Paris Journey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.