Mystery Mission 2011 Unveiled!

What can $15 buy nowadays? Not much. In this case, it got the adventurous ladies in my art group a bag of "stuff" to inspire them to create a masterpiece for our 2nd Annual Mixed Media Mystery Mission. What everyone turned out for our exhibition yesterday ended up being priceless works of art that reflected bits and pieces of ourselves. I was so impressed by the array of talent. And my months of scouring ebay, antique stores, and trying to think outside of the box with the things I included in their mystery supply bag was all worth it.

Above you can see photos of my completed mission project. Each photo is of a different square in the collaged shadow box. What started out as a blank unfinished pine box, ended up telling my story. If you click on the bottom photo to enlarge it, you may be able to read the excerpt I included with the box at the exhibit yesterday.

Magazine Collage and Overpainting ATCs

Step 1: Cut images, backgrounds, and words from magazines and layer onto ATC sized mat board.

Step 2: Choose portions of your image or background to coat with a thin layer of gesso. Brush on sheer enough to see the original image underneath.

Step 3: Take a fine line black marker or Sharpie to outline the image you see through the gesso layer. Leave "raw" for a textured line drawing look, or color in portions or whole image with markers or paint and Ta-Da!

March Stamp Camp Card Exchange

I played with some new Stampin' Up products on these cards for the March Exchange. I used the Springtime Floral paper, and the flowers and seam binding ribbon are Stampin' Up too. The collage images are from Lisa's Altered Art. I always have fun making a set of cards to share every month, especially knowing I'll come home with a new set of cards from some great artists who I'm sure to get some ideas from every time!

Recycled Soda Can Pin Variations

I wanted to share a variation of the soda can pins I made at Stamp Camp. I don't have the Big Shot or the Daisy Die that we created the top two pins with...so I came home and used my Cuttle Bug and my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die instead. All of the ladies at Stamp Camp made their pins out of different cans and we were all so excited by how each one came out differently. With this different flower shape there are even more options. More of the can design shows, which I happen to like and lends itself to being better able to recognize the recycled nature of the project. The possibilities are limitless! Check out Maura's Monster pin! Can you tell which soda brands my pins are made of?

March Stamp Camp Projects

It's about time that I update my blog! I've been posting a photo a day on Facebook as part of a year long Project 365. Alot of the photos I post there are of my art. But it's time to catch up here, and what better way to get back in the game than to share a few projects I've been involved in. The photo above is of the projects we worked on as part of a monthly Stampin' Up Stamp Camp. My Stampin' Up Demonstrator is tremendously generous, as well as awesomely creative so I know that every month I'm in store for something fun. This month was triple the fun because we made a card, decorated a ball jar, and created pins out of soda cans! The idea for the pins came from a YouTube Clip posted on Maura's blog, another member of the stamp group. You should check it out and give it a try!

ATC Christmas Ornament Swap

These are the ornaments I created for the In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group's XMAS ornaments swap. I made an extra one to keep for myself because I loved how they turned out. Pom-pom and rick-rack trims, vintage bells, glass glitter and stickles adorn these vintage santas. I used my holiday Tim Holtz tissue tape, Close To My Heart background paper, and some Magic Mesh for texture. I did my best to layer on the Christmas magic, and I love the photo of the ornament nestled in the branches. I think this will have to be an annual swap because everyone did a fantastic job!

Christmas Cocoa Jars

I've gotten back into jewelry making in the past few months and I beaded a few dozen pairs of earrings and bracelets as Christmas gifts this year. For the teachers at work with families, or the male teachers/staff that would perhaps not appreciate my fine jewelry, I created Cozy Cocoa Jars. These were fairly inexpensive to do. The jars came from the Dollar Tree, the spoons were 4/$1 at Walmart, along with some large canisters of Swiss Miss, bags of marshmellows, peppermints, chocolate santas, all tied up with ribbons and a snowflake ornament. If this doesn't say "warm winter wishes" I don't know what does!