Things With Wings - First Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge Now Live!

Greetings vintage lovers! The appointed hour has come and the fabulous new vintage challenge, Simon Says Stamp and Show, has now kicked off it's very first challenge. It's an easy one this time - Things With Wings. Everybody should be able to play with us - ya gotta have a bird or a butterfly stamp, right? And OMW, what an amazing prize! Check out this pic with all the yummies just waiting for a new home. The prize will be a random drawing, but there is also a judged contest and the top 3 cards each week will receive an awesome blinkie for their blog! Can't wait to see who comes in top three this first week. Will it be you? You can't win if you don't play!

Thanks so much for stopping by to see what I have made for our very first challenge. This past week as been a roller coaster for me. Of course, I was positively elated (and amazed) to be selected as one of the team members of the wonderful new group. But when I checked out the work of my teammies, I was quite intimidated. Wow, there is just unbelievable talent in this new group. And most of them are very skilled in the styles of Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi. I wondered how my more frilly, delicate vintage work was going to mesh with these styles and how it would measure up. So what you see here is my first attempt. It's a thank you to Heidi and Linda Elbourne for selecting me and also expresses a bit of my hopes and trepidation. I plan to hang it in my studio to reflect on as I grow in this art. It's my benchmark and at the end of the DT term, I hope to be able to see some significant growth. I hope you can make out what it says. It's choppy by design so I'll give it to you straight. It reads like this: "Thank you for taking me on this unique journey. I'm off in the right direction on a wing and a prayer. I hope I can wing it. I know I will enjoy the journey."

I hope you will stop by the blogs of the rest of the design team and congratulate them on being selected for this team. You will be amazed at the work they do.

♥Linda Elbourne, DT Coordinator - A Crafting Journey
♥ Dan Cumson - 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
♥ Katie Davis - Chantilly Rose
♥ Kim Costello - Paperbabe

And now get off the Internet and into your craft room. There's craftin' to do so get to it! Can't wait to see your Things With Wings posted over at Simon Says Stamp and Show.

Supplies used: Tim Holtz idea-ology Word Keys, Game Spinners, Swival Clasps, Muse Tokens, Adage Tickets, Grungeboard Mixed Minis and Vintage Shabby Paper Stash. Tim Holtz Stamps Regal Flourish and Flights of Fancy.

Vintage Blues

Today is the day for the bi-weekly Creative Card Crew challenge and our team mate Sandie Shores has come up with a great sketch challenge for you. You'll find the sketch on the Creative Card Crew blog. You'll notice that I have rotated it 45 degrees to accommodate my design. I started with a shell of Very Vanilla followed by a layer of Chocolate Chip. The yellow DP is the retired Bella Birds from SU. Next I embossed a layer of Very Vanilla with a Cuttlebug embossing folder from the Fancy Corners set, flipped it over and use the debossed side which I brayered with Faded Jeans DI. The same embossing folder was used on the Very Vanilla mat for the vintage label which I downloaded from The Graphics Fairy. All edges were sponged with Creamy Caramel. The sentiment was printed on my computer and die cut with a Spellbinders die. Some bead caps, SU brads, lace, buttons prima flowers and beads from the SU Pretties kit finished the card off.

Now it's time to hop on over to the Creative Card Crew to see the sketch and the rest of the team's samples. This week our sponsor is Crafty Addicts and the prize is three pearl pens. And I'm off to find some challenges to play in with this card. I'll update today's challenges by mid-morning Eastern Time.

Thanks for stopping by today and for any comments you care to leave. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section and then check back for an update to the post with my response.

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges entered:

Just Inspirational Challenge - Vintage

Alphabet Challenge - L is for Lace

Crazy4Challenges - Use Buttons

Totally Gorgeous - Thinking of You

The Shabby Tea Room - Garden Inspiration and/or Color Challenge:Greens, Creams, Yellows, Reds & Whites

Tag a la The Funkie Junkie

From The Funkie Junkie

Since I struggled with my Tim Holtz inspired Christmas tags the other day, I needed to get my frustration out of my system. So rather than being inspired by another's work, I decided to start with a blank tag and let my creativity go where it may. My starting point was this beautiful medallion image of two young angels from Magic Moonlight Free Images. I printed it out on my computer, trimmed it out and painted the edges with gold paint to enhance the gold colored printout. Then I glazed the center image with several coats of Crystal Effects and when dry, placed tiny gold rhinestones at each V.

For the background of the tag, I used the retired SU Script BG stamp plus an old music score stamp from Stamp Oasis, both stamped in Creamy Caramel. Then I used two angel stamps embossed in gold. The upper one is an old SU stamp (I believe the set is called Angels) and the other is one I bought off eBay and has no manufacture's markings on it. The edges of the tag were sponged with Tim Holtz Antique Linen distress ink.


The Merry Christmas stamp is from SU's A Cardinal Christmas, stamped in Versamark and Brushed Corduroy and then clear embossed. The tag is a Spellbinders Fancy Tags die, flower and lace by Prima.



I like the results and feel good now that I have cleared all that tag frustration out of my system - LOL!! Hope your Christmas preparations are going well and that you are taking some joy out of this beautiful Advent season. Holiday blessings to all.

Christmas Tags a al Tim Holtz

Our last challenge for this calendar year at the Creative Card Crew is anything goes. I have long admired Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas and decided to give them a whirl. Should have been a piece of cake, right? After all, I DO VINTAGE. It's my favorite and a think I am pretty good at it. So why did a struggle so with these tags? Maybe because I was running behind in everything all weekend and I left this DT assignment until the last minute. Normally, I would have fussed more, or re-did some of the elements or backgrounds, but I was totally up against my deadline. So here are my first two attempts at tags a la Tim Holtz. I say first two because I know these won't be my last. I really love his style and will definitely be working to bring more creativity to my tags - might take awhile, but is sure to be fun.

When you stop by the Creative Card Crew, you'll notice that we are running a DT call through January 5th. Would you like to be a part of this talented group? If so, just enter the challenge and type DT Call in your comments. Again, it's anything goes this week at the Creative Card Crew. Hope to see your card or project entered into the challenge this week - no excuses, just take a little time out for yourself and make something this week!

A Musical Inspiration - An OCC Challenge

It's a new month and a new hostess over at Our Creative Corner. Jenny Gropp is our December hostess and she has challenged us to create a card or project inspired by The Twelve Days of Christmas. There is also a prize this week - a $25 gift certificate from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps. The winner will be randomly selected from the players listed in Mr. Linkey and announced at next week's challenge on December 12th. Thnks so much to Carole at the Prickley Pear for donating a gift certificate for this week's challenge prize!

Such a vintage Christmas carol surely must inspire a vintage creation and here is mine. It's a wall hanging rather than a card this week. I have seen a number of wall hangings on blogs recently and have been wanting to create one for my home this season. I thought this was the perfect opportunity!

On a 5x7" thin cardboard backing, I glued/sewed a layer of Very Vanilla sponged with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen and then stamped it with the SU Script stamp in Close to Cocoa, then ran a line of gold stitching around the outside. The next layer is a piece of distressed Cosmo Cricket Be Good: Poinsettia designer paper, also sewn with gold stitching. The musical score and the vintage image of the turtle doves are both from The Graphics Fairy, although I did modify the vintage image with my Photoshop Elements program to add the words 'Two Turtle Doves'. I glued a layer of gold net between the music sheet and the vintage image. The two small poinsettias are stamped with a Florishes stamp and embossed in gold, sponged with Close to Cocoa, layered and then I added gold balls for the centers.

Both pieces of chipboard are Tim Holtz Grungeboard, heat embossed with Judikins Egyptian Gold EP. The heart was pressed into my Riding Hood Red ink pad and then embossed with the Egyptian Gold. The 'Compliments of the Season' piece is also a digital image from the Graphics Fairy.


I hope you will take the time to join us in this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner. Check out the other design team members' blogs shown on my sidebar. They are fabulously talented and it's well worth it to spend some time surfing their blogs!

Update: This project was featured on Card of the Week.

Peek-a-BOO and a New Design Team

From The Funkie Junkie

I have some exciting news to share with you today. I recently received an invitation to join the wonderful group of papercraft artists at the Creative Card Crew. Of course, I accepted immediately (while jumping up and down). It's a Tuesday weekly challenge and this week's challenge is to make a celebration card. I'm still focusing on all the fall celebrations and chose Halloween for my celebration card.

I love this vintage image from a LunaGirl CD that I have. I printed it out on my home printer. Also, the Graphics Fairy has had some dynomite vintage Halloween images recently and the three letters B-O-O are from her blog. I downloaded them and resized them to fit on my card and to be able to cut with my Circle Nestabilities. The lattice behind the letters is center of the new Fleur De Lis Spellbinder Shapability Pendant. I purchased the dies recently and this is the first project I have made with them. I really love this set!!

The layer of Basic Black has been clear embossed using the SU Filagree background stamp, which I think lends sort of a Gothic Halloween feel. The DSP is from last year's SU Pumpkin Pie pack. The Happy Halloween stamp is one of those Clear Mini stamps from the $1 bins at Jo-Ann's and the stamps on the lower panel are from Pink Paislee. That about wraps up the details for this card. As usual, now that my DT card for this week has been revealed, I'm going to look for some other challenges to enter it into. If you know of any it fits, please leave me a comment. Here are some challenges I have found:

My Time to Craft Challenge - Perfect Pets
Crazy 4 Challenges - Sew Happy
2 Red Bananas - Here's to Halloween
Saturday Challenge - Celebration
Forever Friends Challenge Blog - Colors of Autumn
Stampin' B's Design Team - Use a pumpkin on your card

Have a great week and hope to see you back again on Saturday morning to check out my DT card for Our Creative Corner.

Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

A Monochromatic Christmas

From The Funkie Junkie

This week's challenge at Our Creative Corner is to make a monochromatic card! I have never done one, at least knowingly, so here is my first-ever monochromatic card. Actually, I'm not even sure if I have achieved a monochromatic style. I tried to make it several shades of red, but even though I used several papers and embellishments, they all seem to be pretty much the same shade of red. And this card is RED. Good thing it is my favorite color so I really do like how the card came out, but I'm sure not everyone will feel the same way.

I used one of my last sheets of Cosmo Cricket Be Good paper and one from last year's Oh Joy collections. I love that paper and hate to see my stash dwindling away (I'll probably end up surfing the 'net to order a few more sheets if I can locate any). I wanted to make it a shabby chic collage type card. For some reason, all my Christmas cards come out shabby. I swear I don't plan them that way - they just take on a life of their own. Anyway, shabby was lots of fun making this card. The edges of the DSP were scissor distressed and inked with Creamy Caramel. All the stamping was done with Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap ink. The stamp set used was SU's Yuletide Montage. Spellbinders used were Lattice Shapeabilities Pendants and one of the tag dies. I also used several Prima flowers, some red velvet Prima ribbon and Prima crystals. The tiny red crystals were from Joanns. The snowflakes were cut with a CB die and coated with SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The red gingham paper is from Creative Memories which was altered by sanding and sponging with Creamy Caramel ink. The Christmas sheet music was printed out from a graphic on The Graphic Fairy's website.









Let me know what you think of this card. Do you like the Shabby Chic style or do you prefer a more clean and simple style?

Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!



Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Back to School

From The Funkie Junkie

About a month ago, I discovered a fabulous blog called The Graphics Fairy. Karen, the blog owner, has some amazing vintage graphics that are downloadable for free. I spent an entire evening delightedly wallowing in vintage art. This darling vintage drawing of a school boy really grabbed me. I saved it and have been dying to use it to make a vintage card, but I wanted to use just the right DP. I finally settled on this Cosmo Cricket Jack's World-Lessons paper along with a little Basic Gray Cupcake paper and this creation was born. I really had a ball making it. The only stamping involved was on the inside where I stamped a Rubbernecker sentiment. I created an old-fashioned slate using black cardstock which I framed with a piece of chipboard covered with a woodgrained paper and cut with Nestabilities. I took a sponge that I had used to sponge craft white a few weeks ago. There was still some white on it that I rubbed on the black cardstock to make it look like a blackboard that had been erased. Then I stamped the Rubbernecker sentiment in white craft ink. I think it looks just like it was written with chalk. The word studies page is a digital image of an old fashioned lesson book. It is also from The Graphics Fairy website. The ruler is a download from the Just Something I Made blog. If you haven't visited that blog, it's a great oppotunity to spend time browsing all the fun and amazing things Cathe Holden has on her blog.

Please leave me a comment and let me know how you like my latest vintage creation.



Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

OCC Challenge - Christmas in August

Christmas in August???? I am SO not ready to start making Christmas cards. I haven't even gotten to Halloween yet! I just made my first autumn card yesterday.

But the vintage style fall card I finished on Saturday did put me in that vintage/shabby chic mood so that's the approach I took to making a card for the OCC Challenge.

I am also entering this card in two other challenges with a Christmas card theme this week:

Dutch Dare Challenge Blog
Creative Card Crew


I really had fun with this one. I started with SU kraft card stock, running a piece through my crimper and slathering it with Tim Holtz crackle paint then added a piece of white cardstock embossed in a snowflake pattern and lightly sponged with my favorite distressing ink - SU's Creamy Caramel. An old sheet of Christmas music was printed out from an image on The Graphics Fairy's website, torn and sponged with Creamy Caramel and Tim Holtz Vintage Photo inks. All of this was mounted on a layer of kraft on which I had embossed snowflakes with white EP and then sponged with Vintage Photo. Add a bit of gingham ribbon, a glittered chipboard snowflake, a tan Prima flower and a bit of hemp and this card was good to go. Well, almost anyway. I did finish off the inside. I made a tag with a cute rub-on sentiment from SU. Would you believe, that's my first rub-on? I have several sheets in my stash, but have never actually pulled one out and used it - LOL!! I added another distressed piece of music for good vintagy measure. The only stamping was the snowflakes from The Snowflake Spot by SU. The santa image is a vintage digital from LunaGirl.

Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week