Suzanne's Stamping Spot

CR84FN47 - Wishing you a Fairy Good Day

2012-01-28T22:55:00.010-06:00

Time for another fun CR84FN challenge! I created this fairy in the flowers card for my youngest DD:

I started with paper from my friend Jacqueline. I pulled it out as it was the perfect pink to coordinate with the colors this week. The image is from Stamping Bella and she had a beautiful bouquet to coordinate with the colors.

The background is stamped with the Hero Arts Design Block - dots. Sponged the edges of the pieces using Ranger Distress Inks Tumbled Glass and Memento Angel Pink. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things - Pure Innocence.

Here are the colors:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Andrea Matthews * Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me) * Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton * Lisa Somerville *

We also have a wonderful guest designer this month, Monika please visit her at her blog: Igla i Nitka
and leave her some love.

Have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Stampendous Saturday HollyHocks

2012-01-28T07:00:00.027-06:00

It's Stampendous Saturday and the monthly challenge is all about BLING! I love the new jumbo clings and used the beautiful hollyhock on my project:

This is a sneak peek of the Jumbo Cling Hollyhock stamp from Stampendous. I stamped it over a new background stamp that gave it a lovely texture. I colored it using a watercolor pencils. The centers of the flower have a touch of glass glitter in the center for my bling. The background panel is another jumbo stamp which is embossed using bronze embossing enamel.

These are not in the store yet but will be available soon!

The DT has some fabulous projects to share:

Stampendous Impressions Blog
Janelle Stollfus

Melinda Gleissner
Jennifer Ingle

To play along with us: add a direct link to your card in the linky tool below (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than February 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST. You don't have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we love it when you do! And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cherub Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set: (Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address)

Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Mojo Monday #225 - Live in the Sunshine

2012-01-27T05:04:00.001-06:00

When I saw the Mojo Monday sketch I loved the design and thought it would be a fun sketch. After that I fell down a rabbit hole. I have been struggling with this card for a few days and decided to give up today and share it. Of course I have created a few other cards in that time period but nothing is coming easily right now. :) I am not even sure I like what I ended up with but wanted to be done and move onto something else. So here is my 3 day card which should have taken 10 minutes! :O I am also entering this in the Simon Says Challenge for anything goes.

I started with (well actually finished with) some lovely Authentique paper and cut them into banner shapes. I then sponged the edges using brown dye ink.

I stamped the Artistic Outpost images (Home, The Outpost) using brown ink onto the banners on the bottom and the center. I used the sentiment to stamp along the edges of the top banners. The tops were finished with twine and buttons.

Here is the sketch that started me down my rabbit hole.

Well I hope your creativity is flowing better than mine is right now!

Suzz

Magnolia Birthday

2012-01-25T08:59:00.001-06:00

Happy Wednesday!

Today I mixed in a couple of challenges City Crafter Challenge with a lovely sketch by the talented Linda and colors from ColourQ challenge #121.

The stamps are all sneak peeks from the latest Stampendous release that will be in the store later this month. I colored the Magnolia with watercolor pencils and added some sponging using the Antique Linen.

Here is the sketch and color inspiration:

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Rockin Robin

2012-01-23T12:10:00.000-06:00

Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week is to show a song title.

I chose Rockin Robin for my title. I pulled out my triptych template from Verses Rubber Stamps as my layout. After I stamped the house image from Artistic Outpost I ended up trimming the Triptych to follow the lines of the house.

The stamps include: Artistic Outpost - Home, Birds of a Feather, Whimsical Melange, Songbirds. Other products: Ranger distress inks - Walnut Stain, Rusty Hinge, Glimmer Mist - Jazz z Blue, Watercolor pencils, Ranger Archival Inks - Black, Coffee, Stampendous Bronze Glass Glitter.

Hope your week is off to a good start!

Suzz

CR84FN46 - Hearts and Flourishes

2012-01-21T22:55:00.005-06:00

For the CR84FN colors this week I used some beautiful paper and pieced together the background and my heart. To soften the color of the paper to get closer to the soft pinks and yellows I distressed the papers with white acrylic paint.

The sentiment is from Verses Rubber Stamps. The hearts are from Spellbinders Heart dies. Not much stamping other than the sentiment and the background behind the sentiment.

Here are the colors:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Andrea Matthews * Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me) * Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton * Lisa Somerville *

Have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Swimming with the Mermaids

2012-01-21T07:00:00.030-06:00

It's Stampendous Saturday and the monthly challenge is all about BLING! I am sharing a very blingy project as it has a beautiful mermaid that I happened to capture and put in a bottle.

This is a sneak peek of the mermaid stamp from Stampendous. She is beautiful and she has that sweet seahorse that she is holding. I used some magic to make him appear as he is floating in front of her.

The bling is all the wonderful halo glitters and mixed into my seabed is some of the beautiful crushed glass glitter. There is all kinds of new glitter, and bling coming out. These are not in the store yet but will be available the end of January.

She is stamped using memento and colored with Copics. I added halo crystal to her scales to give her a little glitter too. The shells are covered in bronze embossing enamel and then encrusted with halo glitter.

The DT has some fabulous projects to share:

Stampendous Impressions Blog
Janelle Stollfus

Melinda Gleissner
Jennifer Ingle
Steph Lee

To play along with us: add you direct link to your card to the linky tool below (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than February 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST. You don't have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we love it when you do! And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cherub Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set: (Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address)

Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Butterflies and Brocade

2012-01-20T09:39:00.000-06:00

City Crafter Challenge this week is to show the inside and outside of your card. I paired the challenge up with the Fashionable Stamping Challenge #18 - Butterflies or Bugs.

I took the idea and made a window card. So the pretty inside can show on the outside. :)

Here is the front of the card on an angle so you can see the frame is lifted which will hopefully protect the butterflies in transit.

And the inside:

I didn't put a sentiment or verse inside yet. I will add something when it goes to it's final destination. :)

The background is created using that beautiful Brocade Background stamp from Our Daily Bread and the Butterfly Bush is from the Faith set and the sentiment form the Simple Things Set.

I used Walnut Stain Distress Ink and added a touch of pink watercolor pencil to the butterflies. Blended with a waterbrush.

The background is stamped multiple times using the walnut stain dye ink and smeared with white acrylic paint.

I punched the border and added a strip of the background to the inside to highlight the punched border.

The sketch is from Wee Memories Challenge. This is Jenny's last challenge and I was happy to play along one more time.

Hope your day is fabulous!

Suzz

Love

2012-01-19T05:00:00.001-06:00

I was playing around with my new Memory Box dies and decided to create an all white card. The embellishments ended up having a hint of ivory in them.

The hardest part was getting a good picture. Luckily we had some sunshine today and I was able to go outside and catch a few rays. The layout is from the Mojo Monday sketch #224.

The new Memory Box heart dies have beautiful coordinating stamps and also beautiful overlay dies. I paired up the Serafina Heart with the Cupid Heart. I added to nested birds as my love birds. (These are from Poppy Stamps) and added the Love sentiment. The rest is layered embossing pieces and some pearls and flowers and ribbon.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Suzz

Map Cigar Box

2012-01-18T07:19:00.000-06:00

Simon Says Stamp and Show anything but a Card inspired me to pull out an old cigar box and crate a keepsake box.

I covered the entire box inside and out with piece of map from an old Atlas I purchased at a garage sale. I distressed it with white acrylic paint and brown dye ink.

I stamped a variety of the Artistic Outpost Route 66 and the Home stamps using brown ink. I colored them using watercolor pencils and waterbrush. I added sentiments from Artistic Outpost Huck Finn plate and the Route 66 plate.

I finished it with some strips of leather to make a frame on the cover. I think this one will be going to my son to hold mementos from his various vacations.

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

ODBDLYLS13 - Faith & Love

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

The ODBDLYLS13 Challenge this week is to use a lovely inspiration photos with hues of blue, grey and a pop of red. I have this lovely new set Never Give Up from Our Daily Bread Designs that has this beautiful cross which had me pulling out some old photos of my uncle's first communion.

The picture is of my grandfather, grandmother, my mom (in the adorable coat and hat) and her older brother and younger brother. She actually had two more brothers who weren't born yet. :)

I used that as my focal point and scattered the cross across the background with touches of blue glimmer mist. The sentiments are from the ODBD God's Love set and Faith.

Products: Prima, My Moments, Recollections flourishes, Ranger Dye Ink - Stormy Weather, Ranger Archival Ink, Glimmer Mist - Jazz Blue, s and lace trims.

I decided to create a second layout based on the inspiration using some pictures from my mom's first communion.

I used the ODBD sets used include: Never Give Up, Brocade Background, Sweet William Small, and Easter Blessings.

The flourishes are Zva and the paper is Enchanted by Bo Bunny. The background is a mix of stamping the brocade background and smearing white paint and sponging blue dye ink.

The inspiration photo:

For all the details of the challenge go here.

Happy Tuesday to you!

Suzz

CR84FN46 - Sweetest Moments

2012-01-14T22:55:00.028-06:00

The CR84FN colors this week are soft and sweet and perfect for Valentines.

I was working on another project and had a scrapling leftover. I picked it up as the base for my project:

I decided to make a bookmark for my daughter using the scrapling. It has a fold so she can put it over the page. You can also add a tiny bit of magnet (the kind you get as advertisement for the refrigerator) to the bottom to help keep it closed and on the page.

Products: Hero Arts Sweet Hearts, Cornish Heritage Farms, My Favorite Things - Pure Innocence - Bee Mine, Memento Angel Pink, Ranger Archival Coffee,

Here are the lovely inspirational photos and quote:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Andrea Matthews * Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me) * Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton * Lisa Somerville *

Have a blessed Sunday!

Suzz

Stampendous Saturday - Easter Bonnets

2012-01-14T07:00:00.003-06:00

It's Saturday which means Stampendous! Here is another project for the Stampendous monthly challenge which is all about BLING!

I made this sweet Easter egg awhile ago and wanted to share it:

I love these little vintage Easter chicks with their bonnets. I wanted to give them a proper home and had this paper mache egg that I had purchased at Michaels.

