Final January Swaps

January Quote of the Month

"Quote of the Month" will be an ongoing swap through the Yahoo group, CCSwaps. The challenge is to create something which reflects the chosen quote. This month I created a collage on a canvas board using a background paper which I made in a workshop taught by Bernie Berlin. The floral images were cut from a napkin and glued down. I am sending this to my friend Carol Sweeney from the state of Washington who came to Wisconsin last fall to attend the Raeven's Nest art retreat. We both took the background class, so I used a piece made that evening.

**********

Winter Shadow Box

Continuing the winter theme (from a previous post!) I created a shadow box to Celebrate Winter. The background is from a Christmas card, and I used the image of the little girl for the focal point. Unfortunately, when I took the picture, the flash is reflected on the little girls hat - she doesn't have a headlight! This was a gift for my friend Chrissy Bornfleth, and I was able to hand deliver it to her. What fun!

*********

Stuff in Your Stash

I ran a swap for CCSwaps called "Stuff in Your Stash," a challenge to use up those bits and pieces of things which we save but never use. The background is a leftover piece of acrylic painting practice, and the tag is from a set of tags I made a few years back; I had made severeal extra, but never used them. This is on its way to New Zealand.

OSA Challenge #4/Happy New Year!

This week's challenges were to use the challenge layout and to celebrate Chinese New Year, the Year of the OX. I have only one Ox stamp so I incorporated the image of an Oriental little girl who is celebrating the New Year. The bamboo background was stamped with Versamark and brushed with Interference Red Pearl-Ex. I have enjoyed combining the two weekly challenges and hope to keep up with the next 48!

I've Got the "Blues!"

I belong to a small group of (mostly) stampers from SE Wisconsin which has been swapping cards with specific themes. Two recent themes were Blue/gray and Winter. Guess I was in a blue mood as both cards used light blue and gray colors! Could it be the gray, cold Wisconsin winter???

Winter

I used Cuttle Bug combination die cut and embossing folder to create the snowflake and the snowflake folder for the background. After embossing the background piece, I sanded some of the black to reveal the blue underneath. Silver embroidery thread and a silver brad finished this off.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Blue and Gray

Still in a blue mood, I used one of my favorite stamps, a quote from Dickens and a silk flower for the central image. Silver peel-off border and a small vellum butterfly were the final touches. One of my favorite quotes is "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" Spring can't come too soon!!

OSA Challenges #2 and #3

Continuing with the OSA challenges, I completed #2 and #3. Even though I had these finished, it has taken me all week to load them here.

Challenge #3

The layout was simple layering with the corners off set. The theme was to use blue, so I made the entire card in shades of blue. One of my favorite stamps is the illusive (this stamp is not manufactured anymore) Haiku Bunny which I stamped on printed paper. The corners are silver peel offs, and I used blue "jewels" in the corners. I like the simplicity of this.

Challenge #2

The theme for Week 2 was Cherry Blossoms. I guess Ruth Cooper who is running the theme challenges is tired of winter like many of us in the Northern hemisphere! It was fun to create something "Springy!" The design challenge was just that. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the "math" of the rectangles. My solution was to cut a larger rectangle, then "eyeball" and trim to fit. It is a nice layout and I will use it again.

Swapping

Now that Christmas is over, I have been doing some swaps with a few groups. Today I made/embellished two note pads. The one below is for my friend Bonnie whom I met through the SEWis Yahoo group. When I got her name for the Pink, Green, Gold swap, I wanted to make something special. I spied the lovely green journal at Michaels and knew exactly what I would do with it. I added some fabric flowers, pink faux brads, gold peel offs (fancy stickers), and some fibers. Hope she likes it.


This list pad was made from "scratch" for Tamara who belongs to the CCSwaps Yahoo group. The swap was to recycle Christmas items, scraps, or???? I received a gift in a very sturdy box and cut two pieces out to create the front and back covers. The ribbon on the cover, the fibers on the wire, and the lining paper inside were salvaged wrapping from another swap, 12 Days of Christmas. I used Bind-It-All to connect the covers and glued a list pad inside. Like the cover, the pad is polka dots.

Both projects were fun to create, and I hope the recipients enjoy them.

IT Girl for Pauline

One of my groups, Art Ventures, is doing a long-term swap called "IT Girl." Each month one of the gals who has signed up is designated "IT," and she chooses a theme. January's IT girl is my friend Pauline who lives in the UK. She chose "Women" as her theme, not surprising because both she and I love that theme! I chose to make a collage of magazine images. The final canvas is 9X12. Unfortunately, my scanner cut off the bottom of the collage so you can't see that the decorative corners on the top are repeated on the bottom. Hope she enjoys this.

Swapping Samples

I belong to a few swap groups and enjoy the challenge of coming up with something based on a specific theme, product, color, or???? Here are a few of the recent swap items.



The challenge of the Christmas card was to use my Cuttle Bug machine, a home version die cut machine. The background paper was dry embossed using the Swirl embosssing folder. The oval is a combination die cut and embossing set, one of the Disney items! The embossing made a big difference in the final card.







I made this calendar for a friend in Australia. Each month one of the swappers is the "It Girl" and chooses a theme. Jessie's theme was time, a perfect choice for a calendar!







Below is a version of a Christmas gift I made for some friends. For the swap we were to make a shaped tag, so I made a version of the Flower Fairy. I used a printed image and embellished with flowers and a sticky brad. The wings were stamped with a swirl and dusted with Pearl Ex.






My group from Wisconsin has been running a Color Swap for the last year or so. This time the challenge was to use olive, rust, and brown. I had a beautiful napkin sent to my by my swapping friend Michelle who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. She often sends me small items from SA to use in my work. The napkin was a perfect choice. I glued on to the olive card stock and embellished with some black trim. The embellishment is from a pre-printed chip board set.

Oriental Row Houses

Last year I made row houses for one of my swap groups. They were great fun to make (using up scraps and bits and pieces from my stash of stuff.) I showed the ones I received to my friend Sonia Evans who is a moderator for Oriental Stamp Art, and she suggested that I run an Oriental Row House swap for that group. I signed on to be a hostess and made some samples for the OSA members and those of you who check my blog. I only used materials that I had on hand (it's a good thing that I don't throw a lot out!) I got a little silly (must be the winter weather!) and named each of the houses. The gals who join the swap will not be asked to name their houses.

The House of the Woman in the Green Dress
The House of the Warrior

The House of the Three Sisters

The House of the Panda

The House of the Fat Cat

The House of Tea

The House of Motherly Wisdom

The House of Gung Hay Fat Choy

The House of Beauty

2009 Challenges

One of the art groups I belong to is Oriental Stamp Art (OSA.) Obviously this group concentrates on creating and learning abour Oriental art and culture. This year marks the tenth year of OSA and we are immersed in challenges and swaps. There are two special weekly challenges this year - design and theme/subject. Our first theme is "Zen," creating an interpretation of our personal vision of Zen. I chose an image which has always intrigued me, a serene yet mysterious view of a boat floating away towards the unknown. The design challenge is to use a central image and enhance it with the three circles. I was able to combine the two, and (hopefully!) will be able to do this for the next 51 weeks!!!!!