Mad Hatter - Inks vs. Watercolor?

I'm in a swap for "Tea, Coffee, or Hot Chocolate" on the stamp-shack. With my muse missing in action of late, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, so I started pursuing through my collection of stamps to see if something called to my muse. My DS saw me shuffling through my stamps and asked what I was doing. When I told him, he said, it would be great if you had a mad hatter! You see, my son just finished reading the Lewis Carol version of Alice in Wonderland and aboslutely loves it. Well, as luck would have it, I had a Mad Hatter stamp!! I rarely collect word stamps, but the saying I used on this card, I just loved, so paired with the Mad Hatter stamp just felt perfect to me! I made this one last night. I played with a handful of layouts and on a couple of different papers. I was just playing, but in that play, I lost time. Isn't that the best!! This one is done with different distress inks, which is not a medium I use often. I finished is last night, but didn't upload it because I wanted to try something else too.

My favorite medium is watercolors and acrylics. So, I decided to do this layout all over again, but in watercolors. So, first thing this morning, I played all over again. I'm just loving this layout. I think, next I'll do it on tiles!

If you notice, the Mad Hatter has a pretty cool cup of tea. It's only half a cup of tea, but I love that it's cut in half lengthwise (taken from the story!) and the tea doesn't fall out!! OK, so which one do you like better, the inks or the watercolors?

Paris Fashion

Since I've been under the weather a bit lately, I decided to curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and my laptop for some creative reading. I decided to go blog hopping. I didn't make it very far! When I got to "Mother Henna's" blog, I saw that she was participating in something called the "Art Every Day Month". I've been in a slump this past bit and have been pushing to find my muse. So, I knew this challenge wasn't for me. But the more I read and then checked out Leah's challenge, I thought, why not!!! The worse would be that I wouldn't get 30 projects done, but I knew that if I accepted this challenge, I'd get some creating done. Besides, her challenge isn't to create a complete project each day, it's to do Art each day! So with a light step and a song in my heart, I'm going to play in this challenge, and I hope that somewhere along the way, my muse will join me!!

This is a collage I started a while back and just sitting at my desk and clearing things out, I found all the pieces I wanted to add to it!

Have a Spooktacular Halloween!

Happy Haunting! Whether you celebrate halloween or not, I just couldn't pass up a chance to make an ATC with one of my favorite images by beeswax's Madusa.

Fall is definitely here!

I just love this time of the year. The artist in me marvels at all the colors flowing around us. The child in me wants to gather up all those leaves and jump around just to hear the "crunch" sound the leaves make...oh, ok, I want someone else to gather them and then I want to jump in the piles! The adult in me just wants to sit with a cup of tea and soak in the serenity of the season. The woman in me...wants to go shopping and buy all the fall colored clothes and boots on sale!!! These pics are from the trees surround my home.

Playing with Henna (Mehndi)

I've been wanting to do a Mehndi (henna) design on my hand for a long time. So, I finally bought some and tried it out on my hand. This is my first attempt. There are tons of sample designs on the net. Mehndi is the Indian name for henna. Mehndi is made from dried leaves (not sure from what plant). The dried leaves are then crushed and the powder is sold to consumers. When ready to apply, the powder is mixed with water and a few drops of oil to form a paste. when I was younger, this paste was applied with toothpicks, homemade tools, etc. The pros would take large leaves and roll them like bags, but not everyone could use these leaf bags well. Then someone got brilliant and put the paste in pastry bags!! Now, the designs are so much more detailed and anyone can do them, including me! The longer I leave the paste, the deeper the color and the longer the design will last. I plan on leaving it on for a few hours. That's not a hardship at all, it gets me out of housework!

I'm liking this so much, Iwent ahead and did the back of my hand too.

Floral Tiles

I did these two tiles for Jan. She had won a blog giveaway way back in Christmas. I did the smaller of the two tiles for her then and mailed it out. Never gave it a second thought. I didn't get a note that she got it, but it was during the holidays and everyone gets busy so I thought perhaps she didn't post that she received it, or perhaps, I just missed her post. However, when I recently talked with her, she said she didn't ever receive it. I felt really bad. I should have followed up earlier. So, I made her two this time and hope these will make it to her safely.

I stamped both the tiles with stazon jet black in. The smaller tile is colored in with watercolors, while the larger is done with all stazon inks. Both the tiles are bought at Lowes and they're tumble tiles. The tumble tiles are much more absorbent and take inks beautifully. Gloss tiles are easier to paint, but much harder to stamp on and becase the tiles are gloss, the paint just wipes off! Sealing a gloss tile just makes it even more slick.

Black and White Fairy

Black and White isn't as easy as it would seem! While doing this and a few other ATCs in black and white, I really found it quite challenging not to add a touch of color. My work usually is full of colors, sometimes way too much, so this was out of my comfort zone. First I stamped the moon. Then I painted the tree and the leaves. Added the fairy on a toadstool. I had to darken quite a bit of the fairy, because she just seemed too transparent. To ground the toadstool and to hide the ugly base, I added grassblades and flowering stalks! This might be look like it lacks color, but in the end, I felt I'd actually added a new color to my palette.