In the Pink ..... and an ATC Challenge!

I've noticed an increasing trend over the past few weeks ....... men have taken to wearing "pink".  Every time I turn on the TV there they are - broadcasters, celebrities, antique experts, chefs, students, pensioners, sober politicians, flamboyant artists, sportsmen, old and young ..... there they all are with their pink ties, pink shirts, pink trousers, pink jumpers, pink hats, pink shoes!  I've even seen a couple of football teams sporting very fluorescent pink shirts!  I even had a quiet smile to myself the other day, driving home, when I passed an elderly couple out for a walk - she was dressed all in blue, he was dressed all in pink (shirt, jumper, trousers)! *LOL*  I must admit, I rather like it!  In fact, it seems that men are quietly reclaiming the colour "pink" for themselves as back in Victorian days, it was a masculine rather than a feminine colour.

And so, as my own little homage to men's new found "pinkness", I thought I'd create a little piece of art using one of my Victorian cabinet cards.  I've turned it into a wall hanging.  Hope you like my "Dandy Gentleman".

Before

After

Now, I thought it was about time I posted another little ATC challenge for you all so here's what I propose - you need to create three ATCs containing an image of a Victorian gentleman (just google away to find suitable images) dressed in or surrounded by the colour "pink" ..... you can keep your cards serious, quirky or humorous, entirely up to you.  (Details in the sidebar, as per usual).

Hopefully, plenty of you will want to join in and what I propose to do is put everyone's name "into a hat" and whoever is pulled out will also receive my "Dandy Gentleman" cabinet card as well.  You have until the end of the month (30th April) to make your cards and post them to me (just email me please to sign up).

Finally, if any of you want to give your brain cells a good working out, pop over to my sister Lindsay's blog and have a go at her crafty quiz - it's quite challenging, in fact very challenging, but there's a prize for the winner (closing date 9th April) so it's well worth having a go.

Some Free Vintage Imagery

Sorry I've not posted all week, my mind's been a bit preoccupied as I was due to go for an MRI scan on my neck today and I've not been looking forward to it at all - for one thing, I get quite claustrophobic in confined spaces and I was worried about being inside the "tunnel", also thought I might start coughing or something and mess the scan up.  Lindsay's been telling me not to be such a coward about it as she had to have one a year or so back, when she got an ear infection, and said that it was an interesting "experience"!  Well, anyway, I have to admit, the scan wasn't as scary as I thought it would be and took place, not in the local hospital, but in the brand-new all-singing, all-dancing health centre not far from where we live - first time I'd been inside and it was pretty impressive, I think they must have a department for every kind of health problem there is, both physically and mentally! 

Anyway, the scan .... I got over the claustrophobia bit by closing my eyes and drifting off into a dream-like trance, quite relaxing in a strange sort of way.  The reason for the scan is that I've got reduced strength & grip in my left thumb and forefinger, it's been getting worse for the past year, and I finally insisted the local GPs refer me to the specialist - the consultant isn't sure why I'm having this problem (it's not carpal tunnel syndrome or RSI, which I thought it possibly could be) so he ordered the neck scan in case that was where the problem lies plus I have to go for some nerve conduction (?) tests on my arm - still waiting for appointments for that - then I see the consultant again in October (yes, I know, seems a long way off) .... so it's all a bit of a mystery really, I hope the cause can be found so that at least, if there's no treatment, I'll know what it is.

Right, that's enough of me and my problems!!!  I thought today I'd put up some vintage pics of family groups from my collection of old cabinet cards - please feel free to download them onto your computer (click on each pic to enlarge it, then right click to save it) and use them in your artwork - would love to see pictures of any art you create using them! 

Mia has been growing increasingly bold these past few days and has decided she wants to climb everywhere - she was eyeing up a tree in our garden yesterday and then was clambering about all over the car roof.  And for some reason, has now decided that the worktops in the kitchen (it's a long galley kitchen so there's a good length of worktop) is a great place to wander around and explore.  Mia jumped off the first time I told her to get down, but then waited till I'd turned my back to jump back up again, the little minx, and I think we're fighting a losing battle keeping her off there all the time.  Only this evening I heard a clatter, went into the kitchen, and there was Mia sitting on the worktop, a picture of innocence, and on the floor the sugar bowl (stainless steel so didn't break) surrounded by a pile of sugar!  Whatever next! 

