England and Scotland

I just got back from a two week vacation in the UK traveling with my cousin, Betty, going from England to Scotland. I am still recovering! We started in London and went to Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Harrod's and had dinner with our UK's cousin, Eileen. Betty didn't get to see the Crown Jewels as the line was a mile long - bummer! We did get to ride on the London Eye - I took this photo of Big Ben at dusk from across the river.

We then took the train up to York where we were met at the station by new friends Anne and Pat. What sweethearts! Anne invited us to stay overnight at her house and we hadn't even met in person until then! They took us around York to see York Minster (cathedral), the Shambles (a funny, narrow little road that inspired Diagon Alley), York Castle Museum and then a drive through the Yorkshire Dales the next day. Thank you Anne and Robert!

Later that evening, we took the train up to Edinburgh where we stayed in a dorm at the University of Edinburgh - 2 twin with a private bath and breakfast included...not bad! The first day there, we took a bus tour with Rabbie's Bus Tours to Melrose Abbey and Roslyn Chapel. Roland, our bus driver was absolutely hysterical and he stopped at 2 extra places not on the itinerary - Abbotsford House (Sir Walter Scott) and the small village of Temple (Templar ruin). The rest of the time in Edinburgh, we enjoyed the Fringe Festival, the National Gallery of Scotland, the National Musuem of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle and the Military Tattoo.

The second week I'll post tomorrow!

On a roll.....!

Wow - it's been a busy week for posting! I just received my Ransom Note ATC swaps in the mail and luckily, I got one of my own back. Usually I make a few extra to trade and one to keep for myself. This is a one-off set but at least I scanned them before mailing.
I was supposed to use individual letters but I decided to go with the words because the phrases were so long. These are the lyrics from Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" and I thought the 'Classic Captions" stamp set from Stampin' Up would work perfectly together! The background papers are ones I created using the Salt technique where you dab inks on the cardstock so it is very wet and then you sprinkle salt over it, heat set it to dry. You get a wonderful mottled effect - it is different if you use table salt vs. coarse salt like sea salt. I used watercolor pencils to color in the images but did not blend them.

Baby shower card

My dilemma for this baby shower card was how I could incorporate my style instead of "cutsie". I started by running a piece of Stampin' Up Mellow Moss card stock through the Cuttlebug and embossing with the Diamonds in the Rough folder inked with Mellow Moss. I then swiped the tops of the diamonds with So Saffron ink. Also from Stampin' Up are the ribbon and saying (Happy Harmony set). The Suzys Zoo duck was watercolored, cut out and popped up with 3d dots. The 2 flowers are a Tim Holtz die run through the Cuttlebug and painted with Radiant Peals paint.

Sticking with the baby theme...

I created this card for the Western New York stamp gathering in Buffalo this past May. I know for a fact that my table mates were swearing a blue streak at me trying to get the baby stamps glued in behind the "film strip"! Many of them use a tape runner, while I use gel glue and of course I didn't think of that when I set out my project or I would have included gel glue for their use! I think they all loved the card anyways (at least I did!).

I started with Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry card stock and stamped it with the French Script background in white ink. The "film strip" is black card stock that I punched using a square punch and SU's spiral punch. The babies are stamped on glossy white card stock in Archival Sepia ink using the Stampsmith's unmounted set "Ooh Baby". The clock stamp is by Tim Holtz and is stamped in black ink on white textured card stock. I sponged the edges with the Sepia ink. I glued a soda tab on the back, popped the whole thing up with 3d dots and add the ribbon as a watch fob.

I gave this one to my brother for his 50th birthday!

This is what happens when you post from work....you get too busy!

I must have a bit of a scrapbooker in me since I love to use old family photos on my cards. Here are 2 artist trading cards that I created for swaps; one in Buffalo and the second in Syracuse.

I wanted the baby image to look like it was a slide so I used to different size square punches to create the slide mount. I jazzed it up a bit with a stamped overlay of "French Script" by Stampin' Up. The baby image is from The Stampsmith's "Ooh Baby" unmounted sheet and it was stamped on glossy white cardstock with Archival Sepia ink. The clock is also from Stampin' Up's "Artifacts" set and the film strip from Tim Holtz's "Mini Muse" set. I cut out the centers of the film strip and glued photocopies of my cousin on a pony, my uncle as a baby and my grandfather in his WWI army uniform. I then modpodged over the film strip to make it shiney like it was real. This turned out to be one of my favorite ATC’s!

I wanted to break out of my neutral color zone so I added the turquoise cardstock to the back. This is another family photo of my Uncle Wally over 80 years ago! The "Dream/Discover" stamp in from Stamper's Anonymous and I embossed in black the used bleach to lighten. Sponging the edges and around the photo gave it a grunge look. This is another favorite of mine!

It's been a while.....

It has been quite a while since I last posted and I have a few ATC's and cards to share!

I created this for a swap at the CNY Feb. 20th stamping day in Maine, NY. My inspiration is a trip I took to Washington, D.C. and a visit to the International Spy Museum. Wow! What a cool place! You have to get there early or expect to stand in line to get in. My souvenir from the museum is a refrigerator magnet that has a big thumbprint on it and the phrase "You were never here". I found this unmounted fingerprint stamp at Viva Las Vegas Stamps and the You Are Not Here slide mount stamp is from (I have to go home and look it up!). The coffee cup stains stamp is from Stampers Anonymous Mini Muse unmounted set - I tried to glue on brown micro beads to simulate coffee grounds but the glue is not holding too well!

I'll post again tomorrow - I promise!

February CNY ATC group make 'n take

Here is my group make 'n take ATC for February's CNY stamping gathering in Maine, NY. I had to prepare 27 of these and there are 10 pieces of card stock for each - I was a cuttin' machine! I stole this idea from Judy K who gave me a larger version for my birthday a few years ago....she is soooo creative! People think I am creative but I am just a good copier!