Heavy Metal Challenge

I am thrilled to announce that I have been invited to join the Design Team at CS Designs. I am absolutely smitten with Chris Stern's digital art and am so excited to work with this group of talented women. You really want to check out their blogs!

For this month's challenge at Recycle, Re-purpose, & Re-invent, the two themes are Anything Goes and Heavy Metal. You must include at least one recycled item on your design and must tell us what that item is. We are adding metal this time...how fun is that? We are using these fabulous steampunk digis created by Chris including  Heavy Metal and Steampunk Solitaire round. . I love steampunk so this challenge was right up my alley.

I started with a piece of tin ceiling tile which was leftover from renovating our kitchen backsplash in another house.  A piece of cardboard was peeled back in spots to expose the corrugation and then drybrushed with copper metallic paint. That was layered on black cardstock and an acetate printed with the Nuts & Bolts mini background was laid on top. These four layers were fastened together with a  rusty wing nut.

The gorgeous Metal and Screws digi was coloured with Prismacolor pencils but I added a twist. I wanted the sections around the face to appear textured like the ceiling tile so I coloured them over some texture plates and embossing folders. It worked like a charm! I added a watch part to her face and small copper brads where the screws were on the design. That was framed with black border punched cardstock and then copper cardstock.

Now came the digging through the kitchen junk drawers to pull out some metal bits and bobs...things like washers, screws, nails, bead chain, and a few unidentified objects. Once they were adhered, all that was left to do was paint the metal phrase plate, mat it and attach some screw brads.

I had a blast working on this project. I love the contrast between her beautiful, soft face and the hard edges of the metal surrounding her. I really hope you'll join us in this challenge. I can't wait to see what you create!
Thanks for dropping by.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Cheerful Little Blossom

I'm not trying to avoid housework by posting twice in one day...that's just a little side bonus:). I just finished this sweet little friendship card and I wanted to enter it in the Dilly Beans challenge before tomorrow's deadline.

I used a Blossom digi stamp from CS Designs as the focal image for this card. I coloured her (very brightly, I might add) with my Prismacolors and a little OMS to blend. She asked for a few extra embellies so I added flat back pearls for her buttons, eyes, and antenne tops. I traced over the stitching on the digi with white pen to match her lovely pearl buttons :) and bloomers. No mismatching for this little Blossom!

I rounded the corners of the white cardstock, inked the edges, and doodled a whimsical frame. This was adhered to two layers of patterned paper which also have inked edges. I used another CS Designs sentiment which I mounted on pink cardstock and popped up on foam dots. Three coordinating buttons from my stash were also mounted on foam dots.

Hopefully, Blossom gave you a smile. I'm going to enter her in the Art With No Boundaries  Anything Goes challenge, as well. Why don't you play along, too?

Thanks for stopping by.
Life is good: so is art.

Bonnie

Peonies for you

Here's a pretty little multi-occasion card I created using Stamp N Plus' peony basket stamp. I coloured it with my Prismacolors and fussy cut around it. Where it was too fussy to fussy cut (LOL), I simply chose another green colour to fill in the white space. Both the basket and the peonies allowed me to do lots of shading which I enjoy.

I used a template to trace the label shape from the pink dotted paper, cut it out, and distressed the edges with ink. A tiny doily was sandwiched between the peonies and the pink paper to bring attention and contrast to the focal image. Faux stitching and flat backed pearls were added for that extra detail that makes me smile.

 I rounded the corners of the two background layers and once again inked the pink edges. I really like the message behind this sentiment which was computer-generated and cut out using my favourite template. A little more inking of the edges, some gluing, and I called it a card!

I'm really glad that you came to visit. Thanks.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Believe fairy

Here's a simple little atc I made using handmade paper from the art store and a Stamp N Plus fairy stamp. I coloured this little sweetie with my Prismacolor pencils and a little watercolour on her wings. I used my favourite Paper Wishes layered label template to trace and cut the shape around her. Then  the label was mounted on Glimmer Misted book paper. Hearts punched from the same book paper scraps plus some bling for her forehead and antenna tops addded those details I so love. Doodled edges finished the framing of the label.

The flowers are cut with an EK Success punch, cupped with a stylus, and then stacked. I have a jar filled with these flowers which I cut from leftover white cardstock scraps. That way when I need a little flower grouping, all I have to do is spray with Glimmer Mist or another ink and add centers. A little bling highlights the centers of this set.

The believe charm came from my stash. I might decide to add this atc to a card front or just enjoy it the way it is. Either way, it makes me smile.

Thanks for visiting.
Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Friendship art journal page

I wanted to play in my art journal today so when I saw the theme of friendship on this week's Dilly Beans Challenge blog, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to play along.

I watercoloured the background and then used some stencils to pounce in some extra texture and pattern. Then I printed the eyeball flower digi stamp from Dilly Bean Stamps in three different sizes. Since I had already chosen the quote, I knew that I wanted the three flowers to be similar but also different. I coloured them with my Prismacolour pencils but didn't use OMS because I wanted the shading to be more liney and less blended. These were so much fun to colour!

