Rock 'N' Rolla Inspiration

Over at the Smeared and Smudged forum the Rock 'n' Rolla challege for December was the video Brick by Boring Brick by Paramore Check it out so you can understand my card :)

I inked up my card with a grey stamp pad (direct to paper) which kind of gave me bricks (like the castle) but I added some lines to make them smaller and more brick like. The swirl I used for the vine and the flower are both from CTMH, the little girl with butterfly wings is from Lost Coast. I added glitter glue to her dress (which you really can't see here), but thought it was cool that the picture came out with a couple of the sparkles glowing just like the video. The frame is from smearedink and that's for the mirrors in the video.

~happy stamping~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 12

We made it! Day 12 of the 12 days of Christmas Smeared and Smudged style! I hope you all had as much fun as I did hopping to all the blogs and seeing what everyone created. These ladies are amazing, if you missed any of the days go back and take a look at everyone's art. If you've enjoyed what you've seen and want to partake in some stamping fun come and join us over on the Smeared and Smudged forum.

For my last entry I'm using the Elementals set from Smeared Ink. I stamped her in outdoor denim ink then coloring her in using 3 different shades of blue pencils. Then I added some glitter glue to her hair. I was imagining a Winter Goddess when I picked the texture paper and colors. I wanted to add a big sparkly chipboard snowflake, but of course when I need something I can never find it. So I went with the swirl thinking it matches the curls in her hair pretty well. It was already sparkly so just sponged some blue ink on it.

Thank you so much for hopping along with me, I've appreciated all the comments. I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Please come back and see me in 2011, I'm hoping to make it a super crafty year :)

~ hugs, steph ~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 11

Hello again! We are getting closer and closer to the big day and I've yet to design, stamp and send out my cards ACK!!! So here's a couple designs I've decided on that are easy peasy but still look nice (I think).

I wanted to go with craft paper and I'm using cocoa ink on both samples. The first image of the deer is from B & J Art Stamps. I really like this image I have several other petroglyph images from them and when I saw this one I had to have it. I added just a touch of red stickels to the nose :) I also have a smaller size of the same image I'm going to put on the envelope. I'm undecided if I should put and sentiment on the front or just on the inside. I do have a small plain font that says happy holidays... hmmm




The second card I used the angel (Stamp On It Designs)that I used several days back on an atc, again with cocoa ink. I used white pencil to color her and then added glitter glue to her wings. I also stamped peace hope and joy (ctmh) underneath.




Now all I have to do it make about 33 more of these :) The problem with that is my pack of craft cards only has 20 .... so I'm going to have to come up with another style that looks good on white card stock, unless I want to go over to Michael's.

Make sure to come back on the 23rd for the last day of the Smeared and Smudged Jolly Blogger blog hop. It's been a blast participating and even better hopping along and seeing what amazing work all the other bloggers are contributing to the hop.

~happy holidays~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 10

Hello again my friends. I can't believe how fast this month is going. Thank you so much for visiting and your comments are very much appreciated. My project for today is another ATC, I'm so worn out I needed something quick. I've used an awesome skull stamp from Lost Coast Designs. The skull has a wreath so I thought hey lets make it a Christmas wreath. As you probably noticed I was too impatient and didn't let my stickles dry completely and so they smeared when I went to put the glue dots on the back of the skull.....ug... So I'll have to figure out how to fix that or just redo the skull when I have a little more energy. I created the background for my ATC with the texture stamps from the Quoth the Raven stamp set from Smeared Ink (I love that set).



Since I was bummed out at smearing my project after I colored and cut it out I went digging thru my old projects to find something else to share. So here's a look at Projects from Christmas Past.... hehehe get it?


Both of these projects are from my demonstrating days with CTMH. The first is a card with the cute sleigh stamp, the white paper with the entiment is actually vellum so you can see the stamps images on the green paper beneath it in person.


The second is a little gift sack made from an envelope. First you take a business size envelope and seal it up. Then you cut it in half and stamp it all up. Then you fold the sides and bottom in about a 1/4 of an inch. Fold them both to the front and then to the back. Then you work the folds to open up the bag. I layered the sentiment and added to the front and made some matching tissue paper.
I'm off work this coming week so I'll locate an envelope and take step by step pictures if anyone is interested, I'm not sure if my tired rambling is making much sense at the moment.

Thanks for stopping by, dont forget to check out the other Jolly Bloggers.

~happy stamping~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 9

Welcome back! For day 9 I've used the tree nymph from the Nymphs set at Smeared Ink.





