Color Burst Fun!

Hello! Recently while I had little Internet and then none, my order of Color Burst from Linda came in and I had some extra playtime! I will be sharing a few projects soon. I got very interested in this when Gerrie had posted a pretty fabulous card using the Color Bursts. Now I am not usually one for the more vibrant colors on my projects, but we need to get out of our comfort zones and here is mine!

For this one, I did spritzed the tag first with water and then applied the color and misted a little more. Next I used a stencil to add a little texture with modeling past. The butterflies were cut using Tim's Movers and Shapers and then stamped in Sky Blue Archival using Stampin Ups French Script background.

I remember those tiny clothespins and thought those would be great for my butterflies in flight!

Had great fun with this stuff and hope you enjoyed my PRETTY post today! Thank you for visiting and now that I am caught up on all my DT posting and projects, off to visit and hopefully the Internet repairs stays!

Autumn Colors

The Colors of Autumn chosen by the talented and lovely Astrid is the current challenge at A Vintage Journey. The rest of the team has some amazing art to share with you and there is always a prize from Country View Crafts and a chance to be among the pinworthies!

I love Autumn and the colors we are blessed with during the season and I am always reminded of Thanksgiving and the things in my life I am thankful for. Sometimes we forget to be thankful for the simpler things life has to offer and I decided to keep my card simple or with less bulk! This will be my card to mail out for Thanksgiving.

Keeping with Tim style and using his Distress Inks and Stains, the falling leaves background stamp from Heartfelt Creations was stamped using Coffee Archival and then I applied various colors of Distress Inks using a foam applicator. Once all the leaves were colored, I flicked a little water and then with a toothbrush flicked on various Distress Stain colors and after all was dry I toned it done with Antique Linen. Once I was happy with that, I cut out the background and shaded the edges. The Sentiment is from Stampin Up and I think it was perfect for the background. Added a few Tissue Wrapped Frenzy Butterflies.

Thank you for visiting me today and I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I will also be linking this to Inspiration Journal's challenge, "Fall is in the Air."

Hearts and Flowers!



It is all about Hearts and Flowers at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and chosen by the lovely Claire! The rest of the DT also has some pretty sweet projects for your viewing pleasure so stop on by and get inky with us!


Taken Outside

Inside Photo



Let me tell you I had a terrible time trying to get good photos! It was a sporadic kind of weather day with slightly overcast skies and maybe the colors I chose were oddly reflective of the Sun, but this is more in the earthy brown tones and not the pinky mauve that you may "think" you see!

We started using some flowers that I purchased a few years back (good deal) and have just sat around in their pretty little glass containers! The background was covered in the tiny little flowers using Mod Podge and then covered in white gesso. The next step was to repeat the process using larger flowers and leaving an area free for the stamped image.

This is after the first covering of Sprays.

The heart is from Stamping Up and was embossed in Gold. After all the sprays dried, I highlighted the areas in white gesso and then Treasure Gold. The corrugated cardboard was also sprayed and I added some subtle crackle, which is hard to see and again highlighted with the Treasure Gold.

This Hearts and Flowers Love hanging will be linked to these challenges:
Country View Challenges "Monochromatic"
Frilly and Funkie "New Year's Resolutions" Mine to stop hoarding!!!
Our Creative Corner "No More Shopping Sins" I used those flowers and a decorative brad that have been sitting around!

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by!

Sprays: Color Wash Espresso and Butterscotch, Dylusions White Linen

Shabby Chic Christmas

That lovely leader of the pack, Shirley, has chosen the them of  a "Shabby Chic Christmas" at Fashionable Stamping Challenges! How fun is that and there is always a random prize drawing to FlonzCrafts and Top 3 selection, so ink up some stamps and join in! My FSC DT Sisters have some amazing art to share with you, so go treat your eyes!

I will admit that Shabby Chic was a challenge for me, but I had fun with it! The stamps I used are from Stampin Up and much neglected at that! I thought this little stocking was just the right image for a Shabby Chic Christmas!

We started using the pink paper from Tim and on the raised side of a Cuttlebug embossing folder applied clear embossing ink, ran it through and then applied white EP. For this I wanted the snowflakes to be sent in.

The frame was cut using Tim's new die from an old cereal box and I torn away bits, inked and sprinkled on some Shabby Pink EP from Stampendous. Nice little shabby chic look. The stocking was colored with markers and shaded in pink!

The tinsel twine was alcohol inked, painted the brads and the sentiment. Glued down a few little silver bells and there you have my take on a Shabby Chic Christmas! Will also link this up to Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, Got Ink! Thank you for taking the time to stop by and comment! Enjoy your weekend and start those Christmas projects!

Enabler alert: Artistic Outpost is having a 15% off sale through November 18th! Click HERE for the details!

Happy Easter!

I was kind of chatting around on FB, when I remember I wanted to enter Lisa's Bloggers Challenge, "Easter."  Sometimes I forget about Stampin Up's lovely Chocolate Bunny, who sadly sits in hiding, so today he has come out to play!  Still looking for a little "P.O.P" at Inspiration Journal, so we are a hopping over there as well! 

The bunny was stamped and embossed and was mounted on several chipboard layers of Tim's little bunny!  It is an actual pretty nice fit!  The little tickets are from Tim's Seasonal papers and I rounded them - duh, certainly not egged shaped! 

However, the background is egg shaped!  Using one of Tim's embossing folders and the diffuser, I first inked in Green and Pinks Distress (of course), embossed and then highlighted in Salty Ocean!  Then I added clear EP all over the background!  Nice little egg color!  Pretty quick, but sometimes you need something fast!  I am thinking now the rabbit needs a bow around his neck!!!  Always something more to remember!

Tomorrow I will have a really cool project, really I love this one, so I hope you will stop by then!  Thank you for visiting me today and I hope whatever your plans are for the weekend you have a wonderful one!  Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate!

French Country!

Black, Brown and Red is the theme at Fashionable Stamping Challenges for the next two weeks!  This color challenge was chosen by the lovely, Brenda and for extra inspiration and great art viewing stop by FSC!  Remember there will be a prize and Top 3 selection, so pull out those stamps and have some color challenge fun! 

All stamps are Stampin Up.  My French Rooster was stamped in Black Archival, in which I removed very carefully the inked areas from the comb, wattle and feet, which were colored using Distress Markers.  Once heat set, the feathers were colored using markers.  I wish you could see the shimmer on the lighter feather colors on my Rooster, which was gone over with Spica Glitter Pen, Sand!  I then inked over the white areas and shaded, stamped the floral swirl with Archival Coffee and colored with Spun Sugar and Wild Honey.  A sparkly center was added.  The brown base was stamped using the background French Script in Black.  The back panel was inked distressed and stamped with another French Script stamp in Red.  I wanted to mail this without too much worry, so decided to not add embellishments! 

I thank you for stopping by today and hope that you will join in this color challenge!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Inks:  Distress Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Old Paper, Barn Door, Archival Black and Coffee, Stazon Red
Markers:  Old Paper, Barn Door, Spun Sugar, Wild Honey
Stamps:  Stampin Up

Home Sweet Home!

My DT Sister, Yvonne, has chosen "Home Sweet Home" for the current challenge theme at Fashionable Stamping Challenges.  With Christmas fast approaching, I decided to go with a Vintage Christmas theme.  Really stop by and see what my Teammates have created, because there is so much stamped inspiration for your viewing pleasure.  We are a stamping challenge blog, so pull out those rubber babies and get inky with us.  You may be the winner of a prize from Cottage Crafts or make it into our "Top 3" selection. 

All of my images are from Stamping Up and sadly ones I don't seldom use.  I love their older stamps, which most of these were eBay wins.  For my "Home Sweet Home,"  I wanted a viewing window.  Not to be "Peeping Tom," but I really like driving around and seeing Christmas trees through open windows.  Now I can honestly say, I have never had the pleasure of seeing that Man in Red.  How cool in our little creative world, that we can!  All images were stamped with Archival Sepia and clear embossed.  I cut a window pane from the "snowflake" picture frame (what a pain, but worth it), inked over it with Distress Antique Linen and then clear embossed the entire frame.  For Santa and the Christmas tree, I just added bits of color with Stampin Up chalks, metallic pencils and Spica Glitter pens.  When I was satisfied, I gave this a quick spray with Matt Sealer.  Added my favorite little Christmas lights and some tinsel.  It took a bit of time to color in the objects, especially with old eyes looking at very tiny objects, but I just could not leave it uncolored.  At first I was just going to add a splash of color on Santa's suit, but just could not leave it at that.

Sure hope you will join us at FSC.  Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are getting into the Holiday spirit.  Have a wonderful weekend! 

The Sound of Music!

"Musical" is the theme chosen by Esther for the current challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges!  As we are a stamping challenge blog, we need to see some form of stamping on your projects to be eligible for a prize from Cottage Crafts or to make our "Top Three."  My most talented DT Sisters have not missed a beat in their musical performance, so stop by FSC for some sweet tunes and great inspiration!

