Tag time

Simon Says Stamp and Show...a tag. My tag gave me a perfect excuse to use the filmstrip die from Tim Holtz. It worked wonderfully with some postage size transparency images I had from ArtChix. I used the pulled glimmers technique from Technique Junkies, only I used Perfect Pearl mists. I used the pine and pinecone stamp and a snowflakes stamp from Tim's stamp line. I thought it turned out to be a very cheery tag.

Healthy Eating

The Critter Sketch Challenge 41 is Food. I thought that I needed to share something healthy after all the food I consumed over the Thanksgiving holiday. I had a Club Scrap stencil of an apple which I thought was perfect. The sentiment is also from Club Scrap. It's a favorite of mine.

Joy

The challenge at Color Throwdown was to use the colors so saffron, rich razzleberry, and old olive ( or similar colors). My tree was stamped and embossed on olive paper with stickles for the ornaments. The stamp is from Club Scrap. The large ornament is the carved ornament die, one of the Tim Holtz dies, cut together with the magnetic JOY die. The background is a very sparkly paper. The die cut and tree is sprayed with dazzling diamonds glimmer mist. If you don't like sparkle, this is not the card for you.

Browns

Two challenges this week had brown as part of the challenge. At Play Date Cafe the challenge was to use the colors brown, grey, and silver. I have to say that these were not my favorite colors, but a challenge is a challenge. Created by Hand gave the challenge "Giving thanks/shades of brown". The interesting thing about this card is that I used the stencils and paste technique from the Oct/Nov 2003 Technique Junkies only I used sand paste from MuddPuddles. The sentiment stamp is from Kitchen Sink Stamps.

Double Distress

The Compendium of Curiosities challenge this week was Double Distress from p. 40 of Tim's book. This challenge matched perfectly with the challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show which was distress inks. I've been wanting to use my postcard embossing folder for a while. This was the perfect opportunity.  I used crushed olive and pine needle with a touch of frayed burlap and black soot. The script and sentiment are TH stamps. The pencil is from Club Scrap. The oval , postmark, and stamp are stickers from my stash. Memo pins hold the stamp and postmark. This was fun.

Caterpillar to Butterfly

The challenge theme at Oh Alice this week is Caterpillars or Butterflies. In addition we are supposed to use a dictionary page or definition. For my background I used a page from an old dictionary. I stamped Absalom the caterpillar from Alice with embossing ink on the page and embossed him with clear embossing powder. I used a rainbow pad and roller and covered the page with ink. The ink wipes off of the embossed image so Absalom shows through the ink. At the end of his caterpillar life Absalom turns into a beautiful butterfly.

Bloggers Challenge 179

This week the challenge at Bloggers Challenge was a color challenge using rust, blue, and mustard.

I had a set of die cut house ornaments to assemble, so I decided to work on them using the color challenge. I realize that my rust actually photographed more red, but it is really a rust color and the roof on the blue house looks rather pink even though it is white. I used my Creative Inspirations paints to color all of the houses and roofs (except the mustard house and the rust house's roof.) In addition to the color, I played around a  bit with texture. The mustard house was painted with crackle paint and has an adobe-like finish to it. The rust and blue were embossed with different embossing folders. The roof of rust house is covered with a sand mixture giving it a very rough texture. The white house was stamped using blue ink. Each of the houses has a loop to hang them on the tree and on the back is a hole which can be used to put a Christmas light in to light them up. It was a fun project to work on.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving . 

Artistic Outpost Introduces Jane's Countryside

This will be a somewhat lengthy post today, but I hope you'll read through it. There's lots of good information including new stamps, a fabulous sale, and a great challenge.

A wonderful new set of stamps is being released today from Artistic Outpost. The sheet is called Jane's Countryside and is available both unmounted or mounted on EZMount.

