Red, White, & Blue: USA Banner

Independence day may be over, but we're still celebrating the good ol' Red, White, & Blue with Scrapalicious USA blog's latest 2-week challenge.  While I went straight-up patriotic, your submission doesn't have to be...it just has to use the color palette. Join in the fun and you could win a $10 gift certificate to the Scrapalicious USA store!  (And $10 goes a long way at Scrapalicious prices.)  Also, be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you can receive sale and giveaway information.

July 19th Update:  

Sadly, Scrapalicious USA has closed, this challenge is no longer valid.  :-(

Some Details:

• I used coasters as the base for my letters, covering each in a vintage book page.  Yep, I finally purchased a book with the sole intention of destroying it...gulp...those first few pages were tough.  I was taught to respect and care for books; it seems such sacriledge, but boy does it look nice!  :-)  To fade the print a bit, I used Old Paper Distress Ink and Stain and Picket Fence Distress Stain.  

• Each letter is layered on top of a bit of burlap.  K & Co. Americana diecuts are layered up and accented with Stickles and Distress Stickles.
• The center coaster has an extra dangling ornament...a diecut "The Land I Love" circle that's hung with a couple jump rings and a trinket pin.

• I punched a hole in the top corners of each coaster and asterisk element to attach jump rings.  A long strand of baker's twine was strung through the jump rings and short lengths were used to tie the rings to the long strand, holding each element in place along the strand.

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp and Show: Challenged - Layered

Creative Belli Blog: Belli Challenge #147 - Stars

Inspiration Emporium:  July Monthly Challenge - For the Love of Red, White, and Blue

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Patterned Paper:	Vintage book pages
Inks:	Distress Stain ‘Old Paper’, ‘Picket Fence’; Adirondack paint dabber ‘Snow Cap’; Perfect Pearls Mist ‘Heirloom Gold’
Embellishments:	K&Co diecuts ‘Americana’; burlap; Distress Stickles ‘Old Paper’, ‘Frayed Burlap’; Papertrey Ink baker’s twine; Tim Holtz jump rings; Memory Makers pin;
Tools:	Zots; hole punch
Misc:	PTI coasters

Siren of the Sea

We have a really fun challenge for you over at Scrapalicious USA blog for the next two weeks..."Summertime"!  Think vacations, picnics, going to the beach, swimming..etc.  Whatever makes you think of summer.  Join in the fun and you could win a $10 gift certificate to the Scrapalicious USA store!  Also, be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you can receive sale and giveaway information.

When I think of summer, I think of water (hard not to here in the Great Lakes state!). This funky mermaid tag is ocean-themed, not lake-themed however... As kids my BFF and I would cross our ankles while swimming to pretend we were mermaids. I LOVE to swim and always thought it would be cool to be part fish...think how much faster you could go!

Some Details:

• The key element in this tag is that I just had a lot of fun with it!  I mixed cartoony fish with a vintage mermaid and bold patterns.
• The Cosmo Cricket fish stickers are highlighted with Stickles and are blowing Liquid Pearls bubbles.

• I should say that EVERYTHING is highlighted / accented with Stickles.  I went Stickles-happy and love the funky fun of it!  Our mermaid princess has Icicle on her tail, Fruit Punch on her...um...starfish..., and Platinum on her crown.  Even the tulle netting is speckled with a little Patina.  I think it's all the the glitter that pulls all these random elements together.

Other Challenges:

Digital Tuesday Challenge: #165 - Tag It

Hooked on Crafts: Challenge #21 - All that Glitters

Simon Says Stamp and Show: A Bit of Brown

The Squirrel and the Fox: Challenge #20 - Make It Sparkle

So Artful Challenges: Ocean

Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Simon Says...Anything BUT a Card

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Cardstock:	Manila tag, Papertrey Ink ‘Aqua Mist’
Patterned Paper:	My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found “Market Street” 6x6
Image:	The Sum of All Crafts
Inks:	StazOn ‘Timber Brown’
Embellishments:	Liquid Pearls ‘White Opal’; ribbon; Celebrate It tulle ribbon
Tools:	Scallop scissors; tweezers

Certificate of Graduation

My nephews and niece have grown so fast.  I can barely believe two of them are now high school graduations...eesh.  Scrapalicious USA's "Graduation" challenge theme is perfectly timed for my niece's recent graduation party.  You probably have some cards to make for this graduation season, so play along with us!  Someone will win a $10 gift certificate to the Scrapalicious USA store...and it can only be you if you join in the fun.  Also, be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you can receive sale and giveaway information.

Some Details:

• I love that you can personalize this "diploma" sticker from Me & My Big Ideas.  I used typography stickers to add my niece's name and then wrote the month and year in grey pen.  For just a hint of sparkle, I added an outline of Platinum Stickles around the edge of the diploma.  It's "hanging" from some gorgeous My Mind's Eye seam binding.

• The hot air balloon is symbolic of taking flight and exploring new worlds.  It's stamped directly onto the MME's background paper in sand ink.

• Two of my favorite embellishments...tissue tape and pom pom trim...working together here to finish off the bottom of the card.

Challenges:

Make It Monday # 92

Quirky Crafts: Challenge #12 2012 - Up, Up, and Away (or the Sky's the Limit)

Supplies InLinkz.com

Cardstock:	Stampin’ Up! ‘Sahara Sand’
Patterned Paper:	My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found ‘Portobello Road’
Inks:	SU! classic ‘Sahara Sand’; Distress Ink ‘Frayed Burlap’, Le Pen ‘Dark Grey’
Embellishments:	Tim Holtz tissue tape ‘Symphony’
Tools:	Wondertape; TH paper distresser; Zots

Altered Dressform

We have a really fun challenge for you over at Scrapalicious USA blog for the next two weeks..."Altered Art"!  Come on, dig in that stash and altered something you've had squirreled away for a while.  Oh, is that just me...noooo, I know you all do it too!  :-)  Join in the fun and you could win a $10 gift certificate to the Scrapalicious USA store!  Also, be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you can receive sale and giveaway information.

So, setting out on my own altered art journey, I dug in my extensive stash and pulled out this papier mache dress form that I'd had in there for YEARS.  I'd recently gotten some paper and stickers from the lovely Bo-Bunny "Et Cetera" collection and decided to start there.  Once I had that as a base, I just kept pulling out things that seemed like they'd work together.  The result...this shabby chic dress form that honors every crafty woman's basic inner need...to CREATE!

The Details...and a confession:

• I started by painting the papier mache with Antique Linen Distress Crackle Paint, then added areas of Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint.  
• The next layer was torn strips of Bo-Bunny Et Cetera Symphony paper decoupaged on with Matte Multi-Medium.  I will warn you, the paper turned very salmony/coral as the Multi-Medium dried.  Thankfully, I was able to work with it by added coral accents.
• Next up was the doily, scalloped border sticker, postal stickers, and alpha stamps.  All given another good coat of Multi-Medium.

• I have to fess up about that doily.  It was on my plate at a restaurant a few months ago.  It was just the prettiest and most delicate paper doily ever, so I snatched off the plate before it could get soiled and stuffed it in my purse.  Luckily, I was with my best girlfriends who are also crafty and know all about my addictions.  But, yeah, I still endured some teasing over that one.  LOL! 
• I layered the lovely Bo-Bunny Et Cetera silhouette sticker onto some My Mind's Eye patterned paper and scalloped the edges.  She's attached to the dress form with foam tape for dimension (and the fact that she was not going to look right if I tried to make her fit the shape of the dress form surface!)
• Some velvet rick rack trim finishes off the bottom edge and neckline.  I also clustered some vintage buttons along the bottom and one large one on the top of the neck.  Gorgeous Jolee's embroidered lace flower and Prima flower are grouped with a Hobby Lobby bridal pick as a sort of "corsage" at the shoulder.  And of course no corsage is complete without a pearl-headed pin...this one was colored to match with Alcohol inks and features a bit of bling with its dangling jewels, which were also colored with AI.

• The back needed a little something, so I gave her a seam binding bow "bustle".

This was a fun piece that went together pretty quickly.  Once I started pulling out possible elements, everything just came together!

Challenges:
Wishcraft: Waste Not Wednesday - Week #20
Flourishes: Timeless Tuesday #170 - Use a Flower
Top Tip Tuesday: #77 Dig Out the Old (papier mache dress form)

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Inks:	Distress Stain ‘Old Paper’; Distress Crackle Paint ‘Antique Linen’; Alcohol Ink ‘Aqua’, ‘Latte’; Perfect Pearl Mist ‘Heirloom Gold’
Embellishments:	Paper doily; Celebrate It ribbon; Blue Moon Lost & Found beads; The Jewelry Shoppe jump rings; Hobby Lobby bridal pick; corsage pin; vintage buttons; Hug Snug seam binding
Tools:	Claudine Hellmuth Studio Matte Multi-Medium; Wondertape; felt ink blender; scallop scissors; tweezer; foam tape
Misc:	Papier mache dressform