Domino Book by Creative Team Member Marilyn Miller

Below is a beautiful vintage domino book by Creative Team Member Marilyn Miller.

Click here to see a tutorial on how to make a domino book.

Peace on Earth - Designed for Alpha Stamps

This is the last of the Christmas themed pieces I designed for Alpha Stamps.  To create the base I used small metal hinges to hinge together 3 ATC sized Masonite gothic arches.  The music paper in the background is stamped vellum.  I raised up the center ATC and added lace to the bottom.

Alpha Stamps products used in this piece:

ATC Gothic Arches 

Collage Sheet Holiday Angels

Collage Sheet Angel Musicians

Tiny Curved Hinges

Baroque Scroll with Loop

Gold Dresden Wings

Gold Dresden Halos

Mini Calla Lilies

Peacock Feathered Dress Form

Another piece from my dress form series.

Cameo Images for Your Art

Below are a series of cameo images.  You are free to use these in your art.   The images have a transparent background so you can layer them on other images.  To download an image, click on the image to expand it, right-click and select Save As.

Ethereal Form

The dimensions of piece are 7 ½” x 4 ½”. 

This piece is part of a dress form series I’ve been working on.  I’ll be finishing the rest up over the coming month.

I Do Believe - Window Trinket Ornament Designed for Alpha Stamps

This ornament is another piece that I designed for Alpha Stamps. 

The base is made from a masonite Window Necklace Trinket.  The masonite is 1/8" think and is easy to assemble with just a bit of glue.  The middle piece has two notches to hook the connectors from ball chain into (to turn the trinket into a pendant).  There is a little space between the front of the window and the back to accommodate dimensional objects.  The overall dimensions of the windows are 2” x 1 ¼”.

The image in the window was black and white so I used watercolor pencils to add color.

To give the window a touch of winter, I added snow and icicles.  Click here to see the tutorial on how it is done.

Below is the list of Alpha Stamps products I used in this piece.

·         Window Necklace Trinket

·         CS Santa at the Window

·         CS Santa’s Workshop

·         Swirl Ornament Hook

·         Gold Zig Zag Dresden Borders

·         Stamped Flourishes

·         Large Brass Snowflake with Hole

·         Sliver Chain

Vintage Fan Images for Your Art

Below are a series of vintage fan images.  You are free to use these in your art.   The images have a transparent background so you can layer them on other images.  To download an image, click on the image to expand it, right-click and select Save As.

Mail Art

I made one of these envelopes for each of the girls in the Creative Team.  I started by adding shades of yellows and browns to the blank envelope using Ranger Distress Inks.  Next, I stamped branches, grasses and birds.  I used metallic paints to add flowers, leaves and to color the grass.  Lastly I glued on the image of the woman and the butterflies.   The swirl in the center is just where I digitally blurred the address.

All Peaches and Cream

Blogaversary

Today is the day of my first blogaversary!! 

It was one year ago today when I launched Artfully Musing and now 517 posts later; whew what a year it has been.  I am so grateful to all of you who follow me, be it through Blogger, Email (Feedburner), Pinterest, Facebook etc.  Your comments and support inspire me and my hope is always to inspire you.  Thank you.   I would also like to thank the Creative Team members (Connie, Fran, Julia, Karol, Marilyn, and Naomi) who contribute their art to the blog.  These ladies are also my close friends, art buddies and were instrumental in pushing me to do more with my art.  I’m looking forward to another fabulous year of art and sharing.  I hope you are excited to go with me. 

For today’s post I thought I would take a walk down memory lane and post some of my favorite art pieces from the past year.  For me, looking at these pieces I can see an evolution in my art.  I can see where I decided to try new things (steampunk), abandoned the idea that the art had to be a certain size and just went with the size that worked the best and where I tried new techniques and products.  Who knows what will be next.

Art Nouveau - Glass Art

Faberge Inspired Collage

Closed

Open

Le Courtesan – Altered Cabinet Card

Dress Form

Butterflies Follow Her Everywhere

 Steampunk Owl

Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale

Mermaid Garden

Marie Antoinette Domino Book

High Flyers - Altered Altoids Tin

Fairy Queen

Behind the Garden Wall

 Lost in Time

Ship Ahoy

Voyages Extraordinaires

Witches Apothecary

 

 Witches Mask

Autumn In Paris

This piece is for a swap in the VintagePhotoImageATCs group on Yahoo.  The leaves are made of paper.

Mini House Ornaments Designed for Alpha Stamps

This is a series of mini house ornaments I designed for Alpha Stamps.

The base is made from Masonite shaped houses.  Their overall dimensions are 2” x 2”.  The package comes with four houses that you can decorate individually or hinge them together with metal hinges or a paper to create a book.  One of the Design Team members (Rhonda Secrist) attached them vertically on a ribbon.  I think they are the cutes things and I can see decorating them for other seasons and holidays.

All Snug in Their Beds

Alpha Stamps Products I Used:

·         Mini House Board Book

·         Brown Leaves Beaded Fringe

·         Rootbeer Beaded Fringe

·         Large Brass Snowflake with Hole

·         Star Filigree

·         Tiny Faux Ring Handle

·         CS Snug in their Beds

A Winters Day

Alpha Stamps Products I Used

·         Mini House Board Book

·         Small Fold Over Bail

·         Large Brass Snowflake with Hole

·         Ornate Drop

·         CS Victorian Shoppers

Christmas is Coming

Alpha Stamps Products I Used

·         Mini House Board Book

·         Large Brass Snowflake with Hole

·         Filigree Drop

·         ¼ Inch Sheer Iridescent Ribbon

·         CS Snug in their Beds

It’s not too late to signup (deadline is Nov 6) for the Alpha Stamps “Home for the Holidays” swap where you make and exchange three of these house ornaments.  I’m part of the swap so I’ll be swapping the three ornaments you see above.

Victorian Christmas Toy Shop – Designed for Alpha Stamps

This Christmas Toy Shop is one of the pieces I recently designed for Alpha Stamps.  In the picture above you see the outside of the shop.

 INSIDE - CENTER

The picture above is of the inside of the shop.  The base of the toy shop is made from a chipboard square shrine that you can find at Alpha Stamps.

FRONT – CENTER

The background made from decorative paper that I stamped and embossed with snow patterns.  I added white flocking powder to the base to simulate snow.

The inserts in the door are made of embossed glass slides.  Click here to see a tutorial on how to emboss and paint glass.  Behind the glass is a German Scrap Christmas Tree.  The door is embellished with fold over bails and small fluer connectors.

The nutcrackers are embellished with white flocking powder and glitter.

FRONT – LEFT SIDE

FRONT – RIGHT SIDE

BAY WINDOWS

To create the bay windows I glued together three Masonite gothic windows.  Alpha Stamps sells these and they come in a set of 12 windows with 3 different designs.

I added chipboard to the bottom and the top of the windows for support and to provide a surface for the toys inside the window.  I used white flocking powder and Twinklets Diamond Dust to create the impression of snow and icicles.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TUTORIAL ON "HOW TO ADD SNOW AND ICE TO YOUR PROJECT" 

AWNINGS

To create the awnings, I covered a piece of chipboard with candy cane paper then added antique brass leaves as hardware.

 Alternative Idea for Awnings

Another way you can create awnings is by using a decorative paper edge punch.  First punch the patterned paper, then punch multiple pieces of cardstock.  Glue all the pieces together to create a sturdy decorative awning.

TREES

I used four mat board trees.  I first painted them silver then coated them with Twinklets Diamond Dust.

INSIDE THE TOY SHOP

Alpha Stamps carries several paper theater collage sheets.  The sheets have lots of curtains and pediments.  I used the images on these sheets to build up the background inside of the Toy Shop and for pediments both inside and outside of the shop.

INSIDE - CENTER

To create the shelves that are holding the toys, I used the inserts that pop out of the gothic windows.  I glued them together, painted them gold and glued them to the walls.

I constructed a table using chipboard and added brass feet to the front.  The backside is glued to the wall.  I used images from the Alpha Stamps Slide Mailer/Shrine Stages collage sheet to cover the table.  I trimmed the front with Christmas bulb garland.

WREATH

I made the base of the wreath by wrapping gold wired tinsel around a chipboard circle.

INSIDE SHOP – LEFT SIDE (Dolls)

INSIDE SHOP – RIGHT SIDE (Bears)

All of the images of people, toys, balloons, Santa, the Christmas Tree, Nutcrackers, sleigh etc. are all backed with cardstock to make them sturdy.  I run the images through a Xyron machine to apply a coating of adhesive.  I then stick the images to cardstock. To add dimension, I used double stick foam core tape to attach all of the images to the walls, the shelves and to the kiosks.

KIOSKS

The kiosks came about because once I filled up the walls with images, I found there was more I wanted to add and I was out of room.  I also wanted to give the shop even more dimension and make it feel like a real store.  So I decided to add the kiosks.  They are not attached to anything so they can be moved around or function as a standalone piece.

The packages are made of wooden blocks I purchased at the craft store and are covered in decorative paper. The post holding the balloons is a wooden dowel covered in the same candy cane paper as the awnings in the front of the shop.

To create the bases of the kiosks, I used clear plastic craft containers.  You can find them in craft stores and online.  They come in a stack of four.  There is no special reason why I chose these containers.  I knew what I wanted to do and I just rummaged around my studio until I found something that would work.

I used one container (without the lid) for each kiosk.  Around the base of the containers I glued strips of children and cats images that can be found on the Alpha Stamps Fairy Tale Curtains collage sheet.  Next, I added a chipboard top covered in decorative paper.  The reason I used my own top instead of the plastic top that comes with the container is that I needed to punch holes in the top to insert the dowel for the ballons.

I had a lot of fun making this and i hope you find some inspiration.  You still have a few days to sign up for the Alpha Stamps Toy Shop Swap.  You don’t need to make anything nearly as involved as my Toy Shop.  Mine is more of an inspiration piece to give you ideas about what can be done. 

Click here for information on the Alpha Stamps Toy Shop Swap

For more inspiration, click here to see the Alpha Stamps Gallery of Toy Shops created by other members of the Design Team.

Below is a list of Alpha Stamps products I used.  Click product name and the hyperlink will take you to the product in the Alpha Stamps store.

·         Square Shrine

·         Set of Fancy Gothic Windows

·         Dead Tree Cut-Outs

·         Tinsel - Gold

·         Small Fleur Connectors – Gold

·         Small Fold Over Bail

·         Swirl Ornament Hook

·         Ornate Brass Teardrop

·         Large Brass Snowflake with Hole

·         Small Christmas Blub Garland

·         Ornate Brass Box Feet

·         Antique Brass Leaves

·         Angel Wing Beads

·         Tim Holtz Ornate Plates Set

·         Memory Glass – Clear Glass 1” x 3”

·         Santa/Trees Dresden Scraps

·         Candy Canes Scrapbook Paper

·         Silk Ribbon – Emerald Green

·         Joyous Noel Graphic 45 Scrapbook Paper

·         Toyland Graphic 45 Scrapbook Paper

·         CS Christmas Dolls

·         CS Snug in Their Beds

·         CS Square Shrine Box Seats

·         CS Santa’s Workshop

·         CS SQ Shrine Opera House

·         CS SQ Shrine Curtains

·         CS Fairy Tale Curtains

·         CS Hanging by the Chimney With Care

·         CS Victorian Shoppers

·         CS Slide Mailer Shrine Stages

·         CS Christmas Titles