Pilin' On the Fantasy

The themes this month at Pile It On are Black, Purple & Orange and/or Fantasy. You can choose one or both themes, and you may enter the challenge as many times you like, as long as you are inspired by at least one other Challenge theme. We're sponsored by Ike's Art, and I used her Mermaid 3 digital stamp.

I colored the beautiful image with Copic markers & added a mix of purple mica & glitters from my stash. The  double-sided patterned paper is from Authentique's "Sea-Maiden" collection. The sentiment is from Echo Park's Alice in Wonderland set. The frame is a die from Elizabeth Craft's "Lace Rectangles" set. I used fun foam to pop it up to make a shaker portion, and filled it with glass & colored microbeads, and more of the purple mica/glitter mix. The frames were cut from an ombre, ocean-patterned paper. The "tail" & bottom of the sentiment piece were made from a scrap of cork decorated with the Frantage method; Mom & I took a class on it years ago and now I'm glad I kept it in my stash for so long!

Inspiration/Challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks #425: Finish the inside
Crafty Cardmakers #220: Fairies or Other Mythical Creatures
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper: Anything Goes with Patterned Paper
Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenges: Sparkle, glitter or flocking
Stella Says Sketch: Sketch #617

Update: This was chosen as a Top 3 at Sparkle N Sprinkle!

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Down-home Wisdom

As soon as I saw this fun Donkey Mail digital stamp by Ike's Art, I knew I had to make a card featuring one of my dad's favorite "from the farm" quotes: "Why are there more horse's asses than there are horses?"!

I colored the Ike's Art image with Copic markers & covered much of it with brown flocking. I inked the patterned patterned paper for the different layers. The middle portion was made with Memory Box dies and ink sponging. The horse rubber stamp was stamped in gray Memento ink, colored with a green Copic, and textured with alcohol. I made the sentiment with the CrimeFighter BB font.

Coincidentally, a Facebook Friend shared this similar joke today: "All people have the right to be asses but some abuse that privilege"!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cheerful Sketches Challenge: Sketch
Dream Factory #52: The Horse Whisperer
Ike's World #105: Anything Goes + IkesArt image
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers #102: "F" is for Farm Life

Update: I was chosen as a Princess of Snark at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers!

Thank you for visiting,

Merry Catmouse!

The fabulously talented Ike has started a new challenge blog, Show Us Your Pussies, dedicated to our Feline friends. I've already joined the challenge with her freebie CatMouse Tree, but I couldn't resist using her other freebie, "I Iz SANTA", along with "Holiday Mouse" by Floppy Latte Designs. I made an easel card to sorta look like a computer monitor and desk. I used twine to make the mouse cord. I colored the image with Copic markers, and painted the background with a clear Wink of Stella glitter pen.

I made this for my husband, as we've enjoyed I Can Has Cheezburger together on many occasions. 

Did you spot the 2nd mouse? I drew a little cursor arrow with a santa hat and glued it onto the "screen" just for an extra giggle!

I even decorated the envelope, with stamps that look just like our Schnauzers Walt & Allen:

Inspiration/Challenges:

IkesWorld Challenge #53: Santa (+ image by Ike)

Show Us Your Pussies: Krimbo Kitties (2nd Entry)

Update: This was chosen as a Top 3 for IkesWorld Challenge #53!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Catmouse Tree

The fabulously talented Ike has started a new challenge blog, Show Us Your Pussies, dedicated to our Feline friends. I couldn't resist using her fun freebie "Catmouse Tree" to make a winter card.

The sentiment is a House Mouse stamp, and the snowflake background is by Bird's Cards.I colored the image with colored pencils and glitter & gel pens. The red snowflakes are fabric stickers.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Ike's World Challenge: Ice & Snow + Ike's Art Image
Pink & Main Challenge: Christmas
Show Us Your Pussies: Krimbo Kitties

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Pilin' on the Flamenco

The theme this week at Pile It On is Cultural/Family Traditions. We're sponsored by Ike's Art and I used her wonderful Spanish Dancer digi stamp. I grew up in Spain, so this reflects the culture I grew up with (although I live back in the States now):

I added some actual lace to the Flamenco dancer, something that artisans used to do on postcards in Spain. The tiny castanets were cut on my Silhouette with a file I created for my Castanets book.

Challenges/Inspiration:
Craft-Dee BowZ: Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge: Anything Goes with Patterned Paper (3rd entry)
Deconstructed Sketch: Sketch #204 (final challenge...you'll be missed!)


Check out my other cards for this challenge here & here.

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Pilin' on the Elemental Dragon

The theme this week at Pile It On is Cultural Traditions: be inspired by a traditional custom or symbol. We're sponsored by Ike's Art and I used her wonderful Chinese Dragon digi stamp. 
The current theme Ike's World Challenge at is "The Elements" so I combined our 4 traditional elements (Earth, Wind, Fire, Water) with the 5 Chinese Elements (Earth, Wood, Fire, Water, Metal).

I colored the dragon with Copics and a glittery-red Wink of Stella brush pen. The image includes some lovely flowers, but instead of coloring them I covered those sections with fabric and mulberry flowers. I put the dragon on an Action Wobble to add a little movement to the scene.

The flourish on the top right is cut with a Sizzlits die from blue metal from Add a Little Dazzle, and represents the Wind. I stamped a Chinese Longevity symbol from Stampin Up in gold onto wood and die-cut it. The border is cut from the same wood sheet. I know the Chinese fortune (from an actual cookie) isn't traditionally Chinese, but it's certainly a tradition! The designer papers are from Graphic 45.

Allways Something Creative

Challenges/Inspiration:
Wobble Wednesday: Anything goes with an Action Wobble
Animal Friends Challenge #27: Fantasy Animal (dragon)
Allways Something Creative #101: Sketch
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge: Anything Goes with Patterned Paper (2nd entry)
Cute Card Thursday #378: Add A Quote (fortune)
Ike's World Challenge #40: Elements - Earth, Wind, Fire + Water
WordArt Wednesdays: Anything Goes Family Friendly

Check out my other cards for this challenge here & here.

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Grateful Ravens

So the other day I asked my husband for some crafting inspiration (he's my favorite muse). He suggested "Uncute Animals" and my mind immediately came up with this slightly unusual thank-you card:

I live in Baltimore (infamously known as Edgar Allan Poe's final resting place) and studied creative writing at the University of Baltimore, so Poe is one of my favorite go-to historical pop-culture icons.

The design is based around the "Poe Bust" digi stamp by Ikesart. It's printed on a shiny paper. I colored Poe with Copics. I cut the column on my Silhouette Cameo using a clipart file I found online. The pieces are cut from the same shiny paper. I made it a pop-up (see photo on right), so the card closes flat but stands up as well.

The ravens are all from the "Poe Bust" digi stamp, but I took the file into SCAL and cut them from a shiny black paper on my Silhouette. I used a ZIG glue pen to cover the ravens with glitter black flocking.

I had the perfect yarn for the "brain" but it was light yellow, so I died it with Pure Pink Copic ink.

If you look closely, you can see that the white background is embossed with little hearts (forgive the pun!) I added loopy red trim to the sides.

I wish I could send this to my teachers/coworkers/mentors at University of Baltimore; they taught me so much, especially the need for a creative sense of humor!

Challenges/Inspiration:

Ike's World Challenge #38: History
Perfectly Rustics: Pop-up
Quoth the Raven: Raving Ravens + Poe

Update: This was chosen as a Top 3 for Ike's World History Challenge!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting,

Purple Poe

You still have a week to join the Purple challenge at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT). 

I had so much fun making my purple book box last week that I decided to make another, smaller version to hold a copy of "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.

This box is roughly 2.5 x 2.125 inches, and features "Poe Bust" by Ikesart. I printed Poe on shiny ivory cardstock, and printed the raven on a regular white paper. I colored the bird with black & glitter gen pens, fussy-cut it, and placed him atop the pallid bust.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Challenge Up Your Life: Box

Craft It Up & Link It Up Linky Party by Craftin Desert Divas: 3D Projects
DoubleClick Skittles #14: Use a bird

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time,

The gift of time

This week at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), our theme is Use a Digi. StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists, and if you use one of our products you'll be entered to win the super-duper main prize of 7 digis. If you don't use a store image, you'll still be in the drawing to win a $3 gift certificate. 

I used Cuckoo Clock by Ike's Art.

I printed the image onto woodgrain-patterned paper (Echo Park/Lori Whitlock), as well as a white cardstock. I colored it in wood shades with Copics, and pieced it on top of the patterned oval. I cut the oval frame with my Silhouette, from a different woodgrain-patterened paper. I added some detail to the image with glitter pens.

I stamped the sentiment (Our Daily Bread Designs) in Tye Dye distress ink onto a scrap of patterned Kraft paper (K&Company). The background was made by embossing a Core'Dinations cardstock. I sanded it a bit and distressed it with Antique Linen ink (Tim Holtz).

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafty Girlz #13: Anything Goes
Cards Galore Encore: Use a stamp or digi stamp
Crafty Bloggers Network: Nature
Love to Create: Anything Goes
A Song in your He{ART}: "Time Flies"
The Crafting Cafe: CAS
WordArt Wednesdays: Anything Uplifting Goes

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at One Stitch at a Time,

There's a light ... Over at the Frankenstein place ...

There's a light
Burning in the fireplace
There's a light
In the darkness
of everybody's life.
–The Rocky Horror Picture Show

My sister-in-law is a huge fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I've wanted to make her a card using this Dr-Frank-N-Furter-inspired digi stamp by IKEsWorld for years.

click to enlarge

Can you believe that it's the 40th anniversary of TRHPS‽ I dusted off our old VHS tape of the movie and watched some it while "researching" this card. And yes, I danced the Time Warp along with the movie; I think it's the law!

I colored the image with Copics and glitter pens. The gloves & vest were printed on shiny black paper, and I painted the vest with ZAZZ glitter. I added tulle stockings with Glossy Accents.

You can read more about this card design, as well as see the cards I made for the rest of the family, in this post.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Craftitude Challenge #51: Anything Goes
IKE'sWORLD Challenge #3: Anything Goes + IKE'sART image

Update: This won a Top 3 spot at IKE'sWORLD. Thank you!

Thank you for visiting,

John Finn's Wife mini book

This week at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), it's Anything Goes!

I used Rapunzel by Ike's Art, and made a mini-book of the lyrics of "John Finn's Wife" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

The tin is only 1.5 inches. It originally contained tiny paper clips. I sanded and ink-distressed it a bit, and used double-sided tape to adhere the ribbon. I added Stampendous Mica with Glossy Accents to the top. I colored the image with Copics and a white glaze pen.

The text was all done in Adobe InDesign; I hand-cut the circles. The text "pages" are backed with vellum flowers that I cut on my Cricut. It's bound with a sheer green ribbon.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Anything Goes Challenge #97: Anything Goes
Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge #134: Anything Goes
Crafty Ribbons #54: Anything with a ribbon
Creative Moments #22: Anything but a card
Rhedd & Rosie's Challenge #11: Anything goes
Simply Create Too #42: Anything But A Card

Update: Thanks to Juliet's comment (in the Comment section), I was reminded that I wanted to share the backstory on why I chose this particular song/poem: 
Nick Cave has been my husband's favorite singer forever, and back when we were dating in High School he used to sing this song to himself while riding my motorcycle over to visit me. In the 20 years since, we've listened to the song together many, many, MANY times! I actually found that I had most of it memorized. I decided on this design because it reminds me of my favorite part of the song, where she throws all the flowers on the ground... such a strong visual. You should see me with the book wrapped in my hair, it's quite lovely :)

Thank you for visiting,

Greek Geraniums

It's time for an "Anything Goes" challenge at One Stitch at a Time! I used one of the images from the Greek Series Views set by Ike's Art, available at StitchyBear's Digi Outlet.

I colored the image with Copics. Those geraniums take quite a while, but are fun to color! I cut out the window panes and made a window treatment with scrap lace. I've fussy-cut and popped the geranium pot to hide the cut marks, and to add to the 3D effect.

The sentiment is from Clear Art Stamps' Rosy Wishes set, and is stamped on shiny white paper (Recollections) with China Blue ink (Ranger).

The flower-patterned paper is by Jillibean Soup, as is the matching scalloped sticker border. The green-and-red ribbon is from my stash, as is the red raffia. The textured, light blue paper is a natural paper from Michaels (Recollections). I made the dotted border with a cream Pearl Pen.

rotated 90°

Inspiration/Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps Challenge: BINGO (Middle row: Ribbon/Lace, Flowers, Sentiment)
Crafting By Designs: Anything Goes
Crafty Ribbons #46: Anything Goes with Ribbon
Creative Moments #18: Lots of Layers
Digi Makeover Challenge: Anything Goes with a Digi
Divas by Design: Tie a Ribbon
Pause, Dream, Enjoy: Use Foam Tape (the window and flowers are popped with foam tape)
Sketch and Stash: Sketch #114 + Stash items (Lace and DPs are from my scrap/stash box)

You don't have to use a product from StitchyBear's Digi Outlet (SBDO), but if you do you'll be eligible for our main prize. This week, if you spend just $3 you get "Love Apple Tree" by Hope Jacare Doodles. That's difficult to resist!

Thank you for visiting and hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time this week,