Tag Tuesday & Fun with ATCs

Tag Tuesday

Fun with ATCs

Here are my Tuesday challenges entries: Tag Tuesday (Butterflies) and Fun with ATCs (Wings). The tag was made of decorative paper I received from Frankie along with the stamp for the butterfly and the ribbon at the top and bottom and the face and asian character.

The ATC is also using something from Frankie (lotus flower). The dragonfly was stamped onto some paper I had colored with inks. The background for the ATC is scrunched magazine paper onto a sticky cardstock. I added embossing powders and mica sprays to get the different colors.

TMTA - top Hat

Think Monday Think ATCs' theme this week is Top Hat. The newspaper background is from Dezinaworld. The images are from Dover. I used a number of digital brushes by Annika von Holdt.

Art Creations Friday

Art Creations Friday has given us this delightful little boy to work with this week. My background is Dezinaworld; my butterflies are Dover. The original photo had a whip in this child's hand. I decided butterflies are much more appropriate.

So Artful

So Artful furnished us with this lovely Greek woman. I have used a background from Dezinaworld. The branches are freebie digital brushes made by Annika von Holdt.

One Stop Craft Challenge - Sentiments

Using a sentiment as the focus is the theme for One Stop Craft Challenge.

Background is from Dezinaworld.

Art Cards - Direct to Paper

Art Cards' theme is Direct to Paper. Dye inks were used on glossy cardstock. All images are Nicecrane.

Rainbow Lady - Shine/Sparkle

Shine and Sparkle is the theme for Cynthia's Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog this week. I tried to show some of the glitter and embossing powders in this photo, but I'm afraid sparkle and shine just don't come through right.

The cardstock tag was sprayed with Moon Shadow emerald green. The base ink is walnut with emerald green mica. I also used a little homemade rose mist. The sides and center were wiped with a clear ink and embossed with a silver and clear powder. The stamps are by See D's and Purple Onion. The dark ink is Moon Shadow midnight copper. I also used gold glitter and hairspray on the interior of the tag.

In real life the whole tag has either glitter or embossing shine on it.

Theme Thursday - Vintage Men

These vintage men are my great-grandfather and one of his army buddies from the Civil War. The background is Dezinaworld. The building is from Dover. Visit Theme Thursday to see other vintage men entries.

TIO - Faces

Frankie at Tag ii On wants us to focus on faces for our tags this week. I have used a Hearts in Touch stamp and brown Colorbox ink on beige cardstock. The tag itself is a black cardstock that has been misted with Moon Shadow Landlubber's Green moonglow mist. The edges, swirls and flourishes were stamped with clear ink and embossed with a mixture of white embossing powder and bronze PearlEx to give it a worn old look (not sure that worked!). Love was written in erasable pen and embossed with fine detail gold e.p. I'd have used bronze if I'd had it.

Take a look at the rest of the entries at Tag it On.

Tag Tuesday - Scrapbook a Tag

In 2006 we drove from coast to coast completing our goal of visiting all 50 states. One tag could not begin to depict the things we did or saw. What majestic mountains! The Badlands - how desolate, yet beautiful! The spaciousness of the land in the west! The friendliness of the people all across the nation!

This tag is for Tag Tuesday, where the theme is to do a scrapbook tag.

TMTA - Anatomy

For my ATC for Think Monday Think ATCs I have chosen to feature Leonardo. This is his self portrait and some anatomical drawings he made.

Another Back to School Arch

I decided to do another Gothic Arch depicting Back to School because I wanted to show off the Gothic Arch I received with my gift certificate from Nicecrane. Thanks also to Dover Publications for other freebies. The tan background is a crayon resist background I did.

More of the Nicecrane digital designs are on my other blog.

One Stop Challenge - not a card

I'm really embarrassed to post this because the photo turned out so bad. I have tried and tried but I can't get the ribbon less blue without changing the color of the flower. Aargh!!!

Anyway, what we have here is a mints tin, gessoed and colored with sprays, finished with acrylic sealer. The ribbon is much more yellow in real life and the contrast of the gesso designs is greater. 

The flower started out as a rectangle of tyvek, which I misted with various mica mists. Then I started to dry it with the heat gun. As it dried, it also began to change shape. When I saw the flower emerge I stopped heating it and shaped up the petals a bit.

One Stop Craft Challenge has as its theme: not a card.

4x4 Friday - Art Cards

I get to use some more of Frankie's blogaversary prize I won for today's challenges. The ribbon and the die cuts are from her.

My background is done with the peeled paint technique, the theme for Artekarten. There is a link there so that others can learn the technique. The theme for 4x4 Friday this week is Observations (aka open theme).

Paint it - Rainbow Lady's Challenge

Cynthia of Rainbow Lady's Challenge has asked us to use painting in our art work this week, so I have chosen this flower painting. I use the image to copy in watercolors over and over. Of course, no two paintings are exactly alike, even though I'm using the same flower image as the guide. I thought the gray and purple looked like a sympathy card.

NOTE: Our Yahoo mail seems to be working again after one week of not working, along with anything whatsoever that had Yahoo in the address bar. I hope that this is a permanent fix.

Children - Theme Thursday

Theme Thursday's challenge this week is to have children in our art.

All my images for this digital 4x4 came from Dover freebies. The girls were part of an ad from Sears. These cute little outfits were around $1.50 each. The girl in orange is really holding a pair of bloomers, a part of the outfit. I put the dog in front to hide the bloomers.

Tag it On - Die Cuts

Tag it On has as a theme this week: die cuts. I love the look of die cuts but I don't own any of the machines that make them. The nearest I come is my punches. The next nearest is my pasta machine + Cuttlebug folders for embossing.

Frankie sent me the prize for winning her blogaversary drawing and in it are what I perceive as die cuts. The lotus blossom here on my tag is one of them, as is the lovely Japanese lady. The ribbon up the side and the backing paper are also from Frankie. The stamp is bamboo and is from Stubby Stamper.

The 3 Muses and Wednesday Stamper

My entry for both The Three Muses (wheel) and Wednesday Stamper (stitching) is this tag. The background is cardstock that has been misted and sprayed with various mica sprays (Moonglow and home-made). My stamps are all Stampin' Up and the ink is StaZon. My stitching was done with a tiny hand stitcher. I removed the thread and left the stitching holes. The ribbon is eyelash yarn. In case you didn't figure it out, the wheel for the challenge is the wheel on the sewing machine.

Cats - Fun with ATCs

Cats is the subject for Fun with ATCs this week. I looked for photos of cats and came up blank so I went for a big cat.

My background is one I made last night using ecru card stock. I mixed up a concoction of blue-russet Pearl Ex, Moon Shadow's moonlit mulberry ink, gum arabic and water in a spray bottle and sprayed away. I partially dried it with the heat gun and left it to air dry. The bottle I used was one of those spray salad dressings bottles. I discovered as I used it that it is more spray than mist that comes out.

The lion is from freebie Dover images. The saying is attributed to Henry David Thoreau, although it has not been found in any of his works.

Tag Tuesday - Not Paper

Louise has really given us a challenge today: to make a tag for Tag Tuesday but not out of paper. It reminds me of some of the things I thought might work when I was a young child. Once I tried to tie big flat rocks under my feet to make sandals. That didn't work.

And so, I don't really think that this tag I've made "works" either, but here it is. I made it from some crocheted pieces my mother did years ago. The wood leaf is a gift. The flowers and  green leaf are fabric. I think I'll call this "I'm just gonna 'leaf' it as it is."

TMTA - Script

"I meant what I said and I said what I meant... an elephant's faithful one hundred per cent." This script is a quote from Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss.


My ATC is on card stock that has sprays of various Moon Shadow inks on it and is stamped with my wonderful mama and baby elephants stamp that someone gave me. 


The theme for Think Monday Think ATCs is script.

Gothic Arches - back to school

This arch is for Gothic Arches challenge this week: Back to School.

MORE COMPUTER PROBLEMS!!!
Our Safari cannot communicate with anything Yahoo. If some of you computer savvy people will let us know what is wrong, please leave a comment. It started with dh's verizon yahoo mail and now has affected my yahoo mail. Sometimes we can't even get a whirling ball when we go to yahoo.com! Thanks.

So Artful - Vignette

This vignette is of my dh and our granddaughter, our only grandchild, years ago. The So Artful challenge this week is Vignettes.

Art Cards - Orange Lily

Here is my entry for Art Cards this week. We were given a beautiful orange lily to work with. I am in my Orange Mood these days so I enjoyed playing around with this image.

This card is also for the Art Cards challenge. The background is Moon Shadow Starbursts and mists. I ran it through the Cuttlebug folder. The flower is part of a prize/gift from Frankie.

Wednesday Stamper - turquoise

Wednesday Stamper has a 2-week challenge: turquoise. I didn't have a chance earlier to post my entry. Here is a pendant made from polymer clay as are the turquoise beads. I stamped it with a swirl stamp from All Night Media. The elongated beads are paper beads that I made. This is not a new creation, but it fit the category so I'm posting it.

Tag Tuesday - Crowns

Tuesdays are my busiest days. I volunteer at the nursing home. I shop for groceries and I shop for anything else we might need for the next week.

Tuesdays are also when some of my favorite challenges run. So if my entries appear rushed today, please allow me a little slack.

This tag was made partially by using images on my computer, which I printed off to a cardstock. I stamped one of my favorite swirls on the top edge. The ribbon was in the rack with Halloween stuff at Michaels. The ribbon is variegated gauze and so beautiful.

This tag is for Tag Tuesday - Crowns.

Created by Hand - Yellow-Welcome

This collage was made for Created by Hand challenge where the theme is Yellow/Welcome.

Where I live, the pineapple is the symbol of hospitality or welcome so I chose the pineapple as a start. This suggested to me Hawaii and the beaches there, so my welcome collage has a bit of aloha-welcome to it.

Mixed Media Monday - Memories

Mixed Media Monday's challenge today is Memories. I used some of the same papers from the post before this one, which I made by spraying Moon Shadow mists and homemade red mist onto paper. This time I ran it through the scripts folder of the Cuttlebug embossing machine. The wistful looking female is one I got from Dover freebies. (Looks a bit like Waterhouse, but I don't know for sure.) Anyway, I thought she looks as if she is lost in her memories.

TMTA - Communications

The theme for Think Monday Think ATCs is Communications. My first thought was of the image given to us several weeks ago for another challenge, where I used these two ladies whispering secrets.
My background here is one I did yesterday when I had my two young neighbor friends (ages 9 and 12) over to do art with me. It is a paper misted with Moon Shadow mists and some homemade red mist. Then the paper was run through a Cuttlebug folder to get the embossing in the background. The text is put on with the help of my computer.

One Stop Challenge - Summer Fun

Summer Fun is the theme for One Stop Craft Challenge this week. My summer has been very ordinary except for the extreme heat we've had. I haven't been out of town, but I did go see the Tiffany exhibit at the Fine Arts Museum.

This digital card was made using one of my watercolor, which I posterized using Photoshop Elements. The little girl, a freebie from another challenge, was also altered using PSE.

Proud as a Peacock - So Artful

So Artful Challenges has given us a lovely peacock background to help us do art with the theme: proud as a peacock.

I have a photo of a peacock herl (from my dh's flytying stash) that I painstakingly made into a png image. This entry for the challenge is digital. The photo is of my great-grandmother Jessie holding my mother in the year 1909.

ATTN: Verizon DSL Bloggers

We are having great difficulty getting or staying connected to the internet. Is anyone else on Verizon DSL having the same problems? Please leave comment. Thanks.

Cracked Glass - Art Cards

The above card began as a very small watercolor painting. I did the cracked glass technique on it, but because of the texture of the paper, it didn't do as well as I had hoped.

The butterfly card's background is some Moonglow mists, stamped with a Stampin' Up butterfly. The cracks again didn't show up really well, but I like the card anyway. I have done the cracked glass technique before with more success. It continues to be one of my favorite techniques. Thanks to Orsalina who is the guest designer at Art Cards this week.

Tag it On - Music

Tag it On challenge this week is to use music on our tags and to use a real stamp. I have stamped my background with white chalk ink and a sheet music stamp. The lovely Asian parts of my tag are gifts from Frankie from her Blogaversary drawing which I won with lucky number 13.

Fun with ATCs - Asian

Today's theme for Fun with ATCs is Asian. Lucky me, I just received a prize packet from Frankie with all sorts of Asian images, stamps, and embellishments. The bamboo stamp is from Stubby Stampers. Everything else including the background paper came from Frankie.

Tag Tuesday - Dressmakers Form

This lovely dressmaker's form was the basis for the challenge this week at Tag Tuesday. I have used alcohol inks for the background. Then I stamped in white chalk ink using a Stampin' Up set of stamps. The feather tie is from my dh's flytying materials.

To see the details of the stamps, please enlarge by clicking on the picture.

TMTA - Reptiles

Think Monday Think ATCs has for its theme this week: Reptiles.

I live out in a rural area so we do have reptiles. I have seen very few snakes, but I have seen thousands of blue-tailed or 5-lined skinks.

This is a staged photo. The skink is a fake one I got at the botanical gardens. He really looks very real and I keep him near this blue bottle on my kitchen window sill.

Gothic Arches - Owls

Gothic Arches' theme this week is Owls. Not a big owl fan, I couldn't find one on my computer. I was glad that Graphics Fairy had one right on the front page. I thought of several directions to go, but ended up thinking about being ecological: give a hoot; don't pollute!

My background is a technique I got from Technique Junkie Newsletter. I urge all who are interested in making their own backgrounds to sign up and subscribe to the newsletter. This technique is called glimmer lace.