A One Word Prompt....

You can call me Bird...

Well, it's not my birth name, but it's been the given nickname since I can remember and I rather like it.  Apparently I flapped my arms, like a bird would its wings, whenever I saw food and mimicked the excitement of a baby bird at feeding time.  

   

                                                   

I decided to join the year long class called Wanderlust 2016 and the first journal entry prompt was to choose one word that describes me today.        

 So bird it is..

I had a little fun with textures and the glue gun while creating these pages. I stamped both the leaves here to the right and the leaves below with Ranger Dye Ink. Now the leaves below, I colored them first with copics and gel pens.  The leaves to the right I decided to hit with glue first and then color the cooled glue.  You can see how the glue dried differently on those mediums.

  

 

Both of my kid's names begin with B's, so I've dubbed myself the "B keeper."  And that explains why they're buzzing around.

I find the longest day to be one that I don't laugh, so I try to always make time for silliness and a good belly chuckle.  Once I stamped the little ink nibs in various places, I gave myself random cues to write something.  Here's silly....  And God knows I'm trying to win t;hat 1 billion, but in reality, I don't think I really want anything to do with the insanity that would follow. So....back to journaling and laughing.

And here's something sweet....

And here's a little more texture with paste and glitter because, anything with glitter is good!

Well, that's a little peek into my Wanderlust journey and I'm so glad to have spent this time sharing it with you.  There's still time to join in the year long crafting journey. It promises to be a creative adventure.  

Until next time...

Big hugs and happy crafting,

Bird xx

Big Head on a Bike....

Hello and welcome to my brain!

Today I have a piece of mixed media art to share with you that involves elements from three separate challenges.  The concepts are: Chalkboard and Industrial, Freedom and Time Flies.

I'm incredibly late to the party for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags, like years late, but today I decided that I would see one through to the end, so let's begin with his January tag.

Above, you'll see the triple layered Industrial gears that turn the thoughts in the ol' noggin.  To add a humorous twist, I folder embossed the gears with a cobweb folder, sort of to say, it's good to challenge yourself and blow out the cobwebs occasionally.  I also have here my giant head, made by using the chalkboard method as described on the 12 Tags January challenge.

It seemed only logical that you can't have a giant head and no leg possessing structure just aimlessly floating in mid air.  Therefore, it must traverse on the most likely piece of transportation...a unicycle, of course!

Now why on earth is there a small boy on a swing dangling from gears situated nearby a pair of ballerinas?   Well, that little boy signifies the childlike state of the mind. Curiosity, creativity, silliness, innocence and playfulness.  All of these traits are fond memories generated when the adult mind's gears begin to turn.  They are what I hope the brain remembers to never forget.

The ballerinas are there to represent the ability to help the mind think differently, or to recapture those feelings or to relearn that which may have been lost or forgotten.  One ballerina has been given wings to raise his partner up so that she may turn the gears in the opposite direction. This allows for big head here to start to see things in a new way or recall back when....

Here you'll see the gears again as well as windmills, clocks and piano keys.  For me this signifies the never ending process of thinking. It's constantly churning out ideas, thoughts, concepts, goals, inspirations, enjoyment, emotions and  freedoms beyond the realm of the body.

A few closeups of the big head and inner child.

This particular sentiment was borrowed directly from Tim's blog post and I thought it fit perfectly on my project.  

And here's a little side view...

Here are the three challenges that this project was made specifically for:

Tim Holtz - 12 Tags of January (Chalkboard and Industrial Technique), The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge -Time Flies (The effects of aging and maturing and how the mind evolves from childhood

to adulthood and how that can change our perceptions and creativity),

Mixed Media Place - Freedom (The unicycle is symbolic of movement as is the swing. The wings are to reflect the ability to leave the confines of the ground, and the mind is most significant because it breaks all barriers and restraints. The mind can be your most freeing aspect.)

Thank you SO very much for stopping in for a visit.

I appreciate that and YOU!

Hugs and Happy Creating,

Lisa xx

Whatever Floats Your Chicken......

You know what blogging leads to? Blogging leads to other people's blogs and those blogs lead you to new products and new products lead you to addictions and new addictions lead you to fun and fun leads you to challenges and challenges lead you back to people's blogs and, well, you get the idea...

So I'd like to quickly blame Tammy for my latest addiction because now I'm in love with yet another  blog, From The Heart's Digital Stamp of the Month Challenge (July) and my always loved Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog.  

I thought the progressive challenge of using this month's digital image, Inner Tube Birdbrain, with #14 Summer Days would be perfect together.

Here's how I made my faux wood mixed media Summer sign.

1.) Begin with a rectangle cut out piece of foam board from Walmart. Cut the edges real jagged and then cover it with a sheet of adhesive canvas.

