Merry Christmas!

Isn't it a little scary to think that Christmas is only 19 weeks away? Funny how you think there is so much time and then there is none, so I am getting a little ahead of the game! 

The focal image "Holly and the Ivy" from Artistic Outpost was stamped in Black Archival and then watercolored using markers from Stampin Up. I touched her hair trim with clear glitter pen and left some white edges to give a photo appearance and then added the photo corners. 

All the papers layers are from Our Daily Bread Designs "Christmas Paper 2013" collection and each layer was shaded in Brushed Corduroy. The Merry Christmas is a older Sizzix die and I cute the Ivy from one of Tim's Dies and inked over that in Shabby Shutters and shaded. 

Thank you for stopping by for a visit today and as a reminder the "Show Us Your AO Art" for August is so wanting to see you lovely works of art using of course, those AO fabulous stamps.

Christmas Blessings!

I seem to keep apologizing all over the place. This Christmas I was late with just about everything and anything possible. Things I wanted to do, gifts I wanted to make and most importantly, friends I want to thank! This year just got so away from me and one thing after another just piled up and on the 23rd, our Molly just out of no where has had her back legs go paralyzed. Off to the vet and we are still hoping for a miracle, but I think the fact she was with us for Christmas may just be that miracle. Anyway, I am not going to keep driving this pity train and I know that 2015 will be a better year for ALL of us who have had enough with 2014! Now I have some really sweet and dear friends I want to thank for their kindness and generosity and for thinking of me during this busy time of year.

Starting in the order in which these wonderful Christmas Cards were received and aren't they all simply amazing? Thank you Sandra,  Lynne, Diane, Anne, Beth and Lynn! I love each and every card.

Then there was the Christmas package from the UK, sent to me by my dear friend, Brenda! I have already shared the beautiful canvas she made just for me, but if you missed it, HERE IT IS. And along with that stunning canvas, she included that fabulous Bumblebee tag, A lovely Christmas card and some fun gifts. Thank you Brenda for making my Christmas extra special and for all my lovely treasures.

And certainly not least  the second package to arrive from the UK, was sent to me by another dear friend, Chris, who also happens to be Brenda's sister! I was overwhelmed with the beautiful Christmas card and all the details from the layered Holly leaves and gorgeous frame, which you can find HERE and then the most gorgeous handmade Christmas notebook, which I just love the texture and painted details and for a treat you can see Chris in action HERE! Thank you my dear friend for thinking of me and all my beautiful gifts and new toys!

Please take the time to visit and meet some of these lovely friends and if you already know them, you know what treasures they are! I cannot thank all of you enough for the cards, gifts and comments over this past year. I wish you all Health, Happiness and the Best of 2015 and I thank you for being a part of my life! Love and Hugs to all!

Let's Celebrate at AVJ!

Our lovely Nikki has chosen "Let's Celebrate" for the current challenge at A Vintage Journey and remember there is always a prize from Country View Crafts and more ways to win, so come on over and check out all the beautiful artwork from my DT Sisters and join in our Tim inspired celebration!

My ornament is also my Compendium of Curiosities III, challenge #17, Tim's Woodlands and Tinsel Twine as Linda and the CC have instructed us to open our books to page 60. Inspiration Emporium is the generous sponsor for this challenge and as always someone is chosen for a nice prize package from Tim and Mario.

Now I can't share what I did with the technique, but I can tell you everything else. The frame was cut from Tim's Arch and the movers and shapers using four layers of chipboard. These I glued together and painted all exposed edges with Fired Brick paint.

Next I cut two more frames from Tim's seasonal paper and applied to the front and back. This ornament is reversible. Using Tim's stencil, I selected various Christmas words and applied paste through the stencil and once removed and still wet, I sprinkled on Rock Candy Distress Glitter.

The above is our newest addition to the outside Christmas decorations. We both just really liked those gift packages all decked out! Thank you for taking the time to visit today during this very busy time of year!

Let It Snow!

Hope you all are doing fabulously today. This is a quick post today, because these are pretty quick cards and just what the doctor (Santa) orders during the busy time of the year! These are Christmas cash/cards that double for "thank you" cards for those special people who provide us service during the year.

The stamps I used are from Artistic Outpost's Christmas Chalk and where stamped and embossed using white or black, cut and then mounted. I used the Christmas Paper from ODBD and that helped save a little time.

The little tags were punched and edged with white paint and Tim's clear glitter was sprinkled on while wet. If you have AO stamps, come on and join in the December's "Show Us You AO Art" challenge for a chance to win.

Thank you for stopping by today and I am working really hard on catching up. My daughter stayed a little longer and that was nice, but I spent time with her and not in the craft room as I am sure you can all appreciate. Now I must get cracking!

Yuletide Greetings!

Happy December to you all and are you ready for Christmas?? No I am not and I am embarrassed to say I am really only starting on Christmas cards and the such, but this year I am not going to stress out, because I had enough of the "S" word worrying about that hubby of mine. BTW, he is doing quite well and is mostly recovered.

Friday's are my day to share at Artistic Outpost, so this Christmas card and all the details with more photos can be found right HERE if you would like to hop on over there and of course that would be nice.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend and thank you for stopping by today. My Holly is going to be over for the weekend, so I am looking forward to that visit!

Enjoy The Beauty

Hope you all are doing well today! I am sharing this as part of my DT time over at Artistic Outpost, so for all the details, please hop over there for a visit. This is also the start of a new month and that means a new "Show us your AO Art" challenge as well.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful weekend!

Snow Had Fallen

Well snow has not fallen here in the desert, but at Artistic Outpost, we are having a Winter/Christmas Blog Hop and there is sure to be some falling snow! You won't want to miss what my lovely DT Sisters have in store for you, so here is the list of talent.  

 

Tracy * Terry * Kate * Lisa * Gerrie * Linda 



I started by using Christmas paper from ODBD, cutting it to size and adding some snowy effects with white paint. That little birdie is adorable and then some! Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge has an "Anything Goes," so I am taken this wintery card over there for a visit.

The pinecones from MidWinter were stamped directly on the Christmas paper in Coffee Archival and then clear embossed, colored using Vintage Photo and then highlighting areas with a white gel pen.

Next I stamped the MidWinter snowy sentiment on white, using again Coffee Archival and clear embossed, cut using the Vintage Label die from ODBD, inked in Antique Linen, shaded in Black Soot and then flicked on some snow. Added some snowflakes and holly leaves that were touched up with white paint.

Thank you for stopping by today and hope you will join in the blog hop and also ink up your AO stamps and share at October's Show us your AO Art challenge. You could win something!

CC#3C - Worn Cover

Challenge #13, "Worn Cover" is the current lesson Linda and the Curiosity Crew have us working on. All the details can be found on page 35 of Tim's Compendium of Curiosities III and for extra inspiration really check out the CC team! This month's sponsor Inspiration Emporium has such a nice $50 prize for some lucky winner and for extra fun there is a package from Tim and Mario, chosen by the CC, so two ways to win.

You know the routine and you must work out of your own copy of  Tim's book, so I can't tell you all the details.

When I started this, I did not have a Christmas theme on my mind at all! Halloween crossed my mind, but I felt I had done enough Halloween. I had pulled out a few things earlier in the week and nothing was clicking. Honestly I am not sure how this came about! I thought I had to use the Window die that had never been touched, so I cut this on card stock and then added crackle and layered this up on two more chipboard cutouts.

So at that point, I decided we would go for Christmas and used Barn Door stain to add red to the cracks. Inspiration Journal's challenge for October is "In Disguise" and will go for a visit over there as well.

The front was card stock that was stamped, inked and stenciled. The little window insets were all cut from Tim's paper and I used some rubs and stickers, which had been treated with Cranberry alcohol. Added the photo corners.

All the little Christmas trims/embellishments are from my collection and the little deer and candy canes from Michael's just yesterday! Nice find!

The book spine, I added a ribbon that was saved from something my DD gave me and yes, I tied the bow. I did it!!! Added some fun items.

The back was inked and stenciled and all is good to go. I am thinking this may be a gift to my granddaughter to start collecting Christmas memories and photos.

Hope you enjoyed my little worn cover transformation. I had great fun working on it and have a second one waiting!! Thank you for visiting and enjoy!

 

Oh Christmas Tree!

How are you all doing? All caught up and ready to enjoy the Christmas season? I am still working on it and need to finish up my cards/tags will be traveling a distance! Hey, at least I finally went out and did a little Christmas shopping this last weekend! Seriously, where does time go??

As you can see, I am still having some fun with snowy effects! It is so cold here and I mean really cold and yet there is not a snowflake to be found! I feel if it is going to be that kind of cold, at least let there be snow!  I do believe these lovely little "Birds Of A Feather" Artist Outpost sweeties are pretty excited about their Christmas tree and can't wait to open up the packages! Lisa's Bloggers Challenge is "Joyeux Noel" and this will be linked over there!

I first inked the background with Distress Inks (Antique Linen, Old Paper, Brushed Corduroy) then did a spritz and flick with water and added a little snow! Next was to use my new Hollybough stencil and Bundled Sage, Fired Brick and Brushed Corduroy was applied.

The tree was cut from a greenish paper, but further inked and snow applied on the branches with whit paint and some flicks for fun. It is not a Christmas tree if not decorated and the lovely girls wanted some lights and garland and a star for good measure (which was colored with red alcohol ink).

The girls were stamped in Coffee archival and watered colored. I use Tattered Rose for flesh tones! And of course they were fussy cut. I stamped part of the sentiment from Christmas Chalk in Coffee Archival.

I do believe it was the younger of the two, who suggested standing of the box for a closer view of the decorated Christmas tree. Doesn't it appear as if they are enjoying the festive moment?

The packages were cut using my new die from Mr. Tim! Love that die!

Well I do thank you for visiting me today and I know you are all busy with your Christmas preparations. I will be finishing my inky part of Christmas this week, but will be around during breaks to visit you! The current challenge at Artistic Outpost is still "Anything Goes" and there is a random gift certificate to be given to someone, so come on over and join in!

Christmas Thank You!

Hope you all are doing well and getting ready for fast approaching holiday season! It is so hard to believe it is already December and I have not done one bit of shopping! Wish I could get back to when I started in October and had my entire house decorated the weekend following Thanksgiving!

Like many of us, there are those people who you want to give a little "thank you" gift to during Christmas and this is what I have done using the Christmas Chalk and MidWinter stamp collections From Artistic Outpost.  My little collection will be linked to Frilly and Funkie for the "Gift Tags and Note Cards" challenge.

I was wanting to go with a black and white theme (minus the chalk) with pops of green and red. The images were simply stamped using clear embossing ink and then white embossing powder. After I framed the moose another black layer was edged with embossing ink and powder, because I just liked it that way. Very easy and simple, but a nice little touch to give a cash gift or gift card.

Thank you for stopping by today and you have plenty of time to join in AO's new December Anything Goes Challenge, so come on and get inky!

In The Holiday Spirit!

It is that time again at Fashionable Stamping Challenges for a new challenge which will run through most of December! The challenge theme "In The Holiday Spirit" was chosen by me and I wanted to keep it simple especially during this time of year! This is an anything goes kind of challenge celebrating the holidays in your way, but of course you must use stamps! The design team has so much festive inspiration to share with you and as always there is a prize from Flonzcraft and a Top 3, so come on and get inky and join in!

I decided another play with my new Tim stamps was in order as I just love this Santa! Santa was stamped using Coffee Archival on the backside of some designer paper (Tim's from the Valentine sheet). It was very subtle with a slight tint of vintage green! I masked him off and then stamped the background trees and those were actually layered. The layers were shaded with Vintage Photo and Peeled Paint

The vintage music sheet was cut and distressed and slide under Santa's drum after cutting around the drum with my craft knife.

Love this vertical Merry Christmas and it worked so well for a separate layer on the brown background. The corrugated cardboard was white and I sprayed it to match the green colors which is hardly noticeable, but add some dimension!

Hope you are having a great start to the holiday season and thank you so much for stopping by!

Merry & Bright!

I hope you are all doing well and getting excited and ready for the Holidays. Sadly I am not a shopper, well except for crafty stuff. It sure would be much easier if my husband would start and then I would always know what to give him! OK, enough of my being silly! This tag/card was kind of a "Mystery" for me in a few ways and since Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge theme is "It's A Mystery," we are going over there for a visit!

So onto the mystery part of this! Not sure if my technique is a mystery, but what I was going to do with the tag after certainly was. It literally sat for several days as I had not a clue what I would do.

How it started is when my "Shatter" new Tim release arrived from Linda's Funkie Junkie Boutique! I ordered this as soon as I saw it and yes I saw the spider webbing, which of course is so Halloween perfect, but I also saw breaking ice from when I lived in New York.

I also took inspiration from Tim's new blog post with the bells and word band. While the paint was wet on the bells and my snowflake brad, I sprinkled on some of that Rock Candy glitter. The plan was to also add some rubs as I saw a delightful card from Brenda, but I just did not know how that would work over all this crackled texture! I had already stamped and cut out the gentleman silhouette, which I knew he would be walking on ice!

So here is the scoop on the tags background. I placed the stencil over the tag and applied modeling paste, let it dry, then I applied Rock Candy Crackle. Once it dried, the fun with colors began.

After I was pleased with the colors, I diluted some Glossy accents with water and brushed this over the entire tag and sprinkled on a little RC glitter. Love that stuff and you will hardly ever hear me say that about glitter.

Sorry this was kind of photo heavy, but it was a process and I know many times I am nervous about using different products and mixing it up.

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment which always makes me happy! On a personal note, my daughter has opened an Etsy shop "Fraudess" for jewelry she creates. If you have some time and would like to take a look and give her suggestions that would be great! I know many of you have shops and would be better suited to give her ideas compared to me!