Vintage Burlesque Nightmare!

One of my Vintage Burlesque ATC's from a previous blog got lost on it's way to Australia, most likely becoming sidetracked on some tropical island and decided to stay. So, I am resending a different ATC to her hoping this one will make it there. :-) As it happens I also got her for a partner for the "Off With Her Head!" ATC swap as well, and I thought Sally from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" would be a cool way to interpret that theme. I hope they'll be loved and that they find their way safely to Australia.

Meet Mr. Gordo & Gir!

I am so thrilled to introduce my two friends "Mr. Gordo" the cute pink piggy (Mr. Gordo is from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" he was one of Buffy's stuffed animals on her bed)! he was sent to me by TurboBetty. Then there is my fave "Invader Zim" Character, Gir, Zim's sidekick! Who was made for me by Vendetti. These are my first stuffie and amigurumi, respectively. I love them both and both of these are from some awesome group tags on Swap-bot!

Stop by and say hello to my new friends! I am sure they would love some company while hanging out on my blog! Happy crafting and swapping!

"True Blood" is True Work!

Hello and welcome back to my blog! As promised in an earlier blog featuring Sookie Stackhouse ATC's, I present my completed set of character ATC's for the private swap I am in with my swap partner, kimmer.

I am posting the pics in groups as there are 11 of them and I can only post a maximum of 5 pictures per blog post. The first group are ATC's of Eric Northman, Bill Compton and Sookie Stackhouse, certainly three of the main players especially for Season 3!

The next set is of Jason Stackhouse, Sam Merlotte and Amy Burley, Jason's one time love interest on the show.

The third set shows Tara Thornton, LaFayette Reynolds and "Eggs" Benedict Talley.

And finally, the last is of my favorite "baby" vamp, Bill's child Jessica Hamby and the Queen herself, Sophie-Anne LeClerq.

These in all took about 26 hours to make, they were a lot of fun putting an actual 'set' together, but I was so proud (and a bit relieved) to have them finished. I hope my partner likes them as well!

Thank you all for stopping by and please have a "True" happy and crafty day!

Bryony House ATC...

This is the third ATC I have made to interpret the houses of The Court of Night Blooming Flowers from the Kushiel's Legacy novels by Jacqueline Carey. My group on Swap-bot, The Sangoire Cloak, host swaps where we create ATC's like these and many other crafts for swapping with each other. This is my interpretation for Bryony House, whose main focus is cupidity and wagering. I was really happy with the way it turned out! If you haven't read these delightful and intriguing novels yet, I highly recommend them. Have a lovely day!

A Pink "Dream" RAK

So this is just a little offering I sent to a kind lady who sent me some materials to start carving rubber stamps from. As I have never done this before she was kind enough to send a nice variety to try out. Thank you, one act of kindness begets another.

The Matchbox & The Bookmark

So this is liked a tale of two crafts...but they were both for the same WTA, so they do belong together in a way. The first is one of the first bookmarks I have made in a more vintage style, I think it turned out rather well. I really loved the colours and the soft look it has to it. I used an old fashioned style of cotton string to embellish.

The other craft featured today is a matchbox I made for my recipient in a vintage style postal theme. The outside is wrapped with a handcrafted paper (not by me) in a walnut colour. It is decorated with different images and stamps. Inside I filled it with different postage stamps and trinkets.

Sookie Stackhouse ATC's...

So, I am a little sad as my ATC's that I mailed out on the 6th of this month have not arrived to my partners yet. It looks like I have my first incident of something getting lost in the mail. Of course, one of my partners has not been online for the last 5 days so I can't say about that one, but my other partner has not received hers yet and it was my fave, being the first one you see here in the post..."cherish."

These are the first in a series of character ATC's for the TV show True Blood on HBO. As a fan of the show this series is really exciting for me I just hope no others go astray. I am also in a private swap with another gal for these same ATC's but I am making them slightly different and will post a pic of the entire set when complete on here. It will be an entire character set for her of at least 10 ATC's plus a bonus one and I am working on those right now.

Oh well, I am off to start re-creating the lost ones as best I can. Happy swapping and may your swap always mail true!

My First Altered Box

I had this idea when I set up a private swap with Masterbard on swap-bot, I had bought this tea box on sale and was going to use it for a different swap when I realised it was too small, so I put it aside saying it will be good for a swap someday, and someday came much sooner than later! After agreeing to do the private swap I saw the box and immediately wanted to start altering it to meet the preferences of my partner. So, I bought some Distress crackle paint in Vintage Photo and used my Ranger heating tool to help dry it quickly while achieving an even more cracked and antiqued appearance. (Before I painted on two coats I roughed up the box a little with a wide emery board).

After painting again I took the same emery board and went lightly around all the edges making them appear worn and smoothing then out for the gilding I wanted to add later. The pictures you see are actually watermark transfers, then I decoupaged bits of paper around them to accent. The top of the box I actually made a frame of sorts, by applying a walnut coloured handmade paper then adding decoupage glue to seal over it.

When I was finished adding all the pictures and paper bits I took my Smooch ink in Olive Twist and lightly went around the edges of the box. Then I used a large stamp with the script you see to add a bit more flair I guess you could say! Then lastly, I sprayed the box with Pearl coloured Glimmer Mist to give it that hint of sheen as the finishing touch.

I really had fun making it, then I stuffed it full with all the goodies you see here! I am happy to report that Masterbard loved it!

My Zetti Mermaid!

This is a picture of my first Zetti Mermaid ATC hosted for the group Mermaid Lovers Unite! It is a mix of collage and inks, markers and papers along with a few bits of images. I think it turned out well, I have only recently discovered the Zetti style and I instantly loved it! I am constantly experimenting with new concepts or media with which to create even more fantastical Zetti inspired art!

