Dragonfly Card

As promised, here's the other card I made using this cute dragonfly stamp from Stampotique Originals. I made it for the Gingersnaps Supply challenge (ribbon) a couple of weeks ago, but didn't have the chance to blog it here.


Happy stamping!

Ali

New Card

This is only the second card I've made this year - can you believe that? I'll blog the other one tomorrow!

It's for today's Gingersnaps Color Challenge (green) and uses our sponsor's stamps, Stampotique Originals.



The reasons I haven't been blogging are many, including a new job and moving my studio again! But I won't go into that here, suffice to say, I hope that I can start stamping again soon!

Have a wonderful day,

Ali

Final Fall Card

As November comes to a close, I'm sharing one last Fall card before it's Christmas all the way! I made it for the Gingersnaps Farm Fresh challenge.

The main image is from Artistic Outpost - the Home plate - and I stamped it on a sponged book page background. This is simply mounted on black c/stock and then onto a vintage dictionary page.


Hope everyone in the States had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Ali

Farm Fresh Creations

Here are a pair of cards I made for Gingersnaps this month, where our theme is Farm Fresh.

The first uses an image from Artistic Outpost from their Home plate. I stamped the main image with black ink onto a sponged panel highlighted with white gel pen (they're meant to be stars!)

I can't for the life of me remember where I got this image of a barn from. If anyone knows, feel free to let me know in the comments. I stamped it onto watercolor paper and water colored the image with Distress inks. I do know that the sentiment is from the Artistic Outpost plate, Old Grist Mill.


I've had a busy week at Vintage Page Designs this week getting out Thanksgiving favor orders. And launching the Vintage Page Designs blog. It's still pretty bare, but pop in and say hello!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Ali

Holiday Ornaments

Long time, no post! I've been having computer issues - my new laptop got a nasty virus and it needed a few days R&R. Well, actually, the nice Sys Admin at my husband's work and my husband have been been working on it. And it's still not properly fixed, sigh.....

But it has left me time to make stuff. It's amazing how much you can get done without a computer there to distract you. I've realized how much I get sucked into cyberspace and wind up wasting a lot of time!

Anyway, here are the ornaments I made for the Gingersnap Creations Holiday Ornament Art Exchange:

The tag bases are chipboard with vintage sheet music, gesso and lots of stamping and ink. I'm going to post a tutorial on how to make them on Gingersnaps this month.

I hope you'll sign up and join our exchange - it should be a lot fun!

Details:

• Stamps: Snow Swirled (SU), Script & Postmark (Hero Arts), Postcard (Artistic Outpost)
• Paper: Chipboard, vintage sheet music
• Ink & Paint: Gesso, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel (SU)
• Accessories: Red seam binding (SU), Silver dew drops, Poinsettia flowers (Hero Arts)
  
• Tools: Cropadile, sponges
  

Halloween Tag

Hi folks,

it's challenge day over at Gingersnap Creations and this month's supply challenge is alcohol inks. I made this little number using stamps from Oxford Impressions and some vintage text using a coffee dyed manila tag for the base.

I finished it off with a metal washer from the hardware store and some satin ribbon. But where is the alcohol ink you ask? I colored the metal washer with two shades of green ink.


Hope you liked it! I'm also entering the tag into the following challenges:

Vicki's challenge #27 - Halloween
Art With No Boundaries - Halloween

Come back tomorrow because I have a Halloween cone with tutorial planned :)

Poe

Happy October! Edgar Alan Poe is the theme on Gingersnaps this month and I created this collage to kick it off.

Starting with a piece of watercolor paper as my base, I added a stamped and grunged up piece of green patterned paper, then layered on gothic German text and some mesh.

I found a photograph of Poe on the internet, re-sized and printed it onto the same German text (in my Etsy store). The paper is from an old copy of Goethe's Faust from the 1800s and is quite fragile, so I glued it onto a piece of copy paper before running it through my printer. It worked like a charm! I added some stamping, stitching and an old optical lens to the photo.

I finished the piece with a vintage pen nib and aged scrabble tiles. Not my normal style, but I hope you like it :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Ali

Colorful Silhouettes

I tried a new technique called Colorful Silhouettes and I LOVE it! It's from the Technique Junkies most current newsletter. The basic technique is as follows:

1. Cover c/stock with several colors of ink.
2. Stamp a background and heat emboss with white e/p.
3. Stamp a silhouette image and heat emboss with black e/p.

It's a bit fiddly, but so worth the results.

The first card is for today's Gingersnaps Color Challenge, which I hosted. The colors to use are red, blue and yellow - the three primary colors. Check it out if you have a chance plus the rest of the Design Team's awesome work.

I'm also entering this card into a sketch challenge - Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch. She always has great layouts. The main image in this card is from the SU set Just Believe and the background stamp is the retired French Script.

My second card was also made using this technique and I'm entering it into the Stamping 411 sketch challenge. Again, I love their sketches, but remember it's an SU only site!



The main image in this card is from SU's Inspired by Nature, the background is the retired French Script and the image is from Trendy Trees.

Hope you're having a fantastic week!

Ali

First Card from New Studio

I finally made a card today in my new studio. It still looks like a bomb site, so no pictures yet....but I did manage to clear a small space to make a thank you card for my buddy Sharon. She has the patience of saint putting up with me while I took a 6 month+ sabbatical from Gingersnaps.


I unearthed the current Technique Junkies newsletter and tried a technique called Back-to-Back. It involves stamping 3 different background stamps in various shades of ink. I used a background from Rogue Redhead's Relish Reading, a script from Hero Arts and finally a postmark stamped several times because I couldn't find quite the right large stamp for the final layer. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!


My daughter and I are going on another field trip to Ikea tomorrow to get some final bits and pieces for my studio. Here's a sneak peek of how it's coming along:


Have a wonderful day!

Ali

Steam Punk Journal

I have finally returned from my travels in England - yes, I've been away a long time! My daughter and I had a great time visiting with family and friends - I'll share some pictures in a few days. We're just getting our bags unpacked and all the laundry done - ahhh!

Here's a journal that I made a LONG time ago for Gingersnaps, but didn't have time to share before I left. I had visions of blogging on the road, but my laptop and internet provider were not cooperating :)


I hand bound the journal using my Bind-it-All machine. It measures 8" x 8" and is filled with sketch paper. The front is a page from an Atlas index layered with a piece of patterned paper. The tags are from last month's sponsor Dezinaworld Collage. The embellishments are bits and pieces from my stash - a rusty star and key plus a metal heart.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you're having a happy summer,

Ali

Coffee & Cream Challenge

I love the current Gingersnaps Color Challenge - Coffee & Cream - those colors are just up my street. It ends today - hurry if you want to play!

I needed a thinking of you/get well card for a friend from church, so created this one using Vintage Cream (PTI) and Soft Suede c/stock (SU) with the SU stamp set Thoughts and Prayers.


To add some texture, I spritzed the card base with Soft Suede marker and added strip of embossed cream c/stock along the bottom. I included sheer ribbon and flat coffee colored pearls as accents.

Hope you had time to get messy with your stamps this weekend!

Ali

Fabric on Cards

I wrote a tutorial for Gingersnaps last week about using fabric on cards. You can find it here. This is the card I made for it - I adore this fabric from Liberty of London. I don't think I'll be able to give it away!

Have a wonderful week!

Sepia Day Dreamer

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! If you celebrated yesterday, I hope you enjoyed your turkey and the time spent with family.

Here's the piece I created for this week's color challenge on Gingersnaps - Vintage Hues. I used a TJ technique called Sepia (Oct/Nov 09) to create the main panel and the image is from Rogue Redhead's Relish Reading.


Check out the rest of the Design Team's beautiful vintage creations. And have a wonderful weekend!

Ali

More Rogue Redhead Projects

I'm woefully behind on blogging projects I've made for Gingersnaps and Rogue Redhead. I've been busy with classes, family and traveling overseas.

I should have some time this week for blogging my back log of stamping projects because unlike most American homes, our Thanksgiving week is usually quiet. It's not a traditional holiday for us (cos we're Brits) and we have no family here. We do celebrate it because we like the spirit of the holiday and I'll cook up something nice on Thursday, but it won't be a mad house here, thank goodness!

Today's projects are a pair of over sized tags that I made for a Gingersnaps post revisiting our old tutorials. [Check it out here.] The backgrounds are made using a technique by Jo Capper-Sandon called String Background. It's a lot of fun and you can play around with fibers, ribbon and sprays until you're heart is content and your fingers very messy!

The main images are from the new Rogue Redhead plate, Relish Reading.


Thanks for stopping by - happy weekend!

New Card

Okay, how come it's over two weeks since I last posted? Where has the time gone? I've been busy with other projects unrelated to stamping and just lost track of time, I guess!

I created a card for this week's Gingersnap Creations Color Challenge using pumpkin, avocado and eggplant. I love these rich colors, although purple is always a struggle for me. I couldn't for the life of me find any purple ribbon in the house and let me tell you, I have a lot of ribbon!


The leaf in the center of the card was created using a Tim Holz die and some patterned paper that I sponged and clear embossed. Here's a closer look:


I hope you get more time to stamp than I do at the moment and can play the challenge!

Happy stamping,

Ali

Versamark Challenge

It's time for another Spicy Supply Challenge on Gingersnap Creations and this month we're using Versamark.


I created a couple of 3" x 3" Halloween cards for the challenge. Firstly, I stamped and colored the images with markers. I pressed the entire piece into a Versamark ink pad, covered it the Iridescent Ice embossing powder (from SU) and melted it with a heat gun. I believe this technique is called Diamond Dust. It's usually a technique I reserve for Christmas cards, but I think it works well for Halloween too - you can never have too much bling!


[Images by Outlines Rubber Stamp Co.]

Have a great day!

Ali

Winter Art Exchange

It's my pleasure to host another Art Exchange on Gingersnap Creations! This time around we'll be creating 4" x 4" panels with a Winter Theme. I created my Snow Baby by stamping this adorable Crafty Individuals stamp onto a piece of Antiqued Glimmer (TJ technique - Dec 09). He's mounted onto a piece of white snowflake embossed c/stock and wrapped in some cozy fibers.

For more details, read the Art Exchange Post. I hope we get lots of players!

Happy weekend,

Ali

Inchie Scraplings

The last art exchange we hosted on Gingersnaps was paint chip scraplings. I made a few extra scraplings to include in the participants' packages. Instead of paint chips, I used inchies and small punched shapes and they work perfectly with the scraplings. These adorable little cards measure just 4.25" x 1.5" and are so handy to include with a gift or package.

I used some left over inchies from this card using my Inchie Collage Technique. Stamps are from Non Sequitur.


The second set are left over from this card. Stamps are Cornish Heritage.

Okay, these aren't inchies, but they're scraplings nonetheless. I punched the butterflies from a piece of dry embossed book page background and embellished them with a rhinestone.


These scraplings are quite addictive - try them if you dare!

Have a great weekend,

Ali

Waiting for Baby

We're waiting patiently for a new member of our family to arrive this week. My brother's wife, Helene, is expecting their second child - a little boy and we are all so excited. They live in Sweden, and I want to get a card in the mail to them as soon as possible.

I was inspired by today's Splitcoast Ways to Use It challenge, which is to use a banner on a project. And I still have Gingersnaps Quilt Challenge on the brain. It's a little more colorful than I normally make and I went a little overboard with the patterned paper, but I think it's my sister-in-law's cup of tea.


If you're wondering how to get the triangles on the banner all the same, this is how I made them. [Originally, I eyeballed it - not such a good way to go.] The white triangles started as 1 1/4" squares and the blue triangles started out as 1 1/2" squares.

Happy Stamping!

Ali

Quilt Challenge

The Blue Moon challenge that I posted on Gingersnaps this morning is Quilt Patterns. I was inspired by a log cabin design and also by yesterday's Splitcoast color challenge - rose red, basic grey and daffodil.

Both of these challenges were way out of my comfort zone, but it's good to stretch yourself now and again, right?


Stamps: I Brake for Stamps

Have a wonderful day.

Ali