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. ;)