I'm looking for a D.C. area store that has a nice selection of Rubber Stamps, actually I can't even find a scrapbooking store so that would be helpful too.  I've been to the Paper Source in Georgetown already.

Thanks!

This is my most recent encaustic painting.  I started with beeswax as base and added greens, turquoise and peach.  Next I added a substantial amount of beeswax and ocre and then heated the wax until the colors underneath came through.  Lastly I added my fibers and started carving for texture.

I wish I have before and after pictures, unfortunately all I have are after.  I re-made this set of chairs from my childhood using mod podge, paint and fun bug wrapping paper. 



Here are close-ups of the bug designs. 

This is the first purse I've made.  It was woven on a child's size loom and then sewn by hand.  As you can see it's really basic, a braided strap and lined with a simple rayon pocket. Mmmm...it's a trick trying something new, but maybe I'll evolve into harder projects if I feel like this one is going to hold together.

but it turned out to be a perfect light weight summer purse.

It's not the picture, her features are really light yet, I was really surprised at how this Jane Austen paper doll came out.  I feel like I should do more with her, but I'm just thrilled that her face and hair are recognizable. 


 

I've been into bugs lately.  I had great wrapping paper and with bugs in all sorts of colors that I couldn't part with as gifts so I started making coasters.



I have regular old tiles that I've mod podged cut out bugs and tissue papers to and then covered the back side with felt so it is soft on surfaces.  I like them and they are practical too.

Remember when partition screens were all the rage?  I made one a long time ago and all but forgot about it.  I've been doing a marathon cleaning/painting session today for my back porch getting it all beautiful and while working I found my old screen.  It fits perfectly with the colors so I added it to the room.  Now I remember how much time and love went into this original project.



First I bought these specialty stickers at a rubber stamp convention and held on to them for 4 years before I found a worthy project.



I have a book of famous love letters and photocopied all sorts of them on to different colored taupe papers for the worn look.  I also have a rubber stamp in french script and I added that to tinted watercolor paper.





Lastly I took another rubber stamp and added the postal and passport markings. 



Screens may not be as popular as they once were - but I really like the addition to my porch and I think I'll use this old letter collage look on a few other projects I'm planning.

I needed a boarder in my bedroom and decided to make my own with scraps of paper I had from other projects.  I bought a package of Eiffel Towers and glued strips of paper to them and trimmed.  This is the finished product.  I think I'll work on the rest of the 20 one at a time.

This is one of those projects that didn't come together easily whatsoever.  This shrine started out as an earring display stand.  But once the doors had metal mesh the images on the back wall couldn't be seen so I re-worked the project into a shrine.





This picture is dark but without much glare.  I glued Alice down and then realized I wasn't done trimming her out.  Sometimes when I forget to trim something down I can take it up again and complete the cut as I image in.  But I had to work with spray adhesive because the paper is so dry.  I wouldn't come up after I noticed my mistake.


These are the little offerings I sent with the shrine: Skeleton Key, drink me bottle, mushroom, crown and Eiffel Tower charms.

And the one thing that pleased me the most with this project doesn't appear in my pictures -- I really screwed up in documenting my project.

On the top and sides of the shrine I carefully edged the paper with red ink.  The effect was really striking and I want to make sure I remember I did this when I take out that paper again.  I liked the beads and the pawns at the top of the shrine.

My partner said she liked the finished project and I'm thankful she was pleased.  But I'm still irritated with myself for the little things that didn't go quite right. 

I made a box for my partner for the Alice in Craftsterland Swap.  This is the top inside of the box:



The crown, Key and pocket-watch are stickers.  Alice is from a blank greeting card and the name plate came from a scrapbooking set of goodies I found on clearance.  I added her name with letter stickers.

And the bottom



I don't know how practical it is to attach small wood blocks to the inside of a box, it makes the inside smaller.  But I didn't want to just paint a checker board bottom so I thought this would be a little different.





Here is a picture of the closed box:


To see how the outside came together visit this thread

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=344134.0