life

Well, sometimes my life feels sparkly . . .



. . . not so much today, but sometimes! :)

Stampin' Royalty--Bring on the Bling
Truly Scrumptious--Mostly Pink
Bearly Mine--Bring on the Bling
Oldie But a Goodie--must use stamps at least 6 months old;
mine are in the background, there are several--Plus, LOTS OF SPARKLE

sunshine boy

There may be something wrong with my sense of humor,
but this one makes me giggle! It's destined to
go to the college bound boy, also, so I hope he thinks
it's silly, too. The newest challenge at Gingersnap
Creations in primary colors (bet you coulda guessed
that!), and the sentiment, which I printed on vellum,
is from The Stamping Boutique, who is kindly sponsoring
the challenges this month, giving you a chance at some
fun digi prizes!

The background is an acrylic paint monoprint, with crayon highlights,
brads, ribbon, and trim. The rather severe looking sunshine boy is
once again from the same Altered Pages sheet as the Reginalds,
printed in red.

Okay, I promise to put away the dour faced gentlemen . . .
for at least a few months!

a little green fairy

Had some background left from the previous card--
you know, Reginald 1, 2, and 3--so had fun making
a few more things:



One Stitch at A Time--bling
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge: Apricot, Bling, Critter (ABC)
Basic Grey--Anything Goes. There is always some sort of Basic
Grey paper in everything I make, but it seems to be covered
by the fairy in this piece. No worries, though--see her blingy
hair piece? And the pearls at the end of the butterfly's antenna?
Opaline Designer Half Pearls, cut from their flowery shapes to fit
Miss Fairy's whim!
Designed To Delight--Anything Goes
Just Us Girls--color challenge
365 Cards--Vintage plus Green
Annabelle Stamps--Distressing

The background is a mixed media collage, serendipity
style, with a Stampin' Up butterfly, the girl and her
fairy wings are from Altered Pages.

what would you make with my stuff? challenge and swap

Okay, I keep thinking about doing this, and just
haven't set it in motion--until now!

The challenge part is, I send you an envie with
a few things out of my art room, and you commit
to make something utilizing these things--an atc,
skinny, whatever. You can use other stuff from
your own stash in your creation, too, but please
incorporate most of what is sent--it's part of the
challenge!

The swap part is, you e-mail me a pic of your
creation by September 10th, so I can blog post
all the arty goodness, along with your own blog
link. You don't have to blog post your creation
yourself, I just thought it would be nice if we
could come visit you, right?

This first round will be limited to USA only,
and to the first ten people to e-mail me at
trishatoo at hotmail dot com. I will need
snail mail addresses, obviously, but if you'd
like to wait until I confirm that you're "in,"
that's fine--I plan on mailing these out
this Monday, however, so . . . no address by
Sunday evening, and I'll move on to the next happy
swapper, okay? A swap in motion tends to stay
in motion!

Sound like fun? I'm going to try to send pretty
much the same stuff to each person, to see how
differently or similarly each artist plays.

Let me know, I look forward to hearing from you--
this should be fun!

So, you get stuff, make something, send me a pic
by September 10th, and I blog post the creations.
How easy is that? You don't even have to go to
the post office!


****Thank you to everyone who e-mailed, this
round is filled--if all goes well this first
time, will try it again in November!****

back-to-school card

Do you have children going back to school? We have
two in high school, but since we homeschool, there
isn't much "back" to it. The oldest son, however,
is in his last year of college, so will be leaving
for the dorm again soon.



The latest challenge at Gingersnap Creations is a
Tribute to Teens, so this seemed a fitting something
to send to the eldest--that serious looking fellow
on the front, he's been the object of my artistic
affection for some time now. I've returned to him
more than once for projects now and again! (Check
out THIS POST.)

The doodled words seem the perfect foil for his
expression, don't they? That cute digi is from The
Stamping Boutique, who is kindly hosting the challenges
with some fun prizes this month at Gingersnap.

So, I'm thinking the inside of the card should say
something like:

At least it's not finals week!

What do you think?

;)

having fun today!

Whew, yesterday I spent pretty much all in the kitchen,
which was fine and fun and all, but it was nice to treat
myself to some art time today. Checked out the Feline
Playful challenge list blog, and that added with some fun
new images got me going.

Got a super cute collage sheet of tiny playing cards
from Altered Pages, and while I usually would have immediately
thought "Alice," it just so happened these rather serious looking
fellows were staring at me already. So, went a completely
different route:



The atc seemed a little crowded, so made a, hmm,
square--not sure what size, honestly!



So, are these funny, or is it just me?

The backgrounds are my favorite--serendipity style,
with lots of stamping and distress inks and crayons.

Gotta enter these gents in some challenges!
ATC Reginald says hello to:
Allsorts--anything but a card
Challenge Up Your Life--no patterned paper
Inkspirations--color challenge
Phindy's Place--vintage look
Craft Us Crazy--anything goes

Square Reginald says hey-ho to:
Wee Memories--Masculine
Sew Many Cards--3 or more brads
Craft Us Crazy--anything goes
Sassy Studio--distressing

If you're really loving this guy, check out the kit
at Altered Pages--Jean was super fast and wasted no
time getting these handsome poker faces ready for
you to play with!

baseball cards

Ever heard of The National Sports Collector's Convention?

That's where we are for the rest of the week. It's in Chicago this year,
or rather a suburb thereof. So, the big kids are running the shop, and the
baby is helping his daddy with the cards.

I'm just here for the pizza. . .