Gold Dust and Roses

A special birthday card.  All shimmery for a January birthday.  A new background from spray sheets and fun little wonky rose from my journal.  Getting ready to greet 2016 here with organization and clearing out of unneeded supplies to the storage area.  Great project for this cold and much prayed for wet weather we are having.  Hope your slip in 2016 is safe and smooth.  Hugs

Inside of above card.  One of the things I gave up for now due to space and time constraints were my stamps, boy it was a hard decision and they are still missed a year later.  When Silhouette came out with the Mint stamp maker my imagination went crazy, the size of the Mint and the stamps and the possibility of storing them in a small place made it impossible for me to resist, lol.  They were the bulk of my Christmas pressies to friends and I have done a few for me also.  The Jan. block is one I am having so much fun with, the rectangles are blank on the stamp which allows me to hand write the day number and year, making them ageless.  I will also use this stamp to mark the back of my art work to keep track of when I did what.  It made a special tag though for the inside of this birthday card.  Yeah, Silhouette another "Oh how did I live without this?" product.  hugs

Ready for Christmas Dinner

I think I am done, got these projects finished up yesterday and all my pressies wrapped, whew, under the wire on this one.  The above are utensil wraps for dinner tomorrow, my roommates last name is White, ie the reference to dinner at the White House, lol.

These are the doggie (dear) bags for left overs, just a grocery bag and did a label with my Silhouette Cameo.  Wishing you and yours a very Merry one. hugs

Ornament Boxes

My roommate is hosting his family Christmas Dinner this year.  I did an ornament for each attendee and then slipped it into this box I designed with my Silhouette, they will hang on the tree using the little baker ties on top of the box.  So much fun, how in the world is it possible to do Christmas without a Silhouette Cameo?  Hope your days are on track and running smoothly, hugs

star flower giftie box

Well, I have to admit I have given my little star flower a work out this holiday season, but it has been a fun adventure working with it.  I needed a small giftie box and made a Christmas Tree using the flower,  Scanned it in and turned it into an element with my Silhouette Cameo.  The little star on top is also one of the flowers but just cut out from white card stock and then sprayrd with gold mist by Design Master.  The trunk extends over the side to create a closure for the box, more for looks as the end tucks inside to close.  I then cut out some tiny snow flakes and done.  The project was a little time consuming but once done it is now just a matter of pulling it up on the Cameo and cutting pieces out.  My little miracle tool.  Happy Holidays one and all.

Side view of box, hugs

Star Flower Christmas Angel

Do you believe in angels?  I definitely do and this year I did a Christmas Angel ornament using my new star flower.  We don't have a tree up yet so took a picture of it on a small tack.  I used colored pencils, inktense pencils and Neo Color II and white ink on watercolor paper, scanned it in and took it to my Silhouette to make the ornament.  She speaks of Peace, Love, Joy, Trust and Hope.  I wish that for all of you and a very Merry Christmas, hugs

Merry Christmas with a star flower

A very subtle way to distress brown craft card stock?  Try some sealant spray, the kind you would use to seal a pencil drawing, just lightly spray the card stock and you will have little mottlings.  While nursing my roommate back from a cold, I caught it.  So as I have been limping around, coughing, sneezing, I have been sitting on the edge of my bed drawing some, came up with this little star flower and thought it would be fun on a Christmas Card.  So took it to the Silhouette and created an embellishment, I love my Silhouette.  The background stripe is a homemade washi tape, the sealer also helps keep it in its place.  Hope all is well in your world, hugs

Blessings

 I dug out my calligraphy pens from storage last week and some inks in order to work on some ideas I had for words.  Then the other day I was asked to do something for the Tangie Baxter and Co. Thanksgiving Day Blog Post and decided that this was as good a time as ever to initiate the process.  Using a 2.0 nib and brown ink, I wrote out "Blessings" and then scanned it in and took it to my Silhouette Studio Software.  I did a basic trace and detach removed the word from the background and then did a trace, which gave me a clean word to use, taking out the white left inside the closed letters when just doing the trace and detach, hope that makes sense.  I cut the word out 3 times, and then with a paint brush and "Ranger Inks" Glue n Seal adhered one on top of the other using a craft sheet for my base and let it dry.  I then painted a layer of white acrylic, dry and then began spraying it with Design Master "Tint It", I used yellow shimmer and Mango, these are transparent colors so the white acrylic softens the color being sprayed on.  I let all of that dry and then sprayed with Aleene's "Final Step Spray Acrylic Sealer" (matte).  The background cards are from Tangie Baxter for her Art Journal Pocket Group.  I then also added a small leaf falling of the right side.  Card blank is craft paper card stock.

I did an envelope for the card also, envelope seal was punched also from a TB&Co AJP card and wrote "Happy Thanksgiving with the same pen and nib I used for the Blessings.  I love the effect of the raised word on the card and will definitely do more.  Wishing everyone out there a Blessed Thanksgiving, be safe and eat well, hugs

3circles and antlers a christmas card makes

Oh my goodness, lol.  playing with 3 circles and some antlers and it endced up being my christmas card.  This makes me laugh every time I look at it, so decided it was a go for my this years Christmas card and other than some color my Silhouette did all the work.  Added a little candy cane bow for the finishing touch.  Hope your week is a fun one. hugs

Thank You

I am one of those people that believes a thank you should be sent in a hand written note.  I took a page from a mini journal, added a rub on thank you and one of my favorite bees.  Mounted everything to a black background and did a bee fly with a white gel pen.  Happiness is re-purposing, we are all looking forward to a rainy - snowing day in the mountains tomorrow, hope yours is what you wished for, hugs

Heart Shine

It has been a long time since I just played to the music of my muse.  Pulled out my Tim Holtz distress inks and his sun ray stencil.  Got my fingers all inky, did some word wrap with my Silhouette Design Studio added some hearts and called it a card.  Now I need to get my feet back to the ground and on with my day, hope yours is wonderful, hugs

Rose Girl in the Forest

Been playing with "Art Journal Pockets", they are perfect when you have something in mind and not a whole lot of time.  Rose Girl is from Tangie Baxter & Co. "Newsprint Collage", I cropped her with a rose picture I had with my Silhouette crop feature.  The leaves from recent photos and the banner from my stash, background is a recent creation using a wonderful fiber wrapped around some sod my neighbor was installing.  Have a fab week, hugs

Dolphin Play

Oh how I love the ocean and its' creatures.  I am working on some sketches of dolphins and oceans for a project I have been commissioned to do.  It is definitely a process in meditation for me.  As I work I can hear the waves in the background and the chatter of the dolphins, so I am transported in a sense to the ocean I so love.
The background and dolphin were done with NeoII crayons and pen, then finishing with some acrylic white for the splash at the tail as he comes out of the water.  The background is crumpled tin foil with the Design Masters "TintIt".  Hope your weekend is filled with magic and songs. Hugs

roses roses roses

How much is your art linked to your life?  Hmmmm, interesting and most of the time I cannot separate one from the other.  I have had an insight lately though,  If I am working in my studio and hit a brick wall, I will walk away and address something else totally unrelated, likewise if I I hit a brick wall with life, I will throw myself into my art, most of the time without thought, I will just jump in and do it, Whichever the situation at some time answers will come that I had not thought of and that gives me some peace and ability to follow through.  So I laughed out loud as this card came together, it is jumbled, busy, intense, lines, circles, colors, how in the world could you get a lesson from this card?  Slow down, breath deep, don't fly and land at the same time, rofl.
Hope you are living your dream and creating your life, walk slowly and enjoy! Hugs

the card needed some words, hugs

A Happy Birthday Card

Playing with watercolor paper, brushes and PhotoShop.  This dogwood was "puppet warped" in PS to give it a new look and then colored with NeoII colors.  Puppet warp is such a great tool.  I went to my storage unit earlier this week and dug out some of my favorite water color brushes, don't underestimate the beauty of a great water color brush.  Happy weekend everyone, hugs

Fall Mushrooms

My favorite Season of the year is finally here, although our days are a bit warm, the mornings are heaven, a little chill and that crisp smell you get this time of the year and oh the divine color, I love the way the light flickers off trees and dapples the yards.  I did a new "fall" word, still working on the technique.  New mushrooms, colors were taken from "Inktense Pencils" and "NeoII" crayons, I love, love the way these two work and blend together.  I think I have my cutter problem figured out, my roommate switched to AT&T, there in began the off cuts, but every time I switch back to our old carrier it straightens out, I am definitely not a techie but the only thing I can think of is that our old carrier is via modem and AT&T is analog, whatever it is I am back with the old carrier.
Hope your week is smooth and creative, hugs

who put the sock fetish spell on the spider?

Last year I pretty much missed Halloween altogether, so as it approaches this year I really wanted to do a couple of fun cards for one of my favorite holidays.  I used a new spray sheet background and colored up some socks and had the idea to put them in the spider web.  Then used my little owl on the word block which says "I want to know NOW! Who put the sock fetish spell on the spider? LOL, just makes me laugh.
We have a new provider for our computers and my Cameo is now totally out of sync, so will be working on getting that back to working, geeze glitches make me crazy, have a great Sunday, hugs

bon voyage

I guess I am into the "Bon" words this week, lol.  I have a friend getting ready to leave the end of the week for the northern area to do some "fall leaves" viewing and visit with some friends and wanted to wish her a safe journey.  No new elements or backgrounds today.

Have a great Tuesday, hugs

tweet bonjour

Yesterday I kept seeing a birdhouse in the bark paper I had printed out, so did a quirky one for my little bird and added a word tag, The word tag is a sketch turned into an element using the Silhouette Cameo.  Well I am off to begin a busy Monday which includes pups and son, have a good one, hugs

Bonjour Autumn

I wanted a non-event, everyday Autumn card in my stash for when I wanted to just say hi or just send some info to friends,  One of my favorite things to do on walks is to take my camera and capture tree bark, leaves, flowers and critters.  The background is tree bark I enlarged and printed out so that I would have an abstract block for my swag.  I created the swag with the Cameo using some of my favorite leaves that I dried and a sketch for the swag, then created a compound path, saved, turned it into an element and then cut out with cameo, this gave the card a little more texture and depth.  I love the earth colors of this card.

It is feeling more like fall every morning although our afternoons are still a bit warm, my favorite season is almost here.  Hope everyone has a great Sunday, hugs

Life is a balancing act

My goodness I have had a little pig fest this week.  Inside of card reads, "the challenge is finding a soft place to fall.  Colors are NeoColorII crayons and Intense Ink pencils.   The background was done with Design Masters "Tintit" sprays onto gessoed magazine paper.  Primary tool as usual my Silhouette Cameo.

Have a great Thursday, hugs

Commonalities

My roommates sister had open heart surgery earlier this week, she got a new "heart pig valve", she did well but has a bit of healing time ahead, so I did this card so her brother could make her laugh.

Did a little pig sketch and made an element with the Cameo, then used existing elements I already had, a tag "Pig Skins" (she is a razorback fan), "Pig Valve" (her gift to enhance life), and what in the heck are "Moss Piglets", lol, well they are a microscopic organism that is being used by a company in Illinois to revolutionize LEDs, you may google them as "Moss Piglets", very interesting.  Inside the card says, "they all make life good, so glad surgery went well."

Our day is glorious and I go pick up my son from work and spend a few hours with him, one of my favorite days of the week, hope all of you are traveling a blessed path, hugs

Shine Your Light

Last week sometime we had a spent bloom on one of the plants and i sniped it off, one of the petals fell out of the berry type pods so I removed all the petals and scanned it into my computer, I love how it looked and did a sketch of it, altered the color with Intense Ink Pencils and turned it into an element.  I am more and more fascinated with the sketching I am able to do with the Cameo and my Bamboo tablet.  Just not enough time, lol.

Hope this is a safe day for everyone and as we hopefully go into a cool down in N CA after a four day stretch of triple digits here, a cool weekend. Hugs

Nosey Neighbor

My inner child has been out playing today.  I took this picture last week, you may have to look at it for a moment before it comes into focus.  I have an affair going on with my neighbor's Boxer, his name is Rex and oh how I love that pup.  Lately when he hears us on the patio he will come out and do a couple of ruff's and then sit quietly at the knothole in the fence and wait as I go inside for a cookie, then he will  jump up and take it through the knothole, ROFL.  Shhh! his mom doesn't know I occasionally pass him treats.

Dog bone is a sketch done with the Cameo and then "Intense Ink Pencils" are responsible for color, scanned in and turned it into an element also with Cameo and cut it out for card.  It is now onto putting the final details onto sons' birthday pressies, we go to dinner tonight, fun fun fun.  Hope your hump day is smoooth and cooler than ours will be we are into increasing triple digis through Friday, hugs

birthday beer

1. 

My son's birthday is tomorrow, I walk his dogs on Tuesday, so today I am putting a 12pk. of Corona on his counter, so he can kick off the celebration tonight after work as a little surprise.  I truly can't imagine life without my Silhouette Cameo, there is barely a day I don't use it for something.  The balloons were done with the sketch feature, then cut out and embellished with pen and ink.  Some thin twine to give the fun card some depth.  It will be attached to the beer carton with an appitizer fork, my roommate had a package of them he was going to throw away and I rescued them from the garbage can, 

giving the fork a coating of alcohol ink (Chameleon - Deep Black), attached to the back with a glue dot and then a piece of scotch tape over the back for double adhesion.  The fork will attach to the side hand cutouts on the carton.

A fun way to kick off a birthday, it was quick and easy, just what my life calls for lately.  Hope everyone made it through Labor Day unscathed with some good memories.  Hugs

You are strong

An uplifting card for the chemo center.  Colors done with "Tintits" Strawberry and Sepia.  Some pen work, my posy and bee finish it off. n  Inside it says  "So shine your light, today."

Hope your lights are shinning this week, hugs

Happy Birthday Crayon

Today I was spraying and found a slip of sprayed paper that would work as a word block, so brought it inside and scanned it.  Took it to the Silhouette and turned it into an element, as I was duplicating it I decided to do a mirror image and when that happened the two pieces looked like a crayon, that got my imagination going and I did this card, how much fun to put inside "from one kid to another", I guess my inner child was out today.
Hope your inner child is ready for a fabulous weekend, hugs

Written in Stone

Hmm, this turned out a little on the blue side, still have some smoke haze in the air and my window where I do my photos is north light and it is still early.  Still in my learning curve with the Curio, but wanted a stencil, I am out of my stencil material so cut it from 110# cardstock.  I used "Tintit" sprays on the hearts and edge, did a little pen work and then scanned it in.  I think I am making headway with the Curio though, waiting for the deep cut and chisel blade to be realeased along with the larger format platforms.  I added my "written in stone" block, inside it will say, "I Love You to the Moon and back", birthday card for my son.

Hope your week is progressing smoothly, hugs

1st Curio Card

Geeze not sure what is going on today but nothing and I mean nothing in my studio is working right today, so after this post I am shutting her down and give all a breather, lol.

I went on a tangent this morning, trying to get a decent emboss from my new Curio, it is probably me not the machine, heaven knows I am not the most patient.  "Believe In yourself" was embossed on vellum but it just did not come out strong enough, so I started playing with sprays and chalks and golly olly I came up with the new background, added a couple flowers and my bee and am calling it done for today, will work more tomorrow.  Have a great rest of your Sunday, hope everyone is ready for school, those that are going, hugs

new background

I was using a spray sheet to seal a tag and the flower/leaf like images are the tags negative images, My spray sheet was a paper bag, I loved the way it looked so scanned it in for a background.  The rose is actually a pine cone and the feather was found in the backyard by my roommate.  Happy Birthday is a rub-on.
Hope your weekend is blessed, hugs

Birthday Card with new spray sheet background

I have been using an old cricut mat for a spray sheet, looking at it the other day, I thought "I need to scan this in, so did.  It has spray paint, gesso and masking tape on it which gives the background some great texture.  I needed a male birthday card for this weekend and this did the trick.  Used one of my new feathers and a birthday rub-on.

Have a great weekend. Hugs

thinking of you

A fun new background and old favorite dragonfly.  Happy Monday

faux raku

 As I have been using and experimenting with the Design Masters "Tintit" sprays on solid surfaces, I kept seeing the possibilities of a faux raku type finish, so started playing with the idea.  This is the result.  It is a plastic Talenti Gelato container.  I used 5 of the sprays included the "Gold Shimmer", Inside the container I placed a LED tealight candle.  The intensity of the glimmer doesn't show up completely in the photos but enough to get the idea.

This is the view from the other side.  These would also work for small bathroom canisters for cotton balls, swabs, etc.  Hope all flows well into your weekend, hugs

feathered

Feathers, feathers, everywhere, it must be the drought here.  One of our morning rituals, watching the birds and squirrels forge for their breakfast in the morning, turtle doves coo and squirrels chase each other up and down tree trunks.  My roommate has developed the habit of picking up feathers and I cannot help to resist the urge to draw color and play with them.
A new background paper I am soooo loving, gesso on magazine paper and then sprayed with different layers of "Design Master" Tintit,
HAPPY HUMP DAY, HUGS

Todays Smiles

A new background paper, The background color done with my Design Masters "Tintit" - sepia and pinklucious.  My roommate found this sweet little feather and I found the leaf on one of my outings, with the help of photoshop and my silhouette they became elements for the background.  Then did some old time reading glasses and used my calligraphy pen element.  A word block inside "are tomorrows' flowers" finish off the card.
I volunteered to do a few cards for a chemo clinic, they will give out cards to those who are having a really great day or some that are having a hard one.
I have pups to walk today, a son to hang out with for a while and maybe even a little studio time. Hope you have much to smile at today, tomorrow and always, hugs

Feed the Cat

I was straightening up the patio table yesterday and the cat treats were sitting there and I decided they needed a container, there was an empty Puff's box and it all just came together.  So now they don't tumble with one of our Delta Breeze gusts and it makes us laugh.  I set up the panels on my silhouette and cut two and just adhered them to to the box, I cut the bottom out so that it fits over the snacks, the snack bag is a little larger than the opening so it holds the snacks in the box until you pull it out.

I then created the panel for the other side, cut two and adhered them and it was done.  Happy Sunday, relax, play and enjoy, hugs

Weigh in on Friendship

Sometimes the most complicated things are best described in the simplest form possible.  Surely friendship is one of those things, friendship is something that is woven into our hearts, embedded in our thoughts, each at some time touching our emotions and giving us pause for great thanks or so it is with mine.
When I design a card, it is usually because I have found an element that sparks my imagination or I find words rolling around in my head that have to be put to print.  I found this scale first and have hung on to it knowing I wanted it in a card.  Then yesterday after a conversation with a friend afar the words came,  So I celebrated friendship yesterday with this card.
I also gave thanks for this awesome cool down we are having in N CA, walked pups yesterday who were thankful they didn't have to high step it over burning cement to get to the grass, saw my boy child and spent a few hours with him, wow busy but great week.  Hope you are rolling into the second half of your week, happy and content.  Hugs

Hills A Fire 2015

I wanted a documentary card on our devastating fires in California, my heart breaks each time another ignites.  I pray for our brave fire fighters, for the families dislocated, for the magnificent wild life and vegetation lost.  We are under the fly zone for the tankers, they are amazing aircraft and such a blessing to this area.  May these fire soon be contained with no further loss.  Hugs

pink rose with bee

Happy Sunday all, we have a cool down in N CA today, oh what a relief it is!

This rose was a must cut in the garden this week, actually it is red, took some artistic liberties when coloring,  I used three or four inktense pinks, a black micron pen for the drawing and some zentangled leaves.  The tag was done using my cut template and a background of crumpled paper bag.  Have a great Sunday, hugs

oh boy, nuts

 

So, let's talk about I wonder, what if and how would this work?  These are questions I ask myself often, but infrequently initiate, time, distraction and sometimes just motivation thwart the idea and it is then buried in the gray matter never to be found again.  I have been playing with the negative from a sheet of tags I cut out, 5 across and 5 down.  So what I have been doing is taking the negative and putting a piece of my background paper behind it and scanning it in, also using other materials that I have on hand and come to mind.  I then take them to the Silhoutte, do a trace and detatch and cut them out.  For this card I used a picture I took recently of a squirrel in our back yard eating a peanut. You may have to stare at it for a couple of minutes for it to come into view for you,

So the moral of the story, if you don't have time to try an idea, be sure to write it down at least so it does not become fodder for the brain to misplace, discard or simple disregard.  Happy Tuesday, Hugs

Sleep in a Bag

 Oh my goodness just the title to this makes me giggle, "Sleep In a Bag" don't we wish.  I don't usually share my core beliefs, I mean really, sometimes they change, Yah, even core beliefs change sometimes.  Right now I am in a huge change process anyway, but this one I have had since I was just a kid and I know it to be true.  If I don't get my 8 hours of sleep, I am no good to anyone especially myself.  So let me tell you, a great interrupter of sleep is divorce, "Should of, could of, would of".  The more I speak to friends and neighbors the more I am hearing that some of their issues involve sleep disruption.  So here is what I do and if it helps you - I am so glad I have denied my tendency not to share my core beliefs.  I found an organic frankincense and lavender spray by zummist, I spray this 2 or 3 mists before retiring, but maybe the most important is I give myself and my inner goddess permission to sleep through the night, a healing, restoring sleep and that I will wake refreshed and inspired throughout the new day.  It has been working remarkably well.  A friend and neighbor is going through chemo after breast cancer surgery, so I wanted a goddess worthy package to deliver some of my favorite spray. Here is how the bag came together.  I am committed lately to use what is on hand if at all possible, this is a brown grocery bag they put small stuff in to protect.  about 12"X6",  I took a piece from the classified ads and sprayed it with "Tintit" by Design Masters "Pinkolicous", then cut out a section to fit the bag, with a sketch pen and ink drew in the ribbon, scanned it into my computer, printed it out and just hand cut the ribbon, scanned in and set it up as an element in "Design Studio" for my Silhouette.  Set it to size for the bag and a little smaller for the card and cut them out, applied the cut out element over the ribbon on the printed background. I painted the "Z" for sleep with a brush and also turned it into an element. Used some existing zentangled photocorners and added a small clothes pin with an "S", my friends initial to secure the bag.

 This is the card done with the smaller bow and "Z"s for the card.

This is a close-up of the small clothes pin with the S intial, kinda cool cause it could be for "sleep" also.

FOR SILHOUETTE USERS:

So here is a little FYI, I have not seen this done, but doesn't mean anything, I have so little time to create and almost no time to catch up on new stuff.  Did you know you can clean up your cuts with the eraser on the Silhouette? I enlarge my element after I have traced and detached, move it to the side off the white background, enlarge and then take the smalled eraser possible and clean the zagged lines, wow, it works.

Long post, hope it gives some help, relief and Bless your Goddess within! Hugs