Raspberry Fairy Salad

I can't believe it is almost the end of January! Here is my latest creation using the beautiful images from Moonlight Journey entitled "Fairy Folded Cards." With just a little bit of cropping I just simply added my recipe.

Merry Christmas to You

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

A holiday wouldn't be complete without creating a special Christmas card and mailing them out to family and friends. This extraordinary angel image is available through Moonlight Journey's 2010 Calendar. You can personalize, crop and edit in a snap and mail them out in just a few days. By the way, don't miss out on a cyber sale at their site!

Thank you all for your kindness and devotion in visiting my blog this year. Merry Christmas everyone!

Diva Molasses Cookies

The most important thing to me is to make a cookie is that tastes great! My mom always seemed to make the best cookies, and this happens to be probably one of my favorites. She would always say to use the best ingredients you can find. And, whenever possible, serve your desserts while they are still very fresh.

I hope this recipe gives you as much joy as it gave me as a child. The molasses and ginger make it a wonderful change of pace and seems especially appropriate this time of year.

I created this recipe card using the latest images from Moonlight Journey entitled "Grunge Divas", plus papers and overlays from Creative Memories.

CREDITS: MOONLIGHT JOURNEY "Grunge Divas", Recipe from Mom

Sweet Photo Panel

Gosh! You have probably been wondering where I've been. It's been shockingly weeks since I posted. For a starter I went on a three day/two night digital scrapbooking retreat with my friend Sherry. She is so talented, and lucky for me, shared this amazing technique to blend your photo with paper. I used Creative Memories Storybook Creator. I am so excited to continue my education with this user friendly software. It just seems like conventional scrapbooking takes so much more effort compared to whipping up a digital page in minutes.

These are my grandkids, Ethan and Lauren. I love this sweet image of them.

I promise to post soon.

Country Music Cards

"Music

washes away

from the soul

the dust

of everyday

life."

Sometimes finding the time to create art becomes a little more difficult. I have so many ideas, and just not enough time in the day. With the holidays now past, I can once again focus on all my unfinished projects and all the new stuff I need and want to begin!

These cards are a work in progress for my art group. Every month I need to muster up 15 cards using a rubberstamp that all of us are required to use.

For the month of January, our stamp was this chair image from Paperbag Studios. I thought it might be fun to try something a little bit "country."

The stamp image was scanned and digitally enhanced in Creative Memories Storybook 3.0. Then I added a background, a banjo and a cowboy boot image from Deviant Scraps. The card itself was cut from a Martha Stewart paper pad called "Bandana," which I distressed with a Tim Holtz distress ink pad called "Rusty Hinge."

CREDITS: PAPERBAG STUDIOS, MARTHA STEWART, TIM HOLTZ, DEVIANT SCRAPS, & CM STORYBOOK 3.0.

Alice's Banana Bread

The original manuscript, "Alice's Adventures Underground," was published in 1865, by Reverend Charles Ludwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. Then later that year, the tale was published by Lewis Carrol as "Alice in Wonderland." Among it's first readers was Queen Victoria and the young Oscar Wilde. The book has never been out of print.

This banana bread recipe (one of my very favorites) will definitely be one of those baked goods that will call "EAT ME." Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that it will not cause you to grow!!

CREDITS: MOONLIGHT JOURNEY DIGI PAK "ALICE'S BRAG BOOK"

Mad Tea Party Brownies

Little did I know when I started an art journal a few years ago, that it was the beginning of a journey towards a series of of recipe cards with an "Alice In Wonderland" theme.

The roots of these cards came through the inspiration of my artist friends, Deb and Teri, when we began designing our "Mad Tea Party" books. That book still is a work in progress for me! Hopefully, within the next few months, I can present to you some of my special recipes focused on this "through the looking glass" theme.

CREDITS: MOONLIGHT JOURNEY "ALICE BRAG BOOK" DIGI PAK

My Frog Prince

In the old times, when it was still of some use to wish for the thing one wanted, there lived a king whose daughters were all handsome.

Near the royal castle there was a great dark wood, and in the wood under an old tree was a well. And if the time seemed long, the youngest daughter would take out a golden ball and throw it up and catch it over and over again.

Now it happened one day that the golden ball dropped to the ground near the edge of the well and rolled in. The King's daughter followed it, but the well was deep--so deep that the bottom could not be seen. She wept and wept as if she could never be comforted.

In the midst of her weeping, she heard a voice saying to her, "What ails you, King's daughter? Your tears would melt a heart of stone."

And when she looked to see where the voice came from, there was nothing but a frog stretching his thick ugly head out of the water. "I can help you fetch it," he said. "But, if you would love me, and have me for your companion, I would dive below and fetch your golden ball again."

And it came to pass that with her father's consent they became bride and bride-groom. He told her how a wicked witch had bound him by her spells, and how no one but she alone could have released him. Now they two would go together to his father's kingdom and live happily ever after.

CREDITS: ALL IMAGES WERE CREATED FROM MOONLIGHT JOURNEY.

Autumn Enchantment Postcards

I have been feeling the Halloween spirit in my bones lately. I really enjoyed making these autumn postcards to mail out when October draws near. With the images I am proud to use from Moonlight Journey, these adorable postcards are a cinch to make. Thank you Becky for creating these 3-1/2" X 5" Post Office Regulation Size postcards. The colors are so rich and wonderful! Who would not want to receive these lovelies?

CREDITS: "AUTUMN ENCHANTMENT" AND "WITCH POSTCARDS" CREATED BY BECKY LOYALL OF WHYMSICAL MUSINGS AND MOONLIGHT JOURNEY.

Handmade "Moo" Cards

Want a different and fabulous way to share or promote your blog? I discovered this wonderful way called Moo (www.moo.com). You can easily make a card using snippets of your artwork. The company has an easy interface that allows you to upload your art to their template. You can choose any portion of an image and have it printed.

I, on the other hand, am always looking for ways to be economical lately, and thought that I could do this within minutes by using this awesome collage sheet designed by Becky Loyall and the group Moonlight Journey, entitled "Beautiful Women Microscope Slides." Each handmade "Moo" card measures 1-1/8" by 2-3/4". I added some reflective holographic stickers to some of these.

Because of their small size, these cards can be used as business cards, invitations to special events, gift tags, and so on. I even thought I could make third generation art from them. By that I mean, what if you began with a piece of art and made a "Moo" card from it, and then go one step further and make art from your "Moo" cards. You can even use these tiny cards as embellishment.

You can even go in another direction by creating a "Moo" box, to hold a nice stack of "Moos," ready for sharing. I have been thinking it would even be cool to make little photo cards and then combine them in a unique photo collage. And how about a "Moo" card swap? There are a host of possibilities. Just let your imagination soar!

Magical Halloween Celebration is Today!

I am probably one of the biggest fans of Outsider Artists. As a tribute to their talent and generosity in sharing their amazing images, I have lovingly created these "Twilight Journals" to share during Vanessa's "Hauntingly Magical Halloween Celebration" today.

The stunning blue "Bella Vision" portrait was created by Becky Loyall of Whymsical Musings. She has generously shared this 300 dpi picture on her blog. The other three brilliant images were digitally created by Deborah Bohm of Outsider Artists and can be purchased through Deborah Dare Art by email.

I printed all of these images on matte photo paper for sturdiness, a sharper image, and then covered my composition book. I was imagining all the wonderful things I could create with these special photos. Thank you so much, Becky and Deborah. I have become quite attached to the Twilight saga, and am visualizing other magical projects using them.

Tomorrow Never Knows

Turn off your mind relax and float

down-stream.

It is not dying, it is not dying,

lay down all thought surrender to the void,

It is shining, it is shining.

That you may see the meaning of within,

It is speaking, it is speaking,

that love is all and love is everyone,

It is knowing, it is knowing.

When ignorance and haste may mourn

the dead,

It is believing, it is believing.

But listen to the color of your dreams,

It is not living, it is not living.

Or play the game existence to the end.

Of the beginning, of the beginning.

Of the beginning, of the beginning.

~The Beatles "Songbook"

1969

Thank you, Vanessa, for hosting this simply amazing Halloween extravaganza!!

Happy Haunting,
Nance

Altered Photos

I really like playing around with vintage photos. This technique is really quite simple, but will only work with photos processed by Snapfish. I tried other photo processing companies, and it won't work. The emulsion will not soften with other companies. You simply immerse your photo into warm water for a couple of minutes, slightly dry, and etch the surface with an awl. You can scratch it with a Scotch scrubbing pad, or put things underneath and rub your image to create. I used watercolor pencils to add colors to the surface for this one. The possibilities are endless!


The photo below was originally orange, and then I color enhanced it in Photoshop. Originally, I was fortunate enough to be able to take a class taught by Nellie Wortman of "Early Morning Thoughts." She happily showed us some of the techniques described in an exciting book by Karen Michel called "The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery." Another really great book called "Mixed Emulsions" by Angela Cartwright will also rock your world.


Here's to taking your photo passions to a new level of discovery!