Naughty Naughty.....

A little while back I saw a very intriging new ATC swap hosted by one of my very favorite hostesses at Splitcoast stampers - Joyce always comes up with the most interesting new swap ideas! The swap is called "Nude Windows".... the idea being to have a tasteful nude shown in a window scene. Well, at first I wasn't sure what I thought about that, but then I thought, there are some very cool things you could do with this swap. So I had to get over my prudiness and join in! This was one of those swaps where inspiration automatically hit - I knew exactly what I was going to do! Yippee - that almost never happens for me :)

So, first I found the right kind of image on the internet and downloaded it - that was all kinds of interesting because you can just imagine what you end up with when you search for "vintage nudes" on the Internet! I found one, though, and proceeded to get to work.... and here is my ATC:

The first thing you are probably noticing is that this is not your typical ATC - yes, it is 3.5" tall and 2.5" wide, but it's also about .75" deep. I really wanted to do a balcony, and I decided it had to be 3D... so hopefully no one will mind when they get a really fat ATC!

I started by cutting pieces of foam core for the background and the balcony, then covering them with a stucco patterned paper. I also cut small strips to cover the inside of the windows and the front of the balcony, then inked all the edges. I glued the balcony onto the bottom of the wall piece and let that dry. In the mean time, I cut out my nude ladies and glued them to some Graphic 45 paper that I thought looked a lot like wallpaper. I glued pieces of lace to the back of the window, then tied them back curtain style with gold cord. Then I glued the nudes to the back of the window. I cut tiny strips of paper into small bricks, inked the edges, and used them to frame the window. I cut the balcony trim with a fence pattern I downloaded onto my QuicKutz Silhouette and glued it across the front of the balcony.

Finally, I constructed the vines using long pieces of wire and Vintage Christmas Flower Soft. I poked holes in the top of my windows, glued the top of the wires in, and draped them in a manner which is hopefully "artfully" across the wall, and that was it! This was SUCH a fun card to make - brought me right back to my dollhouse roots and I really love the result! Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

VSN Star Baby Card with a mono twist...

This past weekend held two great scrappin opportunities at Splitcoast... VSN and VSBN were both on the same weekend! Unfortunately, I was sick sick SICK for most of the weekend, so I only got one card done before deadline, but thankfully they allow more time for the scrapbooking challenges so I'll try to get some done during this week!

The challenge I participated in was A - to make a monochromatic baby card. This was perfect timing since my latest nephew was just born last week - baby number 5 for my littlest brother and the 5th baby to be born while he is deployed somewhere else!! This time he was in Afghanastan while baby was being born, but he was able to get the day off and watch via webcam. I have to write to the military and ask them to stop deploying them so they don't end up like the Duggars! Anyway, here's the card I made:


I chose a star theme in honor of daddy's military service. My latest issue of Pat Huntoon's Technique Junkie's Newsletter included this cool technique for monochromatic cards - cutting shapes the same color as the base, embossing them, and then rubbing a little ink over the embossed areas to high light them. The technique is called Mono Dies. Instead of inking mine, I used Core'dinations cardstock, which contains a colored core instead of just a white core, so I sanded the embossed images and got a lighter version of the same color - looks very cool IRL! I glued the shaped down randomly.

The circle is actually a window and the "Baby Boy" (from Cloud 9 stamps) is stamped on the inside of the card in Taken With Teal ink. I used my Nestabilities to cut a slightly smaller circle from the bottom layer than the top to give it a matted appearance, and allowed one of the stars to hang into the peekaboo window - I saw that in my latest issue of Scrapbooks etc. and thought it was sweet.

Across the top of the card is a coordinating piece of patterened paper from Paper Pizzaz, a border punched with a Martha Stewart border punch, a piece of crimped cardstock, and a button sewn onto a slightly darker star which I also embossed and sanded to match the ones below. I decided to tie a bow instead of a knot to go with the baby theme, then attached the button and star with glue dots. Very simple and fun to make - hope they like it!

PAT 14 ATC's

One of my favorite ATC swaps is the PAT ATC, which stands for "Pick A Theme". Basically you sign up according to groups, everyone in the group picks their favorite theme, and then everyone else in the group makes a card for everyone else. Then, you receive back cards in your favorite theme. It's really fun and inspiring, and causes you to look up things you never knew about, and make cards you might otherwise have made. Very challenging sometimes! Back in February I did these PAT 14 cards and just forgot to upload, so thought I'd share now and talk about my thinking behind them and any techniques.

