Friday, December 17, 2010

A time for MISTLETOE!

Any excuse, really. For mistletoe AND SNOWMEN! I mean, WHY not? It's the season!





Any excuse to play with PAPER, as well!!!!! If you're running out of them {excuses!}, CHECK OUT THESE FABULOUS COLORS from my delightfully challenging friends, Just Us Girls! Lookee, here! This GORGEOUS hunk of color inspiration is truly a terrific combo to get your creative engines purring... I DO hope you can join us this week! C'mon and grab some TERRIFIC paper-play for a dose of sanity to see you through the grand holiday, rapidly approaching! If PAPER-PLAY calms your soul {!} THIS challenge is for YOU!!!!!





What a dreamy color scheme! I got lost in a Winter WONDERLAND of my own creation: it's not only the season of PEACE.... If you love paper..... it's also the season of PIECE! As in PAPER-PIECE!!!! Helloooooooowoooooooooooo!!!!!






I can almost HEAR the snow blowin'! {Oh, wait... it's THE rain.... *drat!*} Oh, well, at least that might explain why I ADORE snowmen so very much... Not many of those in these parts... just sayin'. I simply adore the lil' fellas... {You MIGHT have noticed! GASP! I just realized EVERY card I've made for Just Us Girls, in the past month, has been SNOW-PERSON oriented! Wellllll!}

Here's a little drum roll and some encouragement to visit these FINE gals and their breath-taking creations. They TRULY work their you-know-what's off week after week, to keep us challenging ourselves in GRAND and crafty ways. I can tell you that I'm breathing a bit harder, just trying to keep up with the fun! It's been such an honor to play with them all month long, as a guest designer - a TRUE honor, for sure! {Thanks for having me, ladies!}



Pam
Dana
Alicia
Andrea
Kathryn
Maria
Lisa
Kristin



For composition fun, I was influenced by the Card Patterns challenge for this last week... By the time this post goes live, I'm pretty sure this challenge will be closed, but since I was TOTALLY inspired, I thought they deserved the shout out! Maybe I'll catch them next round! {THERE is NEVER enough time in the week! Ack!} Either way, inspiration is a beautiful thing and Card Pattern's sketches never let me down!





Sometimes it's hard to justify taking that creative time, ESPECIALLY this time of year. But if the season is really about giving, then I surely hope you'll give YOURSELF some time to craft. It REALLY is the gift that keeps on giving! Best of luck with your plans and creations! I can't wait to see for myself, sooooooooooo ~ CRAFT ONNNNNNNNNN! Yeee Hawwwwwww!


Supplies -

C/S - PTI
D/P - Making Memories
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Crystal Effects - Stampin' Up!
Sparkly Fluff - Our Craft Lounge
Stickles - Tim Holtz/Ranger
"Season's Greetings" Die Cut - Sizzix
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Snowflake - My STASH!
Snowman - My design
Bias Tape - My stash + Tim Holtz Recipe Glimmer Mist

Friday, December 10, 2010

Yes, I know I have glitter on my face!

Have you ever seen that stamp? It's a classic!

I could have used it today, as I crafted my card for THIS week's Just Us Girls Challenge - If you're feeling seasonally festive, or even if you just have a thing for bling...

YOU are going to love this!





I'm totally delighted to be a guest designer with Just Us Girls, this month: they have SUCH fun and diverse challenges {*Swoon!*}... This week, the challenge is to use "stained glass" technique. I hope you'll swing by their site for all of the details. My cliff notes version is: stamp on transparency with your favorite solvent based ink, then on the back side, use your favorite clear adhesive or Stickles to add glitter BEHIND your image. When DRY!!!!!!!, flip over and BOOM - goes the dynamite: SPARKLING STAINED GLASS TECHNIQUE!





For some positively glorious color inspiration, I was THRILLED to finally partake in the BRILLIANT colors from the Play Date Cafe!!!! {It's been FAR too long! Ack! I have missed those talented folks!} So, I'm tossing in a two-fer, this round: PDCC & Just Us Girls! A match made in crafty HEAVEN!




Aren't those colors DELICIOUS! This was the perfect palette for my SNOWMAN worship {!}... Yipeee!

So, here's the juice ~ THE JUST US GIRLS vault of creative euphoria.... CHECK IT OUTTTTTT!





Such nice crafty gals! I hope you'll play along this week.... KNOWING how busy we all are - but remember what Tim{!} says, take some time to be CREATIVE! YOU deserve it!

{We ALL do!}

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Cosmo Cricket
Stamps - October Afternoon (Snowman & sentiment); Snowflake - WPLUS9 design studio
Ink - Stampin' Up!; Staz On; Colorbox Chalk
Edge Punch - Martha Stewart Crafts
Circle Punch - EK
Baker's Twine - Timeless Twine
Ribbon - Michael's
Jingle Bell - Darice
Scallop Circle - Sizzix
Stickles - Ranger/Tim Holtz
Glitter - Doodlebug

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Walkin' in a {Tim Holtz induced...} Wonderland!

Bloggy WONDERLAND, that is.... Rancho Durenberger STYLE!

{Hold on to your ear drums - I'm going AUDIO!}






Update:
In case you were unable to access this {oh, HEAVENS! :o)} - the link has been updated! I'm a You TUBE "newbie!" Doh!
Thanks for your patience!

Accccckkkkkk!

If THAT was "TMI" about life at Rancho Durenberger, you may just want to hit the mute button and read the words, for yourself:

Over the house, lies a mantle of laundry
My empty pantry is QUITE a quandary,
But here in the blogland, we’re clickin’
And CRAFTIN’… TOGETHER!...

Bam, bum, ba-bum, bum…


Splarkly fluff, is a-glistnin, shiny wire needs some twistin’
It’s a beautiful sight, Tim’s Tags done up right,
Craftin’ in our Bloggy Wonderland!


In the studio Tim can make some Ta-ags…

He’ll festoon with bits of vintage charm.
Dies and grungeboard crunching though the Vagabond,
And now we have to have one of our own!

Later on, we’ll be a-stalkin’, bleary-eyed

Checkin’ the clock, and, it’s a beautiful sight

When we get it right, waitin’ for Tim’s Tags

to come on line!

In the background is a glimpse of Mario!

He’s a smilin’, swillin’ Starbuck’s, too….
Without him, Tim would be much less AMAZING!
Wish I could have a friend like Mario, too….

Splarkly fluff, is a-glistnin, shiny wire needs some twistin’
It’s a beautiful sight, Tim’s Tags done up right,

Craftin’ in our Bloggy Wonderland!



That's right, friends! We're FLYING though the Twelve Tags of Tim and I am HAVING a good time! So good, in fact.... {aw, shucks - I'm SO flippin' giddy!} I'm going to get a little shameless, once again... I won TIM HOLTZ blog candy today! YEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAWWWWWW! Oh..... myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy....... goooooooodnessss! I'm so freakin' happy I had to write that lil' ditty, in an effort to channel my excitement and rekindle my "tradition" I started last year with my "Ode To Tim"! Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeee! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to the lovely and talented Mr. Holtz and the ever so funny and delightful, MARIO! You two ARE Christmas!

Meanwhile, hope you can forgive my lack of papercraft - I'm preparing some art for a little, local showing at my FAVORITE coffee haunt.. Here's a mini-preview:





{THAT'S "Auntie Cow! She's Mamacow's B-A-B-Y! All THIRTY SOMETHING years of her!}

Anywhooo, dear ones! I hope I didn't scare you: I do, soooooo, get silly around this time of year! Thanks {!} for visiting! I hope you're having a blast getting your "Tim" on!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Holy SNOWFLAKES, I'm a JUGS girl!

.... At least, temporarily.... {!}


It is with TREMENDOUS delight, and a tad of "aw shucks", that I accepted the FABULOUS honor of Guest Designer-ship for the fun and FANTASTIC, challenge destination site, Just Us Girls! { Yipeeee and Yahooo! } I'm THRILLED to be playing with some of the MOST extremely lovely, fun and, hugely talented gals: the ladies of the J.U.G.S, during the month of December!





OH WHAT FUN! That's RIGHT! Check out this action-packed sketch provided by, Alicia, one of the bright stars of the JUGS' corral, a fellow HORSE-LOVER, and all-around sweet heart! I have to say, her sketch made my heart race with the "possibility", but gave my paper-lovin' heart reason to dig in deep, and and get my CRAFT ON... {That's code for "it was a BIT of a challenge!"}! Limitless card-craft potential: I hope you'll be inspired to let this great composition catapult you into some FABULOUS craft d-i-s-c-o-v-e-r-y!

In other words: PLAY WITH US! (Is it okay that I say "us?" - hee hee)




I got some PAPER-PIECING onnnnnnnnn, for the love-o-the-sport! Goodness, gracious, it felt good! Something about the impending holidays, far too much to do on the "To-DO" list of life, and nursing a sniffly child ALL WEEK LONG {Ack!}, that made my slice of heavenly craft time, today, light me up like a BRAND new Christmas Tree! Oh, Tannenbaum - it felt good to craft!






An entire FAMILY of snow-flaky folks, inspired by one of my favorite Christmas paper collections - EVERRRRRR! {I love COSMO CRICKET * I love COSMO CRICKET * I love COSMO CRICKET! - I REALLY, really, really do!} This was my answer to FABULOUS sketch #62... Check out what else is going on in CRAFT CENTRAL! The fine works of the JUGS team will certainly help you get your creative mojo in high gear!




Here's hoping you'll love playing with this sketch as much as I did! I, literally, cannot WAIT to see what the JUGS "regulars" kick down, and if you haven't shared your work with them before , I SURE HOPE YOU'LL dig out some time, this round!!! THANKS for stopping by!


Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Mirrored C/S - Bazzil
D/P - Cosmo Cricket
Punches - Marvy, Fiskars, Stampin' Up!
Ribbon - Michael's