Kings 'n Things

Good morning all you wonderful followers!  Wonderful to have you back again.  This week the challenge at  Simon Says Stamp and Show is Kings and Queens.  I decided to do a guy thing and kept it to only Kings.  I cut piece of CS roughly the size of a tag and layered Foil Tape over it and then cut it with the Tag and Bookplates die.  After that, I ran it though the ultimate guy icon - the diamond plate EF (and then of course I covered it all up).  The King of Spades was cut from Kraft-Core Core'dinations and embossed with Tim's Poker Face Texture Fade.  I made what I fondly hope looks like a roadside sign using the Styled Labels die to cut chipboard, which was then painted black with a paint dabber and then painted over with a gold paint dabber.  When good and dry, I sanded it giving it the worn streaky look.  Because it's the only Tim Holts letter die I have, the letters were cut with the Vintage Market die (need to branch out in that tool area - LOL).  They were again stacked on a layer of black letters to give them more dimension and covered with Crackle Accents.  The vintage pickup truck from The Journey set.was stamped in Gathered Twigs and I cut the license plates out of the paper from the Lost and Found Paper Stash.   The piece of vintage ephemera was from a vintage image blog that is now closed down.  Sorry, but I've never run across this one anywhere else.  

Now that you have seen my piece for this challenge, I hope you will scoot on over to Simon Says Stamp and Show and see the DT's projects which are WAY more impressive then my simple tag.  And don't forget, Simon Says Stamp will be giving a $50 shopping voucher to some lucky random winner.  

Challenges:
Fashionable Stamping Challenge:  Make it a Guy Thing

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.

Simon Says It's a Red Letter Day

 

It's time again for another Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  This week we are talkin' Red Letter Day.  We, at the design team, have been buzzing all week about how to interpret that theme.  My team mate Tracy Evans did some research and will be sharing on her blog the original meaning of a red letter day.  The team came up with some fun interpretations so be sure to check them out.   Being in a Valentine's Day frame of mind, when I thought of red letter, I thought of Valentine's Day and I literally made a red letter - LOL.  

For my Valentine's Day wall hanging, I first created my red letter using Crafty Secret's Rosy Wishes embossed with Ranger Superfine Gold Embossing Powder.   I read in a craft magazine awhile back about glassine and gesso so I took a glassine bag, crumpled it up and smoothed it back out.  Using a wash of 50% water and 50% gesso, I painted the front and let it dry.  When dry, I stippled it with full strength gesso.  I digitally removed the background with my PhotoShop Elements from this pretty Valentine's girl and printed her on tissue paper, fussy cut her and then glued her to the glassine bag using Claudine Hellmuth's Multi Medium Matte.  Then I gold embossed the flourish from Tim Holtz's Urban Grunge set. 

I cut chipboard with the Elegant Flourishes die and painted them with Gold Metallic acrylic paint and then gave them two coats of UTEE. I used the Gold Metallic paint dabber around the edges of the white corrugated cardboard. The handmade flowers were cut with the Tattered Florals die and the Sizzix Flowers and Vines #3 die, wet, crumpled, dried and spritzed with Biscotti Perfect Pearls mist. 

My bronze filigree corner was heat embossed with white embossing powder and then sanded to give it a worn look. I also rubbed some of the gold acrylic paint over it and then rubbed it off again for a little more aged look.

And finally, I had a little fun with some of my jewelry making supplies and some gold glass glitter.  And that about wraps it up for another Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  I hope you will play along.  Our ever generous sponsor, Simon Says Stamp and Show has a $50 shopping voucher for the lucky random winner of this week's challenge.  So be sure to stop by Simon Says Stamp and Show and maybe even play along!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for any comment you care to leave!  Hope you have a great week.

Something Old, Something New

Happy New Year everyone!  Thanks so much for stopping by today to see what I have made for our latest Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  This week we want you to show us something old and something new on your artwork. 

I created a little art piece that can be stood, hung or have magnetic strips placed on the back to stick to a refrigerator (jumbo refrigerator magnet - LOL).  I have used lots of favorite oldies (Fabulous Flourishs stamp, Elegant Flourishs die, Tag and Bookplates die, LOVE stamp from Stuff to Say, Picket Fence distress crackle paint) on this project, but my"old" highlights are the four wonderful vintage buttons sent to me recently by my friend Marcy Kaminski from the En Papillote Arts blog.  She sent me such a beautiful RAK - a huge amount of vintage buttons and lots of yummy lace and crocheted work.  The buttons I used here are from that stash.  

My "new" is the tattered rose created with her newly acquired Tattered Pinecone die and the seam binding dyed just for this project with a blend of Aged Mahogony and Tattered Rose distress inks. I used the tattered pinecone die to cut out a book page which I then painted with white gesso and then dry brushed some Aged Mahogany distress ink on it.  Then later I also dry brushed some gold acrylic paint dabber on the edges of the flower.  I wrapped the flower around a toothpick very much like Tim Holtz does in his tutorial for the tattered pinecone, but left it a little looser and also kept squishing it upward so it is flat on the bottom not elongated like the pine cone is.  

The flourish and bookplate were cut from chipboard and painted with Picket Fence Crackle Paint.  When dry I dry brushed the with Aged Mahogany and again with gold acrylic paint dabber.  The background paper is plain old copy paper that I aged by pouring a little coffee into a baking sheet (with sides so it doesn't run off) and coating the paper.  Leave a few puddles of coffee on the sheet of paper and put into a 250 degree oven for 15-20 minutes (check often).  It comes out looking so cool.  I stamped it with the Tim Holtz music stamp and Sepia archival ink before I poured coffee on it.  After it came out of the oven I stamped the flourish stamp with Versamark and gold embossed it.  I adhered it while it was still a tad damp with Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium Matte.  The seam binding dyed just for this project with a blend of Aged Mahogony and Tattered Rose distress inks.

The image is another of my digital layering experiments.  The cherub is from Luna Girl and I erased the surrounding background and layered it over the post card - love the way it came out!

Now it's time to check out what the other designers have made over at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  And our ever generous sponsor is giving awaya  $50 shopping voucher.  You can't win if you don't play so get going on your something old, something new project right away!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and for all the lovely comments!  Wishing you and yours a blessing filled New Year!

Country "Home"spun

Good Monday morning and a Happy Halloween to you!  Thank you for dropping by to see what I made this week for our Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  This week, we want you to show us a house.  You can put your own spin on the theme and you can be sure our fabulous design team members did just that.  Stop over at the challenge blog to check out their awesome art!

I had a few different ideas for this theme, but I wanted to wrap in all the things that a home means to us. Homes are very close to my heart right now because for the past three years I have been managing a food pantry/outreach ministry for my parish.  I see so many folks in jeopardy of losing their home or people that have already lost it.  The foreclosure rate in Miami is one of the highest in the nation and you don't have to be living on the street to be technically "homeless".  Many families have lost their homes and have moved in with family - some houses are bursting at the seams with the number of people residing there.  

With my piece, I explored the ways our homes support us.  I started with a larger-than-normal piece of cardboard (11x14" - I cut up a box to get it) and dry brushed it with gesso.  I used the Spellbinders Label #1 die to cut the houses, with a full piece for the structure and a half piece for the roof.  Each structure piece was stamped with a different Wendy Vecchi background stamp and I used her wonderful gingham stamp (from the Nature's Art set) with red ink for the roofs.  I also cut chipboard for each piece and adhered them to give extra dimension.  Additionally, when I adhered them to the cardboard, I used craft foam behind some of them to give a bit of different dimension to each house.  

Since my theme for the piece was "Home is Where the Heart Is", each house had to have a heart.  I cut the hearts from old vintage book pages and also a piece of chipboard for each with the Sizzix Hearts, Primitive #3 die, glued them together and then ran them through the Cuttlebug Textile EF.  After applying Vintage Photo DI liberally, I punched a hole in each and tied a scrap of the homespun type fabric to it.  I created tiny tag sentiments on my computer to describe all the things a home means to me:  family, love, friendship, comfort, security and support.  The houses still needed something so I cut some metal with the smallest flower from the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die, added a tiny floral bead cap and a brad to each, but before I added the metal to the heart, I coated it with Ginger Alcohol Ink.  

My tin heart was cut with the largest heart in the Spellbinders die set from an aluminum pie tin.  I ran it through the Tim Holtz Checkerboard texture fade and dripped Ginger alcohol ink over it.  When it was dry, I sanded all the high points so the aluminum color showed through.  But I wanted the high points to be red and couldn't figure a way to do that without ruining the brown ink in the low points.  I ended up taking a paint brush and painting them with red re-inker.  

Thanks for sticking with me all the way to the end of this post!  Nows the time when I encourage you to stop by the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog to see what the other have created.  I can tell you that you will NEVER be disappointed by the line up over there.  Not to brag, but I think we have one amazing group of artists on that team. 

And of course, there is the support given us by our super generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp.  You need to go by their store and check out all the fabby crafting supplies.  And they are always super generous with prizes for our challenge, a $50 shopping spree at their craft-loaded store.  So whatcha waiting for?  Get busy building a house and share with us over at Simon Says Stamp and Show. 

Witchy Woman

 

A warm welcome to my bloggy friends, new followers and those of you who are just passing through.  I'm back this rainy Miami Monday to share my Simon Says Stamp and Show project with you. But first let me also share with you that we had another weekend of hard rains and praise God, my roof did not leak.  The roofers were back out this past week, pinpointed the leak and apparently have been successful at fixing it this time.  Yay!!!!

This week Simon Says Stamp and Show wants you to show us your Stripes - easy peasy, right? I have been wanting to make something for Halloween but just hadn't had the time.  I decided that a nice crisp black and white strip would make a great background for a Halloween card.  To start with, I used a plain black and white strip digital paper from Pink Petticoat.  I overlaid a black filigree brush from Designer Digitals in a repetitive pattern to give it more of a gothic look.  And, as always, I covered almost all of it up, but trust me, it looked very cool.  I downloaded the Witch Hazel label from the Cocoa and Bella blog.  Check it out - there are a number of free cool Halloween type vintage labels.  The witchy woman vintage image is from a Luna Girl CD I own.  I kept the design pretty simple with just three layers and then ran a strip of orange across the bottom that had been dry embossed with the Cuttlebug Textiles EF.  I inked up a brayer and ran black ink across the high points for definition.  Then I took a die cut made with the Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Borderabilities die and coated it with fine black glitter and affixed it to the orange strip.  I made an itty bitty black crinoline flower with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die, backed it with back tulle and put a sparkly orange crystal in it for the center.  To hold the ticket from the Tim Holtz Odds and Ends set, I took one of Tim's Hinge Clips and coated it with Pitch Black Alcohol Ink and more fine black glitter.  The alcohol ink is sticky and I just poured the glitter over it while it was wet and it stuck on just fine :)  I didn't think it was quite finished so I took a tiny scrap of seam binding and dyed it with Peeled Paint DI, threaded it through an orange button and affixed it to the top.  Not a scary Halloween card - just cute vintage style.  Hope you like it.

Hey, how about visiting the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog?  You'll find some great inspiration from our amazing team and we'd love to have you play along this week.  Our ever-generous sponsor, Simon Says Stamp, will be awarding a $50 shopping spree in their well-stocked store to a lucky random player this week.

Studying Steampunk

Good Monday morning to you, bloggy friends.  Hope you all have had a nice weekend.  I'm still fighting my way back from the flu.  It seems like it is really going around early this year.  Our Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge to you this week is to Show Us Your Steampunk.  Oh my, was this ever a tough challenge for me.  I have never done anything steampunk and really didn't have an angle to start.  I did a bit of research and surfed a few blogs for inspiration but never really got inspired.  I got an early start because I was so uncertain of what to do but that didn't seem to help.   Anyway, I settled on Artistic Outpost's Paris Exposition set because I thought it might be reflective of the mechanical age that birthed steampunk.  And of course I needed the requisite cogs so I purchased the Gadget Gears die and headed into my craft room.  I've also wanted to give fiber paste a try again and thought I could use it for this challenge.  

I die cut the gears, layering two pieces of chipboard together for extra height and glued them to a book cover.  Then I covered the entire piece with fiber paste.  Once dry, I could see that it needed another coat of fiber paste which I gave it.  After the fiber paste had thoroughly dried, I made a wash out of Vintage Photo Distress Stain and gave the entire piece a wash with that.  Then I took a paint brush and painted the gears with full strength distress stain and then gave them all a second coat to deepen the color.  

Images from the Paris Exposition set were stamped with Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink onto tissue paper and trimmed out closely.  I watered down a little of Claudine Helmuth's Multi Medium Matte and brushed some onto the areas where I was going to affix the tissue paper images, laid down the tissue paper and then gave it a good coat of the watery multi medium matte.  Unfortunately the tissue paper didn't just dissolve into the fiber paste background and it stands out :(  I did this technique once before and now I think that I put the tissue paper down onto the fiber paste while the fiber paste was still wet because that time the tissue paper couldn't be seen.  It looked much nicer - LOL!

I made little signs Dream, Explore, Discover using the Artistic Outpost Huck Finn set and Shelly Hickox's faux French enamel tutorial here.  I have been wanting to try that technique ever since she posted it, but haven't had the occasion.  (I actually have another piece in mind to try it with in a couple of weeks.)  I mounted my signs on scraps of rusted metal mesh, but you couldn't really see the mesh - it sort of blended into the background so I gave it a few swipes with Snow Cap acrylic paint dabber.  And it wouldn't be a Funkie Junkie piece without a flower, so I made one out of the rusted metal mesh and my trusty Tattered Florals die.  

That's my take on steampunk.  Not my favorite piece, by a long shot - I'll blame it on the flu or maybe the flu meds as I've been feeling pretty spacey the last few days!

I hope you will join our steampunk fest over at Sion Says Stamp and Show.  The DT, as always, have some amazing art to share with you!  And of course, our ever generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp has a $50 gift certificate to shop in their store for the lucky random winner!!

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

 

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.  

We're Talkin' Old Wives' Tales

We have such a fun challenge for you this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show!  We want you to make a project representing an old wives' tale.  If something doesn't come to mind, here is a great website listing and explaining many old wives' tales.  You have to stop by our challenge blog to see the cute projects my team mates have come up with for this challenge.

I had fun reading through a number of the tales.  There were several that I was considering when I came to the one about waiting an hour after eating before going in swimming.  It really cracked me up.  Honestly, my family lived by that one.  I grew up in a town on Lake Ontario and spent a lot of time at the lake as a kid.  I remember always having to wait that hour before I could swim.  As soon as I came across that one, I knew I had to use it as my theme.

I created a tag out of vanilla card stock and ran it through the Cracked Embossing folder, then ink distressed it with Antique Linen DI.  I tore several shades of blue paper to created waves and rubbed a little Snowcap acrylic paint dabber across to look like foam, used two images from the internet, the bathing beauties and the This Way to the Beach sign, and created my own little sign warning people to wait that magic hour after eating before swimming.  I made a very simple embellishment with corrugated cardboard cut with the Tattered Florals die and edged with Vintage Photo  DI, rubbed with gesso and topped with a  Foliage hardware piece and a button, then finished it off with a stamp from the Odds and Ends set.

What's your favorite old wives' tale?  Show us what it is by making an art piece and entering it at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week.  You must might win that $50 gift certificate that our amazing sponsor Simon Says Stamp gives away on the blog each and every week.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I love to hear from each and every one of you so don't be shy!

A Lady's Hands

Here I am back again for another Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  The challenge this week is to show us Something With Hands.  Probably many times we when first hear of a challenge, something just pops into our heads (and yes, sometimes I struggle too, coming up empty until the last moment).  That's how this challenge hit me.  Something with hands...all I could think of was a woman's hands and how strong and capable they are, but soft and gentle too like a lady's hands should be.  While poking around in an antique shop recently I came upon a bag of women's gloves.  Now I have to tell you, I am old enough to remember my mother wearing gloves back in the 50's.  Heck I even wore them to church which I was little. I saw the gloves before I read what our challenge was this week and when I started thinking about a woman's hands, I remembered the gloves and headed straight back to that store.  I also picked up a vintage pie tin (not a disposable aluminum one) at the same time, thinking I could make something out of it.  So I did.  I made this wall hanging.

I first covered the rim with Tim Holtz Tissue Tape and rubbed a bit of Vintage Photo distress ink over it. Then I broke into my highly-prized stash of Melissa Frances vintage crepe paper.  I am having a wonderful time working with that stuff - so fun! I cut about a 3 inch wide strip of the white, ran a basting stitch down the middle, gathered it and then folded it along the stitch line so it was a double frill. Then glued it around the inside edge.  The circle chipboard piece I was working with  didn't quite fill the space, so I then created a single gathered ruffle of the blue.  That filled the gap.  The chipboard circle was covered with some Tim Holtz Paper Stash Vintage Shabby paper.  I was going for lots of ruffles and frills so had to run a circle of lace around it too.  The image is printed on cardstock edged with Vintage Photo distress Ink and then stitched to a piece of vintage muslin.  I mounted the vellum sentiment on scraps of muslin too.  A crinoline and paper flower tops off the upper portion.  I draped the sweet glove across the bottom, finished off with a stick pin and another handmade flower.  In the making of this piece, I also used plenty of Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte.

Okay, that's it for the details.  Now, I really want to know your opinion.  PLEASE don't say you like it if you don't.  I know you are all sweet and polite and want to say nice things about everyone's work.  If you like it, leave a comment.  If you don't, you can give me some constructive criticism or just don't leave a comment.  LOL - if I get no comments, I'll know that it didn't make the grade.

Now, please head over to Simon Says Stamp and Show to see what the rest of my more talented team mates whipped up to inspire you to Show Us Something With Hands. I hope you will join in our fun this week.  Who knows, you might just win the $50 random prize drawing for a trip to the Simon Says Stamp on-line store.   Our generous sponsor is giving one away again this week to one of our players.

That's it for me.  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and will have a terrific week.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!