Happy New Year!

Well if 2017 is not just right around the corner! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are ready to Ring in the New Year! I just know 2017 will be amazing!

This is card I created using Gloria from the December Release and Skating Emporium. All the details can be found at Artistic Outpost, should you be interested. Aren't they just the sweetest Angels?

Again I thank you for visiting today and I hope "2017" brings you much joy and good health. Have a most Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Friday before Christmas to you all. I know I have been a terrible blogger since our move from California to Wisconsin, but truly it took more out of us than we had anticipated in so many ways. We are still a "work in progress" with our house as we decided we needed the warmer months to plant and then someone who loves a nice garden went way overboard with so many plants and then you have to protect the new plantings. I won't bore you with details, but let's say that the yard is now done (for this year) and hopefully all will survive and be a blessing to all those lovely birds, squirrels and bees as well as me! We also have been just enjoying life without worrying about work! That is so nice!

OK, if you have the time and want to pop on over to AO for all the details, you can do so right HERE.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy day to visit. I truly wish you all a most Merry Christmas with family and friends. I thank you for sticking with me and I hope that soon we will be caught up with now inside house things and that I will have more time to blog. I do miss it and all your lovely artworks! Merry Christmas and much love!

Christmastime 2016 AO New Release!

Well it really is getting to look a lot like Christmas with Artistic Outpost's New December Release of Christmas Time and Gloria. Be sure to visit and comment on the rest of the design team for a change to win a gift with all the details below!

Avril, Julie, Lisa

My first card using Christmas time was created by inking the stamp with colored markers and then huffing and puffing to reactivate the ink. This was a technique from Tim Holtz and I love the water color effect. This stamp us great for easy mailing and yet still so beautiful! 

My next project is using Gloria and I decided a vintage Christmas tag was in order. I used the border stamp around the edge and embossed. The collaged background was created and I stamped and fussy cut the Angel from the same stamp and the sweet little angels as well. The tag was colored and distressed using Distress Antique Linen and Vintage Photo.

Thank you for visiting and joining in on Artistic Outpost December New Release Blog Hop. Below you will find all the details. 

Prize Information:

Just for commenting on the Design Team Blog Posts, you have a chance to win a $15 Gift Certificate to the ODBD Website.  You have until December 9, 2016 at 10:00 PM CDT to leave comments on the participating designers blogs for a chance to win! One random winner will be selected from the comments left on the designers blogs, the winner will be announced on the AO Blog on December 10, 2016, be sure to check back there to see if you have won! 

Ice Cream Happiness!

Hope you all are doing wonderful on this Friday! Today I want to share a tag for Artistic Outpost and please stop on over for all the details right HERE. I am still on the going crazy with the move thing, so time is not on my side and it seemed I could save a little! Isn't he a sweet looking gent?

I was going to take a picture of what the area downstairs looks like with all my "CRAFT" unpacked, partially opened boxes and not opened boxes, but I think if any of you look at your supplies, you get the idea. Thank you all for visiting and I hope your weekend is fantastic!

I Sure Am Thankful!

Hello to all of you and I hope you still remember me! I can't believe how a month turned in to several and time was just literally a passing thing! I will tell you a bit about that toward the end for those that want to know. Firstly thank you for sticking with me and I sure hope to be much more active in this wonderful blogging world of ours.

Because I am thankful for the many blessings in my life and the fact that Artistic Outpost was so generous with giving me the time I needed these past months, I could not resist coming back with a tag using the Seed Packets Background and Harvest stamps.

I really wanted the adorable children to just stand out on their own and inked around them. The sentiment was stamped in Tiger Lily and the Harvest bounty watered colored and then all were shaded and layered up.

The background which I neglected to photograph before added all the images, was stamped in Black Archival, sprinkled a bit of Color Bursts, misted and blotted up excess water, dried and then shaded. Guess I am a bit out of the loop with remembering everything to do!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I am going to try really hard to catch up on everyone's blogs as quickly as possible. We are finally totally done with our move from California to Wisconsin after THREE trips. Our last 5,000 mile round trip took 8 days (Friday AM until the following Friday PM) with hardly any rest and lots of long days driving and not so great food! The house in CA sold, so now we don't have that to worry about. Steve is totally retired and will probably be the first to say he has never worked so hard! LOL! We have taken time to enjoy ourselves as we can and I am just starting to unpack my craft stuff! Who knows where I put things, because I don't! I thought I was brilliant, but I fear that is not the case! You pack a box in April or May and come August, you don't remember which box has what in it! Oh well that is life, but that is OK. I have time and will get to all I need to do when I can! I also became a great-grandma for the second time and am looking forward to meeting the little one real soon. My daughter, the little bundle, Malcolm (born today) and my grandson are in this photo. I do believe the mommy was resting!

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy every moment!

On My Farm!

I hope you all are doing well and taking advantage of the warmer weather and working in those gardens! Here is a tag I had fun with using the Seed Packets Background, Harvest and Grunge Elements.

