Learning Cake Decorating

I have wanted to learn cake decorating for a long time. Who wouldn't want to be able to make all those gorgeous (and edible) flowers?!

My mom, knowing this about me, gave me all kinds of goodies to get me started on my way. Thanks Mom!!!!

So, this past weekend, I finally got up the nerve to start. I was going to just practice on a plain vinyl cutting board but hubby said, "No, if you are making things with icing, then they are edible and we are going to eat them". Hmm

Thus, I had to back up and make cupcakes first LOL

I thought I would start out simple...I chose to try the shell border. I did pretty good with this. I mean, how big of a border can you have on a cupcake? LOL

After several bordered cupcakes, I decided I was ready to move on. Keeping the same tip...did I mention I am lazy and don't like to get my hands messy?...I tried my hand at rosettes.

Next came leaves. Who has flowers without leaves? Well, possibly me LOL I finally got the hang of getting the leaf shape BUT all my leaves have 2 tips...not the traditional tree-type single tip. Guess I need to practice more.....or tell eveyone that I pruned before they arrived!

Mary, who knows how to decorate cakes, is probably going to read this blog and die laughing! LOL

Mickey Birthday Card

This week my nephew turned 16 and being right on top of things like I usually am, I just finished making his card. Oh well, better late than never. LOL

Santa brought me the Mickey and Friends cartridge for my Cricut and I thought it would be fun to make a Mickey birthday card.

I made Mickey at the 4" setting. I then used the George cartridge for the numbers at 2.5". The diamond background is a stamp from Cards n Stamps stamped with Dark Peony Colorbox Chalk ink. I had a blast making this card. It was fun to add each piece and see Mickey come to life!

Here is a close-up of Mickey. Isn't he cute?

This is the inside. The car is called ToonCar from the Mickey cartridge, cut at 3" setting. I had originally planned on a red car but I had this metallic black cardstock on my shelf and thought it would make a very cool car. I was right. :-) So, we have a sleek black car with maroon seats....not bad, huh?! The sign post is also from Mickey. There are so many fun elements on that cartridge, more than just the characters!

Check out this car close up! It really does have a sheen to it!

Monday, I mail off the card, he should get it by Thursday and being a 16 year old boy, it will be in the trash by Friday LOL Oh well! Such is life. :-)

Altered Ancestors

A friend of mine is hosting an altered cabinet card swap in the BadBaby yahoo group.

The theme is "My Silly and Serious Ancestors, Real or Not"

This is NOT one of my ancestors but it IS one of my husband's. It is his great grandfather Frederick Furry, he was a baby when his parents made the trip across the country in a covered wagon.

Maybe it was those early memories of being rocked to sleep in a Prairie Schooner that created those pirate dreams LOL

So, here is my creation for the swap, I hope Grandpa Fred approves. :-)

Happy New Year!

So, here we are in 2009! I am truly hoping and praying it is better than 2008!!!!!!!

As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't been posting for a while. It was 2 weeks into November before I even remembered to change my header and get rid of that Thanksgiving turkey! LOL Guess I better get on the ball and get that tree taken down! :-)

I haven't been doing much art-wise. I spent most of December baking and shopping (as it should be LOL) I did however get one project done. I completed True Colors journal #3. The theme was Cool Blues and White (with one accent color if you want).

Since it was December AND we actually had snow on the ground for a couple days, I did a winter scene. I love this background paper! I found it in a clearance bin last summer and now I wish I had bought more as I used both pieces for this project. This book is larger than most, it is 12x12! Nice to get to work on a larger format for a change but I still like the small books better. :-)

First I painted the snow on the ground using acrylic paints, I did both pages at the same time so the snow would line up right. Next I paint the tree onto the background paper. I used a large fabric painting brush and pounced the tree onto the paper. After the tree was dry, I added snowflake eyelets all around with a large pewter snowflake for a tree topper. Then I glued the page into the book.

Next, I worked on the right hand page. I wanted to be able to add some sort of writing to that page. I wrote a little poem (poetry is NOT my strong suite!) and then dry-brushed on some large snowballs to hold the words. I used a fine line sharpie for all the writing.. Again, once all the paint was dry, I added more snowflake eyelets. Then I glued down that page into the book.

