Theme Thursday - Beach/Nautical Theme

The world under the sea holds such a sense of mystery for us, doesn't it? Folktales have been told for years and in many different countries about the fantastical inhabits that lurk beneath the surface of the water. I'm convinced that this is one of the reasons why the theme appears so often in artwork. It sparks our imagination. This is an altered tin that I created with those thoughts in mind. It is my entry for this week's Theme Thursday challenge.

Daily Art Stop Wednesday Challenge - Birds

This wee baby is hilarious to me. He has the most startled look on his face which I like to play with in my art pieces. In this one he's hanging on for dear life to the bird carrying off these two "love birds". This is my submission for this week's Daily Art Stop Wednesday Art Challenge.

ATC Wednesday - Figure

I find myself fascinated by vintage glamour photos of women. I wonder how they came to pose for the photos. Were they spotted on the street? Did they audition? I particularly like the wistful look on the face of this lovely lady. This is my entry for this week's ATC Wednesday challenge.

Crazy Amigo Challenge - Faces

I thought I'd feature the other side of the house page below as my entry for this week's Crazy Amigo challenge. Yes, another woman of the trees. This time I used pressed Fall leaves to adorn the house as well as mica chips. The lovely woman image is from D.J. Pettit.

Arty Girlz Challenge - Butterflies

There is something very symbolic about butterflies. I find that they creep into my work quite often. They represent freedom, delicate beauty, a lightness of spirit. A butterfly just seemed to fit perfectly in this round robin journal page. This is my entry for this week's Arty Girlz challenge.

Mixed Media Monday - Heroes

Emily Dickinson has always been someone who intrigues me. She wrote the most evocative poetry despite a life of extreme difficulties. She lived in relative solitude near the end of her short life and only a handfull of her poetry was published in her lifetime. She is one of my heroes, the theme of this week's Mixed Media Monday challenge.

Think Monday, Think ATC - The Letter "E"

"E" in this case is for "Elephant", the one that this little girl is sitting upon while dreaming of joining the circus. This is my entry for this week's Think Monday, Think ATC challenge.

Saturday Surprise - My Choice

Isn't it lovely to have the freedom to choose the art piece you wish to display for a challenge site every once in a while? In keeping with my current obsession with women and trees, here is a round robin journal page that I created. It was one of those times that I had a very distinct and directed sense of what I wanted to portray so the piece came together surprisingly well. Trees and images by D.J. Pettit just seem to walk hand in hand in my world. This is my entry for this week's Saturday Surprise challenge....a new challenge site!

Dans Ma Maison Il y a .... un bijou

I'm participating in a house book project with a group of talented artists. Each month we create a page for our assigned partner. This is my first. I don't know why but I have become intrigued with combining humans and trees. The background was created by layering papers with beeswax and the gorgeous woman is from a favourite artist of mine....D.J. Pettit. This is my entry for this week's Dans Ma Maison Il y a challenge. Those rusty flowers just looked like they needed a bit of bling.

Saturday's Workout - Altered CDs

I don't know about you but I always seem to have a number of CDs lying around that are no longer useful for their original intents. I hate to throw them out so I just store them knowing that in the world of altered art, inspiration can strike at any time. I wanted to use leaves that I had pressed in the fall so I combined them with vintage images and a quotation. I strung all three cds together with ribbon to make a banner. This is my entry for this week's Saturday's Workout.

Theme Thursday - Labels

Do you ever stop and look at the label on an item you are using? I often think that a great deal of time has been spent creating the branding so that it is easily recognizable and highly appealing. There is little wonder therefore why vintage labels are treasured and reproduced for use in artwork such as the ones on the bottom of this fabric round robin page. This is my entry for this week's Theme Thursday challenge.

Daily Art Stop - Springtime in Paris

Ah...just the thought of Springtime anywhere right now is divine but in Paris it would be spectacular. I've never visited but the aura around the place is so much a part of our thinking and our reading, isn't it? This is my entry for the Daily Art Stop challenge this week.

ATC Wednesday - Hair

I'm not quite sure whether or not the hat sitting atop these blond locks is made of fruit or not but it is quite amazing isn't it?? .... artful indeed. This is my entry for this week's ATC Wednesday challenge.

Crazy Amigo Challenge - Colour, Colour, Colour

There are just some colours that I don't use in my artwork. It's not that I don't like them but I just tend to gravitate naturally to some and not others. Ultramarine blue is not one that I choose to use but when I had to think of a colour that had a "U" in it for this round robin page, it came immediately to mind. I thought of the underwater world and the gorgeous blues and greens that are associated with different bodies of water. This is my entry for this week's Crazy Amigo Challenge.

Created ByHand Challenge - Letters of the Alphabet

As I've mentioned before, I've been involved in a wonderful year long alphabetica round robin journal project. Each month we are assigned two letters of the alphabet. These are attached to themes chosen by the participants. My letters this month were "O" and "P" and the theme was "Vintage Children". This child from Paper Whimsy always makes me smile. She looks to me as though she is not at all happy about having her photo taken. The photographer, exasperated, finally takes the shot of a less than happy wee girl knowing that it's likely the best shot he'll get that day. I found a poem to match that seemed to suit the mood of this little one. This is my entry for this week's Created ByHand challenge.

Mixed Media Monday - Hearts and Wings

Hearts and wings....a powerful and symbolic combination for this week's Mixed Media Monday theme. I had a few Valentine's Day images left over from my cards and the smell of beeswax wafting from my melting pot so I decided to combine the two to create a fan. I really enjoy making these blade by blade because they are so beautiful when combined with ribbon added to the bottoms.

Sunday Stampers - Oh Boy

The warmer, sunnier weather has obviously sparked my desire for the sea or at least a large body of water with lots of warm sand and a castle by the sea (a cottage will do). I used the technique that I've described in older posts with a playing card as the base and layers of gesso, pages from the telephone book and gel medium. It is easy to stamp on the top of all of these lovely layers. This is my entry for this week's Sunday Stampers challenge.

One World, One Heart Event Winners 2009

Well, my friends, it is time to announce the winners of my giveaways for this year's One World, One Heart event. I am thrilled to congratulate Lori from Before the Stroke of Midnight and Katie from Ragamuffin Gal who were selected by random number generator. Please just send me your mailing addresses and I will have these tins on their way to you. I sure appreciate each and every one of the 417 comments left on my OWOH post. With warm hugs....

Theme Thursday - Game Pieces

I had my images out and was messing around with this sweet wee fellow atop the car. I liked how he looked as though he was slightly jostled as though the car was actually moving. I had received the tiny dice from a friend and I added them to the middle of the tires. All of a sudden "game boy" popped into my head (and made me giggle). The cards and Monopoly card were just natural additions. This is my entry for this week's Theme Thursday challenge.

ATC Wednesday - Loved

The ATC Wednesday theme this week is "Loved". Valentine's Day is most obviously the celebration of romantic love but I always like to let my friends know how much they are loved and appreciated. They enhance my life in so many ways, cheer with me in the good times and comfort me in the difficult times. Sisterhood is indeed powerful.

One World One Heart Event

This is just a reminder that the One World One Heart Event is coming to a close with draws happening late February 11th or early February 12th and winners announced on February 12th. If you haven't checked out the amazing array of giveaways, be sure to do so. Just click on the badge for the event on the right side of my blog. This year there are 911 participants! If you'd like to put your name in for my altered tins, please be sure to do so before midnight on February 11th. You can find them here.

Arty Girlz Challenge - Flowers

The Arty Girlz Challenge theme is "flowers" this week. Perhaps our thoughts are straying to the pending Spring with its crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths and tulips. I am always so excited to see them in shops and gardens. To me they are the robins of the flower world. These are round robin pages I created for a flower themed book.

Think Monday, Think ATC - You've Got Mail

I've stetched this theme a bit in this artist trading card. I was thinking that these three young women were friends. This photo was taken before they scattered to pursue their lives. They miss one another and continue to correspond when they can by mail and by postcards sent on their travels like the one in the background. This is my entry for this week's Think Monday Think ATC challenge.

Mixed Media Monday - Romance

'Tis the week when romance is in the air......Valentine's Day is just around the corner. I usually try to make my DH a card to celebrate. I found the marvelous black and white tissue paper with film stars on it at my local Michaels store. I affixed it with beeswax to create a romantic background for this very rapt couple. This is my entry for this week's Mixed Media Monday challenge.

Sunday Stampers - Photograph

I was just reading an article in a "Cloth, Paper Scissors" issues yesterday and the question was asked of readers...."What do you hoard?" I could answer that question without hesitation...vintage photos. I'm crazy about them. I'm immediately drawn to them in antique stores and I treasure family photographs that have been passed down from generation to generation. I often just thumb through my collection for inspiration. This is a round robin journal page that I created for an alphabetica swap. We were to use our assigned letter to represent a woman. This is Juliet who loves her home and who adores shopping for items for it in the catalogue. I often link this fascination of mine with my love of paper dolls as a child?!! This is my entry for this week's Sunday Stampers challenge.

Theme Thursday - Borders

The theme for Theme Thursday this week is "borders". Don't you find sometimes that your artwork just isn't complete until it has one whether it be in the form of a bit of colour, pieces of German border scrap or in this case stitching. If the truth be known, my sewing machine was acting up a bit and instead of giving me zigzag gave me this stitch instead. I rather like it so I used it in this arch.

Daily Art Stop - Sweet

I had a feeling that I wanted to create with these round robin journal pages. The book's theme was a great one...."Altered Recipes". To me the pages just had to be gingham which turned out to be more difficult to find than I had anticipated. I wanted them to convey the feeling that I used to feel when I baked with my Mom or my Grandmother as a child. The feel of the ingredients, the anticipation of the delicious treats that were being created, the smell of whatever was in the oven and most of all the love that was shared in this act of creation. These pages are my entry for this week's Daily Art Stop Wednesday challenge.

Wednesday Stamper - Kiss, Kiss

Ah, the month of love and passion....and Valentine's Day. I don't think that this 4" X 4" really needs much of an explanation. "Just a Kiss" indeed! This is my entry for this week's Wednesday Stamper challenge.

Created ByHand Challenge - Love Quotes

Unfortunately, you can't see the love quotation on this scan very well. Perhaps I was a little overexuberant with the walnut spray! It is from "The Rose", a song sung by Bette Midler and first introduced to me when a choir master of mine from high school chose it for a concert. I remember the hauntingly beautiful sound of it in the concert hall and the stillness that hung over the room immediately after. This is my entry for this week's Created ByHand challenge.

Mixed Media Monday - Fruit

When I noticed the theme of this week's Mixed Media Monday challenge, my mind settled immediately on grapes. Perhaps it's because I live in an area that is so blessed with vineyards, places that I love to visit. I'd love to visit the vineyards in other countries too like France and Italy. This is a birthday card for a dear friend with whom I've shared the nectar of those vineyards.

Sunday Stampers - Brown

The Sunday Stampers challenge is to use "brown" in our artwork....not difficult when you love vintage tones and images. These wee pages were created for a dear friend of mine for her round robin journal. Her theme was nursery rhymes so I scouted around for a lesser known rhyme and this is what I found. I layered scrapbook papers, rubber stamped tissue and images.