BBTB2 Rock Princess Flying Dripping Heart Challenge

Happy Labor Day! Hope everyone is enjoying their looong weekend. Mine is just starting as we're off to Nick's Cove for a couple of days to celebrate our 36th anniversary on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to a little break from crafting and some relaxation on Tomales Bay.

Our challenge this week at BBTB2 was chosen by our fabulous Team Leader Heather. I couldn't help but make a Halloween card using the heart, as well as the font from Rock Princess, all welded together in DS. The colors were dictated by the batty DP from Basic Grey. It all still looks a little jarring to me, even though I tried to tone down the lettering with inking and embossing. Trust me, I tried about a bazillion different color combos and this turned out to be the best but... I do love the bat wings, though. They were embossed with the Tim Holtz Spider Web folder and inked with Alabaster Chalk Ink. OOOOH, SPOOKY! The heart was glittered by running it through my Xyron and sprinkling it with gorgeous purple Doodlebug Sugar coating. Yummy!

It's a shaped front card, but I bet you already assumed that. LOL Couldn't help but add some bling. the interior swirls and small gems on "Batty" are by Recollections from M's and the large purple hearts (honestly they ARE purple but insist on photographing more BLUE for some reason) are by Darice.

Lots of layers again, this one sort of took on a mind of it's own. The second layer of wings were left free to fly. Now don't panic if you don't have this cart. We'd love you to play along with any heart, or thing with wings, or drippy thing (Hmmm...I'm not going there) on a new creation and link it up mentioning the BBTB2 challenge and linking it back to our site so everyone can get in on the fun. Now go take a look at what the rest of the DT has come up with for this challenge and be inspired.

Macabre Monday P.M.S Challenge

This week our challenge at Haunted Design House is P.M.S. Heck, what do I know about PMS. It's been 10 years since I've ridden the crimson wave, but hot flashes? Yeah, I'm your GAL! Actually P.M.S stands for Psychotic Miss Silver. Your project should feature a whacked out chick and the color silver. No problem! I found my fabulous images on the web by Googling "Woman Screaming" and "Bloody Knife". Yeah, Baby! I'm particularly fond of the woman screaming. LOVE that perspective, and haven't we all been stressed enough that we even screamed through our eyes? But finish off my chocolate and you're taking you life in your hands. My silver is foil and I've crunched it to look like a chocolate wrapper beneath the sentiment and as a mat.

I cut the image with my Nesties Wonky Rectangles and backed it with additional cuts and popped them for dimension. Lots of fun, this one. The rest of the Minions had a blast with this as well. Please check them out HERE and don't forget Creepy Glo's post on Wretched Wednesday for mid week treat. I know this is a subject familiar (if not dear) to every woman's heart, so I can't wait to see your interpretation of the theme. Don't forget to link your project back to our challenge so EVERYONE can play along. I'm also adding it to The Corrosive Challenge Blog Funny or Punny Challenge (I think it's funny!)

The Altered Alice Chapter 7 : Text as Nonsense

Alice didn't dare to argue the point, but went on: `-- and I thought I'd try and find my way to the top of that hill -- '

`When you say "hill,"' the Queen interrupted, `I could show you hills, in comparison with which you'd call that a valley.'

`No, I shouldn't,' said Alice, surprised into contradicting her at last: `a hill can't be a valley, you know. That would be nonsense --

' The Red Queen shook her head, `You may call it "nonsense" if you like,' she said, ` but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!'

-- Chapter 2, Through The Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

Welcome again to another monthly challenge at The Altered Alice. Using text as pattern is a trend right now that I really love. Your challenge is to use text as nonsense - not to read but as pattern on your project! Of course you can still have words or sentiments, but we also need to see text used in a non-reading way. We are sponsored this month by Stamp Attack, a British Company well known for (among other things) their fabulous Alice stamp plates. The winner will receive a voucher to purchase a stamp plate of their choice.

I guess you could call my project an "art piece" as it is way too large for a card (11"x 11") and an inch thick. I was having a hard time deciding what to do until I looked at my Tiddly Inks card for this week and thought to expand upon the book cut I used there. The book is a Cricut cut from My Community. I cut the shadow, blackout, and 6 of the regular cuts (stretched a bit in Design Studio) which I trimmed and popped for the pages. I used George to cut the descending concentric circles at different depths to represent the fall down the rabbit hole.

The fabulous DP is Out of Print Tapestry by Basic Grey which is the perfect nonsensical text and whimsical pattern for this challenge. Subsequent pages are stamped with the Large Elegant Word Background Stamp by Heartfelt Creations and all are inked with Distress.

All of the fabulous Alice characters are from the Adventures of Alice Plate from our sponsor, Stamp Attack.

Each was colored with Copics and cut and popped in and around the openings.

I used minimal embellishments because, let's face it, there's a lot going on here. LOL I did use a vertical sentiment stamp by Sweet Pea on the twill bookmark. I was a bit afraid to do it, but the Perfect Printing Pouch by ScraPerfect (see the CHA video HERE with my interview, LOL) honestly made it come out perfectly. (and you all know me and stamping.) I was AMAZED!

Be sure to visit The Altered Alice to see the fabulous first week inspiration by the DT HERE. Our challenges come out the first Sunday of the month and run through the Friday before the last Sunday, with weekly inspiration postings by more of the DT that you won't want to miss. Winners are announced the last Sunday of the month.

Please remember that ALL art forms are welcomed, Atc's, Cards, Scrap layouts, Altered items and whatever you could possibly think of, as long as they fit the challenge (which this week is using text as nonsense, in case you forgot after this unbelievably long post.) They don't technically even have to be "Alice" related, but of course those that do get preferential treatment. LOL So I wanna see some of my blogging buddies join in this month, okay? See ya there!

And the Winner IS!!!!

Sorry guys! I'm always late in putting up the winners because I was hoping to have a card to post today, but its just not happening. Maybe later, but don't hold your breath. LOL Still have DT stuff to crank out. I will have a fab post tomorrow for the new Altered Alice Challenge, though, so stay tuned.

So, now, without further ado, what you've all been waiting for... the winner of the $40.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops is #48, CHLOE!!!!!!!! who wrote:

WOOHOO! Congrats Chloe! Please email me to arrange for your prize. Thanks you all for participating and please check out the sale and new products at my fab sponsor, Custom Crops .

Ad Day For Daisies It's a Twine Thing and My Craft Spot 'Sew' Much Fun Challenge

First I need to apologize to my bloggie friends for not visiting regularly this month. To be honest, I'm just totally out of gas. I bit off more than I could chew in August...WAY more and I've been scrambling to complete my DT and guest DT projects as well as a comission (that I can't show you yet), but Thank GOD! it's finished and in the mail. (Just in the nick of time, I might add. Did I mention I'm the world's WORST procrastinator and slowest crafter on earth?) Also, being on a design team means commenting on the challenge participants entries and there have been LOTS!!!!!

I wasn't even sure today if I had it in me to craft. But I WANTED to, so I decided to do a sweet simple card for the A Day For Daisies Twine Challenge. I loved the free image provided for joining the challenge and since there wasn't much coloring... The image was colored with Copics and cut and matted with Nesties. All I needed was to add some twine.

But the My Craft Spot Challenge this week is "Sew" Much Fun. HHmmm...I've been dying to try my Sew Easy Stitch Piercer so I used the Scallop wheel. At first I tried stitching with 2 tone baker's twine but I didn't like how it was turning out, so I dug around in my fiber drawer and found this delicate hemp twine. The neutral color was the inspiration for the kraft paper and fairly monochromatic color scheme. Once I'd done the stitching, it was too late to run it through the computer to add a sentiment and my confidence in my stamping ability is pretty darn low (I would have DIED had I mess this up after all the hand stitching) so I used the Cuttlebug Friends Forever Card-Making Combo. The delicate font was just perfect. I don't do CAS very often, but I LOVE how this turned out!

Tiddly Inks Reading Fun

It's Tiddly Tuesday and rounding out our "Back to School" inspired challenges, our challenge this week is Reading Fun. It can be inspired by a particular book, or just a general reading theme, which is what I chose to do. When I came across Aida-Gonna Miss You I thought of taking a trip in my head. That's what reading is, isn't it? I cut the book and pages from the My Community Cricut cartridge. I wrote a little story about Aida on the left page and the theme of my piece on the right and printed it on the pages.

Aida was printed 3 times, colored with Copics and decoupaged for dimension. The "bookmark" is a Tim Holtz Swivel Clasp with a Philosophy Tag and a key from K&Co to represent "the key to the imagination".

Obviously, it's an easel card and the map DP is from the Tim Holtz Lost and Found paper stack. The small tickets are preprinted Adage Tickets and the large one is a Journaling Ticket (also Tim Holtz) on which I printed "Read" and added a few adhesive beads for emphasis. There are fabulous projects by the rest of the Tiddley Inkers HERE and Christy is previewing some adorable new "Minnie" images that are already available in the "What's New" section HERE and a freebie on her blog HERE. I hope you're inspired to share a reading inspired project with us this week at Tiddly Inks. I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp and Show Some Travel(oops! missed that one), the Sentimental Sunday Back to School and Kaboodles Doodles Easel Does It Challenge.

Oh, and BTW, if you haven't commented on my BBTB2 Home Decor project, please scroll down and do so for a chance to win a $40.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops. They've got a fab sale going on and lots of new products, so check it out HERE.

BBTB2 Heritage Tree Challenge and Blog Hop

Welcome to the BBTB2 monthly Blog Hop. If you've come from the mega talented Mona's Blog (I'm asking you, was that eye candy or what!?), you're on the right track. If not, you may want to begin at BBTB2 so you don't miss a thing. I can't believe it's the end of August. Next thing you know, there will be a nip in the air and the leaves will be turning. Ah, glorious Fall! Definitely my favorite season. How fortunate that our sweet and fabulous DT sister Julie chose the curly tree from the Heritage cart for our challenge this week. All I could see when I looked at that tree was the changing seasons so I decided to do a home decor project. It's 10"x10" without the black mat and I hope to frame it. I welded 4 of the trees to represent the 4 seasons. Each is backed by a circle ("and the seasons, they go 'round and 'round" from the song "The Circle Game" kept running through my head) in an appropriate color. I kept them sort of muted to make it neutral and modern looking.

"Seasons" is from DonJuan. The blossoms and leaves I've added to the trees are the off cuts from MS border punches. I'm still in shock that I hand wrote the seasons around each circle, but try as I might, I couldn't manage to figure out a way to do it on the computer and I had no appropriate rub-ons. Unfortunately, it looked too plain without, so...

Not much dimension because I wanted to keep it suitable for framing. I just popped "Seasons" and a few of the flowers and leaves for added interest. Now off you go to Lori's Blog to see what yummy creation she has in store. But before you go, please leave a comment for a chance to win a $40.00 gift certificate from my fabulous sponsor, Custom Crops. They have tons of new products, and a fab Back to School sale going on NOW! Please be sure to stop back on Friday

when the winner will be chosen. Hope to see you join is this week with a new creation, using this gorgeous tree from Heritage, or any similar tree if you haven't that cart, and please don't forget to mention BBTB2 in your post and link it up so others can join in the fun too.

Macabre Monday I Was Framed Sponsored by Dilly Beans

Okay guys, this week we Minions have a super challenge for you for Macabre Monday, sponsored by the most fantastic creepy cute images from Dilly Beans. Our challenge requires you to use a frame because so many of Megan's fantastic digis have a fabulous frame around them. Megan is offering eight (count 'em EIGHT!) digis from her adorable designs, two each to the Gruesome Twosome, and four to the winner (Megan's favorite) of the challenge. Let me tell you, I've got PLENTY more than 8 and she currently has a sale running where you can buy 3 and get one free (through Labor Day)! BTW, although my FAVES are in the creepy cute catagory, there are plenty more that are just plain CUTE so check them out HERE. I've chosen the sort of mournful #205 Hypno Eye Girl. She looks so sad. Who is she missing? There were so many ways I wanted to color her, but I finally decided on my fave Copic combo of red, black and white. I used portions of the MS spider web punch around the page and distressed the mats with my Distrezz-it-All. The fab embellies include a Wonky eyed skull from our own fabulous Creepy Glo Bugg's Etsy store, as well as a flower from Recollections.

I printed the stamp twice so I could add some dimension to her face and added some adhesive beads to balance the design. As usual, the Minions have some fabulous inspiration and don't forget to check back on Wednesday for Glo's take on the challenge at HDH. ALWAYS worth waiting for! We LOVE seeing what you come up with, so grab a frame of some sort and join in. You could be the lucky winner of some FAB stamps from Dilly Beans! I'm also entering this in the Forever Night Too Cute to Spook Challenge. I think she's WAY too cute to spook, don't you?

TOFF Steampunk Challenge and Whimsical Wednesday 3 Times a Charm

This is my second post for today, so if you're looking for my Bah! Humbug! Challenge, please scroll down.

WooHoo! I'm so excited to be a Guest Designer this week at The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge. You KNOW I love me some Octopode! this week's challenge is STEAMPUNK. Way too much fun! I happen to have ALL of Lily's Steampunk images, so choosing which to use was the biggest challenge. I also wanted to play with the Whimsical Wednesday 3 Times a Charm Challenge where you must use 3 colors only and 3 of the same embellishment.

It was Bernie, from the Steampunk Nippers set that gave me the idea for this project. Tell me he isn't the ultimate of paparazzi! I've welded "papa razzi" using letters from the Don Juan cartridge in Design Studio and embossed them with the Tim Holtz Retro Circles embossing folder.

Then I just HAD to use Flo with her built in paparazzi stopping eye. I just bet Lady Gaga is gonna figure out a way to copy her look. They were both printed on kraft card stock and colored with Copics. I've added Tim Holtz Sprockets to each and a Game Spinner to Flo's good eye. (Those are the 3 embellies for WW. Acutally I've used 3 sprockets twice.) The gears were cut with a Tim Holts Alterations Die by Sizzix and inked and embossed with Distress Embossing Powder in Vintage Photo.

