Friday, September 30, 2011

BIG NEWS!!!! ANOTHER 'GIVEAWAY'


Hello Everyone:)

THAT'S RIGHT!!!
ANOTHER WONDERFUL GIVEAWAY HERE
on Birdnuts Mixed Media!!!

But the BIG NEWS is that I am 
Co-Hosting with one of my 
all time Favourite People:)

Kristin Hubick
of

Yippie!!!

I'm so thrilled that Kristin was interested 
in Co-Hosting Giveaways on both of our
blogs!

So here's the skinny:)

Like I've done before, to place an entry into the Giveaway,
Sign on my blog, (Right Side of the Page),
as a Google 'Follower' and then
leave a Comment on this Post and you will 
be entered to 
Win a $25.00
Gift Certificate
to 
(If you are already a 'Follower' of my blog,
then just post a Comment and remind me
of it, and you'll be entered!!)

Then

Retro Cafe' Art Gallery


Sign on as a 'Follower' on her blog,
Leave a Comment on her blog to
tell her you've entered, and
you could 
Win a $25.00 Gift Certificate 
from Kristin's Shop too!!!

2 Chances to Win!!!

As many of you who 'follow' my blog,
 already know that I LOVE
that Kristin has in her
Retro Cafe Art Shop!
This is just a sampling of some of the Great 
Coffee Break Design Products
she produces that I currently keep in supply:)

And here's some Samples of some of my 
latest projects I've made using 
Coffee Break Design Products:)


I made this recently with Kristin's
Absolutely a blast to play with!
The whole kit comes in a flat board,
that you break apart and then put together
and embellish in what ever way you want!
I lined this kit with Old Farmers Almanac
pages, after inking them.

I used this wonderful 'Inkadinkado' Brand Stamp
of the Koi, mounted it in the shrine,
Stamped and Inked an old domino to also
mount and added Kristin's wonderful
Acrylic Bobbles to create the Bubbles:)
Really enjoyed making this piece,
and I'm still thinking of it being 
mounted into a shadow box at a later date to show it off more.
The bottles are also from Retro Cafe Art, they're Mr. Tim's
(Tim Holtz) 'Idea-ology' Bottles.
I filled them with 'Natural' Real Vintage pearls and
real tiny sea shells in the bottom bottle:)

Once you start playing with Kristin's 
addiction!
Her assortment is wonderful. With choices of 
little mini kits through to major project kits.
Massive Assortment of Stencils and other
goodies too that she produces!

Here's another project that I've used
Coffee Break Design Products
with, it's a Special Project as
it is for my Art Pal Leslie's 
Birthday, as she is a Halloween BABY!

I'm not a very clever Baker but I do make a 
wicked Paper Cake!


Ta Da!
(Don't tell Leslie!!! Grin)

My Halloween Birthday Cake has been a great
pleasure making, and I used a ton of
Coffee Break Design Products all over it!

The top, is another great kit of Kristin's made of
masonite so it's really easy to put together and
to embellish:)
I even used her 'ballerina' that she has in her
shop, and altered the lovely blue colour that
she comes in to black and glitter purple!
And of course, no project of mine could
go without my favourite Alphabet Beads
that you will also find in Retro Cafe Arts Shop!


I just kept layering embellishments onto
this thing, having the best time making
it over the top for my Art Pal Les!
(Spider Web Cut-Outs of Kristin's
embellished with a silver Sharpie!
That was quick and easy!)


( So don't tell Leslie her Birthday Cake is ready:)
LOL

So there ya go!
Some new project ideas for you, and 
a BIG GIVEAWAY
Chance of Winning $25.00 Gift Certificate
to Retro Cafe Art to boot!

The Giveaway is going to run until October 15th, 2011
with the Winner to be Announced on October 16th, 2011

So jump on board, Sign on as a Google 'Follower'
Leave a Comment on this Post and you're Entered!
Then jump over to Kristin's Blog
Join on and Leave a Comment and you'll be
Entered in her Giveaway as well!!!

And as a side note:) Kristin also has another Contest
Going, ( I refer to her affectionately as the 'Contest Diva':)
time to make something and enter into her Contest
as it too is open until October 14th! 

So there's your homework class! LOL
Lot's to do and have fun doing!
Wishing you all lots of luck in the Giveaway,
I'm thrilled to be doing another one!
And let all your friends know so they can enter too!
Spread the Love!!!

ENJOY!!!!


It's late Saturday Night and I'm thrilled with all of your wonderful comments and signing on as 'follower's 
You all have made my weekend, so I just have one more thing to say.....
I hope you all brought forks, 'cause I'm not doing the dishes!!!
LOL
Enjoy!

Monday, September 26, 2011

It's almost October, Halloween Month!


Hello Everyone:)

Well, everywhere I've been this weekend in the 
local shops, it's all about Halloween...
My house is now filled with tons of treats....
over a month to go, so you can figure out who
the treats are for, LOL!

But it's put me in the mood, so I've been
busy creating all sorts of Halloween oriented
projects, but dragged out a couple of 'oldies'
to post while I'm currently working on a 
couple of new ones:)
(Sorry, not the best picture)
This is a Halloween banner I made last year,
using tons of commercial graphics by K&Company.
Once in a while, their packs of cut outs are just
too tempting to play with. Not being into
scrapbooking, I have to come up with other uses
for these packs....

Here's a few:)
got a little carried away with the glitter....:)


Something about plain old black and white 
I love about Halloween...
although orange and purple too is fun.

bats, and fly's and ants...oh my:)


A bit of Retro Cafe Art creeped into this one:)
(Mini Coffin Shrine, great fun to put together
and play with some Resin:)
(Link in Favourites Listing:)


I love these plastic skeletons! 
I bought cards full of them and still need more!
LOL


...some people are scared of clowns....pumpkins
are pretty scary too!!! (grin)


eeeeek!


Love the cat on this one:)


One of those moving pictures that changes into
a skeleton, I think I managed to get him in 
'transition' LOL.

I can say honestly, after playing with this project,
I have a new appreciation for Scrapbooking...
it was a ton of work amazingly, but a lot of fun!

So here's another Halloween Project
that currently I have entered in
Retro Cafe Art Gallery's

Anything Goes Halloween Contest
(Link in my Favourites Listing).
The Contest is running until
October 14th, 2011
and Kristin is accepting entries, and it isn't necessary 
to use Coffee Break Design Products in this contest!
You are also allowed up to 3 entries!
So here's another of mine:)

Halloween 'Peek a Boo!'
(This was actually started last year for a local
contest, but I didn't get it finished in time,
so it's been put away unfinished until this past week:)

It looks pretty simple right?
Well let me tell you, this project is absolutely
one of the more involved I've ever done...
take a black lace bra, 
Hand sew, ( and I don't do this usually!),
liner completely inside the bra.
(Love this cotton fabric of cobwebs:)
Completely hand sew lace and bling ribbon...
Stuff the inside of the cups with a really expensive
dyed orange carded sheep's wool...
(yes, I am exhibiting attitude! I went through
two full bags of my special wool!!!)
And the pictures don't reflect the cool orange 
colour that shows through the lace! Darn it!

The Black Chipboard Cat had bottles of 'Stickles'
all over it, and it took 3 days for it to completely
dry...but loved it's 'bling' in the cleavage:)
A few glittered spider's here and there,
and some bling lettering, and walla!

An Art Room note....Storage Ideas:)


I have a plain white tall storage cupboard to
the right of my art desk, and the blank space
kept my imagination running wild with ideas...
so I took this vintage printers drawer and 
bolted it to the side of the cupboard to 
create shelves for some of my wood mounted
stamp collection.
(It's completely full now, and I'm needing at
least another 4 of these! LOL


And just above it, I made these cool shelves,
(actually did myself! Power saw and all!)
Using vintage rulers for the fronts, then
mounted some peel and stick cork for
mini bulletin boards:)

This I made a couple of years ago, and is an 
ongoing project, as you just have so much 
wall space...especially after hanging tons
of art projects, LOL~I love these shelves
and I'm quite proud of myself for making them
on my own! My husband was so taken that he
actually bought me my own power tools!
'Liberation!' (grin)

....so there you go! More projects in the works!
(As I can never do without at least a couple going
all at once:)
So more postings to follow soon!
Till then, have a great week,
and

Enjoy!
























Thursday, September 22, 2011

Bits and Bobs:)


Hello Everyone:)

Here it's only just the end of September coming up, and already Halloween is 'flying' all over the internet, and in some
cases even a bit of Christmas is already popping up.
Being that my previous post was a Halloween project,
(and as some of you know, Halloween is a major
holiday celebrated in my home:), I find that
I'm looking for something else to work my brain with....

Journaling:)
Started another journal, a basic one, and have started
using some of my vintage photos as a dive in point
to get motivated. 
Seems it's the new 'thing' to get into, and I'm 
gobsmacked at all the talent and flurry of ideas
out on the net, so I figured with my huge collection
of vintage photos, and some of my personal family
photos, and my dry wit, I'd find a 'style' of my own...


In honour of my parents, LOL!


This one took days! Layers of paint, inks, stencils,
then tons of computer paper stamped, inked, cut out,
but my favourite part is the pen inking...great way
to relax!!!


Whoever this woman was, she lends herself to
so many different comments....I love her:)
The original photo is a beauty, and in wonderful
condition, and she is so tidy...(something I'm 
certainly not known for, LOL).

And last but not least.....me:)

I had fun with this one, but for the reason was the
chair....it's from a great graphics sheet that I recently
purchased from Gail at Shabby Cottage Studios,
(Link in my Favourite's Listing:).
The minute I saw this chair, I remembered this 
photo and the hand placement, (ok, so my
mind does go to to weird details sometimes:)
so I played around with my computer to get
the size of both the photo and the chair about
the same, and walla!

So there's some examples of one of the projects I'm
currently working on...
And here's what arrived this week in my mail:)
My order from Kristin Hubick at Retro Cafe Art
(Link in my Favourites Listing:)
of my new Fav Rave
Dyan Reaveley's 
'Dylusions'
Stamps from England!!
Oh, look out world! LOL.
I've recently chatted with Dyan on Facebook,
and I absolutely love her English Humour
and Wit!
And I can't wait for some art time to sit and play 
with my new toys:) Great fun!

Speaking of new toys.....
My 'ToyBoy' that I married, and I just celebrated
our 24th Wedding Anniversary September 17th.
We spent a wonderful day together going to all
of our favourite places. 
He treated me to my favourite art supply store here
in town and then we went to Michael's Craft Store.
You'd think that the trip to Michael's was for me....
but, every year my husband loves to get the
Halloween Lighted Village collection that
Michaels exclusively sells.....
(an annual trip now,
5 years in the making....every year, at least a dozen
or more pieces in the collection....do the math!)
He had a wonderful Anniversary...
(I'm investing in ear plugs this year, as each of
these and all the rest of his collection are also
noise makers!)

We ended the lovely afternoon at our local
'Cupcake' Store and treated ourselves
to a dozen totally decadent cupcakes
that even the next morning tasted wonderful!

(Diet going on throughout this week:)

Well that's what I've been up to:) Have lots more
to share but will save for my next blog post,
as I have a couple of other assemblages and projects
that I'm also working on for the next post....

so until then, Have a Great Rest of the Week!!!
Thanks so much for stopping by, and do sign
on as a Google 'Followers' if you haven't already,
as I'd love to have you join me in this journey:)

Happy Anniversary to my 'Toy Boy'!!!

Enjoy!











Wednesday, September 14, 2011

'Old Ladies - Yum!' Halloween Mannequin:)


Hello Everyone:)
I know it's unusual for me to be posting mid-week,
but I'm excited about my latest project:)

Retro Cafe Art Gallery
is having another contest!!!
I've dubbed Kristin Hubick the 
'Contest Diva'!!! LOL
I have to give her a bigShout Out, 
as if it wasn't for her efforts to run
these contests, not only for her customers
but for anyone, it helps give some of us
newbie's a chance to spread our wings,
and gain some confidence and have
our projects seen by others.

So be sure to check out her 
Retro Cafe Art Gallery
and 
Retro Cafe Art Shop!
(Link's in my Favourite's Listing:)

So here is my latest project:)
Yes, it's another one of my Mannequin's!
(Gail at Shabby Cottage Studio where
I get my mannequin's from has dubbed me
the 'Mannequin Queen'! LOL
I've gone batty!

I'm calling this
'Old Ladies - Yum!'
(Notice the 'Victim' needing Help:)
I had a two day marathon in the art room, and
amazed myself at just how many Halloween
oriented art supplies I had! But the real shocker,
was I knew where they all were!! LOL
Most of the embellishments on this piece are
Kristin's Coffee Break Design Products, that
come already punched out on different surfaces,
like chipboard, or masonite.
The spiders, bats, bat wings and even the little coffin
are all Coffee Break Design Products, and are so
much fun to play with:)
(And of course everyone knows the '31' is Mr. Holtz's
number series plates, I love using these:)
The back side view, I loved using the Coffee Break
Design web! 
Between all the ribbon cutting, and making her skirt,
and the black fuzzy pipe cleaners, that was a day
in itself!
My husband commented when he noticed that 
pieces were straying from my art room to our
breakfast table, that this one was a little involved, LOL
And of course, used my favourite black alphabet
beads! I do love those things:)
The base to give it extra stability, I used an old CD
and glued the polka dot paper to it, it helped steady the piece:)

So there ya go!
Now, my wish for you all is to go make something
that is Halloween related and go to 
Retro Cafe Art Gallery 
also listed on Facebook
And jump in both feet into the
Halloween Contest that Kristin
is having!

I have more projects in the works, and
a few things I've been building in my
art room, so more posts to come!

Enjoy!










Wednesday, September 7, 2011

What a couple of weeks!!! :)

Hi Everyone:)
Well, the Giveaway is all over, and soon
there will be another one in the works!
(Yippie:)

While the previous Giveaway was posted, it allowed me to play catch up on some of the projects in the works the past month.
Here's a couple of completed and semi-completed so
you'll know that I wasn't sitting on my laurels:)

First up:)
My Butterfly Garden:)
I came across this decanter at a local second hand shop,
and nearly knocked my art pal Leslie to the ground to
grab it!
It screamed at me the idea of butterflies in it, and
although bruised, Leslie  agreed that it would
be an interesting project.
Because it is quite narrow, the butterflies had to 
be on stems. I had wanted them on wires, but
there wasn't much room for them to be moving.
Next big jar I find I will try out that idea:)
With the lid off, (for better lighting to photograph)
These cut-out Butterflies come from Kristin Hubick's shop
Retro Cafe Art
(Link in my Favourites List)
and she can tell you I think I might be one of her biggest
buyers of these cut-outs! 
I love the richness of the colours and the quality of the print!
I also added Melissa Francis frames with tissue printed bees
to attach to the wonderful vintage paper background.
Garden Sticks painted and inked with my favourite
alphabet beads!
Had great fun making this one, and I love the colours!

Next up:)
A while back, I posted a series of journal pages
I had just learned how to play with all the paints
and inks to make backgrounds for,
(please search out that post, it was great fun, and
it's great eye candy:)
So I've been fussing for about 6 weeks on how to
make a cover for them.
And here it is:)
Layers of Claudine Hellmuth's Acrylic Paints,
Tattered Angels Sprays and assorted stencils,
and UTEE Embossing powder to highlight a
bit of the background.
Mr. Tim Holtz Grunge Paper Alphabet also Embossed with UTEE after inking and stamping and putting them through an
embossing folder for some texture.
A Stamped Image from La Blanche also embossed with UTEE
And some added goodies of the frame from 
Retro Cafe Art also inked and stamped.
And here you have the front cover of my latest journal attempt:O
It took the whole Holiday weekend just to do the cover, then
to take each page and put rivets into the page holes!
I even had to send my husband running to Michael's on 
Sunday afternoon with one rivet to go find me more!
(He's such a sweet guy, he did it with no complaints!)
(Think I'll keep him, especially since our 24th Wedding
Anniversary in on the 17th this month, I know that's at
least good for a dinner out! LOL)
Anyway, from my previous post, I made soooo many
pages that I can actually make two books....
So I expect this project to take more time now:)
I've experimented with a new 7gypsies binding ring
that is actually a wire. A little difficult at first, but
once you get the hang of the threads of the screw
to fit right in, you've got it made! I'm liking using
these far better than the stiff rings.
As you can see I have lots more embellishments to
do to the back and the inside covers, but will share
down the road when it's all finished.

My previous post of the 'Quake' Journal is currently
sitting on my breakfast table with a large tub of gesso.
The watercolour paper I chose, needs to be gessoed before
starting the journaling on the pages. A long project, but boy
I can't wait to start journaling and jotting down my ideas,
as it's so large it's going to be my Encyclopedia!

I also rarely make cards, but had a birthday in our
group of friends lately, and threw this card together
for him and was thrilled with his response, as he
wants to frame it:) Figure that's a real compliment
coming from a guy!

And last but not least:)
9 x 12
Watercolour 140pd paper cold press.
Tattered Angel inks and stencils and stamps for background.
Claudine Hellmuth Acrylic Paints
(LOVE THESE PAINTS!!)

I've been kicking around this idea in my head for
quite some time having the original picture, and
wanted to try some new techniques.
I have to admit, the two artists that influenced this
journal page were Claudine Hellmuth, as I love
her painted portraits using actual pictures, as you
can see my attempt in this, the subject was actually
holding a bouquet of flowers, but painted it
out and used a pussy willow stamp and
embossed the pussy willows with UTEE.
And my latest Stamp Designer Obsession, (grin)
Dyan Reaveley from England
(The eyes in this piece are one of her stamps from her wonderful assortment!)
Kristin Hubick at Retro Cafe Art has just started selling Dyan's wonderful stamp line, so do go check out her shop!
(Link in my Favourites Listing).
I can't wait for the rest of my order to arrive, as I've invested and hope to have them all:)
It's my little homage to the 1940's Swing Era
in London, England,
and to my mother:)
(She'd hate that I'd done this to her, LOL)
And one last bloom of summer, that popped
open in my garden September 1...and was done
by September 6th....they're supposed to have
bloomed back in May/June...go figure!
Still enjoyed the few days of brilliant colour
and every hummingbird in the area enjoyed it too!

Hope you all have a great rest of the week,
Check back soon, as I have more Giveaways in the works!
And with Halloween on the horizon, lots of other things
'brewing as well'

Enjoy!!