Recycled Face Wipe Container Lid Greeting Card

 Started this card project with the idea of 

wanting to recycle

the flip top lid to a face wipe container.

Took the lid, removed from its base, and

covered the outside and the outer

edge of the inside with Gesso. Painted it with acrylic

paint and let dry. 

I then created a verse on a piece of 

background paper and glued it to 

the back of the lid using glue dots. 

                                                                             
                                                  Then using one of my

new hand carved geometric rubber stamps

I stamped, using acrylic paints, all over a light cream 

colored cardstock for a background. I also stamped the geometric design once to use as a flower and

then one more time to cut a bit smaller and use for the center of the flower along with a yellow brad.

I used part of a washed dog food bag for the

grass at the bottom of the card and the

leaf and stem, too. It has a nice texture!

    

 

I took a plain piece of cream cardstock

and used a dry brush to create the

card base by just lightly brushing 

across, giving it an old washed 

barn board look. Then took

the background paper created from 

my hand carved stamp and layered a 

piece of that on top.  

 

Then using glue dots I attached 

the recycled lid to the card front!

Now when my friend gets this card

she will open up the lid to find the surprise

garden verse hiding on the inside!

I would love to hear if you try this and 

also see what you have done!

I would love to see examples of your

recycled lid card art!

     

Athena and Rubber Stamp Chocolate Bunny, They Go Together, Right?

This rubber stamp carving is of the 

Greek Goddess Athena. Her classic Greek

features, and fancy hair and ornaments were

fun to carve into a rubber stamp.

I can see myself wanting to carve a wood

block of this someday.

This little 'chocolate' bunny just popped

into my head one day and begged me to carve it!

So, being a lover of folk art, that is the style

I chose for this little hand carved rubber stamp.

Plus Easter and bunnies are a favorite

thing around my household.

Please stop by my etsy shop and take a look

at my unique hand carved stamps. Maybe I could

even create a special one for you!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SparrowFootStamps 

New All Hand Carved Stamp Blog!

http://sparrowfootstamps.blogspot.com/

Please come and join me on my new blog, entirely dedicated to hand carved stamps.I would love to hear from you and would be thrilled to have you comment on any of the stamps that I have posted there! Please follow me! Hugs, Michelle http://sparrowfootstamps.blogspot.com/

Soar Hand Carved Rubber Stamp

Made a birthday card for my son's

15th birthday. Decided I needed  a 

very large word stamp. So, of course, I carved a 

rubber stamp to fit the bill!

The way this card design came about is

kind of funny. I was throwing something away

when I noticed a VERY old airplane 

magazine that my husband had

thrown out. I did a double take because

I couldn't believe that he had thrown it 

away and also because the colors were

so neat! 

I immediately thought of  making a 

card for my son (also an airplane lover).

I also wanted it to say 'soar' reflecting not only

the airplane theme, but also what I wanted

him to aspire to. 

So that is when I knew

that I would have to hand carve a rubber stamp!

I really like the way the stamp turned out. I distressed it, so it would look a bit older, by 

carving little tiny areas away. 

I am including a quote that I think is 

so inspiring:

“To an infinite artist, a Creator in love with His craft, there is no unimportant corner, there is no thrown-away image, no tattered thread in the novel left untied.” Nate Wilson

Uncle Bud, Rubber Stamp Carving

A carving I just finished of my dear uncle, Walter 'Bud' Casber.

He just turned 90. He is a decorated WW2 veteran,

was a very inspiring and talented wood carver,

skier, naturalist, and is a very kind man.

Alzheimer's is stealing away his memory, but, thankfully,

 he can still remember us 

and had a lovely time at his birthday party!

Happy Birthday, Dear Uncle Bud.

We love you.

Poppies on Cashmere!

Poppies are one of my very favorite flowers.

 Decided to create this background using a technique that usually uses velvet, however here I have used an old cashmere sweater. You lay your stamp down on your ironing board face up, then lay your velvet- or cashmere- on top, wet it down,  and heat, on high,  it until embossed. I then added a bit of paper and clip art, a flower at the top, and some words with a punch. The link below should take you to GG Designs blog where you can see other examples of this technique and see about      purchasing GG Design's beautiful stamps. 

http://ggdesignsgazette.blogspot.com

Lion Wood Carving

This print is from my high school days!

In other words....old, and tissue, so,very fragile 

(hehe, thankfully, not me!).

I am posting it partly for sharing and partly to 

save the image which is so damged that I

can't see it surviving much longer!

It was carved on a very hard wood which is why

there is not much detail in the lion itself. I must have started with the background first, and

most probably wore my hand out!

I am glad that I have this to remember the 

wood piece itself which is, sadly, long gone.

Water Color of Blonde Girl and Her Adoring Cat Pumpkin

This is a watercolor that I

just finished. The girl and her adoring cat!

There is something comfortable about

painting with watercolors, they always

make me feel at home for some reason.

My grandmother painted with oils

and I really love the smell of oil paint

but working with them doesn't give me

that warm fuzzy feeling that it must have given my

dear grandmother. So, to each his own I say!

Vive la differance!  

I do appreciate your comments and find

it very interesting what different

aspects of the painting that people notice. :)

Thanks!!

Coffee Filter Watercolor Flower Boquet

Here is a lovely bouquet of Spring flowers!

They look so real that you would never know

they are made from coffee filters!

Took a white coffee filter and sprayed

it with Memories spray mist.

Dried it and then started to cut it into a 

spiral -about 1  1/2 in- going all the way to 

the center. Then I took an 18 gauge floral wire

and attached,with glue, the center of the 

spiral. Slowly build your flower as you turn

and dab glue along bottom edge to adhere.

When I thought the flower was big enough I

took green floral tape and wound it

around snugly starting at the base of  of the 

flower where it meets the stem.

I then added highlights to the edges of the flower

petals with a paint brush dabbed into the 

Memories mist bottle.

My son thought they were real! :)

Mother's Day Cards and Fun Friend Cards

Making 5 different cards is one day doesn't happen

to me very often...either because of time or the ideas just don't come. But, yesterday, at a very dear friends house her creativity spurred me on. Plus her little scrap heap of interesting odds and cast offs aided me in my creations.

I made two Mother's Day cards and 3 greeting cards. She has the most amazing collection of tools and gadgets you could ever imagine. :)

The flowers on the Mother's Day cards are

made by punching about 8 flowers from an ordinary 6-8 petal flower punch. For the paper, I used a page from an old story book my friend had.

Then you layer each flower one on top of the other, staggering the petals alternately, then add a brad through the center of them all. Starting with the top layer you fold and crumple each petal upward, doing the same with each consecutive layer. Then you gently fold down the layers to create the look. I then sprayed some color on. So fun and easy.

 Picture of my kitty Cosmo with a new cartoon 

cat and dog carving. I think I am going to have to do a series of these cute little critters. My son is the artist on the originals, and I the interpreter! :)

Penguin custom carving with the name Montana. This one was so much fun to design and carve! I love special requests.

 I am sure this one is difficult to figure out, so I will tell you...it is a carving of a bottle of nail polish! Printed in any color you like, how fun is that?

Here again, Cosmo helped me out by being my easel.

Nice little hand carved Siamese Cat. Another nice thing about the NZCut carving material is that the ink color slightly stains the white and makes the carving look pretty, too!

Hello. Wanted to post a few of the FUN things that I have been carving. I have been using NZCut from stampeaz and really think that it is THE BEST carving material that is available. I like the firmness and durability of the surface. Also the fact that the back side is so shiny and slick that it will stick to my clear acrylic blocks without any adhesive. Takes ink well, too. I lightly sanded the front before using. I like the fact that it is white, designs transfer easily and can be seen nice and clear. I would highly reccomend trying this newer product from stampeaz.com. The price is very reasonable as well!

Wood Cross, Handcarved, with Tulips

This is a carving I did from a solid

piece of wood. You can't tell from

the picture but, the Tulips 

are carved away from the base of the cross.

I have done two of these and 

was so glad to share one with a very dear 

auntie, and the other with one

of our pastors.

Felted wool bag, Mimbres Cave Cat

Made this Wool bag with a cat design

needlfelted onto the front.

Black and gray with ivory, all details are done 

with the needlefelting technique.

The design is based

on an old cave drawing from the Mimbres people that

used to exist in the S.W. part of the United States.

The bag is large and also has leather accents, as

well as a horn button, from deer antlers that 

are shed naturally. Lined it with a cream

colored brocade fabric.

'Spring Chick' and 'The Garden' hand carved and printed on cupcake paper!

Today is just for FUN!
Here are two carvings that I just finished.
Made both into cards. 
Highlighted the image with Mica pens. 
I love those pens! Adds such a subtle shimmer.
Printed them both on CUPCAKE paper!! 

Folk Art Bunny Carving Note Card

Just finished this carving.

I love folk art and this is just 

'folksy' enough for me. I also love chocolate

and of course with Easter coming up I

had to print it in cocoa brown ink.

Used PZCut's new carving medium called 

NZCut. I have to say, I love it. Not only is it 

wonderful to carve on, it sticks to my acrylic

block without any glue or other 

adhesive! Bravo Diana Hammond (stampeaz.com)

for this new version of the dearly departed

PZCUT carving material.

I would love to hear anyone's

comments on my carving or

your favorite carving material!

Thanks, Michelle

A Cat and His Girl

A very 'thin' portrait of 

an adoring cat and his favorite

girl!

Here is a carving of my little sweetie, Cosmo.

Was an interesting challenge to leave 

as much fur to the imagination as possible!

Watercolor of a Madonna Gourd

Made it into a card for a friend.

Another view of the Madonna and Child

Mother and Child Gourd

This Mother and Child gourd was painted 

using Golden acrylic paints.

They are beautiful to work with!

I have burned gourds for years and

this is my first time painting one.

                                              She stands about

8 inches tall and 5 1/2 wide.