imagine atc

Here's an atc made using the image supplied at
Bella Creations for their April Bella Muse
Challenge; the background is painted, with
inked edges, netting and tulle, a little crayon,
some rub-ons, bling, and a bit of beeswaxed
music.

Happy weekend, everyone! Can you believe it's
almost May? And if you're in the mood for a little
candy, be sure to leave a comment HERE. :)

Mother's Day atcs . . .

These are for a swap with a yahoo art group; we
were to make it a Mother's Day theme, use some
ribbon, and hand writing. There's netting, tulle,
a pearly pin, pearly bling, distress ink, patterned
paper--wait, one background is stamped paper--and
collage images from Altered Pages that
have been coated with a little Crystal Effects.
The handwritten sentiment has a coating, too, to
make it more sturdy.

You know, I almost ALWAYS use my own handwriting
on scrapbook pages, but almost NEVER on other
arty stuff. Hmmm.

Anyway, we always gave my grandmas flowers for
Mother's Day, so to me, well, it just isn't
Mother's Day without some flowers! Usually
some to plant in the yard, or a nice pot of
something pretty to set outside on the deck.

These also go along with the following moms
and flowers type challenges, so if you're looking
for a little inspiration this weekend, check
out these:
4 crafty chicks--distressing
Craft Us Crazy--Mother's Day or flowers
Dutch Dare Card Challenges--for Mom
Samuel Taylor's--flowers and bling prize:
Bazzill Bling Jewel Template, 2 packs of bling, and
5 packs of Prima flowers
Fairy tale challenge blog--Mother's Day
Sisterhood of Crafters--Mother's Day

red and gold skinny and a little blog candy

Yes, okay, you're right, I essentially made all projects
this last round in a red and gold theme, but here is my
"official" piece for the latest Gingersnap Color Challenge--
Red and Gold.



It's made with a serendipity style background,
Altered Pages images, ink, red and gold tassle,
red tissue, and some gold embossing around the
edge of the image. You know, I've had so much
fun with this last round of Asian themed challenges
at Gingersnap Creations, I kept a little pile of
goodies as I worked . . . so, if you'd like to
receive a little packet of supplies, just leave
a comment on this post. If you'd like another
go, let me know you're a follower, or go ahead
and follow now, if you like. No need to leave
multiple comments, just one "all inclusive" will
suffice. Oh, oh, oh, and for another chance,
leave a link in your comment to a red and gold
something YOU'VE made--I'd love to stop by and see!

It's not a huge packet, just enough goodies to make
a few atcs or skinnies; some German scrap, papers,
images, etc. Everyone everywhere is welcome, and
we'll close out comments and randomly draw a
goodie-getter late next Wednesday morning. I'll
probably get around to posting a picture later
today . . .

Here it is!

Some red tissue, shiny gold patterned tissue,
patterned paper cut to skinny size, red flocked
envie with embossed figures, some tiny Prima
"cherry blossoms," a few rub-ons, some super
fine gold glitter, collage images and text,
ephemera (translation: newpaper clippings and
a restaurant placemat!!), a red felty butterfly,
a couple of charms, some red and gold German
scrap, plus some red trim and cord.

:)

geisha atc fan

Okay, yes, these pictures are pretty horrible--if
I could have the camera in hand, AND a day with just
a little bit of sunshine, maybe these would be
better. Ugh. Sorry about that--you know how it is
when you make something that turns out kind of neat,
and then you can't seem to get a good shot of it?
Maybe that's just me . . .


ANYWAY, this is a simple atc fan--nothing elaborate.
Some rich Basic Grey in the background, great geisha
images from Altered Pages, gorgeous gold German
scrap, and a little ink, of course!


Here it is closed, obviously, and

open:


This is for the new Random Redhead Fan Challenge at
Gingersnap Creations--the design team has come up
with some lovely pieces to inspire you, so stop by
and join in the fun!

I really like altered art fans; these are several
made a year or so ago. All the images came from
Altered Pages--maybe you remember them, as they
were available for a time as project kits:

(This one was also published in Altered Arts magazine.)





Fun stuff! I hope to see your fan creations soon!

:)

misty geisha folder

The new challenge at Gingersnap Creations is mists.
I really like the look of mists, but since I don't
have much in the way of the new mist products--a
couple of homemade concoctions--I usually just
use spray paint.

We have a LOT of spray paint. Think every color
of the rainbow, plus metallics.

ANYWAY, you can really see the shimmery, misty
outline of (yes, again--remember "this card"?) my
favorite plastic doily in this pic:



This is a stitched skinny holder folder, going along
with the general Far East GSC theme this month, using
Basic Grey paper, distress inks, and embellishments.
The challenges--like the misting--do NOT have to go
along with the Far East theme, I just tend to get a
little carried away sometimes . . .

Done any misting lately? Come join the challenge
at Gingersnap Creations; I'd love to stop by and
take a peek!

:)

wedding card . . . kind of a book . . .

It's that time of year. Weddings everywhere.



The cover of this card is a thick iridescent cardstock,
so pretty, but it's hard to show you the shimmer. It kind
of comes through in this pic:



This card turned into something of a mini book.
The lace is holding the envie with the check--
I wish I were better at picking out gifts . . .



The verse and sentiment are from Our Daily Bread
Designs' Love One Another. Here is another wedding card I
recently made, using the same set---one post down---after
the list of other fun challenges!
:)
Bearly Mine--Inside Out
Claudia & Company--monochromatic
Ladybug Crafts Ink--Celebration
Tuesday Throwdown--sparkle and bling
Lexi's Creations--monochromatic
Creative Stamp Friends--swirls

wedding card

I've been looking at the ODBD challenges now
and again, but have never entered one--these
fit with the current "no ribbon" challenge,
so I suppose this is as good a time as any, right?
:)

Plus:
Tuesday Throwdown--sparkle and bling
Papertake Weekly Challenge--dimensional

flashback to 2007 . . .

There is a site called Flashback Friday Challenges--
have you heard of it? I ran across it this weekend
for the first time. The current challenge is to
repost your first blog post that features stitching,
either real or faux. I'm reposting the whole deal;
I really enjoyed being in that book club, it was
great to get together with some real "live" ladies
and make a little art. The pics enlarge jumbo size
if you click on them--apparently this was before I
knew how to resize anything. ;)







I joined an altered book club, and it's been great for making me
go make something. I mean really, if you've committed to having
someone else's pages done, it would be pretty bad to just show up
and say, "Oops, sorry! Didn't bother to even open your book . . ."

So here's my latest artistic endeavor. The theme is supposed to be
"Home or Insanity." So of course, I switch it around--not on purpose,
I just glued the dictionary pages on the wrong sides! So the insanity
side features a vellum pocket sewn on, tags bearing proverbs stapled
with red rick-rack, and some crazy looking broads. Two have literally
lost their heads. The "Home" side is supposed to appear more peaceful,
and has a door to open, revealing a collage in the style of Claudine
Hellmuth. Yep, been reading her books, couldn't help myself!

Remember, you choose . . .
(Home or Insanity!)

a bee in her bonnet . . .

Are you familiar with that saying? We don't
really wear bonnets anymore, and I'm unsure of
it's origins, but suffice it to say, I'm pretty
sure I DON'T want a bee in my bonnet, thank you!

I recently signed up at Bella Creations, and one
of my imaginary friends and fellow Gingersnap
Creations DT members (you may have seen her here
and there--hey, 2amscrapper!) is moderator of the
Oh-la-la group there. The image was supplied
for the April Bonnet challenge.



Besides the main collage image and text, there's black
Bazzill flourishes, netting, tulle, a bit of puncherella,
tissue paper, stamping in the background, distress ink,
ribbons, pearly pink microbeads, and glitter.

I also did a mini blog hop, finding all the required
project elements, over at the Creative Cutter
Room. (Nope, not telling--you have to go find out
for yourself! ;)

There are so many fun Easter and Spring challenges
right now--this little piece also fits in with all
these great challenges:

The Pink Elephant--Easter
Delicious Doodles (Easter and ribbons)
If the Shoe Fits . . . Scrap It!--Spring
Fun With Shapes and More
Res-Q-Challenge--tissue paper
Stamp Something--Sassy circle something
Stampin' for the weekend--Easter
The Shabby Tea Room--color challenge

So, if you're looking for a little inspiration
this weekend, there you go, right there!

Have fun!

:)

love looks not with the eyes . . .

This is a wedding shower card. I wasn't planning
on doing all that I did with this, it just
HAPPENED. It was as if I had to use everything
in reach; not sure what came over me!



There's misting and masking, stamping, distress
inky sanded edges, German scrap, rub-ons, Prima
flowers (spray painted gold), a vellum tag, and
bits of this and that.



The flower money clip can be taken out and used as a
bookmark. You can really see the masking on the inside;
I used my favorite plastic doily and gold spray paint.
Yes, I have a favorite plastic doily--don't act like you
don't have a favorite-something-weird, we all know you do!

;)
That plastic doily masking technique goes right along
with Challenge Up Your Life's latest challenge . . .
as well as Charisma Cardz wedding/anniversary challenge.
At Samuel Taylor's Crafts, there's also the "distress it"
challenge, with Tim Holtz dies as the prize.
That rhymes.

I AM easily amused, you know . . .

geisha skinny card

It's time for a new theme over at Gingersnap
Creations, and this time we're traveling to
the Far East for inspiration. The first challenge
is "Geisha."



This is a three by five skinny card, created on
a serendipity style background. The lovely geisha
collage image is from Altered Pages, and the
barely-visible-in-this-photo flower stamp is
from Stampin' Up. There's also some masking
and misting going on here, but you can see
that, right? It's all gold and shimmery.

Come play along with the challenge, or at least leave
me a link--I'd love to come see your geisha creations!

(You all know I can't resist a link, right?? ;)

more spring book pages

Here are some more layouts from the hand bound
spring book--

The pages are different sizes, so you can see other
papers and pieces peeking out from behind.


These pics will enlarge if you click on them,
by the way . . .


I really like the page on the left in this layout,
but not so much the one on the right. Hmmmm.
These layouts weren't in the magazine, so
this is a bonus peek inside.

Could someone send me a little time to blog visit,
please? It probably wouldn't even need a padded
envelope, would it? This week is filling up fast,
and there's just not enough time for computer
goofing--

I miss visiting all my imaginary friends!