With Fond and Loving Memories

Every once in a great while, an image will just strike you and bring back fond and loving memories.  Recently, I downloaded a sheet of images from Gecko Galz called M is for Mother.  I immediately was drawn to this gorgeous retro image of a mother and her two small children.  Instantly, I was back in the late 50s.  My beautiful mother was a brunette, rather than a blond, but also wore her hair upswept, and had this exact dress. The children in the image also reminds me of a photo of my oldest brother and me.  The photo was taken when I was four and my brother, Steve, was three.  I still remember when it was taken.  Back then, photographers came to your home.  Hence I thought the quote I included seem appropriate.  It is one of the first quote stamps I ever purchased, and one I reach for time and again, over the years.

I am entering this at Simon Says Stamp and Show where the challenge is "Quotable" and we are to create a project with a quote.  A few notes on the composition of my card.  The background was made with my newly acquired Distress Paints.  I love the softness of Frayed Burlap and Spun Sugar and how it coordinated with the focal image.  I wrestled with the paper doily as this is more of a retro card than vintage, but then I remembered my mom would buy paper doilies to hang over the shelf of her china closet, so I decided it was just fine.  The vintage buttons and snippet of seam binding fashioned into a bow complete my card.  Thank you so much for dropping by.  Wishing everyone fond and loving memories this Easter. Yvonne

She Makes Her Own Way

Just one more posting of my cards that I created recently for my Guest Spot at Gecko Galz.  I encourage you to grab a cuppa and browse their website to view all the amazing images available to you.  You will not be disappointed!  This card is a combination of images from Gecko Galz, as well as stamp images from Artistic Outpost.  They seemed to go together flawlessly to me. The background paper is also from Gecko Galz.  Thanks for dropping by.  Hugs, Yvonne

Easter Basket

Greetings!  I would like to give a warm welcome to my newest followers.  Thank you so much for encouraging me in this journey.  My card today is for the current challenge over at Make My Monday.  We are to create a project that is inspired by the book cover below.  I had not heard of this book before, but MMM was kind enough to provide a summary that you might be interested in viewing.  

It has been one of those weeks where I longingly look into my art studio with little time to create.  And so, I pondered on what I might create, if I got a few stolen moments and a vision of simple Sissix Die Cut Vines in similar colors to the book cover came to mind.  Like the book cover, I added a central focal point in black and white with a beautiful image from Gecko Galz.  Rather than replicate the butterflies, I chose to add touches of white with some beautiful white lace purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  As I will most certainly need a few more Easter Cards, I added a sentiment by Studio G to complete my card along with my absolute favorite fiber choice, seam binding.  I hope you are having a wonderful day.  Hugs, Yvonne

Remembering Moments

Greetings!  There's a new challenge over at Inkspirational.  This time around, we are creating projects based on the sketch below.

For my card, I layered a beautiful green doily that I found in a very old stationary store.  (The package was so old, the price was handwritten on it and there was no UPC code.)  The digital image is from Gecko Galz and was water colored with Distress Markers.  You'll probably being seeing a lot of this yellow lace that I purchased recently during the next few months.  I hope you will drop on over to Inkspirational to see what the rest of the Design Team has to share with you and I sure hope you will share your own creation with us for a possible chance at a monthly prize.  Thanks for stopping by.  Yvonne

Live in the Sunshine

It's Wednesday, and that means another Word Wednesday Challenge over at 365 Cards.  The word this week is "Country."  I chose to work with images from several plates by Artistic Outpost.  The card base was colored with Distress Inks and the images were stamped directly over or on card stock.  Bits of Tim Holtz tissue tape, vintage buttons and burlap string complete my card.  What will you create for today's challenge?  Wishing you a day of sunshine.  Hugs, Yvonne

Surf's Up!

Another last minute post for the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  The theme this week is "Water."  The background was made with Dylusions Ink Sprays.  The focal images are from Gecko Galz and the seagulls are from Crafty Individuals.  I have a cousin who spent nearly her whole life in Hawaii.  I think I will send this card to her along with her Easter card so that she can send it out to someone she cares about.  She continues to be an avid letter writer to this day.  Aloha friends, Yvonne

Happy Easter

Above is my tag for March for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013.  Tim's gorgeous tag can be found here.  For my own tag, I covered a tag with paper printed from Gecko Galz.  The bunny image is from PSX and is matted with a die cut frame by Sissix.  The grass at the bottom of the tag was cut with fringe scissors by Martha Stewart.  A Tim Holtz die cut was used to create the sentiment banner at the top of the tag. The sentiment is by Studio G. Thanks for dropping by!  Hugs, Yvonne

Sweet Easter Bunny

Well it is just hard to believe it is time for another challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenge!  This time, the challenge is "Paper Piecing."  I really love to see paper piecing, although it is not something I often venture into.  When I see others do it, I always think, "why didn't I think of that!"  For my card, I wrapped the card front with layers of frothy white lace.  Next, I die cut a cabinet card using pink gingham check fabric.  This fabric is very special to me.  It was given to me by my ex mother-in-law may decades ago.  She is gone now, but it gives me pleasure to use the fabric in her honor.  The bunny and carrot and bow, all by Character Construction, were paper pieced.  Simple embellishments include paper flowers, liquid pearls, a seam binding bow and Idea-ology ChitChat Stickers.  I sure hope you will stop over to FSC and see all the great projects the rest of the design team have come up with and I sure hope you will submit a project of your own for a chance at a great prize.  Best wishes and thanks so much for stopping by.  Yvonne

Keep Calm and Carry On

I truly am enjoying the Alpha Challenge that The Craft Barn is offering this year.  This time around, we are to create our project using the letter "P."  For those following by blog, you know that I am crafting pages to create a small book.  For my take on the challenge, I chose the word "pigeon."  I love this pigeon image by Artistic Outpost, and it seemed perfect to me to also stamp the red phone booth, also by AO, along with a welcome to London sentiment and the "Pip, pip, Cheerio and All That Rot!  The Keep Calm, Carry On was cut from ribbon and layered over the phone booth.  I'll be entering this at Artistic Outpost's Referral Program, too.  Well, time to pay bills, so I must say goodbye for now.  Thanks for dropping by.  Hugs, Yvonne

Little Princess

Just getting this one in under the wire.  I originally made this card yesterday for another challenge, but upon closer review, I did not think it met the requirements.  I was going to post it just because, however, I decided to take a look over at Eclectic Ellapu to see what was going on there and sure enough babies are the theme this week!  My pink card base had a bit of fading along the side so I adhered fabric to that side.  The focal image, by Gecko Galz, was printed onto canvas and added to the card front.  The flowers are die cut from crinoline purchased at the Funkie Junkie Boutique and calico and gingham.  The paisley patterned along the right side are from Crafty Individuals.  The sentiment is by Studio G.  Seam binding and liquid pearls complete my card. I apologize for a flurry of cards today.  It has been a week of travel with little time for crafting and posting.  Thanks for dropping by.  Yvonne 

She Knows Her Own Strength

Greetings!  It's time once again for a new challenge over at Inkspirational!  This week, we are doing a CASE challenge based on the beautiful sample below.  

I thought about reaching for one of my dressmaker images, but in the end, decided to go in a different direction and decided to work with images from the Cowgirl Strength plate by Artistic Outpost.  The spotted cow print was stamped repeatedly along the left side of the card in Timber Brown StazOn ink.  The focal image was grounded with faux stitches along the bottom.  The sentiment was punched with a circle punch and added with foam dots.  I truly resisted covering the card with much more, as I really wanted to do, but in the end decided to tuck a snippet of ribbon behind the sentiment and add a star brad for a tiny touch of sparkle.  I hope you will drop by Inkspirational Challenge to see all the Design Team challenges and then share one of your own with us for a possible chance at a great month end prize.  Please see Inkspirational for complete details.  I'll also be sharing this card over at the Artistic Outpost Referral Program.  Thanks for dropping by.  Yvonne

Life is a Beach

Greetings! It has been a few days since I have been able to craft as I have been traveling a bit.  My card today is for Word Wednesday over at 365 Cards.  The word for this week is "Sunshine."  I immediately thought of these beautiful stamps from Crafty Individuals as when I think of sunshine, my mind goes to the beach! I began by spraying a white card base with several shades of Dylusions Ink Sprays.  The edges were also distressed with Squeezed Lemon Distress Ink. Various images were stamped on scrap card stock, distressed with more DI and mounted to the card front.  A scrap of calico fabric, burlap string and a metal seashell charm complete my card.  I look forward to seeing your take on the challenge. Here's wishing you a day filled with sunshine.  Hugs, Yvonne

Bunny and Buttons

Greetings! It is time again for Challenge #11 at Inkspirational!  This time around, we have this adorable photo to inkspire us.  

