Thriving Art

If only my Monday had been as peaceful as this little image of a golden sunset. It was anything BUT, headache made me sick to my stomach, car stopped running about a mile from the house; had to walk home in the heat, jeans and dress shoes. Plus I found that my purse weighs about 50lbs around a 1/4 mile down the road! But ALAS I got home took a cool shower and made this pretty little card. The sun was stamped on black glossy cs and embossed with gold. The sun itself was first painted white so the yellow, red and orange would show on the black. I found an old can of spray webbing in the garage the other day, I'm surprised it still worked when I used it on the background black. All are mounted on a metallic gold cs and then mounted on a glossy black card. Check out the other submissions to the Gingersnap Creations challenge here: http://gingersnapcreations.blogspot.com/2010/07/gc63-random-redhead-challenge-sunshine.html

Over at Paper Play the challenge is with colors ( ooooh my favorite ) This week it it blue, cream and one other color. check out all the entries here: http://paperplaychallenges.blogspot.com/2010/07/10-week-29-colour-combo.html I decided to use navy blue, cream and a mirrored fuchsia cs. I love the fuchsia and navy together. My swirling lady is from Stamp Tramp and the sentiment is from Stampa Rosa. The sketch is from the Gingersnap yahoo group. If ya haven't joined this group your missing out on some great gals and art!

Over at Gingersnap Creations the shades of blue challenge is still going on for a couple more days. Catch all the entries at: http://gingersnapcreations.blogspot.com/2010/06/gc60-color-challenge-shades-of-blue.html Using an image from the my lights out batch, this card came about. There is just something about coloring the image with markers and then spritzing with water that I love. I think my Prisma colors are getting a wee bit jealous! LOL This "water color" image just kept saying KEEP IT SIMPLE. ( am I the only one that hears these little voices?) This tulip is a rather large stamp, so simple is almost a must, unless it is trimmed out then remounted. I must CONFESS yesterday I bought a new stash of 100 markers :-O just to have a better variety of colors to play with. They don't blend as well as my Tombows but they are going to be GREAT for this technique!

So what have I done with all my "water color" images from the night the lights went out in Shafter? Well I created this card for a second entry in the Gingersnap Creations marker challenge! http://gingersnapcreations.blogspot.com/2010/07/gc62-spicy-supply-challenge-markers.html Well, brown is not usually the color I pick for this flower, but I do like the aged look it gave the image. It is from Anna Griffin. I used a couple of shades of brown markers on the stamp, then spritzed with water and stamped the image on a tan cs. Once it was dry I tore around the edges, aged with some ink and wa-la! The square is a mother of pearl tile that fell off a sheet of them at work.......lucky me! LOL

Here is a red HOT little tag I created for the Gingersnap challenge. Believe me when I say it has been HOT here is southern California. We have had a week of over 100', supposed to only be 102' today and then drop to 99'. ( I may have to find a sweater LOL ) The GC site is where to find this HOT little challenge check it out at: http://gingersnapcreations.blogspot.com/2010/07/gc61-chestnut-theme-challenge-heat.html I used a large 3 3/4" X 5 3/4" laminate tag for the base. It was on a chain of samples when I worked at the cabinet co. Over the top are layers of many things, ink stained paper towel, embossed fabric softener sheet, tissue paper and mulberry paper. The sun image is stamped on light yellow tissue and then decoupaged onto the top of the tag. The letter were stamped onto an ink dyed water color paper, then trimmed out. A red deco with my Cricut, brass charm and yarns finished it up.

I was busy coloring stamps with my markers, then spritzing them with water, then stamping. Just having a good ole time, the music blasting from the PC, trying this, then trying that. BOOM! no power. Geesh! This house is past dark and way into black when the lights go out! Well, anyway, I did manage to get a few images stamped choosing different colors and different papers. This all came about after visiting this blog spot: http://stempelatelier.blogspot.com/2010/03/voorjaar.html Mine are absolutely not even close to the beautiful images Elli has made with the same technique. She also has a to-die-for-stamp for this. You need to check it out. Now that I have "played" with this technique, and made more than enough images, guess I'll try a few different layouts, hopefully the power will stay on tonight. It is still in the 90's and it is 8:30PM here.........and HUMID. NOT a typical CA heat wave, and I need that A/C working tonight!

Using markers for coloring an images IS a challenge for me. I prefer colored pencils that are soft and blendable, markers always seem so flat, or the stroke marks turn me off. Today I started with a glossy cs and three colors of pink and really practiced blending with them. This has really given me a deep appreciation for the cards that all of you make with markers. This card took me almost all day to complete! I guess I could break down and try some Copinks, my old Tombows are a little hard to work with. Any other suggestions, leave them in my comments I really would like to know what all of you "ink" girls use.

Since I can no longer stand and create I have had to make some changes to my stamping/craft/scrapbook area. Some may remember that this is the wall where I stood, now it has things that I don't use but occasionally, and for scrapbooking. Hey I can actually see AND use them with out moving something to do so! LOL I had to do some major sorting and sorting and figuring out how to down size and make it work. I cleaned off this work area, and I do mean cleaned, and made this the area I NOW use for creating cards and stamped art. I have a tall stool to sit on, that is perfect. Those little black cabinets under the counter top are my wine coolers. ( oh yeah, both red and white ) Most of my stamps and supplies are still in the cabinets on the long wall, but the necessities are at my finger tips. Once I clean off the upper shelf, I'll but my boxes of stamps there to make them a wee bit closer.

I had been planning on getting a bulletin board for my stamp area for some time. This one was my Mom's and had hung by the phone at the back door for years. As I was cleaning out her house I pulled it off the wall and brought it home. She had glued something on it, probably hooks or stick back calendars; then pulled them off leaving some areas a little thin, but adds character. While wondering through the blogs I follow, Hels Sheridan had a blue challenge for this week and I thought "Blue would be a good color for that bulletin board." Well, that was all fine and dandy, until I found I have NO BLUE PAINT! =-0 Okay, so I had to think and ponder on what I could use that is shades of blue....hummmm. I ended up using some blue inks and white acrylic paint. Since the inks are water base I had to spray a sealer on it every so often so get a layered look. Using a couple of flower stamps and a dragonfly I added some images. I used some less expensive felt tip pens to ...

As some of you know, I lost my Mom last month and going through her stuff I found these in a scrap book. Now I told you I have been doing this for a LOOOOONG time and here's the proof! LOL The long card I colored in first grade; the teacher said we had to do our best because we only got one. Well, I colored my carnation a very pretty blue, she took it away and said there was no such thing as a blue carnation and gave me a second one. Now ya have to remember this was back in 195..........! The smaller of the two was from the 11th grade, I had just learned to draw a rose.......sort of. I kept them to show to Hanah as she loves to make cards with Grandma Krisha. Of course they will now go into my scrapbook.

For this challenge I went a different direction form most people. Lazy hazy days of summer mean hitting the beaches of California. My kids would probably say this is a self portrait! LOL except we are about 200 miles north of San Diego. The background is a scan of a really cool coaster from a place we had lunch at, it is a nice chip board coaster and just seemed to fit with the image ( even if it is an advertisement for beer )

Well, here are the final 3 thank you cards. I did manage to pull some already made cards that would fit the purpose. The green one is for a friend that came and really helped out. The blue flowers are layered onto a metallic background that....., well ya know how things go when ya scan them. LOL

While cruse'n through the blogs I follow, I came across this challenge on Stamp Something, AND since tomorrow is the 4 th of July this wall hanging came about last night. I know, I should be working on more thank you cards, but ya know how it is when inspiration gets in the way LOL . I used a chip board for this, spray it white then used inks from Posh Impressions to lay out the background. With the inks being water based I then had to seal it with a spray mat sealer. Once everything was dry I took an old acrylic file to the edges. Using Tom Holtz's Vintage Photo ink I aged the edges, then sprayed sealer again. The image is also from Posh Impressions, after stamping it with black ink I sponged red and blue at an angle and aged with the same Vintage Photo ink. A small red, white and blue looped ribbon was added to the lower right corner and three star brads. It all hangs from red, white and blue glittery fibers.

Well, I completely missed posting for the month of June. Unfortunately it was because my Mom went down hill and I had to put her in the hospital where she survived for four days, before the angels came and took her home. The longs days at the hospital were brutal, I got home checked up on the lists that I belong to, checked up on Friends on Facebook and then hit the pillow. She passed on the 18th but there was 47 years of stuff to get out of her house, all the while a family member was moving in upon my request ( couldn't let the house set empty when the neighborhood found out she was gone ) Marty, the family member, had known my Mom for years and she has been a God send in cleaning and sorting. So, now that things have cleared up a bit I have started making my thank you cards. It is really hard to get the mojo going, but a swift kick in the lower mojo and some challenges have helped me get back on track. This was the first of three, plain and simple, cut with the Cricut, wit...

Shades of Blue, sounded easy enough, good colors for a thank you card...............................There must be 500 shades of blue and they don't always go together! The shades of blue on this card actually look better than the scan shows. Unfortunately my camera is in the kitchen, and I'm NOT! LOL so you'll have to do with the scan. http://gingersnapcreations.blogspot.com/2010/06/gc60-color-challenge-shades-of-blue.html

A thank you card to send out for the thoughtfullness of a close friend when my Mom passed away. This friend is a grower of some of the most beautiful roses, I really think she could make a broom stick bloom!

Getting images from other stampers, and creating a card with one of them was the challenge for this card! The colors were inspired by Really Reasonable Ribbons, and the image just seemed to fit the colors. The background paper is one I made years ago and ran it throught my NEW Texture Boutique. OOLA what fun! It sure did improve an old background paper. It was a fun card to make, hope my secret buddy enjoys it!