Magic Delights

Green, Glorious Green

2012-01-29T13:27:00.002-06:00

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

2012-01-27T22:37:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-27T22:05:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-27T00:05:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-26T22:54:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-25T21:35:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-25T21:16:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-24T14:02:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-22T17:42:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-21T21:04:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-21T20:43:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-20T00:05:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-19T22:00:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-18T21:52:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-17T21:58:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-17T00:05:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-13T20:00:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-13T00:05:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-12T22:13:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-10T18:48:00.001-06:00

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

2012-01-10T18:31:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-09T21:41:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-09T21:11:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-08T18:24:00.000-06:00

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!

2012-01-08T00:15:00.001-06:00

"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

2012-01-07T21:55:00.000-06:00

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!

2012-01-07T20:57:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-06T00:01:00.002-06:00

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

2012-01-04T22:28:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-02T23:53:00.000-06:00

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.

Celebrate in the Round

2011-12-30T19:57:00.001-06:00

My last post was a more traditional New Years card. For this card I thought I'd celebrate with a bit of a grunge style. My card design is based on this week's Mojo Monday challenge of round or square. I decided that it would be fun to go round. This week's Cheery Lynn Design challenge is celebrate with at least one Cheery Lynn die used. The back panel is cut from Core'dinations kraft core using the French Pastry Doily die.

The Grungy Monday challenge (sponsored by Simon Says Stamp) is Get out the tissues -- use Tim Holtz's tissue wrap or tissue tape. To create the background panel, I covered a piece of cardstock with a piece of terminology tissue wrap and die cut the circle. I covered the piece with distress inks, spattered drops of water to have a bleach effect, and then covered it with rock candy crackle paint.

The Created by Hand challenge this week is Out With the Old/Flower Die Cuts. I also used layers of the terminology tissue wrap for my die cut flower. Finally, the Take a Word challenge this week is Print. Isn't that terminology tissue paper great!

Celebrate in Style

2011-12-30T00:05:00.003-06:00

Here's a toast with the bubbly to help bring in the New Year. This week the challenge at Bloggers Challenge is celebration. I used stamps from the Kitchen Sink Collection -- Multi-Step champagne Celebration. I just love the bubbles in the background. The champagne glasses are cut out and popped up. Cheers!
Wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2012!
Other Challenges I am entering:
Ink on my Fingers Sunday Challenge--Do Anything You Wanna Do
City Crafters--Make the Cut.

Ornamental

2011-12-23T00:05:00.002-06:00

This week our challenge at Bloggers Challenge is ornamental. With Christmas just days away and with cookies to bake and presents to wrap and finish, I decided to share these ornaments which I had made a little while ago, but I never shared them here on my blog. The images, digitals from Bugaboo, were printed on acetate, colored with paint, cut in a circle to fit inside the ornaments, rolled around a pencil to fit inside the top opening, and arranged so they fit. The top of the ornament are pointsettias stamped (Heartfelt Creations) and die cut (Spellbinders). I had to cut the centers a bit more to fit over the top of the ornament.
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. Merry Christmas!

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day Twelve

2011-12-21T22:59:00.000-06:00

I did it! I completed all twelve tags from Tim's 12 tags of Christmas. I think his 12th tag is absolutely stunning. I love the little cherub made from the fractured doll. I have to admit, I bought the fractured dolls, but I had no idea what I would do with them. This is such a cute idea. I love the tissue paper. The flower really is pretty, and so simple. The faux German scrap is a great idea too. Now I have a bunch of pieces that need to be used since the one die makes so many strips (and I didn't even make the whole 12 inches).
This year's tags were so great. So many great techniques!

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day Eleven

2011-12-21T22:14:00.000-06:00

Here is tag 11 of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas. I sure didn't make it in twelve days, but I'm nearing the finish line. Kudos to Tim. He got me to dust off my melting pot. Using shrink plastic in UTEE is something I knew about, but never tried. The result is amazing. It looks like glass. I love this Santa. He really is a jolly soul. This was a fun tag after I got over my hesitation to use the melting pot.

Vintage Santa

2011-12-20T21:34:00.000-06:00

This week I created a Christmas tag using the stamps from Artistic Outpost Snowy Woods. I've always been a lover of vintage Santas. All of the techniques used are based on Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas 2011 and all of the stamps used are from Snowy Woods. Santa was stamped in India Ink on watercolor paper and colored with markers. I cut out the face using a circle die and used him as the focal point of my rosette. The sentiment was stamped on a die cut tattered banner which was colored with old paper distress ink and edged with vintage photo. The background snowflakes were stamped with broken China distress ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. The tag was then covered with iced spruce distress ink and embossed again with clear embossing powder. The greenery was die cut using Core'dinations paper. The bling in the corner was a gift to me.
I am entering my tag into several challenges: Simon Says Stamp and Show -- Tim themed tag; Critter Sketch -- Let It Snow; and Created by Hand - Christmas/Red and Green.

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day Ten

2011-12-19T22:39:00.000-06:00

This is the tag from Day 10 of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas. I love the idea of image transfers and the metal behind is a great idea. I'm afraid my transfers aren't as sharp as they should be. I need a little more practice and I didn't have the right foil tape. I do love the total look of this tag, especially the tattered banner with the sentiment, the music background, and the embossed greenery..

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day Nine

2011-12-19T22:32:00.000-06:00

Well, I've still got a few tags to finish, but I'm well on my way. This is my tag from Day 9 of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas. I'm in love with this one. I love the embossed background and the candle is awesome. Using the glossy accents for texture and depth is such a fantastic idea.

Vintage Santa

2011-12-19T22:10:00.001-06:00

I can't let the Christmas season pass without using a Santa stamp from one of my favorite Christmas stamp sets -- Snowy Woods from Artistic Outpost.
I just love the look of the vintage Santas. On this card I stamped my image in coffee on Kraft cardstock. Using a sea sponge, I sponged winter white Creative Inspirations paint around the snowy areas of the card. Then I sponged tan over the card to get a vintage look. I stamped Santa a second time, cut him out, painted him with fairy dust, and attached him with pop dots over the original Santa.
I layered the image on a black panel. The background panel was created from glassine paper which I crumpled, painted with turquoise CI paint, and highlighted with broken china distress ink. Everything was layerd onto a turquoise card base. The result is a very shimmery, vintage Santa card.
I am entering the following challenges: Ink on My Fingers Sunday Challenge -- Santa Claus, Take a Word -- Sepia, and I Brake for Challenges --vintage.

