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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

SDC 166 - Get Your Spook On!

Hooray!  October is right around the corner which means my absolute fave holiday is on the doorstep.  This week over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog Carol has challenged us to whip up some early Halloween delights.  I went to town and created this interactive Halloween tag.




Thanks for stopping by and have a very Happy {early} Halloween!

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Festive Friday 40 - Pink & Silver

I'm already up to a whopping TWO Christmas cards made via the Festive Friday challenge blog.  I typically don't do really soft, pink, lacy feminine cards but the inspiration photo this week gave me no choice.  All kidding aside it was kind of fun to dig into the stash and pull out some paper I've had for ages to make this Christmas card.


Here's the inspiration photo.  Isn't it pretty??  Makes me feel very girly.  :)



Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fab weekend!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

SDC 165 - Just One Stamp

I needed to veer away from my usual routine for Sam's 'Just One Stamp' challenge this week over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog.  I am enamored of Trish Latimer's art dolls.  (If you haven't seen them you really need to check out her blog and take a peek.)  I was absolutely inspired by her when I used Linda this week to make my little something-something.


I've had this one wooden alphabet block sitting around for ages.  I gesso'd it up and then covered the non-letter sides with scraps of painted tissue I had in my stash.  Some little buttons and a heart sticker finished off her body.


I glued a piece of a book page to chipboard and then stamped Linda's head over that and cut it out.  Her cheeks and eyes are colored with Copics and then I added some Diamond Glaze to her eyes to make them shiny and dimensional.  Some doll hair, which I've had for (ahem) 17 years(!) finished off her head.


I wrapped some wire around a skewer for her arms and cut up a chopstick for her legs.  I stamped Linda's lower half onto tissue paper, colored her shorts with Copics and then glued that onto the chopsticks.  Her shoes are chipboard.

This was a really fun project; I just need to figure out where to hang her.  What are you going to do for the challenge this week?  Want to give an art doll a try?

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Red, Orange & Yellow

Top o' the mornin'!

My mixed media ATC group has a red, orange, and yellow color theme challenge going on right now.  My first thought was autumn, leaves, etc. so I'm not really sure how my ATCs evolved into this:


I think The Muse just likes to mess with me sometimes.

Off to preschool to add the final touches to the classroom.  School starts on Monday!  

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

SDC 164 - Mermaid Kisses & Starfish Wishes

Ever since Stampotique released these mermaids I have had a serious need to have them in my stash.  I don't have them all (yet!) but Smushasha is a recent acquisition and I LOVE her.  Sue's challenge over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog to use a bird or animal was the perfect reason to ink her up. (Maybe I'm pushing the envelope that a mermaid is an animal?)

I have a friend who loves mermaids and all things ocean-y so I made her birthday card.


The background was created with Distress Inks and water.  I can't help myself...it seems that I keep reaching for Spray.  On the background I misted it with some water and then stamped over the inked up background to get a subtle bleached look.


I stamped Smushasha on white cardstock and then colored her in with Copics.  In my mind mermaids are a bit sparkly so I added some glitter to her hair and tail.  It seemed like her body should be kind of slippery-looking too so it got a coat of Diamond Glaze.  After some serious fussy cutting I glued her onto the background and popped up her head and fin with foam.  (Okay, confession.  In the fussy cutting process her head was lopped off.  Poor Smushasha, but I do like the lifted-up look anyway).

Swing over to the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog and join in the fun!

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

SDC 163 - Jasmin Revisited

Welcome, September!  I am ultra-excited to announce that I have been asked to be the Guest Designer this month over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog.  Still pinching myself?  Heck ya', you bet I am.

This week Kaz has thrown down a challenge to take a stamp you haven't used in a while and give it a new lease on life.  Not wanting to be a slacker I took three of the Stampotique stamps in my collection that haven't been inked up in a while - Jasmin,Web, and Giant Shroom.


Sadly, it didn't occur to me to take process pictures until the process was nearly complete, but here's what it looked like before it was completely finished.


And a close-up of the background (started out as white mixed media paper).


Thanks for swinging by and I hope you'll play along with Kaz's challenge this week, too!

Monday, September 1, 2014

Traveling Journal, Part 1

I have been fortunate to meet some very wonderful and talented friends here in cyberspace.  A group of Instagram artsy friends are participating in a traveling journal swap.  The first one arrived on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago and I have to admit I was a bit intimidated by the gorgeous mixed media cover that Sharon created using fabric, ribbons, thread, inks and paint.  Since I am the first stop on this journal's journey I had a lot of blank pages staring at me and taunting me to do something creative with them.  Several times I picked up the journal and then set it aside waiting for inspiration to strike.  I finally decided that it was time to just get messy and see what developed.  Here's what happened...




I used a mix of acrylic paints, Distress Paints, Dylusions spray inks, pens, washi tape, Distress Ink, dye ink, stamps and a page from an old phone book.  It was actually a lot of fun to start without a clear plan in mind.

To my US friends, I hope you're having a spectacular Labor Day.  My youngest and I are about to head out to the lake to enjoy a little sunshine.  :)