Christmas ATC's

I've completed two more ATC's for Flying Unicorn's Chrismtas ATC Swap. I have had so much fun creating these and I do believe I'm now addicted! It is so much fun to branch out of your usual scrappy style and just create something totally different! I'm now so hooked I've been shopping for ATC supplies! lol...poor hubby! He has a hard time keeping up with my scrapbooking and card making supplies..now he has to support (money wise) my new ATC craze! so so laughing! The first ATC is created with the Father Christmas Clear stamp by Bo Bunny..you girls know how I adore Bo Bunny!

The second is my favorite!! I covered a dress form chipboard with glitter using a mask. It is so so shimmery!

You should branch out and try new things..who knows..you might become addicted like I have!

Lisa Vollrath's & Ten Two Studios 6th Annual Original Printables Holiday Countdown!

Lisa Vollrath and Ten Two Studio's have paired up to give you free images every day in December. And man..are they gorgeous! Gorgeous and Free!

Here is the link:o)

http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

Core'dinations Design Team Favorite Things - Win the Designer's Favorite Lines!

Core'dinations is hosting a Design Team Favorite Things Give-a-way!

Go to their blog for your chance to win!

Here is the details from their Blog:

From now until Christmas Eve we are showcasing our Design Team’s Favorite cardstock. Each designer picked a few of their favorite lines and created some gorgeous projects for you showcasing why they love it so much.

Then, on that day, just by commenting on that post, you have the chance to win! AND some days we might be showcasing more than one line … like today! ;)

Here is how it works:

1.) We post every day. The following day we pick a winner and then start over so keep coming back!

2.) You have all day and night to post. Yes, you heard me! You can win up until the next day when I pick a winner when I get up. We want our international fans to be able to win and they are normally sleeping now ;)

3.) Want additional chances to win? Comment on Facebook and share the excitement on your blogs! If you share on your blog, come back here and link us up. Remember, you can do it every day for more chances to win!

4.) Please note: we will not be shipping to winners until the January due to the Holidays.

Here is a link to the Core'dinations blog:

http://www.coredinations.com/index.php/category/scrapbook-blog/

Here is a link to their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coredinations-ColorCore-Cardstock-Paper-for-Scrapbooking/187498550362

Flying Unicorn's Glam it up Challenge and Tim Holtz tag day 2

I have been wanting to do some of Tim Holtz Tags...let's be honest..who hasn't? :o). I also have a goal to do every challenge at Flying Unicorn this month. So I decided to combine a TH tag and one of the Challenges.

The Glam it Up Challenge was to use at least 3 different kinds of sparkle.
Here was the list to choose from:
Glimmer Mist
Glimmer Glam
Glimmer Glaze
Stickles
Glitter
Shiny metallic pieces
Rhinestones (pearls do not count)
Anything else that has sparkle and glam
Metallic rubs
Perfect pearls
Smooch Mist or paint

This was easy peasy! I used:
1. Smooch Spritz Vanilla, splattered on tag to create a snow like effect
2. Martha Stewart Gold Metallic Paint - painted the border on the bottom of the tag
3. Tim Holtz/Ranger Acohol Ink - Bronze metallic - used it to change my silver brads to bronze
4. Tattered Angels Candy Apple Red - used it to add a red tint to the gold bell on the deer's neck
.....
In making Tim's tag I didn't have the deer die cut or the grungeboard he used. So I cut out a deer from my silhouette from Coordinations and sanded it to give it some texture. I just love how this tag turned out!

Remember the Days - Challenge of Challenges

One of Flying Unicorn's Novembers Challenges has a prize where you can win the kit of the month. Since I buy their kit every month this is huge!!!!

The challenge is to incorporate 5 of their challenges into a layout. You can find their Nov. Challenges here:http://flying-unicorn.socialgo.com/forum/top/7


I incorporated the following challenges into my layout:
1) Photo Inspiration (use red, yellow and green) I used lots of yellow as you can see, the green is the vines I made, the red is in the stars, and I also inked red on top of the brown on the cardboard base.
2) My Myself and I - The layout is of me :o)
3) Extreme and Intense Colors & Extreme Element - The bright yellow is the extreme color, all cardstock and cardboard were distressed (one extreme element), I also handmade the little brown flower from cardboard, and made a distressed cardboard frame (extreme cardboard) and I added another extreme element - stitching :o)
4) Heavy Metal - Handmake a metal embellie - I made the metal flower by embossing it with a flower embossing folder, cut it out, then inked it using TH Oregano and Red Pepper alcohol inks, added some yellow with a copic marker then added distress stickeles to the center.
5) Take a note - include a handwritten note, The rolled up piece of cardstock has a note in it saying: Mystic Villiage, 2010. I also added Journaling under the picture :o)



Be sure to head over to Flying Unicorn starting Dec. 1st! They are having daily tutorials and prizes! oh yeah!

Antiquated Collection at Pink Persimmon!

I have been waiting for the release of a new stamp collection that Pink Persimmon is going to carry. The collection is the Antiquated Collection by Lisa M. Pace. Lisa's blog is here http://lisapace.com/.
Her new line is so beautiful I want everyone of them! Let me show you a few of the stamps...








Now do you see why I'm so so excited about this collection. I am drooling! Needless to say each and everyone is going to the top of my Christmas List!
Pink Persimmon is giving away an some of these stamps on their blog! Yep, I have my fingers crossed! lol..I am dying to get these stamps!

You can find the give-a-way post here!
http://pinkpersimmon.typepad.com/pinkpersimmon/2011/11/antiquated-collection.html

You can thank me later, better yet, if you win..you should share! lol

She's Like Lighting in a Bottle

Flying Unicorn's She's Like Lighting in a Bottle challenge is to use a bottle, vase or vial in your creation.
I have been planning to alter a Kaisercraft Chest of Drawers for awhile. Plus, I had some Tim Holtz Vials so I decided to enter this challenge.

I needed something to store my baggies of goodies that come with our Flying Unicorn Kits..I always missplace them or forget about them after I've put up the previous months kit. So I decided to alter a Kaiser Craft Chest of Drawers. It will be perfect to store all the little things I tend to misplace and forget about.

I used the Riddersholm Design's Chantilly Dawn papers that came with the Flying Unicorn's November kit..(adore these papers!!!). Riddersholm Designs is a company from Denmark and their lines are to die for! I think Flying Unicorn is one of the very few..if not..the only US store to carry this line. The vials are from Tim Holtz. One is holding watch parts..(Yep I completely forgot I had those too!) lol..the tall vial is holding some hat pins, and I added a few purple beads in the small one to complete the look :o). I just love this Chest!! And..now I have something to store all my tiny treasures!

Lights-Camera-Action!

I have been creating this layout for the Boys II Men Challenge at Flying Unicorn.

Have you ever had a layout that just wouldn't come together no matter what you did? This was one of those layouts. I had everything planned in my head but when it came to gluing it down I couldn't get the design I was looking for.
So after struggling for a few days, walking away from it several times, and throwing out a few cuss words I decided to seek help.

I posted a pic of what I was working on and the embellishments I was planning to use on the "Ask The Designers" topic in the Flying Unicorn Forum. What a great help they turned out to be! The Solution...put the picture in the middle, add a title and then build around it. So so simple..now why didn't I think of that?!!

I love the final piece! It has the mood I wanted and I think it turned out great!



The pictures are of my grandson's first trip to Disney World. I loved the picture of the movie reels in the background and wanted to make that my theme.

The frame is a Petaloo Color Me Crazy frame. I inked it with Tattered Angels Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist and then embossed it several time with Utee.
I cut the film projector out with my silhouette, colored it with the same Coffee Shop glimmer mist and then used the same embossing technique as I did with the frame. After it had cooled, I added Tim Holtz gears to the reels and dry brushed it with a little of Ranger's Adirondack Copper Mixative.

The film strips with the pictures and the Title were also cut out with my Silhouette.

My journay into collage

Awhile back I said I was going to start a creative journal. I spend hours each week looking at mixed media art. I have fallen in love with collages of quirky images, steampunk, and Victorian pieces . I have been playing around but I never seem to capture the moods I see other artists create. I needed instruction..how do they create those cool backgrounds??? So, I started looking for tutorials and books.

After a lot of researching I decided on a collage book and ordered it. I choose:
Collage Lab: Experiments, Investigations, and Exploratory Projects (Lab Series) by Bee Shay.
This book is designed to take you through a year of collage labs. There are 52 different labs in the book. One for each week.

When I was reading the overview of this book this sentence caught my eye..
"Seeing, Doing, Learning is the key to keeping the knowledge and information that has been acquired along the way"

I learn by doing..I can watch someone do something a million times, but, If I do not do it myself I remember nothing :o) I was really intrigued by the thought of collage labs.

The book was affordable (15.97 at Amazon) I read several reviews of the book. All were good reviews and I even found a blog that was doing her labs and posting their results. After they completed the labs they removed them from the blog and wanted you to pay 25.00 for the cd..

That is crazy I thought! They are making money off of someone's book. I bought the book for 15~ lol

Bee Shay also started a blog called Collage Lab Companion where she adds more content and takes you along the labs in her book. I don't know why, but she stopped posting after 3 months. But, I adored pouring over those three months of content..so check it out!

Waiting for the book to come, I started gathering supplies that I thought I might need. Gesso, modeling paste, canvas, acrylic paint, etc...poor hubby has been dragged to Michaels and forced to use a coupon..so I could get 40% off of two things! lol..I even signed him up for Michael's rewards! poor poor man!

Finally, yesterday the postman brought me Collage Lab (plus a few new "artsy" stamps I thought I had to have :o)..I poured over the pages and fell in love!
Each lab is clearly outlined...easy to follow, calls for reasonable (inexpensive) materials, and gives great examples!

I finished one lab this week..Basic Gesso Surface..all I can say is Wow...I can already create 9 different collage foundations!

I decided to create a collage for the Lift the AOW (Artist of the Week) challenge at Flying Unicorn. Bitsy had created a darling dress out of paper.
I had just bought the Material Girl Stamp from Crafty Secrets..so this challenge was calling my name! Here is my creation.



The background was made with acrylic paint, I used some gel medium to add an old pattern, and I added some texture with bubble wrap I drew the lines in the dress with a charcoal pencil and also outlined the dress with a little more shading.
The stamp holder is a stamp from Crafty Secrets that I stamped and then wound some yellow thread around it. I cut some ruler tape ribbon, added a little paint to it and also outlined it with charcoal to make it stand out a little more :o)

Check out the book..it's amazing!

Don't Look Now

I made this card for the Flying Unicorn's Scrap-O-Ween Scary Movie Title Challenge. I am having so much fun this month at Flying Unicorn! They are having so many challenges and give-a-ways all month long for the Scrap-O-Ween celebration.
You should check it out and join in the fun!

The challenge was to create something using the title of a Halloween (Scary) (Horror) movie! I decided to make a card.

I choose the movie Don't Look Now that was released in 1973.

I choose to use a paper from the PinkPaislee's Hocus Pocus line. The paper pack was included in the October Kit from Flying Unicorn. Their kits always include an "off the page project also and..get this...at no extra charge!! yep!!!
The hocus pocus paper pak was part of the "off the page" kit.
The image is from Graphic 45.


I adore Flying Unicorn's kits! Here is a link to their kit of the month.
http://flyingunicornllc.com/kit-of-the-month.html
Anyway..here is the card :o)