Happy Thanksgiving!

Here in Canada, this is Thanksgiving weekend which, along with the leaves turning, is a sure sign of fall. I wanted to make a quick card to wish all my fellow Canadians a Happy Thansgiving. I used the sweet Tiddly Inks digital image, Annie Gives Thanks, for the focal of this card. Annie was so fun to colour with my Prismacolor pencils, using a little OMS to blend the brown sections. She was cut out using an oval template, inked with Distress ink and then matted on brown cardstock. Dimensional foam dots were added to the back and Annie was set aside.

The background used two different papers from MME Reunion 6x6 paper pad. Both papers were matted on the same brown cardstock to give them visual weight. A threaded button was adhered in the triangular space left by the handcut banner. A computer generated sentiment was printed onto a white tag that was then inked and faux stitched. A piece of narrow grosgrain ribbon was also faux stitched, folded and adhered to the top of Annie's oval. A small flat back brown pearl and a hand cut photo corner finished off this card.

I will be entering this card into the following challenges:

Tiddly Inks challenge #95 ~ Fall

Simply Create Too Challenge 23 ~ Autumn/Fall

4 Crafty Chicks Challenge # 110 ~ Thanksgiving


Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Canadians! Enjoy your long weekend. To everyone, thanks for visiting Annie and me. Now go indulge in some pie to celebrate with us :)

Life is good; so is art

Bonnie

Chalk-Ah-Lot Leaves challenge card (#20)

The leaves are so beautiful right now in our little part of the world. They are gorgeous shades of red, orange, yellow, brown, and still some green. It makes for breathtaking drives on country roads. That's what inspired me to make this card for the new Leaves challenge at Chalk-Ah-Lot Cafe this fortnight.

I started by running a piece of heavier cardstock through my Cuttlebug using the TH Tattered Leaves die. I set aside the die cut leaves because all I needed was the piece with the leaf shaped holes. This was placed like a stencil over a piece of regular weight cardstock. Completing one leaf at a time, Buzz N Magic paint was pounced through the open leaves a section at a time. While the paint was still wet, either crimson, jade or sunshine SNP powdered chalk was pounced into the sections, overlapping colours slightly to blend. The Buzz N Magic paint gives a delicious sheen to the chalk and allows the vibrancy to show through. While the colours are still soft, they are not washed out at all.

Once all of the leaves were chalked and the paint had dried, a black pen was used to sketchily doodle outlines and veins on the leaves. This provides definition to them and lends a hand-drawn or painterly feel to the card front. A Stamp N Plus Scrap N stamp, Mountain Ash, was inked with a pale brown colour and randomly stamped in the white spaces between leaves. Using Distress ink, a splatter dot stamp was also randomly stamped over the negative space and on the leaves to create more texture and interest.

Two mats of textured paper, one orange and one brown, were cut to fit the chalked leaf piece. Before assembly, all edges were inked with Distress inks. A green and white dotted grosgrain ribbon was added to the left side and a large green button was threaded with baker's twine and adhered on top of the ribbon. A computer generated message was printed on a die cut tag with inked and faux stitched edges. Faux stitching was also added to the white border of the card..

That's it...that's all. It was fun to play with the SNP chalks to create this card. I love the variety of looks that can be achieved with the powdered chalks. The experiments continue! For more inspiration, take a peek at the Chalk-Ah-Lot blog to see what other leafy delights the DT created for this challenge. Once you do, I'll bet you'll want to play along :) Think of all the other stencils you could make with those dies and punches you own. This is such a versatile chalking technique.

I am entering ths in the Allsorts Challenge  #175  Autumn Leaves and Trees

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

Bonnie

SNP : A Happy Hello

Fall colours always inspire me. It's my favourite season. I love the nip in the air, the cool nights, and beautiful sunshine on the changing leaves. We always decorate the outside porches with pumpkins and gourds which make me smile...and that makes my neighbours wonder what I'm up to now :) Anyway, that was the inspiration behind this card.

I started out stamping this Stamp N Plus Scrap N maple leaf stamp (I am Canadian, eh!) on scraps of patterned paper. Then I fussy cut them and set them aside. Next this fun SNP dog splat guy was stamped on white cardstock and coloured with Prismacolor pencils. Two labels were die cut with the green one getting Distress inked and the brown one faux stitched. Leaves were adhered under Dawg and then over him so that he looked like he had just jumped into the pile and was in Doggie-heaven.

The background consisted of layers of orange, brown, and yellow papers. Before the yellow and brown layer were adhered to the  orange paper, brown and white dotty ribbon was wrapped around it and glued in the back. Hello letters were computer generated, cut out, and inked before being glued to the card front. A few more fussy cut leaves were added to frame the greeting. Copper nailhead stickers were affixed to each corner. To finish off the card and repeat the stitching detail,  brown doodling was added to the white card border.

The look on Dawg's face makes me smile and perfectly represents my feelings about autumn days. Hope he gives you a smile, too. Thanks for visiting today.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Use it Tuesdays ~ hoarded supplies (ribbon); scrap papers from my stash
Sassy Cheryl's Challenge #135 Let's Think About Fall
Try It On Tuesday  ~ Lots of Layers ( background papers and fussy cut leaves)

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

In the pink ATC

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, I have been inspired by the wonderful stories of courage that I have heard on TV shows, the radio, and in the news about Breast Cancer survivors and women currently going through treatment. There are also some fabulous and inspiring cards and other art projects being featured in blogland. One of the swaps that I'm playing in at Split Coast Stampers is a rainbow atc swap and I chose the colour pink to remind us all of this important cause.

I covered my atc in pink patterned paper and then layered a piece of doily sprayed with pink Glimmer Mist over that. The beautiful little bird is a digital image from A Day for Daisies. I absolutely love the sweetness of the images from there and this little birdie is no exception. Birdie was colored with Distress ink and Distress marker, fussy cut, and then given a black half pearl eye. She was popped up on foam dots and nestled into some pink fibre with a button adhered to the right side. The sentiment was computer generated and coloured with a pink Sharpie. Pink bling was added to the top to finish it off.

It's funny how when a certain thought or theme is my focus, I then see the symbols or images that support that focus all around me. I was in my flower bed pulling weeds and doing a general clean up yesterday when the image on the photo below captivated me. I ran for my camera and was able to capture only one image but it turned out lovely and seemed to symbolize my thoughts of hope for all those who have, are, or will battle breast cancer and for those who love them.


Here's my photo of hope:

 

 

I am linking this up to the Anything Goes challenge at A Day For Daisies blog and also to Link Up For Pink which is featuring projects with pink in them. Craft Your Passion Challenges also has a similar theme this week. Won't you play along?

 

Thanks for dropping by.

 

Life is good; so is art.

 

Bonnie

 

 

AWNB Step Into My Parlour

Chris Stern and the DT at Art With No Boundaries have switched formats to a monthly challenge instead of a fortnight challenge. We will still be bringing you weekly inspiration projects to encourage you to play along so tune in each Monday to see what's new...and for this month, spook-tacular. We are dedicating an entire month to October and Halloween. For October, think of Fall Colors, Rustling Leaves, and Big Orange Pumpkins and for Halloween, Black Cats, Outrageous Costumes, anything Spooky or Haunted, Ghosts, Goblins, Ghouls  or even something dark and Gothic.

I chose to play with the Solitaire Mask of Webs image from CS Designs for my first project. I coloured her using Prismacolor pencils and a little OMS for blending. I love her purple lips. For Webster's eyes That's what I named her), red rhinestones create the highlight, whereas the spider dangling from her mask has white half pearl eyes. Webster was matted in black and popped up on dimensionals awaiting her background.

For the background, an 8"x10" canvas was altered. It was first painted with black gesso before a torn piece of kraft paper decorated with a flocked raven and candlestick was crumpled up and gel-mediumed down. Then out came the stencils, acrylic paint, inks, and other art journalling bits to create grunge, texture, and dimension to the background. When it was sufficiently messy,  pieces of cheesecloth meant to resemble spiders' webs were adhered to the canvas.

The sentiment, also from CS Designs, was printed on a scrap of Halloween patterned paper, torn on the edges and inked. Neocolor II crayons were added to the sentiment and the background at this point. Glittery spiders, web-patterned ribbon, and TH metal numbers were adhered to the canvas to tell the rest of the story. I wonder where Webster's other spider friends have gone? Bwaaa-haaa-haaa-haaa. (Evil laugh)

For more spooky inspiration, be sure to visit Art With No Boundaries to see the rest of the DT projects. We are so happy to have a special Guest Designer for the month of October. Lyn (aka BlackDragon) Brough is lending her talents to us on both blogs. You'll be amazed by her projects and those of  my other teamies.

Thanks for dropping by. I look forward to returning the favour when you link up to our challenge.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Craft Your Passion: Think Pink Challenge # 130

Second post for today :)
Happy October, everyone! It's Monday and that means a brand new challenge at Craft Your Passion Challenges. The theme this week is "Save the Hooters" to highlight Breast Cancer Awareness month. We want to see pink on your cards which can be either Breast Cancer Awareness related or have owls with pink.

I was able to work with this fabulous kit from The Cutting Cafe, one of our wonderful sponsors this month. This kit is amazing...it has so many digital images that can be mixed and matched. I chose to feature the sweet little owl, the pink ribbon, and the "Save the Hooters" sentiment.

The owl was printed on white cardstock and coloured with Prismacolor pencils. She was popped up on foam tape to add dimension. The ribbon was printed on pale pink patterned paper, cut out, and mounted on black cardstock to make it stand out on the paler still patterned background. The leaves and overlap on the ribbon were coloured with Prisma pencils. The ribbon's flowers were punched from pink cardstock, cupped with a stylus and pad, and stacked. Flat pearls were added to the center before adhering them over the flowers on the digital image.

The sentiment was printed on white cardstock, matted in black, and glued to a pink handcut banner. Two layers of cardstock back the BG paper and create contrast with the white card border. Pink faux stitching was added to the light pink background layer. Three flat back pearls finished off the top left corner and provided better balance to the card.

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to check out the projects at Craft Your Passion Challenges created by the rest of this awesome design team. They are sure to provide you with just the inspiration you need to join in this week. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

I am linking this card up with the Link Up for Pink A Breast Cancer Awareness blog. Check out the beautiful entries there and consider entering your project there as well as Craft Your Passion.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

RRR No Bones About It challenge

It's the end of September so that means that it's time for new challenges at Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-Invent. Our regular challenge for this month is October Halloween with a Bonus Round called No Bones About It. For October Halloween, think fall colors, black cats, anything spooky, haunted and even Goth. For our No Bones About It Bonus Round, we want to see Bones. These may be real bones or faux bones and the only restriction on faux bones is that they can not be printed pictures or made of paper. Oh my goodness, these are such fun themes. Wait 'til you see what the CS Designs DT and our October guest artist have in store for you!

I'm normally more of a cutesy Halloween type, favouring images with sweet witches and pumpkins, but lately I have become more and more intrigued by the art projects with an edge and a good dose of creepy thrown in. I decided to try my hand at this style for this month's No Bones About It challenge. I chose to play with Tattooed Talia, a new CS Designs image. She's such a beauty and may have hidden secrets we've yet to discover. I coloured Talia with my Prismacolor pencils, using OMS to blend her face. Her dress was paper pieced using snakeskin printed paper. Talia was fussy cut and mounted on an embossed piece of black cardstock which had been dry embossed and dry-brushed with 3 different metallic acrylic paints.

To create the background, the recycled lid of a cookie tin was alcohol inked with 4 colours. Talia was adhered to the tin and cheesecloth was draped and glued beside her. The sentiment, There's a little bad in all of us, was printed on white cardstock and then matted with snakeskin paper and black cardstock Once it was adhered to the tin, chicken bones were used to frame it. Below the frame, a watch sticker to signify the witching hour perhaps, and a raven recycled from an earring were adhered to the background.

The final detail to create the  vignette was to glue skeleton hands, complete with bling rings, to the edge of the tin so that they are reaching for Talia. Do they mean her harm or is she their mistress...you decide. Bwaaa-haa-haa! OK, maybe I'm having a little too much fun here :) For more fun, make haste to the Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-Invent blog to see what my cohorts have in store for you. As a special treat this month, Lyn (aka Blackdragon) Brough is joining us as guest artist. Check out the detail on her project.

Thanks for dropping by. I hope you weren't too creeped out. I can't wait to see what you create for these themes.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie