My Oz....

This is where Wonderland and the land of Oz meet and play and create! Come join in the fun!

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Fall is in the Air

At Ike's World Challenge this fortnight we have free reign to create an ATC, with the theme "Anything Goes".  I chose an image I just love from Ike's Art called "Leaf Pooch" and colored the leaf he brought to show his happy owner in autumn colors.  It is fall technically but here in the South in the U.S. you can't quiet tell it is except for some occasional breezy mornings and some very brown leaves falling!  But I have seen those awesome colors from farther north and love them so I decided to go with them, after all a plain brown leaf would have been pretty boring!  He has a heart charm on his collar because who couldn't love this adorable pooch?


He clearly thinks this awesome new thing falling through the air is special enough to deliver it right to your feet with a smile.  He is just too stinking cute!  So come join us you still have time and show us your anything goes ATC and get a chance to win some awesome images from Ike's Art and catch this challenges new freebie!  See you there!

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Hello Blood Moon

I was sitting here starting to try a folk girl's face and was surprised to see her turning out pretty well. I was only going to practice faces but her body appeared and I doodled a background and as I colored the blue sky over her head, the blood moon pics and posts on Facebook came to mind.  So, my newly drawn girl became a blood moon tribute.  



Thanks to those sharing their talents on YouTube!  It is fun to try something new and totally out of my comfort zone!

Mixed Media Play

I got this wonderful stamp from Lost Coast Designs "Spread Your Wings and Fly" just for a mixed media make.  I used a cardboard canvas again but got it way to wet so it warped a bit on me.  I started with a layer of tissue paper so the inks could drain along the creases. I also added a stamped image from there called  "Silhouette Lady with Umbrella" because it reminds me of Mary Poppins who could fly, too!  


I used a stencil from the Artist's Cellar from the "Cathedral Series" I believe.  I was so lucky to win 5 full 12 x 12 sets of their awesome stencils when I ordered from there this summer...so fab!  So some stenciling and some cardstock die cut wings and lots of DecoArt and Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays with some gold acrylic rubbed over to highlight then shading around the two stamped images and the edges of the canvas.  Last thing was to splatter some white and blue fluid acrylics on wiping them off the main image which has some Prisma colored pencils on her dress and the butterflies.  Also added a bit of a piece of old jewelry butterfly with the colors of my canvas exactly on it!

I would like to enter this in STAMPlorations Mixed Media Challenge for September and use a stencil.

 

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Anything Goes for September Sparkle and Glitter Challenge

The progressive challenge at Sparkle and Glitter for September is to use any Rick St. Dennis image you have and play along.  If you enter this month, you will be able to email and get a free image for the October part of the challenge!  So come play and get to see what image Rick gives us for next month to play with, it is always fun to see what we get to use!  

I went for a tag because I had this lovely dress form "Buttons and Bows Dress Form"  colored waiting for a home and that fit the bill!  I used some sprays on the tag and added and element from a practice sheet of Rick's on coloring folds which I am still working very hard at as you can see!  Then some pretty threads and a pair of scissors with a stamped sentiment and it was done.


Check out the Sparkle and Glitter Blog where the Elite Design Team post their lovely makes and you can have a link to Rick's videos and his brand new absolutely fabulous adult coloring books of which there are 3 now!  One to fit your taste...all 3 fit mine!  So please stop by and see what is going on and while you are there, add that project using one of Rick St. Dennis's images that you have and get a free one in October!  Good deal I think ;)

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

It'a Christmas Already!

No, don't panic!  It is not Christmas just yet, but we are showcasing some of our wonderful Christmas kits and images at Dragons Lair Designs this month.  And there are some very lovely ones to revisit and take a look at, too!  Here is a wonderful kit called " Victorian Christmas " and a happy card I made from it!


This kit contains so many elements for the hands on crafter to the digital crafter and those who like to use a little of both.  There is holly, berries, flowers, ribbon, more ornaments, lovely papers, oh my, just too much to list!  but you won't be disappointed, that is for sure!


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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Dear Me, Watson!

Our challenge at Ike's World Challenge this fortnight is "One for the Men".  The awesome Ike gave away a fabulous image of Sherlock Holmes and I have wanted to use him for ages!  Finding a sentiment for a man's card had me stumped until I had the idea of making Sherlock the criminal all along and Watson finding him out but it was waay to wordy.  So a lovely gave me the idea of just using "Watson?"  as Sherlock stands by a cauldron with poor Watson's skull and legs cooking away!

 Using "Sherlock"  from Ike's Art.

Still time to enter so go get busy and let us see your manly entries!

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Look! It's a Flying Monkey!

I absolutely love this stamp!  From Carmen's Veranda "Flying Monkey" is so much fun!  And of course, the "Flying Monkeys Background" stamp is equally fantastic!  I made this postcard sized on some paper I made with shimmer sprays and added some Distress markers to color him up.

