More Challenges--Gothic Arch, Sunday Postcard, and Collage Obsession...

I was able to get 3 more challenges finished tonight--

This one is for Gothic Arch' Steampunk theme:



And this one is for Sunday Postcard, for the chosen theme of "Twins". Jimmy and Will used to be so close--did everything together until Jimmy lost his heart to Francesca in Vegas...



And finally, an Oriental theme for Collage Obsession:



Had alot of fun working on them--time seems to both fly and go slow when working on an art project--why is that? Now, it's back to work, but I hope to have more time to create on Monday. Thanks for visiting my blog. =)

http://www.collageobsessionchallenge.blogspot.com/

http://gothicarches.blogspot.com/

http://sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com/

4x4 Friday Challenge

This is the first time entering this challenge--the theme for the week was "Crow Lady". The background and crows are from PaperWhimsy and the damsel in undress is from Art-Zine (I think!). The 4x4 Friday blog is here:

http://4x4friday.blogspot.com/

Have a good weekend!

Theme Thursday Challenge

This week's theme is "Girls' so I chose some favorite images from ArtChix again, as well as some cool Eiffel Tower images I got from KeeperOfTheNest on Etsy. This little Parisian angel wears her heart on her stomach instead of her sleeve (hee, more room for it there). I like how the patterned paper shows through the image of the little winged fairy girl. The metal rose fell off a ring I used to wear all the time. Now it has a new home in this collage. =)

Theme Thursday:

http://themethursday.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/thursday-challenge-girls/

KeeperOfTheNest:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/keeperofthenest

Thanks for stopping by today!

3 Muses "Nature" Challenge...

Made this up for the 3 Muses challenge theme of "Nature" this week--used some ArtChix images (our Miss Flapper certainly qualifies for being 'au naturale'--thank god for sequins!), some tiny daisy appliques, a pretty yellow and black bird feather I found one day walking my dog, a paper butterfly from the lawn and garden section of Walmart, and some bits of ribbon and old lace. It all fits into an empty CD case so I can store it on my art shelf and keep it free from dust bunnies. Not that I have any....*cough*... =)

You can find the 3 Muses blog here--
http://thethreemuseschallenge.blogspot.com/

and the ArtChix shoppe here--
http://www.artchixstudio.com/shop/home.php?dir=home

Wishing you a great creative week!

Gothic Arch and Mixed Media Challenges: Carnivale/Masquerade/Mardi Gras

Mixed Media Mondays and Gothic Arch both have Mardi-Gras for their theme this week. I recently made this ATC that I thought might fit the bill. Here it is for the Mixed Media challenge--




And here it is after I added an arch behind it that I colored with q-tips dipped in lime and turquoise pigment ink pads:



You can find Mixed Media Mondays at the following link--

http://mixedmediamonday.wordpress.com/

And the Gothic Arch blog is here--

http://gothicarches.blogspot.com/

Off to get some more creating done--I love days off with nothing to do but artsy stuff, don't you? =)

Tag Tuesday Challenge #39

The tag theme this week at Kard Krazy is "Cutsie", and I was really stumped as to what I would use for something appropriately cute enough to qualify...finally settled on a digital scrapbooking kit that I got recently from ScrapArtist.com with little Kewpie-doll type fairies. I chose one and added some this n' that from my embellishment bin, and there you go--a cute little tag that I can probably use for an Easter basket. Thanks for visiting my blog today. =)

Kard Krazy--

http://www.kardkrazy.blogspot.com/

ScrapArtist.com--

http://www.scrapartist.com/

Three Muses challenge: Postage Stamps

This is the first time entering The Three Muses weekly challenge and I knew it was going to be late (busy week at work), but I finished it late last night anyway just in case anyone was interested in seeing it. Awhile back I saw an ad in the back on one of my home decorating magazines where you send in a dollar and get some stamps. One of those stamps was of Henry O. Tanner, and I chose that stamp to use for my collage after doing a little searching about Monsieur Tanner. Here you can find more about his life and legacy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ossawa_Tanner

And here are some quotes attributed to him:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/henry_ossawa_tanner.html

I chose my favorite for the collage--"I will preach with my brush"--I love that! He found a home in Paris and created some beautiful, thought-provoking works of art. Anyway, hope you enjoy visiting here today--thanks for stopping by. =)

Tag Tuesday: Monogram

Hopefully not too late for this week's challenge theme of using some sort of monogram on a tag...

Altered CD/The Romance of Flowers

Well...this was supposed to be my entry for Mixed-Media Monday's art challenge (see blog here)

http://mixedmediamonday.wordpress.com/

but due to working later today than I'd planned, I missed the boat on that one. So now, after searching a bit, I found a place where this courtly couple can find a new home--for the "Theme Thursdays" blog challenge of "Flowers" instead. How nifty is that? I'm thankful I decided to go ahead and add on those 3 small pale pink buds around the Valentine greeting, because I really debated on leaving them out. Fate is with me apparently (at least this week!). The images are from a LunaGirl CD (here's the store on Ebay)

http://myworld.ebay.com/lunagirl-images/

You can find the "Theme Thursday blog here--

http://themethursday.wordpress.com/

Have a great creative week and thanks for stopping by!

Cute, easy Valentine gift bags

Yes, I realize that Valentine's Day is only about 24 hours away, but if you are pressed for time, or are the Queen (princess/duchess/handmaiden) of Procrastination like I am, these quick, easy-peasy, cute (I think, anyway!) gift bags might do the trick. I whipped these up for friends/co-workers in about an hour tonight--

I used little gift bags I got from Walmart, then filled each with an assortment of Valentine candy. I printed out (ATC-sized it) this lovely freebie image I got from the Art-Zine website:

--which you can find here--

http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/

I cut the image to fit just inside the bag, and touched up the tinted roses with a bit of pink, green and yellow glitter glue. Then I made tags from this pretty little bird image from The Graphics Fairy:

I photo-shopped it a bit to change the "Birthday Greetings" to read "Happy Valentine's Day" instead. I then tied the tag onto the ribbon closure from the bag and voila!--a sweet gift idea. Reaction from said friends/co-workers has been great (they're my best critics, lol).

Here's the link for The Graphics Fairy blog--lots of freebies, inpiration and ideas here:

http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/

I used newsprint wings that I got from this really cool digital scrapbook kit at

ScrapArtist.com--

http://www.scrapartist.com/

Thanks again for stopping by, and have a wonderful Valentine's Day. =)

Collage Obsession Challenge

I found another blog that challenges my creativity--a relatively new one by the talented team of Elegia and Itkupilli--called "Collage Obsession"--

http://www.collageobsessionchallenge.blogspot.com/

They do a weekly challenge on a chosen theme, and generously supply a cool vintage image to use if needed. This week the subject was "Longing", along with this lovely image of actress Marceline Day:



She certainly looks like she's pining away something awful, doesn't she?

For more information on Ms. Day's career, you can read here--

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marceline_Day

The photo reminded me of someone lonely and sad--missing her special someone who was far from her and had been gone for a very long time. She writes to him of her pain and longing:




Thank you for visiting today. =)

Sunday Postcard Art challenge

This is the first time I've entered, and I went for a 'whimsy' slant on this week's theme of "Cats" (wanted something more cheerful after feeling a bit maudlin over poor Elsie and Helen). I chose images from Land of Nod--3 cute kitties were my 'Muse" this week.

Sunday Postcard Art blog:

http://sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com/

Thanks for stopping by! =)

New Gothic Arch theme....

The theme this week was "Crackled"--something old, cracked and faded. I recently tried a new technique I'd found in one of my Stampington magazines where you stamp on top of Ranger Crackle paint, and so I used one of those pieces I'd attempted. It looks to me like an old photo that has been glued onto a board, and then charred. Perhaps, Elsie finds this picture after Helen dies in a tragic fire and saves the memory of her life-long dear friend and sister, to cherish and place in a little keepsake box under her bed...

You can find the Gothic Arch blog here:

http://gothicarches.blogspot.com/

Tuesday Tag Challenge

Yay! I found another challenge at the Kard Krazy blog:

http://www.kardkrazy.blogspot.com/

Louise offers a weekly tag challenge and this week's theme was "A touch of red". I am just barely getting it under the wire, as I found the challenge a bit late, then hemmed and hawed until I came up with an idea. Of course, once I tried that idea, and found it didn't come out like it was in my head (how many times does that happen to you??), I had to come up with another one. Thank heavens for old issues of Marie Claire magazine--lots of inspiration in those pages. And I just had to use my all-time-favorite stamp from Zettiology too. I kind of like the end result (but what do I know, lol)--


Thanks for stopping by. =)

Gothic Arch Weekly Challenge

As I searched the internet for ideas and inspiration the other night, I stumbled upon this blog--

http://gothicarches.blogspot.com/

--where you are offered a weekly art challenge to do with a theme in some sort of gothic arch-shape. This week's challenge theme is "Correspondence". Just the impetus I needed to get those creative juices flowing! I dug through boxes, drawers and files for various collage papers, saved images, bits and doo-dads until I had the perfect mix of what I wanted it to look like:

It didn't scan very well, but you get the idea. I used images from TheGraphicsFairy, PaperWhimsy, and KeeperOfTheNest on Etsy--and had alot of fun creating! I'm looking forward to future challenges. =)