Best Wishes

Had a wonderful weekend going to a Garden Tour in the area. All sorts of gardens small and large were included. We are still learning the flowers here in the south, so we can do some gardening around our new house.

This card, that I made awhile ago for a dear blogger friend but never shared  with you it fits my floral mood. The pretty girl image is from  Retro Cafe Art Roses Roses collage sheet . I used a  gold buckle from  my old life in the Fashion industry to frame her. A flower dictionary page, some ribbon, gold German scrap were all layered on a marbleized paper. Some shiny  glittery Stickles accents came next. The "Best Wishes" sticker was the finishing touch!

Hope you saw some pretty posies this weekend.
Take care, gerri

Home is where the HeART is

Today for Retro Cafe Art I am sharing some fun little houses that were sent out for a Retro Cafe Art mini house shrine swap. If you have followed my art you know that I like to  make little things with lots of moveable parts. These houses use a lot  of unusual items too, there's poker chips, monopoly pieces and empty ribbon reels. Do you know they are discontinuing the iron playing piece in monopoly and replacing it with a cat! Many people don't even know what an iron is! LOL.

To make these I started with RCA  little mini houses shrines and covered the with Vintage Hair styling washi  tape. All the edges were painted with metallic paint. Inside there are buttons, monopoly pieces and the word home from the Collage Word Sheet by Cassandra VanCuren collage sheet. The empty  ribbon reels were painted then the part where the ribbon goes I covered it withVintage Hair styling washi tape to create a stand. I also layered a multi painted poker sheet on top of the ribbon reel. Some copper dimensional pearls were used for dotty dimensional accents.

Hope you will be in a happy heART home this week.
take care, gerri

Bloom All of us grow by giving

You know how I adore all thing Paris, so today I have made a card using the beautiful Marie Antoinette from Retro Cafe Art. I 'm liking all the purple too!

To make this card I used the collage sheet Rosey Marie Antoinette  by Cassandra Van Curen and layered a transparent purple swirl frame. The word Bloom is also transparent. All this was layered on two different papers. Some paper and transparent dragonflies were layered on the edges. A bias tape bow and a sweet heart cut out painted purple came next. The hand cut sentiment reads " All of us grow by giving. " Some Stickles accents and water color paints complete ate blooming Marie.

Hope you will bloom this week.
Take care Gerri

Happy Little Homes

Thought I could use some new jewelry this week so I just decided to make some!
Found my jewelry supplies while unpacking so, for Retro Cafe Art I created this necklace. And yes I am still opening craft boxes! LOL.

To make these little house cut out charms I painted them with some luminescent paint , it gives you a nice sheen. I used some rub ons of flowers and swirls to each side to  add another layer. The collage sheet Domino Collage Sheet cv 34 , was where I got those little sweet faces to put iny happy houses. I did cover them with some dimensional glaze. The final step was over stamping with my favorite French words stamp. Using jump rings I added little glass beads and attached them to my necklace. The black sheer bow was the finishing touch.

Hope you will be in a happy home this week.
Take care,
Gerri

Resident Optimist

Today for Retro Cafe Art I'm using an unusual color combination, orange and aqua. Not a choice I would normally use but I like a challenge, don't you! It's fun to step out of your comfort zone!

The collage sheet Aqua and Orange by Cassandra VanCuren  was the starting point. I stated with the female image and added some folded paper details. After cutting out the butterflies I put them on coordinating buttons. The hand cut sentiment says thank you for being the resident optimist in my life . Some Stickles and watercolor paint accents completed this ATC. To make it stand up, I used the Retro Cafe Art Masonite ATC stand, which is so darling and useful too!

I was able to do one of my favorite things with my hubbie this weekend....We went on a hidden garden tour in Savannah, Georgia which is only 20 minutes away. It was marvelous and so inspiring. I am sharing a few photos with you today too. Enjoy your tour....

Hope you will step out of your comfort zone this week.

artfully yours, gerri

      "Thank you for being the Resident Optimist in my life.

Hidden Gardens of Savannah Georgia

Oh Sweet Marie in her Panniers

Did you know that I love studying historical or period costume. I love how clothing sometimes can be so very different from our time and how it represents the the culture and time that surrounded it. I even worked as an intern in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City as an intern back in the day. I did get to met some  celebs too  including Jackie Onassis, Baryshnikov- the dancer  and Diana Vreeland while working on  a Diaghilev Ballets Russes exhibit.

So, today for Retro Cafe Art it is Marie Antoinette  and her pannier or side hoop skirts that inspired me. I used an old tear shaped glass ornament as the base and put her image from the Marie Antoinette Collage sheet by Cassandra Van Curen inside. I added a white  paper doily ruffle to extend her silhouette and to represent her skirt. I added cream colored fabric roses, tiny pearls, Dimensional Pearls and silver Stickles accents. A silver glittery ribbon at the top lets me hang her on my inspiration board.

Well I hope you get to see explore your passion this week.
take care, gerri

Oh Sweet Marie!

I think about the times

Today for Retro Cafe Art, I'm thinking about  dear best friends. I spoke to a few on Easter Sunday and it was so nice. I created this for my college roommates, there are 6 of us, so this is me looking thru my glasses at the other 5. We try to meet every couple of years for a girls weekend. It's about time we met again! I do so miss our time together.

To make this tag, I started by covering a manilla tag with masking take. If you look closely you can see the lines. I painted it with turquoise  inks and paint and edged it with acrylic paint. The sparkle is from my fav  glitter nail polish that is layered on top. The lovely group image is from the Retro Cafe Art Best Friends collage sheet. I added a transfer of some spectacles over top the women. It just fit perfectly. LOL. It was detailed with gold German Dresden Border Scallop , blue glazed flowers, tiny roses and gold leaves. Some gold Stickles dots highlight the pair of glasses. A golden ribbon and the hand cut sentiment" I think about the times we spent together" completed this pretty tag.

Hope you will get to spend some time with some special friends this week, whether by phone, post, internet or in person!
sincerely, gerri

"I think about the times, we've spent together."

"Sparkle details"