Hats and Crowns - SPA

Sunday Postcard Art strikes again!  This weeks prompt was Hats and Crowns.   While there are many in the altered art community that would say that crowns and wings are WAY overdone, I couldn't help myself.    For this postcard I used the elements from the following digital kits...

Twinkle Toes - Tumble Fish Studios

Spunky Explosion - Tangie Baxter @ Scrapbook Graphics

Create Wings by Catherine

Zetti Revisited by Fine Crafted Designs @ Deviant Scrap

I added a sparkle brush for a highlight or two and Viola!  This will actually be turned into a postcard and mailed out via Postcrossings.  I have sent out several of my digital cards that I have created thanks  to Sunday Postcard Art.  

Thanks Ladies!!

Laugh Clown, Laugh!

At Think Monday, Think ATC its time to go to the circus.  I'm part of the clown unit in the circus of life, so I was so there with this challenge.

So, having gone digital...again, I'm gonna give credit where credit is due!
I have used elements from Happy Circus (Irene Alexeeva over at Scrap Orchard), Center Stage (Lauren Bavin created this one), Frog King Forest (Nicole Young always does a wonderful job!) Both Lauren and Nicole are over at Digital Scrapbook Place.  And the wonderful clown is one of Ruby Rynne's wonderful creations. ( I found this image in her kit Nat IV at Scrapbooking Graphics)

No brains, no headaches

That is what a wonderful woman used to tell me when I did some boneheaded thing.  That I have migraines must prove that I'm really smart! (insert silly giggle here)
This is my creation for Sunday Postcard Art, the prompt is "Phrenology" If your not aware of that 19th century belief, it was a way to diagnose a person from the bumps on his/ her skull.  An area of overuse or disease would manifest in swelling that would push the skull out in areas.  Those bumps were then mapped according to diagrams and the diagnosis made.

I have used elements from Marcee Duggar (Maskee Large from DSP), Irene Alexeeva (Papers and banners, Altered Ego from Scrap Orchard), Suzanne C. Walker provided the frame ( Draw them In set. Her store at DSP ROCKS) the staples are from Tangie Baxter (Steamer Truck for the AJC journey.  Scrapbook Graphics) and then Phrenology brush (downloaded from The Coolest Brushes)
I should also insert here that I have been having problems using my brushes.  I have this wonderful stash of stuff and it just wouldn't work and I was so frustrated.  WendyZine (Scrapbookgraphics) turned me onto Elements Village, an internet spot for users like me.  Well, it seems that it was a button pushing problem.  I am so excited that I'll be able to use more of my brushes to create my fun stuff!
Now if anyone can direct me to a tutorial for keeping a kitten off of your keyboard (the button problem), please let me know.

Simplify Me

Week 5 with the Art Journal Caravan and this week the prompt is Simplfy and also Just Me.  So I combined both of them.  Yep, thats me!  In all my "glory"....ie sans makeup.  Not bad for 50 if I do say so.
The quote is from Thoreau, the infamous "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams..." and the strips around my little head are single words like breathe, love, family.  Words that have heartfelt meaning to me at this time in my life.
Join the Caravan over at Scrapbook Graphics, or go through the gallery at the wonderful creations there.

Abandoned - Collage Obsession

Now that I have this done, I think I could do better, but don't want to.  Sad isn't it?  Time being at such a premium.  But there it is.
This is for Collage Obsession, the challenge is called "Abandoned".  We were given the photo of the Schneider Mansion and told to go for it.  The text on the journal book reads " After the girls left on the Grand Tour nothing in the house was ever the same.  With its life gone, the soul of the house whithered, dying slowly like the last green leaf in a bitter frost."  And under the picture of 4 girls under the opposite page it reads "Schneider girls.  Circa 1904"

I have to thank College Obsession for the pic of the mansion, Vintage Moth for the pic of the 4 girls, the postcard background and journal book are from Tangie Baxter and Amanda Sexton of Scrapbooking Graphics in their Steamer Truck kit.  I have Phoung Ton from Scrapbooking Graphics to thank for the dried flower and tape I used in the journal book (its from her kit Sentimental Journey) and Lauren Bavin from Digital Scrapbook Place for her Antiquing Pack that I used to bring everything together.

Worn

I know what I really need at this point is another challenge to participate in, but after seeing the site, I couldn't help it.
Collage Obsession is a new challenge site that started last 1/18/10 (if memory serves me correctly) and the first of the challenges was called "Worn Out" and we were given the image of Sarah Bernhart to work with.  Here is my take on it.  I have used a background from TLC Creations - it was a freebie that was offered about a year ago, and just like my papers I stashed it away only this time on my computer.  I also used images from the kits Coming Home by Phoung Ton and Sentimental Journey by Manuela Zimmerman.  Both of these designers and designs are from Scrapbook Girls/Scrapbook Graphics.  I was able to use my pen tablet for the extraction of Sarah.  I think I'm in love!

Finally! A new Postcard!!

For Sunday Postcard Art I proudly present Mimi!  Who is wondering "if the eyes are the window to the soul, does that make the eyebrows the valances?" This was a fun one and I thank SPA for the prompt to create this.
Now for the credits...ahem....
The girl and eyes...they are from Ruby at Scrapbook Graphics (link to the right) Your gonna want the kit "Native too"
The background..well thats the work of Lauren Bavin from her kit "Seriously Steampunk"  You have to go to Digital Scrapbook Place for that one.
The curtains belong to Nicole Young and her kit "Forever in NeverNever" and that one is at Digital Scrapbook Place too! (Yep, the link is to the right, too...a also...aaaa....you get the picture)
The font is called Fabulous 50's and it was a freebie that I downloaded from the internet.

A Journey Begins

This has not been a stellar year for creativity for me.  Marriage, family, work, and school have done their best to eat up what free time and energy that I have.  I have diddled around the internet and admired wonderful art journal pages, digital scrapbooking wonders, postcard art that I would love to receive in the mail, listened to great music that has me sighing at the singer/songwriters that seem to pull out lyrics and melodies that can take my mind to wonderful places.  And I  have been sitting in my chair looking at the piles of papers, boxes and books ( not to mention the orphaned kitten that we adopted) hoping that the organizing fairy would stop by one night and wave the magic wand and POOF! I have my studio back!  Yeah, not so much.......
Over at Scrapbooking Graphics there is a wonderful designer by the name of Tangie Baxter that is conducting at 52 week "journey".  Yep, its a full year into the world of art journaling.  Digitally.  I paid for my "ticket" and I have boarded the Art Journal Caravan.  My idea is to create the pages digitally, print them out, and mount them into a watercolor/drawing journal (after I have colored and altered the background a bit.)  Another designer there, Ruby Rhyne, threw out the idea of creating a matching ATC and by the end of the year you could have a full deck (I'll never have a full deck.....insert stupid grin here) of artist trading cards.   I like that idea.  A lot.
So here is my first page.  It was based on the word "accept"  For me, and many others, I am accepting the fact that I'm flawed.  And those flaws aren't just patches on a personality that is lacking.  They are what make me what I am for all of my "glory".  At my age, and thats 50 by the way, I am starting to recognize the "gift of age" that is part of an "I don't care what you think of me" mentality.  And I for one really like that!  It really is the confidence to be just who you are without the temptation to change for the sake of someone else.

I will be putting up the links to the Art Journal Caravan site for anyone who wants to join.  I will do my best to add the pages as I make them, but just remember, I AM part of the Blogging without Obligation crowd!