Theme Thursday - 2 x 4s

Fun new theme at Theme Thursday - 2 x 4s! I have never tried this size and it's really fun. Stamps are from Oxford Impressions and the little fairy is from Lisa's Altered Art. My background is the glue stick/chalk technique that I posted a couple weeks ago - I will try to get a tutorial posted in the next few days!

Wednesday Stamper - Lace

Some of you may notice I haven't been posting as much lately. I felt like I was letting my art get in the way of other things, so I decided to take a little break and try to find some balance. Well, all the other stuff was taking up so much time I never got to stamp! So I decided I am just unbalanced and that is that. No surprise to my friends I'm sure. ;-) Who cares if the laundry ever gets done, right?

The theme over at Wednesday Stamper is lace. I had originally thought I would combine a bunch of challenges again and this would be a Gypsy Gothic Arch Created Byhand Heart Challenge Lace thing. Well, that didn't happen, but I did like the look of all the layers I had pulled out. So I added this fantastic photo stamp from ARTchix (no longer available), melted a little beeswax and sewed on a few buttons. The Faith stamp is from Oxford Impressions. The stick is from my yard.

Published!

I just found out I have something in the Feb/Mar Stampers' Sampler. I don't have the mag yet, but my buddy Suzanne said they used my Country Girl piece! This is one of my favorites so I was really glad to see they used it.

Dans ma maison il y a ... un oiseau en hiver

A friend of mine wrote me recently and commented on my art. She said she noticed that I used a lot of black. Was it intentional? Did I have an aversion to white? I thought about it awhile and decided that I do have an aversion to white. Not really white though, just plain white cardstock. For one thing, I am so messy that it always ends up smudged. Always. For another, it is boring to me. All I can think of is, 'how can I fill that white space with some color!' I don't dislike white as much as I love color.

Today I decided to try something pale, but with lots of texture. I've wanted to participate in the Dans ma maison il y a challenge for a long time. There is something so incredibly stimulating about a lot of the French altered art/stamping that they feature. Lots of color, lots of texture, and just an all-around feast for the eyes.

Ok, this is now turning into a book, but I want to share a technique I tried on this piece. Like lots of Cuttlebug addicts, I think constantly of things I can emboss. Lately I have been thinking about felt - not the nice wool kind, the cheap stuff you get at the craft store. I thought that maybe if I wet it a bit, embossed it and then dried it w/my heat gun, it might make a good piece to layer on. Well, it worked pretty well, but the cool thing is, it melts when you heat it! That means you get lots of cobwebby burned away areas so you can peek through to what's underneath. Very cool, right? The roof of my house is birch bark that I found at the Pottery Barn outlet. 'You're buying bark?' says my husband, a Minnesota native, in total disbelief. ;-)

Stamp credits: Oxford Impressions (un oiseau). The bird is from Lisa's Altered Art. Hmmm....I haven't over there for awhile, might need to check it out today! Make sure you click on the pictures to see this at full size. You can really see the texture of the felt!

Wednesday Stamper - Openings

I was incredibly flattered when Belinda asked if she could use my ATC that I made for the Oxford Impressions swap as an inspiration piece for today's Wednesday Stamper. I absolutely love interactive art - from slider cards to pop-ups and everything in between. It takes something static and makes it more interesting.

Since I gave my muse the week off, I didn't participate in the Gothic Arches 'Grunge' challenge or the Created Byhand 'Love' challenge. I decided I'd try to incorporate both into my WS piece.

My background is made of pieces of aluminum I cut from cans and then ran through my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. Probably not the way most people use it! I think it looks really industrial. The heart, wings, hinges, and oval piece are all Grungeboard. The love stamp is from Oxford Impressions' My Story plate. This is definitely best viewed large.

I think my muse just needed a break. Now, if I could just get that Madonna song out of my mind. :-)

Wednesday Stamper - Gesso

I almost didn't do Wednesday Stamper today, even though it's one of my favorite challenges. And, I love gesso! What's wrong with me? Sometimes the muse just flees......

I decided I would just throw something together without thinking. I grabbed an old French cookbook page thinking I'd do some kind of French Country thing w/black gesso and a chicken. Whatever. Just do something! I had a piece of tagboard that I thought, huh, glue it on that I guess. I had some acrylics sitting out so I grabbed those and did a wash. Hmm....I'm liking it now. Grabbed the closest stamp - a flourish by Tim Holtz - and stamped part of it using black gesso. Used the Painted Mesh technique from Technique Junkies to cover it more.

Ahhhhh...now what? Photo stamp? Collage image? How about some Grungeboard? Paint it with the black gesso. Oh yes, that's it, coming together now. A few words, more Grungeboard letters, stitching to tie it all together. Done. And I'm glad I did it too. Sometimes you just have to slap your muse around a little. ;-)

Created ByHand - Flourishes

Had to do a quickie for Created Byhand this morning - I'm headed here to eat here with her and then go here and maybe buy one of these.

Have a great day!

Gothic Arches - New Year

For the New Year challenge on Gothic Arches. Stamps are from Heidi Swapp (clock), Artistic Outpost, and Vicki Enkoff.

Art Creations Friday

I finally got a chance to participate in the Art Creations Friday challenge this week. I love the background they featured this week - absolutely gorgeous! I added my own touch to it with the painted mesh technique and also added some extra color with various Distress inks. The flowers are from my new Grungeboard pack and stamps are all from Oxford Impressions.

Have a great weekend!

Theme Thursday - Something New!

Our challenge for this week's Theme Thursday was to try something new - new technique, new stamps, new products, etc. Well, I just happen to have all kinds of new stuff, so this was a great challenge!

For my background I used a technique called painted mesh from the latest Technique Junkie newsletter. This is the first time I've tried it and I can see all kinds of possibilities for future projects. Great, easy technique - my favorite kind!

Next I used some of my new Grungeboard that I bought the other day. I love the designs in this package! I hadn't seen it before, but it's full of flowers, birds, butterflies, and letters. For this piece I painted the Grungeboard with gesso. When it was dry I covered it with Martha's glitter and sponged the edges lightly with Broken China Distress ink.

The little girl is from the new Fairy Sweets plate from Oxford Impressions. I think she looks adorable riding on that bird! The white background piece was run thru the Cuttlebug several times until it was all embossed. I'd never done that before, but it came out looking pretty cool. Something to try when you have a piece that is larger than your folder. It was ok to overlap on this because I was mostly wanting a lot of texture, not necessarily a distinct image. Hope that makes sense! :-)

I'm glad so many of you have been stopping by to download the clock face. Please feel free to leave a comment if you'd like to!