WARNING! This could be addictive

One of the neat things about reading blogs is that you find neat web sites that you might never run across on your own. I read Suze Weinbergs blog all the time and she showcased Dumpr a while back. It is really easy to use and all of the photos I'm showing are free. Just find a photo on your computer and you will see some cool things done almost instantly with your pictures. Here's what I did with some pictures of BC:

Here's a few of Tigger and I in the viewfinders of the paparazzi:

Here's Tigger and I on a Rubics Cube

There are other options (some not for free). Check out Dumpr and you'll be addicted. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Until my next post,

Diane

What I didn't do on Black Friday

Black Friday is the term for the day after Thanksgiving when the retailers finally get in the "black" or profit area as opposed to all year when they are running in the red. I didn't get up or stay up for the local outlet shopping that began at midnight. I didn't get up for the 4am JC Penney opening or the 5am opening at Target or other stores. I didn't rush out to the mall. So what did I do? I went grocery shopping at the base commissary. It was a very pleasurable experience to shop without crowds. My commissary gets very good traffic and it if often quite full. I did go over to the Base Exchange which is right next door. There wasn't that many people there either. I think it is hard for them to compete with the specialty stores, the mall and the outlets for many items. I did get a 1.5TB external hard drive for $99 and the limited edition collectible DVD of the 70th anniversary edition Wizard of Oz for $49 so I was pretty happy with my purchases and didn't have to fight for a parking spot or the crowds. After that it was back home to watch TV and decorate the house and Christmas tree.

Happy Thanksgiving

Here in the USA it is Thanksgiving Day, a chance to gather with family and friends and give thanks. Of course there are parades and football too.

This card was made from a Sheetload template using patterened paper by Reminisce. I used my Cuttlebug on the gold paper and stamps from two different $1 Studio G stamp sets.

Until my next post,
Diane

Another Guy Birthday Card

I made a bunch of cards a while back using a template by Sheetload. The papers and dimensional stickers are by K&Co and came in a pack.

Until my next post,
Diane

Farm Animals ATC

On the Stampers Corner Yahoo group I signed up for the ATC of the month for the whole year. Some folks pick and choose which ones they want to do but with the good I got the "bad". I didn't have any stamps for this theme until I ran across the Down on the Farm stamp in the $1 bin at Michaels. I wasn't sure how I was going to use it but at least I had something to start with. This is what I came up with.

First I stamped the Down on the Farm (Studio G) group and then masked it. Next I stamped the background (Repeat Impressions) but not the trees on that stamp since they were too close to the animals. I stamped the trees next and placed them in a better location. Now I colored in the background and animals with watercolor and permanent markers. I blended the watercolor markers with a Dove Blender. The final steps were to stamp and cut out the cloud and sun (Studio G). I used Rock Candy Stickles on the cloud and glitter glue on the gun. The final touch was the butterfly embellishment.

Until my next post,
Diane

Another door panel done - more nondestructiveness

I upgraded from Adobe CS2 to CS4 a few months ago. I'm really glad I did. There was a BIG jump in functions and I've fallen in love with Photoshop all over again. What was cool before is WAY COOL now. The function I used on the photo on the left was actually available on CS3. It is called auto align layers and works great when you take photos of a group of people but someone wasn't looking at the camera and someone else had their eyes closed. I didn't think I'd really take advantage of it since it is very rare for me to take group photos like that. BUT what it did work great on for me was a photo of a bottom panel of my non-destructive doors. I had another panel ready to go a while back but couldn't seem to locate the 3M stick-ons. I knew if I bought more I'd find them. When a few weeks went by and this panel kept getting in my way I knew I had to buy more. When I took photos of the panel one had glare in some spots and the other photo had glare elsewhere. This is the beauty of this Photoshop function. Just open the images and drag one to the other so you have two layers. Then add a layer mask and paint away the bad to reveal the good. That's a real simplistic way to explain it but that's what is happening.

So if you didn't see any of your traded artwork before maybe you do now. If you still don't then we haven't traded...maybe we can fix that some day!

Until my next post,
Diane

Triangle ATCs

Sid and I decided to do a Traingle ATC swap for the months of September and October. We both had too much stuff going on so I suggested we just extend our deadline. He came up with the theme of triangle. He said to measure halfway across the top and then cut to the bottom two edges. ATC's are small enough to begin with (2 1/2 x 3 1/2") so I was feeling very constrained in what I could create in this small space. I finally decided on famous triangles so I chose the Bermuda Triangle for the top one. I used a map that just happened to come in the mail from an organization that was soliciting donations. The top stamp is from Craft Secrets and the destination stamp is from Royal Langnickel as are the two embellishments. They were stamped on shrink plastic with StazOn and then heated with a heat gun to shirk to their current size. I used Ranger Distress Inks to color over the map after stamping the top compass stamp and embossing with clear powder. 

The next one is Isosceles. I made the name of the triangle into a Greek God since the word has Greek origins. I ripped out portions of different dictionaries that had isosceles or triangle definitions. I used a stamped with brown ink on a stamp by Non Sequitur to represent Isosceles and embossed with clear powder. I colored in with Ranger Distress Inks to show the image better and then added a charm of the Parthenon.

The last one is called Love Triangle and has a base of marbled paper. I stamped a few words and hearts with Brilliance Inks first. Then I lined up the words "he", "she", "him" and her using Just Rite stamps and stamped them with VersaMark ink and stamped with detail white powder. I had recently purchased a Stamp-a-ma-Jig by EK Success and it worked great. There is no way I could line up these on the paper and have it be even. I stamped three times so that made it more difficult.

Until my next post,

Diane

Use a punch ATC

For this Altered Designs TGIF ATC we were to use a punch. I used one by McGill and then some stamps by Inque. I colored in the flowers with water based markers and elevated the design on the left by stamping it again and using pop dots. The background paper is colored using Ranger Distress Inks.

Until my next post,
Diane

Collage ATC

Here's the ATC I did for the Stamper's Corner ATC of the month with the theme of collage. Sometimes I have to resist the urge to be organized, stop thinking and just play when I collage. I used some of the marbled paper I made and stamped a hand (hard to see) by Artful Illusions and an image by Stampers Anonymous. On top of that I added a portion of a dictionary page, an old stamp, two faux coins, a chipboard die cut and a key (Artful Illusions) that I made using shrink plastic.

Until my next post,
Diane

A Tag from Ted!

There I was at the Stampers Anonymous booth at the Hampton Stamp Scrap Art Tour a few weeks ago...the crowd had thinned down and there was only two of us watching Ted doing yet another demo. The gal standing next to me asked Ted to repeat the concept he used on another tag. As he was doing this I saw an image appear in his work  where the water was blending with the inks and said "you know, from here I see an Eiffel Tower". He said "I can change the stamps from Halloween to Travel". I didn't want to be a buttinski and mess up what this gal asked for so I sort of mumbled something and he said "she got her tag this one is for you, she just wanted to see the technique". WOW! I was getting a tag from Ted.

Anyone that follows these shows, Stampers Anonymous, or Ted knows that we've been giving him a bunch of grief for the "Coming Soon" note you get when you click on their link for a blog. It's been like that for at least two years! I asked the gal I was with to take a photo so I could put this on my blog since I told Ted we'd have to wait a long time before it ever appeared on his!

I even got him to sign it. It will be displayed with my other trades in my craft room.

Until my next post,

Diane

Make and Takes at the Hampton Stamp Scrap Art Tour

Here's a make and take I did at the Stamp Show a few weeks ago. It was at the Stamp LaJolla booth. The image was already stamped and I colored it in using Twinkling H2O's. The company that made them was going to go out of business but after an overwhelming response from customers decided to stay but reduce the number of colors they make. Stamp LaJolla had them on a deep discount but I already have a bunch of watercolor type products so I saved some cash for other things. After the image was colored in I added double sided tape to match the image and then chose their sugar dust to coat the entire image. I'll add it to a card front in the near future and show you what I made out of it then.

I made this card at the Impression Obsession booth. The image was already stamped but I colored it in using colored pencils they provided. The point of this make and take was the next effect. It might be a bit difficult to see but where the flowers are I applied glue and then used flower soft a 3D product that gives the right image that "pop".

This little pin I made at the Altered Arts Magazine booth. They were highlighting this air dry clay they were selling. This little pin is only about the size of an inchie so we used small images and words from a book for decorations. The final touch is a bit of glitter on the edges.

Until my next post,
Diane

If you can't be there this is a good substitute

Some of my long time readers remember that early in my blogging I reported that I had been to Egypt the year before. It's now going on two years since my visit and I would still love to go back. There was so much to see that even though you are looking at it you get over stimulated and awed by what you are viewing. The Chrysler Museum in Norfolk has an exhibition currently with Egyptian art on loan from the Brooklyn Museum and I went there Wednesday to get a little sample of what I've been missing. Having been to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and even the smaller Imhotep Museum near the step pyramid this exhibit was VERY small. At the museum in Cairo you feel like if you aren't carful you'll knock down some ancient artifact. The Imhotep Museum is more spread out but there is still quite a bit loaded into a small area. "To Live Forever" the theme of this exhibition has more than 120 objects spread out in about 6 huge gallery rooms. But it was still worth the drive and the entrance fee of $5 for military. The Chrysler has some Egyptian items in their permanent collection so I took another look at them too.

Until my next post,
Diane

Desert Make and Take Part2

These are the other four projects I made at the Desert Make and Take a few weekends ago at the Hampton Stamp Scrap Art Tour.

At the Repeat Impressions table we made a really easy folded mini photo book for a cat (or dog). The top image is the front and the bottom is the back. In between are accordion folded pages with the paw prints and meows in the corners.

At the Art Gone Wild booth we made this fun fall card showing more of the versatility of their rocker stamps.

Sparkle N Sprinkle had... you guess it glitter! at their table. They make a million (well it sure seems like it) different colored glitters and embossing powders.

At Inky Antics we made this cool notebook using the Carla Craft system. It is a lighter weight version of the Bind-It-All. This book went together very easily.

I had a great time at the Desert Make and Take. I got nine great projects had a bunch of great to die for deserts and met some local crafters I hope to stay in touch with.

Until my next post,

Diane

Desert Make and Take at Hampton Stamp Scrap Art Tour Part1

This Desert Make and Take Party was the biggest of the year for the folks at Stamp Scrap Art Tour. We had 90 people in attendance. We made five projects then took a break for some great deserts and refreshments and then finished the final four projects. The way it works is you sit at any table, do the project and then about 15-20 minutes later you go to another table and do another project. You get a goodie bag when you enter with a ticket for door prizes. In between rotations to your new table they call out numbers and give out some great prizes. Chris, the gal I was sitting with won a book but isn't into handmade papers so she gave it to me!!! Wow, thanks Chris. I gave her some of the stuff I wasn't going to use in my goodie bag so I hope she was happy.

This was the card I made at the Rubber Cottage table highlighting a great background stamp and the elephant stamp they sell.

At the Just for Fun table we made two cards. The stamped border in both cards are their famous stamps. You can purchase a template to put on top after you've stamped to make your faux postage more realistic. In this case we did a bit of recycling cutting out images to fit inside the templates.

I made this card at the Purple Daisy Designs table. They were selling a kit that included the butterfly stamp and punch, the other stamps and the pre-cut card stock for a pretty good price. Attending these make and takes allows you to get first dibs on these show specials.

This card was from the Stamps N' More table. They were highlighting the stamp that was used to create this bag. You stamp on the reverse side of your patterned paper and cut it out to form a shopping bag. Add some cord and you are done.

I made this card at the Stamps on Fire table. They were highlighting this new border stamp and the glitter markers we used to color in the image.

Until my next post,

Diane

Stamp Scrap Art Tour Classes Part2

This is Jackie from Inky Antics. She used to be a middle school teacher and I think she must have been a good one because this is the third year I've taken classes with her. She must have done the best lesson plans because the instruction sheets you get with her classes can be done months after the classes and you get the same great results. Also, with a class of 17 we all finished with plenty of time to spare. We made four interactive cards in this class.



This is the first card. She called it taking a leap of faith because we couldn't quite figure out how it was going to work until just near the end. From the outside you see the cupcake but when you open it you see the sentiment. There is a bit of engineering going on when you open it that makes the sentiment slide in front of the cupcake.

This second card doesn't look like much when you get it but when you pull the ribbon you get the self standing box, pretty neat!

This third card is a confetti flinger. When you pull on the ribbon on the bottom it sets in motion the catapult box inside to fling confetti you have put inside the triangle pocket.

This is the last card. Pulling on the ribbon swings up the outside of the card to reveal the sentiment.

My family loves getting these cards. They are a real hit with young and old alike. They are VERY easy to make but look complicated.

Until my next post,
Diane

Oh no!....not more foot photos!!!

I don't actually recall saying I wasn't going to put any more photos of my foot on this blog! If you reference the last post that I made about my foot there was no mention of this.  Anyway, even though it was over 80 degrees yesterday for Halloween it is now November and that much closer to ski season. With that in mind I just had to see if I could get my foot into my old ski boots. I did but I'll have to admit it wasn't all that comfortable compared to my left foot. There was some discomfort right on the scar. My only trip of the upcoming ski season is planned for January so I've got a little more time. I had thought of getting new boots but I think I should see if I can ski in these first before I shell out about $300-400 for new boots and heaters. I have primary Raynauds and get extremely cold hands and feet in the winter. You'd think I'd find another way to have fun but I say "I like winter but winter doesn't like me".

Until my next post,
Diane