Oddball Art Dolls

Hi all….another Monday and with it comes Art Dolls. Yay! These were done for a swap over at AFA. Yep, Nanner’s Oddball Art Doll Army, WWIII.

There are some imaginative dolls reporting for duty there. What a blast it was to make these. They are movable and stand between 7.5”- 8” tall. Looking forward to seeing the returns from this swap.

Thanx for stoppin' by!

 

 Corporal

 

 Private First Class

Mercenary

What Can Ya Do With This Stuff? #5

Well hello all...boy have I missed being around here. Life happenings will always win out, yeah? Hope you all have been well, being happy, staying warm, and creating lots and lots of art.

I have been creating art on and off since my last post here and will try to get the projects up as time permits….But today, I bring you the latest installment of ‘What Can Ya Do With This Stuff?’. These pieces were made for my swap partner over at AFA in the Altered Gift swap.

Mini Matchbox Chest of Drawers

 

 

Now these charms were inspired by Roni over at Ink Stains. I totally fell in love with this idea when I saw it and just had to make some of my own. Thanx Roni! I did keep the blue one though. I made them to match the colors of the chest of drawers.

Magic Charms

Enjoy!

Taking Care of Business...Gothic Arch

As you can tell, these hands have been busy with many new projects. Been takin’ care of business...like ya do. This is the last of the new projects that I spoke about a few posts ago. Ain’t she creepy? Just in time for Halloween too.

So yeah, I found this girl at The Graphics Fairy blog and had to use her for this piece. Thanx again, Karen! Just a bit of my dark humor mind you.*Mutley laugh*

I cut a window out for the red sign...you can't tell, but it looks like it's floating in the arch. I used a clear crackle medium (you can't see the cracks, but they're there). Sand and Clear Glass Glitter were used that I colored with Alcohol Inks to get the "look" of blood and a muddy look. Distress Inks, markers. Collaged images. 4x6 in size with an easel back.

Thanx for stoppin’ by!

Playing with papers, again...Paper Dolls

Can ya tell?...yup, I like to play with paper dolls...well, more like create them. With the help of Karen over at The Graphics Fairy blog, I had some beautiful Victorian Scrap Girl images to play with. Here and Here. Thanx Karen!

As soon as I saw those Scrap Girl images, I knew that they would not sit in my Image Library for long. I just needed patience (hey, I’m working’ on it!). Well lookie here, it paid off. As you may know from a previous post, my Muse and I played with some papers, inks and gel mediums. That was a fun day. That’s how the hats and dresses were made. These were fun to make too.

I took the color out of the images and gave them a sepia tone. Backed them onto chipboard, cut them out. Added Alcohol Inks to some German Scrap and used a Fiskars round punch to embellish the hat and dresses. Easels were attached to the backs to stand them up. (wish my pictures could come out better...sorry ‘bout that)

Thanx for stoppin’ by!

Playing with paper...Faux Leather Experiment

This will be a short post but image heavy (read previous post). I wanted to try another way to make faux leather (you know, the texture, look and feel of it) and I got reeeeally close. Really.
 

 

 

 

Thanx for stoppin’ by!

Nothing New Under the Sun...NEW!

Well now, it’s time for another installment from the Nothing New Under the Sun. Lets play with some papers, inks and gel mediums. It’s true, this is not my discovery…I’m not claiming it as mine either but my Muse really wanted to play.

I was hanging out over at Ink Stains the other week and saw that Roni had a Distressed and Glazed Brown Bag Technique that I found to be awesome and wanted to try it. Thanx Roni! Of course my Muse wanted to know what type of effects this technique would have on other types of paper and what effects an embossing folder would have on them. So I got to work (enlarge pics).

I had more Gel Medium than Glossy Accents and more Distress Reinkers than stamp pads, so I used these instead.

Three types of paper were used: a lunch bag (thin paper), Rice Paper (even thinner), and Kraft paper (heavy weight).

What was discovered…

The papers softened and became very porous once they were crumpled.

Do not flatten the papers (you want the inks to brush across the peaks).

Tape paper down with drafting tape to hold in place as you apply inks. Remove tape (can melt into sticky edges) before you heat set.

Dry each layer of ink a with heat tool. Use a pencil or some other heat resistant thingy to hold the paper down while drying.

Inks showed up best on the Rice paper (white).

A thin layer of Gel Medium was applied with fingers, and even though inks were heat set, a smidgen of ink did come off. No worries, you could hardly tell. Let this completely dry before using.

Gel Medium (even when dry) does not play well with embossing folders. It sticks! I had to pick out a lot of the stuck paper with a toothpick. Use WAX PAPER! 1. Embossing folder; 2. your pretty painted paper; 3. Wax Paper...close folder, run it through your machine. Wah-la.  

NOTE: Save your wax paper. Roni also also shares a Faux Embossed Wax Paper Resist at her site.

The heavy Kraft paper held up the best when applying inks, watered down inks and gel mediums. I used this one to further experiment and create my next project (more posts coming soon).

Thanx for stoppin' by!

Just in time for Halloween

Here’s one of the projects that I worked on in the last week. This card came out of a need to get my hands on my art toys again. Wanted to try my hand at a half window card but I didn’t wanna get messy per se, just wanted to play is all. Card making is one of my first loves….taught card making classes some years ago. I have a card making workshop coming up next month…(will try to take pics of the class). My Muse took me on a an exploration to find just the right elements to use for this card...had no idea it would turn out this way, but I am pleased with it. I just love trying new ways to make some magic.

As you can see in the first pic all the elements used. What you don’t see is some other toys that I have been drooling over for a while now…Movers and Shapers dies, and SpellBinders dies. So how did I get the “look” of the half window card you may ask? Ah, the magic of YouTube. This is where I found Valita's tutorial on How to make a Half Window card in the Cuttlebug. It’s amazing the ideas we come up with. Thanx Valita!

Well, I don’t have the Cuttlebug machine either so I used my Big Shot along with the Labels, Ornate #5 Sizzlits die. It worked! Once I got the formula down, I was good to go.

What you may not be able to see are some of the details in the finished card. The papers were aged with Distress inks. I used Cuttlebug embossing plates for the front half and swirly bits of the card. Used a silver metallic pen to make the dots around the borders. Sizzlits Skull charm was used (I cut the tip off) and used gold paper for eyes, nose, mouth. Inside: The tips were cut from the top/bottom of the Ornate #5 label and turned sideways. Ghost and pumpkin punch were used to add a bit of embellishment. Rubber stamps for “Boo” on silver metallic card stock, and an almost invisible stamped swirls on the opposite side. Well there ya have it.

Thanx for stoppin' by!

New Projects on the horizon

Ah…so yeah, it’s good to be back in the studio again after a bit of real life happenings. Sometimes life can throw a wrench at ‘cha, knock ya up-side the head and knock you out cold. Yup, three major life crisis happened to me….all in one week, back in July.

Life is slowly turning around to where I can get on with it. Two of my closest friends have been there with me from the start, along with so many others who have supported me throughout these times. Thank you!

I know too that some of you have checked in here and there to see what’s goin’ on here at the Blog too. There are even some “new” Followers! I so appreciate you all! You have no idea how it makes me feel to know that you stop by here. You can be sure that I'll have some goodies in store for you in the near future.

In the past week, I’ve been working on four different projects. Yeah, I know...crazy huh? But my heart and hands have been missing the magical playtime in the studio. My Muse has been pulling her hair out waiting on me to get on with it. And what does she do…she throws it all to me at once! I have to laugh about it.

So check back shortly. Thanx for stoppin’ by!

The ups and downs of life...

Hello all,

I wanted to let ALL of my Followers know how grateful I am and how much I appreciate YOU! For stoppin' by to leave the most awesome comments, bringing your smiles and sharing you art journeys with me. It takes a special person such as yourself, to create magical pieces of art. You share so many tips, techniques, ideas, challenges, images and laughter with me as I visit your blogs. I am grateful for you. I've wanted you to know this for some time.

At this point in my life there have been some major, in your face, critical life changes happening. So much so that I am unable to create art right now and have to focus on the tasks at hand. Having a very hard time with it all. I have support of dear friends who are praying and helping in every way that they can. I am grateful for them too.

I hope to be back soon with some more art to share and to check in on your blogs to see what you've been up to real soon.

Peace and Blessings

What Can Ya Do With This Stuff?...Part 4

...ahh hello again. Here to bring another installment of "What Can Ya Do With This Stuff?" You know, I like it when one can be open to the flood of creativity, gather up stuff and make some magic happen. Oh, what a feelin'.

Today's project (well, I really did this one between other projects) will hang in my art studio. I don't like doing many things twice so they become OOAK....just the way I like it. Every one is different and will vary depending on my Guides and how I'm rollin' on that day. They give me images while I'm sleeping or just about to wake up. I so appreciate them. This is just one of the ways a given image manifests and I put it all together under this title. Enjoy!

~click images to enlarge~

...well this, of course...
  

Thanx for stoppin' by today!

Rusted Stuff

Rust...Yeah, so what do you think of when that word comes to mind? Someone left the bike out in the rain?! Old metal lawn chairs from the 50’s and 60’s? Your parents old car from back in the day? A buried treasure of coins...no, those were just rusted screws found in an old jug out back. No, no, how about this...the weekly challenge over at Three Muses? Yup, this is the last day and I’m getting this one in just under the wire! Gawd, talk about old and rusted (me...LateFreightSuzie). Did I make it...think so.

Remember in the last post I said that I would do something with those rusty gears? Well that did happen, and this piece started out with the idea of being a plain ol' magnet (where the skellie is) for the fridge. I kid you not! But my muse came in and totally took over, again! Which is why it’s right at the deadline. Just kept my mind open to her prompts and building upon what was there. Geez, she's so pushy sometimes.

click image to enlarge

Then I got a bee in my bonnet. It had to have an ornate frame. There was no way this was gonna rest till one was found. Searched through hell and high water for the right frame. Michael’s (two locations), Joann, Aaron Brothers, even a garage sale! Grrrr, could not find the right one...until I went to Urban Ore.

Hawt damn! Found it! Recycled, you betcha. It wasn’t as ornate as I wanted it to be, but it was wood (yush!). Washed it up, painted and distressed it, and there you have it. I rusted the ball chain and other elements then added some magic to it. This is a perfect piece for DOTD or Halloween. Guess the magnet will have to come at another time? Hah!

Thanx so much for stoppin’ by!

What Can Ya Do With This Stuff? Part 3....

Well, you could do a lot with it, just depends on you imagination. Thank gawd for Imagination and Tools! What would you do with it?
 

Since I’ve been on an ALTOIDS tin kick lately (see last post), the decision was to Keep Calm and get on with it! Do you see those tiles at the bottom of the first pic?... those are Formica tiles samples...some of them were gesso prepped to be used in the last workshop I taught. Huh, they never made it into the stash of classroom supplies. The idea was to make a “book like” thingy to go inside the tin. Nope, never happened. But the idea still lingered in the ‘ol noggin so I put it aside in the Later Reference Files brain compartment.

Last week I came across a challenge while visiting some Art Blogs. One is over at Three Muses (they have a weekly art challenge every Wednesday). This particular challenge piqued my interest and set it on fire. Steampunk! Oh yeah! *reaches into the Later Reference Files and pulls up the Formica tiles “book like” thingy* Oh I got busy on this one right away so it could go into the challenge. Who knows, it may show up in other places. Here it is...love the way it turned out too.

Shout outs go to The Graphics Fairy for some awesome graphics to play with and Spirit's Journey Designs. Other images came from various places (wish I could remember….brain freeze). Thank You all!

Some serious collage, mixed media, assemblage goin’ on here. I intentionally painted it all over so that it wouldn't close….to give you a tiny peek inside. How or why I came up with the color is beyond me. What was I thinking?! But it worked out tho. And because of the Formica tiles (5 of them), it has a bit of weight to it. The eyelets and jump rings used completed the set. A perfect match indeed. Just pull the tiles out by the little key to see all the dapper gentlemen inside. Sprinkled with bits of watch parts here and there. See those rusted gears in the pics? That’s my next project/challenge. Thanx for stopping by….see ya soon!

Sacred Shrines and Altars Workshop

Hello there, and thanx for stoppin’ by for a visit today.

HAPPY SUMMER!!! 

It’s been really busy on the other side of this Blog...which is why it’s behind on posts. But I’m here today to share some magic with you all that happened on Saturday at my Sacred Shrines and Altars Workshop. Not gonna be long winded here ‘coz I wanna share the pics with you all. But I’m...

...Givin’ a great big hug and shout out to Jordan (what an Angel you are!), for inviting me to her Ventura Street Art Studio to share this special class with everyone. And much, much thanx all who came out and made the magic happen. A remarkable group. Mannn was that awesome! And let me tell you, the creative juices were flowin’! ....see for yourself.



I prepped, primed and rusted the ALTOIDS tins for the class and made three samples for eye candy. There were two tables (12’) of trinkets, charms, papers, fabrics, notions, specialty papers, ephemera and other yummy items to embellish with (overkill? yeah, I think so). How could one not create something special?

Magnificent works of art flowed from every hand, giving way to the magical energy within. What an amazing group. I created this slideshow to share our day with you. The day was incredible! Enjoy!

What can ya do with this stuff?...Part 2

Hi all, thanx for stoppin’ by today. 

June UPDATE: The Steampunk Top Hat Birdhouse is also in another challenge "Birds of a Feather" over at Alter It Monthly's Blog. 

This is another installment using recycled packaging from around the house. My latest challenge was for a Paper Mache swap over at iATC’s. So I got busy letting’ those creative juices flow through the hands...had no idea where it would take me, (never do really).


I knew I wanted to make a bird house with a vague image of a house in mind...but as you can see, it morphed into something completely different. This was not what I saw. I did make a house (for the swap)...and it turned out to be a crooked little house. This in turn brought back the nursery rhyme “There was a Crooked Man”. And the bird house? The Steampunk Elementals (gnomes) showed up and took over for a time. ...well, the evidence is clear that those lil’ tinker's went on adventure with a Top Hat (smart lil’ buggers). The Crooked House is 6.5” tall and the Top Hat is a tad under 4” tall.