Ruby Craft

Grungy Monday 35

2012-02-07T08:34:00.000-05:00

Linda Ledbetter's Grungy Monday 35 challenge this week is to create a Holtz-ian ATC card. I had a lot of fun and created 2 ATCs. I started with Tim's Vintage Shabby Paper Stash. Tim's paper stash pads have a page with the various pattern papers reduced to ATC size. Once I quickly trimmed out the ATC cards I then moved on to some of Tim's Texture Trades embossing folders. I selected the Wing for one card and the Umbrella Man for the other. These smaller embossing folders are the perfect size for ATCs.

I blended some distress inks onto the cards and then added Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. I first heard about this technique when Tim posted about it on his blog. He directed us all to Tammy Tutterow's blog and of course I loved what she did. She calls it Frosty De-boss and has a great tutorial here.

Another favorite of mine is Tim's Vintage Lace Alterations die. I used it to diecut lace from the pink Vintage Shabby paper. I painted 2 different lace patterns with Brushed Pewter Distress Crackle Paint. It gave it a nice finely crackled shimmer.

The pink and blue cogs were die cut from grungeboard using movers and shapers dies and then painted with Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint and inked with Worn Lipstick and Faded Jeans Distress Ink. I used Jet Black Archival Ink for stamping, it works great on the Rock Candy Distress Ink. Then I added the Idea-ology elements for embellishments.

I also used the Frosty De-boss technique for my second ATC. I blended Dusty Concord Distress Ink at the top and Shabby Shutters at the bottom. The middle blue is from the Vintage Shabby Paper. "RAIN" is die cut from Chip Block Alterations, inked with Chipped Sapphire, water splashed, heat set and then covered with glossy accents. The letters for "Singing in the" are from my stash. I glued the letters to printer paper and punched them out with a basic hole punch. You may recognize the music notes from the Stampers Anonymous Feative Sounds DMS 048 stamp set. It's the one with the lamp post. Tim shared a "ghost stamp" technique with us during the 12 Tags of Christmas 2011. I used the idea and rolled the stamp on the ink pad so I had just enough ink for the area I wanted to stamp.

I really like the glossy shine on my ATCs. You can't really see it in my pictures, but I wanted to capture the color. Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint is a wonderful product. My little jar has lasted a long time and adorn many projects, but it is almost empty now. It is definitely on my shopping list for next time I buy supplies.

Distress Ink Storage

2012-02-06T01:15:00.000-05:00

front and back view of my distress ink case.

I started working on a project for Linda Ledbetter's Studio L3 Grungy Monday 34 challenge but didn't get it finished in time for the challenge deadline. It is still a work in progress but here it is so far.

Drawer with foam pads Handle

I had made a small storage box for my distress inks but I outgrew it. This is my new storage case. I made it from chipboard and covered it with paper from Tim Holtz's Vintage Shabby paper stash. I've used crackle distress paint (see Tim's video here), distress inks, grungeboard for flowers and flourishes, fragments, acetate with alcohol inks, stampers anonymous stamps, tissue paper, glassine, idea-ology, an embossing folder and Alterations die cuts. While the challenge was to use the Distress Crackle Paint after watching Tim's video, I wanted to decorate my case using much more of my favorite Tim Holtz products and techniques so it would be a reminder of all the different techniques I have learned from Tim's blog over the years. My reminder to be curious and try new things.

The drawer holds a foam pad for each of my Distress Inks. The shelves have a felt strip to help hold the inks snuggly in place. I made a handle using Tim's ball chain and grungeboard to make it is easy to take with me when I go crop. The case is not a deep as the ink pads. I designed it so the pads stick out about 3/4" which makes it easy to grip the ink pads to slide them out of the case.

I don't have all the colors available in the pads but I also have quite a few of the Distress Stains. Between the two I do have a pretty good selection. I love my Tim Holtz Distress Inks!

I Miss Trixie

2012-01-30T07:52:00.000-05:00

Trixie

I miss Trixie. Trixie was very loving. She was really very smart, but if she didn't want to do something she acted like she didn't understand you, or didn't hear you or even completely ignore you. My daughter said she acted more like a cat than a dog. She was best buds with Betsy who we lost a year ago. Trixie and Betsy would take turns sitting beside me on the couch at night while I read or watched TV. We loved Trixie for 15 years. She passed away last Wednesday night as I comforted her.

My daughter wrote a wonderful memorandum for her. You can read Valerie's post here.

OWH Scketch Challenge 104

2012-01-21T20:48:00.000-05:00

Sketch 104 along with inside of card

I was inspired by this week's Challenge sketch for OWH Their mid week throw down was a color challenge to make a black and white card with a splash of color. I decided to combine the two. I've used another one of the OWH set by Hero Arts. CL583 "Right at Home". It's a sweet set with great sentiments, a house, a kite, a cloud and even a little picket fence along with a couple of little hearts. I also used one of the little outline hearts from CL 582 "Year Round Sentiments".

The black and white pattern paper was from the KI Memories value pack I used on last week's cards.

First I colored in the hearts with my red Zig Millennium pen and then I used glossy accents to add shine and dimension to them. On the inside of the card I also stamped another image in the lower left corner. The "You are my Home" adds a nice touch when you open the card. The little heart in the center of the O is part of the stamp. I stamped the image once in black and then once separately just coloring the heart with the red pen and then cut it out and glued it in place.

Now that my card is complete I'll upload a picture to the challenge page. A new sketch is posted each Sunday. Here is a copy of sketch 104. Here's the link to the sketch. If you are really up for a challenge they have a pdf file you can download that has their first 100 sketches. They also have a checklist and you can check off when you complete each sketch. Be forewarned that the list has boxes for 160 checkmarks. It's the OWH  Sketch  Challenge  Checklist  for  2012. Here's the link to the sketch collection page.

A quick note. If you've been thinking about sending some cards to OWH now would be a great time. I just saw this message from Sandy on the Stars and Stamps blog:

"Through November and December, there was a small drop in cards, which was expected, and totally fine - but usually things start to pick up up more in January when the holidays wear off. Not so this year! I checked just this morning and we're at 9,633 cards as of today...which is a fraction of what normally would be coming in - to compare, last January saw 39,665 cards!"

You can see the whole message here.

More cards for the box to go out on Monday!

I was excited to received my free little Operation Write Home stamp in the mail today. I'll use it to stamp the back of my cards with the OWH logo. Since I don't work tomorrow I plan on making some more cards. Then I'll be heading to the post office on Monday to send off all my cards. Every card sent in helps!

Operation Write Home and Hero Arts

2012-01-13T18:53:00.003-05:00

Sketch Challenge 103 for Operation Write Home

OWH Sketch # 103

Here is my entry for Operation Write Home Sketch Challenge # 103. I wanted to make some more cards for Operation Write Home with one of the stamp sets Hero Arts designed for them. I had actually won the stamps during the Veteran's Day blog hop but Hero Arts couldn't send them to me until they were released. Now that I have them I hope to put them to good use.

When I saw the two stripes on the OWH sketch for this week, I knew I wanted to try the chevron border technique I had seen on Jennifer McGuire's blog a while back. She made a beautiful card with a chevron border running horizontally across the bottom of her card. She also has a video showing how she made it You can check it out here.

I really enjoy working from the sketches at OWH. They are simple and a great way to use your left over scrap paper. The paper you see here is from a KI Memories scrapbook value kit I have had for some time. To check out the OWH challenge go here.

The Hero Arts Stamp set is CL582 Year Round Sentiments. Not only does it have "I thank my lucky stars for you" it has other great sentiments like "Hello Handsome" and "You're so Special to me" along with some classics such at "Happy Birthday", "I love you", "I miss you", "Thinking of you" and more along with hearts and of course Stars. It is a great set if you are looking for a good year round sentiment set. Guess that's where they got the title from.

In case you didn't know, Hero Arts has been having a blog hop each day this week. Yes, it started on Monday. If you want to see some beautiful card and leave comments for chances to win go here for the first day. Winners will be announced on the Hero Arts blog Monday January 16.

12 Tags! Day 4 and 5

2011-12-11T23:40:00.001-05:00

Blustery Winds

Yes! My Day 4 Snowman Tag and Day 5 Alcohol Ink Acetate Tag are completed and posted! Just Day 6 to go before I can be back working in order and back on track to complete Tim's 12 Tags for 2011.

December 4th it was snowing all day in Arizona where Tim lives and he was "Dreaming of a White Christmas" and it showed on his tag. I love Tim's snowman tag and tried to follow it as close as possible. I love the look of the music paper with glossy accents showing through where the 25 is cut out from the snowman. The shiny, glossy white with blue tones and cracks is such a wonderful contrast with the aged paper. I can't imagine Christmas without images of snowmen and sounds of Christmas Carols filling the air.

I had learned the rock candy crackle and stains technique when Tim was a guest instructor in Jennifer McGuire's Inspiration Showcase class and I wrote a post about it here. I was so happy to see it used on this tag with the added step of using the white paint dabber first. During Inspiration Showcase, we did not paint the grunge before applying the rock candy. I must say I really love this look. I do not have the snowflake border die so I used the flourish die to cut out acetate. It looks to me like gusty swirls of wind.

Texture!

Acetate and Alcohol Inks

The Acetate Tag proved to be a challenge for me. I use one of the stamps from Tim's Stampers Anonymous Reflections CMS111. This one is a lighter font and while it works great for other techniques the ink dries a little fast in this lighter face and it is not quite bold enough for the full effect when stamping with the Archival Jet Black to remove the Alcohol Ink. I decided to stamp over the text with Tim's harlequin stamp from Creative Textures CMS 004 also from Stampers Anonymous. You can still see the texture of the writing where the alcohol ink was not removed by the second stamp and the added texture of the layers of alcohol ink and the distressed harlequin pattern. Tim backed his acetate tag with a pure white tag but I blended some light layers of distress ink in Evergreen Bough, Shabby Shutters, Antique Paper and Vintage Photo on mine. It gives it a wonderful watercolor effect. The tree is from Tim's Seasonal Grungeboard pack and thouroughly inked with Shabby Shutters then embossed with Peeled Paint Distress embossing powder. The star is from his elements shape grungeboard pack. The German Paper at the bottom is diecut from his new Victorian Lace die. Both are heat embossed with silver empossing powder. the tree trunk is just a little snip of twine ribbon.

Of course Tim Holtz has completed all Twelve Tags and it has been a fantastic 12 days. Every day for the last 12 days I have been following Tim's and Mario's adventures with The 12 Tags of Christmas and Behind The Scenes. Even with all kinds of internet problems they both worked diligently to make sure they shared with us the joys of inking, stamping, exploring, creating, sharing and giving and the posting of The 12 Tags of Christmas. They are amazing.

12 Tags! Day 7

2011-12-11T19:42:00.001-05:00

Alcohol Ink Glassine and Ghost Stamping

You may be asking "Where are 4, 5 and 6?" If you are, I admit they are not done yet. I am working on several of the tags but wanted to finish this one today because it is nearing the deadline for Grungy Monday 29. Yes, It's back! Linda has been faithfully completing all the tags in order and hers are beautiful. I on the other hand, have gotten behind. I had planned on completing several tags today but decided to concentrate on finishing my favorite Tim Tag to post for the challenge. This is it. I love these techniques. It has distress ink , alcohol inks, grungeboard, ghost stamping and embossing. I don't know which technique I like best, the alcohol inks on glassine or the ghost stamping. I have never heard of this technique before and loved the effect. Check out the techniques here on Tim's blog day 7. Check out Grungy Monday 29 here.

One more reason I enjoyed working on this tag today is that my daughter Valerie was home and she was my consultant while I was working on the tag. Valerie also enjoys scrapbooking and cardmaking. She helped me me with placement on a few items. When I decided that my leaves were just too big she helped me by scrunching them up for me and she also came up with the branch idea when I couldn't get the two muse tokens to hang where I wanted them too. And she always gives me plenty of encouragement. Thanks Valerie!

Tim's 12 Tags Blinkie!

2011-12-06T09:55:00.001-05:00

I'm so excited because now there is a blinkie you can add a to your blog to let everyone know you are participating in 12 tags! OK, I am getting a little behind but I am participating. I will be getting together with some friends on Thursday at my local Archiver's to work on Tim's 12 tags. We will be pooling our supplies to see if we might have a more complete selection to work with and having fun creating our versions of Tim's 12 tags. I know Carolyn has the Snowman die which is what I need for my next tag. I have the Mini Reindeer and 25 and the Tag and Bookplates die and the Alcohol Inks and packaging for the next tag. Mary Jane has ALL the distress inks (except the Fall Seasonal but I think she's working on that). You know the "Whole is greater than the sum of its parts" type thing. So right now I am gathering up my supplies, cutting pieces and getting ready for Thursday while daily checking out Tim's 12 tags.

Tim is giving us until December 31st to post our tags and Linda Ledbetter at StudioL3 is giving us until December 11th to participate in Grungy Monday 29 and post our favorite tag from this years tags. So given my deadlines I am not behind at all. I'm just pacing myself.

If you are participating in Tim's 12 Tags and want a blinkie of your own to add to your blog go to his blog and you'll see the blinkie code in the column on the left.

I also want to let you know that Linda has been making Tim's tags and doing a beautiful job of it. Please check out her blog and her tags here!

Thanks for stopping bye.

12 Tags! Day 3

2011-12-04T09:49:00.001-05:00

Really Different

Sometimes it's best not to have ALL of Tim's great products. Really? No, but if I can't have them all at least I am learning from the experience. It does help that I have been following 12 Tags since they started in 2007 and that I do have a lot of Tim's Stuff.

I love the Tag Tim created for day 3. Not having everything and wanting to follow his tag as closely as I could had me rumbling through my stash and coming up with some new ideas, drawing on things I have learned from Tim and a few other sources and mixing them all up and coming up with what you see here.

I did have the embossing folder Tim used but not the stamp. I did have some Cut-n-Dry Stamp Pad Felt and reinkers but not the colors he used. I did have the alcohol inks and clear gem stones and pearls but not the Festive Greenery Sizzix die.

German Paper from Tim

What I did have was a mini stamp version of the stamp he used in year 1 when he created a tag on Day 4 using this technique and some german paper I won from him that year.

I inked my embossing folder on the side that had the recessed images with Iced Spruce and embossed my tag. This gave me the embossed image with the background inked. Then I cleaned off the folder an inked it with Evergreen Bough turning a second tag in the direction Tim used when stamping to get the bottom section of the tag. I pieced the two together and added the German Paper to cover the seam. Now I had my Tim inspired but different background for my tag.

Inspired from 2007

I decided for the Cut-n-Dry technique to use a stamp from Mini Holidays CMS 066 that was the mini version of the stamp that Tim used the first year when using this technique on Day 4. If you never saw that tag click here. I didn't have the same color reinkers he used that year but I think the colors I had to choose from go well with the Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough. Since I had my Cut-n-Dry custom ink pad, I was able to stamp the image several times and layer them just like Tim did way back in 2007.

Just a snip between waves and wavy twine

The silver bells I used were really old and a little brassy looking. I quickly transformed them to a beautiful silver using the Silver Mixative Alcohol Ink. The pine sprig is from the pinecone die and the holly leaves are hand cut. The twine was ribbon. The heat tool made it curly but it was too bulky for the tag so I clipped the stitching between the waves and pulled it loose. I liked the effect.

12 Tags! Day 2

2011-12-03T00:36:00.001-05:00

When I saw Tim's tag this morning all I could do was sigh and think "Beautiful". To me, it reminded me of a peaceful Christmas scene where the forest animals are looking up into the sky. Check out Day 2 of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas here.

I started my tag following Tim's instructions best I could using the supplies and products I already have. Like yesterday, I'll just tell you what I did different and you can check Tim's blog for detailed instructions complete with step by step pictures. Of course if you leave a comment on Tim's blog, you'll be entered in a random drawing for a prize!

I do have a Tim Holtz deer die but it is the mini deer that came in a set with a 25. His is much larger. He only used one deer. I have used two. I adhered the sticky back canvas to some grungeboard and cut one out, but I also cut out the second one just from just the canvas. After inking them up, I adhered the single layer of canvas to the tag first and then added the second one that was canvas on grungeboard a little lower and to the right. I used glossy accents to sketch in the outline of a snow bank around their feet and sprinkled on some sparkly flock. I had made my own from Martha's white flock and Hero Arts Prisma Glitter when Tim Used Sparkly Fluff Day 6 2009. It gives just a hint of a snowbank.

The edging at the bottom of the tag is cut out of gold shimmer paper using Tim's Vintage Lace Sizzlits Decorative Edge. The top strip is acutally a piece above the laces.

On the "listen" metal tag I used The alcohol ink mixative Snowcap with bottle, lettuce and stream. I also spritz a little perfect pearl mist on the tag. The brads came in the color shown. The star is hand cut from Grungeboard then embossed with several layers of silver embossing powder and then a little glossy accents and prisma glitter. Such Fun!

I was going for a peaceful scene with the deers gazing up at the star, listening.

12 Tags! Day 1! Yea!

2011-12-01T23:01:00.001-05:00

Finally finished my tag for the First Day of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas. I got together with some friends today to get started. We met at Archiver's and had a blast. Next time I'm taking my camera and getting some pictures. Carolyn had cooked the most amazing potato soup and Mary Jane said next time she's bringing ziti.

Most of the things I did on my tag are following Tim's instructions. He has such wonderful step by step instructions and a fantastic video showing how to make the pine cones and tea roses. Since you really need to go to his site to see how he made his tag, I'll just share what I did different. None of us had the Noel die. The letters I used are from one of Tim's grungeboard sets but I still used glue and glitter. The Santa is from Tim's seasonal stash paper pack. I covered it with Distress Rock Candy Stickles after matting him. The music note banner paper is also from the seasonal stash. I cut a strip about 3/4 of an inch and distress it and folded it and cut the dovetail ends. I also used some perfect pearl mist on the flourish and holly leaves. Thanks for stopping by. If you don't have Tim bookmarked already just click here for Day 1.

Almost Here!

2011-11-30T23:17:00.001-05:00

Today I went to the movies with my sister June and saw Arthur Christmas. We had a grand time. Tonight I followed Mario on twitter #12Tags and Mario Rossi facebook for BTS or Behind The Scenes for Tim's 12 Tags on my android phone, while watching Zombieland with my husband then Revenge with Valerie. I even saw my son Allen for a few minutes. It's been a pretty eventful day.

I'm getting ready for Tim's 12 Tags which will premier at 12 midnight Mountain time. Mario's BTS has already shown Tim's Pine Cone die and Martha Stewart Glitter. I'll be fast asleep by the time Tim posts to his blog since I'm on the east coast. But I'll be up early in the morning to see that gorgeous tag and I think there is going to be a video. Then I'll be off to Archiver's to meet with some friends and we'll have a Tim day making tags. I'm excited to say the least.

One last thought and shout out to NaBloPoMo. This final day in November marks a milestone for me. I have posted every day this month and I have enjoyed it. It wasn't that hard. NaBloPoMo sent me a email inviting me to join them next month and post every day in December but I think I'll keep it an annual thing. But I will post more than I have been before this challenge started. I enjoy creating things and posting them. I found some challenges I really enjoy participating in. I have some followers now and even tell my friends now that I have a blog. I am starting to make new friends online. I've added some features to my blog such as labels with a word cloud and finally figured out how to get a decent shot with my camera without having to go outside. This is a good thing because with Winter coming it's going to get cold. Yes even here in Georgia it gets cold in the winter and occasionally we even have snow.

So if you're following my blog I want to say thanks. If you visit from time to time I still want to say thanks AND if you leave a comment Thank you very much!

Oh yea! Check out 12 Tags on Tim's Blog Dec 1!

Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge # 97

2011-11-29T18:17:00.001-05:00

These are for the weekly card sketch challenge at Stars and Stamps. Yesterday I posted a Red Shimmer card and the other cards I had put together but not finished. I finished the other shimmer cards the same way I did the first one but wanted to do something different for the pink cards.

Notice the white panel?

Originally I thought I would stamp an image to color where the white panel was but the balance was off. I quickly realized that while the white panel worked for the shimmer cards, it was not working with these bold pastels. I decided to replace it with another panel of pink dotted paper to balance the one in the lower right corner. The paper is from a Anna Griffin Margot Carkstock pack that I have had for some time. I used Vintage Photo direct to paper lightly on the edges of each rectangle and the front of the card. The white scallop oval is a McGill punch and the stamp is Autumn Leaves AL3381 "Between The Lines". I use Archival Jet Black ink from Ranger. I colored the image with Staedtler Watercolor pencils and a Dove Blender. The edges of the scallop are inked with Vintage Photo Distress Inks and my blending tool.

Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge # 97

So now I have a total of 16 cards I have made for Operation Write Home. 12 of these are Love theme. I have until December 10th to send in Love theme cards for the Archway + OWH Special Mission. They will match up to 5000 Love theme cards with packs of cookies to send to our Troops. So if you hadn't already heard about this mission, now you know why I have been making Love cards when everyone else is making Christmas cards. I'm going to go ahead and send these will be going off to Operation Write Home for the Archway Cookies promotion so I'm sure they get to the shipper in time.

Sending Love

2011-11-28T23:55:00.001-05:00

Ranger's Seafoam White Embossing Powder and Hero Arts CG145 Reversed Flowers and Leaves

This is for the weekly card sketch challenge at Stars and Stamps. I like the simplicity. I put together 7 card quickly using the sketch and I learned something. Do my stamping before I put my cards together. I thought since they were in panels I could just cut out all my panels and put them together quickly and then do my stamping and coloring. Unfortunately when I started stamping I started running into problems. Only this card is completed and I basically had to take it apart fix the areas that didn't stamp well and put it back together on a new base.

Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge # 97

For this version of the card, I used Ruby Red shimmer paper for the base then cut the panels from shimmer paper in Gold and Silver and stamped them with the Hero Arts CG145 Reversed Flowers and Leaves background stamp using VersaMark ink and embossed with Ranger's Seafoam White embossing powder. I then stamped "sending LOVE your way" and the hearts with the blue ink from the Archival Brillance Peacock ink pad from Tsukineko on Iced White paper. The stamps are from Hero Arts. The background stamp is CG145 Reversed Flowers and Leaves, the message and a heart from Trees, Birds and messages CL 182, more hearts from Share Laughter CL 151 & one tiny heart from Sending Happy CL 305. I love how you can mix and match the Hero Art sets.

More to do!

Three of the other cards are with shimmer paper in the same colors but different combinations and 3 are pink with Yellow, Orange and Pink paper with a dot pattern. I'll probably do the all the shimmer cards like this but may do something different with the pastels. I hope to finish the up tomorrow and ship them off to Operation Write Home. I don't want to miss the Archway Cookies deadline.

Clean and Simple

2011-11-27T23:38:00.003-05:00

Clean and Simple

I kept seeing CAS on several blogs. Finally I found a tutorial on OWH that explained what it meant. Clean and Simple. I was intrigued and wanted to give it a try. I had this piece of teal acetate in my stash and it was large enough to fold and trim for a standard card. I picked a ribbon to go with it and went from there. I folded a piece of white card stock and made a liner to go inside the card. It is just tied in with the ribbon. Then I picked out my set of Hero Arts hearts stamps. I stamped them on the white card stock with Archival Jet Black ink. Getting them lined up with the circles on the acetate was not as easy as I thought because they are individual wood blocks stamps. I even used my light box to lightly sketch the circles on the cardstock. I didn't want them to be perfectly centered or even in the exact same location inside the circle but close. I used watercolor pencils and a Dove Blender to color the hearts. I also stamped one Heart on the inside on the upper left hand corner.

I had to pull out my 2006 Hero Arts Catalog to find the info on this stamp set. I had them displayed on a shelf on my wall and didn't realize the blocks were not marked, just the box which I no longer have. They are LL 989 Heart Messages - Stencil Print (reg). The acetate is Mod Circles HO636 from Hambly Studios.

I think it qualifies for Clean and Simple, bit I'm not sure. What do you think?

I Love Grungy Monday 28

2011-11-26T12:06:00.001-05:00


Alcohol Inks and Embossed Foil

Grungy Monday 28 at Studio L3 is a wonderful challenge to use Alcohol Inks and Foil Embossing using Tim Holtz fantastic Fall Pumpkin as inspiration. You can find Tim's Pumpkin here on his blog. He has a wonderful tutorial telling you exactly how he created his pumpkin. You can find Linda Ledbetter's beautiful Tim inspired milk carton gift box and the challenge for this week here.

You may recognize my butterfly from earlier in the week when I created it and posted it on my blog. I made my butterfly by covering one of Tim's grungeboard butterflies with the foil and running it through my Big Shot with the Regal Flourishes embossing folder. Then I dripped on alcohol inks letting them dry between colors and although you can't see it here direct to foil Archival jet black ink on the raised areas. It really accents the alcohol inks. The body of the butterfly is a stick pen from Making Memories also covered in alcohol ink and the wings are connected with wire and tiny attacher staples. One thing you couldn't see before are the butterfly's antennae. They are light weight wire that is wrapped tightly around the wire ring at the top of the stick pin with the ends sticking out on each end to form the antennae. The light blue flower behind them helps to show them off.

Today I finished my project by covering the frame with the Inkssentials adhesive foil and embossing it with the Damask embossing folder from the same set. I already had this Chipboard Frame from a Making Memories kit. I used the alcohol inks and Archival Jet Black Ink per Tim's instructions.

The flowers are Grungeboard die cut from Tim's Tattered Floral Die. I used Rock Candy Distress Stickles and Distress Stains with a technique I learned from Tim when he was guest instructor in Jennifer McGuire's Inspiration Showcase class. The stickpin butterfly is pushed through the foam dots used to layer the flower with the big pearl.

The picture in the frame is one of my favorites of a trip I took with my daughter Valerie to the Chattanooga Aquarium in 2007. They have a wonderful Aquarium and a beautiful Butterfly Garden. I will always think of their Butterfly Garden when I think of Chattanooga.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. Be sure to leave a comment if you have time. Now I'm going to go and check out the other entries posted on Linda's blog. So far there are 23, but the challenge is open until tomorrow, Sunday November 27th at 8pm MDT. I really enjoy Linda's Grungy Mondays Challenge.

Circle Heart

2011-11-25T20:56:00.001-05:00

Following a Kristina Werner Design Sketch

I first learned of Kristina Werner when I took a Jennifer McGuire online class. It was Inspiration Showcase class. I learned a lot from the class. It motivated me to get back into the studio creating and it introduced me to Kristina Werner.

Kristina had 3 really cute card sketches for the class that I really liked so I decided to check out her blog. Kristina had just started her Holiday Card Series 2011 on November 8th. For 25 days she posted a new card and a video showing her creating the card, using a variety of supplies. I loved the cards and I loved the videos. I have been hooked ever since.

The card I've posted today is following one of her Holiday Card Series 2011 designs. Kristina's card used Basic Grey Nordic Holiday. Following her design, I was easily able to use Basic Grey Sweet Threads to create a "Love" Card to send off with my box of cards for Operation Write Home.

I enjoyed Kristina's cards so much I decided to purchase the Virtual Card Class for Holiday Card Series 2011. For a mere $5 I was able to purchase a pdf file complete with beautiful pictures of all the cards, a supply list and direct links to each card post and videos. Now it is quick and easy to find any card in the series when I need a quick idea. Just like I did today. Kristina's card is gorgeous. If you want to take a look check it out here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ruby

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T20:39:00.001-05:00

With all the Turkey projects circulating on the web I want to share one too.

Notice that the burlap background, painting on fabric and sewing techniques used here. All trendy in scrapbooking today. Except this is a project my daughter Valerie did in 1989 when she was 5 years old. I'm sure kindergarteners around the country are still painting their little hands and fingers to make Happy Turkeys for Thanksgiving.

I hope you all have had a Very Happy Thanksgiving!

Archway Cookies

2011-11-23T23:30:00.000-05:00

"Love is All Around"

Archway Cookies is sending cookies to our troops. Check out this link if you want to know why.

Distress inks are Worn Lipstick and Barn Door. The lighter cardstock is cream. Stamp set is " Love is All Around" from Impressive Obsessions. If you want to know why I am making Love cards then you need to check out why Archway Cookies is sending cookies to our troops. (See the link above) This is card is also going in my box to send to Operation Write Home. I think I may make multiples of this one. It is based loosely on this weeks sketch.

Tim's Pumpkin, My Butterfly

2011-11-22T22:45:00.001-05:00

Ranger challenged their Artists to alter a craft store pumpkin. Tim altered his using Inkssentials adhesive backed foil and alcohol inks. His pumpkin is absolutely amazing. You can see it on his blog here or the Ranger blog here. I advise you to click on the link to his blog because it has a step by step tutorial and once you've finished checking out his pumpkin you can click on Main at the top of the page which will take you to his current post and then you can check out the Quirky Turkeys he made from Rosettes along with a step by step tutorial and video on how to make the rosettes and then scroll down to his next post to see beautiful shimmery fall leaves he's created using glassine paper with alcohol inks and metallic mixatives. The man is a genius.

What you see here is a butterfly I made from one of his grungeboard butterflies covered with the foil and running it through my Big Shot with the Regal Flourishes embossing folder. Then I dripped on alcohol inks letting them dry between colors and although you can't see it here direct to foil Archival jet black ink on the raised areas. It really accents the alcohol inks. The body of the butterfly is a stick pen from Making Memories also covered in alcohol ink and everything is connected with wire and tiny attacher staples. I'm thinking about entering it in the Grungy Monday challenge this week at Studio L3 because this is the Tim Holtz technique she is challenging us to try. She has a fantastic prize this week so I want to work on this a little more before I enter it and get a better picture too. Wish me luck! You know you still have time to work on a project if you want to enter one. In case you do I'll wish you luck!

Stars and Stamps Challenge 96

2011-11-21T21:23:00.001-05:00

Sending Happy Thoughts

Even though I didn't finish this card last night, it was a fun and quick card to work on. The reason is that I started with a sketch and used a stamped image I had in my stash that I had already water colored.

This beautiful stamp is from Anna Griffin's 2005 Rose Collection 580156 by All Night Media. I love the fine delicate lines and found it perfect for water colors pencils and a aqua brush. I sometimes will stamp images and take them with me to crops when I don't have a particular project I'm working on. That way I can still join my friends and have something to work on. When I saw the sketch this week I pulled out my image and picked some papers to go with it and did a little cut, paste and layering. The "sending happy thoughts" is a Hero Arts cling stamp that came in a special little set that I had received at a special crop at Archiver's a few years ago. I just carefully cut the lines of sentiment on the stamp apart so I could space them out in a line and stamp them. I used VersaMark and Zing White embossing powder, then tore the paper to make the little strips. The pattern paper is Sweet Threads from Basic Grey. I've used a little Broken China Distress inks to blend the edges of the card and tone down the bright green of the base card.

The sketch is from this weeks Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps sketch challenge. I have a tendency to closely follow sketches. I probably need to loosen up a little bit. But that is the thing about sketches. It's up to you. You can either follow them closely, use them as a starting point and deviate madly or anything in between. Now that my card is finished I'll post it to the challenge page and check out what the other participants have done. If you want to play along with me click here for the details.

I'm pleased with how my card turned out and it will go in my collection to send to Operation Write Home. They will send my cards along with many others to our troops serving far away from home so our troops will have handmade cards to use when writing home to their friends and family. If you want to know more check out their website at: http://operationwritehome.org/

Stars and Stamps Weekly Sketch Challenge

2011-11-20T23:49:00.001-05:00

This is the sketch for Stars and Stamps which has a weekly challenge to help inspire those who want to make cards for Operation Write Home. I've been working on a card but it's late and I have to be at work early tomorrow so you'll have to check back tomorrow evening to see what I come up with. If you want to play along with me click here for the details.

The link for Operation Write Home is here.

Perfect Pearl Mini Misters - Grungy Monday 27

2011-11-19T08:34:00.000-05:00

Linda at Studio L3 picked out quite a challenge for us this week. We have the opportunity to make our own Perfect Pearl Mists and play. Using distress reinkers and a technique Tim Holtz shares with us at the Twelve Tags 2007~Day 6 I love this technique, but I really need a lot more practice. If you want to see Linda's lovely scene complete with deer along with the other works submitted for this challenge, check out her blog at Studio L3: Grungy Monday 27

You can also see a video by Tim Holtz showing how to make the Perfect Pearl Distress Ink mist here.

My mist combinations are:
Walnut Stain and Perfect Cooper
Broken China and Perfect Pearl
Shabby Shutters and Perfect Gold

I wish you could see the shimmer but it is hard to capture on camera. You'll either have to take my word for it or mix up your own batch and try it for yourself.

Thanks for stopping by.

Think Pink

2011-11-18T23:24:00.001-05:00

I wanted to make a card for a friend who just had surgery for breast cancer. She is just beginning her treatment and I wanted to let her know I was thinking of her. I wanted to make her something pink and I wanted to use my Anna Griffin paper. This is a paper I fell in love with when I first started to scrapbook. It is a beautiful paper line, full of elegant floral motifs. It is peaceful and serene. I wanted to share that with my friend. She is a very brave and courageous woman. She is strong and beautiful. I know she will beat this.

2011-11-17T23:14:00.001-05:00

Water color finger paints with Distress Inks and Perfect Pearls ~ Still Shimmery once they dry!

Just a quick post to share a link to a cool video from Shari Carroll at the Hero Arts Blog. It is a sneak peak video showing the new Paris Newspaper stamp coming out soon and a really cool technique using Distress Inks and Perfect Pearls in a mister. Her card is gorgeous. If you haven't seen it yet, you don't want to miss it.
Check out the video here.

Ranger makes the Perfect Pearl mist already mixed up but I already had some Perfect Pearl on hand, so I mixed up my own Perfect Pearl mist and played around with it a little bit. I stamped my Hero Arts Big Owl stamp with VersaMark on water color paper and heat embossed with Gold Sand Embossing Powder. The cards are already dry here, but I spritzed a little Distress Ink on my craft mat until it beaded up so you could really see the shimmer.What a fun way to get inky fingers.