Tag Tuesday - Calendar & Mixed Media Monday

At Kard Krazy, Louise's theme today was calender, dates and such. This is my entry:

Reflections

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The calendar is not prominent, but is there.  I love this old illustration of a colonial lady reflecting over the letter she is holding. What are her thoughts - is she having to choose between two suitors? She is pensive and still. Materials used include shimmery fabric flower, gem, ribbon, and champagne colored pressed glass corner.

I was listening to Pandora instrumental music while doing this. It had a romantic mood to it, can you tell? :)

Yesterday's challenge for Mixed Media Monday was simply art. This small mixed media greeting card was the result.

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Still going through the stacks in the drawers and using up scraps!

Celebrating Our Daughter's Birthday!

Twenty seven years ago today, we were given the best gift a parent could receive - the birth of our wonderful daughter Tabitha! I still remember the wonder as I held her and marveled at how lovely she was. She was almost 6 weeks premature and weighed just over 5 pounds. John and I have been blessed ever since with this gift from God.

Yesterday we celebrated her birthday a day early, since there were conflicts with doing it today. She received some special gifts and we went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch.

Abby trying to help; now she won't need to borrow our vacuum cleaner!

 The cake was gluten free, nut free, organic and delicious! Since it was 1/3 the size of a regular cake, there are 9 candles on there, 1/3 the number of her birthday years! We also had Green Tea ice cream. She and John love it, but it's not my cup of tea. (ahem....)

Abby once again trying to help, notice the tongue? Then I got a great shot of her blowing out the candles!

Another gift, this one in an envelope I made her. It's a subscription to  Altered Couture Magazine, something she really wanted.

Then, a special letter her father wrote her, which she almost teared up over.

And on to the restaurant (yes, we had dessert first - I recommend it!) and unfortunately in both of these shots I got John and the Chef with their eyes closed :P

She left from there to meet a friend and see a local production of Peter Pan, which she told us later was terrific.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR PRECIOUS DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!

Sunday Postcard Art - Autumn Glory

Autumn is making herself known in many areas, even here finally as the temperature will be highs in the 60's tomorrow (F), where it has been in the 90's! Sunday Postcard Art is celebrating Autumn this week with Autumn Glory as the theme.

Autumn Colors

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I painted the card metallic silver, then rubbed on a few distress ink colors. Then I added some alcohol inks and moved them around by blowing through a straw. I rubber stamped a maple leaf with StazOn in Timber Brown, and then added some gold leaf around the edges.

Welcome Autumn!

More Tape Transfers

I've been on a roll doing these tape transfers this week. (Pun not intended!) Might as well use a bowl of water for making several transfers before the water got murky and had to be discarded.

The first one is for the History of The Month's Name ATC swap. October comes from the Roman word for eight and also, it was the month the Anglo Saxons celebrated the start of winter during October's full moon. In Rome, the goddess Ceres was honored as the goddess of the harvest. Her name gave us the word "cereal".

October

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The moon is a tape transfer from vintage ephemera, and the harvest scene came from a book of old French advertising cuts. The 8 in brackets is grungeboard with metallic coloring. Spica and Sakura pens used for accent.

This next piece is a Skinny made for a private swap with a friend in the Netherlands. She asked that I surprise her, so I hope she like this.

Plum Choice

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I colored the stamped lady image with Spica pens, then added a tape transfer of plums from a greeting card. Distress inks were used on the sides and then a swirl of "gems" was added. I think it turned out pretty well.

On another topic, I noticed that the weather forecast for Sunday calls for the highs to be 68 - 70 degrees!! Yippee! The leaves are starting to change color and there is rain in the forecast for a couple of days next week. That will be wonderful, we are in bad need of rain.

Hope you all of a nice weekend!

Button and Banner

This is a "two fer" - a project for two challenges:Kard Krazy Tag Tuesday (make a banner) and Mixed Media Monday (add a button).

The Rainbow

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The image is a detail from a painting by Louisiana artist Jack Meyers (1930-1994) entitled The Rainbow Store. I added a a bit of Nostalgia tape from Tim Holtz, a banner of numbers on the right and a gear and shank button at the top of the tag. Gel pens were used to edge the banner and the edge of the tag.

This morning I went outside to add food to the bird feeder, and before I was even out of the door I could hear the call of a Sharp Shinned Hawk. As I approached the feeder, the call was very loud, and I noticed he was perched on the edge of the roof, just as he took off, still calling. Right after that I caught sight of a second one coming from a tree on my right. Evidently they were planning on dining and I interrupted them. Originally I thought that it was a Red Tail hawk which was attacking the birds, but a couple of weeks ago, the Sharp Shinned hawk landed at the edge of the yard long enough for me to mark and identify him (or her). They are smaller than the Red Tail and mostly eat small birds, sometimes as large as the Bob White Quail. Their wings are designed for ease in darting through tree limbs to chase birds on the wing. I think it's a pretty bird, but I am a bit startled at how unafraid they are by hanging out so near the house. Well, in this case, one was ON the house! So I guess that I better get used to having these around. I'm sure I will see more of them as winter comes on and food becomes more scarce for it. 

Autumn Tape Transfer

I know it's not officially Autumn, but it will be in 4 days! The temps have climbed back up in the last few days and I needed something to remind me that cooler days are coming. I am hosting a packing tape transfer technique ATC swap for my group on Swap-Bot and chose an Autumn image for it.

Autumns Unfold

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The image comes from a postcard received by my Grandmother in 1918. Since I have a laser printer, I was able to copy it so as not to ruin the postcard. The transfer is layered on top of piece of an old song sheet that I found in my stash. It took me a while to find a song referring to Autumn! I distressed the page a bit (it was already aged pretty well) and added the tape transfer, then added fibers and an old jewelry finding. 

If you want to learn more about packing tape transfer, here is a video at Youtube about what is involved. It's pretty easy and it's one of my favorite techniques.

Even though the temperature was 90 degrees today, this helps me feel more like the Autumn days I'm looking forward to!

ATCDivas and Rest

This month's theme for the ATCDivas Group was either a pig, cow or horse. For some reason, I seem to gravitate towards pigs; I'm not sure what that says about me, if anything. I have a couple of pig rubber stamps, one of them I have used many times. For this, though I went hunting through vintage illustrations for pigs.

September Pig

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I chose a strong graphic background, so I wanted my pig to stand out. The background is from the Idea-ology collection, the pig is a vintage image from a children's book altered with Spica and Micron pens. He was attached with 3D dots, as was the vintage Bingo gamepiece. The letters are typewriter keys stickers. I also used distress inks and gold leaf pen around the outside of the ATC. Six of these little babies went out today!

Well, after several days of having increased energy, my body has made it clear that I am to rest and that's it - no discussion. So, I am pleased with the amount of art things I created this week, and happy that I had several good days in a row. Trying now to keep my attitude positive and believe that more good days will be part of my future. That's my prayer, anyway!

Another Lovely Day and More Art

It's a bit warmer than the other day when I posted, but the breezes make it very pleasant and it's more Autumn like than Summer, so I will take it! The dogs enjoy it too, and don't want to come inside when we are ready. The Ruby Throated hummingbird is practically camped out on the hummingbird feeder, so I guess it's filling up with as much energy as it can before taking the incredible migration journey. It will increase its body weight by 25-40% before leaving and then it will fly solo, not very high off the ground, on its journey. Did you know that hummingbirds don't usually fly in flocks? They are so tiny, predators have a hard time seeing them, so if they were in a flock, they'd be easier to spot. Ruby Throats will fly over the Gulf of Mexico, a 450 mile flight over water with a 20 knot headwind for more than 22 hours flying time to make it to their favorite feeding grounds in Mexico. An amazing creation!

I'm still working on diminishing the scrap pile and from that these two cards appeared:

Postcard

 Greeting Card

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They were both mailed off today and I hope the recipients like them. I made another envelope from a map for the greeting card. I would say that being a mixed media, altered art or collage artist provides one with the best of both worlds in recycling and creating!

For a Skinny Swap (3x5), the guidelines required something pink. Ta da!

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I used a vintage postcard image background, crepe paper flower, waxed cord with beads, microbeads, distress inks and Sakura pens. It's almost Spring like, but that's ok on this Autumn day!

Hope that your day goes well!

Another Post for Tuesday!

I just had to post again and say what a great day this was!! I have had more energy today than I have had in a very long time. What a blessing! I puttered about my studio, doing some projects which I show in the post before this one, worked on some other things which aren't done yet, sent out several postcards for Postcrossing and then I put together this card from scraps and wrote a letter to a friend in Minnesota. She actually lives just across the state line from Fargo, South Dakota.

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I'm trying to make a point of using up some of the tons of scraps I have from other projects. I always save bits and pieces of paper, etc from a project (just like all the other artists out there) and the very large pile needs to be diminished. So what better place than to put them on a card and then fill the card with a hand written message? The envelope for this was made from an old map. Rather fitting, I think!

I also want to put a plug in here for something I just purchased yesterday - two rolls of the tissue tape from Tim Holtz's Idea-ology collection. They are such fun and so easy to use and really adds something to your artwork! I have some on the card above, and I think I will be purchasing some more of his tapes in the very near future. After I use up some of the scrap stash of course!

It's been a happy day!!! :)

Tag Tuesday - School Days and Letter Z Skinny

The weather has been so very nice after the suffocating days of early August. I have been able to keep my studio window open and it's lovely hearing the sounds of the birds at the feeder below, and the wind whispering softly through the trees. The tea olive bushes are in bloom and the scent is heavenly. Mmmmmm!

The theme for today's tag at Kard Krazy is School Days.

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I cut a tag out of an old report card from my stash (no, it isn't mine!) and then added a vintage boy paperdoll, also from my stash, with a small copy of a primer page, and a tiny "Big Chief" tablet (it actually has pages in it!). At the top is an ABC book charm with red and white ribbon. I think it all came together pretty well. I, for one, am glad I am not in school nor have children young enough to be in school!

Over at Swap-bot, the last of the Alphabet Skinnys is up-the letter Z. 

The Zigzag Boy

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I found this poem in an old children's poetry book, and tore it out and then put it atop a torn page from the Z section of a dictionary. The title is on a Grungeboard piece dyed with alcohol inks and attached with brads. I added some gold ink, and a bit of gold leaf crumbs to the letter Z, which he looks like he is carrying. I guess we can all identify with the Zigzag boy! I hate to see this swap series ending, it was a lot of fun.

So, it's Boy's Day on the blog!

Sunday Postcard Art - Feeling Blue

Today's theme was "Feelin' Blue" at Sunday Postcard Art.

Blue Over You

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I used a face rubber stamp, added details, rubber stamp of young man, water color pencils, watercolor, charcoal pencil, Sakura pen and a bit of pastel chalk.

Mixed Media Altered Box (Mixed Media Monday) and 2 ATCs

 I altered this box after viewing this video on Youtube. It is a foiled box which was made as a gift:

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It's the first time I have altered a box and it was great fun. The video was shared by another friend and she made some wonderful altered dominos from it. This is being submitted to Mixed Media Monday for the theme "I've Been Wanting To...". Mixed media includes foil, Lumiere paint, acrylic paint, gold leaf and lacquer.

Life's doings has kept me from posting lately, so I will include several projects today. This ATC and the following ATC are for swaps that I host for a group on Swap-Bot.

History of the Name Of Each Month - September:

September simply comes from the Latin word for seven. Not only did the Romans hold games to honor their gods this month, so did the Greeks - the Olympic Games.

World Tour - San Marino:

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San Marino is a tiny republic in the northern part of Italy. It is one of the smallest countries in the world - 24 square miles,and its population numbers about 30,000. This is an altered art ATC.