CC#14 The Man On The Stairs

This is my tag for the Compendium Of Curiosities challenge at Linda's StudioL3 blog. I got inspired a little late this week but just had one of those ah ha moments, you know, when your creative side wakes up and says that's it...that's what I want to make. I used a TH Mask and made a mask from an old Nosferatu movie poster image. It seems as though Halloween is inspiring a lot of us creative types early this year, doesn't it? Bwahahaha! I used Fired Brick, Barn Door and Black Soot. The stamp is from the TH Halloween set. The rest of course is top secret and you must have the book! The little verbiage around the tag is from a creepy little poem I heard one time. I had to look it up to find out it origin. It's called "The Little Man Who Wasn't There" by Hughes Mearns. He wrote it for an English class at Harvard University about 1899. I was surprised it was so old. A little creepy, huh? But come on now....don't we all love a a bit of a fright now and then?

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away...

When I came home last night at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn’t see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door... (slam!)

Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away

Hope you are all well and creatively happy! I'm off to see what everyone came up with :) Nan

Compendium Of Curiosities #13 Flowers

These are my flowers for this weeks Compendium Of Curiosities challenge at Linda's StudioL3......I usually have a few goes at whatever challenge but get it right finally however this time I really had a time with these dang flowers. And the thing was I thought this would be so simple.....HAH! Anyway I ended up with a #13 flower in honor of Week 13.....can you believe it? And another flower that will be a charm for my tag book when we finish up and I put these all together. I stamped an older TH numbers stamp on a glimmer misted inside out envelope and the other is a Shimmerz misted old book page. I attached these with Claudine Hellmuth's Multi Medium. I think it is ok to tell you that much because he doesn't mention it as his adhesive and that was the tricky part for me. I made a the little #13 pin following Wendy Vecchi's little trick of a TH memo pin, a tiny punched word and some Glossy Accents. It's on her blog...a lot of fun and I will be doing that again. Go get his book if you haven't and play along. we still have many fun things to do!

Compendium Of Curiosities 10 More

This is my tag for Linda's Compendium Of Curiosities challenge which is all about the bling. I know I'm pretty late, I've had sketchy internet service all week. I am typing fast while it seems to be working! This was the Distress Stickles challenge on page 46. I love shiny and played a lot with this but it is hard to see in the photo. You'll just have to trust me that it is good and blinged!

This was a photo of a rose heart that Mr. Wonderful gave me quite a while ago. I used a photo of it and the only other thing I can tell you are the colors I used. Bundled Sage and Vintage Photo inks, Rock Candy, Antique Linen and Peeled Paint Stickles and the stamp set is called Slight Alterations. It was the first time I used it but I really like it and will use it a Lot I think!

Oh oh ! I received my beautiful butterfly box from Linda. Here it is on my inspiration row shelf in my studio. It is holding all my special butterfly stamps ! Thanks Linda so much!

CC#9 And Now For Something Completely Different.....

I am embarrassed to admit how many things I have by Tim Holtz that I had either never opened yet or really didn't know how to use. Blushing.....BUT Linda's Compendium Challenge has helped me learn more about my art stash then I have in probably years so thank you Linda! This is a bit different for me. I didn't use stamps or strictly TH for this lesson. In my studio chaos I found a little tiny die cut ball jar die I had and just needed to use it. So I blew it up on my scanner....the rest is in the lessons in TH's book...really you must get it if you haven't yet. It has been fun to really do these lessons and sometimes redo them...LOL! The crackle has a bit of a learning curve!

CC #8 The Secret Garden

"I feel good...nah nah nah nah nah na...you know the way that I should....so good... Whoo!" Ok, that's just a little James Brown for ya cause I feel all better and ready to rock the studio again. I have the best kinesiologist/chiropractor in the world...seriously. He's kept me walking and moving for years and I dedicate this weeks post to Doctor B. ! Not only do we laugh way too hard sometimes but he lets me take pictures of his amazing tie collection for inspiration. :)

Anyway...I had so much fun making this piece from Linda's Compendium Of Curiosities challenge today. I usually do it on Monday but Thursday it is. You should read TH's book..page 39 and have some fun. It involves ink and grunge. What's not to love? And I did a bit of organizing. I made labels for each ink I used and a chart of how they look on grunge too. I'm just too proud of myself tonight for getting a bit of organizing in with the fun stuff......LOL!

Compendium Of Curiosities 7 The House Call

Another week gone by and another lesson at StudioL3 for the Compendium Of Curiosities challenge......hurray...love this one. Thanks Linda! This was a lesson in making fragments look old. You can get a copy of Tim's book and play along. It has been so much fun. I used many inks and several little watch parts on this piece. You may be able to see them if you look closely. I got a bag of them on Etsy and it did say the biggest ones were 3/16" ! I realize I am ancient now because I can't see anything tiny anymore....getting old is not for sissies as my dad used to say!

Three Muses Postal Art Letters

The Three Muses had a postal challenge this week and I decided to use one of my favorite stamps from PSX. The image is a Flickr photo from a library in Miami. I used chalks to color,

TH fired brick, spiced marmalade, mustard inks and another stamp from A Stamp In The Hand.
Now let's see if I can do a hyperlink tonight. My photo gremlin invited his hyperlink cousin to visit this week and I could not get any of my links to work! Period. It is possible that I may have forgotten how to do all these things in the year I was away but I prefer to blame the gremlins. :) Thanks for looking...

Compendium Of Curiosities 5 Distress Embossing

This is my tag from the lesson of the week at StudioL3 Compendium Of Curiosities challenge. I used Antique Linen embossing powder, Shabby Shutters, Bundled Sage and Faded Jeans. I couldn't resist embossing the number with some Broken China. I did 2 of these first because I can't seem to get much of the powder to release. Anyone else find that happening?

I had intended just to do technique tags and make a booklet at the end of the challenge but I love some of the beautiful work I'm seeing and may have to branch out ! Thanks for looking...can't wait to see everyone's projects!

Compendium Of Curiosities 4 Shabby Fly Tag

Here is my tag for StudioL3 COC this week. I used a Lettuce and Willow daubers and stamps from Artful Flight and Urban Tapestry. Once again a slight..cough cough...learning curve but love the technique! Then on to more of Nan's adventures in photography. I have a gremlin who shakes, tilts, and fogs up my camera and has the ability to make the sun go away the instant I set up a photo. I decided to let you see my first photo so you can see why I believe in gremlins. LOL.... Thanks for looking!

Deep Purple

Another week, another great Compendium Of Curiosities challenge at Studio L3 . This was a lesson in using alcohol inks to create a mono print. I THOUGHT I knew how to use alcohol inks but I really did learn a lesson this week! I used Wild Plum, Meadow and Bottle Green with a touch of gold. Took me three tries to get this right but it really was fun! Thanks Linda!

Compendium Of Curiosities 2 Fragments

It's time to play at Studio L3's Compendium Of Curiosities challenge...well actually I'm a few days behind probably but I was happy to get this finished. The challenge was to do a lesson from Tim Holtz's book on fragments. Lot's of fun...I've never used them before but will be using them more often now. Lot's of fun...go check it out! Linda Ledbetter is the queen of this blog and has another fun looking project she does called Drunken Stampers. They are doing a Twilight theme this week.... I may have to play....hmmmmm

Sweet Life....Gingersnaps Blue Challenge

I love the Gingersnaps blog......they have the best challenges. I've been lurking there for quite a while. Once I finally decided it was more important to play than to have a perfectly organized studio I have had so much fun. I love using my stamps again. And my inks and whatever else I can round up in this explosion of art supplies I have going!

I was visiting my so very creative friend Lucy today and we were digging through her bits and pieces and she was kind enough to donate (uh, let me swipe, LOL) a lot of the neat stuff I used. It's good to have a friend who saves her little scraps and doesn't think you are crazy for doing so either! I used TH Distress Ink in Faded Jeans distress ink and Glimmer Mists in Seaglass, Suede and Old Brass. So lot's of sparkle which makes me very happy too except I have a hard time getting photos of sparkles and transparencies especially at night and I'm much too impatient to wait til tomorrow. :)

He Went To Paris

I've been following Lynn Steven's Trash And Treasures site for a very long time and always find some lovely artwork or a cool link to something neat. I love Gingersnaps site that she designs for and this week found a great blog, Studio L3 , where they are doing a project a week based on the lessons in Tim Holtz's A Compendium Of Curiosities. This week was water stamping. It took me two days just to round up all my TH goodies and then another couple to get comfortable with my stamping techniques again. This is one of my fav TH stamps and the words are from a Jimmy Buffett song that I love.

A Moment In Time Theme Thursday

This is my piece for time on Theme Thursday. I printed my photo on a tag and used Tim Holtz alchohol inks and some stamps. I did this a while back and it was on my blog I lost but I like it and wanted to have it here. As I've said I really like doing new pieces but occasionally I'm going to post a piece I really like from the "lost" blog and hope no one minds too much! :)