Hello! Happy Wednesday!

Deborah hosted another Card Chain Challenge in January. It is so fun to send and receive happy mail, isn't it?

This is the card I sent to lovely Hannah in Missouri. This is one of those cards that I *almost* didn't want to send. I really liked how the punched flowers turned out with the fabric brads in the center. I also liked the pink and green color combo. The background stamp is the Envelope Pattern from Hero Arts.



I received this happy mail today from Miss Newly-Appointed Hero Hostess ScrappinBari (Linda W) from Minnesota! Linda sent two delighful cards plus some lovely Prima Flowers.

This first card is the Card Chain Challenge card. Linda cleverly used Deborah's sketch, color scheme and Chinese New Year theme! The card has perfect embossing on the three circles, a nice torn and distressed paper edge, and lovely pearls and twine. Love it!



I also love this second card. Linda was so thoughtful to include a birthday card for me! This card is perfectly embossed as well. The flowers are very subtle and beautiful and the pearls really make them pop! Thank you so much, Linda! You really made my day and my birthday month.



And here is my "professional photo cube" that arrived today. Husband let kitties (this is Dusty) play in it while I was at an appointment tonight. I give the cube mixed results so far, but we are still experimenting. It may very well become an expensive cat toy!



Note: I will have a big giveaway when I reach 100 public followers!

Thanks for visiting! Comments are appreciated!

Hugs,
Joy

... I lose track of time while stamping! Miss Penny is busy re-setting my clock! LOL

Here is a little corner of my scraproom. I didn't pick the wall color or style; it just came with the house. The clock has a picture of Dusty on it from right after we adopted him from the Humane Society and brought him home!

Notice lots of Hero Arts goodies in my room! Just don't look at the mess please!

Have a great weekend. TGIF!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)

Just a very quick post showing the cards and treat jar I made last weekend at the Archiver's Very Valentine Card Workshop. Hubby is waiting impatiently for this computer now after I lost track of time on Google Reader...

It was nice to meet a fellow Hero Arts Flickr Pool member in person and maybe Deborah and I can get together again someday! If you want the long side of this story, be sure to visit Deborah's blog for a good laugh! Possibly slightly exaggerated in spots for humor (not the part about her glue affliction, though!), but as always, definitely worth the read!



And here is Miss Penny checking my work:





I will post close-ups of the cards in my Flickr Photostream. Don't look closely, because I did mess up in a few spots thanks to all the drama in the class that day!

Thanks for looking! Comments are appreciated!

TGIF tomorrow!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)

One more quick post. I can't believe how fast tonight went!

I made this Butterfly card for the Hero Arts Blog Friendship and Valentine's Challenge challenge and the Caardvarks Red Heart challenge. The famous Hero Arts heart winged butterfly stamp is also available as a Silhouette die cut - so cool! I handstitched the black border.



CG119 Flourish Background
CG125 Friend Definition
K5153 Heart Flourish
Silhouette butterfly_heart_winged_C20091115193057_23067

I also made a set of ATCs for the Amore-themed swap at Wishful Thinking. The background is a Tim Holtz stamp and the couple is another Silhouette die cut.



And I saved my favorite picture with Dusty for last:



Thanks for looking! Comments are appreciated!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)

Created for the Strings Attached ATC swap on ATCsforAll.com:



Here is Dusty taking violin lessons. Apparently hubby thought it was a good idea since he was the one taking the pictures...



Thanks for looking! Comments are appreciated!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)

Happy New Year!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)

Have you seen the beautiful tags Tim Holtz is creating for his annual 12 Tags of Christmas? Be sure to check it out! Besides all the wonderful tips and tricks he is also giving away lots of prizes.

I am really enjoying following along with Tim this year! I think last year at this time I had seen his name on several products but hadn't used them yet. Then along came Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking class at Two Peas and now I'm hooked! Enablers! LOL

My plan, if time (full-time job comes before crafting time) and energy (currently sick with a bad cold) allows, is to try to create my own version of each of Tim's tags this year. This will be a bit of a challenge as I don't have the same skills, stamps, or supplies, but I will do my best to take Tim's inspiration and run with it.

Here are the tags I created based on Day 1 using all Hero Arts stamps (my favorite stamps):



Hero Arts stamps: LP131 (Owls), AR159 (Snowflakes), CL285 (Flourish), and CL232 (Sentiment).

My other supplies were similar to the ones Tim used, but I had to make several substitutions including white acrylic paint instead of paint dabber, regular chipboard instead of Grungeboard, Frosted Lace Stickles instead of Picket Fence, etc.

Fun Fact: The chipboard flourishes I used are actually from a pre-cut Octopus shape -- I had to cut off his legs to get them. Sounds bad now, but it was the closest thing to flourishes that I had on hand last night!

Here are some close-ups -- look at all the Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint goodness. I actually ran out of it (OMG) while making these tags! Come to think of it, I probably looked really silly banging the upside down jar on the table trying to get every last drop! LOL



Here is Little Miss Penny deciding if she likes my work. Do you think she said Yes or No? Just for fun, leave your guess below!

    
Hello! This is a long post, but there are three freebies for you soon!

I am happy to report that my Digital Artist Trading Card (ATC) Tutorial is being featured on Artist Class today. In this project I share several quick digital art tips and tricks, including how to make your own digital papers, extract images, and more!

And I have some good news for you! In addition to the option to purchase the full Artist Class below, Mary is adding a new option this weekend so that you can sign up for my individual Tutorial and Mini Kit for only $10! I sure hope you will check it out and let me see what you make! You can sign up here! starting Sunday.

Participants will download a 7-page PDF with step-by-step instructions, a link for a free trial download of Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0, and this fun French Dictionary Mini Kit!

--a memory album from a vintage record album book with lots of pockets for souvenirs
--an altered tin and gift tags (see what I did with this here)
--sweet paper doll dresses (see what I did with this here)


Download (personal use only):
http://www.4shared.com/file/156304683/b405cdf4/dpd_ac_freebie04.html

In other news, I am signed up for two classes -- Technique Bootcamp and Holiday Madness -- with the talented Jennifer McGuire on Saturday! How exciting is that!?! I promise to let you know how it goes if you join me for my Digital ATC Tutorial in Artist Class! Thanks for looking!

Just sharing. I really like how this ATC turned out! It will be heading to Australia for a swap on http://www.atcsforall.com/ soon!

I designed this in Photoshop Elements and then I printed out the whole thing plus each separate part. I cut everything out, inked all the edges with brown ink and then reassembled it. The cat and the bird are pop-dotted for dimension.

Images from The Graphics Fairy and Dave's Photostream/ (cat)

I am linking this to Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy. Karen has a great site with tons of free vintage images. Love it!


Thanks for visiting!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)