Down By The Sea!

I was so honored to have been chosen by the DT at Frilly and Funkie as a winner for their "Just Case It" and even more honored to have been asked to be a Guest Designer. The current challenge is "Cool Water" and here in the desert that would be quite a lovely treat! Here is my take on the challenge and I hope you will stop on over there! AND JUST TODAY ARTISTIC OUTPOST HAS ANNOUNCED THEIR GRAND OPENING, so talk about cool!

First I decided I would make and sky, ocean, sand background, so I started with the sand which was masked, inked using Gathered Twigs and then clear embossed. The embossing was to keep the next step of creating the blue ocean where it belonged and for the "cool water," I used Chipped Sapphire and Faded Jeans (worked darker at top to lighter on the sands edge) and again this was clear embossed. The sky was inked using Stormy Sky, Broken China, , Tumbled Glass and streaks of Peacock Feathers. Once I did the spritz and flick technique, I removed the embossing with an iron.

All stamps are from Artistic Outpost and I used the Boardwalk plate. The images were stamped with Archival Weathered Wood and Sentiments with Archival Black and then inked and or watercolored using Distress Inks. Great stamps for Summer Fun, which is the current challenge theme at Inspiration Emporium so off we go.

To finish it off I inked up some cheesecloth and had to add some seashells. Thank you for stopping by today and I hope whatever you are doing, you are keeping your cool!

Paper Chase!

Happy Anniversary to Country View Challenges! I was thrilled and honored to have been among the Top 3 for their January challenge and asked to be a guest designer for March! Well March is also my personal anniversary, so I am in good company! The challenge theme is "Paper Chase" and Country View Crafts is offering two prizes, so have a look and join in! Here is my take!

I decided to use the Crafty Individuals stamps that Chris had gifted to me as it seemed so appropriate for the anniversary celebration at CVC and the fact these stamps have quite the paper trail! Chris and I both love birds and have had many of these beauties for pets. My little birds were stamped in Sepia and clear embossed and then a subtle splash of color, Tattered Rose for the bodies. I used a marker to add yellow to the beaks and then shaded with Antique Linen around the sweeties.

Computer generated the "Happy Anniversary" in hopes of blending in with the chit chat stickers. I used Tim's background stamp and applied paint to colored paper. All edges have been distressed and I finished off with inking some pre-made flowers, highlighting with Treasure Gold,some distressed die-cut trim and a movers and shapers bird. My birds are taking flight to Inspiration Journal's "Splash of Color" and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "D is for Distress."

And talking about Anniversaries, I am offering my own blog candy right HERE. Thank you for visiting today and I hope you are having a great March!

Letters!

I was so thrilled to be one of Country View Challenges "Top 3" winners for September, but also honored to be asked to be a Guest Design Team member for November's challenge of "Letters."  Thank you Country View Challenges and here we go with my project and if you want, you can stop over there and give them a "Hello" and learn all the details for the current challenge.

It is so interesting how a project starts out and what you have in mind when you start! Believe it or not, this started out with a Christmas theme in mind! It was going to be "letters to Santa," but I kept drawing blanks. Well not really blanks, but how I wanted to use my new Santa Stamp was too much like something I had already seen. Not that my friend, Vada would have cared, but this needed to be very original!



Now with the embossed "letter" background, I was determined to use it Christmas or not! I used Distress inks and then spritzed some water. Next the raised areas were hit with Coffee Archival, distressed and curled up some edges.

The woman's face was stamped, watercolored and masked off for tag inking! A little white acrylic paint dot for the eye highlight, using a stylus.

Added a little "letter" stenciling, stamped some post scripts and those artsy faces to blend in the background. Keeping in the "letter" theme, I was going for a love letter type theme at this point. Hey it is my mind! I think they are both thinking of each other!

The top "letter" layer was first inked and then the actually stamp covered with Distress markers, torn around the edges and shaded. Added a little airmail stamping to this.

Did a second marker stamping for extra dimension on the "L" for "letters."

What a time I had cutting off the heavy duty pin that went with the winged heart! Actually called the man to the rescue. The heart was colored with alcohol inks and the word band and key colored to match the bronze look of the wings.

Thank you for stopping by today and hope you will join in the current "Letters" challenge at CVC, so pop on over there for more inspiration and all the details! Have a wonderful week!

Stamps: Tim Holtz, Classics 3, Classics4, Classics 5 and various older releases for postage
Inks: Archival Red Geranium Coffee (Faces, Faces, Postage, Air Mail, CB letters
Background colors: Distress Antique Linen, Old Paper, (letter panel), Vintage Photo, Black Walnut, Pine Needles, Peeled Paint, Fired Brick, Forrest Moss, Tattered Rose for skin color, Water colors Barn Door (lips) Peeled Paint (eyes)
Markers: Barn Door, Vintage Photo, Black Soot Peeled Paint, Pine Needles
Alcohol Inks: Pesto, Latte and Gold Fixative

SCROLLS WORK STAMPS IS LOOKING FOR GUEST DESIGNERS!!

How fun it would be to see some of you that I have gotten to know as a guest designer for Scrolls Work!  I used their stamps before I became a design team member and really love the quality.  Now you can pick up some of these stamps for free as a guest designer.  For the details click here!

Best of luck!