On the Boardwalk ATC

This hot weather has me thinking of ways to keep cool.  When I was a kid, I practically lived at the pool.  The only "beach" we could go to was at a lake, and trust me, it is not the same as going to the shore.

To celebrate summer, I created this ATC using some papers by Graphic 45 that I recently bought.  To create the beach-y vignette in the corner, I started with a small piece of gauze tinted with old paper distress ink.  The seashell was in a bag of shells I bought for 25 cents at a church rummage sale.  The shell was originally a light tan color, rather plain and unpolished.  I glammed it up by rubbing it with some fired brick distress ink and then dabbing on some gold acrylic paint.  My "sand" consists of teeny tiny gold seed beads.  The blue seed beads were added for color.  (I used to make a lot of jewelry and still have quite a stash of beads.)  I used gel medium to adhere all of the embellishments, then sprayed the entire card with sealant.

I hope you're having a great weekend!  Thanks for popping by my blog.

Supplies:
Cardstock ATC base; images and patterned paper by Graphic 45; text from an old book; charcoal pencil; gold acrylic paint dabber; gauze; old paper and fired brick distress ink; gold and blue seed beads; small seashell; soft gel medium; matte spray sealant.

Gift Tag Cards

If you've ever ordered from Ellen Hutson, you know that she includes a small thank you tag and a sample of ribbon in your package.  I found a couple of those when I was reorganizing my craft supplies last week.  Long story short: the kitchen sink was clogged and we ended up having to call a plumber after our own efforts didn't clear it.  We had a small mess, but nothing got damaged.  I just had to move a bunch of my supplies so the plumber had room to "snake" the pipe in the basement.  Did you know they have electric-powered snakes now??  He had our problem fixed in less than 15 minutes. But I digress.

I die-cut the images (by Lockhart Stamp Company) from Ellen's tags and used some cardstock scraps to create these small gift tag cards.  The blue one is 3.5 inches square.  The pink and yellow one is 3.5 x 4 inches.

Check out my friend Stephanie's blog, Ingenious Inkling, to see how she used one of Ellen Hutson's images on a full-sized card.

I hope all of you experiencing this heat wave are finding ways to stay cool!  Thanks for dropping by.







Supplies:
Colored cardstocks by Bazzill; whisper white cardstock from Stampin' Up; images by Lockhart Stamp Company from Ellen Hutson; rectangle and scalloped rectangle Nestabilities from Spellbinders; Swiss dot Cuttlebug embossing folder; corner rounder punch; pop-dots.

Liebe Helga! Gluebook Page

I've been itching to do a vintage gluebook page, as it's been a while since I did one. I thought it would help jump-start my creativity, which has been seriously lacking lately.

This page is a combination of original vintage ephemera and color copies.  I limited myself to items in my scrap bin and decided I wasn't going to fuss over the page too much, which is always a challenge for me.  I love the subtle colors of this page, which began with a 1940s letter in German with the enthusiastic salutation "Liebe Helga!"

We're in the middle of a heat wave, with temperatures in the upper 90s and heat indices (what it feels like when you factor in the humidity), in the lower 100s.  I am extra thankful for air conditioning this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

1969 Sunday Best ATC

While digging through my watercolor supplies, I found some collage images I had picked up at class.  Someone was cleaning house and had brought in stacks and stacks of old calendars.  Calendars often have beautiful photographs with images suitable for painting, but I was just as interested in the advertisements on the back pages.   (I'm sure my classmates thought I was crazy.)

This fashionable lady was actually in an ad for a bathroom that included a sink and toilet the same turquoise color as her blouse!  Such a bathroom would be considered hideous today, but in 1969 it would have been on trend.

Have a great day!

Supplies:
Cardstock ATC base; text from an old book; image, date, and text from a 1969 calendar; vintage sheet music; patterned paper by K and Company; butterfly stamp by Stampendous; bundled sage and brushed corduroy distress ink; medium charcoal pencil.

Midnight Snow Watercolor ATC

Back in March I attended a few watercolor classes.  Then things got busy and I haven't painted anything since.  I've regretted that, so I decided to pull out the watercolors and just mess around a little.  It's the only way I'm going to learn.

Because I don't have a lot of time for art today, I decided to recreate my first watercolor painting as an ATC-sized card.  For a first effort I'm pleased, but I couldn't get my margarita salt to work this time and I think I need an even smaller brush if I'm going to work in this size.  It is definitely a challenge!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Supplies: 
Watercolor ATC base; Payne's Gray tube watercolor paint; white gouache.

Father's Day Flight

I used some new stamps from Artistic Outpost to create this father's day card for my dad.

Happy Father's Day!  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.


Supplies:
Stamps:  Artistic Outpost; black and rust cardstock by Bazzill; green, kraft, and ivory cardstock from Stampin' Up; black Stazon ink; wild honey, rusty hinge, and pumice stone distress inks; Nestabilities; photo corner punch; ticket corner punch; pop-dots.

Shrinky Dinks Thank You Cards

Shrinky Dinks has to be one of the "funnest" names for a product, don't you think?  I was a kid when they first came out and although I don't remember whether I actually played with any back then, I certainly remember the name and what the product does (and I have a bad memory, so there's a testament to the power of advertising!).

Flash forward almost 40 years, and guess who had fun playing with Shrinky Dinks last night?  A stamping friend of mine had given me a partial sheet a couple of years ago, and I decided to try it when the stamped images I wanted to use on my cards as embellishments were too large.

I used Nestabilities to create these cute, round cards that are about four inches across.  And my images, through the magic of Shrinky Dinks, are now the perfect size. 

Have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Green, blue, and orange cardstock from Stampin' Up; very vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up; patterned papers from Stampin' Up; sentiment from Stampin' Up; bird stamp by Hampton Art; butterfly stamp by Tim Holtz; round, scalloped round, oval, and scalloped oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders; black Stazon ink; Shrinky Dinks shrinkable plastic; craft heat gun; pop-dots.

A Speedy Recovery

I created this card for a friend's husband who recently had surgery.  He's a motorcycle rider so I think he'll appreciate the image I used.

 
The Texas map is from an old geography textbook that belonged to my grandmother.  The circular die cut includes the counties around their town.  I wonder if they'll notice?

Have a great day!

Supplies:
Stamps from Artistic Outpost; lavender, green, very vanilla, and crumb cake cardstock from Stampin' Up; Color Box black pigment ink; clear embossing powder; herringbone embossing folder; round and rectangle die cuts by Spellbinders; Stazon black ink; old paper distress ink; pop-dots; corner rounder punch.