Book It

2011-12-19T21:54:00.000-06:00

If you know me, you know how I love to make books. So when City Crafters challenged us to make or alter a book, I couldn't resist. I created this journal using bookboard and Club Scrap paper and stamps for the covers. There are 9 handsewn signatures bound together using the pleated spine technique.

Follow the Star

2011-12-18T17:08:00.000-06:00

The theme this week at Created by Hand is Light/Star Die Cuts. The idea of the star immediately brought to mind the journey of the Three Wise Men. The wise men stamp is from the Tim Holtz collection. I stamped the image with Versamark on some gorgeous cardstock from Club Scrap and embossed it with black embossing powder. The star was cut from an older Spellbinders die (one of the first I ever purchased) using an antique gold glitter paper. It actually shows up and glitters much more in real life. The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

A Christmas Gift--Creative Inspirations Blog Hop

2011-12-16T03:00:00.012-06:00

Welcome to the Creative Inspirations Paints Holiday Blog Hop! If you came from the Creative Inspirations Paints blog, you are in the right place. If you just started on my blog, you might want to start at the beginning of the hop at Creative Inspirations Paints blog. You don't want want to miss out on all the wonderful inspiration!
As you visit each blog, be sure to collect all of the letters from each blog for your chance at winning the blog candy prize. We are giving away 3 CI paints, 3 glitters, and 3 embossing powders to be chosen by the winner. You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday to comment. The winner will be chosen Sunday evening.

My letter is S.

Your next stop is Carla's blog.

In case there is a glitch along the way, here is a list of all of the stops in the blog hop.

Creative Inspirations Paints blog

Barbara (you are here)

Creative Inspirations Paints blog

My project today is a gift card holder box. The design of the box is from the Technique Junkies new 3D and Fun Folds CD. These pictures show the four sides of the box. Each side I decorated with a die cut which I cut from watercolor paper and painted with Creative Inspirations Paints. The paints are so vibrant and shimmery. They really make a festive looking box.

Here are views of the inside and top.

I am also entering this project in these challenges: Bloggers Challenge -- Tie it up; Tuesday Throwdown --For someone special (It'll be a Christmas present for my dd); and Three Muses -- 'Tis the Season.

Nutcracker Ballet

2011-12-13T22:00:00.000-06:00

Christmas and the Nutcracker Ballet go hand in hand. The Stampsmith challenge is shimmer, sparkle and shine. Christmas time is so much sparkle and shine, so I created a Christmas card. I thought that the ballerina from Stampsmith was a perfect stamp to use. The Christmas trees across the top are shiny gold and the background paper is all sparkly striped.
The Creative Belli challenge is winter and Christmas. My Christmas tree border has been in my stash for several years. Somehow at Christmas the roll usually disappears and becomes visible during the summer. This time I could actually find it at the right time.
Hels, at Ink on My Fingers Sunday Challenge, gave us the theme of Christmas. I think my card fits nicely.

A Little Late, but in the Mix

2011-12-13T21:42:00.001-06:00

I almost messed up my record of not having missed a Bloggers Challenge since I started playing about 2 years ago. I'm late, but I did make it. The current challenge is Frosty and Friends. I think I may have waited too long to post since Frosty seems to have melted. All of the stamps except the hat/birds are from Kitchen Sink Stamps. The hat and birds are from Stampendous. As soon as I saw the hat stamp I had to have it. It reminded me of the Mad Hatter (and you know I'm an Alice in Wonderland addict).

CHAPTER 10: A Lewis Christmas Carroll to All! Week 2

2011-12-11T00:15:00.000-06:00

(Warning--very long post, but hopefully worth your time)Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Altered Alice! This month the design team brings you their holiday wishes, and we invite you to send your holiday greetings to The Altered Alice. You have until Friday, Dec. 23 to enter. The winner post will either be a little early or late, as the last Sunday of the month falls on Christmas day!

Our prize this month is a $40.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops, the premier online retailer for crafters of all kinds. From Accuquilt to Zva Creative, adhesives to vinyl and everything in between, Custom Crops offers a huge selection of the products you've been looking for at competive prices with fast, friendly customer service. To celebrate the season, we bring you The Lewis Carroll Memorial Window at Daniell Chapel in England. Notice the left panel where Lewis Carroll and Alice kneel to pay homage to the newly born Christ in this wonderful Nativity scene!

The window was designed by the stained glass artist Geoffrey Webb, a must-see for anyone that loves Wonderland. A wonderful Christmas poem by Lewis Carroll is shown in the center three bottom panels, which include characters from Wonderland - the White Rabbit, Dodo, the Caterpillar, Mad Hatter, and more! Our own design team member Sue Roddis visited this chapel and gave us permission to show her close-up photos here,

We look forward to seeing your holiday greetings, so send us a Christmas Card! If it features Wonderland, you will have two chances at the randomly awarded prize instead of one. Multiple entries are fine, but each must be on a separate post.

Now for my inspiration:

I thought that I would help to celebrate the holidays Alice style with ornaments for the tree. I decorated each of four ornaments front and back with images from Alice in Wonderland. I stamped each image with archival ink and set them with Workable Fixativ. I painted each of the images using Creative Inspirations Paints which gives the image a nice shimmer. Finally, I used my gold dabber (Adirondack) along the sides to give the antiqued look. Happy Holidays to all.
Stamp credits: Stocking left - TJ Designs right - Stamp Attack; Diamonds both - Artistic Outpost; Snowmen both TJ Designs; Stars both - Oxford Impressions.

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day Eight

2011-12-08T21:25:00.000-06:00

Tag 8 from Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas was a bit unusual, but a lot of fun. It's a steampunk Christmas tag. There's nothing like a gear Christmas wreath to bring out the holiday cheer. Even the steampunk guys got into the spirit with holly on their hats. Yep, Tim does have a very creative mind.

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day Seven

2011-12-07T22:04:00.000-06:00

Tag seven of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas is beautiful and elegant. The glassine holly leaves really look fabulous and the stamps from a joyful song stamp set are so beautiful. The background technique with the ghost stamping is a great one to remember.

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day Six

2011-12-07T21:58:00.000-06:00

Finally getting a chance to load my Tag 6 from yesterday's Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas. The technique was painting on embossed metal and distressing.. I had to make a few alterations. I didn't have the texture fade and for the most part my dabbers don't work. I wanted to stick to Ranger products, so I used liquid pearls painted on the areas. At first I thought that I had made a big mistake and would have to find another paint. However, after sanding, distress inking and embossing, the tag looked pretty cool. Oh, by the way, Tim's punch was amazing. It punched a hole in the metal wreath like it was paper.

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day Five

2011-12-05T23:12:00.001-06:00

Today's Tim Tag put together alcohol inks and his holiday reflections stamps. It's a cool technique, but I need to practice it a little more. IRL you can read the words somewhat. I think I was afraid to rub too much or my ink wasn't inky enough. Well, practice makes perfect. Using the branches from the regal crest dies was great for creating the wreath. Again I'm entering my tag on the Inspiration Emporium challenge blog.

Non-traditional Christmas Card

2011-12-04T17:41:00.000-06:00

Purple and teal are great Christmas colors, don't you think? The current challenge on the Stampotique Designers Blog is to create a non-traditional Christmas project. We couldn't use red or green. My colors came about because I received a package taped with the snowflake packing tap. I just had to use it somewhere. I just coordinated my colors with the tape. No red or green!

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day Four

2011-12-04T17:33:00.000-06:00

Day Four of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas and I'm still keeping on target even with a football game, a babysitting stint, and lots of drying time. I love this tag. It was fun with distress stains and Rock Candy Crackle. I love texture and dimension and this tag has it all. It was such a cool idea to fill the die cut 25 with glossy accents against the background paper. What a great effect. Can't wait to see tomorrow's project!

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day Three

2011-12-03T21:04:00.000-06:00

Today's tag from Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas was one (or should I say two) full of inspiration. He used one of his older techniques where you make your own stamp pad colored to fit the stamp. I don't know why I didn't think of this technique when I saw this stamp. It's the perfect technique. What an easy way to color the Season's Silhouettes Christmas stamp with all of the various greetings. I haven't started my Christmas cards yet, but I think I know what I am going to do. I've got the stamp and ink pad ready to go. Add the heirloom gold Perfect Pearl mist and stamp on Kraft paper; it has the look of vintage, with a minimum of effort. The greenery from the festive greenery die are a great added touch. I love Tim's technique of using alcohol ink to color the bling. I didn't do that on this tag since I had the perfect red gems from the jeweled inspirations collection at Creative Inspirations Paints. I know I will do the alcohol ink on bling in the future. The added bonus from the Day 3 tag is the second tag.

Stars

2011-12-03T18:12:00.000-06:00

No I wasn't drunk when I took this picture. I had to use my camera because the star is actually dimensional. Have I mentioned that using my camera to take photos of my cards is not my strong point. Actually the card looks good in real life.
When I saw that the theme of the challenges at Simon Says Stamp and Show and Ink on my Fingers Sunday Challenge was stars, I knew I wanted to try and use this Sizzix 10 point star die. I had purchased it on sale a while back because I thought it was a cool die. I think I know why it was on sale now. It was a bit tedious to put together. I do like the end result though. The background was dry embossed using a Cuttlebut folder and highlighted with Snow Cap ink.

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day Two

2011-12-02T22:40:00.000-06:00

As Tim is finalizing his Day 3, I finally finished the Day 2 tag. I did have a few interuptions, but I still finished on day 2. I love today's tag. It uses one of my favor TH dies. I just love the deer. I did have to make a few alterations today. For my tag background I did not have the seasonal kraft resist. I do have the original kraft resist, so I chose a portion of the world sheet. I thought that the rays reminded me of an ornament. Anyway, it's as close to the seasonal as I could get. My muse token isn't seasonal, but I thought that the word "significant" works. The deer is wearing tinsel and a jingle bell. After a few hours sleep, I'll be ready for day 3.
Again I'll be linking up with Tim's blog, Inspiration Emporium, and All Thing Tim.

Ornaments, No Cards

2011-12-02T00:05:00.002-06:00

This week Blogger's Challenge is Anything but a Card. I've been on an ornament making kick for the past week, so I decided to make a few more for this challenge and for the Outlines Rubber Stamp Monday Challenge which is Hang it up.

The first ornament was a frame I found at Hobby Lobby, For the center I stamped a partial image from an Outlines Rubber Stamp onto a piece of the music Tim Holtz tissue wrap. I adhered the tissue to a piece of cardstock. The metal sentiment come from my stash.

The second ornament I actually made several years ago using a glass ornament, LuminArte Polished Pigments, and the LuminArte solution. The ornament has sat in its box since then. When I looked at it yesterday, I thought that it needed some image stamped on it. The little deer is from Artistic Outpost's Frosty and Friends. I think that the image livens up the ornament.

The third ornament is a simple bird die cut which I dry embossed and added the branch. I've been wanting to try out the die; it makes a great ornament.

Now, as soon as my girls set up the tree, I'll have somewhere to hand these.

Christmas Wishes

2011-12-01T22:33:00.000-06:00

This card is an example of a Double Twisted Easel card (a technique from the new TJ 3D and FUN FOLD CD) Technique Junkies has been blog hopping with different vendors all week. This is a technique they challenged us to try.
Several of my favorite challenge sites have some sort of Christmas theme in their challenges. Kraft Journal challenges us to create a Christmas card (the base card is Kraft). Tuesday Throwdown is looking for a masculine holiday card. City Crafter says Santa is Coming and wants to see Santa. The Artistic Stamper's December challenge is Christmas.
All of my stamped images and sentiment are from Artistic Outpost's Frosty and Friends. I love these stamps. They are so cute without being cutesie. The Design Paper on the card base is from My Mind's Eye Christmas Lost and Found -- love that bling. The center is made from grungeboard die cut into holly leaves and colored using Pan Pastels.
I love that the card makes a great holiday decoration, but that it also folds down flat for mailing,

12 Tags of Christmas -- Day One

2011-12-01T22:00:00.002-06:00

Yes, we know Christmas is just around the corner. Tim Holtz has started the season with his 12 Tags of Christmas. Today is day 1.
My tag follows Tim's fairly closely. I look at this experience as being in a class taught by Tim. If I can follow what he does closely, I then can do the techniques on other projects myself. I have to thank my friend Jan for the glittery Noel. She had sent it to me as a gift when I received an order from her. I decided that I didn't need to make another Noel when I had a beautiful one all ready for me to use. I was happy that Tim started with the pinecones. I love that die. Now we're just hours away from the next tag.
I'm entering my tag in the Grungy Monday challenge which is winter holiday. I'm also playing along with All Things Tim (Yahoo Group) and Inspiration Emporium.

Candy Jar

2011-11-27T17:01:00.000-06:00

This week our challenge at Grungy Monday was to create something in the style of Tim's Piece for the Ranger Ink Great Pumpkin Challenge. We didn't have to decorate a pumpkin, but this jar I had for holding snacks in my studio just cried out for some sort of decorating. For the jar I used the metal tape, an alphabet embossing folder and stream and lettuce alcohol ink. The cover is plastic, so I used alcohol ink directly on it and added the doily, metallic doily, and metal flower. I didn't have to color the flower and leaves since I had metal in the right colors. I added a bow as a finishing touch. Here are a couple of other views of my jar.

Tickets to the Circus

2011-11-26T20:46:00.000-06:00

Now that the flurry of Thanksgiving cooking and entertaining is over, I was able to get back into my studio for a little while today. Today's card covers several challenges.
This week's sketch challenge at Mojo Monday worked so well with the challenge Simon Says Stamp and Show tickets. In Chicago it's time for the circus. Right after Thanksgiving Ringling Brothers comes to town. So it's appropriate that I use a circus motif for my ticket card. All of the stamped images (full and partial) and word (partial) are from the Artistic Outpost stamp sheets Vintage Circus and Send in the Clowns.
The challenge at Three Muses is That's Entertainment. I don't know about you, but I think that the circus is great entertainment.

Don't forget...From now through November 30th, you'll get rewarded when you shop at Artistic Outpost! For every $25 you spend, Artistic Outpost will send you a special gift code for $5 (GC must be used by March of 2012). Better yet! These gift codes stack! If you spend $50 you will get a $10 certificate, spend $100 get a $20 certificate! Remember, in the US you get free shipping when your order totals $50 ($250 internationally).

Color My World

2011-11-25T10:12:00.000-06:00

It may be Black Friday today, but Bloggers Challenge is one of color. We are challenged to use our favorite colors. I love trying all kinds of color combinations and my favorites often depend on my mood or the season. However, I do know that I tend to lean towards the color teal and love it combined with green. Once that was decided, I needed a great image. Since I spent the last two days preparing for and celebrating Thanksgiving, I got a little behind. I knew I had to do something somewhat quick. This beautiful stamp from Artistic Outpost Sleigh Ride was the answer. The green background paper was just waiting for a great stamp, so I was set. The paper has a texture like canvas, so it was a little tricky to stamp on. I used Versamark to stamp and the beautiful Carnival embossing powder from PK Glitz. The sentiment is from Club Scrap. To finish off the image panel I used Viva Decor Iced White to create snow on the tree. By the way I learned that you can help dry Viva Decor paint with a heat tool. I was careful, but it worked. I could scan my card without leaving paint spots on the scanner.
Hope you enjoy looking at what the others have done. We'd love to have you join us. Just link your entry below.

Sale at Artistic Outpost

2011-11-23T13:05:00.001-06:00

It's time for a sale at Artistic Outpost.

For every $25 you spend, we'll send you a special gift code for $5 (GC must be used by March of 2012).
Better yet! These gift codes stack! If you spend $50 you will get a $10 certificate, spend $100 get a $15 certificate! Remember, in the US you get free shipping when your order totals $50 ($250 internationally).
This sale is good through November 30.

**Gift Codes will be emailed to you in December.
***Please note if you order more than 6 sheets of EZMount cling foam, free shipping will not apply. These items are bulkier and require extra shipping costs.

Harvest

2011-11-22T10:00:00.001-06:00

This month it's all about the farm at Gingersnap Creations. The chestnut theme challenge is farm fresh. At this time of year, the apples are fresh and scrumptious. It's fun to go to the farm and pick your own basket of apples. That's what my card represents. The hay is baled and the apples are picked.
I used the stacked nesties technique from the current TJ newsletter for my card design. the image stamps and sentiment are from Kitchen Sink Stamps "Harvest". The background panel is wood paper. I thought it would give a rustic look to the card.

Color recipes: (All inks are Adirondack unless noted.)
Apples -- 1 salmon, 1 watermelon, 3 Lady Bug (Memento), 4 Crimson
Basket -- 1 sandal, 2 caramel, 3 ginger, 4 espresso
Hay -- 1 sandal, 2 butterscotch, 3 ginger

Designer Paper

2011-11-21T19:44:00.000-06:00

Sharon's challenge at Rogue Redhead Designs is to use only one piece of designer paper on our cards. I used a piece from My Mind's Eye, Lost & Found Two and the focal panel on my card. The sentiment is from RRD Floriculture. I stamped and embossed it directly on the DP. On the right I stamped the flowers (also from Floriculture). I first stamped off and then stamped them directly on the DP. I think the flowers and sentiment look beautiful stamped directly on the panel.

White Christmas

2011-11-21T19:24:00.000-06:00

Paper piercing, Frosty the Snowman, and White Christmas are the themes which led to my card.
At Creative Belli blog we were challenged to do some paper piercing. One of the underlying challenges at Creative Belli is for us to use our old and forgotton embellishments. Well, my whole paper piercing comes from a time gone by. I have templates and piercing tools from way back when. Once I dusted them off I had a lot of fun. Behind the snowman is a vellum panel. I used a frame template to pierce my paper.
The Fashionable Stamping challenge is white Christmas. Other than a few black items, everything on my card is done in white. The snowman was colored with white and black Pan Pastels. Noel was cut using a beautiful white on white paper. (hard to see on the scan, but pretty IRL)
Hels' Sunday Challenge at Ink on my Fingers had the challenge of snowmen. I used the Tim Holtz snowman die and grungepaper to cut out the snowman. He was colored using Pan Pastels and embellished with a few little buttons, a bow tie (from a recent holiday), and a little bit of well placed marker ink.
The base card is made from some white with black Club Scrap paper.

Thanksgiving Greetings

2011-11-21T12:11:00.000-06:00

I had to create a card using this adorable vintage chef. I stamped her on white cardstock and then used the vintage art technique from the Jun/Jul 2011 Technique Junkies newsletter to create the vintage coloring. The background is collaged Circles from the Aug/Sep 2011 newsletter. The lace and the flourish and pearls help to add to the vintage feeling.
The Tuesday Throwdown challenge this week is lots of circles. Since the entire background of this card is made up of circles punched from different design paper, I am entering it in the challenge.

Birthday Sweets

2011-11-19T22:03:00.000-06:00

When I saw that the challenge at Kraft Journal was sweets and baker's twine, I thought I was in trouble. I'm not a cutesie-type person and I didn't think that I had any stamps that I could use. Then I remembered this somewhat grunge cupcake from Club Scrap. I also don't have any baker's twine. But I had planned ahead for that. Of course, I couldn't decide what color would be the best baker's twine to own...there are too many colors. So I made my own. I bought some thicker ply crochet thread, cut a piece long enough for my project, wrapped it around an old medicine container, and with my Copic pen, colored in the stripes. Once I had my baker's twine, I used it to make a Spirelli die cut panel for behind the cupcake. A cuttlebug highlights panel supplies the birthday greeting. Of course, the card base is Kraft cardstock.

Moonstruck

2011-11-19T21:45:00.000-06:00

This week the challenge at Take a Word is Moonstruck. When I saw the challenge I immediately thought of my Moonbather stamp from Stampington. I inked her in cobalt blue archival ink and then stamped a slightly misted reflections music stamp over the inked stamp. This is the result. Because the emphasis is on the moon I stamped and cut out the moon in yellow and adhered it to the image.

For the Boys

2011-11-18T00:05:00.003-06:00

This week the theme for the Bloggers Challenge is "For the Boys". My card is intended for a big boy. It's a train collage stamp from Club Scrap. I stamped the image in smoke grey Versafine ink. Then I tore around the image and added stormy sky distress ink around the edges. The sentiment is an outline sticker. I punched the corners of the navy background panel and added three screw brads at the bottom. The base card is a dark grey.
Welcome to another week of Bloggers Challenge. Enjoy the submissions of the other players. If you want to play along, just add your link below.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-17T21:40:00.000-06:00

The challenge at Outlines Rubber Stamps this week is Thanksgiving. Since the challenge requires Outlines stamps, I had to be a little creative this week. I don't have any Thanksgiving stamps from Outlines. So I die cut my Tim Holtz pumpkin and used my new Outlines background flower stamp (Tiptoe) to decorate it. I added the sentiment onto a tag. The background panel is dry embossed with leaves and berries. Everything is adhered to the card base which is from Tim Holtz's Shabby Chic paper stack. I think the result is very festive and worthy to be included among the Thanksgiving decor.

Silent night

2011-11-17T21:24:00.000-06:00

When Hels (Ink on My Fingers Sunday Challenge) talked about the Trail of the Lonesome Pine as the header in her challenge post, this tree die from Tim Holtz immediately came to mind. The challenge is actually pine colors and/or pine trees/branches.
To create my card I cut my pine tree from olive cardstock (same as the base card. On a white panel I masked the bottom with a torn paper and stamped the stars background (Stampland) with Versamark and embossed with black embossing powder. Over the white bottom I used Rock Candy distress stickles to give the appearance of glittery snow. The words are from Authentique Paper. The tree was adhered and a rhinestone star was added at the top.

French Flight Takes Off at Artistic Outpost

2011-11-16T00:01:00.003-06:00

French Flight is the newest addition to Artistic Outpost's catalogue of unique vintage inspired stamp collections.

In the late 1700's , two French brothers, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier launched the first manned ballon from the from the center of Paris and flew for a period of 20 minutes. In 1793, Jean Pierre Blanchard became the first to fly a hot air balloon in North America, yet another French adventurer!

This stamp collection pay homage to these adventurers. Fun, quirky, with a little bit of steampunk thrown in for good measure, French Flight is pure creative delight.

Collection available in both unmounted rubber sheets or pre-mounted on EZMount cling foam and hand trimmed on a clear cling storage card!

For my card I used the mono-masking technique (TJ Feb/Mar 2009). First I stamped the "l'homme aile" stamp in the center and masked it. In two of the opposite corners I stamped the script stamp several times. In the other two opposite corners I stamped the air machines. This is such a fun set of stamps.
For more inspiration check out the wonderful artwork of the other design team members.

* Gerrie Johnnic * Lisa Somerville * Judy Hayes * Lynn Stevens * Stephanie Severin *

Suzanne Czosek * Louise Granlund *

Ophelia

2011-11-15T21:31:00.000-06:00

I used the challenge sketch at Mojo Monday for the basic design of my card. This week Simon Says Stamp and Show some women. Ophelia, from Stampsmith, is the woman I chose to use, and the whole card is rather feminine. Created by Hand wants to see leaves/die cuts. Stampsmith wants a card with ribbon and lace. The background is a lace diecut from Spellbinders/Heartfelt Creations and the flower is made with ribbon.

It's funny how the color pink scans. All of the colors (except the leaves) are pinks and mauves. The lace scanned purple, but it really is a deep pink.

Christmas Tim Holtz Style

2011-11-15T21:09:00.000-06:00

This week's Grungy Monday challenge is Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas, 2007, Day 6. I went with creating a card instead of a tag. I'm going to be needing Christmas cards if I don't get started. First I will say that the card look much better in person. Because of the pinecone I had to use my camera which is not my strong point and the card is very shimmery and would not photograph well.
Anyway, I made my distress mist with bundled sage and a tad of broken china. I could have used the perfect pearl mists, but I wanted a richer color so I used the distress reinkers. Instead of a tag I used the Christmas ornament die cut. I made my own masks by cutting out the evergreen bough with the pinecone/evergreen die twice. I added the pinecone as embellishment on the ornament. The background, a shimmery vellum, was embossed with the Christmas words texture fade.

A Study in Browns

2011-11-14T22:44:00.000-06:00

The current Stampotique Designers Challenge is a sketch challenge which was

designed by Lisa Somerville. I love sketch challenges and they can usually be combined with other challenges. The challenge at Critter Sketch is monochrome. With this card I combined the sketch with the shades of brown. My stamp is from Stampotique. I used the out of the nestie (Spellbinders) technique from Technique Junkies for the image circle. The background square panel is also a Spellbinders die cut. The middle panel was cut from a piece of Club Scrap design paper. The leaf ribbon was cut using a punch. The background panel is also Club Scrap. I really love the look of monochrome, but it can be a challenge to stick to shades of only one color.

Thankful

2011-11-14T22:24:00.000-06:00

First I have to say thanks to my friend Lisa for reminding me about my favorite turkey stamp. He is from Kitchen Sink Stamps. I love him for his wonderful detail and realism. For this card I did give him a was of tan Creative Inspiration Paints for shimmer. I cut him out with a Spellbinders die label and layered on the larger label diecut. The sentiment is also from KSS. At the top is a Cheery Lynn banner diecut cut from vellum and painted with mango CI Paints. I embellished my card with a raffia bow and two German scrap leaves. The Spicy Supply challenge at Gingersnap Creations is raffia.

