Thursday, January 31, 2013

Stars and Stripes

It's impossible to believe that another month is ending.  I'm finally posting my submission for the Artistic Outpost monthly referral challenge which is anything goes this month.
The stamps on my card are from the Heroes and She-roes sets of Artistic Outpost stamps. I used the watercolor marker stamping technique on watercolor paper for my images. The layout is based on the current Mojo Monday sketch for round or square. In addition, I'm entering the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge which is seeing stars.
I think that the recent inauguration activities and the upcoming Presidents' Day holiday influenced my choice of stamps for my card.  A little patriotic tribute is never out of order.

Monday, January 28, 2013

12 Tags of 2013 -- January

It's a new year and a new set of 12 tags of 2013 by Tim Holtz . This is my version of the January Tag. The stamped and stained ribbon is a really cool touch. I love the gears stained with the metallic stains. They almost look real especially when paired with the metal gears. There is so much detail and so much to look at in Tim's tag style.
I am also entering my tag in the Critter Sketch challenge which is bring the metal.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Birthday Cutie

front

open
Today I created a sweet birthday card for a child or someone young at heart. I cut the card base to make a swing center card using a Sizzix die. The base cardstock is from my stash. I decided to have a little fun and take my perfect pearls out of moth balls. It's been ages since I used them. Using my water brush, I dipped the tip into the pearls and painted the circles on the card. I love the shimmer. The images are from Rogue Redhead Designs, Getting Grizzly stamp sheet. I love these little furry friends. I also used my perfect pearls to paint the images. On the center reverse, I used a background stamp and sentiment from the same stamp set. The birthday greeting is an outline sticker as is the little birthday hat on the birthday bear.
I am entering my card into these Challenges--Tuesday Throwdown's furry friends challenge and Our Daily Bread Design's for a child challenge.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Kiss Me You Fool

As Valentine's Day nears, the hearts and flowers cards start to appear.. My card today meets several challenges. At Cheery Lynn Designs, the challenge is sweethearts. SweetStamps wants to see pearls and lace. Marks finest Papers Simple Salutations challenge is flower and a sentiment.  At Stampsmith, the challenge is reuse or recycle.
My card started with two main components--an image from Stampsmith's Kiss Me You Fool stamp set and the love quote and flower recycled from a 2012 calendar page. The Love You More heart diecuts and Carnivale Border from Cheery Lynn Designs added the Valentine look and the pearls and rhinestones added the finishing bling.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Daffodil Bday

In keeping with my New Year's resolutions, I am trying to vary my art style a little by using stamps that I haven't used at all or at least for a long time and by trying to use varying techniques.
Today's Bloggers Challenge is to create a birthday theme. I'm also entering my card into the City Crafters challenge which is forever mine--use hearts; into the Simon Says Stamp challenge which is to use paper piercing; and into the Stampotique Designers challenge which is to use our New Year's Resolution as inspiration.
The background of my card was made using my Gelli Arts Plate. The image stamps are from Stampotique. Daffodil has been paper pieced . The heart flowers were stamped directly on the background and colored using my white Signa pen and my silver sparkle gel pen. The sentiment and speech bubble were stamped with Club Scrap stamps.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Bird House

Keeping true to my promising myself to use more of my design paper (You know, the "I must have it!" collection), I designed this card for Hels Sunday challenge at Ink on my Fingers. Her theme is birds. The DP and stamps (except Stampin' Up sentiment) are from Heartfelt Creations. The bird and birdhouse are perfect for the challenge. The leaves and flower are stamped and die cut. I cut a second bird house and popped it over the one on the paper. The card is not not my usual style, but I like the outcome.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Night Creatures

I mentioned in my earlier post that I had some time today to play in my studio. It was a perfect time to create a page in my art journal. This piece just developed one step at a time. I started with my Dylusions sprays and a stencil from Club Scrap. Since one of the challenges (81) at Stampotique is a journal page, I knew I would be using my Stampotique stamps. Three Muses also challenges us to do a journal page
The darkness of the page and the unique look of some of the Stampotique stamps gave me the idea for Night Creatures. The owls, starry head, Leopard Queen on the mushroom, fireflies (formerly bees), and the  heads shadows fit right into the night scene. Baby Cthulhu flies above reminding us that "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." 

Art is...

Today is a holiday in the US (Martin Luther King's Day) so I didn't have to babysit for the grandkids. That meant a little more time in the studio to play. Today the challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show was a thought provoking one. They asked "What are you known for?" At first I was stumped. However, when I was looking at the sketch challenge for Mojo Monday, it came to me. The sketch this week is rather CAS. My first reaction was what can I do to make the background pop. A naked background makes me somewhat uncomfortable. Then I realized that my art often means enhanced backgrounds using some kind of technique. So out came my Gelli Arts Printing Plate and play time began. I also tend to use a lot of texture in my work. I came across the rusted metal embellishments that I had purchased a while back. They were just perfect for making this card. I really like Tim Holtz products and used one of his stamps for the sentiment. Since the card had a very rustic feel to it, I finished it off with a piece of twine tied to the fold. Therefore I am also entering this card in the Marks Finest Papers, Speedy Fox and Friends challenge which is use twine.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Love

It's Sunday afternoon and I had a little time to play. I created a card for several challenges. Simon Says Stamp and Show challenged us to show lace, love. Tuesday Throwdown wants us to frame it. Our Daily Bread Designs has a  similar border it theme. Creative Belli wants to see purple and blue.
For this card I got a chance to use a frame from Cheery Lynn Designs that I hadn't used before. The background stamp and sentiment are both from ODBD.  I love the love sentiment. The purple and blue color scheme just developed. The colors worked together.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Snowflakes


This card combines some of my favorite challenges, Mojo Monday with a sketch challenge, Cheery Lynn Designs with a challenge of snowflakes, and City Crafter with a challenge of winter blues. For my card I used several Cheery Lynn Design dies. I used six different snowflake patterns and two dies from Lace Corners D.   Behind the sentiment is the French Pastry Doily. I love how the dies, the sketch, and the colors worked so well together.

Flower Bouquet


Okay, it's not Friday, but better late than never. It was a crazy week with a sick grandbaby who shared her germs with me. I also had two concerts to go to (fun, but less time for creating). Here's my Bloggers Challenge card. It was a sketch challenge. I really love Lisa's sketches.
I'm also entering my card in a few other challenges. Kraft Journal wants us to use scraps. Actually, almost all of the pieces of my card (except the base) came from my scrap box. SweetStamps has an anything goes challenge. The flower bouquet stamp is from SweetStamps. The Marks Finest Papers, Friends of Speedy challenge is recycling. The panel behind the image is recycled packaging corrugated cardboard.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Winter Blues

What better to do on a chilly winter day than sit and read a book. It's snowing (Look hard and you'll see the snowflakes) and too cold to go outside. I created this card for the Winter Blues challenge at Rogue Redhead Designs.  The wallpaper is made using a Sizzix embossing folder. The window and curtains are made using Spellbinders dies. All of the stamps are Rogue Redhead Designs. I had a lot of fun paper-piecing the girl and her chair.
I am entering this card in the following challenges: The challenge at Simon Says Stamp is black/white and a splash of color. Cornish Heritage Farms wants no red or green. Creative Belli has winter or snowmen as the theme.

Birthday Bouquet

Well, slowly, but surely I'm getting back to doing challenges. This card is being entered into the SweetStamps challenge which is a recipe challenge (diecut and stamped flower) and into the Tuesday Throwdown challenge which is shiny and new (use your new stuff).
My flower stamp is a brand new stamp from SweetStamps. I used my distress markers to color the image. The doily die cut is from Cheery Lynn. My sentiment and corner embellishments are outline stickers.

Love Defined

This week Cheery Lynn has a challenge theme of winter whites. Okay, this time my photo is close-up clear, but the color is skewed. Truly my card is white on white. I used  Cheery Lynn's nautical wheeler doily as my background panel. The hearts are both Celtic heart and the flowers and leaves are cut from build a flower 2 and build a flower embellishments 2. I used Cryogen paper for all of the diecuts. I love the hint of sparkle in the paper. The sentiment is from Tim Holtz. I'm putting this card away to use for someone special at Valentines Day.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Spread Your Wings

My card uses the current Mojo Monday sketch as its layout. The challenge at Frilly and Funkie is to follow your muse. One thing my muse is encouraging me to do is to break away from my usual. This card uses several patterns of Graphic 45 design paper. I love paper, but I don't use the design pattern paper a lot in my art.  Since the Sunday challenge at Ink on my Fingers is come fly with me, this winged fairy paper was a perfect way  to begin. I think the sentiment (Dylusions) works well both for the card and for my muse's push.

Floral Birthday

I couldn't pass up this week's Bloggers Challenge which is a color inspiration challenge since the colors are my favorite combination--or at least I thought they were. When I first saw the inspiration image, I saw the pillow stripes as teal, navy and sage. Now the sage looks grey. Oh well, sage goes great with teal and navy, so I'll stick to my original thoughts.
The technique used on the image panel of my card is Tim Holtz's dabber resist--a favorite of mine. The panel is sticky back canvas. The stamp is one from Judikens that I've had in my collection for years, but it has never been used. One of my resolutions this year is to try to use more stamps from my collection, especially some that haven't ever been used or that haven't been used in ages. The flowers were stamped with my white acrylic paint dabber and the background colors are from distress stains.
I am also entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge which is embrace the old. (I hope that using an old stamp and a technique from the past qualifies.) At Fashionable Stamping the challenge is surprise us. I hope that the canvas die cut, the flower stamped using acrylic paint, and the color combination are surprise enough.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

CHAPTER 23: We're All Mad Here, So Anything Goes!

`In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction,' waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.'
`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
-- Chapter 6, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
"We're all mad here" is the favorite Alice quote of artist Rick St. Dennis, so in January, anything goes! Be mad! Get cute, get creepy, get crazy, because Rick St. Dennis has amazing digi stamps in all those styles, including many wonderful AIW images! Submit your creations on the Altered Alice blog site by Friday, January 25th for a chance to win three digital stamps from Rick St. Dennis. All projects are welcome, but those featuring Wonderland will have two chances at the prize instead of one. Multiple entries are welcome, but to be counted as separate entries they must be on separate posts.
Designer of over 100 theatrical productions, Rick St Dennis (Donald McAfee) is also the author of 4 books on decorative painting and contributor to at least a dozen national magazines on crafts and art. St. Dennis has appeared on such TV shows as Home Matters with Susan Powell, Aileen's Crafts and others. He was Crafts editor for Country Folk Art Magazine and sold his artwork nationally through galleries and shows. For a complete bio of his amazing career, see Rick's blog!
Here's what I created this month:
My first project is an accordian flip card (Sizzix die). I love cards that pop and I just knew that these wonderful images from Rick St Dennis would look great showcased in the card.  Alice with all her friends starts the grouping. Aren't these characters sweet.The next image is the Cheshire cat. He is quite dandy. Next comes the mad hatter. No question that he is a bit mad. And finally, is the Red Queen all decked out in her zentangle array. The images were all colored with Ranger distress markers.

My second project, a wallhanging, came about because I couldn't choose just four images to show. I had stamped, colored, and die cut the images so I could decide which ones to use in the card. I didn't want to leave any of them out, so the wall hanging was created. The first image is of Alice and the cat. The second image is  the Tweedles. don't you just want to give them a hug!. The third is the March Hare in all his mad glory. The fourth image is another version of the Red Queen all decked out in her hearts.

I am entering my projects into the Simon Says Stamp and Show the no rules totally mad tea party challenge and the Simon Says Challenge which is new something (my new die and new digi stamps).