Thankful for Home

With Thanksgiving approaching, Linda Coughlin over at the Frilly and Funkie Junkie Blog and Online Boutique-here's the link:  http://frillyandfunkie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/thanksgiving.html challenged her readers to pause and reflect on our blessings this past year. This week's challenge is to make an art project that "reflects the abundance of the harvest season and the gratitude we express". Even though I'd already had made one canvas wall hanging with this theme, I made a second project for this challenge -a Thanksgiving card. Thanksgiving is a special time for me as we were married the day after Thanksgiving and every year we have celebrated our anniversary and been together with family. Our home has been our comfort and one that we share with everyone who can visit this time of year. We are truly blessed. this scene reminds me of my childhood country homes and the one my husband and I share now in the countryside. There are trees surrounding our property and this time of year the colors of the leaves are brilllant reds, oranges and yellows. With nature's beauty in mind, I set about to create a vintage card to reflect our beautiful land.
Here's my finished card:



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The fun part of this project was that I had an actual sized- postcard image large stamp which is a pretty winter scene. 



 Suddenly I thought maybe I could change it up and create an autumn scene by stamping it in archival ink on pastel paper and coloring with Pan Pastels. Just took a workshop on Pan Pastels with Donna Downey at my local craft store. Love how they blend together- perfect for making fall foliage! Background layers are made with Kraft embossed paper by Tim Holtz colored with Distressed Paint and colored cardstock. The sentiment is a stamp from my collection-not sure which brand. Flowers, lace and a safety pin with tiny baubles are always my go to favorites to add the right amount of embellishment. Finally, I found an actual cancelled US postage stamp from my ephemera collection which I tore around the edges and added a touch of gold pen to highlight the borders.

 Thanks for stopping by to look at what I've been creating. Your turn to try this fun challenge!

 

A Special Thanksgiving-2013

http://frilly and funkie.blogspot.com

Most years we have celebrated Thanksgiving with our close friends and their children who grew up with my three sons. While we will miss our combined families' get together, this holiday we will share with our family who are traveling from the north and south to be with us. All of my sons will be here so I am so excited to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving feast and spend the holiday with some of my most favorite people.

This week over at the Frilly and Funkie blog, Linda Coughlin and her design team have challenged us to create something that "reflects the abundance of the harvest season and the gratitude we express during this beautiful holiday. What a inspiration to pause and truly think about how blessed we have been in so many ways this past year!

Ideas started to come to mind as I pulled out my pastel paper and my Pan Pastels-newly acquired from a recent workshop taught by Donna Downey. Using an autumn palette of colors, the idea of creating a patchwork quilt similar to our early ancestors' handcrafted heirlooms would serve as the base of my mixed media piece. Choosing different shades of pastel paper` beige brown and grey tones-I cut out (9) 2" squares to form my background quilt. Then, using my new Pan Pastels acquired from a recent workshop taught by Donna Downey, I fully colored 5 squares with pastel (orange, green and brown)than applied brown pastel through the Heidi Swapp beehive stencil randomly on each square. Next I stamped each square with a different autumn image including a pumpkin, thistle, old tree, and a sunflower- all reminding me of nature's bounty and beauty this season. To add more interest to these squares, another stamped image was mounted with pop-up foam overlapping the square's edge. Extra highlighting and hand drawn stitches were done in gel pens and markers. Dictionary pages with the words-family, faith and nation were torn and glued on fringed burlap scraps focusing on the meaning of this holiday. Three hearts are the center of this art made with some art journaling extra pages I had on my art table. I stitched them on my sewing machine which I really need to leave out so I use it more-Love the look!  Framed the entire 8x8" square by stitching all around the edges. Added some extra felt leaves cut with Sissix Tattered Leaves diecut by Tim Holtz and one paper leaf painted with acrylic paints. Copper embossed grungeboard letters form the sentiment of this piece-Grateful Hearts. All layers of the quilt are mounted on gold specialty paper glued on a stretch canvas.  I plan to frame my autumn canvas.

So that is what I made to submit for the challenge over at Frilly and Funkie. It was so much fun to create something to celebrate my favorite season and use the colors which are all around us now in nature. What do you cherish about this season and the Thanksgiving holiday?

