Man of the House

Today at Thank God it’s Friday the theme is….

Men…

Please create your art work by using minimum one stamp which has something to do with men. A picture, their hobbys or their habits or some sentiments or everything you think of when talking about them, as long as it has to do something with MEN…. ;o)

A few weeks ago over at Created By hand the challenge was to use the house template. I absolutely fell in love with this template so of course it poped into my mind when the theme of men came up. Why? Because every man thinks he is the “man of the house” but we all know who really wears the pants J

The background is stamped using an architectural stamp embossed with Tim Holtz distressing powder. The Vitruvian Man in the center is stamped using brown ink and then burned…yes; my entire house smells like burned paper. And I had just taken a shower so my hair stinks…The windows are from Stampington & Co., also stamped in brown ink and then dusted with the same color to make them look a little older.

The two men are collage images from Paula’s Kit club.

The frame surrounding the house template is a stamp from Stampington & Co. stamped repeatedly to make a continuous line with brown ink on copper paper. Yes, the paper shimmers…once again the computers lack to sparkle frustrating my efforts LOL.

To finish it off I added two swirl paper clips in opposing corners.

I hope you enjoy!
Caro

Dearly Loved

Today’s Theme Thursday is… This week’s theme is “letters of the alphabet”! Use one or more letters of the alphabet on your creation this week! Use them on their own or use letters to make up a word!

When I was up in Boston visiting Janice from the Circle of Friends I bought a pack of rub on letters, my first rub on’s ever! I just loved them.

So of course I had to use them today. But starting with a letter is the easy part. It was where to go from there that proved a little daunting. I’ve mentioned before that I purchased a slew of collage sheets from Altered Pages so I flipped through them until I found this image of a mother and child. It seemed perfect for the “Dearly Beloved” letter.

Keeping with the theme of alphabet I stamped script all over a sepia card and aged an old book page using Tim Holtz Distressing ink. The heart, which I am disappointed with, is embossed using Desert Sand embossing powder. I stamped and embossed it right on the cardstock and then using my craft knife to cut along the top of the heart allowing me to slide the collage image behind.

Rubbed the marvelous letter on and added the lace as a finishing touch.

I am not pleased with this piece at all. I don’t know if it is the colors I selected (not my usual and I was trying something new out) or if my composition is off. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Caro

Easter Greetings

Today’s challenge at Created by Hand is… Create art using this bunny template created by Suzanne Cannon of Quietfire Design

I normally don’t do Easter themed pieces but I just received my Paula’s Kit Club in the mail last week and it is filled with fabulous Easter Goodies so out they came to help me decorate this adorable template.

The background is a rabbit randomly stamped (first off stamped) using a Tuscan colored chalk pad. I then stamped the circles using sparkeling H20’s so all the dots are shimmery…surprise surprise. Next I selected the two bunnies’ image out of an ATC booklet, it is attached using shimmery brads (my new best friend). The heart are stamped with the Sparkeling H2O’s and then covered with flocking, so not only are they fussy but they are also shimmery!

This was a very quick and easy Easter card to create. I think quite a few people may be receiving this little darling this year.

Hope you enjoy, I am open to all types of comments.
Caro

Play On

The Theme at Crazy Amigo’s today is… This week's theme is Music. Use music-instruments, written music, etc.

I Love Love Love Love Love Music! I don’t know what I would do without it in my life. The funny thing is that only one stamp that I own has anything to do with music. I don’t even have any collage sheets dedicated to it. Trust me, I will be remedying that very shortly LOL.

I ended up layering my stamps. I started with the very gorgeous cloud ladies dancing from Stamp Land Chicago. Because what goes better with Music than dancing…or a drink or two. I painted them with Sparkeling H20’s so they are shimmery (alas…why can’t that show up on screen???) I over stamped that with the music score and then dusted the entire sheet with blue ink. It was a very quick card to make, less than an hour.

The word “Play on” is thumb tack letters. I was going to add stems to them and try to make them look like actual notes but I was worried that would ruin the look. Maybe when I have more time to play I’ll try it out.

I am not 100% pleased with the look, I think the blue may be a little to harsh but the overall effect was accomplished.

Hope you enjoy! I am open to any and all comments.
Caro

Africa's Dangerous Days

Wow…what a wonderful Think Monday – Think ATC theme to come back from the sick bed to. I didn’t think I would have the energy to think about a design more or less actually complete an ATC…but I guess even the Flu can’t get the addicted down LOL

Anyway…the theme for Think Monday – Think ATC is… Although we didn’t have a real winter, I’m kind of always freezing. This is probably why I chose a theme associated with heat this time *gggggg* This week is all about the African continent. Whether the landscape, animals, human beings, or any idea you come up with. We’re already looking forward to see your ATCs!!

A few months ago I ordered some Collage images from Altered Pages among them was the image with the pyramids. When I opened the package that the collage sheet came in I also received some book pages…one of them had the title of “Dangerous Day’s” which to me seemed perfect with the theme.

When I was playing around with last weeks Theme Thursday I did some stenciling on a bright yellow fabric…When I saw it laying there I thought it was just right for today’s ATC. I spray glued it to a heavy piece of cardstock and continued layering from there.

I stamped the queenly image on transparency film and highlighted it with red and jade markers. The tag is alcohol inks mixed together with hieroglyphics stamped on top. Then transparent letters added. I wanted raffia for the ribbon but I was all out, this green ribbon was at the bottom of a “to be cleaned up” pile…now I don’t have to clean it up LOL.

I hope you enjoy!
I welcome all comments, be them critical or praise.
Caro

Beach Baby

The theme at Theme Thursday was perfect for me it is….

“warm colors”! Use one or more warm colors in your creation this week! Warm colors - red, yellow and orange! You may use other colors as well, but have one of these “warm colors” as one of your main colors in your art!

Since Mixed media Monday’s theme of texture I have been working on a few pieces that feature Kudzu. Something has been off about all of them…that was until I decided to go with the “Warm tones” instead of the cool tones I was using. I would like a bit more texture in this piece but I don’t really know how to add it and be able to stamp. Any suggestions???

So here is what I did. I found a picture of Kudzu that I just love love love. Cut a mat board and dabbed on acrylic paint. Once that dried I stamped the sea shells from Paula’s Kit Club. To add shimmer (which I can’t do without) I added gold pearl ex powder, which I sealed so it would not wipe off over time. Next I embossed the swirl using Tim Holtz distressing embossing powder. Added some actual sand around the mat board opening pulled some tulle across the upper left hand corner and then added a few splash stickers and warm toned tacks.

This one is suppose to be for my Grandmother, Kudzu’s Great Grandmother but I’m not sure I can part with it now.

Enoy!
Caro

The Mercy of Thin Air…Bookmark

Today’s Wednesday Stamper challenge is…

... to come out from behind your book and make a bookmark. So that after having had a relaxing read you can put a gorgeous piece of artwork in there to enjoy it even more.

This was perfect for me. For those of you that do not know I am a member of the Columbus Book Markers. This coming up Monday I am hosting our meeting, because the February books were my selection. As the hostess my one duty is that I have a book mark as a door prize. I had completely forgotten until reading the challenge that I need to make one.

The book for Book club this past month was Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue. I really enjoyed this historical fiction/ghost/love story and highly recommend it. Portraying the story on a bookmark proved to be a bit difficult…after all how do you portray the idea that sometimes stuff happens?

I decided to take a blithe approach starting with a beautiful, free image, of flying horses from tartx and printed it out on transparency. The background is a cloud stamped in versa mark and chalked then over stamped with writing that I off stamped first in order not to get it too dark.(wow, that is a mouthful) The book page is died using Tim Holtz distressing ink.

Unfortunately the scan is not very good. The colors or light blues, pinks, yellows and greens…think heavenly shades with silver along the edges and used in all the ribbons. If you click on it a larger image will pop up showing more detail

I hope you enjoy…I am open to any and all types of critiques.
Caro

The Queen of Green

I started working on the Arty Girlz challenge a little to late in the evening last night to get it uploaded. Plus I had a terrible time with the layout. Anyway…

The Arty Girlz challenge this week is…

The challenge this week is to have the colour green on your project, as usual you choose the format

I use a lot of green being that it is one of my favorite colors. So instead of using something I had already made I decided to make something new and really challenge myself to only use the color green. Everything is stamped, stained or embossed using various shades of green. The ribbons are also all different shades and textures of the theme color green. The background paper has a number of different shades of green on it.

I hope you enjoy!
Caro

Pear of my Eye??

Today’s challenge from Created Byhand is…

Create art using glossy paper! Use glossy paper to create your art - use dye inks, paints, papers, collage images, eyelets, ribbons, etc… along with glossy paper! Create a card, ATC, tag, altered art, 4 x 4, inchie, skinny (3 x 5 inches)… whatever you fancy. Post your art to your blog, picture trail or photo sharing site, then post a direct link to your challenge art under the comments section to share with others! Have fun and make art!!!

I first gold embossed on the Glossy paper and then used alcohol links in various tones. This created a fabulous background paper (a little to busy…but oh well). From there I stamped the pear, eye and lettering using StazOn brown ink. I added diamond glaze to the words. Lastly I wrapped the entire ATC with bronze DMC floss.

I started with just the pear on the ATC but it was a bit to small so where to go from there? Beside me I had open my binder of stamps and there was a stamp with an eye. So I started thinking “why not Pear of my eye” and where exactly did the phrase “apple of my eye” come from. So I did a bit of research…here is what I found courtesy of the Phrase Finder.

Meaning: Originally meaning the central aperture of the eye. Figuratively it is something, or more usually someone, cherished above others.

Origin: The phrase is exceedingly old and first appears in Old English in a work attributed to King Aelfred (the Great) of Wessex, AD 885, entitled Gregory's Pastoral Care. The earliest recorded use in modern English is in Sir Walter Scott's Old Mortality, 1816:

"Poor Richard was to me as an eldest son, the apple of my eye."

It also appears in the Bible, Deuteronomy 32:10 (King James Version)

He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

and Zechariah 2:8:

For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

Kinda interesting…I hope you enjoy. I am open to any and all comments…Caro

Soaring with Butterflies

Today’s theme for Think Monday - Think ATC is…

Looks like we can’t get enough of animals here. First we had cats, then birds, and now it’s insects There are so many of them - butterflies, dragonflies, bugs, spiders or ants - what kind of insects will you show us?

I really wished I had something other than butterflies, I am kind tired of the whole butterfly thing. But alas, it is the only insect that I have…I will be remedying that shortly LOL.

The background paper is a whole bunch of different butterflies scanned into photo shop, cropped, and laid out on a yellow orange background. I then stamped the woman in the frame (Great Impressions) on paper and scanned her into photo shop then printed her out onto transparency paper. With all that done…I could finally assemble.

To attach the transparency to the butterfly background paper I punched holes and threaded iridescent green DMC floss through the openings. I added a butterfly image that is 3D in the lover left hand corner. Punched a sun shape out of cardstock stained with Tim Holtz alcohol inks and hand wrote “Soar” onto it. Then I covered it with a page pebble and affixed it over the DMC floss…

It sounds like a lot of work but it really isn’t…

I am open to any and all comments be them critical or just nice…always looking to expand.

Hope you enjoy…
Caro

You Make my Day Award

This evening when I logged onto my blog I had the most fantastic surprise. Liz of Miss Moon had awarded me the “You made my day award”!

Thank you so much Liz…I am very honored and you actually made my day!

Knowing how special this made me feel I immediately decided to go off and “tag” 5 more individuals who touch my life, even if they don’t know it, almost on a daily basis. And here they are…

1. Lenna of creative lenna she hosts the most incredible swaps and her blog is very inspiring
2. Sarah of Caspiana her work is out of this world and she includes instructions on her blog as to how to make many of her fabulous papers
3. Kerron Lee of Colourguru not only does she do lovely work but she has the most organized studio I've ever seen!
4. Willie of Vintage Wil I love all things vintage and she just has a way with them…
5. Sandy of Stempelchaotin Somehow she manages to every day have new artwork displayed, and not jsut any artwork, fabulous work!...if only I was this consistent.

To pass the award on, here are the details :
1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the “You Make My Day Award” logo.
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

So now I am off to let my selections know...it was really hard to just choose five...

Art Under Construction

Better late than never, for some reason or another I just couldn’t get to yesterday’s 4 x 4 Friday. You know how life creeps up on you sometimes.

The theme for yesterday’s 4 x 4 Friday was… “Doorways.”

I was so over the love theme with valentines finally behind me so I threw out my first idea of “Door to my Heart” and went with an under construction theme. The Door stamp is from Stampington &Co. and I gold embossed it. It is hard to tell but the sun image above the doorway is painted with orange sparkling H2O’s. The Word stamp on the right hand side is by Tim Holtz, it is actually the word Artist. I highlighted it with diamond glaze, my first use of this fabulous product.

I’m not so sure I followed the rules close enough because the word “construction” is hanging bellow my 4 x 4 making my overall image bigger…I really like the way it looks, kinda hanging like a “wet paint” sign so I didn’t change it.

I am open to any and all comments, always looking for growth.

Hope you enjoy
Caro

Mermaid by the Sea

This week’s theme at Theme Thursday is…

“by the sea”! Think beaches, sand, shells, mermaids, fish, bathing beauties…. anything that relates to the sea! Use collage images, rubber stamps, fancy paper , embellishments or any other art supply to give your art a “by the sea” look. Make an ATC, 4 x 4, card, inchie, altered tag, skinny or whatever you fancy!

As many of you know this is one of my all time favorite themes; be it because many of my childhood’s best memories were of me with family on the Beach, because I love the sound of the oceans crashing, or just because I am a fish out of water.

I created this peace a few months ago for an Alpha Stamp monthly contest. Alas, it did not win, the woman’s who did win sooooooooooo deserved it! But I love this creation. I was trying to capture the elements of the sea in my studio which is far from any body of water…sigh…I keep it within sight and imagine that my large window overlooks the ocean and not the house across the street.

I glued pop sickle sticks together and then stained them with alcohol inks. I painted over that with cream acrylic that I sanded off to let some of the alcohol ink show through. Oh, I had some gold shinny powder mixed in with the acrylic so the entire area has a shimmery effect, like the sun glistening off water. I then stamped the sea shells from Paula’s Kit Club randomly all over. The image of the mermaid is from Alpha Stamp.

I hope you enjoy!

2 Cherish

Today’s Challenge from Wednesday Stamper is…

Love is in the air!! Share the love and let us see your VALENTINE inspired creations this week.

I actually made this card a few days ago when I was trying to figure out what to give DH for Valentines day. We no longer celebrate the Hallmark Holiday…mainly because we have been married for going on eight years and we have found many other special days.

When I saw this collage image from Alpha Stamps laying next to a new tool, my Coluzzle cutting system, I just put two and two together. And what is more important in marriage and Valentines Day then cherishing the one you love?

The Red Heart in the upper left hand corner is a stamp from Alpha Stamps that I stamped into polymer clay and painted with sparkling H2O’s. I had to blow up the collage image to make it fit properly into the puzzle piece heart…I am disappointed in the quality of the image but then again the original was not meant to be distorted in such a manner.

I hope you enjoy!

