Springtime in Paris AO Style!

Welcome to the February Artistic Outpost New Release Blog Hop! Below you will find all the details to hop along and a chance to win a prize!

Roses In Paris is one of three gorgeous background stamps in this new release. I first stamped the image using Black Archival, colored using markers all the images and then inked over with Distress Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap. Next I cut and distressed the edges and shaded using Distress Ground Espresso.

Next choice to share with you today is the Eiffel Collage. This beauty was stamped in VersaMark, clear embossed and then inked over in Distress Black Soot. I ironed off the embossing and then used a clear sealer to set the ink. I stamped again using Archival Black and then fussy cut and the images were watercolored using markers. Archival Sky Blue and Red Geranium were used to stamp the Postage Stamps and again fussy cut.

Here are the lovely stamps available and thank you so much for hopping along today!

Please Visit the rest of the design team for more lovely artwork and inspiration!

Avril and Julie

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 February 17th, 2017 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 February 18, 2017, be sure to check back there to see if you have won! 

January 2017 AO New Release!

We are sailing the High Seas with "The Captain" and all the AO crew mates with January's new release for 2017! Follow along the blog hop for a chance to win and all the details are below!

Julie, Avril, Lisa 

We have stamps, papers and dies oh my! The Captain, Vagabond Treasure Paper and Steampunk Gears die set will get you in the mood for some ocean fun!

This card started with a "Vagabond Treasure Paper" layer, a black piece of cardstock in which the "Steampunk Gears Die Set" was used to cut out the shapes. The gears were lightly inked over with Opalite Golden Mist and placed in random order of the die cut outs, the wrinkled black paper was also highlighted here and there and then flattened out. The young boy was fussy cut and colored with Salty Ocean and Antique Linen. The sentiment was cut apart and inked with Ground Espresso and some Salty Ocean splats. 

For the tag using "The Captain" all images were stamped on the Vagabond Treasures Paper, cut and backed. The black tag was bleached stamped to add a little interest.

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 January 13th, 2017 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 January 14, 2017, be sure to check back there to see if you have won! 

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you will enjoy the blog hop! Happy New Year! 

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!