Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Long Time Me No Bloggy!

Oh, friends! How I have missed you ALL!

It kills me to turn my back to Blogland... {Multi-MULTI-tasking ~ NOT on my resume!} I dove under the creative wave of FINE ART to tap into my inner "painter girl..." Sadly, the only way I can keep her around is to ignore "paper-crafty girl" and all things bloggy & e-mail... I wish I could keep both around AT THE SAME TIME, but these days, I've learned how to, at least, put the harness on the one I need....

{Oh, bother!} Let me just SHOW you what I've been up to!

These are some of my entries for our local Harvest Fair, here in Sonoma County... The first is a WONDERFUL image from the heart of the Wine Country... At the most delightful, historical, general store that has been artfully restored and updated by it's wonderful owner {check out ALL about this JEWEL on their website!}... Prominently parked in the front parking area is the GREAT, 1955 Ford {Former FIRE ENGINE!} pickup truck. I just swoon every time I see it! In celebration of this very special season and one of the most popular destinations in my area, I decided to paint this proud symbol...





Speaking of PROUD symbols.... THIS is "Mamacow!" I FINALLY captured her in a portrait!





And although you may have seen this watercolor scene before, I re-framed it, and decided to submit it to the Harvest Fair. I was EXTREMELY proud to receive a second place ribbon in our County Fair this year, but the frame... oh, I'll spare you the details, except to say that "husband" built it for me after an "accident" occurred to the original frame... Anyway, he's a wonder with flooring materials... {Ha ha!} But let's just say, the look didn't help this piece be seen in it's best light... {*cough*} I feel MUCH better seeing this baby framed with a more subtle color scheme!





These next two were in the "produce art" section of the fair entry book...

Here is a painted "HARVEST scene" taken from some pictures of a local pumpkin patch...




And finally, "painted face" category... My daughter wouldn't even look directly at this! She said it was "disturbing"... {I'm thinking she's RIGHT!} But I just go where the paint tells me! hee hee I apologize - it's not even October, yet! Anyway, I wanted to create a look like the pumpkin was "sculpted"... {No pumpkin was harmed in the process! We'll just wait until next month!!!}





So, sweet friends! That's what I've been up to!

This weekend is the fair, so if you can make it, come out and ENJOY the Harvest!

I look, immensely, forward to catching up with y'all!

Ciao!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

All Eyes On... COLOR MISTING!



And ... Country Songs...{!}




This month, the team from WPLUS9 design studio is a little misty... SHIMMER MISTY, that is! WAhoooooooo! Clever Dawn, always challenging us with a-little-bit-more... came up with the brilliant {as in SHIMMERY! hee hee} idea to work with some form of color misting! I love that she just wants to continue to inspire, and sometimes answer her customer's specific requests for MORE ideas! In the process, little ol' me gets to use STUFF that otherwise, sits around for extremely RARE usage... blah, blah {hoarder!},blah...

So, here I was...




Okay, I am... a... {lil' bit..} of a hoarder, when it comes to craft supplies... LUCKILY, I know lots of folks who are JUST AS BAD as I am! {Thank goodness!} Someone, VERY DEAR TO ME, is now legendary in local scrap circles for purchasing nearly EVERY color of Glimmer Mist, once upon a time, when a group of us made a shopping trip to a FABULOUS, Bay Area Scrapbook store... {LOVE her!} I'm SO grateful that she's an excellent sharer, as well. She loaned me HER ENTIRE COLLECTION!!! {I guess I should have photographed it, in it's entirety, but oh, well. At least I got to play - and LOVED IT! I've made a few colors using Tim Holtz's micro pearls powders, and I've been collecting more of the wee-little spritz containers for WHENEVER! But, I must say, these here Glimmer Mists were AWESOME fun!





I wish I could give you a visual tutorial of the steps I took in this fun process, but I was terribly unhappy with my photos of the "steps", so I'll give you the abridged version... Using NOTHIN' but W9 stamps, I was bent on a western look {WHAT???? Imagine!}... So I stamped a darling bud from EVER AFTER, with embossing ink and embossed it with clear on Caramel card stock... Then, I GOT ALL MISTY! Several different colors, that were inspired directly from the Cosmo Cricket "Wanted" paper collection... {HOW delighted do you think I was, with the recent addition to that line - OMG! YEEEEEEE HAW!} I misted and misted and whipped and dabbed - Mmmmmm, hmmmm! Looking good! Then, I stamped the wood grain image from Woodgrain Silhouettes, and then got busy with BROWN mists {Auburn and Cocoa, I believe!} ... I stamped it vertically and then cut a strip of paper and adhered it to the lacy edge image from Mehndi Medallions... Some faux pearl accent in silver... Yes, ma'am! {Card craft fun at it's best!} Some "seafoam" mist around the edge of some Baja Blue card stock produced a real pleasing western blue - that made my heart swoon!

Finally, I'm giving myself a western style pat on the back for my funny sentiment. Do you think this is a very NICE card to send to someone...? I guess that depends on your view of Country Music... {which, I LOVE, but still am not sure that wishing someone "a never ending country song"... is exactly, well wishes.... Perhaps it depends on the particular song... } So let me confess, I was thinking of a not very nice COUNTRY song as I thought of this sentiment...

I guess I should apologize to Dawn for altering her wonderful "Wishing you a never-ending love SONG" sentiment - it's SO beautious! But I happened to have an EXTREMELY old stamp that read "I *heart* country"... It was, literally, the first stamp I ever bought! {The rubber is so old, it has petrified!} But I had fun. And if it makes you feel any better - I have just the right person in mind to send this to...

Don't worry, it isn't ANY of YOU! I swear!

~And that's all I have to say about that! *WINK!*~

Meanwhile, as long as the saddle is on the horse, RIDE on over to the other W9 gal's creative sites and CHECK out their journey with Color Misting! Something tells me you'll be "spritzing" for yourself, soon! Yeeeeeee Haw!


Savitri
Maile
Kerrianne
Hannah
&
Dawn!




Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Embossing Ink - Tim Holtz
Embossing Powder - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - WPLUS9 design studio
Glimmer Mist - Tattered Angels
Twine - {? - Whoopsie! - ?}



Friday, September 17, 2010

Challenge denyed...


...but still celebrating "EARTH LOVE!" {Praise Mother Nature & Cosmo Cricket!} hee hee

Since, I'm back, pushing the deadline button on ANOTHER local fair {!}, I'm without much opportunity for CHALLENGE fun.. {*sob!*}.... I'll be embroiled in my fine art for a while... {It never fails that when I have ONE chore on the plate, suddenly EVERY other project in my life starts calling my name! *sigh*} But, since I've been strangely prolific in my personal celebration of Cosmo Cricket's "Earth Love" paper line - I have MORE to share!




I'm in love with the whispery softness and vintage look of this little girl, making wishes in a magic well with fireflies dancing all about... I combined her with AWESOME W9 stamps to make this an ideal "little girl" birthday card! The whole thing has a real "Snow White" animated magic, to me... I can practically hear her little voice echoing out of the well...

"I'm WISHING....."





A little shimmered STICKLES, ala MR. HOLTZ was the perfect way to bring those fireflies to life ~ I think it's fair to say, I got lost in this lil' card. It was a terrific ride in paper crafting, so I guess I can get back to the rest of my lengthy "to do" list...

{Doh!}

Thanks for stopping by, sweet friends of Blogland! Hope your weekend is getting off to a wonderful start!


Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Cosmo Cricket
Stamps - WPLUS9 design studio
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Cake Charm - Michale's
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Stickles - Tim Holtz/Ranger
Punch - Fiskars

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Color Cue time, once again!



Ooooooowwww! It's time to get my COLOR-ONNNNN!



Sweet Mrs. "W" {as in WPLUS9}, Dawn, has assembled another scrumptious color swatch to entertain, delight and s-t-r-e-c-h our color expertise, once again! Are YOU ready?



I sure hope so! Here's what I came up with ~


Since lovely Dawn, so kindly reminded me that it's not just STAMP, ink and paper that can "make" the color palette sing... I grabbed some wonderful material that I've had stashed in a pocket in one of my {many!} scrapbooking totes... for a LONG time! Anywhooo, looked "HARVEST GOLD" enough to me, so I made some flowers! {*Gasp!*} AND liked it!!! Then, I grabbed some stamps - from FOUR different sets, from W9, and had a card craft FESTIVAL! What FUN!

Let's check out what the OTHER lovelies from Dawn's creative team came up with!


Savitri
Maile
Kerrianne
Hannah
&
Dawn!

Wahooooooo! Color FUN! Don'tcha know! {*Swoon!*}

I cannot WAIT to see what YOU come up with! Head on over to Stamp Away With Me and Giddy on UP!

{Yeeeee Haw!}


Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - WPLUS9 design studio
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Scallop Edge Punch - Stampin' Up!
Half Pearls - Kaiser Craft
Alcohol Ink - {used to custom color pearls in flowers...}
Ribbon - Making Memories

Monday, September 13, 2010

Lovin' the EARTH...




Lovin' my CRAFTY friends.... AND Cosmo Cricket!

Here's, basically, how we roll:




We ARE fun! {At least we think we are!} hee hee

This card goes out to all the fine folks who shared the collective creative vibe, SO GENEROUSLY, with me, this weekend! I had the FANTASTIC good fortune of gathering with some of the BEST crafty friends, locally, for several FUN-FILLED days and nights, so the world seems far more sparkly to me today. Nothin' like plenty of LAUGHTER, good food and terrific accommodations to make the creative heart swoon!





I had more EARTH LOVE "festival" going on {I loves me my Cosmo!}, but everything looks even sweeter, when you've crafted in good company!



Sometimes, good quality time with good people can REALLY rejuvenate the spirit and HEAL what ails you... {Just sayin'...}





I sure hope that YOU'RE DANDY, wherever you are... The gift of "virtual" crafting, together with you all, is something that enlightens me, each day! Thanks for dropping by!

All cards -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Cosmo Cricket
Stamps - Practicing Creativity
Ink - Stampin' Up! & Colorbox
Border Punches - Fiskars & Stampin' Up!
Stickles - Tim Holtz/Ranger
Flower Die - Tim Holtz/Sizzix
Letter Stickers - Cosmo Cricket

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Soaring high!

Golly, golly, GOSH, I love THIS time of year!




This time LAST year, I was waiting and waiting to get the Earth Love paper collection from Cosmo Cricket! {Remember THAT!} Anyway, there was the tragedy of one of my favorite companies going out of business, and let's just say that my pre-order never happened. Well, so much for the latest and the greatest, but even a year later, this paper collection looks completely HOT to me. I'm OBSESSED with the elements page and I've been cranking out a bunch of fun starting with one piece of the elements sheet. {There's a WHOLE lotta fun in that one sheet!}

I hope you're having a craftiliscious weekend, wherever you are! I've been having a WONDERFULLY, naughty time, crafting with some SERIOUSLY fun and amazing local gals, and the fun continues today {Yeeeee Haw!} .....! Here's wishing you could join us, but wherever you are today, I DO hope you get your craft ON!!!

Enjoy!


Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Cosmo Cricket
Stamp - Inkadinkadoo
Sentiment Ticket - Tim Holtz
Mini Paper Clip - Stampin' Up!
Twine - my STASH!
Embossing Folder - Tim Holtz

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Just SOME FUN SKETCH action...

From the Just Us Girrrrrrrls crew!



They've got a real fun one this week, and although I've said it before, it's TRUE! Their DESIGN TEAM has really sizzled with this hot, hot, hot sketch! I knew, instantly, that this lil' baby was going to get me RIGHT where I needed to be, creatively! Check it OUT and don't forget the source for inspiration delight [JUGS headquarters!}...



I was SO inspired, I put aside my thoughts of "oh, no - HALLOWEEN!" to get crafty with some new goodies... Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge lover of the spooky-fun season, but when the jack-o-lanterns replace the school supplies at my local Target, I just get a little cranky. It's like a conspiracy to make the world move too fast... but WHATEVER! Since card craft IS my therapy, I let myself get lost in some new Cosmo Cricket CHIPBOARD!!!! from their new "Matilda" Halloween collection...



Ooooooooooowwwwww! THAT was fun!

Here's hoping the long weekend is providing some quality time with friends, family and YOUR CRAFT SUPPLIES!!!! {Can I get a "yeeeeeeeeeee hawWWWW!" ?!?!?!} Have a great day!



Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Stampin' Up! & Cosmo Cricket
Stamps - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Stampin' Up! & Versa Fine
Chipboard - Cosmo Cricket
Stickles - Tim Holtz/Ranger
Ribbon - {black ?} & Orange - Recollections
Scallop Edge Punch - Martha Stewart