Blue Gluebook Pages

I've been gluebooking in the car again, using up some scraps - hence the spring theme, so far from the holiday images I should be using, LOL!  I don't yet have many Christmas scraps accumulated, so I'm still using my leftovers from the summer.  The digital image of the girl on the right is from Lisa's Altered Art; the stamp on the left is from Artistic Outpost.  (Sorry for the unconventional "holder" - I just couldn't get the thing to lie flat.)

I'm hoping to play along with Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas, but it won't be for a few days.... we've got band concerts and Christmas piano recitals to attend to first.  Hope you're finding time for some holiday crafting. :)

Geishas with Gingersnap Creations

It's time for another fun "theme" challenge over at Gingersnap Creations, and this month it's GC97: Geishas.  I must admit, I had *no* Asian-themed stamps, so I got creative with a collage image, fun textured paper, and some doodling.  The beautiful Geisha image is from art-e-zine.co.uk, layered on top of some fabulous corrugated paper from The Paper Temptress (which I thought was reminiscent of the texture of Japanese lanterns).  I decided to "doodle" some tree branches and flowers with markers to give it a little more interest in the background. I also cut some black cardstock strips to mimic a Japanese screen design.  The little flowers are made with a Martha Stewart punch, and again I doodled to make them look more like a type of dogwood.  The centers are microbeads (also Martha Stewart).  The little birdie at the top is my only stamped piece, from Artistic Outpost.  Lastly, I cut (!) into some of my Kioshi paper from Basic Grey. All together it makes a rather spring-like card, I think.

And because I couldn't stop at just one.... I had also purchased a beautiful digital collage sheet from Curious By Design {Digital} on Etsy that had a lovely Geisha in blue.  I had printed her out and just couldn't part with her, so into my Scrappy Gluebook she went, along with some other old scraps of paper (PSX!) and stamped dragonflies from CHF and Impression Obsession.

I hope you'll join us at Gingersnap Creations for our Geisha theme challenge!

More Scrappy Gluebook Pages

Hello friendly, crafty, beautiful bloggers!  I've missed you, missed having the time to marvel over your wonderful and inspiring blogs, and then craft with all of your gorgeous artwork in my head.  Spring break is finally over for the kiddos (a generous 4 weeks this time), and although I love having them around, it will be rather nice to get back to a more normal rhythm.  I will be visiting, I promise!

A quickie little post of one of those carpool line scrappy gluey pages I've been working on.  A bunch of extras left over from *this* project, along with some that have been languishing in the scrap pile for ages.  Images are predominantly from Artistic Outpost and Oxford Impressions, but as always, if you have a specific question, please feel free to email me.  I've enjoyed working with purples, and I've noticed that very few (if any?) of the brand new patterned papers coming out these past few weeks have had any in them.  I suppose we'll just have to make our own, won't we? And use up those scraps, of course.  It's on to laundry for me... have a wonderful afternoon and evening. :)

CR84FN 15 Color Challenge

I have been lurking around a new-to-me challenge for some weeks now, and I had some time to play today so decided to have a go.  The talented Mona Pendleton hosts the CR84FN Color Challenge each week, and this week's colors are so luscious I couldn't resist.  Here is the inspiration photo for CR84FN15: teal, green, and yellow are the soft-as-spring colors.  I had so much fun I made two cards.

The first one uses mainly stamps from Hampton Arts' new line that coordinates with Graphic 45's Once Upon a Springtime paper collection.  HAD TO HAVE THEM!  I limited myself to just three inks and five Copics (two teals, one green, one yellow, and one brown for her hair).  The butterfly is from House of 3's Parisian Anthology, and the swirl is from Impression Obsession.  I did a little shabby sewing to sew on an oval of crepe paper to give the fairy a background, then distressed the edges a bit.  Also added some shabby scraps zigzagged to the bottom of my little garden scene.

Next up, a one layer card - absolutely no cheating here, just a single cardstock card base and stamps were used.

I started to really get in to one layer cards after playing in a Gingersnap Creations Challenge.  Such a fun way to collage a bunch of your favorite images!  This card also uses the Parisian Anthology, Hampton Arts, and Impression Obsession stamps, and adds in a blue frame and sentiment from Artistic Outpost's new sets.  I just want to go decorate my house in these colors now, LOL!

Happy Friday everyone, and have a wonderful weekend.  We have five hockey games in three days (two professional, three amateur) and some volleyball practice thrown in.  I've got to figure out how to carry my stamps and ink and paper with me. ;)

Tag Tuesday Double Tagged

Sheesh! It's been forever.... first I was busy, then I was sick (just a nasty cold, but it lingered and made me extremely fatigued), and by then my mojo was gone.  I still haven't found it, not even a hint of it.  But I had to do *something*, so I inked up some new stamps - Artistic Outpost's Think and Wonder plate - and entered Louise's Tag Tuesday Challenge, which is to put a tag (or tags) on our tag.  Very fun!

This did not turn out at all as I'd planned (and saying that I even had a plan is very generous!).  The background is paint on vintage text, distressed and stamped with a Stampington swirl.  The image and words are from the AO plate.  I colored the girl with pencils and Copics.  The rest is ribbon, rub-ons, pearls.  Not happy with it, but I've got to try to get back in the game somehow!  You can check out some truly gorgeous artwork over at Kard Krazy. :)

Tag Tuesday Winter

Finally, finally getting to post something to this poor neglected blog of mine!  I've been working on a few things that I'll be able to share sometime in the future (some soon, some much later), and just haven't had that precious "extra" time - you know the kind I mean.

Anyway, I'm happy that I got to play along with Louise's latest Tag Tuesday Challenge - Winter.  I used the scene outside my window as my inspiration:  the colors (blue sky, pine needle green, tree trunk brown, a snowy white flurry or two, a sunny twinkle to the landscape), the textures (rough, wrinkled, dried), the sounds (birdsong at my feeder), and of course, the little feathered friend.  I used lots of scraps left over from other projects, too.  The corrugated cardboard was painted white a week ago - I added some Patina Glimmer Mist for sky.  The twinkly, crinkly crepe was my backdrop of flurries, along with a few vellum-embossed white flakes. Vintage music, of course, is my paper version of birdsong.  The birdie is a little something I had lined up for two Tag Tuesday challenges ago, but alas, never got to; he's from a Pottery Barn paper bag, and he was supposed to star in the challenge of using Christmas scraps.  I think he's happy here. ;)  Stamps are from Artistic Outpost, inks from Ranger. 

Ginspirational Labels

So I went into my craft room this morning to clean up, organize, declutter.  I came out with this.  Funny, but the craft room doesn't look much different.  Maybe a tad messier, LOL!

I couldn't help myself when I saw the labels sitting there, waiting to be used in yet another Once in a Blue Moon Ginspiration Challenge over at Gingersnap Creations.  This time it was Sharon Briss's gorgeous challenge piece that inspired me.  She stamped and colored on a sheet of regular old labels, then transferred them all to a card, which she has on her blog *HERE*. Love, love, love.

For my card, I used my new Beyond the Sea set from Artistic Outpost, colored with Distress Inks in Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Old Paper, Antique Linen, and Pumice Stone.  I backed the labels with some sanded Coordinations cardstock.  I added a little vintage sheet music and a little dyed cheesecloth attached with Tim's tiny attacher, all on a kraft base.  This was so fun, so easy, so quick - I had no idea it would take so little time.  One thing that made it easier for me was that in my case, I could cut away a bit of the label backing sheet at the top, stick the tops of the labels down onto the cardstock, then gently and carefully peel away the rest of the backing sheet - no need to line anything up!  Now I just wish I could find more of these labels... I think they came with some sort of scrapbooking kit at one time.  I definitely want to do this technique again!

P.S. Do check out Artistic Outpost's Referral Program if you haven't seen it.... you could win some incredibly gorgeous stamps, just for using the AO stamps you already have.  How sweet is that?

Single Layer Card Ginspiration

Things are back to a normal routine today - DH is back at work, the kids are back at school.  I love the holidays, love having the family around every moment.  But these days are nice too - sort of a sigh of relief after the hustle and bustle.  I have major post-holiday clean-up to do, but it'll get done.  I just had to get in a little craft time to coax my listless mojo a little more out of hiding!

Today I have another card inspired by the Gingers' Ginspirational Challenge.  This challenge was thunk up by Jo Capper-Sandon: to create a single-layer card.  Yep, no patterned papers, doo-dads, ribbons, rhinestones, brads... nuthin'!  You can see Jo's glorious creation HERE, soooo beautiful!

So, I first tapped a background stamp by Stampers Anonymous (Tim's Slight Alterations set) with a few distress inks (tumbled glass, broken china, shabby shutters, and peeled paint), then I spritzed the stamp with pearl Glimmer Mist before stamping it on linen textured cardstock. Next I stamped some favorite images from Artistic Outpost's Birds of a Feather set. It's hard to see, but as a little textural detail, I used one of the floral stamps to clear emboss a little border across the bottom.  Just a little subtle thing to add interest, like the pearl shimmer.  Last I added two stamped "photo corners" so that it looked like it was ripped from a bird watcher's notebook.  That's it.  Totally mailable, LOL!

I'm looking forward to more challenges to get my creative juices flowing.  For this particular challenge, you have until January 25th to try one or try them all - check it out at Gingersnap Creations. 

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!

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!

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 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.

Play Date Cafe Challenge #47

It's time to play over at the Play Date Cafe again.... this time with a delightfully whimsical color combo of true red, leaf green, turquoise, and black/white.

I had actually colored this beautiful image from Artistic Outpost's Bluebird plate some time ago, but the birds were more blue than turquoise.  No problem!  I just pulled out my trusty Copics and went over the blue with a rather bright turquoise (brighter than I would normally have picked), but the combo of the previous blue with the new turquoise ended up making the perfect color for the challenge.

As long as I had my Copics out, I decided to stamp the image a few more times, and used the "Level Up" technique from this month's Technique Junkies newsletter. I raised the flying bird and the turquoise trim up one level, and the rose up two levels.  You might be able to see the effect in this next picture (eeeek, I'm terrible at close-ups!).

The paper is my new fave-of-the-moment, Crate Paper's Restoration line.  Love, love, love the way they've brought bright colors and vintage styles together.  And did you notice, the patterns on the trims are all to scale, so that the ups and downs and scallops all line up perfectly.  A little tip for us obsessive compulsive type A's, LOL!!  I finished it all off with some bright vintage buttons tied up in Martha Stewart and Papertrey baker's twine.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you're looking at a sweet and happy weekend coming up!  We'll be chauffeuring and cheering for ice hockey and volleyball - love it! :)

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. :)

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! :)

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. :)

PDCC #38 with Artistic Outpost

It's been ages since I've had a chance to play in the Play Date Cafe Challenge, but this one was simply too fun to miss!  This week, Play Date Cafe has challenged us to use this gorgeous color inspiration, *and* they are sponsored by one of my very favorite stamp companies, Artistic Outpost.

The images are from two Artistic Outpost sets that work beautifully together - Bluebird and Birds of a Feather.  I got out lots of inks - alcohol, distress, dye, Brilliance - and simply got inky, trying out different techniques and color combos. The green background is alcohol inks on glossy paper, run through one of Tim's new Alterations texture plates. I stamped the egg text in a dark dye ink, then went over the top of it with some distress inks and a little of the light purple Brilliance ink, to give it a shimmer.  The strip with the text and birdies was stamped in Brilliance ink (text) and dye ink (Memento).  Finally, for the main image, I stamped in the dark purple dye ink, then went over it with distress inks.  My fingers are purple and likely to stay that way for a while!

The little music charm is actually one of Tim's typewriter charms with a little punched out piece of vintage sheet music in it (a 1/2 inch hole punch does the trick).  A little twine ties it together.

Hope you get a chance to get inky today!

Gingersnap Creations Art Swap

Good gracious it's been a long time since I've posted!  My kids started school this past Friday (my daughter had her first day of middle school - *gasp*!) and we've been on an endless hunt for the stuff on their class supply lists.  Wouldn't it be great if the schools could give you a little hint as to where to find some of this specialty stuff? Like a zippered D-ring binder that has a six pocket accordion file on one side, with a briefcase-style handle.... huh?  A USB flash drive... (how big?).  Anyway, I digress....

These are my ATCs for Gingersnap Creations' latest art swap, which is ATCs with the theme "Soar".  I used mainly Artistic Outpost and Oxford Impressions stamps, and added some dictionary and thesaurus pages, glimmer mists, distress inks, and some brads and tags here and there.

I've been working on a few things that I can't share just yet, and mourning the closing of Cornish Heritage Farms.  It's so sad to see a company with such quality stamps close its doors, but Liz and Richard Pomeroy (the owners) are on an exciting adventure to a new location, moving the family and farm and switching life up a bit.  I wish them all the best.  They are still taking new stamp orders until July 15th, then they will stop making new stamps and liquidate the stock on hand starting July 16th.  So if there's anything on your wishlist, this is the last chance......

A few pictures from life in our household... here is a picture of the sun setting over Lake Erie, taken on our recent family reunion with my husband's family.

And a picture of our new "outside pets."  They have taken up residence in my bougainvillea that hangs on the balcony off our master bedroom.  These are two of the three baby cardinals that temporarily call our plant their home.  Makes watering the plant devilishly hard, LOL!

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.  I'm determined to get some more crafting in this week!

Lots of Quotes ... at Gingersnap Creations

It's Wednesday, so that means another inspiring and creativity-invoking challenge at Gingersnap Creations!  This week the challenge is to use a Quote on your project (you can click on the photo above to make it bigger, and easier to read the quote).  What a great excuse to get out all those fun phrase stamps.  My quote comes from the Life Scrapblock from Cornish Heritage Farms (you don't realize these little gems are tucked into this stamp at first, but if you start thinking about inking only one phrase, the stamp becomes even more versatile.)  I paired it with a photo of some dudes hanging out at the Paris Exposition.... certainly a marvel of what imagination and creativity were within the great minds of the time. :)  The image is from Artistic Outpost's Paris Exposition plate.  For the background, I got out the ol' box-o-scraps again, and punched a bunch of inchies from patterned paper and cast-off stamped images.  I distressed-inked them all and played with them until I liked the arrangement.

Now, here's a little jewel of a tool for aligning said inchies on a card.... it's a quilting rule, found in any fabric shop or some of the big box crafting-and-fabric stores.  Anything you need to line up... this little tool can make it easier (see below).  Just make sure your card or project is lying perfectly straight along the left and top ruler lines, and you can easily see the one-eighth-inch markings to guide your way.

Hope you can find time to play along with us.... with all of the graduations and weddings going on at this time of year, you can pass along a little wisdom (or perhaps humor!) using your favorite quote on a card or gift.  Have a great and crafty Wednesday!