I Dream of a Land of Violet Mystery

Decided to do something different for this week's Summer of Color "Purple" challenge, I created an altered altoids mint tin. I love having a prompt to start a new project, so purple it was! Ive made repurposed tins before but always covered them with paper, so today I used acrylic paint, glitter and Ranger Alcohol  Inks. They were heated with a heat gun till it all bubbled and collapsed. This method was shared by Val at Bastelmania-craftattack, who makes the most amazing tags with her bubbling technique. I am also submiting it to Grungy Monday 17 hosted by Linda  at Studio L3 which uses Tim Holtz's techniques. This week it was Get Ready to Rock using Ranger Rock Candy Products.

First the mint tin was distressed, painted and the bubbled with all storts of purplie stuff. I took a paper flower, watercolored it, edged it with yellow Stickles and added glitter to the center. The butterfly and flower image is from Dezinaworld and after I added Rock Candy Stickles, the butterfly almost looks 3D. Some purple netting, green organza for leaves and my sentiment came next. The sentiment  can be read around the box and you can start on any side. It  totally says "I dream of violet mystery, so far away, the giddy butterflies, one hot summer night."

Hope there will be some mystery in your week.
sincerely, gerri

"I dream of a land of violet mystery"

"Violet Details"

Tiny Dancer in Pink Feathers

Today for Pink Saturday  my pink creation is based on a dreamy dancer image from Gecko Galz that is the basis for the July tag challenge at Bella Creations Oh La La Group. If you haven't checked out this wonderful artist community, you should pirouette right over. There are fun challenges with prizes, supportive friends to communicate with and lots of fun things to do and learn. The piece today was inspired by my new fav shattered nail polish combination ...pink with a black crackled over lay!

Well, I water colored  the dancer image first and attached her to some music sheets cut into the shape of a tag. A pearl frame outlines her serene face. Some pretty fiber trim that resembles teenie roses edge the tag. A die cut black grand piano and pink ballet slippers came next and are both  touched with glitter. The final touches were an organza pink ribbon , the "Tiny Dancer" sentiment and a black feather that I curled myself.

Hope you will  pirouette, jete, plie and glissade  every day this week
artfully yours, gerri

"Tiny Dancer"

"Tiny details"

Warm Summer Floral Days

Sorry for the late post my dears, but my daughter and I were working on sprucing up my blog and were up way too late. We just tweaked a few things and are not done yet but you can see our progress so far...

So for todays Paint Party Friday, here's a painting done a class in the studio. Flowers of course, one of my favorite themes. Most are from our graden but the Cornflowers and the Queen Annes Lace are not. Those weeds my dear friends were obtained on the side of the road on the way to class. People driving by thought I was crazy, but I just smile and wave. lol. They say a weed is just a flower that grows where you don't want it to. To add to floral theme, I am also including some colorful plates I obtained at a yard sale. They are such pretty colors I might have to paint them too!

Hope you have a color filled week.
yours truly, gerri

"Summer Roadside Bouquet"

"Floral Details"

"Pretty Floral Plates"

A Forever Friend

Went to the mailbox the other day and I was so happy to see a complementary copy of  Stampers Sampler Aug/Sept 2011.... and you know what that means. Yea!, I was published. This time it was a full page, I was so excited I danced around the house again. I also noticed a few blogger friends like Tracy E, Lynn S, Marjie, Deb D. and Lynne. Congrats to them too. Now when ever I see these magazines, I look for blogger friends and it makes their printed artwork even more special to me.

Hope you see your special "forever friends" this week in person or on-line.
sincerely, gerri

"A Forever Friend"

Give me Diamond Dreams

Well, today is the last week of the Gingersnap Creation Steampunk challenges. Funny, I really enjoyed putting my girlie spin on all those machine based images. This week, it's a color challenge of iron, leather and brass, or simply put dark grey, warm brown and brassy yellow. Dezinaworld run by the  amazing collage artist June is our wonderful sponsor this week too.When I saw the opal, my birthstone...on the Steampunk Tag set 1 on her site, I knew it was mine! My piece has diamonds on it too, but did you know that diamonds don't really thrill me. I do adore costume jewelry whether its vintage, semi precious or hand crafted. Some day I will have to show you my jewelry dresser! LOL.

This piece started with ATC window from Artchix studio that I added tiny silver and gold german scrap which was toned down with ink. The images were cut and put in the frames. At the corners there are clock faces, gears , cogs, and a fabulous button framed by a diamond buckle. Too bad I can't get the shimmer of the diamonds on my scanner. I added some metal corners, a sprinkle of diamonds (rhinestones, ha ha) and finally the sentiment "Give me Diamond Dreams".

Hope your dreams come true this week.

artfully yours, gerri

"Give me Diamond Dreams"

"Diamond Details"

Happy, it's enough for me

The heat wave broke for us today with a tremendous  thunderstorm, so I'm happy. I made this Retro Cafe Art Design Team piece with that sentiment today and it's all pink, frilly and girlie. Alot of my work is girlie, but if you know me I am definitely not girlie in anyway  not in how I dress, the way I entertain or the way I decorate. Wonder what that really means? lol.

So this piece started with the RCA  pink German Dresden Doilie  as a frame and added the image of the pretty little girl. The pretty girl is from RCA collage sheet  titled Best Friends XOXO. She is painted with watercolors and has Ranger Stickles accents. I layered her on some pink rose ribbon trim and placed it on a crochet piece, which I have had for many years. I added chunky pink glitter to the doilie, more pink Stickles, a sheer ribbon tie and the sentiment, "Happy, it's enough for me."

Hope you'll be happy this week.
artfully yours, gerri

"Happy, it's enough for me!"

"Happy Details"

Never seeing her own life to wonder why

Well, its been a very very hot weekend here, over 100 degress for a number of days. We went swimming in the pool, where the water was like bathwater so liked staying  the AC in my studio (ie craft room) better. Did get alot done including this Design Team Piece for 100 Proof Press. The little door hinge stamp told me to make a door and then I spied some wood grain paper in my stash and I was off.

The lovely lady image is from the Graphics fairy, one of my favorite sites, I layered her under Artchix Gothic Arches transparency. Put her on some vintage music paper and added shiny copper german scrap. My favorite part is the door handle where I used a black ornate button from my button obsession...oh I mean collection. The sentiment "Never seeing her own life to wonder why" and some Ranger copper dimensional pearls completed my little card.

Hope this week you will take time to wonder why.
take care, gerri

"Never Seeing her own life to wonder why."

Illegal Beauties, illustrious and imperfect

Today's collage is a little bit different.... a little dark and cheeky too. It's title is "Illegal Beauties, illustrious and imperfect". I'll let you imagine the true meaning. It was the Summer of Color Challenge "RED" that started me down this twisted path. Mix in  The Forevernight Challenge "anything goes", a touch of  "Vintage"  for the TSC#18 Stampsmith challenge and a dose of "Butterflies" for the Craft Room Challenge and you can see how I got here.

The Flapper stamp from Stampsmith was my starting point except I stamped it on a lace paper napkin.You know how I like using unusual supplies. That same napkin is the lace trim too. The red lace patterned background paper is edged with red german scrap and also black felt swirls. I added the sentiment "Illegal Beauties" from a Retro Cafe Art  Vintage Grunge ATC collage sheet and added a big red glitter "B". The butterfles were next with sentiments as bodies. Some Ranger Red  Stickles helped complete this racy collage.

Hope you will embrace your cheeky side this week.
artfully yours, gerri

"Illegal Beauties, illustrious and imperfect."

"Illegal Details"

Back and Forth They Flew on the Wings of Music

Its Saturday morning and  I decided not to do my usual Pink Saturday post. Instead,  today I am posting  a creation they I got involved with yesterday which is a large butterfly piece 12" long. It was 108 degrees here yesterday, so it was so much nicer to stay indoors in the afternoon for some quality creating time.

