12 Tags of 2014 - April

Hi again,

I was beyond thrilled when I saw my name at the bottom of Tim Holtz' blog post for the March tag winners. Thank you all so much for the kind comments, they are kind and appreciated. Xo

On to April's tag...I had a lot of fun playing zigsaw puzzle with the frameworks die. You DO get a lot of little pieces to play with. I had a ton of "leftovers" on my cluttered desk, so I made a card with the "scraps". 

You can check out Tim's tutorial and videos here:

http://timholtz.com/12-tags-of-2014-april/

I just love making paper roses with the tattered pinecone die. I saw the video a couple of years ago and have been making them that way ever since.

I didn't have a metal charm that Tim used on his tag, so I made my own with paper and remnant rubs.

Here is the card using "leftovers" more frameworks, pieces, mirror paper and you know those little snippets of paper that you cut off of your 12x12 patterned paper? Don't throw them away ( oh wait, we are all paper hoarders - disregard the throw away comment LOL) this little banner was perfect.

I did do the roses a little different on the card. I used the tattered floral movers and shapers die and assembled it as seen in another video by Tim.

Thanks for taking a peek, I've been seeing some absolutely brilliant tags on Pinterest inspired by this months tag. Hope you get to play tag this month too.

Urban Scrapbook Design Team Challenge April

Hi everyone,
Our challenge this month at Urban Scrapbook was to use Gelatos, and the pretty paper line Styleboard from Crate Paper.

The background was created by doing a wash of gelatos and letting the color "run" down the paper.

The ribbon,frames,and flowers were all tinted with gelatos as well as the title letters.

You can see the shimmery shiny goodness of the gelatos on the flowers above.

I really had a lot of fun with the layout. It's my favorite picture of me and my happy Jacks.

Thanks for stopping by.

Life is Good - Enjoy the Journey

Hi again,

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week is "Journey"  This is one of my favorite themes, whether it's travel or learning, we are always on a journey to be better, to do better.

See how others incorporated the theme here:

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=1236

So a little back story...our manager is retiring at the end of May. She has been a wonderful boss and we are going to miss her dearly. I wanted to make a retirement card for her to reflect a new journey in her lfe. After all, life is good.  It's all about perspective right?

Supplies used

Bo Bunny paper (Key Lime collection) 6x6

White textured cardstock 12x12

Glossy cardstock 12x12

Window plastic

Silhouette machine 

Plumeria print and cut file sized to 1 inch

Porthole SVG file (free download!) from SVGCuts.com sized to 51/2 inches

Ranger Archival Ink Black

Tim Holtz Distress Paint:  Weathered wood

                                       Brushed pewter

                                       Tarnished Brass

                                       Black soot

Tim Holtz Distress Inks:   Lemonade

                                       Broken China

                                       Stormy Sky

                                       Mowed Lawn

                                       Vintage Photo

                                       Walnut Stain

                                       Black Soot

Vivid inks by Clearsnap:  Apricot Ice

                                       Orange

                                       Bermuda Blue

Stampscapes palm with huts 094G

Tim Holtz stamps. simple sayings CMS155

                             Wallpaper and wood CMS126

What I love most about this is the fact that everything started out as white cardstock (except fot the teal background paper) it's all ink and paint and a fabulous stamp from Stampscapes. I love using Stampscapes and blending ink colors. Make sure you use glossy paper for vibrant results and blendability.

Isn't She Lovely?

Hi again,

I wanted to share this card I made with you.  When I saw the Prima stamp hanging on the rack, she spoke to me. I couldn't wait to stamp the image and color it in.

I used my Copics and Shinhan Touch markers to colour and blend and blend and bl....well, you get the idea. Of course, the reason why she "spoke to me" was that the stamp seemed very tropical to me. So I added frangipanni flowers to her hair, using a memory box die in various sizes. I added a swirly flourish as well to tie in the colours .

Recognise the background paper? Upcycled packaging from the Prima packaging. I don't throw anything away. (lol)

Anything goes at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week. You can check out the link here:

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=1230

12 Tags of 2014 - March

Hi everyone,

I was looking at the calendar today and realized I had better post my March tag for the Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of 2014.

It started off as a tag, which I did complete, but after I thought, "oh I have another idea". Does that happen to you? I always look at something and think what I could have done. I drive myself crazy sometimes...

You can check out the post that Tim did here:

http://timholtz.com/12-tags-of-2014-march/

I didn't have the new bird stamps so I decided to make a "love letter" tag

I really like the word stamp. It inspired me the think about days gone by when people used to actually write letters. No email, no text messages, just pen and paper.

Which then led me to parchment and quills and ink. I made a foam stamp from the writing desk die. You can see it in the picture above. I also made my own pen nib out of foil and wrote "love" on the backside to add dimension. These are the elements I used for the card.

Here it is all put together.

And here's the two projects side by side

Hope you enjoyed my love letter projects, thank for stopping by.

A little bit o' luck

Hi everyone, 

Gosh it's been a while. My trip to Vietnam and Thailand was awesome. We had a really good time, especially getting away from winter for a month. I was lucky to have +34*C for a few weeks. However, back to reality for me. Oh well, next year...

I made a few St. Patrick's day projects and brought them to work to share with my gal pals.

I am also linking this up to the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge blog here:

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/challenge-lucky/

Here we go...

Sorry, this pic is a bit blurry, but it's the only one I took of the whole set.

Bo Bunny paper, Prima Paper, stamps, and Silhouette cut files ( shamrock flourish)

Silhouette cut file, scraps, celtic stamps, Gold Lame spray from Heidi Swapp

SVG cuts file from "surf shack" kit, Bo Bunny paper, Tim Holtz kraft paper

Sihouette cut files, round punches, gold spray, green thread, Bo Bunny papers (filled with chocolatey treats inside the pot)

Hope you enjoyed my St. Patrick's day projects. We had fun celebrating at the pub on Monday, after all, what's March 17th without green beer? See you soon.

The Rogue Stamper in Vietnam

Hi again 

I have been away from my art studio for 2 weeks now. I'm starting to get a little twitchy. I've never realized how much creating and immersing myself in a project keeps me focused and relaxed. I guess I am more high strung that I thought.

We have been exploring Vietnam. We started up in the north (Hanoi). There are wonderful friendly people here. Our hotel was absolutely beautiful  The Hanoi Elegance Diamond. It truly is a gem.

Check out the crazy wiring system they have!

We drove up to HaLong Bay for the exquisite Indochina Junk cruise. We feasted on 6 course meals for the 3 day/2night cruise.  The weather was very cold unfortunately, but beautiful all the same.

But the thing that I will be talking about forever was dinner in a cave! Amazing, warm, beautiful.

(Sorry, not the clearest picture but you can see our group and the staff surrounded by the amazing limestone)

Back in Hanoi we walked the streets lined with shops. I noticed a man hand carving stamps out of wood! The intricate detail was astounding. Of course I had to buy one.

The dark images are not pictures or labels, they are the actual wood carving of the stamp.

Here we are testing out the dragon stamp I purchased. I will be playing with this one when I get home.

Well, it's off to Malaysia and Thailand after we see Ho Chi Minh City, so I will probably start blogging again when we get home. Thanks for stopping by. Until then, be safe, be happy.