Sunday, April 26, 2015

In the Spotlight + Mini Challenge... Toni Burks


Hi fellow crafters, my name is Toni and I am happy to share this month a little bit about myself and my creative journey. I live in sunny California and was forced into retirement 6 years ago. I had been working at GTE / Verizon for 35 years when the news hit my whole office " We are sending your job function to Florida". It wasn't really a shock as much of our company had been out sourcing many jobs either to other states or countries due to the high costs to run a business here on the west coast. But I was still fairly young (53) and full of spunk so I hit the employment search road and have been very blessed to find fairly good jobs. I'm currently a manager at a retail clothing store and boy it's nothing like sitting at a desk from 8-5 but it pays the bills.

The same year I lost my job I also ended my marriage of 36 years. Oh 2009 was a year of many obstacles and changes but I've always tried to look at life as "the cup is half full, not half empty". 

My faith in the Lord, my guardian angel (my daughter) and my puppy Bubba definitely kept me going. 

In regards to my creative journey, I have always done some sort of crafting from the time I was little. I have a very artsy family. Father is a musician as well as my brother, my mother an artist and definitely a huge influence of all my crafting endeavors, and my sister also is a scrapbooker, I think I have always scrapbooked... even before it was called that. When I was small we would travel and take photos and I would save napkins, hotel keys anything to keep as memorabilia. I dabbled in macrame, soap making, candle making, ceramics, watercolors, crocheting and sewing. 

About 20 years ago I got real serious about scrapbooking because my daughter played travel softball and I was constantly taking photos and wanted to create keepsakes for her. I purchased a paper here, a sticker there and well you know that was history. I now have an entire room devoted to my studio, my bedroom walk-in closet, my dining room hutch, linen closets filled with bins, and part of my garage. Though this craft can be costly I am thankful for it daily because it allows me to escape. I can turn on some music and get messy until wee hours of the night.


Now when I say messy I mean just that. I love paints, inks, anything mixed media. Paper is often ripped and distressed. I have the most difficult time with CAS (clean and simple). It's not uncommon for me to have to climb over things to get to a tin full of metal embellishments or an apothecary jar full of ribbon. It's kind of funny... I tend to be super particular that my living space is orderly and clean but if my craft table isn't a disaster when creating then I don't feel I've given my all to the project I'm working on... go figure. Therefore, I would describe my style as grungy, old, vintage, with layers of texture and yummieness. I adore steampunk but I also love ribbons, lace and bling. 


Where do I get inspiration???.. it's all around me, I am inspired by nature, the textures of brick on the side of a building or the patina rust on an old can. I'm inspired by emotions or music that I'm listening to, and the plethora of talented artists on the web that so graciously share their work to inspire. Currently I'm on two design teams and this allows me to create in several different directions. My most favorite (at this moment) is altered art and mixed media. I have taken some art classes but for the most part I am self-taught and tend to approach my projects in a very unorthodox manner. I think that's why I love mixed media. It allows you to bend the rules and think out of the box. Some of my most favorite things happened from "oops". 

This first project was a wooden artist palette that I applied many mixed media techniques. Layers and layers of goodness including egg shells for texture. 


This is an Christmas advent calendar box that I altered into an embellishment holder for all my T!m Holtz Ideaology trinkets. 


This next project I used the back of the canvas to create the shadow box for my steampunk butterfly. I love the quote from Albert Einstein "If at first the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it"


And this clock was altered especially for my studio. Purchased in the clearance section for next to nothing I added embossing, stains, rust activator, paint, gears, chains etc. to make it my own. I think that's why I love altered art, because you make it your own, it's custom, one of a kind. 


And for my last project I was involved in a scavenger hunt at a scrapbook store crop... lot's of fun. We had a list of items that we needed to go find around town and create something from them. Really got those creative wheels turning. Some of the items on the list were, nuts & bolts, nails, aluminum foil, concert tickets, paper clips, cardboard, metal, envelope, doily, rubber bands & feathers. I decided to take an old book, cut a deep niche in it and alter it with photos of my brother whom is an amazing musician.


This was such a fun way to take items and transform them into something artistic and use them in a way that they weren't intended for. 




I think the title of this project fits it well...
"DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT'S COVER".


So now that you've learned a little about me...
my challenge to you is to go around
your house and find something to alter.

Whether it's an old teapot, an empty paper towel roll, perhaps a broken frame, get out those paints, inks, stains, glue... turn up some music, get yourself a cup of coffee and let's get messy ! xoxo Toni


Sunday, April 19, 2015

Shimmering Gold on the #Cre8time Horizon for week 3 of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 46 "Fool's GOLD"

Good Morning Everyone! Last Sunday launched a brand new challenge No. 46 - CLICK HERE to catch up and see all the lovely makes from our week one team of creatives and CLICK HERE for Week 2 inspiration.


The current Challenge... "FOOL's GOLD"For Anything But a Card Challenges No. 46 use the prettiest of all metals – GOLD – as your inspiration to challenge your muse. Now it's time to gather all of your creative goodies to come out and play.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Please share any current project you have created and JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. To be eligible for TOP 3 selection -- Please do us the favor to mention and LINK BACK to this challenge using this permalink provided so that your readers may find us and play along { http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2015/04/all-that-glitters-is-cre8time-gold.html }. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight April 26th giving you one more week to play along and ENJOY the creative process! We will share more of our Design Team's creations next Sunday to keep you inspired.

Let's see what part of our DT has created!!

Please click on the designers' name to visit their blog. We hope you’ll take a minute to go see their work up close... and as long as you’re there – please leave them a little love!


I decided to go back to basics for this challenge and got out my Gold Embossing Powder. It never fails to amuse me that I still get a kick out of seeing the powder turn gold! Please visit my BLOG for more details.

Today I take my leave of the ABAC challenge and design team and would like to take this opportunity of thanking you all your wonderful support and comments over the last two years. I wish you all well and happy crafting. xxx



My tag features gold mists, a diecut and dry embossed butterfly, chipboard, inks and braid. Check out more details on my BLOG.




My post today is an altered picture frame using silver duct tape and embossing folders. Please hop on over to my BLOG for more details.



I played with some gold foil paper and an embossing folder for my ATC. Please visit my BLOG for more details.




For this month's theme, I went literal again and altered a pen stand in my current favourite combination of mint and gold. The background is stamped with gold ink and then I hand cut some triangles from glitter cardstock. The embellishments are various die cuts that I have been hoarding for some time. :-)

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We hope our designers have you INSPIRED to take some time to be creative!! We can't wait to see your creations and we hope that you will join in and share them with us! Stop back next Sunday for a new Spotlight + Mini Challenge to wrap up April.


Sunday, April 12, 2015

Spring is Bursting in #Cre8time Rays of Gold... Week 2 of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 46 "FOOL's GOLD"

Good Morning Everyone! Last Sunday launched a brand new challenge No. 46 - CLICK HERE to catch up and see all the lovely makes from our week one team of creatives.


The current Challenge... "FOOL's GOLD"For Anything But a Card Challenges No. 46 use the prettiest of all metals – GOLD – as your inspiration to challenge your muse. Now it's time to gather all of your creative goodies to come out and play.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Please share any current project you have created and JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. To be eligible for TOP 3 selection -- Please do us the favor to mention and LINK BACK to this challenge using this permalink provided so that your readers may find us and play along { http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2015/04/all-that-glitters-is-cre8time-gold.html }. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight April 26th giving you 2 weeks to play along and ENJOY the creative process! We will share more of our Design Team's creations next Sunday to keep you inspired.

Let's see what part of our DT has created!!

Please click on the designers' name to visit their blog. We hope you’ll take a minute to go see their work up close... and as long as you’re there – please leave them a little love!



Though not a great lover of Gold, I went all out on this altered frame with different hues and textures and gold. Hop over to my BLOG to know more.



I used a canvas board, 2 stencils and modeling paste. I managed to use some of some really grotty plastic faceted beads to represent the fools gold. Pop on over to my BLOG post to see more!


