April - rainy days and birthdays

It's currently pouring, thunder booming and lightning brightening.  And I've just learned that my dad's other brother passed away this morning at the age of 87.  He had Parkinsons (as did my dad and their father), Lewy-Body and a few other things.  It was just 6 weeks ago that his older brother passed away.

Our landscape project is well under way but where there was bare dirt there is now super mud and ruts.  Heavy sigh.  But at least the area that has been hardscaped at this point looks fabulous.  Haven't spent any time in my art room as I like to be watching all the action and taking plenty of photos.  Then the contractor accidentally cut the cable to the satellite dish late yesterday afternoon so I had an evening free - perfect for working on my version of Tim's April tag.

I followed his directions but obviously used different stamps, colors, dies and embellishments to make it my own.

CMS212 Bird Crazy

Celebration Words: Block and Script; Holly Branch die as a stencil

distress markers: Black Soot, Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Pumice Stone

Jet Black Archival Ink; Mushroom Alcohol Ink

watercolor paper, #8 kraft tag, black card stock scrap, silk ribbon

Hero Arts 'musical note' stamp

metal Happy Birthday charm

Our high school's prom is tonight.  Prior to the students meeting for dinner there is promenade at the school.  They'll walk the red carpet and have their names announced in an area decorated specifically with the prom theme.  The community gets to see them all decked out in their finest.  It's my youngest niece's senior year so I will be there to see her and all her friends looking gorgeous in their long gowns and tuxes.  I just hope the rain lets up so they can have fun without being soaked!

Wendy Vecchi Mixed Media Art Adventure 102

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take Wendy's class at The Scrapbooking Studio in Moline, IL.  Several of us stayed at another friend's house and we met the 5th member of our group at the store.  I hadn't met 2 of group before but we've been on-line friends for quite awhile.  It's always fun getting to meet your on-line friends!  And it was super to see Wendy in action again. 

We started the day creating tags that showcased 10 new mixed media techniques that can be used anywhere...cards, tags, scrapbook pages, journals, and even home décor.  Wendy created labels for the back of the tags that described each process.  This will be helpful later when I try to recreate the technique.

Loved being able to play with new stamps and stencils and to see the newest colors coming out very soon!
 
Next up we used what we learned and created a mixed media canvas.  It was interesting to see what colors and ideas everyone used...they were all quite different.

There was just enough time to add in a bonus feature and that was to alter a home décor piece.  It was originally white with gray undertones.  A bit of archival ink changed the look very quickly.  The colors didn't turn out in the photo as vibrant as they are in real life.  Blame that on the photographer! 













And here's a shot of our group with the fabulous Wendy Vecchi.  In case you don't recognize me, I'm 2nd from the right.  I'm sporting a new very short 'do and loving it! 
(Wanda, Wendy, Debby, Lori, me, Nancy - between us we hail from 3 states)

April cards

Here are some cards I made for April birthdays and what not.  I neglected to write down what I used but did find the inspiration pieces on Pinterest.

There's plenty of Bazzill card stock, Ranger inks, Sizzix dies, Stampers Anonymous stamps, and watercolor paper plus a few rub ons and some Idea-ology pieces.
Okay blogger.  You are acting completely stupid and won't allow any formatting.  Sheesh.  Sorry, folks.  It also apparently doesn't like my typing and refuses to allow me to type other than at hunt & peck speed and omits many letters, spaces, etc.  Maybe once the bad weather clears it will be better.

Jokers are wild

The last two cards in my deck are not jokers...but you won't be seeing that side of them anyway so it doesn't matter.  This is the last part of the Altered Playing Card challenge...sad to see it end but I hear Claudine already has something up her sleeve for the next altered challenge.  Can't wait!

Both of these use bits and bobs that have been left behind from previous projects so I can't accurately say who makes some of the items.  I know that Sizzix, Stampers Anonymous and Ranger feature predominantly in my work so it's safe enough to list these vendor.  I even tried flicking Mermaid Lagoon distress stain from my work surface on to the right hand card but a big drop fell an made a real mess of things.  Oh heavy sigh.