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

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 card deck week 9 (+alphastamps again!)

here are my week 9 altered cards for the card deck challenge at claudine's art corner -- if i get another pair finished this weekend i think i'll only be 5 weeks behind (lol!).

for the flowers and owl card i started with a background of spray inks.  i then used flower stamps from a "gela-tins" set and enhanced them with promarkers and molotow pens.  the stems are washi tape.  the owl stamp is by rubber soul, i stamped it on primavera paper by itKuPiLLi and fussy cut it to add to the card.  i hand wrote the sentiment on the same primavera paper and finished this one with some matching ric rac.

i did a light coat of watercolor paint on the background for the second card and then used a stencil and ink applied with a sponge.  i added torn tissue tape, a rose die cut which i'd outlined with white pen.  the vintage image is from one of the goddess collage sheets by lunagirl. the lace border is from alphastamps.  the "memories" sticker is from a tim holtz set.

speaking of alphastamps, this is day three of:

please visit the alphastamps blog and comment on today's post for a chance to win a glorious giveaway of alphastamps goodies!

i've decided to link this to the doodle artifacts blog recycle/re-purpose challenge as well.

love to all.

altered tin

i found myself in another situation where i was meeting with a group and we were all asked to bring gifts to exchange.  i decided to alter an altoids tin.  the papers and images i used are from gecko galz.

i used papers inside and on the bottom of the tin as well but i only took a picture of the top.  i did some doodling on the sides also with a red promarker.  as you can see i also included a lacy die cut and buttons.  inside the tin i put a fun size m&m's packet as well!

like my altered composition book from a week or so ago, this gift also got stolen once and "i do believe" the final recipient was quite happy with it.

linking up to the "anything goes but must recycle" challenge at doodle artifacts blog.
linking up to the "ring in the new, recycle the old" challenge on the gecko galz facebook group

enjoy; love to all.

winter scene, altered composition book

i had a lunch to go to and we were asked to bring a handmade gift.  i decided to alter a composition book as it is a nice thing someone can use and it doesn't take too much time to make and i definitely didn't have much time!

this is a little book, just a little more than 3x4 inches.  here's how it started:

the red background paper is by gecko galz as is the vintage image of the winter cardinal.  the green paper is from my stash as is the lace and white poinsettia.  i have a  different designer paper on the back along with a star but i forgot to photograph the back.

this was one of those exchanges where people can "steal" a gift and i was delighted to see that this one got "stolen" from the first person who got it but it ended up with someone who had been wanting a notebook to jot down special thoughts each day.  i am so glad she has this notebook now.

here is an important reminder:  the gecko galz blog is featuring a special christmas tag every day this month.  if you comment on the blog post and follow the blog of the tagger you'll be able to get a free digital stamp so please check it out!

i'm linking this up to the doodle artifacts blog recycle, re-purpose and reinvent anything goes challenge.  and of course, the 12 days of christmas link up party at unruly paper arts!

enjoy!  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.

autumn goddess with birds, recycled...

i'm excited to share another bit of inspiration for the "put a bird on it" challenge at lunagirl moonbeams while also offering another creation for the recycle, re-purpose and re-invent october fall harvest/hallowe'en challenge at the doodle artifacts blog.

here's what i made, an autumn goddess with birds book:

but it started like this:

this is a little composition book, just 3 by 4 inches.  i first covered the front and back with designer paper by gecko galz. although i do own book binding tape i used a piece of dark green tape from my stash for the binding.  the goddess image and the three birds come from lunagirl collage sheets.  there is an autumn-ish sticker on the top, an adhesive felt border at the bottom and an autumn leaf brad from eyelet outlet.  i distressed around the edges with old paper and rust colored inks.

these are both great challenges!  enjoy.
love to all.

more birds and more altered card deck fun!

at lunagirl moonbeams we are challenging you to "put a bird on it," that is, to use birds in your art and for the week 3 prompt at claudine's art corner altered card deck challenge the week 3 sample for "fall" also featured a bird. which means a chance for me to combine challenges!  here are my 2 altered cards for week 3, the first of which features a lovely owl from lunagirl's "owls" collage sheet.

in addition to the lunagirl owl on the first card, that same card also features leaves from the linagirl "autumn leaves" collage sheet.  i also have washi tape, a bit of a sun stamp from uptown rubber and stick on letters. (if you saw my monday post you can tell i was using some of the same supplies lol!).  the background of the card itself was done with distress inks (over a gessoed card base).

the second card also features an image from lunagirl -- the woman at top left, from the "steampunk girls" collage sheet.  the other steampunk images  were 3 images from dezinaworld that i combined to make one digital collage piece, then printed and cut out.  the stamped image (stamped on another sheet of designer paper) is from a tim holtz stamp set.  the background on this altered card was done with alcohol inks (over a gessoed card base).  also a fleur de lis brad!

here are claudine's pieces which we used for inspiration:

now back to that birds challenge -- you still have a week and a half to link up a creation featuring birds for a chance to win a shopping spree at lunagirl..  if you do not have any bird images to work with Karen has provided a freebie here.  and of course the altered card deck challenge is ongoing for a total of 26 weeks, give or take.

i'm linking my fall owl to the brand new and exciting october/fall harvest/hallowe'en challenge at the recycle, re-purpose and re-invent challenge blog at doodle pieces as i "recycled and re-purposed" a playing card for this piece.

love to all.