Happy 21st Birthday!

My daughter's 21st birthday was on Saturday! It just seems like yesterday that she was a tiny baby. I made her card from a birthday photo of her when she was 3 years old. We spent the day with my Mom going on a House Tour, looking at 9 beautiful houses , and wandering through the rooms. Some were fairly plain, and some were outstanding. My daughter's favourite was an ultra-modern house, with a kitchen imported from Italy. It was pretty impressive! We had lunch at a very popular local restaurant, Pan Chanchos, that was owned by Zal Yanofsky from the Lovin' Spoonful, who also started the restaurant called Chez Piggy. He died a few years back, but his daughter is now keeping them both going. We were on the patio, and though it was a bit chilly at times, the sun came out and warmed us up. Her birthday dinner was at an Italian restaurant called Gustos, fabulous food, and great ambiance. I got my birthday kiss! All in all a wonderful day for both of us!

We started like this...

This is the second technique we tried at our get together (see next full post). It is a layered technique called "Inky Layers" page 20 (Get the book!!). We all loved this technique, even though it was a lot of work. We started with bits of scrap paper...

Some ink...

Some glaze...

i don't have any of this pre-made glaze at home,I will try mixing paint with my clear glaze...

More ink...

Last stage...

Just a few drops of this pearlescent stuff and wipe. I don't have any of this at home, I will have to try something else.

...Finished

Here are the finished ATC's

More ATC Fun...

Once again my friends and I gathered at Marg's house to try some more ATC techniques from Bernie Berlin's book: Artist Trading Card Workshop. We tried 2 techniques this time. The first was called Tissue Paper, on page 43. I won't give the instructions, but urge you to get Bernie's book! I will show you the results, though! This was an easy technique, involving gel medium, tissue paper and paint. Here are some photos. The first is the background finished, the second is the ATC I made with it. The next two were made the same way, but painted different colors. I really liked this technique, and it was very easy! The wine poster was from Altered Pages, and the ribbon from Michael's. The violin tage is a Dollar Store sticker, the background clock is a dawn hauser stamp from Inkadinkadoo, and the boy and his dog is a Tim Holtz stamp.

Some finished ATCs

If you remember last month's experiments with ATCs, we were ironing off embossing and using some cs to pick up the ironed off embossing. Then we rubbed ink over the cs, and the ink stayed on the cs and not on the embossing. These 2 ATCs were made from those "seconds". Both images are from Altered Pages.

Garage Sales

I love going to garage sales this time of year. Last week I got 2 Hero Arts stamps for $1 each, some tassle earrings (for the tassels of course) and some elephant earings (for the charms). This week I found this neat holder for cards or photos for $1, and I'm using it to hold all my Johnny Depp ATC's from a swap last year. Finally, I get to show them off!

GPP Street Team Crusade #8

The Green Pepper Press Street Team has crusades, or challenges, on their blog. This is Crusade #8, to show a cheap tool or trick for art. This is my first time answering a crusade! This pen came to me from my grandmother when she passed away. It is silver, beautiful, ornate and I love it. But it didn't write, it was out of ink. Rather than get new ink for it, I started using it to score my cards. So for the past several years, this has been my scorer for eveything! Works great, the tip is sharp but rolls because it has a ball point pen nib. And I feel so elegant using it!

ByHand Artists May Mingle

This is my contribution to the May Mingle for my ByHand Artists Yahoo group. We each chose a special day in May, I chose Edward Lear's Birthday. My Dad loved limericks, and would say them from memory every once in awhile, when the time was right!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mother, who is always there for me. She is also an awesome artist, working in acrylics on masonite-very large paintings! You can see her work here. She has been a wonderful mother to me and my brother Ken, supporting us in whatever we decide we want to do with our lives.

This is the first time my daughter has been away on Mother's Day, usually we get the 3 generations together, but I guess that's what happens when they grow up. We talk everyday though, and she says "something's in the mail"!

I made this card for my mother from my new Green Pepper Press stamps from Michelle Ward. I love them! Her stamps are the swirls, the letters and the eggs. I made a pink egg for me and a blue egg for my brother. The doors open to reveal a photo of my brother and me when we were little (below). The shrine stamp is from Tin Can Mail (Inkadinkadoo). I used a thin gold Krylon marker for all the intricate celtic designs.

My Mother's Day gift to my Mom this year was a donation in her name to CCFCanada, some items to help third-world families. I know that Malaria is rampant in Africa, and the best defence is mosquito netting, so I donated two mosquito nets, and also a food hamper for a family of 5. I know my mother will be pleased to know that her gift will make a few other mothers very grateful. Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mother's out there!!