doors, stamped, an experiment

hello all, it is a super-blustery autumn day in my part of the world. good times for making! the latest challenge at tag tuesday, hosted by our awesome DT sister Wendy, is "doors, windows, or arches."

i really thought i owned some sort of a door stamp as i wanted to stamp something. since i discovered i did not own such a stamp (or could not find it! ha!) i thought i would try to create a door with stamps i have. the following are experiments which i decided to just go ahead and post even though they certainly are not polished work by any means.

i actually was just stamping on cardstock and then cut around what i'd stamped to make a tag shape -- that's to tell you just how very "experimental" this whole thing was! 

i created the doors using different stamps from the rubbermoon "stampstracts" stamps. the checkerboard, alice, and kissing lady are from leavenworth jackson. the dream and clock are from inkadinkado. words from a tim holtz set.

i hope you'll forgive these rough creations -- no color, masking, or anything fancy -- just plain stamping, and it was a nice little play time.

i hope you'll take a look at the challenge for yourself -- remember it can be doors, windows, or arches -- one more week to play!

love to all.

a pause to reflect, ICAD

my index card for today, for the "index card a day" challenge sponsored by daisy yellow art is on the theme of "pause." i had intended to mask the buddha stamp and forgot to do so, decided to continue with the card anyway. it therefore isn't quite as i had hoped but here it is.

background paper from gecko galz. mountain stamp from PSX, buddha stamp from inkadinakdo, lotus stamp from leavenworth jackson, spiral stamp, unknown.

love to all.

ICAD #7 "highway"

the day 7 theme for the "index card a day" challenge sponsored by daisy yellow art is "highway." the challenge is to make art on an index card (either 3x5 or 4x6) every day through July 31.  

motorcycle rubber stamp from "stamp happy," "route 66" rubber stamp from inkadinkado. woman is from gecko galz "tattoo girls" digital collage sheet. i got the map background from pixabay and the rest of the words i just typed and printed.

love to all.

circles ○○○○○ kreise

for moo mania and more, "circles"

background papers by gecko galz.  background stamps -- small and large circles by rubber moon art stamps "stampstracts." women in cricles are dawn houser stamps distributed by inkadinakado.

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.

wheels

for the moo mania and more "wheels" challenge:

as usual i have made an actual moo (approximately 1.1 by 2.8 inches). motorcycle stamp by stamp happy, route 66 and postal mark stamps by inkadinkado.  background is a bit of city map of washington DC.

ride hard!
love to all.

dance by the light of the moon!

i've got some more goodies for the moo mania and more hallowe'en party theme; this time actual moos (approx. 1.1 x 2.8 inches).

the background on the moo is a day of the dead themed paper from sabor papel, with edges distressed in black ink.  the skeleton stamp by inkadinakado -- i stamped it on designer paper by gecko galz (the moon face is from gecko galz also) and painstakingly cut it out!  i adhered the moon face, skeleton and little die cut cat to make my creation.  because it has stamping, i'm entering this moo into the scary or weird challenge at lost coast portal to creativity.

for my second moo all images are from my artistic adventures, cut out and collages together to my satisfaction.

please scroll up for my pinned post at the top of this blog -- the gecko galz blog hop is still taking place and there are free collage sheets at every stop on the hop as well as other prizes to be won so please check that out!

love to all.

clean and simple

the words clean and simple speak for themselves i suppose -- but when i saw the latest prompt at tag tuesday to make a clean and simple tag i felt the need to do a little research.  i found the CASology blog, dedicated to clean and simple creations.  so here's what i did:

this tag is for tag tuesday and for the current challenge at CASology which is "sprout," in honor of spring.  i started with a kraft cardstock tag and stamped the flower from rogue redhead stamps and the word from inkadinako.  and that's it.  it was a challenge to not do anything more.  but i like the results.  i'll be playing along with CASology again in the future!

enjoy; love to all.

collage steampunk 4x4

hello lovely people.  we still have the kids at home and the house is still busy and blessed.  but i commandeered the kitchen to make something as it has been many days and my glue fingers were itching!  which means collage time...

for the gecko galz blog design team we were all asked to make a 4x4 creation to be our symbol on the blog for 2016.  we were asked to do something indicative of our style.  well if you've been here before you know i love collage and also steampunk.  so that's the idea i worked with here.

other than the prima flower, enamel dots and a couple background papers by jodie lee, every element here is gecko galz, mostly all from the curiosity shop digital kit.  although i printed and fussy cut the elements i wanted to make my collage.  i also lightly stamped the word "dream" (by inkadinkado) repeatedly. 

4x4 is a great sized canvas to work with.  something tells me i'll be doing more of these.  meanwhile i wish a happy day and happy new year to all!

love to all.

december gecko galz customer challenge -- faraway places

if it is winter where you live you may be cozying up inside and dreaming of faraway places.  this is the theme for our customer challenge for december at gecko galz challenge blog.  you are invited to link up creations on the theme of travel or distant places. 

"dreams of russia"

because it is a new month we are featuring brand new products from the gecko galz etsy shop.  below is my supply list -- everything on this card is new this month (except my "dream" stamp!)

supplies: "czarina" collage sheet (woman and castle); "czarina icons" (flower); "czarina" paper pack (background paper); dream stamp by inkadinkado.

i enjoyed making a collage of these elements to create a scene of this woman dreaming of russia.

to join this challenge you must use at least one item from gecko galz but please note there are freebies at the gecko galz pinterest page.

enjoy; wishing you dreams of lovely places!
love to all

altered tin

i wanted to make something special for a friend so i asked her what she would like.  she had seen some of my altered tins and so she requested an altered tin featuring an image of the buddha.  i have a beautiful buddha stamp by inkadinakdo.  here is what i made:

all of the papers are from gecko galz.  i also used little bits of borders and washi tape for the sides and a sticker and enamel dots for the top.  i gave it to her yesterday and she really loved it.

have a great rest of the week.
love to all.

sweet pea progressive challenge, august

i'm playing the sweet pea stamps friends and fans (on facebook) progressive challenge again this month.  part 1 creations are due by august 9 so i am just making it with a little time to spare.  i made a card with a ching chou kuik dragonfly stamp.  i bought this a long time ago and it is a rubber stamp -- it is no longer available as a rubber stamp but you can find it as a digital stamp here.

i stamped onto green designer paper and colored the image with pencils.  i cut that out and adhered it to additional designer paper from the primavera collection by itKuPiLLi.  the dream stamp is by inkadinkado, also stamped onto colored paper.  beyond that i added enamel dots and distressed the edges.

i'm eager to see what free stamp we will get for part 2 as a prize for playing in part 1!
have a lovely day; love to all.

fairy silhouette

for week two of the silhouette challenge at the cheerful stamp pad i have another fairy silhouette to share.  our challenge sponsor is stitchy bear stamps; a randomly selected winner will win a prize from stitchy bear. for this challenge our DT is working with digital images by the designer floppy latte.

once again i've printed a PNG image onto paper by itKuPiLLi.  after adhereing that to card stock i added a fanciful border at the bottom and highlighted the moon and starts with a silver molotow pen.  i stamped "dream," a stamp by inkadinkado onto an additional paper by itKuPiLLI and added that as well.

link up with your silhouette creation for a chance to win!  we love to see your art.
love to all.

here kitty kitty!

hello cat lovers!  our new two week challenge at the cheerful stamp pad is "here kitty kitty!"  link up a creation featuring a feline friend for a chance to win shopping credit at our sponsor stitchy bear stamps digital stamp store.  our DT was given digital images by designer barbara jensen for this challenge.

this digital cat image is so dreamy looking, i had to use lots of dreamy elements for my tag.  the background papers are from the primavera line by itKuPiLLi. the gorgeous moon stamp is by rubber moon art stamps.  my dream stamp is from inkadinkado.

i showed this to my cat and she did not seem to care,  but i hope you will play along!
love to all.

altered cards, set 6, hallowe'en!

the 6th tutorial in our march through altering 52 playing cards at claudine's art corner has a hallowe'en theme.  here are my 2 cards:

the first card has moon and lady images from the graphics fairy.  the background on this card has a short story.  i started by using spray paints and then stamping over with a crackle background stamp but the red effect i was shooting for turned out too pink.  so i painted over it with an acrylic paint and got a color i liked and yet the crackle still showed through so i was happy about that.  i did some black pen doodling on this card, and added a spooky die cut fence and a die cut bat.  the 31 is handwritten on some designer paper which i cut out into a circle.  the "hist and hark" sentiment is from cs designs and is actually the first line of a short poem, the remaining 3 lines of which are on the second card!

for the second card i painted over the geessoed background with acrylic paint and added several strips of washi and tissue tapes.  i stamped my inkadinkado dancing skeleton onto some designer paper and cut him out to add along with an owl from graphics fairy.  as mentioned the sentiment is from cs designs although this time i distressed over it with a couple different distress inks.  there is a fleur de lis brad in the corner.  both cards are further distressed around the edges in black.

i had fun with these.  i'm linking up to the doodle artifacts recycle re-purpose and reinvent challenge blog's october/fall/harvest/hallowe'en challenge and the hallowe'en/creepy/spooky challenge at oddball stamps blog  as well.

love to all.

altered card deck week 2

well, just to be clear, most everyone else playing along at the altered card deck challenge at claudine's art corner are on week 4 but i'm on week 2 and i'm not ashamed -- at least i'm playing!

here is what i made:

the vintage images on the dream card are from lunagirl and the dream stamp is inkadinkado.
now just for context, here are the samples claudine created as inspiration for week 2:

i'm excited to get back to work on this.  week 1 was gesso-ing the whole deck which i did awhile back.  i already did the backgrounds for the 2 cards for week 3 but need to finish them and i also need to make the backgrounds for week 4.  hopefully this weekend i'll make some headway.

enjoy, love to all.

wealth, beauty and prosperity

these three -- wealth, beauty and prosperity -- are the hallmarks of the hindu goddess lakshmi, represented on my tag for tag tuesday's "india" prompt this week.  india is the birthplace of the hindu religion.

my tag is simple.  i stamped the lakshmi stamp (by inkadinakado) onto gorgeous background paper by alphastamps.  i added a butterfly, a pretty sticker symbol and the word "delight" from a tim holtz words set.

love to all.  along with wealth, beauty and prosperity!

cards for men

challenge #91 at the cheerful stamp pad is to make a card for a man.  our sponsor is stitchy bear and the designer sentimental susan. i used a wonderful motorcycle digital image from sentimental susan for my card.

other than the route 66 stamp by inkadinkado, the card is complete digitally created. the digital background paper is by mcmahon 5 and the happy birthday sentiment is by clear dollar stamps.

the challenge runs for two weeks with a chance for the randomly selected winner to get shopping credit at stitchy bear.  i hope you will join the game!

love to all.

more anything goes with cheerful stamp pad and gecko galz

welcome to week two of the "anything goes" challenge at cheerful stamp pad with challenge sponsor geckogalz.  it is the ideal challenge prompt since you can create and link up any new art piece for the chance of shopping credit at gecko galz.  here's my week two DT piece for your consideration:

i've got images (including the background design paper) from three different gecko galz collage sheets along with a k and company border, dream stamp by inkadinkado and some other little sweet flourishes.

link up and have fun with us.
love to all

home

i love it when 2 challenges converge at the same time on an interesting theme.  this week at tag tuesday our challenge prompt is to make a tag on the theme of home/shelter and at take a word the theme is "home."
i found a very simple and basic template to create a house and used some paper piecing and stamping to make my creation.

i really enjoyed making this.  in addition to using some different designer papers i also used some cool border pieces and the ladies in the windows are from stamps by inkadinkado.  they are the pensive sister and the fun-loving sister and i think it would be fun to visit them.  there is room for all in this little house.

i recently learned about the monthly anything goes patterned paper challenge at crafty hazelnuts patterned paper blog and i'm linking to that since my house is completely covered in different papers.

have a lovely week; love to all.