WOYWW #101

The Muse is Back in Town! Well, she hasn't made it quite back to the hill, but she is definately closer! I got my Grungy Monday project done last night, and still had time left over to work on some card fronts. Nothing exciting--just a start for some cards I'm making for a craft show--if I get up enough guts, and get enough stuff made to actually sell! The Sunflower will be like the one I made for my Mother's Mothers day Card. The other one will be colored probably the same, using sponged-on DI's, touched up with DI Stickles. You'll just have wait to see how they progress! You can see, it's still pretty feaking neat after my attempt to attract the Muse back--even the GM project didn't progress into my usually state of chaos! Ah well!

No, go jump over to Julia's Stamping Ground as see what everyone else is up to! Have a great week everyone!

Grungy Monday #6- Dabber resist cool-ness!

Greetings everyone!! Linda has come back from Ranger U and has picked a great technique for the Grungy Monday Challenge! This weeks explorations of Tim Holtz's wonderful creativitity, we are revisiting the 12 Tags of Christmas, 2007, day 8. And I have to say...This one is sooooo cool, my Muse came back to check things out (thank heavens!) Unfortunately she brought along her friend, Mischief...I have never had so many dropped ink pads (all ink side down!) spilled a bottle of water while trying to fill a mini mister...a page from one of the stamp binders just ripped out....LOL! But it was still a lot of fun to not be fighting for every little bit of inspriation on a project.

So, I will add, this picture so does not do this justice!! I really need to find out at which end I'm having such a color shift! I'm thinking the work monitor, but maybe the home one is too "hot" so I'm over compensating before saving to bring to work to upload.

I used the Lemonade Dabber, then Rusty Hinge DI. And I have to say again...this came out so amazingly neat!! I was all set to use the Espresso Dabber for the cat (and no, I can't remember where this came from, other than it is umounted) and thought--hmmm, leopard spots!! So I stamped them in Tea Dye DI. Of course, I didn't want to wipe them all off, so this step did cover some of the cool lemonade resisting--but in person you can still see it. The saying comes from Silver Crow Creations, and then I added the brads to sorta be like leopard spots. I touched them up with Spiced Marmalade Distress Stickles to give them abit of shimmer...again. not seen in the photo.

And, to keep everyone current, here is the 7 Gypsies tray to date! Not that I mind monochromastic themes, I sorta hope this doesn't become a trend! LOL!

So, jump over to Linda's, check out Tim's technique, and jump on in...there is still time! Have a great week everyone.

Play Date Cafe Challenge #80

The Play Date Cafe is up to week 80! This week the colors are red, orange and white. I've missed the last few PDCC's due to an AWOL Muse. She's still not around (I think she's on a cruise ship drinking mojitos and bahama mama's, which is where I should really be!) but I felt I really needed to jump back in. And what a struggle this week was!! I'm not sure why, as I really like these colors--maybe because I usually don't use them together?

So after many hours of thinking (yeah, really, since it was announced!) on Saturday I went up, and started pulling out papers--nothing moved me. Went to stamps, and found this set from Sunday International--had them for years, and they weren't even mounted yet! Since coloring is a challenge for me, I didn't want to go that route (though there is one single really nice goldfish, but I didn't have any sayings I felt went with it) so then I thought of the alcohol inks..and bam--a plan was in place! LOL! If Only! 2 sheets of glossy later--I finally got a background I liked. I had heard that you couldn't mix the Adirondack AI's with the Pinata AI's. Can't remember why--different types of alcohol base maybe? But I only have the Peach Belini and Cranberry Adirondacks that would fit, as Butterscotch and Terra Cotta just didn't, and the Pinata had Chili Red and Tangerine. But the tangerine came in too yellow, so I had to add the Peach to "orange" it up. I used the mono print technique from the Compendium of Curiosities, and the two types seemed to play nice. It seemed to be the clear solutions that didn't go well. I then embossed with white EP, layered on a chili-red paper, the tried dyeing the ribbon to become orange. That didn't work out quite as well- it sorta came out rusty.

It is a white card underneath it all, but my image came out much darker, and it looks sorta dark cream/pale orange to me, at least on this monitor! (I really need to calibrate my camera view screen, my home computer monitor, and my work monitor! LOL!) So, with all said and done--I really need my muse to come home! I have some serious crafting to get done! So jump over to the Cafe and see what wonderful works of art everyone else came up with-and jump on in! Happy Crafting everyone!

Mom's Day Cards

Thank you for the suggestions on helping me put the finishing touches on one of the mothers Day Cards. The Clematis Stamp (PSX) just fits on a card front, with very little room for matting, so I ended up just mirroring the oval with a purple that matched the flowers details. The ribbon really didn't do much, visually, but did add some texture.

