quarta-feira, 31 de dezembro de 2008

Christmas ATCs

Metal art is the theme at Saturday's workout.
I had a hard time photographing this one. The stained glass nativity scene was stamped in gold but it doesn't show properly in the picture neither do the transparent beads I added to the stars. As for the metal foil, I've used a wrap from a Kinder chocolate bar again. I'm recycling as much as I can these days. (The background of the ATCs below had been previously wrapping a Christmas present.)

Altered domino - keychain

At One Powerful Hour the theme is 2008 revisited, which gave me the chance to finally end my domino keychain, although it obviously took me more than an hour to have it done. I started by gluing with "Alkyl" varnish a scrap of Christmas gift wrap to a bamboo domino I had bought on ebay months ago and had wanted to use for ages. After two coats of "Alkyl" (which were actually not necessary, as I realized later), I coated the domino with Antique Medium I, let it dry and then applied Antique Medium II for a crackling effect. Next I added dissolved "Goldfinger" to it and quickly wiped off the excess.(You can get a similar result with acrylic paint.) Finally I added the cotton thread and the beads. I had a lot of trouble trying to make the thread go through the flower beads holes; it was simply too thick for those holes. That's why one of the threads has some knots instead of a bead. I'm not totally satisfied with the way this project turned out, but was it is my first altered domino, I won't be too hard on myself.

Dans ma maison il y a... Noel



Noël, that is to say Christmas, is the theme at Dans ma Maison il y a... Thanks for looking! I'm entering this to Saturday's Workout too, because the challenge this week is metal art.

quarta-feira, 24 de dezembro de 2008

T'was The Night Before Jesus Came


T'was The Night Before Jesus Came
'Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house
Not a creature was praying, not one in the house.
Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care
In hopes that Jesus would not come there.
The children were dressing to crawl into bed,
Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head.
And Mom in her rocker with baby on her lap
Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.
When out of the East there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash!
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But angels proclaiming that Jesus was here.
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray
I knew in a moment this must be The Day!
The light of His face made me cover my head
It was Jesus! returning just like He had said.
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth
I cried when I saw Him in spite of myself.
In the Book of Life which He held in His hand
Was written the name of every saved man.
He spoke not a word as He searched for my name;
When He said "It's not here" my head hung in shame.
The people whose names had been written with love
He gathered to take to His Father above.
With those who were ready He rose without a sound
While all the rest were left standing around.
I fell to my knees, but it was too late;
I had waited too long and this sealed my fate.
I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight;
Oh, if only I had been ready tonight.
In the words of this poem the meaning is clear;
The coming of Jesus is drawing near.
There's only one life and when comes the last call
We'll find that the Bible was true after all!

~~~~~Author Unknown~~~~~

Merry Christmas and thank you!


I'd like to say thank you very much to all the visitors to my blog throughout the year. A big warm thank you to all those who take the time to leave such uplifting comments to my simple creations. You really make my day! God bless you! Have a Merry Christmas time and a New Year full of the Lord's blessings!

segunda-feira, 8 de dezembro de 2008

Red ATC


Red is the theme at TMTA. This is a simple ATC I made a while ago using those dragonfly beads which I love, as well as one of my father's vintage stamps (the rose leaf) and a clear stamp (the flowers), which I think is a 
Hero Arts stamp.
Thanks for looking!

Presents - Make a moo or two


"Presents" is the theme at MMT. Thanks for stopping by!

Oh Christmas tree


I'm combining challenges once again: Created by Hand, whose theme is "red and green", Tag You're It , whose theme is "triangular", and Crazy Amigo, which has the theme "gift tags".

Stone angel ATC


I'm a bit late, but here's my contribution to Think Monday, Think ATC whose theme is stone angels. I'm also entering this ATC for Created by Hand, which asks us to do something with red and green this week.

quarta-feira, 26 de novembro de 2008

Dans ma maison il ya un jardin

The theme at Dans ma Maison... is gardens. After embossing the garden with a stencil, I placed the leaf roof, but I wasn't quite happy with it, so I added a stamped bird; but somehow the design of the bird didn't combine with the embossed roses and leaves, so I ended up replacing the roof with a scrap of wrapping paper.
Thanks for looking!

quinta-feira, 20 de novembro de 2008

Blue girl house


I had a great time making this crooked little house and now that I've made it I really wonder what has been keeping me from participating in the "Dans ma maison il y a..." challenges all this time. After all, I love houses. I guess every time I looked at the gorgeous houses of the other contestants I just found the challenge too difficult and time-consuming for me. Well, it's simply great fun!
This week's theme is blue. The girl is a freebie from graphicsfairy and once again I've used "Kinder" chocolate foil.
Sorry for the bad photo and thanks for stopping by.

segunda-feira, 17 de novembro de 2008

Christmas ornament

I loved creating this Christmas ornament. I bought a few styrofoam hearts last year before Christmas and I planned to do some découpage with them so that I could hang them on the Christmas tree, but I guess I was too busy with other things last year or maybe I didn't have enough motivation... (I found blogland in January 2008, right after Christmas...)
I used two images from graphicsfairy and a serviette from "Ihr" (It's a German brand although I bought the serviette in Portugal). Then it was all about sticking everything in place with Alkyl, a glue that is also a varnish. I've also used my flake punch and some gold thread around the heart and I've tied the ribbon in such a way that I can turn it the way I want. The "front" image was supposed to be the girl, but then I realised I liked the bird image better although I damaged it a bit when I was gluing it in place. Finally I added two little bells, so that even if the ribbon is facing the other side it still looks interesting enough on the backside.
Just a remark: by the time I took the pictures (with my lousy camera, well, it's actually quite good for a mobile camera), I hadn't stuck the flakes properly yet. I had glued them with UHU glue, but they obviously couldn't go without Alkyl for a glossy finish.
Check out all the other Christmas ornaments at Mixed Media Monday.
"Birds" is also the challenge at Theme Thursday, so I'm combining the challenges.

Hats ATC


This was a snap and I made it for Thank God it's Friday whose theme is hats. Thanks for looking and sorry for the bad photo.

Winter wonderland


At Make a Moo or Two this week we're supposed to use a technique, stamp, material etc for the first time. This is the first time I use my flake punch to create art and it's also the first time I use metal foil... Well, this is actually the wrapping of a "Kinder" chocolate bar, but anyway, you can doodle on the back of it and it makes an interesting textured effect. I'm also entering the moo for This Thursday It's All About, because the chosen theme is metallics. The little girl image can be found at http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/.
Thanks for stopping by.

sexta-feira, 14 de novembro de 2008

Bookmarks with wings



