eclectic Paperie & PaperHaus team up to celebrate

Well, we have been excited about today for a while now and it's finally here. PaperHaus, a wonderful online magazine, has invited its advertisers to be part of their year anniversary celebrations. That means that many of the eclectic Paperie design team will be posting projects on the eP blog all at the same time. That's a rare and exciting event plus we have the added bonus of being linked up at the PaperHaus anniversary post. And as if that isn't enough, the theme is Autumn which is my favourite time of year.

I started out with an 8x10" canvas to which I adhered two torn stripes of corrugated cardboard from an old box. These were placed at the top and bottom of the canvas after the corrugation was exposed. The middle area between the cardboard was layered with pieces of the paper torn off  to expose the corrugation. It was adhered with Matte medium. White gesso was dry brushed across the top or hills of the corrugated paper, heavier in some places than others.

The face is Wendy Vecchi's Queen of Art stamp which was applied to white cardstock using Ranger black Archival ink. Colouring was done using layers of Prismacolor pencil, a little black Micron pen, and some white paint pen and then the face was cut out. The edges were inked with black Big Brush pen to get rid of the white edges and frame her face more dramatically. She was glued to the canvas using foam dots in the center of her face where it overlapped the area without the cardboard.

Now, the leaves...hmmm. I began by printing a maple leaf outline many times on white cardstock using two different sizes of the image. Then I sprayed the opposite side to the printed ones with Dylusions Ink Sprays: Postbox Red, Melted Chocolate, Squeezed Orange. Lemon Zest, and Fresh Lime plus lots of sprayed water. Once the pages were dry, I began to fussy cut until I had all 48 of them cut out. I know...I'm crazy but I had this picture in my head and I wanted to see if it would work IRL. The edges of the leaves were then inked with Distress inks :Vintage Photo and Barn Red. Then I just started adhering them around her face overlapping close to it and spreading out as they were getting farther away. The ones in the gully between the two pieces of corrugate were popped up with foam dots.

The partial quote "For everything there is a season" was done in two fonts. The top two words were letter stickers placed on heavy kraft cardstock which was then torn and inked around with Vintage Photo DI.

The lettering at the bottom is Idea-ology AlphaParts Ransom. White paint pen was used to dot each letter. The clock and the chipboard flourish are from Bo Bunny's Timepiece chipboard collection. The flourish was embellished with three brad tops adhered with foam dots. The last finishing touch was to ink the four outside edges using a Walnut Brown Big Brush pen right over the cardboard and the torn paper to frame the mixed media project.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I'm so glad you did that. If you get a chance, pop over to the eclectic Paperie blog to see the amazing makes created by the rest of my talented team mates. And if you happen to drop by the PaperHaus blog be sure and wish them a Happy Anniversary and continued success.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Here are links for some of the products I used that can be found in the eclectic Paperie store:

Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Distress Ink Pad - Barn Door	Dylusions Ink Spray - Squeezed Orange	Dylusions Ink Spray - Postbox Red
Dylusions Ink Spray - Melted Chocolate	Dylusions Ink Spray - Lemon Zest	Dylusions Ink Spray - Fresh Lime	Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso
Claudine Hellmuth Studio-Multi-Medium Matte	Faber Castell - Big Brush Pens - Neutral

Sometimes I pretend...

Hello there! I decided to have a play with a few more altered playing cards. The first one is a card I had set aside because it wasn't telling me what it wanted. I often do a bunch of backgrounds at the same time and then set the cards aside until I have an image or saying that I want to feature. I go through all of the pre-made backgrounds until I find one that whispers "pick me" and this one was strangely silent until now. The funny thing is it's now one of my favourites (for the moment...lol). I have always loved this saying because I can relate so well...just ask my family. They know I can't sustain "normal" for any length of time :) I won't go through the backgrounds because I've done it so often. There are three separate images combined on this card: the woman's head, her crown, and the butterfly bow tie. The bottom black section is a torn piece of embossed cardstock with white dots. The dots were continued on the butterfly and as half pearls on her crown. She looks like she'd be fun to spend time with!

The next card uses one image from Tumble Fish Studio with crazy fussy cutting but it was worth it. These lovelies are sitting on a bench made from a Tumble Fish border. Three little half pearls and computer generated and black matted words finish this card. As always, I have edged the card and the images with black Big Brush pen to frame things up. This image cracks me up because they are all sitting nice as can be with their hands folded in their laps and these amazing bird heads. What's wrong with this picture?

I love the sweetness of the last one. The little girl sun is a favourite image of mine and that little boy in the yellow slicker is so cute. I'm glad the sun is out so his crackers don't get soggy before he gets them home to Mom. Both the red and the black strips are embossed with different patterns. The red has Treasure Gold over the embossed hearts to make them shine. Whenever I have embossed cardstock, I save the scraps and put it in a little container on my desk. Then when I'm doing these cards or other mixed media art, I can grab and go. That also rescues me from over-thinking which is a bonus in this type of creating. If I stop and  analyze  too much, my mojo, which has a short attention span, takes a hike :)

Well, those are my three little creations. Thanks for joining me today. I love sharing my makes with you. It makes them twice the fun!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hey, I made this for you ~ CYP Challenge 179

Another Monday, another challenge at Craft Your Passion Challenges. This week our challenge theme is Glitter and Gloss so we want you to add some of each to your project. I found that the challenge didn't just extend to the project but also to the photographing of it. Both the sparkle of the glitter and the shine of the gloss seemed to be camera shy, not wanting to make an appearance in the photos. Hmmm. I was able to work with two fabulous images from our sponsor, Inky Impressions. The Open Door Desk and Angelica Crafting are two separate images which I coloured with my Prismacolor pencils, fussy cut, and then layered to create a scene.
Angelica has foam tape on her backside to give her some dimension and bring her closer to us. The yellow can and the paper cutter on the desk, Angelica's eyes and lovely bracelets, and the paintbrush ferrule in the can beside her all got a layer of Glossy Accents to create the gloss. The tape dispenser, three crafted hearts, and the heart on her t-shirt each got a layer of Christmas Red Stickles to respond to the Glitter half of the challenge.

For the background, I wanted to create the look of a craft room so I used my ScorBuddy to deboss lines in beige paper to look like beadboard. Brushed Corduroy Distress ink was used around the edges. The floor is a piece of striped paper from MME's Be Amazing pad. Again,  Brushed Corduroy was used around the edges. The baseboard is a strip of white cardstock which has been scored near the bottom edge to create detail and look like quarter round. The matted flag was hand cut from a scrap and layered with a gold floss- threaded button. Faux stitching was added to the flag and the white border of the card, A photo corner cut with a Martha Stewart punch balanced out the top right corner and the computer generated sentiment matted in the same brown cardstock was popped up on foam tape at the bottom left.

Thank you so much for visiting me today. I'd like to tell you that my work desk is as neat and orderly as Angelica's but even I can't stretch it that far :) Yikes! Anyway, if you get a minute, pop over to the Craft Your Passion Challenges blog to see what my wonderful teammates have created for this challenge. It's fun to see what we did with the same set of images. I hope you'll join us and get your "Glitter & Gloss" on for this challenge.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create #36 ~ Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody #28 ~ Anything Goes
One Stitch At A Time #180 ~ Use a Digi
Robyn's Fetish #176 ~ must use yellow blue & red
Drunken Stampers #140 ~ Use a button
Catch the Bug ~ September Anything Goes

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Dance to your own music Sneak peek

It's my turn to post on the eclectic Paperie blog today and I have chosen to show my second last page in my present art journal book. Only one more to go and I will be able to start in my new Dylusions small journal. I'd love it if you joined me today at the eP blog. I get so lonely with no one to talk to...lol.

Thanks for stopping by.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Good Morning, Miss Mouse ~ ATCs With Attitude Challenge #

Is it seriously September already? Hard to believe that the summer has come and gone. With a new fortnight, comes a new challenge at ATCs With Attitude. Our theme this time is "It's Off To School We Go" as a tribute to all those, big and small, who have just begun another school year. I was delighted to be able to play with another wonderful and quirky QKR Stampede image, Mouse Teacher. She cracks me up with the pencil behind her ear and that oh so patient (or is that zoned out) look on her face ( Beuhler...Beuhler...).

I coloured the image with Prismacolor pencils and then fussy cut around Miss Mouse and her blackboard. She was then adhered to a piece of green checked paper from DCWV's The High School Matstack. That paper reminds me of the old green alphabet cards that hung in every classroom back in the day.

The background abc paper is a scrap from Graphic 45's ABC Primer collection. Both the green and the abc paper were matted on black cardstock for contrast. Small school realted stickers were also matted in black before being glued to the bottom left corner. Black chipboard glasses from Retro Art CAfe were adhered to the top right corner and filled with Glossy Accents to replicate Miss Mouse's specs. Three tiny black half pearls were placed in the center of the stars on the background paper ...just 'cuz.

If you get a chance, check out the other Off to School ATCs from the rest of my ATCs With Attitude team mates. I'd love it if you joined us for this ATC challenge. The more the merrier and I always love to see what you have created.

