a question for you...

a question for you...

I am having such fun playing with 'ancient' stamps from my stash.  Today I used this Stamps Happen image, a Dolly Mama.  The image was inked with Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and colored with Copics.  I used Acrylic Paint for the polka dots.  Added a bit of scrap with net (left over from her underskirt, grin.) at the bottom right.


The paper panels are from two different Basic Grey patterns.  B-Side and Highline.  This card was entered over on Splitcoaststampers SC579 today.  I took a bit of liberty with the panels, turned it vertical.  But then that's art, right?

The Paper Players PP281 has a theme challenge this week.  LeAnne issued a call to use a dog or cat on your card.  Well, how about that fluffy, pampered pink feline?


And I ask the rhetorical question, does my derriere look big in this?  Thanks for stopping by today.  And leaving a comment??? I'm totally cool with that!

a house needs these chairs

I've always had a fondness for chairs...ones that are functional and others that are admired for the design gathering dust upon my shelves!  When I saw the challenge issued for the Moxie Fab pot pourri  Get Inspired Week, I just knew inspiration would fly!  Isn't this little montage of the chairs, crochet and the graphic pop of the initial the coolest ever?

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Recently I've taken to cutting chairs out of ads for future use.  So these uber hip ones in a World Market ad were just waiting for the muse. I very carefully cut the spaces between the backs so that the Basic Grey 'Oxford'  Fencing paper would show behind the chairs. I used an epoxied 'C' as a pillow. The moulding, floor 'board' and the library all are various papers from the BG 'Oxford' group.  I cut a strip of the books and stacked vertically to create a bookcase.  The vintage trim for texture as well as the waxed string along the edge of the bookcase add to the illusion of my room.  And a finishing touch,  the lovely Henry David Thoreau quote:

                                       A house needs these chairs

                                          Ones for solitude,

                                             Ones for friendship

                                           Then those for society!

I'd love to have you come visit me...I'll even let you pick YOUR favorite chair.

As a side note, just last Wednesday, my dear teenager came home from youth group with a gift for me.

They had a white elephant exchange.  Knowing I collected chairs from all eras, he truly thought he was bringing home a treasure.  It is a colonial American delight, that's for sure...just got to find the perfect closet...to hide it in! There will always be a need for a white elephant gift.  Thank you dear &d for thinking of me.

Pleasure...

It's a Moxie Fab challenge Gray is the New Black.  I kinda like that since I am finding more and more gray hairs these days!   You might say I am embracing the gray.  This stylish grey paper is none other than Basic Grey's from the Ambrosia group...another one I have hoarded.  My beautiful silver tressed beauty is a B Line Designs stamp called 'Pleasure'.  Isn't she lovely, lost in thought?

I stamped the image onto cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics.  Her dress is a piece of vintage lace.  The jewelry is 'tahitian pearls'.  I colored her hair with a glittered silver pen, just a few streaks.  The remember is from Just Right little stampers...I added the snippet of velvet trim and also stitched around the bottom edge.

I love the elegance and gracefulness of by gone days.  Being raised in the South, I remember my Grandmother, Aunts and Mother always dressing to go out...and that included gloves and hats.  There was a certain theatre to getting ready.  As a young woman, I continued the tradition for many years,
 until I moved out West where the lifestyle was such, it was out of place.  But let me go 'home' to visit and while the gloves and hats are mostly gone,  I always pack my 'dress up' clothes!

Thanks so very kindly for visting.  If you've got a few moments, I'd love to hear your story about dressing up.

Blessings

Possibilities...

 

What do you see in the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger 'All that Glitters' this week?  I see my favorite color in the whole world...since I was 5...a very long time ago.   It's my Daddy's and my oldest son's too.  I think of it mentioned in the Bible, the color of royalty.  The hue made from plant material.

                                                         

It's the beauty berry outside my kitchen window that feeds the birds all winter.  And as spring arrives the berries hue fades and it's time for the crocus to burst from the frozen ground...I am surrounded. And I love it!  Just in case you can't read the plaque among all those luscious berries, it 'tis:  TODAY is a gift, that is why they call it the Present.  So creating a card was joyful play for me this week.

 

I loved the varying shades of the photograph and decided to bring those in with papers from various Basic Grey groups.  The ribbon is a silk striated trim.  My sentiment from Wordsworth was inked with VersaMark and then Nick Bantock's Damson Plum, embossing with clear.  I stamped it on a shimmery silver and then cut another mat from a more opaque silver paper.  Vintage German scrap was placed under the circle and then along the edge of the two purples. The card base is Brazzill linen.

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit, please tell me what your favorite color is.

Blessings for today and the 'morrow.

Ornaments of home

Happy Day all, we are slipping into the weekend and that certainly is a good thing. I can't believe how fast this week has gone! Tomorrow is a whole family yard work day, so I thought I better get my card posted for PaperCraft Star's Challenge #21 before I am off to work. This is a newer blog that does things just a bit differently. The readers determine the winner of the challenges with each one getting two votes. This will be my first time playing in the challenge, which speaking of 'good things' was a Martha Stewart photo inspiration. Some of my readers know I just love to recreate rooms on cards. And so it goes with this one!

I love the ethereal colors used in the retreat room. I can almost smell the ocean air and feel the sand around my feet. The colors are just what one would expect to see while you were strolling down the beach. I used Stamp Francisco's table image, stamping it onto a putty colored linen textured paper and embossing with SeaFoam White ep. It was cut and popped on dimensionals. My floorboards were created with the Tim Holtz ledger folder that I embossed in both directions to get the squares of the original. For the amazing day bed, I punched a strip from the Fiskars Eyelet lace punch and then used a Martha tag punch to make the pillows (paper is Mistletoe and Pear paper group Basic Grey snowflake pattern)...in creating those pillows with the tag, I just punched the rounded bit, not the whole tag...if that makes sense. The very cool cabinets under the bookshelves are small rectangles from Spellbinders that I dry embossed to look like raised panels. I cut 4 'door's. I used two vintage buttons for the door pulls. The 'walls' are papers from Memory Box 'Dewdrop' collection. The right side is tiny snowflakes and the left, a sponged pattern. I added the 'window' to minic the light you can see in the original. In place of the shelves which has those wonderful shells, I chose to use a Rubber Soul quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson "The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it." And those ornaments in the bowl on the table are cut from the overview sheet of the Basic Grey Mistletoe and Pear cover (never know when something might be useful!). I cased the 'shelves' in with white cs, used the Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder under the quote and a tiny bit of white lace at the top of my card.

I would love to hear what you think about "MY" room. And have a marvelous Autumn weekend.

Blessings,

Susan

let's eat...

Dessert, first. I am not quite sure who said that first, a quick search today attributed it to Les Brown. Anyway I thought it would be a great excuse to get a hunking big slice o' cake to share with my coworker (who occasionally reads my blog)! We've been helping out in another department what is desperately short~HANDED. And while we are out of our comfort zone, stressed, I might add, we're taking one for the team!!!

I love this Impression Obsession slice of cake. It makes a great image just stamped on white card stock with black ink. However, as my coworker loves Red Velvet Cake, I thought paper-piecing would cook up a swell cake. The sentiment is also IO. And the coolio serving Hand has been in my 'well, maybe it will work somewhere, someday box'...anyone have a box like that??? It is part of a 100 Proof Press image, actually it is holding a pocket watch. Basic Grey snippets were used for the layers as well as the gorgeous green bg.

I am leaving for work early today in time to stop at my favorite bakery for that hunking big o' slice of cake and 2 forks mind you! Hope you find sweetness all through your weekend.

Crystal Chandelier...

I am happy I had a chance to case the Featured Stamper of the week over on SCS. I love going back in my memories to recall happy times when life was lived at a slower pace. My grandparents had a Georgian Colonial built just for them in 1935. And the dining room was the heart of the home. It had big bold cabbage rose wallpaper for a time and then toile. You could enter it from either the breakfast room which had corner cabinets for storing her collection of Franciscan 'Ivy' or directly off the living room with a double wide opening. I can almost hear the laughter round the table.

My grandmother finally got her crystal chandelier in 1946. It was much like the one you see. It had silver trim, chain and candle cups. It always hung over the handsome solid cherry table. I remember her carefully washing the crystals in hot sudsy dishwater in her PINK kitchen. My grandparents moved three times and each time the chandelier was moved with them. She loved having family get-togethers, dinner parties and turn the wall sconces down low and light the tapers. I was always enchanted by the effect of the flickering candles on the crystals and people. To this day, I accent every room in my home with different types of light.

It's Sunday, be blessed today and always.

Happiness is...

made to be shared! It's Monday all, I still feel well and that makes me so very happy.

The sun's shining on a lovely autumn afternoon. And I had a chance to combine challenges

for a card for the 365 Card Blog and Card Patterns. It was make a mosaic and the sketch

over at CP. I still love Basic Grey's Urban Prairie and thought it would look great in the

mosaic. I used a Marvey 3/4 inch for the squares. The sentiment is part of a group of

rub-ons from K&Co's Cut N Paste group. I love all the scrolls. The base is Basic Grey black,

I used the shell embossing folder on the end with the hydrangea petals.

Thanks so much for taking a peak. Have a wonderful turn of the globe no matter where you are!

Not quite sure how the type got so funky...so sorry!

Leave the everyday

It's another Wednesday and that means, Gingham Girls' Word of the Week challenge! The word is windstorm. I've had this adorable little girl from Stamp Francisco since the new year (a huge Christmas set of images) waiting for the perfect opportunity. I think she fits in with windstorm...I know in the fall in the Pacific Northwest we have what Thornton Burgess called the 'merry little breezes' in Old Mother West Wind. I paper pieced her coat and hat (adding black flock to the hat). The rest of the image is colored with Copics. I used Basic Grey's Mellow paper group. The layout is from the sketch challenge on Splitcoast today: SC245.

So how's the week going? Our family is still feeling the lingering cold and getting back into the routine of schooling. Today I sat in on Andy's Entrepreneurship class and then on the way home, we stopped off at a new place close to our homeschool resource center called SNOW MIRACLE...it is amazing, just like eating frozen cotton candy! We decided to eat dessert first and sampled the mango and grape flavors. Awesome!

Be good...

and if you can't be good, be STYLISH! Inkadinkadoo's Kid's Quotes Stamps. How can anyone resist these sentiments? I've had this one for a bit, waiting patiently to use it at just the proper moment. Well, today's Inspiration Challenge on SCS was all about handbags (high end ones at that!) I must say I loved every minute perusing the gorgeous bags. It was this one that inspired me. And a big thank you to Chrissie for your beautiful work with Chris Dark's digital images.

The 365 Card Challenge is to add a charm to your card. I added a brass bow to my tag. During one of my wonderful summer yard sale finds, I came across a container of 25 tiny brass charms which I knew would come in handy. For this one, I coated it with VersaMark and embossed it with glossy black embossing powder. I used paper thread to tie it to the ribbon. The purse was printed out on GP white cs and colored with Copics. I added micro beads to the fancy trim. The buckle has a rhinestone enclosure and edged with a Sakura gel pen. The tag was made with a Making Memories template with PTI spring moss. The sentiment is embossed with clear ep and pulls out to reveal "the rest of the story". I used Basic Grey's Sultry group, "Vogue" for the background. The darker mat is PTI smokey grey.

Have a delish weekend...and labor not my American pals!!!

I have loved...

the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night~~~Galileo.

Here's my take on the ICS September 09 DT call. Anyone can submit until September 18th. Check it out.

I used Cornish Heritage Farms 'Reach for the Stars' set and the Astronomy scrapblock to create my card. Basic Grey's Granola colors worked perfectly with the images.

Thanks for the opportunity to apply and thanks for looking.

Choice by choice...

moment by moment, I build the necklace of my day, stringing together the choices that form artful living! I simply adore this quote by Julia Cameron. I have recently discovered her writings...she is the author of 'The Artists Way' and many other works. Laying out ways to overcome creative blocks and generally living an artful life. I highly recommend reading her.

I've combined a mother lode of challenges with my work today. The sketch challenge on SCS, my friend, Kelly's week 2 Words on Wednesday, and the 365 Card Blog ad inspiration. It is such fun when you can make multiple challenges zing! So for structure, the SC244 fit beautifully. Kelly's word today was impearl: to form into pearls; or adorn with pearls. And the 365 call was a White House~Black Market print ad : menswear pumps, a floral teapot and a single flower in a vase of water.

The papers I chose are a men's wear grey flannel stripe, 'Recognition' from Basic Grey's Stella Ruby and Boxer's 'Long Underwear'. The clock paper is from Graphic 45. My solids very Su's very vanilla and Georgia Pacific's white card stock. The quote is a Hampton Art Stamp and the woman with the pearl earring (hee, hee) and necklace is an old Hero Arts called Party Pearls!

I used Memento Tuxedo Black for both. Copics for coloring. Liquid pearls in white opal were used on the necklace.

Thanks so very much for visiting and I appreciate your thoughtful comments.

in the pink, well maybe

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, full of things that delighted your senses. I spent the weekend nursing a cold, sleeping, waking up long enough for another dose of medicine. It stinks to be sick on the weekend! So I am thinking pink, being positive, and hoping I'll make it through my very long workday. Pam issued the latest 365 Card challenge and gave us the movie "PRETTY in PINK" to inspire us!

My card also fits for the Basic Grey challenges week #2 to use the color combo brown, yellow and pink. You must include at least one BG paper in your work. I must admit I hoard my BG papers, but I did have a great time going through all the paper groups for the perfect pink for my undies!!! So many luscious hues. In the end, I selected LUSTER from the Euphoria collection. It is a lovely pastel with the tiniest bit of texture. My yellow is the new fence posts of the clothes line. And the brown is repeated in the fabulous tree (Memory Box paper from Sugardrop) and the cardbase which is Brazzill linen texture.

I'll jump at any chance to use this wonderful lingerie from B Line Design. And the clothesline image(Finders Keepers) was from a tag sale in town earlier in the summer. I just knew it would come in handy. I used tiny wooden clothespins to attach the undergarments. The sentiment is a rub-on.

Thanks for stopping over, I am glad I am spreading no germs out in cyberspace. Have a great week!

an artist cannot fail

I hope you are all enjoying a blissful Sunday afternoon...I finally got to create and just had to honor SCS'es (is that a word) Featured Stamper Stamp Muse. M is kind, encouraging, and generous of our creative community! It was a thrill to see her selected.

The card I designed features photographs my son, Sam and I took last week in our garden. I had never seen a zebra patterned dragonfly until we spotted (ha, ha) this one on one of the water features. With Sam being 6'3" I had him photograph the one of the wing span and I managed to get the front shot in between gusts of wind. The dragonfly had a most interesting technique for keeping balanced. Other details about this card are Basic Grey Lime Rickey Catawba Flip paper, Papertrey Ink New Leaf, and B Line Design quote inked with ColorBox Dragonfly black ink.

It's a gorgeous day here in the PNW...low '80's, light winds. Hope the sun is shining on you or moonshine!

risk...

I am very happy to show off this wonderful Unity sentiment I won for my entry in the Limelight Papercrafts Blog Sketch Challenge #26. Thanks very much, Mandy for the great sketch and the chance to pick my prize. I've wanted to add this quote to my stamp collection for quite awhile.

It's one of those sayings that just gets down into your soul and wrestles with the part of you that whispers: 'you can't do that, or you're not good enough for this. Well, I'm here to say YOU CAN do whatever you set your heart to. But first you must name it. Second, you must have a vision ...and then and only then can you set out on the journey.

That's were I am right now...I've named it and I believe I've found what I need to encourage me to the next level. Hold that thought and I'll keep you posted along the way. This card will stay in my humongous red paper clip that lives on my Pottery Barn tray...I will need the reminder.

This card also fits with the 365Card Blog challenge to use lace on your work. I had some yummy pink cotton wide lace that I attached to the bottom edge of the oval. I used Basic Grey's Sugared papers (Precious and Charming). The bud is from a long retired PSX botantical, Hydrid Rose (part of my score from earlier in the week). I colored it with Copics and used the Stampin Up Scalloped punch to create my vertical panel. The Unity quote was inked with Memento Tuxedo Black onto a Spellbinder oval and dry embossed.

The sketch I used today is the Limelight Papercraft Sketch #27. Check it out

Hope you all have a wonderfully creative weekend and happy day~o's!

don't tell Kristi #2

My across the street neighbor is crazy for paper and stamps, too. Yesterday was her birthday and of course, I was late! But only one day. We talk more via computer than across the stamping table. IS that SIC or what!!! It's a big joke now to say, well, I've already 'seen' that one via the web than to hold the original in one's hand. But she's always scoping Craigslist for sales to peruse and there are several in our neighborhood this weekend. When I read the 365 Card Blog to make a mirror card I went ECK...I'm just not that kinda of girl. I like off kilter things, heck, I'm off kilter myself! But in honor of my across the street neighbor, who loves symmetry I took a deep breath and dove in. The Limelight blog sketch for the week was just perfect for having all my dots in a row!

I couldn't resist going with the new Basic Grey June Bug polka dot paired (mirrored) with the stripes from last years' Two Scoops. I added scalloped edges, cuttled the polka paper with Swiss Dots. My banner is from Pink Persimmon! I just love the girly edge to it. Now, I did add the jumbo ric rac across the top...I tried my best to get it tied in the exact middle...how'd I do?

another cup o' Joe?

I've written many times about my passion for coffee. And I've even admitted I am a coffee snob. So when I got the chance to play with Ken Brown's Morning Coffee, I simply couldn't resist! Check out the American Art Stamp Blog when you get a chance...there's angelic to zany to be found!

I stamped my Joe on to GP white cs with Memento Rich Cocoa (how about that!) and embossed just Joe with clear ep. The mongo cup is paper pieced with Paper Trey Ink's spring rain. The challenge on the 365 Card Blog is to paper PIERCE. I chose the aroma swirls to pierce. There is a touch of Flair coffee DP, a bit of Basic Grey Periphery, Brazzill linen texture brown. I ran the small PTI spring rain panel through the argyle Cuttlebug ef and used VersaMagic Chalk inks to color. The wonderful epoxied Cup o' Joe is from Creative Imaginations.

I'd love to hear where your coffee loyalties lie! I am on my third home espresso machine. A small price to pay for such JOY in a cuppa....

cake making

...just when I think it's safe to stay out of the kitchen, along comes the 365 Card Challenge with the photo of a cake as my inspiration! Oh, don't get me wrong, I love to bake, but my cakes are never pretty on the outside...

which reminds me, I think I'd rather be pretty on the inside...oh yes, I should get back to my paper cake. And paper piecing the cake makes it attractive on the outside, don't you think!

I'd love to share a slice with you...it's a yellow cake with cherries.

Recipe: Basic Grey Lemonade and Urban Prairie

Flourishes 2 step Cake Decorating Set

Stampin Up Argyle

Memento Tuxedo Black

VersaMark and silver pearl embossing powder.

GP white cs

gem brads

trust me,

would you? Well, maybe me, but Humpty? Pam of 365 Card Blog challenged us today to create a card that made her laugh. Hope that's the case with this 'lil card of mine. When I found this nursery character over at Stamp Francisco and the GREAT wall of China...well, I couldn't resist! Double good was the sketch on SCS...#236.

I used PTI poppy red for the kickstand base. GP white cs for the images, inking them with Nick Bantock's Charcoal Grey. I colored Humpty with Copics and popped him in the heavens. Right in front of Basic Grey's awesome cloud paper from the Mellow Collection. The trust is from the Just Rite Little Stampers and the ME is a Making Memories rub on.

So tell me true, did I make you laugh, cajole, snicker, grin...inquiring minds want to know!

it's a freakin' party

Oh, do excuse my slang today, but we're havin' a bit of a party over at MotherMarks. She's celebrating her week 52 teapot challenge and well, you know how it can be when the gurls gets together. MotherMark has even lined up the Queen to teach proper teapot etiquette~~~which of course is polite social behavior~~~who knows what this bunch of gurls will do! I hear she's even brought in those big brown hatted guards just in case...

This card for MotherMarks' challenge also fits the 365 Card Blog Challenge to paper piece and the Color Challenge on SCS. Girls, oh, girls is it ever fun to load up on challenges. I used Basic Grey's Two Scoops paper, I mean ya just gotta have balloons at a party and fancy teacups.

So have a look, join in the fun, and if you get a chance, tip a cup or pint our way!