Royalty in Love

Here is my card for Grungy Monday, Simon Says Stamp and Show, and Artistic Stamper. The challenge at Grungy Monday is a technique challenge. We are to use Tim Holtz's Crackle Resist technique. I used weathered wood crackle paint and used victorian velvet and chipped sapphire for the background colors. All of the stamps except the king and queen are from Tim's collection, as are the die cuts. At Simon Says Stamp and Show the theme is kings and queens. This stamp of King Arthur and Queen Guenevere from Third Coast Rubber Stamps worked so well with the theme. At Artistic Stamper the February theme is hearts. This royal couple is so obviously in love, it was only right to add the heart (from grungeboard) with the royal crown in sparkle paper.

Mail Art

When I saw that the latest challenge at City Crafters was You've got mail, I knew I had to use this large envelope stamp. I had purchased it at a open-house celebrating the stamp artist Neosho. This is one of her hand carved stamp designs. I just had to have this stamp and the challenge was a perfect time to use it. I stamped the image on designer paper with Versamark and gold embossed it. I cut out the envelope and adhered it to a dark teal card base which I framed with a Cheery Lynn die frame. The little postmark-like circle was given to me this Christmas by a good friend, who doesn't stamp at all, but who appreciates my work. I love both of the sentiments.

Altered Cork Hot Mat

Bloggers Challenge and the Stampotique Designers challenge want to see us "Alter it." I had purchased some cork hot pads at IKEA a while back. I thought it would be fun to alter one for the challenge. I used a morphed smooched cork technique. Instead of smooch paint, I used Creative Inspirations Paint. I stamped my Stampotique images on the cork with Jet Black Archival Ink. Using a water pen and the paints I painted the images. The edge was done by sponging on paint along the sides and edges. The finished piece can be used as a wall hanging or to hold hot dishes.

With Love

Here's another Valentine for you. This one is very dimensional, although the scanner did flatten it somewhat. I started with a stamp from Outlines Rubber Stamps called Whimsical Blossom. I thought is was rather lacey looking and would look great on a Valentines card. I stamped it several times and cut out each layer. I adhered the layers to each other with foam dots. Over the top layer I adhered some die cut hearts which had been covered with glass bead gel. The challenge theme at Outlines Rubber Stamps is Follow Your Heart.
This card follows the sketch challenge at the Critter Sketch Challenge Blog seen at the left. I'd like to say congratulations to Critter Sketch on reaching their 100th challenge posting. There's a blog hop going on now to celebrate.
This card also meets the Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge which is a love recipe -- word love(s) hearts, lace, and the colors red, pink, and white. (I hope my lacey background and flower qualify for the lace.)

Stroll upon the Beach

This week the Chestnut Theme Challenge at Gingersnap Creations is words of wisdom.  Rogue Redhead Designs is this month's challenge sponsor. As a guest designer at Rogue Redhead Designs this month I was invited to participate in the design team Thursday challenge postings on the Gingersnap blog.
All of the stamps on my card are from the Beach Babes stamp set. These stamps are so sweet and I love the sentiment (quote from Thoreau). I guess the long winter was getting to me when I chose the stamps to use. The beach sounds so tempting right now. The background paper is from Club Scrap and yes, those are real sea shells on the card.

Carnival Dreams

Here is another card I created as Guest Designer for Rogue Redhead Designs using the Carnival Dreams stamp set. I stamped this loving couple on kraft and die cut it using a Spellbinders square die turned on an angle to make a diamond to coordinate with the background. I used the wisped frames technique from the February/March 2010 TJ newsletter to highlight around the couple. The frame is also a Spellbinder's die cut. The harlequin diamond background is from the Tim Holtz paper stash, Vintage Shabby. I overstamped with the heart balloon, the crown, and the star from the stamp set. A touch of gold stickles highlights the frame edges.
These fun stamps make me wish that I could hop a plane and fly to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras fun.

Fun News

I'm excited to announce that I was invited to be a guest designer this month at Rogue Redhead Designs for the new stamp release, Carnival Dreams.

This is such a fun set of stamps and they're just in time for Mardi Gras.

All of the stamps used in my card are from Carnival Dreams. I stamped the couple and die cut using a Spellbinders label die. The frame was cut from the next size up. The couple was colored using Copics. I used wisped frames technique from the February/March 2010 TJ newsletter to highlight around the couple. The background uses the cuttlebug highlight technique (Oct/Nov 2008 TJ) on Shimmer Sheetz highlighted with Stazon. I added the cute heart-shaped balloons and the sentiment to finish the card.