There's been lots of excitement and a flurry of decisions being made surrounding ATCs With Attitude this past week. We have decided to change our format for the challenges at ATCs With Attitude to include all types of paper crafting. We want to increase the number of participants in the challenges and also take the opportunity to capitalize on all of that talent out in blogland. With a broader audience from all types of paper crafting, we will get to see so many types of wonderful designs that we missed out on when we were only an atc blog. The other exciting piece for me is the opportunity to co-own this new blog with Abbie. With a new format, comes a new name Craftitude: Paper Crafting With Attitude. Hope fun is that name! Love it. Anyway, stay tuned for more news on the Craftitude front. I hope you'll join us at the new blogsite on September 20.

Thanks for joining Miss Mouse and me today. Class dismissed :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Lovin' the Playing Cards

I snatched a few hours to play with altering a few more playing cards the other day but I had to wait for a sunshiny day to retake the photos. Today was that day! It's bright and gorgeous here after many days of rain. The backgrounds are layers of gesso, watercolour crayon, distress ink, big brush pen, and anything else I could find to make colour. Then there are scraps of paper, a little stamping, stencilling, and doodling before the main images were collaged together. The first one, above, has a combination of two images (hat, moon face), a flower button, and a chipboard arrow. All of the messages are computer generated and matted with black cardstock. I think it's an Einstein quote and seems oh so true. Doesn't the moon look like a fun fellow to hang out with?

The second playing card features a combination of three images (bird, egg, nest). To me, it suited the message because this is a bird that will take on a mega-task and persevere. Courage isn't about not being scared or overwhelmed. It's about feeling those things and doing it anyway. This bird is an optimist. The circles in the upper corner are nailhead stickers. The edges of all of the cards are darkened with black Big Brush pen to frame them and direct the eye in.

The third card has a scrap of embossed black cardstock highlighted with Treasure Silver rubbed over the raised areas with my finger. There is only one image which was trimmed to fit the curve of the rounded scrap. Tiny bits of a black and white border were glued to three places to add a bit of pop and pattern to the card. The black circles were made with watered down black gesso and a mister cap.

I actually did several more but I will save them for another day. I don't want to wear out my welcome.  I actually think I will sand another deck because I want to make some and send them off to a few friends. It's always fun to get mail, especially if it makes you smile. Thanks for visiting me today. I love it when we can get together and your support is always appreciated.

Life is good: so is art.
Bonnie

Do You Believe in Fairies ~ CYP Challenge 178

We have a new challenge at Craft Your Passion this week and it's one of my favourite themes: Do You Believe in Fairies? What makes it even better is that I was able to play with one of the new A Day For Daisies fairies and she is gorgeous. I love ADFD images. There is something whimsical, innocent, and so gentle about them. They are almost magical for me. The image I chose is called Puffy Flower Fairy and I decided to feature her surrounded by lots of white space to really allow her to hold center stage. She was coloured with my Prismacolor pencils and was given a little sparkly fairy dust in the form of Icicle Stickles for her wings. The image was cut out with Spellbinders curved rectangles die. I know that I have told you this trick before but for those who may have missed it, I trace the outside edge of the die I am using onto cardstock to make the perfect sized mat for the die cut image. It works like a charm every time.

The background papers come from DCWV's The Tea Party Stack. A rectangle was cut and matted with brown cardstock before a wide shimmery ribbon was topped by a dotty grosgrain ribbon and wrapped around the center of the designer paper. The image was popped up slightly with foam tape and adhered over the ribbon. A Spellbinders ticket die was used to cut the same paper and the word Believe was printed from the computer. Stucco Colorbox ink was used to edge the ticket and faux stitching was added before it was matted with brown. Two small flat pearls were added to each side and then the ticket was popped up on  two layers of foam tape and adhered in the bottom left corner. Two butterflies were cut with a Martha Stewart punch and then backed in the same brown cardstock and fussy cut with a narrow border of brown showing. Idea-ology game spinners were used for the butterfly bodies and flat pearls for the heads. Foam dots were added to the back of the butterflies so that they would pop up more than the ticket. To complete the fourth corner, a photo corner was cut using another MS punch and adhered on the designer paper.

This sweet fairy makes me smile. I hope she does the same for you. I thank you for joining me today. Your lovely visits and comments make me smile, too. There's a little magic in that, as well. If you get a chance, have a wee visit at the Craft Your Passion Challenges blog where you will see wonderful fairy creations made by my talented team mates. I'm hoping you'll feel inspired and will link up your fairy creations so that I can add a little more magic in my life. You can never have too much sweet magic, you know.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create ~ #35 Anything Goes
Glitter n Sparkle ~ #48 Anything Goes
Sister Act Card Challenge ~ #22 Anything Goes
Stampin for the weekend ~ Colours of Summer
Sweet Pea Stampers ~ Fantasy



Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie