Saturday's Workout - Be in Stitches

I would love to devote more time to working with fabric. This is a fabric book page with batting in the middle. I love the Harriet Tubman quotation stamped on the piece. The Saturday Workout theme this week is "Be in Stitches" and this is my entry.

Skinny Saturday - Birdsong

I was just thinking about how birds have been such an integral part of my life since I was a little girl. My grandfather always fed birds and we'd spend hours together looking out the window naming the birds that visited. He would take the bottom from large clay flowerpots and fill them with water for the birds to use for drinking and bathing. We'd laugh together at their antics as they did both and chase away any predators. I have also always lived with pet birds....canaries and budgies when I was a child and cockatiels and parrotlets as an adult...and still do. They are fascinating and I feel honoured to live among them. Birdsong is the theme for this week's Skinny Saturdays challenge.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog - A Facelift for an Old Friend

"A Facelift for an Old Friend" is an interesting theme for Rainbow Lady's Challeng Blog this week. We likely all have those stamps that we love to use and I don't know about you but I get stuck in using them in certain ways. This sweet little image from Paperbag Studios has always been a favourite of mine. One day I was rifling through my collage images and found the same image in a collage photo so I decided to try using the stamped image as the background with a little bit of colouring and mirror it with the photo image. This 4" X 4" is the result.

Theme Thursdays - Woman ATCs

Ah, a theme near and dear to my heart...using women on atcs. This is our assignment for this week's Theme Thursday. I wanted to capture the wonderful friendships that we enjoy as women. This is a card that I created using an image from Retro Cafe Art Gallery. If you haven't checked out this amazing online store, be sure to have a look. The collage sheets are so unique and Kris has so many unique items for sale. In fact, the owner, Kris Hubick was just interviewed on a new blog called The Antique Cafe which features inspirational women from the Web.

Layers of Color Challenge - Umbrellas

The Layers of Color challenge this week is to use umbrellas in our artwork. I was inspired by these umbrellas from PaperWhimsy and spent a very pleasant afternoon letting my imagination dictate how to use them in these artist trading cards. I love the defiant look on the little gal in the first card. She is not about to twirl her umbrella around while singing in the rain!

Created By Hand Challenge - Tags!!

This is the first time that I've actually participated in the Created By Hand Challenge but I am a big fan of the library pocket tag books sold by Quietfire Design. This is a book that I created for a friend of mine using a poem about mermaids. The book is created using about 6 library pockets with tags in them bound together with chipboard covers.

Sunday Stampers - Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves

The Sunday Stampers theme this week is "Sisters". The stamped image and the collage image are from one photo and the two look very much like sisters so this is my submission this week.

4" X 4" Friday - Your Favourite Colour

Our challenge this week on 4" X 4" Friday is to use our favourite colour in a piece. I decided to use blue. I wanted to capture the look of water in this 4" X 4" so I played with a mix of blues, breens and browns. I added a dash of warmth with beeswax.

Saturday's Workout - Can You Resist?

I am fascinated by the waxed paper resist technique. In case you've never tried it, you take a piece of waxed paper and crinkle it in your hands. You then dig out (and in my case dust off) your iron and sandwich the crinkled piece of waxed paper between two sheets of white cromecoat (shiny sides touching the waxed paper). Iron gently on low setting (no steam). You can then brayer on ink. Where the wax adhered will remain white. The giraffe in this atc is stamped on paper using this technique. This is my submission for this week's Saturday's Workout challenge.

TGIF - Techniques

I am always fascinated by new rubber stamping techniques and one of the most recent ones that I've learned is called encaustic collage. Joggles offered it as a course a few months ago and I took it after seeing the teacher's work in a magazine. I am now hooked. The technique involves stamping on tissue paper then using clear wax, applied with an encaustic iron, to layer the stamped images and sayings. Once the background is covered, coloured wax is applied. The look can be soft or bold depending on the colours used. The theme for this week's TGIF is "Techniques" and this is a piece of my artwork using encaustic collage.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog - Christmas Angels

Well, I don't know about where you are living but I have just been out for a long walk this morning and it is both rainy and cold!! My bones are craving some warmth and thankfully summer is just around the corner. Rainbow Lady decided to take us back to Christmas this week (or perhaps ahead to next Christmas) with the challenge theme of "Christmas Angels". This is a page that I created for a calendar. We were each assigned months and mine was December.

Theme Thursday - Transportation

Well, this wouldn't be considered a "normal" mode of transportation but this little fellow is finding a unique way of traveling!! I'm not so sure that the fish is delighted to be obliging! This is my submission for this week's Theme Thursday.

Queen Ila

I have been busy creating pages for an Alphabetica Round Robin Journal swap the past couple of days. My letters this month were "I" and "J" and the theme of the book was "Queens". I was a bit stumped by the "I" until I visited my Grandmother who is "Ila". I decided to use a photo of her in my page. She told me that she and a friend took a streetcar to a studio in downtown Toronto and had their photographs taken professionally when they were both about 18 years old. Gram is now 95 years of age. I think it's a lovely photo.

Crazy Amigo Challenge - Birthday Cards

This is a birthday card that I designed for a very dear friend of mine. Her dream was to have lunch at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, a dream that she realized shortly after she received this card. I used beeswax to adhere the real flowers and to give a glow to the entire collage. This is my submission for the Crazy Amigo Challenge this week.

Mixed Media Monday - Maps

I used maps, the theme for this week's Mixed Media Monday, to denote travel and adventure in this round robin page with Christopher Columbus as the theme. I love this portrait of him as he does indeed seem to be pondering something...I took the liberty of deciding that he was asking himself whether the world was round or flat?!

Step Outside Your Box Saturday - Depth without Texture

My goodness....after a brief blogging hiatus, this is my third post today! I have to get caught up on my blog challenges, after all! The theme on Step Outside Your Box Saturday this week is an interesting one (as most of them are). It is to create depth in a piece of artwork without texture. These are round robin pages that I created a while ago but I have always loved them for exactly that....their depth. The background just seems almost golden and warm. They capture the evening that these photographs were taken. It was one of those evenings that just seems to glow in every way. Everything was basked in a warm orange colour. They were taken at Cape Speare, Newfoundland, Canada's most easterly point

Saturday's Workout - Chalk It Baby!

The challenges this week continue to be inspiring and particularly funny in their titles! Saturday's Workout challenges us to use chalk in our creations. I am particularly fond of the softness that chalks give to a piece. The couples' clothing in this card were coloured using them. Ah.... I can just imagine these two lovelies gliding across a dance floor. Her dress would flow as she spun and he would guide her oh so gracefully to the music. This is also my submission for TGIF this week. We were to use bits of paper from our scrap boxes!

Sunday Stampers - Little Old Wine Drinker Me

I laughed when I read the theme for this week's Sunday Stampers....Little Old Wine Drinker Me! This is a card that I made for a colleague at work who very much enjoys a good glass of wine!

Theme Thursday - Celebrate Girls

Ah, the joys of being a girl! For the most part, I'm very happy to be one! "Celebrate Girls" is the theme for this week's Theme Thursday challenge and this is my creation!

Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog - In the Garden

The gardens are certainly shaping up with the warmer weather, the rain and the disappearance of the snow. I am particularly excited about the lilacs. These are round robin pages that I created for a book with a theme "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary". They are my entries for this week's Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog with the theme "In the Garden".

Step Outside Your Box Saturday - Assemblage

I have always been fascinated by assemblage and have purchased a few pieces by amazing artists so that I could study them and gain courage to attempt to create my own. I participated in an altered cigar box swap which really forced me to take the plunge and I have, as a result, found a new passion. This is a cigar box that I created for a sweet blogging friend of mine. Now I just need to take a course in photographing art!!LOL It is my submission for this week's Step Outside Your Box Saturday.

Crazy Amigo Challenge - Wings

The addition of wings to humans, especially children, gives them such an ethereal and magical appearance. Dragonfly wings are especially delicate and lovely. These two atcs are my submission for this week's Crazy Amigo Challenge with the theme of "wings".

Mixed Media Monday - Transparencies

I had the honour of being asked to particicpate in a row houses swap with many talented artists in blogland. We could make the houses tall and skinny, short and squat or whatever shape took our fancy. I used a template from the cover of a chipboard book because I really liked its size and shape. Each house was decorated differently but on almost all of them I used printed acetate. I like the lovely depth that it gives to backgrounds. Here are a couple of examples of my houses and my submissions for Mixed Media Monday this week with the theme of "Transparencies". They are also my entries for a wonderful new challenge blog called Dans ma Maison Il y a. The theme on it this week is "Une Petite Fille".

Gothic Arches - Viva la France

"France" is always such a rich theme for any challenge. This country inspires and delights with its history, culture and romance. "Viva la France" has been chosen by the very talented Frieda Oxenham for this week's Gothic Arch Challenge and this is my submission.

Sunday Stampers - Cool for Cats

I've just stumbled into another great challenge blog in my travels. It is called Sunday Stampers and the posted theme this week is "Cats". I had a wonderful sheet of cat stickers from Club Stamp and combined them with these sweet stamps from Pink Cat Studio.

Theme Thursday - Coffee or Tea

This little darling sitting in a tea cup is a collage image from the wonderful Retro Cafe and suits perfectly the Theme Thursday challenge this week...to create art with a coffee or tea theme.

Wednesday Stamper - Diva

This is a tribute to the inner diva in all of us! "Diva" is the theme for this week's Wednesday Stamper.

Crazy Amigo Challenge - Birds

This spread was created for a round robin with a "Forest Fairy" theme. I wanted to evoke a natural feel to the pages by using handmade paper and tearing instead of cutting it. I created my "forest" this way then added pressed autumn leaves and fairies including one little familiar fairy when she was much younger!! These are my submissions for the Crazy Amigo Challenge.

Mixed Media Monday - Paint

I was so excited to see "Paint" as the theme for this week's Mixed Media Monday because I am currently obsessed with using acrylic paints to create backgrounds. These two pages were created for a round robin alphabetical journal spread. My letters were "G" and "H" and the theme of this particular book is "Art and Creativity". I wanted to portray "G" for "Grow" because I believe that growth is so important in art and creativity. There is just so much to learn and it is essential to push beyond what we perceive as our limits. "H" is for "History and Heritage" because it colours so much of what we create. We use vintage cabinet cards and collage images from antique photos. We design pieces around events in world history or from our own heritage.

Skinny Saturday - Teach Me to Fly

The Skinny Saturday challenge is back...yippee! This week's theme is "Teach me to Fly".

My Art Space

I am fascinated to see where other people create art so I decided to take photos of my art space and post them. I actually work in a corner of our bedroom. We live in an old factory that has been converted into apartments so there are exposed beams and brick...it's really quite unique and beautiful. The bedroom is huge and although the lighting isn't great (because it's below ground), I love the space because I can call it my own. Notice the toilet paper rolls on my art table! Only other artists would understand!LOL Let me know if you post photos of your rooms/areas because I'd love to see them.

Saturday's Workout - Go and Mud

I have admired the Group of Seven for many years and count the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg, Ontario one of my most cherished places. It is dedicated to the artwork of the Group of Seven. It is a simply gorgeous place in every way. These two stamps depict artwork from the Group. They are my submissions for this week's Saturday's Workout. The challenge this week was to use Adirondack Alcohol inks which I did to create the backgrounds.

Layers of Color Challenge - Friendship Skinny

I'm always excited to discover a new challenge blog. This one is called Layers of Color and this week's challenge is to create a Friendship Skinny. I can just imagine these two friends playing with their two dogs.

4 X 4 Friday - Vintage Brides

Do you have any wedding invitations for this summer yet? I know I do. Perhaps you're the one who's getting married. Isn't it fascinating to find vintage wedding photos. I always study the couple carefully looking for clues that will tell me about their life together. Of course, the wedding dresses are always fascinating too! These are my submissions for 4" X 4" Friday with the theme of "Vintage Brides".