Foiled again

I keep looking at all these ideas on Pintrest and thinking: "Wow, that's cool, I think I could do that."  Then I move on to the next "Pin".  Well While hubby was working an off duty gig, I decided to play with his foil tape we used on the duct for our kitchen vent.  I combined a few of the ideas and this is what I came up with.

I put foil tape on card stock and ran it through my Cuttlebug with this cool design, then I used alcohol inks to color it.  I used the different angles of the pictures because I wasn't sure which I liked better.  I think now that I have a bit of a grasp on the concept I might do better next time.  For instance overlapping the tape would be better because you can see the line where I just tried to meet the two edges up, but where I overlapped it you can't even tell thanks to the pressure it was under in the Cuttlebug. 
 

Playing with my Cuttlebug

I watched a video for "Stamp2Cut" by Tim Holtz and was intrigued by the way you can cut out stamped images.  It looked somewhat complicated though, not to mention I already have a Cricut machine that I barely use.  I was shopping on-line (dangerous for me) and came across something that was similar to the "Stamp2Cut".   It is made for the Sizzix machine but I don't have that either, so I use my Cuttlebug and it works just fine. 

Here is the set I purchased.  It was not complicated at all to use.  When I watched the video on the Stamp2Cut I thought it looked like a lot of work.  This process may not be as intricate but the result was still pretty impressive, especially since I can use what I already have. 

I stamped the image on white card stock and put the die around it and ran it through my Cuttlebug.  When it came out I colored one with distress markers and the other with colored pencils.  I wasn't really sure what to color as hair or bows in the first lady and so with the second images I left a lot of what looked like feathers plain.  Actually I colored it with grey and white but you can't really tell in these photos.  We had a really overcast day when I took these so the flash was used, which doesn't work as well as sunlight. I think these would look good on a card, not really sure what I am gonna do with them.  There is a lot of white space around the image but that doesn't really bother me that much, I am thinking I may ink the edges.  Like I said with the Stamp2cut it's a more intricate cut, you don't have the white around the edges, but for the price this was a good alternative for me.

Art Journal entries

I have been busy doing backgrounds for my art journal but it seems that's about as far as I get.  The backgrounds easy but then I get stuck with what to do next.  Some backgrounds I hate to cover up so they just sit there.  I have been drawing  here and there as well.  I started coloring in my pencil drawings and my husband was quite impressed with me.  He has always said our kids  got their artistic ability from him.  I had to remind him that my father was quite artistic himself. 

I had some ideas that I wanted to illistrate about "making a splash" but my printer wasn't working so I decided to draw (kinda) what I was thinking.  That sat for some time just like it is in the photo.  I was thinking of coloring it with my water color pencils, but I don't have a wide variety of colors, so I went through my kids stock pile of colored pencils from their old school supplies.  I think I have about 5 pounds of pencils.  I have three kids, and each year they had to have colored pencils.  Every time I said use the ones from the past year they supprisingly couldn't find them.  Well I found ALL of them.  That's three kids times four years each of new pencils, that is a lot of pencils.  Any way I went back through one bag and came up with a wide range of colors and colored the above picture.  Now my son wants to take the pencils I so carefully selected and re-sharpened, and color some of his drawings.  I think I need to hide them.

Here is the end result.

The next few photos are random drawings and backgrounds I worked on.

The lower right hand corner is where I first drew my "make a splash" drawing on a small scale.

I know the drawings need color and I will eventually get to it but I wanted to post them incase I mess them up before I get to coloring them.

These backgrounds were done using spray inks, stencils, stamps, black and white gesso. I outlined some of the images with a white and black pen.

This last image isn't mine.  My son was doodling in church.  He is quite talented, just look at that Christmas tree, lol.

Washi Tape

I have been stockpiling  washi tape for a while now and use it when ever I can.  I just think it is so pretty and fun.  I decided to make a journal page of just washi tape.  It may be boring to some but I really enjoy looking at it.

I might even do another page of it so I can use it as a background for something else.

Playful Fairies

Art Journal pages have become a favorite past time for me.  Somewhat therapeutic as well. Here is one I worked on over several days.  It isn't finished yet because I want to put words on it but I am not sure what yet, and so it sits.

I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I do.

Wet, wash, repeat

I was working on an art journal page that I was really enjoying.  It was turning out the way I had envisioned it, and I took a picture of it before I continued.  Well...... I tried to write something on it and that's when it turned ugly.  I couldn't salvage it at all, I mean it turned to mud, so I threw it out. I am so glad that I took a picture of it before I ruined it.  I started over but was having a difficult time getting the desired result.  I was trying to copy the original and it wasn't going well.  When I finally finished I think the idea will come across but still not entirely pleased with the end result. 

