Bugs and Hisses ~ Inspired by a new Sandra Caldwell release

Hi everyone! I had the opportunity to play with one of Sandra Caldwell's fabulous new releases which will be in her Etsy shop later today. It's called Jacko Spring Head Witch #1000 and I think  he's delightful. I love those spring head images.

I coloured Jacko with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. When he was fussy cut, a narrow white border was left to frame him. Once black cardstock was adhered to the back of the image, it was fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border. While this is hard to capture in a photo, it is visible IRL and it also adds strength to the skinny parts of the image which helps when it's popped up on foam tape.

Jacko was adhered to a framed section of designer paper and then matted with black cardstock. Clear rhinestones were added to the spider webs printed in the corners. Two rectangles of other designer papers were cut to size and matted with black before being adhered to the white card base: one horizontally and the other vertically. The layer with the image was added to the top and faux stitching was doodled around the outside of the card on the white base only.

The sentiment from Recollections was inked with Jet Black Archival ink and stamped onto white cardstock. It was then die cut into a circle shape and faux stitching was added to the outside edge to frame it and tie it in with the other faux stitching.

Thanks for joining Jacko and me today. We appreciate your fine company. Be sure and pop by Sandra Caldwell Stamps Fans Facebook group today to see the other fabulous new releases she has for us this week. They are wonderfully inspiring and my talented DT teamies will post their delightful creations featuring them throughout the day. To check out the rest of Sandra's inspiring images, pop over to her Etsy shop, Babycakes Digis and Designs.  You are sure to find many images that will make you smile!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Do What You Love to Do ~ Inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone. I have had this lovely little artist sitting on my desk for weeks just waiting to be finished She is called le Petite Artiste and she comes from Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop along with three other parts to the set. I love Janet's wonderful images and thoroughly enjoy the many stories they have to tell.

I coloured this sweet artist with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. The paint blobs on her palette were created with Scribbles dimensional paint. She was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and trimmed out again. She was then popped up on foam tape to create dimension and natural shadow.

The 6 x 8 inch mixed media paper was spritzed with Delphinium Turquoise and French Lilac Violet Lindy's Starburst Sprays. Once dry, Darkroom Door Polka Dots Rubber stamp was added to the background with Garden Patina Archival Ink. Book text was adhered with matte medium and white gesso was scuffed over the top of the text using a finger. One of the Darkroom Door Paint Splats stamps was added with Jet Black Archival Ink. Black Marble and White Linen Dylusions paints were used to apply painty rings using bottle lids. Washi tape added to strips of white cardstock were adhered under the little artist so she wouldn't float and again at the side to create repetition.

The sentiment, which is another digital image from the Vera Lane set, was printed on white cardstock, cut apart, and matted with black. Foam tape was used to adhered the words to the background. A simple border was doodled around the page and Black Big Brush Pen was used to colour the edges. A black mat was adhered to the back to frame the page and pull everything together. A black punched photo corner was added to the top left corner and two pink metal paperclips to the top right to finish off the page.

Thanks for joining Le Petite Artiste and me today. You know we love when you do that! To see more of Janet's fabulous and inspiring images, be sure to visit her Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and stop by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group where you will see lots of her stamps "in action".

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

And another Sandra Caldwell New Release ~ Lil Santa #728

I'm baaaack! I was lucky enough to be able to play with a second new release from Sandra Caldwell this week. This one is called Lil Santa #728. I absolutely love the expression on his little face and found a wonderful saying that seemed to fit perfectly.

I coloured Lil Santa with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils and fussy cut him leaving my usual narrow white border. He was then matted with black cardstock and fussy cut again leaving a black border. Once the background was completed, Lil Santa was adhered flat to make the card easier to mail.

Three rectangles of patterned paper were layered over each other and faux stitching was done on each layer around the edges. This triple layer was then adhered toward the top of the white card base and two die cut black scalloped borders were adhered to each side. Thin strips of washi tape over white cardstock were layered over the borders and at the top of the background.

A frame was fussy cut from the same designer paper pack and then the saying was printed onto it from the computer. It was matted with black and popped up on foam tape for dimension before layering it over the bottom of the card. The final touch was to add Stickles and a red gem to one of the two layered flowers and add that to the upper left corner to balance the design and add a little sparkle to the card.

Thanks for popping by today. Lil Santa  will put you on his Good List, for sure :) To see more of Sandra's new releases which will be available later today in her Babycakes Digis and Designs Etsy shop, be sure to pop by the Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans Facebook group. My talented teammates will be posting their wonderful creations with this weeks newbies throughout the day.

Raggedy Gal 726 ~ Sandra Caldwell New Release

Hi there! It's Monday New Release day at Sandra Caldwell's Etsy shop, Babycakes Digis and Designs (babycakesdnd). Today I am playing with an image which I can relate to :) She is called Raggedy Gal 726 and when I saw her I thought of that saying "Ever feel like a Raggedy Ann in a Barbie Doll world?"

I coloured Raggedy Gal with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, adding a tiny black pearl at the center of the flower just for fun. She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and then matted with black and trimmed out again. She was then popped up on foam tape to create dimension and natural shadowing.

I wanted the background to be kind of homespun and simple so I chose some quilt patterned paper for the 6 x 8 inch rectangle. A large white doily was layered behind Raggedy Gal and a scalloped punched circle of green cardstock was layered over that. Faux stitching was added to the outside edge to go with the quilting theme. It was also added to the outside edges of the quilt paper using a black pen. Two black enamel hearts were adhered to the top right corner.

The sentiment, which sis me to a tee, was printed on white cardstock, matted with black cardstock, and popped up on foam tape. Three tiny black rhinestones were added to cover the three dots after the word glamourous. To complete the page, a black mat was added to the back to frame it.

Thanks for stopping by to visit Raggedy Gal and me. We are happy as heck you did that :) Be sure and pop by Sandra Caldwell Stamps Fans Facebook group today to see the other wonderful new releases she has for us this week. They are delightful and the DT will post their awesome creations  featuring them throughout the day. To check out the rest of Sandra's inspiring images, pop over to her Etsy shop, Babycakes Digis and Designs.  There's something for everyone there!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week #32 ~ Divide and Conquer

Hi everyone. Barb's prompt for Week 32 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure is Divide and Conquer...your background. She covered up one section of the background and added colour to the other section. Then she reversed the process and added a border to mark the divide. I decided to flip the sections so that the smaller section was on the bottom because I wanted it to look like a gym stage where a talent show was taking place.

I covered the bottom third with scrap paper and spritzed the top 2/3 of the page with Lindy's Yellow Rose of Texas, Marigold Yellow Orange, and Hottie Patottie Hot Pink Starburst Sprays.Once the top section was dry, the scrap paper was used to cover it so that Butterscotch Adirondack Color Wash and Tattered Angels Tattered Leather Glimmer Mist were spritzed onto it. Once that was dry, a black Pitt pen was used to divide the bottom into wooden boards and also to create the woodgrain lines.

The top section was stamped using Magenta Hue Archival Ink and Stampotique Originals Kate's Doodle Cube. Then Joggles Nonsense Latin Text was stamped using Tiger Lily Archival Ink. White paint rings were created with Dylusions White Linen paint and a bottle lid. Black Splatter dots were stamped with Jet Black Archival to add a little more texture.

I chose Joggles The Bird Edgar rubber stamp to use for the MC of the talent night. The talented trio are the Joggles Loretta rubber stamp used three times. All were coloured with a mix of |Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. They were all fussy cut on the lines and the Lorettas were overlapped to look like they were standing beside each other and at an angle to the audience.

 Both Edgar and the Loretta trio were then matted with black cardstock and fussy cut leaving a narrow border. They were adhered to the background leaving a space on each side. Edgar was given a clip art top hat to which I added an orange-red hat band...just for the occasion.

Black and white washi tape was adhered to white cardstock to take away the translucency. One length was adhered to the top of the page and a skinny piece was used to mark the stage area where my friends would stand. Starry patterned paper was cut and accordion folded to create curtains for the stage. The folds were edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink to help them show better and faux stitching was added to the inside edges. They were adhered at the top and half way down so that the bottom would be loose. Two lengths of crocheted lace were added to the curtain tops. A punched and matted star was added to the washi tape border .

To finish off the page, a Talent Show Tonight sign was printed on white cardstock and matted with black. Four copper brads were added to the corbers before it was adhered to the wooden stage front. The other wording , Believe, is an Idea-ology Big Chat sticker and was added to remind the Lorettas to believe in themselves and their talent :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Edgar, the Lorettas, and I are delighted you did that. If you haven't already been following along with the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and Barb's weekly Monday prompts, it's not too late. You can join in at any point and we'd love to have you join our wonderful AJA Facebook group as well. It's an awesome group filled with creative, friendly, and supportive people who share the same enthusiasm for this fun adventure.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

The East Wind Challenge #61 ~ Paper Piecing

Hi everyone! It's mid August and this summer can end any time for me. I usually like summer but it has been way too hot and humid forcing me to stay cooped up inside with the air on so as not to aggravate breathing problems. I'm looking forward to a little cooler weather where I can go out and play :) OK...enough whining! We have a new challenge today at The East Wind and our theme is Paper Piecing, something I don't do very often but I love the effect.

I decided to feature this sweet image called Aurora Young Love and paper pieced the clothes. I printed the image on white cardstock and coloured the faces, hair, skin, and shoes with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. I then printed the clothes again on four different sections of designer paper although the prints are subtle. That was my choice because of the sentiment I wanted to use...everything monochromatic and neutral. The clothing items were adhered to the coloured image and then more coloured pencils were used to add shading to them. The image was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and matted with black. The sweethearts were then popped up on foam tape.

The background began with a  white 6 x 8 inch rectangle of cardstock onto which striped designer paper was adhered. A piece of dotted grid paper was torn and layered across the bottom of the striped paper to form the ground where the sweethearts will stand...or kneel.Text stamping and hearts were added with Watering Can Archival Ink and a scribbly circle stamp added with Jet Black Archival Ink. A strip of text designer paper was adhered to the left side of the background and a torn piece of black cardstock was tucked under it to help it show better.

The sentiment was computer generated and Prismacolor pencils were used to add pink to the word colour to tie in with the pink in the image. To add a third repetition of that pink, a length of narrow pink ribbon was used to overlap the text paper and a wee bow was added over that. Two black punched photo corners were adhered to the right corners to add balance. The final touches were to add Black Big Brush Pen around the edges of the background and a black cardstock mat was used to frame the page.

Thanks for popping by today. Aurora and her friend are a little preoccupied but I sure appreciate it :) To see what my talented Blog DT mates created for this Paper Piecing Challenge, be sure to pop by The East Wind blog. Awesome projects from everyone! We would love to have you play along with us.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week #31 Response ~ Colour

Hi everyone. The prompt for Week #31 of the Art Journal Adventure over on the Joggles blog was different from what we usually do. It was an exploration of the colour wheel and combining and mixing colours. Barb was playing with Dylusions paints but since I don't have the last two releases of those, I decided to use Neocolor II crayons. I was curious to see what would happen when I combined two colours and wanted to make my wheel and reminders with them as well. because I didn't want a plain background, I spritzed the page with Creme Brulee Cream Lindy's Starburst spray and let it dry.

I punched 16 flowers from white cardstock and used 6 of them for the cool colours, 6 for the warm colours, and 4 for neutrals. The colour was scribbled onto the punched flowers and then activated with a water brush. Once dry, black punched circles were adhered for the flower centers. Black lines were added to each petal to add interest. Three green leaves were hand cut from some mop up paper and then labelled Primary to indicate the three primary colours. Lines were dashed with a black pen to show an example of a complementary colour scheme, a split complementary one, and an analogous scheme. Computer generated labels were matted with black cardstock and added to the connecting lines.

Inside the colour wheel, I wanted to show the difference between a hue which is pure colour,  a tint which is achieved by adding white to a hue, a tone which you achieve by adding gray to the hue, and a shade which you get when you add black to the hue. I chose to feature raindrops (or paint drops) and ladybugs to continue with my garden theme. Labels like the others were added for each example.

The neutral flowers were adhered to the left side of the page and labelled. The title for the page, Colour, was created with Idea-ology Ransom Alpha Parts. I wanted some kind of border to help frame the page so I decided to use very thin black and white washi tape. I adhered a strip to both the top and the bottom, leaving the sides free. I auditioned tape on the sides but preferred it without.

Thanks for joining me today. I appreciate that so much! If you haven't already been following along with the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and Barb's weekly Monday prompts, it's not too late. You can join in at any point and we'd love to have you join our amazing AJA Facebook group as well. It's a wonderful group filled with creative, friendly, and supportive people who share the same enthusiasm for this fun adventure.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 30 Response

Hi everyone! For Week 30 of Joggles Art Journal Adventure, Barb's prompt was Persevere which came out of a frustrating session where inspiration would not come to her and her mojo seemed to go for a walk-about. Been there!!It's such a horrible frustrating feeling especially when a deadline is fast approaching and you have thought and thought and still have NOTHING! She was going to pass on that week's page but decided to persevere and, although she didn't love her results, was happy she did. I have a few things I do when my mojo is absent...things like cleaning up my work space, re-organizing it, looking at older artwork of mine, and creating backgrounds. Everyone has to find the things that work for them and the more choices you have the better.

I decided to go back to a page in my journal where I had started a background and then moved on to something else. I couldn't tell you whether I was cleaning my stencil filled with Lindy's Starburst sprays or whether I sprayed through them onto the page with too heavy of a hand. I just know that I started and abandoned this background some time ago so today I decided to return to it and persevere :) I also chose to leave a lot of white space which always poses a challenge to me...although the more I do it, the less challenging it becomes. The large stars on the left side were Sticky Snippets that I had decorated previously using Brusho crystals, stencils, paint, and Texture Paste. The small stars on the right were punched from the leftover printed bits (the negative parts) from the same sheet. I never waste any bits of the Sticky Snippets sheets.

I inked Stampotique Originals's Bird Legs (Large) stamp with Jet Black Archival and applied it to white cardstock. It was then coloured with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. The image was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and then matted with black cardstock and trimmed out again. This makes it pop against the background and gives strength to the skinny legs and hat brim.

Before adhering her to the background, three different washi tapes were applied to white cardstock, trimmed out, and layered below her feet and in the top left corner. This grounded her so she wasn't floating and also created a diagonal flow through the page. Cream enamel dots were added to the ends of the washi.

The sentiment was something my mom used to say. She was a great one for sayings and this one which is only part of a longer one would come out when she was trying to come up with an idea. It reminded me of Barb's message on her page and made me smile as I remembered my mom saying it and rolling her eyes. The words were printed in phrases onto white cardstock and then matted with black before being popped up on foam tape. Outlining and a doodled border were done with a black pen and the page was edged on three sides with Black Big Brush pen. Three glittery question mark stickers were added to complete the page.

Thanks so much for visiting today. Ms. Bird Legs and I are delighted you did. If you haven't already been following along with the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and Barb's weekly Monday prompts, it's not too late. You can join in at any point and we'd love to have you join our amazing AJA Facebook group as well. It's a wonderful group filled with creative, friendly, and supportive people who share the same enthusiasm for this fun adventure.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

The East Wind New Release ~ Barista

Hi everyone. It's Friday and that means another new release at The East Wind shop. Today's image is inspired by someone who many of us see each day or at least several times a week. She might be at that specialty coffee shop you love so or just at your local Timmy's (yes, I'm Canadian). Wherever she is, this is a tribute to the one who prepares that coffee so many of us look forward to so much. The image is called Barista but in my mind, she could also be called life saver...LOL

I coloured Barista with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. She was fussy cut with my usual white border around her and then matted with black cardstock. After trimming her leaving another narrow border, she (and her fabulous machine) were popped up on foam tape.

The background began with a 6 x 6 inch square of cardstock which I had printed with a coffee word themed background. I added several stampings of a TH coffee ring image using Coffee Archival ink. A scalloped circle was punched from another digital background paper printed on cardstock. This was adhered to the left side and a small doily overlapped it. Both were outlined with black pen to make them stand out against the background. Before placing the lovely barista on the background, two lengths os washi tapes were backed with white cardstock to make their transparency a non-issue. They were then adhered below where Barista would go, grounding her and giving her a "counter".

The word Barista was created with shiny puffy black stickers. The words life saver were created with my Dymo labeller and adhered over the doily. Three coffee beans were glued to the bottom left corner and five brads were affixed to the top left corner. I chose the brad colours to repeat the colours from the image to tie things together. A punched photo corner was added to the top right corner for balance and black splatter dots were stamped with Jet Black Archival ink. A black cardstock mat was adhered to the back of the page to frame it and add contrast to the background.

Thanks for popping by today. Barista and I are delighted you did. To see what others from TEW design teams have created with this fabulous image, be sure to stop by The East Wind Facebook group throughout the day. The image will be available in The East Wind shop later today.

Life is good; so is art...and Coffee!
Bonnie

Sandra Caldwell New Release Monday ~ Reindeer Lot 960

Hi everyone! Wow, with the heat and humidity we are experiencing this summer, I jumped at the chance to work on a Christmas card and maybe shift my perspective :) It's Monday and that means that Sandra Caldwell has a whole bunch of new releases today in her Etsy shop, babycakesdnd. I chose to play with this fabulous one called Reindeer Lot 960, finishing my very first Christmas card for the season. That's a first for me in August!

The image was coloured with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. Instead of fussy cutting the elements, I cut on the outline Sandra so kindly provided and then matted the image with black cardstock. It was then popped up on foam tape.

The background began with black and white dotty paper, matted with red cardstock. Red and green cardstock were die cut to create the scalloped borders which were then offset and adhered to the image. Faux stitching and red gems were added to the borders. Red grosgrain ribbon with a white zigzag stitching detail was wrapped around the bottom of the background before it was adhered to the white card base. The sentiment was printed with green ink from the computer. It was trimmed close to the words, matted with black, and popped up on foam tape on top of the ribbon.

That's it for the reindeer boys and me! Thanks for stopping by. Be sure and pop by Sandra Caldwell Stamps Fans Facebook group today to see the other wonderful new releases she has for us this week. They are delightful and the DT will post their awesome creations  featuring them throughout the day. To check out the rest of Sandra's inspiring images, pop over to her Etsy shop, Babycakes Digis and Designs. It's worth the click!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

The East Wind Challenge #60 - Outta This World

Hi everyone! Happy August and if you are Canadian, Happy Civic Holiday today. Because it's the first of a new month, we are beginning a new challenge on The East Wind blog and the DT are working with the August Freebie image from TEW newsletter. The theme this time is Outta This World so we want to see you include stars, moon, sun or planets in your creation. The gorgeous freebie this month is called Marilyn and she is amazing and so glam.

I coloured Marilyn with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. I loved colouring all that hair and those folds...and her baby blues :) She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and then matted with black cardstock to frame her. Foam tape was used to pop her up and create a natural shadow.

The 6 x 8 inch mixed media paper background was spritzed with Canna Lily Burnt Orange and Fuzzy Navel Peach Lindy's Starburst Sprays. Rusty Hinge Distress Ink was applied to Joggles Vintage Correspondence stamp and added to the background in several places by rolling the stamp onto it. Jet Black Archival was applied to a TH splatter dots stencil and used to create more visual texture. Three shimmery stars were die cut from recycled packaging using a Simon Says Stamp die. Normally the inside is removed but I liked the look with it still there so the star was adhered to black cardstock and trimmed out. The extra cuts make a cool detail. Before Marilyn was adhered to the background, a length of cheesecloth was placed behind her to represent clouds and tie in with the challenge theme.

The sentiment was printed from the computer onto white cardstock and then matted with black. Foam tape was used to add dimension. A punched black border was added to the right side and rhinestones were added to each scallop. A border was doodled with black pen and Black Big Brush Pen was used to edge the background. A black mat was added behind the page to create a frame.

Thanks for stopping by today. Marilyn and I appreciate that. To see what the rest of the Blog DT created with this fabulous image, be sure to stop by The East Wind blog. The whole team has done an amazing job! We would love to have you play along with us!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie