Theme Thursday....

...and a little habit of mine.   Notice the background from the card below?  It's actually the cover of a large slab of 12x12 paper I just bought.  Thought I'd share a little (strange maybe?)  habit I have when I buy a new pad of paper--which I seem to be doing a lot of lately.  Anyway, I cannot leave the paper in pad form.

I have to rip out every sheet (and in this case it was 48 of them).  I cannot stand having paper I don't like mixed in with paper I do.  So I sort out the "don't like's" and usually pitch them and then organize the papers that I'm keeping.

When that is done I feel compelled to immediately do something with the samples that are usually on the front cover.  Which is great because it's heavy cardboard and can be used for a number of things.  My last pad of paper was punched into heart shapes, which gave me a variety of colors and designs to use for upcoming Valentine's Day projects.  But this pad I've used above really had a nice sized grid pattern to it, so I used this piece for a card background.  The larger shape on the grid worked perfectly for my image. 

I worked this into Theme Thursday's challenge for this week of "fly."

My image and butterfly are from Digital Collage Sheets. 

The sentiment I stamped in two parts is from Hampton Arts.

A Winter Card.....

...... that is not blue and white!  I don't think I've ever stamped black snowflakes before, but I wanted to create this winter/new year card in something other than blue and white.  I ended up with cream/brown tones and black.   That button was a last minute add-on.  Just found it in my button box and thought it was perfect.  Just like you'd expect a black snowflake to look!

Snowflake border stamp is by Hero Arts.  Sledding stamp is by Sugar Lump Studios.

Tag Tuesday Challenge #32 -- Happy New Year

Can't believe it's the last Tuesday of 2009.   Seems like just yesterday we were worrying about what changes the year 2000 would bring about, and now here it is 10 years later.

So our tag challenge this week is to create a tag which somehow pays tribute to the coming new year.

Feel free to take this theme in whatever direction you'd like whether it's new year resolutions, something you'd like to see in the new year, whatever!

I've already received a lot of comments about how great the sampler was for last week's shaped tag challenge and how hard it will to be beat those tags.  Sounds like another challenge to me -- let's see if we can't do that with our new year tags!

Tag Tuesday Sampler and a Winner

The sampler for last week's challenge is posted on my side bar again.  We had a lot of snowflakes, but also a lot of other shapes -- gingerbread men, teapots, stockings, and owls to name a few.

Take a peek, there was a lot of tremendous artwork shared for this challenge.

As I mentioned I have a pack of paper from Making Memories vintage collection as well as a travel ephemera pack to give away.

The winner for this RAK is:  Shelly H.

 Congrats, Shelly, I'll get this off to you right away.

Winter Greeting Card

I was making some new cards to load into my Etsy shop and thought I'd share this one.  I love this image!  In my mind it's one of those images that makes it very difficult to make an ugly card.

I rarely use white cardstock as a base for my cards, but this one seemed to call for it.

The card measures 5x7 and I wanted to share my little trick for creating the large mat in the background.  It's the same method I used to create my mini snowman card yesterday using StampinUps Top Note die and my Cuttlebug.  I simply placed my folded paper on the die leaving one edge of the paper just short of the cutting surface. That way only three sides get cut.  You can then open the paper up and create a mat such as this or leave it folded to create a mini card.

Repurposing Christmas Cards

I have to start by saying that I NEVER throw away a homemade Christmas card.   But I don't keep all the store bought cards I receive every year.  That said, some of the cards have images or embellishments that can be repurposed onto new cards.   These two snowmen came on the same card and I knew they could be used to create some cute cards.  The last card is a portion of a Thomas Kincaid card I received.  The images on his cards are so gorgeous, I can't stand to throw them away either.  Often times you can use his images to make two or three cards.   The card I made below used only a portion of the very large image on the original card.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to one and all!

I am so blessed to have made so many friends through blogland.  I appreciate every one of you.

I thought I'd share some of the things that showed up in the mail this Christmas season.

This lovely ATC came from Nancy who makes everything she creates look so effortless.

I love her style.

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Sarah sent this card.   I love the way she embossed the snowflakes on patterned paper.

Sarah is a special friend that I got to meet in person when we bunked together on the Tim Holtz cruise.   And, happily, I'll be going down to Texas to visit with her again in January!

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This gorgeous card has an alcohol ink background which is so, so lovely.  It came from Pam and her DH -- who I also got to meet on the cruise in October.  I'll be seeing Pam again in Janaury, too.   Yup, the party is at Sarah's house!!

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This is an absolutely stunning card I received from Barbara, another blogging friend.  You know I love the tag here, plus the ripped and gilded edges making this a very gorgous card.

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You probably can all guess who this tag came from because Jacqueline's work is so distinctive.  I love everything she makes.  It's now hanging on my tree!

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Kris sent this ATC -- the detail on here is unbelieveable.  Until you see one of Kris' creations IRL, it's hard to get the full effect.

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And this terrific pendant came from Lynn.  I'm just blown away by all the talent that lady has!

This was very special and it's hanging on my tree, too!,

Tag Tuesday Challenge #31 -- A Shaped Tag

Ever since I saw Kris' amazing Halloween boot tag last October, I've been wanting to do a challenge that calls for tags of different shapes.

So this week I challenge you to create a tag that's not a rectangle!

I had more problems with uploading the slideshow again for our sampler from last week.  Seems it would load perfectly well into my sidebar, not but as a regular post.   So look to the left and you will find it there.

I know this will be a busy week for everyone.  And I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!  I have a little Christmas RAK for one participant this week which includes an 8x8 pad of Making Memories Vintage Findings paper as well as a Travel Kit from the same line.

Sunday Postcard Art

This is my postcard for the Christmas theme at Sunday Postcard Art.
This started by stamping a parentheses on some cream cardstock and then creating a frame with my inkpad all the way around.   I used a Stampers Anonymous stamp to create the splattered background.  First I stamped it in Brilliance gold ink, but when that didn't stand out enough I added some gold Radiant Pearls to it which increased the color.  Finally, I printed out one of my favorite Christmas card images on vellum and then cut it out to add to my postcard.

Art Creations Friday

Art Creations Friday is offering up another fabulous image this week for you to create with.    I made a wall hanging using their image.

Can't wait to see everyone else's submssions.

Christmas Cards

All stamps are by Oxford Impressions (St.Nicholas).

Tag Challenge #30 -- Punch It!

Our new challenge this week come comes from a tag I received in a beautiful Christmas card from Barbara.  I had been thinking about this for a challenge for a while, but when I received this punched out tag from her, that was it.

So our challenge for this week's tag is to use a punch of some sort on your tag.  This gives you a lot of possibilities, you need only punch something out on your tag.
For my tag I created the window portion with alcohol inks and then stamped an image from Oxford impressions.   I applied distress inks on the ouside of it followed by a crackle stamp from PSX.   I then stamped the clock face, keys and sentiment.
Have fun creating tags this week!

Tag Challenge Winner

More computer obstacles as I used the random number generator to pick the winner of the stamp sheet from Oxford Impressions.  I got it to generate the winning comment easily enough, but I could not figure out how to transfer the results to this post.

You'll just have to trust me on this one:)

With that said, our winner of her choice of stamp sheets from Oxford Impressions was our 15th commenter or

Joy!!!

Joy, please take a look around the Oxford Impressions site, and when you have made your choice e-mail it to me with your address info.  Congratulations, Joy!

Tuesday Tag Challenge #29

             It seems as if Photobucket (which I usually use to create the slideshows for the tag challenge) has changed their site, and I spent way too much time last night trying to navigate my way around it.   In the end I just had to go with this shortened sampler for this week.

Our artists are:  Gayle, Joy, Rhonda

                         Kris, Sarah, Char.

Thanks to everyone who joined in this somewhat challenging color scheme.                                                                

Gothic Arch Challenge -- Domestic Goddess

The theme today at Gothic Arch challenge is domestic goddess -- which seems a good chance to make something a little fun and retro.

Christmas Ornaments

I took a pass on Tim's tag today, his last in the series of 12 Tags of Christmas.  I've made a few of those grungeboard flowers and let's just say I'm good.

I did make some more ornaments this morning which I'll either give as gifts or hang on the tree.  This particular one evolved when I looked at this arched stamp from Stampington and wondered how it would look on an alcohol ink background.  I like the church window effect. 

Thanks, Shelly, for your help in explaining how to post larger pictures in blogger!

They also have a cool feature which lets you test links before posting which I just made use of.

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 11

Just about the only thing I DID have for today's tag over at Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas was -- as I mentioned a few posts earlier -- the vintage images. No chipboard reindeer (or any Christmas chipboard really), no brad maker.

But I did have this chipboard skate -- and I knew I had a vintage Christmas card with a skating santa. How cute is he? So I went that route with my tag today.

I did use the distress-ink-on-the-craft-sheet-and-then-misting-it technique for my background as well as stamping the background with a flourish and snowflake stamps. I had flowers I could have used, but I liked the idea of these paper snowflakes better.

To create my brads I punched my vintage images and then used -- guess what? A Krylon pen, again, to outline the edges to create the rims.

I was really happy to find yet another way to use these vintage images I have.

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 9

A couple things about today's tag -- first of all, thank you, Tim! He really gave me inspiration for today's tag to highlight something I've been wanting to and was looking for a way to do so. Secondly, for those who have commented on how quickly I seem to get my tags done, think 4:00 a.m. - 6:00 a.m. (Which could explain why I was trying to adhere my pictures to the film strip with Crackle Accents instead of Glossy Accents and making a mess of it.) Finally, I was able to come up with just about everything Tim used on his tag but only because we received so much of it on the cruise. However, I didn't use everything I could have because I wanted to take my tag in a slightly different direction than he did.
I wanted to use copies of some vintage cards I'd been given last year by my sister-in-law (a box of 750 of them in all). And although we used the Glossy Accents and the film strip on the cruise, I forgot about it. It's a perfect way to showcase some of them in this tag.
I didn't think a photo as Tim used on his tag would go as well with mine, so I chose this caroler by Art Impressions instead.
I didn't have the metal numbers 25, but on the cruise we all received the year of '09.
And while I don't have a label maker, I figured I could white emboss my greeting on black paper for the same effect.
I was glad I did have the metal flowers -- who'd have thought to paint them with acrylic paints? Tim, of course.
I think this is my favorite tag Tim has made so far.

Tag Tuesday Challenge #29

I promised you a challenge yesterday and here it is. The color combination for this final week of the "Colors of Christmas" series should make you think a little bit. It certainly did me. This color scheme of Teal, Wine and Blue can include any shade of these colors you'd like.

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There's a little incentive this week to get your creative juices flowing and it also ties in with the fact that I am about to hit 100,000 hits on my blog. I'd like to do a little give-away. But in order to be in the running, you are going to have to attempt this color scheme and make a tag.

Post your link here and that will make you eligible.

And what is the prize? How about a sheet of stamps from Oxford Impressions? They have a brand new Christmas set out called St. Nicholas well as two other Christmas sets. You'll get to choose a sheet, Christmas or otherwise, from their line of fabulous stamps.

Tag Sampler for Challenge #28

Our purple, silver and green challenge produced more results than I thought it would. I thought maybe it would be a little bit too much of a challenge around this busy time of year. But plenty of you participated and the results were stunning.

So I guess that I don't have to worry about tomorrow's challenge being too much....enough of you seem up to it! So I'll give you a little clue: Think teal. And that's all I'm saying for now:)

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 6

We are half way through Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas. I started my tag when I woke up at four o'clock this morning, so I've got it done and posted before I even leave for church!

I liked the tag Tim made a lot, unfortunately did not have that car stamp or tree. But I did have a smaller car from Art Impressions. And a smaller tree. As a result, I used a smaller tag so they didn't seem dwarfed. It was a lot of fun working with that small size tree....not!

I didn't have the snow stuff he used either, so mine is a mix of Radiant Pearls and some glittery medium I had. I didn't use the bingo piece because it seemed to large for my tag.

I really liked the way Tim used the text background on this tag.

Day 5 of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas

It's Day 5 of Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of Christmas and, once again, I was fortunate enough to have some of the embellishments, namely, the fragments. I have had some of these for a while and never really knew what to do with them. Then on the cruise we worked with them and I was inspired. So it was fun to work with these on some Christmas ideas. The Glossy Accents behind the fragments really works well.

For my fragment ornaments I used a couple of vintage PSX stamps. The images were just the right size.
I didn't bother with wire for my hanging ornaments but instead used some gold stickers. Once again, I resorted to my Krylon pen as an improvisation of the ornament tops. So much easier than all that paper and tape stuff Tim used.

I've really got to get him familiar with the Krylon pen.

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 4

Whew! Today's tag at Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas was definitely the easiest. At least the way I created my tag. I didn't create the whole custon stamp on the felt pad, just stamped a collage on my tag. And even though I like it quite a bit, don't know how many times I'd stamp this if I had made the custom stamp.

I did luck out and had a few of the embellishments he used as these were some of the things we acquired on the cruise. Yup, I like this one quite a bit.

Public Service Announcement

While I'm waiting for the snow to dry on my tag (Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas), I did a little blog surfing this morning.

I found something on Sherry's blog (met Sherry on the Tim Holtz cruise coincidentally) that was just very ....... well, I don't know the word, but I think she hit the nail on the head as far as everything I need to remember this Christmas. So check out her post here.

You can thank Sherry, not me.

Oh, by the way, Sherry, I've got your Christmas blog music on in the background as I finish my tag. A great selection!

Inspired by Tim -- Day 3

Boy, Tim sure makes it look easy. His instructions for this plaid background looked easy enough. But this tag is about the 8th one I attempted... and that I liked well enough to stamp on. At first I was going the wrong way with the applicator and alcohol inks and everything was smooshed together. When I finally figured that out, I had some really, really ugly color schemes. I finally settled on this one, but by that time I wasn't up to much else, so my stamping is pretty simple. Didn't think the twine would look to good on this one, so I went with the gold cord instead.

Here's my lightbulb moment of the day: Yesterday we used radiant pearls and water to flick gold spots on our tag. Couldn't find them today -- even though I just used them yesterday and know they are still somewhere on my craft table. But necessity being the mother of invention, I discovered that a Krylon pen will give the same effect. I simply pooled some on my work surface and picked it up with a paintbrush and flicked it just like Tim showed. I actually got better coverage (but don't tell Tim that:)

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas

As probably the whole world knows (as he had 3000 comments after his first tag) Tim Holtz is doing his 12 Tags of Christmas again this year.

I tried doing Day 1 and it was a disaster. But yesterday's tag was much easier. So here is Tim's Tag for Day 2 and above is my version.

Wednesday Stamper

The challenge today at Wednesday Stamper is "Santa Claus."

My Santa Claus collage stamp is from Oxford Impressions's new stamp set. I just love this set for quick and easy Christmas cards. You can see it here.

Tag Tuesday Challenge #28

Our "Colors of Christmas" series continues with this challenge and our color scheme was suggested by Athena. She liked the idea of purple, green and silver. I like it, too! You can use whatever shades of purple or green you like on your tag.

For my tag I used green in my music note background and to frame my Christmas inchies. It's very subtle. These great inchie stamps are by Inkadinkado.