Vintage Page Designs--spring bird collage

Do you love using vintage papers in your art?  I do, but honestly, sometimes it's a little hard for me to rip into an old book, especially ones with lovely pictures.  And what is it about dictionaries?  I have a stack of dictionaries sitting on our fireplace, and another in the dining room--at least twenty, but I just can't bring myself to tear them apart.

This is where Ali is awesome--her etsy store specializes in vintage ephemera, no reproductions.  Some things Ali has made herself, but she also has sets of wonderful papers all ready for creating--no tearing necessary!

That gorgeous bird page, and the text behind it, came in one of the Vintage Bird Kits.  It was full of wonderful papers, SO many beautiful bird images, and all of them authentic ephemera.  All of the papers  used in this collage, aside from the corners of patterned Glitz, are from VPD, even the tiny tag.  The egg image is from Blockheads, from the Vintage Illustrated Birds set (I use that one a LOT!), but the tag is actually from the VPD packaging:

You can barely see it right here in the corner, but you can see what a lovely package of pretties this is, and that real thought and care went into each set.  I appreciate those extra touches, don't you?  Congratulations to Ali on her new venture;  I'll have several more pieces made from Vintage Page Designs papers to share with you in the next week, and you can find more information and inspiration on the VPD blog.

:)

emboss resist

You know I'm not really a card maker, right?  But I had some time to play today, and wanted to join in the emboss resist technique challenge by Blockheads, so . . .

What do you think?  The background paper is vintage ledger paper, and I had a really hard time not coloring all over it--you may have noticed I tend to use a lot of crayon.  Honestly, this looks a little plain to me.  But I do like how the emboss resist butterfly (Nature Medallions) came out, it's stamped on sheet music.  Since this card really is going in the mail, the embellishments are flat . . .

The sentiment is from the Years Ago set, stamped in my new favorite black ink, VersaFine Onyx Black, and the doily is spritzed with Lilac Walnut Ink and rubbed with a little Peeled Paint.

How about a few challenges, PLUS the Blockheads Emboss Resist Challenge--you have the chance at $25 worth of new stamps, how fun is that?

Craft-room Challenge--Ink It Up
Crafty Mess Challenge--distressing or embossing
Clearly Inspired--spring
Crafts4Eternity--spring 
Paper Crafting Journey--vintage inspired
Play Date Cafe--color challenge
Fashionable Stamping--embossing

springtime page, what's on your workdesk wednesday #151

 This is what's on my workdesk this Wednesday, no editing, to tidying for you, just straight up here it is!

 And a little bit bigger view.

And a peek at one of the pages in the book I was starting to work on last week.  The cover is in my post from yesterday, just scroll down a bit if you'd like to see.

I don't speak French, but I do know how to work Google Translate.  However, I've sometimes the translations are a bit odd, so tell me, if you know, does this REALLY say, "She loved Paris in springtime."  Cath, if you're out there, let me know . . .  :)

a spring themed book

Here is the cover of a spring themed book, finished this off last night--will share some of the layouts with you this week.  The thing is, I don't know much French, so relied on Google Translate for the text . . . not sure if it's accurate or not! 

The chipboard and patterned paper are Glitz, the collage image and ephemera are from Altered Pages.

Some challenges:
Glitz --April 2012 spring challenge 
Simon Says Stamp--sketch challenge
The Shabby Tea Room--April Showers

Will be blog visiting tomorrow--see you then!  There are still a couple more days left to enter for my spring blog candy, too:  HERE!

:)

a little hello and suchwhat

Hello! Haven't been posting as much lately, but am working  s l o w l y  on a few things . . .

So here's a quick reminder for the blog candy post, which is HERE, closing the 25th. I keep adding extra goodies, so there's no telling what all will be in there by the time it actually ends! Haven't been blog posting as much here lately, but you might enjoy a stop by the Altered Pages blog for a look at a book that may soon be available as a kit, or at Blockheads to see a layout from the hand bound book I have coming out in Altered Arts Magazine. It's a layout that is in the featured book, but not the issue, so I'm not giving away any secrets.

Been doing lots of spring stuff--you know, garden stuff, one had prom this weekend, and the oldest is graduating from college this year. What have you been working on? Leave me a link; I'm very snoopy, it's true, and will always come by for a look!

 :)

hunting and gathering--woyww 150

(In the mood for some candy?--you can find it HERE, and
I've been adding to the stash!)


No projects or pieces to show today, still in the hunting and gathering
mode for a book I have in mind--the pile in the middle is waiting for
images and quotes. Pretty much all of that is from Altered Pages, even
the Paris Trunk ink pad--pretty colors, those.


In the upper left corner is a pile of pretties that came from
Eulanda, who makes adorable cards--thank you again, Eulanda!

Okay, I probably won't have time to visit today, but if you leave a
comment, I will be by this week, so watch for me . . .

Happy WOYWW, and thanks, as always, to Julia for hostessing.

:)

a little sneak peek . . .

I'm excited to have a little altered book in the upcoming
Altered Arts magazine--you can see a peek of the cover HERE,
featuring one of the layouts. (Did I mention I'm excited?)

But of course they couldn't use ALL the layouts, or there
wouldn't have been room for anything else! So here is
a peek into the book, something you won't see in the mag:


When I Saw You

Aren't they a romantic couple? Should have used images that
were facing each other, but oh well, hindsight, you know?
The happy pair are from the Miscellaneous Anthromorphs set,
available at Blockheads. That sweet little tag with Miss Giraffe?
From Vintage Page Designs.

Our internet has been super slow lately; unfortunately, we don't
have access to high speed where we live. BUT I'm going to have a
couple hours of wifi time this afternoon, waiting for the young'uns
while they're in their choirs, so am looking forward to some blog
visiting.

See you later, and Happy Friday!

:)

what's on your workdesk? Wednesday . . .again!

(In the mood for some candy?--you can find it HERE!)

Last week went by far too quickly, eeeeeyah.


What's on my workdesk? Some awesome border stamps from
Lost Coast Designs, available at Blockheads.. My favorite right
now is this

tear drop border. I'm not very good at clean and simple, but thought
this was really fine embossed in black. Kind of art deco looking?

Have to admit, I'm looking forward to a good snoop to see what's
on YOUR workdesk! Thank you to Julia for being a wonderful
hostess for this weekly event. I think I got around to everyone
who left a comment in last week's round, but if not, will try and
track you down--better late than never!

:)

Okay, PS--the tin is full of embossing powders, didn't even think
to open it, just took a pic of what was there, you know?

Another PS--fixed the border link, sorry about that, I'm terrible
about checking before posting--thank you for the heads up. For only
$2 or $3, it IS really hard to resist these!

Easter egg! It's not chocolate, sorry . . .

(looking for some Easter candy?--you can find it HERE!)

This was such a delight to make, I hope you enjoy it . . .





So, what do you think? The egg is sparkly, but of course it
didn't photograph. Is the big pink rose too, well, big? This
feels maybe a little unbalanced . . .

Had to really trim down the nest from the Vintage Illustrated Birds set, and added feathers to the bird's tail. The inside and out background paper and the face are from the Years Ago set, the bee and medallions are from the Nature Medallions--I was going for a sealing wax look? All are from Blockheads.

Thank you to the wonderful Wendy for the eggy idea!

Have a wonderful Easter, everyone!

:)
Here's details about playing along with an embossing piece of
your own:

what's on your workdesk? Wednesday . . .

(looking for the blog candy?--you can find it HERE!)


I just finished off this pair of tags, adding the
embellishments at the top--okay, it's true, I am
completely hooked on using those lightbulb shaped
safety pins (mine are from Altered Pages).


All of these stamps are from the Relish Reading plate
by Rogue Redhead Designs.


The tags fit in the pockets of this little book--rats, I forgot to
take a pic of the book with the tags pulled!!!

Either way, I'm linking this up with the Reader's Art Quest at the
brand new blogozine, Unruly Paper Arts--Inky Backgrounds. If you
haven't had the opportunity to check it out, consider this your
formal invitation to join in on the fun! Plus, these thoughtful
looking vintage images, they're perfect for the Favorite Vintage
Style challenge at Frilly and Funkie. A little frilly, a little funkie, yes?

So what's on my workdesk? (THANK YOU to the wonderful Julia,
for graciously hosting this every week.)

Not a whole lot of anything right now, in my tiny cleaned off
spot, and guess what? Everything has migrated back to the art
room from the living room, so there's only ONE workdesk.

To celebrate the occasion, and several others, I'm having
a little giveaway with some blog candy--you can find it HERE!

:)

it's been a pretty great spring . . . giveaway time!!!

(Update on the giveaway--Snowflake was the winner, thank you to all who joined in!)

It's been a great spring, and I'm sooooo thankful!
Here are some of the things I'm grateful for:

Beautiful "How Does Your Garden Grow?" atcs, from

Liz, Lorraine, and Jan


Gina, Marion, and Becky.

Do you ever sign up for blog candy? I do, but really do NOT
expect to win. EVER. So here's my funny stories . . .

On the SAME DAY, I heard from Kimberly of artjoystuff,
who had this lovely hanging waiting for me:


(so beautiful!)

AND Kim (aka Tabbby) of Tabby's Place, who had a truly
inspiring lot of art journal things, including this book,

all boxed up and ready to send my way. There was tons of
wonderful goodies, but honestly, the daughter made off with
about half of them, and I'm going to have to pry them out of
her hot little hands if I want to use some of them! The lesson
there is: don't open packages around your teen daughter.

Next story: So like a day or two later, I hear from Lynn
of Trash to Treasure Art, telling me I'd won HER blog candy,
too!! Here's the best part--I didn't even realize it was a
"get some candy" post I was commenting on, I was just, you
know, leaving a comment like always! Isn't that funny?
She sent this amazing pendant,

which she made using the metal etching technique she wrote
a tutorial for HERE.

These are just the icing on my fine spring cake, which
includes my fourth year designing at Altered Pages, plus
some delightful new doings with the brilliant Blockheads.

Add to that a guest design time at Rogue Redhead Designs,
and a spot in the brand NEW blogozine Unruly Paper Arts--and don't
forget about all my awesome bloggy friends, you all are the best!
Can you see why I'm feeling so grateful?

You may know I've been doing some spring cleaning, so time
for a destash giveaway:

A rag doll to art up, a few stamps, lots of ribbon and fibers,
several tins/boxes to alter, some vintage stuff, a box of atc
making stuff--new stuff, old stuff, fun stuff!

You know, the usual--be a follower (new is fine, yes), and leave
a comment. Just one comment is enough, but if you put this in your
sidebar, let me know, and we'll put your name in the hat twice, yes?
We'll wrap things up the 25th.

:)