Sometimes I surprise myself

It seems like it has been ages since I have been here but it really was just a month ago. (which is much longer than I like but...)

I felt like I just hadn't done anything so why bother dropping in and yet when I downloaded the pictures from my camera (I take pics as I work and/or complete things) I found 38 photos! Don't worry, I am not going to post ALL of them on here.....just a lot of them lol

I have been all over the place with my projects these past weeks. Partially due to new supplies (Gelli Plates and Gelatos) and partially due to missing Kitty and stress from work. I don't seem to stay very focused but obviously I was more focused than I realized HaHa

I am still in LOVE with Gelatos! How can you not be in love with paints that give you such rich and luscious color?

Here is a journal page that I have been working on when ever the mood strikes. I don't know if it is done yet but I love how it looks.

I have not Photoshopped this picture. The colors really are that rich and vibrant! And they blend so easily with just your finger and a dab of water!

I love this stamp. He comes from Abracadabra. It is hard to tell but I rubbed a little color under him as a shadow. I ended up rubbing on a bit more after the photo but was too lazy to grab my camera again. Shame on me.

I am having a blast experimenting with Gel Medium as well. This photo depicts the upper right corner, the upper left and the bottom right.
In the upper right I stamped first then applied the Gel Medium so it looks like you are looking through bubbles at the stamp image. The upper left I used the lighter blues and teals then added the gel and went over it with pinks and darker blues so the lighter colors show in the squares. I did the same on the bottom right with greens and yellows and then orange over top. I love seeing the bottom layers of color through the gel shapes.

But fear not, I have not abandoned my Explore lol

Our anniversary is coming up and I wanted a cool card for Hubby.
This comes from the SVG Cuts Hearts Aflame set.
Isn't that matchbook just the cutest?!
I used the Heartstrings paper pack from Close To My Heart. Everything but the yellows came from that set. Such gorgeous papers. I had purchased 2 packs and they are now gone and I am wishing I had bought more!

Here is what I made with the rest of the papers.

 

It is a Waterfall Folio. I plan on using it as a mini scrapbook for our mini getaway. I usually do some sort of scrapbook for our anniversary trips but since last years book is only about half done I figured I better set up something super easy to do for this year (having 2 books going is not something I want to deal with lol)

You can watch the tutorial for the folio here. They are super easy and make great gifts.


And of course, I am still using my Gelli Plates at least a couple times a week. I find it to be very relaxing after a stressful day at work.
I will not bore you with pictures of the tons of prints I have made. You're welcome. LOL

But I wanted to share a before picture with you.

I printed a couple tags.

Now obviously I knew you could print on tags. You can print on pretty much anything you want lol  But I wanted to see if I would like printed tags and if they would inspire me to make anything with them.

I have to say, the springtime ideas are flying around my head already for the green one and I know the red one will become some fabulous project for fall or Halloween.

Stay tuned for after pictures....eventually.  :-)

And lastly.....yeah yeah I am finally getting toward the end. :-)

I joined a swap. I haven't swapped with any groups in a long time. The last few times were not good experiences and resulted in me spending lots of time creating wonderful projects just to have the people I was swapping with keep my stuff and never send anything back. It made me swear I would never swap again.

BUT the BadBabies are back and swapping again! I am so excited! I have missed those people!!!

I signed up for an Arched ATC swap. All the cards have to be Arch shaped. Now being the bad baby that I am I took some leeway with the 'arch' shape lol

I had to make 6 cards, I ended up making 7 because I decided to keep one of them lol

 
I used a Gelli print for the interior of her head. See, I actually use my prints. :-)

 
Ha! Look at that! Another Gelli print! AND the houses are masks I used in one of my prints. I liked how they turned out better than I liked the print lol

 
Back to my roots....Asian stamping. I love this stamp, she comes from Stamp Magick. The kanji says Health.

 
This dragonfly is from UpTown Stamps. The lettering is from the CTMH Curlicue Alphabet D1630. The background is colored with Gelatos.

And looky there! Another Gelli print. I cut it into strips to make the nest. The bird is from the Cricut Winter Frolic cartridge. I cut him in white cardstock and then painted him.

All the 'arch' shapes were cut with my Explore from various cartridges.

And lastly, #7, the one I decided to keep.

Minnie is from the Nifty Fifties cart. I cut her in black and then painted on her white features. The Explore actually cut the eyes! I am still amazed at how intricate this thing can cut. Those eyes are less than a 1/16" of an inch tall!
The pillow is from Create a Critter.
She is decked out with rhinestones on her crown and collar. :-)

She thinks she is so regal.

This is the picture I put on the back of the ATC with the caption "As we see her". 
My crazy girl! :-)

Well, that wraps it up for this post. If you made it this far...Thank you!

And if you didn't well then I guess you missed out lol

Wishing everyone a wonderful week and Happy Spring!!!

Hmm posting on a Tuesday

I usually don't have anything completed this early in the week so I rarely have anything to say...well, I always have something to say just not necessarily about art lol

But, since I tried my hand at last week's Cricut challenge (and liked it) I thought I would not wait until the last minute to join again this week.

The challenge is to use the following sketch to create a card.

Now, you should know, I never EVER follow the rules when making art. It used to drive my professors up a wall in my art classes in college. And then when I took craft classes at the local craft stores, they would make me sit in the back so that the other students couldn't see that I was not following directions! haha

But, this time I tried....I really did. And I don't think I am too far off (for a change lol)

I have not made any art with Tucker lately so I thought he might enjoy making an appearance.
Using the Meow lite cartridge (which has some super cute kitties on it) I let Tucker lounge in one of the drawers.  :-) And since this is a sort of old fashioned looking dresser I mounted it on some old fashioned wallpaper looking cardstock (no clue where it came from, I pulled this little bit from my scrap pile). I embossed the blue block with one of Cuttlebug's Organic Flourish folders and then highlighted it with a white pigment ink pad.

I know it is kind of dark but I worked on it during another rain storm and I think that was effecting my color choices. I am thinking maybe I will make a brighter, more 'springy' one if I have time later in the week.

And finally, I finished my third ATC for the BadBabies Color swap. Yay!

I used my Home Décor cartridge for the bird. The flower paper came from my scrap pile. The leaves are a stencil I snagged at a yard sale years ago and the sun stamp is from Inkadinkado.
I am not sure why but my Cricut is bringing out the glitter side of me (and I never even knew I had a glitter side! lol) I used Stickles to highlight the bird, tinsel embossing powder on the sun and ultra-fine pink glitter on the heart.....Oh my!

ATCs and Contests

Ok, let me start with.....Rain, Rain Go Away!!!!!!!!!

It is pouring even as I type. I know spring is just around the corner, my ornamental plum is beginning to bloom. But these downpours could stand to lighten up a bit...in my opinion. :-)

Here is the current view from my art room window.

 

 

Enough whining, on to the art!

I am entering a contest....I have not entered a contest in years and YEARS! And never one for Cricut. But, since I have fallen back in love with my machine and am totally obsessed with it I figured why not?!

This weeks challenge on the Fabulous Cricut Challenge Blog is "Pick a Holiday". I chose Christmas. Is there a better holiday???

I love this card! It is simple yet elegant (in my opinion lol)
I used the Joys of the Season cartridge and added highlights and shading with Prismacolor pencils. The background was embossed with Tim Holtz Sheet Music texture fades folder.

I think this might be the design I use for this year's Christmas cards!

Of course I could have used the following card for the challenge as well! I made a birthday card in a box for my Mom (her birthday isn't until June but I am obsessed and making ALL my cards early lol)

I love the concept of these cards! You can find instructions in lots of places online and tons of video instructions.....just search for "card in a box". The cool thing is that it folds up flat and fits into a standard envelope for mailing!

I used several Cricut cartridges for this:
Birthday fairy ~ Teddy Bear Parade
Packages ~ Celebrations
Cupcakes ~ Celebrations and Simply Charmed
Text - Create a Critter

The background paper on the box flaps was embossed with Cuttlebug's cupcake background folder.

Here is another view. Notice the embossing is reversed on the front flap....on purpose...so that the text would adhere better.  :-)

And finally, the ATCs.

I belong to a few online art groups but I think those things are falling by the wayside. None of them are very active any more. You very rarely see anyone post anything. Possibly because Yahoo has made such a mess of the groups pages that it is next to impossible to figure them out or use them (but that is a whole other issue)

Anyway, the Bad Babies started talking the other day...complaining about the weather but at least they were talking. And we are going to have a SWAP! The first one in ages!!!  We are having an ATC color swap. I take this to mean the ATCs have to be colorful since we are so sick of gray! lol

We have to create 3 ATCs. I completed 2 of them yesterday and have an idea for the third.

ATC #1

The background paper is from DCWV Garden Party stack. The butterfly is from StampIt and the text stamp is from Tim Holtz.
The butterfly is colored with Prismacolor pencils. The text was stamped with ColorBox chalk ink and then highlighted with a Sakura pigma micron pen.

I think this one definitely fulfills the 'color' criteria.  :-)

 



ATC #2

My second card goes back to my love of French images.
I again used the Garden Party stack for my background paper. The white flowers and swirls are a glitter embossing already on the paper (which created a wonderful resist when I added the distress ink to the edges). The trees stamp is from Inkadinkado stamped in black StazOn and the foliage added with acrylic paints. The word Paris is from Impression Obsession and the Eiffel Tower comes from the French Manor Cricut cartridge.

Until next time.....Stay dry, keep warm and keep making art!  :-)

 

 

 

The Toad of Truth

Sometimes I get ideas at the oddest moments.  Last week I was watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon was speaking and his statement immediately brought an image to my head that I just had to create.

It was the episode The Einstein Approximation.

 

The quote:  "I need to determine where in this swamp of unbalanced formulas squatteth the toad of truth."  Sheldon Cooper

 

So, here sits the Toad of Truth. For some reason, my mind thinks he wears a monocle and top hat lol  And oddly enough, as quickly at he appeared, he has vanished. Yep. I have torn the house apart and cannot find this ATC anywhere!!!

 

I also spent some quality time with my journal this week (when I wasn't frantically searching for above toad)

The weather here has been flipping back and forth between spring and yucky cold and rainy (and forecasts of snow). I am longing for warm (not hot) days and sunshine. I was also longing to pull out the paints and brushes!

I tore a sheet out of a large, old and tattered dictionary (an awesome score at 50 cents a couple years back). It was from the B's....Bluebird to be exact.

Notice he has some bits of snow spitting all over the background because spring is struggling to keep a strong hold around here Darn It!!!

I have also been struggling lately with work, back pain, hubby's job hunt and a million other things. But this week God has been talking very loudly to me.....and I decided to listen. He really likes it when I pay attention  :-)

With all that He has been doing this week, I was inspired to create this journal spread.

The cross was drawn with a Sakura pend and then colored with Prismacolor pencils.

The background for the gate is acrylic paint as are the brick posts. The gate itself was drawn with a Sakura pen. Three of the tickets are a stamp from Tim Holtz that I colored with Prismacolor pencils then sanded. After I finished this side, I sat back and realized that even when entering heaven, we people still mess up....and litter just outside the gates of Heaven lol

I hope you all have a wonderfull week full of blessings and happiness!