November 10th Weekly Post

 Happy Sunday!

My good news is that my eyelid is slowly but consistantly getting better, which I'm grateful for because it's been a busy news week what with our elections in the USA and I'm still not used to the 1 hour time change. Eighteen days until our Thanksgiving holiday, and then it will be time to address and mail holiday cards and decorate for Christmas. I've barely managed to get Halloween decor up and need to add the Thanksgiving ones. And clean the house as we are hosting dear daughter and son-in-love.

The year just seems to have sped by...again!

😵

This week's theme at SPA is Travel, hosted by Sandie.

I wanted to use Tim Holtz's Cityscape stamps because I've had them forever and never inked them up.

I stamped them on watercolor paper and used my Koi half pan set to do some loose watercoloring.

But then I was at a loss as to how to use them, until I remembered a tag that Tim had done for his Twelve Tags series using 3 images. I looked it up and decided that would work fine. It's the July 2015 tag, if you are interested. I did not follow his tutorial completely at all, but still appreciate the idea as it motivated me to create a 4x6 piece that I really like. The stamped sentiment is from Inkadinkado and the card base was wrapped with a map page of Europe. I used the cityscapes of London, Paris and Rome (which was also the order of our 2004 vacay itenerary). Tim tore his 3 images with a ruler, but I used some deco scissors and then ink-distressed with Frayed Burlap DI.

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I also have an art journal spread to share, made to remember my Eastern Philosophies college class from 1975. 

I began with the pages looking like this.

I'd been playing with a Balzerbits flower stencil and acrylic paints on a gesso'd base.

It sat there like that for years as I hadn't a clue how to transform it.

Then I got to thinking about that class which was a fave of mine and I thought I'd try something Asian.

 

I cleaned up the center of the spread, making it a large circle. Then I began to cover the background with white acrylic and I liked how the dark underneath sort of still shown through.

For the center circle focals, I stamped the Divinity Designs lotus flower and Paper Artsy quotes and heat-embossed them with clear powder. I also die cut the branch and blossoms.

I used my purple Posca to outline the circle and I added a bit more purple inside the circle. Then I colored my stamping and die cutting and adhered the arrangement. I added some diluted pink and purple acrylic to the edges and ran a black Big Artist Brush Pen around the edges, smudging with my finger.

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Here's a birthday card using a tulip stamp and die set I bought last Spring. I'm trying to remember what I used to color them, maybe watercolor markers. The paper is Prima Amelia Rose DP and that's a My Favorite Things stamped sentiment. Sequins to finish.

And another nephew card. I used my last soccer ball die cut and paired it up with a Papertrey Ink hexagon background die cut and a sentiment shadow die cut. The DCWV grass paper was cut with a very old 12x12 QuicKutz border die. I punched the stars.

 

And these are the sketches I used.

👌

That's it for me this time.

Thanks for the visit and have a great week ahead.

XOX

November 3rd Weekly Post

 Happy Sunday!

Hope everyone has had a nice week.

My right eyelid is swollen now. I had the same problem last year with my left one. It eventually cleared up with a prescription steroid cream, but this time I'm using old skool Bactine also and it's helping better, I think.

As is the case with my left foot having much drier skin than my right one, both eyes are oozing due to allergies but the one swollen eyelid is an auotimmune reaction, not pink eye or other infection. WEIRD, huh? With 5 arthritises (aka autoimmune disorder), every day or week brings some little weirdness and I'm learning to try to just remain calm and remember, this too shall pass.

Which kind of ties in with the top quote on this piece.

The theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art is Chandelier, hosted by Cindy.

I've had this Sizzix Sizzlit chandelier die forever and have used it here for maybe the second time.

I printed out some Songbirdy clip art of an open window breeze from the old Mischief Circus days and layered it onto a 4x6 copper TH Kraft-Core Metallic card stock. There was just enough left over of the copper card to cut the chandelier and the mats for the sentiments, which I stamped with Versamark on deli paper and heat-embossed with copper embossing powder before adhering to the copper mats. I had narrowed down the sentiments to these 2 and thought, heck, I'll just use both.

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Next, a simple birthday card for a nephew, using KI Memories designer paper and a focal sentiment cut from a die I bought on Amazon. 

And the sketch I used.

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And a mixed media card for a girlfriend, using flower stamps and die again from Amazon, a Lawn Fawn sun die and inked stenciling with hand drawn clouds. The sentiment from the floral set was stamped, heat-embossed and cut with a Spellbinders Labels die.

