Mixed Media Monday - Let's Celebrate

With Christmas just past, and the new year here, I thought the most appropriate theme for Mixed Media Monday this week would be "Let's Celebrate". I did this piece on a piece of mattboard approx. 9 x 14 cm (3.5 x 6"). The background is created with vintage dress pattern paper, vintage music, copy of dance list ephemera, gesso, rubber stamps and distress inks. I also used ribbons, rubbons, lace motif, buttons etc.

Mixed Media Monday - Christmas/Holidays

I chose "Christmas/Holidays" for Mixed Media Monday this week for obvious reasons. This is the piece I did. I used vintage music for the background, aged a little more with distress inks. I printed the image on acetate and attached using my new Xyron. The letters and star chipboard, painted in a lovely pigmenty gold acrylic paint. Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!

Theme Thursday - ATC's with Wings

I decided to participate in the challenge on Theme Thursday this week, because these ATC's fitted their theme perfectly. These were made with serviettes (napkins) for the backgrounds - thanks Gloria Jeans, grin! Then I simply added some angel images. I cut the wings off the angels and aded some of the gorgeous red German Scrap wings and lace. Quick and easy, just what we all need at this time of year :-)

Mixed Media Monday - Backgrounds

This week on Mixed Media Monday we have a guest host, Natalie B , from Australia. Natalie chose "backgrounds" as the theme, and used alcohol inks. While alcohol inks is also one of my favs., I wanted to do something different, so decided to use color mist sprays on deli paper, overstamped with gesso and foam stamps. There is also quite a bit of gold paint on this piece, that just doesn't show up well in the scan.

Mixed Media Monday - Words

"Words" is my theme for Mixed Media Monday this week, so I took the opportunity to alter a childs board book. This is a sweet little book, only about 3 x 3 inches, or 7.5 x 7.5 cms. I glued the pages together, apart from the front page, and cut a niche in all the pages apart from the back. I covered the book with brown cardstock which was stamped with cream. I made a frame and covered it with a lacey paper, and put two transparencies in the frame (one to be visible from the front and the other to be seen from inside. I covered the inside spread with the same paper as I used for the frame, and added charms in the inner niche and the word "love" to the front cover. I used a brown and cream ribbon to tie the book closed.

Mixed Media Monday - Wings

I chose wings for the theme on Mixed Media Monday this week, because I thought it would fit nicely for people working on their Christmas projects. But when I started thinking about what I would do for the theme, I ended up going in a completely different direction. This is my tribute to "Phantom of the Opera". I used a piece of vintage music, and part of a vintage book page for the background. The wings are black German scrap. The "A" is chipboard that I coloured black.

TMTA - Headwear and MMM - Gold

I did this little cutie for the challenge on Think Monday, Think ATC
and then realised that it fitted in with my theme on Mixed Media Monday of gold as well. So I guess I killed two birds with one stone again, accidentally! The background is done with color mists, over stamped with foam stamps and gesso, and over again with a swirl stamp and sepia ink. I have used a gold German scrap frame to frame the little stamped image.

Mixed Media Monday - Gold - Take Two

I'm enjoying using my German scrap so much, I decided to make another piece for this week's Mixed Media Monday challenge. This piece was done with a piece of vintage music, over-stamped with swirls, a vintage children image, some German scrap and a metal word that says "friends".

Mixed Media Monday - Gold

I chose "gold" as the theme for Mixed Media Monday this week in honour of all the gorgeous German Scrap I got as a Christmas present. Of course, I couldn't wait until after Christmas to start using it, now could I? This piece is done on mattboard, with a tissue paper background, a gorgeous image, which I colourised with chalks, gold German scrap wings and trims and a gold star.

Button ATC

I made this little ATC to suit three of the challenge blogs this week. Mixed Media Monday's theme is "buttons", FFB's Twisted Tuesday's theme is "button wisdom" and Think Monday, Think ATC's theme is "houses".

Mixed Media Monday - Buttons

I chose buttons as the theme for Mixed Media Monday
this week. I love using buttons as elements on some of my mixed media pieces, and thought it would be interesting to see how other people use them.

Christmas swap

I am a member of an Australian group called Arty_Oz and we are having a Christmas swap, where we make a small gift for our partners. I was really thrilled to receive this gorgeous piece from Liz A. It is a lovely little collage done on an optical lens. It is then put on a chain with some beautiful beadwork, which you really can't see very well in the scan, I'm sorry. You can also see the lovely card Liz included. I will show everyone what I made for my partner once it has been received - it was only mailed today. Thanks Liz - I love this!

Mixed Media Monday - Numbers

This is the piece I did for Mixed Media Monday this week. It is done on mattboard, with different papers, distressed, ribbon, stamps from Paper Artsy and a wooden number 5. The image was coloured with aquarelle crayons.

4x4 Friday - Faces

The theme on 4x4 Friday this week is "faces", so I thought it was the golden opportunity to get out this Non Sequitur plate. The piece is done on a 4x4 inch piece of mattboard, stamped and sponged.

TGIF - Crowned Heads

What a coincidence! Thank God It's Friday has a very similar theme this week (crowned heads) to Mixed Media Monday (crowns). So of course, I couldn't resist joining in the fun. The background of this piece is done with color mist sprays, and rubber stamps.

Mixed Media Monday - Crowns

I wasn't sure what I was going to do for this week's theme on Mixed Media Monday. I have such a crush on crowns at the moment, and I was imagining something vintage. But as I was thinking about crowns, I began to think about kings, and of course Elvis sprung to mind. That led to me thinking about the old vinyl records I'd picked up at a charity store quite a while ago - and it all led to this piece, with the use of rubber stamps, inks, german scrap and gold stars!

Skinny Saturday - Black and White

I couldn't resist the theme on Skinny Saturday this week, because I always enjoy working with simple black and white. I think it's always so striking. The background on this piece was stamped with Autumn Leaves swirls stamps. The computer image was framed with some German Scrap (can you tell I love this stuff?) and I added a metal charm.

Mixed Media Monday - Birds

The theme on Mixed Media Monday this week is "Birds". This is my piece. Most of the stamps are from Invoke Arts, but the bird with the girl on her back is from Alpha stamps.

Wednesday Stamper - Growing Old

What a lovely theme on Wednesday Stamper this week - Growing Old. It is lovely to honour the older people, in this very youth oriented time. Well, I have the grey hairs, but not too sure about the "wisdom", LOL.

Skinny Saturday - Fairies

Another fun theme on Skinny Saturday this week - Fairies! The background stamp is from

Mixed Media Monday

This is the piece I created for the first challenge on my new Mixed Media Monday challenge site. The theme for the first challenge is "Vintage Women", because I think that is fairly popular with a lot of people. I hope a lot of people come along and join in the challenges on Mixed Media Monday - everyone is very welcome!

4 x 4 Friday - Dream, Inspire, Create

This week on 4x4 Friday the theme was to use one of these words - dream, inspire or create - or all three. I could have easily used all three because they are all great words, but I resisted, and only used dream.

Wednesday Stamper - Children

The theme this week on Wednesday Stamper is children - one of my favourite themes!

Twisted Tuesdays - Wicked Witches

I decided to join in the fun at Fluffy Fatbottom's Twisted Tuesday challenge site. What a fun site that is! This week the theme is Wicked Witches, which is great because being an Aussie, I don't get to play with Halloween stuff all that much. This postcard size piece was done mainly with Cherry Pie stamps, but the spiders and web are from Non Sequitur and the bird is from Invoke Arts. Lots of sponging of inks and colouring with aquarelle crayons.

Gothic Arches - Let's Party

This is my first time playing with a Gothic Arch. I couldn't resist the challange this week on the Gothic Arches challenge site - Let's Party. So this is what I came up with. The arch made on matt board, using decorative papers (distressed), a vintage image, rubber stamps for the wording, German Scrap (I love that stuff) and a flower that I aged.

Skinny Saturday - Childhood

The challenge this week on Skinny Saturday is "Childhood". It was a great opportunity to play with the image, that I've wanted to use for ages and hadn't gotten around to. This piece was done with papers, distress inks, computer generated wording and rubber stamps.

4x4 Friday - Numbers

It is another fun theme on 4x4 Friday this week - "Numbers". This is my piece - I have used paper for the background, which I then distressed - rubber stamps, fly screen, a collage image, a watch dial and a wooden number.

Skinny Saturday = Wings

There is a new challenge site, which is called Skinny Saturday. For this challenge you need to make a 5 inch by 3 inch piece, and this week the theme is Wings. Since I seem to be obsessed by wings at the moment, I couldn't resist the challenge.

Wednesday Stamper - Autumn Colours

The challenge on Wednesday Stamper has been autumn colours. I really love the these rich colours, so couldn't resist joining in. I actually needed to make some ATC's for a swap, with a Halloween type theme, so thought I'd be smart and do two things at once :0)

4x4 Friday = Man

There was another fun challenge on 4x4 Friday this week - the subject was "Man". I had fun with this - I felt like a bit of whimsy! Background is stamped and sponged, the rest is collage elements.

ATC Storage Box

After months of fun and games, doing the Bernie Berlin ATC workshop on A.R.T., I have finished my last peice. We were supposed to alter a tin for storing ATC's in, but I decided to make a box instead - mainly because I was itching to experiment some more with my new Bind It All. This is the front view of it. There are Angels on every side and the top, but I've only scanned the front to show you. The box was cut from matt board and then punched with the Bind It All, and finally I threaded ribbons through to hold the box together.

Arty Girlz - Tags

Thought I'd play in the Arty Girlz challenge this week. It seems like simply ages since I made a tag. In fact it was so long I couldn't find where I'd put my tags, LOL. Never mind, it was quick and easy to make my own tag from matt board - and it's nice and solid.

TMTA - Pirates

The Think Monday, Think ATC theme this week is Pirates. Now who could resist the chance to come out and play with Jack Sparrow? This was a fun theme.

ATC Accordian Book

I have been doing the workshop for the Bernie Bernie ATC Workshop book on Artists of the Round Table. This week the lesson was to make an accordian book for storing ATC's in. I didn't want to make a book for this purpose, because I like to store my ATC's in albums. So I decided to make an accordian book and add ATC's, with each ATC telling part of a story - like an illustrated story book, but with ATC's. I decided to bind my accordian book down the spine, so it would open and read more like a real book. The added benefit of that was that I got to play with my new Bind It All, grin! This was lots of fun, although quite time consuming, but I'm glad I did it.

Here are the pictures of the book

4x4 Friday - Black and White

This week the challenge on 4x4 Friday is black and white. I think black and white always looks so striking. I always enjoy working with just those two colours.

Wednesday Stamper - Moo Cards

This week's challenge on Wednesday Stamper is Moo Cards - what an interesting size to work on. Not sure that I'll become as addicted to them as I am to ATC's, but they are a fun format to play with.

TMTA - Smile

When I saw the theme for Think Monday, Think ATC, I immediately thought of this stamp. I just love the silly grin on the cat's face! It's such a fun stamp to work with.

4x4 Friday - France

The theme on 4x4 Friday this week is France. My piece is done on mattboard, which I sponged and over stamped with some flourish stamps. The Eiffel tower stamp is from Cherry Pie and the woman is from Invoke Arts. The wording is computer generated, and I've used some black German scrap and an Eiffel tower sequin to complete the piece.

Wednesday Stamper - Fish

This is my submission for the "Fish" theme on Wednesday Stamper this week. Fish feature so much in the Oriental cultures that this ATC just had to have an Oriental theme. It has lots of lovely shimmery gold on it, both in the gorgeous yuzen papers, the gold embossing and the metal fish, but unfortunately that doesn't scan as well as I'd like it to. Thanks for looking!

Another ATC

On another list I belong to, Arty_Oz, we have a "Picture This" swap. This is where the hostess sends all the participants an image, and we have to make a set of ATC's using that image. The rules are that you are not allowed to alter the image digitally at all - but you may hand colour it, etc. This is what I came up with this time - with the use of vintage music, German Scrap, mattboard and lots of Distress Inks! I really enjoy these challenges, and I find it displays so well in my album. Nothing looks nicer than a complete page of 9 ATC's, all different, all done by different artists, using different techniques, but all with the same original image.

Stamp Happy ATC Swap

I host a monthly ATC swap on Stamp Happy, an Aussie stamping list on Yahoo. This month's theme is "Come Fly With Me", so this is what I came up with. It doesn't scan terribly well because of the different layers, by you will get the general idea. The house stamp is from Invoke.

4 x 4 Friday

I decided to take up the challenge on 4 x 4 Friday, and make my first canvas. This was lots of fun to do. This is how I went about it. The background was made with a serviette from a coffee shop (thanks Gloria Jeans) which was stamped with an Autumn Leaves flourish. This was then adhered to the canvas with gel medium. Some pieces of vintage book pages and the girl image were then adhered over this. I finished it off with some German Scrap trims and a chipboard star. I really enjoyed this challenge and will definitely be joining in more of these challenges!