Cigar Bands Continued!

OK! Crisis averted! Everyone's home now. A little wetter, but safe and sound! So fun to go jump a car in the rain! Back to the Cigar bands...

When I was struggling at first to find images to use on an ATC, all I could think of was the wrinkly, sun-dried ladies with the big, fat cigars. I found several great images of them, but did not really end up using those. I was trying to think of ways to make my own images and, of course, photos came to mind! I asked my daughter if she would do a "photo shoot" for me and just as we were getting ready to do it her friend happened to come over, so they both did it for me. I got some really great shots and we had fun stinking up the backyard with the cigar (outdoor lighting and trying to keep the stink out of the house!) My daughter is the Blond-Veronica, and her friend is Stella.

The first one here has an image of tobacco growing in the field, a Dominican Republic postage stamp (image), a photo of my daughter and her friend, the band, some more tobacco leaves and some cut out coins from another band just like the one included. I printed the photo very small in black and white on plain printer paper, and distressed it a little with some brown ink and it ended up looking like a newspaper clipping to me. I'll definitely keep that in mind for future works.

The last one, on the right, was done using a bit of the band from the cigar that I bought for the photos. This was a picture that I was thinking" wow it's too bad that came out blurry", but everyone who saw it really liked it. They said it really looked like they had been "caught" and the more I thought about it the more I liked that idea. I happened to have a crown stamp that is almost exactly the same as the crown on the label and then I added the rub-ons from SU! and the result, I think, looks like an ad for the cigar brand. "Smoke these! They're Funky, Fresh and Fun!"

Cigar Band ATC swaps

These are the ATC's I made for a Cigar Band challenge in a yahoo group I belong to (ATCs Anonymous) This first one is a blown up image of a hand that was part of a larger image I got from an ad. I knew almost nothing about cigars, don't have any stamps I thought would relate and didn't know where to get images from so I Googled some, got some ideas and then went to a local smoke shop where they let me take pictures in the walk-in humidor! The "smoke" is wisps of cotton pulled off a cotton ball. I thought it looked really cool in this pic! and of course the cigar band itself -which the group leader sent to us to be used in the cards. The red is only the background I laid it on for the photo.

This second one is an image almost straight from Google. I cut her out, created shadows on the background then mounted the image with pop dots for more dimension, added the fake leaf to her scarf and the match and that was pretty much it! I tried to use a burnt match, but they just crumble. :( Lastly added the cigar band of course!

This one is most of the image that I pulled the hand from in the first one. Very simple: Mounted the image on glossy gold cardstock -offset - and added the label! I liked it just as it was, but it seemed too simple. Like I had to make it more my own somehow. So I used a small bit of a larger image stamp. Inked it with Versa Mark and embossed with gold. I didn't want this image to get too busy, so that was it!

This was another image from the net. The smoke swirling around her head made me think of everything bad about smoking and made me also think about other bad habits that might go along with that . The top of her head was not in the picture and I wanted the complete image from the stamp, so I mounted it on black. Not really "professional"-looking, but I guess it's OK. Anyway, clear embossed the skull image from a new SU! set over her face. There's a Jack-o-lantern near the skull's chin and I did not want it there (I didn't want a Halloween card) so she got to smoke her cigar still! (cut from one of the pics I took in the humidor). Added the cigar band and tequila label. I bought some small bottles (like from hotels and airplanes) just for the labels then had to LABEL the bottles with paper when I soaked the labels off! I thought it was kinda cool that both labels have the coin images on them! Debauchery will make you rich? No, you have to PAY for your sins is probably more like it! I like that title too! This one's called "It'll Kill Ya"

Dry-brushed the background green with acrylics, collaged images from the net - men drying tobacco leaves, map of Cuba, Cuban stamp and some dry tobacco leaves off a cigar I bought for the "photo shoot" (which I'll tell you about in a minute), added the cigar band then stamped the "C" (stamped-off first to make sure it would not be opaque) Then outlined it in gold because it came out SO subtle that it wasn't really clear!

Gotta go! I'll have to finish my post later. My daughter has a minor emergency - dead car battery!

Busy summer!

Hi! I AM HERE! It has been a pretty busy summer. Working a lot mostly and weekends spent working on the stuuf that needs to get done all week but doesn't! I have been busy in the "studio" though too! (I still find it hard to call it that-sounds stuffy and self-aggrandizing, but sounds better than "craft room " somehow. I guess I'll just keep using the quotes!) I've been in a couple of ATC swaps recently and have some more to send for another. I also just came from a really awesome blog hop through Stampers United. Start here if you want to play: http://cardsmadebyclaudia.blogspot.com/ They have some awesome blog canday and I've "wasted" my whole morning signing up for blog candy and getting lots of eye candy and ideas along the way! I'll post a couple of the pics now and then I have to go play some more!

pic of the week -

I have been trying to keep my camera handy at all times and I want to do some scrapbooking and do a small book or a few pages about work. We have potluck parties all the time at the clinic where I work and I love the people I work with as well as (most of) the patients. This is my friend/coworker Christine with one of our patients and I just loved the picture they made!

Indoor creativity!

OK, I know I'm a little late, but here's my post from the weekend. OK, not really-we've been SOO busy on the weekends with this landsacaping stuff, but we finally have everything IN and we just need to make sure it all stays wet enough till it grows in a bit. So I just finally got into the studio a little Monday night and tonite again because I promised to make a few things. Here are a few pics of the graduation hat cards I invented last year. I got 2 requests for them this year! They have a pocket inside for a sentiment or a tag or a gift card. Then my friend asked me for a card for her neice's baptism and here is the card I made for that.

The hats are very easy, cut 3 5/8" down the long side of a piece of 8 1/2" by 11" paper then score every 3 5/8" (I use my Scor-Pal... LOVE IT!) Then scor diagonally in the center square and fold on the score lines. You can make it a little more 3-D or tape the diagonal down to create the pocket. To make it into the grad hat I poke a hole in the center and place a shank button in the hole. I secure it with the little doo-dads that hold the buttons on the cards sometimes. I have also used a small piece of wire. Then use pop dots to put you stamped piece inside because of the button shank

3 stamps used are very obscure companies (to me anyway)which I forgot to write down of course! I bought them at Hobby Lobby, I believe. I hope you like them.

no paper art, just garden "art"

Look at me being a good little Blogger and posting weekly! (It's about time!) I haven't had much time to try to get any paper art done this week, I really NEED to, too! I have a couple of occasions to make cards for and a friend at work asked me to make one of my graduation hat cards for her (I HAVE to get that DONE-darnit!) I never posted those last year-I'll have to do that. Or just the new one. A couple of people actually PAID me to make those last year! Anyway, the focus for the last week has been on landscaping and I haven't been in the studio until tonite when I got a new wireless printer that I can print my photos on. WhooHoo! I really want to start incorporating some of my own family vintage photos into some things and I can hardly wait! I HATE that it's already 11:28 on Sunday night and I have to get up and spend 10 hours at work tomorrow! I have so little left of the day to play :( Any way, I am posting pics of some of the yard. I promise? to try to get some NEW art on here next week! We are completely re-doing the front of the house. My daughter's boyfriend works in landscaping and he's helping us with it along with some of his friends to get some work on the side. They worked really hard to get 8 bushes pulled out. I cut them all down to stumps first-they were really overgrown! Then I'm also posting a pic of the spring garden coming to life and my favorite, the "pic-of-the-week", is one of my yellow tulips after it had rained all day.

Craft it Forward...

I found this on http://ckchai.blogspot.com/ and thought it was a really cool idea! Read on...
Craft it Forward
Chance upon this on Black River Designs' Blog and I find this interesting... Not sure if there will be people interested in my hand made stuff though...The first three people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!2- What I create will be just for you.3- It’ll be done this year.4- You have no clue what it’s going to be.5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Craft it forward idea from Kiwi