I'm entering these for One Powerful Hour (whose theme is bookmarks) and for Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog (the theme there is things with wings). I made these bookmarks a while ago for a bookmark swap. (One of my swap partners liked the colour lavender and the other was very fond of fairies.) I made several attempts to design a template that looked like fairy wings, but I ended up designing something that looks more like butterfliy wings. Still I'm happy with the final result.

sexta-feira, 7 de novembro de 2008

Hallowe'en - Small World of Inchies

The theme this week at Small World of Inchies and Twinchies is Hallowe'en. I made a bunch of inchies using the stamps I've recently bought in a toyshop called Imaginarium.
Thanks for looking!

quarta-feira, 5 de novembro de 2008

Angel(s) ATCs







"Angel(s)" is the theme both at Think monday, Think ATC and Wednesday Stamper. I love angels, so I guess I got a bit carried away... I think I might include some of these ATCs in Christmas cards. My favourite ATC is the one which has the brown-stamped angel caressing the dove and the scalloped little blue flowers on the right side. (It's the one at the bottom of the post.) However, I also like the one with Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus - I love that Bouguereau image! - and the other one with the golden angel playing (with the music notes in the background). The two ATCs in the middle were kind of experiments... that didn't turn out so well... Tell me, what's your favourite?
(Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures. I'm still using my Sony Eriksson mobile to snap them.)
Thanks for looking!

domingo, 26 de outubro de 2008

Hallowe'en - Think monday, think ATC


I'm entering these for TMTA, whose theme is Hallowe'en. I'm sorry the photo is a bit dark, but it was taken with my Sony Eriksson k800i because my brother has taken the Canon camera with him to the Azores where he's teaching now.

Thanks for looking!

segunda-feira, 29 de setembro de 2008

Wings - Make a moo




The theme at Make a Moo or Two is wings. Here's my contribution. I'm sorry the pictures aren't very clear but I didn't have my camera nearby. I had to used my Sony K800i mobile.
(The angel picture is a decoupage picture by Stamperia.)

domingo, 21 de setembro de 2008

Peace by priority airmail - Wednesday Stamper



Today is the International day of Peace.

This week at Wednesady stamper the challenge is to make art on Peace.

The white cross with the heart-shaped red seal on the card is meant to have two meanings: I first thought of it as Jesus' cross, so that heart would be Jesus' heart because on the cross He gave us His Peace. Then I just thought I might use this card at Christmas time and in that case the cross with the heart would also represent the ribbon and bowknot that wrap up the present within, which in this case would be Peace, of course. Does that make any sense to you?

I had a few problems with the sealing wax, though. It turned out too dark. I then watercoloured it in red, but it lost its shine and became too matt, so I cleaned it off and applied some red glitter. 

As for the ATC, it was a quickie and I made it mostly with scraps. 

quarta-feira, 17 de setembro de 2008

Tag using scraps - Step outside your box/Saturday's workout


The theme at Step outside your box Saturdays is scraps and the theme at Saturday's workout is an open one. So I'm entering this tag I made using only left overs (except for the beads and the brad). It was great fun doing something creative with the scraps that keep piling up on my desk instead of throwing them away! I used my favourite technique, which is collage.

sábado, 13 de setembro de 2008

100% Joker - Theme Thursday


Some time ago I found this Joker card in very bad shape inside the drawer of my mom's sewing machine. After a lifetime spent inside the pack with no use, a coarse heart had been drawn on it and the word "dama", which means "queen" in card games, had been added because the Queen of Hearts was nowhere to be found. And so by means of a simple pen surgery Mr Joker had become the Queen of Hearts and the 40 cards deck was complete again. When I found blogland, I realized that playing cards could be successfully used in crafts projects, so I kept this card for future use. I honestly find the Joker figure on this card completely hideous, but I guess that on the whole I managed to give this card enough beauty to enter the altered playing cards challenge at Theme Thursday.

quarta-feira, 23 de julho de 2008

Rust - Mixed Media Monday



This week's Mixed Media Monday challenge is to make something with rust.

I altered this chocolate box a while ago and I've been using it to keep cards and letters ever since. It's a hard plastic box and the top was transparent, so I started by coating it with Rembrandt's pearl green acrylic paint. Next I découpaged the napkin flowers and the Stamperia ducks on it. Then I applied Decoart/Rayher's  Antique Medium I and II to obtain a crackling effect. For the rust effect I then used Ceramichrome Mineral Spirit Translucent Stain (MS1 Walnut). It  was very dark and had a very heavy look, so I had to wipe off the excess rust and apply some white acylic paint to make it softer.

Mona Lisa and friends - Make a Moo or Two


I had great fun making these for Make a Moo or Two. I have only one Mona Lisa stamp and it's actually quite large: it's 4''x3 1/2'' and it's part of the Jim Holtz collection for Stampers Anonymous. So instead of "Mona lisa and friends", I focused on the several faces and ages of Mona Lisa. From left to right I present you GreatgrandM(on)a, GrandM(on)a, Hippy Mona, Goth Mona and Sleeping Mona. :-)

Fairies - Small world of inchies



Fairies is the theme at Small World of Inchies.  I'm not sure, but I think the picture I used to make the inchies is from http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/ (I downloaded it some time ago.)

(I uploaded two photos because neither the glitter in the inchie of the baby fairy nor the embossing effect of the white background paper were visible enough.) 

domingo, 13 de julho de 2008

Colourful - Think Monday, think ATC


They're asking for colourful ATCs at TMTA. I'll entitle this one "Come to the circus!" Only the clown stamp is a new stamp. The other three stamps are vintage stamps that belong to my Dad. He's got a box with 15 circus stamps and it was really difficult to make a decision on which to use for this ATC because they're all great! When I was a little girl (back at primary school) I used to have lots of fun stamping (and of course colouring) my notebooks with these and other stamps which my Dad had bought to use with his primary school students.