It was  the Grungy Monday challenge at Studio L3 that was the inspiration for this piece. The challenge was to use Grunge Board, that magical product  from Tim Holtz that is made from recycled material that is durable, bendable, embossable and just plain magical! I am also entering it from Simon Says Stamp and Show " Some Embossing" and  The Stampman "Challenge #27 Anything by Tim".

The butterfly image was from the cover of a kids game catalogue, if you look closely you can see it was a puzzle. LOL. I cut out sections of the wigs and by chance the music sheet I used was about blooms, and the beauty of flowers. I stamped the sentiment "Back and Forth They Flew On the Wings of Music". The center piece is a darling image of two beauties playing the piano from Dezinaworld framed with a grunge border flourish that I bent into a circle frame. It is covered with ink, embossing crystals and perfect pearls. The background is some light paper that I black embossed with a leaf stamp. The butterfly antenna is also grunge board painted black then detailed with Perfect Pearls. The final touch was Perfect Pearls, and Stickles tiny dots then some watercolor splashes.

Hope you will fly away on the wings of music this week.
sincerely, gerri

"Back and Forth They Flew on the Wings of Music."

"Musical Details"

I'll do my best to take care of you

For today's Retro Cafe Art Design Team project, I've created this glitter shrine using their Exquisite Shrine and the Best Friends Collage Sheet. Some exciting news for all, at Retro Cafe Art, they are having an amazing shrine contest with  4... count them 4,  $50.00 prizes! Even a free gift for spreading the word! Here's the link with all the info for the Shrine Contest at Retro Cafe Art. Think of how this prize could make your stash the best ever!  So this is me.... doing my best to take care of you. At the end of my post there are rules too. To make today's project I glittered each layer of the shrine and set them aside. I put the 3 lovely bathing beauties and added the water colored sentiment "Ill do my best to take care of you" on the bottom layer. After gluing the layers together I added some blue german scrap shells  and some glitter shells. On the Shrine I added a star fish with a rhinestone, a colored shell for the back and a tiny beach umbrella. It's really a drink umbrella! LOL. "I'll do my best to take care of you." Below are the rules from Kristin at Retro Cafe Art., you really must check it out. The Rules:1. Create up to 3 pieces of art using any Coffee Break Design Shrine Kit (any of the kits in this category count, even the shelf shrines and tiny shrine charms). So you can have 1, 2 or 3 entries. The art can be whatever you wish. A stand alone shrine, a shrine as part of another piece, jewelry, etc. Just as long as each piece has at least one of the products in the Shrine Kit category! 2. Email your photos to retrocafeart@gmail.com subject: Shrine Kit Contest. Please do a separate photo for each entry. Files between 200 -300 KB preferred. I will post these photos on our Facebook page in a special album as they are received. Please include your full name in your email. 3. Deadline is September 2nd. This will give you 6 weeks to get your shrine in! 4. We love our International customers and you are welcome to play! The Prizes:1. $200 in gift certificates will be awarded - our biggest contest yet! Two winners, which will be selected using a random number generator will each win a $50 gift certificate to Retro Café Art Gallery! I'll be using the photos in the Facebook album to create the number system. 2.A THIRD and FOURTH winner will also win a $50 gift certificate to Retro Café Art Gallery. Christopher, my unbiased judge, will pick his top 5 favorites which will be posted to this blog. Then YOU will vote for your favorite by leaving a comment! The top 2 will win the certificates. 3. ALL players will receive a special digital collage sheet just for playing, so everyone WINS! 4. There must be at least 6 entries for the contest to take place. In the event that there aren't enough entries, all contestants will be given a prize! SPREAD THE WORD AND GET A FREE GIFT: 1. If you would like to help spread the word about our contest, you will get our brand new Beautiful Roses Digital Collage Sheet free as a Thank you! One sheet per person, though you are welcome to post in multiple places with great appreciation. 2. Post about this contest on your blog, Facebook, website, etc. and link back to THIS post. Email me at retrocafeart@gmail.com and show me where you have posted, and I will email you your digital collage sheet! So even if you don't play, you can still win! Feel free to use the button above, though it's not required.

Hope some friend will take care of you this week.

take care, gerri

Beautiful Blue

For today's Paint Party Friday, I'm posting a little painting I did awhile back of the hydrangeas from our garden. I find the color blue so peaceful and serene and that's why our bedroom is painted that color too! If you get a chance, you should check out PPF and see all the fabulous art from all the wonderful artists.

Wishing you peace and serenity.
artfully yours, gerri

"Beautiful Blue Hydrangeas"

At the final moment , you'll come back to me

This week at Gingersnap Creations, our theme is "Trains and Planes" following the month long Steampunk Celebration. Our wonderful sponsor is the talented June at Dezinaworld.. At Dezinaworld you can find amazing images, some times even for free! I decided to do another another girlie steampunk with the lovely lady from  Dezinaworld's Steampunk 4 set. Her circular umbrella with gears reminded me of my gold doilies, so I knew right where to start.

The background was a circular picture of a train on a page of my favorite Dover book on transportation. I cut it out then used half of my circle punch to make the it look like a big gear. I painted, inked used a paint pen and used dimension paint to the background. The gauge, suitcase, lady, #2 and key images are layered with gold doilies and don't they look like gears too! A clock sticker and clock time table and the sentiment "At the final moment future husband, you'll come back to me."  completed my collage. I do so like the idea of time travel and the old space time continuum problem, mixing past, present and future. It really gets me to thinking!

Hope at the final moment of the past, present or future, someone will return to you.
take care, gerri


"At the final moment future husband, you'll come back to me."



"Steamy details"

Happiness is being with you

I am so glad my daughter is home and the card below...shouts my feelings. Happiness is being with you! She goes back on the road selling her tee shirts later in the week, so we are enjoying every day together. This is my DT piece for Retro Cafe Art  and it happens to qualify for the Dezinaworld  July Spot Prize for "Purple and Green".

I started with purple patterned paper and added tiny acrylic flowers to the corners. The lovely girls image is from Retro Cafe Art  "Best Friend XOXO" collage sheet that I added additional color with my paints. I put these beauties with some marblized paper in a  Retro Cafe Art ATC frame. I painted it white then purple shimmer paint. This is layered on paper eyelet trim that I rubbed with a purple ink pad. Also there is some organza ribbon, green sparkle pen details and purple Stickles dots. The sentiment is stamped then watercolored and put on patterned paper. I edged the entire card with a purple ink pad to complete this card.

Happiness is being with you dear friends.
take care, gerri.

"Happiness is being with you"

"Happy Details"

SS Wishful Thinking

Well today we're going on the high seas, for my 100 Proof Press DT piece aboard the "SS Wishful Thinking". I had alot of family things to do this weekend and couldn't get to my studio till late so this piece is me thinking about creating some art. The delightful stamp I used from 100 Proof Press is the seahorse 5910Q.

To make this collage, I started with a wonderful black and white vintage bathing beauties with life preservers from the Graphics Fairy. I painted them with watercolor paints and added tiny rhinestone necklaces. The seahorses were stamped on clear acetate and sparkle eyes were added. The waves are a border that I added Stickles for shimmer. There is also a border of blue german scrap sea shells. Some corner rhinestones and the sentiment "SS Wishful Thinking" complete the piece.

Hope you will do some wishful thinking this week.
artfully yours, gerri

"SS Wishful Thinking"

"Wishful Details"

She did think...plenty of time

For Pink Saturday I am showing two things....one is my nails and the other an ATC. I know you are asking why would she do that. Well, guess what? They have a crackled effect in common. LOL.

