Vintage Valentine

Here's a sort of vintage looking Valentine I managed to just sneak in the Outlawz Festive Friday Challenge before it closed.  Playing with dies again, some old, some new.  The background was a discarded negative using Spellbinder's Opulent Ovals.  I'd used the largest die just to emboss, then the next smaller for the cut out.  Didn't work for the original project, but I distressed the edges with scissors, inked with Antique Linen and popped it on a mat of gorgeous gilded crinkle pink specialty paper I'd been saving from my friend Smita in India.  I was going for a pink and red combo to enter the DL.Art Thankful Thursday Pink and/or Red Challenge, and the extra detail was just perfect.  The center Winged Heart die by Die Namites is a new one (for me, anyway) and I've cut it twice, fussy cut and colored the flowers and center heart with my Copics, then shabbied it up a bit with Distress, too.  The sweet Cupids are Impression Obsession.  The final details are the filigree stickers that balanced the design and added to the vintage feel.

I'm also entering this in the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #51 AG challenge, Die Cut Divas Use Red or Pink,  Happy Little Stampers AG w/Dies, Let's Create and Craft Love is in the Air, Simon Says Monday Use Your Favorite Tool (Spellbinders Grand Caliber) and Scrap from your Heart Valentines/Mother's Day.

Victorian Christmas Tag for My Artistic Adventures

I'm so excited to be Guest Designing at My Artistic Adventures Challenge Blog today.  The new theme is Christmas/Winter and I was lucky enough to be able to use Heather's gorgeous Vintage White Chic Victorian Christmas Boot (which also happens to come in pink, blue and red) and made a large tag for a special Christmas gift.  I've been hoarding this particular K&Co DP for years since this was my last piece out of 3 pads of Christmas Cheer (from what, 2009?) for just the right project and this was it.   I also added a chipboard tag, gold peel off border and vintage tinsel trim to the top to finish it off.

Here's a closeup of the lovely boot.  It's fussy cut and popped on top of the tag in multiple layers.  I've added some adhesive crocheted lace to the top and gold adhesive beads to the buttons.

Here's the dimensional shot.  Lots and lots of fussy cutting but I love the way it came out.  You can also see the red gems I've added to the holly berries and amber ones to the candle flames on the tree.  We lived in a Victorian House for many years and this brings back special memories of Christmases past.  I'm sort of new to this type of crafting but I find it challenging and all kinds of fun. The DT has pulled out all the stops with amazing creations using Heather's gorgeous vintage collage sheets available in her My Artistic Adventures Etsy Shop.  Be sure to stop by the Challenge Blog and be inspired.

I'm entering this in the Simon Says Wed ATG Challenge, Simon Says Monday Holiday cards, Papertake Weekly ATG, the Unruly Paperarts 12 Days of Christmas Link Up Party, the DLArt December ATG Linky Party, DLArt Thankful Thursday Any Winter Holiday, Digitally Sweet ATG, the Outlawz Paper a la Mode ATG Challenge Nov 29-Dec 6, Craft Hoarders Anonymous Celebrate the Season, the CHNC December Extra Challenge, the Bearly Mine Christmas Decoration Challenge and the Eclectic Ellapu Vintage Christmas and Vintage Christmas (not a Card). 

Macabre Monday Vile Vintage (Warning! Possibly offensive or at the very least, distasteful...just sayin')

This week at HDH our challenge is Vile Vintage, take something vintage and make it vile or use something vintage you find vile.  This one was a total no brainer for me.  Behold a layout featuring Victorian Post Mortem Photography (meaning, at least somebody in these pics are DEAD, peeps, not sleeping, DEAD.  EEEEWWWW!!!!).  Apparently this was common practice back in the day, with professional photography being pretty pricey, so in some cases these were the ony photos families had of their loved ones.  Gives me the total creeps. I'm not overly fond of wakes, either and the images of people I've seen who were dead are permanently burned into my memory, so having a reminder to hang on the wall is not my cup of tea.

How about a whole family shot?  Often the dead person was propped up or put on a stand and their eyes were painted in later.  As keeper of the family archives on both sides, I actually thought I had a few of these, but upon further investigation, I guess a lot of my family just wasn't that photogenic.  LOL  No question here who the dead ones are.  The coffins sort of give that away.  Bummer it's a twofer.  Sooo sad.  I did make the fab mat for this which reminded me of many of my vintage photos.  I used the Cuttlebug Gracie's Frame folder with Tim Holtz Kraft Core Nostalgic Collection card stock and sanded it after using a craft knife to cut out the inside.  Looks just like some of my real antique mats. 

