Lovely New Valentine's Cards!

I've been really into combining fabric and paper, especially vintage paper. I really love the look of layering different textures together, like burlap layered with paper, sewn together, and then layered with tulle. There is something so pretty and interesting and about it. I spent quite a few hours last weekend coming up with some new card designs, and I hope you like them!

Feel free to leave your comments, and they are all for sale in my Etsy shop. If you have ideas for custom cards you'd like made, shoot me an email or leave a comment with your email.

Helping Haiti - French paper packs

From now till the end of the month, I'll be donating $2 from the sale of every Vintage French paper pack to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Please see my shop if you would like to make a purchase!

http://katieblue.etsy.com

L'Amour Toujours

With Valentine's Day only a little over a month away, I've been working on some new projects with a Valentine's theme... One of them is this mixed media painting. I was inspired by a very old piece of sheet music "L'Amour Toujours" or Love Everlasting. It had such a great vintage romantic feel to it. I collaged it on a plum colored background and added some really great black vintage lace and vintage buttons. It's such a cool piece! I have it listed in my Etsy store, I think it would make a great Valentine's gift that you could enjoy year round!

I would love to hear your comments! :)

New Year's Cleaning

I'm only going to show the "After" pictures of my art studio... because even I couldn't look at the "Before" pictures! Messes happen... especially when you are working on a million different projects as I always seem to be. I took full advantage of having a week off over Christmas and I spent an entire day re-organizing and cleaning my art room. I hate organizing, but it was sooo worth it! I just love how it came out. I was even able to make room for a great big second work table, which I desperately needed. Anyways, enjoy the pics and as always, feel free to leave your comments. :)

My kind of Christmas Tree

As you know, I'm always looking for new ideas of how to use my huge stash of amazing vintage paper. I took on the project of creating a little Christmas tree from old sheet music a couple weekends ago. I cut tons of strips of paper, glued sparkly red glitter on each piece, and curled the ends up. I glued them all around a paper maiche tree form, starting from the bottom. It took in total about 7 hours to finish but I just LOVE it!

Leave your comments :)

A Jar Full of Rusty Stuff

I was at an estate sale a couple months ago and found this huge old pickle jar FULL of old rusty metal stuf... old screws, nails, hooks, casters, etc. It was 2 bucks... how could I pass up something like that? :) Of course my husband saw it and thought I was crazy, but I knew I could come up with something to do with all of it!

So, I sat down and dumped the whole 20lb jar full of rusty goodness out on the table and went to work. I have many more ideas, but this mixed media collage was my first project using this stuff. I hope you enjoy! Feel free to leave your comments :)

It's Time for a GIVEAWAY!

I just love when it starts getting just a little bit cooler and the mornings start to feel crisp! It's October, and that means it's time for Oktoberfest! In honor of Oktoberfest and my partial German heritage, I've decided to offer my super fabulous Vintage German paper pack as a giveaway! These papers would be so perfect for scrapbooking about your favorite October memories or to make your fall cards.

Just leave a comment with your favorite thing about fall AND become a follower of my blog, and I'll pick someone at random on October 12th!

Please be sure you have a valid email address. Winner will be notified by email.


You can also find these fabulous vintage paper packs and others for sale in my etsy store.

Paper - You can even sew it!

As most of you loyal readers know by now, I'm completely obsessed with paper. Sometimes I just sit in my studio with a big pile of it and see if any new ideas come into my head. While I was contemplating some new ideas this weekend, I decided to brush my sewing machine off and play around with it. I ended up seewing some adorable little vintage paper envelopes! I am just so pleased with the result. I think they would be just perfect for handmade cards or to add to your scrapbooking pages with a little note or picture inside. You could even use them in the mail, just add an address label, and a stamp, and you're good to go!

If you have any great projects that you would like to share that involve using vintage paper, I'd love to hear about them!

Shopping Girl - 1st of the Series!

Slowly but surely, I'm working on new mixed media art pieces! This is my newest piece called 'Shopping Girl'. I'm going to work on a series of girls, and thhis is the first!

I started with a blank canvas, painted it, collaged on different pages from vintage books, collaged on a solid color paper, then collaged a sheet of vintage sheet music on top of all that. When that was dry, I painted the girl, collaging on her dress and her Bloomies' Big Brown Bag! I finished it up with some washes of paint and sealed it with a layer of matte medium.

Hopefully you enjoy it, and she puts a smile on your face today!

Please feel free to leave comments.

Where to find Antique and Vintage Images

I get asked a lot where I find antique and vintage images to use in my art. I can tell you it's not easy, but that's only because I like to use the real thing. I love old photos printed on old photo paper, they just have a certain flair to them that can really add a lot to your project. But, depending on the type of project you are doing, you may find that using images from a CD or downloaded from the internet work just fine. Just whip out your distress inks, and they'll look authentic in no time! I have found a couple really great sites that will give you images to use for FREE! (I LOVE free!)
Here's one of the sites I have been to in the past: http://freeantiqueimages.blogspot.com/

I also hunt around alot on flickr for FREE images that people are willing to share.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrysti/sets/72057594064002193/

There is some really great stuff out there, you just gotta know where to search!

If you have a favorite site or place to get vintage images, please leave a comment and share!

STOCK UP & SAVE SALE!

It's that time of year when everyone is having sales, back to school, end of summer, yada yada. So, I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon and offer some pretty good sales as well!

From now until the end of August, Buy ANY 2 packs of vintage papers from my etsy store: And get ANY 1 pack FREE! It's your choice! Just let me know in the notes section when you check out which one you would like, and it's yours - FREE!

http://katieblue.etsy.com

Altered Art Supplies

I have been having so much fun searching for some great altered art supplies. These vintage dominos are my latest find. They are in black and white and bright colors, which is so cool! I can't wait to use them in some altered art projects. I may even make some domino pendants.

Do you have any great ideas for using dominos? If so, leave a comment and share your ideas! :)

Also, I am going to share a few of these in my Etsy store as well! Get 10 of these dominos for only $4.25!

Working with Beeswax

I made my first attempt to work with beeswax, and it turned out wonderful! I don't know why I waited so long to get myself to work with this medium. It gives such a great aged look to things. Here is one of my original collages "J'Adore Paris". It is collaged with a beautiful fleur de lis paper, an eiffel tower image, vintage butterfly cut-outs, and text. I added details with charcoal as well, before I layered on the beeswax.

Enjoy and Please leave your comments! (Also, I have this piece for sale in my Etsy store, if you would like it!)

Christmas in July Craft Show!

"Christmas in July"

Arts & Crafts Show

in Peoria, Arizona.


This event is INDOORS!!!

Don't miss this event!


30-40 exhibitors featuring handmade Artisan creations AND Arts and Craft supplies-(Paper Crafting, Altered Arts, handmade jewelry, beads, soaps, lotions, rubber stamps, card kits, handmade papers, quilts, craft supplies, general crafting, Vintage ephemera, collage, other Vintage findings and antiquities...plus, MUCH MORE!).....PLUS, a HUGE SCRAPBOOK and RUBBER STAMP YARD SALE from individuals selling their items from their own personal craft supplies!!!!


FIND TONS of bargains and wonderful treasures!!


(be sure to bring plenty of cash...some exhibitors are individuals. There is an ATM located at the CHASE Bank in the shopping center parking lot.)

Here are a few of the Paper Crafting Vendors:

BLUE GREEN ARTS

SPELLBINDERS

STAMPIN' UP!

CREATIVE MEMORIES

CLOSE TO MY HEART

GLITZ DESIGN

HERITAGE MAKERS

VINTAGE BLISS

Plus more!!!


WHEN: Saturday, July 25th--9am-5pm

WHERE: 9720 W. Peoria Ave - located INSIDE the EAST end of the MALL, between Mercer's Restaurant and the CROP GIRLS store in PEORIA, AZ.

Admission: FREE

The YART SALE (yard + art = YART)!

This is my first YART SALE on Etsy, and I'm very excited to be offering some great specials!

Here's my list of deals!

1. Buy any paper pack and pay for shipping and get free shipping on ANY additional vintage paper packs! Woohoo! For example, you can buy 5 packs, but only pay shipping for one! Gotta love that!

2. The PICK 3 paper pack have been reduced to only $17.00! So, pick any 3 packs for only $17.00! Stock up now! http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26239572

3. Buy any original Art Piece and get ANY pack of Vintage papers for FREE! I love FREE stuff!



Leave a comment with a link to your YART sale items, if you would like to share! Or, just leave a comment, I always love them!

It's summer, alright!

It's summer... especially in Arizona! With summer comes fresh, juicy, delicious fruit... like one of my favorites, Strawberries! Here's my newest painting of a lovely strawberry. Wouldn't you like to have that hanging in your kitchen?

Vintage Treasury

The lovely members of the Cottage Style Street Team have come up with another beautiful treasury! And, I happen to be featured, thank you very much! I think it just a wonderful treasury, check it out!



Here's a pic too! My vintage paper packs were featured (bottom left corner)

Please leave your comments, I love comments! :)

Featured on a Blog

One of my items has been feautured on a lovely blog! Check it out!
Thank you!

http://mysticwynd.blogspot.com

Don't Worry!

To all of you who participated in the Earth Day Giveaway but did not win... DON'T WORRY! I've got lots of these great little packs of vintage nature papers in stock, ready to ship out! Best of all, they are only $6.00! You get some great images of birds, animals, flowers, etc... Truly a great find!

WINNERS OF THE EARTH DAY GIVEAWAY!

Thank you to everyone who entered! There were an amazing 41 people who helped share what they are doing to help the environment. It was so great reading everyone's responses, and there are some very valuable ideas to be taken from this.

Down to business.... Since there were so many entries, I decided to give away 2 packs of vintage nature papers instead of 1! I wrote down all the names and had my husband draw 2 randomly...

And the winners are...

Megan and Mary Vogel Lozniak


Congratulations! I will try to send you both a message to get your info. Or, please leave me a comment of an email address where I can reach you!

Thanks again, everyone! I'll be doing another giveaway soon, since this one was such a success!