focusing, aka Mark Twain

just what I love, flipping through a fashion magazine seeing unrealistic shaped models wearing out of the stratosphere priced clothes that will NEVER be seen in the community in which I live. *Grin* But I DO appreciate the art of the AD's. And I enjoyed perusing the latest magazine in the break room. I actually loved this Fontainebleau ad, of which I 'lifted' the shades only.

The reflection in the lenses, one in crisp focus and one out of focus spoke to me. I hope you will see the irony as well. Sometimes we have to move slightly to see the true picture (or person). The Mark Twain quote:

You cannot depend on your eyes 
when your imagination is out
of focus.

I off stamped until I ran out of paper. And then used Washi tape to mark the date. There is more fun Washi tape running across the inside of the card.

Have a fantastically focused day, my artful friends.

Excuse me while I go clean my spectacles.

mirror, mirror, on the wall...

nightmares or dreams

 who's the fairest maid of all? Well, I know you said something about
embracing my imperfections, but heavens to Betsy, I never expected
to be seeing this reflected back at me.

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers are looking for a few good
recruits. Do you have what it takes?
Check it out.
It's a SNARK OFF!!!















In thinking about what I could bring to the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers, I pondered what my humor means to me.  I am not a teller of jokes.  Never can remember a punch line for one thing!
I like life events that are funny, I certainly have lots of those.  Puns are near and dear to my heart as well.  Many people have described my humor as wicked.  I am thinking them meant to say thought
provoking.

who's perfect?

So here you have a classic beauty getting ready for a romantic evening on the town.  She is lovely, right? Well, in her head is Marge...40 years from now or is that Marge 40 years ago? No matter

the humor goes on. We are still our best selves inside. And laughter is the best medicine. I'll 

have mine now...double dose, pretty please.

Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect, it means you decide to see beyond the imperfections. Thanks for stopping by, hope you grinned while here.

what's the setting is yoUR dryer?

Marge (Art Impressions) is having a meltdown, what with it being Monday and laundry all at the same time!  When I spied an ad recently for these yellow dryers and washer in a fashion magazine,
I knew it would make a humorous card.

 Just look at the call over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: SoSS #56- J is for Joke.
Marge might be distressed, but let's dial down normal and see if it doesn't help.
I used a long retired Basic Grey 'Urban Prairie' pattern for the wallpaper background.
A bit of cotton trim, a few staples.
Marge was fussy cut and placed  along side that D-luxe dryers.
She was colored with Copics.

I definitely like my humor on the subtle side.  How about you?
Now about that spin cycle...

nature is the art of God

Being an observer of nature and the passage of seasons, it's definitely Spring in the Pacific Northwest. Every kind of bulb pushing through the earth to put on a show of color.  And I am guessing the caterpillars are waking up now that new leaves are unfurling on the perennials.  Those furry, creepy crawlers will eat their weight in my garden preparing to burst forth in a myriad of color, eventually spreading their wings and flying to and fro.

I am entering this into the Fashionable Stamping Challenges #109 Butterflies.  The call was to use butterflies on your work.  I managed to find a mix of butterflies and moths in my collection.

They were stamped on watercolor paper with Archival Black.  All were colored with Caran d'Ache watercolor crayons and Twinkling H2O's.  The sentiment is from Wordsworth.  It was inked with Memento Luxe 'Tuxedo Black'.  I used a Club Scrap bamboo fragment to make the frame.

Sunday Stamps 'Rainbow Fun'  is a riot of color.  Seeing their challenge made it easy to get those winged creatures out.  I remember when my sons were learning their colors, we had a saying for

RYOGBV:  [R]ainbows [O]ver [Y]ou, {G}od's [B]lessed [V]ow.  Red, Orange, Yellow, Green,

Blue, and Violet.

Thanks for stopping by.  I wish you a colorful week

this one's for you, friend...

Let's go back to Paris, the most beautiful city in the world. Back to an earlier time, earlier 'us~es'. Let us remember when hope was bright and shining and life was spread out before us fresh. Breathe. Remember all those paths and journeys and all the strength lived through.  

I've left some lights on in the windows. But I know you won't need them, you've got that light inside...

This card made it's self friends...don't you just love it when that happens...I knew I wanted to use these Tim Holtz images...the plane is inked with Stazon onto up cycled packaging acetate, fussy cut and popped above the Basic Grey 'Adrift' ocean wave papers.  Someone is on a journey back to the city of lights...another TH image the Eiffel Tower collage (I used VersaFine Majestic Blue).  The city townhouse paper is from Basic Grey 'Mon Ami'.  I colored lights in one window with a yellow Sharpie.  Washi tape on the diagonal has to do with degrees perhaps a nautical term and the black diamonds is paper tape.  My 'tea bag fortune' saved from Yogi teas spells it all out...I just knew it would find a useful home on a piece of art one day.

Thanks for stopping by. I can just see beacons of lights shining in the darkness...journey on, light the way.

it ain't easy being green!

Oh, dear March, when Spring steps forth, reminding us of all things green.

And so the Curtain Call Challenge for March 1 is an Inspiration Challenge with this yummy photograph.  I haven't had the pleasure to sink my teeth into a Key Lime cupcake, but you can bet I'll put it on my list.  So refreshing, don't you think?

Having a wonderful cupcake stamp from Oxford Impressions, I decided to go with a literal take on the photograph.  My cupcake liner was inked onto Basic Grey paper from the Fact group and run through a paper crimper.  The delicious frosting top was embossed with Sea Foam white embossing powder.  

The real star of my Key Lime goodness is my beautiful amphibian ballerina.  Doesn't she have the most perfect form?  The stamp from Stampendous was inked onto watercolor paper that I had earlier created.  I love the mottled skin.  Her skirt is multilayered.  First with a double layer of the white embossed with Silver Pearl ep and colored with a Spica clear marker and the underlayer done in a grey.  The black band is vintage German scrap.  And those minty green flower petals...cut from a silk scrap and attached as a slip.  A tea tiny gold crown sits on her head.

The background has been stencils with Donna Downey collage stencil in various shades of Tim Holtz distress inks.  I used a Sofft sponge to dab.  A couple of sequins, the bright Key Lime net cut into points just like the skirt.

Since this is an inspiration card, I wanted to
encourage my Key Limey ballerina to keep
her head held high, to keep reaching for the
fulfillment of her wonderous froggie dreams.
The stamp is a classic Hamton Art Stamp
from the '90's.  So things never change, and I
don't know about you, but for that I will jump
up and take a twirl...one must ALWAYS have
a dream or two!


Thanks for dancing by today...may you twirl
beautifully...

sisters and nightmares...

 Up next for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers:SoSS#53  M is for Mixed Media.  Check out the challenge by clicking my link.   These sisters could be Edna's long lost cousins.

Well in the old days, like my sissies up there in the photo, it was called collage.  But Mixed works for me.  Here is my creative process:

I love shoes, though I ruined my feet at the altar of fashion.  But these days, when I stumble across really fancy high heels, I must free them from their bondage (magazine), fussy cutting.  I knew these Jessica Simpson red suede HigH hEeLs would make a perfect statement one day.  Today is the day.

Actually I was waiting for these sissies...and my thoughtful son 'happened' upon the original of my photo and figured I'd be able to use them in a work of he{art}.  The original is a color photo from sometime in the late '50's or early '60's I am guessing.  I photo copied the original to keep it safe and worked with the black and white.  First thing I did was use my early '00's deckle edged scissors that came in a warehouse pac (anyone still use them) to create the edge the old brownie camera prints had.  That edge was then embossed with Sea Foam White embossing powder...looks pretty realistic, right?  Dug for the metal photo corners.

 Dry embossed the black background with a beautiful

Anna Griffin folder.

The thought bubbles are from two different companies, the oval shaped one is a Heidi Swapp, can't recall the rectangular one.  They were cut from watercolored paper already colored in the aqua hues.  I hand lettered:

sis, remember those Italian instruments of tortures?  Nashville~Harvey's 1963.

oh, those Sexy red high heels~my bunions, my hammer toe, the nightmares.

The netting at the top reminded me of the old hair nets you used to see on ladies of a certain decade.  I thought it was the perfect finishing touch.  Please let me know how I did and how 'bout those red suede shoes?

Thanks for stopping by.

It's Valentines...a special day to celebrate

...love.  Who doesn't want to make one somebody's heart flutter?  It's been forever since Eunice dropped into my studio.  She asked me for something special this year.

I couldn't resist working in a mixed media background with the Dylan Reaveley star stencil.  I used ColourArte's Radiant Gel in Coral Berry.  When it was dry, I rubbed several Gelatos over the top to color the background.

'Eunice' is a 'J Wright' stamp from the discontinued Stamps Happen Company.  She is colored with Copics and Stickles.  I added the netting, crochetd skirt and the silk flower petal underskirt.  The scarf is a bit of gauze colored with markers.  The I love you's are confetti that I embossed in matte powders.

I am entering this card in the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers:
Soss #52 K is for Kiss.  If anyone is snarky, Eunice certainly qualifies.

This card also hits the Mixed Media Card Challenge: #20 {RED}.  To use red and optional hearts on your card.  I've got red net for Eunices' skirt, the heart shaped candy box and  bits of red
                                                                                                           scattered around her outfit!




Here's to Valentine's day and wishing you love overflowing...well, maybe not as overflow as Eunice's bodice...but a cup full~just the same!  What is love?   Recall the Jim Carrey SNL skit.  There are quite a few versions on YouTube.  grin.  That will get you started....

a question for you...

a question for you...

I am having such fun playing with 'ancient' stamps from my stash.  Today I used this Stamps Happen image, a Dolly Mama.  The image was inked with Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and colored with Copics.  I used Acrylic Paint for the polka dots.  Added a bit of scrap with net (left over from her underskirt, grin.) at the bottom right.


The paper panels are from two different Basic Grey patterns.  B-Side and Highline.  This card was entered over on Splitcoaststampers SC579 today.  I took a bit of liberty with the panels, turned it vertical.  But then that's art, right?

The Paper Players PP281 has a theme challenge this week.  LeAnne issued a call to use a dog or cat on your card.  Well, how about that fluffy, pampered pink feline?


And I ask the rhetorical question, does my derriere look big in this?  Thanks for stopping by today.  And leaving a comment??? I'm totally cool with that!

heart 2 he{ART}

Hello again artful friends,

I've had time to play in the studio recently and am focusing on Valentine's.  It's easy to create with the color palette associated with hearts, don't you think? The Ways to Use it Challenge on Splitcoaststampers  04 February 16 was all about tape.  I chose the Magic Masking Tape Technique.  Easy Peasy.  You use painters tape and glossy paper.  Apply your ink (I used Distress Inks) to the strip of masking tape.  Three colors. Place them on your glossy paper, lightly pressing down to transfer the inks.  Remove gently and continue.

The City Crafter Challenge Week 297: Fantastic Plastic  call is to use plastic in some way on your project.  I chose to use acetate packaging, stamping my anatomical heart from 100 Proof Press with Stazon 'Jet Black' ink.  I also used a hand craved heart stamp inked with Stazon 'Blazing Red' on acetate.  Check out City Crafter Challenges by clicking my link.  Current challenge ends 9 February 16.

you & me

  

I stamped Technique Tuesdays 'Friends' acrylic set 'You & Me with Archival Ink's Brilliance 'Moonlight White'.  Can you see it ever so faintly at the bottom?

I appreciate all your comments, hoping your heartbeats strong for those you love.

heart tattoos, faulty fun, and raisin' a glass

What fun to have a chance to create a snarky birthday card for a dear friend who has stepped into the great divide...{50}!  This card is entered into the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers SOSS #50: O is for 50 (surprise)!

I am also entering this in the Seize the Birthday challenge for January 14, 2016. Topping are to be clean and simple.  I kept it at a minimum, but just had to add the champagne.

My main image is a stamp from Stamps Happen.  It is not a current stamp.  I colored the panel with Copics, adding a bit of Stickles for the birthday girls' jewelry.  She has a red tattoo on her back, to remind her of all those who love her!  The glasses dimensional with Glossy Accents.  The Anna Griffin champagne bottle was embossed and a snippet of trim added.  

Thanks so much for stopping by, it's been a long time since I have posted to my blog, many other interesting directions in my life...all good, but it is so rewarding to have my fingers inky, stained, and creativity flowing again.  Happy 2016, may it find you health and every happiness.