Haunted - Gingersnap Creations Creative Connection

Hello friends!  It's Friday and the beginning of a beautiful weekend. :) Today I am participating in a Gingersnap Creations Creative Connection (GCCC).  The idea is to first create a piece of art using a particular theme as inspiration - and this month's theme is "Haunted." Then, once you've posted your piece to your blog, mention my post and the Creative Connection post on Gingersnap Creations.  Whoever is inspired by the post on your blog should similarly link to both your blog and to GCCC.  We all "craft it forward" so to speak, and see how far we can get this connection to go.  Sound like fun?

I heard about this month’s "GCCC" - Haunted - from Aisling of Aisling's Hobby Blog.  Her piece is delightfully spooky and has a theme similar to mine.... that's all I'm sayin', you'll have to go check it out. :)

For my piece, I created a 6x6 stamped collage inspired by my very favorite poem to read around Hallowe'en. All (but one) of the stamps are from Oxford Impressions; the "Raven" ATC stamp with the quotes from the poem is from Red Lead.

For the background I used the glimmered distress technique from Technique Junkies.  I then built the collage with stamps, some directly on the background and some on separate cardstock and cut out.  The "lace" is stamped on vellum and embossed.  I popped up the tombstone and the little raven just a bit for dimension.  This page is part of a 24-page (!!!) Hallowe'en swap I am participating in locally.  Since everyone's tastes and styles are different in the group (very fun, BTW... since I love all kinds of styles and can't settle on just one, LOL!) I decided to do a set of spooky/scary/macabre and a set of vintage shabby chic not-so-dark pages.  So next up is one of the latter: 

The adorable Hallowe'en postcard is from Clearly Vintage, and the batty stamp is from Cat's Life Press.  The background is the same as the one above (glimmered distress), plus I embossed it with a Cuttlebug pumpkin folder.

For both pages, I left about a half-inch area on the side free of embellishments (the right side for the first one, the left side for this one) so that they can be bound in book form - I will paste the two sides together, forming one page.  I am writing this here as a way of cementing this idea in my head so that I don't forget to do it for the next ones, ROFL!!! 

Hope you've got fun plans for the weekend.  We're all about the sport, of course, and hopefully some more fall decorating as well.  Have a beautiful one! 

Easter Damask

Hello and welcome to my first-ever blog post! Today I turned to Jodi's color challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers for inspiration, which was to use Stampin' Up!'s Pretty in Pink, Kiwi Kiss, and Baja Breeze. I was in the mood for Easter, so here's what I came up with:




















I didn't actually have Pretty in Pink, so I had to use Pink Pirouette instead, but I think it keeps the spirit of the challenge! The image is an adorable label stamp from Cat's Life Press - their images just make me smile! I also used some Hero Arts bling, a felt flower that I cut using my Cuttlebug, some Martha Stewart Ribbon, Fiskar's Threading Water border punch, and some Jolee's leaves that I stamped with Kiwi Kiss.

The damask background was made using an altered $1 stamp from Michael's. Have you noticed how NICE these $1 stamps are getting? LOL! Anyway, if you'd like to try it, here' what I did.

First, I removed the rubber from the wooden mount (hubby was kind enough to be my model for the first shot). I then used sharp scissors to cut the design into three separate parts. I did this to make it easier to use two colors, opening up more pattern possibilities.

I stuck the separated rubber images onto a 50-cent acrylic block from JoAnn's; the center medallion went on one side, and the two little scrolly thingies went on the other side of the block, to make switching colors easier. Note that to start out, I aligned the scrollies on the back to be pretty close to where they were in the original design, just on the reverse side of the block. This will make the first placement of this design easier (bear with me, you'll see what I mean in a minute ;). ) There was enough stickiness left on the back of the cling mount so that I didn't have to add anything more to make them stick, and they easily come off. Eventually I may have to use some non-permanent adhesive.

Next, it was time to stamp. I started by stamping the larger center image in Baja Breeze.

I flipped the acrylic block over, and inked up the scrollies with Kiwi Kiss. You can use the position of the center medallion on the reverse side to see how to line up the Kiwi scrolls. After you stamp the first set of scrolls, remove ONE of them, since from now on, you'll only stamp it singly.

Keep on stamping the image in ROUGHLY a straight line (don't stress - imperfections give it more appeal!!) When you get to the second line of images, off-set them, so that the blue center medallion lines up directly underneath the green scrolly.

Just keep going until you fill up as large of an area as you'd like. This technique has endless possibilities. Hopefully, I'll have another example using this same stamp tomorrow!!

Thanks so much for staying with me 'til the end of this very long first post LOL!! I hope you enjoyed it.