New Beginnings

This week, our challenge theme at Fairy Fun Friday is New Beginnings, something that is on everyone's mind as we head into a fresh new year.  This card really challenge me.  I couldn't find a vintage style image that I wanted to use for this challenge so I went with a different style.  I guess it's good to pull me out of my vintagy rut once in awhile!  I used A Mother's Love digital image from The Prairie Fairy for the polar bears and a freebie sentiment I picked up from Rainbow Echo Designs from her Sentimental Sunday's challenge blog.  (The digital sentiment came with butterflies but I erased them with my Photoshop Elements).  The yummy designer paper was also a digital freebie from Barely Mine. 

Other supplies used include a Cuttlebug die and snowflake embossing folder for the heart, Crystal Effects, a doily, Stickles, silver ink, silver cord, silver CS form SU, Vintage Photo and Broken China distress inks, Copic markers, felt, SU brad, Martha Stewart branch punch, Prima flowers, floral picks,  and Jo-Ann ribbon.

Now hop on over to Fairy Fun Friday and see the yummy new beginnings that our design team has to stoke your mojo!  Hope to see you playing along with us this forthnight.

Wishing you all the best of blessings in this new year.

Challenges Entered:

Digital Tuesday - Anything Goes

Meljens - Cold and Snowy

Wishing You a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate the sacred day and happy weekend to those of you who don't.  I'm here with our last post of 2010 for Our Creative Corner.  As we close out the year, I want to thank all of you for stopping by each week to see what I've been up to.  Your comments and support mean the world to me and your positive reinforcement letting me know that I actually can make worthwhile art projects have helped to keep me going throughout this past hyper-busy year.  I've had the privilege of serving on some fantastic design teams and have "met" some incredible women.  I know I don't get around to your blogs often enough, but you are all special to me - especially those of you who are regulars who I so enjoy hearing from.  So thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I hope the blogosphere has blessed you as much as it has me.  

Alright, so now on to this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner.  Our host, Sarah Gough, has challenged us to use felt, flocking, flocked paper or felt embellishments on our creations this week.  I am so into using textiles on my cards recently and loved this challenge immediately.  My felt is in the form of die (Cuttlebug/Spellbinders) cut snowflakes.  I used ivory felt and rubbed some Antique Linen Distress Stickles on them for a bit of bling.  And I seem to be very into kraft card stock recently.  I had forgotten how wonderful it is for that rustic country look.  How about this retro style image? I absolutely love it!  The Fairy Queen over at Prairie Fairy has just released it as a digital image and she's giving it away as a freebie on Christmas Day!  Hop over to her blog immediately and sign up to receive her posts and maybe you'll be in time to receive this awesome freebie.  

I'm not going to go into details as I think everything is pretty self-explanatory, but if you have questions just leave them in the comments and check back later for an update to the post.  Now I gotta get some sleep so Santa can come!

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges Entered:
Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge - Snow
If The Shoe Fits - Get Crafty
City Crafter Challenge Blog - Vintage Christmas

A Krafty Christmas Fairy

Oh my goodness, tomorrow is Christmas!!!  In the back of my  mind, I knew it was coming, but oh, my goodness, it will be here and gone before I know it!  Twice this week I tried to go to the supermarket in the middle of the afternoon, only to give up after cruising the parking lot a few times trying to find parking.  So I got up at 7:00 this morning to hit the supermarket - and it was already packed.  I already know of one thing I forgot - but I don't think I'm going back!  We'll have to do without.  And I remembered that I haven't made any holiday food and since I promised to go shopping with my daughter today, I guess that will have to wait until late this afternoon.  Whew, it's a good thing that I gave priority to making a couple of cards, right?

Since I missed the Fairy Fun Friday post last week, I squeezed in a mid-week card for the "Use Kraft" challenge.  And I'm so glad I did.  It felt great to mess around at my craft table again and I remembered how much I love using kraft CS.  Here I used The Prairie Fairy's Tree Fairy for this, plus the sentiment from her Holly Fairy set.  I really love this vintage holiday fairy set that Roberta came out with this season and have so enjoyed working with these digital images.  I also used Grunge Flourish Hearts from Stempelglede with lots of Vintage Photo distress ink.  And I used a technique that Tim Holtz used on one of his Christmas tags by dabbing one of the white acrylic Paint Dabbers onto the edges of the tag to look like snow.  The snowflakes are from SU's Winter Post set.  I embossed a piece of K&Co. chipboard and then painted over it with the white paint dabber.  When dry, I sanded the high points and used some VP DI on it.  

I think that's about it for the dets on this card.  There's still another week to play in the Kraft challenge at Fairy Fun Friday.  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve.  Keep calm, don't stress - that's my mantra for today.  I'll be back tomorrow with my card for Our Creative Corner.

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges Entered:

If the Shoe Fits - Get Crafty

Stamp Something - Something with a tag or a pocket

City Crafter Challenge Blog - Vintage Christmas

Southern Girls Challenge - Vintage

A Vintage Christmas Angel

Hello friends!  So happy to see you back.  I know I've been slackin' on my art - but all for a good cause.  My part time job with my church has completely taken over my life since before Thanksgiving.  I manage a huge food pantry providing weekly food boxes to more than 300 families.  Thanksgiving brought a lot of extra work and the same with Christmas - trying to make sure that all families have some extra food for the holiday and also coordinating some Christmas gifts for some of the families we are closest to.  Plus I have been running another Christmas project for the parish.  Unfortunately, all this extra overtime has caused me to miss a couple of DT deadlines so I want to apologize to my DT leaders and teamies!  I certainly am looking forward to having a bit of a break later this week with the Christmas holiday and hopefully get everything back into balance! 

And speaking of breaks, I am happy to share that this Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge will be a two-week challenge.  Our challenge to you is to show us something from yesteryear.  I had a couple of projects in mind, but just couldn't move them off the drawing board, so my fallback of course is always a card.  Here is my Yesteryear card in my typical vintage style.  I must say that it was a joy to create.  I loved the color palette and the lovely vintage image.  And I am having such fun with textiles lately.  Here I used some lace, some cheesecloth and some crinoline for the bottom petals of the flower.  

I started with a base of SU's new Cherry Cobbler CS and then added a layer of gold CS.  The DP is digital, printed on my home computer. A vintage Christmas angel image was used with Tim's Tinted Vision technique but instead of using a Fragment with it, I used a piece of acetate die cut with the Snow Flurries On the Edge die. Ginger and Latte Adirondack alcohol inks were applied to the back of the acetate with a Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator tool to create an aged, stained paper look. The acetate was layered over the vintage image.  Then the remaining alcohol ink on the applicator tool was used on a piece of vanilla CS to create a blotchy aged look for the Believe stamp. The CS was also misted with a mixture of water, Vintage Photo reinker and Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold, as was the panel that was embossed with the Tim Holtz Notepaper Texture Fade. Both pieces of CS were also sponged with Vintage Photo ink around the edges. The white petals of the crinoline flower were cut with the Alerations Tattered Floral die. The Believe stamp is from the Tim Holtz Mini Holidays stamp set.

That's it for the details of my piece, but be sure to visit the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog.  My team mates have produced another amazing collection of art for this challenge.   You just cannot help but be inspired by what you will see there.   Hope to see you playing along with us this week.   Our very generous sponsor, Simon Says Stamp, is giving away a $50 gift certificate to some lucky random winner.  

And thanks for coming back.  I know I haven't had much to share recently and I appreciate your sticking with me!  Wishing you all a blessed Christmas with family and friends.

A Shabby Chic Technique

Greetings and thanks for stopping by to see what I have made for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge.  Our Challenge to you this week is to make something using a Tim Holtz technique.  How fun is that?  He has so many great techniques, especially with the 12 Tags of Christmas just out.  I decided that I wanted to try something that was completely new to me so I went to pg. 49 Compendium of Curiosities and decided on the Shabby Chic technique.  

The construction was pretty straightforward, but if you have questions, just let me know.  After cutting Grungeboard with the Snow Flurries On The Edge Alterations die, products used on it include Expresso and Snow Cap Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, Tim Holtz Mini Holidays stamp set. A flower was made out of Tissue Tape and topped with a button from the Idea-ology Accoutrements. Some Fragment Charms add the finishing touch.

Now on to the lovely Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge blog to see what the others have made.  I promise you'll be blown away.  I know I certainly was!

Thanks for stopping by and for all your lovely comments!

Blessings & hugs,

Linda

A Little Late Victorian Sparkle

Hi folks,

I feel like a delinquent blogger.  I haven't been posting much and I've missed you all!  I know I haven't updated my challenge lists in over a week.  I have been so busy with my little part-time job for my Catholic parish, which is supposed to be 20 hours a week.  Hahaha!  Since the end of November I have been working double that and last week it was tripple that number of hours, including 20 over the weekend.  I'm exhausted, my house is a disaster and Christmas is about to steam roll over me!  No time for making cards or blogging either.  So last night when I got home from work at 8:30 p.m., I chose to do some house cleaning instead of my card for Our Creative Corner.  I was expecting my daughter home from college around midnight and wanted to make the house look a little better when she came through the door. 

I got up this morning and finished my card.  Here it is.  Our lovely host Sarah Gough has designed a wonderful sketch for you to follow for our challenge this week.  I love this sketch and think it will be one that I use again - such pretty layers!  I used a bit of my retired (hoarded) Blue Bayou with some Basic Grey DP and a Spellbinders die to create the snowflake.  Two different SU sets were used to stamp snowflakes with white craft ink and the tiny snowflakes are from a Martha border punch.  The sentiment and the Victorian ornament are from Prairie Fairy and the flower and the crinkle ribbon were hand dyed using Rose Red reinker.  Some Rock Candy distress stickles and Crystal Effects finished it off. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'm sorry I haven't been around to visit anyone in the past few weeks.  Don't give up on me.  I'll be back with more regularity after Christmas. 

Blessings and hugs,

Simon Says Stamp and Show...a Holiday Greeting

Greetings friends and welcome to another marvelous Monday and a project for Simon Says Stamp and Show.  Our challenge to you this week is to Stamp and Show a Holiday Greeting, which you can feel free to shape to your own interpretation.

I decided to make a tussie mussie, which I thought would be a lovely way to give a holiday greeting to a friend.  First I randomly used stamps from Tim Holtz's Urban Grunge set in Old Paper distress ink and then clear embossed them.  Next the entire sheet was sponged with Antique Linen distress ink.  A Scrollwork Alterations die cut plus three tiny Prima roses were used to cover where the cone was joined.  An Idea-ology Memo Pin holds the Merry Christmas ticket stamp greeting and while an Idea-ology heart charm altered by coating it with Adirondack Alcohol Ink Gold Mixative adorns the tail of the tussie mussie.

This was such a fun project to do.  It wasn't hard, didn't take too long and I think the result is gorgeous.  I think I'll be making more of these beauties in the future!

Now its time to stop by the challenge blog at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  This week our amazing sponsor is giving away a $50 gift certificate to the lucky random winner, and you always have a chance of being picked in the top 3 by the design team.  And speaking of this talented design team, here are their personal blog addresses so you can see other amazing creations by them.

♥Linda Elbourne, DT Coordinator - A Crafting Journey

♥ Dan - My Crafty Life

♥ Lynne Forsythe - The Next Best Thing

♥ Lori Hassler - I Been Thinkin'...'Bout Inkin'

♥ Nancy Crissinger - What's Next???

♥ Nancy Wethington - Art From the Heart

♥ Terry Weitsma-Girbes - Terry's Cards & Creativity

♥ Kim Costello - Paperbabe

Can't wait to see your holiday greeting!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Have a great week!

Blessings & hugs

A Virtual Parade of Tags

It's Saturday again!  And it's December 4th already - how did that happen?  I've had another crazy week and am ready to drop from exhaustion.  I put in a 12 hour day today and still have to work both Saturday and Sunday.  No rest for the wicked this week - LOL!

So I did another quick and easy tag for this week's Our Creative Corner challenge.  I know, three tags almost in a row, but I figured if Tim Holtz can make 12 for Christmas, then I should be able to create tags to march on through December too!

What a tough challenge our December host, Sarah Gough, has dreamt up for us.  It's a color challenge using non-traditional Christmas colors.  Not my cup of tea at all and I almost bailed on the challenge.  But I dug in my heels with the thought that that's what challenges are all about.  And I'm happy to say that enjoyed the challenge and  I really like what I made for it.  Thanks Sarah for giving me a kick out of my cozy little comfort zone!

Here's the dets:

Stamp Sets:  Yuletide Montage and Holidays and Wishes by Stampin' Up!

Paper:  Tempting Turquoise, Kraft, Basic Gray, Rose Red

Ink:  Rose Red, Basic Black, Vintage Photo, image lightly colored with Copics (I wanted to use chalks, but realized I had lent mine to a friend who is a new stamper)

Accessories:  SU Brad, Cuttlebug snowflake EF, Spellbinders Build a Flake die and labels die, flower was made with rolled white CS and painted with a mix of Simple Solutions Medium Acrylic Medium, LuminArte Metalic Mica Luster Pearl and one tiny drop of Rose Red reinker.  This mixture was painted onto the flower and while still wet, glitter was applied.  The lovely turquoise and silver ribbon is from Jo-Ann's and the crinkled seam binding was hand dyed.  

Hope you will play along with us this week.  I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with for this color challenge...and speaking of that, hop on over to the Our Creative Corner blog and see what the rest of the team did for this challenge!

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend!

Blessings & hugs,

Shower of Stars

Good morning friends!  I hope your last work day of the week is off to a great start.  I'm sure it will be a busy weekend for everyone now that we are into the Christmas season.  This week at Fairy Fun Friday our challenge to you is "Use a Star".  That's a perfect theme for a Christmas card which I have made using one of the adorable Christmas Fairies from the Prairie Fairy (colored with Copics).  This one is called Holly Fairy and she comes with a poinsettia and sentiments.  My sentiment is from another Prairie Fairy Set called Candy Cane Fairy.  Check out all the wonderful seasonal digital images in the Prairie Fairy's store.  

I randomly stamped snowflakes using white craft ink on kraft card stock and paired it up with Cherry Cobbler.  A large snowflake "doily" was created by cutting five smaller snowflakes and adhering them to the back of a scaloped circle.  The stars were cut with a Sizzix die and embossed with Judi-Kins Egyptian Gold embossing powder.  I applied Antique Linen distress stickles to the felt star and the metal sentiment holder is from the Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware from SU.  The distress stickles were also used on the fairy's wings.  

There you have it - a very simple card for this lovely challenge.  Can't wait to see what you will make using stars.  Stop by and visit us at Fairy Fun Friday.  Thanks for stopping and for your comments.  Have a great day!

Blessings & hugs,