The Secret!

The first Monday of the month and that means another Product Focus from Artistic and all stamps in the "Verses and Greetings" category will be 20% off through Saturday, August 8th! This also brings on the new monthly "Show Us Your AO Art," so be sure to join in for a chance to win a $15 store voucher, but of course using those AO stamps! For more fabulous AO inspiration visit Tracy, Shari, Gerrie,

I think the Boardwalk bathing beauties were perfect to place on top of this so true sentiment from "Quotes and Quotables" all stamped in Black Archival and inked in Antique Linen, Pumice Stone and shaded in Vintage Photo and Black Soot.   Layered it up and distressed the edges and added some photo corners.

Now for my background I wanted something vintage and a little feminine, so I inked up the card stock with the inks above and shaded as well. Next I applied DecoArt Crackle Paint (thank you Brenda) using a painted brush over the Prima stencil. Once dried, I reapplied the stencil and inked over it with Vintage Photo. This is a pretty detailed stencil and my first time used the DecoArt Crackle Paint and I was pleased with the results!

Hope you have fun on the Blog Hop and thank you for taking the time to visit! Have a great day!

Born Super Stars

Hope you all are doing fabulously and getting ready for the weekend! This tag I am sharing in detail at Artistic Outpost, so if you would like more information and photos, click the link! Also the October challenge "Show us your AO Art"

This tag was made for a 9 year-old boy and in fact we will be going to the birthday party on Saturday for a little while. I did not want to make anything too elaborate, but wanted something a little special.

Thank you for stopping by today and having a look!

I Believe in Miracles!

Today's post is brief, because all the details are over at Artistic Outpost if you would like to visit and say, "hello."  My card was created is in honor of  "Breast Cancer Awareness" month and all of those who have been or know someone who has been affected by cancer.

Thank you for stopping by today and an extra thank you if you hopped on over to AO! Have a lovely weekend!

Hope!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you all are doing well and have wonderful plans for the weekend! Friday's are my day to post at Artistic Outpost and today I am sharing a card using the Bluebird plate of loveliness, along with Quotes and Quotables and the Secretary Pool. For all the details and more photos, please stop OVER and have a visit.

In brief, the Bluebirds were stamped and cut out using Vintage Labels an ODBD die, shaded and embossed. The sentiment was stamped cut and placed on chipboard and then the "Fly" was also cut away. The background panel was stenciled using Tim's doily and a piece of trellis cut from burlap. "Show us your AO Art" August challenge is waiting to see your AO Art, so get those beauties inky and join in and we are flying over to visit our friends at Inspiration Journal for the "Anything Goes" challenge.

Enjoy the weekend and thank you again for taking the time to visit and comment!

Obey All The Rules!

It has been awhile, but it is a fabulous Artistic Outpost Blog Hop and the theme is designers choice, so be sure to visit all of the AODT for some gorgeous inspiration! Before I list all the talent, Artistic Outpost has a lovely SALE OF THE WEEK at 20% off in the "Flowers and Garden" section as does Our Daily Bread Designs, for "Flowers and Garden" stamps and dies and North Coast Creations.



Tracy  * Terry * Alison * Kate * Linda * Gerrie * Lisa



For my card I decided to use the lovely working girls from the Paperboy collection and teaming them up with stamps from the Secretary Pool and Quote and Quotables. The card size is a standard A2 and all the panels were stamped using Black Archival, heat set and then inked with Distress Inks, Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Rusty Hinge. Again I get so carried away that I forgot to take pictures of the background panels before assembly, but you all get the idea. I also spritzed and flicked water on all panels and then gave a little flick of Rusty Hinge stain using a toothbrush.

The girls image was lightly inked with Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar and I added some corners. Don't they look like after working that 9 to 5 job that they are ready to break a few rules? Well I believe so! I worked as a secretary/office manage for many years and I know what TGIF means!

Well I do thank you for stopping by today on this wonderful blog hop with Artistic Outpost! Have a fabulous day!

Bathing Beauties Believe!

I hope this first day of April is finding you all well and happy! It is hard to believe we are already into April and that means summer should be fast approaching! And with summer around the corner, the Artistic Outpost's "Bathing Beauties" have a secret to share with all of you!

Got to love this sentiment from "Quotes and Quotables" and when I was looking at these lovely ladies, I thought what a fun combination!

The sentiment and bathing beauties were stamped in black Archival and heat seat. I also stamped the ladies a second time to make a mask.

After masking the ladies, I began to ink the manila card stock (cut to fix a large tag, which I painted black) with Distress inks, Broken China, Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy. A little bit of black paint was applied through one of Tim's stencils for a little extra interest!   Added a little subtle stamping in the background and of course had to flick on some good old water!

To finish the top of the tag, I inked over some cheesecloth and glued down some seashells. The "Believe" on Tim's key is also from "Quotes and Quotables" and cut to size. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is "Anything Goes," so the girls are on their way there!

Thank you all so much for stopping by and I hope you will have a wonderful April!

Do You Believe In Magic?

Happy Monday all you lovely bloggers and I hope your weekend was wonderful! I started singing that song by "The Loving Spoonful," when I came up with the post title and I bet you did as well!

I just love this quote from "Quotes and Quotables" from Artistic Outpost.  It is a good reminder about that "Magic" inside of all of us and sometimes it hides out a little and we need to wake it up!

The background for both tags was inked with Peacock Feathers and Dusty Concord and flicked with some water and also Distress Stains. The large tag background was also embossed using a Darice folder and I inked Dusty Concord over the Peacock Feather areas and vise versa!

The smaller tag was covered in crinkled foil with double sided tape and inked with various blue and purple alcohol inks, until the color matched with the manila background. Cut out a little opening with one of Tim's movers and shapers for the "Quote," which is heading over to Country View Crafts Challenge, "Quotations and Sayings."

The Flapper Girl from "Flapper Fashions," was perfect for sharing the magic. She was watercolored using Broken China, Dusty Concord and Tattered Rose Distress Stains. Her jewelry was colored with Spica Glitter Pens and of course she was fussy cut!

You have plenty of time to pull out you Artistic Outpost stamps and join in the August Referral Program, which is anything goes, so go get inky!

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment! Enjoy the week!

Huck Finn

Happy Monday and I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Over the weekend, I received my first ever order of Pan Pastels and could not wait to play!  Wish I had ordered some of the tools with handles, but that will happen next time!  Interesting how projects come together as I was looking at the "Quote and Quotables" sentiment and decided to make a somewhat stormy sky background with my new PP. 

Of course I knew that the ship in the "Huck Finn" collections would look awesome in the background, so I lined this up stamped with Black Archival, allowing some room for that adorable Huck!  The young lad was stamped and then colored with Distress Inks and fussy cut.  I decided Huck would go so solo this time, so cut around the pup!  Stamped and torn the words and added a compass.

This will be linked to:
Simon Says Stamp and Show: Passport to Fun
Pan Pastel: Dreams

Thank you for visiting me today and as always your comments are so appreciated!  Just a reminder that there is still a couple of days to join in the "April Referral Program" at Artistic Outpost!   Enjoy the week! 

Paperboy Delivers Birthday Tag!

Over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges we are getting all "Sentimental" and that can be a special time, place, event or sentiment!  Oh you should see what the design team has for you and we have another "Guest Designer," so stop on by FSC and have a visit!  There is always a prize! 

My tag is of a sentimental theme as it will soon be my G-son's birthday.  Hard to believe he is turning 22 and I really wonder where did the time go????  I decided to pull out my AO Paperboy to deliver the special birthday greeting.  Simon Says Stamp and Show is all about using "COLOR" and so we are having a visit there. 

If you would like all the details on how this tag came about, please stop by Artistic Outpost, as it is my turn to share on Wednesday and I decided this would be the project of choice!  

Thank you for stopping by and I can't wait to see your Sentiment project and FSC!

Stamps: Artistic Outpost, Paperboy, Quotes and Quotables
Inks:  Coffee Archival, Distress, Walnut Stain, Tattered Rose, Fired Brick, Faded Jeans
Stains:  Fired Brick, Faded Jeans

I Believe!

Welcome to April's Artistic Outpost Blog Hop!  It is all about Women and or Flowers and just in time for Mother's Day!  My lovely teammates have plenty of inspiration to share, so be sure to stop by and have a treat!  Gerrie, Lisa, Sue, Tracy, Linda, Alison, Terry (Me), Kate.

For my tribute to "woman," I decided to go with the Flapper Fashions and Quotes and Quotables as focal point.  Both were stamped using Black Archival and the lovely Flapper was colored with sponge applicators using Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar.  Don't you just love the power in Believing?

The backgrounds were created using a swirly floral from Birds of a Feather, first stamped with Tattered Rose to cover the entire white background and then in a random fashion using Spun Sugar.  For the sentiment, I decide to add splatters by thinning out Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar reinkers, using an old toothbrush.  I will be linking this up to Simon Says Stamp and Show - Background.

There is still plenty of time to join in the "Anything Goes" April Referral Program using those AO stamps.  Thank you for stopping by today's blog hop and I hope you have a wonderful day and remember to "Believe."

Stamps:  Artistic Outpost, Flapper Fashions, Quotes and Quotables, Birds of A Feather
Ink:  Archival Black, Distress Tattered Rose, Spun Sugar, Black
Reinkers Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar 

Why Creep When You Can Soar!

WooHoo it is another Blog Hop at Artistic Outpost and it is all about "Backgrounds, Typography or Sentiments."  I had such a great time working on this tag and I know you will love what all DT members have in store for you as well!   Gerrie, Lisa, Sue, Tracy, Linda, Alison, Terry (Me), Kate.

The background I created was inked with Peacock Feathers and Brushed Corduroy and the gears, from the Industrial Backgrounds set,  stamped in the same colors.  The sentiment was mostly inked with Peacock Feathers and shaded and gears stamped using Archival Sepia.  Both were given a quick spray of water! Some of the gears are Tim's and others are bits from my DH, which I inked with black alcohol ink.

The Steampunk Gentleman soaring to new heights was stamped in Black Archival and colored using Distress Inks.  I find that Tattered Rose is a perfect skin tone!  Both the Gentleman and Plane were obviously fussy cut!  I did a little slit at the man's arm to have him kind of resting on that awesome Sentiment, from Quotes and Quotables!

For the back black tag panel, I cut the edge using the Steampunk Gear, embossed and then highlighted with Opalite.  Added a tie using an old ham bag!!

There is still plenty of time to join in the March Referral Program and hopefully this Blog Hop has inspired you to pull out your AO stamps!  Thank you so much for visiting and have a wonderful Day!

Artistic Outpost Stamps:  Industrial Background, Quotes and Quoatables, SteamPunk
Inks:  Distress Walnut Stain, Brushed Corduroy, Black Soot Tattered Rose, Peacock Feathers, Archival Black and Sepia, Opalite, Winter Rust
Misc. gears, Dot Matrix Texture Fade, On the Edge Steampunk Gears

Birds

It is all about "BIRDS" at Fashionable Stamping Challenges for the current theme chosen by Meggymay!  Come on and join us with your lovely stamping creations celebrating one of natures most beautiful gifts the lovely "Bird."  My lovely DT sisters have so much beauty to share with you, so please have a visit at FSC.

This was more than a challenge to me as I worked on this at the same time as keeping my pet bird, Fred, of more than 25 years company.  So this is a tribute to my Fred, who did pass away this morning and I will miss him dearly!  Now this sweet bird does not look at all like my Fred, who was pretty good size and green, but it is one of my favorite images.   "Birds of A Feather" and "Quotes and Quotables" are the stamps I used from Artistic Outpost and I found the quote I used so true and appropriate with how I feel at the moment. 

The bird and sentiment were stamped with Archival Sepia, heat set and then colored with Antique Linen and, Tattered Rose and Festive Berries, Squeezed Lemonade, Stampin Up Barely Banana for the beak and little feets.  The metal pieces were colored with Metallic Stain.  For both embossed panels, I used Cuttlebug folders and highlighted with Tattered Rose and touches of Festive Berry. 

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you pull out some birdy stamps and join in the fun at FSC!  Also Artistic Outpost has a February Referral Program and that is anything goes using AO stamps!  I hope you have a wonderful week!