Photo frame I put together for my brother, Erik and Holly of the 'Hoots'.

Almost Done!!

I've added the words to the picture for Misty.















All that's left is to seal it.



















I guess I will have to find a tube to mail it in because I didn't fold it beforehand and now I don't want to.

Final Try of Kylie Pictures

I truly truly love my little sister! I say that especially after working on this project for her. As you will notice, the background is different once again.





The tar gelled water color paper would not allow the transfers to transfer with the matt medium which I usually use. At that point I was truly about to pull out my hair...believe it or not, no vulgar language was used but I was tempted to cry.











Instead I printed out another set of pictures, this time on plain paper...oh did I say the printer didn't want to work....so, I had to uninstall and reinstall both Epson printers...argh!! But it now works.












I painted another sheet of the watercolor paper and cut out the pictures of Kylie and attached them with the matt medium. It was followed with a watered down application of the medium over the entire paper. It isn't finished yet. It will need more protective coats after I've written on it. Hopefully this will go without a glitch....

Redo for Damon

I hate the glare of glass but here are closeups of the redone pictures for Damon.





















I finally found the black vellum cardstock and replaced the white vellum with it.
















I like how it looks much better so now I think I can finally mail it to him. Here's a pic before I put the glass back on and the original 'finished product'. I definetely like the black with it and used a gold gel pen to write on it. Now to get to the post office to mail it......

pics of Tim

I'm working on pictures of Tim and Damon and have been trying different layout designs. I think I will go with the 3rd one which is the background in 1 & 2 only copied onto vellum and then layed over a orangy art paper.























It used the gold cardboard mat and I've added some papers in orange and yellow to it.




















The vellum will be trimmed down to alleviate the white and a small portion of the underlying paper will show as a small border.

pics of Damon

Okay, I've tried different backgrounds and am going with the darker background printed on vellum and over a yellow background. The vellum will be trimmed and a small portion of the art paper should show as a tiny border.



















I like the leopard print for the mat as the vellum is pretty much the same color all over with only a slight difference in tones which is pretty negligible to see.

















The black mat was pretty but the overall effect was pretty monotone. I like the orange and white textured papers with it.



















I'm still planning to do some sort of embossed cut outs for both pictures before framing them in plain glass frame. I hope they like them!!

I really wanted to do something for Misty's birthday that would incorporate the pictures I had taken of Kylie back in May when I was visiting.



I used the Twinkling H2O's (shimmery watercolors) to paint the watercolor paper. I had chosen a book style out of one of BettyAnn or Rachael's bookmaking books, whose style I was really fond of to start with. The paper book came out just fine and I was really pleased. I was really pleased when I layed the individual transfers on the paper to see how they would look layed out. The transfers themselves printed out just fine but in the process of transferring them onto the watercolor paper, a less than desirable outcome happened. I was not very pleased with the way the photos transferred onto the watercolor paper (with the exception of just a couple).
This was one of the test transfers which came out real well.

Well like I said before, the transfers in mock up position looked really great. It was the after the transfer results that I didn't like.



The funny part was that the closer you are to the pictures, the more you can't tell exactly what it is that you are looking at. The further away from you, the better you can see the movement of Kylie dancing. All in all the watercolor transferring was a dismal failure (at least for this project anyway). I will now have to start over. I would still like to do something with the watercolor paper and will probably do the transfers onto some other fiber and then attache them to the watercolor paper. We'll see.

Valentine Project Update

Been working on the valentine picture for Doug...was getting real frustrated waiting for the gesso to dry i might add...I've included the original pictures that I was using...at least the ones of Doug and myself...



















these are the really cool tyvek leaves that I painted in Lumiere halo blue-gold, pearlescent emerald, pearl turquoise and halo violet-gold and then heated with the iron. They are truly too fun for words to do!! They were attached with beeswax to the tree. My mixed media collage on the other hand has been a war with the devil!!













Gesso didn't want to dry so I took the dryer to it...cardstock started to curl (yet again) but that mostly got worked out...beeswax was really interesting to work with and I really liked it. I guess my project was still too big 8-1/2 x 5-1/2"...it was more manageable this time and does look better (to me anyway)...

the tree still came out too dark, so I painted it halo violet-gold to lighten it up...I've used the halo blue-gold, pearlescent emerald and pearl turquoise in the background too. I also mixed some utee with green angel hair, pink scrim and polysparkle and kaleidoscope transparent embossing powders in the background.











The LOVE stamp didn't turn out as well as I would have liked but I had heated up the beeswax as much as I could stand too and decided to leave it this way instead...I also used red paint on the tree for the 'kim loves doug'.
















Both pictures of Doug and myself were coated in Diamond Glaze last night and left to dry. I really love how they turned out...very glossy and cool. They really stand out against the natural beeswax over the rest of the picture. I may add a note to the front too...we'll see...

I coated the back with the beeswax as well. It was fun and I went in an entirely different direction with the picture than I had originally planned but I think I like it better this way...I just wish the stupid deer would have come out better...at least one of them anyway!!

Valentine Project for Doug

I wanted to create something special for hubby Doug for Valentine's Day. I was off to a wonderful start when the idea for a special picture came into my mind 2 weeks early!! That's where my troubles began.....

Project is to be for a mixed media collage using pictures taken when we lived 'way up north' (in maryland) and drove down parts of skyline drive in virginia/w.virginia....the pics were of our skinnier days (especially mine). I started out making copies and blowing up some of the pictures...the idea was to take Doug off of the rock he had been sitting on and place him in the branches of an enlarged tree by an enlarged deer...okay so far...


well when I printed the pics I used the better quality (heavier ink) and that began part of the problem...it was dark...