Here was the first one that I really liked.  Explanation of the three rings to come....

So here is the finished product.  As you can see the rings are in different places now.  I wish I would have put the "B" in there where I put 'Cause.  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to fit all the words in.  Now the explanation of the rings.  My sister and I love to chat over a cup of coffee and do crafts together.  So the big rings represent me and her.  The faded ring at the bottom represents our other sister, Beth.  She died about 30 years ago and is never far from out thoughts.  This is dedicated to my sisters, Anne and Beth. 

Learning Curve

Another attempt at an art journal page.  We shall see how this journey goes for me.  I am trying new techniques on this black paper.  I tried to use pens that said "Stands Out on Dark surfaces!"  It should then say: NOT!!!  I had several different types of pens to try so I am glad that some of them worked.  I don't know if it was the type of paper I used or not.  I will try them again on different dark paper and see how it goes.  The ones that worked well, were "Reminisce" gel pens and "American Craft" metalic marker.  The flowers I did with metalic gelatos and a stencil.

The large flower in the circle I did using "dylusions ink"  and the gesso technique I did in my previous post.

Art journal

Well it's a start.  I have "finished" my first art journal page and I can't say I am really that happy with it.  Oh well, just like everything else practice makes perfect. I have some that I've started and then I don't know what else to do with them.  I have been on Pintrest getting ideas but then I sit down with my supplies and my brain freezes.  I've even read tons of prompts and things to get you started.  I have been able to get started but then I stall, get frustrated and walk around in circles (literally).  So here is what I have so far.  I will start with the stalled page first.

I started this by putting different templates on this black page and spraying them with Dylusions ink.  I then took other templates and used gesso to add them hoping the colors would come through from the first design.  It worked with the large circle but not very well with the others.  I took my brush and painted gesso on some other areas and you can see the pink circles that bleed through.  This was what I was going for.  I will know better next time to stick with solid or less detailed stencils to get the result I want.  Since I wasn't really happy with how this went I just "played".

So here is my "finished" page. 

 Oops I spelled Rhyme wrong..Spelling was never my strong suit.

Dreaming of a new kitchen

I am going to post something I think is really fun.  We have been shopping for tile for our kids bathroom and when we went in one store we were overwhelmed by the selection.  We quickly found what we wanted (compared to the other stores we went to, this store was like comparing FAO Schwarz to Toys R Us).  We thought we would look around at some of the new products that are out and dream about fixing up our 70's home.  I had to post this backsplash tile that I am now obsessed over.  I thought it was "FUN" and different.  Who knows what will be out when we finally have money to re-do our kitchen.  But in the mean time I can look at this picture and imagine it in my kitchen.  Maybe I should print a bunch of pictures of it and paste them to my wall.  Just kidding.

We stopped by a granite place to so we could continue to torture ourselves and found a slab that we really liked. 

As you can see it looks a bit different.  The top two pictures are taken of a slab in the shade and the last picture was taken in direct sunlight.  The finish is called leather.  It is really cool.  The guy showed us a slab of the same material but with a high gloss finish and it was so different from this.  Some day...

Doddles

 I am not good at this blogging thing.  I guess I need more practice.  My daughter was suppose to come over and help me spruce up my blog but she has been too busy for her dear old mother.  So I have been spending some time doodling and was told I needed to post what I have done. I have also tried my hand at "She Art" and have one to post here.

 

The flames were a contribution from my son (thanks Luke)

 Background I did with gesso and acrylic paint.  Then I laid a paper towel over it and pressed the pattern into the paint.  I think it came out pretty cool.  I will try to remember to post the finished product later.

Here is my "She Art."

Wedding card

Here is a card I've been working on for my niece's wedding.  I found the idea on the net here- HERE.  I really thought it was cute, soooooo.....

Here is the front.

And here is the inside.

Her wedding color is emerald.  To create the "towel bar" I used white paper that I put silver embossing powder on and then used small silver brads.  The lettering is from a graphics sheet of rub on's.

Now I just have to figure out what to write on the inside.

Grandma's brag book

I finally finished the other album I did for my sister and here are the pictures.  I won't explain frame by frame because it is similar to the other album I did with all the pockets and tags. I welcome questions and comments.  I hope you enjoy it.

In this picture I am showing you the "door knob" to the book.  I attached the elastic ribbon to the back and it stretches around the glass door knob to hold the book together.  The last photo shows the back of the book where the ribbon is attached.