Midnite Creations

Valentine Day Canvas

2012-02-14T20:05:00.000-05:00

I made this for my husband of nearly 25 years! I was going to make a card, but decided I needed bigger. So I did a 16 x 20 canvas. I guess I definitely went bigger. My husband and two boys cleared all the stuff out of my hobby room a week ago and all of a sudden my creativity has come back in spades. I can't believe how much stuff I've accumulated over the 10 years I've been in this room and lately I had to move too much stuff to get to my table. So, having a clear and now very large space again to create, here's what I made for him. Don't ask me where the boys moved my junk to, all I know is I don't want it back!

A Tea Party

2011-09-23T18:31:00.000-04:00

I was recently invited to join a Moley swap. This would be my first swap of this kind. The moley we are using in this swap is an according style Moleskin journal and are 3.5 x 5.5. My group has eight participating artists including myself. Each one of us picked their own personal theme and each of the eight artist will add a layout featuring that theme. The interpretation of that theme is left up to the artist with some guidance from the owner of the Moley. My theme is Tea Party. I picked this theme because I love my tea. But more importantly, during the recent Hurricane Irene, we lost all power and because of that all our appliances including the stove. My husband knowing how much I love tea stood outside on the porch and made me my cup of tea on the grill. Just loved that! My guidelines were hopefully simple in that I didn't care who was having the tea party including aliens or animals, just that it not be an inanimate object like dolls and bears. I've seen so many of those, that I just didn't want them included in my journal. Before my journal went on its journey, I decorated the cover, the inside cover and the first three pages of the according pages. Here's to the start of my moley's journey!

Thanh's Destash Challenge

2011-09-06T19:55:00.000-04:00

Thanh is doing a great monthly challenge. She's destashing her craft room and every month she'll be sending out a kit to four people. I received this kit from her which was in pinks, greens and browns. When I first saw this kit, the flowers on the brown background paper reminded of dragonfly wings and the big brown circles on the green paper reminded me of the centers of sunflowers. I created these two cards during Hurricane Irene in a power outage with the light of a lantern. It was a surreal kind of night with the thunder and the crashing of the trees, and the wind blowing. My cards definitely reflect my out of this world kind of mood! For the floral card, I cut sections out of the striped paper and used it as grass. It was such a fun looking grass that I added pink prima flowers and punched out the brown circles to use for the center. For the leaves, I used the green ribbon, but the reverse of the printed side. The texture was perfect for the leaves. I punched out the little flowers from the argyle print. The print shows up more like line patterns on the flowers. The butterfly is from the striped paper and the big flower is from the pink polka dot paper. I really thought it came out pretty fun, but the dragonfly is my favorite. I cut the petals off the flowers and used them as wings. Punched circles from the brown part of the paper and used it for its body. The background paper is the one with the large brown circles, but it looked bare to me. So I added orange flowers on each dot and added the green ribbon. I used all the stuff, except for the pink ribbon. Thanh thanks for a really fun challenge. Hope you like what I created.

Helping Hands for Japan

2011-05-06T09:23:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a long time posting. It took me a while to get myself together and create after the oldest left. I think I was a bit depressed. But then the holidays showed up and all was well. However, on January 1st, I messed up my knee and between the meds, the doctor visits and therapy, it has been a bit draining. I have been creating some though and I'll update my blog here very soon.

One of the artworks I did do was this hand. Robbygirl on Atcsforall has organized a silent auction to help the people of Japan. She asked for donations of "helping hands". We used our own hand as a template and then decorated the front and back. The front of the hand I did has an Indian woman's image and the words on the fingers say
Little Finger: Faith
Ring Finger: Love
Middle Finger: Strength
Index Finger: Peace
Thumb: Happiness
Wrist: Om (the sound of the universe)

The back of the hand is done in a traditional henna design.

The hands will go up for auction on May 6th from 5-7 Pacific time. All proceeds will then be donated. I'm so thrilled and honored to be able to use my art in such a fantastic way. Here's a link to all the hands. Mine is #76 on page 5.

First Day of College

2010-08-27T23:22:00.000-04:00

My first born went away to college today. Something we've planned for since he was in kindergarten. He's studied hard and got fantastic grades; passed his SAT's with way above marks, just so he could join the ranks of incoming freshman this year. I'm so proud of all he's accomplished and I so look forward to all he'll achieve. We packed him up early, got to college earlier than his check-in time and had him moved into his room, helped him unpack a couple of items (he didn't want it all unpacked just yet), had lunch with him and said our goodbyes, in no time at all. That's what it felt like today. No time at all. Where did the time go. Just yesterday, ok, maybe the day before yesterday, I held this newborn in my arms, who became my whole world. And now, he's gone. I know he'll be back on some weekends, and holidays and summers, at least my head knows it all. My heart doesn't seem to understand and my eyes seem to have sprung a leak. How long before my eyes dry up, I wonder. In the meantime, I miss my boy. I just simply miss my boy.

4 x 4 Canvas - Sailboats

2010-07-15T11:39:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I posted, but I have been doing a bunch of art. I was fortunate enough to be able to go an art retreat in Rochester, NY this year and was busy preparing for that and then recouping from that when I came back! We traded a lot of ATCs and Journal Pages there and I'll post some of those pics soon. In the meantime, I had a swap to catch up on for a 4x4 canvas at Stamp-Shack in the theme of an Ocean. A few steps to follow, but still leaving it free flowing. Loved that! First step was to add color with no thinking involved, so I did a shade of blue and mixed it with white. I added a bit of yellow for some contrast and pretty soon it looked like an ocean with a horizon. I really wasn't aiming there, but I guess the subconciousness knows what it wants. Then the next step was to add texture, so I added some paste which made it look like waves. Next step was to add more texture and found objects. So, I added this jute netting that someone had given me, some fish I'd cut out of the magazines, and some bird punches I had in my stash. Next step was to add a stamped, color it and collage it onto the background. I realized that I'm woefully lacking in ocean themed

stamped images, so I asked the hostess if I could just draw and paint them. She was fine with that, so I then did the sailboats freehanded. Next step was to add some writing and the last was to add doodling. I added the saying across the horizon line and doddled some leaves at the corner. Taa Daa, my 4x4 canvas masterpiece! lol. Hope the ladies like it.

Watercolors 10 minute Challenge ATC

2010-04-18T14:11:00.002-04:00

I've had a bit of a creative block going lately. Same story as so many, too many things happening and not enough time or more precisely energy left to create for self. I'm lucky enough to be going to an artistic get together again this year in NY and wanted to get some cards made to trade. So, trying to get out of my creative funk, I tried something I'd read some time ago about watercoloring in 10 minutes. Basic concept is to plop down layers of color without thinking about it. After the first 2-3 washes of color, start looking for a face shape and adding more colors with that in mind. Once the colors are laid down, draw a face with what you've got.
I laid down quite a bit of layers of watercolors and thought I was ending up with an Indian Chief with feathers! As you can see, once I started to ink the drawing, nary a feather in sight!!! This face was a bit of a surprise for me, because I rarely do faces that aren't facing totally front. So any kind of angle in the face is a new thing for me. Unlike acrylics or oils, because this is in watercolors, I don't think the scan or the photos do justice to the translucency of the colors in the real card.
The exercise did do the job though. I feel my creative mojo back again and can't wait to get the laundry and the cooking and the cleaning done, so I can get back to my art room! lol

Wings

2010-03-01T22:24:00.001-05:00

I joined a "Wings" swap on the Scrapbook News and Review Site. I was playing with these two and I love how they both turned out. So now the decision, which one to do for the swap. The Butterfly Wings card might be a bit dark around the bottom edges, but next time, I'll try not to be so heavy handed! lol. Both the cards are done with stamps and distress inks. I added the white dots which I'm adding to nearly everything I'm doing at the moment!

Cuttlebug - distress look?

2010-01-30T15:51:00.000-05:00

Wow, I hadn't realized how long it's been since I posted. I've been playing quite a bit with the new cuttlebug folders I got for Christmas. I haven't created a lot of finished projects with them, but having fun experimenting and seeing what I can do. I did this one with the cuttlebug birthday folder. I distressed it with white pigment ink and did the edges with a dark brown marvy ink. I ran the blue cardstock through the cuttle folder too and cut out some of the words to help pop out the word "Happy Birthday". The cupcake is done with Martha Stewarts punch/stamp combo. What cool gadgets she makes!! Love this one. The candle is just made freehand with a bit of ink. Did I overdo the distressing? Distressing is just not my forte!

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T19:58:00.001-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Wishing all my friends the very best the new year has to offer. I hope all your dreams become reality and all your wishes come true.

We had an incredibly relaxing holidays. I've never been home during this week in all the years of my marriage. We've split this week half between my folks and half between my husband's family. This year, we stayed home and it was simply marvelous. In the meantime, I've been quite busy this past month and will be posting my art projects that I did in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I've been playing with the gifts I got on Christmas. One of the gifts I want to give myself is playing with a photo editing program. In some of my past jobs, I jused to do a lot of creative work with painting programs, but I've been a SAHM mom for more years than I can remember! There are so many new programs out there and I just want to get back into working with some of these programs again. I love looking at all the pictures people can do special effects and drawings with. This year I really look forward to expanding my skill base and techniques and I hope you'll be there with me through this journey! I wish you all the best on your artistic journey too!!

Faces of my imaginations - Mermaid

2009-12-10T19:32:00.001-05:00

This is probably my most favorite face. Maybe it's the background, or maybe it's her coloring, but she makes me think mermaids. She's done in various watercolors, just painted on in random strokes. What does she make you think of?

A new addition to our household

2009-12-05T20:17:00.001-05:00

We are expecting a new arrival to our household next week. This cutie is 7 weeks today and we get to bring him home next week. Just in time for my birthday! We'd been looking for a puppy off and on for the last couple of years, but because for one reason or another, it just didn't work out. Finally, we decided that we weren't going to get one unless it fell into our laps. Well....this one did. I got a call last Thursday asking if we were still interested in a puppy. This was a place where we had gone to over a year ago and the last puppy had sold just an hour before we showed up! After a lot of discussion with the family, we went and looked and no suprise, we fell in love. This guy was one of 8. 4 boys and 4 girls. When I held him, I knew he was right one for me. He nearly fell asleep in my arms. He's a mixed breed. 50% lab and 50% golden retriver. Now, the question is how will he do with our older dog. Or should the question be, how will the older dog do with the new puppy? Any suggestions!!

Faces of my Imagination 2

2009-11-28T21:37:00.001-05:00

I've been playing with these closeups and here's another I painted using all acrylics.

Faces of my Imaginations 1

2009-11-25T20:25:00.001-05:00

I started drawing these faces a bit earlier in the month, but finally got them colored. I used mostly acrylics with a bit of watercolor. I think this one's a bit resembling halloween! Not sure why, but I've been loving drawing and painting these close up faces. More to come in the next few days.

Zentangle Crow

2009-11-24T19:13:00.000-05:00

While waiting at the Doctor's office, here's something I did. I try to keep in my purse a couple of blank ATCs and a pencil and sharpie. Zentangles are just random designs made on white background with a black marker. I had a long enough wait to create this!

Tulip Toles

2009-11-24T00:06:00.004-05:00

I've been quite sick lately and didn't get as much art done this month as I was hoping to. In between lying around gathering my strength, I worked on a bunch of cards a bit at a time. So, here's a couple I finished and scanned and I'll post the rest as I put finishing touches to them and get them scanned. These two are tole cards on black backgrounds and painted with acrylics.

Toles are old fashioned floral designs started in the Scandanavian countries and can be seen on many pennsylvania dutch artwork.

Fall in the Air

2009-11-05T23:12:00.000-05:00

Today was a busy day running errands, taking my kid to soccer, doing homework...you know how it is. But, I managed to get some quite time sitting on my front porch sipping tea and looking at this view. Fall is just ablaze surround my house. Life should never be so hectic that a view like this can't be enjoyed.

Mad Hatter - Inks vs. Watercolor?

2009-11-04T12:40:00.008-05:00

I'm in a swap for "Tea, Coffee, or Hot Chocolate" on the stamp-shack. With my muse missing in action of late, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, so I started pursuing through my collection of stamps to see if something called to my muse. My DS saw me shuffling through my stamps and asked what I was doing. When I told him, he said, it would be great if you had a mad hatter! You see, my son just finished reading the Lewis Carol version of Alice in Wonderland and aboslutely loves it. Well, as luck would have it, I had a Mad Hatter stamp!! I rarely collect word stamps, but the saying I used on this card, I just loved, so paired with the Mad Hatter stamp just felt perfect to me! I made this one last night. I played with a handful of layouts and on a couple of different papers. I was just playing, but in that play, I lost time. Isn't that the best!! This one is done with different distress inks, which is not a medium I use often. I finished is last night, but didn't upload it because I wanted to try something else too.

My favorite medium is watercolors and acrylics. So, I decided to do this layout all over again, but in watercolors. So, first thing this morning, I played all over again. I'm just loving this layout. I think, next I'll do it on tiles!

If you notice, the Mad Hatter has a pretty cool cup of tea. It's only half a cup of tea, but I love that it's cut in half lengthwise (taken from the story!) and the tea doesn't fall out!! OK, so which one do you like better, the inks or the watercolors?

Paris Fashion

2009-11-02T21:09:00.009-05:00

Since I've been under the weather a bit lately, I decided to curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and my laptop for some creative reading. I decided to go blog hopping. I didn't make it very far! When I got to "Mother Henna's" blog, I saw that she was participating in something called the "Art Every Day Month". I've been in a slump this past bit and have been pushing to find my muse. So, I knew this challenge wasn't for me. But the more I read and then checked out Leah's challenge, I thought, why not!!! The worse would be that I wouldn't get 30 projects done, but I knew that if I accepted this challenge, I'd get some creating done. Besides, her challenge isn't to create a complete project each day, it's to do Art each day! So with a light step and a song in my heart, I'm going to play in this challenge, and I hope that somewhere along the way, my muse will join me!!

This is a collage I started a while back and just sitting at my desk and clearing things out, I found all the pieces I wanted to add to it!

Have a Spooktacular Halloween!

2009-10-31T12:17:00.002-04:00

Happy Haunting! Whether you celebrate halloween or not, I just couldn't pass up a chance to make an ATC with one of my favorite images by beeswax's Madusa.

Fall is definitely here!

2009-10-29T11:04:00.006-04:00

I just love this time of the year. The artist in me marvels at all the colors flowing around us. The child in me wants to gather up all those leaves and jump around just to hear the "crunch" sound the leaves make...oh, ok, I want someone else to gather them and then I want to jump in the piles! The adult in me just wants to sit with a cup of tea and soak in the serenity of the season. The woman in me...wants to go shopping and buy all the fall colored clothes and boots on sale!!! These pics are from the trees surround my home.

Playing with Henna (Mehndi)

2009-10-18T13:55:00.007-04:00

I've been wanting to do a Mehndi (henna) design on my hand for a long time. So, I finally bought some and tried it out on my hand. This is my first attempt. There are tons of sample designs on the net. Mehndi is the Indian name for henna. Mehndi is made from dried leaves (not sure from what plant). The dried leaves are then crushed and the powder is sold to consumers. When ready to apply, the powder is mixed with water and a few drops of oil to form a paste. when I was younger, this paste was applied with toothpicks, homemade tools, etc. The pros would take large leaves and roll them like bags, but not everyone could use these leaf bags well. Then someone got brilliant and put the paste in pastry bags!! Now, the designs are so much more detailed and anyone can do them, including me! The longer I leave the paste, the deeper the color and the longer the design will last. I plan on leaving it on for a few hours. That's not a hardship at all, it gets me out of housework!

I'm liking this so much, Iwent ahead and did the back of my hand too.

Floral Tiles

2009-10-16T11:21:00.007-04:00

I did these two tiles for Jan. She had won a blog giveaway way back in Christmas. I did the smaller of the two tiles for her then and mailed it out. Never gave it a second thought. I didn't get a note that she got it, but it was during the holidays and everyone gets busy so I thought perhaps she didn't post that she received it, or perhaps, I just missed her post. However, when I recently talked with her, she said she didn't ever receive it. I felt really bad. I should have followed up earlier. So, I made her two this time and hope these will make it to her safely.

I stamped both the tiles with stazon jet black in. The smaller tile is colored in with watercolors, while the larger is done with all stazon inks. Both the tiles are bought at Lowes and they're tumble tiles. The tumble tiles are much more absorbent and take inks beautifully. Gloss tiles are easier to paint, but much harder to stamp on and becase the tiles are gloss, the paint just wipes off! Sealing a gloss tile just makes it even more slick.

Black and White Fairy

2009-10-01T23:19:00.004-04:00

Black and White isn't as easy as it would seem! While doing this and a few other ATCs in black and white, I really found it quite challenging not to add a touch of color. My work usually is full of colors, sometimes way too much, so this was out of my comfort zone. First I stamped the moon. Then I painted the tree and the leaves. Added the fairy on a toadstool. I had to darken quite a bit of the fairy, because she just seemed too transparent. To ground the toadstool and to hide the ugly base, I added grassblades and flowering stalks! This might be look like it lacks color, but in the end, I felt I'd actually added a new color to my palette.

Distress Inks Challenge

2009-08-27T21:52:00.003-04:00

I love distress inks and have a hard time passing up a challenge to use these inks. This card is done for a distress ink challenge hosted by Christie on Stamp-Shack. I used six different inks. Smooshed (that's a technical term! lol), them on my craft mat, sprayed them with water and wiped my card across them. Then I embossed the stamps with black embossing powder. The dragonfly seemed to blend too much into the background, so I added some green and purples to it using prismacolor pencils.

Monochromatic Challenge

2009-08-20T15:51:00.004-04:00

I did this monochromatic blue card for a challenge on the Stamp Shack. The challenge was to do a card in any one shade of color. I decided to do it in blue. Last night, after playing a bit, I came up with a card I was somewhat pleased with. It needed a little bit more, but I wasn't sure. So, I decided to scan it first, just in case. Well, as luck would have it, right after I got it totally colored in with pencils, I ended up smudging it with some black pencil shavings that were left on the pencil sharpener, which came off onto to my hands when I sharpened my blue pencil. I tried to remove the smudges, but just made a bigger and bigger mess. So, I figured, heck with this and I'll just use the card I've already scanned. At 1:30 a.m. when I tried to add my card to the challenge gallery, I found out that I'd scanned my card at too high a dpi. I was a bit dissapointed, but not defeated. This morning I redid the card. This time I used feather stamps on the background paper instead of the eifel tower stamp. The sentiment is computer generated. I like this version a lot more. Hope you guys like the finished card.

Tim Holtz - Nostalgic Metal Memoirs

2009-08-17T12:34:00.008-04:00

Have you ever taken a class from a teacher that you just couldn't get enough of. Well, that's how felt when I took a Tim Holtz class two years ago. He returned this past weekend to teach a few classes and I was lucky enough to take his "Nostalgic Metal Memoirs" class. He makes a class so much fun that you don't even realize that 5 hours have passes since you sat down and that you're holding a small piece of art in your hands! This class was a combination of book binding and metal class. The book is 4 x 4 and has 90 pages hand sewn into it. Then we worked with metal sheets which was embossed, sanded, distressed and colored with AI inks. The sheets were then used like wrapping paper to cover the top and bottom covers. Once corners, a decorative clasp and crown on the front were added, the journal was finished. It always amazes me how everyone starts off with the same kit, the same instruction and comes up with a totally different and unique piece when you take one of Tim Holtz class. Oh, and did I say, how much fun this was? Loads!!

Whimsical Marie Antoinette

2009-07-21T22:27:00.007-04:00

These three were done for a "Whimsical Marie Antoinette" hand drawn/painted swap. I was pretty excited to do these. Not sure why. Not as if I watched the movie or knew much about the ill fated queen, but something made me want to do this swap. So I signed up for it. Now, here's the kicker! I joined on 4th of July. We went to our local fair grounds to watch the fireworks. We had about 3 hours of wait time and I drew all three of them fairly quickly before it got dark. As I said, I was pretty inspired. Not sure I've ever drawn so many cards so quickly before. Then we went home and packed for our trip to disneyworld starting the next day!! I thought I'd be back in time to color them and mail them out. Nope, didn't work out that way. By the time we got back, they were due in 4 days. So, I got them colored and priorty mailed them out! Hopefully, the hostess will have them in time.

When I showed my husband these, he wanted to know what "whimsical" meant. Hmm....I didn't know how to explain it. So, I looked it up. Here's what the dictionary says..."fanciful, odd, funny, unusual, peculiar, eccentric, queer, flaky..." The more I read these adjectives, the more I'm loving this word. I'm not sure my queens are eccentric or peculiar or flaky enough, but, they're whimsical. Right?

The Blue Angels

2009-07-03T21:36:00.003-04:00

Recently our local Naval Base had their air show. Which was spectacular. There were lots of acrobatics in the air, some on the runway, and lots of food vendors. The traffic coming into the base took 1.5 hrs, where normally it takes 15 mins. Needless to say, we missed closeups of a few of the attactions. But because most of them are aerial displays, we were able to watch much of it from the car!! My favorites and most likely everyone else's there too, are the Blue Angels. The Navy's premier acrobatic team. It's a six man/plane team, with #7 being the spare. It's simply amazing to watch these jets zoom by each other at high speed and miss each other. They flew straight up, in formation, upside down and sideways. It was skill and grace in the air. I loved it. Here's a little of what we saw. I look forward to when they will be back again.

