On Hallowe'en Night...

All sorts of costumed lovelies are parading.... such a fun time of year!  I made a little card using a cute winged lady from Oxford Impressions' Masquerade stamp set.  I stamped her three times - once on cardstock to color, and twice on vellum to cut out two sets of wings for her - the top wings and the bottom, to give a little depth.  Her she is close up:

The background is my first experiment with some National Geographic pages soaked in CitraSolv - Oh. What. Fun!!!  The CitraSolv is a little pricey, but if you look at it in the context of "art supplies" (think how much you might pay for gel medium/distress inks in every color/a paper stash to last a century) it's not so bad, LOL!  Especially since you can clean up with it too, heeeheeeeee!  There are lots of tutorials on the web, and it just comes down to experimenting.  I highly recommend it, especially for some spooky Hallowe'en backgrounds.

Haunted Party House!

I've found a few moments here and there to play with two gorgeous new stamp sets from Oxford Impressions - Masquerade and Dr. Coffin's Apothecary.  I absolutely love Hallowe'en, and I've had this little house from Hobby Lobby for*ev*er!!!  I finally put it to some use.  Here are some close-ups....

I adore this little Victorian bat lady... so cute and so proper for a ghoul!

I did a little "surgery" on Mr. Skelly here.... Made a few snips at his shoulder and at his elbow so that he could take the hand of his lady..... I guess the cat got freaked out by that, LOL!

A fine and festive welcome!  Hope you are having a festive time this fall, too - my favorite time of year!

Rogue Redhead's Rebel Challenge and an Unruly RAQ

Today I have a quick, clean and simple (mostly) card for the new Rogue Redhead Designs Rebel Color Challenge, which this month is Lilac, Navy, and White.  I went with crisp white for the background, embossed with microdots for interest and to coordinate with some of my dotty lilac-hued patterned papers.  I've used Rogue Redhead Designs' banner (bunting) stamp from the Just Sayin' plate and the "Miss You" sentiment (from Relish Reading) stamped in Midnight Blue StazOn.  Done in a flash, and in two of my fave colors!  I hope you can play along... check out the link *here* - there's a very nice prize up for grabs. ;)

Elsewhere in blogland.... Unruly Paper Arts has two Reader Art Quests (RAQs) that are going on through Sept. 25.  Being the gluebook junkie that I am, I couldn't resist RAQ2: Glue Book Pages!  You can click on the link to take you to the challenge.  Here's a few that I did for inspiration - any size, any theme will do!

Link up your artwork, then help vote for your faves!  'Til next time! :)

More Oxford Impressions

And today for something completely different .... a feminine take from the Abraham Lincoln stamp set!  This first card I wanted to do in the style of vintage sheet music covers.  I've collected, oh, maybe a few hundred of these, so it's no surprise that I found my muse in them for this project.  Yes, I'm taking liberties with history, but I just loved the mix of girly images.

Another little lady from the set.  I stamped her and cut her out, then pasted her strategically on some 6x6 Webster's paper, which was the perfect scale.  I also love the patterns that are on the backs of these papers, they mix together so effortlessly.

Hope you all have a wonderful evening!

Oxford Impressions Abraham Lincoln Set

I've finally gotten to do a little stamping, with some wonderful new sets from Oxford Impressions!  Once I started creating with this set, I saw lots of possibilities - not just projects related to the 16th president of the United States.  The set has some wonderful, inspiring quotes from President Lincoln himself.  My first card could be for a new graduate (my original idea for it), but could also be sent for a Support Our Troops mission, where every job counts.  Once I started down that road, I came up with another card with a military feel.....

For this one, I used Distress Ink Markers to ink up the flag, then stamped it onto a piece of plastic first, then rubbed the wet image onto the background cardstock - giving it an ethereal effect. The other flag is stamped normally, using Distress Markers to ink it up.  Hopefully an encouraging message for our troops.

I'll have a few samples from the same set tomorrow, and you won't believe how different they are! ;)  Can you tell I'm having fun?