Planes and Trains with Gingersnap Creations

The Random Redhead Challenge GC111 this month at Gingersnap Creations is Trains and Planes - perfect for our traditional month of travel!  The DT are continuing along our lines of the Steampunk theme, but you can do anything related to planes or trains - let your imagination, ummm.... soar!  For my piece, I decided to go the railway route and used some fabulous steampunk images from Dezinaworld, along with some retired B&O stamp sets from Cornish Heritage Farms.  The map and ticket are colored with Distress Inks and crumpled and distressed to look old.  The 'gears' are part collage images, part metal embellishment.  The background is also from Dezinaworld (Sew 2 in yellow).

Want a little more incentive? One randomly drawn winner from the qualifying participants for this challenge will become GC's new Home Page Artist for a week AND will win a voucher for use in the Dezinaworld store worth $20.00 US.  Want a little more inspiration?  Check out the fabulous creations by the DT and our visiting artists at Gingersnap Creations.

Bluebird Blog Candy Winner!!!

The day is here.... time to pick a winner!  Thank you all so very much for your comments, your support, and all of the wonderful inspiration I get from your beautiful blogs.  And a special thanks to all of my followers - you're the sweetest group. :)  I wish I could give everyone a little something, but Random.org has picked one lucky winner.....

Number 30..... who is....  Linda R.!!! Congrats Linda!  Please email me your address (there's an email link in my sidebar near the top) and I will get these goodies out to you ASAP. :-)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Christmas in July - Snow Hugs

It's Christmas in July for me today, trying to think cool thoughts!  I've been inspired by this week's Card Patterns Sketch 123, and the various Christmas in July postings around blogland.  I'm also entering this in the Scrap Our Stash July challenge, which is Red, White, and Blue (just ignore that teensy bit of green, pretty please?).

My card uses Rogue Redhead Designs' Snow Hugs plate, along with the front cover of Basic Grey's Blitzen collection.  Yep, I seriously dug into some old stash for this one!  Here's a little pic of what I'm talking about:

I used the tiny product pictures for my paper piecing.  For all of the details, please have a hop on over to the Rogue Redhead Designs blog.  And don't forget about the very first ever Rogue Redhead Designs Rebel Challenge, too.... there's a prize to be had, my friends!!

AND.... don't forget to enter for a chance to win my Bluebird Blog Candy!  Click on the picture in my sidebar to take you to the prize post. :)

A few more pics:

GC110: Gears, Cogs, and Watch Bits

Time for another fun challenge from Gingersnap Creations, and this time we're going steampunk with GC110: Gears, Cogs and Watch Bits!  My collage images come from our sponsor this month, Dezinaworld.  I must say, these collage sheets were a joy to work with - beautiful quality, and totally fun images.  I used the Steampunk 4 collage sheet for my card, and by simply resizing a few of the images, I was able to construct this lovely couple, who are literally made for each other!  I added some cogs and gears (some in strategic places, LOL!!!), and some gear and pocket watch stamped images in the background.  As I was looking through my pages of vintage text for some words I could use, I came across this phrase (it's from Little Women) and decided to use it "as is".  Sort of made me think of two people suddenly realizing that they are perfect for each other, as this odd couple certainly is.  I think this would make a fun and funky anniversary card (or even a wedding card for the truly progressive, hee hee).

If you'd like to play along, simply link up your creation over at Gingersnap Creations by August 7, 2011.  One randomly selected qualifying entry will win a voucher for use in the Dezinaworld store worth $20.00 US, and as always, 10 Ginger Gems will also be named.

Tag Tuesday - Orange and Black

The new Tag Tuesday Challenge over at Blog Challenge Garden is Black and Orange and Not Halloween or Autumn Related!  I knew immediately what I wanted to do, thanks to tons of inspiration from Godelieve's blog, Stamping Matilda.  I adore her work, and she has been doing a dictionary series that is gorgeous.. you can see the posts HERE.  I thought this challenge was perfect for a little CASE of that work.  The butterfly stamp is from Red Lead, colored with Prismacolor pencils.  The little flower stamp is from Oxford Impressions.  That's all for now... I've got a new Gingersnap Creations challenge piece coming tomorrow - hope to see ya then. :)

Rebel Challenge: Bold-Colored Vintage

How about a little color for your Monday? Rogue Redhead Designs has started a new "Rebel Challenge" - and the very first challenge is Bold-Colored Vintage!  From the RRD site:

Vintage images often are used with soft, sweet colors - so not Rogue! Let's use some of that summer heat and go color wild! Use 2 or more of the bold colors [above right] combined with vintage images in your submission.

You do not have to use Rogue Redhead Designs in your creation (but it would be fabulous if you did!); one lucky participant will win a $15.00 US voucher at the Rogue Redhead Designs Etsy store .

So, for my creation.....The first thing I did was print out the little color graphic of the bold colors for the challenge.  Then I went through my stash of papers, laying them down next to the graphic, and decided which ones to use.  I decided to keep the vivid fuchsia mainly in the image, and not the papers, coordinating it only with the little button that highlights the sentiment.  Then it was just a matter of layering, distressing, and assembling.  The main image is from the Relish Reading plate, available at Stamp Diva.  I colored her with Copics, cut her out, and layered her on the blue panel.  I punched and assembled the rest of my patterned papers around her. Because I used all four of these vivid hues, I wanted to make sure that each color occurred in more than one place on the card, to make them more cohesive and look like a part of the color story.  I added a fuchsia button with blue seam binding to coordinate with the image, and a green "photo corner" that I cut from the same paper as the bottom trim.  The paper along the left side actually has more than one of the challenge colors in it, to pull everything together.  I stitched along the left side for a little shabby vintage flavor.  The sentiment is from RRD's Bits and Pieces set.

I hope you can play along - this is a very fun challenge, and a great way to add some new sparkle to your vintage images!

Paint Chips and Fibers Swap

Just a quick little share today.... my mixed media group had a swap, and the criteria were to use paint chips and fibers in some way.  Bookmark tags were the first thing to pop into my mind (I'm always in the middle of a book, and so is my daughter!).  Here are a few.  I've used stamps from a variety of sources, including Rogue Redhead Designs, Tim Holtz, Red Lead, Oxford Impressions, Unity, Serendipity, and Darkroom Door (umm.... yes, I'm a bit addicted to stamps, LOL!).  If you have a question about where to find a specific image, feel free to email me.

Hope everyone has a happy Friday and a great weekend!

Bluebird Blog Candy!

It's time for a big huge THANK YOU!  Thank you for visiting, thank you for commenting, thank you for following.  And most of all, thank you for inspiring!  I wish I had a little candy for everyone.  But for one lucky someone..... there is Bluebird Blog Candy.

What's in it?  Stamps and stuff. 

The stamps:

- Chatterbox "Fabulous" Clear Stamps with lots of butterflies, birds, and sentiments that are great for journaling
- Crafty Individuals "Garden Fairy" wood mounted stamp
- Cornish Heritage Farms "Tree Swallows" cling mounted stamp (retired - but I got an extra 'cuz it's my fave!)
- Scrolls Work cling mounted stamp of an old man cloud, blowing the wind
- Two Studio G clear collage stamp duos, one with birds and one with butterfly/dragonfly
- A few wood-mounted bargain bin stamps - two birds, a birdcage, and two sentiment stamps

The stuff:

- A mini bird cage for altering
- Two pretty journals for altering
- Tim Holtz Idea-ology "Compass" mini mask
- A pretty bunch of seam binding in four luscious shades of blue!

For a chance to win, just leave me a comment on this post.  If you want to, you can share what your favorite "blue" thing is.... bluebirds, bluebells, the ocean, anything!  Please comment by 9:00 PM EST on July 16th, and I'll announce the winner on July 17th.

Less Is More Shades of Blue Challenge

I'm playing along for the first time today over at Less Is More.  The challenge for Week 22:

SHADES of BLUE

You can use a white card base, but they do want to see more than one color of blue, not just one!

I must admit I've been lurking over there for a while - the DT and the folks who participate are extremely talented!!!  I finally just had to take the plunge with this one.

My card uses Rogue Redhead Designs stamps - the "bluebells" are from the Floriculture plate, stamped three times and masked, and colored with Copics.  The background vintage Almanac image is from the Relish Reading plate (from Stamp Diva).  I added some Tim Holtz tissue tape, colored with Copics, to the top and bottom of the image panel to make it look like the image was just haphazardly stuck there.  The background is Glimmer Mists.  Very flat, very mailable, very fun ;).

 

Tomorrow I will finally have my second-ever blog candy.... Bluebird Blog Candy (say that 5 times fast!)... celebrating all of you lovely artists who inspire and encourage me every single day.  Hope all of my US friends have a fabulous and fun July 4th!

A Rogue Redhead at the Play Date Cafe

My post title almost sounds like a summer novella, LOL!  When I saw the new color palette PDCC88 at The Play Date Cafe, I immediately thought of this beautiful image of Blanket flowers from Rogue Redhead Designs' Floriculture plate.  I love the bright summery feel of both the image and the color palette.  The image is colored by scribbling Memento markers directly onto the stamp.  I then went in and added color using both Memento and Copic markers.  I found some gorgeous, bright patterned papers and diecuts in my stash from Crate Paper (Restoration - luv!) and Fancy Pants that were the perfect colors. I added a sentiment from the Bits and Pieces set, paper tape from 7Gypsies, some glittered butterflies (Martha Stewart punch), and a bit of lace trim.

I'd like to say Happy Canada Day to all our northern friends!  I hope everyone has a fabulous summer weekend.  I am seriously trying to get back into the swing of crafting.... sorry I've been away for so long, neglecting my little blog.  Since we got back from the beach I've been doing the spring cleaning that never got done during the proper season, lol!  I'll leave you with a few pictures from our trip.  We were on beautiful Topsail Island of North Carolina, watching the sunrise and the full moonrise, taking long strolls along the tideline, playing with crabs, and watching the dolphins.  It was a glorious time. *sigh*

Sunrise

Moonrise

Kids (with lots of sunscreen on!)

Crabs

Dolphins