Friday, January 30, 2009

A Different Kind of T-Bird

First of all, thanks to everyone who has visited my blog since I entered the One World, One Heart madness. I am overwhelmed by the response, and am thrilled by all I've seen and the wonderful artists I have met. Remember, to take part in my giveaway, you must comment on my OWOH post, which is just below this one....but don't let that stop you from commenting here too. Love to hear from people!

A month or so ago, while I was following along with Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, I discovered a yahoo group devoted to Tim's products and techniques. Called, appropriately enough, All Things Tim. I joined, and have since become a fairly active member.

Someone in the group who was lucky enough to do a class with Tim, posted some pictures of the altered bird project they did, and there was an immediate frenzy on the boards. "Where can I get a bird?" "I need one of those birds." "I must have one of those birds." Tim's assistant Mario stepped in, and ONE DAY after I placed my order, my wooden bird was at my door. Hmm..wonder if he flew?

It is your garden variety, sit on a shelf and collect dust tacky painted bird. That's the fun. Take this thing of less than beauty and alter it.

Here is a photo of some of Tim's altered birds. Notice they are all perched on unlikely objects.

Some of the students used things like vintage telephones, which is very cool. I don't have such a phone, or a globe or an old camera. What to use????

Then I was in a discount store and spied a tea pot. That got me thinking. A bird on a tea pot. Huh! A tea bird...A T-bird....and there was born my idea for my T(ea)-Bird. I had a blast doing this project. Don't turn your nose up at those tacky decorative items you see at flea markets. They can be altered and become something quite unique. And here he is:








Sunday, January 18, 2009

One World-One Heart

Photo
One World-One Heart.....this is a wonderful concept. Beginning today, bloggers all over the world will announce their participation in this event and show what they will be giving away. The purpose is to encourage people, bloggers and non-bloggers alike to visit other blogs and make connections. Anyone with the One World-One Heart logo on their blog is taking part. If you'd like more information (it is not too late to get your own blog on board) click on the logo here. To possibly win my giveaway, you must leave a comment ON THIS POST ONLY, by February 11th, and I will announce the winner on February 12th. My giveaway is open to everyone, whether you have your own blog or not. Important: you must leave your email address with your comment so I have a way of contacting you if you are the winner! Please don't forget to do that.

When you click on the globe above you will be taken to the site that will explain everything, and show you a list of every participating blogger. Visit all the blogs! Leave comments! Win prizes! Check back on the One World site often, as new blogs will be listed as their authors sign up. What am I offering? Well, something that combines two of my favorite things: Paper Imagery Designs and Tim Holtz products. I created this necklace just for this event. The altered game piece has a PID image, and most of the hardware is from Tim's Idea-Ology line of metal embellishments.

I myself can't wait to start visiting new blogs and hopefully meeting new friends in the blogging community. I hope you will join in this experience, either as a blogging participant or a visitor, or better yet, both.




Saturday, January 17, 2009

The Gotham City Stampers Monthly Team Meeting...

...was last night. We had our usual swap, and a belated holiday gift exchange. For my swap I did an ATC. I'm usually doing them as part of a Paper Imagery Design project, but since this was for my Stampin' Up group, I confined myself to SU stamps and products for the most part. Our theme, thanks to the very talented and gadget-crazy Pat, was tools. Which meant that for our swap we had to use a minimum of 3 tools. I used punches, a heat gun, my Big Kick, a Cuttlebug folder, a mask, and an alcohol ink blending tool. I am pleased with the way it came out:For the gift exchange, everyone who signed up was given a person to create a gift for. I got Diana, who is fairly new to our team. I don't know her very well yet, but I have observed a few things about her style, and know that she is a Frida Kahlo fan. I made a pendant that featured a Kahlo self portrait as part of the collage design, and I also altered and embellished a plain white box to put it in. The frame for the pendant is actually from the SU Hodgepodge Hardware set!The photos aren't as clear as I'd like (sorry!), but I love the necklace and box, and more importantly, Diana did too:


My name had been given to Heidi, and she made me an AWESOME gift. I haven't photographed it yet, but when I do it will get it's very own blog entry.



Friday, January 16, 2009

What Is A Fat Book?

No, it is not a journal of every bad thing that has gone into my mouth! A fat book swap is a wonderful thing.....a group is formed, a theme established, and everyone creates a page for each participant. Fat books may be of techniques or they may be themed. At the Paper Imagery Designs yahoo group, we couldn't make up our minds, so we combined the two: each of us selected a background technique and then embellished the pages (4x4") we made with vintage Valentine images (our theme).
Sadly, only 13 people signed up, so I guess it is more of a chubby book than a fat book, but I am still very excited about this project.
I am only posting the one sample of my pages so it will be more of a surprise when everyone receives their books.
My background technique is masking with Glimmer Mist. First I applied some distress inks to my paper, then I put down the mask (I mostly used Tim Holtz's or Heidi Swapp's masks) and sprayed with the Glimmer Mist. Very soft and sparkly in person. Then I decorated each page with some of the vintage Valentine images from the PID shop.
Melissa is the host. When she gets all the pages she is going to use her new Zutter Bind-It-All to make each of us a book. Mel is even doing the cover and back pages for us!
I think (hope) when everyone sees what we have done we will have a truly big FAT book the next time we do this!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Do You Live in the NYC Area?

If you do, then.....YOU ARE INVITED!!

If you are interested in a FREE crafting event.....with many FREE make-n-takes, refreshments, and other goodies.....if you'd like to meet some of my very talented and enthusiastic crafting friends.....AND receive the brand new, hot off the presses Stampin' Up Spring/Summer 2009 catalog.....a $10 value, also absolutely FREE....

Then come join me and my crafty teammates, The Gotham City Stampers for this fun filled event.

We love to make all things handmade, and this is absolutely not a hard sell....you will not be pressured to purchase anything.....we love what we do and want to share what we love.

Date: Saturday, January 17th

Time: 12:00pm - 4:00pm

Place: The Lead Safe House
2183 Amsterdam Avenue (@ 168th St.) New York, NY 10032

(This is an awesome space for crafting -- bright, plenty of work space, and easy to get to by car or public transportation -- go to http://www.hopstop.com/ for directions)

RSVP to Eileen: eyeleeeen@optonline.net
Please respond as soon as you can so we can plan for the right number of goodies for you!

Join me for a crafty good time! And yes, of course you can bring friends. Just let me know how many are coming.

Hope to see you!

Eileen

Monday, January 12, 2009

Hearts & Polka Dots....

......that is the theme for this week's challenge at Paper Imagery Designs yahoo group. We have two categories, ATCs and everything else. Here is my ATC:And here is a 4x4 (I'm loving those kewpies!): All images available in the PID shop.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

It's Good To Be Home....

.....and able to create something every day.


Over at Paper Imagery Designs yahoo group, we have an ATC jackpot monthly. The winner gets all the ATCs created for this drawing. I won in November, and it's wonderful receiving these little beauties from all over the country....no, make that world!


The January theme is "hearts," and here is my entry:


I'm really loving these kewpie doll images (from the PID store, of course).


While I was away, the weekly challenge was announced: "red, pink, and a dash of green." I just did a skinny (3x5"):

and an ATC:There will be lots more to post very soon. We're doing an inchie charm swap, a postcard swap, and an ATC swap featuring Isabella, one of PID's most lovely images. And tomorrow is Monday, which means another weekly challenge to complete.

And then there's a whole bunch of Stampin' Up events coming up. Friday is the monthly team meeting of the Gotham City Stampers, my SU friends and crafting buddies. I have a swap ready for that, as well as a gift for a secret someone. We skipped our December meeting since that's such a hectic month, but drew names for the gift -- all handmade, naturally -- and I will post photos after the meeting.

Saturday several of the demonstrators are hosting a "New Catalog" Open House, and I have a make-n-take to prepare for that.

Busy, busy, busy....and that's the way I like it!




Thursday, January 8, 2009

An Award!


I haven't posted in a while....I've been in Florida visiting with my mom....I love her, but it's truly a technology-free zone, lol. I returned to NY today and had literally hundreds of emails to go through. One of them contained a wonderful surprise. One of my design teammates at PID, Arlene Mobley selected me for the Kreativ Blogger Award! The rules of this award are pretty straightforward. I am to name 7 things that I love and pass the award along to 7 deserving bloggers.
There are so many great bloggers out there. I don't know if I can pick just 7, but I will try. But first, seven things that I love are......




  • books (it's an addiction)


  • my dedicated art space (at last!)


  • my friends (necessary for my mental health)


  • being near an ocean (any ocean....love lakes and rivers too)


  • being organized (an ongoing journey)


  • Andrea Bocelli


  • spontaneous road trips (especially if an art supply store is one of the destinations)


And the seven bloggers I am passing this award to are: