Twice in One Week?

Yep, I am back already!  :-)

I thought I would share a couple more projects I found on my camera and also a work in progress. 

The Bad Babies had a tag swap in July. We could submit either 3 or 6. I struggled to find ideas for 3. No way was I going to make to six!

Above are my 3 tags.
As you can see I included one of my chibis. What can I say, that is what I am focusing on right now lol

I used alcohol inks for the background then did a gel medium transfer for the eyes.

Tag #2 was Gelli printed I then added images of day lilies and a Victorian woman.

And lastly, I spritzed a tag with Dylusions sprays, I then painted a peacock feather with acrylics. Next came a gel transferred peacock then a definition of peacock from an antique dictionary. Finally another spritz of Dylusions.

I really struggled with these but I am pleased with the final products.

I told you I am obsessed with Chibis...well maybe I didn't say 'obsessed' but I think I am!

Here is one of my cards from the ICAD challenge. The prompt was Disco.

I think he was the first boy I drew. (I have only drawn maybe 2 or 3 since....boys are yukky lol)

And my sister, seeing all the projects I post on Facebook, asked me to draw her dog and my other sister's cat together (even though they live hundreds of miles apart).

My sister's dog loves to play with socks (or so they tell me lol) My sister's cat does not seem to be amused haha  I seem to be much better at drawing cats than dogs!

And now, here is my current work in progress.

I did the pencil sketches on tracing paper so that I could easily transfer the lines onto card stock with a light box. 

Here is my initial transferred lines just begging for color.

It took me several days (and a trip to the local craft store for a couple more pens) to color in all 4 characters.

I am currently working on their environment. I used watercolor for the road but am not please with how the cardstock is buckling so I am now trying to figure out what I want to use for the ground and sky.

So that is where I am at right now....stuck lol

Maybe something will come to me while I am working this week. :-)

Happy Crafting and have a wonderful week!

So many projects, so little time.....to blog

Where has all the time gone? It seems like I just posted something here yesterday and yet the last time I was here was August 24.

That doesn't mean I haven't been working on anything.  As a matter of fact, this post is very picture heavy (just a warning lol)

I am still in my Fall/Halloween mood. I just love the colors!!! But I have a couple other, non-autumn related items this week too.  :-)

To say I have been working on tons of stuff is an understatement. I even have a few things still on my camera.

Let's start with fun new ideas...
I saw this on Pinterest while looking for some Cuttlebug ideas. Using aluminum tape, you can created really cool backgrounds. I found this 50 foot roll of tape in with the duct work supplies at Home Depot. It cost around $8. I already have a great idea for my Christmas cards using this for the background (hope it turns out as great as I imagine lol)

I found that if I put the tape onto cardstock first, it was much more stable and easier to work with on my cards (but you can run just the tape through the Cuttlebug and it embosses just fine). I used plain index cards for the backing....cheap and an easy size to work with.
You can see that I was also playing with alcohol inks. :-)  I found that you can apply the alcohol inks before embossing like above or apply after embossing to just highlight the raised areas (but this was much more time consuming....still looks cool though)

So, after experimenting, I was ready to use this on a card. I put 2 strips of the aluminum tape onto an index card. I covered it with alcohol inks (a blend of reds, browns and golds...which don't show up too well in a photo because it is so shiny) then ran it through the Cuttlebug using the Fall Leaf background from Darice. The stamped image is from the Stampin' Up set Halloween Smiles.

And while playing around with the Cuttlebug, I pulled out my Jack o Lantern folder (part of the Happy Hauntings set) and tried applying ink to the embossed images.

I love how it turned out. This is Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. I just rubbed the ink pad gently over the paper so the ink only hit the raised images. My only problem? I is just too bright and busy to work as a background with anything I have tried. So it is sitting in my stack of leftovers until I find a good match.
I used this folder again to make the background for a friend's birthday card (she is a Halloween baby)

I made the cupcake in fall colors and of course, chocolate icing lol The cupcake comes from Simply Charmed. I added shading with Prismacolor pencils.

And since I was still in Halloween mode, I pulled out the Teddy Bear Parade cartridge and made this little witch.

But then I couldn't decide what to do with her so she hung out on my desk until I put her on this doorknob tag. The spider web and 'Trick or Treat' are from October 31st.

But we are not done yet my friends.....I warned you that I was super busy! lol

I saw several ideas for Post-it note holders online and thought that might make a cute gift. I grabbed my Create a Critter and Teddy Bear Parade. I removed the eyes and mouth cuts from the worm using the Cricut Craft Room and resized him just a bit to fit my project better. His glasses are from Teddy Bear Parade, resized to fit his little head.

This paper was printed with the eyelet and striped edge. Since this was a practice project, I didn't want to get into layering papers and such. I just wanted to get my basic measurements down.
I used the standard 3x3 post-it. I cut the background paper at 3 1/4" x 6 3/4" so that I have about 1/8" edge around the post-it. It went together really fast. I think I might be tossing a few of these into my Christmas boxes.  :-)

I was able to leave the Cricut and Cuttlebug alone for a while this week :-)
I moved into tag mode.

This is what happens when I am bored and start watching Tim Holtz videos lol Using the technique where you rub your distress inks onto a non-stick craft sheet (or in my case a piece of foil) spritz with water and then rub your tag into the puddles....I got this.

The bumpy stuff down the right side is some sort of gel medium with glass beads in it. The stuff was so old that it had thickened to a very stiff mess but I rubbed some on...this was as smooth as I could get it....before I dipped the tag in inks. I had also added a couple lines with crayon knowing they would resist the ink.

I used some stencils and rubber stamps to add more visual texture (notice blue blotches in the upper left...giraffe spots I think. And faint trees in the center left)

This sat on my desk for a couple days until I added more images and added it to my art journal.

But this was not the only tag I inked up that day! I actually did 5 or 6.  Some have not yet been used. Others on waiting to be downloaded off the camera. :-)

I did manage to get one of them photographed AND downloaded lol

Again, using Distress Inks for the background, I added lots of stamped images. The birds and clock face are from Tim Holtz. The pumpkin is from Inkadinkado and the tree branch is actually just one branch from a very large tree stamp from Stampa Rosa.

I added eyelets and jute to the bottom left. The stars are brads. They were shiny silver and copper but I inked them with alcohol inks to make them dark.

Don't you love how it 'glows'? That is the Distress Inks and the Prismacolor pencils in his eyes. They are both products with rich, intense colors.

I guess I have bombarded you with enough this week! lol
Stay tuned for more of my Fall/Halloween goodness!  Be forewarned, I am trying to put together an Autumn Junk Journal lol

Happy Fall Y'all

Is it Autumn yet?

Summer has to be my least favorite season. Yes, we have flowers but they come with pollen! And we have vegetable gardens, which I love, but they are a lot of work and mine did not grow well at all this year. And the heat! Yuk!

I am an Autumn person. I love the weather, the colors and the PUMPKINS! I am anxiously awaiting fall!!!  :-)

I didn't have a whole lot of crafting time this week but what I did have I made the most of...

Last Saturday evening, while hubby was grilling dinner, I wanted to see if I could whip up a little something.
I grabbed my Simply Charmed cartridge and some scrap paper and made this little guy. He is cut at 2 1/2 inches and shaded with chalks.

And since hubby wasn't quite ready to serve dinner, I headed back into my play art room and made him a tag to live on. This was cut from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More at 3 1/2 inches and 'aged' with distress inks. I typed up the text with Word and cut it with decorative scissors.

Isn't he cute? I am thinking I might send it to my mom to use as a bookmark as she randomly tells me she is craving a cupcake.....although looking at one all the time might not help that problem lol

Sunday morning as hubby was cooking breakfast (no he doesn't do all the cooking lol) I stamped this fellow from the Happy Fall Y'all Stampin' Up set, colored him with Prismacolor pencils and then inked up the 6" tag with distress inks.

I had to wait until later in the week before I had time to work on this again.
I ran the tag through my Cuttlebug using Tim Holtz Texture Fades folder called Sheet Music. I then rubbed distress ink on the embossing to make it show up more. And finally mounted the tag on some paper that looked like peeling paint.

A couple days later I headed back to my Cricut.  :-) I was in the mood to make an ATC. I used Create a Critter for the adorable panda and stamped the bamboo with a stamp from VivaLasVegas Stamps.

And finally, this morning, I made my Thanksgiving cards! I told you I made the most of what little time I had lol

This dapper turkey also comes from the Create A Critter cartridge cut at 2 inches. He is shaded with chalks and mounted on a background that I embossed with Cuttlebug's Autumn Type folder. The 'gobble' was resized a bit in the Cricut Craft Room before cutting.

Just another little project that I threw together one evening.....Hubby saw me browsing through the Teddy Bear Parade leaflet and thought I needed to make a bear with a camera. There is a bear on that cartridge that has a camera but he is dressed for a Hawaiian vacation. I mixed and matched the clothes (a great feature about this cartridge), switching out his shirt for a plain one, adding a baseball cap and glasses. Now he looks just like my hubby....who collects and restores vintage cameras and is NEVER seen without a baseball cap lol

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
I am already thinking about Christmas cards!!!! And Pumpkins! lol

Admit One

This week, in my Challenge! online class, the theme was 'Circus'.

Ok, I am the first to admit, I don't like the circus. It has always had an overall creepy vibe to me.

But...

I am always up for a challenge. And this certainly was for me!

I have no 'circus' rubber stamps and yet this project seemed to be calling out for them. So, being the adventurous artist soul that I am, I began thinking....what stamp do I have that might work in a circus setting? When you have as many stamps as I do, this thinking takes a lot of time lol

I did finally remember that I have an elephant. He is not all fancy or anything, more like out on the Serengeti, but that was ok. And I wanted a tent! No tent stamp, gonna have to draw that. Hey, I could put the elephant in the tent! Wow, that takes up all of 1/4 of my page! lol

Ok, I need performers! So, I began digging through one of my 'people' boxes...not the Victorian/vintage one....the other one. :-)

Who pops up first but my poor overweight woman that for some reason I have put up on a high wire before...might as well put her up there again, she has experience! Digging deeper into the box, I found her a couple friends.

Now to put this whole side show together!

As I said, I drew the tent on watercolor paper. Then painted it with twinkling H2Os (it is the circus after all...we need some sparkle). I then stamped the elephant on the journal page, colored around here where the opening of the tent would be, sponged on a cloudy sky with chalks, and painted the grass and path before gluing on the tent.

I stamped all the people onto white card stock and using Twinkling H2Os, Staedtler water color pencils and Prismacolor pencils, I gave them life.

Placement was tricky due to the size of my people and the size of my page (only 5 x 8.5). I didn't quite know what to do with my dancing girls....then I decided they must be midgets (oops, "little people") so they could go in front of my high wire act!

stamp credits:
exercizing woman: VivaLasVegaStamps, Woman with word clothing: Stampers Anonymous, Dog: Rubber Stamps of America, Dancing Girl: The Moon Rose Art Stamps, Elephant: ImaginAir, Grass: Posh Impressions, Curiosity definition and Admit One ticket: Curious Possibilities by Tim Holtz

In the above close up, you might be able to tell that the woman is wearing a tulle tutu and is standing on a floss wire stretched tight under her feet.

But let us not forget the Christmas in July tag swap from last week! I finished my third tag. I again used a leather tag from my yard sale stash. I stamped the angel/cherub and noticed that she is hold what looks like a bar of soap that says "Pears". Since I didn't really know what I was going to do with her, I took her suggestion and gave her some pears lol

I also added some vintage sheet music and gold cording.

Stamp credit: Cherub: VivaLasVegaStamps

And since I was STILL in a tag mood. I used one of Tim Holtz jumbo tags and played around with Distress Inks and walnut ink to get a nicely stained background. I added bits of book pages and several stamps done in browns so they really sink into the background. The girl is a stamp from Tim Holtz.

The rest of my time was spent watching my garden grow! I actually harvested my first sugar snap peas of the year! It is going to be a while for any of our other produce but it sure got me in the mood for more fresh veggies! :-)

More great finds!

Last week I mentioned the fabulous photo album I found at an estate/yard sale. What I didn't tell you was that I also picked up a large box full of leather 'tags'. They appear to be upholstery swatches. They are about 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 and there are a couple shades of brown, a couple burgundys, a nice dark green and a couple different blues. There were also some large scraps of leather tossed in there too. There is about 3 pounds of leather.... over 100 leather tags! I paid $5!!! This is going to be a fun stash to play with!!! :-)

Since Tim Holtz put me into tag mode this week, I thought I would play around with them.

I stamped directly onto the leather and it took the ink beautifully! I then colored the boy's face with prismacolor pencils. Since it was a dark brown tag, he has a sort of ghostly look but I like it. I then highlighted the text with prismacolors as well.

With a fabric scrap glued to the left side, some vintage book page scrap and old buttons, this one is complete!
(stamp credits: boy = Paperbag Studios, compass = All Night Media)

Tags must be the in thing this month because no sooner had I completed the one above when one of the Bad Babies suggested a Christmas tag swap. Oh yeah! I am all for that one!!!

I grabbed some more leather tags and began playing.
I used my Zutter to punch the line of holes on the left and threaded in some old lace.
I stamped the children on glossy cardstock then aged them with Distress Inks.
(stamp credits: all stamps from Oxford Impressions)

Here I stamped Santa on matte white cardstock and colored him with prismacolor pencils. I then aged the image with Distress Inks.
I stamped a string of snowflakes with white acrylic paint directly onto the leather. Then I layered a bit of music from an old hymnal (a yard sale find from a couple years ago...50 cents!)

Add some dark red buttons, some poofy yarn saved from a gift and some rusty jingle bells and you have a fun new Christmas tag!
(stamp credits: Santa = Gumball Graphics, snowflakes = Inkadinkado)

But tags are not the only thing I did this week! I have been a busy girl! lol

My art journal prompt for this week was travel.....a real vacation you have taken or one you only dream about.
I dream about Paris!
(stamp credits: Eiffel Tower = Postmodern Design, all others from Oxford Impressions)

And finally, my friend Cris ( crispart.blogspot.com) turned me on to wrap bracelets. I saw them on her blog and just had to give it a try! :-)

I found a great tutorial at http://cupcakepeonie.blogspot.com/2012/03/diy-beaded-wrap-bracelet-tutorial.html