Theme Thursday - Art Words

I made on my craft sheet a soupy mix of blue and green Pearl Ex, gum arabic, and water, The card stock was dipped into it. The tag and the card are using that background material. Both are for the Theme Thursday's challenge of Art Words like dream, imagine, cherish, etc.

The neat flower on the card was made using the punch-outs that Laura, my crafty art pal, made today at our crafting play time.

Paper Minutes - many colors

Paper Minutes is bursting with colors this week as we celebrate the beginning of the new year of 2010. We are to use more than 3 colors. I have used several (at least 5 different colors) inks and glimmer mists to make this background. The stars were stamped onto yellow card stock and cut out. The purple stars are cut slightly larger.

Theme Thursday - flourishes

In the last few entries to challenges on both my blogs, I have used flourish stamps from Purple Onion and from All Night Media. Today the theme for Theme Thursday is Flourishes. I made this ATC on hot press watercolor paper using my Derwent watercolor pencils. I mixed some of my turquoise PearlEx powders into an almost empty spray bottle of Moon Glow's Gossamer Gold, added the hot water, shook and sprayed over the watercolor background. Next I stamped in blue distress ink my raindrops. Next was my swirly butterfly, which is almost a flourish in itself. Then I added my real flourishes.  After dabbing the blue distress ink around the edge, I mounted it on a piece of flourishes background paper by Studio D. I think it will make a pretty greetings card when I put the entire thing onto some card stock.

One Stop Craft Challenge

Embossing, either dry or heated, is the theme for One Stop this week. I chose to use my Cuttlebug embossing folder, which I roll through my pasta machine. The blue ribbon is a scrap from my stash. My image is one of my newest stamps from Stubby Stampers.

Theme Thursday - Something New!

Happy New Year 2009! Just a turn of a page and we have a brand new start of a year! Theme Thursday's theme for this week's challenge is "Something New." We are to use something new, either a new technique, a new stamp, anything new for us. I have chosen my new Stampendous butterfly stamp that my sister gave me along with my new Caran d'ache water-soluble crayons. The blue and purple background is by Mary Gilmour. It is a double stamped background I received in a swap. I can see I need more practice using the crayons, but I anticipate many hours of fun trying to perfect a technique.

Theme Thursday - brown and green

Today was such a busy, busy day that I only had a short time for art. This Merry Christmas card will really end up as a thank you card since I have already sent out all my cards. The foreground card stock was brushed with Moon Glow Emerald and edged with MG Sepia. I stamped it with my favorite tree by PSX in blue and gold stamp pad and then in green. The girl is an alcohol ink/Sheer Heaven® transfer. I backed this with green card stock before adhering it to the brown card stock. Other entries in the Theme Thursday challenge can be seen here. Enlarge to see the Stickles.

One Stop Craft Challenge #4

Buttons and/or Bells. That is the theme this week for One Stop Craft Challenge. My center image is an alcohol ink and Sheer Heaven® transfer. The garland at the upper left is collaged on (used Christmas card). I could find buttons but I couldn't locate any bells in the house that I could use.

One Stop Craft Challenge

Today was an exciting day. The mailman brought me a package from One Stop, the wonderful Duo Twists pyramage sheets that I won. Here is my first attempt at using this gift. Because of the size of the image, I used a half-sheet-sized cardstock for my card (5.5" x 8.5").

I know that this isn't in line with the challenge entirely because the only photo is my pyramage. But I did want to use my tree this week to say thank you for the gift prize.

Red and Green

The theme for the Created by Hand challenge this week is to use the colors of red and green. I made this greetings card using my very own Li'l Redhead. This is the first time she's been in red and green. Her normal outfit is a blue smock, red and white striped shirt and stockings, and a straw hat. Winter doesn't seem like the time to be running around in the snow without proper clothing on. She is happy to be able to appear on my blog again. I hope you are happy to see her.

Arty Girlz Frames

Here is a digital picture I started last night and finished off with this wild frame this morning. It started out with a photo of a lily which I combined with a photo of a rose of sharon. I added the greeting and changed colors a bit. Today I added the frame, using the same colors that are in the finished picture. It makes a nice Christmas card.

Other "Frames" can be seen at the Arty Girlz website.

Sketch Saturday #27

The sketch for this Saturday's challenge had many different areas to fill. Here is my take on the challenge. I used some gorgeous green and pink double stamped paper from one of the Art Techniques swaps. The dry embossed rose was done with my brass template and stylus and colored with watercolor pencils. The text is handwritten. See the other interpretations of this challenge at Sketch Saturday.

SaWo Mosaic

Saturday's Workout's theme for the week is to do a mosaic in our art. I have used two kinds of background paper, which I cut into rectangles and pieced back together in a different order. The blue and brown paper is a dyed paper towel. The image is one that was supplied to us last week by Art Creations Friday. The pink and green (and orange streaks) is from a swap on Art Techniques.

Art Creations Friday Challenge

This is a new challenge, Art Creations Friday, where we are given an image or background to use in making a piece of art. The woman in this card was the image given this week. I had trouble keeping the image sharp, since it came from the internet as 72 pixels. Maybe someone can cue me in how they are getting a sharp image.

One Stop Craft Challenge - Pretty Petals

Last night I was just playing around in the art room with my inks and mists and created the background for this greetings card. I stamped my flowers in  clear embossing ink. The color of the pretty petals may be a bit unusual. When I have a small bit of embossing powder left over, I drop it into a tiny jar. This is the mixture that I have to date. It has some opaque ruby color, some clear, some fine gold, and some sapphire angel wings by Moon Glow.

My husband while cleaning out his fly-tying materials discovered some gold glitter he wasn't apt to use and he gave it to me. So I added some floor polish to the surface of my background and sprinkled in the glitter.  I finished off the card with some acrylic varnish, to make sure the glitter didn't migrate. I wish the shine showed up in the scan.

The theme for One Stop Craft Challenge  is Pretty Petals. Check out all the other beautiful entries and examples.

Li'l Redhead in the Snow

A few years ago I created this little girl image as a tribute to my beautiful red-headed granddaughter. I love to have her doing all sorts of normal, everyday things. This is the first wintertime activity I've done. All the other cards have her in a straw hat and Mary Jane shoes. 

I am entering this card that I made this afternoon in the Craftaway a Sunday challenge, whose theme is "Let it Snow!"

More on Li'l Redhead can be seen HERE . And HERE.

Theme Thursday - Happy or Happiness

Happiness or Happy (something) is the theme for today's Theme Thursday. I have chosen to make a Happy Christmas card using a background of Moon Shadow mist of fuchsia color. I stamped some flourishes in white and brown with a Purple Onion stamp. Since I have yet to own any Christmas stamps I used my pine tree stamp.

Created by Hand = Thanks

Years ago I started sending out hand drawn/painted greetings cards. Frances, one recipient of my cards, kept all of them and a year or so ago, she let me have the 4" stack of cards back to use on my blogs. So for Created by Hand, I am entering this thank you card that I made by hand.

This little girl is my own invention. I named her Li'l Redhead after my granddaughter, who has gorgeous red hair. I have made a number of cards using Li'l Redhead engaged in all sorts of childhood activities.

Theme Thursday Hats

Theme Thursday is all about hats today. We can do any type of art work with "hats" as the theme. This is a card I made and sent to a friend a while back. It is one of my favorite cards that I have made, using Pearl Ex, watercolors and bits of collage materials.

SaWo Stitches

Saturday's Workout this week was a challenge, for sure! Since I don't sew much, I had to be more creative in my methods. I had bought a hand held sewing gadget at a yard sale two weeks ago.  I used it to sew the ribbon to the lamé fabric. The background of this piece is a postcard advertisement, which I put gesso on. Then I sprayed and misted different washes and inks. We called my grandmother "Momee",  but I knew that it would not be clear to anyone that she was my grandmother with that name on my art.

Saturday's Workout Chalk

The theme chosen for this week's Saturday Workout is "Chalk it, Baby," where we use chalk.

The hummingbird is on  the front of a greetings card I made. For the bird I used a brass template and soft pastel chalks. The leaves and flowers were hand drawn using the same pastels.

Other artwork using all kinds of chalk is at the SW website. I couldn't resist doing another pastel. The top piece is the one I did second.  I used an ATC sized piece of white watercolor paper and tinted it pink, salmon, and tan with pastel chalks. I stamped with Photo Distress ink the image of a young woman. It gives her a peachy look.