Easter Egg ATC

Last week I received the Alpha Stamp Easter Egg shaped ATC swap pieces…sorry it took me so long to get them posted.

Top Left is by Teri Calia at Catnip Designs. The yellow egg on the ATC opens up and it is also covered with clear glass glitter…Something that I am going to have to look into.

Top Right is by Sarah Whitmire, our hostess and design team member at Alpha Stamps. The entire image is covered with a thin layer of crackle paint, and I believe that the flower may be real…I’ll have to ask her.

Bottom is by Cat Riley and she titled it Blue and Mauve Egg. The flower and egg appear to be covered with a thin layer of clear embossing powder so I am not sure if it is a sticker or stamp or how it was colored…

If you don’t remember Here is my ATC contribution.

Our hostess also send a fabulous Post card that she enhanced with glitter…I love glitter!

Twilight Bookmark

I told the Columbus Book Markers that I would make us all bookmarks for Twilight since everyone loved loved loved the book…I’ve been procrastinating, or should I say I’ve been busy with other challenges? Luckily TGIF came to my rescue with their theme for today…the perfect excuse to get my behind in gear…

They challenged us to…So, this weeks challenge is all about Ribbons ! Please create a card (or whatever you would like to prepare with ribbons) by using minimum one stamp and Ribbons - just how much, how colorful, how long or short you want. We appreciate your creations as always…!!!
This week Elena has been our guest-designer - she crafted such a beautiful card - thanks so much for that, dear Elena. You can see more of her gorgeous art work on her blog, so don´t hesitate to visit her… !

I started by copying the cover of Twilight and printing it out on my computer. I then cut away everything but the hands holding the apple. The book print, not from the Book we read…I would never rip anything out of Twilight LOL, is died red using Tim Holtz distressing inks. Everything is mounted on a double sided tape the areas not covered with the paper and covered in black glitter. As a finishing touch I added the satin black ribbon.

I hope the members of CBM like the bookmark.
Thanks for looking…you should read the book!
Caro

Lily

This piece took me longer than expected. It is for yesterday’s Created ByHand challenge. I just couldn’t stop adding to it…

We were challenged to…

Create art using chip board or Grunge board! Use chip board or Grunge Board to create your art. Use inks, paints, papers, collage images, eyelets, ribbons, etc… along with chip board or Grunge Board in your creation! 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!!

The background in a piece of Grunge Board (stripes) that I painted with two greens and a yellow acrylic and then dusted with a silvery grey pearl ex powder which alas does not show in the photo. The Lily image is from a pack of Tarot Cards from Alpha Stamps. Above the image I used two chipboard swirls painted with the yellow acrylic and dusted with the silvery grey pearl ex.

The two bottles on either side of the image are covered with green ribbon and then wrapped with wire that I strung beads on. The little jars will hold water so you could put real flowers in them but I didn’t have any. So I stamped a lily and colored it with coordinating colored pencils, cut it out and added it to the jars. As a final touch I made some sprigs of wire with coordinating seed beads, twirled them around a pencil to get the nice shape and stuck them in the mini jars with the flowers.

I am going to use this piece for the Alpha Stamps monthly contest…hope I win I really want the prize this month!

Hope you enjoy!
Caro

Cleo’s Ode to St. Patrick’s Day

Today at Think Monday think ATC we were challenged to…

This week I chose “Transparent Art” as our new theme.
Show us your ideas centred around transparency. Stamped on foil, or images printed on foil, thin plastic or mica tiles. Anything transparent is well suited to add even more depth to a card or an ATC. We’re already looking forward to see your great ideas!!!!!!!

Perfect! I have a bunch of Alpha Stamps Transparency’s that I have wanted to play with so out they came. I chose The Cleo de Merode image because she was the perfect ATC size. But where to go from there?

I didn’t want the background behind her to be to busy so I selected a green textured cardstock and embossed swirls using a greenish embossing powder. I then attached the image by sewing what seams like billions of mini green beads on. I followed the swirl pattern behind her.

As a finishing touch I added some jewels that mirrored the shape on Cleo’s headpiece, dangling from the bottom with more of the green seed beads.

Unfortunately due to the 3D effect of all the bead work it was difficult to get a good scan. The overall piece is not nearly this dark. if you click on the image it will become much larger and give you more detail.

I’m going to use this ATC in the monthly Lot o Rama at Alpha Stamps.
Hope you enjoyCaro

Springtime in Paris

Wow time sure does fly…I finished this piece this morning and thought I would have plenty of time to get it uploaded…well, it is almost Kudzu’s bath time and I am just now getting it loaded.

Skinny Saturday’s challenge today is fabulous…

This weeks theme is be Inspired…..I have taken the Inspiration from my online friend Kathy Wasilewski. In 1996 Kathy created a Fat book (4″ x 4″) with a twist to incorporate an ATC into the page. So this weeks theme is to create a Skinny and incorporate an ATC into it……..any theme goes so be inspired this week at Skinny Saturday!!!

I had a lot of fun with this one. The base or the skinny of my card is actually a greeting card that I cut down. I stamped script all over it and then aged the edges. To make a pocket for my ATC to fit in I stamped a cherry blossom branch from Stamp Camp on cream cardstock and painted it with sparkling H2Os. I then cut it as shown.

The ATC has a collage image from Altered Pages and the banner is from Alpha Stamps. I stamped the banner on velum and cut the collage image to fit. Before attaching the banner I stamped the script and aged the edges. I stamped an Eifel tower, from Stampland Chicago, to match up with the Eifel tower on the card. As a finishing touch I cut out another set of the cherry blossoms I painted and attached them to the ATC.

I hope you enjoy
Caro

Faerie among the Flowers

Once again I have combined two challenges

4 x 4 Friday tasked us to …. This week’s challenge is Faeries! Make a 4×4 with a Faerie and comment to this with a link to your creation!

And

TGIF challenged us to… Today we want you to create something around Flowers

I made one and threw it away because I disliked the colors so much. This one turned our really nice I think...not my usual but still. I stared witht eh 4 x 4 size and covered the c ardstock with two sided tape. Next I cut out the tag from an Altered Pages Collage sheet and attached cordinating ribbons. I placed the tag on the prepared cardstock and tucked gold wings just under the edges. Then I proceded to cover the cardstock with flowers, leaving a little space here and there. To fill in the gaps i sprinkled gold glitter. Next I stamped some swirls using brown ink and went over them with Diamond Glaze. The final touch is the golden rhinstones in some of the flowers centers.

I hope you enjoy!
Caro

A Royal Form and A Stitch in Time

Today at Theme Thursday the theme is…

This week’s theme is “torso - mannequin”! Use collage images, rubber stamps, paints, fancy paper , embellishments or any other art supply to make your creation in a torso - mannequin theme. Make an ATC, 4 x 4, card, inchie, altered tag, inchie, skinny or whatever you fancy! There are tons of cool torso stamps, torso collage images and a wonderful torso template can be found here (although you do not need to use it for the challenge): ttp://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/mannequin.htm Add your art to your blog, then post a direct link under the comments! Please include a link to Theme Thursday on your blog! Have fun and make art!

I have submitted to this Stampers Sampler Challenge. Since I have not heard from them I am assuming that my pieces did not make it. So, they are perfect for this.

The first one is called “A Royal Form” I made these last year and looking at it now I can see how much I have grown. I absolutely can not stand the hard edge of the collage sheet on the right hand side. I still like the overall concept though.

I aged book pages using Tim Holtz distressing ink and covered the form randomly. Then I attached the Collage sheet image from Alpha Stamps. Masking the collage images I stamped the swirls with versa mark and covered it with powdered glue, that heats up like embossing powder, then sprinkled it with gold glitter. To finish it off I added a gold crown.

Sorry this one is blurry…the crown is very 3D making the scan not clean in some places.

The Second piece is called “A Stitch in Time” I used a decorative background paper and stamped the clock randomly. I then hand stitched around the edge with a mixture of bronze and a deep/brick red DMC floss. The belt is made from a dressmakers ruler and the clock parts are sticking through it. To finish it off I added a mini pair of scissors.

I hope you enjoy
Caro

Sew It's Easter

I dropped the weekly challenges yesterday, one of my favorite challenge days, to work on a quick turn around ATC swap done through Alpha Stamps. A 3 for 3 swap. The card shape is an ATC with the edges cut to make the card egg shaped.

I received some fantastic images (more like German scrap) Easter themed in my latest Paula’s Kit club so I decided to use those along with the Doodled Bird and an Ornamental Corner from Alpha Stamps.

To make the background for the egg ATC I used 4 different colors of Sparkeling H2O’s (so yes, it shimmers). I then glued down the egg images and stamped using Brown ink, so some of the stamp overlaps the images. With that done I then hand stitched around the egg using pink shimmery DMC floss. In between the stitching I placed miniature pearls. To finish it off I cut out an image of a spool, wrapped some of the floss around it and 3D’ed it.

I hope you enjoy them and I can’t wait to see what I get in return. I really like my eggs, kinda hard for me to see them go.

Enjoy
Caro


Here is a close up of one of the three, click on either image to enlarge.

The Shape of Things to Come

Today at Think Monday Think ATC the challenge is…

This week, I’d like to take you to the colourful world of fashion. I’m far from being a fashion victim, but this is not only about the most recent trends, but possibly about the gorgeous robes of the renaissance and other eras, or the look of the 20s, dresses from Bollywood films and carnival costumes, or maybe still the crazy creations of the Paris Fashion Shows. This is a very diversified theme and we can’t wait to see your ATCs

This is a pretty common theme that I work into my pieces regardless of the challenge so I decided to focus on stamps that I normally do not use and combine them with ephemeral that does not typically go with the theme.

I stamped the woman from Oxford Impressions on transparency. Behind her I used a bright yellow paper and covered it with a collage image from Paula’s Kit club and some white fabric type paper. I then layered a cut out from an actually dress pattern and some bright shell German scrap. I attached the transparency with green shell buttons that I sewed on and then used a stitching pattern rub on to finish the piece off.

The entire time I was working on this ATC I kept saying…”Oh I don’t like it, I don’t like it how to fix it…what to do???” I stuck to my original plan and once it was all done I do like it. Very different for me but I guess that is what I challenged myself to do.

The scan is a bit fuzzy in places due to the 3D sea shells…sorry.

Hope you enjoy
Caro

Open Your Eye's

TGIF…challenged us to…

Swirls.
Annchen has been our guest-designer and has sent us such a gordeous card using swirls, thank you so much for this, dear Annchen… ;o)


Unfortunately I am out of play time today, my DH wants me to come to a potluck dinner at his work tonight so he can show DD and I off…uggg…well, I have to cook for it…

So, I remembered this piece that I made for a Stampers Sampler Tempting Template. I really really liked it and almost didn’t send it in. It is perfect for today’s challenge.

The background is a harlequin design stamped in white. The eye’s are from Paper Artsy, one of them is positioned on the Tempting Template which is a pocket. And finally the swirls at the bottom are highlighted with glitter.

Hope you enjoy!

Le Chat

Today at 4 x 4 Friday the theme is…

This weeks challenge is PETS!!! So, do a 4×4 having to do with this theme and comment to this with a link to your blog post!

How does one choose between dogs and cats. At least this was a tough one for me considering that I have both and love them dearly. However, I have had more cats as pets so that critter won out.

The collage image and stamp are from Paula’s Kit Club. The background was made by mixing Tim Holtz distressing inks and then embossing the tapestry background that is also on the frame I made.

Hope you enjoy!
Caro

Pari

Today’s theme at Theme Thursday is…

This week’s theme is “Paris”! Use collage images, rubber stamps, paints, fancy paper , embellishments or any other art supply to make your creation in a Paris theme. Make an ATC, 4 x 4, card, inchie, altered tag, inchie, skinny or whatever you fancy! Add your art to your blog, then post a direct link under the comments! Please include a link to Theme Thursday on your blog! Have fun and make art

I decided to go all out…really push my collage abilities. I spent a few minutes thinking of everything Paris that I could, I came up with of course the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dam, the French Revolution and Haute Couture. Amazingly I had a way to represent every single one of these aspects.

To start I painted the canvas brick red and then stamped French script all over. Using collage images from Paula’s Kit Club I painted the dress with sparkling H2O’s and then cut it out, along with the multitude of heads, and legs I have on the piece. I glued all those elements on and then using a tan acrylic paint I stippled/smeared the ruff lines.

The church window is from Stampington & Co. I stamped, colored and then printed that out on transparency. The Eiffel tower, from Stamp Land Chicago, is stamped in balck behind the transparency which I attached using brass brads.

“Haute Couture” is stamped on fabric that I hand stitched onto the canvas. “Off with her Head” is stamped on scrap paper and then torn and attached. The letters are from Stampington & Co. The vintage shoe is black embossed across the bottom and finaly “Pari” is gold embossed.

With all that said and done I covered the entire piece with Egyptian Gold Sparkeling H2O…so the entire piece shimmers.

I hope you enjoy…as always I am open to all types of evaluation.
Caro

Tallulah's Vintage Card Swap

I finished my Alpha Stamps sponsored Tallulah Swap today. I signed up for this swap months ago and you can almost tell which pieces I made first…it is amazing how much I’ve learned from all the bloggers.

You can read about the swap here. But a quick run down. We were asked to use one of the many Tallulah Collage Sheets available at Alpha Stamps. I wanted to challenge myself (when don’t I ?) and do something different for me and hopefully not something everyone else would do so I selected the Pierrot collage sheet. When I started to think about my possible designs the images put me in a very playful mood. Which I guess was Pierrot’s entire purpose. I hope that you can see the humor behind my chosen themes.

So here are my swap pieces…

Top left "My Heart is ever at your Service"

Top Middle: "She Loves Me"

Top Right: "To Learn is Human" This is my favorite, and my husbands least favorite. I'd be interested to know what you think. I used a yellow silk fabric to make the curtain, thank you so much Frida for answering all my questions.

Bottom Left: "What Diet"

Bottom Right: "Among the Stars"

This ATC "King of the Stage" is for the Hostess of the Swap. Thank you Lenna!

I hope you Enjoy!...as always I am open to any type of comments.

Caro

The Beauty of the Written Word

Today’s Cratedby Hand challenge proved to be a very big challenge to me. It may be because I don’t have any of the recommended supplies but who knows. Anyway, I spent all morning trying out different techniques…coming up short three times. So with time rapidly slipping away I actually finally created something I thought worthy and then decided to combine it with the Crazy Amigo Challenge…killing two birds with one stamp…so to speak LOL

So at Createdby Hand the challenge is…

Create art using sprays, spritzs, mists or spatters! Use a spray, spritz, spatter or mist along with stamps, inks, paints, embellishments, fancy papers to create art

And at Crazy Amigo’s the theme is…

This week we challenge you to make something with the theme 'Beauty'. What's a beauty to you?

I made a 4 x 4 using glossy paper sprayed with meadow Alcohol ink blended with water and a green pearlescent pearl. I also sprayed a book page with the mixture. This covered the Createdby Hand challenge.

But how to portray Beauty…and what is beauty to me. I thought about this one for a bit deciding that things that make me happy must be beautiful. I love stamping, reading, and flowers (receiving more than growing), so I combined these as best I could.

The rose is painted with sparkeling H2O’s and cut out. The image of the woman is stamped directly onto the glossy paper, she is from Paper Artzy. Next I layered the prepared book page, ripped in pieces, cut out an image from an ATC collage pack and glued the rose on.

Hope you enjoy!
Caro

Fly Me to my Secret Garden

Today at Think Monday Think ATC the theme is…

Today we challenge you to make a triptych. The theme is open, only the form is important.Triptych (Greek for threefold) - a work of art that is divided into three sections, a middle part flanked by two (usually smaller) related works

I had to do a bit of research on triptych’s to see exactly what they were. Here is what I found at Wikipedia…

A triptych (pronounced "trip-tick") from the Greek τρίπτυχο [ tri'ptu.xo ] tri- "three" + ptychē "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and folded. The middle panel is the larger one, and flanked by two lesser, related works.....

I have discovered that when the theme is open I have a much harder time coming up with a piece that I like. Many years ago I purchased Anxious Annie from Stampland Chicago but have been unsuccessful at using her. So today was the day, since I love her so much, that I was going to make her work. It took me all day to get it presentable.

The middle of the Triptych is standard ATC size 2 ½ x 3 ½. I used a taupe decorate paper; it has swirls which are a darker shade of taupe. On top of that I layered a transparency of a lily (made by stamping the image, coloring it, scanning it into the computer and printing it on transparency). And then I placed Anxious Annie, she is embossed with Tim Holtz distressing powder and colored with Prisma Colors. To finish off the ATC I rimmed the edges with copper embossing powder.

The two side panels are slightly smaller (as described) 1 7/8 x 3 ½ . They were created much the same way as the ATC except I embossed the key with the distressing powder directly onto the transparency. The Birds are cut from a vintage post card set from Stampington & Co.

I connected all three pieces with the copper flower embellishments from Alpha Stamps. They do not hold the pieces ridged so you can move the side panels up and down or keep them in a straight line.

I hope you enjoy.
Caro

No such thing as Trash

Today I made my first ever Gothic Arch…and let me say that I am now addicted. Not that I am not addicted to almost all the challenges but this particular one just seems to really grip me.

Today the challenge was to…

Our hostess this week is Klaartje who has a very creative challenge for all of you. She created this precious arch using “trash” - items you would normally throw away….think package labels, bubble wrap, a lid of a tincan and…..?

Well, there was absolutely no way I was rummaging through my trash can since the top item was a discarded banana peal…YUCK!! But lou and behold, my DH had not cleaned up his tea bag from the night before. As many of you know Tea is one of my favorite things, to drink and to use in my pieces. So that little tea bag and the wrapper came with me to the stamping room.

I don’t throw brown paper grocery bags away so I am not sure my background counts as trash. But it is a brown paper bag crumpled and then aged using Tim Holtz distressing ink. I then over stamped the definition of tea from Stampington & co. repeatedly and using colored pencils highlighted the tea leaves.

The image of the woman sitting with her tea is from an old magazine. I cut her out and placed her so. Next I disassembled the tea bag, saving the tea leaves and gold embossed two tea cup on the actual tea bag. After threading the tea bags string through the left hand side of the arch I glued the tea cups on. Last I glued on the Tea’s label at the top of the arch. To finish it all off I edged the arch with the tea leaves.

I think I did a pretty good job for my first arch! Any and all comments, critical or just plain love it are welcome.

Enjoy!
Caro

Sister's in the Garden

I took on my First Skinny Saturday today. I must admit the new size kinda threw me for a loop.

The theme for today is….

I thought it would be fun this week to have two themes. So………Our first theme is set by Mandy and is Sisters. Our next theme is Set by Wil and is Vintage Bride.

I would have preferred to work with the vintage bride theme but I am not 100% sure what qualifies as vintage nor did I have what I consider an appropriate bridal image. I have a set of bells but that is all. The collage image I have is an advertisement for cigars…not very bridal LOL.

So…I took on the sisters. When I think sisters the first thing that comes to mind is my mother and her sister. Still very close after living miles apart for years and years. So instead of using children I went with an adult image from Altered Pages. The background is stamped with a floral stamp and then chalked very lightly (maybe a little too lightly). The bird image is from a set of post cards from Stampington & Co., I cut out what I wanted from the post card. Layered all those components as shown and then finished it off with the fabulous ribbon from Alpha Stamps.

To me there is something not quite right with this piece. If you have any suggestions I’d love to hear them.

Thanks
Caro