Musical Happy Birthday

No this card doesn't sing or anything like that. I made this card around this fun image by Crafty Secrets. I used my Cuttlebug for the musical background and then puched out some notes to add as embellishments. The paper behind the focal point is from K&Co.

Until my next post,
Diane

Turning 21 Birthday Card

It's been just a few (OK...more than a few) years since I turned 21, but the clock stopped for me at 29. Here's a card I made for a young woman that is really turning 21. I used my Cuttlebug and some patterned paper that I punched with a Fiskars punch. The Happy Birthday image is by Crafty Secrets.

Until my next post,
Diane

Little Rodeo Girl Card

Here's another card I made using the contents of the Tweety Jill Rodeo Sweethearts card kit. I had the matching stamps so it worked out great. I bought a ball of twine the other day since I liked the rustic look on this card and knew I'd use it on other projects.

Until my next post,
Diane

Wake up little sushi card

This is another in my series of using the faux mother-of pearl technique with Anne Taintor playing card images. This color is bundled sage, one of the new Ranger Distress Ink colors. I used a Fiskars punch for the corners and cut out two swirly things (that's a technical term) with my Silhouette for the accents.

Until my next post,
Diane

Back to School ATC

Back to School was the theme of a recent Altered Designs TGIF ATC mingle. I used stamps from the Vintage School Days collection by Tweety Jill a.k.a. TJ Designs. I used glossy paper and stamped the alphabet background in a light colored permanent ink and then the girl/boy, faux postage and "good work". I stamped the Back to School on tan cardstock and cut it out and adhered it to the front. After that it looked too bright so I used chalks to slowly bring out the background and make it a bit more vintage. I wasn't sure they'd work with the glossy cardstock but I think they worked well. The final touch was to color int he girl/boy with watercolor markers.

Until my next post,
Diane

Evening In Paris ATC

I made this for the Altered Designs TGIF ATC mingle. The last Friday of every month this year is an open theme so I decided to use some stamps by Altered Arts magazine. I did a bit of masking with the table and tower. I colored in the items on the table with watercolor markers and painted on some Stickles on the tower. The rest of the coloring is with Ranger Distress inks. The final touch was a bit of layering and an embellishment.

Until my next post,
Diane

Purrfect Pair Anniversary Card

Here's another Sheetload template that used to make this anniversary card. The paper is from K&Co and the embellishment is from Crafty Secrets. I used some ribbon as an accent.

Until my next post,
Diane

My Garden Kicks A** card

This is yet another of the faux mother of pearl cards I made using Ranger Dabbers and the new Distress Ink colors, this one being Spun Sugar. I added a coordinating image from an Anne Taintor playing card, a rubber stamp flower border, punched corners and an embellishment cut with my Silhouette.

Until my next post,
Diane

The Yorktown Onion

According to the York County Historical Committee the Yorktown onion is "not native to this area". It is an odd flower and seems to grow in a very small section of old Yorktown near the Coleman Bridge. The prime viewing time is late May to early June. I happened to get a bee on one when I went out this year to snap a few photos.

I tried a Vintage Photo Effect tutorial from NAPP. Which one do you like, the more true to life or the old washed out look?

Until my next post,

Diane

Fabric ATC

I made this ATC for the Altered Designs Yahoo Group. The theme was fabric. Initially I didn't think I was going to participate, but then I looked through my stamps and found this one. The area of the skirt was just begging to be covered in fabric. I happened to have some of the fabric I used many moons ago laying around. I've no idea what I initially used it for since I don't sew. I think my former sister-in-law made me something and gave me the remnants. Anyway the stamp was too big for the ATC but I couldn't bear cutting her off so the bottom of the skirt and her legs dangle. I colored her skin and face with watercolor markers then came up with this saying to go with it. The background stamp is from Hero Arts and the girl is from Stamp Francisco. I used Ranger Distress Inks in colors that coordinated with the fabric (Rusty Hinge, Crushed Olive).

Until my next post,
Diane

Annie Oakley Card

Here's a card I sent with an ATC trade recently. I made it with materials from a Tweety Jill card kit. I added the stamped image from the coordinating rubber stamp set. The kit contains the cards themselves and the envelopes, collage pages, ephemera, images and some accessories. I had a bunch of stuff left over so I grabbed some public domain cowgirl and cowboy images off the internet so I'll be able to make a bunch more in the western theme.

Until my next post,
Diane

Risque ATC

The theme was Rique at Altered Designs for their TGIF ATC. I chose this image I had downloaded from Gaby. I used a background paper and quote from a Leisure Arts ATC paper pad. I stamped with the Nightingale set by Inque using Ranger Distress Inks and then added a bit of bling. The final step was to outline the image with a Marvy Metallic Marker.

Until my next post,

Diane

Hands ATC

"Hands" was the theme for the Altered Designs Yahoo Group TGIF a while back. I had won this stamp by Stampers Anonymous at a stamp show and never used it so it was about time it got inked. I used watercolor paper colored with Fiber Scraps ez Walnut Ink in Rust color. I also used rust colored Adirondack dye ink color. I used glossy accents on the hand for a bit of a dimensional effect and then an Inksentials white pen for a bit of contrast. The final touch was a Krylon pen on the edge.

Until my next post,
Diane

Drowning in Dickens Triptych

Back in May at Art and Soul I met a gal named Jennifer. We were in a Leighanna Light class. She and I and another gal shared our workspace. Jennifer and I got to talking and decided to exchange email addresses and work out an ATC trade. We settled on doing a triptych with the theme of “drowning”. I was stumped when Jennifer asked about what theme we were going to do. I sent her a list I had downloaded but forgot how vague the themes were. I pondered this for a while and decided to see if there was an online thesaurus. Turns out there is http://www.eat.rl.ac.uk/. I entered the word drowning in the stimulus box and it spit out 34 different answers. One of them was Dickens which had me puzzled. I’ve been listening to classic literature when I take my neighborhood walks but as of yet haven’t listened to any Dickens so I had no idea where the connection came in. I wasn’t sure if they meant the author or not but after a bit of googling about Charles Dickens I found he used the reference to drowning a lot in his books. http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/. Now I finally had some direction in where to go.

I downloaded a map of Dickens’ London and cut it to fit and copied some of the quotes that reference drowning in Dickens’ books and used three different type faces that are indicative of his era. I printed them on vellum so you could still see some of the map. I already had an image of Dickens from a collage image book and carefully cut it out from the book. I used grungeboard as the surface and glued down the map, quotes and the image then used some Ranger Distress Inks to age the edges and the outside.

I used grungeboard hinges but used glossy accents to glue them. I added brads but they are for decoration only. The last step was the outside decoration so I listed some of his books by the years they were published and then added the title “Drowning in Dickens”.

Until my next post,
Diane

Bad Kitty

Image Courtesy of I Can Has Cheeseburger

Until my next post,
Diane

Bad Hair Day card

Here's a card I recently sent with an ATC swap. The backround paper is by K&Co, the image is in the Women ATC Collection pack by Leisure Arts. I also used a Fiskars border punch.

Until my next post,
Diane

Red, Yellow and Orange ATC

Last month on the Stampers Corner Yahoo Group the ATCOTM theme was red, yellow and orange. I carefully applied Ranger Distress Inks directly to the Stampers Anonymous stamp. After the ink dried I went over it with blending foam in a contrasting color. I used Ranger Alcohol Inks in themed colors on the silver word "dream" to make it fit in and I'm done.

Until my next post,
Diane