Pin Me Up Buttercup

The last of the pin-up ATCs is upon me! Hurray! These are the final ATCs for my vintage swap at LPS. Now I just have to finish up a couple more pages for the circle journal, the glitter ATCs for Ally's swap and then get started on some Halloween ATCs for yet another swap.





In other news, the hubby is off to a work conference and I'd be upset that he'll be gone for our wedding anniversary on the 1st except that he'll come home with tons of free stuff sooo... :P

Odds and Ends

While feverishly trying to finish up some projects for swaps I'm doing, I found a couple of things I haven't shared yet...

A couple more pin-up ATCs:



This is a double page layout I did for a challenge contest at LPS (click for larger):



Can you believe August is practically over?! September brings our 2nd wedding anniversary and then comes October when Toot will turn one year old and I will turn thirty-*signal lost* years old...Time is flying!

When They Say 6 Inches, They Mean 6 Inches

I absolutely adore Jimi Hendrix (and his music isn't so bad either) and one of my favorite songs is "Manic Depression". I found these four little pictures of Hendrix and decided to make a set of ATCs inspired by Hendrix and "Manic Depression".

So let me just say that these four little ATCs took me about 3 months to do. It was one of those projects where I'd pick them up, get stuck, put them back down. Pick them up, move them out of my way, put them back down. Pick them back up...well, you get the idea. At one point, I painted them in different colors and then used Elmer's glue to make a crackle effect which was a technique Gabrielle (on the LPS Design Team) taught us at the message board.

The effect was really cool but I was still at a loss on what to do with these things. Then I got some Maya Mist from LPS and it got me thinking about how I could try it out on these ATCs (I was a Mist Virgin you see). So I glued Hendrix to the cards, set them on a paper towel and read the instructions on the mist bottle:

-Shake well (check!)
-Spray at an angle (check!)
-about 6" from surfaces (huh?)

I never was good at math because I apparently have no idea how far away from surfaces 6 inches is, whoops. So I blasted these things with Maya Mist into next Saturday. I got it all over everything, including a vintage hair scarf (no worries, right into the washer it went, all perfect again!) and my crackle effect. Not only that but I had a flashback of Gene Wilder warning Violet not to chew the gum as Hendrix turned bright blue right before my very eyes. Well, crap...

Although the more I looked at them, they didn't seem so bad. But lesson learned, bring a ruler next time I try spraying anything with anything.

Caution: There Is A Very Bad Word In This Post!

What a fabulous weekend and blog party that was! Anyone ready for the next one?! ;)

As for the winner of the blog makeover giveaway...don't rush me! I haven't drawn the winner yet but will make the big announcement in my next post, I promise! (Or do I already know the winner and am just dragging out the suspense? Hmmmm....)

Until then, feast your eyes upon the sweetest little ole eye candy you ever did see! As I mentioned before, I am hosting a vintage ATC swap over at Life Preservers Scrapbook Club and I don't know if it was because I'm the hostess or what but somehow, in between the mountains of Christmas party merriment, I finished my 12 ATCs in record time! And of course was so excited about them that I couldn't wait to post them and see what y'all think!



I used pages from an old book (the book was falling apart and in horrid shape so I felt no shame in gutting it. :D)



I used some pin-ups, various goodies and punchinella from Gauche Alchemy and LPS. Then I used Stickles to highlight particular phrases that caught my eye.



What do you think?! I have to say how proud I am of these because the ATCs I made previously to this were doody. lol That's such a fun dirty word...doody...hee hee...

Oh The Places You'll Go...And Sew...

Please join me in welcoming the newest addition to the family:

Isn't she gorgeous?!?! And look what I made with her this morning!

Okay, that was a lie. This is actually a vintage 1935 beaded satin gown with ostrich plumes, courtesy of thefrock.com. Anyone have a spare $6,300 dollars lying around they can loan me? I would look fabulous in this! ;)

I haven't really made anything with my new darling yet but I have high hopes of making a quilt out of Chris' old video game t-shirts. He has like 3 billion of them so I don't think he'll miss one or two. lol

Now on to something I actually did make: I finished my Spring ATCs for the Life Preservers Scrapbook Club swap! I...am...AWESOME! lol Okay, maybe not awesome but I was starting to get a little stressed that these things were never going to get done! My creative mojo just hasn't been there but for some reason yesterday morning, it came to me like a flash and woo hoo!

I'm not sure about a couple of them but at least they are now on their way to their new homes. Mission accomplished!

(Now on to my other 300 missions needing to be accomplished...) lol

Spring ATCs Are Blooming! (Finally!)

I finally got a couple more Spring ATCs completed for the LPS swap. Only 8 more to go...

I think I've convinced my hubby to do the Friday Night Fab Five for this week, trust me-you are going to want to be around for that one! lol Wait, did I just hype that too much? :P

So it's Wednesday, how is everyone's week so far???

Everything Old Is New Again...To Me Anyway...

If you missed my Craftoholics interview with Callista yesterday, click here to check it out!

I have a lot to post about today which is ironic considering that I did squat this past weekend because I was sick sick sick. Yuck! I missed National Scrapbooking Day, I missed Free Comic Book Day and I went through a very cool flea market in a congestion-induced fog. On the bright side, I ended up being coherent enough to get a couple of cool things at the flea market. My mom snagged this for me:

A 1967 issue of Look magazine!

