You Make My Heart Sing

"You Make My Heart Sing" is an original one of a kind 8" X 8" mixed media collage that I made using paper, stencils, mod podge, acrylic paints, alcohol ink, American Crafts Dear Lizzy Collection, Prima Marketing Printery Stamp set, modeling paste and rub-ons from 7 Gypsies.  The fabulous vintage pic printed on metal is courtesy of 'Industrial Chic'. 

I love working with the various mediums, stamps, stencils, paints, papers and inks that are available today. There happens to be a little birdie peeking through this canvas - can you find her? I love the serious expressions you find in the vintage pics - I wonder if they were ever truly happy!?! Thanks for visiting...xoxoxoxoxo

Shine Bright

"Shine Bright" is an original one of a kind 11" X 14" mixed media collage that I made using paper, Christy Tomlinson's She Art 6x6 Mask Vintage Lace, mod podge, acrylic paints, alcohol ink, stamps, modeling paste and Christy Tomlinson's She Art Rubons Doilies and Doodle Flowers and 7 Gypsies rubons.  

A friend of mine says that this stencil reminds her of a pizzelle. Do you agree??...lol

This is My Happy Place

"This is My Happy Place" is an original one of a kind 11" X 14" mixed media collage that I made using strips of scrapbook paper, stencils, mod podge, acrylic paints, alcohol ink, stamps, modeling paste and rub-ons from Kaisercraft.   

I love adding houses to bright colored backgrounds.  And I might share a few happy thoughts along the way...

Junkin' Gift

So exciting!  I recently saw my nephew and he handed me this fabulous, decorative, whatchacallit......

.....that he found at an older house that's being rennovated.  He thought of me!!  Love!!!  This is exactly the kind of 'junk' that I love to collect and incorporate into my mixed-media collages.  Very exciting!  Thanks for stopping by - xoxoxoxo

John

"John" was a gift for my aunt.  I'd had this picture of my uncle for quite some time.  He'd often stare back at me from his spot.  But I wasn't quite ready to work with him yet.  I was shopping in Target last August and I saw a package of napkins - $1 - with fabulous bands of colors.  I instantly thought of John's picture, so I bought the napkins and ran home to plug in the beeswax.  Next, I trimmed the napkin to capture the orange, blue and yellow stripes, and to remove the bits of pink (because he wouldn't want that).  Next, I lightly colored and stamped a vintage Bingo card. I knew I didn't want to use beeswax on his picture, so I used matte medium to adhere him to the card.  And that was it for the John collage for a few months. He didn't like the napkin. We began staring at one another again.  

November rolled around and I plugged the beeswax in again with the purpose of completing this collage.  I told John I was using the napkin.  Period.  I wanted the vintage Popular Mechanics magazine (very masculine!) and the napkin to look warmer and transulcent.  I began adding pieces of the napkin in sections to the background and this seemed to work better for John.  But now that the background was complete, how was I going to secure the bingo card without using Beeswax?  I bought a staple gun!...(any excuse to shop...thankyouverymuch...)  Because the collage was made using an 8 X 8 wood frame, I could staple John directly to the beeswax bacground. Ta-da!

His name is made using various items I'd collected over time.  The 'J' is a piece of jewelry.  The 'O' is a piece of rusty metal I'd found on the ground. Nothing wrong with a little repurposing!  The 'N' came from a game.  And the 'N' is a metal letter I picked up while on a junkin journey. 

Unfortunately, we lost my uncle a few years back, but my aunt loves this collage of him.  And I love that he and I had the opportunity to hang out this way for a little bit.  Thanks for visiting! xoxoxox

Sew Buttons

I made "Sew Buttons" for my mother this past Christmas.  I started with Tim Holtz Kraft paper, a vintage piece of metal (that was clearly meant to be a dress) and a chipboard dress form.  The collage grew to include fabulous flower heads, vintage buttons, dress pattern paper, german glass glitter and miscellaneous scrap bits.  I'd had a lot of these items stored in my vintage drawer or taunting me from my bulletin board for quite some time.  It felt fabulous to create a new collage with pieces that I'd collected over the years in various places at different points in time.  The bright frame completed the look of this eclictic 8 X 10 collage which was made entirely from my head and my heart! 

I'm often so excited when I finish a collage that I can't wait to take a picture and show my friends...hence the pink surface protector sheet as a back-drop...lol... 

Cherish Everyday Life

It was so nice to see my family this weekend and celebrate Mother's Day. It was such a busy weekend that I'm surprised I completed two mixed media collage canvases - but I did just that!

 

Cherish Everyday Life is an original one of a kind 11" X 14" mixed media collage that I made using paper, Balzar Designs stencil 'Flowers' TCW327, Dina Wakley's 'Messy Circles' stencil TCW310, Prima Marketing's 'Stencil Bicycle', mod podge, acrylic paints, alcohol ink, stamps, modeling paste and rub-ons from Basic Grey, Kaisercraft and 7 Gypsies. 

 

 

 

 

 

You Are Just My Type

"You Are Just My Type" is an original, one of a kind, 6' X 12' mixed media collage that I made using paper, October Afternoon washi tape, Balzar Designs 'Stripes' stencil, mod podge, acrylic paints, alcohol ink, stamps, modeling paste and rub-ons.  I took a vintage black & white advertisement and colored it with ink.  

He is cleary a very focused and busy professional who loves using his typewriter.  I love the expression on his face as he works on his love letter!!  Thanks for stopping by!! xoxoxoxo

Most Excellent Decision!

Volunteering at CKC Manchester this past weekend turned out to be a most excellent decision.  It was really nice to be surrounded by people with similar interests.  I found that if I asked a question, 30 of my neighbors could easily answer me and provide additional suggestions.  Faber-Castell Gelato's or Pitt Pens were a very popular topic (and are really fun to use)!! 

On Friday, I signed up to be a teacher's assistant from 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm.  As it turns out, the convention was short on TAs and I arrived early so I was put to work straight away.  I was so busy crossing off names and handing out kits, that I didn't notice when two of my high school classmates entered the class - can you stand it!  I traveled 90 minutes away from home to bump into folks I went to school with who had similar interests.  Thankfully they were paying attention to me!  They introducted me to their friends and invited me to join them for dinner Friday night.  I had a wonderful time and I look forward to getting together with them very soon. 

On Saturday, I signed up at the door-prize give away slot from 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm.  Every 30 minutes, I selected 3 new door-prize winners and wrote the names on the whiteboard.  The door-prize was a voucher for a free gift from one of the many vendors on the floor.  I became a very popular person!  One of the winners was also named Danene but her name was spelt differently.  When she arrived to claim her voucher, I showed her my name tag.  Nevermind meeting another Danene, but both of our names came from an Irish Soap commercial from the late 60's.  I was more excited over our names but, I know she was much more interested in claiming her door-prize voucher -- and who could blame her!  

I had a most excellent time and I plan to head back next year.  Instead of volunteering, I'm going to look into teaching a mixed-media collage on canvas class.  I use a lot of the same papers, empherma, stencils, stamps and inks in my collages so my class wouldn't be too far of a reach for a scrapbooker who is considering crossing over to canvas.  So maybe I'll see you there next year!  - thanks for visiting! xoxoxoxo...