Inspired by the 12 Tags of Christmas

Did you have a FANTASTIC Christmas?  I hope so!
To all my friends who sent Christmas cards, THANK YOU.  Each and every one is awesome!

In some respects mine was fabulous. . .I had my grandkids here!  (Technically they are not my grandkids yet because the wedding is not until April, but they have stolen my heart already so they ARE my grandkids!)   They are such sweethearts!  In other ways it has been a hard few days as this it the first Christmas without Mom.  Having Brandon and Izzy here definitely helped me though!

Izzy

Brandon

It's always a busy time of year but I managed to follow along while Tim was creating his 12 Tags of Christmas.  I even created about half them, but somewhere in the early days of the 12 tags I was inspired to create a shadow box using Tim's "Configurations"!  The box is why I don't have all the tags completed yet because I was making boxes!  I really had fun with this!

Some of the compartments were created using the technique introduced in the 12 Tags, other compartments were designed around the images used in the tags. Thank you Tim for the inspiration (and for designing the cool products!)

Day 7

Day 2

Day 1

Day 10

Day 4

Day 11

Day 6

Day 12

Day 5

Day 8

Day 3

Day 9

Please let me know if you have questions about any of the boxes, and I will try to answer them for you.  

Products used (most if not all the products came from my stash, some of which has been waiting for a long while! lol):

Ranger:

Distress Inks, Studio Matte Medium, Sticky Back Canvas, Embossing Powders, Rock Candy Stickles, Paint Dabbers, Alcohol Ink, Distress Embossing Ink

Idea-Ology

TH Seasonal Paper Stash, TH Vintage Shabby Paper Stash, Configurations, Grungepaper, Grunge board, Word Keys, Facets, Adage Tickets, Baubles

Sizzix

Reindeer Flight die, texture fade

Miscellaneous products

Hot Off The Press papers

Christmas House Holly Bush

Celebrate it Christmas pine bough

DecoArt Glistening SnowTex Glittering Snow

jewel

eye hooks

K & Co - Tim Coffey Metal Tags

Dress It Up "Tree Trimmers"

Hero Arts Embossing Powder

Pocket Change by Heidi Grace Designs

Mrs. Grossman's "stuffed stickers"

A completed challenge

I was surfing blogland today trying to get some inspiration or maybe just passing some time while my studio was occupied with a sleeping daughter.  A couple  of the blogs I frequent are Lynn Steven's Trash to Treasure Art and Hels Sheridan's Ink on My Fingers.   Both are on the Design Team for Gingersnap Creations both always have awesome projects and of course links to the Gingersnap Creations challenges.  Today I decided I was going to attempt one of the challenges, I had 5 to choose from!

Before I could decide which one I was going to try, my husband and I decided to go for a drive up to Jackson and wander around old town.  We wandered around town, looking here and there.  It was a beautiful day for a drive in the country and walking around.  By the time we left though, I was getting a headache.  We stopped for gas and I got some Excedrin.  When we were on the road again I put my hat on, pulled low over my eyes, closed my eyes, and contemplated which challenge I would do.  By the time we got home I knew exactly what I was going to do. 

It turns out the challenge I chose was GC 47: Color Challenge - Copper, Ginger or Rust - which ends on April 18.  Made it, just in time!

For the Eiffel Tower I used the Sizzix Bigz Eiffel Tower on Grungeboard which I inked with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink,  I wrapped copper wire around it, added some mini brads then smashed everything down with a hammer.  All the background paper is from my scrap box. Even thoug it is hard to see here, the card has little flecks of rust and ginger on an off-white background.  

So there you have it - my first Gingersnap Creations challenge!    I have quite a few more challenges I want to try, so stay tuned!

Linda

Lucky me!!!

I have been very fortunate for the last week or so as I have had one of Tim's new Sizzix dies in my hot little hands!  Well, it has not been in my hands (or in my Big Shot) as much as I would like, but I have gotten to spend a little time playing!

Without further ado, here are the flowers using the "Tattered Floral" Alteration die with Grungepaper:

On this first flower I used 3 of the large 6 petal flowers inked with Barn Door distress ink.

On the 2nd flower I used 4 of the large 6 petal flowers inked with Wild Honey distress ink spritz with Perfect Gold Perfect Pearls mixed with water.

On the next two I used the medium daisy looking flower. The lily on the left I used Rusty Hinge and Spiced Marmalade distress inks and the lily on the right I used Victorian Velvet distress ink.  I used alcohol ink on the stamens of both lilies and I think I spritzed both with some perfect gold perfect pearls and water.. 

I am working on a couple more designs, hopefully I will have something to show you soon!

