Thriving Art

I love the back ground paper for this card, it was bought for scrap booking, but I am now down to a small scrap left.  I stamped the heart on a penalized vellum and embossed it with a light rose powder. ( for a good look double click the photo to enlarge it, sorry the scan is so light ) From the back I colored it in with a mauve felt tip pen.  The image is from Rubber Stampede and the sentiment is from Stamping Up.  A ribbon and lace trim along the bottom with pearls and a heart charm were the finishing touches.  The vertical "ribbon" is really a strip of matching paper trimmed to look like ribbon.  As I am putting all this information in writing I realise that this card qualifies for more than the challenge it was meant for, which is the One or More Hearts, Background papers do not count this week.......and that is over at the http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/   BUT it also qualifies for the GC 134 Ribbon challenge http://gingersnapcre...

The day this challenge "Glorious Greens" began I had this card already laid out, cause I had be working from my stash!  This image was sent to me in an image exchange last year so I don't know who it is from.  It had been colored and of course.....set aside. I began with a dark green cs and layered the pattern papers.  The image is on top of a corrugated piece.  The green ribbon really washed out in the scan but looks pretty with the naked eye.  The challenge is on the  http://gingersnapcreations.blogspot.com/2012/01/gc136-color-challenge-glorious-greens.html         I forget how much I like working with the glorious greens.  Hope you get over to the Gingersnap blog and give it a go.       

My poor tattered journal is starting a new life.  As I stated, when blogged my cover, it had gotten wet and thought to be ruined.  I had torn off the bottoms of all the pages because they were damaged..........now I am saying they are ready for reconstruction!!!!! LOL  For page one I continued the tattered look all around the outer edges of the page.  Using various stamps I did the lay-out with black ink.  With my trusty pom poms I smudged different inks onto the page, gave it almost an air brushed look........air brush!!!! I HAVE ONE OF THOSE!!!   Since this was the first page with Tim Holt's sentiment about time I really did not want the back pages to be peeking around the edges so I used a decorative paper to back the tattered page.  Using a felt pen I gave the dragonflies a motion, added a clock face from an old watch and a metal dragonfly charm and called in DONE!      I am finding that working in my journal...

Yesterday it cooled off and start to rain and it was a great day to just stay inside and play ( well, I was doing laundry too ) I decided to just work out of my stash of decorative papers and a stash of images that were ready to go but for some reason I set them aside.  Ya know, colored, trimmed out and then didn't quite work.  So out of the drawer came a scalloped circle that was already mounted on a second one. Digging a little deeper I came across a digital that had been colored, trimmed and ready to go.....okay!  Now for some layers for the background, and wah - la !  I did add a bit of ribbon, still not sure it I like that part but stays as is.  A sentiment was added to the upper corner to finish it off.  Then it was off to a different set up                                    ...

Wow! with so may tutorials on restuctured paper, collages and mixed media back grounds over on the Gingersnapblog  , ( click on tutorial guide at the top ) I drew enough inspiration to work on an art journal.  This poor thing was bought on sale a couple years ago, think it was supposed to be for scrap booking, but I could not turn away from this sale item, even though I use 12 x 12s for my scrap booking.  I mean this was a hard back, wire bound album with tons of blank white paper in it for about $5.00!!  So it sat around here until last summer when I carried it to work in my lunch bag, and a bottle of water leaked on it, then the bottom of the cover and all the pages got wet and moldy!!  So I hit it with some bleach water and tore off the bottoms of all the pages that were damaged.........then it sat around here for 4 more months.  Now the front cover looks like this:   I took the Gingersnap GC135 challenge to use my favorite designer paper...

Came upon my stash of Valentine die cuts from K&Co the other day and decided to do a wall hanging using a 6" wide by 5 1/2" long heart cut from binder board.  I first covered the heart with red paper, then added a floral ribbon at an angle.  From there is was a paper lace doily, a velum covered stamped image from Altered Pages and die cuts.  I added a second ribbon of red trimmed in gold. To finish it off there are stamped, embossed decorations in areas, these images are from Hampton Art.  I tucked a real feather along the female image, trimmed the edge of the heart with a roll of trim that has been laying around here for ages.  I don't often throw things away.......LOL A loop of narrow red ribbon was added to hang it by. This started out as just a wall hanging but it also qualifies for the Rouge Red Heads RC007 challenge of frosty using vellum and for the Gingersnaps GC134 Spicy Supply challenge...Ribbon.  The links to these two are below for you...

Of course!! This set of stamps form Inkadinkado have been on hand since last summer and they have been running through my mojo for a week!  Finally dug them out and set them in motion for the Cardpatterns sketch challenge 148 .  After using cork for the main horse head I found cork patterned paper to use for the background.  Using a weathered print paper I stamped the herd of horses. This is what happens when I'm not feeling like doing cute, vintage or feminine.  The images in this set are really nice to work with and can lend to many different styles. Want to join the challenge? This is where you need to go: http://cardpatterns.blogspot.com/2012/01/sketch-148.html  Thanks for coming by and taking a look, hope your day is full of ink and sparkle.

Okay, so not so COLD here in California, in fact unseasonably warm and dry.  But it is January and it should be cold SOMEWHERE!  Over at the Critter Sketch blog this was the challenge, snowmen or snow women.  You can check it out at http://critterchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/baby-its-cold-outside-challenge-97.html I decided on an A10 size card, had some already cut and folded for Christmas and then headed in a different direction.  Everything is stamped direct to paper, except the snowflake embellishments.  Years ago I did this technique and forgotten all about it.  It does take some time and a lot of masking. First I stamped the snowman onto the card then made a mask to cover it.  Then the fun begins.........using a straight edge of a piece of tracing paper ( you'll need about 4 really ) I laid it at an angle and shaded it with light blue pearlecene ink, always pushing away from the paper. I repeated this many times all at different angles....

 Well, I hope every one's new year off to a good start.  After a very busy holiday season I found my self growing restless and started checking out some of the challenges floating about.  I have been at least checking my groups and many of the blogs and all the gorgeous work......sorry I never left messages.  Going back to work again, after many weeks off from toe surgery I really did not feel like doing much on the PC, as I am attached to one for 8 hrs a day.  Now they have down sized our hours and even send us home if it is slow.........well it is a voluntary thing but I hate to just sit there with head phones on waiting for a call.  Wondering around the Gingersnaps they have a challenge for soft yellow and white.  Now, yellow is not one of the first colors I gravitate to, but this intrigued me. That is how this card came about, and I liked the results.  Then I realized that if I had used a larger card I could have used more of this set of...