Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Ballerina, Edward Scissorhands, and What Remains

Remember this canvas I made for my sister for Christmas??
Here was her reaction!!!
And that is her impressed fiance, Tony, who is sitting next to my Mom. I thinks she likes it! We are going out frame shopping together real soon.

Remember this?


Here is my friend, Spoon's, reaction :
Just kidding! She's gonna get me for this! She was actually very happy with her gift!


I wasn't able to get a pic of Deb opening her shadow box, but here is a pic of my sisters Linda and Deb on Christmas Day:



And here are the steps I used to create Deb's Edward Scissorhands Shadow Box:
If you look at my previous post, Shadow box Sneak peak, you will be up to date with the trials and tribulations concerning this project! Then came another problem. Why I thought Tulip Cool Color Sprays would show up over top acrylic paint, I'll never know! The photo above is right after spraying. When the spray dried there was no color evident, but there were cool looking water spots remaining. So the next step was to use a trusty tooth brush and splatter my acrylics. I used cobalt, purple and lilac. Final splatter was done with white gesso I allowed to sit and thicken up a bit. I'm pleased with the snow effect.
I mounted a bookplate on the cover with glue. I filled the holes in with black puff paint to look like screw heads. I inserted a photo of Johnny Depp's signature from a photo Deb took in California. The photo also showed Johnny's hand and boot prints. I'll be using those later.
At this point the outside of the box is complete. Now to fill it up! Besides the pic of Johnny' s star in Hollywood, Deb gave me two dog tag necklaces, a photo of her dressed up as Edward Scissorhands, the playbill, and ticket from the play. I used the cover of the playbill as the inside background, and the portion of the playbill featuring the venue and date for the inside top. I don't have tools to cut metal, so I fashioned some gears out of cardboard. If you remember the movie, you'll remember seeing lots of machinery inside the mansion where Edward was being "crafted".

Gesso'd some cardboard and used an image of gears from my stash. Cut out with Xacto on a self healing mat.

Aged the gears with black stazon after painting with pewter Lumiere paint. Here I am trying to figure out how to display the dog tags from the gears. Digging through my supplies I found the perfect brads. They have a loop hanging from them, for want of a better description.

Added the tags with jump rings. She can remove them and still wear them whenever she wants.

For the floor, I used a foam checkerboard stamp, black stazon ink and Ranger Distress powder. I must digress here and say that I don't get this embossing powder. I understand after embossing you let it cool, then rub off the crystals, after which a rough texture remains. This does not happen for me. I usually end up rubbing off all the crytals. I guess I'm using the wrong ink? I emboss with stazon all the time and it works well. Comments??Advice??

And now for something completely different! I forgot to recap the Tulip spray and whoops! Well, when life gives you a spill, add it to paper! And so I did!
Couldn't resist adding some scratches and stamps! Now back to the shadow box!
I scanned and altered Deb's photo using Photoshop Elements. I think I posterized and added a sumi filter, but I couldn't say for sure. I edged the photo with black Sharpie. I glued a cardboard fold to the back so the image would stand up in the box.

I printed out "The Story of an uncommonly gentle man" and sliced the edges of the paper. I adhered a scan of the ticket stub and images of Johnny's boots and handprints to the side of the shadow box.
In the above photo you can see the words, ticket, and boot prints.

Here you see the transparency of JD on the cover glass, and the gears glued in.
. Best shot I could get with the glass door closed. Deb is very pleased with it! What more could a girl want? Except for Johnny Depp in the flesh, of course!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing my friends and family a healthy and joyous day!
My favorite Christmas present so far was winning Jillians ACEO on e-bay and having my Special Delivery ATC featured on my arttechniquesatc group's home page.

Friday, December 21, 2007

New Favorite Blog

Home today from work with a migraine and horrible tooth/jaw pain. Turned the light down on my moniter and checking in with my favorite blogs. I want to share a site called Bohemiart by Gothic/Outsider artist, Jillian. Her work is compelling and as she put in my comments "I think we are kindred spirits". I should be so lucky!!! She sells some of her work on e-bay and etsy. As we speak I am hoping to win an ACEO called "broken" selling on e-bay. Wish me luck.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Art and Soul Retreat : Hampton, Va 2008

I'm so looking forward to A & S Virginia 2008. Here are the classes I'm enrolled in:
  • Wednesday - Opening Night Party- woohoo-new friends, trades, Ranger demo, food and wine!
  • Thursday - Opulent Patterns & the Cross Structure Book - Albie Smith
  • Thursday Eve- Beeswax ATC - Barbara Mcguire
  • Friday - Vintage Metal Treasure Deck - Leighanna Light
  • Friday Eve- Mica Cover: Herring-Bone Binding - Daniel Essig
  • Saturday - collapse and regroup
  • Saturday night - Vendor night- buy stuff, lots of stuff
  • Sunday - Bound Art - Albie Smith
  • Sunday Eve - Tin Souls - Kathy Wasilewski
  • Monday - Painterly Portrait Books - Anne Grgich

After typing this up, I realize I am insane!!! I WILL come home a better artist, if I have any brain cells left! There will be the secret thingy to alter, and I've signed up for an all original Fatbook! (Forty 4x4 pages of original art- no photocopies- gasp) There will be lots of trades to make! I haven't decided what I'm making yet. I've already given away most of my moo cards, so I'll have to order more next spring. Can't Wait!!!!!

