Butterfly Dreams

Greetings! It is Saturday and I hope you are having a great weekend. We will be traveling back home tomorrow. It has been wonderful to be away for the good part of a week. Today, I am sharing a card I made while away this week. The card base is Vintage Pink. A Martha Stewart border punch was used on a piece of designer paper from the Springime paper from Crafty Individuals. The main image CI-338 was stamped twice. Once with Milled Lavender and once with Dusty Concord and pieced together. A small bit of white lace was added to the bottom of the image and a sentiment, compliments of Crafty Individuals. Several other complimentary stamps were used in the background. I have amassed quite a collection of these complimentary stamps that Crafty Individuals includes with each order and am very appreciative of CI's generosity. The butterfly is also from Crafty Individuals. A paper doily, some vintage seam binding and some pearls complete my card. I learned of a new Challenge through one of my Design Team Sisters at FSC so I am going to enter this at the Samuel Taylor Blog where the theme for March is "Butterflies." Samuel Taylor's is offering a bountiful prize package to the lucky prize draw winner. Thanks for dropping by! Best wishes, Yvonne

Seagulls by the Sea

Happy Friday to everyone! There 's a new challenge over at Bloggers Challenge. This time, the challenge is to create a project that includes birds. I am currently away from home and after digging through my stash, find only these seagulls included in the Beyond the Sea plate by Artistic Outpost to be traveling with me. To create my tag, I began with white card stock. I stamped the light house image with Rich Cocoa Memento ink. The balance of the white card stock was distressed with Tumbled Glass and Antique Linen Distress Ink. I grunged up the edges of the card stock by ripping, tearing and folding portions of the edges. On scrap card stock, I stamped, trimmed and watercolored with various Distress Inks the shell gatherer, and the starfish, crab and shells. Each were then applied to the tag front with dimensionals over top of draped cheesecloth. The sentiment was stamped onto sea foam twill tape and mounted toward the bottom of the tag. Simple embellishments include vintage buttons, Copper Liquid Pearls, a scrap of burlap, and a binder clip by Ideology. I am also entering this tag at Simon Says Stamp and Show where the challenge is to show a tag. I hope each of you has a wonderful weekend. Thanks for dropping by! Yvonne

A Walk in the Park

Hello! This is my second post for today, so please scroll down after viewing this one, if you would care to view my other one! For this post, I continue to work with the brand new release by Artistic Outpost called Flower Market. A timely release indeed, with spring upon us. I chose to keep to just a few colors on my card to lend a 40s vintage feel. Images from the Flower Market plate were stamped with Black StazOn over the red card base. The butterfly catcher was stamped onto cream card stock and bunches of flowers were stamped continuously around her to create a field of flowers. Some of the flowers were watercolored in with Festive Berries Distress Ink and covered with Clear Glaze. The tiny butterflies were stamped on scrap red card stock, trimmed and also covered with a Clear Glaze and mounted with dimensional foam blocks. A single poppy was added using a similar treatment. Finishing touches include a bit of ribbon tape, pearls and some vintage black seam binding and a vintage button. Hoping you are enjoying all the new releases over at Artistic Outpost! Enjoy the day! Yvonne

Frilly or Funkie?

Happy Thursday everyone! I am joining in on a brand new challenge created by Linda Coughlin called Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog! I met Linda recently when we were both asked to be Guest Designers for Artistic Outpost. I immediately fell in love with Linda's style of card making and really appreciated how she always includes a list of products in her posts of items used in her creations. She also has a fabulous boutique of items to tickle your fancy. Congratulations Linda on this new adventure with your very own Challenge. Speaking of the challenge, for the very first challenge, we are asked to submit a creation using "Your Favorite Vintage Style."

After viewing the Frilly and Funkie inspiration pieces, which are just gorgeous, I find myself in a quandary. I love both frilly and funkie styles! I decided to just start pulling items out of my duffel bags. (We are currently away from home and my dear husband asked me to lighten my bags for carrying purposes, so I now carry two lighter weight bags instead of one heavy one and probably got a few extra items out of the deal!)

I began with a light grey card base, and stamped each of the four corners in Black StazOn ink with a complimentary image I received with an order of stamps by Crafty Individuals. I distressed the edges of a white paper doily with Antique Linen Distress Ink and mounted it to the card front along with a black paper doily. Clip Art from Love Letters I by Crafty Individuals was added next along with some lace and pearls. I also tucked a butterfly image by Crafty Individuals behind the main image. To balance my card, I added a paisley swirl and sentiment, also compliments of CI. A bit of black crochet trim finishes my card.

Best wishes to Linda and her talented Design Team on the success of the Frilly and Funkie Challenge! Have a great day everyone. Yvonne

Celebrating Women with the March Release of Artistic Outpost Images!

I am so excited to share with you as a Guest Designer of Artistic Outpost that March is Women's History Month here in the United States, and Artistic Outpost is celebrating Women everywhere by offering THREE brand new collections that will tickle any girl's fancy!

Quotes & Quotables: Women, ladies, girls...they say the darndest things! This collection of nine fanciful quotes features idyllic and profound statements by iconic women such as Helen Keller, Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn, among others.





For my inspiration piece, I stamped one of my all time favorite images from the Think and Wonder plate twice onto white card stock. I colored the first one in with green PanPastels and the second one I cut out the girl, watercolored her with Scattered Straw Distress Ink and mounted her over the first image, which was matted in red paper and applied to a white doily that was distressed with Scattered Straw Distress Ink. A wide piece of ivory lace was also distressed and layered onto the card front. My seam binding was a bit bright so I dyed it with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to tone it down a bit and wrapped it around the card front and tied it into a bow. The quote was stamped multiple times so that I could add different colored words to the sentiment, which was matted with black paper to make the text pop. Black Liquid Pearls complete my embellishments.

Secretary Pool: Featuring retro images including a typewriter, paper clip, staple collage, telephone, and a wonderful vintage alphabet. Enjoy creating whimsical cards and other works of art with this versatile vintage collection.

For my inspiration piece, I began by stamping paper clips, pencil points and pairs of scissors on the card base in Black StazOn Ink. I stamped various images from the Secretary Pool Plate onto cream colored card stock, trimmed and distress each piece with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The images were assembled over the stamped card base. The "Call Me" sentiment was formed from the alphabet included in the plate and stamped on Copper Metallic paper. Copper Liquid Pearls, a Copper Binder Clip and Sentiment Tag, both by Ideology, and some vintage seam binding complete my card.

Flower Market: Inspired by the famous flower markets of France, this collection of spring images includes 13 images including daffodils, lavender, poppies, and a cherub French girl who will most likely be chasing butterflies!

For my final piece, I began with a dark blue card base. I wanted to create a card with a Delft Tile look. I stamped various images with Faded Jeans Distress Ink onto white card stock and distressed the edges of each piece with Antique Linen Distress Ink. The images were trimmed or torn in the case of the butterfly. I added Distress Stickles, also in Faded Jeans here and there. The images were added to the card front over a white paper doily, some cheese cloth and a repurposed blue satin ribbon fashioned into a bow with a metal heart charm. The sentiment was also stamped with Faded Jeans Distress Ink.

All three stamp collections measure 8.5" x 5.5". They are available unmounted as a sheet of beautiful red rubber, or you can have Artistic Outpost's wonderful owner Steven mount them on cling foam and hand trim them to perfection. The mounted stamps come with a plastic index sheet / cling card for ease of storage.

I will be sharing even more pieces using these new stamp images in the days to come. In the meantime, I invite you to peruse my fellow Design Team Sisters' blogs for even more titillating, inspiring and sheer creative genius with these gorgeous new stamp images:

Gerrie Johnnic; Lisa Somerville; Suzanne Czosek; Anita Houston; Linda Coughlin; and Tracy Evans

The First Birds of Spring

Greetings! I have a card to share with you that I made today using the Bluebird plate from Artistic Outpost. I have loved birds my entire life, and several years back when birds hit the stamping scene, I was immediately drawn to this beautiful plate of stamps, which have stood the test of time and remained among my very favorite. After making several colorful cards today, which I will post shortly, I felt drawn to make a more neutral card here. The embossed background was distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the images were stamped with Black StazOn Ink onto Mushroom card stock and also distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The birds were colored in lightly with a light blue Copic Maker. Embellishments include burlap material, vintage blue buttons and ivory and black ribbon. Thanks for stopping by and hoping you are having a great day. Best wishes, Yvonne

New Beginnings

This post is for the final Spring related challenge for the month of March over at the Make My Monday Challenge. This week, we are to include something in our challenge that signifies a "New Beginning." For my card, I began with a white card base and rounded the corners to soften the look. A green paper doily was laced with vintage purple seam binding and applied to the card front. An Easter Egg by Serenity Stamps was stamped with Dusty Concord Distress Ink onto Designer Paper, trimmed and applied to the Paper Doily. A baby bunny by PSX was also stamped with Dusty Concord Distress Ink on pink card stock, trimmed and added. A final image called "Just Hatched" by Paper Inspirations was stamped, again with Dusty Concord Distress Ink onto yellow card stock, trimmed and applied. The sentiment is by Artistic Outpost. Finishing touches include dimensional flowers by K and Company and Distress Glitter Glue in Milled Lavender. Make My Monday has really great challenges that really help you stretch as an artist. If you haven't taken the plunge, why not give it a go? Thanks for stopping by! Best wishes, Yvonne

Gathered Easter Eggs

Hello! Thanks for stopping by. This card was created for the current challenge # 11 at PanPastel UK, which is to make a Springtime Project using Bright Colors. A blue card base was topped with a lacy doily. PanPastels in bright colors were applied to white card stock, blending each new color into the previous colors. After fixing the colors with hairspray, I stamped Easter Eggs by Serenity Stamps with Black StazOn Ink onto the PanPastel colored paper. The eggs were trimmed and applied to the doily. The bunny by PSX was also stamped onto the PanPastel applied paper, trimmed and added to the card with dimenstionals. I continued to be amazed at the versatility of PanPastels and love how these challenges keep me experimenting. The sentiment is from the Birds of a Feather plate by Artistic Outpost. Simple embellishments include vintage spring green seam binding, vintage buttons and craft thread. I really appreciate and value all comments regarding my posts. Take care. Best wishes, Yvonne

Les Lapins dans Les Printemps

Another challenge has rolled around for Fashionable Stamping Challenge. The challenge this time is to create a project with a theme of "Spring is in the Air." For my own project, I began with a buff colored card base. A piece of designer paper from the Springtime Background Book from Crafty Individuals is layered over the card base along with lace that was distressed with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and a piece of cheese cloth. A Poitrait Tag by Crafty Individuals was angled over the background paper next. Focal images: Dix Lapins and Lapins dans le jardin by Stamp Francisco were stamped with Dusty Concord Distress ink, trimmed and distressed with more Pumice Stone Distress ink. The large rabbits were attached with dimensionals. A clip art image from the People and Places Miniature Book by Crafty Individuals was tucked behind the large rabbits. Finishing touches include vintage buttons and seam binding, pearls, and cotton tails. I hope you will hop on over to FSC and see all the inspirational pieces my talented Design Team sisters have put together for you. We cannot wait to see what you come up with too. As always, there's a great prize for the Top Winner. Please remember that we are a stamping challenge. No digis are allowed. You can find complete details over at FSC. We hope you will join in. Take care and good luck with your entry. Yvonne

Easter is coming!

Another week has passed and it is time for a new challenge over at Lisa's Bloggers Challenge. This week, we are asked to make a project for Easter. I have been saving this adorable little girl holding her Easter basket for such a challenge. She is from a Miniature Book from Crafty Individuals. I matted the picture onto metallic gold paper and then onto a frilly, tiny paper doily. The card base in a purplish blue is covered with background paper from the Springtime Background Paper book, also from Crafty Individuals. For a bit of sparkle I added some fabric tape with gold stars embroidered on it to the top and bottom. The bunnies and sentiment are by Stamp Francisco and stamped in Dusty Concord Distress Ink. Cheese cloth was added behind the bunnies to soften the overall look. A piece of vintage purple seam binding is tied into a simple bow. My granddaughter will probably receive this card from me for Easter. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Best, Yvonne

March Artistic Outpost Design Team Blog Hop!

Greetings! It is "time" for another Blog Hop by the Artistic Outpost Design Team! This time around, we are each working with the Artistic Outpost Lovely Day stamp plate. I was immediately drawn to this plate when it was released and have used it on many occasions for cards of encouragement, Mother's Day, Birthdays, etc. Recently, I found this blank clock face made from card stock at a local craft store. I was immediately intrigued by how I could alter it and without realizing this Blog Hop would be using the Lovely Day stamp plate just instantly had a picture in my head using these stamps on my clock face! Karma, I guess.

For the center image, I stamped the image twice. Once with black StazOn ink and again with Embossing Ink. The second image was heat embossed with gold embossing powder and only the crown and framing were used over top of the black stamped image. The girl and her flowers were watercolored with mostly Spun Sugar Distress Ink . The center image was mounted to the center of the clock face over top of a white and pink doily. I stamped smaller images from the stamp set, trimmed them to fit and added bits of water colored Distress Inks, Perfect Pearls, Liquid Pearls, and gingham ribbon. A set of clock hands, a seam binding bow and a bit of Baker's Twine and a vintage button complete my clock face.

You will not want to miss all the other projects created by the Artistic Outpost Design Team using the Lovely Day plate. Here's hoping you will hop on over to their blogs and be inspired to make your own Lovely spring-time projects.

Gerrie Johnnic, Lisa Somerville, Suzanne Czosek, Anita Houston, Linda Coughlin, Tracy Evans

Butterfly Dream

Greetings! Hope you are having a pleasant Tuesday and first day of spring. It started out chilly here, but ended in the mid 70s by day's end. My post today is an entry in this weeks challenge at Make My Monday. For Week #41, we are challenged to make a spring-like card using a specific fold. This is an absolute first for me! I tend to be rather straight forward with card making. I admire all the fancy folds others fashion into cards, but rarely venture there myself! It was so kind of MMM to provide us with a tutorial recently on how to make the card. I began with vintage pink card stock, folded it as instructed and then applied various spring background papers from Crafty Individuals on the various folds. The main focal image is clip art, matted in black paper, also from Crafty Individuals, and the sentiment is a portion of a stamp by Anna Griffith stamped with Black StazOn ink. Embellishments include a white lace applique, a paper doily, vintage pink seam binding and pearls. I really appreciate all your visits and your comments really are an encouragement to me. Take care, Yvonne

London Calling!

Happy Tuesday and First Day of Spring! I have a tag to share with you today made recently with the stamps from the Artistic Outpost February Release along with some from prior releases. I began with a large tag fashioned out of navy blue card stock. Images from London Underground, Loverly London, London Elements and Ephemera Backgrounds were stamped with Festive Berry and Faded Jeans Distress Inks and London Fog Memento Ink. Several elements were backed with gold metallic paper. The images were mounted collage style onto the tag front. Embellishments of red, white and blue Baker's Twine, a gold teapot charm, cheese cloth, a doily and vintage buttons complete the tag. I really love these pigeons! What fun! Thanks for stopping by. Best wishes, Yvonne

Luck of the Irish to You!

Hoping everyone enjoyed St. Patrick's Day, yesterday! My mother's parents both hail from Italy, though they met and married here in the USA, and my father's parents were English and German, but I have always enjoyed the wearing of the green on this special day. My children's grandmother on their father's side was Irish, McBride was the name, so they truly can claim an Irish heritage! As we were leaving yesterday to visit my husband's twin sister who lives in a retirement community, he asked me if I had a St. Patty's Day card we could take along. I did not, but recalled purchasing these beautiful green doilies probably a decade ago, and a sack of Shamrock coins about the same time. Lickity split, I put this together and stamped a sentiment by Anna Griffith. A bit of vintage seam binding completes my card. My SIL was thrilled with the card, which she opened after we departed, so I am glad I was able to make part of her day! Enjoy the day. Best wishes, Yvonne

Pretty in Pink

Happy Friday everyone! This is my second post of the day. Trying to play catch up. So please scroll down if you would like to see my first post! My card is for the new challenge over at Bloggers Challenge. This week, we are to create a project with a Birthday theme. My oldest daughter's birthday is next week, so this is perfect timing! I began with a vintage pink card base, added springtime designer paper from the Shades of Summer pad by Crafty Individuals that was wrapped with white lace and re-purposed lavender ribbon. A paper doily grounds the focal image, which is from a Miniatures Book by Crafty Individuals. The sentiment by Hero arts is stamped in Black StazOn ink and outlined with Stickles for a bit of sparkle. Embellishments include a rose pink applique, pearls, a teapot charm and a simple piece of rose seam binding tied into a small bow. The girl above resembles my daughter growing up. She has grown into such a beautiful woman, inside and out. What a precious blessing she is to all of us. Enjoy your weekend. Best wishes, Yvonne

