Fun with Greeting Cards!!!!

 I found myself needing greeting cards this month ... my retired public school teacher buddies and I like to get together to craft so I was able to produce some cards this month ... the first one has a Paper Bag Studios image ... edges were sponged with Tim Holtz Distress Ink ... I used Liquitex Ultra Matte Gel with a touch of Titanium Buff acrylic paint mixed in a scraped across punchinella aka sequin waste with a plastic palette knife.

 The second one is also a Paper Bag Studios image stamped on scrapbook paper ...

 Another Paper Bag Studios image suitable for a "man" card ...

 A card I made for my aunt ... this is my favorite childhood photo taken on her mother's farm ...

 A Cricut image ...

 Paper Bag Studios ...

 Paper Bag Studios ...

 Paper Bag Studios ...

Stampsmith ...

It was fun getting my fingers inky and painty again ... crafting is TOO MUCH FUN!!!!  THANKS for visiting!!!!!!

Latest Art Journal Pages

 I'm catching up on posting some of my artwork ... this is a page from the round robin art journal group I belong to consisting on some local artists ... one of the artists is Karren Davis ... I used Sizzix dies for Karren's costumes ... OnyxXpressions stamps for her horses ... Stamp Gallery for her Dachsund ...

I love kitties!!!!!  These stamps are from OnyxXpressions ... PSX ... Hampton Art Stamps ...

This is our group's June Black and White Art Journal ... I had the opportunity to work on our "fearless leader's" journal this time ... Toni Federe ... Stamps are from Stampers Anonymous ... Tim Holtz ...

This month our challenge journal page was "A favorite summer memory" ... mine was a camping trip with the entire family to Pismo Beach when I was very young ... that's my sister, Janice, in the photo ... mom and dad ... and myself in mom's arms ... I spritzed color over Heidi Swapp "Ghost" letters then outlined them with Sharpie water-based paint markers ... the stamps are Stampers Anonymous and Tim Holtz ...

This has been an art-filled month!!!!  Have fun, everyone~!!!!!!

More fun with beading!!!!!!

Hello Artsy Friends!

I've been obsessed with beading beading beading!  I just can't get enough of beading!  Here are some of the projects I've worked on lately . . .

The first bracelet is a mixture of round seed beads, hex beads, twisted bugles, and Swarovski bicones . .

The second piece was a challenge for me . . . the beaded beads were a first for me, but I love the results . . .

The third piece is a simple yet fun use of diagonal drilled diamond shaped beads . . .

The fourth piece is totally fun!  A hummingbird necklace!  I fell in love with it the first time I saw it!

Thanks for visiting today!  Have a great week!!!

Round Robin Art Journal #2

 Hello Artist Friends,
I was taking the free Strathmore Papers Traci Bautista Online Workshop ... Traci Bautista has a new book coming out ... Doodles Unleashed ... I totally loved her first book Collage Unleashed ... I was inspired to re-visit her paint scraping technique with a lighter touch ... voila!  A background for our Round Robin Black & White Art Journal!  I used an old photo of myself when I was a 3-year-old flower girl for my aunt!

This is the same technique with a picture of myself as a toddler with my dear, departed mom ...

I'm inspired to play with more of my "toys" I already have at home!!!!!

Have fun y'all!!!!

Round Robin Art Journal

Hi Everybody,

I belong to a Round Robin Art Journal group of local artists . . . we meet once a month and trade art journals to work on and bring back the following month . . . here are a couple of pages I did for one of the members . . .

The first one is a page with my favorite childhood picture . . . the background is acrylic paint scraped on with a palette knife . . . stamps are  stamped with  pigment ink and heat embossed with  embossing powder . . . I used punchinella aka sequin waste and used acrylic paint to scrape over it with a palette knife . . . stickers and collage images were added and covered with dimensional glue like Diamond Glaze for added emphasis . . . stamps are from Judikins and Sunday International

The second one is a black and white transparency that was given to me from one of our members . . . I used Sharpie Permanent Markers on the back of the transparency and sprayed it with Denatured alcohol and let it drip unti I was pleased with the result . . . then I laid it down to dry . . . the pictures were amateurish Photoshopped (I really know very little about Photoshop) to get it as black and white as I could and whited out the background . . . the background was painted with Sharpie markers  scribbled in a paint palette spritzed with denatured alcohol and applied to the background with a brush . . .

Have fun!

ArtBeads.com "Vintage" Project

I'm excited about the latest ArtBeads.com "Vintage" project . . . it gave me a chance to use "vintage" photos of my immediate family in my beading . . . I was inspired by Nancy Cain, amazing beader. . . I love the way the cool ArtBeads.com Silver-Plated Pewter Pendants  frame photos of my family . . .

This was also a perfect opportunity to use the ArtBeads.com charms to embellish the photos!  What fun!  Here's Mom and Dad . . .

 My sister, Janice . . .

 Myself . . . this is my favorite photo of my childhood . . . I was a WILD WOMAN!!!  LOL!!!!

 My sister, Norma . . .

 Janice's daughter, Tina . . .

I hope you enjoyed the sharing of my beading AND my family with you!  Happy beading!!!!

*Disclaimer:  I receive free product from ArtBeads.com in exchange for my designs as an ArtBeads.com Blog Design member . . . opinions are strictly my own . . .

Round Robin Art Journal

A group of my talented and fun artist buddies decided to participate in a Round Robin Art Journal . . . this is my front and back cover . . . the front cover has my favorite photo of my childhood . . . you can tell that I was a WILD WOMAN standing on the bumper of a pick-up truck on my grandmother's farm in Fresno . . . the back cover has a photo of my dad and myself as a todler . . . I'm really enjoying using family photos in my artwork lately . . . even my next beading project has them as you will see shortly . . . I am really getting excited about getting a copy of my artist buddies artwork in my journal!