Another canvas and some butterflies

Well as you know from yesterday I did a 5x7 canvas and immediately had to start another one....and guess what,  today's canvas is going to be added as a 3rd prize to my OWOH giveaway. So if you haven't already commented over there, be sure to before Friday.

I covered the canvas with a K and Company scrap paper both front and back. I took a piece of brown light weight cardstock and ran it through the CB with a Music note folder from Crafts too. Before I covered it I did something to it then I painted the brown paper with some Delta Ceramcoat Timberline green. Sanded the paper to reveal the brown and it made it really weathered looking. Grungy and brown and green, love those colours. I then made another guilded bird cage and painted my bird with wings in black paint. Hubs thought I should do this so not to do too many colours, I sometimes have to ask him advice as I get carried away sometimes. Then I added a Tim Holtz flourish die cut but not sure I like the brown chalking around it, the photo here does not do it justice so I may have to touch it up with a darker brown.

I inked the edges with Java ink and popped some brown German Scrap yes from Artchix and added some metal letters to make sing.

This was a lot of fun.

 and.....these are some transparency butterflies I learned how to make from a woman over at the group I just joined in the new year called Bella Creations. Gloria dazzled us with these butterflies of hers and gave us a YouTube link to watch. Well that is another story in itself, for a 6 and a half minute tut it took me over 2 hours to download on dial up speed. Needless to say it was worth it but I won't be watching many vids any time soon. Good grief.

Well here they are, transparency butterflies, you can either stamp them with Stazon or print them off from the web, I did both as some butterfly stamps are too detailed to see colours. Then you apply alcohol inks to the opposite side of the print or stamping so you don't mess up the ink. Add Stickles some pretty gems, cut out and you have butterflies in an array of colours. Mix your colours or just one, add some glitter before you ink them and create a different look like I did. They are a lot of fun, nice to have in your stash for when you need something to embellish a card with.

If you don't have inkjet transparencies you can use plastic packaging and stamp on it. Find ways to recycle and create with what you have.



Thanks for looking and I have so enjoyed all the lovely comments during OWOH. I am still travelling but I sure am struggling trying to get to all of them. There are not enough hours in the day.

OOOO my first altered canvas

I finished something today and I said Oooo La La....my friend Kathy for her OWOH giveaway is an altered canvas. Well I put my name in for her draw and of course Kathy and I have known each other for a few years now and have even met in person a couple of times through a painting group we belong to on Yahoo and we keep in touch regularly.....ok that being said I have seen some of these canvases altered but never tried one so......since I am a painter as well I had some in my stash and thought why not try it.....oh my goodness, I think I am now addicted to another type of artsy thing. I have a few other ideas lined up and I might even make one for a third prize for my OWOH giveaway. I hope I can complete it tomorrow and add it to my post.

Here is what I came up with.....I  can't remember where I got this image but I  just love it, I enlarged her to fit my 5x7 canvas. This canvas is not on a frame it is one of those flat canvas boards purchased at your dollar store. Yes I am thrifty.  I did a paint/Cuttlebug technique on the paper (yes a tut coming soon to a blog nearest you, tee hee) I put some rusty metal wings through my CB then sanded them to distress them a bit. Added some tickets from an ArtChix collage sheet. I made these transparency butterflies I just learned how to make, I added a transparency clock again from ArtChix, added Tim Holtz watch hands, added some German scrap in a chocolate colour, ooo so pretty, then I added some pearls to my woman, gave her some make up and just added a bit more colour to her dress with chalk.  I also did some inking of the edges on the tickets. The metal "Fly" letters are from the dollar store  and the back of the canvas has been covered with the same paper only it is the original colour not muted like I did with my technique.

These are so much fun and I just went for it. I don't even know if I will keep this or maybe stash it for a gifty.

OOO thanks to Kath who put the idea in my head....I have a bird one coming soon and some Geisha girls serving tea. Stay tuned and thanks for dropping by.

Happy ValentART's Day

Yes you read that right, today is Valentine's Day with a little arty goodness to add.

First of all I would like to say how much I appreciate all those that drop by and leave lovely comments and my followers for their continual support of me while you read through my dribble,

post after post. Without some of you I would not be fortunate enough to create some of the things I do, afterall you all inspire me.

Ok I am not a sappy person or a mushy one, sometimes I tend to sit back and not always express how I feel but if you really knew me you would know by my smile or the way I look you would know I do LOVE you and appreciate how much you mean to me.

That being said, now onto art.....

Through OWOH I met this lovely mixed media artist Sharon House who is also a Canuck. Sharon's blog is amazing with stories of her art and she is a wonderfully talented lady. I was snooping around her site and came across these cute little houses made from old Reader's Digest mini book covers. The only thing Sharon asks before she sends you the download to the template is found on her site, so click here and just read, nothing to buy, nothing to do except follow or post a comment etc.

So here I have made a couple houses to show you and I am so addicted to them. I have more ideas in my head and some will have to wait for Christmas but I also did some renovating to Sharon's original. I hope you and she like it.

There are 3 templates in the file, the house below is the tallest measuring 4 inches. I cut the window out which is not included in the template, I did some alchol inking on some acetate and added them to the 4 windows. I did not photograph it here but one of those small battery operated tea lites just fit, turn it on and the windows light up with a soft glow. So very charming. I can see a Christmas village in my head.....ooo must write that one down for later. Oh and I did not use a book board for the houses, I bought some chipboard from my local scrapbook store, they sell it in 12x12 and smaller sheets. Make sure you  have a good cutting mat and a sharp blade and be very patient and careful while cutting.

 This next house is the smaller template. This was actually my first house and got a bit beat up in the making but I was just playing and having fun. I didn't have any paper to match for my roof so I painted my own and that will be a tutorial coming soon. Both houses I used ARTchix Studio images. The little magnolia flowers were made using a heart punch, then I used a q-tip to colour the centers with green chalk and the outside tips with blue chalk and added my centers with tiny pearls.

 And this is my February matchbox for our FlickR group Monthly Matchbox swap with the theme of Romance. Well for the first time I did not use an actual image on the surface. I thought it would be nice just to have something a little more girly and traditional. I used a Cuttlebug and paint technique I will do a tut as mentioned earlier. Made my roses, punched the rose leaves out, added some ribbon, crocheted a little flower (no I am really not a crocheter, I had to finally get a book out to know what stitches were what, I just made this one up in my head as I went along) and I painted some grungepaper hearts, added a heart pin and some Stickles. I hope my partner Tammy likes it. I filled it with all kinds of arty things.

  So have a lovely day spending with a Sweetheart, a family member and or friends.

Love one another and be kind.

=^..^=

A new coffee filter book

I have been blog hopping almost every night and have been learning so much about other artists, their interests and just generally loving all the ideas out there. It truly inspires me to create more and better.

Since doing my last coffee filter book from the idea I got from Gingersnap creations blog I got thinking I would like to do another one about birds. I am too late to enter the challenge, missed it by a day. DARN it.

I had the book complete but didn't find out the deadline til yesterday and that was the due date. Oh well, it will sit or be a gifty for someone in the near future.

So, I looked for some verses about birds, got my images together then I started making another book.

Instead of using Twinkling H20's this time I used Vintage Photo DI as my base colour for the book since I wanted a au natural look and feel to it. After all birds aren't really into flashy things unless you are a hummingbird and attracted to red. So I stuck with earthy tones in this next book and after looking at another blog I got inspiration to do a Tim Holtz die cut bird cage and later I will tell you where I got the info how to do the cage with some of my own adaptations to it.

So here is the book front to back.....

 Not sure if you can see the flower below but I learned how to make these from a really nice lady on Bella Creations named Gloria. She showed us some acrylic flowers and told us how to make them. I did my own thing and didn't make them as fancy as hers but I am really digging these alcohol inks. I find any excuse to use them. I know I need more colours but must wait for another Michael's 50% coupon before I break the bank again.

The word Sing on the pic below are fun foam painted with acrylic paint then once dried I added some distress Stickles to them. So nice and chunky. 

 and below are more acrylic flowers with just a touch of colour.

Don't know what happened to my blue bird either, seems he doesn't look very clear or bright.

Click to enlarge photos a  for better views if you like.

 And check out this awesome birdcage. I was taking a break the other night from Blog Hopping on OWOH and went to Gingersnap creations which led me to another OWOH participant over in England who shared her technique to make a gilded birdcage. Since I had the Tim Holtz die and most of the supplies I soon went to work on this and fell right in love. I since have done an antique white cage too, ooooo very pretty and grungy just the way I like it.

To find out how to do the gilded cage go here to Shelly Hickox over at StampTramp to find out the details.

I did not have any UTEE for this but I still used a clear embossing powder and it seemed to work just as well.

Another thing I did was while the EP is still cooling and do this quick I used a fine grit sand paper to take some of the EP off in spots. It really works great. I never follow things exactly. I generally get the main idea and use and experiment that way it is not copying exactly. Plus I don't have the funds to run out and buy all the gadgets, supplies and gizmos.

At the end of the book there is a close up of the birdcage so you can see it a little better.

 This last page I used a piece of bird tissue that my friend Jenxo sent me last year. I love all the nice tissues they get over in Australia. Not sure around here where to find the pretty stuff, I only see plain around here or really ugly stuff. Anyways it has come in handy more than a few times.

And lastly because I had to enlarge this photo it is a bit off  posting on my page so it is not me. LOL

This really looks like metal, I can't believe it. Looks so worn and rusty and been around for ages.

Thanks Shelly for sharing your tut. I love this.

And thanks for dropping by.

Stay tuned for chipboard houses and a matchbox for a swap.

Til next time, be creative and happy.



Love Pocket

Hi there Bloggers and Friends,

well I have been just captivated and so thrilled to meet some great artsy friends through the OWOH blog hop.  I am amazed at the talent and creativity out there and can't believe how like minded some of us truly are. If you get a chance try the going through some of the list of blogs posted over at OWOH and see what I  mean if you haven't already. My OWOH post will remain at the top of my blog til the even it over so just click on the links and they will take you where you need to go.

Well I haven't stopped creating totally, I have been making ATC's for a swap, making another coffee filter book which I hope to complete for a Gingersnap challenge. I will be posting that in another day or so. And the list goes on. Stay tuned for some fun arty goodness from me and some new additions through a very nice artist I have been exchanging emails with from BC.

Here is a challenge I entered from a new group I joined in the New Year called Bella Creations. Bella was just formed and the numbers are growing. They have several groups you can sign up for and the talent and information sharing is wonderful. I really like it.

So one of the challenges is to use a Miss Cutie Pie love ticket in your creation and the group this challenge is for is the Voila Ink group. You must also use stamping or inking in your creation along with one of the tags posted ,so I made this cute little pocket. I used paper, canvas, a romantic image, some gold border, a stamped and inked Shrinky Dink heart, I inked the edges of the paper with some Rhubarb ink before applying the border and the pipe cleaner is fed through the holes at the top so you can hang it on a door  or wherever you like. I added a die cut Tim Holtz flourish and a rose I made from another flower die. Of course it needs some chocolate treats stuffed inside before giving as a gift. If you remember I made a few of these at Christmas and my frined Jenxo was the one who showed everyone on her blog how to make them.



So thanks for dropping by and hope you enjoy a peek.

I have had some requests for a tut on the ATC book so I may do a tut on that but.....if you have a Cloth Paper Scissors magazine from Christmas you will find it in there. I did not have the mag, Jenxo sent me the ATC book for Christmas and I examined it well then went from there. If you would like me to do a tut just let me know and I will be more than happy to do one. They are fun and easy and a nice gifty for an artsy friend.

Til next time, play and have fun.