Or just the kids?  Don't they look thrilled?  Couldn't resist the title, done with my Dymo.

The photo album and camera are from Graphic 45.  Added a dried rose that could have been part of a funeral bouquet.  Don't know if you can read the rest of the title, but it says "and say cheese".  I really edited the photos I found on the net.  Some were either too heart wrenching or just plain gross.  I got a kick out of how pissed this little girl looks having to pose with her dead brother.  Her look says "Are we done yet?"  Wondering if it was starting to smell like cheese (limberger, I'd bet) in there since I'm pretty sure this was before embalming was popular.  Okay, I could go on and on about this but I'll release you to the rest of the Minions HERE to see what exactly they find vile and can't wait to see how you interpret our Vile Vintage Challenge.

A Day for Daisies Vintage and Add Polka Dots

I'm just under the wire for the current A Day for Daisies Challenge which is Vintage plus Dots. I've paper pieced the lovely Scent of a Vintage Rose and colored the rest with Copics.  The dotty papers are from my stash.  I've been saving this gorgeous lace for something special and I love how it echos the rose in her hand.  To me it just screams Vintage.  She's mounted on a Nesties Lacy Circle and I've added picot edge ribbon as well.  I really love how it turned out.  Hope you do too.

I'm also entering this in The City Crafter A Rose is a Rose Challenge, The Sisterhood of Crafters Good Old Days Challenge and the Whimsy Stamps Vintage and Shabby Chic Challenge.

Bah! Humbug! Pleats and Ruffles Challenge

This week at Bah! Humbug!, in honor of the royal wedding, our challenge is to use pleats or ruffles. I'm telling you, with the gorgeous 8o degree + weather we're having, Christmas was far from my mind today, but I just couldn't miss it. I knew I wanted to do something vintage, but a number of attempts were unsuccesful so I resorted to an image and frame from the Graphic 45 Christmas Past Collection. I'd bought a number of colors of the ribbon from WalMart several years ago before I realized it was too stiff to tie a pretty bow so it's been sitting in my stash ever since. Fortunately I was able to pleat it using Terrifically Tacky Tape. The pleated medallion is from K&Co which I backed with a Nesties circle.

I popped the frame and added a peelie border to the mat and a few adhesive gems and there ya go. I still feel like I'm playing "catch up" after my birthday trip, so I apologize for my sparse and irratic comments and visits to all of your blogs. Please forgive.

An Adorable Freebie From Peggy Loves Vintage!

Looky here! Peggy has done it again, offering one of her adorable vintage images ABSOLUTELY FREE on the Peggy Loves Vintage Blog. So why are you not a follower? Not only does Peggy offer wonderful freebies, but it's THE place to go for info about specials on her CD's and Cut Outs. Nobody does vintage like Peggy! Anyway, in the middle of the night I had a bit of insomnia and of course did some blog hopping. I snagged Peggy's adorable image and when I went back to bed, all I could think about was how am I gonna use it? Just before falling back to sleep the idea of an envelope on the front of the card crossed my mind and I fortunately still remembered it when I woke up. I used my Crafter's Companion to make the little 3x4" envie which was the perfect size to fit on this A2 card. I embossed the portion of the card front directly with the Heart Blocks Cuttlebug folder. The Lattice Border is an MS punch embossed with tiny hearts from the Cuttlebug Love Language Card Making Combo. The envie insert is from the Cuttlebug Embossed Tags Emboss Plus folder (trimmed a bit) with a computer generated sentiment.

The sentiment fits into the little front envelope which folds down so the whole card still fits into the regular A2 envie and when you pull out the card, it pops open a bit to reveal the contents. The tiny hearts used both inside and out are a $1 punch from M's.

Inside I repeated the lattice and added the postage stamp cut and emboss folder that I got free with my Cuttlebug. I don't do many A2 size cards, but I love how this one turned out! Now don't you want to go check out the Peggy Loves Vintage Blog? And while your at it, check out the fab CD's and Cut Outs available on her Web, Etsy and Ebay stores. Valentine's Day has never been easier.