My nails have the OPI shatterd polish turquoise over  a hot pink base. I had to do it since you know I love the crackle finish. My Atc frame from Retro Cafe Art  is just the opposite with  a hotpink crackle over a turquoise base. There is a pretty image of a lady drinking tea from RCA bestfriends collage sheet. You should check out their site , they have contest and giveaways and lots of cool supplies. My  background for this piece is painted with a shimmer paint. The butterfly wings were vellum and painted with shimmer paint and detailed with Stickles glitter. I added a tiny necklace on the lovely lady too. The sentiment is "She did think...plenty of time."

Hope you'll have plenty of time for things that are important to you this week.
take care, gerri

"She did think... plenty of time."

"My Crackle Nail Polish"

Dragonfly Wings of Inspiration

For Paint Party Friday I am showing another water color painting of a flower bouquet picked from our garden. Its easy in the spring and summer to find inspiration outside our windows. There are many wonderful insects, including big fat bumblebees on our lavender to dragonflies skimming across our pool. So today, I am also sharing some garden photos with you too.

Hope you will find inspiration this week on dragonfly wings.

yours truly, gerri

"Dragonfly Bouquet"

"Inspiration"

Christmas in July

I must admit I would never think of Christmas in  the summer month of July, but there seems to be a lot of challenges that do!  I had to get my Christmas stuff out from under the day bed and out of the closet to work on these. LOL. There's one from Stampsmith TSC 17 Christmas and  even Grungy Monday 15 hosted by Linda at Studio L3 has a technique challenge from the amazing Tim Holtz this week called 12 Days of Christmas 2007 day 7. So,  while I was at it I decided to use  it for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show  Sewing Faux or Otherwise  and Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog  Anything goes.

I have to admit I love the Tim Holtz Technique for back ground, but true to my style I added some glitter into the mix and it worked. You can't see it in the photo,  I'll have work on my scanner to show glitter in the future! The Christmas stamp is one of Time Holtz's too. I colored it with watercolor and added red Stickles for the hat. There's a piece of red glitter ribbon, a wax seal, a distressed #25 tag and some green glitter branches with sequin star ornaments. I added some faux stitching, some organza ribbon and some gold fiber to complete this little Christmas tag.

Hope you will get to be jolly like a Santa this week.
take care, gerri

"Merry Christmas in July"

"Christmas details"

Up Up and Away my Heart

Over at Gingersnap Creations it'd all about Steampunk. This week its gears, cogs and watch bits. Come on over to visit and play with us,  there are so many things to see and learn! The sponsor this month is Dezinaworld  founded by the amazing artist June. It was the fabulous ballon on her collage sheet Steampunk 4 Set that inspired me to make this card.

To make this card I layered a patterned script paper over a vintage scene and trimmed the piece with gold german scrap. I added metal watch bits, gears, a button that looks like gears and gold jewelry finding to the hot air ballon image along with a tiny charm heart. Who says Steampunk can't be girlie! While  going to yard sales, I always look for games, just to use their pieces as art bits. These found Scrabble tiles were edged in gold  saying "Up Up and  Away my Heart."

Hope your heart can float away this week.
sincerely, gerri

"Up up away my heart"

"Pretty Steampunk Details"

And they were happy

Continuing on my best friend theme from yesterday, for my Retro Cafe Art  Design Team post, I wanted to try something a little different, so I made a tiny collage necklace. I love this little box from RCA and it's called a Large Brass Box Flip Frame Acrylic Kit. I  used their dancer images from the Best Friend xoxo Collage sheet for two sides, one side has a tiny ticket sticker and the fourth has words on pink music paper.  There are two flower buttons added to the bottom, a striped ribbon bow, a heart charm and musical charm too. The sentiment says "And they were happy." I photographed it on my trusty dressform named Mary Lou to show to you today.

Hope you will get to be happy sometime this week.
artfully yours, gerri


"And they were happy"