A great yard sale find!

So, you know how you find something great when you're not looking and sometimes don't even know you're in need of something new?  That happened to me today.  Will and I were out walking in our neighborhood and we passed a yard sale.  Well, we didn't actually pass it cuz I said, "STOP!, Let's look at what they have!"  We poked around a little and Will found a box of old Kodak cameras.  Next to it on the ground were some boxes and when I opened them to see what they were I found these really cool old filters.  They were used on a camera like this:

I immediately thought they would make great pictures frames!  I mean just take a look at em'! A 4x6 photo will fit perfectly onto the front.  Ill have to mount it on a backer paper but that's easy.  I couldn't get a good pic of the metal tag on the frames but it says made in Rochester, NY.  How cool is that?  A little piece of history.  As it turns out, the woman was having a yard sale as her dad had passed in July and he was a photographer.  Theses were all of his items.  I love the thought of a once beloved item taking up residence in our home now to house some pictures from our wedding. 

 Love begets love.

I have a bunch (like 400!) wedding pictures on order.  As soon as they arrive I'll be placing 2 favorites in these frames.  Ill post a pic of them hung soon.

Color Inspiration!!

Today's post will be short and sweet because you'll want lots of time to peruse the website I want to share with you.  It is called Design Seeds and it is the most fabulous site for color inspiration.  If you're like me you've sat in front of your (piles of) papers just hoping that they'll pull themselves together into a rainbow of perfectly matched colors....but they don't.  Design Seeds will offer you new color combos to try, ones you might not have thought of on your own.  Its a "Good Thing" when we find someone to do some of the hard work for us, that leave us more time for stamping and playing!  So grab a cup of coffee, a big one, and a snack cuz you may be glued to the monitor for a while.  Don't ask me how I know that.....

Enjoy!
http://www.design-seeds.com/

And yes, Im still working on a few projects that will be posted shortly. 

Flowers for a Friend

Here is  simple card I sent to a friend.  I love the colors and water colored look.  The background stamp is a large checkerboard image.  I colored it using the Distress Stains so I could put color on each square.  I gave it a light spritz of water and stamped it.  I love the results, a soft water color effect.  The flowers were simply stamped on colored papers, all in soft colors to mimic the water color look.  Its a old stamp from Magenta, but I KNOW you have a flower stamp you could use.  Pop-tape allows me to get a layered look with some depth.

 

Remember, it is not always about the stamp that was used in a card; sometimes it is the layout, color combo or technique that 'works', and that is what you can mimic in your design.  Re-make this using whatever background and flower image YOU have at home.  If you don't have Distress Stains,  then use Distress Inks or Dye Inks and a spritz of water. 

Stay tuned as I have been working on an altered schedule book that I'll use this year at work.  And a Christmas themed paper bag album......pictures to follow soon!