Gentlemen

Welcome to another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week the challenge is about the gents!  You can be inspired by your gentlemen stamps, dies or ephemera or create a card for a gentleman.  Have fun!

 The Industrialist has been in my collection of new stamps and I thought perfect for this challenge.

I pulled out some masculine colors using a lovely green and a deep navy to contrast and create my background.

I die cut the globe and added coordinating colors.  I stamped a little sentiment over the background and assembled the card.

The industrialist needed something to hold and I fashioned him a little wreath.   I finished it all off with a splattering of white paint.

Products: Stampers Anonymous - Industrialist, Heidi Swapp - Citron, Navy, Memento Paris Dusk, Sizzix Thinlits - Globe Die, Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Christmas, Ranger Paint Dabber - Glacier, Ribbon, Holly Trim, Hero Arts - Bling Red, Sizzix Alphabet Thinlits Dies, Chipboard, Stampendous Encrusted Jewel Kit

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

So now it's YOUR turn, come play along and show us your masculine inspired art. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

"Peace On Earth and Goodwill to Man"

Suzz

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

If you use instagram add  #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too!

Christmas ATC's

Hi!  I am mixing up some ATC's today using the Basically Bare Mixed Media Cards.    I used the beautiful colors from Words & Paintery's November Challenge and the Mixed Media Place Creative Gym #14 - Christmas Challenge.

I am sharing one of my  Atc's and will share more later. I played with the multiple layers of texture and black gesso to make a striking backdrop to my fancy buck with his shimmery antlers.

I spent some time building many layers of texture with wooden snowflakes and sequins glued to the background which then was coated in black gesso. I then added metallic blue/teal paint as well as silver paint over the black background.  Then came a mix of stampendous Silver Luxe  Mix glued along in areas.

I added star gems painted to silver and the stamped image with his shimmery antlers.  The twinkle twinkle is from chit chat stickers.

Products: Inkadinkado - Buck, Idea-Ology Chit Chat Seasonal Stickers, Black Gesso, DecoArt Metallic Teal Paint, Paper Artsy Silver Paint

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Christmas Days!

I am sharing the other half of my Advent Flip Calendar using the Easy Easel Album.
over on the Basically Bare Blog today.

 I found this gorgeous paper and used it behind an acetate tag. I added a touch of alcohol ink over the surface of the tag to give it a more aged look and gold edging.

 I love this old stamp form Hero Arts with the Virgin Mary an Baby Jesus.  I always pull it out at Christmas.

 The retro October Afternoon papers always make me smile.

Products: Authentique, October Afternoon, Gesso, Momenta, Stampendous, Hero Arts, Basically Bare

I used the mixed media card set and  scalloped tag set to add additional pages.  All the items area available to purchase on-line at the Basically Bare retail shop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz 

Winner Winner

Time for a winner!

I used random org to select the winner of the STAEDTLER prize package and the winner is:

marcia mroczynski November 14, 2015 at 9:18 PM

What an awesome prize! Thanks for a chance to check out the markers, pencils & amazing looking coloring book! 

Marcia, please send me an email so I can give you the details on how to get your prize. 

I appreciate everyone stopping by and leaving a comment! 

Suzz

Oh Deer!

Time for week#8 tag at Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas.  Her challenge is sponsored by her boutique The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Her tag inspired me to cut out trees to emulate her forest on her lovely tag.  I also used hanging banners from the top as I loved her design on her tag.

 My background is a mix of sponged stars from the Memory Box stencil and spots of blue stain spray.  I then used a mix of October Afternoon Papers.  I cut a few trees drawn by hand and sponged the edges with brown dye ink.

I added a touch of glitter on the deer hat and bow.  I cut the words and covered them in red glitter. I ended up with a few other ideas from this tag but will save those for a future post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Celebrate

Hi Everyone!  I am thrilled to be a pinworthy Vintage Journey Guest Designer for their challenge this month which is Baby You're a Firework!

Here is my fairy tree houses created for the challenge.  Now you might be thinking what does that have to do with fireworks?  Well I searched pinterest for some fireworks inspiration and found some adorable little firecrackers made out of toilet paper rolls.  I saw that and though what about little houses that could be hung on a tree branch.

