Make My Monday - Challenge 17 - SteamPunk - Anything But a Card

Really excited about the Make My Monday Challenge! I learned when going to their site for this week's challenge that I had been selected as one of the Top Three for last week's Challenge 16. I am both humbled and honored at being selected from all the beautiful entries. This is my first ever being selected at any Challenge so I am just thrilled. Check out the other winners noted as part of this week's challenge. You won't be disappointed!

This week, for Challenge 17, we wrap up SteamPunk with the specification of "SteamPunk -Anything But a Card." I am a card maker! I admit it. This is the second challenge in the past few days where I am stretched to go beyond a card base for my canvas. I searched my art studio and came up with this very handsome black box. It contained my Yearly Calendar that I purchased at Barnes and Noble at the begining of 2011. It was so gorgeous, 8.5" by 10.5" that I had previously tore off the front label and set aside for another day. For Challenge 17, I decided to decorate the top of the box in preparation to give the box and possible contents as a gift to someone. (My digital camera broke a few days ago and I am trying to get use to my husband's new camera so please forgive the shadows and waviness until I figure it all out. Not very mechanically incline, I'm afraid.)

I am really enjoying SteamPunk, have ordered some new stamps, but they have not yet arrived, and so I set to work with what I had on hand. I used two stamp plates by Artistic Outpost, Whimsical Melange and SteamPunk. I did a lot of ink distressing with Brushed Concord, Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick and Antique Linen.

I added sprockets by Tim Holtz, sewing snaps, jump rings from my attempts at jewelry making, and tried to make a pair of spectacles from jewelry wire.

Not sure yet who will receive this box, but I think it will make someone happy. Looking forward to seeing what else everyone else comes up with and very curious about the new theme for October! Take care and thanks for dropping by. Best, Yvonne

Tuesday Trigger - Delightfully Random

I cannot tell you happy I am to have found Tuesday Trigger at Moxy Fab! I absolutely love the trends, the inspirational photos and viewing all the entries. So many different interpretations of each challenge. This week's challenge is called "Delightfully Random." We are to create a project of our own based on our inspiration of the photo. The items that stood out to me were the doily, buttons, red and white check, spools of thread, bird and pennant. I am fresh out of mint card stock and decided to focus on what I saw as the primary colors in the photo: white, red and turquoise. To give my card a shabby chic, vintage look, I ink distressed my card base and the stamped images with Pumice Stone Distress Ink. My pennant, bird and house that reminded me of the envelope in the photo above are all by Artistic Outpost. I particularly enjoy how you can intermingle AO's images from various plates. For embellishments, I added a red doily and portions of another, buttons, baker's twine, liquid pearls and a die cut spool by Mr. Tim Holtz that was gifted to me by a friend and fellow design team member. There were so many ways to go with this photo and I am enjoying seeing what everyone else has come up with! Thanks for dropping by and for leaving a comment if you feel moved to do so! Best, Yvonne

Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Vintage Inspired

It's a brand new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenge! This fortnight, we are making Vintage-inspired projects. For my card, I started with one of my "Go To" images from the Generation Redux plate by Artistic Outpost stamped in Sepia Versa Fine ink, distressed with Antique Linen ink, adhered with Kraft photo corners and matted in distressed black. I also stamped an Ephemeral plate image of a journal page also by Artistic Outpost in Antique Linen and also distressed with the same ink and matted it in distressed black. I stamped several additional images onto the distressed background paper from Generation Redux, added doilies that were also distressed and then added my matted images. To complete my card, I added die cut vines in Copper metallic paper, dotted with copper pearls, brown seam binding, a butterfly sticker by Tim Holtz, bronze silk leaves and a piece of vintage jewelery. Please check out FSC to see all the beautiful inspiration pieces by the Design Team and then let us see your own Vintage piece for a chance to win a wonderful set of stamps! Thanks for stopping by. Best, Yvonne

Bloggers Challenge - Travel

It's another Friday and that means another Bloggers' Challenge! This week, Lisa has selected Travel as the theme. Each of us can determine from there how we will present our project. I started thinking about stamps I generally gravitate to when creating a Bon Voyage card, but in the end, went a different route. I began with this Montage image by PSX. I purchased this stamp 10 years ago when making wedding annoucements and invitations to my husband's and my reception. We were married on the beach in St. Croix and later had a reception at our home for friends and family. I also added a sentiment and image from Artistic Outpost, as well as a sentiment by Penny Black. The background is part of a map I cut to fit and distressed with Antique Linen Distress Ink. I could not resist adding some Air Mail Divine Twine and a vintage red button to complete my card. Looking forward to everyone's take on the challenge. I hope you will consider joining in! Best, Yvonne

CAS Birthday Wishes

A number of my dear friends are celebrating September birthdays next week. I decided to make some Clean and Simple cards to pop in the mail to them. My friend Sally has a cat and one of my other friends is a school teacher and loves children, so their cards reflect these things. It has been a very long couple of weeks digging out from flood waters. The insurance adjuster was finally here yesterday and today they hauled away all of the contents of our basement that were sitting in our driveway these past couple of weeks. It is sad to see items that you have used and are a part of your family for many decades taken to the dump. We have much to be thankful for, though, as others in our community have lost everything and cannot even live in their homes. Hoping everyone has a great weekend. Best, Yvonne

Make My Monday - Challenge 16 - Metal Steampunk

Make My Monday Challenge continues with the Steampunk theme, this week with an emphasis on "Metal." You can tell Autumn is near as many of us seem to be gravitating to earth tone colors for our projects! For my card, I started with a berry colored card base. I distressed a white card stock panel with Antique Linen, Shabby Shutters, Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks. My images are from Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Collection and also from several plates by Artistic Outpost. For metal, I added sprockets by Tim Holtz and also sewing snaps. The panel was matted in black and then metallic copper paper and mounted to the card front. I think Steampunk is so cool and would probably never have had the nerve to give it a try, if it had not been for Make My Monday. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's projects. Thanks for stopping by! Best, Yvonne

Bloggers Challenge - Who's got the Buttons?

The challenge this week at Bloggers Challenge is all about Buttons! I immediately set to work on my card when seeing the theme. A short time ago, when scouring my local fabric and craft store, I checked out the button aisle. Always looking for beautiful buttons on the clearance rack! I hit the jackpot when I found these beautiful gems with Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter! The German Scrap and ribbon just arrived recently and I pieced the card all together, adding distress inks, a sentiment by Stampa Rosa and some background paper to make this sweet card. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. After a week of working on remediation at our home and my sister-in-law's from last week's flood, we are off to the beach for the weekend. Spending time with our son and daughter-in-law who are down for a whole week. Best, Yvonne

Clean and Simple - 157

The sketch above is the current challenge at Clean and Simple. I needed to make a birthday card for one of my nieces, so this sketch came in real handy. Stamps are by Studio G and inks are by Ranger Distress. Thanks for stopping by! Yvonne

Bloggers Challenge - Stars

The challenge over at Bloggers Challenge this week is to create a project with Stars. The interpretation from there is ours. Since we just reflected on 9/11, I thought it would be appropriate to choose an image and sentiments from the She-roes plate at Artistic Outpost.

I will be sending this card to my neice for Veterans' Day, in November. Thanks for dropping by. If you would like to join the fun at Bloggers Challenge, please check out Lisa's blog for easy instructions. Yvonne

A Note of Thanks

A dear friend of mine took me out for lunch last week to celebrate my birthday. I wanted to thank her and made this card using new stamps I received recently from Crafty Individuals. My friend is a red head, so I could not resist using a similar colored Copic Marker for this dear little girl. Sure hope she enjoys the card! Thanks for stopping by. Yvonne

Use it Tuesday - Challenge # 15 - Uninked Stamp

A fun challenge over at Use it Tuesday for Challenge #15. We are to ink a stamp that we have had for a long time that has never been inked before! I purchased a set of three Party Dogs stamps from Lost Coast Designs years ago, but had never inked this party pooch. I found this sentiment nearby, also uninked, though I cannot be sure who it is from. Simple embellishments of buttons, twine and some glitter gems complete the card. Thanks for dropping by, and if you're looking for a fun challenge, that helps you use hoarded supplies, check out Use it Tuesday! Yvonne

Make My Monday - Challenge 15 - Steampunk Monochrome

Greetings everyone! It's been a rough couple of days. We had a flood come through our town and our home is one block from the river. We are back home now, and digging out. I decided to take a break tonight and get back to card making as a refuge. The theme at Make My Monday continues to be Steampunk. This week, it is to make a monochrome card. For my card, I started with a grey card base. On a white card stock panel, I sponged Pumice Stone Distressed ink. I stamped a row of homes, by Crafty Individuals, several times on a separate scrap with Pumice Stone. The rest of the images on the card are from a variety of stamp images by Artistic Outpost. I embellished the cards with metal sprockets by Tim Holtz and liquid pearls. Loving this opportunity to work on my Steampunk skills. Thanks for dropping by. Yvonne

Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Make a Tag

Greetings! There's a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenge (FSC)! We are making tags. There a host of beautiful inspiration tags from the Design Team to get you started, so take a look and then get started on one of your own. For my Great Gatsby Tag, I covered a tag with black patterned paper, added a doily, stamped this beautiful image and sentiment, both by Artistic Outpost, and added some photo corners, matting, buttons, pearls, German scrap, glitter glue, twine and ribbon. I really enjoyed making this tag, something I have not done very often, and look forward to making more in the future. Please remember entries must include stamping and no digis are permitted. See the FSC link for full details. Thanks for dropping by! Best, Yvonne

Tuesday Trigger - Garden Glory

The Tuesday Trigger this week is Garden Glory and the inspirational photo is noted above. As part of our entry, we are asked to explain what inspired us when designing our project. At first glance, my attention went to the geometric design on the chair. I remembered a background paper that looked very similar but discovered I had already used it. I settled on another paper that my daughter just gave to me for my birthday and really like how it pulls the greens and turquoises together. The brown table, though small, really grounds the photo so I added brown matting to my card. I stamped a flower by Hero Arts in turquoise and green to pay homage to the pillow in the photo and then added a sentiment by Penny Black in brown ink. Just like the photo, I added white flowers, which I probably would normally have thought was too much, but I like it. Congrats to all the winners from last week. Looking forward to seeing everyone's entries! Thanks for stopping by. Yvonne

365 Cards - Day 191 - So Not Me!

The challenge over at 365 Cards for Day 191 is "So Not Me!" Specifically, the challenge is to make a card using a style that we are NOT comfortable with. That's easy for me. Vintage is not my forte. I love to look at other artists who do vintage well, but I feel like I have a long way to go. And so my card above! I just got this stamp and sentiment from Crafty Individuals and thought they would be perfect for my card. The scraps of French text and the illustration are from a vintage book. The seam binding and German Scrap art completes the card. I'll be sending this card off to a dear friend who recently retired and who took me out for lunch today for my birthday, which occurs later this week. She loves pink so I hope she likes it. Thanks for stopping by. Yvonne

Just Because

This card was made, just because! Not for any challenge, and I realize it will probably, therefore, be viewed by few but that's okay. I just felt like making a card with these images by Stampington and Company. Heading home from the beach today. Both my hubby and doggy have been ill the whole length of our stay, but we always say, "there's no bad day at the beach" and "if you're lucky enough to live at the beach, you're lucky enough." Hope everyone had a lovely Holiday weekend. Love, Yvonne

Make My Monday - Challenge 14 - Steampunk ATC

The challenge for the month of September at Make My Monday is STEAMPUNK! I absolutely looovvee Steampunk. I've never tried to do it myself, but I am so drawn to artwork in this style. So, I guess I will get my chance to get my feet wet finally! Specifically, this week, Challenge #14 is to make an ATC (Artist Trading Card) in the Steampunk style. An ATC measures 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. (I have NEVER made one of them either.) Oh, I am really being stretched this time around. One would think a smaller canvas might be easier, but since my canvas of choice is 5 inches by 7 inches, I really struggle with less space. That aside, here is my first attempt at true Steampunk. I added an image from Tim Holtz and Artistic Outpost in Pumice Stone Distress Ink and stamped a sentiment by Tim Holtz in Black Memento Ink on top of the images. I distressed the ATC with Spiced Marmelade and a bit of Purple Distress Inks and finished my card with some metal embellishments by Tim Holtz and Copper Liquid Pearls. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with in the weeks ahead. Thanks for dropping by. Best, Yvonne

365 Cards - Day 189 - Pattern Frenzy

It has been a fantastic weekend away at the beach for my husband and me. So lucky to be able to minimally work on challenges while I am away. Over at 365 Cards for Day 189, the challenge is Pattern Frenzy. The challenge is to use six different patterned papers on our card in any fashion we choose. I started with a Kraft card stock for my card base. I selected six background papers in fuchsia and orange patterns and cut or tore various sizes of papers from them for my card. For the focal image, I stamped this beautiful stamp of four girls by Crafty Individuals with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink onto white card stock. The image was matted with Kraft card stock. As a final touch, I wrapped the card with orange and white Baker's Twine and also added chrome liquid pearls. Thanks for dropping by my blog. Best, Yvonne

Bloggers Challenge - Monochromatic Blue

It's another challenge over at Bloggers' Challenge. This week it is 'Monochromatic Blue' that we are to use for our project. I'm not much of a blue person. (It's a long story.) I find myself, once again, away from home with a duffle bag of supplies and little of anything in the way of blue. I started with a piece of light blue card stock for the card base. I stamped my images from the Steampunk plate by Artistic Outpost in Faded Jeans Distress Ink and distressed the edges to mute the stark white card stock I stamped on. I added a sentiment on a small darker piece of card stock along the side. Though I was tempted to add some silver liquid pearls, I resisted. I wrapped some blue and white ribbon around the corners of the main image and my card was complete. Don't you just love these challenges? They really make me grow as an artist. Also entering this card int Artistic Outposts September Referral Program. Hoping everyone is enjoying this beautiful Holiday weekend. Take care. Yvonne