Sunday, July 31, 2011

Vintage Claire

The  Challenge #18 at Stampsmith is vintage. I chose Claire as my image. I used the vintage technique from the Jun/Jul 2011 TJ newsletter on the image. The frame is cut from a shimmery copper cardstock using a Spellbinders die. The background is woodgrain paper. The flower flourish is from PrimaMarketing Inc.

August Excitement

I am so excited to announce that I have been chosen August Guest Designer for Stampotique Stamps. If you follow my blog, you already know that I love to stamp with Stampotique stamps. I think they are a lot of fun and inspire creativity.
Here is my first card as guest designer. I decided to create it with the current challenge SDC 35 in mind which is red, yellow, orange. I love the Keepsake Kids and I thought that they would look great sitting on one of the little shrooms. The background is done using the collaged circles from the new Technique Junkee newsletter. The circles are cut from orange, red print, and red and yellow plaid paper. I added my own touch by adding gold spray webbing. I'm looking forward to a month of "Good Things, Good Thoughts."
Check out the Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog and play along with the challenge. The Stampotique Designers blog is filled with lots of inspiration created by the talented design team. Of course, I must mention the wonderful Stampotique Stamps website.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Kind Words

This week the challenge at Bloggers Challenge is embossing. That's one of my favorite things to do whether it is heat embossing or embossing folder embossing. I love texture on a card. My card also works with the Grungy Monday challenge (Rock Candy Stickles), the Created by Hand challenge (ovals/brads) and Simon Says Stamp and Show Anything Goes.

My card started with two stamps. The sentiment stamp is from Our Daily Bread Designs. The image is a floral background stamp from Chapel Road Artstamps.  The sentiment was heat embossed with clear embossing powder and the panel was colored with tattered rose distress ink. The embossing serves as a resist. The flowers were embossed with Ranger's California Stucco Embossing Antiquities powder. Both panels were die cut into an oval shape and layered on a scalloped oval panel. I used an EK Success border punch for the ribbon of ovals. The background panel is embossed using a Cuttlebug folder. I used Rock Candy Stickles to add a distressed glitter on the background embossing, on the ovals ribbon, and on the frame around the main ovals.

Check out the blogs of the other players and enjoy the art.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

One More Christmas in July

Euphorbia pulcherrima, otherwise known as pointsettia, is one of the beautiful flowers abundant at Christmastime. Today I took one of the pointsettia flower stamps from the Chapel Road Art Stamps Pointsettia Plate to create the focal image of my card. I embossed it with white ink and used the neutral shadows technique from the Feb/Mar 2011 TJ newsletter. I love how the image appears through the shadows. I used a Spellbinders die to create the frame. The background panel is stamped with the pine corners from the holly plate and then embossed using the snowflake frame embossing folder from Cuttlebug. And once more, Merry Christmas to all, in July.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Celebrating a New Stamp Release at Artistic Outpost

It's time to celebrate the holidays Artistic Outpost style with a new release of stamps. There are three fun new stamp sheets to choose from.
Halloween Treats :  Growing up, our Halloween decorations were Technicolor large die cuts of pumpkins and kitty cats and witches on broomsticks.  These stamps remind me of those “cardboard” cut-outs.  How I wished we had saved them!   Try mixing this set with our other Halloween collections as well as Apothecary!
Frosty & Friends:  I love the sweetness of vintage Christmas cards.  The secular imagery was dreamy and cute...so sugary sweet my teeth hurt just to look at them.  This collection features some of our favorite images from our own AO collection of vintage ephemera. 
Apothecary :  Before the invention of the drive-thru Walgreens®, the apothecary was not just a dispenser of medicines, but also a mix-ologist of tonics, keeper of secrets, and giver of advice.  Antique apothecary bottles are highly collectible in part due to the “mystery” of what could actually be in them.  Our AO stylized bottle has a blank space that our “product” labels fit perfectly into…or hand write your prescription on our vintage Rx pad.

Please note that due to the high volume during new releases, that “mounted” stamp collections may take 10 days to ship.  We will keep you posted on your order, and thank you so much for visiting our outpost.

Now to share some of the works I created using these stamps.
Halloween Treats
I used the Warhol technique to create this card. The kitty was stamped on small tags which had been colored with distress stains. The background is made from kraft glassine paper which was wrinkled thoroughly and colored with distress inks.
Frosty and Friends
You just have to smile when you see the stamps from this set. Frosty was done using the With and Without Collage technique from the April/May 2011 TJ Newsletter (also this weeks Try That Technique challenge) and the torn frame technique from Dec '08/Jan '09 TJ newsletter. The background was embossed with snowflakes and the top was cut using a Tim Holtz on-the-edge die.

Apothecary
This is a druggist I'd like to get to know. He's found the fountain of Youth and bottled it. I need some of that. The background is a page from an old Chemistry Handbook. I used part of an embossing folder for the pharmacist sign.

The other design team members have been busy creating great art pieces to share with you. Be sure and check out their blogs for more delightful inspiration.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

A Dandy Garden

The challenge at Stampotique Designers blog is flower power. My sentiment says "One is nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere wlse on earth." If dandelions are your flower, then they are your garden. The focal image is from Stampotique. The background paper and sentiment are from Club Scrap. I hope my card makes you smile.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Vintage Christmas Card

It's Christmas in July and I'm celebrating with a vintage Christmas card. To create my card I pulled out a favorite Artistic Outpost set of stamps, Snowy Woods. I stamped Santa in sepia on a kraft panel and finished the image using the vintage art technique from the current TJ newsletter. I stamped the snowflakes using fairy dust Creative Inspirations paint. I cut the frame using a Spellbinders die and stenciled the frame using evergreen CI paint. The background paper is from Club Scrap. The base card is kraft to keep with the vintage feel. The jingle bells (my old and unused embellishments) were punched from a punch I have had for years. I covered them with gold glass beads (even older than the punch)
This card meets two of my regular challenge sites.  The Kraft Journal challenge and the challenge at Creative Belli are both Christmas in July.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Big Wheels

Congratulations to Mojo Monday on their 200th challenge. The sketch is to the left. My card uses a stamp (actually part of the stamp), the texture fade, and the gear from the Tim Holtz line. The sentiment is a digital from Create With TLC .

Friday, July 22, 2011

It's All Perspective

This week Simon Says Stamp and Show embossing. The Tuesday Throwdown challenge is something metallic. Created by Hand has the challenge ribbon/silver.
To create my card, I started with a piece of silver metal and embossed it using one of Tim Holtz's texture fades. I highlighted the embossing with black Stazon Ink. The center image is from one of Tim Holtz's atc stamps. The background is colored by smooshing tag cardstock into distress ink sprayed with Perfect Pearl spray. The stamp was stamped with black Adirondack archival ink. The sentiment, also a Tim Holtz stamp, was done in the same way as the image. The result is a rather dramatic card.

Christmas in July Challenge

This week the challenge at the Class Act Insider is Christmas in July. I'm really lovin' the new Pointsettia Plate and the new Holly Plate from the Chapel Road Artstamps (Class Act Inc.) They have such a cool vintage look. I used the Christmas ornament dies from the Tim Holtz line and decorated them with the stamps. The gold trim was made using a gold metallic marker. The blue ornament was colored using alcohol ink. The corner stamp was stamped directly on the background paper and decorated with heatset crystals. The "Merry Christmas" is an outline sticker and the background papers are from Webster's Pages. And a Merry Christmas in July to all.

A Dandy Summer

Today's Bloggers Challenge is a perfect one for today...it's summertime. There's no doubt that summer is here with the temperature hitting 102 today. Today's card was done with a little tongue in cheek. Hopefully both the sentiment and the image make you smile. My card is pretty much CAS today and everything I used is from CS (Club Scrap).
Looking forward to your version of summertime. Have a great day.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Tea and Roses

A hot cup of tea with friends and roses...these are a few of my favorite things. Favorite things is the challenge at The Kraft Journal  this week. These stamps from Heartfelt Creations say it all. The background was created using the bleach swipes technique from the Dec '09/Jan '10 newsletter. This is the Try That Technique challenge. I used a piece of print cardstock from Club Scrap as my starting point. I really like the whole effect.

Color of Money

The current color challenge at Gingersnap Creations is the color of money. What can show off the color of money better than money itself. I found the perfect use for the gold dollar coins that you get back in change from parking machines etc. Make a pendant.  I embedded one of these coins into some resin, sprinkled a little green glitter around the edges, and let it dry. Now I have a great pendant to wear.
Another Yahoo group I'm in challenged us to use a tool or product that we hadn't used in a long while. Well, I bought this two part resin a year ago and have been looking at the bottles since then. I finally got the courage to try and use the resin with this challenge. I guess that counts as a product not having been used in a long time (or ever).

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Floral Hanging

Although I thought I was going to make a card, this project developed into a wall hanging. There are three challenges represented in this work. The Grungy Monday challenge is grungeboard or grungepaper. The Ink on my Fingers Sunday challenge is to build your own flower embellishment. At Creative Belli the challenge is custom made bellies.

Behind this dimensional work is a Heartfelt Creation stamp. I just dimensionalized it. The trellis is made from grungepaper and stained with Walnut distress stain. The nails are made using a silver Viva Decor paint pen. The leaves are die cut using a Spellbinders die. The roses were made using a Sizzix die. Everything was adhered to a piece of cardstock which had been stamped with the stamp and sprayed with forever violet Perfect Pearl Mist and then edged with wild honey and victorian velvet distress inks. Once I had the image panel complete, I realized that it was so dimensional that it really didn't make a good card. So I attached the image panel to a piece of burlap and used the cute hanger to hang it.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Sewing is a Challenge

This week Simon Says Stamp and Show some Stitching. I think I took the challenge as a dare. Usually I would have added faux stitching and that would have fulfilled the challenge. But this time I cut some patches from some old jeans and pulled out my sewing machine.  I truly can't remember the last time I used my machine. I actually had to remember how to thread it and put in the bobbin. I used an image and words from the Artistic Outpost stamp sheet Huck Finn. He's colored with Copics, cut out and adhered to a small tag which was colored using the bingo blast technique from Technique Junkies (Apr-May 2009) except I used Distress Stains. The sewn card was completed with three buttons and a piece of raffia through the tag.

Summertime Fun

Both I Brake for Challenges and Tuesday Throwdown challenged us to create something fun in the summer sun. I pulled out my scene stamps (Stampscapes) and this cute little boy about to sail his boat and went to work. Both the boy and the flowers are from I Brake for Stamps. I think he is adorable and that he will have a lot of fun sailing his boat in the pond. That seems like great fun in the sun.

Two Color Art

The challenge at Created by Hand is Only Two Colors. This was quite a challenge for me until I remembered the Technique Junkies Split Negative technique; then everything fell in place. I used the marketplace stamp from Onyx Expressions. The embellishments are Metallic Impressions from Creative Impressions Paints.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

On the Road, Steampunk Style

What fun I'm having working with the Gingersnap Creations monthly theme of Steampunk. Today's card uses the sketch from the Critters Sketch challenge and the On the Road theme from the Chestnut Theme challenge. My image is from a Mail Muse steampunk collage sheet. Except for the blue panel (My Minds Eye), the background papers are from the Graphics 45 Steampunk pad. The sentiment is from the Tim Holtz collection and the ribbon is dyed using Distress Stains vintage photo.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Bloggers Challenge and a Wedding Wish


This week's Bloggers Challenge is a great sketch challenge provided by Lisa. I decided to use the Make It Monday Challenge theme at Kraft Journal which is Something Borrowed or Something Blue. As you can see, I went with the blue and with the whole theme which reminded me of a wedding. All of the die cuts are from Spellbinders. The background panel is embossed using a Tim Holtz texture fade. The image and sentiment are from Heartfelt Creations. The embellishments are Jeweled Inspirations from Creative Inspirations Paints. The final touch was to use Rock Candy Stickles on the raised part of the embossing and on the blue lacey edges of the die cuts. There really is an elegant sparkle to the card.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Every Snowflake is Different

In this card I used stamps from the new Chapel Road Artstamps sheets Snowflakes Everywhere and Snowflake Plate. Somehow, the snow seems much more appealing when it's stamped with beautiful stamps in the middle of a hot July. Snowflakes Everywhere is a wonderful background stamp. I stamped the image using a white paint dabber on a piece of cardstock. I then sprayed the background with mists made from distress ink and Perfect Pearls. This is one of Tim Holtz's techniques and it makes a gorgeous background. The sentiment was stamped on white cardstock and the edges were inked with antique linen distress ink. I used the Spellbinders fleur de lis rectangles die to create the backing panel.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Flying Machines

This card was actually influenced by several challenges. It was a lot of fun to create. I'm kind of in a Steampunk mood ever since Gingersnap gave July the theme of Steampunk. So this card is for the Gingersnap Spicy Supply Challenge 110 -- Gears, Cogs, and Watchbits. The layout is based on Mojo   Monday's Challenge 199 sketch. The Ink on my Fingers Sunday challenge 162 is Flying. and finally, the July challenge at Inspiration Emporium is texture. My flying machines are images from a Mailbox Muse collage sheet. The background panel is embossed using a Tim Holtz texture fade on Core'dinations paper and then sanded. The sentiment is from Oxford Impressions.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Hot Colors

The Artistic Stamper and Rogue Redhead Designs monthly challenges want to see hot colors on our creations. Rogue Redhead Designs wants us to use the colors with vintage images. Based on RRD's color choices, I found this background cardstock from Club Scrap. It made the perfect background for these images from Rogue Redhead designs. I first stamped the girl in the chair and masked her so I could stamp the boy standing near her. I hope my card is hot, hot, hot enough.

More Christmas in July

This month the Stampsmith Challenge is Christmas. I chose an image from the Stampsmith sheet, It's a Dog's Life. I thought that this woman in her fur coat walking her dog was a great image to stand in front of the Christmas tree (Cuttlebug embossing folder). The decorations on the tree are painted with Smooch inks.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Guest Designer -- Grungy Monday 15


It's Grungy Monday 15 and I'm excited to say that I was chosen as a guest designer for this week's challenge.  Each week our fabulous leader, Linda Ledbetter, chooses a challenge which celebrates the techniques and products of Tim Holtz. This week our Grungy Monday 15 challenge is Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas 2007, Day 7.
For my project I used Tim's technique as inspiration to create this wall hanging for my little studio. I love trying Tim's techniques since they are so inspirational and informative. This technique is so easy.All you need is a few colors of distress ink, some embossing powder and a stamp. Any other embellishing is up to you.
I started with a 4x6 piece of tag manila paper because I wanted to use this 4x6 inch frame.  For the background I used broken china as the base and vintage photo as the highlight. I stamped the word Artist on a tag using several colors of distress ink -- fired brick, faded jeans, victorian velvet, spiced marmalade, dusty concord, and shabby shutters. The colors are a personal choice. Again I used vintage photo along the edges.
For embellishment I used a strip from sheet music (from my stash)which I antiqued using old paper distress. The butterflies were cut using Tim's movers and shakers butterflies and highlighted with a little tissue tape (also Tim's). The flower (a gift from a dear friend) was highlighted using fired brick distress ink.
The frame was purchased at a dollar store. I loved the inner layer. It was made to be covered with tissue tape.
My co - Guest Designer for this week's challenge is Rinda Ontiveros.  Why don't you stop by and see what she has created! I hope you are inspired to try this challenge. If you don't have all the supplies called for in the technique, try substituting similar products. Also, if you love the Tim Holtz style why don't you check out the All Things Tim discussion group at Yahoo. Gloria, the list mom, has a Grungy Monday file there where participants can upload their art for the group to admire.

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Sunday, July 10, 2011

CHAPTER 5 Challenge - Week 2: Tea-things

`And ever since that,' the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, `he won't do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now.' A bright idea came into Alice's head. `Is that the reason so many tea-things are put out here?' she asked. `Yes, that's it,' said the Hatter with a sigh: `it's always tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.' `Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice. `Exactly so,' said the Hatter: `as the things get used up.' `But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured to ask.


The Mad Hatter's tea table was full of tea-things, with place settings all the way around and many teapots and teacups. Your challenge this month is to have a teapot or teacup on your project, and, as an option, to use something OTHER than a stamped image as your focal point!
 
That's because The Altered Alice design team will be showing off with digital collage sheets from One Crabapple [Etsy Store ,

Blog], which has of the most interesting and different Alice in Wonderland categories I've seen! The owner and artist is taking care of some family priorities, so if the store is closed when you visit, just put in your email in to be notified when it reopens. It is well worth waiting for I promise; most of the design team members had a difficult time making their choices and a couple of us needed all of everything in the Alice category! The winner will have their choice of five collage sheets from One Crabapple!
 
 
 
July is a long month, so you have almost four weeks to enter your project! Plenty of time for even our stragglers to play along, just be sure to enter before 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time, GMT -5:00) on Friday, July 29. The winner and honorable mentions will be announced the last Sunday of the month, July 31.
 
There were so many cool images on the Alice collage sheets from One Crabapple. I decided to use a banner to showcase as many of the images as I could.
Here are the close ups of the different pennant flags.


Tea Queen

"Who Stole the Tarts?" and "Queen of Hearts, She made some tarts"

"It's Always 6 O'Clock" and "No time to say Hello! Good-bye! I'm Late."
Tea cups and Tea Pot.

"Clean Cups! Move on down!" and Alice herself

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Faux Marble

The Try That Technique challenge at Technique Junkies was the faux marbling technique from the Oct-Nov 2009 newsletter. I admit I had never tried this before, but what an easy, cool technique. The sketch challenge (with red) at Critter Sketch was the perfect layout to show off the faux marble. The rose is a stamp from Heartfelt Creations and the sentiment is from Club Scrap. When I created the card according to the sketch, it was ok, but needed something. I embossed the two red squares...better. Then it was Creative Inspirations Paints to the rescue. I took my fairy dust paint and painted the rose and the two red squares. The clear sparkle added pizzazz to an ordinary card. A few jeweled inspiration gems on the rose panel and sentiment was the perfect finishing touch.

Art is a Shadow

This week the Grungy Monday challenge is Tim's March 2008 Technique Challenge.  I made my mists with victorian velvet, tumbled glass, and wild honey. All of the stamps used are from Tim's line. I love doing these challenges because it is a reminder of techniques I have forgotten. I know I'll use this technique again.

The Writing is on the Wall

The Writing is on the Wall is the Sunday challenge at Hel's Ink on my Fingers blog and Simon Says Stamp and Show a flourish. My card was made using a beautiful piece of Webster's Pages cardstock, a wonderful stamped sentiment from Our Daily Bread Designs which was oval die cut, a Cuttlebug frame embossing folder, and some rhinestone flourishes. Put them all together and a beautiful card is made.

Celebrating Liberty

I've been so busy this week with a few major projects and with family obligations, so please bear with me. This will be a multiple post day to catch up. My first card combines three challenges -- Created by Hand (fireworks/metallics), Kraft Journal (patriotic or Americana), and Mojo Monday (a sketch).
I imagine that the red, white, and blue color scheme gave away the patriotic theme. I used a stamp from Judikins for the fireworks and the Statue of Liberty is from the Artistic Outpost stamp sheet She-roes. I love this set and especially this particular stamp. I used metal sheets of red (reverse side silver) and blue to cut the pennant strips and star. I embossed the metal with the Cuttlebug dot folder. The sketch provided by Mojo Monday was a lot of fun to work with. Kraft was used for the base card.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Floral Frenzy

This week's Bloggers Challenge is a favorite of mine. I love flowers, so I enjoyed making this card. The background of the card was made using the reinker splash technique from Technique Junkies, Feb-Mar 2008. I then embossed it in a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The image and sentiment is one stamp from B-Line Creations. It was a fairly easy card to make, and I love the colorful look of the background contrasting with the white image/sentiment panel and the white base card.
Happy Friday everyone.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Christmas in July

Well, it's Christmas in July time again. This week I'm highlighting some new stamps from Chapel Road Artstamps and sharing a card for the Tuesday Throwdown challenge, which just happens to be Christmas in July. I just love the grungy look of these stamps. Of course, stamping on watercolor paper does add to the grungy look. I used stamps from the Pointsettia Plate and the Holly Plate.
To make my card, I first stamped the holly corners. Then I dry embossed the December calendar with a texture fade from Tim Holtz. I highlighted December and 25 using markers. The pointsettia was stamped on a separate piece of paper by coloring with markers direct to stamp. I roughly cut out the flower and adhered it to the calendar panel. Merry Christmas in July.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Seeds of Liberty

Happy 4th of July weekend! It's Bloggers Challenge time again and the challenge (if you haven't guessed already) is red, white and blue. Coincidentally, that is also the challenge at Tuesday Throwdown this week. I first stamped the seed packet from Artistic Outpost's Bloom and Grow, masked it, and then stamped the flags from She-roes. The flags were stamped by adding marker color direct to stamp, huffing a bit, and then stamping them on the cardstock. The star brads at the bottom were distressed with white dabber paint.
Hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July.