ATC Time

I spent the day at a friends home gawking at her art supplies.  It feels good to know I really don't have that much "stuff."  LOL!  


After a lunch of Chinese and Southwest salads it was time to get down to business.  I decided to work on a small scale.  I used a stamp image from the Invoke rubber stamp line.  The red and blue rhinestones encircling the head remind me of the votive candles that my mother and I would light in church after dropping a dime into the metal box that sat near the candle stand.  After lighting our candles we'd kneel and pray for the person we lit the candle for.  Last time I was in church I noticed the small red and blue glass votive candles have been replaced by tall glass candle holders and the metal box is no longer there.  You have to go to the rectory to pay for the candle you want to light.  Sign of the times.       

It was getting late so I had to pack my ATC and be on my way but not before visiting  Karen's garden.  I left with a beautiful cut from her Butterfly Bush and an old fashion scented yellow rose.  As soon as I walk into the kitchen I'm hit with the scent from both flowers and a reminder that I really need to take more time to stop and smell the roses.


Hope you have a wonderful weekend and take time to enjoy the natural wonders that surround your world.  

Colorful Summer

Little did I know that the first photo from my last post (back in May) would literally mean "Goodnight, Sleep Tight."  Well, after a hurdle of deadlines from the day job and a dose of antibiotics from a serious bout with bronchitis I am happy to report that I am finally AWAKE!

I first awoke when I realized my baby sister's birthday was coming up fast.  Like real fast.  I wanted to make her something special.  We're 11 years apart and we spent a lot of time together despite our age difference.  She's often said that I felt more like a mother to her than a sister.  I had some old photos and decided to make her a photo holder using some reclaimed wood, a little bit of paint, fiber, buttons and some sea shells.  A painted pocket was embellished and it made the perfect pouch for the surprise tag that sat within.

I photo copied an old photograph of the both of us and aged the tag with walnut ink.  I brought a little bling to the aged tag by adding some fancy shimmery yarn through the hole at the top.

My hubby has known my sister since she was four years old and I found an old Easter photo of the two of them.  I made a copy of it and aged it as well.

I was happy with the end result and my sister Rachel was equally happy and surprised to have an old photo of us in her possession.  I was touched when she announced in front of everyone that this was her favorite gift.  We're both pictured below.  She's the one standing over me and my mom and although my mother did raise us all, I can't help but notice my sister's body language.  She's leaning her head on me.  Oops.  Thank goodness  Mom does not read blogs!

 It's been quite a while since I made ATCs.  I plan on trading these at the stamp store on Thursday night.  There's a group that meets once a month to demo a technique and do a trade.  Do you think I used enough color?   

Hope you're having a great summer.  I plan on making mine colorful. 

Fun-ky Friday

If the weeks continue to rapidly speed by, for sure it'll be summer once again!  Yay for speedy days!  But wait.  Do I really want the weeks to turn into summer so quickly?  It seems like only yesterday that a group of us girls were walking back to the school yard from Gym Class (that's what we called P.E. back then) and someone had her transistor radio planted to her ear but it was loud enough for us to hear The Supremes singing "The Happening."  Remember that one?  It's one of their hits that rarely, if at all, gets played on the radio.  Even the oldie stations ignore it.  Anyway, we were walking back to our class when the subject of make-up came up.  We were in the 6th or 7th grade and we weren't allowed to wear make-up cause of our strict Catholic school rules.  I thought of this moment as I was tugging at my eyes with my mouth sideways looking as if I'd, God forbid, had a stroke!  The conversation of how silly our mothers looked as they applied make-up hit me like a ton of bricks!  It seemed that we ALL had mothers who made faces as they applied make-up and we all giggled at how silly they looked.  Fast forward 40 something years and there I was yesterday morning making those same silly faces before heading off to work.  LOL!!!  So do I really want summer to arrive so quickly?

Fast forward a few more years and I'll have that same crooked eyeliner I used to snicker at whenever I'd visit certain family members.  LOL!  When that time comes, and please, it's gonna happen to all of us even if we swear that the contacts will save us from crooked eyeliner, I'll be au natural.  Yeah right.  I'll be that old lady with the heavy hand.  An old Cleopatra, if you will.  LOL!!!!  Scary.
Talking about scary, it's almost Halloween!  YAY!  My favorite of all holidays.  I joined this postcard swap and it's an open theme.  Gotta get working on those and I think I'm doing Halloween cause it's almost here and ooolala, I love it!
While sitting at my desk the other day I found my set of beautiful Frida coasters that my pal Jolene made a few years ago.  I had them sitting up on a shelf but they fell with the last earthquake and I haven't put them up since.  Aren't they purty?

I recently traded ATCs with my friend Joss.  We've decided that each summer we're going to challenge ourselves to a swap of 20+ cards!  Locas?  Well maybe  about ATCs but that's a good kind of loca position to be in.  Right?  We presented each other with six themes and we were to make four ATCs from each theme.  Here are just a few of those she made for me.  I love birds so naturally I challenged her to make me some birds.  Love them!

The sixties decade was pretty special to me and so I asked her to create some ATCs with that theme.  

Another theme I requested was journal ATCs.  This was her challenge but I think she did great!  I love her baby picture.

Women and texture are the last themes featured here.  I wish you could feel the roughness of these cards.  She used gel medium, acrylics and tissue to create some of the texture on the ATCs.

I hope you're all having a fun-ky Friday;  I am!  

Song Related ATCs

I grew up with a radio planted next to my ear bed.  This is before alarms were built into them and well, before there were FM stations.  I remember turning up the knob when a song that was easy to dance to or when something with catchy lyrics and a good beat would play.

When I was challenged to create a few ATCs with "Songs"  being the theme, I immediately knew that this was something I could relate to.  And although I enjoyed my AM radio music, I guess the early sounds of FM are buried within the noodles of my brain cause they apparently influenced a couple of my cards.  It also helps to have images that SCREAM a tune. 
If you can correctly guess the song titles that go with the above ATCs, e-mail me with your answers.  If more than one person guesses correctly, your names will go into a drawing and I'll send the winner three music themed ATCs.  But not these cards cause they're going to London.  E-mail me at stampmaiden@aol.com with your guesses and and good luck!
      

         

After Midnight Artventures!

It was after midnight and I was on a roll. And yes, that is a stamped clock!

I dropped three colors of acrylic paint onto a blank ATC. My good-for-nothing-but-art-phony-credit-card waited patiently to glide paint across the ATC.

Each painted card had it's own personality as you can see if you click on the picture. My "paper people" who in the end turned out to be "Graffiti Artists" were just as individual as each one had been hand drawn and colored with pencils.

It was becoming a long night but the end was near as I stamped images in acrylic paints.

Finishing touches in black and white ink were added to each card. I played around with the placement of each Graffiti Artist before gluing him/her down.

I know what you're thinking. But I was on a mission with a goal to create just 8 more ATCs and I was pumped with enough caffeine to see me through it! All it took was a little paint, my good-for-nothing-but-art-phony-credit-card, some pre-cut ATC blanks and small figures I had previously drawn and colored with color pencils. I was in bed by 3:00 A.M. which may explain why I've been dealing with jet-lag sensations one day later. But it was worth it, as is most things dealing with art. For this girl anyway. Insert BIG smile here!