Here we are this Happy Valentine's Day!! :0) Covered in WHITE! This is a shot of our house...shoveling the driveway onto those mounds is NOT easy......and then the other view is facing East and that is LAKE MICHIGAN this morning at the end of our block! Somewhat gray...today,but still an awe inspiring beautiful thing to wake up to each day! Those ducks are happy....they are in the little opening left to the pond that is in the parkway as I drive Amber to school! The one WHITE duck is an escapeY from a farm we think! The wild ducks are starting to accept him now! :0) Anyways, hope everyone has a love filled Valentine's Day! <3

These are 4"x4" pages for a swap on a yahoo group! The face is a transparency, stitched over foreign text, red and pink mulberry papers (Red and Pink is the theme this month) with some added stamping, and flower and brads! The words are also stamped from a large rubber stamp from Stampin' Up..and cut apart and added! These colors just get one in the mood for Valentine's day! <3

Two more simple Rak back cards for friends that I needed to catch up on! I love that sweet image of the two kids! Vintage images are such fun to work with! Basic Grey papers area favorite of mine and some sweet swirl stamps to finish it off!!!!

Here are two more Mothies for a Swap! Create 2 and get 2 back! This is Faith and Hope. Hope is light colored and more unusual for me, and yet my daughter Amber likes her best! She said she makes her see the sunshine...so I put a sun on her as well! I will upload a picture of Amber....under a blanket today, you will see why she is yearning for the sunshine!!! Brrrrrrrr! Hehehehe! We are still so vvvvvvery cold here, it is not nice!!!!! Blankets are our best friends!!!!!

This was an especially challenging swap for me! We received a grab bag of material from an unknown swap player. We were to take the items and create an art quiltie, whatever inspired us with what came in the baggie and we also could add a certain percentage of our own items, no smaller than 18x18 inches and no bigger than 24x24"! In my bag came this wonderful picture of the woman's Great Grandparents! It was printed on fabric, you can see the bag in the shots here! And their names where given and that the picture was taken in Slovenia! So from that, I went with my idea! They are sitting in the tree...with wings and the moon behind them is the map of Slovenia! I did free motion quilting on it, hand drew the tree and added all sorts of little touches until my muse told me to stop! It was fabulous and scary at the same time! We included an artist statement with the quiltie when we were told who to mail back to! This helped them see the process we went through and the thoughts that encompassed us as we created the piece for them! It was tremendous fun!
The quote I chose is.......What lies before us, and what lies behind us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us! I also sent a bag of fabric and got back a very wwonderful piece which I will post soon! Hugs,Patti

These are two altered cabinet cards for a Valentine Themed swap. I went with the young men who have their hearts on a young lady in the upper corner....that I sealed into an old finding of metal. The background has been sanded and lots of color applied with inks, and paint too, and papers. The quote on the bottom says........"Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within."

We have this switchplate on our wall when we walk in our door. It has 6 plugs.....and it was completely broken and old looking....you have to special order these if you want a new one, so I decided to collage mine with some fairies and see how that goes! I used napkinsand tissue paper in the background, the images, some fancy "hairy like" off white specialty papers, and then stamped around the edges with a swirl! Amber wanted a little glitz, so I added some rhinestones and metal charms.....now we have a one of a kind outlet! You cannot see the pieces that were broken either! I sealed it with diamond glaze! Fun stuff!!!!!!

Yup, another Moth Fairy for a friend that loves RED! I am loving these little creatures! I hope she will enjoy her new home! :0) She is a bit on the mischeivious side, but I think her new home can handle her! Hehehehe!

I had oogled this arch shaped for a swap that Tina, Belinda(both of their blog links are on my sidebar) and some other talented artists did, and Tina was kind enough to send me a bbbbbeautiful one of my own--you can see it on Tina's blog!!THANK YOU TINA, so I used hers to make a template and created ones in return for her and also for Belinda, who I am trading with! This shape is such fun! I just love it. The purplish page is collaged papers, covered with some purple lumiere paint and stamping in black and brilliance olive and whites.....stamped words are on the circle there on bleached paper I made. The other side is a sweet vintage image , more collaging and stamping and some sewing around the edges! I will mail them soon girls!! Fun!!!!

