Monday, January 31, 2011

February Release - GROUP POST!

For a chance to win something (*wink!*) from my first EVER blog candy, give me a little love right here!



I love, love, love new release time.

I love how we get to slowly treat you to glimpses of Dawn's latest designs, bit by bit, card by card... She's GIVIN' stuff away and we're having much fun, linking up and showing off and most of all, getting some SERIOUS stamp ONNN, in order to inspire you bigger and better than ever before....

But the best {selfish!} part, is that I'M the one who's all inspired! I adore the responses from y'all, so much! I love seeing how each of the W9 girls interprets these stamps and uses them in their particular style, then MORE inspiration, MORE fun, and I'm just sayin'... It's SUCH fun!

My final card for this release, my look, uncharacteristically simple for me. But it was a PROCESS card - a symphony of MANY stamps from this release and a whole lot of fun! I hope you like it!





I really was mesmerized by the whole, old school, postal theme that was happening in these stamps. The images, the words, the fact that these stamps are created for the endless possibility of combining within each other for ENDLESS creative fun... {Oh, I love this sport!}

Anyway, here is a little bit of my masking fun that helped me get the look I was dreaming of...





I can't EVEN express how much I love the Tim Holtz masking material. {But I REALLY love it!}





I invested my time in getting the large dogwood image done with the clear mask, and now I'll have it to use again and again! For the extreme detail of the cardinal and butterflies I did use post-it material, but I reserve the right to make MORE with the clear mask in the future - this would be great for a card or image that you will make multiple times, for SURE!

Here's some detail from these TERRIFIC stamps that play together, flawlessly!




You might know that I love "eyes" in my creatures. I couldn't resist giving this guy some extra sparkle in his all-knowing look,
by adding dimensional adhesive - don't look away, he might blink!



I love a good chance to color and enjoy a little easy water color fun...
So now I have to swoon about the color-izing potential of Flora & Fauna - SO MUCH FUN!

I hope you'll take some time to visit the Wplus9 site for all of the details
and hopefully to PURCHASE these fine, fine images!
The rest of the DT's cards are featured and I hope you'll spin buy and give them some love!
It's always a treat to see what everyone does with these fun stamps!




Dawn



Thanks, AGAIN, for your interest. I am THRILLED to be sharing the beauty of Dawn's stamps with you and your kind comments just make my day! I'll be back from CHA late tonight, but I will have ALL kinds of goodness and excitement to share -
including that lil' announcement I've been promising y'all!
Thanks again for letting me share the fun!


Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Wplus9
Ink - Staz On; Stampin' Up!; Versafine
Stickles - Ranger
Masking Material - Tim Holtz
Circle Punch - Stampin' Up!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

February Release - Day FOUR!

For a chance to win something (*wink!*) from my first EVER blog candy, give me a little love right here!




.... And I'm still coming to you LIVE from L.A.! Ack! {My feet are homesick! Just F.Y.I}

But the rest of me...?

HAV-ING A BLAST!







Owwwww! Lookee! Here's me and a VERY nice new friend I found here, at CHA.... Michele! {WHAT A DOLL!}
She and I are delighted and gesturing, wildly at the FANTASTIC product that Want2Scrap features
and some DROP dead samples from their hugely talented designers....

I used some of their perfectly be-jeweled line-o-bling for my card tonight,
featuring Dawn's NEWEST stamps, Spring Post & Postmarked!





Here's the story of my card....

I gave a letter to the Postman, he put it in his sack...
But by early the next morning...
HE BROUGHT MY LETTER BACK!

Da- da-da-da-da...

Oh, wait, no, THAT'S not what happened! I just got my INK - ONNNNN with Wplus9 design studio,
and ... one of the most charming and useful collections of stampy design goodness and
awesome card craft - EVER! That's the story of my card! It was so much fun, I made this, too!




For some MORE fun card craft inspiration and "tales from the journey, "
perhaps you might enjoy checking the rest of the Wplus9 crafty crafters
and their super sweet creations from these fine, fine sets:


Dawn
Savitri
Maile
Hannah
Ginny
Kerrianne

&

the AMAZING

Sarah Martina

In particular, be sure to visit Dawn, as her post will be including the BIG REVEAL,
so you can see all of the fabby details for ALL of her new sets!
Tomorrow night will be our fabulous GROUP post,
and then all of these babies will , at last, be available for purchase!

In the meantime, I have to brag on the super talented Want2Scrap girls, since I was privileged to view their fine, fine creations IN PERSON! Plus meeting the delightful team of Michele and Michele, the girls who make all of that gorgeousness possible, and seeing their awesome products in person, has definitely been a show highlight for me!
Enjoy a little taste from the show!











{Anything look familiar!}

Alright lovely folks, I have to run back to our lovely HOTEL room {ugh!}
I'm REALLY glad you stopped by! I'll post the deets in a bit,
so stay tuned if there is anything you missed!

Love and happy crafting to you all!


Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Making Memories
Ribbon {Pink} - Making Memories ; Striped - Bazzil {?}
Bling - WANT 2 SCRAP! {Can you tell I'm having SPECIAL love for these folks? Hmmmm...}
Floral Stick Pins - Maya Road
Quilted Heart - May Arts {?}

Saturday, January 29, 2011

February Release - DAY THREE!

For a chance to win something (*wink!*) from my first EVER blog candy, give me a little love right here!



I survived CHA - ON THE FLOOR with the big DOGS - honey, baby, sweethearts! It IS as huge as you've heard!





What a B - L - A - S - T! I have SEEN some things, friends. Good things. Glorious and AMAZING things!


Things like this:



And THESE ~



And THESE!



And, of course - THIS!



Oh, MY! Look at the crew - Cathe, T!m and ME!

It's ALMOST too much for the eyes to bare...

But I've got something else that's SUPER fun, and you don't even have to BE at CHA to enjoy it...






My card features some of Dawn's newest output, mainly Spring Post!





{I LOVE this set! It is LOADED!}


The whole team is busy playing with either Spring Post or Post Marked:
I CAN'T wait to see what they've done!


Dawn
Savitri
Maile
Hannah
Ginny
Kerrianne

&

the AMAZING

Sarah Martina


THIS release is rockin' my creative world! {And remember, I'm at CHA! HELLO!}




I feel TRULY blessed to have had a chance to share this with you...
THANK YOU for sharing your blog time with me! Take care!



Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Wplus9 design studio
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Scallop Die - PTI
Scallop Punch - Fiskars
Circle Punches - Stampin' Up!
Baker's Twine - Divine Twine

Friday, January 28, 2011

February Release - DAY 2!

For a chance to win something (*wink!*) from my first EVER blog candy, give me a little love right here! {Please....}




I'm BACK {live!} from L.A. - and all I want to do... is have some fun... I've got a feeeeeelin', I'm not the only one...

{Music please! C'mon Sheryl... let me HEAR you!}






It's CRAZY here in this unfamiliar big, big, BIG city, friends. I am the proverbial "country mouse" and my ranch boots are walkin' on some seriously strange territory! The actual show doesn't start until tomorrow, but we've taken some FABULOUS classes and ALREADY learned a lot! Fun, FUN! My morning was punctuated {first by a wrongly set alarm clock at our hotel - we were up at 4:30am instead of 5:30am.... - MY word!} by a fun encounter at a, near deserted, Starbuck's by the Staples Center, when I realized MARIO was in line in front of us. My dear friend, Cathe, ever positive in the promotions department, notified Mario that "I was the girl who sang about the 12 Tags of T!m!".... Embarrassed, but undaunted, I belted out the verse about Mario, for God and the entire staff of Starbuck's to hear...

No coffee was even on board at that time.

Mario was a darling as EVER! He claimed to remember the song, and the lovely gal accompanying him, Joy, FROM SPARKLY FLUFF, also remembered my little ditty! {So glad Sparkly Fluff worked fabulously in the refrain!} We sure got the day off to a festive start - that's all I'm sayin'... {Chuckle!}

In my "spare" time, I got BACK down with these AMAZING stamps! Wplus9 is FINE and let me just say that after immersing myself, FULLY in this set, THAT letter "W" stands for WONDERFUL! {That DAWN girl can DESIGN - yes, M'am!}






The colorful POSSIBILITY of these babies - well, does ENDLESS fun size it up for you?

Here's the proof! The GALS of Wplus9 - once again, I know you'll be dazzled!


Dawn


Meanwhile, {drool, drool, drool..} I'm BEYOND excited about this terrific release! I've loved the feedback, so far, and I can't wait until YOU SEE WHAT ELSE the Wplus9 design team has done! I hope you'll take some time to check them ALL out!

Here's my piece in its entirety ~





I am, definitely, guilty of being completely carried away by this new release. I just let the inspiration take me to a VERY eclectic place, including VINTAGE ephemera and doo-dads that just made my crafty lil' heart soooooooo HAPPY!




It was just a hoot to layer and layer faux postcards, with one real one at the bottom. I sort of edited and forged an old love letter to a dearly departed friend of ours ~ I inherited some SUPER cool, real-life ephemera and used it in HIGH style, paired with Dawn's images... That's what I'm thinkin' anyway. Thanks to a ratty, but well loved postcard, I was inspired to create a piece of paper craft that was a little GRUNGY-er than I usually do with Wplus9 designs. Anywhooo - isn't it so cool where inspiration can carry us! Yipeeeeee!

I sure hope I didn't rattle on, too terribly much in this post. It's been an overwhelming stream of AMAZING images and REAL life encounters in this, my first day at CHA. Imagine - we haven't even hit the floor yet! ACK!

More, oh, so much more TOMORROW, friends! I sure hope you'll tune back in for ANOTHER stamp set in Wplus9 release day number THREE!

THANK YOU!

Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Wplus9 design studio
Ink - VersaFine; Staz On; Stampin' Up!
Paperclip - Making Memories
Seam Bias - My MIL's stash!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

It's TODAY - It's TODAY! I'm on the ROAD!

For a chance to win some juicy blog candy, leave me some love right here!

Hello, lovely and fine friends of Blogland!

I am coming to you LIVE from the land of LA!

La-la-la-la-la...la-la-la-la...

No, no! {Silly ME!} NOT like Deck The Halls.... Like L.A.! Swimmin' pools! MOVIE STARS! Yipeeeee Skippeeee... I'm ALMOST famous!

{Errrr - NOT!}


Actually, I have something VERY important to share with you, right here, right now....
In ALL seriousness - it's the first night of Wplus9 design studio's FEBRUARY release for 2011!








Be still - the magic of possibility! I GUARANTEE you, that, I, am about to share an extremely VERSATILE stamp set: THE VERY LATEST from Wplus9. Oh, BABIES - I had fun with this collection!






I ALWAYS loves me some color work, and the detail in these flawlessly rendered images provided an excellent palette for coloring and composition!

Here are the details of this fabulous piece of stampiness!


Flora & Fauna I

*is a 6x8 clear photopolymer stamp set
*contains 7 stamps; 4 large focal images and 3 accent images
*will be available for purchase February 1st for just $19

But wait: there's MORE! Not only do you have an opportunity to visit ALL of the lovely Wplus9 designers and truly be inspired by this smokin' hot set, we have one super inspiring, lovely and fun guest designer with us this month... {I can't WAIT to see the what she does with Dawn's AMAZING stamps...} Oh, dear! None other than the lovely, CRAZY-TALENTED, and one of my favorite friends from the world of Blog -

Sarah Martina

and just a FEW other fabulous gals - the W9 crew....


Dawn
Savitri
Maile
Hannah
Ginny
Kerrianne


Strap yourselves in for a fun and crafty ride! Yeeee Haw!

Thanks for stopping by, my dears! I'm SO excited to be posting from a VERY glamorous
hotel in a strange, strange land.... MUCH to share in the coming days: Yipeeee!


Supplies -
C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Wplus9 design studio
Ink - Staz On; Stampin' Up!; Versafine
Seam Binding Tape - Mother-in-law's Stash!
Punch - Stampin' Up!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Have you seen THIS girl?

This.... is..... my...... ROAD TRIP buddy......





{I... know!}

Don't hate me because I'm SUPER lucky!

"Flat Cathe" and I are going on a lil' road trip tomorrow. I W-O-N-D-E-R if you can guess
where we are going... ????? Can you STAND some suspense....? Are you CURIOUS....?

Well, because we can't hog ALL of the fun, I'm going to... for the first time... EVERRRR...Do a GIVEAWAY! {I know!} I have never, ever, ventured into the joy-o-the giveaway.... {Not because I don't want to SHARRRREEEEEEE, but because I'm scared of the technology part.. heh heh....} It's okay, I'm pretty sure hangin' with "Flat Cathe" will help cure me of a lot of my technical insecurities... Anywhooo, since {and this is JUST a little hint...} we'll be tapping the source....

OF
ALL
THINGS
CRAFTY
&
AMAZING




[I figured I'll have some goodies to SHARE!]

So, g'head... Leave me some love
{Oh, CRACKERS - now I feel shameless AGAIN!!!!},
and double your comment {*LOVE!*} if you
ARE a follower of mine, or
COMMIT to the love by BECOMING a follower {*SWOON!}...
(be sure to tell me that you've done so!)
And increase your chances of winning some
FABULOUS booty....
To be announced... in the days to follow...


{I can't give you an exact date, just yet - but that should help with that lil' anticipation thingy...}

I... just may post some "action photos" as the days progress... AND, I hope you'll tune in for the NEWEST {and most BREATHTAKING} release from Wplus9... YOU are going to love, love, LOVE the latest and greatest designs from that crafty babe! I have been having a complete love-fest working with these babies, so get READY!

Oh, and one last thing...

I'm actually taking my road trip with life-size Cathe! THE REAL DEAL!

{I..... know!}

Now, it's okay to hate me... just a teeny tiny bit....

YIPEEEEEEEEEE & YEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAWWWWWW!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

All Eyes On... ENVELOPES!

The lovely and talented folks from Wplus9 have, yet, another technique-rich endeavor to share with you.....





Yes, friends - it's the unofficial GREETING of the greeting card -
we're talking about ENVELOPES!


The outside...






This inside....




The other outside...





And the inside of the INSIDE - the card, itself...!








Oooow, friends - I couldn't help myself! Even though the air was still full of icicles...
It was a downright spring-like day, here at Rancho Durenberger!
My use of this FANTASTIC Wplus9 stamp, needs no further explanation...

{The BIRDS & The BEES - one of my all-time W9 FAVES!}








Look! Cow and HORSES - fraternizing! {Scandalous!}


I hope you'll take the time to go and see what some of the other
stampy gals of Wplus9 did with their use of envelope...



Dawn
Savitri
Maile
Hannah
Ginny
Kerrianne





Here's hoping the sun is shining wherever YOU are! Have a great one!




Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Making Memories
Stamps - Wplus9 design studio
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Acrylic Paint - Liquitex
Corner Rounder - EK success
Thread - Gutterman

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

So, I'm not Tim Holtz...

I REALIZE that! REALLY....{!}

But man, oh, man! I can't get over what a delight it has been, completing my "Twelve Tags of Tim." I have to apologize for the redundancy, as I mentioned following my last tag. For that reason, I'm going to just throw down my final three tags... And then I'll try to put it all to bed....

Until NEXT year.... heh heh heh...


















Fun, fun and F-U-N-N-E-R! That's what I have to say about THAT!!!!! {Sorry, English teachers!}

If you find yourself with a little extra time on your hands,
and perhaps an emotional load that's a bit heavy....

I really and truly MUST recommend that you look up that old Tim fellow...
and his ANY of his most recent {or any year!} Twelve Tags of Christmas... PICK one!
And then just make it! Using ANYTHING you've got - no stressing over "right or wrong!"
This whole process was TRULY therapy for me. Thank you for indulging me!


SO, now that THAT'S done... CHALLENGE TIME, babies!




And, I REALLY am, "tickled PINK!" for a whole bunch of reasons!
The FIRST reason is because I'm throwing in some color work
for my dear friends at the Just Us GIRLS challenge! Check it!!!





{*Gasp!*}
Aren't these colors BEAUTIOUS! WAIT until you see what the JUGS DT has done!
{*Swoon!*}

And what's a fun color combo, without a GREAT sketch!?!
Hellooooooooo... calling CARD PATTERNS!
How YOU doin'?




It's been TOO lonnnnngggggg since I've had some time for multi-challenge FUN!
So, babies - THIS was my day! {I know! It WAS a good day!}






Oh, FRIENDS - I REALLY am tickled PINK! But MORE on that.... another day! {Yipeeeee!} You'll have to stay tuned for my EXCITING news! Eeeeeek! For now, I'll just have to THANK YOU, once again...... I ADORE the fact that you took some of your precious time to visit my creative spot here in BLOGLAND! It REALLY, really makes me a happy girrrrl! Here's hoping you've got YOUR happy onnnnnnnn! Take care, friends!



Supplies - {Card}

C/S - Stampin' Up! & Papertrey Ink
D/P - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - WPLUS9 design studio {clouds}/ Jillibean Soup {pig & sentiment}
Ink - Stampin' Up! & Staz On
Paint - Liquitex
Bling - Michael's
Fluffy Yarn - Adornaments Fun Fiber
Ribbon - Recollections
Flower - {My STASH!}
Baker's Twine - Paper Treats
Circle Punches - EK Success & Sizzix



Friday, January 14, 2011

Gettin' just a little more colorful!

It's time, again, for a WONDERFUL WPLUS9 design studio, Color Cue challenge! {I know!}

I've been missing my COLOR! WPLUS9 has been on a {well deserved!} hiatus, but dearies, WEEEEEEE'RRRREEEE BAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK! Just fasten your seat belts... this Color Cue is just a warm up... This is going to be a VERY exciting year for WPLUS9... {VERY!} I don't know if I have clearance to tell you this or not... SHHHHHHH! Dawn has designed some, SERIOUSLY, s-e-r-i-o-u-s-l-y smokin' hot stamps..... I, for one, cannot WAIT for February...

But that's all I have to say about that... { For N-O-W....!!! }

Get ready to get your challenge onnnnnnnn!



Color, babies! Glorious, clean, darling... COLOR!!!! G 'head... TASTE that cotton candy! Yee-ummmm!




I LOVE THIS PALETTE! Love, love, love, be still my heart - I LOVE THIS PALETTE!




Since, as a group, the W9 design team has been on a lil' break, I have to tell you, I am SO excited to see what type of inky, tactile magic the other gals came up with for this fabulous festival-o-color! I hope you'll give them a lookee and some ... well... LOVE! {I *heart* them, don'tcha know!}




So, THERE you have it, friends! Color IS fun AND so are we! {Hee Hee} So get some color ON, and have a super crafty day! I am positively delighted that you stopped by!


Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - WPLUS9 design studio
Ink - Stampin 'Up!
Acrylic Paint - Ranger
Transparency - Stampendous
Ribbon - Recollections/Michael's
Border Punch - Stampin' Up!
Postage Edge Scissors - Fiskars
Tinsel Twine - Stampin' Up!
Glitter - Stampin' Up!



Wednesday, January 12, 2011

TAG #9 - Feelin' FINE!

It's just a WHOLE lot of fun! SERIOUSLY!





Making these tags is SUCH a hoot! I feel like I'm taking a twelve day, intensive class with Mr. Holtz, himself! I mean, SERIOUSLY! If not for him, I just don't know that I'd get waist deep in my materials and techniques.... this many days in a row! I really and truly am going to stop gushing {SOON! I promise!}, but I just can't get over how much I feel like I am pushing myself {and loving it!} to use SO many materials, I'd otherwise leave in a drawer. I had to have all this stuff to begin with...{RIGHT!?!}! But in my day-to-day card craft, I usually find reasons NOT TO EMBOSS... Or do anything that requires DRYING time... etc. Just letting myself get swallowed up in technique-rich crafting is like boot camp - for the crafty! It's just THAT exhilarating!





Here's to you, crafty friends! Thanks for letting me share this little journey. I hope you got deep in your materials, today, as well! Good crafting IS my effort to create "peace on earth..." at least in my own mind!

Enjoy your day!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

TAG - I'm IT!

Woopsie do!

Missed you! I guess I was still tired from the baby, I gave birth to, 13 years and several days ago... {hee hee}

Anywhoo, I'm back, friends! More Tim TAG art to share!




I can't even remember which one this is, but it's my 8th... {PHEW! - Imagine, I'm just replicating the work of the Holtz-man, not even c-r-e-a-t-i-n-g from scratch... and it's work.} My biggest challenge, is recreating Tim's fine pieces, without all of his supplies...

(Insert sarcastic "wooo!")





Anyway, this one was SUPER fun!


And, speaking of fun, I had a MARVELOUS time leading my wee-girl's 4H Arts & Crafts project the other day {Gee, maybe THAT'S why I'm still tired!}, as a guest project leader.... It was a super fun privilege to work with this enthusiastic group, let me tell ya! You might not be exactly surprised to learn that the project was influenced by this project... (I know, I know...)


Some pre-Valentine's Day collage...






And a lil' something for the "other folk".... MAN! {Never seem to have enough "craft" for them fellas...}




These are teeny tiny canvases, available at most craft stores... They are wrapped, backwards, so the "back side" of the canvas, is covered and the flaps are glued to the solid, canvas surface. The "opening" of the stretcher bars, becomes a framed opening - a teeny tiny curio. So CUTE! So fun! Soooo much possibility! Check out what my friend, Dana - PAPER DAYDREAM, did with the same "influence" here.... {She's done an EXCELLENT tutorial, as well, so get ready to DROOL!}

I'm tellin' ya - the fun never ends!

Hope you're having a wonderful day!