RAK

at the scraps of color community we did a RAK -- random acts of kindness swap.  i was partnered with the SOC founder Tiare.  i was told that her favorite color is pink, that she loves dragonflies and lots of other good information to help me provide a loving package of goodies for her.

i was told that she prefers art that is functional.  so since one of the gifts i planned to send was a dragonfly necklace, i decided to alter the box.  i gessoed the box, then painted through a flower stencil with pink paint on the top.  i also painted the sides of the box with the same paint mixed with more gesso to lighten the color.  i added a sentiment from the gecko galz "scripted" collage sheet and a dragonfly fussy cut from the gecko galz "darling dragonflies" collage sheet.

you can see the pink pouch which holds the necklace and i also included a twinchie i'd made back in may for the lunagirl moonbeams sisters and mothers challenge.  beyond this, the larger box i mailed to her was chock full of other goodies, art supplies and such.

i hope she will like it and i know i am excited to see what she will send to me.

love to all.

pocket letter for a survivor

at the scraps of color group we were invited to make a pocket letter for a breast cancer survivor in honor of breast cancer awareness month in october.  those of us willing to participate were matched with a person and instructed how to send our creations.  here is what i sent last month.

i chose these vintage images of african-american women from the lunagirl african-american images CD as representative of the struggles these women may have faced long ago.  i used words from maya angelou, the consummate survivor, as inspiration as well.  i forgot to scan the back side of the pocket letter but in additional to covering the back sides of the ATCs with designer paper, i also tucked little cards with additional quotes from maya angelou into some of the pockets as well.  and i also tucked in a letter written by me with words of encouragement i wished to share.

the background papers and various embellishments came from a variety of sources, including gecko galz, tim holtz, twisted papers, and others.

hope

happy independence day to all my friends in the US.  here is a tag with a vintage image and designer background paper by gecko galz.  the statue of liberty represents hope to many and that was the inspiration for this piece.

i'm entering this piece into the scraps of color challenge #10 "red, white and blue" and to the gecko galz papercrafting challenge group on facebook july challenge "red"

i also want to tell you about a giveaway at the "old enough to be a kid" blog but there is only a bit more time left to enter.  see more about that here. 

love and hope to all.

a final fascinating face...

there are just a few days remaining to play along with the "fascinating faces" challenge at lunagirl moonbeams.  you are invited to link up a creation with a face as the main feature for the chance to win shopping credit at the lunagirl store.

this tag includes another gorgeous vintage image face from lunagirl and a quote by maya angelou, "try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud."  a very good suggestion i think.

i'm linking to "all about the ladies" challenge #5 at scraps of color.

play along if you like!
love to all.

fascinating faces

greetings friends.  i'm pretty sure i am not alone in this -- i find faces fascinating!  and so does karen at lunagirl moonbeams because she has chosen "fascinating faces" as our theme for the next two weeks.  link up a creation featuring a fascinating face for a chance at shopping credit at the lunagirl store.  karen provided our DT with some gorgeous vintage images of faces to use.

i've made a series of tags/bookmarks with these fascinating faces and included quotes.  so watch for more of these over the next two weeks.  my sister has been going through some difficult times and so i plan to send her this tag which includes a quote from beloved poet maya angelou, "we may encounter defeats but we must not be defeated."

i hope you will play along.
i'm also linking to the "all about the ladies" prompt #5 at the scraps of color blogger's challenge.

love to all.

prima doll runway challenge

in one of my art communities, scraps of color, a member challenged us to a "prima doll runway challenge" -- to dress up some prima dolls for runway fun.  well i didn't even know what a prima doll was but i found out and i ordered two.  once the first came i got to work right away.  here is what i made first.

i really love how this came out.  i stamped the stamp on a cardboard base and cut those out.  i also stamped the doll multiple times on a variety of designer papers from gecko galz and from heather hudsons' bitty hearts collection.  i then did a lot of cutting and gluing and this was the result.

i have another doll coming in the mail so expect more fun dress up dolls!

love to all.

take a word: heart

just in time for valentine's day the word prompt at the take a word blog challenge this week is "heart." i made a tag with this theme in mind.

the image on the right is from the kirchner cuties collage sheet by gecko galz.  the background paper is heather hudson's valentine sweetheart hearts bitty collection.  the rest is stash.

i'm also linking up to the "love" prompt at the scraps of color blogger challenge.

enjoy!  love to all.

diva tribute tag

i was visiting desire's blog recently and learned about the "anything goes" challenge at the art by miran challenge blog.  although you do not have to use an art by miran stamp to play i was inspired to treat myself to a new digital stamp at the art by miran shop.  our prompt at tag tuesday this week is "diva" so i specifically chose a stamp to match that challenge!

love that pink feather boa!  i colored this image with pencils, outlined her and fussy cut her.  the background papers on the tag are from an old alphastamps kit.  the dragonfly is from eyelet outlet and the rest are items from my stash.

i'm linking this to the new year of blogger challenges at scraps of color for challenge #1 "anything goes."

by the way, i love that our tag tuesday prompt is "diva" on january 13 which is my late grandmother's birthday.  she was a true diva in the best possible way!  so this is a tribute to her as well.  she could sing like a bird, decorate a home on a dime, she sewed her own clothes, made hats and all of it was super fabulous. no pattern required and almost always recycled/upcycled before upcycling was invented!  she had deep, rich spiritual faith and was a guide to all our family.  and she had eye-stopping style even into her 90s she has been gone now three years.  here she is at 90:

i miss her but seek to carry her creative and loving spirit wherever i go.  happy birthday Dear.

happy week; love to all.

deck the halls!

for week two of the "signs of christmas" challenge at the cheerful stamp pad i've used a digital image by designer kaz krafts at our sponsor stitchy bear.  a randomly selected winner of our challenge will win a shopping credit at stitchy bear.

i started with red cardstock and added some pretty green designer paper from my stash.  i used the digital stamp of a candle and colored it digitally, print it out, fussy cut it and did some outlining with a black pro marker.  i added a sentiment from my stash,

i'm linking to the scraps of color #48 anything goes challenge.

i hope you will play along with our challenge.
love to all.

asian art and ephemera 2

this is week 2 for the asian art and ephemera challenge at lunagirl moonbeams.  link up an asian art themed project for the chance to win shopping credit at the lunagirl store.  my piece this week again features a central image from the lunagirl "geisha 1" collage sheet.

there are three different papers from the "mori girl" paper pack from gecko galz decorating the tag base.  the foreign currency is from the lunagirl collage sheet.  there is a lovely silver dragonfly there too, a brad from eyelet outlet.  you should definitely check out the lunagirl blog for a special opportunity as well...

linking up to challenge #5 "taste of the orient" at scraps of color.

enjoy; love to all.

anything goes with fall colors, part 2

here's another chance at an easy challenge for this time of year -- "anything goes with fall colors" at the cheerful stamp pad.  link up any new creation so long as fall colors are involved for a random chance at a nice shopping trip to the online digital outlet store at stitchy bear stamps, our challenge sponsor.

i made a tag featuring background fall leaves paper by stitchy bear designer coosty creations and a sweet digital girl image by stitchy bear designer "my heart pieces."  i printed the girl on some colorful paper and colored her with pencils.  i tore that sheet and added it to the fall leaves background paper. i added a number of fall leaves die cuts and a pumpkin die cut border.

i'm linking up to "anything goes" challenge #43 at scraps of color.

love to all.

fall leaves at the cheerful stamp pad!

challenge #97 time at the cheerful stamp pad -- "fall leaves" is our new theme.  link up a creation featuring fall leaves for a chance to win a prize from our sponsor stitchy bear.  for this challenge our DT got some coosty creations digital items from our sponsor for our creations.  i used the "autumn basket" digital stamp along with some digital background paper from coosty.

for my tag i covered the tag base with the lovely autumn digital paper which i'd printed with the autumn basket image right on it.  i colored the basket with pencils and all i really did was add the sentiment which comes from the gecko galz thanksgiving digital stamp set.  i added a couple autumn leaves brads which i got from eyelet outlet.

this will also be my tag for the "autumn extravaganza" theme at tag tuesday this week.  i am also linking up to happy fall y'all at craft hoarders anonymous.  and finally to the "fall colors" challenge at scraps of color.

enjoy!  love to all.

traveling gift swap

i participated in a neat swap at the scraps of color community recently -- a traveling gift swap. basically if you signed up the person in line ahead of you sends you a gift and then you send a gift to the person in line after you.  everyone had a week to turn their gift around but most people were moving much faster.

the person ahead of me was treva of treva's craft corner.  she altered a giant clothespin!  this thing is about 7 inches high.  never seen anything like it.  here is a photo montage i made of it -- it is so cool and i love that it has my name on it:

she also threw in some random and fun craft supplies as a part of my gift.  i had decided i would alter an altoid tin for the gift i would send.  here's the photo montage of what i made:

this is maybe the 3rd or 4th tin i've done and i should share that my inspiration tutorial from it came form here.  i used designer papers from my stash, lots of measuring and cutting of course.  the vintage photo image is from lunagirl.  around the top lid is some very cool adhesive fabric lace i found at my local daiso japanese store.  i love the crafty stuff they sell.  and then other goodies are on there too.

this was a fun swap, it was nice to be in a swap where i could just make whatever i wanted that i thought my recipient would like.  i did email and ask her in advance what she wanted but she said "surprise me."  she has already received it and says she did like it.  i also sent her some crafting goodies since my gifter did that for me.

have a wonderful weekend,  love to all.

school days!

it's a new month and at gecko galz that means a new monthly challenge.  since it is september it makes perfect sense to choose "school days" as our challenge.  if you link up a school days creation featuring at least one image by gecko galz you'll be in the running for a prize pack including a $25 gecko galz shopping spree and a prize pack from rhonda's originals.  here's some inspiration from me for you:

for my "scholar" tag i used the following supplies:

gecko galz school days digital stamps

gecko galz “old world maps” vintage image

designer paper

washi tape

ribbon

distress inks

polyvinyl hole reinforcement

and here's what i did:

first i re-sized the digital stamps to the desired size, printed and fussy cut.  i covered the cardstock tag base with alphabet designer paper then tore a piece of map from the old world maps collage sheet to adhere to the tag base.  i used distress inks around the edges.  i arranged the two digital stamps on the tag as I wanted them and added washi tape, the hole reinforcement and the ribbon.

i love the digital stamp i used here -- it reminds me of some old style cartoon.

link up your school days creation for fun at gecko galz!
i'm also linking this up to the week 34 back to school challenge at scraps of color.

love to all. 

let's hear it for the boys!

karen at lunagirl moonbeams blog has started us on a new two week challenge in which we are featuring little boys.  so often we feature little girls in our artwork so it is  refreshing (and sometimes challenging) change of pace to make things featuring boys.  but as the mom of a young man who was once a little boy i warm to this topic quickly!  i made a bookmark on the theme of back to school since i realize that this time is right around the corner for those with little ones at home.

my little boy is from the african american images CD sold by lunagirl.  i gave him wings from the rainbow wings collage sheet also by lunagirl.  i often give wings to little girls in my art and decided that little boys should be able to fly too of course!  furthermore nothing gives you wings like education!  the rest of the tems are from my overflowing stash of designer papers and embellies and such.

i hope you will play along!  i'm also linking this up to the week 31 anything goes challenge at scraps of color.

love to all.

very vintage customer challenge -- and some giveaway news...

at the gecko galz blog the august customer challenge is "very vintage."
i have made an ATC to encourage you to join in the challenge.

my very vintage creation features a mysterious woman of the world, perhaps a fortune teller?  the woman is from the gecko galz "jazz hot ladies" collage sheet and the map and compass part in the background is from the gecko galz "old world maps" collage sheet.  there is some additional background paper from my stash in the background, some distressing with distress inks and a pocket watch brad from alphastamps.


any vintage creation will do, though you are asked to use a minimum of one image from gecko galz -- but keep in mind there are always freebies on the website!  also, if you sign up for the monthly newsletter you'll get more freebies every month right in your email inbox. so i hope you'll play along.

i'm also entering this ATC to the week 29 "going in circles" theme challenge at scraps of color.

and here's some unrelated but very cool giveaway news:  if you like the unruly paper arts facebook page and sign up for the UPA newsletter you'll be entered into a drawing for some fab stamps from darkroom door.

pretty!
love to all.

very fancy purple lady

here is a very fancy purple lady on my tag; purple being my favorite color and "favorite color" being the current challenge at lunagirl moonbeams.  you have one more week ('til sunday) to link up a creation in your favorite color for a chance to win a CD of vintage images, valued at $25.

i used some designer papers, flower and leaf stickers and washi tape. i don't know where she is going but it is surely somewhere very fancy.

i'm entering this tag in the artful times blog challenge #60, make a tag,
and linking to scraps of color week #31 "anything goes."

enjoy; love to all.

happy independence day USA!

vintage images on this ATC are from graphics fairy.
entering this in the week 26 red, white and blue challenge at scraps of color.

love to all.

by the sea

my favorite things include the ocean and the beach so the reader art quest for june at unruly paper arts is right up my alley -- it is "by the sea."  thinking beach and ocean also makes me think vacation so i made a 4x6 postcard.

the base is cardstock i spritzed with a variety of spray inks.  it is covered in designer paper, borders and images all from alphastamps.  there are some additional stickers from my stash here and there on this piece.

i'm linking this up to the week 22: summer fun at scraps of color.

in a couple weeks we will be starting the vintage seashore and bathing beauties challenge at lunagirl moonbeams so stay tuned for more beachy creations coming from me featuring lunagirl images.

enjoy; love to all.

mother's little baby

i promised mother's day cards over the next couple weeks and here is another.  this one features an image from the lunagirl african american CD.  she is such a sweet little child!

the stamped words are from words and crafts/magnetic poetry; i added pretty papers, washi tape and a dragonfly.
the vintage mother's day challenge is running for another week and a half over at lunagirl moonbeams challenge blog.

i'm linking this up to the week 17 mother's day challenge prompt at scraps of color.

love to all.