Romance

I'm enjoying the creating of cards in the spirit of Valentine's Day for the various challenges relating to this holiday. The Kraft Journal Make It Monday challenge has the theme so romantic and Tuesday Throwdown wants us to use hearts. To create this card, I started with a red cardstock base card. I used kraft cardstock for the layering panel. I started by adding white picket fence distress stain to the embossing folder and then embossing the panel. I highlighted the lettering with red distress ink. I then added clear embossing powder over the panel and heat embossed. I die cut the red lacey heart using the Cheery Lynn Celtic Heart die. The flowered background I cut out by tracing around the die and cutting it. I layered the hearts and adhered it to the embossed panel. It was a fairly simple card to make, but I think the outcome is quite effective.

Love Being With You

Armed with several new dies this week, I really enjoyed working on the challenge at the Cheery Lynn Designs Blog which was sweethearts. The large oval frame is from the Japanese Garden Lace Oval die. I adhered the frame over the base card covered with a panel of designer paper from My Mind's Eye. I placed the Celtic heart in the lower corner and adorned it with flowers made from the miniature rose die. To finish the card I used tattered rose distress ink in the corners of the card, used an outlines sticker within the heart, used word boxes for the main sentiment, and added a few crystal butterflies. I think my sweetheart will like this card.

Green, Glorious Green

At Gingersnap Creations the current color challenge is glorious greens. Although the weather in Chicago hasn't been too bad this winter (yet), I'm ready for green and flowers. That said, I enjoyed making this card. It's amazing how many shades of green there are.
I used the sketch challenge at the City Crafter Challenge blog for my card layout. My background layer is actually the Japanese Lace and Flourish die cut from Cheery Lynn and the Cheery Lynn Blog Challenge is dry embossing. The lighter green panel is dry embossed using a Sizzix folder and highlighted with meadow green ink (Adirondack). My image is a digital stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms (a freebie) which I painted using Creative Inspirations Paints. Ah, the promise of spring!

Send in the Clowns

The current Spicy Supply Challenge at Gingersnap Creations is ribbon. This week the challenge at Kraft Journal is tie it up. I guess this was an obvious combination of challenges. I tied up my card with ribbon. My focal image and sentiment are from Artistic Outpost. I used the stacked nesties technique from the Oct/Nov 2011 TJ newsletter. All of the design paper is from My Mind's Eye. I love the colors stacked up against the kraft base card. The ribbons were all dyed with distress stains. I used my binder hole punch to punch the ribbon holes. I think it's fun to have the card fold at the top of the card as a change.

Love Tag

RangerInk Link has reinstated the monthly challenge in the Yahoo group. This month the theme is  to use Stickles (at least three) and our organizational skills. Well, I created a tag for Valentines day. I combined hearts, love, and Cupid for the tag. I cut a tag from Core'dinations paper, embossed it with hearts, and sanded the embossing. I adhered this tag to a manila tag for structure. I distressed the edges using victorian velvet distress ink and an edge distresser. I covered the entire tag with clear Rock Candy distress stickles (my favorite). The letters for the word love (unknown company) were stamped and embossed with gold embossing powder. They were cut out individually and adhered to the side of the tag vertically. A row of bling circles was adhered to the bottom of the tag and then heart gems were attached to the middle of the circles. Cupid and two hearts were die cut from a deep red paper. Cupid was covered with burgundy stickles and adhered with foam dots. The middle heart was covered with crystal ice stickles and the top heart was covered with worn lipstick distress stickles. The tag was finished by adding ribbon and a heart charm with the letters, l-o-v-e, hanging on it. With the embossing, the stickles, and the bling, this tag definitely has pizzazz.
The tag also qualifies for the Tuesday Throwdown challenge of using a charm and the Sweet Stamps challenge which is Love.

Que Sera Sera

This week's Bloggers Challenge is texturize it. I only wish you could feel my card instead of just looking at a scan of it. I liked the sketch challenge at Mojo Monday for my card. It had lots of areas to play with. Before I talk texture, I also went with the theme challenge from Simon Says Stamp and Show which was song title. I used the song Que Sera Sera, from the '50's. Those of you who remember the song will probably have it floating in your brain all day. I know from experience. Now back to the texture. Each panel has a different texture. I'll start with the Eiffel Tower. I used Rock Candy crackle paint on it, so the panel is quite crackly. The bistro panel is layered with Golden bead gel. The Arch de Triomph panel is layered with Golden pearl mica gel. The shop panel is layered with Golden fiber paste. The sentiment panel is dry embossed using a Cuttlebug folder and the letters were highlighted with Viva Decor gold paint.
This card also works for the challenge at Three Muses this week which is Oo la la (French).