And the sketch I used.
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Last up is an art journal page where I have used a bit of what I've learned from Shawn Petite.

 

The first pic is the page I began with, collaged with tapes and then gesso'd.

Then I began playing with a leftover acrylic paint palette of colors, practicing building up the colors, rubbing them off and/or in, layer upon layer, until something emerged through the grunge that I could draw on. I'd been looking at atmospheric landscapes, so I incorporated a little of that. 

I could have painted the buildings black in silhouette, but I liked the different colors that showed through. It's really just a practice page for techniques. When I looked at it at that point, it reminded me of a very dark cityscape, perhaps in winter. I almost went with Summer in the City lyrics, but then I ran across this John Updike quote, which are lines from his poem January. In PSE, I composed the words on a black background and layered that onto a gold Gecko Galz clip art frame, then printed out and fussy cut it. This is not the scene that his entire poem describes, but these few lines are appropriate for my scene.
Here's the entire poem:

The days are short,
The sun a spark,
Hung thin between
The dark and dark.

Fat snowy footsteps
Track the floor.
Milk bottles burst
Outside the door.

The river is
A frozen place
Held still beneath
The trees of lace.

The sky is low.
The wind is gray.
The radiator
Purrs all day.

I love the lines about the sky and the wind, too. Also, the milk bottles bursting.

My artwork this week does have some macabre sentiments, but this is the time of year for that. I should note that Updike also wrote the novel The Witches of Eastwick, among many others.

That's all for me this week.

Thanks for visiting and hope to see you next Sunday!

XOX

October 27th Weekly Post

 Happy Sunday!

It's hard to believe we are beginning the last week in October!

Time is definitely gonna fly between now and the end of the year.

The theme this week at SPA is Gargoyles, hosted by Deann.

I purchased a digital image as I had nothing suitable in my files.

I found something quite suitable at Conjurer of Dreams Etsy Shop.

Then in PSE I added a little humor and printed it out to add to my 4X6 journal.

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Next up, an art journal spread that was a lesson with Shawn Petite's Mixed Media Insiders Group, which I have finally joined after watching her videos for 2 years. And now I'm like a kid in a candy store! I've currently got 3 other works in progress, but did manage to finish this one. She does a ton of stuff on each piece and they take a long time for slowpoke me.

This was the color palette to be used. Just these 3 colors, with white and black accents.

 

Here are my process shots. I began with this blue and white acrylic sea sponged background, but since I'd done 2 of them in this journal, I decided on this one. The first thing I did was cover it all up with collaged yellowed book text, then painted it with a beige acrylic. Over that I used a Crafters Workshop 12x12 stencil and Titan Buff acrylic.

 

Next, I used Nocturne VF Clair to stamp onto white tissue paper, tore the stamped images out and collaged them randomly on my spread. I also made some white acrylic circles. And in the last process shot, I added long triangle shapes that were painted with blue and tan acrylics, then stenciled with paints using 3 Tim Layered stencils. All that was left to do was use my charcoal pencil and my black Artist Big Brush pen to outline, smudge, shade. I also added a Pronty quote sticker from my stash.

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Finally, I have 2 get well cards using the same flower stamps and designer papers.

I bought the magnolia stamps on Amazon and the papers are very old, from the KIMemories Pieces of Me collection. Both cards have SU card bases.

On this one I left the flowers white and colored the leaves with a marker.

I used some Cosmo Cricket alpha stickers for the sentiment.

And on this one I colored the flowers and leaves, and added sequins and a Stamplorations sentiment die cut from the designer paper.

 

And the sketches I used for these cards.

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That's it for me this week.

Thanks so much for your visit and have a great week ahead.

XOX

October 20th Weekly Post

 Happy Sunday!

We've had a wonderfully cooler week and my hip/lower back pain has lessened to an ache, just in time for my cedar allergy. Waking up and not being able to open my eyes immediately is unsettling, as is the itching and blurring vision from all the discharge, but my drops do help some. I should probably try putting them in right before bed. 

LOL, I already have a bedtime list of to-do's a mile long, why not add one more?

Getting old's not for sissies!

😁

I made some 4X6 art for SPA's Gears theme, hosted by Anne this week.

I decided to go a bit British with this one, borrowing phrases and national colors.

I stamped sentiments from 2 Artistic Outpost sets with Midnight VF Clair ink, then clear heat embossed them.

Next, I laid down Tim's Gears layering stencil upside down and centered. I used Fired Brick Distress ink and a foam blending tool to stencil on the design. 

After that dried, I used a white colored pencil around the Keep Calm phrase to help it stand out more. I colored around the stenciling on the sides and bottom with a Tarnished Brass Distress Crayon and then edge-distressed the piece with more of the Midnight VF Clair and a foam tool. I also used a Chipped Sapphire Distress Marker around the stenciling. It looks like the stenciling is layered on gold card, but it's all one layer.

Then I used a scrap of gold paper to die cut the corner gear element and 3 small gears from Tim's Gearheads Thinlits die set. I also cut a crown from Lawn Fawns Hats Off die set.

I glued the dies down and done!

One more page for my 4X6 journal album.

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Here's a birthday card I mailed off in July to a niece.

I used Craft Consortium's 3D decoupage kit Sandy Paws by Helz Cuppleditch for the focal image and Basic Grey Cupcake designer papers on a Rocket Red Wausau paper mat and white 6X6 card base.

The sentiment is from a die set by Crafters Companion that I cut from some blue scrap card and once adhered, I outlined the words with a Micron pen and added a little red heart from stash.

Here's the Splitcoaststampers sketch I used for my layout design.

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And here is a Christmas card I made using very old 12X12 Junkitz snowman designer paper and 2 chiboard frames I needed to use.I used a Spellbinders die to cut the diamonds from Xmas stash scraps, and layered 3 different die cut snowflakes in the center (QK and Sizzix). I added punched snowflakes randomly and a Stamplorations Let It Snow sentiment die cut 3 times from greens and white card. 

And the Splitcoaststampers sketch I used for my layout design.

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That's all for me today.

Thanks for the visit

and

hope to see you next Sunday!

XOX

October 13th Weekly Post

 Happy Sunday...on Monday!

I'm a day late posting and I apologize, but I had a horrible Saturday night, couldn't sleep at all because of pain. I finally fell asleep at 9 a.m. Sunday and woke up at 6 a.m. today! I lost a day and a good Sunday night meal, our usual steak and baked potato, but Honey saved mine so I'll be able to reheat it to eat today.

I am feeling better today even though my hip pain's still there.

I guess I just needed to sleep. Pain can be exhausting!

😳

I have 10 open spots in my 4x6 Art Journal Album that I want to fill and SPA's theme this week is Ravens & Crows, hosted by Sabine. So I quickly made this to include in my post. I stamped the bird, book and sentiment from Visible Image's Free Your Imagination set with Nocturne Versafine Clair ink. The sentiment stamped beautifully but the bird and book ink did not want to completely transfer. I used a Cracked stencil from A Colorful Life with Mustard Seed Distress Ink and a blending brush on the background, then stamped the bird and book again over the original stamping. Still not total coverage, so I resorted to coloring the bird with a black Posca. I colored the book and the card edge with a Lipstick Orange Copic (looks red!). I edged the card with the black Posca. I also ran a red Spectrum Noir glitter marker over the red of the card edge but you cannot really see any glitter (maybe at top right corner). 

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I also have a birthday card made for a dear friend.

I wanted to show this alcohol ink piece I did a while back when Group of Seven was doing an alcohol ink with guilding flakes technique. I saved this one because it looked like flowers to me. 

Then I added gold to the lines that I saw in it. No guilding flakes, just gold paint and marker, which I also lined the edge with after cutting it with a Spellbinders label die. I used die cuts of flowers with similar stamens. You can barely see the one at top, it's a Lapoo  outlined border die cut from gold glitter card, but it adds some nice texture. I also used a strip of the gold card across the width where the 2 Prima Moulin Rouge designer papers met. The die cut flower at bottom left is from a Momenta die set. On a smaller label die cut I stamped the sentiment with Versamark and heat embossed with gold powder. Card base is black SU card. I messy-edged the Prima papers with a gold marker as well.

 

And here is the sketch I used, stretched to 6x6.

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And here's another birthday card for another dear friend.

I stamped the Rubbernecker flowers with Nocturne VM Clair ink on watercolor paper, then colored with watercolor markers and outlined the leaf lines with a green Pitt artist pen. I stamped the WPlus9 "birthday wishes" and cut the Stamplorations "beautiful" die from white card twice, layered and added to the card. The designer papers are very very old Urban Lily 12x12 scrapbook papers.

And here is the sketch I used, stretching it to an an A9 size.

That's all for this week.

Thanks for visiting, have a great week and see you next Sunday, I hope on time, lol.

XOX