Before I tell you about my card, I want to give a big SHOUT OUT for my DT Sister, Joanna, who so kindly offered up some help using the Fran-tage products from Stampendous.  Well I don't know how I missed the part about first adding a little clear embossing powder with the mix or on the bottom, but it sure does make the difference!  Thank you, Joanna!  I had just a little of the embossing enamels mixed and after heating from underneath, only a little remained.  As you can see, following directions sure make a difference!  Very cool stuff!  So much fun, I may have over done it with the mix of embossing powders, enamels, micas fragments, glitter, seed beads, etc. 

I have had this musical stamp from Stampin Up for quite some time and have never used it, so what an opportunity this challenge gave me!  The violin was colored with Tim's markers, antique linen and tea die, the flowers, butterflies and bird were colored with Stampin Up markers.  All shading was done with Distress Inks, antique linen and frayed burlap.  The musical print background is a stamp from Stampendous, which I stamped with Black Archival on plain newsprint paper, torn around the edges and shaded.  After I decided how I wanted my background layout, I did the little corner Fran-tage fun stuff.  Had a very hard time looking for an embellishment for the focus panel, but then came across the crystal flower and thought it was just fine!  I so wanted a musical note and I bet if I looked hard enough, I have a die and could have made a shrink plastic note!!  Next time!

Many thanks for visiting me on this lovely Saturday!  Sure hope you can join us at FSC.  Have a wonderful weekend!

A Different Kind Of Tag!

The challenge theme at Frilly and Funkie is "A Different Kind Of Tag" plus a theme of  Autumn or Halloween!   Anita wants the tag to be "altered" and not used as a regular tag, so fly on over to Frilly and Funkie to see what both sides have come up for you!  Remember to untag your tag and as always there is a $25 prize to The Funkie Junkie Boutique and a Winners Badge!  For my "different" tag, I used one of those Giant Tags and turned it into a little story book, if you will!  My theme is Halloween, but I think you can guess that!   I am also linking this Halloween book up at Inspiration Journal for their October's "Spooktacular Decorations."

There was quite a bit of activity taking place in this tag.  First I inked it up starting at the bottom using black and then working my way up the color chain!  I did add a few streaks of various colors using the side of the applicator.  Folded this in half and trimmed one edge to have a double faced tag, added a reinforced piece.  Once inked, I gave it a quick spray with Krylon Matt Sealer. 

Front side, I stamped some bats from Artistic Outpost, the witch is from Stampin Up.  For the moon effect, I just placed a Spellbinders circle die over the area and wiped with a slightly damp paper towel to remove a little color.  The owl from Tim's new stamps was stamped in Archival black and cut out.  The cat was inked with Black Soot Stain on manila paper and a second cat was cut with green.  I was going to highlight the cat with some white ink, but loved the way Vada did her cat.  The tree was a blast to do.  Cut from manila paper, inked with vintage photo stain and then stamped with Black Archival using Tim's wood grain background stamp, as was the little fence around the house! 

For the inside, I inked the Artistic Outpost bat stamp with Black Soot Distress Marker, as I wanted this to be more subtle.  The house was sprayed using Dylusions, then embossed with the notebook folder, inked with Archival Black and then clear embossed.  Pumpkins and ghosts are shrink plastic.  I colored the pumpkins with Spiced Marmalade Distress Markers, after giving the shrink plastic a light sanding, baked, colored with stickles and let dry!  Yes, I stamped and cut out that little pumpkin from the "kids" stamp to place in the window.  I still don't have that die strip!!  Pretty much the rest of the images were stamped with Archival Black and then clear embossed. 

Hope you like my little Halloween book and will join in with all the fun!  I so appreciate your visit today and hope you have a wonderful day!

Ranger Inkssentials Surfaces Kraft Tags - #12 Giant Tags - Kraft	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Base Tray	Tim Holtz Mini Cat and Raven Sizzix Alterations Movers and Shapers Dies	Tim Holtz Mini Pumpkin and Acorn Sizzix Alterations Movers and Shapers Dies
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Branch Tree BIGz Die	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Rickety House Die	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz On the Edge On the Fence Die	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Alphabet Die - Typeset
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Mini Halloween 3	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Odds & Ends	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chitchat Stickers	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Vintage Photo	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Black Soot	Dyan Reaveley′s Dylusions Ink Spray - Melted Chocolate	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Black Soot
Ranger Tim Holtz Summer Seasonal Distress Ink Pads	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Dusty Concord	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Spiced Marmalade	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink Pad	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Markers - Set of 37	Ranger Inkssentials Manila Card Stock 8.5x11	Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades - Collage & Notebook Set