Train Map Sneak Peek, and a Prima Secret??

 

Since I've been going all girlie lately, it's time to turn a little more masculine.  Here's a sneak peek of a great vintage-look stamp set coming on March 5th from Cornish Heritage Farms.  It's part of the B&O Railroad Museum licensed line, and has lots of great images to play with.  I've colored the wonderful map image with Copics, stamped a tag from Making Memories Vintage Findings, and added some sprocket gears from Idea-ology.  Quite easy, and sure to please the "other half."  These sets are also great for ATCs and collage... more to come.

Now, apparently Prima, those purveyors of pretty petals and more, is about to reveal a secret.  I don't know what that could possibly mean, BUT, in honor of their big secret, they are having a huge giveaway on their blog HERE.  Take a looky at what's up for grabs:

I don't know about you, but I can think of a thing or two to do with that stash, LOL!!  So you may want to head on over there and post this on your blogs.... somebody's gotta win it, ya know?

Have a great Saturday evening (or Sunday, if it's already there for you!).  I'm am SERIOUSLY looking forward to the gold metal hockey showdown between the good 'ol USA and our dear Canadian neighbors... sport doesn't get any better than that!

Stamping Around Inspiration Challenge

 

While blurfing today, I came across a great inspiration challenge at Stamping Around.  The photo inspiration was this catalog cover for Land's End, and the instant I saw it, I knew I'd have to play along. So I dug out a Stampin' Up! set that hasn't seen ink in centuries, and went to work with my Stamp-a-ma-jig.  I stamped my roses, cut them out, and distressed them with Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress Inks.  I aged my white twill ribbon (www.twilltape.com) with Antique Linen as well, then attached it and some burlap using my sewing machine and a straight stitch all around the edges.  I thought the burlap echoed the texture of the basket - it's a fun accent to play with, but can get unruly unless you sew it down! 

I decided to shabby it up even more with some Tattered Rose Crackle paint along the edges; after it dried, I went back in and smudged some coral ink over it to give it more "oomph."

I also used some Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint and some Dazzling Diamonds to pretty up the flowers a bit.  The sentiment is from Anna Griffin.

Just a little enabling before I go..... Friday and Saturday (Feb. 26 and 27), Cornish Heritage Farms is awarding double CHF points with every rubber order, AND giving away a free spool of ribbon for online orders of $75 and over.  I'm just sayin'...   :)   I'm off to watch some Olympic hockey..... Have a great weekend!

Play Date Cafe Challenge 18 - A Splash of Color

 

I was so excited to open my email this morning and see that I'd won a spot on Play Date Cafe's Fab 4 for last week's challenge! Thanks so much to Julie Ranae, Julie, Sarah, and Mona for the honor and especially for the inspiration!  This week's 'Color Splash' challenge is to use black and white with a splash of teal - isn't this inspiration photo gorgeous?  For my card, I went with this vintage bluebird image from Artistic Outpost's Blue Bird plate for the focal image.  All of the background stamps are from Cornish Heritage Farms (Beautiful and Vintage Chintz), and the little "Fragile" label is from Stampington.  This color combo is so fun to play with for spring.  You can check out the designers' wonderful creations HERE, and play along, too.  Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Time at Gingersnap Creations

 

Gingersnap Creations is almost 1 year old!  And to celebrate, the Random Redhead Challenge posted today is to make a "Birthday Greeting."  My glamorous lady baker is an image from The Artistic Stamper's 20s Ladies Plate 4.  The original image actually shows her holding a statue, but I substituted a cake cut from a patterned paper that just might be older than you are, LOL!!  The swirly background is from Stampington, and the sentiment is computer-generated.  I embellished with a couple colors of Stickles, some wide satin ribbon, and a vintage rhinestone button. 

I'm sure we could all use more birthday cards in our stash, and you've got until March 21 to get in on the fun. Jennie has donated a beautiful Flower Lace Border stamp to one randomly selected participant.  You can take a peek at all the inspirational greetings over at the GC Blog.  Have a great day!

Lucky Shamrock for Tag Tuesday

 

This week's Tag Tuesday challenge at Kard Krazy is to use Shamrocks on our tags.  I used some Dover Design clip art, some stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms (Crossword Scrapblock) and Studio G, and a few goodies I had in my stash.  Couldn't resist adding a little lucky horseshoe charm, too! 

