Hey, Wait a Minute Mr. Postman.....

Just check it and see, if there's a monthly mailer there for me...
Well, yes, there was.
Received my monthly mailer from my partner for April, Carolyn, from the All Things Tim (as in Holtz) group.  I can't believe the art she made and all the goodies. 

A way cool book with nice blank pages to record my innermost thoughts (scary), a triangular altered piece (above the book), which is shimmery in real life, two grungepaper roses, and you can't see the little bag of trinkets there in the front, but it contains the most awesome little charms and doo dads.  Thanks a bunch Carolyn, it's just fantastic!
And I have yet to finish her project, but am getting close, and will share once she has received it. Hey, the deadline isn't until April 15th, so I have a little time yet. I plan on mailing it by the end of the week, so there.
Thanks for all the great comments on my bird piece from yesterday, you guys are awesome! Stay tuned for more details.....
Go be creative!

And The Little Bird Said....

...DREAM BIG.
oh no he didn't.
oh yes he did.
Hels Sunday Stamper challenge this week is....birds.  The first thing I thought of was, oh man, that "bit's 'n pieces of time" piece I made could have fit in that.  Would it have been wrong to enter it for three challenge weeks in a row? lol
I probably could have gotten away with it, Hels is too nice to say bugger off. 
Digression - I'm getting a little too handy throwing around the British terms.  And I have no clue as to what some of them mean, I just make a hazardous guess. They kind of tickle my funny bone, actually. I find them quite humorous.  Just like I assume they think our American terms are humorous.  Or not.  I did however, make a little error last week.  When I left a comment for Hels for the link to my post, I said, here's my naffy little piece.  Well, when Hels left a comment on MY post, she said, I think it's great, and not naffy at all.  So, I totally misread the British definition of naffy, and should not have used it in haste. lol  I'll just have to consult my British/American slang thesaurus next time.
Ok, back to the topic at hand, here's my entry:

And yes, I used several of my new Timinator dies! Love 'em! But did I think to use them on the base piece before or after I had everything done? After, of course. It started out as a 4 x 5 rectangle, then I'm like, I need something at the top and bottom. Hello? Why didn't I make it bigger and use the new on the edge dies first? Whatever, I just did it after and trimmed the pieces and creatively added them to the rectangle at top and bottom. Crikey.
You can't quite see it clearly at the very top, but I used Wendy's stamp and it says, "and the little bird said", (like my post title, he he) then, DREAM BIG. 
On the birdcage, I used vintage photo distress embossing powder and inked over it with vintage photo ink, just like Timinator's book suggested to get that faux rust look. And actually the birdcage is kinda bowed out a little, hard to tell in the photo, to give the poor bird some room, to FLY, you know.
Stamping was done with gold, silver and copper paint dabber. Some was done with black archival.  New colors of distress ink were used on the base, rusty hinge, chipped sapphire, bundled sage, forest moss, and the trusty ole vintage photo.
It's hard to see, but I inked the bird first with tumbled glass, then stamped a pattern with embossing ink and heat embossed with clear powder, then inked over it again with chipped sapphire, but it didn't turn out quite like I expected, which is fine, birdie just has a slightly mottled look.  Maybe it's bird flu.
A little OFF TOPIC... 
Bet you can't guess what I was listening to on the way to work this morning..one of the big hair bands from the '80's. Oh, yes. Cinderella. Love it.  Nothing like a little head bangin' to get you going in the morning.  Had I been standing somewhere, I probably would have been playing the air guitar, while my head was bangin' up and down, foot tapping to the beat....not everyone is brave (or stupid) enough to make this sort of admission.  I was never really into the heavy metal, just hard rock. Ratt was another fave group. Def Leppard, you get the idea.  Hopefully this doesn't tarnish the image you have of me. he he. My gypsy road, can't take me home.....
Speaking of gypsies.....
One of my friends from the EWV and ATT group, Deb, is famous! Well, internet fame that is. I also scrapped with her at the scrapbook retreat several weeks ago, so I saw this project in person. Very cool accordian book.  It was featured on the 7 Gypsies blog, HERE.  Woo hoo Deb!
Oh, and here's something I was going to share a couple of weeks ago, but totally forgot about. On one of my cruises down the clearance aisle at my local Hobby Lobby, I noticed they had 32" x 40" sheets of matboard for like $1.60 each. Some were awful colors, but I snagged some of the more neutral shades. It's normally like, $8.00 a sheet.  That is what the base of this piece is, white matboard.  I bought black to use for mounting pieces. It cuts very easily with a utility knife and straight edge, and stays pretty sturdy.  Takes ink pretty well, too. I plan on cutting up some for ATC's. And now, I discovered, it will be great for making mini books and plaques using Timinator's new On the Edge dies and the Bigz dies. So there's my two cents worth for ya, take it and use it in good health. lol
Have a good one, go be creative! (comments are good, I'm just sayin')

Straight Outta the Book....

...Wendy's new book, that is.  I just wanted something easy to do to get the juices goin', you know, so I just plagiarized one of the projects right from the book.  lol
I didn't have all the stamps used (hard to believe, I know), so I had to substitute with what I had, which is still quite a few.

In retrospect, probably should have picked different background stamps.  Thought I was being inventive.  The bird is stamped on grungepaper of course.  I decided to mount it on cardstock and make a card out of it.  
Here's some really good news, I won one of Lynn Steven's jewelry pieces in her giveaway, woohoo! You know why? Because all of you out there that went and commented and said I linked you there, helped me win for sending the most to her blog! Hey, thanks to all of you! I think this calls for a giveaway from me to show my appreciation, don't you think? Hmmm, what should I give away?  Anything in particular you guys want?!! Product, art, let me know, and I'll come up with sumpin' good for ya! 
Go be creative!

Tag Tuesday

...alrighty then, the theme this week is "black and white".  Louise was pretty clear that NO OTHER COLOR was to be used or even remotely suggested.  Kidding, Louise! She was nice about it. lol  You can find everyone else's work in the comment section of the post HERE.  I just LURVE the new Stampin' Up punch, 2 step bird punch.

I'm not sure exactly why it's called two step 'cause you just put paper in there and punch it out once.  Oh, wait a minute, 2 step meaning punch and put together.  I see. lol  Sometimes it takes a minute or two to sink in. Any who - here's the tag, I actually made two, I was on a roll.

The first one was the one on the right.  Let me see if this pic is better:

Marginally.  Let's try the other tag:

Tag was cut using the Sizzix die, Super Traditional Tag or something like that. Ran thru embossing folder, Swiss Dots.  The pattern on the black cardstock was Wendy background stamps stamped with embossing ink and white embossing powder.  The black felt trim on both tags is Creative Imaginations.  Used Spellbinder Nestabilities for the ovals. The white sequin on the first tag under the sentiment is Maya Road.  Both sentiments are Wendy's.  On the second sentiment, it looked a little bare on the left side, so after this pic was taken, I put three dots of Liquid Pearls on the left side.
Honestly, you can't go wrong with black and white. I mean, you could punch a white circle and put it on black cardstock and it would look fine.  Another example, the Oreo cookie. It's all good.  I'm hoping to get more on the Wendy wagon this weekend, with some new Tim dies thrown in for good measure. Wish me luck! Have a great weekend!

Bits 'N Pieces of Time

Hels Sunday Stamper challenge theme this week is "Time".  The theme last week was "Bits N Pieces", which I was unable to accomplish.  So, I decided to combine the two themes and call it "Bits 'N Pieces of Time".  How creatively original is that?  Sometimes you just have to take the easy way out. lol

Yes, the only reference to time is the salvage sticker clock and the Tim clock stamp, which you can only see BITS of. He he.
I used up some BITS N PIECES of leftover stash, too, which I was quite happy about.  Had the bird left from another project.
The base is actually the cardboard from the Prima Say It In Pearls package, covered with strips of old sheet music and scraps of cardstock, one of my all time fave techniques, then generously inked with Forest Moss and Rusty Hinge, possibly a little Barn Door distress ink.
Cut the grungeboard wings with my new Timinator die, FAB! Then precariously positioned them in the Cuttlebug paisley embossing folder so a full "paisley" was evident on the wing.  Cool.
The grungeboard hinge and wings were painted with Copper paint dabber, sanded and inked.
I think the rest of the stuff speaks for itself, but just to be sure, the white letters are rub on's, covered with film strip ribbon which is attached with a stapler.
So, on to the next challenge, which some days, means just getting out of bed! Ha! Have a good one!

Scrapadoodle-do

..well, finally, I think I'm back among the living. Feels like I've been gone for ages.  I actually felt bad enough that I went to the Dr. Friday afternoon.  (gasp) Usually I won't go unless there is blood shooting out my eyes or some other orifice it's not supposed to. That should tell you something.
Thought I would share some of the layouts I had done at the scrapbook retreat.  Not that these are great, by any means. It's been a while since I've actually done any scrapbooking.  So, needless to say, these won't win awards, but hopefully it will give you some ideas.  I like to use all the pictures I print.  I take the ones that I won't feature on a page and try to do something different with them.  For example, here's my cover:

I took the pictures that were not so great, and cut them into strips, along with extra pieces of cardstock that I was using to mount the pics on.  I glued them down to a scrap of cardstock, then die cut my title.  The background paper is just plain white, ran thru the cuttlebug embossing folders, and swiped with ink.  I also punched some flowers out of the pics, and layered with punched cardstock, there in the lower right corner.

Here's some more examples:

Used a Sizzix die here to cut a tree.

The tree on the left, I just cut from an extra pic, the middle one is just cardstock ran thru embossing folder, and the tree on the right uses the piecing.

 Extra pics of a close-up of a quilt

We visited Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the shore of Lake Superior. I highly recommend you add it to your "bucket" list. I love it. Amazingly enough, I had alpha stickers that looked like rocks. Another reason not to throw anything away. lol  And spelling out Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore pretty much guaranteed I used most of the letters. lol

I tried some masking with my Stampscapes stamps. Some turned out pretty good, some not.  Of course, you're only going to see the good ones.

I used black Archival to stamp, then colored with my watercolor pencils and used my waterbrush to blend.

Even if you got just a smidge of inspiration here, I would be happy.  Hopefully, back on the art wagon this week, although this scrapbooking venture didn't even make a dent in what I have yet to accomplish there, lol.  Have a good evening!

Giveaway on "Trash to Treasure"

...just a quick post to let you know about a giveaway Lynn is doing on her blog.  You can find it HERE.  And hey, if you leave a comment to enter, mention I sent you over there, will you?  Not to be selfish or anything, but it might help me win one of her fab pieces! lol.
I can tell you this, spend some time looking around Lynn's blog. She just started an Etsy shop, too. She does fabulous work re purposing old jewelry and found objects. She also does great work with stamps and ink! Well, ok, she's just an all around great artist! Check it out!

Tag Tuesday Challenge

...before I forget, you can find Louise's Tag Tuesday Challenge HERE.  Go to the comments section of the post, and everyone links their challenge piece there.
Didn't think I was going to make this one, as I've had what some might call the creepin' crud the last coupla days.  Started as what I thought to be one of my infamous sinus infections, but yesterday, I woke up (barely) and felt a lot worse than I normally do with one of those. Suffice it to say, I'm a little better today and up and takin' nourishment, as my Grampa J. would have said. So I think I'll live.
Sorry for the blurry pic, it was getting to the end of the day.

Nice stand, eh? (i.e. the finger at the top, lol)  The theme this week was spring, so of course, the first thing everyone thinks of is flowers, well, I do, anyways. So I went with the pansy theme here, obviously.  I used a Heidi Swapp ghost frame around the pansy pic, some new Victorian Velvet distress ink was applied around the edges of the background paper and base tag.  Then I went with some pearls and white Maya Road rub ons, and the flowers, which astonishingly enough resemble pansies, are Maya Road, also.  One may have been sufficient, but, oh well, I'll blame it on the creepin' crud.  They can always be "removed".  Thanks for checkin' it out, hope to enter Hels challenge this week, too, but we'll see how it goes.  Have a good one!

IMAGINE.....the possibilities.....

That was the title of the Monthly Mailer project I so creatively thought of (lol) that I made for the All Things Tim Yahoo! group.  Barb was my partner this month.
So, being the usual recycler (aka junker bordering on hoarder) person that I am, I used some packaging from Tim's Idea-ology line as the cover for this one.  Why waste a good flourish?

The base I glued it to was a manila file folder chopped down with my handy dandy Tonic guillotine paper trimmer, no thumbs involved this time, lol.  Here's what I did for the back cover:

Then I decided to collage some old text paper, sheet music, scraps of cardstock and more packaging to the inside:

I then covered everything with distress ink, rusty hinge, forest moss and brushed corduroy.  Then I went a little nuts with the embellishing part.  Here it is finished, opened up, remember it's a file folder, so it's like 18 inches wide opened up.  Closeups are after this one:

 

I also used masking on the background, but it's hard to see in the pic. The grungeboard hinge was painted with gold paint dabber, sanded and inked.  Used little black pearls for the "nail heads".  As far as the word "Imagine", Umbrella man is stamped and heat embossed with black powder.  The "m" and "i" are stamped with Espresso paint dabber using foam stamps.  The "g" and "n" are salvage stickers. The "e" is a Thicker sticker painted with Espresso. Oh, almost forgot the A. It's a Heidi Swapp ghost letter that I used Pitch Black alcohol ink on the back of and adhered down.  Then I used a white pen for some highlighting.  But why stop there? Let's go to the right inside page:

I used the embossed layer resist technique on the bird.  You can see the explanation HERE.  The birdcage is distress embossing powder on green cardstock.  The word "the" and "possibilities" is a combination of printed cut-outs and round letter stickers.  On the grungeboard arrow and the word "art", I used the drunken scotch technique by Kat.  The white flourish is acrylic paint.  Whew! Still with me? Good.  Here's the finished front cover:

I liberally applied alcohol inks to the front and back covers.  I believe the colors were Lettuce, Rust and Latte or Ginger.  Then stamped the Flourish with black Staz On, along with the sentiment.  Grungeboard stars with gold paint dabber, sanded and inked.
The back:

Oops, a little blurry.  To cover up the "spine", I cut a piece of masking tape in half lengthwise, and applied alcohol ink to it, to make it look like leather.  It turned out better than I thought.  Can I name that technique? Hmm, let's see......perhaps.....faux leather? lol
Nah, I can do better than that.  Let me think about it. 
Better yet, why don't you help me out? Some call it delegation.  I call it help.  Delegate sounds like you're telling people what to do, which I would NEVER do. (I can hear my ears burnin' now, "yeah right"). 
So there you have it.  Lots of techniques on this project, go try one!
And remember....Imagine...the... possibilities!

Loredo Taft....you might think I'm daft.....

...after you see me in these pictures.  Zowie, amazing how bad one can look with no makeup. Oh well, far be it from me to be embarrassed by a photo. lol
Loredo Taft was the name of the place where the weekend scrapbook retreat was held.  It is actually a satellite campus of Northern Illinois University located in a state park.  Very scenic, although not quite as scenic this time of year.  Good thing we weren't actually camping in tents, it was raining on and off the whole weekend.  If tents would have been involved, I wouldn't have been there anyways, lol.
And of course, I forgot to take pictures of the actual buildings where the scrap room was or the dormitories.  It was a bit of a walk from the dorms to the scrap room, but that was a good thing, as all the great food that was consumed needed walking off.  Not that all of it was walked off, mind you.
Arrived Friday afternoon, and some were there already.  I took entirely too much stuff.  As I was carrying in my third load of, what some may consider, crap, they looked at me as if to say, why the heck did you bring so much stuff?  Well, I just couldn't decide what to work on.  So I brought everything in case I changed my mind.
The setting was very rustic, (yes, there was running water and indoor toilet), here's a pic of the fireplace in the scraproom:

Like the saying.

 Ang, she was on a card makin' mission.  And she did get a lot of beautiful cards done!

Here's Ang's new baby, a gift from her hubby.  She and my sis were lovin' it to death!

Yeah, I'm seriously taking your picture now. (my Sis)

Jeanne in the background, Deb on the right, both members of the ATT and EWV  Yahoo! groups.  Jeanne was the one who mentioned the event to me in the first place.  She was making some beautiful books using Carol Wingert's kits. And Debby was making her own books and an art journal, very cool.

Maybe if I put this pic of me right in the middle, everyone will breeze right on by..... Oh, and let's not forget Kandy (aka Law and Order) in the red shirt in the background there. Very funny and sweet gal.

Do you have any seeds? (inside joke)

Taco Bell Nan (another inside joke, the weekend was full of them. Did someone say mustache?)

Jean, Lura, and Linda

Sue (back of her head, apparently I neglected to get a pic of her face), was the one that organized the event. She also has an Etsy shop, of which she brought with her (well, most of it). Was great to have somewhere to buy things, erm, you might need.  Allison and Jill came later Friday night.

Ok, here's the story behind this picture.  This is my Sis. Was is Friday or Saturday night, I can't remember....Sue was asking if anyone had a particular old product with them, if yes, you got a prize.  Of course, the first thing she said was "the Roll-a-bind".  Of course, yes, I said. It's out in my truck. Everyone started laughing. (out in my truck didn't count, had to be with me, doh!) So, the next thing she said was, 8 1/2" x 11" paper, WITH A BORDER.  My sister and I look at each other, like, yeah, we might have some of that.  I had brought my whole entourage of paper with me, surely there had to be some in there from 10+ years ago. Nope. But wait! My sister had some.  But then Sue said, Ok, now you have to make something with it, so she did! Stellar job, too, I might add.  It was pretty funny.  
Everyone had a great time, but by Saturday night, everyone was getting a little punchy.  Sis and I left around noon Sunday.  Was sad to say goodbye, but amazingly enough, they asked us if we wanted to come back to the next one in October! lol Of course we said "YES"
Thanks, Sue for organizing this great event, it was a lot of fun! 
Well, better wrap this up, I'll try to remember to get pics of what I worked on tomorrow, I did at least accomplish one or two tasks!

Tag Tuesday Challenge

...finished by Wednesday?  Almost unheard of for me.  But once again, when I heard the theme, ARCHES, I immediately had an idea, so had to go with it quick.  I had a piece of masonite board that I had received in a giveaway, it came with a purple-y, blueish glimmer to it.  I'm guessing it was perfect pearls.  Any who, since that had an arch to it, I used it as the base, and built from there. Here's the link to Louise's blog to view the challenge pieces everyone made:
Tag Tuesday Challenge
Now, make sure you start reading the caption from top to bottom, you might need to click on it to make it bigger.

He He. 
Once again, the image was from Terri Kahrs.
German scrap from Sarah (can you believe it Sarah? Two weeks in a row, lol)

Honestly, as you can tell from all my previous pieces, I'm not used to working with images.  I've always admired people that incorporate them into their art.  So, this image thing is kinda out of my comfort zone. But I would like to get better at, guess that means practice, eh?
As you can also tell, I have to inject some sort of humor somewhere. I mean, some of the looks on the faces of these images just beg for a good joke.  I think this chick's corset might have been too tight.
Background paper is actually a paper bag that had a very bold pattern, stamped with black archival music background, then distress inked with dusty concord, victorian velvet and brushed corduroy after being wadded up with my pudgy little hands. Added some white tulle for some softness.  Swiped some gold paint dabber along the inside rim of the arch, hoping it would accent it. Viola!
You may or may not hear from me again this week.  I have a scrapbook/art retreat to go to this weekend, and I haven't really prepared, so tonight I will proceed to determine what items I can live without for two and a half days.  Will hopefully remember to take some pics of the event for you. There will be some gals from the EWV and ATT group there, can't wait to meet them.  Should be a riot.  Little sleep, lots of chocolate. So, have a great "rest of the week", and like Arnie says, "I'll be bock (back, he)"

You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine

You make me happy when skys are gray
..you'll never know dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away....
Ok, now that you have that song in your head for the week, (how many are thinking of the mustard commercial right now? Raise your hand, I knew it)

And before you totally dismiss this post by not reading farther, I do have a little art at the end, so either scroll or read, the choice is yours. Or the close button, whatever, lol.

Helene (go check her blog out, she does some of the best scrapbook layouts, and at 2 in the morning, hence her url address) bestowed yet another award on me, this time, the sunshine award:

Thanks, Helene!  She doesn't know me very well, does she, to say that I'm sunshine. lol 
I have to pass the sunshine along to six other blogs.  Like everyone else, I have a hard time choosing which ones, there are so many great ones out there. Regrettably, I'm narrowing it to six that I view regularly.  Here you go:

1)  Sherry - GOT ART?  - Sherry has been doing some amazing things incorporating Zentangles into her art, really fabulous. And she sells on Etsy....hint..hint
2)  Helen - Stamping by Helen - Helen is very talented as well, and is one of my charming and witty blog buds from England.
3)  Nancy - What's Next? - Another talented lady and good friend
4) Nanc - Using Up All That Stuff - another Nancy, I keep it Nanc so I can keep track, there's lots of Nancy's out there! lol  She does so many interesting mixed media pieces from just about anything, and judging by the photos of her studio on her blog, I can totally see the relationship between her blog name and her studio. All in good fun, Nanc! She's very talented.
5)  Kathy - Inkin' It Up - Kathy is in a couple of groups that I'm in, I actually found her blog through a mutual "local" stampin' friend, Jessie, and also thru the ATT group. Another great talent. 
6)  Kat - Kat Toys - Found Kat thru the EWV group, but I'm also embarrassed to admit that she was on the Mexico cruise and I had no clue.  She is wickedly talented, I can't believe some of the awesome pieces she creates.  She also is known for her "drunken scotch" technique. Very cool.
Now, according to the "rules", I am to leave comments on these gals blogs letting them know they've been knighted.  But, being as how I'm a rule breaker (sometimes, lol), I'm just going to lay low and let them come get the award if they so choose.  Sue me if you must.  And thank you again to Helene for passing this on to me!  Ok, on to some art, how 'bout it?
I've been wanting to try some fabric ATC's.  So, finally, this past weekend, I did.  I hauled my machine (still no new one, btw) over to my Mom's, as she has a somewhat unlimited supply of fabric scraps from quilting. Here's what I came up with:

I was kinda pleased with the results.  The flower is actually leaves from a scrap of fabric that I cut out and stitched down to look like a flower.  Then just free form cut a stem and leaves, stitch around them, and some zig zag around the edges.  The background is actually a piece of fabric that my Mom was practicing her machine quilting on.  This is how I've seen a lot of people do fabric ATC's.  Machine or free form quilt pieces of fabric and batting, then apply your design on top of that.  Some just go straight to the fabric background without quilting the "sandwich".  Will have to try more.  Although I have to admit, I'm new to machine quilting, so mine is not as good as Mom's.  I think I may try and sew some beads on this one somewhere.  Give it a little oomph.  Then the issue becomes, how do you sign the back? Guess I'll have to just use a Sharpie or something permanent.  Some make fabric labels, I'm not near that advanced yet. lol

One last thing before I go, I was flipping on the DVR this morning whilst getting my coffee ready, because I tape Scrapbooking on HGTV, even though the episodes are old, so I can watch something else besides news during breakfast, and when I looked at the date, I was like, HOLY COW! a BRAND NEW episode! Can you believe it!  After they quit making new episodes since what, 2006 or something, I had kind of given up hope of seeing the show again, but, alas, there it was! And with an all star line up today, Jenni Bowlin, Tricia Morris and Tara Leigh!  Some very good ideas were given, like, Tricia Morris used fishing swivels on her layout (and here I've been buying Idea-ology swivel clasps, although I still will, probably) and Tara Leigh is the one who came up with that faux mosiac paper kit, remember the faux mosiac I did a while back? Yeah, she's got the kit.  I think Ranger makes it. But I can't find it anywhere to buy.  But you can certainly substitute like I did.  I was both shocked and pleasantly surprised.  So now I'm on a quest to see if some of the other craft shows are new, like B. Original, Creative Juice, etc.  I hope they keep the new episodes coming!  It's been way too long a spell, and I get so sick of seeing all those home shows on HGTV.  Ok, off the soapbox, go be creative!

Sunday Stamper Challenge

Hard to believe, but yes, I actually finished an ATC for Hel's Sunday Stamper Challenge.  When I heard the theme of this week's challenge, which is rabbits or Alice in Wonderland, I had an immediate idea which I had to act on quickly, lest it leave me just as quickly. lol
I had an image I downloaded from Terri Kahr's blog, (check it out, she has lovely free images for personal use, and she is very talented), so I used that.  And some lovely German Scrap from a blog friend Sarah, also a very talented lady, who sent me some scraps when I commented I really didn't know much about German Scrap. So, thank you both for your generosity!
Anywho, here is what I came up with for the challenge:

 

I thought the saying I came up with was pretty funny, although you may not think so, but I do.  he he  I used some of the new distress inks, wild honey, rusty hinge and forest moss on the background, then stamped over that with brushed corduroy and one of Wendy's new stamps.  Typed the saying on the computer, printed it, cut out, distressed around edges, adhered to ATC and covered with glossy accents.  Image adhered with Collage Pauge, which I really like for collage, no stickiness afterwards, no buckling of paper. Love it.  Put a little German scrap on the bottom, ta da!  Easy peasy super squeezy.

Tag Tuesday Challenge...whoa, I made it!

I've been following Louise's Tag Tuesday challenges since I met her on the Mexico cruise with Tim Holtz. I keep wanting to enter, but never found time to actually do it. Well, I'm happy to report, I'm in the midst of a dry spell as far as deadlines, so I thought, I'm going to go for it this week.  Not to mention, the theme for this week's tag is BROWN, with one other color.  My all time fave color is brown, not baby poo brown, deep, dark, rich, chocolate brown.  Seriously, let me know what you think about this one, I had a hard time with it for some reason.

 

I mean, there's more layers on this than a 7 layer bean dip.  I think maybe it's a little busy.  The other color I chose, was of course, green.  And I have a TON of Graphic 45 Bontanicabella paper, and some of it was just right for this, or so I thought.  I tried to break up the patterns , but I'm not sure if I was successful.  You know how after you look at something for so long, you're not sure if it looks good anymore?  Um, yeah.  Any who, the pieces inside the frame were paper pieces that I covered with Rock Candy crackle paint, and the butterflies, too. So, there you have it, and I'm dead serious, if you look at this, get dizzy, and have to barf, let me know. Till Monday, have a great, safe, creative weekend!

An Award?? For Me??

My good friend, Helen, was so kind to pass this award to me! So, now I get to pass it along to five others and list 10 things that make me happy.  Let's start with the "pass it along" list:
1) Susan
2) Helene
3) Linda
4) Electra
5) Eileen

And, 10 things that make me happy, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

1) Sunshine and warmer weather, FINALLY!
2) Dewbird, aka, random generator
3) Chocolate, in any form
4) New stamps (gotta love new rubba)
5) New inks (woohoo!)
6) Family
7) Riding my motorcycle
8) Making Art!
9) Blog friends
10) A steady paycheck

Doesn't take much to make me happy, does it?
It's all good.
As long as I'm on random stuff, I'm sure you've seen this email, forwarded to you by one of your friends, but some of these are so stinkin' funny I can't help reading them occasionally to get a good laugh.

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

There, hope you got a good laugh, I sure did. Hopefully more art tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed!

I'm a Card Shark...........

I needed to make a card, what a perfect opportunity to break out the new Wendy stamps.  I love brown, it's my favorite color.  Some distress ink, archival ink, a scalloped nestibilities, and presto, here you go:

The background was done with Antique Linen distress ink, then the flower stamp was stamped with coffee archival.  The sentiment is archival black. I love flower, foliage stamps. sigh.  Actually the scalloped background square was from my friend Helen, who noticed I commented on how lovely the paper was she used on a card she had sent me, so she went and got a package for me! How special is that?  Did I mention she is in flippin' ENGLAND? I love the paper, it has a little shimmer to it, very cool. Thanks, Helen!

Then I was kinda on a roll, so I had a piece of stamped cardstock left from the retreat couple of weekends back, and decided to stamp Wendy's new flower stamp, (actually it's the Queen Annes' Lace flower, which many consider to be a weed, but who cares? It's an awesome stamp, plus, I'm not going to type out Queen Anne's Lace every flippin' time I use it.) then embellished with some lace and doo dads, mounted on dark brown cardstock and viola, another card. Love it. The dandelion background stamp is one of Hero Arts new releases. Love that too.

Not bad if I do say so myself.  Easy, too. The brown trim is Maya Road ribbon, as is the little jewel flower.

I know these aren't very dimensional, but I like to keep them simple and flat for mailing. I'm getting tired of a) being interrogated by the PO, "well, it's got a little bump here, we need to consider this unmachineable, extra charge" or "is there anything liquid, fragile or hazardous in there?" (if there was, I'm considering using it on you right now) and b) paying more for postage.  If I'm hand delivering, I have no issue making cards dimensional. Alrighty then, that's it for this installment, later dudes! ...go be creative!

Old Plaid to New Plaid.......

...what I mean by that is, I finally got the alcohol ink plaid backgrounds out of my system, and my new favorite background STAMP is Wendy's new plaid stamp from one of her new sets.  I know, you're saying to yourself, why doesn't she reference the stamp set or show a pic? Because a) it takes too much time to track down a pic, and b) I don't have the stamp sets near when I post. So there.  Oh fine, just a minute.  It's from the Be Inspired...Make Art set, are you happy now? lol

I finished up the last of the alcohol ink plaid background ATC's, (sheesh, what a mouthful), here they are:

I gotta say, I'm really into the white pen now. It really does make a difference as far as accenting images.  You see it more on the one on the right here.  The little birdie was a chippie leftover from this past weekend's class, it's from Maya Road.  All stamps used are Wendy's, of course.  Metal corners - unknown clearance purchase.  The button on the center of the flower on the left was plain white and I just inked it with alcohol ink to match one of the background colors.

Yesterday, Nanc asked what I was going to do with the bamboo tiles I got from Susan. Well, Nanc, I have lots of ideas, I just have to make sure they come to fruition. You know how that goes. I would love to make a bracelet and/or necklace from them. Stamping, inking, collaging, the sky's the limit. I would love to make more altered jewlery, it's just finding the time to do it. Gotta run.....go be creative!

Weekend EV(ecchi)ENTS

Yeperdoodle, at the last minute I decided to attend the class that Wendy taught in Bloomington at Scrapbook Friendz.  Takes about 1 1/2 hours to get there, not bad, it's all interstate for the most part.  Got to meet Debby from the EWV Yahoo! group, very funny, talented lady, and also Susan, another EWV member, but also a great travelin' craftin' buddy now. lol  Debby drove from Wheaton, which was 2 hours for her. What we won't do to MAKE ART! HA!  Susan made these AWESOME place cards for our table:

Is that flippin' awesome or what??  All with Wendy's stamps, of course. he he
And she gave Debby and I a little goodie bag with these totally alterable bamboo tiles:

Yea, I know, you know what bamboo tiles look like, but for those that might not...here you go. lol  So, Wendy was demoing from 11-12, the pigment/pearls technique, during which the poor girl had a bloody nose for some unknown reason (she wrote about it on her blog, so I'm not embarrasing her here, lol), maybe she saw me walk thru the door, and thought, OMG, not her, and promptly got a bloody nose. Kidding.
Anywho, while the peeps were thronged around Wendy, the new stamp sets were on the counter behind them, so I ran marched over to the counter and proceeded to pick up the sets I wanted immediately, plus her new book, much to the chagrin of the peeps watching the demo, who then turned around, and realized that most of the sets were GONE!  That's okay, I have broad shoulders, so I absorbed the looks of pure hatred and loathing rather well. Plus, I'm taller and bigger than most, so really never feel threatened, lol.  My favorite new background stamp is her plaid stamp, which you can see on the cover below. Awesome.
We made this very cool Maya Road chip book, and got to use the NEW stamps and NEW distress ink.  Remember the TV show The Munsters? Remember how Herman used to get excited and laugh and shake his hands with his arms bent at the elbow? Har, har, har.  That's me when I saw the new stamps and ink, lol.

Now, I did get Wendy's permission to show the pic, but I'm not going to show every page, I just don't like to do that.  I'm sure she is teaching this elsewhere, so let's be courteous, shall we?  Here's a view from the side:

Yep, Wendy likes to "chunk it up".  I know, it's a teaser, but you get the idea.  Lots of Maya Road goodies in there, along with the new stamps and new inks, of course.  Now, when I first saw the inks, I'm like, you know, these don't look too much different than the old, WRONG.  That goes to show pics don't do things justice. The Rusty Hinge color? TO DIE FOR.  Same with Bundled Sage.  Just freakin' awesome.  Here's a shot that Wendy so willingly conceded to pose for:

I can't remember the name of the sweet gal who took the pic (of course she had to take 3, one for every camera, lol) but she was wearing a really cute apron and had red hair. lol.  Standing from left to right is Susan, and of course, WENDY.  Sitting on the left is Debby (she's a riot) and there's me on the right.  I don't know what the deal is, but I think I have to switch makeup.  I'm using this stuff that turns to powder when you apply it, and while it looks like I have a ah hem, flawless complexion, I look pale and frankly, like death warmed over.  Or an albino.  Whatever.  I'd be a good candidate for that show, What Not to Wear.  Snort.

Here's a pic compliments of Susan, of Deb and I working hard, looks like I'm making some sort of comment, can't imagine what that would be.
And yes, I had to, once again, relive the "what kind of die cut machine do you have, Lori?" moment. I'll let Susan relay the story on the Vecchian "V". Great time had by all, and of course yesterday had to play around with the new stamps a little, I'll show that later this week.  Hope you're having a good Monday, go be creative!