A Murder of Ravens Class Cards

WOW! What a great weekend I had at ONE LITTLE SPARK teaching (and taking classes)!

Here are the classes cards from a Murder of Ravens.
THE RAVEN - we used the same photo transfer technique I did a tutorial on a while back. Stamps by Hero Arts & Stampers Anonymous.

THE SENTINELS - The tag background was done with Paint Dabbers - Lemonade, Butterscotch, and Mushroom. Stamps by Memory Box.

THE NIGHTWATCH - I love this one...so FAST! The background is a tag covered with Peeled Paint & Wild Honey Distress Stains. The image is a Mrs. Grossman's laser-cut sticker.

THE RAVEN - This is a good old Tim "Spray and Smoosh" background. Stamps Memory Box & Stampers Anonymous.

Tomorrow DR PAINE'S APOTHECARY!

GC104 - Denim, Dust, and Rust

Welcome to this month's color challenge at Gingersnap Creations - Denim, Dust, and Rust.


Gingersnap Creations has a great sponsor this month - Technique Junkies Newsletter!

For the very "splashy" modern background I used a Technique Junkies' method called Bingo Blast. But I substituted the new Distress Stains, for the bingo markers! Same effect but in the dusty, rusty colors of the old West. (I think it turned out very cool!)

Stamps: Oxford Impressions COUNTRY GIRL (photo); Stamper's Anonymous ODDS AND ENDS
Ink: Stazon black, Distress Ink Fired Brick
Paper: red cardstock, glossy paper,
Accessories: flower button, twine, Distress Stains (Faded Jeans, Antique Linen, Fired Brick), bottle cap sticker
Technique Junkies: Bingo Blast - April/May 2009

Don't forget to post your Denim, Dust, and Rust (blue, tan, rust) creation to the Gingersnap Blog before June 19th. You'll not only be qualified to be selected as a Ginger Gem, but also have a chance of winning the fabulous "Emboss or Die" CD from Technique Junkies and, for this final challenge, a two-year online only subscription to the fabulous Technique Junkie Newsletter. (That's so AWESOME!)

GC101 - Cowboys & Cowgirls

This month Gingersnap Creations moves from the mystery of the Far East to the Wild West!! And when I saw today's theme I knew I could indulge in a guilty pleasure and buy the new Tim "Wild West" set. It's not a style I naturally gravitate towards but it was a Tim set and I 'needed' it. (wink)

Last week I sighed up for a very cool online class, 'She Art' with Christy Tomlinson of The Scarlet Lime. The first week of class started with background collage/texture techniques. So just playing around I did the background with torn pages, gel medium, and Glimmer Mist. I'm so psyched about this class! I can't wait to show you more stuff.

I'll admit I've been stumped by the glassine paper. I'm intrigued by it, but it's so dark that I'm not seeing a lot of uses for it...yet. That in mind, I love how this crumple flower turned out!

Stamps: Stamper's Anonymous
Paper: 6x6 Manila card stock, tag, brown card stock
Ink: Distress Ink
Accessories: glassine paper, brad, twine, aqua pen, gold embossing powder, flower punch. gel medium, washi tape, masks, Glimmer Mist

Tag Tuesday - POSTCARD CUTOUT

Louise (Kard Krazy) decided to retire from Tag Tuesday. It was one of my favorite challenge blogs. Fortunately, Rebbecca picked up Tag Tuesday! This is my first chance to play since the move. But I just HAD to do this one!

Last year I picked up some vintage postcards at the Farmer's Market here in Woodland Park (Colorado). They've been sitting on my desk waiting for the right moment to use them. This week's challenge is POSTCARD CUTOUT. I admit, I did NOT cut my card but I'll tell you why...

...first, it's a VINTAGE POSTCARD OF PARIS! Furthermore, it's a TWA "Kodachrome" postcard. Too fun - reminds me of my grandpa's slides. Anyway, I wanted to keep the post card intact.

The base is a "postcard" tag that I found in Seattle last summer. It too has been waiting for the right time.

