First Snow

For all of you that are enjoying warm temperatures and sunshine.....ENJOY! This is what we woke up to this morning in SW North Dakota.

Although it is pretty to look at, it is a bit disheartening to know winter has already shown it's blustery face here in the Dakota's. I better prepare myself for a loooong winter! LOL!

Tissue box

Okay, last one today. I really, really loved the look of the trio of brown acrylic paints on the cardboard. It's just so rustic and old looking. This is a tissue box I painted. I am not certain where I got the tissue box covers from. I do know I bought a bunch of them. Good thing...cuz I had to make one for my stamp room and one for my bedroom. This is the one for our bedroom. The one I made for my stamp room had to have those black swirls stamped on it.

I ended up using that combination of brown acrylic paints to paint the bottom of the album box, 2 tissue boxes and I grabbed a small bare cardboard box that I had some jumbo copper paper clips in, and painted that, too!
I think I will be using this for home decor a lot. We live in the country and everything in our house is rustic...leaves, leather, wood, pine cones (can you see the pine cones in the fabric of the chair behind the tissue box?)...so this seems to fit in perfectly.

Here is a close up of the front panel of what will be the photo album. This isn't completed yet. The plan is to add a picture of our house to this panel and then add the word "HOME" with chipboard die cut letters. Pictures of our family will go on the inside and the pictures that my son took will be on the outside. You will have to wait a bit for the inside...I'm still not done with that part yet.

The album that goes into the box is 6 panels that fold together. This is the back of the album. I painted it brown, using the brown oxide acrylic paint. I just love the way the texture just comes popping out when you add the acrylic paint to the cardboard! I stamped the swirls in black Staz On and added some more splatters.

TIP: when splattering...maybe cover up the rest of your work area or move away...I kinda speckled everything around me...my cell phone now has some amazing black spatters...those look kinda fun..think I will keep them. :o)

Photo Album in a box

I admit, I love to smoosh. I love to smoosh ink, paint..whatever will smoosh and add fabulous color to something. This is a result of some smooshing.

I have been wanting to make a photo album for my oldest son. He moved 850 miles away to a big city to start his own life, leaving life out in the country behind. Before he left he had taken an afternoon to take pictures of the badlands we live in, but didn't get them unloaded from my camera before he left. So, the album is going to be a HOME album, including the pictures he took of the area.

I found this album in a box kit that I had purchased from Oriental Trading a while back, and decided to use that for the album. This is the box. The bottom was a smooshing good time to make!! I used burnt umber acrylic paint from two different companies...one was much darker, and lighter brown color (brown oxide, I think) I gave a good squirt of each on my nonstick craft sheet and I started smooshing the ink around with an inch wide paint brush. The colors blended and the more I worked it, the more texture it would seem to get. When I was done it almost had the look of rusted metal or worn leather. I fell in love with the way it looked!

The cover was painted with a beige acrylic paint, but I dipped my brush into the brown mess I had left from painting the bottom to give it more color and depth. I then used the burnt umber to go around the edges of the cover...then black...then stamped swirls with black Staz On and then added some water to the black paint blob on my nonstick sheet and flicked my brush around to add the splatters. I really love how this turned out, I sure hope my 20 year old big boy will love it a little, too.

Scary Soot

Oh, making this card brought back memories! Back in 1997, when we finally got on-line and I was able to join a few rubberstamping e-mail lists, I was in heaven. I remember soot stamping was the first technique I had ever learned on-line and I was sooooo excited!! I shared it with every one I knew. Everyone thought I was a little over the edge with all this stamping stuff and that is how I got my old nickname "BasketCase".

It was a blast doing the soot stamping again tonight. I used glossy card stock for the tree and the saying. I just lightly swiped the Happy Haunting through the flame for a real wispy look. The ghost is a die cut from matte cardstock and that got pulled through the flame lightly as well.

I have no idea where the bare trees stamp is from, I do know I really like it though. The Happy Haunting is from Northwoods .

Fall Felt Leaves

I just found this card in my stash and figured it was fitting to add here since it is that time of year. I think I started out just playing with some color card stock and ended up cutting it up for the squares that the leaves are on. The leaves I bought at Target in the $1 bin (I love those bins!!) I seldom use that punch that is used on the green card stock, but when I do, it always impresses me!

Tribute to Judith

Judith was a bold, vibrant, fun loving and life loving woman.

I never had the pleasure of meeting Judith in person. But I had the privilege of getting to know her on a rubber stamping e-mail list, RST! (Rubber Stamping Together!). Judith faced more trials in life and overcame more hurdles than any one I have ever known. And she did it all with flash, flair and a smile.

I may never have met her face to face, but I learned so much from our "Miss Scarlett". I learned to really take a look at who and what is most important to me, and give them the time and attention they deserve. I learned you CAN laugh in the face of adversity...that you can almost always find the humor in a situation, even if the rest of the world can't see it at the moment. I learned laughter IS the best medicine. I learned ATTITUDE is everything. I AM A BETTER PERSON BECAUSE OF JUDITH.

This card was created because Judith seemed to be lingering in the back of my mind. I had made this background from a leftover piece of plastic wrap from the cling and scrunch technique (June/July 2007 TJN). I was looking for a phrase to put on the background and this one from Ann-ticipations kept popping out at me...and reminding me of Judith...and the whispery look of the background reminded me of a memory, so the card was begging to be made in memory of Judith...and her favorite color was pink.

So here's to you, Judith. You may not be walking the earth any longer, but you left so much of you behind that will carry on in so many of us...you left footprints in our hearts...and we are forever changed...the world is forever changed.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.