After I glued them to my page, I inked the edges of the quote which I had torn from the computer paper it was printed on. I then stamped and coloured the little bee which is a Lockhart stamp.

To finish this page off, I pulled out my Pitt pens and went doodle-crazy. It turned into a fun and funky page with a very cool quote. My art journalling itch is temporarily satisfied.

I am entering it in the Dilly Bean challenge just for fun! I've never played in that blog's challenges before.
Thanks for visiting. Have a great weekend.


Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Charisma Frame-up

Once again I'm playing in the Art With No Boundaries bonus round challenge where the sub-theme is A Frame of Mind. For this card I used the face from the Charisma Montage digi stamp from CS Designs. She is just a part of a larger design which gives me plenty of  options for using this stamp. I coloured her with my Prismacolor pencils using OMS to blend the shading and blush and mounted her on black cardstock. A little bling was added to her headband and earrings to echo the next layer/frame underneath her.

The silver frame was constructed using the spirelli manual cut kit, also from CS Designs. I printed it on the back of some metallic silver, cut it out and wrapped it with black embroidery floss. The spirelli design was attached to her lovely face layer with foam tape to create more dimension and shadow. Another black frame layer was added beneath the silver one.

The background stripe was created using three layers: black cardstock, metallic silver cardstock, and red velvet ribbon.

To continue the frame theme, this sentiment was written on my computer using a retro font to complement her retro look. A little black matting and some distress ink grounded it and gave it some importance.

I like the contrast of  Charisma's soft, and sultry look with the sharpness of the metallic points of the spirelli design. Thanks so much for coming to visit. Why not play along in this challenge? I love seeing what everyone creates.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

The Man in the Moon

I made this card for my Wednesday post at the Stamp N Plus blog. I love this celestial stamp and as soon as I saw it, I knew just the expression I would pair it with.

I mounted the brightest, shiniest yellow cardstock I could find in my stash to plain black cardstock to form a mat. Next I used a Martha Stewart All over the page punch to make the star-struck border piece.

My favourite part is always the colouring with my Prismacolor pencils. I coloured the man in the moon with these and blended with a little OMS. Using a Paper Wishes labels template, I traced a shape around him and cut it out.

To make the focal image appear even more whimsical, I doodled a border with my black Pitt pen. I mounted the whole piece on more of the black and popped it up on foam tape for dimension.

The banner is hand cut, computer generated, and mounted on another scrap of black. I doodled some faux stitching around the edges. More foam dots were placed under the center section to keep it rigid..

Did you notice that I didn't add any extra sparkle or bling? I know..it surprised the heck out of me, too.

Thanks for visiting. I appreciate you taking the time. Now I'm off to sharpen the 24 new Prismacolor pencils that arrived in the mail today. Yay..love new colours!

Life is good: so is art.
Bonnie

Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-Invent challenge

I decided to try my hand at the bonus round for the Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-Invent Challenge hosted by CS Designs. The theme for this round is "A Plastic Existence" and the challenge is to take something plastic that I would normally discard and use it in my art.

Even though we use cloth bags a lot, we still seem to have a  large number of plastic bags finding their way into our house. It might be some kind of magic...I'm just not sure. Anyway, I decided to alcohol ink (stream, silver, and lettuce) a white plastic bag and use it for the iris folded background on this greeting card. The only tricky bit was cutting it in fairly straight 1" strips. I actually stapled it to computer paper (a recycled piece :) ) which I had pre-lined. That made it easy to cut. The above photo is a closer view of the plastic bag layers.

To me the square looked like a watery background so I used a CS Designs digi stamp called Loreley Stars and Fish which I coloured with my Prismacolor pencils. Because I wanted the digi to be the focal for the card, I double matted it and popped it up on two layers of foam tape. Then to continue the theme, I Glimmer Misted  some leftover cheesecloth (from pickle-making) to look like netting . I added some shell charms, paper sand dollars, and pearls.

I printed a CS Designs sentiment which I love and mounted it on the same turquoise cardstock as I used for the stamp. To pull the silver in from the charms and the iris folded square, I added two tiny brads to the sentiment label. I love the detail on this stamp and the seaside colour palette. This has been a fun challenge!

Thanks for taking a peek!
Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Art With No Boundaries challenge entry

Happy Mother's Day! We celebrated with my mom at her favourite restaurant...yum!

When I got home, I had some time to play so I finished my entry for the Art With No Boundaries Bonus Round Challenge which is Fit To Be Tied. I just bought the CS Designs Spirelli Templates Manual Kit the other day, having seen the beautiful ways the DT used it. This challenge seemed like the perfect opportunity to play with it, and play I did. There are lots of template shapes to choose from but I finally decided on the diamond one. Here is how it turned out.

First I coloured the CS Designs Celestial Goddess Montage Square digi stamp with my Prismacolor pencils and a little OMS to blend. Then I mounted it on black cardstock and popped it up on dimensionals. For the background, I embossed black cardstock, mounted it on copper cardstock and dry-brushed  the embossing with Irridescent Rich Copper acrylic paint to emphasize the swirls.

Then I cut  more of the metallic copper cardstock into the fancy diamond shape using the spirelli template. In my stash, I lucked out and found some copper metallic embroidery floss so I wrapped my cutout in a very simple design... The spirelli diamond is also popped up on foam for dimension. I added some copper glitter from Stamp N Plus to a piece of cardstock to create a band behind this gorgeous design and, of course, had to add some bling to her headband.

I love how the spirelli diamond frames her so regally. It seems to match her expression. What do you think? Is she "Fit To Be Tied?"

Thanks for visiting. Life is good; so is art!
Bonnie

Jane Davenport's Draw Happy Class

Some of you already know that I am a self-proclaimed online class junkie. Where else can someone like me who lives in a tiny town in rural Ontario get to learn from the best instructors in the world? ... and at my own pace?...and with amazing feedback from peers and instructors alike?

I decided to treat myself to the course 21 Secrets which is an amazing collection of artists giving workshops on art journalling inspiration and techniques. Sound amazing? Well, it is. So the first class I took was Jane Davenport's Frolicaholic workshop. If you haven't seen her in action, check out her site. She makes me believe that anything is possible. So fun and inspiring!

So much so that I decided to sign up for her Draw Happy Mini Class. Loving it! I have never felt the confidence to draw faces but really wanted to learn how so I could incorporate them in my art journal pages. Well, this was the first one I  drew in my sketchbook. I was hooked...and face-proud. LOL No colour yet...too scared I would mess it up.
















But Jane is all about being brave and finding your courage so I thought "Why not try one in my journal? Worst case scenario, I'll paint over it!" So I DID...draw it, colour it...not paint over it! Go me! Now all of a sudden I'm doodling  faces everywhere. The wording comes directly from Jane's 21 Frolicaholic journal and, for me, holds the powerful message of letting go of the fear of the inner critic and  just starting the art.

Thanks, Jane Davenport! What a valuable life lesson. I'm smiling.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

O-fish-al greetings

I had so much fun creating this card for Stamp N Plus Scrap N that it almost should have been illegal ;) I love how whimsical this little fish stamp is so, naturally, I coloured him with my brightest Prismacolors. I wanted him to stand out next to the busy background paper (Me & My Big Ideas Tide Pool) so I layered him on some purple cardstock which I had also used as my matting. Now, every fish needs his bubbles so I stamped and fussy cut some using this bubbles background stamp on purple scraps. Tiny rhinestones were added as highlights to the bubbles and his eye. I computer-generated the sentiment and then mounted it on the same purple cardstock, scalloped with a punch. You know how I love detail...well, I just had to add faux stitching around the text boxes and the outside of the card. Had to..no, really. There are so many other sentiments that would combine with "it's o-fish-al" that I know this little fellow will see lots of ink:) Thanks for visiting.
Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Two natural beauties

I completed my last two atcs for the SCS swap. The theme for the first one was lace. I had a lace transparency which I layered over some shiny turquoise cardstock to show off the design. I matted that on some deeper textured teal cardstock for contrast. Then I decided to add some lace trim along the top and bottom edge of the transparency and again along the bottom edge of the teal. Next came bling in the form of brads and pearls which I adhered to the smaller trim piece. Then colouring bliss! I coloured the Arty Expressions 2 digi stamp from CS Designs using my Prismacolors and a little OMS. Tiny rhinestones became the lights in her eyes. She has such a wistful expression. Love it! She is mounted on black cardstock and popped up on foam tape. I like the stark black next to the softness of her skin and the lace. A little word was added to the bottom right hand corner...just 'cuz. I am entering this card in the Anything Goes Challenge on Art With No Boundaries. CS Designs has several challenges each month. The artwork submitted is just beautiful. Check it out!

The second atc's theme was the Comet Moth of Madagascar. What a beautiful creature! I wanted to create a tropical forest type of background with lots of texture. I stamped a vine stamp first on the white background and then again on green tissue paper. The tissue was then crumpled (with gusto!) and Decoupaged over the white so that the stamps were offset to create depth. An internet image of the moth was fussy cut and mounted on black to set it off on the green. The moth has these shiny spots IRL so I added some dabs of Glossy Accents. Bling flowers and a title completed this baby.
Thanks for visiting today. I appreciate it. I'm off to play in my journal.
Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

One of a Kind

I just love this stamp from Stamp N Plus Scrap N. As soon as I saw her,  the stamp became a must have. I used  her as a flower top for this artsy card. I coloured her with my Prismacolors and then doodled a stem and leaves to fussy cut. I layered up the background with brown textured and plain black cardstock with a piece of DCWV's Timeless Type paper on top. Then I used a Dylusions stencil to draw in some leaves which I filled in with black marker. I finished the card off with a torn mound of "dirt" and a computer generated sentiment. I think she would also be lovely as the head of a mannequin or an art doll. Hmmm. Might have to try those! Any other ideas? Thanks for visiting :)
Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie