Live in the Sunshine

Greetings!  My card today is based on the new release of Kudzu Kafe by Artistic Outpost.  The background was created by stamping various Distress Inks onto a Craft Mat, spritzing the mat with water and sopping up the juicy inkiness to create this rustic background.   All images are from Artistic Outpost and all are stamped with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink and distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  A farm scene and old pick up truck are both from the Home plate .  The woman, boy and girl and the "be kind" and "be honest" are all from Kudzu Kafe.  The "Live in the sunshine" sentiment is from The Outpost plate.  I love how you can tell a story by intertwining so many of the stamp images from AO!  Simple embellishments include Copper Liquid Pearls, tan and white Baker's Twine and an Idea-ology Binder Clip and a snippet of Cocoa twill ribbon.  Have you had a chance to stamp today?  Thanks for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Thought of You Today

Hello!  Happy Memorial Day to all of my fellow artists in the U.S.  I have been missing in action for the past few days.  Let's just say that sometimes life hands you lemons!  Moving on, I am submitting the card above to the Make My Monday Flower Challenge #51.  During the month of May, we have responded to various challenges around flowers.  This week, we are to create a project based on a photograph of pink, white and green flowers, making sure the flowers are the focal image.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, although I love flowers, I just don't have a lot in the way of stamps that are flower related.  For my card, I began with a white card base and layered it with background paper from Crafty Individuals Shades of Summer Pad.  The flowers, one of the first stamps I ever owned, was stamped with Black StazOn ink onto white card stock and then torn around the edges and softened with Spun Sugar Distress Ink.  The flowers were watercolored with Worn Lipstick and Peeled Paint Distress Inks.  A bit of Cotton Candy Stickles were added here and there for a bit of sparkle.  I layered white crepe paper  and pink burplap string from the Funkie Junkie Boutique over the background paper, then added some frayed white muslin before adding the flower panel.  Embellishment include some cheese cloth and vintage buttons, a portion of a paper heart trimmed to fit, a complimentary corregated butterfly from the Funkie Junkie Boutique, and some ChitChat stickers from Idea-ology.  I am also entering this card over at the Sunday Share for Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog.  You can win a 25% discount off a purchase over at the Funkie Junkie Boutique if your card is selected.  A dear friend of mine just lost a dear family member, so I am hoping to drop her a line using this card.  Hope everyone is doing well.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Artistic Outpost New Release! Kudzu Kafe

 

Just in time for summer stamping, Artistic Outpost is happy to release Kudzu Kafe, a Southern inspired collection that pays homage to the lazy days of summer. This collection was inspired by a vintage kudzu seed packet that Robyn picked up from a flea market. Planting kudzu seeds is kind of ironic, because kudzu is like the plague to many that live in the Southern part of the US. It grows in the fields, along most country roads, and covers EVERYTHING.

The nostalgic images featuring a roadside cafe, children from the early 1900's, and Thoreau sentiments will easily mix and stylistically go with so many of Artistic Outpost's other collections including: The Outpost, Home, and Old Grist Mill.

For my card, I began with a Kraft card base.  I stamped various images from The Outpost and Home with Black StazOn Ink.  I decided that I wanted to create a bit of a Warhol-style card so I stamped the woman from the Kudzu Kafe plate repeatedly in Brick Red, Peeled Paint and Faded Jeans Distress Inks. The sentiments, also from the Kudzu Kafe plate, were layered over top of the images of the women. I LOVE the "ticking" fabric swatch image included in the images and have lots of ideas for using it in the future!

Simple embellishments include vintage buttons, black Scrapper's Floss, vintage black seam binding and a binder clip from Idea-ology.  I'll be sharing more pieces with you in the days ahead, however, I hope you will pop over to the rest of the design team for their take on this gorgeous new plate of images.

Gerrie Johnnic, Lisa Somerville, Suzanne Csozek, Anita Houston, Linda Coughlin

In Honor of Memorial Day

Greetings everyone!  It has been a couple of days since I have posted. It feels good to be back!  Today, I am sharing a card I was inspired to make for the upcoming Memorial Day Holiday here in the States.  I worked with images from the She-roes and Heroes plates, both from Artistic Outpost.  I smooshed Festive Berry and Faded Jeans Distress Inks on my Craft Sheet, misted them with water and sopped up the lovely inkiness with a white card stock panel.  The Statue of Liberty and Wings were stamped with London Fog Memento Ink on the background panel.  The focal images were stamped on white card stock with more Festive Berry and Faded Jeans DIs, pieced together and matted with Black paper.  Sentiments were stamped with Black StazOn Ink and matted with red card stock.  Everything was distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Snippets of patriotic ribbon and Baker's Twine and Chrome Liquid Pearls complete my card.  In honor of all of those who have given their lives for our nation's service, may we pause this Holiday weekend and give thanks! Best wishes, Yvonne

Inventor of Dreams

Wow! Two weeks sure go by fast.  It is already time for a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenge.  For the next two weeks, we are looking for project submissions with a theme of Steampunk.  I sure hope you will stop over at FSC to see all the absolutely fabulous inspiration pieces of the FSC Design Team.  For my piece, I created a card using images from Steampunk Elements by Oxford Impressions.  The various images were stamped with Fired Brick Distress Ink, Black StazOn Ink or London Fog Memento Ink.  Some images were popped up with foam squares to add dimension.  Embellishments include black sewing snaps, and a variety of Idea-ology trinkets such as a light bulb, spinner, ticket and memo pin. The card base and images were distressed heavily with Vintage Photo to provide a vintage feel.  There's a great prize for the top winner, so I sure hope  you will submit a Steampunk project!  Thanks for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne  

May Blog Hop - Artistic Outpost - Route 66

Greetings!  It's time for another Blog Hop by the Design Team at Artistic Outpost!  For the month of May, AO's Design Team chose between the Huck Finn plate and the Route 66 plate to create inspiration pieces for your viewing pleasure.  I love both of these sets, but decided upon the Route 66 plate. 

I decided to alter a plain wooden box.  Using several coats of Gesso, I than layered Spiced Apple Acrylic paint onto the box surface.  Next I stamped various images with White VersaMagic Ink and Black StazOn Ink onto the various surfaces.  The motor cycle was stamped onto card stock, watercolored and distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink before mounting to the box.  The box was also distressed with DIs.  

Since the hinges and fastener were gold, I added gold metal corners from Idea-ology.  I added some alcohol ink over the gold to tone it down, but it is still fairly bright.  For embellishments, I added a Dream Ticket and Memo Pin, both by Idea-ology, Black Liquid Pearls, a vintage button and a Philosophy Tag by Idea-ology.

I hope you will take a look at the other Design Team inspiration pieces.  They are absolutely gorgeous!You can link to them below.  Thanks for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

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

Lullaby and Goodnight!

Hello!  Happy Tuesday to you.  Sharing a card with you today that I made for the newest challenge over at Bloggers Challenge.  This week, the theme is "Oh Baby."  Mine is a simple card, short on technique, but I am pleased with the outcome.  I began with a white card base and layered a paper doily over it.  I added a portion of an illustration from designer paper from Graphic 45 to the top half of the doily.  Winter white seam binding was tied around the card base into a bow and a small applique was attached in the center of the bow.  The sentiment and baby carriage by Hampton Arts for Graphic 45 were stamped with Black StazOn ink and carefully colored with Copic Markers to avoid bleeding.  To accentuate the blue in the card, liquid pearls were added to all four corners of the card base.  Have you joined in Bloggers Challenge yet?  It's a great way to increase your skill level.  Thanks for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Treasured Memories

We celebrated Mother's Day here in the US yesterday and although I no longer have my own mother, I was surrounded by my children and grandchildren for a lovely family time.  I feel truly blessed.  My card to share with you today is for this week's challenge over at Make My Monday.  This week, we are challenged to create a project with Music and Flowers.  I recently received the new Spring Seasonal Distress Inks from Ranger.  Love them! I smooshed Peacock Feathers, Squeezed Lemonade and Shaded Lilac Distress Inks onto my craft mat, added water and sopped up all the ink with white card stock to create my background, which was matted with purple card stock and layered to a white card base.  Next I stamped a portion of sheet music with Black StazOn Ink from the Ephemera Background plate by Artistic Outpost.  The flowers, butterfly and sentiment from the Flower Market plate by Artistic Outpost were also stamped in Black StazOn Ink.  The daffodils and butterfly were watercolored with more of the Distress Inks.  All the images were distressed with Squeezed Lemonade and Shaded Lilac Distress Inks.  I added some soft blue photo corners to the flower image.  Other embellishments include cheese cloth, vintage seam binding, a lace applique, pearls and a snippet of lace.  The sentiment used would be very appropriate for a sympathy card and is just a bit different than the traditional sentiment I would normally reach for.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Won't You Be My Honey?



Greetings!  My post today is for the May Challenge at Stampsmith.  This time around, we are asked to create a card using at least one Stampsmith image, utilizing the sketch above.  I usually steer clear of sketches, but I love Stampsmith stamps and really wanted to use another one of my images that I won several months back as part of their challenge, so I gave it a shot.  The image and sentiment are from the "Won't You Be My Honey" plate and were both stamped on glossy paper with Black StazOn ink.  Embellishments include lace from the Funkie Junkie Boutique, vintage seam binding, a chipboard butterfly, a lace applique and platinum liquid pearls.  If you have not yet had an opportunity to join one of Stampsmith's Challenges, why not give it a try?  Thanks for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne   

A Gentlenman's Choice

There's a new challenge at PanPastels UK Challenge.  This time around, the theme is "Anything Goes." I began with layering numerous shades of yellow and olive green PanPastels onto a white card stock panel.  The young lad from the Think and Wonder plate by Artistic Outpost was stamped over top of the prepared panel with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.  The ledger image from the Emphemera Backgrounds plate by AO was also stamped with Gathered Twigs DI and distressed with Old Page Distress Ink.  The "Gentleman's Choice" image is from the Steampunk AO plate and was stamped on brick red card stock to add a bit of color to the card and then mounted onto a bottle cap.  Other embellishments added for texture include burlap, vintage buttons, twine, dyed cheese cloth, and Idea-ology items:  binder clip, pen nib and ticket.  My son-in-law will be the recipient of this card for his upcoming birthday!  Thanks so much for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

White Flowers

During the month of May, over at Make My Monday, our theme is Flowers.  Specifically for Week #48, we are to create a project with Lily of the Valley flowers, or other white flowers and they are to be the focal point of our project, rather than just an embellishment. Although I love flowers, I really do not have a lot of flower stamps.  I found a box of four flower images in my stash from Hero Arts and realized that they stamp in reverse.  So, in order to make the flowers white, I chose Fired Brick Distress to really pop the flowers.  After trimming each flower, they were popped up with foam dots and mounted onto more white card stock and then matted with red card stock and added to a Kraft card base.  A simple bow was tied using vintage white seam binding.  The sentiment by Stampa Rosa was stamped onto the seam binding. A vintage button and repurposed string from a tag complete my card.  Have you tried Make My Monday yet?  Hope to see you there!  Best, Yvonne 

Treasures

A dear friend and Design Team Sister of mine, Brenda, has recently challenged others to share life's treasures.  I am so grateful to her for making me stop and think about that.  My card today is created with a treasured wine label from France.  The treasure is not so much in the label itself, but in the bond of friendship that has developed between another artist and myself.  I saw her lovely wine labels in her work and inquired about how she was able to remove them from wine bottles, as mine always turn to mush when I try removing them.  She not only told me her source, she sent me a stash of them!  Each time I use one of them, I think of her and her unselfless spirit.  So that is my treasure for today!  As for the card, the dabbles and sentiment are from Katzlekraft and the butterfly image is from Crafty Individuals.   I fell in love with this set of French sentiments.  The sentiment I used today, translated, means "Do not be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try."  Thanks for stopping by!  Best wishes, Yvonne

Country Road Take Me Home!

Greetings everyone!  My post today is a card I made using two plates from Artistic Outpost, Home and The Outpost.  The background was simply stamped in Black StazOn Ink and distressed with Old Page Distress Ink. I really wanted the pickup truck to pop, so I stamped it in Fired Brick Distress Ink and mounted it to the card front with foam squares.  To give more prominence to the sentiment at the top of the card, I tore the top of the background off.  The sentiment was layered over a snippet of burlap.  An Idea-ology binder clip, repurposed ribbon, red Scrappers Floss, a vintage button and more ribbon complete my card.  Thanks for stopping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Made in America

Well the gremlins are at play again.  This is my third attempt to load this post.  Keeping my fingers crossed that it sticks this time!  It is time for a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenge.  This time around, we are looking for Cities of the World.  I chose Washington, D.C., my nation's capital.  Not having a stamp image depicting Washington, I chose this vintage black and white clip art image of the White House.  To not take away from the black and white photo, I chose to use red, white and blue in moderation.  The supporting stamp images are from She-roes and Hero stamp plates by Artistic Outpost, except for the star stamped repeatedly in the background, which is from Oxford Impressions.  Simple embellishements include a memo holder by Idea-ology, a vintage button and ribbon from my stash.  I hope you will pop over to FSC and see the absolutely beautiful inspiration pieces by my DT sisters and I hope you will be inspired to enter a project of your own.  Full details are available at FSC.  Please remember, we are a stamping challenge, so no digis!  Thanks for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Tribute to Mothers

Hello!  Well it is Saturday, and I am at the beach, and for probably the first time I can remember, without any stash to make a card!  We are celebrating my husband's birthday this weekend, so I made a consciencious effort to not be otherwise focused.  I do have a few cards to share with you today, though, that I made just before leaving.  For this post, I am sharing a card I am submitting to Bloggers Challenge where we are asked to create a project that Celebrate Mom or another female family member.  The card above is one of many that I produced that will go out to my nieces, sister, aunt, sisters-in-laws and others within my family circle who are mothers.  Only the sentiment is stamped, so it was an easy card to mass produce.  The clip art is from Crafty Individuals, the Cabinet Card die cut is from Tim Holt for Sissix and there are lots of Liquid Pearls and lace.  Hoping you are having a great weekend.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Kaleidiscope Kid

It's Thursday and I have a post to share with you today that I am entering over at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  The current challenge is to show a project with a Kaleidiscope of  Colour.  For my card, I worked with images and sentiments from the Secretary Pool and Favorite Book plates by Artistic Outpost.  The sentiment "read" was stamped repeatedly with White Versamagic Ink onto a blue card base.  The frame was stamped onto white card stock with Black StazOn ink.  Layers of Distress Inks in Scattered Straw, Worn Lipstick and Broken China were smooshed, one at a time, onto a Craft Mat and sprayed with water.  The frame was dipped in the various colors to create a mottled, colorful background and mounted to the card front, over top a piece of alphabet twill tape.  The sentiment in the middle of the frame was added next.  The little boy, books and pencils were watercolored with a variety of Distress inks and mounted over the frame.  Simple embellishments include a ticket and pen nib from Idea-ology, and chrome liquid pearls.  I think my dear little grandson will be the recipient of this card.  I am attending Grandparents' Day at my grandchildren's school tomorrow and will drop this off to him afterwards as a followup.  I hope wherever you are, it is a good day for you.  Fondly, Yvonne

Calling All Cowgirls!

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Just a quick post tonight, to share a card I made for my dear son's wife for her birthday.  Valerie has always liked horses and went to college for Equestrian Studies.  I thought rather than images of horses this year that I would, instead, use this image by Queen's Dresser Drawer Stamps.  The sentiments around the edges are from A Muse Stamps.  Simple embellishments include a snippet of white burlap from The Funkie Junkie Boutique, vintage buttons, some Baker's Twine, a corrugated cardboard heart, and an Idea-ology flower charm.  I hope she likes it!  I am entering this post at my DT Sister, Brenda's, blog under Tuesday's Treasures.  The treasure on my card are the vintage buttons.  Every time I use some of my vanishing stash, I wonder what garment and from who's wardrobe the buttons came.  I am always thrilled when friends and family share old buttons with me and consider them treasures, indeed.  Thanks for stopping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

May Referral Program at Artistic Outpost - Travel

Happy first day of May!  There is a new May Referral Program challenge over at Artistic Outpost. This time around, the theme is "Travel" and we are looking for projects using Artistic Outpost stamps that support the travel theme.  There truly are a large variety of Artistic Outpost stamp images that will work for this theme and the Design Team has provided a lot of inspiration to get you started.  One lucky submitter will be selected at random to win a prize package.  I hope you will consider giving it a go.  On a personal note, this is the first challenge that I tried when I began my blog, and it really helpded me build my confidence, so I am particularly fond of it!  For my own card, I really could not help myself.  I pulled out a bunch of different AO plates and that could work and ended up using stamps from a number of them.  I decided right away that I wanted to use a black and white with touch of red color scheme.  A map from Route 66 was stamped repeatedly with London Fog Memento Ink on white card stock.  A plane, car and train were stamped with Black StazOn ink from the Industrial Backgrounds, Gatsby and Steampunk plates, respectively.  Each was trimmed, distressed with Old Page Distress Ink and mounted over the map images.  The "Travel" sentiment was created with the Secretary Pool plate using Festive Berry Distress Ink.  The Route 66 sign from its namesake plate was also used.  Simple embellishments include Black Liquid Pearls, a snippet of burlap and and Idea-ology Binder Clip and some red and white ribbon that reminded me of train tracks.  The collage was mounted onto red card stock and a gray card base.  Hoping you will join in!  Thanks for dropping by.  I love receiving your comments and treasure each one.  Take care and good luck.  Yvonne