Scary, Starry Night

Had a fun afternoon in my craftroom today. Inspired and challenged by the online community, Unruly Paperarts , the monthly challenge-RAQ 1 is to "use the scariest color of all-black" and make any project you'd like. I started out to make a Halloween card for my college son who lives away from home, but my art morphed into a small wall hanging which I probably will keep for myself and enjoy! Sorry, Doug.
Starting with a scrap of art journaling background painted paper I'd had left over from a previous project- the background was stamped with Starry, Starry Night-a Hero Arts Stamp. Love this swirling, little twinkling star design! Almost everyone else in the world has already used the cute Rickety House Sissix Die by Tim Holtz but this is my first project featuring this haunted house. Together with some small punched-out stars and Tim Holtz's (31) numerals from his Gothic Boo die, the rickety house fit right into this Halloween night scene. Extra handcut embellishments from unused projects added just the right finishing touches. My " man in the moon" is stamped from a Skull stamp on acetate which is cut out by hand. When mounted, the image becomes faded which gives the vague appearance of a man, but not as scary as a skull. Perfect for me because my art friends will tell you I am not a Halloween enthusiast for decorating or making art! Happy Halloween sentiment is cut from Tattered Angels Halloween Bingo Set, I believe. http://unrulypaperarts.blogspot.com/p/raq1.htmlFinally, the pumpkin sitting on the lawn is a clever embossed stamped (Inkadoo) handcut piece. Magnify your screen and focus in on it. Can you see all of the creepy, fun Halloween images which make up the pumpkin? OK.. I'll help, the eyes are 2 tiny skulls and a bat forms the mouth!
Ranger Stickles-gunmetal and silver along with old fashioned silver glitter added just the right amount of "pop" to this piece.
Even though I had been hoarding this Tim Holtz burlap canvas, I used it for mounting my Halloween scene backed by black cardstock. Gluing the papers into place, the vintage moth stamped image on the original burlap canvas had distressed edges which added interest. It was hard to cover up the great design but it made an easy mount for my artwork. Black cording came in handy to use for a hanger when glued onto the burlap canvas.
Voila! done in time to photograph this holiday hanging in daylight and post on my blog before a late dinner...truthfully a very, very late dinner.  LOL.

So very pleased with it all !
Check out the other entries for the RAQ1 challenge(and all the challenges!)over at Unruly Paper Arts. Better yet, play along with creating your own entry. Happy Halloween Everyone!

Let the Holiday Cheer Begin!
This time of year crafters begin to think of the Christmas goodness we will create for our own home décor and gifts for our family and friends.
This year I am joining fun challenge-the 12 Tags of Christmas sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Online Boutique. Once again this year, Linda will post on her blog-The Funkie Junkie- a new tag for inspiration for  12 weeks . Her first Tag #1 was posted on 9/23. You can play along adapting her challenge as you wish-so hop over to her blog for the complete details for This great chance to make some tags, cards or other projects for yourself or to make for gifts.
My first tag followed her example of using the popular chalkboard design, embellished chipboard accents, a button and red bow with a black and white
I love Tim Holtz's vintage Santa stamp so it had to be the focal point of my design. Found a pretty poinsettia stamp waiting to be used from my stash which complimented Santa nicely. For the background, I stamped a small snowflake with Archival Brillance White and used my speckled stamp also in white to add just a bit more interest. Little touches of silver Distressed Glitter and a dab of Viva Pearl Modeling Cream to accent Santa's beard and moustache. This cream is applied with a knife and adds just the right amount of texture and shine. Love to use Viva Modeling Creams with stencils as well. So easy to apply.
Finishing off my tag is a small vintage white button and red polka dot bow which was also part of Linda's original tag design. The red added "the pop" this black and white card needed to become festive for the holiday season!

I made a card from Linda's example too and love the simple beauty of its black and white glittery design. Again using the Archival Brillance White Ink, I stamped images onto black cardstock. Then mounted these cut-out images and glued them onto another piece of black cardstock for background. With my favorite Sharpie White poster pen, each image was carefully outlined. A bit of silver and candy cane red Distressed Stickles glitters were added here and there alone with some small bling diamonds and a button with a red twine bow similar to the one Linda used on her tag. Two chipboard holly branches were distressed with white picket fence distress glaze by Ranger and glued on for the finishing touch. I had so much fun playing with my stamps. The black and white challenge made me see their design potential in a whole new way! Thanks, Linda, for your great challenge and hosting this fun crafting holiday activity.

 



Now onto the next tag-the second in the challenge's series...can't wait to begin.

Happy Birthday to You!

My cousin Nancy and my sister's birthday were within the past 2 weeks and we will be celebrating as a big family (cousins, cousins ,cousins- there were 14 of us!)tonight in NJ.  I wanted to make cards for the birthday girls so I whipped up festive cards for the occasion.
Using Dyan  Reaveley's lime and turquoise sprays, I made a bright background. Using a petal background stamp and archival black ink so it wouldn't smear- I filled in random areas.

 Then using my new Tallulah girl stamp in Dyan's collection, I quickly stamped Tallulah
and colored her in with Tim Holtz's distress markers. Easy Peasy. I am getting used to "framing " my main design with Dyan's corner stamp. She explains in her video that like hanging an art picture in your home, your work ( be it an art journal page, tag  or card isn't complete until it is framed. I love her line stamps too in different designs that can be used with corners to create a "frame".
A few extra touches of bling were added and silver distress Stickles finished my card. The stamped sentiment was a stamp from a different line which I forgot to note. Sorry!
Can't wait to arrive at the party and give the birthday girls their cards!
Until next time.... Have a good day!

But Mama, That's where the Fun Is!

July 7th
Hello summer! There's something about the 4th of July that officially brings on summer for me! The sunny, hot, long days and lots of playtime make these season so enjoyable.  Recently I discovered Unruly Paperarts- a wonderful wealth of online inspiration. Yesterday I read that 2 new RAQ challenges running July 1st to July 25th were in full swing! Featuring 4x6 postcard format, the first challenge called for edgy and artful 4x6 masterpieces. This fit perfectly with an idea that has been in my head for awhile. Inspired by Manfred Mann's Blinded by the Light song lyrics " Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun -But Mama! That's where the fun is!" Mamas tell children of dangers and children test the waters. Way it is and always has been. So I began to create a summer postcard artwork around this theme.
First I made a background with a little help from my inks ;) Using Tattered Angel spray inks of various red, orange and yellow hues I sprayed, misted and then heat set the 4x6 watercolor paper. Then I outlined with black marker my sun stencil from my collection- not sure what brand. Added doodling of my own and extra little bits of hexagon stenciling which is my favorite. Then I used my acrylic paints to highlight the design. Using some artsy rubber stamps I stamped designs to the rays of the sun and a few background areas, careful not to make the already full composition too busy. Another favorite are micro beads which I glued on for extra texture. Adding the song lyrics was tricky because I wanted them to be readable and  fit around the main design yet not be too dominating. Then I used a gold paint marker to highlight the sun rays...I have a love/hate thing with paint markers. They tend to blot where they shouldn't and be difficult to use. I want to believe the problem is in the pen not the user. I managed to smear my accidental blots and come to peace with the random lines I made.
Got this far and wasn't happy with my composition yet. I needed a splash of a third color-and happen to spy another misted aqua paper on my craft table. I cut it in a square and used it to back the highlighted words of the lyrics "fun" and "sun" which I stamped. . To make it balanced with the rule of thirds I also added the word " play". Going to my Tim Holtz stash of goodies, Glossy Accents, a clear sealer was applied to emphasize these  tiles. Pop-up dots applied to the back helped make these words "pop" further. Last, but not least, a black button with artsy fibers
was the perfect finishing touch.
Gotta admit I loved the finished postcard. It's for my sweet grown son ,Gregory. That's all I am saying.
Stop by Unruly Paper Arts for the guidelines of this fun challenge. It also features some examples by their columnists-one who's a special friend of mine. Her blog is what led me to this challenge.

If you'd like to leave feedback, please comment here. I appreciate your thoughts. Also thanks for being patient with my blogging. I am trying to get this blog up and running. Not sure of URL's, inserting pics etc.but I am committed to master these for my blog.
Until next time-
http://unrulypaperarts.blogspot.com/2013/07/july-2013-reader-art-quest-postcards.html

Resolving to be more attentive to my poor little blog and document more closely the art I swap, gift and tuck away in my art journal, today I am officially turning over a new leaf and making my first post in a very long time.

Yesterday I created a Valentine/Love themed tag to participate in Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013. Tim teaches and demonstrates how to make each monthly tag with wonderful photos for each step of the way. Didn't get a chance to make a January tag yet because I was involved in a few swaps for my online groups. But I did join in this month for February which had a love/Valentine theme. Since I did not have the Queen of Hearts stamp Tim used for his tag, I substituted my hot air balloon which is also part of Tim Holt's collection to make my husband a tag for our 34th Valentine's Day together. Yes it is a little late, but it is for him anyway. I chose the stamp and muted colors as he really isn't a bright red, splashy kind of a guy.

Tim's number stamp worked perfectly when I  put a heart around the 3 and 4 for the number of years we've been married. I stamped the quote "You make me the way you see me.xo" from Tim's collection and cut apart the words using you, me and xo to decorate the balloon. The only part of the tag that is not a designed by Tim is the small pink flower, but it IS vintage which in Tim's style so I guess it fits!Following Tim's example, I loved making the ribbon out of Tim's tape-genius! I will definitely use this idea again.

Tim's metal gears from his Ideaology line and splashes of copper Stickles-Ranger's glitter glue- added the finishing touches! Just in the nick of time too-I might add. Now to post my picture of this tag to enter it in Tim's monthly challenge which offers a fun prize! Look at his blog for more details. I just like to follow along and learn from Tim, one of my mentors.