March "Madness!" - Part 1

I've been doing a lot of work in the grotto, but I just now sat down to load up some samples. The fish card was created by using Alcohol Inks with canned air, the type you use (or are supposed to use) to clean the dust from your computer. The technique is easy - put down a few drops of ink on glossy CS and hit it with a blast of air! I then stamped the large koi stamp on acetate and mounted over the background.



Below are two ATC's made for the Wisconsin Yahoo group's March swap. The background paper is from the Elegance line found at Joann's. Since I had to perform "surgery" on Haiku bunny so he would fit on the ATC, I used the leftover piece to Cuttle Bug a flower.

The butterfly is also cut and embossed with CB, then colored using Pan Pastels and highlighted with metallic rub-on paste.

I also made some more BD cards for Dick's "stash" - he likes to have a number on hand for mailing. I used a CB embossing folder and sanded off some of the color so you can see the simple flower design

The above card was simply stamped on a piece of DSP (decorative scrapbook paper - my new acronym for the week~) using black ink. This is much nicer than the gray card I made for a swap a while back!

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Here's my canvas for Quote of the Month -I sure wish it were daffodil season, but they came up early last spring and got covered with snow and frozen, so I settled for paper. I decoupaged a paper napkin on to a painted canvas, distressed it with tan acrylic paint, and added the quote.

Cards, Cards, Cards!

I still make lots of cards, especially for birthdays and also for swaps. My mom's birthday is in February, and I made a folded card for her thanks to my friend Bonnie who has been creating fabulous folded cards. She came over one day and we used her ScorePal and lots of paper to create folded cards. This is the one I sent to Mom - we all need a touch of spring as this has been a long, snowy winter in Wisconsin!

Card Closed

Card Opened

Be sure to check Bonnie's blog to see more fabulous folded cards and other stunning creations:

http://craftiblog.wordpress.com/

All Gray!

Our small SEWis group is doing color challenges this year - gray is absolutely the hardest color to work with.


Pink and Orange

This was a lot more fun to make!


Hearts

Love my Cuttlebug!!

Fun Swaps in February

The moderators on CCSwaps are always challenging us to try something new. The box below was for a "Money for a Rainy Day" Swap. We were to create a sealed money box for our partner so she could add a dollar for each swap she participated in during 2009. At the end of the year, she would have a nice stash of money to spend, probably on more art supplies. I used a purchased paper mache "treasure chest," cut a hole in the top, then decoupaged it with printed tissue paper. I added beaded trim, ribbon and two metal embellishments. The one on the top is where I cut the hole.

Money for a Rainy Day

Tiny Book-in-a-Box

The book-in-a-box is quite small, not much larger than a matchbox, but a little deeper. It originally held a piece of jewelry. I created a small accordian book and glued it into the bottom of the box.

Quote Swap

This is the February quote, a swap on CCSwaps which will continue through the year. The collage was done on a canvas board using acrylics, a paper napkin (the flowers), and an image of Frida Kahlo. I tried to incorporate her use of bright colors and tropical themes. I am really enjoying this swap.

More Challenges

I am still trying to do the weekly OSA challenges, incorporating the theme into the layout. The Lantern theme really had me puzzled - I just couldn't figure out what to put in the smaller circle until I came across the large Oriental coin - perfect!


The blue card uses a quote from Confucius which I thought works well with the image as the lady is not particularly beautiful. It is, however, one of my favorites and I have two versions of it.

As soon as I saw that the theme for this week was "Harmony," I knew exactly which stamp to use. The lady with her cat is from Cherry Pie - one of my absolutely favorite stamps.

OSA Challenge #5 - Winter

I again combined the theme challenge "Winter" with the design challenge. This time the design was, indeed, a big challenge - 12 squares layered over a narrow piece of CS surrounding the image. The three layers include silver paper, but it looks gray in the scan. The snowflake is also metallic. Enjoy - winter is almost half over!!!

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.

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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!

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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.