I started off imaging a decorated tree kink of like Tori did several days ago, but then changed my mind and thought about a wintery feel .... well after I finished cutting her out I couldn't find any paper I liked that made her pop off the page so went with simple black. I added some liquid glass to her dress so it's nice and shiney. Then I added some glitter glue thinking I'd make it look like snow. Well I found out that when I put the glitter glue over black paper it looks more greenish, so then decided to add some red stickles and think it kinda turned out with a holly like look. Not totally how I envisioned, but not so bad. Live and learn.

~happy stamping~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 8

On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me.... a red and green skull ATC! OK well not really, I had to make it myself and I'm lovin' my Quoth the Raven set from Smeared Ink!!! The stamps I used here are all from that set. I also used glitter glue (again), red stickles, paper flower inked up in cranberry to match everything else and the swirl is from Pebbles Chips.

Don't forget to visit the other Jolly Bloggers (links on my sidebar) and leave them some love.

~happy stamping~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 7

Hello Friends, welcome back to day 7 of the fabulous Smeared and Smudged style Christmas blog hop. I'm not sure where I was heading when I started this card, but I'm pretty happy the way it turned out. I used my Quoth the Raven set from Smeared Ink. First I stamped the larger image in new england ivy ink then the separate raven in cranberry ink. I used pop dots to place the cranberry raven over the one on the base level. I mounted these onto some holiday texture paper and on a white card base. Added some rhinestones - even an itty bitty one on her eye - and voila my entry for day 7.

Thanks for stopping by, I truly appreciate all the comments I've received so far :) Don't forget to leave all the other Jolly Bloggers some stampin' love.

~happy stamping~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

I didn't have a lot of spare time on Friday, on any Friday for that matter, so my project for today is a quick and easy one. This jolly little ATC is stamped on white CS in cranberry ink and then layered on some cranberry gingham. I added some glitter glue to the stars and hat and liquid glass to Santa's face and beard. Of course the liquid glass made the cranberry ink more orangey *sigh*. Might try this again with black ink and only glitter the hat.

Last year I was able to take one of my ATC designs and change it into my christmas cards so I'm hoping one of my little art will click with me and I can do that again.... hmmm.... still thinking this one over. Oh yea, stamps are CTMH and I adding some fake stitching around the edges.

Please come back on the 13th for some more holiday fun!

~happy stamping~

Kiddo's Art

This magnificent picture was created by my son in his art class. It was done on construction paper with chalk and pastels. They also laminated it so it was hard to get a good picture without any glare. When I was complimenting him on it he asked if I was going to put it on my blog :) So of course I wanted to share it with all of you.

~happy drawing~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 5

Welcome to day 5 of the Smeared and Smudged blog hop! For todays card I chose a fabulous stamp by Queen Kat Designs from the Creepie Cuties collection. I colored her using pencils in the traditional red and green. Mounted her on red CS and then on some holiday texture paper. Before putting all the peices together I thought the white CS looked too stark so I sponged around her and the white card base using bamboo ink. I think her and her cookie stealing dragon work really well as a Christmas stamp :) I was too lazy to dig through my alpha stamps so I hand wrote the sentiment.
Now keep on hoping and sharing the love!

~happy stamping~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

Christmas is getting closer and closer and I'm still deciding on my design for my Christmas cards. This card makes me giggle but I'm not sure that too many people on my card list would get it :) For day four of the 12 days hop over at smeared and smudged we were challenged to also use one of the smeared ink sets. I chose my new Poe set that I love! I wanted to dress Mr. Poe up Christmasy but couldn't quite come up with a plan but then Ho Ho Poe popped into my head...hehehe, I know I'm weird but it makes me smile .....



So anyway I stamped him in vineyardberry ink on white CS and cut him out. Used some texture paper that has vineyardberry, white and ocean (I think) stripes, some matching ribbon and punched some cirlces out of white texture CS. Used some alpha stamps to add my sentiment and BAM a faulous Poe card. Oh and had to add some glitter glue cause it's my new "thing".

Hope you get a kick out of it, I know I do. Don't forget to keep on hopping along and leave all the Jolly Bloggers some Christmas love, and dont forget to come back on the 9th for another round of hopping.

~happy stamping~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 3

Hello again! We are on to day 3 of the 12 days of Christmas and I've decided to make an ATC. I used my brand new angel (or maybe she's a fairie) stamp from Stamp On It. Picked her up from the convention in Mesa last month (one of my many new stamps). Stamped her in chocolate ink and colored with ivory and pink pencil. After cutting her out I added some silver pencil to the veins in her wings and curved them slightly before adding some glitter glue (my new favorite product). Also added some little beads to the bottom of her dress.
For the base of the ATC I used a cream cardstock and distressed it first with cocoa ink then chocolate ink. Also used the same colors to distress the texture paper. Used the same cream paper for my words (CTMH) stamping in chocolate. Cut them out in interesting shapes and added color to the edges and added to the base. After my angel was all dry I added her with foam tape to the ATC. I think she turned out real sweet, hope you like it too!
Don't forget to drop by all the other Jolly Bloggers and see what awesomeness they have created for today.

~happy stamping~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 2

Welcome back to my little corner of the blogging world! I started off this card with green cardstock and added a texture paper from my stash. I used stamps from the Smeared Ink Fae set.
She's actually stamped in the same color green as the cardstock, then I traced over her wings, eyes and hair with blue pencil to go back to the blue in the texture paper. Then I went over her again with glitter glue along her wings and hat. Then liquid glass to outline her arms and face so she's still have a raised appearance but without the glitter.
Once I put the glitter glue on it changed the green underneath slightly but it doesn't look as drastic in person as it does here. I really need to finish my projects earlier to photograph them in the natural daylight. But at least you can see the sparkle in this picture :) I thought the sentiment "believe" fit perfectly for this little faerie waiting for Santa.
I'm thinking of trying it out with blue cardstock and ink and then in red, I'll have to post those when I finish.

Thanks for hopping by and don't forget to check out all the fabulous jolly bloggers - links are on my sidebar.

~happy stamping~

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1

We'd like to invite YOU to join in this year and participate in our 12 Days of Christmas Smeared and Smudged style event. We're offering up a cool prize at the end, and know that you'll have a blast! How can you do this, you ask? Be one of our MERRY HOPPERS!



12 Days of Christmas Merry Hopper

What You Have To Do: Hop through each of the 12 Days Blogs that are participating and leave a comment on each project. We'll be posting projects every other day, starting today, December 1st!



The Rules: You must leave a comment on EACH participating blog every day to qualify for the prize drawing. Your comment should be about the project or something related (ie-no "Here's my comment for today" or "I'm here!"...these types of comments won't count!) If you miss a day or a blog, you will still qualify to receive a survival button, but will not qualify for the prize drawing.



Prize Drawing At the end of the 12 days, we will be drawing for a fabulous free stamp set from Smeared Ink, along with some other goodies!






Here's my card for day 1. I used some texture paper that has a bit of the traditional red and green for Christmas and added this sassy stamp from Stamp it Crazy. Isn't she great, she has a naughty look in her eye so I thought the sentiment fit perfectly! Didn't have a naughty or nice stamp so had to write it out (note to self: practice your handwriting!). Colored her with pencils and added a crochet flower with a brad.



Make sure to check out all the other Jolly Bloggers and leave them some love so you can be entered to win an awesome stamp set at the end of our 12 days of Christmas! All the blogs are listed to the left, happy hopping!



~be happy, create art~

november sketch challenge

Here's my take on the November sketch challenge over at RubberStampChat and Smeared and Smudged. I used a Smeared Ink image from the Fae set and colored her with pencils. Papers, ribbons and embellies are from CTMH.

~happy stamping~

I did it!

Yep that's right I did it.... what you may ask? Well I signed up to take part in the 12 days of Christmas blog hop that begins on Dec 1st. I'm super excited to play along this time around and I'll be hopping too because these women are so creative and inspiring. The list is to the left so make sure you check back on December 1st and visit everyone's blog to be inspired and amazed... Smeared and Smudged style!

~happy stamping~

Here's the one and only Thanksgiving Day card I made this year. I always have such grand plans that never seem to pan out. I'm working on changing that so check back soon for more cards and even some Christmas stuff :) All products used on this card are from CTMH, I think the stamp set is one that has been retired a while though.

~happy stamping~

Created this a while back and don't think I ever posted it here. It's using a fab image from the Smeared & Smudged Nymphs set. All papers are CTMH.

~happy stamping~

A Day Late

October is such a busy month for me I didn't get to do all the things I wanted to do for Halloween. Here's a few that I did work on.

First is a rolodex card, I used acrylic paint to make the background. It turned out to look like bricks to me which I think is way cool and was just a happy accident :) The stamped images are from CTMH, love them!