Don't you just love the vintage feel of these new stamps? All of the images were stamped using Black Archival and inked with Antique Linen, Old Paper and Gathered Twigs. I cut apart the seed packets to make a little collage of images and spritzed on a bit of water and Walnut Stain. The young lad background was inked over and I colored his suspenders using Faded Denim with a water brush and the tie was dyed the same.

Finished off with a sentiment from Harvest which was cut apart. Love that sentiment! The black tag background used stamps from Grunge Elements that were covered with Buttermilk paint.

Thank you for visiting today and have a great weekend. As a quick update, we are still in the process of a large move and it is not an easy task at all with packing, setting up a new house, getting an older house in order and then the 2,300 mile trip across county in a U-haul pulling a vehichle and we get to do that adventure one more time. Oh and I have stories to tell and will at a later time. Actually it is much more involved than we ever thought, so again I ask you to stick with me over the next month. I sure hope by the end of May we are done with at least the moving part and then will just have to sell the house in California!

A Gardening We Will Go!

Oh happy days the weather has warmed and I would love to share with you a card using images from Seed Packet, Harvest and Grunge Elements! Oh and this is a "Reminder" Blog Hop, so be sure to visit the rest of the DT for awesomeness and see what they whipped up for you from the new release.

  Julie, Shari, Avril, Tracy, Lisa

The Seed Packet is perfect just the way it is and I had such a great time with it that it was hard to cover, so I kept it simple and used a great sentiment from Harvest.

The sentiment was stamped and inked over with Antique Linen. The background image was stamped in Black Archival and then a variety of markers were used to watercolor the veggies and then inked over with Antique Linen and Old Paper. The edges were shaded using Walnut Stain and Black Soot. Oh and how I love the Grunge Elements dotty stamp which was inked up with Old Paper and stamped at random.

Thank you for stopping by today for the Artistic Outpost Blog Hop showing off that March New Release fabulousness. We are back to CA for a couple of weeks and then will make another adventure across the country and boy it can be quite the adventure. Bare with me as soon this move will be complete! Have a great day!

Artistic Outpost March New Release!

Hello and thank you for stopping by today! Artistic Outpost has a fabulous NEW RELEASE of stamps and the DT has so much inspiration and talent to share with you and also a little extra, so read all the details below!

Tracy - Shari - Julie - Avril - Lisa

Prize Information:

Just for commenting on the Design Team Blog Posts, you have a chance to win a $15 Gift Certificate to the ODBD Website.  You have until April 1, 2016 at 10:00 PM CDT to leave comments on the participating designers blogs for a chance to win! One random winner will be selected from the comments left on the designers blogs, the winner will be announced on the AO Blog on April 2, 2016, be sure to check back there to see if you have won! 

Well I had a very difficult time deciding which of my samples to share with you today, but the ones below use stamps from "The Golf Club," "Grunge Elements," "Bottle Caps" and "The Ice Cream Shoppe."

This sweet treat of a card started with an ivory background inked with Dried Marigolds, Mowed Lawn, Festive Berries, Salty Ocean and Color Bursts of Lemon Yellow and Pthalo Greed added and then a spritz of water with some more flicked on water drops. When dried, I stamped the "Bottle Caps" background using Black Archival. All the images from "Ice Cream Shoppe" were fussy cut and Stampin Up markers used to add touches of color.

Next a tag for the Golfers! The "Grunge Elements" circle was clear embossed on a tag, inked over in Frayed Burlap and Ground Espresso, stamped some of the grungy dots with Weathered Wood,then flicked on some water and ironed off the EP. The Golf Club images were stamped using Black Archival.

Bottle Caps

Grunge Elements

Harvest

Ice Cream Shoppe

Seed Packets

The Golf Club

Well I am sure happy you stopped by today and  I know you will enjoy this wonderful and exciting new stamp release from Artistic Outpost! Thank you and enjoy the day!

Happy Anniversary Baby!

Yes, it has been a long time since I posted to my blog and it is hard to keep up these days! I see I have lost a few followers and that is sad, but unfortunately, there is not much that I can do to keep actively blogging at the moment. There has just been so much going on and time is very limited, but I am trying the best that I can, so I hope you will stick with me over the next couple of months. I do apologize for lack of visits and only the occasional blog post, but I do see what most of you create and especially on Facebook. OK, well today I am sharing an anniversary tag for my hubby that I created using a variety of stamps from Artistic Outpost. We have reached the 33 year point in our lives and I have got to tell you that I am so incredibly blessed to have not only my best friend at my side, but that today is his last day of work! He is retired! Not sure what he will do!

I took a kraft tag background and used the music sheet from "Ephemera Backgrounds" which was clear embossed. Next I placed Tim's time stencil over the tag and inked over that in Black Soot. The frame from "Chalk It Up" was stamped in Coffee Archival and fussy cut. All remaining images were stamped in Black Archival and a slight amount of color was added to the "Flapper Fashions" gal. I think the sentiment from "Typography" is perfect for my hubby. Added a few stencil hearts and some dyed ribbon and "Life is Good."

To update all of you, we now have a house in Wisconsin (so two at the moment and now you can understand the lack of time), I apparently had/have the flu (but getting there) and now with Steve all retired, I am looking forward to a more relaxing never going to get up at 4:30 AM again life! I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the soon to be spring season! Thank you so much for sticking with me and visiting today!

All She Needs Is Love!

That is right, all she needs is love and this lovely from Artistic Outpost's Generation Redux is sending out the message! Hope you all are getting ready to have a lovely Valentine's Day filled with happiness and love! That is what really counts!

Let me start with the tag background which was first inked with Festive Berries and Frayed Burlap and then using the larger of Tim's movers and shapers hearts, I cut out three on a separate tag to use as a stencil, applied DecoArt One Step Crackle pounced on thickly with a piece of foam. Once dried, I reapplied the tag stencil and inked over in Festive Berries. The smaller hearts were cut from chipboard, painted gold, crackled and then inked with Ground Espresso. I edged the tag in gold and dry brushed on here and there.

The sweet gal was stamped in coffee Archival, fussy cut and colored with distress inks to suit the mood! The Love from Apothecary was masked off and cut to place over the crackled hearts.

Thank you for stopping by! Still working on so much house arranging and packing and then in a couple of weeks we go off to sign papers on the Wisconsin house. I sure hope we can get this house up and sold real soon and just have a little breathing time. I think we bite off more than we can chew! It is hard to believe that we have been here 19 years!

Super Bowl 2016 AO Style!

This is going to be a big weekend with Super Bowl 2016 and we might be going to a party if I get over this nasty chest cold I have! Well I decided to make a tag representing both teams using the "Go Team" from Artistic Outpost!

I masked off the tag and inked the team colors using Distress inks (Spiced Marmalade, Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Black Soot and Weathered Wood), flicked on water and then some good old paint in similar colors. Next I stamped some AO football images and the background was finished.

All images were stamped in Black Archival, the sentiment cut apart and the football friends were colored using an applicator and then fussy cut! Fun tag to celebrate both teams! The new "Show Us Your AO Art" challenge has begun, so come on and play along with us!

Thank you for stopping by and again I do apologize for my lack of blogging and visits, but with now in the process of having a second house, I have been so busy! You live in a house for 19 years and boy do you collect tons of stuff! Have a fabulous weekend!

Love Potion!

Hello and welcome to this week's addition of Artistic Outpost! Valentine's Day is fast approaching and I thought I would share a little love using Apothecary, Birds of a Feather and Paperboy stamps. For all the details if you wish, click HERE.

Hopefully things will return to somewhat normal in a month or soon as then I will be a more active blogger, but keep with me! Thank you so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Vintage Fashion!

Hello and I sure hope you all are having a great week! Later this month we will go to Portland, OR to visit our daughter and grandson. My not so much baby girl will have a birthday in February just after Valentine's Day and I decided to make her a fashionable tag using Artistic Outpost's "Vintage Fashion." Holly is very much into fashion and so I think she will enjoy this.

I first inked over the die cut tag with Frayed Burlap, laid Tim's Gothic stencil over it and applied DecoArt Crackle Paint and left to dry. Next I sprayed on Tattered Angels Simply Khaki glimmer spray for a nice little sheen, which also was applied to the hearts. There is also some time remaining to join in January's "Show Us Your AO Art" challenge, so come on and get inky with us!

The lovely Vintage Fashion lady and sentiments stamps were inked with first Coffee Archival and Tree Branch to tone done, shaded in Frayed Burlap after fussy cut and torn. Added a little pop of red hearts to finish.

Thank you for stopping by! We have been working quite hard to go through tons of papers/documents, magazines and books and after 17 years, you can imagine the collection that builds! Well I am proud to say that I was able to load up 6 good size boxes of good quality reading material to donate and we have been shredding about 35 lbs of paper matter. Lots of stuff to do when you get ready to move!!!

Skate Emporium!

Can you believe we are already at the middle of January??? Where does the time go, seriously? Today I am sharing this chilling and fun card at Artistic Outpost using Skate Emporium and Chalk It Up. For all the details, please click right HERE for a visit!

Yes this is just a little tease to tempt you!

Thank you for stopping by and have a most wonderful weekend!

Rain, Rain!

Hello and Happy New Year! Guess what???? It is raining in sunny Southern California and it is raining big-time! It would be nice to have the lovely rain spread out to avoid flooding and damage, but that is not how it flows and we will take the much needed water!

And speaking of rain, I was inspired to pull out the "Springtime" collection from Artistic Outpost! I used a kraft type paper for my tag background, applied Tim's Rays stencil and inked over that with Hickory Smoke, next I inked over the entire tag with Antique Linen and flicked on some water spots. Wanting a little extra background texture, I applied a Boho Background die cut piece from Our Daily Bread Designs and again applied the Rays stencil and inked over. The "Playing in the Rain" children were stamped in Watering Can Archival as was the sentiment and then fussy cut. Next, just added some embellishments to finish and distressed the the tag.

Thank you for stopping by today, especially considering how MIA I have been. So much to do here, there and everywhere, but I am trying my best to visit all of you wonderful crafty and fabulous bloggers!