In the Garden

Spring, hopefully, is around the corner. Today was a beautiful day!!!! Sunshine, blue skies, and the birds were everywhere. Had coffee with my friend Deb, and tomorrow, shopping and probably lunch with Susan. Life is good.

My early tulips are at least 5 inches tall already. And if the rabbits don't get them, they should bloom in a couple of weeks.

Having said that, I took some pictures from last years flowers and put them in a layout for Creative Imaginations with Christine Adolph's Mon Ami papers. Used Distress Inks Broken China and Dusty Concord to brighten things up a bit. The flower is a bunch of Color me Crazy from Petaloo.

I have tons of pictures stashed in a book of flowers, but this gave me the incentive to put them together with a bit more flare.

Enjoy the day....and tomorrow is supposed to be even better!

Linda

Fun Day!

Erin wanted to create an art project. And here it is!!!! Erin's House! All designed by her!
She had a blast painting, gluing, and especially adding the rhinestones...a girl does need a little glitz.

My son and his wife are in the Bahamas for their 10th anniversary. The 4 grandparents are trying to keep the 2 girls busy enough to not miss mom and dad....it's a combined effort of their Aunt and Uncle, too!!!

After the trip was booked, Erin's recital for baton and pom poms got scheduled...she was a bit sad.
BUT, the 2 grandmas tried to rise to the occasion and attend. And here she is! One grandpa took her to rehearsal to see her show, and the other one stayed with the "Emster." Boy would I like to have all the $$ spent on all the costumes for studio supplies!!!!

Sneak Peek Hint

OK, as much as I HATE surprises and sneak peeks....here's a hint. It's Maya Road, it's Ten Seconds Studio Metal, and it's gonna be fun!!!!!

This is what's in store for you girls, and I did have one guy...a very talented guy I might add...in one of my classes in St. Louis at For Keeps Sake.

For those of you who have asked, we are tentatively on for Sept. 6 and 7th. Haven't decided what times or the classes yet. But this is one I've worked with Cheryl at TSS on to get the supplies for, so I hope you people there like the looks of it! Once you've seen how easy this stuff is to work with, and how professional it will make you look in a short period of time, you'll be HOOKED...as I was.

The Latest Attempt with Vintaj

Worked for a couple of days on this one....is it a bit haunting? The images from Paper Whimsy are vintage, and NO one smiled back then. I guess it was a forbidden thing during those times. WHY? I don't know. But this book idea came with the help of Frannie, who suggested the beads in the trim. They are on silver wire. More beads in the dangley from the ribbon, but they didn't show up too well!

Setting up the dates for another trip to see my new bff's in St. Louis! Does anyone have anything on their wish list to work on? Come on, come out of the woodwork and make some noise!!! How about my Rebels from the Corner in the Queen's Court?
Thinking embossed metal and maybe some of these great pieces from Vintaj......hmmmmmmm.....

Rachel Greig's Products!!!

Earlier I told you the great and talented Rachel Greig had asked me to use some of her stamps and papers to design a few things to show on her site Darkroom Door. I showed you the stamp of the ancient door before, but here I used her key stamps on Grundgeboard and her beautiful papers San Marco and Rialto. They have wonderful border strips throughout the sheets that are terrific to use as edging around the top and bottom of the tin box. A piece of chipboard, a couple of black brads, some rusty wire, a layered-up word, and a rusty piece on top hopefully pull it all together. The paper in the background is Esplori. Some VERY cool products and great fun to work with them.

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Visit Rachel's terrific site for some brand new things you will definitely need!

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Tomorrow......I'll show you my birthday gift from Fran, the talented beader! Way too cool!

And I've been asked to make some books using another talented artist's beautiful brass findings.....more to follow.....we're still working on the book to use, but I'll let you see as soon as we decide. I hate surprises and don't wait well, so I won't tease you!!!!

One thing I forgot, the back sides that are showing of the little keys are dabbed with gold and copper paint dabbers from Ranger. REALLY fun colors that I just opened!!! Gotta try them!

AND I would really like to know what you think of the top piece...I like the eclectic look of it...kinda of "t!m." But DH thinks it is a bit much....let me know....found it at Jeffrey Alan's in the sale isle...ha!

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St Louis Tag Book Class

The class for Mar. 30th at For Keep Sakes has a bit of a change. The Sketch book has been discontinued, and so we had to go looking for another book to add our little Fragments to. And here it is!!!! The 7Gypsies tag book!!! It's a bit larger, with tag shaped pages, and it still has between 11 and 12 Fragments that will fit on the front. These are made with just scraps of paper from other projects, and lots of "junk" hanging on the spine....Grungeboard, chipboard, wooden letters, beads, and other surprises. Plenty of Stampers Anonymous stamps here. The baby is by Endless Creations, and ART by Hampton Art.Altered is by Stamping Sensations and the star is from Collections. Then to fill in, I added dots!!! Lots of white accents to contrast with the dark distress ink. Lots of tips and techniques to be in this fun class.

Julie van Oosten Owl in 2008!

This little owl arrived from Julie van Oosten in Australia the other day. He or she is from the Collections chipboard and comes in a sheet with punch out pieces to paint or alter however you like. Here I used metal tape and embossed 3 pieces, and Crackle Paint on some of the other sections, Spiced Marmalade, Black Soot and Walnut Stain from Tim Holtz's line. REALLY cool stuff! Add some brads, a few stamps by Great Impressions and Imagine That, some Distress Ink, gel pens, and earrings...I don't know why....she looked like an owl with attitude and needed a little bling...and she's ready to go. An objet d'art!

Mini-Houses Swap

These are a few of the houses done for a swap with some wonderful girls across the pond. Most have elements in them from Julie vanOostens great Collections products. All have been Distress inked and dotted with pens. They were wonderfully fun. Can't wait for the swap to make it here.

****Update****

You have GOT to check out Gaby's houses for this swap. They are absolutely STUNNING!!!!

http://colorfuladventures.blogspot.com/2007/11/little-houses-made-for-swap.html

My Attempt at a Tag

Well, I've been working on this all day...I tend to overthink things, but if I don't, I trash them later. Didn't like the bird after I posted it. That's life.....so here is my attempt to do a "Tim Tag" with some of the things he has taught us so far. I inked the Santa stamp -Stampers Anonymous -with different colors and then embossed. The main tag is from the tutorial today..ink, emboss, then ink again. I used the clear powder on all of it. Got a book of rubons by miniMarks (no link on the package) that's what's on the chipboard with 25. Added a few more white dots for balance. Distress inks Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Frayed Burlap, and Black Soot were used. Added some ribbons, ephemera, and distressed the edges. The German Scrap gives just a touch of glitz. The little holly leaves are from See D's. Now, I'm off to drool over the package that came from Julie vanOosten in Austalia today!!! Her Collections chipboard, stamps, and collage elements are truly wonderful. Check them out...please.

Tim Holtz Blog!!! Check it out!

OK, we all know Tim is the best, but he's even outdone himself here. His 12 days of Christmas is gonna send the artists out there into cardiac arrest. It is a wonderful gift to his followers, but that's just t!m. Gotta love him.
http://timholtz.typepad.com/

Puzzle Swap

Ok Girls! Got my 4 puzzle pieces done. Hope they meet the requirements for all of you. They were sure fun to work with. I had no idea what to expect. For some reason I thought they would be a lot smaller, but very glad they were not! We used Urban Couture by Basic Grey. Vintage children were the theme. Here, of course, I used Collections vintage pics.The sheet of paper I used had the big beautiful flowers that I used as my background and Gaby had the great idea to paint over them for backgrounds. It worked out well since the puzzle is very thick. I used some of the Crackle Paint from Tim Holtz for the leaves. (I know leaves aren't really blue, but I had to work that into the color scheme.) . Thanks for the invite to this swap, and I'll try to figure out how to mail them next week.....too much food and family shopping right now!
Have a great weekend!!!!

Distress Crackle Paint

Here is my attempt at Tim's new Crackle Paint. It took me a bit to get it on the little letters...no fault of the paint...and you must put it on thick. One other thing...let it dry!!!! Coming from one who does not WAIT well, that's asking a lot, but it's well worth it. Great stuff!!! Hope you can see all the little cracks in the small picture. I used Aged Mahogony and Peeled Paint.

The LAST House

WHEW!!! The last house is done! What a fun project this was. The picture is of me on my grandfather's tractor in the middle of Nebraska. My middle name is Marie and dad would call me that on occasion. So here I am, in all my glory, cowgirl hat and shirt. The carefree days we enjoyed in the 50's. All 10 are done and now all I have to do is glue them onto the backboard of the frame. It is totally AMAZING what Distress Inks can do to any paper! Now I can get out there and cut down the garden...looking forward to that....not.

House #6

Well, I have 15 minutes until October 10th is over. I had the little 3 yr old today as she was running a fever....seemed to be just fine by about 9 o'clock! But that's good...nothing worse than a sick child. Got another card done today and house number 6 on the block. It's a bit smaller, but took the longest to put together so far. Lots of metal on this one...embossed, junk, and brads! The copper is Ten Seconds Studio metal.

Will try another tomorrow!

It's almost tomorrow now!