Lots of scrumptous mail

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.



Gingersnap creations- Gogs Gears and Watch bits

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!!!



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.

~♥~

GC106 Packaging Material challenge

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,

 ~♥~

       

                       

 



Ginger Gem strikes again

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.