You will be haunted

Happy Halloween,  my boo-tiful friends! Today's my favorite holiday and it has finally arrived. You know it's my favorite, since it's the day I met my dear husband. This piece today is for my 100 Proof Press Design Team creation  and uses the gothic Church Window #5475-U stamp. I hope it doesn't scare you!

I stamped the Church window on a painted ATC arch shape from Retro Cafe Art. I added the vintage lady image from an Australian image sheet. Some black german scrap wings and  detailed trim came next. An organza halo and black glitter compelted this Halloween ATC. The sentiment reads "You will be haunted".

Hope you will haunt someone this week!
take care, gerri

"You will be haunted"

"Haunting details"

The Original, the genuine Steampunk Debutante Model

In high school there were several artists that spoke to me including Charles Dana Gibson, Alphonse Mucha and Gustav Klimt. I even remember them as the posters and pictures that hung on my college dorm room walls. They remain some of my favorites still today. When I discovered this lovely Graphic 45 paper  called "Steam punk Debutante" from the Flying Unicorn store, I was in heaven. It had  iconic Gibson girl images  and Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha women done in the cool Steampunk theme.

I made this tag for Grundgy Monday #25 which was called Perfect Distress. It is hosted by the lovely Linda at Studio L3. The challenge was to use a Tim Holtz technique that you can find here. The color palette happened to fit the Fashionable Stamper challenge #7 of Coffee and cream and a hint of dark chocolate. Come on over and play.

To make this tag I used Tim's technique of distress ink and perfect pearls to make the stamped background. I added the Steampunk Debutante image layered on the vintage tag for dimension. Some additional tiny tags were cut out and distressed too. With a hole punch I punched some tiny gears out the paper too. Some antique lace, black ribbon and 3 teeny tiny metal gears complete my piece. It is titled "The original, the genuine Steampunk Debutante Model"

Hope you will be an original model this week,
yours truly, gerri


"The original, the genuine steampunk model"



"Genuine details"

Three Pretty Pink Muses

Haven't posted a creation for  Pink Saturday in awhile so to make this a special entry, I decided to make an altered piece. This was an old cracked pot that I had but now, it's in my studio space as a pencil /paint brush holder. I love to repurpose things, it challenges my creativity.

I added some floral  rose rub-ons and a dainty image of Three Lovely Ladies, that I call my Three Muses. Now I have my Muse with me everyday. I also stamped some script with lime ink. The pretty image is called Best Friends xoxo  and the image is from Retro Cafe Art. They do have the loveliest images there. Some pretty pink ribbon and Pink Stickles were added as sparkly accents.

Hope you will find your Muses this week.
take care, gerri

"Three Muses"



"Pink Details"



It's pretty to me

Haven't shown any paintings for awhile so I thought I'd link up to Paint Party Friday today. Come on over and join Kristin and Eva our hosts. You can  see what everyone is painting these days! Oh course, I'm showing a floral arrangement, since those are my favorite subjects. The arrangements are always unique and the flower colors and shapes are always a challenge. This one my dear husband didn't really care for,  but I say it's pretty to me. I do know why he feels that way, cause he really doesn't like the color orange. LOL!

Hope you can enjoy something you think is pretty this week.
yours truly, gerri

"It's pretty to me"

"Pretty details"

Enchanted Bones...Rise and walk with me

This week at Gingersnap Creations the challenge is to use the colors "Black and Grey" continuing with the month of October's "Go Poe" theme. Come visit, no matter "witch" activity you choose there's always lots to see and do. At Gingersnap Creations, you can see all the boo-tiful creations of my fellow Design Team members, learn a spook-tacular technique or have fun creating for the challenge yourself. Alpha Stamps is sponsoring this months prizes too!

My Design Team project is a Edgar Allen Poe 3-D Tag. I started with a spider web ATC frame from Retro Cafe Art. Under is Edgar's image and on top is a glitter spider and some paper ravens. The background is a scary fence transparencye with black german scrap and a pretty black snake! There's black Stickles accents and tiny rhinestones too. The sentiment reads "Enchanted Bones....rise and walk with me!"

Hope you will find enchantment this week.
artfully yours, gerri

"Enchanted bones, rise and walk with me."

Halloween Ring

For today's Retro Cafe Art Design Team project, I created  something  a little different, a crazy Halloween ring. It fits on three of your fingers and is surprisingly comfortable. It's built on a broken ring my daughter had, you know how I like to reimagine and reuse things. LOL.  Think there will a few Halloween events I can wear it to this weekend.

It was so simple to make. I just glued on a pumkin, raven, tombstone and bat chipboard Halloween shape from RCA.  They are painted , edged and glittered.