Finally I did some journaling across the bottom of the pages.....all done!

You can see the eyelets better in this close up of the left page.

Here you can read my attempt at poetry LOL

More True Colors

I worked on my second True Colors journal today.

This one made me step WAY outside my comfort zone, using colors I rarely, if ever even think about. The theme? Lime Green, Teal/Aqua and Chocolate Brown. This was very tough!

I sat with the book lying in my lap for hours. I kept staring at the colors and trying to mentally compose. I was a complete blank.

Then, it was very late, I was very tired, and a commercial came on TV. Or at least I think it was a commercial but maybe it was a dream since I haven't seen it since AND I have no idea what they were selling. But it was dancing, lime green pears....Ok, maybe is WAS a dream LOL

I found an awesome green paper with some teal dry-brushing in spots. It was a muted version of the lime green but with the "antiquing" that is also part of the design it sort of incorporated all the colors. This became my background for the left page.

I have really been in a painting mood and with paint I can create any color I need. I painted the pear using acrylics.

Now for the right page. I have had the background paper for quite some time. It reminds me of an old book cover. It also has muted teals and went very well with the lime. The lower portion is actually the back of some really odd colored Christmas paper LOL It is sort of like peeling paint but in just a small portion, made the perfect floor. Plus, the under color of "paint" was a light green.

Using clip art cds, I created the doll with the pear costume. And also found her fellow party-goers.

For all the uncertainty that I went through, I have to say that I really like the final outcome. I hope Anne does as well.

Project in the Works

My friend Pam saw a very neat project online. It was a handmade book and matching tote. They had little painted girls on the fronts.

I have no book making experience but Pam has made tons!

My forte is painting! So, she is making the books and I painted the little girls.

The ones with plain backgrounds were my first attempts.
I couldn't make little animals without including Tucker! Isn't he the cutest little cat ever? Of course, that is definitely not me LOL I am not even close to blond!

Swapping ATCs

I had a friend ask me to do a one on one Halloween ATC swap. Since I love Halloween and ATCs I readily agreed!

I found the women on some of my clip art cds. This first one didn't really look scary but just had an odd demeanor about her...and talk about flat chested! LOL

The numbers are from Close to My Heart. The spider is from Stampin Up.

Now this second one I really LOVE! Maybe I am just strange...my husband did not "get it" at all LOL

I seriously thought of keeping it for myself but it is now in the envelope, sealed and ready to go...tomorrow. Still time to grab it back out LOL

I stamped clouds on the black background because is seemed sooo blah with nothing there. The upper cloud is actually upside down (it is a rain cloud with rain coming down) from ImaginAir (am I the only one that misses that company?!) The other clouds are from Beeswax.

I found that full moon on the internet several years ago and filed it away...it is really a HUGE image! And with Photoshop it is so easy to change the color to suit any mood.

I tucked the Coppertone bottle in her hand and hubby thought I was completely insane. LOL

Hmm, I may be ripping that envelope open yet!

Last Night was a GREAT Night!

I finished work at 1:45 and by 2:15 I was deeply engrossed in art! I worked nonstop for hours. I totally lost track of time. It was sooooo great!!!! I didn't look up at the clock until my back started hurting and then realized I had been hard at work for 4 hours!

I had received the final altered book from that round robin. The theme seems to be oceans/beaches. Being an ocean lover this just called to me.

It actually arrived during my lunch break so I spent much of the rest of my work day mentally picking out stamps to use.

I began by painting the left page with acrylics. I then painted a piece of paper the same way to use on the right side. I wanted to preserve the photo of the woman holding the shell which is part of the book. I tore out the hole for this image to show, I wanted it to be a bit rough.

I then began stamping onto the painted pages. The moon and sun are stamped directly into the book. The moon is from Inkadinkado and the sun from Custer's Last Stamp. I used Prismacolor pencils so I could get nice, rich coverage over the paint.

I stamped the mermaid (JudiKins) on paper, colored her skin with pencils and then used Twinkling H2Os for everything else. I love the shimmer.

When I put her on the page she needed something....friends? So, I stamped the fish from Fred Mullet.

