Embroidery Hoop Home Decor

I created this pretty wall hanging from the left over supplies in my fun Canvas Corp Brands box full of crafty goodies that I got for last month's Mixed Media Monthly Challenge. I had colored their a page of their awesome Tattered Angels "Blooms" Mixed Media Origins Collection Paper with their Glimmer Mists. I just dipped my paint brush in to the container. It worked perfectly. No pilling or warping of the this heavy duty paper. It was so much fun to color with my brush. 

I found this embroidery hoop and put some Natural Canvas from Canvas Corp Brands in it. Then I fussy cut the rose and bulbs out of the Origins paper and adhered them to the canvas with Ranger Glue & Seal. Then I used a hot glue gun to glue down a ring of Hot Pink Hemp Rope Cord around the edge of the hoop. I love how the cord matched the color of the Pink Poodle Glimmer Mist so well. 

This was a fun and easy project. I really didn't know how I would use the images on the Origins paper and then I thought of this. It was a perfect solution. Thanks for stopping by!!

Andy Skinner Deco Art Bright Challenge

I made this art journal page for the new "Bright" Challenge by Andy Skinner. I used DecoArt Media Gesso and Fluid Acrylics and the Andy Skinner Hippychick stencils & masks. I also used my white Signo pen to outline the images and make them stand out. When I checked out the link just now, I saw another entry that is very similar to mine -but I promise I never even looked at the other entries. We just used the same technique with the same stencil. I'm still entering since I spent a lot of time and actually thought about it a lot before I started working on it. Thanks for stopping by!

5 for 5 Christmas 2015 Day 1 - Glitter

Welcome to Day 1 of our 5 for 5 Christmas Blog Event. Today our theme is "Glitter". We are all sharing a project where we used glitter. Each day our 5 Designers will post a Christmas Inspired Project based on a theme. Some of us are offering prizes, so be sure to visit all the links below and leave comments. My prize is shown at the end of this post, check it out!!

For my project today I painted some wood blocks green and added some white glitter letters. After I looked at the white letters, I thought they would be nice in red so I used an ink blender and rubbed in some Festive Berries Distress ink over the letters to make them a red. 

After the red distress ink was added. I think they look more Christmassy!!

If you saw my 5 for 5 Halloween projects, these letters are the backsides of the BOO letters I made for Halloween. So this is a 2 for 1 project.

My prize for this event is two Tim Holtz Blueprints Wood Christmas Stamps - Stocking and Candy Cane. Just follow my blog and leave a comment for a chance to win. I will announce the winner on my blog Saturday, December 12. Thanks for stopping by!

Donna Bowman (me)
Rachel Kleinman
Lynn Kopas
Karen Crossen
Kris Lancaster

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #15 - "Get Texty"

It's time for a new challenge over at the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!! Our August theme is "Get Texty" - create a mixed media project that contains text.

Our sponsor is one of my favorite online crafty sellers, Ellen Hutson. They are offering a $25 store credit to our lucky random winner. Who wouldn't want to win that? I hope you will play with us this month!

For my project, I made a "texty" wooden home decor sign. I had the design in my head and I just need to pick out the color scheme to get started. I took some photos of the process along the way.

I started with a scrap piece of wood from one of the construction sites in the neighborhood next to mine. It's a great place to find good piece of wood. 

I sanded the wood and added a coat of Gesso.

I penciled in the design I wanted for the edges. No rulers were used, I just winged it!

I used several different chipboard letters and spaced out the words and letters so they would fit in the space. Then, I took a photo so I wouldn't forget. This is a great way to use up some extra letters. If you're like me you have a lot of extra letters. 

Then, I painted the background using my yellow, blue, turquoise, white, and gray color scheme. 

Next, I stamped on the background using this text stamp from Stampers Anonymous in Jet Black Archival Ink. 

To finish off the piece I painted the letters and glued them to the wood using Ranger Glue & Seal. And, I used a thick Faber Castell Pit Pen to outline all the edges of the border to give it a more finished look. This was a really fun and easy piece to create. I hope you will come up with an idea and try it out with us this month!

Set of Mini Mixed Media Canvases

While I was on vacation last week in Boston, I made my first visit to the amazing art store Blick Art Materials at Harvard. It was filled with tons of arty goodness. I picked up a set of six 2x2 canvases since they would fit in my suitcase. I hadn't made anything just for fun in awhile and I really wanted to do something fun with my little canvases. So, I used some of my DecoArt and Dina Wakley paints and stencils and created these little colorful canvases that all sort of go together. It was so much fun. Now I need some bigger ones to work on. Thanks for stopping by!

Unity Friends with Flair Friday

This is my Unity Friends With Flair Entry. I'm starting on the backs of my Faber Castell Design Memory Craft chipboard mini journal pages. I used DecoArt Decoupage to cover the background that was a little stained. My napkins were 3 ply, so I took out 2 of the layers and only used the layer with graphics. Since napkins are such thin paper you can see through them and little bit of the pink that was on the journal page shows through which give the background a little more interest. I took some pictures while I made this.

This is the original napkin and the my journal board with some pink stains.

After I tore up the napkin and decoupaged it on the journal board.

I used a Unity Itty Bitty Stamp set called "Wonderful". I colored in the border of the circle with Distress Markers in Seedless Preserves and Fossilized Amber. I stamped with Versafine Archival Black Ink. I adhered the bird in the circle on the board with foam tape. It was another fun and easy mini journal page. By the way, I got these pretty napkins at Tuesday Morning. Thanks for stopping by!

5 for 5 Valentine's Day 5

Welcome to Day 5 of our 5 for 5 Valentine's Blog Event. I can't believe it's the last day. Today our theme is "Collage". Each day our 5 Designers will post one Valentine Inspired Project based on a theme. Some of us are offering prizes, so be sure to visit all the links below and leave comments.

I've been out of town at a conference and it's taken me awhile to finally post my prize picture. I will announce the winner of this prize on Saturday, January 31. I'll choose from all the comments on my 5 for 5 Posts this week. 

For my "Collage" project I made a card using lots of layered embellishments. Most are from Pink Paislee, Pretty Pink Posh Sequins, Tim Holtz and Heidi Swapp. To get more visit each of the blogs below. Today is our last day to post so check out when prizes will be announced to you won't miss a things. Thanks for stopping by!

5 For 5 Valentine's Designers
1. Donna Bowman (me)
2. Rachel Kleinman
3. Lynn Kopas
4. Jenn Cuthbertson
5. Alanna Moses

5 for 5 Valentine's Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of our 5 for 5 Valentine's Blog Event. Today our theme is "Arrows". Each day our 5 Designers will post one Valentine Inspired Project based on a theme. Some of us are offering prizes, so be sure to visit all the links below and leave comments.

For my "Arrows" project I made a Mixed Media tag.  The tag was in my stash and already had orange on the background. I have tons of tags I used to wipe up extra spray ink and paint. On the background of the tag I used the Tim Hotlz Arrow stencil with Picked Raspberry Distress Paint. Then I outlined the arrows with an orange Distress Marker. I used the same colors on the grungeboard heart with crackle paint. The words are from Cosmo Criket and the little envelope is from DCWV.  The Key and little heart and arrow in the envelope are Tim Holtz. The trim is from Crate Paper (I think). I died the Tim Holtz ribbon using Distress Stains. I hope you got a little Valentine's Inspiration today. To get more visit each of the blogs below. We'll be posting for the next 2 days also. Thanks for stopping by!

5 For 5 Valentine's Designers
1. Donna Bowman (me)
2. Rachel Kleinman
3. Lynn Kopas
4. Jenn Cuthbertson
5. Alanna Moses

5 for 5 Valentines Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of our 5 for 5 Valentine's Blog Event. Today our theme is "Hearts". Each day our 5 Designers will post one Valentine Inspired Project based on a theme. Some of us are offering prizes, so be sure to visit all the links below and leave comments.

For my Hearts project I made a Mixed Media Heart painting on wood. It's a 4 x 11 piece of wood I picked up last year when my house was under construction. All the paints are Dina Wakely Heavy Body Acrylic. I also used some Stamper's Big Brush Pens by Faber Castell Design Memory Craft for accents and shading. And I used a white paint pen. This painting was so fun and really easy to make. It turned out better than I ever imagined. I cannot draw, so if you are like me, don't be afraid to try new things. I hope you got a little Valentine's Inspiration today. To get more visit each of the blogs below. We'll be posting for the next 4 days also. Thanks for stopping by!

5 For 5 Valentine's Designers
1. Donna Bowman (me)
2. Rachel Kleinman
3. Lynn Kopas
4. Jenn Cuthbertson
5. Alanna Moses

My Top 10 Favorite Projects of 2014

I noticed that many of my fellow crafty bloggers are posting their Top 10 Favorite Projects of 2014. I thought that sounded like fun, so here are my Top 10 for 2014. I'm hoping to be more crafty in 2015 and I'm wishing that you and yours have a very Happy New Year. I think 2015 will be the best year yet!!

My favorite She Art Girl. I loved taking Christy Tomlinson's She Art Class.

A very Tim Holtz 4th of July tag, covered in Sparkle Mod Podge.

The journal page I made for the 1st Mixed Media Monthly Challenge.

An altered box I made for a challenge at the MMMC.

A card I made for the MMMC using lots of textures and Copic Markers.

A tag I made for a Prima Doll Halloween Tag Swap-
I love how the spider web background turned out.

My favorite card of the year. This card was originally a PaperCrafts reject,
but I entered it into the World Card Making Day Contest and it was a winner!!!

I love this image and sentiment by My Favorite Things.
I had so much fun watercoloring this card.  

Just a bright and cheery card made using DCWV stamps and papers.
One of the first I made in my new craft room.

I worked a long time practicing my Copic coloring on this Unity image.
I just think it's pretty.

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #5 - Ribbon, Twine and Fibers

It's time for our 5th Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!1 This month our challenge is to use Ribbons, Twine or Fiber in your Mixed Media Project. Our sponsor is May Arts and they are generously offering 3 full spools of fall inspired ribbon to our lucky random winner. 

This month I made a Halloween canvas. I colored the background with different paints in halloween colors of orange, green, purple and black. I used some stencils and stamps and made sure to cover the sides. I used the spider web stencil designed by Mona Pendleton for My Favorite Things as a main accent. I sprayed adhesive and covered the web with black glitter. I used some gold glitter on the Time Holtz 31 silver numbers and attached them to the canvas with small black brads from Stampin' Up. I also stamped a Tim Holtz spider on the bottom of the "1" in Ranger archival black ink. 

I had a bag of glittered Halloween shapes from K&Company that I used for the haunted house, spiders, skulls and accents on the word tiles. I added some black ink and goggley eyes to the spider. To make the word tiles I painted some Tim Holtz grungeboard shapes with Distress Crackle paint in Peeled Paint and then rubbed Distress Stain in Tea Dye on the tiles. The letters are Tim Holtz grungeboard letters that I covered with a mixed purple blend of Stickles. On the bottom of the canvas I added a black web-like trim from May Arts and on top of it I added the gold mesh from May arts (see bottom picture for a close up). I love the texture these fibers add to the canvas. 

This canvas was so fun to make. I hope you are inspired to make something really cool this month. I can't wait to see what you come up with!!!

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #1 - Spray Inks & Mists

Click here for my Christmas Card Challenges post.

It's finally time for our first challenge over at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog. I'm hosting the challenge this month and our challenge is to use Spray Inks or Mists on your Mixed Media Project. I made an art journal page using Dylusions Spray inks. To see how I created this page check out my tutorial over on the MMMC Blog.

Our sponsor this month is Inspiration Emporium and our Guest Designer is the fabulous Shelly Hickox.  Be sure to go check it out and I hope you will play along with us this month. You have until June 30 to enter.

Easter Inspiration Blog Hop

Welcome to the Easter Inspiration Blog Hop by The Inspiration Crew.  This hop is just for fun. We’re posting projects we made using products we like and hope they will give you some inspiration for your own Easter craft projects. You will find links to all the other participating bloggers below. Hopefully you can find time to look at all their blogs and leave comments on any that inspire you. Happy Easter Crafting!!

Here's the Easter Bunny Canvas that I made using mostly Tim Holtz products. The grass is Tim Holtz Tinsel. For the sentiment I used Tim Holtz Kraft Core Seasonal Impressions paper. It's so much fun to use this Kraft Core paper - you just sand it down until the words look like you want. For the background I used Tim's Shabby papers and covered with a layer of Gesso. The doodle stamp on the top is from My Favorite Things. The flowers were colored with alcohol inks. The bunny die was painted with Tim Holtz Crackle Paint and then covered with alcohol ink and the bow was covered with Worn Lipstick Distress Stickles. You can find Tim showing these techniques on his web site www.timholtz.com.  Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the rest of the hop!

Donna Bowman 

Rachel Kleinman

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Jennifer Cuthbertson

Veronica Zalis
Geri Greening

She Art Girl 1

I know I'm about 3 years late, but I'm finally taking Christy Tomlinson's She Art Class. She put all her older workshops on sale and I took the opportunity to take her Color Class and the first She Art Class. I love to watch her videos on You Tube, so this class is right up my alley. She had about 10 videos in Week 1 and I loved watching all of them. The first girl we made was very simple and I'm looking forward to week 2 when we add more details. But, since I'm not the least bit artistic, it was good for me to start off with the simple version. 

I CANNOT draw, so I was a little scared when I started, but she did such a good job of explaining how to do things that I think I did ok. We didn't really draw anything except the hair and chin line. That was daunting enough for me and I will say that I was really happy with the shape of the hair. I'm just glad she doesn't add facial features!! 

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to stop back by this Sunday for the Easter Inspiration Blog Hop. It will be filled with fun and inspiring Easter Projects.

Prima Paper Doll Canvas

I bought some of the Prima Paper Doll stamps a few months ago and this is the first time I've used one. I've been watching lots of mixed media canvas tutorials lately and I really wanted to try out some of the techniques I've seen on a canvas.

I covered this canvas with tissue paper from Christy Tomlinson, who is one of my favorite mixed media artists. Then I sprayed with Raspberry and Cornflower ink sprays that I made using Color Box reindeers. I loved that when the sprays spread out they made purple areas. Then I added some washi tapes and stamped in Raspberry, Cornflower and Black inks with different background stamps. I added some different Distress Paints on the edges of the front and on the side.

I colored the girl with Copic markers and added details and outlined her with Black Big Stampers Pens.  Adhered the girl with Modge Podge and the wings with Glitter Modge Podge although you can't really see how sparkly they are in person. I also added some purple pearls and a gold sparkly bow to her.

I added these cute glittery hearts on sticks that I thought looked like flowers to the bottom left corner. Then I looked around for something green like leaves and I saw these pompoms and thought, why not? They might not be leafy, but they are green. I printed out the words and cut them and outlined them. Finally I added some blue glittery start at random around the canvas.

This might not be my most favorite thing I've ever made, but it was so much fun to make and I can't wait to experiment with more canvases in the near future!! Thanks for stopping by!!