Explore, Discover, Dream

Greetings!  Just a quick post today before I head out to a Stamp Show in my hometown.  While cleaning up my art studio recently, I came across this card that I made recently for a challenge, but decided in the end to create something else.  As part of my studio clean up, I have packed away my beloved beach/ocean items. So for one last time, until next summer, here is a card I made celebrating my love of the beach.  The image is from Red Lead, the sentiments are from Artistic Outpost.  The background was done with Distress Inks.  I hope you are having a great weekend!  Hugs, Yvonne

Harvest Time

Greetings! Back today with an Inkspiration Post for our new challenge.  Please note, our challenges are now bi-weekly and beginning with this challenge will occur on Saturdays.  This time around, our challenge is simply:  Anything Goes.  It has been a super busy week for me and when I sat down to create my piece I realized the sky was the limit which can sometimes be daunting, at least for me.  I decided to look through my Gecko Galz images and found this beautiful image of a girl holding harvested wheat in black and white and from there everything feel into place.  I toyed with painting or using PanPastels on the card front but in the end decided to leave it white so the black and white image would pop. I purchased these gorgeous leaf dies by Tim Holtz late last fall and never had a chance to use them.  I had a lot of fun cutting them from white card and then chose a bunch of different autumn like Distress Inks to color them.  I added script text from Artistic Outpost using Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  A bit of water drops using the spritz method came next.  I recently purchased the TH pumpkin and acorn dies, colored them with Gelatos and think they are nice addition.  Some black and white baker's twine and some brass leaves, a gift from Linda Coughlin with a purchase from her Funky Junkie Boutique and my card is complete.  Thanks so much for stopping by. Please stop over to Inkspiration to see what the rest of the team has to share with you and then I hope you will submit a project of your own.  Hugs, Yvonne

Beatlemania

Greetings dear friends!  It is Wednesday and time for a new Word Wednesday challenge over at 365 Cards.  This time, the challenge is to ask someone in your family, or a friend, to give you a word for you to create a card around.  I asked my husband for a word for my own creation and he said "Quote."  Well, I immediately knew I wanted to used a new sentiment from a plate of images called Chalkboard Wisdom by Artistic Outpost with a line from a Beatles' Song.  I stamped several landmarks from London and a pigeon, also from Artistic Outpost, in the background and then added a clip art image, matted in red, by Gecko Galz. And there you have it, a simple creation, but my husband believes any one loving the Beatles would be delighted to receive my card.  Isn't he sweet?  Thanks so much for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne 

Gathering Leaves

Greetings! There's a new challenge over at Eclectic Ellapu, and the Pink Team has stepped up to the challenge to create projects for the theme of "Celebrating Autumn."  Please stop over and check out their beautiful projects, and I hope you will be inspired to create one of your own.  I just love this time of year and really enjoyed working on this canvas.  I began by smooshing most of the recently released Seasonal Distress Paints onto a Craft Sheet and then spritzed with a bit of water and dredged the canvas through the paint. Several Tim Holtz Stencils were stenciled onto the canvas with Distress Inks and the honeycomb stencil, also by Tim Holtz, was embossed with Embossing Paste that was tinted with Gathered Twigs Distress Paint.  The stamped images are by Finnabair for Prima.  The gorgeous clip art is by Gecko Galz.  I hope you will join us and submit a project that celebrates Autumn. Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy this beautiful fall season.  Hugs, Yvonne

Once Upon A Time

Greetings! It is hard to believe another fortnight has passed and already it is time for a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenge!  This time, the theme is to create a project with either a Mask or Stencil.  I hope you pop over to FSC to see what the rest of the Design Team have created to inspire you to create one of your own.  For my own project, I decided to work on a canvas rather than a card, which is where my comfort zone truly resides.  I recently purchased Gelatos and have been wanting to work more with them. I found a video online that shows laying Gelatos onto a Gessoed Canvas and then brushing Gesso over top of the bright colors to provide a creamy background. Next I used several Tim Holtz Stencils and Distress Inks to layer onto the canvas.  The rays at the top needed something so I cut out a yellow sun from fabric and adhered it to the corner and added some faux stitching.  The fun houses are by Francoise Papillon for Stampotique.  After stamping the first one, using a mask, I stamped another next to it.  The houses were water colored with Distress Markers.  The Mushrooms and Grasses at the bottom of the canvas are by Dylusions.  The children and kite are stencils by Andy Skinner.  The kite was embossed with Black Embossing Paste by Wendy Vecchi.  Buttons, twine, and chip board complete my card.  As always, FlonzCraft is our generous sponsor and one lucky winner will receive a gift voucher for $20. I hope you will join in! Best wishes, Yvonne

Enjoy the Journey!

Greetings and welcome to my blog.  Thanks so much for dropping by!  Another week has flown by and it is time once again for a new challenge over at Inkspirational.  There are also a few changes. There is new leadership.  Several of our Design Team members were facing life changes and needed to relinquish a number of responsibilities accordingly.  We are now under the helm of Marina (thanks so much for taking on this responsibility) and of course as we bid farewell to some of the original Design Team, a huge thank you to Mynnette and Ellen co-owners and Ruth post coordinator for all their hard work in getting Inkspirational off the ground from its inception.  We have also decided to move to a bi-weekly format, allowing all of our followers a bit more time to create their own project.  As for this week's challenge, we have a color challenge, as shown below.  The twist though, is that you can pick either two or three of the colors with which to work.  I chose to use all three for my own creation.

I am working with a new to me image and sentiment that are from Penny Black.  The image and sentiment were stamped with Black StazOn Ink and then water colored with Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean and Pumice Stone to replicate the color palette above.  The image and sentiment were trimmed, distressed with Black Soot Distress Ink and layered over a gray mat which was first stenciled and embossed with embossing paste using stencils by Tim Holtz. A simple black and white piece of twine and metal tag holder by Idea-ology complete my card.  I hope you will pop over to see what the rest of the design team has come up with and welcome our newest design team member, Nonni, too.  Thanks for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Harvest Maiden

Greetings!  It's Wednesday and that means it is time for another Word Wednesday Challenge over at 365 Cards! Our word this week is "Swirls."  I am traveling and was a bit limited as I left my swirl stamps back home.  Then I remembered these chipboard swirls in storage and immediately, my card came together.  The beautiful focal image is by Gecko Galz.  The stamped images on the card base are by Finnabair.  The base, focal image and doily were distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the swirls were colored with a Spun Sugar Distress Marker. A vintage seam binding bow complete my card.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will join in with a creation of your own.  Take care, Yvonne