a different gift tag

...well, different for me anyway...it's like a paper tag, I mean I stamped on it and added embellishments to it like I would if it was a paper tag, and in a way it is like paper cause it's made out of Creative Paper Clay!

Inspired by the colors over on the Unity Stamp blog {be inspired} challenge

Also entering this in {my sweet earth} Christmas Love Campaign

Susan K. Weckesser stamp - The Garden Whatnot Collection

You can visit the Arnold Grummer blog to see a short video of me making the tag itself out of Creative Paper Clay if you would like :)

Gnomey in disguise

Playing along with the Unity {be inspired} Challenge and I chose the color portion of the challenge. Love Halloween colors and it's right around the corner too...eeks!

I love my What's Up Gnomey stamps and just can't get enough of this cute little guy! I mean, seriously, he is adorable!

So I dressed him up for Halloween!

I also used the sentiment "smile" from the Insta-Cute stamp set.

Don't forget, we have an awesome contest going over on the {my sweet earth} blog. Real easy to play along!

Color separation

A traditional photographic process of separating artwork into component films of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black in preparation for printing to ultimately create a full-color printed product. Recent computer innovations have obviated the need for separated film negatives in certain applications.

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I just LOVE this house stamp by Susan K. Weckesser called Heartfelt Warmth and just about use it on everything, seriously, it's that cute!!

I used the same ink that I stamped with to "re-color" the flower as the original blue did not match. The design on the house came from the Grandma's Needlepoint stamp and instead of using an acrylic block I just held it in with my fingers so I could press the end of the stitches onto the house instead of drawing bricks or something like that.

I love the embossed ink and the tiny sentiment which I printed out, then cut out, inked the sides and doodled along the edges before gluing them down. The striped twine just adds a little more whimsy to the tag.

entering my house stamp tag into:

Simon Monday Challenge - Big Stamp

Paper Playtime - google eyes

I love googlie eyes, they just make me smile and can deliver even the snarkiest statements in a friendly and fun way, like this birthday tag saying, "you're how old? "...lol

I used my paper which had a cute little monster to create a balloon shape and added the goggle eyes to it and some twine for a bow.

I filled in the negative space with glossy accents after filling in the centers of the A's....( not sure what this says about me, but I don't deal with negative space very well, I guess I want happy space )....::eye roll::

Pink Paislee - watercolor paper tags

Faber Castell - water color crayons

Bella Blvd. - arrow stickers

Reminisce white pen

CardsTv - stamp

Ranger - glossy accents

Really Reasonable Ribbon - twine

Helmar - Craft & Hobby PVA glue

Cricut - Stretch Your Imagination, p. 60

also entering my birthday tag in:
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

monger: noun

broker, dealer — usually used in combination

 

a person who attempts to stir up or spread something that is usually petty or discreditable — usually used in combination

 

pronunciation

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Ch# 13 Red, White and Blue

Begins: Monday, Jun 24

Ends: Sunday, Jul 7

Sponsor: CTMH, Lucy Kelleher http://lucyk.ctmh.com/

Prize: (prize to be announced)

(must have USA address)

 

 

Every time I get my Genuinely Jane Studios products ( fabulous store btw ) I always take out the GJS postcard and fussy cut out Jane. She is way too cute and I just love to use her. I cut a small slit in her hand so that I could slide the toothpick flag in.

 

entering this tag in:

 

Genuinely Jane Studio - June Challenge

Creative Inspirations - Inspired by Red, White Blue

 

Bo Bunny - rub ons, stickers

Cricut - Stretch Your Imagination, p. 80 ( tag )

peccant: adjective

guilty of a moral offense : sinning

 

 violating a principle or rule : faulty

 

pronunciation
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Creative Inspirations - Inspired by Red, White and Blue

Craftin Desert Diva's - Red, White and Blue Linky Party
Cut it Up -#21  Red, White and Blue

The background to the tag was created by spritzing my inks on a piece of wax paper. Then I pressed my tag down onto the inks and dragged it through the colors and lifted it up and let dry. Then went back and spritzed the tag with water and dabbed at the spots with a paper towel. 

The polka dot swirl sticker is offset from the tag, so to keep the sticky back from sticking to everything I rubbed a little bit of baby powder on the sticky part sticking off the edge.
 ( Now how many times can I use a variation of sticker in one sentence.... 5, it seems! lol )

 Since the hemp ribbon is thick and part of my pitcher is laying on top of it, I used the LSD to lift up the remaining pitcher and stuck the twine into the glue before it firmed up. The pitcher is cut out twice, with one cut having the handle removed so that I could stamp off the base and that gives it a dimensional look also.

 

 

Cricut cartridges - Paisley,p. 41 ( butterfly )

Country Life, p. 60 ( pitcher and flowers )

Stretch Your Imagination, p. 80 ( tag )

Helmar - Liquid Scrap Dots

Inks - Fireworks, Tattered Angels

Recollections - tiny pearls

Bo Bunny - swirl, friend sticker

Really Reasonable Ribbon - hemp ribbon
Hero Arts - flower stamp



encumber: verb

 

weigh down, burden

 

to impede or hamper the function or activity of : hinder

 

 to burden with a legal claim (as a mortgage)

pronunciation

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Pan Pastels - #22 Tag It

 

 

 

Cricut - Country Life crtridge, p. 41 ( sheep )

Stretch Your Imagination , p.80 ( tag )

Every Day Paperdolls, p.40 ( sun )

Really Reasonable Ribbon

Jillibean Soup - Twine 

Ranger - Liquid Pearls

Faber Castell - PITT pens

 

diseuse: noun

a woman who is a skilled and usually professional reciter

pronunciation
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Moxie Fab - 350 Cards and Gifts Week: The Gift Tags Challenge

PanPastel Challenge Blog - #18 Fairyland

Love to Scrap! Challenge Blog - #5 Anything Goes 
Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog - Things with wings

The fairy was first stamped on the mulberry paper and then restamped onto cardstock, colored and fussy cut, then glued over the stamped image. 

I adhered the mulberry paper to the front of the tag and then wet the edges and pulled it off to give it a soft feathery look. Ran the tag through the printer for the fun birthday sentiment. Hand stitched around the edge.

I create the "to and from" part of my tags on the back so I can decorate the front as much as I want :) By addind the back layer it also hides my sewing.

mulberry paper - misc.

Prima - stamp ( Fairy stamp, had for a very long time and first time I have used it! )

Ranger - stickles

Mark Richards - metal stickers ( on the crown )

bling - misc.

Isabella - font ( love the storybook look to this font )

Helmar - V2 Spray ( to adhere the mulberry paper )

Faber castell - PITT pens

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And an extra card today, one that I made for my hair stylist whose birthday is Saturday. I love that when I made my appointment for Friday that she made sure to let me know that her birthday is on Saturday....think she wants a card? lol

It's hand drawn, and colored in with Distress Stains and water color pencils. Matted on paper from the scrap bin.

entering it in:
Moxie Fab's - The Wonder of Watercolor Challenge

Faber Castell - Aqarelle pencils, PITT pens

Ranger - Distress stains

berceuse: noun

a musical composition usually in 6/8 time that resembles a lullaby

pronunciation

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Paper Smooches - Anything Goes

The scarecrow is stamped onto a transparency.

The leaves are cut, painted and scrunched up and given dimension, and outlined lightly with a pen.

Cricut - Stretch Your Imagination - tag, p. 80

Simply Scarecrow - leaves

Kim Hughes stamp

Really Reasonable Ribbon - hemp cord

Faber Castell - PITT pen

Helmar - V2 spray, Liquid Scrapdots

Ranger - Distress Paints

Maya Road - transparency

My Little Shoebox - pattern paper

Ariel - font
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So yesterday I thought I could finally put away the blankets and tarps that I use to cover my tender plants during those sporadic frost that spring gives you and what did I discover? A nest that had been built into the folds of my tarp...aka old picnic table cloth.

Now if this little nest had held eggs, I would have been stuck with the blanket sitting on my glider and basically no access to my small balcony, so whew...no eggs. Out it came! And notice all that moss? It's from my planters!! I was wondering what was happening because I was seeing moss here and there and my planters were getting all bald!

I found a display spot for it though, it won't last long probably but I'll enjoy it for awhile. See that ugly moss covered purse beside it..yeah..the one with the big ugly brown bald spot...yep...

And if anyone is wondering it's the nest of a Carolina Wren:


Now if I can just get that darn Chickadee from decimating my basket handle cover, it seems to have developed a fondness for burlap....

demulcent: adjective

soothing

pronunciation
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Inkspiritional - Challenge #16

 

I struggle with monochromatic. There I said it.

Is there such a thing as a color therapist?

<insert smirk>

( as you see, I haven't planted the begonia yet )

The inside to the sentiment stamp actually has a "miss you"in the center of the circle...but I masked that off so I could stamp the pine cone inside it.

 

Personal Stamp Exchange - pine cone...( is the second oldest stamp set I own, from 1993! )

Autumn Leaves - Talking in Circles stamp

Ranger - Distress paints, mowed lawn, vintage photo

burlap, twine - misc.

Helmar - 450

Renee Lingren - markers
Imagine - Goosebumps
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And a close of my begonia, just love the way the sunlight is shining on it.

Take your time..ohhh and ahhh over it a bit....

ok, let's move on now, shall we?

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Even though all my Mother's Day cards are finished, I still needed a few tags for the store.

 

entering them in:

Really Reasonable Ribbon - #70 Mother's Day theme with ribbon

 

 3 more that I made :)

 

Maya Roads - velvet flowers

Really Reasonable Ribbon - twine, ribbon

assorted letters and papers from scrap

Cricut - Doodlecharms, p. 85

xenophobia: noun

 fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign
pronunciation
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Cute Card Thursday - #265 Cakewalk
CARDZ TV - #28 Cute as a Button

Do you think a sticker has to stay in the way it was made? Or do you like to alter them? I buy sticker sheets for usually about ½ of them, and then have leftovers that use to drive me crazy because I felt I wasn't getting my moneys worth...now I love the left over stickers because I can play with them, change them up, alter them and it's fun!

 

Tip 'o the Day!

 Here, I had used half of this sweet little glittered flower border and had a portion left over so I used my hole punch to remove those flowers and put them on the cupcake as sprinkles. And if you look at the tag itself, those cute little bees were all cute out from the sticker sheet. ( I do recommend placing the stickers on a piece of paper before cutting, makes it very easy then. ) That big Happy Birthday sticker is another one I changed up, it was too big for the tag so I removed an element and then ran a line of stickles around it to hide where it was cut off.

So, alter..or leave in your scrap pile in case you might need it one day...which way do you roll?

 

Viva - Pearl Pen

Little Yellow Bicycle - striped paper, bees, sticker sentiment

Ranger - stickles

candy buzz - font

Cricut - Rock Princess, p. 77 ( cupcake )

Stretch Your Imagination, p. (tag )

Zig - marker
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Fantabulous Cricut - #156 April Showers
Chocolate,Coffee, & Cards - #37 Download

Sketch as is on left, and flipped on right

 

As you can tell I chose to flip the sketch over;

The umbrella was cut out of chipboard and then the handle was cut off so I could lift the canopy up for some dimension using Liquid Scrap Dots. Added some faux stitching to the canopy.

Cricut - Everyday Paperdolls, p. 42

My Little Shoebox- pink cloud

American Crafts - felt flowers

felt flower brads - misc.

Copic

Zig Writer

Assorted sprays

Fiskar - embossing plate

Petunia Bounce - font

Helmar - Liquid Scrapdots, Gemstone Adhesive

riposte: noun

a fencer's quick return thrust following a parry

or

 a retaliatory verbal sally : retort

also

 a retaliatory maneuver or measure



pronunciation

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Since my mermaids wall hangings have been selling well at the Art MoB, I have been wanting to make other mermaidery type projects. So I made this tag and am entering it in:

Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge - Water

 

 

Everything came from my stash! Hooray, I love using up some of the bits and bobs that pile up!

 I free hand cut the mermaid tail, edged it with Vintage photo distress inks and then covered it with a layer of stickles. Used my craft knife to cut one of the waves out and slid her in. Used Liquid Scrap dots to lift the wave up a little and one of her fins.

 

Used the Helmar 450 to hold down the big shell and Gemstone Adhesive to secure the micro beads.

  

Ranger - stickles, distress ink

Helmar - Liquid Scrap Dots, 450, Gemstone Adhesive

 

grift: verb

to obtain (money) illicitly (as in a confidence game)

or

to acquire money or property illicitly

pronunciation

"Grift" was born in the argot of the underworld, a realm in which a "grifter" might be a pickpocket, a crooked gambler, or a confidence man—any criminal who relied on skill and wits rather than physical violence—and to be "on the grift" was to make a living by stings and clever thefts."
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Making a few tags for the store, my only Easter tag that I had in there, has already sold! I don't know why, but I am always humbled when they buy my tags :)

 

entering this in:

 

Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog - Easter/Spring

  Added dimension with the grass, love that my Liquid Scrapdots can equal the height of the bunny's tail :)

 

 

bunny, cotton ball - misc, from stash

Creative Imaginations - basket weave paper

Cricut - Happy Hauntings cartridge p. 67 ( grass )

Really Reasonable Ribbon - twine

Prima - ( gem butterfly )

Heidi Swapp - bling ( eye )

Helmar - Liquid Scrapdots, Gemstone Adhesive

Studio G - stamp

Sakura - Glaze pens

Honey Script - font

Ranger - Liquid Pearls

Stazon - ink
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Cath over at Moxie Fab has us all thinking about home decor projects.
 I took some tea light candles and wrapped some washi tape around them and then had tons of fun embellishing them. Warning here folks, this may become addictive. They are so cute and tiny! lol I can picture them in the guest bathroom or out on my balcony...either way I can't wait to make some more.

Spring Home Decor Challenge in the Moxie Fab World
also entering in
Anything But a Card - Challenge 15 Spring or Alice in Wonderland

Do make sure that anything you adhere to the tea lights is out of the way of the flame!!

Maya Road - Fabric Tape
Ranger - Tissue Tape
Recollections - flower
twine, button, fiber - misc
Helmar - 450 Adhesive



demotic: adjective

of, relating to, or written in a simplified form of the ancient Egyptian hieratic writing

or

 common, popular

and

 of or relating to the form of Modern Greek that is based on everyday speech

pronunciation

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Yesterday was the second day of spring...huh? I woke up to this and thought I must be dreaming!

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entering this little bunny in:

 

Die Cuttin Divas - Challenge #107 Use a bunny

So do you eat the tail or the ears first?

Ears for me, lol...although I haven't had a chocolate bunnies in eons!

Cricut  Craft Room - Easter Seasonal 2010

( This was offered in the CCR as a free cut, made my base card shape and then the cover, and the bow )
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Inkspirational Challenge #12



I love having a sketch challenge and trying to come up with an alternate way to do it yet keep within the parameters of the sketch requirements. I was worried at first at the mono chromatic aspect to the challenge but once I began digging through my stash it all came together on it's own. I just love that!

I have used Liquid Scrapdots for many tiny things before but I think this little bee that I fussy cut out is the tiniest of them all!

ANOTHER reason I love Liquid Scrapdots is the layering effect. I know that twine and burlap aren't that thick, but when you want your die cut to "float" equal to the material; it sure makes that feat possible with Liquid Scrapdots. With pop dots, you have a height you cannot manipulate, but with LSD, anything is possible! I used the LSD under the flower and under the top portion of the clay pot.

American Crafts - pattern paper
Cricut - Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, p. 80 ( tag )
Close to my Heart - ink marker
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Hemp ribbon ( bow )
Prima - flower ribbon
Helmar - 450, Liquid scrapdots
K&Co. - Gem
Ranger - Liquid Pearls
rub on sentiment,twine, clay pot, glitter flower, burlap - misc.

Reminder: Paper Playtime has their Challenge #6 to Use a Bee up an running.