WHAT DO ANGELS WEAR UNDER THEIR ROBES?

NOW TRADED
This of course! Been looking at this image for ages and it finally came to me what to do with it ... Not of course that angels are girls (not with names like Michael and Raphael) but there you go, it just made me laugh. Turned out to be one of my brown vintage efforts but I can't seem to help it. Although it doesn't show very well here I made a background with a large wings stamp and I think the crowns paper is 7 Gypsies. Her wings were an obvious addition and I was thinking about angel music and a gate like a crown ... I may have mentioned that I have a vivid imagination? What makes me smile most of all is that this very pear shaped lady should be deemed a pin-up - how unfair that I was obviously born in the wrong era!

STAMPING ON FABRIC

PRIVATE COLLECTION
The Crazy Amigos Challenge this week was to stamp on fabric. Now this is something I'd never tried before, and although this may not be deeply imaginative I was rather pleased to find that it worked well, so might be tempted to try out some more techniques. The background stamp is from Paper Artsy, and I used a Kaleidoscope inkpad to get the graduated colour. The antique effect brad was bought in a sale somewhere, and the gold cord was recycled from some packaging. This is available for trade.

SPIDER WEB

Made this in response to three different challenges! How's that for getting everything into one? Firstly the "insects" challenge on Wednesday Stamper, only am now full of doubt that a spider counts as an insect? Hey ho, it's in the general spirit of things isn't it? And truth to tell I wanted to play with this new web stamp from Tanda Stamps which gives a lovely crisp image (I added the spider myself). I've also had this blackbird from Invoke Arts for a while without ever using it, so it was time to include him somewhere.

I made the background (Arty Girls Challenge) with distress and chalk inks, and the grass is another stamp. The green is part of the Created by Hand Challenge! Quirky and a bit outside my usual range I think?

BESIDE THE SEA

NOW TRADED
Made this for the Mermaid theme on TMTA
and as you can probably see had quite a lot of fun with it! The background is chalk inks and watercolours, the sea water is an offcut of scrapbook paper, and the image is from an Artchix collage sheet. For some reason I decided she should have wings too - if anyone can explain that do get in touch! I tried to spray the whole thing with gold Glimmer Mist, but that affected the lettering. However I decided that the "run in the wash" effect on the lettering was entirely appropriate if it had been in the sea .... and if you want to swap for this just shout!

BEAUTIFUL FRIDA AGAIN

NOW TRADED
Another Frida - the more I learn about her the more fascinated I become. There is a lot of blue here because I feel that much of her life was about the pain she experienced from her injuries, but she has wings because she rose above it. The bright strip represents the colours of her country and her paintings, and it seems to me that she was a kind of princess ....

ARTFUL MONA

NOW TRADED
This is the result of me just sitting down with a pile of stuff and letting the spirit move me, which I don't do often enough. It'smade with a shrine stamp from Lost Coast Designs which I've watercoloured and given gold touches. Used it to frame a Mona portrait, and gave her a crown and (real) tiny beads put on with a cocktail stick! I love the way you can do so many things with an iconic image such a Mona Lisa - I even gave her specs once!

Window on Frida

NOW TRADED
My friend Linda has been working with Frida images lately, and inspired by her example I came up with this. Looking at images of Frida Kahlo's work gives you a great insight into her feelings, and I'm also astonished at how very beautiful she was. Thinking of bright South American colours I used a scrap of paper as a background, from which I also cut out the central flower. I drew the window and copied it onto card, giving it some depth with watercolour, then mounted it over the picture to give a 3D feel. The flower is also mounted in the same way to give yet more perspective. It didn't seem to need the addition of any words .... and is up for trade so ask if you want it!

IT'S GOT A HOLE IN IT

PRIVATE COLLECTION
Leonie challenged us this week to make something with holes in and this is the result! I was originally thinking about a hole in the wall, but it gradually developed in another direction. I was vaguely thinking about movie posters too. Oh, what the heck, actually I'm not at all sure what it's all about but I think I like it! I cut a small X in the paper then carefully tore back sections, rolling some, and sticking down the edges. I added the photo underneath and took it from there ....

STRIPEY PRINCESS

NOW TRADED
Made this for the Theme Thursday Challenge which this week asked for stripes. This background is a leftover of scrapbook paper which vaguely made me think of a wall - so I put a window in it! The window stamp used is from a set of 3 by Paper Artsy, and the image was hand watercoloured. The text is another Paper Artsy Stamp, and the disc is a cut out from an Invoke Arts stamp. At this point I was strongly reminded of Rapunzel in her tower, so gave her a crown as well. Working in such muted colours has left me reaching for the bright pinks again ......!

VINTAGE GIRL

Made a set of these for a "winged" swap I was part of - but I can make another if you would like to trade for her. I used a crackle stamp for the background, then added a dusting of gold embossing powder. The image is a stamp by Invoke Arts which I watercoloured. She looks sort of wistful doesn't she, and works really well with or without her wings.

DOLLY AND ME

NOW TRADED
Made this for the Mixed Media Monday challenge. You already know how I work by making up stories ... well this little girl and her dolly are travelling on a Cunard liner but dolly is most DEFINITELY wanted on the voyage, and she is hanging on to her as something familiar in a "sea" (geddit?) of strange experiences. Most of us can probably remember feeling like that I think. Don't you just love her button boots, and I'm sure I've got a picture of myself with a pudden basin haircut and a short fringe like that!

ZENTANGLE!

This week's challenge on TMTA was to doodle! It was news to me but apparently this sort of thing is called zentangle, thereby giving it a status far above school exercise book doodling! I looked at a few examples and thought "I can't do that", but I thought I'd have a go and maybe bin the result.
And guess what - I CAN do that and what's more I loved it, which means I may have to do more of this stuff in future ...

NOT FOR TRADE BECAUSE I'M KEEPING IT AS A RECORD OF MY FIRST EFFORT!

ANGELINA RULES!

Used Linda's tutorial on working with Angelina Fibres to produce the central motif for this. Love the effect and the iridescence (which hasn't photographed too well). Laid the fibres over a celtic stamp to get the shape, and added a panel of vellum and some gold embellishments. This one sort of "grew" out of my imagination .... and is available to trade.

MY HOME IS MY CASTLE

NOW TRADED
Back in pink mode again with this little collage house. The plants/railings are done using the Squiggles stamps from Paper Artsy, plus a few doodled flowers. It's all about safety and security, with the warm glow of the pink, and the padlock to keep unwanted people out! All arty types welcome naturally!!

EVERY STEP

PRIVATE COLLECTION
Made this in response to the Arty Girlz Challenge which is to use black and white. It also works for the Step Outside Your Box challenge because it was VERY difficult for me to use only these colours, I kept wanting to use little hits of pink or something ... anything! Reasonably pleased with it in the end - the background is intended to represent cracked pavements (or sidewalks if you prefer)! The shoe stamp is one of my favourites by Paperbag Studios and I embossed it so that the shoes almost look like patent leather, except you can't see that in the picture. The leaves are another stamp by Inkadinkado, and I've water-coloured the sections. This is available to swap if you want it!

TRIPTYCH

NOW TRADED Haven't made one of these 3 sided ATCs in a while, but enjoyed doing it. This is for the "Middle Ages" challenge on TMTA

There seemed to be so many things I wanted to do with this theme that I needed to use this format to get them all on! Very much a scrapbooker's ATC with quite a lot of paper for the background, and I used ink to slightly age the silver arch. I was thinking about the lady in her window with painted tapestries on her walls (viz the gold patterned paper). The writing represents a love letter from a promised husband she won't meet until her wedding day. Yes I DO know I have a very fanciful imagination .....

This is available to trade.

NOT HIDING

NOW TRADED
Yes perhaps I was in slightly downhearted mode yesterday? Onwards and upwards - this is another of my brown vintage efforts (note to self, make something BRIGHTER). This girl's slightly guilty "who me" expression made me smile! Isn't it wonderful how a creative outlet can be so healing - I've been having a bad few days, but can still lose myself in making art (or what my family calls "playing"), which makes me feel so lucky.

LEAVE NO WORDS UNSPOKEN

NOW TRADED
I owe the colour scheme for this to the Theme Thursday challenge, which this week is to use orange and black. This little girl looks rather wistful and it got me thinking about how many of these beautiful Victorian children would not actually have survived to adulthood. So the black puzzle piece represents the missing space she would leave in her family, and the jewel her unique place, and finally the butterflies her departing spirit. The wording is my message to everyone never to fail to say the special things - there isn't always time. None of this is intended to be morbid but rather to make us conscious that we are fortunate that our own children grow up healthy and strong.

ART DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT

NOW TRADED
Back in the pink again ... did this for the "Thank God its Friday" challenge which this week was "faces". I'm a bit of a rebel sometimes and didn't want to make anything too pretty and predictable, and anyway I've been waiting for a chance to use this wacky Invoke Arts stamp! I know the picture looks wonky but the real thing isn't ... but decided to leave it like this in the spirit of imperfection that the piece embodies. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it .....

FLY THE NEST

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Having my grand-daughters here got me thinking about my own girls, and how it seems no time at all since they were little. So continuing with my current nest fetish (and a collage sheet of them) I found this little person who seemed to embody what I was trying to get across. With my grand-daughters I feel like I've got a second chance, when I never seemed to have time just to play with my own, I was always too busy keeping them clean, clothed and fed. I see my own daughter doing the same and there's no way I can explain how quickly they'll grow up and go, yet every generation says the same .....

A LOVELY SURPRISE

Lovely Linda has given me this award and says "I love everything you make and I want to swap with you every time you post an ATC. You have become a very treasured friend in the short time I have known you. Long may our friendship last.(Pass me a hankie.)"
Well how lovely is that? That got my day off to a splendid start!

Now I have to choose some people to pass it on to, and these are the rules regarding this special award:
1. You pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribution to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4. The award-winners and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

I'm going to have to think about this a bit more before I publish mine ....

DON'T LIKE SUMS

NOW TRADED
Back to my roots with this one - yes I KNOW it's all brown and vintage, and I can't explain why that presses my buttons but it just DOES, even though I love brilliant colours. This was started off by finding the wooden rulers paper - I remember having one at school. which got me thinking about early days. This little sweetheart looked so anxious about something that the "story" came together in my head (am I the only one who makes pages and ATCs with a story - please tell me I'm not crackers!). That's very often how I work - something, a stamp or an image will set off a train of thought, and I just follow it .... She's up for grabs if vintage is your thing too, as are all the ATCs here unless marked as traded.

GYPSY

NOW TRADED
Found this little image in my stuff and I thought she was probably meant to be a gypsy (or a romanticised idea of one) fortune teller, so the script writing connected in my head with the idea of fate and "the moving finger writes and having writ moves on". The blue background and the moon are because I was thinking that fortune teling is something that belongs in the night rather than the brightness of day. It's a very simple composition and as I wasn't feeling too well yesterday I think I was in a slightly "dreamy" mood (what do you mean away with the fairies)??

SIGNS OF SPRING?

You can definitely see Spring bursting out all over around here, not to mention the fact that the Think Monday Think ATC challenge this week was to do a Spring theme. Now if you know me at all you know that pretty pretty flowers and blossoms just ain't my thing, but I was quite pleased with how this turned out (that means I had fun making it).

The background is done using a stamp which vaguely reminds me of twigs and branches, the nest is from a collage sheet, the leaves and exhibit sign are also stamps and I did the birdy freehand.

KEEPING THIS FOR MY OWN COLLECTION

BLUE GODDESS and a bit of a crisis!!

NOW TRADED
This vintage photo makes me smile - she looks a bit dodgy doesn't she with all that eye make up? Or maybe that's just me - I'm a terrible giggler! This was very much led by the photo which has soft blue tones - thebackground is stamped in white, with a torn paper overlay, and two stamped motifs.

Now for the CRISIS part - I can't make many more ATCs unless I trade some of these, so please PLEASE ask me to trade ... or this blog will get very boring for a while with no new pictures (not to mention the fact that I will get very bored if I can't make ATCs).