Tag it On - sideways, paper, paint, real stamp

This is my entry for Frankie's Tag it On.  The paint is Ceramcoat's Antique Rose acrylic. The typewriter stamp is from Stampin' Up. Not sure who made the papers.

Tag Tuesday - Vintage Sewing

This week Rebecca has chosen the theme of Vintage Sewing for the Tag Tuesday challenge. I grew up with dotted swiss, hand basting, and homemade dresses. My mother even owned one of these treadle machines for a while. Each summer my sister and I had to make a dress. She started when she was 8 and made her first dress entirely with a sewing needle and thread. Since I was almost 10 I was allowed to use the new sewing machine. To make the machine go, I had to push against a lever with my knee. My sister got a prize for her red and white dress. Of course we did the best job we could since we had to wear the dresses to school in the fall.

This is not really dotted swiss; it is paper. The stamps are from Stampin' Up.

Switching Over

We are in the process of changing from Verizon DSL to Comcast. Things are not running smoothly so I may be offline for a while. Sorry.

Take a Word - Blooms

This is a card I made for my friend Dale, who is in a nursing home. I am entering it in Take a Word (Blooms).

The background is alcohol inks, my favorite plaything at the moment. The flowers came from an old discarded book.

So Artful

Jeanette gave us a lovely lime painting to use for our entries to her So Artful challenge this week. I love the colors in it and have made a sympathy card from part of the painting. I'm not too sure I have the balance right. Maybe the text should have been in a different position.

Art Cards - Chalk Lines

Here is my example of the chalk line technique based on Dawn's video. The theme for Artekarten challenge is Chalk Lines. I decided to do chalk lines on my focal square too.

Spring's Bright Colors on a Tag

I am entering this colorful abstract tag in the Wednesday Stamper (Fabulously Colorful) and in the Tag Tuesday (Think Spring) challenges.

Louise, so faithful in creating wonderful challenges for Tag Tuesday, is "hanging up the towel." Rebecca has decided to pick up the mantel and have Tag Tuesday on her blog.

This tag is a wild array of alcohol inks that I dropped onto shiny cardstock and then blew through a drinking straw to disperse the colors. The one 3-D flower was made from my heart punch and a daisy punch. The flower stamp is by Stampin' Up

Take a Word - TMTA

Here is my double duty ATC for Take a Word (Architecture) and Think Monday Think ATCs (Blue).

Most of this ATC is a collage of images from Travel and Leisure Magazine, including the igloo on the left. The birdhouse, stamped in blue and embossed in clear ep, was given to me. I don't know who made it.

Gothic Arches - Spring

Gothic Arches' theme this week is Spring. The roses stamp is one of the very first I got when I started doing cards. I don't know whose it is. I tried Prismacolor pencil resist on this with the Technique Junkies method.  I distressed around the edges with Glitz Spritz.

Award from Marie of Greece

Marie has so generously included me as one of the seven blogger she is giving this award to. I'm not really "into" awards but Marie has such a fascinating blog and she is fairly new to blogland. She is a jewelry designer in Thessaloniki. (I can see you all are now already heading to her blog Dollys Daydreams to check out her work. )


As recipient of this blog I'm to divulge 7 facts about me so here goes:

1. I love variety and have had many different kinds of full-time and part-time jobs (writer, teacher, engineering assistant, buyer's assistant, director of homebound ministries.)
2. I worked for an oil company where I operated a room-sized computer.
3. I have been married to the sweetest guy alive for almost 54 years.
4. Drawing, coloring, and painting have been joys for me throughout my life.
5. I make cards for the homebound, the bereaved, and the sick members of our church.
6. I have 2 adult children and 1 adult grandchild.
7. I lead a weekly Bible study class. One of my members is a young Japanese Christian, who is so concerned for her parents who live in the prefecture of Iwate near where the earthquake struck. They are safe but she won't be back to Japan till April. If you have read this far, please say a prayer for my friend and her parents.


There are so many young (and not so young) bloggers out there who deserve all sorts of awards. I just can't decide who to send this on to.

Tag it On - Big and Bold and Extended

Frankie's theme for Tag it On this week is Big and Bold and with things overhanging the tag.

Yesterday a travel brochure (junk mail) arrived in the box. When I saw the stamp "LEGACY" in my drawer, I knew I had to use this elephant family, The text on the acetate says: "Our todays and yesterdays are the blocks with which we build our tomorrows."

TMTA - Feel like a Queen

Feel like a Queen is the theme for Think Monday Think ATCs. My ATC has a background of gessoed cardstock that has been sprayed with homemade mica mists and Moon Shadow sprays. The Q came from a book of letters and numbers I bought at a yard sale. The other images are from a wonderful 19.25"x27.5" sheet of paper I bought in Charleston SC a couple of years ago. I had been looking for some souvenir I could take home and use in art. I found this in a stationery store (very upscale, or I would have taken home much more of the beautiful papers).

Take a Word - Green

This is for Take a Word, where the theme is green.  The background is something I created with a painting of mine and some digital brushes.

So Artful - 3 Beauties

To me, these fine young ladies are decked out in their Easter bonnets and dresses and are headed for chapel services. One could be my grandmother, who married in 1908. It was fun to see what the styles were back then.

This was done for So Artful Challenges.

The background is borrowed from Patty, who took the picture of this church.

Bandana Technique - Art Cards

Artekarten's theme this week is Bandana Technique. The stamps are Purple Onion. I outlined with a Sakura Gelly Roll white pen. The transparent ribbon and the double butterfly are added digitally. To send this card I will print it onto glossy cardstock and include a message inside.

Best Friends - Rainbow Lady's Challenge

Rainbow Lady's Challenge this week is Best Friends. This gives me the opportunity to use one of the images I won from Chi Chi Memories for an earlier Rainbow Lady's challenge. The background is a digital one I made using some of my own images. The coloration of the two girls is done digitally. I don't have a proper painting tool so it is a bit primative. I thought this image was so sweet. It could be mother and daughter or two sisters. It just said "Best Friends" to me.

E is for Easter or Equinox (vernal)

Dezinaworld's beautiful freebies, the background and the eye chart, today have inspired me to use them in today's challenges. The beautiful woman was from Jeanette's So Artful challenge. The stamp of spring flowers is from Purple Onion.

Wednesday Stamper is to pick a letter of the alphabet.
The Three Muses is to use something to say Spring.

TMTA - image of house

 My house is 2.5 x 3.5 and stamped with a twig background stamp. I have used heat embossing for all the dark parts of this ATC. Using the shape of a house is the challenge for Think Monday Think ATCs.

So Artful - scene

This bucolic scene was given us to use by Jeanette to use for our So Artful entries for this week's challenge. I have added my watercolor of the barn and several Dover images.

So Artful - Romantic Orientalism

I know that this is the wrong kind of arch for the Asian look. I have an Indian arch I could have used, but I just love this arch by Nicecrane Designs. The swirly design comes from Dezinaworld background package (I changed the colors).

So I am calling this East meets West. During the 19th century the western world became enamored by the eastern look and incorporated some of the aspects into western art.

This is my digital art work for So Artful challenges a week or so late, but I just found Jeanette's latest challenge.

Theme Thursday - Men/Boys

Theme Thursday's theme is men or boys (or man or boy). This is one of my ancestors. I have doctored up the photo a little.

The 3 Muses - Ancestors

The Three Muses' challenge is ancestors.
This is my mother. The background of the card is various mica sprays, mostly homemade.

Tag it On - Delicate

Tag it On's challenge this week is Delicate. For a rather small person, I am definitely not delicate, and I have trouble doing delicate, dainty, elegant art. But here is my effort. I tried to use Frankie's technique, which she got from a Hero Arts video, but my husband got on the computer to do the taxes. In the meanwhile, due to advanced age (?) or something, I forgot one of the steps and had to "wing" it. Maybe next time I can come closer to the mark.

I made another one, but I love it so much I want it to be used on a greetings card. It can be seen HERE

Paper Minutes - sketch

Paper Minutes has a sketch this week. I am not good at sketches but this looked like one I could do. The asian images were sent to me by Frankie, a fellow blogger.

Fun with ATCs - gesso

This was fun to make (and simple). I sponged gesso onto the cardstock. Then I sprayed and sponged onto the dried gesso some mica sprays . The fish was a gift from a fellow blogger.

Fun with ATCs: Using Gesso