La Femme et Un Bel Oiseau

Good morning! Today I am sharing with you a card that I made for the current PanPastel UK Challenge. The theme this week is to create a project that is either "Girly or For Mother's Day." I elected to make a frilly, girly card, though I may be sending this off to a family member for Mother's Day! I began with a sea salt colored card base. I wrapped the bottom two thirds of the card in some oyster colored lace. I decided to stamp the top third with one of those free stamps that I received when ordering stamps from Crafty Individuals. I love these bits and pieces of stamps! For the main image, I applied pink and light blue PanPastel to scrap card stock. This beautiful stamp, CI331, was stamped over top with Black StazOn ink. The four sides were framed with crochet lace trim and the framed image was then added to the card front along with lace appliques and pearls. When creating my card in the wee hours of the morning, I elected to not add seam binding or ribbon. Perhaps it was the overcast sky this morning, but when I went to photograph my card, I felt it was lacking and added light blue sheer ribbon fashioned into bows. I hope you enjoy your weekend. Thanks for stopping by. My best to you, Yvonne

A Walk through the Tulips

Happy Thursday everyone! My house is crawling with technicians today. Putting in a sump pump (think concrete dust pouring out of your floor boards) and having the front of our home painted (trying to chop it into manageable pieces financially). I knew I had to be home today while they were here as we are using oil-based paint (think fumes) and would need to leave the doors open to the world so I stayed up to the wee hours last evening trying to get a few cards made. This is for the current Make My Monday Challenge. We continue with Spring as the March long theme and for Week 40 we are asked to make a card for either Mother's Day or a Thank You card. My mother, sadly, is no longer with us, so I opted for a thank you card instead. Except for the Thank You sentiment, which is by Stampin Up, the balance of the card is made up of images from the gorgeous Lovely Day plate. I began with a beautiful lacy doily I recently acquired through eBay and layered a gauzelike piece of cheese cloth over it. I stamped the beautiful young Dutch girl , embossed her with gold embossing powder, and colored her in with Tattered Rose, Peeled Paint and Worn Lipstick Distress inks. (Mark this on your calendar, as I rarely ever emboss!) Some of you have heard my hole in my sofa story before! I stamped the tulip bunches multiple times and trimmed them and colored them with Worn Lipstick and Peeled Paint Distress Ink, as well, and arranged them as though the maiden was walking through a garden of tulips! Embellishments are simply some lace fashioned into a bow, some vintage buttons topped with pearls, and even more pearls! Thanks so much for dropping by today. I hope you are having a good day. Best wishes, Yvonne

Montmartre, Paris, France

Greetings everyone! I have been traveling for the past four days and have not been able to easily post to my blog, so it is good to be back home! I prepared this card just before I left for the Stampsmith Challenge this month, which is called Flip and Fold, but I am just getting a chance to load it now. I really enjoyed making this card. I struggled with my small offering of Stampsmith images and finally decided on this image from the Paris Art Stamp sheet. I could be all wrong, but this image takes me back to the precious trip my daughter and I took to Paris and the surrounding countryside which included a walk through Montmartre at the top of Paris. It was filled with artists painting, drawing and selling their work. After successfully stamping the image on my first try (yeah) with Black StazOn ink onto Glossy paper, I immediately remembered this beautiful black and gold ribbon I had just acquired. From there, I pulled out this gorgeous black card stock with a gold Fleur De Lis print on it, which I fashioned into a gate folded card. I mounted the main image onto black and gold papers and attached it to the front of the card with photo corners. The top portion was adhered to remain fixed when the card opens. The Paris sentiment, also by Stampsmith, was added to the bottom of the card and trimmed close. Simple embellishments include vintage brass buttons and a pinned on Paris charm. Thanks so much for stopping by to visit. I truly appreciate your visits and your comments. On a side note, I was selected at random to pick a free sheet of stamps for February over at Stampsmith! So, I will have some new images to work with for future Stampsmith Challenges. Yeah!

Fly Around the World

Today I would like to share a tag I made with images from a number of different plates from Artistic Outpost. Cog wheels from Industrial Chic plate were stamped onto a dark brown tag in Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. The handsome pilot from the Charles and Amelia plate was stamped in Festive Berry Distress Ink, matted in several colors and mounted onto the tag front over top of frayed burlap. (I really like red and brown together!) The sentiment, from the Typography plate, was also stamped in Festive Berry and matted with red. Various other images were stamped with Rich Cocoa Memento Ink, trimmed and mounted to the tag front. Liquid pearls in Copper were added to the propellers. Ideology sprockets add a bit of reflective texture. The tag is topped with baker's twine, red raffia and brown seam binding. I decided to mat the outer edge of the tag with a mushroom distressed card stock to make the elements on the tag pop. Thanks so much for stopping by today! Best wishes, Yvonne

She's A Lady!

Well here we are again with a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenge. This time the challenge is to create a project based on the above Bingo Card. Simply select three words either horizontally, vertically or diagonally to lead you in your card design. For my card, I selected "showing some metal, lace and words." From there I created a card base with taupe card stock. I wrapped layers of lace around the top, bottom and middle. Lavender grosgrain ribbon, winter white seam binding and crochet trim were layered on next. A variety of images were stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento Ink from the CI- 335 plate by Crafty Individuals onto a number of pastel papers. The images were trimmed and arranged over the previously applied layers. Finishing touches include applique trim flowers, Ideology Metal Flowers, Cotton Candy Stickles, Scattered Straw Distress Stickles, and pearls. I hope you will stop over to FSC and see what my talented Design Team sisters have created to inspire you. We are very excited to see your creations, too. Please remember we are a stamping challenge, therefore digis are not permitted. You can find all the details for the challenge at FSC. Thanks for stopping by! Best wishes, Yvonne

Glamour Girl

Happy Friday everyone! Today, I want to share with you one of the cards I made a while back for Artistic Outpost's February Release. I began by selecting this glamorous beauty from the versatile Diesel Punk plate, which I stamped with Festive Berry Distress Ink onto cream colored card stock. I decided to add black to my card for drama by punching several borders and attaching them to the top and bottom of the main image and to the polka dot background paper. The matted sentiment is also from this same plate. Simple embellishments include vintage buttons that are could easily be from the 40s. A bit of seam binding, lace and baker's twine complete my card. Have you checked out the most recent release of new stamps at Artistic Outpost yet?! Have a fabulous weekend! Yvonne

Delicate Spring Flowers

This is my second post for today. Please scroll down if you would like to see my first one! For this post, I created a card for the new challenge over at Make My Monday (MMM). Each month MMM choses a new theme and then each week there is a secondary theme. For March, the theme is Spring. For Week #39, the theme is Flowers! I began with a periwinkle blue card base, I layered a Crafty Individuals' (CI) spring background paper, wrapped with lace, ribbon and seam binding to the card front. I added four CI clip art images of spring flowers in shades of purple over the layers. The sentiment is also from CI and was stamped in Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. It was a free stamp tucked in with my most recent order. Love that! Simple embellishments include an Ideology Philosophy Tag, Pearls and a white feather. Thanks to MMM for selecting my take on Flourishes and Diamonds as one of their top three picks! Sure made my day! And thanks so much for stopping by today. I really appreciate your visit and comments! Take care, Yvonne

Vintage Alice in Wonderland

Happy Thursday! My first post today is for a challenge for DragonsDream Tag It On. If you have not yet checked out this challenge blog, I hope you will take a look. They have some great, unique challenges and an inspiring Design Team. This time around, the theme is to create a tag about Alice, Wonderland or Looking Glass. I first began with a tag in shades of blue and yellow, but deviated and decided to go with earth tones instead. Mushroom card stock was fashioned into a tag and embossed with a variety of Alice-related images from the Wonderland Collage plate by Artistic Outpost. To add texture, I stretched a re-purposed mesh bag from the grocery store across the tag. Additional images from the Wonderland Collage plate were stamped with Black StazOn ink onto white card stock and water colored with Pumice Stone, Tattered Rose, Scattered Straw, Broken China and the edges were distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Inks. Embossed clocks have black snap centers. Other embellishments include Ideology Spinners and a Philosophy Tag and vintage taupe seam binding ribbon. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Best Wishes, Yvonne

Spring Diesel Punk

Greetings! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Today, I have a tag to share with you. I started out planning to make a Diesel Punk project but as I worked on it, I realized that indeed, it was quickly becoming a Spring Diesel Punk tag. Various Diesel Punk and Industrial Chic stamps by Artistic Outpost were embossed onto a mushroom tag base. Numerous shades of lilac, purple and dark blue PanPastels were sponged over the embossed tag. More images were stamped with Black StazOn ink on the tag front. Several images were also stamped on white card stock. The gorgeous dame was watercolored with Wild Honey and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks. The edges were distressed with Black Soot Distress Ink and then wrapped with soutache trim. A purple embossed brad was dotted with Copper Liquid Pearls and added to the lower left hand corner. The Cat's Meow sentiment was placed under an Ideology Fragment Charm and several Alcohol Inks were added to the top of the charm. As I considered placement of some Copper Ideology sprockets, I decided to make them a bit more feminine by added Ideology Metal Flowers. I could not resist trimming our leading lady's hat with a white feather and pearl. Final touches include more Copper Liquid Pearls and vintage purple seam binding. Can spring be far away?! I am submitting this tag to the PanPastel UK Challenge for week #8. The theme this week is "Use a Stamped Image." Take care, Yvonne

Third Anniversary Giveaway Results

Greetings! Today I am announcing the winner of my Third Anniversary Giveaway. I was able to use the Random Generator Program, but unable to successfully post it to this post, so you will need to take my word for who was selected as the winner. There were seventeen of you who left comments and a number of you who became new followers or posted my giveaway information to your side bar. To say I am overwhelmed by your kindness is an understatement. As I am writing this, I know the number randomly selected was number 5. I am pausing now, to see who the fifth commenter was... Congratulations to Darlene! Please contact me, Darlene, at your earliest opportunity so that I can send off your goodies to you.

I also decided to randomly select a seconder number for some additional goodies, and my second prize winner is number 4, Terry! Terry, please let me know your contact info, as well!

I really enjoyed pulling all these goodies together, and tossed a few more items in since my orignal post. I will need to start pulling things together for another giveaway later this year! I hope each of you have a wonderful weekend, and whether you won the giveaway or not, please know that I treasure each of you as a precious friend. Best wishes, Yvonne

The Measure of a Friend ...

This post is for today's Bloggers' Challenge. This week we are working from a sketch, which I posted above. For my project, I selected a berry colored card base and added some matted vintage-inspired background paper rectangles as the sketch calls for. For my focal image, I selected this adorable young lady from Love Letters 1 by Crafty Individuals. The sentiment is also from Crafty Individuals and was a free stamp enclosed when I ordered some other items. I added some ivory lace to the top and bottom rectangles, some vintage buttons, a pearl studded ivory applique and a small bow fashioned from crochet lace. This has been a nail-biter of a day. My precious oldest daughter is in Louisville, KY at a conference and in the path of tornadoes coming across the Ohio Valley. I hope wherever you are, you are safe. Have a wonderful weekend my friends. Best wishes, Yvonne

An Angel's Watching Over You

Happy Thursday! Just a quick post today. I put together this card for someone very near to me who is facing a possible serious heath issue. The photo image is from the face of one of the very last cards I ever purchased before I decided to only make my own cards from that point forward. I knew I was never going to mail this store bought card, and the image seemed very special to me so I re-purposed the image itself for this card. I layered lace to the card front, added a portion of a pink doily, the re-purposed image, a sentiment by Artistic Outpost, some more lace and a pearl, vintage buttons and some seam binding fashioned into a bow. I hope in some small way, this card brings comfort to this special someone. Have a great day. Yvonne

Springpunk!

Hello! It's March 1, which means it is time for the March Referral Challenge over at Artistic Outpost. This month, the theme is Springpunk! How you interpret that is solely up to you. Wait to you see what the Design Team has come up with to inspire you to create your very own piece for the challenge. As always, one lucky participant will receive a prize package. Please see the March Referral Challenge for all the details concerning your submission. For my own card, I chose to use images from the Paris Exposition and Birds of a Feather plates. I stamped various images in soft colors. With a berry colored card base, I added designer background paper by Crafty Individuals. Artistic Outpost images were mounted on top of the background paper. Embellishments include broad grosgrain ribbon, Ideology sprockets, sewing snaps, jump rings, shredded paper, a bird feather and a vintage button. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for your own project. Have fun and think Springpunk! Best, Yvonne