Simon Says Stamp & Show: Wendy Vecchi Challenge

This week's challenge for Simon Says Stamp & Show was to create something in the style of Wendy Vecchi a la Studio 490.  Since she's become my new favorite, both a difficult and an easy challenge for me...but I gave it a whirl.

Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge

I started with a square Art Parts frame & backing.  The leaves are from Ticket to Art; those are inked with Distress Stain in Peeling Paint, then pounced in Shabby Shutters and then outlined with Peeling Paint Distress Embossing.  The ink bottle is from Wendy's Destination Art stamp set; inked that in Antique Linen Distress Stain, pounced a little Tea Dye on, then embossed in clear over Java Versa Mark Chalk.  Sentiment is from Tim Holtz.

Kaiser Craft paper is used throughout, with the exception of the ivory cardstock I covered up in ink.  I used a combination of Shabby Shutters, Peeling Paint, Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress Inks to jazz up the backgrounds and frames.  I haven't yet acquired any of Wendy's amazing flower stamps, so I used Martha Stewart punches on coordinating papers, layered with some fabric flowers inked with Antique Linen and Spun Sugar Distress Stains. Brads are Bo Bunny from my stash; copper pearls are from Amuse.

Thanks for checking out my creation this week.  Grab your gear and join the fun...or do like I did...lurk for awhile and get inspired as you get up the courage to toss yourself out there!  

Everything Wendy Vecchi #13

This week, Lori at Everything Wendy Vecchi spurred us into action with Challenge #13...use the Brushless Watercolor technique highlighted in Wendy's first book on page 19. Pretty fun technique...ink your stamp, spritz it with a wee bit of water and stamp. What fun was this? I made a graduation card for my colleague Carly, who just received her MBA. YAY Carly!

I started with a black matte 5" x 7" card and a chunk of watercolor paper. Using Tim's Distress Ink in Dusty Concord and Faded Jeans, I inked a Wendy background stamp from Ticket to Art--that's the little bitty dotty thingies in the background. (Hmmm...wonder if that's why it's a background stamp?) LOL! The lady--a fellow Wendy Vecchi group member calls her "The Impatient Woman"!--and the sentiment are also Wendy's. I did the brushless watercolor thing with the Tim Holtz bird stamp in Faded Jeans and with Autumn Leaves flourishes in Peeling Paint and Shabby Shutters.

So Marjie tells me that you can "paint" with Distress Stains. Of course, I just had to try it for myself! Thus the wings! Stamped the outline on vellum in black archival, then I used Spun Sugar in the middle and Dusty Concord on the outsides. LOVE how they turned out!

All of these colors look a wee bit off in the pic, but they blend pretty nicely in person...looks like I'm gonna have to break out the big camera again...this little "go anywhere" guy just ain't cuttin' it!

Grab your inks and join the fun by clicking the link above!

Mother's Day Creation

Now that Gramma has received her package, it's safe to share with you the shadowbox I made for her gift.  I'm REALLY excited about this project!!

My mom has long been the caregiver of our family photos--both sides, too!  On a recent visit, she brought out quite a few to share with us.  We missed them when packing for her return trip, so I had the bright idea to have them all scanned and put in electronic format.  Had that done by Harbor Scrapbooking (MARVELOUS LADIES...I'd trust 'em with my life!!).  While we were sorting through the pics that they were going to scan, we stumbled upon a letter, written by my grandfather (now passed) to my mother.  The letter accompanied the original of a photo of my mom with her mother (also passed), wearing dresses made by my grandmother.  Grandfather's letter talks about how Grandma loved her children and delighted she was to be a mom.  My mom is 1 in the photo and my grandmother, 21.  Also in the stack of pics was a shot of just my mom, taken at the same time.  I got to thinking that these items needed to be displayed together.  So here we go...

Straight on view.

This one shows the colors a little better.

My Wendy Vecchi Art Parts arrived just in time, so I covered a flower with a paper that was sprinkled with little blue flowers--like Grandpa described the dress fabric. I scanned Grandpa's letter, then printed it on vellum to give it a parchment type texture.  The kids helped by inking the edges of everything and picking out the ribbons and other embellishments.  (Ben has a GREAT eye for layering the flowers!  Abbey picked the ribbons.  It was Matthew who suggested the bow on the Art Parts flower stem.)   We played with the arrangement, then layered 'em into the shadow box with a whole lotta foam pop dots.

On of my favorite parts of this creation?  The deal I got on the now repurposed frame!  I went looking for a largish shadow box, but found that they were rather pricey.  For Mom, no problem.  But then I noticed that the pre-framed artwork at JoAnn's all clearanced at 75% off.  Found a few candidates...and ended up with this one ($7.50).  Took about 10 minutes to pull everything apart and cover the old background.  Previously the clearance rack UGLY seashell print nightmare...now a lovely (if I do say so myself!) personal Mother's Day presink. 

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Everything Wendy Vecchi Challenge #12

This week's challenge on Everything Wendy Vecchi (an awesome online Yahoo! group of folks) was to create a card based on Wendy's book #1, page 32. We had to stamp on patterned paper and use a bookplate. Of course, using Studio 490 stamps is also a must!

My card is a thank you note for a wonderful gal who has been picking Matthew up from Lego Robotics when I've been stuck in traffic. I started with a brownish copper metallic finish 4 x 5 card. I picked paper by Kaiser Craft from the Chanteuse collection--two different florals in shades of rose & greeen. The pad of paper I picked had a couple of sheets of diecuts, including borders. Nabbed one of those (the pink floral running vertically on the fold of the card). Last paper is a brown with coordinating green & pink polka dots--also vertical on the left side of the card.

I put the two florals together, and used Distress Inks in Shabby Shutters and Worn Lipstick to give it some dimension. Next layer is background stamped in Tea Dye and Shabby Shutters with the dotted background from Studio 490's "Ticket to Art" set. After that dried, I used Versa Magic Jumbo Java chalk ink to stamp Autumn Leaves flourishes. Flowers are done in Antique Linen and Spun Sugar Distress Stains. Sentiment is from "Regal Art" by Wendy Vecchi. Bookplate is Heidi Swapp. Copper pearls are from Amuse. Brads & charms from my stash. There are some spritzes of Copper Tsukineko shimmer mist randomly applied in there, too.

Join the fun & play along by joining the group! Then...go make some art!! (to quote one of my new favorite artists!)

Zoo Crew Ticket to Ride

Okay...here's my very first Everything Wendy Vecchi group challenge entry. Whoo hoo! This week's challenge was to create a wall hanging and to incorporate at least one ticket. My hanging is inspired by our crazy family. We call ourselves the Zoo Crew and our family motto is: We don't just go places, we have ADVENTURES!

My hanging is done on a 5" x 7" flat canvas. I used Ranger alcohol inks (another first!) in Sail Boat Blue and Metallic Silver and Gold. I stamped a random background of arrows in a light metallic gold (Autumn Leaves stamps). Truck is stamped from Wendy's Destination Art set, covered in Glossy Accents and then cut out. The big ticket is from Wendy's Ticket to Art set, as is the "find the adventure in every day" sentiment along the left side. On the ticket, I added the words "destination unknown" from the end of one of her other stamped sentiments. The big "ADVENTURE" across it is from a Studio G $1 set from Michaels. Other stamps are from Close to My Heart--Ticket to Ride and Giggle Alphas.

The quote in the circle is "What I love the most about this life is the adventure of it all" from Juliette Binoche, which pretty much sums me up! The hardware are items I found at Michaels in the clearance section--meant to be beading, Industrial Chic. The one on the ticket looks like an antiquey subway token. The 5 is for our five children. ;-)  Flowers and ribbon are from my stash.

Join the fun by clicking the link above....these are some awesomely creative gals!

Praiseworthy Performance: Shout out to Scotch / 3M

A little overdue, but I need to let y'all know about some excellent customer service I received recently.

Back in March, I used my 50% off bonus coupon at Michael's to purchase the wonderful Advanced Tape Glider (ATG for short); even found one in pink! Bought an extra box of refills so I was well-stocked for my scrapbooking weekend with Steph. Loaded up my ATG with the tape glue and headed off to Pennsylvania.  No problems....fell in LOVE with my new toy, um, TOOL.  Until I tried to refill it....I just could NOT get that  glue to come out the right way.  I followed the diagrams and everything.  One benefit of being in a room with 150 other scrapbookers is the readily available wealth of expertise & know-how.  The general consensus was "Hey, something is NOT right with this refill roll!"

At the suggestion of one of my fellow croppers, once I was back at home, I let my keyboard do the surfing on over to the Scotch / 3M website.  I contacted customer service and explained my challenge with the refill.  Have to admit that I wasn't overly optimistic at first (okay, so I got a little huffy) when their initial response was "did you read the directions on how to reload?" and "please mail us the defective roll so we can consider the issue."  (Good thing I had kept it!) They did agree to send a label & envelope, so I felt a *little* better.

Imagine my excitement when the package with the pre-addressed, postage paid envelope ALSO included not one, but FOUR refill rolls!!!!  I would have been happy if they had just replaced the wonky roll, but they went above & beyond to make sure that I was happy.

It worked.

YAY Scotch & 3M!!  

Diving In--Simon Says Stamp & Show Button Challenge

So here it is...my first attempt at a public challenge:

Going back to the whole "Marjie's Fault" thing...she pointed me to a wonderful source of inspiration and fun:  Simon Says Stamp & Show.  Of course, it's more fun if you participate, so after lurking for a few weeks, I figured I should join the fun.  This weeks' challenge is to use buttons in your project....right up my alley!

Gotta admit that this turned out nothing like I had pictured or sketched--but those versions were FAR too busy and a wee bit schizo!  I'm not 100% happy with my "Happiness" plaque. (!????!!)  (Too empty, too weird, too esoteric?) Sentiments are hard too read, too.  *sigh*  But not bad for a first shot, me thinks.

Since it's all in the details:  paper and tag from Close to My Heart, Notebook; bicycle & birdcage stamps from TPC; bird stamps from Close to My Heart, Free Spirit; sentiments Wendy Vecchi; flourish rub-ons from Basic Grey and Kaiser Craft. Buttons are from my stash.  Everything was distressed with Antique Linen and Tea Dye.  Embossing was all done in clear.  Birds are stamped in CTMH Outdoor Denim and layered with Glossy Accents.

Be kind...