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!

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

Apples and Pumpkins!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the Autumn season and you know who is around the corner, right? Today is World Card Making Day, so what a great day to start off a new challenge,  "Use A Mask or Stencil" at Fashionable Stamping Challenges, chosen by the lovely Ellie. Be sure to stop by an check out all the fabulous art my DT Sisters have for you. There is a prize from Flonzcrafts, the FSC sponsor and a Top 3 selection and you never know when you might be spotlighted, so come on and join in!

It is that time of year for Hayrides, Apples and Pumpkins and cooler weather and I don't know about you, but I am ready for it! This year's heat just did me in! Working with Artistic Outpost's "Hayride" collection, I stamped the background panel using Archival Olive on vanilla card stock, heat set and then colored in the leaves with Shabby Shutters. Then I inked over the entire panel using Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, Shabby Shutters, water flicks and shaded with Vintage Photo and further distress the edges. Taking this card over to Frilly and Funkie's "Colors of Autumn."

The frame was stamped in Archival Sepia and then clear embossed. The sweet little kids were also stamped in Sepia, heat set and watered colored with Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, Tattered Rose, and Frayed Burlap. The kids were masked and then the background inked with Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw and then flicked with water and Distress Stains of Vintage Photo and Peeled Paint.

The sign was stamped in Brushed Corduroy and cut and lightly inked with Antique Linen and Peeled Paint, before the words were stamped in Black Archival and clear embossed.

The Apple Basket stamp was colored using Distress Markers, Barn Door, Weathered Wood and Tea Dye. I did add a little color using Vintage Photo to white card stock prior to stamping where the basket would be, to give more of a wood look.

Well that it is for today and I do thank you for stopping by!

Leaving!

I have to say that I am always amazed and impressed with those of you who can post so many times in a week, because it takes me a long time for most of what I do, sadly I am slow! This tag was actually one of my "quicker" ones as it still took me two hours and then two hours to capture almost decent photos! I am not a photographer by any means or it could be my camera! Anywho, onto my tag which is why you stopped by!

Of course this is based on Tim's "August" 12 Tags of 2013 and it is all about masking! For my tag I pretty much followed the guidelines and did a little masking on masking! And playing along with Inspiration Journal's "My Summer Vacation" which is approaching shortly, I chose the "airplane" as that will be my mode of travel for my mini vacation to visit family and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for "Air Mail" and I would be the package!

For my background, following Tim's instructions, I used Antique Linen, Old Paper and Bundled Sage, with a splat of Vintage Walnut.  After using Stazon for the Mask, I forgot and used it to ink up my stamps and as you can see, not as good coverage as with the Archival!

I used several stamps sets of Tim's and since I will be flying, thought the little suitcase collection was right in order with the compass pointing North to Portland, OR.

Hope you are having a wonderful week and enjoying your summer vacations or summer at home! Thank you so much for visiting! 

Inks: Stazon Black, Archival Coffee, Distress Inks: Walnut Stain, Aged Mahogany, Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo

Something New

We want to see Something New at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and as long as it includes stamping, there will also be a random draw for a prize! We are leaving the "NEW" up to your interpretation and it could be a new technique, new stamps, new anything! And on the subject of new, our Guest Designer is Neil Walker "Neelz Expressionz," so be sure to visit him and all the DT members for new inspiration!

My card has lots of "New" and was fun, so here we go!  A first for me was to make my own stencil using my new movers and shapers "Mustache" and after  stamped the letters/numbers, I placed my stencil over the card stock and began applying clear embossing ink and powder.

After this was heat seat, I inked on Rusty Hinge, Peacock Feathers and Peeled Paint and then lightly applied Antique Linen over the entire surface! Ironed off the EP and then distressed and shaded with Vintage Photo.

Next I used my "New" stamps and inked them up with Archival black and colored with Distress Ink. Did  little fussy cutting. The postage pieces were stamped on newsprint and inked over with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo for that old feel.

I wanted a patina effect on the Fleur de Lis and applied Vintage Photo paint and Broken China stain.  Hope you enjoyed my "new" share and come on an join in the fun!

Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend.

A Story To Tell!

Hot off the presses and I am so thrilled to share with you the newest Artistic Outpost stamp release, "Paperboy."  Is this not out of this world fabulous?  When my "Paperboy" plate arrived, I could not wait to get started and did so the very next day and I just kept on going!  In fact over the next few weeks, I will share with you more "Paperboy" goodness!  You will want to visit all of my DT Sisters for more incredible inspiration:  Gerrie, Lisa, Sue, Tracy, Linda, Alison, Terry (Me), Kate.   

When I look at these young ladies, I certainly see a story or maybe some good office gossip!  The background and girls were stamped with Archival Sepia and heat set.  For the background I randomly stamped the collage print to cover my entire page.  I masked the girls and inked and did the Flick and Spritz technique, which is a favorite of mine!   The Cheery Lynn Doily was cut and inked as the girls and I curled up the edges.   A little lace and a TH "Story" ticket was added to finish.  I will also be taking my girls for a visit at Frilly and Funkie for the "Layer it on and Share a Word" challenge.  And since this is a new stamp, I am going to link this up to Simon Says Stamps and Show challenge "Use that Stamp."

Now I don't do many flowers or lace treatments, but this just called out to me and I listen to those little voices!  I used Tim's Tattered Floral die to cut glassine, white/brown netting and burlap, which was backed with double sided tape and netting. The glassine was embossed and the little center treated with glass beads, glitter and pearls.  I am also linking this "tattered flower" up to Tim's "Tattered Floral Challenge" and you won't want to miss this one!  So generous! 

I could not help but share two cards with you today and decided to stick with the girls!  After all girls go first, right? 

The girls where stamped in Black Archival and heat seat, colored with Stampin Up Chalks and touches of red with an applicator and Fired Brick.  The building was stamped using Stampin Up Going Gray.  These were both masked and then inked over with Distress inks!  Don't forget there is still time to add your projects using AO stamps to the February Monthly Referral Program! 

This gorgeous vintage "Paperboy" collection is available in both unmounted sheets of red rubber for $14 or mounted on EZ Mount cling foam and pre-cut for you for $22.99.  The mounted version comes with a cling card for easy storage. 

Thank you so much for stopping by to visit and I hope you have enjoyed this new Paperboy release and I can't wait to see what you all come up with!  Really, I can't wait!

Card #1
Inks:  Archival Sepia, Distress Old Paper, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Clear Emboss & Powder
Cheery Lynn Die, Spellbinders, TH Tattered Floral
Card#2
Inks:  Archival Black, Distress Fired Brick, Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Stampin UP, Going Gray and Chalks