No stamp images this time.  I layered a beautiful digital paper from Gecko Galz over a card base.  Next a paper doily shaped like an egg and then another round paper doily.  The focal image, also by Gecko Galz was attached using photo corners.  A simple seam binding bow, some ChitChat stickers and vintage buttons complete my card.  I hope you will hop on over to Inkspirational to see what the Design Team has in store for you and then create one of your own to share with us.  Thanks for dropping by.  Yvonne

If You Want the Rainbow...

There's a new challenge over at 365 Cards for Word Wednesday.  The word this week is "Rain."  For my focal image, I am working with an image and sentiment from this week's sponsor Liastampz.  The image was colored with Copic Markers and mounted onto orange card stock.  I added touches of turquoise card stock to help pop the colors  To complement the inside of the umbrella, I added yellow seam binding and liquid pearls.  I hope you will consider joining us with a card of your own!  Thanks for stopping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Hope Springs Eternal - Collage # 1

Hello and welcome!  I recently was visiting a blog and came across a post where the artist was working through a book called The Collage Workbook.  I am sorry to say I cannot find the blog or the artist who so kindly shared the information in her post, but I am so happy to have found it.  My copy of the book arrived today and the first of fifty exercises encourages you to make five collages in twenty-five minutes.  You are encouraged to pull a pile of scraps together, set a timer for five minutes and just go for it.  I only made one collage, but I sure had fun.  I grabbed a piece of white card stock 5" x 5" and started gluing down scraps of paper, an image from Gecko Galz, bits of lace and string and other odds and ends that were simply laying on my work space.  I adhered the finished collage to a card base.  My card is for one of my friends who is fighting a courageous health challenge.  I "hope" she likes it.  Thanks for dropping by.  Hugs, Yvonne

Over the Rainbow

Happy Tuesday everyone!  This is a short post for the current challenge over at Tuesday Alchemy, where this time around the theme is Anything Goes.  My granddaughter was in a talent show this past weekend and sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."  Even though I had a card to give her afterwards, once I saw what she was singing, I just had to rush home and make her a more suitable card to celebrate her accomplishment.  I cannot even begin to imagine to singing all the choruses of this song in front of an auditorium of approximately 1000 people.  The image and sentiment are from The Stampsmith.  I decided to watercolor Dorothy with Distress Markers to accentuate her.  Rather than a yellow brick road this time, I die cut some yellow card stock.  The gingham panel reminded me of Dorothy's dress in the movie.  Thanks so much for dropping by today.  A huge shout out to my recent new followers.  I cannot seem to find my way to contact you directly, but I truly appreciate your support.  I hope everyone is having a good day.  Hugs, Yvonne

Magesty

Wow, time for another Alpha Challenge at The Craft Barn.  This time, there's a bit of a twist.  Not only are we focused on the M this time, we are specifically to choose a word between Ma and Me in the dictionary.  I decided upon the word "Majesty."  On each page of my ongoing book I am created, I am including the letter at the beginning of the section of the dictionary.  I thought it might be nice to use this stamp from England that I saved from a package.  The London Bridge and Welcome to London sentiment are both from Artistic Outpost.  The metal crown charm is from Tim Holtz.  It will be exciting to put all the pages of my book together at the end of the year.  I do think if I were to do the challenge next year, I would work directly in my dictionary.  It would give me much more real estate.  I do wonder how others are gluing pages together in between their art.  Would love to hear from anyone who has suggestions!  Thanks as always for stopping by.  Best, Yvonne

Study in Pink

 Back with some more of my projects for my Guest Artist for March 2013 at Gecko Galz.  The focal image on my tag is from Garden Girls.  The background paper, also by GG, was cut and the focal image was inserted behind the flowers.  The butterflies were also trimmed from GG background paper and added for dimension.

The card above features images from the recently released GG collage sheet called Birds. Vintage buttons and some gauze flower trim by Tim Holtz complete my card.

And finally, I created this card in an 8" x 8" card using images from Garden Girls and digital stamps from Rose Garden.  Lots of lace, paper doilies, paper flowers, buttons , burlap string, a fracture doll, a pen nib, and metal tag complete my card.  Thanks so much for dropping by. Hugs, Yvonne

Golden Christmas

It's time for another challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  This week, the challenge is to create a card using Black, White and Metallic Gold.  My version of the challenge is quite simple, but I think elegant.  The center panel of gold metallic card stock was embossed with a Tim Holtz Alterations Embossing Folder.  Gold and black striped ribbon was added to the top and bottom of the panel. The finishing touch is a line of black Liquid Pearls.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Inspired

Greetings! It is time for a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenge.  This time around, the theme is "Swirls."  It's a funny thing, a few years back swirls were all the rage.  I was beside myself until I could afford to get a set.  And as luck would have it, by the time I bought them, swirls were pretty much passe.  But, I had them for this challenge, so all is not lost and I am so glad swirls were chosen for the theme, because I really do like them!  For my card, I had a vision of swirls all around the perimeter of the card with Dylusion Spray Inks in the center.  Once that was complete, I decided to stamp these glorious figures by Stampington and Co. in various shades of Distress Ink, trim and distress them with Pumice Stone DI and mount them to the card front.  I added Tim Holtz Tissue Tape to the card front, painted a heart die cut with Picket Fence Distress Stain and distressed the edges with Peacock Feathers DI.  I resisted added a lot of embellishments to my card and in the end settled for some Black Liquid Pearls and a yellow feather.  I hope you will pop over to FSC to see what the entire Design Team has to inspire you to make and submit a creation of your own!  Thanks so much for dropping by today.  Hugs, Yvonne

Green Giraffes

Greetings!  It's time for Challenge #10 at Inkspirational.  This week, we have a Color Inkspiration of Shades of Green.  

For my card, I dug through my scraps of paper for a variety of papers in shades of green. The giraffes were stamped with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink, as was the sentiment by Stampin Up.  Simple finishing touches include green burlap string and vintage buttons. I hope you will join us this week with a creation of your own, and please stop by Inkspirational for lots of inkspiration by the Design Team.  We have a new sponsor for the month of March, Inspired by Stamping.  They are providing a $20 Gift Card!  Please see the Inkspirational Challenge site for complete requirements for eligibility.  Thanks for stopping by.  Yvonne

Sharing My Joy

I

I recently had the opportunity to spend a few hours with my granddaughter.  Due to where I live, and my husband's illness, this is not a frequent occurrence, so it meant a lot to me.  Elizabeth loves to make crafts and was excited to be able to make a card for her mommy's upcoming birthday, as well as Easter Cards for family. A cup of hot chocolate and marshmallows and some gingersnaps helped too!   

Here are the finished cards she made.  Below are several close ups of have favorites:

Thanks for dropping by.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Spring Flowers

Greetings!  It's Wednesday and that means a new challenge at 365 Cards for Word Wednesday. This week, our word is "Wings" and how you interpret it is up to you.  Our sponsor this week, is Bugaboo.  My focal point:  Butterflies and Dandelions by Bugaboo was colored with soft colors of PanPastels.  The image was layered over a doily and yellow lace.  Embellishments include buttons, ChitChat Stickers, seam binding and Liquid Pearls by Ranger Products.  Thanks for dropping by and I hope you will share your own interpretation of today's challenge with us at 365 Cards! Best, Yvonne

Colorful Chickadees

There's a new challenge over at Make My Monday.  This week, they are looking for Nature inspired projects that are not "cute."  I decided to use this beautiful image by Gecko Galz, matted with black card stock and layered over a Kraft Card Base that has been stamped with trees inked with London Fog Memento Ink.  Some ivory burlap cloth from The Funkie Junkie Boutique, burlap string, a feather and button, some copper Liquid Pearls and some ChitChat Stickers complete my card. I'll also be entering this at Sunday Share over at Frilly and Funkie. Thanks for dropping by! Best wishes, Yvonne.  

Joy to the World

Hello and welcome!  It is time for another challenge at 52 Christmas Card Challenge.  Sadly, I missed last week's challenge due to life.  But moving on, this week we are working from the sketch below.  I really like this sketch.  I admit at first I was stumped at how to create the background, but then it clicked for me. 

I've always liked this stamp and I think it works well here.  Thanks so much for dropping by today.  Best wishes, Yvonne

Easter is on the way!

I was most fortunate, recently, to be asked to be a Guest Artist for Gecko Galz during the month of March 2013. I was admittedly, at first, surprised to be asked, and then delighted when I popped over to their website and saw their breathtaking offering of digital images, papers and stamps.  

Throughout the month of March, I will be sharing with you the projects I created with the generous products I was provided by Gecko Galz.  

If you are unfamiliar with Gecko Galz, I hope you will pop over and peruse the breadth and affordability of their digital images, stamps and papers. Enjoy your visit!  Best wishes, Yvonne