Halloween Tray

I have been busy, bust, busy!

It's October and you know what that means........Spooky Halloween month.

I love Halloween!

Just look around on Facebook, Blogs and Pinterest

I am not the only one who

LOVES

HALLOWEEN.

I recently became a member of the Design Team for Glue Dots® and I thought I would start my Dottess Reign with this Spooky Tray.

So Cute and Spooky at the same time!

So take a look at the tray I made using Glue Dots®!

 This tray is plastic.....$1.99 from the grocery store, how cool is that? I just love this paper!

The paper is Echo Park Paper Co. "Chilingsworth Manor"

 Close ups....because I just knew you would want to see it closer.

 A bit closer.

 and of course I have to show you the cute trick or treaters!

Would you like to see the instruction for this tray?

Go to http://www.gluedots.com/holiday/halloween-/happy-halloween-decor.html you can get full instructions!

You can see this on Pinterest and pin it http://pinterest.com/pin/198651033534727465/

There will be more treats coming soon!

 “I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots design team.”

 

Sharing Christmas Shadow Box-Cosmo Cricket Style

That's right.....it is not even Halloween yet and I have worked on some Christmas items. Mind you this is very hard to do when it is 100 degrees outside! Horrible! It's funny my friends and family from Minnesota all say "oh but it is a dry heat that's not so bad". Okay? Well to me 100 is still 100!

Anyway here is my sample I did for Cosmo Cricket. It is a shadow box made with the new Christmas line, it is called "JOLLY DAYS".

You can see the full line here. This line even has Ready set Chips and Stickers ANDDDD......Stamps!
This line was voted as Susan Opal of Papercrafts favorite Christmas line at CHA.  Read about it here.

 That Elf is so cute! He is in checking to make sure Santa's suit is ready to GO! I used a stamp from "too much fun rubberstamps".  Cut it all out then made the shadow box into what I think Santa's closet would look like. I used tim holtz Hinges and hangers to hang the suit. Of course had to use some Stickles from Ranger to complete Sants' suit.

Here is another picture

 Close up

 Another close up

This Elf is so stinking CUTE!

 The shadow box again

Thanks for stopping by!

CHAPTER 12 - Challenge Hearts!

"First came ten soldiers carrying clubs; these were all shaped like the three gardeners, oblong and flat, with their hands and feet at the corners: next the ten courtiers; these were ornamented all over with diamonds, and walked two and two, as the soldiers did. After these came the royal children; there were ten of them, and the little dears came jumping merrily along hand in hand, in couples: they were all ornamented with hearts. Next came the guests, mostly Kings and Queens, and among them Alice recognised the White Rabbit: it was talking in a hurried nervous manner, smiling at everything that was said, and went by without noticing her. Then followed the Knave of Hearts, carrying the King's crown on a crimson velvet cushion; and, last of all this grand procession, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS." -- Chapter 8; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland



Since February contains Valentine's Day, we are challenging you to show us your HEART (or hearts), in whatever form you'd like to interpret that!Our sponsor this month is The Octopode Factory, who is offering a $30 Etsy shop gift certificate to one randomly selected winner.The Octopode Factory has amazing and unique images born from the fertile imagination of Lily Chilvers. The Etsy Shop carries her digi stamps and collage sheets, and she has large and small rubber stamps available through her blog. Be sure to check out all the incredible Alice in Wonderland characters and digital stamp sets, and visit! And for fun and inspiration, be sure to visit Lily's blog and The Octopode Factory Friday challenge blog, or TOFF for short!This is a very short month, so you have only until Friday, Feb. 24 to submit your entry! As always, projects that feature Wonderland will have two chances at the prize instead of one. Multiple entries are fine, but each must be on a separate post. Please join us!

This week is my week to share! I know last week you got a sneak peek on the Oh Alice blog. This week it is on my blog.

I have made a canvas with the queen of hearts. I love Lily's images, they are so fun to color! I started this canvas by covering it with gesso to give it some bite. I then painted the background with acrylics paint. While this was drying I set in to color my image, the Queen of Hearts. I used Prisma Colored pencils on her, layer after layer until I like the way she looked. I used my Cricket (Provo Craft) to cut out the castle. I used matte medium to adhere both the castle and the queen onto the painted canvas. Then I cut out Whimsical Heart Stems and added them to look like a fence. Then the shading began to make it look like those Whimsical hearts were jumping off the page. I really enjoy making this. So much fun to play around with shading. I added some glossy accents to the eyes and a few of the hearts.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!





Now it's your turn, go get your hearts going and join in this fun challenge. Head over to the Altered Alice and enter!

Interuption on the blog!

Oh my GOSH, over at Studio L3 Linda is having people make tim a birthday card. That is this weeks challenge. Not so hard, right?
So when I heard that it was tim's birthday on the 7th, I had to get right on this! Some things are just more important. So I dropped everything....even the article I had hinted to. Still shhhhh!
Here it is........tim's birthday card!
(I hope he likes it)......(is it worthy of the master?)

I covered the paper with a vinyl, did some stitching, staples and what I am most excited about....the

 letters I did. (the little bottle is cute)

Closer look at the letters. They were metal letters that I painted, then put on some Rock Candy Distress Crackle and then I distress inked and then.....I embossed them!

I HEART them! I really do!

Another close up

Oh and just had to show you the letters again. LOVE!

Inside is a simple note to tim!

Happy Birthday big guy!

I should have waited to take pictures in natural light, like tomorrow, but I was to excited!

A NEW YEAR!

I have been busy! I know, it does not look like it by the looks of my postings! The holidays came and went so fast. I made almost every gift I gave this year. Yep! i am pretty proud of that!

I made tons of ornaments! Had great fun soldering! I forgot how much I like to solder. I have painted, made cards and now I am back on the Altered Alice design team. I have a custom order of 12 cards that I had to make and get in the mail. Done! Now I am working on my next project for the Altered Alice and I am starting to write another article for a magazine. More on that later. That is hush, hush!

I will keep this updated much more. It is one of my goals for the year. I just get caught up in the art and forget to blog about it. If you guys could see everything I do you would be amazed and ask why didn't you put that on the blog, oh and that too, and that.......you get what I mean. I just get to wrapped up in it.

I will leave you with a few pictures.

We all need Thank you cards in January, right?

These two are made with 7 gypsies Lille 6X6. I bought this a while ago and have not had a chance to play with it, so it turned into some nice thank you cards. Of course I need to distress each one. Everyone knows I need to distress pretty much every little thing! Thank goodness for Ranger/Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous.

Not a great picture but you get the idea. I only made 2 Christmas cards this year and this is one of them.

Yes, shame on me!

 Inside

I will be back on Thursday and show you some ornaments! Hey they were also on Ranger's facebook page!

CHAPTER 10: A Lewis Christmas Carroll to All!-My Turn!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Altered Alice! This month the design team brings you their holiday wishes, and we invite you to send your holiday greetings to The Altered Alice. You have until Friday, Dec. 23 to enter. The winner post will either be a little early or late, as the last Sunday of the month falls on Christmas day!

Our prize this month is a $40.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops, the premier online retailer for crafters of all kinds. From Accuquilt to Zva Creative, adhesives to vinyl and everything in between, Custom Crops offers a huge selection of the products you've been looking for at competitive prices with fast, friendly customer service.
To celebrate the season, we bring you The Lewis Carroll Memorial Window at Daniell Chapel in England. Notice the left panel where Lewis Carroll and Alice kneel to pay homage to the newly born Christ in this wonderful Nativity scene! Our quote this month is actually contained within the window, do you see it?

The window was designed by the stained glass artist Geoffrey Webb, a must-see for anyone that loves Wonderland. A wonderful Christmas poem by Lewis Carroll is shown in the center three bottom panels, which include characters from Wonderland - the White Rabbit, Dodo, the Caterpillar, Mad Hatter, and more!


My December challenge is my own version of the Cheshire Cat, with his BIG cheesy grin! I did a     
tri-fold Christmas card. The 1st thing I had to do was draw a Cat fitting to be the Cheshire. This is what I came up with. Hope you all like it!

My Christmas Card to all of you!

                                                                      Front of the card

                                                                   Open to the second fold

                                                                        Inside of card

                                                                                        Just some close ups

What products did I use? I used my own drawing and lettering.

Red paint was from Creative Inspirations.

(They were our sponsor in august and I was unable to be a part of the last few months, so I used it here)

I also used the Ranger's Winter release of Distress Inks Iced Spruce.

Snowflakes are from a cube stamp that I have had for a while, don't know who it is from.

Also used colored pencils for the color on the Cheshire Cat.

Oops, and some Stickles for some sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wishing you a Happy Holiday!

We look forward to seeing your holiday greetings, so send us a Christmas Card! If it features Wonderland, you will have two chances at the randomly awarded prize instead of one. Multiple entries are fine, but each must be on a separate post.

Please go to the Altered Alice blog and enter.

Grungy Monday-tag

I know it is Saturday, but that is what the challenge is called.
I just wanted to share another tag I have done with Grungy Monday at Studio L3 Challenge.

Tim had done this technique back in 2008. It is good to get a refresher every now and then.

You can check it out on Tim's blog here. Click here

Here is my tag..............

 I used shabby shutters, vintage photo, and mustard seed distress inks. I used a few different sets of stamps. Some snaps and gotta add the mini staples and bang up a a bit. I love to scratch and grunge. One of my friends calls me her grungy friend. LOL! You know who you are!

                                                 Another shot on a different background

                                         Make sure you stop by tomorrow for my Altered Alice
                                                          project! I think you will like it!

Have a great Saturday!

Challenge-Torn or Distressed

I think I am getting into these challenges. Last week was the first time I had ever done a challenge, I kinda liked it. So now I am back again doing another!

This one is for Simon Says Stamp and Show.

They wanted torn or distressed, I have given them both!

I have used tim's papers and his stamp and his inks and his memo holder, brads, hammer, alterations die, metal corner, and last his distresser. Ha it would have been easier to say what was not his. (ribbon, pearls) (oh and tape) LOL!

Even sitting on filmstrip from tim.

3 brads hammered for extra texture.

You should join in this challenge they have a Simon Says Stamp gift certificate up for 1 lucky winner!

Hope you enjoyed my torn and distressed card.

Ps.............I was published........see post below if your interested!

Chapter 4-Week 3

TIME

Alice sighed wearily. `I think you might do something better with the time,' she said, `than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.'


`If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, `you wouldn't talk about wasting IT. It's HIM.'

`I don't know what you mean,' said Alice.

`Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. `I dare say you never even spoke to Time!'

`Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: `but I know I have to beat time when I learn music.'

`Ah! that accounts for it,' said the Hatter. `He won't stand beating.'

-- Chapter 7, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Time marches on so it's time for a new challege, and the challenge is to make something that represents TIME! Take your time, you have until May 27 at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -4:00) to show us YOUR timely creation!

Our sponsor this month is Fresh Brewed Designs, and they have some fabulous Alice in Wonderland digi images that some of the design team will be using. The randomly chosen winner of this month's challenge will receive five digi stamps of their choice from the Fresh Brewed Designs store!

While it is not required that you use Alice in Wonderland images, we do encourage it. Entries that feature some aspect of Wonderland will be entered twice for the prize drawing!

My inspiration this month is something I have never done before. All this stuff was sitting on my desk and I thought....try it! So here is the outcome......

I knew when I spotted this design from Fresh Brewed Designs, I had to have it. It speaks to me. So when I looked at it and the theme was TIME, I have so many people that I miss since I have moved to Colorado I knew excatley what I needed to say.
Time stands still without you! I guess somethimes thats the way I feel. The tear, yeah, I shead some of them from time to time.
Okay enough of the soft stuff......how to do.....
Fluid matte medium is the whole key to this piece. I took a piece of cardboard and brushed the medium on added Graphic 45 paper "A Proper Gentlemen Collection Timely Point of View". Again brush medium over it and apply some muslin over it and ontop of that brush more medium over it to get all of the air bubbles out and make sure it is really stuck down. (ha at this point I was wondering if this was even gonna work) I had pre traced the design from Fresh Brewed Designs onto some plain white tissue paper and now applied that over the muslin. Be very gentle with this part, once the tissue paper gets wet it get very fragile. Some wrinkles add characture. Let all of this mess dry.
After it was all dried I just took a paintbrush and some Ranger's Distress inks and painted it like a water color. Then outlined it and then distressed the outer edges and thats it. I think that I will be trying this a bit more as I liked the way it turned out. This is something you could do a lot with. You could really crumble up the tissure for more texture. Get a lighter piece of muslin so that it would show thru more. Off to do some sewing.....thanks for stopping by.

Sorry blog went on late......technical difficulties........ME!
 I put in the wrond date, duh!

I 've been busy

Hey everyone, I just want you to know just because I have not posted much does NOT mean that I am not working on things. In fact, just the opposite! I have been busy, busy, busy!

Although today I did have to run and get another one of these!

When I moved to Colorado some how this was left in storage, oh the HORROR that any of my

 Ranger stuff be in storage!

How can I melt wax or Utee with out this? Oh the agony!

(good thing is when I get my stuff, I will have 2 of them, nothing wrong with that!)

So here is a little collage that I have been working on, not quite done, but almost.

I am just gonna give you a few sneak peeks.

Here is something that is in the works.

Oh and this one is gonna be cute!

One of my Favorites right here, do you recognize the paper?

Yep it is Tim's, I am making a bag.

(Details in another broadcast, can't show you everything)

But I am loving it!

Well that is about all I have for today. I do have a great shadow box I am working on with Graphic 45 papers and some TSS Metal. But I will save that for another day.

Oh, I have my Altered Alice project well under way and it will be ready soon. So make sure you start checking on the Altered Alice Blog starting Sunday! This is gonna be fun. Each week a few of the DT will debut there projects and you have a whole month of DT projects. What's better than that? Well that means you get the whole month to do the same challenge and enter to win a prize. Now that is fun.

I am heading back outside, yes I am. I am from Minnesota and I have just moved to Colorado recently, so I am so used to very dull cloudy, cold, snowy, did I say cold? days. Today is January 28th and I was driving and had to watch out for motorcycles, yes motorcycles in January. WOW! It is 65 and SUNNY and I have pictures to take and waxing to do and I am going to do it OUTSIDE!

Thanks for stopping by......leave me a message tell me if you like what you see. I would love to hear from you......I get lonely without my home buddies I left behind......I am trying to get involved here in some art groups, but man it is hard to find them.

Talk to you soon.
Give out a smile, who knows you might get one back!