Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sunday Funnies- Ann Miller

Here's a clip of dancer and actress Ann Miller at age 14, in the 1937 film, Stage Door. The movie included several famous stars in their early careers, such as Katherine Hepburn, Lucille Ball and Ginger Rogers. Ball and Rogers helped Ann get her first speaking role in this movie, although Ann had initially lied about her age and said she was older than she really was. Enjoy!

Friday, September 25, 2009

A Few Words About TAGS!


Well, it's hard for me to say a "few" words about anything because I tend to be verbose when I'm typing, but I'll try to keep this brief! First of all, I recently found out that a fellow blogger, Tina Wright, of Glue on My Fingers, has been diagnosed with colon cancer and Jan of Polka Dot Farm is calling for other bloggers to create tags to support and encourage Tina; you can send one or more to Jan, as she wants to do something special with them for Tina. Will you please keep Tina in your prayers, as she just had surgery and is about to start chemo, and I know this must be very difficult for her and her family. You can read Jan's post here.

The other thing is, I've wanted to participate in Louise's wonderful Tag Tuesday Challenges for weeks now, but something always gets in the way of my attempts to create something (lots of family drama going on here!), so I'm late for this, but I'll post my tag, anyway. The theme this week is child/children. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

GOTHIC ARCHES-"Bows"


The GOTHIC ARCHES theme this week is "Bows" - I wanted to use a cute vintage image I had of a little girl with a big bow in her hair, but it ended up not going with the background paper I'd made my arch out of, so I had to settle for the ribbon and bow that I wove into the bottom of the arch. The lovely image I used was generously shared by Elizabeth at The Last door Down the Hall. You can see all of the wonderful entries here.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

TMTA - "Girls with Dolls"



Here's my ATC for this week's TMTA theme of little girls with their dolls~this is my grandmother when she was about 3 years old. I colored her dress with chalks because it was so washed out in the picture--it looked like it was probably white, originally. Below the ATC is a scan of the original cabinet card photo.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Sunday Funnies-Marilyn Monroe & Tom Ewell

Here's a clip from "The Seven Year Itch" ~ this is one of the clearest videos I've found on YouTube ~ posted by a StevieRay Knopfler who has some other wonderful high quality vintage clips, also. Marilyn Monroe was so beautiful! Have a great Sunday . . .

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Taking a Break


My hubby is taking a well-deserved few days off from working so hard at his job; we are going to take a break and go on a mini-vacation! I'll post pictures of our little adventure soon--have a great week, everyone!

Monday, September 14, 2009

TMTA - "Mixed Media"


This week the theme over at TMTA is to use various elements of your choice when creating your ATC~I took a thin paper canvas ATC, painted a coat of beige acrylic on it, then brushed Delta Ceramcoat's 'Crackle' over that, and then painted a soft pink coat of acrylic on top to make the background looked peeled and "shabbyish"~then, after gluing my image down, I embellished the card with rub-ons from K & Co. and gold flourishes from Stampendous. I added little Swarovski crystals, and finally, edged the ATC with a gold leafing pen. Hop on over there to see all the cool ATCs that everyone's made!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Sunday Funnies - Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks

I love old movies and the stars of yesteryear! Here's a video of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, put together and shared by Chris Pickford (not sure if Chris is related or not). About 2 minutes into the video, there's a very clear scene of Mary and Douglas out on the lawn in front their famous mansion, Pickfair, where Douglas Fairbanks is doing a card trick for the camera. One interesting piece of trivia I found out while reading Mary's biography-she was Canadian, which I had not known. Her story is fascinating, but ultimately, sad. I felt so sorry for her adopted children when I read about them.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Saturday's Workout - "Alter a Photo"




I've wanted to participate in Saturday's Workout challenges for a long time; this weekend, I got the chance! The theme for this week was to alter an original postcard or photo. I took an old cabinet card that I had and made it into a Halloween card--I used alcohol inks, Liquid Shimmer, Pearl-ex Powders, stamps and ink, watercolor pencils and a Versamark pen, a little paper, and Stickles glitter to alter and enhance the background and photo. You name it, I used it! You can't really see it in the photo, but her eyes glow with the red glitter-- I was just playing around, and I don't think it's perfect by any means, but it was lots of fun.

