Shhh, it's a secret...

..found out about this on Helene's blog.
Prima has a giveaway going on, and a BIG secret that will be revealed March 5, but in the meantime, you have until March 1 to enter the giveaway, HERE.  So if you love Prima stuff (and who doesn't?) go check it out, it only takes one to win!!!

It's Friday, and I Should BE INKIN'.....

That would make a good title for a song....

Nothing like listening to Pure Imagination by Lawrence Fordyce and Jori (I also think it’s known as the Wonka trance) to get you pumped up to create. If you remember, Tim used this music when he filmed that video inside the Ranger warehouse. I loved it so much I bought it on ITunes. You can listen to it on youtube here.

Here’s a little scene for you: when this song plays, I close my eyes and imagine myself jiggin’ down the Ranger warehouse aisles, possibly with Tim and Mario, one on each side, elbows linked, you know, like the Wizard of Oz, and as we’re going down the aisles, I just start pulling stuff off the shelves and flippin’ them over my shoulder into a very large cart, which then makes its way to my studio….ah, yes. Heaven. Come with me…and you’ll be….in a world of pure imagination…..

What can I say, I’m a nutball.

Here’s the little accordion scrapbook we made at the retreat last Saturday. It was taught by two lovely ladies, Cheryl and Ann. It used the Stampin Up die for Sizzix, Top Note. We were given a little bag of embellishments, which I still have to put on, I might add. No surprise there. I just need time to think about these things, you know? lol

So, Helene, Susan, the teacher Cheryl, and I are sitting at the table constructing these little beauties, and we start talking about die cut machines. Cheryl asks me what machine I have. Per usual, when I’m working on something and trying to talk, gibberish comes out of my mouth.

I knew my machine started with “Big”, so I said “Big….”, then I was thinking to myself, Kick or Shot, one of those two, and somehow, when I said the word, I must have automatically combined the two words, because I said

“Sh*t”.

There was a brief moment of silence, then everyone was rolling on the floor laughing. No, seriously, this is how it really happened, just ask Susan or Helene. Then I finally realized what I had said. Oops. So, from that point on, my machine is now called the Big Sh*t. (It’s actually the Big Kick)

I'm totally stoked about tomorrow, as I get to take a class with WENDY in Bloomington. Yee Haw! Susan will be there as well, and another gal, Debby from the EWV group.  Should be a blast.  Can't wait to see what gibberish I bloviate tomorrow. I'm sure you'll hear about it Monday.  Till next week, then..have a great weekend, be safe, and go be CREATIVE!

Lovin' the Plaid.....

Yea, totally love the alcohol ink plaid backgrounds.  Especially in the brighter colors. Finally finished up the other two ATC's for the swap last night, so they are on their way to the hostess today.  Here you go:

Toned down the background with the splatter stamp in Coffee Archival.  All stamps are Wendy's, EXCEPT for the 1/2" alphabet I found just yesterday in the CLEARANCE aisle at WM for $1.00. Yes, ONE FREAKIN' DOLLAR.  It was a Martha Stewart set.  See, it pays to be cheap. Stamped the border stamp with Perfect Medium (which is now my embossing ink of choice, nice and sticky) and used Lettuce embossing powder, heat embossed.  Idea-ology spinner for the stem.  The button on the flower is just a white button I used alcohol ink on, to match the blue in the background.  And I gotta say, I'm lovin' the white pen.  Makes such a difference in the details, and really makes images pop out.
Here's the last one:

The background came out pretty soft on this one, so I decided not to overstamp it with anything. The scroll stamp fit perfectly along the width of the ATC.  Although now that I look at this, maybe I should have stamped it below the flower, oh well.  I found some pink ribbon that matched the pink in the background, and stamped it with one of Wendy's stamps and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  The sentiment is Wendy's, of course, as well as the flowers and the stamps used on the flowers.  Oh, I used Adriondack pigment inks to color flowers for both ATC's, and the ones previously.  The butterfly is a rub on from Royal Langnickel.  Some dots with the white pen here and there, some pearls for accents, done.  I could get into this ATC thing, which is probably good, because I want to make some for the CRUISE in October. That would be about 150. Yikes! And hopefully they won't suck as bad as last year's pitiful attempt.  If people give me a wide berth at the swap this year, I'll know why, lol.
And here's the necklace I had made at the retreat this past weekend, er, still working on assembling the inchie frame.

See the felt beads on top of the wood piece?  That's what prompted my purchase of the little bags of wool, and as one commenter put it, my "woolly balls", lol (and I know who you are).  Let's not go there. I thought the one on the right was kind of a self portrait, hehe. Except my hair isn't that frizzy, it actually is pretty dad gum flat (see post about the weekend, or just check out my profile pic, ack)  The one tile is supposed to say "JAVA", but didn't quite fit. Those are all ArtGirlz stamps, who I hear is going out of business, boohoo.  Did you also hear that Rusty Pickle is going out of business? I really liked their papers and products.  It's really too bad.  Hate to see that. Ok, guess that's enough blather today...go be creative!

This Is For The Birds.....

...yea, this snow is for the birds.  Is spring here yet?
Actually, my partner for the All Things Tim Yahoo! group received her item day before yesterday, so I'm sharing that with you today.  She (being Linda, very funny and talented chick) posted it on her blog here.   The theme of the swap was "For the Birds", so you were to incorporate anything with birds (pretty self explanatory, I think, lol).  I love birds.  I really love the Tim stamps I have "artful flight", so I knew which stamp set I was going to use. Check.
Now what to make? I could have went with a tag, as we so normally do with ATT swaps, but I thought, nah, I want to do something different.
Insert rummaging through piles HERE.  Bingo! Those Cosmo Cricket boxes I had laying around! Double check!
Ok, now on to papers...hmm, oh look, this 7 Gypsy paper has a set of wings on it, triple check!  And it went on from there, kind of snowballed into this assemblage piece:

On the front here you see the 7 Gypsy paper, Basic Grey white rub on scroll, Artful Flight birdcage stamp stamped with walnut distress embossing powder, grungeboard heart, wings and crown, the heart and crown have crackle paint on them. The SOAR is Espresso paint dabber with Tim's foam alpha stamp set. Highlights were done with white pen to birdcage and SOAR.
Here's some pics of the guts, I mean, inside:

Some close-ups:

The grungeboard key is altered using Kat's Drunken Scotch technique.  Awesome, isn't it?  (Plus I needed something to prop up the nest, to avoid my eggs spillin' out) There are some seed beads in the little watchmaker's glass vial.  The bird nest is raffia, which I poured glue on and formed into a nest shape, painted with a wash of espresso paint, and sprayed with walnut distress ink/perfect pearls mix.  What I don't show is the "eggs" in the nest, some white oval beads I had that were perfect for this.

Ok, I'm givin' ya the bird...hehe...another stamp from the Artful Flight set, stamped on grungeboard and embossed with Ranger Antiquities Rust embossing powder. Scrap of material for a "scarf", crown is grungeboard painted with gold paint dabber, sanded and inked.  I thought I was being smart when I put the salvage sticker clock on the bird with some Idea-ology, you know, bird + clock = time flies?  Another he he.  The mirror behind the bird is Heidi Swapp, and it's actually got a pink tint to it.

Here's a closeup of a chipboard heart I covered in old sheet music, inked with distress ink, brushed corduroy, I believe, and attached some collage flowers and another Idea-ology piece.  I adhered it to the box with foam dots so it would stand out, plus I needed to attach the bird to it for stability.  All the paper used was the 7 Gypsy Marketplace, I believe, I might not have that correct. Glued some to the outside as well and added some word rub-ons.  All in all, I liked how it turned out.  Let's see, I still have one of those boxes left.......

Flowers A Bloomin'.....

....well, here's some ATC's for you that I worked on last night.  Was going to share more pics of the weekend retreat, but as usual, forgot to take them. Oh, and before I forget, someone commented yesterday and wanted to know if I used loose wool on the egg, and the answer is yes.  Now, I had never done this before, so of course before the teach even started explaining, I'm like, "so we just lay some of this over the styrofoam egg and start punching?" The answer again, is, yes.  By the time I was done I was sure there was probably no styrofoam left under there, but apparently it can take a beatin'.
Okey dokey, here's what I came up with last night.

 

 

All stamps are Wendy's, of course, as this is for an EWV swap. There's some grungepaper involved, some white crepe paper on the bottom flower as the base, white ink pen, idea-ology spinner as the stem on the first one with some fibers wrapped round, Maya Road butterfly rub-ons on the middle ATC, some pearls, some metal corner pieces that were actually brads but I snipped off the fastener part and just glued them on the corners.  I had of course purchased these at clearance prices thinking I would change the color with inks or paint, but the original color worked with this color scheme, amazingly enough.  Baby blue is not something I use a lot. lol
Good news is that one of my partners received my item for the ATT group "for the birds" swap, so I get to share that tomorrow, woohoo! Till then........be creative!

Baa Baa Black Sheep, Have You Any Wool???? and a little story.......

Saturday I went to a Stamper's Retreat in Springfield sponsored by the Prairie Stampers Club.  They had four workshops, and I would say there were at least 30 gals and a GUY there.  He made some cool stuff, by the way.  I met up with Susan and Helene, and we were in the same group, so they had to put up with me all day.
They have some great pics on their blogs, Susan's is HERE, and Helene's is HERE. 
We are all members of the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! group, so we have a lot in common.  I had met Susan in person before, but not Helene.  Both are very cool gals and it was so nice to talk to someone in person after you have corresponded in the cyber world.
So, I'll start with our first class, which was a needle felted egg.  I had never done this before, have heard about it, but not actually seen it done.  It's actually a simple process, well, at least this project was.  Started with a stryofoam egg, some loose wool, and a felting tool, which is basically a cluster of needles embedded in a handle, then just put the wool over the styro and punch, punch, punch!  Very theraputic, too! lol  The key is to go straight up and down with the needles, so as not to break them, right Susan?? lol
So this is what my egg turned out like, I kept going on it till I was happy with it:

Not much daylight here right now, so took it near the window.  Dewbird is the hand model. lol  I've been wanting to make some of my own felt beads, so when I visited Prairie Art Stamps after the retreat I bought five small bags of wool:

Ripped off some small hanks, put in hot water with a little dish washing soap, and roll, roll, roll.  Here's what I have so far:

I really like them for texture, and I want to try and make a necklace or bracelet with some paper beads, that's a whole other story, my friends.  Here's a shot of the three amigos:

From left, Susan, Me, Helene.  I look kind of sleepy and pasty, probably from being up since 5:00 a.m. lol  Oh yeah, and I crop all my pics so you can only see me from the upper chest and upwards. ack.  And can you tell I just got my hair cut? Lotta forehead action right now, but it'll grow. lol
So, now that the art portion is written, here's how the rest of the trip went.  It's rather humorous,  if you had been watching through a camera, you would have been rolling on the floor, I imagine.  And I'm sure you women out there can relate.
Here's the scene:
On the interstate, driving home and it's approximately 9:15 p.m.  We're just getting onto I-80 from I-180, and the car suddenly swerves a little, and of course I pipe up "what the heck was that?"
Dewbird "I dunno"
Then we hear a loud humming noise from the rear, and once again "what the HECK is that noise?" I say
Dewbird "I dunno, but it don't sound good" (but proceeds to keep driving at 70 mph)
I look in the passenger sideview mirror and say "Dude, you've got a flat tire" (notice how I remove myself from the equation at this point, or at least, try to)
Dewbird "Seriously?" (he's in denial)
Me- "umm, yay, I can see the tire is all squashed and you're like, ridin' on the rim, man."
Insert expletives coming from driver's seat HERE. Still driving 70 mph, btw.
Pull over to shoulder.
Dewbird gets out, looks at tire, gets back in vehicle, "yup, flatter than a pancake". (like I don't know what a flat looks like?)
Proceed slowly onto interstate, make it to the exit and to the truckstop.

It is now about 9:30 p.m.

Lift up hatch, try to find spare tire equipment storage area. Find it. Remove cheap parts provided by manufacturer. (It's an SUV)

Dewbird proceeds to crawl under vehicle, where spare is kept, and is pounding away on spare with cheap tire iron provided by manufacturer to remove it from holder. Insert more expletives HERE, coming from underneath vehicle.

Me-standing on the sidelines, for approximately 5 minutes. “this is ridiculous” I say to myself. I proceed to step over to the back of the vehicle, and READ the INSTRUCTIONS on the underside of the storage space. Hmmm, remove spare by turning crank cable with provided parts, (shows picture) from INSIDE THE FLIPPIN’ BACK OF THE VEHICLE. “Hey, you remove the spare from UP HERE” I say. “But as long as YOU are already UNDERNEATH the vehicle, let me know when the tire is low enough for YOU to pull it off the cable” (shouting now) and I proceed to crank the cable PER THE INSTRUCTIONS. (hoping like hell there are no broken parts at this point from all the previous pounding)

Finally get spare off to discover it needs air, and luckily, Dewbird knows right where the air valve is at the truckstop (occupation- truckdriver). He proceeds to take tire to get air in it, while I jack up the vehicle, PER INSTRUCTIONS, and loosen lug nuts.

We finally get the spare on, amidst the car falling off the cheap jack about 3 times, (no injuries), but much weeping and gnashing of teeth and a good half an hour has elapsed at this point.

Make it home about 10:15-10:30 p.m.

I could have walked the six miles home, gotten another vehicle, drove back and he would still have been underneath the vehicle, pounding away, while regaling everyone at the truck stop parking lot with his colorful vocabulary, had I not read the instructions.

What the ??? is it with men and the refusal to read instructions first?

Needless to say, had I purchased the needle felting tool, when I got home I could have whipped out about a dozen eggs by midnight. Punch, punch, punch…….

Spring is Sprung, Grass is Rizz, Wonder Where the Flowers Iz......

...well, here's hoping Spring is Sprung anyways.  Still winter here, but we're supposed to have temps in the high 20's and low 30's next week.  I can't wait.  I usually don't mind winter, but this last one has seemed painfully long and cold.  Maybe it's my age catching up with me, lol.
I remember my Mom saying that little ditty in the title when I was younger, and it's kind of stuck with me.  I find it amusing.  You might, not so much.
Alrighty then, the juju is slowly returning.  Spent a couple of hours in the studio last night, mostly picking through stuff, putting bits and pieces in a pile, etc.  I did however, manage to get an ATC done for an upcoming swap.  Yea, I know, I don't usually share pics before swapping, but this is one of those, send in six, get six back things, so I feel somewhat safe in sharing.  Oh, and the theme of the swap is SPRING.

It was refreshing to work with some bright colors for a change.  Different for me.
I was completely enthralled (I like interjecting big words I don't normally use on a daily basis here on the blog, makes me feel intelligent) with the plaid technique Tim used on one of the Twelve Tags of Christmas using alcohol inks.
I have the alcohol inks in the Bright colors, so used them here.
All stamps used are Wendy's.
Here's a pic of the extra backgrounds I made (soon to be ATC's, hopefully):

Trust me when I say, they are BRIGHT.  In order to tone it down a little, I stamped over with Wendy's splatter stamp in Coffee Archival.
I used pigment ink - Watermelon to color the flowers, then overstamped with the polka dot stamp.
I think I need a little something more on the blue rick rack ribbon, but not sure what it's going to be.
I kinda like how it turned out, ATC's are something I struggle with, I'm not sure why.  I guess I'm used to working BIGGER, so the small size kind of intimidates me (nothing like a little ole ATC to bring this big chick to her knees, lol).
I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, I'm going to a Stamper's Retreat and meeting up with some EWV group/blog friends for a day of craftiness.  Susan and Helene.  We're doing four mini workshops; needle felting, inchies, a necklace and a mini book.  Should be a riot.  The only thing is I have to leave the house at the ungodly hour of 6:00 am to get there in time for the first workshop.  But I'm sure it will be totally worth it.  Not to mention the POTLUCK FOOD.  Yum-O.  Hopefully I will be lucid enough tomorrow morning to remember the camera to take some pics, which you will definitely see next week, you lucky devils.
What am I taking for the potluck you ask? (maybe you didn't, too bad)
Need something that travels well, doesn't need to be kept warm or refrigerated, hmm... I decided on Texas Sheet cake.  Nothing like massive amounts of chocolate, sugar and butter to stir the creative juices...or send you into a diabetic coma.....

It's a Wendy TRIFECTA!

..remember the tag I made using Stream ink and Gold embossing powder?
I decided to make two more to make a TAG TRIPLE PLAY!!!

Craft sheet makes a great background, doesn't it? lol
At least I cleaned it first.
What also helped with this decision was the fact I had two more roses that the lovely Alexandra had sent for the grungepaper rose swap, so.....
Yep, going for continuity and a theme here, so stuck with the gold embossing powder, Maya Road chip tags and tickets, and went with black embossing powder for the sentiments so they stood out.
All stamps are Wendy's
Decided they needed something else, butterflies? Need to get them some antennae though, as I chopped them off cutting the grungepaper. Please don't tell PETA.
Colors are Adirondack dye inks. Tag on the left is Cranberry. Middle one is Butterscotch, then blended Terra Cotta over it. Tag on the right is Stream
The brown tickets that the sentiments are stamped on are Brushed Corduroy distress ink.  The green ticket is Adirondack Lettuce.
If you look closely, the backgrounds are stamped with:
Left - Coffee Archival ink, Middle - Olive Archival ink, Right - Black Archival
So now the question becomes, what to do with them?  I had thought about mounting them on a black piece of mat board.  Then the issue is, put them in a frame? I'm going to have to look through the "junk" pile.  See if I can find sumpin' good. I do have an old wood box that might work.  Any ideas?
I'm still wondering if the tags need a little something else, but not sure what. They're not that big.
So I was able to get these done last night, stopping momentarily to watch TEAM USA bring home gold medals like crazy.  Amazing, simply amazing.  I don't know, maybe it's my age or something, but when those people move like that, all I think is OUCH.  I mean, how can you see people crash right before your eyes, then get up there and try the same thing?  Major mental discipline there.
That's it for now peeps, thanks for stopping by! GO USA!

It's All About Sharing.......

...that's what I love about artists.  They so freely share what and how they create.  Well, I would say 99% do.  While I'm waiting for the return of the juju, thought I would share some great videos that I found out in cyberspace.  You may or may not have seen these.  It's worth a peek....

Jennifer McGuire shares how to emboss on ribbon on the Hero Arts Blog  
They have great stamps, and a great blog full of inspiration and ideas.

Sherry Cheever shares how to make flowers from coffee filters and distress inks.  Very cool!  And she is flippin' hilarious.  Love the art she makes, does a lot with Spellbinders dies.  Ah yeah, that's because she's on the design team. Hello!

Kat shares a tutorial on the "drunken scotch" technique.  I've tried it, and it does work.  I used Diamond Glaze and Glossy Accents as the glue source, both worked fine.  Gives a very cool texture and look.

Rhonna Farrer shares a video on how to make "lollies" from vintage text paper.  She has some other cool "how to" videos as well.  Think Heidi Swapp.

And let's not forget Ranger....they have a whole BUNCH of videos on their website.
Enjoy!

Where, Oh Where, Has the JuJu Gone?

 ...my juju has momentarily departed.  You know, mojo, creativity, blah, blah, blah.  That, and I just couldn't bring myself to bundle up and waddle out to the studio last night. I think it all started this weekend when I was attempting to finish a project for Dewbird for Valentine's Day.....which was yesterday.....and it wasn't going well, so I pushed it aside.  Promised him something would be coming....shortly.
Perhaps.
I hate that.  Of course, if I had started it earlier than, say, Friday, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Ack.  I did manage to buy him one of his favorite chocolate snacks, which appeased him greatly.  He loves chocolate almost more than I do.  That's quite a bit, people.  Ok, enough feeling sorry for myself and my juju.  Thought I would share an ATC I made a short while ago.  I wanted to do some masking, and this is what I came up with:

I'm sure you can see that I used Broken China and Peeled Paint distress ink.  No big shock there.  I decided to use one of 7 Gypsies ATC pockets to keep it in, too, so did that to coordinate with the ATC.
The masks are Heidi Swapp.  And I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I prefer Heidi Swapp masks to Tim's.  Yes, you heard me correctly.  The reason?  I don't have an issue reusing Heidi's masks over and over again.  Tim's I have used once, and the stickiness is gone, and I can't get them to stick again.  I thought maybe it was just the one I had used, but no, I've tried others and the same thing happened.  Yes, I tried washing them with soap and water. Nada.  And yes, the ink was dry before I applied the mask.
There are some Wendy stamps here, the ole trusty Stampin Up French Script, and I think the ferny, leavy stamp on the right is Inkadinkadoo.  I put glossy accents on the right sentiment.  There are some distress stickles on the left "Art enclosed" tag.  Black glaze pen round the edges on the right.  Here's the back side:

I decided to put the punched flowers at the top of the ATC with a Maya Road trinket flower, makes it easier to grab it out of the sleeve.  I actually really like this, probably because it uses my fave colors and it has a bird and leaves on it....so I might actually keep this one for myself.
Oh, and here's a question for those of you that sew.  I'm looking at upgrading from the Singer I've had since....college.  Sheesh, it's about like buying a car.  Too many choices.  Any thoughts from those of you that use one on a regular basis? Likes, dislikes, brands, etc?  I appreciate your input.
On a promising note, I drove by our local Dairy Queen and see that it's opening TOMORROW.  That's a big deal around here, (for me anyways). It's the small things that make me happy.  Ice cream is one of them.
Here's hoping for the return of the juju...or perhaps a good whack upside the head...to get things moving........or maybe a Mocha Moolatte......

Another Swap-a-rooski Received!

..this one was from the monthly mailer swap I'm in on the All Things Tim Yahoo! group.  Very fun and not a lot of pressure since it's one item per month....hence the name...Monthly Mailer. lol  My partner was Bethan, hope she doesn't mind if I name her here, who is across the pond, and judging by the length of her address, over the river and through the woods about 50 times. Whew!  Any-who, she made a lovely hanging:

Isn't it GORGEOUS!  And some little "bits and bobs" were included in the envie too!  Love, love, love it! Thank you BETHAN!  Fantastic, just fantastic........

OWOH - WINNERS!!!

Winners, I have winners!
First of all, thanks to everyone who left comments, and those who have now chosen to follow my blog! That is GREAT! And I'm so flattered! The amount of talent that is out there that I discovered through this event is AMAZING, to say the least. Without further ado, the three winners are:

Dawn Hinckley
Cheryl from cheryl-comfort
Donna from My Way

I'm in the process of contacting the winners!
Thanks so much for playing!
 



Thanks, people!  I'm over 200 comments, so I'm adding another art piece to giveaway!  Keep 'em comin'!  I LOVE comments.  Especially the nice ones, lol.  Here we go:

Yes, lots of grungepaper here.  Figured I had to put the heart in there, you know, one world, one HEART, lol.  All of the stamps used were Wendy's .  The size of this piece is approximately 4 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches.  I'm hoping you'll like it enough to make a comment!  So, now I'm up to three giveaways, which will be drawn on February 15!  If you don't have a blog, make sure you leave some sort of contact info in your comment, otherwise, the random generator will move on to the next "chosen one".  Thanks for looking!
 February 1, 2010
Since I've received so many wonderful comments on my funky little art piece I'm giving away, I decided to make another piece.  And hey, if I get more than 200 comments, I'll probably throw in another piece! So as of right now, there will be TWO winners drawn.
Here's a pic of the second item:

Here's the back:

It's a Memory Glass frame from Ranger that I poured black UTEE in, and added some Beadazzles for some bling bling.
I just had to do something with the genie lamp mold I had made from a keychain to go with the OWOH theme.  I was going to make something for my original piece, below, but it just didn't work in with the piece, I felt.
I found a cool picture of a Turkish castle in my Instant Art book from Suze Weinberg, the queen of UTEE.  Also found a cool pic of a veiled lady which I adhered to the back of the castles. Added a little beadwork, too, and a nifty little heart charm.  Oh yeah, there's black glitter surrounding the lamp, with Beadazzles around the perimeter, the pic is a little dark.  But the black glitter is very.....glittery.
January 25, 2010
Here's the first piece I made for the giveaway:

It's a 3 x 3 (inches, NOT feet) canvas with fragments and other pieces attached, on it's own little stand.  I guess my pics are darker than I thought they would be, but here's some close ups.

The little round piece in the upper right is made from UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel).
Here's a view from the side:

And a close up of the wee little butterfly on the glammed up base:

It's much cooler in real life, slightly glittery, but hopefully not too much.  It's a little different than the things I usually make, I started with the square framed pieces, which kind of have an Asian feel, so I went that route, which is totally out of the norm for me.  I hope the beaded fringe isn't a little too over the top.  I made it so it will come apart for shipping, and I will include directions of how to reassemble, it's very easy, I promise!
Click on the picture below and it will take you to the blog with all the pertinent info about the OWOH event.

I will welcome all commentors as potential winners for my giveaways, not just those who have a blog. There will be a few rules, however, just to try and make things easy for me! :)

1) Comments need to be left on this post only, to be entered to win.

2) You will need to leave your email address in the comment, or a link directly back to you. I really don't want to have to try and track people down

3) Winners will be chosen on February 15.

4) Only one comment per person, duplicates will be deleted prior to choosing winner.

Thanks so much to Lisa Swifka for organizing this event. Enjoy your blog hopping, I know I'm excited to see all the blogs out there, and what people have created.
Oh yeah, and like an idiot, when I emailed Lisa the link, I just linked to this post, if you would like to see some of my other work and posts, click here, and it will take you to the whole blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Stream and Gold, Stream and Gold, Stream and Gold......

...this is what I was muttering to myself repeatedly from the house to my studio last night.  I had an idea, and I didn't want to forget it, as so often happens. lol  I really wanted to enter Hels Sunday challenge, as it was a Rose theme, and I had some grungepaper roses from my partner, Alexandra, that I've been wanting to use in a project, sooooo......

Ah, yes, picture taken this morning, too much coffee, so a little blurry.  Alexandra used Polished Pigments on her rose leaves, so they have a nice metallic finish.
I thought, well... let's try and keep the metal thing going.  I also decided to use Stream dye ink instead of distress ink (gasp).  I love the Stream color.  Overstamped the background with Wendy's number background stamp in Denim, and used Encore gold pigment ink and gold embossing powder for the scrolls, which are also Wendy's stamps, well, heck, all the stamps I used here are Wendy's, who am I kidding?  Oh, and all chipboard is Maya Road.  I kept it simple, as my goal was to finish it in less than an hour.  Hopefully it's not too simple.  I used gold paint dabber around the sentiment chip and the tag edges.  The sentiment was stamped with black Archival, but I made the brown behind it a little too dark, so it didn't stand out.  So I decided to go over the sentiment with the black glaze pen, I think that worked pretty good.  So there you have it!
I also wanted to share the last Valentine card I had made.  Here it is, thank goodness.

I don't want to bore you bloviating about details, but basically:
Ink is Adriondack Currant
Heart stamp - don't know, Walmart clearance special
Cuttlebug embossing folder used on main background, with Currant ink
Stampin Up By Definition stamp used on dark cardstock with Polysparkle embossing powder, then swiped Snow Cap white pigment ink over all
The heart is mounted with foam dots for dimension
And now, I just wanted to wish everyone Happy Valentine's Day, and here's a little Valentine from me and Dewbird to you!  Hope you laugh your      off!!!!  Disco may be dead, but  our love is Stayin' Alive!!!!  HE HE

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Embossed Layer Resist - Revisited!

'Member a couple of cards ago I used the embossed layer resist technique for a background?  I loved it so much I incorporated it a different way in this card:

It's the "BE MINE" faux buttons there.  I was looking at stamps with negative space and whilst rifling through the stash, came upon these alpha stamps I had purchased, oh, I don't know, a long time ago.  I thought, hey, why not try that technique with these stamps?  So I did.  I stamped some white cardstock with the By Definition background stamp from Stampin Up and Adirondack Slate ink, let dry, and then used the alpha stamps to overstamp and embossed with clear powder.  Then once cool, blended Walnut Stain distress ink over it.
As far as the rest of the card:
Flourish stamps with white acrylic paint and Aged Mahogany distress embossing powder on background paper
A leftover strip of paper from yesterday's card underneath the "BE MINE" (you know I can't throw anything away)
The base heart is chip covered with Fired Brick crackle paint
The smaller heart is chip covered with old text paper, inked, stamped and distressed within an inch of its life
Clear button is covered on the back with old text paper which I adhered with glossy accents
Used black twisted paper ribbon thru all that to attach hearts and button together
Used foam dots to adhere to page for dimension
On the inside I covered the page with the blue background paper and then a smaller piece of the red cardstock on top.
And hey, if you don't like OR are getting tired of Valentine's crap cards, you can at least get ideas for techniques and stuff.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it, as my friend Eileen says.
See you tomorrow!

Whoa! There's a Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On!!!!

....here in Illinois, that is.
I was rudely awakened at 4 a.m. this morning, because the bed, and then I slowly realized, the whole house,  was shakin' around.  Even the handles on the dressers were banging.  So, you know, in one of those "just-awakened" stupors, I'm like, hmmmm, must be another earthquake, or the machine shed just blew up.
Hoping like heck it wasn't the latter, as my studio is out in the machine shed, lol.  So, I finally get back to sleep, just in time to hear the alarm go off, and turn on the TV right away to make sure I wasn't dreaming the whole episode.  Sure enough, we had a 4.3 earthquake about 70 miles from us, near Dekalb, Illinois.  We had another little one back in April of 2008, which also woke me up.  No major damage anywhere that I heard of, but still, kind of freaky.  It was felt quite a ways away from the epicenter, too, from what I understand.  I can't imagine what a 6.5 feels like.  Anywho, that's the most excitement we've had around here in a while, lol.
Ok, here's another V-Day card I made:

Yes, I'm sure you recognize the Graphic 45, Botanicabella papers.  Behind that, I used the vellum technique that Tim used on one of the Twelve Tags of Christmas.  Basically, stamp the vellum with a permanent ink, heat dry to set, then use distress ink over the whole thing, and heat it just till the ink starts smoking a little bit, and this makes it look like old parchment.  Very cool.  The paper behind that, I guess you would call it the BACKGROUND paper, is actually one of those paper bags from a boutique type store, (you know, the ones I don't frequent, lol), that I crumpled, distress inked, splotched water on and dried, then overstamped with the French Script stamp.  This is one of my favorite cards, simply because it's more vintage looking, which I really love.
Sssseeewwww, I think I only have a couple of more to share, then what's the next over-rated holiday coming up?....hmm, oh yeah, St. Patrick's Day.  No, no cards for that one. Not sure I'll get Easter done either, we'll see how the other projects are comin' along.  Thanks for stopping by today!  When I get home tonight, I'm going to make sure all my cupboard doors are closed tightly, lol!

Swap-a-rooski Received!

...decided to go phonetically on that word, lol.
Love getting stuff in the mail.  Love it.  I received a lovely package from my partner, Lynne, for the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! group Valentine swap.  Fantastic piece!  Here it is:

Lynne said she was "inspired" by the "Joy" hanging I had done back in December for the group.  Let's see if I can find that....
Yep, here it is:

I think she did a FANTASTIC job!  She also sent some little extras, which is not required, making her very generous, indeed.  I love how she used Wendy's scroll stamp to make the heart.  Very cool.  So, a big THANK YOU to Lynne, she really made my day!  The cool thing about this swap was that is was basically Artist choice, so you didn't know what you would be getting, i.e. tag, card, hanging piece, etc. The current swap for the group is Spring ATC's.  Send in six, get six back.  Wanda is hosting that one.  Which reminds me.....

My Partner Lies Over the Ocean.....

Woohoo! My partner, for the All Things Tim Monthly Mailer, received my tag, so now I can share!  She lives across the pond, too, so that in itself is amazing.  I think I mailed it a little over a week ago.
The theme was anything with wings, and we were to incorporate some techniques from Tim's February 2008 technique challenge.  It involved a lot of crackle paint.  Here it is:

Distress inks on background: Fired Brick, Aged Mahagony, a touch of Dusty Concord, and some Vintage Photo for good measure
The I Love You bordered stamp is an Acey Deucy stamp (I think, can't guarantee)
Heart stamp is Stampin Up
Crown stamp and wing stamp are Tim's.  I masked the heart then overstamped the wings
Grungeboard heart and 14 - Fired Brick crackle paint
Wings - Peeled Paint crackle paint
Grungeboard crown - Gold paint dabber
Calendar round is Tim's Salvage sticker on grungeboard, with PP crackle paint over the center, then 14 glued down.  Put some glossy accents over the FEB and a little rhinestone to signify the date, what a breakthrough that was. lol
Wings are stitched to heart with green floral wire
Idea-ology corner on bottom left of tag
SOAR is a rub on from......Basic Grey? Heidi Swapp? 
And I figure a crown has to have jewels, so added some little rhinestones.
Oh, and the DREAM on the heart is a word rubon with glossy accents over it.
VIOLA!
She seemed to like it, so that's all that matters.  Hope you all were able to make some time to be creative.  I started my project for the ATT group, For The Birds swap, so I have a good head start on that.  Finished up some more Valentine's cards, which I think I only have one more to make. You'll be seeing that tomorrow, lol.  Oh, and I finished up a previous project to add another giveaway on OWOH, see post above.  So, overall, a very productive weekend for me.  I even cooked once....yep, gasp if you want.  Have a good one!

Final Card Installment for This Week....

yeah, what's with all the cards?  And Valentine's cards besides?  Well, just a little digression here, I'm making cards for family members, and of course, my significant other, aka the random generator, Dewbird (whose I have yet to make, yikes.)  My Gram loves to get things in the mail, who doesn't? So, I try to be good and send her cards.  And my employer thinks my stuff is neat, so I'm making one for him to give to his wife.  No pressure a'tall.
But here's a card I made that I REALLY like, so I'm having a hard time deciding who to give it to, and no, just because you leave a nice comment doesn't mean I'll send it to you, lol, although money could entice me:

 

It almost looks like....I know what I'm doing.  lol  The stamp is Hero Arts design block Sillouette.  I stamped it with Cranberry Adirondack pigment ink, and then, here's the best part, embossed with Ranger Distress Embossing powder in Aged Mahogany.
So, if you've never used the distress embossing powder, it turns into a matte finish, which you let cool COMPLETELY, then rub the design to rub off the release crystals that are in the powder, giving a shabby distressed look.  Since I used Cranberry pigment ink, the distress part doesn't show up as much, but I still love it because of the matte, rough finish.
Then, a rub on sentiment in the top corner, and now, what to do with the base of the stamped image so it isn't floatin' out there in "non-grounded space"?  On to the Threading Water punch by Fiskars, with a strip of white lace lookin' sticker on top.  Then mounted and cut around the scalloped edge.  Not bad, eh?
Oh, and here's a little tip 'o the day.  You know how when you hear about people doing really stupid things, you think, man, they really are stupid.
Well, I can now put myself into that category, lol.  I was trimming a couple of backgrounds with my handy dandy Tonic guillotine cutter, I think you know where this is goin', and I somehow, unbeknownst to me, had the tip of my left thumb over the cutting edge.  Wonder what that sharp stab of pain is, I thought.  Holy crap! it's my thumb.  Suffice it to say, I still have the end of my thumb attached, but my fingernail took a little beatin'.
So, word to the wise, keep your dad gum appendages away from the cutting edge.  There you are now, go off, be safe and have a good weekend!

I Actually Went Home and Tried a Technique I Saw Today....

Ok, well, actually it was yesterday that I saw the technique.  And today, is...today.  I was perusing blogs and on one of my perusals came across this on the Hero Arts blog.  Embossed layered resist.  I have seen this before, but as per usual with my memory lapses, I forget about the techniques I see.  Not today, my friends.  I actually remembered.  So I scurried my little behind out to the studio as fast as my thunder thighs would allow me right after supper, so I wouldn't forget.  he he
This is the card I made, and I'm callin' it a Valentine's card:

 

Basically, here's the deal:

White cardstock, stamped with French Script in a light to medium color ( I used Adirondack Slate).

Using a large background stamp with lots of negative space, stamped over the script with Perfect Medium, and embossed with clear embossing powder.

Then using distress inks, blend on color.  I used Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany, and a touch of Dusty Concord and some Walnut Stain around the edges.

I thought it turned out way cool.  Then my quandary  was figuring out what to do with it, as it was pretty bold and busy.  Ahh yes, an hour later, after pushing it to the side and working on something else and poppin' a couple 'o mini Reeses peanut butter cups, I decided to go with simple strips of paper and felt flowers from, yes, Maya Road, the white one is Prima, I believe.  Then a rub on sentiment on the paper strips, and called it good.  Didn't have a small white brad, so made my own from a silver brad with white embossing powder.  I did make another background using the same technique, I was so CHUFFED with how the first one came out:

  

I used the Stampin Up By Definition background stamp, and another large background stamp that had lots of negative space.  I think both of the large background stamps I used are from the company that used to be called D.O.T.S., which I believe is now Close to My Heart.  Not sure.  Let's just say I've had them a while.  So I might do the same thing with this background, unless I have a brainstorm and think of something else.  Any ideas? And I can't for the life of me figure out why blogger won't center this last picture...(insert muttering here)

So, I urge you to try this technique if you haven't already, it's pretty cool.  The only thing is, make sure the design you emboss does have a lot of negative space, otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose of the technique.  Thanks for checkin' me out! I mean, my blog! Have a good one!

Cool...Something Besides a Valentine Card to Share....

..I hear a bunch of sighs, aahhhh, thank goodness.
Yep, my swap partner received my tag, so now I'm free to share with YOU
This was the Valentines swap for the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! group.  Actually, it's a rather non-traditional Valentines, as no hearts were harmed in the process, but the colors fit the theme.

Oh, look, there's my new fave embossing powder from Ranger, Verdigris. lol  Let's see, I'll try to keep the description brief, as I feel sometimes I might  probably lose people if they have to read too much.
Background was the pigment and pearls technique - cranberry pigment ink and perfect pearls forever red, I believe. Overstamped with Wendy's background stamp in the cranberry.
Wendy's border stamps on top and bottom in Archival black
Wendy's butterfly stamp on grungepaper with spiced marmalade and fired brick, wire antennae
Sentiment is Wendy's stamp in Archival black
Butterflies and red felt trim are Maya Road (there's a shocker)
Little black flower trim is Creative Imaginations felt trim (love this stuff)
Base of flowers is twill tape with a little red ink swiped on, red button and pearl.
Tag ribbon is actually leftover pieces of fabric I stacked and glued together.
Oh yes, let's not forget the black glaze pen for stitching around the edge of the tag.  I also used the pen to make little butterfly "trails".
My partner said she liked it, so I'll just go with that!  Let me know what you think!

Another Day, Another Card...

Yeah, I know.  Valentine's cards are everywhere right now.  Might as well join the party!  Not to mention, some of the projects I have done are for swaps that haven't been seen by the recipient yet, (not that they might read my blog, but you never know, lol), so I don't like posting until they have received. So, here's a card I made, it's a 5" x 7".

The base is cardstock ran thru a Cuttlebug folder, Swiss Dots.  The next paper is just patterned paper that I was actually able to match with the base.  The dark paper is white cardstock colored with Adirondack dye ink - Currant.  The top piece is the same cardstock as the base.  I stamped the heart image with Currant, masked the heart, and overstamped with the trusty ole French Script background in distress ink - Worn Lipstick.  This one needs to get in the mail, pronto.  That's why I kept it flat and non dimensional, to avoid that "unmachinable" crap from the post office.  He.
I was rummaging around the "studio" the other day, and lo and behold, what did appear, a set of heart stamps, my dear.  Huh, I muttered quietly to myself, can't remember when I got these, but the clearance sticker on the upper corner of the package had apparently appealed to my "man, this is a great deal, and even though I don't really need it I'm going to buy it" nature.  Yea, a set of clear stamps for $3.  Are you tellin' me you would pass that up?  So, you'll be seeing another card tomorrow, and perhaps a card a day for the next couple of days.  I have six V-Day cards I want to make, so, there you have it, like it or not.  At the very least, maybe you'll get an idea or two, or three, or six.......

Valentine's Day Tag Contest - WINNERS!

Well, I have to say, it's been fun reading all your guesses on stamps and products.  Sometimes there was more than one correct answer, sometimes none! lol. Remember, if you see your name as a winner, email me within 24 hours with your address to claim it!   This was Day 1, and the only one that had the right answer was: WANDA!  - six products used: phil tag, adage ticket, flourish stamp, filmstrip ribbon, edge distress tool, distress ink.

Day 2 tag - Ok, this one should have been pretty easy, albeit, slightly tricky.  THREE Wendy stamps used, all three of her flourish scrolls. You might think it was one of the flourish scrolls, but no, all three. That makes the winner (the only correct guess), LUCY B!

Day 3 tag - 2 pieces of grunge(flourish and slide), distress ink, distresser tool, flourish stamp, sentiment stamp, crackle paint.  There were two correct answers here, out of 17!!! Wow, comments were highest on this one, you must have really liked it! So had to call the random generator, aka Dewbird, and he picked the second correct answer, which was:  EILEEN!   (p.s. Eileen, I already know where you live, lol)

Day 4 tag -Three Wendy stamps used here, the number border on the left background, the white ferny type stamp (you can barely see it in the background), and the sentiment stamp.  There were several correct answers on this one, too, so the random generator picked the second anonymous poster, but she left an email, so, STAMPIN BETSY gets it!

Day 5 - This was my personal favorite. And some of yours, too.  This one was a little tricky, and I didn't see any correct answers, so I just randomly picked one, and by that I mean the random generator. lol  On this one, 2 pieces of grunge, adage ticket, background stamp, 2 Ideaology corners, distress ink, distresser tool on edge of tag. That brings the total to 8. I don't count the embossing powder on the bird as one of Tim's signature products, it's just a Ranger product, although to some I suppose they are one in the same, lol. So, the winner, randomly chosen, is: NANCY!

Day 6 - Several correct answers on this one as well. Three stamps were used, the background, which I stamped with silver pigment ink, kind of hard to see, the sentiment stamp, and the Bingo stamp on the left tag. So, randomly chosen from four correct answers is:  KATHY E!

Thanks again to all for the wonderful comments, it was great fun! And no worries if you didn't win this time, there will be others in the future, remember, I can only have so much stuff laying around, lol. More stuff to post tomorrow, hopefully. Still working on some Valentine's Cards, and I finished up the second OWOH giveaway piece over the weekend. Make some time to go create!