altered tins in the new year

i've finally managed some real sit down crafting time. i've been wanting to make tins as gifts. i got several of them started and finished some too. here are a couple of them. i'm hoping to finish and post more in the coming days.

here are front side and inside views. i use paper/washi tapes for the sides (with additional 2-sided tape to help it stay). the papers on and in these come from several sources, gecko galz, CS designs, itKuPiLLi. outside images on these are mostly from gecko galz. some crowabout studio B also.

love to all.

men of the world

for the take a word challenge: masculine

background map by gecko galz (old world maps collage sheet); all other images by CS designs.
enjoy; love to all.

the most beautiful thing....

i am delighted to be guest artist at the doodle artifacts challenge blog again for this july.  at doodle artifacts the challenge is always "anything goes" but it must always be something recycled, re-used, re-purposed.  it has been awhile since i've altered an altoids tin so that it what i chose to work with this month.

here is the top of the tin.  i've used a harlequin digital image and a lovely digital sentiment, both by cs designs.  the sentiment says, "the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious." cs designs is the sponsor of the challenges at doodle artifacts and the company carries so many lovely digital pieces, all quite magical and delightful just like this harlequin.  the designer paper, border, flowers and enamel dots are my own stash items.

the bottom of the tin is covered in digital paper also from cs designs, the "spiral diamond" design which i printed on colored paper.  i use the tin itself to make measurements -- i trace onto my designer paper and then carefully cut it out and adhere with mod podge.  if there is any "overhang" i can trim it carefully with good scissors and then distress the edges.  here are some additional views on the tin:

i use the outside of the tin to trace for the inside pieces too but then i must cut inside the tracing as the inside pieces are a bit smaller.  although i carefully measured and cut various designer papers for the outside and insides of the tin, the sides of the tin are covered in washi tape -- very convenient!  the washi tape is about the right size and it is already sticky.  though i recommend using a product like scor-tape to be sure the tape stays in place. 

i hope you will join the challenge, it lasts for a full month and the only requirement is to recycle, re-use or re-purpose for your creation.  i look forward to visiting your blogs to see what you make.

enjoy!  love to all.

altered playing cards for doodle artfacts

hello friends.  this is my second and final guest design post for the doodle artifacts blog for the month of march.  the theme there is always "anything goes" but the twist is you must recycle, re-invent or re-purpose your creation.  i'm quite excited about what i've made for the last two weeks of march, several altered playing cards.

the creation starts with slathering some plain playing cards with gesso.

the next step was using a variety of spray inks and ink pads to color the cards.  i colored 6 cards though in the end i only used five of them.

i also did some background stamping on some of the cards though i forgot to photograph that step.
i selected several images from CS designs, colored them with pencils and cut them out.  i worked with several images from the masculine, woman head shots and carnival collections although at the point i colored them i didn't yet know which ones would end up getting used.

to create the final cards i used a combination of letters, washi tape, brads and other embellishments.  i love my final results!

i had originally thought i would alter some boxes to create ornaments using the carnival collection images but when i thought about the images i'd been given by chris at CS designs i realized they were perfect to create a specialized "deck" of cards.  so that's what i did!

i hope you enjoy these as much as i enjoyed making them.
love to all.

recycle, re-purpose, reinvent!

i am delighted to be a guest designer this month for the recycle, re-purpose, reinvent challenge blog. this is a companion challenge blog for CS designs digital stamp co.  i have been a fan of CS designs for many years and have enjoyed using their products.  so it is a great honor to get to do some special designs for the challenge blog this month.  the only requirement for the challenges is to recycle, re-purpose, or reinvent in the making of your creation.  here is my piece for today:

this piece started as a small composition book, about 4x3 inches.  and here is a closer look at the final project:

i covered the composition book, front and back, with a digital background paper from CS designs called "circle twirls" which i'd printed on dark green paper. i used a piece of brown book binding tape to make the new book binding border.  i also sized and printed digital stamps from the "women head shots" and "masculine collage pieces" sets onto light brown kraft paper.  i carefully cut out the male and female images along with the clock.  the final piece was a sentiment from the "mystery and imagination" series which i also sized and printed on kraft paper and cut out.

i came up with an arrangement i liked but i needed something to break up the dark colors.  i used stickers from my stash, one with a musical score in the background, one with script and one with the word "enchantment" to create additional background interest for the final piece.  i added some flowers in the corners and one last round sticker to complete this piece.

check back in a couple weeks for more guest pieces featuring wonderful digital stamps from CS designs!  and i hope you will create some recycled piece of art to join the challenge!

love to all

valentines

sharing some valentines i've made over the years.  may every day of your life be filled with love.

love to all.

valentine tag and recycled valentine gift box

one of my favorite digital stamps by cs designs is the expressive heart.  i have two items to share using this stamp which i am linking to two different challenges.  first, our challenge prompt at tag tuesday this week is "valentines."  so first up is my valentine tag.

i printed the "expressive heart" stamp directly onto "love potion #9 digital designer paper by gecko galz.  i colored the image with colored pencils and outlined with black pen.  i covered my tag base with another piece of paper from the same series.  i added several border pieces and some wire ribbon.  voila!

my second piece is for the recycle, re-purpose and reinvent blog challenge which is an anything goes challenge so long as you've recycled or re-purposed something.  i re-purposed an old gift box.  i forgot to photograph the box before i worked with it but as you can see if had a red lid and black base already so it was easy to make this into a valentine creation.  here are a couple other views.

you can see some bracelets inside the box on that last shot!  again i printed the digital image onto some "love potion #9 digital designer paper by gecko galz.  again i colored with pencils and outlined with black pen.  i covered the top of the box with my designed paper and added lace and buttons.  i went around the side of the lid with polka dot washi tape.  voila again!

i'm linking these creations to the heart themed reader art quest at unruly paper arts.
also linking to the valentine challenge at mema's crafts blog.

i enjoyed creating these pieces and i do love that heart.
love to all.

altered cards, set 6, hallowe'en!

the 6th tutorial in our march through altering 52 playing cards at claudine's art corner has a hallowe'en theme.  here are my 2 cards:

the first card has moon and lady images from the graphics fairy.  the background on this card has a short story.  i started by using spray paints and then stamping over with a crackle background stamp but the red effect i was shooting for turned out too pink.  so i painted over it with an acrylic paint and got a color i liked and yet the crackle still showed through so i was happy about that.  i did some black pen doodling on this card, and added a spooky die cut fence and a die cut bat.  the 31 is handwritten on some designer paper which i cut out into a circle.  the "hist and hark" sentiment is from cs designs and is actually the first line of a short poem, the remaining 3 lines of which are on the second card!

for the second card i painted over the geessoed background with acrylic paint and added several strips of washi and tissue tapes.  i stamped my inkadinkado dancing skeleton onto some designer paper and cut him out to add along with an owl from graphics fairy.  as mentioned the sentiment is from cs designs although this time i distressed over it with a couple different distress inks.  there is a fleur de lis brad in the corner.  both cards are further distressed around the edges in black.

i had fun with these.  i'm linking up to the doodle artifacts recycle re-purpose and reinvent challenge blog's october/fall/harvest/hallowe'en challenge and the hallowe'en/creepy/spooky challenge at oddball stamps blog  as well.

love to all.

cs designs is back!

happy to share that there is a coordinator call and blog candy opportunity at chris sterns (CS designs) blog.
after some time away from blogging chris will be back with challenges and all kinds of goodies no doubt featuring chris' amazing designs.

you might wish to pop over and join the fun!
love to all.

wicked wednesday black, white and one color challenge

here is an ATC for the current challenge at wicked wednesday -- black, white and one other color.

the beautiful celestial goddess digital stamp is from cs-designs.  the dream stamp is from inkadinkado.  both are arranged on some black and white designer paper with a few other goodies of course.  my goddess is  sending peace and love to all those who suffered in boston, west texas and all over the world where tragic circumstances try to crush the human spirit.

as always, love to all.

happy heart

i'm way behind on valentines day cards and this is a holiday for which i normally make quite a few.  i've got to get on it in order to mail goodies on time to friends and family.  where does the time go? to so much busy-ness i'm afraid.  well anyway, in search of a mojo spark i decided to play with a favorite digital image from cs-designs.  i made a card and an ATC both using this lovely image.

as always i've colored with pencils and here all else i've used are beautiful flower and bird stickers and decorative paper -- and a little distressing of course.

the story on the ATC above is that i made an error printing out the digital image on post card card stock and the "break" in the card stock cut the image in half.  never one to throw anything away i decided to have the heart face peeking over the edge of the ATC.  i used more decorative paper and more valentine themed stickers and such.  i'm entering the ATC in the wicked wednesday atc blog valentine/love challenge.

don't forget we have a "heart" themed challenge over at cheerful stamp pad too!

oh i do love lovey dovey things.
and as always, love to all!

celestial ATC in search of a challenge...

did you ever have a challenge in mind that you wanted to participate in and by the time you made your piece the challenge was over?  oh so sad when that happens!  i created this ATC for the art with no boundaries summer skies challenge but i misremembered the contest deadline.  well lucky me, there are always challenges all over blogland and i found one i could join: "no rules" at simon says stamp and show.  this is a great challenge blog and i'm happy to have found it; this is my first time joining the fun over there.

the beautiful digi is from cs designs.  as usual i've colored with pencils.  the background started with some black card stock cut to ATC size (2.5 x 3.5).  i covered that with some blue designer paper covered in stars and swirls.  i covered that with some sheer shimmery silver ribbon.  i added a moon charm and an abalone button to finish filling out my night time summer sky.

p.s.  aha.  lucky me.  i totally forgot that there is always an "anything goes" challenge over at art with no boundaries so i'm entering it after all!  yippee!  i love cs designs!

love to all.

art with no boundaries anything goes

this is my first time playing along with an art with no boundaries challenge; this one is "anything goes."

the main image on this card is from cs designs, a beautiful original design by chris stern.  as usual i do my coloring with pencils (one of these days i'll get some cool markers).  i have a blue paper lace background, a gold ribbon vine and a flower.  this was a relaxing piece to make.

hope you enjoy; love to all.

pink saturday things

awhile back i stamped this wonderful queen nefertari stamp from the cs designs solitaire series and colored with pencils.  i was drawn to her deep pink lips and decided to dress the whole thing up in pink for pink saturday.  i framed her in pink and purple papers and placed it all on card stock i decorated with pink, purple and blue inks.

i was all prepared to link it up and then observed that starting this week pink saturday posts are meant to be holiday related!  oops.  well luckily i have a christmas card i made last year with a fossil stone technique from technique junkies and the background is a pretty deep pinkish red.  so i'll post this too; time to start getting in the mood anyway, right?

the image on the card is from twisted papers.    as it turns out i've started doing inventory on supplies to begin making holiday cards anyway.  so you'll start to see them coming along.

well, pink saturday is great fun so consider joining in.  just remember to have a holiday theme!

love to all.

a little something for pink saturday

i needed a bit of cheering today.  so i colored this sweet digital image from cs designs and made a little ATC for pink saturday.  i also included this piece in the faith grace & crafts pearls and lace thursday challenge.
enjoy; love to all.