Cupid, Let Your Arrow Fly

What a fun challenge we have going for you this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  We want you to show us your project based on a song.  I picked "Cupid, draw back your bow and let your arrow go" by Sam Cooke, listening to it on YouTube while I worked away on my project.   

This was a marathon project and I'll skim lightly over the details.  The stand is an empty ribbon spool and I covered both top and bottom platforms with designer paper.  The core is wrapped with white paper twist ribbon.  The flowers were made with the Tattered Pinecone, stamped with Tim's  Sheet Music stamp with Vintage Photo distress ink and the branches are from the same die and were gold embossed.  

I used Shelly Hickox's Faux Crazed Porcelain technique on the four hearts that I cut from white chipboard.  I need practice on this technique.  Shelly's comes out awesome, but I was less than pleased with my results.  Two things I want to remember the next time I try it is to use much thicker chipboard and less crackle paint.  My chipboard warped so badly.  I kept straightening it but it just warped again.  I put the crackle paint on too thick resulting in cracks that were larger than I preferred and I think the heavy layer of crackle paint contributed to the warping.  The arrows are from the Love Stuck die and gold embossed - shot straight into the heart - great aim, Cupid!

The topper is two sided so I made two exact topper pieces and glued them to a dowel which extends down into the stand.   I cut thin chipboard with the largest Spellbinders scalloped heart, gave it several coats of Picket Fence Distress Stain, and when dry, ran it through the BINGO texture fade.  Then I sanded it with my Sanding Grip.  The Paper Rosette was stamped in Vintage Photo with the Tim Holtz Sheet Music stamp and then ink distressed on the edges with more Vintage Photo.  That sweet cupid was cut with the Love Stuck die from white chipboard and then ink distressed on the edges with Vintage Photo DI.  I liberally smeared him with Claudine Hellmuth's Multi-Medium Matte and sprinkled coarse chunky white glitter over it.  

Okey dokey...I think that pretty much covers it, but if you have questions, please leave in the comments section and I will update the post so everyone benefits.

Now it's time to stop over to the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge blog to see what amazing art my teamies have made for the song inspired challenge.  And don't forget, it's just like clockwork - every week our generous sponsor, Simon Says Stamp, gives a $50 shopping voucher to a random winner.  So what are you waiting for.  Show us a project inspired by a favorite song!

A reader asked:
- how tall is this piece?  It stands 11 inches tall.

It's Not a Card

I'm back again, dear bloggy friends, to share my weekly make for Simon Says Stamp and Show.  I'm so happy you stopped by to check it out!  This week Simon Says Stamp and Show Us Anything But a Card.  And of course my talented teamies all have amazing and fantastic projects to share and I have this lame tag - LOL.  I thought and thought this week about what I could make, but no fantabulous project came toodling through my brain so I settled for a tag.  I set out to make one of Tim Holtz's 12 Christmas tags that I hadn't done.  I chose #12, the one with the tissue paper adhered to the base of the tag.  His had the Frozen Charlotte doll, which creeps me out so I went for something a bit more shabby chic with the cameo.  

I started by cutting a tag with the Tag and Bookplates die from vanilla card stock and stamped it with the Fabulous Flourishes stamp and Sepia Ranger Archival Ink but the stamping didn't show through the tissue paper.  After stamping the flourish, I applied Picket Fence Distress Stain as per Lord Tim's instuctions.  I don't have Tim's new tissue wrap so I stamped his Sheet Music stamp on regular tissue paper, again using the Sepia Ranger Archival Ink, then ironed it dry with my craft iron and smeared Rock Candy Distress Stickles over the entire tag.  

After that I went my own way.  I decided to fiddle around with some crinoline and tried cutting it with the Mini Rosette die.  It worked great.  The folds in the rosettes were actually crisper, but I misted it with a bit of vintage photo DI and water to make it less white and the water relaxed the crisp folds somewhat.  I tried gently pulling it into an oval and it worked!  I continued adding bits and bots until I had it suitably shabbied up including a chipboard heart that I created using the Spellbinders Classic Hearts die, a little LOVE (from Stuff to Say) banner hand cut because I don't have Tim's die YET, a ruffle made from that wonderful Melissa Frances vintage style crepe paper and and the bottom strip was cut with the Vintage Lace die (which Shelly Hickox totally enabled me to buy because she uses it all the time and makes me drool).  

That pretty much sums it up for this week's project.  Hope you will stop by the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog to see the seriously wonderful projects make my my team mates.  And don't forget, every week there is a random drawing for a $50 shopping voucher compliments of our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and for any comments you care to leave.  I very much appreciate your visit!  Have a great week.

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 

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!

 

More Father's Day Art

I had so much fun making the wall hanging for my dad for Father's Day that I decided to do something similar for my husband's step-father.  Rather than using a book cover, for this one I used a piece of the corrugated cardboard from my Etsy shop.  This cardboard is flexible so I glued it to a same-sized piece of chipboard for stability.  I used my finger to smear some gesso up and down it for a whitewashed look and when dry, inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.  I stamped the larger of the two Book Covers stamps with Brushed Corduroy onto kraft CS.  The vintage sales receipt is from Curiosities, stamped in black archival ink onto white copy paper and then ripped and ink distressed with Vintage Photo.  Again, the same for the auto panel, but onto kraft instead of white.  The sentiment had the same treatment as the sales receipt.  I ripped and crumpled up a strip of Tim Holtz Kraft Glassine paper, sort of pleated it and ran a straight stitch across it  The vintage keys came from my stash.  I have pile of old keys and was lucky enough to actually find an automobile key.  The piece of filigree metal is from my Etsy shop as re the small brass flowers.  A couple of scraps of black grosgrain ribbon and a vintage button topped of the piece.  

Thanks for stopping by today and for any comments you leave.  If you have any questions, I'm very happy to answer them.

Challenges Entered:
Creative Inspirations - Card for Dad
Sentimental Sundays - Father's Day/Masculine
Stamptacular Sunday - Dads and Grads
Oh-La-La Creations- Father's Day/Special Man
The Kraft Journal - Father's Day
Papertake Weekly - Dads and Lads
PaperPlay Challenge - Father's Day/Masculine
ABC Challenge - F is for Father's Day
Fussy and Fancy - Card for a Boy or a Man
The Stamp Man - Boys and Men
Craft Your Days Away - Monochrome
Crazy4Challenges - Masculine Card
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - A Male Card
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle - Father's Day Card

Dad's Distressed Edges

Hello and welcome!  I'm here to share my challenge sample for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  This week we want you to show us your distressed edges.  That was no challenge for me - LOL.  You probably know that I just about can't make anything without distressing the edges - rip, torn, scissor scraped, inked - oh yeah, that definitely makes me happy!  As so I was, working away at this project.  

I decided that rather than make my dad a Father's Day card, I would make him a little wall hanging.  My dad likes old things, especially old things with wheels.  I started with a book cover, which I am finding that I really love using for a project base.  I started with my new Book Covers Tim Holtz stamp, which I stamped on kraft with Brushed Corduroy distress ink.  Then I did my distressing thing with scissors and Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges.  The General Merchandise stamp from the Curiosities set was stamped with black archival ink on plain white paper then distressed with Vintage Photo and Black Soot distress inks.  The same for the car stamp from The Journey stamp set, except that it was stamped onto kraft CS.  The bird from Flights of Fancy was stamped with Tea Dye distress ink and the sentiment from the same set was stamped in black archival ink.  The pocket watch face from Curiosities was gold embossed, inked with Vintage Photo and then Crackle Accents was applied.  I made a watch case with Ten Seconds Studio metal, cut with Spellbinders circle dies and embossed with the Textile Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I applied gold alcohol ink mixative and when dry, hit the hit points with a sanding block.  The metal bits came from a trip to my local hardware store and then I applied Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder to create faux rust.  I also added a bit of Ginger Alcohol Ink to the bottom piece to darken it up a bit.  Oh, and I used my new Kraft Glassine paper to cut the letters for DAD using the Vintage Market die.  

Them's the dets, folks.  Let me know if you have any questions.  It's really a pretty technique-free piece, even though I did manage to use a LOT of Tim Holtz products.  Now it's time for you to scurry on over to Simon Says Stamp and Show to check out how the rest of the team distressed their edges.  Plenty of great inspiration there, I tell you!  And as always, our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp has a $50 shopping spree just waiting for some lucky random winner, but you can't win if you don't play.  So be sure to show us your distressed edges!

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous week!

My Favorite Stamp

That's the theme of our newest challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  And this is, at least my current favorite stamp. I think the whole design team wrestled with this one.  I mean, how on earth do you choose a favorite stamp?  It's like trying to choose your favorite child - LOL!!

Anyway, I do love this Tim Holtz Papillion set. I've used it several times already and keep coming back to it.  For this challenge, I made a little desk art piece.  It sits nicely on my desk.  I cut a 12" x 8" piece of cardboard and folded it down the middle for a 6"x8" "canvas".  The front panel was covered with card stock from Tim Holtz Kraft Resist Paper Stash and the back panel and inside panels were covered with a plain vanilla card stock.  A strip of Tissue Tape was run across the top to cover where it folded and the papers joined.  From an 8"x8" cream doily, I cut a diagonal pice and glued it down with Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium Matte.  (I love that stuff because all of it that oozed out from the doily dried clear and you can't see it AT ALL).  Then I swiped some gesso across it and when dry stamped the weed stamp from the Flights of Fancy Set in Broken China that I misted before stamping. 

For the main butterfly panel, I cut a piece of watercolor paper and clear embossed the butterfly stamp, than ran Vintage Photo Distress Stain over it and roughed up the edges with scissors.  I happened to have a scrap of mocha dyed lace and a safety pin on my desk - humm, wonder what I can do with that?  Got it - out came the beads and two glass pearls and a clear crystal rondel fit perfectly.  The teal color was added with a Copic - gotta love that alcohol ink, you can alter almost anything with it!

I found that piece of beveled glass last week at the food pantry that I manage.  It was just laying around, must have come off something that was donated.  It didn't seem to belong to anything so it went into my pocket and also ended up on my desk.  It was the perfect piece for the butterfly specimen to be under glass.  See the itty bitty copper butterfly landed on the glass.  I loved the contrast of the butterfly under the glass and the one that was flying free.  It perfectly fit the freedom theme I had in the back of my mind.  

I had also stamped the text stamp from this set onto vellum, ripped it out and coated the back of it with Vintage Photo Distress Stain.  It promptly rolled up on its own.  So I tied a ribbon around it and it became my freedom document.  My chipboard heart was cut with a Spellbinders heart die, but it's actually several thin pieces of cardboard cut and then glued together because Spellbinders can't handle much thickness.  I made a little ruffle out of kraft paper twist for the heart, added some vintage snaps which I altered to black with alcohol ink and added the clear star rhinestones then altered them with a Copic. I used the "freedom" page from a vintage dictionary, photo copying it several times to use for the butterflies and Tim Holtz Vintage Market letters also.  The seam binding was hand dyed to match using Broken China distress ink.  

Oh, and that flowery trim at the bottom of the butterfly panel - someone gave it to me.  I have no idea what it is, but it worked great here.  I added the pearls with my Viva Pearl Pen.  

Well, that's it for another Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  Now it's up to you to stop by the challenge blog to see what the other design team members have been up to.  Week after week, they produce some amazing art.  And don't forget, our very generous sponsor, Simon Says Stamp, always gives a random winner a $50 shopping spree in their store.  So what's your favorite stamp?

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  And always, I so appreciate your comments and encouragement.  If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section.  

Mini Vintage Easter Triptych

Good morning and thanks for starting your week off with my Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge sample.   This week our challenge to you is to use a Tim Holtz technique.  I used two - on the front of my mini triptych (right panel) I used the Rock Candy Distress Stickles technique (rubbed the stuff all over with my finger) and the Painted Metal technique.  You can learn all about these two techniques and plenty more in Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities.  

Now, about my make.  Do you sometimes start a project that just doesn't work out?  That's what happened here - now, make no mistake, I am happy with the way it turned out but I had planned to alter a small tin and tuck this little gem inside.  The tin was about the size of an Altiod's tin.  I painstakingly measured the paper, carefully cut it, rounded the corners (several times until I had a template).  I cut three and laid them in the tin - they fit like a glove.  Haha!  I then cut six like-sized pieces of the Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby paper, ink distressed them, created hinges out of seam binding and then glued everthing together.  Well, poor inexperienced me - I found out when they were together in a stack, they wouldn't drop down into the tin.  Grrrrr....now what?  I had already invested over an hour, probably more like two because I am a super slow crafter, plus I used some of my hoarded stash of TH paper.  So the altered tin got jettisoned and the project became merely a spring triptych.  I had had thoughts of making this project sort of a greeting card and putting it with the tussy mussy I made on Saturday for a nice Easter gift for a friend or family member.  Will have to re-engineer that too!

So after I got over my mad, I did have fun making this.  Lots of mini vintage yumminess here.  I never do ATCs because I didn't think I would enjoy working on such a small canvas.  But I made one a few weeks ago for a challenge and loved it.  This project is almost the same dimensions as ATCs and I had a great time working on it.  On the front "cover", I used a scrap of an Easter vintage image, some vintage songbook pages and the TH Vintage Market Die that I finally invested in and also a small scrap of Venise lace.  I had misted the letters with my homemade Vintage Photo glimmer mist and you can see that it bled a little when I put the Rock Candy Distress Stickles on it.  I sort of liked the effect.

When you open the inside, you see the first half of the quote which I printed on my home printer.  

More vintage images and on the first panel a TH Type Charm, a small Spellbinder flourish and a Tattered Floral die cut piece of acetate that I treated with Cranberry alcohol ink.

The middle panel made due with just a piece of filigree metal and a feather.  

The end panel features a Spellbinder's tag die cut treated with Vintage Photo distress ink and more of the glimmer mist.  The flower is a Sizzix die that cut the song sheet and a piece of crinoline.  Here is the other side with the rest of the quote.

Not too much here - another vintage image, a couple of small floral appliques and a metal frame.

Another applique and a scrap of pink seam binding with a white metal piece.  All the vintage images are from LunaGirl.  I purchased a CD a couple of years ago with vintage holiday images.  

That's it for my make this week, but I gotta tell you, it's another stellar week of DT samples over at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  Be sure to stop by to take them all in.  And how about showing us what you can do with a Tim Holtz technique?  Our ever generous sponsor, Simon Says Stamp, has a $50 shopping spree for the lucky random winner!  Can't go wrong with that.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

This Challenge is Not Too Distressing

Greetings! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are ready for the week ahead.  I can't believe it is Monday already and time for another Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  We have an easy peasy challenge for you this week.  We want you to show us some distressing.  For all the vintage lovers who play with us week after week, that is probably not even a challenge.  I can't think of anything I have made in the last few years that didn't have some sort of distressing on it and I'm sure it's the same with many of you!  So why not join in this week with our challenge.  You might just win a $50 shopping spree from our awesome sponsor Simon Says Stamp!

I guess you want to hear about my sample for this week's challenge.  I've acquired a few Tim Holtz stamp sets recently and they have been floating around lose, looking messy and difficult to grab when I wanted them.  I decided to make a binder for them.  I am so fortunate that I recently got my hands on a couple of new Tim Holtz products - the Kraft Resist Paper Stash and the Papillon stamp set.  I thought that together they would make the perfect distressed project.  And after working with the Kraft Resist paper, I am thrilled to report that it is AWESOME!!  I also got my first bottle of the new Vintage Photo Distress Stain and am very pleased with the results of that product also.  I was hesitant about it.  I really couldn't see what difference it would make from the inks, but it works super and doesn't get a watered down effect that you would get trying to mix the reinkers with water.  I had a wonderful Saturday playing around with all the new goodies and now present to you the outcome.  

I took the plastic sheet that the stamps come on and used it to trace a cover on thin cardboard.  I cut the cardboard and the Kraft Resist paper by hand, just about a quarter inch larger than the stamp sheet.  With my craft knife, I cut four diamonds in the paper, peeled back the edges and distressed them.  I also distressed a page from a vintage music book I purchased recently and glued it behind the openings.  Then I cut small squares with the Spellbinders scalloped square die from Ten Seconds Studio metal  and ran the squares through the Tim Holtz Patchwork texture fade.  The metal was a bit too purple for me so I blunted the color a bit by applying Slate alcohol ink and then affixed them to offset the diamonds.  

I decided to top off my pyramid with a few more diamonds in the form of Fragments.  I went to the vintage music page again, this time preping it with Snow Cap Acrylic Paint Dabber, then stamping the butterflies from the Papillon set with Jet Black Archival Ink.  After sponging the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink, I affixed the Fragments with Glossy Accents.  Next I found some ancient muslin in my sewing box (really, it has probably been there 30 years - am I giving my age away???), ripped some strips and stamped it with Jet Black Archival Ink and the large text stamp from the Papillon set.  After stamping it, I sprayed it with my home made glimmer mist of Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls, 3 drops of Vintage Photo Reinker and water in a Mini Mister.  

The muslin was used for bows and to make the fabric flower.  I cut a flourish out of Grungeboard and  treated with the Distress Stain, then stamped it with the small text stamp from the same set.  That about wrapped it up.  I breathed a happy sigh and cleaned my very inky fingers.  Nothing I like more in crafting than taking something new and making it look old and worn out.  

What are you going to distress this week?  The Simon Says Stamp and Show design team has some great samples to get your mojo started.  We can't wait to see where it will lead you!  And don't forget about that fabulous prize - a $50 shopping spree.  Just think of all the goodies that would get for you!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I always love to read your comments and of course am happy to share any tips with you on how I made what I am showing.  Have a crafty week.

Some Stars

Welcome back!  You're just in time to see what I have made for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  This week we want you to show us some stars.  That's a pretty wide open theme and our design team has quite an array of art to share with you.   It's so much fun every week to see what my talented teamies come up with for these challenges!

When I learned that this week's challenge was stars, a western theme immediately came to mind.  I spent some time tracking down vintage western images and created this collage.  It was a fun, but fussy project because I cut/created a lot of the elements by hand.  I searched around the house for something to use for backing and found a large Goldfish box - the jumbo kind you buy at the warehouse stores - LOL.  I cut it up, stripped off a layer of paper to expose the corrugated layer and went over it with Espresso and Snow Cap Acrylic paints.  I didn't have enough chipboard letters to make the title nor do I have the Tim Holtz Vintage Market letter die which would have been perfect (note to self - buy it!!).  I traced some old chipboard letters and cut them out of cardboard, then glued on the Ten Seconds Studio metal, trimmed around the letters and ran them through my Cuttlebug with the Paisley embossing folder.  Then I dripped on Ginger Alcohol Ink and tilted the letter to spread it around.  Yeah, very fussy stuff but it got me the result I was going for and what the heck, sometimes art takes a lot of time to create, right?

The plaques are more Ten Seconds Studio metal run though the Spellbinders tag die and embossed with the Cuttlebug Organic Flourishes border folder and then more Ginger Alcohol Ink.  I did pretty much the same thing to create the tops for the cowgirl tags, embossing with the Stars CB embossing folder.

I embossed more metal with the Stars folder and trimmed them out individually to create the copper stars.  For the rusted stars, I used Grungeboard and Tim's Rusted Grunge technique (page 45 Compendium of Curiosities).  I had a small piece of bailing twine that I picked up somewhere and saved.  (yes, my friends chuckle and roll their eyes when I say "wait, don't throw that away!")

A little burlap enhanced this panel.  I made the rosette out of burlap too.  Added a couple more of Tim's fabulous rusted grunge stars and a Muse Token.  Of course, I aged all my vintage images with Vintage Photo Distress Ink - can't live without that stuff!

Sorry for such a long post, but it was a marathon project and I wanted to share all the details.  I had a blast making it, even though I did fuss over so many details.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Now hop on over to Simon Says Stamp and Show to see the incredible art work my talented team members have produced.  Hope you will play along with our Show Us Some Stars challenge.  Our ever-generous sponsor, Simon Says Stamp, will be giving a $50 shopping spree to some lucky random winner again this week.  Ya can't win if ya don't play!

Well gang, that wraps up another Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge for me.  Hope you enjoyed my project.  Thanks so much for your wonderful comments and have a blessed week!

One Tough Challenge!

Good morning and happy Saturday!  So happy to see you back to check out my sample for this week's Our Creative Corner challenge.  So what, you wonder, is this week's challenge?  Our challenge host, Kristin, has created a 1-2-3-4 challenge.  That's one patterned paper, 2 layers, 3 stamped images (sentiment can be one) and 4 embellishments - can be four different or the same.  The full description of the challenge can be found on the challenge blog.  Well, you can imagine the tough time I had with this one!  Really, I almost folded.  Two layers?? Come on, pl-eee-ase!  I had at least three different cards designed before I finally hit one that I thought would work with my style.  But in the end, I really like the outcome.  And that's why tough challenges are so great. They really take us out of our element and allow us to create something we normally wouldn't have.

Here is my two-layer card.   Built on a shell of Bravo Burgundy, I created one layer with the top half of K&Co. designer paper and the bottom half is Kraft run through the Cuttlebug Moraccan Screen embossing folder.  I ink distressed the kraft panel with Aged Mahogany and dabbed my homemade glimmer mist around the edges of both the upper and lower panels.  I used two Tim Holtz stamps in Aged Mahogany on the K&Co. DP - Flights of Fancy and Urban Grunge.  My sentiment is from the Verve Thankful Hearts set.

My four embellishments are 1) Cuttlebug die cut corner, 2) Boss Kut die cut leaf flourish, 3) handmade flower and 4) row of lace.  Mysecond layer is my sentiment was created by stamping with the Verve Thankful Hearts set on a Spellbinders die cut and embossed with the Cuttlebug Organic Flourishes folder.

Okay gang.  Now it is your turn.  Stop by Our Creative Corner to get inspired by the wonderful work of the rest of the OCC design team and then get to work on your recipe card.  Can't wait to see what you'll come up with!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I deeply appreciate your supportive comments!  Have a wonderful weekend.

My Vintage Shoebox

Good morning and welcome to my marvelous Monday post for Simon Says Stamp and Show.  This week, we are asking you to show us some ephemera.  Vintage ephemera is close to my heart and I use it constantly in my art.  For this project, I wanted to do something over and above my norm.  I finally settled on the idea of altering a cigar box that I have had sitting around for ages.  One of my favorite forms of ephemera is vintage advertisements and I love shoes so this project became a personal expresison.  I was able to find several great vintage shoe ads through my free on-line sources (see my sidebar for my favorite vintage clip art sites).  

I've never done a project like this so I had to feel my way through it.  I don't even know if I have broken any cardinal rules of mixed media art, but here is what I did.  I first painted the entire cigar box, inside and out with gesso.  When dry, I gave it another coat, this time with Adirondack acrylic paint.   I used Snow Cap and mixed in several drops of reinkers to get a shade of blue that I liked.  When the paint was dry, I lightly sanded all the edges and ink distressed them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Next I distressed some designer paper with scissors and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and adhered them with Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte, then did the same with the clip art. "My Love Affair With Shoes" plus the Hero Arts French Post stamp were then stamped on the cover.  

On the inside lid, I stamped a corner flourish from Tim Holtz's Mini Classics in Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink, adhered a vintage shoe advertising poster and did a little distress painting with the Snow Cap paint dabber.  A flourish was cut from Grungeboard, embossed with the Collage texture fade and inked with Pine Needles Distress Ink.  The flower was made from canvas cut with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die (of course). 

For the inside bottom, I took four heart doilies (2 large and 2 small) and misted them with my homemade glimmer mist.  When dry, I stamped words describing shoes along the scalloped tops so the words ring the entire inside.  The collage alphabet stamp set is hard to read, especially when stamped on the doilies so here are the words that were stamped:  beautiful, ugly, fun, staid, flashy, playful, painful, old friends.  

And what would a shoebox be without a shoe?  I found a shoe template on line and made a sweet paper shoe. It has a silver "buckle" on the front made from a Spellbinders die and a little cream rose made with the smallest flower in the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Die.  NOTE:  I just realized in looking at the one I copied, that I made a small mistake which you can see in top photo - the connecting flap inside should have been flipped DOWN not up before glueing - oh well, live and learn. 

So there you have it.  This project took up my entire Saturday from the time I got up until late evening.  My DH was away for the weekend and I had no other calls on my time so I just poured it on continuously energized by the artistic drive to see this project realized and by a generous supply of coffee.  It was really a fun experience to be so captivated by creating that I barely noticed the time going by.  

Now it's time to hurry on over to Simon Says Stamp and Show to check out the rest of the ephemera projects created by my talented colleagues.   Again this week, our ever generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 to a lucky randomly selected winner.  You can't win if you don't play so get in gear and make an ephemera project to share with us this week.