 

2.)  Spread a light layer of Gesso for sealant and let dry. When dry, spread a light layer of crackle medium and let completely dry.

3.)  When crackle medium was dry, I took a ruler and drew two lines with a black pen and smudged with my finger to make lines for a faux wood sign appearance.

4.)  Pulled out the Distress paints and went to town coloring a beach scene.

5.) Colored up the challenge image with Copics and attached it to the sign. Added a layer of frantage with gold specks for a sandy beach, cut out sunglasses and flip flops on my cutting machine, painted them up and then adhered and lastly, added a jute twine for hanging. 

6.) I aged up the edges with Antique Photo DI and then sat back, took a deep breath and wished I was there! 

I loved being inspired by Summer Days Challenge with the pink flamingo. Figured this bird would be a more than adequate replacement and I loved the bejeweled glasses, so I had to add them too. The beach sign just made me think I had to create this bird's very own retreat.  Hope you like it!

  Thank you SO much for your visit. I appreciate YOU more than you know.

Hugs and happy crafting,

Lisa x

Remember When......

 Remember when you couldn't wait to grow up?!  

It was like wearing a badge of pride when you said,  "I'm (this many fingers up) and a half!"  

Now I'd like to freeze time or back peddle, back peddle, back peddle..

 When I started this challenge, I had no idea where it was going; except that it had to have blue in it and mixed media elements.  Once I colored up the vintage boy/man clown, the rest is... well, driven by childhood nostalgia.

So thank you Mixed Media Card Challenge...it's been fun!

And here's my completed card.....

Here's to aging, but never quite maturing...

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Lisa xx

Friendship or Chocolate? Yes please.....

"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate."

-Charles Dickens

Well, today I have recycled/upcycled project to share that sports a quote from Charles Dickens. I rather like the prior that mentions chocolate, but unfortunately the chocolate didn't make it long enough to be photographed. So, here is what I have to share today for a few mixed media challenges.

Found this at a thrift store for a couple pennies and wondered if it wouldn't make a cute water pitcher. I actually wondered that months ago as it collected dust in a cabinet.  As fate would have it, an April rolled around and a flourish of perfect challenges presented themselves and I thought this little 'oil' dispenser could use a new life.

Gathering the traditional mixed media products I began disguising and reinventing...

Wait! What's that? 

Well, it's an experiment. You be the judge if you like my watering pitcher actually pouring water (of sorts) along with its flora.

Above you can see the finalized stream of 'water' and later you see that the water has produced the foundation for these handmade flowers.

Another mixed media technique is stenciling and also a requirement for several challenges, so this Gothic stencil with modeling paste was applied to the front of the pitcher.

Another criteria for one of the challenges was to only use (1) stencil, (1) stamp, and (1) color...I chose to do an ombre of pinks. 

I used a stamp from Stampin' Up that has this Charles Dickens quote.

And here is is again showing that the liquid (hot glue) stream can be removed if desired.

Thank you so much for your visit and I hope you found some inspiration in this project.

Hugs and happy creating, 

Lisa x

I'm off to go rummage up some more chocolate!

Challenges I would love to enter:

Mixed Media Mojo - Recycle/Upcycle: Twist: Flowers

Mixed Media Place - The Power of One (stencil, stamp and color)

The Artistic Stamper - Flora and Fauna

Stamps and Stencils - Anything Goes

I Love Me Some M&M's.....

Hello! Hello! Hello!

I wanted to try making something for the current challenge @ Mixed Media Place where the theme is Typography.

We had this frame laying around that needed to be recycled and so I set about creating a faux canvas for the base using cardboard, brown paper wrap for backing and adhesive printable canvas sheets.

Here it is ready to start...

Since the theme is Typography, I used my silhouette machine to cut out a collage of M's. I would use the negative as a stencil and the positive as standouts to decorate.  I also tore out pages in the dictionary under the letter M.

Applying the dictionary pages with Mod Podge in a torn random pattern.

Then came the modeling paste.

Once dried, I outlined each pasted M with a distress ink marker to individualize them. 

When that dried, a light coating of watered down gesso was then painted over the top of  it all.

Instead of using cardstock for 'wordy' labels, I decided to stamp onto this material that I found in a flea market.

Handmade flowers, flourishes, and assorted frames and M's of various textures and types, along with "M" words for the wall hanging.

Some stamping, washi tape, wooden arrows and a little fraying....

Bottle cap mom, buttons and more arrows.

flowers and bling and more distress inking.

And there you have it!

Thank you so much for your visit.

Hope you enjoyed this and can join along in their challenge. The DT samples are mind blowing!

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Lisa x