These cards are for Group 7 in the swap, which was about Holidays.

Starting at the top left and moving clockwise, the themes are Valentine's Day, Christmas, Easter, and Groundhog Day. The Valentine's card is actually embossed metal. I started with a red metal base and then cuttlebugged (cb) it with the flowery background. I sanded the raised portions, then ran it through the cb again with flat plates to deboss it. When that's done, you get a flat piece of metal but the sanded portions add a lot of depth. Then I ran it through the cb again with the owl die, and then rubbed Staz On across the raised portions so that the owl would really stand out. I added small detail with stickles glue and covered the edges of the metal with double sided tape and glitter so there would be no chance of anyone getting cut, then mounted it on cardstock and added the sentiment. Overall it turned out a little busier than I would have liked, but it was really fun experimenting with the cb techniques!

The Christmas ATC uses a simple paper technique called Herringbone that I got from Pat Huntoon's Technique Junkie newsletter - in fact, that's where I got the double cuttlebug technique idea as well, so if you're not subscribing to that newsletter you should really consider it! For the Herringbone technique you start with a large piece of double stick tape and then add small strips of paper in the Herringbone pattern. With that done, I added a little fabric word strip and metal snowman embellishment.

The Easter ATC used some of my favorite Imaginsce Peep's Sake paper and a stamp from Serendipity. For a little dimension, I stamped the flower part of the stamp on tissue paper, colored it with Copic's, and then added the petals in thin layers of tissue on a pop dot. IRL it looks very delicate and pretty and I liked the effect.

For the Groundhog Day card I started by creating the background. I used a torn post it to mask off the top from the bottom and then sponged ink on for the sky; then I swapped the post it to the top and sponged the grass in. The tree was cut from a thin layer of cork for some texture, and the cloud was simply hand cut and inked. The ground hog was cut with the cricuit. I handmade a little "winter" and "spring" dartboard and dart, since I'm pretty convinced that's how he decides if we're having more winter or not!

These cards were for group 14, which was a Lot D group, which means any theme goes.



The themes moving clockwise from the top left were Nathan Fillion, Music, Tears, and Shells. OK, so before I had to make this card I was a Castle fan, but I never knew a lot about Nathan Fillion. Now I know at least this - he's quite a hottie!! There are tons of really gorgeous images of this guy on the Internet, so I had a blast with this one. I decided to make my card into a mini wanted poster and captioned it "Heart Thief"...tee hee! I used the burnt edges technique on the image, which involves tearing it out and then ink the edges in layers of mustard, chocolate chip, and black. I mounted it on some distressed wood patterned paper and added mini brads as the nails.

The music card was simple to do and one of my favorites when it was done. I used a printed piece of mulberry paper I've been hoarding as the background, then added some of my favorite Melissa Frances ribbon and a pretty image I got from Ten Two Studios. I punched a hole in the image, added an eyelet, and then hung little jingle bells from the card so that it actually makes it's own music. The treble clef was just some gold cord I glued down in the required shape.

For the "Tears" card I found another beautiful image from Ten Two Studios which you can't see very clearly here, but one of the children does have some beautiful tears in her eyes. The background was Core'dinations cardstock that I cb'd and sanded to reveal the core color. I added some vintage lace from my stash, then finished the card with a little flower and bow.

The final card in this group was "shells". The background is some patterned paper from Zsiage. The shells are dry embossed from one of Martha Stewart's embossing plates. First I did the dry embossing, then I used the template to mask off the background so I could chalk the raised portions. I added little eyelets and some beachy twine to complete the card.

This next grouping is for Group 18:



The themes for this group were different flowers. Moving clockwise from the top left, the themes are Lillies of the Valley, Violets, Lilacs, and Cherry Blossoms. The first two are pretty simple - just stamped and colored with copics, then added to a patterned paper background with some paper lace from Creative Imaginations. The stamp set is an old SU one, Flowers of the Month. The lilacs card was done using a stamp from Serendipity... after it was cut and colored with Copics I masked it and stamped the wording in the background. I added a little purple flower soft for texture, and a butterfly with wings raised by pop dots using a Martha Stewart punch stamp. The white frame is from SU and the "lilac: is computer generated.

For the cherry blossoms card I stamped the image on tissue paper, colored it with copics, and mounted it on a light background to help the colors stand out. The little symbol was cut twice using my cricuit and then glued off center for a little dimension.

The next group is a Vintage group - yippee!! Love to do and receive Vintage work - it's my favorite.



The themes for this one are Vintage Valentines, Vintage Laundry, Vintage purses, and Vintage Mother's Day. The Valentine's card uses digi paper from Ten Two Studios, some old paper lace from my stash, an old image from my stash, and a vintage style button also from stash. Hurray for stash! The vintage laundry piece also used paper from Ten Two Studios. The little image I found on the internet - it's so small on the ATC but it's so cute - here's a close up of just that:



I printed it contact size and then adhered it to a little tag layered with patterned papers. I added a vintage button to the top, and then pop dotted it to the background of the card, also made with Ten Two patterned papers and vintage lace. I added some punched letters from the Ten Two digi paper and a little purple flower from stash, along with some feathery leaves I punched using a Laura Ashley punch. I added the gold photo corner to finish off the card.

For the Vintage Handbag I used more Ten Two Studios digi paper, crochet lace from Jo Ann's. tiny pearls from Michael's, and a stamp from See D's. I cut the image out and added a little cord handle and more tiny pearls to embellish it.

For the Mother's Day card, more of my favorite digi paper from Ten Two Studios and an image from the Internet... I used a border punch from SU with some tiny pearls to embellish it, then just added a flower with a vintage brad center.

Group 20 was another luck of the draw group, and it had some very varied topics!

The themes for this group were Vintage Valentines, Don Knotts, Altered Artwork, and High Heeled Shoes. For the Vintage Valentines I used a Fan Kit from Ten Two Studios. I printed it out and then xeroxed it until I could get it REALLY small... the real kit is much larger. The BINGO card is also from them and pretty much prints exactly the right size for an ATC... they have several themes to choose from in the BINGO cards so I had fun with those. All I needed to add were little pearls, a premade bow, and a little cupid I've had for ages and had no idea what to do with! I think he looks cute there :)

The Don Knotts card was a fun one - I always loved the Andy Griffith show and one of my favorite recurring gags was Barney locking himself in jail! I was able to find an image of that on the Internet, as well as an actual map including Mayberry and Mount Pilot! I used the map as my background and marked the cities with a little stickles. I added the image and hung an old key like the one hanging just out of reach in the jail... too fun!

The next theme is Altered Artwork and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be going for with that one... hopefully I got the right idea! I took a Van Gogh painting and used that as my background image. I "altered" it by using a picture of Mona Lisa in a paper doll kit I got from Ten Two Studios - again I had to really reduce the image to get it down to ATC size, so there was a lot of little cutting going on! Overall the effect is a little strange, so I'm hoping I understood the theme right and that the recipient will like it!

The high heeled shoe uses more digi paper from... yep - Ten Two Studios! Love their stuff - can you tell?? I added some photo corners using my Quickutz and some blue pearl embellishments from Michaels. The brown ribbon is from SU and the little shoe is actually a vintage button I had in stash. Simple, but I was happy with it.

For group 21 the theme was writers/poets.



Themes clockwise from top left are Robert Burns, Edgar Allen Poe, Shel Silverstein, and Ogden Nash. And here are perfect examples of why I love the PATs... I'm not big into poetry, so before joining this group I'd never heard of Robert Burns or Ogden Nash. OK, truth, I didn't get thrills from anything I saw by Robert Burns... he probably has something famous out there that I'm simply not aware of... from what I did find, I didn't really get it, but I hope I made a good card for him anyway! (Lot of brogue in his poetry - kind of hard to read...) I found a little passage I liked and printed it out - it's about a young girl in a field, so I had a great little stamp set from Papeterie. I mounted it on some of my favorite K&Co paper and added some little pearls to embellish.

I am a Poe fan, so I chose The Raven for my card, mainly because I had this cool raven stamp! The background was created using blended Distress Inks from Tim Holtz, then I stamped the image and heat embossed it in black. I added strips of words from the poem and a tiny picture I found of Poe on line.

The Shel Silverstein card focused on his puzzle piece poem. I printed it very tiny on paper that looked a little like an old sidewalk, and kept it simple by printing out a tiny picture of Silverstein and mounting it on a Quickutz of a puzzle piece.

I'd never heard of Ogden Nash before and I have to say, he has some funny little poems out there! Just simple, silly little things with clever rhymes and a keen sense of humor - I had a hard time picking one to use! The background paper is from Memory Box, and the cow is from MFT stamps. I stamped him twice and popped his head up, then added little strips with the poem and a bow to top it off. Because it's short and sweet, here's the poem:

The cow is of the bovine ilk

One end is moo

The other, milk.

Isn't that funny?? I can't imagine a man sitting around and thinking stuff like that up!

The last cards were for group 22 and were the most fun to make - the theme for the group was shaped ATC's! This was pretty cool since they still have to work in the size - 2.5"x3.5".


The themes are just what you see - butterfly, dog, teapot, and mask. All images were created using multiple layers of thick paper and my cricuit. Nothing too special about them besides the shaping, but, trust me, that was challenging enough!

I'm working on PAT 15 cards now, so should have some more of these great multithemed little gems to share shortly!

Some recent ATC's..

I've been involved in multiple ATC swaps recently and again just haven't had time to upload, so wanted to take a minute tonight and start... I'll do some now and some in days to come to fit them all in as I still have an altered book to start tonight...

The first two cards are part of a new swap group I joined called Stampin D'Amour... it's been a great swap so far and all the swappers are very talented!! My card for February has a Mardi Gras theme:


This was such a fun card to make! I started with a layer of striped patterned paper (Spring Swirl from Best Creations) and mounted it on glitter black cardstock. I stamped the white swirls with VersaMark and then heat embossed them with white. Then I stamped the black frame (the stamps were Fancy Pants...) and heat embossed that. I printed the sentiment on purple cardstock and cut it to fit the frame. The fiber on the side is one I've had for a while - I think it came in a kit from BJ's. For the mask I used a downloadable pattern on my QuicKutz silhouette along with some hologram paper I got from WalMart (yeah, I'll shop anywhere for scrapbook goodies!). I added the pearls to the eyes and some old jingle bells to the edge of the mask to finish the card.

The card I made for April's swap is an Easter themed ATC using a digi kit I got from Ten Two Studios - LOVE that store! The design makes a foldable ATC - here is the outside:




And then here is the inside:


I LOVE vintage style and I just thought this was so funny! For the outside, I basically printed the card and added my own embellishments.... some blue flower soft to add texture to the flowers, a blue rhinestone in the middle of the bow, and some green fiber to simulate Easter grass. For the inside, I used clip art included with the kit but then some different background paper I had from Bo Bunny... I thought the colors went together better than what was in the digi kit. I inked all the edges in brown and added a row of rhinestones to the top to finish it off. I hope they liked it as much as I liked making it!

The next swap I was in had a supernatural theme - I love all things supernatural so this one was a blast for me! I'll admit it - I'm a big Twilight fan, so I wanted to do a vampire card, but didn't want to actually do Twilight. So, I searched the internet and found an old image of Lugosi at his best - and I came up with this card:



For the background, I used some Coredinations Black Magic paper, which I embossed in a Cuttlebug folder and then sanded to reveal the colored core. I punched the scallop trip from SEI velvet paper and added some gems from Kaiser. The roses were some old ones I had in stash, and the spider web paper is from Making Memories.

I decided to make a mini Ouija board for the second card:

I was able to download the image right from the Internet; I then cut it out and coated it with a sepia tinted glaze to age it. I cut the little planchet out from brown crinkled paper and inked the edge in gold; Then I added the old ghostly photo, which I also downloaded. Very simple but fun card to do.

The final cards I am sharing today were part of a Simon Says swap on Splitcoast; we each signed up for spots in a group, and then were emailed a list of instructions for the cards. Here is the first card I did, which was for Group 2 in the swap...

For this card, the parameters I received were: to use a cool color for the base (mine is light blue), to have the word stormy be the adjective for the card, to use a new technique (I used the "bleach swipe" technique for the first time... first, I took a piece of Not Quite Navy cardstock from SU and swiped it with bleach, dried it with a heat gun, then swiped and dried again two more times. This particular cardstock turned purple when I bleached it, which was unexpected but I thought very cool... Next, I stamped the SU sanded background stamp on it using Navy ink to pick up what was left of the Navy in the background, and then I sprayed the whole thing with Tattered angels Ocean Mist spray... Then I stamped the Tattered Angels compass over that... very cool technique and the first time I'd tried it. I got it from Pat Huntoon's Technique Junkie newsletter...) , to use a rectangle (my image), to add red (my photo corner), to add a line (part of the sanded background stamp, to add a quote, to put 2, 4, or 6 embellishments on the card (the black crystals), to add something light (the light house), and to add patterned paper (the photo corner again). This was so fun - I loved the new technique I learned, and it was a challenge pulling all the elements together!

Here is the card I made for Group 3:

The elements for this card were to include: primary colored base (the red), the adjective for the card is "clumsy" (from the image and the quote), to use an old technique (I did double resist, which was a technique I learned from SU...you use glossy paper, heat emboss a stamp (I used the glitter snowflakes), then stamp again in Versamark without embossing and just brayer over it (that's the flourish and the grey ink ), to use a triangle (I arranged my snowflakes in a triangle on all the cards), to use red (the base again), to stitch something (the sequins and beads are stitched on), to add a quote (this was from the actual Bambi movie), to put 1, 3, or 5 of something on the card (the snowflakes, beads, and seqiuns), to add something dark (the gray ink), and to use a magazine picture (I actually used in internet picture instead because the theme I came up with was very specific!).

Hope you're enjoying your weekend... I had fun today swimming with the kiddoes and now I'm off to work on my first altered book - happy crafting!!

A Few Pages in April...

I know, I know - I'm completely out of the posting habit at this point! I'm trying to get back into it, and I have a lot of great projects to share, so I'll keep trying! I just finished my third semester finals yesterday, so I'm feeling very relieved and ready to play catch up on some of these thing!

Here are some scrapbooking pages I completed as part of an online scrapbooking class I was taking through Big Picture Scrapbooking... the class is over now and I'm just getting to the uploading part... I have a lot of layouts to finish for the class as well, so they'll keep popping up as I work through the material. The class was Design Your Life by Cathy Zielski - I'm a big fan of her work and the class was very useful in teaching actual design elements - yea!

The first layout was based on a particular color palette we were supposed to use... orange, yellow, and black.

I used paper and embellishments from Basic Grey's Ambrosia pack and some black crystals from Zva Creative. The big brad was an old one from my stash. The first part of the title and the journaling were printed directly onto the cardstock, the "flight" is some of the letter stickers included in the Ambrosia pack. The journaling says "Some days I feel just like this butterfly, perched precariously on the edge of the world, waiting for the right time to stretch my wings and fly. This is the time of my rebirth, a time I am turning my life into something new and beautiful and meaningful. Every day I wonder, am I brave enough? Am I strong enough? Am I committed enough? And every day I answer myself by letting my hope take flight." This page was inspired by all the changes I have recently made in my life and my hopes for the future.

The next two pages are the same layout, one for my daughter and one for my son. I loved the idea of encapsulating little daily activities to remember our lives by... here's my daughter's page:

I used paper from Magenta and printed the title directly onto the patterned paper. I accented the page with gems and pearls from Zva Creative bling, and some antique lace I had. The little frame is from SU. The butterfly and bird are cut from the patterned paper. The journaling is:
-Put on only soft, comfy clothes
-Brush your hair as soon as you wake up
-Make your own breakfast
-Take breaks by jumping on the trampoline
-Feed the animals (whether they need it or not!)
-Play with your doll Alex and other stuffed animals
-Watch two or three iCarly episodes
-Run fast and jump on me when I get home
-Wiggle your butt when you want something
-Give me SO many reasons to smile

And my son's page:


The paper and sticker are from Pebbles Inc. - the title I printed right onto the patterned paper from the computer. The journaling is:
-Wake up super early, usually before 6 a.m.
-Turn on the computer first thing
-Smile when Mrs. Laws gets you out of the car
-Jump on the trampoline with sissy
-Spend hours surfing YouTube
-Reenact your favorite videos with beanie babies
-Ask for "chips wiff cheese pweese"
-Take at least two baths or showers
-Ask for tickles just before bedtime
-Remind me how lucky I am to be your mom

Hope you enjoyed these layouts - what I loved about the class was the simple layout designs, which allows you to focus on the pictures and the meaning behind the page - hope you like them as well!