This is my post for today on the Lost Coaster's Review Design Team  Blog and it is also up on the Lost Coast Facebook page.  Please like us and visit the Reviewers Blog every other day for some inspiration by some awesome teamies

I added the word "Believe" from the word stamp "Doodle Words" from Lost Coast Designs because you really have to believe in flying monkeys for it to be fun!  Hope to see you at our Lost Coast Portal to Creativity for all our challenge and event news!  Some fabulous events coming up but shhh! I didn't leak it!

Remember, our challenge this month is "One Layer or Single Layer" so come play and get a chance at some fabulous rubber from Lost Coast Designs!

Monday, September 7, 2015

September's Challenge at Lost Coast Designs Portal to Creativity


Time for the new challenge "One Layer" at Lost Coast Designs!  Remember, you can use any stamps but you get added in twice if you use one of ours!  This challenge was a real challenge...one layer, the concept kind of escaped me for a bit.  I know, how simple, but I tend to make simple things complicated!  So after much consultation with my trusted confidants I think I might have gotten the concept!  The stamp did all the work.  Chloe Collage is such a beauty!


I made my paper with Lindy's Stamp Gang Shimmer spray and a girls profile stencil with a lighter pink mixed color to sponge it with.  The sparkle is fabulous!  This pink piece means more than just any make because it is one month until Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.  The word "Hope" means so much to so many who have been touched by this disease.  So please do your part to protect yourself and your loved ones.  Encourage those mammos, self-checks, and do what you can to be safe.  So Chloe embodies to me the face of hope and the day we can say we have all beaten breast cancer once and for all!

Make sure you visit the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity for all the news and add your entry to this months challenge!  Also, have a good look see at Lost Coasts Designs and Carmen's Veranda's stamps stores, I promise you will be making a wish list waaay long!  Links are added below to make it easy to click and enjoy!


Friday, September 4, 2015

It's Pet Time at ICW

I loved this little bird given as a freebie at Ike's World Challenge from the first moment I saw it!  I also saw a tutorial on how to color with ball point pens, yes, ball point pens.  So off to the dollar tree I hop to buy some cheap pens and started to work on this little wren.  Loved the effect it gave of feathers.  Then of course he needed a home so a handy dandy cardboard box just screamed to be his cage.  I altered the box and added some wire for the front, used a nest from my mom's stash, and added some embellies to brighten up his new home and I now have my own little wren in my craftroom to keep me company!

 Image "Wren" found at Ike's Art


Please join us in our new challenge this Tuesday and see what fabulous freebie the generous Ike will be giving us!

 

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Fun Canvas

This was inspired by an article in Somerset Studios magazine.  I loved the detailed instructions with photos and finally let go and just painted!  It is a repurposed 11 x 14 inch canvas that had lived a short life as a very unattractive attempt at something!  





It is a new month at Rhedd's Creative Spirit for mixed media/altered art and we look forward to seeing your makes this month!  Hope to see you there!

Mixed Media and Stamping Fun with VivaLasVegas Stamps

Royalty! Ah, the glamor, the mystery all draw us into a world we think we would love to live in!  Well, I am most sure I will never be a part of any royalty so it shall remain a lovely mystery to me!  But at VivaLasVegas Stamps Card Swap they are giving me a chance to create my own brand of royalty!  Now most folks would go with the regal king and queen and their amazing court. Most folks.  Alas, you know I fall no where near that category!  My ideal royal court consists of freaks!  Yes, freaks.  As I contemplated an idea for the sway that must consist of a King, Queen, Jack, and Ace; I remembered this awesome sheet of rubber I had bought from VivaLasVegas stamps called, you guessed it, Freaks.  So I grabbed my notebook with my stamp references (thanks, Anne!) I found my queen first, quickly followed by my king, jack and ace.  Hurray! My biggest hurdle conquered! Remember we are talking about royalty so my language may reflect that.

Next came the issue of a background fit for my freak royal court.  Mixed media is a growing passion of mine that I am trying to learn as much about as I can sooo an Andy Skinner YouTube video gave me such inspiration that I wanted to try it right then and there.  So to summarize rather quickly, I glued on scraps of an old encyclopedia pages, painted the edges purple fluid acrylic, used vasoline to mask the parts of the pages I wanted to show and painted over the whole cardstock with red fluid acrylics. Then a baby wipe when dry to wipe off the masking leaving my lovely pages showing.  Another layer of masking and some orange painted over that and same process with baby wipes. Another layer this time using gold acrylic paint and a stencil of a crown and a key from a mini set of stencils from Red Lead using gesso and  I had what I thought was an amazing background. 


The fun part: stamped my freaks on white cardstock, colored with distress markers, fussy cut, glued down, added some bits of air dry clay painted with watercolor paints ( dollar set from dollar store), stamped some words from the sheet to make the sentiments my royalty wanted to express, inking them with pastel colors topped with a bit of gold ink pad, and placed everything where I wanted it to go.  Then for extra strength for the paint and the clay, I gave them a good 2 coats of matte medium by DecoArt, oops! after stamping their letters on their cards with black embossing powder.


Love these little freaks and now the whole crew has a Queen, King, Jack, and Ace! I am sure this will help the kingdom run more smoothly! 

Happy Crafting!