Count Your Blessings

Hello, friends, Mindy here today with a card for this week's challenge at the Classy Cards 'N Such blog, #42 Buttons and Bows!

I started this card by embossing an A2 size sheet of card stock with the Daisy Flourish embossing folder sending it through my Cuttlebug machine. I then took the Memory Box designer Stencil Garden Stems and added Embossing paste to use as stems for my button and bow flowers.

To give the background some definition, I highlighted the embossing with a white pen, a touch of gold glitter and some Cantaloupe colored Liquid Pearls. It was then set aside to let dry.  I then took some ribbon, and made three small single bow flowers and adhered a single gold colored small Medallion Sparklers button in the centers. The bows were then adhered to the background at the ends of the stems to look like a bouquet of flowers, with a double loop bow tied at the bottom of the bouquet.

I also stamped a saying, Count Your Buttons (. . . and Blessings) on a banner strip and used  Joy! Foam Pads Large to give the banner some dimension and adhered it to the front of the card.

The whole time I was working on this card, the song "Button and Bows" sung by Doris Day was going through my head.  It was a little before my time, but parts of the song were familiar to me, and those parts kept repeating over and over all day.

I hope you will join us at Classy Cards 'N Such, by creating a card or two for our weekly challenge. They are so much fun, and you can possibly win a wonderful item sold in our online store. Be sure to visit our online store, and when you are ready to check out, use the coupon code MINDY-10 (all caps-no spaces) to get your 10% discount off your entire purchase. See you again soon!

Art Journaling Class I am Taking

Hello Friends! I am in the process of taking an Art journaling class from Christine Urias on her blog;
Scrap Time;"More than just Scrapbooking"  and it is called "Exploring Art Journaling 3".  It is a 30 day class, each one concentrating on different media used for backgrounds and pages, with a different journaling prompt each day.

It is very interesting, and is helping me use many of the products I already have in my studio, to make amazing pages. I am posting a few of the ones I have completed so far in the class.

Some of them are two page spreads, and other's are just a one page spread.  I am doing them in my small journal from Dyan Revealy and Ranger.  If I really get into one specific technique or medium, I will do another page in my larger journal. The background for the Transportation page (above) is done in acrylic paints mixed with Gesso.

The background for the favorite TV shows page (left) is made with Lyra watercolor crayons.

And the background for the Daydreamer page (bottom) uses Stencils layered and then misted with Dylusions Sprays.

Most of my doodling and drawing is done with my Posca paint markers, and Dr. Ph Martin's Bombay India Inks.

I hope you enjoy seeing some of my Art Journal where I test out products and ideas, to see which I enjoy working with, and how they work together on a project. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave a comment or question below, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.  Have a Great Day!

The Caged Bird Sings

Greetings, and Happy Friday to one and all!  Today's post is a mixed-media canvas celebrating Spring and the Weekly Challenge at Classy Cards N' Such blog.  

The topic this week is "Flutterbys" celebrating birds or butterflies, or both!  

I started with my Bird Sanctuary die set from Spellbinders SB-S5-033, also available in the Classy Cards N' Such Online shop.  I have had this die set for quite awhile, but haven't had the chance to try it out yet. After cutting it all out with my Cuttlebug machine, I started arranging pieces to fit my 8" X 8" canvas.  I dug through some of my "scraps" of die cut images I keep from when I try out my dies, and found a frame from the Romantic Rectangles Spellbinders die. So after smearing out some of my favorite colors of Golden Acrylic paints on my canvas, I stamped my Music All Over Background Stamp from Impression Obsession, on the canvas in brown Memento ink. I then attached my rectangular frame in the top left corner with a little adhesive and two turquoise brads. I then adhered a strip of the Spring Market printed paper from Websters Pages to the rectangle with foam tape to give a little more dimension.

I then started attaching my Bird Sanctuary die-cuts on top of the frame.  There was a beautiful bird cage, some greenery leaves, two small birds - one with dimensional wings, and a decorative greenery border.  I also added a 3-D Mini Daisy from Sizzix and Susan Tierney-Cockburn, left on my desk from the "Flower Garden Challenge" a few weeks ago. A decorative button topped off the bird cage after attaching the leaves and bird.  After my "arrangement" was complete, the lyrics from a poem by Maya Angelou kept repeating over and over in my mind; "I know why the Caged Bird Sings."

After adding the phrase, I still needed something decorative in the top right, and bottom left corners of the canvas.  I dug out one of my Prima Stencils and applied a little molding paste to the corners. I let everything dry overnight, and when dry, I colored the molding paste with Dark Bark chalk ink to antique it just a bit and tone down the "whiteness".

I hope you enjoy my canvas as much as I enjoyed making it. I love all types of winged creatures, from butterflies and birds to dragonflies, ladybugs, and bee's.  I guess that is another reason I enjoy Spring so much. It is an awakening of sorts, a new beginning of life, both in plants and creatures, after the cold bleakness of winter.

More Thanks

More thanks for you this day! I am still busily making thank you notes to send from the holidays. Today's note is a very simple note, yet I jazzed it up a bit by using some light molding paste and a plastic stencil from My Favorite Things (square tiles), along with some copper and teal Perfect Pearls to color it with on my patterned paper. It was then adhered to my card base with double sided tape.  I stamped the Pure Innocence Cowgirl image on white card stock and colored her with my Copic markers then fussy cut out the image. The "Thanks" stamp was from Studio G (Hampton Arts) from the dollar bin at Michael's, and it too was stamped on white stock with Danube Blue ink from Memento.  I backed the sentiment with a mottled blue card stock, edged with a Spellbinders Ornate Squares die, and then added acrylic stones from Want2Scrap for some sparkle.he sentiment and Cowgirl were mounted on the front of the card with foam tape, to add dimension. That's it,  I left the inside clean, so that I could write my own message before sending. 

Thank you all for visiting with me today, I hope you have a great day, and a Happy 2014!  Happy New Year Friends!

Trick or Treat . . . . . . . . .

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat! Why do I always hear this song in my head when I see someone in costume?  Halloween is just around the corner, and although I no longer dress in costume, I remember the days when I dressed in costume for work. I worked retail, and on Halloween we always dressed in costume to entertain the customers.  By the time I got home from work, and being on my feet in my costume all day, I usually changed into my jammies and went to bed, without handing out much candy. It seems the neighborhood I grew up in, grew up with me. So, in the later years there wasn't much action, except for the house across the street.  As the kids in that house grew up, the parents started putting up a large tent, and would be the waiting spot for parents while their kids were in the neighborhood trick-or-treating. They would serve coffee, hot chocolate, and cookies to the kids and parents, and would have music playing during the festivities.  Years later when the carloads of  kids would appear in our neighborhoods, their house was always the gathering place for frivolity and fun! If I had purchased candy to hand out, and no one visited our door, I would end up delivering it to "the tent" to add to their cauldron of goodies.

Now, the neighborhood I live in  has no children. I may buy a bag of candy that I like, "just in case someone stops by!" I usually don't open my door after dark anyway, you never know who is out there anymore.  So, Halloween is not that big a deal.  I do love the art of the holiday though!

In this card, I started with a Prima large tag, and stenciled black chevron stripes on it. I then added two cat die cuts, and an image from a vintage postcard.  The tag was trimmed to fit the A2 orange card base, and I then stamped "Trick or Treat" and a tiny star down the open side of the card.

I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween, and a spooky, kooky good time!

Dia de los Muertos Skull & Halloween on the Way!

Hello fellow artists and cardmakers! It has been two weeks since my last post, and many thought I have dropped off the face of the earth.  Sorry, the first front of fall brought in all sorts of pollen, and I have just been down with a case of the allergies, and I really couldn't get my thoughts together to post! 

I have been working on projects during this time, and have 6 - 10 of them in various stages of completion.  The above Muertos Skull is on a piece of cardboard, and was traced on it with the help of a 12"X 12" template from the Crafter's Workshop.  Most of the coloring done was with my Copic Markers, and when I got the colors in, I highlighted some of them with my Wink of Stella Glitter Markers. I don't know if you can see the glimmer, but in person, the colors are awesome.

I haven't decided whether I will display this in a frame, or mount it on a canvas board and collage with other mixed-media products. I still have a week to finish my Dia De Los Muertos items, before putting up my shrine, so I need to make my decision soon.

I have also continued playing with my Tattered Angels Paint System Kits, and have lots of samples to use on cards and tags. I hope to share some of those with you tomorrow or the day after. I have also been working with the awesome kit from Paper Wings Productions, October Nesting Components Kit, which is full of pumpkin and fall clip art (2 pages), lots of fall and Halloween postcards, painted wooden charms, and ribbons.

I just wanted to check in with you all, and let you know I am still alive and kickin', and hope you are having a full and creative week. See you again soon!
Mindy

Birds of a Feather Journal Pages

Greetings, fellow artista's! Thank you for joining me today for this double page art journal entry, where I used two of my Paint System palettes from Tattered Angels. I have been working on backgrounds lately, and ordered these Paint System sets to learn more about mixing colors and mediums successfully. The first system I used today was the Soiree Paint Collection that coordinates with the Soiree Paper craft collection from PinkPaislee. (I love these happy colors!)

The Soiree System consists of:  1.  Glimmer Mist- Marigold, a watercolor mist with a touch of glimmer.  2.  Glimmer Mist- Party Pink, a watercolor mist with a touch of glimmer.  3.  Glimmer Glam- Chandelier, a paint with a fine glimmer, plus glitter.  4.  Glimmer Glaze- Waterfall, a paint with a fine glimmery sparkle.   I first sprayed the bird stencil/template with a coating of Deep Denim Glimmer Mist from the Daily Junque System. (this color is very dark) I then turned it over on to the page and gently pressed the template down onto the page and left in place for a few moments while the glimmer mist soaked in. With the template still in place, I applied the Waterfall blue glimmer glaze and Chandelier Glimmer Glam onto the image over the bird and on the background.  I then  removed the template  of the bird, and sprayed on the Party Pink Glimmer Mist.

Let the entire page dry.  When dry I stamped a Damask Background stamp across the top of the page with a permanent Archival Black ink.  I also highlighted around the edge of the page with Victorian Velvet Distress Stain from Tim Holtz.

On the right side/ facing page I used the same bird template from Tattered Angels, the Daily Junque Paint Collection that coordinates with the Daily Junque Paper collection, also from PinkPaislee. The Daily Junque Paint System consists of the following Mists/Mediums:

1.  Glimmer Mist- Aquamarine, a watercolor mist with a touch of glimmer.  2.  Glimmer Mist-  Dark Denim, a watercolor mist with a touch of glimmer.  3.  Glimmer Glam-  Organic Garden, a paint with a fine glimmer, plus glitter.  4.  Glimmer Glaze- Pewter, a paint with a fine glimmery sparkle.

I again sprayed the bird template with Dark Denim Glimmer Mist and turned it over onto the blank page, paint side down. (Remember to flip your template before spraying so you get the reverse image.)  Again, press down on template so paint will begin to soak into the paper.  Apply the Organic Green Glimmer Glam over the template and across the page, leaving white space in the background. Let set for a few moments, then remove the template and apply Aquamarine spritz over the entire page.  Let entire page dry completely.

I again stamped a row of the damask background stamp across the top of the page with black Archival Ink,  and highlighted the entire page with Old Paper Distress Stain from Tim Holtz.


I then added my saying, "Birds of a Feather flock Together. . ." using my black Posca paint marker, and then highlighted the black marker with the white marker.  To add a little more interest to the pages, I adhered a row of fuzzy ribbon down the center of the page.  This also covered where the two pages (and paint) overlapped.  I also had to fill in some of the Dark Denim glimmer mist with a paintbrush on the birds, where the mist didn't print. I highlighted the openings of the template with the white Posca paint marker and dots, to add more texture.

