The Queen of Ever'thang

Hello and Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you are all taking good care of yourselves today and being taken good care of whether you're a mother to children, pets, your plants, whatever.  It's YOUR day!

As is our custom, my daughter and I are spending the weekend at my mother's house (remember the wonderful English cottage garden?  You can see it here.) and are having a wonderful time.  We went "thrifting" and antiquing yesterday (jackpot!), and then last night we saw Johnny Rodriguez in concert.  This little town sure has some big names coming through.  Granted, he's from a different era (my generation as opposed to the NOW generation), but nevertheless, he's one of the biggies.

And now to the project at hand, the one I couldn't share any earlier because my mother reads my blog every day.  Sorry, Mom.  :)

What do you think?  It's the second time I've painted on a mixed media canvas (the first time was here), and I'm quite enjoying it.  It is my goal to paint roses in a decorative fashion (as opposed to a realistic fashion), and I'm starting to feel more comfortable doing so.  

There is a lot of symbolism on this piece, starting with the music notes I stamped onto the colored base layer (I used Neocolors this time).  They're ever so faint, but music is a big part of my mother's life.  Country music from the good old days, not that modern stuff that passes for "country" nowadays.  It plays all day in her house. 

Flowers are another biggie as evidenced by her fabulous garden.  She grows so many kinds of roses, both modern hybrid teas and fragrant antiques.  I have normally given her plants every year for Mother's Day - it was a big tradition for me while she was building her garden.  Roses, hostas, you name it, I probably gave it to her; however, she doesn't do the heavy, hard planting anymore and instead is directing her attentions towards her art, so this year will be the first without a live plant.  Instead, she gets the painted rose which will bloom forever.

 As a side note, I used to grow a very similar rose.  It was a modern hybrid tea and I don't remember the name, but here is a picture which looks exactly like it.  Alas, it was too finicky and no longer resides in my garden.

Two of the digital stamps are from Gecko Galz, and I honestly can't link directly to them because I think they were freebies that Leanne gave to us at the retreat (referenced here), but you could always contact Leanne through the Gecko Galz site (here) to see if she does have them for sale.  I LOVE these images, especially the woman's face, both of which are perfect for Mother's Day.  The "Mother" word has a crown on it because, as today's title states, my mother is the queen of everything.

I added a bit of blush and lipstick with Copics as my mother never EVER leaves the house without her makeup on.  I should be so dedicated.  And the wooden butterfly was painted with shimmer paints to match the rose.  Butterflies are thick as thieves in her gardens.

This soft, vintage image is part of a free collage set that you can obtain over at The Graphics Fairy.  It was designed by my friend Heather Hudson and is featured on her painted canvas blog post here.  It's perfect because my mother had two children, me and my sister.  

By the way, all images were printed onto tissue paper for that soft, see-through effect.  I love how you can see some of the background stamping through them. Card stock is just too thick and heavy for my purposes.

The words "my friend" were printed from my computer, also on tissue paper, and edged with Stickles.

When I had all of the painting done and the images decoupaged, I knew this piece needed something else, something 3-D, and definitely something dangly.  My mother almost never makes a piece of art that something isn't dangling from it somewhere.  So Mom, here are some danglies for you.  At first I thought I'd do a "necklace" but I didn't want to cover the lady's face with it, so then I played around with the vintage chain and it struck me - a charm bracelet!  The first charm is a frog because my mother used to collect frogs, but some years ago she said, "NO MORE FROGS."  Sorry Mom, just one more.  The flower charm of course symbolizes her extensive flower gardens.

Next come the scissors for the woman who sewed nearly all of my clothes as a child.  She also made some of the most fabulous quilts you've ever seen, many of which grace my home.

And of course a heart.  She puts at least one heart on every single project she makes, whether it's quilts, mosaics, paintings, etc.  I don't think I've ever seen her make something that didn't contain at least one heart, if not more.  Because of her, I ♥ hearts.

I made the centerpiece and in-between charms with my various pearls and beads.  The little key (another heart!) was silver but I colored it with a copper Copic marker.  I rarely use silver, and copper looked better.  My mother has always collected keys ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  And last but certainly not least, the flamingo.  Why?  Because a few years ago I said I was going to put a flamingo in my front yard for a little bit of tacky fun, and being who she is, my mother made me a huge one, mosaiced in pink and sporting a stylish ceramic bow on her neck.  You can visit Fanny the Flamingo here.  I am now known as "the house on the corner with the flamingo in the front yard."  I truly think this is the ONLY cool yard flamingo out there - nothing tacky about this one.

I will be entering this piece in the Gecko Galz challenge which is all about Mother's Day, and also in the Frilly and Funky challenge which is to use a single word as a focal point.  Hopefully this one qualifies!

So thank you for joining me today - it was long but, well, that's how I roll.  I'm chatty.  And I like lots of pictures.  Here's wishing all you moms out there the most wonderful day that's focused on YOU!  And for my own mother?

I ♥ you, Mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

P.S.  I was on a rose painting roll, and I had a tiny 1" wooden heart, so I painted it for my daughter.  It looked fine until I saw the close up photo.  Clearly I need to work on my vine painting.  I know she'll love it regardless.

Blue Green Mixed Canvas

Hello!

Today's project is yep, another canvas.  Actually I've had this one in the wings for a while waiting for a good time to share it.

There are quite a few types of media and techniques used here as I explore and try to find a style.  Who knows, maybe I don't HAVE a style because I haven't found a particular one yet!  I've used stamping on tissue (the ferns which are mostly covered up), molding paste put through a chicken wire stencil, decoupage and 3-D pieces pressed into more molding paste.  Then everything is painted with one of the most gorgeous paints with which I've ever had the pleasure to work, that being Lumieres Halo Blue Gold.  It goes on blue and green, and the more you brush it, the more gold appears.

Paper roses, smaller paper flowers, glass flower beads, a glass star bead and a metal bee pin are all placed in a mound of molding paste.  Pearls are sprinkled here and there and everything is painted with the blue/green paint.

A chipboard flourish, more glass flower beads and pearls, and a resin flower.  I've used blue Stickles for the bits of sparkle here and there throughout.

The hearts were cut from book pages and shaded with a charcoal pencil.

These letters are outlined with a gold paint pen.

All of the dimensional pieces, once painted with the blue/green metallic paint, were also rubbed with gold Rub 'N' Buff.  It really makes the dimensional pieces stand out further.

Thank you lovely readers for joining me today on my journey to figure out what I want to do with mixed media.  It truly is an exciting art form which encourages one's imagination to let loose!

Happy crafting!

Challenges entered:

Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes
Crafts and Me #139 - Anything Goes
Pile It On #30 - Anything Goes
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes
613 Ave. Create #30 - Anything Goes

Birds of a Feather...

Hello!

My project today features something I haven't done before - art journaling.  There are so many wonderful paint/media techniques out there, and I want to try them all, so art journaling is the way to go.  I can try out new techniques and then use them on other future projects, be they canvases, wood panels, etc.

This will fit the current challenge going on over at Frosted Designs well as their theme this time is "The Great Outdoors."

The background is various colors of Dylusions Spray Inks sprayed on a gesso base.  Note to self: do not gesso the base first if I want vivid colors.  It tones them down considerably, thus requiring more spray.  I was wearing all colors by the time I finished.

I used a stencil to remove some of the color, then I stamped the hexagons in blue Archival Ink using Inspired By Stamping's "Hexagons" stamp set.

The sentiment speaks for itself.

The little birdie is from the Tim Holtz die, Birds, and I decided he should wear a party hat.  He is perched on a branch and looking towards the tree, the branches of which have been stamped using the Inspired By Stamping set "Sweet Aviary."  The bird's own branch is from this same stamp set, and both the tree and the branch have been stamped several times to get the proper effect.

The leaves are sticky back canvas painted with several colors of Gelatos, and the pink flowers are actually bits of white tissue paper with gold metallic spots which I sprayed with a homemade pink shimmer spray before tearing up into little pieces.

I drew the tree trunk freehand then applied gold and rust metallic pastes to both the trunk and the branches for texture.

This is an interesting stamp from the Urban Chic set from Stamper's Anonymous on which I applied metallic gel pens and then the date.

And that, lovely readers, is my very first ever art journal spread.  Looking back, it's pretty simple without a lot of background texture, but that will change as I learn this craft.  Baby steps.

Thank you so much for joining me today and I wish you a lovely weekend full of fun and crafting happiness!

Happy crafting!!

Challenges entered:

Frosted Designs - The Great Outdoors
Oozak #18 - Anything Goes w/Texture
Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes
Divas By Design - Anything Goes
Crafts and Me #139 - Anything Goes
613 Ave. Create #29 - Anything Goes

Life is Pretty

Hello and Happy 4th of July!

Today is going to be busy so I wanted to get this up and posted before the cooking starts.  Both of my grown kids will be coming over this afternoon which always makes me happy.

I haven't been posting for a few days as I've been working on altered art projects, one of which I'm highlighting today.  I call this one "Life is Pretty."  Because it is.

I won't bore you with the details, but things have been rough for the past few months and I've done some serious soul searching and decided that life IS pretty, by golly, and I just needed to get with the program.

There are a lot of techniques and media used here, including painting with acrylics, stamping with Copics (the little checkerboards in the background), stenciling with molding paste, decoupage, lace (some new, some vintage), mica, shimmer/glitter (of course!) and plenty of die cuts, punches and embellishments.  The color scheme comes from the challenge currently going on at a brand new challenge blog, A Mixed Media Color Challenge.

 

The rose is handmade with the application of chalk inks, distress inks and glitter.  The rest of the flowers have all been "dressed up" with acrylic paints and/or white Perfect Pearls.  I almost never use purchased flowers straight out of the package because they always seem to need a little extra oomph.  Embellish the embellishments is my motto.

The girl is a digital image printed and distressed around the edges.  What edges?  Edges are made for covering up, don't you think?

The bird coming through the birdcage was an accident that happened during the placement process.  I liked the look and left it that way.  The eye is a tiny pearl painted with a black Copic marker.

The sentiment tag was grungeboard that I colored with various shimmer paints, then distressed around the edges.  There's a bit of doodling here along with a couple of tiny brads.

The bow at the top (how did I forget to take a close up of that?) was made with three kinds of hand-dyed seam binding, some scrunchy and some smooth (thanks to Rebecca Deeprose's blog post here for that bit of inspiration), from which I hung a handmade charm from a bit of an old earring.

And that, lovely readers, is today's project.  Thank you for joining me and I wish you a lovely day full of fun 4th of July festivities if you're American, and crafty goodness if you're not.

Happy crafting!

Challenges entered:

A Mixed Media Color Challenge #2
Oozak #17 - Anything Goes w/a Girly Theme
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything Goes
Pile It On #26 - Bling
RRR #75 - Anything But a Card + Ribbon

My "New" Pincushion

Hello!

Today's project isn't a card, it's something else, something I've needed for a while.  I discovered the joys of making stickpins for my cards a few months ago but never had a nice home for them, just an ugly big green tomato pincushion.  Yuck.  So I finally did something about it.  What do you think?

 

It started out as these pieces - the ugly tomato, and a vintage cut glass piece I found at a local antiques mall. I'm thinking it might have been the base to a punch bowl.  I covered the tomato with a pretty floral cotton, placed it in the bowl, hot glued some pink pearls around the inner edge, then added a few more ribbons and embellishments, and voila, my new pincushion.

Feathers, vintage purple velvet ribbon underneath the wide lace ribbon with rhinestone ribbon at the top, a pink silk bow and a bird magnet complete the project.

Simple, yet very effective.  Now to get the rest of my craft room redone so this actually can look NICE in it.  But that's a project for another day.

Thank you for joining me today and I appreciate the time you took to do so.

Happy crafting!

Challenges entered:

Frilly and Funkie - Spruce It Up
Crafty Ribbons #38 - Anything Goes w/Ribbon

Altered HeART - 3 Girl JAM Challenge #11

Hello!

I am quite excited today as I have been asked to be a Guest DT over at  3 Girl JAM Challenge Blog, which is a HUGE honor because I love their products, which you can find here at 3 Girl JAM.  They have wonderfully delicious crinkled seam binding, not to mention many kinds of buttons, a bow maker and more.  

This fortnight's theme is "3-D Valentine with Ribbon," and it can be anything, be it paper, altered art, whatever.  I like those kinds of challenges because the sky's the limit.  I had never really made any altered art before, so I made an altered heART as my project.  

 
The project was technique-heavy, way too long to describe and it was also partly a learning experience, so I'll just let the pictures do most of the talking.  I will say, however, that the base heart shape is a thin plywood shape from Michael's, approximately 9" x 9", and I covered it with red tissue, stained it with varying shades of Distress Ink, then drybrushed metallic gold acrylic paint on top of that.  And the seam binding used is that from 3 Girl JAM.  Positively delicious.

The final glittered layer uses Art Institute glitter, some of the sparkliest I've ever seen.  These wings GLOW.

Scrabble letters and a small wooden heart with a chip in it.

The small shadowbox made from a vintage cardboard jewelry box lid.

Closeup of shadow box

Gold metal piece with attached Swarovski rhinestones fit perfectly on the image of the fan

.

Formerly an earring. I'm a sucker for flamingos.

Various ribbons, handmade button ornament, and
crochet "rose" made from crochet ribbon.

Tiny handmade rose, embossed with UTEE. Metallic leaves.

Double-sided glass pendant I've had for a while.

And that, dear friends, is my altered heART.  Thank you so much for joining me, and please do visit the 3 Girl JAM challenge blog to play along.  I wish you a happy, crafty, altered day if that is what your heART desires!

Happy crafting!

Supplies: everything but the kitchen sink (and even that might be there).  Most of the vintage images, i.e. Bingo card, Fan, Pansies (upper right), postcard (upper left), bluebird on shadow box are from Gecko Galz. Wings are Tim Holz. Flourishes also from Tim Holz. CI Paints used on Scrabble letters and wooden heart, inc. Sky Blue, Ivory, Rustic Red, Tan. Seam binding is from 3 Girl JAM. 

Challenges entered:

Oozak #11 - Anything Goes with Favorite Colors (red, pink, gold).
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #205 - Vintage card or project
Tuesday Throwdown #132 - Bling It On
Simon Says...Anything Goes
Crafts and Me #118 - Your Favorite Embellishment (anything glittery)
Frilly and Funkie - Spruce It Up
Inky Impressions #95 - BINGO (Pink/Red, Sentiment, Die/Punch, or Flowers, Ribbon, Pink/Red)
Crafty Ribbons #38 - Anything Goes w/Ribbon
Quick Quotes #24 - Non-traditional Valentine
My Sheri Crafts Challenge #103 - Valentines
Sugar Creek Hollow #47 - Romantic Love
Creative Inspirations Inspired By - Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers #84 - Vintage Love