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. :)

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. :) 

Happy Easter! and Tag Tuesday

Happy Easter!  I wanted to get my little Tag Tuesday entry in for the weekend - you can check out the latest tag challenge at Blog Challenge Garden.  I almost scrapped the base of this tag; the colors didn't come out at all as I expected.  But after I walked away from it and hunted down the right vintage image, I made peace with it.  The base is a resist chipboard (I think from Heidi Swapp) that I've been hoarding for ages.  I cut out the egg shape and colored it first with mists (which was too pale), then with some distress inks.  The bunny image is from Dover.  The little egg is from an image transfer to muslin that didn't come out quite right, but I couldn't bear to part with the bits that were okay. ;)  Stamped sentiment is Papertrey Ink.  Lots of other fun goodies... crinkly ribbon from Bluebird Lane Etsy shop, glittered hydrangea petals, vintage mother of pearl baby buttons, and a little pin that I made.

I want to thank everyone who has been voting for me over at The Handmade Gift Guide!!!  Voting will continue for the next few days, so if you haven't checked it out, you can follow the link.  My project is in my previous post *here*.  Also, a big welcome to my new followers!  I've actually hit 200 sweet followers, which makes me happier than words can express. :)  I hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow! 

Tag Tuesday - The Chair

Yippee, had some time to craft!  I have been wanting to continue playing in the Tag Tuesday Challenge, but haven't had a chance since the big change.  In case you haven't been following in recent weeks, the lovely and talented Louise over at Kard Krazy, who has brought us countless challenges and inspiration, decided that she had too much on her plate to continue the weekly Tag Tuesday play.  So, she has handed over the baton to Rebecca at Blog Challenge Garden.  Thanks so much to Rebecca ("BelleSouth") for taking over!  This week she has set forth a rather challenging challenge.... "The Chair."  The chair has to be the focus, but you can have someone or something in the chair.  I hope this qualifies!!

Yes, I know that it might seem that the girl is the focus.... which is why I decided to paper piece the image and give her a rather over-the-top, girlie, flowered, chintz-covered chair.  Remember when chintz was all the rage in the 80s?  Oh, how I loved it then.  So we have our retro girl in her retro chair, and did you notice..... she has chair wallpaper! Yes indeedily, just in case my chair tag isn't chair-y enough, I added a few more chairs, LOL!  The lovely lady is from Rogue Redhead Designs' Relish Reading Plate, and the teensy chair stamp in the wallpaper is from Pink Paislee's House of Three Parisian Anthology set.  The throw rug is a cardstock sticker from Crate Paper (as is the sentiment), the trim is vintage Little Women, and the brad is GCD studios.  I think that's about it.  Hope you can play along.;)

Tag Tuesday Surprise Me

Louise has another captivating challenge for us over at Kard Krazy - this week's Tag Tuesday Challenge is "Surprise Me."  So what's the surprise in my unassuming little butterfly tag? .....

A Blooming Contessa hiding amongst the blossoms!  The butterfly is attached only by a brad at the tip of her wing.  Ms Contessa is from Stampington, colored with Copics and Distress Inks.  The flower trim at the bottom is very vintage, and started out creamy vintage white.  I dabbled some coordinating Copics over the lace, and voila - custom vintage trim.

There are some amazing and beautiful tags over at Kard Krazy already (Louise's just keeps getting more surprising with every view!), so lots of inspiration to be had.  Come play?   

Tag Tuesday - Postcards

This week's challenge at Tag Tuesday is Postcards - use a postcard, have the word postcard on your tag, etc.  It's a 2-week challenge this time, so there is plenty of time to play along.  I have desperately needed some challenges to try to summon my still-missing mojo!  I sit down to create something, and it's like it's advanced calculus or Greek or something - what a struggle!

Anyway, the deets: the beautiful image is from Paper Whimsy.  I covered a manila tag with Tim's tissue tape as a base.  Swiped some red ink across the bottom and added the lace trims.  The "postcard" stamp is from Stampin' Up!, and the butterflies are from Red Lead (colored them with Copics and popped them up a bit).  Also added a little red postage stamp and some flowers.  Things were looking kinda "blah", so I framed the image of the girl in script patterned paper, then went to work with some colored pencils to sorta define certain areas.  Finally had to just say "done."  After walking away from it for awhile, it's growing on me.  I might add some Rock Candy Stickles to the butterflies.  Or not.  Hmmmmm......

Hope your week is going well - stay warm, snow-free, artsy and crafty. ;) 

Tag Tuesday Double Tagged

Sheesh! It's been forever.... first I was busy, then I was sick (just a nasty cold, but it lingered and made me extremely fatigued), and by then my mojo was gone.  I still haven't found it, not even a hint of it.  But I had to do *something*, so I inked up some new stamps - Artistic Outpost's Think and Wonder plate - and entered Louise's Tag Tuesday Challenge, which is to put a tag (or tags) on our tag.  Very fun!

This did not turn out at all as I'd planned (and saying that I even had a plan is very generous!).  The background is paint on vintage text, distressed and stamped with a Stampington swirl.  The image and words are from the AO plate.  I colored the girl with pencils and Copics.  The rest is ribbon, rub-ons, pearls.  Not happy with it, but I've got to try to get back in the game somehow!  You can check out some truly gorgeous artwork over at Kard Krazy. :)

Tag Tuesday Winter

Finally, finally getting to post something to this poor neglected blog of mine!  I've been working on a few things that I'll be able to share sometime in the future (some soon, some much later), and just haven't had that precious "extra" time - you know the kind I mean.

Anyway, I'm happy that I got to play along with Louise's latest Tag Tuesday Challenge - Winter.  I used the scene outside my window as my inspiration:  the colors (blue sky, pine needle green, tree trunk brown, a snowy white flurry or two, a sunny twinkle to the landscape), the textures (rough, wrinkled, dried), the sounds (birdsong at my feeder), and of course, the little feathered friend.  I used lots of scraps left over from other projects, too.  The corrugated cardboard was painted white a week ago - I added some Patina Glimmer Mist for sky.  The twinkly, crinkly crepe was my backdrop of flurries, along with a few vellum-embossed white flakes. Vintage music, of course, is my paper version of birdsong.  The birdie is a little something I had lined up for two Tag Tuesday challenges ago, but alas, never got to; he's from a Pottery Barn paper bag, and he was supposed to star in the challenge of using Christmas scraps.  I think he's happy here. ;)  Stamps are from Artistic Outpost, inks from Ranger. 

Tag Tuesday Colors of Christmas

A quick little post today... lots to do, of course. ;)  The challenge this week at Tag Tuesday is to use the Christmas Colors of Navy, Turquoise, and Red.  This was a fun one once I found my little feature image that I received in a swap, which happened to have the required colors in it already.  I glittered it up and framed it with a Tattered Angels frame that I had sponged with Chipped Sapphire distress ink.  The snowflake border is cut with a Martha Stewart punch, and the stamp is from Cornish Heritage Farms.  A little bling, a little Broken China and Antique Linen distress ink, some soft velvety ribbon that I got in the same swap... and a frosty little Christmas tag was born.

I hope all my American friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I don't do black Friday, so hopefully I'll get some time to craft after my dinner settles, LOL!  Thanks to everyone who follows, comments, shares, inspires, visits..... I am so grateful for all my crafty, blogland friends! 

Tag Tuesday Backgrounds

This week at Tag Tuesday, guest hostess Pam has challenged us to make a tag where the background is the star.  I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while - using Tim's snowman texture fade in a way that would convey how much I'm wishing for snow, ice skating, making snowmen.... you know, all the things that a northern girl transplanted to North Carolina yearns for when the weather turns colder.

I think of this tag as a snowman wishing to happen.  The background is Glimmer misted (can't remember all of the colors, but Dragonfly is my fave).  I sprayed them on my craft mat, smooshed them on the tag, then spritzed the tag with water for a more snowflakey effect.  Then I embossed the snowman and sanded him, so that he's sort of a shadow of a snowman, looking at that big snowflake and wishing to appear.  A little pigment ink white and some mica flakes give him somewhere to call home.

This was a fun and creative challenge, and many thanks to Pam for being such an inspirational hostess.  I've got a day filled with kids' sporting events, but I'm hoping to get in some time to visit all of the lovely blogs I've been missing these past few days.  a sweet end-of-the-weekend to everyone. :)

Tag Tuesday - Bingo!

Over at Kard Krazy this week, Louise has challenged us to use Bingo cards for Tag Tuesday.  This was a particularly fun one for me because I love how bingo cards are popping up all over, and I have quite a collection - minis, vintage, bingo card albums, etc.... and needed some incentive to stop hoarding them!

I centered my tag around an adorable stamped image from Rogue Redhead Designs and a Jenni Bowlin "Grow" mini bingo card.  Most of the embellies are from Basic Grey's new Curio collection (L-O-V-E it!).  There's also some vintage trim and a tiny bit of glitter here and there.

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty Monday. :) 

Tag Tuesday Front and Back

I'm finally back after a technology black-out.... I now have a "new" (hubby's hand-me-down) computer, new paintshop software, email access.... aaah, life is good. :)  Today I'm participating in a *totally fun* challenge over at Kard Krazy.  This week's Tag Tuesday Challenge is to include something on the front of your tag that runs over to the back of it.  Louise has a stunning example - she actually created a scene using two different stamps, both of which are half on the front and half on the back of her tag.  You've really got to see it and read about it to fully appreciate what I'm talkin' 'bout.  I wanted to try the stamp thing, too, and this cute little snowball fight image from Cornish Heritage Farms came to mind right away.  (Keepin' these rascally children apart, LOL!)  So here's the back:

The image is stamped in Adirondack ink, the snowflakes were clear embossed, and then lots of distress inks were applied for the snowy background.  I also split the sentiment, and put "To" and "From" on the front/back. Yes, this is an actual gift tag. :)

Head on over to Kard Krazy and check out all the linkies.... I can see this technique becoming quite addicting!

Tag Tuesday Orange + Black

The Tag Tuesday challenge at Kard Krazy for the next *two* weeks (Louise is apparently going to be partying so hard she will not have time for tags next week, LOL!) is Orange and Black.  So fun, cuz you can go Halloween, or *not* Halloween, as Louise did with her gorgeous birdie tag.  I of course chose to go the former route, since I still have a bazillion Halloween 6x6's to make for my swap, and I thought a tag on a page would be nice.

This tag uses a Red Lead stamp of a classic vintage Halloween postcard, which I colored with Copics and shabbied up with Distress Inks.  A chipboard button, some ribbon, some vintage text (my fave things), and a glittery swirl in place of a string - all fun, all done.  (P.S.... I just went to the Red Lead store and can't find this stamp at the moment.... it may be out of stock. Send them an email if you "need" this stamp - ya never know...)

Hope you are enjoying the fall weather wherever you are. :)

P.P.S.  If you haven't already, you can comment for a chance at my blog candy by clicking HERE!

Tag Tuesday Moon Dreams

The latest Tag Tuesday challenge over at Louise's Kard Krazy blog is to use a Moon on our tags.  Since I had lots of Halloween stuff on my desk already, I immediately thought of this sweet little image, which definitely does *not* have to be a Halloween image, even though it is part of a set called Trick or Treat by Oxford Impressions. (Actually, there are a few more very versatile stamps in that set, but I digress....).  I called my tag "Moon Dreams" as a play on moonbeams, because this particular moon looks so delighted to have this wee one for company.

For the tag, I spritzed the background with Glimmer Mists, delightfully named "Moonlight," "Blue Skies," and "Dragonfly."  I did some masking, too, but that got completely covered up, LOL!  Next came some stars heat embossed in silver. I tore some strips of vintage sheet music, applied some blue and silver metallic rub-on, and layered them with some puffy "clouds" that I made from the baby wipes I used to dab the Glimmers.  I stamped the little girl with her happy moon, colored them with Copics, and popped them up on top. The little border is from Pink Paislee's Parisian Anthology, and the letters are Cosmo Cricket.

Check out Louise's beautiful creation, as well as all the fab tags filling up Mr. Linky over at Kard Krazy.  This is a fun challenge, that can be taken in the Halloween direction or not, depending on your preferences.  Hope you'll have time to play. :)

Tomorrow I am going to post my very first ever, and long overdue, BLOG CANDY!!! Stay tuned..... :)

Pumpkins at Tag Tuesday

Thought I'd be a bit different today and start with the close-up, LOL! Louise's new challenge over at Kard Krazy is tags with Pumpkins, so I thought I'd start with the star of the show.  And here is the whole tag....

Fall is my favorite time of the year, so I already had a bunch of fall-themed, orange-y goodness sitting around on my work table. My pumpkin is cut freehand from grungeboard, painted orange, then glittered with Martha Stewart's glitter.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Friendship Jar Fall Fillers. The frame around the dancing couple is from 7Gypsies, and the polka dot background is from Glitz.  The rest of the tag uses stamps from Crafty Secrets' new Halloween set, Costume Cuties.  I colored the couple with Copics and the moon was stamped on a piece of scrap that I had already colored with distress inks.  The dotty background is stamped on a page from a vintage German reader.  The bat is one of those double-sided stickers from Martha, with some black glitter on top.  Lastly, the seam binding is from Zipperstop.  Whew, sounds way more complicated than it actually was, LOL!

There are some great tags in the Linky over at Kard Krazy.... if you need some fall inspiration, check out Louise's tag and all the others, and maybe have a go! :)

Tag Tuesday - Banners

Happy Weekend!  I have a spooky little tag today inspired by Tag Tuesday, where Louise has challenged us to use Banners on our tags.

All of the stamps are from Oxford Impressions - I used both the Haunted and the Trick or Treat collections.  I did a little paper piecing and a little Distress Inking.  For the "Witch" banner, I actually used the letters from the Ouija board stamp, which I inked up separately with a black marker, then punched out with a teensy circle punch.  I stamped the pumpkin face over the top of a patterned paper printed pumpkin (and there's your tongue twister for the week).  A sweet little spook for my doorknob, I think. :)

Hope you can play along! We've got tons of sports to participate in this weekend, so not sure if I'll have time to craft until Monday.  Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

School Days at Tag Tuesday

Just a quick little post today.  It's the last day to enter Louise's fun challenge at Tag Tuesday this week, which has the theme of "School Days."  Yes, I always waited until the last minute to get my schoolwork done, too, LOL!!  All of the stamped images are from a retired Cornish Heritage Farms set called "School Primer."  I built the tag around a sweet little girl filling her mind with all sorts of learning - reading, writing, and 'rithmetic. :)   Hope you have a happy Monday.

Butterflies at Tag Tuesday

A fun little tag for Louise's Tag Tuesday "Butterflies" challenge over at Kard Krazy.  If you like butterflies, (even just a little bit) you will want to check out Louise's *gorgeous* butterfly tag book - Oh! My!  Absolutely stunning. (Be sure to check the challenge post and her newer post, which shows the inside.)

For my tag, I used my new Butterflies 2 Defined stamp from Red Lead (they are *so* becoming one of my fave companies, I tell ya.... another addiction), and some absolutely yummy paper from Crate Paper (the new Restoration Line, makes my mouth water).  Some Copics, lots of distressing (in both ink and edge distresser form), some rub-ons, some brads, some crochet trim, some vintage text.... all favorites. 

Hope you're having a fantastic weekend - the weather here is gorgeous (finally "only" in the 80s, LOL!).  I'm being naughty and doing nothing but reading outside on the deck, crafting, and watching the US Open (go Roger!).  Hope you're getting inky. :)

Tag Tuesday Challenge - Not On Paper

Louise's Tag Tuesday challenge this week over at Kard Krazy is to make a tag that does *not* have paper as its base.  I found some small scraps of felt in my stash and decided to use a piece of deep red for a cozy Christmas tag.  I decided I wanted to create a pocket, to slip in an additional tag (paper, this time) for the greeting and the "To: and From:" message, so that the felt-based tag could be reused.  So, I stamped an old Santa image (Santa Collage from Rubber Stampede) onto cardstock and punched a snowflake edge at the top.  Then I decorated him with distress inks, Copics, diamond Stickles, and a bit of glossy accents for the eyeglasses, then stitched him on, leaving the top open.  I created another little tag to stick in the pocket.  Other little accents include a piece of striped ticking fabric, some star fabric to hold on the ribbon at the top, some pom pom trim, a felt snowflake, button, and baker's twine.  Here's what it looks like with the taglet removed:

Hope you can play along - it really gets your creative juices flowing!

Tag Tuesday Crowns

Just a quick little post on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  The sun is out but the sky is white here..... rather too humid for my taste.  So I'm tucked away, cleaning and crafting.

This little tag is for Louise's Tag Tuesday challenge this week, which is Crowns.  I got some new rubber and had to try it out, crowning the "king of birds" - the Bluebird, of course, LOL.  The main stamp is from Red Lead *here* - a new favorite company of mine (to add to my many other favorites!).  The papers are from Kaiser's Secret Bird Society collection in 6x6.  The little crown is out of one of those Making Memories Vintage Findings kits - still lovin' those, too. :)

Hope the rest of your weekend is peaceful and fun.