Totally Thrilled

My very good friend, Michelle, who is a stamper and also loves to carve her own images has had her first sheet of rubber made from her own carved images. (A special thank you to Charlotte of ggDesigns for helping to do this!!!)

This first picture is of the sheet of images. Aren't they fabulous!!!! The sheet measures about 4" x 5" and sells for $8.00. Michelle can be reached at mcrazy4art@gmail.com if you are interested in her stamps or leave me a message and I can put you in touch.

I've made a couple of cards using her stamps so far (more to come later). Both are regular sized cards (4 1/4" x 5 1/2"). For this first one the bird is stamped with Stazon vibrant violet, torn out, the edges rubbed with Adirondack wild plum, and pink gems added to the tail and for the eye. The next layer is white cardstock run through the cuttlebug snowflake folder and then sprayed with Glimmer Mist lavender fields. The color is deeper near the snowflakes as it pooled there. Let dry or dry it with a heat tool. After it was dry I highlighted some of the snowflakes using the Ranger Inkssential white pen. "hello" was stamped with wild plum, torn out, and the edges inked with vibrant violet. I used the Tim Holtz ruler and an awl to make the holes on the first pink layer, edged it with wild plum and attached it to a folded pink card. Trim attached to the corners with Ranger glossy accents.

This next card was a lot of fun to make. It's the first time I tried one of these circle frames made with a corner punch. You can find a fabulous video on how to do this on the Amazing Paper Grace blog here. I made the circle frame from regular white cardstock and then sprayed it with Glimmer Mist candy apple red. The bird was stamped on white cardstock with Distress Ink vintage photo, sponged with Distress Ink antique linen and then torn out. I attached it behind the circle frame but put the tips of the beak in front of the frame. After attaching it to the frame I trimmed the bottom even with the circle. The background started with white cardstock. I sprayed it with Glimmer Mist meadow green, dried it, and then stamped the image around the edges with Stazon cactus green. The calligraphy stamp is from Quietfire Design. I stamped it on vellum with Archival Ink jet black, tore the top and bottom and attached it to the background by wrapping the edges to the back and taping them down. I layered the background to a folded white card, added the bird/circle piece, and finished up with a poinsettia flower and leaves attached with Glossy Accents. The shimmer on this card is wonderful but impossible to capture in the scan.

Paper Imagery Designs

There is much going at Paper Imagery Designs right now. The November newsletter was just released - if you don't get this you can sign up on the PID Blog, right hand side. The design team challenge for this newsletter was to use some of the new Christmas images. I made 2 different ornaments (pictures below) and the directions for my challenge plus the other designer's challenges can also be found on the PID Blog. There have been many new sheets released in the past couple of weeks plus other fun stuff and kits added to the website. Other things just added to the blog is a 2009 Design Team Search and a BOGO sale that doesn't just include collage sheets but kits too!!! So head right over to the blog... see all the fabulous artwork... and check out all the new posts!!!

Real love stories Card

Rubberstamp and supplies are from Quietfire Design.

Spritz white cardstock with the glimmer mist sprays (candy apple red, forest green, frost) and dry. Run paper through a Cuttlebug folder and lightly sand high spots to bring out pattern. Trim to size, tear right side and layer to red cardstock. Wrap silk ribbon around piece tying a bow on the left side. Stamp "Real love stories" on white cardstock with Distress Ink fired brick, cut to size, edge with fired brick and layer to background. Add heart charm to bow with a jump ring. Layer all to folded white card.

Find yourself a cup Card

Stamp and most supplies are from Quietfire Design. Create polished stone background using alcohol inks, blending solution, applicator and felt. Stamp "Find yourself a cup" on background. Use removable tape on stencil to cover areas not being used, lay stencil on background and stencil the teapot using the embossing paste. Remove stencil and clean immediately. After the teapot is dry, lay the stencil back over it and add color with ink. Lay stencil flower over pot and color with ink. Edge piece with Krylon pen and add to green piece of cardstock. Using the Tim Holtz ruler and an awl make holes in green layer. Border punch the bottom of next layer, cut to size, layer on teapot piece, and add white dots with the Inkssential pen. Layer all to folded white card.

Created Byhand Challenge - Thanks

This weeks challenge on Created Byhand is to use the word Thanks or Thank You. Just in time I got my new stamps from Quietfire Design which included 4 different thank you stamps so I used one. This is the larger of 2 similar stamps and I love the little hearts that are in the letters. On this card after I stamped the word I used the Inkssential white pen to highlight those little hearts. The base layer was done with alcohol inks. Stamped fiddleheads along the bottom. Added the mulberry paper and stamped the word and the bird on it. Added holes in the upper left corner using the Tim Holtz ruler and an awl. Wrapped the piece in red string and tied on a heart charm, also from Quietfire Design. Added a sequin flower to the upper left corner... coated it with Matte Accents so it wasn't to shiny and added a punched 1/8" circle to the center.

House Shaped ATCs

All these atcs were done as part of a project for Quietfire Design. If you go here, you will find complete directions and also templates for both styles of houses.

Tim Holtz Masks and Memory Mist Sprays

I got some of the new Tim Holtz masks and just had to play a little with them. I grabbed my Memory Mist sprays just because they happened to be easier to get at and chose 3 colors. Took some white cardstock (2 atc sized and 1 card sized) sprayed them with the 2 lighter colors, put on a mask and sprayed with the darker color. The masks are wonderful with just the right amount of sticking power to stay put but not stick too much.

This first card is regular sized (4 1/4" x 5 1/2"). The collage image is from Paper Imagery Designs. The ferns, flowers, and butterfly are stickers and the words are a metal embellishment.

Collage image and stamps used on this atc are from Quietfire Design. I stamped the flourishes with Distress Ink vintage photo and drew on the white lines and dots with the Inkssential white pen. Cut out the collage image with deckle scissors, edged it with vintage photo ink and layered as shown. The gold "brads" are stickers.

This atc uses new Thanksgiving images from Paper Imagery Designs and the music stamp is a Tim Holtz, stamped with Distress Ink vintage photo. Inkssential white pen was used for the "stitching".

Explore ATC

A simple ATC. All images from Paper Imagery Designs.

Fall ATC

This atc again uses a piece from the same background paper as the last atc I uploaded. The collage image (Sarah) is from Paper Imagery Designs. Leaf is punched from a scrap of the paper and layered on top of the image. Letters added to spell "fall".

I forgot to mention that the most fabulous thing about this background paper is the slight shimmer you get from the glitter spray as you tip the paper. It reminds me of looking at a tree when the sun is shining bright but there is still dew on the leaves that catch that sunlight and sparkle.

Autumn Splendor ATC

My local atc group has mail in swaps and then an in-person swap every third month. At our last in-person swap in July for the project we made background paper using crumpled brown paper bags. We painted on them with acrylic paints using brushes and stencils or stamps and then we sprayed them with spray webbing and glitter spray. Every single one came out gorgeous. So our theme for the September mail in swap was to use our paper in some way on our atcs. For mine I used it as a background and then also punched leaves. I attached the leaf to a black square, punched 2 small holes in the black cardstock and added a thin piece of wire by bringing the 2 ends up from the back, twisting them around the stem of the leaf and then spiraling the ends by wrapping them around a toothpick. The words were done with a Dymo labeler.

October Project for AMRSC

This months project on AMRSC is Easy Backgrounds With Paint. Here are the finished cards and you can find step-by-step pictures and directions for the techniques and cards on the AMRSC site.

The bird and border stamps are from ggDesigns. The background swirl is a Penny Black.

The grass stamp is from Stamp Zia. The quote is from Quietfire Design

The collage image is from Paper Imagery Designs.

The Thrill of being Published

I've had many cards published and the excitement does not become less as more cards make their way into magazines. It's so fun to get a magazine and quickly page through it to see if I have a project in there and if I do to holler for the kids to come see :-)

Here are several cards I've had published in the past few months.

This thank you card was published in the summer 2008 issue of Just Cards. The stamp is from Quietfire Design. The printed paper was actually the wrapping on a Christmas present my good friend Tea sent me from Norway.

This black and white card was in the August issue of Vamp Stamp News and the stamps are from Stubby Stampers.

These next two cards were published in the Fall 2008 issue of Just Cards and all stamps are from Quietfire Design.

This one was in the October 2008 issue of Vamp Stamp News. Stamps are from Quietfire Design.
And this last one was published in the Decembe 2008 issue of Scrap and Stamp Arts. The leaf is from Stubby Stampers and the quote is from Quietfire Design.

Blog Awards

I've been blessed with 2 different awards recently. I received the "One Sweet Blog Award" from Kristy and the "Brillante Weblog" from Michi. Thank you so much, ladies!!!!



There are many fabulous art blogs out there and they all deserve these awards.. however I must pick a few to list so here they are.

Art With Yogi
Vintage Papers
Evidence of an Artistic Life
Creative Lenna
Gayle Page Robak

Created Byhand Challenge - Dragonflies

This weeks challenge on the Created Byhand blog is dragonflies. I love dragonflies and during the summer I can always go walk around the pond and see plenty of them. Some of Quietfire Design's newest stamps are dragonflies. I used both the small dragonfly and the word "Dragonfly" on this ATC. The background is a technique in the Paper Transformed book where you brayer color onto glossy cardstock, add some perfect pearls that's been mixed with water to form a creamy paint, and spritz it all. I used gold but in the scan is looks very dark rather than shimmery. The dragonflies and word have been accented using the Inkssential white pen.

ggDesigns New Bird Stamps

Check out this new set of stamps from ggDesigns. I just love this bird and there is so much you can do with all these sizes available. I have more ideas in my head than I have time to use them right now :-)) Also check out the frame around them... you could leave it as a frame but I cut mine into 4 stamps that I can use for borders or to build backgrounds among other techniques. Currently this set of stamps is still on the early bird page of ggDesigns here and will probably be there until the end of this month. While it's listed on the early bird page you can get it for 15% off and we do all like a sale (p.s. there are also a couple of other sets currently on the early bird page).

This atc is the first thing I made with my new set of stamps. The background was done by stamping the border multiple times with various colors of VersaMagic ink. Then I stamped the crosshatch border partly on and partly off the cardstock with black ink on all for edges. The birds were stamped with black ink... I used the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th largest birds. White lines to simulate wings were added using the white Inkssential pen. For the words I stamped a border on a scrap and then wrote with an extra fine sharpie marker, cut them out, and edged them with black ink. This next atc is so cute. The girl image is from Collagevisions (ps. I just noticed she has a Bogo sale going on until the end of this month). I cut out the girl and then also cut up through her dress and along the top of her hand and arm. I cut a slit in the bird along the back of the head and the top of the body and this allowed me to slide the girl into the slit on the bird and the slit of the bird into the slit on the girl so now she looks like she is riding the bird. Cool, huh!! Color was added to the background with Colorbox pigment ink... specifically the cateye pads so that's why you see "points". Along the bottom I stamped a border image and then added the leaves rubon. Words were computer generated.
This last piece is a Twochie or Twinchie (I've seen them called both) meaning it's a 2" x 2" piece of art. This was done with the largest bird. I inked up the bird with pink Colorbox pigment ink, then inked up the circly border image with teal Colorbox pigment ink and pressed it a few times on the inked bird moving to new areas as I pressed avoiding the feet of the bird and then stamped it on white cardstock. Added color around the bird dtp with Colorbox pigment ink. Stamped the border image with teal ink. Added the dot to the eye with a fine tip black pen. Added the gold crown charm and then pink crystals on the tips of the crown. The words were hand written with a fine tip black pen.

Time For Tea ATC

On the Byhand Artists yahoo list Yogi hosts an ATC swap every month. The theme suggestion for September is Tea or Coffee and I did this atc today. The background was in my stash and uses an ATC background stamp from Time to Stamp. The teapot and cup are a Dreamweaver stencil I got from Quietfire Design, you can see it here. I first stenciled the pot and cup with Embossing Paste and let it dry. I layed the stencil back over added color with chalks. The flowers is also a design on the stencil and I layed it over the embossed teapot and colored it with chalk. Some of the chalks I used had a shimmer that comes through in real life but not in the scan. The scallops (also on the stencil) were added with chalks. The words were computer generated.

Music paper, distress inks and an ATC

Every other Thursday is Technique Thursday on the PID yahoo group and the current technique is a distress ink technique. There are step-by-step pics and directions on the PID blog here. The top picture here is an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of the technique. The bottom picture is an atc made with one of the backgrounds I cut from the top pic. The collage image is from PID and the calligraphy stamp is from Quietfire Design.

Painted Paper Towels

This weeks challenge on the PID yahoo group is painted paper towels and this paper towel is the one I made the print from for the background of my previous post. I used Lumiere paint pearl magenta, citrine, and brass to paint the paper towel. The collage image (PID) was torn out and the edges painted with pearl magenta. The next layer is a torn piece of white cardstock and the edges painted with Lumiere pearl emerald. The light post (Tim Holtz) was stamped with Archival Ink jet black. The paper towel is adhered to a burgundy colored cardstock that was stamped with a music sheet image (Tim Holtz) in two corners. The top right corner of the cardstock is painted emerald on the back and after it was dry was rolled forward. Brads and and gold ribbon added. Everything attached to a folded base of white cardstock, edges sponged with Distress Ink shabby shutters.

CBC - Green and Pink

This weeks challenge at Created Byhand is to use the colors green and pink. This background has Lumiere paints - pearl magenta, citrine, and brass... and also some distress ink shabby shutters. On the PID yahoo group this weeks challenge is painted paper towels. One of the ladies on the group suggested laying a piece of cardstock on your freshly painted paper towel, pressing and pulling them apart so you had 2 background instead of just one. I have to say this works very well. The background on this atc started just that way. I painted a paper towel with the Lumiere paints and then pressed a piece of white cardstock on it and pulled it apart... it left paint and a very cool texture on the cardstock. After it was dry I cut an atc sized piece from the cardstock and sponged shabby shutters ink in the white areas. The fiddleheads (Quietfire Design) were stamped across the bottom with VersaMagic ink and dried with a heat tool. The calligraphy stamp (Quietfire Design) was stamped with Archival Ink jet black. The fiddleheads were again stamped in the bottom 2 corners with Archival ink. The heart is punched from black cardstock. White highlights on the fiddleheads and all the dots were made with the Inkssential white pen. Black ink was sponged on the edges of the atc. Pink crystal stickers were added to the centers of the fiddleheads.

DT Challenge

The Paper Imagery Designs design team challenge for September was to use these cool silver fish in some sort of art piece. I did an altered book spread. You can find more silver fish art from the PID dt on the PID blog here.

PID Collage sheets – 138, 157, 165, 230

Zia’s Hot Jewel watercolor sprays

Coral and Seaweed stamps – Stamp Zia

Gesso

Stazon ink

Versamark ink

Embossing powders

I began by sponging some white gesso on the pages in a random manor and let that dry. Next I sprayed them with the Hot Jewels, dabbed at the colors with a wadded up piece of plastic wrap and let it dry. Stamped the coral with Versamark ink and embossed it with bright embossing powders (unknown). Stamped the seaweed with Stazon ink and colored with a metallic colored pencil. The fish are colored with Stazon ink. The words are computer generated but inspired by a stamp from Quietfire Design that says "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

If you click on the pictures, they will come up larger.

Fun with Chalks

Except for the black cardstock on the last card and some gold embossing, all color on these cards was done with chalks. Want to know more.... you can get complete directions on the Quietfire Design website here.

Memory Frame Jewelry

These are pictures of the jewelry I made for September's Project of the month on A Monthly Rubber Stamp Club. The top 4 pictures are two 2-sided necklaces and the bottom one is a pin. The collage images are from Paper Imagery Designs and Quietfire Design. You can find more pictures and complete directions on A Monthly Rubber Stamp Club.

Fall ATCs

These fall themed ATCs all use collage images from Paper Imagery Designs. The printed papers, rub-ons, and dimensional stickers are all K&Company.