Hope you will get to dress up this weekend.
take care, gerri

Tell me the truth

For my 100 Proof Press  design team project this week, I created this coppery card. It's a jungle theme using stamp Tropical Jungle #5299 and is a bit steamy!  Don't know who I will send it to, LOL.

The jungle stamp was stamped many , many times  on patterned paper, then I added the 3D palm fronds. The palm fronds were covered with copper and green paint. Then came the vintage lady image. I added the german scrap and  rhinestones for shine. The sentiment says "Sibyl, tell me the truth, the whole truth."

What truth will you share this week?
take care, gerri


"Sibyl, tell me the truth, the whole truth."



"Truthful details"

Witches Brew

 I love to decorate for Halloween and today I will share a photo of my decorations at my front door. There is a collection of masks, hats, spiders, candy containers, poison bottles and a black glitter sign that says everything you need to know about me ...."The Witch Is IN". LOL.

So here's a set of altered tiny shaker boxes for Halloween that I made to add to my decorations. I painted the boxes then used stickers from the Echo Park Paper Co sheets called the Apothecary Emporium carried at the Flying Unicorn store. The skeleton on top is a sticker that I put a pin behind to stand up straight. I put a sheer flower behind it too. I used orange and black Stickles also from the Flying Unicorn store to add some sparkly dimension.

Hope you will be a little witchy this week.
sincerely, gerri

"Witches Brew"

"Witchy Details"

"Halloween Decorations"

I don't know

Just a short little post today showing another ATC.  I seem to be in an ATC making mood lately.  I will have to switch it up and make some cards or altered items soon! LOL.

The stickers are all from Graphic45. I just love the attitude of this woman! Everything is  edged with Gold Stickles. There's two flowers under the stickers to add dimension. The little butterfly is cut from Tim Holtz Kraft resist paper. All the supplies are from the Flying Unicorn store. The sentiment says "I don't know and neither do you!".

Hope you know everything you need to this week.
yours truly, gerri

And what a fate awaits you

For today's post, here's an autumn colored ATC. Did you know that Autumn is my favorite time of year. It's when the air is crisp, you get to warm warm fuzzy sweaters, the leaves turn golden colors and the afternoon sunlight is the prettiest of the year. With this in mind, I used Autumn as my inspiration.

 The lovely girl image is a RAK from a friend in Australia. To surround this pretty image I used an  ATC Fancy frame  from Retro Cafe Art, I think they set off ATC's perfectly and love to use them. I painted it with layers of gold, copper and other metallic paints then trimmed it with Gold Stickles for shine.The Grungy background is from Retro Cafe Art too. The autumn colored paper flower is from the Flying Unicorn store that I painted with watercolor paint and more gold Stickles. A tiny flower button tops the flower. The sentiment reads "And what a fate awaits you?"

So dear friend, what fate awaits you this week?
take care, gerri

"And what a fate awaits thee?"

Wicked Witch of the West and her Raven

At Gingersnap Creations for the month of October, it's a "Go Poe" theme and this week's challenge is all about Ravens (#GC123). You can't celebrate Edgar Allen Poe without Ravens! There's a prize too by Alpha Stamps. Come visit to see the fang-tastic design team entries, see interesting tutorials or just to poke around.

Using paper by Graphics45 Magic of Oz collection from the Flying Unicorn store, I cut out circles and folded them to make rosettes. The background are two layers of the Magic of Oz papers. Some sequin trim, Black  and Lime Stickle accents, both add the magical sparkle. The chipboard Raven  is from the mysterious bird cutouts from Retro Cafe Art. Some watercolor highlights give some added depth to the rosettes. With that my Wicked Witch of the West card was all done!

Hope you will have fun being wicked this week.
Sincerely yours, gerri

"Wicked Witch of the West"

"Wicked details"

You're a Little Devil

For today's Retro Cafe Art Design Team project, I've made a cute Halloween card. Not my usual style, but sometimes I just like to play. Only two weeks till Halloween then you will not see any more Halloween projects, I promise. LOL.

The cutie devil doll is from the Retro Cafe Art  Hello Dollie Halloween collage sheet. I layered her on a transparency of Halloween words like scary, werewolf, zombie, etc. This is layered over some spin art I made in Halloween colors. Spin art is something we would make when we went down the shore , when we were kids. We bought a little machine for my daughter when she was young and I do play with it now and then. Some added details included glitter orange brads, orange shiny bow and the sentiment that says "Little Devil".

Hope you will be a little devil this week.
take care, gerri

"The Little Devil"

"Devilish details"

Spell for Prophetic Dreams

For today's 100 Proof Press Design Team post here's a little card that showcases some elegant magic. The sentiment under the French Woman Coffered 1  # 5357 stamped image says "spell for prophetic dreams", now if only it was that easy. LOL. If your dreams could tell you the future, what would you ask?

To make this card I stamped the 100 Proof Press image  then water colored her and added two colors of Stickles for some shine. I stamped her on layers on Fancypants design "Oct31"  paper from the Flying Unicorn store.  I cut down a glitter flower to make the rosette and layered a turquoise bead for the center. The cut petal ends of the glitter flower were used for under the corners. You know, I never waste anything!

Well, I do hope you will have prophetic dreams this week.
sincerely, gerri

"Spell for Prophetic Dreams"



"Spell bound details"



Lovely Day

Here's a simple little card I made using my favorite Tim Holtz Kraft Resist paper from the Flying Unicorn Store. Flying Unicorn also has a social site too. Here you can meet an incredibly talented Creative Team and look at their work for loads of inspiration. The motto is friends, inspiration, laughter and fun. There are challenges that always have RAK prizes. There's lots to learn too from tutorials to ideas on organizing your supplies. Come on over and visit.

Well, I love the way watercolor paints reacts with this paper in a subtle way. I cut the butterflies from this paper and added Stickles for shine. There's a rick rack border, a sprinkle of rhinestones and finally I stamped it with "Lovely Day."

Hope you are having a lovely day today!
artfully yours, gerri

"Lovely Day"

"Lovely details"

Her body belonged to Sea Dreams

Today I'm sharing a Sea Shrine dedicated to mermaids. You all know that I adore them and since I am at the beach in South Carolina, mermaids are on my mind. I think I even saw one out on the bay today. LOL.

I started with the Graphics Fairy mermaid image and cut out these beauties and also the ship wreck. They are applied to a shrine shape that I stamped with numerous seashell and coral images. You can also spy some die cut sand dollars, a seahorse and star fish too. There's some blue shell shaped German scrap from Artchix Studio on the edges for shine. The shell die cut on top and star fish on the side are accented with Stickles and blue shimmering rhinestones. A little blue drink umbrella is on the back. The sentiment says " but her body belonged to sea dreams".

Hope you dream of the sea this week.
artfully yours, gerri

"But her body belonged to sea dreams"

"Dreamy details"

A Friend Sew Sweet

Just a wee bit late on my  Retro Cafe Art  Design Team piece this week. With the computer and internet issues, I just had to go with the flow and post today Friday instead of Tuesday. I was thinking of a dear friend that I miss when I made this sweet card. She is sew sweet! I used the Vintage Stripe Sewing Collage sheet from Retro Cafe Art for the darling mannequin and scissor image.Thought I'd try a new color combination of copper and purple, I think it works. Do you know that that is no color that I dislike? so every  crazy combination makes sense to me. LOL.

I started with the Retro image and used a copper Sharpie marker to add some copper color. The background is a grey paper that I stamped with a copper ink with a flourish stamp then used copper paint to add dimension. Purple textured chip board corners with brads are another layer. Copper rope buttons, tiny dot stickers and copper swirl stickers came next. Some measuring tape paper edged the card with copper ink details.A sprinkle of rhinestones for sparkle and I was done with this card.

Hope you will think of someone sew sweet this week.
take care, gerri

"A friend sew sweet"

"Sweet details"

Salt tides seaward flow

So sorry dear friends but I have had no internet and no computer for 4 days...I have missed you terribly. I am blogging from the property mangers office! The issues should be fixed today, can't wait to get back into the swing of things...  I am in lowcountry South Carolina so thought this altered match box would be the appropriate piece to show. I did a similar one for a swap awhile back and loved making it so much, I made another.

Hope you will get to play this week.  take care,  gerri                                                                                                               

My Promise to You

I just wanted to say that I "promise" to support my fellow blogger friends, as well as; share, discover and learn with you. That's what blogging is all about  to me and why I do it. Imagine a world where everyone acted like that....wouldn't it be wonderful place?

Well back to reality and today's post about an ATC that I created using products from the Flying Unicorn store. They have everything you could ever need for creating, if you have a chance please go  take a look. The background is my favorite paper...Tim Holtz Kraft resist that I watercolored. The fairy godmother image is a Graphic45 from the Wizard of Oz collection. The Petaloo flower has been kissed with my watercolor paintbrush with some Stickles accents and a few rhinestones thrown in for good measure. The flower is layered on some lace and rick rack that I watercolored too in matching colors. I find that I will paint almost anything that is not nailed down. LOL. There's a fussy cut butterfly from Tim's paper too, hidden behind the flower.Some more Stickles, rhinestones and the sentiment "promise" and the ATC was complete.

What will you promise this week?
sincerely, gerri

"Promise"

"Promising Details"

A Trip By The Sea

For today's post Ive created a little book cause you know how much I love to read. Right now, I'm into  book 2 "Clash of the Kings" that follows the Game of Thrones that was on HBO this summer. I love getting lost in fantasy worlds and if its a series of books, I'm even more overjoyed.

