Harmony Road Studio

A lurking Muse

2012-01-30T16:34:00.000-05:00

For many years even as a small child I always played with sketches. I struggled and struggled, gave up, tried again then gave up and this went on for well til now. I remember one time seeing the TV Guide and they had those sketches you were to attempt to draw, send it in and they would basically tell you if you had potential. Well there was this dog and I sketched it and sent it in...and...I got a reply back saying I did have potential but that was that. I never went any further with it and being a child you never keep things for encouragement late in life. And I never took an art class in high school or years later...hmmmm

Since getting my wireless I have been visiting YouTube quite a bit and I see some very good and creative people out there. I think my problem, and many of us say to ourselves negative things, which prevent ourselves from going any further with whatever we are tackling. I always love a challenge and as I get older I seem to be less " afraid" and I have a more I don't care what anyone else thinks attitude....good or bad that is the way I have become. So.... recently I dug out my sketchbook that I purchased months ago. I just started with eyes first, I always think eyes are truly the window to the soul and I am becoming quite, well, good at them. But, you can't just draw eyes and that be it...you have to do a face...yikes...did I say that??? a face??? the whole thing??? well it was rather late, after midnight, and was having a bit of a time getting to sleep so I got out a regular HB pencil and my sketchbook and started just randomly drawing, letting go of negative thoughts, forgetting the challenges of the past and just being free with the pencil and this is the sketch I finished in about an hour or less. I was actually shocked that it looked as good as it does. Even the next morning when I showed hubs he asked me " Did you draw that"? you didn't draw that did you? I said yeah....now who else would be in bed drawing at that time of night (he fell asleep on the couch btw). So I realize I have a huge way to go, but, I must say for my very first attempt at a face and not really knowing what was going to turn out, I have to say, I think I did pretty good. I won't win any awards and I don't plan on doing any portraits of anyone but they say the face or human body is the hardest thing to draw. I think I had a little divine intervention as well because I felt so free and so uninhibited.

So here are 3 sketches for you to look at...if you don't mind and tell me honestly what you think? I now look at them and see things I could do different but I wont' change them as these are definitely depicting a mood I had set for myself.

Thanks for taking a look and I can't wait to show my mixed media faces I have been working on, they are whimsical and I am mastering the watercolours with white acrylic paint. I am now so excited to be able to do some of these faces that are popping up everywhere around the Internet.

Charcoal eye, I love charcoal but it takes a bit getting used to.....

Pencil sketch first face , I have a lot of work to do on face shape as I look on here.....but at least you can tell it is a person. LOL

2nd pencil sketch, not sure what is going on here, is the hair too big or the face too wide

♥♥♥

ATC Technique Book

2012-01-29T20:51:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone, winter has finally reared it's ugly head. Once again we had freezing rain then turned to snow. The ground is white now and more to come.

I have been doing a few arty things but this is not what this post is about.

I want to guide you over to Jenxo's blog and read her post about the ATC Technique book.

A few years ago Jenxo and I moderated a beginner ATC group and Jenxo came up with the idea to make a little book of techniques. People would sign up and say which technique they would do with a description on the back as to how to do that technique. It was a huge hit. If there was 10 of us you make 10 of the one technique you signed up to do.

We sent our ATC's to Jenxo, she made the front and back covers with techniques of course then sent everyone a book back with the ball chain and holes in the book. I am not sure she is planning on doing that part for any newcomers to this but anyways I am directing you over to her post and you can read all about it there. It is nice to have techniques on hand when you need some inspiration or are stuck in your muse, which happens to all of us at one point or another.

Jenxo has started up the idea to add to the existing books we have or you can sign up and start one of your own. Depending on how many sign up you will get that number back.

So go read, sign up, and you will be so surprised at how many techniques are out there.

Til next time....stay crafty

♥

Calendar pages complete and a Mixed bag of goods

2012-01-23T21:39:00.000-05:00

As you all know I was doing calendar pages along with Roni over at her blog Ink stains with Roni. I have completed all of them now and want to show you the rest of them. I enjoyed making this project, I learned some new things, made myself something for a change and got a much needed calendar. Although this one I won't be able to write notes on it for myself but I can enjoy it just the same.

Although August isn't usually fall colours yet but being in Canada we actually see subtle changes coming in late July.

August- Melted Crayons...I liked this technique

September- Stamped Gesso

October- Distressed Glue

November-Molten Pigments: ie I didn't have pigment powders so I scraped chalks into my glue

December-Sparkle Mosaic Stamping: I didn't have scrap rubber so I used fun foam

So there you have it....I am really pleased for the most part. I have decided to start an Art technique Journal and put scraps of paper that have been clipped from each calendar page and write down the technique. That way when I want to do something again I have it handy. Another goal for this year.

And....more stuff, are you bored yet???

Over at Helga's blog My Artistic Life, Helga gives a tutorial on how she painted a background which I applied to my little hearts. Here are a couple little Valentines to show you how I made mine. I used chip board off the back of a 12x12 paper pack. I cut out hearts, punched holes at the top, painted them using the following colours...Delta Apple Green to splatter, Americana Baby Pink, Americana Canyon Orange and Delta Cardinal. I pounced instead of brushed on my colours. First I gave my chipboard hearts a coat of gesso. I punched an inchie punch out of scrap and used the window to draw it on the heart and cut it out before I painted, I Painted the heart back and front. Use heat gun to speed up drying. Then I print and cut images a bit larger to fit over the window on my heart. I then added grommets to my heart to put ribbon through. Covered the back of the heart with a smaller shaped heart from designer paper with pinking shears so I can add To and From. Aren't they the cutest? I am not usually into Valentines but for some reason this triggered it....thanks Helga for some inspiration.

Click on the images to get a good close up of the colours, they blended so nicely with the pouncing I did.

And....there's more....wake up.....

These are some bamboo tiles I got from a kit I ordered a while back from Artchix Studio. The kit contained a sheet of images, a few bamboo tiles. I won a challenge on Facebook back late summer so I finally ordered a few things and used my coupon. I am addicted to these suckers. I posted on FB I was looking for place mats and lo and behold my Mum found me some and I was able to locate some locally but I will wait till Mum's arrive before I set out for more. There are 130 in one place mat. They come in black, natural and a walnut colour. wooohooo, I love these. My dictionary pages are getting cut up as I am cutting words out of it and adding to some. I used ball chain to hang them and I experimented and coloured one ball chain with alcohol ink and I was amazed at how wonderful it turned out.

I must thank Jenxo who sent me one of these

along with a swap we had over Christmas, it sparked ideas. I have received many comments on it and I plan to sell these in the fall. They are so addicting and you could put many things on these besides images. Stay tuned as I have so many ideas for these I can't stop....

And last but not least some wooden puzzle piece magnets. I loved that heart colour I did a couple puzzle pieces. Added some images I had on the computer, found a few quotes online and added some either bling or Stickles for interest.

Thank you for bearing with me during this long post.

It is raining here when it should be snowing so we are on high flood alert in the basement.

Til next time, stay crafty my friends.

♥

More Calendars, an ATC and Hearty goodness

2012-01-16T15:32:00.000-05:00

I have had these few calendars done since late last week but with Blogger acting up and things going on around here I am only getting to these now. The days are flying by so my calendar will be put to good use very shortly.

Here are the following months......

May-Colorized bleach....I think this is my fav technique so far.....

June....Gradient Stamping with a Twist

July...... Bubble Wrap Emboss Resist

August Calendar will be coming soon, I needed to buy Crayons for that one..

Remember to take a peek over at Ink Stains with Roni for all of her techniques. You can find all the Months on her Right side bar. This is a lot of fun.

And here is a challenge for Bella Creations in the OhLaLa group.

Heather gave us a Gecko Gal Bingo card image only to work with.

Here I did some Gimp (Image Manipulation), added the B/W girl image and coloured her, added butterfly wings, then replaced the O in Bingo with a Gimp brush.

I inked the edges with Jumbo Java Ink by Tsenko then pleated some pink ribbon and seam binding together, added my little safety pin and charms. Overall this was a good challenge for me to use Gimp and get more practise. I am coming along but I am no where near a Graphic Artist....yet...

One more little ditty.....

On Artchix, Helga gave a little tutorial for painting hearts using their Eco Shapes. I didn't have any on hand so I cut my own hearts out, made an inchie window, painted with similar colours that Helga used. I think they turned out pretty spiffy. I love the slip slap of paint and blending right on the surface. Of course I used a good scruffy brush for this then I used a toothbrush to splatter on the Apple Green. Love the combos here.

Thank you for dropping by.

I can't remember if I posted but the car is fixed, many dollars later but I am up and running.

It was covered in ice from last weeks ice storm but it is OK now and I am a Happy Camper.

Keep arty my friends.

♥

We have a Winner......

2012-01-15T22:26:00.000-05:00

Drum Roll please.........the Winner of my 300th Blog Post Giveaway is...... Sandi

Congratulations Sandi. I tried to send you a private message but Blogger is acting up so if I can't contact you by this evening I will do so tomorrow.

I will need your mailing address to send out the Prize Package.

Thank you everyone, I wish I could give you all a prize but recent car events have made that impossible.

With big (Hugs) to everyone.

♥

Delay in Picking Winner

2012-01-15T19:55:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

just hoping this post goes through.

I have tried for 2 days to collect names for the Giveaway and unable to load the page. Not sure if it is Blogger or just high traffic on the web.

Please be patient and I will announce the winner either tonight or tomorrow.

Good luck everyone.

Lesley

♥

One more day for the Giveaway

2012-01-14T13:02:00.000-05:00

Last chance to enter my 300th Blog post Giveaway.

Click on the link to take you there for details. The pile is growing and you will not be disappointed.

Winner will be picked Sunday January 15th.

Remember you do not have to become a follower ....but if you do, it is another added bonus.

Good luck....

Lesley

♥

Art by Wendy Giveaway

2012-01-11T21:01:00.000-05:00

I recently met a "new" Blogger and her name is Wendy. Wendy does some incredible painting and is celebrating her first giveaway here.

Here is a pic of what you have a chance to win. Check her out, say hello and maybe become a follower.

Here is a peek at what she is offering as a prize.....cool huh? and she even posted a tutorial on these little gems. Might have to make me some one day.....cute cute cute.

♥

Ink Stains with Roni Calendar

2012-01-09T22:39:00.000-05:00

I told you in my post 2 posts ago I was doing the 2012 Calendar with Ink Stains with Roni and wow, I am having fun.

Over the weekend I got all caught up, Roni is posting a calendar each day with a technique background. If you wander over to her blog you can follow along, make a calendar for yourself or just use the techniques in your artwork. Some of these are new to me and some are not, but, as you may know me, I do with what I have on hand and may even throw in my own version. Roni has all the month techniques posted on her right sidebar to find the month that has been done. I will wander over after I post to see what the month of May is all about.

I already showed you my January calendar here...(scroll down to the last picture for January), and. here are the the months up to April.....

February is called Floating Starts technique

March is Wax Paper Die Cut but I cut my own shamrocks by hand, I don't have a die cut. This was tricky....argh

And April is Reverse Grid Stamping Technique

I have been using up borders I punched out from other projects, some mini images that I had printed off, I am digging out supplies I have stashed away and I get a calendar out of it. How fun is that????

Lesley is a happy Camper.

Stay tuned for more months to come and don't forget my Giveaway

Help Me Celebrate 300 Posts....

2012-01-08T21:15:00.001-05:00

I cannot believe I have reached this milestone and it is all because of YOU.

I started this blog because I wanted to share what I did with like minded people and of course meeting new people is something I have really enjoyed.

So here is to my 300th Post and to celebrate a little Giveaway.

As you know there is always rules for giveaways but you don't have to do any of these except leave me a comment.

I first have to tell you I redid my Giveaway Banner to include the link directly to this 300th post in case I post other things before the draw so if you have already posted this on your blog, please remove it and snag the new one with the direct link.

Rules because hey we need a few.....

1. Leave a comment

2. For an extra bonus place my Giveaway button on your blog

3. Post about my giveaway and leave me a comment so I know you posted about it and you will get a third chance

4. If you are not a follower and become one you get another chance, I would really like to reach 200 followers this year so that would make me really happy.

5. If you know or remember my Cat's name you get another added chance to win.

And here is what you will receive, what you see is not necessarily what you get because the pile is already growing. There is even a little baggie you can't see with bonus items in it.

Papers, one of my key chains with ring will be provided, one of my shabby Angel hangers, the pic does not do this justice, sorry again I am no photographer. Burnt and painted glue butterflies, altered clothespins with butterflies to put on packages, give bags ie you can clip your birthday card to a package so it is all in one place!!!!, Artchix images, a couple mini dominoes so you can alter them yourself, some wood jewelery items from Artchix, apply an image and attach to a chain or your artwork.

Here is a closeup of these altered Clothespins, I gessoed the pins then applied washi papers to them then added the butterflies. So addicting and they really transform those brown boring pins. New Addiction

The picture does not do this any justice. I got this image free on Fripperies and Butterflies. I have just recently made a few of these little ATC sized fabric hangers. I added some vintage lace, (thanks Mum) satin ribbon adorned with a brad pegs removed with lovely pearls. I made the hanger and painted these mini clothes pins. I made a few of these at Christmas and they were a real hit. (Thanks Nancy for the inspiration)

And of course my Key fob made from counter top laminate samples (thanks Home Depot and Loews) LOL

The ring will be provided for you to attach, it is easier to send separate for shipping.

And I was so excited to do a mini altered canvas with an Artchix mermaid image, the verse came with the images, shells from a swap and I added the crinkly ribbon and some micro beads, and.....I also made the dangly bead hangy thing on the bottom. Love how these turned out.

So there you have it. Like I said I am adding more as I clean up around my kitchen table studio and bins under the bed and stashes all around. LOL

Thank you to all who have commented and have become my blogger friends. Where would I be without you...probably not blogging.

Good luck, you have til January 14th to comment. I will pick the winner on Sunday.

Remember if you do not have a blog I will need to get in touch with you so please leave me your email address or some way to contact you.

Thank you so much Everyone!!!!!

♥

Giveaway Preview and my new Calendar

2012-01-06T20:08:00.001-05:00

Today I am posting at 299 so that means I am getting ready for my big 300th post giveaway.

I will be showing you a sneak peek of 2 items that will be included in the prize package. I decided I needed to destash a bit and of course I love to make things to give away so here is a slight preview.

I won't go into a lot of details in what these are, you may know as soon as you see them, 1 item I featured during the holidays and they were a hit so I decided to make a few new themed ones. And I am on Pinterest and found a neat idea and sort of got addicted to making some of these with my burnt glue butterflies and some shrink plastic charms I recently made. I am really liking making charms of late, not just shrink plastic but with beads and other items. Fun to add your own embellies especially with the stuff you have on hand. Believe me I really have more stuff and not sure how I managed so much but I know some of it comes from the lovely people I have traded with over the years. So much fun getting things from other places.

So enough rambling...here is the sneak peek and stay tuned for the 300th post when I will give you the rules...and we have to have rules. If you would like or be so kind to add the button on the side bar to your blog you may just get another added chance to win.

And over at Ink Stains with Roni, Roni is having her 3rd Annual Calendar challenge. Well not so much a challenge but posting techniques for backgrounds and making a calendar for the New Year.

So this year I decided since I only have 1 calendar for this year I would join in and what better way to learn some new things and use my art supplies I have on hand. If you want to check the techniques out go to the link I have provided and follow along. Roni is already on April, my goodness the time sure flies when you are creating.

I have to show you my January calendar, I made the template a bit smaller (you can get it over on Roni's blog) because I will probably have it here in the computer room and I don't want a huge one. All the techniques are wonderfully demonstrated with clear instructions. This technique is painted tin foil, embossed in the CB. Then I added Twinkling H20's because I don't have any glimmer mists but I will be making my own this year. I just need good spray bottles. After my Twinkling's dried I wasn't really sure I liked it so I did have some Radiant Rain in gold and when I added that the colours and embossing just really popped. I added Delta Snow Tex for snow then when it was still wet I added Diamond Dust to it. Then I finished embellishing it. I have Feb and March just about done. Things are drying so I will feature them in a separate post from my 300th Giveaway post. Click on the image to see the wonderful colours and details.

Thanks for dropping by and stay tuned for my next 300th post.
♥

New Year, New Beginnings, New Adventures

2012-01-02T22:24:00.000-05:00

Hi all, well another holiday has come and gone and a new year has begun.

Today I found out my friend Becky started up a blog, so I would like you to venture on over to Country Lane Folkart to say hello and wish her well. Becky is a wonderful Folk Artist I have known a few years now and we have met face to face a couple of times. I met Becky when I first started on the computer and had internet, on a painting board. Becky was always answering questions and we fast became friends. Becky has a wonderful website called....Country Lane Folkart and she is on Facebook and has an Etsy shop. If you follow the link to her blog you can find out more about Becky and her art.

Welcome to blog land Becky, good luck and I know you will find it a truly fun and great way to meet new like minded people.

And my new adventure....I follow Ink Stains with Roni and Roni is starting up her 3rd Annual Calendar challenge. Roni has all the details on her blog and is providing templates. Roni will be providing techniques to use for the backgrounds and she even has links to a calendar to put on the templates and some image sites.

So if you need a calendar for 2012 and want to learn some new techniques wander over to Ink Stains with Roni and check it out.

And the continuing saga with my car....I will be taking it to a GM dealership in town and they are going to scope it and hopefully find the dead short. Surely the maker of my vehicle can find out what is going on. Hopefully they won't have it for 2 weeks on end like another mechanic I won't mention. Wish me luck.

2012 is going to be a great year....I can feel it already.

Cheers everyone.

♥

Wishing you all.....

2012-01-01T14:50:00.000-05:00

May the New Year bring you good health, prosperity, friendships and joy.

Today hubby and I celebrate 23 years as a couple. My how time does fly...

Stay tuned for a little upcoming 300th post celebration.

♥

Bloggers are Angels

2011-12-28T19:16:00.000-05:00

I say this because it is true. Right before Christmas I was visiting a blog which lead me to Cindy Adkins blog, Whimsical Musings. I had posted a comment on Cindy's blog and she responded back. We had a couple emails back and forth and before I know it Cindy had sent me a little gift....one of her ebooks called

which can be purchased on Amazon along with a few of her other titles the latest which I just purchased.

Cindy writes amazing articles which not only makes sense but also makes you see things from a different perspective. I have also been reading FREE on her blog "Blogging 101" for women, why we blog, how to set up your blog for more traffic and many other fine points to consider.

I would like to thank Cindy for sharing her knowledge and wonderful articles to blog land and I truly hope we get to know each other in 2012.

Cindy also does amazing artwork as well as her writing skills and talents.

Happy New Year Cindy and Happy Anniversary to you and hubby.

♥

Alpha Stamp giveaway

2011-12-27T19:34:00.000-05:00

check the link and head over to the annual Alpha Stamp daily giveaway. Click for details for a chance to win some exciting altered art/collage items.

Good luck to you all, including me.

♥

Final Christmas preparations..including burnt glue?

2011-12-23T22:43:00.000-05:00

Well I finally got the end of my shopping done. For some reason I had to call in a prescript in before the weekend as I knew chances were the stores would be closed and I would be left hanging. So I trek into town yesterday...what a madhouse. I am finished my shopping, groceries included and I am so glad to be done. My car just sits dead in the driveway but the truck has been taking me hither and yon on speedy trips and doing the necessary tasks during this season. Thank goodness for the 2nd vehicle.

Anyways I got the wrapping done today, and I decided to make the neighbours cards as well. We don't exchange gifts but we always give cards to one another. Every year I make them, this year I am running a bit late in that dept but today was a good day to play catch up.

I am really excited to show you a brand new technique that I will be playing with a lot this year in my art.

I found this tutorial on the Michael's website using burnt brown paper bag butterflies. Well butterflies are always somehow incorporated into most of my art except Christmas but I tried these first then expanded. I did a few things differently and I will explain as I show you what I first made then progress to my greeting cards.

Here is the video in case you have never burned glue before.

Of course the preferred product for the video is Aleene's tacky glue. I did do that in the beginning and I didn't use brown paper bag, I used brown craft card stock paper, since it had a good durability to it. I cut 2 die cut butterflies for each and applied the wire as shown in video. I did everything else as instructed. When it was cooled I took the black soot off then I applied shimmery chalks to the butterflies. I liked it but it really wasn't exactly what I wanted to achieve. Although I liked the texture of the burnt glue but I really wanted a more vibrant colour.

So the next time I tried it I did the same without the wire and I tried just plain white glue to see what the difference is....well not much but after the butterflies cooled and wiped, I applied Twinkling H2O's with a bit of water and rubbed the colours here and there with my fingers and blended the colours. Wow that is what I was looking for. This technique really does give the illusion of faux metal. Even the paper feels very sturdy. As you can see I burnt a few antennae but that is because I probably didn't have enough glue on them. You need to cover the paper and not glob it on but a good smooth coat. The more glue you use the longer it takes and it does bubble up and I basically put the paper right into the flame. I know it says you don't need to but I did and no flames appeared. The glue is not flammable. Even the cheaper white glue. If you do get a flame, be quick and blow it out, you didn't have enough glue in that spot.

So here are the butterflies with the Twinkling H20's.

So then I wanted to make a few ornaments to put on gifts and I thought well I want to try my Spellbinders snowflake. I again cut two, this time out of recycled cereal box, glued the 2 pieces together. then I applied glue to the brown side, glue the advertising so just the brown is on the outside of the flakes. Do the technique, wipe soot with Kleenex. I do not recommend a baby wipe, it makes it too wet!!! been there tried that, don't do it.

If you click on the image you can get a good close up of the surface of the snowflakes...cool huh? looks like real metal. I believe on this snowflake I rubbed the metallic chalks in a bronze and green to give a patina look. I then edited an image, this one is from Gecko Gals collage sheet I won. Cut some bronze German Scrap from Artchix and placed around the image before I glued it to the center. Added bronze glitter, at the time I thought it was gold but the lighting was throwing me off. Then I added a little banner and glued it on. Couldn't find any bronze ribbon so I just used a piece of jewelry hemp. That was it.

Then I made Christmas cards except I put Twinklings on the snowflakes in a really thick consistency and just dabbed it on with my fingers. I had lovely bright pinks and blues and gold on my fingers, so lovely getting my hands right in there. I believe I got the image from Magic Moonlight images. I just love this child and the snowflakes that show up in the image.

Well I know everyone is busy with company, last minute baking, wrapping and cleaning before the big day.

I thank everyone who has been kind enough to visit, those who do so regularly and my new friends. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year.

With much Joy and Blessings to you all.

♥

Mail art makes me Happy

2011-12-20T21:44:00.000-05:00

Well with ongoing car issues I will not get into but the problem is too stressful to comment, mail came and made me smile when I really needed it.

I was in an ornament swap over in our FlickR group and I was matched up with Jenxo and Jenny. Jenny was a little late signing up so I swapped with her as well. Both live in Australia and I got Jenxo's a few days ago and Jenny's arrived today.

I can't wait to show you....in the ornament swap you had to use paper on your ornie. So of course this could mean a lot of things as long as it is an ornament and has paper on it, made of paper or whatever.

Lookey at these.....yummy..

This is what Jenxo sent me. There is a little book that she sanded some outside of a cardboard box, looks like it had olives and greenery on it then sewed the little pages in, did some binding and there is elastic that wraps around the book to close it. Below it is a doily that has been sewn onto sewing tissue then some string tied in a bow at the top to hang it. A beautiful stack of presents made out of different papers... How cute.

A little ATC pouch she made and it was stapled at the top. I heard something rattling but I thought it was supposed to rattle then I realized it felt like something solid in there. To my surprise I found a bamboo tile necklace with a beautiful paper bead and pearl drop on the bottom. I have already worn it Jenxo and compliments galore.

And this beautiful Angelic tag she made.Beads and lace and ribbon roses. It is hanging on a corner cabinet knob in my LR.

Next up is Jenny's

Jenny made me these arches. The Silent Night is gorgeous music paper with gold either ink or some rub on with some other lovely colours blended softly and the Merry Christmas arch is Jenny's whimsical girl she painted. She sure made me smile .

Jenny also sent me some lovely napkins and this gorgeous card with a lovely message inside.

Thanks so much Jenxo and Jenny and I wish you a Very Merry Christmas and Happy 2012.

Your ornies are hanging around with other friends ornies I have collected over the years.

I am so grateful for all your friendships.

Til next time....stay creative and live a stress free life....hah

♥

Domino Book Giveaway over at JoAnne's

2011-12-17T23:40:00.000-05:00

Joanne is having a beautiful domino book. Click on the side image or click here to go directly to the blog post for details. If you post, become a follower and post her button on your blog that makes 3 chances to win. You will not be disappointed with Joanne's work. I must say I think Joanne has an obsession with dominoes, her books are stunning and so detailed.

Take a peek and sign up.

I already beat you to it......

Christmas tags and tea bag luminaries

2011-12-15T21:06:00.000-05:00

Well with no car, baking pretty much done, even wrapping, and a bit of time on my hands while hubs worked the last 2 days, I tried to clean up my work table so we may eat on it during the holidays...yeah right.
I was doing some blog hopping the other night and I was on Karen's site, The Graphics Fairy and found some wonderful vintage Santa's. I knew immediately what I wanted to make.
I got out some shipping tags and distressed them in Vintage Photo, Frayed Burlap and Tea Dye. I really wanted a vintage feel to them so I darkened them up pretty good. I even wet some of the tags first, crumpled them then distressed. Dried all in the oven, ironed the crinkled ones smooth and then went about decorating them. I have seen those beautiful accordian rosettes out on the web and thought I would finally get around to making some, I don't have the fancy Tim Holtz die but hey you do with what you have, a little more work but I managed quite well without it besides you can at least say they were made with a little more hands on.
I also managed to make some more of my tissue tape and I was gaffawed at the results. I don't know if gaffaw is actually a word but just the same it sounds good and the results I thought were just what I had imagined even better. I added some extra colour to the tissue tape by just using a blending tool and lightly coloring the already brownish tissue sent to me by my friend Jenxo. I then used various stamps and colours depending on the Santa in the image. I used papers from my holiday stash, My Mind's Eye, Basic Grey and whatever was hanging about. I even added some sparkly snowflake stickers courtesy of the dollar store. A few I added some clear sticker words, or typed some on the puter for the little banners. Just love those banners too, seeing a lot of those around.
These will be attached to some gift bags or gifts and can be used to hang on a tree later or maybe on a door knob etc. At any rate, I love them. Might have to make a few for myself if time permits.

Next up are luminaries made of tea bags. Jenxo posted last week that she knew another blogger, Kim, who made these so I jumped over to take a peek. I am always intrigued with new ideas.

Having a cat makes one take another think about lighting candles and setting them on tables the Princess might jump up on. We surely don't need the princess running madly with a tail lit on fire. Who needs that, so avoid it before it even happens.

I had some rather older teas in the cupboard that I didn't fancy too much, they are the type of tea bag that are folded in half and then stapled. I removed the staples and then emptied the tea out.

I carefully slit the one side where the seam was ,then opened them up. As you can see here they are quite large. You need 2 tea bags per side a total of 4 tea bags, sew up each short side to make this complete. But, before you do all that, I took a napkin that had these beautiful roses and a rose bug and took away all that white tissue that is attached to the napkin leaving the printed part. I carefully cut away the images, sandwhiched it between the 2 tea bags. For more interest I stamped the top tea bag only with a french script. When the battery operated light flickers, you can see the rose through the script and the soft glow of the light. It doesn't show very well here but in the dimmer light, they are quite attractive. I did some sewing around the top and bottom like a border before sewing the sides together but I actually prefer no sewing of the border. I think it looks better without but that is my preference.

I then used Modge Podge to seal the bags together, I put some wax paper underneath so I could peel the tea bags away when dry.

Kim wrote an article for a magazine but I wasn't able to find it this time of year. I had to sort of figure it out.

Jenxo made some illuminaries just using napkins for her Market show.

I think they are just lovely.

What a great simple gift to make and very kitty friendly.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you are getting ready for Christmas.

We have no snow, just rain and very mild temperatures.

Sure doesn't feel like Christmas is only a little over a week away.

Til next time friends

♥

It's starting to smell a lot like Christmas

2011-12-12T19:48:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

bet you thought I dropped off the face of the earth??? Well no not really, I have been busy getting things done for the holidays, it's been a real struggle for me this year to get into the mood. I went shopping the other day and I was having a hard time finding the one thing I wanted for hubs, 3 stores later and still nothing. Might have to go to the mall, not sure how long it has been since I have been there maybe last Christmas. No kidding.

My car being in the shop still probably is a major factor why I am not in the mood, worrying about it, not having my own wheels to get out and do what I need to do. Hubs gets called into work and I am either stranded or we have to juggle things around. Hope I get it back this week. I am running on nerves now

worrying about the cost. Last time Bill didn't charge me anything but I am sure something major is going on.

Anyways today I dug in and got some baking done. Hubs went to town to run errands and do some shopping of his own and I decided to start some baking. I want to make a few gifty items and decided the home baked kind might be a better and more economical plan for me. I like baking, I can't eat any of it but I enjoy making things from scratch. I generally have to have hubs taste things since that dept is out for me.

Today I made Johnny cake, lemon snow bars, butter tarts and shortbread.

I will tantalize you with pictures and hope I get you drooling.

Hubs used to deliver home oxygen years ago to people who needed it and one of his clients used to be a Home Economics teacher and actually gave him a cookbook she had published. It isn't a fancy book but boy Mary sure had that special touch according to JB.

I have used her no fail recipes for years and I never have a problem with any of the recipes. The book is now tattered, has spills on it and well you get the idea. If it is a good cookbook you can always tell by it's condition.

I also made some tea bag luminaries over the weekend but I was too close to the one and the picture ended up being very blurry so will attempt for my next post. You will want to make a few once you see them. Very cool and with a battery operated tea light they are safe to burn with fur babies around. =^..^=

Anyways hope you are all getting ready for your holidays, time to spend with family and friends and to enjoy time off.

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

♥

Inspired by Nancy Maxwell James

2011-12-04T19:45:00.000-05:00

Hi dear friends, well the continuing saga of my car and it died while I was in town shopping late this week. Thank goodness for cell phones, I had to call hubby who came to boost me then we went directly to the garage. I have even the mechanic stumped and he has been in business for over 30 years. Just when you think they have seen it all and nope, my car has to be the one that is the odd one.

Anyways I can't keep harping about it, it doesn't help the matter nor does it help my state of mind...so....now that shows are over I can get back to doing a few things I love to do. Play with paper and make some small ornaments for gift giving. If you get a chance check out Paper Whimsey's blog, they are having the 12 days of Whimsy and you can click on the button on my side bar to take you directly to the site. Right now Nancy Maxwell James( I visit her blog SugarLump Studios) has inspired me. This ornament I made is not part of the 12 days but was posted over a week or so now and I just had to make some. I did a few things differently, I printed my images on T shirt transfer paper and ironed the images on. The fabric I used my dear MIL found at Walmart, it is flour sack rags, 3 or 4 to a pack and the material is lint free and so soft. I just loved how these turned out and although the images look a bit grainy here they are really quite nice. Some are heading out in the mail this week I sure hope the recipients like them. Mum gave me a load of lace last year and I have been putting it to good use. I even cut some of the patterns of lace out from the main part of the fabric to embellish these. I made the coat hangers and I had these cute mini clothespins in my stash.dabbed a bit of white paint and they are ready to be hung on a tree or even a drawer pull. I never knew what to do with the clothespins til I saw Nancy's idea. Aren't they the cutest?

I made a couple special ones for gifts so I can;t show them because I know YOU will be peeking. tee hee

And the one show I did and made a new friend Sara (you saw her table in my last post) had these cute little TicTac holders. So I routed around the Internet and found a tutorial for them. There are several versions but this one is easy and I wanted a tutorial for the smaller container of TicTacs. You can find it here.

Well that is it for now. I have a few other things going on, I do need to get more motivated to get my painting orders complete. I did some painting today but it was a real struggle. I think I am burned out, I have been painting since the end of July so once I get these few things done I need to take a break from it.

Til next time, thanks for dropping by and always love your comments.

♥

My blog candy winnings and show report

2011-11-29T20:27:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

well I finally am going to post so get a drink or snack then sit and read about some blog candy I won and my last show report from the Church craft show on the weekend.

Firstly I want to share this blog candy I won over at my friend Cathy's blog. A couple of weeks ago Cathy posted a giveaway and I commented on her blog as I do often. She picked a random number and she picked mine. So.....I have always admired Cathy's painting and the way she handles those paint brushes and most crafts she touches are done with expertise and precision not to mention her speed. Cathy can spin circles around you, I know I have seen her in action. Look at what I received in the mail last week. I already have that snowman hanging in my bathroom, he looks so darn cute in there, and the ornaments she also stuffed inside. Can't wait to hang everything on our small trees this year. I met Cathy online in a paint group we formed on Yahoo and we have all met face to face and are planning to meet again this time in Maine this coming year. We always have loads of fun and we spend time painting as well. Thanks so much Cathy, it came at a time while I was struggling with car problems and at a time shows were not going very well so it really boosted my spirits, a big cyber hug to you my friend.

Here is my table set up at the church. I think the tables were only 6 footers. I thought in my email it said 8 but it seemed rather smaller and I have it just loaded as you can see. I am glad I didn't bring my stand to hang things on, it would have been very crowded so I opted to hang items on my table cloth, which did bring a lot of attention. I also found out that this church was having it's very first craft show so that may be one reason there wasn't a lot of traffic, I did make some money and I always like to re coop the cost of my table which I did and then some. Unfortunately some vendors did not make anything over the course of the day. I was a bit upset seeing many people pack up starting at 2:15 and the show was til 3pm. Very poor etiquette in my view.

Here is another angle of my table. We were really cramped together so trying to get either chairs or peeps out of the way was impossible but we had a good number of vendors and always good to get new contacts for the future.

And here is my new friend I met at Sweet Sentiments craft sale my first show a few weeks back, this is Sara. Sara does some amazing things with paper. Her biggest sellers are these cute snowmen chocolate bar wraps,darn you can't see them in this pic, she makes mini albums, post it note holders, mini gift boxes and all kinds of cool items.

And here are more gourdy folk. If you remember my last post they were on the table being painted or ready to be assembled. The forefront snoman wasn't on the table 5 minutes after we opened and he went to a new home. The snowmen sold the best but I did find homes for some of the penguins.

One young lady bought 2 penguins and after she bought them she asked if the gourds were going to rot over time. I had to laugh to myself, why would I paint gourds then sell them to rot. Anyways I explained that they had already dried out over the past year and that was not going to happen. She was happy and left.

And one more little fella that really made me smile was this snowie. He was all bundled up and went to a good home. I will miss him, he just made me smile.

So now I am doing some orders I received during my show at the school. Finished up one order today, got some swaps ready to be mailed out. I sure hope my swap partners won't be upset with me being a little tardy. I was going to try to do one more show but opted not to.

I am done for the season. I was happy with what I did sell and it will be put to good use over the holidays.

Thanks for dropping by and I can't wait to show you a few items I have been working on.

If you ever visit Nancy Maxwell James or Paper Whimsy, you will surely be inspired by her great work. She gives amazing tutorials and her work is stunning.

I struggle with shabby but she makes it look so easy.

Take care all and be creative, it's good for the soul.

♥

Work in progress

2011-11-24T11:35:00.001-05:00

Hi all. I generally don't like to show my work station (ahhhh my kitchen studio) but I have been encouraged by all of you so I guess I will share my gourdy mess today.

Yesterday I spent painting up penguin gourds, the hats and flippers and ties were made (with air dry clay) last night and they are all good to go for some paint today. And I base coated all my snowies and they are getting faces, coats and little things done today.

I cannot believe today is Thursday, where has this week gone?

This will be my last show so then I have orders to complete (I also worked on one yesterday between paint coats drying) and I have the others to get done after the show, cards to make, gifts to buy and well you got it, busy busy busy, but that is how I like it.

We did get a tad of snow the other day and some of it is remaining on the ground but you can still see grass. Maybe that will bring the crowds out on Saturday for some great Christmas shoppers. As you know I love making gifts so when I get a handmade ornament or gift I really love it. I appreciate the time and effort one has taken into making it especially if someone knows what I like. I really take pride when a customer buys something I have made, I imagine it on a tree or shelf depending on what it is, and, it makes me smile.

Anyways off to paint some more and get my soon expired library books back and get some new ones.

One more thing, Happy Thanksgiving to all my US friends. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and I know some of you will be getting lots of shopping done during your great Black Friday deals.

Toodles.....♥
I guess my pics of my gourds in progress did not show up. I was so busy I didn't check my post. Anyways this has been edited to show the production line in progress.
More pics of the completed gourdy folk, show report etc to follow.

Good gourd, what is happening

2011-11-22T18:52:00.000-05:00

I should have a pic of my kitchen table. I got a hold of Tammy the organizer of the show I am trying to get into . Just waiting to hear back from her and looks like I can squeak in to this weekend's craft show at the church. So....I was busy washing up some moldy gourds and looking in my bag of already gessoed gourds and ,well lets say, I have a gourdy mess on the table. Hee hee.

Thanks for all your encouraging words and well wishes, looks like it paid off and I will be busy for my next show on Saturday. Woot woot.

Rosie was helping to select the right gourds for me to paint either penguins or snowmen, she has quite a nose for that. Of course the whiskers had to be painted too, can't seem to get away from that when the brushes come out.

Well I will try to keep you posted up until Friday but if not, you know the paint will be flying.

I got my car back and the clock/radio are now no longer functioning as it was causing the drain on my battery as well. Oh well I can always look for a new radio after the New Year. Right now it is not a priority. I have heat in my car and it is running. No charge too, gotta love your mechanic when he doesn't charge you for more time and effort.

Anyways take care all and so glad some of you liked the tissue tape. I applied it yesterday to my matchboxes and I have to say I impressed myself. You must try it and if you do I would love to see your versions.

Cheerio for now.

♥

craft show pictures and DIY tissue tape?

2011-11-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

Well after a few of you have asked to see pics and I was too tired to share last night here they are.

I had to do a bit of editing to take some things out I didn't want to show. I am no great photographer, probably never will be so here it is. It is hard to avoid heads in some of these as I was back to back with another lady behind me, beside me to the right and left. I would have loved a wall but you get what they give you. There was an organizing problem with hydro as well. On your application they ask if you want or need hydro and I always check yes because I like to put my ornaments on trees. Well I got there not hydro. I was soon taken care of, a bit later another vendor behind me to the left said he wanted hydro so could he plug into mine, I guess so but you better check. OK no problem. Then 2 tables down a girl wanted hydro to set up her laptop to demonstrate her vinyl words that go on walls. OK everyone is hooked up. Saturday afternoon I get this electric burning whiff, my nose immediately goes crazy like a sniffer dog. I am a very sensitive person with smells so I am smelling underneath the table and all around me. No strong smell. I can't see one of the coordinators so someone finally flagged one down. All of a sudden we all had to unplug and turn out lights. Come to find out the kitchen had something going on and it was taken care of.

Lights went back on but I sure didn't like all these extension cords running under my table. You may see some in the pics but those aren't mine. I had mine well hidden but not everyone shares the same ideas now do they?

And below I want to share something with you. Ever see that TH tissue tape but don't like the price? Well I figured out how to make some with supplies you probably already have on hand.

2 sided tape, whatever width you want to use, this is probably half inch, some black ink, does not have to be Stazon, another ink colour or two ,some regular tissue the kind you use for wrapping not the type you blow your nose with, scissors.

Make sure you have a nice piece of tissue to accommodate your tape lengths depending on projects and size.

I am making some matchboxes so I don't have to have a lot of length. I run the tape onto the tissue and press it firmly in place,then I take my scissors and just cut the excess tissue tape following the sides of the tape, remove excess tissue. Then I ink the background with a colour, here I used Cranberry and I also used a Studio G Christmas green colour. I hit it with the heat gun for just a few seconds. Then I take some stamps using black ink (Black Soot DI) used here. Randomly stamp images on the tape, making a collage. After you are done, hit with the heat gun again to be sure the ink is dry. I also ran my coloured inks along both sides of the tape to give it some colour. Once the ink is all dry with the heat gun you can add a bit more ink here and there like I did with the cranberry colour, you can see dark and light spots and some white contrast.

When I am ready I remove the shiny backing and place it on my project and I have just made custom tissue tape. You can use permanent ink markers to add elements like I did with the broken lines. So many possibilities here and a lot cheaper my friends.

Stay creative and thanks for dropping by.

Oh and I almost forgot.....I have a possibility of getting into another show this weekend.

Keep your fingers crossed. If I disappear for the rest of the week you know where I will be.

Car is ready tomorrow and no charge, Yippee skippee dance here. The week is turning out to be a good one, finally.

♥

November 2011 show report

2011-11-20T21:15:00.000-05:00

The Christian High School was a good success. Huge well not huge but it was well worth it this year. I did very well Friday night and the gourds were literally flying off the table. Some peeps were debating with each other which one they wanted and don't take the one I want to buy. I am not sure how many I took with me, safe to say at least close to 20 and I should have taken more. I came home with one lowly snowman but I will give him a good home.

I really tried to be wallet friendly this year and opted to do more tree ornaments, goes to show you, you never know what peeps want to buy because I hardly sold any. My scrabble tile charms did very well, altered domino necklaces. I got a custom order to do a plate, another order for some key chains with a logo on it for a small business and a mouse pad that got chewed up by a critter to replace one I had made years ago. So I will be busy getting orders done but they won't take long.

I just got an email from a contact that there is a show next weekend and if there is room I just may try to get in. We can only hope.

Today I did NOTHING. I layed out on the couch, watched some boxing I have been waiting for, a couple movies then decided to get up and get a roast beast dinner going. Yum, what a great day. I didn't touch a craft, paint brush or piece of paper. Ahhh it is so nice to stop for a minute.

Take care and thank you all so much for your encouragement and well wishes.

I will post pics of my booth tomorrow when I feel more like it.

Off to bed soon for more rest and sleep.

Night night dear friends.

♥

A very busy day

2011-11-17T19:20:00.000-05:00

Well we had our first snow of the season but it didn't last long. It came and it went. I didn't even take a picture because it barely covered anything. We are surely going to be getting a blast soon.

Today I was hoping just to get organized and just sit and relax....ha.....NOT.

I still had a few last minute items to finish up, hubs went to work for 2:30 and I was alone to do my whirl wind around the house and get what I thought would take an hour or so and rest before my show. NOT

I seemed to all of a sudden decide I needed to do some more scrabble tile charms and then I got into some other beading things which will be charms and so it is after 7pm and here I am. Still not completely done but for the most part I am pleased with my overall accomplishments.

I hope that this show will prove to be better than last year. I think it takes a while when you are new to a venue for peeps to get used to you and your products and style. I have often been told my items are different but I am not sure exactly how I am to take that. I take it as well you won't find this anywhere else, I hope.

So I am optimistic this will be a better year. I sure hope peeps are buying and that I can come away with some extra money for Christmas.

My car is still at the garage and I don't think it will be ready any time soon. I could have used a run into town before tomorrow but hey, it can wait, besides if I had gone to town I wouldn't have been able to get my load together for tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I will relax, take hubs to work then off to set up and wait for the crowds.

Thank you all for your encouraging words and support. Blog land has certainly been a very positive thing for me and I can't tell you how much you are all appreciated.

I will report back after the show. Take care and stay creative.

Lesley ♥

Gourdy Folk for my next show

2011-11-15T22:24:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone, boy this week is surely flying by, tomorrow is Wed already, I start my show Friday evening and all day Saturday. Am I ready, don't ask. Will I be? don't ask. Is there ever enough stock, probably but you always need to do way more than necessary.

I want to show you the last items I have been working on for a while now. The gourds I grew in my garden last year and the drying process takes a while so this year I was happy to try painting them for the first time. I got a little addicted but had to stop because I need to finish a few things up before I start packing up on Thurs. I used Air dry clay for the noses on the snowmen, flippers on the pengy's and hats and bow ties. I love that air dry clay, it is so light, I use white so I can paint it and dry brush it any colour I want. I did just recently find black which I didn't know it came in black but I bought some to have on hand. I may be doing a few more of these before Christmas if these sell, but, who wouldn't want a painted gourd to smile at on your bookshelf, table or display over the holidays. I certainly would if I didn't paint. :)

I did all the painting free hand, no patterns, I even drew the faces on, for someone who is not a skilled drawer or sketcher I think I did pretty good. Although I did use Jamie Mills Price's patterns as models for the penguins but these were all done by me.

Hubs helped with some of the designs and suggestions and Rosie assisted with the painting. Of course whiskers had to be groomed during the whole process. Maybe that is why it took me forever to paint these.

Cats.....such demanding critters.

I will keep this short, sleep is calling my name. Tomorrow I will be finishing up some odds and sods and I have scrabble tile charms to do as well.

Til next time, I always enjoy your comments and I will be visiting more blogs once this show is over.

Stay crafty my dear friends.

Lest We Forget 11/11/2011

2011-11-11T13:59:00.000-05:00

In Flanders Fields

by: John McCrae

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.

It never ends.....

2011-11-10T14:38:00.000-05:00

I am usually a pretty calm and even tempered person but I have had it today. You remember me telling you about my car and the battery was being drained, they couldn't find the problem for the longest time and then they said after trying everything it was the automatic door locks that was causing the dead short so they disengaged them and now I don't have automatic locks. Well I ran back and forth all weekend long to my craft show and I was in town, On Tues I was doing some errands, I was getting tired and decided I wasn't going to do groceries(well I should have). Well today I went to do groceries and drop some items off to my MIL's for her craft show this weekend.....the battery.....was DEAD. After many dollars the last time I am livid. Hubby is on the afternoon shift so he needs his vehicle. I need to do groceries and many other things in the next week and NO VEHICLE. My bank account was drained from the last episode and I can only imagine this next time won't be anything great either. I feel like crawling in a hole and crying. Will this car episode ever end. I like my car I just wish whatever is going on would stop. I sure hope when I drop it off on the weekend it isn't weeks again, I have a big show next weekend and I might be missing out this weekend on some sales thanks to my MIL.

OK thanks for listening to me rant.....I just needed to vent.

Until next time....I promise I will be more positive.

ACKKKKKKK

library pocket cards and a Christmas gift idea

2011-11-09T22:13:00.000-05:00

Well today I sat down and did the time consuming job of pricing my ornaments. I have a whack of them but it needed to be done. I have a few wreaths to put together and some more gourds to paint for my next show and then I am done for the season.

For my scrapbook store sale I made some library pocket cards and thought I would share a couple with you for an idea. You can find the template over at Mirkwood. I made a tag to fit inside and embossed them on my Cuttlebug then I placed the image on top and added some bling or whatever I had in my stash to spruce them up. They look so darn cute and a change from the tradition greeting cards.

One library pocket card is for a challenge over at the Oh La La group on Bella to use the little girl image provided to us by Lee Anne Seed's shop Gecko Galz. Lee Anne is a sponsor and provides many images to Bella for all kinds of Challenges. Doesn't this cutie just make you smile???

I rubbed some white shimmer chalk over the embossed snowflakes on the tag and it just shimmers and I got some snowflake stickers at one of the local dollar stores. Christmas is starting to take over. I love creating this time of year....

And my last thing I want to show you are my pins I am going to make for Christmas pressies.

I was getting a few supplies at one local craft shop and saw these cool kilt pins with these loops on it.

Well I picked up a few they were on the frugal side of my budget and I had loads of charms at home and I am going to make these for some gifts to send over to the UK for Christmas. I am going to make cute tags to put them on. I think they are so darn cute and the pins are really sturdy they are not cheaply made.

So for a few bucks I think they are darn cute.

I wish I had a bit more time to make some for next weekend but I have enough on my plate. Maybe next year as I think they would sell really well.

My dominoes surely shocked me and I am no jewellery maker by any means. I am all thumbs when it comes to beads and stuff and I certainly do not have any more room for more stuff.

Thanks for dropping by.

♥

Don't forget the altered ornament swap

2011-11-07T22:20:00.000-05:00

This is sure to be a fun swap for the holidays. If you want to make 2 ornaments that are paper based and then embellished and receive 2 in return then sign up here in the FlickR group to join. You have until November the 11th. You do not have to sign up to the matchbox swap group, but, if you are already a FlickR member then you already know what to do. Come one and come all to the Ornament swap. Play with paper, paint, mixed media, etc. It will be a nice frugal trade and what better way to get a couple new ornies for your tree, handmade.

