On Hallowe'en Night...

All sorts of costumed lovelies are parading.... such a fun time of year!  I made a little card using a cute winged lady from Oxford Impressions' Masquerade stamp set.  I stamped her three times - once on cardstock to color, and twice on vellum to cut out two sets of wings for her - the top wings and the bottom, to give a little depth.  Her she is close up:

The background is my first experiment with some National Geographic pages soaked in CitraSolv - Oh. What. Fun!!!  The CitraSolv is a little pricey, but if you look at it in the context of "art supplies" (think how much you might pay for gel medium/distress inks in every color/a paper stash to last a century) it's not so bad, LOL!  Especially since you can clean up with it too, heeeheeeeee!  There are lots of tutorials on the web, and it just comes down to experimenting.  I highly recommend it, especially for some spooky Hallowe'en backgrounds.

Haunted Party House!

I've found a few moments here and there to play with two gorgeous new stamp sets from Oxford Impressions - Masquerade and Dr. Coffin's Apothecary.  I absolutely love Hallowe'en, and I've had this little house from Hobby Lobby for*ev*er!!!  I finally put it to some use.  Here are some close-ups....

I adore this little Victorian bat lady... so cute and so proper for a ghoul!

I did a little "surgery" on Mr. Skelly here.... Made a few snips at his shoulder and at his elbow so that he could take the hand of his lady..... I guess the cat got freaked out by that, LOL!

A fine and festive welcome!  Hope you are having a festive time this fall, too - my favorite time of year!

More Oxford Impressions

And today for something completely different .... a feminine take from the Abraham Lincoln stamp set!  This first card I wanted to do in the style of vintage sheet music covers.  I've collected, oh, maybe a few hundred of these, so it's no surprise that I found my muse in them for this project.  Yes, I'm taking liberties with history, but I just loved the mix of girly images.

Another little lady from the set.  I stamped her and cut her out, then pasted her strategically on some 6x6 Webster's paper, which was the perfect scale.  I also love the patterns that are on the backs of these papers, they mix together so effortlessly.

Hope you all have a wonderful evening!

Oxford Impressions Abraham Lincoln Set

I've finally gotten to do a little stamping, with some wonderful new sets from Oxford Impressions!  Once I started creating with this set, I saw lots of possibilities - not just projects related to the 16th president of the United States.  The set has some wonderful, inspiring quotes from President Lincoln himself.  My first card could be for a new graduate (my original idea for it), but could also be sent for a Support Our Troops mission, where every job counts.  Once I started down that road, I came up with another card with a military feel.....

For this one, I used Distress Ink Markers to ink up the flag, then stamped it onto a piece of plastic first, then rubbed the wet image onto the background cardstock - giving it an ethereal effect. The other flag is stamped normally, using Distress Markers to ink it up.  Hopefully an encouraging message for our troops.

I'll have a few samples from the same set tomorrow, and you won't believe how different they are! ;)  Can you tell I'm having fun?

A Chunky London Telegraph ATC

There's something about a chunky ATC that just makes me think "steampunk."  I guess it's because they're sturdy enough to hold all of the wonderful steampunk ephemera you can think of.  This little creation features Oxford Impressions' new London Telegraph plate.  I started out by painting the block brown and letting it dry.  I used an anti-static bag over the face of the block, then embossed the background image in white (with ultra fine embossing powder to capture some of the details, like the watchmaker's sign and buildings on the skyline).  I stamped and cut out the man with the hat, then cut his hat in half and hinged it with a brad, so that I could have the word banner coming out of his head.  The stamps on the side are from the same stamp plate.  After finishing the other sides, I glued on lots of fun hardware (using extra heavy gel medium - you don't even have to hold it in place, it's thick enough to hold everything together while it drys).

I have a few more chunky ATCs, and I'm itching to make a Valentine's theme.  Ya know, someday when I have that elusive "extra time."  ;)

Oxford Impressions - Steampunk Fairy part 2

Another little steampunk fairy today, using stamps from the London Telegraph set from Oxford Impressions.  Her mannequin body is diecut with a Tim Holtz alterations die (both chipboard and patterned paper, which I glued together for some heft).  This time, her head, arms, and geared body are all stamps (the gears are embossed with white embossing powder).  I added some hardware from Tim Holtz in her hair and around the edge of her "skirt."  Some paper flowers, bling, and ribbon give her that feminine touch, along with some deep red floral "wings" from Prima.

Here's a little close-up:

 

I feel a bit as if I'm stuck in the Groundhog Day movie, posting the same thing over and over til I get it right, LOL!  Have a wonderful day. ;)

Oxford Impression - Steampunk Fairy part 1

I am so excited and honored to be part of the new Oxford Impressions design team for 2012, and I have been having a huge amount of fun playing with the recently released London Telegraph stamp plate.  This plate has so much going on - it's perfect for steampunk, but it's also very versatile and can be used for tons of other themes.  But to start out.... I couldn't resist throwing a bit of feminine whimsy into the whole steampunk theme.  My fairy starts with a chipboard mannequin base from House of Three.  The lovely lady, her key arms, her vintage advertisement body, and her "ruffly" gear skirt are all stamped from the London Telegraph plate.  I added some ribbon and an old ribbon slide for her belt, some bling, and some fairy wings which are actually floral leaves from Prima (that I've been hoarding forever, LOL!).

And for another, non-steampunk take on this same little lady, here's a card in blue:

Not a stitch of steampunk here, just lace, ruffles, and flowers.  I embellished her ensemble with some gathered blue lace, and popped up the flowers in her hair.  I also used other hoarded goodies - the beautiful blue fabric flower and feathery trim, which I thought kept with the whole milliner theme.  The vintage hat advertisement is stamped directly onto some patterned doily paper.

I'll have another little steampunk fairy for you tomorrow..... cuz I just had so much fun with these, I couldn't help myself. ;)  Happy Groundhog's Day!

Oxford Impressions - Christmas Wish

I was so excited recently when Suzanne of Oxford Impressions asked me to design with her new plate, Christmas Wishes.  This full stamp plate is filled with wintery goodness - Christmas and more!  As soon as I saw the Santa, I knew, for some reason, that I wanted to do him in blue.  This card uses the Santa, Post Card, December date, and snowflake stamps from the new set.  I stamped the Santa and colored him with Distress Inks, then cut him out - he's popped up on pop-dots.  The little postcard was simply made by stamping the sentiment, cutting out a rectangle and sanding the corners (so they wouldn't look so perfectly square and sharp), then using distress inks and some more stamps to fill in the rest.  I added a line of Christmas music from a vintage songbook, some seam binding, and some seriously distressed papers (some from Glitz's vintage blue line, and some of Tim Holtz's Core'dinations cardstock - sanded with sandpaper and distressed with his edge distress tool).

Here's another card, in the traditional Green and Red....

For this one, I once again cut out the main figure - she's adhered over the sleigh image.  I used a teensy holly image to stamp all around the edges, then colored in the berries where they showed.  The papers are from Lost and Found - my fave of the season!

And one more....

This one glitters in silver and gold, although it's hard to see in the picture.  The main image is mounted on a little tissue-paper-backed frame.  I had some gold tissue paper, but found that I couldn't cut it with my decorative edge scissors (not sharp enough, I suppose).  So I ran a rectangle of cardstock, about an inch bigger than I needed all around, through my Xyron sticker maker machine.  Then I carefully laid the sticky side of the cardstock down on the back side of the tissue paper (make sure it's smoothed out). It was then sturdy enough to cut with my deckle edge scissors.  The stars and snowflakes are stamped randomly and embossed with silver and gold.  I used a little glitter-covered silver star to accent the greeting.

There's still time to get those Christmas cards done!  If you need inspiration, you can check out the Gallery over at Oxford Impressions, too - with some seriously yummy vintage cards. :)

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Where does the time go???  I'm coming along slowly with my Halloween pennants for my swap... here are two that feature a Paper Whimsy image (the girl, along with a hat from Lisa's Altered Images), and stamps from Red Lead (the small ravens with Poe quotes) Oxford Impressions (large raven and ouija board), and Tim Holtz (Halloween ticket).

Lately I've pretty much had time to scrap only on the go, and even then, I haven't done much.  I mentioned in my last post that I was feeling mojo-less and wasn't even happy with my gluebook pages.  So I will share... the good, the bad, and the ugly.....

First up, the good.... those little cuties are my dad and his twin brother, and the sentiment is from a piece of vellum patterned paper that I've had in my stash for centuries....

Next up.... a Poe page that I am basically happy with.... it's just that I cannot for the life of me seem to complete the page next to it.  There are some scraps in the foreground that I'm trying to use... I think I just might have to actually stamp or go gather something "real" from my stash that will work.....

Okay, as promised, the ugly.... this is waaaay too busy.  It seemed a good idea as I was putting it together.  I closed it up, ran off to some school event or other... came back and opened it up again and really had to say "What was I thinking?!"  But that's what's so great about a gluebook - you can try things, experiment, and if it doesn't work out, it's no big deal.  All you've done is use up some scraps that weren't making it into anything else anyway!!  Totally forgiving, and really, a learning tool.... a record of what does and does not work.  (I'm trying really hard not to rip this out, LOL!!!)

Still hoping to find more time to visit all of your lovely blogs.  Unfortunately, today I have to go out and spend way to much money on a dishwasher... ours totally gave up the ghost (I had been making do with certain features not working, but now it's finally dead and not worth fixing).  I've been spending all of my time online trying to figure out which models are best, etc.  But I'm tired of doing dishes, so I'm buying today no matter what, LOL!  Have a happy Wednesday. 

Halloween Pennant Swap #1

My local mixed media group is swapping individual Halloween pennants this month... it's 10 for 10, so that in the end, we have a banner (bunting?) that will fit across a doorway or small mantel.  I wanted to use up bits and pieces of Halloween papers, stickers, images, etc., so I'm making them all different, so of course, it's taking me forever!  Normally I would probably fly right through this (I loooooove Halloween!), but I'm having a prolonged period of totally missing mojo.... I just can't seem to get out of it, everything is a huge challenge.  I don't even like what I did in my gluebook today... maybe I'll share that tomorrow, the good, the bad, and the ugly....  full disclosure, LOL!  Ah well, we've all been there, right?  I'll stop whining now. ;)

Here is the first installment of my swaps.  Collage and stamped images are from Red Lead, Crafty Secrets, Oxford Impressions, The Graphics Fairy, and Lisa's Altered Art.  If you have a question about a specific image, just email me, I'll let you know what's what.

I hope your week is going well.  The kids are back in school this week, trying to get back into the daily grind.  It means I have extra time to craft... just wish that ol' mojo would join me. ;)  'Til next time.... have a happy.

Gingersnap Creations "Horror Stories"

A new theme challenge has just begun over at Gingersnap Creations, and this month it is "Horror Stories."  Our inspiration for the entire month of October is Edgar Allan Poe... how fun is that?!?  I decided to use The Fall of the House of Usher as the inspiration for my piece - the poem within the story (from which the quote is taken); the narrator's vision of the fissure that extended from the top to the bottom of the house, with its "vacant eye-like windows"; the ghost of the sister, Madeline.  All of the stamps used are from Oxford Impressions - "Haunted" and "Trick or Treat."  All of the DT's projects are so wonderful, I hope you'll have time to go take a look.  There's so much cool stuff gong on over at Gingersnap Creations this month... with AlphaStamps is our sponsor, and Mary Green (of gluebook fame!) as our muse.... you won't want to miss it. ;)

Tag Tuesday - Orange and Black

The new Tag Tuesday Challenge over at Blog Challenge Garden is Black and Orange and Not Halloween or Autumn Related!  I knew immediately what I wanted to do, thanks to tons of inspiration from Godelieve's blog, Stamping Matilda.  I adore her work, and she has been doing a dictionary series that is gorgeous.. you can see the posts HERE.  I thought this challenge was perfect for a little CASE of that work.  The butterfly stamp is from Red Lead, colored with Prismacolor pencils.  The little flower stamp is from Oxford Impressions.  That's all for now... I've got a new Gingersnap Creations challenge piece coming tomorrow - hope to see ya then. :)

Paint Chips and Fibers Swap

Just a quick little share today.... my mixed media group had a swap, and the criteria were to use paint chips and fibers in some way.  Bookmark tags were the first thing to pop into my mind (I'm always in the middle of a book, and so is my daughter!).  Here are a few.  I've used stamps from a variety of sources, including Rogue Redhead Designs, Tim Holtz, Red Lead, Oxford Impressions, Unity, Serendipity, and Darkroom Door (umm.... yes, I'm a bit addicted to stamps, LOL!).  If you have a question about where to find a specific image, feel free to email me.

Hope everyone has a happy Friday and a great weekend!

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #PDCC81

So, do you ever start playing with colors and find you just can't stop?  That's what happened to me with this week's The Play Date Cafe Challenge #81.  Look at this gorgeous inspiration wallpaper in hues of deep purple, chartreuse, and silvery gray.  I started out wanting to play with glimmer mists and masks on canvas.  Then I had this wet mask on my hands, so had to stamp with it.... and on it went.  I'll start with the card first (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them if you'd like).

The card started with some hand stamped and misted patterned papers.  Behind the fairy is a paper that was made by stamping the wet, purple glimmer-misted Prima mask onto ivory cardstock.  I added some Stampington swirls in green, and some green distress ink.  I wanted the fairy to seemingly float over the patterned paper, so I stamped her in black on vellum, then turned it around and colored with Copics on the side opposite the stamping.  I cut her out and adhered her to the background paper (Copic side up), along with a fun little sentiment that was stamped on scraps that had various mists on them already.

Now for the background paper that is the main panel of the card.  Had fun with another item that's been sitting in my closet for a while: metallic silver tissue paper. 

First, I took a panel of very old Basic Grey paper that was, um, light grey, and stamped the script randomly in purple. I ran several layers of tissue paper through Tim Holtz's flourish alterations die, and adhered them to the panel using Golden soft gel medium.  After that was dry, I spritzed it with olive green glimmer mist.  I love how it turned out!  There's texture, shimmer, pattern.... my faves.  Here's a really bad photo that at least shows the shimmer:

Next up, that pennant (or bunting, if you prefer).  This was actually what I started with, stamping the violets in the center and coloring them with Copics.  I went over just the image with gel medium to protect it from the mists. 

 

After it was dry, I placed the mask over the bunting and sprayed it with purple glimmer mist, then dabbed the mist off of the image (the gel medium acted as a resist).  When that was dry, I stamped a green swirl randomly, added some chartreuse trims, the silvery word "Fleur" (stamped and silver embossed), some shimmery gray seam binding, and a few pewter brads at the top with a design that reminded me of the violet motif.  

I'm thinking it might be fun to do a whole series of these canvas buntings, each with a different flower. Then tie them all together - probably with that same gray seam binding.  Thanks for sticking with me for this very long post!!! Oh, almost forgot... the majority of the stamps used were from Oxford Impressions' Fairy Sweets plate. The swirl is Stampington, the script is Hero Arts, and the "fleur" is Rogue Redhead Designs.

Tag Tuesday - The Deep

This week's Tag Tuesday Challenge over at Blog Challenge Garden is "The Deep"... as in the deep blue sea.  Not the seashore, but rather, what's under the water... very cool, especially since I just got a new stamp set from Oxford Impressions that's actually called The Deep!  I had some fun with this, putting this little vintage deep sea diver in lots of peril... he's got a crab grabbing his foot, a large fish contemplating his dinner... but the biggest threat is more subtle...

 ....see the giant octopus lurking in the distance?  Okay, maybe I'm getting just a little too morbid here for a tag, LOL!!  But this stamp set is just so much fun.  You can go with strictly pretty seashells, or go nautical, even steampunk, and of course, perilous!  The background is an assortment of Glimmer Mists - Graphite, Moonlight, Peacock, and Olive Vine.  You can see the shimmer a little bit better in this next pic:

 Colored in Copics, with a little Hero Arts gem bling for bubbles. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope your weekend is fun. :) 

Scrappy Gluebook Again

Once again this week, I have been sitting in my car more than I have been sitting in my craft room.  Good thing I have fun stuff to bring with me!  It's more scrappy stampy gluey pages.  This first one has my practice attempt at inkjet image transfer onto watercolor paper.  I had always read that you needed to have a laser image in order for images to transfer properly.  Lo and behold, I went to Donna Downey's website, and she shows us that as long as you use Golden's Gel Medium, inkjet prints work just fine.  Oh my, what fun!!!  (You can see her video tutorial on the subject *here*.)

A few lovely ladies in vintage browns.

Some of the last of my purple scraps.  The little girl is Paper Whimsy.  The stamped lilac is Unity, and the stamped tulips are Oxford Impressions.

I have some fun stuff coming up..... something new..... can't wait to show you! :)

More Scrappy Gluebook Pages

Hello friendly, crafty, beautiful bloggers!  I've missed you, missed having the time to marvel over your wonderful and inspiring blogs, and then craft with all of your gorgeous artwork in my head.  Spring break is finally over for the kiddos (a generous 4 weeks this time), and although I love having them around, it will be rather nice to get back to a more normal rhythm.  I will be visiting, I promise!

A quickie little post of one of those carpool line scrappy gluey pages I've been working on.  A bunch of extras left over from *this* project, along with some that have been languishing in the scrap pile for ages.  Images are predominantly from Artistic Outpost and Oxford Impressions, but as always, if you have a specific question, please feel free to email me.  I've enjoyed working with purples, and I've noticed that very few (if any?) of the brand new patterned papers coming out these past few weeks have had any in them.  I suppose we'll just have to make our own, won't we? And use up those scraps, of course.  It's on to laundry for me... have a wonderful afternoon and evening. :)

Shadow Box Swap

My local art group is swapping shadow boxes this month.  We could pick any size, so I chose some 3.5-inch square jewelry boxes to work with.  I covered the edges with Tim Holtz tape, a la Configurations, then filled the box with images from Oxford Impressions' The Fairest Flower plate.  The sweet little girl image is colored with Distress Inks.  Since I wanted some 3D action, I added a posy and a little pull out accordion booklet.  Here are some shots with the booklet unfolded (sorry for the pitiful photos - after a stormy, rainy day, I just gave up and took them anyway):

The accordion booklet has stamped images from Cornish Heritage Farms.....

 

...and a few from House of 3 and Serendipity.  One down, eleven more to go.... eeeek!  I've got an assembly line system going, though, so I'm in the groove.

Hope you have a great week! 

Gingersnap Creations GC88: Coffee and Cream

Time for a yummy new color challenge over at Gingersnap Creations: GC88 Coffee and Cream!  I'm in the middle of a wonderful novel called The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, and it's got me thinking of bygone eras and turn of the century customs.  I decided to create a little packet of faux ephemera... a little pile of imagined sweet remembrances, of a best friend, a sister, a daughter who has fled the nest to experience the world.  A ribbon from her hair, a letter detailing all of her new experiences, a postcard from exciting places abroad, a rose petal carefully preserved.  And of course, a photo from her 18th birthday.  All a bit coffee stained, of course, from so much handling, re-reading.  Lying atop a pretty folder to keep it all in.  The vintage photo image is from Oxford Impressions, the postcard from Unity Stamp Co., and the coffee stains from Close To My Heart.  

My coffee table has a glass top, with a shadow box display case beneath it - this will go there, along with some vintage doilies and some Valentine's whatnots.  I had fun with this color scheme - so subtle that it becomes more about textures and shapes.  I hope you'll have time to play along!  You can post a link to your Coffee and Cream creation to share over at Gingersnap Creations.   

Gingersnap Creations Challenge GC78: Sewing Notions

Hello my crafty friends! If you like to stitch or play in the button box, if quality time with your sewing machine has you on pins and needles (sorry, couldn't resist!), then you will have fun this month over at Gingersnap Creations.  Our monthly theme is Haute Couture, and everything related to fashion, sewing, stitching.... you name it.... will be themes for our challenges.  This week we start the Sewing Notions challenge.  Looooove it!  My mom is an avid quilter, so most likely all of the cards I make this month will end up with her eventually.  I centered my little card around this awesome button card stamp from Oxford Impressions' The Art of Being Beautiful plate.  I stamped it, colored it with Copics, and added some real-life buttons.  It's paired with a dress form diecut from Girls' Paperie, a spool chipboard shape from Maya Rd, and some ribbons, thread, ruler sticker, canvas, and pin from my stash.  The sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farms' Sew Special set (sadly retired).

So, how many different notions can you put on your project?  It's quite addictive once you start digging.  Use lots, or use only one - Notions.  Try them. ;)

P.S. Not to sound like a commercial - cuz I don't even design for them (tho' I wish I did).... but Oxford Impressions has just released a fabulous new dress form plate that has my fingers itchin'.  Oh, why must I have a limited stamp budget?  Maybe Oprah could spare me some change..... I'll go ask her now...... ;)