The good, the bad and the "taking ugly to a new level" ....

The good
I made this layout for a wonderful blogging friend Judy of Rogue Artist. She is an amazing artist and she showcases so many different artists on her blog ... just take a look at all of the interesting art down the right side of her blog ...
She asked me if i would do something for her dearly departed little girl Precious ... and so i did ...
this is what i came up with

I put a lot of heart into this page ... Judy has told me she loves it ... so it's all good ... and the best thing about it is that i feel good!  and it's good to feel good ... and yes, cheesecloth is my fave thing to play with right now!!!

a whole lot of technique also went into this page ... this large corner flourish is by Pink Paislee and started out as a cream colour ... i used a combo of coffee glimmer mist and white and pink acrylic paints to get it to a point where the colour worked with the background paper.

and this wooden birdcage by Kaisercraft came out really well ... it was inked, then heat embossed, first with silver, then with utee and finally painted a bit to give it a worn metal feel ... i love playing with techniques, its a whole other feel good situation...


The bad
omg, every single time i try to take a photo of a layout or project along comes Honey to try and insert herself into the shot ... it's like she's saying "Mr. DeMIlle  err Mommy , I'm ready for my close up"
bad dog ... very bad dog, but very photogenic ...

The ugly ...  truly taking ugly to a new level
believe it or not there is a lot of work in this grungeboard keyhole ... i had this fabulous idea ... i sprayed it with two tones of brown glimmer mist, letting it dry between each coat ... then i inked ares of it in a sepia tone ... and then again with a verdigris ink .... and it looked gorgeous ... and then, i went to cover it with  distress crackle paint in distress pewter, so that all of my lovely inking would show though the cracks ... in my mind it looked gorgeous, various colours and highlights and lolights and glimmer coming through the cracks ... and i got this ...

yeah ....
i guess i didn't stir the paint enough, because what a got looked like goo ... and it was goo that didn't dry so no crackles .... so i helped it along with my heat gun ... and it bubbled
so now i have this finished piece ... that looks like a malformed keyhole that was covered in slug slime ... sigh ...

Peace, love & paper
~Jo

Saturday Centus - The ATM

Darn that Jenny Matlock and her crazy prompts!  You know the drill ... the prompt is in bold and the rest is all me.  Make sure you click on the button at the bottom of the post to visit the rest of entries ... and hey, why not join us, it's a great way to exercise that part of your brain ... and its fun ... yes fun!

The ATM machine began dispensing twenties... spewing them into the air.  She stood there mesmerized as they danced in the wind, gusts lifting them towards the brilliant blue sky and then stopping to let the green bills drift, only to be caught by another gust.

She watched passersby reach and grasp for the elusive bills … some scurrying away with their new found bits of wealth. 

“hmm” … she thought, turning back to her tuna salad. “I’d hate to have to explain to the boss how I lost the ATM funds … and I think my job is tough.”

Peace, love & paper

~jo

a super quick rolled rosette tutorial

Hey SOS gals
thanks for asking how to make these ... here is a quick little tutorial on those rolled rosettes ...  this was done very quickly and i am no expert at tutorials so there is zero production quality


The white paper is just a diagram, the pink polka dot paper is the sample

I start with a square piece of paper ... usually approx 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches.  you do not have to measure or make if perfect

 Draw a large circular coil onto your paper ... the more coils, the more but smaller layers your flower will have, if you just have a few coils you will have a taller flower

 Now cut along your lines .... and then trim off the excess from the square shape  (I no longer draw the coil, i just freehand the cut ... so no measuring ... keep it fun)

 if you want you can go around the circle and create a wavey edge, this gives petals more definition ... this is totally optional.

 start rolling at the outer end .... just keep rolling till you hit the center

i put glue in the centre ... some people use glue dots, i prefer glossy accents as it drys relatively quick and holds the layers really well ...

 place the little base of the flower into the glue.  allow it to uncoil slightly to give it a looser look

 if you want you can add a little bling to the centre of the flower ... or use some glitter ...

The finished sizes is about that of a nickel

You can also make these out of felt and some fabrics ... they look cute on mini easter baskets as well as layouts!

hope this helps
have fun with it!

Peace, love & paper
Jo

Tip toe ...

... through the tulips ....

okay, not so original but its all ive got for today .... hey today is a T word too!!!   and so is too!!!  i am just rocking the T's now...

Tulips will and have always been one of my favourite flowers ... and lately i have been lucky enough to have received a couple of pretty bouquets ... and of course i had to take  a whole lot of pictures ...

Mona Lisa Mae, get down from there!!!

Sorry this was such a lame T post, but hop on over to Miss Jenny's blog to read some much more interesting and cool t posts!!!
Peace, Love & paper y'all!

so I have been doing some scrapping ....

and these are a few things i came up with ... i did these two layouts as i was doing challenges over at the sisterhood of scrap ... which is great little challenge forum ... lovely people ... chill atmosphere ... you should try it ...

anyways ... i combined two challenges and came up with this layout

it is not my design, one of the challenges was to use a Feb 11 sketch from pagemaps.  this sketch was designed by Julie Tucker-Wolek.  this was a quick and easy!  the other challenge was to use red red red ... and i just dont do a whole lot of red ... thank goodness for my Jenny Bowlin stash!


For the second layout again i combined two challenges ... one was to use a cut up die cut and the other was to use digital elements.

the butterflies and the mad hatter are all digi elements ... i printed and cut them out ... I had a lot of fun with this layout as the challenges

and i love cutting details out of patterned papers ... all of the papers used in this layout are by The Girls Paperie ... Paper Girl line ...  this line is about a year old but i still love it ... so soft and feminine ... you can find it at Tiny Seed ....

This charm is also from the same line ... the beaded ribbon i picked up at a fabric shop and the muslin ribbon i hand stamped and tea dyes ... this is my current fave "ribbon" ...  you can click on any of the images if you want them to expand and geez i wish i had a better point and shoot ... mine does not take very good low light pictures ...

thanks for stopping by  ...

Peace, love & paper

~jo

and the delightful OWOH winners are ....

and i let Mr. Random Org do the choosing ...

1st    Kathy ... of  Katie's Cows & Udder Things

2nd  Sandra ... of Thistle Cove Farm

Congrats Ladies!

And to all who participated, thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a lovely comment ... It was an absolute pleasure to participate in this event and meet so many interesting and wonderful bloggers along the way.

Snow ....

I bet almost all of you out there are a little tired of all of the white stuff this year ... me .... I'm still waiting for it!

Well okay, back in November we had a bit ... for a few days .... not much ... no real road closures or snow days, well except for one when they shut down the university, because it sits atop this little mountain we are on ... but that's it

Honey in Novembers snow ... she is only 5 pounds so the snow is not really as deep as you might think 

and we were promised it would be the worst winter in years ... that we would have snowmageddon ... so where the heck is it???

I went out side in search of it ... hmmm little buds forming on the deciduous trees ... thats no good

sorry for the not so good photo ...

beautiful green ferns and vibrant green moss ...

Mona Lisa... get down from there!

in the the front garden ... well this is the closest we could come to for snow ....

Mona Lisa Mae and a "snowdrop"

So I guess I will have to grin and bear it ... another year without tons of the pretty whitestuff ... sigh ...
This is starting to remind me of last year, when the Olympics were in town, and you would see lots of tourists from other nations in their heavy winter gear when all they really needed was a light jacket, and sneakers ...

feb 19th 2010 ...  the only snow was on the mountains and a lot of it was man made 

this sorrowful snow tale is brought to you by the letter S and the fabulous Jenny Matlock.  click on the button below to read about all things S from her loyal and devoted students!!!

Peace, Love & Paper
~Jo

Saturday Centus - The Pug

If you are looking for my OWOH post and giveaway, its here.  You have until the 17th to leave a comment!

This Saturday's Centus our dear Miss Jenny has decided to give us a visual prompt ... and this week the challenge is to use up to 50 words to write a "Hallmark" card, using this cute little picture 

Yo …yo, yo, yo

Just look at you baby

With them big brown eyes

Come on over

I’ve got a surprise

I wanna give you

A great big hug

If you will let me be your

SuperPug

Yo… yo, yo, yo

There ain’t no lovin’ like pug lovi’n

So clearly Hallmark won't be giving me a job but maybe the little down the street and around the corner little card shop might ... lol

Peace, Love & Paper!

~Jo

One World One Heart

you can click on the pictures to enlarge if you wish!

Welcome, to my little home in blogsphere.  I’m Jo and I have been blogging for almost 3 years.  I have been crafting all of my life … One of my favourite projects is Dolly ….  I remember sitting on the floor of the local library and finding this amazing book on doll making … the dolls were are so beautiful and perfect … I brought the book home and at the ripe old age of 7 I made Dolly.  Now I didn’t have all of the required materials but Dolly was and still is my favourite doll … she is now 46 years old and she seems to be falling apart at the seams but hey, we all do that at some point in time!  Love heals us!  Lately I am into paper crafts including cardmaking, scrapbooking and mixed media collage.

sorry i cant get this shot to rotate ... i have no idea what is up with that ...

This is my first time participating in the One World One Heart blog event…   This world wide event is in it’s 5^th  and final year and is hosted by Lisa Swifka.   It is a stellar way to meet artists and view their work.   To find a list of all bloggers taking part in this world wide event, stop by A Whimsical Bohemian.

I am offering up a couple of little prizes made by me  …

Prize #1 - Three vintage spools with ribbon made from muslin, tea dyed and stamped with French text,

Tea dyed flannel ribbon and butterfly stamped melted satin ribbon.

photo taken from the top

photo taken from the front

Prize #2 - 4 handmade cards with envelopes.

To win you need to comment on this post before February 17^th as I will be drawing for the prizes on that day using a random number generator.  Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you.  This draw is open to my fellow bloggers worldwide.  If I am unable to reach a winner within 48 hours I will redraw a new name.  Only one entry per person please.  The first winner picked will get their choice of the prize they want.

Peace, love & paper

~Jo