Art Ali

Polished Vellum

Here's a stamp I've had for a while, but didn't quite know what to do with it.  When I made this polished vellum background (TJ newsletter April/May 05), I thought they would make a good match. 

The basic idea is similar to polished stone, where you pounce different colors of alcohol inks and alcohol onto glossy paper, but in this technique, you use vellum instead.  I used vellum c/stock from Stampin' Up!, which is more sturdy than regular vellum paper.

Once the inks were dry, I brayed black Stazon onto the David stamp and stamped onto the vellum.  It was layered it onto a dictionary page, then black and white c/stock.

I'm not quite sure who I'd send this card to, so he might keep me company in my studio for a while.

Have a splendid weekend!

Supplies:

• Stamps: Artful Artifacts (Stampers Anonymous)
• Paper: More mustard, whisper white, basic black and vellum c/stock, dictionary page
• Ink: Black Stazon, alcohol inks
• Accessories: Word stick (Ideology), black embroidery floss

 

Growth

Oops - long time, no post!  I've been super busy with a myriad of projects both at home and stamping related.  And I realized that I forgot to post the card I made for Gingersnaps Growth Challenge last week.  And I posted another challenge today, which will be on my blog tomorrow.  Yikes - I can't keep up!

For this card, I used a new poppy stamp (well new to me) from Penny Black and I just love it!

The poppy is stamped on watercolor paper and I used Stampin' Up! markers to watercolor it (Marker Watercoloring).  The centers has black seed beads, which you can see better in this close up picture:

Tomorrow I'll share a wall hanging I made using a paper fringe.

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies:

Stamps: Poppy Poem (Penny Black), Teeny Tiny Wishes (Stampin' Up!)

C/stock: Watercolor paper, Old Olive c/stock & Fabriano card base

Ink: Stazon, SU markers, Old Olive

Accessories: Linen thread, black seed beads

Tools: Word window punc

Fluffy Bunny

I'm hosting the Gingersnaps Spicy Supply challenge today, which is to use 'frosting' on your creations.  This means any kind of embellishment or product that goes on top of the final piece, such as pearls, glitter, beads, stickles, etc.

I decided to use Flower Soft and this cute bunny image from I Brake For Stamps.  Flower Soft is one of those products that was hot this time last year, so I bought a couple of pots and I used it only once or twice.  It's not my favorite product to work with, but it makes a nice little spot for this little guy to sit on.

Here's a better look:

The background that the image is stamped was created on watercolor paper with Distress inks and the Watercolor Distress technique (TJs Feb/Mar 07).  I made another card using the same technique late last year.

Have a great day!

Supplies:

• Stamps: I Brake For Stamps
• Paper: Fabriano watercolor card base, watercolor paper, chocolate chip c/stock
• Ink: Peeled Paint, Weathered Wood & Faded Jeans Distress Ink, Stazon, Primsa pencils
• Accessories: Green Flower Soft, brown sheer ribbon

Glimmery, Shimmery ATCs

We had a taste of Spring in New England today.  The sun was shining and the thermometer almost hit 50 degrees. After taking a really long walk along some new trails, I only had a short amount of time to make something. Still on my quest to try some different things this week, I decided upon a couple of ATCs. 

The background of the first ATC was created by dabbing a mixture of reinkers and shimmer paint onto a piece of c/stock (Dabbed Shimmers technique - Feb/March '10 edition of TJ newlsetter).  Once it was dry, I added the extra step of running it through an embossing folder.

I had an extra image left over from this tag - she's stamped on a vintage bridge score sheet. The word 'faith' and number 12 were cut from a Jenni Bowlin bingo card (love those things!) and a few latte pearls from Amuse finish it off. 

I made this orange guy for Think Monday Think ATC, where they challenged readers to create an ATC that is predominantly orange.  The background is a piece of white c/stock that I created using the Antiqued Glimmers technique (Dec '09/Jan '10 TJ newsletter).  I also threw in a Tim Holz mask for good measure.  Then I simply stamped the image over the top, spotlighted the word 'art' and added some printed twill tape to the bottom. 

Have a fun weekend whatever your plans are!

Stamps: Oxford Impressions & Lost Coast Designs

 

Rainbow Double Card

Here's a card I made for my mum.  We live far apart and although we speak a couple of times a week on the phone, it's nice to send snail mail too.  She recently lost her mother and things are still pretty tough for her, so I thought this might cheer her up a bit.  I really hope she likes it.

The technique is called Rainbow Double.  It's a Technique Junkie technique from the August/September 07 edition.  The first layer is a Versmark resist on glossy c/stock - stamp the images with Versmark and brayer ink over the top.  The second layer is embossed with white craft ink and white embossing powder.  The hard part for me is applying the spectrum ink evenly - I'm brayer challenged!

Thanks for visiting - have a wonderful day!

Supplies

• Stamps: Garden Silhouette (Stampin' Up! - retired), Whimsical Words (Stampin' Up!)
• C/stock: white, glossy white & chocolate chip
• Ink: Pumpkin Patch Spectrum ink pad, chocolate chip, white craft ink, Versamark
• Accessories: sheer brown ribbon, white embossing powder
• Tools: brayer, heat gun, large oval punch

Happy Birthday Gingersnap Creations

We are celebrating our 1st birthday at Gingersnap Creations!  I can't believe a whole year has passed since Sharon and I set up this blog.  It started as a way for us to have some stamping fun together and satisfy our need for creating without rules and restrictions.  But boy, have we grown! 

Hundreds of people from around the world play our challenges each month!  We have a magnificent Design Team, who work so hard to make fantastic artwork each week.  We post awesome tutorials and techniques, review books and products and showcase different manufacturers and artists. To name but a few of the things we do.

As part of our birthday celebrations, we're hosting a joint challenge with Artistic Outpost- you can check out the details of the challenge here.  This is the card I made for the challenge using their Cutie Pie set.

 

To make it a little more special, I created a Top-Latch card (TJ technique June/July 08 edition) - here's a side view, so you can see it better.

Artistic Outpost is one of my very favorite stamp companies and I own quite a few of their plates.  In case you need a little inspiration for the challenge, I've put a few of my favorite cards into a photo album, which you can find in the sidebar.

Happy Creating!

Supplies:

• Stamps: Cutie Pie (Artistic Outpost), Celebrate Everything (Stampin' Up!)
• Paper: Vintage Cream (PTI), pattered paper from Making Memories and Basic Grey
• Ink: Black Memento, Copic Markers
• Accessories: Rhinestones (Amuse), Dazzling Diamonds (SU)
• Tools: Scallop edge punch (SU) & glue pen

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

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!