Card from Heike!

I am posting this on both blogs.

The mail man brought me a beautiful surprise today, a card from Heike! I am so amazed because 1st, it was completely unexpected, and 2nd, it is one of the most exquisitely gorgeous cards I have ever received. Thank you, Heike, for this lovely start to the Advent season. I wish all the sparkle that is on this card showed up in the scan. It is truly one of a kind.

Die Briefträger brachte mir eine wunderschöne Überraschung heute eine Karte von Heike! Ich bin so überrascht, weil der 1., war es völlig unerwartet, und 2. ist es eine der raffiniertesten wunderschöne Karten, die ich je erhalten habe. Vielen Dank, Heike, für diese schönen Start in die Adventszeit. Ich wünsche allen den Glanz, die auf dieser Karte ist, zeigte sich in den Scan ein. Es ist wirklich einzigartig.

Mixed Media Monday - Bedtime Stories

The theme for Mixed Media Monday is Bedtime Stories. I remember my mother reading her precious Billy Whiskers books to my sister and me at bedtime. She also read from The Dog of Flanders. There weren't a lot of fiction books in our house growing up but somehow we all loved to read. My grandfather, who lived with us, had only gone through the fourth grade. Even he loved to read and we often found him reading our geography and reading books.

This collage was made by taking a Dover image (the woman and girl) and a Graphics Fairy image (the 2 boys) and printing them off onto photo paper. The background is alcohol inks sprayed onto a piece of a shirt box. Some childish animal stamps,  some gold stars, and a daubing of ink around the edges finished it off.

Saturday Surprise - Unconventional Colors for Christmas

These two cards I made for Saturday Surprise, using unusual colors (not the usual red and green) to make a Christmas or holiday card. The angel stamp is Celestial Angel by Stamps Happen from Laura, my art friend. The snowflakes came from Nancy Maxwell-James, from a drawing.

Art Creations Friday 51

Art Creations Friday gave us such a gorgeous background to work with this week.

Wednesday Stamper - 3

OK, I know you're going to wonder: where is the stamp? Well, this is one of those failures that actually looks pretty good in real life.

I have been itching to try beeswax but I didn't want to invest in a huge amount if I didn't know what to do with it. So on my vacation I found a candlemaker in Arkansas who sold me a small dollop of beeswax. Today I tried it, but I didn't know what I was doing. How does one get the wax evenly over the surface???

While it was still molten I stamped my PSX stamp of 3 berries into the wax. That is in the upper left side of this card. I assure you, there really is a stamp there.

The purple flower has 3 layers of petals and I've used the numeral 3. Can anyone direct me to a reliable website with a beeswax tutorial?

This piece was done for Wednesday Stamper.

The 3 Muses - Time

The Three Muses' theme this week is time. I am using some Dover images to reflect the innocence of childhood.

Blue Bird ATC

Think Monday Think ATCs is encouraging us to do art today using a bird and the color blue. I found this Dover Publications freebie of Van Gogh's  painting. The bird is also from Dover. The bear? Was it from Art Creations Friday? The Li'l Redhead is my drawing.

Sunday Postcard - Flourishes

I do love flourishes so this challenge just had to be tried. My background is one I made from card stock and various Moon Shadow mists. I used numerous flourish stamps over the background.. After I had scanned this adorned card stock, I added the couple of kids from Dover Publications. This piece was done for Sunday Postcard Art.

Snowflakes

Here is my snowflake entry for the One Stop Craft challenge. The card stock is white. I do not know why it looks pink.

Art Creations Friday

For this challenge we are using again one of my favorite Art Creations Friday images in our art this week. First I made a Photoshop Elements brush from the image and stamped it digitally onto a rose colored background along with a magnolia brush stamp. Then I used the poster edges filter and printed out the image onto paper. After adhering the paper to heavier card stock, I added the embellishments of the flowers, lace, and buttons..

The sepia image is using various digital brushes I have made.

Theme Thursday - Lots of Color Skinny

Here is my very colorful skinny for the Theme Thursday challenge. And here is how I made it.

First, I took a 3x5 cardstock and colored purple, green, rose, and orange NuPastels on it. I knocked off the chalk dust and sprayed with hair spray.

Next, I used Moon Glow's Starburst colors of Ramblin' Rose, French Lilac, and Canna Lily Burnt Orange. These had dauber tops so I daubed with them. I also used Moon Glow's Glitz Spritz in Desert Moon Antique Rose.

Lastly I stamped in Archival Ink three of my handmade fun foam stamps. The gold sticker was a freebie. Hope this wasn't too much color! I think I like it better without the gold sticker.

Wednesday Stamper - maps

I continue to get travel brochures almost weekly. This one for a sightseeing safari in the Serengeti touched an adventuresome nerve and sparked my interest. Not that I will ever go on such a wonderful and exciting trip.

I have made this collage using bits and pieces of the brochure and topping it off with my new elephant mom and baby stamp by Rubber Stampede. I finished it off with a layer of Modge Podge. This is for Wednesday Stamper.

