'Colour Horribilis' Challenge!

Hot pink and navy blue and mustard, OH MY!  I almost ditched this card, but my daughter said she would use it, so here it is.  Yikes.  Over at the Play Date Cafe this week they were all sitting around with their voodoo dolls, which clearly weren't working to their satisfaction, when someone said, "Bwwwaaahaahaahaaa, I've got the perfect, most horrible, awful idea. If we can't get them with voodoo, we'll get them with colors that will make them cry like babies."  Okay, maybe it's not so very awful, but it was challenging, and I must concede, that is the whole point. ;)

I used a bunch of old K and Company on this card, some of which I tweaked with some Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed distress inks to make sure my yellows were the proper "mustard" color.  That ribbon really is navy, I swear, it just looks black in the photo.  I didn't have any papers with all three colors, so I did a little stamping on some to give everybody at least two.  To make it "come together."  Ha!

All this nonsense being said, there are some truly awesome cards over at the Cafe that the design team created for our inspiration.  If they hadn't done such a wonderful and inspiring job, I doubt I would have tried this myself.  (See, I'm trying to suck up after that voodoo comment.... just kidding, ladies! LOL!). Hope ya'll have time to play!

Play Date Cafe Challenge 43

Coming in at the eleventh hour (literally) with a little Play Date Cafe entry.  The inspiration colors this week are supposed to be a tribute to the last days of summer, but I couldn't help myself from thinking cold and frosty!  Actually, it's not totally my fault this time.... I was completely inspired by a gorgeous card by Pam Hooten on her blog HERE, using this fabulous color combo for a beautiful version of Old St. Nick with brand new stamps by Our Craft Lounge.  Many thanks to Pam for the inspiration - I know I'll be using this color palette for holiday cards again this season!  (BTW - I was so excited to win their brand new Ol' St. Nick set as blog candy - thanks Pam!!!)

So my little card uses lots of scraps of holiday papers from last year, along with a now-retired pine tree stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms, and a focal image from Melissa Frances.  I was once again trying to keep the card flat for mailing, but I don't know how that little pine tree pin will fare..... ah well, the best laid plans, LOL!

Hope you're having a great week.  It was seriously humiding here again today (along with some bona fide downpours, all with never-ending heat).... I am sooooo ready for fall!

Stamping with Watercolors at Gingersnap Creations

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I've got a little tutorial over on the Gingersnap Creations blog about using watercolors to stamp with your favorite silhouette stamps.  I've used a combination of watercolor and dye ink stamping to create a very free flowing, artsy look.

The theme this month at Gingersnap Creations is paint, and there are lots of great tutorials and projects showing creative and fun ways to use all different types of paint.  Hope you can join me over there, and maybe even give it a try yourself. :)

Tag Tuesday Challenge - Not On Paper

Louise's Tag Tuesday challenge this week over at Kard Krazy is to make a tag that does *not* have paper as its base.  I found some small scraps of felt in my stash and decided to use a piece of deep red for a cozy Christmas tag.  I decided I wanted to create a pocket, to slip in an additional tag (paper, this time) for the greeting and the "To: and From:" message, so that the felt-based tag could be reused.  So, I stamped an old Santa image (Santa Collage from Rubber Stampede) onto cardstock and punched a snowflake edge at the top.  Then I decorated him with distress inks, Copics, diamond Stickles, and a bit of glossy accents for the eyeglasses, then stitched him on, leaving the top open.  I created another little tag to stick in the pocket.  Other little accents include a piece of striped ticking fabric, some star fabric to hold on the ribbon at the top, some pom pom trim, a felt snowflake, button, and baker's twine.  Here's what it looks like with the taglet removed:

Hope you can play along - it really gets your creative juices flowing!

PDCC #42 Vintage Christmas in Green

Well, it's 94 degrees, sunny, and humid.... perfect time to start Christmas cards, don'tcha think?  Over at the Play Date Cafe this week, there is a color challenge with a most interesting and unusual photo, as you see here.  Camels, as far as the eye can see.  Never thought I'd type that sentence.  Anyway, the colors are dark brown, green, and beige.  So those camels and those colors got me to thinking of the three wise men, Christmas..... okay, maybe it's a stretch, but it *is* an inspiration challenge after all, LOL!

All of my images are from Artistic Outpost's  Snowy Woods plate.  I stamped using only Rich Cocoa and Cottage Ivy (Memento) and distressed with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.  For the image, I got out my aqua pen and blended a little of the ivy ink only onto Santa's attire, just as a little accent.  I added a little Rock Candy Distress Stickles to the boughs to give them a bit of frosty shimmer (which of course does not photograph).  I did a little "messy stitching" (Yep, it's a look, I was going for that... LOL!) to add a ticking fabric panel behind the Santa.  Vintage, rustic, and mostly *flat* - my main goal this year with Christmas cards. ;)

Have a little look over at the Cafe..... you can still play along through midnight tonight.  And maybe get a jump on those Christmas cards. :)

Tag Tuesday Crowns

Just a quick little post on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  The sun is out but the sky is white here..... rather too humid for my taste.  So I'm tucked away, cleaning and crafting.

This little tag is for Louise's Tag Tuesday challenge this week, which is Crowns.  I got some new rubber and had to try it out, crowning the "king of birds" - the Bluebird, of course, LOL.  The main stamp is from Red Lead *here* - a new favorite company of mine (to add to my many other favorites!).  The papers are from Kaiser's Secret Bird Society collection in 6x6.  The little crown is out of one of those Making Memories Vintage Findings kits - still lovin' those, too. :)

Hope the rest of your weekend is peaceful and fun.

Etsy Inspired Challenge #100

Squeaking in under the wire for the Etsy Inspired Challenge #100 this week.  I just found out about this yesterday, and once I saw the shop that was the inspiration, I just couldn't resist a little card creation.  Our inspiration was to be one of the gorgeous pendant charms from Cathy Walter's Etsy Shop.  I chose this gorgeous pendant - so vintage and pretty, and I knew just the stamps I wanted to use.  All of the stamps used come from the Paris Exposition plate from Artistic Outpost.  I made my own green patterned paper using all of the phrases, either embossed in white or simply stamped in black.  I used the two balloon images for the feature panel, and tied it up with a little ruffled ribbon and a little charm as a nod to the product that is inspiring us.

The weekend is very nearly here peeps!  Hope you have a great one planned, with a little crafty time, of course! :)

Distress Crackled Things with Wings - CCC#9 and SSSS#1

How's that for a goofy post title?  Hmmmmm... I must be combining challenges again.  I'm getting over my guilt about that (slowly!).  Anyway, I made this little card with two challenges in mind: Linda's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge #9, where we are to use the Distress Crackle Technique according to Tim's instructions on page 42; and, for the very first Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge, which is "Things with Wings."

Okay, so you just saw this little gal yesterday, but ever since I got her I've had the urge to put wings on her!  So I got out Tim's Flights of Fancy clear stamp set and surrounded her with wings - Rock Candy crackled wings, to be exact.  (BTW, not lovin' these clear stamps so much.... did all the tricks in the book to stop the inks from pooling, with no luck. Just an aside.... still love the images.  Rubber rules!)  Anyway, the background is also crackled, as you can tell.... I ran some cardstock through Tim's damask texture fade, then dabbed on some Distress Crackle in Old Paper.  I wanted it to look like vintage wallpaper that had been painted over and was starting to crackle.... ya think?  That lovely little sentiment is from a very vintage and falling-apart copy of Little Women.  Oh, and the clock (also crackled) is from a piece of truly ancient Tim paper from way before you knew he was designing paper, LOL!!!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you'll have a chance to get crafty with one or both of these fun challenges (and check out the candy, too!). :)

Paint with Gingersnap Creations

Hello bloggers! Today Gingersnap Creations has a new challenge for us.... use paint on our projects.  Now, you know I am primarily a card-maker, so I wanted to incorporate my favorite type of paints - watercolors - into my cardmaking.  Oh boy, did I have fun.  So much fun that I couldn't stop. :)

I started this little project by stamping my image (from The Girls set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous) using brown StazOn ink onto watercolor paper.  Then I got out my watercolors (had to dust them off first - sadly) and had at it.  You obviously don't have to be an expert at watercolors to add a little pizazz to an image - especially a collage image, where the line between one object and the next is a little, well, "indistinct."  Just a few colors is all you need.  But I couldn't stop there, oh, nooooo.  After I cut out my background papers (from the Ella Blue Collection by GCD Studios), I decided to distress the edges with those very same colors of watercolor paints.  (Why not?  I was about to do it with Distress Inks anyway.)  This also allowed me to make my blue paper a little *more* blue.  I added a touch of vintage lace to the edge of the image (this was safe from my paintbrush - it looked beautiful as-is).  Needed something a little more... how about vintage mother of pearl buttons.  Yeah.  Only..... hmmmmm..... got out that paintbrush, smothered them in Prussian Blue, then wiped off the excess.  I ended up with just a tiny tinge of blue in my buttons - love it!

Got any paints getting dusty in your stash?  Or maybe you are a painting mixed media-type goddess already?  We'd love to have you play along.  You can see what the other members of the DT came up with (hugely inspiring, I tell ya) and link up your project at Gingersnap.  A fun project to see us into the weekend, I think. ;)

Vintage Paris Canvas

So I hopped out of my box again yesterday and created another canvas.  Actually, it's an "un-canvas" - an "artist's panel" that claims to be "better than canvas."  Whatever.... its un-canvas properties actually made it very easy to adhere paper to, so I went with it, LOL!

This project was inspired by two challenges...... at The Shabby Tea Room this week, there is this gorgeous photo and the word "reflections" to inspire us.  Oh, how I loooooove the look of this mantel arrangement.  I want it in my house this very second.  Inspiration abounds.....

And, a fairly new challenge at a blog called More Paper Than Shoes.  Why, oh why, didn't I think of that blog name first??? It describes my life in four easy words.  Anyway, this challenge gives a little list of rules - actually, items and techniques that must be incorporated into the challenge. So for this month, the theme/items/techniques are:

Vintage Paris

Metal

Acrylic Paint

Fabric

Crackle

Any surface

The design team over at MPTS is amazing - all of them.  But before I show you my close-ups and tell you all the yada yada, I have to show you the DT project that made my jaw drop... here is the pic - and if you love it, run, don't walk, over to DT member Megan Bean's blog to see the rest of this amazing little album of hers on THIS post. Oh, but DO come back, will you????

Okay, so for my little project, I started with Bon Voyage Paris paper from Gartner Studios.  Next came paint around the edges of the canvas, which was Distress Crackle in Antique Linen, distressed with Walnut Stain.  I added a few pieces of vintage text from an old French school primer after that.  The beautiful little lady is a stamp from The Fairest Flower plate from Oxford Impressions, stamped in Ancient Page ink and distressed with Antique Linen.  Surrounding her is a Tattered Angels frame with silver Vintage Art Glass Glitter.  Oh my, I love that stuff!  I splurged, I hoarded for a long time, but now that I've used it I can see the difference - the sparkle IRL is amazing, and I can't wait for the patina to gently tarnish.  This is the "reflections" part for the Shabby Tea Room challenge, too.

For the metal, I used some of T!m's flowers, which I bent a little with jewelry pliers to give them a little more depth.

For the fabric, I stamped images from The Fairest Flower, Paris Exposition (Artistic Outpost), and Stampin' Up! onto some muslin, frayed the edges, and adhered it to the not-so-pretty sides of my un-canvas.

One last little photo to show you how well I'm coming along with my hoarding problem.. this is a vintage crochet covered button, which I have only one of... and I put it on this un-canvas.  (Eeeeeee, I'm breaking into a cold sweat just typing it... okay, deep breaths.... fine.)  See?  Pretty good, eh? LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you're all having a happy week.  Tomorrow I'll have a little card for the next Gingersnap Creations challenge... see ya then. :)

Play Date Cafe - Postcards from Italy

The Play Date Cafe Challenge has another destination theme this week, and this time it's Italy.  Here is the gorgeous inspiration photo, with the challenge colors of rust, ochre, and white.  At first I thought I only had one stamp with Italian imagery, but as I looked through my stash, I actually came up with a bunch of stamps, along with some vintage Italian text!  Does that happen to anyone else...... you buy things, you store things, you forget about things... LOL!?!?  Shameful, really.  But hey, I got them out, dusted them off, and used them for this card.  The main images are from Stampingon, and I also added an Italian poem script stamp in the background and a tiny Italian postmark.  I adhered it all to a cardbase of white watercolor paper - just loved the texture it lent to the whole thing, plus I was particularly inspired by DT member Sarah's card HERE, where she left a lot of white space surrounding her images. 

This was a fun, quick little card to make - I'm thinking I'll be using the watercolor paper more often.  The student-grade paper pad is relatively inexpensive, and I can get two large cards per sheet.  Maybe for those snowy Christmas cards......  But for now, it's in the high 90s and humid here.... ugh.  Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

A Tag Tuesday Template

This week at Kard Krazy's Tag Tuesday challenge, we are treated to a tempting template by guest hostess, Sarah, from Vintage Figments.  A lovely little dressmaker's mannequin template, along with some gorgeous samples, and there was no way I could resist playing along!

For this little blue tag, I simply used a bunch of bits and pieces - nothing difficult or fancy, just pulled out a bunch of my favorite blue stamps, blue inks (Distress Ink in Chipped Sapphire - love it!) and blue-ish embellies from here, there, and everywhere, LOL!  If you have a specific question about anything you see, please email me and I will try to track down a source.  Hope you have time to play!

Compendium Of Curiosities Challenge #8 - Ink Some Grunge

Got to get out the inks and stain my fingers yesterday, playing along at Linda's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge, which this week is to ink some grungepaper or grungeboard.  Perfect excuse to stop hoarding the stuff! (Why do I do that?  If I were to die tomorrow, my family would just chuck all of my beautiful stash in the garbage bin..... carpe grungeboard!)

Anyway, I decided to get out Tim's "Seasonal" grungeboard set that came out ages ago.  I inked up several components of the set in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord, and Black Soot Distress Inks.  Then I went in with some Distress Stickles in Rock Candy, along with a bit of Black Diamond and Gunmetal for a bit of spooky sparkle.  Since I don't have any of Tim's Halloween stamps (you do feel sorry for me, don't you LOL?), I had to draw in the jack-o-lantern face, and I used an Oxford Impressions spider web stamp.  Also added some tea-dyed cheesecloth for a spidery-webby effect, and some bling for the cat's and owl's eyes for that eerie glowing effect.

 The "Haunted" letters are suspended from an acetate diecut that I made using Tim's "Elegant Flourishes" die - I left the swirls that come out the side, cuz my daughter said it looked like ghost trails, LOL!  I'm working with it.  I do have to figure out a better hangy thingy, though... right now it's just gold floral wire.

Thanks for popping in, hope you have time to play along!

Famous Painters and Paintings at Gingersnap Creations

It's Wednesday, so it's time for another great challenge at Gingersnap Creations.  This time, the inspiration is famous painters or famous paintings.  This was a great excuse for me to continue to play with Oxford Impressions' Soul of the Rose plate, this time using the Flaming June image by Frederic Leighton.  I colored her with Copics (which is so easy with these images... they are so detailed that you barely need any shading at all - I only used two oranges, two browns, and two flesh tones for the lovely lady).  I used some alcohol inks on glossy paper, then ran the panel through the Cuttlebug with Tim's swirly texture fade (lovin' that!).  I added a little coordinating patterned paper, some rust-colored silk ribbon (which I got at Ellen Hutson's store), and a straight pin (which had only a clear crystal top.... I added a few blue beads of my own, too).  Nothing too complicated.

I hope you can play along with us at Gingersnap Creations... check out what the design team and our lovely guest artists have come up with - you are sure to be inspired.  This challenge runs through August 29th, so you've got tons of time to play. :)