The Lace Journey Ends......And Some Art With Friends

Just before the start of the Memorial Day Weekend, I received Marita's luscious lace journal from Elena, and spent a good part of those days working on it.  Marita's is the last one I had to create for, and soon I'll be getting my own back.  I've loved being a part of this group, and fully intend to continue to incorporate fabric and lace into my projects.

Marita's theme included vintage faces, hankies, and the colors ivory, ecru, and black.  In anticipation, I set aside all the elements I thought might work, and selected a focal image.  So when I actually had the book in my hands, putting together my spread came very easily.  Don't you love when that happens?

You can see I had plenty of lace in the right colors; the pocket for the "hankies" is just an oval doily cut in half.  Since I didn't have a hanky that went well with the colors Marita requested, I made a faux one with black and white netting.



 

 

There is a bit of batting under the image to make it puff up.  I went over her headband and earrings with flat backed pearls and crystals; the gold "chains" on the earrings are lines of Ranger's Liquid Pearls.

 

 

 

The back is simply decorated with lace and some beaded trim.

 

 

 

As for the "art with friends" portion of the title.....I recently got together for a play date with Pat and Teri.  After a wonderful Greek dinner we headed for Teri's place where we each brought a project.  Pat was up first, and we received these:

 

 

 

What to do with a wine glass, a paper template, and an electric votive candle?

 

 

 

Pop in the candle, then using the template, cut out a skirt.  I used a gelli plate page that my pal Lillian gave me when we were at Keys4Art in March.  A dab of glue holds it together.  I used decorative scissors when I cut the top and bottom, and a tiny flower punch to make some holes so the light would shine through.  I also added the beaded trim because.....well, because Pat thought it was a great idea, and it was!

 

 

 

Pardon the pun, but Chinese take out food takes on a whole new light when consumed with this little beauty on the table.

 

Teri's project was altering old photos.  She picked up a huge supply at a second hand store.

 



 

 

They do have to be traditionally developed photos, not computer printed ones.  It's all about the coating.  First we submerged them in water for a few minutes, then dried them off, and proceded to scratch and sand them.  On some I altered only sections, on some the whole photo.  It's a very cool way to isolate one area and then create an entirely new picture surrounding it.  After scratching and sanding, we added paint, and then some stamping.  Here are three I've completed.  I like this!

 

 

You can't see the original photo at all on this one:

I left the stones untouched; I think it looks like seagrass

and weeds are growing out of water:

On this one the wall was unaltered, and the cityscape

stamped over it.

 

 

 

My project was a birthday card using the wrapped package from Tim Holtz's Birthday Blueprint set.  I've seen a few very similar cards in the blogosphere, so I'm not taking any credit for the design.  I have no idea who originally came up with the idea of paper piecing, but it sure wasn't me.  Coupled with pop dots, it does make for a wonderfully dimensional card.

 

 

 



 











Gearing Up For The Holidays

Last year I dawdled around for so long, my holiday cards mostly said Happy New Year.  I've got a decent head start this year, and feel like I'm on a roll.

What started me off was a play date I had with my pals Pat and Teri.

Good thing we are all able to create in chaos.  So many supplies, so little room.  We weren't making cards for ourselves, but Cards for the Troops.  Even with plenty of gabbing, coffee breaks and lunch out, we managed to get close to 30 cards done.

I was so inspired, I continued my card making over the next few days.  When I want to produce a quantity of cards that are not quite identical, what I'll do is cut a bunch of embellishments and other card elements (mats, borders, etc), lay them out in front of me and then do a mix and match thing.  Here are some cards from my "reindeer series" and all feature die cuts from Tim's Reindeer Flight Sizzix die.

I discovered that I didn't have any Christmas paper left, but I'm going to show you that doesn't really matter.  I took some scrapbook paper with colors that work for the season and stamped and embossed right over the patterns.  I then used a Stampin' Up ornament punch to create these cards.  I have a bag full of the ornaments, and tried different color embossing powders, so I'm ready to make at least a dozen or more of this style of card.

I only did one with Tim's snowman folder, but I'm sure I'll do more.

This week's challenge at Simon Says is to "show us a house."  Still in the holiday mind set, but wanting to do more than a card, I created this little decor item using Tim's Artful Dwellings Sizzix die, and a whole bunch of embossing folders to give each house a different look.  It stands up nicely by itself because I attached Tim's small easel die cut to the back.  By the way, the easel is way taller than my little village, but just so you know, you can really trim it a lot (I did!) and it still works perfectly.

First a photo of it lying on my table (so you can actually see the houses), then a darker photo of it standing up, and then a side shot so you can see the easel.

The snow is a combination of Liquid Pearls and glitter glass.  The smoke from the chimney is some twisted wire.  And I think I know someone who is going to receive it as a gift.

Now, back to card making......

The Loves of Marie Antoinette

So reads the title of my friend Inge's Marie journal, the last Marie book I have to work in.  It took me a while to decide which of Marie's loves to use....fashion, family, Versailles, cake?  In the end, I chose jewelry, and I did have an ulterior motive.

Over a year ago, when I was still on the PID design team, I did several projects using their Marie images.  One was a bracelet, and as I was making it, it was in my mind that I would use it in one of the Marie journals.  I think we had just recently started that group.  For one reason or another, it never felt quite right in the other books, but I had a feeling it would find its way into Inge's book.  And so it did.

First, here is the bracelet.  The band is fabric, decorated with beads and other baubles and some funky fibers.  The Ranger memory frame holds a small picture of Marie which was covered with Crackle Accents.

So, my concept is, Marie loves beautiful jewelry.....especially when it contains her own image.  And here are my two pages:

I used Distress Stains, Colorwash, and Perfect Pearls mists to get the colors in the backgrounds.  On page one, I added stamping to create my own patterned paper.  The image of Marie was an internet find.....found, I think by Val.....and she is colored with markers and embellished with Liquid Pearls and glaze pens.

Both pages have a gold embossed leafy border (Wendy Vecchi stamp).  I didn't further decorate the second page because I wanted the bracelet to be the focal point.  I attached it with easily untied gauze so if Inge actually wants to wear it, she can.

So, for me at least, no more Marie journals to work in.  The queen is finished, long live the queen!