

2007-09-06T21:29:00.000-06:00

I'm too tired to do what I think of as a "proper" post today, but I had to write just this one thing:
My entry for the Wednesday Stamper "blue" challenge was chosen for the sampler! To see the actual post of my blue project, go here.

Obsessed With Pink

2007-09-04T16:29:00.000-06:00

Crusade No. 12 for the GPP Street Team is called "Crush On You". The challenge is to tell about one or more things that you have a crush on, are obsessed or infatuated with (in a good way, of course)!

One of my current obsessions is the color pink. Although I do have a few pink clothing items (my favorites being pink pajamas and slippers), I love pink in my art and small items around me. Here's some evidence: The luggage tag is canvas, colored with pink fabric marker and stenciled with black fabric marker. The handbag was woven with flat ribbon-style yarns. (For a recent pink-influenced art journal page, see this post.) I've used pink-printed business cards and brochures , I even have a pink/black carry-on bag. (No, I don't have pink luggage yet - my red luggage is getting worn, so I can buy pink the next time!)

Fun & Games

2007-08-31T13:59:00.000-06:00

This week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge is "Fun & Games". My interpretation of that theme is this greeting card. A real playing card is surrounded by collage paper, pre-printed vellum words and the occasional hot-fix rhinestone! Thanks for looking! :)

Blue Theme

2007-08-29T14:49:00.000-06:00

This project was created for the Wednesday Stamper Challenge for this week, which is "Blue" - can you tell? Dress and dress form were stamped on blue tissue, woman's head on blue paper, cut-out text, punched paper flowers with rhinestone centers layered on sewn scrapbook paper scraps. Now I can't decide if i want to put this piece on a greeting card or in my art journal!

I don't do as much stamping lately as I'd like, I think maybe it might be because I am in a hurry! When I want to create, I want to do it NOW, I grab stuff and start making art. It takes a long time to bring out my stamping supplies: all the inks, stamps, papers, etc. (Maybe I'm getting lazy, LOL!) :)

ATC with Metal

2007-08-27T21:10:00.000-06:00

When I checked out the new challenge on "Think Monday Think ATCs", it was another one that I thought I'd like to try. The challenge is to use metal somewhere on your ATC. My ATC has several metals included. A black/white collage sheet image and the words "Stay a little longer" attached with silver brads are layered with a tarnished metal heart clip on a piece of crinkled metal foil over a gray cardstock background edged with black ink. It was tons of fun to make, a great creative challenge! :)

Quick Journal Page

2007-08-26T20:08:00.000-06:00

Another post today? Yes! I quickly made this art journal page for Kira's Sunday Journal Challenge. It didn't print quite like I wanted. I was going to print in black and white, but I don't have much colored ink left, so it came out black/white/pink. As pink is a favorite of mine (note this blog as one example), I decided to go with it! It's called "The Princess of Pink", and all the Princess' parts are cut from Kira's challenge images. The two corner designs were challenge images, as well. The background is one of my pre-painted acrylic ones, ready for my every whim. Thanks for the images and inspiration, Kira! ;)

Music ATC

2007-08-26T14:36:00.000-06:00

Lately I've been finding so many great websites or blogs with artistic challenges. I feel that it's good to do challenges, to stretch my imagination and renew my creativity. Plus, sometimes ideas spawn other ideas!

This ATC was inspired by this week's "Think Monday Think ATCs" challenge, music. A torn music sheet is layered on mauve print cardstock. "Allegro" is layered on a paper scrap at the top and a French horn layered over lavered hand made paper and black mesh paper at the bottom. The card is edged with mauve and plum metallic inks.

I haven't made very many ATCs to date. Since I had so much fun making this one, perhaps there should be more ATCs in my future! Thanks for looking, have a great day! :)

Make Some Noise!

2007-08-24T15:35:00.000-06:00

After my last post (Crusade No. 5 from the GPP Street Team), I received a comment from Michelle Ward telling me to get some music on my blog. That is actually her Crusade No. 11, "Make Some Noise", or add music to your blog. I've been fighting this one, this challenge is not really in my comfort zone - which I guess is why I should do it!

First, a little explanation: I don't hate music; on the contrary, I love it. . . . but I tend to pick and choose my musical moments carefully. I get "classic" migraine headaches, during which I'm sensitive to sounds, lights and smells. Even during non-migraine times, I seem to be a little more sensitive to those things than the average person (I don't know why).

Anyway, at the bottom of the page is the music video, "Michelle" on acoustic guitar, dedicated to Michelle Ward, of course!

Evidence of Everyday

2007-08-21T20:32:00.000-06:00

On Michelle Ward's GPP Street Team blog, I came across her crusades. Michelle posts "crusades", challenges in which readers can participate. Although she's on about Crusade No. 11 now, I found a lot of her older crusades that I'd like to try. I think they will make good subjects for future blog posts, so you will be seeing more of those here!

This is Crusade No. 5, called "Kiss and Tell". Participants are supposed to show/tell about "Evidence of your Everyday", things you use/wear, things you love/have saved, etc.

Evidence of my Everyday can be seen here: Right now, my favorite health/granola bars are all the ones from Kashi. The little charms next to the bar are a record and a "Princess" phone - I've had that little phone charm since I was 5 or 6 yrs. old, and I really loved it as a kid (the record is old, but I got it more recently, in someone's box of cast-off buttons). The flowered fabric below is a favorite casual summer shirt. The black/gray plaid fabric is a comfortable, fleecy (though drab) winter shirt - it gives me a warm, comforting feeling when I'm cold or sick. The little round circles are sterling silver ear hoops, which I wear everyday when I'm not matching outfits or getting dressed up.

I'm not sure if this post fits in my creative-themed blog, but it probably says a whole lot about me! :)

Watercolor Experiment

2007-08-20T19:02:00.000-06:00

Today I came across the "Inspire Me Thursday" challenge, which was watercolors, so I did this experimental project. (I don't know if these Thursday challenges have to be created on Thursdays, but I did it anyway!)

I used heavy watercolor paper (I think it was 140 lb.). First, I drew the design with a clear Sakura Glaze pen, which was kind of hard to do, since I could see what I was drawing with the clear ink! After the design was dry, I colored the paper with watercolor pencils and went over the whole thing with a wet brush. While still damp, I drew around the designs with a brown w/c pencil, to make them stand out more, went over with a wet brush again. What I wanted to know was would the Glaze pen work as a resist, and the answer was yes! Glaze pens come in a variety of colors, and they dry clear and shiny, almost like embossing. Well, I challenged myself, I found out something, and it was fun! Thanks, IMT!

Little Bits of Special

2007-08-18T16:18:00.000-06:00

I have enjoyed several "little bits of special" these past few days. First, I found some nice items at garage sales yesterday and today. Art books are good for inspiration, and yesterday I found two. Art text books contain images from different art eras and time periods, which I find helpful if I need to draw or create in an unfamiliar style.

One of today's great finds was a Cuisinart Mini-Prep food processor. They work great to condition polymer clay - sure beats all of that hand-kneading! Also, blending clay colors is much quicker in a processor; plus, you can stop at any time during the blending process, if you want your clay mottled or marbled.

Another item I'm looking forward to using is a "kitchen carousel", but I'm going to put it to work holding my pencils, markers and paintbrushes.

Not to mention that I picked up a copy of "Artful Blogging" at the store, a little something for my leisurely browsing pleasure!

And, saving the best for last, I received some inchies in the mail from a swap that I participated in! To top it all off, the swap hostess even included a few extra little goodies!

Since I didn't get any pictures of my garage sale goodies (a picture of a mini processor would be boring anyway), I posted a picture of some spiritual book pages. The background is blended-color tissue with words (love, hope, joy, peace, faith) stamped on it. The images are a church and an angel, surrounded by Bible verses. Well, I'd better go fill up that "artist's carousel" ;)

An Artful Day

2007-08-16T13:20:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was an artful day for me, meaning that I accomplished a lot artwise. I finished up 29 inchies, made the two ATCs you see here, started an art journal page and did some materials testing for a future project.