It is a real star fish in the bottom corner and some pearlized beads in the upper right.

After dinner, it was back to the art desk! I am participating in a Puffy Heart swap this month. We have to make 3 hearts. These were fun! I pulled from my scraps tucked into the cracks of my shelves! And I hit the button stash....I love buttons! I think my favorite is the one with the pink buttons. I had purchased that flower applique many years ago for a different project and then ended up not using it. I pull it out frequently but until now it just kept ending up back in the box. It looks so feminine.

Color Combos and True Colors

The Color Combo swap in the BadBaby group ended this month. A year of color combinations. I sent in 4 pages every month and kept one of my own for myself making a total of 60 pages! Plus the front cover I created for a whopping 61 pages!!!!

Below are a couple pictures of the finished book. The first is the book showing the front cover. This is as "closed" as it gets!

Here is a view from the top. Doesn't it have a lovely rainbow effect?

I used a Zutter Bind It All to hold it together.


I just began a True Colors journal round robin in the Eccentric Pastiche group. I received the first book today. The color theme is "blue". I didn't want to just do a totally blue page so after much thought I decided on bluebirds.

I had a sheet of heavy scrapbook paper with music on it. I painted the birds directly onto the paper using acrylics. I did each one individually and when I was done I put them side by side and found out the branches met exactly forming one complete branch....couldn't have matched them up that well if I had tried!

Below are close up photos of each bird.

Fabric Postcards!

Ok, so I gave in and joined the swap! What can I say, I am weak! LOL

The theme is "Flowers". I was going to paint some flowers on muslin and as I was browsing through my photos looking for ideas I thought....Why don't I just print some of my flower photos onto fabric? So, I did!

Isn't this pink rose beautiful? It grows in my front yard. I ran out after a light rain and captured the petals still covered with droplets.

As I have stated before, I love fall. So how could I not do a fall card? These sunflowers grow at the local pumpkin patch (Pheasant Fields Farm). I take lots of sunflower pictures every year. They are the only yellow flowers I like.

This tulip came up out of nowhere this past spring. We figure the bulbs must have been dormant for years and when we dug up the entire back yard and moved all the dirt around they got rejuvenated! Such a beautiful surprise!

On the first card I used cotton batting but on the other 2 I used a plain 4x6 index card as the stablizer. I think I like the feel of the card better but like the "quilt" quality the batting creates. I wonder which the post office will prefer.

Halloween is coming!

I have tons of Halloween stamps! This weekend I plan on getting ALL of them out and playing!!!!

As I was digging through my Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving stamp box today, I came across these oldies but goodies.

The large skeleton is one I carved over 20 years ago. I challenged myself to fit a full skeleton onto a 2x3 inch carving block with as little waste as possible. (thus the odd pose). I stamped him with white pigment ink but it came out looking light and chalky so I drew over the lines with a silver gel pen then highlighted him with a white pencil.

The dancing skellies in the background have been living with me for a long time too. The block says 1988 PSX! They are stamped in Brilliance Cosmic Copper. Aren't they cute?

The stamped leaves are from Fiskars.

And finally, some leaf eyelets.

ATC #3

Here is my third Halloween ATC that was still drying last night when I posted the others.

I used another photo from one of my clip art cds. The web was drawn on by hand with a fine line sharpie.

The jack o lantern is part of a Stampin Up stamp. The woman is standing "in" the pumpkin but once I added her skirt (which is made of feathers BTW) it looks like he got a fright when he looked up her dress LOL

The woman is holding the spider by his web. The spider is also from Stampin Up.

It is almost FALL!!

I love Fall. The leaves, the brisk air and PUMPKINS!!!!!!
And I love the color orange (but only at this time of year LOL)

I would have pumpkins sitting around my house all year round if hubby would let me! Something about the shape. I have lots of artificial ones...ceramic, wood, plastic...you name it! And come fall, I wander happily through every pumpkin patch in the valley on my quest for the perfect pumpkin. I usually end up with at least 6 or 7 real pumpkins. A couple get carved into intricate works of art for Halloween but the rest get to live out their days being enjoyed in their natural state.

So, as we make our way to the first day of Autumn, I am in the mood to create!

I was flipping through the Holidays Somerset Studio and the Halloween bug bit.

I made 3 Halloween ATCs. Two are here, the third needed some extra goodies and is now drying.

On this first one, I stamped Martha Stewart's Halloween fence. I then stamped the ghost from Fiskars Halloween set. The tombstone is from Stampin Up and the pumpkin on the fence from Fiskars. These were both stamped on paper, cut out and glued down.

Boo! is from an ancient Inkadinkado set that is over 20 years old. It is attached with a bat eyelet.


Miss Spooky was fun. I printed her from a clip art cd. I used Distress crackle paint for the first time. It is the beige background color. It was much easier than doing traditional crackle but the cracks are a lot smaller than I expected. I'm not sure which I prefer...traditional or this new paint. I rubbed walnut distress ink over the cracks and that made them stand out a bit better.

The bats and "spooky" are both from Fiskars (I bought the set last year after Halloween and never got a chance to use it). The moon is from When the Rubber Hits the Road.

Fabric Postcards?

Fabric postcards seem to be the "in" thing right now. You can find them posted with tutorials on the web and lots of groups are now participating in swaps.

I thought I would give one a try.

This would have been much easier if my back wasn't hurting and I could have lifted my sewing machine up onto my desk. Instead mine is a combo of hand stitching and glue. But, since I really don't plan on mailing mine it didn't have to be that sturdy.

I stamped my image (Embossing Arts) on muslin using permanent ink and then colored her with pencils.

I then hand stitched the lace on her dress following some of the lines on the stamp.

I stitched this panel onto a blue background fabric and then glued the white lace around the edge.

I used a piece of chip board for my stablizer.

I finished it off with another piece of muslin on the back and a "stamp" created on muslin using my printer.

I am happy with the results and have a feeling that once I get that machine up on my desk I may be making more.

What to do with a Visor?!

I went to my company's picnic a couple months ago and among the goodies they gave us was this plain white visor.

Now, I rarely wear a hat and NEVER wear a visor. My hubby took one look at it and said, "you're gonna alter it aren't you?" He knows me soooo well LOL


I really wasn't sure what would work on a visor. I decided to try stamping with permanent ink. I was surprised at how well the ink adhered to the fabric surface. I then heat set the ink with my embossing gun just to make sure it didn't smear when I colored the images.

Next came the dilemma of what to use for color. I was going to use paint but sometimes, if the fabric is too porous, the paint will bleed. Plus, with a chipboard insert in the visor I wasn't sure exactly what would happen if it got too wet. I finally decided to try colored pencils. Hey, it was a free visor....I am not out any expense!

The pencils worked great! I was able to blend and shade almost as easy as if I had been using paper. I like the soft, watercolor effect they created.

I am still trying to decide if I want to add more to the brim but for now I am done.

Color Combo Swap

I have been participating in a Color Combo swap for almost a year. Each month we were given 2 colors and had to create a 4x4 inch page. We sent our pages to our hostess and then received pages from other players in return.

As I said, this has been going on for almost a year so I have quite a few pages lying around waiting to be put into book form.

I had no idea what I wanted to do for a cover until this month's issue of Digital Scrapbooking came. Now I have said before that I do not do scrapbooking! But the tutorials for digital art are really great.

The tutorial I used was to learn how to add photos or patterned paper to the inside of your letters. Thus I created the word COLOR below. That was actually the word they used in the tutorial as well, it just happens that I needed it too!

I can't wait too see how this whole project looks as one whole book!

Altered Postcard Swap

The Bad Babies Yahoo group is having another swap. Well, we pretty much have swaps going on at all times but you just can't do them all!

This one is an altered postcard swap. There are 15 players. You alter a postcard for each player. The postcard has to be from where you are living right now.

I live in Oregon. But not some touristy part, just a run of the mill, small town with nothing going on. But for some reason this swap really called to me.

The swap was announced on July 16. As soon as I got done working I ran to the grocery store (the only place in town that sell postcards), browsed through the 3 or 4 designs they had and was totally taken with this one. I knew as soon as I saw it what I wanted to do. I knew what stamp I was going to use. Now I just had to ignore the weird look from the check out clerk (who knows I just live around the corner) as I bought 15 of the same card.

