Altered Brush Project

Hello,
I had the pleasure of taking some mixed media classes with the one and only Donna Downey recently and it inspired me to work on and finish the altered brush project that I'd signed on for last summer. You can read about the project on the Donna Downey Studios website: go to her blog. I hope you choose to participate. She posts pictures of the ones she gets back, so there's your chance at being published. *smile*. I just mailed mine on Friday, so I'm hoping when she gets back from her world travels, she'll put it up on her blog.

When I ordered the paintbrush I knew what I wanted to do with it. I'm not sure if it qualifies as mixed media but it certainly was "altered" with paint, yarn and beads, so maybe? She's a hula girl. The bristles looked to me like a perfect grass skirt. Hula girls are stereotypically voluptuous so I went with it. She has a top cut from flowered fabric, I made her lei with beads and paper flowers and her hair was made with eyelash yarn and a tassel making tool. She even has a belly button and a word tattoo on her hip. It came together easily after the layers of gesso and tan and green paint, thanks to my trusty glue gun.

Hope you enjoyed the peek. So glad that is off my to do list!

Have a nice week!

Hi all!

Nothing like late notice....

Tomorrow (Weds, Jan 23rd) is the air date of Martha Stewart's segments on HSN, the Home Shopping Network. They are scheduled to air at 4am, 7am and 12 noon EST. I'm not positive, but I think the patterned paper segment is during the noon hour. If I'm right, all my projects will be on the table for that segment. Although the papers have a love theme to them, I created cards, boxes, flowers, a scrapbook layout and more with themes besides Valentines Day. I hope you have a chance to watch!

I should be able to show some pictures of these projects after they've aired, so stay tuned.

Thanks for checking in,
*smile*

A new year, a new card...

Happy new year to you. I've been absent because I started working as a design team member at EK Success. I go in a few days a week and work on various projects. Some are for Martha Stewart's HSN products (I will alert you later this month when we have our January show coming up.) Some are for new packaging for EK Tools. It's a dream job so I'm still pinching myself to see if I'm dreaming. *smile* I will be posting some of the projects in the near future so continue to tune in.

While on vacation though, I had to make a few birthday cards for friends so I relied on a design that is quick and easy. (A tutorial can be found in the sidebar under "Pages".) I used a pad of Recollections paper that had a nice weight and cool patterns on a kraft background. There was also nice gold embossing that added a snazzy touch to the resulting card.

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of the solid kraft, then matted it twice and popped it up with foam squares.  I glued down the front panel on just three sides so that I could slip a gift card in the resulting pocket.

And as you can see from this angle, I used smaller pieces of the same papers for my greeting inside.

After I made my diagonal cut, I realized that if I wanted maximum exposure of the patterned side, it required folding the card unconventionally. Let's just call it serendipity.

Before I go, I just have to share some good news. I was told that this card that I submitted to my gallery last July over at Splitcoast Stampers, was chosen as one of the Favorites of 2012. I've got a big smile on my face over that fact.

Thanks for visiting!

Caring Thoughts

I needed a sympathy card and didn't have a lot of time so I reached for the prettiest glittery paper (from the same KandCo pad that I used for my in-laws anniversary card), cut it down to size and then stamped an old Hero Arts sentiment. I wanted to keep the sentiment small so I grabbed a label punch by Stampin 'Up but the entire sentiment "With Caring Thoughts" didn't fit. I found that if I limited it to "Caring Thoughts," it did fit. A quick punch and done. Even better was that the backside of my pretty paper was a colorful pattern of stripes that worked perfectly for the inside of my card. I used the stripes as a guide for my handwritten note. Perfect.

It reminds me of the type of cards that you can buy in a boxed set, but by making my own, I'm not committed to 10 of the same cards in the future.

Frugal tip: Cut 4"x 5-1/4" rectangles from your leftover papers so you have panels that are ready to go when you need a quick card. Oh, and if your paper is double-sided and you can cut two panels, you may be able to use one to coordinate the inside of your card.

Have a nice day!

Oh Crab...

A belated birthday card for a cousin. Again, Paper Smooches came through. How did they know that from time to time I need that sentiment from Chubby Chum Pals? The little crab comes from the PS set called Surf and Turf. When I saw his little claws, it reminded me of the "L" people make with their thumb and forefinger to represent the word "loser" and I had to use it to express a little self-deprecating humor at my forgetting her birthday. Lol. I love creating scenes on cards, as you may know, so it was fun to use sky, water and sand papers to make this little beach scene. It made my cousin laugh. Whew! I'm forgiven. *smile*

Coming up next, a sympathy card that proves you don't need much time or product to make a pretty card.

Happy Bird-day....

A birthday card for a relative that has 6 cats. I thought a silly one that incorporated a Paper Smooches (PS) Party Posse cat hanging out with my favorite Ippity bird stamps would bring a smile. Accompanied by the perfect sentiment from PS' Birthday Buddies. Oh, and how can I not give credit to that Stampin' Up paper from the Big Top line that gave me all those pretty banners. I did have to add the numbers 6 and 1 to the banner flags to customize it more.

Coming soon, a belated birthday card....

*smile*

A Special Anniversary

Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans, said John Lennon. So true. I've been busy outside of the craft room until recently so finally I have some projects to share.

My in-laws are an amazing couple. At 88 and 89, they are still vibrant and active and enjoying themselves. They just marked their 68th wedding anniversary so that called for more than just a card. I put together a small accordion album with just 4 photos to illustrate the fact that I think they are still the glamourous couple they've always been. I used photos from their early years and a recent one as well to prove that. I had a K&Co paper pad with lovely embossed patterns to use for the outside (squares of paper glued to cereal box cardboard) and a different pattern for the insides. Black pages folded and glued together formed the accordion pages for the photos. Seam binding, a pocket embellishment and some acrylic numbers added the final touches. They loved it!

So easy. I hope it inspires you to try one.

Thanks for visiting. I do have a few cards to share with you in the next few days, so check back....

*smile*