An Artful Weekend

This weekend was the perfect balance between me being my usual hermit self, spending hours alone making some creative messes, and getting out to a) breathe some fresh and much warmer air and b) spend a few hours with two of my dearest friends in art.

Saturday was hermit day, and I worked on another Journal of Dreams....Sarah's, which arrived on Thursday after making several stops in North America after leaving home in Australia.

As usual with me, I sat down not knowing where I was headed, but looked around at what was on my work table.  I made good use of my new Tim Holtz stamps and some of the new distress ink colors.

 

I start out with a collage of many papers, some music, some text, some leftovers from other projects.  I bring them all together as a background with color.  This time some oil pastels and distress inks in blues and greens.

Then stamping, more color, more stamping, and the addition of the Eiffel Tower....cut from a die on grungeboard,  and embellished with KAT's awesome drunken scotch technique, which I also used on the real key sitting atop the tower (more about drunken scotch later).

We're only doing one page in this journal group, so I did minimal work on the back:

More Tim Holtz stamps, and I used the grungeboard from which I cut the Eiffel Tower as a stencil to make the tower shadows on the right.

Sunday was my day to share art with friends.  Once a month I get together with whoever is available, usually Heidi and Pat, and we each bring a project or two to share with the others, and all the supplies needed for them to make their own.  

I brought this card:

And I showed Heidi and Pat how to do KAT's fabulous drunken scotch technique.   These keys are grungeboard, but don't they look like real rusted metal?   Thanks, KAT!

These are the cards I made from Heidi's designs:

  

Pat, also sometimes known as the Queen of Tools or the Guru of Gadgets, is not only a wonderful artist, but a woman with a wicked sense of humor.  She claims she bought the Stampin' Up chocolate bunny stamp with the thought in mind of creating this card:

When we were finished laughing, we tried our hands at decorating some actual eggs that Pat brought (empty and cleaned out, of course) with paint, ink, rubons, etc.  I have not finished mine, but wanted to show you the cute little holders Pat fashioned for us out of pieces of toilet paper rolls.

Pretty good weekend, huh?

Journal of Dreams, Flowers & Flourishes, and a Birthday Gift

Yesterday I completed the last of the three pages I had in my queue for my Journal of Dreams collaborative group.  This one in for my Australian buddy Lee.  Please don't ask what sort of dream conjured this up; I just sat down at my work table and it happened.  All by itself.  Honest. 

 

The background came from a technique class I took at my friend Heidi's meetup group. Tissue paper was covered with stamps in several colors and attached to cardstock.  I added lots more stamping, doodling with glaze pens, sharpie poster paint markers, and bic markers.  The face is an image stamped over watercolor paper that had been previously stamped with text.

As for the crafty old bird (my alter ego in this "dream"), the bird head is a Tim Holtz stamp, embossed with black EP; the wings are grungeboard, embossed and inked, and the skirt several layers of paper, sequin waste and mulberry paper.

At the PID yahoo group we have a monthly lottery, that I moderate.  Because I'm sick and tired of snow, I picked a springy theme for March:  flowers and flourishes.  Check out the PID blog to see how I did the background for this piece:

 

I joined the Birthday Club in another of my groups, EWV (Everything Wendy Vecchi), and we have one birthday in March, Kathryn's.  So if you are Kathryn and wish to be surprised, don't look at the next photo.

 

I made this wall hanging for Kathryn's BD.  The frame was a chipboard piece with a design I didn't like, so I covered it with some text and then added the coaster on top.  All the stamps, including the cool (and brand new) herringbone background stamp are by Wendy, and I even added the one remaining grungepaper rose I'd received from Susan in our GP rose swap.  The metal you see is from Tim Holtz's idea-ology line.

Gifts.....Given and Received

I was the host for a special gift exchange for the Gotham City Stampers, and this past Friday at our quarterly meeting, we exchanged gifts.
If you remember the inspiration board I made in Wendy Vecchi's class on the cruise, that was MY inspiration in making my gift.  I was very happy when I drew JennyB's name, as I knew for sure she'd appreciate it.
Here it is, with some (fuzzy....sorry!) closeups:

 

  

  

  

  

Heidi altered a journal and lucky me!  She picked my name.  Here I am holding up that beauty:

Marty's Sunday Sketch Challenge - Week 13

This week's sketch from Marty:

I had just gotten a box of new Stampin' Up supplies, and enjoyed using the Sweet Pea felt pieces on my card. Very springy!

I have very much enjoyed being on the Gotham City Stampers design team, and look forward to more challenges in the future.  My upline Heidi is taking a little break from some team activities so she can concentrate on her upcoming wedding to Marty.  Thanks to everyone who has stopped by each week to see how I interpreted the sketches.  Don't forget to visit Heidi's blog to see what the others did.

Tomorrow.......very exciting......the start of One World One Heart.  Make sure you come back to see my giveaways and learn more about this event.

Marty's Sunday Sketch Challenge

Yes, I do have a calendar, and no, I don't think it is Sunday.  Sorry for the delay.  Here is the sketch Marty sent:

I really like bird images and have lots of them.  For this sketch I decided to use a bird from a Tim Holtz collection.  Then I saw the cage....had to put them together:

The bird in the cage looked so sad to me that I felt I just had to put a humorous twist on the card....hence the sentiment.

The birds on a wire that I used instead of a ribbon is from I Brake For Stamps.  The sparkle on them comes from Platinum Stickles, my new favorite.

Check out Heidi's blog to see what the rest of the DT did with the sketch.

Recent Cards

The projects I've been working on lately are either gifts or for swaps that I want to remain secret, so I haven't been able to show them here (yet).  But I have done a few cards recently, mostly at my upline  Heidi's classes.  So, everything is Stampin' Up, and though I've probably tweaked them a bit, all the original designs are Heidi's.

 

 

Marty's Sunday Sketch Challenge

Week 11 of the sketch challenge was a joy to do because it has the clean graphic lines I like for a card.  Here is Marty's sketch:

And here is my interpretation (pretty straightforward):

The paper, punch, ribbon, and white pearls are all Stampin' Up.  The metal flowers are Making Memories, and the one blue pearl is just something from my stash...origin, unknown.  I love black, white and gray, but think adding one little pop of an unexpected color makes it more interesting.

The rest of the Gotham City Stampers design team made great cards.  Hop on over to Heidi's blog to see what they did.

Marty's Sunday Sketch Challenge

Marty's sketch for week 10 was inspired by a trip he and Heidi took to visit family in PA over the holidays.  It has a charming, folk-art kind of look:

I have to admit, this sketch gave me fits at first.  It was my natural instinct to do a more abstract interpretation of the sketch, and I tried several versions, all of which wound up in the scrap pile.  I finally realized that my "muse" wanted to do a landscape scene.  Go figure!  Once I let go, and stopped trying to force myself to do what I clearly did not want to do,  it came together, and this is the result:

I used some torn scrap paper as masks to create the various hills, and just sponged on many shades of greens and browns.  Added some grassy stamping (some even heat embossed) and the birds in the sky.  The little house was stamped on cardstock, cut out and glued on.  I used a mini alphabet set from SU at the last moment to add the "Home Sweet Home" sentiment because.....I just thought it belonged there, following the curves of the hills.

Don't forget to head over to Heidi's blog to see what the rest of the team did with Marty's sketch.  One thing is for sure.....we all saw it differently!

Marty's Sunday Sketch Challenge

Yes, I do realize that it is way past Sunday.  Sorry 'bout that.  Heidi has been renovating her blog, switching over to wordpress, working with a blog designer, and the new blog wasn't quite ready on Sunday.  Hope you'll agree that this week's sketch was worth the wait.
Here is Marty's adorable ringing in the new year sketch:

I do have champagne glass stamps.  I was tempted to be literal.  But....as often happens when I look at a sketch, something crazy creeps into my head and I have to go there.  Instead of  seeing glasses touching, I kept envisioning paint brushes crossing.  And an artistic wish for 2010.

So....here is my offering:

Don't forget you can click on it to see detail.  I covered the tips of the brushes with crystal effects to make them look wet, and used some flourishes to represent paint swirls.

The words inside my clock say what I wish for all of you in 2010....an artful year!

Cheers!

(Don't forget to visit Heidi's new blog to see what the rest of the Gotham City Stampers did with this theme).

Tote Bag and Note Cards

Sometimes when I sign up for a class at Heidi's it is because I want to do the project.  Sometimes it is because I just feel like hanging with my artsy friends, and don't much care what we'll be doing.  Last night started out as just wanting to hang, but I really wound up loving the project as well.
First I had a great meal with Corris and Gayle at Bleu, which is right around the corner from Heidi's.
Then I got to sit and craft with them, and Rocker Jen and Yvonne and RosieB and Kahena, and great new member, Caroline.
The photo above is a little dark, but it is an adorable little tote bag, decorated with Bella Bleu designer paper from Stampin' Up.  When the bag opens, you see:

Inside are two holders, one for the envelopes and one for the notecards.  All coordinate with the tote.  The four cards we made are here:

Just so you know, Heidi got her inspiration for this project from Patty Bennett's blog.  Sorry I didn't have this one in my arsenal before the holidays!

Marty's Sunday Sketch Challenge

For this week's challenge, Marty did this cityscape sketch:

Don't ask me why, but as I looked at it, all I could see were trees and birds, not skyscrapers and stars.

Maybe I just needed one more excuse to use my all time favorite SU set, "Lovely As A Tree."  And threw in the great tree from "Pendant Park" as well.  I added the sentiment because I plan on sending this card to a friend who is going through a rough patch.

Now, head on over to Heidi's blog to see how the rest of the Gotham City Stampers design team interpreted Marty's sketch.  I think you'll be surprised at the variety.

Stamping With Bleach

I was organizing one of my technique journals, and came across these two cards I did in one of Heidi's classes:

 

In both, the focal images were done by stamping with bleach.  What is most interesting about this technique is that you really never know exactly what the bleached out image is going to look like in advance.  Different colored cardstocks react differently to the bleach.  And you may not even get the same result each time you use the same cardstock.

If you look at the card directly above, you can see that even within the one stamp, the flowers are not uniformly bleached out.  And I love that!

How to do it?  Couldn't be easier.  Just make a stamp pad by putting a couple of layers of paper toweling in a shallow container and wet them down with the bleach.  Press your stamp into the pad and then onto your paper.  Silhouette stamps work particularly well with this technique, but try a variety of stamps on different papers and see the results.   How much bleach you use and how hard you press will also affect the outcome.  Have some fun and experiement!

Just remember to clean your stamps afterwards.  And work in a well ventilated room!

Marty's Sunday Sketch Challenge

Is this week 7 already?  Marty had a nice simple graphic sketch for us to work on this week.  And as soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what my card would look like.  Now that doesn't happen often!
Here is the sketch:

Marty may have drawn flowers, but considering the season, I saw snowflakes.

Everything was stamped in white and embossed.  They don't really show up in the photo, but there is a little sparkly sticker in the center of each flake.

To see what the rest of the Gotham City Stampers DT did with the sketch, click here to visit Heidi's blog.  Everyone interpreted Marty's sketch so differently, and I think you'll enjoy them all.

Marty's Sunday Sketch Challenge

Wow, week 6 already!  This is the sketch the Gotham City Stampers Design Team had to work with:

Where does Marty get these ideas?

This is my take (I was suffering from Christmas/Chanukah overload and wanted totally different colors):

Now if you head over to Heidi's blog, you'll see what the rest of the DT did.

Marty's Sunday Sketch Challenge

Another Sunday, another great sketch from Marty:

This is what I did with the sketch:

Now go to Heidi's blog to see what the rest of the Gotham City Stampers design team created.

Fragment Charm Necklace and Brad Bracelet

Friday night Heidi and I held our monthly jewelry class, and what a great one it was!  Remember the fragment charm necklace I made with Wendy on the cruise?

I loved this project so much, I decided that it would be what I'd teach at the class.  Check out all the busy hands:

 Not everyone finished their necklaces in class (I didn't finish mine until I got home from the cruise), but they all did most of the work and just need to do assembling and finishing touches.  Pat's is already beautiful:

Speaking of Pat, here she is with Heidi (Pat's the one wearing a Ho Ho Ho banner as a necklace).  Hey, it was a jewelry class, and I'm always preaching that anything can be jewelry.

Yes, that's a wine bottle in her hand.  Wonder when these women will cheer up.  LOL!

Gayle and Corris look like they're having a good time.

I don't know exactly what Kahena was saying, but I'm sure it was funny.  She is a hoot!  And I don't know what Gayle was doing, but it sure looks like some dance moves.

Pat is sometimes known as the Queen of Tools and Gadgets.  Does she own every one ever made?  She just looks so at ease with the pliers.

Question to self:  why don't I have a picture of Rosie B?????  Oh, I do have an answer....I have a picture, you just can't see her face!  But you can see how much thought she put into arranging her charms:

If you're interested in learning more about how to create a fragment charm necklace, click here, and you'll be taken to the PID blog and a tutorial.  The technique is the same, we just used different papers and chains in the class.

Heidi's project was a brad bracelet.  She has a huge stash of brads, and all you need to do is attach them to a link bracelet and kind of bend the brad legs under themselves with a pliers.  Harder to explain than to do.  You just want them attached but not moving around, and you don't want to see the legs.  So you hold the tip of each leg with the pliers and bend them around and then flatten them out against the chain.  I selected brads to give my bracelet a vintage feel, and I really like it.  Thanks, Heidi!