Here is a photo from Virgina Art and Soul Retreat 2007. "Solving the Composition Cunundrum with Claudine Hellmuth " was one of my favorite classes. I can't say mine is quite solved yet, but is at least more evolved due to Claudine's charm and teaching skills.


These next photos are the house I received to alter from A & S because I was enrolled in two full days of workshops. Last year's theme was At Home with Art and Soul, therefore the house! When I opened the package containing the house, I immediately thought of one of my favorite childhood books, Mandy, written by Julie Edwards. Julie Edwards is really Julie Andrews (Maria) from The Sound of Music! I was delighted to discover that fact as a child. Anyhoo, the story is about an orphan who finds a secret cottage in the woods and makes it her own. Which is exactly what I attempted to do with my little cottage.


Top of house. I found this perfect little bird with metal feet at my local antique store.

There is an ATC adhered with brads, embellished with torn papers, beads, and tiny shells.

Opposite side has script from book printed on transparency, wedged between mica sheets and adhered with brads. Real shells, feather, handmade papers.


Front door handles with red starfish, shells, molding paste, sand, glitter. Roof is a nest from moss with tiny shells glued in. Egg painted and reads "there's no place like home".



Butterfly "orphan" with rose. This is actually a pic of me at 4 years old on Mother's Day, offering my mom a rose set in plaster made in Sunday school. Yes, it still sits on her dresser top. Dress made of tissue with tiny shells and glitter applied. Shells and broken egg shells on roof. Inside I made a bed of moss and placed a tiny heart shaped frame with a picture of my baby daughter in it. I'm a beginner here at altering 3D pieces and am basically pleased with the outcome. This looks a little too "crafty" to me, compared with the other participants work. I'm certainly hoping to improve this time around. The theme for Art and Soul this year is "By the Sea" so I can't imagine what we'll be getting to alter. A seashell, perhaps?Lighthouse?Sailboat?

Please share any classes you are taking next year at A&S, I'd love to meet you and see your art in person!

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Christmas ATC's





I warned you I was feeling naughty, not nice! I've been thinking about a Christmas ATC so I can participate with my arttechniques yahoo group. My goal for next year is to get involved with my group and stop lurking. I have met several nice people via this group already but have not done any swaps. Next year is my year to swap! I really liked the photo of the two Christmas trees I took at Longwood Gardens. The swoopy drapes in the background give the room a vingage look, so that's the feel I went for. I used vintage mailing and canning labels purchased at my favorite local antique store. It's only 10 minutes away, and I always find great stuff. Before I settled on the two labels shown, I was going to use a "tomato" label on one, but it just didn't fit. The dame in Handle with Care is from a collage sheet by Lost Art Creations. The dame in Special Delivery is from ArtChix. I printed out the text using semi-gloss HP photo paper, edged with red and then black ink. Glue stuck it all down, silver embossed the edges and Voila, Finished! I wish my pics were better, the antishake feature needs to be stronger for me, I guess. I can't be still!

Shadow Box Sneak Peak


This project has been one of constant trial and error! I have it all planned out in my head, but in reality it's not going smoothly! First error: painted the box with a black craft paint I had laying around. Poor Quality alert! I'm spoiled by my Goldens! I have been trying the Use What I Have philosophy, which keeps costs down, but I'm up to 3 coats of paint. I have to soft gel between coats or the next coat of paint wipes off the previous. Ok, enough about that. I scanned my sister's playbill. I'm using the top of the playbill, with the date, for the top inside, and the background with just the title. I found an awesome portrait of Johnny Depp with the scissor hands on but not the makeup on his face. I've printed that on a transparency and my plan is to do a soft gel transfer on the glass front. I've lightened it up considerably, going for a ghost image. I've never done a transfer to glass and I'm a little nervous. Before laying down the background image I applied Judikins Microglaze to protect the inkjet copy. I used Semi-gloss HP photo paper. I buffed the Microglaze and had over applied, so there was a lot of buffing going on. When the directions state use sparingly, they are not kidding! I had to do this process twice, the first time I adhered the background with soft gel and it buckled. The second time I adhered it with Yes paste and it looks perfect, no lumps. That's all I have for now on this project. I have to find 3 gears, small, medium and large. I wanted real ones but may have to settle for making them out of cardboard. I don't think I have time to hit the antique/junk stores before Christmas!

Longwood Gardens














My daughter and I spent a lovely Friday evening at Longwood Gardens with my parents and sister, Deb. The only glitch was the horrendous traffic! We arrived with only 2 hours to spend eating, shopping and visiting the Conservatory and the grounds. Somehow we managed it. I added a bird ornament to my collection, it is so adorable with the sprig of holly in it's beak. (top photo-on my tree) I could have done a lot of damage in the giftshop, but only splurged on the $10 ornament. We had a quick but tasty meal in the cafe, and spent most of our time in the Conservatory. They used LED lights on the trees, which were really quite beautiful. My pic does not do it justice! A lot of double begonias in red and white were featured. I love paperwhites, these were used minimally. The pointsetta's were mostly a dusty pinkish color and IMHO were kind of drab looking. The orchid wreath was stunning. The best part of the evening was spending time with my family, of course!
Stay tuned, I'm working on several Christmas ATC's using the photo with the Christmas trees above. Hope to post them tonight. I'm feeling naughty not nice to give a hint..........

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Matchbox after Glossy Accents Dried

Weeeeell, when the glossy accents dried inside the drawer, there was a bit of a "dip" so I filled it up with some metallic flakes. Overall, I'm very pleased with my first attempt at matchbox making. Does anyone want to trade?

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Matchbox Art



Other side with Remains. So the question is~~~What Remains? And the answer is HOPE!


Yes paste glued What after using alcohol ink and black Stazon ink.

Used metal stamps on a strip of copper, for Hope, accented with black Stazon. Added Sepia colored Glossy Accents to Hope and heart. I wanted the heart and Hope to look kind of embedded in the drawer.

For the inside I layed down a piece of vellum with glittery accents. I stitched a brokn heart on one of my satin hearts left over from a fatbook project. (See earlier post for details. Satin hearts from SkyBluePink). Copper inked the edges of the heart. Stippled inks in copper and crimson to matchbox drawer. Painted over with one of my favs, Golden Interference Oxide Violet. Here comes the oops--I realized I forgot to glue down the vellum paper before filling the drawer with Ranger's Glossy Accents. The paper buckled a bit, so I added more to try and even it out. Time will tell!!

More alcohol ink and Stazon of the front of the matchbox.

Added alcohol inks and black Stazon. This is the back of the matchbox.

Glued copper to matchbox using Yes paste glue. My first use of this glue. So far so good. It's holding the seams nicely.
Next step is using the scoring tool enclosed in tool kit from making memories. I scored the backside of the copper because I wanted the impression to be pushed forward on the front. Score on top of a mat in order to insure a good impression with no holes!

My first step was stamping black Stazon Ink on the backside of the copper sheet. The stamp is a Judikins product I purchased on ebay.

I purchased new stamps online from Invoke Arts. The copper foil is from Dick Blick. I can't remember where I got the matchboxes. My arttechniques yahoo group has matchbox art for their December technique. I've never posted any of my work on the site yet, and I've been itching to cover a matchbox with the copper, so the time is right!




Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Birthday Month

I celebrated my 45th birthday with my BFF, Grace, at her home in Pennsylvania. Our last trip out was in August for the Corn Festival. While there I looked in all the booths for a birdfeeder. None caught my eye, as they were all tooooooo "country" for my taste. Well, best friends listen when we talk!! Grace gave me this perfect pottery birdfeeder for my birthday! I love the colors. Inside there is a clear plastic tube to hold the seeds. There is no marking on the bottom and I forgot to ask her where she got it, so I can't offer any info about that. Hanging above it on my tree is one of my favorite ornaments purchased at Longwood Gardens. I also have a topiary pointsetta tree, a golden St. Nick, a basket of yellow flowers, a boysenberry, and a dragonfly glass ornament from thier shop. I stopped buying the live potted rosemary trees, because I always kill them. So now I stick with glass flowers! My family is planning an upcoming trip there for the holidays. The lights and fountains are so beautiful at night. Visiting Longwood gets me in the Christmas Spirit! I have had no time for Art, which is like having no time to breathe, but I have been enjoying perusing my yahoo art groups when I get a moment or two.
P.S. The quilted tree skirt was handcrafted by my very talented Mom.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Ultimate Passion Book











Speaking of Leighanna's class, I thought I would share MY Ultimate Passion Book with you. My favorite techniques taught were cutting out windows in your book and stenciling with gesso. Since this was my last class of the week, I was very drained. I wish I had taken notes! During class I actually accomplished very little, just spent time soaking up info. The photos show the results of working in my home studio. I really want some plastic doilies to call my own. Anyone have a resource for them they are willing to share??? teehee