Hope to see ya there.

First show report

2011-11-06T20:15:00.000-05:00

This weekend I experienced my first scrap and paper type of show and I am sad to say it was not very good. Unfortunately Sweet Sentiments was last listed on the list, it entered as a new participant and the old reliables on the tour list were of course on the front of the page and at the top. I think new vendors should be listed first and maybe highlighted as new but I am not running the show but just my 2 cents.

We had some great peeps that did come in and check us out. There were 5 vendors that participated and we got to know each other very well over a very short period of time. We laughed, we shared info, emails and we even shared interent info.

I did not make any sales today, boohoo.

I often like to watch the peeps that come by, they admire, they stare, they look at details and one lady came for the free cider, looked around the tables then before she left she said, well I got some ideas and marched out of the store. I know people do that at these shows but some are a little more discreet than that. Sarah and I had our jaws drop after we heard that after she left.

I am leaving some items for the rest of the week. Next weekend I have been asked to leave some things at my MIL's craft and bake sale at her retirement residence open to the public so I have another little venue to place items. I think I will give her more painted things than I had at this show.

I was floored tho to find that my mini domino necklaces flew off the table and a few inchie houses. I was so happy. The mini dominos were a last minute idea and I will have to make some more before the Christian High School show in 2 weeks.

Well that is it. I can only hope in 2 weeks time it will be better.

Back to painting and getting ready for the next one.

Thanks for dropping by and if I don't post for a while I will be busy at the kitchen table.

A Christmas Ornament swap on FlickR

2011-11-01T21:26:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone.

I am still finishing up details for my show this weekend. I will be busy Friday thru to Sunday so I had better make a quick post here regarding this great Christmas Ornament swap.

I have posted it on the Matchbox group because I am not starting a new group just for ornaments. You can click on the blinkie on the right sidebar and it will take you directly to the page.

I would love for you to join us, all the details are there for you to read. I know we just got over Halloween but with the US Thanksgiving then Christmas in December, and it gets crazy, I thought I would post this now and we will take a break during the month of December.

I have a few ideas for you but you do not have to use them, I am just giving a bit of inspiration in case you need some and I am sure you don't.

As you know I did up a bunch of birdcage dies for tree ornies, I cut them out on the Cuttlebug. You can find templates online, I Googled Ornament coloring pages and found lots for just basic shapes. You can use tree shapes and decorate with vintage images, digi images etc. Just have fun.

I made these a while ago and although they are ok they could use more sprucing up but you get the idea.

So come to FlickR and sign up. We would love to have you join us. It is fun and you only have to make 2.

Thanks for dropping by.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T20:47:00.000-04:00

Inchie House Template

2011-10-29T19:04:00.002-04:00

Thank you for commenting on my inchie houses and a few of you have asked for the template.

I just want to say that I did not originally design it but after a few attempts of the one I had it wasn't measuring up so I adjusted the template so I guess you could say I redesigned it.

There are 6 houses on a 8 1/2x11 sheet. Print either on a piece of white card stock and cover with your favourite papers or directly onto the papers you want to use. make sure you have the lines facing you so you can use them to guide you when scoring. I used a light weight card stock then glued decorative papers on top. Score all the dark lines. Those lines will be on the inside of the house and you will not see them. The roof is measured 2 inches by 1 inch. Score it at 1 inch and fold. If you want to hang your houses like I have, make the house first, then on the bottom find the center and pierce a hole, on the roof find the center pierce another hole. I used wired and added beads and jingle bells but you could just use gold or silver string, elasticated strings or whatever. Just have fun. If you are not adding beads and just hanging from the roof you won't need the hole in the bottom of the house. I have done them both ways and both are just as nice.

Click on the image and get the full size. If this doesn't print out correctly email me and I will send it to you.

I had a number of you interested so this is why I am posting the template.

If you make any please let me see, I am always interested in what others make would be fun for kids to make and they are really pretty to use up scraps, old book pages, stamps etc.

Have fun and don't forget to show and tell.

NB on the templates there is a line just under the roof and it is lighter than the other lines. DO NOT score this line. I forgot to mention that so this has been edited for you. Thanks again.

Inchie Christmas houses

2011-10-28T19:11:00.000-04:00

I finally was able to get some half decent pics to show you my inchie houses. What are inchie houses? The base of the houses are one inch square not including the peaks on the front and the back of the houses. I have a template I print off then use to construct my houses. The roofs are 1x2 folded in half . So cute and fun to alter. I used images I found around FlickR. One source I found wonderful vintage Santa's was from riptheskull. He has some excellent images of many types of themes.

I used 2 sided scrapbook papers which are quite sturdy, some German scrap, scraps of borders and anything else I could find to use. You can be fancy or just dress the houses up. I usually print off my images in the format of a one inch square(inchie) then I cut around the main image. That way you get a good dimensional image according to the size of the house.

If you are at all inclined to make some I would be happy to send you my template. This is not my original design but I have modified it as some houses on the internet are not one inch square.

Thanks for dropping by and have a super weekend.

I am off to make some small cards and a few post it note holders. I have one week left to complete items for my first show at the Sweet Sentiments scrapbook store so I best get back at it.

Til next time.......stay crafty.

Just a ramble

2011-10-26T19:53:00.000-04:00

You all know now I got my car back and the door locks were causing the dead short so now I don't have automatic locks. Ok no problem. I had to go out of town for an appt today and hubs had to go to work.

I park at the office and then decided I would lock the car. So I have to do it manually now and I go into the office. I wait and wait and finally after 2 hours I am finally done. It is drizzling and cold and I walk over to my car, insert the key and it won't even turn. Yikes....so I go over to the passenger side and try the same thing, no key turning. Next I thought I would try the trunk and it opened. I go back to the drivers side and try and the key still won't turn. Now I am in a panic, hubs has the cell phone at work, he wouldn't be able to leave anyways since he just started the job. I look at my options and thought golly if I call a locksmith they are going to cost me money so well if I can go through the trunk then maybe I could get into the main part of the car, but.....before I try that.... I try the passenger door again and the key turned and opened. PHEW.....I was so relieved. I thought the garage may have changed the locks and not told me but they didn't charge me anything to change locks and I couldn't figure out why they key wouldn't turn. Boy I was so relieved and I was very grateful I got in.

Now that I am home safe and sound I can get back to doing something productive now.

How is it that an appt is after lunch and you get back home around supper time. It was packed and people were patient but you could tell some of them were getting antsy.

Anyways all is good.

Have a super day and my inchie houses are just about complete. Off to go finish them.

Til next time....be happy and creative

and....check your locks

♥

Just so you know

2011-10-22T22:28:00.000-04:00

I have been asked about the 2nd bird cage that I used in my post yesterday. It is from Ecstacy Crafts, the product is a Marianne Design called Creatables- Birdcage Tunis. Scroll down the page and you will see it.
You can use this in the Cuttlebug very easily. The Ecstacy store is just down the road from me, that can be a bad thing sometimes, but, Dennis the owne,r and his staff, are great to work with. Most of the products they carry come from Holland and the Netherlands and Dennis is the sole distributor to North America.
Check out the link I have provided, they sell great dies and the prices are quite reasonable. They sell retail as well so you can order online.

I have my car back, many bucks later but I am so glad to have my own vehicle once again.
Now off to make inchie tree ornaments.
Lesley

A new twist to birdcage dies

2011-10-21T21:20:00.001-04:00

I am just busting to show you how these turned out. I have had this in my brain for months. While taking a computer break for a couple days and hubs has been getting work I thought I would tinker with these and they came out sooooo cute. I used 2 birdcage dies and cut these out of chipboard (cereal and cracker boxes) in the Cuttlebug. I cut 2 for each and then glued them together to make them stable. I did painting, heat embossing, more paint and sanding and really distressed them. Added the birds and some stamped words, ribbons, bells, I love those bells and all kinds of glitz. I really love the blue one and also the purple one. I couldn't stop at one, I must have 10 or more of these babies. I am going to take them to the Sweet Sentiments sale in a couple weekends and try to sell them and if any left over to the Christian High School sale. I think they are so darn cute.

And here are more mini dominoes and I wasn't sure they would take any drilling but I drilled a small hole in the bottom used a jump ring and added a little jingle bell. Now that turned out cute didn't it? These would also be cute on winter coats for zipper pulls, key chains for the season, necklaces or an altered project or swap.

My painting is dwindling down now and next inchie houses and more goodies.

Thanks for dropping by.

Oh and my car is finally fixed. Who would have thought that your door locks would cause a dead short and drain your battery? Well after all the wiring was checked and 2 weeks later, they found the problem. Now the bill, YIKES. I better sell lots in the next couple weeks or Christmas may be a little lean this year.

Take care all.

Lesley

mini dominoes and a painted canvas

2011-10-16T19:49:00.000-04:00

I am winding the painting down and trying to get a few other things added to my stock for the shows.

Here is a hinged canvas from my friend Marie's website where I purchased the pattern. I couldn't find small black hinges so I just used a permanent black marker and covered the gold and made it black, works for me. I even added the hinges, no help from hubs on this one. I can cut wood, drill holes and do a bit of sanding, although I have soft tissue injuries, so, sanding using anything motorized really gets my extremities buzzing, so I do a bit by hand.

I used 2 5x7 canvases. I think it turned out rather cute if I may say so.

And for my birthday my friend Becky sent me 2 packages of these mini dominoes. So.....I added some alcohol inks, the birds are cut from tissue paper and glued on, the insects are rub ons I got a long time ago from Michaels,some of them have glitter on them, they add a nice bling, and the Santa's were resized images I got from the Internet and cut out and glued on. I added a few gems and after I took this picture I put Glossy Accents on the surface so they would have a nice finish to them. They are drying as I type. I found these inexpensive necklaces at the dollar store and will see if I can sell them, or you could easily add them to your key chain. Either way I am quite pleased with how they turned out. I love using the rub ons, they are so quick and easy to do and looks like you may have paid a fortune for them.....NOT.

Click on the picture to get more detail and see them sparkle. I think a couple of these will be nice gifts and maybe include in a couple trades before the holidays.

And thanks to Becky for sending these to me. I wonder if I smile real nice if she could snag me some more.

Thanks for dropping by. Just a few more ornaments and gourds to paint then back into paper, a few ATC's a couple matchboxes for a trade and then before you know it...show time.

Stay creative and be happy.

♥

I am addicted to domino books

2011-10-11T22:38:00.000-04:00

Like I really need an addiction right now with painting, and getting ready for the shows, bu,t I stopped over the weekend to take a break and make these 2 domino books. I found this very relaxing and fun.

Laura Carson of Artfully Musings has a great tutorial on accordion domino books and it is much easier than you think.

I made a template for the inside images so I could just print them out then take a small piece of card stock, place it over the image and then cut it so I would have even and exact measured images for the inside pages.

These 2 books are for a trade I am in to come and thought it would be a nice little added feature. I used alcohol inks, 2 sided card stock, images from the internet resized and some gold ric rac I had laying around waiting to be used. I probably will cut my ribbon down a bit since it is way too long now but I always like to have extra so you can make a nice bow on either side.

Well that is it. Today was a busy day and I accomplished a lot. Still no car but it must be ready soon, I can only hope.

Thanks for dropping by.

PS if the link for the tutorial doesn't work just take a peek down the RHS of Laura's blog and you will find the link there.

Happy Thanksgiving in Canada

2011-10-09T20:43:00.000-04:00

To all my friends, family and newcomers to my blog, Happy Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow is officially the celebrated day but today we had the big turkey dinner. I don't generally shop on Sundays, I actually feel that it should be a day of rest for everyone like the good Lord intended it to be. So I generally do not shop or do too much, but, having said that, I had to get a few items and being without my car again, and still, I needed hubs to take me. I hate not having my car, I feel like a hermit, it has been a week Tues and still no word on whether this time it is the alternator or not. I guess the big surprise will come Tues or Wed when I have to fork over more money. ARGH

Anyways I did get groceries and came home and got to work on the meal. Potatoes from the garden and squash, a 10 lb turkey we already had and I made dressing from scratch, no Stove Top stuffing in this house. And my gravy actually turned out quite nicely and very flavorful.

We give thanks for the bountiful harvest the Lord has provided us with, food on the table, a roof over our heads and most of all for each other.

PS every wonder why we celebrate Thanksgiving before the US? well it is because we are further north and our harvest is sooner and winter comes generally sooner. At any rate I wonder if this will all change one day since the weather is certainly not what it used to be.

Time to relax now, I spent more time in the kitchen preparing then cleaning up than I did eating the dinner, but it was very tasty just the same.

Take care and give thanks.

Lesley ♥

Paper creations for upcoming shows

2011-10-05T15:52:00.000-04:00

Hi all, I have been painting and then stopping to play, I mean, create with paper. LOL You all know how I have fast become addicted to paper creations, altered art etc...well after visiting Astrid's blog and her post about designing this cute book card for a DT project, I had to make 1, well actually I am on the 2nd one in between painting and doing fiddly stuff.

I had seen this book card idea before on someone else's blog earlier this year and I had copied the instructions which were in English so I am so happy that I saved them. Astrid will direct you to another site which does have a translator and very good visuals but I find being able to print off instructions and having them at the table really helps things zip along, when I need a pic to refer to then I just go look at the pics.

Here is what I have done, I think these would be cute to put a few chocolates in and give as teacher gifts, Grandma from the kids, just a friend or......to put a matchbox in when you are doing a trade. Place it in a good little sturdy box or a bubble wrap and send off. I advise for the base of this you use a good sturdy card stock. You will be applying layers of paper and that will help but for the base of the card after doing my 2nd bird card I would venture to suggest using a sturdier paper. The first book card I made which is not complete here because I had no inspiration for pics at the time, I am still thinking but I think I know what theme I will finish it in, maybe a shabby, with flowers and flourishes and something really girly.

The bird theme here was inspired by the beautiful Bo Bunny paper I have had for ages, it is actually a holiday themed paper with music notes and glitter in the paper but it was a good backdrop for my bird theme. I am not sure now I like the bird cage I put in the inside, that might be removed and something else to replace it as I already removed it and the paper ripped a bit, hate when that happens.

Oh and I must add, those cream coloured roses on the bird card, well I wanted to see what would happen if I dampened them, then dried them with the heat gun, I used tweezers so I wouldn't burn my hands holding the flowers, I just loved how the paper really crinkled and the edges of the roses almost got a burnt look to them. Again be careful doing this, I don't want to read how you burnt yourself and I didn't warn you.

And...on the Tim Holtz's bird from his Alterations birdcage and bird die cut, I painted the bird in a tan colour, then used a bit of burnt umber to add a bit of depth and colour to accent. Then I applied clear crackle medium to it as I was going to just add a bit of charcoal to it after the cracking was finished. Well I used the heat gun again and got it to dry and bubble up and gave this really cool glassy knobby look to it. Click on the pic for a close up and see all the crunchy details. I love how things you don't expect happen. Just add to the fun and uniqueness to your pieces.

Anyways thanks for dropping by, Just thought in case you were bored with my painting I would show some paper creations that I plan to try to sell when the shows start up. yikes this month is all the time I have left. The days are just flying by.

If you need any help with this project email me or leave me a comment and I would be glad to share the English version with you.

Til next time....stay crafty

Ceramic altered ornaments

2011-09-30T21:37:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-28T21:42:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-22T20:20:00.001-04:00

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

2011-09-11T20:55:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-10T20:43:00.001-04:00

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

2011-09-08T20:30:00.001-04:00

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

2011-09-03T20:15:00.000-04:00

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

snowmen on my table???

2011-08-31T19:50:00.000-04:00

Hi all. I have been one busy chick this last couple weeks. Last week I was a bit draggy but this week is whipping by and I am getting lots done.

You are probably wondering about the title of this post but I assure you you will see why in a moment.

First of all I finished my matchbox for the FlickR Monthly matchbox and this month Gail chose the theme of book or books. So I got Miss Peach as my partner and I messaged her to find out what types of books she liked. I was given a list so I had no reason to get stuck on any ideas. So I found out that Miss Peach loves Beatrix Potter so I searched the internet for illustrations and made a little book for her. I am not showing all the pages but I am giving a little sneak preview in case she comes over to take a peek. I certainly know whenever someone tells me not to peek I do, it's better you tell me it's in the mail and wait or I go a lookin. he he, can't take the kid out of me.

So here is the little book, remember it fits on top of a mini matchbox so there wasn't a lot of room for many pages but I did use stamps to decorate the pages. I hope Miss Peach likes it, and of course I filled it with some goodies and I have some extras that just won't fit so they will be on the way to the US in the next day or so.

Below is one of the inside pages. I bound my book with embroidery thread and tied it neatly to the side. I had all the pages lined up before I did this and somehow they ended up being a bit wonky. Oh well I never said I was a book binder or whatever you call it. This was fun, I got to use a lot of my miniature stamps for this project.

And here is what I have been doing, making Christmas ornaments for my fall shows. So far I have 2 that I will be submitting my painted items to and the third show is at the local Sweet Sentiments scrapbook store where the lovely Laura and Krista take good care of me ordering supplies and helping me with stamping and other things that I need help with. So here are the ornies I have had on the go. Mr. B cut them all out for me and then I took it from there. I still have more to do but this is just a small number so far. As you can see they still need to be varnished and little embellishments to add, ribbons, snowflakes, rusty stars and their hangers but when I get this lot all painted I will stop and do that before moving onto the next bunch. I like to get the things painted then do the other boring stuff at one time otherwise I will leave it to the last minute. You might have already noticed I like snowmen, but, I am doing some gingers, cats and a few painted paper ornaments soon to be on the go. Can't wait to do those. I finally found the Diamond Dust with a coupon at Michael's and I have since found it at another craft store out of town. After hunting online for it I found out Michael's sold it so with 40% off that made Lesley a happy painter.

Well that's it for now. Garden is going to be harvested soon. Potatoes will be dug up. Beets are waiting for MIL to pickle them. I did a whack last year so I don't need to do any this year and the tomatoes are divine.

Take care, thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more painting goodies.

Got some catching up to do

2011-08-25T21:16:00.000-04:00

Hello my dear friends,
I can't believe how quickly the summer is passing by. The leaves are starting to change colour. I hate to say it but I have even had my flannel PJ's on a few nights when the temps have dipped.
The garden is still producing tomatoes and we still have to harvest potatoes, squash and herbs but there is still lots of time to do that.
I have been getting busy for a couple craft shows and doing a bit of painting and trying to tie loose ends up for a couple of swaps.
Today I am going to show you a few things I have had done and some matchbox swaps and ATC's I have received. Nothing like getting fun mail, it's like Christmas at my house. Sometimes I set the box on the table and stare at it like I am waiting for the clock to turn to the actual correct time, not that any time is more or less correct, sometimes I can't wait to tear the box open, it all depends on how eager I am to rip it open. Most of the time I do just that and I am just dazzled lately at what the generous folks I have traded with have sent me.
Here is a beautiful matchbox from Miss Peach who sent me this in the theme of " My Favourite Things" over at the FlickR group Monthly Matchbox swap. We were to find out our partner's favourite things then decorate and then fill her box with goodies she could use and like. Miss Peach made me this wonderful Oz Cabinet Card as I truly love the Wizard of Oz. I could watch that movie over and over. I even have the tape here at home to watch whenever I please. Not sure hubs would care for it that often but it is I would say my favourite movie. And I also like butterflies so Miss Peach made this box and inside was this beauty encased. Miss Peach said this was stuck to a grill of a truck or car and it is preserved so perfectly. Now it has travelled all these miles to Canada and I will keep it here safe and sound. And look at all the goodies she sent me as well. Thanks Miss Peach. This next month I have her name so I will be posting a pic of her matchbox but the pic was blurry so I have to retake it .

Next is a matchbox I got from JoScraps over at the Vintage Dragonfly's Grandma's Attic swap. We were to make a vintage type of matchbox and use mostly vintage items. Jo certainly filled this box and then some. Take a look at the flowers, the card and all the goodies inside. Even the string is vintage. And I just love that beautiful antique image in the frame. Thanks so much Jo. I hope you feel better soon, sounds like you had a rough summer.

Next are a couple Teacup themed ATC's I did a trade with Wendy from BlissAngels. We started this trade before the Canadian Postal strike so that delayed us sending back and forth. I did finally get these ATC's.

Well after the postal strike and they seemed to have sat at the Customs Office for over a month. Now they are here for me to enjoy with Wendy's cute little fairy children sitting in their teacups. Thanks Wendy, they are wonderful.

And finally here are my bird canvases I had mentioned a couple posts ago and a fairy canvas I just made for someone special.

I used the TH birdcage die and embossed and painted to make them look old and worn.

I have used a canvas on the back with layers of cheesecloth and lace. I painted them with burnt umber, black and metallic bronze paint slip slapped all over.

I used corrugated cardboard with the top layer ripped off and then painted with antique white slip slapped for a worn look as well. The more rustic the better and I wanted to keep a nature theme going. I also used some burlap at the bottom corners underneath the words. I had the birds from a card or something in my stash so I could finally use them. I think these would look nice in a sun room on the wall or even a bathroom if you have a nature theme going on.

And here is the most recent canvas I created using another die cut birdcage but I cut it to make an arbor for this little fairy. The top piece on the canvas is chipboard painted with cheesecloth and antique white paint then I took a touch of Timberline green on the corner and just brushed it here and there around the edges just to add a bit of colour and going with a theme of nature again, green brown. the top of the arbor is a brad that I found in my stash with the prongs removed or just gone so it fit nicely there.

I used some fungi images I believe are from the Graphics Fairy, some butterflies, roses I made and a rolled canvas flower I added some distress stickles to. All in all this turned out better than I expected and I hope that I will surprise one of my recent swap partners.

Well that is it. I hope you haven't fallen asleep. I will try to post a bit more regular now.

I won't be doing much swapping or paper crafts as I need to concentrate my efforts on painting for my craft shows.

And....I am looking for glass glitter, clear so that I can use it on some paper painted ornaments for Christmas. If you have a resource you can share with me that is economical could you please comment or email me. I am looking for some but I know a lot of you peeps may have better resources than I do or can find.

Thanks for dropping by.

Always love hearing from you.

~♥~

MIA not really

2011-08-18T20:13:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, just popping in to say I am around but been kind of busy. As I look at the calendar I am realizing that fall is approaching faster than I want, which only means winter, so I have been busy pulling out paint books and magazines for ornament ideas for my craft shows. I will also be doing some key chains and scrabble tiles and maybe a few domino pendants if time permits. Hubs has been busy the last couple days cutting out for me and I have been prepping the wood ready to paint and also some gourds.
So in case you are wondering what I have been up to I am around just not blogging much.
I will be showing my bird canvases and some mail art I recently received from a couple swaps but that may be done over the weekend. Also been playing with images in Gimp and learning all about image manipulation etc. So much fun.
Weather is still hot hot hot during the day but cools right off at night. Today while driving to town I noticed some leaves are starting to change colour, this means fall. Where did the summer go?
Take care, no pics today but I will post again soon.
Lesley

Dress Form Tutorial

2011-08-10T22:26:00.000-04:00

I have played with Air Dry Clay a bit and I decided to try making a dress form for an altered canvas. As you will see, it is simple, quick and very alterable. You can make them any size if you have an editing program on your computer and you will have the ability to make your own instead of searching forever online on how to make them. I have found tutorials that you can pay for the instructions but if you are frugal like me, you could spend the money on something else.

So after doing a few of my own I am going to show you how to make a dress form, here is what you do.....

First of all go to Mirkwood Designs and get your free template, look for the dress form, you may have to scroll down the page a bit.

Edit in a program to the desired size you want to make...then print it off and cut it out. You only need one, but, if you want to make a few sizes then print and cut out.

Gather these supplies: rolling pin or brayer, wax paper, cutting board, air dry clay ( I got mine at the dollar store and I recommend using white), sharp craft knife and pattern, see link above.

Take out some clay and place it on your wax paper. Air dry clay is very moist when you first take it out so you can do one of two things, if you have time you can leave it out for a bit, maybe half hour or so and let the air get at it, it won't dry out immediately or you can use it right away, just remember if you do that, then it sticks to itself and won't give you much play if you want to lift it at any stage. Also you can dust it with a bit of cornstarch or talcum powder before applying the paper pattern, only do this if you use it straight out of the bag. Ok now onto the next step.

Fold the wax paper over the clay and roll it out. I did this because I don't have a craft only rolling pin and I have no idea what the air dry clay may contain and I didn't want to contaminate food with any foreign chemicals. Roll out the clay to about 1/8 thickness, you could do this with your hands if you want, it really doesn't have to be rolled out but if you want to make more than one torso then more is better and even thickness.

Remove the top layer of wax paper and now place your pattern with talc or cornstarch on it over a section of the clay. Start cutting around the pattern and pulling the clay away as you cut. Remember if it is really sticky it doesn't co operate and if you pull it too much you may distort the shape of your torso, be patient. you may end up balling it up a few times and starting over. It really is worth it in the end, you will see.

Ok you have one cut ,now cut a second torso, and, remember to have the pattern right side up as you did for the first torso, you want them to match when you place one on top of the other.

Now roll 2 small balls of clay and remember if you place them on fresh clay on the bottom piece they will stick so if you need to make any placement to see the size of the bust then place it on your paper template. I tell you all this because I learned as I went along and I don't want to cause you frustration. You will be happy I told you things so you know it could happen. If the bust looks too large then just take a bit off one ball and see if you are happy then size the other one to match.

If you are happy with the bust line now you can place the 2 rolled balls of clay in the area I have shown in the picture below.

Now take your second piece of clay and carefully place it over top of the bottom torso and the bust. You may have to stretch the top piece to fit but with practise it will work. You can see below that there are some uneven edges but you can do one of two things, trim it now while the clay is still damp and then mold with your fingers or you can wait and cut it with either a craft knife or scissors after the torso has completely dried out.

I have done both below, trimmed and molded with my finger to smooth edges. You don' t have to be perfect. If you are done and happy, make more and let them sit out to dry. I usually leave mine out to dry on wax paper over night. It doesn't take that long but I tend to have more than one thing on the go.

And here is what I created with my air dry torso. You can paint air dry clay, you can modge it or use gel medium. I used a tan with white mix and just slip slapped the paint on the torso then modged some fabric I had. Click on the canvas to view a larger image. I just love how this turned out. The one thing about air dry clay I like is it is very light.

Here is a close up of just the torso.

And below a shabby flower I recently made using Tim's Tattered Florals die.

I hope you give this a try. Let me know how you did. Did you like this? Was I helpful?

Please if you make a torso and blog about it direct people to my blog for the tutorial. I am not charging any money for this, all I ask that you give me credit for it.

Thanks for dropping by and I can't wait to show you some birds of note.

TTFN, Lesley ♥

The Summer of Colour ends.....

2011-08-08T11:46:00.000-04:00

It has been an incredibly fun and challenging time over at Kristin's blog. Kristin has challenged many of us to use colours in our artwork that we enjoy, find challenging, and, make us think outside the box at times.

I am not that computer savvy to figure out how to embed a slide show into my post, so here is a view of the the projects I completed for this challenge.

May I thank Kristin, blogger friends old and new for visiting me, encouraging me, and, leaving lovely comments even if I felt it wasn't my best effort....like orange. LOL

BLUE

GREEN

BROWN

ORANGE

PINK

PURPLE

RED

YELLOW

(These are not in the order of the weeks that were chosen, )

Thank you for stopping by.

Summer of Colour-Orange

2011-08-05T19:57:00.000-04:00

This is the final colour for the challenge Summer of Colour. Most weeks have been relatively easy but I found Orange was my most challenging.

Since I started off making cards then veered off and made a few other things, I decided I would end with a card. This card is not exactly what I would call my best but I decided after many attempts with orange this was going to be it.

Kristin has hosted a wonderful challenge for us and I am so grateful for new blog friends and not so new who have visited me and left lovely comments. I could not visit everyone's blog every week but I did attempt to visit new ones each week.

So here is my orange entry, again, it is not one of my better but I did attempt a face. I have been practising faces on and off all summer as a new venture in my muse.

Thanks for dropping by and hope you had a wonderful challenge as I have had.

I have been given the honor of...

2011-08-01T21:04:00.000-04:00

Bella of the Week over at Bella Creations.

I am a participant in the group called Début des Techniques Graphique, hosted by Heather Hudson who has introduced us to the Gimp program. If you recall my post with the ballerina on a canvas which was a challenge piece to use the ballerina on a piece of artwork. The original picture had a different background and I made a music background and touched up the ballerina in Gimp then did the rest of the artwork.

To say the least I was very surprised to find that I won the title of Bella of the week.

Thanks so much, I am so surprised.

There are so many very talented women over there, click on the link here if you are interested in joining. I encourage you to do so. A great place to learn, share and be inspired.

Still working on Summer of Colour-Orange and having fun with it.

Til next time, thanks for dropping by.

~♥~

Summer of Colour-Purple

2011-07-29T20:48:00.000-04:00

Kristin over at Twinkle Twinkle has chosen Purple with bling, glitz and or glitter for this weeks challenge. As you know, if you follow me, I have been making altered canvases, so this week I did one for the challenge. I was going to make greeting cards and I do have a purple card but I am not submitting it for this challenge.

The canvas was too much fun.

I enhanced an image in Gimp and made a purple background. I covered the main canvas with cheesecloth then painted it with Ice Storm Violet acrylic paint. I had a purple paper picked out as well but the flip side was green and I wanted to break up the purple a bit so I opted for that instead. Then I painted the smaller canvas piece with some cheesecloth on it with Pansy Lavender. Added some sequin waste, doily, and my bling is the Stickles I applied to my flowers in the bottom LH corner. I also have a handmade stickpin with a purple bead but you may have to click on the image to see more details.

Thanks for dropping by.

Now to catch up on every one's creations from this weeks Summer of Colour Purple creations.

~♥~

Lots of scrumptous mail

2011-07-29T20:31:00.000-04:00

Yesterdays post I was grumbling but today I am so happy. I love getting nice mail. I love sending mail.
You know when you enter blog land and meet so many like minded peeps, when you receive something from them it is very special.
Well my birthday was back in May but I received 2 birthday pkgs in the mail. First one is from my long time painting friend Becky. She got me Monika Brint's newest paint book. I have my eye on a few projects in there already but like everything else I do, I will put my own take on it and change the colours up a bit. Not crazy on the colour selection of some of the projects. And, some scrabble tiles, a couple Asian scrabble necklaces, some mini dominoes, as you can see I already opened the package to take a peek, Becky got me 2 packages, yippee skippee, how cool are those, can't wait to try them and some brad buttons, and some crocheted scrap embellies to use. I already used one of each on my sewing canvas I posted yesterday.
Thanks so much Becky.

Next some goodies from Jenxo in Australia. Jen sent me Asian papers, a canvas she made, a brooch some laminated bookmarks she made, and this wonderful shrine. Jenxo asked about a shrine I had posted way back in the beginning of the year so she had some time and was able to make me one. This shrine is incredible. There is a little wire birdcage with a swing inside and a door. I am not sure if Jenxo made this or purchased it but it is incredible and I love the little round flowers with beaded centers. Thanks so much Jenxo. I feel so spoiled by these girls.

And a few months ago I entered a bookmark swap over at the Yahoo group for Gingersnap Creations and the theme was travel the world. As you know we had a postal strike and now that it is over we received our bookmarks. These bookmarks were not marked in the back by the artists so I am not sure who to thank, but they are so lovely and I got an Asian one. Some peeps are really paying attention to my likes.

So I want to thank you very much Jenxo, Becky and the bookmark gals.

Today was filled with happiness and after yesterday, tomorrow truly is another day.

Next post is the Summer of Colour.

Post number 2 to follow.

Canvases and a matchbox

2011-07-28T21:06:00.000-04:00

I have been a little pre occupied of late. Some things have been going on the my hubs new job and we weren't sure all the paper work was in order. He has been sitting waiting for the the phone to ring for him to go to work but it never rang. After waiting and waiting finally a call went through to the HR dept only to find out that he was not on the call in list. Are you kidding me? He went through a long drawn out process just to get the job and these people are not very reliable as far as their word. They say the will call but you wait a long time. Anyways after finding out he was not even on the list, the HR person said she would look after it and then call him back. Well a week and half later no call. Hubs by now is ready to blow his top and then some and he calls to find out she is on vacation for 2 weeks. Are you kidding me. When someone says they are going to call you back would you not think before you were to go on holiday you would tie up loose ends? Apparently not. Even if you are just a call in for now and need to get some hours in for future full time job prospects you would think they could at least straighten something out and let the guy be assured he is on the list. Well he finally got fed up and went to the actual office where his supervisor works which is a different location then the HR person was in and spoke to the main man. Apparently there was an email, things are straightened out and hubs is on the list. My goodness, sleepless nights, worry, anxiety, and no stop talk of this has been going on and I am trying to keep the anxiety level down and on even keel. Phew am I glad now that tempers are not flaring and the nervous system has calmed down.
Anyways a bit of how life has been on the edge for us but come September things are going to pick up.

Now onto art......

I made these 2 canvases in the last week. They were works in progress. I found a tutorial on the web but I can't for the life of me remember what blog it was so I am sorry I cannot give credit to the person who posted this. If you are reading this please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due.

I cut a canvas board in half which was originally 6x8. I didn't want too large a background for the smaller images I was using. I used an Artchix image I had in my stash of a woman sitting at her sewing machine.

I placed gauze on my canvas with gel medium. Let that dry then applied some lace all around the edges. Not so much in the middle as it was going to be covered. Let that dry and with the humidity it took longer than I had patience especially this week. After it was all dry I applied Burnt Umber, black and Copper acrylic paint to the surface making sure I got all the materials and lace covered. Again dry. Then I went to town and embellished. I took a piece of chipboard because I didn't have an old book cover and painted it a tan colour, then scribbled wax on the edges and then painted black over that then sanded the black off to reveal a scruffy cover. Works for me. I added a bit of a piece of a sewers measuring tape (was actually a scan of my mother's, I remember when she taught me to sew I used it and I have fond memories of it) half a spool, some buttons, lace etc . This turned out better than I imagined. I think I will be giving this to a friend of mine who loves to sew.

The next one is similar but for a Bella Creations Challenge for the Oh La La group. The image was provided to us by Gecko Gals and we were to use it to create anything we wanted. So naturally after going the first canvas I thought why not do a ballerina one. I even made the little slippers out of air dry clay and painted them a very light pink colour. I have been playing with the Gimp program so I made my own background, removed the original background for the ballerina, I used a free gimp music brush. I then inked the edges with some java ink. Assembled and this one is going to another friend who loves ballerina's and dancers.

And last but not least is a matchbox for the FlickR monthly matchbox swap and my partner is Smiff or aka Jan. The theme for this month was my favourite things, so we were to make a theme that our partners liked. So I know Jan likes vintage and sewing etc so I made this little sewing themed box just for her in mind. I even made the dress form out of air dry clay, covered with sewing tissue then glued on pink lace, ribbon and some pearly buttons. I really enjoyed making this and the drawer pull was an earring but I took it apart and attached it to the box. I also filled it and a small baggie of stuff for Smiff. I couldn't fit it all in that tiny matchbox and Jan spoils me every time we trade so time to give back some art love.

Well that is enough rambling for one post. Thanks for hearing me out.

I am just waiting for some things to dry and next post I will be posting this weeks Summer of Colour Purple challenge.

Grandma's Attic Matchbox swap

2011-07-26T20:05:00.000-04:00

No this isn't the Summer of Colour post yet, I just wanted to show you a matchbox I did for a group I belong to on FlickR called the Vintage Dragonfly hosted by the lovely JoAnne.

The swap is called Grandma's attic and we are to alter a matchbox that holds 250 matches then fill the box with vintage items, buttons, ribbons, papers etc. Well as usual I have to really do my matchbox up. I have some beautiful vintage paper I used for the outside. I covered a chipboard frame with paper I embossed in the Cuttlebug then I took a piece of acetate and used alcohol ink on it to stain the glass to make it look old. I found this photo of Grandma who looks rather stern but as I remember from reading, people used to have to sit for long periods of time when having their photos taken, so this sort of looked like Grandma's time ended with the smiling and this is the end result. I also added some nice vintagey looking ribbon, added my homemade roses and those pears I removed from an old pair of earrings that I bought at a used goods place.

I hope my partner Gail likes it. I have filled the box full of goodies then I also added a plastic bag because it wouldn't all fit inside. I mailed it out today so I am hoping Gail will have it in no time.

Still thinking on my Summer of Colour, I have it stirring up in my head so hopefully I can start it soon. It all takes careful planning sometimes.

Thanks for dropping by.

Gingersnap creations- Gogs Gears and Watch bits

2011-07-20T22:14:00.001-04:00

GC110_Spicy Supply Challenge

When this challenge was announced I thought to myself..I know what I can do and I will kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak. I swap dominoes monthly with an online friend and our swap for this month was time so this was meant to be.

I had some chipboard gears that I purchased from Artchix Studios and I painted them gold. I stamped my domino with Stazon Black with an Inkadinkado watch stamp. I then used Lettuce Alcohol Ink on the background. Applied my little fairy in the corner and that was it.

Oh how time flies doesn't it?

Thanks for dropping by and til next time stay cool in this heat!!!

Corrugated Red

2011-07-18T19:42:00.000-04:00

Odd title wouldn't you say? Well I have combined 2 challenges in 1 again and I just love how this turned out.

For Summer of Colour this week Kristin our host has chosen Red as the theme and as an added bonus " wings". If you have been following my adventure in the colour challenge you know my main focus was cardmaking but I decided to take a break and make an altered canvas. I already had a canvas covered and distressed so I used that as my base. I used corrugated cardboard which is the theme over at Just For Fun and used it as a backdrop for my Geisha who is sporting wings. I just got some new die cuts and these ones are beautiful butterflies ,I just had to use them in this piece. I distressed the corrugated cardboard first by painting with gesso, then I washed it with some Spice Brown acrylic paint, then used the credit card technique and applied the red. I added stitching and Chinese character rub ons. I added dragonflies and placed them in the area of the stitching. I made a scroll to hang along the side and added some Chinese coins. I really like how this turned out. I always have fun with my Asian themes.

Thanks for looking and remember to check out Kristin's blog and all the great participants in the Summer of Colour Challenge and take a peek at another fun blog from the UK called Just for Fun.

Thanks for dropping by.

Did You Know continues.....

2011-07-17T12:17:00.000-04:00

A few more to add to your list of Did you Know....

Turn your paper not your scissors when cutting images for clean and intricate cuts.

Hand sanitizer works great to remove inks like Stazon if you don't have Stazon Ink Cleaner on hand. Just remember hand sanitizers have alcohol in it so wash your stamps well after removing the ink and hand sanitizer. Works great in a pinch, works on rubber and acrylic.

To mount rubber stamps that aren't mounted on wood to an acrylic block, put a bit of glue stick glue on the back of the stamp and place on your block. Stamp stays put and after you are done just wash the block and stamps off with a bit of soapy water.

Don't have the coloured gems you need for your projects but have lots of white pearls or clear gems? Add a tiny drop of alcohol ink to the pearl or gem to match your colour themes. I add a drop to a q-tip then rub on the gem, they still glisten and have an iridescent effect, add to the center of your flowers or an embellishment.

Stay tuned for some recent creations and tomorrow I will be showing my next Colour of Summer project featuring RED.

Have a very creative day.

Inkurable Stampers ATC swap

2011-07-15T20:42:00.000-04:00

I got some wonderful mail yesterday, I have been patiently waiting for these due to the Canadian Postal strike was on and now these babies are in my hot little hands, all the way from Down under. Sara our gracious host set up a swap for the theme in Black, White and Orange. Were were to make 10 ATC's all the same and then send them to Sara to exchange and send them back. Well I was pleasantly surprised to see all the variations in the cards and such lovely work I must say.

I even got a few ATC's from blogger friends I have been following for a while and a couple I have swapped with in groups.

So without further adu here are the cards I received. We got one of our own cards back to mine is the slide with the butterfly scene. Thank you ladies for the lovely ATC's and a special thanks to Sarah for making this happen.

Thanks for dropping by.

I have become a Digi Monster

2011-07-13T15:58:00.000-04:00

Ok so it took me hours and days just to crop the backgrounds and learn to make the backgrounds transparent and now I am trying layering and working with multiple images. It hasn't been easy but this afternoon while I had some time to myself uninterrupted I tried this.
The rabbit had a totally white background, I took all that away, in between each spoke of the wheels although you can't see it now but I cleaned that up. Then I placed some gears from Dezinaworld collage sheet I just purchased a few days ago and added them to the tires of the bike. I also added the time piece behind the rabbit and I found another collage sheet with a clock looking background. And this is what I came up with. Over at Gingersnap Creations they are having another challenge with gears and watch parts but I think I will do an actual hand made ATC for the challenge. The challenge just got me playing with Gimp again. I told Heather Hudson over at Bella Creations she has created a Digi Monster.
Til next time, thanks for dropping by and leaving me all your encouraging and inspiring comments. I always smile and it gives me such pleasure to know others like my blog.

~♥~

My very first Digital ATC

2011-07-12T16:52:00.000-04:00

Over at Bella Creations there is a new group called Début des Techniques Graphique. Our kind hostess Heather Hudson is teaching us how to use the Free Gimp program. I have been very interested in Digital Art although I love cutting paper, gluing etc I am always fascinated with the art of digital manipulation of photos. Anyways Gimp is Free and you can download it but you will have to go online to use the manual. All the information is on the Gimp site and there are many tutorials on YouTube.

Ok that being said, I struggled and struggled with just getting unwanted backgrounds to disappear but finally after messaging Heather back and forth and looking at vids and reading, and ,well just playing I finally got the layering part. I got the backgrounds to disappear, cleaned up an image, and put all my images on top of a free Paris background I had on my computer. I believe the girl is from the Graphics Fairy, the bird from a collage sheet from Lisa's Altered Art images. I added "Paris" from the Gimp program and this is how it came out. Wow was I amazed and so excited. My very first digital ATC and I am also posting this in the Group challenge. Use 3 images and try putting text on your design. I hope this passes, if not it sure was a lot of fun.

Thanks for looking. Now off to do some artsy stuff.

~♥~

I have to brag.....I am a Ginger Again....

2011-07-12T12:27:00.000-04:00

If you recall the Spicy Supply Challenge at Gingersnaps Creation blog we had a challenge to use packaging in our artwork???? My arch made of egg carton, packing tape etc was chosen as a Ginger Gem. Woot Woot. You can see the post regarding all the wonderful creations here.

Gingersnaps always takes me to new heights in my artwork, I truly enjoy the commeraderie and the inspiration this blog has to offer.

Thanks again for chosing my artwork Gingersnap Gals and congrats to all the winners of the packaging material challenge.

Summer of Colour Week 5 and Acrylic Smash

2011-07-11T19:48:00.000-04:00

I can't believe we are already into week 5, how did that happen? When Kristin announced the colour for this week over at Twinkle Twinkle was brown I wondered what I could do that was a bit different. When I think of brown when creating, I think of grunge, antique, earthy etc.

I was browsing the internet one night and on Splitcoast Stampers they had a tutorial on acrylic smash. When I read the title I thought, hmmm wonder what is up with that? So I investigated and found a technique I had not tried yet and I have tried a lot but this one really caught my attention, so much I have been doing a little out of the box type of things as well with this technique. Today however, I will show you my very first acrylic smash card in brown and we were challenged to use a colour that was bold to go along with the brown. Here I have chosen Indian Turquoise.

The flowers were white but I painted them turquoise and the centers were pearls I added a drop of Caramel Alcohol ink and then added some Distress Stickles to them and completely changed them. I love this technique

And this card was a premade round card but I think I should have had the fold at the top for standing it up, I did a dahhhh after the card was made. Oh well, someone will still get it. I rather like how it turned out.

I distressed a doily with Tea Dye Distress Ink then did my acrylic smash center piece. I used a drinking glass that fit the middle diameter of the doily almost perfect to cut the acrylic. I then added a few sprigs of flowers from some stickers in my stash. Wow that was easy and quick. I think I will enter this card into another challenge over at Just For Fun, you are to use acrylic in a piece of artwork. I think this should pass don't you?

Don't forget to check the link to take you to Kristin's blog and look at all the wonderful artwork that everyone is doing. What a great way to meet new bloggers and get some new inspiration.
Have a great day.

Sunday's Did You Know's

2011-07-10T11:15:00.001-04:00

I started a Did you Know topic the other week and I can't believe how time is slipping. I am going to try to post my Did you Know's on Sundays, that way I won't be trying to post other things and this gets lost.

I have started a list by my work station and now I am accumulating quite a few so today I will post 5 of them and then next Sunday 5 more.

So here it goes.....

Did you know?.....

1.If you don't have an Embossing Buddy, try using a dryer sheet prior to stamping and applying Embossing powders to your cards or paper arts. These are anti static sheets so they will remove static and you won't have unwanted bits of EP on your art work.

2. Wrap your wet paintbrush in plastic wrap if you get interrupted while painting, this will keep the brush moist and you won't have to throw away a good brush. Just remove the plastic wrap to continue painting or dampen in some water. Clean up is just as easy than a hardened paint brush!!!!! Works on house painting brushes too!!!!

3. Place your stamp pads face down to keep them moist and the ink to the top of the surface of the pads.

4.Stick an eye pin ( used for jewellery) in your Glossy Accents bottle to keep the nozzle free. Nothing worse than having a clogged up nozzle and mess every time you want to use it. I push the eye pin right down into the hole and the loop is great to pull up and you are ready to use every time. The lid also fits on no problem.

5. Clean those acrylic stamp blocks with the Mr.Clean Magic Eraser. Works every time.

Stay tuned for more Did you Know's????

Image is from the Graphics Fairy.

Dezinaworld Giveaway

2011-07-08T14:15:00.000-04:00

June over at Dezinaworld is having a giveaway for reaching 500 Followers. Just take a peek over at her blog here and follow the details.

June has been very generous with her wonderful images and she has many for sale for reasonable prices.

Don't waste any time getting over there, Sign up by July 15 to win some great collage sheets.

Happy creating everyone.

Gingersnap Random Redhead Challenge and Mail

2011-07-05T20:22:00.000-04:00

GC107-is Bags and Tags. I had a bunch of these kraft gift bags in my stash waiting for something so when this challenge came up I thought...bingo, I can use this for the challenge.
I have some beautiful K and Company paper packs and I found this vintage looking wallpaper paper to apply to the bag. I first distressed the edges with my scissors then I used Jumbo Java ink to age the paper.
I cut out both flourish die cuts from Tim's Sizzix die then painted it with copper, burnt umber and a bit of turquoise acrylic paint in a slip slap manner. After that was dry I applied Diamond Stickles to the flourishes and set them aside to dry.
I then made these white roses out of handmade paper using Tim's Tattered Florals die cut and they turned out better than I expected, wish I had more of that paper, it had flecks of little bits of lavender and leaves in it in case you are wondering what some of those things are on my roses. I then lightly tinted them with some Tea Stain DI, just to tone down the white and to age them a bit. I also found some pink roses already made in my stash and added them and I used some of that twisted paper to make leaves. I added some bling with the colours that were in the paper and just placed them here and there. I also made a tag using the opposite side of the paper on the bag, stamped a Love Flourish stamp in Jumbo Java from Stampology. Then just placed a little white tinted rose along the bottom and attached it to the bag. Now I have a lovely bag to put a gifty in for the future. This was fun and I think I will have to make a few more.

And now that the mail strike here in Canada is over it is fun to get the mail again.

Today I received a much anticipated trade I did with 2 online friends.

Wendy over at BlissAngels asked Jeanie and I if we wanted to do a trade in the theme of teacups.

So I made 3 cards of 2 different designs for the 3 of us .Today I got Jeanie's cards and here they are, they look like china, she has applied Glossy Accents over top of the images and they just shine. I had a bit of a time separating them because of the humidity but no damage was done. Just a bit tricky and delicate surgery but all is good.

Thanks so much Jeanie and thank you all for visiting.

Sorry Jeanie and Wendy I didn't add your links but please take a look along the sidebar to visit both their blogs.

~♥~

Summer of Colour-Yellow

2011-07-04T16:33:00.000-04:00

Another week already and the theme is yellow over at Twinkle Twinkle Like a Star. Kristin has challenged us to the theme of yellow and as a bonus to use metallic in your card. Metallic to me can mean many things, a metallic paint, metallic embellishment, metallic flowers, or......Staples.

As you can see here I took a piece of corrugated cardboard and applied gesso to it with 2 coats. While the 2nd coat was still wet I added Timberline Green to a corner of my brush and lightly and quickly made a rugged border around the edges. Where the top paper was removed it was a bit tricky but I accomplished my task. I then stamped some sunflowers (thanks for the stamps Mum) onto white card stock coloured them with pencil crayons, then applied one right onto the cardboard and the other 2 were applied using pop dots to raise them off the page for a 3D effect. I also used this cool word flourish stamp( a package of them I recently got at Walmart for a buck) , can't refuse a bargain like that, and stamped the image in Black Soot DI. I then applied my finished top piece to a yellow card with my metallic attachments....Staples.

Thanks for looking and I can't wait for the next colour.

This is a fun and very rewarding challenge, I want to thank Kristin for taking this on and including my artwork. There are some wonderfully talented people out there, go check them out.

A cute TeePee card to share

2011-07-03T21:26:00.000-04:00

Recently over at Bella Creations Voila Ink group, we were challenged to make a Tee Pee card with the theme of fairies. So, since at the time it was posted I still wasn't on Wireless and could not watch the posted video for the making of a tee pee card, I had looked up an alternative blog to see how it was made and want to share that link with you here.

This is the card I made and just want to share my creation with you. It is a fun alternative to the flat version. These are fun and very easy to make. I hope you tackle one as I did below. They do fold flat and you can fit them into an envy to mail.

I think they would make a nice little center piece for a party as well or special occasion.

We had Canada on Friday and it was spent at home very quietly til evening rolled around and my dearest hunbun husband just had to scare the cat with his cherry bombs,but, after all, you can't take the kid out of him. Rosie was encourage to return from her hiding place basement and a good time was had by JB.

Saturday we went for a nice evening ride on the Harley and had coffee in a nearby town and returned home before dark. A good time was had but us.

Today was humid and we just stayed home to watch the continuation of the trial of Casey Anthony on HLN TV.

Thanks for dropping by and hope you had a nice long weekend in Canada and I wish my American friends a great 4th of July weekend as well.

Week 3-PINK

2011-06-29T21:04:00.001-04:00

This week for the Summer of Colour challenge over at Twinkle Twinkle like a Star the colour is pink.

My first attempt did not go well so I took a different approach and made this card.

If you follow my blog you know recently I posted some greeting cards with bird cages. Well I decided to alter one of my cages slightly and made an arbor to house my little fairy with some hand made pink roses, made by me of course.I first embossed the background with the CB then chalked the embossed area with pink shimmery chalk made by All Night Media. I found some corner chipboard pieces to put in each corner and painted them with a Fuchsia acrylic paint. Then I applied rub ons to fancy them up a bit. The arbor is painted in the same colour although I added a lighter pink then shaded with Chocolate Cherry paint to add depth to the arch. I added Stickles, some butterflies, an eye pin with beads I recently made. Punched rose leaves, some little glittery pink flowers at the base. It really sparkles when you have it in your hand. I really like how this card turned out. The more I make these roses the more I enjoy them. They are fun and I make them in many sizes but this size is great for cards.

It's never too late to sign up for the challenge and many artists are sharing their muses with us from Fiber arts, jewellery, paper crafts and so much more.

Take a wander over just for inspiration.

Thanks for dropping by and can't wait to dive into the next colour.....yellow.

Does anyone know?

2011-06-24T20:12:00.000-04:00

I have recently had to change my email address and I want to change logging into Blogger from my old email to another one,but, blogger won't allow it. Do you have to sign up for another blog in order to change it? I don't need another blog right now, this one is quite enough. I have been trying to figure this out before I call my old service provider to cancel my internet with them, I want to be able to sign in and out of my blog with my new email before cancelling. .
If you can offer any help I sure would appreciate it.
Lesley

Some greeting cards and doodling

2011-06-22T16:52:00.000-04:00

Here are some greeting cards I have been making. These were made last week but I am just adding them today. I used Tim Holz birdcage die and another die birdcage, sorry can't remember the name at the moment. I found these wonderfull flower stickers at the dollar store. Both birds were printed twice then I cut the wing off and put a piece of foam tape to raise it's wing off the paper a bit, makes it more 3D looking. The background papers are from my stash and I painted and distressed the birdcages to make them look rusty and worn.

I made quite a few of these and will be giving them as little bundles of cards for gifts at Christmas or upcoming birthdays. Everyone seems to like getting cards to give to others and surely a one of a kind you can't buy in any store.

I think cards are my favourite besides ATC's to make.

And don't laugh but I have been trying to do faces. I have seen a lot of these whimsical faces and I have been sitting ,when I was watching the Playoff hockey, trying my hand and patience at these.

I have drawn a lot of them and I think I am finally onto it.

Each one is different as all faces are. I love colouring their hair in different colours. Kind of makes me feel like a kid again.

I just made these tags and will probably use them down the road to attach to a gifty or maybe send with a swap I do.

I will do a better job next time for the backgrounds, they were just a quick and not really thinking about it

mood.

Isn't that what art is about?

Thanks for dropping by.

Oh and I love my wireless.

~♥~

YIPPEEE SKIPPEEE

2011-06-21T16:22:00.000-04:00

I am on Wireless and no more dial up. I can't believe I took the plunge and here I am.
I just had to share the excitement. No more waiting and waiting for pages to load and now I can watch vids.
Woot wooot.

Colour of Summer Week 2- Green

2011-06-20T20:08:00.000-04:00

As you recall from my previous posts I am doing greeting cards for the challenge that Kristin is holding over at Twinkle Twinkle called the Colour of Summer. Week 2 is the colour Green.

Wow my favourite colour and I had no trouble finding green in my stash. When I buy paper I always tend to go towards greens so this was no problem for me. In the challenge for an extra added bonus we were to add the colour citron also so when digging through my papers I found this wonderful cardstock that had both shades I was wanting to use. How cool is that? I found a die cut that I had previosly cut for another project and never used so here is Tim design painted in 3 various shades of slip slap green with a bit of citron dabbled here and there. If you click on the card you can see a larger version and all the colours of the houses. I also added some interest to the windows. I cut small various colours of cardstock with green in it and put them behind the house windows and edged all the windows in gold metallic pen. The border below the houses is also a green border and I also inked the edge of the cardstock in Peeled Paint distress ink. How green is that? I found a tree that I liked with a nice verse, Bloom where you are planted and stamped that as well in Peeled Paint. Last but not least I found some K and Company little butterflies with a bit of Green and Citron and applied them as well.

This card will go in my stash for a cheer you up or new home or to just say hello card. Not sure yet but it will find a good home sooner or later.

Check out all the great art work and interpretations of the Colour of Summer. Click on the link in my sidebar or the above link provided. It's not to late to join in and there are prizes too.

Thanks for dropping by and stay tuned for some doodling I have been doing.

Did you know?

2011-06-17T14:38:00.002-04:00

Have you ever wondered what to use when you don't have all the fancy schmancy tools that you see other artists using online?

Perhaps you are frugal like me and wonder what can I use to substitute for that? or can I use this instead of that?

Well from time to time I am going to share things that I have either found or use or maybe someone shared with me to help you.

Artists are always looking for ways to incorporate items in their stash to use other than their intended uses.

So I am going to start a " Did you Know" article now and again and I invite you to share with me things that you find helpful, useful, instead of"s.

If I find something online I will direct you to the link to give credit where credit is due and I hope you will do the same if you find something here and share the link. Together we can build up a very helpful resource.

So here it goes.....

Did you know......

to distress the edges of your pages open up your scissors and run the paper between the blades close to the hinge part of the scissors, or, if you take a dressmakers seam ripper run it along the edges of your papers to make them ratty and worn.

Did you know.....

you can crackle your paint with ordinary white school glue? Apply a base coat of paint to your surface, let dry. Apply a rather thick and not too thin coat of white glue to the base coat, paint it on in different directions for interest. Clean your brush and allow the glue to tack up a bit. Next take another coat of contrasting paint and paint over the glue but do not go over the same area you just painted this will glob the paint up and glue and cause a mess. Cover the entire area and leave to dry. You can also use a sponge brush and sponge on the top coat of paint which I prefer to do. Watch as the paint dries, cracks will appear.

Did you know.....

if you don't have gesso not to worry, although white acrylic paint is no real substitute it will do the job. If you need to, just add a bit of water to the paint or your brush and paint the area you want to tone down or add interest to.

Well that's it for today.

Stay tuned for further Did you Know's?

The Summer of Colour Week 1-Blue

2011-06-15T15:04:00.000-04:00

Well I have been a busy girl, making cards for my stash and what better way to get my juices flowing than to enter a challenge to help spark the ideas.

This weeks challenge over at Kristin's blog, Twinkle Twinkle, the first colour is blue.

So here is my entry.

I applied torn pages with blue hues or tones to a piece of heavy weight card stock measured to fit just inside the front of my base card. After the gel was dried I then applied Gesso to it all but not too heavy so you could see through the gesso all the different types of papers I used. I found a stamped face in blue my friend Becky sent to me a while back so I wanted that to be sort of a focal point and didn't put as much gesso to that area of the card stock. When that was dry I went to town with my oil pastels, I used 2 different blues and just scribbled to the outside edges of the piece of card stock then I started to blend the colours and work them towards the center. I then took a tissue and blended some more while lifting the heavier bits of pastel. I dont' like the thick streaky pieces on my cards I more or less stain the paper with the colours.

When all that was done I then did some stamping and then sewing with a straight and zigzag stitch in randomness around the outside edge.

I used Tim Holt's Tattered florals die punch to create the flowers out of corrugated cardboard. I painted the flowers white first then I used Prussian Blue and just lightly dry brushed the ridges. I then applied Diamond stickles to the raised edges added a brad to the center and then applied to the surface of the card.

I rather like this.

Thanks for looking and can't wait to find out next weeks colour.

Make sure you stop by Twinkle Twinkle and check out the Summer of Colour challenge for some great inspiration, fun, and, to meet new arty friends.

GC106 Packaging Material challenge

2011-06-15T14:32:00.000-04:00

Over at Gingersnap Creations there is always something going on. When I saw this challenge I just had to put my thinking cap on to come up with something just a little bit different.

Presently I am into card making since my stock has been depleted and I like the freedom of card making, I just let things happen.

Well I had an empty egg carton with a flat top, some packing tape,and some clear packaging from some items I had bought.

I cut the top of the egg carton off the rest of the carton and cut out an arch shape. I then painted it with some white acrylic paint and let dry. Then I scribbled some blue and pink oil pastels on the arch and then rubbed the colours to blend, took my tissue then blended some more and lifting the heavier applications so the surface was smooth and not thick with the pastel. Then I ran it through the Cuttlebug with one of my flourish EF's. I then inked the edges of the arch with some blue ink. I found a ballerina in my printed stash. I took some music from an old hymnal and applied packing tape to it and did the packing tape transfer. I took the acrylic packaging from something I bought, used alcohol inks in Stream and Cranberry to colour it, ran it through the CB using Tim Holt's Tattered florals die. I applied Diamond Stickles along the edges of the flowers and let dry. The base of the card was in my stash with a light smokey grey background and just seem to be a perfect fit for the theme, I did some stamping on it. I applied the arch shape, packing tape with music, ballerina, the flowers with an added gem centers, and a printed Dance word, again found in my stash. I really like how this looks and would never guess that egg cartons work wonderfully with embossing and colouring.

I hope you will look at your packaging in a whole new way. I sure did.

Thanks for dropping by,

~♥~

A new challenge-The Summer of Colour (color)

2011-06-12T20:33:00.000-04:00

I have been hearing about this new and exciting challenge blog that I would like to share with you.

It is called the Summer of Color ( here in Canada we spell it colour). Each Monday a new colour is picked and we are to create something in that chosen colour.

Well today I was making some greeting cards to stock up my supply and I hadn't decided on whether to join this challenge as there seems to be so many of them and I can't possibly commit to them all, but, this one intrigued me. I have been told I have a good eye when it comes to colour and while making my greeting cards I decided this is what I am going to create during this challenge. Not only will I stock up my supply but the greeting cards are useful and I also give them as gifts during holidays or birthdays etc. So if you are in the least bit interested in this new challenge, take a peek here, and get all the deets. The challenge starts tomorrow and the first colour is blue.

You can also click on the flashing icon to the right to take you to the blog as well.

Stay tuned for my new adventure as I study the rainbow in it's array of colours.

back online

2011-06-11T19:54:00.000-04:00

Hello friends,

we had 2 nasty storms on Wed this past week and our phone line was knocked out until late Friday afternoon. I am trying to catch up on emails and just got onto my blog. Some areas the hydro was out and still is until sometime on Sunday. The wind was very bad, a tree was knocked down in a neighbours yard, we had a limb broken off one of our trees, a birds nest in another tree was tore out of the tree and little egg shells on the ground. (boo hoo). We had hail, lots of driving rain, and a lightening show that was amazing but scary at the same time.

We are all well, happy and healthy.

Sure missed not having a phone or internet.

Anyways I am back in action.

Have a happy weekend my friends.

ATC's from South Africa and another matchbox

2011-06-08T19:17:00.000-04:00

As I posted yesterday I want to show you what I received in the mail from 2 trades I recently did.

First up are 2 ATC's from Bella who lives in South Africa. Bella was visiting my blog after I had posted

one of my Geisha cards for a Gingersnap Geisha challenge and asked if I was interested in trading it?

Well usually challenges I don't do much with the piece, except ,put it in a box or drawer only to wonder what to do with it later or give it to someone ,but, after finding out Bella lived in South Africa and I don't have any ATC's from Africa I surely wanted to trade. We also agreed to do an ATC that reflected something from the country we lived in. So sorry I did not take

a pic of the cards I sent to Bella but she will probably post them on her blog.

Here are the cards that Bella sent to me including this wonderful greeting card done with foil card stock, alcohol inks and embossing. It is so lovely. Bella and I decided after the Rotating Postal strikes are over we may plan to do another swap.

I haven't swapped ATC's in a while so it is nice to get back to it. I always feel refreshed after not doing something like that on a smaller canvas.

Thanks again for a great trade Bella.

Next up is my matchbox from JoAnne's FlickR group Vintage Dragon Fly. I received this lovely matchbox with all kinds of goodies inside and out.

Melissa spoiled me and she also wrapped everything in this beautiful tea towel that has shells and gold threads in it.

Take a peek at the spool she altered, wrapped some lovely lace around it, then put a decorative pin and added a gold glittery shell button to it and on the top is a

collection of shells and beads. The matchbox itself has a lovely mermaid on it and also more goodies inside. I was blown away.

Thank you Melissa. After a week like I had last week and worried about my car this was such a nice treat to get mail that was fun and full of arty goodness.

You certainly meet some wonderful artisans online who are generous and in most cases like minded.

Today was very hot and humid and we just got over a thunderstorm with hail and winds and lots of lightening. We surely needed some cooler weather after the day we had today.

I was up early and got the vacuuming and floors washed so needless to say I was sweating buckets by the time that was over.

My exercise complete along with a cleaner house.

Well that's it for today folks.

Thanks for dropping by, I always read your comments and I do try to visit each of you even if I don't leave a comment.

Blogger has been a tad bit ornery lately.

~♥~

I won something, matchbox swap and car news

2011-06-07T20:31:00.000-04:00

A few posts ago I showed you an Eco Shape shrine that I received in an order from Artchix. The shrine shape and door were to be used in a challenge on the Artchix Facebook page and today I found out I won a 10.00 gift certificate. Woot woot. I hardly ever win anything, I have no luck at lotteries, scratch tickets, or even random drawings. I never get too excited but today I did. I don't have to hurry to use it up so I will wait til I need a few things and use it.
It was nice to get some good news after a week without a car and money spent fixing it. I got my car back yesterday and nice to have my own wheels back. A brand new gas tank and new lines from the transmission to the rad were replaced. I can actually put more than a half a tank of gas in the car. Woot woot. I hate spending the money on a car but hey it has been a good car and I need to keep it for a while so I guess money well spent for safety reasons as well.

And the other day I received my Music themed matchbox from my friend Jan. If you recall the FlickR monthly matchbox theme for last month was music and we had to use black somewhere on the matchbox. Well Jan is always a very creative and generous trade partner. She really did it this time. Take a peek at all the goodies she included inside and outside the box.
Thanks so much Smiff. I think Jan did an image transfer somehow with the woman images and the music paper on the outside. It is really lovely.

And below is a humming bee. Isn't it the neatest little creature? We have seen a few of them or the same one hanging around our hanging baskets on our deck and this one decided to have a rest on the petunias. JB caught it on digital. I had been trying but the thing kept buzzing around. I put the camera down and then he comes into the house looking for the camera and caught it taking a rest. That never happens so me, I am no photographer, I haven't the patience or the eye. You would think being a painter and creative person that I am that I would be able to capture such beauty but nope I just want to click and get it over with.

Anyways thanks for dropping by and tomorrow I will be showing you what I got in the mail today.

Another matchbox and 2 lovely ATC's from South Africa.

Remember to stop and smell the flowers. Life is too short to be hung up on stress and

don't let people rent space in your head.

~♥~

Another Gingersnap Art Exchange

2011-06-02T20:51:00.000-04:00

Over at the Yahoo Group, Gingersnap Creations, we are having a bookmark art exchange, titled, Travel the World. Bookmarks are rather easy to do but unfortunately you can't really add too many embellies because of their sole purpose. So for every bookmark I looked up some info about each of the countries or city and put a little blurp about the landmark or the area. A piece of trivia you may call it. This was actually fun finding out things you didn't know.

I have posted my bookmarks but there is a possible Canada Post strike looming and we won't know til tonight if an agreement has been made, if not they go on strike. Delay and delays and more delays.

So I have opted not to sign up for any swaps from here on til I know for sure and time to take a bit of a break from things. I am still waiting for results on my car. The garage was very busy the day we dropped it off but tomorrow is Friday and I would really like to have my wheels back. Driving the big truck isn't really my thing but at least we have another vehicle to drive. I don't seem to be in much of a creating mood of late so just sitting back and maybe once I sit again it will all come back to me.

Thanks for dropping by and I always love to read your comments.

I have to rumble

2011-05-31T15:41:00.000-04:00

Maybe it's the heat, I don't complain too much, I keep a lot to myself in a lot of cases but today I am rumbling because it never fails. I recently got some income tax return money, and, thinking maybe now I can afford to get the wireless set up I have been wanting and I would have faster than this stupid snail speed dial up. Well today may have just ruined that very much anticipated thinking. I was going to town to do a few groceries and on my way the car started to hurk and jerk, not bad but I wasn't feeling comfortable about the drive so I immediately turned around and went home. I got hubs to take a peek and well one thing led to another and as he was going to take it for a test drive I noticed some oil on the driveway, but, it wasn't the good oil, it was transmission oil. So JB pulls back in as I am showing him and popped the hood and found out by the dip stick I had next to no transmission oil left and I could have really done in my engine had I not come home when I did. Anyways the ole Monte Carlo is in the shop and when they can look at it then they will call. I also have been putting off a new gas tank, I can only put in no more than half a tank and it all comes pouring out after half a tank. So needless to say, looks like all that money I got back is going to the car. I will have to wait for wireless for now. Never fails...you finally get a bit of money that you actually could use for yourself and then you end up giving it to someone else. Doesn't life work funny that way?Oh well at least I knew to come home, wasnt' stranded anywhere. Today is so humid and hot they were telling peeps to keep the animals indoors and stay cool and drink lots of fluids.
No one got hurt and I trusted my womanly instincts.
Ok enough rumbling, tomorrow will be a better day....at least I hope.
Have a great day everyone.

Tea card fun

2011-05-28T19:14:00.000-04:00

Remember as a kid your parents if they drank Red Rose tea, they would give you those cute little tea cards?

Well while I was blogging around on dial up the other night ,which was painfully slow, I found a challenge blog through another blogger's site and it is called Just For Fun. I was taking a peek at this new little blog and the thing that most attracted me to it was you don't need a lot of fancy name brand items, just use stuff in your stash and create with what you have on hand, no prizes, no sponsors, just make some friends and share your creations with them. So this weeks challenge was to make tea cards.

As you know I was playing with those magnets and I have really been taken with my oil pastels so I decided to make a few tea cards. Well one turned into 2 then turned into a few more and a few more and so on.

Yikes I am still making them. The idea of tea cards from the original designs are they measure 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 with a white border around them and if you remember they often ran in series. As well they were brightly coloured.

So I dug out my stamps, black ink, white card stock, oil pastels and did some playing.

I first made a border to fit around my tea card. How did I do that? I cut many tea cards out and took one and measured 1/8th of an inch in from each side, I marked with the pencil at the top and bottom all around. I connected the markings so you have a thin border around and a rectangle in the center. I used a straight edge and lined up the lines and carefully with a craft knife trimmed the inside out. Next I placed repositional glue from my little pen all along the border and let it dry it. This remains tacky but not gluey if you let it sit and tack up, if you put it directly onto the paper when the glue is still blue and wet it will stay there permanently and I did not want that. I wanted to be able to remove it once I was done colouring inside the tea card. Once the border was tacked up I then placed it around the outside edges of my tea card. I stamped images in black for a bold look. Some images I embossed with black EP some I just left the black ink. Then if I wanted more stamping like the bird with the script I stamped another bird then cut it out as a mask, placed it over the existing image, stamped the script then removed the mask. I then started colouring with my pastels. The butterflies I used a marker to colour them in to reveal bright bold colours. The pastels are scribbled on then smudged and blended then I took a tissue and rubbed most of it off. I did find if you want a thin border around your image then do that first before applying the pastels as the oil in the pastels resists ink. You don't have to even put a thin border but in some cases it adds a nice touch. After you are done colouring your backgrounds then remove that thin border carefully and you now have a white border around your tea card. These would look really nice on small cards as your main image, you could put them on ATC's. you could use them to put your artist info on the back and send along with your trades or you could simply do a series of them and trade them. How fun would that be????

I hope you enjoy these tea cards. A great way to use up scraps of your white card stock. You could even use Twinkling H20's, watercolours, paint, etc. Use whatever you like and whatever you have on hand. Remember tho that you must do the required size and the white border.

Thanks for dropping.

♫A Musical themed matchbox♫

2011-05-24T20:16:00.000-04:00

Well finally we saw the sun today with some cloud mixed in but for the most part the temperature is just right for me and hubs. The grass got cut and I have been wandering around the yard, looking at the bird houses with twigs packed in so tight I wonder how the little warblers get themselves in there. I picked a large bouquet of Lily of the Valley and the sweet smell of lilacs fill the air. Oh spring has finally arrived and it is always so nice to see new birth and growth right before my eyes.

Today I want to show you my music themed matchbox for my partner for the Monthly Matchbox Yahoo group. I hope Jennifer likes it and I have stuffed some goodies inside as well but sure was hard to find music themed items so I did the best I could.

I embossed the paper first with a Crafts Too music embossing folder in the Cuttle Bug, then inked the music notes in black. We were to use black somewhere in or on the box. Then I quilled some red roses, punched some fern and rose leaves and ripped a bit of hymnal music paper and folded it accordion style before placing the bouquet on the paper then attached to the box. I copied on transparency Beethoven and applied it to the drawer but you can't see it in this photo as the drawer is full of little prizes. Then I decided I would make Jennifer my new addiction, a music themed magnet. If you saw my post yesterday you will see how I made these. I used the bird image from my recently purchased Lisa's Altered Art bird collage sheet. I made some fun foam music notes for a stamp. I printed off this nice verse about birds,( click for a larger view), then I applied the 2x3 paper to photo magnetic sheet. I also applied a thin layer of hair spray (cheap stuff) with a paint brush to seal in the pastels. I love how these are turning out and I am making more. Such fun and nice little gifties to give to a swap partner. I hope Jennifer likes it and the box.

Well that's it for today.

Thanks for dropping by and I want to say again and again, I love your comments. I makes me keep blogging and I am so happy to make new friends who share the same interests as myself.

Be creative and make someone happy.

♪♫♪

Have you ever stunned yourself?

2011-05-23T21:07:00.000-04:00

Creative wise? Well I did and I must say I really think I am onto something. I got a book from my library and it was about stamping and different ideas etc. There was a masking tutorial in the book and I got to looking at it and said I have done this but what if I masked a photo and did some stamping around the image that is printed on a medium card stock instead of masking the actual stamped image? So I went to work. I cut out a frame from card stock to stand up to some abuse, Then I looked through some images I had and I also purchased some images recently online from Lisa's Altered Art and set up a grid in my editing program so the images were sized to what I wanted. I printed them off and then I made a grey scale copy of the exact images I just printed in colour. I then took my masking images and cut them all out. /I applied this repositional glue stick to them (like the glue on sticky notes) to the back and let them sit til I was ready to apply them to the card stock. I then took that frame I made and positioned it over the image I wanted to work on. I used stamps, embossing powders etc and then used oil pastels to colour my backgrounds. I must say, beside paints, I love my oil pastels. They truly are an amazing medium to work with and the colours blend beautifully together. I end up taking a lot of the pastel off with a tissue which leaves more of a stain on the paper but oh so cool. After you are done any stamping embossing and colouring, lift your mask and voila`. Now what I also did I repositioned the frame before I cut my pieces out, I took a fine tip black marker and made a border, this also serves as a cutting guide. You could also just do this and cut then decorate your little collaged pieces it is up to you.

Then.....I took a photo magnetic sheet I had in my stash, removed the paper backing to reveal the sticky backing then placed my image on the magnetic sheet. Pressed down cut it out and this is what it looks like. I was stunned. Just another little idea for you, give as a little gifty to a friend, teacher, hostess, stocking stuffer, give along with a trade partner. These have endless possibilities. I have a couple peeps I will be sending these to.

Be careful you may get a little addicted to these.

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you had a nice long weekend for those of you who live in Canada.

Another door tag and a matchbox

2011-05-20T22:00:00.000-04:00

As you can see I am a little addicted to these door tags. I am not even sure what I am going to do with them, maybe a trade or just give as little stocking stuffers at Christmas, but, I have had this idea in my head for ages. I was making myself laugh the whole time making this but it wasn't as easy as it looks.

I first tried to make a texture template for the background. As you can see I wanted to make a card theme. The template was made of chipboard as I read how to make one in Stamper's Sampler magazine but I think the chipboard was not thick enough as it all flattened out in the Cuttlebug. So what to do, well I made a stencil instead and then put my paper over the stencil and basically did a dry emboss. So then I took the stencil and placed it back over the raised edges and inked the clubs, diamonds etc. in alternating black and red. I then inked the whole tag in java ink. I found a toilet line drawing online, I had to edit the baby boy then printed him out and coloured his towel around him with pencil crayons. Stamped and embossed in gold a crown for his head. I found a Royal Flush card graphic online and printed out my letters and put it all together.

If you want to check out Jeanie's door challenge just click on the door tag to the right of the screen and it will take you directly to the post of how to do the challenge.

Next is a matchbox I have had made forever for the Vintage Dragon Fly's FlickR group. Our next swap is Treasures of the Sea. I covered my matchbox in a fine grit light coloured sand paper then painted the sea scene in acrylic paints. This was totally freehand. I think I did pretty good and finding sea items to fill the box was a bit of a challenge but I think Anna of Frosted Petunias will like it.

I recently heard at the Post Office there may be a strike starting sometime next week unless things are settled before then so I need to get my swaps and items out by Tues. Monday is a holiday here in Canada, Victoria Day so needless to say everything will be closed.

That's it for now.

Hope you all have a wonderful and creative weekend.

♥

An ARTCHIX Eco Shape Challenge

2011-05-20T20:33:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday everyone and today is the start of our long weekend, Monday is Victoria Day.
JB and I will also be celebrating 20 years in this house. Seems almost yesterday we stepped into our house. What a mess, we wondered what we got ourselves into. Anyways a long story and not going to elaborate on it now.
I wanted so show you this cool Eco Shape, an arch with a door that is also a separate Eco shape from Artchix Studio. Recently I had placed an order and I received the arch and the door with instructions if I wanted to alter it or decorate it then place it on the Facebook page for all to see and a chance to win something.
Well here is my piece.
I covered the arch with some pink with blue flower scrap paper that has been hanging around for ages. Then I just lightly dry brushed the paper to tone the pink down with white acrylic paint. I added some gold German scrap after inking all the edges with some Turquoise ink. I then covered the door front and back part with the same paper but did not dry brush it as I wanted the door to stand out, I then painted the frame with Indian Turquoise acrylic paint and the eco shape cat that I had ordered. The I Love my Cat is also an Artchix image which is placed behind the door then attached to the Arch, and where the hole for the window is I placed an acrylic half bubble(which I also ordered) so the cat's head can be seen through it. LOL
After the turquoise cat was painted I covered with a paint brush 2 layers of Turquoise Stickles then when that was dry I applied a coat of Glossy Accents. I then found a pink bingo card that someone gave me but sure looks like an Artchix bingo card but not sure and cut out 4 numbers then placed it on the house then the cat in the center of it. I also added German Scrap at the bottom edge of either side of the door and at the top corners of the door frame. This was fun.
I have 2 pics here to show the door closed then the door open so you can see the full image.
Thanks for looking, now off to post on Facebook then I am going to make another post to show you a few other items I have been working on.

Check this Blog Candy Giveaway by Gerri Herbst

2011-05-18T23:16:00.000-04:00

You must go check out this amazing Paper Artist, Gerri Herbst.

I was first inspired by Gerri's work after seeing many of her creations posted on the Ning Group, Bella Creations, and over at Gingersnap Creations.

Gerri is posting a wonderul blog giveaway called 100 for 100, meaning 100 items for getting 100 followers. As I was signing up I was #173 so I believe Gerri has surpassed her number with flying colours.

Go check it out and take a peek at her amazing work.

Hope you all had a great day.

Mine was spent cleaning house, washing floors and potting plants between showers outside. It was a productive day and I am off to bed soon.

As always, thank you for visiting my blog and leaving me such inspiring comments.

Lesley ♥

Altered paper tea cups

2011-05-17T21:05:00.000-04:00

Who doesn't drink a cup of tea now and again? If you are not a tea totler then you don't know what you are missing. Tea is a comforter when you have a problem, many things have been discussed, problems solved, secrets revealed, friends made over a cup of tea. Teas come in all flavours offer soothing results when you are cold or help settle a stomach after a heavy meal.

Tea cups come in all shapes, sizes and patterns and here I want to share these paper tea cups I conjured up after seeing some inspiration in the latest Stamper's Sampler magazine I recently purchased. Every magazine they have a template and then ask you to use that template in a challenge. Well I didn't get the magazine with the tea cup template so I searched after oohhing and ahhing over the eye candy in the magazine and here are a few to share with you and the template I found if you care to make some of your own.

These can also be made into a card if you just cut them with the fold at the top of the cup but I just made my cups so I can add my info on the back and maybe give along with any swaps I make or to even just add the cup to a regular card with a little message. These would be great to trade as well or in a challenge. HINT HINT

So first of all here is the template you can tweek to the size you would like to make for yourself.

And here are 4 examples of what I did. Of course I had to do a couple Asian themes, remember these were just quick to show you but I have many other ideas that I think would be great to trade or give. Again HINT HINT.

I hope you would like to share any altered tea cups with me. I would love to see what you come up with and if you would like I could make up a challenge page....again HINT HINT.

My friend Jeanie got me thinking about templates and many are free and online so what a great way to even make up little books or whatever you like to do.

Remember Jeanie's door tag challenge....click on the door tag link for deets.

Thanks for dropping by again friends.

~♥~

Ginger Gem strikes again

2011-05-17T16:51:00.000-04:00

I just had an email from my friend Jeanie congratulating me on being a Ginger Gem. Woot woot, I went over to Gingersnap Creations and they have chosen my fan made of polymer clay on a frame for one of 10 chosen Gingers. You can see the wrap up post here and all the lovely creations.
Thanks so much for chosing my creation. I love anything Asian. This was fun and really quite quick and easy.

Stay tuned for my altered paper tea cups. Now this you might want to swap or do a challenge.