Jane's Countryside is Artistic Outpost's homage to Jane Austen, and the tortured romantic tales that she told in her timeless novels, such as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma. This collection features Edwardian ladies dressed in their finery, original quotes from Jane herself, and a regal manor that could have served as the Austen family home.  Coordinating elements include a cameo, key, and a lacey ATC sized background.

Isn't she beautiful standing in front of her regal manor in her elegant clothes? I used CI paints to color the image. I wanted the vivid color against the bright vintage background paper. Because the stamps are unmounted, I was able to curve the sentiment around the bottom of the image oval.

Please visit the other Design Team members to see what they have created with this wonderful stamp set. Gerrie Johnnic, Lisa Somerville, Judy Hayes, Lynn Stevens, Stephanie Severin, Suzanne Czosek

Did I mention sale earlier? Artistic Outpost wants you to start your holiday shopping with us!
From now until November 30th, we're featuring 10% off all rubber stamps, and that's not all! For every $50 you spend, we'll send you a special $10 gift code** (GC valid on purchases January 11 - 31st 2011). Better yet! These gift codes stack! If you spend $100 you will get a $20 certificate, spend $150 get a $30 certificate, you get the idea! Remember, in the US you get free shipping when your order totals $50 ($150 internationally).
Please use the coupon code BlackFriday to receive your 10% reduction on your rubber stamp purchases. **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.
 
There's just a few more days left to enter Artistic Outposts November Referral Program. We'd love to see what you've been creating with the Artistic Outpost images! Click HERE for details on the November Referral Program.
We'll be changing up the Referral Program just a bit for December....Since we know how busy the next few weeks are, we wanted to give you a little advance notice of the changes for December.  For the December Referral Program, we'd like all entries to feature Home Decor/Ornaments or Holiday related projects using Artistic Outpost images.  The Artistic Outpost Design Team will be posting projects using these themes also in December to help inspire you.

Artistic Outpost Sale

Artistic Outpost is having a sale!

From now until November 30th, they're featuring 10% off all rubber stamps, and that's not all! For every $50 you spend, they'll send you a special $10 gift code** (GC valid on purchases January 11 - 31st 2011). Better yet! These gift codes stack! If you spend $100 you will get a $20 certificate, spend $150 get a $30 certificate, you get the idea! Remember, in the US you get free shipping when your order totals $50 ($150 internationally).

Please use the coupon code BlackFriday to receive your 10% reduction on your rubber stamp purchases. **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.

Play Date Cafe Challenge 56

I love the color selection for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge.  We were to use red, olive, and turquoise in our creation. For my card I decided to use the cardinal from Heartfelt Creations and the holly flourish. The background is a piece of My Mind's Eye DP. I had fun using the Perfect Pearls Mists to give a sparkle to the parts of my card. I used Interference Red on the cardinal, turquoise on the background, and perfect pearl on the focal panel. The colors are so alive with the sprays.

Girly girl with Butterflies

The latest Stampotique Designers Challenge is Girly Girl. I thought that this theme went so well with the Ink on my Fingers Sunday Challenge theme which was butterflies. Although we didn't have to use Stampotique stamps in our artwork this challenge, I wanted to use this image from them. I thought she fit the theme well. To emphasize the girly theme I used lots of pinks, some lace and scallops, and flowers and butterflies.The large butterfly is die cut from very sparkly paper. Of course, the scan doesn't show the sparkle. The little butterflies are on ribbon and have been colored to match the card with Creative Inspirations paints. The ribbon was attached to a strip of paper lace. The image was painted with CI paints and the scallop was edged with the paints. I'm actually more of a butterfly person than a girly girl, but I think the card represents well.

Giving Thanks

This week the theme for Bloggers Challenge is Giving Thanks. I thought it would be fun to make a swing card for my project. I'm not sure my photography shows off the card very well, but at least you can get an idea. When the card is totally closed, the flowers and butterfly are what you see. When you open the card, the center swings around and you see the sentiment. The background paper is shiny and a lot of the dots are sparkly.

Time for Tea

Can you guess what the theme at Oh Alice is. Well, it's "Nothin' but Tea and Time on our Hands." I decided to make a clock in the shape of a teapot using Alice characters for the 12, 3, 6, and 9 spots. Yes, it is a working clock. The teapot is made of grungepaper colored with distress ink. To make it more sturdy for holding the clockworks, I attached an old CD to the back for support. The letters are grungeboard painted white and highlighted with a Diva Pearl Pen. The other numbers are represented by gold crystals. The characters are stamped on white cardstock, colored with COPICS, and covered with glossy accents. I guess I should go and check what time it is.

CCC22 with Snowman

Alcohol Ink Splatter is one of my favorite techniques and it is this week's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge theme. (See p52) in Tim's book for the how-to. Since I wanted to use the snowman die with my card, I used somewhat lighter alcohol inks and silver for my metallic. Oops, more silver came out than was supposed to, but I really like how this turned out. Lucky accident! Another bit of luck was the theme for Created Byhand--Snowmen! I have every version of Tim's snowman. I think he's so cool.  The movers and shapers die (LOVE) really adds a great touch to my friend the snowman.

Critter Sketch Challenge 40 and Simon Says Stamp and Show

I love it when a card comes together the way I pictured it in my head. First the challenges... At Critter Sketch the challenge is texture.The trees are embossed using a texture fade embossing folder. The deer is die cut using grunge paper which is texture in itself. Then I colored the deer with pan pastels. I love the feel of grunge colored with pan pastels, it's like suede. Honestly this was an easy challenge for me because most of what I create has some texture. It's what I love to do.
At Simon Says Stamp and Show the challenge theme is Whatever Makes You Happy. How many times have I used the word "love" in this posting so far? Well, let me add that I also love embossing Shimmer Sheetz to create a background. The sentiment is from Stampscapes; it kind of gives a finishing touch to the warm feeling I get from the card. What makes me happy? -- Creating a card using the tools, materials, and techniques I love and having it turn out the way I wanted it to. Yep, I'm a happy camper tonight.

Sunday Stamper Week 129

This week for the Ink on My Fingers Sunday Challenge, Hels had the theme Santa Claus is Coming to Town. For this challenge Hels made an Advent Book. My project is also a book of sorts, actually a maze book in a box. In front on my picture is the top of the box. In the box several pages can be seen, two of which are types of Santas. The pages of the book are chipboard held together by jump rings. The images are all vintage Christmas image which I adhered to the chipboard. There are a few stamped Christmas greeting throughout the book.

Kitchen Sink Stamps Crew Challenge 29-2

I am in love with this little (or not so little) fellow. He is perfect for an atc and perfect for a monochromatic challenge. Both the image and the sentiment are from the Kitchen Sink Stamps set, Lil' Elephant. Color Recipe:
Elephant -- 1 London fog (Memento), 2 dove gray (Staz-On), 3 smokey gray (Versafine), 4 jet black (Adirondack)

Play Date Cafe Challenge 55

 This week Play Date Cafe gave us a color challenge using red, pale blue, pink, bright blue, and burgundy. I found a piece of designer paper in my stash which touched on these colors; however, the colors were very pale and washed out. I wanted to make a birthday card which looked like a celebration. I used my Creative Inspirations paints to brighten up the paper. I used finger sponges, dipped them in the paint, and highlighted the dots on the paper. Now instead of dull and drab, I think the paper yells, "CELEBRATE" The image (Club Scrap) was stamped in pink and decorated with CI paints. The sentiment was created with my label maker in open print and then highlighted with the paints. These colors made a very festive birthday card.

Just Because

I love it when theme and color challenges work together. The challenge at Color Throwdown was to use the colors soft suede, cherry cobbler, and kraft in your art. At Created Byhand the theme was corners. I have to admit that the colors had me baffled for a while. However, first I found this stamp from Club Scrap and the wheels started to turn. Then because I don't have these exact colors and since kraft and soft suede are very close, I had to find something that worked. Creative Inspirations paints came to the rescue. The tan paint was very close to soft suede. An added benefit is that the image just pops because of the shimmer.  I used the Fiskars corner and border punch around the focal image. I used the corner punch again on the cherry background. I adhered the image layer and background layer to a kraft card base and stamped "Just Because" four times around the image panel. Now I have a colorful card with decorative corners. Works for me.

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge 21 and Simon Says Stamp & Show

The Compendium of Curiosities Challenge was to use the Perfect Distress technique from p. 38 of Tim's book. Simon Says Stamp & Show wanted us to use our favorite Tim stamp.This was a match made in heaven. The only difficult thing was to choose a favorite. My favorite Tim Holtz stamp is whichever one I am using at the time. Okay, so I decided on the flowers and bird stamps from Nature's Moments. I really do love these and use them often. I think these stamps worked well with the technique.

Try That Technique--Hidden Image

There's a reason this technique is called Hidden Image. Unless you look very closely, you might miss the knight stamped all over the background. Actually he's even more obscure because of scanning. He can be seem much better on the actual card. The Try That Technique challenge this week is the Hidden Image technique a bonus technique on the 2010 CD. This was a fun technique to try and I got to use my My Knight stamp sheet from Artistic Outpost.

Critter Sketch Challenge 39 Dragons

This week the challenge at Critter Sketch was Dragons. I love this dragon stamp from Stampland. I stamped him on some Asian paper from Kodomo and used a Stampin' Up stamp for the sentiment. The background is a beautiful with turquoise embossing on gold metallic paper. 

Bloggers Challenge 177 and Sunday Stamper

This week the challenge for Bloggers Challenge was a sketch provided by group Mom Lisa. It was a great sketch, a little more challenging than some, but a lot of fun to work with.The Sunday challenge at Ink on My Fingers was Winter. Going Grey With Scrap Creations had Christmas as the Challenge theme. All of these challenges worked so well together. I chose my focal image and sentiment from the Artistic Outpost stamp sheet Snowy Woods. I used a Spellbinders die to cut out the oval, sprayed it with Perfect Pearl Mists in Forever Red. The background panel and two of the strips along the side were cut from origami foil paper.  For the snowflakes and white strip I used one of Tim Holtz's On the Edge dies, Snowflurries. The base card front was dry embossed with the Cuttlebug snowflake border folder. I can't wait to see how everyone else interpreted this sketch.



Try That Technique--Mono Mosaic

The Try That Technique Challenge this week was MonoMosaic from the December "05 TJ newsletter. This is another fun technique with a cool outcome. I grabbed a number of stamps I had in my polymer clay stamp collection for the background. I love all the different designs. My focal image is from Prickly Pears.

Oh Alice Challenge Chapter 38

I've got a ticket to ride the Wonderland Express. The theme for the Oh Alice Challenge this week is "Tickets Please".  I used an image of Alice from Oxford Impressions and the train from Artistic Outpost. The ticket is one of the Tim Holtz journaling tickets with a sentiment from TJ Designs.

Kitchen Sink Stamps Crew Challenge 29

The Kitchen Sink Stamps Crew Challenge  this month is monochromatic. Being fall, I thought this handsome turkey and falling leaves would make a great image for a monochromatic card. I used stamps from both Turkey Trot and Owl & Autumn Moon.
Color recipes: (All inks are Adirondack)
Turkey -- 1 sandal, 2 hazelnut, 3 espresso
Branch -- 1 latte, 2 hazelnut, 3 raisin
Leaves -- 1 latte, 2 rust

Play Date Cafe Challenge 54

This week in the Play Date Cafe the challenge is to use the colors stucco orange, celery, and white. I thought that this large stamp from Stampland was a perfect image for these colors. I used Creative Inspirations paints in peach and sage to color the flowers and leaves and outlined the open leaves in white gel pen. The orange sentiment ribbon, orange butterfly, white mat and green cardbase help to maintain the color pallette.

Spirits Beware

This week the Stampotique Designers Challenge is to create something spooky, freaky, ghoulish, dreadful, dark, mysterious, creepy, ghastly, tragic, grim, shocking, wicked and fun using only Stampotique Originals stamps! I decided to use the colors of black, white and red to set the mood. Floating heads and hands are pretty creepy, don't you think.

Colors of Friendship

This week the Color Throwdown challenge was to use the colors kraft, tangerine tango, riding hood red, and marine mist. The Created Byhand theme was "Words of Love/Friendship". These were challenging colors for me at first. I had this designer paper and I began to work from there. I think the butterfly in the midst of the flowers works well with the sentiment from Club Scrap.

Industrial Grunge Goes Christmas Nostalgic

The Compendium of Curiosities challenge this week is Industrial Grunge from p. 54 of Tim's book. Of course there's a story as to how this card came about. I was looking through my TH Bigz dies to decide which die I wanted to use with this technique. Tim used the gear die for his example which is very industrial. When I saw the ornaments, I knew these were the perfect images to use. The combination of the technique and the vintage ornaments brought back memories of childhood. Remember the metal lined old glass ornaments that Grandma used to put on her tree every year. And every year these ornaments showed a little more wear. That's what the combination of this technique and the ornaments reminded me of. As my background I used the antique wallpaper technique (from June/July 2010 TJ newsletter), again a reminder of Grandma's house when I was young. I added a few pearls to complete the nostalgic trip down memory lane. This week the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge is Shabby. I think this card fits perfectly with this theme. As my card turned into a Christmas card, I realized that Christmas was the challenge at Critter Sketch this week. How perfect.

Hallowe'en in Wonderland -- Oh Alice Chapter 37

The challenge at Oh Alice came on Halloween weekend, so the challenge is Halloween. I decided to play a little with this theme. Graphics 45 has the most wonderful Hallowe'en in Wonderland paper stack. I found this tin box with a top window. When I combined paper and tin, this is what I came up with. There is no stamping on this project. (This may be a first for me.) However, there are art techniques. I started by using alcohol inks to color the box (cloudy blue, sailboat blue, and twilight purple). I cut out the inner scene to fit the box and the outside characters and sentiment panels. I then highlighted the major elements with Creative Inspirations paints. These shimmery paints added a glow to the whole project. I hope Alice will approve.

BC176 Veteran's Day Tribute

This weeks Bloggers Challenge is Patriotic, in honor of Veterans Day. The process of creating is a fascinating one to me. Once I knew what the theme of the challenge was, I knew I would use one of my Artistic Outpost stamp sets, either Hero or She-roes. Both have wonderful stamps which fit the theme. I chose the Statue of Liberty from She-roes. I had the raised and split background in mind. That's when fate took over. I just received the Tim Holtz Holiday Paper Stack and therein was the perfect background for a patriotic card--a page of patriotic related words. "Life, Liberty, Old Glory, Red, White Blue, American Flag, etc." The final coincidence was when I was putting away some of the "stuff" from one of the moving boxes I found this chipboard star which was the perfect background for the focal image. I guess you can say that this card just came together.

Try That Technique -- Tie Dye Wax Resist

This week's Try That Technique challenge was the Tie Dye Wax Resist technique from the Technique Junkies October 2006 on-line bonus. The polar bear is a stamp from Earthartinternational. The sentiment is from Stampscapes.
This card also meets the Going Grey with Scrap-Creations challenge which is favorite technique.

Play Date Cafe Challenge 53

This weeks challenge at Play Date Cafe was black and white with a splash of burgundy. Anything this week would have been a challenge since my studio is still in a bit of chaos

from the move. However, I vowed to myself that I would try not to miss any more of my favorite challenges, especially Play Date Cafe. I'm getting in under the wire, but I made it. I love splash challenges. This card was acually a simple one to make. The white and black background is paper from Club Scrap. The butterfly mask is from Stamp Zia. And the sentiment is a stencil from Stampers Anonymous.