happy birthday to rogue redhead designs!

rebel challenge 29 at rogue redhead designs is "happy birthday or unbirthday" in celebration of the november birthday of the stamp company.  i used one of my favorite RRD stamps from the milliner misses stamp plate for my birthday card.  she is colored with pro markers.

this card also uses the "washi weave" technique which is one of my favorite techniques from technique junkies.  the happy birthday stamp is from memory box stamps.
i'm linking up to "anything goes" challenge #48 at scraps of color.

love to all.

grateful

today is thanskgiving in the US.  my best wishes for a happy holiday to all who celebrate.  i am grateful for family, health, friends, and many things -- i am blessed.  but i am also very grateful for art and blogging and blog friends!  here is my little offering today, featuring my favorite thanksgiving stamp from mad rat rubber, stamped and layered on papers from seven gypsies.

linking to: the "thanksgiving" challenge (#47) at scraps of color; and the "happy thanksgiving" at drs designs blog.
love to all of you.

christmas ornament for swap

here is another ornament i made for the swap with the gecko galz yahoo group.  for this one i used a pennant from a banner kit.

front:

and back:

santa face and snowman vintage images are from gecko galz. designer papers, flowers, pearls, stickers and other goodies finish both sides.  the cord is sparkly silver.

enjoy; love to all.

black and white tag

this week's prompt at tag tuesday is "black and white."  here is what i made:

once digging into my face stamps for the king and queen tags last week i found other face stamps which weren't workable for that challenge (that didn't fit the crown stamp!) and so i am re-discovering these wonderful stamps.  the stamp here is from stamper's anonymous.  i stamped it then cut it out and placed it over the 2 background papers which are DP from alpha stamps.  i made the flowers with a punch and placed little pearls in the centers.  the ribbon and cord are from my stash.

love to all.

retro thanksgiving

for week two of the "retro gals" challenge at lunagirl moonbeams i used another fine lady from the retro housewives collage sheet along with some thanksgiving themed images from the graphics fairy to make my card.

she is very happy to have prepared a wonderful meal.  which i shall be as well in just a few days...
if you are thinking of playing along but don't have any retro images of your own karen has posted some sweet freebies on her blog.

i'm linking this up to the "diner" challenge at drunken stampers.
to all who celebrate i wish you a very happy thanksgiving!

love to all.

time to decorate...

just in time for the holidays is the "let's decorate" theme at cheerful stamp pad.  your challenge is to make decorations for the holiday season if you like OR just use embellishment.  link up your creation to be eligible for the random draw for a prize from floppy latte designs, a digital stamp company.

i took advantage of this challenge as an opportunity to share an ornament i created for an ornament swap with the gecko galz yahoo group.

i'm linking up to the "christmas preparations" challenge at the frilly and funkie challenge blog.

front:

back: 

the base of the ornament is a chipboard ornament frame from retro cafe art.  it is painted with alcohol inks on both sides and covered in designer paper on one side.  my primary vintage images are from gecko galz and the rest are embellishments i've been gathering up for christmas card making -- little die cuts, charms, flowers, pearls, yarn.  the dots on the first side were made with a white poster paint pen.

i took the photos by hanging the ornament on my banana stand!

this year is the first time i tried making ornaments and frankly it was way more difficult than i thought it would be. anyway more ornaments to come later on.  you don't have to make an ornament to join the challenge, just use lots of embeliies!

love to all.

last 2 queens of the royal court

welcome to the final installment of my queen tag obsession.  in completing this "series" i think i managed to used all my face stamps that would fit on a tag, so here are the last two:

this lady's face stamp is from paper inspirations, crown from pink paislee.  this is actually the last one i made so perhaps i was running out of steam -- it is only the designer papers and a velveteen flower.  i also think this was the very first face stamp i ever acquired.  or maybe the next one was my first?  so finally,

face stamp by judikins.  designer papers, tissue tape, flowers, love. (i always add love). goodbye royal subjects!

love to all.

gentle queen

continuing with my queen tag obsession...
this lovely queen is from rubber stampede and as with all the other members of the royal court the crown is by pink paislee.

this is another favorite face stamp.  i also really like the different effects from stamping on patterned paper.  i kept this one simple with designer paper covered tag base, some washi tapes behind the face and a flower.

also linking to pink saturday.
"anything goes" at brown sugar challenge blog. 
and "tags and bags" at crafty catz weekly challenge.
more tomorrow!
love to all

the moon queen

the other day i mentioned that i had more queen tags to share so here is one today, one i am rather fond of.

oh how i love this dreamy face stamp by inkadinkado.  the crown and "queen" are from pink paislee.  in addition i've got designer paper and then some bits from lunagirl with two pieces from the carte postale collage sheet and one (the woman on butterfly) from the fly away home collage sheet.  i have included a velveteen flower with a pearl as well.

i've had a desire to combine stamping and collage sheet images effectively together and i feel i am getting the hang of it.

i'm linking this to the "anything goes" stamping challenge at cards by lady anne; and to the "make it pretty" challenge at divas by design challenge blog.

i hope you enjoy and come back tomorrow for another queen tag!
love to all.

guest designer spot at crafting by design!

it is an honor to be able to provide some crafty items for the latest challenge at crafting by design.  the current challenge is "birthday greetings" and the challenge sponsor is lunagirl moonbeams. as a member of the lunagirl DT i was asked to provide some goodies for this challenge.  i wanted to do something a little different so i decorated some gift bags to use for birthday gifts.

i've used 2 different vintage images from lunagirl -- the children on a donkey and the "birthday greetings;" the rest of the pieces are various designer papers, tissue tape, flowers, buttons and lace, etc.

here is another:

the frog invitation is from the "watercolor alice" collage sheet and the "happy birthday" is from one of the birthday collage sheets, both from lunagirl.  again, i've got sheet music, designer papers, tissue tape, flowers, a doily and more to decorate.

stop on by crafting by design to play along!

love to all.

kings and queens

the current prompt at tag tuesday is kings and queens.

i made two companion tags for this theme. the female face is by 100 proof press.  the male face is by river city rubber works.  the crown and the bee are from pink paislee.  the stamp behind the man's face is the french script stamp by stampin up.   behind the woman's face is a bit of postcard from the carte postale collage sheet at lunagirl and the butterfly comes from lunagirl's fly away home collage sheet.  the matching background designer paper on both tags is from alpha stamps.  the letters are brown velveteen letters, i forget where they came from.

i got carried away with stamping faces and putting a crown on them so stay tuned as i will be posting more queens (as i only have the one male stamp but i have gobs of female face stamps!) later and throughout this week.

also, there are wings on both tags here which reminds me to remind you of the "angel wings" challenge at the cheerful stamp pad.  just create somethings with wings and link up by next sunday.

love to all.

retro gals at lunagirl!

for two weeks at lunagirl moonbeams we are celebrating retro gals.  have fun with images of retro women and girls, 1950s housewives, vintage cooks, retro moms, even pin up girls -- all ladies of the 30s, 40s, 50s, even 60s and 70s.  here is my DT creation to get things started:

the slightly crazed retro pie maker is cut from a lunagirl collage sheet.  the pie was one of 35 free thanksgiving themed images offered at the graphics fairy.  i couldn't resist using the stamp from 100 proof press because i feel this featured retro girl seems a little on edge...

enjoy; love to all.

many angel wings

if you can't get enough of angels and wings then the current challenge at the cheerful stamp pad is definitely for you.  our theme is angel wings and our challenge sponsor is michelle perkett studios, a digital stamp image company.  the randomly selected winner will get some nice digis.

for my DT sample i used another tutorial from the technique junkies newsletter -- called "depth of field."  my angel stamp is from judikins. the cardstock was spritzed with watercolor inks, then torn, distressed and added to a brown cardstock base.  i added a quote which i printed from my computer and distressed; it is a quote i love.  i added a dragonfly sticker and some other flourishes.

i hope you enjoy and might think to join this challenge. to participate you just need to have some wings showing.

love to all.

one last secret...

happy friday friends: you have until sunday evening to link up a creation on the theme of "secrets and hidden things" at the lunagirl moonbeams blog.  i've got one last DT piece to encourage you.

vintage image from lunagirl with other bits from my stash.
trying to blog every day this month is proving challenging.  i've made it to the midpoint of the month and i'm not sure if i'll make it to the end.  but it has been interesting trying to keep nice things coming.  i've got lots of challenge pieces to get done this coming weekend as well as ornaments due for a swap soon so i'll be making lots but not sure if i'll be posting.  in any event it is always lovely visiting with my blogging friends and I deeply appreciate your visits and kind comments here.

linking to pink saturday and 4 krafty girlz "anything goes" challenge.

love to all.

dancing and drawing

so if you visit here much you know i love to dance and i have tried many different kinds of dancing over the years.  i am currently 2 weeks into a lovely and unusual 8 week class called "dancing the bones."  the focus is on exploring dance through anatomy -- thinking about our skeletons, organs, musculature, etc.  and the movements are derived from that exploration.  very experimental and probably sounds a little weird but i confess i love it.  we also take drawing breaks during the 2 hour weekly class.  so today i am sharing a drawing i made of my own skeleton (with apologies for less than ideal photo quality -- it was a pencil drawing):

i know, funny huh?  when i was young i used to hate to think about my skeleton because it freaked me out but now i kind of like thinking about the amazing bones that keep me upright!

and this is a drawing from the second class of how i felt after we'd been dancing for quite awhile, considering the relationship of our skin to the physical space:

i never said i could draw...

okay, so this was a different sort of post but i thought i'd share.  i'm having a great time with it.

love to all.

thanksgiving card

a thanksgiving collage of vintage images to link up to the thanksgiving challenge at the gecko galz yahoo group.  all images from gecko galz.  flourish is from jolee's boutique.

i really have to work one holiday at a time, it is a limitation i seem to have. so if i can do a few more thanksgiving cards i might really be able to get started on christmas...

love to all.

all stitched up

i've really been in the stamping mood so to make my contribution for the tag tuesday "all stitched up" prompt i grabbed some sewing themed stamps from a hero arts set to make my tag.

i started with a green tag base, added some torn papers and then stamped several sewing images.  done!
yes it might have been nice if i'd actually taken out needles and thread and actually sewn something for this challenge but yikes, just couldn't do it.

love to all.

curiouser indeed!

for week two of the "secrets and hidden things" challenge at lunagirl moonbeams i wanted to do something kind of whimsical.  i was thinking that the alice in wonderland story includes secrets and hidden things so i turned to one of the alice collage sheets from lunagirl.  i colored the image of alice pulling aside the curtain with promarkers and cut it out. but i wanted her to find something a little more surprising than the queen's garden. so while the mysteriously smiling cheshire cat looks on, here is what happened in my alice scene...

whoa, what is rudolph the red-nosed reindeer doing behind that curtain? i guess he is telling me i'd better get going on making some christmas cards.

the alice, cheshire cat and "curiouser" all came from the lunagirl sheet.  the background was a freebie karen at lunagirl provided on her blog a month or so ago.  the rest are little things i had laying around.  i decided to link this card up to the "humour" challenge at dream valley challenges  and also to the "animal antics" challenge at the squirrel and the fox challenge blog.

happy week!  love to all.

angel wings

like so many artists and crafters i love working with angels and with wings so the new two week challenge at cheerful stamp pad definitely makes me happy -- the theme is "angel wings."  our challenge sponsor is the lovely digital stamp company michelle perkett.  a randomly selected winner will get some goodies from the company.

here is my first DT piece for the challenge:

my cardstock was spritzed with watercolor inks.  i tried the "washi weave" tutorial from technique junkies to make for a different kind of background.  my stamp is a favorite one from character constructions.  i printed a relevant quote from my computer then tore it and distressed the edges.  a few other embellies and voila! angel wings.

i hope you'll join us.  i'm also linking up to the "sentiments" challenge at that craft place challenge blog.
love to all.

november colors

is it really november?  how did that happen?  and we are nearly halfway through it.  here is a card with "november colors" for the gecko galz yahoo groups monthly challenge. in the northern hemisphere we're moving from the oranges and yellows of early autumn to the browns and more muted tones as we transition to the colder months. so that's what i'm picking up on here.

vintage squirrel and "harvest" images are from gecko galz collage sheets.  my little 100 proof press acorn guy stamp is also here to remind everyone that this is harvest time.  plus other embellies.

linking up to pink saturday "pink" or "seasonal" and frilly and funkie "thanksgiving" challenge.

love to all.

from the pages of a book, secrets emerge

from the pages of a handwritten book, perhaps her own journal, secrets are hidden.  her private dreams are behind the shadows.  does our heroine dare unlock the door and enter her own fantasy?

here is a little something to encourage your participation in the lunagirl moonbeams "secrets and hidden things" challenge. prompts for this theme could include secrets, locks and keys, doors and windows opened or closed, secret gardens and hidden treasure, wrapped gifts and more.

vintage image here is from lunagirl, with other delights from my stash.  i'm linking this card to up to two different "anything goes" card challenges: at sister act card challenge and brown sugar challenge.

you can link up to the lunagirl challenge through the 17th!  love to all.

100 proof moo mania

one of the companies that first got me hooked on stamping is 100 proof press.  although i've been on their newsletter forever and have "liked" their facebook page this is the first time i entered one of their facebook challenges/giveaways.  just under the november 8 deadline wire i present these "moos" in response to the newsletter reader/facebook challenge.  i'm linking this up to the "hands" challenge at moo mania challenge blog as well.

this 100 proof press clown stamp is a long time favorite of mine.  the background paper and ribbon are from alphastamps.  the little flourish is a little something from my stash.

i always felt this little acorn guy wanted to share some powerful wisdom.  i was happy to find a suitable proverb (on a clear sticker base) that was just the right size to fit the moo.  the background paper is from seven gypsies. the autumn leaves and die cut are from my stash.

last but not least i present to you "the greatest!" muhammed ali.  he was a total wordsmith so i was delighted to find some designer paper in my stash that is covered with letters.  i wrote "pow" with letter stickers.  and of course, he floats like a butterfly but stings like a.....

as you may know, moos are roughly 1.1 x 2.8 inch (as in TINY) creations.  so while challenging to make, they really are fun as they force you to wrap your mind around a very different kind of canvas.
all stamps here are by 100 proof press.

love to all.

turkey time

one of the november challenges at the gecko galz yahoo group is "turkey time" so i made a turkey day card with a cute vintage image from gecko galz.  i'm also linking up to mema's crafts november challenge which is "anything goes with a twist" and the twist is to have the word "thanks" in your creation.

just a few fun images and embellies.
enjoy; love to all.

proverbs tag

our task this week at tag tuesday is to work with the theme of "proverbs" and i took this prompt literally.

a first bible first taught me by my grandmother was from proverbs 3 "in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths."  and i remember it always.  so i made it the base of this tag and added a few embellishments that felt meaningful to the piece.

i also took a photo laying the tag on a patterned scarf -- another thing my grandmother taught me was to wear beautiful scarves all the time. and i do!

enjoy; love to all.

secrets, and hidden things

ooh, here is a very interesting challenge new this week at lunagirl moonbeams blog.  it is "secrets and hidden things!"

our challenge sponsor karen at lunagirl says this challenge could involve secrets, locks and keys, doors open or closed, windows, secret gardens, hidden treasure, treasure boxes, wrapped gifts, things hidden anywhere and even hiding children, fairies or peekaboo!  just a few ideas to get you started...  for my first DT creation i decided to decorate a box with a sweet lunagirl image, actually the same image karen used for her challenge badge.

this box will most likely hold a christmas present for my goddaughter.  the thing that is secret and hidden is the gift of course.  it is still a secret to me since i haven't bought it yet though the box seems to be inviting me to get her jewelry!  

for this piece i stamped a french script stamp (stampin' up) in brown on some pink designer paper.  i also tore some tissue paper to go under the vintage image from lunagirl, which was cut with patterned scissors.  i added holiday flowers, washi tape and pearls to finish.

have fun with these challenge ideas and i hope you will join!
love to all.

non traditional color mix up and encouragement to join a challenge

an unexpected but wonderful opportunity to spend a day and night out of town foiled my plans to blog every day in november for nablopomo -- i've already missed november 2!  but i'm still going to give it a try for the rest of the month.  though i'd better start creating double time and quick! (or finding old stuff i never posted before!)

so, the current challenge at the cheerful stamp pad is about color -- purple and yellow. you have one more week to link up a creation featuring those two colors.  for my week two DT creation i was provided a cute little witch from our challenge sponsor jelly park digital stamps. it is still sort of the hallow e'en season i suppose so here is the color mix up-- could i make a fun hallow e'en card using purple and yellow instead of the traditional orange and black?

but of course!  i colored the little witch with promarkers using purples, yellows, greys and golds.  her face was done in colored pencils.  then i matched up some yellow and purple cardstock pieces and added other hallow e'en goodies.  i probably wouldn't choose to use this color palette for this season but i still had fun with it.

GUESS WHAT?  no one has entered the challenge so far so your odds of winning a prize are high!
you can make anything you want with purple and yellow.  one more week to enter and have the chance for a prize from jelly park!

love to all.

NaBloPoMo?

anyone in my followership/readership participating in either NaBloPoMo or NaNoWriMo?
the challenge is to either blog every day in november OR write a 50,000 word (give or take) novel in november...
just curious.  i'm trying both this year (because clearly i'm some sort of glutton for punishment/masochist/unbalanced person -- or perhaps creative open-hearted soul... but still a little nuts).

no art today.  i have had a busy week and busy weekend ahead but here is a hilarious clip art i got today.  along with all my wishes to all of you for a beautiful day.

love to all.