Crafty Senorita

Art Journalling!

2011-05-03T09:03:00.005-04:00

So I'm hosting a brown paper bag art journal swap (whew what a mouth full) , over at swap-bot. They're so inexpensive and easy to make. I've finished two pages so far. Really four. I also went ahead and made four more journals for personal use, but with lots of pages. Here's a tutorial if you want to give it a try. You can sew down the middle if you want. I stapled because me and the sewing machine aren't the best of friends. Have fun!

Zine On!

2011-04-14T23:43:00.008-04:00

What is a zine?
A zine (pronounced “zeen,” like “magazine”) is a self-published, small circulation, non-commercial booklet or magazine, usually produced by one person or a few individuals. Zines come in all shapes, sizes, topics, and formats. Most zines are photocopied, but they can also be printed offset, like a magazine or newspaper. Zines range from handwritten and sloppy to cut-and-paste (text pasted on top of background images) to artsy with handmade touches to produced on a computer with a professional looking layout. Zines may incorporate screenprinting, linoleum cuts, and hand-stitched bindings. Most zines have print runs of a couple dozen to a few hundred copies.
In a zine, you might find typos, improper grammar, and brilliant or radical or just plain honest ideas that you don’t normally see in Time, Newsweek, or People. A zine can be about whatever subject its creator decides upon, or it may contain a variety of subjects and writing styles within the same issue. Zines can include personal essays, political discussions, fiction, craft or do-it-yourself advice, articles about music or movies, comics, poetry, reviews – anything under the sun, really. Zines are personal and idiosyncratic. The best thing about zines is this: There are no rules.

I'm hosting a zine swap over at swap-bot and here's my finished Frida Zine. I am officially "ZINE OBSESSED"! There's a lot more work involved in making one than I anticipated however they're super cool. You can even have it published. Ever wanted to try making one your self? Here's a tutorial and here's a template
.

Freezer Paper Stenciling

2011-04-14T14:21:00.003-04:00

So I found this cool diy tutorial on how to do freezer paper stencils. It's kind of a fake out home-made screen printing technique. (as if ANY of that made sense) Eclectic Chica hosted a Frida Kahlo party for her 9 year old daughter, and she made her very own gift bags for all the girls. I would have never guessed that these were made using nothing more than a stencil, paint and freezer paper. Here's the tutorial and here's the template. I plan on trying my hand at this as soon as I get a day off.

Frida Ornament, A Zine & Visitors From Cuba!

2009-07-09T20:45:00.020-04:00

In the midst of my hectic life, I finally managed to finish this poor girl's ornament.

(If you're reading this Megan, I'm soooooo sorry!)

I made this for Megan for the Frida Kahlo Ornament Swap over at.... you guessed it, Swap-Bot. This is one of my favorite paintings by Frida. Probably because she felt like shit at the time and cut her hair to liberate herself a little bit. I don't know about you but I've felt like that, myself, before. In the beginning I thought I would go all out with sequins...maybe some glitter but I didn't feel like it needed it. I didn't want to take away from the painting. I also included the gold stand and Zine about Frida. Yes folks, I made a frickin Zine. How exciting. I'm seriously thinking about hosting a Zine swap now. So much fun.!

Isn't this a powerful part of the movie?
The whole reason for my love of this particular painting.

Now on to the Zine.

Top left painting by: Jerrold Carton
Bottom left painting by: Amanda Schreiber
And of course, on the right side, my ornament

Download Zine Template
Watch How-To Video

Well I have a full house right now to top everything else off. My Mother-in-Law has 2 sisters here from Cuba. They're having a great time in Florida. Poor things live such a difficult life in Cuba. They're very poor over there. It's very sad.

Left to right: Hiredida, Yoli (my mother-in-law), Nina, and Me

More Art Journalling!

2009-07-02T19:25:00.009-04:00

Addicted is the only word I can think of to describe how I am about art journalling. I just can't stop myself. I even work on my art journal on my lunch break, everyday at work. Yes I do! I sit in my car and art journal my heart away....for a whole hour! Then I have to snap back to reality and head back to the "hell hole", as I've been calling it lately. lol Here are my latest entries.

This entry is about my daughter Brianna.

This entry is a quote from Pablo Picasso that reads:

All Children are artists.
The problem is how to remain an
artist once he grows up.
-Pablo Picasso

Pretty Spanish Paper Flowers

2009-06-22T11:00:00.007-04:00

These are really simple to make and very pretty. The book pages I used are from a very old book that was sent to me from Mexico. Perhaps I will write a tut on how to make these later. Gotta hurry...gotta hurry. Don't wanna be late for work!

Cool Downloads Found

2009-06-20T09:27:00.009-04:00

I found these really cool bookplates at Martha S tewa rt.com. I think they have a kind of Old World look to them. They would look great on my favorite hard back so I will be printing these out later. You can download there --->Here<---

Oh-M-Gee! Just what I needed for the summer! I also found this great recipe at Martha's site to make body scrubs. It's a really simple recipe. You can use sugar or salt. She even provides the template for the labels. My daughter and I decided to make these for my mom and some for us too. Everyone could use a good exfoliation from time to time. I'll be making pink grapefruit for myself. (my favorite!) My 14 year old wants to make a Sweet Pea scented scrub for her. I think I'll make a mint scrub for my feet as well. I have fresh mint in my garden that's taking over! I might as well put it to use. Might even make some Mojitos to drink while I'll doing all that mixing. :)

Look at how simple the recipe is.

Tools and Materials
2 cups Epsom salts or organic cane sugar
1 cup carrier oil
8 drops essential oil(s)
1 drop food coloring
Special equipment: plastic pipette, canning jars

Get the Recipe and Download Label Templates

PS. Speaking of Martha, does anyone know what happened to her show. I used to watch it everyday and now I it's not recording anymore. Strange. "Oh Martha...Please come Back!!"

I climbed out from under my rock

2009-06-19T16:21:00.013-04:00

Thanks to those of you who have visited me. You've convinced me to post! I guess I've been a bit lazy. Here are the things that I've been working on. I am obsessed with art journaling! I mean truly obsessed! Below are a couple of pages that I've done recently. The boy on the red page is my son Alex. The other pink page with the eye on it is a poem that I have fallen in love with by Bertrand Russell. Enlarge the photo to read the full poem.

This a notebook that I altered for the Shabby Chic Altered Notebook swap that I hosted. I had so much fun making the paper flowers. I book pages I used to make the flowers are in Spanish. I swear I looked high and low for a French book, but no luck.

And finally....just look at this handsome guy. I caught him hanging out in a tree. His colors were so vivid I just couldn't resist.

My Daughter's Friend's Quinceanera Present

2009-04-17T17:52:00.005-04:00

For Emily:

This was a gift that I made for one of my daughter's good friends. It is her 15th (Quinceanera) birthday. Hispanics celebrate the 15th birthday kind of like a Sweet 16. I really hope she likes it. Some people aren't into handmade things. I know I would have loved for somebody to make something like this for me. If I say so myself....damn it came out good!

It's Easter!

2009-04-12T09:48:00.001-04:00

Happy Easter Senoritas!

Handmade Tag Overload!

2009-04-09T16:46:00.025-04:00

I seriously did some tags! A lot of tags. I'm hosting a handmade tag swap and you have to make only 20 tags. I just can't seem to stop. Notice the cute packaging. I luff cute packaging. Sometimes I even imagine that I have my own little craft line. lol I really envy Martha.

These are what I'm sending in the swap.

You can make these cute sugar skull tags too. If you downloaded my tag template that is. I think I may only have it up for a limited time, then retire them. Get them while ya can.

The 2 tags above were made from a Martha Stewart template. You can find the link in my Downloads section. They turned out quite nice. (These are for my partner in the 20 tags swap as well)

These are for bigger gifts. You would 1st wrap your gift, then tie the strings all the way around the gift. It's different. Also from Ms. Martha.

Hippity hop

OOOoooooo.....with a cherry on top!

French and English

Birds wiff an attitude

Sugar Skull Tags

2009-04-05T14:42:00.006-04:00

I was messing around with some more tag designs. I really like how these turned out. Now I just have to wait for my darn color ink cartridge to come in the mail. Should be tomorrow. Then I'll be a printing fool. If you download and print them, please let me know how they turned out. Don't download the picture above go down there to get high res PDF. Happy tagging!

DOWNLOAD

My 32nd Birthday & a trade

2009-04-04T14:15:00.009-04:00

Yay for 32....Not! lol This is what my lovely family bought me! They even got me4 embossing folders, circle and tag die cut sets and a 3 drawer chest for craft supplies. I Am a lucky girl!

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Cherries, Lolli Pops, Ice Cream and Cupcake Trade

I've been seeing tons of cute things featuring cherries, lollies, ice cream and cupcakes. All at a very reasonable price. I guess since the weather is getting a bit warmer, the stores feel they need to rack up in cute girly items. I have no idea but I decided to host a swap with this theme. It went well. This is what I sent.

Mexican Swaps

2009-03-30T16:49:00.025-04:00

Mexico Whimsy Jar

I'm currently hosting this swap at swap-bot. (I really feel like I type "Swap-bot" way too many times) I've already finished mine, since it's not profile specific. I had way more fun than I expected to have making this. I really had to be creative though. I think my favorite item is the little skeleton socks. I love em sooooo much that I bought myself a pair too. They're the kind of socks that you're not supposed to see but I would want mine to show. They're too cute to hide.

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Potty Mouth ATC Swap

This one was fun because you actually get to have a potty mouth. And it's all good. I won't type what mine say but I use those 2 words together quite often. I have to be pushed though. he he he

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250 ct Mexican Cultura Matchbox Shrine Swap

I hosted a big matchbox shrine swap at Swap-bot. The theme was "Mexican Cultura". You
got to choose whatever you wanted to base your shrine on, just as long as it had to do with Mexican culture. It was lots of fun even though a lot of people didn't sign-up. 3 people that did sign-up, dropped from the swap. In the end we only had 4 participants. I was kind of bummed but it's their loss because the girls did such a great job.

Sent:

I Chose to base my shrine on Frida Kahlo. Nothing says Mexico more than Frida. Right? I made the little calavera out of clay and beads. My partner was LaTosi at swap-bot. Hope she likes it!

Received:

I received this awesome shine from HoneyBunny over at swap-bot. Her theme was a "Charro", which is a Mexican cowboy. I just love it to death! She did such a great job. This is going in my china cabinet. All the stuff in there is from Mexico. This fits right in.

Spring Boquet From My Hubby

2009-03-29T11:30:00.009-04:00

So my other 1/2 bought me a bouquet of flowers. I loved the colors so much that I decided to take some pictures. The 1st photo is of the actual colors. How vibrant they are! Of course they dye the flowers to make them hot pink. Trust me. I know because I have to keep changing the water because it keeps turning hot pink.

The 2nd photo, I of course had to edit in sepia. For those of you that don't know...I have a mean fetish with black & white/Sepia, photos. Thus, I have a habit of changing nearly every photo I take into black and white.

Free Bird Tags

2009-03-27T18:53:00.015-04:00

My Inspiration "Strawberry"

I'm in love with bird silhouettes lately. You see them everywhere and everybody is using them. So I thought...."Tonya, why don't you make some cool printable tags"? I talk to myself every now and then. I haven't really started answering myself though. lol That's when you know you have a problem. So anyways, here are the tags. They are 2x2 inches at 300dpi. Enjoy and lemme see what you make with them.

DOWNLOAD

New Sweets

2009-03-25T15:31:00.021-04:00

New Crafty Senorita Packaging. I wanted something clean and classy. I really like it!

Some of the charms made for Jex . She likes Kawaii stuff . We're doing a private trade and guess what? SHE LIVES IN MEXICO! I know I'll love whatever she send to me. he he Can't wait.

2 Swaps I Sent Out

2009-03-25T09:28:00.005-04:00

This one was sent to Favorite Color Swap:
I sent this pink parcel to ladolcevitacrafts over at swap-bot. The theme was "Favorite Color Swap". She picked P!nk of course.

The theme for this one was "Yummy Cupcake Stuffs". This went out to Cookie Chef at swap-bot. She loved it and I even got a heart. You can't really see but I made some really cute polymer charms for these 2 swaps.

Cool Downloads For The Weekend

2009-03-07T13:00:00.001-05:00

Look at these cute stickers that I found at Rachel Ray's site. You can customize them with your name. They're lunch bag stickes! Great for you child's lunch or you can put them on your lunch for work. That way no one gets confused and eats Your peanut butter and jelly sammich.

Click here to download

More cute lunch labels found at Martha Stewart.

Click here to Download.

I found this little site where you can print and decorate you own Matroyshka doll. There are 5 sizes. I haven't finished mine as of yet but it's on my weekend to-do list.

Click here to download them.

My 1st painting

2009-03-07T11:57:00.001-05:00

It's Frida!

So this is my very 1st painting...ever! I'm 31 years old and my hubby of 13 years has told me "Honey, you're no painter", so many times, that I just never gave it a try. I've always wanted to. I remember being inspired by Bob Ross on PBS, as a child. It was just something about his voice as he painted those "Happy little trees". I finally did it. Not half bad for a 1st try either. Painting makes me happy. I'm off to buy some 16x20 canvas later today. We'll see how that turns out.

-Tonya

Swaps At Swap-bot and a Contest Entry

2009-02-28T11:19:00.002-05:00

Tequila Matchbox Shrine 32 ct

I just finished making this as an example for a "Tequila Matchbox Shrine", I will host at ....you guessed it, swap-bot. The picture really doesn't do it justice. It's way more sparkly in real life. You can really see the glitter or sequins.

Matchbox painting tip: If you're going to paint the original outside of the matchbox, paint a coat of primer on 1st! This will save you many a coat that you'll have to put on.

Self Portrait ATC Swap

My very 1st ATC! Yaya! Now I'm hooked. The theme of this one was "Self Portrait". I'm a photographer so this was perfect for me. I have a gazillion pictures on my computer and this is the most recent one that I took while testing my lights. It was sent to Aislinn who lives in the Philippines.

Flat Rate Envie Of Fun

This is what I sent Adriana over at Swap-bot. She really likes the color orange, Frank Iero (from My Chemical Romance), Vampires and stickers.

The package includes:
Frank Iero bookmark & a ATC
Orange striped notebook
Little deer ATC kit
Cute owl ATC kit
Polymer clay orange tart cell charm
Polymer clay lolli necklace
Trident chicklet
Stickers
2 orange pixie sticks
A mixed CD of the music that inspired Stephanie Meyer as she wrote the Twilight Saga.

Matchbox Shrine

Hello and welcome to my new blog! Okay so here's a Big matchbox (250 ct) shrine that I entered in a "Wish Upon A Star contest here. I'm pleased with the way it turned out. By the time I finished, I had glitter all over my face.

Fairies, Gnomes & Whimsy ATC Swap

Here are 2 ATC's that I sent off for the Fairy, Gnome & Whimsy ATC swap at Swap-bot. I hope they like them as I am still new to the whole ATC thing. I think it's really cool though! You get to turn a 3.5x2.5 card into a little canvas. The skies the limit!

Owl ATC Swap

We had to make 4 Owl ATC's and incorporate some to do with February in there. I incorporated hearts in all of mine. Hearts remind you of February...right?