Lisa's Collage Stuff Blog

Something fun!

2012-02-24T22:22:00.003-06:00

This is a 4 x 4 page for my monthly swap group for March! I am ahead for once! The theme is wings. I bought some new collage sheets from Crowabout Studio B and was anxious to create wth the new images. You can find the Crowabout Studio B images at the Deviant Scraps website. I purposely made the head a little big for the body to emphasize the head and add to the whimsical feel of this page. I added shading and color with my Copic Microliners, Ranger White Opaque Pen and Spica Glitter Pens. This was really fun to put together! Thanks for taking a look!

Paris in the Springtime Tag Postcard

2012-02-20T14:04:00.003-06:00

At the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group, we're doing a "Paris in the Springtime" tag postcard swap. I haven't decided if I'll make mine all like this or not. I have a couple of other ideas spinning around in my head. Collage Stuff products used in this design include the tag postcard, floral German scrap and the photo of the Eiffel Tower. This is pretty much a cut and paste design. I colored the tag using my own homemade sparkle spray using distress inks and Perfect Pearls. I like being able to customize the colors of the sparkle spray. I love the black and white checks in my art. I make this checked paper in Excel. I can make the checks just about any color I want using Excel like this. I did tone down the white in the checks by spraying some sparkly spray I made with Victorian Velvet re-inker. Thanks for stopping by!

February 4 x 4"

2012-02-04T14:14:00.002-06:00

I finished this February 4 x 4" page before the last day of February! Yay! This page was supposed to have a quote. I ran out of room on the front, so the quote is on the back of the page.

For the front: Collage Stuff products used in this design include the vintage English vocabulary card, large brass flying bird charm, vintage sheet music and a 4" round paper doily.

The construction of this was pretty simple - pretty much gluing all the elements down. Before I glued everything down, I edged everything with a gold Copic marker. I used some images that I acquired taking an online class with Green Paper Packages. I did tone done the white doily with some Sandal Paint (Ranger Paint Dabber). The Sandal paint is a perfect shade of beige as far as I'm concerned. I ran out of glue dots, so the bird charm is adhered with gel medium. Gel medium glues down just anything.

For the back: No explanation necessary - print, cut, and paste everything down! I printed the words with my computer, & colored them with the gold Copic marker. After the words were glued down, I highlighted them with a black Copic marker.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cowboy ATC

2012-02-01T08:55:00.002-06:00

The February ATC swap at Collage Stuff is a cowboy/cowgirl themed swap. This is my design. Collage Stuff products used include the "Things Western" collage sheet, Red Single Star German Scrap Border and Marlowe's Theatre Tickets. I colorized the little cowboy in Paint Shop Pro X3. He is black and white on the collage sheet. The map in the background is a map of Texas in the shape of Texas. I found this image on the internet. Before I glued on the stars, ribbons and words, I applied a thin coat Instant Age Varnish to tone down the map and boy a little. If you'd like to participate in this swap, you can find the details at the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group. Check the database page to sign up and the files page for the swap guidelines. Thanks for stopping by!

New Postcard

2012-01-31T17:29:00.003-06:00

Here's another new postcard that I created to ship with Collage Stuff orders! This will begin shipping with orders in the next few weeks. I used images from a 1955 French fashion magazine. The background is a set of horoscopes! Fun! Thanks for stopping by!

January 4 x 4 page

2012-01-30T15:41:00.005-06:00

For January, I needed to create a 4 x 4" page with a nature theme, so here it is! The main image and the background are images that were part of a class I took with Green Paper Packages. The Collage Stuff products I used include a foreign postage stamp, Marlowe's theatre tickets, large singing bird brass charm and 5" white paper doily.
I started by gluing down the background paper. The white doily was too white, so I darkened it with a Sandal Paint Dabber and then followed up with a light misting of Sour Apple Perfect Pearls Mist. You can't see the mist in the photo. I cut the doily to size and applied it. I only wanted the numbers on the theatre tickets, so I trimmed those off. I wanted them to more or less frame the main image. That went onto the page next. The words are from an old childrens' book. I edged them with a gold Copic marker. I edged the main image with the same gold Copic marker. I have a stash of real vintage Dennison red border labels that I picked up at an estate sale. I didn't have one the right size for the words, "full of joy", so I cut one in half and used it. Backing the "full of joy" is a red foreign postage stamp. I used a small piece of foam tape to adhere the bird charm. Before I applied the ribbon, I edged the page with the gold Copic marker. The ribbon is applied by using thin red-line tape. Thanks for stopping by!

New Postcard

2012-01-21T23:42:00.002-06:00

I know many of you are fans of the postcards that I ship with the Collage Stuff orders. I had to design a new one tonight as my stock of postcards is just about depleted. This postcard uses some of my favorite imagery, cemetery statuary. It's so beautiful and haunting. This postcard will begin shipping with orders in the next couple of weeks. If you're a fan of the postcards, you can purchase blank notecard sets here: http://www.collagestuff.com/page82.html Thanks for stopping by!

January ATC

2012-01-18T07:43:00.002-06:00

Tag ATC's or ATC's with a tag in the design! That's the January ATC swap at Collage Stuff. This is my entry. I started out with a large tag and trimmed it down to 2.5 x 3.5". I trimmed the top corners. The background was made using many things including a floral The Crafter's Workshop Template, white gesso, yellow Glimmer Mist, Hot Pink Dylusions Mica Spray, white acrylic paint and Picket Fence Distress Stain. I started out by apply gesso over the floral template. After it dried, I applied the mist sprays, and dripped Picket Fence Distress Stain from the top. When that was dry, I used white acrylic paint and dry wall tape as a stencil to make the white dots. The background is soft, textured and sparkly.

I applied some drywall tape at the bottom of the ATC. I love this stuff. Get it at your local Lowe's or Home Depot. You can can paint it, mist it, whatever! I dug around in my stamps and a suitable one. I stamped it on white cardstock and embossed with black detail embossing powder. I colored the flower with a paint brush using the same yellow and hot pink mists. I softened the pink UK bus ticket with Picket Fence Distress Stain and added some hot pink mist when the stain was dry. The UK bus ticket needed something more, so I added the yellow blank raffle ticket before adhering the floral image. I printed the words on my computer and the color is applied with a paint brush and hot pink mist. The last step was applying white paint on the edges of the ATC.

Much of the background detail is not visible in the photo, but I had fun playing with the gesso, mica sprays, distress stain and paint!

Thanks for stopping by!

December 4 x 4 Page

2011-12-31T14:32:00.004-06:00

The theme for my December 4" x 4" page is Fantasy Garden. This person also likes words and poetry. The background is a Vintage Chinese Dictionary page that I sprayed with a a yellow glimmer mist. I cut the Vintage Japanese Vocabulary Card down to size. The woman, flowers, and butterfly images are from collage sheets that I bought on Etsy. I printed the purple/white checks in Excel and trimmed them down to size. I added a little glitter glue to the center of the flowers and popped up every other flower. It's another very simple design. Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year!

2012 Handmade Calendar Swap

2011-12-03T16:47:00.004-06:00

The 2012 Collage Stuff Hand-made Calendar Swap is complete! All of the pages came in on time. That's a first for this swap. See the slideshow below and enjoy the art! There is also a side bar link to my Picturetrail site to view larger photos.

4 x 4 with a flower theme

2011-11-26T16:58:00.002-06:00

This month's 4 x 4 page was a flower theme. Here it is. It's too dark to take a photo so I had to scan this in. I'll take a photo tomorrow. The background is a vintage ledger page from the 1890's. I put a piece of May Arts 1.5" Crochet Trim down the right hand side. I used just little dots of Diamond Glaze to attach it. The flowers are from a collage sheet that was acquired online. The yellow parts are colored with a yellow Spica glitter pen. It doesn't show up in the scan. The woman is another one of those images that I don't have on a collage sheet yet. The frame is from the Gold Oval Frame Set (German scrap). I colored the woman a little with Copic markers. I added the Tiny Ivory Buttons and used Diamond Glaze to apply them. They are so tiny that it's difficult for me to glue them down without making a mess. I used a gold Copic marker around the edges of the page. I tore the definition of "rose" from a vintage dictionary and edged it with the same gold Copid marker. Thanks for stopping by!

November ATC Swap

2011-11-25T10:57:00.003-06:00

We have monthly ATC swaps at the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group. This month's swap is to create an artist trading card that can used as an ornament. Here's my design along with some how-to directions.
I started with white cardstock. I made it red with Dylusions Pomegranate Ink Spray. I bought a set of Sizzix Christmas-themed embossing folders and I used the scrolly one on the red paper. After it was embossed I applied some gold paint to a Tim Holtz Foam Blending Tool Refill and applied the gold paint to the raised scrolls and also around the edges. That's it for the background. I have some Christmas sheet music scanned in, so I printed it out in a small size. I made a December calendar in Excel. I toned down the whiteness of these elements with Antique Linen Distress Stain. I still had a little of the red spray ink on my hands, so there's a little red that went on to these two images. I edged the calendar with gold paint. The boy is from the Collage Stuff Altered Christmas Collage Sheet. I sized him appropriately and printed him on white cardstock. After he was cut out, I used various Spica glitter pens on the Santa hat and the greenery wings, but it doesn't show up at all in this photo. The ribbon is on the sale page at Collage Stuff. It's made by May Arts. I added a Tim Holtz Seasonal Muse Token. Before I applied the muse token, I ran some May Arts Red Burlap String through the hole. It's available at Collage Stuff in 9 colors. I really like the burlap string. I used the burlap string for the hanger. As a finishing touch, I rounded the top corners of the ATC and went round the edges of the ATC with more gold paint. Happy holidays!

Christmas Postcard

2011-11-15T11:33:00.002-06:00

Here is a new Christmas postcard! It will begin shipping with orders in 2-3 weeks! This image is from the new Holiday Wishes Collage Sheet that will be available for purchase at Collage Stuff soon!

October ATC

2011-11-13T17:43:00.003-06:00

The theme for the October ATC swap at the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group was a stone angel or cemetery theme. I used images from the Pastel Doors and Broken Collage Sheets. I used Spica Glitter Pens to highlight several things but it doesn't show up in the scan. The text has been sprayed with Sour Apple Perfect Pearls Mist and it doesn't show up either! Another very simple ATC. Thanks for stopping by!

Calendar Cover

2011-11-05T18:02:00.002-05:00

This afternoon I decided that I had to get to work and start on the covers for the Collage Stuff 2012 hand-made calendar swap. I've been wanting to try out my Dylusions stamps and this was the perfect opportunity. The background is sticky back canvas on chipboard with vintage dictionary text at the top and bottom. I used different sprays - Dylusions (bought them from England!), Glimmer Mist and Perfect Pearls Mist. I used The Crafter's Workshop Circle Grid template for the circles. I really had no plan when I started out with this. The red on the circles was an afterthought as I was just playing with the background. The girl is from the Dependable Dotty Dylusions stamp set and the words are from the "Say What You Mean" Dylusions stamp set. I stamped them with embossing ink on white cardstock and used black embossing powder. I used a small paint brush and the various spray inks that I used for the background to color in the stamped images. I'm making 13 calendar covers and they will all be a little different. Thanks for stopping by!

Lisa

August Calendar Page #2

2011-10-31T13:02:00.001-05:00

I finished the other 5 pages for the August, but changed them up a bit. The main changes were making the background more vibrant and using a cursive text stamp. I applied Washi tape around the edges to finish them off. Thanks for stopping by!

August Calendar Page

2011-10-25T17:02:00.003-05:00

At the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group, we're doing another handmade calendar swap. I always make the covers. This year we couldn't get enough people to take all of the months, so I'm splitting the month of August with another group member. I decided I wanted to try using the Ranger Sticky Back Canvas. I carry the 8.5 x 11 sheets at Collage Stuff, but for the 4 x 6" calendar pages, the 12" size is better. I got my 12 x 12" canvas in, got out the spray inks and mica sprays and ruined a 12 x 12 sheet of canvas. Ugh! Then I decided that it would be better to cut the canvas into 4 x 6 pieces and go from there.

I'm in love with The Crafter's Workshop Zinnia template. I used gold paint and this template in three different places on the canvas. Then I sprayed pink and green Glimmer or Chalkboard Mists. I have a large letter stamp. I inked it up with Library Green Archival Ink and rolled just a little of the stamp on the canvas. I didn't use an acrylic block. I can get smaller impressions from a large stamp this way. I really liked my background and then I couldn't think what to put on it!

I found the bathing beauty image on the Collage Stuff "By the Shore" collage sheet. It's black and white, but I colored it pink in PSP X2 and added the little frame. I printed this out as a transparency. I looked through a vintage children's songbook and found this music. I scanned it in and sized it down. It was sprayed with the same green mist. I used Diamond Glaze to apply the transparency to the music. I printed out the little calendar in Excel and again, the green mist. I added the Gold Mini Sun and Gold Fish German Scrap (available at Collage Stuff). I used the new Ranger Glue n Seal to attach everything to the canvas. It comes in a little jar with a brush, so it's very easy to use (also available at Collage Stuff). To finish off the edges of the canvas, I used the Library Green ink pad around the edges.

I liked working on the canvas. It's very sticky and it really stuck to the 4 x 6" chipboard base. It's not going anywhere! I have 5 more of these to do and then it's time to design the calendar cover!

Thanks for stopping by!

Vintage Children 4 x 4 Page

2011-10-22T20:11:00.003-05:00

This one is called "The Traveler"! It's a 4 x 4 page that I finished tonight. For the background I used one of the new The Crafter's Workshop templates (available at Collage Stuff), the Zinnia template. The background is a mish mash of a copy of a vintage ledger page, gold paint and blue ink spray on the template, part of a map over the completed template design, gesso over everything and more blue spray. The words "The Traveler" are from a vintage children's songbook. I used some Antique Linen Distress Stain to tone down the text just a tad. I colored an orange UK bus ticket red with a red Sharpie. The vintage pen nib, gear, and arrow spinner are from Collage Stuff. I found just a little bit of some Seven Gypsies text rub-ons in my stash and applied them. The "in the public eye" was from a Green Paper Packages collage sheet. The boy image and butterfly wings are from a Land of Nod Studios collage sheet. Thanks for stopping by!

Witchy Sisters ATC

2011-10-06T17:55:00.003-05:00

I needed to make some more ATC's for the Collage Stuff September ATC swap, so here are the "Witchy Sisters"! The papers and little poison label are from the Teresa Collins Haunted Hollows 6 x 6" paper pack. I love the 6 x 6 paper packs with the coordinating papers. So easy to combine papers for great backgrounds! The girls are from the new "Simply Sisters" collage sheet. The witch hats on are several different Collage Stuff collage sheets. I used orange Baroque Border German Scrap at the bottom and used the new tiny buttons as fun accents for the border. The words were made at the Acme Labelmaker website. Everything but the German scraps/buttons on this ATC is edged with a black Copic marker. I hope the "Witchy Sisters" inspire you to create your own Halloween art! Thanks for stopping by!

White 4 x 4 Page

2011-09-24T22:23:00.006-05:00

This month, I'm supposed to make a "white" 4 x 4" page. How did I do this? I started off printing a background from a background sheet that I got as a member of the Green Paper Packages Collage Club. You can't see it all now really. It was kind a of light green floral design. I painted it with white gesso. The floral image is from a postcard that came from the Green Paper Packages Collage Club. I cut it out, glued it down and put white gesso over it. I overstamped the completed background with the Collage Stuff Stylish Background stamp and Tea Dye Distress Ink. The "carte postale" and part of the red stamp (1.25 Gulden) are also from a Green Paper Packages Collage Club collage sheet. The Marie image is one that I bought at Etsy. The gold ivy frame is from Collage Stuff and I covered most of it up with white gesso. I put white gesso on almost everything. The little pearls are Prima. I cut up the pearl designs to get the sizes and look that went with the design. I used Vintage Photo Distress Stain around the edges of the 4 x 4". When I thought I was done with this, I looked at it and decided that it still could use something. I stamped with a text stamp in the bottom left corner with Tea Dye Distress Ink. Finished! It's probably not as white as it should be, but I like it!

Teacher's Pet ATC

2011-09-10T14:05:00.009-05:00

The theme for the August Collage Stuff ATC swap was "Back to School." Of course, I am always struggling to get mine done. Here's my entry, "Teacher's Pet". I manipulated all of the images I used digitally. The girl is from the "Back to School" collage sheet. I colored the image in PSP X3. I also cleaned up the slate a little bit and added "a b c" digitally. The background collage sheet was originally yellow, but I adjusted the color to pink. The school house ("Institutions of Learning" collage sheet) was originally red, but I adjusted it to a pinkish color too. Everything was glued down. I used wonder tape to apply the Matte Olive Lace German Scrap Border at the top and bottom. I used the Ame Label Maker website to generate the "teacher's pet." The label maker doesn't like punctuation, so it left out the apostrophe. I can spell! I edged the sides with a black Copic marker. The black number is a Tim Holtz Typewriter Alpha Part. They are self-stick. Thanks for stopping by!

Madeline Variation

2011-09-04T14:10:00.009-05:00

Here's a variation on the background technique using the circle grid template from The Crafters's Workshop. I glued a vintage dictionary page to some cold press watercolor paper and sprayed it with a lime green glimmer mist. I should have given it two coats, but one is OK too. I used the circle grid template with an orange glimmer mist. Once that dried, I put the template back in place and used a black Spica glitten pen to highlight the orange circles. I used the Collage Stuff Stylish background stamp with black paint to overstamp the background. To add a little more interest, I highlighted some of the black paint flourishes with a white Ranger opaque pen. For these ATCs I used the Black Spider Web German Scrap cut to fit the ATC.s The orange base was made by spraying white cardstock with the orange glimmer mist and overstamping with black ink and a crackle stamp.

Marvelous Madeline

2011-09-03T18:50:00.003-05:00

This is Madeline. I like naming the people on my collage sheets! Let's start with the background. I used cold press watercolor paper and the circle gird template (The Crafter's Workshop). I applied gold paint with a gold paint dabber. I made sure this was dry and then sprayed orange colorwash spray and orange glimmer mist. When that was dry, I inked up the Collage Stuff Stylish Background stamp with black paint and stamped this over the dots. The colorwash/mists don't stick to the gold acrylic paint dots. The acrylic paint acts as a resist. On to the ATC. I cut some black sparkly cardstock to ATC size, and glued on some text from an old history book, but not to cover the whole thing. Then I sprayed the text with lime green glimmer mist. The little jack-o-lantern man is from the new Catnip Designs "More Victorian Halloween" collage sheet. I sized him a bit smaller than he is on the collage sheet. I edged this with a black Copic marker. I cut the prepared background down, so I could angle it across the ATC and edged it with black ink and the ink blending tool. Prepared background glued down, little jack-o-lantern man glued down, next Madeline and her hat. The word "Halloween" is from the Cursed collage sheet and I colored it green with a Copic marker and edged it with a black Copic marker. I colored 3 clear jewels with the same green Copic marker and put them in 3 corners. I hope that you're getting some inspiration for your own Halloween art. I've been having fun creating!

Glamorous Stella

2011-09-03T18:44:00.002-05:00

I think Stella is really pretty, so I wanted to glam her up a bit. I used the background that I had prepared in the previous post, added Stella and word "enchanted" from the Cursed collage sheet. Then I cut some black cardstock in a wave fashion and glued it to the side/bottom as shown. I piled on some crackle accents (didn't want to go find another glue) and applied the Gold German Glass Glitter. It's very sparkly and beautiful. After the glitter dried and I was sure it wasn't going to fall off, I colored a Prima craftable flower and a clear crystal with a Copic marker and added it to the corner as shown. I think this is a more glamorous setting for Stella.

Meet Stella

2011-09-03T14:41:00.004-05:00

Today I decided I would take some of the new Crafter's Workshop templates and experiment. My first two experiments are going in the bin - too many colors, uck, all ran together etc. The background on this ATC is a successful experiment. I took a sheet of cold-press watercolor paper and used the Harlequin Crafter's Workshop template. I sponged gold acrylic paint (gold paint dabber) to make the diamonds. I dried that with my heat gun and then sprayed some plum colorwash and pink chalkboard glimmer mist over the diamonds. The paint acts as a resist and the sprays wipe right off. I dried that with my heat gun. Then I placed the template back over the gold, but offset it and applied black ink using an ink blending tool. I used a Ranger Opaque White Pen to make some highlights on the black diamonds and drew all of the white squiggles in on the purple/pink parts. This is a a very busy background, so it doesn't need a lot of stuff on it. The woman image is from the Cursed collage sheet. I'm calling her Stella. She seems like a nice ghoul with a green complexion! I outlined Stella and her hat with a black Copic marker. The little flower is a Prima Carftable Flower colored to match with a Copic marker. I colored the clear jewel with the same Copic marker to match the flower. The words are from the Cursed collage sheet. I colored them with a Copic marker and softened the edges with black ink and the ink blending too. The ric rac is the May Arts 1/8" black ric rac. I used red line tape to apply it. I used glue dots to apply the Spider sequins and flower. I used the ink blending tool with black ink to smudge the edges of the ATC.

Guest Artist - LuAnne B.

2011-08-28T18:29:00.008-05:00

Wow! I adore these ATCs created by LuAnne B. using the "Cursed" collage sheet. Thanks LuAnne for sharing your art.

Cursed Collage Sheet

2011-08-27T10:37:00.003-05:00

Here's a new collage sheet for Halloween, "Cursed". I had fun changing these pleasant women into their cursed equivalents. These images were taken from vintage cabinet cards. Which one is your favorite? Mine is the girl with the green skin and pink hair.

New Collage Sheet

2011-08-24T19:08:00.008-05:00

Here's a new collage sheet, Sweet Sisters. It's available at Collage Stuff now in the paper and digital formats!

August 4 x 4 page

2011-08-24T15:15:00.004-05:00

In one of my Yahoo groups, we're doing a 4 x 4 swap. My page for August has a Butterfly Garden theme. First I made the digital collage. My friend LuAnne sent me some photos and of course, I got to work ASAP to edit them. She sent me these cute girls. I colored their faces, hair and hands digitally. I cut them out of the photo and used a scan of a vintage childrens' book for the backdrop. I made it just a little pink. Then I added the butterflies digitally and adjusted the color to make them pink. One digital collage done and then printed out to the correct size. I just got in the Authtique Uncommon 6 x 6" paper packs and I've been itching to use this paper. This was the perfect opportunity. I overstamped the 4 x 4" part with a stamp from the Tim Holtz Papillon stamp set, the text one. I like the black/white checks, so I cut some of them out (homemade in Excel) and placed 3 as shown. The grey/pink paper is also from the Uncommon paper pack. I edged everything with a black Copic marker. I glued down all the paper parts and found my stash of Mica tiles. I glued the Mica tile down with Diamond Glaze. I added the lace and button with glue dots. The stickers are from the Authentique Diction Stickers from the Uncommon collection. I edged the stickers with a black Copic marker before applying them. I will be working on a new collage sheet featuring these girls in different sizes with different backgrounds. Thanks for stopping by!

In color now!

2011-08-20T23:35:00.007-05:00

Here's a color version of a postcard that I created two or three posts back. I recreated the original and used my PSP X3 to colorize the image. I was reading some tutorials tonight and decided to try colorizing a black and white image. I've tried before with little success, but I feel like I've succeeded this time! I'll send this off sometime soon to get this made into a Collage Stuff postcard too. Be sure to check out the tutorial at http://bohemianitkupilli.blogspot.com/2011/08/duuni-koekaniineille-guinea-pigs-wanted.html

New Postcard

2011-08-17T18:49:00.003-05:00

Here's a new postcard that will be shipping with Collage Stuff orders in a few weeks. I used the "Lazy Days" collage sheet and some fish from the "Beneath the Sea" collage sheet. The fish weren't purple to start out, but they were when I was done! I added the postage stamp, and text digitally.

Sun and Sand ATC 2

2011-08-17T17:07:00.004-05:00

I decided that the sequin shells were too plain, so I added a clear jewel to each one. Now they seem finished to me and here's another ATC.

Sun and Sand ATC

2011-08-17T16:31:00.003-05:00

I'm always behind on my art stuff. The July Collage Stuff ATC swap is a beach theme, "Sun and Sand." Here's my design. I took a white matboard ATC blank and sprayed it first with Blue Patina Perfect Pearls Mist. I dried it with my heat gun as I can't stand around and wait on anything to dry! Then I sprayed Blue Raspberry Perfect Pearls Mist and dried that with my heat gun. The PP Mists are very transparent and soft. I love them! I always have some bubble wrap around, so I dabbed some gold paint on the bubble wrap with a Ranger Gold Paint Dabber (love this) and pressed the misted ATC blank onto the paint randomly. I scanned in an old dictionary page that had "beach" at the top, sized it, printed it out and trimmed it to size. I used the gold paint dabber around the cut edges. The girls are from the "Lazy Days" collage sheet. I haven't used these images before and thought it was about time I did. I also edged it with the gold paint dabber. I painted the inside of 4 Clear Iris Shell Sequins with you guessed it, the gold paint dabber. I found out quickly that the sequins melt with the heat gun if you aren't careful. I was trying to get the paint to dry faster. I used glue dots to adhere the sequins in the 4 corners. I like numbers and random stuff, so I cut up a yellowish UK bus ticket and used the numbers as shown. I dug through my stash and found the gold alphabet stickers to make the word "play". The ATC base is also edged with the gold paint dabber. Thanks for stopping by!

New postcard

2011-08-12T16:14:00.002-05:00

Here is a new postcard. I design the Collage Stuff postcards digitally using Microsoft Digital Image Pro and PSP X2. The background is a vintage photo of New York City, from the 1940-50's. The woman is a civil war era figure that I don't have on a collage sheet yet. I added the gear, dots, graph and alphabet strings digitally. This postcard will be begin shipping with Collage Stuff orders in the next few weeks.

CHA day 2

2011-07-20T18:34:00.002-05:00

Today was my last day at the show. I waited in line for about 30 minutes to do the make-n-take at the Advantus booth with the Tim Holtz stuff. Tim was at the booth helping with this project. The birdcage is new and the back pops off! You can collage inside the bird cage. There is a little photo of an owl and some silver tinsel in the birdcage. There is a chain tassel and a bauble that has been colored orange with alcohol inks. There's also a little piece of black tulle that I should have cut off shorter before I left the booth. The chain is the Tim Holtz lace chain. The bird cages are versatile. You can put whatever you like inside them.

I signed up for one class and it was a "Gypsy Journal" class using the Twinkling H20's and other similar products. I didn't get mine finished, but here's a photo of the class sample.

Another interesting thing I saw today was the Theresa Collins Stamp Maker. I have watched online videos about it and today I saw it in person and it took about 5 minutes to make a clear stamp. Part of the process had already been done, so what I saw took about 5 minutes. I am thinking of purchasing this so that I can make custom stamps for the backs of ATC's again.

Back to Houston tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

CHA Day 1 General

2011-07-19T20:59:00.002-05:00

I'm here in Chicago at the CHA show. Previous posts for today talk about the Dylusions stamps and Crafter's Workshop stencils. Now some general stuff. I ordered in the new Tim Holtz stamps, the new Idea-ology stuff, a few things from Maya Road, a few new things from Rose & Meyer (German scrap), some paper packs for Halloween and Christmas, Picket Fence Distress Stain, the 4 ounce jars of Rock Candy Crackle Paint and a few other misc cool things. Tomorrow is my last day at the show and I have one class in the afternoon. Stay tuned for more news from the CHA show tomorrow night! Thanks for checking in!

CHA Day 1 Crafter's Workshop

2011-07-19T20:45:00.005-05:00

I made the sample tags above at the make-n-take table at Crafter's Workshop. We were provided tags, lots of their yummy stencils, paints, color wash, distress inks, and acrylic paints. They let us go wild with the supplies after a few suggestions. Of course, whenever I am at a class or whatever, the first couple of things I make are usually not to my liking. After playing with the stencils some more and gathering colors up, I came up with the bingo tags above. They are made only with stencils, distress inks, colorwash spray, white acrylic paint and copper lumiere paint. First I stenciled some big white circles with white paint. I dried those with a heat gun to make sure they were dry. I sprayed red colorwash or I could have used red distress stain or even a red distress ink pad. The acrylic paint acts as a resist. After I applied the red colorwash spray, I just wiped it off the white circles. Next I took the bingo stencil and used black distress ink with a blending tool. Next, I used the punchinella stencil (above) with black distress ink and copper lumiere paint. The stencils are very versatile and I ordered a lot of them! I think these stencils are great for backgrounds!

CHA Day 1 - Dylusions!

2011-07-19T20:35:00.005-05:00

Dylusions! I saw these samples at the Stamper's Anonymous booth and I was amazed! These stamps are wonderful. Later on at the Ranger Booth, the creator of these stamps, Dyan Reaveley, was demo-ing. She used the Distress Stains like watercolors to color stamped images. I ordered several of these stamp sets. Check out Dyan's blog here.

June ATC for Collage Stuff Swap

2011-07-02T18:46:00.004-05:00

Here's my ATC for the June Collage Stuff ATC swap. The theme is vintage children. For the background, I covered a chipboard base with vintage dictionary text and then overstamped it with a crackle stamp with brown ink. Next, I used one of the Tim Holtz Mini Labels dies to cut out the center. I used a bronze Copic marker to edge the cut-out and the sides of the ATC. The girl image can be found in the Collage Stuff Vintage Children Collage Pack. I colored 3 Prima Mini Craftable Flowers with Copic markers and glued black mini buttons in the centers. I put Tim Holtz Filmstrip Ribbon across the bottom of the ATC and arranged the flowers in the lower right corner. I found some little metal clock faces in my stash and cut them up. If you look carefully, you can see the little bit of clock face in the corner under the flowers. To balance the flowers, I glued the black tiny buttons in the opposite corner. I'm liking the Tim Holtz mini dies more and more. I've been thinking about trying the butterfly die on ATCs too. Thanks for stopping by!

June 4 x 4

2011-06-25T14:23:00.006-05:00

In one of my yahoo groups, we're starting a new swap and it's 4 x 4 pages. I don't own many dies, but I've had my eye on the Tim Holtz Artful Dwellings die. I decided to go ahead and get one. The house is from the Artful Dwellings Die and I used the Tim Holtz Mini Openings Die to cut out the windows in the house. I glued scrapbook paper on to chipboard and cut that out with the dies. I used Tim Holtz tissue tape to cover the "roof" and the edges of the house. I used a green Copic marker around the edges of the house on the tissue tape. I also used the same green Copic marker to highlight the little windows. When you turn the page over, you can see some of the roof sticking up, so I covered the back of the roof with the tissue tape. The images behind the windows are from the Collage Stuff "Charmed" Collage Sheet. I put a mom, a dad, and 3 kids in the windows. The number five is cut from a vintage Flinch game card. The flowers are Prima craftable flowers that I colored with Copic markers. I used glue dots to secure them. I printed the words "home sweet home" at the Acme labelmaker website. For the background... I cut some scrapbook paper to 4 x 4 and used the same tissue tape around the edges. Now for the little black and white squares. I made a spreadsheet in Excel that is black and white checks. I print it out and try to cut in the middle of the checks. Since I have this in Excel, I can make whatever colors of checked paper I like, by changing the colors of the cells. I glued down my checks and put little brad flowers in the corners. The house is popped up a little as I used foam mounting tape to secure it to the background. I had fun making this little house 4 x 4" page. Thanks for stopping by!

Postcard Tag Swap Entries

2011-06-16T14:52:00.005-05:00

The postcard tag swap at Collage Stuff is drawing to a close. I will be swapping the tags out this weekend. I scanned in one tag from each participant! Enjoy and many thanks to the participants.

Two more garden tags

2011-06-05T09:47:00.007-05:00

Last weekend, I tried to make some new garden tags, but my muse was not cooperative. Yesterday was better!
For the first tag, I started out stamping the large text stamp from the Tim Holtz Papillon stamp set (Collage Stuff) on the tag using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink. I embossed with a Celedon embossing powder. I sprayed some of my homemade glitter spray in pink and green on the tag. The text background is a page from a Welsh-English vintage dictionary (available at Collage Stuff). I sprayed it with the same various glitter sprays and die cut it using the Tim Holtz Mini Ornamental Movers & Shapers Die (from Collage Stuff). I highlighted the edges with a bronze copic marker to make it stand out from the background. The flowers are from Victorian scrap (from Collage Stuff). The queen image is from a collage sheet that I bought on Etsy. After I had the floral and queen images glued down, I added the Pink Mesh Paper German Scrap (Collage Stuff) using Diamond Glaze (Collage Stuff) as the adhesive . I used thin red line tape to apply the May Arts Olive Leaves Trim (Collage Stuff). The jewel flowers (Collage Stuff) were glued down using Studio Matte Medium (Collage Stuff). The Studio Matte Medium will glue just about anything! I found the green butterfly at the Dollar Store and used a glue dot to adhere it. At the bottom of the tag, I applied 3 strips of the Pink Mini Dot Border German Scrap (Collage Stuff) using thin red line tape. The words "the garden is the mirror of the heart" were generated on my computer and after I cut them out, I used a pale green Copic marker to color the background.

The background for this tag is much the same except I used only the pink glitter spray. The vintage sheet music, Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, woman image, green butterfly wing, floral Victorian scrap, jewel flower and glass glitter are all available at Collage Stuff. I edged the bits of sheet music with Peeled Paint Distress Stain (Collage Stuff). This woman image is my very favorite woman image and she is from the Fabulous Faces Collage Sheet. The butterfly wing is from the Catnip Desings Wings and Things Collage Sheet. The construction of this tag was simple and amounted to gluing down all of the paper collage elements. I used red line tape to apply the pink/white ribbon. At the very bottom of the tag, I added Blush Glass Glitter using Studio Matte Medium. I found a few Paris Clock Buttons left in my stash and used the Studio Matte Medium as the adhesive. I added a little yellow color to the woman's hair with a yellow Copic marker. The jewel flower over the eye was also adhered with the Studio Matte Medium.
Speaking of the Paris Clock Buttons. I contacted my vendor and they have the Paris Clock Buttons available again in the nickel (silver) finish. I will order several gross of these and they will be available again at Collage Stuff soon! I really like the Paris Clock Buttons for little accents.
Thanks for stopping by!

Another Garden Postcard Tag

2011-05-24T19:17:00.002-05:00

This is my third garden-themed postcard tag for the swap I'm hosting at Collage Stuff. Usually I make all of the items for a swap the same, but this time, I'm trying to do them all different. I can do this IF my muse cooperates! I sprayed the tag first with a gold-brown Glimmer Mist and than came back over it again with one of my homemade Perfect Pearls mists in green. I stamped a text stamp with brown Archival Ink, but it's almost all covered up. I glued down the bits of scrapbook papers next. I printed out one of the girls from the "My Favorites" collage sheet as a transparency. I attached her to a 1910's Flinch game card. I went around the edges of the Flinch card with Vintage Photo Distress Stain. I'm liking the Distress Stains more all the time. I also edged the whole tag with the Vintage Photo Distress Stain as well as the part of the vocabulary card (bloom; flourish). The floral Victorian scrap is available at Collage Stuff. The crochet trim is May Arts crochet trim that is available at Collage Stuff. I sprayed the words "bloom; flourish" with the same glitter sprays that I used on the tag. It looks very different as the tag was a manilla color to begin with and the vocabulary card was white. If you would like to join in this swap, the details are at the Collage Stuff yahoo group. Thanks for stopping by!

New Postcard

2011-05-11T21:13:00.000-05:00

Here's a new postcard that will begin shipping with Collage Stuff orders in a few weeks. It's named "3 Dandy Lads." I wanted to do something different than my usual Paris themed or cemetery angel themed postcards. I've been on the road some for work lately and have thousands of images on my laptop, so it's easy for me to pull something together for a postcard, even when I'm not at home. This does help to pass the evening hours in another hotel room and it's less costly than online shopping! Thanks for checking in!

Mother's Day Card

2011-05-02T18:16:00.003-05:00

Here's a quick, easy and fun Mother's Day card idea. I have some precut greeting card blanks with envelopes. For this card, I dabbed some Spun Spugar Distress Stain on the edges of the card base front. The Distress Stain is watery, so you have to be careful not to overdo. The Spun Sugar is just a hint of pink and I like it! I cut a piece of scrapbook paper to 3.75 x 5.25" and used it as the base for the collage. I tore two pieces of green scrapbook paper - one piece at the top left and one at the bottom. I glued down a nice Victorian scrap rose bouquet and stretched some pop-up glue dots out to attach the "To Mother" German scrap embellishment. Some pink ribbon with white dots across the bottom and a cheery little gold German scrap butterfly complete the design. Before I glued the collage down on the card base, I did swipe some Peeled Paint Distress Stain around some of the edges. I'm liking this Distress Stain more, the more I use it. (German and Victorian scrap items + Distress Stain available at Collage Stuff!) On a side note, when I compare this photo to the real thing, well, they're different. Photos and the lighting seem to wash things out. Thanks for stopping by!

Second Postcard Tag Sample

2011-05-01T14:00:00.003-05:00

Here's another postcard tag sample. I should have applied the Peeled Paint Distress Stain first, but I ended up applying it much later. The background is made of several scrapbook papers and vintage sheet music. I used the Tim Holtz Tissue Tape in 3 places. The Victorian scrap roses, gold round German scrap frame, and gold German scrap butterfly are available at Collage Stuff. The girl is from the Collage Stuff Fairy Song Collage Sheet. I colored her with Copic markers. The lace is Prima Alcenon Lace available at Collage Stuff. I sprayed a Walnut Gold Glimmer Mist over parts of the tag. Two samples are enough in preparation for this swap. Thanks for stopping by!

Postcard Tag Sample

2011-04-30T21:17:00.004-05:00

I'm going to be hosting a postcard tag at Collage Stuff pretty soon. I like to have a sample to show the prospective participants, so that's what I did tonight. Several styles of the postcard tags are available at Collage Stuff.

I've been wanting to try out the new Distress Stains (20% off at Collage Stuff), so I used Peeled Paint on this tag. It was way darker than I wanted, so I took the tag and held it under running tap water in the sink. I blotted it and dried it with my heat gun. I like the end result. It's sort of batik or watercolor looking. The woman is from the Collage Stuff Imogen Baldwin Collage Sheet. The flowers were cut out of scrapbook paper. I used vintage sheet music. The little butterfly is torn from a vintage dictionary page. I used Tim Holtz tissue tape available at Collage Stuff. After I got everything glued down, I covered with entire tag with Instant Age Varnish - two coats. It gave the tag a very nice uneven aged look. After the varnish was dry, I sprayed a Krylon Matte Clear Coat. The varnish is kind of glossy and I wanted a nice matte finish. I did like the Distress Stain, but it seemed really dark to me. I found it handy to edge the torn edges of paper and I used it to edge the entire tag. Collage Stuff Yahoo Group Members, stay tuned for this swap!

Vintage Glue Book

2011-04-23T21:40:00.006-05:00

Earlier in the week, I was trolling the art blogs late at night and came across an online class that looked interesting, so I bought the class. I thought I would share what I've been creating with the class. The class is "Your Vintage Gluebook." After I downloaded the class, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Collage Stuff was listed as one of the resources for vintage ephemera. If you'd like more information about this class, go to Green Paper Packages.

I haven't done any art just for me in I can't remember when. This is a good thing - for me to just play! One of the things I like about this online course is that it comes with many images and vintage ephemera reproductions. The recommended page size for the journal is about 3.5 x 5". I decided I'd try to stick with the course materials for the most part, and I have so far. I did use UK bus tickets, vintage dictionary pages and an Italian vocabulary card from Collage Stuff in the first page. The first page, I just kind of didn't pay attention to the course and just sat down and collaged! The second page is an exercise, a challenge to create a collage using only 3 elements. The third page was to take a photo and spread it across both pages. For the second and third pages, I only used items provided in the course materials (except for the dictionary background in the third page). I realized tonight that I haven't worked in a bound book for a long time and I'm enjoying this. Have any of you taken this class? At some point, I'd like to get a group together to do a glue book round robin.

2011-04-20T19:53:00.002-05:00

This is a new postcard that will start shipping with Collage Stuff orders in a few weeks. This was created digitally. I used my all time favorite woman image from the Fabulous Faces Collage Sheet. The dragonfly image is from the French Dictionary Card Collage Sheet. The postcard is a scan of the new postcard tags at Collage Stuff. The pink ribbon is a from a photo of the Pink Ruler Ribbon available at Collage Stuff. The background is vintage sheet music and a scan from the inside of a vintage book cover. I altered the color to make it pink to match the collage. Thanks for stopping by!njoy it!

Variations on the Venice ATC

2011-04-15T17:17:00.003-05:00

Here are a couple of variations on the Venice ATC from an earlier post. The images are the same, but I used an additional paper and different embellishments. The pink leaves, jewel flowers and pink dot German scrap border are all available at Collage Stuff.

Venice ATC

2011-04-03T10:20:00.004-05:00

The theme of March ATC swap at Collage Stuff is "European Vacation." The woman image and background image with text are from collage sheets that I bought at Etsy. The image of Venice is from the Collage Stuff "Pastel Venice" collage sheet. The Pink Scrolls German Scrap and Pink Leaf and Flowers Border German Scrap are available at Collage Stuff. I used a bronze Copic marker around the edges of the ATC. The words were printed off and colored with a Copic marker. I feel like this design needs something else, but I'm not sure what! Thanks for stopping by!

Back of skinny book page

2011-03-26T18:59:00.002-05:00

The theme of this book is really vintage, not vintage children, so I could use the new collage sheets that I've been buying on Etsy. The background is a collage sheet that I bought on Etsy, altered the color to make it pink and then overstamped lightly with a scroll-type stamp. I adjusted the color a bit on the "Journal de Paris" background image to make the pink fit more with the Marie image that I also bought on Etsy. The text is another collage sheet that I made more pink instead of green. The frame is from Collage Stuff - the Gold Ivy German scrap frame set. The little bird is from the Collage Stuff Gold Designs German scrap. I tied some sheer white ribbon around the bottom of the page and added 3 daisies from the Maya Road Large Daisy Trim (available at Collage Stuff). I used pop-up glue dots to give them some dimension and added a Large Fleur de Lys charm from Collage Stuff. The actual page is more pink than this photo. I highlighted the edges of the "Journal de Paris" with a pink/purple Copic marker and applied some skinny pale pink Washi tape around the edges to give the edges a nice finished look. This completes my participation in this skinny book project. Thanks for stopping by!

Skinny Book Page

2011-03-20T10:17:00.006-05:00

This month's skinny book has a vintage children theme. The page is 4 x 8". The background is patterned scrapbook paper. I used a border punch to punch two different papers that I stacked and applied at the top and bottom. I added the pink and white ribbon to the bottom. The button at the bottom is a vintage china button. The girl is from the Collage Stuff "Vintage Children" collage sheet. I colored her with various Copic markers. I cut her out of the photo and sat her on a teacup. I bought the teacup collage sheet on Etsy. The "memorandum" in the background is also taken from a collage sheet that I bought on Etsy. The Victorian scrap flower is from Collage Stuff. A little glitter was applied to the flowers. I added 3 pink pearl hearts. The edges of the page were swiped with a Pumice Stone distress ink pad. Thanks for stopping by!

Collage Stuff Rubber Stamps on Sale!

2011-03-12T20:26:00.002-06:00

I made this greeting card years ago when I launched the line of Collage Stuff rubber stamps. I've decided to put all of the remaining Collage Stuff unmounted rubber stamps on sale. Full sheets are on sale and three different assorted rubber stamp grab bags are available. The ATC sets are also on sale. The full sheets are limited in number, but I've got plenty of grab bags available. The Collage Stuff rubber stamps include collage-style stamps, individual images, ATC backgrounds, cemetery-themed stamps, border stamps, birds and more! Have fun shopping and take advantage of these great deals!

Back of Front Cover

2011-03-06T08:36:00.002-06:00

This is the back of the front cover for the Altered Ancestors LFB. The baby that I altered for this page is me! Since I was born in the 1950's, a photo of me as a baby is indeed a vintage photo. I did all the altering digitally, adding a crown from the Catnip Designs Wings and Things Collage Sheet and butterfly wings from one of the Flutter Collage Sheets.

The background is a phone book page and some red scrapbook paper. I will print this page out and attach it to handmade front cover.

One of the things that makes a little fat book fun is having lace or other trims or charms hanging off the pages. I will add lace or some other trim to the covers.

Altered Ancestor Front Cover

2011-03-05T17:12:00.002-06:00

This afternoon, I finished my design for the Altered Ancestors LFB front cover. I decided it would have a postal theme. Why? I think because I like the new digital collage sheet, "Airmail" that's available for sale here at the blog. I like the images and wanted to use them.

The first thing I had to find was a postal worker hat and I found one searching Google images. I also found the postal seal with the Pony Express by searching Google images. Then, the hunt to find an ancestor facing the right way so the hat would work. First I thought I'd use a woman, but none of the images I used looked right, so I went back to using a man. This man is on one of the Collage Stuff vintage image CD's. I found the right man and added the cap and postal seal digitally. I colored the man's face skin tone and gave the shirt a very light blue color using Copic markers. This scan kinda washed things out. The butterfly wings are from a Collage Stuff "Flutter" collage sheet. The postal images are from the Collage Stuff "Airmail" digital collage sheet.

The background is a phone book page. Mail carriers have to know addresses, right? I found a clock stamp and stamped the image with red ink. Then it was just a matter of deciding which postal images to use from the collage sheet.

I printed out "special delivery" from the Acme label maker website. I highlighted the images with a red Spica glitter pen. I used red Washi tape around all the edges to finish it off.

On the back of this page, I will put something about the name of this LFB - altered ancestors. I ran out of room and couldn't put this on the front.

This is a simple design and that's good as I have to replicate it 14 times. ACK!

Altered Ancestors LFB

2011-03-04T16:57:00.002-06:00

At the Collage Stuff yahoo group, we're doing an Altered Ancestors LFB. The premise is to take an old photo of someone (ancestor) and alter it in some fashion. This is the very back cover that I created digitally. I like to do Paris themes and I love gargoyles! I added wings to the woman. Her hand originally rested on a table. I removed the table and inserted one of my favorite gargoyles. I put a little Eiffel tower in to make sure the Paris/gargoyle connection was evident. The words say "He followed her home from Paris" - the "he" being the gargoyle. I plan on having the books all done by the end of April, so stay tuned for a slide show with all of the pages.

Collage Stuff Pink and Green ATC swap

2011-03-01T16:25:00.005-06:00

This is my design for the Collage Stuff February ATC Swap. The theme is pink and green.

I glued green cardstock to chipboard and cut out ATC size pieces. This provides a sturdy backing. I sprayed the green background with a gold glitter spray.

I cut up some time cards (new at Collage Stuff) into ATC sizes. Then I used a scallop border punch along one side. I mixed up some Victorian Velvet re-inker with some pink Perfect Pearls plus water in a mini mister. I sprayed the time card pieces with my pink glitter spray. Then I overstamped the pink with a French text stamp using black ink. I didn't want the black text to be too dark, so I didn't ink the entire stamp, just parts of it and didn't press too hard with the stamp. I glued this down at an angle with part extending over the top of the background.

The woman is from the Collage Stuff "Fancy Faces" collage sheet.

I scanned in one of the playing cards from the "Pretty Playing Cards" at Collage Stuff and shrunk it down and printed it out 3 times in a row. I really like these flowers. I glued this column of flowers down to some pink "Education UK Bus Tickets" from Collage Stuff. I thought the tickets framed the flowers nicely. I glued this down at an angle too.

The charm is a "Medium Bee Charm" from Collage Stuff attached with a glue dot.

To finish off this ATC, I used a green Spica glitter pen to highlight some of the edges of the collage elements. I used a bronze Copic marker around the edges and sides of the green base.

In summary, I have to say that I really like making my own glitter sprays! With my re-inkers, I can get the colors I want. I don't own very many punches, but I should use the ones I have more. I really like this border punch.

If you're interested in participating in the Collage Stuff ATC swaps, join the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group. There's a link on the sidebar.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lisa

New Postcard

2011-02-27T12:28:00.003-06:00

This is a new postcard that will start shipping with Collage Stuff orders in a few weeks. I wanted something kind of light and airy - kind of spring-like for this design. Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Special - Digital Collage Sheet

2011-02-20T20:27:00.013-06:00

For a limited time, the new Collage Stuff collage sheet, "Air Mail", is available at a special price! $2.50 for this collage sheet available here only in a digital format. Once purchased, this collage sheet will be emailed to you in a .pdf format within 24 hours. Please enter your preferred email address in the "email address" dialogue box and click on the "buy now" button to purchase. This collage sheet features envelopes, air mail postal labels and other postal labels from various countries. The purchased collage sheet will not have the "Collage Stuff" watermark shown on the sample collage sheet.

Skinny Book page two

2011-02-20T08:02:00.002-06:00

This is the final white page - "It's a nice day for a white wedding." The background is almost totally covered up with washi tape and lace. The background started out as scrapbook paper with text. I applied gesso and after it dried a gold sparkly spray. I put vertical strips of washi tape and lace.

I edged the playing card with gold washi tape. The background behind the woman's head is old sheet music with a cream washi tape applied over the sheet music.

I colored the bride and groom with a skin tone Copic marker and applied Gold Opal Golden Glaze to the bride's dress. The gold German scrap heart is available at Collage Stuff. I printed the words "it's a nice day for a white wedding". A scrap of cream washi tape frames the words. The flowers are Prima Craftable Flowers available at Collage Stuff. I highlighted the flowers with the Gold Opal Golden Glaze. I used gold brads to attach the flowers.

A lace bow and washi tape around the edges of the page were the finishing touches.

A word about the washi tape or Japanese masking tape. It comes in all sorts of colors, widths and patterns. Try a google search for Japanese masking tape or washi tape to learn more.

Skinny book page

2011-02-18T21:22:00.007-06:00

This month's skinny book page has a shades of white theme. I find the white themes challenging . The background was made using music scrapbook paper, bits of a French dictionary page using white gesso as a whitewash. I applied Gold Opal Golden Glaze next. The glaze makes the background shine gold! It's hard to see but I applied some cream washi tape about 3/8" in on all 4 sides. I put some white lace near the top and bottom of the page. At the very top of the page I put a strip of a very light greenish floral washi tape.

The ballerina image is from a collage sheet that I bought on Etsy. I colored the woman with a skin-toned Copic marker to give her some color. I colored the dress with a "wheat" Copic marker to give it more of a creamy tone. I stamped a large flower die cut with French text and cut the petals to make wings. I highlighted the edges of the woman and wings with a gold Spica glitter pen. I also added details to the dress with the gold Spica glitter pen.

I made the flower stems out of the May Arts gold leaves trim (available at Collage Stuff). I glued these down with very skinny red line tape. The flowers are Prima Craftable flowers (available at Collage Stuff) that I highlighted with some of the Golden Opal Golden Glaze. Tiny Paris clock buttons are used for the flower center.

The word imagine, the postage stamp and the fleur-de-lys are all rub-ons. The little pearl butterfly is from Prima. To finish off the bottom, I glued down some more of the gold leaf trim. I finished the edges of the page with gold washi tape.

One side done! Yay!

New Postcard

2011-02-16T21:01:00.002-06:00

Tonight I decided I should probably get to work on another postcard. - something springy since we're getting highs in the 60-70's this week. So what happens? The computer locks up and won't reboot. This computer is aging and getting persnickety. Pull the battery out for about an hour and it's recovered so far. We'll see how long this trick works. After I got the computer back up, here's what I came up with. I use text for backgrounds all the time. The woman is an image I need to get on a collage sheet. I added very subtle details - pink lips, rosy cheeks and a little eyeshadow using Paint Shop Pro. The floral image is from the new old playing cards sets at Collage Stuff - the Pretty Playing Cards. I scanned in the playing card and cut out the white background leaving the flower. I use this Eiffel Tower image all the time. I added the postmark, butterflies and pink swirlies with Paint Shop Pro. If I could have found room to smash "Paris in the Spring" on this, I would have. Think about using playing cards in your art for background collage elements- both sides of the playing cards. This postcard will start shipping with Collage Stuff orders in a few weeks. Enjoy!

Guest Artists

2011-02-05T18:42:00.003-06:00

Today, I have have art from two wonderful guest artists. These first two ATCs were created by Wanda Hentges. Wanda used an image from the Collage Stuff "Romantic Minis" collage sheet and the Red Baroque Border German Scrap for her "Love" ATC. This ATC is the essence of romance.

This second ATC created by Wanda uses an image I really like from the "Crazy for Kids" collage sheet. I adore this little girl blowing kisses. I find the sentiment that Wanda chose for this ATC to be very appropriate.

LuAnne Boyce created these three amazing ATCs with a cemetery angel theme. She's used images from the Collage Stuff "Angel Baby" collage sheet and some of Tim Holtz's Bitty Grunge rubber stamps. This angel on the "Angel Baby" collage sheet is one of my favorites.

LuAnne has titled these ATC's "Faithful," " Honor," and "Glory."

Thanks so much to Wanda and LuAnne for sharing their art with us.

For the Birds

2011-01-29T20:38:00.002-06:00

The January Collage Stuff ATC swap is bird-themed, "For the Birds". Here's my entry. I took an ATC size bingo card, scanned it in and changed the word at the top to "nest". I stamped the background with some green Distress Ink and French text stamp. I added a bit of green UK bus ticket, followed by a little piece of sheet music and then finally the bird. The bird is an image from some Collage Stuff Victorian scrap. I added "fly" from the Collage Stuff Art Words Collage sheet. I edged the word and bird with a black Spica glitter pen. To finish the edges, I used a green Copic marker. At the top, I glued down a black confetti star. If you'd like to participate in the monthly Collage Stuff ATC swap, join the Collage Stuff yahoo group. There's a link here at the blog.

Back of the skinny book page

2011-01-26T18:10:00.003-06:00

I finished up the back of this Halloween skinny book page tonight. There are two things from Collage Stuff used in this design - the spider web and the little spiders. I think this still qualifies as "cute" and "fun" even with spiders!

Skinny book page

2011-01-25T20:09:00.004-06:00

Are you like me? I always buy scrapbook papers when they are on sale. I think I have enough scrapbook papers to last me 3 lifetimes. The upside of this is that I can almost always find some papers that will work with the colors I have chosen or the papers will spark an idea or maybe nudge my idea into a different direction. This skinny book page has a "cute" Halloween theme. I really don't do cute. This isn't scary, so I think this will do. I bought the paper doll collage sheet and label collage sheet on Etsy. Purple. I started going through my scrapbook papers and sure enough, I found some that were perfect. If I didn't buy scrapbook papers all the time, well, I'd be in trouble! (My fall back, all purpose background that almost works for everything is vintage book pages.) I got this far on this page and was trying to come up with other stuff that I could add. I finally decided that less is more. I think this design is good without adding lace or buttons or ribbon or something else. I'll work on the back of this page later on in the week. It will feature another paper doll witch, this one in a black ball gown.

Two New Postcards

2011-01-15T23:02:00.002-06:00

Here are a couple of new postcards that I created. I used two of my favorite themes - cemetery angels and Paris. The Paris/fashion themed postcards are shipping with Collage Stuff orders now. The cemetery angel themed postcards should be here in a couple of weeks.

Seven Gypsies Warehouse Sale

2011-01-15T07:52:00.009-06:00

Seven Gypsies products are on sale at Collage Stuff! I was able to take advantage of a big sale at Seven Gypsies. Here are some of the wonderful products on sale at LOW prices!

Seven Gypsies Seam Binding! This is a wonderful shiny, light, airy, satin ribbon. There are 3 colors per pack for a total of 3 yards of ribbon. Available in 4 color combinations. Retail Price $2.95. On sale for $1.15.

Several 6 x 6" paper packs are available. I like the 6 x 6" papers because the pattern on the papers is the same as on the 12 x 12 papers, but it's been reduced. I like to use the 6 x 6" papers for my ATC's. The first paper pack show is the Calais papers. Discounted retail price $5.43, and on sale for $2.99. The Gypsy Market paper pack includes vivid colors as well earth tone vintage shades. Retail price $7.75 and on sale for $4.50. Nottinghill, Savannah and Savannah 6 x 6" paper packs are also available at comparable pricing.

The paper fasteners make attaching ribbons, lace or paper collage elements a breeze. Sort of like a paper clip. There are 50 per pack. Retail price $5.95. On sale for $2.50. Available in gold and silver.

Gaffer tape is another great product. It's a cloth tape. I like to use this tape to add collage elements (tape them on), borders, cut a piece as a collage element, and to finish off the edges of my art. Instead of applying inks or a leafing pen around the edges, I center the tape on the edge and wrap the tape around the back. This makes a great finished edge and frames your art. This assortment pack has one yard of each style. Retail price $8.59 and it's on sale for $5.75. Available in red and creme. Two styles of single rolls of gaffer tape too!

Seven Gypsies makes cool embellishements, like these metal index tabs, for example. They are self-adhesive. You can apply them to the sides of you art or apply them to collage elements used in your art. Retail price is $3.95 and they are on sale for $1.99.

This is only a sample of the great Seven Gypsies products available at Collage Stuff for this special warehouse sale. Once these items are gone, they are gone. Go have fun shopping at Collage Stuff!

December Skinny Book Page

2010-12-20T21:59:00.002-06:00

I can hardly believe that I have my December skinny book done in December! I'm usually behind in my art committments. I couldn't find any mermaid images I really liked, so I ended up buying a mermaid tail collage sheet and adding my own top of the mermaid to the tail. It's not a great graphics editing feat, thank goodness! I've been worrying about doing this mermaid page for months. ACK! It's not a theme that I work with very often and I didn't have any mermaid images I really liked. I like the green page the best. Thanks for stopping by!

Completed Calendar Swap

2010-12-17T14:30:00.002-06:00

Here's a slideshow of the completed calendar. I am short one photo - the first September page by Lori. As soon as I get this photo, I'll update the slide show.

Wrapping up the 2011 calendar

2010-12-15T10:40:00.002-06:00

This weekend, I'll be finishing up the Collage Stuff 2011 calendar swap. I previously posted a calendar cover. I did nine of those and couldn't do 4 more. I came up with this design for the remaining 4 covers. The background is a vintage dictionary page sprayed with some gold glitter spray and overstamped with a background stamp and blue ink. The waves are from the October Afternoon Seaside paper pack. The memorandum background and the bingo card are from a collage sheet I bought on Etsy. I changed the bingo card to say "2011" at the top and tweaked the blue color a bit.

The mermaid... I have to do a mermaid skinny book page this month too. I couldn't find any mermaids anywhere that I liked. I made my own. I bought a collage sheet of mermaid tails on Etsy and combined it with an image from my Starlets collage sheet. She's highlighted with a yellow Spica glitter pen. The white fish German scrap is also highlighted with the yellow Spica glitter pen. I used glue dots to glue down the Yellow Iris Shell Sequins. I colored the clear jewels at the bottom with a blue Copic marker.

Thanks for stopping by!

Another variation

2010-12-04T16:06:00.003-06:00

I had to go to Hobby Lobby to pick up matboard and the scrapbook papers were on 1/2 off! Woo hoo! I picked up this sheet music paper and some pre-folded "note cards" for my Christmas cards. Here's another variation on this Christmas card design. The Christmas floral Victorian scrap used on this card is in stock at Collage Stuff. I switched from a red German heart scrap to gold as the red papers I used are a darker red than the bright red hearts. This is my preferred design. I don't send many Christmas cards, so it won't be hard to get a few of these done.

A variation

2010-12-03T19:52:00.003-06:00

After I finished the card in the previous post, I stayed up later and worked on this one for a few minutes. It's the same basic design, changed up a little bit. I cut the girl out and glued her to a vintage German/English dictionary page and then glued the German scrap heart over that. I cut one of the new red medal German scrap pieces in two and glued one half right above the heart. The scroll stamping was done at the end as an after thought. It would look better doing this first.

Christmas Card Prototype

2010-11-30T22:21:00.003-06:00

It's now 10:30pm and I have to be on a 7:20am flight in the morning for work. That means getting up at 4:00am or so. I told myself I would be asleep by now, but NOOOOoooooo! About an hour ago, I decided I'd check my front porch because the UPS people are sneaky. They leave packages late and don't knock on my door. I found a shipment of German scrap/Victorian scraps on my porch. I've been obsessing about Christmas cards - getting some easy ones done. Of course, I opened the box and started thinking about how I could use this stuff for Christmas cards (instead of sleeping !).

The Christmas floral scrap is new. It's on a sheet with 2 Santas. The red German scrap hearts have been in stock for a while. The girl is from the Bright Christmas collage sheet. The green paper is from the Making Memories Noel paper pack. The lace is the Collage Stuff red vintage lace. This is really easy. (Over the Thanksgiving holiday I watched some videos of other people's version of easy Christmas cards - not my version of easy!) I'm thinking of all sorts of ways to change it up - add stamping in the background, use some sheet music in the background, add some bling, add words, don't use the lace, use some German scrap borders or other ribbon etc. I put this together in less than 5 minutes after I got all the parts assembled and after the idea had gelled in my head. There are a lot of things I can do to jazz up this simple design. Maybe this will help you if you're like me, worrying about getting some easy Christmas cards done!

Skinny book page - Song of the Moonbeams

2010-11-28T11:01:00.003-06:00

This is the back of the skinny book page. This one is called "Song of the Moonbeams." I'll hit the high points on how I created this. The background is a vintage dictionary page that been smudged with white paint, stamped with a scrolly stamp and then smudged with more paint and a little gold Glimmer Mist. I scanned in some old sheet music, sized it down, and printed it. I crumbled it up and rubbed Old Paper distess ink on it, and then ironed it flat. There's red patterned scrapbook papter at the top and bottom smudged with paint and stamped. The vintage vocabulary card was edged with the distress ink, stamped with the scrolly stamp and then part of the stamping was highlighted with a gold Spica glitter pen. I cut the flower from some old wide lace and applied Old Paper ink. I left the white lace white. The gold moon was smudged with white paint. The woman is from the Collage Stuff vintage image CD #1. I edged and highlighted her with a gold Spica glitter pen. The stars are confetti applied with rolled up glue dots. Another skinny book page done!

New Postcard

2010-11-27T21:07:00.003-06:00

A new postcard! I liked my "tiny dancer" design in the previous post, so I decided to create a new postcard loosely based on that design. Collage Stuff products used in this design include the Vintage Image CD#2 and Tiny Treasures Collage Sheet. This postcard will arrive in 2-3 weeks and will ship with Collage Stuff orders then.

November Skinny Book Page - Tiny Dancer

2010-11-27T13:55:00.004-06:00

The theme for this skinny book is "Grungy and Rusty" and the person likes vintage, doors, windows and etc. I've been agonizing over how to do this - no ideas period. So here's what I've come up with for one side of the page. It's called "tiny dancer." This page is 4 x 8". The background is a vintage French/English dictionary page that has been dulled down with some white paint. I printed off the red stamps, metal tag, window and fairy/flower image from an old Melanie Sage image CD that I have. I put the stamps at the top and bottom. The stamps at the top are all covered up. I dulled down the red stamps with white paint. After I had the stamps glued down, I overstamped with a Tim Holtz scrolly stamp.

The images of the school children behind the dancer are from the Collage Stuff Vintage Image CD #2. This is my favorite image on the whole CD. It's something like a proof sheet from school kids getting their yearbook photos taken. The image itself was damaged and grungy when I bought it. I printed this image on a transparency and painted it white paint on the back. I used gold brads to attach it to the background.

I cut the window image to the right size and edged it with black ink. The dancer is from the Collage Stuff Tiny Treasures collage sheet. This is another one of my favorite images. I cut her out of her background and highlighted her with a gold Spica glitter pen. She was glued down on the window image. I glued down the window/dancer image so that I could have the dancer stand on the "metal" tag. I added the flower/fairy image for a touch of whimsy. I decided the dancer image needed somthing, so I inked up a text stamp with blank ink, stamped off on a piece of paper and then stamped on the dancer image. I wanted the words to show, but not to be really dark.

At the top, I started out with two of the "metal tags" and I decided I didn't like it. I went through my vocabulary cards and found this one that starts with "fairy tale." I edged it with black ink and glued it down. It was too plain, so I took some German scrap stars, cut them down and smudged them with white paint, and put them in the corner.

The words "tiny dancer" were created at the Acme label maker website.

I think this is sufficiently grungy. The green letters on the vocabulary card echo the green in the leaves in the flower/fairy image. There's a hint of red in the flower/fairy image to go with the red stamps.

