Mix-Ability challenge - Faces

 This week's Mix-Ability challenge was to include a face on our projects - here's my piece - this is a 5" x 6" piece of matboard that I had left over from the pieces I use to back my art prints.

I have a collection of canvas panels, matboard, tags and wood pieces at the side of my desk - they receive my extra paint when I am working on other projects, and that is how I build up backgrounds with random colors in preparation for new projects. It's a lot of fun, and they're just ready there for me to grab when I actually have time and brain space to do original artwork. 

This is a piece of matboard that had some teal, silver and grey watercolor and acrylic splotches on it - I sketched onto the board with pencil and then pen, colored in with some colored pencil, and then fingerpainted with some white acrylic to add highlights and cover a few dark areas. The background was stamped with some hand carved stamps, vintage stamps, and collage stamps I keep handy. 

The sentiment is from my line of stamps at Impression Obsession, and that butterfly is from Jim Stephan.

 I think I'll add this piece to my Etsy store - I'd love to sell more original artwork there!

Daily Window Bag Contest!!

Have you been looking for a portable way to display your artwork, scrapbooking, or photos? 

Are you ready for a chance to win a Daily Window Bag like this?

Maybe even some spending cash?!

 Daily Window Bags has generously organized a contest where you'll create a sample card that would fit in their customizable bags. It's so easy to enter, and the prizes are amazing:

The 1st place winner will receive:
a Daily Window Bag of their choice and $100 cash.

Seven other winners will receive:
a Daily Window Bag of their choice.

Here's what you need to do: Create a card with a seasonal theme! Any season will do. 

1. Make your card base 5-3/8" x 7-7/8". This will fit perfectly in your new Daily Window Bag if you win!!

2. Please use rubber stamps to personalize your entry, and keep in mind that all entries will be judged based on uniqueness and creativity. We want to see cards that express who you are, while following the theme of the challenge.

3. Email your entry to ontrack@dailywindow.com by November 30th, 11:59 EST. Please photgraph your entry against a solid background (black is preferred), and make sure your photos have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

4. Participants agree to allow their entries to be used in advertising and promotional materials, on the DWB blog and other websites. Some entries may be requested as physical samples for trade shows and conventions. Artists will always be credited for their work.

 Here's the newest piece I created for my bag - it was done with acrylic paints and stamps from Sheena Douglass, Jim Stephan, and Impression Obsession.

You have plenty of time to come up with the perfect entry - and if you win, you'll be able to tuck it right into the pocket of your new bag! Come play along!

Oh well..............

My card didn't win the AMRSC contest....sigh.....guess there's always next month! I always like challenging myself...winning free stamping stuff is nice too, especially since I'm living in a stamping wasteland (though I am surviving with the things I brought with me and the basics I've been able to find here)! Here are the entries w/ instructions...mine is listed 2nd after the winner, not sure if that is significant or not!

Marcie, this one is on it's way to ya today! Trish, yours is going out too! Congrats, girls!

Happy birthday to me!

Here's the card I made for myself - I don't think I've ever done that before...! Sort of fun to get a card that I reeeeeealllllllly like!

The big tiger swallowtail stamp is from www.jimstephan.net - it's not on one of the full sheets on the website though - I had ordered a sheet of butterfly images from him then got the print catalog, turned slap around and ordered this big guy. Wow. Anyway, stamped the butterfly in black dye ink on white cardstock. I made a mask and put it over the butterfly, then stippled like crazy, starting with black, then a chocolate brown, to a reddish brown. I left the mask on and stamped the burlap backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms over the top in the reddish brown - sort of hard to see. Sponged the edges in dark brown, too. What card would be complete............?!!! LOL

I've been drooling over those Rhonna Farrer flourish and swirl stamps, and I wanted something sort of flourishy in the corner, but I don't have anything - I do have this little set of leaf stamps from Impression Obsession, though, so I repeated one of those in the corner and under the transparent layer.

That transparent layer was inspired by JulieHRR of SCS, but I bet she never used what I used...it's actually a piece of the packaging from a CD case we bought the other day. It's pretty heavy flexible plastic, and I couldn't bear to through it away....! The 'happy birthday' is another from Impression Obsession (they had a dollar sale last year) which I stamped in StazOn ink. Can't remember where I got the brads from - they're like an antique copper.

On to the blog candy - I have a blue version of this card that I can't post here because I want to enter it in a contest.......and.......2 butterflies and 2 dragonflies all from Jim Stephan. And, just for fun, and second prize since it's my birthday - a set of 3 little cutie birdies and a "Happy Birdday!" saying from My Heart Stamps for You! I'll throw a card in using that set too - I made it in my head yesterday, just didn't get it out on paper yet. :) Post a comment here, and I'll draw a name on Saturday at noon here, which would correspond to midnight-ish in the States.

Go!

Decorations

I'm waiting for dinner to get done and my husband and son are having a Lord of the Rings (extended version) trilogy marathon, so.......here are some stamped creations on my Christmas tree!

I made this one a couple of years ago. It's done with Creative Paper Clay - I shaped and stamped into it then let it airdry (that's what's nice about CPC - you don't have to bake it, so you don't have to worry about it warping with the heat of the oven). After it was dry I painted it with acrylic paints, then wiped the whole thing with gel wood stain. That stays in the grooves, and gives it the antique look.

The second ornament is a thin piece of clear acrylic plastic. I stamped it from the back with StazOn ink, then colored in with a couple of coats of acrylic paint. After the ink was dry, I put on 1 or 2 (can't remember now) layers of tissue paper, applied with Future Floor Finish. I think I mixed in a little pearlescent mica powder too. The edges are covered with copper foiling tape, which you can usually find at craft stores with the stained glass supplies. That is a glow-in-the-dark star bead on top.

Number 3 is a salt clay ornament - I made these with my daughter and her friends for her birthday party craft. I painted them with white acrylic paint, and they got all crackly, which I thought was kind of cool. :) The butterfly is from www.jimstephan.net, and I colored him with Fabrico markers. The edge is done with Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink, and the little 'friend' is a piece of a TAC stamp.