Happy New Year and Blogger technical difficulties

Happy New Year 2013!
Due to technical difficulties with Blogger at this time, I am unable to upload any photos to my blog. This has been going on for over a week now. I will resume posting my art as soon as the problem has been corrected. Thanks for your patience!
I hope everyone has the best year yet in 2013.
Take care! :D

Christmas Cards - Stampscapes

 

 

These are two Christmas cards that I made this year. I masked the area off with post-it notes and sponged colour onto the front of each card. I stamped my Stampscapes images in black. Then I dry embossed around the edges with my Scor-Buddy. I also made a fancy insert with masking for the insides. I used non-traditional colours for these cards and I'm pleased with the way they turned out.
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas this year. :D

Christmas Bookmarks - Emboss Resist

I made 6 different bookmarks with the emboss-resist method. First I heat embossed the background with snowflakes or Christmas trees on white glossy cardstock. Then I sponged different colours of ink over the whole glossy piece. Then I mounted them on white cardstock with ink sponged around the edges and then mounted that onto a coloured cardstock. I added matching coloured yarns and ribbons to the top.

 

You can click on any of these photos to see the design up close.
Next is how I finished off the back of each bookmark.

It is fun to watch my family and friends picking out their bookmark. :D

 

 

 

Christmas Bookmarks - Snowmen Pyramid

Here is another bookmark that I made this year. It was stamped on white, coloured with markers and edged with silver marker. I drew the sign and outlined it in red. I added a red snowflake at the top. I love this little snowman stamp. I stamped it five times to make a snowman stack! Then I stamped some silver snowflakes around the snowmen and added glitter to the snowflakes with some stickles.
Here is a close-up.

Happy stamping! :D

My 100th Blogpost! Christmas Bookmarks - Christmas Characters

 

 

Merry Christmas season! This is my 100th blogpost! Wow! :D

I first stamped these tall bookmarks on white cardstock.  I sprayed two of them with spray inks and then glitter spray. Then I coloured them in with marker and added some stickles and added stitch marks around the edges with a fine black marker. The other two I coloured in with markers and a gitter marker and some stickles. Then I outlined them with a silver marker. Then I mounted them all onto black cardstock. I'm going to laminate them but wanted to take the photos first to prevent the glare from the laminating.
I hope you're having fun with all of your Christmas projects too!

Christmas Card - From Our House to Yours

Merry Christmas everyone!
I made this card using masking, sponging, stamping, colouring and glittering.
I wish you all joy and peace no matter what you celebrate this season. :D
Enjoy!

Zentangle Inspired Art - Christmas Tree

This is a zentangle I did in my small sketch journal. I saw a Christmas tree drawn like this on the blog www.rainbowelephant.com. I then tangled inside the tree with my own ideas. I added the hanging decorations and base and then printed Merry Christmas. I shaded with pencil.
How are you doing with your Christmas projects? I still have bookmarks and cards to do. Christmas always sneaks up too fast!
Happy creating! :D

Healthy Lifestyle Journal - Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin Feels

This is my new mantra....Nothing tastes as good as thin feels!
For this 2-page spread, I first covered the pages with striped patterned paper. Then I sprayed Adirondack Color Wash through a Crafter's Workshop stencil. I stamped the border with border stamps that I made with left over rubber. I then wrote my mantra title with a black marker pen and did some journaling.
Now let's hope it works!!! :D
Have a healthy and creative day.

Healthy Lifestyle Journal - Eat Clean

This is the first two page spread in my Healthy Lifestyle Journal.
I did this mixed media collage page using some grocery ads. I first painted and stamped the background and then added patterned paper for the border. I outlined the border with a fine line marker and stamped on it as well. Then I collaged pictures of fruit on one side of the spread and vegetables on the other side. I added the title with a marker.
Here's to happy, healthy eating! :D

Healthy Lifestyle Journal - Title Page

I bought a composition book to use as a journal for my healthy lifestyle pages. I will use this book for inspiration and encouragement,  information, recipes, workout plans and anything else that helps me live and feel better.
I began by gluing two pages together and did this mixed media title page. I gessoed the page and then used paints and inks and stamps and markers and stickles....and whatever I can't remember.... to create this page.
Stay tuned for more pages to come. If you have some ideas for my book, please let me know! I'd love some input from you.
Here's to healthy living!  :D

Mixed Media Canvas - Friends in the House

Karen Ellis runs a store called The Art House Studio. It was located in Kitchener, ON but she has now moved it to a bigger space in Cambridge, ON. She asked a few of her customers to create a canvas with a house on it to help decorate her new studio. She gave each of us a 6"x12" canvas. This is the canvas that I created.
I made a photo house using photos from a Mixed Minded workshop that we went to with mixed media artist Donna Downey. I even put our pictures in the flower centers! The top photo is Donna and Karen. The second one down is me and Donna. The third down is Donna and my friend Linda. The bottom photo is Donna being kissed by Karen. All good fun!

 The canvas was first covered in tissue paper with matte gel medium and then painted and stamped and inked and anything else I could think of! *L* The background behind the houses was 3 shades of green patterned paper with inks and paints and stamps on it. I created the big house using corrugated cardboard and some paints and inks. I drew the smaller houses and the sun on light-weight cardstock and coloured them in with markers and cut them out and glued them to the canvas. I drew the tree trunks on cardstock and cut out the upper part of the trees with patterned paper and attached them to the canvas.

This side view shows the dimnension of the corrugated cardboard house.
Below are some detailed views. If you click on any of these pictures, you can see a bigger photo. Check out those happy faces in the flowers!!!  :D I also doodled with a fine line black marker all over the canvas to add interest.

 

 

This is my first canvas and I really had fun creating it.
I hope there's always sunshine and smiles in your house!

 

Zentangle Inspired Art - Tropical Rock

This past summer my friend Sharon and I collected some flat rocks to use to draw zentangles. I traced the rock into my small sketch journal and then drew my design in that shape. I wanted to practice the design before I drew it on the rock. I coloured it in with markers.
Here is a picture of the rock and journal. I put a micron marker in the picture as a size comparison. I still haven't drawn the design on the rock yet! I'll have to try it soon.

Happy Halloween! :D

Tree Art Journal - Autumn's Splendor

I just love the colours of Fall. I did this scene in my tree art journal using all the fall colours. I stamped it with the Stampin' Up stamp set called "Season of Friendship". I sponged the background and used masks for the sun and cloud. Then I doodled the frame and printed the title. The wee bird is singing in the tree.
Happy Fall y'all!

Tree Art Journal - Christmas Joy Tree

Christmas in October? Actually no! *LOL* I played with this page for months doing little bits of it at a time. I followed a You Tube video by Christy Tomlinson called "Christy Tomlinson Mixed Media Collage: Dec 2012 Kit". Christy did this on a canvas and I did mine in my tree art journal. I did not try to copy hers, but used the ideas to create my own version.
The background has tissue paper glued all over it so it has a lot of texture. Stamping and painting were also added to the background. Then the tree was collaged on using different Christmas themed patterned papers. Then I doodled and glittered and stamped on the tree to "decorate" it.
This page was a lot of fun to do and very different for me.
Have fun trying something new today!!!!   :D

Zentangle Inspired Art - Cayke Walk

This page in my small sketch journal was inspired by a new tangle pattern I saw on www.TanglePatterns.com called Cayke created by Rose Brown. I wanted to give the pattern a try and this is what I created. The Cayke tangle is at the top and bottom of this tangle.
This was fun. Have you tried a new tangle pattern lately? Give it a try.
Happy Tangling! :D