Close up of the box

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! I'm having a nice quiet day today and later the girls and their families will be coming over for supper. Should be fun. Haven't posted much lately but I have been quite busy. I have been working on writing my next online class - just have to finish one more chapter. I started a new class yesterday down at the yarn shop - learning to knit socks. At first using four little knitting needles was very awkward but it's getting easier as I go along. I have new canvases to make my collages for Linda's class over on Doll Street (the last batch had rips in them when I opened the package). Plus I have been working on the clock doll. This is the box she will be built around.

Well, must go - mirgraine kicking in and I can't see a thing right now except little flashing lights out of the corner of my eyes!

Experiment #2 - stencils & alcohol inks

These are my results from messing around with the stencils I had cut when I etched the jar. I think it looks better when the stencil is inked over rather than through. You could make some cool candle holders this way - with personal messages or something.

Inking through the stencil



Inking over the contact paper cutouts

Etching glass with die cuts

Plushie fever has passed and I have been wondering if I wasted my money when I bought the die cut machine to use to make eyes. NOPE! I found another use for it - to decorate jars. I have no idea where this idea came from because I haven't etched glass in YEARS - probably 10 years. But I got out the contact paper and made 3 stencils using my new Flourish die (from Revolution). If you've never etched glass - it is soooo simple ...

Step one - cut your stencil from contact paper, stick it to the glass, and burnish so there's no air bubbles for the cream to sneak under.

Step two - cover it with the etching cream - which I don't think is brown but this stuff is over 10 years old - see what happens when you never throw out craft supplies, ha ha. Leave it on for 5 minutes then rinse it off with water

Step 3 - admire.

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Bookmarks in progress

I've been working on a whole bunch of bookmarks for a swap I'm doing - I needed to make 9 of them. I came up with three designs and I'm repeating them. That's pretty unusual for me; I don't normally work in series (unless it's mermaids, ha ha). Anyhow - the main images are made with packing tape transfers and I enclosed the whole thing in laminate (which I sewed on). I have taken enough photos to write a tutorial for these, so if anyone is interested in me doing that please leave a comment. I"m off to water aerobics now and then to the coffee house for a 'stitch'n'bitch' with some Fairbanks knitters I met through ravelry.com.

Pin up girls and a logo

I actually made something today - probably the first time in a week that I've been downstairs to the studio! This cold kicked my butt and although I am still totally congested, I'm feeling better. My hubby is home too - he was gone for a week - brought me back crafty presents! Too sweet! In case you've never noticed, I totally love the vintage nude and pin up girl art. So it was a no brainer for me to sign up for a pin up girl ATC swap over at swap-bot. We get our partners tomorrow so I figured I'd get mine done today. Some of you might remember when I bought a bunch of pin up girl postcards to send to Sherry's son when he went to Army basic training - I figured that a soldier had to have pin up girls in his locker, LOL. I scanned them before I sent them out and those are the images I used for these cards. Probably violated a dozen copyright rules too, SHHHH.

I have designed the Doll Street logo in my head - you'll never guess what style the doll maker in it will be drawn in? Not vintage nude! Now I just have to get it made! Li Hertzi is supposed to do it for me but she's getting ready to move to Ohio and is too stressed right now. I haven't decided if I really need it right now or to wait for Li. Anyone know a good illustrator?

ATC backgrounds .. cheater style

I was cleaning off the top of a bookcase and I found this painting I had made for an exercise in transparency 4 years ago. Instead of throwing it out I figured I'd cut it up into ATCs. A couple of these can stand on their own, the rest will make great backgrounds. I wonder if you bought paintings at garage sales if you could cut them up and use them this way, LOL. Well, of course you CAN, but would you???

Vintage photo ATCs

I made a few more ATCs today - after I got home from a terrifying trip into town. The ice fog was so thick and it was so hard to see, it was a white knuckle drive. I am so grateful that the sun came out and it warmed up enough to burn the fog off for the drive home. I was dreading it.

Let's talk about the cards ... these are for a Vintage Photo swap over at swap-bot. This is my Aunt Sandy when she was a little girl. She's one of my favorite subjects. I have lots of photos of her. I have a contact sheet of myself when I was her age in lots of the same poses. I need to find it and scan it.

The two cards on the right are made with a mosaic background based on a tutorial my friend Dr. Zh wrote. I painted the cards with a flesh colored gesso to mute them, so you have to look pretty close to see the mosaic! (Click twice on the photo) Because the backgrounds were so busy I had to keep the cards pretty simple. The top one has a frame cut from a piece of paper lace. The bottom one has the leftover from cutting a heart out of a folded paper. The two on the left aren't mosaic - one is an old paper and the other is a mix of different papers. As usual I got out the sequin waste and dabbed dots on them. I don't know why I like that so much but I do. Nothing earth shattering but they do have the Vintage feel and I'll be happy to send them out!

Domino book

Anyone ever go see the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the midnight show at the movies? Where everyone dressed up and interacted with the movie? I have really good memories of doing that (uh, except dressing up - I didn't do that - although I probably would have if I could). Today my movie soundtrack came in the mail and, although it is very strange, it just makes me happy. I can't believe I remember most of the words to the songs! My husband ran out to the garage when I started blasting it. I love Tim Curry!!!!

Today I had to make a domino magnet for a customer and since I had the dominos out I figured I'd try one of those domino books. Pretty simple to make. I used watercolor paper for the accordian book part - painted it with metallics and interference paints. My friend and I are supposed to start going to water aerobics so I made this for her.

Altered art - charm swap #3

First of all I want to thank everyone for their suggestions on how to fix my faerie godmother - although I have to publicly state that I am not going to put clunky orthopedic shoes on her. She would die of mortification. It seems that the original stuffing was part of the problem and my friend Denise (from Doll Street Dreamers) is going to send me some of the stuff that I should have used - stuffing that Pam uses on her dolls. Mine was probably too soft. So I will probably cut her at the back of the knee (thanks, Patti Ann) and then restuff her. Hard. As. A. Rock.

Now on to today's photo ... I hosted another charm swap - I think this is the third one now. These are the ones I get to keep - and aren't they just fabulous! This is the second swap with my FabricDollArt group and it seems that most of us used polymer this time. I'll be adding these to my Charmed One doll's bracelet. I love swapping!

If you take Sherry's Charmed One class over at Doll Street next month (Jan 2008) you can swap charms too - we're having a class swap! Yeah, yeah .. another ad for Doll Street .. hey, what do you expect ... it's my 'baby' now!

The Fantasy Chair - in some of it's glory

I have been trying to get a decent photo of this chair for days - but it's not gonna happen! The flash is washing out the photos. I need to take the photos outside in natural light but it's freakin' 40 degrees below zero and there's no way I'm going outside! Besides which the chair would probably freeze and break. I know my hair would if it was wet - but that's a story for another day. So without further ado ... here's the sucky pictures ... click to enlarge

Technical details:
Paint: DecoArt Metallic Pearl Moss (green undertones) then a Sienna Brown Wash, then touched here and there with Copper Pearlescent, Copper Iridescent, and Venician Gold Metallic. Beads are a mix of Verdigris, Copper, Black, and Clear. Water is clear epoxy and green 3D Crystal Lacquer. There is also a layer of varnish mixed with Art Institute Glitter but you can't see it in the photos. It's subtle. I love this chair!

Fantasy chair - just getting better and better!

I have to admit that I'm loving this chair! Each time I sit down to add more I am so tickled with what's happening to it. My brother said he thinks the chair is deeply weird! He said it's Tim Burton-ish. What a compliment! I face a hard decision now - should I go with the gold colors the class calls for or should I go with what a reader suggested - keep it white. I think it might be really beautiful if it was white with different iridescent colors. I'll have to think about it. I could always try it and then paint over it if I didn't like it!

The next stage in the fantasy chair

I added the faces, the chair spout and leaf pools. Gave the faces hair. It's an interesting process - not the easiest thing for me,this working with apoxie sculpt. I can sit for hours playing with it. Mixing one little ball after another to use. I'm pleased with how everything looks so far. Except the horns - I'm going to try to fix that tomorrow.

I have an airbrush starter kit that my husband bought me last year - haven't done more than read the instructions. I think this piece is going to force me to get it out and give it a go. I have to add blobs of hanging fibers before it is supposed to be painted and I think the air brush would make it soooo much easier! We will see!

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The Fantasy Chair - stage 1

I'd been waffling about taking Jean Bernard's fantasy chair class for a while now but when Shashi posted her finished chair it blew me away. I went and signed up right then and there, LOL. So here is the first stage of my chair - the armature is built and covered in apoxy sculpt. I'm not sure what the business at the center top is ... some kind of skewed Viking horns?

Domino Magnets /Jewelry components for sale

I decided that I''m not going to put the magnets up on Etsy because by the time I pay all the Etsy fees and PayPal fees there won't be anything left for me, LOL. So here's the deal ... I will sell you the magnet for $6.00 which will include shipping. I will also include instructions on how to change the magnet into a necklace. The magnet is removable so it can be used in other art projects too. Just click in the sidebar under the mermaid's photo where it says 'Write to me via' and list the number of the magnet(s) you want. I'll send you a PayPal invoice. PayPal takes credit cards now too so you don't have to have a PayPal account anymore. Fair enough? Click on the photo - I left it really large so you can see the domino magnets close up. Actually, click twice - wait until the new window opens and then click the photo again. Thanks!!! OMG .. THEY ARE ALL GONE! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST .. IT'S A GREAT FEELING TO KNOW THAT YOU APPRECIATE MY WORK ... THANK YOU, THANK YOU ...

ALL GONE!!!! THANK YOU!!!

CD Fragments - Recycled compact disc art

I decided to make one more thing for the craft fair. These are fragments of old AOL advertising compact disks (CDs) that have been made into pins (brooches?). Easy peasy. They are way prettier in person than in the photo (which you can click to enlarge) because the top layer is enameled. There are about 5 layers each with different elements which make for great depth. Click the 2nd photo and you can see the depth a bit better. My favorite is the one at the top you can barely see - it is stamped Dream - has a clock face - and a beaded 'pendulum' - to me it says Dreamtime! I even made little cards to mount them on - how's that for professional, LOL. If these don't sell at the fair I think I can approach a couple of boutiques with them. Although there are a few tutorials here and there on the web, I am thinking of making these and the domino necklaces/magnets into an online class. What do you think?

Opinion please ...

I am making domino magnets to sell at the craft fair. Here's the first dozen that I've finished. These are full sized dominos (last year I sold mini's). I'm not sure how much to charge for them though - $3 or $4. What do YOU think?

These are all made with my newest stamps. Three of them are collage stamps - just love using sections of those! The woman in front of the compass is actually an angel.

Look familiar?

Inked and ready to be stamped and made into magnets. If my new stamps ever get here. I ordered from Stampers Anonymous on October 27th and still nothing in the mail ... I'm not used to waiting this long for crafty happiness! Grrrr ....

Hi Vicki!!

Altered charms for charm bracelet swap #2

I am doing my third charm swap; I just love these things! I wanted to do something different this time but was having a hard time thinking of what. The other day I watched An Altered Journey - which is a craft DVD put out by Tim Holtz of Ranger Industries. He has some really neat projects in there - I actually learned quite a bit. One of the projects was what he called Fragments - so I did a variation of that for the charms. This is black polymer clay rolled out and stamped. Cut it into a shape following the stamping and then put it on top of another piece of clay which I either tore the edges of or rolled. Brushed everything with Pearl Ex powders and baked. Came out okay except the silly jump rings didn't fit and I had to make my own. But I'm pretty happy with them. It's actually easier to see the stamped image in the photo than in person - how's that for backwards!!!!

Oh - one more thing. Tim had some great stamps he was using in the video. When it was done he listed the supplies used for each project in the 'extra features'. Don't you know I just had to go to one of the stamp supply sites and get crazy!! ARRGH ... right after I told my husband we have to budget our money to get through the winter, LOL. Shhhh ... don't tell...

Paper Art Doll

I said yesterday that I would take a photo of Kate's paper doll and post it. So here she is ... isn't she sick!

Ummm, sick means cool or awesome in today's slang. I'm really too old to talk that way but I got tired ot saying 'cool', LOL.

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The Beta Fish Tank - another altered project

Drop down about four posts and check out how this fish tank looked when I bought it - with little Nemo's on the sides and seaweed waving to and fro. It's kind of changed now. I'm not sure if I like this or not -it's really busy, maybe too busy, on the border of messy. But I'll live with it for a while and see what it tells me. I do know I want to add more orange to the top part (with the antennae). I think I will refrain from adding any 3-D embellishments though. They would probably just get lost. But this is the first thing I've done in nearly a week, art wise, and it felt good to play!

Gratitude journal - this one's for YOU !

I have decided to overcome my fear of journaling and I've started a gratitude journal. I am using a fabric covered journal that my friend Heather (who I really miss) made for me. I thought it very appropriate. Here is today's page ... I really am grateful for all my online friends and all of you who visit my blog ... so this one's for you!

Oh, and yes, that is a photo of me!

Disk for a round robin journal

I got the round robin doll that has been living at my house for the last few months ready to hit the road. I am SO glad that this group is not anal about timelines. We kind of get to the dolls when we get to them. I have another one heading my way so I knew I had to finish the current one up. I can't show a photo because I don't want to spoil the surprise so what I will show you is the 'disk' that I made to hang on the outside of the journal. Nat .. don't look ... if you want to be surprised ...

Everyone seemed to have used some type of face mold or actually sculpted a face for their disk. I thought I would keep the theme going but the only faces I had looked terrible. I did have this little plaster fairy though that I received as a gift. So I decided to paint her as my 'sculpt'. Yeah. I had to use a freakin' magnifying glass to see what I was doing. I don't know how people do the miniatures. Must have better hand/eye coordination than I do, ha ha. Anyhow - this is my pathetic little attempt at it. It actually looks better in person because a lot of the paint is Lumiere -which you couldn't tell at all with this photo.

High Tea ATC

Just a quick ATC made from some goodies that came in a bag of 'stuff' that arrived with an art pillow I bought on eBay. I was told to 'make art' ... so I tried. LOL. I have one more ATC to make for this month's swap. Other than that I'm playing with my computer - trying to get some new hardware to work. Oh - and I taught myself to make stencils with a light-sensitive plastic (it's for my husband so he can etch his logo onto his knives). That was fun - spent most of yesterday afternoon doing that. Had to turn my bathroom into a 'darkroom'. Now I'm thinking of what *I* can etch, LOL.

New swap group for Artist Trading Dolls

My friend Sherry Goshon's power has been out due to the winter storms in Iowa and she has been staying with her Mom, Jacque Uetz. These two super talented artists put their heads together and came up with the idea of Artist Trading Dolls. You need more than two people to swap though, so they have started a new group over at Yahoo. I offered to help co-moderate the technical end and one thing led to another and now I'm a co-owner of the group. The group is for trading artistic paper dolls, leaning new techniques, and we'll even have some challenges. We'll be making different styles of Artist Trading Dolls - this is one I came up with.


It is the size of a standard Artist Trading Card and when all the extremeties are folded up it will fit into the plastic sleeves that hold baseball cards (and ATCs). I came up with this one because I am so out of room to store anything! The pieces that Sherry and Jacque created are about 8 1/2" tall. I asked if we could do a smaller format as an option. It's a participation only group - no lurkers allowed!

UPDATE: This group no longer exists (4/28/2008)

Accordian book

I made this little accordian book for my daughter as a stocking stuffer. I think she'll get a kick out of it as she is getting married next year and is already talking about having a baby (yes! I'll be a grandma!!! ) The photos are of my daughter from when my husband was a single dad and that's why these are Dad's tips. Enjoy the photos and I'll give the technical details afterwards. Click photos to enlarge.

Now the technical details ... these are made with book board covered with fabric. The interior is one large piece of watercolor paper that has been painted with acrylics. Notice I've used bubble wrap again as a paintbrush. I learned how to make these this summer at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. I made my other daughter one too but it doesn't have a theme - just baby photos with captions. There are lots of books you can buy (or get out of the library) that teach how to make these - the accordian book is the basic beginner's project in most of them. I buy my book board and PVA bookbinding glue online from Paper Source. They are great to deal with.

As today is Christmas I'd like to wish everyone who celebrates a very Merry Christmas!

A quick little collage

My daughter came over today and wanted to make some presents for her friends. I had told her she could use my 'stuff' since she's flat broke. While she tried to figure out what to make I made this little gallery wrapped canvas collage which is available at my Etsy shop for the small price of $20 ... (SOLD - THANK YOU DE-DE!)



Love the little girl and her baby ...


Oh, and my daughter never did figure out something to make.

Time for a light tent !

I finished another batch of mini domino magnets today. These are 1/4 inch bigger than the last set. I think it's time for a light tent though - I'm tired of having to fight with the glare from the flash. I hear you can get good deals sometimes on eBay, I'll have to go look. Some of the dominoes have jingle bells on them - the ones that say Believe. I thought it was just perfect for the red and green dominoes; after all they will be for sale at a holiday craft show!

Zee box ees done !

The box for the art gallery in Houston is done. I brought in a touch of red to it - which warmed it up a lot. I didn't add much to it in the way of embellishments - just a bunch of vintage buttons. I think I just had too much texture medium on it to do much else to it. I'm not super happy with it but what can you do. Nothing seemed to work. That happens sometimes. On to other things. Which just happens to be MORE severed hand pincushions. I received an order for two from a gal in Canada so I'll be working on those next. I think it's funny that they are so popular. But i won't complain!!!

Next up ....

This is a box in progress .. do you call those BIPs? I just added the stockinette around the faces. I used Paverpol so it should be stiff as a board by tomorrow and then I can paint it. This box will be going to an art gallery in Houston, Texas for a fundraiser. They have an annual $100 Box show and I thought it would be fun to do. If it sells I'll get $50 - but it cost me $10 to buy the box and it will cost at least $10 to mail it back .. so .... I'm doing it more for fun than profit.

Here is how I made the background. I glue crumpled tissue paper to the whole thing. Then I squeezed on Texture Magic in white (you get the stuff in tubes at the craft store) and I used my fingers to smooth it and then pull upwards to get the peaks. When everything was dry I painted it with 14K Gold (Delta Gleam) acrylic paint, gave it a wash of black, and highlighted it with blue/green lumiere paint. All the faces are Bliss - a mold by Fran Parrigan-Meehan.

I'm going to be really busy creating 'stuff' this weekend so stay tuned !!!

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Domino Magnets

I finally got a picture of the mini-magnets I talked about last week. These are TINY !! They are 1 inch long by 1/2 inch wide. I didn't know what to display them on so I used the top of the domino tin - painted, of course.

Bar Code ATCs

These are the ATCs that I received from Helen over at Swap-bot ... aren't they awesome!!!!


Click to enlarge

Wanna swap?

I am hosting an ATC swap over at Swap-bot with a theme of "Vintage Ladies in Hats". It is a 3 for 3 swap - you make 3, mail them to your partner, and get 3 back. I like Swap-bot because the computer does all the work of assigning partners. You can sign up here.

Last of the paper people

I think this guy is finished, but maybe not. I used a stamp I just received from Judi and some Etal from Sharyl. The Etal is actually metal but it can be cut like paper and sewn like fabric. It can be distressed with heat and painted. It's pretty cool stuff.

For those who care ... the face is a watchface with a fake coin in the center. The leg joints are washers with a big brad holding it all together.

Now for something simple ...

I had to make three Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) which incorporated bar codes into the artwork. I wanted to make three completely different types of cards. My favorite, which should be no surprise, is the one with the vintage lady.

The middle one is supposed to be the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland - it probably would have worked better if I could have found a wider, longer bar code. The little girl is my Aunt - she's getting to be a regular feature in my work, LOL. The bar codes on the fish are actually blue and they came from the back of paint chip samples. This was a fun exercise and they are already winging their way to their new owner.

My first homer

I got a great surprise in the mail yesterday - a deco I sent out into the world a year ago. It's my first homer (that's the term used when a deco is ready to send back to the owner). It's really fun to see how everyone interprets a theme.

The theme for this deco is blue and silver. I did the cover art. Five other artists contributed to this piece; all of them are from my Embellished Circus art group. Thanks, ladies! I love it!

Cover by me

by Jacey

by Zhenia and Penny

by Kirsten and Linda

Art Magnets

I needed to make three art magnets for a swap I'm in. They all have to go to the same person so I had to really think to make them different. Have you noticed how everyone is making the same kind of art lately? Vintage photos of people with butterfly wings and party hats? They all look great but they are getting old. I love using the vintage photos too but I'm trying to find a different way to do it.

The first magnet is a business card magnet. Kind of blah - but I found out that you can use your paper punches on them - notice the corners. Just had to turn the punch upside down and lean on it.

Click image to enlarge


This magnet was a horrible orange and fuscia wooden frame from Michaels. I repainted it and did the swirlies and dots with Sharpies. The wings were a pain in the butt to attach.


This last one is a laminate sample which I painted and sprinkled with embossing powder (that's the red pebbly looking stuff). I cut out some hearts from cardstock and painted and embossed them. They are 3-D as they are raised from the surface with foam squares. Then some wire and beads were added.




Nothing special but at least each piece is different.

Vintage Faery

I am the Member of the Month for one of my art groups - which means it's my turn for fabulous, fun presents. It's like having a birthday all month long! Today I received this Vintage Faery from Kelli Perkins - isn't this absolutely to die for! The little fairy is sooooo cute! I just love it!

Cowgirl up !

Thanks to everyone for their insightful suggestions about fixing the cowgirl. I went to the copy store today and got a couple of color copies to test some ideas out on. Thanks for that tip, Kathy! It was a good one as I was afraid to do ANYTHING to her in case I really messed it up. I probably should have made copies of the flyleaf before I cut it up and used it. Oh well. Too late for that! Here's what I ended up with ...

I added a lot of red into it .. there is a lot of spatter which is hard to see .. I added red into the snakeskin as well as gold and brown on the edges. I also added some gold around the cards and one side of the cowgirl but you can't see it in the photo. It's a pretty subtle change but I like it. Near impossible to photograph though!

Click image to enlarge

Help please!

My husband reads western novels and a while back one of the pages fell out of his book. He was reading a vintage 1950s book and the page was from the flyleaf and it absolutely captivated me. I've been wanting to do something with this page for a while now, but now I'm not happy with what I did.

The values are all so similar that the piece kind of blends together. I'm not sure what to do with it to make it pop. I can't do a whole lot to it because everything is glued down, LOL. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Click image to enlarge

and yes, that is real snakeskin, LOL. But it is a shed skin, no actual snakes were harmed in the process of making this piece.

Paper beads

I haven't made these in years! We are going to be having a paper bead swap through my Embellished Circus art group and a couple of the girls have been posting photos of their beads. I just had to try my hand at it after seeing theirs.

I hadn't tried dipping into melted UTEE (Ultra thick embossing enamel) before so I thought I'd give it a go. I had bought a little glue melting pot when our JoAnn's went out of business so I used that to melt the UTEE. I think it got too hot because my clear UTEE turned brown. It made my dark blue papers look black. But when I wrapped those with holographic sliver thread it looked really cool. I even figured out how to stick holeless beads on some of the beads. It was fun.

Click image to enlarge

Ultra pink, ultra feminine

I had an order from a gal in Canada for one of the Barbara Willis 'Sew Lovely' corset wall hangings. She wanted it in baby pink. I didn't have baby pink anything so I had to go shopping, LOL. Gosh I just hate when that happens. I think she will be happy with this ...

More magnets

I made a few more altered business card magnets. They are fairly plain but I did learn a thing or two. Let me tell you about them ...

I learned that you really have to have a good puddle of melted UTEE (Ultra thick embossing enamel) in order to stamp into them. I also learned that an extra fine tip Sharpie marker fills in blank spots really nicely. The stamp will leave an impression in the UTEE even if the ink doesn't transfer well so you can just follow along the impression with the pen. Even though I was using a low temperature heat gun with very little fan the pearl ex powders tended to blow off this time. My piece of wood laminate that I use to heat things on is turning really pretty colors though!

Click image to enlarge

More wax collage

Today was a very good art day, things just flowed. Some days are like that and other days you just stare at a blank piece of paper/fabric/whatever. I made two beeswax collages as well as an ATC - photos of the collages follow.

I really like the one with the rose quote - it makes me think of an Impressionist painting for some reason. The background was wax with blue/green crayon melted and swirled into mud (ha ha). The next layer was a printed tissue paper - it had that French wording on it. Then I added a piece of paper lace, a vellum oval, the bird, and the saying, but it still needed something in the lower left. Remember everything is held in place by beeswax. I tried to put a silk rose on it but it didn’t like it and refused to let me stick it on there. Literally. I used two different glues and nothing held. So instead I took yellow and magenta crayons and shaved slivers off of them with a craft knife, then I took my heat gun and melted them into little puddles. I love the way it came out. Oh - I nearly forgot - all the raised areas have gold ink from running a stamp pad over them, as do all the edges, but you can't see it in the photo, darn it. The other collage is okay but kind of blah compared to the rose one. I never have a good idea of where I’m going with these things. I just take a dozen images and start playing with them - some I use and some I discard. These are for Member of the Month presents for an art group I’m in. One for April and one for May. Not saying I’m late or anything, ha ha ha.

Click the image to see a really BIG version
5x7 Canvas



5 1/2 x 7 wood base

Handmade Book

This is the last of the projects I made at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. It was supposed to be a book that held all the ATCs we traded in class but I doubt I will use it for that. The cover is a piece of watercolor paper that has umpteen layers of paint, stamping, and even fabric snippets on it. The end paper is another piece of watercolor paper that I painted - but with way less layers. This one only has about 5 layers. The black wiggly stuff is the Krylon Webbing Spray - that stuff is way cool! I have to buy some! I actually like the end paper better than the book cover!

Click image to enlarge

Accordian book

... or maybe I should call today's posting 'Look - no boobs!". No drag queens, no vintage nudes. Just something fairly normal. I must be losing my touch, LOL. I think today's project has been my favorite so far. I can see lots of possibilities for these little books. They will make great gifts and they make up fast. I made this one for my Aunt Sandy ...

after all, these are all photos of her! We started by covering some sort of mat board with fabric. Then I decorated a piece of watercolor paper (for the inside) by doing a tissue paper/acrylic paint job. Folded the paper into fourths (more or less). Cut out the photos of my aunt, glued them to the watercolor paper, and colored them with inks. Added metal word art bits. Then glued it into the book and decorated the front. I used my alcohol inks to color the scrabble tiles so they matched. Maybe too well - could have used a bit of contrast. Oh well. I still like it and I'm sure my aunt will too! You need to try these. Oh - got to try a new tool called the Crop-a-dile - it punches holes and sets eyelets. Very cool - no hammering. I think I need one of them!

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I don't think I was supposed to put photos on the back of the book but I didn't realize that until it was too late.

One girl quit the class because she took a bookbinding class recently and she turned up her nose at what we are doing. She sniffed that she took the bookbinding class as “Fine Art”. Too bad - she could have just stayed and enjoyed herself and the camaraderie. It’s a nice bunch of women and our instructor is great!

Wax collage

I know I said that I'd take another photo of the queen today but I decided to add another element to it and I won't be doing that until tomorrow. Today we took the lid from the cigar box that was yesterday's project and used it as the base for a wax collage. Take a look at my lovely little project ...

... Sherry will recognize this image. I use this vintage gal a lot as I just think she is gorgeous. We learned how to make wax transfers and wax collage. To do the transfer we put melted beeswax on the lid and then laid a photocopy image face down. Then we wet cotton pads with acetone and applied it to the back of the paper. Rubbed a lot and the ink transferred to the wax. I got kind of a ghost image on mine - it was a gate. But it gave the piece a nice background. Then I added the paper elements and waxed over them to 'glue' them down. All the little embellishments were added using gel medium as a glue. I also used melted brown crayon around the edges to create a little frame of sorts. This piece was fun and it went together easily. I'm really pleased with it!

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