That's not to say that I only worked on art yesterday. I also completed some ordinary (read "not-so-fun") duties, as well. We won't get into those!

There were off-and-on thunderstorms yesterday, so I stayed away from the computer, otherwise I wouldn't have had so much art time. That means today is a writing and computer tasks day, so I won't be immersed in art today - at least not unless I get a huge amount done! Well, we'll see about that! Wishing you artful days in your future :)

Painted Pages Revisited

2007-08-14T15:54:00.000-06:00

After receiving a comment on my recent post about painting journal page backgrounds (Thanks, Jeanne!), I thought I'd show some more pictures of painted pages. The post and comment can be read here.

The magenta/blue background shown here was painted by dabbing a generous amount of acrylic paint on the background first, then scraping it across with a credit card. The yellow orange background was painted by dabbing some of the paint on and scraping, then adding more paint and repeating. The page shown on the earlier post was when I running out of paints from the little pots, so I had to keep dabbing the paint on the page, scraping it, then more dabbing and scraping, trying to fill the page while using up the little bits of paint. In other words, there are lots of different ways to do this simple background technique. Every background page will look unique. This means that if you find a look that you really like and want to repeat it, you might want to write down how you did it!

Red AB Pages

2007-08-13T20:47:00.000-06:00

It's been hot, so I thought a red project would be perfect for my hot summer theme today! This is a two-page spread in a red-themed altered board book. I filled the pages with red items and pictures of red items. Red iron-on metallic thread from Kreinik spells out the words "Seeing Red", and also is swirled throughout the two-page spread.

Time Lost, Altered Book Pages

2007-08-12T16:33:00.000-06:00

It seems like these are the "lazy days of summer" - to me, anyway! I do the things I have to do, but sometimes it's hard to get many of the other things on my list done.

Yesterday, I spent a good deal of time taking apart a book of images. I cut out the pages and individual images I liked and disposed of the rest. It took a lot longer than I thought!

The picture here is a two-page spread in a rose-themed altered book. A niche is cut into the center of the left page, and it holds "real" three-dimensional silk roses in a halved container. The right page sports a large Texas-shaped puzzle piece, also yellow rose and Texas postage stamps. The embellishment on both pages is Kreinik's iron-on metallic thread.

Artful Blogging Party

2007-08-09T18:56:00.000-06:00

I was very late to ArtsyMama's Artful Blogging Party, but I went anyway, I viewed a ton of artful blogs with great tutorials and other interesting information! (Since I was late, I didn't get to post a tutorial for the party, but my earlier post below has my non-tutorial for making acrylic paint backgrounds, if you'd like to look.) If you didn't get to the party, or you'd like to go back and check out some of the links again, here is the permanent link to the party page:

Messy, But Fun!

2007-08-09T18:27:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I painted a bunch of background pages in my art journal. The page here is the last one, when I was trying to use up the colors from a little set of paint pots!

Here is a non-tutorial for how I paint my art journal backgrounds: 1) Cover work surface and place scrap paper under page to be painted (I'm very messy!); 2) Dab or squirt acrylic paints on the page (do this randomly or in a pattern); 3) Scrape paint across page with old credit card or gift card (you can also use a chunk of heavy cardboard); 4) Rub excess paint off card onto scrap paper or another surface to be painted; 5) Repeat scraping, if necessary. TIPs: If there was enough paint to cover the whole page, more paint can be added and scraped at any time. You can also dab a little paint, scrape it, dab a little more, etc., untill you get the look you want. I tend to use lots of paint, so my work area gets super-messy, LOL!

While I was being creatively messy, I thought I'd also paint some cardstock pieces with the excess paint from the background pages. I'm going to use the painted cardstock pieces for inchies. I also alcohol-inked some cardstock for future inchie projects, and laminated some tissue to an altered book. I like to do a load of messy steps all at once!

Great Finds

2007-08-07T15:05:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, I found some very interesting items at garage sales. I got two packages of cardstock, two packages of blank greeting cards (more cardmaking in my future, to be sure!), a large amount of postage stamps (some of those seen at right), and several books. Among the books were two books about movie stars and two song books (like music sheets but in book form).

I already read one of the movie star books, it is about silent movies, and has lots of interesting photos. It's fun going to garage sales; I never know what I'm going to find. It's also fun to think about what I'm going to make with the items that I found! (Now I just have to find a place to put all my new goodies!)

New Journal Page

2007-08-06T16:02:00.000-06:00

I usually don't put my journal pages on my blog. There's nothing wrong with that, put I always put my journal pages on Flickr, so I don't want to have the same pictures posted everywhere.

Anyway, this is the first journal page I've done for a long time, so I thought I'd post it here, like a special occasion! The background was already painted with acrylics (I painted a bunch of backgrounds at the same time). I've been wanting to use this background, and I thought it looked sort of summery. It reminds me of lime- and banana-flavored popsicles!

I added some words around the picture; in case you can read them, here's what they say, starting on the top and going clockwise: "breeze softens velvety grasses", "luxurious green", "evening's face aglow", "luscious range of color greatness".

Missing My Art Journal

2007-08-03T18:46:00.000-06:00

I've got to start posting earlier in the day....last night, when I was going to post, there were thunderstorms, and I couldn't do it! (Didn't want to get "zapped" or "fried"!)

Today I visited Kira's blog, and also looked at the journal pages on "Journal Junk" at Flickr. This places reminded me that I haven't done any pages in my art journal in a L-O-N-G time! I haven't had an art journal for very long, and I typically don't do much writing in it, mostly art, because it's relaxing and makes me feel good! As you can see, there are two more greeting cards pictured above, one of the reasons I haven't done any journal pages lately, LOL! In fact, I've made so many cards lately, I wasn't sure if I had psoted these two before, ha! (Well, you're probably so sick of see cards that they all look the same to you, anyway, LOL!)

What Would You Choose?

2007-08-01T20:18:00.000-06:00

Anyone reading my posts is probably sick of seeing cards! Not to worry, there's a light at the end of the tunnel, I've just about run out of cards to post. Cardmaking is a favorite of mine, so there's sure to be more cards on this blog in the future!

Speaking of favorites, what art/craft project type would you like to do all the time? Pretend for one minute that you have to choose just one type of project to make for the rest of your "art life". I know, it's unrealistic! And who wants to choose, anyway? But if I had to choose right now, I'd choose cardmaking. The reasons I'd choose cardmaking are as follows: 1) I could make cards using many different techniques, 2) I could use tons of different materials, 3) I could vary the types and styles of cards I made, and 4) there's always a person and occasion to make a card for! So, if you had to choose only one project type to do, what would you choose?

Even More Cards

2007-07-31T12:29:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'm back to the card posting again! As you can see, here are a couple more cards using the same printed ephemera papers as the previous cards - these are lasting a long time and making quite a few cards! When I was organizing my papers recently, I decided that I had held on to this book of printed ephemera papers for too long, and that I should make use of them in some projects. What did I get myself into, and when will it all end? (Just kidding! I actually enjoy making cards, when I don't have other projects that NEED to be done, like now!) I've been thinking that when I'm through with this set of cards, I may add some words on the fronts of some of them, the ones that look a little plainer. I have an assortment of vellum words/quotes for many occasions that I could use. That's it for now, I need to get going on another project!

New Book!

2007-07-30T13:44:00.000-06:00

I received this book yesterday (for my birthday). I picked it out myself, I've been wanting it for a while. The title is Mixed Media Explorations, authored by Beryl Taylor. It's a wonderful book. The author combines fabrics, papers, paints, inks, stamping, embroidery and much more in her projects. I probably won't make any projects exactly like hers, but I think that the book will inspire me and encourage me to try different media combinations in my work. If you enjoy using mixed media, or you use fabrics and/or papers in your art, or you like to browse art books for inspiration, then this book is for you! You can see the book here at Amazon.

Yard Sale Junk

2007-07-27T13:58:00.001-06:00

I enjoy haunting yard sales, looking for what I call "good junk". Today I found a "new" used office chair for sitting at my computer or work table. I also purchased four pairs of plastic doll arms. My favorite finds of the day were four needlework/craft booklets, shown here. I love the old photos and illustrations, even the old-fashioned ads!

Challenge To My Creativity

2007-07-26T12:34:00.000-06:00

The weather has been HOT! Good news, though: it might be a little cooler the next few days. We also might get some rain, which we definitely need around here!

Here are two more collage cards, still using the printed papers from the ephemera book. On these two, even the person images are from the ephemera book. Ususally when I make cards, I'm used to adding a little bit of this and that from here and there, but with these, I've been challenging myself to use just the printed stuff, and occasionally some of those leftover transferred images. Sometimes it's harder for me to limit the materials used. Somehow it seems easier to allow myself to use any supplies I have available. I think that it's good not to do art/craft projects in the same way or with the same materials all the time. Change is good; it makes life interesting, also stretches our imaginations!

More Collage Cards

2007-07-24T18:18:00.000-06:00

These are a couple more of the cards I made recently. The backgrounds are still printed ephemera and the persons are transfers made from clip art images. The transfers were leftover from another project, and some of them are far from perfect, but sometimes that gives them a special charm, right? If you get a close look at the lady on the right, she has some mottling on her nose and neck. Gives her that "old photo" look, I hope! What with art room organizing, making cards and being tired, I haven't worked on any journal pages for a while. If you know Lia (Art Junk Girl), don't rat me out (this means you, Nance!)

Garage Sale Find

2007-07-23T16:13:00.000-06:00

This weekend, I found a couple good books at a garage sale. One is a book all about buttons (I'm keeping that one intact until I decide what to do with it), the other is an old-fashioned decorating book (which I took apart).

The decorating book had pages in a binder. I removed those, and I'm going to use them for collage and journal pages. The pages have pictures of sofas, curtains, etc. - these are medium-to-large areas of color, which will be nice for cutting shapes out of to use on collages. Sorry, I didn't scan the books this time!

You'll notice two more of my cards above, the person images are transfers, the rest is printed paper ephemera.

Cardmaking Frenzy

2007-07-19T17:59:00.001-06:00

One of my current favorite crafts is cardmaking. I went on a cardmaking rampage and created a bunch of cards today. I had a book of ephemera that I wanted to use on the cards. The book has copies of vintage items for use in creative projects. For these two collage-style cards, I used some inkjet transfers made from clip art people images over some copies of vintage items from the book.

No Worries, Be Happy!

2007-07-17T18:45:00.001-06:00

The best thing about participating in art/craft projects is that it can make a person feel better. I don't mean that arts/crafts can cure illnesses or anything like that, but they can help people forget about their pain or illness for a little while.

Likewise, creating art can help people temporarily forget about their troubles and concerns. Sometimes crafting can clear a troubled mind, almost like meditation. Making art can have a calming effect, allowing the artist to focus on creating rather than focusing on problems.

Participating in arts/crafts can also be a great way to relax and ease out of a stressful day. Make art, relax, feel better - you will be very glad that you did!

Cool Molds

2007-07-16T13:17:00.000-06:00

I have sculpted small clay items from scratch, I can do it if I'm highly motivated. Other times, I'm in a hurry, I need a bunch of pieces exactly the same, or I don't think I can do the subject justice. In those instances, it's good to have a mold to use.

The best molds I've found are from Sweetbrier Studio. These flexible art molds are made of silicone rubber, and are very easy to use. With proper use, molding materials are easily removed from the molds. Polymer clay, air-dry clays, silver metal clay, soap, plaster of paris, hot glue and UTEE may all be used in Sweetbrier Studios molds. (Release clays from molds promptly, do not allow to cure in molds. Release agents may be needed.)

The faces above were all shaped in Sweetbrier Studio molds, using various air-dry clays. Sweetbrier Studios has many other molds to choose from: birds, bears, flowers leaves, Christmas, dolphins, hearts, angels, with new ones created regularly. The standard size molds are 3 1/4" x 4", and the mini molds are3 1/4" x 2 1/4". Sweetbrier Studios website has ordering info., tips, techniques, projects and more.

Information Sites

2007-07-15T15:42:00.000-06:00

The kind of websites and blogs I enjoy looking at the most are - you guessed it - arts and crafts related! This time, I have some information sites to share.

Craft Critique is website devoted to craft product reviews and product usage tips, provided by artists/crafters like you and me. The site is uncluttered, easy-to-read and find information.

Art and Craft Questions and Answers is a blog for Etsy shop owners, a place to discuss, ask questions and get answers, share ideas and techniques. You can sign up by join their Yahoo group, and you will receive an invitation to the blog.

Craftster is community where people share how they make things; they even have a "craftopedia", an encyclopedia of basic craft definitions and techniques.

CRAFT and MAKE magazines have a website which includes projects, a blog, a forum and preview of the current issue on the newsstands.

Whipup.net is written blogstyle, with the most recent entires at the top. For ease in finding topics, all the art and craft categories are listed along the right side.

Bread Clay Angel

2007-07-13T18:21:00.001-06:00

I made this bread clay angel quite a few years ago. She was simply baked and varnished. Looking at her reminds me of a favorite clay book that I have - it's called Dough Creations, by Pat Gardner and Kay Gleason, published in 1977. I bought it at a yard sale a long time ago. Besides going over the history of dough artistry, this book also has some edible dough recipes and four good inedible dough recipes. Each "craft dough" recipe has its own chapter, which includes not only the dough recipe with directions, but also several projects with complete instructions. Although I've had this book for years, I still go back to it occasionally. If you like working with clays ad you find this book, get it! It's a keeper!

Enjoy the weekend! If you find an opportunity, do something artsy or crafty!

Copyright links/Suede Pouch

2007-07-12T15:15:00.000-06:00

If you do any sort of collage work or utilize "used" materials in your artwork, you may have wondered about copyright issues. There are so many misconceptions floating around about copyrights. To bring better understanding of these issues, I've found a couple websites that might help: Duke University put copyright law basics in easy-to-understand comic book form , and funnystrange.com has copyright law relevant to collage artists.

The pouch on the right is mine, made from soft turquoise suede w/ copper iron-on thread borders. In each curlique of copper thread, there is a clear rhinestone. In the picture, you can see a jewelry embellishment on the flap, which is not there anymore! After I colored a junk jewelry piece w/ copper metallic pen and changed its rhinestones to aqua and clear, I really liked this pouch. I wore it to conventions, etc. to put my biz cards and cell phone in. The last time I wore it, I lost the beloved embellishment, so now I need to replace it!

I am so tired, and I need to get some work done, so I'd better get to it! Bye for now!

Seven Things That ROCK!

2007-07-11T13:19:00.000-06:00

Sneaky Lia of "Art Junk Girl" fame tagged everyone reading her blog to list seven things that ROCK, so here's my list:

1) Arts/Crafts - Just love 'em, I could spend all day and night working on all sorts of projects! Art really adds a lot to my life!

2) Lia's Artjunk Blog - Of course, Lia knew I would have her blog on the list, it was and still is my top favorite artsy blog of all time! If you haven't checked it out yet, you don't know what you're missing!

3) Old papers, books and magazines - My favorite stuff to use on my projects! Plus, hunting for those things is so much fun - I never know what "treasures" I'm going to find next!

4) New York Cheesecake Frozen Custard - I love cheesecake, so naturally my favorite flavor of frozen custard at Good Times is New York Cheesecake! That is, it's my favorite flavor so far - I haven't tried all the flavors yet!

5) Caran D'Ache Neocolor II Watercolor Crayons - I bought a 15-color set (actually, a 14-color set - one was missing) from a yard sale, and I think they are great! I think I'd better start saving up for the big set (84 colors)!

6) Summer - The warmth, the sun, the longer daylight, hopefully some extra time to do some fun, relaxing things - like art, maybe!

7) Art/Craft Blogs, Swap & Discussion Groups - So much fun chatting and swapping with like-minded creative individuals - it's great to get to know more and more of you nice, sharing, friendly people!

Okay, there's my list! You read this, I'd sure be interested to see what's on your list! (Am I nosey, or what?)

Needle Felting

2007-07-09T15:37:00.001-06:00

Have you tried needle felting yet? The silly-looking bear and the heart on the right are both needle felted.

Described simply, needle felting is stabbing through fibers repeatedly with a barbed needle. Doing this causes the fibers to hook together to create a fabric of sorts.

Wool roving or felt pieces can be needle felted on knitted garments, felt, fleece or other fabrics. Fashion items like hats, purses, sweaters and scarves can be decorated with needle felting. Clever artists needle felt imaginative dimensional pieces such as dolls, toys, ornaments and jewelry.
To find out more, check out these links: The Silver Penny and Craftlog have how-to's, Clover has some great needle felting tools, National Nonwovens has luscious colors of wool felts and Wool Wisps (roving) for needle felting, C & T Publishing has needle felting books.

Recurring Themes

2007-07-08T17:34:00.000-06:00

Looking through pictures of projects I've created, I wasn't surprised to find that I've made many projects using a heart theme. Hearts are one of my favorite designs/themes to use. I don't create with hearts only around Valentine's Day, I make use of them all year around. Think back to some of your past projects - you may find a recurring theme, probably several of them! I also like to use angels in my art, and to a lesser extent, flowers and butterflies.

Here is an unusual heart project, at least for me. It's a papier mache' heart, painted and collaged with papers and charms, filled with potpourri, then the hole is covered with lace.

Great Art Journal Links

2007-07-07T18:24:00.000-06:00

Journal page with wrapping paper flowers and punched cardstock flowers over acrylic background. It was fun to keep going and totally fill up the page!

My favorite art journal link is Aisling's Artists Journals. This site has everything you want to know about journals - basics, ideas and tips on creating and keeping your own artist journal.

Another good one is Illuminations -this site has good ideas for using illustrations and pictures to help our journaling and to gain insights into ourselves.

Here, Teesha Moore has tons of her journal pages to look at, plus you can click the link to an article about her journaling techniques and products used. I could look for hours and hours at all her pages!

Enjoy!

So Many Arts/Crafts, So Little Time!

2007-07-06T13:45:00.000-06:00

I don't know what kind of art/craft project I'd like to work on today! After doing a few things that needed to be done and completing a project that will be due soon, I realized I had some time on my hands. The problem is, I love too many arts and crafts! Over the years, I've tried (and enjoyed) so many different techniques and supplies. At the moment, I have quite a few favorites. By the time I run through the favorites list in my head, there probably won't be much time left for working on a project. Hurry up, brain, decide - I want to do art NOW!

Necklace Pouch

2007-07-06T13:31:00.000-06:00

This is a small pouch necklace. The images from Vintage Workshop Click-n-Craft(R) CD were printed on fabric with an inkjet printer. The fabric was sewn together by hand, with lace added around the top edges. (It was sprayed with acrylic sealer, then brush-on varnish was applied to protect the design.)

Art Room Chain Reaction

2007-07-05T15:00:00.000-06:00

Have you ever heard of an art room "chain reaction"? That's what I call it when I clean or organize a section or area of my art room, which in turn causes something else to be moved or reorganized.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like having my art/craft supplies neat and orderly. It's great to be able to find what I need when I need it. It's also wonderful to know what I have and where it is located. The part I don't like is the chain reaction, the turmoil that results from reorganizing. I've found that in order to straighten things out, I have to start out with an even bigger mess. I really hate the bigger mess!

I'm in the middle of an art room chain reaction right now - and it isn't pretty. Let this be a warning to you - it's a big commitment of time and energy! Okay, I've given my warning, now I'd better get back to messing up, (ah, I mean organizing) my art supplies!