A Cat and WOYWW #160

I had some stamps and matching dies in a plasic bag to keep them together on my table, and Tucker decided it looked like a comfy spot and  joined me in all the creativity!

To the left of his paw you can see a new sunflower diecut, I hope to use that soon. The front has some bits left over from a card I posted yestereday in a "Pretty in Pink" challenge.  If you want to see more interesting desks, hop over to the Stamping Ground where all kinds of fun things are happening.  Thanks for stopping by, and if you leave a comment, I will be sure to get back to you!                      

                                                          

We Click!

I have several trendy camera stamps, and this is the first 1 I've had the chance to ink up.  I love photography, and as I mentioned in previous posts, have been taking photo classes from a fantastic teacher, so I am drawn to camera themed stamps.  This is just the perfect little sentiment to go with that camera.  I stamped the camera on pink paper that had a spritz of Smooch Spray on it, and then stamped again on white, so I could get the center with the heart to show up.  I am entering this in CAS-ual Friday's CFC58:Pretty in Pink, and the Less is More Paper Piecing Challenge.

I've been taking quite a few pictures, but have not posted any on my blog in a while, so I thought I would share a few today.

In our photo assignment class we went on a street shoot in Northampton, MA.  I saw an adorable little boy and his dad and took a few shots of them, along with a girl riding her bike down busy Main Street.  I managed to catch her without any cars in the shot.

It's challenging but fun to have assignments to photograph things that I normally wouldn't be drawn to.  I hope my skills are improving!  Thanks for stopping by!

Cool Guy Hexagons

Some new stamps from Unity just came in the mail, and there are lots of options for guy cards in the kit.  I stamped the hexagons across a scrap of white paper, using my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line them up so they made a solid design.  I was inspired by the Tuesday Trigger-Man-tastic photo to use reds, blues and grays. 

 I think it looks masculine and the sentiment is so cute!  Cards for men seem more difficult to make, so I wanted to share this idea with you.  I am also adding this to My Mojo Monthly-Man Up.
Thanks for looking!

Japanese Lanterns

I love this image of lanterns by Lawn Fawn, and I decided to stamp it on patterned paper that had an Asian style flower design.  I would love to hang some of these out in my garden or on my porch this summer, the soft light they make is so beautiful.  I limited the color palette to a few shades of orange to take part in the Lawnscaping "Color Splash" challenge.  

I'm also posting in the Less is More Paper Piecing Challenge and the Scrapalicious USA "What Do You Do in the Summertime?"

Thanks for stopping by!

A Kitten and WOYWW #159

I have a new "grandcat" named Lily.  My son and his girlfriend brought her for a visit and I took a quick shot of her exploring out in my garden.  She's a cutie!  She looks so alert in this picture, but it I found it challenging  to get a good shot of her.  She was not used to being outside, so she was very distracted and constantly moving.

So it's Wednesday and here is what is on my workdesk- some new stamps from a company called Local King.  The owners/designers travel from one Rubber Stamp show to another and do lots of technique demonstrations.  Last year I bought a few sets from them at the Heirloom Productions Stamp and Scrapbook show, and I was happy to see that they now have die cuts to go with many of their sets.  I thought the dragonfly would be really pretty on a card, so it's stamped and ready to paint.

Over here you can see my new system for organizing challenge information.  I wrote each challenge name and info on an index card, that way I can shuffle them  around according to due dates, and compare to see if there are any similar colors or layouts so that I could combine entries.  I would love to hear how you keep track of challenges if you do them.  Please leave me a comment about this if you have time!

You can take a snoop around more desks if you stop over at Julia's Stamping Ground.  There are lots of creative spaces to see!

Last I wanted to show you a picture of my son and my husband.  We went out to brunch on Father's Day when he was home, and when they got dressed the guys each came down in the same color shirt.  They were suprised.  Funny!

Camping Tag

I made this tag for Tag Tuesday, last week, where the inspiration was "Camping" and thought I would share it with you here.  It's interesting how paticipating in an art project can evoke so many memories-

 

Making this tag brought back lots of happy memories.  I camped frequently in my "younger years" with my friends, and my husband, and later with my son, too.  The summer of 1971, after I graduated from college, I went on a cross country camping trip with 3 friends for 6 weeks.  We started in Connecticut and toured the US in a big loop, and had a fantastic time.  These girls reminded me of my friends, although you would have to replace those skirts with blue jeans, and those hairdos with long, straight, waist length hair!  Every night we put up a little orange pup tent that took just a few minutes to set up and take down.  We had many fun experiences, I'm so glad I had the opportunity to travel like this back then, and again later with my husband and son.  You sure won't see me camping now!  I like my hotels and all the luxuries that go with them.

 

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the other great tags over at Tag Tuesday.  This week's challenge is "Green".

Happy Hello

This was a fun card to make.  I felt the "Happy Hello" stamp from Hero Arts needed some happy colors around it, so I used an old HA set to add lots of circles in bright colors on the cardstock.  Of course I messed up one, so I stamped again on scrap paper and added a popped up circle.  Mistakes can be good! 

 This is entered in the Crazy 4 Challenges C4C140- add lots of circles, and Simon Says Stamp and Show Anything Goes.
Thanks for stopping by!

ATC's and WOYWW #158

That's alot of initials in my post title!  My workspace is covered with the fantastic ATC's that have been arriving at my house over the last week.  They are all so different, and such creative little works of art.  The first is from Susan-Killam Creative.  She used alcohol inks and black ink to stamp an image of the Moulin Rouge, and the colors are subtle and beautiful.  Then a lovely one from Mel over at The Yorkshire Fox arrived.  It has a beautiful Tim Holtz flower on it, and I love the blue and tan together with all the texture of the corregated paper and twine. 

 Yesterday two more came!  I now have my own Doodly Bird from Lynn Holland at http://www.doodlybird.co.us/.  He's singing me a tune, so cute!  I've been admiring these little creatures since I started WOYWWing.  Lynn became my 50th follower, and I was especially happy about that!  Thanks, Lynn.

My last one is from Lyn over at Spyder's Corner, and she added so many interesting bits and pieces to hers.  Check out the print on the bits of text, so clever.  I reminds me of the I Spy books my son loved to look at when he was little,  there are so many things to see.  If you are wondering why I am getting all these great cards in the mail, it was because it was the 3rd anniversary of The Stamping Ground, the place where we all show our creative spaces to the world, and to celebrate, Julia organized an ATC swap.  It was so much fun, thanks, Julia, and thanks Mel, Lynn, Lyn and Susan!

So glad you stopped by, and I would love to read your comments!

Rainbow Dragonflies

I used markers to color these dragonflies all the colors of the rainbow for this cute card.  Virginia, over at Yes, Virginia is having a rainbow themed challenge, and I wanted to make a card that had movement across it, and I thought the dragonflies were the perfect size for this.  The background was sprayed with a bright yellow ink to go along with the sentiment "You make my world that much brighter".  Check out the other cards entered in her challenge, there are lots of great rainbow inspired ideas.
This is also going in Simon Says Stamp and Show, where it is "Anything Goes".
Thanks for stopping by!

Collage Card

I combined a couple of techniques that I had been playing with, stamp collage and watercolor ATC's, to make a card that incorporates both for the Embellish Magazine Collage Color Trend Challenge.  Here is their inspiration photo.

I made a mini watercolor using blues and yellows, and drew flowers on it.  When those were dry, I cut out each individual flower.  I made another background with the inspiration colors, and added the flowers on top of the watercolor paper.  The sentiment is from Unity Stamps Kit of the Month.

On the card base I stamped  some script, music and butterflies, using distress inks, and then spritzed with Radiant Rain to give it a metalic shimmer.

Here's a close up of the watercolor, used my Twinking H2O's for that.

This was fun, I will definitely make more of these!

Thanks for stopping by.

Bathing Beauties and WOYWW #156

Last weekend I went to a Rubberstamp and Paper Arts Show, and one of the vendors had a fun make and take that incorporated vintage photos.  Jill, from TJ Designs, showed us how to make a card with a collage background using strips of paper, chalk inks, and rubber stamps.  She designed the stamps and the papers, and it was fun having her teach us how to put a simple collage together.

Of course I had to buy some stamps, paper packs and photo sheets, and that is what is on my workdesk today.

Can't wait to make some fun cards with these Bathing Beauties!

To see some other work spaces and all the creativity that is out in blogland, stop over at Julia's blog called the Stamping Ground

Winner at Lily Pad Cards!

I am so excited!  I was chosen as a Color Challenge Winner over at Lily Pad Cards with a card I had made a few weeks ago.  Now I am a "Froggin' Fantastic Four"!    This is the card I had entered, and shared with you on my blog last month.

You can see the other winners here at Lily Pad Cards.
Thanks for stopping by!

Sailing

When I got some requests to make Father's Day Cards, I thought of this Stampin Up stamp right away.  It is great for many different occasions, and I love it for Father's Day, because it reminds me of my husband.  He's not really a "car guy" or a "tool guy", but he likes to go out in his boat.  When we were first married, we lived on a beautiful lake in New Hampshire and we owned a good sized sailboat for a few years.  We have many fond memories of sailing on Spofford Lake. 
I use Smooch spritz to give the card base a speckled background, and stamped the boat a second time on white paper and paper pieced the sails.  I love the map background paper, it gives the card a nautical feel.  It's simple, but I love it.

Skipping Stones Designs is having this color challenge,  SSD #30, and I am entering this card.  I don't own any Skipping Stone stamps, and I would sure love to win some.

  I am also entering it in these challenges-  Simon Says Stamp and Show "One for the Boys",  and My Mojo Monthly "Man Up" over at La-De-Dah,
and the Moxie Fab World "Spatter Technique".

Thanks for stopping by!