Altered Cigar Box with G45 paper

ok now you get to see the cigar box I altered for a swap with the same online group ...

I call it "The Artist Box"

I did lots of gold leafing on this project which I haven't done in years, using gold leaf scraps from many colors ... it helped tie all the different hardware I used together nicely

Dress Forms

The online group I am in had an Altered Dress Form swap and this is the one I did ...

This photo is of the other 3 I did and the one on the left is the one I received in the swap ...

The tall one is mine, the one with fairy wings is for my daughter and the one with the big flag is for my daughter-in-law,

they may not get theirs till the end of July ... I am taking them to an Art Retreat for decoration ;-) 

Memorial Day Remembrance

“We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance ... Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.” 

THANK YOU to so many ...

I hope you understand what so many have given us to stay free and have the best living conditions in the world ..... thank you each and every soldier from the time they fought the British to the time they are NOW fighting the radicals of the world ...

please click on the link to remember

Just A Common Soldier

Happy Mother's Day to one and all !!!

Wishing all of you a wonderful Mother's Day and hoping you are able to share it with loved ones !!!

Last of the Christmas cards

These are for our grands ...

Just a few more Christmas Cards

these are embossing folders and die cuts I haven't played with or not in a year ..... I also drug out my Pearl X to do the stencil background on one of them .... was fun to use those again

More Christmas Cards

Ok I did some Graphic 45 paper and images form this years collection ... these are quick and easy

Working on Christmas Cards

these are some of the ones I am doing ... somethings are scraps and something are new ... I like using what I have laying around on my work table when I get into my Holiday stuff and deciding on what different things I can do with them .... oops the gold embossed ornaments and the winter white pearl embossed ornament are new thing not scraps ... sorry I thought I had only the scrap cards in this bunch ...

Thank ALL of you

for keeping us safe in the past, present and future ... we owe each of you a huge debt of gratitude and respect

Well it's almost Halloween

so I had to make the grandkids some Halloween cards ....

Starting Christmas Cards

it's been very difficult for me to get started on my cards this year but here are a few and maybe I now that I have started I can keep it going .....

Oriental Theme Cards

I did these for a small swap I am doing this month ... it was harder than I thought it would be to work in the Oriental theme again ... wish the embossing I did on the black showed up better .....

NEVER forget 9-11

from the ashes of disaster comes a memorial that should never be forgotten by anyone especially the American people ... we live in a land that has seldom been touched by the horrors of such tragedy, if we wish to keep it that way we need to be very diligent

Yep I know it's August BUT

I have done some Halloween tags for an online swap and since it' been a while since I have posted anything I thought I would put these out there ...... each one is just a little different, I did use some Tim Holtz metal tape to do the numbers, first I embossed the tape with the Bingo card then I used alcohol ink to add some color and let that dry then cut them apart to use just as numbers ... I just love these images they are whimsical and yet appropriate for Halloween Spooky too ...

Forest - Woodland Book

Ok this is in the style of Nina Bagley from years ago ... I have always loved this style but only not got around to making my book ... hopefully you can click on the photo to enlarge them if you wish ...

I was going to make wired-beaded connections for all of the book but the arthritis in my hands wouldn't let me so I did a big mix or styles 

this it the front all of the pages/book covers I used are different sizes and I bound the very small book to the larger one with chamois and elastic band to the door knob

the brass butterflies and fairies and fairy house in the trunk of the tree is what I love about these pages, there is a butterfly wing in the little glass case under the sitting fairy

these pages are all about the deer that live in the forest, on the left side I used a transparency that I heated the edges to make it curl and give it more dimension 

these are more about the forest leaves, the page with the FOREST letters is actually an envelope pocket, and the leaves with copper butterflies I made from clear acrylic and leaf tapestry is also a pocket page with the tags of a fairy and mountain scene and Mr. Audubon that were made by friends in a tag exchange 

these are the last pages and devoted to the forest/woodlands in general and I made a earth stick that is wired to the side of the last page, there are beads and word drops also (they are made by using dictionary pages or music pages with wire and diamond glaze or crystal lacquer) 

Gesso-Vaseline Resist Technique

ok to start with do all of your coloring and stamping prior to the Vaseline and Gesso ... I used an Archival Pink Ink and Distressed Blue Ink ... be sure to stamp your image in Permenate Ink ... after all is dry take your paint brush or finger and apply Vaseline where you want the image to show thru, be sure to apply a heavy amount ... now brush your Gesso over all of it ... let the Gesso dry then use a paper towel to wipe the areas where the Vaseline was, do this till all areas are free of Vaseline .... oh when all was done I took the same inks and did a couple of swipes over the Gesso area, just because ...

#7 of AB RR

This is the last in the RR this session ... the theme is Butterflies and Birds, it was fun working with this theme since they are two of my favorite subjects ...

Happy 4th of July

hope everyone has fun and also be safe .....

A few more cards ...

I was messing around with some scraps and then decided to make cards out of the good ones ... 

this was just playing with re-inkers and alcohol inks and washi tape

this was using the same stamp and alcohol inks and oil pastels and water color brushes

the black one is clear embossing powder with background stamp then rubbing ink on it and rubbing it off , then the yellow one is color pencil and pop up partial images and the beige one is die cut with velum sandwiched in between cardstock to create a window

these are just using up left over scraps from a previous project ...