November Swap COF

For the November Swap at the Circle of Friends the hostess sent us some stamps and we were to use them to create anything that inspired us. We received two sets of clear stamps - one with two flowers and one with butterflies and a bird, some of my favorite images. But I must say I was really challenged with this project and it took me almost three weeks of looking at the stamps and looking at the paper I wanted to use to get inspired. It finally all came together and here is the final result - a small hanging inspirational card.

For the base card I used this great paper I found at Reddi Arts, a shop

here in Jacksonville, FL, it is a recycled brown Rough Sketch paper, but I wanted to find a way to use it in this project. I used Distressed Ink in Spiced Marmalade all around the edges of each card and a bit over the whole piece. Using a watermark ink I stamped the flourish in the background and then added the saying and bird, both from Tim Holtz clear stamp collection Artful Flight using Pearlescent Chocolate Brilliance by Tsukineko. I glued the art piece to an really pretty orange cardstock to make it a little more sturdy and then added the little corner pearls from Basic Grey.

For the flower I stamped it on Grungepaper and cut them all out, added Distressed inks in a variety of different colors - for this one I used Faded Denim and Mustard Seed in the center. Because the Grungepaper is soflexible I used a toothpick and wrapped each petal to give it a bit of curled dimension. I added Distressed Stickles in the same colors on the flower and at the edges of the petals I used Picket Fence Stickles. To glue the flower I only used glue dots in the center so that the petals are free and can be "fluffed" to add even more dimension to the piece. Here's a close up of the flower.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I have inspired you to create,

Breast Cancer Mini Quilt

Last week I made this Breast Cancer Awareness mini quilt and gave it to a friend. This is only my second time to create something like this and it was so much fun to work on. It is made from squares and rectangles of Grungepaper - a Tim Holtz product, of course.

I have used many different techniques on this from stamping, embossing with heat and with my Cuttlebug, sewing and painting to name a few. Once I finished all the tiles I glued them to a heavy watercolor paper and attached magnets. You could also add a ribbon at the top to hang the little quilt.

Thanks for taking a look.

ATT Monthly Mailer

Over at All things Tim we are doing a monthly mailing to a new friend and to share our artwork. This month I am sending to Lori and I have made a tag, which is usually what I do as I so love to make them.

For this tag I used a mask and Tea Dyed Distress Ink for the background. I added a butterfly stamp in the middle and then masking that I stamped a Script stamp in Olive Green. I painted the butterflies using Alcohol inks and then used three square Fragments. The large pink butterfly is made of Grungepaper and was painted with Worn Lipstick Crackle Paint. I added a bit of Fired Brick Distressed Ink to the edges and pearls & crystals to the body of the butterfly. The word Dreams was embossed on a black sandable paper and I added Glossy Accents to make them look more like letter bubbles. I added a bit of vintage paper and a little green ribbon at the bottom of the tag.

I was looking at my blog and realized that I forgot to add the Monthly Mailer for July so I'm going to add that here also. This tag was done for Liz.

For this tag I did the background using Tea Dyed and Worn Lipstick for the background, then I stamped one side using a Dictionary stamp and black ink. For the lower right corner I embossed script with my Cuttlebug. the wings are embossed using Weathered Wood embossing powder. I added the saying, which is embossed in red and a Philosophy tag for interest. The edges of the age are done with Walnut Distressed Ink.

Page Swap with All Things Tim

I have joined a Page Swap with my online group All Things Tim. Instead of passing around books which can take over a year to get back, 20 of us are creating pages involving lots of "Tim Stuff" and then sending them to the host. She, in turn, will then send each of us 20 different pages and we can put them together as a book in any way that pleases each of us. I thought this was a great idea - we will all get lots of wonderful pages in lots of different styles. The theme for the pages was Vintage, but you could do any kind of page you wanted. I have a couple of Tim's new stamp sets and one of them is The Big Top so I used the Circus as the main part of my project. I have also used the set called Fabulous Flourishes in the background.

The pages are 6 x 6 and I started with a heavy watercolor paper that I sprayed with a lite

green Glimmer Mist. Once that is dry I added Distressed Ink in Tea Dyed to get rid of the bright white, then I added bits of color using Distressed Inks in Mustard Seed, Marmalade and Faded Jeans. On top of that I added some Alcohol Inks in Lemonade, Pink Sherbet and Pool using Blending Solution to blend them together. Once everything is dry I put on a very thin coat of Brushed Bronze Crackle Paint, as soon as I get that on I used a Flourish stamp on the wet paint which gives you a reversed stamped look as it takes the paint away. When that is dry I stamped the clowns, and the word Cirque which is stamped in red and black. Using Watermark ink I stamped the number board and embossed it with Fired Brick embossing powder. I added a rub on clock and gears and spinners. The circus poster is printed on a sticky back canvas and I added Distressed Ink in Tea Dyed to add age.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look and I would love to see your comments.

COF March Journal

This month I had a journal from Cheryl that was an Altered Book and the theme was "Mystery". I had a really hard time trying to come up with a good subject so one day I went on line and just Googled mystery and the first thing to come up was Alfred Hitchcock - now growing up I watched this weekly program all the time and I think I have see most of his movies.  So that's where I got the inspiration for this page.

The first thing I did was cover a page with Distressed Ink in Soot - I wanted this to be a dark layout.  I used a black and white paper and some black and white ribbon  for the center of the page.  

I cut out this picture of Mr. Hitchcock took a GrungeBoard crown and painted it with Crackle Paint in Pewter and added some green jewels.  Well, you have to have some bling you know!!  Alfred was Knighted in 1980 by the Queen of England.

 I stamped his name on some paper with a bit of color to it and then added Distressed Ink in Tea Dyed for the more vintage look.  The saying was made using my trusty Dymo Labeler.  I use heavier paper with a white core so that when I sand them the letters stand out white.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look at my work.

  

February COF Journal

This month I have a journal from SandyP and she was asking for you to use any theme, just use one or more techniques.  Here is the page I came up with.

Using watercolor paper I stamped the clouds, mountains and water, all stamps from StampScapes.  I then painted everything with my H2O's, I like the soft colors and they leave just a hint of shine to them.  The lighthouse is stamped on StampBoard, it has like a clay base finish to them, with Staz-On ink in black and then using a blotting technique and water based markers I layered many colors.  I then scratched over the lighthouse to bring out highlights.

Christmas

Well, it's high time I get a few Christmas things up here.  With working such long hours and trying to get my walking in every night, I just seem to have very little time for working on the crafts that I love so much.  

Any way, here are two ATC sized cards that I did for a swap at DoodleHaven.  For each of these I stamped the designs with embossing ink and then sprinkled Distressed Embossing Powders in all different colors to suit the design.  I then heated with my heat gun.  The stamps are from Tim Holtz.  I mounted the designs on holiday green paper which is folded to create the cards.  

Tag done in the Tim Holtz fashion

Yes, you all know I love Tim Holtz and all his products. Here is a tag I did for a friend using some of his products and techniques.  The background is colored using Distressed Inks in Tea Dyed and Antique Linen, I the stamped the words on the right side and the background stamp over that using Coffee Bean.  The hummingbird, flower and "f" are all Grungeboard.  For the "f" I painted it with Crackle paint in Pine Needle and Soot, the flower is painted with paint dabbers in a green and pink and then I added Distressed Stickles glitter glue in Worn Lipstick. I stamped the hummingbird on the grundgeboard, cut it out and sprinkled various colors of Distressed Embossing power. The oval Fragment is colored using Alcohol inks in blues, greens and yellows and then I stamped the hummingbird over that with black Archival Ink and then using a soft cloth wipe the ink off - this leaves your image on the fragment, this is a technique I saw at Tim's Blog 

Scroll down to the August Tag and there you will see full instructions from Tim.  The little letters were made with Dymo and sanded to bring out the colors.

Thanks for taking a look.

Altered Pages Week 3 Challenge

This week we had to create three different projects using paper, ink and stamps. We had to make a card, a tag and a page layout. Here are my entries:

The base of my card was made with a green metallic cardstock and then I used Alcohol inks and blending solution to create the marbled background. The flowers are cut from a paper by Paper Adventures called Pardon my Posies. I added Glitter Glue to the flowers to bring out that sparkle that I love so much. The image is from Altered Pages and is mounted on a deep purple cardstock. I added a purple and gold ribbon to two sides for added interest.

For my tag I used a standard shipping tag and applied Distressed Inks in Tea Dyed, Worn Lipstick and Pine Needle and let that dry. I then stamped my butterfly using VersaMark watermark ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I then took Brushed Corduroy and ran it over the whole tag, and then wiped off the area of the embossed butterfly, leaving some of the background colors visible and some of the brown. The paper butterflies are cut from a Altered Pages collage sheet and I added glitter glue for my sparkle. I attached them only at the body so the wings are free and have a 3-D look. The scrap of paper is from K & Co. and the buttons are from Foof-Fa-La. I made the words with my Dymo Labler and I added lace and ribbon for more interest.

I did a 9x9" layout using a base of Rust cardstock. Using a Corner stamp from Fancy Pants and Metallic Silver Paint Dabber, I stamped in each corner. All images are cut from collage sheets by Altered Pages. Background papers are from K & Co and I have used Distressed Ink in Tea Dyed to add aging to the papers. "Remember the Past" is written using a Red Metallic pen by Fiskars. Buttons from Foof-Fa-La.

Send Love Today

I have my card done early this week - Yeah. I saw this great card shape in a magazine and wanted to try it. It came out so good I have already used it to make a few cards I needed to get done.

I created the card my cutting a piece of cardstock 5 x 12, at the center, 6" I cut out a half circle and then folded the card in half. For this card I embossed a paisley design and added a small felt flower with a pearl center. The paper is from K & Company and I added glitter to all the flowers. I stamped the Hello and heart with Coffee Bean and Rocket Red inks. The stamps are from Hero Arts. I also added a little pink glitter on the kitty's ears and nose.

Thanks for looking at my work and I hope it gives you ideas for something special that you want to make.

Circle of Frients June Project

The project for this month was to make something using a Shape, and you had to be able to tell what that shape was when you're finished.



I hope you can tell that my Shape was . . . Oval. I cut all the pieces using my Cricut Machine first I cut all the solid pieces and then using the Silhouette feature I cut out a coordinating color and this gave me the smaller pieces and the outline piece which I attached to the solid pieces. I stamped my little birdie on each of the small pieces, added glitter glue to the each of the petals, a flower in the middle and a fancy bead on top of that. I made these in several different colors.
Thanks for taking a look.

Arty Girlz - 3-D

This week at Arty Girlz the theme is to us something that is 3-D.

This card is for my DH mother I needed dimensional things on the card as she is legally blind. The background paper is from Fancy Pants - Imagine, the swirl paper is BasicGrey, the large flower is white felt from Fancy Pants and I used green and pink glitter glue from Stickles. The letters are chipboard from Cosmo Cricket. I stamped flowers from Hero Arts and embossed them for texture.

Thanks for looking.

4 x 4 Friday - Vintage Bride

This week the Challenge at 4 x 4 Firday is Vintage Bride. This is a perfect one for me as I just got a new Collage Sheet from Altered Pages with this beautiful bride.

The background paper is from BasicGrey - Sultry, I used Distressed Ink in Antique Lines over the whole piece and then stamped the swirls, Hero Arts, with Tea Dyed. I used white chiffon ribbon on the sides, you can see that better if you click in the picture, flowers from Prima and I added a bit of color using Distress Inks in Tea Dyed and Worn Lipsitck. Words were made with Dymo Labeler and paper. I sanded the embossed letters to get them white. I added Diamond Glitter Glue to the ribbon and the Brides dress for the bit of sparkle. Every Bride wants to Shine!!

Thanks for looking and please leave a comment.

Make A Moo or Two

The theme this week at Make a Moo or Two is "Woman"

On a piece of cloud paper from Cosmo Cricket I stamped a few swirls using stamps from Hero Arts with Sepia ink from Pearl-EX. Very nice ink to work with. The images are from Altered Pages and I have added a little Glitter Glue in Diamond from Stickles. All women love to have a little diamond glitter!! The works are strips of paper put through the Dymo Labler. I sanded the letters a little to make them whiter.

Thanks for looking and be sure to leave a comment.