Art Prize

Well today I don't have a card to show you.  I was gone Tuesday and working in my yard a lot on Wednesday and yesterday.  It was such beautiful weather out for October I couldn't resist being outside!  So more about Tuesday...I went to Art Prize with my hubby and had a look around.  We didn't even come close to seeing everything, but we enjoyed walking around Grand Rapids checking out what we could.  I figured I'd share some pictures of what we saw...

These are the first pieces we saw at the GRAM.  I have to say I love his work (because I love flowers).  They are made of hand blown glass and steel.  He drove them here from Seattle, Washington...yikes!  Not sure if the whole group or only one of the pieces is in the top ten.

This was also in the GRAM.  I actually took it to show my son because he's a hunter.

I took this pic to show my oldest daughter.  She thinks my cards have way too much white in them.  Well, I happen to really like this piece so I must like the white and light colors. :)

These pandas are made out of bike tires...hence the name Tired Pandas. :)  This is another top 10 finalist.

Sorry if you see a few blurry blurbs in my pics.  I want to respect people's privacy so I blur them out a bit.  It gets kind of hard to take pics at times because some areas are so full of people.

This was a top 25 winner.  Even though the top ten had been chosen and this wasn't one of them, we noticed the artist still sitting by his work and talking with people. :)

Talk about a lot of sequins and pins!!!

This had a lot of positive messages all over this...and it's obviously in the shape of a heart. :)

I don't remember what this was called, but it liked to shoot out fire!

We could feel the heat from where we were standing and it was NOT close! lol

I thought that it was kind of funny that this was right by the fire breathing dragon! lol

No idea what this is, but it had moving parts. Wish I had stuck around to see a little more.  I think it was one of the top 25.

I saw a lot of people walking around with these twirly pieces, so they must have had lots of them made up to sell.

This was kind of cool.  First you take a pic without your flash...

Then you take it with your flash.  

I do want to point out that even though I thought some things were pretty neat it does not mean I agree with all that they stand for!

Loved this pic! 

I really liked these pics too, but the glare from the light made it hard to take a good picture of them.

I kept seeing pictures of this on every one's fb page and I was wondering what it was about. 

I guess  they were supposed to change the color of the water...when the sun was shining.  I managed to see a little of the color. :)

I just liked this pic so I added it. :)

LOVE this!  

I wasn't sure what way was up on this picture.  That's why I thought it was pretty neat.

This whole picture was made with peanut shells!

Lots of crocheting and knitting in this piece of art.  If I remember correctly it has 26 pounds of yarn.

This is one big fish! 

And I would NOT want to be kissed by it! lol

Earth Giant - just fishing away.  Another top 10 finalist.

Since I love dogs I had to take a pic of this.  Looks like a pretty nice fort if you ask me.  Even looks like it might have a stove in it. :)

Another top 10 finalist.  It was outside the Gerald R. Ford Museum.

I think this had lighthouses from all over Michigan on it.  I wouldn't get too close because there were a lot of news cameras around this area because three of the top ten pieces were here.

Holland!

Another top 10 at the Gerald R. Ford Museum.

Last piece we saw.  I was getting hungry and it was getting busy since it was after five and such nice weather out.

If you managed to make it through all my pics, and you'd like to see the top ten entries click HERE.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

'Tis the Season's First Challenge!

Hi Everyone!  I'm excited that today is the first day of 'Tis the Season's Christmas card blog challenge, and that I am one of the designers!  We will be having a Christmas card challenge for you every two weeks.  Why am I excited about this challenge?  First I think it will be fun to make Christmas cards throughout the year instead of just around Christmas time, and second is that I plan to make four of the same or very similar cards when I make a design for the challenge.  That means by this time next year I'll have around 100 cards all ready to go for Christmas.  I'll only have to sign and address them. :)  I love to stamp, but I have to admit that it gets kind of boring making around 100 cards of the same design. :(  On top of that, even though I order and get my supplies early somehow the time always gets away from me, and I'm cramming to get them done in December so everyone gets their cards before Christmas!  

So far I'm off to a good start..I made four cards with my first design. :)  Now I need to find a place to store all of them for next Christmas.  It will be fun to go through all the cards next year remembering each one I made.  Check out what the other talented designers' cards look like by joining us HERE at 'Tis the Season.  You can start following us and showing us the great Christmas cards you have made too!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  O Holy Night & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Elegant Eggplant & Whisper White

Glimmer Paper:  Silver

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Elegant Eggplant

Embossing Folder:  Modern Mosaic

Punches:  Modern Label & Word Window

Ribbon:  3/8" Taffeta in Whisper White

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Blue Birthday Butterflies

It's Try Stampin' On Tuesday time!  Here is my take for our sketch challenge this week, plus the twist of using black, white and one other color.  Once again I didn't watch for the theme until after I had it made!  I need to pay closer attention!  I'm still sticking with my original card because it is black, white and blue...kind of. lol  I'm using all blues, just starting with a light blue and gradually going to a darker blue. :)

Don't forget to check out what the other designers made HERE using this sketch .

Thanks for looking and have a great day!  

Stamp Sets:  Papillon Potpourri & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Soft Sky,

Pool Party, Coastal Cabana & Bermuda Bay

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Soft Sky, Pool Party, 

Coastal Cabana & Bermuda Bay

StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Modern Mosaic

Punches:  1" Circle, Bitty Butterfly

& Decorative Label

Love You!

Ok, so I did one very simple thing for the October Creative Crew challenge...Creative Focus: Celebrate Sweetest Day (10/19) by creating a card for your Sweetest using products from the Etcetera Suite found on P 96-109 of the US Catalog.

This is a pretty basic and simple card for my sweetie on Sweetest Day. :) That's ok because he likes simple...maybe not pink though! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Gorgeous Grunge & Seasonal Sayings 

Card Stock:  Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Chocolate Chip & Pink Pirouette

Embosslits:  Fashionable Hearts

Haunted House!

This summer at the Stampin' Up! Convention I saw Carrie Cudney's mixed media projects and thought they would be great to give a try sometime...a long time away! lol  Well the challenge for this project from the Creative Crew on Splitcoast Stampers is Scrapbook focus:  October is Self-Promotion Month.  Show us how awesome you are on a scrapbook page, mixed media project or with This & That.  I saw "mixed media project" and decided I was going to try it sooner rather than later. lol  I must say this took a lot of work and a lot of using the heating tool!  Probably because I ended up buying a glossy "mod podge" which didn't let the ink dry very well...err!  I was happy with the final result though. :)  Instructions below if you dare to read it all! lol

This first pic was the best pic since it represents how it actually looks the closest of the three pics I have.  You can see the trees on the side at least. :)  Those were the only things I stamped on the canvas.

I liked this second picture because the flash of the camera kind of gave the pic natural moonlight.  It's not this bright on the canvas, but I thought was pretty neat to see here.  You can see the trees a little bit on this pic, but not much.

This last picture is actually the darkest of the three...at least it is when I look at it in my Picasa library.  As I'm typing this I can see the trees really well, but if I tip my laptop screen they disappear.  Yup, that's the reason I took a few pics since I knew they would all look different.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Serene Silhouettes

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Night of Navy & Elegant Eggplant

Card Stock:  Witches' Brew DSP

Punch:  1 1/4" Circle

Mod Podge, Foam Paint Brushes,

White Gel Pen, Sponges

How did I make this?  Good question! lol  First things first I drew out a rough sketch of what I wanted (I Googled at a lot of cartoon type drawings of haunted houses to get ideas).  Next I drew what I wanted right on my canvas with pencil and made a few copies of it because I knew I would be cutting it up (did I say this was tedious work? lol).  After cutting out the pieces I traced them onto the DSP Witches' Brew from Stampin' Up!  (making them slightly larger than the original pieces except the windows because I needed to tuck them under each other so there weren't any gaps between the pieces exposing the canvas).  I applied mod podge and put on the first piece which is the sky.  It's actually the white/typed DSP with bats (that's how I get the moon to stand out.  I covered it with a punched out circle while I was sponging).  I applied another coat of mod podge after I applied the paper.  So I don't keep typing that, understand that every time I put on a layer of paper I applied more mod podge on top of it. :)  Then I applied the drive way (used dark typed paper) and the hills (used the black paper with splotches of gray on it).  Next was the house, piece by piece (same DSP as the hills).  Next the windows (used the DSP with summer starfruit on it) making sure I outlined them with black permanent marker.  That yellow sure makes the house's windows glow. :)  Outlined the house, hills, and driveway with the white gel pen.  Sponged (dabbed) on elegant eggplant, then night of navy for the sky.  Unfortunately I must have bought glossy mod podge because when I sponged on the ink it did not dry no matter how much I applied the heating tool.  It would just smear when I applied the mod podge.  I did a LOT of layers trying to figure this out and finally sponged on white stazOn ink to help dry it. Once I got the dark sky the way I liked it I did need to draw some of the white outlines again on the house and hills.  Just add as needed while working on it.  To get the glowing light from the windows and on the hill I would draw a little area with the gel pen then smear it with my finger until I got the look I liked.  If I didn't like it I would sponge over it and try again.  This was very forgiving! :)  Next I stamped on the trees using StazOn Black...and did a layer of mod podge.  Last, but not least, I cut out the fence posts using woodgrains that I found somewhere on the DSP, trimmed down the witch's hat, cut out a small bat and small gray gravestones (kind of hard to see).  Whew, that was a lot more thinking and typing than I thought it would be!  Hope it helps anyone who is interested in making something like this.  I would try and find a video on making mixed media and watching it because that might help you like it helped me (I watched Carrie Cudney's at this summer's SU convention).

Trick or Treat

This is the first project of four that I made for October's Creative Crew challenges...DSP/Color Focus: Witch's Brew DSP on P 21 of the Holiday Catalog or color combo: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Starfruit and Very Vanilla.  

So glad I won the Witches' Brew DSP or I would have been in trouble!  I don't have anything Halloween in my craft room!  I wanted something that was pretty simple to make so I used the top note bigz die and made a box to go in between them.  The only thing that took a little bit of time was coloring in and outlining the words "Trick or Treat".  Oh, and getting the words in just the right spot when you're trying to cut it out in the shape of an acorn. lol

Just a couple of different views of the top of the box.

I guess it's just "trick" once this box is opened, because there's no candy in there for a treat! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Card Stock:  Witches' Brew DSP

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Basic Black

Stampin' Write Markers:  Basic Black & Pumpkin Pie

Bigz Dies:  Autumn Accents & Top Note

Sponges

Everything Eleanor?!

Another one of my October creations for the Creative Crew on Splitcoast Stampers.  The challenge for this gift card holder is Holiday focus: Wear Something Gaudy Day is on 10/17. Use your gaudiest colors to create a gift card holder.  The outside kind of looks ok, but the inside and back of the gift card holder are definitely gaudy.  I made sure of it!  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Everything Eleanor & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Cherry Cobbler & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Island Indigo, Raspberry Ripple, Cherry Cobbler & Wild Wasabi

Punches:  Word Window & 1" Circle

Aqua Pen