Thank you Lunagirl.com

I was so excited to learn that my tag won the challenge at the LunagirlMoonbeams.com blog!!! Thank you Karen for the $15.00 shopping spree! It was so hard choosing which images to add because they are all gorgeous! I also love the new aqua badges!

Tag Tuesday Blogger - Weekly Challenge "In The Style of"

I am so excited to announce that I have been added to the Tag Tuesday Blog and will now be posting to their weekly challenges. I want to thank Carolyn Saxby for adding me to this wonderful blog!!!

This week's challenge is to create something "In The Style Of" your favorite artist or crafter. I have always admired the creations of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Their paintings are always rich in color and the expressions are so lifelike. The picture of the painting I chose is from Dante Gabriel Rossetti, one of the original three members of the Brotherhood. Make sure to stop by the Tag Tuesday Blog to look at all the beautiful tags that have been created.

Thank you for stopping by!!!

  

Tag on Tag - Tag Tuesday Challenge

I'm very happy that this week I was able to play along with the Tag Tuesday Blog. It's been quite a while since I joined in the fun and I'm glad to submit a tag for their Tag on Tag Challenge.

I really like the way this tag turned out! The larger tag has been painted with acrylic paint and has a layer of texture paste created with a stencil. Once the paste dried, I spritzed it with blue Tattered Angels mist. The smaller tag also has a stenciled background and has two stamped leaves. While looking through my stash of images, the bird jumped right out at me because the swirls on the large tag remind me of clouds. It is a transferred image and my favorite part is that it is transparent allowing you to see the beautiful background. I hope you like this tag as much as I do. Thank you for stopping by! :)

  

The Cheerful Stamp Pad - Purple and Yellow Challenge

The Cheerful Stamp Pad is hosting challenge #72, Purple and Yellow theme this week. I wanted to create something that was not a tag or card. What I came up with is a miniature canvas and it measures 2" W x 4" L. The canvas was painted with a vibrant purple color, unfortunately, the color that is shown in the pictures is not as bright as it is in person. The picture of the yellow bird is a vintage image, a strip of yellow burlap is on the left side with some embellishments.

I really hope you like it and thank you for stopping by!!! :)

Nicie

 

Shabby Chic Article in Unruly PaperArts Blogozine

Take a peek at my new article in Unruly PaperArts Blogozine. Hope you enjoy the read and the Shabby Chic projects!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Unruly PaperArts - Flowers: Nature, Paper or Both

My latest column is ready for your reading pleasure!!! Stop by Unruly PaperArts to see what's new and let me know what you think. Enjoy!!! :)

ATC Decorated withTattered Flowers & Swirls

I'm not really sure why, but I really enjoyed making this canvas board. Why this particular board? I'm guessing that after using the Gelli Plate, I was truly inspired to create something with layers using several paint colors.

I layered opaque and metallic Lumiere paints, alternating between colors. I was also anxious to try out my new Hero Arts Swirl Stamp, boy, I'm glad I purchased it - it's beautiful!!!!! There is an ATC in the middle that has been stamped and decorated with Dresden, it sits on a piece of card stock with decorative corners. There are pieces of coffee filter that have been inked and stamped with swirls and text. There's a small piece of cheese cloth behind the Tim Holtz's Tattered Flowers and the pin has a blue-green crystal. The ribbon used to hang it up has been painted with the metallic Lumiere paint and has the same small swirl stamp as the coffee filters.

I am super excited because this is the first time that I am able to submit a project to more than 2 challenges -- YEY!!! I'm entering this 5 x 7 canvas board to the following challenges:

• Unruly Paper Arts Request for Art #2: Add An ATC
• Tim Holtz - Tattered Floral Challenge 
• Fashionable Stamping Challenge #43: Swirls
• Simon Says Stamp and Show: Chic to be Shabby

Well, I hope I haven't bored you with all my "jibber-jabber" [can you tell that "The Big Bang Theory" is one of my favorites shows? :)]. Thank you for stopping by and leaving your comments!!! :)

Birds of a Feather...

This is my first submission to the Artistic Outpost Referral Program. This month's Referral Program is Anything Goes and the winner will receive an Artistic Outpost Prize Package!

When I saw this bird, I knew that I wanted to add him to some kind of wall hanging and decided to use chipboard. First, I painted the background with a mustard acrylic paint then added a few layers by using strips of dictionary pages, then a few pieces of tissue paper. The quote at the top left corner is stamped with black ink on tissue paper and the quote on the bottom left hand corner was stamped on a piece of muslin. I wanted to simulate what I imagined a bird would use in nature to create its nest, so for the embellishments I used feathers, small tree branches, a small piece of bark, piece of cheesecloth and a maple seed. Not sure if that's accurate, but that's what I imagined. :)  All the buttons used are Mother of Pearl. The plain ivory are vintage but the smaller ones with the yellow flowers are new. A piece of muslin was tied at the top in order to allow you to hang the wall decoration. The bird was stamped on watercolor paper and painted with Distress Inks using water brushes. I added a bit of Distress Stickles to give it some sparkle.

I am also going to submit this project to Fashionable Stamping Challenges. This is Challenge #41 and the theme Birds. The winner at Fashionable Stamping will receive a prize from Cottage Crafts.

Hope you liked my project and thanks for stopping by!!! :)

      

Summer Ice Cream Colors - Challenge 28

This week's challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges blog is Summer Ice Cream Colors - Challenge #28 - and it is being sponsored by Cottage Crafts. Please be sure to stop by and say hello! For the challenge, we were asked to create something using the colors of our favorite ice cream. My favorite flavors [yes, plural :)] are Strawberry & French Vanilla. For some reason, thinking of those two colors brought to mind a picture with a sewing theme. So below is my interpretation.

This wall hanging is a piece of wood measuring 6 3/4" L x 4 3/4" W. I painted it with acrylic paint then spritzed Tattered Angels Mist in Lemon Zest. The side wood decorations are painted with acrylic paint and were also spritzed with the Lemon Zest. The Sizzix Dress Form has been inked with a swirl template and has ivory lace & pearls on the bottom. The scissors, spool, saying and needle have been stamped, heat embossed and cut. Lace, pearls, buttons & hand made flowers decorate the piece randomly. Copper wire & pearls were used to hang the piece. Thank you for stopping by & hope you like the project!!! :)

Girls Just Want To Have Fun

After being absent for a while, due to poor health & personal issues, I seem to be getting back into the swing of things!!! Finally -- yey!!! Since I had not visited my craft room in a while, it took me some time to come up with an idea for this project. As many of you know [I'm sure some/all can relate to this] I started out with one idea in my head, but once I started painting, cutting and the layout, the end result was totally different than the idea I had envisioned. But, I'm very happy with the result! :)

It is a 5 3/4" L x 4 1/4" W piece of plywood. The first layer was a light coat of gesso, then it was painted with a coral acrylic color. I already had decided to use the coral lace but once the paint dried the lace faded in the background, so I decided to cover it with a coat of iridescent gold. Unfortunately, the camera didn't capture the color change when the light hits it. It's gold - of course :) - with a very nice coral undertone. When I saw the stamp with the little girl and read the caption, I immediately thought of my childhood and how I loved to play with my dolls! The film strip with images of dolls came to mind right away. When I saw the word stamp I thought that it captured the whole sentiment of ones childhood!

I am so glad that this project qualifies for two different challenges - woo-hoo!!! The first one is Simon Says Stamp and Show - Hey Girl Challenge. The second one is My Monthly Mojo - Your Style. Please stop by these two sites and take a look at all the wonderful art submitted by everyone. I hope you like my little creation and thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you soon!!! :)

12 Tags of 2012 - June

Here's my project for Tim's 12 Tags of 2012 - June. I hadn't tried this technique which is coloring photos with Distress Inks. It was much easier than I had expected, pretty much it's just a matter of choosing a photograph & the colors you would like to use. I chose this vintage photo because I really liked the flowers on the little girl's hair.

You can watch Tim demonstrate this technique on YouTube by clicking on this link - Tim's video. I hope you like my project - thanks for stopping by! :)

Everything Wendy Vecchi-Challenge 40 & MMM May Challenge

I finished my project for the Everything Wendy Vecchi - Challenge 40 - Cracked Glass technique, YEY!!! The bottle started out having a lavender color so I wasn't sure how it was going to look with the Distress Rock Candy over the color. It turned out ok, but I wasn't happy because there were parts that looked too white and you couldn't really see the cracks too well. I added Distress Stain in Milled Lavender and have to say that I really liked the outcome! :)

The cork topper is attached to the copper colored chain and is adorned with a crystal & glass beads. The center embellishment is a flower that I cut with Tattred Florals die and dyed them using Tim's Alcohol Inks in Eggplant, Cranberry & Copper Mixative. The metal charm has the words "live your story" embossed on it and hangs from a flower petal. I'm lucky that I can also submit this project to the My Mojo Monthly - May Flower Frenzy challenge. I cut it too close last month and wanted to make sure that I submitted this month's challenge with plenty of time. :)  You can visit My Mojo Monthly blog by clicking on the link. Well, I hope you all enjoy this piece and thanks for stopping by!!! :)