people with wings

for DT sister Sandie's tag tuesday things with wings challenge:

i always like putting wings on people! the paper dolls and words are from tim holtz sets. the stamped hot air balloon is from 100 proof press. paper on the second is from gecko galz, and everything else is from my stash.

one more week to play along! love to all.

queens, kings, your pick!

at tag tuesday, our lovely DT member sandie has selected king, queen, or both as the challenge for the current two weeks (one week remaining to play along). here are two tags with queens. of time permits i'll get some kings done, too...

background paper and crown by gecko galz, text and girl from art-tea-life. heart from stash.

background paper from gecko galz, lady stamp from 100 proof press, words stamp from hero arts.

hope you can play along!

love to all

sporty

for tag tuesday: sport -- just a few days left to play on this two week challenge that began more than a week ago! but a great challenge theme by our lovely DT member Sandie. to get in on this one on time i quickly rubber stamped two tags today.

backgrounds are from my stash. weightlifter stamp is by graphic rubber stamps and muhammed ali stamp is by 100 proof press. words are from tim holtz sticker set. i also stamped the dots and swirls.

love to all.

welcome to the faery garden!

 hello all! it is my turn to select the theme for the next two week challenge at tag tuesday and i've chosen the theme of "faery gardens."

i hope friends will share tags on the site featuring faeries and their garden playgrounds. make something lovely, spring-feeling, and full of fantasy to brighten our days.

here are two tags to get this started!

the background paper, faery, and sentiment in this first tag both come from gecko galz. the wings and border are items from my stash.

for this second tag the background paper and sentiment are again from gecko galz but the rubber stamp is from 100 proof press, and was a holiday gift i received this year!

i hope all friends will choose to play along!

love to all.

mustard yellow, ICAD 17

the theme today for the "index card a day" challenge sponsored by daisy yellow art is "mustard yellow." i attempted to create the color i wanted using acrylic paint colors raw sienna and hansa yellow. i should have used more of the yellow. i swirled with my paintbrush a bit for more texture.

the rest is rubber stamping with stamps from hero arts (sun), 100 proof press (quote) and studios blackbird (dots).

enjoy; love to all.

fabulous faces

it's my turn to choose the next two week tag tuesday challenge and i've chosen the theme of "faces." i own so many faces stamps that i could have made 30 or more tags (embarrassing but true)! in fact i did make several but will just share 3 today -- come back next week for the second installment!

stamp by technique junkies; sentiment is from tim holtz ideology; washi tape from pipsticks and the rest are items from my stash.

face stamp by rubber stampede; sentiment stamp by 100 proof press; the rest are items from my stash of supplies.

just so you know that all the faces do not have to be human! this lovely cat face is from lost coast designs and the sentiment is from leavenworth jackson stamps. background paper is gecko galz and the rest are stash items.

i hope you will have fun with this theme, there are so many ways to play with faces!

love to all.

say what?

at lost coast portal to creativity the current challenge (#49) is "say what?" and the task is to use words.  

on this 4x4 base i've used a stamp "girl with a pearl" from lost coast and a rumi quote sentiment stamp by 100 proof press.  i LOVE rumi. the background paper is from gecko galz.

love to all.

tag tuesday hallowe'en

for tag tuesday over the next two weeks the theme is either hallowe'en or autumn.  i've chosen hallowe'en for this stamped tag:

both stamps are from 100 proof press; the background paper is from gecko galz and the rest of the bits and bobs are items from my stash.

enjoy; love to all.

frida faces

the new two week challenge at tag tuesday is "faces."  i took the opportunity to use my new frida face stamp which was given to me over the holidays -- but in an unusual way...

the background paper is from sabor papel (purchased from altered pages).  the moon face stamp is from inkadinkado, frida is from 100 proof press and the crow body and heart are from silver crow creations. 

here the background paper is from gecko galz although the trim at the bottom is also sabor papel.  frida and the hawk body are both from 100 proof press.

some years ago i was in an ATC swap where the theme was "bird people."  we could either do bird bodies with people heads or people bodies with bird heads.  i thought this would be a fun way to use my frida face stamp especially since frida is such a mysterious figure who often worked with nature and animals in her own art.

the new challenge will run for two weeks from today so feel free to link up!

love to all.

eat drink and be scary

the altered pages blog has offered customers the chance to submit ATCs for the blog.  i used the altered pages "falling for fall" collage sheet to make a simple ATC with some fun hallowe'en elements on it.

the background paper is from gecko galz.  the stamp in the bottom corner is from 100 proof press and the rest are die cuts from my stash.  

i'm linking to the "scary and weird" contest at lost coast portal to creativity!

enjoy; love to all.

favorite pet...

the theme at moo mania and more challenge blog this week is "favorite pet."  although there are no companion animals in my life just now i have had cats in the past.  

i recently acquired this whimsical cat stamp from 100 proof press and it inspired this moo (1.1 x 2.8 inch creation), along with a moon stamp from rubber moon art stamps and some background paper from the gecko galz zen garden paper pack.  i almost forgot -- there is a bit of a wave stamp from meer image at both sides on the bottom  as well.

simple stamping fun.  
love to all.

o is for owl

our prompt at tag tuesday this week is "white space."  perhaps I took this idea too literally...

i've been eager to use this "queen owl" stamp from 100 proof press so i gave it a little corner of my tiny tag (approximately 1.3 by 3 inches) and added an "o" sticker.

enjoy; love to all.

more inchie love

earlier this month i posted an inchie (1x1 inch creation) which i submitted to the 100 proof press inchie contest.  i made a couple more, all stamp credits to 100 proof press.  i continue to find it interesting to work with a larger stamp (larger than an inch!) and to fill the space with just a part of it. 

both of these backgrounds involved heavy spritzing with spray watercolors. 
so small and kind of adorable!

love to all.

moo plus inchie

i'm having fun with small canvases this month.  today i am sharing a "moo" (roughly 1.1 x 2.8 inches) and an inchie (1x1).

my moo is in response to the moo mania challenge blog current challenge to create in black and white.  i cannot recall the source of the black and white image of the woman.  i'll update the post when i can find the collage sheet on my computer!  the rest is simple -- white background and some decorative black border.

the inchie is for the 100 proof press inchie challenge (running until sept 15).  of all the 100 proof stamps i own i could not find anything that was smaller than an inch.  so i used just a portion of a clown stamp from the company.  i covered my inchie base with french script background paper from my stash, used a stencil and spray inks to create the polka dot background, stamped the clown and then bordered it in black ink.

enjoy.  love to all.

altered card deck week 7; alphastamps giveaway

i hope everyone's hanukkah and christmas was blessed and joyous.  now happy kwanzaa and happy new year! and happy "while the cats' away the mice will play"  (more about that below).  i only have a couple extra days off this holiday season but with my five day weekend (24th-28th) one of my goals is to get back on track with the altered card deck challenge at claudine's art corner,

claudine has been taking us through a journey altering a 52 card deck.  i participated the first few weeks and then life intervened!  so i am several weeks behind but hopefully i'll get 4-5 pairs done during my break,  as you can see week 7 was a nautical theme.  i used distress inks (sponged) for the background on the first and spray inks on the second.  stamp credits on card 1 -- mermaid is by 100 proof press, seastar is by PSX, bubbles by G-rated stamps.  the mermaid was stamped on primavera paper by itKuPiLLi and the torn paper is by lunagirl.  the ship on the second card is a vintage image from the graphics fairy.  i used promarkers liberally on both.  i typed the words.

today is also a special day because of the post-christmas daily giveaways at the alphastamps blog.
please visit the blog daily starting today and comment for a chance to win amazing collage sheets and other goodies from the alphastamps company -- one of my favorites!

love to all.

vintage seashore and bathing beauties #2

here is a bathing beauty dancing her way along the beach on my tag.  she is a vintage image from lunagirl and i've made this tag to encourage you to join the latest challenge at lunagirl moonbeams.

link up your beach-inspired creation for a chance to win shopping credit at the lunagirl store!
love to all.

9 ladies dancing

the prompt at tag tuesday this week is 12 days of christmas.  now i happen to love this song and have fond memories of childhood "performances" of the song complete with costume, wild interpretive dance and much mayhem.  but the thought of trying to convey the song in a tag had me stumped.  after a search for vintage images expressing aspects of the song came up unfulfilled, i recalled a 100 proof press  stamp i own and i thought it had 3 dancing ladies so i thought i'd stamp it 3 times to get 9 ladies.   when i pulled the stamp i realized there were 5 ladies dancing on it which presented me with a bit of an issue.  undaunted, i decided i'd have to ink 4 of the ladies, stamp them, then ink all 5 and stamp again right next to the first image.   i have neither a stamp positioner nor a steady hand.  but thanks to a miracle of christmas, i got the impression i wanted.
here they are:

the ladies are stamped in black on some pale green DP,  i tore that page and affixed to my tag base which i'd already covered with contrasting and festive green DP and a brown swirly border.  i punched flowers from some additional holiday paper and also added another christmas border.  i went over the ladies with a gold coloring pencil for a little more contrast.  all the bits were also distressed in either antique linen or red distress ink.  they are a festive bunch, yes?

happy dancing; 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.

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.