Happy New Years and 20 years

Wow another year gone and what did I do?
This year will be a more productive year around the house, organizing, cleaning out and maybe talk JB into wall papering the kitchen. Time for some fresh beginnings, rearrange furniture in a square foot challenged house and tyding up things that have either been forgotten or put on a lengthy to do list that never gets done.
I would also like to explore some new avenues in my art, since my big fall show is no longer taking place I will have to find a couple more places to sell my wares at Christmas. I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to sell my things at HomeSpun Hill but now it is time to move on and perhaps expose my art in other avenues and meet up with like minded people. I did enjoy painting primitive style and folk art but I would like to touch on other subjects as well and since this is now open to me I think I will try some different styles.
I have a couple challenges set  for this year, one is to make a greeting card a day so when Christmas arrives next year I will have almost 365 cards completed. Usually if I sit to make one I do try to make another one, and the plan is if I miss a day then the day I do make cards I will make up for that lost day. I will keep you all posted to hopefully you can encourage me to keep this challenge going. Sometimes I mean well but then I get distracted or no longer interested.
The second challenge is to start painting for my fall shows earlier and not wait til September or late August like I have done the last couple of years. My goal is to make enough for Christmas shopping and that is all I really want to do but with the price of things now a days you really need to have a nice little supply.
Currently over at The Friendly Palette one of our members suggested we make a list of 20 things to be completed in 20 days or basically for the month of January. I started a list and didn't quite get 20 things yet but I have completed 2 and almost a 3rd item. This is part of my clean out and tidy up part of my resolution.
I really don't believe in resolutions much, resolutions are like rules meant to be broken. People mean well and have great enthusiasm at first but like me get distracted or disinterested but having a list like a grocery list is more my style. So perhaps I can call it my New Years List.

Jan 1 also marks JB and I being together 20 years. Wow, where has the time gone?. We have spent a lot of time together, we are best friends and will do anything we need for each other. My partner in life, Happy Anniversary JB.

And to all my Blogging friends and family have a safe and Happy New Year.
May you all be blessed with good health, love and a prosperous New Year.

Now off to get ready for Canada Juniors to play the US in the world cup tournament of hockey.
Go Canada Go.....

The True Meaning of Christmas

Luke 2:1-14

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests"

Merry Christmas and may you find peace, health and happiness in the New Year.

XO

Paper Roses gift box

If I know some of artist blog friends who followed Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas, these will be very familiar. Tim made his roses out of grungepaper but I wasn't lucky enough to have any so I made these beauties out of regular cardstock. Unfortunately the picture does not really show the distressing very well. I also lack paper cutting machines so off to cyber space looking for a flower template for a 6 petal flower. After a few processes of elimination I found one.

If you use the bottom left hand flower it is the perfect shape for roses.

You might want to put this in an editing program crop the flower then resize to make your rose.

My size was about 1 3/4 inches, remember the layer of the rose will eventually get smaller as you follow Tim's tutorial but the base size is great for this. I found 2 inches was a tad too big.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

I painted the box in a copper metallic acrylic paint, then I spread non washable dollar store glue on the lid and the side of the box, applied Antique White acrylic paint over top with a sponge and watched it crackle. Oh I love this look. I then Modged some hymnal music on the lid under the roses but first inked the edges of the torn paper. Glued the roses on. The leaves I drew out and made a template so I can later just trace aroud it. I inked the edges of my grunged green scrap paper with Distress Frayed Burlap then glued them in place. I also added a bit of Stickles Diamond glitter to the folds of the roses

. You want to smell them that is how nice they look.

I didn't do the centers quite like Tim, I am a quiller as well so I put my quilling tool to good use and was able to get some nice folds in the centers.

Not bad for paper I say.

Thanks for Tim's tutorial.

This little box will be holding a nice little Christmas pressie for a good friend.

Thank you for looking.

altered Christmas cards

This past week I have been pretty much a hermit, staying at home with the lack of hot water the beginning of the week, only to find that whoever called in the problem said we had some hot water so we were not a priority. So to make that long story short we finally had to have an element replaced and then had to wait 2 hours for a full tank of hot water. That was one welcome shower I tell you.

Then we had a winter blast of snow, ice, rain, more snow then wind. Now it is just plain cold. Winter has arrived and Lesley tends to hibernate like a bear.

I have come to realize  there is only 2 weeks left til Christmas and here I am putzing away still making cards.

I thought I would show you a  few I have had fun making.

My friend Jeanie over at All My Artist Trading Cards sent me an email the last couple days and showed me some pictures of some future swap possibilities. One of them was trees that you can cut and make into any theme, the ones posted in her email were Santa trees. Well I wasn't really up to do any swapping but the tree idea sparked some creativity of my own for come cards. I had some collaged paper on cardboard hanging around waiting for something to be done with it and I applied some white paint over top to tone down the papers, I used mostly text and some scraps of printed papers. Lo and behold it is great to have some saved items for projects like these.

I cut 3 different sized trees, stamped them then I took oil pastels and just on the edges of the trees I ran colours, then rubbed with my fingers to just darken the edges and left the centers lighter. I then took a gold gel pen and went around the edge of them, you probably can't see that in the photo. Another option you could emboss with golds, bronzes or whichever colour scheme you are going with.

I also made a round ornament, cut a circle usinga shot glass to make it round added the top part, cut it out and voile' you have a round ornie, stamp, do the same but this time I added a vintage girl looking up and the other ornie a vintage lady.

The Joy tag, if you are following Tim Holtz's blog he did this remarkable tag using grungeboard letters, metal sheet, I used metal tape Jeanie sent me a while back then he used alcohol inks to colour. I don't have all the paper accessory luxuries so I just used acrylic paints and did my own thing. This is what I came up with and I quite like it.

Now to decide who gets what card, I probably will be a little late getting cards out.

 I tried to do a bit of decorating today, had to clean up the floor after some furniture got moved for me to put the tree up.

Hopefully this weekend JB and I will get ourselves in the Christmas mood after we see the house decorated and snow has finally come.

Thank you for looking and I hope I have inspired you to use some of your scraps and make do's for your cards or creations.

Away in a Manger

Over at Inchy by Inch challenge blog this weeks theme and final for the year is Christmas Carol.

I decided to paint my inchie, I was in a miniature painting mood today and I decided to paint this to reflect one of my favourite Christmas carols, Away in a Manger.

Space was small do I didn't do a lot of detail but as one of my favourite artist, Jerry Yarnell would say, you create a suggestion, so here I created a manger with a baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes. and the Star of David shining brightly as my suggestion. :)

Remember the true meaning of Christmas, it really didn't start with good deals at Walmart or Best Buy but rather a tiny babe in a manger a gift to all of us from God.

I would like to thank Fiona the hostess over at Inchy by Inch for all the work that she does to run this fun blog challenge and to all the girls I have met over there that share the same art interests as I do.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Addicted to inchies

Over at the Yahoo Group I help moderate, Addicted to Inchies, we have a couple of things going on this month.

The first picture is a distress background swap that we were to use distress inks to create these lovely backgrounds. If you follow Tim Holtz blog at all you know what this is all about. It is very easy and quick to do, drying time takes way too long for me so I hit the paper with my heat tool. Love that gem.

I decided to make all my inchies featuring girls or women. Some of the backgrounds I have stamped, some I left and some I added a few beads for some texture and interest.

And these little fellas are for our Dec. Lottery. We make 3 inchies in the picked theme then at the end of the month everyone that entered and made inchies, is entered into Random.Org and a lucky person receives all the inchies. No money spent, but a lot if cool inchie art.

I decided to paint my snowmen. I designed these myself and just loved how they turned out. I hope the winner enjoys them as much as I did making them.

Thanks for looking and till next time,

stay safe and warm, winter is upon us now in Eastern Ontario.

HoHoHo in Stouffville

        Yesterday I took off to Stouffville north of Toronto to visit Mumsy and Thom and the 2 cats.

I had a wonderful time. We shopped, had lunch in a Thai restaurant, shopped some more, met a lovely Italian couple where we had real cappucino and I was even taught how to make it and received from this new found friend Jessie a little pot from Italy to make it in. Wowsa talk about good.

We had a nice dinner out last night then came home to chat and visit.

This morning I was awakened to being served cappucino Mum made, in bed. Wow talk about a little spoilage happening. Might have to do this again sometime soon. :)

Mum and I went shopping in a different little town and I met some wonderful people Mum has gotten to know, had a wonderful lunch again then we returned to Stouffville to shop just a bit more.

My time to leave was coming near so we got the car all packed up, and I mean packed, trunk full back seat, front seat, you name it, I might have had it.

Thom gave me some wonderful items, a large wooden spool, I have ideas for that, a huge tin pale, a cast iron vase on a pedestal, a terra cotta cat for the deck next summer and a milk can and ......a huge crock with a lid. Mom and Thom thank you soooo very much for your hospitality and love.

Thom and I had a good couple of laughs at the expense of Mum, poor Mumsy but she took it in good stride.

Wonder if that item will appear tonight now that I am gone. he he

Now that I have given Mum this box I can show you what I painted for her.

This is a rectanguar box with a lid, it is not hinged, and I know Mum loves old world Santa's. This is more a primmy Santa but he has an armful of toys and such. I mixed the background paint for a vintage look then painted this Katrina Roncin design on it. I also filled the box with some little treasures, my inchie Santa cube, a notebook I altered, and some Christmas cards I made.

This item I wanted her to have before Christmas so don't go peeking into you bags now that I am gone. I might have to get Thom to keep tabs on her, if it were me you would want to lock those up because I would want to feel and smell everything. I am just just a little kid with packages that just cry out to be opened. Perhaps that is why JB won't put my pressies out til Dec. 24 because he knows I can't stand just to look.

2 can play at that game tho. He he

Today Mum and I also got our picture taken with Santa so as soon as Mother sends it to me, hint hint, I will post it here. We couldn't do it before because of circumstances such as they were so we did it today. He was a nice Santa too.

Thanks again Mum and Thom, Alley and Sophie for having me and all the wonderful things you do for me.

I love you.

Also for rescuing me when I got a little lost. Ooops we won't go there right now, it is another story and would take a while to explain that one.

Thank goodness for cell phones is all I can say.

Good night.

Merry Christmas cards

As promised I am showing you some cards that I made a few days ago. One evening while not much was on tv I sat and got a number of cards made. This angel card I stamped with a gold stamp pad then I sprinkled on some gold glitter embossing powder. You can't see it here but it is so glittery and the details in the stamp really show up nicely. I added a bit of gold ribbon at the top and smudged some gold ink on the edges of the card as well.

And some snowmen always have to make an appearance in my house over the holidays. I made a few of these cards. I used some snowflake brads and various papers and ribbons.

I also did this in a Christmas green colour with the snowman's scarf in green and red and it turned out soo cute.

And this last card, sorry the pic is so small, I made an altered Santa. I just love these long tall pointy hats.

I made the " 25" stamp out of fun foam, put a little glue stick glue on the numbers and placed it on my acrylic stamping blog then stamped on the paper. I just love how it turned out and I will be making more of my own stamps out of fun foam from here on.

I have some new things I want to do and try in the new year with canvas. I purchased a book by artist Alisa Burke called " Canvas Remix" and she has some wonderful techniques and ideas using canvas, painting stamping the making purses and art.

Well that's it for now.

I finished a painted project today for my Mumsy and will take a pic of it to show you all later.

I might have to wait till I give it to her this weekend before I share it online here.

It was a little more time consuming than I expected but it turned out so nice, it was well worth it.

Just a little HoHo for her Santa collection.

Thank you  to those that left comments and prayers for me and my family  in my last post.

The power of prayer is a wonderful thing!!!!

 

Ho Ho on Harmony

Hi blogger friends,
well it has been a busy and rather stressful last few days.
I got a call from a dearAunt yesterday to tell me my Uncle is in the hospital in the last stages of life. Uncle John had cancer years ago and it was removed but this summer he was not feeling well and now he is terminal. I feel so bad when I can't give relatives hugs on the phone to comfort them, my Aunt lives the other side of Canada in Victoria, BC so it just felt so odd and awkward to say the least. It is very hard to find the right words to say.
I then proceeded to call my older brother and tell him the news, he lives on the Eastern end of Canada and I find out his stint in his artery didn't work and they are replacing it today. So not only did I get sad news I got worrysome news. I haven't heard anything yet today but I know it must have gone as planned because big Bro said he would call me Wed when he got home. So a lot of prayers are being said for family members and my thoughts are with my Aunt and family.

And today being Dec 1, I woke up to snow on the ground, it wasn't much but it stayed for a while.
I went out today and proceeded to hit the stores before chaos broke out. I found some really good deals and even went to some new stores to check out their goods. I have the majority of my shopping done now, maybe another afteroon and I should be finished.
Now I must get one box ready for the UK and one to my Dear Dad in Victoria BC.

On the crafty news, I have been making Christmas cards, stamping some gifts, and painting a few gifties too. Since I know one of my daily readers is my Mother I can't show you because it wouldn't be a surprise then would it???? I know you come every day Mummy, Santa watches too you know.  :)
I will be posting some Santa inchies and my Christmas cards very soon. Please stay tuned.
Good night all.

Happy Thanksgiving

to all my friends in the US. I wish you all happiness, and love and being together on this special day.
Blessings to you all.
and....don't eat too much turkey. :)

Inchy by Inch Challenge

Over at Inchy by Inch this weeks challenge is present...so here is my little take on an inchie present.
This is an inchie cube and on all four sides I have put a santa, some with some very cute hats. You can't have presents unless you have a Santa to deliver them and of course he has to determine whether you have been "naughty or nice". In my case there shouldn't be any question to that statement, I am always nice...so I have not doubt in my mind that Santa will be visiting me this year. No lumps of coal for me.....tee hee.

Gifty idea....altered notepads

Last weekend while I was visiting my girlfriend we did a few of these notepads and thought I would share them with you here. These come 4 in a pack at the dollar store and very easy to alter. I have used images from the internet, different papers, old book pages, flowers, even real pansies from my garden and well you get the idea. I have since made a few more when I got home and plan to keep making them to have a few on hand. Make some holiday themed or a certain theme your recipient might like. This is a great way to use up those pieces you don't want to throw out, you never throw out if you are a crafter or paper artist. That small piece could come in handy some day......
These would make a great little teacher gift, a stocking stuffer or just a because gift. Look around and see what you can alter you may be surprised and a little handmade gifty is always appreciated, I know I sure love them when I receive them.
Thank you for looking and off to make some more button fairies.
To be contined another day and another time.

Spouting off.....

Well it was time for some new tires on my Monte Carlos and I shopped around for a deal. Well the deal was good but let me tell you I was not impressed with how long I had to wait to have them put on. I thought when I called and the guy asked me " what time are you coming" that signaled to me that I was making an appt so that when I came I would be taken at that time...would you not think???? I said to him I will be there for 11am (this was yesterday I called) and I was there but 11 am this morning.....well lets just say when I arrived it looked a bit busy but I got there and gave my info at the desk and the gentleman said it will be done by 1pm. So now I am stranded but good thing there was a store attached, (not going to mention the name of the store here but every city has one and this was a Superstore and it starts with W and endd in a T...) Ok you got it I am sure. So I wander around, then I go to another little plaza close by, come back my car is still on the hoist, I asked for a lube, oil and filter as well, so that is only a 15 minute job or so....At 2pm my car is just having it's tires put on. The old tires are just being removed.....are you kidding me???? how can that be.....I was not impressed and even tho the 4 tires were a good price and all season radials I was getting a little hot under the collar but I kept my cool. I didn't even ask what the problem was.....I just shook my head a few times, even called JB at work to let him know what was going on, JB said that 4 tires should only take about an hour, with balancing etc. The guy at the desk finally called my name and said to me to return to have the tires checked after 50km. I said well do I need to make an appt, because I don't want to wait 3 hours again just to have that done...oh no , in fact I can do that myself and you wont' have to wait. We are very sorry. Ok almost 400.00 later....no don't think I will be going back there again.
It would be ok if I had someone to drop me off and then I could get a ride back with someone but that wasn't happening, JB works arcross town and does deliveries etc so that just wasn't going to be possible.
Anyways that is my ramble for the day. I kept my cool but sorry W----Mart, you won't be getting my business again.

On a better note I will be posting my notebooks I altered after my batteries get charged up. This was a very inexpensive little project, a quick gift or great stocking stuffer idea. Some of these I even made special for some family members in the UK. Stay tuned for my next paper idea.

More Button Fairies with a twist and textured inchies

As promised in my post yesterday I mentioned I had a couple more button fairies but a little bit different.

I learned to quill from a good friend Kathy a few years ago, I was always amazed at what she would send me with quilled ornaments, cards etc. Our Friendly Pallette group met for the first time (we all met online) in Ottawa Ontario almost 3 years ago. Kathy brought each of us a starter quilling kit and I jumped right on it.  Vist Kathy's site here and see what kind of creations she does with quilling.

I have not done a lot of quilling of late but I am getting edgy to get back into it. These wings I got from an idea, I had   a  few dragon flies I had made and set aside for cards and so I thought these would be great  to make for my button fairies. I crimped the paper first then I made each individual wing then when the fairy was assembled I glued the wing pieces to the back and then flipped them over and put Stickles on the wings edges for that bit of shimmer.

I loved how these turned out. I wonder where these will end up. Who knows.....but I can always hangthem and enjoy them myself if all else fails.

And over at Inchy by Inch this weeks challenge is texture.

I thought the tissue paper technique and painted and stamped paper towel would fall into this category. The background of the tissue has been sprayed with a gold shimmer and really adds a nice sparkle to this glamorous inchie. The green painted paper towel has some gold paint applied and a green flourish stamp.

Well tonight is Stir Fry and I should go get a fire lit before the boy comes home from work.

Stay tuned and have a great evening my blog friends.

Button Fairies and inchies

These are so much fun to make and very addicting, these are Button Fairies that I am making for an upcoming swap for Christmas ornaments over at ATC for Beginners Yahoo Group.

I have always wanted to try to make them but always something else to do or get a swap done or just forgot about doing. I seem to have a never ending want-to-do list.

There are many resources out there to make these, they are relatively easy and a great way to use up buttons, and scraps, beads and a bit of bling.

I appologize for the poor pics, I scanned today instead of using the camera which does not do these any justice whatsoever.

I like to curl the tails on my fairies, they take on a whole new look.

Tomorrow I will complete some new fairies with a slightly different take on them.

Stay tuned

And here are some painted and stamped snowmen inchies for the Inchies onexone Yahoo Group.

These are for the month of November lottery. We have contributors to the lottery then those name are put into Random.Org and a winner is picked and they receive all the inchies. I only had to make 3 but when it comes to snowmen I can't stop. 3 are handpainted freehand by me and 2 are stamped.

I wonder who will be the lucky winner.

We have to wait to the end of the month to find out.

For every door that closes...

a window opens. This I believe to be true, this weekend I found out that the craft show that I submit to which is an open house concept has done it's last show. I found this out via email and was a little surprised but then again the hostess and her family and business partner have been doing this show for over 20 years.
So today I went to a local craft show which was small in nature but is close to a lot of craft shows going on in the area. I stopped in to take a look around and also to see the inside of this incredible house. It used to be an old stone school house and I was in total awe of it.
Anyways, to make a rather long story shorter, I met the woman who was kind enough to talk to me about the set up of her show and I submitted my name so that I hopefully can be a participant next year. I have left my blog addy with her also so perhaps after viewing some of my artwork here I will be a lucky girl. We can only hope and pray. :)
And....I picked up my inventory after 4pm today at the Victorian Splendor craft show and sale and I was pleasantly suprised at how little I had left over. I always do quite well but this year I didn't get started til after my hand surgery and just my lack of enthusiasm at the time and I had 2 small boxes of items left. So I was quite pleased. Now I just have to wait for my cheque, then, I have a new book I would like to purchase, afterall all that work and I deserve a little something, then Christmas shopping begins.
For all of you who have cheered me on and commented on my artwork, thanks so much, I really do appreciate all your kindness, it makes it all worth while.

And.....I was away Friday and part of Saturday to my girlfriend whom I became really great friends with when I worked at medical laboratory years ago. We have been great friends and are like minded, we share so much she is more like a sister than a friend. Anyways we did a little craft and I will be showing them another post but we did some altered notepads for either your purse or just a nice little stocking stuffer or even give to a teacher. They are just those ringed notebooks with lined pages, great for shopping or grocery lists etc.
It was fun but it sure was a whirlwind of a trip. A good time was had by all.

Lest We Forget....

Today I would like to pay tribute in keeping with Remebrance Day to all the men and women who have served our country and paid ultimate sacrifices so that we could live in a safe, free and democratic society.
I bowed my head in silence for 1 minute shortly after 11am and I would like to end this post with a very familiar poem....

 In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)

Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Please take a moment and pay tribute to our brave Soldiers past and present.

Ink resist background ATC's

My newest addiction for backgrounds is from that book we got and I did the Versamark ink resist backgrounds on glossy photo paper. I have never tried this before and when I got our ATC background book and read the directions I immediately was intrigued. Didn't take me long to get addicted to this one, thanks to Gwenny for the background.

Here I have done a cute little girl that has a Post Carde stamp on the background inked with distress dye ink in Cracked China and Frayed Burlap. Amazing how these ink colours work together.

This cute little girl is looking for someone to speak French to. Don't ask me girlie, I know very little.

And of course can't go without doing at least an Asian theme or two.

Here I used Fire Brick and Antique photo distress ink. Gives it a nice exotic background feel. I strung some beads I received in a swap recently with a few little asian coins as well.

The title of this card is " My 2 yens worth".

And this card I used Frayed Burlap distress ink and not as much Fired Brick. This woman doesn't have a clue what happened to the crow...a little mishap I would say??

She says....." See NO Evil"

Thank you for stopping by.

Have a great weekend.

ATC Background book and Inchie book

The first picture below is a combination of Artists that have done various backgrounds for ATC.

Our group ATC for Beginners were involved in doing a background swap. So we each did a background or several and then made the number of people that signed up and we each got a set. Here is a wonderful book of backgrounds that I have been admiring and even doing since I received my lovely gem.

The hostess, Jen from Australia and a new member Tina got the idea and took it from there.

It is amazing how far this book has travelled, how many hands worked on it and we all got a set.

The book is not together because I wanted to spread it out for you to see. I will be assembling it this weekend.

I forgot to mention that most of the backgrounds have instructions on the back to tell us how to do each technique.

Thank you for all who participated. We plan on adding to it in the future.

Having that said, I took some of the ideas from the book and played around with paper and stamps etc to make this nice little inchie book.

We recently had an inchie booklet swap over at Addicted to Inchies. so I was still in this frame of mind. I like working in small, it is relaxing and it really sparks my creativity.

All the pages in this book have been altered in some way, shape or form. I even added another technique not included in the book that Jen had on her blog using masking tape and pastels. I will explain that another time as there is just too much to tell you right now.

This is the Front and Back cover. The front has telephone book paper that has been glazed with a mix of acrylic paint to make it look sort of rusty, if you click on each picture you should get a better close up.

I then took my glue stick cap off and used it to stamp rusty coloured circles and a marker cap (smaller in diameter) to stamp antique white circles.

The back cover is the bubble technique, purple bubbles on  a very light purple paper. The crow is peeking out of her frame and I adorned her with a frilly neckline. Isn't she cute??

Next is the tissue paper background and I sprayed a bit of Radiant Rain and gave it a little shimmer with gold.The Asian beatuies are on masking tape with oil pastels sealed then the inchie beauties are glued on and some small butterlies fluttering here and there adorned with stickles for a shimmer.

Next is just a plain green paper that I sprayed with gold radiant rain ( love that stuff), punched a border on the end and where the hole is. Added some travel inchies, stamped a Poste Card stamp on some distressed inked paper.

The opposite page has painted paper towel, a crow with a crown, and some music he is singing to, perhaps to his girlfriend on  the back cover. She is rather pretty with her frilly collar.

And this last 2 pages, just an inked green paper with some stamps of numbers, Some versamark ink resist technique using dye inks, love that technique, thanks Gwenny! the clock in the top left corner is coated in Glossy Accents, they should have called it glassy accents, great stuff, gives it a more 3 D effect.

The opposite page is a full page of Versamark ink resist using purple and Frayed burlap (distress dye ink) rubbed on glossy photo paper. the stamp is a French script what I used and when you rub the ink on and blend the colours you get a lovely mutation of colours and the print is white from the original paper colour. 

I can see using this technique for Christmas cards this year.

Today I also received my inchie booklet from a swap I was in but stay tuned for that.

Thanks for dropping by and if you have any questions just comment or leave me an email. I would be happy to hear from you.

=^..^=

Inkjet transfers and what does Stodgy mean?

Ok first things first, I have heard somewhere either BBC or someone English use the term "Stodgy". I would like to know what that means...does it mean you feel stodgy, or something is stodgy and exactly how do you use this term. I have had this in my head for days now and want to know what it means. If you can help please leave me a comment because I like it and I want to know what it means.

2ndly.... today I tried for a couple of hours trying to do image transfers using the Bernie Berlin techniques in her ATC Workshop book. So far no luck. I used wet paper then tried to burnish the image with no luck at all.
Then I tried using gel medium and it stuck to my paper when I tried to remove the photo paper, so not only  did I waste material time and effort and much frustration. If you have any luck or can tell me how you do inkjet transfers please let me know.
I did however do a transfer using freezer paper attached to a sturdy piece of cardstock and then burnished the image onto some flat (not textured) paper. It seemed to work the best although I think the darker your image the better luck you will have. I have done the tape transfers but I am wanting the  aged look that this technique achieves. Well so far it hasn't and I need to know why and how to do it successfully.
I would appreciate anyone that could take a moment or two to explain it to me. I have researched it to death and perhaps it is the gel medium I am using. I put it on thick, I put it on thin but it wanted to act like a glue and stick to my paper. ugh....
I decided to turn my thoughts to painting so I did that instead after much frustration.
Til next time....

Someone has been playng with paper...

I know I have been absent for a few days. Been kind of taking it easy, got Hallowe'en over with, a total of 3 kids. Not to mention the one I live with every day, for a grown man he sure keeps me entertained.

I have been cleaning up a bit and putting things away from painting, but, not too far, just needed to put some books back in storage for next year etc.

These are some things I have been working on.

It has been forever it seems since I did a trade over on the ATC for beginners board and I was ready to dive in.

This card below was a tricky one to say the least.

I cut an ornament shape out of mylar, plastic sheeting they sell to make your own stencils. I layed the stencil down then stamped into it with my face inked up, then I took the middle part of the stencil that was cut out from the sheet and used it as a mask, covered the face and stamped the flourishes all around the back ground. The face was inked with Tea Stain distress ink.

The flourishes were stamped with a Jumbo Java Tsuenko ink pad then I added chunky distress stickes to it.

I cut a small flower using a punch, and a gold piece for the top of the ornament.

It was a fun project but I tried to repeat it several times and just did not come out the same, good thing this one did. I promptly put it up for trade on the ATC for beginners board. See if I can tempt any traders there.

The next 2 cards below are done with masking taper layered upon layer on Card stock then you scribble oil pastels over the tape and start blending. My friend Jen explains how she did it and when I was done painting I had to try it. I am not a huge fan of hallowe'en so I decided to call this full moon as I noticed last night we are currently experiencing a full moon.

The pin in her hair just happened....I was moving things around on my table and I looked down and the pin was in her hair and I said, I like that. A bit of my bizarre nature coming out but it just seemed to fit.

The crow with his crown is sitting observing the state of the evening.

This same background I have applied to this card called " Inferno" because of it't red background. Before I applied the gel medium to the background I scribbled the swirls in with the tip of a pen. One thing about pastels if you don't like your design just smudge over it and try again.

I also used a blue pastel to smudge around the image to make it look like a shadow cast behind it.

I rather like this card.....I didn't really want to add to much more to it. I love the texture feel to it.

Thanks Jen for sharing this with me.

And last but not least or my Addicted to Inchies, November challenge, the bubble technique.

My friend Jan in the UK has a quick tut on her blog and you can find it here.

Since we had no set theme I just stamped a few different things. We haven't seen any snow as of yet here in Ontario but it will come soon enough.

Well until next time, thanks for dropping in and stay tuned for some more arty creations by me.

Serenity Now......

Today was a stressful day to say the least but I managed to do what needed to be done and I can now say that I am ready for the show. As mentionted in my previous post I found out that after reading my paper work for this year's show the inventory was supposed to be in by Monday and not this coming Monday.

After losing some sleep then emailing my hostess, everything was ok and I am to drop off what I can of my stock. So today was a work on things day  anyways, I finished my painting yesterday, good thing, I was going to paint today but, yesterday before this all happened I said no stop and that is enough. You know when your brain says enough???? well it is for a reason.

So I plugged away all day and got everything done. I drilled holes, I hammered hangers on wood, I made tags for my items, I packaged, I priced, I counted I documented. This took me all day. I woke up at 5:30, sat with JB while he got ready for work. I then started my day around 6:30 when he left and it has been pretty much non stop ever since.

I still have 2 more things to package but it won't take long. The car is almost packed.

Phew, what a day. I was really quite stressed and even had a bit of a ugh moment but it all had to be done.

Today the Lord gave me a lot of patience and I am so thankful!

Below are 2 canvases I completed. The Snow fella I designed myself, sort of got a bit of a Monika Brint inspiration but this is all my own drawing and painting with what I had in mind. I quite like it, Big head, small facial features except that nose which I just adore.

Every snowman has to have a snowflake, afterall all those snowflakes make a snowman.

And last but not least another Kim Klassen deSign that I just love.

This is the canvas I mentioned that took me all day to do, mind you I did 2 of them at the same time but it was time to quit painting. It was taking forever for me to complete and enough was enough.

Remember those of us who do this every year, we do it with love and skill.

It takes a lot of time and effort to do our art. Buy handmade either in Canada or America, it is not made in China, but, by someone who sat either at home or in a studio skillfully crafting their wares.

We thank you for your patronage and hope you enjoy your handmade goodies as much as we love making them.

Oh Oh I am late

Yikes, last night before I went to bed I was checking out my paperwork for the Open House I submit to every year and found out my inventory was supposed to be in on Monday the 26th. OH NO, I am so late.
I have emailed the hostess Evelyn and hopefully we can work something out. I have so much left to do, putting little things together, pricing, tags, packaging. I sure could use some help but oh well I got my dates mixed up and have to deal with it. I sure hope Saturday I can take all this. If not I have boxes of things to hold on to til next year I guess. I have never done this before, mixing up dates. I had the end of the month in my head so I really need to be humble now.
Yesterday I finished up 2 Kim Klassen canvasses which took me all day for some reason to finish. Maybe a sign I had enough of painting, been going at it prettty steady.
Well if you don't hear from me in a day or so you know I am stil plugging away.
Oh it's hard to be humble....am I dating myself with that song??? yikes

Still painting away

Good evening friends.

So this is my 16x12 inch canvas I am finally able to post. There were glare issues on my part so I am happy to be able to show you this little Monika Brint design.

I just had to paint it on a canvas. It was relatively quick and very friendly to say the least. I love friendly snowmen.

You can't see in the picture here but the snowman with a greenish coat has a rusty bell hanging off his hat, the other snowmen have real wooden painted black buttons glued onto their coats. Another idea from my hubby JB to do that. He is a clever boy that one. Think I will keep him around as a craft consultant.

And below is my latest finished eDition pattern from Kim Klassen's weekly pattern subscription. I worked on 2 of these today and loved how they turned out. I bought the wood at Home Depot and thought I was buying the right size according to the tags on the wood. I get home and I can't get my 2nd tree on the wood which is to the right of the house, there are supposed to be 2 trees but I could not manage to squeeze it in.

Little did I know that when they sell wood it isn't necessarily the size that you are buying. I measured the width of my wood then I got home and I was missing 1/4 of an inch. To me that is a big difference.

With some help from Kim Klassen she informed me of what she does and the measurements that she buys so hopefully this won't happen again.

I have never heard of such nonsense.

Anyways more things to paint and then I think I will stop painting either Thursday or Friday to do the fiddly stuff.

Thank you for stopping by

Angels and Snowpeeps

Hello dear friends.

I have been a very busy painter this weekend.

As you can see I have been painting on canvas, probably one of my favourite surfaces, not really any prepping involved and they are so portable and you can move them around easily in your home or put away for the holiday season.

This angel pattern is again a Monika Brint design. This is supposed to be a wood cut out piece but I place it on canvas. The stars are wood and painted then glued on.

JB helped me with the stars, I was going to put Peace on Earth down the side but we went with the stars instead.

It is a rather simplistic design but everyone loves angels and this is particularly a very peaceful looking painting.

I also have a collection of snowmen I am dying to show you but me the idiot when it comes to cameras I had the flash on and the glare from the sealer I put on the canvas did not give you  a good result. Tomorrow camera in hand I will take another pic to show you along with my new own design snowman on a smaller canvas. Monika inspired me to do my own design.

And here is a little family I decided to group together instead of selling them separately. They are just too cute to sell individually. I think the little fella would be lonely without MoM or DaD to care for him.

And a little grubbied tea lite to keep them warm and cozy, but don't get too close you might all melt.

Well best get moving on. Lots more to do. I have two Kim Klassen deSigns to do as well, the wood is cut, pattern read to transfer. I am trying to stay calm and focused as time ticks toward deadline. I sure hope all hell doesn't break loose before the end of the week.

TTFN

Post-it Note holders and some gingerbread

Today was a very busy day. I started to paint a canvas and decided I had better stop and finish up a few other goodies before proceeding with something new. This time of year is very busy, ideas running through your head for show sellers, tags to be made, adding embellishments, it never stops.

Now this first picture you may ask what is this all about?

Well Lesley got hungry and wanted some lunch, for medical reasons I have to eat, I cannot skip meals.

So I decided I wanted a grilled cheese sandwhich, I put my little pan on the stove, put the sandwhich in and turned my back for just a couple of minutes because I had to fuss with something.

Well never leave your stove unattended right? or this is what happens. Good thing the smoke alarm didn't go off. My sandwhich just about burnt, the other side is good but this is what happens when you turn your back for a minute....I didn't do it, the Squirrels did.

Anyone that really knows me knows I have a nick name and sometimes I think it suits me well. Today was one of them. Not only did I have a partially burnt sandwhich but I had the kitchen, which isn't very big, in total chaos. Stuff everywhere, the table with my paints and canvas I was working on, which will be featured tomorrow, the kitchen counter with stuff on it,.

Anyways to make a rather long story short here are some things I am finally finished.

The breadpan was given to me by my Mumsy, I painted gingers on them, then I cut out and painted the larger ginger, sitting amongst the spanish moss, I painted the spoons and not sure you can see it but I made a tag that hangs off the homespun on the spoon that says " fresh baked" and I put some little pics and a grubbied tea lite in. Love those battery operated tea lites. I enjoy grubbying them as well.

.And Last but not least, these were a lot of fun are my Post it Note holders. I got the idea from a Monika Brint book and I decided to make a few other designs. Monika's cute snowmen, Katrina Roncin gingers, and a Terrye French saltbox house. Add a little Post it note and keep it by the phone, computer room, kitchen or where ever. 

Thank you for stopping by and don't forget if you click on the picture you can see it in a bit more detail.

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will show you my snowman canvas.