Tag Archives: favors

Vintage Art Microscope Slide Christmas Ornaments

I had a wonderful customer from my Etsy store make these lovely Christmas ornaments using my vintage collage designs.  I’m in LOVE with these!Vintage Christmas Microscope Slide Ornament 1 She graciously offered to share her ideas and instructions for others to enjoy.  My thanks to Patti at ETSY DEARSHABBY SHOP (click on name for link) who developed these very thorough and easy to follow directions.  Her photos are outstanding, but I bet they can’t even begin to show the elegance of the diamond glitter encrusted beauties 🙂
Here’s what you’ll need:

Microscope slides (buy on line for a very reasonable price)
Digital Download images available on Etsy from AudreyJeanneRoberts (or other wonderful Etsy artists as well )
Decoupage Glue
Detail Paint brush (to apply the decoupage glue to slides)
A pop-sickle stick if you don’t have a decent thumb nail
Glitter in assorted colors and sizes
Diamond Dust ( Large container ) of glitter
High Gloss top coat spray
Rainbow Gallery Plastic Canvas 10 (this is in the jewelry making department of your favorite craft store.
Preserve It spray (a strong hairspray will also work )

Vintage Santa OrnamentI’ve found that the most efficient way to do this project is to do each of the steps all at once. Meaning that instead of completing one piece at a time, do step one to all of your pieces, then step two, step three and so on. It works out much better for you if you do it this way.
Here’s our first step.
1. Decide first how many pieces you’ll want to make. Do you want to just experiment for now? Or would you like to create about 25 of these to hang on your tree?

2. You’ll want to go to AUDREY JEANNE’S ETSY SHOP. (This set used is found here: VINTAGE ANGEL)
You will see ALL of the beautiful digital downloads in her store but I was looking for Christmas items so I searched Christmas once I was in her store.

3. Once you have printed out your images you will want to protect them from running which can happen with ink jet printers. If you happen to have a laser printer~ you can skip this step. You can either use “Preserve It” spray, available from your craft store, (look in the art section or the scrap booking section) or a very strong hairspray. . Spray a very fine mist over the whole page. You don’t have to soak it, better not to. It will dry within 15 minutes
Vintage Ornament Craft Instructions4. If you have a “Cutterbee Cutterpeed” Cutter or any paper cutter like we used in grade school, that’s the best way to cut these out. Cut out strips first then with your scissors you can cut the individual clips out. They come in sizes of 2 inches long. You want them to be able to fit on the microscope slide so you’ll want to cut them into strips.

5. Once you have all of your pieces cut out, dip your detailed paint brush in the decoupage glue and apply a small amount of the glue on just one side of the slide. Don’t cover the whole slide only because you don’t need to. Just put a thin layer where you will be applying your image.

6. Center the image face down so that the picture will be showing through the front of the clear glass. Use your thumbnail or your popsicle stick to remove any air bubbles and excess glue. Please don’t skip this step, there will be air bubbles and excess glue. Just make sure you don’t rub too hard.
7. Put the pieces aside to dry. If you can place them in sunlight (indoors) or near a heat vent, all the better.
8.Once they are dry, grab your glitter glue. . I am using different colors of glitter on each one . Place the glitter glue on the same side of the glass as your image. So the glitter will be behind the glass. It is just as brilliant and the glue dries clear.
9. Once the glue is dry, (place them in the sunlight or near a heat vent. If you have a small bathroom where you could shut the door and let the heat turn the room into an arid environment, all the better). 15 minutes if you have them in the bathroom and 25 if the conditions aren’t so dry. Take them outside or in a well ventilated room and spray the high gloss top coat on the back where you’ve done all the work. This way you won’t have glitter falling off whenever you handle the pieces.
10. Next, let’s take a hot glue gun or if you don’t want to work with that kind of heat, a jewelers glue that works on glass would be fine, and in small sections, add it to the edge of the slide. Then quickly take your ” Rainbow Gallery Plastic Canvas 10″ and line the edge. Do this all around the edges. When you’re done, add glue all around the edges again and only working in small sections, dip the glued piece into the large container of Diamond Dust. Tap the excess off each time you bring the slide out of the diamond dust. Now turn the piece over and using your same glue attach the Rainbow Gallery string in a U shaped pattern on the back so that you are now able to hang your pieces.
The other great thing about this project is you can follow these instructions for all different holidays and just hang the slides in sunny windows.

If you are going to have a Christmas cookie exchange or a party, these would make a fabulous favor gift tag on your packages.  Just add a beautiful ribbon and use to tie on a package or bag.  Is it Christmas yet?!

Celebrate Spring! FREE Easter Gift Tags

Vintage tulip, elegant design FREE for your own personal use!

Some of us have heard rumors that it’s Spring, others are deeply enjoying the warmth of the sun and the most welcomed harbinger of spring – Tulips and other bulbs.  To celebrate spring I’ve created a FREE tag set that you can pick up on my Facebook page

You can also click on the picture to go to my Facebook page, you’ll go to a “Welcome” page first, where you’ll have an opportunity to sign up for my newsletter that I’ll be producing soon on a somewhat monthly basis 🙂  You’ll also have a chance to “like” my page which will give you access to special coupon codes listed on a separate page under “For Fans Only”

FREE Shaped Gift Tags for Easter or other uses!

There are several digital clip art kits available in this design in my Etsy store.  The complete art kit runs $7.95 and has 27 pieces in the kit. 3, 12″ square papers, 2, shaped tags, 14 art pieces, 1 word art, 2 intricate borders, 4 frames and 1 card front. Created from vintage botanical illustrations and highly designed, layered and textured, then mixed with original watercolor art by Audrey Jeanne.

Vintage Red and Yellow tulips, swirls and butterflies

You can click on the picture to go to the kit at Etsy or use this link: ANTIQUE TULIPS ART KIT There will be several more kits coming over the next few weeks, including jewelry making collages, compact mirrors, coasters and more.

Beautiful for card making, scrapbooking and other craft uses

After having a foot of snow two weeks ago we finally had a marvelous weekend – just in time for the outdoor wedding of a very special young couple that are dear friends from our church.  It was a magnificent day for them and we were so excited to be a part of their lives and to be a part of helping them as a married couple in the years ahead.  Congratulations Andrew and Monica!

“This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!”  One of my favorite verses and one I try to meditate on frequently – whether the day is beautiful like today, or stormy, it’s a day that God has given me to rejoice and delight in.  When I greet the storms with rejoicing in the Lord they pass more easily and disturb me less.  When I greet the beautiful days with gratitude in my heart they are all the more enhanced!  Everything goes better in my life when I rejoice in my Lord!  Have a great Spring day.

A Vintage Peacock Favor Gift Tag Freebie!

Vintage Peacock Wedding Favor Gift Tags, Free download

Just for fun today, I created this Vintage Peacock punchable gift tag.  He’s a free download.  All you have to do to claim him is go to my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/audrey.jeannes.expressions (or click on the image and it will take you there).  You may have to scroll through posts to find him or you can go to my albums and look for “Freebie” as the title.

Inexpensive yet Elegant Table Card Numbers, any Color Background

While you’re there would you please consider “liking” my page?  We’re working toward reaching 500 “likes” and then there will be a link to a $4.95 digital clip art Easter kit for FREE!  If you have a friend that would enjoy the freebie too, would you consider letting them know about it for me as well.  It’s all about connecting!

Elegant "Vintage Peacock" Save the Dates available at Zazzle

To use these as Favor tags for a wedding reception or bridal shower, you can either hand write on them after printing, or typeset your names on them before printing.  This requires some graphic program or Microsoft Word knowledge.  Make sure you use as heavy a card stock as your printer can manage, it makes a difference in the finished product.  To create the tags, simply either cut them out on a paper trimmer, or use a square or round punch.  I left lots of background to give you more options.   Punch a hole in the top and use a lovely ribbon to affix them to your favors and you have a beautifully elegant touch for your wedding reception tables, bridal shower decor or other party event.

Antique Vintage Peacock Wedding Invitation, Monogrammed Custom Color

There are invitations, RSVPs and other stationery goods in a wide variety of background colors, that have been designed to match this collection.  I’ve linked just a couple here in this post, but you can find a wide selection of peacock designs – from vintage to contemporary and in many different colorways in my store.

Social Marketing 101 – Getting Past the Fear

BRAND NEW DIGITAL CLIP ART KIT $4.95 AT ETSY.  Just click on the picture to go to the store.  There are more sizes and shapes in this collection.

A CONTEST EVERYONE CAN WIN:  I want to build my Facebook page up from 204 likes to 500 as my first goal.  Will you help me do it?  If you do, you can win the kit I’m showing in this post.  The minute we reach that goal I will post a link to the kit on my page as a thank you to everyone that helped as well as to be enjoyed by everyone who joined!  So if you have friends that enjoy digital art, please invite them so I can give away at least 500 kits!

Social Marketing 101 – Getting Past the Fear

I took a great class yesterday from Constant Contact (the people I’ve been paying to host my 5,000+ name mailing list for 3 months, but have never sent out an email to yet!!!)  Am I lame or what?!  I’m not sure what the hold up has been, but I’m determined to get past it.   My darling friend, Karla Dornacher has even agreed to hold my hand through the process so I’m going to take the plunge… very soon…

The conference was actually 2 classes, Social Marketing was the morning topic and Email Marketing the second.  Does the word “marketing” scare you?  It isn’t my favorite word either, but I realized that if you take the word “marketing” out – it’s really about connecting, I hate to “market” but I LOVE to connect.  What’s not to love about connecting with people who share your likes and passions.  Connecting with people that enjoy what you do and vice-versa.  When I started to think of it in those terms it immediately became much less scary to me.

After listening to Kelly Flint – Constant Contact’s LA Regional Development Director give the presentation, I did a lot of thinking about what I have and haven’t done in the past.  She is delightfully hilarious by the way, if you get a chance to go to any seminar she’s teaching do it.  You can find her Facebook page by clicking on her name, it’s a live link.  Kelly is a wealth of ideas and information and I’ll share bits and pieces of her tips via my twitter feed in the next few weeks.  If you haven’t connected with me there it’s TWITTER @audreyjeanne.

Kelly shared a lot of real life stories.  While listening to them, it dawned on me, I don’t believe I have ever told anyone that reads my blog that I HAVE a Facebook Page, much less invited you to come visit.  I did say I’m at the 101 course level.  You can find it here: facebook.com/audrey.jeannes.expressions

I enjoy Facebook because it’s so interactive – much more so than a blog.  I would love to dialog with you.  I would LOVE to hear about your passions.  What arts and crafts are you into?  What do you want to learn more about?  What are you making and selling or just making to give away?

Do you have friends that love to create with digital art?  Are they professional crafters that love to find new things to make, new art that they can use for selling at craft shows?  Do you have friends that scour the net for the next hot craft and would love to share what they find?  I’d love for you to invite them to come connect with us.  I’d love to see what people are doing in their creative spaces and try to encourage you to bring more creativity and beauty into your life.  AND I’d love to have you come and post those kinds of things on my Facebook page so we can all go check them out.

Now, if I can figure out how to post a “find me on facebook and twitter button”, I’m in business…  Oh Cheryl, are you out there?!  (she’s my favorite geek helper!)

New Art, New Wedding Invitation Collection “Peacock Feathers”

Peacock Feathers Reception Invitation Card

Original watercolor art by Audrey Jeanne Roberts

This is a coordinating Reception Invitation card for the contemporary, sophisticated “Peacock Feathers” wedding ensemble. Featuring stylized, hand watercolored Peacock feathers with your choice of background color, shown here in aqua blue.  I have created this collection in 6 colors at the moment, but it can be custom colored to your specific wedding colors should you like.  To see the reverse side of these invitation, just click on the picture and it will take you to them.

I love Peacocks and always have.  They remind me of my days spent at the San Diego Zoo as a young child.  The entrance of the zoo is populated by quite a few Peacocks and they loved to show off their plumage to the adoring crowds.  When I moved to the country the first time I seriously thought of raising some… until I heard how LOUD and irritating their screech is, LOL!  Then I decided to paint them instead.

Lots more coming in the days ahead, that is if I can keep on painting and not have to stop 🙂  In my business you never really know what you’re doing in the next hour let alone tomorrow!

New “Vintage Roses ‘n Butterflies” Collection of Digital Art

I am really enjoying playing with classic vintage art mixed with my own art.  There are quite a few sizes offered in this collection all of which will be found at my Etsy store Here are a few of the images of what is available.  Because of the way that Etsy works with a single listing for a product, I’ll link to the entire store, not the item in question.  They often sell in a day and that makes the link inoperable.

Shown are three different kits.  Each is allowable for small commercial crafting use.  This means that one person, crafting all their own items with home tools (no mass production equipment) can create physical crafts (not digital) to sell at craft shows, craft booths in malls and in online stores like Ebay and Etsy.

The first kit is one 4 inch by 6 inch postcard or card front with 4, 3 inch squares for greeting card making, magnets, gift tags or other uses.

The second kit is a 1″ circle set for bottle caps, inchies, soldered glass pendants, pebble magnets and other uses.  The circles are available from 2 1/2″ on down to 7/8″ size.

The third kit is a 2 1/2″ square set that is also available all the way down to 7/8″ size for a wide variety of uses.

There is also a design collection at Zazzle for Wedding, Bridal Shower and other invitations.  This design received a “Today’s Best Award” from the Zazzle Design Staff.  There is a complete Wedding Ensemble coming including Table Seating Charts, Table Cards and Place Cards.

TODAY’S WINNER FOR THE BLOG CONTEST DRAWING IS:

Cheryl!  She won her choice of any of the $4.95 kits at Etsy.

Thanks to each that wrote a comment, please keep it up.  I read and enjoy every one of them.  It makes me want to come blog more when I hear back 🙂

Brand New Wedding Ensemble, “Vintage Roses ‘n Birds”

This Reception Invitation Card is designed to coordinate with all of the Vintage Rose ‘n Birds Wedding Ensemble. It is a hybrid of original watercolor artwork by Audrey Jeanne Roberts and vintage elements. A cluster of antique roses in pink, yellow and red is mixed with other classic blooms and two love birds. The elegant scroll work is contemporary artwork inspired by antiques. A soft damask pattern in a light mossy green finishes off the art.  There are several choices of invitations to select from.  You can find them by clicking on any of the pictures and going to my store.  Once there go to Everything Wedding/Green or VIA THIS LINK

This Reception Table Seating Chart for assigned seating is designed to coordinate with all of the Vintage Rose ‘n Birds Wedding Ensemble. Easy to customize, you simply type your guest’s names in the field provided. You can delete tables, add names and move things around easily. I will design a table seating chart to match any wedding invitation ensemble in my store, all you have to do is ask!

Perfect to use as seals for your envelopes, these stickers are easy to customize with your names and dates.  Not getting married?  These can become Address stickers by simply changing the text.  It’s very easy to do on Zazzle.

There is a huge selection of additional products that coordinate to fill all of your wedding day needs.  Every invitation can be changed to any occasion.  25th or 50th Wedding Anniversary?  Change the text to reflect your celebration.

The Blog Contest for August is closing tomorrow.  All you have to do to earn entries in the drawing is post a comment on any and or all posts in the month of August.  Each comment is an entry.  The prize is your choice of any of my $4.95 kits at my Etsy store!

Vintage Peacock Wedding Invitation Ensemble, New at Zazzle

I found this vintage image of a Peacock and immediately thought how elegant and stately it would be on a wedding invitation.  I designed the first with a Peacock blue accent color, but it has been set up on Zazzle to be easily customized by the bride to use any color that fits with her wedding.  All that’s needed is the Hex# of the color (selected from your color picker in your graphics program or just ask me), plug that color into the background and in the appropriate text and presto, custom wedding invitation!

I created a matching envelope as well and then ran out of time yesterday.  The entire suite of products should be available by the end of the week.  The customizable color envelope hasn’t been created yet, but I would be happy to create it for anyone needing a specific color combination.

One of the things I adore about Zazzle is that you don’t have to have any minimum quantity to do a custom invitation, try that in a brick and mortar store!  The more quantity you order the less expensive the cost per invitation and they ship for a flat fee.  Remember that any invitation can be customized for any event.  If you have a birthday party, you don’t just have to look at the Birthday invitations for your party theme.  Also great for 50th anniversary parties or Family reunions.

Remember that there are just a few days left in the month to get your comments in for the drawing.  You can comment on any and every post and each comment counts as an entry into the Blog Contest drawing.  The winner gets their pick of a $4.95 kit at my ETSY store.  Good luck!

“Aged Grape Vineyard” Wedding Ensemble or Party Invitations

Useful for wine tasting parties or wedding invitations, this is one of my all time favorite pieces of artwork that I’ve done.  I love the texture, the richness of the color palette (perfect for summer or fall weddings!) and most of all I love vineyards and all things grapes.  I live in the mountains of Central California and our valleys are full of beautifully tended vineyards.  I love watching them grow throughout the year.

There is a full ensemble of products for this wedding line and if I’m missing anything that you would like, I’ll be happy to create it for you. Table place setting cards, Table Cards, Wedding Dinner Menus, Wedding Programs and more.

If you are looking for an inexpensive Bridal Shower or Save the Date option, postcards are great.  This Bridal Shower postcard design can be purchased for as low as $.90 each in bulk (250 or above).

Also useful are two sided, Favor Gift Tags which can be tied on to your favors with a lovely matching ribbon and provide a tremendous visual impact for your table decor with very little cost involved.  100 cards run only $21.80!

“Silver Age of Elegance,” Hollywood Glamour Era Inspired Wedding Invitation Ensemble at Zazzle

Yesterday I released a new “Golden Age of Elegance” and today I am previewing the vintage Silver version.  This can be used as Thank You notes, wedding correspondence, shower invitations and more.  Both the Silver and Gold versions can be used for Twenty Fifth (25th) Wedding Anniversaries and Fiftieth (50th) Wedding Anniversaries.  Imagine a classic war bride black & white in the photo frame – stunning!  I will design them as finished products for anniversaries but if anyone needs them now, just go to my wedding section>cream, neutral, brown and you’ll see the entire collection.  Change the text to reflect your occasion, substitute your picture for my daughter and son-in-law’s (aren’t they adorable?!) and you’re ready to go.

Stickers or Seals can add that finishing touch to the outer envelope.  There are easy ways you can add that special touch to your invitations.  Try adding a thin, matching ribbon tied in a beautiful knot.  Make sure you move the text above and below where you want the ribbon to tie.  If you add ribbon make sure you take them to the post office to be hand processed.  We can also work together to design an invitation that utilizes the stickers and ribbon under the picture on the actual invitation.  I will try to digitally mock that option up and update this post later.

These Menu Cards or Wedding Program Cards are in a wonderfully different elongated rectangle format.  They are also available in wedding invitations.

There is no real metal in these invitations all of the aged,

Tropical Orchid Wedding Invitations

LINK TO TROPICAL ORCHID WEDDING INVITATIONS

This design is available in lilac (shown), aqua, blue, tan and green.  It is a two-sided style with a customizable monogram.  The sizes offered are 5.25″ square, 4″ x 9.5″, and 5″ x 7″.  There is a watermark on these images that is not present in the finished product.

These invitations can be printed and on their way to you in just about 24 hours with a 100% money back guarantee.  So if you have a last minute need for invitations, this is a great source to meet them.

There are more Tropical Wedding Invitations in the works, check back frequently to see them as they are posted.

If you are mixing colors in your wedding and would like to mix fronts and backs, some customization is available, just message me here or on the store site.

LINK TO ALL WEDDING  & BABY PRODUCTS  IN STORE

Elegant Easter Egg Favor Boxes and Pillow Box Purse Set

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO EASTER EGG FAVOR BOXES IN STORE  $4.98

While I’m working on kits I got on a roll this morning!  These Elegant Easter Egg Favor Boxes are just adorable!  They’re the perfect size to fill with a few Hershey’s Kisses or other Easter candies.  The three eggs work beautifully together and can add an elegant touch to place settings at a family dinner, a women’s Easter brunch or other Easter gathering.  Add your own tags to them for place settings or to add all of the children’s names in a classroom.

There are photographic instructions included so it’s very easy to figure out how to put these together and even an older child could do these.  Cutting and scoring are at a medium difficulty skill level.

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:  Matt 11:28-30   “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  NIV

DEVOTIONAL:  Continuing on yesterday’s theme — when we are spiritually dry there are a few common reasons.  Sometimes we are in sin, sometimes we are disappointed with God or our perception of God’s “fairness,” sometimes we are caught up in the world around us and sometimes we’re caught up in worrying.  I’ll go over each of these in successive devotionals, but today I’m going to talk about the most common reason we get spiritually dry and that is we grow weary.

Weary, tired, exhausted, overwhelmed — these are the most common words I hear in my daily life when I ask people how they’re doing.  I bet you hear it/say it too.  We’re all doing too much, in too little time with little or no rest to restore ourselves.

Did you notice the “rest” in “restore.”  There is no restoration of energy without rest and there’s no shortcut to being refreshed.  Unfortunately you can’t plug yourself in like an electric car when you go to sleep at night to recharge in a few hours — it takes many consistent nights of adequate sleep to restore our bodies and with it our souls.

Jesus understands our weariness.  He wants us to come to Him, give him our weariness and burdens and find His rest.  I’ve discovered over time that His rest isn’t a magical formula, it’s a dramatic change about the way we approach all of life.  Are the tasks/assignments that you are stressing over, actually coming from the Lord or have you taken them upon yourself?  If the latter, His rest might come as you let go of the commitment.

Jesus pulled away from the crowds and sought communion with His Heavenly Father — even when it meant leaving the hurting masses.  Do you “leave” your family from time to time to go away and spend time with the Lord?  Most of us can’t physically get away, but we can go into our rooms each day and spend time seeking the Lord AND LEARN FROM HIM HOW TO FIND REST.

Start your time with Him with a simple prayer and ask Him to help you find out the root reason that you are weary and discouraged.  Then ask Him to lead you to the scriptures that will speak to your need.  It can be as simple as looking up “weary” in a good concordance and following the trail of scriptures.  Then I find that “pray-reading” the scripture is a great way to take it into my own heart and give the Lord permission to do the work necessary to change my heart.  The prayer at the end today is an example of how I like to “pray-read” the word.

If you are dry, or maybe you’re even in a long season of drought, you won’t feel restored over night.  You probably won’t feel different at all for quite a while, but I promise you, if you continue seeking His rest you will find it.  And with it you’ll find the refreshing rains of his living waters.  You’ll find the rains that bring forth the spring flowers.

PRAYER: Lord, you have commanded me to come to you when I grow weary and burdened.  I am so weary and dry right now.  I am so exhausted with carrying my burdens that I have come to you to find your rest.  Please show me what I need to do in my life.

You have told me that if I take your yoke upon my shoulders it will be a comforable and restful yoke.  My work will be less painfu, be more easily accomplished and lead to rest.  Help me to learn from you.  Teach me about where my life is out of balance and headed in a wrong direction and teach me what needs to be changed and perhaps more importantly, how to change it.

Thank you that you aren’t angry with my weakness, you understand.  You’re gentle and understanding and have a desire to lead me into your rest.  AMEN.