A VALENTINE

Here is a valentine card I made for a friend this morning:

I am certainly getting a lot of mileage from my new classic fabric background stamp from Hero Arts.  I white embossed it on red cardstock.  Added some XO ribbon to a Martha Stewart heart punched border strip of cardstock.  Stamped and clear embossed  the sentiment (Hero Arts) on white cardstock and 
punched the heart shape around it.  Added it to the center of a white heart doily and layered it all to a folded white card.  Hope she likes it!

Have a great day!

PAY IT FORWARD

Here is a great idea that I discovered on Sarah's blog.  Sounds like a lot of fun - are you up for it??

Here are the rules:  I promise something handmade to the FIRST five people who leave a comment on this post.  To be eligible, you must repost this, offering something handmade to five other people.  The rules are that it be handmade by you and it must be sent to your five people sometime in 2011.

One, two, three - GO!!!

THANK YOU CARD

Since I still had this Paper Whimsy collage sheet out; I decided to use another image to make a long overdue thank you card for a friend. 

I started with one of my new Hero Arts background stamps, Classic Fabric Design.  Inked it up with two Ranger distress inkpads - broken china and peeled paint.  Spritzed it with a water mister and stamped on white cardstock.  Added a portion of a paper doily and ribbon, then the beautiful Paper Whimsy image.  The sentiment is from another new Hero Arts clear set, Find Joy, and was stamped with broken china and the edges were distressed with the same inks.  Added a cute little dragonfly from K & Co. and some turquoise gems.  Inked the edges of the background and then layered to a light green card. 

TFL!

SMITTEN

Nancy Maxwell James offered an online class starting January 14th called "Smitten".  The class will be one month long and has several projects suitable for romance, love or valentines.  I have always adored Nancy's artwork - check out her blog for more info and to see her amazing pieces!

Here is my first completed project:

Nancy used a chipboard luggage tag for her sample.  I opted to use a Nestabilities label die cut.  I covered it with some patterned paper which I then distressed with Ranger distress inks in stormy sky and tea dye.  Added some old music and a strip of old ledger paper.  The beautiful image is from Paper Whimsy.  I computer generated the words down the left side and added some pearls and a butterfly.  I colored some white ribbon with the stomy sky ink and tied on with the key.  Some platinum glitter around the edges to finish it off. 

Definitely not up to Nancy's stellar work; but I am happy with it and had so much fun doing this little tag.

Thanks for visiting!

INK STAINS CALENDAR PAGES

Roni has been sharing lots of great techniques for calendar pages on her blog.  So far, I have managed to get the first three months done.  Here is my January page:

Using alcohol inks and hair spray to create the background was so much fun.  And, I used a berry sprig stamp from Stampington and Co. Then, I used a tiny hole punch to add extra interest - since I decided to layer my pages to a black base, the black shows through the punched holes and makes it look like there are more berries.  The alphabet stamps are from European Papers. 

Here is my page for February:

Roni calls this technique "gradient embossing".  I used one pink and two purple inks for my background.  This one took a lot more time; but it was well worth it.  The heart stamp is from Penny Black.  Mounted on a black base again.

For March:

For this page, I could only find one shadow stamp which is from Magenta. (there are more in my stash somewhere!) I used three colors of ink on the stamp initially and stamped on white cardstock.  Once they were stamped and dry; I added another color for the edges.  There was too much contrast between the greens and white for my taste, so I then stamped the shadow stamp at an angle randomly on the piece using yet another green ink.  Accent stamp used is from Judikins.

Hop on over to Roni's blog to join in the fun.  I will probably just do three at a time and then post. 

TFL!

GREEN PAPER CHALLENGE FOR JANUARY

I wanted to try to get something done for Mary's monthly challenge before the deadline.  Here is a Valentine card I created using the three images provided by Mary:

I sponged the perimeter of the ledger paper with Brilliance inks (coral and orange) using the Tim Holtz blending tool.  I used a Spellbinders heart die to cut out the couple.  Added some tiny dots around the heart and the corners with a pen; the stamp is from Magenta.  I am going to give this card to my daughter to give to her husband for Valentine's Day.

TFL!!

ALTERED BOOK ROUND ROBIN

I have been involved in an altered book round robin since September.  We are to do a double page spread in each book as it comes to us; we have one month for each book.  Sue asked for "anything that flies" for her theme.  Here is my creation:

Sorry for such a poor scan; the book is a thick child's board book and we were to keep everything as flat as possible.  However, I did pop up the little girl and the kite for some dimension.  The sky was sponged; the hills and sun were created with patterned paper, the flowers punched from origami paper.  I wrote the haiku myself; something I enjoy doing.  The Asian doll is a rubber stamp from Hero Arts, the trees from Rosebud Rubber Stamps, the kite from Penny Black, the Asian calligraphy (faintly stamped throughout the sky) from Inkadinkadoo, and the birds from Portfolio. 

Here is how the haiku reads:

This was a fun spread to do - I hope Sue enjoys it when it finally reaches home. 

Am glad to be back from my trip to Parker CO; have a long list of projects to work on!!  Thanks for visiting my blog!