Mia loves dashing into my "craft/computer room" any chance she can - as she's addicted to having balls of paper thrown for her to fetch, she absolutely loves a good old root around amongst all the crafty bits and pieces - here's a picture of her in one of her latest favourite resting spots - on top of my "tower" where she can peek out at me or reach a paw up to grab me as I'm working! 

(Mia isn't really as evil as she looks in this picture - she's just a very mischievous and determined young lady - but a real cutie)!!

And finally, please don't forget the "Africa" ATC Swap that's running this month - perhaps everyone's too busy with other projects or on their summer hols, but I'd love to have a few more sign ups for this one; if you're interested in joining, just let me know either by email (contact address in my "profile" section) or in a comment on my blog. 

Some more Vintage Children Pics

Here are more vintage images of children for you from my collection of cabinet cards, please feel free to use them in your artwork and on your ATCs.  I find these old photographs fascinating to study, the more you look at them the more you see in them - I love the little dolls (one of which is wearing a knitted dress) in two of the pictures and the solemnity on the faces of the children because they had to stay so still. 

I will post the "how to" steps for the Nature's Beauty ATC next time.  In the meantime, here are some ATCs I finished today for a Tim Holtz techniques atc swap (sorry, Joanne, this is the nearest I've come so far to making my TH-style "grunge" pages - I'm still at the "thinking about them" stage)! 

                                                                                                                                                                   

"Destination"

TH/Rangers items used:

Alcohol Inks

COM005 Hotel Stamp

Grungeboard Arrow

Metal 'Journey' Embellishment

"Life"

TH/Rangers items used:

Distress Inks

Background (X's) Stamp

Archival Ink - Plum

Metal 'Life' Key

Alcohol Inks

"Flight"

TH/Rangers items used:

Distress Inks

Paint Dabber

Archival Ink - Sepia

Distress Stickles

TH 'No Journey ....' Stamp

Vintage Children Images and some more ATCs

Thought I'd post a few vintage images for you to use as you wish in your artwork - they're from my collection of cabinet cards, two feature babies and the third a young child. 

I've many more vintage images (of ladies, gents, children and family groups) so I'll continue to post pics from my collection every so often - in fact, I have plans to feature some of them in the next monthly swap.  (The butterflies are flying in now for the current swap and lovely cards they are too, so if you want a chance to receive some beautiful ATCs yourself then there's still time to sign up).

A few days ago I lost a chunk of tooth (a back wisdom tooth) whilst eating a sandwich - I felt a bit of a crunch and thought it was eggshell, but apparently not - it must've been the old filling coming out - yuck!  Anyway, it meant a trip to the dentist the next day for a rather large filling and as a consequence over the past few days I've been feeling very sensitive with my teeth, trying to avoid anything too "crunchy" and taking painkillers as it's still very achey (just hope it settles down)! 

As a consequence, I've not spent as much time as I'd have liked working on atcs and journal pages.  But here are a few pics of the ATCs I've managed to create in the past week - some were for a monthly swap on one of my Yahoo groups, we have a new partner each month and swap three cards (any theme).  The other cards are extras I've made for my swapping stash. 

These three cards were sent to my partner Liz for the March swap.

"Fill Each Day with Joy"

"Nature's Beauty"

"Paris Passion"

"Psychedelia"

I've treated myself and booked onto THREE workshops that my sister Lindsay is running at Dawn Bibby's Design Studio in Oswaldtwistle - I've promised to behave myself and not heckle at all *LOL*.  Well, everyone always looks like they're having such a good time in the pictures Lindsay posts on her blog and I wanted to join in the fun myself too.  The workshops I'm signed up for are her Mirror Frame in April, a Secret Canvas in June and Rangers Techniques and ATCs in July (check out this link to Dawn's shop if you want to book on any of the workshops).  I'm really looking forward to them!

Woke up to a very blustery, windy and on-and-off wet day.  I'd planned to go over to Oswaldtwistle (in deepest Lancashire) to meet up with Lindsay as she was demonstrating some of her stamping techniques, card making, etc, at Dawn Bibby's Design Studio, but I was having second thoughts after I saw what the weather was up to.  However, I felt a bit stir-crazy as I've been cooped up in the house all week with a cold, so decided it was about time I got some fresh air!

I hadn't been over to Oswaldtwistle before, not realising that I could catch a train directly from here (still no transport since our car got wrecked - new car not due for another few weeks) by travelling from one of the smaller local stations - it was a pleasant enough journey, just over an hour, plenty of time for me to sit back and daydream as fields of cows, trees, streams and houses passed by my window. 

Dawn Bibby's Studio is directly opposite the station, so thankfully very easy for me to find!  Lindsay was in full demo-mode so I spent an hour or so there, picking up fresh ideas for using my distress inks and also making a few crafty purchases - the new Distress Stickles, which I'd not been able to find locally, and a couple of Halloween-themed sheets for use in my ATC making.  As you can see from the photo, the Halloween theme was very much in evidence at the Studio/Topaz Crafts shop!

I then popped over to the Oswaldtwistle Mills for a mooch around and a bit of lunch - picked up some candles, sweets, crumbly Lancashire cheese and "firecracker" olives (chilli and garlic) for my other half! 

I also picked up the Witchy ATCs that Lindsay has made, she's done a really good job on them and it's great to see them in "real life" as you can examine them closely and see all the detail that has gone into making them.  I've already had a few sets of witchy ATCs arrive this week and they are all looking good, it's wonderful to see how differently everyone has interpreted the witch theme.  I'm the lucky one because I get to see all the cards! 

I thought I'd post pics of some cabinet cards I altered some time ago - they've all been swapped out now - including one that I turned into a Witch.  The larger size of a cabinet card (it's about 4" x 6") allows for a lot more "altering" and embellishing.  If you come across any of these cards when you are out shopping or car boot rummaging, it's worth buying one to have a play around with - you can really let your imagination loose on them, whatever style of art or technique appeals to you.

"Beauty"

(lots of acrylic paints, inks, stamping, embellishments and a beaded wire hanger)

"Clara"

(The name Clara was written on the back of this card.  Again, I used acrylics and stamps plus embossing powders and stamping onto torn vellum)

These two cab cards were altered for a "Crazy Carol" swap where we had to imagine they were eccentric or odd relatives

Some Vintage Ladies for You

It's been a few days since I last posted, have been doing a few arty projects but no photos yet to upload (hopefully I'll get round to showing you what I've been making soon). 

Sooooo, in the meantime ..... I thought you might like some images of vintage ladies that you can download and use in your own artwork.  I have quite a collection of cabinet cards and cartes de vue (these were photographs, generally portraits or family groupings, taken by studio photographers in Victorian/Edwardian times - often they would mark some special occasion, such as a birthday, wedding or engagement).  The original cabinet cards have a sturdy card base and the backs are often very ornately decorated with the photographer's details on them.  The cards are great for working on and altering too - you can throw virtually anything at them, inks, paints, gesso, stamping, embellishments ..... so that a once discarded photograph gains a new lease of life as a piece of art.  They're really fun to work on too; I've been in a few international swaps for altered cabinet cards and received some wonderfully humorous and imaginative pieces in return.

Anyway, here are some vintage ladies for you, they are images from some of my cabinet cards and you can use them any way you like.  Just double-click on the image to enlarge it, then right click to save to your computer (as a jpeg).  I would love to see what you do with them - if you do create a piece of artwork using one of the ladies, it would be great if you emailed me a picture of it and I'll show it off here for everyone to see.  (You can email me via the link on my About Me profile page).

If you like these images and want some more, just let me know ..... more ladies, children or gentlemen ..... or family groups? ..... the choice is yours!