Tomorrow I will work on the back of this page. Not a single idea yet for the back of the page. My muse is hiding from me.

Thanks for stopping by!

September Calendar Page

2010-11-20T11:13:00.005-06:00

I'm hosting a hand-made calendar swap at the Collage Stuff yahoo group and it appears that I'm going to need to conplete the month of September. Here's my design. The page is 4 x 6". I got the new Jenni Bowlin mini ATC bingo cards with the months in stock this week and I've been thinking about using them. This is the perfect opportunity. I also got the new Tim Holtz Mini Ornamental Mover and Shapers Die in stock this week too. It's the perfect size for a 4 x 6" project. The fairy and the roses are from the 7344 Victoian Scrap. I printed out the calendar from MS Word and sized it down smaller. I colored the calendar with a green Copic marker. I edged the page with a bronze Copic marker. I added three little jewels above the bingo card. This is a sinple design with just a lot of cutting and pasting. Twelve more to go!

October ATC Swap 2.0

2010-11-13T11:24:00.002-06:00

I decided that my original ATC design really needed something. Here's the same ATC with just a couple of changes that I think make this design more pleasing to the eye. Change #1 - I used a Tim Holtz scrolly stamp to overstamp the sheet music. This adds visual interest. Change #2- I changed the placement of the brown German scrap border to better frame the focal point. Change #3 - I added red color to the "happy" definition. Now there is red at the top and bottom of the ATC which again serves to better frame the focal point. I hope this gives you some ideas how to upgrade your own art if you feel that it needs that elusive something else!

October Collage Stuff ATC Swap

2010-11-13T10:46:00.002-06:00

Here's my design for the October ATC swap at Collage Stuff. The theme is "Precious Pets." It's simple! The background is some Seven Gypsies paper. I tore some vintage sheet music and colored it red with some of my home-made Distress Ink Perfect Pearls Mist. The girl is from the Christmas Fun collage sheet. I colored the flowers in the girl's hair with a red Spica glitter pen. I put the Brown Tiny Flower German scrap border at the left side and top. I added a jewel heart brad. I scanned in an old dictionary page to get the definition of happy. I printed this out and applied it at the bottom of the ATC. I used a black Copic marker to go around the edges of the ATC. If had more time this morning, I'm sure these ATC's would be a little more detailed, but alas, this will have to do! Thanks for stopping by!

Calendar Cover

2010-10-31T12:45:00.003-05:00

I host a handmade calendar swap at the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group. This is the second year for this swap. The pages are 4 x 6". I do the front cover and the participants do the months. This is the cover design for the 2011 calendar. I thought about putting something about 2011 on this, but I think I'll put the 2011 verbiage on the back with my contact info. I started out with the dots paper from the October Afternoon Modern Homemaker 8 x 8" paper pad. I got these papers in stock this week and they have been calling to me. The advertisements are also from the Modern Homemaker paper pad. The paper pad is retro, so I used images from the Catnip Designs Retro Girls collage sheet. Catnip Designs collage sheets are exclusive to Collage Stuff and I love them! I glued down the ads, then the girl, then the car. I highlighted each image with a Spica Glitter Pen - either red or blue. I added the Collage Stuff red vintage lace at the bottom with glue dots. I put a Collage Stuff Tiny Metal Rose on the girl's hand with a pop-up glue dot. The pop-up glue dots are very thick and sticky. Using Diamond Glaze, I glued down a Collage STuff Red Bingo Marker #2 over the children in the ad at the top right. I decided it needed something else. In Excel, I made a page that is tiny white and red checks. I printed it and cut the page into thin strips and glued those down in some of the empty spaces. The calendars will be bound at the top with a Bind-It-All. Thanks for stopping by!

New postcards!

2010-10-19T10:26:00.002-05:00

A couple of simple postcard designs. The first postcard, the Christmas one, will begin shipping with Collage Stuff orders closer to Christmas. The second postcard is shipping with orders now. The statue is from the "Enduring Love" collage sheet.

Simple Halloween ATCs

2010-10-16T10:59:00.006-05:00

The September Collage Stuff ATC swap is Halloween-themed. I'm swapping the ATCs out this weekend. Last night at 10pm, I decided to make a few ATCs for the swap. I used the Making Memories Toil and Trouble 8 x 8" paper pack, Collage Stuff Black Wide Vintage Lace and some Halloween die cuts from K and Company. Very easy. Very silly. Very basic.

September Skinny Book Page

2010-10-02T17:35:00.003-05:00

As usual, I am behind on my art obligations. I just finished my September skinny book page today. I needed inspiration, so I went to Etsy this morning and perused digital collage sheets. I bought a collage sheet that has the large dress form images. The theme for this month's book was artist choice and boy, I needed an artist choice theme today! The main image is a mermaid dress form. I used some pinkish scrapbook paper and applied the white sequin waste with diamond glaze. The sequin waste kinda reminds me of a net (thinking of the sea here!). The victorian scrap roses, fish and shell are available at Collage Stuff. I glued those down next. I glued the main image down on chipboard and used pop dots to pop it up a little. I used one of the tissue tapes from the Tim Hotlz Symphony tissue tapes to frame the edges. Easy!

The colors aren't quite right on this photo, but that happens with photos. I used a printed light aqua scrapbook paper and overstamped it with a text stamp using a beige Brilliance ink. It's very subtle. I cut another piece of scrapbook paper to back the main image. I glued down the main image. I added Seafoam Fleur Border German Scrap as shown and then more victorian scrap roses. I also finished the edges on this with the same tissue tape. Try as I might, I always get something crooked. I worked on getting the border strips straight and they refused! Maybe I was seeing crooked? Another skinny book page done! Woo hoo!

A Merry Halloween LFB

2010-09-25T19:26:00.002-05:00

I hope you enjoy this Halloween art created by the members of the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group!

Queen of Hearts ATC

2010-09-04T20:08:00.002-05:00

The theme for the August Collage Stuff Yahoo Group ATC swap is "Games People Play." I'm behind on getting mine done. I had to come up with a very quick and easy design to make at least 13 of these tonight. I used a Jenni Bowlin Valentine ATC Bingo Card. The hearts playing card image is from one of the Collage Stuff Postcards collage sheets. The woman image is from the Collage Stuff "Fabulous Faces" collage sheet. I used a Silver Royal German Scrap Crown and Pink Baroque Border German Scrap. Thanks for stopping by!

Finished Covers for "A Merry Halloween" LFB

2010-09-01T14:05:00.003-05:00

This is the final design for the front cover.

This is the final design for the back of the front cover.

I always make the back covers for the little fat books digitally. This is the front of the back cover. I scanned in the Orange Fancy Rosettes German scrap to use for this. The woman is from the "Witchy Woman" collage sheet. The "Fortune" background is from the Crafty Secrets Halloween Creative Scrap. The black flower was originally white, but I colored it with a black Copic marker. It's a Prima craftable flowers mini. The scrolls on the diamond background and the little ravens were added with my digital imaging software.

The background paper is actually yellow and black, but the color is washed out. All of the images are from the Craft Secrets Halloween Creative Scraps. It's a simple design!

A Merry Halloween

2010-08-29T16:44:00.003-05:00

At the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group, we're doing a Halloween themed little fat book (LFB) swap. It's titled "A Merry Halloween." I'm always behind on my art projects, but I have the design done for the front cover. Woo hoo! The front of the page uses two different Little Yellow Bicycle "Booville" scrapbook papers. I may size the two pieces a little differently for the rest of the pages. I applied the Collage Stuff "Wide Black Vintage Lace" next. The witch is the Tim Holtz "Retro Witch" rubber stamp. I stamped her on white cardstock with black ink. In person, it's more colorful. I colored this image with my Copic markers. The face is actually a light green. The tongue and part of the eyes are purple. The tooth is a bright yellow. The outer rim of the eye is colored with a yellow neon highlighter. I used Ranger "orange peel" Stickles glitter glue on the witch hat. After I put down the witch with Glue Dots Pop-up Dots, I realized it needed something else, so I pulled the witch back up and applied a Gold Spider Web German scrap piece. I printed the words off on my coputer and colored them with a Copic marker. I used a black Copic marker on the edges.

Here's the back. The background paper is black and white, but I used an orange Copic marker to color the white parts. The "treat" bingo card and "costume party" images are from the new Crafty Secrets "Halloween Greetings" Creative Scraps. The kids in costumes are from the new Collage Stuff "Trick or Treat" collage sheet. The little flower is from the Prima Craftable Flowers Minis. These flowers are tiny and white. I colored it with my Copic marker and applied some the orange peel Stickles glitter glue. I may move the text part around on subsequent pages.

Both of these designs are simple really. I have to make 16 of them, so I need something simple that's still fun.

New Halloween Collage Sheet

2010-08-27T16:12:00.003-05:00

A brand new collage sheet for Halloween - "Trick or Treat"! Five different photos in various sizes of kids in Halloween costumes. Some of the photos have frames or borders that give the appearance of a snapshot.

Skinny Book Page

2010-08-22T20:12:00.003-05:00

Here's the August skinny book page. I had to get it done because I won't have time this week and this weekend, we're going to attend some Tim Holtz classes. The young man image is Elliot, from the "Elliot" collage sheet minus the fairy wings. I used some postcard scrapbook paper for the background, and added some Seven Gypsies tissue paper from the stash. I applied some tan acrylic paint to blend everything. I added the black/patterned scrapbook paper at two corners and tan painted them to blend them in. I found the rub-ons, calendar, watch and clock hand in the stash. Amazing what I can find in my art stashes. I like the way this page turned out. It flowed and was effortless. I wish I could say the same for the page with the girl. ACK! Three tries and this is what resulted. The background is two different blue/brown scrapbook papers and vintage text. I applied the symphony tissue tape and various paints - white, tan, gold, and yellow. I overstamped part of this with a scrolly stamp. I can nearly always come up with a background that I like, but then it's "what will go on this background?" or it's what I want to put on the background doesn't work. The girl is from the "Fairy Song" collage sheet. I added some gold french German scrap border and three German scrap butterflies. The little button thing under the flowers is a rub-on, but it was so old (found it in the stash) that it wouldn't even rub-on. I had to glue this on. I applied the white and yellow flowers plus button for the center with pop-up glue dots. Yippee! August is done!

New Halloween Collage Sheets!

2010-08-17T16:43:00.002-05:00

I love Halloween! Teri at Catnip Designs graciously created these two new collage sheets. They are in transit and will be available at Collage Stuff this weekend. Catnip Designs collage sheets are exclusive to Collage Stuff.

