Tag Tuesday Challenge Sampler #27

I just couldn't help myself -- Santa is bringing us the Sampler for last week's challenge.

Thanks to all who participated. It's fun to see how everyone incorporated the colors into their tags.

Tomorrow we'll have another "Colors of Christmas" challenge, so check back!

(I know you'll all be checking out Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas which starts tomorrow as well -- so I guess we'll have a bit of competition for the next week or two:)

Christmas Ornaments and Happy Mail

I found these odd shaped chipboard pieces as part of a children's game in a thrift shop. Yesterday I thought I'd turn some of them into ornaments as I was putting up the Christmas decorations.
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Yesterday's mail brought this lovely Christmas hanging from Lynn. I was one of the lucky winners at her amazing Blogaversary give-away. This came just in time to add to my Christmas decorations.

Gothic Arch Challenge

It took a bit of time to finish the Gothic Arch challenge this week which was to create a shrine. I'm ahead of the holidays here with my Valentine's Day box, but here it is anyway:) I altered the box I had to create an arch at the top.

Basic details: To create my shrine I used a book style box I had been saving for something just like this. I shaped the top of the front cover to create my arch. I applied a layer of gesso over the whole box.

Inside I pasted some book text. If you look closely, you'll see the word "disillusioned" at top which I thought went well with the theme. I then copied a vintage postcard (1915). I cut the sentiment from the postcard to use on the top of my Valentine's Box. My vintage postcard was then popped up over the text.

On the front I stamped some text and brick backgrounds. I added some German scrap roses and the pieces of my sentiment. Finally, I covered the whole box with a clear finish.

You can see all the other submissions at http://gothicarches.blogspot.com

Tag Tuesday -- Challenge #27

Today we are continuing in our "Colors of Christmas" challenge. Our color scheme was suggested by Nancy -- Red, Green and Golden Yellow. Maybe a little more traditional this week than last week's. So use your colors however you wish and let's see your Christmas tags!

I know it's a holiday for many of us this week, but feel free to take all week to play along.

My tag was created using alcohol inks on a glossy tag. I used stamps by Art Impressions (script background) and some inchie dollar stamps from Inkadinkado (flourish, sentiment and ornament.) The fabric monogram is from Making Memories.

Tag Challenge #26 Sampler -- Pink, Brown & Burgundy

If you are looking for some Christmas inspiration, the sampler below is full of it. Our submissions for this week's color challenge of pink, brown & burgundy were gorgeous.

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We had a submission by Margaret (I call her Maggie in the sampler, but I think it's Margie. She'll let us know) through Facebook which I've included, so check that out too.

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And I have to say I just adored Laura's whimsical tag this week --- so she is the recipient of an RAK this week which consists of a little bit of everything to get her Christmas cards going.

So Laura e-mail me your address!

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Even though this week many of us will be celebrating Thanksgiving we'll still have a challenge posted tomorrow. Because maybe if you are like me you are avoiding the holiday craziness at the stores this weekend and staying home and crafting!

My Second Craft Fair

So many have asked how my craft fair went last week, and I honestly was waiting until this Saturday's craft fair was over so I could report on both of them at the same time. This is the table of my premade scrapbooks -- what I was really hoping would sell.
This table held my cards, mini chipboard books, tags and other assorted odds and ends.

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The first week the craft fair was held in a large high school. Attendance was good. I thought at the time I did fairly well, selling two scrapbooks but a good number of mini albums and vintage greeting cards and ornaments.
The second craft fair which was yesterday was here in a smaller grammar school. I figured I wouldn't do so well as I did the previous week, but I was pleasantly surprised. I ended up selling nine scrapbooks. I also sold more mini albums and a lot of tags. I guess you never know.
One confession: At yesterday's fair I didn't sell anything for almost two hours. That is a very disconcerting feeling. You start to think the whole day may be like that. But then within the course of just one hour I sold seven scrapbooks. Like I said, you just never know.

Saturday's Workout

The challenge for Saturday's Workout is to use corrugated

cardboard. I used a scrap of it on this oddly shaped ATC.

Art Creations Friday

Art Creations Friday is celebrating its first birthday! And when it started a year ago, it premiered with this lovely vintage female image. This image
has become one of my absolute favorites and I've used it many times. It's hard to create anything you don't like with this image.


I created two submissions for this week's challenge -- which was to use the image from the challenge site's first week. I wanted to use some packaging I had aquired from Prima and from Making Memories. This project is totally green!

I bought this frame stamp recently online. It's from Stampers Anonymous and I love it.

I embossed it here in gold. I can think of a million ways to use this stamp.

Theme Thursday -- Colorful Skinny

My colorful skinny for Theme Thursday's challenge. It seems fitting with the sentiment I used to have a lot of color.

Stamps by Oxford Impressions and Studio G.

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I've had a lot of inquiries as to how the craft fair went on Saturday. I'm doing another one this Saturday, so I thought I would report on both at the same time. I'll have some pictures to share then too.

It's Tuesday -- Time for A Tag Challenge

Tag Challenge #26 -- Wow, that's almost half a year we've been making tags together! I'm not getting tired of it either -- hope you aren't. 'Cause Christmas is coming and I thought it might be a good idea to start making some tags we can use on our cards or as gifts or gift tags.

So begins our "Colors of Christmas" series.

Thanks for the ideas some of you left as to possible color combinations. You'll definitely be seeing some of those in the next few weeks.

So on to today's color scheme which comes from Jacqueline. I happen to know it's one of her personal favorites.

It is pink, brown and burgundy.

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Remember, this challenge runs all week. You can jump in at any time, even with more than one tag. Have fun!

Tag Sampler -- Challenge #25

Below is a sampler of our tag challenge using photos. I loved the photos (and stories behind them) that many of you shared. Great tags!

My First Craft Fair

I'm off today to participate in my first craft fair. It was a last minute thing -- at first they said they were full, and then called yesterday with an opening. Fortunately, I expected to be in one next weekend so I had everything pretty much ready including my account to take credit cards and a credit card machine.

I've spent most of the past year creating premade scrapbooks which is what I hope to sell.

The pictures above are what I'll be selling in addition to that -- vintage cards, some mini chipboard albums, etc.

Note to Tag Tuesday Participants: I'd like to do a "Colors of Christmas" challenge for a couple weeks. I'd appreciate your ideas for colors or color combinations.

Saturday's Workout -- Finally!

I'd been wanting to participate in Saturday's Workout all week. The challenge was to alter a bottle. I couldn't find a bottle initially and then when I did I was uninspired. It was also a very busy week getting ready for my first craft fair next weekend. But last night as I finished a Diet Snapple I noticed the unusual design on the bottle and thought how this was too pretty to just throw away. And that's how I arrived at this altered bottle. Which is just barely making it in time for the challenge, but that's okay.

Details: I altered this very easily by taping a portion of the bottle at the top and bottom that I didn't want to cover with alcohol ink. Then I applied some plum, blue and green alcohol ink which didn't turn out well. When I tried to take it off with the blending solution the glass just left a black color behind it. So I went with that and added some brown alcohol ink, creating a black and brown color scheme for the middle instead. I then removed the tape and added gold sticky-backed lace on the bottom and a gold rim around the top of the alcohol ink border. I had some gold stick-on embellishments from Prima which we got on the cruise, so I added four of them towards the top. Finally, I added a beaded embellishment which came with a ribbon on top that fit exactly around the opening at the top of the bottle. Added a gold ribbon and that was it!

Theme Thursday

I got the Winter edition of Take Ten in the mail yesterday and found a sheet of free artists quads contained in it. The pink patterns just jumped out at me, and I immediately set about making this Christmas card with the pink sheet music quad.. I love pink and brown ..... and it seems to work well for Christmas, too.

I've just put this up in my Etsy shop, but am submitting it for the patterned paper challenge this week at Theme Thursday.

You can see all the patterned paper submissions at http://themethursday.wordpress.com/.

Tag Challenge #25

If you've been wondering how I come up with the themes for each week's challenge and are imagining a spreadsheet upon which I've laid out several week's themes at a time, you would be absolutely.......wrong.

The unscientific method I use is to create a tag that I like and then pick out something from that tag that would constitute a theme.

And even though I'm gripped with an awful cold right now, "cold" is not what led me to this winter tag which is the sample for this week's challenge. This theme -- oh, I didn't mention that yet, did I? Well, the theme is to use a picture. It can be a personal one, family one, whatever, just include one on your tag. And what led me to this week's theme was this picture I found in my mother's photo album that I just love! I don't even know everyone in the picture, but I'm pretty sure it's some of her siblings and some neighborhood buddies making a snowman. I love the bucket on his head, too.

So use a picture you'll love -- and your tag will be fabulous. Can't wait to see your photos this week!

Tag Challenge Winners

First off, due to illness on the part of the Tag Tuesday hostess (that's me....and I have quite the cold) there will be no sampler for last week's challenge.

However, I can recap quickly by saying that the No Paper Challenge brought us tags created from the following materials to name a few:

Aluminum can

Plastic

Canvas

Wood Veneer

Fabric

Packing Foam

Birchwood

And a tomato puree tube.

It was even a bigger thrill this week to check out all of your tags, because there were some very imaginative creations!

We also had a record number of participants -- which was very cool!

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I promised some fabulous ephemera to two random people who displayed the Tag Tuesday challenge banner on their blogs, so congrats to Nancy (from Ohio) and Jean (from North Carolina).

If both of you would e-mail me your address, I'll get these out to you.

Think Monday, Think ATC

I honestly haven't thought about ATC's on Monday since making all the ATC's for the cruise. But just the other I had been thinking about my fruit stamps from Art Impresssions which I had not used in forever, even as a possible challenge for Tag Tuesday. But since that was the theme today at TMTA I created this ATC using one of my very oldest stamps from Art Impressions.

The background is created with alcohol inks.

Art Creations Friday

I didn't have a lot of time before work this morning, but I couldn't resist this darling image offered up by Art Creations Friday for this week's challenge. So I made this simple card using some of the scraps on my desk from some scrapbook pages I've been working on.

Tag Challenge #24

Last week was all about paper -- piecing, that is. Today's challenge (and I think it will be) is to create a tag without using ANY paper ANYWHERE! That means you have to create your tag out of something other than paper. For example, I used grungeboard to make mine. You may use chipboard or cardboard if you'd like. But no background papers, no paper ephemera, no paper embellies of any kind!

My tag: I added distress inks to my grungeboard background. I stamped on it with stamps from Oxford Impressions. I then dry embossed it with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. Filed the grungeboard to let the dots show.

After that I added the ruler piece, the metal flower and some of the Tim Holtz film ribbon at the bottom (that stuff is too cool).

I'll have to throw some of that into next week's give-away. To see how to become eligible for that read the following post!

A Tag of Our Own

Thanks to Pam, Tag Tuesday now has its own tag which you can add to your blog if you'd like.

Simply right click on the image to save it and then add it on to your own blog.

If you want to make it a clickable link, you can link it back to http://kardkrazy.blogspot.com.

I appreciate it, Pam:)

Note: There's going to be a cool give-away (think great big assortment of paper ephemera) to two people who put up the challenge tag on their blog. I'll announce the winners at next week's challenge.

(Yes, Sarah and Pam you can get it on this, too!)

Challenge #23 Sampler -- Paper Piecing

It was cool to see the different methods of paper piecing in last week's challenge. Thanks to all who joined in the challenge.

Thanks, too, for those who attempted to follow my directions to include a direct link. I've added that to the right sidebar. If you scroll all the way down you'll see the directions written out.

Gothic Arches

Gothic Arches has a new home -- you can find the weekly challenge at http://gothicarches.blogspot.com. Personally, I'm glad to see it back on blogger:)

The challenge this week it to be inspired by the work of Lord Frederick Leighton. Not to be intimidated -- there's a link on Flickr to some of his fabulous works.