A Red and Aqua Color Challenge

Hello and welcome to my Saturday post for Our Creative Corner.  This week we say goodbye to Sarah Gough and wish her the best of success as she moves on to the My Favorite Things design team.  Sarah is our hostess this week and she has a gorgeous color challenge for us - Red and Aqua with a hint of pink if you wish.  Check out this wonderful inspiration photo and then see what you can come up with for an entry into our challenge.

I used digital designer paper in stripes and polka dots from Pink Petticoat and found a lovely matching vintage image that I felt worked perfectly.  Then I grabbed a piece of a straight paper doily from my Etsy shop to add a pretty frill.  I used the negative red and white polka dot DP to create a couple of faux buttons and added a bow with burlap thread from my Etsy shop.

I had a scrap of crinkled seam binding on my desk in the perfect aqua color that made a nice element for the corner, also tied with red burlap thread and topped with a tiny rosebud Venise lace applique.  The tag was cut with the PaperTrey Ink Tiny Tag die and stamped with a stamp from the Crafty Secrets Sweet Kids set.

That's the dets on this one.  I really love this color combo and it was a fun card to make.  Hope you will stop by Our Creative Corner to see all the lovely samples our design team has come up with for this challenge.

 Thanks so much for stopping by and for all your lovely comments.  I do so appreciate them!

UPDATE:  I've had several inquiries as to where I found this lovely vintage image.  It's from the blog Vintage Catnip and can be found here - for free!

Challenges Entered:

Truly Scrumptious - Buttons and Bows
Stampin' B's Design Team - Ribbon

Butterflies and Blues

It's an inspiration photo challenge this week at Fairy Fun Fridays and I used this charming Watering Can image from The Prairie Fairy.  Yes, I did take a bit of artistic license in coloring the poppies blue with my Copics, but I was going for the blues in the inspiration photo.  I used some of my precious (hoarded) Blue Bayou retired SU! card stock.  Other products used include a newsprint stamp designed by Ann Vento for Whimsey Stamps, old MME designer paper, a bit of SU! lace and burlap ribbon that will be available shortly in my Etsy shop.  I used a Spellbinders die to cut the main panel, added some a filigree metal butterfly and dragonfly (filigree metal will soon be back in my Etsy shop), a Venise Lace butterfly, Venise flower bud applique, crinkled seam binding and burlap thread, all from my Etsy Shop.  

Hope you will stop by the Fairy Fun Fridays challenge blog to get some plearly blue inspiration from the other team members.  Some of the DT are on vacation, but we managed to round up a few samples to get your mojo running.  And stop by the Prairie Fairy Designs store -  Roberta has a new line of whimsical glamor girls - See Leah, Betty and Dottie.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you had a great week.  I'm still in Key West and will be back to the real work-a-day world on Monday.  

Challenges Entered:
Stampin' B's Design Team - Ribbon

Inspiration and a Goodbye

Happy Monday morning to you!  As I start my weekly Simon Says post, sadly this week we are saying goodbye to three team members who I started with a year ago:  Kim Costello, Nancy Crissinger and Lori Hassler.  It's been such a privilege to be on a design team with these talented artisans and I have learned so much working with them.  So I want to express my thanks for all they have shared with me and to wish them all the best as they move forward in their art.  They will definitely be missed!

This week our Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge to you is wide open - that's right, anything goes!  Should be easy peasy, right?  Although sometimes I think that sort of challenge is harder - no guidelines so then I'm all over the place - too many options!  But actually it turned out pretty easy for me to settle on an idea.  I've been yearning to do a piece like this ever since I saw Sarah's lovely piece that she made for her first My Mojo Monthly.  So I took her inspiration and ran with it Funkie Junkie style.

I started my piece by cutting 12 squares of chipboard with the postage stamp die that came with my older model Cuttlebug.  Then I die cut six squares of Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby Paper Stash and 6 squares of Kraft Glassine paper.  The glassine paper was embossed with the Tim Holtz Bingo Texture Fade and some of the Vintage Shabby Paper squares were stamped with images from the Mini Classic and Haberdashery stamp sets.  The squares were mounted on a piece of a vintage songbook page which was in turn mounted on a piece of white corrugated cardboard.  I swiped a rose colored stamp pad across the cardboard and then sponged the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.

This simple piece was topped off with a shabby seam binding bow in my signature rose pink and a hand made crinoline flower (made using  Tattered Florals die and dyed with the same rose pink dye).  I cut a flourish out of white chipboard, splotched it up with some of the same dye and then sponged it with Vintage Photo distress ink.

That's it for this week's piece.  I love the colors and textures.  I guess it will be a wall hanging, although I haven't set it up that way at this point.  I hope you will stop by Simon Says Stamp and Show to see what the other designers have for your inspiration this week.  And please do play along with us.  This week, as always, our very generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp has a $50 shopping spree for a random player. You definitely want to get in on that action!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I sincerely appreciate any comment you care to leave!

All the B's!

Good morning and welcome back to my Saturday post for Our Creative Corner.  Hope you are all managing to find a spot to keep cool, especially those of you in areas where we are having record high temperatures.  I'm vacationing again in Key West, where it is hot and sometimes rainy, but usually have a nice breeze.  We plan to go bike riding today, but are waiting out a hopefully brief thunder shower.  

Our hostess this week is Sarah Gough who has set a clever challenge - All the B's - Buttons, Black, Bling and a Bow.  So dig into your stash for some fun bits and bobs.  Here's my take on the challenge.  I can't tell you the names of the sets because I forgot to take note of their names before I left on vacation.  I think the toile background stamp is Elements of Style from SU!  The Thanks is from Crafty Secrets and the frame under the flower is from WaltzingMouse.  For the white panel, I used an SU! border punch and embossing folder.  Spellbinders dies were used for the tag and the main panel.  The black flower was made from crinoine.  I die cut the flower pieces with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and then dyed them black (very icky process, I must say).  The tulle was purchased black, not hand dyed by me.  I really like the way the black crinoline flowers came out and have made up a few more sets to sell in my shop.  I also put together the stick pin for a pop of color on this card.  The thread is burlap thread that I ussed to sew along the back of the panel to sew on the buttons and create the required bow for this piece.  

Hope you will hop over to Our Creative Corner to check out the rest of the samples by our lovely design team and then play along with us this week.  

That's about it.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks so much for your encouraging comments.  

If you are interested, the following products are available in my Etsy shop:

Black crinoline flowers (oops, currently sold out - check back later!)

Crinoline to make your own shabby flowers

Stick pins

Burlap thread

Emboss it Up!

Hi friends, so happy you stopped by!  I have a little project to share with you that I made for our challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  This week our challenge is Show Us Embossing - heat or dry embossing, whichever you prefer or both.  Of course, I had to do both.  I LOVE embossing - love the texture it brings whether it is dry embossing or heat embossing.  So I played around with both.  Here is another new stamp set I recently got my hot little hands on - Wild West a Tim Holtz set by Stampers Anonymous.

I started with a 5.5x8.5 piece of vanilla CS and randomly stamped images from the Wild West set and also another new set Ephemera Backgrounds by Artistic Outpost in Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink.  Then I sponged Fired Brick and Faded Jeans Distress Inks over the entire panel.  I tried out my recently acquired Foil Tape Sheets by cutting with a Spellbinders die and then embossing it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I dripped Pitch Black alcohol ink over it and when dry, sanded the high points so the silver showed through.  Wild West was stamped on a Journaling Ticket.  I embossed a piece of vanilla CS with another Cuttlebug embossing folder and sponged it with Faded Jeans and Vintage Photo distress inks.

The main image was stamped on vanilla CS and the torn edges distressed with Vintage Photo.  I applied Versamark around the edges and embossed them with clear UTEE, just because I felt like messing around - it reminds me of a piece of varnished wood.  I finished it off with some Rust burlap thread, a rosette made from Kraft Glassine paper and a couple of stars cut with a Sizzix die.  The burlap was heavily spritzed with my Vintage Photo glimmer mist.  The final step was to mount it on a piece of white corrugated cardboard.  I ran my Faded Jeans ink pad up and down it so all the high points are blue.  I finished by embossing the edges with my mixture of clear UTEE and gold EP.  This could be a wall hanging or a piece of desk art.  I haven't decided yet.

All righty, then.  That's it for another Simon Says Stamp and Show project.  Hope you will stop by the blog to see the amazing work by our wonderfully talented designers.  And, faithful as always, our wonderful sponsor Simon Says Stamp will be giving a random winner a $50 shopping spree in their store - definitely a prize you want to win!  So get out your embossing powers and folders and let's see whatcha got.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for any comment you care to leave.

Challenge: Copehagen

Over at Our Creative Corner, we are trying to come up with unique and interesting challenges and this week Kristin Tierney has excelled in that endeavor!  She wants us to make a project inspired by the city of Copenhagen.  Here is the inspiration photo she has provided.  But wait - there's more.  You can't use designer paper - you have to make your own background paper.  

I took my inspiration from the photo on the bottom left.  When I first started thinking about Copenhagen, I remembered the famous statue of Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid in the harbor.  I looked for vintage mermaid images but couldn't find one that I was happy with.  However, I did just get another wonderful Artistic Outpost set called Beyond the Sea and thought that would be perfect for the sea/harbor aspect of Copenhagen.

My colors were drawn from the photo and I mainly used Weathered Wood and Vintage Photo distress inks.  This set has a lot of stamps so I basically stamped a collage pattern on Very Vanilla in Weathered Wood and then ink distressed it with Vintage Photo.  A chipboard circle was created with Spellbinders dies, sea images were stamped in Vintage Photo, inked with Weathered Wood -  and then spattered with water droplets.  The main image was stamped on Very Vanilla with Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink and spritzed with my Vintage Photo glimmer mist.  I made a kraft ruffle using the Paper Twist Ribbon that is sold in my Etsy shop.  The sentiment, which I really love, was stamped on Very Vanilla with the Ranger archival ink.

I freehand cut a banner and distressed the edges with Vintage Photo.  Then I gave it one layer of UTEE.  When it was hardened, Vintage Photo was sponged into all the cracks where the UTEE didn't cover.  It gave it a cool distressed look, while still being shinny from the UTEE.  It didn't seem quite finished so I added some filigree metal from my Etsy shop.  I haven't used the metals too much but am finding that I really like using them.  I have some left in the shop and have more on order.  I'm slowly trying to increase the variety that I can offer in the shop.

This was another great challenge.  I really had fun with what I made - I'm not sure for whom it can be used, but I like the color palette and design of it.  I hope you will be stopping by Our Creative Corner and joining in the fun with us this week.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for all the lovely comments.  I very much appreciate each and every one of them.







Challenges Entered
Sentimental Sundays - Inky Fingers + a sentiment
Creative Inspirations - No Flowers Allowed
Cute Card Thursday - Going Round in Circles
Pals Paper Arts - Summertime and the Livin' is Easy
The Stamp Man Challenge - Anything Tim Holtz

Also entered into the July Artistic Outpost Referral Program

Holiday Inspiration

Hi there!  Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I have a card that I made for The Prairie Fairy's Fairy Fun Friday that I want to share.  I'm the hostess this fortnight and my challenge is to make a Summer Holiday card.  I want to celebrate vacations!  Whether you are going by plane, train, auto or boat. Whether you are visiting the shore or the mountains or just lazing around the house, we want to see your project celebrating your leisure time.  My summer vacation is to visit Key West, Florida.  We spent 5 days there at the beginning of July and are planning to go back down for another 6 days shortly.  Family members are renting a vacation home there for the month of July and we have an open invitation.  It's an amazingly beautiful 3 hour drive to get there so it's really convenient for us to join them.  

My holiday card is all about the sea using a lovely sailboat digi called Hoisting Sales from the Prairie Fairy.  Using this week's sketch from Mojo Monday, I dragged out my Copics.  When I sat down to use them, I realized that it's been months since I've had them out.  I almost didn't remember any of the techniques.  

I started this piece on a base of Baja Breeze followed by a shabbied up layer of Barely Banana and then a layer of kraft.  I stamped some of the images from the Flourishes set Seaside Life all around the edge of the kraft in Vintage Photo.  I ripped a page out of a vintage book about the sea and used it for another layer.  The next layer up is DP from last year's K&Co. Sea Glass collection that I embossed with the Tim Holtz collage, painted with Snow Cap Acrylic Paint Dabber and then inked the edges with Vintage Photo.  I've been tea dying a lot of crinoline and the cheese cloth was used to strain some tea leaves out of my dye solution.  It dried out really cool so of course I couldn't throw it away - knew I would find a use for it.  I created a faux chipboard piece by stamping a ship's wheel on kraft and then cutting 6 layers of kraft circles and gluing them in a stack.  Then I applied a coat of Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint - just because I could.  That's it - kept it pretty simple.  I'm sure it will come in handy the next time I need a guy card for something.

Now it's time to check out the Fairy Fun Friday challenge blog to see what the other designers have to offer.  We are rotating being on vacation this summer so we have somewhat of a skeleton group this week, but still sure to be some great inspiration.  Thanks so much for stopping by and of course if you have any questions, ask away.  I'm always happy to share!

Challenges Entered:
Mojo Monday - Sketch
Crafts and Me Challenge - Summertime
Tuesday Throwdown - Fun in the Sun
Creative Inspirations - No Flowers Allowed
Pals Paper Arts - Summertime and the Livin' is Easy
Fussy & Fancy - Summer
The Stamp Man Challenge - Anything Tim Holtz

Thread Up That Needle, Folks!

Thanks for starting your week out by stopping by my blog.  It's time for another Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge. This week we want you to show us some stitching - real or faux.  The Huck Finn set from Artistic Outpost is my latest stamp acquisition and I thoroughly enjoyed using it.  I decided to create a bit of refrigerator art for my project this week.    I started with a 6x6" piece of chipboard and a #8 manilla tag to build a little collage on.  After covering the chipboard with a piece of natural colored card stock, I stamped with a number of stamps from the set, somewhat randomly using Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink and then ink distressed it with Vintage Photo.  I applied a liberal coat of Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte and smooshed crumpled white tissue paper onto the surface, pressing down all the high spots with my fingers until it was somewhat smooth and then rubbed a bit more multi medium into various areas until it was a nice slick surface.  While it was still wet, I misted it with my homemade Vintage Photo glimmer mist and then dried it with my heat tool.   To finish it, I took Vintage Photo Distress Stain and really darkened up the edges with it.  

For the focal layer, I photocopied a map of the western hemisphere out of a vintage book.  (Unfortunately I covered up North America - it looks like Huck is about to go adventuring in South America - LOL).  I stamped Huck on a piece of canvas with Ranger Archival Ink and ran a couple of zig zag stitches around the outer edges.  

For the tag, nautical images were randomly stamped with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and then ink distressed with Vintage Photo.  Using the archival ink again, I stamped onto a piece of vintage muslin and stitched it onto the tag.  For embellishments, a sentiment was stamped on a scrap of Kraft Glassine paper secured with a Memo Pin and burlap thread.  A Muse Token was also added along with a random piece of hardware to which I applied Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Power to give it a rusty look. 

I had fun with this project.  I'll add a couple of strips of magnet to the back and it will make somebody's refrigerator or metal file cabinet very artsy.  Okay, that's enough about my project.  How about hoping over to Simon Says Stamp and Show to check out the design team's makes for this challenge.  Every week, this team produces amazing art work.   And again this week, just like every other week, our awesome sponsor Simon Says Stamp will be giving a random player a $50 shopping spree in their on-line store. That's definitely a prize to aim for!

Thanks again for stopping by.  I love to hear from everyone so don't be shy about leaving a comment.  I appreciate each and every one of them!

Entered into the July Artistic Outpost Referral Program 

It's a White Party!

This week we have such a cool challenge at Our Creative Corner.  Our hostess is Kristin Tierney and she is challenging us to use only white in our creation this week.  Don't worry that it will look flat.  You can enhance it with textures and patterns.  Here is an inspiration photo to get you started.

I decided to make a wall hanging instead of a card this week. (don't forget, if you click once on the photo of my wallhanging, it will open up a larger version so you can see the details.  Click again and it becomes even larger. )  I started with a square 12x12" cream colored doily and cut 3 of the 4 corners off, then reattached one of the corners to the top of my piece.  I mounted the doily on a piece of white card stock.  I wanted to mount the piece on corrugated cardboard but it needed to be white so I painted it completely with white acrylic paint.  The corrugated cardboard I sell in my Etsy shop is flexible and lightweight so I mounted it on a piece of cardboard for strength and stability. 

 

The lace and applique were dyed in a very weak tea solution, to just give them an ivory tint.  The crinoline for the flower was dyed in a tea solution also, just a bit stronger than the lace.  

I added a Spellbinders die cut, a sentiment panel and a piece of bronze metal that I white embossed.  I also embossed the large metal filigree at the bottom.  It was originally bright brass.

I turned it upside down and smooshed it into a craft white ink pad and then embossed it with white embossing powder.  

I love the enameled look that the embossing powder gives.  

That about wraps up the details for this piece.  If you have any questions, please either leave them in the comments or email me privately.  Thanks so much for dropping by and for your lovely comments.  And be sure to stop by Our Creative Corner to see the rest of the team's cards.  Hope you will play along with us this week!

NOTE:  The following items can be purchased in my Etsy shop:

Venise Lace Applique

Embroidered Lace

Filigree Metal

Challenges Entered:
Try it on Tuesday - Flower Power
ABC Challenge - Y is for Yesterday
Charisma Cardz Challenge -  It's All About Flowers
Cute Card Thursday - Lace
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - A Vintage Look

A Monthly Dose of Mojo and Greetings from Key West

I wanted to share with you a wonderful new monthly inspiration post from a very talented artist - my friend Sarah Engels-Greer from La-de-dah.  Sarah does amazing work and shares her tips and techniques freely.  She has started a monthly inspiration column on her blog called My Mojo Monthly.  This month she has a terrific interview with artist Kelly Kilmer plus some wonderful ideas for using up your left over/unused art pieces.  Stop by and check out her first post and then grab her badge to share on your blog.  

I also wanted to share a couple of pictures of the sunsets that Key West is famous for.  Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been great.  We've been here since Friday and it's rained the better part of the last couple of days.  But all of my husband's sisters and their husbands are here so we are having some great family time.  

Have a great week!

With a Flourish

I'm back again today to show you my sample for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  This week we want you to show us flourishes.  Since I was trying to get all my projects finished before we left Friday morning for a few days in Key West, I opted to make a simple tag for the flourish challenge.  I used the Tim Holtz Flourish mask on a manilla tag and misted it with a mixture of Vintage Photo distress ink, Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls and water.  The tag and sentiment frame were cut with the Tim Holtz tag die.  The shabby flower was made with tea dyed crinoline and tulle cut with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.   Everything here is in vintage photo tones except a bit of misted stamping with Weathered Wood distress ink and the Flights of Fancy set.  The sentiment is from the Mini Classics set.  Plus I stamped the sentiment with Weathered Wood and used it to dye my crinkled seam binding. 

Hope you will play along with us this week.  Check out the challenge blog Simon Says Stamp and Show for some amazing inspiration by the rest of the design team.   And every week, our amazing sponsor Simon Says Stamp has a $50 shopping spree to gave to a random winner.  Can't wait to see what you  make for the Flourish challenge!

Don't forget, here and here are two of my tutorials for making flowers from crinoline.  I have crinoline available in my Etsy store here.  Thanks so much for stopping by and for any comment you care to leave!

 

An Old Fashioned 4th

Welcome to another Saturday post for Our Creative Corner.  We have a new challenge going plus our design team call is open for another week.  This week's hostess is Sarah Gough and the theme she has for us Seasonal Celebration - create a card that celebrates the 4th of July or Christmas in July.  It sounded like a fun challenge for me and I absolutely LOVE vintage holiday images.  Isn't this one adorable?  It's from a Luna Girl holiday CD that I invested in a few years back.  

I started by making a red and white bunting out of crepe paper.  The red crepe paper is the same old kind we used back in grade school and the white is that amazing vintage crepe paper by Melissa Frances.  Let me tell you, there is no comparison.  I haven't checked lately to see if she has it in other colors.  I purchased a pack of pastel colors so only the white worked for this project.  It's so nice and stiff/crisp and easy to mold, while the old kind is limp and flimsey.  So I had a hard time with the red but the white was wonderful.  In the end I was really pleased with how it came out.  I cut strips and ran a basting thread along one edge to gather it, which made it form easily into a semi circle.  

I was happy that this week I found a nice muted red gingham to work with.  It makes me want to go back and swap out last week's blaringley red gingham on that card.  The frame was cut with Spellbinders dies, stamped with an SU woodgrain stamp and then run through the Cuttlebug distressed stripes embossing folder.  

The red strip was border cut with a Martha Stewart border punch and run through the Tim Holtz BINGO folder.  The blue jute strips are from May Arts and will be in my Etsy Shop soon.  (I just haven't had time to photo and list them).  

I made a cluster of stars by cutting the corrugated cardboard with the star die, smearing a bit of gesso on it and then rubbing them on a blue stamp pad.  I clustered them together and then wrapped them with the burlap string (from my Etsy shop).  This week I'm very happy with how my sample came out.  

I hope you will stop by Our Creative Corner to play in our challenge this week.  And how about trying out for our design team.  We would love to consider you for our team.  

Wishing you all a great weekend!

  

Challenges Entered:
Tuesday Throwdown - Red, White and Blue
Cooking it Up With Katie - The Colors of Your Flag
Little Red Wagon - Patriotic
Speedy the Cat Friend's Challenge - Patriotic
Pixie Dust Studio - Be Proud (celebrate the 4th of July)
Craft Your Days Away - Vintage
Sugar Creek Hollow - Patriotic, Celebrate With Your Country's Colors