Sunday, November 30, 2008

Gift Idea #2 - Alcohol Inked Krystal Kraft Bookmarks

25 Days of Gifts - Day #2

Today I have some fun acrylic pieces that I turned into book marks. They are all made using Krystal Kraft acrylic as the jumping off point. I got mine from Outside the Margins but I'm sure lots of places carry them. These gems are available in a wide range of shapes but today I'm sharing two of my favorites...the mask & torso.

Each of the acrylic pieces were colored using Adirondack Alcohol Inks then embellished further with a variety of embellishments.

Mardi Gras

Bookmark_Mask

Mask_Close-up

I turned the torsos into little people by adding a photo to a charm that I attached using E-6000 adhesive. I added word tags as arms and embellished with some awesome fringe for skirts. These are so much fun to make, by varying the colors and embellishments you could make a whole range of little people!

Lady in Black (and purple)-

Vintage_Lady_bookmark

Lady in Red -

red_vintage_lady_bookmark

Fun huh?

These are fairly quick, cost about $3.00 - $5.00 each by the time you figure the trim, charms, bodies and book mark. Not too expensive but it could be a lot less especially since you can use bits and pieces of things you may have left over from other projects.

So, look like something you'd like to make, give or receive?

Saturday, November 29, 2008

25 Days of Gift Ideas!

Today I am going to start my

"25 Days of Gift Ideas".

Each day I will be sharing a different altered/crafted goodie that you can make to share with your family and/or friends. Some will be quick and easy while others are a bit more advanced but all of them will be loved by anyone lucky enough to receive them! Of course if you don't celebrate Christmas they are still some fun ideas for any occasion.

So let's kick it off with a shadow box I made for one of my Mom's co-workers. It is a shadow box I filled with real and play baby items. You know those little sets of baby goodies for dolls...they are the perfect size for a 12x12 or 14x14 shadow box!! I also incorporated some of the babies booties and diaper pins. The photo was printed on photo paper then mounted to foam core board to lift if off the background. I actually doubled up the foam core board so the booties and diaper could be tucked under the edge of the photo.

36JAM_-_shadow_box

The shadow box frame started life as plain unfinished wood. I prefer working with unfinished wood because I can then add whatever finish I want. For this frame I added a white washed finish by first dabbing white acrylic paint onto the wood then running a damp cloth over the paint working it into the grain as I went. Next I applied a light coat of a baby blue (to match the goodies in the shadow box) and again wiped much of it off with a damp cloth. You can't tell in the photo but it gives such a nice vintage feel to the piece.

The frame was quick and easy, the collage it's self took a bit of time but letting the adhesive dry really well before you mount the collage in the frame took the longest. I am so not good at waiting for things to dry! I want them done NOW ;) If you don't let the glue dry completely and mount it too soon your goodies may fall off if the glue hasn't cured completely. (Trust me on this....you will just have to wait twice as long when you re-attach them - LOL!!!)

So there you have a fun gift for some new parents or even grandparents to kick things off :)

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the next gift idea!

Have a Wonderful Day!!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

DING DING DING!!!!!!

....Blog Post #500

1 Year Blogging Anniversary

&

a Winner


WHEW ~ how's that for a loaded posting :)


Yep, Ink Stains is officially 1 year old today! Who'd a thunk it ~ I can't believe how much life has changed in only one year... of course I'm a year older, I've posted 500 tid-bits on the blog but there is so much more. I originally started the blog for a few reasons...some very persistent friends kept telling me I should :) Thanks guys!!! But I had also just come off of a very exhaustive month long very restrictive interview/application/whatever you want to call it for an on-line forum position. I was disappointed but almost relived when I found out I didn't get the job because the company was so specific in what they didn't want I believe I would have felt hampered in my creativity. Therefore Ink Stains was born :) YEAH!!!

Just goes to show you that things do happen for a reason even though we don't know it at the time.

There have been lots of other changes over the year that I won't bore you with but I'm very excited about my artistic life...very positive things all around. Now if we could only improve the economy wouldn't life be grand....but alas, I'm not a magician. LOL!!!

Enough of the mush stuff....

The winner of Blog Bash Give-A-Way #7

is......


#4


CABBIE!!!


cabbie lopez said...
the wildest thing i made was altering a barbie doll. i cut her hair so short that she aint barbie anymore. i designed her skirt with paper and made her hat with a chipboard swirl. an art doll indeed but surely, the little girls would not want to see her. lol.i also did a spool doll wherein her head is made of metal spool and yarns as her hair... they are on my blogs.thanks
November 26, 2008 12:03 AM


Congrats CABBIE :) Too funny about your Barbie doll - LOL!!!

Please send me your snail mail addy so I can send out your stamps.

Happy Thanksgiving!!



Sending out a cyber Happy Thanksgiving hug to you all...

I hope you have a wonderful day filled with family, good food and lots of lasting memories. Make today special and give thanks for all you have been blessed with.

((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))

For my friends who don't live in the US...the hug is universal because I'm thankful for you too!!! I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

A Real Person...A Real Award

A Real Person…A Real Award


Thanks so much to Jaqi @ Scrapbooking in my Sleep who nominated me for the
“Marie Antoinette…A Real Person…A Real Award”
She is such a sweetie pie!!!!
I would like to nominate the following to receive it, in no particular order....
Rella @ Faerieluna
Gisele @ Art Escapes
Thea @ Thea's Blog
(I don't have a clue what she says but art surpasses language!)
If you've never stopped by any of these blogs you really should...they are really cool people sharing their way cool art!

Blog Bash Give-A-Way #8 - Distress Stickles!!!

I wanted to share a project I made recently using Ranger's new Distress Stickles. Now, I'm sure many of you know how much I love mica ~ well when these Distress Stickles dry the little glitter particles look just like mica!! Mmmmmmmm - I just love it!!! I know I mentioned it before but it also has a way cool feel once it's dry as well...it's chunky and feels like sugar particles :) Just another layer of texture to add to your creation!

Butterflies....

Supplies: Distress Inks; Distress Crackle Paint; Distress Stickles; Grunge Board (flowers, butterflies, dragonfly); Canvas Concepts Natural Canvas

Distress Stickles

Monarch -

I used Black Stickles to draw on the segments of the wings/body. Once it was dry, I filled in each of the sections with Spiced Marmalade Distress Stickles.

Distress Stickles

Flowers -

Here are some of the layered flowers I made using multiple flowers from the Nature Grunge Board shapes... You'll notice that the camera doesn't like all that glitter too much...when it's aimed directly at the glitter it freaks out the auto focus.

Distress Stickles

NOW...

for the give-a-way....

In honor of turkey day tomorrow...tell me what your favorite part of the meal is....

Mine is the Pumpkin Pie & Cool Whip! Yes, that's a pair ~ you can't have one without the other in my book. And honestly if you ask my family in my case it would be Cool Whip & Pumpkin Pie ;) It always has and probably always will be - LOL!!!

If you're not from the US and don't celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow then tell me what your favorite holiday meal is...any holiday...

What will you win??? Well Distress Stickles of course!

I'll choose 3 different colors (it's a surprise silly) to send you ~ wish it could be all of them but I haven't won the lottery or anything - LOL!!!

You have until 11-30 to post your favorite Thanksgiving (or other holiday) meal.

Good Luck everyone :)

Ink Stained Fat Book Swap - Retro Ads - 50's - 70's

Here is another installment of the Fat Book pages.

This theme was retro women in ads from the 50's thru the 70's. Now I have to admit this was one of my favorite themes. It was so much fun searching for ads. I found loads of them but when I saw my lady I knew what I was going to do :) You can't tell by the pics but it's actually an interactive page...sort of - LOL!! The main image is mounted over a piece of foam. The entire front of the page is then covered in clear yellow vinyl. You'll understand the rest when you see what the ad was for....something I've never heard of but Mom said she can remember it.

Retro Ads 50's-70's

(Shannon's Theme)

Me - Front

ISFB - Retro Ads 001

back -

O.k. how many of you remember margarine that you had to squeeze to make yellow? Wild huh???

ISFB - Retro Ads 002

Karen

ISFB - Retro Ads 003

Shannon


ISFB - Retro Ads 005

Kelly

ISFB - Retro Ads 006

Dixie

ISFB - Retro Ads 007

Phinny

ISFB - Retro Ads 008

Nina

ISFB - Retro Ads 009

Linda

ISFB - Retro Ads 011

Andi

ISFB - Retro Ads 012

Crystal

ISFB - Retro Ads 015

Cool pages huh?

This was a way fun theme!

Artella Land

I wanted to tell you about a great resource for collage and altered art goodies ~ both hard copies and digital supplies. It's called Artella Land. It's a really cool store I've known about for some time. There are several areas you can check out. There is the General Store which offers up Vintage Photos; $1.99 Vintage Bargain Bin (you know how I love a Bargain!!); Assorted Art Supply & Treasures to start with. (for some reason all of my links take you to the main page...I'm not smart enough to figure it out but you can click on the individual areas and see all the neat goodies for yourself.....maybe some day I'll get smarter about this code stuff!)

Then there are the other areas of Artella Land.... Creativity Cover - a place to find LOADS of great digital collage items; Inspiring Springs - just what it sounds like, a place for inspiration be it an art workshop, Artella Magazine, Artella Books and more!

And there is another great place to hit - The Shoppes of Artella....a place filled with awesome goodness because it is all handmade goodies by a variety of artists!

I just recently became an affiliate of Artella Land . By doing so I can offer you a cool book - one of my favorites from their selection - Altered Ancestors - FREE!!! All you have to do is follow the link below and download it for your viewing pleasure!


Download a FREE copy of the Artella eBook, Artella Mae's NEW Altered Ancestors!, a 58-page eBook overflowing with ideas and techniques for using vintage photos in your artwork. Download your copy at: http://www.artellaland.com/affiliates/jrox.php?uid=ronijj_1_eaid_8

If you're interested in joining their affiliate program, just let me know and I'll send you an affiliate invitation to join!

Have fun checking 'em out!!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Retro Cafe Art - Digital Collage Sheet Winners!!!

Woo Hoo!

I have one more set of winners to announce today :)



The 3 lucky winners of the Retro Cafe Art Digital Collage Sheets are.....


Phinny


CK


and


Cabbie Lopez!!!


Congrats Ladies!!!!

Kristin will be contacting you about your winnings :)


Thanks to Kristin for allowing me to feature Retro Cafe Art and her generous donation!


Hope you enjoy them and share your creations!

Blog Bash Give-A-Way #7 - Crafty Secrets & More!

Time for another chance to win something fun!

Tell me (or show me) what the wildest thing is you've ever altered...if you've never altered anything tell me (or show me) the wildest item you've ever made. It could be a funky card; ATC; a cool sb page; anything!

The wildest thing I've ever altered was a rat trap! Someone dared me so I did! Don't worry ~ it was a brand new one so no nasty stains or anything. I turned it into a Welcome sign and gave it to the person who dared me - LOL!! Simon is her dog - hence the dog collar & embellishments. The MM frame was mounted so she could change out pics as she wanted.

Here it is....

36rat_trap_-_simon_the_gang

O.k....I fessed up...
Now it's your turn....
You'll have until 11-27 to tell us all about your wildest creations.

At that time I'll draw out one lucky winner to receive Crafty Secrets - Altered Art set of rubber stamps, a couple tinsel embossing powders and Maya Road chipboard wings key chain!

What's the wildest thing you've ever made????

Crackle Paint Winner!!

What a wonderful response to the "thankful" question! It's so great to read such positive and uplifting comments when the world is in such turmoil!! I'm so very tickled with it all....so much so that I decided to give away TWO sets of the paints!!! My way of thanking you all for hanging around here :)

The first winner of the Metallic Crackle Paint set is.....

Vannasmom

vannasmom said...
Happy early birthday day! I just want to say this is the first time I have visited your blog and I am in totaly love with it!!I also look forward to returning too!!I am thankful for a breath , to see my daughter grow up and I have an amazing wonderful hubby that supprts everything I do !! I am truly blessed!! It has been a while since I could say that!!I have one brick red plain old crackler paint and I love it !! I use it on everything!!thanks for a chance to win :)
November 23, 2008 8:43 PM

and the 2nd winner is....

Alice K.

alice k. said...
Happy birthday! I am thankful fo having supportive friends, IRL and in the blog land, people who believe in me but also challenge me.Looking forward to another year with your inspirational blog!
November 24, 2008 3:08 AM

Congrats ladies!! Please send me your snail mail addies so I can get your paints out in the mail to you :)

Enjoy!!


Altered Book Winner!!

I'm a bit behind on my posting winners and such...been a busy time around here. We've been getting ready for winter on our farm and we butcher 2 pigs...yeah I know I know...we grow and raise our own meat ~ sorry to all those veggie people out there. We eat veggies too if it's any consolation - LOL!!

Anyway, I'm a bit sore but back and ready to give some goodies away...

Without further delays,

the winner of either the house, heart or embellishment goodie bag is.....

Crafty Creations!!!

Crafty creations said...
Wow they are incredible - what a brilliant idea - I love them bothbut should I win :):):) would prefer the heart one.I think a fab book would be suitcase shaped then it could be filled with all sorts of holiday memorabalia.Another could be candle shaped - weddings/christenings/special birhdays etc etc.Please pick me!!!!! I'm UK based though so maybe that would be a problemThanks for the inspiration anywayhugs
November 19, 2008 8:28 AM

Congratulations!!

Please e-mail me with your choice and your snail mail addy.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Blog Bash Give A Way #6 - Metallic Crackle

Hi Friends...
I hope you're all having a wonderful Friday!

You know, I've been talking about Ink Stains 1 year birthday for a while now. I *JUST* realized that it falls on Thanksgiving this year!! How totally wild is that....it's one of those "goosebump" moments. You know what I mean...when things have happened or fall into place at just the right time. This must be one of those moments I tell you...

I had planned on having a different drawing each day from now until the 26th with all of drawings being pulled on the 27th ~ Ink Stains B-day. Well, since that is truly a day to be thankful for everything that has happened in the past year and the years to come it couldn't have worked out any better!! (See what I mean about it being wild!!)

So, with that revelation on my mind, I want to start off this b-day week by giving away a set of Metallic Crackle Distress Paints!

What do you have to do to be entered to win?

Tell me what you are thankful for....easy as that!

I'll start it off...now of course I'm thankful for my guys (2 and 4 legged - yes, I'm the only girl in our household!!) and all of the gifts that God has given me but I'm also very thankful for my friends and acquaintances I've made over the past year through the blog. I was so very reluctant to start one because I didn't think there would be interest in what I do...but some friends wouldn't let it rest and an opportunity fell through giving me the time to dedicate to it. Well, THANKS TO YOU I've been proven wrong :) The blog has been a great success!! I enjoy reading everything you have to say and love sharing techniques and my work with you and love talking to you in e-mails. It really does bring me so much joy!!

I know it's been a bit lean here the last month or so but I promise after I get this next deadline under my belt things will improve. I'm starting to get the hang of writing each day and creating on demand (not an easy task I tell you). So I'm hoping to have a bit more time to spend on creating and sharing here.

You will have until 11-27 to post what you are thankful for at that time I'll pull out one lucky winner of a set of the metallic crackle paints!

Good Luck Friends

and know...

I am truly thankful for you all!!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Ink Stains Fat Book Swap - Driven Women

The next installment of the Ink Stains Fat Book Swap is Driven Women. This was another fun theme because everyone had their own interpretation of what a "Driven Women" meant to them.

Enjoy!

Oh yeah, I'm not posting these in any particular order...it's just however they were in the pile.


Linda

ISFB - Driven Women001

Phinny

ISFB - Driven Women 004

back

ISFB - Driven Women002

Andi

ISFB - Driven Women 006

back

ISFB - Driven Women003

Crystal

ISFB - Driven Women 002

Nina

ISFB - Driven Women 003

Me

ISFB - Driven Women 005

Kelly

ISFB - Driven Women 007

Dixie (btw - that is a burning bra off to the side!!)

ISFB - Driven Women 008

Back

ISFB - Driven Women 009

Shannon

ISFB - Driven Women 011

(under the front image)

ISFB - Driven Women 013

Back

ISFB - Driven Women 012

Dixie (angel spot)

ISFB - Driven Women 014

back

ISFB - Driven Women 015

Have a great day tomorrow!!

October ATC Swap

I know I know...I'm finally getting around to posting some of the cards from October's ATC swap. That will explain why there are so many halloween ones :) It was another great swap!

Top 3 - Theresa; Bottom 2 - Laurie B.

October ATC's001


First 2 - Tammy; Shannon; Bottom - Karen; ???; Karen

October ATC's004

Shannon; Karen; Tammy; Shannon; Dixie



October ATC's005

Have you made an ATC recently???

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Retro Cafe Art!

I am so excited to be able to share an awesome web-site with you today.

If you haven't guessed already it's called ~



by Kristin Hubick

I found Kristin's site by chance one day while I was crusin' around the net looking for collage goodies. Boy did I ever strike gold here! Kristin specializes in collage sheets and all sorts of items for collage, altered arts and more. It's an awesome place to explore so I contacted her and low and behold she's a Hoosier too!!! Well, right then and there I knew I wanted to share her site with everyone :)

I had a lot of fun admiring Kristin's art so I asked her how long she'd been crafting. Kristen's reply was "I've been arting and crafting since I was a little girl. My first memories growing up include rummaging through my mom's craft room, creating art, and selling it on the corner of our block! Once I sold two pine cones covered with glitter to a man in a limo who said he was on his way to a wedding and was going to give them as gifts! Surely my most memorable sale and I was about 6 years old. I can also recall creating "worry doll" earring and having my mom put an ad in the back of a craft magazine. I only sold one pair, but it was thrilling. It was inevitable that I would have my own site as an adult."

I asked her how Retro Cafe Art go it's start - like so many of us she started with one medium but got sucked in to the black hole of the art world. "I began selling my art on EBay in 2004. Initially, I was selling my retro inspired paintings that often featured coffee cups and "café" style. That is how the name "Retro Café Art Gallery" came about. I soon discovered art cards and was drawn into the world of altered art. When I was younger I often created collages and decoupage items using magazine pictures. I was drawn to the variety in altered art, and the ability to use ephemera and items that some people would consider trash, to give them new life. As my business began to grow, I was determined to have my own space on the web. Retro Café Art Gallery http://www.retrocafeart.com/ went live February 2008 and I have big plans for the future!" Pretty darn cool huh?

A large part of Retro Cafe Art are the collage sheets. Images of all shapes, sizes and themes. I asked Kristin where she comes up with her ideas for her collage sheets. She replied, "Basically, I select images that I might like to use in my own art, while abiding by copyright laws. Hunting down the vintage ephemera and photos is part of the fun!" she also added, "I have a small selection of collage sheets that I sell through a license I purchased a few years ago, but most of the collage sheets I design myself."

Some of the themes offered include: Fairies & Children; Butterflies, Moths & Birds (great selection of wings here!!); Cabinet Cards and one of my favorites...HALLOWEEN!! Of course there are many more...I just wanted to give you a taste ;) You'll have to explore the rest for yourself.

These collage sheets are available on a variety of materials - Semi-Gloss Paper; Transparency Film; Fabric Sheets; Sticker Paper and Vellum.

If you like to print collage sheets yourself Kristin also offers her sheets in a digital format. You have the option of purchasing Digital 8 1/2" x 11" Sheets; a new Halloween CD including 8 collage pages or a selection of Individual Digital Images.

If you've got a need for a specific collage sheet you don't see on the site, drop Kristin an e-mail. She takes requests and mentioned that some of her favorite sheets were born from special requests!

Now, Retro Cafe Art isn't limited to collage sheets ~ they have an awesome variety of altered art and ATC goodies as well. Kristin is one of the few companies that offer Coffee Break Design Stencils; Shrines and more. R.C.A. also offers a wide variety of other collage items including Vintage Finds; Original Artworks; Antique German Doll Parts; ATC & Inchie Supplies and....well I could go on but I'll let you find out for yourself what else Retro Cafe Arts has in store for you.

Kristin wanted me to be sure and let you know that she is more than happy to ship orders internationally and always charges actual shipping costs. Not something you find everyday let me tell you!

Be sure to stop by their Design Team Gallery and check out the amazing creations from her Design Team!

So, it's time for you to go explore and see what you can see :)

Be sure to report back here because if you tell me what you love

because....

you may just be the lucky winner of one of THREE digital collage sheets

courtesy of

Kristin and Retro Cafe Art!!

You have until November 25th to let me know what you found!

Have a wonderful Day Friends!!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Ink Stains Fat Book Swap - Bombshells

The second theme for our recent fat book swap was Bombshells!

Someone asked me yesterday about the quotes on the pages. That was one of the requirements for each theme. You had to include a quote either from the person you were using for the theme or another quote that highlighted the idea behind your page. It was really fun to see what people came up with.

Lots of great pages for this theme as well....

BOMBSHELLS

Karen - WAY cool snake huh?

ISFB - Bombshells 020

back

ISFB - Bombshells 022

Linda

ISFB - Bombshells 019

Shannon - The black stuff in the corner is similar to garland - Very 3-D in person.

ISFB - Bombshells 014

Dixie (Mom)

ISFB - Bombshells 007

back

ISFB - Bombshells 008

Crystal

ISFB - Bombshells 013

Me

ISFB - Bombshells 009

Kelly

ISFB - Bombshells 005

Nina - LOVE the tag & lacing on this page!

ISFB - Bombshells 004

Phinny

ISFB - Bombshells 001

back

ISFB - Bombshells 002
oops! Andi's was stuck to the back of Kelly's page!
Sorry Andi!!
Andi
ISFB - Bombshells001

In the early stages of the swap some of us ended up choosing the same ladies to use on our pages. It was wild...Phinny and I had the same idea about several themes. Something out of the twilight zone but as you can see the results were all totally different. It's fun to see how different artists take a similar idea and make it their own.

Also, there were no requirements on the backs other than to include your name and the group. Some people got really creative and added additional quotes and photos on the backs. On some I included extra pics, tidbits of historical or totally useless information about my picks. I didn't photograph all of the backs but will be sharing some here and there :)

Enjoy!!