If you live in the Elk Grove area and you want to see the Wild Honey rose I post here it is on display (or at least it was last time I was in) at Stampers' Corner (and like the flowers above, it's nicer in person)!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Take care,

Linda

Just a couple of cards

Not a bad day considering I started the day with a migraine, it turned out FABULOUS! After taking some meds and a 5 hour nap I finished 2 cards today, one fulfills a request and the second is for a "Challenge 59" at Art Creations Friday. It also helps that Erinn and Joseph (my oldest and youngest) went shopping and Erinn made some delicious clam chowder for dinner!



My first card was requested by, well I won't say who just on the off chance the recipient stumbles across my blog. Anyway, the requester saw the alligator and KNEW that I needed to make a card using it. So here it is! Requester (you know who you are) let me know if you like it, please! The inside says "Thanks for being a great friend."

I used a cream diamond finished cardstock which I inked using distress inks (Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick, Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint) then I stamped "friend" using Tattered Rose and Shabby Shutter. The alligator is a Sizzix die, even though you can't really tell (except on the face) I inked using Distress inks and painted her toes with baby pink acrylic paint. After the paint dried I covered with glossy accents to give her toes a shine! The log was created using beige cardstock inked with various brown Distress inks (bet that surprises you! lol) and a smidgen of black. After the card stock was inked I cut the log free hand!

I found a couple of challenges today, the one I mentioned above, plus one at Scrap-Mart's blog. The Scrap-Mart challenge is for a vintage card and the prize is one Tim Holtz new Sizzix die (and it's even autographed by Tim !!!!) I am still working on that card.


On to the card I finished for Art Creations Friday! They provide an image you have to incorporate into your art work.

The woman is the image they provided. The car and man w/umbrella are Tim's stamps. The background started as the same cream diamond finished cardstock as the card above. Again I used distress inks (Peeled Paint [I think], Broken China and one of the browns. . .I wasn't paying attention) then I dripped some water over the background. I stamped the man in Stazon Jet Black, I masked him then stamped the car in Archival Coffee. The woman was printed on the cream cardstock, cut out and mount on foam tape. I used a DYMO Embossing Label Maker for the text. Inside the card reads "Happy Belated Birthday!" (I used the label maker for that too!

If you know me, you know I NEVER get side-tracked or go off on tangents (yeah, right).  Around 8:30 p.m I told the requester mentioned above I would post the card but to give me "30 minutes or so" .  I opened my blog (within the requested 30 minutes) and noticed Wendy (Vecchi) had updated her Studio 490 blog, so of course I had to go read it as this her first blog since getting back from CHA.  Before she left, she had a giveaway if you posted a comment before she got back.  I got down to the winners and the 2nd one was "Linda" but didn't think too much as there are LOTS of Lindas out there.  Then I started reading the comment and recognized it as MINE!!!!!!  Then I read on to see that Ted and Michelle of Stampers Anonymous gave Wendy a set of her new stamps for each of the winners!  How generous is that??!!!!!!  Thank you  Ted and Michelle for giving Wendy the prizes!  Thank you Wendy for having the drawing!  Thank you Rick for mailing the prize!!!! 

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!  If you haven't already done so, be sure to leave a comment on the post above for your chance to win a prize on my blog!

Take care,

Linda

The corruption continues. . .

I worked on corrupting 2 young hearts yesterday!!! My sister-in-law Annette dropped by to work on a scrapbook. She brought her 6 year old grand-daughter, my great neice, Savannah with her.


Before they arrived, I had been working on my die-cut "catalog". I am trying to catalog all the shapes I have. So while Annette worked on her scrapbook, Savannah helped me cut some "shapes" with using new dies I had ordered from Sizzix. (they had an AWESOME sale, up to 85% off some dies!!!!). After we finished our cutting, Savannah got down to some serious work! She made about 1/2 dozen 12 x 12 pictures for friends and family! I was the lucky recipient of this fantastic picture!

In some of her other creations she used stamps, brads, ribbon, gemstones, all kinds of flowers as well as die cuts and hand drawings! (Of course, I didn't think about taking pictures of those until after she left.) Nothing like corrupting them while they are young!


At some point my son, Joseph, came in the studio. (he's 20) I had 2 alligators (new die cut) sitting on the table as I was going to ink them. He really liked them, and wanted one of mine. I told him he had to make his own! (I know I am such a mean mom!) Savannah and I explained how to use the Big Shot and he cut an alligator for himself. Savannah decided she needed some more die cuts so Joseph & Savannah searched the dies and found the "perfect" ones. Both "kids" had a blast. Joseph ended up creating this awesome card! His first ever!!!

Joseph "free-handed" the hat! I think he did a fabulous job. . . leave comments on what you think. Corrupting another one, this time my own son! lol

Hope you are having a fantastic weekend!

Take care, be safe,
Linda