How Much

This week the challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs blog is a sketch challenge. My stamps are from the ODBD Mother Theresa set. I stamped the sentiment in Ranger Archival coffee ink and the image in Ranger Adirondack pebble (stamped off once). The die is from Heartfelt Creations/Spellbinders. All paper is from Club Scrap.

Love Your Style

When I saw that the challenge at I Brake for Challenges was fancy folds, I thought of one of my favorite folds from the Technique Junkies Newsletter, the Z-fold card (Aug/Sep 2007). I decided to combine this challenge with that of Creative Belli which is fancy frames and Critter Sketch which is 3 embellishments. My stamps are from the Millinery Misses collection at Rogue Redhead Designs. All of the cardstock is from Club Scrap. My frame is one of the picot circles die cuts from Spellbinders. My embellishments --sticky back pearls around frame, blue flower button, and bling border have been in my stash for a long time waiting for their time to shine.

Feelin' Blue

Feeling blue is the challenge at the Outlines Rubber Stamp Blog this week. I guess I was feeling playful when I created this card. I stamped the Starburst Background stamp three times -- first on navy with Versamark ink embossed with white embossing powder; then on light blue with Versamark ink embossed with white embossing powder; and finally on white with deep blue ink embossed with clear embossing powder. I then cut out the middle squares of each section of the image on the light blue cardstock and cut the starbursts from the white cardstock. I adhered the light blue squares around the edge of the panel with pop dots. Then I adhered the white starbursts to the light blue squares with a pop dot turning them so that the points altered with those on the light blue square. In the center two squares I layered a white panel topped with two light blue squares. The sentiment is Dymo-generated. It was lots of cutting, but IRL the dimension is really cool.

Purse Calendar 2012

Closed

Open

The current challenge at the Stampotique Designers Blog is to make a purse or pocket calendar. I used a matchbook design for my calendar. It folds and closes to protect the calendar. Plus, there was lots of space to stamp. I grunged up the background and stamped my images (all Stampotique). I used one of the wonderful small calendar pads for the calendar. It's a perfect size to carry in a purse. Now at least I'll know what the date is.
By using "I Can See Clearly" as one of my images, my project worked right into the Sunday challenge at Ink on My Fingers which is eyes.

Tickled Pink

I discovered a new challenge for me on the My Mind's Eye blog. The challenge is the sketch on the left and the theme new. My new would be new bling I found and a new challenge. All the cardstock used, including the tag itself, is from My Mind's eye collections. I discovered the paper about a year and a half ago and fell in love with it.
The challenge at Stampsmith this month is tag art. I used Butterfly Kiss as my image. Isn't she adorable surrounded by the gorgeous paper and bling!

Cupid

I just love this little Cupid. My Valentine card was created for two challenges.
At Gingersnap Creations, the Random Redhead Challenge is to use your favorite paper. I used paper from the Tim Holtz collection Vintage Shabby. I love lots of different kinds of paper, but I actually had to buy a second pad of Vintage Shabby because I was afraid that I could run out of the first some day and I just couldn't be without. To make this card I stamped the Valentine Silhouettes words stamp on my paper in ruby (Club Scrap) and then embossed them with the matching texture trade. I cut the cherub out of metallic red paper. I die cut the heart from dark pink paper and then covered the heart with glass bead gel (a blast from the past for me). The corners are outline stickers which I distressed using a white gel pen.
At Sweet Stamps the challenge was red, pink, and white. Since I've been on a Valentine's kick lately, this was an easy challenge for me.

Love is in the Air

This week at Outlines Rubber Stamps blog the challenge is Love is in the air. To create my card, I used a heart stencil over light pink cardstock and sprayed with glimmer mist. I overstamped with Tiptoe, a stamp from Outlines in purple and heat embossed the image. The sentiment is an outlines sticker.

Forever

This week the Bloggers Challenge is elements of time. I stamped this elegant clock with versamark and embossed it with gold ep. Wouldn't it look great on the mantel? To create the background I used two pieces of designer paper from my stash. I stamped the word forever along the side and finished the look with the against-the-edge technique from the Aug/Sep 2011 TJ Newsletter. To finish the inside of the card I stamped a timely sentiment "Every moment in time is a gift and a blessing"  and added a border to match the front of the card. The card base is kraft cardstock.
Other challenges I am entering include Ink on my Fingers Sunday Challenge (gold), Kraft Journal (Stamp It Pretty), and City Crafters (Pretty Inside and Out).

Winter

This week the Cheery Lynn Designs challenge is snowflakes and Rogue Redhead Designs wants to see vellum. Using the Mojo Monday sketch challenge, this is the card I created.
For Rogue Redhead, I used vellum both for the large snowflake and for the snow couple (from Candy Kisses). The snow couple was stamped on the vellum. Then I painted them with Creative Inspirations Paints on the back. It's cool how you can see the colors through the vellum.
As for the Cheery Lynn die cuts, I used two dies, but only part of each. To make the large snowflake, I cut out an Italian flourish doily. I snipped off the outer edge and this is what resulted. The long piece along the center is the edge from the Carnival Border. There are snowflakes embossed on the turquoise panel. They are not as visible on the scan. I can't remember who made the sentiment stamp.

Butterflies on Acrylic

My creation this week this week is a bit out of the ordinary and was kind of an accident. This is an acrylic atc. I was looking through my stash for something totally different and came across a pack of acrylic atc pieces. It was perfect for the challenges at Grungy Monday and Simon Says Stamp and Show. Let me explain.
At Grungy Monday Linda gave us a technique challenge from a 2008 blog posting by Tim Holtz. Here Tim introduced the technique where he colors a fragment using alcohol inks and then stamps on it getting this cool, magical effect. Since this is 2012, I upgraded the technique a little since Tim has made advancements in his line since then. Instead of a fragment, I used the acrylic atc blank. Tim specifically said that it wasn't a good idea to use writing to stamp with because it would come out backwards. Well, with Tim's reflections stamps, that problem is solved. If you look really closely, you will see rows of numbers running at a slant behind the butterflies. Also based on this year's 12 tags, I used his metal sheet as a backing instead of glossy paper. I really like the cool effect this technique had on the atc.
At Simon Says Stamp and Show the challenge is anything but a card.  There is no cardstock at all on this atc. Because of the subject matter on the atc, it also meets the challenge at Fashionable Stamping which is butterflies or bugs.

2012

The current challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs blog is 2012. In honor of the new year it is a recipe challenge. 2 of something; 0 of something; 1 of something; 2 of something. I was excited to make this card. I got to use my new ODBD stamps and die.
My card has
2 ODBD stamps
0 ribbon
1 die cut
2 colors (green card base/die cut cross and the turquoise background [Pan Pastels])

With Love

The challenge at Stampendous Impressions this month is bling, glitter, sparkle. As you know, the scanner wipes out a lot of glitter and sparkle, but my card really does shine. The base card is made from red metallic-like cardstock. The white panel is a very beautiful pearlized cardstock. The image (Stampendous) is stamped in pigment and embossed with the new Deliquesce black embossing powder from Creative Impressions Paints. It's very shiny, shimmery. The hearts are filled with the beautiful Resplendence regal red glitter, also from CI Paints. The sentiment is a gold outlines sticker. This card has glitz written all over it.

Groundhog's Day

This week Simon Says Stamp and Show a red letter day. I thought about this theme for a while. I didn't want to do the obvious days like birthdays or Valentines day. One of the design team used a red envelope, so I decided against the mail box idea. Then I remembered that I had this House Mouse stamp and decided to go with Groundhog's Day. I'm not sure if many would consider it a red letter day, but I'm sure the groundhog might.

The Bird and the Bee

Here is my first Valentine's Day card for this year. This week's Bloggers Challenge is Things With Wings and I used a bird and a bee.

I based my card on this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I did take the liberty of changing the shapes somewhat. For the bird in the larger box I used the splash 'n stick technique from the Aug/Sep 2010 TJ newsletter. The bee is from Stampotique and his background stamp is unknown (old stash). The overall background is done using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and the Cuttlebug highlights technique (Oct/Nov 2008 TJ) The music panel is Tim Holtz tissue paper over red cardstock. All of the dies used are Spellbinders.
I am also entering this card into the Sweet Stamps Blog Challenge which is hearts.

Winter Beauty

Winter is a beautiful season in art. I just hate it outside my windows and waiting to be shoveled off my sidewalks. This week the Outline Rubber Stamp challenge is Winter Wonderland. I stamped my stamp (Outline Rubber Stamp) in white pigment ink and embossed the image using the new Deliquesce white embossing powder from Creative Inspirations paints. The border and snowflake flower stems are made using Cheery Lynn dies. The Cheery Lynn Designs Blog Challenge this week is Beautiful Borders.

With This Kiss

The color challenge at Gingersnap Creations is soft yellows and white. The challenge at I Brake for Challenges is CAS. For my card, I used a piece of white cardstock for the base. Using pan pastels and a rectangular sponge I added two shades of yellow for background. To avoid smearing I sprayed the background with Workable Fixative and then stamped my image (from I Brake for Stamps). The result is a clean and simple, but pretty card.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

 The weather outside is frightful, as the song goes. It's so cold that Frosty came inside and is watching the snow through the window. Now, that's cold.
Both Tuesday Throwdown and Critter Sketch have the challenge Baby It's Cold Outside. The Take a Word challenge is Nature.
My cold and snowy outdoor's scene is a stamp from Heartfelt Creations. Although it doesn't show up really clearly, the scene is highlighted with stickles for snow. The fancy window die is a Heartfelt Creations/Spellbinders die. Of course, Frosty is a Tim Holtz die. The sentiment is Dymo generated.
It's been relatively nice here in Chicago; however, the threat of cold and snow is just days away.

Time of Your Life

I really enjoyed creating this somewhat vintage, somewhat grungy card.
This week the challenge at Grungy Monday is to explore your favorite new technique from the 12 Tags of Christmas 2011. I chose the background technique from tag 1 and the candle treatment from tag 9. (Simon Says Stamp is this week's sponsor.)
The background clocks texture fade fits right in to the Sunday challenge at Ink on my Fingers which is Time of Your Life. The vintage look meets the January challenge at Artistic Stamper which is vintage. The Random Redhead Challenge at Gingersnap Creations is Candelabras. Chandeliers and Candles.

 

Wish for the New Year

The current Stampotique Designers Challenge is Wish for the New Year. My wish for everyone is "Good things, good thoughts" and lots of hugs and kisses. Angelboy holds the wish in his hand. I used Creative Inspirations gold paint on his wings to give him a beautiful shimmer. The background of XOXO's was stamped with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder.
I used teal and kraft as the main colors of my card. Just ask my grandson what my favorite color is and he'll tell you blue/green which is another way of saying teal. I love the pairing of it with the kraft color. Since the challenge at the Kraft Journal this week is favorite colors, this card fits in perfectly.
The Chestnut Theme Challenge at Gingersnap Creations is to use a set or a line of stamps. The sponsor for this challenge is Stampotique, so I thought it was appropriate to showcase my Stampotique stamps.

That's What Friends are For

I guess I was in a bright and cheery mood as I created this card today. It is based on the sketch challenge from Outlines Rubber Stamps. The background flower stamp is from Outlines.
The spicy supply challenge at Gingersnap Creations is wax. The background technique is waxy cuttlebug from the Apr/May 2008 TJ newsletter.
Three Muses challenged us to use song lyrics on our card. My lyrics are on a stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs.

Week 2, CHAPTER 11: Stripes!

"At the two-yard peg she faced round, and said,

'A pawn goes two squares in its first move, you know.

So you'll go VERY quickly through the Third Square--by railway,

I should think--and you'll find yourself in the Fourth Square in no time.

Well, THAT square belongs to Tweedledum and Tweedledee--

the Fifth is mostly water--the Sixth belongs to Humpty Dumpty--

But you make no remark?'
'I--I didn't know I had to make one--just then,' Alice faltered out."
-- Chapter 11, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

Happy new year! When I think of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, I always think stripes and plaids. Lewis Carroll does not mention the patterns they are wearing, but so many illustrations and movies have clad them in mismatched stripes and patterns. Your challenge this month is to use STRIPES.

Jenny Doh, formerly the managing editor of the famous Stampington publications, has started an artist's community website called CRESCENDOh. There is an online shop selling all kinds of things including charming CRESCENDOh clear stamps, including the Alice in Wonderland by Danita set that the design team is showing off. But the heart of the site is all the stories; stories by artists of all kinds, stampers, quilters, paper crafters. Each shares a tale of how art has changed their life. For some it is a joyous outlet, but for many others it has been a way to stay afloat in times of tragedy or grief. As I thought about this challenge, the theme of STRIPES seemed appropriate. The tents of the knights of old were striped, as are circus tents. Many flags are striped and so are rugby shirts, so stripes can symbolize belonging or affiliation. Stripes are birthday wrapping paper and elegant Regency wallpaper. Stripes are the traditional garb of prisoners, and stripes are also how the marks of a whip are described. Stripes can represent so many different things, and the creative process has been many things to the people who have contributed stories to the CRESCENDOh site.

Author Jenny Doh is donating a signed copy of her latest book, Art Saves, which is not only full of eye candy but is also full of the stories of how art changes lives. "Discover not only the HOW but also the WHY, through the stunning projects and unique stories of 20 exciting multi-media artists." Thanks so much to Jenny for contributing such a meaningful prize to start off 2012!

 

Enter your project featuring stripes by Friday, Jan. 27. The winner will be announced the following Sunday. As always, entries that feature Wonderland will have two chances at the random drawing instead of one. You may enter as often as you like but each entry must be on a separate post. All posts must mention and link back to the challenge.

My Inspiration:

My card this week is a never-ending card. Each time you flip open the card you get a new image until you get back to the beginning. Here I start with Alice dreaming under the tree.

When you flip open the card you run into the Cheshire cat up in the tree and the White Rabbit checking his watch.

At the next flip we run into the Red Queen in her rose garden. The painters (TJ Designs) are still finishing up the painting of the white roses while the queen gives her usual "Off with her head" command.

Once we flip again we see images of Alice when she is very tall and very small. Will she figure out that the mushroom will help? And there is Tweedledum and Tweedledee all decked out in their stripes.

When you flip again you end up where you started. All of the image stamps used on this card (except the painters) are from the Alice in Wonderland by Danita set of clear stamps from CRESCENDOh. These images were so much fun to play with. The sentiments are from TJ Designs.

Winter Blues

This week's challenge at Cheery Lynn Designs is Winter Blues. I used the sketch challenge at Mojo Monday for my layout.

My background uses a Tim Holtz technique. I used a distress stain smoosh (picket fence, faded jeans, dusty concord, and weathered wood) and then stamped a snowflake background stamp (Class Act Inc./Chapel Road Artstamps) using picket fence distress stain. I used two Cheery Lynn dies--Border Carnivale and the French Pastry Doily. The vertical ribbon is actually a piece of cardstock that I covered with distress crackle. I love the texture. The sentiment is from Club Scrap. The center snowflake is an oldie from my stash.

Happy Birthday, Tim!

Whew! If I had been any later in posting this card, I would have needed a belated birthday card. However, it's still the 7th of January, so a very happy birthday to you, Tim Holtz.
This week at Grungy Monday our challenge is to help celebrate Tim's birthday. My card combines a little from the 2011 12 Tags (background) and a little from the Compendium of Curiosities (rusty clock) and a lot of Tim Holtz products. Thanks to Tim for all of the wonderful years of shared techniques and all of his products.
My card also satisfies the challenge criteria at Critter Sketch -- celebration and at City Crafters -- Save the date (use either a day, a month, a year,or  a combination of all three somewhere on our project).

Happy New Year

This week's Bloggers Challenge is a color challenge based on this image. My first reaction was that the image and colors reminded me of Oriental Art. I have a book/CD with lots of Oriental backgrounds, so I went to it to see if there was anything close to the colors of the challenge. I narrowed down the choice and thought that this background was a great match for the color challenge. Then I did an Internet search for the characters for "Happy New Year" in ChineseI liked this image since it has the characters and the English and Chinese translation with them. I die cut the sentiment panel and a backing panel from lilac metallic paper. I stamped (Heartfelt Creations) and die cut (HC/Spellbinders) the flower on a light blue metallic paper. After adhering the pieces together to a green card base, I added some hollographic bling. It gives a really shiny bling to the card.

I am also entering this card into these challenges:

Take a Word -- NewYears

Created by Hand -- In with the New/Layered Die Cuts

Tuesday Throwdown -- Shiny New Year

Candy Kisses

Today I pulled out my new Rogue Redhead Designs stamps--Candy Kisses to create this card. Since the Challenge at Rogue Redhead Designs was Get Griddy, I pulled out my past Technique Junkie newsletters for this colored reverse grid technique (August 2006)The stamps in this set are so much fun to use and are so perfect for this time of year. Don't you love the unusual snowflake background! I also used kraft paper background instead of the traditional white. The white snowflake background really shows up against the kraft.
Other challenges I am entering:
Ink on my Fingers Sunday Stamper -- Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp and Show something old (grid technique), something new (stamps)
Kraft Journal -- Anything Goes
Fashionable Stamping -- Anything Goes using something new in stash (stamps)
Creative Belli -- snowflakes

Christmas Continues

I am submitting this card for the ODBD Stamping in Time Challenge (Anything Goes) and the Creative Belli (Christmas) challenges. Technically, this is not a Christmas card, but rather a post-Christmas card. The word Christmas does appear on the card though.
I first heard the words of my sentiment at a concert sung by the Chicago A Cappella a few weeks ago. These words made an impression on me and I knew I wanted to create a card around them. It was the perfect sentiment for the beginning of a new year and my first card of the new year.
Creative Inspirations Paints were used to add color and shimmer to all of the die cuts. I love how these paints make cheap cardstock look like a top brand. The frame is a Cheery Lynn die cut. The pointsettia and leaves are Spellbinders die cuts. The words are computer generated.