Beautiful Cards & Sneak Peek

This was a card I did for my Christmas card class in November. Everyone really loved the wreath used on it! I found another card on Memory Box's blog http://davebrethauer.typepad.com/stampcolorcreate/2009/12/frosty-wreath.html using the same stamp and wanted to share it with you. Use the link here and you can see some up-close photos of the wreath section.

The wreath was stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate ink onto Robin's Egg card stock. The branches are decorated with White Liquid Pearls and while wet sprinkled with Prisma glitter. It's layered onto Frost card stock then onto a layer of Quartz card stock that was edged with a Martha Stewart border punch. Very nice! I am going to have to try the Liquid Pearls myself.

SNEAK PEEK......This is a NEW card for my class in February of 2010. You can not tell from the photo but it's done using foils on the stamped image. We don't have our schedule done yet at Stamp Asylum for the first quarter, but will soon. So check the website http://stampasylum.com/ in January. This class should be scheduled in early February.

Christmas at the Goss Home

Well I must say I am a BAD blogger! Lately it has been hard to keep up with everything. Working part time at the store, trying to get Christmas decorations up, and buying gifts, there just is not enough time in the day. I have even skipped exercising the past two days. Missed most of last week too. Boy I need to get back on track!

I took on a new monthly job deal also. As if I didn't have enough to do right? The company that makes House Mouse rubber stamps ask me to make cards for their 2010 stamp of the month club for stores. Well that is 95 cards a month. At least I can color copy the mouse part after I color it. I just have to assemble 95 cards. That in itself is a job! Last month I cut 95 little mouse hands to hold a punched heart. This month was a little easier, just layering more. It is fun though to color the little guys and then come up with a card. I need to ask if I can post the finished cards here on the blog.

Another exciting thing happening around our house is my son is going to college early! Richland Junior College has a program where kids can attend their Collegiate High School their Junior and Senior years. This program gets them a High School Diploma and an Associates Degree in Science. So he will be attending there after the holidays.

I have to say it was a hard decision for him and for us as parents to let him decide. He will be leaving his friends and the same school district he has been in since kindergarten. He is sacrificing being on the Varsity Golf team and of course his classes will be harder than the AP ones he is taking now.

I am more sentimental than he is so it's been tough for me to want him to do it. As a Mom I want those Senior pictures and Prom ones too! They have that at Richland but still it will not be the same as being at his old school and with his friends. I just paid for his Senior ring and annual too. LOL But I have to think about the money it's going to save me (two years of junior college) because it is free for him to do this. Plus he will have a degree at the end of his Senior year and have a better chance at a good 4 year college. So I try to dwell on those two things.

He will have two or three friends there with him. They started in the Fall. He is very good at making friends anyway. He is very outgoing and can talk to anyone. So I feel he will be fine in that department. I just hope he is not growing up to fast and takes everything in and makes the best of the situation. That's all I can hope for and that he makes good grades! LOL

I thought I would post some of the Christmas decorations I have around the house. Below is the tree I have in my bedroom. It looks like a vintage tinsel tree but came from Hobby Lobby several years back. I soldered little word ornaments for it. I also made some chocolate brown metal circle ornaments and then bought a few silver snowflake ball ones from Smitten in McKinney. I bought them last year so I do not know if they have any this year but they are really pretty.
This is piece I got from another store in McKinney but they are closed now. It is a Bethany Lowe I believe.

The lights and ornaments on the main Christmas tree in the den.

This candy wreath my husband got as a gift this year from one of his customers. I think it's a cutie!

These red and green ornaments are on the tinsel tree on the kitchen table.

This is a new tree for us this year. It's a fir tree in an urn. I found these silver and gray ornaments at Target and thought they would be perfect. This tree works for any holiday. I have used it for Valentines and for Easter but not for Christmas before.

Grinch and his dog sitting under the Christmas tree.

This is another Bethany Lowe piece I acquired after Christmas last year. Glad to be able to put him out this year.

Lovely blue balls in a bowl in my bedroom. The bird and nest art piece was made by my friend April.

Thanks for stopping by and again so sorry it's taken me so long to post. Hope you enjoyed my Christmas decorations.

New Items Added To My Etsy Shop

I had time to add two new items in my Etsy shop http://www.donnagoss.etsy.com today. It took me awhile to finish this scarf. I do not like to knit when it's warm and it has not been cold (until today LOL) so it took longer than usual for this one. it's great to wear casual or dressy.

This glass house is a Christmas theme one. It lights up with battery operated tea lights so there is not a fire hazard. Done in pink and green colors for a fun and whimsical style. The other end has a transparency in it of a girl sitting on Santa's lap. I do happen to know the little girl and she is not little anymore, but just as sweet. On one side of the roof I applied punched out reindeer. You only see them when the light is on though. Kind of a neat effect. There are more photos of the other sides on my site so go check it out.

Marie Antoinette Soiree

Marie Antoinette has been a popular character in the stamping industry for a long time now. Five other artists and myself thought it would be fun to do a journal swap with the theme being her. I decided to be the host and did invitations and a schedule for the traveling journals. I also wanted us to make some extra props to go along with our journals. So we each had to create a cake, shoe, bodice and crown too. You were to interpret the extra pieces however you choose and we had some very creative minds at work! The journals could be hand made, altered books or whatever you wanted to work with. Everyone's work was beautifully done.
We started in May of this year and just finished a few weeks ago. In conclusion we had a soiree at my home on Nov. 1st. November 2nd is Marie's birthday. We had lunch and then looked at all our fabulous creations. What is a Marie party without cake? You know she really didn't say "Let them eat cake." but it's fun to say she did. My wonderful friend Mary made these cupcakes
and the cute stamped and colored Marie picks. She also made some great candy coated pretzels that are to die for! Plus a crown shaped cake! She is wonderful and helped me make the soiree run smoothly.



This is April's bodice. We each bought a wire bodice from Stampington and Company but she cut hers up and attached it to a tomatoe cage. What an out of the box idea that was! Her shoe, cake and crown are below. Speaking of out of the box...look at her crown. Base is made from wire then wrapped with fabric. Wire was them spireled on one end and a beaded charm added. Then stuck into the base. Very different but ingenious.

Below is Mary's contributions. Love her crown and the head it's displayed on! Her cake was a masterpiece. Three tiers of paper and glitter topped with a shoe! Her bodice was covered with stamped and collaged tags. She spent a lot of time on it. Lovely little shoe made of paper.

Pink was Melody's color choice for her pieces. Her crown is a metal one covered with fibers then topped with a flower. Fibers were included on all her pieces and it helped tie her pieces together. Her cake is topped with a bird on a nest of fibers! Very cute! She also was generous with her time in making things
run smoothly at the party.

Anne's pieces are very elegant. Her bodice is drapped with marbeld paper that looks like fabric. Very nice! Her crown is made from metal mesh and embellished with flowers and feathers. The shoe is created with paper and her cake is topped with feathers and Marie. Just a note...I think she had trouble keeping her cats from playing with all the feathers. Everyone knows cats love feathers! LOL


Here are my pieces. My bodice was covered with tied on strips of fabric, soldered charms and there is a bird inside the hoop skirt to be like a cage. I think Marie was sorta like a caged bird not getting to fly and be set free to have fun without being critazized. The cake is covered with paper, curled pipe cleaners, glitter and a copy of Kirsten Dunst as Marie from the Sophia Coppella movie. My shoe was paper and the crown was a tiera embellished with pipe cleaners and leaves.
Here you can see the bird inside the cage.
These are all the journals. All done in lucious colors and fabrics.

These are favors for three guests we had come and I made digital collages for the fronts of the bags. I received some wonderful gifts for favors as host and each of us made some type of favor for each other. There were rhinestone frames with a Marie collage inside, faux postage of Marie, ceramic shoes and several other great ones.

I made a fabric wall hanging as a door prize. I forgot to photograph it by itself and only got a photo of April who won, holding it. I need to ask her permission to put the photo on here so you will have to wait to see it later. It turned out great though.

It was a fun day and good to see what everyone had done in each other's journals. Swaps make you stretch your creativity and go outside the box so to speak. I highly encourage people to do them but they are a lot of work.

We will be displaying our works of art at Stamp Asylum in December. The date is the 5th from 2:00pm - 4:00pm. So if you are in the area please come by for some refreshments and enjoy feeling and looking at all of our creations in person. It will be well worth your time.

New Moon Party Next Week

One of my best friend's is giving her daughter a New Moon Movie Party next week. On the 19th seven girls are meeting at her house to eat pizza and watch Twilight. Then later in the evening go to the theater to get in line with every other "crazy about Edward and Bella girl" to wait for midnight and the NEW movie New Moon to be shown. Then everyone is coming back to the house for a sleepover! I just hope I can stay up long enough to watch the complete movie at the theater. LOL

I made invitations, book marks, treat bag toppers, cupcake picks and tags for t-shirts for the event. Did you know there are rubber stamps for Twilight? Yep there is! Barnes and Noble has them if you need them.
Above are the toppers, bookmarks and cupcake picks.

This is the tags for the shirts and you can see still see the book marks. We all will be wearing matching t-shirts. FUN FUN FUN!! The girls also got rubber bracelets to wear. One of them says "runs with vampires".
Here is the invite. The words are printed on vellum then below is a picture of Bella, Edward and Jacob. It was fun to make all the items and I got lots of compliments on the invites.

Whimsical Christmas Card Class This Weekend

My class at Stamp Asylum still has a few openings left in it. Call the store to sign up 972 596-1224. It is on Saturday November 14th from 11:00am-1:30pm. Cost is $55.00 and you go home with 6 different cards for the holiday season. I supply everything so you do not even need your tool kit. Really great cards!

My Newest Book

This is the cover of my newest book published by Design Originals. This one is not all mine though, there are several other artist's projects inside. We were to use Tim Holtz products for making the samples. So that included any of his
Stampers Anonymous, Ranger, or Advantus lines of product. It was fun and my projects did make up part of the cover artwork. The doll, cabinet and dress form are mine.

Mixed Media Collage Artists is 5 Years Old

I joined Mixed Media Collage Artists several months ago and have enjoyed meeting new people and looking at great art that is posted on the site. The artists share their interests and knowledge with each other as well as mentoring when needed to help fellow members grow in their talent. You never know when you will find a new technique you have never heard of and a member brings it to your attention. Sharing ideas and techniques is a big help to all of us. To learn more about MMCA check out this link http://www.mixedmediacollageartists.com

Wonderful Art Weekend

This past weekend I got to spend with friends and Artist/Teacher Stephanie Rubiano. I met Stephanie through a mutual friend and we have known each other a long time. She is a talented artist and was gracious enough to come up and stay the weekend to teach us how to construct her beautiful Butterfly Boxes and Pixie Pins. It was so much fun!

Above is a photo of all of our pins and then in our kits were these canvases to make a box for displaying one of them. I decorated my box with leafing, vintage ledger paper, ink and paint. I decided to put my best pin inside. The technique takes a little getting use to and by the third transfer I did better. Not perfect, but much better than my first one. I melted the little girls face on the first one, and I thought she looked like a skeleton so I decided to make her a Halloween pin. Could not find a mask small enough for her face so I left her face exposed.

These are the pins I made. Their wings are made from tins we cut up or bottle caps. The crowns are also made from the tins. We used tiny little screws and bolts to attach the crowns and wings. We added acrylic paint on their dresses - polka dots or painted the entire dress.

This is my Butterfly Box. Using real butterfly wings makes the piece elegant and colorful. Speaking of colorful...the wings were so hard to choose from because they are all so pretty and rich in color. If you get a chance to take a class from Stephanie you will be in for a treat! Visit her blog at http://www.soigathered.typepad.com/ She has posted all of the Butterfly Boxes we made this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of the week!

Bird Cage Girl Class

My friend Donna Joy is teaching this wonderful paint technique class at The Stamp Asylum this Saturday Sept. 19th from 11:00am - 3:00pm. The technique is a background one and then you add collage on top. It really is a fun one! I have done it on two pieces myself. Call the store to sign up 972 596-1224 Class description is below.

In this workshop you will create a piece of wall art using a variety of paints and papers while learning a technique to add texture to your backgrounds – not only in this piece but in other you create later. Once the texture is complete, you will add imagery, draw your cage, accent it with charcoal and seal for a finished 12" x 7" piece ready to hand. To create a similar palette as the sample, you will need dabbers in the following colors: Aqua, Citrus, Cool Peri and Juniper. Optional: Pool, Lake and Pink Sherbet dabbers. If you have a different palette preference, bring the dabbers for your palette. Also bring your tool kit that includes paint brushes to paint and to glue. Donna Joy [$45]

Where Water Comes Down Etsy Shop

I went to my first North Dallas Etsy Team meeting this past Saturday evening. It was great to meet everyone. We had been conversing (since I joined the group several weeks ago) on our yahoo group email list so now I can put a face with a name.

I first learned of the group one Saturday when I was at work and several of the members came into the store. We preceded to talk and I was informed about the team and so I decided to sign up. If your an Etsy Seller in the North Dallas area and would like to find out more about the team go to the web site http://www.northdallasetsy.com/ .

At the meeting we each brought something from our shop to swap. I was fortunate to receive some hand made soap from Nicki Shores who runs Where Water Comes Down http://wherewatercomesdown.etsy.com/ . You have to go check out the soaps in her shop! They smell wonderful, not overpowering and they lather up really good.

I received Coconut Lime, Lakeside and Mulberry scents. I have opened and used the Coconut Lime. I love it! I also love the embossed water faucet embedded in the bar. You can see it in my photo. REALLY CUTE and A SURPRISE! Nicki lists what ingredients are in each bar on a card and slips it under the colorful string surrounding the paper wrapped around the bar. Nice packaging and it would make a wonderful gift for someone special.

My Class Schedule at Stamp Asylum

Here is my teaching schedule at the store till the end of the year.

Saturday August 22nd from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

& also

Saturday September 26th from 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Solder 101
In this class we will explore the basics of solder for those who have never attempted it. You will assemble collages for pins, pendants and a necklace. Once you learn this technique, you can make ornaments, wall art, and boxes. Your imagination will run wild with other gift ideas. Bring to class scissors, glue stick, small vice, bone folder, solder iron with 1/8” screwdriver type tip, safety glasses and jewelry pliers. ($65)

Glass House without lights onGlass House with lights on

Saturday September 5th from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Little Glass House

This the sweetest solder project we have done yet! In this class you will create artwork using paint and inks, copied images, computer generated words, rubber stamps and charcoal pencil. Sandwich the artwork between glass then solder the house together. Polished to perfection and illuminate using battery operated tea lights. You will have a whimsical showpiece! THIS IS NOT A BEGINNER SOLDERING CLASS. YOU NEED TO ALREADY KNOW HOW TO SOLDER. Bring to class a good solder iron with a small tip ( ¼” – ½” screwdriver type tip), safety glasses, glue stick, detail scissors, Walnut Stain Distress pad, old thick towel, small vise, phid or bone folder, tweezers, pencil and three metal bench blocks or something heavy enough (very important) to hold the glass in position for soldering the house together. ($95)

Saturday October 17th from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Creative Twist on Cards

If you love to make cards then this class is for you! You will make six different cards that can be used for any occasion. You may learn a new technique or find a long lost one you forgot about. All supplies provided. ($55)

Saturday November 14th from 11:00 am - 1:30 pm

Whimsical Christmas Cards

Need a head start on your Christmas cards this season? Or you can’t think of an idea to even get you started? Then this class is for you! You will make six different cards incorporating various techniques and some of the new stamp designs and papers. Come and enjoy some holiday music and treats with your friends in this festive class. All supplies provided. ($55)

Halloween Wall Hangings

I made these two wall hangings this week to add to my Etsy shop. They came out pretty good I think. I used Tim Holtz grungeboard shapes on both, copies of old photos I had, stamped the words, and various Halloween papers. Visit my shop to purchase them and check out my other Halloween pendants. http://donnagoss.etsy.com

New Items In My Etsy Shop

Added new items to sell in my Etsy shop today. This photo/card holder comes in green or purple. Only had two of these left. Can't find the wooden blocks anymore.

I have several styles of this vintage art pendant.

If your an Alfred Hitchcock fan here is a soldered pendant for you. I love The Birds movie. It's my favorite of his.

Can't be Halloween without Frankie and Drac. The Witch from the Wizard of Oz is on the other side of this pendant.

Isn't she the cutest little thing you've ever seen? Her quote is "really do i have to?" I got this cutey from Lisa's Altered Art on Etsy www.lisasalteredart.etsy.com .