Sunday, February 23, 2014

Another challenge!

Over at Simon Says, the Monday challenge was to create either with a cameo or use something that would make a cameo appearance in your project ...

So I kind of did both, but in doing both I also kind of did neither ... yeah ... one of those ....

I decided to use a vintage silhouette image from the Graphics Fairy .... I printed it out and then sat with it for a few days ... i decided to flip the page over and cover it with strips cut from a magazine ... I used a very victorian wall image as the main portion of her head, then a sea image and finally an image of an ancient brick wall ... Once i had glued the strips down, i let it dry (well almost dry) and then i cut out the silhouette image and adhered it to my background ...  I then added a lovely Jane Austen quote.


But then ...



...



...


I blew the quote ... i wrote down that it was from Sense and Sensibility  when .... *gasp* ...... it is actually from Pride and Prejudice ....

making a cameo appearance on my art journal page is the glaring quote error .... sheesh, i have lost all of my  street cred here with that error!

Thanks for stopping by ....
Peace love and paper
Jo

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Simon Says - We Love Stamps Challenge

Today I am participating in the Simon Says challenge ... I do love stamps .... and I think that almost everything i do has stamping on it in some way ...

For this challenge i did stamping that is not very obvious ... but it adds texture and interest to the project as a whole ... I also used my two all time favourite stamps on this project, the French Script background stamp by Stampin Up, and the french script stamps that comes in the French Market stamp set by Tim Holtz ....

I started by stamping a piece of white cardstock with the spun sugar distress ink, I only used a small portion of this paper in a die cut,  but i have saved the rest for future projects.
 I also stamped an old piece of chipboard that has been painted and inked ... i stamped the image while the ink on the heart was still wet, and it all kind of smudged ... which was what i was going for ...
 and here we are!  the white paper is die cut into a snowflake rosette shape (this is one of my fave dies of all times) and i attached a little cherub that i printed, fussy cut, then glittered ... i then attached the whole thing to a lovely set of wings!
Not all stamping needs to be close up and in your face ... I love how this subtle stamping took the "whiteness" out of the white cardstock, and added some extra visual interest!

Once again, thanks so much for stopping by!  and make sure you stop by the Simon Says Monday Challenge to see all of the wonderful stamping art!
Peace, love and paper!
Jo


Saturday, February 15, 2014

Grow Your Blog - my giveaway!



Hello everyone and a happy day to you!  I did a little random.org thing today, and the lucky winner of my GYB party giveaway is .....

....

....

... (so much drama)

... Tanya at Bead and Needle!!!!

You won this lovely set of vintage styled cards (found here) made by my wee little hands.

Please email me your details and i will get them off in the mail to you as quickly as possible.

Thank you to everyone who left a lovely comment and entered!

peace love and paper
Jo

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

What's my style?

arrrrg, if you follow my blog then you know that my style is a tad bit undefined ... I like bright, colourful, happy, textural, muted, layered, simple, easy, grungy, vintagey and kind of white .... yeah ...

so when i decided to join the "what's your style" challenge at Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog  ... i grabbed an old battered bright pink heart shaped box and decided to let "my heart" do the picking ....

This is what happened ....

I covered the box top in patterned paper and layered it with doilies an image from Graphic 45 paper and some hand made flowers, and all things pretty!


This box wax actually quite high ... to get the texture i wanted i painted the box in clay paint (which is very similar to chalk paint) in an old white colour.  I trimmed the side of the box top with satin ribbon and then layered it with vintage white lace.

Just a wee close up of the top ... i like a lot of depth so the flowers  much higher than the surface heart box top.


So, apparently my style is layered, textural, vintage and kind of white .... or at least my heart said so in this challenge ....

I can only wonder what my style will be on my next project!
Thanks so much for stopping by
Peace, love and paper
jo

Monday, February 10, 2014

3 little houses ...

A big hello to you!  
for some reason, I have been thinking about houses and homes since the beginning of the year ... I have kind of made an informal plan to focus a lot of my art work around the them of houses this year.  I was thrilled when my brother cut me several, like many, little houses from scrap wood.

I have taken three of the houses with very short roofs and worked on them for a week or so ... finally they are finished ... well almost, i still need to sign them and finish the bottoms.


3 little homes, free hand cut by my brother.   The roofs have varied pitches ... each roof has a thick layer of texture paste, i used a dry brush to apple the paste and created a lumpy shingle look.  I mixed up black paint with a pear green paint to achieve a mottled black colour.  I also lightly swiped parts of the roof with green, then quickly wiped it off ... just to make them look a little dirty.

Each house was covered with gesso, white paint, tan paint and vintage paper in varying layers.  The windows and doors are cut freehand from illustrations from a vintage french encyclopedia ...



I actually love the way they turned out ... you can still see the grain of the wood through them which allows them to maintain a very natural feel despite the treatment given to them. I hope you have enjoyed them as well.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
peace, love and paper
jo

Friday, February 7, 2014

Grow your blog ... my gift to you!

Recently I took part in the fabulous Grow Your Blog party hosted by the fabulous Vicki at  2 Bags Full.  This was a fun blog party with over 500 blogs participating.  I was able to join some new blogs as followers and meet some wonderful bloggers!  I also have more people join my blog so it was fun all around.

I am offering 4 lovely vintage style cards with matching envelopes as a little gift in celebration of this blog party.   In order to be entered into the draw for these lovelies, please leave a comment on my original post, which can be found here.

All of these cards are made with quality products.  I used the last (whimper) of my Graphic 45, A Ladies Diary papers (oh these papers are sumptuous!)  I also use Very Vanilla card stock from Stampin" Up as each card base.  All of these cards are blank on the inside so you can use any sentiment you desire.

This card features a lovely little metal lock, as well as hand made flowers, fabulous lace and some ribbon.

Although somewhat simple, this is my favourite card.  Just a simple double bow and two pins.  All envelopes have a card stock centre for you write the name of the person you are sending it to.

Vintage millinery is attached to a petite ornate frame that has been inked and dabbed with a bit of paint ... a little attached to the flower stems.

The final card features two tiny buds and a wooden heart that has been glittered.  It also shows the inside of the envelope.  All envelopes were made with double sided paper so it is a treat both opened and closed!

Thank you so much for stoping by ... please remember to stop by my original post and enter this draw! The draw, along with draws from other participants in the blog party will be on the 15th of February.  These is still time to visit other blogs from the party ... they can be reached through the 2 Bags Full post here

peace love and paper!
jo

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Photo Blogging Challenge - January

If you are looking for my GYB post, it is here!  Be sure to stop by an comment, you still have time to enter my draw!

okay, I am a wee bit late on this post ... i should have had this up on the 31st of January, but here goes ...  Our challenge for the month of January was the word "new" ...

What a fab word for a photo challenge ... i had so many ideas but as we just do 5 photos, i kept it simple (seriously you really did not want to see a photo of the gas pump putting "New" gas into my car.)

A new french Patissierie is getting ready to open ... I can't wait to see what they bring to the neighbourhood

I have made some wonderful new batches of soap ... several types, but my favourite is on the right, coconut oil with some organic honey (it is not sticky, and honey is a natural humectant)

A new blossom is opening ...

A new village in the making ... my brother cut these for me, I have finished 3, more to come, watch my blog for their finished state!

and finally .... a new line of our skytrain is being built!  I love the skytrain, light rapid transit in the sky!!!

and that's what i came up with for new!  Please consider joining us, we are a small friendly group of people who just like to take pictures.  February's challenge is "red" ... and you have the month to shoot it!  Join us at A'lil hooha's blog, and to see everyones January photos, click here.

Thank you for joining me on my interpretation of "new"!
peace love and paper
jo