Hobo

2009-06-30T18:55:00.005-04:00

I joined an inchie face swap and was playing around drawing some. I ended up doing a face that resembles this one by mistake. I loved it so much, I did an ATC size. I love this elongated face style. I took it with me to the Artfest, but he looked kind of sad to me, so I kept him, instead of trading him.

A Rainbow of Daisies

2009-06-27T14:30:00.001-04:00

This was one of my favorite designs. I did this in so many colors (take a look at the sidebar), as ATCs, inchies, and as the journal page I painted. I think I could do this in my sleep now!! These are done on black paper with acrylics.

ArtforAll 2009 Tole ATCs

2009-06-25T22:54:00.007-04:00

During the past week, I was lucky enough to get together with about 45 artists, some of whom were friends, some really good acquaintances, and most of whom I'd traded ATCs with but for the most part, I knew only through the web. It was an amazing experience. I created like a spazzed out energetic bunny the three weeks before I left. The above "tole" cards are some of the art I created. These are all done on black backgrounds painted with acrylics. This style is similar to Dutch Pensylvania art or rosemauling.

I'd made 64 ATCs (not all toles), 117 inchies, 50 charms, and a name tag. My DH and DS helped back my cards and afix them to strudy cardboard. Whew! That was a lot of work!! I've finally gotten some sleep, got my bags unpacked, laundry done and all my phone calls made. So, now I can get back into my art space and create for the sake of creating!

I hardly bought anything there, but came back with a new addiction, anyway. Journals!!! How did I not get into this before. We all exchanged journals and I managed to do pages for 20 ladies. Now I need to do a journal for me! Love it.

I'll be back with more of my cards soon.

Dancing in the Rain

2009-06-02T11:01:00.006-04:00

I know I haven't posted much lately, but I've been quite busy. I'm going to an Artist get together mid June. This should be a fun get together. It's a lot like the shack-a-poolaza the girls at the stamp shack did earlier this year. But since I'd signed up for this one nearly a year ago, I couldn't do both. Perhaps next year...

The get together is mainly a bunch of artists on ATCsforAll. It'll be a combination live trade show/art classes/art making. Oh, and lets not forget the social aspect. That should take up the whole weekend! I'm not sure I'll get much art making. So, in anticipation of this, I've made some ATCs and some inchies in advance.

I'll preview a few here and add lots more while I'm gone, and especially when I return.

More Inchie Faces

2009-04-28T11:44:00.002-04:00

Another set of inchies! These little pieces are more addictive than I thought. Though, trying to color those little eyes is a bit neurotic! I did these for a swap on ATCsforall. I've drawn nearly 30 faces, but so far, these are all I've colored in. I've used mostly acrylics for the faces, except for the blue haired fairy and the little imp on the bottom left. Those I colored with prismacolored pencils. For me, the pencils were harder to get the saturation I wanted and didn't give the smoothness of color that I liked. These little pieces of art are easy to draw when watching my little guy practise his soccer game. And since they're only 1" x 1", there isn't that much detailing needed in the background. My fav. is the little girl peeking over the fence. How about you? Which one strikes you the most?

Flower Power!

2009-04-12T16:10:00.008-04:00

I've finally taken the plunge and hosted my first swap "Flower Power" on the Stamp Shack. I have a lot of floral stamps and wanted to do some cards with them. When I saw no floral swap to join, I made my own up. I envisioned something along the lines of a physecadelic card that represented Flower Power to me. And I'm thrilled that what I envisioned, happened! I love the colors. I usually work in watercolors, but this is a first for me. Markers!! The colors are rich and vibrant.

I used 3 different stamps, all from the same set by K Marcella (clear stamps #137004). Made a collage of them and then colored with Bic Markers.

If any of you want to trade with me for a card very similar to this, let me know.

Wizards and Elves

2009-04-12T00:15:00.003-04:00

Sometimes a card just comes together, and at other times, it takes...well, till well, forever! The first wizard (in blues) came through fairly easily. But this swap required four cards and I just couldn't figure out the others. I researched and researched and nothing seemed to work for me. So when the pressure of the deadline was making me twitchy, my muse finally came back from vacation!!! Sitting in the car watching my youngest at soccer practise, I drew the second wizard (in purple). The beauty of that wizard is, that the two look like they're talking so I drew the background path to match up. Then when I took the same youngest to chick-fil-a for dinner (hey got me out of dinner duty), I drew the old elf in the tree and a second elf. I came home and since I'd had dinner too (well, I've got no will power when it comes to those waffle fries), I sat down and drew the third one (sleeping below the tree). I don't think I've ever drawn four full cards in one day, let alone in such a short period of time. The other elf, I'm sooo in love with, I'll have to take my time coloring it. Hopefully, I've done justice to these pieces and will do so on the other elf too.

More Inchies

2009-03-28T21:25:00.002-04:00

Well, I don't think I'm hooked, but doing inchies has helped get rid of stress for me. We've had so much going on the last month and which will last for another few weeks, that I was finding I just was too tired to create. I was under pressure just to finish my committed swaps. Inchies are so small that I'm able to complete these fairly quickly. The top two are done with water colors. The flowers are acrylics and my favorite of all favorite, the faces are done using prisma pencils. I love the faces, so bear with me. You might be seeing more of them!!

Inchies by Number

2009-03-28T20:58:00.004-04:00

I love my ATCs. I never think I'd actually make anything other than that. And then a swap comes along that is irresistable. Perhaps because of the medium or technique used. Or perhaps the host. In this case it was definitely the host. Pixeldog at ATCsforall. He was hosting a swap with inchies. An ATC is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2. Inchies are, well, 1" x 1". My gosh, those are small!! I signed up for the swap, but waited pretty much till the end for one reason or another to do the swap. Mostly, because I was panicked and didn't have a clue what to do. One night, I started and this is what I came up with. His inchies required a number on them. Other than that, it was whatever I could create. There were 75 participants in it. Lol, he's got his work cut out for him sorting out the returns! So what do you think of my first venture into Inchies? They're all done in watercolors, except for the pink daisy. That's in acrylics.

Fairy Wings

2009-03-05T13:33:00.003-05:00

This was an ATC done for the "Wings" swap on Stamp-Shack. The girl is an unmounted stamp that I've had for ages, and not sure who makes it. I had visualized her with some butterfly wings, but none of the butterflies I had would work for this girl. They were mostly too clunky! So, I went through my stamp drawers and found door hinges. I liked the scroll work look of them and they seem to match the design on her sleeves. I masked the girl off and stamped the wings. Then I added some stamped butterflies to give her something to interact with. Drew a pond under her and doodled a bit of flowers and grass to finish of the image. The background is colored with watercolors which I applied with very broad strokes. The fairy is colored with prisma pencils, mainly an orangish red and yellow.

Snowflake ATC

2009-01-28T12:28:00.003-05:00

This was another one of those free form, fun cards to make. It's for a snowflake swap at ATCsforall. I used a collage of stamps and added white dots to highlight certain areas. I'm really enjoying these stamped collages, and definitely plan to be doing more!

Blog Award

2009-01-27T15:52:00.003-05:00

I received this award from Jennifer at Trial and Error. To participate in this one, I am to list 5 addictions and then pass the award onto 5 bloggers. First my addictions:
1) Taking photos...of my kids and anything else I see through my camera lense!
2) ATCs
3) Coke or Pepsi, for some reason, it's the only sodas I'll drink
4) Reading
5) Indian Food

O.k. now for 5 bloggers:
1) Running on Ink
2) Sir Pumpkin
3) Land of the Lost Luggage
4) Thimbles, Bobblins, Paper and Ink
5) Far North Designs

I hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I do.

Red Tailed Hawk

2009-01-24T21:25:00.003-05:00

I joined a partner swap for a 1/1 card. In this swap, we had to check our partner's profile and do a card based on what they were interested in. I picked "bird" out of his profile and did this red tailed hawk. I love how he turned out and wish I'd made one for myself too. Though, I do have to say, I wasn't totally original in this. I'd done a 8 1/2" version of this in a mini-class before, and was thrilled to be able to duplicate it without the instructor talking us through it. It's done with just two colors, brown and blue, except for the touch of color for his eyes. The hardest part then and now was drawing it free hand. The curve of that beak is a lot harder to do then it looks!! Well...at least for me.

2009-01-14T20:41:00.004-05:00

I did these beauties for a "Hand Drawn or Painted Fantasy + Background" swap on ATCsforall. I love doing fairies and mermaids. They are my favorite characters. I ended up doing these at the very last possible second. Seems I've been doing that a lot lately. Probably because I can't resist all these really wonderful swaps going on. Once all my swaps and trades are accounted for this month, I think I'll be able to do them during the sunshine hours! Then again, I'll probably hit a bunch more "join" buttons between now and then!! I was up until 3:00 a.m. last night and part of today to finish these up. They're done with acrylics and a bit of sparkle added with stickles. I have a hard time letting go of my cards when I'm done, especially the hand drawn ones. They're usually one of a kind. Oh well, I never made these to stay home anyway. Fly away!!

It's all about the Eyes ATC

2009-01-04T21:36:00.013-05:00

This is my first art project for the year 2009. I'm quite pleased with the final piece. I created this ATC for a swap I'm in for eyes. I say final piece because I've tried numerous versions of this and some coloring schemes. This was my favorite. I played on the word "eye". See if you can spot all three "eyes" I used. I'll give you the answer at the bottom of this post.

I used five different stamps to create this collaged image. The face stamp is by Queens Ink, the feather and the swirls are by Judikins, the two clear circle stamps are by Inkadinkado. As you can see, I only used a portions of the stamps. This is an ATC afterall, and the whole stamps just don't fit! I colored it with green and blue. Heavy handed in some areas and lighter in others.

I've been experimenting with doing collages and I really like how this turned out. What do you think. Too busy or hopefully just right?

O.k, did you figure out how many eyes there are? First, there is the girl's eyes, then there is the eye of the peacock, and finally the bullseye. Did you get them all? Perhaps you found an eye that I had not thought of. If so, let me know.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T22:35:00.005-05:00

This is my favorite day of the year. I feel excitement in the air, a shiver of joy as the new year stretches out in front of me. An opportunity to learn something new, improve on something old and enjoy what I already know! I love Christmas too, but I feel so tired by the end of the season that this day makes me feel refreshed and young again. There are 357 days of shopping left! That alone makes me think that perhaps this year I might get things done ahead of time. Lol. Then again, I'll probably wait till the very last minute. I don't think it's because I'm lazy or I procrastinate too much (perhaps a wee bit), but I know it's because there is so much to do and learn out there. I'm a very curious cat by nature. I like to veer off the beaten path and see and take pictures of everything I can. By the time I get back on the path again, I'm late. Like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, I'm always saying ..."I'm late, I'm late, I'm late". This year my resolution isn't going to be to be on time or to stay on the path more often. This year my resolution is going to be "MORE". Does that make me sound greedy. Perhaps, it is. This year, I want to have more off the path adventures, more being late because life is so full of interesting things, more of my kids hugs, more of my husband's kisses, more of being creative and especially more of being me! I look forward to every new year and I look forward to this one too. I wish for all of you new adventures in life and the time to enjoy them!

Welcome

2008-12-23T22:36:00.044-05:00

Welcome to my Virtual Open House. Come in and warm yourself. It's a cold 36 deg. outside at the moment and will be about the same when Santa comes to deliver his presents. The house is decorated with lots of lights outside, Christmas tree inside, and many of my most favorite items on display for everyone to enjoy. Santa is one of my favorite images for Christmas. I think he embodies for me much of what Christmas is all about. Not because he brings presents, but because he gives from the heart and because he doesn't expect anything in return. Well, perhaps some cookies and milk and a carrot for his reindeers!

So to make sure Santa has his cookies, my DS and I baked a bunch of cookies today. Think there'll be one left for Santa?

Upon entering my foyer, you'll be greeted by three ceramic Santas I painted way back in the late 80's. There were so many ceramic shops then, but now, it's hard to find any. I barely did any type of crafts then and my hubby spent all his spare time detailing model airplanes. My mother-in-law pointed me in the direction of ceramics and I did these as one of my first few pieces way back in the late 80's.

From my foyer, we enter the living room. My collection continues. Here are some store bought Santas I have. I add one each year to this.

Times changed, and the ceramic stores closed. I still wanted to do art, so I did some paintings on my own. Here are three santas that I painted once I couldn't find any ceramic stores.

ornaments my son and I made

and more Santas. This time as cards I sent out. There are no art stores close to me here, so I turned my creating to scrapbooking, cards and ATCs. Now that my local scrapbooking store is closed, I wonder where my art journey will take me.

I hope you enjoyed a little bit of the time you spent in my home. It's been my pleasure to show off my collection. I'll be giving a hostess gift to one person picked at random from those that leave me a comment here. I don't have a pic of my gift, but it will be one of my coasters. There is an example of it further down in one of the other posts. Of course, it's a Santa! I've got a selection of images you can pick from and I'll make it especially for you. Thanks for stopping by. Next on the tour is Tami's house. Just click on her name and just like magic, you'll be whisked away to her home. Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a very joyous New Year.

Christmas Cards

2008-12-18T18:05:00.004-05:00

This is one of the cards I did for this year's Christmas Cards. Cards are not forte and it takes me a bit to figure out the paper and the mix of all the hundreds of emblishments that are out there. So, I decided, why not just do an ATC. Well, now that was right up my alley, so this is what I came up with. It's one of my all time favorite stamp (by inkadinkado). As you can see by other posts below, I've been using him quite a bit this year. I then tried a bunch of different backgrounds. Patterned papers, watercolored paper, stamped paper, and finally 2 different embossed paper. The ATC was much easier to do then figuring out what to mount it on! lol I finally settled on this embossed one and added a ribbon to just tie the colors together. For the ATC, I colored using markers, pencils, watercolors, and inks. I added textured snow for the cuffs and the hem of Santa's robe and around his hat. To finish it off, I glued on pearlized looking snowflakes. I hope the ladies that get this version of the card, like him.

Ink spots!

2008-12-10T20:04:00.007-05:00

I was coerced...I mean...I joined a swap for melted crayon backgrounds. This was a very good friend of mine's first swap! We used crayons which were melted onto the background. Then whatever image showed up, that's what we needed to refine and paint/draw/do whatever needed to bring forth! I realize that once I've painted this and shown you the result, you can tell what it was supposed to be. But my gosh, in their raw form, I had an incredibly hard time reading these crayon melted ink spots!! I mean, I ended up doing 32, yes, you read right, 32 backgrounds before 3 spoke to me. Thankfully, these two were very easy for me to spot and bring forth. The other, well, let's say I'm going to have 29 backgrounds for something! I had an extremely hard time letting go of the leopard. If anyone knows of where I can join therapy for letting go of one's art...point me the way.

I've Done....

2008-12-09T00:08:00.006-05:00

I saw this on CattyCat's blog and loved it. So, here's my "done" list. If you want to play along just copy this and then bold the things you've done.

I HAVE . . .
1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars (often)
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower (stayed up most of the night watching it)
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world (more than once!)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo (my family would disown me!! lol)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris (does almost count!)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch (I'm mostly self taught)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (would never want to repeat that one!)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (shhh, I won't tell if you don't)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (aren't they beautiful)
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing4
9. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant

Hmm 47 out 100. Not too bad. I've never bought a new car, nor seen some great art in Paris, never been to Russia, or on a gandola in venice. But I have walked on the great wall of china, and slept on a train, seen fabulous sites, scuba dived, been on a cruise and seen disney world. However, all pale next to being blessed with a great family, terrific friends, and receiving so much love to overflow my heart.

Christmas Ornaments

2008-12-08T23:15:00.018-05:00

I joined an ornament swap this past September and waited till the last possible moment to make them. It was for a blind swap with one partner. There was a dollar limit, but it could either be handmade or store bought. I figured I'd make some. If they were tacky looking, then I'd buy some. These are what I made. The Santa image and the swirls are stamped. I painted the background white, stamped and then colored with watercolors. Added some texture for the fur area, and glued on some snowflake emblishments. The back of the ornament is stamped with a Christmas postage stamp, some snowflakes and more swirls. The snowman is a free hand painted design on a dark blue background. He's one of my fav. designs for winter. The back of the ornament is painted red and a pine bough design added.

I know my ornament swap partner doesn't check out my blogs, but I really hope she'll like them. I sent a matching Santa coaster to her too.

Since she received my item later than anticipated, I added the coaster as an appology and as an added gift for the holidays.

One stamp challenge

2008-11-22T04:56:00.005-05:00

I joined a stamp-a-thon this weekend and Friday's challenge was using one stamp as the main focal image. First picking out "THE" stamp was a bit of a challenge, and then not making them all look exactly alike was challenging. I guess that's why they call it a "challenge"! I could have added a lot of doo-dahs and different papers, but...I had just cleaned my studio area and I didn't want to make a huge mess again. I'd just done a collage-a-thon recently and I make such a huge mess that it takes me forever to dig myself out again. So, I added different images to each and colored them using watercolor crayons and inks. I made the little black/white emblishments and added those to each pic. Adding color to any image is my first and true love so that's the way I always end up.

Happy Birthday Austin

2008-09-29T17:43:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was our youngest son's 7th birthday. Where does the time go. I know we all ask that question, but no one really seems to be able to come up with a good enough answer. I can't seem to get enough pictures or memorabilia to preserve these times. I wonder sometimes if I spend too much time behind the camera and not enough in front of it! To celebrate his birthday, I made this cake for him. He's all boy and loves his trucks, especially monster trucks. It was such an easy concept which my husband came up with, and even easier to put together. I baked a chocolate cake and covered it with chocolate icing. To make the dirt mounds, my husband and son crushed some cheap cars. I placed them in the bottom center of the cake, added some smashed cupcakes on both sides of it and covered it with ligther chocolate icing. Placed some monster trucks on the cake and around it and duh dah...a monster truck cake! The trucks were part of his birthday presents. He loved it! And so did the kids in his party. We celebrated it at a gymnastic center where they hold a ton of birthday parties too. The kids jumped on trampolines, climbed ropes, ran on bouncy tracks, and my favorite, swung from a rope and jumped into a deep pit filled with foam cubes. Watching them trying to get out of it was like wastching someone in quicksand. Shh... don't tell anyone, but if they would have let me, I'd have jumped in too! Ah, to be a child again, filled with such innocence, wonder and just sheer joy of the moment. Love you Austin.

Stampscape

2008-09-23T13:25:00.005-04:00

Whenever I've used stamps by stampscape, I've always watercolored them. That took quite some time to get the colors I liked. This time I tried sponging the colors using various ranger inks and viola! A finished piece in a matter of minutes. Of course, I wouldn't want you to see my practise pieces! I've got three different stampscape stamps here: The background (trees/rocks/late), the little boat, and the circling birds.

I got a chance to play today with some new stamps

2008-09-21T20:20:00.004-04:00

This is a new set from "Inkadinkadoo" I just got and am so in love with it. It's definitely my style. These ATCs are colored using ranger inks. The first witch is colored using just two colors while the second witch is using a few more. I really liked the more colorful card, but my DH wanted one with just blues and golds. So I did that one for him. I added all the little dots and some of the stars at the bottom.

I'm so excited!!

2008-09-18T19:22:00.018-04:00

We have our local county fair this weekend. I've never entered anything in it before, but this year I decided to enter photos and some artwork. I entered a few for myself and three photos for my DS. Out of all my pics, I won 3rd place in the black and white category. It's a pic of the Abbey behind the Royal Palace in Edinborugh, Scotland. It was a rainy day and pretty overcast, but, the Palace and the Abbey was just gorgeous. I won 2nd place in all my other three entries. However, I didn't take any pics. As soon as I get them back, you know I'll be posting pics.

My son took the other two pics. One is of crimson tiger lillies taken at the Pike Market in Seattle and the other is one of the mountain ranges we saw during our cruise of Alaska. He entered the Junior categories for Nature and black White. He won First place in both categories! Here's the sweet part. He won the overall Junior Champion because of his pic of those tiger lillies.

For our first time ever entering any photo competition, I'm so thrilled. Now to enter a few more!

Are you an Artist or a Crafter

2008-09-16T14:57:00.002-04:00

To be or not to be, an Artist or a Crafter. That is the question or in some cases the dilemma. I ponder this question often when I'm signing my work. Am I really an artist, or a crafter. I've painted, stamped, stitched, sculpted and glued most of my adult life. I've worked with wood, canvas, cloth, clay and paper... So, who am I and what is really the difference. I think I've finally figured it out. Perspective. In the eye of the creator and in the eye of the beholder. By definition from Webster dictionary, a crafter is someone who is a creator of great skill in the manual arts. An artist is a person who creates art. Having read that definition and countless others, I can see why it's clear as mud what the differences are! In one definition I read, the difference was the formal training between the craftsman and the artist. Now, that I think might be the true difference. If I'd gone to a four year collage and majored in art, would I then have the confidence to call myself an artist. Not having done that, does that then mean I'm any less of an artist. I think not. I did years of "craft shows", some of which were juried "art shows". I spent countless hours improving my skills. I sign all my artwork because it's my creation. So I must be an Artist. Now does that make me any less of a craftsman. Well, going by the definition, I create with great skill in the manual arts. So here's my Ah Ha moment, I must be a Crafty Artist! lol

I Love Your Blog Award

2008-09-13T17:51:00.020-04:00

I received this fantastic award from Jan. It's an incredible feeling to know that not only did a friend stop by and leave a comment, but they left you an award too. Thank you. I'd like to pass this award along to some of my favorite bloggers:

Kim: She has a very creative and eclectic style. Her collages are beautiful and look so effortless. Unless, of course, I'm trying to do it! I've got one of her ATCs as a magnet on my refrigerator and just love it.

Ethel: I absolutely think she's the queen of vintage. Her cards are timeless and elegant.

Christie: She always seems to be experimenting with something new and fun. Due to Ike, she's had some damage, but I pray that she'll be back and creating very soon.

Beth: She's always got terrific tutorials on her blog. They're easy to follow and her examples are fantastic.

Julie: I just love her journals. They're fun and quirky. Definitely an artistic style I gravitate towards.

Debbie: She does fantastic coloring and her monday comics are a must check.

Deborah: I think her cards are always so polished! I'd case everyone if I could.

Here are the instructions for award recipients:

1. Pick 7 of your favorite blogs
2. Winners can put the logo on their blog.
3. Link the person who gave your award to your blog.
4. Name the 7 that you are giving the award to with their links.
5. Leave a message on their blogs so that they know they've won!

Sunflower Fun

2008-09-12T19:10:00.009-04:00

Sunflowers are my favorite flower. I painted this for a friend of mine as part of a swap. I wanted to make this special for her, so rather than stamping one or collaging it, I painted this one. I loved this card. Wish I'd painted one for myself too! Ethel at "The Paper Quilter", had a link on her site where you can turn your art into even more fun art. I tried the Andy Warhol look with mine. Not too shabby, I think. It was a lot of fun experimenting. Here's the link to the site. http://www.photofunia.com/. You never know how yours will turn out.

September's Collage-A-thon

2008-09-02T10:05:00.003-04:00

I joined a group of traders that do a Collage-A-thon nearly every month. For September, I really thought I'd get a lot of cards done. Afterall, it was a 3 day weekend. But as holiday weekends usually go, everyone seemed to have plans that included me. My oldest had an all day concert he went to. Once out, seemed like DH and the youngest DS had shopping plans and lunch plans. I did manage to get some time and make just four ATCs on Saturday. These are all made from wall paper cutouts, stamping and punches. The backgrounds are colored with inks. Not quite traditional collages, I think, but fun nevertheless. I have a ton of mess on my table expecting to make more on Sunday or Monday, but again, things were planned with other family members, and I just didn't get to my table to play at night. Oh well, now I'll have more cutouts and items ready to play with for the next one!

Collage ATC

2008-08-29T08:18:00.008-04:00

This weekend, I'm participating in an ATC "Collage-a-thon". That's where you make collages all weekend and trade as you go along. This is one of the ones I've done so far. Sometimes, they just come together, and other times, it's a lot of glue and a lot of sticky mess and nothing truly worth showing! Here I used one of my favorite stamps, the black floral looking piece is from an ad for a dove soap, a book page, geometric pp and a swirly stamp on the bottom. The image is colored using inks. I really truly hadn't meant it, but when I looked at the finished piece, it looked like a face to me. I'll post more as I go along.

Daisies in Pink and White ATC

2008-08-27T12:57:00.007-04:00

I love to combine my passion for painting and ATCs. I look at everything and wonder how I can make an ATC out of this. This is a painting I did last night on a black background of daisies and bleeding hearts. The style again is tole. I really like this style because it's more playful than its more realistic counterpart. There are a multitude of dots all around the border of this card. I might have gotten carried away with them, but I think it adds a softness to card and keeps your eye from wandering too far off into the darkness. I'm trading this one out, but I think I'll make another for my own collection.

Tole ATCs

2008-08-26T00:55:00.004-04:00

I painted these ATCs freehand using acrylics. This style has many names; "tole", "folkart", "telemark", and even "rosemauling". It all means the same. It is an old traditional style of painting done on furniture, decorative items and china in the scandanavian countries. I started painting this about a year ago, and really love it. To me, the colors really pop on the black background.

Come on in...ATC

2008-08-24T16:28:00.003-04:00

This is another ATC where the background is done using melted crayons. It totally looked like mud when I finished and didn't know if I should save or toss out the background card and start all over again! I'm glad I didn't. I added some distressed images and some computer generated words and, well, here's the finished piece. I really like how it turned out.

Fish ATC

2008-08-24T16:21:00.006-04:00

Last night I was making backgrounds trying a new technique, melted crayons, that I learned from a friend "seekingforart". I made a lot, and I mean a lot, of mud before I got some cards that I really liked. The background on this is done using two different crayon colors. The images are wallpaper and rub-ons. I then added some white dots using a white gel pen. For those that have never tried this method, it's a lot of fun and uses up crayons that the kids never seem to use! Here's a link: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/melted_crayon_background/

Let me know how you think this turned out.

An eye on Art ATC

2008-08-20T10:05:00.003-04:00

This is probably one of my favorite ATCs. The background's done in ranger inks dabbed with a sponge. The ink splotches are made with a re-inker. Then the image stamped and the words added. I added a clear rhinestone in the eye. The card looked fairly bare even though there were a lot of ink colors. So, I added black, orange and then finally white dots to finish off the card. I really like the way this turned out.

Persian Floral ATC

2008-08-20T09:32:00.002-04:00

I love paper piecing. The flower is done with ads in magazines from, what else, persian rugs! First I colored the background card with a bit of watercolor. Stamped the leaves on. Then I cut petal shapes at random from the rugs. The stem and leaves are also done from green rugs. The dragonflies are done from another set of basic looking rugs.

First Day of School

2008-08-20T09:22:00.000-04:00

The kids are back in school today. I should be happy that I've got tons of me time again, but I'm really so sad. I never could handle the first day of school well. The kids are excited, but now I'm so lonely. The house is quite, and there no pitter patter of little and big feet. No legos on the floors, no little mattel cars to walk over. No music blaring from my teenager's room. Man, I can hear myself rattling around this house. No one to make breakfast for. I always feel like crying and actually do cry on the first day of school. I know that's kind of dorky of me, but I know I'll be fine in a couple of days just today is hard. I never can stay in the house, so I booked myself a pedicure and a facial. Hey, that aught to cheer me up!!

Watercolor ATCs

2007-11-05T15:30:00.000-05:00

I must have been in a creative mood this weekend. It's been pretty hectic lately with more medical problems than I care to revisit. So, with a quiet weekend at hand, I sat at my table and created and created. Here are some ATCs I did with watercolors.

These first two are images I saw in a children's book. Love the vibrancy of color in kids books.

These two are out of my imagination. The flowers are watercolors, but the butterfly is stamped and then colored in. The woman I did for a challenge I saw on a site. The challenge was to do a watercolor woman (head only) in 10 mins. or less. This took 9 mins.

Daisies and Butterflies

2007-11-05T15:05:00.000-05:00

I loved doing this card. I did this following a sketch posted by Kerry on "The Stamp Shack". The easy part was the water coloring, cutting out the circles and the butterflies. The hard part was figuring out what background to put them on. Seemed like anything I used was too overpowering or not enough. Finally settled on making my own background paper using ranger inks. Hats off to those ladies that can put a gorgeous card mixing and matching papers.

Hiding in Plain View

2007-10-25T22:58:00.000-04:00

I love how this card came out. I did this for Survivor 3 contest on Stamp-Shack. I stamped the face (Judkins) on a plain white cardstock. I then stamped a ton of the little green fern leaf using Jungle Green ink by Marvy (Rubber Stamp Tapestry). I alternated the two leaf stamps trying to blend the two images. HINT: Stamp the image three times. This gives a softer image to the 2nd and 3rd stamping. Once I was happy with the coverage I had with the leaves, I colored the lips and eye lids with Ochre (Marvy) using a q-tip. I added yellow green ink (Marvy) to the eyes. Boy did this make the image pop. Then I used Judkins color dusters and picked up Ochre (Marvy) and swirled it around the image with a heavier concentration of the color at the edges leaving the face clear of any color. This card required some skill and a some luck. For me, I think I got quite lucky!

Trick or ...ah...Treat!

2007-10-25T21:21:00.000-04:00

Here's a Walk Through on how I did this ATC.

This is one of my favorite images that I picked up at a Stamping Convention. The image is from "TooMuchFun" Rubber Stamps. It's all colored in watercolors with hand drawn bricks and spider web. The kids are raised for a 3D effect.

Stamp the image using Versamark Black Ink on white cardstock. This gave me the clearest details.

I used water colors to color this image, but you can use any medium you are comfortable with. The area around the door is colored in an orange/brown color. I went back and darkened around the edges with the same color. The door is done in dark brown and the knocker in black. The window is done in yellow, shaded in orange. I didn't bother with the door knob because it'll get covered. The bumble bee is done in yellow, shaded with orange. The bear is done in a light brown, shaded with a dark brown and the princess is done in pink and shaded with purple. Once the kids are colored, cut them out very carefully, especially around the little bumble bee's antenna.

I drew the bricks to add more texture to the outside of the door. It felt like it was missing something, so I added the spiderweb. This web looks a bit skinny, so if you look at the finished ATC, I went back and added another line...must be a big spider living here! Then I used some pop dots and attached the kids giving them a finished 3D effect.

Sweet Pea

2007-05-27T18:23:00.001-04:00

This card was done for a virtual swap hosted at Stamp-Shack. The image was supplied by inkinupstamps. From the first time I saw this image, it called out for a trellis. I drew one and colored the trellis, the image and the sky around it in watercolors. When finished, the lines of the stamp looked faded from the watercoloring, so I retraced the lines in india ink. I attached the colored image as is to the brown/green card, but, I didn't like so much white around the card. It didn't quite look right to me. So I very carefully (and I mean carefully) peeled it off and cut the white off. Then I debated quite a bit on what color cardstock to use for the background. I can color an image so I'm quite satisfied, but agonize over what cardstock to use as a background. Once I'd sorted out the background, I redrew the tendrils I had cut off and added a few more. The ribbon seems to finish it off for me. Which of the two cards do you prefer?

Bella ATC

2007-05-25T13:44:00.000-04:00

This was for a "Bella" ATC swap I did at Stamp-Shack. The image was provided to me by a friend. Thanks Christie. She was really a lot of fun to do. Kind of like dressing up Barbie. Except she's so small that paper piecing her outfit was a bit hard on the hands. I cut her pants out of a jeans pp. The purse and the top are out of a paisely pp. The belt is a sliver cut from silver paper and the shoes on her bag is cut from a tag on a gift bag. I colored the background with watercolors. Generated the sayings and the $ sign on the computer. I scanned the image into the computer and printed it out. Once the ATC was assembled, I went back over the image with a black ink pen (because the computer scanned image wasn't as sharp as when you stamp it directly to paper).

Tim Holtz Class

2007-05-15T18:41:00.000-04:00

My husband and kids gave me a wonderful mother's day present. Tim Holtz classes. Tim was doing a few different ones and I picked to do the "Artful Hand" and the "Mystery" class. Of all the instructors I've taken classes with, Tim is my all time favorite. He is a great teacher, patient and with a great sense of humor. The "Artful Hand" is a wooden hand that we decoupaged with sewing patterns. Once dry, I painted it and then added a bunch of trinkets. He gave us quite a few, but I had brought some with me so I used a bit of his and a bit of mine and a bit from my friends. The wings were colored with AI. This class was more fun than any I've done before.

The "Mystery" class was a total blast too. When I signed up for it, I had no idea what the class was about. The owner of Queen's Ink, Patti, wanted an extra class for their schedule last year. Tim didn't have one, but he figured he could come up with one. Patti promoted this new class as a Mystery class. She and Tim were both amazed that the Mystery class sold out before any of the other classes. Go figure. So, this year, he has added a Mystery class to his schedule. He does a different one in different areas so it won't be the same project as mine. Mine was a canvas that we colored with AIs, added a picture of a child, wings, trinkets, words and sealed everything with Beeswax. Everyone got the same kit in both classes, but amazingly not one person had the same end project. This was an amazing mother's day present, which I hope will be repeated again next year.

Doodling

2007-05-15T12:17:00.000-04:00

Doodling is a lot of fun. I can't remember a single day that I haven't doodled on some piece of paper laying about or on an envelope that I just opened or even on a bill while on hold on the phone. Doodles don't have to make sense or even make a picture, they are just random lines and circles and dots. This ATC was made for a "Doodling" swap. I made my own background paper by doing a wash of colors on white watercolor paper. I used yellow and orange primarily. Then I added a bit of brown to deepen some of the orange areas. The doodling is done with a bronze metalic pen. I mounted the sun on black cardstock and glued it to the background paper.

Woodland Fae

2007-05-09T11:36:00.000-04:00

Masking. I've fallen in love with this technique. It's not complicated to do, just tedious. First, I stamped the fairy in the middle. I didn't want to use the full image of the fairy, so I placed a sheet of post it note on the bottom half of the card. This way only a portion of her dress would be stamped (gave her a more camouflaged image). Then I stamped another image on a post it note. I cut out the post it note and placed it on top of the image on my card, aligning it carefully. Then I stamped the leaf around the image in various inks. I added the smaller leaf image on top. Water colored the fairy and the blank area around her face.

Fairy stamp by Enchanted Gal

Large leaf stamp by: Stampland

Small leaf stamp by: Purple Onions

Inks by Marvy

Dance like no one's watching

2007-05-08T13:22:00.000-04:00

The image is from TAC. The saying is computer generated and the notes are hand painted. This is one of my most favorite ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). I stamped her in light brown. Didn't like the look for her so painted her with skin tone colors. Then I paper pieced her dress and hat. Punched a ton of little circles from white felt paper. Painted her shoes, the necklace and added bracelets. I mean who would get all dolled up and not have any jangling bracelets! I added notes and shadows to finish off the card. I loved her so much, I did her in a bunch of different colors.

Hello from a new member of the blogging community

2007-05-08T12:55:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking of starting a blog for sometime now. I haven't done much about it, but I did think a lot about it. I thought it was a big to do about personal musings, and who would want to read about my musings. However, the more I read other people's blogs, be they friend or stranger, I realized I learned a lot from them. Whether it was their creative piece, or their creative writing or the pictures of their familes and surroundings. It all inspired me and made me happy. In a funny way, it linked me to an outside community which hereto was unknown. I fell in love with blogging and the people that shared their insights and their creativity. So, now I too am joining this community as an active member. Well, I hope an active member.