Black and Vintage ATC Swap

Hey Crafters and Bloggers!

The theme for the November ATC swap I was in at the ScrapShack was "Black and Vintage."  We had to create an ATC using black, such as black paper, black buttons, black lace... and yes, black images. We also had to incorporate "vintage" into the design.  We had to use an image that was old style, b&w.  Then we also had to use one color on our Black and white vintage ATCs.

So...here are my Black and Vintage ATCs! The one that is all copper was the image transfer technique that I wanted to do for all of them...but from 2 failed batches, only one transfer came out properly so I abandoned the idea...for now.. I WILL find a way to master that technique!


 
  
 

Vintage "V"

Evening Friends!

Last Saturday I went to my friend Kathy's B-Day Crop. At her crop, she had a make and take challenge for us to do!


We each received a chipboard letter of our first name and we had to decorate it using distressing, ribbon or lace, embossing, flowers and a button. I did my letter "V" vintage and used some of the baby prima roses that I made on them.Oh I MADE those mini roses from a tutorial that Kathy from Paper Phenomenon did on making knockoff baby Prima roses...IT LOVE making them! I have a bunch in a jar...well so much a bunch cause I RAKed a lot of them away...but LOVE making them and they were perfect for my V..I just distressed them some more to make them more vintage. I followed all the rules except using a button. There was no button appropriate for the vintage theme I wanted to create.

I inked white strands of pearls to make them vintage and added them to my V. The tag reads forever...like V Forever or Forever V... I aged it by crumpling it in a small ball then opening it up and inking with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink...then I misted it with water from my mini mister...let it dry and then misted it again with gold Glimmer Mist. I painted the edges of the "V" with gold metallic acrylic paint by Folk Art (I believe). The paper is from K & Company (I can't remember what paper pad).

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out! It now is displayed proudly in my scrap space.

Thanks for looking!

Vintage Fashionista ATCs

Hey Bloggers and Crafters!

Sharing another of my ATC creations! I am in a swap at Urban Scrappers and the theme was "Fashionista"...so I took my ATCs one step further and created "Vintage Fashionistas"! I wanted to do this swap using the image transfer technique but that proved to be trickier than I anticipated...so I scrapped that idea for this swap...but say tuned...I am determined to get it right for my other November ATC swap over at the Scrap Shack...that theme is Black and Vintage...so stay tuned for those ATCs! I think after this last ATC swap...I am going to take a break from ATCs and work on more of my layouts and mini albums that I need to create! (We shall see! You know I LOVE me some ATCs)

On to the pictures! Enjoy and thanks for looking!

October 2010 ATC Swap: Be YOU!

October was my month to choose the theme for the ATC swap at the Scrap Shack site so I decided on the theme "Be You". Everyone had to create an ATC that represents you, your art style, fashion style, favorite medium...whatever! It can be stamping, embossing, copics, painting, etc....just BE YOU! And have fun doing it! :o)

So this is what I came up with. I used one of my favorite techniques again...acetate and Tim Holtz Alcohol ink...I did some stamping, cutting on my cricut ( I cut the crown from Indie Art and made the tea bag myself by hand) and of course bling and stickles! Sorry for the many pictures. I wanted to show you all the detail and what the sentiments said. Some of the stamping came out a little fuzzy...clearly I need to improve my stamping skills! These look better in person...I couldn't get the best pics with the glare from the flash on the acetate...enjoy and thanks for looking!

September 2010 ATC Swap: Mixed Techiques

Evening! Here is what I came up with for the September ATC Swap at the Scrap Shack site. The challenge was to use a different techniques and one was spotlighting which I had never heard or nor done before...so I did that and some distressing. Take a look here for an example of spotlighting --> http://stamptv.ning.com/video/spotlighting-2
I really like how it came out. Thanks for Looking!

Volunteeting at Habitat for Humanity

Evening Bloggers and Crafters!

I just wanted to drop in and say hi! Today I volunteered with my Beta Chapter at Habitat for Humanity in Baltimore, MD. So I thought I would post some pics of me getting dirty and pics of me helping to paint a mural for Habitat. These I took with my camera phone so forgive the poor quality!

I really had fun with my Sorors at Habitat and made new friends too! It was a Building on Faith volunteering event with different faith-based groups participating. I hope to get pics from them to post and make a scrapbook.

Until next time....be blessed!

From a BLAH Monday to a GREAT Evening!

Evening Bloggers and Crafters!

I know it has been a minute since I last posted but I have been creating...not a lot...but hopefully I will be able to post my creations this weekend! I just wanted to hop on and share my excitement and joy with you all!

My Monday ended wonderfully tonight! I have been looking for this Bazzill cardstock pack that some ladies on the Cricut message board alerted us to that Michaels had on clearance for $7.99 for 100 sheets! Here is a picture of it

I was able to get the SKU for it online and called different Michaels close to me with the SKU and found one that had a few left in stock! The weird thing was that they had already pulled it off the shelf and had it in the back warehouse to send back to (who knows where)...so I asked the guy if he could PLEASE pull it out for me and hold it and I would be in after work to get them all! He was like OK but I MUST purchase them tonight...so I did! :o)

THEN...I came home to my box of ATG tape from my friend and fellow Cricut Message Board Sista Tonya...I was part of an ATG tape share on the SST Cricut MB! It was all packed up nice and neat too! And she added in a few goodies for me too ...different color glitter and a pack of super cute specialty brads that I have actually been wanting! Thanks again Tonya!

Wait...it gets better! :oD So I am checking the messages on my answering machine and found out that I WON a free floral arrangement from AC Moore that I entered into this past Saturday! So when Maiyah and I were down in Fredricksburg for the Celebrate N. VA Scrapbooking event this past Saturday...we of course went shopping to the various scrap stores in that area...namely Michaels, scrapdoodles and AC Moore...SOO at AC Moore they were doing different make and takes in the store and at the face painting table they had a drawing for a floral arrangement...so I was like what the heck and entered! Well I got the call today that I get to choose any floral arrangement with a max value of $40!!! SO cool! As you can see...my evening TOTALLY made up for my blah day at work!!!

How have you all been doing?

ATC of the Patriotic Kind...Who Says it can't be SEXY?!

Evening Friends! I participated in another ATC swap at Urban Scrappers and wanted to share it with yall! The theme was using the alphabet...so we each had to pick a letter of the alphabet and create an ATC about something that starts with that letter.

Well I picked the letter "F" and created an ATC I have been wanting to create for awhile now...I created a mini art honoring our First Lady Michelle Obama!!!! :o)

I am pleased with how it came out...but this experience showed me that I NEED to get some fancy letter stamps!! I wanted my stamped words to be fancier but alas I only had two different sets of alphabets both from Martha Stewart that are really basic... :o/

ANYWHOoooo...Onward with my reveal! 

For this ATC I printed the background image (the flag) from my computer as a faded water mark in color and cut them out. I printed Michelle out in color and cut her out. I LOVE this photo shoot of her! She looks for regal and elegant! I then inked the edges of my ATC with Tim Holtz vintage photo ink.

Then I glued the pic of the First Lady onto the ATC base with mod podge (the matte finish). I then stamped the "irst" and the "ady" with tiny letters from the Martha Stewart Laurel Stamp Set with black Archival ink from Ranger. I then stamped the "F" and "L" from the Martha Stewart Requiem Font Alphabet Stamp set with the VersaMark watermark stamp pad and sprinkled it with red and blue glitter finish Zing! embossing powder and set it with my embossing heat gun.

After everything set a bit, I coated the entire front of the ATC with Mod Podge again and let dry and Voila! This was the result! I LOVE IT! :o) Hope you do to! ;o) Thanks for looking!

EID MUBARRAK!!!

Hello Blogger Friends and Family! Tomorrow marks a joyus occasion! It marks the completion of Muslims all over the world fasting during the Holy Month of Ramadhan with celebration! I can't say it any more clearer than wikipedia so I will leave the explanation here so you can read and just wanted to wish my Muslim Ummah (Community/Nation) a joyous and blessed Eid!!

Now on to the in depth definition of Eid al Fitr if you care to read it...

Eid ul-Fitr (Arabic: عيد الفطر ‘Īdu l-Fiṭr‎), often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (sawm). Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity", while Fiṭr means "conclusion of the fast"; and so the holiday symbolizes the celebration of the conclusion of the month of fasting from dawn to sunset during the entire month of Ramadan (calendar month). The first day of Eid, therefore, is the first day of the month Shawwal that comes after Ramadan.
Eid-ul-Fitr Salat (Namaz in Urdu/Persian) is a Wajib (strongly recommended, just short of obligatory) or mandoob (preferable) - depending on which juristic opinion is followed - Islamic prayer consisting of two raka'ah (units)^[1] which is generally offered in an open field or large hall called an Eed-gah. This salaat or prayer, should be performed with Jama’at (i.e., in congregation) with extra six Takbirs (raising of the hands to the ears while saying Allahu Akbar (God is Great), three of them in the beginning of the first raka'ah and three of them just before ruku' in the second raka'ah.^[2] Eid ul-Fitr is sometimes also known as the "Smaller Eid" (Arabic: العيد الصغير al-‘īdu ṣ-ṣaghīr‎) as compared to the Eid al-Adha, which lasts four days following the Hajj and is casually referred to as the "Greater Eid" (Arabic: العيد الكبير al-‘īdu l-kabīr‎). Although in Southeast Asian countries, Eid-ul-Fitr is considered "greater" than Eid al-Adha and is the most important feast for muslims there.
Muslims are commanded by God in the Qur'an to complete their fast on the last day of Ramadan and then recite God's praises all throughout the period of Eid.^[3]


You can read on more about Eid and its rituals on wikipedia by clicking HERE!

The Holy Month of Ramadhan

Hey Bloggers and Crafting Family! I just wanted to drop a quick post to let you all know that Wednesday the 11th or Thursday the 12th...(depending on the sighting of the Crecent of the Moon...which marks the changing of a new month) Marks the first day of the Holy Month of Ramadhan and our month of Fasting. The easiest way to explain Ramadhan is a definition so I found a nice and simple one from www.about.com for you all.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. Every day during this month, Muslims around the world spend the daylight hours in a complete fast.

 

During the blessed month of Ramadan, Muslims all over the world abstain from food, drink, and other physical needs during the daylight hours. As a time to purify the soul, refocus attention on God, and practice self-sacrifice, Ramadan is much more than just not eating and drinking. Muslims are called upon to use this month to re-evaluate their lives in light of Islamic guidance. We are to make peace with those who have wronged us, strengthen ties with family and friends, do away with bad habits -- essentially to clean up our lives, our thoughts, and our feelings. The Arabic word for "fasting" (sawm) literally means "to refrain" - and it means not only refraining from food and drink, but from evil actions, thoughts, and words.

During Ramadan, every part of the body must be restrained. The tongue must be restrained from backbiting and gossip. The eyes must restrain themselves from looking at unlawful things. The hand must not touch or take anything that does not belong to it. The ears must refrain from listening to idle talk or obscene words. The feet must refrain from going to sinful places. In such a way, every part of the body observes the fast.

Therefore, fasting is not merely physical, but is rather the total commitment of the person's body and soul to the spirit of the fast. Ramadan is a time to practice self-restraint; a time to cleanse the body and soul from impurities and re-focus one's self on the worship of God.

This month will be more challenging than most for me because the days are longer and we are in the heat of summer. So I will be fasting approximately 16 hour days...for 30 days...that is no eating or drinking (no not even water) from Dawn to Sunset.

To all my Muslims brothers and Sisters out there in the world. Ramadhan Mubarrak!! May all your deeds and efforts be blessed 100 times over!

-V

Another ATC Swap...of the Skulls and Flowers Variety!

Evening Bloggers! I know it has been a while since my last post and I PROMISE an updated pic of my Jumbo EZer ribbon purse will be the next post up...but I FINALLY got my crafting mojo back AND have received my replacement Cricut...so I am back in business! I wanted share my latest ATC creation I made for an ATC Swap that I am a part of over at the Scrap Shack. As part of the swap each month we each take a turn picking a theme...for July, Scrap Shack Design Team Member Lyn chose the theme Skulls and Flowers. I must admit that at first I was intimidated with the theme...I was like uhhhh  hmmm...but as I started thinking on it, an idea formed and here is the fruits of my labor! I am so happy with how my ATCs came out! I did a number of techniques on these...first I cut the base skull/tombstone out of acetate and inked them using alcohol inks...MY FIRST TIME using acetate and alcohol inks and I LOVE it!!  Anywho...my idea was to make my ATCs to look like a tombstone with a skull on top and have a girl kneeling at the base of it putting flowers down... I used a number of Cricut carts for this, I used "A Childs Year" for the kneeling girl (she actually had a basket in her hand...but I cut it off). Storybook for the "RIP" words which you can't see from the pic because of the girls head, I used George and Basic Shapes for the tombstone. I am not sure where I cut the skulls and the grass and flowers from...I think the grass and flowers were from Plaintain School book.

ANYWAY...my ATC is titled...Remembrance...ENJOY!!

 For the Month of August the ATC swap theme is "The Pride" where we have to create an ATC depicting a typical African "pride" scene. SO...I am off to dream...QUICKLY cause the deadline is approaching on what I will do for that!

Until next time! Have a great night and happy crafting!

-V

My Cricut Woes...

Evening Bloggers...so I was FINALLY getting my crafting mojo back after WEEKS of stagnation and had an ATC designed in design studio ready to cut ...when I went to turn on my Cricut and load my mat on Friday and it WOULDN'T load!! In fact none of the buttons were responding except the power!!!  I called Provo Craft 3 times for help and after the ridiculous reset process which DIDN'T WORK and then the UPDATING of my CRICUT from Design Studio which DIDN'T WORK  the THIRD time I called I got a guy that finally said if I did all that and it didn't work...it could be that one of the updates killed it or something and he is sending me a new Expression out on Monday and even doing expedited shipping since I told him I had a project deadline...which I do! So I have to wait til Wed/Thurs to get my replacement E!! ARRGHHH!!! 

There goes my mojo! But once I am back in business... I will of course post the completed ATCs that I am making for a swap....each member of the swap has a turn to choose a theme and one of the ladies is into Gothic stuff and chose the theme Skulls and Flowers...so it makes for an interesting combination and I think I finally have what I am creating nailed down...now to CUT IT!! I miss my Cricut!!! WAHH!! LOL OK I will stop! I am just glad that Provo Craft is replacing it for me! YAY!