Artistic Outpost Halloween Kits Available!

My friend Robyn from Artistic Outpost is now offering a kit for my Halloween hanging that features her adorable stamps! These kits contain everything you need to recreate this piece - check them out here. There is a limited supply, so be sure to get yours now!

Gothic Arch - Trick or Treat!

Finally! A post! I have had so much going on that I haven't had any fun time lately. I was so happy to have a free day to play with my new Oxford Impressions stamps - Trick or Treat. I love this sheet so much! I didn't have a chance to do the Gothic Arch Challenge last week, but was determined to get one done this week. There is no theme so (surprise!) I decided to make mine a Halloween arch. This little girl is one of my favorite stamps - she makes such a sweet little witch! She's from the Heritage plate by OI. For the background I sponged/dtp'd a castoff manila folder with various Distress inks.

Wednesday Stamper - Peace

The Wednesday Stamper theme this week is Peace. I would never have come up with this if it hadn't been for the WS theme - that's what's so great about challenges! The background is the wrinkle free distress technique. Now that I feel like I 'get' it, I have a feeling I am going to be doing it on everything! Quote is, of course, from the famous John Lennon song. Alpha stamps are various, peace sign is from Vickie Enkoff.

Western Bandanna

This month's challenge on the Ranger group is to create something using Robin Beam's bandanna technique (also in the latest Technique Junkies newsletter). As you may know, I love this tech and wanted to try something different with it. One of my friends told me that it looks really good using brown ink instead of black....this made me think of rustic Western style, so that's what I went for. I had tried the wrinkle free distress technique before and could never get the look I wanted. Well, I finally did it the right way (using watercolor paper) and it came out fab! I almost hated to cover it up, to be honest. But I took a chance and loved how it came out. Background stamps are from Innovative Stamp Creations and cowgirl photo stamp is from Oxford Impressions' Cowgirl Blues plate.

Created By Hand Challenge - Crow Skinny House

For this challenge I used stamps from the Wicked plate by Oxford Impressions and a collage image from Lisa's Altered Art - she has so many cute things! The bottom trim is black French Border from RockCandy Studios. I know I need to take a break from Halloween and putting witch hats on everything, I just can't help myself!

Gothic Arch Challenge - Time

The minute I saw the theme for the Gothic Arch challenge I knew exactly what I would make! I'm still obsessing over Halloween - I love the colors, the images, everything about it. For this piece I glued various papers to my cardstock base and inked with Distress and Adirondack inks. I believe there was some heavy duty sanding done somewhere in the process....I didn't like how dark the text was. I stamped the background with my all-time favorite stamp from Oxford Impressions' April in Paris sheet. The clock face is a scan of one from my personal junk collection. I love how well the woman (again from the OI Paris sheet) stamped! She is such a gorgeous image. To finish it all off I trimmed the edges with black French Border from RockCandy Studios.

Here is the clock image if you'd like to use it in your art.

Halloween Bingo!

I got a big stash of goodies from RockCandy Studios a few days ago and couldn't wait to create something! I started with one of their vintage Bingo cards and added one of their European Dresden cut-up embellishments to the top. I stamped the raven and flourish from Oxford Impressions Wicked stamp set on a chipboard circle covered with a vintage German book page. I added a crepe paper ruffle and adhered it to the center of the card. The bottom is embellished
with a few buttons from RockCandy's 'Buttons by the Shot'. To finish it off I inked the edges and added grommets and tied black ribbon (from RockCandy, but not in the store yet) as a hanger. The ribbon is ahhhhhhhhh.....beautiful, beautiful ribbon. It reminds me of vintage seam binding, which I love using as ribbon. Now I don't have to use my vintage stash up! Look how excited my Kewpie is!

Wicked Stenciled Collage

Another little row house, this time using the Stenciled Collage Technique from the latest issue of the Technique Junkies newsletter. You simply MUST get the new Wicked stamps from Oxford Impressions! Seriously. Go. Right. Now.

Worksheet Wonder Row House

I love Trish Bee's blog - she shares so much great information and ideas that I always come away feeling inspired. I read about her Worksheet Wonders a few weeks ago and filed it away to try sometime. Tonight I noticed my Stampin' Up grid pad (what I use as a work surface) was looking very pretty! I've done a lot of different types of stamping lately and haven't changed the sheet for ages, so it was pretty grunged up! I added a bit more ink, stamped it randomly w/the new Wicked stamps from Oxford Impressions and cut it into a row house shape. Then I hunted for some photo stamps that I could make wee witches out of. These precious girls are from the School Days plate (again, from OI). I love them as little witches! Oh, and at the bottom I added a little crepe paper trim. Not too bad for trash!

A Wicked Teaser

I am a very lucky girl! I have a preview sheet of Oxford Impressions' newest stamps - Wicked. These are truly wicked.....wicked awesome! Here is just a little something to whet your appetites. Not sure when these will be out, but I think it's very, very soon!!!

This is an unfinished shadowbox frame that I found on the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby. I need to go back and buy them all! It's painted black and embellished with Baroque border from RockCandy Studios. The 'witch' is a photo stamp from Oxford Impressions' The Dressmaker sheet.

UPDATE!!! THESE STAMPS HAVE BEEN RELEASED!!

Halloween + Bandanna

I have been eyeing these stamps from Making Memories in my studio for the past few days. I found them at Target a few weeks ago - I actually hid them under some other stamps (it was the last one!) so I could come back the next day with my $5 off coupon. Thankfully they were still there! Anyway....I thought they might work with the bandanna technique and I was mostly right, I think. I had to color in the bird because it was too light, but other than that I think they worked really well! The background is a vintage dictionary page glued to a tag and then sponged with various inks.

And Now For Something Completely Different

This is something I made for the CCS Yahoo group. It's for a double tag bandanna swap. Trish and other members have posted such awesome artwork - I don't know when I've been so inspired by a group's art! I pulled out a bunch of stamps I haven't used in ages....the type of stamps I loved when I first started stamping. There are so many it's hard to ID them all, but I'll try! The main image w/the A is from Inkadinkado. The Bingo numbers, pen nib and create are all from Time to Stamp/I Brake for Stamps. The word 'Art' is part of a stamp from Vickie Enkoff (I miss her!). The mesh on the top and bottom is from Innovative Stamp Creations. The eye and diamond background are from Stampabilities. The quote is from Hampton Art. Whew! I was almost afraid that I'd crowded too much into the space, but I really like it that way.

The base is plain white cardstock that I sponged with several colors of Adirondack dye inks. I used the Signo white gel pen for highlighting. I hope my partner likes it!!

Technique Junkies Layered Collage

I love this technique, but had such a hard time finding the right stamp! When I first stamped this piece I thought it was a loser (not the stamps, just my stamping!), but I decided to persevere and try to save it. After a little embellishing and tattering and inking, I was really happy with it! Main stamps are all from Oxford Impressions. The flourish is from Inkadinkado.