Details, details, details

With the wedding less than 3 weeks away, my life is ruled by details!  Details also happened to be the LAST challenge from A Compendium of Curiosities hosted by Linda at Studio L3.  For our final challenge we were instructed to turn to page 67 for Design Details.

Design details come in all shapes and sizes.  Here is a project I created in a Tim class in June 2009 using the techniques in the book.

Other design details are not quite so obvious as the stitching, unless you have something to compare it to.  Do you ever play the "can you name the differences between the pictures" game?  Well here's your chance! There are differences or design details added to the 2nd photo!  

Don't worry, I will give the answers!  The card on the right are the ones I made for my daughter to use as "thank yous" for her shower.  (Her shower was a tea party with everyone getting dressed up including hats!  It was great fun!)

I did it!  I made all 35 challenges and posted for each week!  My journal is not completely up to date, but there is a project for each week waiting to be added!

When Linda at StudioL3 announces the winner of the 35th CCC she is going to announce something else too! Make sure you take a look at her blog (she has hints on her week 35 project!).

Have a fabulous week!

Linda

The answers to the differences -
1) the tea cup on the right has a gold added around the rim of the cup and saucer as well as the cup handle
2) the edges of the white square are inked with Tumbled Glass distress ink
3) the edges of the light blue mat (under the white square) are inked with Faded Jeans distress ink
4) the "thank you" strip is placed higher on the card
5) lace under the thank you strip
6) the edges of the "thank you" strip are inked with Tumbled Glass distress ink
7) the edges of the mat under the "thank you" strip are inked with Faded Jeans distress ink

Can't imagine why, can you?

On Tuesday evening, I worked on CCC 34!  I left it on my work table to dry.  Since Tuesday I've worked on other stuff, mostly wedding stuff (as I write this we are down to 3 weeks and 5 days!  How does time slip away so quickly?).   The studio is also becoming my greenhouse for the wedding since I am trying to create an enchanted jungle.  Then I happened to drop by  a store that had some plants on sale for half price that I had to get.

Today (Sunday) I realized I had not posted yet, partly because I was not happy with the way my fragment came out and partly I've been busy with other stuff.  It wasn't the directions on page 63  of A Compendium of Curiosities for Dimensional Collage Fragment technique because as all of the instructions in book they are very clear and nicely illustrated.  The problem was my execution of the technique.  The reason I wasn't too happy with it was because the flower I used got under another element and you can't tell it's a flower.   Even though I don't care for it much I was going to show it to you anyway along with some I made a couple of years ago when Tim was in town.  So I went to my studio to get the fragment and I couldn't find it.  I did look,  but it was nowhere to be found.  I am sure when I clean (no Chris, I did not get as far as cleaning the studio yesterday! lol) I will find it so I can add it to my journal I making for all the challenges.  


Do you see it sitting on the table?

Can't imagine why I can't find the fragment, can you?

The flowers (Cyclamens) are my latest purchase, well except for the ferns I bought today, but they are still in the van and are going to live in the office until the wedding.   Directly behind the chair is this view:

Like I said, the studio is turning into a greenhouse!  There are more plants outside  plus a friend has a nursery and he is going to loan some "background" plants for the wedding.  An then there is the friend at work who is going to be doing some landscaping and will let me use his plants before he puts them in the ground!  I am also working on one of the stores to see if I can rent a 6' waterfall!

OK back to the Dimensional Collage Fragment.  I found the ones I made for the project with Tim. (Perhaps "found" is not the right verb as it is on display in the studio!)  This started as a plain framed IKEA mirror!  There are 6 dimensional collage  fragments in this project - one in each of the lower corners, one above the center of the mirror and one on each the left & right upper edge of the mirror.  There is another one on the bottom right edge of the mirror.  The key in the fragment  to the upper left of the mirror started as a flat metal key, but as time has gone by, it reacted with something and turned turquoise!  It was quite interesting watching it change as it started at one end and slowly went to the other.

Hope you have a fabulous week!

Linda

A Quick Study (CCC #33)

Well, I made it back from Hawaii on Wednesday afternoon!  I had a fabulous time while I was there! But I have been having trouble getting back to the "real" world.  I am slowly recovering.

Today is the first day I've actually played in my Studio!  (That shows how out of it I have been!  lol)  Besides making another 6wedding  invitations, I did a quick "study" for the 33rd Compendium of Curiosities Challenge.  The challenge is hosted by the fabulous Linda Ledbetter at StudioL3.. While it's true the CCC is almost over, she has something up her sleeve, so keep an eye on her blog to find out what.  I used the same colors of Alcohol Inks for all 3 techniques on page 56 of A Compendium of Curiosities.  The colors were Stream, Purple Twilight, Watermelon and Sunshine Yellow.

Nothing exciting, but at least I am easing back into playing!

Here are some photos of my trip to Oahu!  Hope you enjoy them!

Chinaman's Hat

Hibiscus!  They are HUGE!

Me and Rebecca with a little refreshment at the luau at the Hale Koa!

Me on Waikki

Me & Rebecca at a HUGE cave. . . we didn't explore as were not dressed for spelunking.

Just one of the fabulous view!  The water is amazing!

These last 4 pictures are sunset pictures at Barber's Point on the night I left. It was the only sunset I got to see while I was there.

Aloha and Mahalo.

Have fabulous week!

Linda

PS - in case you were wondering 730 was the "magic" number on this trip! lol

CCC #32

Wow!  It's only Tuesday and I am posting CCC 32!   Amazing how motivated one can be when one is leaving in 36 hours for Hawaii!  Yep, I am off to see my middle daughter who is living in Hawaii!  This will be my first trip ever to visit the Islands and I am EXCITED!!!

OK, onto the Compendium of Curiosity Challenge hosted by the awesome Linda @ StudioL3.  If you haven't been playing along, there is plenty of time to mosey on over and give it a try this week!  We only have 3 more lessons before we've tried all the techniques in the book.  But not to worry, Linda says she has something up her sleeve!

 We were instructed to turn to page 59.   This week the piece I am showing off was created for my companion book I am creating to go along with the Compendium of Curiosity.  And it has nothing to do with the wedding! lol

I also used the technique for a retirement card I made.  I didn't take a picture of it because I really didn't care for it all that much (the card).  In fact, I even stopped at a store on my way to work to buy a card.    Everyone at work thought it was great and that I am too hard on myself, but I disagree.  The recipient said she liked it, so I guess in the end that is what matters!

Anyway, following the instructions on page 59 in the Compendium of Curiosity, I created this:

I went with the car, not because I was "copying" Tim, but because I had a couple Karen Foster signs I wanted to use.  One said "Retiree Parking" and the other "Retirement Street" which both worked fabulously with the car stamp.   In the book Tim says the main image will float over the other images and in this picture the car really looks to be floating, kinda like Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang!  lol   Guess that means I "achieved" the look!

I was playing around with different color of inks for the background stamp, you know, "test driving"  which I liked best for the card.  I think I ended up using the brown on the card.  I really wished I had "road map" rubber stamp for this, or at least a few more background stamps to choose from.  Some day!

For now I say ALOHA!  I will post a few pictures when I get home and tell you all about my adventures!

Take care my friends and be safe!

Linda

PS - If you need some of Tim's Alteration Dies Stamper's Corner has a buy one, get one free sale going on right now and they will ship for actual shipping cost.  Give them a call at 916-686-0651if you are interested! 

Not sure

I am not sure if this qualifies for the Gingersnap's GC87: Random Redhead - Tea Bag Template Challenge but there is a "teabag" and I used a template for a tea cup so I thought I'd enter it!


And yes, this is another wedding related project!  I can't take credit for the theme of the shower as the Maid of Honor and bride came up with it.  I can't take credit for the teacup design either, that came from a template at  Split Coast Stampers.   After the girls cut the cups out, I used the Floral Fantasy embossing folder by Cuttlebug, used a gold leafing pen across the top and bottom, and glued the sides of the cups.  For the tea bag I inked both sides (one side at at a time) of the paper using Tea Dye Distress Ink and misted with a couple drops of Old Paper  DI mixed with water, then printed the info, cut out, trimmed, inked the edges and attached the string and tag with a tiny attacher.  (I inked both sides of the paper because there is information on both sides!) These were pretty quick to make and I was very happy with the way they came out!

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!

CCC #31

Boy,  working full time and planning a wedding sure doesn't leave one much time for other activities! For the 31st Compendium of Curiosities Challenge hosted by the fabulous Linda @ StudioL3, I decided to design an element to use at the reception!  (There is more than one way to have some fun!)

We are going to have a limited open bar (beer, wine and a "signature drink") with a twist!  As at most bars there will be a tip jar, the twist will be the tips will be for the bride & groom! (If you want a twist of lime with your drink, we might have those too! lol)  Anyway, I have a big jar that I plan to decorate with the same elephants used on the invitations with a jungle background.  Going up the jar will be different locations of where the kids "will" go on their honeymoon depending on the tips they make.

Anyway, here are the elephants, they were made as one piece.  Hard to tell they are enameled and they don't have eyes yet, but I will get there.  I didn't get as far as I planned as one of my sisters dropped by for a surprise visit and then I spent a lot more time than I had planned planting or re-planting some "tropical" plants I got at a fabulous price (yes, for the wedding!)

 (sorry about the weird angle, but I scanned it instead taking a picture and that is the only way I could get the elephants to fit on the scanner.)

Once I get the jar completed I will try to remember to take pictures and post.

I hope you have a fabulous week!

Linda

Collaboration and CCC #30

Before the holidays, SJ and I donated some cards we had each made for an annual raffle held at work.  Part of the prize was 4 custom cards of the raffle winner's choice.  A couple of weeks ago, the raffle winner asked us for a wedding card, giving us about 4 weeks lead time.

We were in the middle of wedding invitations when she asked us. ( I am happy to say wedding invitations were mailed on the 1st as planned!  We have even received 2 RSVPs already!)  So yesterday (Saturday) we were finally able to get to it.  I gave SJ a refresher on how to make roses (she made the big one). To get white roses we used Ranger's "snow cap" dabber.   I have found when using paint for grunge roses,  it is easier to create each layer, paint, then assemble.  (As opposed to using ink and inking the grungepaper before making the layers.)

 I was having a rough day yesterday so SJ did most of the work of putting the card together. My main contributions were some ideas and the word stick.  Didn't she do a fantastic job?  I think so too!  Thank you SJ for your help!  I am pretty sure I'd still be trying to decide on the base! lol

The word stick is my "project" for the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge, hosted by the fabulous Linda at StudioL3, Altered Metal with Paint.  The instructions for the challenge can be found on page 48 of Tim Holtz' book Compendium of Curiosities.


To leave you with a smile, here's a picture of my awesome husband Dave and Max!  (Yes, Max is actually sleeping with his head resting on Dave's arm!)

Have a great Super Bowl Sunday afternoon!  And a fabulous week!

Linda