sweet loving wishes to everyone!

i've always liked valentine's day -- whether or not i felt i had a valentine of my own.  i loved the little valentines we'd pass out at school and as an adult playing with stamps, collage images and digital images i still can't quite get enough.

i wanted to give valentine's to everyone at work -- about 40 people.  i had some left over from last year which i'd never given out and a few made earlier this year but i still had to make about 15 more.  the 4 ATCs above are made with vintage valentines from twisted papers and background papers and hearts from my artistic adventures.

the top left is made with twisted papers and my artistic adventures.  the remaining three are digital images -- bottom right and left are crowabout studio b ("love the world") and the rest are gecko galz.

these are all digital creations with images either from gecko galz or crowabout studio b.

so these are just a few of the new ones i made this year.  i'm exhausted now having just finished the night before -- but i just made it in time for valentine's day.

happy valentine's day and love to all!

use a quote

it was my turn to pick a theme for tag tuesday and because i love quotes and sayings i chose "use a quote."

the beautiful woman is matilda sissieretta joyner jones, an american opera soprano from the 1800s. the image is from the lunagirl african american CD; the wings are also from lunagirl, the rainbow wings collage sheet; the background of clouds is from a retired tumblefish studios kit.  i also used a french script rubber stamp (company unknown), paper tape and ribbon.  the quote is by maya angelou.

here we have the very famous and glamorous josephine baker, an american born entertainer, intellectual and activist.  the image is from the lunagirl african american CD; the wings are also from lunagirl, the rainbow wings collage sheet; the background is from twisted papers (i think their store is now closed); the enamel dots, felt leaf and ribbon are from my stash.  the saying come from a tim holtz ideology "small talk" sticker set. 

come by the tag tuesday site and check out this challenge!
love to all.

easter blessings!

wishing all many blessings, today and always.  may there be peace on earth.

these are cards made 6 or 7 years ago when i was just beginning to play with collage sheets.  all images from twisted papers, the company which got me started when i won a giveaway which loaded me up with goodies.  

love to all.

going on a great adventure

this is the third week of the "planes, trains and automobiles" challenge at the lunagirl moonbeams blog.  i have another 4x6 postcard on this theme.

the foreground images featuring planes are from lunagirl collage sheets.  the hotel and travel logos are from twisted papers.  there are some bits and pieces here from stampington and co clip art and tim holtz as well a a few other random bits and papers from my stash.

2 weeks left to play along.  here are the challenge guidelines:

Challenge ends at 3:00 pm CST on July 30

Any craft or medium is welcome.

ENTER UP TO THREE PIECES!

Vintage style is encouraged but not required.

Use a Lunagirl image and your entry will count twice in the drawing!

Link to this blog and to Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.

Prize: $10 e-gift certificate to use at Lunagirl.com! Winner will be selected by random drawing.

i'm linking to craftyhazelnut's patterned paper challenge, "anything goes," to pink saturday "anything goes," and finally "anything goes" at a bit more time to craft and "anything goes" at eclectic ellapu.

have a great weekend.  love to all.

my thoughts are of thee....

today i am sharing another 4x6 postcard on the "planes, trains and automobiles" theme to encourage you to play along with the july challenge at the lunagirl moonbeams blog.

the woman and the flowery train are from lunagirl collage sheets. the railway review piece is clip art from stampington and co.  on the left is an image from twisted papers and on the right some designer paper from gecko galz.  i also have added washi tape, a paper flower and distress inks.

here are the challenge guidelines:

Challenge ends at 3:00 pm CST on July 30

Any craft or medium is welcome.

ENTER UP TO THREE PIECES!

Vintage style is encouraged but not required.

Use a Lunagirl image and your entry will count twice in the drawing!

Link to this blog and to Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.

Prize: $10 e-gift certificate to use at Lunagirl.com! Winner will be selected by random drawing.

i hope you will play along!
love to all.

pocket letter for a survivor

at the scraps of color group we were invited to make a pocket letter for a breast cancer survivor in honor of breast cancer awareness month in october.  those of us willing to participate were matched with a person and instructed how to send our creations.  here is what i sent last month.

i chose these vintage images of african-american women from the lunagirl african-american images CD as representative of the struggles these women may have faced long ago.  i used words from maya angelou, the consummate survivor, as inspiration as well.  i forgot to scan the back side of the pocket letter but in additional to covering the back sides of the ATCs with designer paper, i also tucked little cards with additional quotes from maya angelou into some of the pockets as well.  and i also tucked in a letter written by me with words of encouragement i wished to share.

the background papers and various embellishments came from a variety of sources, including gecko galz, tim holtz, twisted papers, and others.

anything goes at the cheerful stamp pad

hello friends.  i hope your summer (or winter!) is going wonderfully! we have had record heat and sunshine out my way.  so creating involves sweating!  at the cheerful stamp pad we are welcoming in a favorite challenge theme -- anything goes!  so whatever you are creating, feel free to link it up!

i was drawn to this dear digital image graciously provided by our challenge sponsor little blue button stamps.  dream time is critical and important time and this little darling is dreaming over her cup of tea.  i used some delightful background designer paper from twisted papers to cover my cardstock.  i colored, the digital image with pencils and fussy cut it to adhere to the background.  the polka dot washi tape created a nice contrast i thought and i also added the "dream" and butterfly stickers to finish the piece.

little blue button stamps is our challenge sponsor.  a randomly selected challenge participant will win a prize from them.  as the challenge theme is so open i hope you will join us!

i'm also linking to the "anything goes" challenge at scraps of color!

love to all.

blessed easter

greetings people! and happy easter to you.  i'm sharing two pieces today -- something secular and something sacred.  at wicked wednesday this week we are invited to share a holiday ATC for the challenge and given the season we are in i opted for easter.  also because of the "spring chickens" challenge at lunagirl moonbeams this ATC is a "twofer."

vintage image by lunagirl.

this next card is about three years old but is very sweet i think.  the image is from twisted papers.

love to all.

valentines

sharing some valentines i've made over the years.  may every day of your life be filled with love.

love to all.

another altered altoids tin

because i've been wanting to make more altoids tins but i can't buy out all the altoids in town i put a sign up on the refrigerator at work asking people to donate their old tins if they did not need them. one person gave me about 10 of them!  since she gave me so many i asked what her favorite things were since i said i would give one back to her.  she didn't understand i would be altering it so she said chocolate.  i tried to embrace the chocolate idea with what i made and then when i gave it back to her i did put some chocolate inside!

i used an image by twisted papers and a cupcake digital from far far hill.  the rest -- washi tape, heart sticker, background papers, etc, are stash items although the background paper on the top is from stitchy bear stamps. 

i'm linking up to pink saturday today.

she was surprised and delighted to receive this and i still have many more tins to play with!
love to all.

welcome baby girl!

we are celebrating the theme of "new baby" at the cheerful stamp pad and since i rarely make baby cards it is so far a boon for me because now i've made two baby cards!  last week i shared a card from our challenge sponsor stitchy bear's "baby boy pack" and this week i broke into the "baby girl pack" for my DT creation.

for this card i digitally arranged the stitchy bear baby dress and bonnet on some digital background paper from twisted papers.  i printed that and cut out the baby apparel.  on cardstock i glued some gorgeous designer paper from the primavera line by itkupilli.  i added the baby booties border at top and the "baby" letters from a sticker set i had and then punched a little angel from additional paper by itkupilli.  the edges were distressed and this card is ready for the next baby girl to come.

one more week to link up! this challenge is a great way to get stocked up on cards you might need later on. have a great week.

love to all.

vintage seashore and bathing beauties #1

hooray!  after a little challenge vacation lunagirl moonbeams is back with the most delightful challenge of all -- vintage seashore and bathing beauties.  i've shared before that the beach is my happy place and guess what? this is a scheduled post because i am on the beach myself right now hooray!  i made this postcard featuring lunagirl images in june and mailed it far away...

i mailed it to australia!  which is also the part of map i chose for a background for this postcard.  you see i signed up for a postcard swap through unruly paper arts and i got matched with a partner in australia.  so i could not resist doing a bit of a homage to her home country in my piece.  i do hope she will like it.  the images are from lunagirl except the souvenir shell which is by twisted papers.   there are some stickers and borders as well from my stash and a bit of washi tape.

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

anything goes continues at the cheerful stamp pad; celebrating kwanzaa

it is week two of the "anything goes" challenge at the cheerful stamp pad so make whatever you like and link to our challenge.  the only requirement is that it be something new or not previously posted.  a randomly selected winner will get a prize from our challenge sponsor bugaboo stamps.
i also wanted to link up to the latest challenge at rogue redhead designs which is to make anything pertaining to a winter holiday.  so my creation celebrates kwanzaa.

my featured stamp is from the rubbernecker stamp co and i enhanced it a bit with colored pencils.  the background paper is from twisted papers.  kwanzaa is a holiday which falls after christmas and which celebrates african american heritage and culture.  look here to learn more.

happy day and happy week!  love to all.

i love your hat.... x2!

question: what is better than one fabulous hat?
answer: well, two of course.
for week two of the "i love your hat" challenge at the cheerful stamp pad i used a delightful vintage photo from twisted papers as my inspiration.

this image makes me think of my best friend from high school.  though high school was many years ago and we live far apart, we still quite often will buy two of something and send the second item to the other.  thus we still have matching rings and hats and all manner of goodies.  and these little gifts make us remember each other and our friendship with happiness and love.  i can totally see us posing just like these two women in the photo and i believe i will send her this card the next time i have a little treat to share with her!

i hope you'll consider linking up to the challenge.  our challenge sponsor is the wonderful digital image artist rick st dennis and a randomly selected player will get some treats from his shop.

have a wonderful week!  love to all.

belly dance fantasy

for week two of the belly dance challenge at lunagirl moonbeams i've taken an image from the lunagirl "belly dance" collage sheet and paired it with glorious and ornate designer papers including an elephant! the papers and embellishments are a mix of items from alphastamps, twisted papers and random stash.  enjoy the fantasy!

one more week to link up a creation; randomly selected winner gets gift certificate to shop lunagirl's wondrous images.  and as always, the image sheet relevant to the current challenge are on sale at the lunagirl shop.  also watch the blog for freebies which you could use for the challenge as well.

love to all.

vintage child card

for week two of the cheerful stamp pad challenge to make something using vintage images of children, i chose to make a card with the "butterfly child" vintage image from our challenge sponsor twisted papers.

i started with card stock and cut an oval using a stencil from fiskars which i've had tucked away for years.  i lost the cutting tool long ago so after tracing the oval i hand cut with scissors and was grateful i didn't ruin it! this inspires me to use the stencil again though.  i "framed" the oval with a pro marker.  behind the oval i attached designer paper with a dreamy cloudy sky and balloons flying upwards.  the balloons don't show so well in the scan though in the card you can really see what the child is gazing at.  the vellum sticker quote was a lucky find in my stash -- perfectly fits this card!  the sticker dots are called "raindrops" and are lovely little translucent bits.

have a wonderful week and i hope you'll consider joining this challenge.
love to all.

anniversary card

this is a card i gave my honey for our 9 year last week:

i picked a couple from one of the twisted papers couples collage sheets and the envelope they are rising out of came from the carte postale collage sheet from lunagirl moonbeams.  other goodies are from ye olde stash.

i got a quite extraordinary vase of flowers delivered and we had a nice dinner and celebration together.
love to all.

vintage children challenge

"vintage children" is the new challenge at the cheerful stamp pad.  make any sort of creation you choose featuring vintage child images.  our challenge sponsor is twisted papers.

the central image in this creation was a free download from twisted papers.  if you subscribe to their newsletter you'll have access to the downloads they provide for free periodically.  i chose to make a gothic arch because i wanted to evoke the feeling that she was jumping rope in her own peaceful garden arbor at home.  i chose flowery designer papers to extend the garden feel and embellished the arch with lace and creatures from the vintage childhood garden.  as she jumps she is gazing off into the distance.  what is she looking at?

this challenge opened today so you have two weeks to play along!

love to all.

tag tuesday travel theme

since joining the blog at tag tuesday i've been having fun making tags based on their weekly themes.  this week the theme is "travel."  since i've been working with the fabulous images from lunagirl for the current two week lunagirl steampunk girls blog challenge i decided to go with steampunk travel for my creation:

this steampunk travel girl is headed to far off places in her mini plane.  the background of this tag is part of the carte postale collage sheet from lunagirl and also part of a torn piece from an old address book i had with vintage globe and map images. there are a couple travel tags from twisted papers and other elements include the antique camera and the girl herself  (both from the lunagirl "steampunk girls" collage sheet) and a writing pen -- this was from a sticker set -- for when she gets ready to send her postcards home.

this was fun to make.  the steampunk girls challenge at lunagirl continues until august 11.  you can see the other artists' weekly tag creations at tag tuesday.

love to all.

another lovely couple

i've made a tag for week two of the "you make a lovely couple" challenge at the cheerful stamp pad.  the featured image is from our challenge sponsor twisted papers. the randomly selected winner of this challenge will get some vintage goodies from twisted papers.

i love the natural, easy-going vibe of these two and i used a lot of nature-themed designer images for embellishment mostly from seven gypsies but other items from my stash as well.

make some art featuring a lovely couple and join along!
love to all.