COLLAGED EGGS - EASTER BASKET TAGS!

I had so much fun with these.  A couple of quiet hours pawing through my scrap box, looking for ribbon bits and glitter - always glitter!  The backing for these are some egg shaped coasters I scooped out of a hotel room but you could easily draw an egg shape and use any sturdy cardboard or stock you have around.  These are about 5.5 inches high.  Trace onto pp, stack these and cut a ``crack`` with pinking shears - then mix and match!

 These are for McLean, Lucy, Liam, Phoebe, Olivia and Madison who are all 5 and under so nothing too delicate or fussy!

"TRY OUR FRESH EGGS" - GINGERSNAP CREATIONS VISITING ARTIST SUBMISSION

The last of my four submissions as one of the Visiting Artists for February at Gingersnap Creations  The challenge this week is to use Jewel Colours with Gold.  Ruby, amethyst, sapphire and topaz for me!

Why don't you check out the site and considering submitting your own project? 

What an honour it is to be participating at Gingersnap Creations this month.  I consider this to be the go to site to check out the work of  an extremely talented design team (past and present), interesting challenges and  wide variety of technique tutorials.

I used an 8x10 piece of chipboard to freehand my egg shape.  This is covered with a vintage sheet of music, which I inked with Milled Lavender and Concord Distress Inks.  I used several different colors of glitter glues to create lines of sparkly color on the sheet music.  A couple pieces of vintage yellow ric rak, amethyst velvet ribbon, purple pansy trim and red Bloomers create the base for my image and "garden". The edging is some red vintage gathered lace and teeny gold ric rak which I had in my stash.   The title and dragonfly are K&C0 (thanks Heather!).  The title comes from the milk bottle top (copy) I used in the "garden".

VALENTINE FOR A PRINCESS - GINGERSNAP CREATIONS VISITING ARTIST SUBMISSION

The overall theme this month at Gingersnap Creations is Royalty, the supply challenge this week is charms.

The picture is of (then) Princess Elizabeth in 1938 with her beloved dogs at their Welsh cottage, clipped from a 1953 Coronation publication of the Illustrated London News.  This project is in memory of my mother-in-law Jean McLean.  She was an English war bride from Horsham who married her Canadian soldier Wally.   My American upbringing was never more obvious than when Jean and her sister Betty would have a good long chat about Mum (the Queen Mother), Liz and all the goings on - it was awhile before I figured out they weren't talking about a soap or some family friends!

The substrate is a Victorian photo album page, this is in amazing condition with the gold embossing quite vivid still, I used my favorite Platinum Stickles around the border to build more sparkle.   I cut around a Tattered Angels Bingo Board to fit it and the photo together.  The ``garden theme`` of this Bingo Board was perfect for what I had in mind. These are triple matted on black, bronze and gold.  A coat of Rocky Candy Distress Paint on the photo - ha! it just  wasn`t looking old enough to suit me.  I touched some of the border elements with Distress Inks and a bit of matching Stickles on top of that.

The crown and bird charms (TH) I colored with Alcohol Inks and more Stickles!  The little gold butterfly charm was perfect as is.  A mix of flowers from my stash complete the ``cottage garden``.  These two are swiped with more Stickles.  It is my photography that doesn`t pick up all the sparkly good bits!

The layered heart is composed of some wrinkly rich gold paper on the bottom, topped with a gold painted chipboard heart and then two vintage Scrabble Tiles - all of which is touched with some Distress Ink and more Stickles.  These are ``real`` Scrabble Tiles some of the original ones made from Vermont Maple.  It really bugs me that they are now produced overseas.

The fun dangly trim is from my stash - some I picked up in a thrift store.   If you know me, you will know that I adore ``hangy things``!   I did post scans of the Victorian photo album frame a few days ago, the details do come out quite good.  I hope you will give this a whirl and send me a picture!

LISTEN TO YOUR HEART - A VALENTINE COLLAGE PROJECT

As part of the "Impressionists" (collage) group activities at Bella Creations   Bella member Heather Hudson provided a step by step for us on this simple project meant for beginners in collage.  Click on the title of this post to visit Heather's blog and check out her project but do also come and join us at Bella Creations

I have done this on a 6x6x2 inch canvass, the bird, scrolls, sentiment and frame are all from a Tim Holtz stamp set. The cardboard heart I freehand drew, ripped the top layer off and spritzed with several reddish mists, then copper and then dabbed with gold paint and gilt pen.  A Prima flower, some metal charms and vintage slip edge (lace).  Simple, sweet and fairly quick!  Thanks Heather for a great little project!