New postcard

2010-08-17T16:33:00.002-05:00

The stash of postcards that I send out with Collage Stuff orders is getting small, so I designed a new one! This one is supposed to have a school theme. See what you think! The school is from the Collage Stuff "Institutions of Learning" collage sheet. The text is from a vintage school text book. It's kind of fun. The story was about an "ugly" Princess and the Prince who came to take her away. The photo of the school children is from the "Class Photos" collage sheet from Collage Stuff. Now, the "teacher", Miss Miller! I just got my hands on this image and I love it. It's not on a collage sheet yet. I added the bird and the corner vines with my digital imaging software. This postcard will be in two versions - an oversize version that I don't like that much and the standard size shown above.

Collage Stuff July ATC swap

2010-08-03T15:31:00.003-05:00

I'm always behind on the Collage Stuff ATC swaps. The July theme was "Cemetery Imagery." I just took this photo and the colors are not right and I couldn't get colors right in my graphics eding software program. The angel is much more green and the sheet music is not white. The sheet music is old so it's more of a beige. I have green gems on this piece, because in real life, it's a lot more green. Oh well! The little angel is from the Collage Stuff "She's a Rainbow" collage sheet. I colored the bars on sheet music and the text halo with a Copic marker. I outlined everything with the same Copic marker. I sealed the ATC with some Golden Soft Gel Medium Glossy. The black outline was done with a black Copic marker. I need to make 12 of these!

Back of Skinny Book Page

2010-08-01T12:02:00.002-05:00

This is the back of the "Love" skinny book page. I started looking for love and nature quotes on the web this morning and found "Love is a canvas furnished by nature," by Voltaire. The background paper is shades of purples and pink. It's overstamped with a text stamp and a greem distress ink. I painted the yellow crackle paint all around the edges in a haphazard fashion. I glued down two purple UK bus tickets, followed by the floral and child Victorian scraps. I highlighted several small portions of the scrap with purple glitter glue. The person with the "love" theme also likes leaves, so I added three pieces of May Arts green leaf trim at the top left. I printed the words out on my computer and colored them with a yellow Copic marker.

Skinny Book Page with Additions

2010-07-31T17:09:00.002-05:00

I started looking at the page I had done (previous post) and decided it was lacking. So I added some more stuff. I added the "Paris" and "city of". I added the brown lace across the bottom. I like this better! I didn't mention this before, but I used Copic markers to color the images. I think still fits in the with the "love" theme. It's my interpretation at least!

July Skinny Book Page

2010-07-31T16:38:00.002-05:00

I'm behind this month on my skinny book page. The usual! The theme for this page is "love" - not my favorite theme, but that's neither here nor there. This page uses images from the "Silent Guardians", "Happy Together", and "Vintage Paris" collage sheets. There's an ornate plate with an adage ticket "love".

Day Three at CHA

2010-07-28T19:07:00.003-05:00

I am back in Houston, blogging from home. Today, I went to my Crafty Secrets class at 7am. ACK! The class was full. Everyone was sorta bleary eyed, but we had fun.

This is a simple card we made using the new set of bird stamps. It has several tiny birds, some words and 3 different bird cages. I love this stamp set. It's on order. Have you seen the Crafty Secrets shadow box kits? The shadow box is an Acc-Cut die. This photo shows the project flat on the table. We used the new Sewing Creative Scraps and the new Material Girl stamp set. I know I ordered the stamps and I hope I ordered the Creative Scraps. I have a dozen of these kits with the Altered Fairy Creative Scraps.

Here's a close-up of the left-side.

Here's a close-up of the middle page.

And here is the right side. The little needle packet actually opens up and there is a little piece of felt with straight pins.

These shadow box kits are actually class kits, so the instructions are OK, but not exactly step by step. They are EASY to put together, just crease on the folds that are made when the cardstock is die cut and apply some adhesive.

So this concludes my CHA diary. I've ordered many products that I haven't shown. Things will arrive in the store at different times. Some of the Tim Holtz items will ship in September and October. The Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz stamps should be here in 2-3 weeks.

Thanks for following along!

Day Two at CHA

2010-07-27T20:59:00.011-05:00

Right before the show opens, a large crowd of people wait for the doors to be opened. Before the show begins, a local government official gives a little opening speech. I believe it was the mayor of Chicago today. I never really pay attention in speeches. I took a class this morning, but I don't have any photos. I didn't do much with the class materials.

I visited the May Arts booth, but didn't order any ribbon or trim today. I'm going to order online.

May Arts has so much beautiful ribbon that it's hard to decide what to buy.

The Ranger booth was next. Ranger now makes Perfect Pearls Mist. I love my homemade Perfect Pearls Mist, so I ordered 10 colors of "real" Perfect Pearls Mist.

Here's a photo of the Perfect Pearls Mist. You can't tell a lot about shiny things in photographs. One good thing about the Perfect Pearls Mist is that it retails for $5 if I remeber correctly. This is substantially less than other sparkly mist products.

Lucky me! Ranger also carriers the Tim Holtz idea-ology and Alterations. I ordered all the new Halloween dies and new texture folders.

New ATC blanks! Manilla, glossy paper, sticky back canvas in white and natural! Cool!

Stamper's Anonymous was next. I ordered all of the Tim Holtz vinyl cling stamps. I also ordered several of the steps wood-mounted - the retro witch, the retro owl, the witch hazel label and the sketched raven.

Stanislaus Imports! The first I asked about was the clock buttons. They will be back in stock soon. I ordered 2 gross of the two smallest sizes. They will ship as soon as they become available. These are magnifying watch faces in clear and colors. Too cool!

These photos are not the greatest, but this a set of watch faces. These watch faces have patterns or numbers.

Watch part "innards". Teeny tiny watch parts!

I'm not sure what to call this, but maybe a watch face dial? I thought this was cool. The Stanislaus employees asked me how I would use this. I spoke with the owner of the company and told him how they would great frames.

Advantus. I forget what these little Tim Holtz shadow box things are called, but here's one all decorated up. Tim's papers are in the background and tissue tape holds down the papers.

There's a new Ideaology embellishment called trimmings. It comes in 3 ribbon or trim styles to a pack in white. Tim has colored the trim all of the above colors with a mini mister filled with diluted distress re-inker.

Another photo of the shadow box things. I ordered the two smallest ones. I ordered all of the new ideaology - embellishments, papers, tissue tapes etc.

Crafy Secrets! They always have a large amont of beautiful samples. They cater more to the greeting card artist.

I re-ordered the Alice in Wonderland clear stamp set.

New Halloween clear stamp set.

I believe this one is called Banners and it was voted the most popular new stamp set on the Crafty Secrets blog.

A new birdies stamp set.

Crafty Secrets makes postcard kits. Each kit comes with several clear stamps, 6 postcard bases and other little ephemera and embellishments. Here's a couple of samples from the Halloween postcard kit. I ordered Halloween and Christmas styles.

Tattered Angels. I've been wanting to stock some of the glimmer mist. I ordered all 6 of the one ounce sampler packs. They have three coordinating colors plus a 4th as an extra sparkly final coat. The packs also have instructions. I like these kits. For about half the price of two regular 2 oz bottles of glimmer mist, you can try 4 different colors of the one oz bottles.

Maya Road - Ordered these little composite flowers. They are small. You could use them on ATC's.

Two new trinket pins for Christmas - green vintage pearl and light green Christmas or pine trees.

Melissa Frances vintage ephemera pack.

Vintage ephemera stickers. There are several different styles.

This is new Melissa Frances christmas paper pack. I ordered it in the 8 x 8 size.

October Afternoon - I ordered several of the 8 x 8" paper packs like this one.

October Afternoon has the large word card books that coordinate with the papers. I ordered some of these.

Another mini paper pack - Modern Homemaker.

October Afternoon wildcards coordinate with the papers. They are 2.5 x 3.5". Sold to me for you!

Alphabet cards - 2.5 x 3.5" vintage alphabet lovelies!

These two photos show two of the new Prima lines. I ordered the mini paper packs, small tube of matching flowers and matching pebbles.

This photo kinda says it all. Pebbles with Gems!

I went to Seven Gypsies and forgot to take photos. I tried taking photos from the catalog in the hotel tonight and they all looked totally yellow and yuck. The lamps have a yellow cast. I ordered some cool new Seven Gypsies stuff - mini paper packs, bird/nature ATC kits, mini ephemera packs, and all of the new rub-ons. You'll love all this stuff.

I had this post all done, tried to save it and the hotel internet kicked me off. My blogging software had saved a draft, but I had to go back and re-type a bunch of this. Since I did this twice, the second time I was a lot more succint and not so chatty.

I have a class with Crafty Secrets in the morning at the ungodly hour of 7am. After the class, I'll be on a plane back to Houston. Thanks for checking in and following along with me the CHA show.

Day One at CHA

2010-07-26T21:46:00.004-05:00

I am here in Chicago for the Summer Craft and Hobby (CHA) Show. Today is an "education" day. For me this means, take a couple of classes! I took a class with Melissa Frances and Hero Arts.

Here is the supply kit for the Melissa Frances class. It was called "Totally Techniques."

Here is the front cover of the little book we made. It had too many pages and I didn't even come close to getting done. We used MF silver glass glitter on the cover and I loved it! It isn't a blinding bright silver, but kinda reminded me of little crushed up mirrors, if that makes any sense. I really liked it. I didn't follow the project design 100% for this cover. I used the image of the little girl instead of two bright gold glittery letter. We used a really cook MF ephemera kit. It has little several photos like the one above, the ribbon above and other trims, some white pearls, and I can't remember what all else. It was cool though. And we used some really wonderful vintage ephemera stickers. I will probably have to order this stuff.

Here's another little photo thing from the ephemera kit.

Hero Arts sponsored my second class. It was a Christmas-themed class. We made greeting cards. This is a photo of some of the stuff I brought home with me from the class.

We also brought these stamps home with us. This is a special "retailer" pack of stamps.

This is another special package of stamps put together for retailers to use in their stores for customer classes, demos, etc.

The leaves are little felt leaves. They're a new HA product.

This card uses two of the new Christmas tree stamps, a new felt snowflake, a new background stamp and lots of little red crystals.

This is a little pop-up card that can hold a gift card. It was easy to make. This card uses new snowflake stamps.

This tag shape was cut with one of the Tim Holtz alterations dies. It's also a gift card holder.

Believe it or not, we made a tiny gift bag out of an envelope. I smashed it back flat for transport home.

I liked both the classes. I'm definitely going to order some of the new Melissa Frances stuff.

Tomorrow I have an 8am class with Hampton Arts and then all day at show trying not to spend too much money on new store inventory.

Wednesday morning at 7am (GAH! - I'm NOT a morning person!) I have a class with Crafty Secrets, will go to show for just a bit and then back to Houston.

I'll take photos tomorrow of the stuff that I'm ordering! My must see vendors are Stamper's Anonymous, Advantus, Stanislaus Imports, Melissa Frances, October Afternoon, Maya Road, 7 Gypsies, Ranger, May Arts, Crafty Secrets, Tattered Angels, Prima and a few more. There's a new place I'm going to visit - Bottle Cap Inc. Maybe I'll end up ordering some cool bottle caps. We'll see!

It'll be late again tomorrow night before I get a chance to blog. Stay tuned!!!