Day 5–a little irony for the Smeared Ink 12 Days of Christmas 2011

Six Geese a'laying ATC

Ironic that my project is for the traditional 6th day of Christmas (Six Geese a’laying) and today is the 5th day of our hop. I used a red cardstock ATC base, a Paper Studio scrap, and the text is a trimmed business card, stamped with Archival Jet Black Ink and a Recollections text rubber stamp. The primary image is from Beccy’s Place blog (Dec. 2010 she did the entire 12 Days of Christmas in digis & that’s on my list of projects.) The gorgeous grays, bronze eggs & light olive green vine & leaves are colored with Prismacolor markers. These are complimented with Bic Markers for the lights, berries, nest & scarf. Printed on a Georgia Pacific white cardstock, colored & clipped out. I have a small text stamp that says, ‘six’ that’s hiding from me at the moment but I see it adding in red or green maybe. Add a fluffy bit of tulle in a bow & voila’! Hope you like it & that you’re enjoying hopping along!!

Day 4–Smeared Ink 12 Days of Christmas 2011

Pretty Snowflakes falling Wreath

This project has been modified to improve odds of photographing it, so it isn’t my favorite in this rendition but…I wanted to have our lovely lady peeking thru a window with the snowflakes falling but there was glare from the “window” and this incarnation has faint little snowflakes stamped in irridescent ink that don’t show either. ‘sigh’ I think I may have a solution for the window but need more patience than I have had so far in fixing it LOL!
This lovely lady with the soulful gaze is from the Faes set of rubber stamps from Smeared Ink. For a couple of reasons, Smeared Ink Stamps are phasing out their rubber stamps for the time being, but, if you missed out on getting your favorite set, never fear! They are coming super soon in the digital form. Some advantages of digis that I like are: easy virtual storage as a file, you can resize from contact print to as big as your printer will allow & make multiples in one easy click of the button, you can adjust their form just a little, layer & even color digitally before you print & there’s the near instant delivery (no stalking the mail carrier, not that I know anyone, ahem, guilty of that!!). The base is a paper plate, the ribbon from American Crafts, ink from Stazon (jet black), snowflakes are buttons from dressitup/Jesse James Co., and Elmer’s glue dots. Coloring is Bic Markers with Studio G glitter glue accents and the sentiment is, I think Inkadinkado. Be sure to hop the whole way and leave ’em some love for a chance to win!! Happy day and stay warm—snow’s a’comin’ my way.

Day 3 of Smeared Ink’s 12 Days of Christmas Blog hop

Merry Christmas Card

A clean and simple Christmas card today. The main image (tree) is a Recollections stamp. The sentiment is from a set, probably Inkadinkado but I’ve misplaced the packaging ;). Stamped with Jet Black Stazon ink on cream cardstock. (The picture isn’t the best but we’re gearing up for a bit of rain and I can’t catch the light better right now.  I’m going to have to move the Ottlite to the picture area!!).
I hope you’ve been visiting each of the blogs!! THere’s a blog list just to the right here –> under the 12 Days of Christmas banner. Not sure if Kymberly and one other have had a chance to update their blogs yet but the others are creating awesomeness all around!! It’s another Smeared Ink feature day on Wed. but hope to get some other Christmas goodies up for you later too. Thanks for stopping by!!!

Smeared Ink Day 2 of the 12 Days of Christmas and New Release

Ghost of Christmas Future--What if no one believed?

It’s day two of the Smeared Ink 12 Days of Christmas and the design team will be featuring some rockin’ new Christmas images from Smeared Ink!
My project uses the North Pole image, printed in triplicate. I used Distress Stickles in Red and green & translucent glitter from Studio G along with Polar White Flower Soft to accent the image. The background is from the Words & Music ATC backgrounds from GeckoGalz (November) collection. The skull and sign are layered twice, the hat 3 times. I hope you enjoy! I’m loving the comments from Day 1–Thank you SO much!!! Be sure to check out the Christmas blog list for more awesome Christmas goodies–most with Smeared Ink images and the Design Team blog list for features of the brand spanking new images!!! Enjoy, happy crafting and have a fabulous weekend!!

Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas blog hop at Smeared Ink!!

My Day 1 entry is a simple little card using Studio G stamps in the Rudolph line. Hope you like it! Trying to decide if it will remain a card that someone might send to a certain younger someone who loves to get mail or might transform into a gift bag upgrade (or both). Be sure to follow the links at right under the Jolly Blogger banner to check out the fantastic work by the other hoppers. Leave lovely comments for a chance to win big at the end!! Day 2 will be Saturday with some fantastic images from the Smeared Ink collection, including the debut of some brand spanking new ones from the design team!! YAY!!!
Happy Crafting!
PS: Check back soon for new stuff from me from the Gecko Galz new release and more Smeared Ink goodies plus some swap creations. Gotta get my camera whirring and the computer hopping very soon to catch up!!!

Smudgy Antics Weekly Challenge—Dear Heart

We have a Zombie Kind of Love

 

Here’s the Smeared Ink American Gothic Zombies again, sharing a little love treat. Be sure to check out the Smudgy Antics blog (www.smudgyantics.blogspot.com) for this and all weekly challenges.  The background here is a Halloween night photo of a maple tree in my lawn.  I printed out the couple, colored them in and trimmed them out.  The heart is from an old anatomy book.  I resized it a bit but it was still too large so it’s been cut down too.

Hope you’ll create something featuring a “Dear Heart” and join in.  Just link back to the blog post & IF you include a Smeared Ink image, you may win a great Smeared Ink digi.

Also be sure to check back to the Smeared Ink  (www.smearedink.com) store for more fantastic images.  Digis deliver as soon as payment is verified so you’ll be ready to participate in the 12 Days of Christmas blog hop (sign up at www.smearedandsmudged.ning.com).

Happy Crafting!!!!

I’m going to try to do a tutorial soon on this post

https://whatspeaks2myheart.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/who-has-the-button-twisted-sketches-card-sketch-4/ as I have had a couple of questions on just how this worked. I’m a visual tactile learner, so I have to see and do. Unfortunately, that makes it hard for me to describe sometimes so since I’ve been wanting to get my diecut machines out and warmed up again, I’ll take some pics along the way and share them. Sound good? Is there anything else you might like to see? (that you know I can do, that is. LOL). Thanks for stopping by. I’ll have some DT projects to share this week and am ready to start on some holiday goodies. Have a great weekend!! P

Gecko Galz Blog hop continues until Oct 31!

He seemed like the boy next door (The Expert Witness).

WHOA! So magnificent to see all the Gecko Galz love and it’s well deserved, not because of what I made (altho’ I’m soooo very glad you like it!!) but because of the awesome collage sheets, background papers, alphabets, stamps and the load of new ones issued each month!!! Gecko Galz rocks!! And I gotta tell you, I struggle each month to decide what to work with — I have tons of ideas to catch up to the possibilities.
So… If you looked early yesterday, you may have noticed there were a couple of delays in the blogs but we’ve updated those so you may want to check yesterday’s post to get it all in. There are 11, yes 11, in all FREE Gecko Galz collage sheets just for hopping along, plus the chance to win even more (deets on that in the previous post too.)
I was so pleased so many of you enjoyed my “expert witness” project. She is my fave—she hopped off the page at me when I received the sheet to work with and more or less demanded to be included LOL. She just looked to me like she had something of great import to say, loads of advice to share, and she was gonna give it to us, no matter what! I like her!!!
She’s shown displayed on an easel with creepy cloth behind. I began with the base frame from the Spooky Sentiments collection found here: http://www.geckogalz.com/alphabetsoup.html. I printed it onto cardstock, or you can purchase the printed pages directly from Gecko Galz at the same link. The sassy lass is printed on cardstock, cut out and mounted onto a bit of orange cardstock. The sentiment—I toyed with several ideas (“I only date vampires”; “Listen honey, …”) before, for some reason, she reminded me of those neighbors living near those who commit hideous crimes, who either find themselves with a microphone thrust in their face, or just canNOT resist all the media vans next door (“I thought we’d be kilt, or even worse!”). Soooo, I generated a speech bubble and played with fonts until I found one that suited me, resized it very tiny (this project is maybe 4″x5″), and printed it out. (BTW did you know that often those annoying Microsoft or other software updates include new fonts for your word processor? Just type your sentiment, highlight it and try anything that grabs your eye!) Unfortunately, I forgot to write down the font I used for this one. The speech bubble did not fit well without covering some of this lady’s sassy pose so I took a cue from art journalling, cut those into snippets and glued them in place with Elmer’s dual tip glue. (It helps to have a slightly skewed way of seeing things 😉 ).
Thanks for stopping by and all of the kind comments!! If you haven’t completed the hop, there’s images for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Gone with the Wind!!!, all sorts of goodies, right there FREE to you. Eleven full pages—be sure to check yesterday’s post if you didn’t find all eleven and gather those words to win by, too!

Gecko Galz Tricks and Treats Blog Hop

I am the eighth stop on your “hop” welcome to my blog! If you started here you might want to go back and start at the begining at the Gecko Galz blog so you wont miss anything!

We have ELEVEN AMAZING blogs for you to visit this weekend, each with some gorgeous projects created using the Gecko Galz collage images, that we are giving you for FREE! Each blog you visit will have a free Gecko Galz Collage sheet for you to download. Mine is “MUCHA MAVENS“.  Please enjoy this free Gecko Galz ephemera sheet by clicking the name link!

Also make sure you collect all the secret words on each blog so at the end of the hop you can enter to win our wonderful treat. So sit back, relax, take your time and enjoy the hop!

We have FOUR amazing prizes up for grabs:
•First is one free digital collage set each month for an entire year, you get to pick the collage sheet you want each month and we send it off to you! This is a $24 value
•Second prize is a $35 shopping spree at the Gecko Galz website….you pick it and we send it!
•Third prize is our Gecko Galz treat bag full of Gecko Galz products, kits, and other amazing products! This is a $50 value
•And our Grand Prize ONE FULL YEAR of FREE DIGITAL COLLAGE COLLECTIONS!!! Gecko Galz puts out 5 digital collage sets each month and you will get all 5 sets for an entire year! This is a $120 value.

Read on to learn how you can win!

First of all, you will need to visit all ELEVEN blogs and leave a comment on each blog 🙂 **This is important so we know you have been to all the blogs **. Collect all eleven words and at the end of the blog on the Fripperies and Butterflies site there will be a link to the Gecko Galz website where you will email us the phrase the words make up. This enters you in the contest. On October 31st we will randomly draw the 4 winners and email each of you, then we will post the winning names on our website and on the Gecko Galz blog site.

For an extra chance to win make a purchase from the Gecko Galz site and your name goes in again for a better chance of winning (each purchase you make that weekend gives you another chance to win). Finally, we are having one more give away! If you post our Gecko Galz blinkie on your blog or website you will be entered to win a Gecko Store Gift Certificate worth $25 – super easy right? Just post a link to your blog on the Gecko Galz Blog so we can come visit :).

My Secret Word is;

FOR

Here is the Blog Hop Rotation

Hazel Harler

Heather Hudson

Joan Lindle

Marcie Morgan

Misty Rose Cramer  Misty was unexpectedly unable to join us for the hop.  Her word is now included on Patty Provance’s blog and her collage sheet is included on the GeckoGalz blog http://geckogalzscrapbooking.blogspot.com/.

Patty Provance

Paula Akers (that’s me!)

Penny Walker

Sherri Levington

Starr Timmons

Leanne Seed

As well as the samples I have made using the images. Each day I will post a “how I did that!” post to feature one of the projects and, maybe, add another one or two using this fantastic ephemera sheet.

Here we go:

He seemed like the boy next door (The Expert Witness).

Layout--8x8 Autumn Haiku

Let's Dance the Monster Mash!

Unbearable Beauty

As always, your comments are more than welcome.  I know you’ll love the hope and the fabulous projects the hoppers have created.  If you have trouble with any of the links, please leave me a comment and I will try to get them fixed tonight and send you a message to let you know it’s fixed (or an alternative link).

Happy Hopping and happy crafting! Thanks for joining us! Paula A

Smeared Ink Skulltime Challenge–Candy Keeper

You've been warned!

The challenge at Smudgy Antics blog/Smeared Ink Ning group this week is “skulltime”. For my candy keeper, I repurposed an almond tin and beheaded a skeleton from a garland from Dollar Tree. I replaced his head with the digi image from Anatomy 101 digi set from Smeared Ink. The sentiment is printed using a Dymo Letra handheld printer. Now–go get your own chocolate!! 😉 Happy Crafting!!