RedLead Christmas Ornament Swap

I love making Christmas ornaments, so of course I had to participate in RedLead's Christmas Ornament Swap.  We received two, 2-piece chipboard ornaments to alter.  For the first ornament, I used white paint, modeling paste, a star stencil and glitter to create the base.  The image is from RedLead Christmas Collage Sheet #27, with a background stamped using the O Christmas Tree stamp.  I embellished the ornament with some beads and baubles, a brass snowflake, a rustic snowflake that I painted and glittered, and some vintage trim. (Please excuse these horrible pictures - I had to take them with my phone because my camera was temporarily out of commission.)

For my second ornament I wanted to create a mercury-glass type of effect.  Don't know if I really succeeded but it does sparkle (more than my phone photo can show!).

The images (both in the center and the snowman charm) are from the same collage sheet (#27).  For the mercury glass effect I first used white crackle paint, then a layer of pewter rub-on paint, then clear gloss, into which I sprinkled silver glass glitter while it was still wet.  Here's the back:

Still not a good picture but maybe you can get the idea.  I added some more baubles to the bottom of this one too.  Here's the pair:

Can't wait to receive happy mail in return!

Motif Building with Papertrey Ink

I had a fun time participating in Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #231: Motif Building.  There's a great tutorial on the PTI blog - basically you first choose a centerpiece image, then use a bunch of tiny images repetitively to create one larger image.  It's a great way to give some love to all of those teensy images that are included in your larger stamp sets.  It creates a folk art type of style, which I particularly love for Christmas.

Here are some more pics - I have the details about which sets I used at the bottom of the post.

Stamps used (all Papertrey Ink):

Both wreaths: Wreath for All Seasons

Birds, dotted heart: Feather Finery

Solid hearts, sentiment, circle heart in center of wreath: Love Lives Here

Greenery with bow: Two Feet Deep

Swirly embellishments: Calendar Basics

REDlead Halloween Pocket Tag Art Swap

I'm participating in the RedLead Paperworks Halloween Pocket Tag Art Swap over at REDlead.  Chris and Sharon gave us a pocket tag filled with five tags of various sizes and colors.  I had lots of Raven-themed stamps and such from RedLead, so my theme was a natural..... The tags.....

This one uses this Poe stamp and this skeleton stamp, along with some vintage German text sprayed with Glimmer mists, some messy painting and glitter, and some stenciling with modeling paste.  A black chipboard raven haunts Poes mind.

The object of Poe's grief - Lenore - comes from this collage sheet.  In the background is a Poe Hollowed Hymns stamp and a wooden charm, along with an acetate clock.

The witch who sent the Raven?  Is she a spurned lover?  Or just a master of the otherworld.....  She comes from the same collage sheet as Lenore.  Her hat is from a retired RedLead stamp.  The raven is stenciled, the stars are from UmWow Studio.  In the background are stenciled words and a few hand written stanzas from The Raven.

Oh that pesky Raven!  This is one of my favorite RedLead stamps.... stamped in Archival Black ink on a glimmer-misted background, it needed little else to make it stand out... just a wooden charm... tapping....

One last tiny tag.... using a skull from the same collage sheet, a little sentiment from the Hallowed Hymns stamp, and a spooky owl background from a retired RedLead stamp.  (Spooky how the background of my photo of this tag disappeared.... ????)

Here's the lot...

This was such a fun swap!  Thanks REDlead!

Darkroom Door Neon/Fluoro ATC Swap

My ATCs for Darkroom Door's ATC Swap for August, which is to use Neon/Fluoro colors.  I used the Art de Fleur Vol 2 set for the feature image and tag, and the Roses Photo Stamp for the background.  Lots of the brightest Distress Inks and some Copic markers to define the edges.  Plus a little glittery sparkle for good measure.

RedLead Pocket Letter Swap Details

Back again with some details about my RedLead Seaside Summer Pocket Letter Art Swap.  The letter required three ATCs using RedLead stamps and/or collage images.  I chose to use two collage seashell stamps for two of my ATCs...

For the starfish collage I embossed in white over an alcohol ink background, then glued gold micro beads into the starfish shape. I stamped the image again on vintage text and cut out the starfish definition. The tiny starfish charm was from Alpha Stamps.

I used a similar technique for the seashell collage, then colored the text side with chalks and colored pencils. Added some wire and iridescent beads for accent.

The third ATC uses Stars of the Sea Ticket stamps, stamped on vintage text and colored with Copics (the text did better with the Copics than I had anticipated). The music was from another stamp set (Bird Watch). I also added some "raindrops", cheesecloth, micro beads, and a tiny shell charm.

The remainder of the pockets could be anything, really, but the guidelines suggested die cuts, ephemera, photos, a bit about ourselves, stamped art, etc. I did a little greeting and a short chat about myself inside a bifold ATC:

I used some Darkroom Door montage images and stamped images to fill in the glittery diecut.

I included another collage-style ATC using a free image from the RedLead website.....

And filled the rest of the pockets with goodies.... seam binding in seaside colors wrapped around a misted and stenciled tag, a set of diecut sanddollars and starfish with cut out words and cheesecloth inside a pocket with another collaged tag, some vintage clip art that I downloaded from The Graphics Fairy and resized to ATC size and altered a bit, and finally a vintage "Ocean Pearl" mother-of-pearl button card.  Oh and one more ATC from a while ago...

This swap was so much fun!  I can't wait to see what the others have done. 

RedLead Seaside Summer Pocket Letter Art Swap

I'm participating in the Red Lead Paperworks art swap for July/August, which is Pocket Letters.  This is the first pocket letter I've ever done, and I'm totally hooked!  You use a trading card sleeve and fill it with ATCs, tags, ephemera, crafty supplies, a letter to the recipient... pretty much anything goes.  The theme was seaside summer, which I love!   The three ATCs in the center row all use Red Lead art stamps.  I'll have more pics of the individual components when the sun cooperates for me.

Darkroom Door ATC Swap - Texture Stamps

The theme for the July Darkroom Door ATC swap is to use their Texture Stamps in some way on your ATCs.  I've used the Flourish stamp in my background, embossed in Ranger espresso powder.  I've added a stamped flower from Art De Fleur Vol. 2, along with small images from the Art De Fleur montage collection.  I added some more texture with cheesecloth, cardboard, and rock candy crackle on the montage images.  Lastly I snipped some flower quotes from a variety of old text pages.

Here they are ready to go - all the way to Australia!

Build A Bouquet Challenge

Getting my mojo back and playing along again today with Papertrey Ink's Anniversary Celebration. Today's challenge is to Build A Bouquet using more than one floral stamp set. For this card I've used Year of Flowers: Larkspurs and Botanical Silhouettes (Anniversary Set from 2010). I started with a base of Distress Inks in purples and greens, laying down color before I stamped in order to keep it loose and fluid. I then stamped the larkspurs and added the floral silhouettes in around them, an attempt to subtly suggest a riot of spring flowers going on in the background. I went back in with markers and colored the larkspur to give them more definition and pop, since they are meant to be in the foreground. Also added a bit of collage-feel to the background with Background Basics: Text Style and Fancy Flourishes. The sentiment is from Mega Mixed Messages.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend! Dreaming of spring.....

Papertrey DT Inspiration

Catching up with the first day of Papertrey Ink's anniversary celebration challenges.... this card is for the DT Inspiration challenge and combines the last color recipe and the second sketch:

I started out stamping the "sky" using Background Basics: Text Style in aqua. A strip of washi tape and some Dearest Jane patterned paper ground the houses, which were created using the Love Lives Here stamps and dies. The sentiment is from the same set, die cut with Spellbinders' Labels One die.

Getting those Valentines done.... just might get there in time this year!

Bagged and Tagged

Moving right along with the challenges for this weekend.... this little Valentine's packet is for Papertrey Ink's Bagged and Tagged challenge. I designed a little treat bag (the prototype for about a dozen more to come....) for my daughter to give out cookies to her friends. I started with a pre-printed dotted kraft bag and stamped circle hearts from Love Lives Here. The two tags are cut from Tremendous Tags and Tiny Tags dies - they make a bunch at once so it saves some time! The sentiment is from the Mega Mixed Messages set. A bit of twine and washi tape keeps everything in place. This went really quickly so I'm thinking of passing the task along to my daughter.... along with the baking of the cookies (it's so easy once they get to be teenagers!)

Jumping Back In....

Ok it's been a long time (no small exaggeration), but I'm jumping back into blogging with something a bit clean and simple. I'm playing along with the Papertrey Ink Anniversary challenges, and this card is for the Maile Belles Inspiration Challenge. It uses the 2010 Anniversary set Botanical Silhouettes, as well as Calendar Basics for the sentiment. It was inspired by the technique Maile used for this card:

I was also inspired by the fact that Maile's new series is all about watercolors - so I used a watercolor stamping technique of inking up the flower stamp with a couple different Distress Inks (Seedless Preserves and Worn Lipstick) and misting it with water. I then splattered some of the same inks onto the entire front of the card.

Special thanks to the Farm Girls (you know who you are) for giving me an extra bit of incentive I needed to get back in the stamping saddle again!