cathedral windows

Hi friends.  Today the SCS technique challenge was cathedral windows -- not in a building, but in a quilt.  Since I love quilting, I wanted to participate. 

The instructions given used a 1-3/8" circle punch, but I was having trouble with mine, as well as having issues with the folding.  So I chose to go with a 2" circle die instead.  It was so much easier to work with.  Originally I was going to make it really scrappy, but I ended up just using two different pattern papers for the quilt design. 

For one of the layers underneath, I couldn't find a paper that matched to my satisfaction, so I made my own using a victorian lace background stamp and creamy caramel ink.  I also sponged over the design to change the color of the cardstock. 

The sentiment is from Red Lead and the buttons are stamped & punched. 

Thanks for stopping by.

my first canvas ever

Hello friends.  This week I've been busy creating cards for my class on Thursday.  Once I finished, I decided to play a little bit.  There's a challenge to make something with the technique (masking on collage) that was presented last week at our OWSE Art Techniques Club meeting, so I made a canvas, my first ever.  It's 14"x11", much larger than anything I normally create.  Nothing like stepping out of my little box.  I'm glad I did it though.  It wasn't nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be, and was rather fun to work on a much larger space. 

I started by forming a collage with a bunch of different pattern papers.  Then I used a Sizzix butterfly die to make two masks from some recycled chipboard boxes. 

Then came paint, removing some of the paint to allow some of the papers to show through, spray inks and stencils, modeling paste with a stencil, and some stamping. 

Then I removed the masks.  I stamped some buttons from a SU set called button, button.  I punched them out, pierced the holes and used a Pitt pen to draw on thread.  I used the buttons for the butterfly bodies. 

I printed the sentiment on my computer, cut it apart, and added some ink before gluing the words to the canvas. 

I don't think it's fabulous, but neither do I dislike it.  I would prefer that the butterflies were a single paper and that they stood out more, but since they were part of the technique, I really couldn't change them for the challenge. 

Creating on a canvas was definitely a learning experience for me, and I know I'll be doing more of these.

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

friday feature

Hi friends.  I have an new Friday feature over on the OWSE blog today. 

Be sure to stop over there for step by step instructions on how I made my card. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

21 cards - #16

Hi my friends.  Here I am again with another card for the monthly challenge at Motley Soul Mixed-Media Art.  Please see this post to see how I made the base for my cards.

I used my Inspiration Jar again and pulled out the words - music, torn paper, and button. 

So I started by tearing some strips of patterned paper, which included one with music.  I used gel medium to glue them to my card.  I also put another coat of gel medium over the top. 

I made some faux buttons from card stock.  For each button, I punched five 7/8" circles, glued them together and used my crop-a-dile to punch the small holes.   I sanded the edges a little bit to give them a smoother edge, but I think I could have done a little more sanding.  Then I painted them with pearl white Lumiere paint.  When that was dry, I stamped a music stamp on them with jet black stazon ink.  The 'thread' in each button is a very narrow strip of black card stock. 

I looked on line and found a quote about music that I liked and printed it.  I did some faux stitching and doodling (to cover up a boo-boo I made with my marker) around the edge.  And if I hadn't told you that, you would never know.  Ha!

For the corners, I punched fancy photo corners. 

Thank you so much for spending some time with me today.