Hats Off to You

Happy New Years Eve!  Tick! Tock! Time for a new Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  The theme this week is "Mad Tea Party".  

When I saw the theme of Mad Tea Party I was inspired by the T.V. show Once Upon a Time where the magical Mad Hatters hat is the portal between the worlds.

I started with a chipboard pilgrim hat which I painted white and black. I added a harlequin pattern on the top using a stencil and black acrylic paint.

I stamped the numbers randomly around the middle of the hat. I also added a smattering of red hearts. 
I created a set of cards using various stamps and added a few feathers in the band.

A side view:

 I stamped a variety of Alice in Wonderland images and colored them with watercolor pencils and cut them out to accent the sides.

 And around the back:

To finish it off I used a few ribbons around the band and edges. Now I have my own set of portal to escape through? :)

Products: Artistic Outpost Wonderland Collage, The Crafters Workshop Harlequin Stencil, Artistic Outpost Quotes and Quotable, 7 Gypsies - Numero 7920 - Numbers Barcode, Stampendous Wonderland, Acrylic Paints - Snow Cap, Pitch Black, Ranger Archival Inks - Black, Artistic Outpost - Auld Lang Syne

Come join in the challenge for an opportunity to win a gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp:

Happy and Blessed New Years to you and your loved ones!

Suzz

A Year in Review

Happy Weekend!  I am thoroughly enjoying some family time and have been messing up my craft room with projects.  I wanted to do a recap of this year and browsed through my cards folders to find some of my favorites of this past year to share with you. Sorry for the long post. In no particular order as I pulled them off my computer and the files are not in any sequence necessarily... Sit back and enjoy the ride. :)

I love the soft flowers, lace and shabby chic effect.  I love using verses and haven't had the chance lately to do as much of that as I would like. 

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Our AO DT challenge was Steampunk Spring..... I wondered if you could do a feminine soft and shabby chic steampunk.....

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I just love this brocade background stamp and that frame was a leftover die cut scrap... I always forget to think about using them as frames..

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This metal clipboard was sooo fun to decorate and made me think of the farm which inspired the images and hardware:

Flowers and Butterflies... Need I say more. :)

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I loved how the images all flowed in this mini book based on the shape of the stamp:

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The next two cards start from Mojo Monday Sketches. Mojo Monday is the best source for sketches. 

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I loved the Retro feel of the colors and images on this card.

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The next two weren't' on my favorite lists.  They were pinned over and over again on Pinterest, so I thought I would include them in the year in review for that reason.  I find it interesting what I love when I am done and what seems to strike a chord with other people. :)  

This was a scrapling using new stamps from Memory Box and again just using up bits and pieces from another project.

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This was a last minute project as part of the Hero Arts blog hop and seemed to create itself.. (Love when that happens)

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I am so in love with Monochromatic / Neutral color schemes and this one was one of my favorites because of the gold and brown tones.

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I loved the idea of the the triple house and the house within the house design:

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This tag and pocket include my favorite flowers and butterflies as well as a distressed effect that I love:

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I love bottles and the frillier, shabby chic the better.. I loved the effect of the lavender and silver:

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This was my first burrowing out of a book and the stamps were Flower Market from AO and to me it was a perfect combination:

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I started with a Metal Star and you can't go wrong from there.  I loved the Pearl texture on the tissue paper over the metal:

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Lighthouses, Wood grain and a Masculine card.  Masculine cards are so hard to create and the lighthouse and wood grain stamps seem to help get passed that. :)

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Layers of texture and ink... I love playing with my glimmer mist and layering it on and this card has a little bit of everything.

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Mo Manning stamps are a favorite of mine.  She is an illustrator and her images expressions are what catch  my eye.  This girl is so sweet.  

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I tried something new here and the end result worked. Love when that happens. :)

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This acrylic album was a new type of project and I was pleased at the end result.

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My first post of SSSS which has inspired more three dimensional projects which I have been enjoying.  I loved the distress stains on the wood spoons and how fun and quirky these spoons are.

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I love the shape of the arches and the inspiration they bring...

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Tim Holtz's Tags always speak to me and inspire me to create.  This tag was inspired by one of his twelve tags of 2012.

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This striking image  spoke to me and I used the new distress inks which are so bright and perfect for painting the image.

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Vintage Circus and a Star both together in bright happy colors made this a fun project for me and made it really easy to put it together.

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This card took me several tries but the end result pleased me because of the layering of the images.

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Another different use of an old book with folds and borders. I love trying something new and different and this gave me a chance to explore a different type of creating.

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Love the glossy stamped and cut leaves and the rich autumn colors:

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My favorite images for Christmas are the angels and the nativity scene add in Christmas music and it symbolizes everything for the holiday.

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I just realized I didn't include anything from December... I think it is because it is all fresh in my mind.. :)  But if I had to chose one from December it would be my blog header / card posted here.  Sorry for the long post and hope you enjoyed the review. :)

Suzz

Desire of Your Heart

The ODBD Shining Light Challenge is Anything Goes.  I decided to create a springlike card using some of the flowers and gardening tools to create my project:

 I stamped the background using the vines and a green dye ink which I spritzed with water to get a softer image.  I stamped on the tag the wood background also spritzed with water.  I stamped the verse with brown archival ink.  I distressed the edges of the tag and background with a distressing tool and brown dye ink.  I added green dye ink onto my tag to blend with my background. 

I then stamped, colored and cut three sets of violets to decorate my edge of the tag.  I stamped cut and colored my pot full of gardening tools which was pop dotted onto the tag.


Products: The Good Seed, Vine Background, Violet, Wood Background, Ranger Distress Inks - Vintage Photo, Green, STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell Watercolor Pencils

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Madonna and Child

Silent Night, Holy Night,

All is Calm, All is Bright,

Round Yon Virgin Mother and Child,

Holy Infant,  So Tender and Mild

Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Sleep in Heavenly Peace 

A wish for you and your loved ones
 for a Blessed Christmas and New Year! 

These were created for an ATC swap and the details on how to create them are posted on the Crafts N Things Blog 

Suzz

Happy Christmas Eve!

Happy Christmas Eve!  There is no challenge this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show but the DT is sharing holiday wishes along with a few projects!

I am sharing a tradition in our family:

Every Christmas we will let our kids open one gift on Christmas Eve.  They know it is their Christmas Pajamas.  I always try to find some warm and snuggly pajamas for the kids and they wear them to bed on Christmas Eve. 

I decided to up-cycle a paper bag given to us by a store:

The bag had a store logo on it and wasn't a pretty shade of color. I decided to take some scraps from my Christmas paper and create a patchwork.  I cut them to different size and shapes.  I distressed the edges with the distressing tool and sponged on white acrylic paint.  I covered the entire bag.

After the bag was complete, i created a little coordinating tag with jingle bells and white ribbon. I topped the bag with four doilies wrapped around the edges.  I added to white tissue paper with some snowflakes scattered across the surface of the tissue paper and spraying the paper with red glimmer mist.

Products:  October Afternoon - Make it Merry, Artistic Outpost - Frosty & Friends,  Adirondack Snow Cap Paint Dabber, Signo Uni-Ball White Gel Pen

Simon Says Stamp is offering a special discount code: 40% OFF everything in their end of year sale category.  Use coupon code: CLEAR40 now through December 31st.


Happy Happy Christmas Eve!

Suzz

Christmas Joy

Happy eve of Christmas Eve!  I had just a few small photos to share.  The first is an ATC created for a swap. A sweet image found online in Pinterest in Hellemor's collection.

Poppystamps  has this beautiful set of small and large Arch Dies and frames for the dies.  I have been cutting lots of pieces from cardstock, music paper, etc.  I used the Grand Gothic Luminary Window to create my frame. I die cut it from white cardstock and died it with a Metallic Distress Stain.  I pulled a few stickers from Tim Holtz Seasonal stickers and colored them with the same distress stain.  The image was printed on copy paper and then I covered it in versamark watermark ink and heat embossed using crystal embossing powder.

I wanted to share a picture of my youngest daughter from a few years ago.  I think Santa just came through the door at my MIL house. 

 May your Christmas holiday be full of joy and surprises. :)

I have a post for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day all scheduled with a few more fun holiday projects.

Suzz

Snowmen

These cute snowmen just make me smile.  I had this tag/piece from a bag I made last year.  I pulled the tag off and decided to use it as my decoration on some lovely glittery tissue paper.  

I wrapped up the gift with the tissue paper and  popped on the sweet snowmen and some ribbon and I was good to go..

The snowmen are from Art Impressions and colored with Copics.  The background is stamped with Hero Arts and embossed with a pink shimmery embossing. 

Hope your enjoying some family time.  We went to my dad's last night and it was lovely to see everyone.  They even managed to do some sledding which was really fun.

Have a lovely Saturday!

Suzz

A Merry Merry Christmas to You

I used the CASology challenge cue word Star as my inspiration and used a few stars cut from cardstock as a mask to sponge the stars and add a silver edge. 

 I added the print inside of the stars using the mask again.  I edges the card in silver krylon pen. A quick and simple card.   The print inside the stars is a retired Hero Arts set.  The sentiment is from Penny Black.

Blessings,


Suzz

A little tag

Thursday finally... I am off tomorrow and then no more work until after the new year!  Yeah!  We have Thundersnow in our forecast today.  The kids are thrilled we are finally getting snow today for Christmas.  The forecast is all over the place as far as how much snow we will be getting.   Onto crafty stuff...  I have been playing with scraps again.  I had the sweet reindeer from Stampendous sitting in my Island of Misfits stamped images.   I pulled him out with the thought of using him on another tag waiting to be used but alas they couldn't get along and he ended up on his own tag:

The Stampendous - reindeer was stamped with archival ink and colored with my favorite STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils.  I decided that if he was delivering mail he should be sitting on a postcard tag.  I used the Stampers Anonymous - Postcard stamp along the left side.  I used my STAEDTLER Triplus Fineliner Pen to draw a few lines down the center.

I thought it would be funny to write a letter to Santa on the bottom half so I wrote:  "Santa     I have tried to be very good but it isn't easy with a brother who... " Ha Ha... I definitely have a brother who instigated a lot of the trouble!

I finished off my tag with a edge of Krylon Silver pen and a shimmery star with a button.

 Have a great day!

Suzz