Lotto Challenges

This month's ATC lotto challenges on the ArtChix Yahoo group were super inspiring for me. This first one is called "Mystical." If you know me, then you know I love all things mystical and witchy! Here are the results.

 The background is from a CD insert (yes, I owned CD's back before iTunes took over the world); the moon, raven, candle, and girl are all ArtChix Studio images.


The second lotto theme is "Going Green." The challenge was to use recycled items, not necessarily green ones. When I think of going green my mind often thinks of water first. Keeping the oceans and drinking waters clean is such a vital part of saving the planet. 

I used left over book pages from a round robin book exchange, a tissue box image for the seaweed, a CD insert for the waves, a found feather, an ArtChix image, and an eco shape bird embossed with Shabby Blue Vintage Embossing Powder.

I love, love, love this new line of Vintage Embossing powders. I bought mine in a package of five from Archiver's (in store). The other colors are Aged Silver, Shabby Pink, Shabby White, and Aged Gold. Unfortunately I cannot find a brand as they were packaged especially for Archiver's. If you are into vintage you will love them.

Happy Wednesday!
Marnie

Being sick is the pits!

How's this for a birthday present?.......Two days before my birthday I got a common cold and it lasted until this past Sunday! That's 9 days of laying around feeling like crap. The saving grace is that it wasn't the flu and other than congestion and absolutely no energy, it wasn't the worst cold ever.

The first think I did when I got out of bed was to clean up my studio. Boy, was it a disaster! Yes, this job completely used up all my energy but I am so glad I did it. There is just something so inspiring about a clean art space...don't you think?

Of course, now that it is clean it is time to mess it up again. (he he he) So I have been trying to catch up on some art group stuff.

Over at the ArtChix Yahoo Group we have a "Meet the ArChix Swap" going on. The challenge is to use your face and put it on any form and dress it up anyway you like on an ATC. We are to make one for every chixie that signs up. A whopping 16 of us took the challenge! I am very excited that so many people wanted to join in but that meant I had to make 16 little me's! Needless to say this was a daunting task but I think they turned out pretty cute. I call her "Marnie Fairy," she is the Fairy of Love and Flight.

I also worked on my ArtChix Fat Book Pages for next month so I could check that off my list. The colors are Gray & Maroon. The 4th oddball page with owls I did to keep for myself.

I have a bunch of school work this week so I am not sure I will get the chance to create anymore goodies but if I do I will be sure to post them.

Have a great week!

Mail Goodies & 10 Fun Stamping Ideas

Well, today I haven't been able to do any arting (Yes, it's a word! I made it up but it's still a word.) as I had homework for my online Expository Writing course and the dreaded chore of laundry. But I did get some art goodies in the mail that I would like to share.

The dear ladies at Red Lead Paperworks have a wonderful selection of stamps and vintage images along with other embellishing goodies. Last week they are running a last chance sale on a couple of ATCs I wanted (see bottom two in photo) and since I was buying anyway I picked up a couple of other stamps I have been eyeing (see top two).

The sewing image stamps I plan to use to make tags for some of my custom clothing (cool idea, right?). Red Lead has lots of great sewing items from stamps to images to charms. Check them out HERE.

The birds and flower silhouette stamps I will use for ATCs, cards, and other various collage pieces. You can purchase the Bird stamp HERE for only $2.65!!! The flower image is gone but you can find more sale items HERE.

I never really considered myself a stamper before and I don't really now but after participating in a myriad of challenges I found I used stamps for many different things. One day I looked around my studio and realized I have a healthy collection of stamps! Once I realized that stamping didn't have to be just a simple stamped image a whole world opened up.

The options are only limited by your imagination. Here are 10 fun ideas you can try:

1. Layer stamped images for a 3D look
2. Stamp on patterned paper rather than plain paper for a unique look
3. Mask parts of a stamp to create a different image
4. Create a stencil: stamp image on stencil grade plastic sheets and cut to create a negative image
5. Stamp on transparency or acrylic sheets for another kind of layering
6. Transform stamps you are tired of by cutting them up and rearranging them or using only parts of them 
7. Stamp on collage pieces to add dimension and layering 
8. Create a pattern: stamp an image on plain paper, cut out the pieces/parts to make a pattern, use the pattern to recreate the image using other paper or materials
9. Create a resist: stamp image with embossing stamp pad and emboss with clear powder, use inks, stains, or paints over the image, the embossed image will not take the paint creating a cool line image
10. Try a new medium for stamping: instead of ink use craft acrylics or fluid acrylics to "ink" your stamp, this will create a softer more blurred image, works best on solid stamps rather than outline.

I hope you will give some of these ideas a try. Enjoy!

Today

Okay, I didn't get as much done today as I had hoped (slept late and had to grocery shop) but I did manage to eek out two Lotto entries for my ArtChix yahoo group.

 " Ladies in Red" is for a lotto titled The Lady in Red. Normally I stick very closely to the theme and create realistic type ATCs but this time I decided to be a little abstract with the theme. All the images are from the ArtChix Studio except my handwritten sign.

"Wanted" is for a lotto titled A Cowboy's Dream. The image is from The Graphics Fairy. If you have never been to her blog and you use images in your art you must go check it out. The text and German scrap border are from ArtChix Studio. I played it a little cheeky on this one.

This last bit of art is from the monthly Fat Book Pages swap we do on the ArtChix-Sister-Site. This month's colors are Black, Silver, and Red. Yesterday I posted a card I made for another challenge (that happens to have the same color theme) which will be using to mail these fat pages in.

 Fronts

Backs

See you tomorrow for more excited adventures! (Cheesy, I know)