did you have a merry Christmas?

We did. But one guess what's been going on with me . . .
bleah! See you in a few days, okay? I'm going back to
bed now . . .

Christmas luminary

Ready for another Random Redhead Challenge from
Gingersnap Creations? How about Candelabras,
Chandeliers, and Candles--a perfect challenge
for the holidays.



You know the melted wax trick I talked about? This
luminary uses the same technique. The melted wax makes
the paper translucent, allowing the candle glow to shine
through. The Santa image is on vellum, the snow is Tacky
Glue and snow glitter. I also sprinkled silver glitter
on the paper, as I was melting the crayons onto it, and
swirled it around in the wax with the crayons.



If you don't have a suitable candle holder, a wide
mouth canning jar (they're tempered glass) will work
just as well. Just make sure your candle is much lower
than the top of the jar, and the flame won't come in
contact with the paper luminary. (Yes, I know, uh,
duh, right?)

There is glitter all over our house right now, from all
the Christmas things I've been making and receiving, and
you know how glitter clings to everything and everyone.
Let's just say our teenage sons are looking mighty
sparkly lately . . .

:)

angel tags

These tags went out for an angel tag swap at
the Altered Pages yahoo group:


Pearls, snowy looking glitter . . .


. . . bling, glitter, and you can see the glaze here,
how it gives it a painted effect,


. . . and everyone gets some German scrap, netting,
stamping, and tulle! See that sheet music trim at
the bottom of this one? It's made from music from
a hymnal that I coated with beeswax, then gathered
into trim. I like how the wax protects the paper,
plus gives it a pretty color. This one fits in
great with the Spicy Supply Challenge at Gingersnap
Creations.

More challenge inspirationn:
Really Reasonable Ribbon--anything goes with ribbon or trim
Scrappin'Chics--anything Christmas
CropStop--non-traditional Christmas colors
Do You Stack Up?--winter
Rainbow Lady's--angels
Divas By Design--Christmas
Flutter By Wednesday--angel, butterfly, or fairy
Sisterhood of Crafters--Christmas

Gingersnap Creations wax challenge

Do you have a favorite art thing?

I'm a diehard crayon lover. I admit it, they were my
first love, and I still use them often, almost every
piece has a little scribbling, a little waxy distressing.

So you KNOW I was all over the latest Gingersnap
Creations Spicy Supply Challenge--WAX!



The icy silver rick rack is outlined on either side
with Pennywise Arts iridescent bubble beads--Pennywise
is hosting this round of challenges at Gingersnap, and
providing some fun prizes.



You know those old warming trays they used to use at
parties, for appetizers and such? The kind that plug
in, and the top gets pretty hot? If you have one, and
haven't tried this, it is SO much fun--just set your paper
on top of the hot warming tray, and color with crayons.
They get all melty and blendy, which is how I did the
background for this tag. It was going to be a skinny,
and it is skinny size--3x5--except I'm all about Christmas
right now, so it turned into an ornament tag, and the
icicles at the bottom, they just kind of happened . . .

Gingersnap Creations ornament exchange

These fun ornaments are from the Gingersnap Creations
yahoo group tag ornament art exchange:


Cathy Calmus


Peggy Gatto


Paula Akers


Helene Huber


and Jingle!

Thank you again, ladies!

more Christmas ornaments!

These are more ornaments from the swap at Cassandra's--


This is my favorite from Mary--isn't it pretty?


They arrived all packaged up and so sweet!

Caroline had hers wrapped in velvety fabrics and ribbons,
but of course I tore into them before taking a picture.

Caroline did a great tutorial on the bottle cap
ornaments on her blog.

Such delightful ornaments from everyone--thank
you again, ladies!

:)

more Christmas atcs

These were, well, interesting to package up and
mail . . . hello, bubble wrap! But really, aren't
tiny pine cones worth the trouble??


You can see the glitter on this one, oh yes!
All the images are from Altered Pages . . .


Got that blue icy stuff last year after Christmas,
and it sat patiently in the art room, waiting its
turn. And that tulle with the glitter spots in it?
Not even kidding you, that's been hanging around here
for at least fifteen years.

I use my stash, it just takes me a while to get around
to it, okay?

;)

Christmas Challenges--there are plenty of fabulous challenges
out there for Christmas right now, these are just a very few!
Aud Sentiments Challenge--any winter holiday sentiment
Crafty Purple Frog--It's Cold Outside
Crafty Ribbons Challenge--Traditional Christmas Colors
Paper Crafting Journey--Christmas!
Crafts And Me--Snowflakes
Create Me Pink--Christmas Colors
Creative Belli--Christmas!

tag ornaments

These were for the art exchange at the Gingersnap
Creations yahoo group:



Altered Pages images, some German scrap bits,trims,
laces, glitter, Crystal Effects.

Christmas Challenges!

C.R.A.F.T.--Christmas Presents (these can be gift tags, but
I actually made them as ornaments)
Southern Girls--Ribbon!
Pixie Dust Studio--Shabby Chic color challenge
I Brake for Challenges--Vintage
Crafty Bloggers Network--Shades of Winter
Incy Wincy Designs--non traditional Christmas colors
UnstampaBelles--Christmas, plus bonus sticker challenge

Christmas ornament exchange

So I joined a Christmas ornament swap at Cassandra's
Artful Adventure, and received my first package!

This delightful box and all the gorgeous goodies were made
by Miss Lynn of createbreathe:







That tiny book is full of sweet Christmas pages, it
could have been whole post in itself.

Thank you so very much, Miss Lynn!!

art exchange ATCs

I recently joined an art exchange group, and these
were the beautiful pieces of art I received--a big
thank you to all these ladies, especially Kris, who
was the very gracious hostess. You may recall my
crazy, cross-country package? It was headed to her
with my atcs for this swap.


Kris Dickinson


Jan Larson


Wendy Aspinall


Terri Daugherty


Wendy Robinson


Alice Hyde

Gingersnap Creations Once In a Blue Moon

It's almost Christmas, which is great timing for the new
Once In a Blue Moon Challenge at Gingersnap Creations--
Thank You Notes!

Please tell me you DO send thank you notes . . .

If you've been following along or joining in at GSC,
you know that this last round of challenges' overall
theme has been Farm Fresh, since it's November, and
the time for harvest. So, I challenged myself to make
the cards go along not only with the Blue Moon Thank
Yous, but with the other current challenges, as well:



Farm Fresh, Raffia, Livestock, and Color--Red, Brown, Yellow




Farm Fresh, Livestock, and Color




Farm Fresh, Livestock, and Color--this card makes me
laugh, it's such a ridiculous mess, but I do like that egg
basket stamp!

There's still plenty of time to join in the challenges at
Gingersnap Creations, and with the chance to be homepage artist
and win some goodies from Rogue Redhead Designs, well, why not
play along, right?

:)

Vintage Christmas ATCs

I think I have artist dissociative disorder. The
Christmas things I've been making, the collage-ish
pieces, anyway, aren't my "normal" style, but they
sure were fun to make . . . and it's good to try
different things, right?







Challenges!!

Fairy Tale Challenge blog--Christmas
Phindy's Place--A sprinkling of snow
Poodles Parlour--Christmas
Simply Create--all about Christmas
Totally Papercrafts--Christmas
Wags 'n Whiskers--Snow Angels
Colour Create--Pink, White, and Gold

yep, more ornaments!

These are for yet another swap. They are supposed
to have some embossing on them, I hope the German
scrap counts. I tinted it with ink, but it doesn't
tell well in the photos.


You can see the brush strokes made with the Crystal
Effects on this one, I like them! The snowflake on
the back is glittery, but again, it doesn't tell here.


Do you see the tulle in the background? It has
flecks of glitter in it, how fun is that??!


She's much more glittery in real life, as you
probably already guessed. These all use Altered
Pages images, and for this exchange, we were supposed
to keep the pieces fairly flat. The next round
of Christmas goodies, wait and see, they're atcs . . .

Challenges:
Crafts and Me--shabby chic/vintage
little red wagon--Christmas
My Mum's Craft Shop--things with wings
Truly Scrumptious--Christmas with pearls OR vintage look
4 Crafty Chicks--snowflakes!
Charisma Cards--snowflakes!

more Christmas ornaments

Each glittery sheet music box gets one more ornament
besides the rose ball (please help me find a better
name for that? Rose ball, really??) and bird's nest:


Still can't photograph glitter, except on accident.
The white leaves have an iridescent glimmer, very
sparkly.


Coated the images with Crystal Effects, not only
for protection, but to give them a paintedish look.
Yes, you're correct; paintedish is NOT a real word.


All the collage images are from Altered Pages,
they have a huge selection of winter and Christmas
images.

More Christmas ornaments and Christmas atcs are
on the way!

:)

some Christmas surprises

Whew, what a week--you've all had one, and it's all's
well the end's well, so I won't bore you with details.
And last night was our monthly friends get-together,
which is always such a blessing. My friends are fabulous,
and even though we don't see each other often or chit-chat
on the phone much, it's always good to know who has your
back.

All right then, if you happen to be one of my partners in
Cassandra's ornament swap, you may want to avert your eyes!


What's in the box?? It's a glittery box, you just can't
tell in the photo, of course . . .


It's roses and a tiny nest, complete with eggs.


Yep, made all those roses . . .


and needle felted the nest. Hadn't needle felted
anything for a long time, so that was fun.

More ornaments coming! Have a lovely weekend!

:)

one last Autumn in Paris . . .

Well, okay, how about three more?


Paris Memories 3x3


Merci atc


Elizabeth's Autumn in Paris atc



So I recently joined an atc swap group, and sent the Autumn
in Paris atcs off for my very first trade with this group.
These atcs were supposed to be going to Colorado--bear in
mind we live in Missouri--and they have been on a merry trek,
so far to Massachusetts, and currently, thanks to the tracking
number, I can tell you that they are in New Jersey . . .

***sigh***

Maybe they will end up spending the rest of the autumn in
Paris, after all!