Back from the CA State Fair!

We finally made it to the State Fair today on the second to last day!!! We didn't stay all that long because I don't like heat or loud noises and there was lots of both at the fair! We did get to see my cards & layouts on display! And as promised way back in May, here are pictures!

This first picture is yours truly pointing to my 3 cards. . .if you want to see a close ups, click on the name and it will take to the original post: "Thinking of You" (2nd place);"Happy Birthday" (2nd place); Believe (3rd place) is below!

(yes, it is being displayed sideways, oh well.)


In this layout I used parts of an old tablecloth my mom embroidered many, many years ago. I received an "award of merit" (I think it's similar to "honorable mention", but was a distinct award as there were also "honorable mentions".)

Besides being a bad picture, this layout is not a good one for photos in general because has a couple of "hidden" surprises. The pictures are from Dave and my trip to Disneyland in May 2009. On the Jungle cruise side (left), there is some journaling inside the crate, the front of the crate opens! On the Indiana Jones side (right), the bottom step has "treasure" scratched into the stone with an arrow pointing down. To find the treasure you have to lift the stairs! My treasure is a picture of Dave!! Like all good Disneyland stuff, there is a hidden Mickey on each page! Don't strain your eyes trying to find them. On the Jungle Cruise, he is hiding in the crate. See the film strip ribbon on the Indy side? Just below the center, there is a red spot, those are Mickey's pants! Oh, I received 3rd place on this layout!

We were only at the fair for a couple of hours and I could have happily spent it all in the creative arts building and admired all the works of arts. Here are a few examples of everything we got to feast our eyes on:

 

In case you are wondering, the amaryllis (and window) is a quilt!!! There was tons more to see and experience, everything was amazing.

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend!




Linda

Courage - CCC#6

It's week 6 of the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge over at Studio L3! We were instructed to turn to page 66 of Compendium of Curiosities to the multi-medium collage  technique. 

Courage takes many forms - one form I had to practice while making this ATC.  After I finished the collage technique on the grungeboard frame, I found a piece of vellum with the word "courage" printed on it.  It fit behind the frame without any overlap on the top and bottom.  I decided to fill with Glossy Accent (to help hold the vellum in place)  All started well, then as I finished with the Glossy Accent I noticed there were a couple of teeny tiny air pockets. 

I popped the first one, no problem.  Getting the 2nd one didn't quite go as planned.  The vellum started lifting, the Glossy Accent started going over the frame (especially when I picked up the piece to try to "fix" the vellum from the bottom.)   The more I tried to fix it, the more frustrated I became.   Note to self:  Do NOT pick up anything with a lot of wet Glossy Accent and tip it sideways.

I started to trash the whole thing.  But just before scooping up the "mess" and hurling in the garbage, I made myself walk away with a promise I could throw it away later - after the Glossy Accent was dry.  

I am so glad I waited.  After the piece dried, it looked great (in a not perfect, kind of rumpled sort of way!)  It's hard to tell in the photo, but the vellum is a little "ruffled" (it's most notable in the top right corner).

And then there is this type of courage.  To those of you who have fought the battle, I salute you!

In addition to using multi-medium collage technique  on a few pieces of grungeboard, I also experimented on a couple of wooden stars, one of which ended up on this ATC. It makes for a thick ATC (the star is about 1/4" high):

Thanks for dropping by, hope you enjoyed your visit and take a moment to leave a word or two!

Take care,

Linda

Beyond your comfort zone.

The other day I posted about stepping outside my comfort zone and asked what you what is out of your comfort zone.  SJ commented about making a "scrappy" quilt  that was outside her comfort zone. 

She brought it into the office today to show me!  It is GORGEOUS! And I have her permission to share it with you!

 

Am I right?  Isn't it GORGEOUS? 

My cube is at a "T" intersection, all day this beautiful quilt hung on the top  of the "T" so each time I walked from the  back of the office to my desk I got to see her fabulous quilt!  Every time I looked I made a new discovery!

Thank you SJ for sharing your beautiful "guilt" with me for the day, it is definitely a piece of artwork to cherish!

Take care and take a step outside your comfort zone!

Linda

  

Shades of Blue

Just a quick post for the Gingersnap Creation color challenge, "Shades of Blue".   I started this ATC a couple of weeks ago, but it was missing something, so it sat unfinished for quite a while.  I tried adding all kinds of objects but nothing was working until I tried a "dinglehopper".   The dinglehopper was the perfect finishing touch!  (For all you non-Little Mermaid fans, a dinglehopper is what we call a fork!)

Thanks for looking!  Have a fabulous week!

Linda

Out on a limb

One of my goals for 2010 is to join challenges once or twice a week.  I haven't been consistent with one or two a week but I have participated in more challenges than ever before so I am counting myself as successful so far in this goal. 


Another goal was to step outside my creative comfort zone.   I haven't really worked on this one much this year and I am OK with that.  I needed the familiar and comfortable in creating this year.  The familiar and comfortable helps in healing.   I still need the familiar and comfortable but this evening I was ready to go a little beyond the comfortable! 


Gingersnaps Creations Challenge #59 is "Fairies".   The only fairy stamps I have are Tinkerbell.  Now don't get me wrong I like Tink and there is nothing wrong with her.   I was just not in the mood to make something with Tink.  I have been contemplating this challenge for some time, trying to do decide what I was going to create without buying a new stamp.    I perused my stamp collection and the closest I could come to a person/fairy was this:

Then I went to my "bits & pieces" jar and my "odds and ends" jar. 

In these jars one never knows what one will find, it's always fun to see what's in them.  It could be a pair of wings , it could be pearls or game spinners or just about any little thing I have in my studio that did not get put away properly or maybe there were only one or two of whatever left so, I add them to the jars.  There's not any differences in the jars other than their names.

See, like I said, always an adventure when looking in the jars.  Then I raided the bins I inherited from my mom and found a couple of small drapery hooks and some other type of hook.  Then I "threw it all together", added some, ink,  fibers, a few jewels and my fairy was created.  She is definitely not my "normal" but I am quite proud of her! 

Here she is, out on a limb!   

I am not sure what I am going to do with her, for right now she is sitting on a bottle next to my monitor.  I think I will keep there for the time being reminding, it's not was so bad stepping outside your creative comfort zone!  What was your last project outside your zone?


Take care
Linda

Comprendium of Curiosities Challenge (CCC) Week 5

Hi!

Glad you dropped by to see my Week 5 challenge!  (If you haven't heard about the challenge, check out "the other" Linda's blog and then join the fun!)  This week we turned to page 43  for the Distress Powder technique.

Hmmmmm, Distress Embossing Powder (DEP)!  I have one container of Vintage Photo (VP).  What can I do?  My first thought was a bear (you have noticed the name of my blog, right?  There's a reason for it, which is a story for another time.) 

On Saturday, I received the set of stamps I won from Tim's (Holtz) blog.  On Monday, I sent Mario a note to thank him and Tim for the stamps and mentioned they sat all weekend unused.  He wrote back, "Get those stamps out and start stamping!!".   I saw Jason's entry for CCC #5.   Good idea!  Maybe I could use my new stamps for the challenge.  I started thinking about what colors I could use for the witch (she makes me giggle),  I could use soot black, dusty concord., shabby shutters or peeled paint, barn red, oooh I need spiced marmalade too!  Then I saw Stephen's entry and decided not to use the witch.  (BTW Stephen, THANK YOU, you saved me some $$ ! lol)   Then it hit me - the owl would be perfect with the VP DEP!  Thanks guys for the inspiration!!!!   So here you go!

Both the owl and the "happy halloween" are embossed with VP DEP.  I used Tim's embossing folder for the tree and inked with distress ink (Black Soot & Walnut Stain.  (The paper is from my scrap bins, so I have no idea who made it.)

I made an extra owl for my journal and played a bit with a frame and saying:

Both owls have Crushed Olive distress ink as well as a bit of Rusty Hinge.  The beaks and talons are an orange Glaze pen.  The white highlights on the beak and around the eyes are also a Glaze pen. And I also used black Glaze pen on the eyes.   The "Journey" is embossed with plain ol' detail black embossing powder on paper from Tim's Retro Grunge Paper Pack.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you take a moment to leave a comment and come back real soon!

Take care,

Linda

Scrappin' Saturday

I am hosting another Scrappin' Saturday on Saturday, July 17, 2010.  If you are in the area (Elk Grove, CA) and are interested in attending, send me an e-mail (there's button on the side-bar)  and I will get the details to you. 

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge 4

It's hard to believe this is the 4th week already, it seems like we just started Challenge 1 a few days ago!  Are you playing along? I hope so because it is fun and educational!  Go to Studio L3 for details!  If you play, you might even win a prize in  a random drawing!

This week's challenge is "Shabby Chic" and can be found on page 49 of  Tim's Compendium of Curiosities book.

I struggled with this one but learned a few things along the way.  I ended up making 6 pieces - 5 ATCs and one slightly smaller (than an ATC) piece.  Don't worry I am not going to bore you with all the pieces, just the finished ones! lol

The Shabby Chic part of these ATC were both created, oops, found myself wanting to type directions here.  Turn to page 49 to find the directions, I followed them pretty closely.  I will tell you for the top coat I used my silver dabber and my gold dabber.

When we started this challenge 4 weeks ago Eileen  at ArtSavesLives blog mentioned she was going to keep an art journal of all the techniques as she does them.  I thought it was a fabulous idea and decided to create my own even though I am not much of a "journaler".    Then the only problem was what to use as my journal.  I sat in my studio pondering the question of what to use when my eyes landed on this:

This is a journal I created last year when Tim was in town and taught a "Nostalgic Metal Memoirs" class.  It was a fabulous class and I loved making this book. I loved working with the metal.   It has a hand-stictched binding which is something I had never attempted before and I enjoyed it.   When I showed it off to family and friends, they all wanted to know what I was going to do with it.  I told them I had no idea, but one day it's use would become clear.  And sure enough after sitting on a shelf for a year, its purpose became clear!  It's my art journal!  After 4 weeks I can even say I have faithfully added a sample of the technique along with a sentence or two about the technique!

Here's this week's sample:

For the sample I used Stream and Copper.

Oh, the few things I learned

1) Be PATIENT

2) Make sure your embossing ink pad is juicy

3) I know there was something else, but I can't think of it now. 

Go have some fun and play a little!

Take care

Linda