Recipe:

Trace oval shape on tissue paper cut out and use as stencil to trace onto egg.
Cut an opening into egg using exacto knife.
Glimmer mist tissue paper (I used multiple layers so I glimmer misted 3 or 4 sheets)
Apply Elmer's Glue mixed with water to egg and wrap tissue paper onto glue. Continue until multiple layers cover the entire egg.
While glue is still wet or apply more glue to surface sprinkle Stampendous Crystal Glitter.Let dry.
Run tape around opening. Apply Champagne Crushed Glass Glitter to the tape.
On the inside of the egg apply the same glue over the entire surface. Sprinkle Stampendous Tarnished Mica Fragments on the inside. Repeat until entire surface is covered. Some won't stick which is fine between applications turn the egg over and shake the excess out.
Squeeze tacky glue to bottom of inside of egg and place moss into egg. Add more glue and more moss until you have a nice little nest for the chicks. Brush on glue onto moss in various areas and Sprinkle Halo Gold Glitter into the glue in the nest.
Stamp the adorable chicks Stampendous Cling Feather Bonnet Baby, Posie Bonnet Baby, and Floral Bonnet Baby using Ranger Archival Ink Black onto white cardstock.
Color chicks with watercolor pencils and water brush.
Cut out.
Attach toothpicks to back of chicks.
Dip toothpick ends into Glue. Stick chicks into nest.
Tie ribbon around egg. Attach flowers and little tag with sentiment.

The DT has some fabulous projects to share:

Stampendous Impressions Blog

Melinda Gleissner
Jennifer Ingle

Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Maps

2012-01-13T05:54:00.000-06:00

A couple of fun projects using maps as a background.

First is a tag. I have had this background forever. I created it for another challenge and never used it. So when I saw the Moxie Fab World Map to your Heart challenge I pulled it out to create something with it. The background was made by stamping the map using versamark. Embossing with clear embossing powder. I then sponged on the blues, greens and brown dye ink over the surface.

The next step was to stamp the skyline across the bottom with black versafine and heat emboss using black embossing powder.

The sentiment and balloons were stamped on white cardstock and cut out. Sponged with blue and brown dye ink and pop dotted onto the tag.

Products: Ranger Distress Inks - Broken China, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Versafine Black Onyx, Versamark, Verses Rubber Stamps - Ones Destination - QQ08E17, Cornish Heritage Farms Skrapblock - Map, Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous - (Skyline), Hero Arts - Past Times (Balloons)

My second card is a mini card for both the Moxie Fab Challenge and for Wee Memories Mini Card Challenge.

Same idea as the tag but on a CAS mini card using a map in the background.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Butterfly Love

2012-01-12T07:19:00.000-06:00

I love my butterflies. I was happy to pull out my new ODBD butterfly sets and make a card for the Fashionable Challenge #12 - Anything Goes using your New stash and the Moxie Fab World - Cool Tools Week - Die Cutting.

I started with a background created on a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of white cardstock. I stamped the background using ODBD Honeycomb background using Ranger Archival Ink Coffee. I inked up the stamp and then used a baby wipe to wipe off portions of the stamp before stamping to give an uneven effect on the background. After I finished stamping the entire surface I sponged white acrylic paint across the surface.

The background was cut and distressed with a distressing tool and brown dye ink. Stamp the butterfly flourish using Versafine Toffee and Ranger Archival Coffee ink on the background. Stamp again on a another piece of the honeycomb background. Stamp the butterflies using the gold ink and overlay the details with the brown ink. Die cut using the butterfly dies. Stamp the sentiment using the brown ink. Cut and distress edges.

The butterfly dies, stamps and sentiment are all part of the ODBD Gods Love.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Suzz

B Mine

2012-01-10T10:51:00.000-06:00

I rolled up three challenges into one: Mojo Monday Sketch #223, Simon Says Stamp and Show a Red Letter Day and City Crafters Challenge - Back to Black.

I started from the idea of the scarlet letter and used the red B in the B Mine to put together my card.

All kinds of inspiration here... I was inspired by Linda's valentine card, Tracy provided a beautiful card and the meaning behind red letter day. The back is black challenge is to use a silhouette and the pussy willows on the panel is my silhouette.

The stamps are from the Cornish Heritage Farms and the papers are from My Minds Eye.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Suzz

Hero Arts 2012 Blog Hop

2012-01-09T08:00:00.005-06:00

Welcome to the Hero Arts 2012 Hero Hostesses Blog Hop! The Hero Arts 2012 blog hop is all week long, January 9th through Friday January 13th. Along the way you will see wonderful inspiration from the Hero Hostesses using the 2012 release!

When I saw the new Fleurettes - K5597 Stamp and the Classic Tea Flower I was smitten. I love flowers and both of these are gorgeous.

I created a little card set with a purse to hold the cards:

A close up of the wooden purse:

And a close up of the cards: (Click to enlarge)

Recipe:

Paint the wood purse using white acrylic paint. Dry. Repeat to create two coats of paint.
Cut four 5" circles from white cardstock.
Cut eight 5 1/4" circles from black cardstock.
Stamp flowers using black archival ink on purse and on white circles.
Smear pink dye ink onto craft mat. Watercolor flowers using water brush.
Smear brown dye ink onto craft mat. Watercolor flowers for shading using water brush.
Stamp dragonflies onto tissue paper using archival black ink. Sprinkle black embossing powder over surface. Shake off excess. Heat emboss. Repeat for multiple dragonflies.
Turn over dragonflies with embossed surface facing down. Paint with waterbrush and pink dye ink.
Cut out dragonflies. Accent dragonflies with gem.
Attach dragonflies to background.
Add highlights to flowers using white gel pen.
Assemble cards.
Smear pink dye ink onto craft mat and spritz with water until drops appear. Dip white seam binding into pink dye ink and turn the ribbon until covered in pink. Dry ribbon and attach to handle of purse.

Products:

The next card uses the same flowers but I turned it into a Valentines Card:

I created a mask from the spellbinders heart die and stamped the image repeatedly into the heart shape. I then colored using watercolor pencils. The butterfly (Three Artistic Butterflies) was stamped on tissue paper and watercolored with the pencils. The sentiment is from the Made with Love clear set.

I finished off my projects with a vintage tag:

I used the fun Art of the Card cling set called Past Times. I stamped the background with Watch Gears
using glimmer mist chalkboard ink. I added a few partial stamping of the Moments definition stamp. The rest of the images were stamped in black ink and cut out and pop dotted.

Onto the important details:

If you arrived here from Deborah Nolan at Society of Stamp and Scrap a holics you are in the right place, your next stop is the fabulous Donna Mikasa at Three Umbrellas! If you didn't come here from Deborah you should head over to the Hero Arts Blog and start at the beginning of the hop!

Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!

If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also, please report broken links to Tami.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

CR84FN45 - My wishes to you!

2012-01-07T22:55:00.008-06:00

This is for the CR84FN challenge this week. We are still playing with the bright fun colors of orange, yellow and blue.

I pulled a bunch of die cut shapes out of my scrap bin and started layering them up. I used the Hero Arts Designblocks and clings to stamp the different patterns on the layers. The lovely verse is fromVerses Rubber Stamps Wishing You Always - MC0634 . I created this before the new year and thought it was a lovely new year wish to send out to all my bloggy friends.

Here are the beautiful colors for this week. The pictures are provided by Deborah Frings

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Andrea Matthews * Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me) * Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton * Lisa Somerville *

Have a wonderful Sunday! On Monday I have something very fun to share!

Suzz

Stampendous Saturday - Sparkly Things

2012-01-07T07:00:00.002-06:00

Today is the first Saturday of the month which means it is time for a new Stampendous challenge. This month's challenge is all about bringing in the New Year with some BLING! Glitter, rhinestones, sparkly stickers...you name it.

I decided to create an anniversary card that could easily be used for Valentines Day as well:

My bling is on the flower. I dipped it in the beautiful Halo Gold Glitter. The background is stamped with a combination of stamps from the Eiffel Tower using brown ink. The cherub is from the Cherub Wishes set. I used the Amore sentiment from Amore Frame.

The seam binding was died pink using glimmer mist. The edges of the panels were sponged with a pink and brown dye ink. The images were stamped using Ranger Archival Coffee Ink.

The DT has some fabulous projects to share:

Stampendous Impressions Blog

To play along with us: add you direct link to your card (make sure you've loaded it up with tons of BLING) to the linky tool below (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than February 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST. You don't have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we love it when you do! And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cherub Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set: (Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address)

I hope your weekend plans are going to be fun. We have one more family celebration for tomorrow and then our holiday celebrations will be finished. The kids will be sad but I will be glad to get the decorations down and all cleaned up.

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Something Old and Something New

2012-01-05T06:06:00.000-06:00

Simon Says Stamp and Show something old and something new. I pulled out my melt pot to play again and create a pendant with a mix of elements.

A different angle:

I created a Valentine's pendant using some old (Vintage cupid with heart) and new(ribbon, earring) bits and pieces.

Recipe:

Stamp script over background using brown ink.
Stamp damask using red ink in corner.
Stamp Sentiment using brown ink.
Heat melt pot with UTEE.
Stamp Eiffel Tower on Shrinky Dink using StazOn ink.
Place Shrinky Dink in UTEE. Shrink up and pull out of UTEE
Cut background to fit into metal frame.
Place Eiffel Tower and any other bits and pieces into metal frame over background.
Pour melted UTEE into frame.
Let dry.
Accessorize.

Stamps: Memory Box - Eiffel Tower, Love, Elemental Damask
Inks: StazOn Jet Black, Ranger Archival Inks - Coffee, Memento - Rhubarb Stalk

That's it for today. Been working on projects that I can't share. :) Have a wonderful Thursday!

Suzz

Mojo Monday #222 -

2012-01-03T07:25:00.000-06:00

I saw the Mojo Monday sketch #222 and knew I wanted to play along. I pulled out some beautiful 7Gypsies Conservatory papers and started layering. :)

This card took way too long for such little stamping. :) I cut all the papers and kept messing around with what to use as my focal image. The verse is from Verses Rubber Stamps called Love Continues to Grow - MA0320-E. I pulled some Websters Pages Trim and created a background for this lovely little brooch.
The papers are all distressed with gold and brown inks.

The lovely sketch:

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Suzz

Our Daily Bread Designs January Release Blog Hop

2012-01-01T07:00:00.103-06:00

Welcome to the Our Daily Bread designs January Release Blog Hop! If you got here from Angie’s Blog, you are in the right place. If not you might want to start at the Our Daily Bread designs Blog and start from the beginning. If you get lost along the way, simply return there, where the entire hop is listed with links.

Onto my layout using the beautiful new Gods Love, Grunge Butterfly Background, Two Step Butterfly and Butterfly 2 Die:

First a little close up of the photograph cut using the butterfly die.

The full layout looks like this: (Click on the photo to see a larger view)

The idea for this layout came from Peggy at my LSS. Peggy's design is based on the tri-shutter card. You create two tri-shutter cards and join them together in the middle with a layer of cardstock on the bottom and top. On each end of the combined tri-shutter card there is an additional panel which allows room for the additional photos and makes a beautiful cover when closed.

The center panel was stamped with the grunge butterfly and repeated around the edges using a blue dye ink. The center of the butterfly was replaced with the lovely children die cut using the butterfly die. Additional butterflies were stamped, colored and cut from the Our Daily Bread Faith set. The sentiment was stamped using black ink in the bottom corner of the main panel.

The other panels were stamped using the new butterfly background stamp and blue dye ink. The other images used were cut and mounted on white cardstock with a few additional butterfly images.

I included a few of the beautiful sentiments from Gods Love and Faith.

Here are close ups of the last panels in the layout.

I also used the lovely butterfly stamp and with the overlay details of the butterfly wings stamped in black over the blue dye background. I cut the butterfly using the matching die cut. .

***** EDITED TO ADD ******

A few pictures of how the tri-shutters join together and the added panels on the end:

Now for all the wonderful details of the hop:

The Hop will run 8am EDT Jan. 1 until 8pm EDT Jan 2. The winners will be announced on the ODBD Blog on Jan 3.

Five blessed hoppers will win a $20.00 Gift Certificate for ODBD Stamps!

Here is what you have to do to be qualified to win one of these prizes:
Hop to each designer’s blog and leave a comment. Return to the Our Daily Bread designs blog and leave a comment telling us that you completed the hop, making note if there were any you could not comment on. Answer the question on the ODBD blog when you leave your comment.

From my blog you now need to hop over to see the lovely project that Dina has created!

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

CR84FN45 - Never Stop Going

2011-12-31T22:55:00.007-06:00

Happy New Year! We are welcoming in the new year at CR84FN with some bright and bold colors! I used the Card Patterns Sketch #146 for my layout.

I was lucky enough to get to play with the new Our Daily Bread Designs - January Release. There is this fantastic grunge Butterfly image with coordinating die and background stamp.

I started with an ink based background using Rusty Hinge re-inker and Tattered Angels Glimmer mist. I spritzed the glimmer mist onto the craft mat and dripped in the re-inker. I then used my plastic ruler to smear the two together on the craft mat. I then pulled out white cardstock and dragged it across the inky mat to pick up the colors.

At the end of the smears there are always drips and drops of colors and I pick those up with a new piece of cardstock.

The main image was stamped over one of the pieces I created in my inky process.

The butterfly image is stamped on the inked background using StazOn Azure. I then re-stamped the butterfly only in Rusty Hinge. I stamped the overlay details of the wings of the butterfly on acetate using the StaZon Azure ink. The die cut will cut the shape of the butterfly so I was able to die cut all my butterfly pieces.

The backgrounds were created by stamping the small butterflies using Azure and smearing over it with white acrylic paint. The second background piece is from the ink smearing. The lovely sentiment comes in another new set being released this week at ODBD.

The CR84FN challenge is back to the regular schedule which means this challenge will run for two weeks. Here are the beautiful colors for this week. The pictures are provided by Deborah Frings

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Andrea Matthews * Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me) * Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton * Lisa Somerville *

Happy New Year!

Suzz

A Year in Review

2011-12-30T13:28:00.000-06:00

I love when people do a year in review as it brings back beautiful projects they have done. I decided to go through the months and grab some of my favorites from the year. Disclaimer... This is a really long post! Lot's of pictures and I hope something enjoyable to wander through... I love seeing all the different styles, techniques and fun things I learned this year.

I created this back in January for Memory Box. I love the layers of flowers, stamping and embellishments. I looked through my January folder and it was 70 percent pink and gray color combinations. :)

For this card I remember using up some scraps of beautiful black, grey and white papers with creating a shimmery heart as my focal point. The verse (Verses Rubber Stamps) is one of my favorites and I must have used it so many times this year.

This card was created for the Moxie Fab Challenge to use tissue tape in an innovative way. It didn't win but still is a favorite of mine as I loved how the copics colored on the tissue tape!

The next was my blog header created in the spring/summer which I get to use some of my favorite flowers and butterflies from Hero Arts.

I love this background stamp from Hero Arts and love adding color to the peacock and glitter!

I am a big fan of the Lucie Attwell images from Artistic Stamper and had to include one of my cards with with one of her sweet images:

I was able to play with this lovely butterfly bush from the Faith set at Our Daily Bread and decided to make a die cut easel card and I loved how this design turned out:

This was a piece of lovely pattern paper which I mixed some Hero Arts and Verses Rubber Stamps together to create a summery flowery scene. This was another quick and easy card. I wasn't sure about it when I was done but it grew on me. : )

This card started with an unusual sketch with two circles. The sketch inspired me to use the Artistic Outpost timepiece as one of my circles and a similar AO image should be used in the second circle.

The next piece uses a Sparkle Rubber Creations image on a cute bookmark. My girls loved this!

This one was fun for me as I love designing small grids and blending the colors, images and sentiments together into a hopefully cohesive card.

The next was a set of three bird houses which were very fun to create! I love the color combination on this birdhouse and will probably re-visit the birdhouses again.

This one was a struggle and so not my usual style. I was pleased with how it ended up and we gave this to my daughter's teacher for her Christmas gift and she loved it as she rides a motorcycle and has actually rode her motorcycle to some of the places on the map!

The next was a card using the Whimsical Melange plate from Artistic Outpost. The plate has these wonderful house shapes and they are perfect for birds as well as frames for other images. I enjoyed the unusual design along with the litter banner around the circle.

This was created at the same time and I love the ruler in that plate and decided it would make a fantastic background.

This next card was a easy design just a leaf layered on some beautiful Memory Box paper. Some of my favorite designs come from scraps of die cuts or pattern paper which I play around with for a design first. That is what happened with this card. Layering the papers and then adding the focal image.

This fall thank you card was all about the distr4ess inks and techniques. I played around with some inks and layering of the leaf images. I added a frosty painting to some of the leaves to give them a washed out effect.

The next card using the dragging of the inkpad across the paper to create a faux wood effect. Love how this creates a rustic background quickly. The Stampendous flower was so beautiful and easy to pop into the corner with a few flourishes.

I have a fascination with the star shape and used that with a wreath on this card which I love the effect. The background is a repeated pattern of a few different Memory Box stamps. Love how the star showcases the wreath and the background showcases the star.

I had to share one alcohol ink background as I love playing with the alcohol inks and the effect of the inks on glossy cardstock is so beautiful. This just highlights a warm and rich background with a simple sentiment. So not only did I get to play with my inks I also ended up with a masculine birthday card!

This just showcases a lot of my favorite things: The paper flowers, glimmer mists, distress inks and layering textures, images and papers all together.

This is one of my recent cards using the white on white and a verse. I love the softness of the monochromatic card and the tissue paper flowers.

This next card was created for ribbon challenge where I was given four different ribbons and asked to show them all on one project. I love how the ribbons created the banner and effect across the front of the card.

My last three projects were my blog header for winter and a few of the tags for tim's twelve days of tags. His techniques really inspired me to play around with some new toys and I had a blast. Of course I used some of my old favorites of glimmer mists, embossing and glitter.

Sorry my year in review was such a long post. I had fun re-visiting my projects and actually was surprised by how many I loved from this year. :)

The majority of the stamps here are from: Memory Box, Hero Arts, Stampendous, Artistic Outpost, Chapel Road Artstamps, Verses Rubber Stamps, Our Daily Bread Designs, The Artistic Stamper, Lily Bee Designs, Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps.

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

A Touch of Pink

2011-12-29T07:16:00.000-06:00

A combination of three challenges today: City Crafter a Cut Above, Mojo Monday #221 and ColourQ #117 to create my card. I have a nasty cold and it is slowing me down this week.

I used some of my favorite Memory Box stamps to create this and pink as my pop of color for the ColourQ challenge. (Birch Branch Print - G1720, Flower Bundle - E1321, Alpha Background E996, Happy Birthday Candle - C1373)

The background was created by stamping the alphabet multiple times using black ink and not re-inking to allow variations in the hues of the letters. I added a layer of white acrylic paint to soften the background. The edges were sponged with black dye ink.

A layer of tree branches and flowers were added over the background using black ink.

A simple card for me. :)

The color palette:

The sketch:

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Think Lovely Thoughts

2011-12-27T05:17:00.000-06:00

The challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenge is Travelling. I thought why not Peter and Wendy? They certainly traveled a great distance to NeverLand. "Second Star to the right and straight on til Morning".

I used the Artistic Outpost Loverly London plate and the Artistic Outpost Neverland to create a view over London with Peter and Wendy talking about flying as the levitate over the city.

The city was created by stamping the image multiple times and coloring with a touch of watercolor. Then I layered the images and pop dotted them to give additional depth. After that was done I trimmed them off to conform to the edge of the circle.

The main images were stamped using black archival ink and colored using watercolor pencil. They were cut out and pop dotted onto the background.

We are just starting to wind down on the holiday festivities and getting in some fun family outings. Also sneaking in some stamping time with some good friends!

Have a lovely Tuesday!

Suzz

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T06:08:00.000-06:00

I have been doing quite the clean up in my crafting space the last couple of days. Two big bins of stamps and other items to go to the stamp store garage sale. During the rummage and cleaning I found a lovely unfinished ornament in my alterable items.

I used one of my favorite retired Hero Arts stamp with the Madonna and child to create an ornament to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

I started with a mistake of course where I got some glimmer mist from the other side of the ornament on the bottom of the image. I just worked with it and made the background the same blue and luckily it was only around the edges.

The image was stamped using a black archival ink. The ornament had no glossy finish so I was able to stamp and color the surface and finish it with a couple of coats of clear embossing powder. I colored with a combination of glimmer mists, watercolor pencils an dye inks.

The surface was covered with versamark at the end and heat embossed using clear embossing powder. Before I embossed using the clear embossing powder I sponged brown dye ink around the edges over the versamark.

Now the other side I used a different Hero Arts Christmas set and a much simpler scene:

Have a blessed Christmas!

Suzz

Christmas wishes!

2011-12-23T07:58:00.000-06:00

I wanted to try coating an image using bees wax. I had seen this done in a Stampington magazine and loved the effect.

I stamped the image using a water resistant black ink. Then I colored it using watercolor pencils and a water brush. I sponged the edges with distress ink.

I heated up the beeswax in the melt pot and dipped my image in the pot. I used my tweezers and had to rotate half way through to get wax over the entire surface. After it was coated I laid it down to let it cool. Then I heated it up with the heat gun to move the wax and dabbed up excess wax with baby wipes.

After that it was just layering and distressing the edges. I also highlighted the main image with glitter and white gel pen.

Images: Artistic Outpost Snowy Woods, Frosty and Friends

Wishing you all wonderful Christmas Wishes!

Suzz

Music of Life

2011-12-21T06:46:00.000-06:00

The City Crafter Challenge this week is Winter White and I paired that up with the Mojo Monday #220 Sketch.

I love all white cards... They are always beautiful. Of course I started with an all white card which ended up with a little shading of gray.

Recipe:
1. Stamp background using Memento London fog and one of my favorite Verses Rubber stamps which is the poem by Elizabeth Barret Browning - How do I love thee - QQ0809-G. The stamp actually is the full poem in a little script and makes the perfect background.
2. Stamp Verses Rubber Stamps Life is the Music on white cardstock using Versafine Smokey Gray.
3. Stamp over sentiment using Cornish Heritage Farms Music background with Memento London Fog.
4. Stamp Music over tissue paper using Versafine Smokey Gray. Die Cut flowers and assemble. Dab glue over flowers and sprinkle with Stampendous Ultra-Fine glitter.
5. Punch Butterflies from leftover music background. Add glitter and gems.
6. Emboss white cardstock with embossing folder. Sponge with gray dye ink.
7. Distress all edges with distressing tool and sponge on gray dye ink.

The sketch:

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Tag # 13

2011-12-20T05:57:00.000-06:00

Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week is a Tim Holtz Inspired Tag. I had bits and pieces left over from the flurry of tag creating for the last couple of weeks so I pulled them together into another tag.

I had this lovely background leftover from my blog header. I created it by mixing glimmer mist and chalkboard mist together on white cardstock.. (Patina Glimmer Mist and Decadence Chalkboard) The next step was to stamp the beautiful swirling snowflake from the Stampendous Jumbo Cling using versamark and embossing with the Stampendous Silver Tinsel. I then highlighted areas of the swirls using white gel pen. After that was all done I covered the entire surface with versamark and clear embossed it. I repeated that several times.

Then I created a tag shape. Smeared the edges with versamark and added a layer of gold embossing powder around the edges. The angel was created last week. But I added to her today. I stamped her using black ink. Watercolored her with a touch of blue and skin color. I had her framed in this time piece from Tattered Angels. I poured a layer of Kaleidoscope embossing powder into the frame and heat embossed from underneath. I then did the same with clear embossing powder to create a layer of glaze with shimmer.

The rest was just digging through my piles of embellishments to find fun bits and pieces to decorate the tag.

Hope you are getting ready for your holidays. :) We have school party, cookie party, cleaning etc... But all fun things to get ready for the main event. Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Joy

2011-12-18T00:01:00.021-06:00

Today I am posting on the Flourishes blog. I used the beautiful Paperwhites set to create my card:

I used a fun technique with chalk to paint the flowers. To see all the details head over to the Flourishes blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Stampendous Saturday

2011-12-17T07:00:00.002-06:00

I am back today to share another card for the Stampendous challenge and I used this weeks Mojo Monday sketch #219.

The Stampendous challenge this month is to use the colors pink, brown, cream or gold. Pick at least three of the colors to use on your cards or projects.

This week I played with the beautiful Eiffel Noel image:

The main image is stamped using Ranger Archival ink - Coffee onto Lost and Found - Madison Avenue pattern paper. The background papers are all from the same collection. The edges are all sponged using brown dye ink and the main panel of pattern paper was sponged with brown dye ink and an edge of Stampendous gold embossing powder was added around the edges. The flowers were giving a dusting of Stampendous Halo Gold Glitter

Go visit the rest of the Design team playing along this week:

Stampendous Impressions

Taylor Usry

Pam Hornschu

Melinda Gleissner

Suzanne Czosek

Kristine Reynolds

Janelle Stollfus

Jennifer Ingle
Wendy Price

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Winter Wonderland

2011-12-16T08:31:00.000-06:00

I combined the Lessology Frame of Life challenge with Simon Says Stamp and Show Depth to create a little winter wonderland scene.

I recycled the shadow box frame from a previous project. The inside of the box is stamped using the Hero Arts - Snowflakes DesignBlock on white cardstock using brown dye ink. Then white acrylic paint is sponged over the surface to soften the snowflakes. The sentiment is from Stampscapes and stamped in brown ink and heat embossed using Stampendous brown embossing powder. The trees are from Stampendous and stamped in brown ink and heat embossed using Stampendous brown embossing powder. The bottom is big flakes of crystal glitter and a few bottle brush trees and plastic deers. The frame is painted with white acrylic paint and rock candy distress. After it dried the snowflakes were stamped using brown ink. Then the edge was decorated with the vintage silver tinsel.

Happy Friday!

Suzz

O Holy Night

2011-12-15T07:11:00.000-06:00

I think I must be creatively stumped after the fun playing with the twelve tags. I haven't had any inspiration to play in any challenges. I decided to share one of my cards that was was published last month in the Crafts N Things December issue. You can find the details here.

Hope your week is going well!

Suzz

Tim's Tags Day Twelve - Peace

2011-12-12T07:31:00.002-06:00

I have to say that my favorite tag from Tim is today's final tag. I love the white and blue colors and the softness of the background. That is what I tried to bring into my tag today. I love the 12 days as he is always showcasing different techniques which inspire me to play with my inks, tools and just try something new.

I have been wanting to use this Stampington angel on one of my twelve tags. I used the sweet angel image to replace the doll fragment Tim used.

Quick run-down on what I did:

Stamp on background of the tag Hero Arts Design Block - Damask using black ink.
Stamp Cornish Heritage Farms Scrapblock - Music sheet onto tissue paper about 4 times.
Run tape over the surface of the tag. Layer on stamped tissue paper. Repeat multiple times tearing excess and re-applying. Cut off excess tissue paper around the edges.
Coat with Distress Crackle Paint. This caused the tag to bend and warp. So when it dried I attached it to a piece of re-cycled cardboard.
Stamp angel onto white cardstock. Highlight with watercolor pencils. Versamark entire surface and heat emboss using Kaleidoscope embossing powder.
Stamp tissue paper with music background. Cut in long strip. Fold every 1/4" back and forth (fan). Tie in center. Trim edges and fluff to flower. Spritz with glimmer mist. Apply glue along edges and glitter.
Attach frill and tinsel along bottom.
Cut house shape from thin chipboard. Emboss with embossing folder. Paint with white and blue paints. Apply blue dye ink over embossed areas.
Stamp O Holy Night and cut. Sponge edges with blue dye ink. Attach to house.
Pop Dot angel and apply to house.
Apply dye ink, silver paint to sticker letters. Apply glue pen and glitter.

I forgot one little detail. I made a wire halo for my angel. It is hard to see but so cute IRL!

**** Edited to add *****

I just realized I forgot to pick the winner of my blog candy.... Drumroll please...

Ros said...: How very pretty this is ... love the embossing and those pretty flowers; December 10, 2011 10:43 AM; Congrats Ros! Send me an email and I will put your prize in the mail!

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Tim's Tags Day Eleven - Frosty the Snowflake

2011-12-11T14:09:00.000-06:00

Off to a slow start on Tim's Tags Day 11! I wanted to pull out the melt pot which involved a little work...

This is my melt pot creation or at least one of them.... I was lucky enough to get a melt pot from a good friend (Thanks Lisa!) although she told me it needed to be cleaned out... I thought I had cleaned it out... not realizing there was a second pan full of bees wax. :) Until I had heated it up... So my technique ended up using bees wax. :)

Here is the full tag:

I started with a scrap I had made awhile ago from green and blue glimmer mists. I added a layer of stamping with the snowflakes embossed in white embossing powder. I then stamped over using the music sheet and StaZon blue ink. I added my forest and birds using brown ink. I then added some snow down on the bottom and on the branches of my trees.

The snowflake is the pinecone die leaves shrinky dinked, coated in bees wax and dipped in crushed glass glitter. I put them together with a snowflake die as the center. It is really pretty as it is coated in what looks like frost.

I wasn't finished yet...

I created a star dipped in white embossing powder and stamped the nativity in black ink and embossed in white. With a stamping overlay of Joy to You definition stamp.

Stamps: Hero Arts, Memory Box, Penny Black

Thanks for stopping by! One more day of tags... Than back to regular programming. :)

Suzz

Flourishes - Sweet Peas

2011-12-11T00:01:00.006-06:00

I am sharing the card that is being posted over on the Flourishes blog today.

I share a fun technique using the beautiful Flourishes Sweet Peas set and canvas paper. I had a lot of fun playing with the lovely flowers and my copics.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Suzz

Stampendous Challenge - Pink, Brown, Cream and Gold

2011-12-10T06:57:00.002-06:00

I am back today to share another card for the Stampendous challenge!

The challenge this month is to use the colors pink, brown, cream or gold. Pick at least three of the colors to use on your cards or projects. This month Stampendous is giving away a Amore Frame Perfectly Clear Set to a random US participant. You don't have to use a Stampendous image or products to play along, but it is appreciated when you do! You have until Thursday, January 5th at 11:59 PM EST to add your link to the linky tool, and Stampendous will draw a random winner from the US participants. You can enter as many times as you'd like.

This week I used the lovely Rose Corset image:

I added a little bit of music behind the corset from the Vintage Piano set and the beautiful Fall Tendril in the background. Everything was embossed using the Stampendous Gold Embossing powder.

The flowers are leftover wax paper from my project earlier this week. Alcohol inks, a gold burnish and the Spellbinders rose dies.

For more inspiration and some blog candy in the color challenge go check out the wonderful design team and blogstars projects:

Stampendous Impressions
Taylor Usry
Pam Hornschu
WendyJordan
Melinda Gleissner
Krissy Fossmeyer

Lynn Mercurio
Stephanie Lee

Cyndi Bundy

Kristine Reynold

Janelle Stollfus

Jennie Lin Eiger Black
Jennifer Dove
Jennifer Ingle
Wendy Price

I am also lucky as today I get to offer some fun blog candy from Stampendous! I have a Cling Cold Pair Set to give away. All you have to do is leave a comment by Sunday Dec. 11th, 2011 11:59 PM CST and I will pick a winner using random number generator!

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Tim's Tag #10 - O Holy Night

2011-12-10T05:00:00.016-06:00

Tim's Tag #10 uses some lovely clear pieces with images backed by foil. I followed his lead and tweaked it a bit to fit my images. I kept my tag very rustic and simple this time as I featured a few stamps with the Madonna and Child. The image is from a retired Hero Arts stamp which I love. I was so happy to find it in a pile of discontinued stamps. The other two images are from another stamp featuring the holy family.

I took the clear acrylic tags and stamped on them using StazOn ink. I then backed them with aluminum foil and applied alcohol inks on the reverse side from where I stamped. I then sponged a little versamark around the edges and embossed with the Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing enamel. (I love this stuff and I am going to have to order some more as I am almost out!)

The background of the tag is stamped with Memory Box Vintage Christmas Words in black ink and sponged with brown dye ink. I then layered a music sheet torn over the top and distressed everything with the distressing tool and sponge.

I finished it off with the burlap, sentiment and some gold embossed brads.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Peace, Love, and Joy

2011-12-09T09:24:00.000-06:00

Tim's Tag #9 uses a lovely resist technique. That was the starting point for my inspiration:

I didn't have the candle or the light post which would have both been fun to play with and I knew I wanted the same shape so I pulled out a few dress forms laying around from the previous days.

Quick run down on the techniques:

Stamp script on background with brown ink. Let dry.
Stamp Hero Arts Background Holly using versamark with the evergreen bough dye inked over the versamark on the stamp over the script background. Heat emboss using clear embossing powder.
Sponge brown dye ink over surface. Smear gold paint around edges.
Die cut dress form and emboss using using Cuttlebug embossing folder.
Smear versamark around edges and over embossed areas. Heat emboss using gold embossing powder.
Cut dress portion of form off and put on another form that has been inked in brown dye ink.

That's the backgrounds and the rest is embellishments! Thanks for all the wonderful comments and for stopping by!

Suzz

Golden Christmas

2011-12-08T07:57:00.000-06:00

Tim's Tag #8 is a fun steampunk tag... I veered quite off the path this time... :)

I had previously embossed this folder and if you could see the other side you could see how many tries it takes me in the morning to get a tag done! I flipped over the failure from earlier this week and used the manila side that had the embossing from the folder.

Recipe:

Smear on with a sponge Aged Mahogeny, Evergreen Bough, and Gathered Twigs over the entire surface.
Smear white acrylic paint to soften the colors.
Smear versamark over embossed areas and heat emboss with Queen's Gold embossing powder.
Distress edges with distressing tool. Smear edges with black archival ink.
Ink up Chipboard Time Piece with Versamark. Heat emboss with gold embossing powder. Distress edges with distressing tool and smear black ink over the edges.
Cut holly leaves and smear Viva - Gold over leaves to add gold tinges.
Stamp Artistic Outpost - Snowy Woods - Santa onto white cardstock using black ink. Color with watercolor pencils. Cut out
Stamp music background (Artistic Outpost - Ephemeral Backgrounds) using black ink on white cardstock and sponge over with brown dye ink.
Stamp Joyuex Noel onto white cardstock using black ink. Stamp music background over with black ink. Sponge brown dye ink over surface.
I smeared gold on the key and charm to blend in with my golden tag.

Hope your week is going well!

Suzz

Wax Paper Poinsettia

2011-12-07T08:14:00.000-06:00

Tim's Day #7 Tag uses glassine so I pulled out my wax paper. I have some white glassine but decided to show how the wax paper will work in a similar fashion. I used the alcohol inks on wax paper with the mixative and it turned out beautifully. I wanted the Memory Box Poinsettia to pop so I embossed with the white embossing powder and sprinkled a little white embossing powder over the surface to give it a snow embossed effect. I hand cut and layered the poinsettia.

The background includes the layers of stains and pearl mister to give the soft colors. (weathered wood, walnut stain, antique linen)

Then I stamped the vintage Christmas words (Memory Box) and the Vintage Music Records (Memory Box) using brown archival ink on the tag.

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

ODBDLYLS12 - Double Trouble

2011-12-06T06:52:00.000-06:00

Time for the December Our Daily Bread Designs Scrapbook Challenge. The challenge is to create a layout of any size and any theme using ODBD stamps and a sketch.

Here is my layout using the lovely sketch:

I used a fun vintage image and think the girls smiles are so adorable. They are copied twice and matted on white. I stamped the beautiful ODBD Honeycomb background in black ink and colored with watercolor. I cut the edges to showcase the fun pattern. The beautiful verse and clover are from the ODBD Simple Things set. The background papers are from Bo Bunny Peacock Lane collection.

The ODBDLYLS12 sketch:

For complete details and to play along for a chance to win a $20 ODBD Gift Certificate, click here.

As always thanks for stopping by....

Suzz

Tag #6 & Simon Says Show some Time

2011-12-06T06:50:00.001-06:00

I combined Tim's Tag # 6 with the Simon Says Stamp and Show an element of Time to create a Happy New Year tag.

I love working with aluminum foil and that triggered the thought of embossing the gears and doing a time to celebrate theme for New Years. I added images from the Artistic Outpost Great Gatsby and used sentiments from a Studio G clear set. The clock hands are Tim Holtz.

*** Edited to add more details *****

1. Attach aluminum foil to the white cardstock.

2. Emboss using embossing folder.

3. Smear Versamark watermark ink over surface and edges of tag. Heat emboss with Stampendous Tinsel Silver Embossing Powder.

4. Smear surface with brown and black StaZon inks to give uneven textures.

5. Stamp images (man, bottles) onto white cardstock with black ink. Cut out. Attach to tag using tape runner for the mail image and pop dot the bottles.

6. Accent gears with brads and clock handles. Add glass pebbles using glue dots.

7. Stamp sentiments using black ink on white cardstock. Emboss edge of circle using versamark and Tinsel Silver embossing powder.

8. Accent clock with clock handle, layer onto black cardstock and attach to top of tag.

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Christmas Wishes

2011-12-05T08:43:00.001-06:00

Tim's Tag #5 inspired me to pull out my alcohol inks.

I pulled out my blue alcohol inks and blended Stonewashed and Stream together with the Snow Cap Additive on acetate and it was beautiful! I am definitely going to be adding the Snow Cap Mixative again. I decided to white emboss on front of the tag instead of removing the alcohol ink. I stamped the Vintage Christmas stamp from Memory Box using versamark and heat embossed using white embossing powder.

I stamped the trees (Stampers Anonymous) and deer (Memory Box) using versamark on white cardstock and heat embossed using Stampendous Silver Tinsel Embossing Powder. I cut them out and pop dotted them on the tag. I tied the green ribbon and accented with bells and twine. The sentiment (Memory Box) was also stamped and cut out and placed behind the frame. I embossed the frame to coordinate with the tag.

Very simple tag but with lots of embellishments.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Suzz

Flourishes - Limelight Designer

2011-12-04T00:01:00.005-06:00

I have happy news to share with you... I was thrilled to be asked by Flourishes to be their December Limelight designer. Every Sunday this month I will be sharing a project created using their beautiful stamps and sharing them on the Flourishes blog.

I created a few cards and a technique to share over on the Flourishes blog today. Here is one of the cards but you will have to hop over to the Flourishes blog to see the step-outs and my other card.

I was so happy to use the Flourishes Berry Sweet set to create this card. Love those raspberries!

Have a blessed Sunday! Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Tim's Tags Day Four - May Your Christmas be Merry

2011-12-04T00:00:00.001-06:00

Big challenge today with Tim's Tag 4, I had to do a lot of improvisation.

The background is created by mixing the Ranger Distress Stains - Picket Fence, Faded Jeans, Broken China. I added a dusting of brown chalkboard mist to the surface and distressed with vintage photo. The music (Artistic Outpost - Ephemeral Backgrounds) was stamped using the weathered wood Distress Stain. The children are from Artistic Outpost - Sleigh Ride and are stamped in black ink and watercolored to coordinate. The snowflakes are die cuts from acetate and painted with the picket fence distress stain. I added a row of glitter around the edges behind the snowflakes. The little tag contains a sentiment from Artistic Outpost - Snowy Woods and uses the same background as the main tag. The snowflake on the tag is chipboard and crackled using the technique from Tim today.

I have a few more pieces crackled and drying so I will have to see if I can create a few more tags using the techniques from today.

Have a lovely day!

Suzz

CR84FN44 - Friendship that Warms the Heart

2011-12-03T22:55:00.001-06:00

Happy Sunday! I know you will love these happy CR84FN colors this week. They are a pretty soft palette perfect for any type of card. I was inspired to create a holiday tag... :) I created this a week and a half ago not thinking that we would be in the midst of Tim's twelve tags. LOL!

I started with a white tag and embossed it using the Cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder. On a second white tag I stamped the Hero Arts Snowflakes Design Block Versamark and heat embossed using clear embossing powder. I then sponged Memento Bahama Blue over the surface. I punched the edge with the EK Success border punch and added a few watermarks to the surface. The snowflakes are punched from a background created the same way with pink dye ink. The image is from My Favorite Things and is Pure Innocence.

Here are the beautiful colors for this week. This challenge is only going to run for one week until the 9th of December. The CR84FN challenge will be on holiday until after the new year!

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Andrea Matthews * Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me) * Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton * Lisa Somerville *

A special thank you to Mackie for playing along with us for the last few challenges. Her work is beautiful!

Have a lovely day!

Suzz

Stampendous Monthly Challenge - Color Challenge

2011-12-03T07:00:00.059-06:00

It's time for a new Stampendous challenge!

I love this beautiful Eiffel tower image and wanted to showcase it in a lovely coppery tones. I started on the background and stamped the rose branch from the Rose Branch Border Perfectly Clear Set in versamark and heat embossed with the Aged Copper Embossing Enamel. I stamped the I Love Paris two times on pink cardstock. Once embossed using the copper embossing powder and the second time stamped in brown ink. I then cut and colored a layer of flowers to accent the image.

The sentiment is from the Amore Frame Perfectly Clear Set set and stamped in versamark and embossed using the same embossing powder. The tag is from the Timeless Tags Perfectly Clear Set. The layers and tag were distressed using the distressing tool. they were all sponged with brown dye ink and smeared cream acrylic paint across the surface to soften the effect.

For more inspiration in the color challenge go check out the wonderful design team and blogstars projects:
Stampendous Impressions
Taylor Usry
Pam Hornschu
WendyJordan
Jenn Dove
Melinda Gleissner

Krissy Fossmeyer

Lynn Mercurio
Stephanie Lee

Cyndi Bundy

Kristine Reynolds

Janelle Stollfus

Jennie Lin Eiger Black

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Let Heaven and Nature Sing - Tim's Tags Day #3

2011-12-03T06:48:00.000-06:00

I never get tired of using the Heaven and Nature Sings sentiment from Memory Box. I used it today to finish off my Tim's tag #3:

Love the technique Tim shared today with the re-inkers and foam pad. Unfortunately for me no foam pad. :) So I spent some time playing around with other techniques to see how I could best get the effect he had created with the embossing and multiple colors. After about 4 failed attempts. I ended up embossing white cardstock and dragging the different colored inkpads across the surface unevenly. (Gathered Twigs, Evergreen Bough, and Aged Mahogany)

I love the effect! Very fun and striking. I sponged the edges of the tag with the darker brown and came back in to the center with the softer brown. I cut my bird from burlap! Totally fun and love how it turned out. (I backed it on white cardstock to help keep the fraying to a minimum.

The rest is just touches of burlap, flowers, twine. I have another fun post coming up for the Stampendous monthly challenge so I had to hurry this morning to get this posted.

Have a wonderful Saturday! Now to clean up my desk from my whirlwind tag this morning!

Suzz

Oh Deer

2011-12-02T05:53:00.000-06:00

Day Two of Tim Tags!

I had the most fun creating the resist paper background. The background started with kraft paper and stamping over it with Ranger Black Archival Ink. I used the letters stamp from the Stampers Anonymous Artful Artifacts plate. I stamped it unevenly to create a softer background. After that dried, I stamped the Merry Christmas and Elegant Damask stamps (Memory Box) using versamark and clear embossed them.

Then I followed Tim's instructions for the white wash.

The deer was cut from music sheets. I added antlers using yesterdays leftover fir branches. I also am in love with some new silver burnishing I purchased from Viva and I added touches of it all over my tag. :)

I replaced the fir wreath with the silver trim and added gold bells. (They are so cute but require the floss holder trick to get the twine through the hole)

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Tim's Tags Day One - Noel

2011-12-01T06:58:00.000-06:00

Yeah! Today starts Tim's 12 days of tags! His tags are always inspiring to me, as he shares tons of techniques. This is my interpretation of Tim's 1st tag.

A few things that I did a little differently: I started with a piece of blue cardstock and embossed using the snowflake folder. I used brown acrylic paint to sponge the edges. The Noel is from Making Memories Noteworthy Shimmery Stickers. I added the Stampendous Songbird nestled in the pine cones and leaves. The pine cones were coated with a little bit of the Stampendous Ultra-Fine Crystal glitter.

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Starry Santa

2011-11-29T07:02:00.001-06:00

Today I am sharing a recycled star from a birthday decoration. The Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge is stars and the City Crafter Blog Challenge is Santa Claus is coming to town. The ColourQ colors worked beautifully too! I combined the challenges to create a vintage star decoration.

The background paper is a combination of Stella and October Afternoon paper for the layers of the star. Then a rim of Melissa Frances Crushed Glitter around the edges. The edge of the circle is made from crepe paper glimmer misted with Patina blue.

The center of the circle is stamped using Artistic Outpost - Route 66 and Snowy Woods. A little distressing, crushed glass and embellishments and done.

Here are the colors:

Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Suzz

Stationary Set - CR84FN43

2011-11-26T22:55:00.006-06:00

I was looking for some pattern paper to use for the beautiful CR84FN colors and found the sweetest image in the Graphic 45 papers. It was the inspiration for my project.

A side view showing the post it notes:

I started with creating a post it notes holder using the template here. I loved how it turned out and decided to create the coordinating stationary set.

This is how it looks when it is closed:

and when you open it up by taking the top off:

I have to admit I didn't finish it. There are cut pieces that you create that you can attach to the part that lays flat and to fit in the pockets. I gave it to my youngest as she is always playing teacher and she was thrilled.

This template is on SCS and you can find it here.

The only stamping this week was the thank you sentiment. I ended up moving the tab to the bottom of the cover so it could tuck into the twine and hold the matchbook closed. I also put the thank you face down so when they open it up they see the sentiment. I thought this would be great as a teacher gift. :)

The inspirational photos and quote for CR84FN43:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Andrea Matthews * Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me) * Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton * Lisa Somerville * and our wonderful guest designer this month Mackie Robertson.

Do you like my new blog header? I wanted to get something wintery up and replace my autumn banner. I love how it turned out. Fun to create as well! Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Believe

2011-11-26T07:27:00.000-06:00

The Stampendous challenge this month to use Chipboard has been a great inspiration for me. I have so many scraps of cardboard that I have been saving for future projects. This challenge had me digging them out and using them.

I decided to make snowflakes and a Christmas frame. Here is a close up of the frame to show the soft subtle stamping on the frame.

Here is the full frame:

And a close up of the background on the frame. Very subtle but in real life a beautiful bit of texture.

I started with a wood picture frame and painted it white. I stamped the beautiful Jumbo Cling Believe on the bottom right corner using versamark. I heat embossed it using the Stampendous Silver Tinsel EP embossing powder.

I then stamped the lovely background using the Jumbo Cling Zinnia and Versamark over the entire surface. I heat embossed using one of my all time favorite embossing powders - Stampendous Kaleidoscope Embossing Powder

The snowflakes were cut from scrap cardboard using the Spellbinders Snowflake dies. I then applied glue over the surface and coated them with the Stampendous Shaved Ice Glitter.

The rest was simply attaching the variety of snowflakes over the surface and accenting them with a crystal gem.

For more inspiration and blog candy! go check out the wonderful design team projects:

Wendy Jordan - http://www.papertherapy-wendy.blogspot.com/

Pam Hornschu - http://1pamperedstamper.blogspot.com/

and for all the details on the challenge visit the Stampendous blog:

Stampendous Blog -- http://stampendousblog.wordpress.com/

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Red & Rustic Christmas

2011-11-25T05:30:00.000-06:00

I was so happy to see the Tuesday Trigger from Moxie Fab World. I had entered into the May Arts Deck the Halls with Burlap Monthly challenge. They send you a few yards of ribbon and you have to create a project using them. While the beautiful ribbon works perfectly with the lovely Moxie Fab trigger.

I started with creating banners using the lovely red stripes. I sponged the edges after I cut them to add a little more fraying and distressing. The background is stamped using Hero Arts Old French Writing. Distressed with a brown dye ink. Placed on a kraft card base. The flowers were a pretty color but I wanted the red so I glimmer misted them with a nice red color. I created faux leaves with the burlap ribbon and tied multiple bows using the green and natural twine. I finished off the card with mini banners with the Christmas sentiment.

Here is the inspiration photo:

And the beautiful ribbon I started with:

Hope you are having a wonderful Friday!

Suzz

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T04:33:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. friends! I hope your day is going to be filled with family and friends.

I didn't have anything prepared for today so I pulled out a card I made for Stampendous. I love the jumbo clings and the Jumbo Cling Zinnia is a new favorite! I had fun stamping the flower multiple times and creating the layers.

The flower is stamped on kraft cardstock and colored with glimmer mist and a water brush. I love how it appears chalky on the kraft surface. The center of the flower is Stampendous Crystal Halo Glitter.

The background is a mix of white acrylic paints and smearing dye ink across the background. A very simple design just showcasing the beautiful flower.

Have a blessed day!

Suzz

Joy

2011-11-22T10:19:00.000-06:00

I combined the Mojo Monday Sketch #216, the Moxie Fab World Championing Awards & City Crafter Blog Challenge for Think Pink to create this holiday card.

I started with the lovely sketch and knew I wanted to use the Memory Box Rosette die to create my medallions. The papers are all memory box and the Joy and music background are Memory Box stamps.

A simple card that took forever with lots of mistakes. (Hate when you spend so much time fiddling with things that don't even make it on the card!)

The background is embossed using the embossing folder. Pink and White acrylic paint were smeared over the surface. Then brown dye ink was sponged around the edges and the music sheet stamped over the embossing.

The medallions were die cut with the same die but I trimmed off some of the straight edge to make two smaller medallions.

Hope your week is off to a good start!

Suzz

Ticket Time

2011-11-21T07:58:00.001-06:00

Simon Says Stamp and Show some tickets was my inspiration this morning. I dove into my drawers looking for all my different size tickets.

I ended up using the covers to the Tim Holtz Journal tickets as my inspiration:

I turned them inside out and used the opening on the cover as my ticket shape. I stamped the lovely verse from Verses Rubber Stamps on the inside. Added some small tickets along the edge on the left. Stamped the Memory Box music over the background. Added some flourishes from the Stampers Anonymous to the cover. The flower is made from an old sewing pattern. I used the Donna Salzar die cut and assembled. (Thanks Lisa!)

Easy little card. :)

Have a wonderful Monday! I am off work all week. Yeah! Hope to have some inky time!

Suzz

CR84FN43 - Ho Ho Ho

2011-11-19T22:55:00.001-06:00

This week the CR84FN colors are wonderful earthy tones.

I was inspired to create a couple of different Christmas cards.

I used the Mojo Monday Sketch as my starting point and the fabulous My Minds Eye Christmas papers. The rest was some simple stamping on the background and banner. Stamps used: Stampington, Memory Box, Hero Arts. Papers: My Minds Eye.

My second card:

I love this little tree stamp from Hero Arts and used it to create a forest over my music background. Colored with water color pencils and highlight with some white snow. I added a few birds from the Memory Box stamp Let Heaven and Nature sing which was used for the sentiment as well.

The inspirational photos and quote for CR84FN43:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Bird in a Frame

2011-11-19T06:00:00.024-06:00

I had fun using a piece of chipboard that I have had in my stash for awhile for another fun project for the Stampendous challenge.

And a close up of the texture on the frame:

Recipe:

Ink up the frame using Versamark Watermark Ink Pad.
Heat emboss using Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel.
Ink up the Jumbo Zinnia border cling stamp with versamark ink.
Heat up embossed frame in sections. Stamp border into warm embossing powder. Let sit for 30 seconds. Remove. Repeat around the edges.
Trace white cardstock in shape of birdcage frame.
Stamp the Jumbo Cling Songbird the white cardstock using versamark. Heat emboss using Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel powder. Cut out and pop dot on the front of the frame.
Stamp the verse from the Jumbo SongBird Cling using Versafine Toffee along the left side of the background.
Stamp the Jumbo Cling RoseHip flowers in versamark and embossed using Aged Gold Embossing Enamel

For more inspiration in the Chipboard challenge go check out the wonderful design team projects:

Taylor Usry - http://taylorusry.blogspot.com/

Wendy Jordan - http://www.papertherapy-wendy.blogspot.com/

Suzanne Czosek - http://www.suzzstampingspot.blogspot.com/

Pam Hornschu - http://1pamperedstamper.blogspot.com/

and for all the details on the challenge visit the Stampendous blog:

Stampendous Blog -- http://stampendousblog.wordpress.com/

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Hanging Art

2011-11-18T06:08:00.000-06:00

The Lessology Challenge this time is Hanging Mobiles. On the heels of an element/atom project for youngest.... I wasn't to excited about making another hanging mobile. :) But.... I had this idea to create some three dimensional birdcages and it snowballed from there.

The only tough thing was to photograph it. It was hanging from my light in my craft room and you can't see it well enough with out a backdrop so I had my son hold up an old table cloth.

This is the full mobile.

And a close up of the birdcages.

Memory Box has these gorgeous birdcage dies and I was lucky enough to be able to get one of them with DT supplies. I decided to die cut Memory Box YuleTide paper making four cut pieces. I distressed them with white acrylic paint. I folded them in half with the pattern paper side facing in. I then taped them together. Lesson learned would be to put the pattern paper onto a xyron sheet and then die cut. :)

After that I added chunky crystal glitter to the birdcages and the top of the branch which my son said "cool" like frosty branches in winter.

I had two choices of birds in my stash but loved the glittery frosty birds so they were added to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

French Flight

2011-11-16T00:01:00.041-06:00

Today is release day for another wonderful Artistic Outpost plate - French Flight!

Here is a brief description of the new plate:

In the late 1700's , two French brothers, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier launched the first manned balloon from the from the center of Paris and flew for a period of 20 minutes. In 1793, Jean Pierre Blanchard became the first to fly a hot air balloon in North America, yet another French adventurer!

This stamp collection pay homage to these adventurers. Fun, quirky, with a little bit of Steampunk thrown in for good measure, French Flight is pure creative delight.

Collection available in both unmounted rubber sheets or pre-mounted on EZMount cling foam and hand trimmed on a clear cling storage card.

The images are so fun with this set I want to share two of the cards I created for the release:

First I created a montage of the Steampunk images and embellishments with the dare devil image and his balloon! I used some of the wonderful Graphic 45 Steampunk pattern paper as my background. Stamped the image and created a hot air balloon to go with the balloonist.

The second card started with the three men used to create a crowd:

Here is the front of the card. They were stamped multiple times on a piece of pattern paper using two masks. I stamped the one gentlemen on another piece of paper and cut him out and pop dotted him and gave him a red bow tie. I then turned the card into an easel card that looks like this when opened:

I used the fun sentiment from the Think and Wonder plate, which I think will be perfect for a graduation card!

For more inspiration, go visit the wonderful design team:

Gerrie Johnnic Lisa Somerville Judy Hayes Lynn Stevens Barbara Washington Stephanie Severin Suzanne Czosek Louise Granlund

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Veterans Day

2011-11-14T15:05:00.000-06:00

I combined a few challenges together to honor our Veterans. I am a little late for our Veteran's day. The City Crafter Challenge is Thanksgiving, Card Patterns Sketch # 141 and Simon Says Stamp and Show Some Women.

In honor our Vets who serve for our country this is a thank you. My brother who is serving overseas right now and for all our soldiers.

The stamps are from Artistic Outpost She-Roes plate. The background is from the AO Ephemeral Backgrounds. The inks are Ranger Archival Coffee, Crimson Red, Ranger Distress Inks Vintage Photo and Versafine Blue. The cardstock base is actually blue. (Photographs black)

The sketch:

Hope your weekend is off to a good start!

Suzz

CR84FN42 - Part II

2011-11-12T22:55:00.003-06:00

Welcome back for the second week of the CR84FN challenge. The colors are black, light pink and neutrals. I pulled out my favorite glimmer mist in a bubble gum pink to create a background paper.

After the background was dry the edges were sponged with a touch of black dye ink. The flower background is stamped with a music sheet stamp in faint black ink. The Memory Box Birch Branch Print G1718 stamp was stamped using a black archival ink. The sentiment is from Verses Rubber Stamps - Flowers in Bloom - FS1119-D.

The inspiration photos for CR84FN42:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Stampendous Encrusted Jewel Blog Hop

2011-11-12T07:00:00.003-06:00

Welcome to the Stampendous "Fran•tage Encrusted Jewel Hop"! The encrusted jewel technique was an accidental creative process discovered by Fran Seiford, Chief Artistic Officer at Stampendous! For more info on the process of Encrusting with the Fran•tage Essentials, check out the YouTube video HERE.

I was inspired to pull out a wooden sled and decorate it for the holiday season:

Here are a few photos of the process:

My unadorned sled:

I painted the sled using the distress stain and finished it up with a glimmer mist chalkboard spray tan.

I waited for that to dry completely before the next step:)

I stamped the Lovely Jumbo Cling Holly Holidays using Versamark across the sleigh multiple times. Heat emboss using Vintage Olive Embossing Tinsel.

The next step was to die cut some fir branches and pine cones using the new Tim Holtz die from Sizzix. The fir branches were covered in Versamark and heat embossed using the same Vintage Olive Embossing Tinsel. The final step was to heat up the fir branches to warm up the embossing tinsel and sprinkle with Gold Medium Halo Glitter.

The pine cones were coated with Aged Gold Embossing Enamel and Encrusted with the Gold Medium Halo Glitter.

The finishing steps involved creating a star from chipboard, staining it and embossing the edges with the Aged Silver Embossing Enamel. The sentiment was stamped using the Altered Type Alphabet using Versamark.

Heat emboss using the Vintage Olive Embossing Tinsel powder.

The jingle bells were encrusted with an Aged Silver Embossing Enamel and Gold Halo Medium Glitter.

I am the last stop on the blog hop. So if you haven't had a chance to visit any of the other blogs here's the list of our Encrusted Hoppers for today:

Stampendous Impressions'
Blog
Cyndi Bundy
Trudee Sauer
Jennifer Dove
Pam Hornschu
Wendy Price
Taylor Usry
Wendy Jordan
Lynn Mercurio
Krissy Fossmeyer
Rachel Sztonyk
Suzanne Czosek

As you hop from blog to blog, oohing and aahing over the Encrusted Jewel fabulousness, be sure to leave some love (and your contact email) for the designers, as well as on the Stampendous blog by Sunday, November 13th, 2011 8PM EST. Your comments give you an opportunity to win one of four blog candy goody boxes of Stampendous Fran•tage Essentials for you to create your own Encrusted Jewel goodness. (*Prizes only available for U.S. Residents Only*)

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Suzz

Mojo Monday

2011-11-10T04:55:00.000-06:00

The Mojo Monday sketch #214 this week has a fun banner in the center and was the inspiration for my next project.

I wanted a flower to put in the corner and started by creating a stamped, layered and glittered acetate poinsettia.

I loved the effect of the poinsettia. The poinsettia (Memory Box - Poinsettia) is stamped on acetate four times using StaZon ink. I flipped the acetate over and applied cranberry alcohol inks to the back side. Then cut out two full poinsettias and two of the top layers of the poinsettia. Layered, crumpled and applied the Stampendous Halo Silver glitter to the edges.

I then created the background using a mix of the Memory Box Snowfall and Valise papers.

I wasnt' sure about my flower with the card so I tried out a bundle of holly and pine-cones instead and added a little bird.

So which do you think? Holly or poinsettia?

Here is the lovely sketch:

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Suzz

Simon Says Stamp and Show Recycling

2011-11-09T05:00:00.001-06:00

Simon Says Stamp and Show some Recycling/UpCycling and I had this fantastic wood box my hubby got a new wallet in. He knew as soon as he opened his gift that I would want that box. He took the wallet out and admired it and then said to me... "I suppose you want my box?" LOL!

I have been hoarding it for awhile but decided to take it out and use it for this challenge.

Here is the picture of the box originally:

Recipe:

Paint box with white acrylic paint. (I did this two times)
Smear Vintage Photo Distress Ink across the surface.
Stamp David (Stampers Anonymous) using Black Archival Ink in corner.
Smear Black archival ink around the edges of the front of the box. Smear around sides of box.
Mask over box front up to bottom of David image with paper. Smear black ink across bottom until filled in.
Spritz front with brown glimmer mist chalkboard ink.
Pick up excess ink from spritz onto white cardstock.
Stamp sentiment Verses Rubber Stamps - One's Destination on inked cardstock using black ink. Cut and run black marker around edges.
Attach sentiment.
Versamark the entire surface of the box and heat emboss using clear embossing powder. Repeat process two more times.

I had so much fun creating this and I think it will be a fantastic trinket box to give to an artist.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Faith - ODBDLYLS11

2011-11-08T06:00:00.029-06:00

I was very pleased when ODBD asked me to guest design for the Scrapbook challenge for November and December. Today is the first day of the November Our Daily Bread Designs Scrapbook Challenge. The challenge is to create a layout of any size and any theme using ODBD stamps and a photo as inspiration for the colors on your layout.

Here is my layout inspired by the beautiful photo:

I used a lovely picture of my daughter Kaeli from our trip to the Grand Canyon. I framed her using the beautiful Faith set. I stamped the butterfly bush repeatedly using brown ink on the pattern paper. I colored the butterflies and berries using watercolor pencils in the colors from the inspiration photo. The sentiment is stamped using the same brown ink. The butterflies have layers on the wings and pearl accents on the bodies.

The beautiful autumnal inspiration photo:

For complete details and to play along for a chance to win a $20 ODBD Gift Certificate, click here.

As always thanks for stopping by....

Suzz

CR84FN42 - Happy Anniversary

2011-11-05T22:55:00.042-05:00

Time for another beautiful CR84FN challenge. The colors are very elegant and sophisticated this week. :)

I had the Verses Stamp May Today Anniversary - SP9011F from their new release that is in Spanish. One of my favorite sentiments from them:

"May

TODAY

be filled with happy

MEMORIES

of the past...and bright

HOPES

For the future"

Happy Anniversary

The sentiment was stamped using black archival ink on white cardstock. I then stamped the Hero Arts Lace Doily over the top of the sentiment using Versamark. I heat embossed the lace background using clear embossing powder. I sponged Memento pink dye ink over the surface to bring out the doily resist. The background papers are from My Minds Eye. Those pink crystal sprigs are from the floral department at Hobby Lobby. I loved them when I saw them. I was busy looking for Easter accents for another project I was working on and they fit with the card. :)

The inspiration photos for CR84FN42:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Stampendous Monthly Challenge - Chip in!

2011-11-05T04:52:00.002-05:00

It's time for a new Stampendous challenge!

The challenge this month is to use chipboard on your cards and projects. This month Stampendous is giving away a Cling Jumbo Songbird set to a random winner. You don't have to use a Stampendous image or products to play along, but it is appreciated when you do! You have until Thursday, December 1 at 11:59 PM EST to add your link to the linky tool, and Stampendous will draw a random winner. You can enter as many times as you'd like.

I had this idea to create party favors using the Stampendous Mini Pail. I thought this would be so fun at a place setting with a name tag. The stars are die cut from recycled cardboard to create my own chipboard. I covered the chipboard with glue pen and dipped it in the Silver Glitter to create the sparkly effect. then did the same on another star and taped them back to back with the wire between.

The top of the mini pail is covered with a piece of white cardstock embossed with silver embossing powder and stamped using the Jumbo Cling Holly Set. I also added a touch of glitter!

The main part of the pail is a piece of vellum stamped using the Jumbo Cling Holly Set. The image was stamped using versamark and heat embossed using silver embossing powder. I accented it with little gems.

I thought it would be fun to give them some silver Hershey Kisses to match my color scheme.

I also wanted to mention that Stampendous is looking for a few blogstars! Go here and check out how to apply... I had a lot of fun during my term!

For more inspiration in the Chipboard challenge go check out the wonderful design team projects:

Lynn Mercurio

Taylor Usry

Wendy Jordan

Pam Hornschu

Krissy Fossmeyer
Cyndi Bundy

Stampendous Blog

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Postcard Fun

2011-11-03T06:46:00.000-05:00

City Crafter Challenge this week is postcards. I made about six versions of this... I spent more time on this than I did my spooky house. :) six versions later.....

The images are from the following Artistic Outpost plates: London Underground, Loverly London, Ephemeral Backgrounds.

I layered the images using black, grey and red inks. Then smeared a touch of colors over the surface to add a little distressing.

Hope you are having a fabulous week! I will leave you with a picture of our sunrise on Halloween. I couldn't believe the gorgeous colors when I let the dogs out so I had to run in and get the camera.

Suzz

Cup Cards to Go - November Kit

2011-11-01T20:29:00.000-05:00

I was asked to guest design with Cup Cards to Go for their November Kit Sugar Plum. I had fun playing with the various goodies that were in the kit. The first card was inspired by the sweet ornaments. I thought it would be fun to cut out a circle for the ornament shape and hang two ornaments inside the main ornament!

The next project was created as a friendship bracelet kit!

I decorated one of the take out boxes with the papers and fun stickers. I then filled a tube with seed beads and added some fun colored thread. I think this will be going to one of my daughter's friends.

There were some lovely vintage papers and I created this card using the vintage Santa image.

I finished off with a mini easel card featuring the cute little snow girl.

For all the details of the release go here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T13:48:00.001-05:00

Welcome to my Haunted House!

Come visit it if you dare! MWahhh ha ha!

Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge is to show a house. I knew I had to throw together a quick haunted house today before Halloween had passed!

The house is made from Authentique pattern paper. I used tissue tape to hold together the seams and the roof on the house. Let's just say if the wolf came a knocking my little piglet wouldn't be safe. hee hee...

Then I stampe the tree and tombstones and cut them out. (Hindsight I probably would have done my tree on acetate.) The bat is cut out from black cardstock and covered in tissue tape. The letters are from Stampendous clear set.

**** Edited to add the house with acetate tree****

The ghost is a cheerio inside of tissue paper. (I was eating my honey nut cheerios this morning and thought it would work out!)

I added some fake spiderwebs from decorations around the house. I won't ever use this again... it is soo sticky and kept getting stuck on everything. :)

I hope you have a wonderful spooky fun filled day! We are going trick or treating later. I can't wait to see all the fun Halloween costumes. My youngest is a dead prom queen and her costume looks great! She is happy about it! (A little glimmer mist, distressing, ribbon and stickers from mom!)

Have a spooktacular day!

Suzz

CR84FN41 & Paris Re-Visited

2011-10-29T22:55:00.006-05:00

I get to share my second card for CR84FN41:

I stayed with the Paris theme and created another shabby chic card. The images include: Stampendous Jumbo Cling Songbird, Stampendous Eiffel Tower. The papers is My Minds Eye Lost & Found.

The inspiration photos for CR84FN41:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Andrea Matthews * Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me) * Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton * Lisa Somerville * Cheryl Lea.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Stampendous Monthly Challenge - CAS Holiday Card

2011-10-29T07:35:00.000-05:00

This is the last weekend to play in the Stampendous Monthly Challenge. The challenge is to create a CAS holiday card.

This is my version of a CAS card:

I found this super funny paper and it works perfectly with the handsome Santa. The pattern paper is all about letters to Santa. Too funny!

I stamped the Stampendous Believe in Santa Jumbo Cling on whitewashed music sheet and colored him using watercolor pencils and a waterbrush. The rest was just layering and ribbon.

The prize this month is a Cling Jumbo Sparkle Joy set to a random winner. You have until Thursday, November 3 at 11:59 PM EST to add your link to the linky tool on the Stampendous blog.

To see the new designs by the Design Team:

Pam Hornschu

Taylor Usry

Wendy Price

Melinda Gleissner

Stampendous Blog

Have a fabulous Saturday!!

Suzz

Holly & Berries

2011-10-27T09:10:00.000-05:00

I was playing with my newest Memory Box dies and stamps and created this for the Outside the Box Blog.

There is a new window die cut that I love and the scene outside the window is a new Winter Collage stamp that is so lovely.

I just dragged the ink pad to create the textured background which I love. Sweet and simple Holiday card.

I also have been working on some cards for the November Kit at CupCards to Go and here is a sneak peak of one of my projects.

Still working on a few other fun projects. Will be back on Saturday with a card for the Stampendous CAS Holiday Challenge that is finishing up this week.

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Dewdrops in the Grass

2011-10-26T07:19:00.000-05:00

Click to Enlarge

I created a wall hanging using the color yellow which is for the Lessology Wall Art challenge and the Simon Says Stamp and Show one Color challenge.

The base is a metal sign that was purchased on clearance. I painted over it with two coats of white acrylic paint. I stamped the Stampendous Rose Hips stamp multiple times around the edges using a water resistant black ink. (Ranger Archival Ink). Then stamped the verse in the corner. The verse and the bird are a new Stampendous jumbo cling stamp set. The bird was stamped on white cardstock using the same ink. everything was colored using watercolor pencils for the flowers and the bird was sponged with yellow dye ink.

Finished off with seam binding dyed to a yellow and paper flowers dyed to match.

Hope your week is going well! I have been busy working on some commitments and haven't had much time to play.

Suzz

CR84FN41 - Paris

2011-10-22T22:55:00.002-05:00

The colors this week for CR84FN41 had me inspired right away. I created two cards really quickly. You get to see one of them now, the other is for next week. :)

How about Paris in Spring? I started with the focal image of the Eiffel tower and just kept layering it on. :)

The stamps are all from Stampendous. The main image is a new stamp and the background stamp is from the Eiffel Tower set. The background paper is My Minds Eye with a little stamping and distressing.

The inspiration photos for CR84FN41:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Andrea Matthews * Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me) * Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton * Lisa Somerville * Cheryl Lea.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Simon Says Stamp and Show Stripes

2011-10-22T08:13:00.000-05:00

I had to squeak in an entry at the Simon Says Stamp and Show some Stripes and at the same time the Moxie Fab World Textured to Perfection. I had my supplies from my last card sitting out still so the color tones are the same only I added a hint of green.

I started with the Hero Arts lined paper stamp in the background and added my favorite Pussy Willows from Serendipity Stamps and then a few Impression Obsession Butterflies. Finish it off with a Hero Arts Stamp. The damask in the background is from Memory Box.

A mix of some of my favorite images. :)

Hope your Saturday is lovely. We are going to have some pretty fall weather today. I am going to go out and prune back my roses. I hate to do it as they still have lovely flowers but next week we are dropping into the lower temps.

Suzz

Subtle Textures

2011-10-21T06:40:00.000-05:00

I have been working on a project all week that is keeping me pre-occupied and not getting much done. I hate when I get stuck in the midst of a project and can't let it go and it blocks all my creativity. I decided last night to put it aside. I used the same background paper to create a card for the Moxie Fab World Textured to Perfection and Mojo Monday Sketch #211.

Details:
Old sheet music with a layer of white paint smeared and brown chalkboard glimmer mist spritzed across the front. A few drips and rings in the same chalkboard ink were added for more texture.
The bird is die cut from the sheet music with a stamped image of french post card.
The birdcage is die cut from white cardstock and stamped with the same postal card stamp.
The ribbon is white silk which was died with Antique Linen re-inker and spritzed with the same brown chalkboard ink. The other paper used on the background is a textured cardstock sanded to show the embossing.

Here is the sketch:

and did you ever have one of those bad hair days....

My daughter wanted a picture of this hair-do on her barbie yesterday... Apparently she won the crazy hair contest. :)

Hope that gave you a smile...

Suzz

Golden Days of Fall?

2011-10-19T08:09:00.000-05:00

The Moxie Fab World Textured to Perfection challenge is about using texture. I decided to take a sheet of music and distress it with some paint and glimmer mist chalkboard ink and use it my base.

That paper is the base for a project which is taking me a couple of days to complete so you will see that again soon! :) The leaves are Hero Arts and are stamped using versamark and embossed using Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel. The embossing powder is fun as it has a mixture of gold and black so you get an uneven surface with black peeking through.

Have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz