romance is in the air...

we're beginning a new two week challenge at the cheerful stamp pad: "romance is in the air."
the prize for the randomly selected challenge winner will be a treat from of the heart.

the vintage image here is from artfreebies.
please consider making a creation with the theme of love and romance (valentines day is coming soon!) and join in the challenge.

love to all.

one more bird...

first i have happy news.  i was named a ginger gem for my "soft yellow and white" creation which you can see HERE.  thank you gingersnap creations!  i feel very proud and happy to have been selected.  if you want to see the other "soft yellow and white" ginger gems please check them out HERE. they are all just lovely.

images on this card are from alpha stamps.  papers and embellishments from everywhere...
not to late to join the "birds of a feather" challenge at cheerful stamp pad!

love to all.

another "bird of a feather"

i promised more birds and i promised something using an image from alpha stamps.  so here it is:

i hope you enjoy; there is more to come!  please consider creating an image with birds to share for the "birds of a feather" challenge at cheerful stamp pad -- you've got one more week and the randomly selected prize winner gets a goodie from alpha stamps.
enjoy; love to all.

one ATC, two ATC challenges

you see what happens when i get snowed in?  ART!!!

this ATC works for wicked wednesday #15 dresses/dress forms and for my mojo monthly january play petite.  i used designer paper for my 2.5/3.5 ATC foundation.  some Tim Holtz tissue tape makes a nice little border and the vintage dress image is from clearly vintage (right now Cora is posting gobs more dress images; check it out!).  the little seashell and pearls seemed the right finishing touch.

Sarah at mojo monthly asks that we share about why we make what we make.  well, kind of because i can't help myself.  although my card making really started with a passion for stamps, i've always been entranced by collage and by taking appealing images and laying them all out together in a pleasing way.  if i had my druthers i'd do it all day.  i used to be intimidated by ATCs because of the size and but really they are a great little canvas.  i have a lot yet to learn about composition and color but playing with glue, scissors and pretty things is a fine way to learn.

special thanks to Marjie K from whose blog i learned about my mojo monthly!

happy art-making friends!
(no more snow here though...)
love to all.

multi-challenge queen! its all about the love.

go ahead and congratulate me now because this post goes to 2 challenges and 2 parties which is a major record for me.  details up front:
random redhead challenge: GC 135 "use your favorite paper" at gingersnap creations
"love" at drunken stampers
happy pink saturday at how sweet the sound and
"pearls and lace" at faith grace and crafts blog.

i don't know how you folks who link up to 7-10 challenges do it.  half the time i'm lucky to post any random thing i've done.  so let me now share a bit more about this card, my first valentine of the season.  the gingersnap creations challenge to use a favorite paper seemed almost insurmountable in light of all the beautiful papers there are to be had.  so i decided to focus on a favorite paper for a purpose -- and with february around the corner making valentines is the perfect purpose. 

if you've been around this blog you know that valentines are pretty much my favorite type of card to make. i actually picked 4 favorite papers for this purpose so i may have to enter the gingersnap challenge again but anyway this is where i started.  i love the flower pattern going on there and thought it was a nice accent for a doily and a vintage valentine message.  the pearls were added for balance.  it being a valentine it also worked for the drunken stampers love challenge.  and it is also pink and it also has pearls and lace.  voila!

enjoy and much, much love to all.

snow day bird

seattle has an abundance of snow and i've been gratefully home the past couple days.  it is cold and beautiful and white out; very inspiring.  i'm also inspired by the "birds of a feather" challenge at the cheerful stamp pad.  bird images are wonderful to work with.  so there will be lots of bird posting the rest of this week.  here's another one of the postage images from stamp zia.

enjoy; more to come.
check out the challenge HERE.
love to all.

cheerful stamp pad birds of a feather!

for the next two weeks the challenge at the cheerful stamp pad features one of my favorite themes and the sponsors is one of my favorite companies.  the theme is "birds of a feather."

and the sponsor is alpha stamps.

even though i have gobs of goodies from alpha stamps i didn't have any birds handy for my first DT creation (but stay tined for next week...) so i used this bird postage stamp from stamp zia.  the other papers, stickers and borders are from the stash.

i find that i use birds in my valentine cards quite a bit and its moving into valentine making season.  however you'd like to use a bird please join our challenge this week.

i'm also including this card in the "wings and things" weekly bloggers challenge at lisa somerville's blog splendiferous creations.

love to all.

fix for blogger issues with comment screen

if you are experiencing that problem with the comment screen where the screen either goes white or freezes, please visit Alison of the Great Leveller art blog. she has found the fix and explains how to do it.  i was very frustrated that i could not read my comments and i suspect people were not able to leave comments either.  please visit her fine blog and fix your blog if needed!

gingersnap creations color challenge #132...

it has been too long since i've played along with a gingersnap creations challenge. challenge #132 is a color challenge, "soft yellows and white."

the very sweet angel image was a free download from a wonderful blog, fripperies and butterflies.  the lovely yellow card stock is from paper temptress. remaining laces, stars and such are stash items.

enjoy; love to all.

more let it snow

swing on by the cheerful stamp pad for week 2 of the "let it snow" challenge.  our challenge sponsor is dezinaworld , a great resource for all kinds of wonderful images.  for my second DT piece i used another image from the dezinaworld "winter warmers" set.

this time i made an ATC.  i also used a background from dezinaworld that i think is called "fur."  i used a strip of tim holtz tissue tape (a new discovery that i am definitely in love with), a snowflake from a k & company border and some lace.  no snow here yet but there's the beauty of art -- you can evoke any image you want!

hope you'll join the fun.
love to all.

a wonderful giveaway from art by wendy

here is a fabulous blog alert: art by wendy.  she makes beautiful art AND she is having a giveaway to celebrate her followers.  the giveaway is one of these amazing mini books.

she also offers a tutorial on how to make these for yourself:  mini-book-necklaces-and-keychains tutorial.  this looks like a wonderful project to try.

please visit and follow her blog, i think you'll like it.  by the way, just to pay it forward, i found out about wendy's blog from another wonderful blogger cindy of art books & tea.  she shares delightful art pieces, gorgeous teacups and more.  so i say follow them both!
love to all.

new year, new techniques

time for another shout out for the technique junkies newsletter for always offering new and interesting techniques to try.  one way i make sure that i'm actually trying the techniques rather than just reading the newsletter (and looking at the pretty pictures!) is to occasionally sign up for the "just one" exchange.  TJ has a yahoo group and every month we can sign up to share creations with other members using a technique from any TJ newsletter.  recently i tried a technique called "texture transfer."  here are 2 examples.

this was easy and fun and yields varying and interesting results.  i sent the card with the heron (i think its a heron...) to my just one partner. 

enjoy the rest of your week!

love to all.

new year challenges

specifically i am referring to blog challenges!  we can talk about life challenges another time...  thanks to Shar at the ill tempered ink blog i discovered a couple of challenges i could enter, and right on time because i finally got a few new year cards done.  i've been having some scanner problems so i only got a couple scanned and the rest just got sent off.  but here are my two representative samples:

the vintage images are from twisted papers and embellishments are random stash items.
my wish to all for happy new year is that we will all work to make things happy for all.

challenges entered:
come and get it challenges
CRAFT challenge
cute card thursday

love to all.

let it snow!

the first challenge of the new year at the cheerful stamp pad is "let it snow!"  where i live we haven't gotten any at all yet but there is still plenty of winter left and for lots of folks that means lots of snow.  our sponsor for this challenge is the truly wonderful dezinaworld, a place for delicious images for use in your art.

this image is from the dezinaworld winter warmers sheet and i used some lovely shimmery (which sadly does not show in my scan!) papers from the papertemptress.  the final touch is the giant silvery snowflakes.  i don't think this girl likes her cute little snow clothes or maybe her guardians won't let her out to play.

in any event all of you stay warm and whether you've got snowflakes or not please dream up a snowy scene and share it with us at the cheerful stamp pad!

love to all.

celebrate the new year with wicked wednesday!

i just recently learned about the ATC challenges at wicked wednesday.  this week the challenge, in honor of the new year quite fittingly, is to celebrate.

my fireworks stamp is by hero arts and the "celebrate" was a part of a word stamp kit.
i hope the new year brings everyone much to celebrate; love to all.