Again be Children for a Day

Today's card celebrates the fun of Halloween. Last year I missed all of the fall stamping since I was in the hospital, so I decided to start on Halloween a  little early. My card layout is based on the Mojo Monday tall and skinny sketch challenge. My card base is kraft cardstock. The background design papers come from Tim Holtz's Seasonal Stash. I used a kraft panel to back my image and sentiment.  The Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge was witch-kraft. I decided to use both kraft cardstock and the adorable witch from Artistic Outpost. In fact, all of the stamps used are Artistic Outpost stamps. Artistic Outpost has a monthly challenge. The August challenge is anything goes using Artistic Outpost stamps. At City Crafter the challenge was to create a shaker card. I think the little owl makes a great shaker.

Cold Days and Warm Memories

My card today shows that you can follow Tim Holtz techniques and use Tim Holtz products, stamps, and dies without going the grunge route. Now don't get me wrong; I am a big, big fan of grunge. This card just went along a slightly different direction.
This week the Compendium of Curiosities 3 challenge is stamps and framelits from page 63 of Tim's book Compendium of Curiosities 3. To get all of Tim's ideas you need to check out his wonderful book. This week the challenge is sponsored by the generous Inspiration Emporium.
In the background are three trees from the tree blueprint framelit set. The first and third trees are dimensional. The center is a simple stamp and die cut. Mr. Snowman is from the Snowman Blueprint framelit set and uses all of the individual pieces. Added to this adorable fella are three black buttons to add to his outfit. The ground snow is torn white paper. The sentiment is from Great Impressions. The falling snow and the snow on the trees is Stickles.
Today's Bloggers Challenge worked perfectly with this card. The theme is buttons. No snowman is complete without his buttons. The Sunday challenge at Ink on my Fingers is depth and 3D. Both the trees and the snowman are dimensional thanks to layers and pop dots.
I am also entering my card into the anything goes challenges at  the Tuesday Throwdown challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

Never Too Old

Today was my grandson's first day back at school. He's now a third grader. How time flies! My card today  is for all those students going back to school, no matter how young or old.
I started my card with a panel cut from Graphic 45 paper. The print is tone on tone and light, but it is there representing schoolwork. I then embossed the school paper over the print using distress stains and a Sizzix embossing folder. The children eagerly heading to school (my words) is a stamp from SweetStamps. the sentiment is a Quietfire stamp.
My card is being entered into these challenges: Bloggers Challenge -- back to school; Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge -- back to school; Marks Finest Papers Tutorial Time on Speedy Challenge -- distressed stains pattern background; ePlay Blog Challenge -- embossing

Sunflower Garden

For this card I had a chance to pull out some stamps from Kitchen Sink Stamps. I love how the image is colored by the stamped ink and has so much detail. The background behind the sunflower was done using a stencil and distress inks. The Cheery Lynn frame die adds a festive look to the card especially with the pearls added to the two corners. The sentiment is a stamp from Club Scrap.
My card is being entered into these challenges:  Cheery Lynn Designs -- frame it; Classy Cards 'n Such -- sunflower inspired (available at CCnS are Cheery Lynn frame, distress inks, pearl bling); Word Art Wednesday -- anything goes; Sweet and Sassy -- border stamps or die; MFP Colors -- orange, yellow, and pink; Art With Heart -- anything goes.

Two Together

Those of you who know me know that I love to make ATC's. I don't make them a lot anymore, but when A Vintage Journey challenged us to make an ATC Tim style, I was thrilled. For those who don't know, an ATC (artist trading card) is a piece of art that is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches in size. It can not be sold, only traded or given away.

Enough background... My theme is based on the inspiration photo challenge (left) at City Crafter. The technique I used for my ATC  is based on Tim's August tag of the month. Tissue tape is used to create an area for the stamp image. My image is from an old Tim Holtz stamp cube that I have had since the beginning of time. The background is embossing paste and stencils with distress stains for color. The sentiment is from Tim's alphaparts framed which I grunged up with distress paints.

I am also entering my ATC in these other challenges: Tuesday Throwdown -- furry friends (love that adorable puppy);Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge -- anything goes; and Artistic Stamper -- anything goes.

Birthday Rose

One always has need of birthday cards. This particular card was made with someone special in mind. Hopefully, she won't see it before I give it to her, but it's prettier in real life, so it will be ok. This week the challenge at Bloggers Challenge is birthday cards.
My background is an example of Tim Holtz's Faded Layers technique. I can't describe the process, but you can find Tim's directions in his Compendium of Curiosities book on page 58. This is the current challenge at Compendium of Curiosities 3 which, by the way is being sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique.
The birthday banner is a Cheery Lynn die cut as is the border band. The rose is a Sizzix die. The bee and the letters are Sizzix/Tim Holtz dies. The stencils used are from Ranger (Dina Wakley and Tim Holtz).  The stamped rosebuds are from SweetStamps.
I am also entering my card into these challenges: Cheery Lynn Designs -- fun with letters; City Crafter -- roses; SweetStamps -- in the garden; Sweet n Sassy -- summery with die cut; Marks Finest Papers Colors challenge -- yellow, green, blue.

Dragonfly Birthday

Happy birthday to my beautiful daughter, Kerry. Enjoy your special day!

This is the card I made for Kerry. I used a print red cardstock for the cardbase. The background panel is cut from Kodomo paper. The sentiment is a Club Scrap stamp. (Inside I used a similar style stamp that says "Happiness".) The dragonfly is  the Tim Holtz layered dragonfly. I used some perfect pearls on the wings to add a little shimmer and sparkle. The red gems were added for some bling embellishment. 

I am entering this card into these challenges: SweetStamps -- bling; Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge -- Make it sparkle; MFP Simple Salutations -- oriental paper; Dies R Us -- birthday; Inspiration Journal -- everything goes; Great Inspirations -- birthday bash.

A Boy and His Dog

It's Bloggers Challenge time again and this week the theme is Dog Days of summer. I went with the dog idea and used this adorable Stampsmith stamp of a boy and his dog. The image was colored using distress markers and some colored pencils. My sentiment is part of a Cornish Heritage Farms Stamp. My background is from my Gelli plate. I used various shades of distress paint. Then I used a stencil and stencil paste to add the dots. I kind of thought they looked a little like dog prints. Over the entire background I added distress stain. As a finishing embellishment I wrapped twine around the panel to keep it boyish.
 I am also entering this card into these challenges: Fashionable Stamping -- child's play; and Cornish Heritage Farms -- use three different mediums (paint, stain, embossing paste, markers, colored pencils).

12 Tags of 2014 -- August

A new month means a new Tim Holtz tag for 12 Tags of 2014. As usual I had my doubts about my choice of colors for the tag background, but as always, the colors work. It's almost like magic. There are lots of layers and embellishments that make up this card. The background has tissue tape, lots of embossing paste and stencils, and distress stains. Oh, I can't forget the rusted corners (distress embossing powder. I love how the tissue tape provides a clear place for the focal stamp. The embellishments provide so much eye candy and texture.
I am also entering my tag into these challenges: A Vintage Journey -- just stain it; Artistic Stamper -- anything goes; and Mixed Media Monthly --stencils and modeling paste.

Grandmothers

What do jam, jelly, jars and junk mail have in common? ... the letter J, of course. this card is my answer to the challenge theme at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge -- J is for... At first I thought that the challenge would be a little difficult. Then I couldn't stop thinking of J words. My background is made from die cut junk mail envelopes which I colored using pan pastels. The jars were die cut from  a piece of plastic packaging. The jars, labels and contents are stamps from Our Daily Bread Designs. The sentiment is from Club Scrap.
Hels at Ink on my Fingers challenged us with the theme bits and pieces. Once I started working on this card, I understood the challenge. All of the contents of the card were cut from bit and pieces of paper in my scrap box. I am also entering my card in the Marks Finest Papers Colors challenge -- blue, lime, red.

Holiday Greenery

Here I have another Christmas card to share. This one uses the current Mojo Monday challenge sketch for the layout. My background panel is dry embossed with lots of holly which I highlighted with iced spruce distress ink. The ribbon is gingham from my stash. For the circle panel I used one of my favorite Christmas dies, the wreath from Tim Holtz. The image (a partial) and sentiment are SweetStamps stamps. The bird and branch are colored using distress markers. Below the image panel is an icicle die cut from Cheery Lynn. This card called for lots of bling. The bling used here is Want2Scrap which you can get from Classy Cards 'n Such, as well as the distress ink and markers.
I am entering my card into these challenges: Mojo Monday -- sketch; SweetStamps-- Christmas greenery; Classy Cards 'n Such -- gingham; Ink on my Fingers Sunday Challenge -- Christmas/winter.

Daily Life

Although I like to post  my card for bloggers Challenge early on Friday morning, I'm late but still managed to post on Friday. I have a good excuse for being late; my two daughters took me out for lunch yesterday (just because) and I didn't get a chance to finish my card.
My background was made using a chevron stencil and lipstick pink and faded jeans distress ink. The quote from Quietfire was stamped on woodgrain paper. I used a leafy sticker which a good friend of mine gave me because she knows I love to do papercrafts. I added a twine bow along the side to finish the look. I used a white card base.
I am entering my card into these challenges: Bloggers Challenge -- pink, green, and blue; V's Sweet Ideas -- anything goes; and CAS-ual Fridays -- a tic tac toe challenge. I chose the diagonal -chevrons, white, twine.