Friday, September 11, 2009

REMEMBER . . .


God Bless America

GIVEAWAY NEWS!!!



Carol Anne's Boutique is having a giveaway! You simply must visit her beautiful blog! Carol Anne shares the most wonderful vintage images for all to use in their art, and she is truly one of the sweetest people in the world. Take advantage of her links, too, to visit some fun and inspiring and informative websites. If you click here you can see all the lovely gifts she's gathered to send to the winner. Good luck!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Theme Thursday - "Vintage Women ATCs"



Here's my little entry for this week's Theme Thursday challenge! There are many wonderful ATCs over there this week--you'll enjoy seeing them here.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Mind Wide Open Challenge




This is the first time I've entered the Mind Wide Open monthly contest; it's a very generous challenge with the loveliest artwork entered each month. I chose to use the given image and theme word of "daughter" to decorate a papier maché box, and added my usual vintage touches to it. I am repetitive sometimes, but I do love to use vintage lace and buttons and glitter on things! Hop on over there to see all the wonderful entries and to vote for your favorite art piece!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Ten on Tuesday - "10 Bad Habits You Can't Break"

I haven't done Ten on Tuesday for quite awhile, but, as hard as it was to admit some of these things to myself, especially when I knew I'd post them for all to see, I did make a list of all my bad habits I could think of. I'm sure my DH would gladly point out more for me, but this is all I can come up with for now!

1. Putting lots of half & half in my coffee
2. Checking the doors and stove several times before bed
3. Snacking on chips and Goldfish instead of fruit or veggies
4. Making a mess with my art stuff & leaving it overnight
5. Being paranoid about germs and getting the Swine Flu (amid other various diseases!)
6. Chewing on the inside of my cheeks
7. Being afraid of the dentist
8. Saying, “What did you say?” to my husband all the time
9. Being thin-skinned and crying when someone hurts my feelings
10. Being obsessed with finding out the news every morning

Sunday, September 6, 2009

GOTHIC ARCHES-The Celebration Continues!


Gothic Arches is continuing their 2-year birthday celebration with the theme of Cupcakes. I have read that cupcakes are called "Fairy Cakes" in England, and I thought it would be fun to make an arch with a fairy! I began with background paper from K & Co., took a little guy and a cupcake from collage sheets I had in my "stash" from Lisa's Altered Art and made a tiny crown for him, and added some glitter to his wings and crown. I placed him on a page I had from an early 1900s children's book and added some flourishes to my arch, added some flower stickers, a paper flower and a little more glitter, and there you have it--a fairy with a fairy cake! As always, you can get a better look at the arch by clicking on the photo. And again, congrats to Gothic Arches!!!!!!

Friday, September 4, 2009

GOTHIC ARCHES TAG


I began with a K and Company background tag; I made a template for a mini arch, cut that out of cream cardstock, stamped and edged it using Distress Ink, and glued it to my background. Next, I used a round punch to cut out a copied photo of my great-grandmother. I cut out pieces from a paper doily, glued them to the back of the little photo for a "frame" and then attached the image to my arch. I then stamped the "Adore" and flourishes on my tag, and added antique lace and antique buttons. Lastly, I used a small amount of chalk to add some color to the little girl's cheeks. (The original photo was taken sometime in the 1870s, I believe--my great grandmother's name was Rose. Click on my tag to get a better view of her!) You can see all of the wonderful arch projects over at Gothic Arches!

Theme Thursday - "Halloween ATC"


Here's my Halloween ATC for this week's Theme Thursday challenge! The little guy is from Digital Collage Sheets. You can see all the wonderful entries here!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Wednesday Stamper - Turquoise and Red


Here's a Skinny for the Wednesday Stamper challenge of "Turquoise and Red" challenge this week.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

TMTA - "Marilyn Monroe"


Think Monday Think ATC's challenge this week is to make an ATC featuring Marilyn Monroe. I created my background on glossy cardstock with Tim Holtz alcohol inks, and then stamped my image of Marilyn on glossy cardstock, hand colored it with a Versamark pen and watercolor pencils, and glued it to the background. Then I embellished the card with Stampendous stickers. I finished up with a little paper lace and edged the ATC with a silver leafing pen. (Sorry about the poor quality of the photo. The lighting in my house is awful, especially at night.)