Unscripted Sketches ..and an art day :)

Time is flying...gees, have I said that before? :)  I had a wonderful Christmas! Looking forward to a creative 2013.  Check out the new sketch at the US blog.  Here is my card.

I used "umbrella man" from the graphics fairy.  I seriously love this guy and HAD to use him.  He is on a "thank you" from TLC creations.  Both free!  I cut u.man out and lined the thank you words and put them on a piece of Christmas dp (fancy pants=holiday sentiments) and some scrap netting.  I plan to use him for a gift thank you this year. Below, I just want to share with you some fun with my nieces yesterday.  We had an "art day" since they were home from school and all. The weather is snowy and cold...I made cookies and we had alot of fun creating...

Lisa...creating a beautiful keep sake box for her boyfriend which will hold mementos of the past year together...

Annie's box....loved her choice of quotes...she is gonna be a great school teacher :)

 And finally ...Kelly...  dancer., cheer leader and sweet heart..she is always smiling just like this! lol  Aspiring arteeeessstteesss!!!

Thanks for looking! 

Last minute handmade ornament

Hey!  Omg...are u crazy busy?  I am.  Whatever happened to "I will do it all much earlier next year"  lol  New challenge at Stampotique challenge blog:  "last minute Christmas ornament for your tree".  I just recently saw this tutorial over at Jill Berry's blog and it jogged my memory.  These little book ornaments are soooo addicting!   I had seen something like this long ago but her post was awesome.  Why not make them the "Stampotique" way?

I used some cereal box card board squares  2.5 x 2.5, two 3" dp scraps, one long 2.25 x 18" colored paper (I used some painty stuff :) ans some ribbon and beads . (Or you can make some paper beads too)

I wrote little Christmas messages inside of them but you can do what you wish....

Stamps used: gog lin, bird lady, wish, flying heart.  They really look cute on the tree and make a nice  keepsake.  On the keepsake note...I made another special one to give for the Christmas exchange at my art group meet up.  I LOVE my art group!

 I am fortunate to be with a great group of very inspiring ladies... :)
I decided to write on the inside all of the different projects we worked on  and our members' names .  Then I made a "treasure box" to keep it in.  :)

  THIS was so fun!  I scrounged up ever little goodie from my stash that I could find to stick on this box!

For a one night project...me likey!!  I think she did too!  Thanks for looking!

Non- tradition Christmas cards for fun!

The wonderfully talented France Papillion is the new" hostess with the most-est " at the dt blog for Stampotique...here is what she has to say.............
"As Christmas is coming closer, it's sad to see how most of the non Christmas themed stamps are neglected! So, how about making a Christmas card, with non traditional stamps?
This might take you out of your comfort zone, but there's help: music! Put some Jingle Bells on and you'll see Christmas in just about any stamp! Have fun!"

This was really a fun challenge for me since I tend to be pretty serious about my Catholic Christian faith and I send mostly religious cards.  This card I made is for some very old friends of ours who my hub and I have shared many laughs with throughout the years...   :)  AND YES..France...I had a blast making it!

I used "sick cat" by Kira Nichols with a little paper piecing and the mini and reg ornament cubes by Daniel Torrente.

Looks a little like Christmas "Stampotique style" uh?  lol   Want another smile today?  Check out what the other girls on the dt did .. Challenge I am in for: Pile it on challenge blog= pile on the embellishments
       Next I just gotta show ya ..dd no. 2 who just got married last New Years eve turned 28 yesterday..ofcourse I had to make her a card....she was only 5 yrs old here....

I ALWAYS try to make one using one of her old pics...   :)  Just some painty scraps and a tag to make this one and she loved it!  I am so proud of her today...gotta brag...

Happy Birthday Hollyanne.....LOVE YOU MORE THEN LIFE.....   YO MAMA!!

Sentimental..

New challenge at the Stampotique dt blog and I will let dt member "Gez" give you the details since she is hosting this fun one:

Hi Gez here, with a brand NEW challenge for you this week and I would like you
ALL to get sentimental! I love to add sentiments to my artwork whether I am
cardmaking or art journaling. To me a simple sentiment can say it all..
Stampotique Originals have a lovely selection of sentiments to suit all
occasions and tastes and as you would expect from Stampotique some out of the
norm sentiments too!
So, it's time to get creative and share your favourite sentiments with us.
Have fun!
Here is MY card using "love travels.."

I have gessoed some vintage music paper on to cs and sprayed it thru a stencil.  I then distressed inked thru another Christmas stencil on top.  I cut the sentiment up and stapled it on. ALSO...Stampotique is sponsoring a challenge over at the "wicked Wednesday atc challenge blog"... What a fun blog to participate in!  The theme is "wings" :

 

I used "birds of a feather"  that I stamped on some glossy cs that I had alcohol-inked up.  I colored with some FC markers and a white uniball pen.  TFL! 

Altered Arts magazine :) FREEBIE alert!

If you havent seen Altered Arts magazine now is the time to catch a freebie for the Holiday!  Oh,,..did I mention?...my creation is on the COVER?  lol   Yeppers- Details inside the mag :)

Moving right along this first weekend in December...Advent begins and wow...cant believe we are at the end of 2012.  I made a quick and easy card for the new sketch challenge at the Unscripted Sketches blog...

I fell in love with the "Doodle Deux" Prima collection of papers..  This is "screaming bunny"  (cant ever get enough of this cute guy) and I paper pieced him and cut him out.  The "oh.em.gee." is a NEW stamp from a company I just found out about called "Mama Elephant". Pretty cute stuff :)  Thanks for looking!

Snow time !

Well...frost time here so far!  Skimming thru my reader I saw this cute snow man image that "A day for daisies" was offering up for free to use in their challenge.  I printed him up and colored with copics and placed him on a kraft tag.  I cut up some dp scraps and sewed on the bottom along with some washi tapes.  The tag was painted a bit and sprayed with ink.

So, I say once painty..stay painty and make something else...did some journaling in my mini book.  I used only one stamp (swirl stalks) from Stampotique.  Thinking of Christmas I had a few thoughts to record..

Gosh...have I mentioned I LOVE to journal?      Just want to keep learning!  Thanks for looking!

Painting..

All "turkeyied up" yet?  he he he!  Been practicing alot of art journaling and painting here.  The new challenge going on at Stampotique is being hosted by "Nellie" and she is asking us to use paint on our creations...any paint whether it be acrylics or even watercolor.  Easy?  Go have fun with it!
I was thinking a bit about Christmas at my house...

I did a little silly journaling about my family. :)  I used acrylics and gesso along with some TH inks.  I also used "stringed lights", "X-Mas oranment cube" , "art lives here" and "oh...tree" all from Stampotique. 
Along with my paints I used some washi tapes, CW stencils, sequin waste and a small tag and punched out page tab from a sheet.  Alot of fun just playing.
Below is some fun envelope art I made starting out using the new sketch at the Unscripted Sketches blog:

Images:  "swirl stalks", "gobby lin", "wee owl"

Yep...couldnt stop at one...so I made another two!  Images here..."scooter girl" (I tangled her first)  and "steam punk border"

Last.."gog lin" and "gobby lin" and "small ornament cube".  Linking up to :  "paint party Friday" 
and "art journal everyday"

Saturday at Unscripted Sketches

Hello!  Its a sunny weekend here once again!  :)  Is Christmas really coming? 
Here's my card for the new challenge at the  US blog...
These guys cant believe Santa is gonna make it....

Havent had much time to do art jounaling this past week so a card  (small work area  :) will have to fill the need...he he he!
I used images from the stamp "line up" by Kira Nichols at Stampotique. The back ground was done with some stencils (creative workshop), acrylics, TH inks, star punch and copics on my critters.  TFL!
I am linking to : paint party friday! and Art journal everyday.

SDC74: Nature

SDC74: Nature

Nellie is our hostess today at the Stampotique challenge blog.. and here is what she has challenged our players with:

I love all things nature! Right now it’s autumn here and I think nature is at it’s best this time of the year. All those stunning colors, falling leaves, mushrooms and a very special atmosphere and smell.

So I chose “Nature” as theme for this week’s challenge. Think flowers, trees, bugs, bees, birds, mushrooms, leaves or any thing else you want to use that reflects. I can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

I am thinking SNOW..lol..yes, its coming and so is Christmas.  I used "hug monster" and yes...he is an animal you know! :)

I wanted to work on some water color paper and use my TH inks.  The snow flakes are from a random stencil and I did a little sewing after coloring and cutting out Hug monster.  He is in the Christmas spirit!  TFL!

Happy Saturday !

Hello- happy Saturday and I am esp happy to see a beautiful day here of sunshine and 55 degrees.   Here is my  card for the new sketch at the Unscripted Sketches blog:

A while back I received a "rak" from the sweet Gini in the UK and it included this wonderful pack of images from Crafty idividuals.  I hoard them so I broke down and used one on this card.  I also used dp from BG pad "fact"..love this stuff too.  The muted yellows in this pad are gorgeous.  I stamped over part of the dp (left bottom) with an old Hampton art letter stamp..I think it is called "diffusion".

