Back to School

Well, it is that time this year - all the kids are going back to school.  I felt a little left out the other day when I was at Wal-mart and I didn't have any school supplies to buy.  In order to feel part of the crowd I bought a new day planner!   "Here is an arch I made for the Gothic Arches'  " Back to School" theme.  Can't you see this little schoolgirl  puzzling over  the "new math"?  Of course, her new math was a great deal different from the new math of today.

For my arch I began with a piece of cardstock on which I did TJ Bleach Swipe technique.  The schoolgirl image is from Graphics Fairy and the numbers she is working out are from a stamp by Artistic Outpost.

Scraplings-Second Pair

Once you get started making Scraplings it is hard to quit.  The nice thing about it is that they use those small pieces of cardstock.  The one on the left uses Stampin' Up's small flower stamp while the one on the right uses a stamp from Scrolls Work.

Scraplings-First Pair

This is my first pair of Scraplings.  Gingersnap Creations has an art swap this month of Scraplings.  I have never made any of these before.  The first is my entry for the Sunshine theme of Gingersnaps Creations that ends today.  The second uses a stamp from Artistic Outpost..

WOW! 1500 and Counting

I never thought that I would have 1500 visitors  to my blog in less that one year.  Thank you each one for visiting my site and I hope you were inspired.  Please continue to come back.

Compendium of Curiosities No.9

I finally got my copy of Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities.  This is my first entry in this challenge.  The exact challenge was to create something using Distress Crackle.  My background is almost like leather as I worked with it quite a bit.  It doesn''t act like cardstock, but has a very flexible and soft feel.  On it I did a technique called Embossed Acrylic and then lightly distressed it. 

The frame in the middle of the arch contains my crackle paint which has been distressed.  It looks almost like marbling.  Within the distressed crackle are some stamped crowns.   The stamp used was from Stampoer Anonymous.  I was trying for an antique-looking picture showing crown   As a finishing touch, I addedd some paper lace and a flower.  This will also be entered into the Gothic Arches' Crowns challenge.

Mannequin

This has been the most interesting challenge that I have participated in.  It is the Mannequin Challenge at Tag Tuesday.  Their guest hostess picked this theme.  I have a couple of pics showing different views of my entry.  The first thing I did was to use my pattern stamp from B-Line.  I thought that would be a perfect start.  Next I used  a piece of gold heart and cut away most of it so it would fit around the neck.  Afterwards  I draped a piece of material from an old skirt that I had.  I clipped the top of the drap with a decorated paper clip.  Next to show the waistline I put a piece of trim around the waist.   The trim has an organza ribbon weaving in and out of a strip of pearls. 

As an added touch I glued a safety pin to "hold" the pattern on the manneequin.

I felt that the piece was a little out of balance so I used a stamp from Artistic Outpost that had numbers going in different directions as I remembered when I sewed that almost all of my patterns had numbers or markings that meant nothing to me. Finally, I put a little scroll cutout from my Cricuit on the corner bottom to give it a little more weight and balance on that side.. 

I really enjoy making this mannequin.  I definitely will be doing this again even if it is not for a challenge. 

Gingersnap's Markers Challenge

This is a card I made for the Gingersnap Creations'  Markers Challenge.  This was a very enjoyable piece to do.  I had received this image from a girl with Technique Junkies when I first joined the group so I don't know the origin of the stamp, but i love the image.  I hope she likes what I did with it.  The inage was colored with Copic Markers. In  the center of the roses I used  a Spica gel pen.  The greeting was from the computer.

The matting behind the image is Coredinations technique.  I had to sand this very lightly as I was using paper instead of cardstock.  At the bottom a lacy punch was used.

The embellishment made the scanner sit up on one edge thus the lighting is bad.

Antique Wallpaper

Heere is a card I  made a couple of weeks ago.  It uses the Antique Wallpaper background.  This is a very fun and quick technique.   The image is from Twisted Papers and the perfect greeting is from Scrolls Work.

Owls in a Tree

Owls is the theme for this week at.Gothic Arches  Here is a pic of the arch I made with owls.  For this one I put owls in a tree.   Hidden in the tree are three owls,  a large one and two little owls.  Stamps are by Hero Arts  The background is Cuttlebug Highlight technique.

Black-White with a Little Green

Black and White with a Little Green is the color combination for the Pay Date Cafe Challenge this week. When I saw what the colors were supposed to be I knew exactly what I wanted to create. This card uses the Pinwheel technique, one of the Technique Junkies techniques for August. If you are not a member, you are missing a wonderful resource for learning new techniques..You can find out more information about the TJ subscription here

New Tool

I have finally tried out my new tool - an airbrushing gun.  I used three colors of Copic markers,  I'm please with my first attempt.  This is an adaption of the Whimsey Copic Background.  I couldn't locate my white pen so I stamped in cranberry ink for accent.  The background is a Hampton Arts stamp  The main stamp  (women) is from Artistic Outpost.   The greeting is from an old unknown stamp.

Winner of First Blog Candy

CONGRATULATIONS!

Rebecca Cook

Thank you for participating in my first blog candy.  Contact Inka at Altered Artifacts and pick out your collage sheet.