Grunge Christmas Holiday Door Hanger

This weeks challenge for Simon Says Stamp and Show was to create anything "Grunge".  Well heres a little grungy holiday door hanger that I created for the challenge.   The holidays are fast approaching and every year I hope to be more prepared so I can enjoy them.  We'll see if this year I meet my goals. Hope you enjoy it.  Have a wonderful week. :-)

I used Karen Foster papers, Vintage Letters and Silent Night College and distressed them with the Zutter Distress it All. I then mounted the papers on both sides of a wooden door hanger from Creative Imaginations with Claudine Hellmuths Multi Medium. I used vintage photo and walnut stain Tim Holtz distressing inks on all edges of the papers and hanger.

I accented the holly berries with Ranger Stickles.  If you haven't used stickles you have got to try them. They are must.  I just love them.  I stamped evergreen trees with a stamp from Tim Holtz collection.  The children carrying the tree were cut out from one of the new Kaiser Craft Christmas Tags. They were also inked with distress ink and dabbed with some stickles.

I added a few pieces of bling to the trees to make them sparkle a bit.   I love the Merry Christmas ticket.  This was stamped with one of Tim Holtz ticket collections stamp on an old file folder that I had.  Distress ink and stickles add the finishing touches to the ticket.

The round circle Santa is a sticker from Karen Foster, Holy Nite Sticker sheet.  Of course I inked and distressed it.  I added a black velvet ribbon and a piece of natural string which I colored with distress ink.  A small gold bell and ribbons complete the front of the door hanger.

The back of the door hanger shows Santa looking over his list.  I added the list by folding a small piece of paper accordian style and scribbled on it with a fine black pen. It really brings the back of the door hanger to life. 

Who knows???  Maybe the back will be hung as the front at times. 

What projects are in your thoughts for this holiday season?  This was one one mine.  Thanks for sharing yours.  Be sure to hop over to Simon Says Stamp and Show to see all the beautiful "Grunge" projects that were handmade for this challenge.

TRI - FOLD LAYERS ALBUM

WOW....what a project.  I had a very relaxing time creating this tri-fold layers album.  A co-worker had told me about this type of design where you can make cards and albums this way. Thanks Peggy!!  I was excited to give it a try and what better week to do it for the Simon Says Stamp & Show layers challenge.  I am just squeaking it in under the wire as it sure was alot of work.  I am glad that I was able to finish it for this challenge.  So....here it is.  I hope you enjoy it.

This album is designed to hold 5 pictures.  I designed the cover to be able to hold a photo.  I placed a stamped tag under the acetate which can be removed. The stamped tag says " Imagination is more important than knowledge.  For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination leads us to all we might yet discover and create."  How true this is.  Thanks Tim and Wendy and all of the many other creative people that touch our lives everyday so that we can send our imaginations and creativity to heights never known before. :-) 

I hand made the flowers with coffee filters and Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die. Inked them of course with Tims distressing ink.  Love Love Love distress ink. :-)

I distressed all of the edges of the album using my Bind It All Distressing Tool.  Its a great little tool and easy to use.  I love the look.

Both ends of the album have a Hambly acetate sheet for placement of a photo.  I am searching for the right pictures to place in this. :-)  This would make a beautiful gift.

I used my cuttlebug for the emblossing and used Tims embossing folders for many of the items.  The cuttlebug is a must have tool.  I use it all the time.  The embossing really brings items to life.

I used chipboard, grunge board, stamps from both Wendy Vecchi and Tim Holtz collections, distressing inks, buttons, thread, brads, popsicle sticks, Martha Stewart punch, Tims Ideology metal pieces, distress stickles, regular stickles, acetate, coffee filters , glossy accents, crackle accents, some old metal Karen Foster embellisments, May Arts ribbon, some bling,  a couple of Prima Flowers & papers from Basic Greys "Cappella" line. 

I just love the dots on the handmade flowers.  I am really loving my Pigma Micron Pen.

The flower to the left is my favorite.  The petals are chipboard inked with distressing ink and the stem is a popsicle stick that I inked and stamped.

I love the center page. I used a a heart shaped Martha Stewart punch for the bottom border.

This was a fun project to make.  I think I will now make a few cards in this format.  Hmmmm maybe get some prepared for my trip to MN next week to Scrapfest.  Looking forward to some Mother-Daughter time cropping at Archivers & Scrapfest.  Thanks Simon Says for the weekly challenges and fun.  You have made me take the time I so need for my self. If anyone would like more info on this album or the directions please drop me a note on my blog.  Thanks for looking!  Have a creative day!

What A Surprise!!!

THE VIEW OFF MY DECK THIS MORNING

This morning I awoke early with lots on my mind and hoping to accomplish many tasks before leaving for work.  I sat with my coffee as I do each morning opening the laptop to my FB page. There on my wall was a post from Lynne advising me to go check out Simon Says Stamp and Show. Hmmmmm I thought.....On Wednesdays they post the winner of the prior weeks challenge along with the top 3 design winners.  Was I the random winner that the computer had chosen for the goodies...or was I one of the Top 3 Designs chosen???  There were 137 entries...WOW! 137.  I was scared to go to the site...scared to find that I may have won the goodies.  I love goodies you see...but I have so much "stuff" now that more added to the piles just may cause my husband to divorce me .  LOL   I was soooooo surprised and shocked to see that my "Birdhouse" entry that I created for the challenge
"All Things Tim Holtz Inspired" was chosen as one of the Top 3 Entries.

I had so much fun designing this little ditty and am glad everyone enjoyed it. Congratulations to Kat and Michael the other two very talented artists that joined me for the top 3 spots.  Thanks Simon Says Stamp and Show for a great blog and for everyone that enters their hard work for insparation.  Looking forward to this weeks challenge. :-) Have a great rest of the week!!

"ANYTHING LORD TIM OF HOLTZ INSPIRED"

This past week I decided to participate in Simon Says Stamp and Show's blog challenge that is anything Tim Holtz inspired.  I love grunge, distress inks, anything old looking, and anything that I can alter.  I created this house which was inspired by all things Tim.  I had trouble with my camera and the colors are not really showing the true "grunge look".  Other than the camera acting up and the colors not coming out right for the blog, the house came out beautiful.  I can't wait to bring it to work and show the gals.  I hope you all enjoy it and that it may inspire you in a way you have not been inspired before. :-)

         I began by stamping popcicle sticks with black archival ink from Tims Festive Sounds stamp collection.  I then distressed them with walnut distress ink. I glued them on the roof and the front edge with Claudine Hellmuth's multi-medium matt.  I love the stuff.  I covered the font of the house with some paper that I had in my stash...not sure where it came from.  Added a distressed and crackled frame that has Claudine Hellmuths sticky backed canvas behind the frame. I stamped the canvas with a stamp from Tims Nature Discovery stamp collection and then spritzed with Mini Misters full of distress inks and water.   I also used Bazzil cardstock that I embossed with one of Tims embossing folders. The sides and the back of the house were stamped with one of Wendy Vecchi's Ticket to Art stamps from that set.

 The flourishes are both grunge board and chip board.  I just purchased Tims Elegant Flourishes Die and cut some from that.  I inked them with distressing ink and finished them with stickles to give a bit of sparkle.

The flowers were handmade by little ole me. :-)  Tims Tattered Florals Die came in so handy to make these little fellas.  I cut the flowers from coffee filters and spritzed them with Mini Misters full of distressing ink and water.  Some times I add Perfect Pearls to the mini mister also.  I just love polka dots and I felt the need to give the little flower fellas some character of their own...dots.  They remind me of my Johnny Jumps Ups in my garden. :-)

      I added a distressed wooden fence around three sides of the house and added the flowers to the sides.

 I also added moss here and there on the roof and added a few flowers there along with the bird from Tims Caged Bird Die. 

I gave the bird two wings..one a heart and one the wing from the die set.   I added some ribbon, a hand made heart, and some of Tims Idea-ology pieces.  Under the roof edges I used a Martha Stewart punch to create an embellishment border.  I used recycled tacs (from another project) along the roof edges. 

   I would love to know your thoughts.  Thanks for looking.  :-)

Debbie

CONGRATULATIONS MATT & KAITLYN

Rod and I were blessed to be able to attend Kaitlyns wedding on August 7th, 2010.  We were expecting our 4th grandchild on August 2nd and wern't sure we would be able to attend the wedding in Ohio. Thank you Miss Willoughby Rae for coming into this world on July 28th.  You made us very happy that #1 you were a girl and that we would be able to attend Kait and Matts wedding.  It was a beautiful weekend full of love.  We wish many years of health and happiness for Kaitlyn and Matt. We love you both. :-)

Lynne gave us girls a sketch challenge.  We got together one evening and had a great time creating from one of the sketches she had designed.  What fun we had.  One sketch and three different takes on it. Mine ended up being a two page layout that I did of my November 09 vacation to Aruba.

I just loved this line of paper that was created by  "Flair", their Summer Daze line. I love the colors....yummy blue Carribean colors.  Anyone that knows me knows that I love anything to do with water, blue ocean water, sand, sun, hot temps and a lounge chair.  :-)  Peggy created a beautiful winter scene. Lynne created an adorable layout from a recent Florida vacation. I usually beat to a different drummer as you can see. 

May Arts makes the best ribbon by far and of course the sheer teal blue I used in this layout blended so nicely with the papers and embellishments.  Flowers and paper punch from Martha Stewart, Bazzil cartstock were also included.  I just LOVE all of the Martha Stewart punches.  The punch I used here I was from Marthas crown set. You can find these papers, punches and embellishments at Generations of Memories .  I enjoyed creating these layouts as much as I did the vacation.




What wonderful vacation photos do you have hidden in your camera or computer?  Its time to bring them to life.  I hope that maybe these layouts will inspire you in some way to create one of your special memories.  I would love to see what you create. :-)

Blinging up my Blog

I just spent today taking some of my classes of an online course on "How to Bling up your Blog" from www.littlelightstudio.net.  I really enjoy learning and am like a sponge when it comes to learning technology.   I completely changed my blog today and had fun doing it.  My digital scrapbooking skills and Photoshop Elements help me to be able to create my own blogs and not have to use the pre-made templates which I feel are boring.  If you too want to learn how to create a great blog check out www.littlelightstudio.net.  Have a great week everyone! Have fun in whatever creation you do.

Pure Beauty

I took a few moments one nite this past week to create this layout of Miss Olivia. 

She is such a doll baby.  I love her so much and miss her as she lives about a 4 hour plane ride away.  But I do treasure the time that we are together and look forward to our next visit.  Heres  a quick posting of a layout I did recently of Miss Olivia. She has the most beautiful eyes....blond hair, blue eyes....she is going to be a heart throb. :-)

I created this layout with the new "Fresh Clothesline" collection from Little Yellow Bicycle, May arts ribbon, Dew drops from The Robins Nest, Hero Arts pearls. A simple layout that perfectly enhanced the beauty of Olivia. Enjoy and have a wonderful day.