Have A Heart (Or Not...)

I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day or heart images (unless they're altered, twisted, or otherwise distressed) or the color pink.  And yet, I signed up for some swaps involving just those things.  Go figure.

One was an easel card, which, believe it or not, after all my years of card making, I've never done.  Turns out, it's not so hard and I love the look.  I also made it so it doesn't necessarily have to be a Valentine.  Could be a thank you card too.



Next, an altered cabinet card.  I had this one of what I'm calling, for lack of a better description, a ballerina clown.  I added the red accents and writing with a glaze pen and trimmed it with black velvet ribbon and some puffy hearts.  It's weird enough to appeal to me and doesn't scream "be mine!"

Last project, a hanging thingie, which I mainly enjoyed because it involved beads.  I did three, but they are a bear to photograph, so only one came out even remotely clear:

OK, now I can go back to my browns and blues and greens and grunge!

One Color Palette, Four Cards

I'm really not a pink-and-hearts-and-flowers person, but I was very inspired by the new Stampin' Up patterned paper called Sending Love.  The papers have some glitter and shimmer and the pinks and reds are enhanced with shots of brown.  I pulled out a few sheets, some different shades of brown cardstock and some punches and came up with these cards.

 

On the first one I also added some of that gorgeous shimmery paper from the "Bride" specialty paper pack. The vase was created by snipping off the point of the ornament punch.  Aren't I the clever one, LOL!  Though I used a get well stamp, this could easily be a Valentine if you're so inclined.

 

This one also uses some of the "Bride" paper, and I made the flower with some hearts from the Heart to Heart punch.  That's not string in the button....it's a super thin strip of cardstock.  Love that trick!  The card base scanned a little dark.  It is chocolate chip, not black.

I used lots of little scraps for this one.  I thought putting hearts (all three on the Heart to Heart punch) on the branches instead of flowers was kind of interesting.

This last one didn't scan very well, but I just didn't feel like getting the camera out.  Sorry!

 

This one was actually the first I did, and there isn't any brown in it.  Though I like it, looking at it is what caused me to pull in some browns.  If I were to do this one over, I'd definitely tone down all the girliness with a touch of chocolate chip.

So, I think I have gotten all the reds and pinks out of my system.  Back to grunge now, LOL!

And Now For Something Completely Different

And I do mean different.   I signed up for a swap that involves making a "hanglie danglie" for Valentine's Day.  So, I took a break from all the Christmas oriented stuff and worked on it.  For those who don't know....a hanglie danglie is something with things dangling from it AND something on top so it can be hung up.  Clever, huh?
OK, is anyone besides me thinking, "over the top?"
It's so far over, it went way past the point where I would have hated it's fussiness, and into the land of "so bad it's good."  At least in my opinion.
So, here is the front, and then the back, which doesn't have to be decorated much. 

 

Have you OD'd on the sugar yet?  LOL!  You know, sometimes it's OK to work outside of your comfort zone.  Or am I just being too apologetic?  I await (with some dread) the comments.  Oh, and did I mention the most amazing thing of all?   I  like it!

Happy Valentine's Day!

To all my blogging friends, new and old, here's a valentine for you!

Have a wonderful day, and may your hearts be full of love.

Eileen

What Is A Fat Book?

No, it is not a journal of every bad thing that has gone into my mouth! A fat book swap is a wonderful thing.....a group is formed, a theme established, and everyone creates a page for each participant. Fat books may be of techniques or they may be themed. At the Paper Imagery Designs yahoo group, we couldn't make up our minds, so we combined the two: each of us selected a background technique and then embellished the pages (4x4") we made with vintage Valentine images (our theme).
Sadly, only 13 people signed up, so I guess it is more of a chubby book than a fat book, but I am still very excited about this project.
I am only posting the one sample of my pages so it will be more of a surprise when everyone receives their books.
My background technique is masking with Glimmer Mist. First I applied some distress inks to my paper, then I put down the mask (I mostly used Tim Holtz's or Heidi Swapp's masks) and sprayed with the Glimmer Mist. Very soft and sparkly in person. Then I decorated each page with some of the vintage Valentine images from the PID shop.
Melissa is the host. When she gets all the pages she is going to use her new Zutter Bind-It-All to make each of us a book. Mel is even doing the cover and back pages for us!
I think (hope) when everyone sees what we have done we will have a truly big FAT book the next time we do this!

Hearts & Polka Dots....

......that is the theme for this week's challenge at Paper Imagery Designs yahoo group. We have two categories, ATCs and everything else. Here is my ATC:And here is a 4x4 (I'm loving those kewpies!): All images available in the PID shop.

It's Good To Be Home....

.....and able to create something every day.


Over at Paper Imagery Designs yahoo group, we have an ATC jackpot monthly. The winner gets all the ATCs created for this drawing. I won in November, and it's wonderful receiving these little beauties from all over the country....no, make that world!


The January theme is "hearts," and here is my entry:


I'm really loving these kewpie doll images (from the PID store, of course).


While I was away, the weekly challenge was announced: "red, pink, and a dash of green." I just did a skinny (3x5"):

and an ATC:There will be lots more to post very soon. We're doing an inchie charm swap, a postcard swap, and an ATC swap featuring Isabella, one of PID's most lovely images. And tomorrow is Monday, which means another weekly challenge to complete.

And then there's a whole bunch of Stampin' Up events coming up. Friday is the monthly team meeting of the Gotham City Stampers, my SU friends and crafting buddies. I have a swap ready for that, as well as a gift for a secret someone. We skipped our December meeting since that's such a hectic month, but drew names for the gift -- all handmade, naturally -- and I will post photos after the meeting.

Saturday several of the demonstrators are hosting a "New Catalog" Open House, and I have a make-n-take to prepare for that.

Busy, busy, busy....and that's the way I like it!

Valentine's Day Collage Sheets - sneak peek!

This is a quick and easy Valentine's ATC that I made using some wonderful PID collage sheets. They won't be available for sale until January 1, but if you visit Melissa's blog, you'll find out how you may win some! The new images I've seen so far are so lovely, the art practically creates itself.

Melissa's Blogoversary Give-Away

My PID pal Melissa is celebrating the 4th anniversary of her wonderful blog, and she is having a great give-away in honor of this milestone. Check out the details:

"Now for the reason you are all here... my Blogoversary Giveaway! Like any Blog Anniversary there is always a Giveaway!
What I am giving away is all the sheets needed to make these Valentines ATCs!!
These collage sheets come from Paper Imagery Designs, my shop. These are not up for sale yet; they are new releases for January 1st so you will get them first before anyone else! You will get: Cupcakes, Hearts, Vignettes, ATC Backgrounds, Rosia, Roses and more.....
So how do you win?? Simple leave me a comment between now and December 20th and tell me which is your favorite ATC. You can enter up to once a day and come back tomorrow and enter again. Post on your blog with a link to mine let me know by leaving a comment and I will enter your name again!!! So you can enter daily plus one more with a blog post! Sound Good??"

Here are Melissa's sample ATCs:

Who wouldn't love to own these collage sheets, and then be able to create something as wonderful as the ATCs shown above? So remember to visit Melissa's blog and leave a comment.