I placed dryer sheets on top of cardstock and glued them down (my hope was for texture under the picture), the pictures were then placed on top and coated with medium and embossing powders (i love glittery stuff) in butterscotch, enchanted gold, polysparkle and kaleidoscope transparent....let me add that the butterscotch is a solid, and dark, and not see through and should be used on lettering and i didn't like it at all for this particular project (it just made things darker).


(pic at the beginning of heating with utee and embossing powder mixed)



I had sprayed some Adirondack lettuce color wash on the picture to hopefully brighten it some...besides I just love the lettuce color.


I didn't have clear/transparent UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) so I used the interference blue (the only alternatives at Michael's were brown and black). Well after all the heating and reheating to help thin it out (this was my first try remember) these are the results I got. The cardstock also warped with the heating of the embossing gun and won't go flat (guess I should have gessoed it first). Mostly it was a learning process and I'm glad I tried it after all.







(the whole 8-1/2 x 11 pic)











It didn't turn out as well as I hoped and this will be saved to cut up and reuse at a later date and time for another project instead.


It wasn't a total loss as I really do love the protection the UTEE seems to offer. I also learned more about the embossing powders and which ones are better for which projects...




(doug up a tree...gee i make myself laugh)






so it wasn't a total loss....of course now I'm only 3 days away from Valentine's Day and making a mad scramble to start over again and differently on the project...oh and I might as well add...it's going to be smaller...that was another thing...I didn't like how big the original turned out either....



(me in my skinny days)





oh well, hopefully it will be dry and done before he gets home on Tuesday...**grin**

Donna's Finished Book

I've finished the book for Donna and had blogged it the other nite...however after operator error I managed to lose it and am re-writing it now.

It has been quite a journey working on this book. I never met my mother-in-law, Pat, she had passed away 2 years before I met my husband. Through the collecting of pictures and hearing of stories while putting this book together, I feel as though I have met her and know now in my own special way. Looking ito the eyes of her in her pictures, seeing the things she enjoyed and that meant so much to her and especially the pictures that were taken of her apparently without her knowledge have made this a very emotional journey for me. I wish I had met her in person and been able to talk to her before she died but I will remain content with the story she has told in her children's and grandchildren's memories and in the pictures and momentos she has left behind.

Tapestry covering with blue ribbon and black button from one of Pat's jacket's. Closure is gold and white rope ribbon attached to the back cover.



















Inside front cover of book.


















This picture of Pat and Donna is on material from Pat's skirt and the black is from a jacket of hers. Beads and embellishments include cat dangles too.



















Pat with grandchildren Joey and baby Andrew (Donna's son). Picture of Pat as a little girl (netting was placed over the picture to soften it but isn't she adorable?) and one of Donna and Doug. Doesn't Donna look so much like her mom?



















Picture of sister Mary, brother Chris, Pat and her mom framed with ribbon and with beads. Picture of Pat, her mom and grandmother and my hubby, Doug. Picture of Pat and her friend.

















Bathing suit picture of Pat. Picture of Pat with baby Donna and toddler Doug. Picture pocked of Pat playing with another picture tucked inside of Pat.



















Closeup of photo.

















The wedding page contains pictures of Pat's grandparents wedding, Donna in her wedding dress and son Andrew in his tux. Pat in her confirmation dress and bottom right picture of Pat's mother in her confirmation dress. Some of the buttons used were from some of the clothing that belonged to Pat. Pat's confirmation picture was beaded to highlight the flowers that were in the pic.





























Pat loved the Orioles and had a life sized poster of Jim Palmer. This just had to be included in the book.

















This page includes a cap and gown shot of Pat as well as her and Donna's yearbook photos. The pics are all framed in stitches and beads as is the page border.


















One of the things Pat had done was take pictures of her grandchildren. During one of these occasions she went around getting the kids to stick their tongues out so she could snap a pic of them...it seemed fitting to include one of her doing the same thing...the cat is another patch from Wallyworld. Dangly beads including a blue cat hang from the top of the page. A picture of Donna and Pat sitting on the steps at Donna's townhouse. A picture of Pat at Niagara Falls...I've been in the same spot with hubby in Canada!!The poem is on medium and attached to a fabric swatch.

















This page has a picture of Pat's mom, brother Chris and Pat. I took fabric ribbon and tacked it down using buttons at the corners. The picture of Donna in her cowgirl outfit and best friend dressed as an indian has the copper embellishment 'friends' and is framed in fabric ribbon also with an extra piece of fabric underneath that was allowed to fray on the edges. The encrusted picture at the bottom is Pat in her school uniform. I also fringed the bottom of the page with loops of seed beads and other beads too.


















This is the family page and includes the teenage pics of Donna, Pat and my hubby Doug (he's the one with the crossed arms acting cool). A pic of Pat and one of Donna and Doug in their scout uniforms...weren't they adorable??? The cat is a predone patch from Wallyworld (Wal-Mart). The lady bug button, charm and at the corner of the scout pic, is a cat head. THe flowers at the bottom of the page were made with tulip beads.















This page includes my favorite picture of Pat, her obituary and the last photo of her before she passed away. The profile was captured first by putting a vellum sheet in the copier and copying it and then running the same sheet of fabric back through copying the profile of Pat. I combined my favorite feather stitch with shells, fish, a turtle, coral chips and other rocks and stones to look like the water. Pat enjoyed boating and the water.


















The inside cover. I copied and reduced a Christmas Card onto fabric and signed it to Donna with the date and my siggie.

















Here's the back cover:




















We went to Donna and Tim's on the 27th and she cried when she saw the book. She smiled and laughed too. I'm pretty sure she thinks it was worth the 3+ hours spent scanning all the photos in the summer. It was well worth all the time that went into it and I'd gladly do it again for her. Some people are just worth the extra to do things for....