Soartful: Bathing Beauty

Bathing Beauty

I live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and

Hurricane Irene is going by off shore. No damage done

to us so far. I will have to do some yard clean up when it is over.

The yard is littered with small branches and twigs.

It is still raining heavily and it is pretty windy.

When looking for images I found a lot of

Mack Sennett bathing beauties.

I should go beach combing when this is over. I bet a lot

of goodies washed up on shore.

Enjoy using the photo in your art piece or just let it

inspire you when you create your own

Bathing Beauty.

To all of you in the storm's path, stay safe.

Jeanette
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I was inspired by the vintage image when I went searching through my clip art collection.
The image used on this postcard is from a vintage postcard. ;O)
Pattern paper is DCWV One Upon a Time (Mat Stack).
Inks are Stampin'Up!

Soartful: Victorian Amusements

Welcome back to another week at Soartful.
I have another Victorian theme for your this week.
Victorian Amusements
I love these beautiful Carousel horses.
The word carousel comes from the Italian word carosello (meaning "little war"). Carosello was a 12th-century game played by the Arabs and Turks, on horseback, using scented balls tossed from one to another. Anyone missing a catch was readily identified by the perfume they were doused with when the scented ball broke on impact.
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I dug out my long ignored Snow Globe stamp set (Stampin' Up!) and made this ATC.
I used 3D Crystal Lacquer to make the 'Globe' after I had stamped and colored the Carousel Horse. I also mixed Glitter in the wet 3DCL. I swirled it around 1 side and over the Horse.
The 2nd picture shows the 'floating' Glitter a bit better. (Click on pic to make it larger.)
Background is off a Collage Sheet shared on the Collage Images Flickr Group.
Inked the torn paper and Background.

Don't miss out on your chance!
400th Post BLOG CANDY:
HERE

Soartful: Victorian Romance

Victorian Romance

I love Victorian Valentines.
They are filled with love, beauty and romance.

During the late 1800’s, handmade Valentines were elaborately crafted from paper lace, ribbons and delicate die-cut paper. Embellishments like gold and silver gilt and soft pastels along with the traditional pink and red gave each Valentine card a romantic air. Some of the most popular designs included bouquets of flowers, lovely young ladies and charming young children with ringlets of curls. There were also plenty of Valentine cards featuring hearts, cupids and love birds.

The Victorians didn't skimp on the extras on their Valentine cards and by the turn of the century they could purchase manufactured cards that were true marvels. Details might include embossing, scalloped edged, die-cut lace, watercolors, honeycomb detailing or intricately engineered pop-up versions that could be proudly displayed on the mantel.

Victorian ladies sent Valentine cards to their dearest friends and young swains would send them to the girls they admired in hopes of winning their hearts. Married couples always exchanged Valentine greetings, as did family members.

Written by Joanmarie Moccia

Victoria's Jewelry Box

My Soartful challenge for you this week is to celebrate

Valentine's Day with your own creation of love, beauty and romance.
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I decided to use the provided image as the center for my Card.
Shapes were cut out with the Creative Memories System, inked then stacked 3 layers deep.
Paper Doily was a plain white one I rubbed with gold ink them Heat Embossed.
Stamp sentiment is Stampin' Up!
Paper and Foil embellishments are K&Company.
Silver Glass Beads are $ Store attached with 3D Crystal Lacquer.

Soartful Challenges: Edwardian Era

I thought this week we would explore the

Edwardian Era

The Edwardian era corresponds with the reign of King Edward VII, whose short-lived governance (1901-1910) preceded the modern House of Windsor in England. The "Edwardian" style broadly encompasses the years of 1901 through 1919. One author described the Edwardian era in the following vein: "The end of the century brought the dawning of a new age and a new attitude toward life. It was an era when social differences dissipated and the mores, customs, and expectations of the citizenry came together." The Edwardian era was a historical moment of tremendous technological and social change. The wonders of the modern world, which had only sprang into being in the 1880s and 1890's, brought the first rewards of modern industrialization and mass-produced abundance. Americans during the Edwardian age experienced new-found wealth and indulged in cuisine, fashion, entertainment and travel as never before. Perhaps the Edwardian era was best captured in the Titanic, the grand ocean liner which embodied the human progress, opulence, and excesses of the time. The Edwardian era is aptly remembered as the "Gilded Age." excerpt from Eras of Elegance

Be inspired and create you own interpretation of the

Edwardian Era.
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I decided to follow along the Titanic line for my Postcard.
I found some vintage Ephemera Clip-art online
and the young lady is from my laptop stash.
Pattern Paper: DCWV

S0artful: Pink Christmas

Pink Christmas

I found this image all over the web when I was looking

for a pretty pink Christmas tree.

It is from the short lived magazine by Martha Stewart called

Blueprint: Design Your Life

A Lifestyle Magazine for Women

I love this look but I don't think I'm brave enough to

use this in my home.

This image is for your inspiration. You are welcome to use it

in your design but it isn't necessary. I'd love to see where a

Pink Christmas takes your creative spirit.

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lol... I'm no braver!
I am but a single estrogen carrying entity in a house with 5 testosterone carrier...
I use PINK as a defense mechanism.
For example my Pink Dell LapTop the boyz thing is 'gross'.
GOOD! I think it's gross too but if it keep 'em away from my sh-tuff, I can live with that.
I started this wee card with a pre-done base I got in a prize bag. Sprayed it with 2 different pink glimmer mists. Then stamped in brown using the Close to my Heart: Vintage Christmas set.
Added some min-brads and a strip of bling.
Pink-mas!

soartful Challenges: Collage

I want to try something a bit different this week.

Collage isn't new but having the choice of images to use is

a bit different here.

This week I'm giving you 3 images to work with

and I would like to see you use at least 2 of these in a

Collage.

Here are the images that I collected at the wonderful

Graphics Fairy

Add any other images for your collage that you would like to use.

But, please use at least two images from this group.

Have fun and enjoy being Soartful this week.
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In honor of 'Pretend to be a Time Traveller Day' (on FaceBook) coming up December 8th...
I went that a way with my Postcard.
I used the Drape and the Birdcage.
Lovely images!!!

Soartful Challenges: Thankful

Fall is my favorite season of the year and

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

I have so much to be thankful for.

I have been blessed with a wonderful

family, friends and reasonably good health.

This week at Soartful I'd like to celebrate my

favorite holiday.

I decided to use the 1st inspiration image, the young lady.
I glimmer misted and inked a 4'X6' of paper (DCWV Once Upon a Time Mat Stack) and added a vellum quote (DCWV Holiday Vellum Booklet) and brads.
I found another vintage image... American Thanksgiving table which I collaged on along with the young lady. Light inking over it all to blend the elements together.

Soartful Challenge: Fall Background

This week we have a

Fall Background
for your inspiration.

Alas my printer is being a bit of a Diva... though I know it has ink still it's refusing to print so I decided to make my own Fall Background rather than miss out.
I used the Stampin'Up! Pumpkin Patch Spectrum pad and the Autumn Leaves stamp set for the background. I created a mixed background with the Skeleton Leaves, then mounted it on some leaf patterned paper. Inking all the edges in a warm Mustard Yellow.
This is still one of my all time favorite stamp sets.
I then stamped the vines with Basic Grey stamps from the Halloween set.
The Pumpkins are from the Carved & Candlelit set by SU! I coated the pumpkins in 3D Crystal Lacquer to make them 'pop'.
Voila!

Flurry of activity here today... (long)

For those that follow along you know that my 3rd son has some serious medical mental issues.

We've come to the 'wall' on this, which means our *last* option is something called '6 North' at our local Children's Hospital. It's a 3-4 week in-patient program. They will strip him of all medications and observe, test etc... all in hopes of coming back with a clearer diagnosis and *knock on wood* some better treatment/medication options.
We were told we would be doing pre-stuff soon and then admitting would be in the new year. Apparently not.
I received a call Thursday and part way through I got the jist of it... He would be getting admitted THIS Monday (tomorrow). It turns out he was red-flagged through because of the Emergency Room trip we made when he was put on a disastrous combo of meds and subsequently tried to kill himself (almost 2 years ago). Things move slow here... I'm stunned this moved as quick as it did, but Thankful.
He will be there Sunday nights through to Friday evening, then we pick him hisup to come home Friday & Saturday nights... for 3 weeks, maybe 4. That means he'll still be in for his Birthday. :O( and quite possibly getting released the day before Our Wedding.
William is all cool with this. He packed his bag all by himself: 5 days clothes, stuffies, blanket, books and his Art Pad (my kid!). He thinks it's a big sleepover. He's 7 years old and he's more prepared than I am.
Mum, she's not doing so good.
We ALL need this to happen but I'm so sad that it's come to this.
I'll be leaving a part of my heart behind at the hospital.

Tonight I settled in a with a rare but much needed glass of wine in the Studio instead of watching the clock tick by. I got 3 challenge pieces done:


Kard Krazy: Tag Tuesday Challenge -- Scrapbook a Tag

Today's challenge evolves from a Family Heritage Album I've been working on. It got me thinking about creating a tag I could use as an embellishment for my album page and then became an idea for this week's theme.
So create a tag as you would a scrapbook page -- use a photo, add a background, a title, journal on it. Basically tell a story with your tag. The theme can be anything you'd like it to be. And this week it can be on paper (which I know will be a relief for many of you:)

I decided to 'scrap' the 3 newest pictures sent to us from our Betrothal Handfasting Ceremony last year.
Another excuse to drag out the Celtic stamps!

Soartful Challenge: Goddess

Our next stop is Greek mythology and
Goddess
Enjoy the inspiration photo
Take it to use in your artwork or just use it for your inspiration.
Thanks for joining me at Soartful.

I made a Domestic Goddess (my fav! lol) I used a FREE Art Doll Template.
Gluing the parts to magazine pictures and cutting them out.
Laundry, cooking, groceries, family, lists, calender keeper... it's ALL there.

4x4 Friday: Spooky Bingo
Palma has done it again - 4x4 art, a feast for spooky fans! I wasn't quite sure if this should go under the theme of spooky or Bingo, but combining the two makes for a fun challenge! Thank you, Palma! Be sure to check out this lovely on her blog.

What a fun topic! A thinker fer sure...
I went with a sh-exy version.

Tuesday Taggers: Inspired by a Poem
I love using poetry as inspiration for my artwork and I wondered how many more poems there are out there that could inspire creativity, so that's the challenge for this week. Use a poem to inspire your crafting. As usual you can create anything you wish, with any stash as long as it has reference to a poem

I just loooooove Walt Whitman so I knew just WHO I was heading to for a poem.
I made this free-standing display.
The image is from Ceremony Share.
I mounted Pattern Paper of Heavy Cardboard and trimmed the 2 even rectangles. I heavily inked all the edges to give it a time worn look.
The lace is attached with Scor-Pal adhesive strips.

Soartful: Whimsy
Welcome to another week at Soartful Challenges.
This week I have a bit of Whimsy for you

whim·sy

 

–noun, plural -sies.

1.

capricious humor or disposition; extravagant, fanciful, or excessively playful

expression: a play with lots of whimsy.

2.

an odd or fanciful notion.

3.

anything odd or fanciful; a product of playful or capriciousfancy: a whimsy from

an otherwise thoughtful writer.

Oh... you should of guessed I would go SteamPunk. lol
4X4, clip-art background embellished with an Airplane & Cog'n'Gear Stamps.
I took a different Flying Pig image than the one posted and have him Brass Goggles and proper Gentleman's Top Hat.
If Pigs are going to Fly, they should at least do it in style!

Soartful and 4X4 Friday....

I spent most of last night working on DT sh-tuff but when I took a break... lol,
I made a few things of my own. :O)

Welcome back to another Inspiration Challenge at Soartful.

You are always free to use all or part of the image provided.

Be inspired by this week's theme:

Victorian Vignette

vi·gnette (vn-yt)

n.

1. A decorative design placed at the beginning or end of a book or chapter of a book or along the border of a page.

2. An unbordered picture, often a portrait, that shades off into the surrounding color at the edges.

3.

a. A short, usually descriptive literary sketch.

b. A short scene or incident, as from a movie.

tr.v. vi·gnet·ted, vi·gnet·ting, vi·gnettes

1. To soften the edges of (a picture) in vignette style.

2. To describe in a brief way.

I found this lovely image at Victorian Vignettes

Maritha did some minor altering to the original image.

"This back of a scrap card is so beautiful that it could almost have been the front. It is quite tarnished around the borders, but that kind of adds to its charm rather than ruining it, I think. (I have boldly removed the original contents of the circle and I also manipulated its color a bit to make it easier for you to put your own text or whatever there.) It comes from an 1880's scrapbook."

I can't wait to see how this beautiful card back inspires you.

This is what I did with this lovely... lovely piece:
Greg and I at Christmas last year.
The photographer made sure to get the Engagement Ring in there...
so this is the closest thing we have to an Engagement Photo.
Stamps are from Close to My Heart.

4x4 Friday: A Touch of Glitter

Make a bit of a shine this week by adding some glitter to your 4x4! :) Enjoy!

Free Digi-Stamp from:
Digital Two for Tuesday
So it seems even the Fairies like a little sometin' sometin' that sparkles!
I just helped the baubles along with a wee bit'o'extra Glitter.
Markers are Stampin'Up!
Sky painted over with Blue Glimmer Mist.

Soartful: Proud as a Peacock!

Soartful Challenges: Proud as a Peacock

I made a Postcard for this challenge...
I loved the soft, washed colors in the inspiration piece and made it mine.
I used a Free Digi-Stamp I had in my collection, started by using Pearl Ex to color the gold tail dots and beak, blue for the body...
Then I went over that with Stampin'Up! Markers.
Then I brushed the whole image over with White Pearl Ex.
It was a lot of layers but the final effort was worth it... it looks like much better In Real Life.
Camera never photos shimmer & sheen well.
Mounted finished image on Glimmer Misted Chine Script (another digi-stamp) then mounted that on handmade paper and finally black Card Stock.

4... 4X4's!

ahhh... a much needed break in the 'addressing wedding invitations' stage of the game.
I swear if I'd had to seal 1 more envelope tonight... well, it wouldn't have been pretty. lol
I decided to take my break to make some 4X4's...

Oh Alice! Chapter 24 - Windows and Broken Glass

`Now tell me, Pat, what's that in the window?'
`Sure, it's an arm, yer honour!' (He pronounced it `arrum.')
`An arm, you goose! Who ever saw one that size? Why, it fills the whole window!'
`Sure, it does, yer honour: but it's an arm for all that.'
`Well, it's got no business there, at any rate: go and take it away!'
There was a long silence after this, and Alice could only hear whispers now and then; such as, `Sure, I don't like it, yer honour, at all, at all!' `Do as I tell you, you coward!' and at last she spread out her hand again, and made another snatch in the air. This time there were TWO little shrieks, and more sounds of broken glass. `What a number of cucumber-frames there must be!' thought Alice. `I wonder what they'll do next! As for pulling me out of the window, I only wish they COULD! I'm sure I don't want to stay in here any longer!'
Hello friends...it's CRYSTAL CLEAR that today you're all joining us for a fabulous challenge here at Oh, Alice! We have all sorts of lovely techniques for you to try today!
Your mission today with Oh, Alice, should you choose to accept it, is to try a technique using cracked glass, crystal effects (or glossy accents), or a window stamp/technique.

ha! Never *tried* to take 'bad' pictures before...
I took a couple at a bad angle to show the glare off the window panes.
This is a 3 layer 4X4...
The Parlour is the bottom layer, mounted on Cereal Box board.
Then Alice, also on CB Board.
Then finally the Window, also on CB Board.
I cut the panes out of the Window so I could fill them with 3D Crystal Lacquer.
I love using Cereal boxes for this kind of thing...
not as deep as Chip Board but still a good depth to 'fill up'.

4x4 Friday: Raining Daisies
Whether sunny or otherwise, let's celebrate daisies this week before they give themselves to autumn days. Enjoy!

I just loved this quote... so true!
Daisy is a small snip of a much larger picture.
Whole project is lightly Glimmer Misted, doesn't show well in the picture.
I printed the Daisy picture, misted, then reprinted to the quote.



Soartful Challenges
This week's theme is
Dragonfly
"Images of dragonflies are common in Art Nouveau, especially in jewelry designs. They also appear in posters by modern artists such as Maeve Harris. They have also been used as a decorative motif on fabrics and home furnishings.
Wikipedia

That would be my fiance's foot. lol
We were up at a water-park when this lil'guy landed on his foot.
I am so happy for an excuse to use this picture... one of our favorites!
Quote is a Stampin'Up! Stamp.



Lots To Do: The Scenic Route
This week we are going to take the Scenic Route - make whatever you wish using the theme as your inspiration Put a your piece in your blog and then leave us a link.

Another beautiful shot... from my overloaded clip-art stash.
Quote is a Close to My Heart Stamp.
A good reminder to us all...
Take the Scenic Route and just enjoy!