French Themed Mondays!

Bonjour!

Yesterday I had a wonderful day, I went shopping at one of our antique malls and found three postcards I now treasure! I love them. They show two Paris landmarks as they were I am guessing around the turn of the last century or just before, as to when these postcards were printed I have no idea but it really doesn't matter too much as they just make me smile!

Then I I received two swaps in the mail, one was my Marie Antoinette ATC from my partner travelgirl, shown here. It's really over the top and so very Marie, ready for a night of revelry!

The other ATC shown is an extra sent with different ATC swap. My partner for this swap loriglen read over my profile and thought I would like it and I do very much! I had to post it here. I love the little breads for sale and it is so detailed even down to the cracks in the buildings! Thank you!!!

So, now I am inspired Mondays are no longer drab and boring! They will be French day for me! I will craft something with a French theme, cook a French inspired meal or learn a new word in French (or if budget allows buy something with a French theme), just a little something to look forward to on Mondays from now on starting next week!

So if any of you wish to join me let me know and maybe we can get a little group together of people who do something "French" every Monday, wouldn't that be fun! Leave comment and let me know if you do and I will follow you. Let's see what we can learn!

Au revoir!

Steampunk ATC...

I think I have created about three Steampunk ATC'c in my short crafting life, but this one is my favorite so far! Notice the foreign book pages in the background and the pages from an old children's book as well in the foreground. To get the gears to stick while hiding the adhesive I use glue dots and shape them onto the object I need to add to the ATC. I hope all the Steampunk fans enjoy this one.

Vintage Burlesque ATC's...

So, I guess this will be the place where I display my "Vintage" ATC series that I am currently in on Swap-bot. The next set I am displaying are these Vintage Burlesque ATC's I made last week for that swap. They are tasteful nudes and I do hope I do not offend anyone by posting them here, but I do not think they are lewd or vulgar, so I am fine with posting them.

Two completely different ideas but both turned out well. I did a variety of layering papers, stamping the backgrounds and some on the foreground as well, adding brads or letters where appropriate. I do hope these will spark creativity in all who view them!

Vintage Flapper ATC's...

Just completed these tonight and I am tired now from a day of house cleaning and crafting! Sundays are not a day of rest around here especially with my two year old, Thea. So here are two new ATC's by me for your viewing pleasure. I really love the vintage look, nothing quite like it.

So these are the ATC's I sent to my partners for this swap each of them are receiving two each as I made others like the ones you see here. Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Vintage Wedding ATC's...

I just finished these yesterday and mailed them out, same image just a couple of different visions in my head that I wanted to try. I just bought some of the Distress Stickles glitter glue. Now, normally I am not a fan of glitter, but I am a fan of anything Tim Holtz, esp the Distress line of products, so I thought I would try them out a little.

The first ATC I used the Walnut Stain colour just a little at the bottom to give a little sparkle to the ATC and brighten it up a bit. The second ATC I used the Frayed Burlap colour as an accent for the background, to add a slight sparkle.

I hope you like them, if you have any questions or comments please leave them below. I hope you enjoy my blog and will follow me as I make new crafts and discover new techniques! Thank you!

Send Something! Swap

I LOVED this swap! I usually make ATC's but for this swap we had to send something book or mail related and it was receiver's choice. So I decided to make my partners postcards in their choice of theme.

The first one actually fit two themes for my partner. She loves anything French and she loves vintage post. This was my offering to her. You cannot tell in the picture so much but the trio of small postcards I made from 3 different pieces, glued them onto a thin backing of cardboard, cut them out, sprayed them with a glimmer spray to give them a more vintage look and used mounting squares to give it a 3D feel same with the small butterfly on her hat. The rest is stamp work, embellishments and pastel markers to highlight and a little spritz of Pearl Glimmer Mist.

The second one I made everything for except the image of the books. The background paper I tea-stained, crumpled and then used my Distress Inks in Soot and Vintage Photo. I sprayed with water and let dry, then I sprayed the piece I used with Glimmer Mist in Olive Vine. After that I glued the image to a piece of card stock and then embossed the words over the border and image. The embellishments are skeleton leaves in various colours and black raffia.

The third Postcard was sent as an RAK to other other person in this swap who loves Jane Austen, so I did a collage of various items like a letter written by Jane, an image of Pemberley. The background I did stamp and used a few more images and embellishments to complete it.

I enjoyed making these so much and hope I can get a chance to stretch my creativity farther with another swap like it soon!

Marie Antoinette ATC's...

I love anything French and I love Marie Antoinette. So, when an ATC swap of her was hosted on Swap-bot I couldn't resist joining! Here are the two ATC's I made for my partner, I do so hope they enjoy them!

The ATC with the oval picture, I wanted it to feel like a piece of confection, like a sweet pink bon-bon! All in chocolate and pink colours for the most part and a little gilding on the edges of the picture, some lace and few more accents, I thought it was tempting!


The other ATC is a hectic ransack of Marie's boudoir! Everything thrown everywhere trying to find that perfect accessory for tonight's fete. I love layering on my ATC's, I think it gives them depth and it makes it fun to view, each time hoping to see something new. I welcome comments and critiques so please feel free to do so!

A "fairy" merry Yule!

This past Christmas I was in a swap for ornaments and this is the lovely creation I received from my partner naurwen. I wanted to show it here displayed on my tree. Thank you! I love her so much! :-)

A "saint" of a swap!

My oh my! What a lovely swap I received! It was for "My Favorite Saint" swap through Swap-bot and I received so many lovely items, I must say I felt blessed! I love it when I get a swap like this in the mail, it just brightens my entire day. Thank you to my stellar partner wmmars for sending this delightful and precious package to me!