Christmas in July

Whew!  I just made it -- for a Christmas in July post, that is.   I really love these retro Christmas/ winter images in the new Frosty & Friends set from Artistic Outpost.  I paired them with gorgeous new Christmas paper from Authentique.  If you haven't seen any of these papers yet, you have to check them out. 

"Art" Swap

I participated in an amazing swap with four other very talented artists and fellow bloggers.  Our assignment was to create a 6x6 canvas with the theme of "Art."  The idea is we could assemble our canvases into a book if we desired.  Here are the five projects all together:

Lynn Stevens piece was the first to arrive.

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This "timeless" piece came from  Pam Upper .

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I almost used the exact same artist stamp for mine as Sarah Hemphill did here.

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I decided instead to go with these little art angel.  Sorry for the funny angle, but I didn't want to get the reflection of me taking the picture in this little mirror I used in my project..

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And finally this steampunk piece from Lori Hessler..

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I love each and every one of these pieces of art and am so honored to have them all!

Thanks again, Ladies!

Artistic Outpost New Releases

New Releases from Artistic Outpost!

Apothecary : Before the invention of the drive-thru Walgreens®, the apothecary was not just a dispenser of medicines, but also a mix-ologist of tonics, keeper of secrets, and giver of advice. Antique apothecary bottles are highly collectible in part due to the “mystery” of what could actually be in them. Our AO stylized bottle has a blank space that our “product” labels fit perfectly into…or hand write your prescription on our vintage Rx pad.

Halloween Treats : Growing up, our Halloween decorations were Technicolor large die cuts of pumpkins and kitty cats and witches on broomsticks. These stamps remind me of those “cardboard” cut-outs. How I wished we had saved them! Try mixing this set with our other Halloween collections as well as Apothecary!

Frosty & Friends: I love the sweetness of vintage Christmas cards. The secular imagery was dreamy and cute...so sugary sweet my teeth hurt just to look at them. This collection features some of our favorite images from our own AO collection of vintage ephemera.

Note from AO:  Please note that due to the high volume during new releases, that “mounted” stamp collections may take 10 days to ship. 

To see some of the design teams samples using these collections, click here:  Lisa, Gerrie, Sue, Barbara, Stephanie, Lynn Judy.

Class Time

With CHA in town last week our LSS, Creative Cuts, had some great teachers coming in to hold classes.  I was able to take a class from Teresa Collins as well as three classes taught by

Debby Schuh.

We made this Christmas book using new Christmas papers from Teresa Collins:

Teresa showed this book with a big black flower in it -- her signature style.  I just couldn't do a black flower for Christmas so I used this grungeboard flower I had made last Christmas for one of the Tim Holtz challenges.  I think it works a bit better.

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The next three projects were taught by Debby Schuh.  It's impossible to show all the detail that went into every project she taught.  They all were amazing.

We started off with this wall hanging, which includes a mini book hanging from it.  We used the

7 Gypsies Ticket Holder and their Botanical paper. 

Next we created this mini book from 7 Gypsies Lille Paper.  There are so many pockets in this thing you wouldn't believe it!

This travel journal we made also has pockets and fun tags and journaling spaces throughout.  I especially liked the way we incoroprated plastic ATC holders as pages for small photos.  We used a combination of papers for this project. 

Creatively, I was fried after this weekend.  If it wasn't for the wonderful hospitality of the women at Creative Cuts supplying us with a never-ending supply of beverages and snacks, I'd have never survived:)  

Chunky ATC

Another Chunky ATC I created.  This time I used stamps from Artistic Outpost's new London releases to create a background sheet from which I cut the face for this ATC as well as the rosettes at the top.  Those were cut using the new Tim Holtz die.  I also added some of Tim's filmstrip ribbon, gears and spinner to embellish it.

Basically, the reminds me it's time to get my butt in gear and take that trip to London which I've always wanted to do :):)

Handcrafted

I've been meaning to post this for a while -- but just haven't gotten to it.   My complementary copy of Stampington's "Handcrafted" arrived about a month or so ago.  Frankly, I wasn't even aware of this particular publication, but it appears to be an annual compilation of some of past features from Somerset Studio, Somerset Memories, Somerset Life, Stampers Sampler, etc.

What they chose to feature of mine was a house I created  for a Stampers Sampler Tempting Template challenge back in 2008.  In fact when the challenge results were published, one of my houses appeared on the cover of Stampers Sampler.  It's that same house they used for this issue of  Handcrafted.

The house at the bottom is the one that appears in Handcrafted.  Fellow bloggers Lynn Stevens and Lyneen Jessee also had items included in Handcrafted using that particular template.  Congrats, ladies!

Happy 4th of July

After spending 10 hours cleaning up my craft areas (yes, that's plural), I felt the need to sit down and actually create something.  So I pulled out my Artistic Outpost patriotic stamps (Hero set) and went about altering this vintage Bingo card.

Good story about the Bingo card.    When I was down in Alabama with Sarah, Pam & Lori we were out junking and came upon a town rummage sale.  I happened upon a box of these Bingo cards (there are some in black as well).  They were marked "Free."  I doubled checked with the woman whose booth it was and she replied, "Yes, they're free.  Can't imagine what anybody would want with them."

Happily, there was more than enough to share with everyone!