July Dirty Dozen Christmas Sample

 It's the beginning of July and I am back with a quick little Christmas card that was jump started by this months Photo inspiration for the Dirty Dozen Christmas cards prompt. ( seen here in the special forums for Fan Club members of SCS) 

I started by digging out this pad of woodgrain prints from Crafters Consortium and I pulled out one white sheet and this blue sheet. and started pushing around the red Merry diecut stack ( that was on the table) and When I went looking in the drawer for some trees I may have done in the past I found these that had been cut from the sheet music print and so, the one closer to the center is up on foam pop dots. That bitty red house is a Memory Box diecut Probably from one of the village sets. I have this tiny milk glass tray on the table that has tiny die cuts and sentiments stamped on tags and such in it. So the Impression Obsession word dies came out of there. I had thought to tie on the charm but, I didn't think of it until the glue had dried under the Y so, I ended up tying the hemp string into a bow and just laying it on top of the swirls. The lace here is vintage and the tiny star circle is a die cut from a K & Co. package of misc. Patriotic things that is in a bin on the table. I never got around to using any of this but, this tiny circle piece. This is A6 in real life and the base is some Papertrey Ink white. That's about it from me, I will be back later tonight with a sample for this weeks Watercoloring challenge as well. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

The rest of Earl's Birthday Cards

 This is for Earl's oldest granddaughter. This gal is Melanie from Rubber Romance, she's stamped with Versafine and colored with copic markers as a base with some polychromos pencils over the top. That printed paper is from the echo park party time pad. She was die cut with a Spellbinders wonky rectangle die. and that crocheted lace is unknown. These letters for the names on both of these cards are from Ma Vinci's. (and I don't remember the set names sorry) The happy birthday sentiments on both cards are from the Simon Says Stamp big birthday greetings set.

 A closer look, I did take a tiny black sharpie marker and do "dots" all over her dress, hat and shoes. I was thinking it gave it a little bit more of a fabric texture because, the bags are all so smooth. and then I ended up going over all the clothes and bags with a clear wink of stella pen.

So, one new thing we found out from Earl on Friday is that Eli is very into the flag right now and that was a handy thing for me as I have a collection of flag stamps to play with. This particular one is from Peddlers Pack. I colored this with pencils and it's not quite a perfect rectangle the way that these Hero Arts dies are, so I was following along with this double matted framing tutorial for Sabrina's ways to use it challenge and I had this white space left on the edge of the flag and it bugged me enough to cut the flag image down with scissors and then I had a hole so, I taped the drop piece of blue ODBD printed paper to the back side of the image so, that particular layer is more like an embedded puzzle piece. (that's why you see the extra line on the sides) The sentiment was die cut with a simon says stamp sentiment strip die and I really like the idea of this and I think I will give this ago more often but, using say cardstock and also maybe an image that does not span so much of the width of the card, I think it may be easier to line this back up on the edges with a wider piece.

 So I had a little time after I finished the flag card before it got dark and I glued together some of these previously cut diecuts and made them into a little tag to decorate the brown sack that his cards are going into. The shape here is from Sizzix called Ornate #4, ( so are the Tim holtz tree lines) I did layer two of those and stagger them for a shadow and the shape also has a second one glue to the backside which hides the fact that I did tape that hemp string on the back side even though it is tied pretty tight.

 The sentiment is from the Concord & 9th Butterfly Beauty set Stamped with some Versafine clair Shady lane ink. The ribbon is from Micheal's at either Thanksgiving or Christmas ( they have had it the last couple of years it comes in red & green too) I don't remember which set that tiny tag came from. ( I have a vintage jello mold on my table of tiny tags I cut from scraps to stamp on sitting on the table) That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {US Mint Sheets}

This week I have chosen the US Mint Sheets site where you can purchase vintage postage stamps.

Plus see lots of fabulous (teeny tiny works of art) 

somewhere in the "tween" years my dad's mom gifted me with a US Mint collectors book ( with a few plate blocks in it) and some loose postage and a guide (wishbook) for stamps. it was the first thing I ever collected that was a true "collectible" and even to this day I still purchase extra sheets of stamps that interest me for special envelopes. 

 When I was poking around in this site I came across this Military Uniforms postage and I just loved this, the colors the mix of prints, and from that I came up with this. The printed postage sheet is from the Bo Bunny Anthem Collection pad. the Patriotic mailbox image is from Impression Obsession and the sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs Home of the Free set. That crinkled seam binding is from SU and it's a little wider than the ones I have from Hug Snug so, that was a fun thing for me. The image was die cut with an Avery Elle postage stamp die, and it cuts the center out for you so, I ended up taping this back together on the back side after.

 The image was colored with a combination of Polychromos and Prisma pencils on some Neenah 110# solar white. The sentiment was stamped on some classic cream with satin red and cut out with scissors.

A closer look at these stamps can be found here in their store. Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW # 474 {cards}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hastag of #WOYWW

 

 So this is a tuesday evening shot. Today is Independence day in the US. And we are mostly planning to stay home today. ( have two days of work following the holiday so, that makes for a nice break but, not big enough to go and plan something. I had seen that the wednesday tutorial last week was this double triangle fold ( tutorial found here) and decided to try it ( card seen below) and then ended up cutting a few sheets of cardstock and folding it for soon-ish. tried the monday flag challenge and the tuesday color combo also.

 This is a stitched primitive star die from Papertrey ink. I did thread this with may arts burlap string. and it took a good long while because, that printed paper is double sided and teeny polka dots on the other side and the burlap shreds so, it was slow going. the sentiment is from the Art gone wild words to the rescue line "Military Thanks" Stamped with some Avery Elle cherry ink. ( I probably should have done this in the misti to do it several times but, after spending so much time threading I just wanted to be "done" this sentiment is up on foam pop dots above the star.  this one is A2 in real life.

 These stamps are both from Our Daily Bread Designs ( old flag background and let freedom ring sentiment) the background was done with water color crayons in the misti one color at a time so that they would not run as much. there is a bit of clear wink of stella in the "stars"

 this fold is kinda cool and something different. the sentiment is a die cut from Lil Inker designs. cut from some shimmery stardream red cardstock and backed with cream.

the inside liner was cut with a Spellbinders hemstitched die. the "linen" print is a really old background stamp from Stampin' up done with antique linen ink. the floral print is an old Basic grey one. these cards are all A2 in real life. and so, the plan is to pick all this up and get a few more VSN or DTGD stamples going later after breakfast. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {The Smithsonian Institution}

This week we are poking around in the Smithsonian Institution online to see what we see. The challenge thread can be found here. one of the first things I had seen when I was considering the site was there was a collection at that time arranged around some of the things I had personally seen as a teenager visiting Washington DC. With a high school "Close-Up" group.  besides the things that were organized for us to attend we also had some free time to go exploring and one thing we did was hit the museums. One thing we did was wait for the flag to be on display. it was in a case where a curtain came down and it rolled back out of the way inch by inch to let the flag be seen for a short period of time.This is one of the biggest memories that I have of that, there were of course other things but, the watching peoples faces while they waited for the flag to be visible was something that has stayed with me.

 I had picked up this sentiment from Our Daily Bread Designs when it first came out and I have been waiting I guess for a time to use it. and that is the fun part about the Inspiration challenge is you pretty much get to do what you want. I had this scrap of vellum cardstock on my table left over from some recent winter/Christmas card I made and I tend to play with what ever is in front of me so, it lead me to combining it with this flag background ( also from Our Daily Bread Designs) I like the tattered look the distress inks gave the flag and the softness the vellum ads it was almost like a protective cover for the aging fabric. which then allows the sentiment to really POP for me like this. There is a white cardstock glued to the inside of the back of the card so that a note can be written there.

A peek at old glory and the link goes to the Star Spangled Banner ( as I did do mine as a hanging flag design)
I actually ended up with two cards from the site ( so far) and the first is seen below, I decided to load this but, not make it the main challenge sample because, the inspiration from it is actually more of a mental thing than a visual look. When I first started poking around through the sites collections I did come across this vintage Barbie doll in her swim suit and when I looked at that I knew I had this Emerson stamp (Gourmet rubber stamps bathing suit) sitting on the table for the last few weeks and my brain said, well. those yellow polka dot bikinis really are smaller nowadays aren't they... 

 and so. the image has a little bit of pencils, a yellow marker for the bloom and gel pen for the sun glass lens. I gave her grey hair because, this is not a sentiment I would have thought of 20 years ago when my hair still had color of its own in the strands. I did use a stitched rectangle out of the waffle flower lacy layers A7 set and the card base is from Hero Arts so, its ( US) A2 in real life.

 a peek at this Barbie complete with her heels on too :) So, that is about it for me today. thanks for stopping by.

Fallidays Continued

 So Lee has a challenge to create faux glittered suede... ( mine just turned into glittered cardstock) and since I had went with green card & green glitter and no plan... I just cut mine into strips for the challenge. ( the Giraffe is from My Favorite things and the smaller sentiment is from the Altenew beautiful inside set.

 what my suede looked like before I cut it.

 Barbara has a challenge about using things on your table created earleir in the week, so the globe ornament was stamped ( heat embossed ) on one of the first Yupo backgrounds... ( it did not react well to the heat gun, it warped and smelled stinky while hot)
the branch is left over glitter suede.

 On Friday Jeanne's challenge links to creating a Patriotic Thank you card with a heart, for the second card drive with a destination of Operation Quiet Comfort.

And Ceal has a challenge for creating a color blocked background with your clear blocks and ink... so, I used oxide inks and it turned out well so, I decided to do an Vellum image so, the colors would peek through and I used some Krylon spray adhesive... it was only sticky while wet, as it dried it more or less repelled the vellum so, I will have to run this through a sewing machine later.
I have every challenge from Thursday still on the to do list along with the make a rosette turkey from Wednesday in a catch up phase hopefully this weekend.

A Hodgepodge of things

 A while back the Inspiration challenge was to use or feature printed paper and at the time that challenge came out, this Cat (katzelkcraft) was a new stamp on my desk... so, it was a quick and easy one. The sentiment is from Riley & Co.

 And at some point the clean and simple challenge was to show your patriotism. and I had already had this heart ( Our Daily Bread Designs) already stamped ( watercolor crayons) in the colored images file so, it was also a really quick and easy one for me. the sentiment is a Simon Says Stamp die.

last weekend the Inspiration Challenge headed to this Houzz site and I loved the framing of this piece, the peacefulness of this tree scene and the out of the box look to this tree on these pieces of art.
The treeline stamp is from Hero Arts and the sentiment is from the Altenew holiday wishes set. the tree/bird die cut are from Impression Obsession. 

 This was done inspired by this one in AJ's gallery when she was featured stamper. This one the birds are from technique tuesday and the sentiment is from Art Impressions and the flowers and grass are from Avery Elle more stories set.

 Now somewhere in there... there was some challenge somewhere about making your own background and this was a trial piece done with oxide inks and a Tim Holtz stencil. that I must not h ave gotten around to uploading it so, I don't remember the info. that sentiment is from Impression Obsession though, ( I think)

 it really is irritating when you cannot remember last month but, I think this was my step-dad's birthday card. ( but, I cannot remember that for sure now) ETA: it was NOT I found it in the sale basket at work the other day lol... the tape measure is from the Darkroom door set the happy birthday is from Altenew and the age sentiment I think may be hero arts.

 There is a card drive for a younger lady who is fighting cancer and the request is for humorous cards. you can find the details for that here. The sentiment on this is from Riley & co. and the girl is from the Unity Stamps set called Part of the story.

 So, the other day June took a card request from a lady who buys my cards that she wanted an 8X10 or larger sized card that would have a floral bouquet on the cover. and blank inside as she needs to write 50 names inside for the people who helped her in a recent hospital stay. and the largest size cardstock I have is 12" square. so, this was my first attempt at that. and the one below is the second. and they are both 6" x 9" in real life. The diecut words on this one are from Hero Arts. and I think that biggest crochet bloom on this one is one that Janice gifted me with and the smaller one I am not sure. I did use two different scraps of this same print on this and then added in some skinny rose gold washi tape in the valley of the cut.

This one I used the Hero Arts thank you die and the lil'inkers rectangles that are stitched dies. the framed part is up on skinny foam pop dots.

 Last week there was a card request for Angie's sister who loves dogs and the 50's & 60's and Dorris Day movies and bright colors and during that same week Sharon was featured stamper and I seen this card of her's that I loved and decided to use it as the jump start for the teapot request card.

 Today's featured stamper is Diane and she made this cake topper that is just gorgeous with these layers of petals and leaves and such, the shaping must have taken forever... and I loved that. and I had these new dies sitting on the table and thought, well if you use premade flowers that are 3-d maybe you can build a bouquet... so, instead of a bouquet I wound up with a 3 layer of petals bloom with some Penny Black sprigs/leaves ( there is white acrylic paint on the berries) and a Hero Arts sentiment on one of their tag dies. the white wood grain cardstock has a MFT square peek a boo window cut into it off set to the side.

WOYWW # 422 {un-mounting again }

Happy belated desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more or play along

 the link up is here at Miss Julia's blog .

 So, all those stamps that were just willy nilly pulled off the wood blocks sometime last year and set aside because, other projects took priority were moved from the corner to the table. ( and I started stamping them off and re-sorting them.) so, this plastic box contains the last of many boxes of them what were sorted leading up to these tuesday night shots.
I have been more organized about this since these were dealt with. such as you know deliberately looking for stamps to pull that fit categories that are under construction of pockets now. to fill sheets up. which of course makes me feel very impressed with my self on that account. because, I really don't enjoy doing this, but I do like the end result. and our temperatures are still at broiled alive outside so, even with the little window ac on upstairs it is still in the high 80's up there.

 This little pile has some that the original foam did not want to remove from the rubber, so I tried leaving them in the freezer and that did not do anything for me. and I was afraid to nuke them in a microwave so, I ended up scraping at that foam with an exacto knife. Which works but, was really a sticky mess.

 on top of the big shot is a container that has some sorted stamps with indexes stamped on cardstock for the plastic pockets. closer is some dies that were used on a card either and under that is some happy mail from The Cats Pajama's that came on monday and I have not played with them yet but, did remove them from the original packaging and put them into plastic pockets so far.

and this is why the un-mounting thing seems like an uphill battle. that altered bakers rack in the far back top right corner... every one of those trays is filled with wood mounted sentiments. but, I do have to say that so far the pockets that were laminated and moved to the book shelf next to it are saving so much space its really encouraging me to continue with the project.

Our son is home on leave and he had a couple of projects he wanted to do making flags for a gift from wood with brass from ammunition as the stars and so, this was a peek at the temporary "desk" he had going in the back. by the time Wednesday had rolled around the first flag was finished and the second one was almost done. but, blogger had other ideas about letting me post yesterday. I don't have any finished flag shots in google photos yet or I would have flashed you with that. they turned out pretty impressive. I will take one and edit this post. ( if it ever decides to post)

 a side view

 :) thanks for stopping by!

WOYWW # 413 {flags}

Happy Desk Peeking day!

If you'd like to play along the link up starts here at Miss Julia's Blog.

 

 I had a couple of hours to my self last sunday afternoon and I had been asked to do a RAK with patriotic sentiments a while back so, I started out that day with those stamps on the table. and then I came across this card  and this card that I loved in the featured stamper challenge from Kandie's gallery. so, it all kind of morphed in my head and I ended up with the card below.

 but, when ever I make something messy ( I make a stack of them for later to save some time) these flags are from Unity Stamps ( Ragged old flag) and Our Daily Bread designs old flag background,  and stars and stripes heart they were all done on the misti with watercolor crayons and an aqua brush and a water mister bottle. ( so I did the colors one at a time on each one of them trying for less running of the colors)

 This was how my featured stamper CASE turned out I kept the clean look of the first card and the scored frame of the second and will be popping it in the mail to J today.
We had to take J back to the airport last week and he has successfully moved bases and such and so, it was a whirlwind pit stop for him to be home (as usual) so, the spare room ( that is getting the windowseat and bookshelves) is completely empty and the kitchen I have maybe two more boxes of dishes to pack and the coffee pot and microwave to take out of there and that room is empty also ready for gutting.
we were going to cook in the garage and on the barbecue a lot in our heads but having all the stuff stacked in the garage is already irritating on day one so, the new thought is to put the camper on Tim's truck so we have a mini kitchen to function in while the mess happens. Thanks for stopping by :) your comments really do make me smile.

A couple more for the Fallidays challenges

 For Barbara's challenge found here, to make a Joy Fold Card using the tutorial. I am not sure if I have done this one or not before but, it was very straight forward and easy to do with the seperate pieces that just interlock together. I thought about having the elf on the other side to use as a catch to close the card but, I also have a huge stash of ribbons and textiles so, my go to for things that do not want to stay fold is to tie them shut. I did tie it a little loose to it can slide off the edge like a belly band would.

 A peek at the inside layers. The elf is from Hero Arts and the sentiment is from Concord & 9th "joy" set. ( the kraft is from PTI ( so, the thick stuff) the prints are from Basic grey and the green texture is some dcwv. this is an A-2 version. ( Its possible to make this as a square and I think I will try that next time around)

Now Jeanne's challenge is the second card drive and this one is for Patriotic Thank you cards headed to Operation Quiet Comfort. the rules for this one are no envelopes and no glitter. So, as it happens you know it was Lydia's fault I caved on the Hero Arts kit for Oct right? ( ha, well it was..) and this star confetti and the circle confetti dies jumped in the cart with it and it all arrived in the mail yesterday. So, for Jeanne's challenge I had the bright idea I was going to make star holes in the actual base of the cards. ( the die cut my card in half) but, I do have a big pile of glimmery blue star confetti too now. So, then I thought OK cut a star window into the red ( shimmery card base) I had laying in the scrap pile and make it a smaller window. and then I realized the largest star from the MFT stitched star set is a little bigger than A-2 in real life and I had three tiny spaces in the tips of this star that had no blue for its part of the window. so, I trimmed part of it on the back side and taped it up tight and made sure to use parts that had star holes in it for the filling so, it was not obvious it was pieced. This was lined with some stitched mulberry paper that has both silver and gold threads stitched through it. ( some of the stitching is visible through the bitty star holes in person when you hold it. The thanks is a die from Taylored Expressions and the ribbons from offray so this one finished out at 6" square in real life.

Dare to get Dirty {day 2}

 A closer look at the coloring done for Angie's challenge seen here.

 The whole card view.

 For Sabrina's Challenge seen here. ( those gingerbread people die were a gift from Paper Sweeties during the summer coffee lovers blog hop) Thanks Debbie!

 For Alba's challenge seen here. When there are so many challenges at once I tend to go more towards the CAS side.

 Something I am saving in anticipation of using... for Sandee's first challenge seen here.

Now this one I goofed. ( I work off a print out of the spread sheet which really only has a little bit of what the challenge will be when it goes live) and so, I missed an important word or three so, this is just for fun and not linked to any of them.
Stamps are from Concord & 9th.

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