Paper Minutes - Turquoise, Lilac, Brown

Blogspot wouldn't accept my scanned image so my entry for this week's Paper Minutes challenge is

HERE ON MY OTHER BLOG

TMTA - red, black, and white

Here is my entry for the Think Monday Think ATCs challenge this week. I have used red card stock to stamp my holly on, lace, and fabric flowers. All these were mounted on the 2.5x3.5" red card stock. I used the white marking pen to outline and to letter.

Scratch It!

Saturday's Workout introduced us to a technique that has the underpainting making the design in the finished piece.

Please enlarge to see the elephant more clearly.




Here's how I made mine:

1. I used Moon Shadow mists to make a orange and brown background.

2. When that layer dried, I wiped on black acrylic paint.

3. Immediately, I took my new elephant stamp and stamped into the wet paint.

4. Next, I took a palette knife and drew the tree and bushes in the wet paint.

I left the background showing around the edges of the black to show you the colors I used.

ACF and Theme thursday

For Theme Thursday this week we are using a patterned background. My background is one I made using a sprayed, dabbed, and painted cardstock. I then stamped a magnolia digital brush onto that. The magnolia brush is one I made from an image of a magnolia. From this one image I made the pattern using Photoshop Elements.

The three boys are what Art Creations Friday gave us to use for our challenge this week. I have added a Christmas tree from Dover Publications and I'm calling this piece: Waiting for Santa.

I didn't quite get this gorgeous frame right. I may rework it later. Or not.

Gingersnap Creations - Buttons

I had sprayed this white card stock with cranberry and stream color washes but I had no idea what to do with the background. Then Gingersnap Creations came up with the theme buttons. I figured light against the dark should look pretty good. I found some dress buttons and some military buttons for the design. My stamps were stamped with clear ink and embossed with white detail powder.

Paper Minutes

I don't have any stamps of ships, but my son found a lot of fish and shells stamps on ebay and got them for me. So here is my entry to Paper Minutes' "Maritime."

The background is an old cardboard from a shirt box, which I sprayed with hairspray and then with alcohol inks. I am really pleased with the colors of the background. I then stamped four different seaside stamps in archival ink. I thought it lacked something so I outlined in white ink.

Tag Tuesday - using a picture

The top tag is a digital one done of my husband, his older brother and his sister. I have added this my entry to Tag Tuesday.























The second tag, which is the first one I posted,  was made on some photo paper I had sprayed and misted. It's true that glossy card stock does better. This was an experiment. I also used lumiere paint to make some portions of the background glittery. Louise at Tag Tuesday wanted us to use a photo on our tags this week. So here is some unknown mother and her child.

Mixed Media Monday - Fashion

 

For Mixed Media Monday's theme of "Fashion" I am using this background of sprayed and misted cardstock and a couple of merged Audrey images from Dover Publications. She always looked so elegant and fashionable to me.

Two Challenges - Sketch Saturday and Saturday Surprise

Using the sketch given us by Sketch Saturday, I have made the card using my creation, Li'l Redhead, as the focus. She is set inside a circle which qualifies this card for Saturday's Surprise where the theme is In the Round.

Alice in Wonderland ATC - tgif

Using Dover freebies, I am adding this whimsical "Alice at the Tea Party" ATC. It's entirely digital.

My Alice ATC uses some images I got online from the New York Public Library.. TGIF's challenge this week is to do an ATC with Alice in Wonderland as the theme.

Theme Thursday - Borders

Theme Thursday's challenge this week is to use borders in our work. This is an altered photo taken at our city's botanical garden. The cat taking a soak is a photo I took from some funny email I got.  It was in one of those "forwards" we all get.

Non-Paper Asian Tag

For the theme for Tag Tuesday, Louise has chosen: anything but paper! I have made this tag using Pellon and fabric, which I sprayed and dabbed with Moon Shadow mists, gesso, and acrylics paints. The bamboo stamp is from Stubby Stampers; the raised bamboo is Fabulous Filigrees  from Lindy's stamp gang; and the bridge is a foam embellishment from Michaels. The ribbon is gold lamé.

I am also using this tag for Wednesday Stamper, where the theme is Asia.

Paper Minutes

Paper Minutes has provided us with a sketch for this week's challenge. My entry is really mixed media, I guess. I took a Photoshop Elements brush and used some of the filters to create my black and gold background. I then printed the image on my new Canon printer, which I don't fully understand yet. Next I added the double flower and scanned the whole "shebang" to my computer. So, here it is. I hope it has enough paper to count as Paper Minutes! The flowers are made of cloth.

TMTA - Brown

Here is my digiATC that I did from a relatively unviewed piece of art I made for another challenge last week. It is 2.5" x 3.5", the regulation ATC size. Sepia has such an old-world look about it. Looking at these merged images one can hardly help but notice that while she seems elated, he looks a little doubtful. The theme for TMTA is Brown.