dragonflydays

In preparation for Linda Ledbetter's Compendium of Curiosities Vol 3 Challenge, I'm back to hittin' the blog site.  Never was much of a blogger, but I have to have some place to share pics of my challenge pieces.  Who knows...maybe this time writing on my blog will take!

I am doing something that I have never done before. I am actually submitting a piece of my art to an artists challenge.  I procrastinated and left it until almost the very last day, but I pulled it together even though I am 4000 miles away from home (and all my craft supplies) and I finished it! The challenge was to use Tim Holtz' tattered florals die...it was that simple...make something using the die.  I decided that my project would be to use the die on recyclables.  I chose two different Teavana tea packages, a Kleenex box, and an aluminum soda can. I used buttons for the centers and placed them on a recycled styrofoam ring covered with recycled ribbon. So here, for your viewing pleasure is my first ever completed challenge!

For 23 years I had a career that allowed me to live without having to worry about money.  I raised my kids as a single mother, provided all necessities and most non-essentials (don't let them tell you that I was always buying plants and compost instead of food...). Since I retired last December, my income reduced by 2/3rds.  That is a significant decrease especially for someone who wants to pick and choose when or whether she works. One thing this reduction in income has showed me is that I can be really creative when it comes to funding non-essential purchases.  For instance, my friend's birthday is coming soon and I would normally go out and drop a wad of money on something that she probably wouldn't use very often.  Instead, I'm putting together a myriad of gifts gathered and made which will cost me next to nothing. A good place to start is with all those boxes of nick nacks that everyone has stashed away somewhere.  I have two large eaves in the upstai...

Amazing blogger Centsational Girl issued a challenge...link up a blog on my favorite souvenir.  I'm glad for the challenge as I've been remiss in posting lately. At first I thought I would submit a photo collage of my trips; however, I've never bothered to put them into any organized format.  100s (really 1000s, 3965 to be exact) of photos reside on my iPad, iTouch, HP desktop, 4 external hard drives, and numerous SD cards.  The job now seems so overwhelming that I think I will leave it for my children to handle after they ship me off to the seniors' home. I do have one all-time favorite souvenir that I can submit.  It is a tattoo of a thistle that I got while visiting Scotland in honor of my 50th birthday.  This was a fabulous 14-day trip that my daughter, Brooke, and I took to celebrate this milestone.  I have over 400 photos from this trip alone....residing in all the various places.  But, with no further ado, I present MY THISTLE TATTOO (and my...

As I usually do, I got behind in my coursework and am only now finishing up this amazing class.  Thank goodness it is online and I won't get docked on my final grade for being late! I spent the last 3 days finishing up projects from days 6-10.  It has been a very enjoyable time and now I will share photos of the 'fruits' of my labor. Day 6: Watercolor with Distress Markers Today was more of a technique day than a project day.  I explored different ways of adding color using Distress Markers, different papers, and wet/dry methods. Day 7: Embossing Basics.  These projects all include using embossing powders as either a resist (adding a layer that remains the original color regardless of how many layers you add over it) or for dimension on a project. Composite I screwed up the card but I think I recovered beautifully! Batik Technique Enamel Technique Distress Powder Resist Technique Day 8: Paint Dabbers and Crackle Paint.  Lov...

This online course is 10 days long and I've just completed Day 5.  The techniques from Day 5 are beautiful and I can't wait to get started on some cards and collages that I hope to actually frame.  I'm learning techniques that produce items that are worth to be given as gifts and every once in a while, something happens that I think would sell.  I'm not looking to become a mass producer of cards and whatnot, but if I have an outlet I certainly have added some tricks to my repertoire.  So, on to the reveal! Stained Kraft Resist technique This technique uses Tim Holtz' Kraft paper which is covered with a varnish in places. The varnished areas will resist add color (water based) so I can saturate the page, wipe away excess, and the varnished areas will come back through. Stamping with Stains technique I have a new favorite tool called Picket Fence. It is a heavily pigmented white stain that dries to look like white wash.  It adds a bit of Oomph to a piece....

So today's entry will have two projects instead of three.  One issue I have with this course, is that we were given a supply list and a suggested supply list from which I purchased my, well, supplies.  However, there have been a couple of projects which relied on items that were not on either list.  I tried to make do, but today's third project (making a custom stamp pad out of specialty felt) was impossible to fudge on.  I have so many stamp pads that it doesn't make sense to go out and buy the felt for one project. So, here are today's projects.  The first one used waterbrushes (plastic tubes filled with water that have brushes on the end) to watercolor stamped images with re-inker.  For those who do not know, a re-inker is a very concentrated form of ink used to renew a stamp pad.  I only have two re-inkers so I took a little license and used my markers to add highlights.  I really like this technique and the look I achieved! Watercolor...