Second is a skull I picked up at Michaels. First I painted it all white then added my images. The bats and the words I was able to stamp directly on the skull, the tree and fences I stamped on tissue first and then glued them on. I also sponged it with blue on the bottom and blended into purple at the top. Not exactly how I anticipated it would end up, but not too shabby for my first attempt.

Last is a birthday card that I actually made a while back for a friend who loves halloween but her birthday is in August. The stamps are from SU and the cool eyeball paper I picked up last year at Target when they were getting rid of the halloween stuff, it was part of a scrapbook pack. I colored the cat witch and caldron with my colored pencils.

~happy crafting~

Free Art Course

Tam if offering a free course titled Art, Heart and Healing over on her site. It starts tomorrow, go check it out!

Awesome Giveaway!

You have got to visit Mrs. B's blog duing her 31 days of Halloween! She is having the most wonderful giveaways on a variety of goodies. These rings from Gypsy Moon Art Studio are todays giveaway, aren't they FAB!

Smeared and Smudged Blog Hop - September

It's time for another blog hop with the crew over at smeared and smudged. If you haven't had the chance to stop by the ning site and check things out you need to make time. The talent over there is beyond belief , the artists are AMAZING and everyone is super friendly to boot! So if you like to create art join us, there is always some sort of challenge going on to inspire you and encourage you to use your stamps :)


The theme for this hop is orange. I decided to use one of my new Queen Kat Design stamps, she's Emma from the creepie cuties collection. I colored her tunic and hat with my orange copic and the lighter orange stripes are gel pen. Papers and black hemp are from CTMH, the skulls I picked up at the gem show last year and the phrase stamp is from Viva Las Vegas Stamps. It says "I am the terror that stamps in the night." hehe i love that stamp!



Keep on hopping!



Terra

Tori

Alison

Kelli

Kapree

Black Dragon

Meredith

Jane

Sugar

Danielle

Lisa

Steph (that's me)

Lady Brayton

Shelley

Jean

challenges

I was busy in August stamping, just not busy posting. Here's a few of the projects I did for the Smeared and Smudged group.

-The top card was for the monthly sketch, image from stampotique, phrase from viva las vegas stamps inks and papers from CTMH.

-The second card was for the Rock-n-Roll challenge. Crazy video and the "welcome to my tea party" part of the song was stuck in my head for days! So I used a crazy stampotique image, isn't she AWESOME! and colored her with pencils and gel pens, the net was a goodie I got from someone in an atc swap and thought it went well with her skirt. The alpha stamps, papers, inks and bling are all from CTMH.

-The last card was from Jean's Mixed Media class on S&S. Started out with white texture cs added paint in 3 layers. The beautiful image is from Smeared Ink. Colored her hair and legs with pencils and gel pens. The flashy bits on the side are cut up peices of soda can and some sequins. Not bad for my first attempt I think :)

~ be happy, create art ~

thank you card

Created this card this morning. All stamps, papers and inks are CTMH. Papers are from the Unforgettable paper packet, inks are Cocoa and Sorbet and the stamp is from C1339 Kanji Phrases.

fun stuff

These two cards I created for a couple challenges last month on the Smeared & Smudged group. Of course I finished them, took the pictures and then forgot to post them in time to join in the challenges. Doh!

The one of top was for the Rock-n-Roll Challenge. A video is posted and we watch it and then create a card that was inspired from what we pulled from the video. Of course I dont have the link to the video handy so check back and I'll post it later.

The second card was for the monthly sketch. It was a great sketch, but I'm not happy with my card. It's too blah in my opinion, but figured I'd post it anyway :)

dream

Finally used some stamps I got at the local stamp convention last February. They are all from B&J's Art Stamps (except the letters, which are CTMH). I stamped them all in earthtone colors randomly over the cardstock and then sponged using the same colors. The stamped 2 of the big guys on the card, did the 3rd on a seperate peice to cut out and pop-dot on. Wrapped the end of the feater with some copper wire and then spritzed it all with some Glitz Spritz. I really liked the end result.

you brighten my day

Love this stamp set I got while on vacation. It's from Inkadinkadoo, stamped in Cocoa and cut out and mounted with pop-dots on the rolodex card. Used one of the chains in the same set to create the background and then sponged over it in the same blue. Sentiment is from CTMH.

kids b-day

All stamps used are CTMH.

under construction

Happy 4th! I had some time while my kiddo went to the movies with a friend so I thought I'd update my blog. Well I think I'm getting more frustrated by it than having fun like I usually do. So I'm going to take a break and do some stamping :) Yay! So please excuse the mess, I'm not sure what I'm doing. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions... I'm also looking for a cool FREE header so if you have any links send them my way.

be happy ~ create art

sketch challenge

Here's my entry for the June sketch challenge over on smeared & smudged. I used a new skull stamp I purchased on my vacation, and used papers and inks from my ctmh stash.

~be happy, create art~

goth girl

Got this Stamp it Crazy stamp from Sarah for winning her challenge on the June blog hop. Colored her with metallic pencils and added bling with a couple gel pens. She came out a little muted so think I'll have to try coloring all of her with markers. Great image, thanks again Sarah!

I'm Back!

We are back from vacation! Had tons of fun and took tons of pictures :) I won't bore you with all of them, but here are a few of my faves. We went to the Cincinnati Museum Center one day, it was totally amazing. The first picture is the Museum, it's HUGE!!!! The second is when we were leaving, I wanted to get the city in the back, that's myn kiddo in the middle and my two adorable nephews. Of course got the boys to pose holding hissing coachroaches :)

Also went to Archivers.... oh my gosh!!! Love that store, wish we had one here. Of course didn't take my camera with me, bummer :( But got some cool new stamps to play with woohoo!! So keep on the lookout for some new art with my new toys :)

~be happy, create art~

just for fun

One of my friends just went to Vegas and she had Elvis walk her down the aisle. I had nothing Elvis so I hunted down these stickers at the local scrapbooking store. The yellow stripes on the paper are actually glittery for that extra Vegas feel, lol. I really need to learn to take better pictures!

black & white ATC swap

My creation for the May ATC swap over on smeared and smudged. All supplies are CTMH. You can't really tell in the pic, but the dragon fly is cut out and the wings are popped off the card slightly, I also poked holes in the little white spots around each wing. Simple but fun :)

Smeared and Smudged Blog Hop - June

Hello Friends! It's time for another blog hop over at Smeared and Smudged. If you love to create art that's out-of-the-norm then smeared and smudged is the place for you. I've included the link to our friendly little group at the end of blog hop list, so check out all these wonderful creations we all want to share with you and then hop on over to our group and sign up to join in on all the fun.

For my contribution to the hop I've used a stamp from the Elementals set, the Earth Goddess. This is from Terra's stamp line Smeared Ink. I stamped in olive and used various shades of green to color her in. The picture really doesn't do this card justice. I also sponged some pick along with the green on the outer edge of the card to help tie in the pick flowers I wanted to add in her hair. I also added some liquid glass to her hair to give it more dimension... again you can't really see that here, but trust me :)

Now start hopping!!

Terra: http://moresmearedink.blogspot.com/

Kelli: http://cajunstampingqueen.blogspot.com/

Steph: http://stephscreativechaos.blogspot.com/ (you are here)

Ladybrayton71 http://ladybrayton71.blogspot.com/

Lisa: http://ldfdesign.blogspot.com/

Jean: http://etsysdarkside.ning.com/

Kathi: http://kathstales.blogspot.com/

Alison : http://alisonsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/

Sarah: http://sarahscrazycreations.blogspot.com/

Meredith: http://www.papercanteen.com/

Blackdragon: http://lynsblogger.blogspot.com/

Kim: http://offthewallcraftiness.blogspot.com/

Monica: http://www.giddygreetings.com/

Tink: http://tinktime-tink.blogspot.com/

http://smearedandsmudged.ning.com/

be happy ~ create art

new stamps

I've been playing with my new stamps!! I want to increase my rolodex collection so the first one is on a rolodex card. These are the perfect size for creating "little art". Second is a bookmark for a challenge over on Any Stamp Will Do. I just need to figure out how to size it smaller to post it over there... help! Both images are from www.stampotique.com under the Daniel Torrente collection. He's got some fantabulous creepy peeps, you gotta check them out!

~be happy ~ create art

May Sketch Challenge

This was my entry for the May sketch over on smeared and smudged. I used my new stamp from stampotique.com Her name is Glimmering Hope. Started off by coloring her with metallic pencils but didn't really get the effect I wanted so dug up some gel pens to add more pop. Created the skull background with skull stamp from Prickly Pear. Got those crows at convention last February. Can't remember who they are from but the name on them is New Crows Black. Rounghed up the edges with my distressor from CTMH and did some direct to paper smearing with my grey wool ink pad.

~be happy ~create art