Almost Done

I think I'm almost done with this piece. I was at a standstill after posting the last pictures of this piece, so I showed it to my mother and she suggested dividing it up into segments. We both liked the 3 segments over 4 segments. I think the paper I used for the divisions works well as it has the blue of the background and the black that makes the divisions stand out. I also added the "seahorse" in the bottom left hand corner. This image was taken out of some promotional material book from an art college. There's also some blue sand at the bottom of the left hand corner segment, and the new swirl in the right segment. I am kinda bummed that it didn't come out cleaner, but now it's too late for that. I'm trying to add more texture because the piece is way too flat for my tastes, but I don't want to add too much. I like the subtle texture of the layered paper, but I'm not totally satisfied.
What do other people think? Any comments are appreciated.

My art closet

I figured I'd take a picture of my art closet so you all could see what a small space I have to work in. I'm standing in the doorway looking in. Around the corner on the left is a tupperware with all my supplies. And on the floor there is a tiny workspace, the closet is right at the top of my stairs, on the other side of the wall on the left is my stairs. Luckily I have a hallway I can work in. I do have more pictures I'll post later.
And here is what I've done on that One World One Heart art piece, I didn't successfully make it in finishing it this weekend, helping my dad set up his new computer, grocery shopping, and a little slacking off got in the way. But, this is what I do have done, and I'm not sure if I'm doing more or not. I love it the way it is right now.

In the corner are some shells I collected when my dad and I went to Florida quite a few years back. The scrolly things are cut out of some paper I got in a DCWV 12x12 stack of paper. I cut all the blue and green and black scrolls out by hand (my special tiny papercutting scissors really came in handy for that. The seahorse is a creations imaginations sticker. I sprayed adhesive on the scrolls and glued them down and then coated the whole thing except the large seashell with modge podge. I really like how it turned out. Here's a close-up of the scrolls:

I think the scrolls need a tiny bit of defining, and I may incorporate a few more sea things into the piece (I have a yogurt container of sand on my kitchen table). Any suggestions or comments?

Holiday cards

Here are the cards I made yesterday. This first one has a felt stocking with wooden stars in the corner.
This one has a small felt snowman with wooden stars.

This one has a bigger felt snowman with a wooden star and candy canes.

This one hasa felt Santa with a sleigh.

This one has a paper Santa with a plastic Rudolph

This one has a felt Rudolph with a plastic gingerbread man.

This one has a paper tree with a plastic star on top and a plastic sled.

Anyone have ideas on prices? I'm planning on sending them with white, red or green envelopes according to the color of the cardstock in the background and in a plastic sleeve.

I also have a couple white snowflakes on black and a card with a felt penguin that needs a little touching up. I'll post those tomorrow. If you're interested in any of these, I can put them under reserve.

Weathering some cards

I'm behind again, I know it. Here are my September ATC's for my CollageATCs Yahoo! group:

In the left one I used the moon and the "fog". It's actually cotton batting. The moon, bat (which you can't really see), ghost, tree and pumpkin are all buttons from a button mix bag I picked up at Hobby Lobby (I love buttons). The other pumpkin is a sequin I had lying around. The grass is from sushi, a friend of mine had some sushi one time, and the green paper wrapped around it was so cool, I asked if I could have it.
In the right one I used the cloud and the start of the rainbow. It's supposed to be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and if I could have cut the button in half right, it would have looked like a pot of gold. The rainbow is colored with markers, the "gold" above the button is a sequin, the pot is just paper, and the flowers are al stickers, I had a hard time getting those little flowers to stick, they kept coming off.

The card on the left I used the small white snowflake, the iridescent snowflake and the face. The face was a plaster face one of my group members made and sent to me. The other white snowflake and the rest of the snowman as well as the hat are all buttons from a button bag.
The card on the right I used the sun at the top colored with markers, and the sun punch that is pretty much covered by the yellow gem. The yellow strip is a background I made with reinkers, and the bottom strip is from a magazine.

The card on the left I used the white flower background, which was a punch sent along by one of my members; the green sun, that's a stamp of mine and is affixed on a chipboard tag; and the foam lightening bolt that's being used for a stem. The leaf is a sequin and the grass is more from the sushi.
The card on the right I used the 2 tornado pictures, the one on the left was the ISU gymnastics teams keychain schedule. I saw them and knew they wanted to used in art. The other one is some clip art sent in by one of my group members. The green circle on the top is a sticker that came with the energize word, they are on a piece of black paper.

The card on the left I used the two cloud pictures, one is a stamp and one is a sticker; and the umbrella punch the ladybug is using. The bottom piece is from a magazine and I just layered some leaf stickers and the lady bug sticker on top. The rain is colored with markers.
The card on the right, I used the lightening, which is clip art sent in by a member; and the cloud, which is part of the stamped image the cloud in the previous card came from. The tree is a sticker and the grass is some more from that sushi.

The card on the left I used the star which is a button and the snow which is some kind of clear crystals a member sent me. The tree is a tiny plastic "stained glass" ornament, and the other snow is just paper.
The card on the right I used the yellow stars, the yellow sun and the snowflake. The sky paper was something I did awhile ago, it's sorta marbled using ink. The mermaid is a poufy sticker, the snowflake in her hand is a brad. The sun is glued onto two buttons.

I decided to make some Holiday cards and try to sell them on Etsy. They came out really well. I plan to scan them tomorrow and then add them here for people to see. But I will be adding one a day on Etsy until I have them all listed. I'm thinking about $7.00 per card. They're regular sized cards with layered paper and some embellishments. I'd love feedback on price. I'll get them posted tomorrow, so you guys can use your expertise in what you think I should price them as.

I also made some birthday cards for my cousin and grandma. I'm trying to make more cards to get in the mood of making more stuff for etsy as well as use up some of my supplies. I wanna do more embellishment on boxes too. I already got some stuff for a Christmas present for my friend Loretta where I'm going to be embellishing something with orange/copper colors. I think it will come out nice. I want more useful things as well. I know cards are nice, but once you get them most people just throw them away. People need more useful things. Any ideas on what I can do for useful things?

Baby shower gifts

This weekend I went to my friend, Amanda's baby shower. I bought her a couple cute gifts at Walmart, but I also made her a Survival Kit for New Mothers, and the card below:
I love buttons, I like to buy the mixed button bags at Hobby Lobby, I've been trying to cut back lately, because not only do they have the cool buttons like I used in the card above, they also have a lot of boring ones. The pacifier, bib, rattle and stork are from one of those bags. Across the top I attached a "clothesline" with mini brown brads. On the bottom in the middle is a baby image from a piece of vintage baby wrapping paper I had. I also attached a tag in the corner with the words "Welcome, baby" stamped on it. Inside there is a stamped quote about babies being from heaven.

Survival Kit for New Mothers

I got this idea out of the book The Ultimate Paper Crafts Collection published by Primedia, the projects and ideas in the book came from Papercrafts & Stamp It magazines. I got the idea for the "bag" from here. I attached the black and white floral paper as accents on the front and back of the bag, as well as on the sides. For the handles, I found a piece of pink plastic mesh and attached it with some "studs" I took off of a belt I bought awhile back.
The tag sticking out of the bag says:

The New Mom's Survival Kit

Hershey Hugs - for you and the baby, because you both deserve them.

Clock - to remind you that time will pass by too quickly, enjoy every moment.

Mirror - to remind you that you are important, too.

Marbles - to replace the onew that you will lose.

Rubberband - to remind you that flexibilty is the key.

Lifesavers - to save you from one of those days.

Tissue - to dry those tears, the baby's and yours.

Lollipop - To lick all your problems away.

Eraser - t0 reminde you that every mom makes mistakes.

Puzzle Piece - Because you are an important piece in your child's journey through life.

I didn't have a clock, so I took a chipboard one, added some hands with a brad and layered it on a piece of matboard.

I also took a round mirror and framed it on matboard.

This is a downward view of the front of the bag.

This is the back of the bag.

Also, a question for everyone reading this, or just passing by. I noticed when I uploaded these photos, I'm apparently using 94% of my allotted space for photos. I find that kinda weird, as I have way more photos on my other blogs. Does anyone know if there's a way I can save my pictures on my computer, so they take up less space?

More past pieces

Art Heart

This an altered tin, I received the tin filled with chocolates for Valentine's Day one year. The paint has been burned off by holding the tin over a gas stove, until it started peeling off and then wiping it down with a towel*

After removing the paint, I layered Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel on to it, heating and adding more embossing enamel until I achieved an even layer. I allowed it to dry, heated it up again and started adding colored embossing enamel (silver, purple, green glitter, and blue) until I achieved the color combination I wanted. After letting it dry again, I heated it up and stamped the word "Art" in black ink, a pine bough and a heart button into the warm enamel. I colored the imprint of the heart button with a turquoise paint pen. To tie in the turquoise color, I added some turquoise faux jewels around the arches of the heart.

This is one of my favorite altered tins. I don't have a gas stove anymore so I have to find other ways to alter tins by adding paper/fabric/paint to them like the butterfly tin below.

Blue Butterfly Tin

This is an altered tin, I received the tin in the mail with junk mail in it. It measures 5 3/4" wide by 5" tall by 1/2" thick. I painted it with a blue Lumiere Jacquared paint. On the front I attached some blue suede printed with a texture stamp. In the corners I have a round bead on top of a gold jewelry finding on top of some glitter. In the lower left and upper right corners, the bead is clear. In the lower right and upper left, it's blue. In the center is a piece of blue suede with butterfly stamped in gold ink framed with a gold paint pen, layered on a piece of glossy gold paper, layered on another piece of the blue suede. I have also used the gold paint pen to frame the blue suede. The lid has some beige fiber around the lip. On the bottom, it is painted with the blue paint with a piece of blue lace on top of it. Inside the tin, I have a 5" long by 4.5" tall journal. The cover is blue paper stamped with a butterfly stamp, covered with a piece of blue vellum, then laced togeter with a piece of navy blue ribbon. The six pages inside are parchment paper measuring 4 1/2" long by 4" tall. I have also included a tiny metallic blue gel pen.

Blue Lady

This piece I did on a stamping trip, my mother and I took through Stamp Lovers, a store that used to be in Ankeny, IA. We got to travel around to various stamp stores in Iowa and make crafts at them. This piece is a matboard silhouette and a matboard hat. This piece was pressed into a stamp pad and then covered in embossing powder and heated up. The silhouette is covered in clear embossing powder with a blue metallic glitter, the hat is covered with a light metallic blue highlighted with the same blue metallic glitter. The embellishment on the hat is a piece of semi melted ribbon and a blue gemstone.

At the store where I did this, I bought the matboard set that had the silhouettes and hats and created another piece, which I will feature in another post.

Blue Stars
This is an altered CD. I scraped the covering off of it and then paintedit with black Neo Opaque paint. After that dried I stamped some stars in a metallic blue ink and embossed them with a clear embossing powder. I added some black and gold micro beads for texture. On the bottom of the piece is some eyelash fiber dangling down. It has a pin back on it.

Create

I have no idea when I did this piece, but I love it so much. It started out as a 4 2/8" by 4 2/8" matte glazed square tile. I painted it with copper and light gold Lumiere paint and black Neo Opaque paint both by Jacquard. I then stamped the dragonfly image in copper ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I glued the fabric Asian dragon image on the lower right corner, balancing the opposite corner with some fiber tied into a tassel and glued a Singapore coin on top of it. Above the dragon is the word create painted with the same copper Lumiere paint and bordered with the black Neo Opaque paint. In the middle of the tile, on the copper painted piece, I glued four teal green square glass beads. Also, below the dragon in the corner is a silver colored "faith" charm. It doesn't go with the rest of the piece at all, but I used some good glue on it, and it's not coming off.

*If you choose to do this, please use metal tongs with some kind of plastic or insulated handles. When wiping off the paint, you have to be careful as the tin will be very hot. DO NOT do this around young children. DO NOT let young children do this technique.

My business cards

I also wanted to mention something else to do with the art walk, kinda. I figured I needed some business cards, and since Etsy was doing a special with Moo.com, I looked at theirs. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the ending date and got my order in a day late, but I still think it was a good deal. At Moo, you can pick a size, not just business cards, add your own photos, pick a template for the back, add your own banner and information. I ordered 150 cards for around $75 dollars, with all the pluses of putting your own things on them, I decided it was a pretty good deal. Here's a couple of the ATC's I put on the cards:

"Surprise"

I made this piece for an exhibit at the Ankeny Art Museum last year. There's a star mounted on a paper tag mounted on some melted Angelina fibers layered onto a piece of striped paper. I also affixed a Surprise embellishment on the bottom.

Keeper of the Key to Remembrance

I made this one for a collage group (the actual group I host and own on Yahoo!) In the background I have a piece of paper I bought, it kinda looks like wrinkled up paper. I added a piece of brown fabric on the corner and a domed sticker with the word remember on top of that. In the top corner, there's a picture of a Victorian baby (I got that out of a picture frame), around his/hers neck is a key charm on a cord. On the left side is a piece of gray and silver napkin, this piece of napkin is what I got to use for the collage swap.

I Got the Blues

This card was also for the same collage group, under a different owner. The theme of this swap was a scavenger hunt, I had to find something blue, music, and a postage stamp. The blue background paper is some kind of mesh glued to a heavier paper. I have a picture of a guy playing the big violin (don't quite know what that's called). There is a wooden heart with UTEE colored with blue and purple embossing powder in the corner of the picture. Underneath the picture is a blue postage stamp of a bi-plane with a piece of blue plastic layered on top of it.

Fun Flowers
This card was done for a white swap of the collage group, a swap that I ran. The items given were the lace in the background and the white flower in the middle. To make this card I first painted the background paper with a spray water-based ink. I attached the lace with flower and round brads. I glued a chipboard flower in the middle and layered a red punch flower on top of that with a yellow brad through the hole of the white flower bead provided.

Faces of the Past

This card has found pictures layered on top of peach paper that's on top of a yellowish mulberry weight paper layered on a foreign book page on a plaid orange background. In the upper right corner is a piece of red and orange plaid napkin.

Drive to the Stars

This card has metallic star stickers affixed onto a paper tag that I colored with green and blue ink. The tag is layered on top of a brownish paper background. The lower left corner is wrapped in a green fabric, the lower right corner is wrapped in a handmade paper. There is a found car picture in the upper right corner.

Dream

This card has a background that I painted with semi-metallic paint. There is a strip of butterfly/silver ribbon diagonally across the card. On the top right corner, the word "Dream" is affixed. Opposite that on the bottom right corner is a grouping of beads. There is a purple bow on the middle of the card.

Art is Therapy

This card is colored with green and blue ink, the same as the tag in the "Drive to the Stars" ATC above. I have layered a piece of blue and green squares paper in the middle of the card lengthwise. Across the bottom is a piece of green/blue plaid ribbon. In the middle of the card is the typed quote "Art is therapy" colored green. In the top right corner is a blue/green bead.

Ancient Book

This card has a cardstock background with a table image and a book image on the table. There is stamped words on the book.

I also added these images to three other cards: A CD piece, an altered tin, and a pin, all listed in my etsy shop.

On the back of my cards I have my banner from my store, name, title, my etsy store addy, and the addy for this blog. The background is green with the information printed in white. I think they look pretty cool. And I'm very excited about them. I've been pretty much showing them off since I got them.

Some of my art history.

I am participating in a local event here in Ames called Art Walk on Friday from 5 to 8 pm. I was looking around for pieces other than my numerous ATC's, to give people a look at what else I do. By looking into that I found a few pieces from further back in my life, a few pieces from before high school even. I thought people might be interested in seeing them, so I'm posting a few photos today, and will continue to post a couple more.
As usual the pictures are backwards. This first one is a close up of part of the 2nd one. This is a piece of matboard covered with ultra thick embossing enamel until it became even thickness throughout, then colored with a blue sparkly embossing powder, and stamped into with a woman's face stamp with black ink.

When I was a senior in high school I took a class called British Literature. After reading something by William Wordsworth, we had to do a project about him (I'm sure there were more requirements, but hell if I know what they were). Anyway, I chose to illustrate the poem The Reverie of Poor Susan.

The Reverie of Poor Susan by William Wordsworth

At the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears,
Hangs a Thrush that sings loud, it has sung for three years:
Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard
In the silence of morning the song of the Bird.

Tis a note of enchantment; what ails her? She sees
A mountain ascending, a vision of trees;
Bright volumes of vapour through Lothbury glide,
And a river flows on through the vale of Cheapsie.

Green pastures she views in the midst of the dale,
Down which she so often has tripped with her pail;
And a single small cottage, a nest like a dove's,
The one only dwelling on earth that she loves.

She looks, and her heart is in heaven: but they fade,
The mist and the river, the hill and the shade:
The stream will not flow, the hill will not rise,
And the colours have all passed away from her eyes!

If you click on the picture, it should enlarge for you. I cut a picture frame out of matboard, placed a typed version of the poem inside and decorated the frame. In the left hand corner is a stamped image in some ultra thick embossing enamel, she's looking up a sign post that says Wood St with a bird sitting on top. There are white circles going from Susan's head up to some stamped mountains, like a thought in her head. On the right side of the frame is a stamped cottage with a "river" traveling up to it. The river is made out of paper. I honestly have no idea what I received on the project, but I want to say it was a B or above. That could be wishful thinking, but I remember my teacher loving my art work.

This next one is also from my senior year of high school when I took a 2D art class and we made paper.

Originally I had this piece as a card with a couple windows cut out of it. But, if you look at it closely, you can see how thin the sides are. My teacher suggested I leave it folded up and mount it so it wouldn't come apart. This first picture is a close up.

I have layered the back page with mulberry paper and an Asian character stamped image mounted on it. The window in the second layer of the piece has mulberry paper around the cutout and covered with a piece of acetate, so it looks like a window. On the front of that piece I have mounted a face stamped in brown glued onto a piece of white mulberry paper. You can't see it very well, but there is a ticket on the corner of this piece with a stamped image on it, I don't remember what it was and I can't tell without taking apart the frame and I'm not doing that. On the front piece, there's a flower punched image on the top and on the bottom there is a bow tied in a reddish yarn.I entered this piece in my senior art show and won first place for best in show in mixed media I believe.

I also entered it into art at my county fair and it won a purple rosette to go to state fair where it won a blue ribbon.
Somewhere in there, most likely before I entered it in my county fair, and after my high school art show, I had it framed in a really nice green frame that really brings out the green mulberry paper in the back of the card.

The last one is just a random piece of artwork.

I also used the matboard/Ultra thick embossing enamel process on this one. The top layer is colored with a lavender embossing powder with silver and peach mixed in. The image is of a line drawing of a leaf stamped in silver. It is layered on brown and white mulberry paper on top of black paper. It's nicely matted in a mat that's had silver ink sponged on top of white matboard and then framed.