Ticket to Fly

Dear Reader,

Do you love the little art known as Artist Trading Cards (ATC) as much as I do?  I have been participating in a monthly local trade for nearly 8 years now.  Each month we have two themes to choose from (or for the ambitious they can do both themes).  In January the theme I chose to sign up for was Make-Your-Own-Background.  I *love* making backgrounds.  I find it very therapeutic and calming as the mind wanders and the fingers do their magic.  I had no real idea of what I was doing for my background although I thought I could use a copy of two masterboards I made using some Hero Arts stamps, crayons and Adirondack Color Washes a while back. 

Here are the masterboards (it is a fun crayon resist):

That was when things got a bit crazy. 

I sprayed some of my Studio Calico Mister Huey's on the copy to mute the vibrant greens, oranges and yellows a bit (and to just play with them because they are fun!).  I added a strip of orange electrical tape bought at Home Depot last fall (with Halloween in mind).  Then I thought why not pull out one of my old Scarlet Lime kits and play with some of the cool elements I had in it?  So then I placed some alphabet stickers from Prima randomly all over each of the backgrounds.  Then I added a glittery lacy sticker border in the middle over the electrical tape.  Add some Glimmer Misted and stamped tickets (love, love my House of 3/Pink Paislee Parisian Anthology stamp set.  My recommendation: if you find this stamp set, snap it up!) attached with Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher, misted bird punch mixed in with patterned paper punched pieces, a bling eye from Prima and there's the card.

Thanks for stopping by the Hall!

Happy creating,
Shay.

Alphabet Soup ATCs
Supplies:
Stamps: tree, bird & flourish in masterboards from Tree, Birds & Messages set (CL182), Hero Arts and damask and postal cancellation from Parisian Anthology set, House of Three/Pink Paislee;
Ink: chipped sapphire, Tim Holtz's Distress Inks by Ranger
Cardstock: white, Georgia-Pacific; golden orange scraps
Patterned Paper: GCD Studios
Punch: bird & twig, Stampin' Up!
Sprays: Mister Huey's Calico White, Studio Calico; denium blue glimmer mist, Tattered Angels; lettuce, Tim Holtz's Adriondack Color Wash by Ranger
Other: yellow alphabet stickers, Prima; green glitter paper lace; orange electrical tape; tiny attacher, Tim Holtz; clear jewel, Prima; tickets; crayons, Crayola; Crop A Dile Corner Chomper, We R Memory Keepers 

Blog Makeover A

I will not admit to the exact amount of time I spent fiddling around with my new header and tweeking the design of the blog because upon seeing the changes you will not understand how it took as long as it did.  Then again it took me 2 hours to make a salad for dinner tonight so perhaps that will give a glimpse into my world (to redeem myself a little I did make a carnivore and vegan version of the salad and it was met with approval by both camps).

I do wish to mention where I got all of the gorgeous brushes I used for the header (although truthfully my header is a poor example of the beauty of these designs that Rhonna Farrer designed.  I will probably be continuing to make new headers until I love my header).  I have written of House of 3 before, but I don't think I can heap enough praises upon the ladies of House of 3.  I could happily buy every product at House of 3 and they also have a great live webshow every Wednesday.  Okay, enough pitching.  Go and find out on your own if you like and start playing around with brushes (very addicting).

Have a brilliant night and thanks for calling at the Hall.

Trio of Cards

I have been quite remiss with my blog this week.  So to make up for it I am going to post three cards in this post.  You will notice a theme as they all use Basic Grey's Origins line.  Yes, that line of paper once again.  As someone who hoards patterned paper (and nearly everything else) I can stretch the use of it like no one's business.  Think of me as the Ebenezer Scrooge (only that I like to make my money stretch not that I say "bah humbug!" a lot or that I have a nasty demeanor) of crafting--I reuse, recycle and repurpose.  I have a feeling that one reason I love stamps so much is I don't feel I am losing anything by using them.  They are reusable over and over again unlike paper, ribbon, stickers, rub-ons, buttons and the like.  I use those sparingly.  In fact I rarely use patterned paper (and stickers even more rarely) so all these Basic Grey Origin cards are a lark for me.  I truly am trying to reform.

First up is a little card made of scraps from kraft cardstock from my Christmas Cookie Recipe Book project.  These pieces of cardstock (measuring 6 inches by 5 inches) make the most interesting small sized cards (3 inches by 5 inches) which I would have never used had I not had a stack of them to use up in whatever way I wanted.  Yes, it is another masculine card.  This one showcasing a bicycle stamp by Studio Calico.  Isn't it a great stamp?  The other element I wanted to specifically mention is the square the main bicycle is upon.  That square is from a digital kit I bought and downloaded from House of 3.  If you have never been to House of 3's website go, go, go, now, now, now!  They have sensationally wonderful digital (and physical) products.  Often the products have printable elements that take no fuss if you don't want to mess with the elements digitally.  I found a whole sheet of these printable "blank" squares in my Magnet Board Project Kit and they are fabulous!!  I plan on using them many, many times in the future. 

The next card is using the Basic Grey Origins line to make a feminine card (I know you are saying, "At last!  Does she every do feminine cards?).  I can't claim any part in the card design as I started the card in that Basic Grey card class so it is all Basic Grey, but I did pop up the floral cardstock sticker and I added the butterflies all on my own (wow, am I original!).  Wednesday night, I thought the card was sort of shoddy and I felt I had really "cheated", but I felt better about the card in the light of day. 

Lastly, is another masculine card using the Basic Grey Origins line and another amazing printable by House of 3, this time from the Monogram Printable Kit.  Each letter is different and can be used to personalize a card or gift or spell out words or names to make banners, scrapbook titles and any other thing your mind can dream up.  Of course you can print the Monograms onto whatever paper you want, but I went with a natural white cardstock which I then distressed and also watercolored with some truly cool water-soluable wax pastels by Caran d'Ache which Donna Downey introduced to my friend in a class she took with her who then introduced them to me in a class I took with my friend (talk about confusing!).  In fact in my draft posts I started writing about the class my friend taught, my awesome friend and these water-soluable wax pastels so one of these days hopefully I will post it.

I hope you have enjoyed these cards and thanks so much for visting the Hall!

I Want to Ride My Bicycle Birthday Card
Supplies:
Stamps: Bicycle, Studio Calico; Happy Birthday, not sure as any label has been destroyed (If anyone knows, please tell me)
Inks: Vintage Photo, Tim Holtz Distress Ink by Ranger Industries; Jet Black, Archival Ink by Ranger Industries

Cardstock: Kraft, Papertrey Ink; White, Georgia-Pacific

Patterned Papers: Origins line, Basic Grey
Digital Element: Decorative Square (from Magnet Board Project Kit), House of 3
Other: Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper, We R Memory Keepers; stampin' dimensionals, Stampin' Up!

Madame Butterfly Birthday Card
Supplies:
Stamp: Happy Birthday, not sure (see note above)
Ink: Black, Archival Ink by Ranger Industries
Patterned Paper: Origins line, Basic Grey
Cardstock Sticker: Origins line, Basic Grey
Punch: Royal Butterfly, Martha Stewart
Die: Combo Butterfly, Cuttlebug by Provo Craft
Brads: Eerie line, Basic Grey
Other: Cuttlebug, Provocraft; Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper, We R Memory Keepers; stampin' dimensionals, Stampin' Up!

Fits You to a "T" Birthday Card
Supplies:
Stamp: Happy Birthday, not sure (see note above)
Inks: Vintage Photo, Tim Holtz Distress Ink by Ranger Industries; Jet Black, Archival Ink by Ranger Industries
Cardstock: Recycled 100 Natural White, Neenah Paper
Patterned Papers: Origins line, Basic Grey
Cardstock Sticker: Origins line, Basic Grey
Digital Element: T Monogram (from Monogram Printable Kit), House of 3
Other: Burnt Siena and Golden Cadmium Yellow, Neocolor II Water-Soluable Wax Pastels by Caran d'Ache; stampin' dimensionals, Stampin' Up!