Challenges I am in for:
'Fab n Funky'= bingo, using distressing, Vintage, twine
'Alsorts challenge blog= young at heart, youthful image
Papertake weekly= anything goes
Thanks for looking today :)  

SDC 73 "hanging or home decor"

  As I write this post and set it to post tomorrow morn I wonder if we will know who our new president will be...This election will tell which way our country is headed MORE  then ever...two drastically different paths could be taken....I hope everyone gets out and VOTES.  I am thankful that I live in a country where I am free to do just that.....  nuff  said  :) 
Stampotique dt member Sam Read has challenged us to make some sort of hanging or home decor item this week.  This is cool since my dd has just moved into her first home. :) I picked up a canvas and collage pauged, sewed and decorated some dp on it.  I stamped "picture door"  and colored it with some copics and cut it out. I placed it on some book print type cs and sewed around it.  The dp included scraps from my lcs and some bg papers.  I made the flowers by just randomly cutting circles and sewing around them and distressing the edges with ink.  The stems and leaves were also just cut out free hand ( I like the look) and I used some letter stickers to write "Jamie's crib" on top of the door and  home on the bottom left.  The Vintage buttons are from a local antq store.

Trying to keep with not spending a fortune I found a black shadow box ( 60% off) in Michaels and the framer person took it apart , put in some of those plastic lift bars and popped in my canvas.  He then even finished the back off for me.  :)
Yay!  Finished product after glass...................

 

Thanks for looking ! 

tangled enthusiasm!, US blog and a funny b-day card to share

(*for some reason my blog is not letting me link today - see side bars for links ...   Let your heart be "light"!  Using the new sketch from the Unscripted Sketches blog I made my card with "tangled enthusiasm" from Stampotique.

Is he hilarious or what?  He is colored with copic markers on a piece of stamped cs.  I used a very small tag punch for the "outlet" on the wall and punched 2 holes in it.  Where did those tiny weird ornaments come from you ask??...the new mini Christmas ornament cube also at Stampotique.  I did stamp them on another piece of paper and very carefully cut them out since I wasnt sure where I would be placing them.  Sentiment is from a sentiment sticker sheet. 
challenge: "raise the bar blog" = anything goes...
Changing holidays for a moment...allow me to show you a quick pic of a birthday card I made for my son-in-law..his birthday falls on Halloween so I try to make something funny for him.....forgive the lousy pic tho..

I got an old school pic of his and cut the head out..(that sounds bad..) then placed it on top of "lovelyarethesound" #6147 Stampotique that I had stamped on top of some ink sprayed and stenciled paper.  I also printed and cut out the heads of a couple of my kids and a skeleton then hung them on top!  My dd who is his wife is seen as the bunny face below.  I used Halloween cube pumpkins and sun design too.  I think he liked it even tho I actually FORGOT to bring the cake  :(  Yep, left it in the freezer at home...bwahhhhhh!  He is coming for dinner Sunday so we will celebrate again! Thanks for looking and commenting :)
challenges=  creative belli - Halloween..I used some book print on the bottom I have been hoarding..


 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  Hope everyone is planning a fun night!  I really dont like to see this day come and go so quick since it means the beginning of the end of Fall for me.. :(  I seriously wait all year for this beautiful season so I try to just take in as much as I can while it is here.  Our spooky night started a bit early here in Ohio.  The night before we had heard we would have some high winds because of "Sandy" but we never expected this.....

After all...we are in Ohio!  Remember?  Yikes...thats my youngest son's car under the pine tree....
We had three pines down...all of which are very old and VERY tall.  Lots of clean up coming our way I'm afraid and it is still raining as I type this.  On to the NEW challenge at the Stampotique blog     Astrid  is asking for a "funny" Halloween creation.  Who doesnt love that?  I made a tag and then put some magnets on it so my daughter could hang it on her frig...

.

I sprayed some inks on and stenciled with some distress inks for the background. Then stamped "heads" on top.  I stamped "corie", "Frankie" and "skull boy" and cut them out .  They were colored with some random markers and popped up on the tag.  I also made my own tattered looking flower for the top and did some sewing from it.  White dots are from my uniball pen. Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy a festive evening....

Unscripted Saturday..

Unscripted Sketches for today:

New sketch at the US blog and here is what I did with it:
         I had previously applied some mat-
   medium on tissue paper to my journal and
   inked it up.  I wasnt ready for a Christmas
page yet  tho the sketch definitely lends it self
to one!  Still.. the "cones" had to be trees in my mind !
I did some inking on them and sewing before I put them in the book.  The cute circle pics were cut out from a wonderful Halloween inchie sheet from ARTchixStudio.com  and Altered Arts magazine kit club. I am linking up with Art Journal everyday. and Paint Party Friday.  I love this time of year best of all and I am sad Halloween will be over soon ..  Have a great weekend and Halloween night.