Satuarated Canary Challenge-Bookmark

 Oh boy a challenge made in heaven, I love making bookmarks, probably because I love reading and have thousands of books, this bookmark is in one of my all time favorite books "Alice's Adventures Under Ground" A facsimile of the original Lewis Carroll manuscript with his illustrations.  This challenge is being hosted by the amazing Krista on her Saturated Canary Challenge Blog.  I have used her Alice image which is my all time favorite from her.  I wanted this bookmark to be watercolored, but this paper is way to light to use them so I chose Ranger Distress Inks and Stains for my coloring and used a watercolor brush.  Primary colors used "Broken China", Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Brick Red, Rusty Hinge, Antique Linen and Wild Honey.  The poppy, bird and branch are Memory Box dies.  The stamp used to create the background flowers is a "Hero Arts" Clings Stamp, Blooming Meadow.  The book mark is my design and is one of my favorites, the bookmark is approx. 3"X 11.5" when finished, I start out with a 3"X12" blank, I determine the middle and then score 1/4" both side from that mark, the gussett is 1/2" and will hold approx. 50pages, so the only time it is moved is to reposition it in the next section, thus less lost bookmarks.

Close up

This is viewing the bookmark from the top down so you can see the ribbon on top. Happy Wednesday everyone, hope everyone is getting over too much sun, too much bbq and too much wine, lol.  Hugs

BBTB2 Challenge - Garden

"Four O'Clocks"

Welcome everyone to our weekly BBTB2 Challenge and we jump into the week with our Gardens, chosen by the multi talented Julia, please check out all my design sisters for wonderfully creative Cricut ideas and inspiration. 
I have had Art Noveau in my collection for a while and have gone through the booklet a thousand times with all good intentions of playing with it, but get so distracted, so when I saw that the garden would be our challenge I vowed I would use the Art Noveau cart.  I cut and played and all of a sudden I saw "Four O'clocks", I am not sure if that is what they were meant to be but they sure showed themselves to me as that and I went to work.  If you are not familiar with Four O'clocks, they are indigenous to South America and are rather magic in that they can have multiple colors on the vine, they can grow splotches of different colors in a flower and as they mature they can change colors.  They are drought tolerent and like a silty soil.  They rally around Four O'clock in the afternoon and as evening approaches they emit a magnificent scent.  So the Tim Holtz "Clock" Texture Fade folder was perfect to incorporate (Sat. I posted the large clock, this is the smaller one) and behind it I wrote out one of my all time fav, Bible quotes from Ecclesiastes 3.... "to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven."  The little bee is also cut from Art Noveau.  The flowers and leaves took forever to color in with the Copics, a chore I dearly love, but as I drew short on time I began to panic this would not be finished, so I pulled one of those "what ifs from my brain" and tried something new, when I cut out the dies I removed the flowers and I colored just the basics into 3 of the flowers and then replaced the flowers back into their slots on the mat and scanned them in, then I printed that out and took it to Imagine to cut, (below is a pic of the scanned project).

I then manipulated the paper a bit (take in mind all computers are different so depending on your parameters both for your computer and your printer your printed images are going to vary slightly in size and color, so this will not work for every cut and you will have to play with it to perfect), and reinserted into the imagination and cut my partially colored flowers, then trimmed and finished up the colors, which cut my time a lot. The background was doodled and colored with Copics, Airbrush and Ranger Distress Inks. The scallop behind the clock is Spellbinder's.  Thanks for taking a look at my blog and I can hardly wait to see what you do with our challenge this week, so go get goin and join us.  Happy Memorial Day! Hugs

Beastie

Had to share, this is our outside cat, his name is Casanova because he loves women, we have a lot of walkers and joggers in our neighborhood and if a woman pauses just for a moment in front of the house he takes it as an invitation to be loved and to love.  I call him Beastie because he literally has fangs, he does not eat like the rest of our cats because of the fangs, he will grab a mouthful of cat food jump to the ground, spit them out and then eat one at a time, he also has the longest claws you have ever seen.  He loves hiddy holes and this is one of his favorites, he takes great pleasure in laying on his back and pawing the paper towels above, if he is able to get it going there are mangled paper towels all over the front porch but that only happens infrequently, you can actually see his last attack which happened after the wind assisted in his reach, lol.  Happy Sunday to you and all your cats, hugs

Time 4 Thanks

Happy Saturday, well I have been playing so much I am dizzy with color and ideas, so decided to share a card and step back from the table for a while.   I was so excited when I saw the Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fade folder "clocks", I do truly think it was done just for me, lol.  There are a million things to do with this folder and I am sharing one today, two of the clock faces have 4 o'clock on them, there is one top almost center and one in the botton (it is the larger), the one I am using today is the bottom larger one, if you want to do this technique, I suggest you use tape to secure your circle in place as it is really close, use a 2" circle and emboss, or if you would rather you may color your circle first, I colored my circle with the Copics and airbrush after I embossed.  Then distress with ink of choice, it is hard to see in this scan but the hands are colored a metallic gold.  The butterfly and thanks are both Memory Box dies both were airbrushed with Copics.  The background paper is a piece of flour sack cloth I colorized with Dylusion dies and then scanned in, it reminds of Monet and so I art deccoed the butterfly for the paper.  Have a safe and happy Memorial Weekend.  Hugs

Big

One of the first things I played with yesterday was the postal/frame "texture fade" folder by sizzix, oh I love this and it will be one of my stand-ins.  I have so many ideas for this embossing folder, it looks good on either side.  I adore white on white and this Memory Box die "Branch" was made for this embossing folder, lol.  For the sentiment I took a 2" circle embossed just the bottom portion and distressed wtih Ranger Ink "Wild Honey" and "Vintage Photo", then stamped the sentiment from the "Flower Set" Tim Holtz clear stamps.  The butter fly is from Martha Stewart, 1/2 was embossed and distressed with "Wild Honey" and the other half was airbrushed with Dylusion Die "London Blue" and then I added a partial rub on from a Basic Grey rub-on and called it done.  Hope everyone is looking forward to the Memorial Day weekend, it is almost here, hugs

From my studio to you

Happy Wednesday, we have a gorgeous one going up here, cool cool temps and gorgeous morning light.  Why do I have a bottle of "Tacky Glue" upside down on my blog this AM?  So, what do you do when you have a large bottle of adhesive and you are down to a quarter full?  You turn it upside down, slap the bottom, shake, shake, shake, and that is the state my bottle of adhesive is at, I have been using a little flower pot to set it in but the pot falls over or I forget and then I have to go through the entire process again, so I thought about it a lot on Monday, cause I was crazy working on a project and Monday night I thought of a doll stand.  So yesterday I was out and ran into Jo-Ann's and purchased a 7 1/2" doll stand, a couple of bucks, but oh boy am I excited because it works just like I envisioned.  To make the deal even sweeter Jo-Ann's had sizziz dies and texture fade folders on sale for 50% off, well can't pass on that one.  So I am a happy camper this morning with new toys and just a small window to play, so I am off. 

This is the side view of the doll stand glue holder, have a great hump day, hugs
Just a little post script here, when I have finished my design and am ready to adhere my project, I take a piece of scrap card stock and squeeze adhesive to the cardstock and then with a toothpick or other tool with apply the adhesive to my embellishments, with the new stand all I have to do is squeeze the bottle and let the pool of adhesive hit the plate stand and then when finished just wipe off any unused adhesive, COOL.

BBTB2 Challenge - Kitchen

 

Welcome, it is Monday's BBTB2 Challenge and today our hostess Julia has chosen "the kitchen" for our project, and this one challenged me.  I wanted to convey the essence, simply but with impact.  My kitchen is one of my favorite rooms, it signifies so very much in our lives.  What I do sometimes when I am stuck is just jump in and do a general research, I will usually come up with something that stimulates my mojo.  The kitchen we know and walk into every morning is a long stretch from the kitchen of yore, here are a few of my inspirations, up until the 19th century many kitchens in the south were detached from the main living area, they tended to catch fire a lot.  Many communities used a communal area for cooking and in Europe it was common for women to take their bread to the baker for cooking.  The first mention of a spoon is thought to be in the mid 13th century and typically made of wood, bone or bronze.  But always it seems the kitchen, cooking area was a place of gathering for family, friends, weary travelers and children. So I chose the spoon and sharing as my items to capture the essence of a kitchen.
The background paper was created using Ranger Inks, dauber paint and distress crackle, it was then scanned in and then printed.  The sentiment block was cut from the pre-installed cart on the Cricut Imagination, lol, I always forget to use that and there are some cool shapes on it, it was cut from the background paper also, it represents the fire we use to cook our food.  the block says, "Whether sitting around a hearth fire or kitchen bar, time eternal, friends and food create lasting bonds." The spoons were cut with "From My Kitchen" and then colored using the Copics.  Hope everyone has a great week and I look forward to seeing your kitchen creations.

Nature's Best

Happy Saturday one and all, there is a lot to share today, it has been a crazy busy week, but productive, the kind of weeks I love.  On a yippeeee note, yesterday I found out that my Gothic Make Over Challenge by Haunted House Designs, 5th post down, won the challenge,  I used a Krista Smith image(which I adore) and the challenge was sponsored by her new store, 2 images were up for the winner, so I will soon be the proud owner of 2 more Krista digi images, oh boy.  If you have not seen this remarkable woman's work please visit her brand new store at this link. You may have seen her images used but did not know where they were, but be forewarned they are addicting, lol. 

So on to today's post. I was asked to create one of my altered compositions books by a friend for a friend, I got very few details, which gives me Artistic License to play, oh how I love to play and work at the same time.  This is the journal that has been all consuming this week and I will give you some of the particulars because some of what I did was experimental and I love love love how it worked out.  So here we go!



This is the journal cover, I covered it with 2 sheets of craft paper using PVA adhesive, the first coat was a regular brown craft paper, I let it dry and then adhered an almost sheer off white craft paper that I receiv as packing stuff from a retailer I do business with.  I then took Ranger Ink "Dylusion Dies" "Fresh Lime" and "Vibrant Turquois", misted the ink with water and then rolled very quickly with a paper towel roll to absorb as much of the water as possible, so as not to distort the composition book.  I love the texture and mottled color.  I did the same process with the back cover, when it is completely dry I then apply 3 or 4 coats of Goddard's Fine Furniture Wax to seal in the color and help protect the journal, I buff for about 10mins after each wax coat has had sufficient time to dry, this gives a slight sheen to the journal. I will definitely do this again.  The font for "Journal" - Making Memories "Simply Stated" rub-ons.

 This is a close up of the front, I used Memory Box dies to embellish, except for the butterfly which is Martha Stewarts, all have been lovingly doodled on, lol. Colors are done with Copic markers.

 This is the back of the journal, kinda blurry, sorry, the eyelet in the upper right secures in the bookmark, I used a metal chain and Tim Holtz closure, I have been wanting to try this for quite a while and love this bookmark, will definitely use it again.

 The inside covers were altered with cardstock I printed out using a scanned in cover front, I then attached these awesome metal photo corners.

This is the bookmark chain inside the journal. The charm you see is a lucky coin.

This is a closeup of the bookmark bottom, it has 3 charms, a dragonfly, key and the lucky coin.  And that is a wrap, hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.  Ours is calling me outside, it is stunningly beautiful out there.  Hugs

BBTB2-Bakery Challenge

Welcome to BBTB2 Challenge, our host(ess) today is the talented and wonderful Julia and she has asked us to design using anything you would find in a bakery. So, how could you go wrong with bread?  The background paper on this is one of my current favs, it is from Printery Collection "Negative".  I love how the spoon is positioned and the clock above the bread basket.  The basket is from "DoodleCharms", I cut off the handles and gave it some weaving doodles.  The bread was cut using the "Everyday Paperdoll " cart, the table is from "A Child's Year".  The table cloth pattern is from the Imagination cart "Best Friends".  On the table cloth is written "Break bread with friends often".  Color was done using Copic markers. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and a Happy Mom's Day.  So here we go fast forward to Memorial Day, take care and have a great week! Hugs

Happy Mother's Day Everyone

 To my Design Sisters and all of you fantastic Mom's, I wish you a day of acknowledged appreciation, with warm hugs and much fun.  This is what I did with the fun paint stick from yesterday.  First I printed out the scanned close up of the paint stick and printed it out to create the background block.  I adhered a magnet to the back, so now it will be a mini message board for my refrigerator, to shout out proclamations, wish good days and to just be fun!  The block with the message has repositionable tape on the back so it can be removed and replaced with another happy message. The blocks were cut with Spellbinder's dies, all colors by Ranger Inks and Copic.  Butterflies from Martha Stewart punch.  I used a Tim Holtz note holder to hold the blocks on top by drilling a tiny hole in the top and using tacky glue to secure it. Misc. ribbon and the glittered rose is from Spellbinder's "Blossom 1" die.

Pic of the entire stick, my refrig is black (and would not produce a good pic) so I had to mount it to our front door to get a decent shot.

close up

Have a great Sunday, Hugs

watching paint dry

This is a super close up of a fun and

whacky distress technique, I had to share.

 Okay, no, I have not lost my mind, well maybe bits and pieces here and there.  This is the most wonderfully fun distressing technique I stumpled on by accident.  The above is a scanned close up and the bottom pic is the entire paint stick, yep still playing with them, it is like eating potatoe chips, lol.  I am going to list the products and steps, I have not tried this on paper yet but will eventually.  This is a wooden paint stick from the hardware store, I sand it first and then paint it with the dauber (I am using all Ranger Ink products and I have to say, I love the way they mix and react to each other.), paint color "Lemonade", do not brush the paint on (that is important) daub it on so you have the little dauber marks on the wood as it dries, when completely dry then give it a thin single layer of Ranger Ink (Distree Crackle) "Clear Rock Candy", let it dry completely.  Then sand in a vertical direction lifting off some of the distress crackle, if you tip the piece to the side you can see what is removed and what is left because the crackled area leaves a slight sheen, you want it 50/50 or 60/40, play with it to get your own desired look. Then I went over the entire piece with Ranger Distress Stain "Wild Honey" and I used the heat gun to speed up the drying and that is when the tiny little cracks began to appear from the layers.  I then added "Ranger Distress Stain "Broken China" and used the heat gun again, the additional color brings out the cracks even more.  And, this is the effect I got, I love this!  I will be playing with the Stains now, have a fab Saturday, hugs

The full paint stick.

Alice-Time For Tea!

Happy Friday, everyone.  I worked on this off and on all week and it is done.  My passions are divided this time of the year between my studio and my garden.  I love garden art and have been pampering my garden and front porch and it needed a little something, so I decided to add a little "Alice" and I am also entering this in "The Altered Alice" challenge, I love this challenge site.  I did a plant stick for my Jade plant. with one of my favorite items to alter, a paint stick, every time I go to the hardware store I pick a few up so I always have a stash on hand.  I started off by painting this one with my paint daubers "Ranger Ink" Lettuce Green, I then added a strip from "Graphic 45" Alice Halloween Boarder.  I drilled a tiny hole in the top and adhered a Tim Holtz Note holder pin to hold my Alice Medallion.  The Medallion is a large Ellison die Oval cut and I added 2 layers of chipboard since it will be outside.  I doodled the outside edges and then I masked in the trees with a "Crafter's Workshop" stencil and colored the trees with copics.  The Mad Hatter is an Alpha Alice Stamp set.  The clock at the top I think is from a Tim Holtz embellie set but not positive, I have had it for ages.  I attached a wee bottle filled with green water and put a "Drink Me" label on it, computer generated.  At the bottom of the oval I put a key hole brad.  I then added a bow died with Dylusion inks, "Bubble Gum Pink" and "Crushed Grape" and behind that a green Prima Flower.  I added another note holder pin and attached a tag with an ancient metal frame airbrushed red, tag reads, "Time For Tea".  My front porch is my time out place, I will drink my tea or coffee there, sometimes take my phone calls there, sometime just sit and watch the birds, butterflies and drangonflies flitter or watch the cats try to catch same, not too worry they are all too fat and lazy to really catch, they just put on the show.

This is a close up of the Medallion.

And a close up of the tag and paper on the paint stick.  So that is it for my Friday share, hope this takes you into a fab, fun weekend.  Hugs

Join me for tea?

Every week should have some fun, smiles and laughter, well this one did it for me!  A friend planted the seed of maybe participating in a challenge over at "Haunted Design House ", I won't name names.  I thought about it but did not think I would have time, yesterday as I was waiting for paint to dry, I am such an impatient person....I started thinking about the challenge at HDH. "The Saturated Canary" is sponsoring this challenge and if you have not seen "Krista Smith's" designs check them out, she is an amazing digi artist.  I love love love her "Madhattress" and it has been sitting here for ages waiting for me to play and I DID!  Gigggle, gigggle, I put skulls and bones to replace the flowers on her hat and shoes (they are from a cup cake holder), The embossed skull and bones upper left corner is "Sizzix" emobossing folder.  The drippy gooo is the all famous Martha Stewart punch, every studio needs one.  The tag is by "Ellison" and says, "Join me for a cup of tea? They won't bite unless you do!".  Almost last but not least I cut the tea square from the cup of tea and replaced it with a wee spider, (well it really isn't a spider, it is a stampendous stamp "Open Bloom" and I cut and snipped until it somewhat resembled a spider.  The background paper is from "The Paper Studio" Polka dot on craft.  The spider's in the right and left corners have been in my stash since my 25yr. old was 10 ROFL. The color is Copic markers.  Have a great Wednesday, hugs

BBTB2 Challenge-Frame It

It is BBTB2-Monday and my first post for the BBTB2 Design Team in ages, I just want to say I am so excited to be back and playing with some of the most talented of women.  Our hostess today is the wonderful and talented Melissa Kirwan and she chose for our challenge any frame in a layout, card or project. When I first heard what our design challenge would be for today, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  Play in my new "Smashbook" (I got the Black Smashbook), I have been art journaling all my life and when I saw this concept and product I was smitten, but, I didn't feel like I should buy a Smashbook when I make them, I finally caved when out with friends and it has been sitting on my table just waiting. I designated this book to "FUN", things that make me smile, laugh and enjoy!  There is a long list of things that do that for me, so the book will be full in no time.
Well onto the nitty griddy.  I used frames from "Storybook" Cricut cart.  the frame on the left was cut and I used both pieces the inside and outside, instead of having the frame raised on this though I raised the inner part and used it as a journaling block, I also used copic markers on a coated paper and although you cannot really see it, it has a semi-gloss.  The frame on the right side is actually not a cut but the same frame used as a stencil or mask, when I do not want my journal pages to be warped or crinkled I will spray with the my airbrush, the fine mist dries quickly and does not distort.  Our cricuts are great for cutting stencils, you can purchase stencil material but can also use transparencies, there are some fab pre-cut stencils out there but they can be pricey. I could not resist applying my doodles, I know this is a bit busy but that is what a smashbook is all about, just getting those ideas and emotions on the pages and moving forward, so try smashing some of those beautiful thoughts you have and  thanks so much for stopping by.  Please visit our challenge blog, link above, join in our fun and show us your frames, there is some blog candy this week too, so play away my pretties.
hugs

Not to be reckoned with

Happy Saturday Peeps, this post has a bit of a story and a wee moral.  A little while back I saw this wonderful digi stamp and almost got it, I had an idea immediately when I saw it and how I would use it, BUT I did not know where this feather was, in one of my many safe places, LOL, so I passed.  This week I found the feather, by the way there are usually 5 or more things on my "Find IT" list.  Have you guessed yet?  I could not for the life of me remember where I saw the image.  I did finally find it, but the moral of this story is when you see a digi you love, BUY IT!  Oh black hair is my nemisis, I will practice more, other than that I am happy with the goddess.

The background paper is one I have forgotten the name of, it is not Bazzill but just as wonderful.  I put the woven boarder on the left to balance out my precious black feather (which by the way is from a favorite mask I own), the feather fell out and I could not get it to stay back in without damaging so I put it away for safe keeping.  The background for the "Raven Goddess" by Teri at "Delicous Doodles" check her out, is a Spellbinder's oval in yummy "Delusion" dyes "Bubble Gum Pink" and "Zesty Yellow", then distressed with "Vintage Photo" distress ink. The goddess and her raven were colored with Copics. 

Yesterday or the day before when I finally found the Goddess, I saw that they had posted a new challenge and this will work, so I am submitting in the "Delicous Doodles Challenge". Okay, I have to admit sometimes I can be very dense, I was on the Delicious Doodles site looking at all the fab entries for this challenge and someone said they were not sure if they got it right, I thought maybe I should go back and reread the rules, w e l l, I now have it, lol, I used Dies (Spellbinder's Oval), Delicious Doodles Image and glitter. I added some wonderful diamond stickles to the feathers. Now I am done. Stay safe and have a very happy weekend. Hugs

Circus Hummer

Happy Thursday, don't know how it got to be Thursday, but we are there, lol.  Yesterday, I was sitting on my front porch taking in the day and all of a sudden there was a humming bird doing loopy-lous, it was the darndest thing, I don't know if it was drunk on necter, trying to get another hummer to mate or what, but it was the cutest, funniest thing I have seen in a long time.  When I got inside I could not get that little sprite out of my mind, so I grabbed one of my fav Magnolia stamps and did this card.  I am sending it to a friend who is a little under the weather and inside it says "So we are ditching the rain and getting on with the Sunshine".  The little flower is a double yo-yo and the sentiment is from a Barbara Ann Williams of the UK digi sentiment sheet.  I doodled its arial track cause it was not the norm.  Have a great day and hope everyone sails happily into a beautiful weekend.  Hugs