Hello from sunny Arizona!  I'm so happy that you've come to my blog.  I've been doing a different type of collage lately.  I've taken several classes by Cathy Bluteau.  Her website is Cathyb.typepad.com.  I've been making some cute house collages.  I've had such a blast doing them.  It enables me to try something different.  It's important as an artist to always try new challenges.  I try to never say that I can't do something, or that it's too hard.  I've learned that although I may not know how to do something, usually I can find a class or instructions on line, then all I need to do is to try and teach myself a new procedure.  Then I just keep practicing, practicing, and finally more practicing.  As they say, practice makes perfect.  So never say never!  Try new things!  You'll be surprised!

Well enough of the pep talk and let's get down to sharing.  I made this collage with paper made by The Paper Studio, available at Hobby Lobby.  Almost all of this collage is made with paper only.  This would be a very inexpensive collage to complete.  When I took this picture the collage was bent a little.  Not sure if you can tell, but that was a technical error.  I hope you like this collage.  Please let me know what you all think.  Happy crafting!!!

 

My goodness it's been a long time.  Still experiencing computer issues, and can't quite afford a new one, so trying to make do with what I have.  I've told all of you before that once a year I enter a city wide art show.  I've done it for the last 4-5 years.  This year I entered three pieces.  One of my pieces won first prize in the collage category!!!!  So exciting!!!!!  I thought I'd share my winning piece with all of you.  Hopefully I can show you my other entries in another blog post, just keep your fingers crossed that my computer will allow me to do that.

This piece is 11x14.  I collaged the paper onto watercolor paper.  The paper is made by Anna Griffin that I got at HSN.  The girls are from a coloring book for children that I picked up at Aaron Brothers.  Their clothes are cut from My Minds Eye paper.  Some of the embellishments are from Recollections.  I'm not sure if you can tell, but this piece has a lot of dimension to it.  A lot of the pieces have been lifted up with the help of foam dots.  I hope you all enjoy this piece.  I was so thrilled and honored to have won first prize. Since I have a lot of health issues, I'm home in bed a lot, so it makes it a great thrill to be able to share my creations with all of you!  Thanks for checking in on me!  Happy crafting!!!!

How's everyone doing today?  I'm doing good, still suffering from a sore arm, trying not to craft, but that's like telling me not to breathe.  I've got my annual art show coming up in September, and I need to get busy creating my submissions.  Can't wait.

Today I thought I'd show all of you the cute sewing spools I made from paper towel tubes, and aluminum foil tubes.  I've used my favorite paper by My Mind's Eye.  You may have seen it on a few other things I've shared.  In fact I think my last blog post showed a card using the same paper.  I've used some small decorative buttons made by Jesse James.  The photos are of my Grandfather, Grandmother, and my mom as a little girl.  I just love being able to use my own family photos.  I used flowers by Recollections, seam binding by Tim Holtz, and the large quilled butterfly is by Martha Stewart.  I hope you all enjoy my latest project, and I wish all of you happy crafting.!!!

Hey Everyone!  Hello from a hot and soggy Arizona!  We've been getting some rain lately and our humidity is sky high!  Not fun if you don't have air conditioning!  I don't, ask you might have guessed.  I've survived the hot summers with a swamp cooler.  It just doesn't work with humidity.  Looking forward to the end of monsoons.

I'm sharing a cute card that I made using a template from Hot Off The Press.  It's a plastic 12x12 template that you use to cut out the card shape.  It's a lot cheaper than a die cut, it's a little old school, but so am I.  As usual I'm once again using stamps by Prima that was created by Julie Nutting.  The paper that I used is by My Minds Eye.  It's my all time favorite paper, and you'll probably see it a lot.  I colored in the young lady with alcohol markers.  Here is the card I made:

I hope you all stay cool for the next few weeks.  I know I'm looking forward to some cooler, dryer weather!  Happy Crafting!!!!!

Hot Summer Days!

Hope your all doing well.  I'm doing pretty good except that I pulled a muscle in my right arm and it's taking a long time to heal.  I seem to get better than I do something simple and I've injured it all over again.  Of course that's my crafting arm.  Which means I've had to slow down on my projects for now.  Hopefully it will get better soon so I can start more projects.

I thought I'd share a really cute project that I made recently.  As most of you know I'm a huge fan of Prima's Julie Nutting paper doll stamps.  I seem to use these a lot in my crafting projects.  Todays example is so freaking cute!  Sorry, I'm a little bias.  Hope you enjoy it! 

 

 

 

Not sure if you can tell, but I used Tim Holt's crackle over the brown ink on the door.  It's a subtle look, but really makes the door a little more authenticate.  I found the door in the wood section at Michael's.  The bird is by Martha Stewart.  The large flower is by the Paper Studio, and the small flowers are by Recollections. 

 

 

I hope you all enjoy this project as much as I enjoy sharing it with all of you.  I'm so honored to be able to share it with you guys, because as a person who suffers from chronic pain, which can make me isolated, I don't get to share my art with many people.   I hope you all know how much it means to me to be able to share my art with all of you guys.  Even if it's only one person who see this blog, it really means the world to me.  Thank you all for checking in with me.  Happy crafting!!!!

Computer Issues

It seems lately that I've been plagued with one computer issue after another.  So very frustrating!  Thank you everyone for being so patient with my infrequent blogging.  Hopefully I'll get this all taken care of soon.

I just found out today that I didn't win the Michael's trip to Paris.  Oh well.  I'm still glad that I entered.  The person who won did a beautiful painting of her daughter seeing Paris for the first time.  A lot of people were upset because she is a professional artist.  I understand their feelings, but unfortunately Michael's didn't have any separate entries for professional or amateur crafters.  They really should have.  Hopefully they will learn from their mistakes, and do better in their future contests.

Lately I've been in bed quite a bit with my pain issues, and that makes it hard to get crafting done as much as I'd like.  A few things I did accomplish was a couple of cards that I created using some cardmaking kits that are made by Anna Griffin, and distributed by HSN.  I love anything Anna Griffin, and HSN is the best place to find her items at a really reasonable price.  Just about everything is included in the kits except the glue.  You should check out HSN when they have crafting on.  Last week they had on 24 hours of crafting items.  Good for me, not good for my wallet!  These are a few of the cards I made with the Anna Griffin kits:

The inside of the card above:

The inside of the above card:

As you can all see these are beautiful cards.  I love the pop ups!  As I said everything is included in these kits.  All you need is a little imagination of where to place the items, and the possibilities are endless.  Give it a try!  Happy crafting!

 

Back online!

Wow, time flies when you don't have access to the internet.  My modem died on me, and it was a good excuse to upgrade our access.  Finally able to get back on the web.  I've missed blogging, and I've especially missed Pinterest.  Yes, I'm addicted to Pinterest!  I know there are lots of you who can relate.

I recently participated in a contest through Michael's craft store called Springtime in Paris.  I submitted the following collage in hopes of winning.  Wish me luck!  This is a picture of the outside of the box that looks like a book:

I made the flower embellishment using a die cut by Brenda Walton for Sizzix.  The paper doll is a rubber stamp by Julie Nutting for Prima.  I hope you all know by now how much I love these paper dolls.  Their so beautiful!  This is the inside: 

I spray painted the table blue, and used doilies for the awning.  Did you notice how cute the purses are?  Their Jesse James buttons that I cut the shanks off of.  I love the balloons made by Recollections!

The framed picture is just a sticker with a frame mounted on top of it.  I added stickles by Ranger to the Eiffel tower to help it pop out a little.  It's hard to tell, but the sparkle is just so darned cute!  I hope you all love this collage as much as I do!  Sometimes it's hard to be objective.  I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed, and who knows, I just might win a trip to Paris!  Happy crafting!

Warm & Sunny Hello!

I hope all is going well with everyone!  Hopefully your not suffering the effects of all the cold weather.  Sorry to tell some of you that I'm in sunny Arizona, and it's been beautiful here.  Highs in the upper 70's!  I know you don't want to hear any of that, but just think, that in the summer I'll be complaining how miserable and hot it is here.  There's always a good to the bad.

I wanted to share a quick card that I made awhile ago.  I really need to spend the day photographing all my new creations.  I've been a busy girl!  This is a fast card that I made with a premade card blank that I found at Michaels.

I just rubber stamped the flower onto card stock and colored it in with some markers, then cut it out leaving a white edge.  Then I glued down the three flowers in the corner, and that was it!  This might take about twenty minutes to complete.  I love starting with the black background.  I've started to do this with my art journaling pages as well.  It just makes all the colors pop!  I hope you all have some time for yourselves to enjoy making art, and give black a chance for your base.  You'll be surprised at how much you love it.    Happy crafting!!!!

Hope you all are doing well to stick to your New Year's resolutions.  I'm going to try and keep mine.  I've decided to try and get more of my work published, (I made this same resolution last year, but I really mean it this year)!   It's always hard to submit designs.  It just seems like you pour your heart into your pieces, and then hold your breath until you know you've been accepted by someone else.  Like Sally Field said at the Oscars years ago, "They like me, they really like me".  Were all just little kids inside trying to feel accepted.  Wish me luck, and I'll be sure to share all my upcoming results with all of you.

A couple posts back I shared with you guys my winners at the city wide art competition that I entered and won first, second  and third prize. You've seen my first and second prize winners, and today I thought I'd finally share the third prize winner.  I think it's one of my favorites, and here it is:

Isn't she beautiful!!  I ended up making another one just like her!  Here are some other viewpoints  of this piece.  

I hope you all enjoyed my lovely mermaid piece.  I know I love sharing all my pieces with all of you!  Have a great day and happy crafting!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Hope you all had a fantastic New Year!!!  I certainly did.  It was a little crazy since I make my own Christmas cards.  Every year I tell myself that I won't overwhelm myself, but for some crazy reason I always do.  I made over 40 cards, and I was frantically working right up till Christmas.  Next post I'll share a picture of the finished card.

Today I thought I'd share a card that I made for my beautiful granddaughter.  She turned 5 this year and like all young girls she's really into the movie frozen.  I used a template from Hot Off the Press, to make the stepper card.  This looks really complicated, but really is very easy to do.

The paper is from Tim Holtz.  I purchased the snow globes from Michael's, I love the fact that the card stands up, so she can put it on her dresser.  I hope you all enjoy this card, and sorry about the picture, I took it in the car on the way to the post office.  Talk about  a procrastinator!  Have a great New Year, and take the time to be crafty!  Happy crafting everyone!!!!