My Gift Box Surprise!

For the Bloggerete Sorority Altered Cigar Box Swap Reveal Day, here is the lovely box I received from my partner,Debbie .

First, a lovely card to greet me:

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Then this cute fella who brought along his carrots, Isn't he charming?

When the box was opened, you can see there is a lot of fun squeezed into the box, beginning with the vintage crocheted doily on top.

Three cute sheer fabric bags with goodies inside to use for altered art. Debbie lives in Oklahoma, the Sooner State. The tags are so cute! Don't you love the wooden carrot tag?

There were handmade pieces of art, a vintage photo, pages from an old French language book, and a small address book with a French cover.

Beads, baubles and game pieces.....

and really neat vintage buttons on top of a small glassine bag from an old drug store!

Many thanks Debbie, for the wonderful box crammed with fun, and with samples of your art. I know I will really enjoy the neat objects for my art projects. The box is now on my shelf, holding votive candles for my studio!

I look forward to seeing all the other boxes being shown today in the Great Reveal!

(If you want to see the box I sent, click here.)

Thanks Karen, for organizing this wonderful swap! :)

Another Scrap Postcard....

....coming your way Sis! My heart just aches for you and the pain you must go through. I'm praying for you and for resolution of this whole situation and that the doctors get a move on! I'm glad your church has offered to help you, including monetarily. I know you will let them, won't you?? :)

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Pulled out the scrap drawer and made a collage, added some different size hearts and then rubber stamped over it. I finished up with some mica chips sprinkled over it, not sure how they will hold up in the US Mail!

Any who read this and are praying people, please lift up my sister in prayer. She has had terrible back pain from a fall at work and the agencies involved have been dragging this out and acting like the government agencies they are! Grrrrrrrrrrrr................

Sayonara ATCs

Saying goodbye to the Asian series swap with #9, Thailand and #10, Asia continent!

Thailand

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The background is a copy of vintage art from Thailand, and I am not sure what bird they represent. I added a postage stamp and a citron gem and used distress inks and Spica pens to add detail.

ASIA

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This image came from the top of an old box of stationery. I highlighted the continent of Asia with a mix of Diamond Glaze and glitter, then went over the small picture details with Spica pens. The Glitter Gem letters are from Making Memories and for the final touch, I added the tiny paper umbrella.


The Thailand ATC is going to New Zealand and the Asia ATC is going to Ohio.

It is very windy here today, and overcast. Yesterday, I saw 6-7 bluebirds perched on the bird feeders and bird bath, and several more flying around the area. Underneath the dwarf nandina I noticed a wood thrush busily hunting for a meal of grubs. The bluebirds were so beautiful as a group and the wood thrush makes the sweetest, richest sounds and it is probably my favorite bird call. If you want to hear it, click here. Since it usually summers at a bit higher elevation, it was probably passing through to its wintering grounds in the tropics.

And when John was walking the dogs, he spotted a huge beautiful buck in the fields and he said it was simply a majestic sight!

As I say, you never know what unexpected joys you may see!

Altered Cigar Box pictures

My partner has her surprise package now for the Bloggerette Sorority Fall Findings Swap, (I sent it a week ago) so I am posting the pictures of the Altered Cigar box.

 Top of Altered Box

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My partner loved anything Paris related and her favorite colors were pink, yellow and lavender. I covered the box with paper with French scenes. (See the Eiffel tower up in the left hand corner?) The bronze swags are very old vintage French pieces as is the bronze flower on the vintage music tag in the lower left corner. I added some Prima flowers, gems, and sheer ribbon topped off with this gorgeous lavender ribbon and lace flower. There is a sequined ribbon pull in the front center held by a pearl brad.

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The sides of the box

The front.

The back.

The bottom.

I covered the inside of the box with lovely iris tissue paper and used Tim Holz tape all around. 

Part of the swap was to fill the box with things she would like and things related to Fall, plus one item had to be made by you.

These old French bags hold surprises - the back one has French stickers for her to use and the front one has a Fall postcard I made and posted earlier

The vintage hankie on the left has a box of small Autumn cookie cutters and the vintage European embroidered pocket on the right holds mini cupcake papers in Autumn colors.

I added some trinkets, a bunch of grapes, small gourds, pumpkins and leaves....

and covered everything over with large fabric Fall leaves.

I had a lot of fun doing this and I am looking forward to receiving my surprise next week. We are having a Bloggerette "party" on Oct. 30 for everyone who participated to be able to see all the fun and wonderful things we received!

Swap-Bot Nepal ATC

For the 8th in a swap series for Asia on Swap-Bot, this ATC is for Nepal. Next up is Thailand and then the continent of Asia will be the last. It's been a fun series, we've been to China, Japan, India, Turkey, Mongolia, Viet Nam, and Malaysia.

Nepali Buddha

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I altered an old image of a Nepali buddha with Spica pens, dyed cotton twill floral tape with alcohol ink, used distress inks, added a memo pen with a poem in Nepali script (sorry, no translation and it isn't upside down) and then used gold pen around the outside. This is now on its way to Australia. 

The temperatures have warmed up here and we have the windows open. It's really dark towards the North and West, so I hope we have more rain than the few showers last night. Leaves are changing and falling now at a rapid pace and last night I noticed that the moon was almost full. In a few days, it will be the October harvest moon. And then in a week or so, we will change back to standard time. And then I will be counting the days until Spring!

Tag Tuesday - Orange And Black

So, what colors come to mind to you this time of year in the US? Orange? Black? And of course a few others given the colors of the leaves. Well, orange and black were the theme of today's Tag Tuesday at Kard Krazy and I bet you are thinking "Autumn, pumpkins, black cats. etc. etc." and those are the usual thoughts, BUT I decided to go off in another direction.....

Elizabeth

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I took a page out of a copy of Pride And Prejudice for the background, added distress inks, a face stamp on orange which had also had distress inks added, then cut out. Prima flowers, watch stamp, black watch face and gems completed the tag and Spica pens added accent.

Don't look for another tag next week- our hostess is taking a much deserved break so new tags will be here in two weeks!

Project Finished! But, No Photos......Just Memories

I finished my Altered Cigar Box today for the Bloggerettes Fall Findings Swap, but I can't show any pictures because my partner lurks around here from time to time! :D  So, I will just say, it turned out lovely and I can't wait for her to get it. It was a new experience for me to alter a cigar box.

I had several that used to belong to my mother, she used them to store everything from art supplies to rubber bands. I think she got them back when my grandfather used to own and operate a small country store/gasoline station back in the 50's and 60's. It was in a tiny village in South Carolina and some of the grandkids would take turns spending a week there during the summer. It was the classic country store, with items on shelves, a large butcher case with meats, a soda vending machine where you had to slide the pop bottle out by its neck along a horizontal track, a pickle barrel, potbellied stove with a checker board nearby and a couple of chairs. Grandpop sold everything from food, gardening implements, shotgun shells, hardware, household supplies, gasoline and candy. The candy sat on the counter in large glass jars, and we were offered a variety while we were there. The old gasoline pumps used to fill up at the top with a gallon of gas before it would come out through the hose to the car's gas tank. Later, he got more modern tanks, which would make a "ding" sound each time a gallon was dispersed.

Outside, set back a little way from the store, was an ice house, where huge chunks of ice were kept cool with large bales of straw and complete darkness. The store itself was L shaped, with the bottom part of the L being my grandparent's living quarters. They had a generous front porch on which the adults would sit, and the cousins would play in the china berry tree. We would always be scolded for using the china berries as weapons, because they were so hard, they would leave little bruises when one would be flung toward an adversary and found its mark. That's also where I saw my first Lantana bush as a child. I was fascinated with the clusters of small, multicolored flowers all on one shrub.

Anyway, my parents grew up in the Great Depression and literally never threw anything away. And with six children in my household, it made a difference, although there were times when we really disliked some of my parent's money saving habits. However, my father could repair almost anything, having grown up on a farm, and we very rarely ever saw a repairman at our house. So, I came by these cigar boxes in a round about way and they remind me of much of which is lost today. Frugality has its place and I think many families are finding that out.

Enough down memory lane today. Have a great weekend!

Tag Tuesday - Moon and A Skinny

At Kard Krazy the subject today was "Moon" for Tag Tuesday. I was in the Steampunk mood.

Steampunk Moon

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The moon was hand colored with Sakura pen, the little man came from my stash, I used some rubber stamping and Spica pens and metal embellishments "rusted" with alcohol ink.

I made a Skinny yesterday for the Vintage Skinny Oriental Swap on Swap-Bot.

                                                                                 

Vintage Japanese Skinny

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Vintage Japanese characters on rice paper, old Coke bottle cap I flattened then tinted with alcohol inks, picture of vintage Japanese lady, tape transfer from a 1919 postcard, fabric leaves, flower sequin trim and distress inks.

Hope everyone's Tuesday is a good one!

Update and Art

It's been a yucky week and that's probably all I need to say about it. A lot of people we know, friends and family, are going through a rough time. Illnesses, serious injury, being out of work, cancer returning, money shortage - it's been hard for a lot of folks. Sometimes prayer seems almost inadequate, as if things will only get better if somehow physically we could do something to help someone. It's understandable to have those feelings and even on a certain level it shows our desire to see people in a better place. But the truth of it is, no one can do anything as powerful as the Lord can do, and simply praying reminds us that we are not the ones who changes things, but God does and we cannot direct the timing and the change that we want. As I look back over my past, I can see many times where God has done things in a mighty way, used people He wanted to use and poured blessings out when none were expected. So that's where faith comes in and I think faith is the hardest thing to hold onto. But we can ask for more help with that too!

On to art. For the ATCDivas, the theme this month was Band or Music. Whatever we do, has to be done 6 times.

MARCH!

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For mine, I took an old song sheet cover, reduced the size to fit on an ATC, added music tape from Tim Holtz, distress inks, and bronze stickles on the sides. I have these 6 little picks of marching band musicians, each carrying a different instrument and each one will be attached as this one is, with wire, jump ring and red eyelets. I aged metal numbers (1-6) and each number will be attached to a card, such as this #2. Little black gems were added in two corners. Those little musicians are so cute - their arms even move. They must have been made to go on a cake!

For the Asia Series #7 on Swap-Bot, we are in India. Here is the ATC I designed for that:

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I used an image of an old temple, bit of art on the side, a postagestamp and fabric flower with pearls in the center.

It's a beauitufl day here, and the birds are really enjoying the weather, it seems. The dogs look forward to going outside and romping. Yesterday at Wild Birds Unlimited, where we get our bird food, we met a very nice man from Turkey, who had 2 puppies in his car - a Westie and a Char Pei / Retriever blend. They were soooo adorable and that puppy blend was absolutely a heart stealer. You could tell this man loved his dogs and we stood there outside the cars and traded dog stories. And then we agreed on how much we like birds and this bird food store. It was an enjoyable experience!

Tag Tuesday - Pumpkins

Today at Kard Krazy the assignment is pumpkins, a very appropriate challenge for this time of year in this part of the world.

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The image is from a postcard from the early 1900's. I accented the "pumpkin men" with a Diamond Glaze and glitter mix, added a fabric carved pumpkin, mulberry leaves outlined in glitter and a ribbon.

So far it has been a beautiful October. The weather changed dramatically at the end of September as if to apologize for dragging summer so far past its boundaries.  We have had temperatures in the 40s and 50s (F) at night and the days have been clear and blue with temps in the 60s and 70s, except for one day when it was cloudy and overcast. I felt so much better Saturday that I was able to accompany John to pick up some straw bales and even to have lunch out. He's spreading the straw in bare areas to cut down on the mud in the autumn rains. Sunday and Monday, however my strength ebbed sharply. Today I am thankful to say that I feel pretty good! 

Scrap Travel Card

Still using up scraps and bits. I made another envelope out of an old map to go with this card. It has a more masculine feel to it.

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Not a great week health wise, and though I knew in my mind this would probably happen, nonetheless it's rather discouraging. It did help a lot to get 3 packages in the mail, 2 of fun supplies I ordered and a lovely Scrumbles named Nonie. She was made by Mary Jo Oxrieder, who is an artist living in Washington state. I've also purchased Trevor the Fish from Mary Jo a few weeks ago, and he is a bright spot hanging in my studio. Mary Jo is also a friend, and I would encourage you to view her Flickr page and her website. She does such whimsical paintings and all of kinds of other lovelies! 

It's a lovely clear day with a strong breeze from the North, a great way to begin October. And regardless of how I feel right now, I am STILL better off than I was last year!!