Winter Scene

Last week I could hardly contain my excitement over Christmas.  I just can't help myself.  Christmas always brings back fond, warm and cozy, happy memories. 

I have been keeping journals the last few months.  Mostly I have been rewriting verses with the hope that they would sink in.  Sometimes I add my own thoughts or little prayers to my almost daily verse writing.  And sometimes I feel inspired to add pictures of some sort. 

I needed to start a new notebook and since I will be running into the month of January I didn't want it to be all Christmas looking and decided to go into snowflakes and such.  Because I live in the desert, it is very difficult to find snow.  So, I went online and found some beautiful winter pictures.  I don't like the cold of winter but I do love the snow.  I found some really great winter scenes at this website.  http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701&va=winter

I took the above picture and added Stickles.  Both Crystal and Icicle Stickles and some Liquid White Pearls.  I used my newest little toys (Big Shot by Stampin' Up) and (Tim Holtz Alterations Townscape) the other day and cut out a row of houses on colorful paper.  I covered the houses in Crystal Stickles and added the Liquid White Pearls to the roof tops and house fronts to give it dimension and make it look like snow.  I then added the Townscape cut out to give the picture a pop of color.

I hope you enjoy this wintry image!

America The Beautiful

The Created By Hand challenge http://quietfire.ning.com/group/createdbyhandchallenge/forum/topics/fireworksmetallics-1 this week is fireworks/metallics which gave me the perfect excuse to pull out my alcohol inks which I haven't used in a while.  I also used some glossy paper which I haven't used in a very long time.  Glossy paper, alcohol inks, and metallic inks is an excellent combination for a shimmery background.  I didn't have any fireworks stamps or pictures so I used some of my Tim Holtz idea-ology Salvage Stickers - Seasonal collection.  I first used pool colored alcohol ink with Silver metallic ink (Ranger Inks) with my applicator and dabbed it all over my glossy paper.  I then added my stickers.  I first went over with Barn Door red and used perfect pearls blue sapphire.  I then painted liquid white pearls over the entire image.  I finished it off with True Blue Stickles and Icicle Stickles (Ranger Ink).

Customized Cards

My mother-in-law asked me to make some Thank You cards to send to people for celebrating her ___th birthday a couple of months ago. I would have liked to play with the black and white picture a little more but I wanted to get these out. I used a tag and put some "newsprint" style paper on the tag. Distressed it with some Tattered Rose (Ranger Ink) and stamped some flowers (SU!) in Red Rose (SU!). I used some alcohol and Liquid Pearls and punched a bird and leaf out. The paper is from 7 Gypsies. 7 Gypsies is m graphic new favorite paper collection. I also have been drawn to paper from graphic 45 which you may have seen in other cards and also is shown here.

Pearls, Fairies and Pearls a Challenge Answer

Well, it sure took me long enough. I have been contemplating this card for an entire week and I am late. The new week's challenge is already up for http://createdbyhandchallenge.wordpress.com/. Well, since I finished this card, I guess I will go ahead and post it for you to see. The challenge was Fairy Romp, Beads, Pearls. I started with the middle piece where I punched the corners, stamped the swirl in Vintage Photo and painted with a mixture of Gold and Raspberry Liquid Pearls. I love the iridescent look that one captures using Liquid Pearls, and I just cannot wait to get my hands on all the new juicy colors that Ranger Ink is introducing this September. I then went over with the Tim Holtz Reinkers (filled with various alcohol inks). Today's colors are Watermelon and Clover. I used a little Fruit Punch Stickles in the middle of the flowers.

For the small square I punched the scallops and once again stamped the swirl in Vintage Photo. For this, however, I stamped off once on my scrap paper and then stamped again on this square. In this way I received a lighter image of the swirl. I then stamped over the swirl in Black Soot the saying "In the middle of Life, Love gives you a Fairy Tale." This is a beautiful card to send to an engage couple, to use as a wedding or even as an Anniversary Card. I went over this square with Tattered Rose, and Gold Metallic Ink and then painted over with Raspberry Liquid Pearl. I then swiped it over again using Icicle Stickles.

I used my Blending Tool stamped in Spun Sugar and Tea Dye Distressed inks on the card base front.

Thank you for looking. I will have to do better to catch this week's challenge. "Welcom/Yellow". http://createdbyhandchallenge.wordpress.com/

Happy Birthday Roberta

This is my most unique card yet! In celebration of my mother-in-law's ____th birthday, I took her drawings and asked a local rubber stamp company if they could make the drawings into a stamp. Actually we decided to make two stamps. One is just the head and the other is the dress so I can add the head to other designs down the road. This stamp set I am affectionately calling "Roberta".

I wanted this little beauty to dazzle just as my mother-in-law does so I blinged her up with Stickles and Perfect Pearls. With liquid pearls I made even her cuffs and waist shimmer in gold.

Liquid Pearls - A NEW LOVE

SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE!

I am posting this Monday, April 26, 2010 and for those of you that may be interested, I am having a MAJOR SALE on 24 colors from Ranger Ink Distressed Inks www.lindascozycraftcorne.etsy.com. The sale ENDS, Friday, April 30, 2010. Only 5 days left!




Last week I wrote about Ranger's Alcohol Inks used with Silver or Gold Metallic ink and they make really pretty images. Today is another example of the use of alcohol inks except that I have now added a floral image. I believe the Stamp is from Stampin' Up Friend 24-7 Set. I stamped with Stazon Ink. I then went over the image using liquid pearl in green for the stem and leaves and pink around the flowers. I then filled in the middle areas with my all time favorite, Stickles.