I See the Moon.....

...and the Moon Sees Me

God Bless the Moon and 

God Bless Me!

Our ATC group is swapping Nursery Rhyme ATCs tonight, so I thought I'd go with something short and sweet and oh-so-comforting.  I started by stamping the girl image (from Crafty Secrets' Sweet Kids set) and the moon (called Senor Luna, a lovely little freebie tucked in with my Third Coast Rubber Stamps order).  I then masked them off and added a background using Distress Inks (Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord, Mustard Seed).  I colored the images with Copics and added a touch of sparkle to the hearts with Stickles.  I computer-generated the text and printed it onto Papertrey Ink's white sticky back paper, colored it with Distress Inks (Wild Honey and Mustard Seed), cut the lines of text into strips, then cut off the words as I peeled them off the backing paper.  I added a little Distress Stickles around the edge of this panel, then mounted the whole thing onto some pretty, nighttime-sky-looking patterned paper.  These sweet images were so much fun to play with.

Can't wait to see what the ladies have for us tonight.  If I think of it, I'll ask them if they mind if I post everyone's ATCs..... I always want to, but then I always forget to ask permission..... old noggin isn't what it used to be, LOL!

Quilt Blocks with Gingersnap Creations

A quick little post today to play along over at Gingersnap Creations.  The Blue Moon Challenge (so named because a 5th Wednesday in a month happens.... well, ya know, something like once in a blue moon) is to make a quilt pattern the theme of your creation.  They've given us a handy dandy link to a great quilt block resource page (HERE) to get you started.  My quilt is "antique" - cuz I used some seriously ancient stash, LOL!.  The paper is 7Gypsies Zanzibar, the sentiment is from the Lots of Thoughts set from Stampin' Up!, and there is a barely visible quilt block stamp (it's stamped very lightly in the middle under the sentiment) from Rubber Stampede  called Harvest Star Quilt.  Of course I had to include some stitching and Distress Inking of the edges, too. ;)

I've got one more week of having the kiddos home on their quarterly break, so still trying desperately to squeeze in the time to craft.  I *do* love having them home, though - so relaxing to have a break from homework and the daily grind.  The lack of crafty time is the only drawback. :)  Hope you're having a great week, and that you can play along at GC!

Tag Tuesday - Banners

Happy Weekend!  I have a spooky little tag today inspired by Tag Tuesday, where Louise has challenged us to use Banners on our tags.

All of the stamps are from Oxford Impressions - I used both the Haunted and the Trick or Treat collections.  I did a little paper piecing and a little Distress Inking.  For the "Witch" banner, I actually used the letters from the Ouija board stamp, which I inked up separately with a black marker, then punched out with a teensy circle punch.  I stamped the pumpkin face over the top of a patterned paper printed pumpkin (and there's your tongue twister for the week).  A sweet little spook for my doorknob, I think. :)

Hope you can play along! We've got tons of sports to participate in this weekend, so not sure if I'll have time to craft until Monday.  Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Neutrals + One Color at Gingersnap Creations

A bit of clean and simple today, as part of a new color challenge over at Gingersnap Creations - "Neutrals plus One Color."  This is a very liberating challenge, I think - it takes away a lot of the decision-making.  I did waffle a bit thinking about doing a Christmas card, which I think would be very striking in this type of color challenge, but finally decided to ink up a Just for Fun stamp that had never gotten any love before.  Actually, I got it recently as part of a huge close-out of our last remaining independent local stamp/artist's shop, and I think the image is perfect for this challenge.  I colored it with Copics, cut it out, and mounted it on some vivid blue cardstock to match the butterflies.  I just had to add some vintage text (of course!) which was part of a RAK I won ages ago over at Kard Krazy (thanks, Louise!). The whole panel is mounted on watercolor paper.  Easily mailable and fun to do.

I hope you'll have a chance to play along.... this is the type of challenge that goes really quickly.  Just look through your stamp stash, I know you'll have something you could use.  ;-D
Happy Wednesday!

School Days at Tag Tuesday

Just a quick little post today.  It's the last day to enter Louise's fun challenge at Tag Tuesday this week, which has the theme of "School Days."  Yes, I always waited until the last minute to get my schoolwork done, too, LOL!!  All of the stamped images are from a retired Cornish Heritage Farms set called "School Primer."  I built the tag around a sweet little girl filling her mind with all sorts of learning - reading, writing, and 'rithmetic. :)   Hope you have a happy Monday.

Play Date Cafe Challenge #47

It's time to play over at the Play Date Cafe again.... this time with a delightfully whimsical color combo of true red, leaf green, turquoise, and black/white.

I had actually colored this beautiful image from Artistic Outpost's Bluebird plate some time ago, but the birds were more blue than turquoise.  No problem!  I just pulled out my trusty Copics and went over the blue with a rather bright turquoise (brighter than I would normally have picked), but the combo of the previous blue with the new turquoise ended up making the perfect color for the challenge.

As long as I had my Copics out, I decided to stamp the image a few more times, and used the "Level Up" technique from this month's Technique Junkies newsletter. I raised the flying bird and the turquoise trim up one level, and the rose up two levels.  You might be able to see the effect in this next picture (eeeek, I'm terrible at close-ups!).

The paper is my new fave-of-the-moment, Crate Paper's Restoration line.  Love, love, love the way they've brought bright colors and vintage styles together.  And did you notice, the patterns on the trims are all to scale, so that the ups and downs and scallops all line up perfectly.  A little tip for us obsessive compulsive type A's, LOL!!  I finished it all off with some bright vintage buttons tied up in Martha Stewart and Papertrey baker's twine.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you're looking at a sweet and happy weekend coming up!  We'll be chauffeuring and cheering for ice hockey and volleyball - love it! :)

Inchies at Gingersnap Creations

Long time, no post!  Sorry for being so *gone* - as the rest of the world sends their children to school and gets lots of crafty time, mine are now home on their first quarter break (we go to school year-round here, and I love it, so no complaints).  So I've been a chauffeur more than a crafter, LOL! 

Anyway, I'm back in time to have a little fun with Gingersnap Creations.... the new challenge is Inchies.  I saw some 1" wooden cubes in our big box store the other day, and inspiration struck.... how about some inchie dice?  This is a fun idea to make and have sitting around on an end table or desk... just roll the dice and you have a revolving art display.  I must confess, originally I had planned on showing you about 6 dice.... but that's 36 inchies.... I'm not quite there yet, LOL! 

The technique is really simple - just make your inchies to your heart's content, then use gel medium or Modge Podge or some strong craft glue and adhere them to the cubes.  I did 5 sides at a time, leaving everything to dry before sticking the 6th one down.  It's kinda nice if you keep a theme or a color scheme in common, but there's lots of room for creativity here if you're tired of making your inchies into cards.  I used stamps, clip art, vintage text, vintage music, embossed images, paper flowers, and even a little bling (it makes them sit a little unevenly, but I'm okay with that).  I'm thinking of making a Hallowe'en themed set, then if I'm not inchied-out, I'll try for Christmas.:)

Hope you can play along at Gingersnap Creations.... all you need make is one teensy tiny little piece of art. ;)
I'll leave you with one more pic of the dice in a different arrangement.  Have a great Wednesday!

Pull Out Some Punches at Gingersnap Creations

It's time for the Wednesday Spicy Supply Challenge over at Gingersnap Creations, and this time the challenge is to use Punches.  I know that I sometimes tend to neglect my punches, so this was a fun one.  I wanted to keep with the current "Ancient Ages" theme at GC, so I pulled out my (sadly retired) Cornish Heritage Farms set called Reach 4 the Stars.  I stamped some images and my sentiment onto some Basic Grey "Basics" paper.  Then I made a masterboard of sorts with lots of the astronomy images from the set.  I used circle punches (3/4", 1", 1 1/4", 1 3/8") to punch both from my masterboard and from some black cardstock.  Then I just adhered the circles in a random order, using the black circles as shadows.  Oh, and of course, I distressed all the edges of everything in one way or another ;).  A little spinner from Sir Tim seemed appropriate to finish it off.

I hope you have time to pull some punches and play along!

Butterflies at Tag Tuesday

A fun little tag for Louise's Tag Tuesday "Butterflies" challenge over at Kard Krazy.  If you like butterflies, (even just a little bit) you will want to check out Louise's *gorgeous* butterfly tag book - Oh! My!  Absolutely stunning. (Be sure to check the challenge post and her newer post, which shows the inside.)

For my tag, I used my new Butterflies 2 Defined stamp from Red Lead (they are *so* becoming one of my fave companies, I tell ya.... another addiction), and some absolutely yummy paper from Crate Paper (the new Restoration Line, makes my mouth water).  Some Copics, lots of distressing (in both ink and edge distresser form), some rub-ons, some brads, some crochet trim, some vintage text.... all favorites. 

Hope you're having a fantastic weekend - the weather here is gorgeous (finally "only" in the 80s, LOL!).  I'm being naughty and doing nothing but reading outside on the deck, crafting, and watching the US Open (go Roger!).  Hope you're getting inky. :)

Paintchip Scraplings with Gingersnap Creations

Happy Friday everyone!  It's the beginning of a long weekend here in the US, and I am very much looking forward to some relaxing family time.  Today I'm sharing the scraplings I made for the current Gingersnap Creations art swap.  We were to use paintchips on our scraplings, but that was the only rule.  Now, as I visited other Gingersnappers' blogs, lots of folks kept remarking about how addicting these were.  I really didn't think anything of it, until I starting making them myself..... oh my! Yes! They are addicting, LOL!

For my scraplings, I used the rose spray from Stampin' Up's Elements of style on four of them.... the white ones are embossed, the brown are StazOn.  The birdie scraplings have stamps from Crafty Secrets, Cavallini, and Stampington.  Then I just started embellishing with rhinestones, pearls, glitter, microbeads, vintage text, punches, baker's twine.... yes, addicting! :)  You can click on the picture to make them bigger... I used the side of the paintchip that had the paint names for some of them, especially if they fit the theme, like "Rambling Rose" and "Rose Embroidery" and "Aviary" - so fun!  I may have to make more of these and add magnets to the bottoms, so that they can be bookmarks, with a little note inside, or maybe even a "library card" grid inside, so that you can lend out both the book and the bookmark, and have your friends "sign in", maybe even give the book a rating.  Lots of fun possibilities.

Hope everyone has a restful and relaxing weekend planned, and that Hurricane Earl doesn't ruin it for anyone! (Our skies are sunny, about 250 miles away from the storm on the Carolina coast).

Ancient Ages at Gingersnap Creations

Hello everyone..... sorry for being a bad blogger recently.  I am back in the saddle with a little project for Gingersnap Creations' new theme for this month - Ancient Ages.  What a fun one this was for me.... I absolutely love Greece, and have been collecting Greek images and ephemera for a while, intending to use them in a few scrapbooks of our trips.  One was finished a while ago, the other..... well, let's just say at least the photos are organized (but still in the box...... from 1997... yeah, that bad!!!).  Anyway, I used a stamped image of the Erechtheion temple in Athens (from Echoes des Voyages), text from an article on Greek currency from an 1887 issue of Atlantic Monthly Magazine, along with some astronomy stamps (CHF), a Greek key punch (Fiskars), and some paper with a map of Greece.  Oh, and that little Greek key paperclip from Stampin' Up.  This will get tucked into a scrapbook someday, I swear!

I hope you can join us - as always, the theme is waaaay open to interpretation, so you can have lots of fun with it.  Hop on over and have a look.  Happy Wednesday. :)