You Have Many Friends

This is the birthday card I made to coordinate with a 12x12 scrapbook page for my friend Joe, which you can see here.

I finally used one of the Tim Holtz journaling tickets I bought in February while on vacation! The spectacle image by Artistic Outpost fits perfectly on the ticket. I also love the aged color of the ticket and how well it coordinates with the Pink Paislee decorative papers.

I hope you have a great weekend planned. We're planning to get out and enjoy some local festivals.

Supplies:
Stamps: Artistic Outpost; black cardstock by Bazzill; decorative papers by Graphic 45 and Pink Paislee; journaling ticket by Tim Holtz; Archival jet black ink; walnut stain distress ink; clock face and spinner arrows by Tim Holtz; pop-dots.

M V P

My friend Joe and his wife Cathy are planning a celebration this weekend for Joe's birthday, so I decided to resurrect a fabulous photo I have of him from Halloween a couple of years ago and create a 12x12 scrapbook page. Joe looked fantastic that night as Ted Williams, the great Boston Red Sox player, and he even received one of the prizes for best costume at our local watering hole.

I don't do a lot of scrapbooking, but this layout came together quite easily for me. I wanted the piece to have a vintage look so I imported my color digital photo into Adobe Photoshop and turned it into black and white.

I chose the overall color scheme of dark red and black to coordinate with their downstairs rec room, where I think this piece will fit right in. (The page will be framed when I give it to him; I had to remove it in order to get a picture without glare.)

The red polka dot decorative paper and the ecru ledger paper are from last year's Pink Paislee Christmas collection called Mistletoe and Co. Nothing about either paper screams Christmas; in fact the music on the red polka dot paper isn't even a Christmas song. I computer-printed some "career statistics" (actually Ted Williams' statistics; except for one silly "embellishment" that I couldn't resist) and a name-plate that proclaimed him the MVP at the 2007 Halloween party.

I love how this page turned out and I can't wait to see his reaction when he opens it. I hope he likes it (I'm pretty sure he will).

Thanks for popping in!

Supplies:
Black and ivory cardstocks by Bazzill; burgundy cardstock unknown; very vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up!; decorative papers by Pink Paislee and Graphic 45; black die-cut borders by Bazzill; old Scrabble tiles; Nestabilities; small black brads.

Gentleman's Choice

Generally, I make a card with a specific person or holiday in mind. But lately I've been making cards with no specific purpose, mainly in my quest to use up some of my paper scraps. This has allowed me to just play with some new stamps and different techniques without worrying too much about the final product. Such was the case with this card.

The main image (Artistic Outpost) was stamped on a piece of watercolor paper and painted using Derwent watercolor pencils. But the off-white background was too stark against the Basic Grey papers, so I gave it what I thought was a light spray of Tsukineko walnut ink. Well, my image ended up a little dark, but frankly I prefer my circus strong men to be on the swarthy side (don't deny it; you do, too!). To make my main image look even more antiqued, I finished it off with the cracked glass technique.

I think this is a great "guy card," and I know exactly which guy I'm sending this to. He doesn't work for the circus, but his personality is big enough to fill three rings and I know he'll like this card.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend.

Supplies:
Stamps: Artistic Outpost; Bazzill tan and brown cardstocks; watercolor paper; Basic Grey patterned paper; Archival jet black ink; Derwent watercolor pencils; walnut stain distress ink; Tsukineko walnut ink (spray); UTEE; Versamark ink pad; antique copper brads; round and scalloped round Nestabilities; pop-dots.

Your Future is Bright

I don't put much stock in horoscopes, tarot cards, or palm-reading, but sometimes it's fun to imagine that we can predict the future through such means.

This is another scrap card that began with some funky Cosmo Cricket papers that I thought would work well with these Artistic Outpost images (even though most of the green polka dot paper that inspired the color combination got covered up).

We're having a gorgeous spring day. I'm going to run some errands after dinner so I can enjoy the warm temperatures and bright sunshine.

Supplies:
Stamps: Artistic Outpost; Cosmo Cricket patterned papers; Stampin' Up kraft and old olive cardstocks; Bazzill brown cardstock; Archival jet black ink; walnut stain distress ink; Dew Drops; Martha Stewart border punch; ribbon from Michaels; pop-dots.

Tag Tuesday Challenge #46 - Sketch

This is the smallest project I've worked on in a while, yet my fingers got the inkiest! I just told myself I was going to experiment and have fun without worrying about the outcome. I was inspired by Kard Krazy's Tag Tuesday Challenge #46 to create a tag using this sketch.

I started with a plain manila shipping tag that measures 3-1/8 x 6-1/2 inches. The tag was altered with distress inks, Tsukineko walnut inks, and Tim Holtz masks. The stamped images are from Artistic Outpost. The train image was stamped on acetate (an old overhead transparency, actually) with Archival black ink, and I colored the reverse side with Adirondack alcohol ink.

Here's a close up of the embellishments in the bottom right corner. We found the rusted piece of metal screening in the flower bed at the front of the house last weekend. A piece of tiling (that we didn't know was there!) had become exposed over the winter and we assume that the end was covered with the screen. Before I use the rest of it, I plan to dig around in the garage for some equally rusty old nuts, bolts or screws to pair with it.

I hope you're having a relaxing weekend. Thanks for popping by!

Supplies:
Stamps: Artistic Outpost; manila shipping tag; Stampin' Up! whisper white; Stampin' Up! black cardstock; overhead transparency; distress inks: stormy sky, bundled sage, pumice stone, wild honey, and walnut stain; Archival jet black ink; Stazon black and saddle brown ink; Tim Holtz Timeworks masks; Tsukineko walnut ink antiquing solution in java and eucalyptus; Adirondack alcohol ink in butterscotch; Tim Holtz Idea-ology game spinner and brad; watch face; watch parts; screw brads; found metal screen; jute twine and plaid ribbon. I think that's everything!

Classy Flappers

My mom has been invited to a surprise birthday party/luncheon for a former coworker, with just 3 days' notice! She doesn't need to take a gift, but she asked if I could make a birthday card for her which I was more than happy to do.

I like how these vintage-inspired images by Hampton Art Stamps look with the contemporary Basic Grey papers and clean lines of this sketch.

Have a fantastic day!



Supplies:
Stamps: Hampton Art Stamps; Bazzill brown and white cardstock; Stampin' Up! whisper white; Stazon timber brown ink; Basic Grey decorative papers; Martha Stewart border punch; antique copper brads; pop-dots.

For a Unique Individual

One of my closest friends will celebrate her birthday on Easter this year (and luckily for her, she gets to go to someone else's house for dinner!). She's had some stressful days recently, so I hope this card will bring some cheer to her day.

I think that Graphic 45 makes gorgeous papers and the designs in the Botanicabella collection are no exception. This card also features images from Artistic Outpost. Stay tuned for more projects featuring their stamps, because just today I received three new sets!

Have a great weekend!

Supplies:
Stamps: Artistic Outpost; brown and sienna cardstocks by Bazzill; decorative papers by Graphic 45; Versamark ink; Archival jet black ink; wild honey, rusty hinge, and walnut stain distress inks; clear embossing powder; Martha Stewart border punch; Tim Holtz Idea-ology muse token and trinket pin; Karen Foster scrapper's floss; pop-dots.