complementary colors at tag tuesday

the theme for this week at tag tuesday is complementary colors.  though i had a clear idea in my mind initially about how i was going to work a green/blue to red/orange arrangement, purple to yellow ended up in there too before it was all over with.  so this tag is pretty much a tag of many colors!

i wanted to get inky with alcohol inks so i wandered around the web looking for ideas and found a nice tutorial over at gingersnap creations for the polished stone technique.  this is great fun and makes such gorgeous backgrounds.  i did one with green and blue inks and the other with red and yellow (you can see how the original color scheme plan was already falling apart!).

i stamped a beautiful seahorse stamp, a ching chou kuik design sold by sweet pea stamps.  i colored it with markers in purples and greens (see, i was totally forgetting the original plan again!).  in the end i made a pretty tag so i posted it anyway.  and the colors DO complement each other!

enjoy; love to all.

thrinchie beauties from the mails

at long last i am posting the gorgeous 3x3 "thrinchie"creations i received as a part of a recent swap sponsored by unruly paper arts.  the theme was garden party.  unruly paper arts is a blogozine dedicated to discovering the messy and magnificent in your art.  i was lucky to receive 3 pieces each from 2 artists whose blogs i've long admired.  and now i have their scrumptious art in my own inky hands!

the talented shar briss from ill tempered ink was the co-mastermind (along with ali manning from vintage page designs) behind the gingersnap creations blog, (no longer active) and is the founder of unruly paper arts.  she is also the owner of a wonderful vintage-inspired rubber stamp company rogue redhead designs.  the three thrinchies above are her work and the stamp featured in the center creation is a rogue redhead designs stamp.  gorgeous, yes?  truly.  but wait, there's more...

these three beauties are the work of another wonderfully talented and inspiring artist and blogger, trisha too of easily amused hard to offend.  i just love the name of her blog!  she designs for numerous companies and constantly posts lovely art.  i implore you to visit both their blogs if you aren't already a follower-fan because either blog could give your mojo a serious boost.

whew!  company is gone, the house is almost back to its regularly messy state and i'm feeling okay.
enjoy; love to all.

little bits of art

somehow i never managed to post the last two twinchies i made for the gingersnap creations swap a couple of months ago.  oops!

well i know i didn't post the first one and i'm feeling a little fuzzy about the second.  these 2 inch by 2 inch creations were a hoot to make.  i don't know if i would ever have tried it had it not been for the swap.  images by lynne perella.  plus random papers and embellies.

enjoy; love to all.

got my twinchies in the mail!

joy joy!  my gingersnap creations twinchie swap treats arrived in the mail yesterday thanks to our US host ali manning who wonderfully coordinated everything.  here they are!

left to right, these beauties come from shelly schmidt, sabrina, and cathy peper.
but that's not all!

the second set came from artists nancy johnson, gerri herbst and "unknown" as the last one was sadly blank on the back.

as i've said before, swaps are great to do.  they make you stretch yourself and then in return you get wonderful art you can touch and feel and be inspired by.  i hope you'll visit the blogs of the fine artists posted here.  such beauty!

good stuff.
love to all.

oops, more twinchies

i almost forgot i never finished sharing my twinchies for the gingersnap creations swap.  so here are 2 more of my 2 by 2 goodies.

images from lynne perrella.  i have a few more to post.  and i can't wait to see what i'll get in the mail soon!
love to all.

continuing the twinchie parade...

really, 2 inches by 2 inches is very small!  but once you get started it gets addicting.  here are 2 more that i created for the gingersnap creations swap (and yes i did get mine mailed off in the nick of time!).

images, as before, are from the lynne perrella artist page. the rest are stash items of various kinds.
enjoy; love to all

2 by 2...

as promised, more twinchies!  here are 2 more i created for the swap at gingersnap creations.

the lovely images are from an artists paper by lynne perrella.  the rest are various designer papers, book pages, flowers, pearls and other doodads.

more to come!
love to all.

pink saturday twinchie

hello dear friends.  i got up this morning and had a marathon twinchie making session.  i'm in a twinchie swap hosted by gingersnap creations and i am LATE because our goodies are due in wednesday.  however if i have to pay extra postage to get it there on time i don't care.  doing swaps helps me grow as an artist and try things i might not otherwise.  between being genuinely busy and also a little procrastination it took me awhile -- but oh what fun!  i think i'm in love now.  so here's one for pink saturday...

if you don't know or didn't guess, twinchies are 2 inch by 2 inch creations.  which is really small.  i've never made an inchie and that is going to be quite an experience which i need to try.  i made 10 twinchies altogether -- we need 6 for the swap so that gives me some space to pick the best 6 for mailing off. 

this one has designer papers and many various collage elements.  for all 10 twinchies i used an artists paper sheet created by lynne perrella entitled "undercover finery."  the page came from an old edition of somerset studio magazine, a publication i very much enjoy picking up from time to time.  it is pure inspiration!

watch for many more twinchies in the coming days.
love to all.

more favorite paper and love

linking this valentine up to: gingersnap creations GC 135 random redhead favorite designer paper challenge (2nd entry!) and
bling it on challenges "love is all around" challenge.

the beautiful paper in the background is something i found in my stash as i sought out good designer papers for valentines.  it is actually from a renaissance painting.  i only used the part that showed the two loving hands clasped together with the flowers.  i am sorry i do not recall where i got the vintage valentine image.

i love making valentines and have many more to make.  this weekend will be a marathon session as i'll want to get cards out in the mail soon.

hope everyone is having a wonderful day and month.  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.

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.

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.

a little pink ecstasy

awhile back when i was playing with making magnet art for the gingersnap creations magnet swap (over with now, sorry!) i made this magnet as i was exploring the possibilities.  I'd sort of forgotten about it but it came to mind today and i realize it fits a couple challenges out in blogland so i am happily posting it now.  this is a 4x4 size if you're wondering.

it has an alcohol ink background, a vintage image from twisted papers, the ecstasy stamp from leslie altman designs, and of course some pearls and lace.

linking to PINK SATURDAY and PEARLS AND LACE THURSDAY.

love to all.

beautiful magnets received!

here are the four beautiful encouraging words magnets i received last week per the recent gingersnap creations art swap.  i got two inspiring pieces from my blog pal vicki romaine from the cheerful stamp pad.

i understand from vicki that she got one of mine too though i do not know which one.
the next beauty is from paula akers.  you can find her wonderful art at her blog..

what great words for those of us who create! now last but not by any means least, a beauty from deb corder whose lovely works can be found at freckle face printworks.

this swap was great fun.  check out gingersnap creations to get in on more of the fun.  special thanks to ali manning who coordinated the US players for this swap.

love to all.
p.s.  please grab my blog button at far right and link back to my blog! (yes, i know, i'm so excited about it...)

2 encouraging magnets...

recently i participated in the magnet swap at gingersnap creations.   many who pop in here are very familiar with gingersnap creations but if not check them out HERE.  there are weekly challenges, lots of excellent tutorials and the occasional swap.  this is my first time participating in a swap, it was to make an art piece on magnetic sheet and to include encouraging words. 

we had to keep to a small size, no more than 4x4 or as small as ATC size which is 2.5 x 3.5.

it was a new experiment for me to work with the magnet sheets but it turned out to be quite fun.  these are two of the magnets i sent in.  both feature images from dezinaworld.  on these two i hand wrote my encouraging words.   i inked the backgrounds sort of free style and then used various laces, flowers and dots.  there is a little stamped heart on the cupid and a stamped fleur de lis on the peacock.  the cupid piece is 4x4 and the peacock piece is ATC size.


a nice thing about making magnets is they do have great potential for little gifts. i'm glad i tried this swap. and i can't wait to see what i'll get in the mail. i'll post my other two magnets soon, as well as the ones i receive once they arrive.

happy week & love to all.






friends magnet

i signed up for a swap at gingersnap creations, to make magnets with encouraging words.  here is the first magnet i made, it is in classic ATC size. 

i actually won't use this for the swap (is "friends" an encouraging word?) but i needed a trial run to see what it was like working on the magnet sheet surface.  the background is a swirl of alcohol inks.  the sweet pups image is from a collage sheet by the wonderful june at dezinaworld (from the dollar sale!!!).  i plan to send this to a dear friend of many years who rescues dogs.

also i really thought i'd seen a challenge in one of the blogs on the theme of friendship but now i cannot find it.  if you read this and you know of that challenge please let me know as i'd planned to enter it!  i have a hard time keeping up with which challenges are where. how do you all do it?

anyway, happy Labor Day to those in the US and happy monday to all.  may your day be full of friendship!

love to all.

GC111: Random Redhead Challenge - Planes and Trains

oo-wee i'm under the wire but hoping to get this in on time.  so this creation represents a 1st and 2nd event for me.  it is my 1st somewhat steampunk inspired creation.  it is my 2nd ever canvas.  this is a random redhead challenge over at gingersnap creations.  i love love love gingersnap creations but haven't done a challenge in way too long.  i'm a little intimidated by the whole steampunk thing but i wanted to apply this idea to my planes and trains (ok, just planes) canvas.

the background is an almanac cover, a free download from the wonderful blog at clearly vintage.  you can't see much of it but is is a 1908 encyclopedia/almanac cover which really set the mood for me.  i have a tim holtz clock face, some airplane images i ripped from a brochure for the flying heritage warbirds exhibit (a museum here in WA state), a pilot face girl from dezinaworld, steampunk wings from moonlight journey and a few other random bits (left corner and butterfly on far right) and that's mostly it.

i kinda like it.  and most importantly it was a delight to make.  i'm always so happy when i can be at my studio (also known as the kitchen counter).  such joy.

love to all!

rogue redhead valentine: she reads and muses of love

hooray i finally used one of my new stamps from the rogue redhead designs "relish reading" plate!  these are the wonderful new stamps designed by sharon briss. i'm also pleased because i used a technique i'd been wanting to try.  long ago ali manning did a tutorial on book page backgrounds for gingersnap creations.  i did that technique here, although i skipped the gesso stage.  the underneath cardstock is from the parchment package from paper temptress.  the image is stamped on some pale pink vellum, then cut out and adhered to the book page background which is glued onto the parchment. i used some lace, a heart sticker and another little leaves/floral sticker at the bottom.  i'm kinda happy with it!
more valentines to come.
love to all.