Art Ali

Found Paper Herringbone Card

The weekend is almost over, but we had a great one spent in the company of good friends!  And school starts tomorrow after February vacation, so I'm doing a little happy dance.

I have a different kind of card to share tonight.  It's one of those cards that I either really like or really hate, but can't make up my mind which - does that ever happen to you? 

I have a drawer full of text papers - mostly small scraps.  So, I pulled out the drawer and turned over the pile, like it was a compost heap and started collaging pieces onto card stock.  Once the c/stock was completely covered, I sponged on several colors of ink and cut the page into 1/4" strips.  These strips were adhered to another piece of c/stock using the Herringbone technique (TJ Dec09/Jan10).  I finished off the card with a Tim Holtz sentiment and some twine.  

Hope you had a restful weekend!

Supplies:

• Stamps: Good Thoughts (Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous)
• C/stock: Vintage Cream (Papertrey), found papers
• Ink: Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles & Faded Jeans Distress Inks
• Accessories: Linen Twine (SU)

Glimmering Bird Song

I made another card just for fun today! 

We had to stay home to keep an eye on our dog - to stop her from licking the wound she had sewn up yesterday - yuk!  So between cooking a huge batch of chicken and rice casserole and watching the dog, I managed to squeeze in a card.  It's for a couple of Splitcoast challenges - Ways to Use It (the color orange) and Clean and Simple (Spring).

It uses one the new Tim Holtz Components stamps called Bird Song, which is stamped onto an Antiqued Glimmer (TJ Dec/Jan 10) background.  I'm not sure you can even see the sparkle from the Glimmer Mist - the winter weather is not cooperating at the moment, but here's a close-up anyway:

The sentiment is also from a new Tim H set called Good Thoughts.  The first half is stamped on the front of the card and the second half on the inside.

Happy stamping!

Supplies:

• Stamps: Bird Song & Good Thoughts (Stampers Anonymous), Vintage Vogue (flourish inside - Stampin' Up!)
• Cardstock: Vintage Cream (PTI), Basic Black, Real Rust
• Ink: Spiced Marmalade & Fired Brick Distress Inks, Memento black, Really Rust, black marker
• Accessories: ribbon (unknown), black brad (American Crafts), Glimmer Mist

Dabbed Shimmers

Do you ever have one of those days?  Today didn't go as planned.  It took me 4.5 hours to get my husband to the airport and he nearly missed his flight - you've got to love Boston traffic.  And while out for a walk, our dog impaled herself on a stick, resulting in a $350 vets bill.  That wasn't in the plan - think how many stamps that would buy!Anyway, the dog's fine and the hubby is on the plane, so I guess it all worked out in the end. 

On a good note, I hosted the Gingersnap Creations Color Challenge today and you have to use 3 colors you love.  I chose blue, green and white as my colors. 

I stamped the image from The Artistic Stamper with black ink onto a piece of Bashful Blue c/stock and highlighted it with a white charcoal pencil.  The blue background panel was created using the TJ technique, Dabbed Shimmers from the Feb/Mar 10 edition.  After I'd dabbed a piece of c/stock with Shimmer paint and SU reinkers, I ran it through the Big Shot with an embossing folder.  It's tricky to see the shimmer because I was photographing it during a snow storm - not such good light, but it is there!

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies:

• Stamps: Twenties Ladies - The Artistic Stamper
• C/stock: Whisper White & Bashful Blue
• Ink: Memento Black, SU Shimmer paint, Bashful Blue & Kiwi Kiss reinkers, white charcoal pencil
• Accessories: satin Kiwi Kiss ribbon, hat pin, pearls and crystals (SU Pretties kit)
• Tools: Big Shot, embossing folder, sponge

Party Time Art Exchange

I'm organizing a 4 for 4 postcard exchange over on Gingersnap Creations and the theme is party time.  I've almost finished all my cards and here's one that's pretty much complete.

The 4" x 6" base is 140lb watercolor paper which has layers of gesso, found papers, stamping and paint glazes.  The hats were created from old book pages and embellished with all manner of things I could find in my craft room.  My favorite part is the pom pom trim on the bottom, which is hand stitched with red and white thread.

We'd love to have more players and there's still time to sign up.  For more details on the swap, visit Gingersnap Creations.

Gingersnaps Blog Hop

Welcome to the Gingersnap Creations’ Valentine Blog Hop and Hop Stop #2!

If you’ve already been hopping then hopefully you have just come from Stop #1 at Gingersnap Creations. If you are starting here, welcome! It's a loop so you can start anywhere along the way!

At each stop, you need to collect a word! There are 9 stops in all starting and ending with the Gingersnap Creations blog where you can get all the specific information and get a peak at the the goodies in the Valentine Giveaway including some treats from The Artistic Stamper.

When you get all your words, 9 in all, unscramble them to form a quotation about love. Once you have your guess at the quote, email it and your name to gingersnapstamp@gmail.com by February 20, 2010. We will be picking one lucky winner at random from the correct entries to win the Valentine Giveaway package!

If you visit all the stops, you should end up right back at Gingersnap Creations with 9 words! Unscramble the words to come up with a love quote and email it on to gingersnapstamp@gmail.com. That's all there is to it!

My word is 'of'.  Your next stop on the hop is Debby at Debby's Stuff.

I made this card using Twenties #1 plate from The Artistic Stamper and the Wisped Frame technique from the Feb/March issue of technique junkies.

Good luck and have fun!

Playing with Alcohol Inks

There's exciting news at Gingersnaps today - a new Design Team call!  It's been six months since the last one - where does the time go? If you're looking to have some creative fun on an easy going and supportive team, then check it out!

Here's a card I made just for fun - that doesn't happen a lot these days!  I was playing with alcohol inks and used the Alcohol Ink Press technique from the TJs newsletter (April/May 07).  It didn't smoosh as well as this card, so I gave it a quick spritz with some Ranger's Blending Solution and it created this speckled effect.

I love I Brake for Stamps collage image - it's the first time I've used it and I'll definitely be using it again!

Supplies:

• Stamps: I Brake for Stamps, sentiment from Stampin' Up!
• Cardstock: Fabriano watercolor cards, acetate, whisper white, basic black
• Ink: Alcohol inks - Stream & Wild Plum, Black Stazon, blending solution
• Accessories: flat black pearls
• Tools: tab punch

Thanks for visiting!  Come back to tomorrow for the Gingersnaps Blog Hop....

Vintage Lace

I have been working on lots of stuff - honest.  But so many of the projects are not quite finished - sigh....

Here is something I've completed using some vintage lace and an adorable stamp from The Artistic Stamper in the UK.  I wrote a tutorial on Gingersnaps yesterday on how to create this glitter/lace effect - check it out!

The lady is lightly colored with Copic markers and her dress is paper pieced with the same paper used on the card base.  Her earrings and shoes are silver, but the photo didn't pick them up clearly.

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies:

• Stamps: 20's Ladies plate from The Artistic Stamper
• Paper: Very vanilla, basic black & Basic Grey Urban Couture
• Ink: Memento black & Copic markers
• Accessories: Flat pearl, black satin ribbon, glitter, vintage lace & mailing labels
• Tools: SU border punch