Monday, January 30, 2012

Simon Says Stamp and Show Kings and Queens!

Hello Everybody! Thank you for playing along with our last Challenge! The winners will be announced this Wednesday .... so don't forget to check back ... this could be your winning week! This week Simon Says Stamp and Show ... Kings and Queens! If you want to join in the fun ... all you need to do is ... create something that ties in with our theme ... pop it on your blog ... and come back here and link up so everyone can see what you made! Before you start take a look at what the Design Team came up with...
Dan
Whoever gets Dan's card is certainly going to feel like they're king for a day!  Dan stamped his king on a range of different patterned papers which he had first "knocked back" with a couple of layers of Picket Fence Distress Stain.  He also used the Winged Things 2 stamp set and pages from the Lost and Found and Seasonal card stacks.
Tracy Evans
As soon as Tracy saw this theme she knew she wanted to use the It's Face Art and Art Fit For A Queen sets by Wendy Vecchi to create her QUEEN theme along with a Large Flourish Frame. A torn paper background and a little colouring from Distress Inks broken china and wild honey bring this piece to life.
Ellen Vargo
Ellen went royal Wendy Vecchi style this week, using Studio 490 art parts: queens and crowns, wings and leaves, as well as stamps from Studio 490, and the mini crown adornment from Tim Holtz as eyelashes! All the inks used were distress inks.
Candy Colwell
"Magic" features various techniques using Distress Stains. How about a magic card trick using the King and Queen (and Jack) from Tim Holtz' Poker Face Texture Trades?  The clowns from Tim Holtz' The Big Top stamp set are colored using a small Sakura Water Brush and adding Scattered Straw, Barn Door, Dusty Concord, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Peeled Paint and Wild Honey Distress Stains.
Lynne Forsythe
Every "QUEEN" should have a crown! Lynne created her's using the Distressed Doily Die and Kraft Resist paper, lathered on Picket Fence Distress Stain and sprinkled it with Fairy Dust. As she is the "QUEEN" of all things flowers....her crown must be adorned with Mini Tattered Florals with Pearl centers!

Nancy Wethington
Kings and Queens got Nancy thinking about upcoming Fat Tuesday & Mardi Gras.  So she turned to an image from Tim's Crowded Attic paper pack and created a card that will accompany a King cake to a friend's house. The images were painted with Crackle Accents and the King was captured in a Memory Frame before adding a crown charm.
Sarah created an inky ode to love with her Queen of Hearts canvas. She painted the background with Vintage Photo and Wild Honey Distress Stains before adding Rock Candy Crackle Paint. The hearts are made from embossed Ranger Foil Tape, are splattered with Alcohol Inks before being adorned with findings and Idea-ology.
Terry made a candle booklet.The front is worked on with Vintage Photo, Worn Lipstick, Forest Moss and Rusty Hinge. She made the Queen with the Embossing folder from The Tim Holtz and the Crown is made from Grungeboard and worked on with Crackle Distress Paint and Distress inks
Linda made a fun little tag featuring wheeled things and a king of spades cut from Kraft-Core Core'dinations and embossed with Tim's Poker Face Texture Fade.  Her label was cut with the Styled Labels die and the Crackle Accents coated letters were cut from with the Vintage Market die.
I decided to make Tim Holtz's Mona my queen and I turned her into desk thingie! Lots of Studio 490 Art Parts, Idea-Ology and Fired Brick Distress Stickles for Mona's crown. Don't you just love the Artistic Outpost London Underground stamps ... I know Mona is n't a Brit ... but the Union Jack always makes me think of the Queen and the sentiment is perfect for my desk!

Please stop by The Design Team's individual blogs for more detailed pictures and further information on their work...Just click on their names! We are looking forward to seeing your interpretation of this theme! Our wonderful site sponsor Simon Says Stamp is once again giving away a $50 gift voucher!
The prize will go to a random entry chosen by Random Generator. The challenge will close at Midnight Eastern time on Sunday, 5th February 2012 and the winner will be announced during the following week. To qualify all you need to do is create a new piece of work ... post it on your blog ... with a link to this site and then pop a link below so everyone can come see what you made!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Winners-Day!

Hello Everyone ... Here are the results for the Anything But a Card Challenge! The winner of the randomly drawn $50.00 Simon Says Stamp Gift Voucher is
20 CraftyGirl
Congratulations ... Please claim your prize within the next two weeks by emailing Linda with your details so we can arrange for you to start buying yummy goodies!
Now for the next bit ... every week the entire Design Team nominate their favourites and the three pieces of art work with the most votes gets a fabulous blinkie! This week the winners that have been selected to join the elite club of vintage artists that can proudly display our top three blinkie are ...
26 Zuzu
45 Sandra
73 Paula W
Congratulations to each of you ... your work was Top Drawer! Please email Linda and she will send you the Top 3 Blinkie! Thank you to everyone that took part last week. Don't forget to check out this week's Challenge ... we want you to make Anything But a Card ... and we have another $50 Simon Says Stamp voucher to give away!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Simon Says Stamp and Show a Song Title!

Hello Everybody! Thank you for playing along with our last Challenge! The winners will be announced this Wednesday .... so don't forget to check back ... this could be your winning week! This week Simon Says Stamp and Show ... A Song Title! If you want to join in the fun ... all you need to do is ... create something that ties in with our theme ... pop it on your blog ... and come back here and link up so everyone can see what you made! Before you start take a look at what the Design Team came up with...
For his song, Dan chose the original version of "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" from Evita, by Barbara Dickson.  To transform the chipboard suitcase that he's had kicking around in a drawer for a couple of years, products he used included Traditional Tan paint by Claudine Hellmuth, the I See Paris, Artistic Collages and Creative Muse stamp sets, and Walnut Stain Distress Ink.
Back To Black by Amy Winehouse is Tracy's song title choice represented by a black heart box decorated with hearts from Wendy Vecchi's Love To Make Art set. Coupled with a little foliage from the Tattered Pinecone and a flower from the Tattered Florals die and a key embellishment from Tim's Idea-ology Locket Keys.
Candy chose a classic song title, "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" for her fun 6x6 chipboard dimensional piece.  Marilyn is all decked out in her designer Tim Holtz Dress Form made from Charcoal Black and Painterly Pink Studio Paints and Glam Pink Stickles.  Add some Star Dust Stickles on Alpha Part "Diamonds" on top of a Harlequin background.
Ellen's chose the song "Imagine" by John Lennon.  She did a tag using kraft resist paper, aged mahogany distress stain, gadget gears, crackle paint, various idea-ology, and the "imagination" stamp, all by Tim Holtz. Wouldn't the world be great if that song were true.... alas, we can only "imagine".
Sarah couldn't resist her jazz favourite, Frank's "Fly Me to the Moon" and created a new 'slant' on the song! She used Wendy Vecchi Art Parts including the Sample Pack, Pocket Watch and For the Guys. Her Steampunk fellow is flying high with light-bulb and Idea-ology wings and the whole lunar journey is set inside an old picture frame.
Lynne is still in the Valentines mood.....a little Black Gesso, some Forever Red Perfect Pearls Mist, Fired Brick Distress Stickles and the Mini Harlequin template are the perfect backdrop for the canvas embossed heart.
'Cause......ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!!!
Nancy's inspiration came courtesy of a Bruno Mars song. The base of this Graphic 45 mini album is a Black Policy Envelope book and celebrates accepting someone *just the way you are*.  Curtain Call seemed the appropriate paper and that's paired with For The Record stickers and embellishments.
"Cupid, draw back your bow and let your arrow go" by Sam Cooke is the song Linda was inspired by for her piece this week.  And she was humming it as she created this sweet Valentine's Day home decor piece using lots of Tim Holtz goodies including the Paper Rosette, Love Stuck and Tattered Pinecones dies.  Other products used include Picket Fence Distress Stain, Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint and Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE).
Terry's favourite song is "Happiness" by Alexis Jordan so she made a Tag with lots of Happiness. The background is worked on with Tim's Embossing folder, is heat-embossed and uses lots of Distress Inks. The sentiments are from Artistic Outpost, the Butterfly from The Wendy and lots of roses are worked on with Rock Candy Crackle Paint. To finish, Terry added lace at the bottom and underneath the image.
Hopefully it is obvious that my song was Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound". After covering my box frame with Tim's Kraft Resist Paper ... I had a serious play with lots of Wendy Vecchi Art Parts this week. I also used oodles of Idea-Ology and Tim's mini Rosette die.

Please stop by The Design Team's individual blogs for more detailed pictures and further information on their work...Just click on their names! We are looking forward to seeing your interpretation of this theme! Our wonderful site sponsor Simon Says Stamp is once again giving away a $50 gift voucher!


The prize will go to a random entry chosen by Random Generator. The challenge will close at Midnight Eastern time on Sunday, 29th January 2012 and the winner will be announced during the following week. To qualify all you need to do is create a new piece of work ... post it on your blog ... with a link to this site and then pop a link below so everyone can come see what you made!


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Winners-Day!

Hello Everyone ... Here are the results for the Red Letter Day Challenge! The winner of the randomly drawn $50.00 Simon Says Stamp Gift Voucher is
27 Blackdragon
Congratulations ... Please claim your prize within the next two weeks by emailing Linda with your details so we can arrange for you to start buying yummy goodies!
Now for the next bit ... every week the entire Design Team nominate their favourites and the three pieces of art work with the most votes gets a fabulous blinkie! This week the winners that have been selected to join the elite club of vintage artists that can proudly display our top three blinkie are ...
41 Elly
57 TracyH
58 Anita Houston
Congratulations to each of you ... your work was Top Drawer! Please email Linda and she will send you the Top 3 Blinkie! Thank you to everyone that took part last week. Don't forget to check out this week's Challenge ... we want you to make Anything But a Card ... and we have another $50 Simon Says Stamp voucher to give away!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Simon Says Stamp and Show Anything But a Card!

Hello Everybody! Thank you for playing along with our last Challenge! The winners will be announced this Wednesday .... so don't forget to check back ... this could be your winning week! This week Simon Says Stamp and Show ... Anything But a Card! If you want to join in the fun ... all you need to do is ... create something that ties in with our theme ... pop it on your blog ... and come back here and link up so everyone can see what you made! Before you start take a look at what the Design Team came up with...
This weeks theme was a great opportunity for Tracy to use the Timely Pocket Watch Art Parts, coloured with Distress Stain aged mahogany and stamped with the stripes from Art Fit For A Queen using StazOn black ink. Paper from BoBunny Timepiece Collection was added to the inside of the pocket watch with a little dimension added from the Weathered Clock die. Throw in a little Clear Rock Candy for texture and Gadget Gears for a little more interest. The handsome gent in the middle is from Studio 490 So Serious, coupled with embellishments in the form of a Timepiece and Game Spinners.
Sarah altered an electrical socket box with Alcohol Ink to create a Metal Shrine of Love for Valentine's Day! Her painted Grungepaper roses are made with the Tattered Florals Die and stamped with Stuff to Say. Ruler Ribbon, Charm Clip and Trinket Pin touches of Idea-ology finish her alternative idea to a card!
Lynne Forsythe
Now that the "holidays" are over.....it's time to be looking ahead to the next one! "HEART" day! She pulled out an old used canvas, applied some Black Gesso, misted on some Aged Mahogany Distress Reinker, when dry she dabbed on some Aged Mahogany Distress Stickles. Using the left over's from last week she diecut a heart and misted it with Aged Mahogany Distress Reinker and inked edges with Vintage Photo. Do you see the District Market Tissue Wrap.........mmmmm love that stuff!
Dan's framed art piece may be many things, but it's certainly not a card!  Although the photo doesn't really show it too well, there is a lot of depth to his piece, which is why he used a shadow frame for it.  Products he used include the Artful Artifacts and Numero stamp sets, and Claudine Hellmuth acrylic paints.
Candy decided to do something outside of her comfort zone by using a White Opaque Pen to highlight the art work on her project.  This colorful "visionary" #8 Tag features various Distress Ink Colors and is stamped with images from Wendy Vecchi's An Eye For Art and Art Parts Stamp sets. 

Ellen decided to go mini this week and made at ATC (Artist Trading Card).  She used alcohol inks on every element including Ranger Metal Foil Tape embossed with a texture fade folder, Tim Holtz' fragments, and various idea-ology!
Nancy loves this Maya Road ATC Stand so she used that to interpret this week's theme. The perfect size for small photos and desktop, this adorable mini stand is filled with chipboard heartsflowers and family photos.
Terry decided to go for Valentines Day and altered an "old" egg-shaped chocolate box. She used Gesso on the outside and lots of Red tinted Distress inks. She worked with a little bit of The Tim, a little bit of The Wendy and a lot of herself (LOL) The hearts are worked on with lots of Rock Candy Crackle Paint and Crackle Distress Paint. On top she placed a Just Fly Butterfly.
Linda's tag uses the tissue paper technique from Tim Holtz's tag #12 from this year's Christmas tags.  It was stamped with Fabulous Flourishes and tissue paper was stamped with the Sheet Music stamp.  Picket Fence Distress Stain and Rock Candy Distress Stickles were also used on the tag.  The oval double rosette was cut from crinoline with the Mini Rosette die and the bottom strip was cut with the Vintage Lace die
I started off with a block of wood to make this chunky ATC. I had a wonderful time playing with the Graphic 45 Le Cirque 8X8 papers and Le Cirque stamps. I also used Tim's On The Edge Pennant die and my ProMarkers.
Please stop by The Design Team's individual blogs for more detailed pictures and further information on their work...Just click on their names! We are looking forward to seeing your interpretation of this theme! Our wonderful site sponsor Simon Says Stamp is once again giving away a $50 gift voucher!
The prize will go to a random entry chosen by Random Generator. The challenge will close at Midnight Eastern time on Sunday, 22nd January 2012 and the winner will be announced during the following week. To qualify all you need to do is create a new piece of work ... post it on your blog ... with a link to this site and then pop a link below so everyone can come see what you made!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Winners-Day!

Hello Everyone ... Here are the results for the Something Old ... Something New Challenge! The winner of the randomly drawn $50.00 Simon Says Stamp Gift Voucher is
115 SusanK
Congratulations Susan ... Please claim your prize within the next two weeks by emailing Linda with your details so we can arrange for you to start buying yummy goodies!
Now for the next bit ... every week the entire Design Team nominate their favourites and the three pieces of art work with the most votes gets a fabulous blinkie! This week the winners that have been selected to join the elite club of vintage artists that can proudly display our top three blinkie are ...
78 Anita Houston
104 giogio
105 Chris dark
Congratulations to each of you ... your work was Top Drawer! Please email Linda and she will send you the Top 3 Blinkie! Thank you to everyone that took part last week. Don't forget to check out this week's Challenge ... we want to see your Red Letter Day interpretations ... and we have another $50 Simon Says Stamp voucher to give away!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Simon Says Stamp and Show a Red Letter Day!

Hello Everybody! Thank you for playing along with our last Challenge! The winners will be announced this Wednesday .... so don't forget to check back ... this could be your winning week! This week Simon Says Stamp and Show ... A Red Letter Day! If you want to join in the fun ... all you need to do is ... create something that ties in with our theme ... pop it on your blog ... and come back here and link up so everyone can see what you made! Before you start take a look at what the Design Team came up with...
Following a search on Google, Tracy found that red letter day originated from the practice of marking the dates of church festivals on calendars in red. The term came into wider use in 1549 when the first Book Of Common Prayer included a calendar with holy days marked in red ink, these dates were designated in the book as a red-letter day. Red letter day today is also known as a gift experience. With this in mind Tracy tried to incorporate both into her card using Tim's Air Travel set to represent the gift experience, a flight being the experience or the journey. Dates highlighted in red were used taken from the Odds and Ends set along with the sentiment stamped in red using vermillion Archival Ink . A dashing gentlemen from the Steampunk set has been added to a bottle cap and a little embossing using clear embossing powder for dimension. Copper brads and a Blue Moon metal charm token add a little more interest to the card.
When she thinks of Red Letter Day.....she thinks of the day one is born......THE BEST DAY EVER!! So, she created this ATC to commemorate such a WONDERFUL day!! The base of her ATC is a piece of cardboard, which she dipped in water, then ran through an embossing folder. She then painted it with acrylic paint, she then sanded it, inked it, spritzed it. The chipboard topper was colored using Distress Ink and then spritzed. The wooden lock was painted then inked. The flowers were made from toilet paper, paper towels and watercolor paper colored with various Distress Stains and Reinker Mixtures.
Nancy took this challenge both figuratively and literally.  With Tim's birthday this past weekend, Nancy created a birthday card featuring District Market Advert paper and Mini Cirque Alphabets. Fired Brick Distress Embossing Powder along with Distress Embossing Ink were used for the letters. Edges were distressed with a Tonic Edge Distresser and Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
Candy's RED LETTER DAY is something that really impacted the world; VJ Day, September 2, 1945-the official end of World War II.  In her nostalgic dimensional 6x6 piece, Candy recreated the excitement of that day.  Her "tin type" background using a Metal Foil Sheet is embellished with a Tim Holtz' Pocket Watch, complete with a mini Pacific Rim Map from his Crowded Attic Paper Stash and "1945"  created from the Newsprint Alpha Parts covered in Glossy Accents.  See the little film reel?  That began as two gears from Tim Holtz' Mini Gears die cut, gear ends cut off and then heat embossed with Silver Embossing Powder.  Add a little dowel rod and Tim's Film Strip Ribbon and you've got a vintage film reel!  The elaborate bunting began with Tim Holtz' Medium side rosette from the Mini Paper Rosettes die cut.
When Terry heard about the RED LETTER DAY, she didn't know what it meant, but after some amazing teamies explained it to her she made a tag and took the theme LITERALLY. She made a tag using a wonderful image of a little girl. She used Crackle Paint Rock Candy and distressed the borders with the Paper distresser. The background of the Tag was done a Tim Holtz technique from the 12 Tags of Christmas... She used a Tim Holtz embossing folder, then embossed almost the whole tag with Copper Embossing powder. The flowers were worked on with Crackle Paint Rock Candy and everything is distressed with Forest Moss, Bundled Sage, Worn Lipstick, Barn Door, Frayed Burlap and Vintage Photo. The sentiment was made using Barn Door and rewritten with the Spica Glitter Marker.
Ellen interpreted red letter day as a day worthy of remembrance, and decided to create a simple tag to remember her Dad.  She printed an old photo of her Dad on Neenah white card stock (isn't that old jalopy awesome?), adhered it to the a #8 manila tag with multi medium matte, and added some alpha parts to "remember" him by. She used a pearl pen to add the black dots between the numbers in the date, and to highlight 'dad' at the bottom.  Added some brushed corduroy distress ink to the edges to add to the vintage feel, and some ribbon to top it off.
Linda is in a Valentine's Day frame of mind and "red letter" made her think of a love letter.  She created a wall hanging based on that using stamps from Tim Holtz's Urban Grunge and Crafty Secret's Rosy Wishes embossed with Ranger Superfine Gold Embossing Powder.  The Tattered Florals and Elegant Flourishes dies were used to create the embellishments and her filigree metal corner was heat embossed with white embossing powder and then sanded to give it a worn enamel appearance.  
Lots of birthdays this month means many circled calender dates, so Sarah went for an all metal take on that elusive subject 'The Male Card'. She also wanted to pay a little birthday tribute to Mr. Tim with oodles of Idea-ology. Her Steampunk Gent lives a Memory Frame suspended from a flying Timepiece and is layered across the Weathered Clock, made with corrugated cardboard and Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink to create an old wooden effect. It also returns inside the card with a well-loved Tim phrase.
Dan is mindful that Valentine's Day is creeping ever closer, so he chose that to be his red letter day for this week's challenge!  He started by painting his base card with Claudine Hellmuth Studio Acrylic Paint in sable brown, blank canvas and dash of red, which he applied with a Ranger Craft Scraper.  Stamps he used were drawn from the Royal Script, From the Heart, Floral Tattoo and Odds and Ends sets.
I began with a literal meaning when I first started making this journal ... then I thought ... how nice would this be as a present with some tickets to a London attraction? To assemble the book I used my Bind it all with some Red 1" wires and to decorate I used Artistic Outpost London Underground; Ranger Archival Ink in Crimson; Vintage Photo Distress Ink; Tim Holtz Vintage Market Strip Die and some truly scrumptious Blue Moon Charms.

Please stop by The Design Team's individual blogs for more detailed pictures and further information on their work...Just click on their names! We are looking forward to seeing your interpretation of this theme! Our wonderful site sponsor Simon Says Stamp is once again giving away a $50 gift voucher!

The prize will go to a random entry chosen by Random Generator. The challenge will close at Midnight Eastern time on Sunday, 15th January 2012 and the winner will be announced during the following week. To qualify all you need to do is create a new piece of work ... post it on your blog ... with a link to this site and then pop a link below so everyone can come see what you made!