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 - POSTCARD

I have the sniffles (and a bad sinus headache) but I got some new clip art from RED LEAD. So I spent some "bed time" cutting paper.

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.

GC83: Snow, Pine, and Mahogany Color Challenge

Just slipping in under the wire here with last month's Gingersnap Creations Color Challenge: SNOW, PINE, and MAHOGANY!
I've been wanting to try the Tattered Angels CHALKBOARD Glimmer Mist, so I bought two bottles over the holidays - Evergreen and Strawberry Shortcake. I sprayed the tag with Evergreen and then placed a mask over that and sprayed with Strawberry Shortcake. The neat thing about the Chalkboard GM is that it's opaque, not transparent like the regular GM. So the colors do layer with out loosing much of their own color personality. I did sponge a little bit with Pine Needles.

A close-up of the top of the tag.

And in this shot I think you can see the white netting.

Stamps: Hero Arts SMART STYLE
Paper: tag
Ink: Archival Jet Black, Distress Ink: Pine Needles
Accessories: Prima flowers, white netting, white feather, fuzzy yarn, pearl swirls, Glimmer Mist

I'm a Ginger!

Happy 2011! (Gotta remember to write the correct year on the checks again....)

Let me start by telling you a little story. My niece is a natural strawberry blond. And while I started blond, my hair gradually got darker and darker and then grayer. So one Thanksgiving when my niece was here, I dragged her to my hair dresser and said - MATCH THAT COLOR! And I became an honorary "GINGER".

Last month I was invited to be a Visiting Artist for the month of January with one of my favorite challenge blogs (so many fabulous artists over there) - GINGERSNAP CREATIONS! After I contained my glee, I said YES!

The theme for January is COFFEE, TEA, and COCOA. Every Wednesday in this month I will be posting a creation for that week's challenge. I hope you stop by here and over at GINGERSNAP CREATIONS and play along.

GC58: Transparencies ROMANCE

The job hunt continues...

I don't think I'm depressed but I sure am suffering from MAJOR boredom and lack of UMPH! No MOJO to stamp either (although I've been working on some class samples with the hopes of teaching this fall).

Just under the wire - for Gingersnap Creations TRANSPARENCIES challenge ending today!! I have a couple of transparent things here.

Now and then when I order something I get a "goody" bag for a thank you. This image of the bride on ACETATE was one of those goodies. I've also been wanting to use microscope slides in these charm frames. The papers are all from the Graphic 45 LeROMANTIQUE paper line. Her pink "dress is a rose under the acetate.

GC57 - WINGS

I wanted to do something different for the Gingersnap Creations WINGS challenge. I had pulled out some clip art of cemetery angels but the wings were so small. Then I remember my gargoyle clip art sheet. I'd already used the gargoyle with the big wings - so I used this guy.

The rest is scraps of "Paris" and Eiffel Tower paper. No real stamping here (just a "postmark").

Stamps: 7 Gypsies
Paper: Graphic 45 scraps, clip art by COLLAGE STUFF
Ink: SU! Real Red
Accessories: brads, metal photo corner, glitter, metal fleur de lis

Tag Tuesday #58 - SUMMER COOKOUT

Happy 4th of July!! I'm having a quiet day but will go into town tonight for the fireworks. :)

Catching up on a few challenges that are due in the next few days. This is for Louise's TAG TUESDAY challenge! Last Tuesday's challenge was SUMMER. I'm not sure why I did "COOKOUT" - I don't grill and don't really like picnics (it's the wind and bugs). But this was fun and quick!

The background cloud paper is new by AMuse. The grill was stamped over a left over bit of the MONOPRINT background I did for the flag. And the bottle cap came off a beer a few months ago! :) Just doing some recycling here!

Stamps: Inkadinkado
Paper: AMuse red mini check & clouds; tag
Ink: Archival
Accessories: alcohol inks, Martha grass punch, letter stickers, bottle cap, mini paper clip

CoC #2 - Fragments Basics

Week Two at Studio L3 'COMPENDIUM OF CURIOSITIES' Challenge is Fragment Basics (pg62). Which in actual fact is very easy! Just gluing Tim's Fragments to bits of paper.

I'm using goodies in the stash lately and found these great 7 Gypsies tags. I think they are for journaling - but have great graphics. I highlighted the green areas with very fine glitter. The Fragments I glued on parts of Graphic 45's DOMESTIC GODDESS papers. I liked the cherry motifs. The girl and her mother are clip art.

To challenge myself (since this is a pretty basic) was to make a double sized tag. the check print is a AMuse paper that was distressed with Old P aper ink.

The left side.

The right side.

Hanglar & Stanglar - Shabby ChicK

I love Hanglar and Stanglar but they are not for sell here in the US (more's the pity).

BUT I do have a Norwegian connection and some times she'll send me a few. I'm not entirely sure of the Swedish/English translation (it doesn't read like Norwegian) but I think the title of this stamp is 'GIRL WITH A HEN'.

There's a new Hanglar & Stanglar challenge blog and round #2 was for a SHABBY CHIC card.

So I got out some of my hew Tim Holtz stuff (paper, die cut edge, stick pin, ticket) and did a "grungy" card. The image was watercolored with Distress Ink and my aqua pen. The sunflowers were cream and heavily sprayed with SUNFLOWER Glimmer Mist (I *LOVE* that color). I' m not sure you can see the brown swirl under all the flowers and stuff - but I cut that with my Slice. (I'm trying to learn to love my Slice...). And for some extra "glitter" I used the clear dots. I don't think they make them any more (too bad) but they're flatter than the Dew Drops and add some sparkle. As I was editing the picture I thought I should have inked the edges of the background paper for more distressing - guess she's a "clean" shabby chic!

Stamps: Hanglar & Stanglar & Hero Arts FRIENDS DEFINITION
Paper: Tim Holtz
Ink: Distress Ink
Accessories: Tim Holtz edge die, prima flowers, Glimmer Mist, buttons, Scrapper's Floss, Slice, stick pin, glitter pen, aqua painter, ticket, scalloped Nestie.

Did you catch the "K" I added to Chic in the title? (grin).

CoC #1 - Water-stamped Tulips

Linda Ledbetter over at Studio L3 has challenged the owners of Tim Holtz's new book A COMPENDIUM OF CURIOSITIES to use the techniques found between the pages. The first challenge is Water-Stamping (pg35).

I rubbed and sponged the background with Distress Ink. Then used the Hero Arts tulip to do the water-stamping. But instead of just leaving the water-stamped tulips as the focal point - I made it the shadow background to the main image tulip.

Stamps: Hero Arts ANTIQUE ENGRAVINGS; Memory Box TENDRIL PRINT
Paper: tag
Ink: Distress Ink: Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Peeled Paint, and Shabby Shutters
Accessories: ribbon, button, Scraper's Floss, rhinestone

G56: Burgundy, Black and Ivory (make that Kraft)

Gingersnap Creations' monthly color challenge ends this weekend. This month it's Burgundy, Black, and Ivory. But Ivory wasn't working with the papers I picked - so in my case it's KRAFT (actually it's SU! Sahara Sand but I won't tell if you don't)!

This is a pretty simple card. The dress stamp is from a set from Stampington & Co. It's a clear stamp so I was able to decide where to stamp. The black ink wasn't showing to clearly on the dark chocolate brown paper, so I highlighted with white gel pen. The sentiment is also from the set.

Stamps: Stampington & Co SMITTEN FOR HOPE
Paper: 7 Gypsies, Stampin Up!, and Memory Box
Ink: Archival Black, ColorBox Chalk WARM RED
Accessories: ticket, red nail head rhinestones

Don't forget to comment on the here for the blog candy - I'll draw a name tomorrow morning!

GC55 - QUOTE

My friend, Anne Lise, stopped by for a visit before Memorial Day weekend. We've been friends for 30+ years - ever since I lived with her family in Karasjok, Norway (zoom out) as an exchange student. Anne Lise loves to quilt, so when she comes we generally go to her favorite quilting store. We spent 2 hours and she went home with three quilts to make! I bought a fat quarter of this great EGG material!

A fat quarter is 1/2 of 1/2 yard of material - 22x18. I ripped it into about 15 pieces and sewed it on to card stock. You'll probably get tired of the egg material before I'm done with all the cards! (grin)


I did this card for Gingersnap Creations challenge - QUOTE. When I broke down and bought the Tim Holtz bird/birdcage die, I decided I needed to use it A LOT. The quote is from an ARTISTIC OUTPOST set: SERENITY. The quote is "A bird does not sing because she has an answer. She sings because she has a SONG."

After sewing the material down, I pulled the loose threads out up to the sewn edge. Its pretty easy to do with cotton fabric.

Stamps: Artistic Outpost SERENITY
Paper: The Paper Studio MARABELLA
Ink: VersaMagic TURQUOISE GEM
Accessories: Tim Holtz die, material, Scrapper's floss

GC#52 - KRAFT: Sunflower

Gingersnap Creations is one of my favorite blogs. The talent stampers over there have an inspirational challenge each week. The color challenge for this month is KRAFT! So starting with a kraft card base, I did another quick Wish RAK birthday card!
The sunflower was stamped on cream Neenah and colored with a TECHNIQUE JUNKIES method called MARKER WASH.

Stamps: Rubber Stampede WOODCUT SUNFLOWER, sentiment Amuse
Paper: kraft cardstock, french book page, Cosmo Cricket MATERIAL GIRL
Ink: Archival COFFEE
Accessories: markers, mister, and ribbon

Tag Tuesday #51 - Inspiration from Home

I love Louise's (Kard Krazy) Tuesday Tag challenge. It's a tag! So that had me. This week's challenge is "INSPIRATION AT HOME". My inspiration came from a book I just brought home - TAKING FLIGHT by KELLY RAE ROBERTS. I found it on the sale rack at Micheal's this week. What caught my eye were the ladies on the front but what made me buy the book was the incredible backgrounds and collages inside!

These three tags were all background experiments. All three were done with Dabbers (Raspberry, Citrus, and Pink Sherbet) and Glimmer Mist (Key Lime Pie, Dazzling Diamonds, and S.W.A.K.)

This background was done by rubbing the Pink Sherbet Dabber up/down the right side. Then I sprayed the other side with S.W.A.K. Glimmer mist. The green targets are the Citrus Dabber just lightly touching the tag and rolled. Below the dress I stamped Hero Arts SWIRL FRAME "inked" with Raspberry Dabber. The dress is Stampington & Co AUTHENTIC PARTY stamped on the new Cosmo Cricket DeLovely paper. "SPUNK" is a Basic Grey rub-on.

I think this is my favorite of the three. Again I rubbed the Pink Sherbet Dabber on the tag. Then I lightly rubbed the Raspberry Dabber along the edge. And sprayed with Key Lime Pie Glimmer Mist. And out came my mini bubble wrap again with Citrus Dabber. The large circles are a lid. The Hampton Art SMALL FACE FRAME was done on white paper in Archival Black. She looks like a Geisha to me. The lip and iris were colored with Copics (RV06 & YG13) and covered with Crystal Effects. The wings are Grungeboard covered with Pink Sherbet Dabber and Magenta Stickles.

This background is layered Glimmer Mist. Spray on a Teflon sheet and smooshed. Then dried with the heat gun. Repeat for layer after layer. Then more bubble wrap in Citrus Dabber. Finally I used Hero Arts LE LETTER stamp "inked" with the Pink Sherbet Dabber. The Stampendous RUFFLED BLOOM was also stamped on the same paper as the dress. Magenta Stickles and green glitter pen.

The butterfly in the corner is the new Memory Box Damask Butterfly stamped on shrink plastic and heated down to size. TIP: While the shrink plastic is still hot flatten it with a clear acrylic block. The rolled edges will lay down. I used the Citrus Dabber to color the back.

So, I'm down to 997 tags....

Anatomy of a Tag

This week's Tuesday Tag challenge (#50) at Kard Krazy's (Louise) was to use a ticket on your tag. I had just purchased some Tim tickets and was flipping thru the book to see what I could use. I decided on "SOAR". I did my background last night and it turned out so cool that I decided to do an anatomy of a tag!

I used three colors of Adirondack PAINT DABBERS: Pool, Aqua, & Lettuce (I seem to be on green/aqua/blue kick lately). I started rubbing the POOL back and forth across the center of the tag. Then just dabbed the LETTUCE in a random pattern on the bottom. And did the same with AQUA on the top. I did let it dry overnight but the heat gun works too.

A few weeks ago, my friend Heather, showed me a cool way to make leaves. I punched 1 3/8" circles out. Then shifted them over to re-punch a section of the circle out. I ran my embossing tool down the center to score a fold-line and bent them slightly. I randomly stuck them down over the green dab marks.

I finally broke down and bought the Tim Holtz bird/cage die last weekend. I really did try to resist it! I cut one bird/wing out of chipboard and one out of the new 7 Gypsies Paris music paper. The trick was getting the two parts facing the same direction!

I sponged Tumbled Glass, Stormy Skies, and Chipped Sapphire on the bird and rubbed Brushed Corduroy along the branch. A jet rhinestone eye and it's done!

