Paper rears it's head

I didn't say ugly either. I have really missed playing with paper and this time of year I especially love creating cards and tags to top presents and to add to little things I send out.

Today after helping at the retirement home luncheon, I thought it would be nice to start a few things. I am sending out painted ornaments to the girls on our Friendly Palette group. We exchange ornaments yearly and we are building up quite a collection of each others little works of art. It's fun seeing what we come up with each year.

I decided on making some tags to go along with mine and I still need to add a bit of ribbon but these I thought were really cute. I got some stickers from the dollar store that were kind of Primitive and rustic looking. I did the spray ink on my work mat and smooshed around the ink on the tags, added a circle of paint here and there and inked the edges of the tags and they were done. Cute and quick. I hope the girls like them. 

  And I made a couple of cards for some recipients, these are 3D cards,  you add  dimensional tape to raise parts of the image. I used gold glitter and some gold corners. I got the blank tag cards from Michael's, I really like the look of these. Good thing I bought 2 packages. These Santa's were purchased locally from Ecstasy Crafts which is just down the road, a much too convenient store but it has quality and European designs which you can't find just anywhere.

Well it has been a full day.

I must start my shopping this week and get that last order done before my customer calls in a panic. I need someone to cut the wood length for me and if I can nab him before he goes to work tomorrow afternoon we are good to go. 

Take care and just wanted to let you know I have made a Facebook page for Harmony Road Studio so you can follow my arty doins  there as well.

TTFN ♥♥♥

RAK's received, 1x3 cards and.....

Wow seems like ages since I posted, although Easter wasn't that far away but I have been keeping busy and trying to stay off the web a bit. I needed to do some necessary things and now I decided it is time to give the house a bit of a clean out and that is going to be an undertaking in itself.

I have managed to sneak some play and creative time in here and there .

I am also into watching Playoff hockey. My Toronto Maple Leafs didn't make it again this year, we won't go into that but now I am watching the other teams battle it out and there have been some battles.

Now onto the good stuff.....

I was blessed last week with 2 lovely RAK's from fellow bloggers

The first one was from Tee over at The Altered Paper blog, I visit Tee's blog a lot and I have been in on only 1 swap but I am going to be in a couple more soon, Tee has the greatest ideas for little goodies to swap, recycling of goods to use in your art and just a lot of sharing of info. I comment a lot over there and Tee happened to read one of my comments about her Stick Pin holders, and here is what she sent me.....

 The little tag, is flipped up at the bottom then some kind of felt or stuffing in the crease to insert the stick pins. The pins are lovely and I can't wait to use them. The dotted paper is a nice note she sent along with it and these beautiful roses made of rolled fabric. Tee thanks so much, I was so surprised to receive it.

Then a day or so after Tee's arrived I get a small box from Amy Jo over at her blog Art from the Heart.

Amy has followed my blog almost from the beginning or soon after and she always leaves me such lovely comments. I was gaffed (my new English word) to open a treasure trove of goodies to use in my art. Amy made me a glass slide pendant to wear, some ATC's, and all kinds of neat things. I have been eyeing some cute polka dot buttons and wondered where I could get my hands on some and lo and behold I get some dotty buttons. I am sending a huge Hug your way Amy Jo, thanks so much for your generosity. Golly it is good to have great blog friends....I love giving but it is fun now and again to receive....I am just thrilled

                                       

Next are 1x3 cards I received in last months Tabby swaps Vintage Children swap. These came last week as well and I was thrilled. I have never traded 1x3's before doing the Tabby swap and they are so much fun and such a small canvas to work with, but these are truly fun pieces. Thanks to Kim for running such a great swap and the ladies that made these. You made 6 and got 6 in return...how fun is that???

 The 6 1x3's below are for this months swap...Some Bunny Loves you over at Tabby swaps and I made sure there was a bunny or bunny ears involved....I had a lot of fun with these....I got my Cuttle bug out and some Co-ordination papers and sanded the embossing on some, I used glitters, gems, sparkly borders and I even used some home made Flower soft. I got a lot of my images either from FlickR, Graphics Fairy and other places around the net.

And last but not least is another Tea card I made using a line of paper from Bo Bunny. When I saw this paper I knew immediately what I was going to do with it and if you read my post about Tea cards you will find a link with full tutorial over at Shawn's blog.

I plan on sending this to someone soon, I think they might enjoy a cup of Green or Oolong Tea.

Well thanks for dropping by.

I can't wait to show you some mini canvas boards I was working on as well.

Stay creative my friends...

♥

cards, cards and tea cards

Hello Blogger friends,

well I have been on a card making kick, thought I would make a few extras for my stash and they do come in handy for quick gifts, bundle a few together with a nice bow and you have a little gifty with envies included of course.

These cards are small , they measure 3x6 then folded in half. I embossed a panel using my CB and embossing folders, then sanded the paper to reveal the white core inside. Added ribbons, some paper buttons that I have a die for and these cute vintage girls with their lovely hats which I purchased at Ecstasy Crafts in Shannonville.

 I also made a few cards with tea cups and I stamped the tea cup onto scrap paper, then I added some metallic gel pen accents. I cut tiny tags and sewed the tags to the tea cups to make it look like a tea bag was in them. I thought that really set them off nicely. I have a lot of paper to use so why not use it and what better way to create cards. Unlike store bought I think handmade cards are beautiful no matter how simplistic or complicated they are. Not everyone makes them but they are fun to make and receive.

And these 2 cards below are tea bag cards that I got the tutorial from Shawn's blog Poetry in a Tea Cup.

The actual card was posted on Cosmo Cricket's blog but did not have directs, so, Shawn made one up and she let us know on the Bella Creations FB page. They are so easy to make. I didn't have a large enough circle punch so I made a template because I know I will be making many more of these in the future. I just  measured the inside flap, then I cut a half circle out using a paint container the size of the circle I needed. I just traced the half circle onto the paper then cut them out. Voila'.

                      

Thanks so much for the tutorial Shawn. I think these would make great swap ideas, you make a card put 2 tea bags inside and send out to your swap partner. A great way to use up scraps and bits too. If you make any let me know, maybe we could swap and get some interesting tea...

Til next time, take care and if you take a peek at Shawn's tutorial be sure to thank her and tell her I sent you.

Happy crafting friends.

♥

A few sketches, blog candy winnings and a card

Well today was another lovely day and I was able to do some cleaning up of a few things that needed to be done outside.

We just had a very short sprinkle of rain and I say that loosely.

This afternoon I worked on a card I am making for my dear aunt in England. I used a metal stencil in the shape of a stained glass window. The stencil can be put through the Cuttlebug but it does not cut the paper. So after I ran it through the CB I then cut out all the little windows because I wanted a stained glass effect. I used some acetate with some of my own alcohol inks and a few of rangers to get the strong colours I was looking for. This isn't the usual nice church window with images done of course but more of an arty window and this is what I came up with. I really enjoyed making this and even tho the cutting was a bit tedious I had a good sharp craft knife and cutting mat and before I new it, it was done. The window is cut from black card stock then I inked it with some gold ink that is almost dried up but I wasn't going for really bold gold, I wanted an aged look and I think it turned out pretty good. I added some gold border to the card stock then placed the whole thing on a base card I had a supply of in my stash. I added a flower sticker and the top of the window has a corner filigree sticker. Most of the supplies came from a store just down the road from me called Ecstasy crafts, Dennis and the gang are exclusive distributors of card making items from the Netherlands and the prices are very good and the quality outstanding not to mention the customer service. I hope my Auntie likes this card, I know I do. LOL

Next up, I just received my blog candy from Helga over at her blog My Artistic Life, Helga also owns and operates Artchix Studio one of my favourite online art shops. Helga posted what inspires us to make art and I said I loved Victoria British Columbia, also where Helga resides, because of it's beauty and flowers etc. Bruno her cat picked my number and I won this little matchbox Helga altered with all these cute stickers. The little birds are so cute, they are very small and would look great on inchie art. I also received some washi papers as well and the envy was all decorated in Helga's Artchix sticker style. I  love winning stuff but rarely do, it's luck of the draw for me. Thanks Helga and Bruno for picking me.

 And 2 sketches, I had a few more to show you but they were very dark, I took the pics when it just finished raining and the light was on but was still a little dim so please excuse my lack of photography skills, I just aim and hope for the best. LOL.

This is a ballerina I did a few weeks back, I think so far she is my fav. I did another one with ballerina shoes beside her but I do like this one. Her features are so gentle and soft.

 And remember I told you I had some books out from the library and saw this exercise, running shoes??? well here they are. They were tricky but I always love a challenge. I found doing the laces really tricky, overlapping them and getting all the shading and details in. I actually like the bottom part of the one sneaker the best. Not sure why,  I got those little dimples in and they look you could touch them.

Just remember for better details, click on the pic and it will enlarge in a separate window.

Since starting to sketch late January I already see vast improvements but I still have a long way to go. I think I would like to start to do birds next. I love birds and living in the country we see all kinds and many varieties.

Well that is it for today, thanks for dropping by and I always love to read your comments. Don't be afraid to critique my work, I think we need to hear the pos and neg on things in order to improve.

Stay creative my friends,

♥

Final Christmas preparations..including burnt glue?

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.

 ♥

library pocket cards and a Christmas gift idea

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.

♥



Paper creations for upcoming shows

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

The Summer of Colour ends.....

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

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

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.

Gingersnap Random Redhead Challenge and Mail

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.

~♥~