Mixed Media Team Melange

The Christmas Tags from the Swap are Here!

The artists contributing to my first ever Christmas tag swap (in photo order top L and clockwise: Tamara Barker, Kim Geiser, Bridget Dorsa, Carol Berger, Kathy Lowry, Aimée Wheaton, Nancy James, Pat May and Barbara Head) have been sending their outstanding creations to me over the last few weeks.  Everytime I opened a package there were these delightful, creative, original designs that just made me know I'm going to do this again and participate in others.  You artists are going to love your package when you get your's in return!  Some made 9 like-tags, others made each tag a different design.  I'm selecting with eyes closed because otherwise I'd go crazy deciding who gets what among those different designs.

What doesn't show up well in my photos is there are original watercolor tags, hand-drawn and painted tags, collage and mixed media tags, stamped and glittered and jeweled tags, and there is a set with this awesome yummy aroma of coffee and vanilla.

Thank you Carol Berger for the tips on how to organize a tag swap, your suggestions worked perfectly.  And thanks for each participant for being timely, for your generosity to me, and your new friendships since I only knew a few of you before this event!
Tamara’s blog
Tamara’s etsy shop
Carol's blog
Carol's etsy shop
Bridget’s blog
Bridget’s etsy shop
Bridget’s website
Kim’s blog
Kim’s etsy shop
Barb’s blog
Nancy’s blog
Nancy’s etsy shop
Nancy’s website
Kathy’s blog
Pat’s blog
Pat’s etsy shop
Aimée’s blog
Aimée’s etsy shop
Aimée’s website

I hope you enjoy these artists' websites, shops and blogs!

Have to share this new way to use paper scraps!!

My new cyberfriend, Nancy James, posted a link to her latest challenge entries called scraplings! Approximately 2.5" x 4.25" folded.  Of course being obsessed with using tiny bits of papers, this has gotten my attention immediately.  These are absolutely adorable, use the link to Sugar Lump Studios to check out more of these sweet scraplings of Nancy's. 

And Nancy, I thought that profile on your blog was you and a boxer!  We are boxer fanatics, we have two rescues at the moment...Mugsy and Brutus (not my choice of names, but have to admit their names fit them to a T)

I see "scraplings" in my future, along with "inchies" which I have yet to find time to create, too.  But I have all these little pieces of paper just waiting to be turned into something special like these delights from Nancy!

Here's some money for you! Paper Daisies

I love using available materials to repurpose or upcycle into another more useful treasure, especially if the tools required are minimal, too.  I sell these daisies packaged in my etsy shop whyte  for scrapbookers, journalers and cardmakers.  It's not that someone can't easily make them, this is not a talent-required craft, trust me on this one!  :)   But not everyone owns a daisy punch or wants to buy one for one project, so I can offer a great value and at the same time satisfy this obsession I have to create from normally-tossed-pieces of leftover paper from my projects.  I hope sharing these simple tutorials will get you to look around at what you toss out everyday, and if you have some new ideas, share them in the comments, please!

I'm sure you recognize most of my  found materials for this particular batch of white daisies, the centers came from those advertisements stuck in magazines.  I am careful to avoid print on the backsides of the punchouts. Since white and black purchased cardstock is used more than any other color in my studio, I have lots of scraps of both colors to use for confetti or embellishments like this. 

A little glue stick goes a long way for the tiny centers of these daisies.  This is one of those projects when you only have 10 minutes before you run out the door while hubby is still looking for his keys, or for a rainy afternoon watching Bogart and Hepburn in "African Queen".   (And though I've stylized these photos, it brings out some  see-thru printing on my worksheets protecting the table underneath, those "worksheets" are thrown away boo boos or outdated copies from the office; with their permission I grab them out of the trash and use them at work for scratch pads and bring home for my worktable)

Yes....if you are rolling your eyes, it is an obsession, but a good one.

My friend Joyce's exquisite machine embroidery

My friend Joyce sent me this precious card as a "thank you" for helping her open her Etsy shop whitehouseweddings I know when I opened my shop, it took hours going through the Etsy help sections, forums, trials, errors and successes, not to mention tips to making one's shop a pleasant place for buyers to browse.  So I was more than happy to cut a bit of time off her venture and help her set up her shop.

She embroiders the treasures on her machine then presents them, as this one, on handmade paper.  The inside of the card is blank, but who could actually use this one as a card......this is framed and hanging in my home....selfishly coveting this for me!  There is a Harbor Seal card similar to this one for sale in her shop. Joyce also has her own website for her custom orders Joy's Keepsakes

Joyce is a fabulous seamstress and does custom orders locally for weddings, special events, and reconstructs heirloom clothing into mementos that last a lifetime. 

Thank you Joyce for such a precious and gorgeous handmade treasure!

I'm featured with Melange Team members on Byhand.me Thanks Karen from Lemachi Designs!

The Melange Team Fabric Mixed Media Challenge 9/24/09

The deadline for the most recent Melange Team challenge was today and I came right up to the wire with my entry.  The challenge was to incorporate fabric somewhere in our mixed media piece.  That's not difficult for me since I've been a sewer for many years, taught by my Grandma and as a member of 4-H when growing up in farm country. I have a trunk full of fabric that I'm sure I will never use up in my lifetime, and I continue to buy more!  I love a fabric store! 

This is a gift to my daughter-in-law and son who are expecting my first Grandchild!  It was a journal I bought on etsy some time ago, knowing it would be used for a grand purpose, but the cover design was not appropriate for a baby theme.  So there was my opportunity to use it as my canvas for this challenge. 

Several weeks ago I was making photo image transfers using clear hand sanitizer as the medium for the transfer.  And amazingly one color image of the man in the moon, printed on my HP, gifted me with 3 transfers: 1 on gesso'd bristol and 2 on white muslin.   And here's the result using one of the muslin images sewn onto a crocheted doily, not vintage but surely old.

The cow is a from a vintage book of nursery rhymes that I altered in Photoshop Elements and printed onto cardstock.  The moon image is from

Suzee que's photostream on flickr  I find a lot of images from suzee who graciously posts vintage images for the use of artistas with some restrictions.  Thanks again Suzee!!

I added a metal scrapbook embellishment, as well as rub-ons and star sequins to fill in "cloud" space on the top of the journal.The edges are aged with Tim Holtz distress ink.  I still have a few more touches to add to the inside, then it's ready to deliver to  the new to-be Mom and Dad to keep some thoughts and memories about this wonderful news in our lives!