It is not in the stars to hold our destiny . . .

click photo to enlarge

Isn't she lovely? What a romantic image! (Not the "kissy
kissy, oooh I love you," kind of romantic, but the idealized
type of romance, know what I mean?) She is part of the
Cosmos Collage stamp from Lost Coast Designs, available
at Blockheads.

I found her charming, and wanted the focus to be on her,
so there is only some very light tinting with pale copics,
and a bit of Tattered Rose Distress Ink.

Challenge? Yes, please:
The Cheerful Stamp Pad--romance is in the air
Cupcake Craft Challenge--recycle (college notes, sheet music)
Pollycraft Monday--favourite (altered books, ephemera)
Crafting When We Can--use something not intended for crafting (ephemera)
Just For Fun--Medieval

Well, for whatever reason, blogger is NOT playing nicely AT ALL,
and I can't link anything properly. I try to add a link, but it
ends up attaching itself to another link, which ends up a big, broken,
not-linked mess. Anyone else having this problem? I CAN, however,
look at something and type what I see, so even though I have no idea
what all the little things do, I feel very accomplished today for
putting in links by myself!!!

:)

some pretty pages

The new issue of Enchanting Creations is out, and
there are pages and pages of pretty things to see.

In the Shakespeare inspired section, they chose to
share one of my most favorite things I've ever made--
this altered book layout, featuring Titania, Queen
of the Fairies . . .



Titania herself is constructed from the Altered Pages Paper Dolls
page, but the hand that is holding her is my daughter's.
The page in Titania's right hand is from the script of
A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I scanned and printed.



You can see the whole issue here, and it's free!
Thank you, Enchanting Creations!

quick and fun little purse calendar

Seriously, I needed one of these, one with room to write
stuff. Last Friday, we stopped in at an estate sale, and
I got one of those treasure boxes. You know, one of those
"Everything For $2.00" deals.

Anyway, there were two unused, government issued, no less,
little notebooks with yellowed pages, perfect purse size,
lots of room to write. Now I don't know about you, but if
something is going to be bumping around inside my cavern of
a black hole bag, it sure shouldn't be anything I spent a great
deal of money on or time making, otherwise I'm just going to
be peeved when it gets banged up.

This quick make was just the right answer, the only mildly time
consuming thing being marking the pages with dates, but even
that speeds along nicely. Plus, I'm doing it with a purple pen,
so of course that makes it easier, too!

Happy Friday, everyone--have a lovely weekend!

Challenges:
Gingersnap Creation--use some of your stash of favorite papers
Basic Grey Challenges--Favourite things--estate sale/flea
market finds, those cute new stamps(but all my new stamps
are my favorites, so . . .), and pretty much any Basic Grey
paper, right? BG lemondade papers & sticker embellishments.
Stampotique Designers Challenge--Altered items--(memo book)
using the Starbirds stamps
Simon Says Stamp--Anything Goes!

Love is the crocodile

on the river of desire.

Look at the croc puzzling over this, even he isn't
sure what exactly that means, poor confused fellow!

Croc and hardware images from Lost Coast Designs
available at Blockheads.

Oh, yes, it's challenge time! Dreaming of spring rather
than crocodiles? Consider the Glorious Green challenge
at Gingersnap Creations . . .

How 'bout some more fun?
SweetStamps--Love
Creative Stamp Friends--Antique or old-fashioned
Cupcake Craft Challenges--All you need is love
Crafting When We Can--use something not intended for crafing
(hymnal page, notebook paper, book page)

who is this woman??

Does anyone recognize this woman? She's one of
my favorite stamped images--surely one of you
stampers out there will know her origins?

ANYWAY, both the image and the text are on vellum,
over a piece of serendipity background paper that
has an ivory wash, some distress inks, lots of crayon,
a little German Scrap, and some tulle. The woman's
thoughtful, resolute expression pairs well with this
week's verse at Word Art Wednesday, and she'd like to
join in these challenges, as well:

Rogue Redhead Designs--use vellum
Catered Crop--use printed material (background)
Craft Your Days Away--Distressing
Card Makin' Mamas--something old (papers, tulle, etc.)
Frosted Designs--use vellum, acrylic, or transparency

Love at first sight.

Okay, yes, it's another Miscellaneous Anthromorphs
card--there is something about these images that I
find strangely compelling. Maybe it's the animals,
maybe it's their Victorian garb . . . whatever it
is, they've been getting a lot of attention lately!

Base is textured black cardstock, mixed media collage
background with plenty of crayon, images stamped in
Jet Black StazOn, stamps are Lost Coast
Designs, available at Blockheads.

Oh, yes, please, a challenge:
The Artistic Stamper--vintage
Aud Sentiments-use the word love
Craft Us Crazy--Valentine/Love/and-or animal (how perfect??!!)
Crafty Creations--Valentine
Crafter's Companion--Love is in the air
The Squirrel and The Fox--Critters

the old were young once

Do you recognize these images? They're based on actual
Fayum mummy portraits from Egypt, from the period beginning
around the 3rd century BC. The originals were done in an
early type of encaustic, on wood panels, for sarcophagi.

So, it was really surprising to see Mini Ancients
offered by Lost Coast Designs, available at Blockheads.
--I'm used to seeing vintage
images, but this is about as vintage as you can get! Had
to have these--my children even recognized them, from when
we studied Egypt a while back.

The images are stamped on yellowed notebook paper,
cut out, and adhered to some hand-pieced background
paper I've been hoarding for awhile, but the Use Your Favorite
Paper challenge at Gingersnap Creations coaxed the last
bit of it out of me . . .

More Challenges?
Tuesday Throwdown--neutral colors
Crafty Bloggers--monochrome
Ink It Up--anything goes
Truly Scrumptious--something forgotten. I played it in my mind
as the people in these stamps are forgotten, but it is, in reality,
use something you haven't for a long time or forgot about. I didn't
forget about the pieced paper, but I did hoard it for a long time!
Sir Stampalot--monochromatic

serendipity style mixed media background for collage, atcs, twinchies, etc

When asked to write up a tutorial for the current
theme (Use What You Have) at Gingersnap Creations,
I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

This is, undoubtedly, one of my all-time favorite,
tried-and-true techniques. It's easy, it's fun,
the results are great, and guess what?? It uses
your stash, your scraps, whatever you have on hand--
perfect for this round of challenges at Gingersnap.
But I'm always up for something new, so please leave
me a comment with YOUR favorite background technique!


First, you need something for the base--I usually
choose an old piece of 12x12 scrap paper--plus
your favorite adhesive, and, of course, your scraps.
I keep mine in a (okay, yes, SEVERAL) collage boxes.
AKA as old shoe boxes, but that's beside the point . . .


Ready to dig in?



Start gluing scraps all over the base. Don't worry
about lining things up just right, and don't fret
about color combinations--don't think, just glue!
Sometimes it's helpful to continually turn the base
as you glue, to prevent a discernible "top" or "bottom"
to the background.

If you have some pet piece you want to remain in the
picture, be sure to save it until last, because you
really should . . .


COVER the base. At this point, you could stop
and use your background piece as it is, but I
generally try and unify the colors somewhat.


Here, I'm using a light acrylic wash, first in
a blue, and now with a pink.

Once again, you may want to stop here, but
why stop when you can STAMP???

Randomly stamp images all over the background--
again, don't think too much, just stamp!

Finished? Whatchya gonna make? Time to CUT:

Here are some twinchie (oh, did anyone mention
the Gingersnap Twinchie art exchange??) and atc
backgrounds, all ready for some main images and
embellishments!

If that's too pastel for you, go bright like
I did in this background:

Squirt paint over the top of your background,
and then smear it around, making sure the paint
is thin enough that the images show through.

And there is always the option of more paint!

Here, I printed with found objects.

Some other serendipity backgrounds:


Some finished pieces using this type of background:
One Last Autumn in Paris
Autumn in Paris skinny
Cats in Costumes ATCs
moo cards and holder (whoa, these are from 2008!)

What's YOUR favorite background technique??
If you have a link, that's even better!

:)

a Tiny Tale of Alice

I have a collection of Alice In Wonderland books;
it started in childhood . . . so why not add one
of my own making??










Here it is opened . . .

All the stamped images are from Lost
Coast Designs, available at Blockheads--there
are some fabulous fairy tale
and Alice stamps, very detailed and inspiring. The base
book is textured black cardstock, along with some Basic
Grey Fusion paper, StazOn in Jet Black, and crayon.

You didn't really expect me to make something without
crayons, did you???

;)

Challenge, anyone?
The Cheerful Stamp Pad--ready for this? Birds of a Feather!
Altered Alice--stripes
Penny's Paper-Crafty--birds
Basic Grey Challenges--something new (one of the stamps, the book form)
Moving Along With the Times--spots and/or stripes
Simon Says Stamp--spots or stripes

Have a great weekend, everyone--stay warm!

fly

click the photo to enlarge it and read text

For the Spicy Supply Challenge (ribbon) at Gingersnap
Creations, using Stampotique stamps from Jo Capper-Sandon:
Starbird with Chick, Fly Word, and Great Moon.
Does anyone NOT have a bundle of ribbon scraps lying
about their art stuff?? The nest is made from ribbon
bits.

This sweet duo of birds have inspired me to do a series
of pieces--aren't they charming little things?

Let's add some challenges, shall we??
Anything Goes--anything goes!
Everybody Art Challenge--shabby
Ladybug Crafts Ink--anything goes using your new stuff--the stamps!
Ribbon Carousel Challenge--Inspired by . . .

a small token of my love

It truly is tiny, just one and one
half inches square. Untie the pretty
silk ribbon, and it opens up--


as an accordion folded book, full of inchies and
sweet sentiments.


(click on any photo to enlarge)

The base is textured black cardstock, and the patterned
paper is from Basic Grey's lemonade line. The images are
from Altered Pages, and there is some distress ink, tulle,
German scrap, and a sparkly heart on the front cover.

Apparently I enjoyed making this a little too much,
as it's started up a whole series of tiny book projects.
You probably already know I'm partial to handmade books,
but this is the first one I've ever made that is so very
small.

:)

Challenges:::::::
Crafty Boots--New Beginnings (first tiny book in a series, FUN!)
Cupcake Craft--something new (my first inchie book)
Karen's Doodles--Valentines/Love
MyGrafico--Love and Valentine's
Cupcake Inspirations--from pic (I used the colors)

help me choose a sentiment???

I'm leaning towards, "So many men, so little time."

This has been a great year so far--nothing to do with
the "So many men," don't get any ideas! Lots of
fun new stamps to play with, and these fine fellows are
from one of my new favorite sets--Miscellaneous
Anthromorphs by Lost Coast Designs,
available at Blockheads.

Used some textured black cardstock for the base, and
the patterned paper is bits of sheet music, book pages,
and someone's old college notes. The gentlemen are all
colored with markers, and there is a strip of black satin
ribbon behind each.

So, what do you think for a sentiment? Like I said, I'm
leaning towards "So many men, so little time," but am
definitely open to ideas here!

Challenge me up this weekend:::::

Gingersnap Creations--use a set or line of stamps
Rogue Redhead Designs--use a grid(the grid lines are the ribbon,
is that griddy enough?)
Craft Your Days Away--new beginnings(I was invited to be a
guest designer for Lost Coast Designs, and this is my first card
for them--believe me, I'm celebrating!!)
Crafty Catz--new beginnings also, see above!
Crazy 4 Challenges--use or try something new (the stamps!)
Card Makin' Mamas--use something new (the stamps!)

Have a great Saturday, everyone!

:)

PS!! This ended up being a birthday card for a gentleman
who turned one hundred!!

gettin' griddy with the Rogue Redheads

Well, honestly, I'm still not sure I like the colors, but
the images from the Milliner Misses and rose from the
Floriculture plate, those make me happy! The patterned
paper is cut from a piece of handmade background paper,
and everything is inky with Jet Black Staz-On. A little
tulle, some sequins waste, and there you go.

Don't feel like lining up a grid with the Rogue
Redheads today? Then here are a few more creative
challenges you may want to try:

Gingersnap Creations--use a set or line of stamps (Rogue Redhead)
Pixie Dust Studios--mono-tize it!
Sassy Studio Designs--Use something new (the stamps)
Shelly's Images--use something less than a month old (the stamps)
Stamp n' Doodle--anything goes this week!

Update--Thank you to Shelly's Images for the Bronze Award
for this card! :)

I missed you!

Whew, I'm back! Let me advise you, if you have the
choice of getting one of the colds going around right
now, and NOT getting a cold . . . well, you probably
know which one to pick. It's good to be back, and with
a brand new year of creative possibilities.

Speaking of creative possibilities, you might want to
peruse the latest challenges at Gingersnap Creations.
I had entirely too much fun making this piece for the
Chestnut Theme--Use a Line or Set of Stamps challenge:


If you click on the photo, it will enlarge.

The background is pieced of various scraps
of ephemera, and the sweet stamps are all from
Jo Capper-Sandon's line at Stampotique.

Stampotique is generously sponsoring the challenges
this round at Gingersnap Creations. They are also hosting
their Stampotique Designer's Challenge, which is
a Wish for the New Year.

Just look on the back of that little "wish" tag,
and you'll find one of mine . . .

:)

More fun challenges:
Digistamps4Joy--Something old, something new
(ephemera old, stamps brand new!)
My Mum's Craft Shop--something new (stamps!)
Penny's Paper-Crafty--birds!
Simon Says Stamp--something new (the stamps!)
Anything Goes Challenge Blog--blue plus one other colour

And you can always share your makes and find other
great ideas at Dear Creatives.