Sunday, October 25, 2009

Dans ma maison il y a...un objet altéré


This is my piece for Dans ma maison il y a... My altered object is an altoid tin that I covered with alcohol inked and sanded pieces of embossed metal. I had to figure out a way to add a roof so that it would be house shaped - what I used was a piece of foam core board covered with aluminum foil - the foam core was easy to cut so it worked well to cut out the curve of the tin so it could be attached to the top. Inside image: Paper Whimsy.

Art Creations Friday Challenge

This is my project for Art Creations Friday. As I layered this collage, I ended up covering a lot of the challenge background, but it served as inspiration for this project's story. I loved all the nature elements in the background with the leaves and flowers, so I thought this girl from Paper Whimsy could be a budding naturalist, just give her a butterfly net and she'll be off collecting! Stamp credits: Purple Onion Designs and B Line Designs.

Theme Thursday - Faces

This is my piece for Theme Thursday. My faces are images of my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Alphabet stamps: Purple Onion Designs.

By the way, if you're a fan of Kelly Burton and not just her challenge, but her Collage Visions image sheets, you might be interested in her blog candy (click HERE). Just leave her a comment about your favorite collage sheet - don't know about you, but it's hard to pick just one! See her collage sheets HERE.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Saturday's Workout

"Recycle-it" is the theme this week at Saturday's Workout. I have used the packaging from an A2 embossing folder to create a dimensional collage. I essentially had 4 surfaces with the package open and applied a transparency frame and rub-ons to the front, a Paper Whimsy image to the inside of the front, another transparency to the inside of the back, and finally paper to the outside of the back. Once it's all closed up it actually has some depth even though it's hard to show it in the photo - and there's the usual difficulties in photographing acetate!

Art Creations Friday Challenge

This is my project for Art Creations Friday. My base is a paper-covered CD, and I added multiple other circle elements. Stamped circle frame: Melissa Frances

Dans ma maison il y a...un papillon

Pour Dans ma maison il y a... un papillon ou trois! Ici est ma maison pour cette semaine. OK, so I don't know enough French to complete my post - I'll have to keep practicing........
I was playing with acetate, which is fun, but difficult to photograph. I also wanted to experiment and see if it was possible to stamp using Distress crackle paint. Very cool effect I think as you can see in the close-up below, but also very fragile - it keeps chipping off with handling - I guess it just adds to the overall distressed look.

The butterflies are stamped on acetate and colored from behind with perfect pearls mixed with PVA glue then backed with vellum to stand out more, and the stamped flowers are colored with soufflé pens. Stamp credits: Elusive Images, Stampers Anonymous, abd Lazar StudioWERX.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Tag Tuesday - Pink and Brown

With Louise off cruising, Tag Tuesday is being hosted this week by Nancy Maxwell James of Sugar Lump Studios. (I loved looking at her blog - very cool, inspiring pieces.) This is my quirky tag for the challenge...it's mostly browns, with a little pink on his dragonfly wings. The background piece of cardstock is covered with vintage photo distress ink and then stamped by first using versamark on the stamp, then spritzing with water before stamping. I love how the water and distress ink react. Image: Lisa's Altered Art, Stamps: Hero Arts and Technique Tuesday.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Dans ma maison il y a ...une clé

This house is for the challenge at Dans ma maison il y a... where this week's challenge is to use a key in your creation. My piece is an ivory tower where the keys to learning open up an entire world of knowledge. I even have a row of 'pearls of wisdom'!

Sunday Postcard Art

This is my postcard for Sunday Postcard Art where this week's challenge is "Blackbird". I used the raven along with some of the other stamps from the new Haunted set by Oxford Impressions. Other stamp credit: frame - All Night Media.

Ready-Steady-STAMP! Challenge 7




This is my project for the Ready-Steady-STAMP! challenge. The ingredient list included: 1:Autumn, 2:Brown, Cream, and Ochre, 3:Staples, 4:Distress inks on glossy paper, and 5:Burlap. I've made this folding piece that fits into an alcohol inked circular tin. I created a background with distress inks and water on glossy paper as directed in the technique slideshow, then stamped and gold embossed a flourish and punched leaves from the background. I had not tried using glossy paper for this before - gives great, vibrant colors. Stamp credits: flourish - Stampers Anonymous, alphabet - Purple Onion Design.

Artistic Outpost 2nd Birthday Celebration

Happy 2nd Birthday to Artistic Outpost! They are having a contest to create a card based on their sketch, using their stamps, and with a fall or birthday theme. (details on their blog HERE). I turned the sketch on it's side, and for the main image I cut out a window and mounted my main image onto the inside of the card for dimension. For the strip along the side of the sketch (or bottom of my turned card) I stamped the maple leaf stamp using distress inks and then spritzing the stamp with water before stamping. I love this technique for multicolored leaves. I used stamps from both the Old Grist Mill and The Outpost sets.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Tag Tuesday - Shabby Chic

This is my Shabby Chic tag for this week's challenge at Tag Tuesday. The Shabby Chic style for me makes me think of Rachel Ashwell's book from the mid-90's "Shabby Chic" where she embraced worn, vintage pieces for her home decor style. I loved the fabrics she used - damasks, muslin, worn floral prints, and the neutral colors and whites. At that time, I was a few years out of college, in my own house, able to decorate however I wanted, and loved shopping at a nearby antique /flea market. I could take what I found - all wonderfully worn with a fantastic story behind it I imagined, and create a home environment that was comfortable and relaxing...and on a budget! - after all I had college loans to pay back. I even slipcovered my couches and chairs in a white damask that became so wonderfully soft and comfy with laundering - so what if I had a black cat!! Quite a long story behind the inspiration for this tag........ I sewed fabrics to a tag edged with crackle paint. I also stamped and heat embossed my ribbon - worked well if you didn't get the heat gun too close, and where I did it curled a bit adding to the overall feel. Stamp credits: Stampington & Company and I Brake for Stamps.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

TGIF - the color white

This is my white project for TGIF. I had so much fun creating it - at first it was puzzling to create a piece essentially with no color, but I decided to mix a bunch of textures instead - you'll see canvas, crackle, handmade paper, gessoed text paper, embossed velvet paper, and white ornate Dresden scrap. There's a subtle flourish stamped onto the flower petals using platinum ink and pearls - hey, they're white! The canvas is edged with a lace strip, but unfortunately I couldn't photograph it well enough to show that so you'll just have to imagine that part.

Art Creations Friday Challenge

This is my project for Art Creations Friday. I used the image for this week and did a gel medium transfer - it worked again!! :-) - onto this cool archway/stage from Paper Whimsy

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Ready-Steady-STAMP Challenge 6

This is my piece for the RSS challenge. Ingredients required are: 1: letter B, 2: pink, white and grey, 3: brackets, 4: masked background, and 5: corrugated cardstock. I thought immediately about the word "bliss" to use for the first ingredient and thought about things that make me content and decided to use music which has such an ability to improve one's mood whether listening or playing it. My masked background uses Glimmer Screens and Glimmer Mists and my alphabet stamp used is from Technique Tuesday.

Tag Tuesday - Birds

Here's my bird tag for Tag Tuesday. I'm sure everyone has had something turn out not as planned...well, I knew I wanted to use a background I just loved that I made by inking an Impressabilities embossing die and running it through the Cuttlebug - a cool letterpress effect. I also wanted to use this bird stamp from Oxford Impressions. So after stamping it onto the blue background and finding it just didn't work, then I resorted to tearing my background and adding other torn pieces. The best find was the piece of sheet music - made me feel better about having to tear up my background!