Hi everyone... I decided to create an exploding heart canvas with many gold elements. Embossing powders, sprays, inks. metal embellishments etc... Check out my BLOG for many more pictures and a fun Snapguide tutorial with a step by step of my process. Creatively yours, Toni



For this challenge I really wanted to play with glitter and StazOn inks. What better way than to create a piece of glittery gold home decor. Starting with a repurposed small glass vase and a mason light jar find (from Big Lots) I ended up with a golden finished project. Please stop by my BLOG for more details. 



My first ever Geisha, and I had so much fun... I used H20's on Dura-Lar, which is an acetate alternative. I have used this technique before on fairy wings, but this was quite different. Using the same technique on a larger project was simply playing to see what would happen. I had many surprises along the way. This was a great technique and I hope I inspire you to try this, I know I will be doing more paintings like this one. Enjoy and please check out my BLOG for the tutorial on this Geisha. Thank you!

* * * * * * * * * * *

We hope our designers have you INSPIRED to take some time to be creative!! We can't wait to see your creations and we hope that you will join in and share them with us! Stop back next Sunday to see more of our Design Team creations!


Sunday, April 5, 2015

All that Glitters is #Cre8time GOLD! Anything But a Card Challenges No. 46 "FOOL's GOLD"

Good Morning Everyone! Happy Easter and Passover. It's a brand new month and time for a brand new ABAC Challenge to excite your creative muse. Last Sunday we had a Fifth Sunday challenge and the week prior featured Neva and she hosted a Mini Book Challenge - CLICK HERE to catch up and see all the lovely makes.

Now we get down to business... it's time for a new challenge today here at Anything But a Card Challenges... let's get ready to play and have some fun! Thanks to everyone who joined us for our "Green with ENVY" Challenge #45! If you missed out on seeing all of the amazing submissions... please CLICK HERE to view week number oneHERE for week 2 and HERE for week 3 – you don't want to miss out on all the fabulous creations shared!


The new Challenge... "FOOL's GOLD". For Anything But a Card Challenges No. 46 use the prettiest of all metals – GOLD – as your inspiration to challenge your muse. Now it's time to gather all of your creative goodies to come out and play.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Please share any current project you have created and JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. To be eligible for TOP 3 selection -- Please do us the favor to mention and LINK BACK to this challenge using this permalink provided so that your readers may find us and play along { http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2015/04/all-that-glitters-is-cre8time-gold.html }. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight April 26th giving you 3 weeks to play along and ENJOY the creative process! We will share more of our Design Team's creations each Sunday to keep you inspired.

Let's see what part of our DT has created!!

Please click on the designers' name to visit their blog. We hope you’ll take a minute to go see their work up close... and as long as you’re there – please leave them a little love!


For me, there is something magical and irresistible about gold foiled eggs, especially if they are hidden outside in the garden. That was the inspiration for my Fool's Gold Easter themed project. Can you see the little eggs peeking out from the undergrowth? That cute little bunny is no fool - he's keeping guard to make sure no one else takes his prize! Find out how I created this over on my BLOG.



I have been really into the new DecoArts Foils lately, and I found a bunch of them on sale. So I've been playing with them every way imaginable. Perfect for the new challenge.  Check out my BLOG to see how I used them. 


For this challenge I created an Art journal page playing with napkins, glass bead gel, and Inka Gold. Please visit my BLOG for more details!


All that glitters is gold! Grab your shades... were heading to the Egypt for find some GILDED treasure. I'm catching up on T!m tag techniques with metallic distress stains and enjoying my stash of stamps. Pop over to my BLOG for more details.



For this challenge I repurposed a couple of items for my project.
One man's trash is another man's treasure (gold!).
Stop by my BLOG for more details :)

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We hope our designers have you INSPIRED to take some time to be creative!! We can't wait to see your "FOOL's GOLD" creations and we hope that you will join in and share them with us! Stop back next Sunday to see more of our Design Team creations!