My Creative Spirit!!

Cindy Adkins is having a creative challenge!  Now it can be anything your little heart desires!  Creativity comes in many forms and what I like so much about this challenge, is that we will be able to see some of the other elements we put our heart and souls into.  I love to cook and have been told by many that I am really good at it!  Now I don't cook nearly as big or fancy as I did years ago, but still have to do something just a little extra fancier!

This was done for an appetizer lunch before the Christmas big dinner! I think I spent as much time on the snacks as the dinner!  I am hoping so much to get to the point to remodel my kitchen.  The tile is over 30 years old! 

The little snacks were Spinach and Artichoke dip, Humus, Shrimp Cocktail, Stuffed Mushrooms, Chicken Sausage Skewers, Olives and assorted crackers and veggies. Thanks for visiting the other creative side of me and Bon Appetite!

GC62 and PDCC41 Challenges

This tag is playing double duty today at Gingersnap Creations and The Play Date Cafe! For the Spicy Supply Challenge - Markers, any type of markers! The pasta, meatballs, bowl, serving platter, hat band, cuff, pants and shoes were colored with SU markers! PDCC41 has chosen Italian colors! The first thing that came to mind was using "Mr. Chef" and I went online to print out a map of Italy. The map was stamped on and then cut, added to give a little dimension on his coat and hat. A separate chef was also cut out (including mustache). We did lose one curl and had to marker it in!!! All stamps and markers are Stampin Up. The tag background was done with Distress Inks.

It is a pleasure to have a visit with you!  Many thanks for taking the time to comment!

I won at Glitterbug Studios!

Theresa of Faerie Moon Creations sent me a delightful e-mail this AM. I am one of the lucky winners of a giveaway Theresa posted on July 28th and I can't tell you how excited I am. This is my wonderful and stunning win from Tracey at Glitterbug Studios! Is it not awesome or what??  I love it Tracey! 

Thank you Tracey and Theresa! You have certainly made my day! If you have not visited their blogs, please do so! Since I started to actually blog, I am amazed at the wonderful and talented sites and people out there.

Wishing all of you a most delightful day!

Tag Tuesday "Mannequin Template."

Today at Tag Tuesday the challenge is to use a mannequin template, which I used pinking shears to cut out. Both my Mom and I use to sew and recently I have been thinking about taking her old little sewing cabinet and going through it. Let's just say that this challenge encouraged me to take this out of my garage and look through it after six years. Kind of a bittersweet day. The items out of her basket/cabinet are the rhinestones around the neck, the netting with the metallic hearts and maybe flowers over the mannequin, the pearl lace trim at the waistline, the ruffled lace at the bottom, the detailed metal button and large safety pin.

I did the "Antique Glimmers" technique from the Technique Junkies. The background stamp is from Lost Coast Designs and I guess I kind of did a collage with that. Did not want it to go in one direction. I would have added buttons, but there were not any and I wanted to to have Mom's stuff! Here is a button close up.

Thank you for popping on over and as always, your comments are deeply appreciated! Have a wonderful evening!

I am a Ginger Gem!!

A happy day for me!!!  The wonderful Gingersnappers selected me as a Ginger Gem for the Heat Challenge GC61.  Great Big Thank You.  This is such a fun group and if you aren't a member, come on over!  Here is my challenge piece and if you want more details just scroll down my blog for the original post.  Head on over to Gingersnap Creations to take a look at the wonderful art of this talented groupl 

Thank you again for visiting!  Have a wonderful day!

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge Week Eight

So today we get down and grungy at Linda's on page 39 of the Compendium of Curiosities! I had no mishaps, so I am thinking I must have missed something. There is plenty of inking and just a touch of stamping, in fact I used 10 inks to achieve the colors I wanted. The background paper (SU) was an afterthought. The birds had already been inked and I was not sure how I wanted to place them and then came across the perfect colored background paper. Then I remember the lovely brown lace trim! The perch is off of a climbing rose. The birdhouse is a Sizzix die, in which I cut two roofs for more dimension. The birds are more of those new not released Sizzix dies and I just love them. I cut out an extra wing again for more dimension. Pearls were used for the eyes. This was another fun project! It did take 3 1/2 hours from what am I going to do to completion. Is this normal???

I forgot to add the envelope I made to go along with the card!  May you have a fabulous week! Thank you for taking the time to visit and comment.

Tag Tuesday Christmas Colors in July

For the Tuesday Tag Challenge, Louise has chosen "Christmas Colors," but you are not to use Christmas Stamps! The first thing that came to my mind was to use the new Tim Holtz Halloween stamps that I ordered from eclectic Paperie! Once I saw a couple of my favorite people using "Halloween," that made the decision easy! I also knew I was going to use another new Sizzix die that I picked up from Stacey. These are pretty huge wings and would look great in scrapbook layouts or wall hangings! The wings and tag background are embossed and highlighted. The background for the witches face, bat and crow were done with various alcohol inks in shades of green. All images were embossed. I added red color to the eyes using a alcohol marker and added a red pearl eye to the crow and other flashy bling to the tag and wings.

This was another fun challenge! Thanks you for stopping by and commenting! Have a wonderful weekend!

GC61: Chestnut Theme Challenge - Heat

Well the "Heat" is on over at Gingersnap Creations and I finished mine! We did make an attempt late yesterday afternoon, but the ship sank and could not be recovered. It was pretty devastating, because it was very nicely colored and I did not realized my "black" ink had not dried! Oh yes, a big black smear! This is my first attempt using Stampscapes stamps and I have never had a class. I did one time get to sit in on a make and take, about a year ago, which was awesome to watch Kevin in motion!

I used my new Sizzix "Fan" die, which I thought was so appropriate for "Heat."  I colored the background using Distress Inks and added some pearls at the handle.  Wish I had tiny little shells!!

Your visit and comments are so appreciated. I wish you all a wonderful day!

Compendium of Curiosities Week Seven Meets The Play Date Cafe

Before I get into my challenge piece, which I am submitting to both Studio L3 and The Play Date Cafe, I have just a little story to tell about the fan. Now I hope I am the first to post using this wonderful new "Fan" die from Sizzix! Stacey the owner of Scapbooking Made Simple, received an order of new release dies much earlier than expected. Because she knows me and how much I am a fan of Sizzix dies, she gave me a call and held a nice collection for me! Well I left broke yesterday or I should say DH did! Now Stacey has a few of my projects in her shop and will probably want this, but don't tell her that it won't happen! If you are reading this Stacey - Big Thank You and I can't wait to use the others!!!

Down to the real business! Going with the colors from PDCC39, which were delightful and worked so well with what I wanted to do over at Studio L3. Linda has taken us on another adventure through the Compendium of Curiosities, Page 55, Tinted Vision Fragments! Thanks to Linda, this is now the second time I have played with fragments and I am loving them! I used an old picture of my parents in an embrace. My Mom has on this long beautiful dress and my Dad is quite nicely dressed. I miss my parents very much, so these little things that I can do to bring them to life, makes me happy! The paper that was used as the Photo background is Graphics 45. The butterflies are cut and embossed, the fan is cut out with decorative paper and then chipboard, embossed and then highlighted. All edges are shaded in black. The strings that tie the edge of the fan are old decorative threads from when I once sewed.

Thank you PDCC for giving me great colors to work with, Linda for the ride and Stacey for giving me first choice! The blog and I thank you for your visit and we always appreciate your kind words! Have a creative and wonderful day!

Tag Tuesday Challenge #60 Faces

Faces are the theme this week at Tag Tuesday! For some reason with all the financial concerns that so many people are dealing with these days, I decided to make a little light of the situation. When I have an extra few dollars, I like to invest in the stock market and if any of you are in the market, I don't have to tell you how stressful it can be. So speaking of stress, all I could think about was "Loud Larry" from Scrolls Work just yelling about how stressed he is! The money used is mine and I reduced the size to make little monies! Some were reduced to 25% and that is how it feels at times!! The background paper is from Graphic 45 and is Wall Street paper! Oh "Loud Larry" does have blue eyes to go with the blue background paper. I did stamp out a few, incase I removed any body parts and lucky me, I did not. The extras I gave a little color to the mouth area only, but just did not like him colored with the style of this paper.

Hope you all enjoy my "Stock Market" humor! Have a most wonderful weekend and as always, the blog and I thank you for visiting!