Thanks

2011-11-13T16:44:00.000-06:00

I really enjoyed making this card. It matches three challenges. Kraft Journal challenged us to create a Thank You card.

The challenge at Mojo Monday was this sketch. Simon Says Stamp and Show some up-cycling/recycling. The first two challenges are obvious when you look at the card. My up-cycling/recycling may not be. My flower is actually doubly recycled. A few months ago I did an altered book page and cut out part of the pages to make a shadow box. The flowers are made from these cut pieces. The doily is cut from packing foam. I wasn't sure how it would cut, but as you see, it worked well.

Grungy Monday Tag

2011-11-13T16:07:00.000-06:00

This week the challenge for Grungy Monday is to create something in the style of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas, 2009, Day 7. All stamps are from the Tim Holtz collection. The rabbit, flourish, and grasses are from Spring, Spring, the numbers are from Urban Chic, and the background (paint stamped) is from Papillon.Distress inks used are tumbled glass, stormy sky, victorian velvet, iced spruce, and seedless preserves. I am always amazed at how the different distress inks work so well together.

CHAPTER 9: Autumn Colors in Wonderland Week 2

2011-11-13T01:01:00.001-06:00

"`Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice.

Nobody moved. `Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time.) `You're nothing but a pack of cards!'

At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her: she gave a little scream, half of fright and half of anger, and tried to beat them off, and found herself lying on the bank, with her head in the lap of her sister, who was gently brushing away some dead leaves that had fluttered down from the trees upon her face."

-- Chapter 12, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I wonder if the Wonderland story took place in the Fall of the year? Autumn has arrived in the northern hemisphere. Just as Alice recognized the court characters as playing cards, the trees are losing their cloak of green chlorophyll and showing their true colors of gold, burgundy, scarlet, chartreuse and orange are emerging. Your challenge is to show us a project drenched in fall colors!

Our prize this month is an A5 sized unmounted stamp set from IndigoBlu (a £13 value), or an equivalent amount of A6 stamps. IndigoBlu is a fantastic new British stamp company that makes "Quintessentially English Rubber Stamps" right there in England.

The design team will be working with these two fantastic Alice stamp sets, titled appropriately "Alice I" and "Alice II". Most Americans don't know what A5 and A6 mean so I'll just tell you, these sets are really big!

I encourage you to go visit IndigoBlu.com. All stamps are on sale right now with their introductory pricing, but that won't last forever, and the designs are all wonderful! In addition to the introductory discount, the Head Honcho Alfie says
"The Altered Alice readers can take an extra 10% OFF during the challenge; just use coupon code AlteredAlice in the voucher code box at checkout!"
Thanks Alfie!

Enter by Friday, November 25 (the day after Thanksgiving); our randomly drawn winner and the honorable mentions will be announced on the last Sunday, November 27. Multiple entries are encouraged, but each must be on a separate post. As always, entries that feature Wonderland in some way will get two chances in the drawing instead of one.

Here's my project for this challenge.

For this month's challenge I created three vintage postcards. The first is a collage of many of the images from the IndigoBlue stamp sheets. It's highlighted with shades of yellow, brown, and rust distress inks. Oops, there seems to be cup rings and spots over the card is tea color. Do you suppose that the Mad Hatter decided to move down while reading this card and had a little spill?

The second card features the two different images of the Mad Hatter. I just love the image of the pensive Hatter. Here the colors include greens, red, rust, brown, and just a tinge of blue like the trees against the sky in autumn.

On the third postcard I stamped the tea party image in distress ink and covered it Perfect Pearls. When I spritzed it with water, the effect is a kind of muted watercolor. It's quite shimmery. (The technique is Tim Holtz's Perfect Distress) Here the colors are the darker colors of burgundy with a mix of gold andbrown.

And to verify that these are postcards, here are the reverse sides.

Have a great month. Hope you join us in this challenge.

Veteran's Day Thanks

2011-11-11T00:05:00.002-06:00

Since today is Veteran's Day and since our theme for Bloggers Challenge is Veteran's Day I thought that I would post a patriotic thank you card. I used my flag background stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs. I love this stamp because it makes a great background and it's such an artsy flag. For this card I tried something new. Instead of coloring the flag sections with markers and stamping, I used gelatos direct to stamp and stamped on watercolor paper. The effect is different, but the jury is still out on this one. I'll have to try some more.
To everyone, Happy Veteran's Day. And to the Veterans, thank you for your service. You are heroes!

Here comes the Sun

2011-11-10T18:45:00.000-06:00

My grandson came to me all excited today because he had seen snow. Well, I didn't see it so I don't have to accept that we had snow...right! Here is my antidote to snow -- a bright happy sun surrounded by bright warm colors.
Actually, I had been seeing several cards done by TJers using the stacked nestie technique from the current newsletter. I loved the look of the technique and had to try it for myself. My image is a stamp from Stampendous; it's an oldie, but a goodie. I stamped the sun on yellow paper with Versamark and embossed it with gold embossing powder. The second nestie layer was cut from a piece of Webster's Pages paper. The third was cut from goldenrod cardstock. These layers were adhered to a piece of glitter paper and then to the base cardstock. I added some topaz colored rhinestone flourishes for bling.

Skeleton in the Closet

2011-11-06T17:58:00.000-06:00

Do you have a skeleton in your closet? Well, I do and here he is. In the RangerInkLink Yahoo group we had a challenge entitles skeletons in the closet. I decided to take the challenge literally and put my skeleton (Tim Holtz stamp) inside the closet. Even the hangers (also Tim Holtz) are there. At Stampendous Impressions the November challenge is chipboard. The closet with door was made using chipboard and then painted. Hopefully, this is the only skeleton I'll find in my closets.

Black and Grey

2011-11-06T17:42:00.001-06:00

This card was created for the challenge at Gingersnap Creations (black and grays) and at Outlines Rubber Stamps (friendly fliers). I started with this beautiful tulip stamp from Outlines Rubber Stamps. I stamped it on gray cardstock and Painted the flowers first with bleach and then over painted with winter frost Creative Inspirations Paints. The dragonflies are black outline stickers. The sentiment is also an outline sticker. I know that the challenge at Gingersnap Creations was announced during October, Poe month. My card isn't macabre; it was created in November and I guess I mellowed. Hopefully, Poe liked tulips and dragonflies.

Tribute to my Grandma

2011-11-05T22:15:00.000-05:00

Again several challenges worked well together and this card was created. To begin with, the challenge for Grungy Monday is to use your favorite Tim Holtz products to create a loving tribute to a friend, relative or inspiring person who's passed away.
My grandmother was a very special person in my life. She and I had a very special relationship.There were almost 50 years difference in our ages, but age is really only a number. I always say that she was a woman who was way ahead of her time. This card is in tribute to my Grandmother. By coincidence, the challenge at Created by Hand is grandmothers/label dies.

The design of the card is based on the sketch challenge from Mojo Monday. I did rotate the sketch 90 degrees. The background is done using Tim's wrinkle free distress technique. The lower panel is embossed using one of Tim's texture fades. The flower was die cut using one of Tim's dies. The flower center is made using the I-Top Brad Maker. This is actually related to Tim since it was through his 12 Tags of Christmas that I was introduce to the I-Top (and of course, had to have one).

The doily panel was cut from vellum using a Cheery Lynn die. The frame for Grandma's picture was cut using a Spellbinders die. I used my Print Shop program to change the photo to a sepia photo in keeping with the vintage look I was going for. The Three Muses challenge is vintage collage/memories.

Finally, the challenge at Inspiration Emporium is favorite tools. The I-Top Brad Maker is one of the tools I used; however, my favorite, favorite tool is the Vagabond die cut machine which I used for die cutting and dry embossing. I use it for everything I make.

The Second Spring

2011-11-05T20:51:00.000-05:00

I love this quote from Albert Camus (Stampscape stamp). It really captures the beauty of the colors of autumn. My tree is a multi-step stamping image from Kitchen Sink Stamps. Behind the panel is a border punch of leaves. The background is done using the waterstamping on distress ink technique using the leaf background stamp from Heartfelt Creations.. The cardbase is Kraft cardstock.

My card was created to meet the criteria of several challenges. The design is from the sketch challenge at Critter Sketch Challenge Blog. At Kraft Journal the challenge is banners or border punches. The monthly challenge at Artistic Stamper is backgrounds.

Autumn Colors

2011-11-04T00:05:00.002-05:00

While I don't like the chill of autumn and the forecasting of winter, I do love the

colors of autumn. This week's Bloggers Challenge is a wonderful sketch provided by our challenge leader, Lisa. Although simple in layout, the design is very eye catching. My back panel is a piece of design paper from Club Scrap. The taller panel is stamped with a music background stamp from I Brake for Stamps. The floral panel is a scrap of designer paper from my stash. The flower is made of layers of stamped flowers from Heartfelt Creations. The raffia ribbon is a piece I had in my stash.

This card is also being entered into the challenge at I Brake for Challenges which is whiteout (Use no white or cream cardstock in your art piece.)

Happy Friday everyone!

Flappers and Philosophers

2011-11-03T22:09:00.000-05:00

This week Simon Says Stamp and Show a House, so I'm showing three -- each one occupied by a lovely flapper (Artistic Outpost Flapper Fashions). Each of the houses was die cut using Tim Holtz's Artful Dwellings dies. The background was done using the texture duet technique from the Oct/Nov 2010 TJ newsletter.

Ticketed Backgrounds

2011-11-02T19:50:00.000-05:00

This week's Try That Technique challenge is tagged backgrounds from the Stampbooking CD. Since I was making a card and not a scrapbook page, I didn't have small enough tags, so I used tickets instead. For my image I used a stamp from the new Artistic Outpost sheet, Favorite Book. The word tickets are from Tim Holtz's Adage tickets. The others were cut using a TH die.

Paris Journey

2011-10-29T22:19:00.000-05:00

This week the Grungy Monday challenge was a fabulous one. Linda challenge us to use the video tutorial Tim Holtz Presents: Perfect Distress. I have been a fan of perfect pearls since they came out years ago, and yes, I have every color. Sometimes I just forget about them. Unfortunately, a flatbed scanner just doesn't pick up the shimmer like I wish it would. All stamps used are from the Tim Holtz collection. For the background I stamped the Environs of Paris map in crushed olive distress ink. I stamped Moulin Rouge (one of my favorite stamps from Tim and it's autographed) in aged mahogany. I used biscotti perfect pearls over it. From that point I just started playing with stamps. I am always amazed that when I am doing a Tim Holtz technique, it seems that I can do nothing wrong. The colors, images, words can all be mixed together on the card and it always looks great. It goes against the logical side of my brain, but that's the creative process.

Pretty in Pink

2011-10-29T21:51:00.000-05:00

As October nears the end, I thought I would publish one more card for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The pretty flowers are from Outlines Rubber Stamps.

My card meets the criteria for several challenges. The design of the card is based on Sketch 212 from the Mojo Monday challenge. Critter Sketch is challenging us to use 3 different pattern papers (Panel framing flowers and ribbon, 2nd panel behind flowers, and patterned vellum). The challenge at Outlines Rubber Stamps is Pretty in Pink.

Raven Skull

2011-10-28T08:30:00.003-05:00

I created this card for the Gingersnap Creations Theme Challenge of Ravens. all this month Gingersnap has been celebrating Edgar Allen Poe. Since this is also Halloween weekend, I wanted to keep in the spirit. My ravens are from Rubber Bandit. I just love the raven with words from Poe's poem on it. On the background panel I embossed the large gate using a Cuttlebug folder on black cardstock and then highlighted it with white ink. The skull came about when I used my Pumpkin Jack die on my last card. When I held the die upside down, I saw a skull. I used the die on white cardstock, shaded it with black soot distress ink. The mouth was made using a part of a TH zigzag stamp. The nose was left over from the pennant die cut I used on my last card. For the eyes I cut two ovals. Tim always says that his dies can be used in more than one way.
I am also entering my card on a new challenge site to me. The challenge at Take a Word is black and white.
Happy Halloween!

Sir Jack-O-Lantern

2011-10-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

I'll be sorry to see the Halloween season come to an end. It has been so much fun creating Halloween art. This week's Bloggers Challenge is Happy Haunting. I just received my Pumpkin Jack die (Tim Holtz) in the mail and had to use it. I had planned to use the faux leather technique on the orange paper for texture, but I found this paper which already had texture, so I just added some ripe persimmon distress ink direct to paper. I don't have the Movers and Shakers face die, so I improvised. I used the On the Edge Pennants die. The eyes and nose are cut from the larger pennant. The mouth is the part that comes between the cutting of both pennants. The background is made using the double embossing technique. First I embossed the wavy lines and highlighted them in purple (seedless preserves distress ink); then, I used the Halloween words texture fade and highlighted the raised areas with ripe persimmon. The monacle and metal "trick" tag I found when I was going through some of my forgotten stash. Timely, eh?
I am entering this card into several challenges this week: Kraft Journal -- Anything Goes (background panel is kraft), Created by Hand -- Halloween/Tag Dies, I Brake for Challenges -- Halloween, and Inspiration Emporium -- Black, Purple, and Orange.
Happy Halloween!

Vintage Seamstress

2011-10-26T17:16:00.000-05:00

This week the Technique Junkies Try That Technique challenge is Faux tiles from the Jun/Jul 2011 newsletter. I like this technique because it has such a vintage look. The thought of vintage brought to my mind this Sew Much to Do stamp from Chapel Road Artstamps. I stamped the image and created the tiles. I decided that that buttons would be the perfect embellishments for my card. Did you notice that the entire card is done in shades of brown? Well, since Simon Says Stamp and Show has a one color challenge this week, my card works well for it.

Autumn and Thanksgiving

2011-10-23T18:50:00.000-05:00

Would you believe that Thanksgiving is one calendar month from tomorrow. Where is the time going? Hels, at Ink on my Fingers Sunday Challenge gave us the theme of Autumn or Colors of Autumn. I really enjoyed making this card. I got to use one of my favorite Thanksgiving stamps. It's from Paper Inspirations. (I've had it for years and it's wood mounted so I'm not sure it's available any more.) I also got to use my Tim Holtz Autumn Gatherings die for the side border. The image is colored using Copics. The leaves were colored using Pan Pastels. The image panel and border were adhered to a brown panel and then to a kraft card base.

Fall Blooms

2011-10-21T00:01:00.002-05:00

I have to admit that this weeks Bloggers Challenge gave me a bit of problem at first. Lisa gave us the challenge of Fall Blooms. I spent some time trying to match what I considered to be autumn blooming flowers to what I had in my stamp collection. At first I considered doing sunflowers, but if you saw what my sunflowers looked like right now, you'd understand why I chose not to. Anyway, I finally decided to use goldenrod. I used a stamp from Stamp Zia, stamped it in green for the stems and colored the flowers with Smooch paint. I found a poem on the Internet which mentioned goldenrod and my card came to life. I'm really looking forward to how everyone else interpreted this theme.

Serenity

2011-10-20T20:01:00.000-05:00

When I began my card I knew that I wanted to work on a card for Ink on my Fingers Sunday Challenge. Hels challenged us to use leaves on our work. The sketch at Mojo Monday seemed a great place to start. Then it happened. My muse went off somewhere..I'm guessing to take a nap. Nothing was coming together. Fortunately my muse returned today and this is the result. A bit of design paper, an embossing folder with pumpkins, a leaf border punch, a flower die, and a great stamp from Artistic Outpost's Serenity sheet and voila, an autumn card is born which meets both challenges.

Tim in Ten

2011-10-19T10:33:00.000-05:00

The Grungy Monday challenge this week is to create a greeting card using at least one Tim Holtz product in ten minutes or less. I did it in slightly less than 10 minutes. However, this was only because we could think it through and gather our supplies before starting the timer. For my background panel I used part of a piece of striped paper from a TH paper stack. Then I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss stripes on the panel. I edged the panel with weathered wood distress ink. I then took a piece of ribbon and dyed it with broken china distress stain and did a quick dry with my heat gun. The image panel was done using the umbrella man texture trade and one of the reverse lettering stamps. I stamped inside the embossing folder and ran my cardstock through my vagabond. I highlighted umbrella man with black soot embossing ink. The panel was edged in broken china distress ink. The sentiment was stamped on a journaling ticket. Then everything was layered and adhered to the base card. Whew, it was a race against time, but I did it and moreso, I like what I did. It took me longer to write about my card, than to make it.
I am also entering my card in Simon Says Stamp and Show stripes. Although not vivid, the background panel is printed with wide stripes and then dry embossed using a stripes folder.

Nostalgic

2011-10-19T00:05:00.001-05:00

At Creative Belli Blog the current challenge is Flower Soft, Felt or Chunky Glitter. As you can hopefully see, I chose to use flowersoft. I was in a bit of a retro mood as I was creating my card. I started with my image from the Generation Redux stamp sheet from Artistic Outpost and paired it with the sentiment from Typography. The image was colored using Copics and then cut using a Spellbinders die. I used ivory Flower Soft on the flowers behind her. The image is mounted on a doily die cut (Cheery Lynn). The background is a piece of designer paper from My Mind's Eye.
Yes, life is good.

Witch and Stuff

2011-10-18T19:43:00.000-05:00

The Kraft Journal challenge this week is Spooky Stuff. The challenge at Created by Hand is Witches/Circles. To create this card, I started with a black card base. All of the layers are die cuts or cut image. The moon was cut out of yellow cardstock using a Spellbinders circle die. I then painted it with rock candy crackle paint. The houses are done using the townscape on-the-edge-die from Tim Holtz. I added light kraft paper behind the houses for the windows. The tree was die cut twice using branch tree--once in brown and once in kraft layered so the brown shadowed the kraft. The witch (Oxford Impressions) was stamped on olive cardstock with archival jet black ink. The hat and cape were paperpieced TJ newsletter, Feb 2003). Halloween is a fun cardmaking time of year.

Halloween Tag

2011-10-17T19:58:00.000-05:00

The challenge at the Stampotique Designers Blog is It'sTag Time. I started out with a black glossy tag. I thought that Heads, the Owl, and Puss Puss were perfect stamps to create a Halloween tag. I added the word Halloween and the Jack-O-Lantern from Artistic Outpost to finish the tag. This tag makes me smile. It was a lot of fun to make.

Stamps used:
Stampotique
3040 Owl With Wings
6097 Heads
6105 Puss Puss
Artistic Outpost Vintage Halloween sheet
sentiment
pumpkin

Distressed Window Technique

2011-10-17T19:26:00.000-05:00

This week the Technique Junkies Try That Technique challenge is Distressed Window from the Oct/Nov 2011 newsletter. I used several stamps from Chapel Road Art Stamps to create this card. The background stamps are floral background, butterfly background, and mesh background. The sentiment is from Four Small Poems. The butterfly is cut from metal using a Cheery Lynn butterfly die.