Welcome!
I have always been fascinated with other cultures, and their unique nativity interpretations.
Let’s enjoy a few together.
Comanche Mary and baby Jesus by Fr. John Giuliani
Welcome! Drawing from a creative pool of more than 45 years, you will find here how-to tips galore! Lots of quotes and tidbits to make you smile and to make your crafting/baking easier. Favorite recipes, Kaleidoscopes, websites, paper dolls, simple crafts, coloring pages and more. Many vintage images + to enjoy! An eclectic swirl of fun crafting, art and humor.
Welcome!
Let’s enjoy a few together.
Comanche Mary and baby Jesus by Fr. John Giuliani
Welcome!
All kaleidoscopes by inkspired and KaleidoCam
Let’s start the holiday season off
with some cheerful red and green!
Not feeling too cheery?
Find something to laugh at!
Vintage photo
Now why didn’t I think of that?
Even those funny celebrities we love
know how to dress for the parties.
Okayyyyy,
The ‘new’ blogger has just frozen my choice of font, size and color so I guess we are stuck with black and whatever else they have chosen.
If blogger.com is trying to drive people away and go to other blog servers,
I think they are doing a pretty good job.
All of which does not seem very cheerful to me,
Ok, rant over.
So I think I need to find some humor fast!
Do you have funny holiday pictures lurking in your family?
Here’s another:
This thoughtful pooch thinks those kids are silly...
I have found new-to-me holiday themes cartoons this year.
Here are a few:
She’s ready for her photo session!
So....have you cracked a smile yet?
You know what would make me smile?
Post a short note to me!
Sometimes it feels very lonely out here in blogger-land.
I felt each cartoon was pretty well identified .
The photos have been re-posted so many times on Pinterest
I really could not tell whose photo was posted originally.
I’m happy others share their humor however!
😘
Time to go.
Been an ‘off’ few weeks. I apologize for not posting more.
I am working on some drawings to show you better
how to finish your Mermaid Altered tin diorama
(From the previous tutorial).
‘Til next time,
inkspired
Truth,
Usually discovered before coffee and/or 10 am -
It’s not such a good idea to ‘put a few decorations’ on your tree.
Ornaments fall, and crash.
Trees want to tip over.
Hangers go flying.
(The dog does enjoy the candy canes
that were supposed to stay at the top of the tree however.)
You’re going to have to re-do it all anyway, once you are awake.
Go make a cup of coffee now...
See you soon!
Welcome!
All kaleidoscopes by inkspired and KaleidoCam
Today I thought I might not fight Blogger’s new and hair-pulling formatting, and go with the flow.Let’s begin the adventure in blogging!
(Who knew blogs could be so mysterious, yet oddly fun?)
Mermaid Dreams
altered mint tin tutorial
Let’s start with a mint tin. Altoid’s is a familiar brand. I am using a Trader Joe’s tin of the same size, approximately.
The end result:
Tip: always check the clearance aisle or look for a clearance sticker. Acrylic paint regularly goes on sale due to having a ‘messy’ outer bottle, discontinued shades, etc. The paint inside is usually just fine.
Tip: don’t try to ‘brush’ on the metal. It won’t work. Getting frustrated? Let dry. Go have a cup of tea. Come back and the ‘new’ paint will stick to the old for better coverage.
Take an old paintbrush, a practice mat and some white paint.
(I use cut up cereal box cardboard.)
With just a bit of white, scrub your brush up and down like a piece of Rick-rack. You want to mimic the white foam at the tops of waves. The line is never straight, or thick.
Don’t scrape too hard, to prevent removing the base coat.
Think about the placement of your paper cut outs. You might want some sea foam in front of the main mermaid, or prefer to paint it behind her.
I tried to take LOTS of photos for you to look at from different angles.
I folded it, shaped the edges to fit the tin curves and snipped off pieces that I didn’t like. This was very subjective and not a ‘do exactly this way’ time. If this makes you crazy, use a template for large seaweed or an ocean bottom coral type diecut/Cricut cut. Many options out there.
Tip: I like to use in addition to glue, some small pieces of double stick foam tape for dimension. I even double and triple stack them.)
It would be easier to color shapes before cutting out, but I seem to always forget that when actually doing a project!
Tip: a chopstick works great to hold tiny bits of paper when you are adding color. Chopsticks are also useful for holding small pieces of paper when heat embossing.
I use chopsticks to hold items in place until the glue ‘grabs’, and my fingers would be too big and get in the way.
You can find in the above photo that I am using Spellbinder’s metal dies with my Spellbinder Platinum cutting machine (octopus, mermaid, shells, etc,) stamped and embossed images (fish in foreground example) that I will hand cut; some Sizzix Sidekick border dies cut from one side adhesive cardstock, shells cut from hand marbled papers; and a treasure chest stamped & heat embossed with gold.
This is the stamp set I used for the treasure chest.