Blog Awards

I've been blessed with 2 different awards recently. I received the "One Sweet Blog Award" from Kristy and the "Brillante Weblog" from Michi. Thank you so much, ladies!!!!



There are many fabulous art blogs out there and they all deserve these awards.. however I must pick a few to list so here they are.

Art With Yogi
Vintage Papers
Evidence of an Artistic Life
Creative Lenna
Gayle Page Robak

Created Byhand Challenge - Dragonflies

This weeks challenge on the Created Byhand blog is dragonflies. I love dragonflies and during the summer I can always go walk around the pond and see plenty of them. Some of Quietfire Design's newest stamps are dragonflies. I used both the small dragonfly and the word "Dragonfly" on this ATC. The background is a technique in the Paper Transformed book where you brayer color onto glossy cardstock, add some perfect pearls that's been mixed with water to form a creamy paint, and spritz it all. I used gold but in the scan is looks very dark rather than shimmery. The dragonflies and word have been accented using the Inkssential white pen.

ggDesigns New Bird Stamps

Check out this new set of stamps from ggDesigns. I just love this bird and there is so much you can do with all these sizes available. I have more ideas in my head than I have time to use them right now :-)) Also check out the frame around them... you could leave it as a frame but I cut mine into 4 stamps that I can use for borders or to build backgrounds among other techniques. Currently this set of stamps is still on the early bird page of ggDesigns here and will probably be there until the end of this month. While it's listed on the early bird page you can get it for 15% off and we do all like a sale (p.s. there are also a couple of other sets currently on the early bird page).

This atc is the first thing I made with my new set of stamps. The background was done by stamping the border multiple times with various colors of VersaMagic ink. Then I stamped the crosshatch border partly on and partly off the cardstock with black ink on all for edges. The birds were stamped with black ink... I used the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th largest birds. White lines to simulate wings were added using the white Inkssential pen. For the words I stamped a border on a scrap and then wrote with an extra fine sharpie marker, cut them out, and edged them with black ink. This next atc is so cute. The girl image is from Collagevisions (ps. I just noticed she has a Bogo sale going on until the end of this month). I cut out the girl and then also cut up through her dress and along the top of her hand and arm. I cut a slit in the bird along the back of the head and the top of the body and this allowed me to slide the girl into the slit on the bird and the slit of the bird into the slit on the girl so now she looks like she is riding the bird. Cool, huh!! Color was added to the background with Colorbox pigment ink... specifically the cateye pads so that's why you see "points". Along the bottom I stamped a border image and then added the leaves rubon. Words were computer generated.
This last piece is a Twochie or Twinchie (I've seen them called both) meaning it's a 2" x 2" piece of art. This was done with the largest bird. I inked up the bird with pink Colorbox pigment ink, then inked up the circly border image with teal Colorbox pigment ink and pressed it a few times on the inked bird moving to new areas as I pressed avoiding the feet of the bird and then stamped it on white cardstock. Added color around the bird dtp with Colorbox pigment ink. Stamped the border image with teal ink. Added the dot to the eye with a fine tip black pen. Added the gold crown charm and then pink crystals on the tips of the crown. The words were hand written with a fine tip black pen.

Time For Tea ATC

On the Byhand Artists yahoo list Yogi hosts an ATC swap every month. The theme suggestion for September is Tea or Coffee and I did this atc today. The background was in my stash and uses an ATC background stamp from Time to Stamp. The teapot and cup are a Dreamweaver stencil I got from Quietfire Design, you can see it here. I first stenciled the pot and cup with Embossing Paste and let it dry. I layed the stencil back over added color with chalks. The flowers is also a design on the stencil and I layed it over the embossed teapot and colored it with chalk. Some of the chalks I used had a shimmer that comes through in real life but not in the scan. The scallops (also on the stencil) were added with chalks. The words were computer generated.

Music paper, distress inks and an ATC

Every other Thursday is Technique Thursday on the PID yahoo group and the current technique is a distress ink technique. There are step-by-step pics and directions on the PID blog here. The top picture here is an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of the technique. The bottom picture is an atc made with one of the backgrounds I cut from the top pic. The collage image is from PID and the calligraphy stamp is from Quietfire Design.

Painted Paper Towels

This weeks challenge on the PID yahoo group is painted paper towels and this paper towel is the one I made the print from for the background of my previous post. I used Lumiere paint pearl magenta, citrine, and brass to paint the paper towel. The collage image (PID) was torn out and the edges painted with pearl magenta. The next layer is a torn piece of white cardstock and the edges painted with Lumiere pearl emerald. The light post (Tim Holtz) was stamped with Archival Ink jet black. The paper towel is adhered to a burgundy colored cardstock that was stamped with a music sheet image (Tim Holtz) in two corners. The top right corner of the cardstock is painted emerald on the back and after it was dry was rolled forward. Brads and and gold ribbon added. Everything attached to a folded base of white cardstock, edges sponged with Distress Ink shabby shutters.

CBC - Green and Pink

This weeks challenge at Created Byhand is to use the colors green and pink. This background has Lumiere paints - pearl magenta, citrine, and brass... and also some distress ink shabby shutters. On the PID yahoo group this weeks challenge is painted paper towels. One of the ladies on the group suggested laying a piece of cardstock on your freshly painted paper towel, pressing and pulling them apart so you had 2 background instead of just one. I have to say this works very well. The background on this atc started just that way. I painted a paper towel with the Lumiere paints and then pressed a piece of white cardstock on it and pulled it apart... it left paint and a very cool texture on the cardstock. After it was dry I cut an atc sized piece from the cardstock and sponged shabby shutters ink in the white areas. The fiddleheads (Quietfire Design) were stamped across the bottom with VersaMagic ink and dried with a heat tool. The calligraphy stamp (Quietfire Design) was stamped with Archival Ink jet black. The fiddleheads were again stamped in the bottom 2 corners with Archival ink. The heart is punched from black cardstock. White highlights on the fiddleheads and all the dots were made with the Inkssential white pen. Black ink was sponged on the edges of the atc. Pink crystal stickers were added to the centers of the fiddleheads.

DT Challenge

The Paper Imagery Designs design team challenge for September was to use these cool silver fish in some sort of art piece. I did an altered book spread. You can find more silver fish art from the PID dt on the PID blog here.

PID Collage sheets – 138, 157, 165, 230

Zia’s Hot Jewel watercolor sprays

Coral and Seaweed stamps – Stamp Zia

Gesso

Stazon ink

Versamark ink

Embossing powders

I began by sponging some white gesso on the pages in a random manor and let that dry. Next I sprayed them with the Hot Jewels, dabbed at the colors with a wadded up piece of plastic wrap and let it dry. Stamped the coral with Versamark ink and embossed it with bright embossing powders (unknown). Stamped the seaweed with Stazon ink and colored with a metallic colored pencil. The fish are colored with Stazon ink. The words are computer generated but inspired by a stamp from Quietfire Design that says "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

If you click on the pictures, they will come up larger.

Fun with Chalks

Except for the black cardstock on the last card and some gold embossing, all color on these cards was done with chalks. Want to know more.... you can get complete directions on the Quietfire Design website here.

Memory Frame Jewelry

These are pictures of the jewelry I made for September's Project of the month on A Monthly Rubber Stamp Club. The top 4 pictures are two 2-sided necklaces and the bottom one is a pin. The collage images are from Paper Imagery Designs and Quietfire Design. You can find more pictures and complete directions on A Monthly Rubber Stamp Club.

Fall ATCs

These fall themed ATCs all use collage images from Paper Imagery Designs. The printed papers, rub-ons, and dimensional stickers are all K&Company.