Let them eat cake

I had this very large 16x20 canvas I wanted to do something EPIC with it.  I also just bought this book by Suzi Blu.  In this book, she created a Marie Antoinette. I did not want to copy her painting, but I did want to be heavily influenced by Suzi. If you have not checked out Suzi's work I highly recommend it.  Her work is exquisite. 

The first step was to make my sketch. It did not post that picture because I did it very lightly.  Suzi's work featured a castle, I wanted Versailles.  I also wanted cake, even though Marie never said the famous "quote" I HAD to have it on my canvas.

After I had my layout like I wanted it I had to insert Marie. I drew her on a vellum paper because I intended on blending her skin tone.  I drew how big I wanted her to be on the vellum paper. I used colored pencils by Prismacolor to create my tones.  I drew a face, a neck with a low cut dress line, and two arms.  I then cut those out and put them onto the canvas (do not adhere). I then drew the body around the completed body parts. 

I took the body parts off and painted the background.  I wanted a red toned background.  To me, this represented the French Revolution which is really what this is all about. I used a red-brown mixture for the ground so that it looked a tad different from the sky.  Versailles is created with gold, green and diamond color. It sparkles.

Once the basic background was done I added Marie's body (using mod podge) and began her clothing. I used fabric for her bodice and skirt.  Her sleeves are made by using color pencils and blending as much as I could for definition.  Then I took UTEE (one of my faves) and layered a good layer over the pencil work.  It made for a slick, shiny almost satiny finish.  I then sprayed her skirt with Perfect Pearls in silver for some shimmer. 

Her hair is made using modeling paste and heavy gel. I just kept layering until it was as thick and fluffy as I wanted it to be with a palette knife.  I added some tendrils by simply placing my palette knife as Bob Ross would have with a tree.  Like Suzi, I added fibers into the hair, but one step above, I added some glass glitter for more shimmer (it's all about the shine!).


Next, it was time for details. I had to add details to Versailles, which for the most part was done with paint.  I did put a stamped clock unto the castle front and embossing with Midnight black powder.  I added some transparency garland to the front and some quotes from one of my favorite books.  It was set in Paris.  I outlined the words "castle", "court" and "passionate" on each book page.

The Eiffel Tower graces the top of the castle just for fun.  Scrabble tiles spell out her name, chipboard flowers grace a stenciled design that was made with my homemade modeling paste.  In the yard, I added a doily that was distressed with Distress Ink.  I embossed a chipboard table with silver embossing powder.  The cake is made from Paris themed scrapbook paper scraps.  I think it is by My Mind's Eye.  I added the famous "quote" but decided to layer it in UTEE as well. I just love that stuff.

A ribbon and some fun pennants finish out the corner.  I thought she needed some jewelry so I added a barrette I found on the floor at the last LOHS prom to her hair, pearls for a necklace and a Tim Holtz bobble for more bling.  I hope you enjoy, because I LOVE her and I am craving cake.

Who's dressing your form

It's been some time since I have been here. I apologize.  I have had many many things to do.  I have been creating just not sharing.  Don't worry, I will make up for the delay.

Some time ago I bought this paper mache' dress form at Michael's, why?  Because I am in LOVE with dress forms!  I have been looking for the die for my sizzix machine for some time, but that story is for another day.  Today all that matters is I bought this dress form.  The form was just that, a form.  It had no stand so I just sat it up on my paint shelf and stared at it.  Two weeks ago, I decided to get brave and make my own stand.  I found a sucker stick (it was an unused one like the ones you use for the melting chocolate) and some wire.  I fashioned the wire around the end of the stick to resemble the four little feet that support a dress form.

Once I shaped the wire like I wanted I had to paper mache' over my creation. I may have done this a little differently than most would, but I like mod podge so I used strips of newspaper and mod podge to build my stand.  Each strand of paper would get drenched in mod podge then wrapped around the stick/wire. I made a base at the top of the stand by layering many layers of paper strips.  My dress form will rest on this little knob.  Once the stand dried, I drilled a small hole with scissors into the bottom of the dress form.  I inserted it onto the stand which I had coated in Aleene's tacky glue.  I then added more drenched strips around the bottom of the form and the stand, just for more security.

I let it sit for a few days then I added coloring (with Distress inks and paint) to the body and trim that my mother-in-law made in the '60s.  After that dried, I painted the stand black. I was on the fence. I thought of embossing the stand with silver embossing powder, I may do that to the other dress form I have because I am CERTAIN I will be making a stand for that soon.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it next and I made a gown for the form.  I did not like it so I ripped it off and decided to go with a tulle tutu.  I took a Tim Holtz pearl, a glass bead, and a rhinestone.  I wired them all together in a belt for the skirt.  I thought the rhinestone needed something else so I took it off and colored it with cranberry alcohol ink.  MUCH BETTER! A pearl necklace provided the finishing touch to the body.  I wish I could fashion some stilettos from newspaper and mod podge to go with this beauty.  

Homemade stamp cleaner

I did not make up this recipe, but I have been using it for years and love it.  I wish I could credit the person that gave me the recipe. I met her at a CKC convention and I did not get her name :(   We were taking a class together and she shared it with me during the class.

I can tell you that I have tried it with Stazon inks, pigment inks, dye inks and I have had success with each one. I have not noticed anything amiss with my stamps either.

I make the recipe and pour some in a misting bottle to use during each stamp session.  I make up enough to also fill a glass Voss water bottle.  That way I never run out during a creative session.


2 Tablespoons of liquid glycerin (I found this in the cake aisle at Michael's)

1 Tablespoon of baby shampoo (I use a cheap version...this time I have a 2 in 1 shampoo)

8 oz Distilled water


If you have ever used a homemade cleaner I would LOVE to hear your results.

Update 2020:

I am still using this exclusively to clean my stamps.  I have never had any issues and still love the way it performs.  I have not bought stamp cleaner once since I met the lady at the CKC convention in 2011.  

Homemade modeling paste

One of my favorite YouTube channels is Luvlee scrappin.  She has all kinds of homemade tricks and many tutorials on art items.  I like so many of her tutorials I can't even pick my favorite.

I did stumble across this one some time ago.  This one teaches you how to make your own modeling paste.  I put it in my favorites on YouTube because at the time I had modeling paste.  Yesterday I ran out and decided it was time to try Leeanne's recipes and make up a couple of batches.

You really should watch Luvleescrappin's tutorial.  It is detailed and she is entertaining.  Here is the link.......here.


Now that you have watched Leeanne do her magic, I will tell you that I followed her small batch recipes.  I made one with baby powder and one with baking soda.




I encourage you to make some and see which you like better.  So far I like the baking soda one the best, but I am going to keep trying them both until I am out of what I made up.  From there I intend to only make the favorite one.

Thanks Luvleescrappin! 

Cards made this week

I have depleted my stash of cards, so this weekend was devoted to replenishing my stockpile.  I started with some photos of movie stars.  I called the first set "The Old Hollywood Collection".  They will be used to send to my movie buff friends.

I then made many generic type cards that could be sympathy, birthday, thank you or just because cards.

You can make cards without making a birthday card...























Last were a set of coffee cards for fun.

Distressed Abbey Road

I wanted to make my dad Abbey Road for Father's day, but I wanted to make it in my way.  Very distress, altered type of Abbey Road.

I started by painting the background in blocks of color to match the album cover.  In the center, I mixed some shades of blue.  On each side, I painted a patch of green to background the trees.  And under the horizon line, there is a grey/silver mix to simulate the pavement.

Once all the paint was dry I added some blue paper to the blue and a few stamps.  To the green, I added bunched up tissue paper. I adhered the tissue at the same time I was bunching it up and I used mod podge.

After that dried, I painted the tissue in many different shades of green and sprayed some Caribbean Sea Blue misting spray onto the blue sky.

To the pavement I dabbed on some browns, black, red and yellow.  Once it was dry I added some red crosswalk strips.  I missed this with many misting sprays.

The Beatles are hand cut from grungepaper, stamped with Close to My Hearts music note stamp.  Distressed with Black Soot ink by Tim Holtz and sprayed with Golden Slumbers misting spray by Michelle's Musings.

I adhered The Beatles with dimensional foam and hot glue.  Everything got a bit of Sterling Silver misting spray.

Girl Power Canvas

I wanted to make a canvas that says, "girls can do anything".  I started with a 12x12 canvas.  I covered the entire canvas with pages from one of my favorite books "Song of the Siren" by Philippa Carr.  This copy was printed in the '70s and there were some nice texture and aging going on. I did not have to do anything to age this before mod podging onto the canvas.  The next step was to add a bit of color. I used a remnant of a sheet of Graphic 45 paper.  It was in the Steampunk collection, but I forgot the name of this sheet.  I do believe it is out of print.  I did an overall coverage of mod podge to seal all this together.

While this was drying I began sketching the girl I would use.  Here is both the beginning sketch and the final product.  I cut her apart to use as a pattern.

I next swiped on some color. I used some of the colors from the Graphic 45 paper, a blue, brown, gold, and pink.  I swiped on a bit of the color with a brush or my fingers and dabbed it off with a paper towel.  I added some stamps, an Eiffel tower, houndstooth, swirling dots, and a stopwatch.   Some I embossed and some are just straight Staz on inks.  I just kind of had fun. No rhyme or reason, just fun.

Using my new branch die from Tim Holtz, I added a branch.  I cut this from grunge paper and embossing it with Vintage Photo embossing powder.  I found some red tulle that I tied to the branch.  Oh, and the die had a bird on it too, I cut him off and use an owl stamp to add an owl element.

The girl was mod podged directly onto the canvas.  She was in many pieces and I just pieced her together right there, covering her all over with mod podge.  Her shoes are painted on and not paper.  When she was dry I added the black lines and hair.

The bottom is finished out with some pom pom ribbon and a crocheted flower my mother-in-law made about 20 years ago.

The quote is wonderful!  Believe in your dreams and live them!!!