I hope you have decided to pick up one or two of these wonderful paint systems.  They have helped me learn about combining colors immeasurably, over the last few weeks.  I have a few more color systems
 to play with over the weekend. Hopefully I will have a sampling to show you next week. Take care, and have a wonderful  Fall weekend!
Mindy

Art Journal - My Family Tree

Happy Friday, to all my bloggie friends!  To celebrate this weekend, I am posting my first double page spread from my art journal.  I had watched so many videos from YouTube on art journaling, that I was blinded by the thought of starting an art journal.  I wanted to, so badly, and even ordered one of the blank journals from my friends at Paper Wings Productions.  The problem was that I blankly stared at the blank pages weeks before I finally got the nerve to put some ink on the paper!  Once I sprayed the first splotch of color, my world opened up, and I work a little in it everyday!

I was afraid to start a page, and not know how to finish it. Now that I have realized you don't have to sit right down and complete a whole page at once, it has become a lot easier and not so frightening.  If you have several pages "in progress" at the same time, you can work on which ever one you feel like working on. AND, if you don't feel like working on one you have started, you CAN start another!

So, on this layout, I started by spritzing several colors of spray mists. I used  The Dylusion Mists by Ranger in the orange, yellow, and green. On the right hand page, I adhered a sheet of handmade mulberry paper to the page with Golden Soft Gel Matte medium. It was a green color, so I thought I would draw a tree shape, since I love nature so.  Well, I am not an artist, and my tree was a little lopsided.  I also had adhered a hand full of inchie squares that had a peacock feather "eye" around the tree's branches.   After looking at the arrangement for a few days, and not really liking what I had done, I took some white Gesso from Golden Products, and painted a layer of gesso over my tree!  1- 2 - 3- GONE!

I decided instead, to use Light Molding Paste from Golden, and a Family Tree Scrapbook Stencil I had, to stencil a tree right in the middle of both pages, making it a two-page spread. I scraped some of the gesso from the peacock feather "eyes", stamped some flowers at the base of the tree, coloring them with purple Lumiere paint, and stenciled the letters from the tree stencil "My Family Tree" across the bottom of the page.  I then wrote ". . is full of nuts" and knew this page was finally coming together. I added the Wheelie Girl stamped image from My Favorite Things below the tree, and wrote the names of a few of my relatives on the leaves of the tree; each branch representing a branch of the family. In the top left of the page, I added a die-cut that says, " the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree, and added tiny white dots to the flowers with my picket fence white Distressed Marker.

It was finally to a point where I was somewhat pleased with how it turned out. I admitted to myself that I wanted this journal to be a learning and growing experience, and if I started out with a "Perfect Work" I wouldn't need to learn a thing.  Realization can be a very humbling experience!

I hope you have enjoyed travelling down this road with me, and have learned a lesson or two along the way!  If you don't jump in with both feet, you will never be able to learn or grow!  So have a great weekend, and go try something NEW whether it be a sport, or  craft, or dance, or wherever your interests lie. See you again soon.

Mindy

Relax, Take It Easy, Let Yourself Go!

Happy Friday Everyone!  I posted on Wednesday that today's post was going to be special, something that has been a long time in the making, and I wasn't kidding!

Several months ago I broke down and purchased one of the Art Journals that Ranger makes, just like the one Dyan Reaveley uses with her Dylusions Ink. I thought this would help me in journaling my thoughts, and help me try out products to see what they can do.  I stared at the blank book for weeks and weeks, before finally jumping right in and smearing some ink on a page.  I worked on one double page layout for weeks, letting the various layers of paint, gesso, and glue dry well.

Then it finally hit me!  You don't have to concentrate on one single page until it is done!  Now I have 6 or 7 pages started with backgrounds, and each day I have time to work in it, I add a little something to the pages I have started.  Wednesday I finally completed one page, and here it is in all it's glory!  Taa Daa!

I know it may not be exactly what I had in mind when I began, but I have to remember that " I am still a work in progress!"  I learn something new everyday, and that is really all that life is about.  AND, that is what this journal is all about! 

Learning new things, trying out new products, and creating something that speaks to me.

Sharing it on my blog will also give me the opportunity to receive constructive criticism from my bloggie friends and help me produce pages that I know will speak to others, too.  So feel free to share your comments with me, but just remember I am NOT a professional artist, I do this for fun and my own personal enjoyment. I hope everyone has a wonderful and productive weekend.  Stay safe, and if you get the chance, "Create a  little something that makes you HAPPY!"

Mindy