The Playdate Cafe

This is my late entry for the Play Date Cafe where the colors this week are coral, petal pink and antique gold. The colors are actually in the background. I used distress inks and some of the Moonglow products. To be sure the pink showed I am using part of the watercolor I did at the end of the week for Paint Party Friday..

So Artful - Gloria Swanson

Sorry, Jeanette, the picture with the veil was unsettling to me. It looked like tattoos all over that pretty face. So I have gone to Wikipedia and gotten a pose of Ms Swanson, which I colored with Photoshop Elements. The background is one I acquired from Dezinaworld. I think this works for the SoArtful challenge.

Rainbow Lady - Caroline's Flower

The Rainbow Lady's challenge is to use hand made flowers and particularly one of Caroline's templates. I have used the provided template and literally the colors provided. I love the vibrant sunny look. My cardstock is a metallic gold.

For those looking for my PPF entry it's here.

Tag it On - Embossing

Today is busy so I did a simple tag for Tag it On, where the theme is embossing. I used a brass template and stylus to dry emboss the three butterflies onto this patterned paper. The heat embossing was done with Stampendous Pearl Lustre Garnet embossing powder. The "believe" stamp came from Michael's and has no brand name on it.

Edited:
I loved some of the entries that had been embossed by machine, so I did another one using my cuttlebug folder. The butterfly is by Stampin' Up and is embossed in white on brown cardstock. The cuttlebug folder was used to emboss a piece of vellum.

Tag Tuesday - 10 minute tag

My tag was made in ten minutes, but it took longer to scan it and to put it on my blog!

My background is one I made last night with alcohol inks. The flower is also one I had experimented with last night. The stamps are Stampin' Up.

This is my Tag Tuesday entry.

TMTA - Shells

My ATC for TMTA started out as a photo of the beautiful shell framed mirror my now deceased daughter-in-law gave me years ago. I printed the photo and cut out the mirror part. (I had not noticed before that the shape is a heart. DUH!) My background is alcohol inks on glossy cardstock and stamped with Rubber Stampede stamps. The text was added by computer.

ACC - Postage Stamps

My entry for Art Cards Challenge is simple. I used decorative paper that has handwriting on it and 2 postage stamps I got on a package from Germany. The swirl stamps are from Purple Onion designs. I don't know where I got the postage stamp stamp, but I have written I Brake for Stamps on the back of it.

Tag it On - Look to the Skies

This is my entry to Tag it On. I  did a watercolor sky on white cardstock. The stamp of the sun (barcode 25729, distributed by Greenbrier Int. - no brand given) was stamped on some yellow cardboard. The stamp of the balloons (PSX) was stamped on decorative paper made by Me and My Big Ideas. The collaged mountains were also made of that decorative paper.

Rainbow Lady - Pets

This is my entry for Rainbow Lady's Challenge this week (pets).

Dezinaworld Spot Challenge - purple and green

Here is my entry for Dezinaworld Spot Challenge. I have used a background and a beautiful  woman image from Dezinaworld. The other green and purple items are digital brushes.

The 3 Muses - Oriental

My entry for the 3 Muses challenge is a real paper card (as opposed to the digital ones that I often make). I used "candy" that Frankie sent me about a year ago as a drawing prize on her challenge. Everything on this card is from her except for the background I made with distress inks. (Except that the stamp for the butterflies was also sent to me by Frankie.)

Tag Tuesday - Butterfly

Here is my entry for Tag Tuesday (Butterfly) hanging from a white-flowered Butterfly Bush (Buddleia). Another Buddleia is in the background and has purple flowers.

I started with watercolor paper that I sprayed with a pale lavender. I put some Ranger Milled Lavender Distress Ink reinker ink on my craft sheet and loaded up my butterfly stamp with the ink and stamped away. The butterfly at the bottom was cut using an EK Success punch and some paper by DCWV Premium Stacks (Old World). The music tape is Tim Holtz. The gold swirl is one I designed using my 3 initials and cut out by hand and embossed with Ranger superfine gold ep.

Take a Word #38 - Flight

The Take a Word challenge this week is "Flight". For my bird's background I used two pieces of freezer paper on which I dropped various acrylic paint. By pressing the two sheets together and using a brayer, I got backgrounds on both the slick pieces of freezer paper.

For the rust colored background, I have tried to redeem a piece of watercolor paper that I royally messed up. I tried to do an iris in watercolor pencil and it looked awful. I kept applying various dyes and alcohol inks to cover the iris, to no avail.  So I have stamped hot air balloons all over it and covered up the iris with the bird panel. I think the colors turned out really pretty.

SoArtful - bee

The bee and the clover were both freebies from Graphics Fairy. The background is my photo of a candy wrapper. This is my entry for So Artful Challenges.

Art Cards -Dark Magic Technique

Artekarten Challenge this week is Dark Magic. The link to the technique is given on the Artekarten Challenge site.

My first one is, of course, a mistake. I tried to overstamp 2 different butterflies and missed. But I rather liked the effect of transparent wings I got with the mistake, so I went on and made a card.

The second one is done correctly. I think both will be sent to people. The technique was fun for me.

PDCC and Rainbow Lady

This is my entry for Rainbow Lady's challenge (a stitch in time) and for Play Date Cafe (fuchsia, eggplant, and orangesickle). My colors sure look different on the screen. The background paper actually does have the eggplant color. The flower is punched out with various punches. My sewing machine and I aren't really on speaking terms so I did faux stitching for Rainbow Lady's challenge. I used eggplant alcohol ink to make the ribbon and a mixture of several colors for the flower and the label.

Tag it On - Tim Holtz

I tried to make my tag using mostly Tim Holtz materials so it would qualify for Tag it On challenge featuring Tim Holtz.

My substrate is watercolor paper which I laid down in a puddle of Ranger Distress reinkers: sage, lavender and mahogany. It made a lovely rose color. I had not intended for them to run together to form a single color, but I like the result.

I used sequin waste with the sage ink and some Ranger music tape.

My flower was punched from a McGill flower punch and the leaf from a Fiskar punch. The petals are Ranger alcohol ink. the leaf is Distress sage.

The flourish was drawn on cardstock and cut out and then embossed with Ranger Superfine gold. "Friend" was handwritten with a Papermate erasable pen (EraserMate) and embossed in the gold embossing powder.

My final touch was to run a little Ranger diamond Stickles around the center of the flower.

Edit: I again forgot to use a stamp. I don't do stamps very well so I don't use them as much as I should. Anyway, I have both versions here. The "dear friend" stamp is by Stampin' Up.

Tag Tuesday - Orange & Black

This tag was made for Tag Tuesday where the theme is orange and black but not Halloween or autumn.

I used my photo of a marigold and made a digital brush from it. Then I printed it out in the specified colors.

Please click on image to enlarge.

Think Monday Think ATCs - Ancient World

This is my ATC for this week's TMTA challenge - ancient world. I love to work with digital arts because I can get some pretty neat images. My background is done with Photoshop Elements, combining a picture of the Parthenon with an ancient map of Greece. I printed that off. The female image is from Dover Publications. I printed her and colored her with pencils. The other images in this collage came from a travel brochure.

TAW - wedding

This is a terrible picture of a lovely couple (my uncle and his bride) along with my aunt, the flower girl, taken around 1933. I have added a few Dover and handmade backgrounds that I've made sepia. Take a Word challenges us to create using the theme: wedding.

So Artful

Jeanette gave us a gorgeous sepia photo to use for this week's So Artful Challenges prompt. I have digitally colored her and have used a background image freebie from Art Creations Friday, the now closed challenge blog of Wil.

Tag it On - Chivalry

This square tag was made using the technique I found on Art Cards Challenge. This is for Tag it On (Chivalry).

The image is from Dover Publications and is an illustration by H. J. Ford for Andrew Lang's 1902 "The Book of Romance." The title of the painting is "Lancelot bears off Guenevere."

The stamp from Purple Onion designs along the left is done in StaZon.

Art Cards - watercolor and Rainbow Lady - in the country

For this bookmark/tag I have used the method described on Art Cards for the challenge there. Then I took a black pen and sketched out a farm scene using the colors from the distressed inks. In the country is the theme for Rainbow Lady's Challenge blog.

The 3 Muses - 1920s

Finally after about 4 hours on the phone today with tech people, my dh has finally gotten my computer back online. Yay!!!

While I was stranded away from the net, I worked with Photoshop Elements and did this digital collage for the Three Muses. The images all came from Dover Publications. Granny came from a vignette sheet of 1920s women.

Computer Problems again

I am unable to use my computer and I am not proficient at this laptop gadget. I'll be back online as soon as we can find the problem. In the meanwhile, please forgive me for not returning your visits. That will come later too. Sorry.

Think Monday Think ATCs - Water

The theme for TMTA this week is water. I am using a photo of my oil painting of an old pump, which I think a lot of you have seen me use before. There is no water here in the painting, so after I printed this out to an ATC size, I added "water" spilling out of the bucket (Crystal Effects + clear glitter).

I live out in the countryside where we have our own water/sewage systems. I am very much aware how precious every drop of water is. We have a deep, drilled well to supply our household. When the electricity goes off, our water stops. We do not have a hand pump, as seen in my painting. We have an electric submerged pump. Sometimes I wish we did have one of those old-fashioned pumps.

I realize that I am really stretching this theme with my ATC, Dani. Please be tolerant. This is a busy holiday here in the US.

Das Thema für TMTA dieser Woche ist das Wasser. Ich bin mit einem Foto von meinem Ölbild eines alten Pumpe, die ich denke, dass viele von euch habenmich gesehen vor dem Gebrauch. Es gibt hier kein Wasser in der Malerei, so, nachdem ich diese ausgedruckt, eine ATC Größe, fügte ich hinzu, "Wasser"Verschütten aus dem Eimer (Crystal Effects + klar Glitter).

Ich lebe auf dem Land, wo wir unser eigenes Wasser / Abwasser-Systeme haben. Ich bin sehr wohl bewusst, wie kostbar jeder Tropfen Wasser ist. Wir haben einen tiefen, gut zu unserem Haushalt zu versorgen gebohrt. Wenn derStrom erlischt, stoppt das Wasser. Wir haben nicht eine Handpumpe, wie inmeiner Malerei zu sehen. Wir haben eine elektrische Tauchpumpe. Manchmal wünschte ich, wir haben eine dieser altmodischen Pumpen haben.

Ich weiß, dass ich wirklich dehnung dieses Thema mit meinem ATC, Dani. Bitteseien Sie tolerant. Dies ist eine geschäftige Urlaub hier in den USA.

So Artful

As a prompt So Artful Challenges this week uses a lovely image of very early architecture from Graphics Fairy. It had such a sacred look to me that I decided to go with angels (Dover Publications) and cherub, which Patty has allowed me to use.

Art Cards Challenge - Bargello Technique

Bargello is a new technique for me. My attempt was fun, messy, and amateurish. However, with the addition of a butterfly, it makes a colorful card, that I think can be used for a greetings card.

Bargello is the challenge theme for Artekarten this week. Links to how this was made are given there.