Now David and I are on our way to Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur for a little R&R. No tv or internet, but a beautiful place with gorgeous surrounds and YUMBO food. On Saturday morning I'll be back to post the winner of the BBTB2 Blog Candy so be sure to return to see if you've won, and if you haven't already commented, there's still time, so please scroll down.

And announcing DANIEL MICHAEL CALENDA, born (finally) at 2:40 AM EST today. Danny Boy is the 5th grandbaby (4th boy) for my dear friend Margie (Bella Bug). Congrats, Margie! You're working on a baseball team, eh? Now get some sleep, it's been a long 2 days! BTW, I just talked to Margie on the phone and she said it was ok to post this. Didn't want to steal her thunder. LOL

Bah Humbug Vintage and Cutting Cafe Winner

Is anyone else having trouble with this time change thing? Yesterday I didn't get up until almost 8:00 (usually it's way before 6:00) and I felt groggy and sluggish all day long. Even though it was gorgeous out, I couldn't drag myself for a walk and my mojo was in really slow gear because it took me ALL DAY LONG to make this card. (And that was with the image and paper already chosen!) I was determined, and persistance prevailed so here is what I came up with for this week's Bah! Humbug! vintage challenge. I wanted to go WAY back this time and chose an image from the internet I had in my pics (sorry I don't remember where it came from). What I liked about it was just the smidge of color.

The paper was from the Graphic 45 Christmas Past Collection which covered the blue, but I wanted a bit of pink as well and that's where I ran into trouble. Matting anything with the pinks I had looked bad. I finally opened one of the random bags I have littering my craft room and came upon the felt coasters I'd bought at M's last week. HMMM... First of all, with a little imagination it could look like a snowflake and alot of vintage ornaments were made from felt so I pulled out my adhesive spray and covered it with German glass glitter I'd bought at Custom Crops. This stuff is way different from regular glitter and really gives that "Old World" look to a project.

I used my Fiskar's Threading water punch to mat the photo and my MS trees (for the first time!) on the reverse side of the paper for the border strip. The little tag letters are sticko Nostalgiques from M's mounted on a Spellbinders Shapeabilites Fancy Tags (also a first time use). OOps, and almost forgot the MS snowflake corner punch. The kraft paper is Stampin'Up and You can see the dimension I added above. Why the heck did it take me so long to make this card? You still have time today if you want to join in the Bah! Humbug! challenge. The new one comes out on Friday, (but remember it's UK time so they're 8 hours ahead and the challenge closes at noon on Thurs their time). So far I've made all 10 challenges so I'm pretty proud of myself! Don't you want to get a jump on next Christmas?

Now what you've REALLY been waiting for: The WINNER of the Cutting Cafe All About Coffee and Coffee Bean Background sets is..................

#12 VeronicaA

who wrote: I love the card and the sentiment. Even more I would love to win. I have several folk I could send that card to. Congrats Veronica! I have your email so will be getting that set out to you in a jiffy. Thank you to all who entered.

A Contest and Some Exciting News!

I hope you all have heard that there's a CONTEST going on at Peggy Loves Vintage Blog and a FREE image to use for your entry. Just look at this beautiful heart and imagine the possiblitlies. The winner will receive 2 of the Cut Out sheets of their choice so what are you waiting for? Find the details HERE. The EXCITING news for me is that I've been asked to join Peggy's Design Team which is a dream come true since I'm SUCH a fan of Peggy's gorgeous vintage images. WooHoo! I had already started my contest card before I got the news but the gloriously talented DT has been offering up examples for the contest to get your mojo working so here's mine. I decided to cut out my image (including the center) and then pop it atop a second image. I went over the sort of gold border of the heart with my gold leafing pen in order to match my vintage embossed foil frame I had recently found when going through some things from my Grandma. What a FIND! I had specific paper in mind but do you THINK I could FIND it? NOOOOO!!!! It's gotta be around here somewhere, but I looked through bins and bins of paper that I thought was sorted by theme or color (guess not) and it was nowhere to be found. I settled on dots which coordinated well with the beautiful satin stripe ribbon from May Arts. All of my charms were silver so I pulled out my gold leafing pen again and Voila! I left off a sentiment thinking that it could be used for other occasions as well.

Of course I had to include a dimensional shot. And I forgot to mention the I embossed the bottom heart image with my Cuttlebug Textile textures folder (backwards because I was in such a hurry so it's actually debossed but still turned out okay.) This was an afterthought and I had carefully unpeeled the bottom heart from the dimensionals and removed the charm to do it. Risky, I know, but it just wasn't right without it in my eyes. The beauty here is that with printable images if you REALLY mess up, you can ALWAYS reprint them. YEA!!!!! So what are you waiting for? Go grab that IMAGE and let's see what you've got! You might consider following the Peggy Loves Vintage Blog because you never know what Peggy has up her sleeve and there are easy direct links to all of her glorious vintage images.

The Cuttlebug Spot 3M Paper Challenge

This week was free rein at The Cuttlebug Spot, meaning any theme as long as we used some of the 3M Post-it Craft Paper from this week's sponsor. In celebration of the gorgeous vintage things I saw at CHA, I chose to do a vintage Valentine. The border punch by EK Success, the gorgeous Cottage Cutz doily die from The Scrapping Cottage and the gold Ornamental Iron Cuttlebug border behind the cherub medallion were all done in the adhesive paper. The background mat is from the DCWV Luxury stack, embossed with the Cuttlebug Textile Texture folder and the ivory heart was both cut and embossed with the Cuttlebug Textile Hearts combo set. The gold key is from the Spellbinder's Timeless Heritage dies. In addition I used a Melissa Francis keyhole brushed with Perfect Pearls, velvet rick rack from May Arts, and some cocoa colored adhesive pearls to balance the design. Alot going on I know, but I was going for a Victorian look which was all about loads of adornment. (My kinda style, hee hee)

The cherub medallion is a vintage image I downloaded from Dover Publications which I printd 4 times and cut with my Nesties Petite Scalloped Oval for the base, and Petite Ovals for the 3 remaining layers and popped them on top of each other to get the dimensional look. I first saw this technique on Sherry Cheever's Blog during a Spellbinder's blog hop. My image was quite small so I wasn't able to do as many layers as she did, but I still love the look.

Here's the dimensional shot. Be sure to stop by The Cuttlebug Spot to view all of the fabulous projects by the other designers and be aware that the rules have changed. Although we would LOVE to see you participate in the challenges, it is not necessary to be eligible for a prize. Just leave a comment and you could be a winner. P.S. in case you didn't see yesterday's post, be sure to check it out. The BBTB2 Blog Hop will be going on until at least Friday and there's candy to be had. I'll be drawing a name Sat. morning for a $30 gift Certificate to Custom Crops. WooHoo!

Vintage Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all! My pies are baked and all I have to do is roast some brussel sprouts and pop the butternut squash lasagna in the oven before heading off to friends. Whew, way ahead of schedule for a change so I couldn't just let the day go by without popping out a final quick Thanksgiving card using a vintage image from Dover Publications. The paper is Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess, the flowers Prima, skeleton leaf from my stash and the velvet ricrac is May Arts. Have a blessed bountiful holiday! Hugs, D

Paper Blooms, Vintage and a Bit of Recycling

I was so lucky to win the gorgeous Blog Candy Leah offered over at Paper Blooms to launch her new challenge site and introduce her design team. Her beautiful hand crocheted blossoms and stick pins scream for something lovely and vintage and though I'm not very good at this style, I truly love it. I can't wait for the challenges to start April 1st. Her beautifull blooms are available on Etsy and are sooo reasonably priced. She even does custom orders if there's a particular color or style you'd like to have. Be SURE to check it out HERE. She better be getting her little fingers busy because I just bought 3 sets to add to the ones I won so I'll be ready for the challenge. LOL

The doll image is a postcard I received from a fabulous store in Pleasanton CA called American Harvest that features many artists who craft with a distinctly vintage style. This doll is by the very talented Nicole Sayer who just so happens to live in Pleasanton. I cut her out and matted her in chocolate and popped her on top of a crocheted doily I had recently uncovered in the attic. The pretty paper is Basic Grey. I used some ecru lace from J's across her bodice and the glitter heart and vintage keyhole are from Melissa Frances. After taking these pix I realized I had neglected to ink the edge of the chipboard heart. I popped it off and it's all fixed now (okay Shelly? LOL)