The Sunflower (Inkadinkadoo) was done with distress Mustartd Seed, Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo, with some Walnut Stain on the edges and Linen to get reid of the white paper. I then used the Vintage Photo and Mustartd Seed Stickles to add some texture and sparkle--which of course didn't show up on the photo.

This card is actually a gift card holder, using the Sizzix 3-d Pop-up Gift Card Die. Took a while to figure out how to assemble it, but it is pretty cool! It has its own small frame, which was too small for the image, so I used the Tim Holtz On the Edge Bracket Die to make the frame.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, and that all you Mother's had an especially great day (I was told by my husband that until I give birth to a kitten or puppy, I'm not really our babies' Mother! Hurumph!) Have a great crafty week!

WOYWW #100--Help! Help!

After last weeks totally clear, sterile desk treatment in a fruitless attempt to get my muse back, she is still hiding away....yeah, the week I need to get Mom's day's cards out-oh and a girlfriends Birthday---

After 2 Hours....this is what I have....and it needs....something! Suggestions?? Ideas?? Advice to take a drink and start over?? Neither my Mom or Mom-in Law are much in "grunge", but I just couldn't not run the distresser around the edge, then sponge it up with DI Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord. But the image is too big for a layer; I don't have purple fibers..I could dye some lace, but I'm not sure that would do the trick; maybe some pearls? UGH!

The stamp is a PSX Botanical--I love them, have quite a few, but haven't used them in years, colored with Prismacolor pencils. The Mother's day verse (also PSX) was my first use of my new Spellbinders die-run through my Big Shot. I don't have the solo thin die adapter, impression pad or silicone rubber matt Tim Holtz suggests on his video, but some folded scrap paper for the embossing part seemed to work pretty well.

So, PLEASE! Some suggestions to "Finish" this...or some suggestions to get my Muse back...anything! LOL! And then you can jump over to Julia's Stamping Ground and see everyone else's busy desks...and get some craft on..Have a good week everyone.

Dimensionally Grungy!

Hello again fellow crafters!! This week for Grungy Monday, our fearless leader Linda at Studio L3 has led us to, what I felt was quite a fearsome challenge! Tim Holtz's Technique challenge from May, 2008., involves adding dimension to your scrapbook pages, cards, and ATC's. His blog had many steps, so I copied and pasted away first thing Monday and came home with a novella, of sorts! LOL! Our Guest Designers did a great job, and Helen said if she could do it, anyone could, so with that, and a day off from work, which is usually very motivating, I boldly stepped into the stamp room--with not a clue in my head!


I re-read said novella, and thought..small might be good here. So an ATC it is---Oh, oh, oh....I have the 7 Gypsies ATC tray...I am now going to use that for my Grungy Monday projects! It's a tad larger than true ATC's, but no matter. AND!!! I have some double thick foam from doing the masks from our first challenge, which worked brilliantly! Next...what to use for the insert?? Found this little wire-wrapped rock which has been in my stash since FOREVER! Some sheet music tissue paper was still out on

my desk, and WHAM! Done!! I don't think I've ever pulled a project together so quickly--I think my muse either collapsed or ran away, as the rest of the afternoon was a complete bust--but, overall, I'm happy with my first go-round with this technique!! Of course this is a two week technique--(maybe thats why I was done so quickly! LOL!) so I may try something else later.

So, Don't be daunted by all the steps!! Go visit Linda's, see what everyone else has done, go re-visit Tim's blog, and then jump into a new dimension! Have a great week everyone!

WOYWW #99

OK, this didn't do it either.... /sigh.

You see, I took the day off from work, The morning was filled with car estimates (new car needs new brakes all around!!??) puppy issues (nails clipped, new chew toys and then a vet visit for annual shots) Dakota was supposed to be a bit lethargic after the shots...(a super plus for a 2 year old husky! LOL) so the rest of the day was MINE!! ALL MINE!! So I go off to my space, puppy takes new bone and curls up on the futon..things are so promising...and after a really quick, suprisingly good Grungy Monday piece (see that on next post) I want to start on some cards for a show...and nothing!! Move stamps around..nope, rifle through some papers, nada;

So, many of you have preached the whole "need a clean area for new beginnings"; so this is the result...and I gotta say....nope; now my creative muse has totally fled..perhaps like the cats, she needs some places to sit behind, and peak out from. So, tonight I'll dump some inks, walk away, and hope she comes back to play...

So to see some real workdesks in action, go hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and see whats goin' on...