This was such a fun little project - I tend to overlook St. Patrick's Day somewhat, although I do wear green, and my mom cooks up some corned beef and cabbage.  But I don't tend to decorate (I swoop right in with Easter after Valentine's Day).  So this is a small nod to the holiday to land on a cupboard door for a few weeks.  You can head on over to Kard Krazy for some more Irish inspiration!

Play Date Cafe Color Challenge 17

 

My ATC group is swapping cards this month, using supplies that we swapped at our Christmas meeting.  We all have to incorporate some of our swapped goodies into the cards in some way, and I wanted to make sure these cards are mailable, too. 

I decided to turn to the Play Date Cafe for inspiration, so I'm playing along with the PDCC17 color challenge to use red, brown, and linen.  This is one of my favorite color combos, so it was fun to do, and I got to use some of those scraps that I'm vowing to make use of!  All images are from Cornish Heritage Farms (Bicycle Life, Beautiful, and Haute Couture sets). The linen-textured cardstock is also from CHF.  Thanks to the Playdate gals for all of their inspiration!

Hope you had a great weekend!

Gingersnap Creations Three Colors You Love Challenge

 

Well, I fiddled with this one for waaaaay longer than I expected, LOL!!  The latest color challenge from Gingersnap Creations is to use Three Colors You Love.  Aaaah, I love all of them!  In fact, I think I can become easily overloaded by color - perhaps my brain becomes overstimulated - which  probably explains why most of my decor is creams and linens, with dark brown woods.  But I am decidedly partial to robin's egg blue, dusty purple, and blush pink.  I knew I wanted to make a collage-style card, using scraps of paper and some stamped images that I already had floating around in my "too-pretty-to-throw-away-but-not-gonna-use-it-right-now" box.  Perhaps that's what got me into trouble.  Anyway, here's my card for this challenge, using stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms, Martha Stewart, Inkadinkado, Stampin' Up!, Stampington.... pretty much anyone who sells stamps, LOL!  

This ultimately was quite fun... if you'd like to play with color today, you can head on over to Gingersnap Creations for some inspiration and a peek at the blog candy from The Artistic Stamper.  It could be yours, just for playing with colors you love :).

Crossword Scrapblock Peek and Numbers Challenge

 

I guess I must be wishing for spring - I've gone all cute and colorful lately!!  This card uses a brand new Scrapblock coming tomorrow (February 19th) from Cornish Heritage Farms, appropriately called "Crossword."  This is a fun 6x6 size that can be used to make your own patterned scrapbook paper, or it can be cut down to make any sized card you like.  I embossed the image in black, to help keep my coloring in the lines.  Then I just got out my Copics and played around with color categories.  It was actually a nice little lesson in how well different colors blend, since I overlapped the coloring wherever the "words" would intersect.  Just added some Prima flowers, a button, and a Dymo sentiment and was done.

And looking at all those clue numbers.... I'm using this as my sample for the "Numbers" challenge, the current "Random Redhead" challenge over at Gingersnap Creations.  The numbers challenge runs through February 21, and there is some yummy blog candy from Serendipity Stamps for one lucky participant.  You can see all of the current challenges along the left-hand side of the blog.  Hope you can find time to play!

Tag Tuesday Goes "Cutesy" !

Louise's challenge to us for Tag Tuesday today was "Cutesy".  If you've never joined the challenge before, I can tell you that most of us gals seem to prefer "artistic" and/or "vintage"... so "cutesy" is a bit of a stretch, LOL!!  I hope this counts... I decided to get ready for my daughter's 11th birthday next month.  She is growing out of the "cute" stage, but "Tink" is forever cool, so she is the star of my tag.  The Tinkerbell stamp is from a set called Tink Clear Stamps from Image Tree/EK Success.  I'm not sure whether these stamps are retired or not, but I found them on overstock.com here (they were at a few other places on the web, but Overstock's shipping charges are the lowest I've found).  The "cute" flowers are from a Pink Persimmon stamp set called Flower Greetings that I got as blog candy a while back. (I cut the sentiment out of one of the flowers so that it would have a plain center).  I also used some silhouette stamps from a Close to My Heart set that was a stamp of the month a while back.  Some Webster's Pages trim (not hoardin' it, nope, not me!) and Martha Stewart glitter finish it off.  (I will have that glitter sparkling on my person for the next 4 days, I just know it!)

I also wanted to show you another card I made with Cornish Heritage Farm's Bicycle Life set from the ATC Line, available now at the shop.  This is a fun set that makes me think of summer. The center image panel is ATC-sized, with a border from the Haute Couture set.  You can see a bunch more samples HERE at the gallery.

If you haven't entered already, don't forget about Gingersnap Creations Valentine Giveaway... going on through February 20th.  Thanks for spinning by!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Hope everyone has a fun and fabulous Valentine's Day!! This card uses a cute little image and sentiment from Cornish Heritage Farms' Bicycle Life stamp set, which will be released on February 16th.  I couldn't resist making a Valentine with them, using some Melody Ross Homespun Chic papers and Webster's Pages trim.  

The image is cut out with Nesties, and the heart is painted grungeboard. 

Now for a little enabling.... today only, February 14th.... Cornish Heritage Farms is having a sale - 14% off EVERYTHING in the store.  How's that for a sweet Valentine?!?  Go ahead, treat yourself! :)

And...if you're looking for the Gingersnap Creations Valentine Giveaway Blog Hop, please see my previous post.  There's still plenty of time to play - you have until February 20th to get in on a chance to win a fabulous stash of stuff!  I'm off to spend some time with my hunnies!

Gingersnap Creations Valentine Blog Hop!!!

 

Welcome to the Gingersnap Creations’ Valentine Blog Hop and Hop Stop #4!

If you’ve already been hopping then hopefully you have just come from Debby at Debby's Stuff. If you are starting here, welcome! It's a loop so you can start anywhere along the way!

At each stop, you will need to collect a word. There are 9 stops in all starting and ending with the Gingersnap Creations blog where you can get all the specific information and get a peak at the the goodies in the Valentine Giveaway, including some treats from The Artistic Stamper.

So, if you visit all the stops, you should end up right back at Gingersnap Creations with 9 words. When you get all your words, unscramble them to form a quotation about love. Once you have your guess at the quote, email it and your name to gingersnapstamp@gmail.com by February 20, 2010. We will be picking one lucky winner at random from the correct entries to win the Valentine Giveaway package! That's all there is to it!

If you get lost along the way, you can see the entire route at Gingersnap Creations.

My word is "everyone".

Your next stop on the hop is Joanne at Made by Joanne.

But before you go...... let me fill you in on my Valentine for today.  All of the stamps are from The Artistic Stamper.   The fabulous lady and the heart and sentiment sets can be found HERE.  I've also used some of their great small-scale Design Essentials background stamps (dots and houndstooth) to give some pattern to the hearts.  I colored my little lady with Copics, added a little glitter (which of course doesn't show up in the photo!) and cut her out.  I also cut out my stamped hearts.  Since one of the current challenges at Gingersnap Creations is to use lace and/or fibers, I tucked some blue lace trim in around the images and under the scalloped paper panel.  

For the background, I used a paper piercing template that I found online at Etsy's Every Thing Creative shop. 

I downloaded the file, then printed it out on heavy vellum cardstock (you can find some good quality vellum cardstock at Papertrey Ink and Stampin' Up).  I printed it on vellum so that I would be able to see exactly where I was placing the pattern on my paper.  

Once I aligned the pattern using the blue centering lines on the download, I stuck it to my paper with post-it notes so that it wouldn't shift while I was piercing.  I put the paper and template on top of a piece of plastic foam packaging (I got it out of one of my Close to My Heart stamp sets), and placed all of that on a self-healing mat.  Then I just pierced the part of the design that I wanted, to cover the upper portion of my background paper. 

Here's a picture of the final pierced background, before I added the images on top.

And that's it!  Easy peasy.  Don't forget to keep hopping and head on to Joanne's blog at Made by Joanne. AND, don't forget about the Gingersnap Creations Design Team Call.  Aaahh, so much crafting goodness happening!  Have fun and good luck! 

A Cornish Heritage Farms Sneak Peek - Bicycle Life

 

Here's a little sneak peek of a very cute set coming from Cornish Heritage Farms' All Things Considered line on February 16th.  It's called Bicycle Life, and has lots of great images and sentiments that are sized for use on cards or on ATCs.  Here I've used a great vintage bicycle focal image with a sentiment I think would be appropriate for lots of events... graduation, encouragement, new job, etc.  I've used a combination of patterned papers to simulate the rolling hills of the landscape - ups and downs, you might say, LOL!.  I'll have more peeks in the coming days....

As many of you know, I've been having great fun as a member of the Gingersnap Creations Design Team.  This blog is an awesome inspirational, educational, and just plain fun place to be inspired, learn new techniques, and interact with some wonderful artists.  If you've never been to visit before, you should. AND, if you're a fan...... you may want to try out for a Design Team position yourself!!  Gingersnap Creations has two full-time design team spots and one guest designer spot open on a great team with lots of freedom to create and very few rules!  There are no specific products to buy, no specific stamp sets to use, and there's lots of lead time for creating your projects.  Gingersnap Creations will be accepting applications starting TODAY and closing on March 12th, 2010.  The design team term will run from April 1 to September 30, 2010.  You can get all the details HERE on the Gingersnap blog.  I hope you'll give it a try, and Good Luck!!  

And... don't forget to hop along with all of the Gingersnap Design team tomorrow, for our Valentine's Blog Hop and Giveaway!!!

"B" Mine - for Tag Tuesday

 

Hello!  Finally checking in with my Tag Tuesday entry - this week, we are challenged to use a monogram on our tag.  My last name is Beck, so I decided to use a "B".... but not for my name!  This is a little "Bee Mine" Valentine tag, using the Sweet Bee stamp set from Cornish Heritage Farms.  I made the tag background using various shades of Distress Ink smooshed onto my mat pad.  I stamped the pussy willow and bee image in black, then colored it with Copics and a white gel pen to fill in the fluffy willows and bees' wings.  I stamped the "Queen B" image, cut it out, and colored it with a gold gel pen and some red Stickles for the jewels.  The little popped-up bee is cut from a border from K and Company - so cute!  You can stop on by Kard Krazy for some beautiful entries... so fun to blurf around and see everyone's creations.  AND... speaking of blurfing, be sure to join me and the entire Gingersnap Creations design team this Saturday, February 15th... we'll be having a Valentine blog hop, with a fabulous Valentine Giveaway Package for one lucky winner!  You won't want to miss it! ;)  (P.S..... There's a peek of the prize package on the GC blog right now.)

Lace and Fibers Challenge at Gingersnap

 

Hello everyone!  There is a new Spicy Supply Challenge up over at Gingersnap Creations - using lace and/or fibers in your creations.  Plus some blog candy from The Artistic Stamper for one lucky participant!  For my piece, I used some vintage lace trim and some Martha Stewart ribbon to accent this beautiful image of a Twenties Lady from The Artistic Stamper.  To me it looks like she is waiting and watching for her beloved to come back (must be the "Romance" theme at Gingersnap rolling around in my head, LOL!).  To make the scrunchy ribbon border up the side of the card, I first put down a line of adhesive (I use the Glue Glider Pro), then adhered the ribbon, scrunching it up and adhering small sections every inch or so.  Then I put it in my sewing machine and tried to scrunch it under the foot as I slowly ran a straight stitch line across the ribbon.  This is the first time I've done this, and it was easier than I thought it would be.  So go to Gingersnap Creations for some inspiration, get out those fibers, ribbons, and lace, and start experimenting and having fun!! :)

Thoughts of Spring

 

Well, this started out as a card inspired by this week's Play Date Cafe color challenge.  However, as you can see, I couldn't restrain myself from adding a touch of red, so I guess I blew the whole color challenge thing, LOL!!! But hey, they're meant as inspiration, first and foremost, and that's what I got.  The gorgeous image is called Spring in Provence from Serendipity Stamps, and it's colored in Copics and cut out with Nesties.  I used some tiny vintage posies that I found on Etsy (Papertales).  The paper is from my stash (just tryin' to make a dent... not workin'!).

Serendipity Stamps was our sponsor at Gingersnaps Creations for the month of January, and there are still lots of challenges running that have some beautiful Serendipity stamp sets as blog candy!  Check out the Embossing Powder, Metallics, and Numbers challenges.  And if that weren't enough to get ya going, February's sponsor is The Artistic Stamper..... check out Gingersnap Creations for some fabulous inspiration for the newest challenge, Romance, with some yummy blog candy from The Artistic Stamper as well.  So much goodness to be had.  Have fun and good luck!

Romance - Tag Tuesday and Lilybean Style

 

Yesterday I had the luxury of surfing around some of my very favorite blogs and soaking up tons of inspiration.  I also sneaked away to my craft room for a while in the wee hours and had some fun.  My inspiration came from many sources: the Chestnut Challenge at Gingersnap Creations is "Romance" - some fabulous artwork is posted over there, featuring some wonderful stamps from The Artistic Stamper (blog candy, anyone?).  I'll have some creations using their luscious new sets in the coming days.
  

At Kard Krazy this week, the Tag Tuesday challenge is "A Touch of Red."  I am just loving the color combo of cream, brown, and red, so I had a go at that one.
 

And finally, Melissa at Lilybean Paperie posted this fabulous photo as an inspiration challenge. I was off and running!

For the Lilybean inspir- ation challenge, I made a postcard using my favorite Cornish Heritage Farms single, Tree Swallows.  I added some Making Memories vintage findings, some old K and Co. rub-ons, a vintage button, a Stampin' Up! stamp.  I sanded the red heart in the background to make it more shabby.

For the Tag Tuesday Touch of Red Challenge, I used the same Tree Swallows stamp, this time on a tag that had been stamped first with Vintage Chintz in Tattered Rose Distress Ink, then with the French Script backgrounder in red. For the script, I lightly tapped a Memento Rhubarb Stalk dew drop ink pad over the backgrounder, making sure I did NOT have full coverage of the stamp. I then placed the tag face down onto the stamp, and pressed it with my fingers in random spots (again, not all over). This gave the script a very faded and shabby appearance. I added some vintage buttons, a LOVE stamp from Stampington, a label from Making Memories, and a tiny chipboard heart.

The kids are home from school again tomorrow.... it's going to be 51 degrees outside, but the district is afraid there might be some ice.  I tell ya, things are just so different here in the south!  It wouldn't be so bad, but my kids go to a year-round calendar school, which means we are now looking at 3 Saturdays of make-up days.  That is NOT fun.... we miss so many activities.  Ah well.  They're happy, for now. :)

Reasons to Stamp in February

 

Perhaps you were expecting a Valentine, LOL??  Okay, so we've all probably got a few reasons to stamp in February already, but how about going a little unconventional?  Gingersnap Creations has posted a whole list of Reasons to Stamp in the shortest month of the year.  I love February 9th's claim to fame .... Read in the Bathtub Day!  I'm thinking I'll be celebrating that one!  It will be fun to send a little card, with a bookmark inside, to remind a friend or loved one to take a little R&R for herself (or himself!).  This great image is from Cornish Heritage Farms' Common Cold set from the Saturday Evening Post line.  The background is stamped with the Vintage Text Scrapblock, with some ancient vellum bubble stickers from my stash randomly dispersed throughout.  I also added a little scrap of washcloth to add a tactile experience, LOL!

Now, let's face it, not everyone loves Valentine's Day every year.  While I'm happily married to my hubby of almost 18 years, I'm sure we all know a few people who cringe at the thought of all this romance happening at a time when maybe they just want to forgeddaboutit for a while.  So how about a little un-Valentine?  February 11th is Satistified Staying Single Day!  A card for that.....

  

The image and the "there are times when....." sentiment for this one are from Cornish Heritage Farms' Domestic Love set from the ATC Collection.  I computer-generated the "Satisfied Staying Single Day!" since that particular sentiment does not appear to be mainstream enough to warrant a stamp set, LOL!!  The paper frame is from my Melody Ross Homespun Chic winnings of a few days ago.

Check out Gingersnap Creations for lots more reasons to stamp, AND some really great contests and posts.  The Artistic Stamper has generously agreed to be our sponsor this month, so there will be blog candy to be had!  AND, Shar and Ali have beautifully organized all of the Gingersnap tutorials and projects into a clickable list on THIS POST.  Lots of inspiration, I tell ya!  Oh, and Gingersnaps is having an Art Exchange, too!  Way too much for me to talk about... you'll just have to blurf on over and check it all out for yourself.

I've gotten waaaay behind on my crafting.  Even though, in my opinion, our "major storm" was a bit of a bust (about 4 inches of snow, sleet, and freezing rain), it was enough to cancel EVERYTHING here, including school and work.  My daughter sprained her knuckle sledding, so we had to have that taken care of (nothing serious, thank goodness!).  And the family is still all at home, which is not conducive to my crafting!  I'm just going to have to sneak away up to my little craft room......  shhhhhhh ;)