Happy Halloween!

Aunt Agatha wishes you a bewitching All Hallow's Eve!

Poison? Nah....

A buddy of mine had a scary (no pun intended!) fall at home and after a lengthy hospital stay, he is now in a care center for rehab.  He doesn't want any visitors yet so I put together a small Halloween care package to brighten his day.

I started by making another quick skeleton card.  Using an old credit card, I scraped some gesso rather thickly onto an old book page.  I stamped the skeleton and a little crackle background, then stenciled on some distress inks through a piece of punchinella.

I also created this 2-5-7-10 box to hold some poison, I mean, candy treats.  I've made some of these before and they are super easy.  You can find the tutorial here on Splitcoaststampers.  Make sure you use a sturdy cardstock for the box (I used Stampin' Up basic black cardstock which is an 80 lb paper) and extra strong adhesive.  I decorated the box using a patterned paper by Authentique and images from Oxford Impressions and Artistic Outpost.

It's hard to put together a care package for a man, but he likes to do crossword puzzles so I included a couple of puzzle books and some mechanical pencils. I hope he enjoys the surprise.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Black cardstock from Stampin' Up; orange and kraft cardstock by Bazzill; patterned paper by Authentique; very vanilla carrdstock from Stampin' Up; skull and raven stamp from Oxford Impressions; poison stamp from Artistic Outpost; Ranger Archival black ink; vintage photo and antique linen distress ink; mini black brads; plaid ribbon from Michaels.

Ginkgo and Linden Leaves - Watercolor

Last night in watercolor class we painted leaves.  I bet that sounds rather boring but it was actually quite fun.  Leaves are fascinating if you take the time to study them.  Think about it:  based on just the shape you can identify what type of tree or plant they are from.  They come in a wide range of colors and even their veins follow different patterns.  They make great subjects for painting.

This is my interpretation of a leaf from the "little leaf linden" tree in our front yard.  At this time of year in Iowa, the linden leaves are a bright golden yellow.  My leaf is not yellow because I wanted to practice a wet-on-wet technique where you put two different paint colors on the same brush.  However, my leaf does include the dramatic "age spots" that were found on the original leaf.  (The shadow I tried to create was not as successful, so we'll just ignore that.)

My second leaf is a ginkgo, which one of my classmates was kind enough to share with me.  I remember several years ago when ginkgo leaves were all the rage among rubber stampers.  I never bought such a stamp although I love their shape, and now I don't need to because I can paint my own!  I'm especially pleased with how this leaf turned out.  Notice the pattern of the veins compared to the linden leaf.

For my final leaf, I used a different linden leaf and combined the leftover colors on my palette.  Notice how the shape is a little different from the first linden leaf, even though they are both from the same tree.  You can see the serrated edges better on this one, but I should have turned my paper around when I was working on the veins; one half definitely looks more natural than the other.

I hope the autumn weather holds out so I can get over to a local park in search of different leaves to paint.

Thanks for popping in!  Have a great day.

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb cold press watercolor paper; Schmincke  Horadam watercolor paints; leaves.

Watercolor Poppy - ATC

I spent some time watercolor painting over the weekend, and it took "only" an 11x17 sheet of paper to obtain this single ATC.  (Laughing at myself.)

Have a great day!

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb watercolor paper; Schmincke Horadam watercolor paints.

Trick or Treat

My Nomad in the Woodland ATC is going to an artist in California. Since this trade was part of a Halloween-themed swap, I decided to make a Halloween card for her also.

I started by swiping some white gesso onto a page torn from an old Czech book.  While that dried, I searched my stash for the other papers.  I stamped the skeleton from Oxford Impressions with black ink and added some stenciling using punchinella and distress ink.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fabulous Friday.

Supplies:
Purple and orange cardstock by Bazzill; patterned paper by Authentique; vintage book page; skeleton stamp by Oxford Impressions; Ranger Archival black ink; crushed olive and dusty concord distress inks; cursive text stamp (unknown); Ranger Archival watering can ink; vintage photo distress ink; Golden gesso.

Nomad of the Woodland - ATC

I created this ATC for a Halloween-themed swap on Facebook.  It's a 1:1 swap which is good because my creative mojo has gone AWOL this week.

The background consists of patterned paper and vintage book text colored with distress inks and titanium white acrylic paint.  The bat was stamped on white cardstock and colored with Prismacolor pencils.  I added a lot of shading with tinted charcoal pencils to make the background look somewhat foggy so that the bat would stand out against it.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day.

Supplies:
Cardstock ATC base; patterned paper by Authentique; vintage book text; bat image from Oxford Impressions; Ranger Archival black ink; whisper white cardstock from Stampin' Up; Prismacolor Premier pencils; odorless mineral spirits; red Sharpie; wild honey, gathered twigs and dusty concord distress ink; titanium white acrylic paint; crackle background stamp (unknown); postmark stamp by Stampa Rosa; Ranger Archival watering can ink; punchinella; Derwent tinted charcoal pencils (white, lavender, medium); Adirondack black and white acrylic paint dabber; Plaid glossy acrylic sealer.

Maid in the Garden Envelope Mail Art

I've been wanting to use this girl's image since I first found it in a local antique shop.  The photo was still in its original holder from a studio located on a historic street in our town, not far from where I grew up and now live (and where I had dinner Wednesday night!).  Thanks to Google, I found an announcement in a September 1922 issue of Bulletin of Photography that the photography studio had just opened that year.  Based on her glasses and hairstyle I had guessed that this photo was taken in the 1920s, so I was thrilled to find a reference that verified that.

After scanning and printing the photo, I went to my paper stash in search of inspiration.  I found some sheet music for a song titled The Maid in the Garden which mentioned roses, and the theme was set.  I adhered the sheet music to a #10 sized envelope I made myself and colored it with distress inks.  I used clip-art roses from ArtChix Studio and a butterfly rub-on by 7 Gypsies to create my maid's garden.

Since this envelope has to go all the way to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I kept the address side pretty clean and simple.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb bristol vellum paper; scanned copy of photo; vintage sheet music and book text; wild honey and Victorian velvet distress ink; titanium white acrylic paint; Ranger Archival jet black and watering can ink; Stazon olive green ink; vine stamp by Inkadinkado; stencil by Tim Holtz; miscellaneous washi tape; clip-art roses from ArtChix Studio; butterfly and number rub-on by 7 Gypsies; vintage postage stamp; dark charcoal pencil; mail art stamps by Red Lead Paperworks.

Zodiac Fortune - Altered Matchbox

This is my third and final matchbox for the swap I joined.  The idea came from a piece of new-but-made-to-look-old ephemera by K and Company.  It was the perfect size for the cover of the matchbox; all I had to do was age it a little using distress inks.  After covering the box with some patterned paper, I adhered the cover piece and added a "page pebble" over the guy's picture.  The effect reminded me of a crystal ball.

The inside took a little bit more work.   After playing around with several ideas, I settled on an accordion pull-out that features a brief fortune for all 12 signs of the zodiac.  Since I'm not into astrology that much (I read my horoscope in the paper but don't put any stock in it), I found a website that had the dates and a description for each sign.  Based on that I created my brief fortunes.  I printed them on cardstock and punched them out with a small oval punch.

On the reverse side, I stamped some images from the Fortune Teller set by Artistic Outpost.

I took photos from several different angles to give you a feel for what the inside looks like.

This ended up being a fun project and I hope the recipient enjoys reading her fortune, whatever it is.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend.

Supplies:

Small matchbox; vintage-looking ephemera by K and Company; antique linen and vintage photo distress inks; page pebble (unknown); patterned paper by Cosmo Cricket I think; stamps by Artistic Outpost; small oval punch from Stampin' Up; Ranger Archival black ink; dark charcoal pencil.

Most Likely to Marry - Altered Matchbox

This was actually the first matchbox I completed for the swap I joined.  I was planning to do a "sweet and sassy" series:  sweet on the outside, sassy on the inside.  I ended up switching gears when the other ones weren't working out the way I wanted.

The wedding cake on the cover is a stamp by Inkadinkado that I colored with pencils and then covered with Glossy Accents for dimension.

On the inside, my ersatz groom is from a patterned paper by Prima Marketing.  The photo looked like a yearbook picture from back in the days when the seniors were given titles such as "most popular girl" or "best male athlete."  I decided my bow-tie-wearing cutie was the class cad.  Watch out ladies, he'll break your heart!

Thanks for visiting my blog.  Have a great day!

Supplies:
Small matchbox; patterned papers by Prima Marketing and My Mind's Eye; silver Lumiere acrylic paint; Adirondack silver acrylic paint dabber; cake stamp by Inkadinkado; whisper white cardstock from Stampin' Up; Ranger Archival black ink; Prismacolor Premier pencils; odorless mineral spirits; Glossy Accents; ring fastener brad by Tim Holtz; black and clear self-adhesive rhinestones; Pitt black artist pen.

At the Beach - Altered Matchbox

This altered matchbox was created for a swap on ATCs for All (they have swaps for all kinds of mail art, not just ATCs).  We were to alter a matchbox, including the inside.  I hadn't worked on anything this small in a while, so it was quite a challenge for me (as was taking these pictures--I apologize in advance).

Fortunately, these stamps from the Boardwalk set by Artistic Outpost were the exact size I needed.  I stamped the cabana on cardstock, colored it with pencils, and cut out the door.  I then outlined the door on the matchbox cover and cut it out so you can see into the box (this was not easy).  The Atlantic City image was stamped separately and adhered after coloring.  The sand underneath the seashells consists of glass bead gel tinted with acrylic paint.

For the inside, I stamped my bathing beauties on cardstock, colored them, and adhered them to a striped paper before attaching them to the matchbox.  I used more of my glass bead gel sand and some teeny-tiny seashells to complete the tableau.  I'm really happy with the finished matchbox.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend.

Supplies:
Small matchbox (approximately 1 x 2 inch); barn door distress ink; stamps from Artistic Outpost; very vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up; hot pink Sharpie marker; Prismacolor Premier pencils; odorless mineral spirits; Xacto knife; striped paper by Graphic 45; charcoal pencil; Golden glass bead gel; mini seashells from Michaels; Golden matte gel medium.

Blue Skies Smiling at Me - Watercolor

Tonight's watercolor lesson was on skies.  We also learned several techniques to lift (remove) color from our paintings.  To create clouds, dab a torn piece of tissue or paper towel on the paint while it is still wet.  For a moon or sun, use a circle stencil and a Magic Eraser (slightly damp) after the paint has dried.  To help delineate a horizon, use a slightly damp brush to lift or pick up color.  I used masking fluid to create the reflection in the water.  Our instructor used a clear candle; the wax acts as a resist against the paint. 

I've actually become pretty good at making skies.  It's when I try to add other things that I'm not as happy with the results.  In this example, I fussed too much with my trees and their reflection, and as a result some areas got overworked.  It's not as noticeable from a distance, so this is one painting that should be viewed from across the room (wink).  I do like the turquoise, cobalt blue and lavender hues in this painting.

Another thing I tried (in my sketch book) during class was painting a white birch tree using a palette knife.  The instructor gave a quick demonstration for one of the other students who had been working on a painting of white birch at home this past week, so I decided to try it myself.  This is definitely something I want to try again!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day. 

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb cold press watercolor paper; Schmincke Horadam watercolors; paper towel; Magic Eraser; Grumbacher Miskit Liquid Frisket; miscellaneous brushers: 2 inch hake brush, small angle brush, no. 8 round; palette knife.

The Bird Sings - Mixed Media Postcards

I created two postcards last weekend but since they were going to folks who now read my blog, I waited until after they had been received to share them with you.  It's the two year anniversary of the "Envie Addicts Unite!" group, and I wanted to surprise the hostesses with a piece of mail art.  Not only do they do a phenomenal job of organizing the swap every month, but they keep the group going with lively conversation.  They have created a community of artists that is truly a pleasure to belong to, and I have had so much fun and learned so much in the few short months that I've been participating.

I was so happy with Marylee's birthday card that I decided to try to replicate the look for my postcards.  I started again with 140 pound watercolor paper, stencils and spray inks.  I wanted to try different colors though, which led to a happy discovery:  the Perfect Pearls Mists I had bought long ago and never found a good use for (especially the sunflower sparkle) were perfect for this project!  I'm not typically a glitter girl but I love the subtle color and shimmer that this spray ink gave to the postcard.

On the other side, I created a bright and festive collage featuring a cupcake by Inkadinkado with two candles (drawn by yours truly).  The postcards are 4.25 x 5.5 inches so they fit into the standard A2-sized clear envelopes that I already had.  I purchased mine from Stampin' Up but I'm sure there are other sources for them. 

Thanks for popping in!  Have a fabulous day.

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb cold press watercolor paper; Dylusions fresh lime ink spray; Ranger sunflower sparkle Perfect Pearl Mist; Ranger scattered straw, black soot, ripe persimmon, spun sugar, dusty concord and seedless preserves distress inks; Heidi Swapp stencils; Tim Holtz stencil; Tim Holtz patterned tissue paper; vintage sheet music; bird and sentiment stamps from Red Lead Paperworks; washi tape; Gelly Roll white pen; Adirondack black and white acrylic paint dabber; punchinella; splatter background stamp by All Night Media; Adirondack Archival jet black ink; Georgia Pacific white cardstock; Derwent white and lavender charcoal pencil.

Asian-Inspired Poppy - Watercolor

Last night at watercolor class we once again had the chance to paint whatever we wanted.  For inspiration I used a landscape photo a friend of mine took while on one of her walks.  Unfortunately, I started out using too dark of paint where I shouldn't have, and the whole thing was pretty much a disaster from the start.  So I switched gears and worked from a painting I found on the internet.  It was a very simple and loose composition of poppies in just two colors, red and black.  It had an Asian or Japanese feel to it and looks as if it were done using sumi-e ink.

My painting had more foliage in shades of gray and black and another poppy to the right that I didn't like at all, so when I got home I cropped it out!  (Ah, the advantages of having a variety of craft-related tools at my disposal.)  I added a few splatters of black paint and little squiggles to the large poppy using a fine-tipped black Sharpie, and ended up with this 3x6 inch painting that I mounted on red cardstock.  It may eventually become the front of a greeting card, if I can bear to part with it.  Right now I'm enjoying it too much myself.

I can't believe it's October already!  Thanks for dropping by and have a great day.

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb watercolor paper; Schmincke Horadam watercolor paints; red cardstock by Bazzill; fine-tipped black Sharpie; long narrow rectangle Nestabilities by Spellbinders.