MMSC81

 It's time for another Midnight Madness post. Here is the challenge for this week.

And here is my design based on the sketch.

Items used:

Cardstock - PopTones

Designer Paper - K & Company

Punch - Martha Stewart

Embossing Folder - Swirls

Flower & Swirl - ippity stamps (Now & Always set IPK-117)

Flower Center - Cuttlebug Quilled Chrysanthemum

Embellishment - Self Adhesive Rhinestones

Inks: Distress Ink- Peeled Paint; Fresco -Vatican Wine

This was fun to make and I decided to use some items that I haven't used in a while. I thought the Quilled Chrysanthemum  would be a great addition to the stamped flower center. Also I haven't used some of my embossing folders in a while so I thought the swirls went well with that swirly leaf stamp. Since I stamped the swirly leaf stamp on watercolor paper, after I cut the image out, I wet the paper and let the stamp lose a lot of its definition. I used Vatican Wine from Fresco on the flower. I just love all the Fresco inks. They give an old world flavor to the colors. I will stamp some things up later to show you the fabulous colors you get with these inks.They are a chalk finish dye ink, and I use them well over 50% of the time.

Well that is it for now. Thanks so much for stopping by, see you soon.

Barbara



LIIU Challenge #6 - Recycle It

This month, the challenge on Let's Ink It Up is "Recycle It". It just so happens I had saw something the other day and had saved it. It is the holiday packaging for the 12 packs of Diet Coke. It is silvery and has a snowflake and swirls on the background, which is the style that I really love. I set it aside on my desk, so, when I read the challenge for Let's Ink It Up, I knew what recycled product I was going to use. So, without further ado, here is my design.

Products that I used:
Stamp: Sparkle N Sprinkle
Glitter: Sparkle N Sprinkle
Coloring: Copic Markers
Ink: India Ink Pad
Red Cardstock:Pop Tones
Snowflake: Spellbinders Die
Punch: Martha Stewart
Silver Background: Coca Cola 12 Pack Packaging







I guess I am a pack rat. (Thanks mom). I see stuff and know it can be used later, this time later became sooner. And I love the packaging for the Diet Coke12 packs for this holiday season. Doesn't it look great on this card. Even the cans are really cool. Check them out the next time you are at the store. Also, the next time you see packaging for some product, really look at it. Chances are, it can be used on a card or some other project. Wait til you see something I will be using, sometime soon, from a fragrance package.

Well thanks for stopping by, see you soon, and leave a comment. I read and appreciate each and every one.
Thanks,

Barbara

MMSC80 and Fall {ippity} Stamps

Here is the MMSC80 design for this week. My design this week is from a set from the latest fall line of {ippity} stamps. The fall {ippity} stamps are in and they are really nice. These stamps are very deeply etched and they are all foam mounted and are a line made by Unity stamps, so, you know they are quality.

Here is a card using the stamps from set IPK-140 Sing a New Song.

Click here to go to ippity do da, my online ippity store, to view the complete new Fall 2010 line and to place your order. The store is open 24/7 for your shopping convenience.

 

That's it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

 

Barbara

CPS193

Ho Ho Ho......................

Here is the latest sketch design from Card Positioning Systems. After looking at this sketch, I knew I wanted to use a new embossing folder I just picked up today. However, after I put all the layers together I just had to add Santa, so I had to add to the sketch, Santa made me do it. (LOL)

So here is the design I came up with.The embossing folder is an exclusive one from Archiver's and I used designer paper for that great grid work background. The stamp I used for the Santa face is from Gumbo Graphics. This stamp is very old and unfortunately is no longer available. Sorry to use an old stamp but, this stamp is the best Santa stamp I have ever seen. Hope you like it.

That's it for today, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

MMSC79

It's time for another Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge.

Even though the temperature is still above the norm here, these trees remind me of the season that is coming, Christmas. One of the best times of the year, don't you think.

Stamps: Rubber Monger, PrintWorks, SeeD's

Ink: Fresco, VersaMark

Paper:PopTones, Curious Metallics

Glitter: SparkleNSprinkle

Well, its time to start making my list and checking it twice, Santa will be here sooner than we think. OK... OK... I know we have to get thru Thanksgiving first.

Have a great week.

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon,


Barbara

November's Challange

I belong to a stamp club and each month we are given something to use in the design of a card. We refer to it as the challenge. Well here is what we were given at the October meeting. This orange sheet with diamonds pre-perforated on it, what was I going to do with this. So I layed it aside and kind of forgot about it. Well the meeting was Tuesday, and here I was, Tuesday morning, trying to design a card using this strange piece. After looking at my stamps, the design finally came to me. I have included 2 different views of the finished card. It's amazing what the creative part of our brain will let us see. I wonder what you would have done with it.

Well that is it for now have a great day and thanks for stopping by,

Barbara

Winter Trees

Hello everyone,
Not too long ago I opened an email from Stamp Zia, announcing her stamp for November. I just fell in love with the stamp and ordered it. I received that stamp, Winter Trees, and finally got to play with it Wednesday. There is a technique that is listed on her website that Zana uses with this stamp and the results are quite striking. So, since I bought the stamp, I just had to try the technique to see what I would end up with. And I am quite pleased. Hope you like what I have done.

It's amazing how color can change the look of a card, or a piece of artwork, isn't it.

I hope you enjoy these pieces as much as I enjoyed making them. 

That's it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

Barbara

Repurposing for Christmas

Hello Everyone

Today I am sharing an item that I re purposed for gift giving.
I am not a coffee drinker, but those latte drinks at the grocery that are in those little 4 pack carriers, are perfect to cover. Then adding soaps or bath salts or candy or whatever in the bottles is so cool.

I carefully took the collar off the bottle and used for a template. Remove the collar and any labels off all bottles. Wash the bottles and let them dry. Using the collar from one of the bottles I made new collars and used a beautiful designer paper. Next I took the little carrying carton and recovered it with the same paper and look what it looks like now. Add a little something to the caps to cover and you are done. This would be cute to make for a little birthday gift as well.

OK, time to get started on your Christmas projects. You have about 46 days left 'til Christmas.(LOL)

Well that is it for today, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

Barbara

Christmas Card Idea

Did you know that in 47 days Christmas will be here.WOW!!! At this time of year, every year, I wonder where the time has gone.Today, I thought I would share with you an idea that you will love. And it enables you to save from year to year some of those special holiday cards you receive.

What do you do with all the holiday cards you receive?? Do you save them?? And then what happens to them?? Oh, they get stored in a box and they never see the light of day again?? OK, a lot of us are like that. Well here is a great way to show the cards off again and put then on display especially if you will be entertaining throughout the holidays.

Get an old book, go to the Thrift Shop in your area and pick up one if you don't have a book you want to part with. Any title will do. Next gather up the cards that you want to use.  Next count how many cards you are using and divide that number into the total number of pages in your book.The number will represent approximately pages you will have in each section. Next section off the number of pages per section, using binder clips or large paper clips. Now, using white glue, paint glue on the page edges of each section. You will want to get the page edges pretty wet but not drippy. Let dry. (I actually put waxed paper between the sections to keep the sections separated while drying.) I let this dry overnight. While your book is drying, cut the card fronts off the cards and anything else from the card that you will be using, make sure to keep all your card elements together from each of the cards. Maybe you want to use just the card front, that is what I did but I also used some of the sentiments too. After the glue on the page edges is dry paint the front and back of the book. I used acrylic paint in champagne gold, love this color. This gold color is soft and not too brassy. After the front and back of the book is dry, paint the edges of the sections in the same gold color. Let all the paint dry.

Now the fun begins. In this step I decided the order of the cards and painted the printed pages with a color that went with that card. It could be a contrasting color or a color that was the same as the card, but you want your card to stand out on the page not to be buried in the page.You will be painting the printed pages of each glued section. After the paint is dry I affixed the cards on their respective pages. Lastly I added embellishments to add further interest. You can see that I trimmed a lot of the cards to fit into the book to make the cards look like they belonged on that page. I had a few cards that I actually cut the card front in half because the card was just too big. I even stamped on some of the pages, but you could add stickers too if you wanted. Brads and buttons are also cool embellishments, as well as die cuts. Let your imagination go wild.

 

This is a great way to preserve special cards and to be able to display them the following year. You can even add the year to the front of the book so you can remember what year you received your special cards.

How cool is that.

Tomorrow I will show you another re purposed item that you can use for a Christmas package  or a birthday gift or whatever the occasion is. See you then.

Well, that's it for now, thanks for stopping by,

Barbara

Inchies and Inchies+

We all have probably made a card and added a small stamped square to the card. Well I needed to make a few cards with inchies on them so I thought I'd share my creations with you today. These cards are perfect for Valentine's Day. I know, that is a long way off but it really is right around the corner. Stamps used are: Sparkling Daisy 1040-211D and Tossed Hearts 1041-211B from set 221 and the sentiment Happy Valentine’s Day 3202-401B is in set 401

I really like the Nymph stamp I used on this card. She is really awesome isn't she. Here are the stamps I used on this card: Flower Nymph 1034-211E , Posy Cluster 1039-211A and Hearts & Stars Swirls 1036-211G are in set 221

This card that is appropriate for the fall season. The stamps used are: Swirly Maple 3279-410M, Swirly Oak Leaf  3280-410A, Swirly Acorn 3286-410A , Faith 3283-410B. These are all in set 410

All of the stamped images featured in these cards are from Sparkle N Sprinkle. Clink on the link to see the stamp sets and the other stamps in those sets.










That is it for now,thanks for stopping by, and I will see you soon,

Barbara

Saturday's Outing

I stopped by a craft show in my neighborhood and look what they had outside. A little family of alpacas. These guys were so cute and pretty friendly, too. They made the cutest clicking sound, as they communicated with each other. They are so soft and such a sweet animal. I could just hug them.

It's amazing what you might run into at an event. Who would have thought, alpacas at a craft show.

OK on to the show. I picked up a beautiful amethyst pendent with a Drusy opening.
Not sure what Drusy is?? Well, check out the picture of my new pendant. There is an opening on the front, it almost looks like the pendant is broken. The inside is what is called Drusy.
What is Drusy? . . .

Drusy literally means “covered by a large number of minute crystals”. The term Drusy is used in the jewelry industry to mean a gem that has this specific type of gem formation. The gem is cut to highlight mother nature's artwork and expose the Drusy in attractive arrangements that delight the eye. The term Drusy has often been misspelled as Druzy, Druse, or Druzie(s) they all refer to the same thing. Whether the crystals appear on the surface of the mineral or are recessed into a crevice the result is the same, a stunning gemstone.
The look has been described as the same as looking at a mass of sugar when it sparkles in the light.

How is Drusy Formed?
The dynamic processes of the earth's crust and internal layers that are referred to as plate tectonics are responsible for the formation of most colored gemstones that we see today. Millions of years ago as molten rock was being forced rapidly up to the surface, the heat and pressure changes caused gasses to expand and create cavities within solidifying rock. Later, as the mineral rich ground water moved through the rock it deposited new minerals into these cavities and as cooling began to occur the crystallization of these minerals formed on top of and inside the previously crystallized rock. This crystal formation is called Drusy.

Well today you saw an animal usually on a farm and learned a little about gemology.
Now it's time for me to get back to designing cards. I am working on Valentine Cards for Sparkle N Sprinkle.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day, see you soon,

Barbara