Asian Coffee Filter Book and Geisha Paper Dolls

By on 7-31-2013 in Art For The Creative Mind Yahoo Group, Digital Images + Collage, Mixed Media, Paper Dolls

coffee filter book

My first coffee filter book, done for the Art For the Creative Mind Yahoo Group. I created an understated book in colours from the old Japanese wood cuts. Bangles and metallic threads are at the end of each tag. The tags are Geisha dolls and one extra kimono for each doll. Each pocket holds one of the dolls and has her name in English on one side and Japanese on the other. Prisma colours gently coloured some of the images on each covering page. I am sharing my Geisha paper dolls. The image is one I gleaned from colouring pages on line. It was listed at several different sites. Paper flowers, a peacock dangle and some soutache braid around the blue rings finish the simple Japanese look of the book.

geisha dolls

Here are the dolls and the kimonos. Each doll has a name of a Japanese flower. In order they are: top left is Lotus, top middle is Sunflower, top right is Plum, bottom left is Cherry, bottom middle is Willow and bottom right is Iris. Have fun with these little dolls.

geisha dolls

Steampunk Halloween Swap

By on 10-30-2012 in Art For The Creative Mind Yahoo Group, Digital Images + Collage, Mixed Media, Steampunk

steampunk halloween

This little 4×4 card was done for a swap with the Art For the Creative Mind Yahoo group. It joins both steampunk and Halloween styles. The background was made with twine glued to a red background. Two old skeletons are just lolling on a brick wall. The pumpkins were sketched and filled with a plaid background, then gears were added. The brick wall is from a local heritage building. Of course the old gents had to have top hats and one has part of a pair of goggles in keeping with the steampunk theme. They were fun to make and when put together that is when the old song came to mind. The skeletons were clip art which I removed part of the art to create the fellows I needed. A fun piece to create.

Elvis remembered plus TODAY, a statement of the ‘now’

By on 3-05-2012 in Digital Images + Collage, Mixed Media

Elvis …. when I saw these brushes on the Deviant Art site I had to create this card. I used an original background layer, changing the colour from green to ruby red in enhancements and layered the guitar and Elvis profile as well as other small brushes. Styles were also used for the brush stamps. I love how this card glows.

Elvis

Love me tender, love me true…….a march down memory lane

Today, not yesterday, not tomorrow

TODAY …. live in the now, in the moment. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never happen. All we have is the right now …. TODAY. This card started as an original background, each letter was done on a separatae layer, the colour enhanced and then a drop shadow was added to each layer.

Christmas Alphabet….the last of the letters

By on 11-27-2011 in Christmas Patterns, Embroidery, Mixed Media, Vintage, Vintage Patterns

As promised here is the last of the alphabet. I love this version of Christmas letters. It is so whimsical and adaptable for so many different venues. The letters could be appliqued using either cottons or wool felt and the rest embroidered on top. They could also be painted onto a wooden ornament or coloured in digitally and printed onto paper to make great tags.

QRST

UVW

XYZ

Mixed Media Card….”Adore”

By on 8-04-2011 in Mixed Media

This is my first mixed media card. I created it in Photoshop, no gluing or paper has actually been involved. The background was painted in gradients with colours chosen from the image. The butterflies are painted with a brush with a lower opacity. The image is courtesy of Dover Books through their free images they send every Friday. You can sign up for their free images here: Dover Publications The large butterfly is a photoshop shape that I beveled and embossed. The words were given an outer glow and the “adore” was also beveled. The edges of the image were filtered to give it a ragged look and I beveled them as well to make it look like it was set into a frame. I also beveled the outer border and then flattened the layers and saved it as a jpeg.

mixed media card in photoshop
I am very pleased with this first try at a card.