I have joined a Collaborative Round Robin where we are creating 6"x6" backgrounds onto a matte board and then each one will be sent on to another gal, who will do step 2---creating a focal image and stamping etc. and then to a step 3 person who will embellish it and then it will be sent home! In the round robin, I get to be step 2 and step 3 on two different collages as well! This is gonna be some fun! There are no rules for what you are creating, so you can let your muse work with the background and chose a direction for the piece to go! And when embellishing, you can add dimensional aspects in whatever way you like! I will be sure to show what these turn out like when they return home to me a month or so! ~:0)

Two more sweet Moth Fairies done and will be winging their way to new homes! :0)
These are more of a brown, green and purple tone to them! Fun colors! Anyways, thanks for looking and always, HAPPY SOON TO BE WEEKEND! :0) Hugs,Patti

These are 4x4's for a swap on a yahoo group! The theme is Romance! I cut patterned felt and sewed the couple to heart felt and then stitched them to the collaged paper! I hope you can see the quote! It says, "Love has nothing to do with what you expect to get, it's what you are expected to give which is everything!" The back has my information and another quote. The stamps are clearstamp and I love those swirls!!! :0)

This is another Moth Fairy for Lyn! The back and front views show it pretty well! They are such fun! I am going to add her sparkle, with some crystals and she will be all set to head to Lyn's! :0)

This is an altered cabinet card for a friend.....HI JO! :0) See her link on my artists list......Jo Wholohan! We are doing a one for one swap and she created a beautiful cabinet card with birds for the theme, so I followed her lead and did one with bird items too! I am especially fond of the robin's nest on her head as a hat!!! Heheheeh! The background is done in many colors , some inks, some chalks....and then stamping, and more stamping with brilliance inks......they shine.....like the blue ball flowers at the bottom, and then the addition of images, some dyed cheesecloth by the bottom birds....the round metal at the bottom right has a "J" for Jo on it, you cannot see that very well! The top is a neat finding attached with brads and then blue ribbon so she can hang this is she chooses! Just fun! I hope you like it Jo!!!! :))

I did add some lace and beading on my bag! There are small seed beads along the bottom of the quote ara and some beads along the bottom of the image, along with a few other little things like the red shell buttons and inspire round added in! Making your own bag is great fun!

My good talented friend Laura came over today and we made purses! Hers is oriental style and just gorgeous! Mine is collaged and has a quote on it that says..."Your life either shines a light or casts a shadow." These were great fun to make and I am glad she came over to show me because getting the lining and the handles on was something else! :0) But we managed! To write down some notes!!!! Thanks for a fun day Laura!!!!!!!! <3

This is an altered cabinet card for a swap! The theme is New Year.....could you tell!? Heheheh! He looks like sort of a stiff partier......but with the hat and blower.....well, a partier is he! :0) I sanded the background around the gentleman and then added metallic inks and overstamped with lots of ink and brilliance too! The hat and other specific New Year items are added on top of the card and glued down! The metal clock embellishment is almost on midnight! This was a fun one!

Today I worked on some paper swaps that I have coming this month! I have a monthly Shades of BLUE themed Little Fat Book Page (top) and then ATC's that are themed "Queen of Hearts"! The card is for a friend's sick Mother In Law. All the backgrounds are bleached using stamps and then over stamped and collaged with papers and images and some embellishments added! Happy Sunday everyone! :)

These little moths are inspired by Lesley Riley! I saw them on her site, you can see hers here.....
http://www.lalasland.com/Gypsy.htm
I decided to make a couple for birthday gifts and then one for myself! They were fun! Sweet little art dollies! I sewed a felt body and then added fabrics, lace, charms, and some fibers for hair and then velvet leaves for their mothie wings! Crystals are on their cheeks!
I enjoyed doing these! I am working on a few other things, but they are secret sister swaps and I cannot share them here yet! These are going to friends too, and they have not received them yet, so I hope I do not spoil their surprise.....the thing is.....I don't want you to think I am being a slug and not doing any art! Hehehehe! :0)

These are some birthday cards for friends.....I used bleach for the background....I love that technique and then overstamped and added fun images and some gold foil embellishments! :0)