Valentine Countdown

Don't forget tomorrow Lisa Vollrath starts her Valentine's Day countdown with free images to download every day until February 14th. You can find it here. But go ahead and click on it now just to see that snarky woman telling you you're jumping the gun!

Friendship Card

I've been playing around with applying chalk ink onto glossy cardstock which is how I created the background for this stamped image from Queens Dresser Drawers. The rather wild background paper came in a pack of scraps I bought at my LSS. It has a nice felt like texture to it.

Wednesday Stamper

The challenge this week at Wednesday Stamper was to create a charm of some sort -- of course, by stamping. I had no appropriate frames so I used this bookplate as my charm frame. My image is from Stampington. Since I gave up all my jewelry making materials quite a while ago, I had to really scrounge around for the remaining pieces I added to the frame..

ATC - Geometry

Think Monday Think ATC's challenge was to use geometrical shapes which was kind of fun. My ATC includes diamonds (border), an oval (image), circle (postmark), rectangle (letter).

I'm really a big fan of stamps by Queens Dresser Drawers. Here's one I had yet to use. I created a background by applying chalk ink with a foam pad to glossy cardstock. Then I stamped my image over that with Brown Staz-On. The paper is by K&Co. I added a close-up of a lovely gemstone flower by Marah Johnson.

Gothic Arch

One more post for me today before I get busy with all I have to do -- but I really enjoy these Sunday Gothic Arch challenges. This week's theme is dogs. Love that theme because dogs have always been a part of our family (for a smile see end of this post!)

I stamped chalk ink on some glossy cardstock to create my background. The little boy and his dog is a stamp from Stampsmith. As it appears the boy is wearing a nautical outfit I tried to carry that look through the arch with my stamped stars (Rhonna Farrer) in the background as well as the twine along the side of my arch. I'll bet anything that dog is named Skip:)

And now for the smile -- here's a picture I took of my son last summer when he brought his Doberman puppy home. The look of adoration on that dog's face is so telling. I like to call this picture "A Good Watchdog Never Sleeps."

A Challenge for Me

Well, I had a challenge before me yesterday, but not like the kind I usually participate in on-line. A friend of mine asked me to make roughly 45 valentines for their single mom's ministry. I agreed and set out yesterday morning to design and create the cards only to realize I had practically none of my adhesive of choice left! I had ordered some on line a couple days ago, but it still had not arrived. This presented me with the situation of creating something with -- horror of horrors -- no patterned papers, no layers, just stamps on paper
I fiddled around with cardstock choices and finally decided ivory would be the best bet to stamp on. (The pink border here is only to let the card show up better when scanned). As I experimented with stamps I realized I had some self-adhesive paper from Autumn Leaves which I didn't care for that much and had not been using, but if I stamped this heart on it it would work rather well -- plus would require no adhesive!
I got all 45 cards made just as my friend arrived and -- wouldn't you know it -- the UPS man arrived with my package of adhesive!!!! This is the end result. Stamps I used were French script from Hero Arts; flourish from Rhonna Farrer; birds from Crafty Secrets; heart from Stampington.

Winterfest

Winterfest is one week away. If this is the first time you're hearing about it, click here to find out more about the fun-filled stamping week that is being planned at Two Peas in a Bucket. There are going to be challenges posted all week long almost all of which include RAK/prizes. I absolutely love anything that includes a prize, so I will be over there next weekend for sure!

I am hosting a challenge to create a masculine Valentine. After last night, I can tell you for me it is a challenge to create things for men! I had all night to craft, which was just lovely. The only thing I had to make was a "Thinking of You" card for a man I work with who is ill. Simple enough, right? Oh my goodness, I stared at that half-started card all night without inspiration! While waiting for my muse to kick in, I managed to make about ten Valentines for my female friends without any problem and absolute joy. (I make it a practice for Valentine's Day to make sure all my single friends receive a card).

Well, I got my card made for my colleague, but it's certainly nothing so impressive I'm going to post here. But I do want to share the Valentine I made. They are simple enough because I have to make quite a few, but I like it!

Red and ivory background paper is by Seven Gypsies. The "Hugs to You" is Hero Arts. The heart is by Impression Obsession. I downloaded the image from the web somewhere for free and can't remember where unfortunately. I just fell in love with Lovely Rose I believe she was called.

Bellas

I came across some Bella images that Stacey had sent me a while back and decided to make a set of note cards for a friend as a birthday gift. There is nothing more satisfying than making cards for someone who just squeals with delight when they receive them.

In order to make them look like a set I incorporated similar details into each one -- aside from the Bella image. I included a tag on each one, I used sparkle gel pen to color each image (which is hard to see in the photo but looks really great), I used a punch on each card, and except for the fourth one I used DCWV's Pocketful of Posies paper. Now I just need to make a nice little holder for these and all I'm set!

Wednesday Stamper

"Button Dolls" was the challenge for this week at Wednesday Stamper. I had decided not to play this week as it's not something I thought was my calling, but this morning I woke up and the first thing that popped into my head was an idea for this button doll. All of a sudden I just had to make one of these -- and quickly before work. So here is my result. I rather like it.

The face stamp is by Stamp Francisco and the butterfly wings are by Cavallini.

My Studio Clock

I wouldn't dare show you a picture of my craft space -- which I like to call my "studio" in an attempt to sound more artistic -- but I can share something I created to hang on the wall in it recently. I needed a clock other than the one on my computer, so I made this one from K&Co. papers and Crafty Individuals images.

Queen of Hearts

When I bought this heart stamp by Inkadinkado on clearance at Joann's I had so many ideas for it. Yet somehow it never gets used. So I figured it was time to pull it out for Valentine's Day.

I started this card with some Crafty Individuals background paper. I also added a Crafty Individuals image.

I didn't like the way the card was going and thought something was missing. The minute I decided to cut it into an arch shape it took on new life. I'm now completely happy with it!

Encourage Each Other

My son needed an encouragement card (sadly for one of his fraternity buddies that was diagnosed with cancer) and so I made this card for my son to give his friend.
It fits perfectly with the Salt Challenge this time which was "encouragement."

Big Lots Finds

In my weekly stop at Big Lots I found these gorgeous stamps by Rubber Stampede. They had quite a selection, but I stopped at these four. All were $2 each.

It just dawned on me that the square one with the open center will be the perfect frame for an inchie!

TMTA

Think Monday, Think ATC's theme this week is "winter" with a challenge to use light blue. My favorite color for winter cards. Here is my ATC, using an image I've had forever and was glad to finally use. Background paper is from Basic Grey as is the tag. I stamped the leaf border and "winter" from Hero Arts.

Wishing You a Happy Day

Well, it's not only the sentiment on my card, but my wish for all of those celebrating Martin Luther King day today. DH and I both have the day off. It's absolutely frigid here (about 20 below) which means I won't be going anywhere. Guess I'll have some time to play in my craft room!This flower stamp is from Magenta. I colored it with Twinkling H2o's which, of course, is hard to see in the photo. My sentiment is from Penny Black. I stamped that on cardstock and then cut it out in a somewhat wavy shape.

Gothic Arch

The Gothic Arch challenge for this week was Music & Lyrics. Nothing inspired me as far as specific lyrics so I used this new stamp set I have from Magenta with the music sentiment. I clear embossed the top and corner panel from the same set. The image is from Art by Moonlight.

Fantastic Mail Day!

Well, all I can say is I wish the mailman would bring one half of the goodies every day that he brought today. RAK's and MORE birthday wishes arrived! Nancy James from Vintage Papers sent me this lovely, lovely tag from her Pay it Forward challenge. I had admired these on her blog -- and, lo and behold, the one with the "L" shows up at my house. Thank you, Nancy, I just love it!

The tag above also came with the gorgeous bithday card from Nancy. Love that image!

This beautiful birthday card and ATC came from Jacqueline.

This little bit of goodies came from Lyneen. What a treat! Love her card and the way she made the candles with the flowers.

Here's another card I made using an image from Crafty Individuals. The background paper is from K&Co. I took this picture numerous times and each time things came out looking a bit crooked -- which they are not really. You'll just have to trust me on that:) I was thinking I'd like to plop that right into my blog header --it would match perfectly!

CI Valentine

I loved making this card -- this is the kind of card I could spend all day making. I used an image from Crafty Individuals as well as stamps from Stampington (large heart), flower border and cherish definition (Hero Arts), and words on tag (StampinUp). I stamped the large heart in pink pigment ink and clear embossed it, then cut it out and attached it to my card.

Birthday RAK's

Aren't these the most amazing cards? Lucky me, I received these birthday greetings from the gals over at StampinD'Amour -- Lyneen, Pam, Kris & Sarah.

Valentines

A couple quick and easy Valentine's Day cards. These are ones which I submitted for publication but were rejected.

I love the greeting on this first one which is by Inkadinkado.

No stamping on this one, but I did use my Cuttlebug to create the embossed background.

Card Contest

Art Impressions has started a revamped card contest. Using their stamps only, you can submit cards which follow their monthly theme. At the end of the month their design team will choose three winners who will be awarded coupons for on-line shopping at their store.
These are two cards I submitted for this month's theme of New Years resolutions. I stamped this tag using the Art Impressions snowman, evergreen tree, snowflake and the word JOY.

For this tag/card I used my mini Maude stamp and the celebrate background stamp.

(I computer generated this very appropriate sentiment for Maude.)

It was challenging finding Art Impression stamps that went along with my New Years resolutions which revolve around having the right attitude, but I think I have accomplished it somewhat.

Magenta Stamps

The three stamps I used for this card all came from one set of Magenta stamps. I stamped my birds twice and then cut them out and attached them over the original impression. Then I colored the larger image and flower with chalk pencils for a softer look. My background paper is from the Old World series from DCWV.

TMTA

Using "photo stamps" is the challenge for Think Monday, Think ATC today. I have found that photo stamps can, indeed, be a challenge. Here are my contributions for the theme and my suggestions for working with photo stamps.

For both of my ATC's I used stamps by Stampsmith. I stamped with brown Staz-On on to glossy cardstock. Glossy cardstock and Staz-On seem to produce the best results for me. The Staz-On dries instantly which I like. I have found when using these photo stamps it helps to stamp onto a mouse pad or soft surface. Also it's important not to use too much ink. If you are stamping multiple images, clean your stamp in between because the stamps gets rather gunked up. I have found sometimes I stamp my first impression on scrap paper and use the second impression so as not to get too much ink on my paper. Seems it takes me more tries to get a good impression with these types of stamps, but I like the results and look of them when I am successful.

This and That

I had a lovely birthday week -- yes, it does manage to stretch out to a whole week. Starting last weekend with the wonderful dinner party DH threw for me at our favorite Italian restaurant for family and some of my very best friends. That's my friend Nancy, sister Nina, me, and friend Pat just before departing for dinner.

DH and I finished up the birthday celebrating by escaping to a quaint country lodge for the weekend where we had a great time.

Thought I'd share SOME of the fun crafting gifts I received. And another cool surprise.....

.....was being nominated for the bloggers "You Make My Day Award" by Joanne from the UK. I am so honored when I see the other names I have been listed with -- some of whom I have admired for a long, long time. Thank you, Joanne, you made my day by mentioning me!

Here are a couple of bloggers that I visit regularly

who for the reasons listed make my day:

1. Jacqueline - Her artwork is always inspiring and a joy to

look at and she is so gracious with her comments.

2. Kris - Kris' cards are are of the shabby/chic variety

and every one of them is just gorgeous. Love her style.

3. Nancy - I have long admired her vintage/collage style.

Her blog is filled with everything I want to make some day.

4. Sandy - Sandy's blog features everything from cards to

scrapbooking to detailed info about her life:) I also

totally admire her work with Cards for Heroes.

Snowman Revisited

I just can't help myself -- this little guy just keeps calling to me. Probably because I've kept him right out on my crafting table where I can see him easily. But here's another card I created with him -- trying to stay away from the blue and white:)

The background paper is one sheet of double-sided paper by Imaginisce. It's really gorgeous paper. The swirls have glitter on them. I also used the window punch from StampinUp for my sentiment. The scalloped frame was made from gold paper which I cut with my scalloped scissors.

This is another card I'll be using for thank-you cards. I've got a few to send out for some lovely birthday presents I've received. Yes, tomorrow I turn 50! I'll have to share some of the wonderful crafting gifts and beautiful cards I received the next few days.

Want to see something really cool?

Just happened to find this little bit of news on the Stampington site -- click here and scroll all the way down to Take Ten Masterboard at the end of the post. Guess who has a Masterboard that's being published in the next Take Ten? Yup, it's me. And I'm pretty excited about it.

Target Mail Boxes

I finally got my hands on some of the $1 Mailboxes from Target that are so popular for altering right now. (The fact that my son works there was no help at all -- I had to scour every Target in the Chicago metropolitan/suburban area to find these myself!) Anyhooooo, I finally managed to find some. I rejected the pink and red ones, but picked up several of these white ones.
For those of you who are dying to get your hands on these, I thought it might help put your cravings at ease by telling you IMHO these are way too much work in terms of measuring and cutting paper to cover all the different sides of this thing. One will be enough for me!
My first attempt included applying alcohol inks onto the mailbox as I knew I didn't want to have to do the paper covering thing. But as that one ended up in the garbage, I proceeded with the paper altering. In addition to my background paper and some self-adhesive ribbon I used for the edging, I decorated my mailbox with some Cavillini bird stickers. I left the the base of the flag plain as well as part of the rim of the mailbox as it is raised and hard to cover with paper. Plus when you put the end caps on you cannot really see it anyway.

I made these mini note cards which can go inside of the mailbox to make a nice gift. Here again I used Cavillini stickers in addition to the Bird Notes clear stamp set from Crafty Secrets and some Basic Grey paper. Now these I totally enjoyed making!

Wednesday Stamper

The theme this week at Wednesday Stamper is "keys." Great opportunity to pull out this little used stamp set from StampinUp with keys, locks, quotes, etc.

I stamped my background paper with the different keys and lock from the set. I stamped the heart lock twice and cut that out to use against my love collage from Paper Inspirations.

WinterFest

If you're using Google Reader you've missed my WinterStamp banner on the side of my blog. Can't miss this one! It's a week long event that will be going on at Two Peas starting Super Bowl Weekend, Feb. 2nd through 9th. You can check out their site for more info, but basically it's a week long stamping event which involves challenges, tutorials, prizes/RAK's and lots of fun!

I'll be hosting a challenge to create a macho or masculine Valentine. This is a challenge for me because I really prefer to create with stuff that's pink or has lace or is very feminine. If you join in the fun and create one for the Winterstamp I'll be giving away a way cool RAK to one or more participants (haven't completely decided yet). But there's lots more in the way of challenges going on, so check it out here.

Here's a sample for my macho valentine challenge. I initially created this tag using one of the methods Tim Holtz showed on his blog for the Christmas tags. I clear embossed red distress ink. Then over that I applied some brown distress ink with a foam pad to create this cool background. You can actually stamp over that then using StazOn, so I stamped some images from Rhonna Farrer's gypsy set.

I used distress embossing powder on these chipboard letters to create kind of a rusty look. They matched a rusty heart I found on one of my Christmas boxes and thought would be great for this project. I then stamped the heart with wings from the Rhonna Farrer set on my checkerboard background to complete this card.

No pink, no frills, no lace, no Victorian hearts I'm so drawn to. But I think my husband will like this much better!

Inchie Tree

I am so excited about this little inchie tree! I first saw one of these at Linda's blog. As I've accumulated a few inchies through Joanne's inchies swap I thought it would be a wonderful way to show them off. The fact that these inchies are made by different women from all over the world is equally exciting.

I simply punched a 1x1 square from a sheet of acetate to back the inchies. That way when I made a small punch at the top for the wire hanger, it wouldn't rip or pull through. And that way the back stays clear so you can see the name of the artist on the back.

This will not necessarily come down with the Christmas decorations. I'm thinking of just leaving it up. Wouldn't it be fun to decorate with different inchies for the different holidays?