That night I sanded all the cards diagonally both from the right and the left so it made a cross-hatch design on the surface. I then rubbed Tim Holtz Distress Inks over the surface. First Scattered Straw, then Tea Dye and finally Walnut Stain. I then let them rest over night.

The next day I stamped the woman. She is from All Night Media. I made her look a bit more haggard than she really is by darkening her cheeks and adding a stroke of gray under each eye. Traveling across the country was no picnic!

Then off to the internet for the covered wagon and postage stamp. And finally I printed the supply list, which I found at http://www.oregontrailcenter.org/HistoricalTrails/Supplies.htm , onto transparency film.

I wanted to depict a "historical" postcard. I am facinated by the trek those pioneers made across the country to settle here. My husband's family made that journey. So hard to believe people could endure so much!

On July 18 I glued them all together, finished up the backs and had them packaged for mailing. I don't think I have EVER completed a swap so fast!

The Black Ball Returns

I haven't done any of the altered balls (the ones I got from work...see previous posts) in quite some time. Well, I did one tonight for a friend that is coming to visit.

Then it dawned on me as I sat watching the vanish dry (yeah, it is that exciting here!) I never posted pictures of the ball I submitted to Rubberstampmadness magazine.

The theme was "Numbers". You had to use numbers in your artwork. I created a ball with a vintage school days theme and there are definitely numbers visible.

I emailed them photos, they emailed me back asking for more and telling me they loved it.

The issue came out a month ago.....no altered ball. Am I bitter? I guess not LOL I am a bit disappointed though. Especially since they made a point of asking for more pics. Oh well.

But, since they didn't want it, I can now share it with all of you.

I covered the ball with pages torn from a novel I am using for an altered book. (again, see previous posts) Once the entire ball was covered, I brushed on antiquing gel to darken it.

I stamped images on printer paper and a few on tissue. All images are from Oxford Impressions. I then applied these with Mod Podge (which my husband informed me tonight as I was sealing my project that it "stinks to high heaven" LOL)

By stamping on tissue paper it almost appears that those images are stamped directly on the ball.

So this ball now sits proudly on the jelly cupboard in my diningroom. It is my favorite of all the ones I have made.

Ink Blots

I have been feeling kind of down lately and that really locks up the creative juices. I decided to try to get things flowing again with a little experiment.

First I got out the black paint and made some "ink blots". The idea was, once they were dry I had to turn them into something.

The first one came out pretty good. The next 2 are currently on their way to the land fill LOL

Below is the first "blot".
I turned it into a fancy hairdo or is it a hat? :-) I want to use her in a collage. I just haven't had time yet to gather up all those fashion pictures I have stashed away.....somewhere.

I have at least 5 more blots on hand so if I ever get around to making them into something else I will get them posted.

I've been Tagged!

My friend Anne from http://liberteas.blogspot.com tagged me today so now it is my turn!

Tag Rules: Each player answers the questions themselves. At the end of the post the player tags 4 people and posts their names, and goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answers.

Ten Years Ago ... I was a volunteer at the local grade school. I helped children practice their reading, graded papers and designed display and bulletin boards for the teachers.

Five Things on Today's To-Do List: It is almost bedtime so I will list 5 things on tomorrow's list
1. Go to the Rooster Crow festival
2. Watch for yard sales traveling to and from the festival
3. Put on sunscreen so I don't get burnt watching the parade
4. Buy fresh fruit and veggies at the farmer's market
5. Sit out on the patio and enjoy my day off
(aren't Saturday's great?!)

Snacks I enjoy: Tortilla Chips (can't go a day without them), Chocolate, Cashews, Caramels

Things I would do if I was a millionaire: Build a large house with huge windows and a huge art studio overlooking the ocean. Pay off all my bills. Help out my siblings with any bills they may have.

Places I have lived: Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon

I am now going to tag:

Marilyn at http://www.funkypeacockstudio.blogspot.com/
Jo Anne at http://paper-cats-page.blogspot.com/
Mary at http://www.auntmarysstuff.blogspot.com/
Richard at http://tunnel13.com/blog/

Go check out their blogs! They have some very cool stuff!!!!