Red & Gold

My friend Juliet is one crafty lady - she is a master of inchies and ATCs, as well as beading, stamping and drawing. She inspires me and yes, pushes me to do more and to do better work.

Recently she was asked to be the "muse" over at Gingersnap Creations and you can see her work here on her blog, Ballpoint Bliss.

Well, I decided to try my hand at this week's challenge over at Gingersnap Creations - Red and Gold but the twist was this month they are featuring an Asian style. I really don't have an asian stamps but I thought my bird from Exotic Bird Collages might just work...what do you think?!?




Card Materials: all stamps and papers from The Angel Company

I stamped my image with red and gold pigment inks and then clear embossed it. The gold didn't really pop so I reheated the image and sprinkled gold embossing powder on top...not the easiest technique but it made a big difference. The Decorative Corners are clear embossed and I just layered two gold ribbons of different sizes to add a little more gold and interest to the card.

Both of these stamp sets are retiring and The Angel Company put them on sale right now for an unbelievable price!

Seeing Shamrocks Blog Hop!

I normally don't really have much of "Kiss me, I'm Irish" stuff around since I am of german decent...but when The Angel Company announced it's Seeing Shamrocks blog hop I thumbed through the catalogs to see which stamps I had that might work. Voila!! One of my most favorite sets is the versatile set, Fanciful Vintage, and once again it proved to be handy. It's got a lovely postmark type image with a shamrock, surrounded by the words: Memories, Heart, Faith, Laughter and Happiness.

Here's what I came up with...this first card is a pretty common sketch but it looked just a little too plain to me when it was finished so I stamped the Decorative Corners up in the left hand corner before I added the ribbon and I really liked that touch. And, you may be amazed to hear it/see it, but...I inked ALL of my edges! {big grin}

This second card isn't really what I had intended it to be...the original panel will show up in another card that I just finished today (couldn't let it go to waste!). I really wanted to use the soft Angelee papers for this card and added the saying to balance it all out. I hope I accomplished that and that it's not just hanging out there! Above I cropped the image to highlight just the medallion but here you can see the entire stamp which I clear embossed.

So now it's your turn! Dig through your stamps and see what you can turn into "seeing shamrocks!"...I think of good luck, blessings, rainbows, etc...hope that gets your creative wheels turning. Here is what others are crafting!

Deep Cleaning

I know most people get to a good house cleaning in the Spring - but I tend to work backwards, or at least when my mood strikes! This weekend we did a little remodeling project in our family room and it made me take a good look at the sad condition things had become. I had stored and stockpiled things in many corners. This house is sadly lacking in closet space and there is no attic to hide things in...worse yet, without having a military move every four years, I haven't been forced to do my routine purge. I now have the den, playroom (aka huge dump pile), the kids' bedrooms and the office all torn apart as I desperately get rid of things and find new storage places for things I want to keep!

I did do a nice clean up of my craft/laundry room a few months ago so thankfully things are still looking good there! This cleaning up frenzy did remind me of a mini album project I taught last month and I have 4 kits left - if anyone is interested. This kit features the Sydney Circle album, has four main pages, runs $5 and includes shipping to you...you just get to decorate it the way you see fit.

All supplies from The Angel Company

Drop me a line if you are interested. This mini album is easy to make and will be easy to reproduce...and now back to more organizing my home!

Oh, and don't forget to take advantage of the grab bag specials this month if you are interested! I hear the $5 stamp bags are flying off the shelf and I can't wait to see what comes in my $10 accessory grab bag. I love surprises - good surprises, that is!!

Tent Card!

I've had a tutorial for a tent card tucked away for ages but it was always overcome by events. Last week though I got the final push to try one when it was featured in the SCS newsletter. These are extremely easy to make and are guaranteed not to be thrown away by the receiver! tee hee...

I want to first shout out a huge thanks to Sannie in the Netherlands...I met Sannie probably 3 years ago over the internet and she sent me some lovely happy mail packages. One time there were the neatest stuffed Halloween doo-dads (for the lack of a better word!) and you'll see the bats here in this card. They are satiny and puffy so they make my tent card extra special in real life.

and a view from the side...

Copics I used...

Card Materials: all papers and stamps from The Angel Company

Stamps: Delightfully Spooky, Happy Haunting, Decorative Corners

Accessories: Miss Moxie Soar with it Collection and cardstock, CM circle cutter, thread, stuffed bats, Copics

Don't forget that this set, Delightfully Spooky, is just $10.95 this month when you make a $30 purchase...and I hope you come back on Friday to see some more super cute Halloween cards. They are different shaped cards that I have been itching to try and I guess this was the week to step out of my box and get busy.

I like to blog hop and along the way I pick up great tips not just for cardmaking, but also for cooking! Last week Ashley posted about the Delicious Food blog and off I went to visit. So far I've made the Summer Scampi and the Thai Green Chicken Curry and want to report that both were absolutely delicious. I did reduce the Parmesian Cheese by more than half for the scampi but it was so, so good and I always feel a bit better at the end of the day when I can serve my family something yummy to eat. :)

OCC Color Challenge

This weekend I attempted my first color challenge...eeck! I think this was definitely harder than a sketch challenge. What do you find easier?

As a Demo for over 6 years, I have lots and lots of stamps from The Angel Company and since I buy what I like, I seldom get rid of any, even when they retire. That means often something sits neglected for a while or worse, cut and never used (like my Decorative Corners)! This card makes me feel good about using both neglected stamps.

So, back to the color challenge, it was white, orange, cocoa and dark brown...and here is what I came up with!

I watercolored the mouse and leaf...and then did the leaf once more and cut it out and popped it up a bit.

Card Materials: All stamps from The Angel Company

Stamps: Pick of the Patch, Decorative Corners

Accessories: Sizzixlet border strip, Nestabilities label, watercolor paper, Tombow markers, aquabrush, Noir palette ink, misc papers

Once I put my card together, the right side just felt really "empty" and it hit me that I could stamp these corners and then twist the image to give it a back to back (or side by side) look...I love, love, love the result! And, it felt good to finally use this stamp set.

It's going to be a busy week (I still have to design 10 cards for my Christmas Card workshop next week - yikes!), hubby and kids home half the week and Thanksgiving over at my sister's house. I hope to pop in again before Thanksgiving...hope to hear from MISSY about my blog candy. If not, I'll be picking a new winner on Friday. Have a super week!