Incorporating Inchies

The inspiration for the latest Challenge on One Powerful Hour came from a very good friend of mine's Circle of Friends Journal.

Incorporate an inchie (yours or on that was given to you) into a larger piece of work.

Janice's (Reyn's Nest) Journal was an inchie journal. She wanted us to make 4 inchies and place one on each of the "mini" pages in the journal she made. When I flipped through the journal I noticed that most COF members made their 4 inchies a theme and then I got to Janice's page...her's had a giant tree that went from the top page to the bottom page. On each individual page she placed an inchie. So I decided to try something similar with my contribution to her journal.

So, I took two of my favorite stamps, both unfortunately discontinued, and worked from there. I stamped a swirl stamp on each page and covered it with pearl ex powder. I then placed my man and woman which I tried to make predominantly black and white. The Inchies were suppose to be my only "colored" section.


The first inchie I created was the one on the bottom. I placed the inchie over the mans hand, so the hand is the only "colored" portion of his body, I used a plaid background paper for the color on the suit. To add a bit of fun to it I cut up an old cigar label and placed bits and pieces all over the inchie. The finishing touch being an arrow that spins.

For the top inchie I decided to "color" the woman's face and part of her dress. I added a small tag that says "adore" with a feather behind it to add some interest.

The other two inchies only one covers a portion of the woman's dress and I used really bright colors and some rhinestones. The second male inchie is all about hats, even though the man I used did not wear one.

I had a great time with Janice's Journal even though it was very hard for me, inchies are the one "hot trend" right now that I seem to really have to work on.

Hope you enjoy my contribution and the idea...and now you know where I get some of my inspiration for the One Powerful Hour challenges!

Modes Couture

This week Think Monday think ATC challenged us to use Cloth + Paper.

During the holiday season, we’re using a lot of paper and sometimes also cloth. This is why I’d like to invite you to make one or several ATCs with these materials. I’m looking forward to see your ATCs.

I love working with fabric but I think I was lacking some creative juices...I went straight for the "clothing" theme. OH well, I still really like what I have made.

Her dress is all fabric...I stamped the image onto the pocka dot cloth and then again onto a grayish white. I cut out the dress from the pocka dot and then the wrap/bow from the grey and layered everything together.

I was very excited to use this stamp. A great friend of mine sent it to me a few months ago and I have not had time, nor the opportunity to use it until now.

Additional things that you can not see in the scan...I coated all the black words and table in Diamond glaze and the little whitish dots at the bottom and near the dress pattern cut out are actually miniature pearls. her necklace is coated in miniature pink seed beads.

Thanks for looking!

Recycled Zoo

Over at One Powerful Hour Carol, the Guest Designer has challenged us to Recycle!

I saved a bunch of DD's formula containers and thought that it was time to use one. So here is my Recycled Formula Container done up in a Zoo style...

Believe it or not this did take less than an hour. I wrapped the container with some wall paper and then cut out the opening. the inside is lined with a decorative paper. next I stamped the Giraffe and covered him with Flocking...cut him out and mounted him. The bottom I then covered with strips of shredded green paper.

To finish it off I covered the top opening with a shimmery white twaul and wrapped a velvet ribbon around the top and finally attached a silk leaf and a golden rhinestone...

Hope you enjoy and go check out Carol's fabulous Tin shrine! WeLcOmE 2 mY wOrLd

All Bookworms...

Over at One Powerful Hour the challenge is to make a bookmark....

"The bookmark you make can just be because or it can represent a book you have read and loved. If you do make one for a certain book please tell us what book and why you enjoyed it so much...after all I am on the hunt for a fabulous read for the upcoming holiday's."

I made a Just Because Bookmark. Actually I made a bookmark out of a fabulous Template that a friend of mine created for an upcoming swap we are doing in COF.

My favorite kind of bookmark is the ones that clip over the page you are on. However if you get the metal ones of these they make little marks on your book pages. So I thought a heavy paper clip over would not leave marks and the butterfly would look lovely sticking out of my books.

I prepared the book print by using various shades of Tim Holtz distressing inks and then printed the butterfly onto it. I added Denim blue embossing powder to portions of the wings and some purple embossing powder, then I covered the entire thing with clear embossing powder to make it sturdy.

The bookmark portion is glossy paper with a mixture of alcohol inks. I swirled the inks so it is more of a smooth look instead of splotches and then I dotted the paper with the alcohol inks. The black swirls are embossed. I then added the embossing powders I used on the butterfly to the edges of the bookmark and finally finished it off with the phrase "All Bookworms Become Butterflies."

I had some other sayings I was going to use but that is the one that my DH liked the most.

I hope you enjoy and thanks for looking.

Top 150...USA Today Best Seller List

I go this from Books, Writing and Life (Matt's Blog) who got it from Rhonda's Corner of the World (another blog) who got it from somewhere else, I guess. This is a list of the top selling 150 books of the last 15 years. I am always interessted in what is considered Best Sellers...typically I end up not reading them...run as fast as I can away from that section of the book store.

When looking over the list though, I saw a lot of books I have read and a ton of which are on my To Be Read pile so I have bolded books I've read and Blued those I want to read, if it is in Red, I tried to read it but just couldn't make it:

1 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling
2 Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution - Robert C. Atkins
3 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
4 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
5 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
6 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
7 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling
8 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
9 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling
10 Who Moved My Cheese? - Spencer Johnson
11 The South Beach Diet - Arthur Agatston
12 Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
13 Angels & Demons - Dan Brown
14 What to Expect When You're Expecting - Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg, Sandee Hathaway 15 The Purpose-Driven Life - Rick Warren
16 The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
17 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey
18 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
19 Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus - John Gray
20 The Secret - Rhonda Byrne
21 Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter
22 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
23 Don't Sweat the Small Stuff ... And It's All Small Stuff - Richard Carlson
24 The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
25 Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
26 Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
27 The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks
28 The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
29 The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
30 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
31 A New Earth - Eckhart Tolle
32 Oh, the Places You'll Go! - Dr. Seuss
33 The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz
34 Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt
35 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
36 Body-for-Life - Bill Phillips, Michael D’Orso
37 New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
38 Night - Elie Wiesel, translations by Marion Wiesel and Stella Rodway
39 Chicken Soup for the Soul - Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen
40 The Greatest Generation - Tom Brokaw
41 Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
42 The Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield
43 Wicked - Gregory Maguire
44 Good to Great - Jim Collins
45 Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
46 Eragon - Christopher Paolini
47 Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - Rebecca Wells
48 Your Best Life Now - Joel Osteen
49 In the Kitchen With Rosie - Rosie Daley
50 Simple Abundance - Sarah Ban Breathnach
51 A Child Called It - Dave Pelzer
52 A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
53 The Testament - John Grisham
54 Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul - Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Kimberly Kirberger
55 Deception Point - Dan Brown
56 The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
57 Marley & Me - John Grogan
58 Dr. Atkins' New Carbohydrate Gram Counter - Robert C. Atkins
59 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
60 The Brethren - John Grisham
61 The South Beach Diet Good Fats Good Carbs Guide - Arthur Agatston
62 The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town - John Grisham
63 For One More Day - Mitch Albom
64 The Polar Express - Chris Van Allsburg
65 The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
66 The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow
67 What to Expect the First Year - Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi Murkoff, Sandee Hathaway
68 Love You Forever - Robert Munsch, art by Sheila McGraw
69 Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss
70 A Painted House - John Grisham
71 The Rainmaker - John Grisham
72 Skipping Christmas - John Grisham
73 Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier
74 The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
75 Life Strategies - Phillip C. McGraw
76 Seabiscuit: An American Legend - Laura Hillenbrand
77 The Summons - John Grisham
78 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt
79 The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
80 The Runaway Jury - John Grisham
81 Goodnight Moon Board Book - Margaret Wise Brown, art by Clement Hurd
82 The Perfect Storm - Sebastian Junger
83 Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
84 The Giver - Lois Lowry
85 Embraced by the Light - Betty J. Eadie
86 The Chamber - John Grisham
87 You: On A Diet - Michael F. Roizen, Mehmet C. Oz
88 The Prayer of Jabez - Bruce Wilkinson
89 Holes - Louis Sachar
90 Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
91 The Shack - William P. Young
92 The Devil Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
93 Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
94 A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
95 The Seat of the Soul - Gary Zukav
96 Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul - Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne, Marci Shimoff
97 The Partner - John Grisham
98 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
99 Eldest: Inheritance, Book II - Christopher Paolini
100 The Broker - John Grisham
101 The Street Lawyer - John Grisham
102 A Series of Unfortunate Events No. 1: The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket
103 The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
104 Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
105 The King of Torts - John Grisham
106 The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
107 The Horse Whisperer - Nicholas Evans
108 Hannibal - Thomas Harris
109 The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama
110 Running With Scissors - Augusten Burroughs
111 The Glass Castle: A Memoir - Jeannette Walls
112 My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
113 The Last Juror - John Grisham
114 The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
115 Left Behind - Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins
116 America (The Book) - Jon Stewart and The Writers of The Daily Show
117 The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
118 John Adams - David McCullough
119 The Christmas Box - Richard Paul Evans
120 The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Ann Brashares
121 Sugar Busters! - H. Leighton Steward, Sam S. Andrews, Morrison C. Bethea, Luis A. Balart1
22 Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
123 The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
124 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life - Don Piper, Cecil Murphey
125 The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
126 1776 - David McCullough
127 The Bridges of Madison County - Robert James Waller
128 Where the Heart Is - Billie Letts
129 The Ultimate Weight Solution - Phillip C. McGraw
130 Protein Power - Michael R. Eades, Mary Dan Eades
131 Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul - Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne, Marci Shimoff
132 Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
133 Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
134 Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
135 You: The Owner's Manual - Michael F. Roizen, Mehmet C. Oz
136 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List - Patricia Schultz
137 Self Matters - Phillip C. McGraw
138 She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
139 1984 - George Orwell
140 The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
141 The Millionaire Next Door - Thomas J. Stanley, William D. Danko
142 The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
143 The Zone - Barry Sears, Bill Lawren
144 The Pilot's Wife - Anita Shreve
145 The Lost World Michael Crichton
146 Atonement - Ian McEwan
147 He's Just Not That Into You - Greg Behrendt, Liz Tuccillo
148 Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
149 The World Is Flat - Thomas L. Friedman
150 Cross - James Patterson

I've only read 25 of these, told y'all I wasnt' into the "it" books. The ones I have read on here i either loved or hated...nothing in between...I find that interesting, a lot of them I did read for school and a lot I have heard of and I am totaly uninterested in.

Note: I could not get spell check to work...sorry for all the typos :)

Spouces Flight

Yesterday there was no work (crafting) done by me...I spent the day with DH at the Spouses Flight. It is kinda like take your kid to work day but instead of kids you take your wife/husband.

As many of you know my DH is a pilot for the USAF. Right now we are at a training base, he spends his days trying not to get killed by students who are learning to fly. He currently flies the T-6 also knows as the Texan II. The Navy also uses this jet to train their pilots.

So, yesterday I put on what I refer to as an adult onesie...way to big for me as you can tell LOL...and just think, I borrowed this one, it is 10 sizes smaller than DH's! The flight suits are also made just for men...talk about a pain when you have to go to the restroom. I did not have to wear a G-suit since we were not actually flying, just taxiing down the runway. I did however have to wear a harness, after all the seat belts and parachutes and all sorts of what not clip into it. The funny thing is that I am wearing a friend of ours who is currently deployed, I did not have to adjust any of the straps...I don't know if that says more about me or him LOL...

I wish I had a picture of me in the aircraft with the helmet on and visor down but we just weren't thinking...after all it is a once in a lifetime thing to be in an aircraft with your husband. The AF just does not allow that!

To make a long story short...it was an amazingly fun day and I am very glad I went. I hope next time to be able to actually take off...

Oh, I even got my own set of wings...the students don't even get those!

Christmas Decorations

Gillian has also issued this fabulous challenge over at Mixed Media Monday. Gillian’s challenge to you is to create a Christmas ornament or decoration, that can be hung on the tree, in a window, etc.

Today over at One Powerful Hour the Guest Designer Joanne W. Has challenged us to make Christmas Ornaments. There is also a fabulous Rubber Stamp give away from Inka Stamps for one lucky participant.

Here are my ornaments. Both of the images are from Alpha Stamps as well as the fabulous 2 x 2 inch square ornament. I am also using these pieces for a swap hosted through the Alpha Stamps yahoo group. If you are not a member you should be!

For the ornament on the right I used the Alpha Stamp image and then I added the three little Santa's at the bottom (also from Alpha Stamps). On the outside of the glass I places the circular 3D sticker that says "Merry" and all around the metal edge I affixed using diamond glaze red rhinestones. To finish of this fun ornament i added some fabulous Christmas ribbons.






Because the ornaments are so fun and easy to make I made another on.

This one also uses a collage image from Alpha Stamps. The snowflakes are stamped with versa mark and then I used pearl ex powder to turn them an iridescent shimmery gold.

On the outside I covered the metal ornament with gold glitter and affixed a gold Christmas tree that was part of a ribbon. To finish it off I affixed the gold rick rack...

Hope you like my ornaments. they were supper fun to make and easy. Thanks Joanne for the fabulous challenge!

Here is a bit more about the Guest Designer...

My name is Joanne Wardle, and I have been cardmaking for about 5 years. My main love now is stamping, but it took me a while to get into it. I love to try stamping onto different surfaces. I am also a complete challenge addict, so I'm really pleased to have chosen this theme, of Christmas decorations, for One Powerful Hour.

Make sure to check out her fabulous blog...Made By Joanne

Keri W. Custom Order

Hey all...this is a custom order I am working on for a friend of mine I have met through the fabulous book site that I use all the time PBS.

Keri... Please remember that the computer screens and my scanned images are not true to the actual colors of the cards. The red and green I selected are very traditional Christmas tones.

I did the snowflakes on the red card and on the green I added a touch of gold with a product called Glimmer Mist that is sparkly. The phrase "Peace On Earth" is Gold embossed (slightly raised) on both cards.

I can cut off the window ledge and make the shape of the stained glass a perfect arch instead of with the two (right and left) little juts that the pictures have.

I hope this is what you are looking for. Please let me know.

For those of you that are awaiting my "Secret" Christmas Card...and you know who you are...this is not it! So you will just have to keep waiting and keep guessing...ain't I a little stinker :)