Boardwalk!

Hope you all are having a wonderful start to the week and enjoying the Summer! Yes, it is still hot here and this weather sure makes you think how nice it would be to live at the beach! The current challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges is "Mail Time" and there are still a few days left to join in for a chance to win a gift voucher from Flonzcraft or make the Top Three!  My DT Sisters have nailed "Mail Time" with some fabulous art, so stop by and have a look!

And speaking of the beach, I once again pulled out my Boardwalk stamps from Artistic Outpost for my Mail Time theme and it will actually be mailed!  I started by creating an inky background, a little stenciling, Spritz and Flick and subtle stamping of the little seashell.  The gentleman bather was first stamped and cut out! I did first mask, but managed when all was done to get some blue ink on his face! So not cool!

All main images were stamped using Sepia Archival and some were clear embossed. The Atlantic City was watered colored using markers and Distress Inks.  Such summer fun!

Will be linking this us to Lisa's Bloggers Challenge, "Create Your Own Background" and Simon Says Stamp and Show. "A Little Stamping."

I am so happy that you stopped by today and thank you for taking the time to comment! Enjoy the rest of the week!

Distress Inks: Stormy Sky, Peacock Feathers, Broken China, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain
Distress Markers: Tattered Rose, Tea Dye, Wild Honey, Broken China, Stormy Sky, Antique Linen
Distress Stains: Wild Honey, Broken China, Stormy Sky, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo

Red, White and Blue!

Happy 4th of July to the USA and boy will it be a hot one or at least here! We are still in the upper 100's and with humidity.  So many people will be hitting the roads or staying at home, but everyone will be celebrating and I hope safely! We will be going to friends for a big BBQ party and that is always such great fun! And speaking of hitting the road, today I have my "Road Trip" over at Artistic Outpost, if you want to have a look. I was certainly inspired by Tim's July tag for 2013!

I just wanted to do a simple tag to celebrate the 4th and all the freedoms I have! The awesome flag is from I Brake For Stamps and I colored the stamp with Distress Markers, cut and shaded with Vintage Photo. Don't you just love my flagpole? It is a coffee stir stick from Southwest Airline that I saved.

The background was stamped using Tim's star and embossed, then inked in a striped fashion and of course that water hit the tag! And between the stars on the flag and tag, we have all 50 baby!

We are taking our Patriotic Celebration to visit the following lovely challenge blogs:

Country View Crafts - Summer Sizzler
Inspiration Journal - Happy B-Day America or Other B-Day Celebration
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting me today and I hope you have a wonderful week and weekend!

Wishes

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend and all that Summer has to offer! I wish that Summer was not offering up so much heat, but as long as my air conditioner continues to work, we are happy! It reached 109 degrees here today and it is humid as well!

I so meant to take a picture of my "Striped" background, before embossing and highlighting, but I forgot! The tag was masked off with easy release tape that had been cut do different widths and Distress Inked using Peacock Feathers, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint and Black Soot. At that point I decided it need some water flicking activity and I thought it was pretty cool. This striped creation is obviously being linked to Simon Says Stamp and Show "Stripes."

I used a CB folder and highlighted with Stampin Up Craft White (Pigment). The sentiment from Tim was stamped on newsprint, which had been wrinkled and distress with Vintage Photo, using Black Archival. I stamped a second heart which was covered with a few layers of UTEE and then cut out and attached. Torn around the edges and shaded.

Thank you for stopping by today and again I am so sorry for being behind on my blogging visits. So much going on and then there seems to be no time! I promise to catch up!

Seashells By The Seashore

Hope everyone is having a fabulous week and doing something wonderful! My hubby had a birthday on Monday and has taken the week off, so I have not had as much crafty time! This lovely "beach goer" from the new Artistic Outpost "Boardwalk" release, is enjoying her day on the Seashore. It is pretty hot here and I am thinking I might just join her! For all the details on the frame and background, stop by and visit me at Artistic Outpost for my Wednesday post.

Through June 8th all Artistic Outpost stamp sets, including this new release are on sale for 15% off, so now is a great time to add to your collection and join in on the Monthly Referral Program as well.

 A little bit of fussy cutting on the lady!

Love how the three little Seashells made such a nice background when masked and stamped individually.

My card is going to visit the following challenges:

 

Bloggers Challenge - To Die For

Country View Crafts - Die Cuts

Simon Says Stamp and Show -  The Letter S

 

I so appreciate your taking the time to visit today and I hope you are having a great start to the Summer season!

 

Stamps: Artistic Outpost: Boardwalk

Postal Die Cut

Inks: Archival: Coffee and Sepia, Distress:  Pumice Stone, Tea Dye, Antique Linen, Squeezed Lemonade, Tattered Rose, Dried Marigold, Vintage Photo

Distress Vintage Photo Stain, Gold Paint

Rock Candy Crackle

Gold UTEE, Stampendous Aged Gold and Silver

 

 

I See You!

It is hard to believe it is already Wednesday! The last two days have been so windy and dusty here again. In the sixteen years I have lived in the desert, I don't recall this kind of dusty wind and we do receive some might strong winds. Not easy to take pictures in wind whether inside or not due to obvious movement and light fluctuations, but finally! Being Wednesday, I have also posted over at Artistic Outpost if you missed my previous blog hop post for the new Boardwalk release and through June 8th, all stamps are 15% off!  Now onto this tag!

Simon Says Stamp and Show is taking us "Into The Woods" and that is the inspiration behind this one! IRL this has a little more green. The backgrounds were inked on manila card stock with Distress Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Forest Moss and a touch of Wild Honey, shaded with Vintage Photo.  Some Spritz and Flick action along with thinned splats of Wild Honey inker.  Tim's wood grain background stamp was inked with Archival Coffee for both the tag and birdhouse.

The birdhouse was cut from manila card stock, chipboard and corrugated cardboard. The corrugated cardboard roof and base from the third cut was covered in areas with Fresca Finish, Hey Pesto, left to dry and areas covered with Rock Candy Crackle and then inked with Wild Honey Distress Stain.  I inked a little twig from the yard and mounted it under the "eye."

Don't you just love that "eye" which is from Tim's new "Classics 5." This was stamped using Archival Coffee and with an applicator I added a little Shabby Shutters to the eye and eyelid and cut to fit the opening! The Funkie Junkie Challenge Blog is wanting "Holiday Destinations Through a Window" and most of my holiday plans will be at home in my most favorite room in the house!

One of my favorite quotes from another Tim stamp and will fit perfectly over at Inspiration Journal's "Don't Quote Me," as will this one!

Well I am off to visit my blogging friends and find out what you all have been up to. Thank you for visiting me today and I hope you are having a fabulous week!

A Broken Heart!

Obviously this heart is not broken, but it almost happened! Seriously this heart gave me a royal pain in the - you get the picture! Anyway, instead of smashing it to bits and pieces, I walked away from it and just took on a couple of other projects and returned to it and am now pleased! If you don't like it, lie to me, please! There is still one week left to join the current challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges "Alter It" and there is a $20 prize to be won from Flonscrafts. Remember we are a stamping challenge blog, so stamping is obviously required and no digi images. If you want to see some really fabulous altered projects, really go see what my DT Sisters have created!

The images I used are Artistic Outpost and were stamped on tissue paper using Black Archival and clear embossed.  BTW, there is a 15% off  Memorial Day sale that is in effect through June 8th! I then colored them on the reverse side using Vintage Photo, Tattered Rose, Barn Door. This was then sprayed with matt sealer. I realized that after I finished my altered heart, that these colored tissue images would really absorb right into the color, so I painted them white on the backside! Well I thought that was quite clever for this old bird!

I won't bore you with the first round of mishaps and there were plenty! Let's just say that I spent the better part of an entire day at the background, quit, went back to it the next day, quit, took a can of "white Kilz" sprayed it and then white gesso and started all over! The thing is that I like what I had down and was not going to quit!

After the gesso treatment, the flowers and other embellishments were adhered with Multi Gel Medium, which I love. The heart was sprayed with Espresso and Butterscotch Color Wash, heat set a bit and blotted up any excess. I also added some shading with Vintage Photo distress in with a wet paint brush here and there. Areas were also covered with crackle and I washed in some thinned white paint.

I added some extra color with Vintage Photo to the flowers and all was highlighted with white gesso.

Don't they make the perfect couple? And the words are Tim's Chit Chat stickers that I distressed with Vintage Photo!  The pearls were cut to fit the open areas and inked with alcohol inks, espresso and butterscotch.

Challenges we are entering:

Country View Crafts - How Does Your Garden Grow
Eclectic Paperie - Gel Medium
Rogue Redhead Designs - May Flowers
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Favorite Ink - Vintage Photo
Unruly PaperArts - RAQ 1 - 5 Or More Flowers

Well that is it for now and I thank you so much for visiting! I plan to enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend with some serious BBQ. Oh and working in organzing my craft room! I gave away a very large duel station exercise gym, which was in another room and now I have a second room to spread out into! Now that is awesome! Have a wonderful weekend whatever you do!

Stamps: Artistic Outpost, SteamPunk, Flapper Fashions
Inks: Black Archival, Vintage Photo, Tattered Rose, Barn Door

Boardwalk Beauties!

Oh yes baby, we are talking a brand new stamp release from Artistic Outpost, "BOARDWALK" and it is a sizzling hot Summer beauty! Artistic Outpost is having a Memorial Day Sale and ALL STAMPS are 15% off through June 8th and that is one fabulous way to celebrate the arrival of Summer and the "Boardwalk." The sale price will be reflected in the cart.

Over the next several weeks, all of the design team will be showing off their "Boardwalk" creations, but for today here is the Blog Hop lineup! Gerrie, Lisa, Sue, Tracy, Linda, Alison, Terry (me) Kate.

I told you it was Sizzling Hot and sure to make a splash in Blogland!  For this I started with an inky background on a blue shade of card stock using Gathered Twigs, Squeezed Lemonade, Salty Ocean and Stormy Sky, did that Spritz and Flick thing, embossed with Tim's TF and highlighted the raised areas with Stormy Sky and Squeezed Lemonade.  The edges were then distressed and mounted on black and a piece of black mesh was applied.  Atlantic City ATC collage was stamped in Black Archival using the same Distress colors on vanilla card stock covered with Tim's Tissue wrap and then clear embossed.

The "Bathing Beauties" were again inked on vanilla card stock using the same colors and stamped with Black Archival and fussy cut! 

The "Atlantic City" emblem again used the same color palette, was cut with circle die and fit perfectly in a large bottle cap and a domed glass piece to cover!  Summer fun all the way around!

I will be linking this up to Simon Says Stamp and Show for their "Favorite Ink" and at the moment Distress Salty Ocean is one I seem to run. Although there are many favorites!  Hope you have enjoyed my "Bathing Beauties" and remember there is still time left for the AO "May Monthly Referral Program. Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful Memorial Day for those who are in the US and a wonderful weekend to all!

Stamps: Artistic Outpost, Boardwalk

Huck Finn

Happy Monday and I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Over the weekend, I received my first ever order of Pan Pastels and could not wait to play!  Wish I had ordered some of the tools with handles, but that will happen next time!  Interesting how projects come together as I was looking at the "Quote and Quotables" sentiment and decided to make a somewhat stormy sky background with my new PP. 

Of course I knew that the ship in the "Huck Finn" collections would look awesome in the background, so I lined this up stamped with Black Archival, allowing some room for that adorable Huck!  The young lad was stamped and then colored with Distress Inks and fussy cut.  I decided Huck would go so solo this time, so cut around the pup!  Stamped and torn the words and added a compass.

This will be linked to:
Simon Says Stamp and Show: Passport to Fun
Pan Pastel: Dreams

Thank you for visiting me today and as always your comments are so appreciated!  Just a reminder that there is still a couple of days to join in the "April Referral Program" at Artistic Outpost!   Enjoy the week! 

Domino Book!

Hope everyone is having a great week and a big "HELLO" to my newest followers.  It is always such a pleasure to see some new faces in the mix!  Blogging is such an amazing adventure and leads to many friendships along the way!  Not to mention all the inspiration and challenges that follow.  Lately I have so enjoyed Brenda's domino books and decided I would take the plunge!  After all that is how we learn and flourish, right?   Photo heavy and oh so sorry!

Has it happens, several years back my daughter bought us "dominos" and I for one am not a person who plays games, so there were more items that would end up in my pile of "I can't get rid of it because it comes from family."  Isn't it great to recycle gifts? 

The dominos were inked with green, red, gold alcohol inks and then sealed.  I did cut separate panels from manila paper for each folded page.  Some background stencils were done with "recycled" produce netting, bubble wrap and mesh.  I look at so many throwaways differently these days! 

All images and mostly from Tim's new "Tiny" collection were stamped using Black Archival and color with Distress Inks and or Markers. 

I stamped and cut a second  dancer image on clear plastic packaging and adhered with Glossy Accents.  When I inked the mirror, I removed some of the ink from the center portion to clearly reflect the image.  The butterfly was masked off and stenciled.

Bits of masking and stamping going on here!

Again more masking and stenciling.

This was a bit time consuming, but such great fun!  I am taking my little Domino Book to visit the following challenges:

Bloggers Challenge - In Bloom
Country View Challenges - Butterflies
Frilly and Funkie - Upcycle for Earth Day
Inspiration Emporium - Marvelous Masks/Spectacular Stencils
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Color

Thank you so kindly for stopping by to visit and I wish you a fabulous weekend! 

Paperboy Delivers Birthday Tag!

Over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges we are getting all "Sentimental" and that can be a special time, place, event or sentiment!  Oh you should see what the design team has for you and we have another "Guest Designer," so stop on by FSC and have a visit!  There is always a prize! 

My tag is of a sentimental theme as it will soon be my G-son's birthday.  Hard to believe he is turning 22 and I really wonder where did the time go????  I decided to pull out my AO Paperboy to deliver the special birthday greeting.  Simon Says Stamp and Show is all about using "COLOR" and so we are having a visit there. 

If you would like all the details on how this tag came about, please stop by Artistic Outpost, as it is my turn to share on Wednesday and I decided this would be the project of choice!  

Thank you for stopping by and I can't wait to see your Sentiment project and FSC!

Stamps: Artistic Outpost, Paperboy, Quotes and Quotables
Inks:  Coffee Archival, Distress, Walnut Stain, Tattered Rose, Fired Brick, Faded Jeans
Stains:  Fired Brick, Faded Jeans

I Believe!

Welcome to April's Artistic Outpost Blog Hop!  It is all about Women and or Flowers and just in time for Mother's Day!  My lovely teammates have plenty of inspiration to share, so be sure to stop by and have a treat!  Gerrie, Lisa, Sue, Tracy, Linda, Alison, Terry (Me), Kate.

For my tribute to "woman," I decided to go with the Flapper Fashions and Quotes and Quotables as focal point.  Both were stamped using Black Archival and the lovely Flapper was colored with sponge applicators using Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar.  Don't you just love the power in Believing?

The backgrounds were created using a swirly floral from Birds of a Feather, first stamped with Tattered Rose to cover the entire white background and then in a random fashion using Spun Sugar.  For the sentiment, I decide to add splatters by thinning out Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar reinkers, using an old toothbrush.  I will be linking this up to Simon Says Stamp and Show - Background.

There is still plenty of time to join in the "Anything Goes" April Referral Program using those AO stamps.  Thank you for stopping by today's blog hop and I hope you have a wonderful day and remember to "Believe."

Stamps:  Artistic Outpost, Flapper Fashions, Quotes and Quotables, Birds of A Feather
Ink:  Archival Black, Distress Tattered Rose, Spun Sugar, Black
Reinkers Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar