Karen's Muse and Musings

Variations on a theme

Today is a Bobby day — that's what I call the days I keep my 14-month-old grandson. I thought while he is napping, I would run in here and try to get a post done.

Ready or not, Christmas is fast approaching, and I've been working on my cards. My design is pretty simple, but I like what I've done. To keep from getting bored, I'm varying the papers and the ribbons. The reindeer stamp is from Layers of Color, and the sentiment is from Penny Black. The background papers are made by Memory Box. I especially like the one with the corrugated cardboard band which I recycled from one of those wrap things from Starbuck's. Is there a name for those things?

Assemblage — how I've missed you!

This weekend, I had the opportunity to take some classes from Beverly Seymour of B Line Designs at my favorite rubber stamp store, Rubber Stamp Fantasy. Saturday morning, we had a card-creating blitz with the opportunity to create 8 cards. Slow-poke that I am, I completed only 4, but I have the pieces to finish the rest. Then that afternoon and on Sunday, we constructed 2 projects using wood bases and canvases. So much fun! It's been a while since I've done asssemblage, and this weekend reminded me how much I love it. I thought I'd share photos of my finished pieces. I'll start with the second project, "Home Tweet Home," because it's my favorite. (With its bird theme, that's no surprise!)

The finished piece, all closed up

 

Close-up of inside the roofline

 

With canvases opened

 

Interior of left-side canvas

 

Interior of right-side canvas

After opening the canvases, there are 3 panels that fold out.

 

Finally, there is a secret compartment behind the top panel. I am thinking about adding 1 more surprise element to this compartment, but I haven't decided just what to add yet.

The project we did on Saturday was called "Hidden Key."

Fold down the hinged canvas and find the hidden keys!

On the Dark Side

If you scare easily maybe you should close this window — quick! But, if you are like me and enjoy a good old scary movie or ghost story, then go ahead and look at what I've done today.

This is my entry for this week's Gothic Arches theme — Orange and Black. Before I made the arch, I did this ATC, and it scares even me!

 

Look closely behind and to the left of the girl's head. Do you see that face? Another one of my dictionary pages turned ghostly.

The image of the little girl is from PaperWhimsy.

You're Invited!

Layers of Color will soon introduce 9 new clear sheet stamp sets — over 70 designs! To celebrate, they are throwing a Release Party on November 14-15, and I thought I would spread the word. Here's what Laura has to say about it:

We’re throwing a huge party and you’re invited!

November 14th – 15th, 2009

Layers of Color

is celebrating their

*Autumn 2009 stamp release*

and revealing 9 new fabulous clear stamp sets

totaling over 70 original  art stamps!

Everyone who joins us will get FREE DIGIS party favors!

With a drawing and contest offering $250 in PRIZES,

blog hopping with Faith Perspective,

a unique challenge from Stamping Sisters in Christ,

mingling with over

one dozen talented stamp artists,

including Layers of Color Design Team

you won’t want to miss this fun event!

Another Halloween Banner

I had so much fun creating banners for Aileen's Halloween Banner Swap that I decided to do more. Here's one I made for a friend. Notice the ghostly faces at the top of each just like I did before. (For details, click here.) I cut the letters out with scissors after I printed them on cardstock. The font is called LD Cottage, and I love the Gothic look of it. The cool charms and ribbons are from Paula's Kit Club.

 

I Won, I Won, I Won, I Won!

I won a major award! Do you know that movie "A Christmas Story"? If so, you'll remember that line in the movie. Well, I didn't win a leg lamp — thank goodness — but I did win Alys, one of Joanne Huffman's beautiful handcrafted art dolls. Here is the beautiful Alys.

According to Joanne, Alys knows that there are truths that transcend facts and can be found in art and fiction. She is a very wise woman.

Joanne has recently reopened her web site. It is filled with wonderful things for sale like other art dolls, unique polymer clay buttons, journals, collage sheets and lots more. You should definitely check it out by clicking here.

E-eerie

I'm participating in a Halloween banner swap. We each chose a letter from the word Halloween, and that letter is the focal point of our  banner. After swapping, we will each have a set of banners that we can tie together to spell out the word. I think it will make a fun display for the holiday. As you can see, my letter is E. The second E, to be specific, not that it matters much.

As I planned my banner, I knew I wanted it to have a Gothic feel, so I started by choosing an appropriate font for my letter E. My plan was to collage text, photos, and tissue to use for the background, but as I was looking through old encyclopedias for text, I realized how spooky some of the old images were. I'm sure most of the people pictured there were perfectly nice people, but in this context, they definitely could look mysterious, even eerie. I chose a page with an illustration of some historic figure for each banner. Then I brushed Golden's Titanium White over them to make the image fainter, more ghostly. Next, I sprayed the pages with Color Mists. When dry, I stamped on them and used Distress Inks on the edges, added the E, charms, trims and ribbons. The cool charms and ribbons are from Paula's Kit Club. None of my banners are exactly the same, so here are a few more examples. Notice the ghostly figure at the top left of each. Here's to short dead dudes!

The next one may be the scariest just because of the illustration. It's a 17th century dentist practicing his "art" on some unfortunate soul. Yikes!

Deadlines — love 'em or hate 'em?

I must admit I usually hate deadlines, but they do stir me to action. After a long lull in my creative endeavors — well, I have been knitting which is creative — okay then, a long lull in my mixed media art endeavors, I spent the day creating little house-shaped collages because I had a deadline. I recall that someone once said to me, "Without deadlines, there is no reality." Very true.

Time to Clean Up!

I give up! I can't stand it in my studio any longer. Yesterday I began the process of cleaning and organizing. And not just picking up and putting away either. I need to dig into drawers, files, and piles on the floor and get rid of some of this stuff I've accumulated. Honestly, I almost want to throw everything away and start over. Do you ever feel this way?

New Construction

I just finished another house for the swap on the Oh My Gothic group. This one is for the sadly blogless Linda Kunsman.