Excited about possibilities in 2011!

I am so jazzed today; one of my fav bloggers and artists, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer wrote a post today and she showed work from many great artists who will be joining her in an Art Journal Every Day challenge for 2011. I was shocked to see she chose one of my works to comment on!!! She showed this one, and challenged everyone to try getting paint on their hands!

Another artist Julie highlighted, Melanie Kisr, had a fabulous hand-carved leaf stamp that she used on her page. Julie encouraged us to create our own stamp.....and I just so happened to have bought a stamp blank at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last month!! So, I drew and carved this:

Then, I took this page in my art journal that I had painted with a credit

card and acrylic paint in September, and stamped it!

as it was:

and newly stamped with my new stamp!

oohhhh.....now I have to go find some more carving material...........don't I have some potatoes in the kitchen?? LOL!

Please go check out Julie's blog

http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2010/12/art-journal-every-day-inspired-to-begin.html

- and even if you don't think you have time, join her Art Journal Every Day challenge. Even if you only can do some of the time, it will inspire you to create - and that's what it's all about. Make Art Every Day is one of Julie's favorite sayings; it feeds the soul and gives us and others a lift.

A BIG THANKS to Julie Fei-Fan Balzer for hosting this journey and to posting my work; and for the lovely comments she made about everyone's art. She is a kind and generous soul, and a great artist.

Final Oct Challenge piece

I finally finished Michelle's challenge at GPP Street Team and have really learned a lot - stretched myself a bit. I have been so enthralled with all the other participants work, I had a very hard time deciding what to do on my own work. There were so many great ideas and incredible work, I am amazed!!!!

This piece was the same printed background as the other 2; I used the stencil I made when I made the mask for the last one, and more Glimmer Mist. I thought the Glimmer Mist didn't really work for this effect, though. I guess it was too close to the background color to show up well. So I took several colors of ink and stamped the same stylized flower image over and over to "busy up" the background. I stamped the word "faith" and I found some cool torn paper scraps in my stash; glued them down, then wrote the verse on the bottom one with a gel pen.

I really like the way this one turned out; I'll probably cover it with matte gel medium and use it and the second one in a notebook I use daily. It has the clear pockets on the front and back, so I can slip these right in.

What's next, Michelle????

Challenge Card for Christian Paper Crafts

I made this for a challenge at Christian Paper Crafts website - it was a sketch challenge (CPCST41) for Sketch Tuesday. I had so much fun creating this - Thanks to Gloria at CPC for this fun challenge! I used papers from my stash, and my Slice to cut the paper for the flower, and some Stickles for the glittery dots. Leave me a note and tell me what you think! Thanks for looking!

I know Christmas is over, BUT....

...I never had a chance to publish a pic of
the Christmas cards that I made - so here it is. I used a pre-made card & envelope set; and stamped the background with Color Box Chalk Ink in Wheat using an Inkadinkado stamp. Then I inked the edges with Color Box Merlot ink and stamped the wise men and star on the vellum with that same ink. This card had the vellum attached with brads, but all the others I used vellum tape. I was very pleased with these...and everyone who received one said they liked them.

New TOY!

I just received my "new" Slice machine and accessories today!! WOOHOO!! I am so excited, can't wait to go home and play with it! I bought it from my new friend Michelle, on the SCS forums. If you haven't been to SplitCoast Stampers, you need to visit! There are sooo many incredibly talented people there, they are all very nice and helpful. Visit the forums and galleries to see some fabulous cards and scrapbook pages - they are so inspiring! The website is

splitcoaststampers.com

check it out!!
Cindi