Mojo Monday #197

Salutations!  This week's challenge sketch on Mojo Monday looked like lots of fun. You can do a round or square card.

This is my card

I've been making my own backgrounds for many projects lately. I made this background with The Crafters Workshop template called Doodling with orange acrylic paint and spray inks.  Since money is tight I've been making my own sprays with distress inks, Stampin Up inks, and perfect pearls. It's amazing how many color combinations you can achieve.  

How Did She Do That? I took Bristol board, layed the template on top and used a paper towel to sponge on the orange paint. Once dried I sprayed yellow and blue spray ink on it, dried it, then added the stamp with jet black archival ink.  I used the pieces left after cutting it down for the card for the square in the middle. The bird was cut from grungepaper colored with yellow and blue spray ink. The flower was originally white and I sprayed it with blue ink. Layed all the pieces as shown.

Supplies

Paper: White Bristol board, white cardstock, orange cardstock, HOTP Peacock black paper, grungepaper

Stamp: Flourish from Tim Holtz Artistry Collection called Heartfelt, sentiment stamp from Inkadinkado

Ink:  Jet Black Achival Ink, Spray Inks

Flower: Prima

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Tools: Bird punch from Stampin Up

Art Journals, Do you have one?

Salutations! Another one of my favorite things to do is art journals. I have a couple that I just doodle in or play with watercolors, etc. when I'm sitting in front of the TV.  I have one that I started a few weeks ago that I've done more with.  I thought over time I would show you a page. 

I have not started to journal on them yet. I'm just having fun making the backgrounds. I've been keeping a file on my computer of all these prompts that I can use. For this journal, I may use a few prompts to start but I'm not sure yet.

Here is a page that I used the numbers template from Crafters Workshop with sprays and acrylic paints. I may add a few more things but right now I like it the way it is. I keep a basket with words and pictures from magazines to add to my journal pages. Its amazing what you find in magazines. I love to find words that I can use in a short sentence especially when different fonts are used.

I've always kept a regular journal. I don't always write in it everyday and sometimes it will be weeks before I open it again.  With an art journal I find it's easier to write down my feelings, ideas, and opinions. I find I'm more true to myself. Do you write in a regular journal or an art journal? Try an art journal its so much fun.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Love Defined

Salutations! I thought I would share with you another card I made from my composition board. Here is a reminder of what it looked like before I cut it up.

And here is the card!

"When I want to see love defined I look at you"

I love this card. I've been using this heart stamp on everything lately. Its one of my favorites this week! Wouldn't this be a great card to receive from that someone special in your life?

Supplies

Paper: Dark pink cardstock for card and hearts

Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Collection - Heartfelt

Archival Ink - Jet Black

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Just Add Ink - Sketch Challenge

Salutations!  Over on Just Add Ink they have a sketch challenge this week. It's a simple sketch but for some reason I had a hard time with it.  Funny how sometimes the most simple things boggle your mind.

Here is their sketch:

Here is my card:

Supplies:

Paper: purple cardstock, coredinations color core, book paper, and a piece of my composition board

Sizzix embossing folder - plaid

Stamp: Inkadinkado

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!



I love Steampunk! Do you?

Salutations! I joined an ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap on Splitcoaststampers and the theme is Steampunk. Each swap has a couple of rules to follow and this one you had to include two embellishments and you had to make 6 +1.  

I have Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante paper and used it to create the ATC. I love this paper pack and I keep all the bits and pieces of it because you never know when you might need it!

I only had one piece of the flowered paper from that pack and decided to cut it into small squares in order to use it on each ATC.  I then embossed the cogs and wheels (Stampin UP) on a diagonal and fussy cut them out. I added a metal brad (Tim Holtz Idea-ology) in one of the wheels. The gold embossed wing is from Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Stamp set called flourish and I added a portrait square from the paper on top of it. The little butterfly is from the same paper pack and I cut each one out and added Ranger's crackle accents to it. I really like the same they came out. 

I hope you like my ATC. I had lots of fun making them. Thats it for now.

Supplies:

Paper: Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante

Stamps: Cogs and Wheels from Stampin Up; Wing from Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Stamp set called flourish

Accessories and Tools: Pop dots; Ranger's crackle accents; Brads form Tim Holtz Idea-ology; black crystals

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Tiny Pieces of Art

Salutations! I wanted to show you today the inchies I made for a swap on Splitcoaststampers. You had to pick from a few different themes.  I chose to do the following themes; numbers, charmed i'm sure, vintage and alice vs. dorothy.  Each inchie also had to have one embellishment.

After working on these I think I 'm in need of those cheater eye glasses that you can get for cheap OR I need longer arms!  They were lots of fun to make.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Mojo Monday #196

Salutations!  For some reason tonight after the gym I had tons of energy. Tuesdays I'm usually tired and if I sit down I'm asleep.  Since I had some energy I decided to to the sketch challenge on Mojo Monday. I had another piece of my composition board and decided to add some red paint and distress ink to add a pop of color.

Before I added the white oval I ran the card through a Sizzix embossing folder (wrong side up) and then ran the white oval through the same folder (right side up). There really isn't a right or wrong side of an embossing folder. I like to emboss either way.  How do you like it?

Supplies

Paper: Red and White cardstock

Composition board

Stamp: Recollections by Michael's Store called Time Flies

Sizzix embossing folder called sugar

Ink: Distress ink in fired brick and jet black archival ink

Other: Acrylic paint in cadmium red

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Reflections!

Salutations! I thought I would share some photos today. I love to take shots of glass buildings when you can capture something within the reflection.  This shot is a building in Chicago but I captured the reflection of the clock in the tower of the building across the street. I love the picture.

This next shot is a dragon fly. The picture is a little grainy but you can see its blue and you can also see all the little hairs on it's body.

Thanks for much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Imagination is Boundless!

Salutations! With a large cup of tea in hand I headed into my craft room and decided to make a card for Use It Tuesday Challenge Blog.  In this challenge your project needed to be made with an unused die, punch or cut-outs. I used Sizzix dies called Sizzlits Flower Set #3. I bought it a few months ago for $4 and have not used it.

I was uninspired by all the paper I have so I decided to create a composition board (a.k.a mood boards, motherboards) and I know it has many different names to make my own background. Its a 12" x 12" piece of watercolor paper that I added sprays, inks, stamps, and paint to in lots of different colors. This is what it looked like when I finished.

Pretty isn't it?  It was so much fun to make. I love using the templates from The Crafters Workshop on my card and mixed media projects. I use them with distress inks, sprays, paint, pan pastels, etc. I also used a few stamps too. I just gathered all my supplies and just started playing with all the inks, stamps and templates.  Then I cut it up for the card.   During the weeks I will show you more cards I made with this board. You should try it. It makes amazing backgrounds for cards, layouts or any project.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

City Nights!

Salutations! Here are few more pictures from Chicago. The first one I was playing with different settings in the camera and took the shot and didn't realize I captured the moon too.  The second one I love the way you can see all the way up State Street. This one was taken through the apartment window so it's not that clear.

Thanks for stopping by!

Go Create and Be Extraorindary!

SHE ART WORKSHOP BY CHRISTY TOMLINSON

Salutations!  I am taking the best online workshops from Christy Tomlinson called The She Art Workshop and She Had Three Hearts Workshop.  She is so down to earth and an amazing teacher. She teaches mixed media which I love. I can't say enough about these workshops. The She Art Workshop she teaches you how to make these art girls and amazing backgrounds on canvas. Her videos are lots of fun to watch and she makes it so easy to believe that you can do it too. She even gives you PDFs of her templates for the girls and clothes, etc. The other thing is that you don't have to have all the supplies she uses, although its great to have it, but can use what you have in your craft room.

Here are my first two She Art girls. The first one I think the background it a little busy. I was having so much fun with the background I forgot that I had to put a girl on it.  My daughter loves this canvas so it's hers. In fact both are hers!

I didn't use Christy's templates for the girl. I decided to wing it. I put the words, She has learned to face her fears, because my daughter had to learn a lot about herself in the four years of college. She had lots of struggles for many things other than school work. This canvas is 5"x7". Christy likes to work on 10"x10" but everyone who knows me know thats too big for me. I like to keep it small.

Here is my second one.

I like this one the best. Her little dress is so cute. It reminds me of something my daughter would wear. Christy gives you She Art words to use but encourages you to use your own. This one says, She has learned to jump over her hurtles.  This is an important saying for my daughter. Like many of us we put hurtles in front of us and fall over them instead of learning to jump over them. She has learned to jump instead of fall on her face. I still have to work on the heads and hair but in time they will look the way I would like. There is a sale on canvas in an art store close to my work. Guess where I'm going?

The other workshop, She Had Three Arts, is also an excellent workshop. She teachers you all about the materials from gesso to watercolor pencils and how to use them. This workshop is a art journal workshop and something I've started to love to do. I haven't worked on a page yet but I will post them as I work on them.

Just so you know once you pay for the workshop you have access to all of it for three months. You can work on it at your own pace. I watch the videos on my galaxy tab in my craft room and work right along with her.  Sometimes like the Three Hearts workshop I watch at my desktop computer to learn all about the matierals and when it comes to working on the pages I will go back to my craft room. No, I'm not getting paid to tell you all this but just letting you know that they are amazing workshops. If you ever wanted to try mixed media and didn't know where to start, one of these workshops would be a great place to start.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Mojo Monday #195

Salutations! It was cold and rainy today so tonight was a great night for the craft room. I decided to play challenge #195 on Mojo Monday - The Blog. 

I love the way my card came out. Sitting in traffic I remembered I had Tim Holtz seasonal stash and I haven't used any of it yet and I had the three chipboard stars sitting on my desk waiting to be used. It all came together perfectly!  What do you think?

How Did She Do That? Mojo #195

Cut red cardstock into a 5”x5” card and attached July 4^th pattern paper. Because Tim Holtz paper is double-sided I found red and white paper to make the stripes.  I had an aluminum square that I cut in half and to add some silver to the card and attached that under the stripes. The blue scallop circle was cut from a die I found in my scraps and cut circles in red and blue cardstock for the inside and embossed stars in the center. The chipboard stars I embossed in silver embossing power.  If you are familiar with Tim Holtz seasonal stash you will find many different sizes of pattern paper and in there were ATC sized words.  I cut out America from the paper and attached each letter to the paper.

Supplies

Paper: Tim Holtz Seasonal Stash; Red Cardstock; Blue Cardstock

Ink:  Clear embossing ink; distress ink in fired brick

Stamp: Stars by Inkadinkado

Other: White and Silver embossing powder; aluminum square cut with decorative scissors; chipboard stars; pearl dew drops

Thanks for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Flowers, flowers, flowers!

Salutations! Ever since my daughter's second dance recital I decided to make all her bouquets. Her first recital I bought a silk flower bouquet but then looking at it I decided it was something that I can do. After that I made all her bouquets. She is all grown up but now I make them for my god-daughter.  It was her dance recital this weekend.   Here is her bouquet (a side and front view).

My god-daughter's grandfather died a couple of years ago and they grew sunflowers together and they were very close. Now when I make her a bouquet I make sure to add sunflowers.

The easiest part is picking out the flowers that I want to use. I walk into the store and walk around and around the flowers trying to decide which ones to use. Finally a flower catches my eye and I know that's the one I will start with and it also ends up being the most expensive flower! Thank goodness for coupons! The hardest part is putting the bouquet together. I never usually like the first one and have to take it apart and try it again. It's like making a card, you know when it's right. It goes the same way for anything I make.

I hope you like my bouquet! It was fun to make.

Thanks for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Just Add Ink - Black and White Challenge

Salutations!  While reading my favorite blogs I found another challenge blog called Just Add Ink. The current challenge is to make a card in just black and white.

Here is my card.

Here is a close up of the flower.

The flower is made from zipper ribbon.  I cut ten 2.5" pieces of ribbon and folded them in half to form the flower. It was really easy.

Supplies:

Paper:  White cardstock; Coredinations Whitewash cardstock

Stamp: Heartfelt Creations Inspire Me Sentiments

Template: The Crafters Workshop - Cosmic Bubbles

Ink: Distress Ink in Black Soot

Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug Polka Dots

Other: Zipper Ribbon, small white tag,

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

SUNSETS!

Salutations!  When I was in Chicago last month there were a couple of beautiful sunsets. These were taken through the glass windows of the apartment we rented so they aren't the best. The colors are beautiful. 

The color of the sunset was so beautiful with pinks and blues that it changed the color of these buildings. 

It's amazing when you take the time to sit and relax nature gives you such a show!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Playing with canvas again!

Salutations! I grabbed a large cup of tea and headed into my craft room and decided to use scrap paper for my project.  I have a small basket next to my table where I throw all the scraps in. It’s amazing how much I accumulate in a short time.  I realized that if I buy the 6”x6” paper I don’t have that many scraps to keep but it’s so hard to pass up some of the patterned paper.  Yes, I bought more paper plus a Tim Holtz Alterations die called Townscape that was on sale. Since I hadn’t used it yet and decided the houses would be perfect on the canvas.

I think it came out cute. I love the paper scraps across the top of the canvas.  The flowers are quite large compared to the houses but I think they make it fun.

How Did She Do That? Townscape Canvas

First I added book paper and green patterned paper to the canvas with mod podge.  You really can’t see the book paper because I changed my mind and used more acrylic paint for the sky. I added green acrylic paint to the painted paper to tone it down a little and blue paint for the sky.  I then added warm white paint for clouds.  The houses were made from grunge paper with the townscape die and colored them with spray inks. Setting them aside to dry I used stamps to add the stems for the flowers.  The flowers were cut out from scrap paper and attached to the canvas with mod podge.  I stamped the words and the bird and doodled here and there.  The last thing I did was add the houses and then covered the entire canvas with mod podge to seal it.

Supplies:

4”x4” stretched canvas

Mod Podge

Paper Scraps

Old book papers

Grunge paper

Tim Holtz Alterations On the Edge Die – Townscape

Acrylic paints

Stamps: Inkadinkado and The Paper Company

Inkadinkado Spray Inks: sunny yellow, lilac, raspberry, royal blue

Archival Ink – Jet Black



THANKS SO MUCH FOR STOPPING BY.

GO CREATE AND BE EXTRAORDINARY!

MOJO MONDAY #194

Salutations! On the Mojo Monday blog they have a great card sketch.  It’s easy and with all the scraps of paper I keep I can make quite a few cards.

Isn't it a great sketch?

How Did She Do That? Mojo194

Made card out of brown cardstock; cream cardstock I attached four different strips of Lost & Found papers and rounded ends along with one brown strip of paper across the four strips. With frayed burlap ink and circles template I added the pattern at the bottom. With grungepaper I made the flower and used fired brick to color it in.  I used black ink and stamp to add design to flowers then added the brad for the center.   Attached it all to the card.

Supplies:

Cardstock: green, brown, cream

Patterned Paper: Tim Holtz Lost & Found Paper Stash

Other Paper:  Grungepaper

Stamp: Stampers Anonymous Collage (P2-636)

Inks:  Distress Ink in fired brick and frayed burlap; jet black archival ink

Accessories: Antique brad from Stampin Up; The Crafters Workshop circles template; red plaid ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Be Extraordinary!

Spring In Chicago!

Salutations!  When we were in Chicago for my daughter's college graduation, we took family members for a tour of Chicago and I took these photographs of the spring flowers. The one thing I can say about Chicago is that it's clean and in the spring and summer there are flowers every where! Even in the fall and winter there is some form of decorations. 

The white rose was my daughter's a gift from a friend. I just added it because I like the shot!

I haven't posted any photographs in a while and had quite a few from Chicago that I wanted to post.  I will have more in a later post.  I have some great shots of sunsets, city nights and few others.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Go Create and Extraordinary!