I did some stamp pad rubbing on the postcard tag. The plane is from Tim's new set AIR TRAVEL.

Stamps: Stamper's Anonymous AIR TRAVEL
Paper: postcard tag, vintage postcard
Ink: Distress Ink: Pumice Stone, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Fired Brick
Accessories: Stickers (stamp), bottle cap, twine

Tag Tuesday - VALENTINES

I'm out of practice! This is the first time this year I've gotten to play along with Louise's TAG TUESDAY challenge: VALENTINES. And this tag took me about 2 hours too long to make! I'm still not 100% happy with it but sometimes you have to say UNCLE!!



Stamps: Stampers Anonymous, Memory Box
Paper: Tag, Making Memories
Ink: Distress Ink - Victorian Velvet
Clip Art: Paper Whimsy
Accessories: Rose stickers, ticket, pearls, glitter, paper lace.

Gingersnap Creations: HOT BEVERAGES

Today's Chestnut Theme Challenge is HOT BEVERAGES!!

Once Christmas is over I immediately start "craving" Spring colors - blue skies and green leaves! I have to confess I don't drink many HOT beverages... I'm a Diet Coke girl thru and thru! It's my coffee in the morning and my glass of wine with dinner. But this cup from Flourishes was a must for my hot beverage. The cup was stamped on a scrap of Memory Box paper that changed pattern along one edge. You can see the polka dots on the cup and circles on the saucer. I just sponged a bit of Broken China on the cup to give it additional dimension.

The tag background is a variation on the classic "smoosh & spray" technique (color pads rubbed on a craft sheet and misted with water). I sponged color on the tag first. Then I sprayed water on my craft sheet to make the colors "run" a bit. My "new" favorite coffee ring stamp. And then embellishment.

Stamps: Flourishes COFFEE WITH FRIENDS; Hero Arts GIRLFRIEND (sentiment); Stamper's Anonymous COFFEE RINGS
Paper: Tag
Ink: Distress Ink - Broken China & Shabby Shutters
Accessories: White embossing powder, doily, Prima flowers, pearls, ticket & leaf punch, Stickles, trinket pin, ribbon

If you'd like to play along with the Gingers, you have a MONTH to post your interpretation of HOT BEVERAGES on the Gingersnap Creations post. Be sure to stop by here and leave me a link to your creation too!

Have fun - stay warm - see you next week!

Calendar Pages

For stocking stuffers this year, I gave my family members a desk calender. The past several years, A Muse has produced a calendar set (in several sizes) and the proceeds go to charity. This year's charity was CHARLEY'S FUND.

The calendar comes as a PDF file that you print on your choice of paper. My friend, Heather, printed hers on colored paper and used chalk inks. I decided to go white (Neenah Solar White). I also wanted to stay away from "holiday" themes. My original idea was to do each season with one set of stamps and use different colors for each month. I only made it thru WINTER (Dec, Jan, Feb) with the same stamp. LOL...so much for a plan!

WINTER - Snowflakes


Stamps: Tim Holtz/Stamper's Anonymous

SPRING - Florals
Hero Arts
Memory Box
A Muse

SUMMER - Here the theme fell apart but I started with the idea of "bugs" - as in butterfiles, ladybugs, etc.

Memory Box
PaperTrey Ink
A Muse & Hero Arts

FALL - HARVEST
Hero Arts
Inkadinkado
A Muse

All the pages were dotted with Stickles for BLING. And finally the 4x6 sets were put in these "CD" cases.

Cookie Exchange

I was invited to participate in a cookie exchange today. I must say it's been 10-15 years since I've done one. Back in those days I stitched...no cards/stamping card for me! You know I've been doing recipes cards all year (and yes I know I'm behind but I'm catching up (stay tuned)). So it's seemed natural, even mandatory to give the cookie recipes the "treatment".

This is a new recipe for me - Pistachio-Cranberry Biscotti - taken from last year's Betty Crocker's Christmas Cookie book (you know--the ones at the grocery check-out that look so darn good!)

It doesn't have a lot of ingredients but it does have a lot of steps. So, it didn't fit on the standard card. I solved that problem with a flip page. The paper and image is all Stampin' Up.

You remember my Tim tag from day #2. You might have wondered why I made a BUNCH of them. It's simple...they were the fronts to a recipe. People always ask me what I do with my tags. I generally just stand them in a box to look at now and then. This seems like a better use!

Here's the back - my Grandmother's Ginger Snap recipe. I have to say it's my favorite Christmas cookie.

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas - tag #3

This is my take on Tim's Day #3 tag. I have the bird die but wanted to use the deer...but I did use the washi tape technique.
I love Distress Inks because when layered and dry they GLOW! Yummy! I did spray a little Pearl Glimmer Mist over the tag to give it some shine. And added that lush gold mesh ribbon.

Just a close up of the deer. With this angle you can see the semi-transparent washi tape layers.

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas - tag #2

This is my take on Tim's Day #2 tag. You'll note that my tag looks NOTHING like Tim's. LOL...but that's ok. It was the technique of creating your ink pad that was at the heart of Tim's tag.

I used my FAVORITE Stamper's Anonymous Santa image for this. There's just something about that classic face with the "giggle mitten".

Since this is a large image I stamped it out on white first (upper left) and then used sponges to color in the areas. That gave me a feel for how to color the ink pad (center bottom). The test image from the ink was very bright but I needed more ink (center top). Finally the "final" image was stamped on the tag.

The tag was finished in a similar manner to Tim's (inked, covered with clear embossing powder, sponged color, etc). I finished with a small strip of musical paper at the bottom (also sponged with Fired Brick & Vintage Photo). Accented with a RED LEAD holly spring, red silk ribbon, and at the top - red net ribbon and silver mini tinsel.

And yes...there are multiple tags here. Since this was an ink pad - I decided to do some tags for future use (MORE ON THAT NEXT WEEK).

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween!!

Life is slowly getting back to "normal". I just finished my first month back at work and that's going well. Last weekend I taught my classes at ONE LITTLE SPARK in Tuckerton, New Jersey. A big thank you to Pat, Lee, Heather, and the ladies in the class!! I had a UBER WONDERFUL TIME!!!

Here are the tags we did in class! Hope you have a Happy Halloween!! (OH....and I became a GREAT AUNT DEB last Friday!!!! (yes, I was always "great" but now it's official!!)









Be safe tonight!!

The Stamper's Sampler - Oct/Nov 2010

I got my issue of THE STAMPER'S SAMPLER today. Actually, I got two issues! You know what that means...I have something inside!!!! (I had only made one submission, so I was pretty sure what it was).

My entry was for the HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS challenge. In addition to the print version, you can see The Stamper's Sampler directions and all the close-up here!!! (I rated a webpage entry too)!!

I made a little gift card holder. I have to admit it was a shameless CASE of a gift card holder that Heather made for me last Christmas. In this photo it's closed.

And here's it is open...

And a close of of the Crystal snow flake detail. As a reminder - Tutorial #1 and Tutorial #2.

Circle Journal - Slim Pages

I've told you before about the "circle journal" that travels between 7 stampers. Each stamper has a month to create an entry for the journal and pass it to the next lady. July was my month and I created this SLIM PAGE (I think that's what it's called - 2x4 piece of art).

My page is really 2.25x4, but it was a pre-cut piece of card stock I had gotten from Stampin Up! I also ordered the small glassine envelopes that held the "tag". This is a "Tim" technique of stamping the image with a white dabber (or acrylic paint) and then sponging color over it. A damp towel removes the ink and returns the "whiteness" of the stamped image.

The leaf punch on the glassine envelop is alcohol ink background and a Martha punch!!

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous URBAN CHIC; Inkadinkado LEAVES GALORE
Paper: White
Ink: Archival Black & Distress Ink
Accessories: rhinestone, alcohol inks, sponges, Martha Stewart punch, glassine envelope, paint dabber