She Just Showed Up Unannounced!

I found my Muse perched on my work table bright and early this morning and she didn't even call to let me know she'd be coming.

I have had an house ATC swap deadline looming closer and just couldn't get the mojo kickstarted.  Today was a good day though.  Here's what I came up with.

All of my bases were created in similar fashion.  First I sprayed white cardstock with a Dylusions color.  Dried it and then stamped with bubble wrap and heat embossed.  Next I sprayed again with darker shades of Dylusions.

One of the requirements for this swap was that two of them had to be interactive.  Today I'll show you The Birdhouse.  (Maybe 'Bird Condo' would be more fitting?)

The 'portholes' (do you call them that on a birdhouse?) were created from scraps I had laying around.  The metal roof pulls up to reveal a feathery friend.

A pocket on the back keeps the pull-out in place.  The pull-out background is stamped with "tweet" though by the time I cut it down to fit in the pocket I'm not sure it's obvious what it says anymore.

The pull-out was a little tough to remove at first.  To fix that I rubbed it with wax paper and then wrapped it with wax paper and pulled it in and out of the pocket a few times.  Worked like a charm.

Check back tomorrow to see my other interactive ATC!

SDC 145: Flowers

I've mentioned here before that I have the pleasure of playing with little friends 4 mornings a week - I teach preschool.  The other day after class was over I was getting ready to empty a trash can when I stopped mid-lift.  Inside were a bunch of baby wipes that had been used to clean paint off little hands.  The colors were so pretty and random.  I quickly plucked several out of the trash can and hung them up to dry; I KNEW I could use them for something.

Enter the SDC challenge for this week - flowers.  I have a favorite Stampotique stamp, Spray, that I like to pull out at any opportunity.  Heart Boy is another favorite (also special to me because my daughter gave it to me a couple of years ago for Christmas) and I put them together to make this Mothers' Day card.

I glued the baby wipe onto cardstock with my ATG and stamped Spray in pink and yellow onto the background.  Note to self: sewing machine needles don't like ATG adhesive.  The needle got very sticky and misbehaved.

I thought Heart Boy looked kinda cute with his head cocked to the side and added a pretty bouquet for mom clutched in his little fist.

I think this will be a great card for my hubster to send to his mom for Mothers Day.

Play along with the Stampotique Designers Challenge HERE.

CC3C #1 - Paint Marbling

I've been AWOL.  My muse went on a serious vacation for a while but this morning I did a little blog stroll and ran across Marjie Kemper's post here.  Such beautiful colors!  I then headed over to the challenge blog and was absolutely inspired by the creative team's projects.  (Plus I finally caved the other day and bought the Tattered Florals die - have been wanting that FOREVER) and I was itching to get that bad boy out.

Back to CC3C #1....these are challenges based on Tim Holtz's book, Compendium of Curiosities, Vol. 3.  Every two weeks the lovely Linda Ledbetter tosses out a challenge based on a technique in the book.  I'm always up for a challenge and if Lady Luck smiles upon me I may even win a little something special from Inspiration Emporium.  Sah-weet!

So here's what I came up with for the Paint Marbling challenge (find the technique on page 43).  An...(you guessed it)...ATC!

 I accidentally bought a Spellbinders M-bossibilites folder (on SALE for only $2.99!) at Technique Tuesday the other day and had a practice paper laying on my desk.  That is the base of my ATC.  I used Distress Paints (Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean and Mustard Seed) on the background.  I liked the way it pooled inside the depressions.

 My flower was also created on a scrap of paper that had marbling.  this time I chose warm colors - Barn Door, Mustard Seed and Ripe Persimmon.  I then added a little extra stamping over the top of that to make it more interesting.  After that I cut out the flower shapes with the Tattered Florals die (woop-woop!)

Here's another view.  Other bits on the ATC are from Paper Studios (arrow, brad), some washi tape, Memory Box die (behind flower) and pieces from the Festive Foliage die.

It felt so good to create something again 'just because'.  To join along in the challenges follow this link.

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Boy Card

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a hard time coming up with cards for guys.  My middlest son had a birthday a few days ago and I was at a loss.  He's a teenager so I veered away from cute as best I could.  :)  I finally ended up with this:

It was simple and quick to put together once I started.  First I attached strips of washi tape to cardstock.  Using the Cricut, I cut the stars out.  An eyelet on the itty bitty one and some string tied through it enhanced the sentiment.  I picked up the gears embossing folder (on sale, of course!) at the store the other day and it seemed like the perfect background to keep it from being too 'rah-rah', cutesy.

The kiddos are on Spring Break this week.  Off to go get into some mischief with my cohorts.  Have a great day!

Green

I completely forgot about posting this, but a few weeks ago the Stampotique Designers threw out a green challenge.  One of my fave Stampotique stamps is Spray by Maryse Carrier.  I love that it's unusual.  It reminds of a funky flower, the eyeball of some kind of creature, a sun...  It got lost in my stash for a while, but I've recently resurrected it in a few projects like this ATC.

I stamped the base with Distress Inks (Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn) and then squirted them water.  Smooshed them around in some Distress Stain (Mowed Lawn) and then, after it dried,  stamped the image again over the top with Mowed Lawn.  I like the layered look that resulted.

I'm adding this to the SDC 138.

Cheers!

Inspired by Clare Lloyd

I love PaperArtsy stamps and the designers work some serious magic with them over on the company's blog.  I usually ooh and aah over their creations but have never stepped up to tackle one of their challenges.  I was inspired by the simplicity of Clare Lloyd's ATC book this week though.  Can you see her influence in my ATCs?

Instead of stamping a background on the base I had some stamped tissue paper sitting on my desk that I added to the base.  Gesso through a stencil followed that with some spray inks over the top.  The mushrooms were stamped on paper that I had scraped paint onto (as she did).

I love the Giant Mushroom stamp (Stampotique) and don't use nearly enough.  But I love how it looks against the green background - must be my Pacific NW self envisioning hikes through the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park.  :)  In the following pics you can (hopefully) see the texture created by applying the gesso through the stencil. 

 This one is a little more subtle.

I'm including these in Kay's Stampotique Designers Challenge to create a textured background.

Thanks for taking a peek!

SDC 136 - Monochromatic

Tanja over at Stampotique Designers Challenge has decided the theme this week should be monochromatic.  I needed to make an ATC for a grey color association challenge so these two challenges dovetailed nicely.  :)

The grey color associations that I came up with for this are drudgery, tedious, monotony.  Fortunately I don't always feel this way on my way to work, but some days...