Artist Trading Cards or ATCs

Here are pictures of my most recent ATCs:

Alien Abduction:

Black Unicorn:

Dante's Inferno: The Opportunists

Living Dead Doll: Emma

Living Dead Doll: Emily

What do you think? I have done other stuff but I will post those at a later time.

Ciao!! xoxo

~Dissolved Girl

Artist Trading Cards or ATCs

I think I am hooked when it comes to making ATCs. I made my first one a couple of weeks ago, which I am extremely sad that I forgot to take a picture of it. At least I remembered to document these before they are mailed out to their new homes tomorrow.

These skulls were made for an ATC swap. I drew the skull on white card stuck then I freehanded the design, colored it with brush markers, then I cut the skull, cut out the eyes, nose and check with my craft knife.

For the male skull, I covered the ATC blank with a cute skull scrapbook paper I found in AC Moore, then I glued the doll eyes and attached a bow tie.

With Flash:

Without Flash:

For the female skull, I made the skull as I did above but for the background I used a glittery spiderweb scrapbook paper and what I used as I bow tie for the male, I used as a hair bow for the female.

With Flash:

With out Flash:

The ATC below I made for an Alice in Wonderland swap. The person hosting it is doing a whole series of these. where you have to do an ACT for each chapter of the story.

This one is Chapter One:

I drew the background, except for Alice and the Rabbit.

Last but not least. This one is not an ATC but I wanted to show you guys anyway. I made the below bookmark for another swap. Thought I give it an honorable mention since I really like how it came out.

I need to make a few more ATC's when I am done I will post them here. But in the mean time I want to know what you all think? I know I can use some improvement. But I figured the more I make them, the better I will get.

Ciao! xoxo

~ Dissolved Girl

Blogs around the way

Joining Swab-bot has made my already long google reader list even longer. So many talented people with great blogs. So for you creative folk I am going to list some awesome blogs that I discovered after doing a swap.

1. Creative Indulgences: She has some very pretty computer generated art work on her blog. She has not blogged in a while but I do hope she posts more soon.
2. OA: This blogger has some great artwork on her blog. Her ATC's (for those that do not know what an ATC is, I will have a separate blog about them soon) are awesome and I only wish I had half the talent for them.
3. Mad About Pink: You all know my love for interior design, well this blog feeds into it even more.
4. Lil' Miss Polkadot: This blogger makes the cutest Sewn things. She makes these cute Owl pillows that I want and I am now stalking her Etsy shop for when she has more for sale, I can snap one up.
5. Just add Water, Silly: So you guys saw those bookmarks I made here and here, right? Well, my little silly bookmarks got nothing at what the very talented Jenn makes over at her blog. Just check it out here and while you are at it, check out all her other art work.
6. I don't care if Monday's blue: Not a craft blog per say, but she is on swab-bot, she is a cutie and her blog is really cute. I just love this post about a trick she played on her little brother.
7. I Could Make That: This blogger makes pretty awesome things on her blog that can get anyone's creative juices going. I especially love her cat ears tutorial.
8. Our Simply Crazy Life: Not a craft blog, this blogger chats about her family life and her super adorable kids.
9. Cricut Cutter: So there is this thing called a Cricut that I really, really want and may be putting it on my X-Mas wish list this year. Well, that wanting has really been elevated after I was introduced to the Cricut Critter blog. This blogger makes some really cool things that only makes me green with envy.
10. Sugar Crawler: I will warn you, that when you go to this blog you will get hungry. I follow a few baking blogs and this one has been added to my list. She makes some yummy looking backed goods and the pictures that she takes of her creations are awesome.

Hope you all enjoy these blogs. These is going to be a part two of blogs that I like, but t=since this post is super long. I will stop here today.

Ciao! xoxo

~Dissolved Girl

Weekend Crafts: More Handmade Bookmarks

The latest swap I joined is to make two handmade bookmarks for my partner from a nice graphic. After looking at my partners profile I saw that she liked to go to Broadway Shows. So I got the great idea to make her a bookmark using the image of a Play Bill and this is what I came up with:

Front:

Back:

The bookmark came out looking so great. I was so proud of myself. After I was done I went off to check my partners profile to see what else my partner liked to make the second one. Then I noticed on the swap description it said "No Computer Generated Printouts". That meant that the above bookmark was no good. I was back to the drawing board.

After some searching I found two very pretty and colorful birthday cards and I made the following bookmarks:

Bookmark #1

Bookmark #2:

I decide last minute to send all three of them to my partner. I hope she likes them.

Now here is the finished product of the card I showed you on this post:

What do you think? I really liked how the final outcome of the card. I only hope my partner likes it.

My pile of outgoing mail for this week:
It is so much smaller then what I sent out last week.

What do you all think of the bookmarks and the final postcard?

Ciao!! xoxo

~Dissolved Girl

Upcoming Posts

I have a lot to blog about. I was going to do several posts on Sunday but the power went out and by the time the power came back on I was ready for bed. Here are some of the topics I have up and coming:

1) Weekend Crafts: I did not make a whole lot this weekend due to the power outage. But I did manage to make a few things

2) Jewelry: I made a few new pieces

3) A few new blogs: On Swap-bot I did this awesome swap where I discovered some new blogs. We were suppose to check out 10 but along the way I saw others that I liked, I will be blogging about them in the next day or so.

4) Postcards: I am becoming addicted to postcards. I will share with you a few very awesome ones I received in the mail recently.

Alright, those are the main things I have planned for the week. Also in between I will have my normal Hump Day Video and Shoe post. This week I will not have a nail of the week due to the fact that I am giving my nails another break.

What are you guys up to? How was your weekend?

Ciao!! xoxo
~Dissolved Girl

Snow Globe Postcard Fail....

For one of the swaps I am in, I am supposed to make a Snow Globe postcard using this tutorial and send it to my partner. I made one yesterday and after much work is was a failure. I decided that I was going to wait for the weekend to try round two, but I REALLY wanted to try again NOW.

So after I cooked dinner today I put in the movie Remember Me (by the way if you have not seen that movie, you must. I will warn you though, it will have you in tears by the end) and got to work on my card.

It took me almost two hours to almost complete it. I know, I am slow. I really wanted it to be perfect. Well, it is not perfect and this is why, the stupid sides of the card wont seal!!! I do not know if it is the type of paper glue that I am using or the paper is playing games with me.

This is what it currently looks like:

I am leaving it under heavy books overnight. Maybe with some drying time and pressure the card will seal, but for now I am calling it FAILED. If by some miracle it seals I will finish it tomorrow and post the final product. If it does not, it is back to the drawing board.

Ciao!! xoxo

~Dissolved Girl

Crafty Weekend

On Saturday while Mr. P was at work, I spent my morning singing at the top of my lungs to Michael Jackson's Dangerous CD and sewing my life away making this:

Front

Back

I made this bag for my partner on Swab-Bot for the "Make me a Handmade Tote Swap". I had so much fun making it and loved how it turned out, that I signed up for another handmade tote swap.

After that it was off to make a "Handmade Bookmark". My partner loves Hello Kitty. So I only thought it appropriate to make her a Hello Kitty bookmark. I added silver embossed stars, then I reinforced the bookmark by adding as a backing a pretty cloud scrap booking paper. To protect the bookmark since it was made from card stock, I put it in a plastic holder. I used a star shaped hole puncher to add a hole to the top of the plastic holder, got some pretty blue jewelry thread, added a pretty pink bead and hung it from the hole.

Front

Back

These final 2 packages also went off to new homes. I was so excited that I forgot to take pictures of what I put in them.

I mailed off everything today. I am pretty sure the bag and the last two envelopes will get to their new homes quickly. The bookmark I am not so sure how long it will take to arrive to it's new home, since it is going to Canada. I just hope they all liked what I sent. I put a lot of thought and love into everything.

Today, I also received quiet a bit of mail. But like a little kid, I was too excited and started playing with everything I got and forgot to take pictures. But I did snap a quick picture of a postcard that I received so that I can show Mr. P, since it never made it home because as soon as I saw it I posted it on my bulletin board in my office. It was a huge hit with the people in my office.

Isn't it funny?
He really does look like he is saying hi! It had me cracking up for a good hour!

I had such a great and relaxing weekend. It was just what I needed after such a rough week. I was sad for it to come to such a quick end.

How was your weekend?

Ciao!! xoxo

~Dissolved Girl

Fun with Jewelry

I really like these Tarina Tarantino earrings:

But at $63 dollars a pair, there was no way I was going to buy them. From the description on her site the pearl is a Swarovski glass pearl and the stones on the post are Swarovski Crystals. It does not say if the actual post is sterling silver or not, but I will assume that it is.

So after a little bit of digging I found the materials to make my own "Swarovski Glass Pearl Drop Earrings" for about 10% of the cost of the original.

The earring posts are not 100% alike. But they are sterling silver, have the little bit of bling like the inspiration and the pearls are Swarovski glass pearls.

I liked them so much I made a dark grey version of the earrings*.

What do you think?

Ciao! xoxo

~Dissolved Girl

* I will update this post tomorrow with picture of the other one. The lighting is not so great so the picture did not turn out good.

I Am Ready......

for the snow storm that we are supposed to get this weekend. In the first picture are the patterns that I will be working on and the second photo is the fabric that I may or may not be using. I have not made a decision on what fabric to use on what pattern. But I will look through my stash later today, pre-treat the fabric and start cutting. So when I wake up on Saturday I can just start sewing.

I also have some jewelry projects, which I will work on when I take sewing breaks. My goal is by the end of the weekend to have at least one new outfit with new jewelry to go with it.

S0 come on 30 inches of snow! I am ready for you!

Ciao! xoxo

~ Dissolved Girl

Sickness and a Preview

I have spent the last four days sick with strep throat. Thus, why I have been so quiet and have not given my Saturday update.

I did get to finish the skirt. I tried to take a picture of the skirt but I did not like how it looked hanging from the hanger so I will make sure to take a picture this weekend when I wear it. I got the fabric and pattern ready to sew the dress this coming Saturday but I did not get to do anything else on my to do list. The machine used to put money on the laundry card was not working and then it started to storm here so going to the fair was out of the question.

I did get to make some new necklaces. If you remember this post, I showed you guys the music note necklace and earrings that I made, which I was going to post on my jewelry blog, but I sold it before it even made it to there. Not that I am complaining. I decided to make a new music note necklace. I also made two other necklaces with some new pieces I received.

Take a look an tell me what you think:

Sterling silver cable chain, puzzle pieces, leaf bail, and clasp. With a Swarovski 14 mm faceted rose heart pendant.

Sterling silver diamond cut rollo chain, puzzle pieces, leaf bail, and clasp. With a Swarovski 14 mm faceted dark indigo heart pendant.

Sterling silver 18 inch chain, and 2 inch extender with 4mm faceted jet Bicone. With a sterling silver music note with jet CZ pendant.

As usual the pictures do not look all that great but the better pictures will be up on my jewelry blog and the necklaces will be on sale in my etsy shop on Saturday.

Have a great rest of the week!

Ciao! xoxo
~Dissolved Girl

Busy Saturday

Today I will be making this skirt and starting this dressThe red fabric with the flowers is for the skirt, the black fabric with the cherries is for the dress and the solid red fabric is the contrasting color for both. I really love my reds!

In between the sewing I will:
- Dye my hair
- Pedicure
- Do a couple of loads of laundry
- Go to the county fair with Mr. P

Hopefully I can get all this done so that I can spend my Sunday being a lazy bum in Barnes and Noble.

Ciao! xoxo

~ Dissolved Girl

Crafty Sunday

Happy Sunday!

Today I spent my day finishing off projects that I started but just did not have time to finish during the week.

First I finished the apron that I cut out last weekend but never had enough time to finish:

Then I made my music note earrings and necklace:
Everything is made out of sterling silver. After I polish the pieces they will be up on my jewelry blog.

I was not aware until very recently that Walmart had a sewing section, so on Friday Mr. P took me over to the Walmart by our place and I must say I felt like a kid in a candy store. They had so much and cheap!

I bought the following: These fabrics will become a dress in the very near future.

Also, while at Walmart I found this very handy tool: The Simplicity Sidewinder Bobbin Winder. This thing is AWESOME. I no longer have to unthread my sewing machine and rethread every time I need to wind a bobbin. I love it and it is a very useful tool for anyone that sews. So far from other places I have checked, Walmart sells it the cheapest.

Next on my list of things to make is my last summer dress. I hope to cut everything out during the week and sew it during the weekend.

How was everyones weekend?

Ciao! xoxo
~Dissolved Girl

Things to do

It was a great weekend. Too short but great none the less. Yesterday's Incubus concert was fantastic. I will have picture's and a little bit of video up tonight or tomorrow.

I have gotten back into sewing and made my first project on Saturday. On Sunday morning after breakfast Mr. P took me over to G Street Fabrics and I picked up a few things. I love to go to that place but they are a bit expensive. I think I will limit my shopping there to just the sale bin and the cheap patterns.

I still need a few notions but that can wait till next weekend, for now I have enough to keep my busy. In no particular order, here is my list of things/projects to do:

- Apron. I have cut out the fabric all I have to do is sew it together.
- Summer Dress. This will be my last summer dress for the season.
- RennFest Dress. I wont be going till October but I want to get started on it now.
- Winter Coat. I found a pattern for an awesome 1920's looking coat. I cannot wait to get started on that.
- Grocery Bags. This will be an on going project.

That is it on my list of sewing projects. I also have a list of jewelry projects but I am trying to wait patiently for my bead order to come in. More on that later.

The new season of Project Runway begins in 10 days: 12 Hours: 36 mins. It will be showing on Lifetime @ 10 PM on August 20th. I still think the funniest season was when Santino was on the show. Lets see what this season has to offer.

Do you watch Project Runway? If you do, which is your favorite season to date?

Ciao! xoxo

~ Dissolved Girl

I love the weekends

I took advantage of some of the sales and free tax DC is having this weekend.

Top from Forever21 (this is part of an outfit I am putting together for a super secret mission), Red headband from Forever21, Gold and black glasses case from Aldo, blue bag and scarf from NY & Company, and I finally got myself the Bamboo tablet that I have been wanting for a while.

I really want to be more Eco friendly and stop using plastic/paper bags from the stores, so I am going to start making shopping bags. This was my first one. I made it out of green and white upholstery fabric and the bottom out of white denim. I forgot how much fun it is to sew. I have plans to make grocery bags but I need to go out and buy more fabric.


A couple of weeks ago Steve Madden was having a sale and I bought the shoes above for $20! I love them. They are so comfy.


When we went to the Eastern Market I bought the cuff below from a local artist. She had them in different colors but ended up picking this one up. More my style.


Isn't it great?


I will end this with my first outfit of the day picture. This is what I wore for my Friday festivities.
Top: Do not remember where I got it.
Pants: Old Navy
Shoes: Rockport Shoes
Sunglasses: From vintage store in NYC
Earrings: Bought at a Native American Flea Market in New Mexico
Bracelet: New York and Company

Today I will be at Merriweather Post Pavillion for the Incubus concert. I am super excited, I have seen them in concert once before and they were awesome.

How is every ones weekend going??

Ciao! xoxo

~Dissolved Girl

Lazy Saturday

Mr. P and I had a whole plan for Saturday. We were going to wake up early go to the Botanical Gardens then go have an oink fest at BD's Mongolian Barbeque Grill. But our bodies had other plans. We slept our day away and now we find ourselves at Barnes and Noble continuing on our lazy day. Mr. P reading a book and me catching up on blogging, that I have shamelessly neglected.

It is funny how every time we attempt to make plans we end up doing something else. I am not complaining. I can actually go back home and jump in bed. Our work weeks are hard enough on us as it is I do not want for our weekends to be just as hard. So I try my hardest to listen to what my body wants on the weekends. So if the body wants to sleep and be lazy that is what it gets.

Another thing that had dawned on me is how I spend my lazy days. A lazy day for me was strolling around the mall, maybe picking up a shoe or two. Now every time I think of a lazy days what I am doing now is what comes to mind. Do not get me wrong, I still love to shop but instead of shopping for my clothes, I want to make my clothes.

We went to G Street Fabrics today to take a look at dress forms. I decided against getting one there because they look to be the same quality as others I have seen online at a much higher price. But since I was already there I decided to go look at the discount fabric table and I found this great dark fabric with pinstripes and thought "I can make Mr. P a pair of slacks with this", So off I ran to the pattern room and I found this fabulous pants pattern:

I also found a great pattern of a high waisted pencil skirt for myself:

Aren't those slacks and skirt great? I cannot wait to get home and turn on my sewing machine!

It is also great that I spent under 30 bucks on two patterns and 5 yards of fabric. As we all know that is a steal since a pair of nice men's trousers cost an arm and a leg. I will show you guys the final project once I am done.

Ciao! xoxo

~Dissolved Girl

I am back, I think, Sort of

I had planned to blog last night. I have a few things to post but I got side tracked with the new order of beading supplies I got last night and instead of following my list of things to do I sat in front of the TV and started crafting.

How was every one's weekend?

I am currently on the search for a T-shirt. It is a Cobra Commander t-shirt I bought from Urban Outfitters a little over a year ago and it has mysteriously disappeared. I really loved said t-shirt and I especially would have loved to have it now to wear to the G.I Joe movie that will be out in August. So I set out to try and find another one online and I have not had much success. I have found similar t-shirts but it is not the same.

On other movie related chatter. I cannot wait till October rolls around so that I can enjoy Where the Wild Things Are. I have only seen bits and pieces of the trailers that have been floating around the Internet and I am already in love with the movie.

By the way, I have added one more concert to my list of concerts that I will be going to this summer. I will be going to see Incubus at Merriweather Post Pavilion in August. They are one of my favorite groups and after a few years of laying low they are going back on tour. I have already seen them in concert but when I went Mr. P could not go for a reason that escapes me now. But this time around he will be able to enjoy Incubus.

Are you guys on Twitter? I have been on it for a while but I never really got into it. Now I am like a crack head. I cannot for the life of me go an hour with out clicking the refresh button to see what people are doing. LOL. If you guys are on twitter and want to be my twitter buddy add me here or you can click on the little bird on the side bar. Add me and I will add you. I am nosey and like to see what everyone is doing. :-)

Oh, I also got my car back. WOOO HOOO!! I missed it so much. The problem with the car was not as bad as we thought but it still put a dent on the wallet. At least we did not have to buy a new car, which would have put even a bigger dent on the almost empty wallet.

Anyway, I will stop rambling now and get back to work. Hope everyone is having a great week.

Ciao! xoxo

~ Dissolved Girl

Busy Fun Day

Woke up very early to go see the Cherry Blossoms today, but of course it was not possible because they were having some race that had a bunch of roads closed and when we finally made it downtown it was impossible to find parking. Mr. P feeling the force in the atmosphere changing (I was starting to get aggravated) decided that it was best we go home. I could not agree with him more. I did get to take a couple of picture's of the Cherry Blossoms, you can see them on my previous post.

Once we got home I set to work making jewelry. First I fixed the Hello Kitty earrings. I decided not to go with the lever-backs but I did change the earwire to better ones. I did change the jump ring to a smaller one. I also made a Hello Kitty bracelet.



These next earrings were ordered by a lady in the building where I work. They are silver with turquoise beads.


Then I went on to do the following necklace and earring set. Mixture of turquoise beads and black glass beads.



Last but not least is my baby blue Swarovski Crystal, Czech beads and Faux baby blue pearl earrings. I am making a necklace to go with it but I am not done with it.


Aside from jewelry making, Mr. P and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and have a small cook out. So we went out to buy a few things. When we got to the grocery store we parked next to this:

Do you see what is wrong with that picture? The person is parked in the sectioned off area where you return your shopping carts to once you are done with them. Mr.P and I had a huge laugh over it. I wonder what went threw the mind of the guy in charge of bringing in the shopping carts to the store when he saw this?

Well, that is all I have for today. Sorry for the crappy jewelry picture's but I really wanted to show you guys and see what you all thought. The better picture's will be up on my jewelry blog in the next day or so.

How was everyones weekend?

Ciao! xoxo

~ Dissolved Girl

P.S: Did any of you see the Fast & Furious movie this weekend? If you have not I suggest you wait for it on DVD, it was alright but not worth going to the theater and spending $12 a person to see it.