The images and letters were popped with foam and the cool Idea-ology Film Strip Ribbon woven through. I kept the whole thing monochromatic to match the cool Steampunk DP from the DCWV Tattered Time Stack so my 3 colors are shades of kraft, gray, and black. Lily's fabulous DT has gorgeous eye candy this week (as always) so be sure to go have a look. Tell me this isn't a fun challenge. I just know you're gonna be playing along. And at Whimsical Wednesdays, there's still time to enter this challenges and there's another fab challenge to get your creative juices going as well.

Bah! Humbug! Here Come the Girls Challenge

I can't believe how time flies! I'm so sad to be leaving Humbug Hall as this is my final post as Guest Designer. I want to thank Ann and Max for inviting me and Tracy for being a Guest teamie with me this month. I'm very excited, to see what the next ladies have in store and to continue to play along with the weekly challenges because, after all, I am a Proud Loyalty Member. This week our challenge is Here Come the Girls. We want to see you girly-est ideas, whatever they my be. No problem there. Can't get much girlier than shopping. And it's even MORE fun at CHRISTMAS! I made the easel card with the next to smallest Labels One Grand Nestisties and my Grand Caliber, then cut the the mat and striped piece with the smallest in the set. This is as easy as doing a regular shaped card with your Nesties. You just place one of the sides of the die just above the fold and run it through. Then score at the center of one of the sides. Cut additional mate to adhere to the folded piece, thad there you go. You don't even have to measure because of the shape of the Labels One die. Easy peasy! The yummy pastel papers are by My Mind's Eye.

I've used the adorable Xmas Shopping from Kenny K. She's colored with Copic and I've added Stickles her fur trim. She's cut out with Nesties Beaded Ovals which I inked with Distress and popped.

The sentiment is computer generated and cut embossed and matted with my Nesties Labels Seventeen. I've used adhesive pearls to hold up the easel, coloring some of them with Copics to match the dots on the paper. Now go have a look at Bah! Humbug! for more fabulous inspiration, and I'm sure you'll love playing along with this challenge. I'm also entering this is the Christmas Cards All Year 'Round August Challenge using ribbon, inking, stripes and a metal embellishment, Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Non-Traditional Colors, Crafty Hazel's Anything Goes (or actually, it could be a Christmas Birthday card), Divas by Design Christmas in August, The Crazy Challenge Christmas Anything Goes for August, and the Charisma Cardz Glitter it Challenge.

Romance with Tiddly Inks

This is a special one, one I've been thinking about for a long time. When Christy came up with the new Tiddly, You and Me, I knew it was time to try it. It was sort of a risk, printing and coloring the image and then using Cricut DS to create a puzzle.

The pieces are from Don Juan. The hard part was moving the pieces close enough to create the puzzle. You can't weld them, they have to be separate. You just have to hope that you've moved them close enough together to cut as one, as each piece is cut separately and then has to be retraced, in part, for the next row of pieces.

I printed and colored my image first. Lots of time invested. On top of the puzzle I placed a heart from George to cut as well.

Then it was just a leap of faith. There was some rough going. It wasn't perfect. I thought after, that I should have just cut out the one piece, but that's not how love is.

Sometimes the going gets rough, but if you can hold it together, everything will be fine...stronger, better than the perfect, easy way out.


I'm sorry, but something in this post is causing all the stuff on my sidebar to go to the bottom. May have to delete it all.

TOFF Birds of a Feather Challenge

This week's TOFF challenge is Birds of a Feather. Actually, this was my original design for last week's Crown or Hat challenge, but I decided to use my Macabre Monday card to enter that one, so this one didn't get made. Still liked the idea, though, and chicks are obviously birds, so... Anyway, I've used Chick Girl for the main image and created my own DP using another little chick from the Easter and Spring Digital Set. I added the "chicks rule" with my Printmaster Platinum computer program. I'm really not too fond of the Copic yellows so the yellow on Chick Girl and the lighter chicks on the DP are painted (rather messily) with Distress Inks. I've drawn the crowns on all the of the small ones and colored them in with a gold gel pen.

I've also painted and sponged the background with Distress inks. The rest of the Chick Girl is colored with Copics. Her crown is a Stampendous Stamp that I heat embossed and cut and popped. I won the stamp on Taylor's blog. She's on the Stampendous DT and does fabulous work and has wonderful giveaways. I've added a feather and also the bow that is part of the Chick Girl image. I really enjoy working with the fun quirky stamps from The Octopode Factory. Check out more inspiration from the fabulous DT HERE.