Rogue Traveller Canvas Passport to Fun challenge

Hi again,

I'm sure it wasn't just me, this winter was the longest, most drawn out test of seasonal affective disorder EVER! When we returned from Southeast Asia, I thought it would have been spring. No such luck.
To cope, I started making paper palm trees. I designed this 11x14 canvas to put on display in my living room, using the fabulous picture of a classic VW camper van as my jumping off point.

I found the picture on Pinterest. The photo credit linked back to desert-dreamer.tumbir.com  A thousand apologies if this is not correct. It's an awesome pic and it reminds me of the jungles in Indonesia that we visited in February.

to start, I made the trunk of the palm tree with some recycled paper bag, twisted it, and sprayed it with color shine.  The fronds were die cut from BoBunny paper, and more recycled packaging for the "looking glass" compass element. I fussy cut a bunch of leaves from the Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue collection.

 I can't remember the company which the background paper is from. I found it in the sale bin at my local scrapbook  store.  I added some lightweight modelling paste around the edges and also created a stencil from the palm frond die to add more visual interest on the edges.

 here you can see the recycled plastic packaging I used to make a cool compass.  I added some remnant rubs to the canvas as well.  Those packs are awesome. You can put them on everything (like Franks Red Hot hahaha) I glued some jute twine around the plastic to give it a more finished look.

I knew I needed some more red on the canvas to visually balance it with the picture, so I stitched some great metallic thread through the one side.

I really love how it turned out. I am going to submit this piece to Simon Says Stamp and Show for their weekly challenge:  http://simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.ca/2013/04/challenge-passport-to-fun.html

Kimono card

Hi again! It's time for another birthday card. I have 4 people in my immediate family that have birthdays in January. It's great for the creative process, but not so good for the bank account.

This card is for my youngest. She turns 18 today, so here in Alberta, she can now go to bars and nightclubs...awesome. Actually, I can't complain, she's a great girl and a responsible young lady. Happy Birthday second born.

I love the Bird Song paper collection from Graphic 45. All the papers are just fabulous. I had a asian theme in mind for the card so a kimono whispered in my ear. I went on Pinterest and searched "kimono cards" until I saw a you tube tutorial for one. I watched the video, wrote down the measurements and increased the dimensions so that the finished card is 5 x 7.

I stamped and embossed the outside of the card with gold and ruby EP and the cherry blossom branch from the Graphic 45 Bird Song stamp set after letting the pearlescent mists dry completely. ( I think I used cherry and gold lame from Heidi Swapp)

Then it was just a matter of fussy cutting images and making it look ornate and pretty. Of course, I had to put the number 18 on the top just for memory-sake.

The sweet man and I are heading out to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand for the month of February. Maybe I will come across some Rogue paper art supplies while we're there, that will add an authentic asian feel to my cards and scrapbook pages.

That's it for today, now go do something creative.

My Favorite Stamp

Do you have a stamp that you keep coming back to year after year?  I do.  This particular stamp distributed by "Stampa Rosa" years ago, is my all time favourite. There is something magical about it that pulls me back every Christmas season. I use it on some of my cards without fail.

I tried a technique that Shelly Hickox posted on her blog a while back called "Tarnished Silver" you can check out the link here....http://shellyhickox.blogspot.ca/2012/10/new-tutorial-on-splitcoast.html
I loved the effect, very cool, thanks Shelly!

I made five of these cards to give away, so without further taunting, here's what I did...

I made the frames with the "Tarnished Silver" however I used silver ink and Platinum EP. I didn't have the small Baroque die so I had to hand cut the inside to make a frame.

 I then stamped my image on Specialty Stamping paper from Ranger and cut the shape out on both the paper and on the packaging that we don't throw away. Right?!

 Add colour with distress markers and distress inks to give it a vintage feel

 add denim and silver alcohol inks around the plastic to create a Mercury glass feel

spray background paper with Heidi Swapp spray and emboss with  texture fade
add some silver ink and embossed lines to highlight.

Kaisercraft Advent Calendar

Whew! I haven't posted for a few days. The Kaisercraft Advent Calendar took waaaaay longer than I had anticipated. I did get a little carried away though, and I love the final result, but I'm keeping this one. LOL!

I used a bunch of different techniques here. I painted, sprayed, glued, 3D'd and decorated to the max.
My sprays were Heidi Swapp, the main paper collage was from Kaisercraft. (LOVE that paper) and I went on a shopping spree at Michaels for the decorative elements on the top.  I threw on some snowflake die-cuts from Memory Box and Tim Holtz. I used  Mahogany, Black Soot, Vintage Photo, and Broken China Distress Inks to antique the edges of the boxes.

Don't you just love the lanterns from Tim Holtz's ideology line? I bought 4 as soon as they came in.

Now  I just need to fill the little boxes with some treats for the S.M.