Another Mini Canvas

Here is what I played with today. Another 3x3 canvas with Spiced Marmalade Crackle Paint.(I will forever remember Tim making Rachel Greig say "marmalade" every time I use that stuff!) Stamps and vintage pictures are from Julie van Oosten's Collections. The wire hanger is just some wire I twisted and stuck in the side of the frame. The crackle has brown acrylic paint rubbed into it as I again had spots fall off my canvas. Don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I ended up really liking the affect of the paint. I think it's the gesso on the stretched canvas giving me the trouble.

So, I primed my board canvas, shown underneath, with black acrylic and then used the ever popular Peeled Paint over that. And it did not come off!!! Love it! Yea!!! Haven't figured out what to put on that canvas, just like looking at the crackle for awhile....sick person that I am.... and so easily amused.

MiniCanvas Collage

Got to play for awhile today. This is what I accomplished for the entire afternoon....along with buying 5 songs with my new iTune card! (Had to call the grandkid twice, but I made it!)
This is a Collections vintage photo. This little 3x3 inch stretched canvas was painted with Crackle paint and stamped with the wings stamp from Stampers Anonymous when dry. Glossy accents adheres the little girl to canvas. I used Adirondack acrylics paint to add dimension and a miniMARKS rub-on at the bottom. Metal accents and ribbons top it off. Fun time!

Merry Christmas Eve Everyone!

Erin, the blond with the Santa hat in yesterday's pic, and I had to play with tags today. She HAD to wrap hers and take it before I could scan it, so, alas, only mine is in the blog today. She REALLY loves to emboss...it's so magical when you first learn it! And yes, I am rather addicted to the Stamper's Anonymous Santa. Sorry....the metal number 25 is embossed metal from Ten Seconds Studio. I used distress inks, embossed snowflakes, and painted the hat and holly around Santa. Some Stickles for glitz and a foam stamp from Making Memories.
Be safe, be well.

Frannie's Christmas Card Tag

Must show you what I received yesterday! Isn't she beautiful?!?!?!? I'm so proud of what my friend Fran did with this tag. She is the one who got me "hooked" on stamping after a class reunion a few years ago, and this is STUNNING! The German Glitter Glass is so wonderful. The picture of course does not do it justice. The holographic snowflake and beads really make for a great glitzy look and she anchored it so well with the gold German scrap. It was surely my lucky day....all quiet here on the homefront....grandkids are with the other grandparents today.

Thanks again, Frannie!

***New information!!!!

Check out her blog at http://theartisticspirit.blogspot.com/

And the wonderful little ATC Christmas card arrived from Greta Young in Australia! Isn't she a beauty?!?!?!? Her backgrounds are sooooo wonderful! The holly is 3D and really adds so much to this little gem. Thank you Greta, again, my lucky day!

Happy Birthday Michelle!

Today is my oldest daughter, Michelle's Bday! And we did Christmas, too, since we have people in the service sector that have to work on Christmas Eve. Here I am with the 3 oldest grandkids in my studio CREATING!!! We used Grundgeboard, Crackle Paints, flowers, brads and painted wood boxes, frames and a mini clipboard. Alex LOVED the Crackle paint, especially when he finally got to hit it with the heat tool!

We have our good duds covered with our paint shirts so we don't get in trouble with the mom's. Emma, the 3yr old, has already done her "Aut Prawject" and is back with Dora the Mermaid doll. Erin is the master of dots with paint and Brit has the designing eye for color and simplicity. We had a GREAT time and they were Nana's little angels all day!

Gift Card Holder

Well, everything seems to have the same looks right now since it's Christmas and I'm possessed with Grungeboard. This is a giftcard holder. It's a wooden box painted with Metallic Red paint..looks somewhat orange here but it's not. Then the paper by Basic Grey is stamped with snowflakes and embossed in copper. Ribbons, wire, brads from Imaginisce and jingle bells make it a bit more festive.

Be well. Be safe.

Mini-Houses Swap

These are a few of the houses done for a swap with some wonderful girls across the pond. Most have elements in them from Julie vanOostens great Collections products. All have been Distress inked and dotted with pens. They were wonderfully fun. Can't wait for the swap to make it here.

****Update****

You have GOT to check out Gaby's houses for this swap. They are absolutely STUNNING!!!!

http://colorfuladventures.blogspot.com/2007/11/little-houses-made-for-swap.html

Nasty Weather in the Midwest

OK. I had an epiphany. I turned off the new energy saving lights and used the Ott light and window light, and it gave me the true colors..the new lights have green neon hues to them, hence the lack of blue in my shots!

Ice and more ice on the way. Guess it's a good day to stay in and make art! The class for tomorrow in Bloomington is moved to Sunday. That's a good thing...DH is glad to hear that.He made me a holder for my mini-misters yesterday. What a handy dude! May get it filled up and loaded later.
Stay warm, and you guys in Australia....we are very jealous of the warm beach.

****Update...bad ice storm on the way tonight. Went and got supplies so we don't starve! Made this mini clipboard this afternoon. I love the stamp from Stampers Anonymous and the Grungeboard!!!! FUN!! Used alcohol inks on the metal to antique it a bit. Stickles add a bit of glitz. The large brad from Imaginisce is ice blue and the blue in the paper does not show up...my pics lack a lot!

My Attempt at a Tag

Well, I've been working on this all day...I tend to overthink things, but if I don't, I trash them later. Didn't like the bird after I posted it. That's life.....so here is my attempt to do a "Tim Tag" with some of the things he has taught us so far. I inked the Santa stamp -Stampers Anonymous -with different colors and then embossed. The main tag is from the tutorial today..ink, emboss, then ink again. I used the clear powder on all of it. Got a book of rubons by miniMarks (no link on the package) that's what's on the chipboard with 25. Added a few more white dots for balance. Distress inks Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Frayed Burlap, and Black Soot were used. Added some ribbons, ephemera, and distressed the edges. The German Scrap gives just a touch of glitz. The little holly leaves are from See D's. Now, I'm off to drool over the package that came from Julie vanOosten in Austalia today!!! Her Collections chipboard, stamps, and collage elements are truly wonderful. Check them out...please.

Bird on Canvas

Crackle paint on Maya Road bird and branch. I used Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany, and Peeled Paint for this project. The stamp is See D's page corners. Distress Embossing powder Vintage Photo is used on the edges. Somewhat simple projects take me more time than the ones with gobs of things on them. Hope you like this...what do you think...is simple much harder to do?

Anniversary Card

Well, let's hope Mr. Blogger has corrected the problem with clicking on the pictures. Wendy's is OK, so I hope mine will be, too!

This is an anniversary card for my SIL and BIL. We have the same date only 34 years later! 60 YEARS for them!!!! WOW.

Here is the ever popular Grundgeboard letter, Imaginisce papers, flowers and center brads. See d's corner stamps and Crackle Paint...love that stuff! Distressed as usual, used the Bind-It-All to put it together, added ribbons and we're off like a prom dress! HA..little humor.

All Crackled out for the day!

Here are just a few of the things I crackled late last night. Still thinking about what to put on canvas, it's way too cool to cover up!!! Will maybe just look at it for awhile first....and enjoy...as no one else could! HA! The colors are not very true, no matter what I did, the Mahogany Crackle Paint looked burnt orange. But those of you who know the true colors will understand. The green star looks gold...not understanding this at all...Rachel where are you?!??! The Faded Jeans crackle REALLY looks faded! Thought I'd take it with some daylight today, but there is nothing but sheets of rain coming down...absolutely no sun today!

Be sure to check out Tim's blog...it's a gift in unto itself!!!!

Tim Holtz Blog!!! Check it out!

OK, we all know Tim is the best, but he's even outdone himself here. His 12 days of Christmas is gonna send the artists out there into cardiac arrest. It is a wonderful gift to his followers, but that's just t!m. Gotta love him.
http://timholtz.typepad.com/

Christmas Star Book

A good day. Delivered a store sample to LSS (got that new term from Wendy's blog), gave Wendy her Christmas card and birthday presents, had a little lunch, did a little shopping, bought a new pair of shoes, and everything is right with the world. What more can a girl ask for?!?!?! I can finally put up the star. This is Wendy's Christmas card, we do tend to go a little over the top. But I didn't want to post the picture until I GAVE it to her. It's what started all the Melissa Frances books that have been so much fun. The paper is Cosmo Cricket and the snowflakes are Imaginisce. I used antique rick-rack I found for a dime! Stickers are layered up and from DaisyD's. Of course a project could not be complete without Tim's Distress Inks and various stamps from Printworks.

Christmas Wine Box

Got back from a very impromptu trip to Branson to see a couple of Christmas shows. DH just decided we needed to get away for a few days. Got to FINALLY visit with Sharon and Chris at the RED LEAD shop in St. Louis!!!! What a wonderfully inspiring pair of sisters! WOW...neat shop, neat people, and really cool stuff. Also stopped into the Branson shop and picked up several stamps there. Good trip. Now to put some things together for a few gifts before the snow flies.

You know, sometimes it takes longer to take the darn picture than it does to make the entire project. Here I made a wine box for one of the friends we travel with. These things are really great for adding papers. The box is the Bare Elements line by Creative Imaginations. Again, papers and ribbons and inks, oh my. I had fun, but I'm so easily amused. Still have got to get going and make another book. Supplies just came in, so I'll probably be up working while my DH gets his beauty sleep. I'm a nightowl and he's not.

Puzzle Swap

Ok Girls! Got my 4 puzzle pieces done. Hope they meet the requirements for all of you. They were sure fun to work with. I had no idea what to expect. For some reason I thought they would be a lot smaller, but very glad they were not! We used Urban Couture by Basic Grey. Vintage children were the theme. Here, of course, I used Collections vintage pics.The sheet of paper I used had the big beautiful flowers that I used as my background and Gaby had the great idea to paint over them for backgrounds. It worked out well since the puzzle is very thick. I used some of the Crackle Paint from Tim Holtz for the leaves. (I know leaves aren't really blue, but I had to work that into the color scheme.) . Thanks for the invite to this swap, and I'll try to figure out how to mail them next week.....too much food and family shopping right now!
Have a great weekend!!!!

Christmas Book

This didn't photograph very well. Glitter doesn't show up as it really is. But, this Melissa Frances "open up album" was fun to decorate with Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding. The black trim is by Creative Cafe.Very nice to work with. This is a shop sample for the Peoria store. Now I just need to find time to get it there!

Distress Crackle Paint

Here is my attempt at Tim's new Crackle Paint. It took me a bit to get it on the little letters...no fault of the paint...and you must put it on thick. One other thing...let it dry!!!! Coming from one who does not WAIT well, that's asking a lot, but it's well worth it. Great stuff!!! Hope you can see all the little cracks in the small picture. I used Aged Mahogony and Peeled Paint.

FINALLY...the class in Row Houses!

OK, we finally got a class figured out for the Row Houses. Two places, one in Bloomington at Scrapbook Friendz (date not finalized yet)and one in Peoria at Scrapadoodle the end of January. I heard from a couple of you out there who asked about it, so here is the class sample. If you're around, come and join us. It will definitely be FUN!

Who are these "Little Darlings?"

Here's a picture of the store sample I made for Scrapbook Frienz in Bloomington. It's using Dream Street Papers and their cool albums with sticky papers all ready to attach! FUN! And easy to put together. The rub ons are 7Gypsies. Other stamps by Autumn Leaves, Collections and Hero Arts.And yes, those are my two little "friends in ART", Erin and Emma in their new robes from Aunt Micki and Uncle Carlo!

Happy Birthday Bill

I know

every one has already done great things with the Bind-It-All. But what can I say. I'm a late bloomer and this is the first project I did with mine. (Finally making time to take it out of the box does wonders!) Today is my DH 's birthday so here is the little card I made for him...front and back. The inside has many personal promises...no just kidding. But I didn't want to bore you. The rub ons on the front are from Ten Seconds Studio, thanks to Cheryl. Of course there are Distressables from Tim Holtz, stamps from the lovely Julie vanOosten Collections, Stampers Anonymous and Stamping Sensations...I LOVE her blue rubber! I cut apart a Creative Imaginations book, papered it, and bound it together.

Wonderful fun!

Happy Birthday, Honey! You're the best!

Happy Birthday Erin!

Well, Erin won 1st place of $30 for best costume. However, at the end of the night she found she had gotten a hole in her candy bag and all her candy had fallen out when running in the dark. Hence the sad look. Even money doesn't make up for lost candy when you're 6 years old. Maybe tomorrow when she's 7 things will be different!

What do you think?

Heeeere's Emma!

Here is one of the "little darlings" that stayed with us for 5 days! It was a trip, needless to say. We had a great time and made lots of "Art Pwodjects." They just LOVE my pens....how can you get a little one to NOT press sooooo hard with a pen?!?!?! And of course they always want your BEST ones! They do have good taste.....gotta love 'em.

Gotta Get to Work!

OK, I've got to get going and work on the 7 little houses in the swap I've been invited to be in....whoo! whoo!...with the wonderfully talented group of ladies from Australia!!! I am so excited!!! AND I have to post the 7 things about me that are strange, having been tagged by my talented friend Wendy Vecchi...you gotta look at her blog....terrific stuff!
Here goes:
1. I'm very anal (sorry if that offends)..everything must be straight and in a line in my art. Not always a good thing.

2. I, too have to tear out all the cards from magazines before I can read them! Maybe this should be a sign to those editors that we don't really like them!

3. I once raced a BOSS 302 Mustang in Jim Conna (sp?) races before we sold the car to someone who wanted to race it in Australia.

4. After work I would come home and turn off anything in the house making noise, TV, radio, kids....ok that didn't work, and clear everything off the kitchen counter. Had to do it to create some semblance of peace before I could do anything.

5. Told my kids to call me when they were out late...anytime...they could lie to me about where they were ....just let me know they were alive and ok. Hopefully they didn't have to lie too many times!

6. I had a boyfriend who couldn't bait his own hook....fishing...and I would do it just to go fishing with him...his wife still hates me for dating him. Too bad. Maybe she should have liked minnows a little bit more.

7. Have a bad habit of wanting to staighten anyone else's pictures that are hanging crooked....doctor's, friend's, mild aquaintances...not always a good thing. Did anyone say OCD?

Morton HS Marching Band 4th in AA at Atlanta BOA!!!

Yes, you could say I am very proud of my son's band!!! That would be an understatement. They were at Atlanta, Georgia this weekend with bands from all over the south and midwest. Did an OUTSTANDING job representing Illinois. They were the only ones there from our state. His 2 daughters stayed with us and they are the "little darlings" I referred to earlier!!

These are the last 2 pages of the board book using daisyDs papers, stickers, tags and rub ons. I LOVED the rub ons! The light blue snowflakes didn't photo well, but you get the ides. They were beautiful to work with. The Santa is by Stampers Anonymous, Distress Inks by ranger add depth and aging.

Store Sample

This is the first page of the book. Love the little kid's expression!

With the grandkids in bed, I can now load the store sample of the Cloud9Design board book in a box. The front was fun, but there were 14 sides to cover with the front and back! WHEW! Glad that was done. Used daisyD's cardstock stickers, rub-ons (shich I LOVED!) tags, ribbons and papers. They all worked out great. Must get them to Teresa Monday. Distress Inks and stamps by Autumn Leaves, Tim Holtz, Imaginisce, and Impression Obsessions were used.

Time for info

Just wanted to add a little more information about the products in the Row Houses. Some have asked about the substrate, it's black mat board. Several of the vintage pictures are from Julie van Oosten's Collections.They are to die for!!! Her stamps and chipboard are wonderful. You must check them out!
A lot of the words are Tim Holtz Distressables. Great to work with. And not all the metal was embossed by me. Some strips are from Making Memories and they work great having the sticky stuff already on them! Ask any questions you want....there are no secret remedies here!

Now, go make a house!
Linda

Row Houses-Finished at last!

Yesterday was a gloomy day. So the pictures of the houses didn't turn out at all. But today we have a bit of sun and the sunroom gave us a good picture. I'm no Rachel Greig (LOVE her work), but these did turn out very true to color and I'm happy with the shot. They are hanging from 24g copper wire. No holes in these walls. And I really like it. The beadboard is vinyl so it can expand with the weather in the sunroom, so we agreed on "hanging" things from the top.

Now, the "little darlings" can play for 4 days....starting Thursday PM until early Monday...and I can feel like I got something accomplished and sit in my chair!

Thanks to everyone who encouraged me along the way. You're all truly my Friends in ART.

The LAST House

WHEW!!! The last house is done! What a fun project this was. The picture is of me on my grandfather's tractor in the middle of Nebraska. My middle name is Marie and dad would call me that on occasion. So here I am, in all my glory, cowgirl hat and shirt. The carefree days we enjoyed in the 50's. All 10 are done and now all I have to do is glue them onto the backboard of the frame. It is totally AMAZING what Distress Inks can do to any paper! Now I can get out there and cut down the garden...looking forward to that....not.

State Champions Marching Band!!! And House #9

Morton High School Marching Band State Champions 3 years running!WHOO!WHOO! Congratulations to all the kids, parents, and directors for all their hard work and dedication!!! Oh yea, my son's the Band Director....just a little bit proud!!! AND they ended up 7th overall in the STATE! WOW!

Got house number 9 done after all the excitement. That's me at about 2 years during my undercover stint with the agency! Only one more to do!

This one has hardware cloth, Everlasting Keepsakes chipboard. Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Distressables. The pen nibs were just something shiney to anchor the bottom.

Cirque tonight and THIS is what got me started!

Going to the Cirque tonight and will work on the next house for the wall hanging. Thought I would load the little houses that got me started on this journey. These little houses are sooooo much fun. You MUST look at http://TimHoltz.com/ for his video on Grunge Board!
It's terrific stuff and a wonderful video! We saw him demonstrate it at CHA.

Here is Number 8!

Here is number 8 in the Row Houses. It is my husband at about 3 years old. The color isn't quite true, but you get the idea. The frame is a belt buckle that he sawed the middle piece out for me. And the antique metal piece is from something, but don't know what. If anyone knows, please tell me!

A Day of Shopping

No pictures tonight. Just bags of goodies on the work table. A trip to my old home area for my grandson Alex's football game,(Yea Spartans!) and a bit of shopping always brings a smile to my face. Everyone needs a new Christmas tree when there's still 2 weeks until Halloween! But my old bones did not like the cold, damp, aluminum bleachers that we had to sit on for 2 hours....flannel jammies and a warm robe will help. And maybe a little touch of schnapps. Tomorrow perhaps another house with some of the new finds of the day....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Seven is a Magic Number

Worked most of the day on this one! The top is Ten Second Studio metal, embossing plates, and tools then alcohol inks to color. Turned out better than I anticipated. My favorite brother-in-law is the child in the picture with his siblings about 1926 era. The point didn't please me, struggled with it all afternoon, then finally figured it needed a background to bring it forward! That did it for me! Hope everyone enjoys looking....only 3 more to go!! WHOO! WHOO!!

Row of 6

This is the latest combination..have determined that I need 4 more houses. I can see an end in site. Now I cannot figure out the background. Black looks so good, but the FRAME is black, too. Decisions, decisions, decisions! Will try for a new one today. I do have them all cut out at least. That's an accomplishment!

House #6

Well, I have 15 minutes until October 10th is over. I had the little 3 yr old today as she was running a fever....seemed to be just fine by about 9 o'clock! But that's good...nothing worse than a sick child. Got another card done today and house number 6 on the block. It's a bit smaller, but took the longest to put together so far. Lots of metal on this one...embossed, junk, and brads! The copper is Ten Seconds Studio metal.

Will try another tomorrow!

It's almost tomorrow now!

Going Metal

Today I had
a new idea
for the row
houses.
I think I
will use some of Ten Seconds Studio's black metal in the next one on the block. This is a box with it. This newer line is wonderful to work with.
Will get back with the results later.

Another House on the Block

Had the little darlings today for a bit. Jeff's got a bug and not feeling too well, mommy is working. So we watched a movie and I made the next house on the block. Number 5!

Going to teach some classes at Scrapadoodle in Peoria. Teresa is so great to work with. Looking forward to meeting some new people and learning from a nice group of people.

Row Houses

Another house is built for the ongoing collection for the sunroom picture. And a little updating was done on the previous number 2 house.
Great, great fun and cheap therapy! More images from Collections. Stamps, 7Gypsies tape, Everlasting Keeksakes chipboard, and metal tape.These are becoming an addiction!

And now we have 2 Houses

Added one more to the "Row of Houses" for the sunroom wall hanging. This is going very slow!!! Might be Christmas before we have a completion date....a closing so to speak....more of Julies' wonderful things from

Collections.

This is a post knob that was cut off of the old deck. I decided to decorate it and display it out in the new sunroom. The old and the new!

Here we go!!!

EVERYONE needs a blog!!! Just talked to my friend who got me started in all this ART about 5 years ago, Fran, and we commiserated over the idea of new computers!!! You have to be able to bend with the wind to survive in business, and that's what I've come realize is true for life in general. SO........ I will finally start this blog I registered for many months ago.

Come along and enjoy the ride!

Linda

What has been happening in my life

Since I'm starting this I guess it would be good to show and tell a bit about what's been going on in our household lately. From the pictures I loaded, you can see that we decided to tear off the old deck (didn't look as good as that picture now!) and add a sunroom to the back of the house. Allergies, bugs, the fact it was 10 years old, all played a part in the decision. Long story short....it was a great experience and went much, much better than we could possibly imagine. But, right in the middle of it all, my mom passed away rather suddenly, and the joy of it all seemed lost.

Seven weeks have gone by, and I feel like I was "lost in space" or just in a complete fog all that time. My mind was like mush, and all I wanted to do was sleep. My art projects sat unfinished among all the things I had bought during our CHA convention trip on my desk in the studio. I really didn't care about anything.

But about 4 days ago, the fog seemed to lift a bit. My things got put away in a new set of drawers Wendy and I found at a really neat shop. I bought some new papers (does wonders for the soul, heh?) and LIFE GOES ON.

Here's to mothers everywhere. ASK ALL THOSE QUESTIONS NOW that you've thought about and wondered. Don't wait....you never know when they will be gone forever and you will not have the chance. And just do the best you can....life's too short.

And thanks to Wendy, I'm finally getting this blog started that I signed into so long ago. Here's to friends, too! They lift us up, when we need it most.

Have a great day!