Christmas idea

I used to do a craft fair at a local Christian college, Houghton, and my first year I made what I called "Nobbies," decorated tags to which I added plastic bags with candy inside, looping the bag behind the tag with wire. The idea was for the student to write a note on the back of the tag, and then wrap the wire around the door knob of a friend in their dorm. All except the "Merry Christmas" are Biblical Impressions or Eureka images. Most of these are long gone, so I could not rephotograph them for this post.

smARTworks giveaway!

Susan Trask is hosting a celebration of eight years of business with a  smARTworks giveway, including a generous amount of her wonderful stamps as well as some great supplies!  I absolutely love Susan's stamps, and you will too!  I am not in any way affiliated with smARTworks, just wanted to pass the opportunity on!

Here are a couple of cards I've made with her Spirit dancers stamps:

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

It's challenge time again at the Eureka Challenge Blog! The theme this week is "Things With Wings;" please show us your creativity, and get a chance to win free images from Eureka!

 

This was a very challenging image for me to color.  I made one a number of years ago that was, frankly, terrible!  But I love this Partridge in a Pear Tree, so I decided to try again.  This time, I took an hour or so researching, and came up with a picture (bottom of the three) of a partridge here. (This type is called a Roul Roul Partridge).  I made the feet a little deeper red to be more Christmasy.  As long as I was doing a more fantasmic coloring job, I wanted a Christmas red!  The partridge was stamped and colored separately, then attached over the original gold-embossed image for a bit of a 3-D look. (Ahem ... and also because I didn't want to remake the entire panel, so I used the horrible one, and covered it up with the newly colored partridge!)

 

 

James 1:22

I'm posting today for Eureka.  I love the design of this James 1:22 scripture stamp.  So simple to make a card with!  The background panel is Japanese Ghost paper, I believe, a sort of thin, white embossed mulberry type paper.  It is white, but so thin it picks up the background color.

Isaiah 40 tile

I really hesitated to post this tile, from the set of tiles I with the accidental application of glue instead of sealer which reduced the clarity of image and color, and I had also grabbed the wrong green to fill in the space below the trees.  But additionally, as I have said of the other tiles, the style of these  tumbled tiles just does not make for great photos, at least when I am taking them!  But I am posting it despite my error and the camera's lack of sensitivity (!!) because this really is a great group of images for a tile, coming from smARTworks in a set called Hope Soars.  With more detailed images, I recommend Brilliance inks only; they are the only inks, that I have tried so far, that give a relatively crisp image on tile.  Also, it's especially important to look at where your nooks and crannies are before stamping an image that might be ruined by poor placement.

MoreTiles!

Well, I had planned to post a few days ago for Biblical Impressions, but when I photographed the tiles, the picture turned out awful.  As I mentioned in my last post, I accidently sprayed these tiles, made this summer before college started up again, with glue instead of sealer.   While the glue darkened and dulled the tiles, they still looked okay, but these two just didn't photograph well.  So, I decided to remake them this weekend after (hurrah!!) I finished my last assignments for this quarter. 

First, I want to show you a tile before I stamped on them.  As you can see, these are not smooth ceramic tiles, but are tumbled tiles.  When you choose your tiles, be sure to be aware of the grooves and pits.  On my sunflower tile, I did not notice that, and around the edges, it doesn't quite have the smooth look of the original. 

I wanted to make a masculine looking tile, so this is it.  I applied my green Stazon pad directly to the tile.  I embossed the plaid stamps in copper.  When I first photgraphed this second set of tiles, I though the white cracks (from the tile) made the tiles not look really nice, though it is a more natural look, so I inked in some more green on this, and yellow on the next tile.

Now, in case you were wondering if the glue really had made all that difference, here is the tile, same copper embossing, though maybe a different green:

I used the Sunflower Background for this stamp, after applying yellow to the tile.  I edged the tile first in brown, then yellow as the brown was too far to the edge, then edged in once more with butterscotch.  I liked the color, and decided to daub it on the sunflower centers as well.

Unlike the plaid tile, I covered all of the tile surface with ink.
Here is the tile before I altered it (note, photographing on wood vs. countertop  yielded different appearance fo the yellow):

So, those are the tiles I recreated for this post.  But as long as I finally had a chance to play with my stuff, I made a couple of Christmas tiles.  These are your standard ceramic glazed tiles.  I got a bunch for next to nothing at a place called "Why buy new" which has all sorts of fun used stuff.  I've discovered, from a flawed tile that I had been using as a coaster just to determine this, that embossing handles use very well.  So, I used embossing on both of these.  First, however, I applied alcohol ink to each of them.   For the tile with the Our Lord circle image, I decided to emboss the sides with gold.  I probably won't do it often: embossing on tile (either kind) takes FOREVER, so I may try something else next time. For the sectioned tile (same size as the single tiles), I used Glory to God and holly from the discontinued line of BI stamps still available.

Tile Fun!

Here is my update from yesterday's post, which I'm leaving here ... scroll below to see the update!

Well, I have searched high and low for my camera, but cannot find it anywhere. I had three tiles to show you today, but I'll have to settle for this one poor photo. The tile actually is much nicer to look at (yet not good enough to re-create, lol!) than you see here ... I had photographed it simply because I wanted to remember the design before I destroyed it.

No, not because I don't like how it looks in the photo, but because I did one very, very flaky thing. I made about eight of these, each with a different design, including three from Eureka .... and accidently grabbed by glue spray instead of my sealing spray. AAAAUUUGGHHHHHH as Charlie Brown would say! I am happy to say that the glue peeled off the design nicely, so at least I can reuse the tiles! I was waiting to photgraph the others before peeling them off, so I will photgraph them tomorow when my son is home with his camera! So, check this post tomorrow afternoon to see the other two tiles!

I stamped the Fine Art Rose with Versafine black, and chalked in the color. Then I embossed the Names of Jesus in copper.

Well, my hand were a bit shaky, but I think these are a fair representation of the other tiles. This first one is, of course, the same rose with a Joy stamp for the text (this also comes in a larger size):

This one did not turn out well, though I will say it looked better before I accidently sprayed that glue on it. I left it here simply to inspire those of you who can actually color, lol! The fern background really does work nicely, really!

 

Now this tile is my favorite. It looks nice enough in this picture, but it looked FANTASTIC before I sprayed the glue! I just inked it with Brilliance blue ink, and stamped it on.

I hope I've provided some inspiration! Christmas is coming ... these are a simple, not very time consuming gift! (Well, as long as you keep your spray adhesive far away!!!)

Tile fun

Posting today for Eureka...

Well, I have searched high and low for my camera, but cannot find it anywhere. I had three tiles to show you today, but I'll have to settle for this one poor photo. The tile actually is much nicer to look at (yet not good enough to re-create, lol!) than you see here ... . I had photographed it simply because I wanted to remember the design before I destroyed it. ;-)

No, not because I don't like how it looks in the photo, but because I did one very, very flaky thing. I made about eight of these, each with a different design, including three from Eureka .... and accidently grabbed by glue spray instead of my sealing spray. AAAAUUUGGHHHHHH as Charlie Brown would say! I am happy to say that the glue peeled off the design nicely, so at least I can reuse the tiles! I was waiting to photgraph the others before peeling them off, so I will photgraph them tomorow when my son is home with his camera! So, check this post tomorrow afternoon to see the other two tiles!

I stamped the rose with Versafine black, and chalked in the color. Then I embossed the Names of Jesus in copper.