Vintage Photo Image Group Swap - Royalty ATC

My bloggin' pal, Kris,  at Nostalgic Collage, turned me on to the Yahoo! Group called Vintage Photo Image ATCs.  This group swaps ATCs using vintage photo images.  The work done by this group is exceptional, so I was/am pleased to be accepted into the group.  My first swap is a royalty themed swap.  When I think of royalty, I think of purple, pearls and bling, and was able to incorporate all of those things into my ATCs.  The image is from Luna Girl.  Thanks for looking!

Heart Journal - The Awakening

My latest entry in my Heart Journal is "The Awakening."  Patricia at Pretty Paper Hearts chose this theme for the second entry in our journal.  I chose to focus on the awakening of our spirits.  In my journal you see the sun rising, the flowers blooming, birds chirping and butterflies swooping around in a group.  The only requirement on the journal is to incorporate one or more hearts into your work.  I have used the large heart on the left to symbolize the sun and the warmth it brings to our awakening. 

I have been very busy with my new job, so my postings have been and will be less frequent.  Thanks for stopping by.  Please check out Pretty Paper Hearts and join in on the Art Journal challenge!

Heart Journal - The Inner Critic

I've been wanting to create an art journal for some time now and wasn't sure where to start. I was surfing the various challenge websites and saw that Patricia over at Pretty Paper Hearts has started up a Heart Journal "challenge."  Every two weeks or so she provides a new topic to journal.  The first topic was the Inner Critic.  My inner critic is on the left page and deals with me wanting to follow the rules and keeping things in black or white.  My hearts desire is on the right page and depicts a free spirited woman.  Please check out Pretty Paper Hearts for other inspiring entries.  Thanks for looking!

Vintage Veranda Charm Swap - SNEAK PEEK!

Louise at Vintage Veranda hosted another fun swap. This time we were to create an inchie or twinchie and include a charm on the swap that could be removed and then used on another project. I decided to tie the gold ribbon charm on my twinchie with gold cord - easy! This twinchie uses one of the vintage stamps from the Clearly Vintage Glamour Girls set. I colored the stamped image in with Twinkling H2Os, dusted the entire twinchie with iredescent embossing powder, then edged the piece with gold embossing powder, added my signature blig, and the word "glamour." The background paper is from the Vintage Grunge Inchie digital paper from Ten Two Studios. This swap was a lot of fun! Thanks for looking!

Arty Girlz Challenge - Butterflies

I have been experimenting with my supplies lately, and wanted to create a piece of art that had many colors of glitter on it.  When I saw the Butterfly challenge on Arty Girlz, I knew exactly what I wanted to create.  I decided to make a butterfly shaped tag.  I have found that many children's coloring pages have images that make great templates.  I found this butterfly on a on-line website with free coloring pages.  I printed out the image, glued it on to a piece of chipboard and then cut it out.  I then traced the lines with a VersaMarker pen and embossed the lines with black embossing powder.  I used Stickles to glitter the entire butterfly.  I love the fun, vibrant colors of the stickles and this tag will be great hanging on our Christmas Tree.  Please check ot the Arty Girlz blog for the other fabulous butterfly submissions.  Thanks for stopping by.

Created by Hand Challenge - Stripes

The challenge at the Created By Hand Blog is to use STRIPES in your artwork.  I thought it would be fun to use some of the flocking I purchased a while ago and created the pink and orange stripes using double sided tape and flocking.  I was surprised at how well the tape holds the flocking.  The image of the vintage gal playing tennis is from the new Clearly Vintage stamp set called Modern Woman. I embossed the image with black embossing powder and then painted it with Twinkling H2Os.  I tried to keep this ATC simple so that your eye would be drawn to the stamped image.  I think the Modern Woman stamp set is fabulous and plan on using it often.  Please check out the Created By Hand Blog for the other submissions.  Thanks for looking!

Awfully Big Art Adventure Challenge - Blank Canvas

This week's challenge at the Awfully Big Art Adventure Blog is to create something from a blank paper or wood object. I have had a couple of plain, cheap wood crosses in my stash (got them at a local craft store for a dollar) and thought that working with a cross would be perfect for this time of year (it is the Easter season). I decided to go with a Byzantine look and made a jeweled cross with tons of bling! First I painted the cross with gold metallic paint and then I adhered the jewels to the cross using Glossy Accents. I got hooked on using Glossy Accents instead of other glue after following the T!m Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas this year. Once the Glossy Accents dried, I then sprayed the cross with a number of different sprays in order to age it. I used Walnut Ink and various colors of Glimmer Mist. Then when that dried (and it took forever!). I used some gel medium and brushed it between the jewels to give it an even more aged look. This will be added to my collection of crosses and will be hung in our living room (I am a good Catholic girl and we have a cross in every room). This was fun to make...messy, but fun. Please check out the Awfully Big Art Adventure Blog for the other wonderful submissions! Thanks for stopping by.

Going Green RAK from Lyneen!

My bloggin' friend Lyneen at I'm... Dreaming of Castles is having a Going Green RAK. She has taken up the "Share Your Supplies" baton and will be handing out RAKs to anyone that posts a comment on their blog about their individual contribution to Going Green as a crafter. Please see Lyneen's Blog Post for more information regarding the RAK. Thanks Lyneen for taking up the torch!

Thoughts on "Going Green" as a Paper Crafter

With all the talk of going green lately, I wanted to share with you my small contribution to the Going Green Movement. I believe that any contribution makes a difference, no matter how small. My personal definition of Going Green extends beyond re-using and recycling to obtaining utility from what I currently have (and therefore not spending more), and sharing what I have created with others.

There are three things that I do in my craft life that would align with my philosophy of Going Green.

Share My Supplies
I have probably thousands of pieces of patterned paper and hundreds of pieces of cardstock. There was a time in my life, when I purchased any piece of paper that caught my eye as I thought that I would use it to make a scrapbook page, a card, or a paper crafting item. There is no way that I could use all of this paper in my lifetime! I also used to keep my supplies for my use only. I have changed my philosophy about my paper and ALL of my craft supplies. It is no longer something that I hoard. It is available for everyone in my household to use. I get quite a charge when my two older kids use my paper or other supplies for a school project or in their artwork. I now use some of the "off" colored cardstock as a protection sheet for my table. I am finally getting some utility out of the paper and other supplies that I have purchased and it feels great! Do I REALLY need several shades of turquoise paper and 10+ sheets per shade?

Re-use, Recycle
I save the cardboard inserts from paper packs and the backs of paper pads. I use this cardboard to create my arches, hearts, and other shaped paper art. The cardboard comes in various thicknesses which is useful depending on what I am creating. It is much cheaper to use than purchasing chipboard at the store and most of the time I can use my scissors or my cutting tool to cut through it. If I want a thicker piece of board for a book, I glue two or more pieces together.

Share My Art
I have now have a growing pile of arches, hearts, tags and other shaped items. I started storing them in a book similar to my ATCs, when my daughter expressed her dissatisfaction with that method. She felt that these small works of art should go somewhere to be treasured. She came up with the idea that we should hang them on our Christmas Tree. Our Christmas Tree holds a hodge-podge of ornaments that we have gathered over the years and most have some sort of memory attached to them. I have saved all of the ornaments that the kids have made as well and we put them up on the tree no matter how mangled they have become. My daughter loves the various items that I have made and she thought they would be perfect for the tree. So now after I have taken my pictures of my work and posted it on my blog, I sign and date the back and punch a small hole at the top and string it with gold or silver cord and make it ready for the tree. I was really touched by her thoughts on my work.

So that's a brief summary of the small way I am contributing to Going Green. I hope you find some of my ideas useful, and if not that then interesting to read. Thanks for stopping by!

Tag You're It! Challenge - Circles and Swirls

The challenge this week at Tag You're It! is circles and swirls.  I have used the background papers that my 4 year old and I made yesterday.  We did a ton of stamping with drinking glasses to make our circles, so those backgrounds were perfect for this challenge.

This first tag is made from the paper my son created.  He adores his dad, so I thought that a dad-themed tag would be just the thing to create.  I was able to get a swirl in above the "DAD" to meet the challenge requirements.  I also was able to fit in some bling (no surprise there).

The second tag was made from the background paper that I created.  I love the rich colors in the background and the sparkly butterfly.  The swirl on this tag is the butterfly's path.  I stamped words that have a special meaning to me to complete the tag.  Again, I found places for my bling!

 

Please see Tag You're It! for the other submissions.  Thanks for looking!