Wednesday, July 30, 2014

See My Creative Space on the Moxie Fab World Today

I'm so excited. My new craft room is featured over on The Moxie Fab World Blog today! For those of you who don't know, I built a house last year and moved in at the end of December 2013. The room over the garage is my dedicated crafting area and I just LOVE it. If you have a minute, go check it out and let me know what you think!



Also, don't forget you have until Thursday (tomorrow) at midnight EST to join the July Mixed Media Monthly Challenge. Remember, we love all kinds of projects that include at least two different art mediums including cards, tags, ATCs, scrapbook pages, canvases, altered items etc... The only limitation is your imagination.

And be sure to check out the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge blog on Friday, August 1 to see our new challenge for August. It's going to be a really fun one for EVERYBODY with another awesome Guest Designer and fabulous prize sponsor!!!!


Monday, July 28, 2014

Blog Hop Winner

I finally go to the computer today. There's a raging afternoon thunderstorm here so I'm inside for a while. The winner of the Christmas in July Blog Hop is Denise Bryant. Denise please send me an e-mail at corgidusty at yahoo dot com with your address so I can get these Christmas goodies in the mail to you. Congratulations Denise!! And, thanks to all those of you who stopped by and left such nice comments.

Check back in October, we'll be have a whopping 7 Days of Halloween Inspiration Event then.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Christmas Card Challenges #35

Welcome to this week's challenge at Christmas Card Challenges. This week we have everybody's favorite challenge - Anything Goes!! I pulled out one of my favorite stamps. It's called Hanging Christmas Ornaments by Hero Arts. I used some papers by My Minds Eye and colored the ornaments with Copics based on colors in the striped background paper. The vertical sentiment is from Impression Obsession. Sometimes it's just handy to have a vertical sentiment. I can't wait to see what everyone makes this week! Thanks for stopping by!


Friday, July 25, 2014

Christmas in July Blog Hop


Welcome to the Christmas In July Blog Hop. If you start making your holiday projects now, you’ll be ready for December early! We're making projects we like, using products we like. Be sure to check out all the blogs. Some of the ladies are offering prizes - including me!!

Here is the big prize I am offering to one lucky person!


In order to be eligible for my prize you need to leave a comment on this post before Saturday, July 26 at midnight EST. I will announce the winner on my blog on Monday.  (however, I'm going to be on vacation next week so it may be Tuesday)

I decided to share this project today because Hobby Lobby has these wooden trees for sale now. When I saw it, I knew I had to buy it. I just covered each section with Christmas scrapbook paper and decoupage. Then I found a chipboard letter collection I liked and spelled out the words and covered the letters in Stickls. The star was die cut from grunge board and I added gold Stickles to it. This was a really fun and easy project that I think will look great in my house during Christmas. Thanks for stopping by!


You should have come here from Ceal’s blog. Now you go check out to Rachel K's blog.


Darnell Knauss

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Christmas Card Challenges #34

It's time for another challenge at Christmas Card Challenges. This week we have an inspiration photo to inspire you to make a yummy Christmas Card. I was really inspired by the bold red and green and the especially the red tablecloth these cookies are sitting on. I also love cookies so this picture is right up my alley.  I used stamps by Papertrey Ink to make this card. I colored the cookies with Copic Markers in Malachite and Lipstick Red. Then I added Liquid Pearls in White Opal for the sprinkles. I also colored the lid with Copics. Then I added some coordinating papers from Hollyday by American Crafts. The papers were bold and just the colors I was looking for. I hope you will play with us this week. I can't wait to see how this photo inspires you. Thanks for stopping by!

Inspiration Photo:


My card:

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Christmas Card Challenges #33

Welcome to this week's challenge at Christmas Card Challenges. This week we have a color challenge for you. I used this banner and chipboard sticker from Cosmo Cricket Jolly Days. The paper on the left is from My Minds Eye. The star clip is from Hobby Lobby and the Rick Rack trim is by Tim Holtz. I hope you take the challenge this week and I'm excited to see what you create with interesting color palette. Thanks for stopping by!

Color Scheme: 

My Card:


Saturday, July 12, 2014

Lawn Fawn Scripty Thanks

I made this card originally for the Lawnscaping Challenge #85 which is a color challenge this week and then I realized it would also fit Virginia's View Challenge #5 Die Cuts and the Moxie Fab World Wonderful Words Challenge. So, I'm entering this one into three challenges.

To make this card I made my own watercolor paper like Virginia suggested a few days ago. I wasn't sure if I would use this for the background paper or in another way. As you can see I decided on another way, to use it for my tag. Here's what my paper looked like after I colored it with my Stampin' Up watercolor pencils in the Lawnscaping Challenge colors. Then brushed over the paper with a watercolor brush. I recently bought a new, relatively expensive watercolor brush because I found the cheap ones I had constantly dropped bristles and I had to keep picking them out of my projects. Luckily I got a little discount at Michaels. But, I really love my new brush and it didn't loose any bristles, yay!!


Here is the Lawnscaping Inspriation Photo - I love these colors!


Here's Virginia's Graphic.


Here's my card.


After I finished my watercolor paper I die cut the tag which is the Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Duo 1 Die. I lined the edges of the tag with my black Stampers Big Brush pen. The Thanks die cut is the Scripty Thanks from Lawn Fawn. The curved line is from a Lawn Fawn stamp set called Happy Summer. The cord on the tag is from Lawn Trimmings Retro. The black paper is from PTI, the white paper is Neenah, the blue paper is from Stampin' Up, and the Tag background was made on paper from my mixed media art journal. Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, July 11, 2014

Unity Friends with Flair Friday

I made this card for the Unity Friends with Flair Friday Challenge. I used this stamp from the May 2014 Kit of the Month. The sentiment is from the Big Summertime Bouquet Itty Bitty. I wanted to practice blending with my Copics so I spent a lot of time on that main dress blending 4 colors. The papers are from DCWV Honey Chic stack. That bow tie is a Tim Holtz die. Thanks for stopping by!


Thursday, July 10, 2014

The Journey is the Adventure

I got my Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities book yesterday and I was so excited to play in the CCC3 Challenge this week -to alter a burlap panel. So I opened the book, read Tim's directions and promptly made this burlap panel project. Then, when I went to link it up to the challenge I read the small print that you had to use a Tim Holtz Burlap Panel. I didn't. I just thought they were cool and bought a pack on sale at Michaels a few weeks ago. So, I'm not entering it into the challenge.

But, I did use tons of Tim Holtz items on my burlap canvas including tissue paper, distress paint, distress markers, chit chat stickers and embellishments. The ephemera I used came from the Teresa Collins Far and Away Collection. I used Distress Paints in Crushed Olive and Pumice Stone. The stamps are from BoBunny and MFT and I stamped them in Wendi Vecchi Hydrangea Archival ink. I also used some Maya Road rub-ons.  Everything is adhered with Ranger Multi-Medium. Thanks for stopping by!


Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Newton's Nook Challenge #11 - Citrus Colors

I made this card for the current challenge over at Newton's Nook. I was lucky enough to win the Sweet Summer stamp set and I'm excited I got it in time for this challenge. It's my first stamp set from Newton's Nook and I just love it. The stamps work perfectly and the images are so cute and the sentiments are unique.

I colored all my "slices" with Copic markers. Then I stamped the banner pieces and cut them out, then stamped the little hearts on the banners. I roughly lined the edges of the banners just to add some color and fun. I adhered all the images with foam tape and added some jute twine from PTI behind the banner. I stamped the images and the sentiment in Tuxedo Black - Memento Ink. The kraft card stock is also from PTI.  Thanks for stopping by!

 Here's my card.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Christmas Card Challenges #32

It's Sunday, so that means we're starting another challenge over at Christmas Card Challenges. This week our challenge is to use a tag. You can make just a tag or a card with a tag on it. To make this card I started with a green tag that I had in my drawer of tags that use to wipe up my craft mat after using spray inks. Then I mixed some glitter in some modeling paste and applied it over a Dylusions Snowflake stencil. It makes a nice sparkly, dimensional background.

I made the rest of this tag using my all time favorite Christmas Paper Collection - Crate Paper Snow Day. I found a new 12x12 pad of this at Tuesday Morning a couple of weeks ago and since I had used up almost all my papers I had to get it. I cut all the snowman and line of "snow" words out of patterned paper. I also used white glitter paper and a Papertrey Ink die to make the rolling hills. I topped it off with some jute twine from Papertrey Ink. I hope you will play with us this week and I can't wait to see what you create! Thanks for stopping by!


Saturday, July 5, 2014

Simple Pleasures

I made this card for the current Be Inspired Challenge #54. I love the soft and pretty colors of the inspiration photo. Based on the colors I used a green and white polka dot paper for the background layer. Then I made a yellow and pink watercolor for the smaller background of the die cut. I used watercolor crayons to color the background and the topiary. I used Versamark Black Archival ink. I used two different stamp sets from The Alley Way Stamps. The topiary is from the Tweet Spots stamp set and the sentiment is from Tiny Treasures. The dies are Spellbinders Nestabilities. Thanks for stopping by!

Here is the inspiration photo.


Here is my card. 

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #2 - Around the House

Yay! It's time for the second Mixed Media Monthly Challenge.  I hope you had a chance to play last month, but if you didn't maybe you can join us in July. All skill levels are welcome and you can make anything like a canvas, card, scrapbook page, altered item, journal page, etc... You just have to use more than 2 art mediums. Our challenge for July is to use something around the house in your project. You can stamp with bubble wrap, mask with rubber bands, or use old book pages in your background. Just use something you can find around your house someway in your project. Be sure to let us know in your post what household item you used and how you used it. Be sure to check out the blog post for more examples and tons of inspiration from our design team and our fabulous guest designer (gotta click over to see who it is!!).


Our sponsor this month is the awesome company Die Cuts With a View or DCWV.  They are offering an awesome prize for our random winner. More of a reason for you to play. Every player has the same chance of winning the big prize, unless you play more than once, then you have a better chance at winning it all!!
This month I decided to make a canvas.  It's kind of a large canvas for me 9x12. I started by adding pieces of DCWV papers to my canvas. Most were from the Vintage Collector stack, but I also used some from their Textured Paper stack. They were nice enough to give me a couple of stacks of textured papers and some amazing stencils!! I also added some ripped up Dixie bathroom cups to the background - they're hard to see. That's one of my around the house items.


Then, I covered the background with gesso to soften the colors. When it dried I added several sections with the DCWV stencils. Then, I carved a 5 sided shape from a wine cork to make a stamp and stamped it randomly in yellow over the canvas. I also used a plastic bottle top to make the blue and white circles on the canvas.

The corrugated flowers are from Magenta and I colored them with acrylic paints. The centers of the flowers are pieces of cork from a wine bottle that I cut into small pieces. I also colored the corks with acrylic paint. The stems are from small and long scraps of Tim Holtz grunge board I was hoarding. I cut the piece into three sections and colored them with a Stampers Big Brush Pen. I die cut the leaves from a piece of cork and added color to them with the same Big Brush Pen. This canvas was so much fun to make. If you've never made one, I challenge you to go get a canvas and get started. There are no rules, just use colors and products you like and do whatever you feel like!!! Thanks for stopping by!