Carnival Dahlin Bluesssss...

Can you tell?! I'm ready for a carnival or a festival. I'm looking for tickets to head to either St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Antigua, Barbados, or Grenada (that's the exact order of the carnivals this summer, wouldn't it be nice if I can go to all!!!)
This craft, not a typical greeting card but in the "Scrap-Craft" world, it's a tag, which I love for it's size, used to create expressive master pieces! Now, as a lover of Carnival and Soca music, I was so excited to work on this, especially since it's one of my passions in life! I find when I create jewelry, I mimic the vibes of Carnival designers and mas makers!






If you look at the lovely stamp "African Dancer", which I recently purchased, her movements is such a "ka-ka lay-lay" position it reminded me so much of the dancing you'll see on the road or in a fete, I had to work around this individual dancer. I incorporated butterfly wings from Tim Holtz Alterations "Fanciful Flight" and made this "Carnival Dahlin" into a queen. Then you'll find that I placed a feather to this piece to express a material frequently used on headpieces and backpacks... And added words like Mas, Blue, Flyin' for vibration.






Carnival is a sense of freedom, historically a time for slaves to express their culture, and as the traditions is celebrated all over the world today, we must never forget where we've come from to know where we're going (Sankofa)...






I love old fashion postage stamps, so I created one for this piece using images from "Invoke" unbounded rubber sheets and added some Distress Inks to give an aged look.






Music played to create this piece:
3 Canal- "Blue"
Merchant- "Rock it"
FloPG- "Freedom Chant"






Hope you enjoyed this piece, definitely more to come! If you're new to carnivals and the Caribbean culture, just research, listen to some soca, and be inspired or email me @ mangopaperscissors@gmail.com.

Much love n light,
Shanti


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Message with my Tea

Have a great day!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Just a spoonful of sugar...

I've been a little under the weather but nothing a little tea, a teaspoon of brown sugar, some tulips from my honey, nutmeg oil from mi mum, vintage soca in my ears, and some art supplies wouldn't fix. I love to share my messages from Yogi teas but to add to this photo, you'll see a beautifully painted paper doily underneath my cup. Hmmm, do I smell next week's craft?! Lol
Have a wonderful Saturday everyone!
-Shanti

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Craft of the day: Card #3 Legacy

"Legacy"- Women harvesting mangoes and provisions...








I'm always inspired by Caribbean history, especially the Caribbean mother's experience from their artistic expression to their traditional work. The creation of this card was inspired by the stories I heard about women at work by the riverside washing clothes, to their gardens harvesting provisions to sell in the market or to feed their family. As I continue my research about these women and my culture, I want to use my artistic creations to tell stories of these sacred bonds to sustain the heritage of womanhood and honor their legacy!
Blessings,
Shanti


















- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Studio in Brooklyn

"Beautiful Mistakes"

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
-Scott Adams



Besides still drinking my bush tea today :( I wanted to share with you all one of my "beautiful mistakes". I'm playing around with a future project and two images (leaf and mangoes) from a card I'm working on falls onto this painted doily (for another project). I then thought, this would be a perfect "non-traditional" greeting card or gift... Design still in progress!


Have a blessed day and look out for this week's card design.
Blessings,
Shanti

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

"Don't Sleep on Granny's Remedies"

"Take time to help other people win, because you're also helping yourself win. Add value to people" -Joel Osteen
Blessed Sunday,
Sooo, I woke up with the sniffles this morning (I wore a jacket yesterday with this in between winter/spring weather while shopping) and my honey decides to head to the kitchen and create a pot of "homemade tea" or what we call back home "bush tea". He simmered some black sage, lemon grass, cinnamon bark or sticks, borden leaf and orange peel with a sprinkle of ginger in some water.I was planning on taking some "over the counter medicine" but somehow my nasal passage began to clear up and a warmth came over me. Never underestimate the hands of our mothers or grannies!
Have a blessed day!









And, I love giving you all sneak peeks of what's to come.









Enjoy this beautiful Sunday!
-Shanti

Location:Beautiful Brooklyn

It's Raining...It's Pouring...

So, it's raining... Look @ it as blessings:
"...even though rain may be unpleasant for a time, it is never my enemy.I am my own worst enemy if I view the rain as being a curse.In reality, the rain is not a curse. It is a blessing."
-Paradox of Rain http://bit.ly/fngiRn







Also, I want to say congrats to the lovely winners of the GIVEAWAY, hope you love your paper crafts and jewels...






And next week, check out a vintage craft, the next card creation inspired by the name of this blog and my fave fruit!
Enjoy the rest of your Friday, don't worry, work is almost over!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone