Yo Ho Ho!

It seems everyone is into pirates now, so here\'s a birthday card made for a young boy. The Obscure range seems to be perfect for all kinds of masculine cards. All materials used are the Obscure range, except the coin charm (origin unknown) and Roxie stamps from Love Elsie. I have cut a hat and attached a chipboard skull with bones that have been painted with buff and gold acrylics. The palm tree is a ribbon (attached with the double tape) and leaves cut out of paper. There are several other chipboard elements that were painted and attached to the card. The map was rolled and a ribbon attached to it, the edges inked to get a distressed look.

My little flower LO/Arty Girlz challenge Flowers

I am not a flower person, and very rarely use them on cards or LOs, and this one is a rare for me LO with flowers all over the place. My little flower is of course my baby. This photo was taken over five years ago, in New Haven CT. I think the paper and textile flowers match the blue of my blouse and an abundance of cornflowers in the background. I remember it was a hot day.
The chipboard heart and letters were painted with powder blue acrylic and decorated with 3d paints. I also added some 3d dots to the flowers.

Here's a link to the Arty Girlz blog.
http://artygirlzchallengeblog.blogspot.com/

Dragonfly catcher tag

This is a tag I made recently for a swap on a theme Wings.
I have chosen a poem by a Japanese poetess Chiyojo (1703-1775)(another spelling of her name is Chiyo Ni) selected and translated into English by Daniel C.
Buchanan in his book "One Hundred Famous Haiku" (1973).

Dragonfly catcher,
How far have you gone today
In your wandering?

This is a beautiful and poignant poem, which was composed after her only son died, who was fond of hunting dragonflies.
I painted the little boy with acrylic, so that the leaf is seen through his body, as he is not a real boy, but a dream, a vision from the past. He is wandering in the fields of memory of his mother hunting dragonflies. After all these centuries you can still feel the pain and melancholy.

Papers used: BG and a wallpaper sample

Circle of friends gift

This is my little trinket box made for a circle of friends swap.
I have painted the Sirin bird with watercolour, inks and acrylics and then used a varnish.
Varnish has slightly changed the colour to the lighter shade.
This is the best photo I could do, and I took a zillion. My camera totally refused to co-operate on this occasion.

Sirin is a mythological creature of Russian legends, with the head and chest of a beautiful woman and the body of a bird (usually an owl). According to the myth, they lived "in Indian lands" near Eden or around the Euphrates River.

To read more about Sirin bird, follow the link below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirin
However, the Wikipedia is slightly wrong. It was good luck to encounter Sirin, the bird of joy and happiness, and/or hear its song. However, meeting a bird called Alkonost was a harbinger of sad things to come.

Chipboard challenge at Caardvarks

Here are two cards, totally different in style and mood (one card is removed by me)
One was made for a young girl's birthday, and the person who asked me to make the card wanted a name of the girl on it. The chipboard letters were untreated, and I have painted them over with the acrylic paint. And I also did a party hat (horror! horror! lol)
The second card was made with a PaperArtsy stamp and BG papers. The ribbon was painted over with the 3d paint. Here I used a ready made chipboard word (PM).

Treasure box for Sasha

The Obscure range of papers and chipboard has a very masculine feeling about it, so my immediate thought was to create a treasure box for a boy to keep little bits and bobs. I had an old wooden Sachertorte box from Vienna for ages, and finally it was a time to do something with it. I have painted it with a powder blue acrylic inside and outside, and after it was dry, I made a collage of Obscure paper (6x6 size pad) and Undressed chipboard, which has been painted with powder blue, gold and buff tintanium acrylics. I have also attached two pieces of ribbon to the top with the double-sided tape (one ribbon comes from Obscure collection, another - Urban couture). The same methods were used to decorate the sides of the box. I also used Technique Tuesday/Pieces of Puzzle stamps to stamp several words on the sides...

Caardvarks Micro Challenge/Russian Dream

I liked the idea of a mini-card. The 3d face is painted with acrylics, and the headdress is painted with 3d paints.
Papers: BG

Dolls card

It was a birthday card for a forum friend.
The Venetian dolls are my own artwork.
Stickers used: Jenni Bowlin

Pure challenge

Materials used:
Karen Foster Coral Reef paper
Frances Meyer Deep Sea Bubbles paper
BG blue paper
Rubbadubbadoo Beach block stamp
Technique Tuesday Pieces of Puzzle stamp/ and tiles
Junkitz transparency tag
Embellishment stickers for scrapbooking
Tulip 3-d paint

This is one of my favourite photos of Sasha enjoying the swimming pool last August. It was a pure joy for us all to see him so confident and happy.
I liked the coral reef paper so much, and didn't want to cover it, so just highlighted some bits and details with the 3d paint.

Vintage babies

I love rummaging through the albums of photo cards at the antique market, and these two little guys caught my eye. The sweet melody baby card has been stamped in 1909.

A melancholic birthday boy has a cute verse next to him "The world is fairer, the world more gay, For friendly wishes Received today", and the text on the back made my eyes fill with tears. It is written by a little boy to his Mummy, and he added more than fifty x-s at the end of his message, bless him.

I made these cards for two forum friends, and hope they liked them.