dark of night

the september reader art quest at unruly paper arts is "dark of night."

part romance and part creepy, i made a card featuring two images from the gecko galz "day of the dead" collage sheet and a background designer paper called "queenie" from the gecko galz coven paper pack.

i also used magic mesh, washi tape, a bat die cut and a beaded flourish.  the season of spirits is near...

love to all.

childhood memories challenge at crafting by design; altered deck update

this must be my guest designer week, lol!  so i'm happy to be a guest designer at crafting by design for their latest challenge which is "childhood memories."  the challenge sponsor is lunagirl moonbeams and the challenge winner will get some shopping credit at the lunagirl store.  you are challenged to evoke childhood memories in your creation for this challenge.  i made a valentine ATC using the lunagirl "retro children" collage sheet. 

i used some pretty background designer paper and punched a heart out of some additional designer paper.  i placed my fussy cut girl with puppies and valentine then added some white picket fence and an additional heart. 

do you have happy memories of sharing valentines as a child?  I still love to share them and make gobs of them every year.  hooray, now i have one valentine ready to go for next year!

join the challenge at crafting by design for a great chance at a lunagirl prize!

in other news have you been wondering whether i am still playing along with claudine's altered card deck challenge? each week claudine gives a tutorial to walk you through making two cards.  we are on week 2.  during week 1 i was unable to play due to some work travel and therefore no art play time.  i was finally able to do the backgrounds for 4 cards, for weeks 1 and 2.

so here are my 4 backgrounds.  the top 2 are spray inks, the bottom left is done with alcohol inks and the 4th is distress inks. if all goes well i will get caught up this weekend to finish the 1st 4 cards.  and then be ready for cards 5 and 6 which she will give a tutorial for next monday.  sometime next week i should be sharing the 1st 4 finished cards!

love to all.

hallowe'en greetings at my artistic adventures challenge blog

very excited to be a guest designer today for heather's my artistic adventures challenge blog first challenge -- hallowe'en greetings!

heather provided us a collage sheet of hallowe'en images which you can find at her my artistic adventures etsy shop.  it is a delightful sheet she created.  i made a tag featuring some of the images on this sheet.

i started with a cardboard base which i covered with designer paper from gecko galz called "dark magic."  it has a lot of skulls on it but you can't actually see them!

i added a border on the far left which i covered in letter stickers to spell the word "spooky."  then i arranged and adhered 5 images from heather's awesome collage sheet.

the final touches include distressed edges, a bit of washi tape where i punched the hole for the tag, a raven sicker and a zombie brad.  and some black cord of course.

happy hallowe'en!  please check out the challenge blog for more details on how to participate in the challenge!

love to all.

lovely autumn at lunagirl

karen at lunagirl moonbeams is sponsoring an autumn challenge for the next two weeks.  i'm still hanging on to summer (and it is still summer until september 21!)  but i love autumn too and the colors are glorious to work with.

my DT ATC features a background form the lunagirl "victorian wallpapers -nature" collage sheet, a lovely autumn lady from the "autumn girls" collage sheet and lots of leaves from the "autumn leaves" collage sheet.  some lace and a moth finish this small piece.

link up an autumn inspired piece for a chance to win shopping credit at the lunagirl store and stock up on gorgeous vintage collage sheets.

love to all.

birthday card challenge

a birthday card challenge is always timely -- good to have plenty of them made and ready.  so it is a welcome challenge at the cheerful stamp pad. for the next two weeks you can link up a birthday card for a chance to win shopping credit with our sponsor stitchy bear digital outlet.  our design team is once again working with images by stitchy bear and i've used two digital images this week, a birthday cake and a "boo boo bear."

i digitally arranged the bear and cake on a digital background by itKuPiLLi -- the primavera series.  the "for you" sentiment is a digital image i added from clear dollar stamps.  this creation is 100% digital -- i did the coloring in photoshop and at present this card only exists in my computer!  but when the moment comes i'll be able to print it, adhere it to cardstock and i'll be ready to go!

feel free to link up a birthday creation -- you have two weeks!
love to all.

gecko galz cross promotion with rhonda's originals...

each month at gecko galz we get products from another company and are asked to create using products form that company and from gecko galz.  this month our cross promotion is with rhonda's originals and we were provided some hallowe'en images to work with.

i made my first ever wall hanging.

my supplies:

corrugated cardboard, dye inks in orange and mahogany, twine, rhonda’s originals CS26 moonbirds part 2 collage sheet, gecko galz haunted ephemera collage sheet, “trick or treat” sentiment from a martha stewart hallowe'en paper pack, zombie brad, glue dots and scor-tape.

here's what i did:

i started by carefully tearing at an old box to reveal the corrugated surface.  i tore my piece to size based on the collage design i had in mind.   i lightly rubbed the inks over the cardboard to get the coloring i wanted (this was bad for the ink pads – next time i’ll use a makeup sponge).  i measured holes and gently punched the cardboard and also measured the twine and gently inserted it into the holes and tied it, leaving some extra twine fringes hanging down on each side.  i had already selected the images i wanted from the two collage sheets and fussy cut them.  using glue dots and scor tape i attached each image to the base.  the “trick or treat” and brad were added last.

check out more DT beautiful things at the gecko galz site.  you can also vote for your favorite design team creation!

love to all.

another day in fairyland

the fairyland challenge continues at lunagirl moonbeams blog and you are invited to link up a creation involving fairy things for a chance at a lunagirl shopping spree.  which is honestly pretty much like being in fairyland because of all the pretty and delicious things to be found there!

fairies watch carefully over all growing things so for my ATC this week my vintage lunagirl fairies image has visited one flower and is flitting off to check on another.  you can see the mama fairy is bringing her daughter along to help.

i started with some pretty designer paper which i glued to the cardboard ATC base.  on it i stamped a favorite image from the rogue redhead designs floriculture plate.  using a heart shape punch i punched the heart from some lunagirl seed pack collage sheet paper.  i added tissue tape from cavallini and co, some stick-on lace from my local daiso japanese dollar store (treasure trove of affordable crafting stuff!) and of course i was distressing edges throughout.  i tore the fairy image to the roughly desired size and added a butterfly brad (alphastamps).

fairyland is a good place to visit.  if your art takes you there please link it up at the lunagirl site.
wishing you a happy week.  love to all.