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.