This book mark today is made up of all kinds of layers, much like the chapters in a book. You have go thru them all to get the complete story or picture. There's the background of patterned paper that looks like water. Stamped on top of that is a border of little sea shells. The next chapter(layer) consists of shell images and a vintage bather. A transparency of script comes next with the sentiment of a trip by the sea. The final layer is a border of Stickles for some glittery shine. The ombre  ribbon has some pearls from the sea so I can find it in my fantasy world!.

Hope you will be able to take a trip with a favorite book this week.
yours truly, gerri

"A Trip by the Sea"

"Layered details"

Sing Out A Pretty Time

There are many reasons I blog, for friendship, to show my work and also to challenge myself. Trisha Too had a swap awhile back where she sent you some of her stash and we had to create something out of it. It was wonderful to see how everyone put their own spin on her stash. I didn't know what supplies I would receive and it was fun opening the envelop and being surprised.

I made an ATC using a little of everything Trisha put in the mailer. Her cut vintage girl image carrying the basket was the starting point. I even used a bit of her lace to make the basket. stand out The base of the ATC was some shiny crinkly paper and the background is a piece of patterned paper I painted over. Some rhinestones, Stickles and the sentiment Sing Out A Pretty Time were the finishing highlights.

Hope you get to sing out this week.
artfully yours, gerri

"Sing Out a Pretty Time"

"Pretty lace basket"

Boo says the little witch

For October the Gingersnap Creations theme is "Go Poe" and this week's challenge  GC121 is called Horror story. Come visit for a spooktacular time and see bootiful creations from the design team. This month is being sponsored by Alpha Stamps. Check out their site to see their fabulous selection of stamps. Now you know my interpretation of Horror would never be too scary. LOL. So, here is a large matchbox with glittery scary things on it and in it, that I made for a swap.

The big match box opens up like a coffin instead of  the traditional sliding way. Inside the box there is a creepy book mark and other treats. The purple outside is covered with black lace. There's a big black fabric flower accented with purple Stickles and an epoxy center. There's a bat, snake, chandelier, paper bottle and a trick or treat 3d sign. There are also some embellies that look like purple stone that say  boo and little witch.

Hope you will be a little witchy this week!
yours truly, gerri


"Trick or Treat Matchbox Coffin"

 

Black Lace and Glitter Graveyards

Today for my Retro Cafe Art design team, here's my Glittery Halloween tag. There's a chill in the air, it definitely feels like fall. The colors fall and Halloween really appeal to me. I remember a jr high school picture where I have on a  burnt orange mini skirt with a fringe belt and a black nylon shirt. I thought I looked really cool. LOL.

Well, to make today's tag I used Retro Cafe Art's Halloween Cutouts by Coffee Break Designs. The pieces to create this included the ATC Gothic window, Dead tree, gravestone overlay and a tiny bat. Each was painted and then the cemetery and bat were covered in black glitter. The background in the window was a scrap of paper on my work desk after a spray project. A bit of black lace was used as the tie.

Hope you will have some Halloween fun this month.
take care, gerri

"Halloween tag"

"Creepy details"

I'll Put You Under My Spell

For todays 100 Proof Press Design Team, I'm still still under the spell of Halloween. It's my favorite holiday because its the day I met my dear husband. We were at a party, I was dressed as a flapper and he was Indiana Jones.  I guess I put him under my spell! LOL.

 So here's today's Purple Halloween card with a hand colored Vintage cutie. I used Oct 31 Fancy Pants Design purple papers from the Flying Unicorn store and then stamped the #1326 100 Proof Press Black Cat border. Some black German scrap  came next to add shine and so does the Black Diamond Stickle accents. The paper flowers were painted with Glimmer Glaze Paint also from Flying Unicorn. They are layered on organza and black paper flowers foe dimension. A Stickles  trimmed "Under Your Spell" sign complete this card.

Hope you will put someone under your spell this week.
artfully yours, gerri

"Under Your Spell"

"Purple Details"

Happiness Awaits

Now that I have returned to blogging, I am discovering everything that you are creating on your blogs and it makes me very happy!

It was the darling woman image from Dezinaworld that inspired me to make this ATC. To me, she had the look of peering happily into the future. She is printed in black and white but her rose was colored in blue and green. It was that color palette that I used for the piece. Still having fun with the Tim Holtz Kraft Resist paper pack from the Flying Unicorn store. I watercolored the background sheet blue with green trim. I fussy cut out the butterfly and watercolored with green paint. The Petaloo paper flower also from the Flying Unicorn store was already blue and green. How perfect!  A sprinkle of rhinestones and earrings with a necklace complete her outfit. The sentiment reads "Happiness Awaits".

Hope happiness awaits for you this week.
yours truly, gerri

"Happiness Awaits"

"Happy Details"