Kickstart Your Art Day 5

Still hanging in there with the AJ challenges.  This is the day I most worried about 'cause were going to dinner and concert tonight in San Jose so it's an abbreviated "work day" for me.  Gonna TRY and be short and sweet, but don't hold your breath.  LOL  Perfect prompt for me today: Scrap Backgrounds with a great tut from Susan available HERE.  One of the reasons I freak about art journaling is the thought of messing up a page.  I HATE the thought of having some crap page in my journal, but am too cheap to rip the sucker out.  This was the ANSWER (besides painting over it, of course, but waiting for paint to dry is like well, waiting for paint to dry.) and a particularly freeing thought for me (in case you missed that huge "FREE" on my page).  And scraps?  My room is literally covered in scraps so, in a way, I'm multi-tasking, cleaning up (a tad) while I'm creating.  WooHoo!  Had a little discussion about being free like a butterfly yesterday so the inspiration was set.  Cut through one of the scrap pieces with my Spellbinders Wonderful Wings Grand Shapabilites set to show yet another scrap underneath and topped it with the fancy one, attaching the body only so the wings would be FREE.  Kept a color scheme going here with scraps mostly from K&Co (I NEVER throw these out).  Defined the cut and torn pieces with a bit of doodling and did a bit of stamping as well.

Here's the page I covered over.  Look familiar?  It was my first attempt at the 3 primary drips from Day 1 and this mess nearly discouraged me from participating at all.  I had the 3 sprays ready to go and the first 2 went ok.  But the 3rd blue spray was a bit clogged and gave that piddly start.  Thought I'd just spray again but picked up the red instead of the blue and after uttering the appropriate amount of obcenities, I decided to turn the page and start over.  This page still bugged the shit out of me, though.  BUT IT'S GONE NOW!  YEA!

Finally, here's a close up of the quote I stamped directly on the page.  Thought it was also appropo for the challenge.  So I'll leave you with that...gotta run!

Dilly Beans Challenge- Shaped Cards

There's a new challenge at Dilly Beans: Shaped Cards.  No squares or rectangles, ya hear?  Megan also has a fabulous assortment of adorable new digi gals at the Dilly Beans Shop and I've used one of my faves, #592 Aidynn's Winter Hat Framed. EEEK!  Isn't her hat the cutest?  I'm sort of embarrased not too have used my Cricut here, but I've had sort of a block lately,after years and years of doing elaborate shaped cards.  Instead I pulled out my Nesties Grands and my cool Stampin' Up Festive Flurry stamp and die cut set and went to town.  That beautiful jewel is Stampin' Up, too.  The wire ribbon is from my stash and I'll tell you a little tip if you want to use ribbon for a sentiment as I did here.  Tape your ribbon to a strip of card stock before cutting the ends to length and it will be easier to cut, you'll avoid fraying, and it will be easier to adhere with tape or foam to whatever project you choose.

We've had an unseasonably warm and dry Winter here in CA, but I know many of you have been bombarded by snow and frigid temps.  That was my inspiration this week and I even finished the inside of my card, just for you.  HUGS!

Oh, and one last thing.  Be sure to stop by the Challenge Blog to see some of the newest Dilly Beans in action...sooo stinkin' CUTE!!!!!  And if you act fast (like I mean TODAY!) you can get them 2 for one.  Hurry!  Don't miss it!

I'm also entering this in the Crafting by Designs Think Warms Thoughts Challenge, Creative Moments Anything Goes, Add Some Sparkle, Digi Stamps 4 Joy Add REAL Ribbon, TTRCD ATG Jan 27th-Feb 4th, Die Cuttin' Divas Winter Fun and The Sisterhood of Crafters Winter's Snowflakes, Stampin' with the Dragon Winter Blues and the Creatalicious Turquoise Winter Challenge.

Day 4!

I'm pretty pleased that I've managed to hang in there with Kickstart Your Art.  So far the prompts haven't been too intimidating and I'm having fun and learning a bunch from the talented DT on the Smeared and Smudged Forum as well as the participants in the challenges.  Today's prompt is GROWTH.  I immediately I thought of my garden and my fave flowers.  I've been dying to color some more of my Aurora Wings digis, drawn by the fabulous Mitzi Sato-Wiuff, and chose 3 of her Sprites that happen to grow in abundance in my backyard.  I started with Dylusions sprays in the colors of the flowers I chose.  Then, getting brave, I used a Dyan Reaveley vine stencil and acrylic paint. (GO ME!) Once dry, I doodled and shaded the leaves.

My first little guy is Morning Glory Sprite.  Have to say I didn't plant morning glories.  They have invaded my yard through the fence and over my neighbor's trellis.  The cheeky little things sort of take over.  Still love 'em, though.

Next is probably my favorite flower.  This is Hydrangea Sprite.  We have 10 bushes, all kinds and colors.  Can't wait 'til they start blooming again.

And finally, here's Tiger Lily Sprite.  I got a bit creative with her.  About 4 years ago, my hubby sent for a whole collection of tree lilies.  They multiply on their own and grow larger with more blossoms each year.  Our oldest ones grow taller than I am and have as many as 20 blooms on one stem.  I decided this sprite needed a stalk so I did some creative cropping and fussy cutting of the Easter Lily digi and added the Sprite.  She was printed again and I used the bottom of her dress for the other bloom after drawing in the stamens.  All digis were colored with my Copics.  The little fence at the bottom is a Martha Stewart punch.  After all that work I didn't want to risk ruining my page with my own crappy journaling, so I went the computer route.  Hope you like.

Kickstart Your Art Day 3

Today's Prompt for the week long Kickstart Your Art Challenge Event at Smeared and Smudged is to use FOUND OBJECTS to make your background.

LauraB did a fab tut using sprays and buttons HERE.  She also did a background with flowers as masks, which inspired me to try that along with my fave grapefruit bag and some butcher's twine.  Here it is all set up before spraying with my Dylusions spray.

A trick I learned from watching a YouTube video by Dyan Reaveley herself, was to have a roll of paper towels handy to roll over your page to absorb the excess spray.  No long waits for drying time and you get the added bonus of a cool pattern on your paper towel that you may be able to use later.

Here's the page after removing the objects.  Just what I'd hoped for.

After outlining my masked areas with a pen and a few Copics, I decided I wanted some more color, but timid me couldn't bring herself to spray again and possibly muddy up the works so I tried adding color with bubble wrap and Distress Ink.  The effect was too subtle so I grabbed some really, really REALLY "found objects" that were scattered all over a lawn I passed on my morning walk.  I still have no idea what they are, but thought I could use them for SOMETHING.  Woohoo!  Don't they make cute little circles?

So I was going for a garden theme with a flower in the corner, tendril vines and rain drops coming down.  (BOY, do we NEED some rain and the piddly drizzle in the forecast isn't helping much.)  Used flower petals I'd received in a prize package from QTR that I rimmed with Stickles and what my hubby calls my "creepy baby face" stamp.  He HATES this stamp.  I happen to love it, but it is kinda creepy that no matter how hard I try, it won't photograph clearly.

Needed to define my raindrops better and my crude outlining didn't exactly help so I scrounged around and came up with Perfect Pearls for the centers.  The journaling is song all song lyrics.  While I was working, "I Need You" by America  (like the flowers need the rain...like Winter needs the Spring...etc) kept running through my mind.  I Googled it to see if there were more lyrics I could use around the page to finish it off and decided that was a really annoyingly whiny song.  There was one by LeAnn Rimes though, that is really beautiful, so I used that refrain and leave you with that.  For some reason, the video got cut off when I embedded it but you can still listen, if you like.  Hmmm...another page that turned out to be about love...go figure.

 

 

I'm also hoping that the use of twine for my mask qualifies me to enter this in the Simon Says Wednesday Use String or Twine Challenge.

Day 2 Prompt: Hearts

Tuesday's prompt for the Kickstart your Art Challenge is hearts.  Yea!  Another easy one.  I wanted to do a bit more with the background (HA!  none too difficult since I did NOTHING yesterday) so I took a produce bag (grapefruit) and used it as a stencil and pounced Distress ink in Barn Door and Black soot over my page and then removed the mask and did some blending around the edges.  Wanted to use some stamps this time and printed out Smeared Ink's Holding heart from the Bloody Valentine set, colored it with Copics, fussy cut it and said "Now what?"  My original thought was just this stamps with the sentiment "Love is fragile, handle with care", but I'd printed it too small for what I'd envisioned.

I poked around until I came across my Dependable Dotty set by Dyan Reavely and the "Always" caught my eye.  "Love is fragile, ALWAYS handle with care".  Cool!  It even sort of looked like a bandage on her head to me (until I realized it's a bird, what's up with that?)  Poor Dotty now looks like she has "MAN HANDS" but she's offering her heart which is FULL of love, and trusting that it will be cared for and cherished forever.

The wings I've added are from the Cuttlebug Emboss Plus Vintage Collage set and I've stickled them for some bling.  Dotty's heart, black tipped French mani, (I'm sooo gonna do that when I get a chance) as well as her lips, eye and boots are coated with Glossy Accents.  One side says "I'm still all aflutter".

 The other, "your love gives me wings".  Top corner now reads "Always and Forever".  She's in it for the long haul.

Sorry for this ultra long post.  Got a bit carried away with this one.  So my point?  When you find your ONE, never ever let him go.  Offer yourself fully and completely and as long as you both remember to love, respect and cherish each other, your life will be filled with joy and there will be nothing you can't do...together. 

I'm also adding this to the Mini Spotlight Challenge with Diana Fernandez at Anything but a Card.

Day 1 of Kickstart Your Art

One of my goals this year is to get involved in new arty adventures, to spread my wings, so to speak.  To say this is tough for me is the understatement of the year, but I'm taking baby steps.  Today is the first day of the "Kickstart Your Art" event at Smeared and Smudged, a week long set of art journaling challenges.  I'll be the first to admit, I suck at art journaling, so even the consideration of joining in gives me heart palpitations.  Yes, I belong to the Art Journal Every Day Group on the Smeared and Smudged Forum, but I'm a lurker and admirer, not a participant.  So, in case you can't read between the lines, I generally avoid things I'm not good at because I'm terrified of failure.  Still, no harm in looking. The first prompt came this morning at 9:00am PST and we have 24 hours to complete it.  There are daily prizes, as well as a fab Grand Prize for one lucky soul who manages all the challenges.  Can't promise that, but today's prompt of 3 primary color drips seemed pretty managable.  Titbelsoeur has a fab tut on the Forum using paint, but I went the Dylusions Spray route.  Now what?  Well, the drips to me sort of looked like tears.  What if our feelings colored our tears?  Would people see us more clearly, understand us better?  Those were my thoughts, anyway.  The rest is my own feeble attempt at doodling and the dreaded journaling. Phew!  Day One down!  I need a glass of wine.

Ike's World Anything Goes

Here's a little something for the Ike's World Anything Goes Challenge.  As soon as I saw this hilarious Ike's Art Kat Phish image (keep scrolling, you'll find it) I knew exactly what I was gonna do with it.  You all know I love me some kitties (and Ike does fab ones, both cute and sort of creepy) but I also consider pizza a separate food group and could probably eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner, 7 days a week.  My fave is Deep Dish Chicago Style with pepperoni and sausage, but if I ate it as often as I like, I'd weigh 1000 lbs.  Generally, I order thin crust veggie or some other travesty and then just drool over my husband's thick, juicy meat lover's pie. I just want a taste, or bite of that rich, thick crust, or perhaps one slice, if I'm feeling particulary decadent.  But NOOOO!!!!  Hubby doesn't want to share.  When he brings it home, he immediately opens a tin of anchovies and not only lays them all over every slice, but even pours the 'chovy adulterated olive oil ALL OVER THE WHOLE thing so that no morsel escapes that foul fishy taste.  BLAH!!!!!  So there ya go, my inspiration.  The sentiment is computer generated and I've colored the kitty with Copics to look like my Goliath.  I dare say even HE thinks Daddy goes overboard with the anchovies.  (BTW, the pizza slice was a free coloring digi I found on the net.)  And speaking of Freebies, Ike offers a Freebie image to use for each challenge so there's no excuse not to play along.  And it just happens to be a (really cute) kitty this time, but you have to hurry, 'cause the challenge ends early tomorrow.

I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Monday A is for... (anchovy) Challenge and the Simons Says Wednesday Let's Have a Laugh Challenge.

Freebie Friday at Bugaboo

Well it's the final day of Bugaboo's 4th Birthday Celebration and I'm so excited.  I've done ALL of the challenges.  Yea, Me!  Today is Freebie Friday with a theme.  You must use increments of 4 of something on your card.  I've got an early hair appt this morning and loads of errands to run today so I wasn't sure I could manage this last one.  I tried to wait to get the Freebie (got up at 4:30 am) but it's still not posted.  Fortunately the use of the Freebie is not required so I had a backup plan.  I've used Bugaboo's JJ Tequila and Shoes-Drinks Well With Others  (no wonder I love her!  And besides, she kinda looks like me.  LOL)  Right off the bat, JJ had 4 martini glasses to which I've added 4 gems for cherries as well as gems in the 4 corners.  She's colored with Copics and I've used Glossy Accents on her eye and martini glasses.  The sentiment is computer generated and inside it's gonna say "Surround yourself with those you LOVE!"  The black polka Dot card stock is packaging from a large Say it in Crystals package. (Way to recycle!)  I've had a ball this week partying at Catch the Bug.  Happiest of Birthdays, Bugaboo!

Bugaboo Bingo and Kidding Around

Well, I've finally managed the very first challenge (Bingo) for the Bugaboo 4th Birthday Bash.  Don't know why this one was so tough to finish.

 I've used the diagonal from bottom left, Bugaboo Image, Free, and Ribbon with the adorable Bugaboo image from Kidz-Girl and Cat.  She's colored with Copics and cut with Nesties.  Sentiment is computer generated.

The paw print ribbon follows the Bingo diagonal as well, with a bow with a kitty face brad in the center.  Inside it says (or will, when I finish it) "Purr-fect".

Next up is today's Bugaboo Just Kidding Around challenge, meaning a Birthday project for a child.  What's better for a kiddle than something from Dr. Suess?  This Birthday card uses the fabulous Bugaboo Cat in Hat-Youer Than You Digi.  I've colored it with copics, and fussy cut the image.  the background is embossed with the Cuttlebug Happy Birthday Folder and the die cut candle (shich I've extended and striped with Copics as well, is from the Cuttlebug Birthday Candles combo set.

Too make it all the more fun I've popped the digi on an Action Wobble.  Woohoo!  Only one more challenge to go and I've done them ALL! 

Bugaboo Bling and...

Still catching up on projects for Bugaboo Stamps 4th Birthday Celebration.  My goal is to complete the 7 challenges for the week.  Fortunately I have 'til the morning of the 25th to finish all the challenges.  This one is for the Tuesday Bling it Up Challenge.  Here I'm using Bugaboo's Friends don't Let Friends Wine Alone.  Do these gals know how to party?!!  You betcha!  I've added bling to the earrings, fingers, handbag and opposing corners as well as underlining "Birthday Girl" with adhesive gems.  There's Glossy Accents on the eye and wine glasses as well as the bottles.  It's matted in pink foil card stock, then purple matte and the green, pink and purple color scheme is for the Outlawz Tuesday Color Challenge with a Birthday Twist.

 

 This second card is for Bugaboo's Humor Me Wednesday Funny Birthday Card Challenge using one of their creepier images.  It's the Scene it-Mummy Scene.  Cool, eh?  You never know what you'll find at Bugaboo once you go poking around.  LOL  I've colored it monochromatically with Copics and Distress Inks to make it suitable for a man.  The sentiment is computer generated and although it took the hubs awhile to get it, I think it's fairly humorous.  Hope the folks at Simon Says Wednesday do too, since I'm also entering it their Let's Have a Laugh challenge, as well as Left of Center (using the LOC theme since I can't think of a scary mummy story at the mo), and the Crafter's Cafe Ha Ha Ha Very Funny Challenge.

Bugaboo 4th Birthday Bash

I'm celebrating along with Bugaboo Stamps at their 4th Birthday Party Bash.  It started with a BLOG HOP and there is a different challenge each day.  Loads of fun prizes and their stamps are such a hoot!  Fortunately, you have the whole week to participate and don't necessarily have to do the challenges in order, because I keep printing and coloring for Day 1 and then decide it would work better for another of the challenges.

 

So here is Day 2 (the dreaded, LOL) Sketch Challenge,

and my take on it.

 

  I've used the adorable Holy Cow.  Pretty literal but I love how it came out.

 

And believe it or not, I actually added a sentiment inside thanks to Bugaboo's Guest Designer Dee. 

 

And here the is Day 3 color inspiration pic. 

 

And my take using Girlz Shop,

 

and since I was on a roll, I finished the inside on this one, as well.  Yea me!

I'm having such a ball with this.  Just hope I can keep it up.

Macabre Monday Fresh Blood

WooHoo!  The Minions of Haunted Design House have crawled back out of the dungeon for another year of creepy goodness, and in honor of our newest victim (I mean Minion Sister Monique) our challenge is FRESH BLOOD.  The interpretation is a bit up for grabs.  You may choose to do something totally new to you, or go the more literal vampish route as I did.

I chose to alter a bottle which started out like this. (Conveniently, I had to empty the entire contents before continuing (hic!).  That writing proved to be pretty stubborn and after trying all kinds of solutions that didn't make a dent, I resorted to scraping it off with the blade of a scissors.  Amazing it didn't even begin to scratch the surface of that glaze, either.

 Now here's where I wish I'd taken progress pix because I went through a bit of a rigamorole with the next step.  I've been wanting to try image transfer as in Minion Bro Mark's Tut HERE.  I used the Nosferatu Digi Image by Rick St. Dennis (which unfortunately seems to be NLA) flipped and printed it onto regular copy paper.  I cut the image out with a Nestie's Oval and used Matte Medium on both the bottle surface and the printed side of the image, adhered it to the bottle, smoothing out all bubbles, etc. and let it dry over night. (Sorry about the pic.  Couldn't seem to get one without glare no matter where I took it)  when I went to wet the paper and began to rub the top layer away, I noticed that it ALL rubbed easily off the bottle and I was afraid I would lose my image totally so I took a craft knife and cut down to the bottle through the paper and removed everything but the printed image.  Then I VERY CAREFULLY began to rub what was left over the image.  As I did this in stages, I'd blot the image periodically and could see the white haze that was left over the image from the paper.  I'd wet it again and start to rub, but noticed the haze disappeared when it was wet.  HHHmm....  When it dried again with the haze I was just about to rub it all off and start over when I decided to paint over the image with Gloss ModPodge and the haze disappeared.  Mark mentioned this in his tut but I sort of glossed over that point.  would have saved me a panic attack had I read more carefully.  LOL  A few more coats and I was good to go.  Fortunately I had stickers for the rest of the bottle and, with a little help from a friend (thanks, Sweetie!), came up with a name for this special vintage.

The vintage label was cut with my Bat Nesties (Thanks, Glo!) out of Fun Foam and adhered at the wings tips around the bottle neck.  Not pleased with the etching of the date but nothing wanted to write on that foam and all the stickers and number dies I had were too big, so it is what it is.  The blood drips were done with a hot glue gun and painted with nail poish and the bloody gums are dimensional glue dots stuffed in the open part of the plastic vamp teeth and also glazed with polish.  It felt so good getting my creep on again.  Hope you come join us again in the dungeon.  Our challenges will run for 2 weeks like last year and just a reminder that this is WEEK 2.  Please be sure to check out the fab Offering from WEEK 1 HERE (if you haven't already) as well.

I'm also entering this in the Left of Center Scary Stories (Diary of a Vampire) challenge and Simon Says Monday "A" is for...Altered (Bottle).

Dilly Beans Mardi Gras Colors

There's a new Challenge at Dilly Beans, use Mardi Gras Colors.  That means we want to see Green, Purple and Gold.  You may use any theme, but I love the festive spirit of Mardi Gras so I went quite literally with the adorable #484 Adriana's Mask Framed.  I colored Adriana with Copics and a metallic gold Sharpie for her mask.  I found some green specialty paper from M's that I've had FOREVER and thought it look a bit like fireworks but couldn't manage to make the frame work with it, so I fussy cut her and mounted her on a metallic doily.  I jazzed up her mask with some feathers and glittery metallic bow and cut the sentiment with my Cuttlebug.  Looks like she's ready to celebrate BIG TIME.  My teamies have come up with loads of inspiration so stop by the Challenge Blog and take a peek.  And did you know that you now have 2 weeks to join our challenge as we've gone bi-weekly for the new year?  Hope to see you there.

I'm also entering this in the Addicted to Stamps and More Holidays Challenge, 613 Avenue Create ATG/Party/ Celebrate, the Crafter's Cafe Bling it On, Simon Says Monday ATG, the STAMPlorations Stamps and Feathers Challenge and Digi Stamps4Joy Glitter and Sparkle.

Lacy Sunshine Valentina

Here's my card for the contest going on on the Lacy Sunshine Facebook Fan page.  Fans could email Heather for the adorable Valentina (scroll down for yours) and create a card with her. I think she's the sweetest and she was so much fun to color with my Copics, that I had to play along.   I remembered a candy conversation heart digi from ADFD and enlarged it for a background.  Changed the colors of the lettering and colored them with Copics as well.  The background mat is embossed with tiny conversation hearts too.

Just look at her sweet face.  She's fussy cut and popped and the little heart she's holding is a puffy sticker from M's I got a couple of years back.

The background hearts were fussy cut as well and I've added hugs and kisses with colored and heart shaped Alpha Beads.  Trying hard to get back into the swing of crafting.

I'm also entering this in the Lacy Sunshine ATG Challenge, 613 Avenue Create ATG/ Party/Celebrate Challenge, Simon Says Monday ATG, Suzy B's Bloomin' Cute and Sweet Challenge, DLART Thankful Thursday Hearts Challenge, Make it Monday #174 and TTRCD Jan14-20th ATG.

New Beginnings

Don't faint, I'm actually posting.  Sorry about the void, I usually love the week between Christmas and New Year's because I can finally relax and play with crafty goodies and look forward to hubbie's birthday on New Year's Eve.  Not this year.  My mother-in-law died, totally unexpectedly on Christmas Day.  She would have been 92 on December 29th, but aside from some osteoporosis, she was perfectly healthy with no medical conditions or need for prescription medication.  She still mowed the lawn and planted a garden, drove a car, and lived alone (although her youngest son and family lived next door).   She had recently gotten a new computer and my hubby had been on the phone with her daily for about a week, trying to iron out a few glitches. She had fallen in the night, thinking perhaps she had passed out, and woke up with back pain, presumably from the fall.  The took some OTC medication but it persisted and she called next door to see if they thought it was too soon to take some more.  That was 11:00 am.  Jonathon went out to shovel his driveway and hers a bit later and went to check on her about 1:00pm.  She had passed away peacefully in her chair.  The ME said it was probably a heart attack and that back pain is a symptom in women.  The whole family was, and still is, in shock.  We assumed she would live to be 100.  She was a missionary and minister's wife, a loving mother of 6 children, 15 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren, a strong, determined, hard working Christian woman of passionate faith and will be missed by family, friends and the church she served her entire life.

We're still recovering here at home from the trip to Michigan.  David has been sick and I've not been able to craft.  I finally looked at a few of the challenges and decided that the Outlawz CAS New Beginnings challenge would be one I could handle.  I chose the adorable Sleepy Bunny Elf from Aurora Wings.  Mitzi's fabulous fantasy art is beyond gorgeous and this little guy was an easy one to color with my Copics.  I'm also taking baby steps on shoveling out my craft room and was organizing my Spellbinders dies when I found this ancient baby border.  I trimmed it to fit this A2 card and added a Cuttlebug sentiment and embossed background.

I'm also adding this to the Creative Romance Something New Challenge, Suzy B's Bloomin' Cute and Sweet Challenge, Scrapping4fun Baby Challenge, Corrosive Challenge New Beginnings and Moving Along With The Times New Beginnings.