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.

Happy Haunting

This was inspired by Shelly Hickox and a "Western Bandanna" card she did. I've been very intrigued by the Bandanna technique since I love to doodle. I was also intrigued by the wrinkle free distressing she had talked about, and I adore that look and the colors.

The distressing takes some time...but the results are so worth it. But I liked the background so much I couldn't bring myself to "Bandanna" it with the white pen!

I loved the colors, and thought a bare tree would look good with them. So I made another background, a little lighter than the last and made a card out of it.

I used carpet tape to put this card together. It's pretty heavy duty. And of course, as I was trying so hard to put the background on the black card base...painstakingly trying to make sure it was straight...and wouldn't ya know....it's crooked! Then when I was putting the orange mat on the tree piece....and this part seems pretty fool proof because I use the Perfect Layers ruler thingies from Stampin' Up. But for some reason the left side of the orange cardstock cut EXTREMELY crooked. I have no idea how it could even happen. And since all the very many layers of this card are held together with a foot of carpet tape...I couldn't pull it apart and redo it without wrecking it. So, this card is a little wonky...but I really like the colors! I really like the wrinkle free distressing too, and think I will be doing more of it.

I'd love to give you details on the stamps I used...but most of them are all some old UnMounted stamps I had in my binder and have no idea where they came from. The only ones I am sure of are the swirls or flourishes...they are clear stamps from Autumn Leaves.

ZenDoodle

I never thought I was a doodler.
I used to try, and it would look terribly unappealing...and eventually gave up. That was until a stamping friend of mine, Darla Doodles, started talking about ZENTANGLES I liked what I saw and was really curious.
So, I put the Zentangle Kit on my wish list for Christmas last year, and it's all history now.
I love to doodle, I love the way it looks, I love that it is quick, easy and non-messy. And, I really like to make cards from them.
I still seem to take some really bad pictures, so these seem to be a bit blurry, but I hope you get the idea.

These first two I did while I work. I spend 8 hours a day on the phone. I have a bit of free time between calls and while on hold....so I Zentangle/Doodle. I didn't happen to have my Zentangle pens with me, so I grabbed a couple of Sharpie markers that were handy and started doodling on the pad of scratch paper on my desk. I decided to tear the edges and outline them with the marker. I really liked how they turned out, so I brought them home and decided to make cards out of them.

This one I drew right onto the colored card stock. I really like the black and green together. Adding that little bit of aqua matting really made it pop.

A little FOLD will do

It's amazing what a little fold can do!

I saw this idea when I was supposed to be cleaning my stamp room. I got distracted by some stamping magazine or book. (don't have a clue which one) I loved the idea, and it seemed like just cutting my standard sheet of cardstock in the opposite direction and adding one extra fold could make any card look like more fun and like it took a whole lot more time to make than it did!

I used sage green cardstock...cut the long way, ends up being 11 x 4 1/4. Scored that in the middle the long way at 5 1/2 inches and folded then scored the front of the card in the center at 2 3/4 inches and folded it the opposite way. I stamped it with some swirls on the base card and stamped the saying both in black. Drug some black ink around the edges of everything to give it that distressed grungy look. I absolutely love my Cut 'n Dry felt pads and Distress Ink Pads for this!! The saying got matted with black card stock and then adhered to the right side of the folded flap.

And....you're done! It's really quick, really simple.....just like Rice Krispy treats.....looks like you slaved all day, but you didn't.

The Dance..... saying stamp is from Angi-b & Co. Looks like they are having a big sale over there right now.

The Dot Flourishes are from Inkadinkado. I love them and the Circles and Dots. Lots of fun!

Pumpkin Patch Watercolor

I love fall colors....they make me feel warm and fuzzy all over! I know fall isn't a "warm" season...but it brings thoughts of hot chocolate, snuggling in a warm blanket, making soups and stews and casseroles that bring comfort.

Here is another TJN Technique. This one is also from the OCT/NOV2007 issue and it's called Marker Wash.

I love it because it is so easy and looks so great.

I have a lot of detailed stamps that I haven't used in ages because I didn't have a clue how to color them or make them look great. This technique is getting me to pull those stamps out.

All you do is add some color with markers (just a little if you like it light and pastel or lots more if you want it vibrant) ...you don't have to be neat or precise...just get some color close to where you want it....and then spritz it with water. I dry mine with a heat tool to keep all the cool splotches of color and then iron it to get it flat again.

TIP: I found out that if you only spritz 3-5 times with water, you get a more vibrant look, and your black image doesn't look washed out. You can always overstamp the image when the paper is dry and flat...but I haven't had much luck with that....It always looks like I have had too much to drink or need new glasses really bad!

Oh....the stamp is from Northwoods. They have some great images that will work fantastic with this technique!

A Work In Progress

I know, I know, it looks a little bare yet. But I just had to play with the new colored core cardstock that I bought. It's from www.coredinations.com and they have some really cool colors and combinations.

The pack of cardstock I bought is the Cauldron pack in the Black Magic series. So it's black on one side and colored on the other. This piece is black and a light dusty blue. The colors just reminded me of snow, so I pulled out the Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder. I sanded over the dry embossed images and really love the softness of it.

I'm still trying to figure out what to put on this. I am thinking a snowman would be perfect...just gotta find the "perfect" snowman!

I promise to show you all what I did with this when I finish it!