GC51: Wood Veneer Paper

Several weeks ago I saw this wood veneer paper at Archiver's. It's real WOOD! You can see and feel the grain. I've been hoarding it because it's so expensive (12x12 was $4.00) and I hated to experiment and fail (and waste it).

I thought long and hard about the ink to use and ended up with Archival because it wouldn't run when wet. But for coloring I was stumped. I thought anything I used would follow the grain under the "image" edge. I stamped the main image, stamped a smaller section on a scrap and then the very center. I will say this wood paper does cut nicely! Since there were printed scraps I played with those. I tried COPICS first and that did run. It looked like a blurry mess. Then I tried a very "dry" aqua pen and Distress Inks. As long as the brush tip wasn't too wet, I got a nice amount of color and no seeping.

Stamps: Hero Arts ETCHED MEDALLION
Paper: Wood Veneer; Basic Grey BASICS
Ink: Archival Coffee, Distress Ink (Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, and Peeled Paint)
Accessories: aqua painter, brads

GC48 - GROWTH (Tulip)

Over at Gingersnap Creations they have a weekly challenge. If you belong to the Yahoo Group you get an email on Friday night to remind you of ongoing challenge deadlines. For the challenge that's closing that weekend - it's a reminder to the "QUEENS OF LAST MINUTE CLUB". That's me this week! The challenge was simply GROWTH.

To me the best part of Spring is the flowers that start popping up - some times through the snow. (Did I mention we got "officially" 14 inches of snow on Friday? That's spring in Colorado!)

I had gotten a call from my LSS that a stamp I ordered was in (it had been so long I didn't remember ordering it or what it was). So Saturday I went over to get it (I didn't get it...I still don't remember even wanting that stamp.) However, I *DID* get a bunch of new Hero Arts stamps (I'm so excited about their new "retro" line I can't stand it). The tulip and leaf are part of an acrylic set - such elegant lines. And when I got home my new 6x6 pads of Basic Grey MAX & WHISPERS was in the mail box! Stamping heaven!!!

Stamps: Hero Arts ANTIQUE ENGRAVINGS & Amuse sentiment
Paper: Basic Grey MAX & WHISPERS
Ink: Archival Coffee
Accessories: brads

FTL 87 - FINNY BIRTHDAY

Isn't she sassy?!? (grin)

I needed one more card to finish out my SCS birthday fairy commitments for this month and and wanted to do a "QUICK" card. And this was pretty quick.

The mermaid was a quick color with Copics. Don't you love how they will blend? Her fin is BG15 and YG13. And of course it was glittered! The stripes are washi tape (I love that stuff too). All in all it was a "10 minute" card.

Stamps: Amuse
Paper: Neenah Solar White and SU Tempting Turquoise
Ink: Memento
Accessories: glitter, washi tape, and Copics

I hope you're all enjoying your spring weather...it's SNOWING here again. Yesterday we had thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes. Today it's 8-9 inches of white stuff. They closed school today....GOTTA LOVE SPRING IN COLORADO!

Tag Tuesday #47 - Inspire Me!

It's been a wild week for me. Everything at work was due on Friday, so it was long hours of work for me. THEN on top of that...I was suppose to be in Ireland this weekend with my family. I didn't get to go due to Jazz's vet bills but I would have been trying to get home yesterday (Saturday) myself. So in the end it was a good thing I didn't go. However, I still haven't found out where my family is. Last I heard they were schedule out of Dublin (back to Venice) on Monday morning....if the planes are flying. But that was Thursday night. SO....keep your fingers crossed for them!

I did get some time to play finally yesterday. I took some time and went to the Saturday crop at Archiver's. Just getting out of the house with planned craft projects means some stuff gets done. One of the things I worked on was the weekly TAG challenge from Kard Krazy (Louise). The challenge was to use a sentiment stamp on a tag.

Having just done Michelle Zindorf's brayer class last Sunday, I wanted to try brayering a tag. I started by stamping the swirl on the tag using white acrylic paint as ink. After it dried I brayered the bottom with Broken China and the top with Peeled Paint. Then used a wet cloth to gently remove the ink from the white paint. It's such a cool look. I used some Japanese Washi tape along the left side (stripes). The sentiment tag was distressed with Tumbled Glass and over-stamped with Broken China.

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous sentiment & PURELY RANDOM, Penny Black POINTILLE
Paper: tag
Ink: Broken China, Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass, Memento, and acrylic paint
Accessories: clipart by COLLAGE STUFF, rhinestones, silver leaf pen, glitter letters stickers, washi tape, Prima rose, glitter, and ribbon