Kisses in the Sun

 

I was inspired recently by Kailish's gorgeous backgrounds on cards she recently posted to her Flickr photostream. I wanted to try my hand at her technique.

I used distress inks spread on an acrylic block and while Kailish used water, I spritzed with Glimmer Mist Gold. The lovely shimmer doesn't show up in the photo, but it adds depth to the card in real life! I then placed watercolor paper on top of the spritzed inks and I love the imperfect way it turned out! Not the same as Kailish's, but pretty in its own right!

I stamped and embossed the image from Penny Black's woodblock stamp Kisses in the Sun and added the sentiment from Free Flight. The dots are little clear plastic embelli's from my stash. I couldn't resist putting some white liquid pearl dots on the butterfly. My white ink pens never work when I need them!!

Quiet holiday weekend at our house. When you are retired, all weekends are at least three days long! Getting some things done that require dh's "tallness"; cleaning ceiling fans, dusting can lights .... Too hot for outdoor work. I shampooed scatter rugs out in the driveway early this morning, but evidently the cool hours were long gone!!

Happy holiday weekend and thanks for the visit.

Altered Mona Lisa

I've had fun in the past putting hats on Penny Black images, so when I was thinking about making a Halloween card yesterday I wondered who would like to dress up for Halloween.

Ms. Mona Lisa volunteered but I immediately saw a problem.  She was gifted with a VERY LONG neck!  If I were to put a witch's hat on her head, she would become too elongated to fit on a card, much less fit through a doorway to get to the Halloween party.  Travel in a car?  Impossible.  Not even a royal coach could accommodate the height!

An internet search led us to the Frankenstein Surgery Center where she underwent their increasingly popular "neckectomy" procedure.  Problem solved!!  As soon as the bandages were removed I presented  Ms. Mona with her very own witch's hat and snapped her picture as she gazed with curiosity at the bats who hovered nearby.

Ms. Mona Lisa before surgery

Seriously, I used Penny Black's woodblock stamp Mona Lisa, stamping it and heat embossing it and colored with Copics.  I then cut her into three pieces (ouch!) snipped away excess neck and reassembled her into what you see here.  This took me several tries as my inky black fingers left smudges more than once!!  The bats were stamped with an ancient generic sponge stamp.  The hat is a Martha Stewart punch.

I had a great time and a few giggles as I altered Ms. Mona and put the card together.  Hope it brought a smile for you, too! 

I'm entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, Anything Goes.

Hard to believe Labor Day weekend is upon us!!  Where did Summer go?  We are looking forward to the cooler, crisper days of Fall.  Thank you for your visit today!!  Enjoy your weekend.

Penny black Petal Party

 

 

I made this card back in June but didn't like it very much ... I don't think I liked the kraft card base.  But after coming across it today in my Flickr photostream, I decided the flowers turned out nicely and deserved to be posted!

 

Penny Black makes some gorgeous floral images and the flowers in their transparent set "Petal Party" are some of my favorites.  So fun for coloring or paper piecing! 

 

I stamped the flower twice onto patterned paper from the Penny Black Madison collection and colored them both with Copics, adding some white accents with a gel pen.  Those sequins were laying on the desk and needed a place to stay! 

 

I may take this card apart and see how I can improve it!!  Stay tuned.

 

Today I resolved to find a nit picky household chore every day and do it!  Today I changed the filter for the furnace/air conditioner and scrubbed all the little louvers!  And then, since I was into nit picky, I washed all the light switches in the house.  And as long as I had the scrub rag in my hand, I scrubbed around doorknobs!   Let's see, that takes care of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Maybe by Thursday I will forget about my resolution and just read a book!

 

Thank you for your visit!!  

Abstract Impressions

 

I've been feeling out of the loop lately ... haven't bought any of the new swish and swirl stamps because I wasn't sure what to do with them.  Well, imagine my surprise to find a trendy stamp set when I went rummaging among the drawers of woodblock Hero Arts stamps that I own!

The swirly patterns stamped in neon inks are from an oldie (2003) wood block set by Hero Arts called Abstract Imprssions Fancy Notes. The bird is also an older Hero Arts stap, Bird With Long Legs.  Imagine, two trend setters in one card: neon inks and swirls!! 



 I'm entering this card in the current CAS-ual Fridays challenge to use the color pallet of aqua, green and orange. I read somewhere that "white space" doesn't have to be white!!

Hope your weekend is going well and that you have some fun time to yourself!

Enjoy Life

 

What a great message! Enjoy Life!

The main botanical image is from an older Penny Black transparent set "Enjoy Life", an early favorite of mine.

I just stamped it with yellow ink to coordinate with the strip of patterned paper from Penny Black's Madison 6x6 paper pad. I added the die cut butterly from PB's Creative Die set "flutters". I had punched the butterfly from a white circle, which I colored yellow after removing the butterfly from the negative space. I didn't care much for the card until I added the black dots and the black and white gingham ribbon to coordinate with the black sentiment which says "Embrace Happiness" and is part of the transparent PB set Eloquence.

I enjoyed life and embraced happiness today when my husband came home early from golf to take me to lunch! We overate at the Olive Garden and made a quick stop at the JC Penney store on that side of town.

What a surprise and disappointment!! I went to purchase a new cellular shade for the bathroom and they no longer carry in stock window treatments!! When did that happen? I notice there was no catalog order desk either. Can you tell it's been a while since I shopped at Penney's?

But I will set aside the moment of disappointment and embrace the memory of yummy garlic bread sticks and salad and the meatball donated by my dh from his unending bowl of pasta!!

Hope you find joy and embrace happiness today .. in whatever form it finds you!

Blooming Garden

 

I was inspired by Penny Ward's recent card where she stamped in brown ink on kraft and added white ink. Well, this is what happened when I tried to CASE her work!

I have managed to include checks, dots and stripes in one small space! I've used PB's Dots in Space for the dotted pattern, and the poppy from the transparent set Blooming Garden.  I have used my new patterned paper from My Mind's Eye.  The leaf die cut is from PB's Creative Die set Leaves.

The original poppy image was stamped directly onto the pp and colored in with Copics. When I added the second layer of petals, I twisted them a bit to make the flower larger and let the color just peek through. I like the effect of a fuller flower that resulted.

My original plan was to add a red checked ribbon (it was laying on my desk), but in the end, the brown won out. I know my blogging friend Donna Mikasa will approve of my color choice here!

Well it's Wednesday and that means the grocery ads came out... since I am the hunter-gatherer of the family off I went to collect the "buy one get one free" specials. It's my version of treasure hunting! Ugly black clouds had threatened rain all day and guess when they burst open? You guessed it .. just as I was leaving the store! It was still worth the trip.

So glad you keep stopping by! Otherwise I would just be talking to myself here.

Mixed Media Singer's Muse

 

I have been admiring the ability of others to take splashes and dashes and swirls and circles and make beautiful art!! Unfortunately, too often my work remains just that ... splashes and dashes!

So yesterday I was determined to play and have fun and create. I tossed aside my watercolor paper with the splashes and dashes and started over!

I had on hand three jars of Lumin Art Acrylic Glaze purchased for a yet undone project, in brilliant green, teal and purple. I brushed the glaze directly onto the stamp and bravely stamped onto the watercolor paper. I set it aside to let it dry (hard for me to do!) and when I got back to it, I applied Distress Ink in shades of yellow and orange to the project.

Ahhhh, what to do next? I spied a package of twine on my desk. The top of the package looked very bird-cage like, so I cut it off the package and changed it's color from kraft with a white acrylic paint dauber. Then I stamped the sentiment from Penny Black's transparent set "Eloquence" onto the project. The sentiment demanded that the little wooden stars, colored with a Copic marker, be added. That little bird cage didn't look right with just the stars, so I added a wooden butterfly, also colored.

The jar of ModPoge was on the desk and I got out a foam brush and coated the whole thing with high gloss ModPoge. Actually, there are three coats of the ModPoge on the 6 inch by 6 inch mixed media project.  

I feared for the safety of my sewing machine needle so did not stich the layers together .. but added the photo corners to make your eye travel from the heavily laden left side to the more sparse right side!

I took much longer to make this piece than it has taken me to tell you about it! I did enjoy just letting this all happen! Of course, as I look at it now there are things I would do differently .. much less yellow, I think! Oh, and I would not ask dh what he thought of my mixed media project!!

Hope you let your inner artist out and get involved with mixed media!! Nothing bad happens that soap and water can't fix!

So glad you stopped by ...

Flower Poetry

 

This card uses only the flower portion of the collage woodblock stamp "Flower Poetry" by Penny Black. I love it when you can use a stamp in more than one way! The image is colored with Copics and fussy cut, mounted onto a scalloped circle diecut. The tag has been created using Penny Black's creative die "Tagged" and the sentiment is from the transparent "Friendship" set. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad "Tangerine". I love how a new pad of paper can kick start an idea!!

We are enjoying a very cool weather pattern this weekend! No air conditioning needed; an unheard of event for August in Alabama!!

The new Penny Black stamps and dies are now available ... if you haven't checked them out, you are in for a treat!!

Thanks for your visit .... go stamp something!

Evelyn Rose at Two Months

Here she is at two months old!!  Where does the time go?  Ms. Evie is busy eating and sleeping and growing.  She lets Mom and Dad get about six hours of sleep in a row at night.  Grandma gets to visit via Skype several times a week. 

Our plans for a trip to Wisconsin have changed. We will be driving to Minneapolis and then to Milwaukee by way of Madison in mid-October.  Evie's Baptism is on the 20th of October and we rearranged the trip so that we can be there for that very special occasion.

Thanks for stopping by and letting Grandma brag a little!

Blissful

 

I've made one more attempt at a gold monochromatic card using Delicata gold ink. I have discovered that this ink, while stamping solid on large surfaces, "shrinks" after a few minutes, leaving white space behind. I have decided to embrace that feature and accept the less-than-solid look!

The background is stamped with Penny Black's large slapstick stamp "Blissful". I then stamped the image a second time and cut out one of the flowers. The flower is mounted on top of golden leaves cut with Penny Black's Creative Die "leaves".  My photography skills unfortunately have not been able to capture the brightness of the gold on this card.  It sure looked better in my head when I thought of it!!

I am still learning my way around the uploading and editing of photos on my new computer. I am sure I have been shown how to do this more than once, but I continue to do things the hard way!! 

Today is the last day to leave a comment on the Penny Black blog for a chance to win a Christmas Stocking full of Penny Black goodness! Don't miss out!

 

Homemade by Penny Black

 

There is another sneak peek on the Penny Black Blog today!!  See more of the new Christmas stamps and Creative Dies.  And there is a chance to win a Christmas Stocking filled with $100 of Penny Black goodies!

 

I may be talking about Christmas, but I am still stamping Summer!



I  had  this scrap of watercolor paper with the background created by using Distress inks, water and table salt just lying on my desk and finally decided to do something with it.  I love the images in the Penny Black transparent set "Homemade" and decided that the colors in this scrap were just right for the bowl of cherries stamp.

I stamped the Bowl of Cherries image onto the prepared watercolor paper and colored with Copics. I added several layers of Glossy Accents to the cherries. Red gingham ribbon seemed to be the extra detail necessary. The sentiment is stamped on a speech bubble created with the Tagged die set by Penny Black. I just cut off the little pointy part.

Cherries have always been a special summer treat at our house!!

I've enjoyed our visit ... be sure to check out the Penny Black Blog for a chance to win a great prize!

Colorful Christmas Creative Dies from Penny Black

Be sure to visit the Penny Black Blog today for a video peek at the Colorful Christmas Creative Dies being released.  You will want them all!!  Die cuts add so much to a handmade card and Penny Black has come up with an incredible variety!

And here is a quick and easy card using two Penny Black stamps.

This is Penny Black's slapstick stamp "glory of modesty" stamped in distress ink.  I added black enamel dots to the flower centers.  The butterfly is from the woodblock stamp" kisses in the sun".  I trimmed the card to a 4 inch square and added a ribbon and bow!   Quick and easy and good to have on hand for different occasions.

I am off to hang out on the Penny Black blog to stare at the newly released Colorful Christmas Creative Dies.  Santa better be making room in his sleigh for these dies ... I think they will be on the wish list every stamper!!

Tree-mendous Buttons!

 

The current challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is "buttons" and I will be entering this card for the challenge.

I have used Penny Black's transparent set Tree-mendous for my tree, leaves and sentiment.  I then filled in the leafy part with buttons of several sizes, shapes and shades of green.  The sentiment is stamped on a tag made with Penny Blacks Creative Die set Tagged.  I scored a 1/4 inch border around the card for just a bit more interest.

The new computer is becoming my friend; but I have been unable to make the printer work.  Looks like there will be another trip to visit my geek friends at the computer store.  They assured me the driver was downloaded and all I had to do was plug it in!!

Life is good in our neighborhood this hot and muggy Sunday.  Hope you are enjoying some inky time.    Thank you for your visit .... always glad to have company!

 

It's Quicker with a Sticker!

Penny Black makes gorgeous stickers! This butterfly tag sticker is one of a collection of twelve stickers titled Winged Petals. I created a background using distress inks and added a pair of dragonflies for an accent of white and to really get the motion going!!  The dragonflies and sentiment banner are from Penny Black's Creative Die set "Tagged".

I love having these stickers on hand both for inspiration and for a jump start on a beautiful card.

I am happily creating this blog post on my new computer!! My 8 year old computer was no longer able to function in Blogger. I went with a heavy heart and leaden feet to the computer store, dreading the change to Windows 8. I haven't learned to function with my new cell phone; I had no hope that I could master Windows 8 on a new computer.

This story has a happy ending! Lo and behold, the first computer I looked at on the shelf, and I think it was winking at me, was tagged with a sign saying "Windows 7". With not a second's hesitation I cried out, "This is it!" and husband went to get the salesperson to ring it up.

Can you imagine the scene after I left the store? Manager and salespeople alike doing high 5's!! "Wow, I didn't think we would ever sell that baby!" Well, that baby was meant to be mine.

The good news is that Blogger is working perfectly; Flickr is behaving much better; and things move more quickly. An added bonus was having my two year old never been used digi camera set up and functioning with my Easy Share software. My picture quality should improve.

Of course, with any new setup there are bugs. Email is possessed with Word demons and the tool bar with my navigation tools is stuck up under the frame of my monitor. Not to mention the 5 minute start up time!

But this morning we are back to the Geeks that set it up with hope in our hearts that all can be fixed.  Some things are just meant to be, and I love how that computer was on the shelf waiting for me!!

Thanks for your visit. Have a great weekend.  I hope your day brings a happy surprise, too!

Play Along with Penny Black

This week the folks at Penny Black are playing along in a special week-long challenge at the Runway Inspired Challenge Blog. And you are invited to play along, too! There are prizes!

Cards made by the Stamp Squad are being show cased on the Penny Black Blog today. We definitely "play well with others"!

This is the runway photo that provided the inspiration:

Zac Posen 2014

And this is my very literal interpretation of the inspiration photo:

I used Penny Black's woodblock stamp Bridal March. I gave her a hairdo to match the inspiration photo and paper pieced her dress, using paper reminiscent of the fabric in her gown. I used Penny Black's creative die Leaves to cut the shapes that provide a background and some texture.

Be sure to check out the Runway Inspired Challenge Blog to see what their design team has done using Penny Black Stamps and the inspiration photo. For all the details about the challenge along with more ideas and examples go to the Penny Black Blog.

Thanks for stopping by!! Remember: Play well with others and don't run with scissors!!

Penny Black Every Happiness

Gold is "in" right now and I think part of the reason is this wonderful "rich and radiant" Golden Glitz ink by Delicata! It is a vibrant, shiny gold and wonderful to work with.

I've used Penny Black's slapstick stamp set Every Happiness and stamped the images with the gold ink. I pop dotted the smaller section onto the larger card base and added the sentiment from the same stamp set. The dragon fly is a die cut using PB's creative die Flutter. I think it adds just the right dimension and interest.

Penny Black has started a new feature on their blog. It is well worth a visit to see the fabulous work of Ms. Cathy A.!! And read about the new feature.

It is a dark and stormy morning here in Alabama! Several loud and lightning-filled storms have gone through since the wee hours of the morning. Our plans for a picnic along the Tennessee River have been changed to Plan B .. a movie!

Hope you are having a terrific Tuesday!! Thank you so much for your visit. Speaking of visits, Ms. Evie Skyped grandma last night. She shared her bottle and her biggest burp with me! She is growing by leaps and bounds. That first year brings such enormous changes!

Anything Goes at Simon Says

For more information or to join the challenge, go here.

I am most comfortable entering challenges with an "anything goes" theme!!  I am able to go with whatever is running around in my head and quickly put it on paper.  While not required, SSS asked us to use unique SSS products in the card.  So, I used the exclusive SSS Starry Night die to create the background on patterned paper.  The sentiment is also from an exclusive SSS stamp set Square Messages.  The tree background was created with a Purple Onion Designs stamp by Stacey Yakula.

I trimmed the card in ball fringe in memory of the cute little string lights we used to decorate our camper back in the day when we had a pop up tent camper and took all the kids camping!  Cozy, but fun!!

How were we able to live for weeks at a time using only what the little camper could hold?  We now have 1800 square feet of house plus an attic and a garage filled with "stuff"!  How does that happen??

It was a quiet weekend at our house.  Lots of time to stamp.  Hope you had some play time mixed in with all the chores and errands that need doing on a weekend.  And most of all, thank you for your visit today!

Camp

The clue word at CASology this week is "camp". I love camping! We did a lot of it when the kids were growing up and we made great memories. And believe me, after a long day of hiking, swimming and being outdoors, your tent is "home sweet home". I've used Stacey Yakula's tent image by Purple Onion Designs, stamped on a circle and mounted over a piece of red gingham ribbon onto kraft paper embossed with a woodgrain cuttlebug folder. The sentiment is also from Purple Onion Designs.

It's Sunday, and at our house that means take out Chinese for lunch! We are creatures of habit and love having take out lunch after church on Sunday!! What's your favorite take out food?

I am still struggling with Blogger .. but finally was able to incorporate the "clue" card into this post ... it's been a 24 hour effort!! I have proven I am more stubborn than Blogger!! Thanks for your visit.

Penny Black Sticker

Penny Black Sticker, a photo by judkajudy on Flickr.

Did you know Penny Black makes awesome stickers? Well, they do and I enjoyed playing with stickers this morning.

This card began with my placing the tag-shaped Penny Black sticker onto cardstock and cutting it out. I added a few white dots to the flower a la Kathy Racoosin. Then I mounted the tag onto cardstock embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. Next I used my Penny Black creative die Flutters to make the butterfly. I stamped and embossed the flower from the transparent friendship set and then applied distress inks in several colors. The sentiment from the Treemendous set was stamped onto the tag die cut made from the creative die set Tagged. So, thanks to Penny Black's stickers, dies and stamps I was able to put this card together quickly! And I love having the inspiration from the flowers to color the butterfly.

The stickers are an inexpensive way to be inspired and to have a great base for a lovely card!

Blogger is acting up again in my corner of the world! I am glad I was able to publish this post! Hope you are enjoying your weekend and have some time to play!!

Thank you for your visit!!

Smile!

I created this little scene by combining several Penny Black images. I'm joining the challenge on the Penny Black blog to "Beat the Heat". You have until Monday, August 5th to enter. Complete challenge details are here.

My inspiration for this card came from the cheery red gingham ribbon that Peets R, a designer for Penny Black, often uses on her delightful cards. It always makes me smile! You can see what I mean here.

I used a die cut window as the base of my little scene, adding the kitty photographer from the wood block stamp Snap Shot. Fortunately, I amputated his little head so quickly he didn't even notice!

The little mouse gardener is from the transparent set, Garden Critters. I stamped the word "smile" (taken from a very large sentiment from the Edge to Edge set)onto a speech bubble made with a Penny Black creative die from the Tagged set.

All in all, the red gingham and the adorable critters from Penny Black made me smile .... big!!

We are enjoying a rather mild temperature August day here in Alabama. Back to school occurs in a little more than a week. Kids in Alabama return to school while it is still pretty hot and humid. So glad you came to visit!!