A Tisket, a Tasket, Another Kitchen Basket

 

Welcome to another day of crafting, and another kitchen basket shadow box! Today I created a beach scene using crushed glass for the ocean, mixed sand for the beach, and tiny seed beads mixed with white paint for the sea foam.

I have plenty of sea shells, but added some pea gravel, moss and one glass button from a floral purchase. Looked a little empty, so I added the last of my starfish stickers. I used one of the tiny bottles I had purchased online (during COVID), with a tiny, rolled up piece of paper inside (neatly tied with a strand of twine).

The final touch was found in my box o' shadow box figurines...the tiny seagull (well, it really was a dove. Use your imagination)! LOL

Challenges I am Entering:

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie - Seashells at the Beach

(Pin)spirational - July Tropical Sunset (I used the beach scene on my shadow box basket)

The Four Seasons - Summer Season July

Colorful Options - July

So You Think You're an Artist

 

After a super busy start  to Spring, I am finally able to catch my breath and create something new, This piece is a collage I created with mixed media from my water color journal. The background was water colored with a cheap box of water color tubes which, after finishing it, I promptly threw away. Most were dried up, but it only cost me a dollar at a garage sale.

After drying I tore (literally) threw a few magazines that my sister gives me when she and her neighbor read first (because I cut and tear whatever I want from them when they're done with them). I found the most delicious words to flavor my collage that pertained to being or becoming an artist, as you can see.

Some words were given dimension with dimensional tape, while others were glues directly onto the page. I found the very colorful woman's face in another magazine for my canvas' centerpiece. After choosing the right words to their most descriptive matches, I highlighted their importance by using arrow-shaped sticky notes and outlining them with white a Posca marker. 

For a little extra oomph, I cut out a penned Zen drawing, drawing in the shadowed edges with colored pencils to match the water-colored background. All that was left was to fill up a few empty spots with colorful items from other mags. I did use the white marker to create musical notes, my copyrighted logo under the woman's face, as well as a few tiny flowers above the paper vase on the left. The circle on her hat is a button I inherited and the butterfly is a leftover die-cut  I created at a scrap meet (a long time ago in another galaxy...)

There you have it. Enough media for the pickiest of artists. I think my message conveys what all artists need to be and do, don't you?

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

AAA Colourful - Colourboard #17

 CSI: Color, Stories Inspiration - Case File #458

Mix It Up- AG/optional  Mixed Media

Morgan's Art World - AG

We Love 2 Create - Anything Mixed Media Goes

A Tisket, a Tasket, a Basket for your Wall

I scored five a these shallow, wooden baskets a month ago from a local craft swap. I posted my first  "mini" shadow basket earlier this month. Today I finished my mushroom forest. I covered the back/bottom of the basket with moss. Deciding to hang this basket on the diagonal, I arranged my mushrooms, along with several rocks, tiny stones and foliage, to set the scene. 

I used a combination of hot glue and E6000 (although the moss needed some adhesive spraying to make it stick well). standing back and taking a look at it, it seemed to be missing something. I riffled through my big box of shadowbox figurines, knickknacks and miscellaneous toy parts. I found just the thing it needed.

The snail was the last piece I adhered to my mini shadowbox, and I like it! I can't wait to make the others. I'm thinking southwest desert scene, maybe a beach scene, the ideas are churning in my mind as I type. If you like this, stay tuned for more...

I AM ENTERING:

Creative Artiste - Anything Mixed Media Goes (I used wood [basket, stones, flowers, moss)

Creative Fingers - Challenge #304

 

 

It's Always Someone's Birthday Somewhere

 

Another month, another birthday card to feature. Today I used an image from Ike's Art. I sure miss Sue. She was an artist who really pulled me out of my comfort zone and inspired me to try so many different techniques and media. Anyway, this image is from her Peter Pan collection. 

I used a photo I took from  an airplane I was on, as it was landing at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. Adhering Peter to the photo with dimensional tape really makes him look like he's soaring above the city. I've used this image once before, and it got my project printed in a magazine.

I colored him with Copics and fussy-cut him for a more realistic look on my card face. a flourish of adhesive pearls marks his flight. and his famous line from the book is embossed in white. Can you tell I eyeballed and cut my own star? (Hah, ha, of course you can. I should have used a button or sticker for my star)

The greeting inside reads, "Hope you have a magical birthday". My box of finished birthday cards is finally filling up. I guess these and mynote cards are the most popular cards that I use. Well, those and Holiday cards...

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

Gathering Quite a Pile of Halloween Cards

 

Here's my newest Halloween card for the "Halloween & Other Occasions Challenge blog. If you're looking for a cool way to have a stack of cards ready for a holiday, choose a challenge blog and enter a card each month with the same theme, like Halloween for HOOC . There are several Christmas challenge blogs as well!!

My card today features a stamp from Queen Kat Designs. She no longer offers stamps, but has renewed her inventory to include crocheted animals and "Adults ONLY" coloring books. Look her up on Amazon.

Meanwhile, I used a few die-cuts I found while organizing my craft supplies. using one to frame the stamped image. I used an old punch on the corners of my cards The witch is a puffy embellishment I found on my basement floor while packing away Halloween for the year! 

The rest is cardstock and patterned paper. I hand-printed the greeting on the front, as well as the sentiment on the inside that reads:

 "Don't wait dinner on me. Traffic is a nightmare."

 

 

Un-Forgetable Frogs

 

Hello, crafters! Today I feature a couple of deck decor items. Whenever I see a lonely frog figure in a thrift store, I often buy it to paint or alter it and put it somewhere in my garden, yard or on my deck. These two fearless friends are standing on front my deck, although I took their photo while still in the house. I used one of my paintings on wood as a background. 

I inherited both of them from my neighbor across the street, with whom we became fast friends. Unfortunately, she passed away and her daughter offered them to me as she cleaned out her mom's house. I gladly accepted them as a remembrance of Sharon. She had an artists' eye.

When I got them, they were not painted at all, For my little amphibian, I sponge-painted his body with a couple of greens and a little gold for texture. I gave him black arms, legs and head while keeping his eyes a shimmery green.

As for my garden-loving frog, I painted her a bright green and gave her facial features. Her watering can was black so I gave it a rusted, coppery look. I was going to use hot glue to give the illusion of water trickling from the can's spout, but decided against it. The base on which she stands is almost the same color as my front deck so it blends in with the stair step she's on...

Challenges I am Entering: