Friends

This week the challenge at The Octopode Factory and at Take a Word was friends. The layout of my card is a quarter turn rotation of the sketch challenge at Critter Sketch. The Octopode version of the Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum characters from Alice in Wonderland looked perfect for a friends challenge as they walk along arm in arm. I thought the sentiment was ideal for a friends card.

Your Future Awaits

It's graduation time of year and the challenge at Cheery Lynn is just in time. The theme is for the grad and I need a graduation card for my grandson's aunt tonight. For the layout I used this weeks Mojo Monday sketch challenge. Although faint on the scan, the background paper has music imprinted on it. The paper is from Club Scrap and has a wonderful texture. Behind the mortar board and diploma, I needed a smaller doily, so I used the inner doily from the Polynesian sails oval. Behind the doily is mini flourish one. The mortar board and diploma is computer generated and the sentiment is from Club Scrap.

Roses -- Faux Porcelain Style

It's near the end of May and I'm just finishing up  my May tag for the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012 challenge. When I first saw Tim's instructions, I thought that he had lost it. I loved his tag, but faux porcelain roses ... was he kidding? No he wasn't, and I'm so glad he did it. What a wonderful technique and the spool vase is so cool too. I actually ended up making several more roses. I don't know what I'll use them for, but they are so pretty.
I'm also entering this tag in the Tuesday Throwdown challenge which is 3-D, the City Crafter challenge which is a rose is a rose,  the SweetStamps challenge which is anything goes, and the Great Impressions challenge which is anything goes.

Kitty at the Window

They don't call it a challenge for nothing. This week Cheery Lynn's challenge was to add a door or window. Cheery Lynn has so many wonderful windows and doors dies, but unfortunately I don't have them yet. They are still on my wish list. So I went another route. I created a window and used the Dutch doily rectangle frame to create the lace curtains for the window. The kitty is sitting on the window sill dreaming of being outside. The outside view was made using a cuttlebug embossing folder with the bird and grasses. I used the flourishes from the Japanese lace and flourish frame and added sunflowers made with the miniature rose die. I am also adding this card in the Take a Word challenge since that theme is dream.

Patriotic Holidays of Summer

This card was created combining the Mojo Monday sketch, the Compendium of Curiosities II challenge theme of brushless watercolor from p. 49 of Tim Holtz's new book and Simon Says Stamp and Show a summer holiday.
I took the Simon Says theme and decided that the summer holidays are all about Americana and patriotism. We have Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. With that in mind I brought out Tim's Americana Silhouette stamp set and texture fade and went to work.
The background layer  is done using the stamping with stains technique (Creative Chemistry 101) and letterpress. The red panel was done using the Cuttlebug highlights technique from Technique Junkies. The image panel was stamped using the brushless watercolor technique from p.49 of the Compendium II book. Ms. Literty actually looks awesome in real life. She loses a little bit with the scan.
Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

Neutrals

It's Bloggers Challenge time again and this week the challenge is green/brown neutral. To create my card, I started with a wonderful stamp from Dina Wakely, some kraft cardstock for the base card, and several scraps of burlap and brown and beige card stock that I had on my table. The grungy flower was stamped with pesto ink and then colored over with lettuce ink. The edges were inked with gathered twigs distress ink. I decided to used the birthday sentiment since my brother has a birthday coming up soon and I knew he'd like this card.

Escape

I guess it's better late than never. I missed the deadline for this week's Compendium of Curriosities II challenge. I have not skipped a challenge for Compendium 1, Grungy Monday, or Compendium II. So even if I missed the deadline, I am posting my challenge card. The challenge this week is tissue wrap collage from p. 38 of Tim's book. I had never done this technique before. The result was interesting. I think I have to practice this one a little more.

Your Smile Warms my Heart

The May Stampsmith challenge is a sketch challenge. The challenge at Kraft Journal is remembering you. Tuesday Throwdown wants to see fabric.
To create my card I started with the beautiful image of Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing-Shakespeare) from the Stampsmith stamp plate, Julia and Friends which I stamped in sepia. The background is a piece of burlap. The side panel is a piece of velvet which was stamped using the iron method. [I haven't done that technique in ages.] My sentiment comes from Club Scrap.

Reading Takes Us Places

This month's challenge at Artistic Outpost is travel. I thought it would be fun to take a slightly different twist on the theme. I used a quote from Dr. Seuss, "The more your read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." to define my travel. The little girl (Favorite Book) is reading her book and is imagining traveling to all kinds of interesting places, both real and fantasy -- Land of Oz (Oz Collage), England with Peter Pan (Neverland), or flying to far places (Charles and Amelia). Maybe I'll go pick up a book and do a little travelling myself.

In Style

This week Cheery Lynn Designs wants us to bling it up and Ink on My Fingers Sunday Challenge is circles. I had this blinged designer paper from My Mind's Eye. Each of the little circles are glitter.  I thought it made a great background for these lovely ladies from Rogue Redhead Designs. I cut the DP using the Cheery Lynn mini pearl circle mega doily from the reflections collection. The little sentiment (also RRD) half circle was also cut from one of those dies.  The corners were cut from gold metallic paper using the CL lace corner deco die F; and the flowers were cut from glitter paper using the miniature rose die.

Graduation Congratulations

It's that time of year -- graduation. This week the Bloggers Challenge is graduation. I combined the challenge with the one at the Octopode Factory which was red, white, and blue.
My card is semi-CAS...I just made that up. The ink and pen are digi images from Octopode that I printed and then colored using distress markers. The celebrating graduate and sentiment are stamps from Club Scrap. And the dots around the edge of the card are from the Tim Holtz collection.

World of Imagination

The Compendium of Curiosities challenge this week is shattered stains from p. 48 of Tim Holtz's book. I was first introduced to this technique in Creative Chemistry 101. It's a fun technique that turns out so cool. My background is done with distress stains and water. I then used a book covers texture fade to emboss the background. The bird cage was die cut using metallic paper. The bird was cut from grungeboard. The sentiment is a Tim Holtz stamp.
I really liked how this card turned out, so I am also entering in in the Simon Says Stamp and Show anything goes challenge.

Cascading flowers

Hooray! The Try That Technique challenge is back at Technique Junkies. This week the challenge is the cascading images technique from the current Technique Junkies newsletter. My background image and the flowers are Heartfelt Creations stamps. The sentiment is from Rogue Redhead Designs.

London

The current challenge at Fashionable Stamping is cities of the world. Well, London is definitely a world city. And who lives in London, but the Queen. The theme at Ink on My Fingers Sunday Challenge is queens and royalty.
To create my card, I used distress stains with added water drips. I edged the card with walnut stain distress ink. All of the stamps are from Artistic Outpost. AO has three wonderful sets of London stamps. The lady was stamped, colored with markers, and cut out. The sentiment was stamped on white cardstock and torn and inked. Everytime I see the London stamps, I want to go back for another visit.

Thanks a Bunch

I had a lot of fun combining a few challenges to make this card.

I began with the sketch challenge from Mojo Monday. The challenge at My Minds Eye is to use MME brads in our work. At the Artistic Stamper the challenge is spots and stripes. I used MME papers with stripes, with spots, and with florals. The striped brad and pink pearl brads worked well with the papers. Both Critter Sketch and I Brake for Challenges had flowers as their theme. The flower stamp is one from I Brake for Stamps. Finally, the sentiment (from Club Scrap) was stamped on a spun sugar dyed ribbon. The challenge at Kraft Journal is a thank you challenge. All of the panels were adhered to a kraft base card.

The Angel Family

The current challenge at Stampotique Designers is family. Don't you think that Angel Boy, Angel and Moon Girl make an adorable family. I used Creative Inspirations Paints to color them. I love the shimmery look--quite angelic I think.

For Mom

This card represents my attempt to do parchment stamping with rubber stamps (Sweet Stamps challenge). It is a card made for her (Kraft Journal). I used a beautiful Sweet Stamp flower as my focal image. Unfortunately I must practice more to get this technique down pat. I did try though.

Thinking of You

I created this card for a friend who is going through a lot right now.
It is a card in shades of purple (Cheery Lynn challenge) with a bit of vintage glamour (challenge at Three Muses).
To create this card I used the Celtic Chain Rectangle Reflections die for the card panel and Border Carnivale for the side border. The cameo image uses Kitchen Sink Stamps and all sentiments are from Club Scrap.

Week 2, CHAPTER 15: Any Way You Go Will Get You Somewhere!

`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
`I don't much care where--' said Alice.
`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
`--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.
`Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'
-- Chapter 6, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

ALICE ON SALE!!! ALL
Alice in Wonderland
on sale May 6-26, 2012

Any way you go will get you somewhere, so this month's challenge at The Altered Alice is ANYTHING GOES! It's all up to you, and we can't wait to see what road you will take with YOUR project. Wonderland entries are encouraged; you will be rewarded with two chances at the draw instead of one. Multiple entries are fine as long as each is on a separate post. You have until May 25 to enter! Our sponsor this month is the amazing Alpha Stamps [Store | Blog], and Alice fans are in for a real treat when they shop in this magical store! Alpha Stamps features exclusive rubber stamps, collage sheets, paper dolls, kits and collage supplies of all kinds. Their Alice in Wonderland selection is HUGE! Other shopping themes include Steampunk, Birds, French Vintage, Circus, and many more. I love it that you can shop by theme or product type. Be sure to enroll in their newsletter, as the supplies used in the latest artwork from their talented design team are often on sale! They also have fun challenges that are hosted on their Facebook page. The winners are chosen by the number of "likes" each project receives!

The Prize - Anything Goes and Everyone Wins!
The Altered Alice design team will be working with this newly released exclusive "Alice's Adventures" stamp set from Alpha Stamps, plus some Alpha Stamps exclusive collage sheets and other collage supply goodies!

ONE randomly drawn winner will receive the same "Alice's Adventures" unmounted rubber sheet that the design team is using!
EVERYONE who participates in the challenge will win a brand new digital White Rabbit ATC Collage Sheet, emailed at the end of the challenge! SO DON'T BE LATE - enter by May 25 (Eastern daylight time zone)!
And if you just can't play along, you can still enjoy ALL ALICE ON SALE at Alpha Stamps, now until May 26, 2012. So get going and let's see where you go with this fabulous Alpha Stamps challenge!
Here's my Inspiration for the week: My post started with an invitation to an un-birthday party for Alice given by the Mad Hatter. Here is the setting for the party.

It looks like the Mad Hatter put on quite an elegant spread. The tea and cakes look good enough to eat. I think Alice will be honored.

Let's take a closer look at what's on the tray.

The delicious looking cupcakes are adorned with favors made from shrink plastic. Alice and the white rabbit are stamped with the Alpha stamps.

The plate is stamped with the Alpha stamps. I used Stazon ink to stamp them. I also sponged a little Creative Inspiration paint around the center area to finish off the look.

No party given by the Mad Hatter is complete without a cup of tea. The cup is stamped with the flamingoes stamp from Alpha and then sponged with CI paint.

The teapot was colored using distress ink. The flower die cut images are taken from various collage sheets from Alpha.

Of course, there had to be a rose on the tray. The vase is a mushroom created from 2 spools and a half of a styrofoam ball.

How elegant can it get. The Mad Hatter even included a cloth napkin stamped with Alice's image. (Alpha stamps, of course)

Last, but not least, is the tray. The tray is a wooden one which was stained with espresso color wash spray. The bottom of the tray is collaged with images from the tea party collage sheets.



It's been a long post, but I hope you enjoyed it. I also want to wish everyone a wonderful, happy Mother's Day!

For Papa

The challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show was either super easy or impossible for me. The challenge was to show our favorite stamp. Well, my favorite stamp changes from moment to moment. Today I watched the Cars movie with my grandson. Then when I was trying to decide which was my favorite stamp of the moment I saw this car from Tim Holtz's Road Trip. It reminded me of Doc in the movie and I knew which stamp(s) I wanted to use. All of the stamps used, except Route 66 (Artistic Outpost) [because of the size], were from this set. The background is marbled stains from Creative Chemistry 101.

The layout of the card was based on the current challenge at Mojo Monday. (I turned the layout on its side.)

This card is also being entered into the Take a Word challenge which is gentlemen. This card will be a father's day card for a wonderful gentleman.

Mother's Treasure

Although I'm a little late in posting, I didn't want to miss the Bloggers Challenge with the theme Oh Baby. My card features the most precious baby in my life, my granddaughter, Jayda. This card will make a wonderful Mother's Day card for my daughter. Jayda will be 20 months in a few days.
My card is a fairly simple card. The image is the focus. The base card and frame are a shimmery opal cardstock. I die cut the frame and the picture. I die cut a flower using a Spellbinders die and used Tim Holtz's ChitChat words for the sentiment.
This card will also be entered into these challenges: Critter Sketch with the theme Mom; Tuesday Throwdown with the theme motherly love; City Crafter with the theme photo booth (use a photo in our project) and Creative Belli Blog with the theme new arrivals or babies.
Wishing everyone a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.

On the Sea

This week the challenge for Compendium of Curiosities II is faded layers from p. 43 of Tim's book. I'm excited to report that I received my new seasonal spring distress inks. Of course, I had to try them out right away. Mmmmm delicious colors.  I found the compass mask in my stash and knew immediately that I would use the ship stamp. This is a technique I hadn't tried before. I really like how this technique turned out. All of the stamps, inks, and stencil are from the Tim Holtz line.
Last week I just missed the cut-off time for the challenge. This week I'll just make it. I really don't want to miss the challenges.

Did Ya Hear?

I'm excited to announce that I have officially joined the wonderful Rogue Crew for Rogue Redhead Designs.  My card today celebrates that fact. I used images from the Just Sayin' plate. These stamps are so versatile and so fun. Doesn't this sentiment make a great announcement card!
To make my card, I stamped the background stamp on my panel and then colored the panel using Pan Pastels. I stamped the face (colored with distress markers) and sentiment and then diecut it using a Spellbinders die and framed it using the next sized nestie. I stamped the cat and adhered it to the card. This cat has such an adorable expression and pose. I have used it so many times. I'm looking forward to lots more fun with the RRD stamps in upcoming days.

Altered Frame

Using a beautiful napkin and some wax,  a cheap Michaels frame can become a work of art. To create my altered frame I adhered my napkin using melted bees wax. I used rub on flourishes, a piece of collage art, and melted colored wax stamped with small stamps. The sentiment  was stamped on design paper and colored with the Simple Swipes technique from the Feb/Mar 2012 newsletter. I am entering my frame in the Frilly and Funkie alter it challenge.

From the Garden

This week's Mojo Monday challenge is a round or square sketch.  I am also entering my card in the Ink on My Fingers Sunday challenge which is red, the Kraft Journal challenge which is use any sketch, the Tuesday Throwdown challenge which is in the garden, and the City Crafter challenge which is text and tulle. Whew!
To create my card, I started with a 5x5 inch square kraft cardstock base. For my layer panel I used a piece of red cardstock which I embossed using an embossibilities folder. Across the middle I added a piece of dictionary page (text) and added a tulle ribbon and bow. My image is from Artistic Outpost Bloom and Grow stamps. I love this little girl. I think she is so adorable. She is stamped on watercolor paper and watercolored using distress markers. She is pushing her wheelbarrow of garden flowers embellished with flower soft.

ATC's Tim Holtz Style

 This week the challenge at Compendium of Curiosities II is marbled stains from p. 46 of Tim's 2nd book. All of the products used are from the Tim Holtz line and Ranger. I really like this technique so I made three atc's, each with a different background. All of these were created on Ranger manila atc blanks.

The first, "Give Me Five" was created using picket fence, fired brick, broken china, victorian velvet, and faded jeans. The sides were distressed and edged with walnut stain. The 5 is a grungeboard numeralwhich I stained black and covered with crackle accents. The sentiment is created from ChitChat words. The stamp is a Tim Holtz atc stamp and the 5 silver beads are from my stash.

The second "Soar" uses china blue picket fence, dusty concord, and faded jeans, and is edged with pumice stone. The sentiment is an adage ticket. The stamp is also a Tim Holtz atc stamp.

The third atc, "Embrace Your Dreams" is done with picket fence, antique linen, scattered straw, and rusty hinge stains, and is edged with walnut stain. The stamp is a Tim Holtz atc stamp. The sentiment is created from the ChitChat words.

Irises for Mom

It's Bloggers Challenge time again and this week we're celebrating Moms. In addition Cheery Lynn wants to see flowers; Simon Says Stamp and Show a kaleidoscope of color; Sweet Stamps wants something for Mom; and All Things Tim  (Yahoo Group) wants flowers and at least two things Tim Holtz.
To make this card I started with a background using the alcohol ink splatter (TH technique) and definitely a kaleidoscope of color. The irises (Sweet Stamps) were watercolor stamped with distress markers (ala Tim Holtz). The frame and roses are done using Cheery Lynn dies (miniature rose and Dutch doily rectangular frame). The roses got a little flattened using the scanner, but they really look like miniature roses when fluffed back up. The letters were cut using Tim's typeset die. I think any Mom would love to receive this card.

Andy Warhol

This week the challenge at the Octopode Factory is pretty in pink. I just received the Octopode Artists sheet and I thought that Andy Warhol would appreciate the challenge theme. So here he is against a background of pink created on my gelli plate. The flowers behind him are Spellbinders die cuts done in colors which remind me of Andy Warhol. The sentiment is computer generated.