Ceramic altered ornaments

First of all I have to say these are not the best photos but I was trying to get these done and pics taken for a challenge over at Bella Creations in the Voila Ink group. We were to stamp on anything other than paper. So since I am doing a lot of ornaments right now and also will be doing the Sweet Sentiments Studio Tour show, I wanted to get these done and show you as well to get a head start on Christmas. I had these ceramic ornaments for a few years, I tried a stamping idea that never worked but then a few days ago after seeing the challenge I got a brain fart and dug them out again. I used Alcohol inks (AI's) in Lettuce, Stream and Caramel. On the Stream inked one I also used an old paint brush with a snowflake stencil and dabbled the ink on to get the snowflakes to show up against the lighter background. Oooo works for me. Added the image then when that was dry I applied Diamond dust around the bottom of the snowman and the children"s feet. So sparkly and dreamy....

I have used StazOn ink and coloured in the hollies and the Christmas lights with Bic It permanent markers then applied Stickles for glitz. Added ribbons and ready to go. These would look great with family photos or altered for swaps. I have recently seen them stocked at Michaels so grab them up while you can if you need any before all shapes get taken.

Again I apologize for the poor photos, perhaps red was not the best but you get the gist of it.

Have a super weekend and stay creative.

More items for craft show

Hi there, paints flying and a bit of ink too.

These are some ornaments I painted using an e-pattern I got from my friend Marie over at Marie's Country Woodcrafts. Marie does beautiful painting and cuts her own wood. Thanks Marie, these were fun, quick and cute to paint, love that snowflake brad.

 And these are Cyndi Combs Santa 6" Clothespins used for notes, recipes etc. These were fun, love the curly beards

 And this is a Halloween swap I received from Donna my partner from the Altered Paper Halloween swap hosted by the wonderful Tee. Donna sent me these 2 lovely ATC's along with the fab little envies she made to tuck them inside and some wonderful ephemera for other projects. If you drop by Donna, thanks so much, I love them and making ATC's were fun, haven't done that in ages. I really miss it.

 And over at Bella Creations there was a challenge to stamp on a non paper surface, so since I am going key chains for the scrapbook store and maybe a class in October I thought why not kill 2 birds with one stone and make a challenge and stock up. I used alcohol inks, StazOn inks, images,rub ons and an Asian image I had in my stash. Any time I can do anything oriental I do.The STazon really doesn't like the alcohol inks so I had to stamp after I did the AI as it made the StazOn bleed. The Dream key chain I actually stamped then used a permanent marker to make it really black. I used Stream, Lettuce, Cranberry and Butterscotch AI's to colour these. I like the translucent effect from the rub ons on top of the colours. I hope I am able to sell a few of these, they are fun and so useful.

And one final picture to show you. My dear hubs is a great photographer, he often takes pics of the yard which he is quite proud of, he loves it outdoors and gardening, a real natural green thumb. Anyways to my surprise he took these morning glories the other day along the rail fence near the veggie garden, I just love that blue.

Til next time, thanks for dropping by and as always I love to hear your comments. I can't always drop by your blogs and some I do and don't leave comments but I will be back in action soon.

Take care and be creative.

Painted Whiskers gives me a hand

What on earth is she talking about, read on and you will find out.

As you know I am very busy painting for my shows right now and I have been receiving some good advice and help from Rosiecats. For a couple years now Rosie jumps up beside me at the table while I paint and I have to stop what I am doing to paint her whiskers. Of course no paint only water but every time the brush swishes in the water, even if she is napping, she comes a running to get her spa treatment. Not sure how this all started. She did have a favourite brush for the longest time, my big mop brush with soft bristles and I don't tend to wet that, but once she felt the wet brush on her whiskers she loves it,so now the fav is a flat shader. Even if I don't pay attention to her, she nudges my hand with her head and even squeezes her head between my arm and the table for me to perform the task.

So I can actually say my cat enjoys my painting, she sits and watches and sniffs and critiques my work. What a cat, she sure is a snoopy ole girl.

So here are some things I have been working on. I won't go into all the deets just showing you what I have been up to besides the usual house stuff, gardening is pretty much done for the season. We have had a few rides on the bike this year and one just this past weekend but the leaves will be much better in another couple of weeks. They are still not at their peek yet. Always love the bike on an October sunny fall day. Ahhhh fall is in the air.

 A Terrye French design painted on a canvas, hanger still needs to be added.

 From the recent Painting ornament issue magazine, as soon as I saw this skate I knew it would look good on a canvas.

 And these last 2 designs are Cyndi Combs designs which can be purchased from the Decorative Painting store online as e-patterns. Wire hangers and rusty bells still need to be added but you get the drift. My stockpile of tree ornies is really adding up. Getting lots done and some paper ornaments too.

Stay tuned for some more painted goods and.......I will show you how to use your die cuts in a whole new way for Christmas ornies. Thanks for dropping by.

Vintage paper dolls

Just popping in quick while surfing tonight and while searching for some new ideas for the craft shows I came upon this great paper doll for those of you that love the Victorian/Vintage feel. Perhaps you would like to make a few and do a swap or just make them for Christmas embellishments. Anyways I thought the faces were really pretty, not sure I like that the arms are coloured and gloved, that way you are rather limited unless you take this into an image editing program and colour them flesh colour.

Anyways enjoy and if you make any, let me see.

Lesley

Another Did you Know

I have been quite busy with painting and getting ideas in my head for my upcoming shows so I haven't devoted much time into "did you knows" , but I have a couple to share with you.

The first one is from one of my followers and she posted on her blog about how to make your own Flower soft. I have always admired the effects Flower soft gave to cards and embellishments but after looking at the price of it,because lets face it I can be rather frugal, and, if I can make it myself, I will. So after seeing this post that Shelly posted quite a while back I asked her if I could share this link with everyone so they can take a peek for themselves. I had to really look for the correct styrofoam tho, I see the type used in the tutorial sort of has a glittery look to it, it is not that white static kind of styrofoam that is all chunky. So I found some recently and put a few of the balls away til I can make some. Follow Shelly's tutorial and have fun.

And " did you know" you can stamp onto salt dough? I just found this idea over at Percy and Blooms blog and all the details are here. I have made salt dough ornies before and baked them and yes they did puff up but if you read this tutorial you will find out how easy and wonderful these look. With Christmas around the corner isn't it nice to get a head start on the little things. The only thing I am not sure of is which kind of ink to use on these. If you have any suggestions let me know. You stamp onto the damp clay and let them air dry.

Feel free to contact me and let me know if you have a tutorial or a tip that qualifies for a " did you know" idea. This way we can share ideas and tips and features and bring traffic and maybe even new followers to our blogs.

Thanks for dropping by and til next time, stay crafty.

Weenie ATC's and more ornaments

The paint is flying but every once in a while a piece of paper distracts me and I have to get the scissors out and play. Over at the Altered Paper Tee is having a Halloween ATC swap. I generally don't do Halloween but this time I had a play with the Gimp program, made my own images then put them to use on my ATC's for the swap. I have a die for the CB and made this distressed fence, placed an Eco shape crow from Artchix on it then place my 2 witches with the moon behind them in a bottle cap and applied it with GA.

The 2nd image is a girl with zetti striped leggings sitting on her pumpkin with her witchy hat. So cute and fun. I am loving Gimp but lately haven't been devoting time to it much as painting is keeping me busy.

 Speaking of painting....here is an ornament that was fun but I sure need practise with my fur on the coat. This design was in the last issue of Painting the ornament issue and I just had to paint it. Thank goodness hubs is patient at the scroll saw, he is doing all my cutting for me right now. Yeah....

 The next 4 ornaments are painted on scrapbook paper. You can see the blue paper behind the snowman, the Santa coat is actual paper. I cut the shape of the ornie out of a cereal/cracker box, covered both sides with scrap paper. If the paper was double sided I chose the opposite sides for the back. I then painted the designs according to the directions. I have been painting for years and I realized I love painting on paper. The will make great little tree ornies and you could also use them as gift tags and the recipient could then hang them on the tree so it is quite useful. And...this year I bought Diamond Dust glitter and ooooo I just love the sparkle it has when the light hits it. So different than the usual glitter, it is actually made of ground glass. I have to take precautions when I use it so little Rosiecats doesn't get any on her paws.

 More glitter and glitz. You can't see the Joy on the hymn book but it is there in gold gel pen.

And the little green branches on the angel wings are a stamp I used.

 And this little fella is from an old paint book I have had for ages. I used chipboard to make the window instead of wood, I sealed it well, painted it and then put this all together. As you can see I took the pic outside, I don't have a tree set up yet to take ornament pics so it was a bit bright out today but you get the idea.

And today hubs cut out more ornaments for me so I have another pile waiting on my desk. I should have them done by next week as long as nothing stops me in my path. If I could and didn't require sleep I would paint during the night then I could have all day to do my usual day stuff. Oh well I work it in when I can.

Thanks for dropping by, see you next time.



So excited....I've been asked

to do a class using alcohol inks and the key tags that I did a tutorial on here at my local scrapbook store in October.
I just got an email and I was so excited that the girls Krista and Laura would like me to do this over at Sweet Sentiments.
Details have to be organized yet, I have no idea on the date but I am looking forward to it so much. It will be fun and exciting to share this with others and with Christmas approaching what a great little gifty or stocking stuffer.
I was planning on making some for my shows anyways so why not make a few while doing a class.
Stay tuned for details
Doing the happy dance