Bits & Bobs for Christmas…continued

Hopefully some of you have popped over from my Altered Pages post to see some more pix of the spools I made using the great products from AlteredPages! If not, you can see the post HERE as well as the links to some of the supplies I used & a little bit about how I made them too.

Otherwise, this is mostly a "picture" post of the Christmas decorations I made using wooden spools…

I was inspired by a similar spool I saw on Pinterest to make this angel! I LOVE PINTEREST!!!

Each angel is attached to a broken pencil that I hot glued into the spools.

 

The two tiny trees I found at Michaels, the other two I bleached myself.

Lastly, I made a few ornaments too…

 

 

I'm hoping to do something like these with my Art Group next month too!

That's it for today!

I'm off to get some Christmas decorations up & work on setting up for my class in the basement this weekend! (I am teaching my first mixed media class to a group of local moms! SO EXCITED)
This is what I am going to teach them:

I will post pictures of their art when we're done!
Have a great day & see you back here for WIP Wednesdays!
Cheers!

WIP Wednesdays!

It's time for another Work in Progress Wednesday!!!

Here's what's on my desk this week:

CHRISTMAS!

Albeit, not started yet, but I hope to have a little time today to work on some Christmas decorations & gifts…

I want to wrap these paper mache ball ornaments in some white burlap with a french banner & red trim…

There are little wooden 3x6 trays under all that fabulous Christmas Washi tape that I hope to make into little tree wall hangings…

And finally, I found this little church birdhouse at Michaels & I am hoping to spruce it up for the next Altered Pages Challenge in December! (sorry, not giving away my plans on this one!)

I have MANY more projects underway, including the canvas I posted last week & SO little time to get things done! I hope that I can crank out a few in between obligations this week, teaching next week, Turkey Day & then off to Maui in December! I need to be one of those people that starts their Christmas projects over the summer, but it's hard to get in the mode that early! HA!

See ya next week, if not sooner!

Cheers!

Altered Pages Challenge #13 - Elves & Gnomes

It's time for another AP monthly challenge!

We are gearing up for Christmas over at Altered Pages & to kick off the season, our November Challenge theme is all about Elves & Gnomes!

I created this 3x9 canvas using paint & alcohol inks for the background, then I enlarged & stretched the gnome from the 

Elves & Gnomes collage sheet, colored his belt in with a little Wink of Stella & adhered him with some pop dots.

 

Around the edge of the canvas is broken Christmas lights glued on with a hot glue gun.

Hope you will join in on the fun & link up your Elf project too!

Visit the Challenge page for more info!

Cheers!

Fairy Whispers - an Art Journal Page

Today I thought I'd share a page from my art journal that I did using a bunch of great products from Altered Pages!

I started with the face (Andy Skinner's Baroque) stencil & some modeling paste. 

After that was dry, I applied some Splash Inks using a drip, spray & blow technique I've done several times before (read about it HERE).

When that was dry, I added more dimension with the numbers stencil with a layer of turquoise & purple Dylusions Sprays. Then I used black paint on the clock stencil.

I finished with the Fairy Whispers stamp from Glitz stamped in white.

Plenty of room to write in later!

Thanks for stopping by today!

AP Products Used:

Andy Skinner Barouque Stencil (6x6)

Splash Inks

Dylusions Spray Inks in Grape Crush & Vibrant Tuquiose

Numbers Stencil (6x6)

Time Travel Stencil (6x6)

Glitz Afternoon Muse Stamps

Other:

Modeling Paste

Black Paint

White stamp pad

31 Days of Halloween - Quoth the Raven

For those of you just stopping by today,
The Design Team over at Altered Pages is participating in a 
31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop
with Smeared Ink & the following is my 2nd project

31 Days of Halloween 2013 Wicked Blog Roll

Terra | Black Dragon | Kapree | Shell | Kristy | Susan | Helen | Loren | Alison | Kelli |De Stempelwinkel | Monique | Karen | Airless Chambers | Jane | Jennifer | Emily | Lisa | Lyneen | Wendy | Altered Pages Art Sociates | leslierahye | Delicious Doodles | Roni | Shoni | Jenn | DominoART | Jessica | Sandy | Carolyn | Carla | Julia | Steph | Trisha | Brigitte | Lisa | Anna

"Once upon a midnight dreary,

while I pondered, weak & weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore - 

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door - 

"Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door -

only this and nothing more."

Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven

While I was searching for inspiration for this project, I came across lots of really cool Poe projects & knew that I would like to do something with his images again...{My first one was published in Somerset Studios last year!}

...I decided to use an 11x14 canvas panel to collage the background on. I used various Halloween-themed papers, including G45's Steampunk Spells available at Altered Pages. I also used a 4x6 canvas panel from AP, painted it black, sanded it a bit; stamped it with a spider web design in white ink, then covered that with an image of Poe from the "Master of Macabre" collage sheet; cut out an oval frame in the purple patterned paper & used a polka dot from the G45 Steampunk Spells coordinating paper pack. I set that aside while I added various texture to the background of my board & rubbed black paint all along the edges & into any white space I had left after collaging with all the pieces of torn papers.

I used various stamps with ink & acrylic paint to apply texture to the background before I began embellishing it.

I used this great Gothic stamp set to create the "birds-eye cage" as well as stamped onto two dominoes I had previously colored with alcohol inks...

Available here

Look there behind the domino...fun Washi Tapes from AP too! I used a Script, Music Notes & Newsprint patterns all available HERE!

I picked up a few wooden letters at Michaels & painted them the tops purple, stamped a few different textures onto them with paint; inked the edges & adhered them to the corner with a Raven & a Leaky Shed Cross.

The girl is a cut-out from a paper pack I had on hand that I outlined with a white pen, but the heart in the middle is a rhinestone embellishment (similar to these in the store). (The mirror is from a dollhouse store.)

That's it!

Hope you'll keep stopping by to see what the other designers have come up with for the month!

Happy Haunting!

RIP My Little Charlotte Doll! - An AP Challenge Post

"Never let little sisters play 

with your dolls!"

That's what my sister always said about me (or at least she thought it!). I was always so rough with them that they'd end up broken or something ripped or I loved to take a marker to them too! BAAAAAD sister! 

So, I immediately channeled my inner child back to those days & put myself in my sister's shoes to make this little tin "coffin" for a broken Charlotte doll to participate in this month's Altered Pages Challenge, "Dolls." 

You can find all the info HERE to participate yourself & win a fabulous prize pack!!!

Without further ado...RIP Charlotte!

Little Charlotte's Tin

I painted the tin in soft pink, blue & green, distressed it with some Paris Inks, crumbled a piece of Bazzill's Antique paper & glued it to the front, inked that some more, created flowers out of ribbon & glued those around some leaves. (When the whole tin was done I added the chain & rosary beads to it so it could hang.)

Hanging open

Inside, I collaged images from two AP sheets - #649 "Vintage Sewing" for the mad big sister in the background & #3025 "Baby Dolls to Love" for the little, devious sister in the foreground over another piece of Antique paper inked with Paris inks. I added a few found objects & charms & then used my labeller to write "Never let little sisters play with your dolls" around the edge.

For the Charlotte side of the tin, I added a crumpled up piece of the Antique paper again, but tried to shape it like a heart, glued that to the background & then hot glued the broken doll on top of that. I used a Mini Spool as a flower vase with RIP written on it; tucked a pen nib into that & glued a ribbon flower on that.

I also added a St. Luke charm to the end of the rosary chain...I'm not Catholic, so I didn't know until I looked it up that he's the Parton Saint for Artists! How appropriate!

That's it! I hope you enjoyed my Little Charlotte's Tin today & I sure hope you will play along with us this month!! AP has tons of Doll collage sheets & supplies for you to play with, so be sure to check it out HERE! Remember though, you must use at least ONE image or product from AP in the challenge to be considered for the prize!

Thanks for playing!

Cheers!