My kind of Gardening!

Now this is my kinda gardening! No dirt or bugs just some ink on your fingers.



These are super easy and addictive. Made with the Stampin Up Butterfly punch. See the original blog post here:
http://gretchenbarron.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/05/happy-mothers-day-mom.html

Happy Mother's Day!

To "The Mama"...Happy Mother's Day. I love you more than you know.

Here is a card that I love! I love the vellum, the suede paper, the velvet spiral, the grainy Distress embossing powder image, the Italian tile decorative paper and the tag shape. It is a textural card experience. One special technique that I used was to apply white paint on the backside of the image of the face. From the front it makes her look 'lit from behind' and stand out on the card while maintaining the matte look of the card. And I love my new bow maker ("Bow-Easy" http://www.posibendr.com/); perfect bows every time.

My first Challenge

I came across a contest to make a card that is inspired by a photo. The prize is a new Tim Holtz "Over the Edge" Die. I thought, "Why not?" I was instantly inspired by the picture and had everything made by the end of the day; that's a first!
I used all sorts of goodies: Gold Scroll Hambly screen print acetate, Tim Holtz "Distressables and Doo-Dads", Rub-ons, cording, a drawer pull brad and a mini-propeller ( What? You don't have a mini-propeller in your stash?)

The winner will be posted on the Scrap-Mart blog on 2/4. http://scrapmart.squarespace.com/journal/2010/1/28/who-wants-a-new-sizzix-tim-holtz-die.html

Below you'll see the inspiration photo and then my card. Let me know what you think.

Look who's turning 1!

This is a card for my sweet niece Noelle who will be 1 on February 5th, 2010. All pink and sparkly just like her sweet giggle. Honestly, doesn't glitter make everything better? The base paper is an irridescent pink with flocked lettering, so fuzzy and fabulous! I LOVE the new technique I learned to make paper flowers

Babies of all kinds!

Here are two cards celebrating Babies. One for a "furry" boy who is already 6 yrs old; hard to believe! And one for a tiny one on her way! Ya just gotta love babies!

Basic Grey Give-away!

Head on over to Craft Critique for a Basic Grey give-away! 3 great new collections. I love Eskimo Kisses, too cute.

http://www.craftcritique.com/2009/09/best-of-craft-critique-and-giveaway.html


Good luck!

A catch up post

Here are a few things to share; a glimpse into my life these days.

Kitchen re-model is coming along. Now I understand why some people just choose to move to a newer, better home. But it will be worth it in the end. I call it my red-neck sink.

This makes me smile. Swaps made for a day long stamping event. These are a Tim Holtz technique. It does not show but each card has a shimmery look. The background color is a spritzed on 'paint' made with Perfect Pearls and Distress ink. Gorgeous in person! It is something to see a stack of cards like that....big smile!

Its never too early to start Christmas cards. This one is done by embossing the image in black on black paper then 'painting' it in with a bleach pen. Once the black paper is bleached light the 2nd layer of paint is shimmery perfect pearls. It is a stunning look on black. Works with any design.

That's all. I just needed to be reminded of some past art to make me smile today. My craft room is now a kitchen holding pen. Someday it'll be back to normal and life will be better. What do you have to make you smile today?