The Beauty of Time Passing

The celestial theme is one of my very favorites so when Arty Girlz put out a call for anything stamped of course I went straight for my favorites. The only thing on this card that is not stamped are the clock hands…an amazing feat for one afternoon…LOL I think I have gone cross eyed cutting out all those fine details.

I hope you enjoy!
Caro

House of Cards

I totally fell in love with the House template for Created Byhand challenge so I decided to keep playing with it and “make it work” (paying homage to Project Runway) with The Crazy Amigo Challenge for February 12th.

There challenge is...

This week's theme is 'The Fabulous Four'. The Beatles were called the Fabulous Four, let yourself be inspired by them, or use the number four or...... We can't wait to see what you make!

I received the fabulous suit stamps from a wonderful Diva for my birthday and had not used them yet. The instant I came across the house template and the theme of 4 I put two and two (ha ha that makes 4…yes, I know I’m a dork) and came up with this piece…

Hope you enjoy…
Caro

I am open to any and all forms of critique…

An Artists Home

Today's Challenge from Created By Hand is to .....

Create art using the house template created by Suzanne Cannon of Quietfire Design.
HOUSE TEMPLATE
Print it off and create your house! Think a traditional house or think outside the box! Use stamps, inks, paints, collage images or whatever you have to make your house!

About a million ideas came to mind when I saw this fabulous template. This is the first piece I finished.

I used various shades of Alcohol inks swirled together and then splattered as the background. Next I cut the window frame out and embossed all around it with gold embossing powder. The image behind the window is from Alpha Stamps.

The Tree (Tim Holtz) on the left hand side is stamped using timber brown StazOn, as is the brick on the right (Stampington & Co.). The word “Home” (Stampington & Co.) is gold embossed on purple paper and then I ripped the edges. The Word “Artist” (Tim Holtz) is stamped with brown ink on a very thin piece of veneer.

I finished off this piece with a bit of lace and a few glass leaf pieces.

Hope you enjoy. I am open to any and all types of comments.
Caro

I've Been Published

Isn’t it amazing! I have not one but two of my crown templates published in the Feb/Mar Issue of Stampers Sampler. The top and the bottom one on the page are mine. For some reason I only scanned the bottom one into my computer records…opps…so I don’t have a detailed picture of the top one…sorry.

The instructions and the Titles of both pieces were changed…alas, I probably didn’t attach my information correctly. So just to clarify, the images on the Bottom Piece are from Paula’s Kit Club…even the stamp is…

Thanks for looking

Caro

Sew Man's Best Friend

This is my first every Power Hour piece. What is Power Hour? Well, it is a piece of art that you complete in just one hour, this includes clean up. Kinda a spin off of Take Ten, but with more time…so more complicated pieces can be made.

I used elements from my latest Paula’s Kit Club…

I hope you enjoy!

A Day With the Birds

Wow…this weeks Think Monday – Think ATC was really hard for me. Here are the instructions…

In our ATC Group, atc-inspirationen, Dani D. had challenged us with a special swap for some time. Every month she chose 2 items that were supposed to be combined on an ATC. As I hadn’t been able to take part in this challenge for time reasons, I thought I’d use TMTA as an opportunity to challenge both you and me.

What do you think? Will you participate?

Create an ATC on which the two items - child/children and birds - are combined in an overall picture.

At first I said to myself…well I guess I can’t participate I don’t have any stamps of Birds or children…then I remembered I have a dove and a new stack of Collage Sheets from Altered Pages…so I went from there. 2 hours later my design had completely changed, as you can see there is no Dove on the ATC, I remembered another bird I have (part of a larger stamp).

I have a very hard time with ATC’s on a regular basis but I am pleased with the way this turned out. The Bird house and the Birds are all 3D…

Hope you enjoy

A Little Help...Please

Hey all... Robin B. , A woman I know through Alpha Stamps has entered a contest and she would really like it if you would take a moment to look at her piece and vote for it...if you like it.

Voting is open until February 13th http://www.charmingsam.blogspot.com/

This is Robin's lovely piece. I just love the yellow...my favorite color...way to go Robin!

Thanks for taking the time to help her out.
Caro

4 x 4 Friday Under the Stars

This is my first ever 4 x 4 Friday entry and I must say the theme of Wild West really threw me for a loop!

When I think Wild West I typically think Gunfights, Spaghetti Westerns (Clint Eastwood), Bar Fights, Indians etc etc… But then I realized that those are all themes that movies have done over and over again. Upon further reflection the Wild West is about the unknown…the big open spaces and the night skies…so here is my contribution…I hope you enjoy.

My only regret with this piece is that the computer does not display the shimmery effect that I have all over the image. I painted the moon with sparkling H2O's, the cloud background is all shimmery and the star frame has a silver shimmer effect.

I am up for any type of comments, be them critical (I would love some critiques of my work) or just that you like my piece.

Thanks for looking.

Glittery Snow Bunny

Well, were home from our fantastic ski trip in Idaho. We visited Grand Targee Ski Resort for almost an entire week. During that week it snowed every single day! I have never seen that much snow before and I’ve been skiing there for almost 10 years now. It was incredible, the best skiing we’ve ever had. Anyway I know you can’t tell much from the first picture but it is an image up the mountain from the base camp. We or maybe the locals, I’m not sure, has nicknamed the mountain the Grand Foggy…but trust me on a clear day it is really far up there.

DH was really disappointed that I would not undo

all my skiing paraphernalia for a picture so this is as good as it gets. But I mean come on it was like 10 degrees and the wind was blowing and look at all the snow coming down all around me. There was no way this southern girl was going to let any more of her skin be touched by the fridged Idaho air…

I don’t know why he gave me such a hard time…he’s all bundled up in the only picture I have of him. We are on our way up the lift before the snow has started falling. You can see behind us that there is still a ton of snow and absolutely no one on the mountain. We practically had the entire thing to ourselves…it was great.

Kudzoo was an absolute doll the entire time we were there even though she was cutting her first tooth…thank goodness that finally happened, I really was worried I was going to have to invest in baby dentures…not to mention I was tired of mashing up her food. Anyway, she posed for the camera like a champ making it very difficult for me to select what pictures to post. Here are a few of my favorites, let me know if you would like hard copies.





A not so funny story about her gloves. DH and I were taking her to daycare one morning and she started to absolutely lose it…and not in a good way. We had no idea what could be wrong. Did we overdress her? Was something pinching her? We tried and tried to figure it out, then we took off her mittens, not the ones in the photo. Her hands were absolute ice cycles. So during a skiing break DH and I went to look for her an appropriate pair. Of course DH had to make sure they were water proof, that they would not scrunch her fingers etc etc…

So we pick her up at daycare and present her with her new gloves. And we are off and running, she is all over the snow…and not a tear in sight. I guess she is just too southern for the Idaho temperatures…like her mother.

I know I’ve been talking about how cold it is. For some of you that is incomprehensible but check out how pink my cheeks are in this photo. Remember I had my goggles on all day and I still look like I’ve been colored with a pink crayon…

On our last day we took it easy…well we decided to fly to Utah that night and spend the night there. Anyway Uncle R. and Aunt S. drove us to Idaho Falls to catch our airplane. We stopped at the top of the pass for a last minute family photo shoot since we did not get any on the mountain because the cold air killed the camera’s battery. So here we all are at the top of the pass.

Aunt S. and Uncle R. really helped us out with Kudzoo. They even baby sat her one night so that DH and I could go out to dinner. It was fabulous! Thank you two for helping us out so much and for skiing with us…we really had a Great time.

Next time we visit the Mountain in the winter Kudzoo will be on skis’…can you believe it? I can’t wait to see that :)

Wednesday Stamper Challenge...Asia

I thought I would combine the Theme of Asia with a little bit of Romance, since it is February after all, and this is what I came up with...Thanks for looking