So these little houses are inspired by the firecracker model.  Here are a few steps on how to create them:

I took a paper towel tube and cut it into three uneven shapes.  You can see I didn't get clean cuts which I loved as it gave it an uneven feel like a tree would have.

next I cut out some tops and cut a slit into the center and punched a little hole for my twine to pull through.

Next I painted the tubes with gesso and then tried a bit of color on a few of them. Then I decided I wanted that bark effect and knew the crackle embossing paste would be just the effect I needed.  So I lathered up the tubes and let them set and dry. I came back in and finished the drying with the heat gun which added a whole other layer of bubbling and texture.

The roof on my this house was a leftover background that I cut up with the Sizzix Autumn leaves and layered them on the roof.  I mixed in the same colors on the house to match with my roof.

This little house has the pinecone die sprayed with a mix of yellow, green and brown and the outside received the same treatment. I also used a shimmer spray of gold to add a little sheen.  After everything was dry I added a bottom circle and touches of rocky sand around the bottom and moss around the opening.

 I wanted one of my houses to look like a birch tree and I used a mix of the black soot, pumice stone and yellow to try to get the grey color tones in the cracks. I finished the opening with the sand as well as the base.

 My last house is the glitzy fairy house and she had to have flowers in a deep purple with a touch of gold.  I also used the glitter to frame her door and her base of the house.

Products:  Products: Ranger Distress Stain Sprays - Tarnished Brass, Seedless Preserves, Fossilized Amber, Pumice Stone, Black Soot, Peacock Feathers, Vintage Photo, Forest Moss,  Dreamweaver Cracked Embossing Paste, Stampendous Gold Crushed Glitter, Heidi Swapp Gold Lame, Sizzix Tim Holtz Pinecone, Sizzix Thinlist Autumn Leaves.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Flip Advent Calendar

Hi!  I am sharing over on the Basically Bare blog today this Advent Flip Calendar using the Easy Easel Album. 

The album came with a certain number of pages.  I had to add extra pages for the advent calendar.  I used the mixed media card set and  scalloped tag set to add additional pages.  All the items area available to purchase on-line at the Basically Bare retail shop.

 Each day was fun to put together a mix of images, embellishments and lots of glitter.

 There is a mix of papers but mostly from Authentique and October Afternoon old and new papers.

 My stamps are Artistic Outpost, Darkroom Door, Momenta, Penny Black, Inkadinkado, Stampendous, Stampers Anonymous, 7 Gypsies, Technique Tuesday

 This is the Basically Bare Wings Die Cuts along with the Celestial Shapes on a Scalloped Tag Set felt tag.  I glittered it up with Stampendous glitters!

 One of my favorite Stampendous birds and Memory Box stamp!

 The easel worked well with all the extra bulk I built into the calendar.

 Frosty from Artistic outpost!

 This doesn't show off how beautiful this is on acetate.  The buck is from Indigo Blue.

 Love me my vintage Santas!

 Plain silhouette but striking none the less!

I will be sharing the rest next week!

Thanks for hanging in for all the details!

Suzz

Thankful

Time to be thankful at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week the challenge is to use thanks or thankful as your inspiration.

I am both thankful and giving thanks for our family and friends.  This Thanksgiving we are going to my SIL for dinner which makes the day a nice restful day for us.  We only have to bring a dish to pass and my hubby has already volunteered to create it! 

I decided to show my appreciation to my SIL and create a card for her.

 The background is stamped with a mix of Tea-Dye and Antique Linen dye inks with the Peeled Paint stamp.

I then die cut a mix of the  Sizzix Autumn Gatherings and used the Ranger Distress Stain Sprays (Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive) along with the Heidi Swapp Color Shine - Mustard
  to color the leaves.

I traced a circle on my background to keep my wreath in shape and then layered the leaves into a wreath.  I added a touch of seed beads to the leaves and voila a wreath.

Products:  Darkroom Door - Peeled Paint, Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen, Tea-Dye, Brown Cardstock, Simon Says Stamp Thanksgiving Table

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

So now it's YOUR turn, come play along and show us what you are thankful for. This challenge will run for two weeks on Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Suzz

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

If you use instagram add  #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too!

Pink, Silver and Gold

Good Morning. 
  I am back today with my tag for Linda's The Funkie Junkie Tags of Christmas  Week # 7(sponsored by her boutique The Funkie Junkie Boutique). A gorgeous blue and silver shimmery tag is what Linda created.  I love the pretty background with the snowflakes and that is what inspired my take on her tag. I started with a scrap of paper I had left over in pink so my color scheme is a little different.  While working on this I also added in texture which works for the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge of Texture and the Mixed Media World - Anything Goes Challenge.

Linda added a beautiful metallic element to her snowflakes. I unfortunately only had silver and gold so I had to gild my snowflakes with gold.  My color scheme became silver, gold and pink.

I started with multiple pink background scraps. I don't even remember the project but it made a lot of leftovers. :)

I then stenciled on the snowflakes using Wendy Vecchi Silver Embossing Paste.  Then I had to wait for drying time.  I used that time to cut snowflakes using different dies and different mediums. (More of the pink background, Silver foil, multi colored backgrounds.

After everything dried I took out my gold leaf and rubbed it on over the snowflakes on all my different backgrounds.

I used my Memory Box Christmas music stamp and added a hint of music in the background with silver and gold ink.

Along the way I was trying to figure out what I wanted as my focal point can I stamped the Madonna and child. 

 I also had this large snowflake which was too big for my tag so I took my bits and pieces and pulled them together into a card. I love how this turned out.

I also had a half piece of pink splotches that I thought would make a great card background.

 I took that and made a card. 

 My last was a white background with the silver and gold and I added hints of pink but didn't finish the tag yet.  It will go back into the scrap pile for future use. :)

Have a great day!

Suzz

Coloring Book Giveaway!

Hi There!  I have a real treat for everyone.  STAEDTLER has kindly offered up a Holiday giveaway prize package for one lucky person who comments on this post!

Here are all the details: 

Enter to win a STAEDTLER Coloring Set! Prize includes one 20-piece set of triplus® fineliner pens, one 24-piece STAEDTLER colored pencil set and a copy of the new Johanna Basford “Lost Ocean” coloring book. Retail value of this set is $60.00. Open only to residents in the US and Canada.

www.staedtler.us

www.johannabasford.com

I have the markers and the watercolor pencils from STAEDTLER  and I love using them.  I would love to have this beautiful coloring book to play with too!

Just leave a comment by November 22nd 11:59 PM CST and I will randomly select a comment on my blog to receive this prize package.  (Open only to residents in the US and Canada). 

Good Luck! 

** Edited to add *** Sending my prayers to all the families impacted by the tragedies yesterday in Paris. 

Suzz

Darkness

Good Morning!  I wanted to share an art journal that I recently decorated the cover on and started a new fun project with.

The art journal is from Basically Bare 6" x 9" Artful Journal collection.  

I was lucky enough to be able to pick out this journal from my many choices at the Basically Bare Shop.    The journal has these beautiful pages inside that take the colors and ink beautifully.

To create my cover I started with a few other ideas that went bad in a big way.  I ended up creating my cover with a page from inside the journal and then attaching it over my mistakes on the cover.  The cover is a lovely chipboard which gives you the chance to try lots of fun techniques.

For my cover I started with this color combination if you can believe it. :)

I smeared them in varying amounts on my craft mat and spritzed them with water and then laid my paper on the inky mess.  I heat set it and repeated that process about 10 times.

Next I stenciled mini stars all over the cover using Wendy Vecchi Gold Embossing Paste.  I let those dry.

While they were drying I took the Basically Bare Celestial Shapes Acetate stars and added color using Alcohol Inks - Caramel, Rust, Alcohol Blending solution.  While the ink was still wet on my applicator I dabbed a bunch of clear sequins to coordinate.

I then died my twine by dragging the Tsukineko Delicata Gold Glitz ink over the twine. (I heat set this as well)

I stamped Darkroom Door Eclectic Script over the background and the stars using the same gold ink.

I have been wanting to use this beautiful sentiment from Impression Obsession and I placed that in the center using black ink.

Putting the colors down on the paper had me thinking of other color combos and started me down the path of putting together different combinations.

I ended up making quite a selection of color chips.  I will share those at a later time.

I am entering my art journal in the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #18 - Texture.   I love the texture I introduced with the embossed stars and the random swirls of the twine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz