Le Coq

When I saw this awesome vintage rooster on The Graphics Fairy a few days ago, I knew I would have to come up with something to make with him. I love chickens and I love French stuff. As it happens, two challenges came up today where this guy fit right in.

The CardMaker magazine card swap forum is having an online mini crop today in honor of World Cardmaking Day. One of the challenges was to use a farm animal on a card.

The challenge at Our Creative Corner this week also celebrates World Cardmaking Day. The challenge is to create a project inspired by a country other than your own. Obviously the country that inspired my card is France.

In addition to the rooster, I also downloaded the French ephemera at the top of the card and the floral paper at the bottom from The Graphics Fairy. The only stamping on the card is the two little ornamental designs in the corner of the ephemera piece and the fleur de lis on the sentiment. The sentiment is computer generated. I inked everything with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, added some hand-stitching, lace, ribbon, flowers, a button, some twine and a stick pin.

Since I downloaded my papers and main image from there, I am also submitting this to The Graphics Fairy for Brag Monday. You can submit any projects you have made using Karen's images on Mondays. She'll pick a couple of her favorites to feature the following week. Just a neat little thing to recognize her followers. Karen is very generous and has awesome vintage images. If you like vintage at all, you owe it to yourself to check out her site. You won't be disappointed (and everything is free!).

Thanks for looking!

Vintage Magnolia Santa

I made this card for the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style Challenge. Each week for 12 weeks, Linda is posting a tag to use as inspiration. Participants do not have to create a tag. They can create a tag, card, art piece - anything at all. The only requirement is to use something from the posted tag as inspiration for whatever you create. I'm a little behind. The challenge is on week 4 and this is my project for the week 1 inspiration. Good thing we have until December 15 to link all 12 of the projects. I had a hard time getting started. At first I thought I wanted to create one big overall project, such as an altered book, and have each week's project be a part of that larger project. But I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do or what I would really do with it once I was finished. For me, the things I make also need to be practical. So in the end, I decided to just make whatever I was inspired to make for each week's inspiration and not try to have everything come together in one piece. I may make a card, a tag, a gift card holder, an ornament or whatever.

You can see Linda's inspiration tag for the week 1 challenge here on her blog. For this week's challenge I chose to make a card. The inspirations from Linda's tag are:

• Vintage
• Santa
• Kraft + 1 color (I used red instead of green)
• Gold accents
• Paper rosette behind the sentiment

My Santa image is from Magnolia and I colored him with Prismacolor pencils blended with Gamsol. The Be Merry sentiment is stamped with Fired Brick Distress Ink and cut out with a Nestabilities label die. I hand-stitched around the outside of the background with fine gold cord. The "Grand Christmas" piece is part of a Boston toy store advertisement that I downloaded from The Graphics Fairy. I inked everything with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and sprayed with a homemade glimmer spray made from Vintage Photo Distress Ink and Aztec Gold PearlEx powder. Some of the mist came out in bigger droplets than I would have liked. To finish it off, I added some red gems, gold sheer ribbon, a paper rosette and a stick pin.

I'm looking forward to doing more projects for this challenge. I really admire Linda's work. Thanks for looking!

A Holly Jolly Christmas

Here's a jolly little Christmas card. No challenges - just something I wanted to make. I'm working on a few personal goals this weekend - using some stamps I haven't used or haven't used in a long time, using some of my scraps and stuff in my stash and making simpler, smaller cards. This stamp is one of the very first stamps I ever bought and I used it to make my very first stamped card several years ago. I still think it's really cute. Since it's so small and has the hand-drawn look, I chose to color it with chalks instead of my usual Prismacolor Pencils. That's another one of my goals by the way - to use some of my other coloring media.

Supplies
Stamps: Jolly Ranchers, Merry Christmas 02 (Stampabilities)
Ink: Vintage Sepia (VersaFine); Vintage Photo and Fired Brick Distress Ink (Ranger)
Paper: Tan cardstock, green cardstock, DP - all scraps from my stash
Embellishments: Long rectangle Nestabilities, scallop border punch, ribbon, button
Techniques: Chalk, distressing
Finished Card Size: A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")

Tilda with Presents

Here is another Christmas card. I think I'm stuck on that holiday right now for some reason. I am submitting this card for SIX challenges. I think that's a personal record. Here they are.

Just Magnolia - Bev's sketch (shown below) using a Magnolia image. The image I chose is Tilda with Presents, which was a RAK from my friend Barbara. (thanks!) I colored Tilda with Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits. I added some Stickles to her wings, the holly in her hair and the ribbons on the presents. I also used a gold metallic pen on the ribbon of the middle present.

Stamp Something - Something with your favorite colors or favorite papers. This could either be easy or hard depending on how you look at it. I don't have any "favorite" colors - I love them all! For this one I chose one of my favorite paper lines - Basic Grey - and also one of my favorite BG collections of all time - Fruitcake.

Basic Grey - Embossing, plus at least one Basic Grey item. I embossed the green scalloped piece using my Cuttlebug Victoria embossing folder. I also heat embossed the sentiment. As mentioned above I used Basic Grey Fruitcake paper. The background paper is Tidings and the greenish paper behind the image is the flip side - Wintermint.

2RB Banana Split Sunday - Easy as 1-2-3 - One ribbon, two stamps, three dewdrops or gems. I think the 1 and 2 are pretty obvious. I don't own any dew drops so I used gems.

Pile it On - Punches plus combine with at least one other challenge. The only punch I used is the Martha Stewart Doily border punch -hope that's acceptable.

Cupcake Craft Challenge - Distressing. I sanded the embossing on the scalloped piece as well as the edges of the mat behind the image and the scallop behind the sentiment. I also inked the image and sentiment with Vintage Photo distress ink.

Thanks for stopping by! Maybe it won't take me a whole week to post my next card. :)

Kindergarten Scrapbook

I am not a scrapbooker. I tried for awhile, but I think I just didn't have the patience and found those big pages a little bit overwhelming. However, I do enjoy doing theme scrapbook projects on a smaller scale from time to time. My son started Kindergarten this year, and I wanted some way to document his first year of school. This is what I came up with. There aren't any pages yet. I kind of ran out of steam. That image took me just about forever to color.


I'm also submitting this project for three different challenges:
Simon Says Challenge - Back to School
Friday Sketchers - Sketch shown below
Pile it On - Round + multiple challenges - there are circular shapes in two of the papers, the circle at the bottom right, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and round brads

The album is a plain chipboard album that I covered and embellished. I chose the House Mouse image Teacher's Pet for the back to school theme. I received the image in a swap, and unfortunately, it's not the most neatly stamped image, but it's the only one I had. I distressed the papers to help tie everything together. I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits. I rubbed some white artist pastel over the chalkboard to give it a chalky appearance. I'm not sure that shows up very well in the photo. I covered the chipboard letter with paper and added the brads and the star button. The button was actually white. I used my alcohol inks to change the color. I also used the alcohol inks on the brads to make them the right shade of green as I didn't have any the right color. The words were printed on the computer, torn out and distressed.

Supplies

Stamp: House Mouse - Teacher's Pet (Stampabilities)

Ink: Old Paper and Frayed Burlap Distress Inks (Ranger); Lettuce Alcohol Ink (Ranger)

Paper: K&Co.

Tools: Circle and Labels 1 Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Swiss Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug)

Embellishments: Ribbon (Bo Bunny); Notebook paper tag (K&Co. Tag Pad); chipboard letter (Making Memories); metal photo corners (Oriental Trading); button, twine, brads

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits; distressing

Bonjour

This is my entry for this week's Stampin' for the Weekend and Penny Black Saturday challenges.

The theme for Stampin' for the Weekend is Days Gone By. I used to do a lot of vintage style cards, but haven't done any for quite awhile, so I enjoyed this challenge. To get the vintage look, I used the faux linen technique on the script background. I stamped the background on glossy cardstock, then sanded in more or less straight lines both horizontally and vertically. To make the scratches pop so that it looks like linen, I used a sponge brayer to apply Antique Linen Distress Ink over the whole thing. I also inked the edges of my image and sentiment with the same Distress Ink. For the flowers, I inked the edges of the cream color flowers. For the center of the large flower, I used a jewelry spacer and pearl. The center of the smaller flower is a "stud" that is supposed to be used to make designs on clothing. There are little prongs on the back to go through the fabric and an indentation on the front for a rhinestone to be placed. I got several packages of these on clearance super cheap and I thought the design was pretty. I just flattened the little prongs and added a pearl on this one. Finally, I completed the vintage look with a sheer ribbon and little hat pin, which I made myself.

In addition to using at least one Penny Black stamp, the requirement for this week's Penny Black Saturday is a color challenge - blue, tan and cream. The Eiffel Tower image and the little flower with the sentiment are from the Penny Black "Thinking of You" clear set. I realized that I must really love the Eiffel Tower because I have four Eiffel Tower stamps. LOL! They are all different sizes and styles so that's okay. I stamped everything in blue pigment ink then embossed with clear EP. I popped the tower image and sentiment with foam squares.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I hope to see you again soon!

Supplies

Stamps: Eiffel Tower, small flower (Penny Black); Bonjour (Stamabilities)

Ink: Blue pigment ink (Colorbox); Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger)

Paper: Cream cardstock, glossy cardstock (unknown); Blue pattern cardstock (Club Scrap)

Tools: Square, scalloped square, oval and scalloped oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders); clear embossing powder (Ranger)

Embellishments: flowers (Prima); jewelry spacers, pearls, handmade hat pin, ribbon

Techniques: Heat embossing, distressing, faux linen

Finished Card Size: 5" x 6 1/2"

Cowboy Birthday Card

Here's something a little different for me. I made this card for my stepdad's birthday. I also used the sketch that I created for this week's challenge on the CK/PaperCrafts forum.

The image is from Stampabilities and I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $1.43. Can't beat that deal. The sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly. I stamped both with Vintage Sepia VersaFine ink then cut them out with my nestabilities. I added a little Vintage Photo Distress Ink as well. The papers are scraps from my stash. I finished it off with some jute rick-rack and fancy brads - also from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo Monday 97 and Simon Says Challenge

I have another two-fer today - Mojo Monday and Simon Says Challenges.

I chose the Happy Hopper image called Bunny Bath for this card. My friend Kari sent this image in for the House Mouse and Friends Merry Go Round swap that I am currently hosting. I thought the image fit the sketch for Mojo Monday perfectly. The sketch is shown below. Since I am using this card for a swap, I decided to stick with an A2 size. I think a 5x7 might have been a better fit for the size of the image. I just have a really hard time making A2 cards anymore. They seem so tiny. :)

I also thought this image was perfect for the Simon Says Challenge this week, which is distressing. Had I stamped this image myself, I would have used kraft cardstock to fit with the rest of the card. However, since it was stamped on white, I used Vintage Photo Distress ink to help blend it in better. I also tore the top edge of the paisley paper, roughed it up and edged it with the Distress ink. Finally, I sanded the edges of the scalloped circle and hit it with a little distress ink as well. In addition, the papers I used have a distresed look. Distressed/shabby used to be my usual style for cards, but I don't much of it anymore. It was fun to use my old techniques again.

Supplies
Stamps: Happy Hopper - Bunny Bath (Stampabilities); sentiment (Technique Tuesday)

Paper: Kraft cardstock and red cardstock (unknown); paisley DP(Creative Imaginations); striped DP (no-name giant Costco pack)

Embellishments: Circle, scalloped circle and long rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinder); metal photo corner (Oriental Trading); Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger); buttons, twine

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits; distressing

Finished card size: A2 (4 1/4 x 5 1/2)

Merry Go Round Swap #2: Paris

This is the 2nd card I made for the Merry Go Round Swap I am participating in. See yesterday’s post for a description of this type of swap. I see that the very right edge of the card was cut off in my scan. The red mat really does go all the way around.



I colored the lady’s dress with pastels (I call them chalk, but I have a friend whose son is an artist and he made it perfectly clear to me that chalks and pastels are two totally different mediums.) I then used a sponge roller (one of those mini paint rollers) to roll on some Tea Dye Distress Ink. All the papers and ribbon are scraps from my stash. I printed the sentiment on the computer, and then distressed it the same way I did the main image.

I’m not listing the supplies used because I don’t know who made the stamp and all the other supplies were scraps.

My First Stamped Card

I have decided to start a new blog for my paper crafting/rubber stamping hobby. I'll be posting some of my favorite past cards. I also plan to join in on some challenges and I'll be posting those here too.

I started my paper crafting adventure as a scrapbooker, but the stamping and cardmaking took over. I enjoy making cards because they are faster. I also enjoy trying new techniques.

For my first post here, I am posting the first card I ever made that used rubber stamping. I had made cards before that, but mostly what I call "scrapbook style". I made this for a card swap I think it was almost three years ago. It's still one of my favorite cards that I have made.

There aren't any special techniques on this card. It's just basic stamping and distressing. I chose to use the traditional red and green colors, but non-traditional papers to go with the western theme. The image was colored with colored pencil.

Supplies Used
Stamps: Stampabilities
Paper: K & Co.
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ranger)
Embellishments: Decorative brad (Making Memories); Primitive Star die (Sizzix); twine