Down-home Wisdom

As soon as I saw this fun Donkey Mail digital stamp by Ike's Art, I knew I had to make a card featuring one of my dad's favorite "from the farm" quotes: "Why are there more horse's asses than there are horses?"!

I colored the Ike's Art image with Copic markers & covered much of it with brown flocking. I inked the patterned patterned paper for the different layers. The middle portion was made with Memory Box dies and ink sponging. The horse rubber stamp was stamped in gray Memento ink, colored with a green Copic, and textured with alcohol. I made the sentiment with the CrimeFighter BB font.

Coincidentally, a Facebook Friend shared this similar joke today: "All people have the right to be asses but some abuse that privilege"!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cheerful Sketches Challenge: Sketch
Dream Factory #52: The Horse Whisperer
Ike's World #105: Anything Goes + IkesArt image
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers #102: "F" is for Farm Life

Update: I was chosen as a Princess of Snark at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers!

Thank you for visiting,

Iguana Wish You a Happy Birthday

I recently asked one of my favorite digi artists, Ike, if she had any iguana images, and she came up with two great designs! I used her Iguana 1 digital stamp, along with a sentiment from TLC Creations and a frame from Pickled Potpourri, to make a relatively simple card for my brother-in-law.

I colored the image with Copic markers, and used rubbing alcohol & a terrycloth towel to create some visual texture. The background papers are trimmed to line up. 

Here's our pet iguana, Percy. The birthday boy gave him to us in August of 2000!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Ike's World Challenge #100: Celebrations
Pile It On: Large Sentiment

Update: I was a lucky prize winner for Ike's Celebration Challenge!

Thank you for visiting,

Circumstantially Hopeful - Not Pilin' on Patterned Paper

The theme this month at Pile It On is Feathers/Scales and/or No Patterned Paper. The only real rule is to be inspired by more than one papercrafting challenge. We're sponsored by Ike's Art. Aside from her always-creative Ike's World Challenges, she also hosts a monthly Cat-themed challenge, Show Us Your Pussies; I used one of her SYUP freebies, along with this bird from an Amy Smyth/Inkadinkado clear stamp set, to create this hopefully-humorous card!

The background is created with a piece of corrugated cardboard that comes with sandwiches at Panera. I colored it with Copic markers and a blue gen pen, and then added some blue glitter embossing powder. It was loads of fun to make, and I really like the texture.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Always Fun Challenges #23: Create a Scene
Crafty Cardmakers #195: Monochrome
Dragonfly Journeys: True Blue
Mod Squad Challenge: Heat Embossing
Show Us Your Pussies: Furrything Goes
Simon Says Stamp: CAS

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

I Treasure You -- Pilin' on the Feathers/Scales

The theme this month at Pile It On is Feathers/Scales. The only real rule is to be inspired by more than one papercrafting challenge. Be sure to stop back on the 3rd Sunday of the month for a bonus theme!
We're sponsored by Ike's Art and I used her fantastic Dragon digistamp to create this shaker card.

Featuring Dragon 1 by Ike's Art / Click to enlarge

I digitally added the sentiment using the Charlemagne font.. The shaker portion is filled with teal & gold microbeads & a mix of jewel-colored mica bits. The bubble border is made with a die from Pink & Main; I cut it from paper I heat-embossed with Aged Copper embossing enamel. I filled the holes with glitter glue, and used the same glitter glue on the shaker frame & the dragon's belly.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cardz 4 Guyz #177: Something beginning with D (Dragon)
Ike's World #96: Anything Goes with a twist: Mythology
Sketch-Tanten Challenge #35: Any Card / Optional Sketch
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
Unicorn Challenge: Mythical and Magical


Update: This was chosen as a Top 3 for Ike's Mythology Challenge!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Merry Catmouse!

The fabulously talented Ike has started a new challenge blog, Show Us Your Pussies, dedicated to our Feline friends. I've already joined the challenge with her freebie CatMouse Tree, but I couldn't resist using her other freebie, "I Iz SANTA", along with "Holiday Mouse" by Floppy Latte Designs. I made an easel card to sorta look like a computer monitor and desk. I used twine to make the mouse cord. I colored the image with Copic markers, and painted the background with a clear Wink of Stella glitter pen.

I made this for my husband, as we've enjoyed I Can Has Cheezburger together on many occasions. 

Did you spot the 2nd mouse? I drew a little cursor arrow with a santa hat and glued it onto the "screen" just for an extra giggle!

I even decorated the envelope, with stamps that look just like our Schnauzers Walt & Allen:

Inspiration/Challenges:

IkesWorld Challenge #53: Santa (+ image by Ike)

Show Us Your Pussies: Krimbo Kitties (2nd Entry)

Update: This was chosen as a Top 3 for IkesWorld Challenge #53!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Catmouse Tree

The fabulously talented Ike has started a new challenge blog, Show Us Your Pussies, dedicated to our Feline friends. I couldn't resist using her fun freebie "Catmouse Tree" to make a winter card.

The sentiment is a House Mouse stamp, and the snowflake background is by Bird's Cards.I colored the image with colored pencils and glitter & gel pens. The red snowflakes are fabric stickers.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Ike's World Challenge: Ice & Snow + Ike's Art Image
Pink & Main Challenge: Christmas
Show Us Your Pussies: Krimbo Kitties

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Pilin' on the Elemental Dragon

The theme this week at Pile It On is Cultural Traditions: be inspired by a traditional custom or symbol. We're sponsored by Ike's Art and I used her wonderful Chinese Dragon digi stamp. 
The current theme Ike's World Challenge at is "The Elements" so I combined our 4 traditional elements (Earth, Wind, Fire, Water) with the 5 Chinese Elements (Earth, Wood, Fire, Water, Metal).

I colored the dragon with Copics and a glittery-red Wink of Stella brush pen. The image includes some lovely flowers, but instead of coloring them I covered those sections with fabric and mulberry flowers. I put the dragon on an Action Wobble to add a little movement to the scene.

The flourish on the top right is cut with a Sizzlits die from blue metal from Add a Little Dazzle, and represents the Wind. I stamped a Chinese Longevity symbol from Stampin Up in gold onto wood and die-cut it. The border is cut from the same wood sheet. I know the Chinese fortune (from an actual cookie) isn't traditionally Chinese, but it's certainly a tradition! The designer papers are from Graphic 45.

Allways Something Creative

Challenges/Inspiration:
Wobble Wednesday: Anything goes with an Action Wobble
Animal Friends Challenge #27: Fantasy Animal (dragon)
Allways Something Creative #101: Sketch
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge: Anything Goes with Patterned Paper (2nd entry)
Cute Card Thursday #378: Add A Quote (fortune)
Ike's World Challenge #40: Elements - Earth, Wind, Fire + Water
WordArt Wednesdays: Anything Goes Family Friendly

Check out my other cards for this challenge here & here.

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Grateful Ravens

So the other day I asked my husband for some crafting inspiration (he's my favorite muse). He suggested "Uncute Animals" and my mind immediately came up with this slightly unusual thank-you card:

I live in Baltimore (infamously known as Edgar Allan Poe's final resting place) and studied creative writing at the University of Baltimore, so Poe is one of my favorite go-to historical pop-culture icons.

The design is based around the "Poe Bust" digi stamp by Ikesart. It's printed on a shiny paper. I colored Poe with Copics. I cut the column on my Silhouette Cameo using a clipart file I found online. The pieces are cut from the same shiny paper. I made it a pop-up (see photo on right), so the card closes flat but stands up as well.

The ravens are all from the "Poe Bust" digi stamp, but I took the file into SCAL and cut them from a shiny black paper on my Silhouette. I used a ZIG glue pen to cover the ravens with glitter black flocking.

I had the perfect yarn for the "brain" but it was light yellow, so I died it with Pure Pink Copic ink.

If you look closely, you can see that the white background is embossed with little hearts (forgive the pun!) I added loopy red trim to the sides.

I wish I could send this to my teachers/coworkers/mentors at University of Baltimore; they taught me so much, especially the need for a creative sense of humor!

Challenges/Inspiration:

Ike's World Challenge #38: History
Perfectly Rustics: Pop-up
Quoth the Raven: Raving Ravens + Poe

Update: This was chosen as a Top 3 for Ike's World History Challenge!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting,

Purple Poe

You still have a week to join the Purple challenge at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT). 

I had so much fun making my purple book box last week that I decided to make another, smaller version to hold a copy of "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.

This box is roughly 2.5 x 2.125 inches, and features "Poe Bust" by Ikesart. I printed Poe on shiny ivory cardstock, and printed the raven on a regular white paper. I colored the bird with black & glitter gen pens, fussy-cut it, and placed him atop the pallid bust.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Challenge Up Your Life: Box

Craft It Up & Link It Up Linky Party by Craftin Desert Divas: 3D Projects
DoubleClick Skittles #14: Use a bird

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time,

The gift of time

This week at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), our theme is Use a Digi. StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists, and if you use one of our products you'll be entered to win the super-duper main prize of 7 digis. If you don't use a store image, you'll still be in the drawing to win a $3 gift certificate. 

I used Cuckoo Clock by Ike's Art.

I printed the image onto woodgrain-patterned paper (Echo Park/Lori Whitlock), as well as a white cardstock. I colored it in wood shades with Copics, and pieced it on top of the patterned oval. I cut the oval frame with my Silhouette, from a different woodgrain-patterened paper. I added some detail to the image with glitter pens.

I stamped the sentiment (Our Daily Bread Designs) in Tye Dye distress ink onto a scrap of patterned Kraft paper (K&Company). The background was made by embossing a Core'Dinations cardstock. I sanded it a bit and distressed it with Antique Linen ink (Tim Holtz).

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafty Girlz #13: Anything Goes
Cards Galore Encore: Use a stamp or digi stamp
Crafty Bloggers Network: Nature
Love to Create: Anything Goes
A Song in your He{ART}: "Time Flies"
The Crafting Cafe: CAS
WordArt Wednesdays: Anything Uplifting Goes

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at One Stitch at a Time,

Warm Wishes with a Great Tit

This week at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), we want you to Use a Digi. StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists, and if you use one of our products you'll be entered to win the super-duper main prize.

I chose Great Tit Pinecone by IkesArt:

I first heard of the birds Tits while working on Pile It On... we got some DT images, and someone mentioned how much they liked the Great Tit. Well, that started quite the chain reaction from her American teamies, who didn't read it as intended!!! Apparently it's a lovely little bird.

The flourish border was cut with A Quilted Christmas Cricut cartridge. I used a Spellbinders die as a template for the image and mat. I colored the image with Copics, and used a white Sakura glaze pen for the white fluff on the cheeks.

The DP is by the C-Thru Ruler Company. The pinecone brads are from my stash. I heat-embossed the sentiment onto a metal tag.

This is my last project for the OSAAT Design Team until February 2nd. I'm taking a little break, but will be back in the new year.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Brown Sugar #66: Things with Wings
Jingle Belles: not a CREATURE was Stirring...
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes (2nd entry)
The Crafting Cafe: Winter Blues

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at OSAAT,

John Finn's Wife mini book

This week at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), it's Anything Goes!

I used Rapunzel by Ike's Art, and made a mini-book of the lyrics of "John Finn's Wife" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

The tin is only 1.5 inches. It originally contained tiny paper clips. I sanded and ink-distressed it a bit, and used double-sided tape to adhere the ribbon. I added Stampendous Mica with Glossy Accents to the top. I colored the image with Copics and a white glaze pen.

The text was all done in Adobe InDesign; I hand-cut the circles. The text "pages" are backed with vellum flowers that I cut on my Cricut. It's bound with a sheer green ribbon.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Anything Goes Challenge #97: Anything Goes
Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge #134: Anything Goes
Crafty Ribbons #54: Anything with a ribbon
Creative Moments #22: Anything but a card
Rhedd & Rosie's Challenge #11: Anything goes
Simply Create Too #42: Anything But A Card

Update: Thanks to Juliet's comment (in the Comment section), I was reminded that I wanted to share the backstory on why I chose this particular song/poem: 
Nick Cave has been my husband's favorite singer forever, and back when we were dating in High School he used to sing this song to himself while riding my motorcycle over to visit me. In the 20 years since, we've listened to the song together many, many, MANY times! I actually found that I had most of it memorized. I decided on this design because it reminds me of my favorite part of the song, where she throws all the flowers on the ground... such a strong visual. You should see me with the book wrapped in my hair, it's quite lovely :)

Thank you for visiting,

Pretty Spooky

This week at OSAAT we want you to Use a Digi; so easy, with all the great choices out there!

I used Witch 1 by Ike's Art to make this Acetate card:

Her dress glows in the dark, thanks to a Recollections-brand glitter:

I saw this font, Spinstee, at Spyder's Corner, and downloaded it at Urban Fonts [update 4/2/14: I had linked to this free font site, but was just informed that I needed to remove it due to Google compliance issues. A great reminder that you should always research a font before downloading a free version.]

Here's the opening credits from The Munsters, which I used for my design inspiration:


My husband tells me that CBS is coming out with a Munsters-inspired TV Movie, Mockingbird Lane. I'm sure it will be fun, but there's nothing like the cheesy original.

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Crafting for all Season Challenge #38: Spooky (2nd entry)
2. Eureka Stamps: Halloween and/or Spooky
3. Lexi's Creations: Halloween 
4. Simon Says Stamp: Eerie Inspiration
5. Sketches by Carly #67: Final Sketch :(
6. Sparkle & Glitter Challenge #2: Cute or Spooky Halloween
7. Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge #19: Something spooky
8. Stempelsonne Challenge #75: Halloween
9. Victorine Originals: Halloween

Thank you for visiting,