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.