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.

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!

Summer Twinchies

These are the twinchies that I created for my swap in the In My Vintage Room Yahoo group. Little pieces of summer in two inches square!

Goddess Zentangle ATCs

These are Goddess ATCs that I created for my In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group Gods & Goddesses ATC swap. I used the Zentangle technique for the the first time and enjoyed trying something different and outside of my vintage-feel comfort zone.

LFB Inspired by The Beatles

Miriam, from In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group hosted a Beatles LFB swap this month. Her hope was that the titles of the songs and the lyrics would create some great art...and it was a neat idea for sure! I created these LFBs with a 12x12 collage technique at our Captured Moments LFB club...then it worked out that the Blackbird lyrics fit perfectly with them.

Birds, Bees & Winged Things ATCs

Here are the Birds & Bees ATCs that I made for my May swap in the In My Vintage Room Yahoo group. I love the DCWV Mariposa paper stack...along with some gel medium, prima flowers, some bird cage diecuts courtesy of Ginger's Cricut machine spritzed with my new Smooch Log Cabin Spray from Stampin' Up, other random doo-dads, ric-rack, and lovely bits, and some bird images from a Cosmo Cricket sheet of paper turned into these beauties. I even made an extra for me to add to my own collection. :o)

April Showers LFB

Here is the little fat book page that I made for Fran's April Showers swap in the In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group. The pink umbrella paper on the back is actually vintage wrapping paper from the Washington County Antique Show, and its flocked! I have to admit, the back is a bit lame otherwise because I just put a few spring-y Jolee's boutique stickers on it to finish it off. I didn't want to cover too much of the pretty paper!

November LFBs

Here are the dozen November LFBs I created for Ginger's In My Vintage Room Yahoo group's 12 Months of LFBs swap. I got assigned November and decided to commemorate Veteran's Day instead of going with perhaps the more obvious Thanksgiving theme. We will each get one of each month out of this swap, completing a whole year's worth of LFBs into one cute little book. Glad I finished in time for the exchange, June 5th.

April Swaps for In My Vintage Room

Storybook LFB front
Storybook LFB back

Glasses/Sunglasses ATCs

Carrot Oatmeal Muffin Recipe LFB

Front
detail

back

This is the LFB that I made for Elise's first monthly recipe LFB exchange in the In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group. She set this first month's theme to breads/muffins. I found this recipe online and it sounds delicious, though I've never made it before. I'm not much of a cooker or baker...she is, so I know she'll love this one. I only wish she still lived here so when she makes it I can try it! The 3x5 recipe cards slide out of a pocket I created in the back.

All The World's A Stage LFB

front
back

I created this Little Fat Book page last night for my "Curtain Call" LFB swap. I knew I would be swapping them out today and wanted to be able to participate even though life has been incredibly hectic. I wasn't sure what would come together, if anything, because I was so exhausted, but I managed this. I played with some images from a collage sheet I purchased from Lisa's Altered Art, some old book paper, Making Memories acrylic frame, Tim Holtz adage ticket and game spinner, printed tissue paper, sequin trim, a print out of a stage, and some new Golden Mediums and Molding Pastes from a sampler box I bought at Michael's. My favorite thing about the backside was using the old paper, which was a page out of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. I mixed red paint into light molding paste and gooped up the edges and then stamped with bubble wrap for some interest and texture. But what was even more fun was picking out words in the play to put a box around with fine line marker and then color in to highlight. I almost made my own poem out of the highlighed words in the text: "Henceforth, Juliet, is my lady. Too bold the fairest stars, her eyes were stars."

Famous Women ATCs

Group shot
Queen Victoria Fact (on back): National Pride connected with the name of Victoria-the term Victorian England stemmed from the Queen's ethics and personal tastes which generally reflected those of the middle class.

Princess Diana Fact (on back): Diana's interest in helping young people led to the establishment of the Diana Memorial Award, awarded to youths that show unselfish devotion to causes that were advocated by the Princess.

Jane Austen Fact (on back): Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and beloved writers in English literature.

I was inspired by a piece of artwork in the Winter Somerset Gallery magazine where an artist used images of women throughout history and celebrated them through the piece. I thought this would translate into a fun ATC swap theme for the In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group. These are my picks for women to celebrate, for no other reason than their images inspired some creativity for me and their stories of power, strength, charity and individuality mark them as women all of us can be proud of.

Celebrating 26 Layout

I wanted to do a scrapbook layout to commemorate the beautiful showing of friendship and artistic talent that I received for my 26th birthday from the ladies in the In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group. When I found this Making Memories page kit on clearance at Target I knew it would be perfect. Now it's a permanent memory in my scrapbook, as if I could ever forget such a wonderful day!

Recycle It! LFB

This is the LFB that I made for my Recycle It! Swap in the In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group. The challenge was to create a piece of art predominantly comprised of recycled materials from around your home. I saved the waxed paper image of the lady from egg roll packaging, punched circles from the Chinese food Menu, used the gold coins from an old card I was given, beads and ribbon from an old sewing box etc. It was a challenge that took me outside of my Vintage realm.

Saint Patrick's Day Twinchies

Here are the twichies that I made for Fran's St. Patty's Day Twinchie Swap in the In My Vintage Room Yahoo Group. I hope they will be lucky charms for whoever receives them!

Secret Valentine Beeswax LFB

Here's a LFB I made for my Secret Valentine while I had my beeswax out today working on 5x5 canvases (see next blog entry).

Birthday Queen

My gorgeous cake from Peggy

Birthday Queen Crown from Ginger

Some of the fabulous girls-Pat, Lori, Beth, Helen, Donna, Fran, Ginger & Peggy

Click on the photo above to see enlarged some of the beautiful gifts I recieved! Handmade greeting cards from Lori, Peggy, Ginger, Donna, Melanie, Elise, Marilyn, Helen, Elaine & Berta. ATCs from Helen, Ginger, Fran & Donna. A necklace from Ginger and Twinchy from Fran, and LFBs from Lori, Ginger, Miriam, Beth, and Helen. Bird Mobile by Melanie and Altered Art piece by Marilyn (Not pictured because they were already displayed!)

I was so spoiled for my birthday! I had an awesome day creating at Miriam's with the girls from the Vintage Room. They all made me such gorgeous art pieces and gave me such fun supplies! It was the best way to spend my birthday and I feel blessed to have such amazing and talented friends! Thanks for my cheesecake Ginger! :o)