Frida, Dominos, and a Blog Birthday Bash

Sox selected "Frida in Paris" as the theme for her journal in my Frida Kahlo collaborative art journal group.  I didn't know, until I read the handy reference sheet Sox included, that Frida was a very unhappy camper when she was in Paris.  I probably would have done some very different pages had I not learned that.
So, I had this vision of Paris through Frida's eyes.....cold, gray, totally lacking the warmth and vibrancy of her native Mexico.   And the only color would come from Frida's memories.

All the Parisian scenes are images from the Stampsmith Paris sheet.

The Eiffel Tower was cut from a Sizzix die, and the wonderful lizard....I'm having a brain freeze and can't recall where I found that stamp, but I sure had fun coloring (and altering) it.  There are also some Heidi Swap transparencies on the pages.

Speaking of altering, I joined an altered domino pin swap at ATT and here they are. (sorry how dark they photographed)  These are the pins I'm swapping:

 And this is the one I made to keep for myself:

My friend Stephen is celebrating his blog's 1st birthday, and he's having a fantastic giveaway.  Besides the freebies, you'll find some really cool art there, so check it out.

Brooches, Banners, and Birthdays

I think it finally stopped raining, but it was coming down forTHREE WHOLE DAYS!!  One good thing about that.....I stayed indoors and made a lot of stuff.
I worked on some fabric brooches for my blogoversary giveaway:

I made two birthday cards for the EWV birthday card club:

Both cards use Wendy Vecchi stamps (of course!), some SU stamps, punches and paper, and both SU and Distress inks.

A new banner swap was recently announced.  This time on the EWV group, and these are minis....only 3 1/2" across, and 5" long.  I had so much fun doing the larger banners for the ATT group, I immediately signed up and got busy:

Only one to show you, because this time I did them all the same. The background is in two parts, both WV stamps over Jenni Bowlin mini papers.  The flowers are on grungepaper, and the crown on the face stamp is Ten Seconds Studio metal, embossed, sanded and inked.  The stick pins coming out of the crown are from Maya Road, and the matching dangle on the bottom came from.....?????  Just found it in my stash, and thought it went well with the stick pins.

Not a bad way to spend the bulk of 72 hours of rain.

And The Winners Are.....

I'm back as promised.  I went to random.org and asked for 5 numbers.  I'm feeling very ambitious.  I haven't made five brooches, which is a good thing, because I'm going to ask my winners to contact me, not only with their mailing addresses, but with their favorite color(s) and I'll do my best to make each of you one in your preferred palette.

One of my winners I know very well, one name I definitely recognize from online groups, and the rest I'm not sure about.  But you know, most names, when clicked on, do not lead me to an email address.  So......I'll give you all a week to get back to me, and then I'll have to pick more numbers.  

Enough chit chat.....the names (as given in blogger) are:

• Janet Walters
• Debs Doodles & More
• Erin Glee
• Lillian M
• Sherry Goodloe

I hope to hear from you all soon!  (There is a place on my blog to click to send me an email).