Lost Art Creations

Holiday Round Robin AB

My altered book from the Holiday RR is finally complete and on display in my dining room corner unit.  I went over  my friend Fran's house where we had an art day of fun!  I brought my book and a collection of papers, ribbons and doo dads to work on the December spread.  I used a few images that another friend sent me to play with, a recycled gift topper (large snowflake), sweet little embossed felt poinsettia flowers from Red Lead, Authentique papers and K&Co glittered borders.

The Noel border at the bottom is a really cool embroidered ribbon I discovered at one of my absolute favorite local stores; Nest, in Mystic CT.  If you are in Southeastern CT you must check out the shop.  They have a delightful mixture of Vintage, New but Cool and Sparkle!  Everything is arranged in smaller vignettes that are so inspiring and beautiful.  They have all kinds of treasures to adorn both your home and yourself! 

What's On Your Art Table?

I have had extra 'parts' floating around on my art table since doing the 12 Tags Of Christmas.  In the process of cleaning up my space to start the next project I took items that I didn't know what to do with or where to put (Not in the trash though!) and made a little tag art.  [sigh] I'm so easy distracted these days!

I started with a glossy black #8 tag that had a white core and sanded it to remove much of the glossy black leaving a scratchy look.  Then I used the limited edition Fall Distress Inks and Festive Berries from the Winter LE set to color the tag.  Stamped the background image (Judikins) with Archival Black Ink.  The dapper man (Oxford Impressions) was already stamped and cut out - I just added a little Festive Berries to his tie with a eyeshadow sponge applicator  - these are great for detail coloring with ink, and a little jewel and washers to his hat.  I glued the gears in place (left over from a tag in Dec), then the dapper man.  I finished with some touches of Tim ;0) namely the lettering, metal gears and tiny spinner.  I also used Lost Art Creations stuff; the vintage cloth tape measure (the real deal) and pleated ribbon were little bits left over from a LAC Creativity Kit and a solid brass gear.

I eventually finished cleaning off my desk and have moved on to the next project; a class sample featuring painted canvas and Dylusion stamps.  Stay Tuned!

So, what's on your desk?

T

50% Off Sale Going On Now!

 

 

Out with the old, in with the new I say!

LOTS of cool stuff now priced at 50% off.  Everything is in one place for your shopping convenience; in the '50% Off Sale' section.  I will be adding new items as they sell out so keep checking back for new goodies.

I have multiples of some items so if you'd like more than one pack just convo me and I will create a custom listing for you.

I Wanna Go Back!!

In the space of a week I have gone from this:

And this:

To this:

BRRRRRRR!!!

LOVED Key West!  Hubby so much so that he wants to buy a place to retire to in the Lower Keys so he can hang out on the bridges and fish for snapper and grouper all day.  Let's just say I have thoroughly encouraged that line of thinking - VBG!

I just finished creating 3 new photo albums of my trip.  All these photos are from just one of the two cameras I brought.  Over 400 on this camera alone!  The other camera is my Digi Lomo camera which I hope to get to by the end of the week. 

Right now I have to concentrate on closing my 2011 books. Another tough year - I am hopeful 2012 will be an improvement. :0)  Also working on class offerings.  Some repeats of older classes plus some new, exciting book binding/making, metal, jewelry and mixed media classes. 

One of my goals for 2012 is to submit artwork to magazines again.  I had gotten away from it and even my husband commented that I had not submitted anything in a long time.  No time like the present - right?

Stay Tuned!

T

Last Blast Of Christmas

I finished my tags for the LAC Group swap which meets on the 19th.  The theme is All That Glitters and is all about a Vintage Christmas.  I decided to use many of the new techniques I learned from Tim Holtz during the 12 Tags of Christmas, giving each my own spin.  I haven't had this much fun creating in a long time.  Tim seems to have woken up my Muse - thanks Tim!

13 Days Of Christmas Exchange Day 11, 12 &13

So much for catching up!  I had some last minute Christmas shopping & decorating to take care of, but I still took time to photograph & open each gift every morning.  It's the posting that takes the time, which has been in short supply lately. 

So, today is Day 13, the last day of this exchange and I shall be so sad to not have a giftie to open tomorrow morning - VBG!  Seriously, I have been very fortunate to have been invited by Elizabeth to take part and I have already accepted for next year.  At least for 2012 I will have a whole year to plan, gather & play!

Day 11: Linda Morgan

Linda is the Steampunk Queen and her ornament ROCKS!  It was lovingly wrapped in fabric that she had dyed herself and can be reused in my quiltie projects - Woohoo!

She created the face from Polymer Clay.  The legs are vintage bisque.  The stamped brass wings look vintage too.  The dollie's body is constructed from  wooden play blocks.  She finished it off with beads, wire, chain and a vintage pin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 12: Terry Pitzel

Terry painted these awesome bird ornaments with the cutest googly eyes I have ever seen!  Love her!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 13: Pat Winter

Pat made to most beautiful Lavender sachet pin!  Delicate lace, beautiful image of a woman's Victorian ice skates.  The back is a burnout velvet.  The image is embellished with the tiniest ribbon-work roses, vintage velvet flower, beads and a snowflake charm.  I can't wait to wear this!

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to all the amazing & talented women artists I have had the pleasure of exchanging prezzies with these last 13 days.  I look forward to next year!  :0)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to all the talented women I have had the honor of exchanging presents with this year.  I look forward to next year!  :0)

Card For A Friend

A friend's FIL passed away after a long illness last weekend.  She was very broken up.  Even when you have time to prepare you're never really ready to loose someone you love.

  I used a couple of new techniques that I learned from Tim Holtz's 12 Tags Of Christmas on her card.  The background is a new Hero Arts stamp that I double embossed using Tumbled Glass & Vintage Photo Distress Inks.  The scrolls are die cut from cardstock and sanded to bring up the texture.  The shrine (by Stamp Camp) is embossed on vintage German text and embellished with Platinum Stickles and a vintage religious charm.  I finished the card with the cross charm (Lost Art Creations/Etsy) and sentiment (IO).

13 Days Of Christmas Exchange Day 10

Today is my day!  Everyone gets to open my giftie - I hope they like it.  I always like to make the wrap part of the gift.  So I stitched little muslin bags, stamped the text in Brilliance ink  This is my favorite ink for fabric - so long as it won't be washed - just make sure your pad is well inked.  Then I backed the striped fabric with Ultrabond and cut out simple tree shapes and pressed them to each bag with an iron.  I edged the trees with faux stitching using a Micron pen.  That was the simple part!

Next came the closure.  I didn't want a drawstring, but something more mechanical.  In my studio I found these old fashioned candle clips for Christmas trees.  Perfect!  One problem - I didn't have enough clips, so off to Ebay I went.  I found the clips easily, bid on them and won them - woohoo!  Just a note:  according to Ebay I had not bought anything there since 2005?!!  WOW! 

Once getting  the clips I cut out the candle holder part with tin snips, then glued vintage tinsel in place, punched out 2 circles of cardstock, stamped the smaller circle with the #10 and glued them into place.  Voila!

Next came the ornament itself.  I wanted something that reflected all the artistic sides of me.  Collage, sewing, jewelry and vintage were all aspects of my creative personality that I wanted to convey.  Again in my studio I found a bag of old wooden thread spools.  Hmmm... those would be perfect except they were full of thread and WAY to big.  So again - off to Ebay - VBG!  Of course I managed to find exactly what I needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the local used book store, The Book Barn (an incredible used book store like none other you have ever been to) I found a children's book of Christmas Carols.  I tore strips to fit each spool and glued in place.   Next I applied glossy accents to the spools top & bottom edges and dipped them into Diamond Dust glitter (gotta have glitter!).  For the hanger part I formed wire with a loop on the bottom, fed that through a Vintage MOP button and glued the button to the bottom of the spool.  Once it dried I thread on a giant glass pearl and a crystal and finished forming the hanger.  I added a crystal dangle on the bottom and I was done!

13 Days Of Christmas Exchange Day 7, 8 & 9

Today is catch-up day!  Time has just gotten away from me the past few days.  Decorating the house, Christmas shopping (almost done - one gift to go!), laundry that I ignored during the 12 Tags of Christmas.  I have my priorities you know!  Hmmm...art... cleaning, art... cleaning - kind of a no brainer for me - VBG!  Well I finally got to the point where I HAD to do laundry, if you know what I mean?

While I opened my gifties each day and photographed them I just never got around to actually posting them so here goes!

 

Day #7; Vivian

Viv made these most adorable snowman ornaments.  He (or she?) has the most expressive face!  Isn't it fabulous!?

 

Day #8; Corrine

Corrine had the most incredible garland using hand painted papers, fibers & buttons.  It's not the best pic and it certainly doesn't do it justice.  This is a garland I can leave up year-round so once I get it hung in my studio I will take a better pic.

 

Day #9; Hope

Hope had made the most amazing pin!  Fabric, blingy trim and a hand painted face on a wooden button.  Another stunning face!

 

 

 

Tomorrow is Day #10 when everyone gets to open my giftie - woohoo!

 

 

12 Tags Of Christmas ~ Day #12

Oh crap, what will I do now when I wake up at 5AM?!  Today is the last tag in Tim Holtz's 12 Tags Of Christmas 2011.  And what a beauty is it!  So feminine, shabby chic, soft colors - dreamy.

For once I actually had everything he used!  Sort of.... I don't have his fragment dolls, however when I went up to Absolutely Everything in Topsfield MA to take a weekend of classes with him a few years ago he brought all kinds of cool treasures to sell.  In that mix were real Frozen Charlottes and I picked up a couple.  So 3+ years later I actually got to use one.  Hey, I was waiting for the perfect project! :0)

The only thing I had trouble with was the Faux Dresden Trim.  I think that the cardstock I chose to back the metal tape wasn't thick enough and it cut unevenly and was very difficult to separate.  Next time I will try it with glossy card like he suggested.  The wings and crown are real Dresden trims that I just 'shabbied' up with black then white paint.  The decoration on the Frozen Charlotte is a vintage embellishment that I sell on my Etsy shop.  I LOVE these little embellies!  They are slightly dimensional, soft metal - silver on one side, copper on the other.  They come in a mixture of shapes, from the cross that you see to stars, diamond cabochons and thistle stems. 

I had a little trouble with the tissue flower.  The first one was too big, the second too small, but like Goldilocks the third one was juuuust right!  Such a simple technique and so pretty!