We've gone Postal over at OPUS GLUEI

This week on OPUS GLUEI the challenge is to make a postcard. Well, this sounds easy enough.

I decided that mine would be mail-able. SO, I opted for flat postcards.

I have some 4x6 photo paper from my portable photo printer that for some reason was left over. I am not quite sure how this happened, but the size is perfect, AND the back has postcard printing. Seemed like a natural fit to me.

At first I thought I would just drop different colors of alcohol ink and stamp on top of that.

Well, it turned out to be a beautiful background, but my stamping was horrible. So, I set this aside and grabbed another 4x6 photo paper.

This time I thought I would try something different. I dropped the alcohol inks onto the photo paper, and because of the slick surface, it took a bit to dry. Before it dried, I placed a piece of cardstock on top of it. My intention was to soak up some of the ink, leaving a little. Here's what I saw when I lifted the cardstock.

 Hardly any of the ink stayed behind. Darn it. UNTIL......

I took a look at the cardstock. It was perfect. I got all the colors and the pattern. BUT the colors were muted enough for the stamping to really show. (INSERT HUGE SMILE HERE!!!)

(You can't see it, but the butterflies are perfect pearled. All of the stamps are SU. I accented with poster paint pens.)

(The border is a SU stamp. Same one used in the first one. The butterfly and the poem are ancient rub-ons. Accented with poster paint pens again.)

(This one was stamped with an irridescent ink using an unidentified stamp. The border on this one is one of Tim's swirls. As are the butterflies and the quote. The quote on this one wasn't standing out as much as I would have liked, so I painted a little white to stamp it upon. The butterflies are perfect pearled. The swirl has been accent painted with poster paint pens. Again.)

And because you have stuck with me this far, I'll share my major fail. It was almost perfect. Then I sprayed some water to get the ink from behind the Perfect Pearled DREAMS stamp to bleed. I sprayed too much water and the cardstock warped beyond repair. SIGH. I'll try this design again with a different paper. 



(This background was done with smushing the ink on my non-stick mat thingy. I know the name of it, but it eludes me right now. The butterfly, border and DREAM stamps are all SU. Butterflies are perfect pearled, as is the DREAM stamp.)

I hope my mistakes help you out.

Friday Fill-Ins 2011-8

It isn't the official picture this week, but I like this one better.

And...here we go!

1. Ooooh, I am in a mood.
2. Stop whispering like that, I can't stand it.
3. How the heck did I end up with so many MEN.
4. At the end of a long day, my bed is one of my favorite places to visit.
5. I'm not a bad girl, I'm not!
6. A few glasses of wine beforehand and you know it has to be good.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Survivor and Pizza, tomorrow my plans include an early morning parents meeting for Melissa's soccer team and then lots of playing and Sunday, I want to sleep-in and play some more!

WOYWW #90

I just love participating in WOYWW. I try to visit everyone else. I am NEVER successful. I usually will leave some love, but sometimes my boss will walk by my office, or the kids are trying to rip each others heads off, you know how it goes.....

Anyway, what I love is the variety of projects to be found. I marvel at the creativity out there. And usually find a thing or two (or twenty) that makes me say, "I want to make something like that".

This week finds my workdesk (not sure why it's called WORKDESK, because it doesn't feel like work. it's a joy to be here. should be my JOYDESK) with ATC's upon it. I had a piece (6x6 inches) of white cardstock, and some new (to me) stamps. So I started playing. I created a background with Distress Ink smushed onto the mat and sprayed with water, then dragged the paper through it. It was fun. Then I just started stamping onto the 6x6 piece. When I liked the look of it, I cut it into 4 ATC's and 1 inchie.

Like this:

You can see the inchie on one of the ATC's. then I started to embellish each ATC.

It's a fun way to make a series of ATC's without having them turn out identical.

More workdesks,

with a TON of inspiration,

can be seen HERE.

Imagination Bookmarks

I usually have a couple of books going at the same time, so I need more than one bookmark.

I made a couple more bookmarks today. Using Tim Holtz's book Compendium of Curiosities. The technique I used is on page 59. Which happens to be the Challenge this past week over at the lovely Linda's blog. (Coincidence? Hardly. It's why I used this particular technique on these bookmarks.)

I used a new (to me) set of Tim stamps.

For the one on the left, I stamped the bird on white cardstock and then masked it for the rest of the stamping.

For the one on the right, I created the background with watercolor paints, then masked it for the rest of the stamping.

I like them both.

And they're flat.

So that makes me VERY happy.



Bookmarks (not very clever, but at least you know what to expect)

OPUS GLUEI wants you to be WELL READ. Okay, at least make something to do with books. We aren't going to force you to read.

My take on this was bookmarks.

I don't like ANY bulk to my bookmarks. So I stamped mine. I started with plain white cardstock and stamped the alien. I also stamped the alien on a sacrificial paper. I fussy cut around the alien on the sacrificial paper to use as a mask.

The alien is for my oldest daughter. Whatever I can do to get her to read....

My other bookmark is a bit more grown-up.

This one was a little more complicated. I had to make masks for both the bee and the tulip.



For both of these I used Archival Ink, Distress Inks (Tea Dye, Broken China and Faded Denim), the script stamp is from the Flores Suaves stamp set from Stampin' Up. I just love that set. The alien is from Stampin' Up. The tulip and the bee are from the Flores Suaves set. And the flourish is a Cocoa Daisy exclusive stamp that I got in one of their kits in the past few years.


I am entering this in the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge hosted by the lovely Linda of Studio L3. She is quite the talented lady and offers up copius amount of eye candy.


I am off to read now.....

One World One Heart - Winners

What a wonderful experience. Visiting, and being visited. Thank you to each of my new friends. Drop by anytime....You're always WELCOME.

Now on to the winners. Through the scientific method of random generation, the winners are:

Arya - Bird House

For My Sweet Daughter - Laugh, Love, Be Happy Canvas

Whimsy Loft - Package of goodies

I do wish I could send you each a little something to thank you all for your kind words.

After 5 years, OWOH may have come to it's end, BUT there's to be a new event ready to begin in 2012:

For all the details go HERE. It's going to be similar with a few differences. Sounds like a fun one.

WOYWW

Hello and Welcome to my workdesk.

This week brings a watercolor in progress. It's an alien I am hoping to use in a Christmas card. Yup, I said Christmas card. Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Card Challenge wants us to use a creature on our card this week. My mind immediately went to aliens. (Hmmm, wonder what that means!?!?!?!) 

I got this calendar for Christmas and haven't started the "lessons" yet. It's just how things work with me. You would think that I would be a good "student" and complete my assignments everyday. Sheesh, I couldn't even type that without busting up laughing. But, nope, I HAVE opened the box. I'll start maybe tonight.

I love having more space now that I have purged some. And am looking forward to MORE space when the purge is complete. (Which should be sometime in the next month or so.)

You can see more workdesks HERE.

For all of you Lovelies....

No Red Sketch

OPUS GLUEI has thrown a sketch out for the challenge this week.

This is the sketch:

And here is a layout make using the sketch:

JINGLE BELLES is has thrown out a "NO RED" challenge for their Christmas Card Challenge this week.

Seems like a hard thing to do. And it would have been except for Basic Grey.

I love their papers. They do all the work and you get to enjoy the results in no time. See what I mean:

You should head over to OPUS GLUEI and JINGLE BELLES.

You WILL be inspired.

Flashback Friday

Okay, so I am a little late to the party. The loverly Amy hosts FLASHBACK FRIDAY.

It all started out with her posting the first card she ever posted on her blog. She thought it would be interesting to see everyone else's so she added a linky-thingy. Well, it has evolved into it's own blog. How cool is that???

*****

Anyway, this week the flashback is to the first 3-D project you posted. I am not sure if this is just for paper projects or not, so I am posting the first 3-D project I posted which isn't paper AND the first 3-D project I posted which IS paper.

First the 3-D project which isn't paper:

Flower pens. Posted on June 2, 2008. I made 200 of these for the PTA to sell for Mother's Day gifts. 2009 there were PTA legal problems, so there was no sale. Last year I made 400 of these little babies. And the kids and teachers bought every last one of them. They are fun to write with. Leave me a comment on this post and I'll enter you into a drawing to win a couple.

And now the 3-D paper project:

Posted July 9, 2008. It's the Happy B-Day Dad cake banner. Yes, it was for my husband. The girls picked the Transformers theme for his birthday. They are cute that way. He's had Pirates, GI Joe, Super Heros. The cake was from a bakery. And yes, it is lop-sided. But it was tasty anyway. It was a simple banner. And I was SO thrilled with it. Now it seems really simple to me. I look at it and think that I could do SO MUCH MORE. LOL

It's fun looking back on what your first posted 3-D project was.

A lot can change in a couple of years....

Friday Fill-Ins

And ... here we go!

1. Family is always there for you. Good or bad.
2. Every marriage has its ups and downs.
3. Trust me.
4. I always look for the best.
5. Parents get smarter and smarter with each passing year.
6. I think that's what was said.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing and some Studio time, tomorrow my plans include playing with my Stampin' Up Club & attending my #2 daughter's chorus concert and Sunday, I want to play it by ear and see what comes up!

You can find more Friday Fill Ins HERE.

Jingle Belles

I had almost given up on making a card for this week's challenge. I took way more time than I expected to make my Valentines banner. (see two posts ago) But, as luck would have it, I was running late this morning.

Yeah, doesn't make any sense until you know that I have a small window of time to get my middle daughter to before school care. If I don't leave the house between 7:30 and 7:45 (can't leave until youngest gets on the bus), then I can't take her there because she will miss the bus and that wouldn't be good. So, if I miss that window, I can't drop her off until 8:30. So this morning I still hadn't showered at 7:30 when youngest caught the bus. Which meant that I had an hour before I could drop middle off. It takes me about 40 minutes to shower, brush and blowdry. SO, that left me 20 minutes.

Hmmmm. What to do?!?!?!

(Yeah, that was totally sarcastic.)

Being in the middle of my "purge the Studio" phase, I knew right where to find this little card kit. I added a pinking shear cut rectangle of felt and some lacey ribbon. And glued down some shiney tree confetti. AND whiz, bang...

 Jingle Belles Christmas Card.

You can see more cards from this week HERE.

WOYWW - Feb 9, 2011

Today shows the remnants of the Valentines banner I made. It was late last night when I finished, so the carnage is still there. I'm not a neat worker.

I've been purging the Studio, so you can see I have more work area. I have a few more areas to tackle. But mostly it's just sorting through doo-dad's, paperwork and unfinished projects. I will continue a little bit everyday until it is done. I'll show pictures of the after. I mean you saw the BEFORE in last weeks WOYWW post, you deserve to see the AFTER too.

You can see the banner in my previous post. Just click on my header and scroll down.

You can see more workdesks from this week HERE.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Love is in my kitchen

I couldn't figure out how to hang it on the mantel without pounding nails. And given that it's almost midnight, I figured I should find a quiet method to display my LOVE banner for pictures. (Bad pictures, did I mention that it's almost midnight?!?!)

Anyway, Rosemary and I challenged each other to a "Banner Off", so to speak. We had to include at least 10 hearts, 2 types of lace, some bling and there were other requirements which escape my mind right now. (You know it's late, right?)

And we were to post right about now. (either midnight or 6am. I will be a little late or really early. I can't remember which.)

Enough chatter, you say? Okay then, alright already, here's my Valentines Banner:

I finally decided to temporarily (or permanently) hang it on the kitchen curtains for the photo shoot. Bad lighting. That's my story.

I just love these little cupids. I took velvety ribbon and adhered it to chipboard and then ran it through my Big Shot with the cupid Sizzix die.

This is the only one that I stamped on. I used the music roller from Stampin' Up and Tim's Distress Ink. I think it was Tea Dye.

This was actually the last Heart I decorated. After the others, I figured I would give your eyes a little resting spot. LOL

I had fun doing a little beading on this one. I just used a jump ring to hang them right onto the lace.

I used a cupid facing the other direction. Sort of bookends if you will. I really love how the rosettes look on this one. I used varying layers of mounting tape to give them different depths. (This one didn't photograph so well. But did I mention that it's late....)

This is my OPUS GLUEI project for the week. My Valentines decoration for the house. If you know me at all, you know that this is BIG. (Not so fond of Valentines Day, so this is a HUGE compromise on my part. Those darned girls can get me to do almost anything. Shhhh. Don't let them know. I'll be doomed if you do.)

I am entering this in:
Stamping Scrapping Challenge - which is Valentines this go around.
Sunday Stampers - which is For Your Love this week.

Love is in the air...

...well, it's supposed to be.

BUT in reality, it's on my workdesk. See:

I was hoping to get this done in time to post for the OPUS GLUEI challenge this week.

Ooopsy!

It didn't happen. What did happen:

1) Got the Valentines for the office ladies done.

2) Got the charms for the charm swap done.

3) Purged a LOT from the Studio.

4) Got the banner started.

#######

What still needs to happen:

1) Finish the banner.

2) Purge projects already started.

3) Sort through "papers". (Kid art, school work, etc)

4) Purge Doo-dad's

5) Find somewhere for the flowers and the Doo-dad's to live.

#######

Oh, there is more to be done.

But it isn't going to happen this week.

I'll make a new list for next week.

Friday Fill-Ins

And ... here we go!

1. We are on this earth because there is glitter and glue.
2. To have a full life you must experience love.
3. One of the hardest things for me to learn is to embrace the moment.    
4. I must create something everyday to stay connected.
5. I remember things best when it's too late. Usually. 
6. Getting hugs is one of the best parts of my life.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to finishing up the charms for the swap, tomorrow my plans include PURGE, PURGE, PURGE and Sunday, I want to enjoy my newly cleared out Studio, oh yeah, and watch the Super Bowl!

You can see more Friday Fill-Ins HERE.

One World One Heart

Welcome to my little spot in Blogdom. I'm so glad you stopped by. I've been wanting to meet you. Sit back and stay a while. Go ahead and browse around. I'd love to hear what you have to say.

This is my first time participating in:

ONE WORLD ONE HEART

It's a worldwide blog party. For bloggers, by bloggers. To get to know each other a bit better.

At the end of the party I am going to send someone this little birdhouse.

And someone else will get this little bird canvas.

There will also be a surprise package of crafty goodies for someone else.


I have always thought it would be fantastic to be able to fly to where ever my little heart fancied.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. Oh, yes, you also must be a blog owner. You see, it's a party by bloggers, FOR bloggers. That's it. If you'd like to become a follower I would love to have you. But it isn't required to enter for the goodies.

You can find more friends HERE.

WOYWW #87

Today's views are a work in progress. I am attempting to do the initial BIG purge of the Studio. And at the same time take breaks to work on charms that are due on the 15th. Here are the charms.

That is a picture of my grandparents. I just love that picture of them. They were young and in love. SIGH. I am still working on the design. I started out with a plan, that was quickly changed once I got to working. Then the plan changed again. And now it looks as though I will have 30 sparrow charms and watch crystals to play with on another project.  Do you ever do that?!?!? It's no wonder the Studio needs purging. LOL

I'll do a post about the charms when they are done.

And here's the other desk.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I have 2 workdesks. And both of them are chock full of goodies. Too many goodies for me to use in my one lifetime. So, in the next day or two, I will post a give away of some of the good stuff. No hoops to jump through. Just a simple give away.

Anyway, you can see more workdesks from this week HERE.

I have to get purging now.....


And for the record, NO crafting supplies were harmed during the filming of this post. The pictures were taken before the birds woke up, so they are dark and ucky. Yup, ucky.