Hearts for our Troops Update!

Where do you find the words to thank so many that made this possible? The out pour of support from so many of my friends that belong to many of the same Yahoo groups that I do was way beyond what anyone could imagine. So many of you were so kind, thoughtful and oh so supportive!

I asked a couple of weeks ago if anyone had any Valentine images to share so that we could use them to make Valentine's cards for our Troops stationed overseas. Not only did I get an abundance of them I also received many beautiful hand made cards! I have posted some of the pictures here of some of the cards that I received. Let me tell you that they did not just send one of each but many!!! There were so many more but either I did not have a scan or we were so busy that day we forgot to get pictures of them all. Especially the ones that were made by the children. Just BEAUTIFUL!!!

The workshop that was held at Michaels had to be moved to a different date due to the time needed to get them to our men and women in time for Valentine's which caused some little problems but nothing that we could not handle.

These pictures of the children that attended the workshop eagerly making Valentine's just melt your heart!

The supplies were donated by YOU and Michaels Craft Store here in North Las Vegas! Those tiny little hands creating cards full of love and joy! There were also other ladies that attended to make this event successful.

I want to personally thank Cyndi Weinbaum, Amy Remillard, Leslie Dick, Nance Jones, Dawn Regalman, Fran 2000a1 (don't have her last name), Donna Gray, Gail Schmidt, Kim Borchardt, Kayla Fujimoto, Nicki Conroy, Leslie Clark, Amanda Howard (click on Mandy's name to see her work she sent cards all the way from the UK!!), Susan Shute, Ligia Rios (she is such a sweet heart and OH SO talented) and her friend Sherry (friends that were there making cards in the pictures) Inka Stamps, Robin S Monville and last but not least the beautiful children of North Las Vegas! There were others that attended but they were camera shy! :(

From the bottom of my heart I can't thank you all enough for your support, love and kindness that you have given so freely!

Love and Peace to all my friends!

Lori ^i^

What's NEW at Altered Arts Magazine????

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Packing Tape Transfer Challenge

The Designers from Altered Arts Magazine were given a challenge to create ATC's using packing tape to transfer an image. I have posted a small image of one that I did and you can see it in full size and the others that I did by clicking HERE.

We would love to have you participate in this challenge and you can read more about it at my Altered Arts Magazine blog.

Till the next time

Think Monday - ATC Photo Image Stamps

Did someone say Photo image stamps? The theme for Think Monday Think ATC is using Photo Image Stamps

WOW!! I just love them! These two pieces feature photo image stamps from "Stampsmith"!

I am sorry to say that lately I have not been using them and need to get them out. I love using Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Ranger Crafts) on mine. They make them look like a real vintage picture. Just stamp your image with the ink pad and then take a brayer and run it over a few times to make certain that the ink is well distributed on the stamp, then stamp on glossy card stock for a beautiful realistic picture! If you don't have glossy card stock then glossy photo paper works just as well. Just be careful when you heat set so it does not bubble! LOL! Trust me I know.

I also like using Memories Black India Ink for a crisp image as well.

I have more of my cards that I have made using photo image stamps at my picture trail site and can see them there.

Mixed Media Monday ~ Whimsy

Mixed Media Monday's theme is Whimsy and I just love this little gal! The image is from Altered Pages.

Theme Thursday - Valentines

It's that time of year with love in the air and the theme for "Theme Thursday" is Valentines!

Here is one that I made using images from Altered Pages. I made the background using paints and stamps and then giving them a light wash of gesso.

The Land of Inka

Sending "Hearts to our Troops"

Thank you for stopping by and reading this. Some of you know that I work at Michaels here in Las Vegas and one of the gals and I are getting together to have a free workshop at our store to make and send cards to our troops for Valentines Day. Since Nellis Air Force Base is located here we have made arrangements to get them there FAST! The workshop will be held on Saturday Feb. 2, 2008 from 10 AM to 5 PM and we are hoping to reach a goal of 100 cards!

We are in need of some images that are Vintage American Themed, Cupids, hearts etc. that will be appropriate to make cards for them. If you happen to have a copyright free image that you are willing to share with us it would be greatly appreciated. You can email them to me alteredartexpressions@cox.net and we will have them printed to make the cards.

Also if you want to join in the fun and don't live here and would like to make a card(s) to send please let me know and I will send you an address to where you can mail them.

Stamped images are also welcomed. If you are an owner of a stamp company and would like to donate a Valentine themed stamp to use in this workshop we would be honored and will make certain that everyone knows you contributed to this special event!

Thanks again for reading this far and if you can help in any way it will be greatly appreciated!

I forgot to mention one important thing!!!! Michaels is contributing all the card stock, papers, embellishments, glues etc that is needed for this project! WOW! Thanks Michaels!!!!

People have been responding and it gives me goose bumps! Please if you are going to make cards don't put heavy embellishments on them. Cards or postcards are fine! I need to have your cards here in Las Vegas by the 2nd of Feb so they can leave on the 4th of Feb. One of our gals husbands that is at the base here will make certain that they get there.

You can email me for the address to send your cards, contributions of images etc at alteredartexpressions@cox.net

Bless you one and all for the tremendous response!

Lori ^i^

Start of a new year!

Can you imagine that it's already 2008! I remember when my son and I sat in our living room on Dec. 31, 1999 only moments from the strike of midnight and held our breath because of all the hype about Y2K. Well here we are!! My computer was so old at the time and was not Y2K ready but I managed to get it going by setting the date back at sometime in the 60's so it would work. LOL!

I made this 4x4 in celebration of the New Year! I don't get to play to often because of so many commitments that I combined 3 of the challenges that have been set forth for us to try.

For Mixed Media Monday here is my creation for celebration, for Theme Thursday I added the flourish and for 4 x 4 Friday I used sequin waste as a stencil.

My image is from InkaStamps and the flourish and stickers are from K&Company. My little rhinestones do not sparkle in the scan but rest assure This Little Angel is ready to party!

Gothic Arches Challenge

I have loved this site and not had the time to play and decided I needed to do something different so here is my entry for The Gothic Arches Challenge. Make sure you check out all the beautiful entries for this challenge. These gals are kicking it up a notch!

You can find the template for it here.

4 X 4 Friday Blue and Silver

There is always a first time for everything and I don't think that I have ever made a 4 x 4 knowingly! I saw that the challenge for 4 x 4 Friday was blue and silver.

I messed around with my alcohol inks earlier for another challenge and had this background sitting on my desk and wanted to use the tree stamp on it. Well since I used photo paper and not glossy card stock I found out you cannot use your heat gun on it or it will bubble. Oops~

So I took a piece of reg. card stock and colored it with chalk inks and then stamped my image and used my silver embossing powder. TA DA!! That EP has been around in my stash for toooo many years not being used. I wish you could see the silver in the background using the alcohol inks but it just won't scan!

I liked it so much I made it into a Christmas card! This only took about 5 minutes to do so I have some more of those silver "Merry Christmas" stickers so I will make up a few more cards to send out.

Theme Thursday Challenge

I needed some play time and love the challenges that are posted. Here is my challenge for Theme Thursday.

Mixed Media Monday Challenge

Natalie B. - from Australia chose backgrounds as the theme for this weeks challenge. I love working with alcohol inks! I just did a demo at Michaels Craft Store a couple of weeks ago and I was so surprised how many people do not know about them! I had so much fun with this demo but the best part was allowing the customers to play with me! Needless to say we ran out of some of the products oops!

So here is my challenge for Mixed Media Monday!

Thanksgiving Wishes to All

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends. --Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Theme Thursday~Boy & Wednesday Stamper ~ Chair

Oh this has been a busy week for me so I hope you don't mind I combined two challenges today. Theme Thursday ~ Boy and Wednesday Stamper ~ Chair.

This is a coffee stained tag that I played with this morning! I think he looks a little prim.

Mixed Media Monday - Numbers

Mixed Media Monday's theme this week is "Numbers". I created this piece for the challenge. The background is colored in chalk inks. I masked the image first and then colored and stamped. Both the Bingo and Little Girl image who is called "Sally" are from "Inka Stamps".

TGIAPF and the theme is

This week's challenge was chosen by Robin Willis one of the Members of the DT for Altered Pages and she decided to honor Veteran's Day which is this Sunday here in the United States.

All countries in this world have Veterans and we challenge you to create something using the colors red, white and blue. You can use one or all of the colors to create and ATC, an altered book spread, a deco, tag, inchie, card....whatever you desire. The only rules are to follow the theme and you MUST use an image from Altered Pages.

Post your creation to the Altered Pages Gallery and be sure to let us know it is there so we can take a peek!!!

Theme Thursday - “Number 1″!

Well I am back for another week. Theme Thursday is to use the #1 on your piece of art. Here is my challenge for the week!

Welcome to my newly designed blog

I am happy to have you stop by and visit. I was having problems with my blog and no one could read it. My DD Melissa redesigned it for me and I am so thrilled over the new look! She took some of my favorite pieces of art work and collaged them PERFECTLY!! Added a new font with just the right color and SHAZAM!!!

Thanks Mel you are so talented! I am very proud of it now and love having people coming over for a spell.

If anyone wants to link up let me know and we can do that!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tip-In Swap

I have never done a Tip-In Swap! Well I see why they are fun to do. You don't have to send your AB to everyone in fear that it could get lost in the mail, the dreaded cost of sending them now, or taking the chance of ruining someones book. I still like the feel of the entire book in my hands. It just does something for the soul.

Here is the first one that I did. The theme of course was Asian and this was created for Martha. I found that my supplies in this theme are somewhat limited and worked with what I had. I will have to do another for Martha in a few weeks so I better do some shopping or searching for the next one.