Wow, am I running behind.....

....no Christmas decorations up yet, nothing wrapped, gifts I need to finish, etc, etc, etc! I did manage to finish a few more Tim tags though and an overdue birthday swap for the ATT list.

I love this snowman tag....the overlay is a piece of plastic packaging that has been embossed with a snowflake embossing folder!

You can't tell in the photo, but this one is all gold and shimmery....I really like the rosette.



This one uses white ultra thick embossing powder on the numbers to look like vintage paint.

This is a tag and card for Nancy Crissinger's birthday. I used a clear shimmer spray with distress inks for the background on the tag.

And this is a picture of all the cool stuff I got from Tim for posting a comment on his blog....cool, huh?? I love the craft scrubbie....it's great for cleaning ink and glue from your hands....not that I ever get ink and glue on my hands!!!

Trying to find time to create!

It seems this time of year I always realize I have too many plans and not enough time!! I don't know how I managed to do all the holiday things I did when I was young......it seems old age really slows you down! I have so many things in various stages of completion and I know I will soon have to start prioritizing and deciding which things will wait til next year!

One thing I have really been enjoying is Tim Holtz's twelve days of Christmas tags. I have only managed to finish three of them, but I hope to at least get to a few more before time runs out for this year! For each of the tags I had to improvise for items I didn't have, but that is half the fun! You can see Tim's tags here . The man is SO talented and creative. AND lucky me, he gives away a ton of prizes over the twelve days and I just found out I WON!! And all you have to do to be included in the prize drawings each day is to leave a comment on his blog. WooHoo!!

Here is a Christmas card I made using a new Cuttlebug die. I hope to make a few more like it.

Here is the birthday gift for my friend Sally in France. This is for the birthday swap on the ATT list. I still have one more to make for this year....think I may do something similar.

Close-up of the pendant......



Now I'm off to do some shopping and take a cool bracelet class at the local bead store. (I'm thinking I'll make a few for Christmas gifts!!!)

My little artist....

...in training. Little Becca Rose takes her coloring very seriously! Her Mommy and Daddy tell me she has expanded her talents to include the wall and doors at home. Funny how that sounds so cute when it is your grandchild (and not your walls!!!) She loves to color with her cousins when they are here too!

These are my creations for the monthly skinny page swap I am in. These are for Connie's "Vintage Children" book. I really enjoyed her theme. Got the sewing machine out and the drywall tape I picked up at Home Depot. I used some really cool vintage ledger paper and of course a few PaperWhimsy images.

Tomorrow I hope to finish some of the Christmas things I have in various stages of completion!

It's about time.....

.....I posted a few new things. I have a few more photos, but Blogger is giving me a hard time tonight! It's been a crazy month! We've been busy babysitting and shuffling grandkids here and there! My adorable little granddaughter shared her cold with me for my birthday. Had the family over for Thanksgiving dinner and now we are off and running to get ready for Christmas. I am hoping to get several things made for my daughter-in-laws. It really is true that time goes faster as you get older!!

These first two things are for a monthly swap on the ATT Yahoo group. I used several different blue inks for the background....smudged on a teflon sheet, spritzed with water, then smooshed onto a tag. Walnut stain ink is then applied over a stencil, Tim stamps and metal embellishments, and some tissue tape for good measure! I used Tim's "On the Edge" snowflake die for the card.

These are three pieces of jewelry from the Tim Holtz classes I took at Stampaway in August. I'm getting ready to make a few more of these for birthday swaps.

More stuff....

We had a nice fall day yesterday at the apple orchard (pumpkins and pony rides) and a stop at the park. FUN!!! In another week we will be watching another of the grandkids (4 year old Bryce) one day a week. Becca Rose and Bryce will have a ball together!!

Well, a miracle happened last week. I actually finished a project and had it in the mail with TWO weeks to spare!! Amazing! These are my pages for Lenna's "Love" themed skinny book. I had fun with this one. I love the background papers (both new purchases from a trip to Archiver's last weekend with the girls!) The first one has a grungeboard swirl at the bottom painted with crackle paint and some really cool old coat check tickets. Decided on a romntic Paris theme for this page.

I cut this paper so I could use the chandeliers, hand, number and glitter swirl. I added the romantic photo, transparent heart, white rub-ons, jewels, the keyhole and the music tissue tape.....which I love!

This is a photo of the minibook we made at one of the Tim Holtz classes we took at Stampaway in August. I know...it took me long enough to take pictures! I still have to get photos of the jewelry pieces we made at the other class. This book is fun....grungeboard covers with a metal framed sentiment and layered metal charm flowers. The closure is a cool swivel clasp with a typewriter key charm. We attached a key to the handle of the little suitcase!

The pages are various pockets and flowers and tickets and photo frame trims.

A few new things.....

Well after a gentle nudge from a friend, I figured I should update my blog.....long overdue. I swear not working has made me lazy (or is it lazier?) But I do get to spend more time with the grandkids now. Of course they are in school now and all busy with football, cheerleading, baseball, hockey, soccer, etc. (Jim keeps a schedule of all their activities to make sure we make the rounds!) Since our 20 month old granddaughter is the only one not in school we do get to see her quite a bit. And when little Becca Rose is here, she keeps us BUSY, BUSY!!! She is such a little "Sweet Pea"!!

I have been trying to get caught up on all my art commitments, so here are a few things I've done recently. These are the charm dangles I made for a swap (31 of them!!) Can't wait to see what everyone came up with.....should be able to make a nice bracelet.

These are the gothic arches I made for Nancy Maxwell James on the PaperWhimsy site. We had to make arches using the phrases "Begin the day" and "When nightfall comes" and of course use images from paperwhimsy....which I LOVE!




This is from a class I took at Stampaway in August. The canvas front opens and you can hang keys inside. I still need to finish the backside of the canvas, but this is it so far.

These are the pages I made for Heather's skinny book "Women Who Dared". I chose Amelia Earhart. The rose is an Amelia rose and I put a tiny compass on one side of the little tab. The keyhole frame on the second side has an image of Amelia covered with a piece of mica and the frame is aged with Tim Holtz dabber paints. Boy these books are going to be so awesome.

These are inchies I made for a "Recycled Inchies" swap. I used vintage pattern pieces collaged on the back and the front is old lace trim, mica scraps and an old button. The strips of copper tape were cut for an earlier project, but I decided the tape was too narrow, so got to recycle those too!

This set of skinny pages is for Trudi's book. Her book is all artist's choice, but she likes zetti/whimsy, so this is what I came up with. I had a lot of fun working on these.

I still need to take photos of a few other things I've done recently. I was lucky enough to take two classes from Tim Holtz at Stampaway and both were awesome. In one we made a really cool grungeboard minibook in a little suitcase and in the other we made four pieces of jewelry. Tim is such a great teacher and so generous. In one class he gave us each a pack of grungeboard shapes and in the other a full set of his stamps! And the best part is he supplies EVERYTHING you need for the class....right down to the scissors and glue! And now that Michael's and Hobby Lobby carry a lot of his new stuff, I've been stocking up...so will hopefully have more stuff to show off in the near future. Well, I doubt anyone has made it through this whole post......guess this is it for now!!!

Wow, I have really neglected my blog as of late. I had a nasty respiratory virus for the first part of summer and have been playing catch-up ever since. Between that and the grandkids I haven't accomplished much else. Of course the ridiculously high temps and humidity haven't helped much either. I'd just as soon be a hermit as to go out in that heat....blech!!! So I thought I'd post some pictures of the things I have managed to do! The first pictures are of the skinny book pages I have made for the monthly swap I am in. These first two pages are for Karen's "Grandma's Attic" theme. I loved this theme! These pages were made using old family photos. On this first page, I used a photo of my Mom, one of my Mom and Uncle Gene when they were little kids and one of my Grandma and Aunt Ann. I used a piece of vintage ledger paper and an old brass stamping piece for embellishment.


This page uses and old ledger sheet for the background and a postmark from an old letter sent to my mother-in-law from a friend of my husband's who was in the service during the Vietnam war. The couple in the old car are my Great-Aunt Ann and Great-Uncle Wilbur! I embellished it with vintage lace and buttons.

These pages are for my friend Caryl. Her theme is "Dreams"....a fun theme to work with. I found so may great dream quotes so I had a hard time narrowing it down to two. These are all PaperWhimsy images.







These two pages were for Freida's "Venice" themed book. I was really stressed about this theme, but after my search for images, I felt a little better about it! I painted over the gold areas of the mask below with some sparkly gold paint and the canal image on the second page was painted over with clear crackle paint kind of creating the illusion of an old oil painting.



Someone dropped out early in the swap, so I made an extra set of pages for Linda K's "Summer" themed book. There are tiny seashells sewn to the bottom of this page.



The images on the page above are printed on a paper that resembles fabric. I would love to find a source for this paper, but so far no luck.

This page has a real capiz shell attached and the background is made from various fibers sewn together. The nest is made from strips of paper cut from a vintage book page.

These skinny pages were for Lisa's open theme book. Cemetery images and Marie Antoinette were among the things she likes...hence my choice of images used. The swirl stamp under the cemetery angel is embossed with a rough feeling embossing powder that reminds me of stone and the flower is handmade using fabric circles singed around the edges (with fire extinguisher close at hand!) then assembled with a button for the center.



These pictures are of a journal I made for my friend Heather for a swap on the PaperWhimsy site. I love PaperWhimsy collage images...and making books...so this was a fun swap for me!



These are tags and little charms for the All Things Tim birthday swap using Tim Holtz stamps and products.



These are the charms I made for two charm swaps. One was a mini-book charm swap and the other was an open theme.