CYP #162 ~ Child's Play

It's time for a new challenge at Craft Your Passion Challenges. The theme this week is Child's Play and it was a chance for me to play with another adorable vintage image from The Sugar Kissed Cottage. Their images are so sweet and reminiscent of a simpler time. I chose the ABC Children image to colour with my Prismacolor pencils and then fussy cut it and popped it up on foam dots.

This image paired beautifully with Graphic 45's An ABC Primer paper line. Two different papers were adhered to black cardstock matted with red cardstock. A third pattern was used as a band to bridge the two papers. Plain black cardstock was scallop punched and cut as a narrow border for the top of the band.

Two photo corners were made using a Martha Stewart punch and adhered to the top corners. Black half pearls were placed on the photo corners, mainly to bring the shine from the flower center to the top of the page. The flower is fabric. It shows up much better in person than in the photo...sigh.

Anyway, this is certainly a CAS style card but with such pretty papers and a sweet image, it needed very little else. Thanks for visiting today. You know I love that! Be sure and stop by the Craft Your Passion Challenges blog to see what the rest of my talented teamies have created. I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this fun challenge theme.

I  am entering this card in the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create ~ #19 Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody ~  #20 Always Anything Goes
Scrappy Frogs Challenge ~  (May) Free Choice/Anything Goes
Our Creative Corner ~ Anything Goes
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge ~ #182 Anything Goes

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Art On the Brain ~ Eclectic Ellapu challenge

It's time for another challenge at Eclectic Ellapu and it's the Purple team's turn to respond. This time Jacki has set the theme and she has chosen Pink and Black...and skulls! How fun is that combination?

For once, I had no stamps that fit the theme...no skulls. However, I had been eyeing this fun digi by Rick St. Dennis called Art on the Brain. I constantly have art on the brain so it seemed appropriate. I coloured the image with Prismacolor pencils...4 or 5 colours on the skull itself which I can't seem to capture properly in my photos. Grrr! Anyway, I fussy cut the image and then mounted it on a black mat to make it stand out from the background.

The substrate is a 5.75 x 8" canvas board. I blended Vintage Lace and Very Berry Fresco Finish paint on the background with cut n dry foam. Once that was dry, Studio 490 black embossing paste was applied through the TCW Art is stencil. A few smudgey dots were stamped randomly using Black Soot Distress ink and a stamp from TH's Bitty Grunge set.

A length of black twill trim with silver studs was adhered to the bottom of the canvas. Above that, cheesecloth was glued  to the background and the image was popped up on foam dots over  the cheesecloth layer. A silver button was added to the image's collection of tools, as was an Idea-ology pen nib. Both added dimension, more silver to repeat the stud detail, and an unexpected touch of realism to enhance the image. A silver photo corner was added to the top right corner, again taking the silver up the canvas through the brush ferrules all the way to the top, creating flow and repetition. The sentiment was computer generated on white cardstock, cut in rectangles, and lined with a black Big Brush pen for added weight. Black Soot Distress ink was applied around the canvas edges to create a frame of sorts.

This piece is quite a departure from my normal style but I had fun .going outside my comfort zone. Thanks for stopping by to check it out. Be sure to pop by the Eclectic Ellapu blog to see the creations of the rest of the Purple team. It's always cool to see how people interpret the theme so differently. I'm hoping you will join us so that we can get inspired by your makes, too. Everyone is welcome!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Imagination is Boundless ~ an eP post

I am absolutely smitten with natural fibres and anything with lots of texture so these new Tim Holtz District Market 4 x 6 " canvases which can be purchased from eclectic Paperie called my name the moment our paths crossed. They have this lovely burlap covering very sturdy wood frames and make a lovely pairing. I started by brushing a light coat of gesso randomly across the two canvases, heavier in some places than others. I was looking to add more interest to the burlap colour as well as play up its texture. Next I layered Studio 490 black embossing paste through The Crafter's Workshop harlequin stencil on the one and Dylusions Dotted Flower stencil on the other.

While that was drying. I sprayed Dylusions Squeezed Orange and Bubblegum Pink ink sprays onto some grunge paper, absorbing some of the excess on paper and then blotting the rest with paper towel. I dried the grunge paper with my heat gun and then stamped  BAlzer Designs' 4 Butterflies stamps onto the coloured grunge paper using Tuxedo Black Memento ink, wiping it back in a few places so the stamping would be imperfect. Once dry, each butterfly was fussy cut. The edges were inked with Black Soot Distress ink and then lined with Black Big Brush pen. Each butterfly was given an Idea-ology game spinner for the body.

Returning to the background....three lengths of black and white dotted grosgrain ribbon were adhered to the burlap. A set of three punched and stacked white cardstock flowers were adhered to the outer end of each ribbon and a black half pearl formed the center of each flower. The butterflies were set on the canvases for placement but there wasn't enough contrast between their colour and the burlap so pieces of cheesecloth were tucked under each before adhering them. A small piece of leftover trim was glued above the longer horizontal ribbon because it  looked lonely and a little lost on its own.

The lettering on the one canvas is created with flat beads which spell imagine. On the other canvas, an Idea-ology metal word bands with the saying "reality has limits, imagination is boundless" was glued between the butterflies. Two small threaded white buttons covered the open ends of the bands. The outer edges of the canvases were darkened with Vintage Photo Distress ink to complete the duo.

These were quick, easy, and fun to make. I think they would make a lovely little gift...maybe for Mother's Day. Hmmm...great idea :) Thanks for joining me today and welcome to both my new followers (thanks) and to my not-new followers (thanks). Both make me very happy.

To check out many of the products I used on this project, click on the links below to be magically transported to the eclectic Paperie store where Kim can fix you up :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Idea-ology - Burlap Panels 4x6	Idea-ology Grungepaper	Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso	Wendy Vecchi - Studio 490 - Embossing Paste - Black
TCW 6x6 Template - Harlequin	Dylusions Stencil 5x8" - Dotted Flowers	Dylusions Ink Spray - Squeezed Orange	Dylusions Ink Spray - Bubblegum Pink
Balzer Designs - Butterflies Stamp Set	Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo

CYP ~ Floral Delights

I have a bright and cheerful card this week in response to the latest Craft Your Passion challenge which just happens to be Floral Delights. You can use floral DP, add 3-D flowers, or have flowers in your image...lots of options to play along. I chose this adorable "Flowers For Mum" image from Stamping Dragon Designs to be the star of my card. He's just so darn cute that I couldn't wait to colour him with my trusty Prismacolor pencils. I fussy cut Jiggy leaving a narrow white border to give the stems a little more weight and also to help him show up against the busy background. His lovely flowers were given half pearl centers and black ones were added to his eyes.

The background paper is from DCWV's Low Tide stack. An additional band of navy blue cardstock was adhered behind Dudley to create a little contrast. That blue was also used for the photo corner cut with a Martha Stewart punch. The flowers were layered with a punched navy flower for the center, over which a large pearl was adhered. The leaves were hand cut from a green paper scrap, scored and doodled for added dimension. The sentiment is a Fiskars stamp placed on an MFT die cut and matted with more of the navy blue. It was doodled around with a fine blue Sharpie and popped up on foam dots to create the shadow behind it.

Well, that's it for Jiggy and me. Thanks again for stopping by to visit. Be sure to pop over to the Craft Your Passion Challenges blog to see the "Floral Delight" created by the rest of the DT. I'm hoping you'll play along with us this week because I love to see what you create.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Kenny K's Krafty Krew ~ Challenge 142 Flowers
613 Avenue Create ~ Challenge 18 Anything Goes
No Matter Which Challenges ~ Challenge 9 Things With Wings
Glitter n Sparkle  ~ Challenge 31 Anything Goes
One Stitch At A Time ~ Challenge 162 Anything Goes

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

A is for...TCB Alpha/Dictionary challenge

Yay! I had time to play in my dictionary today for the next letter of the Alpha/Dictionary challenge at The Craft Barn. Each fortnight we are given a new letter and must find a word in our dictionary to illustrate. It can be done as an altered page in the dictionary or in a different format as long as the word and definition are clearly visible. This week's letter is A. I had a huge list of words beginning with A but kept returning to "attitude". I chose to feature one of my favourite Mo Manning images called Two Jill. She reminds me of pictures of me taken when I was little. I coloured Jill with my Prismacolor pencils and fussy cut her.

As usual, I adhered the two pages I needed for my spread to the page before or after using Decou-Page. The open two page spread was gessoed making sure to leave my word gesso-free. Then I decided to break out my new toys...Derwent Inktense Blocks. I've had the pencils for ages but really wanted to play with the blocks. I scribbled three colours (blue, green, teal) in blocks over the page and then used a wet paintbrush to spread the ink. It starts out dry like a chalk but when you add water it becomes lovely vibrant ink. So fun!!

Next I used Dylusions White Linen ink spray over my Christy Tomlinson doily mask allowing some of it to drip down the page. Peacock feathers Distress ink was applied through the Dylusions Number Jumble stencil and Mowed Grass Distress ink through TCW's Mini Chevron stencil. A little Studio 490 white embossing paste was spead through the Dylusions Spotted Flower stencil.

Jill was adhered to the page on the left and yellow and pink striped washi tape was used for a platform to ground her. A leftover piece of diecut zigzag border was placed over the top piece to give it more weight and punch. Two flat black pearls were added to the bottom piece. Three more chunks of tape were added to the two pages to spread the yellow around and increase flow. Another length of the zigzag was adhered to the top of the two pages to repeat the pattern, repeat the black, and to stop the eye from drifting off the top of the page. A Graphics 45 letter A was added to the top left of Jill as was a brad that says "grumpy" ('cause she is).

The bulletin board on the right hand page was created by modifying a K& Company paper frame to fit the page width. Paper resembling cork was adhered to the back of the frame. The Choose one list was created on the computer with the "choose one" letters coming from a sticker pack. This element is a nod to those papers you see on bulletin boards advertising some service or item for sale and then you tear off the phone number tab at the bottom. It made me laugh to think of going into a grocery store and choosing my attitude off the board after I picked up the ice cream and paper towel :) You can see where Jill chose grumpy which is why it's been torn off the sheet. It may not be quite as simple as this process but I do believe that we choose our own attitude and the way we respond to situations which is a reminder for myself.

To finish off the pages, I doodled with a black Micron pen as well as a paint pen. I stamped the TH Bitty Grunge circles here and there in black ink and coloured the outside edges with Pthalo Green Big Brush pen. Black Big Brush pen was used to underline the long pieces of washi tape and to outline the word/definition. The letters spelling "is for" were stickers and "attitude" letters are alpha parts. Two half pearls became the thumbtacks to hold the paper to the board and a sticker with a pink flower was placed on the notice to bring pink to that page as well as draw attention to the large words.

That's it, that's all for my A is for page for The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary challenge for this fortnight. Thanks so much for visiting today. I think we'll leave grumpy Jill alone for a while and see if her mood improves. I'm off to link up at TCB and check out the other entries. Love that part.

I am also entering these pages in the DP2 (Mo's Digital challenge) of Anything Goes with a Mo image.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Sneak peek ~ Dream Girl

It's my turn to post on the eclectic Paperie blog but I wanted to share a sneak peak here today. I am taking the Christy Tomlinson She Art Workshop #3 online class so this project is my first attempt at a total paper pieced background and a hand drawn face. If you are curious, pop over to the eP blog and check her out. I 
would love to hear your thoughts :) Thanks a bunch.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

AWA~ Things With Wings ATCs

It's time for a fun new challenge at ATCs With Attitude. The theme this fortnight is Things With Wings which is a theme I love. That's why this challenge I decided to make two ATCs...I just couldn't resist either of these images.

The first ATC uses this super sweet dragonfly from Robyn's Fetish called It's a Dragonfly Day. I coloured the flowers and dragonfly with Prismacolor pencils. The background was coloured with Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress inks using a foam applicator. The bottom edge was inked again with Vintage Photo over the blue which gave it a greenish tinge. White acrylic paint was pounced over the TCW Mini Punchinella stencil using a scruffy brush. The shadows next to them were coloured lightly with Prisma pencils. Three small pieces of washi tape were added to the two long sides. Doodling around the edges was done with a black Micron pen, as was the word "fly". Tiny half pearls were added to the wings and antennae of the dragonfly and a small button threaded with narrow satin ribbon was adhered to the bottom right corner.

The second ATC used this adorable bee image, Honeybee,  from QKR Stampede. Ben, the bee, was also coloured with Prismacolor pencils. He was given tiny black half pearls for his antennae and Glossy Accents for his eyes.  The background was done the same way as the card above with the two Distress inks. Washi tape was adhered around the edges to make a whimsical frame. The flower was made from two silk flowers folded together with the petals offset. A length of green grosgrain ribbon was cut in a double V and adhered to the folded flower. A length of green baker's twine was tied around the ribbon to gather it into a flower base and stem shape.

Thanks for dropping by today. I really do appreciate your visits and comments. Be sure to stop by the ATCs With Attitude blog to see the wonderful inspiration provided by the rest of the DT. I hope you join us for this challenge...I'm sure you have a zillion images for Things With Wings that you could use and I'd love to see your creations.

I am entering these atcs in the following challenges:
Natalie and Amy's Challenge ~ #9 Things With Wings
One Crazy Stamper ~ May Flowers
Cute Card Thursday ~ #267 Come Fly With Me
Crafting With Dragonflies ~ #1 Use a Dragonfly image (1st atc)
Fresh Brewed Designs ~ May Flowers

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie