Relish Ginspiration!

Happy New Year, Everyone!!  Sorry I've been AWOL for so long, but I have had No. Time. To. Craft.  It's been all good - seeing family and friends, going to some exciting events, shopping, etc.  But it's certainly time for me to get back in my craftroom and rejoin the blogging civilization.

For some inspiration, I turned to a favorite stamp set, Relish Reading, and to the latest "Blue Moon" Challenge over at Gingersnap Creations.  If you are like me and trying to recapture your mojo after the holidays, this Gingersnap Challenge is just the ticket.  Several of the DT have each come up with their own challenge - so there are 6 to choose from! You can do just one, or do them all.  I'm going to treat it sort of like Tim's 12 Tags, and try to work my way through each and every one.

Today, I'm joining in Petra's fabulous challenge to Use Your Paper Scraps.  She has a gorgeous example at Gingersnap, and you can catch the details on *Her Blog*.  I particularly loved how Petra used vintage text scraps in her background.  She added many beautiful details that I just didn't have the time for today (but I am sooo going to try after the holidays!!), like weaving and then stitching her patterned papers into a gorgeous flower garden.  For mine, I cut some stray scraps of text, music, and patterned papers into strips, then layered them onto cardstock.  I cut the panel down to size and mounted it onto my card base.  That fine-looking lad and the sentiment are from Rogue Redhead Designs' Relish Reading plate, and the gears are by Tim Holtz.

I hope you'll get a chance to play along.  There are tons of great ideas over at Gingersnap Creations.  Thanks for the Ginspiration, Gingers! 

Gingersnap Creations Color Challenge GC84

It's time for another Color Challenge over at Gingersnap Creations, and this week's colors to inspire you are Snow, Pine and Mahogany.  For my card I pulled out Artistic Outpost's Sleigh Ride stamp set and my Copics for the main image.  I also stamped a pine branch from AO's Snowy Woods set all around the edges and added a few Stickles "berries."  I finished it off with a felt poinsettia created using Tim Holtz's Alterations dies (Tattered Florals and Tattered Leaves).

I hope you'll have time to play along with us!!  The good news is that the challenge runs through January 23rd, so even if you can't play before Christmas, it's a great palette to use for getting a jump on next year's cards after the holidays are over.   It's also a great one to use for all those holiday thank yous. ;)

Stay warm and stay safe!

Guest Blogger Meghan

Hi! I'm Meghan and I'm eleven years old. I made these cards to send out to my relatives. My mom gave me card bases, slips of paper for borders, stamped images, embellishments, and other neat scraps, then she left me to work my magic. I colored the stamped images with colored pencils. For the card on the bottom row in the middle, I thought the Santa was the woodsy sort, so I placed him going into a snowy forest. I wanted to do something that celebrated the wintery chill in the air, so I crafted a snowy card. The card on the top row on the right says 'Let it Snow', but we don't get much snow down here. :( I hope you have enjoyed my Christmas cards. Happy holidays!

Visions of Sugarplums at Rogue Redhead Designs

Edited to add:  I've had a few questions regarding this ribbon.  This particular ribbon (crinkled seam binding) is from an Etsy shop, Bluebird Lane (no relation, LOL!).  However, lately I've been getting Hug Snug seam binding from www.zipperstop.com.  I buy some in colors and crinkle it myself, and I also buy the white and dye it by hand.  

Just popping in to say that I have this card posted over at the Rogue Redhead Designs blog - all the details can be found there. :)

Gotta go try to catch up with all things holiday.... why am I always behind this time of year - it isn't like Christmas occurs *unexpectedly* every December 25th - we've got lots of advanced notice, LOL!  Happy Friday, friends!

12 Tags of Christmas Day 12

Wooohooo, I'm done! A day late and a dollar short (okay, maybe I'm out a few dollars, LOL, but I didn't go out and buy anything.... just was hoarding it all in my stash!).  For this one, I had the December stamp and the grungeboard ornaments from an old seasonal pack.  So, I covered one ornament in some vintage text (from Little Women - a Christmas portion.... see the "Merry Christmas"... tee hee!) and put strips of red glitter on it.  The other ornament I completely glittered, then put in a medallion from My Mind's Eye - sort of reminds me of those old WWII ornaments with the indentations in the center.  A bit of tinsel, a few berry sprigs - this was fun and fairly stress free.  Of course, I didn't really do anything that Tim demonstrated, other than glittering the ornament and stamping the month.  Oh, and I used some crackle paint on the tops of the ornaments.  Ah well, I like it.

So.... are you done? Are you going to finish? Which tag did you enjoy most? The least?  I think I had the most fun with the first one (very time intensive, but back then we were just chomping at the bit, weren't we?).  I really liked how my Day 5 turned out because I didn't actually *expect* to like it, but I do, probably because I love that Santa image.  Ditto with Day 2.  I think my least favorite was Day 4 with the facets and the bling.... cool technique, but my overall tag left me a bit "blah."  And you know of my love/hate relationship with the Day 11 tree, LOL!

I'd love to hear about your overall impressions of the big Tim Tag Ride. Hope your holidays are going along happily. :)

12 Tags of Christmas Day 11

Needless to say, this one did not go well for me.  I of course didn't have any of the ingredients, so I tried creating a tree from a Martha Stewart pine branch punch.  I ran the little pieces through my Xyron, but you know all those sticky bits that stay on after you pull off the punched out shapes? Yep, well, they don't play nice with flocking.  I was hoping for this nice snowy effect, but instead it just looked like my cat had lain on it for days.  So I had to go over some areas with liquid applique, then tried flocking again..... aaackk!  Oh well, live and learn.

The upside: I found this cool page from a vintage French dictionary that contained images of St. Nicholas.  I made it black and white, because the original is quite brown, and my scanner thought it was orange!  I'm going to try to paste it in here so that it is full size if you click on it (about 5 x 7 inches).  Crossing my fingers.....

Have fun crafting and enjoying the season this weekend! Time for me to go cook dinner.... :)

12 Tags of Christmas Day 10

Oh what fun, it is to craft, a snowman tag to-daaaaay!  Loved this one.  Didn't have the snowman die, but I had the snowflake and snowman texture fades.  So, I embossed grungepaper twice with the snowman texture fade and cut it out along the embossing lines.  This snowman seems to be smaller than the die, but that's okay, I just stamped and embossed a little "let it snow" sentiment in the upper right corner.  As you can see, my plastic frosted a bit around the snowflakes when I embossed it - it's kinda busy, but I like it IRL.  I used some copper, uh, "thingies" that I found at a flea market this summer in place of the washers - I think they're rather festive.  The only thing I might change, is that I'm thinking maybe I should white-wash that little word charm so that it shows up better - it says "believe." Yep.  Gonna.

Have a fabulous Friday my friends.  Only two days left of tags.... I think I might go into withdrawal after that, LOL!  

12 Tags of Christmas Day 9

Okay, I meant to be good, I really did.  I had almost all of the ingredients.  I was just going to switch it to be more creamy whites than honeyed browns.  And then I was going to put a little angel in the center of the rosette, but found this cute little acetate bird by K and Company on the way to the angel.  Slippery slope!

The background is a page from a vintage hymnal, sprayed with Wheatfields Glimmer Mist (also sprayed the lace at the bottom, the rosette, and one of the ribbons - love that stuff!).  The rosette is paper from gcd studios, with a little antique crocheted rose at the center, and Prima bling.  Along with the tinsel, I also added some copper trim along the bottom and some blingy berries.  Once again, since I didn't want to obscure the title of the carol, I omitted the danglies at the top.

I am having So Much Fun!!!  Hopefully tonight I'll have some time to hop along to all of your beautiful blogs.  You inspire me just as much as - actually, more than - Tim, and I am waaay inspired by Tim.  So you know how much your artwork means to me.  Stay creative, my friends. :) 

12 Tags of Christmas Day 8

I'm caught up!!!  I just love this blogging community of ours.  I was truly stumped on this one.  Then I started blurfing and found many creative suggestions, including the method I eventually used.  Several people suggested using clipart as a model for a homemade stencil.  I could find a Santa and sleigh, I could find a reindeer, but nothing with the two together that really worked.  Finally, I used two separate images, played around in Paintshop and, using Tim's as a guide, came up with something pretty close.  I used a very specialized material for my mask - printer paper - which worked lots better than I expected, LOL!  You'll see I did get some white "shadow" around the antlers, but I'm okay with that.  The houses I free-handed on some corrugated paper from some lightbulb packaging.  I had the Dymo, a watch front, the spinners.  I added a little rusty jingle bell to the ribbon (hard to see, since I photographed this at night - I wanted to get it done!!!).  The corners are silver embossed using  a stamp from Elusive Images.

And for those of you who were wondering what on earth I was going on about with the tissue box.... it was this.  I thought I might use this silhouette image, since I love ice skating.  However, I realized the design would have been too intricate, and I would have lost the skating effect.  Cool little scene though, isn't it, LOL?!?

12 Tags of Christmas Day 7

Yippee, I'm caught up, not counting today of course, which we won't mention, since I have no idea what to do (although I'm thinking it might involve cutting up a tissue box, LOL!).

Anyway, I didn't have the woodgrain texture fade, so I used a piece of real wood cardstock by Creative Imaginations that I've been hoarding forever.  Did the canvas flower thing just like Tim's, although mine came out quite a bit larger, so I didn't really have room for a trinket.  I spelled out NOEL because that's what fit with my grunge letters.  I added a little frosted lace Stickles along the tops and crannies of the letters to get a frosty snow effect.  This tag is much more rustic than the rest, especially since I don't have quite as much bling going on.  It's earthy and peaceful.

Whew, that was a marathon.  I'm taking a break before tackling Day 8, which will be my own personal biggest challenge yet, since I have nothing, nada, zilch from his "recipe."

12 Tags of Christmas Day 6

Moving right along to Day 6.  I didn't have the tree texture fade, or the reindeer die.  I made several very, very bad attempts with other texture fades, then scrapped them all - I got the idea, so maybe someday.  This grungeboard reindeer was in a seasonal pack from several years ago, and I did manage to run him through the snowflake texture fade.  Did the dabber, the sanding, the distress inking (in red, for a little more color).  The background was stamped with trees from Artistic Outpost's Sleigh Ride set, along with some gold-embossed snowflakes from that same set as well as their Snowy Woods set.  Had the journaling tag, the tissue tape, and a similar greeting.  I'm glad this one is done!

12 Tags of Christmas - Catch Up!

 

Hello, friends!  I've got much to catch up on, after spending a wonderful, snow-filled weekend in Pennsylvania with family.  Here are my takes on Tim's Tags from Days 3, 4, and 5.

Day 3 - This is one of my favorites.  Tim created a red bird, but I had just done that in Day 1, so of course, I had to make this little guy a bluebird.  I followed Tim's instructions pretty closely on this one.  I used tissue tape from 7Gypsies because it had red and green ledger print on it.  I must admit this little flower was easier than I anticipated, although the Gypsy tape is stickier, so maybe that helped.  Anyone else have a hard time trying to get Tim's tape to stay stuck on the grunge?  My tree branch is stamped using Peeled Paint Distress Emboss for a little texture.

Day 4 - Definitely not my favorite.  Had to improvise the entire thing.  The facet technique was cool (I used a charm fragment), but I can't see myself doing it again.  I don't buy those expensive bling swirls unless they are seriously discounted, so I had to make my own, which was quite tedious.  The paper is some ancient Melissa Frances that I had been hoarding.

Day 5 - Well, I didn't have any UTEE, so I enameled the metal numbers with.... Enamel Accents.  Seemed like a no-brainer, LOL.  I actually didn't have much from the recipe for this tag either, but it was still lots of fun to make.  I am discovering during this little party that if you buy Distress Crackle Paint, you'd better use it up fast, or it will turn to dust!  Bummer!  The background for the numbers was cut out with Nestabilities Labels Four.  As you can see, I used one of Tim's Santa ATC collages for the main image.  The "Be Jolly" is ancient - might even be a $1 bin stamp.  Rather fun, this one.

I'm working on the next two already, so hopefully I'll get caught up soon.  I gotta say, though, that today's tag (Day 8) has me stumped so far..... I don't have anything even close for a mask, or even a similar stamped image to make a mask, don't have all that hardware... I'll have to seriously put my thinking cap on (or maybe borrow someone else's.... anyone???)

White Glitter Supply Challenge at Gingersnap Creations

It's time for a new Spicy Supply Challenge over at Gingersnap Creations, and this time we're using White Glitter.  What a perfect accent for the season!  Of course, I also find it perfectly impossible to photograph, so I'll have to talk you through what I did....

I started out stamping a frosty scene on some ledger-patterned paper that I had cut into a tag.  I accented the scene with a little watercoloring in blues and grays.  Next, I applied some white Liquid Applique onto the snowballs the kids were throwing, the giant snow balls, and both ends of the tag.  While the liquid applique was still wet, I sprinkled it with a mixture of white glitter and clear microbeads, and set it aside to dry.  You end up with very dimensional, sparkly snow accents.

The snowflake is a grungeboard shape that I painted white.  I spread some craft glue over the entire thing and sprinkled on my mixture of white glitter and microbeads. (You could also try some mica flakes, chunky glitter, glitter glass... whatever you have on hand.)  I tied it to the tag with some sparkly embroidery thread.  Quick and easy - you just need to set it aside for a bit to dry.

I hope you can join us in some glittery fun. :)

Relish Reading Christmas Card

Crazy quick post today, with just a little close-up.....  the details of my Booklover's Gift Kit can be found at Rogue Redhead Designs.  Happy Weekend!

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas Day 2 and A Sneak Peek

My version of Day 2.  This tag went much more quickly, although as you can see, I didn't have many of the ingredients.  I had the Distress Inks and the Enamel, and a Tim Holtz Christmas sentiment.  All else is improvised....

I had a bird charm.... somewhere.... in my stash.  It is still hiding from me. I have to thank the creative and talented Louise at Kard Krazy for her fabulous improvised birdie idea.  I embossed a Stampin' Up! bird in copper embossing powder, rubbed DI over it, and cut it out.  I love the way it looks.... Louise is brilliant!  My foliage is some ancient PSX and Hero Arts, the swirl is Stampington, the music is I-don't-know-whose, and the blue dangly thing is 7Gypsies.  I really didn't have high hopes for myself on this one.... but now I rather like it.

I'd like to give a big shout out and many thanks to Sioux over at Artyjen - she's hosting a "Tim's Splinter Group" for everyone to link up their Tim Tag creations and share some inspiration and improvisation.  What a great idea! I think you'll want to take a look....

And now for the peek - I have a little "Gift Kit for Booklovers" tutorial over on the Rogue Redhead Designs blog, using Shar's "Relish Reading" plate.  I'd love for you to go over and have a look.  Here's the kit all packed up:

I will be AWOL for the next few days, and will sadly be missing at least four Tim Tags.  It's all good though - a big family gathering in honor of my uncle's 75th birthday, my cousin's 50th, and just plain old family time for the holidays.  Have a wonderful weekend, my friends! 

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas Day 1

I know what you're thinking.... "She's been gone from her blog for a week and gone totally bonkers! That doesn't look anything like Tim's tag!!" ROFL!!  It's all about "improvising" peeps!! So I present my first Tim Holtz Christmas Tag, Day 1!

Okay, I was a bit dismayed when I first saw Tim's tag... I didn't have the rickety house, I didn't have the fence.... what to do?  But if Tim can use his Halloween house for Christmas, then I can use the birdcage as my house. Right? Right???? LOL!

So, if you'd like to hear it, here's the lowdown on what I had, what I didn't have, and what I used in its place....

For the base of the tag, I was pretty much set - had the tag, the Distress Inks, the snowflake stamps.  Didn't have a Ranger mist, so just used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pearl.  So far so good.

Ah, the house.  Well, as you can see, I used a grungepaper birdcage.  I had the notebook texture fade, so ran it through that, then used regular old white acrylic paint since I didn't have the Dabber.  Sanded, distressed, misted.  So far, so good.  Now about those mica windows... didn't seem right to "glass in" a birdcage, so I used mica flakes on top of Liquid Applique to bring in the mica sparkle and also to add the snowy icicles that Tim created.

Obviously, didn't have the fence, either, but I still wanted to have something that was distress-crackled.  So, I crackled the bird.  (Kind of a long story there... didn't have any red crackle so used Picket Fence, then had to color birdie with Red Pepper Dabber - too orange - went over it with lots of other red inks till I got what I wanted.)  Since I was also lacking the dimension that was given by the fence, I had to improvise again.... by giving the little bird cage some tinsel garland, woven through the holes at the bottom.

Okay, next.... I actually had the mini holly garland (gasp!!), so could make the wreath.  Also gave the birdie a few leaves to chew on.  I did not have a Prima tree branch, so it was out to mother nature.... a little twig, holding up the bird cage, is what serves as my "tree."  Are ya with me?  Added some liquid applique and mica to that, too.

The ticket I had - wooo hooo! And I made an attempt at what I *thought* Tim might have done - used three different colors of embossing powder, which I tapped on using a plastic spoon.  Here's a close-up:

 We'll see what he has to say tomorrow.... Also had the mini paper clip (love those things!).

Finally, I had the seam binding, which I dyed just as Tim said.  But that star charm.... nope.  What I *did* have was some of Tim's foliage, and one of the pieces looks just like a sprig of holly.  The top of my tag was getting a bit busy, so I chose to hang the holly from the bottom of the cage.  I colored it with alcohol ink first ("Meadow"), but you can't really see it in the photo.  It could also look like a bit of mistletoe hanging from the bottom, if you have a glass of wine or two and squint, LOL!!!

So, there's my extremely improvised take on Day 1.  I know I won't be able to do them all (big family gathering this weekend, so I may go AWOL again for a bit), but this one was definitely fun.  I think not having the required elements actually made it a bit *more* fun, because there's more creativity to it.  Hopefully tomorrow's tag won't require so much "drying time" - if you're playing along, you know what I mean. :)


Ta for now!

Tag Tuesday Colors of Christmas

A quick little post today... lots to do, of course. ;)  The challenge this week at Tag Tuesday is to use the Christmas Colors of Navy, Turquoise, and Red.  This was a fun one once I found my little feature image that I received in a swap, which happened to have the required colors in it already.  I glittered it up and framed it with a Tattered Angels frame that I had sponged with Chipped Sapphire distress ink.  The snowflake border is cut with a Martha Stewart punch, and the stamp is from Cornish Heritage Farms.  A little bling, a little Broken China and Antique Linen distress ink, some soft velvety ribbon that I got in the same swap... and a frosty little Christmas tag was born.

I hope all my American friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I don't do black Friday, so hopefully I'll get some time to craft after my dinner settles, LOL!  Thanks to everyone who follows, comments, shares, inspires, visits..... I am so grateful for all my crafty, blogland friends! 

Tag Tuesday Backgrounds

This week at Tag Tuesday, guest hostess Pam has challenged us to make a tag where the background is the star.  I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while - using Tim's snowman texture fade in a way that would convey how much I'm wishing for snow, ice skating, making snowmen.... you know, all the things that a northern girl transplanted to North Carolina yearns for when the weather turns colder.

I think of this tag as a snowman wishing to happen.  The background is Glimmer misted (can't remember all of the colors, but Dragonfly is my fave).  I sprayed them on my craft mat, smooshed them on the tag, then spritzed the tag with water for a more snowflakey effect.  Then I embossed the snowman and sanded him, so that he's sort of a shadow of a snowman, looking at that big snowflake and wishing to appear.  A little pigment ink white and some mica flakes give him somewhere to call home.

This was a fun and creative challenge, and many thanks to Pam for being such an inspirational hostess.  I've got a day filled with kids' sporting events, but I'm hoping to get in some time to visit all of the lovely blogs I've been missing these past few days.  a sweet end-of-the-weekend to everyone. :)

A Gift Idea for the Book Lover

I just wanted to pop in quickly and let you know about a post I have up over at the Rogue Redhead Designs blog today.  It's a quick and easy little gift idea for the book lovers in your life.  It's getting to be that time of year.... ;)

Christmas Cards - En Masse

Our ATC club had a Christmas card swap (actual greeting cards, not ATCs) tonight.  I went with two general themes - kids and Santa - and used lots of Christmas paper scraps that I've been hoarding from years past.  A few quick and easy and *mailable* cards, very fun to make.

Here are a few using Artistic Outpost's Sleigh Ride plate, along with some Tim Holtz texture fades, glitter, Tim stamps, and Hero arts snowflakes sprinkled in:
In purple...

And white...

And blue....

 And here are a couple of Tim Holtz Santas, with ticket stamps and dies:
In white....

And blue...

Have you started your Christmas cards yet? Do you make yours?  I was very surprised when I saw that one of my very, very favorite papercrafting artists and bloggers actually orders hers from an online shop that prints them up with the customers own photos.  *Manufactured* cards, from someone who makes quite possibly the most beautiful Christmas cards I've ever seen. *Gasp!*  So whaddya think?  Is your Christmas card list so long that you have to buy them?  Does it feel weird?  Do you give handmade cards to the chosen lucky few?  Or maybe you do a Christmas letter.  Or maybe, like me, your are a queen-of-the-last-minute and end up either doing them at 2:00 AM or just throwing in the towel.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.  I'm hoping to get enough done for everybody on my list this year.  Maybe.  Hopefully.... ;) 

Gingersnap Creations Random Redhead Challenge - Stitching

Real stitching, faux stitching, embroidery stitches - any kind of stitching you like is the theme for this month's Random Redhead challenge at Gingersnap Creations.  Use your machine, a needle and thread, a stamp, or a pen.  For my stitching example, I kept with the Haute Couture theme of the month and created a little French fashion-inspired pocket stitched from vellum and adhered to the front of my card.  The pocket holds a tag for a little additional message, stamped and colored with a fashionista from The Artistic Stamper's Twenties No. 1 plate.  Here's a better look at the little diva:

In addition to the stitching around the pocket, I also stitched the main patterned paper panel, alternating zig-zag and straight stitching for a little more interest:

The tag base is from 7Gypsies, and the words and Eiffel tower are from Cornish Heritage Farms.

I hope you'll have time to play along.  After you post your project, link up over at Gingersnap Creations so that we can all see what you've created.  Have fun!

Tag Tuesday - Bingo!

Over at Kard Krazy this week, Louise has challenged us to use Bingo cards for Tag Tuesday.  This was a particularly fun one for me because I love how bingo cards are popping up all over, and I have quite a collection - minis, vintage, bingo card albums, etc.... and needed some incentive to stop hoarding them!

I centered my tag around an adorable stamped image from Rogue Redhead Designs and a Jenni Bowlin "Grow" mini bingo card.  Most of the embellies are from Basic Grey's new Curio collection (L-O-V-E it!).  There's also some vintage trim and a tiny bit of glitter here and there.

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty Monday. :) 

Imagination Journal at Rogue Redhead Designs

Happy Friday, Everyone!  This is a teeny peek at something I have posted today over at the Rogue Redhead Designs blog.  It's a little project-sketch journal I created using their new plate, Relish Reading.  I'd love it if you could go pay a visit and have a little look. ;)

Gingersnap Creations Winter 4x4 Art Exchange

I am having so much fun participating in Gingersnap Creations' Art Exchanges.  The latest one was to make 4x4 panels with a Winter theme.  I pulled out my brand new Artistic Outpost plate, "Sleigh Ride".  The images on this plate are vintage winter heaven, I tell ya!  I colored them with Copics and adhered them to some background panels that I was having fun with.   

For two of the backgrounds, I misted with Glimmer Mists (blues and purples), then ran them through Tim's snowflake texture fade.  For the other two, I started with ruched paper from The Paper Temptress, ran it through the snowflake texture fade, then, while the paper was still on the folder, I tapped it with Papertrey Ink's Fresh Snow Pigment Ink.  I sprinked polysparkle clear embossing powder on the ink while it was still wet (which is no problem, since it stays wet a loooong time!) and heat embossed.  I loved the effect this created.  The really fun thing is that you don't have to worry about extra embossing powder sticking to the ruched paper, because when it's heat embossed it just adds to the frosty effect.  

Other little added touches include crepe paper with Stickles dotted on and fun little snowflake stickers from my stash.  I sewed up a little vellum pouch for each one and tied it up with some fun fringy fibers [sorry, no pic of that... you'll see if you get one ;) ].

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Gingersnap Creations Challenge GC78: Sewing Notions

Hello my crafty friends! If you like to stitch or play in the button box, if quality time with your sewing machine has you on pins and needles (sorry, couldn't resist!), then you will have fun this month over at Gingersnap Creations.  Our monthly theme is Haute Couture, and everything related to fashion, sewing, stitching.... you name it.... will be themes for our challenges.  This week we start the Sewing Notions challenge.  Looooove it!  My mom is an avid quilter, so most likely all of the cards I make this month will end up with her eventually.  I centered my little card around this awesome button card stamp from Oxford Impressions' The Art of Being Beautiful plate.  I stamped it, colored it with Copics, and added some real-life buttons.  It's paired with a dress form diecut from Girls' Paperie, a spool chipboard shape from Maya Rd, and some ribbons, thread, ruler sticker, canvas, and pin from my stash.  The sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farms' Sew Special set (sadly retired).

So, how many different notions can you put on your project?  It's quite addictive once you start digging.  Use lots, or use only one - Notions.  Try them. ;)

P.S. Not to sound like a commercial - cuz I don't even design for them (tho' I wish I did).... but Oxford Impressions has just released a fabulous new dress form plate that has my fingers itchin'.  Oh, why must I have a limited stamp budget?  Maybe Oprah could spare me some change..... I'll go ask her now...... ;)

Gingersnap Creations Creative Connection - Only One Stamp

It's time for another fun Gingersnap Creations Creative Connection (GCCC).  The idea is to first create a piece of art using a particular theme as inspiration - and this month's theme is "Only One." Make a stamped creations that uses Only One Stamp - use it as many times as you want, but don't bother to ink any others up!  Once you've posted your piece to your blog or other share website, mention my post and the Creative Connection post on Gingersnap Creations.  Whoever is inspired by your post should similarly link to both your post and to GCCC.  We all "craft it forward" so to speak, and see how far we can get this connection to go.

I was inspired to participate in this month’s "GCCC" - Only One - by Aisling's gorgeous fall card on her blog, Aisling's Hobby Blog.  The "one stamp" I chose to use was a larkspur flower from Papertrey Ink.  I stamped it twice on some background paper in lavender Archival ink, then again in black on a cardstock panel, which I colored in with Copics.  Also added a little patterned paper, some crinkly seam binding, and a decorative edge.  I wanted to continue the theme on the inside, so....

Now before you start pointing fingers, I can explain....... the sentiment is a *sticker* from SRM.  Nope, it's not cheating, it's being creative!!!  LOL!  This little card has already found its way to my MIL.  (Had to mail it, that's why I kept it relatively flat.... for me, anyway!).


I hope you'll have time to play along - it's a fun challenge!

Simon Says Shabby

Normally when I do shabby, I do lots of crinkly ribbon, glittery distressed chipboard shapes, vintage buttons..... none of which exactly scream "masculine."  So I wanted to do a little "shabby" in the masculine style today, for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  My inspiration was this fine young scholarly "vintage" lad from Rogue Redhead Designs' "Relish Reading" plate.  I colored him with Copics, masked him off and stamped the almanac stamp - not fully inked up, so that the impression would be mottled - in antique linen for a background.  (I used the same almanac stamp for the background paper on the top part of the card.) I cut two additional panels, one patterned paper and one vintage text (of course!), and went at all three with Tim's distresser.  Some walnut stain Distress Ink made them even shabbier.  Then I applied them to the card all kattywompus (that means crooked here in the south, in case you couldn't guess LOL!).  There's a bit of hardware from Stampin' Up, tied with some grosgrain ribbon just like those old fashioned belt-type thingies they carried their stacks of schoolbooks with.  The sentiment is also from Relish Reading.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend! It is cool and crisp and sunny here - I looooove fall!

Exciting News... A Brand-New Stamp Company!!!

Today I've got some super-exciting news! My fabulously talented friend Shar - aka Sharon Briss - has started her very own stamp company, Rogue Redhead Designs! 

Shar is an avid stamper, and you may already know her as a founding femme of Gingersnap Creations blog.  Her new stamp company will feature stamps in several different styles including vintage, eclectic, and modern.  Rogue Redhead Designs offers deeply etched unmounted stamps on high quality rubber.  Her first full plate release is a tribute to the literature lovers in our midst; the “Relish Reading” unmounted plate is perfect for creating hand-made bookmarks, adding a personal touch to journals, and creating beautiful note cards.  I absolutely love the level of detail!  It's an 8" x 10" plate, and includes images and elements to get you stamping right away, from a full-sized background to focal images to sentiments.

And now the enabling part.  "Relish Reading” is available at the Rogue Redhead Etsy store. As part of their initial release, RRD is offering this brand-new plate on sale for 20% off the regular retail price of $22.00 until December 15, 2010. Yep, that means you can get this full-sized plate for $17.60 - cool, eh?

I am very honored to be on Shar's first design team, and have been having tons of fun playing with these stamps.  For my project pictured above, I wanted to create a bookmark as a little thank-you for a friend who lent me a book (Water for Elephants - great read!).  Bookmarks are great little gifts for book club members, or to accompany a gift certificate to a bookstore, or just to say 'thanks for lending me your book' as in my case.

I stamped the reading girl right onto some text print paper from My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Line, and colored her with Copics.  I used light to medium colors to keep the transparent effect.  Next up came some papers on top and bottom from Pink Paislee's Parisian Anthology collection.  The butterfly is punched from the same paper, and highlighted with a little bling.  I also gathered a bit of blue seam binding for a trim, and used it as the tie for the bookmark, with a crystal charm also from the same Pink Paislee collection.  The sentiment from the Relish Reading stamp set is stamped and distressed, and added to the top of the image. 

Here's another version of the same bookmark, this time with a different quote and a different butterfly embellishment.

Want to see the entire plate and some more samples made with "Relish Reading"? Check out the new Rogue Redhead blog to see what the Rogue Crew have been creating.

Tag Tuesday Front and Back

I'm finally back after a technology black-out.... I now have a "new" (hubby's hand-me-down) computer, new paintshop software, email access.... aaah, life is good. :)  Today I'm participating in a *totally fun* challenge over at Kard Krazy.  This week's Tag Tuesday Challenge is to include something on the front of your tag that runs over to the back of it.  Louise has a stunning example - she actually created a scene using two different stamps, both of which are half on the front and half on the back of her tag.  You've really got to see it and read about it to fully appreciate what I'm talkin' 'bout.  I wanted to try the stamp thing, too, and this cute little snowball fight image from Cornish Heritage Farms came to mind right away.  (Keepin' these rascally children apart, LOL!)  So here's the back:

The image is stamped in Adirondack ink, the snowflakes were clear embossed, and then lots of distress inks were applied for the snowy background.  I also split the sentiment, and put "To" and "From" on the front/back. Yes, this is an actual gift tag. :)

Head on over to Kard Krazy and check out all the linkies.... I can see this technique becoming quite addicting!

Blog Candy Winner!!!

The time has finally arrived to randomly pick one winning entry from a total of 171 comments!  I'm feeling sad that there can be only one winner, but I'm already working on goodies for another blog candy. ;)

I actually figured out the random.org process, printed out all of the comments and numbered them, and so without further ado....

The winner is:

Cynthia Schelzig,Cynnie said...

This is a generous offer of some delish candy.....mmmmm my fingers are watering just looking at it!!

October 14, 2010 12:33 PM

Cynnie, please send me your mailing address and I will get your goodies in the post for you!!  Congratulations!

Hmmmm, I guess I wouldn't have had to print out all 26 pages of comments for this one - I'm pretty sure I could have reliably counted up to 10 in the comment fields, LOL!  Next time I'll know to do the random number generating first. :)

Have a great Friday everyone!

Gingersnap Creations Color Challenge GC76

It's time for another color challenge over at Gingersnap Creations, and today it's the colors of fall: Eggplant, Avocado & Pumpkin.  I just love this rich color combo, and the DT have some beautiful projects posted for inspiration. For my card, I started out with a base of clear-embossed leaf images (from Tim Holtz), colored over with Distress Inks in Dusty Concord, Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive, and Peeled Paint. Next I layered on some die cut leaves made with Tim's Tattered Leaves Alterations die.  The focal image is from Cornish Heritage Farms (miss them!), surrounded by a Tattered Angels frame that has been colored with Distress Inks. The sentiment for the little tag hanging off the seam binding is from Papertrey Ink.

I hope you'll have a chance to play along - you can link up your creations over at Gingersnap Creations.  And just a teensy reminder.... today is the last day to leave a comment for my blog candy (please leave a comment before midnight EDT). Click Here to go to the blog candy post. Thanks to everyone who has already commented - I'm finding some gorgeous blogs and hearing about some great products that are new to me! :)

More Halloween Pages

Working away on my 24 Hallowe'en pages - good thing I love Hallowe'en, or I'd have given up long ago, LOL!  I had totally lost my mojo, but quickly got it back after being inspired by a tutorial on Gingersnap Creations by our October muse, Kris Dickinson.  I have long admired Kris's work, and her tutorial got me going again.  The page above uses a gothic Marie image from Itkupilli and stamps from Tim Holtz, Stampin' Up, and... hmmmm...... not sure where that chandelier is from. ;)

Next up is a vintage cutie page, with a fun Ouija board stamp from Oxford Impressions.  The letters are from some ancient 8x8 Tim Holtz paper.

A little card that is more "autumn" than Hallowe'en, although I did add a little Hallowe'en greeting to the picture.  The leaves were made with Tim's new Tattered Leaves die - love it.  BTW, the vintage images above and below can be found at Clearly Vintage.

For something a little different.... these fortune teller images are all from Heartwarming Vintage.  The Haunted and Halloween stamps are from Oxford Impressions.

This last piece was completely and totally inspired by - CASEd, really - from a piece done by Lynn Stevens for The Artistic Stamper blog, and you can see her original piece by clicking HERE.  You can also go be inspired by her fabulous blog Trash to Treasure Art.  Here is my version - not nearly as beautiful as hers.  Thanks for the inspiration, Lynn!!! (Hope you are feeling better, too :) )

Stamps are from Oxford Impressions, Red Lead, and Inkadinkado.
Happy Monday!