Grungepaper!

I love this stuff! I signed up for a swap on ATT and wasn't sure what to do. It's a freestyle swap, meaning we can do anything as long as it is made of grungepaper.

Some time ago I found a set of miniature antique postcards of Venice Italy. The cardboard holder they came in fascinated me. With just a few simple folds, it held all the cards together without the need for any adhesive.

I modified that design a bit to accomodate cards the size of an ATC or business card. And since the name of this group is All Things Tim, I used some of Tim's idea-ology hardware as well. Some flowers for decoration and....this is the part that makes me pat myself on the back....a hitch fastener as a closure. It works perfectly! A standard sized hole punch made an opening on the flap that fits exactly over the fastener. And it does stay closed! No glue required.

I am a very happy (and covered with ink) camper (or is that stamper??).

Round Robin Book Home At Last!

My book has zig-zagged across the country and is back home now, complete and gorgeous. This is the one I did in the All Things Tim (that would be Tim Holtz) yahoo group. Click here for my earlier post about this project.

My theme was "Flight" and I love all the different interpretations.

Here are the wonderful pages done for me by 8 talented artists from Florida, Montana, Arizona, California, Oregon, Indiana, Illinois, and New Jersey:

Astrid:

Deb:

Nancy:

Gloria:

Barbara:

Laurel:

Sandi:

Estrella:

KC Willis

No, I did not make this beauty (I wish!), am just spreading the word about KC Willis, the very talented mixed media artist responsible for this piece. I was first turned on to her work by my yahoo-friend Betty, who has taken KC's online classes. Betty's Willis-inspired collages are gorgeous, so I started lurking around KC's website and blog.
If this type of art appeals to you, you might want to check out some of KC's class offerings. Some are online, some are live (wish I lived closer to Colorado), but in any event, her sites are well worth a visit. Click here for a look.

Paper Imagery Designs Blog Roll Contest

Welcome to the Paper Imagery Designs Blog Roll Contest! PID is giving away a TON of cool stuff in honor of its design team (ahem....that would include me!)

Have your name entered UP TO 6 TIMES!

Paper Imagery Designs is having a contest on honor of the Design Team and their wonderful work and to thank it's loyal customers. Stop by each of the designers blogs listed below for your chance to enter leave a comment and a way to be contacted -- without contact information you cannot be notified of your winnings.

Rules: Contest ends July 3rd and winners will be announced in the PID Newsletter. If you're not currently receiving our newsletter you may sign up here. There is more than one chance to win!

Ways to win:

1 - Leave a comment on each of the designer's blogs for a chance to win their art prize.

2 - Post to your blog about the contest and have your name entered again make sure you link to PaperImagery Designs and the blog you heard about it from. Leave a comment and the link to your blog or website and let us know you posted on your blog this is your second entry. You must leave a second comment to count.

3 - Place an order at www.paperimagerydesigns.com between now and July 3rd and have your name entered more times using the chart below!

Spend up to $15.00 and have your name entered 1 more time.

Spend up to $25.00 and have your name entered 2 more times.

Spend up to $35.00 and have your name entered 3 more times.

Spend up to $45.00 and have your name entered 4 more times, etc....

Spend OVER $55.00 and have your name entered into a HUGE drawing to win a piece of art from each of the designers participating and a $75.00 gift package from PaperImagery Designs which includes collage sheets, German scraps, Ranger products,Original Art from the PID DT, Stamps, Tim Holtz Products and much much more!

Blog Roll:

Angie's Art Full Life

Arlene's Altered By Me

Eileen's Art Saves Lives

Carla's Collage Cat

Melissa's Altered Imagination

Linda Cain Friends in Art

For my part, I have two necklaces in the giveaway. I used memory frames, beads, some Tim Holtz embellishments, and of course, PID images.

Leave a comment on this posting only for a chance to win one of these pieces. The other piece will go into the HUGE prize package mentioned above. You will get your name put in a second time if you mention this event on your own blog with a link back to this one. Just come back and leave a second comment with the link to your own blog.

Do the same on the blogs of the other DT participants.

AND on the PID blog as well.

Good luck and happy blog-rolling.

A Charmed Life

My good friend and crafting buddy Heidi asked me to prepare something as a guest blogger on her blog, Heidi's Crafting Mecca. My very first stint as a guest blogger! Who knew? Check it out here and then go make some charms!

I Dream In Colors

Last week I received Valerie's fabulous, playful journal. Her colors are hot pink and lime green, and it's just not possible to create a somber page with those colors.

If you're new to my blog (welcome!), click here to learn more about this wonderful circle book project.

Here are my two pages for Val:

Round Robin Group

Front of page above

and back of page below

Several months ago I began a round robin art journal with seven other members of the All Things Tim yahoo group. Yesterday I received my next to last book to work on and.....my own book came home from its journey around the US! I'll scan and post the wonderful pages done for me another time.

For now, I'd like to share what I did in Deb's book. Her requested theme was "vintage," which is one I'm very happy to do. I used old music sheets and ledger pages for the backgrounds, and some clipart that I don't even know how I acquired. I think it was sent to me as extras in a swap.

I enjoyed this project SO MUCH, and am happy to still have two other circle books in the works.

The Next Level Challenge - Week 3

This week's challenge involves a card template and a tag. Click on The Next Level logo on my sidebar for all the details.

Happy Father's Day.....

.....to all the dads out there, and in memory of my own. I know I posted this one before, but it seems appropriate. Dads, you rock!

Jewelry Inspired by Tim Holtz

I'm sure you've guessed by now that I love Tim's work. In a recent blog post, he wrote about a project that he's involved with. Along with MANY other artists, Tim was asked to create a charm that would be part of a larger work to be raffled off for charity. All the completed charms were attached to an almost life sized art doll, and the money raised will be donated to cancer research. A worthy cause with or without the incentive of possibly winning this awesome doll.

I was not only moved to make a donation, but to create a charm (which I turned into a pin) myself. I loved the little bird's nest Tim did and have blatantly copied that idea.

For the text...my mantra: "art saves lives"....I used Scrabble Tiles, scanned the words, reduced them in size, and attached them to my inchie charm base.

Do check out Tim's blog, click on the link to the "Ties That Bind" charity, make a donation, then scroll through the site and admire some of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry I've ever seen.

Through The Eyes of an Artist -- Circle Book

A while back I posted about a wonderful project I'm involved in. Click here for the details.

Yesterday I received my third book to work in-- Lee's, all the way from Australia.

I saw a quote I liked and wanted to use and the art just grew out of the text.

Just so you know, the colors are actually much richer than my pathetic scans indicate.

I hope Lee likes the pages as much as I enjoyed working on them.

The Next Level Challenge - Week 2

This week's challenge is to include a ribbon frame in the card. Click on The Next Level logo on my sidebar for complete details.

Their very clear tutorial shows four slits to make the frame, and feeling a bit ambitious, I did eight (!) and tried out one of the new stamps I received when I went to the stamp expo on Saturday.

Flower Soft

I've been wanting to try Flower Soft for a while now, and finally got around to ordering some. That was just one of the many items that I've acquired in the past few days.

Here is my first attempt at using this product:

And a close up of the flowers:

It's a soft and delicate look, and I like it!

My Stash Increases

It has been quite an interesting few days. I've taken advantage of some online sales and have been placing oh so many orders for art supplies. On top of that, SU demos have been able to pre-order certain items from the yet to be released new catalog.

Here is some of what came in the mail Friday:

And yesterday I spent a wonderful day at the Heirloom Rubber Stamp & Paper Arts Festival in W. Springfield Massachussetts. The Ink Pad, NYC's premiere rubber stamp shop, sponsored a bus trip to the festival.

ALL OF THIS was in the gift bag we each received as we entered the bus (the gift bag itself was cool, but you can't even see it under all this stash:

We arrived in Massachessetts at about 11 am, and didn't leave until 5 pm. Here's some of the damage I did in that time:

Great rubber from Stampsmith and Lost Coast Stamps:

And a little bit of everything else! I actually found a Cuttlebug folder I didn't already own, some of the new alcohol inks, inchie stampboards, some Nestabilities, collage items, embossing powder, distress ink........


On the bus, both coming and going, names were called and several lucky people won additional gifts. On the way home, I was one of them! Beautiful metallic and pearlescent paints and a fine brush, rubber and clear stamps, and a DVD on bookbinding. I was amazed at the last item, because Friday night I took a class at my friend Laurel's meetup group on Japanese stab binding. Talk about the universe giving you what you need!


Now, if only I had room to store all this stuff! Better go make something!

I Dream In Colors Art Journal

I posted earlier about this wonderful collaborative art journal I'm involved in. Click here for more details.

The journey has begun in earnest......yesterday I received my first book to work in. It is Carla's, and the pages she already did are fabulous! Her chosen colors are burnt umber, yellow ochre, brick, and gray.

I have been in a whimsical mood, art-wise, but also had something serious to say about the whole "muse" concept. Sometimes everything comes together effortlessly and sometimes just getting something on paper....anything....is a struggle. The point I was trying to make......when your muse is hiding from you, make art anyway.

I spent a lot of time on the backgrounds. There's paint, ink, gesso, dry embossing, distressing.... I chose to use some collage images from PID to complete the pages. Showing the artist as a rabbit, and the elusive muse as a small child is my way of reminding myself not to take it all too seriously.

This is a closer view of the first page in the two-page spread I did:

And the second:

Grungepaper Quilt

I recently participated in two swaps at the All Things Tim (ATT) yahoo group. One was for grungepaper twinchies (2" squares), the other for grungepaper tags, flowers and other dimensional items.

The swaps arrived this week -- wonderful -- but what to do with them? Plus, I had a bunch of extras I'd made.

When grungepaper first came out, Tim showed a beautiful wall hanging done with them; it looked just like a quilt. Why reinvent the wheel? A quilt it would be.

Then, deep in the back of a closet, I found a horrible frame. Ornate, faux gold leafing. Yuck! But it just so happened to be exactly the right size for my quilt. So, I sanded, distressed, crackled, painted, inked that sucker until it was more....grungey.

Then the embellishing began. Rub ons, stamping, hardware, stitching, grungeboard elements, even stickers...I had to force myself to stop.

The photos aren't the greatest, but it is a treat for the eyes in person. And a lasting memory of a very enjoyable swap.

Here are some details: