12 Days of Ornaments - Days 9-12

I've neglected posting the cute remaining ornaments from the LBH 12 Days of Ornaments, so here's a catch-up of the last four days.

Day 9

Pretty Paper Ornaments

Designed by me!

Day 10

Chalkboard Block Ornaments

Designed by Dee Dee Roe

Day 11

Snowman Shutter Ornament

Designed by Tracy Pounds

Day 12

Santa and Angel Altered Paintbrush Ornaments

Designed by Lynette Chiles

Have you enjoyed this year's ornaments? They certainly fill our little tree at the Little Blue House and look so festive!

A full tutorial for each ornament is posted on The Little Blue House blog so be sure to check them out. Component kits for several of the ornaments are also available at the store.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone - enjoy your families and great food tomorrow and give thanks for all your blessings!

12 Days of Ornaments - Day 8 - Glitz and Sparkle!

Another member of the LBH Media Team, Valerie Bishop, designed and created these darling sparkly tree ornaments today.  The photo doesn't do them justice as they are very glittery and gold!  

Check out the LBH blog for a full tutorial on how to make these cute burlap trees. What I like most is that you can use up some of those one-of-a-kind little trinkets and bits of special ribbons you've been hoarding!

Only a few ornaments to go... Hope you're enjoying these pretties!

DLP Project - Week 45

November's theme - Stencils, Stamps and Masks

Week 45 - November 7

Art Challenge: Stencils, Made or Bought

Journal Prompt: On the edge of uncertainty ... what are you afraid of?

The art challenge was right up my alley this week as I love using stencils and building up layers with them. But the journal prompt??? These always make me stop and think... Many this year have been very challenging!

I started out with turquoise acrylic paint and the "reduction" technique with a stencil. You lay a stencil over the paint while still damp and use a baby wipe or wet paper towel to rub off the paint through the stencil. This gives a lot of texture and interest to that first layer.

Then I used a slightly darker ink pad and rubbed through the same stencil giving more texture.

Then came a diluted wash of a violet paint. At this point I hated it! But journal pages usually go through many transformations as layers are added so I kept going, though I must admit I was toying with the idea of tearing out the page and starting over!

I decided it needed to be lightened so added white paint through a small squares stencil, then darkened by a small circle stencil and very dark midnight blue paint.

I added the scalloped border (also a stencil) with white paint as well as the feather stencil with white.

For the prompt I decided that when things are uncertain or you are afraid of something, it's best to just  "Be brave...Dare to fly". These letters were cut out of a catalog and glued on. Because of the word "fly," the bird just had to go on the spread - it's also a stencil. 

Some outlining with black Stabilo pencil and a water brush and a white pen and I called it done!

Day #7 Ornament

We're back today with two more beautiful ornaments.

These were created by Nadine Carlier, one of the LBH Media Team members. She used an image transfer technique and has a video tutorial over on the LBH blog.

Visit the blog, watch her tutorial and leave her some comments. If you are local, you should stop by the store to see how pretty our tree is decorated with all these fun ornaments!

Day 6 - LBH "!2 Days of Ornaments"

These are the darling little clothespin clip-on ornaments Kristyn McElroy created for Day #6. Aren't they adorable and so many variations! Not only would they be cute on your tree, but they could be used alone on a shelf or even attached to a frame.

The full tutorial is over on the LBH blog and, while you're there, be sure to leave a comment - you might be the lucky winner!

We're already halfway through the 12 days - what other cute ornaments will be featured?

12 Days of Ornaments - Day 4 and Day 5

I'm a bit behind in posting these, but here are the fabulous LBH ornaments from today and yesterday.

 Day 4

Burlap Snowflake Ornament

This pretty rustic ornament was created by Susan Liles. 

Day 5

Colorburst Medallions

And these beautiful ornaments were created by Tracy Pounds using Color Bursts Powdered Pigments. They remind me of stained glass windows!

Check out the tutorials for both ornaments on the LBH blog and leave comments for a chance to win one of them!

Day 3 - 12 Days of Ornaments

Check out Rhonda's darling wooden tree ornaments on the LBH blog today. Love them!

And leave a comment to be entered to win one of these cuties!

Hope you're enjoying our ornaments.

Day 2 - 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments

 Stop by the LBH blog today to see these darling ornaments created by Vicki Chrisman. 

Aren't they adorable? There are full instructions in case you'd like to replicate them.

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas - Day #1 of LBH "12 Days of Christmas"

At least in my craft room! Last week was spent finishing up class projects for our Christmas feature at The Little Blue House and today begins our annual "12 Days of Ornaments" blog feature. Each day a new ornament will be posted by one of the LBH gals, complete with a tutorial on how to create it.

My ornament is the first up! I created this little box ornament with photos of my grand boys. I also made one without photos for the giveaway. As an added bonus, it opens and can hold a little gift!

You can see the full tutorial here on the LBH blog.  I even created a custom Silhouette cut file for the base which you can access for free over there as well.

"Memories" Photo Ornament

Be sure to post comments there as one lucky commenter each day will win that day's ornament! 

"12 Days of Ornaments" Blog Feature coming tomorrow!

Join us on the LBH blog for the next 12 days for a different ornament tutorial each day! 

And, I'm first up! So meet me here as well as on the LBH blog tomorrow to see what I have created!

Documented Life Project - Week 44

Week 44 - Oct. 31

October Theme - Translucent Papers

Art Challenge: Tea Bags, Dryer Sheets, Fibrous Papers

Journal Prompt: Just Create

So this was for last week and we were still doing the October theme even though it was the end of the month (the challenges are posted on the Saturday before the week). One more week of translucent papers - this time tea bags, dryer sheets and fibrous papers.

I started with collaging tea bags and fibrous papers on my background. I'm glad I took these photos as none of this can be seen in the final spread except possibly a tiny bit of texture here and there!

Then I added a thin coat of white gesso to unify all the pieces.

From there I just started adding layer upon layer of paints scraped on, painted with my fingers, sponged through stencils and "stamped" with a bottle cap (circles) and edge of a gift card (lines). (Sorry, no photos as I got into the zone!)

For the flower stems I painted horizontal black stripes on a sheet of old book paper and cut into vertical strips. The flower centers are circles cut out of dryer sheets that I Mod Podged together, dried and then painted. I machine-stitched the outer edges. Once they were glued down I painted the petals with black paint and added white with a paint pen. For the leaves I glued painted dryer sheets to book pages and handout leaves. They are also machine-stitched down the centers.

I used Dyan Reaveley's alpha stamp set for the title and outlined with a white Signo pen.

I had fun creating this spread, especially since there was no specific prompt other than to "just create." I'm looking forward to the November theme!

Documented Life Project - Week 43

Week 43 - Oct. 24

October Theme - Translucent Papers

Art Challenge: Glassine

Journal Prompt: Windows of my Mind

This is my spread for Week 43. I actually finished it over a week ago but never had time to post. (Busy creating projects for our Christmas Open House tomorrow!)

I started the background with collaged music paper and scraped paints over. Then I randomly made lots of marks with stencils, paints and spray mists. The circles are punched from copies of old backgrounds and I painted white blocks for the days of the week journaling.

No, I cannot draw but I had recently purchased this wonderful face stamp from Stampendous. I stamped her on the page and then used paints and colored pencils to color her. I extended her hair.  The feathers is a stamp that came with the face which I stamped twice on a piece of glassine envelope, colored with pencils and cut out. I then added Stickles over which made the glassine curl but it gives some dimension to the page.  I splattered alcohol inks on another piece of glassine and cut it into a circle to fit into the sketchy circle die cut to kinda represent inside my mind.  I have always loved the quote "Sometimes there was a storm inside her brain" and never had an occasion to use it but thought it fit the "window of my mind" for this page.

Here are a few closeups.

Documented Life Project - Week 42

I'm back from visiting the grandbabies for Halloween and jumping into designing and creating for Christmas! Our Holiday Open House will be next week so lots to do before then!

I'm caught up on the Documented Life pages except for last week! Here's the spread for the week of October 17, still using the theme of translucent papers.

Week 42 - Oct. 17

Art Challenge: Vellum

Journal Prompt: Sheer Genius

I'm happy that vellum is making a comeback - it's fun stuff to work with. I dug out some old vellum sheets from my stash and even found some printed vellum I'd been saving (pansies). I wanted this spread to be light and airy so I used watercolors sparingly on the background, taking my color inspiration from the printed pansies. Have you ever tried leaving white space? It's really hard for a mixed media artist who loves texture and lots of mediums!

I stamped the butterflies with several colors of Brilliance ink - this is one of the few inks that dry well on vellum.  My ink pads are really old so I was pleasantly surprised that they still were juicy and stamped well.  I used Graphite Black which is a pretty grayish black with gold in it as well as Pearlescent Purple and Violet. The Brilliance colors are beautiful - wonder why you never hear of them now.

I stamped on the background where I wanted to adhere my butterflies and attached them only along their bodies so they would be dimensional and lift off the page. I also stamped more butterflies randomly over the background.

I used an old frame stamp for the days and computer generated the quote ("Only as high as I reach can I grow, Only as far as I seek can I go, Only as deep as I look can I see, Only as much as I dream can I be.") which was all I could come up with for the prompt.

I glued on small areas of pearl glass glitter to give the background some bling and used Wink of Stella in the centers of the flowers.