Twilight Charm Swap

I couldn't control myself when it came to making charms for Cassandra's Twilight Charm Swap. Each participant was to make 30 charms, send them in to Cassandra, who will then send us each 30 charms back. Well, I made a few more then that, lol.

These are my first soldered charms. I finally learned how to do this. The Simply Soldered DVD is great and really helped a lot. And my husband totally hooked me up for my birthday this past Saturday. He got different tips and tools for me and this awesome "thing-a-ma-gig" that holds my items while I solder. It was a lot of fun and oddly, I love the smell of it. I can't wait to make even more soldered items.

Each soldered charm is double sided and I hope the other participants like them. There are five of us in all, so I made two for each gal.

As soon as I signed up for this swap I went bonkers seeking out beads, crystals and charms to use. Above are some beaded charms that I made. I like making little dangles to capture the light.

Above are the other charms that I made, one for each gal. Most of them have an extra crystal hanging from them. And for those of you that are fans of the Twilight series, I am sure that you know the meaning of each charm.

I packed each gal's charms up with tissue and vintage ledger pages from the 1800's. If only I had some from 1901, or better yet June 20, 1901. That would have been too cool (Edward's birthday)!

I hope everyone likes the charms that I made for them and a huge thanks to Cassandra for hosting this fun swap. I can't wait until I get my charms back and can make my bracelet. And I really can't wait to see New Moon.

Like I told all of the participants, hope these charms put a smile on your face and Edward on your neck!

Marie Antoinette Halloween Masquerade 4x4 Book Swap

Here is another beautiful 4x4 book from a swap that I hosted over at my beloved Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group. What amazing people I have met there. This book is fabulous and I so enjoy putting them together. The next one has a pastel Christmas theme. I know it will be amazing as well. Thank you so much to all of the amazing artists who made this book a success! Enjoy!

Marie 4x4 Page

Here is the page that I created for a swap I hosted over at the Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group. It was a 4x4 book swap and I will post a slide show of the finished book soon. I am really proud of my page because I used two images from the collage sheets at Cassi's Creations. The image of Marie is from the sheet Rosie Marie 7. Originally, she had a blue dress and flowers, but I have really started to enjoy working with altering digital images. I was able to alter her a bit and then I painted her to give her gold accents and a few brads and sequins to add some bling. I also added a mask to her face. I mean it IS a masquerade ball. The castle is one of my favorite images and is from the sheet Haunted, Halloween, Witch. I added Marie to this image and painted the castle windows as well. I really like how she turned out and I hope that the other artists that participated like her as well. Thanks, as always, to Cassandra for inspiring me! Be sure to check out her shop for all of your collage sheet needs!

Ink Pad - A Love Affair

I've had so much serious stuff going on in life, I decided that I needed to take a moment to do a silly post that had absolutely nothing to do with anything. For those of you who constantly use ink pads and can't have a paper edge left un-aged, then this is the post for you.

Oh but to have the perfect ink pad. The one that isn't too dark, isn't too light or orange, just the perfect shade of brown to help me add an aged look to all of my paper edges. And just like the love of cupid, as long as you are looking, you just don't find it. But then, right when you least expect it, you find it. Right there in a spot you have searched a million times before. There in the ink isle, the perfect shade of brown.

I remember how excited I was to find you. I couldn't wait to get you home and remove your cellophane wrapper to expose your perfect surface. And then, to apply you and see that perfect edge. A perfect brown on the very edge with a softer glow working it's way into the page. Ah, just what my artwork needed.

We've spent so many wonderful hours together. And those times I couldn't find you, my life just became a mess. The times I have thought, "I can't finish this piece of art without my favorite brown ink pad", frantically searching everywhere for you. Just feeling lost. None of those other brown pads would do. I must have you or no pad at all!

Ah, there it is! Wonderful day! I can do my art with my trusty ink pad.



But sadly, over time, you begin to ware. Your once perfectly smooth surface becomes rough and torn as I must bare down on you more to get that perfect aged effect. And the thoughts in the back of my head that our days together are coming closer to an end. What will I do?

And then it happens. You begin to fall apart and I know with each application, the end is near. There is only so much ink per pad, so many lovely applications to give that perfect aged effect.

Farewell my favorite brown ink pad. Our memories together will always be remembered and I will think of you as I try to achieve that perfect aged effect. Maybe cupid will shoot his arrow again one day, right when I least expect it, and I will find a equally talented ink pad in the ink isle. Thank you for all of your hard work and contributions to my art. You will be missed, oh trusted brown ink pad.

Love & Hope for Our Little Angels Charity Auction Event

Etsy Cottage Style is an amazing group of artists that have really inspired me for a great deal of time now. While visiting one day, I read the story of Jewel from Shabby Boutique and the amazingly hard journey that she had endured not only through divorce, but through the horrible news that her own son was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Having two children of my own, I couldn't imagine getting this news. Her strength during that time was amazing and you can read more about her experience here.

It was during that time that Jewel was blessed by the group NCCS, The National Children’s Cancer Society. Because of her sons illness, he had to be hospitalized for close to a year. "It was a long battle. I couldn’t work and had no child support, so the NCCS (National Children’s Cancer Society) helped me with my house payments, utilities, gas money, food, you name it. But they also helped emotionally and spiritually, too. I owe the NCCS—and other organizations like it—more than I could ever repay. So I take every opportunity to help them or give back. I don’t think people ever realize how much these charities need our support to help others in time of need until you have been in that situation. I know that I used to sort of frown on the people standing outside of the stores wanting you to donate. I was more worried about how we were going to get food on our table or clothes on our back. But since this happened, I will now be the first one in line to donate. I do as much as I can to help others in my community as well as other communities."

And now, Jewel would like to do even more to help NCCS. Because of Jewel, several artists gathered to create two books full of beautiful art and amazing inspiration, including myself. You can see some of the art from these books in the slide show below that Jewel put together. Now that I have viewed what these books contain, I can guarantee you I will be hoping to win one of these auctions so that I can own one for myself, lol!

Not only will these two altered art books be auctioned off, but so will other works of art from individual artists who have donated both their time and their artwork. But more volunteers are needed to make this event a huge success which will in turn help other parents who are helping their children while fighting an illnesses. If you are an artist and would like to help out with this amazing cause, please visit “Love & Hope for Our Little Angels” An Altered Art Book for NCCS November 15-22, 2009

When will this event be held?

The "Love & Hope for Our Little Angels" Charity Auction Event will be held from November 15-22, 2009 on eBay, user ID etsy_cottage_style (etsy_cottage_style). At that time we will be auctioning off the two books, support banners and other creations from our Etsy Cottage Style members and others.


You can also help by purchasing the beautiful support banner that Jewel created as shown on the top left area of my own blog by clicking here. Proceeds will also go to NCCS. "Purchase as many as you wish for yourself or to give to friends, neighbors, relatives and even your favorite sellers. They are already for sale and will be on sale until November 23rd, 2009. You may place these banners on your blog, in your emails, in your eBay auctions/stores, on your website's or anywhere else that you would like to show your support for such a wonderful cause". The cost is only $5.00.


About NCCS

If you would like to know more about NCCS, please visit their website. Please spread the word and help this organization help those children and families in need. And please mark your calender and come back during the charity auction event to make sure that you help support NCCS. Thank You so much for your help, as it truly means a lot to us! And thank you to Jewel as well for all of her hard work to put this event together.

It's All About Me

Today is a day that is All About Me, the swap event with the wonderful and amazing Natasha Burns. A day for finding some creative bliss that is just for me. Thank you Natasha for hosting this event and reminding us all to do a little something for ourselves as well.

I have had some items that I have been wanting to use in my art for some time now. But I always get so involved in the other things I am doing, being artistic or family related, that I often just have these wonderful finds piling up in my studio gathering dust. Well, it's time to use some of them for me.

I love frozen Charlotte dolls and old German glass doll heads. I had also found this fabulous post office box cover at a favorite shop many months ago. Here is what I created.




I used some vintage ledger pages, some Golden Gel Medium and some other images, ink and paint to create my background along with these flowers by Cassandra at Cassi's Creations.



I mounted the other items to the canvas using wire and holes that I had punched into the canvas. I measured them exactly so that these old spools could support the post office box and act as a stand.



Turn the dials to the correct combination and the door opens to reveal this tiny, tiny frozen Charlotte doll along with letter tiles from an old Ipswich game spelling out the word LOVE.





I really love how this piece came out and hope to send it in to a Somerset publication one of these days when I make the time FOR ME. For now, it will rest along with my Great Grandmother's doll and my other glass heads in my studio.

Hope you like my art and thanks again to Natasha! May all of your creations be perfect in your eyes and a success in your heart!

Gothic Arches

I have never created a Gothic arch before, so when Annie, aka EraserQueen, decided to host this swap on The Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group, I had to give it a go. I was very intimidated at first. If you check out Annie's demonstration here, you will see her create the most beautiful Gothic Marie arch from start to finish. I became obsessed with watching this demonstration and would watch in awe as the music and her paintbrush continued as if performing the greatest symphony of all time. I just had to give it a try myself after watching.

I never would have considered painting over images that I had, but after practicing on about 1000, I finally started to become one with the paper and the paintbrush. I really enjoyed creating these arches. I love it when I am stuck on a project and keep looking at it, searching in my mind for answers when finally one pops into my head. I love it when I have a challenge and complete the task and am happy with the final product and can look at them with a smile upon my face. I hope they put one on yours as well.

All of the images of Marie came from the talented Cassandra from Cassi's Creations. I love her collage sheets and used several of her Marie designs with these arches. The above image came from the sheet Rosie Marie 7. I also used some of my own vintage ledger pages and painted the keys that were already on this page as well.

I really love the way this one came out. It is from the sheet Rosey Marie Antoinette which started out pink and ended up being a Halloween treat.

Haunted Masquerade Large Mixed Media is where this image came from. I didn't have to do much to her. I just accented it with some gold Smooch pearlized accent ink. I also added a velvet trim to the top and painted in the area with some gold and copper acrylic paints and added black paint to the very top to frame it off.

What is an image of Marie without a little vintage lace? This image came from the sheet
Rosie Marie 2.

Who would have thought that even Marie can go goth!

I had to make an extra one just for me and this image of Marie came from the sheet Haunted Masquerade Large Mixed Media. The black cat, oh how I love my black cats, came from the sheet Haunted, Halloween, Witch as well as the castle in the background. I am especially proud of how it turned out. I painted it with Smooch inks as well in gold this fab green color.

I can never leave the back of a piece plain. I just applied some more vintage ledger pages and then stamped it with this image of Marie from Oxford Impressions. Their stamps are one of my favorites! I used some Pearlescent Chalks to give Marie her Gothic shimmer.

This was such a fun swap and a huge thanks to Annie for her inspiration and for hosting this swap, and of course to Cassandra as well, my constant mentor and creator of our Marie group and design team.

The next pieces I design for Cassi's Creations Design Team will have nothing at all to do with Marie Antoinette, GASP! Cassandra has so many wonderful designs in just about any theme you can imagine. I am currently hosting an Itty Bitty Vintage Circus book and am using many of Cassandra's designs. I also have some more items that I want to use in my art and have been inspired by some of her newest designs including paper doll dresses, a variety of heads, arms and legs. Stay tuned, take care, and thanks for stopping by!