two "firsts" and woyww 152

(If you wanna see What's on my Workdesk, Wednesday, except it's really Thursday
right now, just scroll past all that yammer there . . .)

Well, it's time for my first column at Unruly Paper Arts.  When I joined the Unruly
team, I was so excited, it sounded great, yay, go team.  Now it's more like, "WHAT
HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO??"

the latest issue of Unruly Paper Arts--Wedding Wonders

Do me a favor, will you?  Check out my column, and let me know--kindly, please--
if I'm even shooting at the right target.  More tutorial-y?  Less wordy?  Don't drink
two cups of coffee before writing the next one? I can make stuff all the live long day,
but write a column . . . hmm.

Here's my second first, if that makes any sense at all--my first finished design team
project as a real life Rogue Redhead--YES!  (This definitely falls under the category
of "make stuff," whew!)

Finished off the pocket book I'd started a while ago:

Relish Reading

 You may remember this layout, it was finished a while back . . .

Tuesday Treasures--the railway tokens and velvet leaves!

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my favorite vintage bits right now--the lightbulb pins, railway tokens, and
the velvet milliner's leaves--see Tuesday Treasures if you'd like to share this week!

Here you can really see that fabulous background stamp, also in the Relish Reading:

Relish Reading

Beach Babes

Beach Babes

These sets both have large background stamps that go perfectly with the
images--large enough I stamped the background of both these tags at the
same time.  Want to see more pieces made with these stamps?  Check out
the Rogue's Gallery and Customer and Guest Gallery at the RRD blog site.

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday?  152

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: