Latest Challenge

The challenge to create altered pages continues. This round it was to take fun foam piece and use them like chipboard. I did not have any on hand, and the foam I had was too thick for punches, so I used my heat gun and heated the foam, stamped into it and then cut out the pieces.

This is my finished version of the book page.

PAY IT FORWARD

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow, or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So basically, if you comment
and you’re on, I’ll send you something crafty that I’ll make!

Once you sign up, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work. I will check my blog daily to see who the first three sign ups are, and if they've joined this Pay It Forward exchange, they will be the recipients from me.

Make sure to leave your blog address with your message, so I can check your blog. I will also need your email address so I can contact you for details of where to send them.

Fiona's Tin

Fiona, an online friend from one of my groups, gave us a tin and challenged us to alter it. I finally finished it, although I am not sure it is quite what I envisioned. I will be mailing it to her when I finally venture out into the snowy cold weather.

I hope Fiona likes what I have created.

Instant Art

I am participating in a swap hosted by Adrienne on CC Swaps, where we create several pieces of art for embellishments. They consist of decorated tags, altered slide mounts, ATC ( artist trading card) backgrounds, little beauties (embellished backgounds measuring 1.5" x 2") and a printed copyright free images. I have not included the images, as I am still deciding on which one to share.

I really enjoyed making these so I signed up twice for the swap, and this gave me an opportunity to use some items from my "stash".

These are my tags.

I used various techniques and inks, Brilliance, Fluid chalks, Opalites, and dye inks. The one with the woman's image was stamped, then covered with a paper towel coloured with watercolours; the shiny one is covered with candy wrappers. The odd shaped tags in the top row are actually thread holders, and have little cut out peices for the thread, so a person could attach another bellie to them.

Here are my slide mounts:

The first 2 on top are covered with craft paper, the 3rd with a dictionary page painted with Lumiere paints.

The 2nd row : Peeled Paint technique, Opalite inks and Mica Magic stamping, the last is covered with cancelled postage stamps.

The 3rd row: DTP (Direct-to-Paper) with pigment inks, Fluid chalks, and the 3rd one is dtp with distress ink. The final one is coloured with Pearl Ex-press watecolours.

My ATC Backgrounds:

I had several sheets of backgrounds that I had made and so just used some of them for this swap. Again, they are various techniques, wax paper resist, acrylics, Pinata` inks with gold leafing pen, brayered dye inks with H2o's, brayered inks, lumieres, crackled paint, shaving cream technique, Mica Magic resist with Fluid Chalks, and "stamp smooshie-smooshie" with a crackle stamp over it.

Little Beauties

1st row: Webbing spray with a button bellie, Kailedcolor ink covered with black dye ink then stamped with bleach, Dye ink pads directly on glossy cardstock with bellies colored with Pinata`inks, H2o's with a shrink plastic bellie.

2nd row: Brass stencil sprayed with Memory sprays then stencil paste over it coloured with Mica Magic inks, Fluid Chalks applied with Masking tape stamped UTEE bellie, Dye inks and sprayed with bleach and Monoprinting with dye inks.

Last row: Marvy Metallics technique on black glossy, Opalite inks dtp on matte black cardstock overstamped with Mica Magic and Versafine. The bellie is a jewellery finding with a picture inserted.

Women's Tip-in

I have been busy with Christmas shopping, baking, wrapping, making gifts and entertaining friends with an annual pre-Christmas celebration.

As a result, I had not completed my CC Swaps Women's Tip-in page. Tonight I sat down and finished it.

The main image onthe front page is from http://www.vintagepaintworks.com/ the one on the second page is from LisaVollrath's Monthly Muse sampler at http://www.tentwostudios.com/.

I hope my partner, Annie, will like what I have created for her.

The left hand one is coloured and stamped with fluid chalk inks. The second is dye inks sprayed with bleach.

Book for my Sister

Each year I include a handmade item with my Christmas Gifts for my Sister. This year I made a book for her using a technique taught at a class by Cathie Allan of Western Educational Activities. She is a wonderful artist who has been published regularly and designs for one of the RS ink companies. She makes each class so much fun, and inspires us to go home, play with the ideas and make each item "our own".

The book includes family pictures as well as quotes, and a little calendar inserted in the back cover.

Some new items

I Have been busy getting ready for Christmas, while trying to fight off a cold. I made a few Christmas cards for friends and family who appreciate the handmade ones. These are a sample of a few that I made: