Tuesday, August 28, 2012

My Entries


 Here are my entries for the Gypsy Swap at Alpha Stamps. These were so much fun to make and I hope the recipients like them. If you haven't joined a swap at Alpha Stamps, you need to plan to do so when they have another. You are really missing out on lots of fun and the swaps help you think outside of the box.

 

Birds in Hats Swap

I am a little slow at posting the coasters that I received for the Alpha Stamps' Birds in Hats swap.  Here are the wonderful coasters that I received in the swap.  Below the coasters are the names of the creators.
Cathy Peper
Stacia Schwartz
Marilyn Fishwick

Monday, August 27, 2012

The Second Week of "Steampunk"

 We are beginning the second week of the challenge "Steampunk".  This is a favorite theme of many.  Hopefully we will have many more entering this week.  You can go directly to the challenge post by clicking on the shortcut at the top of my sidebar.


This challenge is being sponsored by Octopode Factory.
Now to get you inspired to do a little steampunking, the Design Team has come up with some creations using the images of my sponsor. 
Vicki
I decided to use the image Audrey from Octopode Factory for my Steampunk tag.  Would you believe that the background is actually paper that I have been using to spray ink and distress cards...otherwords a worksheet.  I colored my image with Copic markers.  As embellishment I used an arrow brad on an unknown circular image.  Next is a key.  Can you guess where I got that one?  Well it is a key used to open a canned  ham after removing the metal strip very carefully which is peeled off with the key .  Lastly, I used a rusty washer. At the bottom is a border made with a punch. Instead of ribbon at the top I used some feathery yarn.

This week for my Steampunk themed tag I have used "Steampunk Al;fie" from the range of digis at The Octopode Factory. Background paper is a digital design from Gecko Galz and I've added a "gear" punchie and "inspiration" word plus some fibres to my creation
I made another tag this week, this time using Steampunk Flo and lots of gear embellishments to match my cool DP. These images are fun to play with and go so perfectly with our steampunk theme.

Valerie
Hi you all, Valerie here. I have made a steampunk tag from recycled and distressed cardboard. I Have made my 2 into father and son. The tag has been decorated with diff. steampunk images and enmbellies.
                                                          
Petra
What would we do without Alfie? We probably would still use candles or worth to brighten up the dark evenings and nights (lol). I printed Alfie, cut him out and coloured him with allsorts of pens and pencils. Then I layered him on a background I made quite a while ago with distress inks, acrylic paint and glimmer mist. The final embellishments are some tiny star stickers, some clipart from the web and a small leftober bauble from a Christmas tree! Have a lovely week.
 
I decided to use the Steampunk Lady Flo again but bling her up a bit! I used the same Steampunk background and added some metallic board cut with a fancy scissors. Some metallic washers, rhinestones and Sparkles were added for more bling. Lady Flo is ready for her Steampunk Party!

Michele
I've got another steampunk inspired tag for you this week. This time my main image is Steampunk Cinnamon from the Octopode Factory. Cinnamon is colored with pencils. The background paper on the tag has airplane designs, there is a bit of old-style newsprint and Cinnamon is riding a wheel. I hope you'll join this challenge. I look forward to visiting you all again in January when we resume our challenges for the new year!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Back to School

It is Back to School time at Just Some Lines.  This is the theme of their current challenge.  Below is a card I made for inspiration for those who may be interested in entering the challenge.
My card uses one of the new images at Just Some Lines.  The apple is colored with Copic Markers.  The apple is placed on a white mat to contrast it with the colors in the background.  As an accent I used a ribbon that is made to look like a tape measure.  I thought that the ribbon added to the schooltime theme.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Just Some Lines' "Layer Up"

This is a card that I made for Just Some Lines' challenge "Layer Up".  The challenge will be ending soon so put in your entry.  My cute image is from that site.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Challenge #50 - "Steampunk"

This is the last challenge for a while.  My Design Team  has been working hard and it is time for a short vacation.  Therefore, this challenge will last for two weeks and then there will not be another one until January 7.  What is the theme for this challenge?  Well, it is "Steampunk"  I hope you have as much fun as we have using the images from my sponsor Octopode Factory.
Vicki
My card uses Octopode Factory's Cinnamon and she has been placed on a background also from Octopode Factory.  I colored my image with Copic.  The sentiment is a piece of chipboard and reads "Most Likely To Succeed".

Sharon
I just love The Octopode Factory images so it was a lot of fun to make this Steampunk themed tag for our new challenge using "Steampunk Victor". I've used a great Clock embossing folder for the background along with some gear punches and various other embellishments.

I used Steampunk Victor, printed directly onto my robot themed DP from KaiserCraft - added a screw brad for his eye and some brassy embellishments.
Petra
Dare to be different - just like Cinnamon with an inked and stencilled background, lots of tea dye, distress inks, colouring pencils and distress markers. And, not to forget, pearls, buttons and little bling flowers as accessories!

                                                       
I decided to make an ATC and use very modern neon colours. The image I used is Steampunk Lady Flo from our generous sponsor, The Octopode Factory. The cut-out of Lady Flo is added with some foam tape onto the background to look like she has a shadow behind her while she is flying through the sky like Mary Poppins.
Michele
Here is a steampunk tag I've made featuring Octopode's Steampunk Siouxsie. The tag background is a digital collage I made using images from a Dezinaworld set of steampunk images. I distressed Siouxsie with yellow ink and gave her additional pizazz with a red marker and dark colored pencils. Siouxsie is glued on a yellow wooden butterfly as it seemed to me she needed wings! I hope you'll have fun with this challenge. The steampunk style offers lots of room for creativity.

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My sponsor for this themed challenge is Octopode Factory.  Lily at Octopode Factory has designed a steampunk blog she is known for her steampunk images.  Her images are so original and so recognizable.  Make a visit to her blog and check out all the wonderful images.  She has both rubber stamps as well as digital stamps.  Come back and then enter the challenge.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Wildflowers


This Just Some Lines image of wildflowers was colored with watercolors.  I really don't know how to use watercolors, but I thought it would be the appropriate medium for the image.  So I tried my hand at it.  My card uses a number of layers of paper and cardstock.  I finished off with a big red bow.

This card was made for Just Some Lines' "Layers" challenge.  It started this past weekend so go take a peek and enter the challenge.

By the way, Just Some Lines is having a Design Team call.  If you are interested, make sure you visit the site for details.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

More Orange

 I hope you are enjoying the color orange.  If you haven't entered the challenge yet, drop by the Lunagirl site, pick an image and enter.  The Design Team has created some more pieces for you to get you in the mood for the challenge "Coming Up Orange".
Vicki
For my card I used an image from Lunagirl's color collection (orange).  There are loads of images in just this one color scheme.  First I used a piece of dark brown cardstock for my base.  On top of that I placed a page from an old paperback book.  Next part of a die frm Cheery Lynn Designs was added and then finally tmage on top of that.  Embellishments include a flower, two tickets from a raffle that my husband did not win and an ancrylic word "Imagine".
Michele
I may be Lunagirl Vintage Images' newest fan! These images are fantastic and I'm already happy for whichever lucky winner will get some of their pretties. For my week two creation I decided to make a Gothic Arch. I chose a gorgeous green background as a contrast for the orange in this Lunagirl image. I pulled together additional pieces to accent the vintage feel. Orange is a fun color; please join us!
I took the ATC's that I made last week and turned them into a set of small cards, these fit into the small business sized envelopes. I decorated them all a bit differently, and I plan to give this set of cards as a gift. You can see each card individually on my blog here. I loved the ease of working with these beautiful colored images.
Petra
Another ATC with two of Lunagirl Images - two little birdies. I tea-dyed the ATC and then stencilled, stamped (Darkroom Door) and sprayed Glimmer Mist over the background. The birds are printed and cut out, the finishing touches is some flowery ribbon.
Sharon
Another "orange" toned card this week using another great image from Luna Girl and orange coloured textured papers.
My choice for this week is from Lunagirl’s Orange Sheet. I kept it simple to showcase the Revue Poster. Some coloured cardstock, a few dots of glitter and some Gelly Roll highlights, and there you are! You can see a close-up here.


Valerie
Hello.  Valerie here.  for the second week of the challenge "Coming up Orange" I have made a tag using lots of lace and velvet trim to match the richness of the image.  Thanks for visiting, and have a good week!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Polka Dots and Lace

I make a lot of "cute" cards so I am working on my more classic or elegant style.  I started with a piece of polka dot paper as my background.  On top is the Cheery Lynn Designns Japanese Oval die.  Inside is a some scripture from Psalms 48:14. The scripture stamp is from Our Daily Bread Designs.  Lastly I created a flower with a leaf spray using the same color as the dots, ink and the die. 

This card was made for the challenge "Scripture" being held at Our Daily Bread Designs.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Challenge # 49 - "Coming Up Orange"

I hope everyone enjoyed the past challenge.  The Design Team has created some inspirations for the next challenge.  The theme is "Coming Up Orange".  You can create anything you like as long as you have orange as the prominent color.

Below you  will find how the DT's treated this challenge.
Vicki
My lovely image is from Lunagirl, my sponsor this time.  There is a lot of orange in this image and I used a bright orange piece of cardstock as my card base.  On top of that I used various shades of orange by using the printed cardstock on one side and the cut paper lace.  These shades tone down the bright cardstock.  On the other side I used a piece of sheet music which I distressed with tea.and left out in the sun a couple of days.  Lunagirl has so many beautiful digital images; it is hard to pick one.

Sharon
What a great colour challenge with a great sponsor!! I just loved creating with this Luna Girl Collage image and it's so much fun to create with a vibrant colour like orange!

Michele
Orange is a wonderful color and images from Lunagirl are truly delicious. This image from the Lunagirl Mucha 1 sheet is so beautiful on its own that I didn't want to do too much. I used orange and gold card stock, a border and some flowers. I love these colors! I hope you will have fun with this challenge.

Rene
Sometimes it is so much fun to work with coloured images, especially making 3-D projects. That is what I did with the gorgeous Mucha girl image from Lunagirl, our sponsor this week.
Once I started cutting the image, I realized how much detail it has, and how many more possibilities. I added some glitter and glossy accents to give more dimension that you can view here.

 Jenn
 I made a couple of ATC's with these pretty images, pairing them with a couple of great art quotes.  The background of the ATC's was made using a Spectrum ink pad on glossy cardstock.  I love the vintage look of these images - and I love being able to put something together so quickly because they're already colored.


Valerie
This is my DT piece for the new challenge over at 'The Cheerful Stamp Pad', where the theme this week is 'Coming up orange'. The challenge has been sponsored by Lunagirl, who also supplied the DT images.

I have mounted the image onto copper coloured miri-card, which has been mounted onto distressed cardboard, inked with forest moss. gold and rusty something-or-other, and embossed with a mix of copper, pearl and bronze eps.  I added some ribbon, lace, string, beads and an orange flower as embellies.

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I am so excited that Lunagirl is sponsoring this challenge.  You can find a digital for almost any theme there,  She has a number of "color" collections and it was so hard to choose which one to use.
Lunagirl.com offers over 300 original, high-quality digital collage sheets as well as over 60 unique collections of vintage-style imagery and ephemera on CD.  Her images are lovingly restored and sometimes altered or embellished to be perfect for altered art, card making, scrapbooking, jewelry and other crafts.  She takes care to choose images that are lovely and fascinating to look at and legal to use! If you mention my blog when you place an order at Lunagirl.com, she will be glad to send you a discount code for 15% off your second order.
The prize for this challenge?  Three downloads of your choice for the prize ($10.35 value).  You can browse at Lunagirl.com (http://www.lunagirl.com/W-Lunagirl-digital-collage-sheets-vintage-images-ephemera-art.htm) or at CollageSheet.com and Lunagirl your choices.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Summer Colors in Layers

This card has a multi-purpose post.  Firstly, I made this card for Just Some Lines for their "Layers" challenge.  The image is Just Some Lines' Girl in a Big Hat which is colored with bright Copic colors.

Secondly, I made this for Cheery Lynn Designs' challenge of "Hot Summer Colors".  The background uses a blue Cheery Lynn Designs  Lattice die for the background.  On top of that is the Canadian Kaleidoscope Doily die which was not cut  out completely, but is embossed.  The silver die on top of that is another Canadian Kaleidoscope Doily die  which has been cut out completely.  Also the center was removed to be used on another project.  This die was placed a little offset from the one below.   I love being able to use the parts of the CLD diecut as well as the whole diecut. 
Thirdly, I am entering my card in the Classy Cards and Such challenge CCNS #13 "Dies".  Beverly at Classy Cards and Such carries all the Cheery Lynn Design dies as well as those of other companies and many other supplies.