Anyone that knows me, knows I'm obsessively nostalgic and wish I had been: A. Jane Austen's BFF, B. Lucy and Ethel's third wheel or C. a cage dancer at Whisky A Go-Go. So when we found a stack of Look magazines from the 60's, we pounced! I was going to put it to pieces and use it on some projects but I've decided that I can't bear to cut it so I may get it framed instead.

I also found some old pictures:

I actually had a stack of about 40 pictures but I narrowed it down to these five. As much as I love old pictures, I think it incredibly sad when I see a lonely box of them at flea markets. I think that's part of the reason why I scrapbook: maybe Toot will see all the work I've put into them and she'll feel too guilty to sell them to strangers when I'm gone. lol In your face, future Toot! :P I'm going to use the pictures in a couple of projects and breathe new life into them. The lady I bought them from said they all came from the same family in New York but that was all the information she had.

In other news, I'm scrambling to get stuff mailed out before the postal prices go up again (whatever Postmaster for jerks!). I'm starting work on my swap box for Mamarazzi's Favorite Things Swap. By the way, did you know that my swap partner is the fabulous Renee at My Glimpse of Life? The majority of her blog posts are f-u-n-n-y and you must flip through them. I've got my list of favorite goodies I'm going to send her and I can't wait!

In other other news, Callista asked me the other day if I had taken Toot for that walk in the park I promised and I replied, "No, but I made a layout about walking in the park, does that count?!"

I also did another cupcake ATC. I'm not sure I'm crazy about this one but that'll teach me to create when I'm sick, eh?

All right, I had a ton more I was going to add to this post but it'll keep for another day. Please fill me in on all of the fascinating things happening for you right now! I've been confined with the "pox upon my house" and need some sunny news! :)

I'm On Board With Anything That Has "Mania" In The Title

The preview for Collage Mania 2009 is now open! Collage Mania is "A Fiberart For A Cause" fundraiser, put together by Virginia Spiegel, where 161 artists from all over the world have created and donated collages that will be sold on May 5th-7th. 100% of the proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society.

And let me tell you, there is some gorgeous work there and my fingers are crossed that I'll be able to snag one of these fabulous collages before they're all gone!

Here is information and directions on buying and here are all 383 collages that will be available to buy on May 5th through the 7th.

Thanks to Frieda for the heads up and check out Page 6 where her collage is displayed!

In other not as cool as awesome collages news, here are a couple more ATCs. The first is another Kawaii style, this time a cupcake and the second is one of the ATCs I made for the Spring swap at LPS.

Must Think Spring...Must Think Spring...

I am trying...

I really am...

I am suppose to be working on the 9 Spring ATCs I need for the swap at LPS. I have gotten one done so technically I just need 8 more...

And I'm really trying, I promise...

But oh nertz, my inspiration is pffftttt...at least when it comes to Spring. I keep getting discrafted and then wah wah wah, wah wah wah wah (as Charlie Brown's teacher would say). *sigh* Oh well, I'll get there!

In the meantime, I totally want to be her. It occurred to me the other day that I'm not in the corporate world anymore...I can color my hair any freaking color I want to! And I'm gonna so be watching for that! Now I just need a Lucy Ricardo wardrobe and a set of pearls...

And here is my first Kawaii ATC. I adore Japanese culture and thus the inspiration for this ATC:



I painted the background with various acrylic paints, cut out the different arches for the rainbow and then colored over them with Stickles. I cut out the clouds, drew on faces and outlined them with Stickles. Me likey...

Now, on to Spring...

Hopefully...

ATC Music Series

Although I should be focusing on making ATCs for the LPS Spring ATC swap, I got distracted (or discrafted may be a better term) by this music note paper I found the other day. So I decided to make a short series of music ATCs.

I'm also working on a series of Kawaii ATCs as well and I have finished one of my Spring ATCs so we're moving forward at least. :P

So let's dish about the weekend! My girls came over last night and we chatted and played some Rock Band...it...was...AWESOME! lol Although I think it was universally decided that our favorite part was the coffee liqueur. So good...I love not being pregnant!!! LOL

ATC=Another Time Consumer

I need a new craft like I need a hole in the head...I mean technically, I already have a hole in my head if you count my mouth...well, actually there's 7 if you count the ears, nostrils and ... ANYWAY ...

My crafting ADD is in high gear, especially now that I am venturing in the world of ATC or Artist Trading Cards. Think of them as baseball cards for artists except without the tooth cracking gum. You make them 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 and other than that, anything goes! There's even entire forums set up just for trading ATCs and there is enormous talent out there to drool over!

My favorite artist by far is Frieda, go to her blog and check out her gallery and tell her the crazy American girl is sending new people to stalk her art, LOL. ;)

So of course, I had to jump right in and what luck! LPS is going to have an ATC swap soon and our theme is Spring, fun fun fun! I've had so much fun researching ATCs and really hope I can become decent at making them! How fun to have something so small to trade with other artists, I love seeing how other people create and this is a perfect, inexpensive way to do it. Woo hoo!

I hope everyone has a great day!

Wait a minute, I'm forgetting something...

Oh right! My very first ATC is finished and ready for viewing! I made it from some scraps out of my April Kit from LPS. I'm not really sure what it is but it's me being creative so I'm happy with it! LOL Remember, it's my first so be sweet! LOL ;) Have a great day y'all!