Still Altering My Deck

Did you know that there are 52 cards in a deck plus two jokers? That's why I'm still altering the deck of cards I started when I took the Artful Gathering online class by Mary Jane Chadbourne called The Spoken Soul. I do a grouping of three whenever a get a chance to just play or when I need an atc or little mixed media fix :) Anyway, here are my latest three.

The backgrounds are done with Neocolor II crayon + Inktense blocks + Gelatos + Big Brush pens...no science or planning involved. Then a little torn paper, some stencilling, stamping, gesso rings and more playing around. The images are mainly from Deviant Scrap. There's a little washi tape, die cut and punched borders, punched stars, and doodling thrown in for good measure. The edges are inked with Black Big Brush pen and the sentiments are matted in black cardstock.

And I love the process as well as the results. Thanks for letting me share them with you today. That makes me happy.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Don't Get Your Twine in a Tangle

That's the theme for this week's challenge at Craft Your Passion Challenges. It's such a fun title..it makes me laugh, like "Don't get your knickers in a knot" does. Anyway, we want to see you using that twinestring on your project and the more innovative way(s) the better. We are sponsored this week by Sweet Stamps but were free to choose an image from any source we wanted so, of course, I chose Mo Manning. I am smitten with her little fairies (OK, with everything she designs) and was excited to be able to play with Baby Fairy Butterfly. I coloured her with Prismacolor pencils, cutting out the image with a rounded square die. The edges were inked with Forest Moss Distress ink using an applicator tool to keep it soft and blended. Twine was rolled into coils and mounted onto foam dots. The dots were placed at the ends of her antennae and the loose twine was adhered to the antennae lines on Mo's drawing. Large flat pearls were placed over the coils to emphasize the ends.

The background was constructed from a mix of papers on top of a white card base. The green paper with the glossy raised dots is from DCWV's Collage Musings stack. The gold checked and plain papers are from MME's Lost & Found Sunshine stack,. All layers, including the image, were matted with black cardstock for contrast and to emphasize the various shapes and overlapping. To embellish the card, three tiny black buttons were threaded with white and adhered to the straight end of the flag. A larger black button was threaded with the baker's twine and backed with a black fabric flower and a white mulberry flower. A short piece of scalloped border left from another project was added to the top right corner for balance and to complete the visual triangle, helping the eye move around the card.

Thank you so much for popping by and for all of your get well wishes...I do believe they are beginning to work. I'm starting to feel a little better each day and my mojo, which totally deserted me and did a walk-about, has sent me a postcard saying it will be back soon. One can only hope :) If you get a minute, pop by the Craft Your Passion Challenges blog to see what my talented teamies have created for the "Don't Get Your Twine in a Tangle" challenge. Their creativity inspires me. Maybe it'll do the same for you and you'll want to play along.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create ~ #32 Anything Goes
One Stitch At A Time ~ #176 Use a Digi
The Squirrel and The Fox ~ #50 Whimsical
A Gem of A Challenge ~ #92 Summer
Delicious Doodles ~ #48 Butterflies

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Just Relaxin' ~ ATCs With Attitude Challenge 46

Sorry I haven't been around much this week. I have been really sick and the antibiotics are just beginning to kick in. Hopefully I'll be back up to speed soon. We have a new theme at ATCs With Attitude for this fortnight. The theme is Relax which sounds good to me! Somehow being sick isn't relaxing although you aren't doing anything. I was able to play with a fun image from QKR Stampede who produces some of my favourite characters ever. This sweet little elephant digi is called Making Bubbles so I went with that. I coloured Bubbles with Prismacolor pencils and used a Spellbinders scalloped oval die to cut out the image in a bubbly shape. Glossy Accents was added to the bubbles in the water and Dew Drops were added to the ones in the air. Broken China Distress Ink was applied around the scalloped edge.

The background was cut from navy blue cardstock and embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The raised bubbles were highlighted with Patina Gilder's paste applied with my finger. The sentiment was computer generated, cut out, and matted with turquoise cardstock. The words were then popped up on foam tape for added dimension.

Bubbles and I thank you for popping by today. He's going to continue to play in the water but I will begin catching up with blogs and DT comments. In the meantime, be sure to check out the ATCs With Attitude blog to see the rest of the "relaxing" ATCs created by our DT. We'd love it if you played along.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Life's a Beach ~ CYP challenge #174

Good Monday morning. It's a Civic holiday here today so I think many people will be heading to the beach for a day of play. That fits beautifully with our new challenge at Craft Your Passion. Our theme this week is All at Sea. I chose these adorable seahorses from our sponsor, Delicious Doodles, to be the focal image for my card. There's something very magical about seahorses and I love the way they entwine their tails. I coloured the image with Prismacolor pencils, gave each horse a flat bead eye, and then cut out the images using Spellbinders Labels One. I applied Broken China, Salty Ocean, and Mowed Lawn Distress inks around the edges with a blending tool and then layered some MuddPuddles Malibu beach sand and a few shells at the base of the plants.

The background papers come from Me & My Big Ideas Low Tide stack and are matted on dark brown cardstock for contrast. A rectangle of the brown was cut to serve as a band but before it was adhered. a length of natural jute was tied around one end to further the seaside theme. Three silver shell charms were adhered to the other end using Glossy Accents. The sentiment is from a Crafty Secrets Bathing Beauties set and was matted on brown cardstock and popped up on two layers of foam tape for dimension. The image layer is also popped up on foam tape. Just a simple little card but I wanted the seahorses to grab most of the attention which I think they do. They were so fun to colour :)

Thanks for dropping by today. I always appreciate your fine company. If you get a chance, stop over at the Craft Your Passion Challenges blog to see what my wonderful DT sistahs have created for our All at Sea challenge. You know I love it when you play along.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create ~ # 31 Anything Goes/Use a Sentiment
Dream Valley Challenges ~ #62 Summer Days
The Squirrel and the Fox ~ # 49  Nautical/Sea Life

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Shoe Fairies

It's time for our August Anything Goes challenge at Altered Eclectics...our second challenge evah! A while ago, I was browsing in the thrift store and I saw some adorable baby shoes...so tiny and sweet. I thought they would make lovely fairy homes and needed to come home with  me...especially at $1 a pair.  And so began today's project.

The first shoe is what I think of as a traditional baby shoe. It's white, well loved, and leather. I removed the lace and adhered a piece of Idea-ology Melange Tissue Wrap to the tongue. White satin pleated ribbon was glued around the top edge and a double row of bling layered on top of that. I added the same bling to the top of the tongue. White pearls and a peach button were adhered along the toe and sides. Peach crinkled seam binding with a white flower button threaded onto it became the lace for this shoe.

The adorable fairy is a combination of two Tumblefish Studio images purchased from Deviant Scrap. Both the baby and the wings were fussy cut, edged in black pen and glued together. A crocheted doily made for me by my sweet 83 year old neighbour, Nellie, was adhered to the back of the image to form a halo of sorts and allow Baby to be more visible.

The second shoe is a high topped running shoe. It's toe and sole are rubber and the top part is cloth. Even unaltered, this shoe makes me laugh. I decided to make it Steampunk-ish or Industrial because my little boy fairy had to live in it and he already wasn't happy with the soft pink inside the shoe. Fairies cam be quite opinionated, you know. I added some black and gold ribbon which looks like a closed zipper to the back half of the rubber sole (sounds like a Beatles album). Then I added Idea-ology ball chain with a Philosophy tag threaded on it to serve as a lace for the shoe.

On the outside, a collage was adhered with E-6000 glue. The grouping consisted of a Blossom Bucket clock, Idea-ology buckle and random metal pieces from my stash ( ruler charm, propeller, gears) The screw brad was used to attach the metal key to the top lace eyelet. The other side of the shoe was finished with two gears and a brad.

My little boy fairy, whose name is Ed, is a combination of three Tumblefish Studio images; the crown, Ed. and his wings. To continue with the Steampunk theme, I gave Ed a monocle made from a Dew Drop and a copper jump ring. I love that the dew drop magnifies his eye. Ed is much happier about the whole thing now as you can see from his expression ...lol.

Anyway, that's my Altered Eclectics project for this month, although not the end of my altered shoes. I bought 4 different styles of baby shoes so that gives me 6 more chances to play. I have a new shadow box that would accommodate them quite nicely. Thanks for visiting today. I hope I've inspired you in some small way to play along with our August challenge. We had wonderful entries last month and I am looking forward to visiting again. If you get a minute, pop by the Altered Eclectics blog to see the fabulous and diverse inspiration provided by the rest of the DT. In the meantime, Ed, Baby, and I hope you have a wonderful, magic filled day.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

eclectic Paperie get Altered challenge ~ A sneak peek

Yippee! It's my turn to host the Get Altered challenge at eclectic Paperie and my chosen theme is Game On. I want to see game pieces, cards, or game boards featured in your projects this month. I'm giving you a sneak peek of how I interpreted this challenge but if you want to see more, you'll have to click over to the eclectic Paperie blog. I'm excited to see what both the DT and the rest of the participants (fingers crossed) come up with.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Have a berry great day ~ CYP Challenge 173

One of the things I love best about summer is fresh fruit, especially berries so this week's Craft Your Passion card makes me smile. Our challenge this week is 3-D It which is something I have been trying my hand at lately because the effect is so cool. My talented CYP teamie, ~ginny, is a master at this technique and has been really helpful with tips. Thanks, ~ginny! Our sponsor this week is Doodle Pantry and I was able to play with Berry Nice Mice which comes with the images coloured and uncoloured as well as sentiments and background papers. I coloured the images with Prismacolor pencils and fussy cut them. Extra parts on a second set of images were coloured, fussy cut, and popped up on foam tape to create the 3-D effect. It's difficult to see in the photos but the paws and the berries they are holding, the centers of the two raspberries on the floor, the mouse's feet, and the two blueberries on the floor were the extra bits. The blueberry mouse has black flat pearls added to his eyes. The images were then popped up on foam and added to the matted  punched circles.

The red dotty background paper comes from K & Company's Wild Raspberry stack and was matted in the same blue cardstock as the image. The blueberry paper also matted in blue is part of the Doodle Pantry digi kit. Before it was adhered to the background, red and white baker's twine was wrapped around the red layer twice. The little sentiment, also from the digi kit, was printed on white cardstock, matted in blue, and popped up on two layers of foam tape. Three buttons were added to complete the card. So there you have it, my 3-D card for this week's challenge. If you get a chance, pop over to the Craft Your Passion Challenges blog to see the creations from the rest of the DT. Let me tell you, they are cute!! I'm hoping they inspire you to play along this time.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create ~ #30 Anything Goes
Dream Valley Challenges ~ #62  Summer Days
Great Impressions ~ July  Anything Goes
One Stitch at a Time ~ #174  Anything Goes
Pile It On ~ #30 Anything Goes
Scrappy Frogs Challenge ~ July  Red White & Blue

Thanks for your visit today.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie