What I am working on right now.

Bottles! Halloween and other. I have a huge assortment of newer and vintage bottles to play with. I keep saying I am not going to buy any more vintage bottles, but then we go to a flea market or yard sale and these gorgeous vintage pieces steal my heart. They usually aren't too expensive and they don't take up much room. Let's just say that they occupy as many rooms in my house as my art supplies. So, yea, every room. Anyway, this bottle is a newer one that has been in my stash forever. Just sitting in my tub waiting for me to pull them out and decorate them. It is painted black and crackled, but you can still see through it in the crackle areas. I used some little images form collage sheets. I put one on each side for this bottle. I also used some tarnished vintage silver glitter on the corners of the bottle.

This picture is a little closer and you can see it a bit clearer. I made the bow from orange satin ribbon on my Bow-it-all2 and put it over this really pretty orange elastic doubble ruffle ribbon that I wrapped around the neck. 

 This is a nice vintage bottle that I used typewriter beads to spell the word boo and used copper spacers in between. I strung it on Pumpkin Pie hemp cord from Really Reasonable Ribbon. I got this wonderful cord in 4 different colors and all of them coordinate nicely so I may just add some more to it later.

I will leave you with this lovely blurry image of my messy desk full of ribbons die cuts bottles and other ephemera. I think I have it all together. Now I just need to clean off a spot to work ;P

Ombre' Nails

 I decided to try something new on my nails. I have pinned so many beautiful nail designs that people have been doing that I decided to give something other than just painting my nails a try. After watching a few videos, I realized that many of the designs that I loved are deceptively simple. The ombre' takes very little time and a sponge. Yea, a sponge! I used a piece of a round sponge that I had cut up and used previously for inking. You just need a small piece. Dab some polish on the sponge and spounce it over the tip of your nail after you put down your base coat. I used gold as my base color and rose brown and a darker rose brown for fall. After the first color dried I did the last color. I think they came out pretty great and will definitely do this again. I saw a video later that did both of the colors at one time using a cosmetic sponge and putting the 2 tip colors next to each other and just tapping them both on at the same time. I also noticed them using a special dotting tool. It looked an awful lot like a paper embossing tool so I did that on a couple of nails. It worked perfectly. I have just about every size of those imaginable so I think I am good. They also have nail stamping. The designs come on a small metal disc that looks like a cd. They do what looks to me like adding embossing paste, only with nail polish. swiping a thin layer over the stencil and then picking up the design with a sponge tool and stamp it onto the nail. I think I can handle that. I also saw something that looks amazingly like making an acrylic skin by allowing the stamped design and a layer of clear polish dry on the sponge or something. Then peeling it off and attaching it to the nail with clear polish and a top coat. Had I known before that so much of this was doing things I already know how to do, with so many of the supplies I already have, I'd have had much cuter nails for a long time now. I am so sheltered. LOL I haven't had acrylic nails in forever. For one I can't stand the smell in the nail salons. I am not talented enough to do them myself and they really aren't good for your nails. My own nails aren't bad at all. They grow pretty fast and If I don't let them get too horribly long, they don't break as often. So at any rate, I haven't been in places that use these things to see them in action to learn these tricks. Ah, but thanks to theinterwebs I too can do stuff I never before imagined.

Time to post some new cards

My friends birthday was earlier this month and both of us love cats so I found this stamp as a digi available at Motivet. It is only available now as a digital stamp. http://www.motivet.com/webshop/  I had seen this on a card someone had made and they couldn't tell me where it was from. I did a web search and still couldn't find the maker of it. I had all but given up and spotted this cutie on someone elses blog and they had the company name, so I rushed there only to see a sad posting that they were no longer doing stamp shows or selling rubber. Gasp! Thankfully she does have digi's available and they are so cute. I bought a whole bunch. Many of them look like vintage children's birthday card images or the cuties you gave your friends on Valentines day. I am thrilled to have them even though I do prefer my rubber that I can hold in my hands. So many companies are selling digi's now. I guess it is like my aversion to e-books. They may be convenient and cheap, but there is nothing like a book to hold in your hands. Anyway, enough of that, here is the inside of the card.

I just got these Stampendous stamps, Scraggly Cat and Damask Bats. I used Graphite Brilliance ink to color the Damask Bats background and then embossed it with an unknown embossing powder. The baggie isn't marked so I have no idea who it is from. With the exception of ultra fine clear ep. I haven't purchased any embossing powders in probably 10 years. I have so many and don't use them that often. It isn't that I don't like the way they look. It is just that I am lazy. Anyhow, this ep seems to be a mix of gold and black. I love the way the bow turned out. I have been getting lots of use from my new Bow-It-All2. You can get one at Really Reasonable Ribbon.  I guess I can finally get rid of my little chip board template that I made.

On this card I used my new Owl die from Dreamweaver. DG 751 Nesting owls I won this set of dies during one of their blog hops. It is always a wonderful feeling to be a winner. Get out there and do some blog hops and you could be a winner too(not that I want any competition. LOL) This is the smallest owl from the set of dies.

This is another kit I won from Stampendous. It is the Stack Art Kraftboard Regal Bird Kit- SAK02. I had so much fun with it. I got the set of craft board tags and sayings that came with them on a sheet. You choose which saying that you want to use. It also comes wit die cut sticky paper to adhere it all together. I also received the matching stamp set to use along with a set of their wonderful Stack Art Elements. 

  

I bought this Stampendous stamp set and thought it would be great water colored. It is the Hydrangea Garden set and comes with the large Hydrangea stamp, a single blossom, leaves, a butterfly and a stencil/mask to use.  I am loving these big floral sets that come with the stencil/mask and have purchased several.

Catch up post

This was a card I made for a guys thank you. Both Stamps are from River City Rubber Works.These cards are for a little girls birthday and the stamps is from   Sweet Pea Stamps   and is called Little Blossom by Connie Fong.

This one also has a lovely lattice die from Cheery Lynn.

This card is made with Spellbinders book dies and a beautiful die from Joy Crafts called Lacy Square Frame. I am not sure who made the writing stamps that I used on this one. 

  

I love this Sea Horse Stamp from Taylored Artwork. The bubbles are from Rubbernecker

On the inside of the card I used some lovely stamps from Designs by Ryn. If you click on the picture you should be able to get a better look at them. I used Sea Bubbles set, and Kelp. I got a bunch of her stamps. The shading is wonderful. This die is from Marianne Designs Petra's Ornaments.

Art Nouveau card

This card has a main image in the center from the Art Nouveau Cricut Cart. I really fell in love with this cart and had to have it. The images are so beautiful. The beautiful lattice is from Cheery Lynn Dies and the embossed design on the back is from Spellbinders

  

Play time with new stamps

I have gotten some new stamps from Stampendous and have been playing with them. I love getting to play with new toys. This stamp is called Glance.
I also added a bit of a die from Cheery Lynn called French Lattice small. 

Next stamp is the Moray Dahlia. I had a lot of  fun with this one using old techniques of painting color on the stamp with water based ink markers.

                                                                                                         

 I do love the large flowers that they have been coming out with. They are so much fun to color. I lean towards larger stamps anyway.

 This is the Filly Sketch Stamp that I also did with water dye markers. I also used a die by Spellbinders for the background called A-2 Fancy Ribbon Threader.

This is the Moray Dahlia again with the smallest die from the Spellbinders A-2 Fancy Ribbon Threader and the Petite Monarch from the Gilded 

I just received this Tree Line die from Dreamweaver for leaving a comment on their facebook page! Yipee! I am a lucky girl :) If you go to Dreamweaver blog there are a bunch of great examples of their new dies.  http://dreamweaverstencils.blogspot.com/2014/07/july-challengedreamweaver-stencils-to.html  I cut the die in brown twice and the tree tops twice, cuttingthe tree trunk bits off whyle using the scisors in a jagedy way. I trimmed away the sides of the 2nd tree die and put them behind the first a bit offset. I darkened the edges of the trees because the paper was colored on top and white beneath. I darkened the top of the the upper set of trees right under the leaves and darkened all of the trees behind. I hope that I am making sense. I sense fibro fog screwing with what I want to say, but I really want to get this posted.
I used thin foam tape to separate the trees and for the first layer of leaves, I used 2 different thicknesses of foam dot/tape. I went higher on the outer trees and lower on the center leaves. On the top layer of leaves I cut various parts to make them more dimensional. I only added one layer to the center trees and 2 layers to the outer trees. I backed the whole piece with blue for the sky that I scrumbled on some white colorbox pigment ink.
I cut a frame (Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles) out of the brown paper to put behind these layers and then, after gluing it all together realized that it blended in to much with the trees, so I used a copic marker to make it a different color.
The blue card beneath that is from Marianne Design Creatable Die Anja's Large Oval. I used the cropadile corner chomper on the corners of my layers and my base card. This ended up being quite a large card. 6.50x7" So I had to use a large sheet of card to make it. The sunflower is from an old Spellbinders die. I used the smallest one. the other flowers are all from paper punches. 
 For the little people, I used the brownies from Stamp Camp- http://www.stampcamp.com/brownies.html   I used my fringer to make grass. It is used in quilling but I felt it would make some nice grass. 
I hope you like my card.

The Merry-Go-Round

I know I have been remiss at posting and so now I have my pictures loaded and am marathon posting. LOL I made this right after I did the Santos Cage Doll. This kit is also from Retro Cafe's Art. I painted this with Lumiere Pink Gold from Jaquard. I added some pink sparkly paper from my stash that I haven't found a use for previously. Not much of a scrapbooker here. But I have plenty of papers if I should ever get around to it. I am sure I have more than any scrapbooker in the world. Well, close to it. I tend to hoard the really pretty stuff. http://www.retrocafeart.com/item_5130/3-D-Carousel-Shrine-Kit.htm You can get it without any topper, like I did and buy seperately the exploding box carousel to go on top. It is also available with just the tent top like in the picture below. 

This is what the inside of the exploding box I made looks like inside. The vintage horse papers come with the carousel. I added some colorful fuzzy yarn.

My First Play With Ice Resin

Everyone made it look easy and so I finally got up the nerve to give it a try. I had been hoarding a plunger pack of Ice Resin and had been collecting the jewelry pieces to use. I ended up making the whole plunger full.  I was ok with that because I wanted to use some of it on book pages. So yummy. I was worried about the smell, but I really didn't notice any. I added a variety of  Swarovski crystals and some star glitter that I had. The crystals really didn't show up very well. Maybe I should have waited to add them until later so they would be closer to the top. I will have to look around and see how other people are doing that. Here are some of my pendants. I still need to finish the Eiffel Tower as it is a 2 sided one.

Here are my rings. I wasn't sure how to keep them upright, but I used small binder clips, one on each side. It worked perfectly.

And of course the papers that I coated with the left overs.

 Most of the stuff turned out great with no bubbles in the end except the one black and white ring of the nude. She has bubbles near her bottom so it looks like she is farting under water. ;P

Mother's Day Cards

This is one of my favorite stamps by Magenta that I think is perfect for Mother's Day and new parent cards. I had just gotten in some new dies so I was stoked to get to use these beauties. 

• On the outside I used: Marianne Designs Creatables-  
• Tiny Flower 1
• Petra's Ornaments
•  Petra's Bridge
• Joy Crafts- Lacy Square frame
• Punched leaves and twigs and a paper rose made from the pear punch
• 
  

 On the inside I used Marianne Designs - Winter Birds and Petra's Ornaments.

My Santos Cage Doll

I got this totally awesome 3-d cage doll kit from Retro Cafe' Art  http://www.retrocafeart.com/item_4992/3-D-Articulated-Santos-Cage-Doll-Shrine-Kit--LARGE.htm  It is 16 in. tall and was super fun to do. I ordered so many goodies from them and was bursting with inspiration. It is made from masonite and super easy to put together. They also have different sizes and styles, so there are plenty to choose from if you don't like this size or style. Even though I don't have a whole lot of room for more stuff in my apt., I still got the biggest one. LOL  I am thinking about getting more to play with. I just love this sort of thing. Wish I could afford and get my hands on a real one. I base coated this one with a deep red, let that dry and then put on a thick coat of elmers and painted it over with turquoise blue. Yummy! I started hand sanding off some spots until I thought to myself, "What, are you stupid or something?!? Your gonna make your hands sore and you own 2 Dremels." Right? I know. Stupid. So I grabbed my Dremel with the flex shaft and sanded away on the edges. It was alot easier on the hands and much faster. I used a face from a fashion magazine and some mod podge. The kit comes with the tacks and brads to put it together. I also put a bit of glue to hold the slats on better. I put a cream ribbon around her neck to mimic a high collar. Then I gathered some organza ribbon to add to her collar and sleeves. I painted her crown gold and added some tiny crystals and attached that, and I also painted the heart red and attached that.

 I put a baby necklace doubled around her neck. I think it was my sisters from the 40's. I used a childs Ken bracelet for her belt and added a key. About this time I realized that if I wanted to put something inside, I would need to remove one of the slats. I got it off with very little trouble and decided that I liked the front open.

 I decided that this little white birdcage that was on my shelf would fit perfectly. Back to the Dremel. That made quick work of getting all that paint off. Then I used some hot glue and used some of my birch bark a friend had collected for me, to cover the bottom. I also had some plasticy fern leaves with a bit of moss on them. I added a birds nest from a tiny hand made basket from a mini basket sampler I had purchased from a 2nd hand store. See, I knew I'd use that stuff some day. LOL I got to use up my cute little chickadee on some moss with a carnelian egg.

Almost done now. I dug threw my drawer of already made metal pieces and found the flower and I used a copper tack to hold it in place. I also found a small strip to use on the bottom to cover for the missing slat. That I used the last of the original tacks and 3 of the copper tacks.  I hope you enjoy this project.

Crest toothpaste embeds plastic in our gums

Crest toothpaste embeds plastic in our gums

Spring Flowers

I made this background awhile ago with Dreamweaver stencils. I actually made 2 different ones but never finished them. They were just backgrounds on chip board. Flora and fauna came up as the theme for this month on the Dreamweavers blog and so I decided to finish the one with the vase already on it. This was the other one. LOL I still haven't finished that one. It seems this one was more inspiring at the moment. So I pulled out this stamped background and used the vase stencil to cut it out. I felt it needed some cherry blossoms and set to work. I really like the way it turned out. I hope you do too.