Altered X 4........

This is a card that I created from several different stamps. I like to mix up stamps to create something new and different.

He's the King...........no I'm not talking about Elvis...........

This is a stamp from Lost Coast Designs. I got a set of 6 different ones.......

Oh how the girls loved to get gussied up and take the QE2 across the pond for a holiday!

About the Stamping Convention.....

Saturday I went to my first Stamping Convention in Akron, Ohio with my friend Donna. Donna is a hard-core stamper and she was the perfect person to go to this convention with. Not only is Donna a super nice person, she is a wonderful stamper and is quite knowledgable about stamps and all the stuff that goes with it. I did find a few vendors which I gave most of my money to. They have the most amazing art stamps. Artful Illusions was my favorite company. I could have spent all of my money there. They had this line of stamps called "moonpies" which I l-o-v-e-d! I created the ATC below with one of the moonpie stamps I got. All of their stamps are unmounted so they are about half the price as the mounted ones.

So I spent about 3 hours today cutting out the rubber stamps, putting the foam mounting on the back and making covers for the CD cases where I'm storing them.

One of the other companies I liked was Lost Coast Designs. They are the best collage stamps!
Below is an ATC card I created with one of the collage doll stamps. I also used the moom from Artful Illusions in this one.

Here's what I did today! I didn't have the special scissons for cutting and mounting so I used my Fiskars and Cutterbug scissors. Boy were they gummed up by the time I was done cutting but I got them clean with Goo Gone!

Here are some of the stamps I bought......
There is another Stamping Convention in Pittsburgh in July and I'm already planning my list of what I'd like to get!

A Rabbit, A Pin and a Truck.....

This ATC is entitled "Michael". I named the rabbit in the old band uniform Michael after the best principal I ever worked for. He plays in a band too.



I thought that the little fairies I made on ATCs would look cute as a pin to wear so I made this little guy. He is on a piece of 1/4 inch birch. Isn't he cute? I did it with a bandsaw but I should have had a scroll saw.

Lastly, this is my husband, Gary and his new truck. He's just beaming! He has always wanted a Toyota Tundra and he finally got one. We picked it up yesterday. It's going to be nice to haul the boat withH. I love the color.......fire-truck red!
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and here's to a great week!

Clowning Around

When I look at old photos, sometimes I see versions of people I know. For example, the girl in this ATC reminds me of my niece, AJ. Does anybody else have this happen to them with old photos? The title of this ATC is "Is that the end of the story?" My answer to the questions is "yes, all good things must come to an end".


Life's a party, so "clown around"! I made the background for this ATC from a page from book text. Here are the steps: 1. lightly paint a page from a book with a very light pink acrylic paint
2. brush a red stamp pad here and there after the paint dries
3. punch out flowers from decorative paper and glue on
4. add black paint centers to the flower and let dry
5. stamp all over with black rubber stamps
6. color in a and glue the clown on
7. stencil top of card with sequin waste
8. Ta-da! You're done!

Both cards are available for trade!

Military Gals, Dogs and Mermaids.......

I thought of the saying "tough times never last but tough people do" when I came across the vintage picture of these two gals. They look like the kind of girls that are tough, smart, funny and would be fun to go out for Happy Hour with!

Lately the news is full of stories about people who have had their houses foreclosed and as a result they had to take their beloved pets to the pound or some of them just left them at the house to starve (that's despicable)! I ran across this photo and thought I had to use it in an ATC. This little girl is dedicated to her dog and her dog is surely dedicated to her! He looks like a cute, scruffy little biscuit-eater (mutt)!

And finally, it's starting to look like fishing season around here! My husband is getting geared up for crappie fishing in the area. Inspired by all this talk of fish I made this ATC. All of these ATCs are available for trade or even if you see one you like and don't have any ATCs to trade, let me know and I'll send it to you.

A Little Birdie..........

A little bird to me that it is suppose to snow tonight and possible snow showers tomorrow!!! Those poor cold little birdies thinking it's spring outside. I guess not! This card is part of my ATC a day for a year project. I find the magazine "Birds and Blooms" provides great photos of birds which are just the right size for ATCs.


My husband has been taking about fishing lately and it inspired me to make this card. It would be nice to have a magic wand to catch fish instead of a fishing pole! I found this great paper at the dollar store today. Guess how much? Yes, that's right a dollar!!!

Ok, now this website, I found by accident and found it very amusing. My husband asked me what I was laughing about while I was on it and I told him that is a site that is a "Royal Title" generator. You just type in your name, choose male or female and it will make up a crazy title. It will keep generating them until you find one you like. It's fun, mindless entertainment! My title is at the bottom of my blog page. Go here to generate yours:

http://www.masquerademaskarts.com/memes/peculiartitle.php

New Batch of ATCs..........

A new batch of ATCs. Who wants one??? These are in my "ATC a day for a Year Project". To see all of them up to this point go here: Flickr

The Story of Chi-Chi Jones

It's funny how memories from the past pop up and suddenly you find them in your art. I was doodling the other night while watching TV and suddenly Chi-Chi Jones popped into my mind! Now you ask, "who is Chi-Chi Jones?" Well, Chi-Chi Jones was little scrawny chihuahua dog with bulging liquid brown eyes, a quivering damp nose and a veracious appetite for microscopic crumbs! He belonged to our neighbors Chuck and Edie Jones and he was like their little kid, they took him everywhere with them. Chi-Chi Jones was always shaking....either because he was cold or scared or perhaps it was a little of both. Sometimes they would stop in and visit and would always have Chi-Chi with them. Edie would put him down on the floor and immediately his little nose would hit the floor like a tiny heat seeking missile locked onto its' target. His little skinny tail would go up and he'd start to make his way across the carpet in the kitchen vacuuming up every microscopic crumb he could find into his mouth. My mom would get so mad because she vacuumed every day and insisted that her floor was CLEAN and that damn dog was just pretending to find things to eat on the floor!!!! I'm still laughing about it some 30 plus years later! Anyway, this ATC is a tribute to Chi-Chi Jones!

The Weekend.........

How wonderful are weekends? They are super when you've had a lot of stress during the week, that's for sure! I went to a little Amish junk shop with my mom and aunt on Saturday morning after I got a hair cut. This shop had a lot of "stuff" from glassware to old books. I bought a Mobil road map of Pennsylvania from 1958. I also bought a road map of Ontario from 1967 (I got it for my artist friend Heather who lives in Ontario and I figured she could use it somewhere in her collages). And the last thing I bought was a cabinet card of a cute little boy. I spent all of $3!!!! I know, I'm a big spender! Please feel free to use the photo of the boy in your artwork. Can't you just picture him now with a pair of wings and a pointy hat???!?!?! LOL!

Weekends are also a time for reading. These are a few of the magazine's I read this weekend.....

Now getting back to my previous post about wing, crowns and pointy hats. I'd like you to go click on this artists name Stephanie Rubiano to see how she has taken hat, crowns and wings to a whole new level. Her art is simply enchanting.Ha, ha, ha, ha (read this with an evil laugh).....more pointy hats and wings in ATCs.......

I've been thinking more and more about gardening, both flower and veggie and it spilled over into this ATC. I'm so excited, Gary ordered asparagus crowns to plant this spring. I LOVE asparagus!!! Does anyone out there in Blogland grow asparagus? If you have any tips on growing it I sure would appreciate it!

Talk about a look of determination! I've used the image of this little girl several times in my work. I just love the stubborn, fierce look on her face. The "Beautiful" stamp is an unmounted dollar stamp from Pat Catans.

Oh yah, not even dogs are safe from getting the pointy hat treatment! Hope everybody is having a nice weekend and having fun creating!

Pointy Hats and Wings.........

You know every time I pick up the Somerset magazine I see several letters to the editor about artists sticking pointed hats, crowns and wings on people in collages. There is a faction which detest this practice, as they apparently consider themselves higher on the evolutionary collage chain. They are embroiled in this battle with the "pointy hat lovers". I for one LOVE hats and wings.........there I said it and I'll say it again.......I LOVE HATS, CROWNS AND WINGS!!! There are wonderfully talented artist who use pointed hats, crowns and wings everyday in their creations and when others do it perhaps they are emulating their favorite artist's work. Emulation not only the highest form of flattery it is also how we learn, it's been done through thousands of years of art. In this uptight, politically correct world, I feel that hats, crowns and wings add a jaunty sense of humor and encourage people not to take themselves oh so seriously. So for those who like the pointy hats, crowns and wings, I say ROCK ON! Keep cutting and gluing those tiny triangles!!!!

I'd be interested in knowing what the consensus out there in artistic blogland is on this topic. Please leave me a comment!

Decorative Paper Tutorial......

I've been experimenting with pages from books to make my own decorative papers for backgrounds on my Artist Trading Cards as well as collages. I thought you might like to see the process......

The first thing to do is to get a book you are willing to sacrifice and tear out a page. Dilute a little acrylic paint and brush over the entire page. Make sure it is diluted enought that you can still see the text show through.....

Next dilute a little bit of robin egg blue acrylic paint and dip the bottom of the paint bottle in it and stamp circles randomly over the paper.......After the blue circles have dried, I took a bronze colored ink pad and dabbed it all over the paper here and there.......

I looked throught my stamp collection and found swirls and I flower that I liked and stamped with black ink over everything.....Next, I took the tip of the brush and dipped it into crocus yellow paint and made dots all over...The last thing I did was to take sequin waste and use to it stencil dots with brown ink.So now I have a piece of background paper to use for a few ATCs!

Give Away Winners!

I've eyeballed the winners for the spring ATC giveaway and they are as follows:
Artful Whimsies - Pierre Card
Dianne C. - Natural History Collector
Janna - Happy Easter George
Obsessed Scrapbooker - Honey's Bunny

I emailed all of you and hope to hear back from you with your addresses so I can send them out!

Check back tomorrow afternoon when I post the next give away!
Smiles-
Tootie

Happy Easter....

HAPPY EASTER !

Wishing my friends in blogland a very Happy Easter!

Spring Joy Give Away!

To celebrate spring and Easter I made these 4 Artist Trading Cards. They are part 1 of a 3 part give away that is taking place over the Easter holiday. So if you see a card you would like, leave a comment and the title of the card and I'll contact you for your address and send it out to you!
Easter is a time of rebirth, a time to start fresh and new, a time to celebrate the beauty of nature which is hatching, blosssoming, budding all around us!

Pierre Padu Poussaunt

Armed with his vintage postcards Pierre Padu Poussant set off to Grandma's house one fine spring morning for tea in le gardin!

The Natural History Collector She stalked the forests with her winged crown firmly on her head searching for oddities of nature.......looking for the perfectly shaped leaf or the delicate unhatched robin egg. She carefully tagged each specimen with a numbered tag and took them back to her museum.

Happy Easter George George woke early each and every Easter morning, got dressed in his freshly pressed pastel shirt and pants, stood in front of the mirror and ceremoniously placed the tall white bunny ears on his head. Now and only now was it time to go in search of his Easter basket!

Honey's Bunny Honey had a bunny. What more can I say?

Irish Girls........

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all my friends out there in blogland! I am part Irish, my grandmother's maiden name was O'Shea and her married name was McManigle. Pretty Irish! Today is the day when everybody is Irish, if just for one day. So you get to be fun loving and hard headed. I am very tenacious which I think of as a product of my Irish heritage. I stick with something even if it is difficult because "tough times come and go but tough people don't". I'm leaving you to celebrate the day with these 2 Artist Trading Cards. The one with the young girls in it are my mom (the little one) and my aunt (the tall one), they were 7 years apart in age. The picture was taken in the spring. My mom has a new hankie that she wanted everyone to see and that's why she is holding it fanned out between her fingers. My aunt is wearing a sour frown with her hands shoved in her pockets, one sock up, one sock down, collar all messed up on her blouse. She's looking so put out because she told my mom she was stupid for carrying around the hankie! The picture makes me smile no matter how many times I see it. That's the beauty of photos.....frozen in time, forever spring with a new crisp white hankie or hands in your pockets with one sock up and one sock down.......

The ice is melting......

The ice is finally melting on the lake and that means that fishing and boating are coming soon! More so the fishing than the boating. I won't go out in the boat until probably the end of May b/c it's pretty cold on the water! I made this card to celebrate fishing. It probably doesn't look like much but I spent so much time on the background. Here's what was done: base painted blue, sanded, stenciled with green dots, stenciled with white dots, stamped with blue plants, stamped with green plants, stamped with black bubbles, stamped on the sand-dollars, stamped fish on blue decorative paper and cut it out, painted definition light green and cut it out, glued the fish and the definition, dotted with blue glitter....DONE!

A Few New ATCs......

These are a few of the newest ATCs in the 'ATC a day for a year' project I am doing. I'm trying new techniques and really trying to stretch the limits so I have a wide variety. Here are 3 in which the first one is all hand cut paper with a hand doodled background, the second is built around the Mona Lisa rubber stamp and the third is collage with a copy of a vintage photo and other decorative papers.