ATC Art Doll

Just mailed out the ATC Art Doll I made for a swap. I only made one, but she looked lonely all by herself on the page, so I copied some sisters for her. The arms and legs are attached by brads so they swivel up to cover the torso which measures regulation ATC size. The doll "parts" are a sheet of UM's from Paula Best. The "Art" wings are Stampers Anonymous. I also added our group's "mantra" - Make art every day.

Christmas Album #2

I finally got copies of some family pictures to make an accordian album for my husband similar to the one I made for my brother. The tags sticking out from the top are for journaling, and I hope he actually adds text and also labels some of the pictures as I am not sure about everyone in the older pictures.


This is the back cover. I used a picture that I took on Saturday of our grandson JJ and our younger grandgirl, Izabel. She is three weeks younger than he, so we had two 2-1/2 year olds for a family party!


This is the front extended. I used pictures of Dick's family for the front part of the album.


Here is the back. There is another picture from Saturday which includes our older grand girl, Kada, and some photos of our sons when they were pre-schoolers.

These pictures are on the back of the journaling tags. Sorry about the flash - guess I should have scanned rather than snapped!

Merry Christmas from Our Home to Yours!

The Christmas tree is really a history of our life together. Some of the ornaments were given to me by my husband as a gift for our first Christmas together. Other ornaments were gifts, and I made the beaded icicles, about six dozen or so, with the help of my mother-in-law.

Here is a view of our fireplace. I made both the sampler and the Christmas stockings. The Santa on the right is our newest addition.

Here's a view of the Christmas sampler I made almost 20 years ago. During the "off season," it hangs upstairs in our loft, reminding us of our favorite season!

And what would Christmas in Wisconsin be without snow! Last year the ground was bare, but we have had almost 30 inches this December.

12 Days of Christmas Gifts

My friend Kathy of CCSwaps organized the "12 Days of
Christmas" swap this year. We were divided into groups and made something for each of the other 12 in the group. I ended up being in three groups, and these are the gifts I made.
I used stampboard for these pin/pendants - no two are alike.

The little post-it note book is made with decorative paper, slide mount, and bound with my new favorite "toy" - Bind-It-All!

The Winter Birds hanging is made from a beer mat and decorated with images from a napkin. I love using the beaded embellishments to add a final touch.

Make Art Every Day

Make Art Every Day is the mantra for a group of fellow mixed media artists. I used some copyright free images to create these calendars. Some of you who are reading this blog might just very well be receiving one of them. I made a dozen, no two alike!

Oriental Calendars

This year I made a number of calendars for friends. These were made for the gals in my Initial Round Robin group, a small group of friends who all belong to Oriental Stamp Art.

Album for my brother's family

This is an accordian album I made for my youngest brother and his family for Christmas this year. I made the structure in a class, then added photos. You can see their three sons and daughter Lydia who was adopted just a year ago from Ethiopia. She experienced her first Christmas and first snow!

Make Merry!

It's been a long time since I posted projects to my blog. I've been working on many things, getting ready for the holidays. Above is the Christmas card (one version) that I made for this year. I used double sided printed paper and coordinated the solid color CS and ink. I love the antique Santa!

Holiday Charm Swap

Yes, it has been a long time since I posted to my blog - what a busy time of the year. The most exciting thing was a two week visit from our friend Adrienne Goodenough from Wales. She flew to Portland for Art and Soul, then to Wisconsin for two weeks. We had a great time with Chrissy Bornfleth, Deborah Cochran, and Kathy Berringer. Although I did lots of "art," I am just now finally getting back to my blog.

HOLIDAY CHARMS:
Below are five one-inch charms I made for five friends in a small round robin group that I belong to. We know each other from Oriental Stamp Art and decided a few years ago to do round robins. Each RR has been very special, and we have gotten to know each other. I certainly hope that I can meet the other four (Sonia Evans lives here in Waukesha and we do "damage" together!) Two of the gals live in Hawaii - what fun it would be to meet them some January while everyone in Wisconsin is up to their necks in snow! Enough chatter.
The challenge was to select a holiday and make two charms for each of the other members in our little group. I selected Valentine's day and finally got them made! Below are the five individual charms, each made from a 1" square of stampboard. I punched some Art Chix faux postage for the image and added a heart charm and a lobster claw clasp. I do not do well with "jewelry making," so adding the charms, etc., was really challenging! Thank goodness for the Cropadile for punching holes.



Below is what the back of the charms look like. I used alcohol ink for the color, stamped with India Ink, and colored the image with Twinkling H2O's. I also made a bead charm with Oriental beads, coins, and a heart charm. These need to be sent out before Thanksgiving - I am almost two weeks ahead of schedule - gotta be a record!


I'll be working on other posts during the weekend. Watch for the collaborative tag calendar I made with four other gals and used my new favorite toy, Bind-It-All!

Altered Book Challenge #2 - Dictionary Page

This challenge was to rip a page out of a paperback dictionary at random, them select one word to use as the basis of a two page AB spread. I chose the word "amorous." I used lots of distress inks, some copies of old movie pics, and foam stamps. It is quite simple, but there are many layers of color.

Altered Book Challenge

An internet group that I belong to is working on two challenges - a visual journal/sketch book, and an altered book of techniques. Here is the first technique - using texture and one kind of coloring medium. I used paintable wall paper and acrylic paints, Stewart Gill and Lumiere. Here are some scans of what I did.












I used matte medium to adhere the wall paper to the book.














Then I applied Stewart Gill acrylics in two different colors.













Finally I used Lumiere to define the texture of the wall paper.














Here is my finished two page spread.

ATC Swap

Made this ATC for a current swap with some friends. The theme was ABR (anything but rubber), in otherwords, there could be no stamping! The background was created using a napkin and I wrote "Beauty" - no stamps used. The next ATC for the group must be created using no paper!

Round Robin Pages

My "Sanctuary"

Just finished another two page spread in a current round robin board book swap with a group of friends. The theme for Pauline's book is "Sanctuary," and I chose "Books" as my theme since I am an avid reader and often lose myself in whatever book I am currently reading. And, yes, the old photo is a snapshot of me with a book when I was only one year old! Wish I could say that I was actually reading it, but that would come a few years later.

Here is a list of a few of the most recent books I have read - enjoy:

The Space Between Us (Umrigar)

Innocent Traitor (Weir)

The Painted Drum (Erdrich)

The Lizard's Bite (Hewson)

Jane Fairfax (Aiken)

Evidence of Things Unseen ( Wiggins)

These are the next on my list:

A Spot of Bother (Haddon)

Loving Frank (Horan) - Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney

Teesha More Journal

Finished binding the pages for the Teesha journal. I chose a simple binding and added some ribbon and beads. One of the pages from Adrienne was perfect for the cover. Now the hard part will be to actually journal !!!!

Board Book Round Robin

I belong to a few Yahoo groups, one of which decided to create round robin board books. Last spring I purchased books for each of the eight of us and mailed them out. Sweet Pea made a "flow chart" so that we could send our books to each other in a logical fashion. Three of us live in the USA and the other five in the UK, so it was imperative that we not lose anyone's book if at all possible. I have enjoyed working on this project - each book was a challenge in a different way. The round robin is almost finished, and, of course, I can hardly wait until my book arrives home!

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For Adrienne Goodenough

The theme of Adrienne's book is color. Since I was the last one to work in the book, I took the "liberty" of creating a final page about the beauty of all colors, not just our individual favorites. And it was also a chance to use a few lines from one of my favorite songs by Harry Chapin!

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For Bren Renouf

Bren asked us create a spread about ourselves. I tried using a number of different images and quotes, but I didn't like the arrangement, so I chose one thing about myself which is important, "Love of Nature."

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Shabby Chic Gesso

This is the first version of my shabby chic gesso technique. After a discussion on Art-Ventures, I decided to add some Rub 'n Buff. I like the subtle difference in how the finished card turned out.
I guess I need to remember all the "stuff" I have stashed away and get it out!!!!

Up, up and away!

As we were eating breakfast this morning, we saw balloons floating by. It was a perfect summer morning, cool with a bright blue sky. I got my camera and snapped a couple of shots. Enjoy!

Teesha More Swap

One of my internet groups is creating a Teesha Moore journal. Each of us had to create fifteen pages of four 7-1/2 X 10" pages in Teesha's style. I was reluctant to join, but finally decided to stretch and do the pages. It was a big jump for me as I tend to do much more "traditional" creating, but I am glad that I tried.
I created the backgrounds using Aileen's Color Mists (what fun!) Once they were dry, I scored and folded the pages and began to create.
Images from magazines were selected, and I had them photo copied. Some of the gals in the swap did 60 different pages! But that was not for me.
I planned, cut and pasted. The next challenge was doodling, something that I have little self-confidence in. Some of my doodles didn't turn out well, so I had to "repair" the "OOPS!" I also used some clear doodle style stamps. The finishing touch was titles. One was done by hand (Party) and the others were foam stamps from the kids department.
After all of this, I am ready to send out to the hostess and wait, albeit impatiently, to receive the fifteen sets of original art work.

"Piece" and Joy

No, I haven't lost my mind and started my Christmas cards! I am in a swap posted on CCSwaps - "Celebrity Swaps." One of our moderators, Chrissy B., finds details for submissions to various stamping magazines and runs a swap to encourage us to submit our work. A number of us have actually had our submissions published!
This card is for a swap called "Odds and Ends" - a challenge to use up those bits and pieces of things we save. I decided to recycle old Christmas cards. It was quite easy - cutting up strips of the cards and layering on sticker paper. The metallic piece is aluminum foil run through a brayer and colored with alcohol inks. Don't forget - Christmas is less than six months away!!!!!

Another Round Robin Book!

Got a chance today to finish up a second set of pages in the round robin board book swap for another UK friend. Helen, like me, shares a love of gardens and gardening. I enjoyed making this two page spread for her book using printed tissue as a base, then embellishing on top of it. It won't be long before it is returned to her.

Queen of Diamonds

I made the Queen for an altered playing card swap for a swap on CCSwaps, a wonderfully creative group of artists who regularly participate in swaps. The challenge was to alter a playing card (or in my case two). I used a Paula Best set of unmounted stamps to create this funky figure from two oversized playing cards. After stamping, I used Sharpies and other pens which would work on a slick surface to add the color highlight. The parts were cut out and glued together. I really enjoyed making this, especially since I have had the stamps for quite awhile and had never used them!

Women in Collage - Round Robin Board Book

I am in a round robin with a group of friends from both the UK and USA. Each of us chose a theme, and the fun began. This week I completed a spread for my friend Trish whose theme is "Women in Collage." I had saved the image from a recent Vogue magazine for "something special," and decided that this would be the place to use it. And since this image is so strong and powerful, I wanted to have it to be not only the center of the collage, but also to have very little else to detract from its power. The book is now off for the last addition before it is returned to Trish for final touches.

This Week's Challenges, June 18-23

This Week's Challenges

I belong to a small group of fun artists who are always looking for a challenge, a way to expand their creativity. In the last week we have had two challenges, both of which were a stretch for me. Here's what I did with a little explanation.

DISJOINTED FIGURE

This challenge was to create a figure using elements cut from a magazine. We could also doodle and add other elements. I found some ads for beauty products, legs and arms from photos, and a page of product descriptions, all from a recent issue of Vogue. I stamped a Paula Best image and cut the head and wings off, then colored them in. Finally, I glued everything together to make this ATC. What fun!!!!!

PENCIL ERASER

The next challenge was to use a pencil eraser as a stamping tool! This sounded like fun, so I grabbed a pencil and tried it out. I used a piece of background paper created in the Traci Bautista class at A&S, a pencil with an eraser and a pencil topper eraser, acrylic paint, black and white markers, and a stamped image. I first used the topper to stamp the black circles, then the regular pencil eraser to stamp the green ones. Using the flat edge of the topper, I created the flowers and dragonfly. I added the red centers, stamped image, and then outlined the green circles, flowers and dragonfly. The final touch was the tiny white dots around the image to make it pop! Thanks, Trish, for the suggestions.

I wonder what next week will bring in the way of challenges????

Art and Soul - Virgina 2007

Finally! I have gathered my thoughts, a few pictures, and a little (very little) ability to manage posting on my blog. So, here are some of my adventures in Virginia with Kathy (SweetPea) Beringer.



We arrived in Virginia on a hot and humid day which was soon replaced with a thunderstorm and cool and windy conditions for the rest of the week. But we didn't mind - we were at Art and Soul and ready to have fun and make art! We had attended A&S in February 2006 and knew that we were in for lots of fun and little sleep.



After unpacking (a little) and picking up our registration materials, we attended the first of the Manager's Cocktail Hours, soon to be a regular meeting place with our friends during the rest of the week! In an hour or so, it was off to our first adventure, a reception which included tons of wonderful food and a project which was sponsored by Ranger. All of us had brought recipes to share and they were put into our vintage recipe boxes which each of us created that night with the myriad of products provided in our goodie bag. It was the perfect way to start A&S.



The following sections of my blog will tell you about the classes I took. I didn't take many pictures, but my trusty roomie did! She has documented her impressions of A&S on her own blog. You might be interested to check it out and see tons of pictures and lots more chat. Here's the link to her blog:



http://sweetpeasgotart-i-tude.blogspot.com/

Tin Souls with Kathy Wasilewski

Tin Souls Assemblage

A picture of me with Kathy Wasilewski

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My "Tin Soul"

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Thursday night, my first class. I was excited to take the class, not only for the project and new techniques, but also for Kathy as an instructor since I had swapped with her in the past and just knew that this would be a wonderful way to start my Art and Soul journey.

Kathy is very organized, so all of us were given all of the materials she supplied, a list of all of her sources, and a detailed description of how to proceed. And what fun! I learned how to work with some metal techniques such as faux rusting and pounding decorative designs on to the metal wings. We shared ideas, materials, and suggestions. Kathy worked with us throughout the entire process. Assembling the final project could have been a disaster, but everyone was pleased with her icon and, of course, each was different, reflecting our own individual personalities. It was a lot of fun at the end to share what we had created.

I was right - this was the perfect beginning of a wonderful time at Art and Soul!