Marty's Masterpiece - A Sketch Challenge

Here is Marty's August sketch:

I interpreted this quite literally because I wanted to give it to a friend who won a monthly lottery in one of my groups.  The theme she selected was summer, so this sketch was perfect.  I made this wall hanging:

It was done on watercolor paper attached to chipboard and is pretty sturdy.  Here are the details:

• background:  denim Adirondack color wash.  That's all!  It formed the variations all by itself.
• fence:  cut from wood sheet using Tim's on the fence die, then dabbed with picket fence paint to create a worn out look.
• palm tree:  Sideshow stamp, colored with markers, and extra leaves hand cut and added for dimension.  Coconuts cut from a specialty paper I have that looks like.....the outside of a coconut, LOL!
• parrot:  also from Sideshow, colored with markers and attached with pop dot.
• beach sign:  cardstock inked with a few shades of distress ink in the brown family, then stamped with archival ink, then covered with rock candy crackle paint.
• sand:  the real deal, from last year's trip to the Dominican Republic.
• shells:  also real, origin unknown.
• shack:  pieced together from a variety of handmade papers and fibers found in my stash.

Check out my friend Heidi's blog to see what the rest of the Gotham City Stampers did with Marty's sketch.

Altered People Challenge

This week's challenge at the PID yahoo group is "altered people." As usual, I did an ATC:

I used the image of Abigail, from the "inchie kids" collage sheet. Cut out that tiny head, arms, and must confess, borrowed those tiny legs from another image. The butterfly is a very cool die/embossing folder combo from Cuttlebug. The background was leftover from another project, and it is the emboss resist technique.

The other piece is for the miscellaneous album. For that, I did a skinny (3"x5").

I stamped the cool mermaid (from Sideshow Stamps), cut out the face with a craft knife, and inserted another PID image, this one, Jean. The background was made with the Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder, and the mermaid was colored with SU! markers. I glued some small shells to the bottom, and covered them with a hair net, which I hooked over the mermaid's tail. Fun!

Spring Cards Class

Yesterday I held one of my card classes for some of the wonderful and talented women who live in my development. I designed cards that have a fresh, spring-like look, and that could be used for many occasions. I brought along a bunch of different sentiment stamps, so the Mother's Day card became a birthday card, an anniversary card, etc.

We used a lot of the pretty Stampin' Up double sided patterned paper, as well as some great Sizzix die cuts.

I'd promised one card would be more masculine, and I really think the owl card does the trick. The SU paper with the little crowns is a nice background, and adding the crown to the owl's head continued the princely (or kingly) theme. That great stamp, by the way, is from Sideshow.

Everyone had a great time, made some outstanding cards, and they're now clammoring for a jewelry class. Hmmm...have to put something together before the hot weather arrives and everyone starts to scatter for the summer.

Love Those Owls

I made these pendants on game pieces, using some wonderful owl images from Sideshow Stamps, a favorite of mine. They were colored with alcohol inks.

http://www.sideshowstamps.com/

A Hoot Of A Couple

I recently received some fabulous owl stamps from Sideshow Stamps, (http://www.sideshowstamps.com/) and used them to create this anniversary card.

Both stamps from Sideshow; paper, cardstock, and oval punch from Stampin' Up. I know several couples who are a hoot, so this design should get a lot of use. Even if owls aren't your thing (hard to believe!), do check out Sideshow. Their stamps are retro, hip and definitely cool.