Last Swaps Out Before Surgery!!

So, this is the last stack of mail that will be sent out until after I have my surgery tomorrow. I have other crafting pictures to share later, but this will be my last post until after it too. I am having a radical hysterectomy on the 22nd of Feb. Tomorrow. Today I will get a call between 2 and 6 to let me know when I need to arrive at UVA tomorrow. It will be a 6 week no pushing, pulling, lifting 10 lbs or more recovery. One week after the surgery we will get the news if the cancer has spread outside of the cervix or not. If it has then I will have radiation treatments. So, yea...that is what is happening now for me. I have been crafting like crazy the past couple of days. My mom is here from NC to stay with the kids while my hubby, Matt, takes me to the hospital tomorrow....she will stay for several weeks helping....COOK....she's mainly gonna cook....she is the cooker of the family.....I did NOT inherit any of those genes! LOL! Wish I had though. ;)

Well, there I am...I hope I remember to post them off today!!! LOL!!

Thanks or stopping by!!

FBs n Deco entries

This post is a few different things. It starts out with a swap I received from Australia, from a new swapper friend that I recently made....and she is currently my only fb swapper friend. And that is enough for now;) Then I also got a homer with this swap!! YAY! It's one I made. Then there are some Art Deco entries I decorated so I can get these girls decos moving on. Then just the envelopes of two swaps that are for a Facebook group. And that is all;)

There is about 30 fbs in all from this swap. I am not sure that I will be able to send that many back. I am pretty sure I said that I can send only a small amount. If I had to guess to send this same weight back to Aussi land would be like $15 dollars to me. I do remember reading in a group if you break it up in 2 smaller envelopes you can send more. So, I may try that depending on how time consuming and just really the effort will be a deal breaker for me. I will just send around 3 ounces back...unless its like 10 bucks, and I will have figure something out then:/

Here is Olof I made this fb a long time ago. I was just starting to get into mixed media....like JUST STARTING to get into it...I didn't even know about mixed media, but you can see the stamped shading on the edges....that is how it all started!!! LOL...ahhahahahahahhaha!!!

Here is a "colorful" frog Art Deco. Well, I didn't have colorful frogs, but I did happen to find some stickers. They are foil stickers with mirror-like reflection....so hopefully that counts. I'm hoping one of these days i will be able to decently draw whatever I need to for these deco and other art projects. This is not my favorite theme, but I do like decorating non interesting themes just to see how it comes out and even learn from it. 

This was very cute. I had these cutouts from a swap on Swap-bot. I usually do not remember I have these little things to use, and they just sit somewhere. But this worked out very well. I cut the background from a gelli print I made a few months ago. I need to have another gelli printing session. It's just so much fun;) and you make a stack of papers that last for ever.

This was another theme I was not thrilled with, but had a great time making this page. BUUUUTT...the theme is beach...not under the sea....which is what it seems like I was thinking....hope that is okay though!!!LOL!

Here are two envelopes that were gelli printed a long time ago. I swear...I make something....try to find it and can't...then find it weeks later and use it;)

That is it for this post. Thanks for looking!!

Backgrounds, Decos, n Messy Desk

These are some backgrounds that I have been working on. I think they will be cut up and made for some ATCs. I am in an ATC group where we can post pictures of our ATCs, then other members of the group can comment if they want to trade some of theirs for mine. I have not posted any of mine yet, but I have several that I have made and plan to post as soon as I am a bit better after my surgery I will have tomorrow.

Just painted circles with my fingers in various colors, then used a fine liner to  mark around them....that's it.

This one turned out better then I thought. I use the make up wedges to stamp little rectangles....I didn't plan, just added them to fill the page. Then I used the fine liner around the border of each rectangle.

This was fun, a lot of these pages are done on  cereal boxes that have been gesso'd, and they start out as a scrap page.....where I use up all the ink that is left over from the "main" project. Then when it starts to get some character, I will give it more attention and care more about making it look good/usable for some projects. I am still practicing and basically using "trial and error" with my fine liner....since these will be cut up and layered several times more, it will hide "mistakes";)

This started out as inspired by a "mood board" in one of my  Facebook groups....but I am not quite sure it will fit that mood. Maybe once I cut it down to ATCs, some I can continue with the mood board inspiration. I really like this one though, it turned out pretty cool looking. I have also been practicing with a calligraphy dip pen I have recently purchased. Yea, there is gonna be a huge learning curve with that thing;) I was listening my my preachers sermon on my computer and just writing some things down that he was saying. 

And of course, I cannot go a crafting day without taking lovely picture of my mess;) It is pretty much  always looking like this. I do go through and try to clean and organize....not to clean really, but to see what I have forgotten about and try to use it! LOL!

These are Art Decos I made for swaps with new private swappers, and swap-bot.  I REALLY love the way these turned out. I just started to cover the cardstock, laying a background and add some texture with stencils. Add some other paper for more textures. Then more stencils and did some fine liner drawing and framing in with that. I drew a few back ground things in, added the focal point, then wanted to do light shades over the focal point to blend in with the background. Then added a sentiment and some texture paste with the cursive stencil. If I really wanted to finish it off, I would go through and do some time consuming shading around the focal points to really get them to pop....but I thought these looked pretty good as is. 

That was it for that day/days. I did these things a few weeks ago. I posted them on my new crafting instagram page...its marlowesmakingsnmail. Thanks for looking!!!

SPOILERS!!! BUTT load of Art Decos

Yea, I am pretty much sure that I spent ALL DAY LONG making these decos today. It was so much fun!! I started out greeting card style...ended up with mixed media style. I am very pleased with all of them. Not sure what got into me, but I signed up for some swaps on Swap-bot, then a couple on Facebook...I pretty much got all of them done today!! Which is great cause I was not planning on signing up for any swaps until after my surgery on Feb. 22. 

Vintage Valentine Deco for Swap on Facebook

Heart Deco for swap on Facebook

"Food" Deco for swap on Swap-bot

Houses Deco for swap on Swap-bot

"Cat" Deco for swap on Swap-bot

Swap on swap-bot "Stamped Image" Deco

Swap on swap-bot...not sure of title for this one yet

Just cause...I might make this for a new friend who is gonna be designing me some labels. 

Just for fun Deco

Just for fun Deco

Just for fun Deco

More unfinished decos. 

Well, that is all or today. Thanks for looking!!

3 ATCs and 2 Decos

These three ATCs will probably be traded in a new group I am in on Facebook. I have not posted them there yet. Sometimes  I am hesitant to post things about trading on there, because so many people just start messaging you and replying, it really over whelms me! lol! Maybe I am just weird. I think that is why I like swap-bot so much...it's just easier...you are assigned you partner.

Was not impressed wth this for a while, then it came together nicely.

One I made a while back, and am ready to trade.

An ATC...I like it.

Below is a Deco I started weeks ago, then lost it, then found it and finished it. I am not too impressed with the way it turned out, but its cute I guess.

My okay-ish Deco, I lost then finished recently.

This is a page that I decorated for a swap partner via SB. I like her style and have thought about contacting her to be regular deco swappers. I have just been procrastinating. I am looking  -ish for quality Art Deco swappers in the USA. Also, for HQ/N+N fbs too, but have not really gotten back into that yet;)

My page, in the deco below.

Deco received via Swap-bot swap

Thanks for checking it out!!

Mixed Media Lg Envie & Face

On Facebook, I am in a group called Our Friendship Journal. We are making a journal page about every month. The pages are 8x10, and I just make mine on regular copy paper, that will thicken up after many layers of paint and sealer. I do not have a picture of it, I may try to take some pictures of the other pages I started, and have not journaled on. These are the large flat envelopes that I mail my journal pages in. I love to alter envelopes, they are primarily my "scrap" papers for excess paints when I am gelli printing. I just roll the extra paint on them to get a start on the background. I have a hard time waiting for paints and gel mediums to dry, so instead of taking a heat tool or blow dryer to it, I will just start another project....usually having 5 to 10 going on at the same time;) 1 to 3 projects will be the main focus, with several others just starting a base coat for them. 

This is probably my favorite between the two. 

You can still see some of the manila color in the back ground....not sure if I like that or not.

This picture below, I drew of my daughter, Ella. I honestly did NOT expect it to turn out so well. I do not draw faces that often, can probably count on one hand the times that I have actually sat down to draw a face. I would love to get more into it, with art journaling. I feel like I would ruin it if I tried to color it in though....this is why I am going to scan and make a copy to color, versus winging it with the original. She was not in a good mood when I was doing this, and I tried to capture her droopy eyes without it looking all wonky. Love the shape of the face though, its the same as mine too. 

Thanks for looking!