SwampAngel's Place

1000 MEMBER PARTY AT "THE OUTLAWZ"

2011-10-03T14:41:00.000-04:00

"The Outlawz" are celebrating 1000 members

with

Scavenger Hunts

Scrambles

Blog Hops
and awesome sponsors
including
Oozak
Color Me Creative Classroom

Check'em out,
celebration is running from
October 3rd to
October 9th.

I am going to need that long just
to figure out the Oozak puzzle.LOL

The Butterfly Collector

2011-09-07T23:11:00.000-04:00

You've heard of "The Bone Collector",

let me introduce you to

The Butterfly Collector.

She's a Steampunk Butterfly Bounty Hunter

and she always gets her Butterfly.LOL

She is Scarlett West of Kenny K's

Steampunk Burlesque

Digital Stamp set.

Dressed in her finest Copic Colors.

Being "Steampunk" she has all of the latest

gadgets including mechanical wings

made from metal. A girls gotta get around some how.

Papers: Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante

Dies: Tim Holtz Bird Cage, Fanciful Flight, Weathered Clock, and

Gadget Gears, and Tags

Metal: Ten Second Studios

I've joined a Tim Holtz swivel swap at

Scrap Beach, so

for practice I made a charms swivel to attach to her tag with

charms made from fragments and pearls I had on hand.

I am entering Scarlett in Kenny K's Krafty Girlz

Challenge # 59:

Vintage Grunge

and

Studio L3's Grungy Monday

Challenge # 21:

Transparent Illusions

Thanks for stopping by.

Make It Colorful Challenge # 30

2011-08-15T21:55:00.001-04:00

#30 - Rain drops - make the picture look wet. Create raindrops only with copic markers and no shiny or glittery stuff.

I studied and tried out all of the examples provided and some I googled and I have decided........I need more practice.

My raindrops are now in my Copic Notebook (inspired by Barbara at Forgotten Scraps)

Practice makes perfect - I need a lot of practice.

Stamp: Make It Crafty's Forest Flower Digi Stamp

Make It Colorful Challenge # 6

2011-02-15T22:41:00.006-05:00

Shadow and Depth

Finally, I have completed a challenge from Make It Colorful.

I had won 4 beautiful stamps from the Make It Crafty website and have been dying to use them so Zoe would know that I had received them safe and sound. I have purchased some of the digitals stamps from Make It Crafty, based out of Australia, but I never would have thought I would own some of them in rubber. You should have heard my DH when he saw the envelope. He wondered what in the world had I gotten into.

On this card I am using the Peaches of Plenty stamp to frame ching chou kuik's "Radiant Butterfly" from SweetPea Stamps. I really tried to create the folds in her collar using some of the Warm Grey copics along with the colors. The paper is Basic Grey. The small roses are from www.iamroses.com I colored with copics I used on the image and distressed with Distress Ink. The ribbon rose is from Odanata Creations, check out her You Tube.

I have to also mention that I "lifted" the color scheme from Angela at In My Quiet Time, she creates gorgeous images and cards. Her version of "The Radiant Butterfly" is much richer and deeper, beautiful, but I am learning.

Other Challenges:
Copic Creations : Warm Colors
In a Sweet Pea Dream : "Anything this Time" Sweet Pea

Day 1 : 12 Tags of Christmas

2010-12-06T12:03:00.001-05:00

Day 1: The Rickety ole House

Here's is my take on Tim Holtz's Day 1 of the

12 Tags of Christmas.

It took me a while to complete this

one, adding a little here and a little there.

Improvising along the way

the things I didn't have and

adjusting the things I did.

My greatest hurdle was the snow.

I have no bottled snow.

Then I remembered Penny Duncan

gave recipes for fluff and made it

out of styrofoam.

Lucky I had the styrofoam, rubbed it together

and the snow started falling.

I glued it on using the Glossy accents and

if I was quicker in the head

I would have used Stickles

and it would have sparkled some.

I did add some sparkle to the whole card with my

Marshmallow glimmer Mist.

Double Distress - Challenge # 23

2010-12-03T07:54:00.000-05:00

Challenge # 23 - DOUBLE DISTRESS

Got to get my MOJO back,

took a break for a whole month

and I hope to reclaim the muse

starting off with a Christmas Tag for the

Compendium of Curiosites Challenge # 23,

Double Distress, found on page 40 of the book,

and the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge,

A TAG.

My Double Distress was done using the

Woodgrain Texture Fades embossing Folder.

I also used the Sheet Music folder on the deer.

The tag was cut using the Alterations

Tag and Bookplate Die from a

regular old file folder.

I've had this done for a couple of days now

and wanted to get it up before I

crash head long into making

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of

Christmas,

of which I am 2 days behind.

I hope to catch up this weekend.

Day 31: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-31T08:23:00.000-04:00

Day 31: Thirty One

Looks like we made it!! It's Halloween!!

And I've enjoyed every one of the 31 days. I'm

so Happy for this challenge from Smudge And Smeared

The Challenge,all of the Wicked Bloggers, all of the

Horrifying Hoppers and Lurkers who have visited that

have helped me to enjoy the season

a little bit each day. I also want to

thank all of those who left wonderful

comments, it was part of the fuel that

kept me going. It is so rare

for me to finish something completely to the

end and I couldn't have done it with

out everybody.

For this card, I used my favorite background, text,

inked it up, and ran it thru the Cuttle Bug.

I cut the scare crow from the

October 31 cartridge and the 31 is from

who else? Tim Holtz.

Behind them is a little bit of straw ribbon

I had stashed.

I think this is the creepiest card

I have made. The scarecrow

reminds me of the corn fields and of the monster

hung in the barn from

JEEPERS CREEPERS 1 and 2.

With all of my cards together my

ATC Spinner from 7 Gypsies something

to look at and enjoy now.

I love the way you can see the "FAE",

the Bombshell Gal and all sorts of little elements sticking out.

Here's wishing You and Yours a

HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

Day 30: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-30T09:17:00.001-04:00

Day 30: Dancing under the Moon

and among the bats. What a great Halloween night,

to dance the night away with your true love? If he's

wearing those tights, he better be Fred Astaire, right, LOL

The background paper is "Hocus Pocus"

from Pink Paislee. I really love this whole

pack. It's the 6 x 6 inch pack and

all the designs are miniature, just right for ATC

Cards. Gotta remember that when ordering paper.

The Dancers and the Moon are stamps by

Clear Art Stamps. The Moon

is my favorite. I embossed them then

colored them with Tim Holtz Distress ink.

The Bats are from Tim Holtz too.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Some might be starting their Halloweens

tonight. Be careful out there.

Oh, yeah

GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!

if your from Georgia or Florida

you know what I'm talking about.LOL

Day 29: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-29T08:52:00.000-04:00

Day 29: Sugar Skulls

Aren't these cute skulls? Only at Halloween could

you ask this question? I love how colorful you can make them.

They are Mexican Sugar Skulls used to celebrate the

"Day of the Dead".

Here's a link on Wikipedia for "Day of the Dead"

For the background, I inked up a card and

ran it thru the Cuttlebug with the swirly folder

and then light rubbed the swirls to make them stand out.

The sugar skull stamps are from Bombshell Stamps. I colored

them with copics, distressed them with a little

tea dye and, gave them a squirt with the

Marshmallow Glimmer Mist. If you look

at them from different angle, it really made them

look like they were made in sugar.

I can't believe it is almost Halloween.

I hope everyone is having fun gearing up

for this weekend.

Be sure to check out all of the

Wicked Bloggers

for spooky inspiration.

Day 28: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-28T07:14:00.000-04:00

Day 28: The Black Cat

For todays ATC with have an

angry Black Cat. He's angry because

he's not that much into FooFoo ribbon and bows.

I thought it made a nice contrast.

The Dabber Resist background is rubbed with

Pine Needles and Forest Moss

Distress Ink and the

Tim Holtz Black Cat is

stamped and embossed with

shiney black embossing powder.

Have a great day and watch

out for the Black Cats crossing your path.LOL

Day 27: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-27T09:08:00.000-04:00

Day 27: Twilight Flight

Right before dark, at twilight, the bats come out
to find a victim........nah, at our house they
come out to eat the skeeters. LOL

For todays 31 Days of Halloween ATC card,
I gave "Extreme Masking"a try as in Tim Holtz's book,
"A Compendium of Curiosities".
That's Challenge # 19 this week
at Studio L3.

Over at Haunted House Designs,
the Challenge # HDH062 is
Smeared and Smudged
and I don't think I could have
smeared or smudged more
ink than trying my had
at this technique.

I made my own masks with
Cricut's Happy Hauntings Cartridge
so that I could make the bats small enough to
fit on the ATC.
When you make your own masks,
remember to save the negative,
because your gonna need it when you
go to stamp inside your masked object.
I had to dig mine outta the trash.LOL

The colors of ink were inspired by
Smeared and Smudged's
October "O the Horror!!"
challenge:

I got close, but you really should
check out the other ladies entries
for they have nailed the Twilight colors.

For final touches, we add
the magic number 3 blings, and
Martha always has to have her hand in
it with the edge punches.

Have a great "Hump Day". It's all
down hill from here, all
the way to
Halloween.

Day 26: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-26T07:21:00.000-04:00

Day 26: The Spider

I've been wanting to use the

spider since September.

It's a Martha Stewart sticker, we

just have to face it, her designers (or minions)

are the bomb when it comes

to Halloween.

The little calender is from Tim Holtz stamps and

I finally got my "Bingo" texture fade in the mail.

Then I tried my hand at making a scallop punch

flower outta text paper. I think

it needs to be a little more fluffier.

The final countdown is here, have a great week.

Day 25: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-25T08:22:00.001-04:00

Day 25: Jail Birds

I thought these birds were so cute and menacing

looking. You really wouldn't know

what you would get from this bunch

of "Tricker'Treaters",

a Trick, like pooping on

your car, or a Treat.

The background was embossed with

ink in the Cuttlebug with Tim Holtz

wood folder. The stamps are from

Inkadinkado and embossed with

black powder. And of course the

loopy punch is from Martha.

Have a great week,and be sure

to check out the other Wicked Bloggers

as we close in on Halloween.

Day 24: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

Day 24: Jack Skellington and Sally

How could I not have an ATC card in my

Halloween Collection 2010

with out

Jack Skellington and Sally

from

"The Nightmare Before Christmas"

I am also entering this Lovelorn couple

in to

Haunted Design House's

HDH061 - A Lil' Lurid & Lovesick Challenge

I mean really how lovesick can you

get when to get to your

true love you fall out of a tower

and sew your own arm back on. LOL

My Jack Skellington came from a set

of Photoshop Brushes I downloaded

at Deviant Art. com and

Sally came from Simply Betty Stamps.

Both are rubbed with a little Tea dye

distress ink. And I've been

missing my three blings so

it was only natural to add them here.LOL

Day 23: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-23T08:13:00.001-04:00

Day 23 : Cowgirl

" I wanna be a cowboy,

and you can be my cowgirl.......

Yippee yi yay yay yay....."

That song has played in my head the whole time I was

making this card. So, what are you gonna be for

Halloween?

All of the stamps are from the

Retro Cowgirl Rubber Stamp Set

from Bombshell Stamps.

They are awesome, I made the background with

the little stamps included stamped on distress ink.

She is just fabulous and I wanna be just like her

when I grow up. Hehehehehe

She's colored with copics and due to her

long legs she peeks over the top of

the rest of my ATC's. LOL

Thanks to the CajunStampingQueen
I found out that

Bombshell Stamps has a brand new blog up

and a couple of challenges, I'll be

sending my ATC over to one.

Have a super weekend and take

in all the sights at Wicked Bloggers Blog roll, up

in the right hand corner.

Day 22: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-22T08:40:00.001-04:00

Day 22: Man of Mystery

Today's ATC celebrates the Man in the Shadows, lurking

about the trees and spying in windows. Wow that

sounds more like Peeping Tom. LOL

Anyway, for the background paper, I ran tea dye ink

all over it, then balled it up, as if to go in the trash,

then ran some aged mahagoney and walnut stain over the

wrinkles. I thought it gave the paper a real antique look.

I added some drops of splattered blood with stamps from

Martha. Looks real doesn't it?

The Man of Mystery is also a stamp from Martha

of the same set. I stamped him in embossing ink and

embossed him shiney black so he would stand out.

The scroll work is from

the Happy Hauntings Cartridge. I love the

teal color with the red.

See you along the Wicked Blogger Trail.

Day 21: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-21T07:40:00.001-04:00

Day 21: The Pumpkin Fairy

My stamps from Smeared Ink had

come in yesterday and I had to try'em out.

This stamp is from the "Fae" collection.

He is so cute and is doing some

serious pondering or he is

reflecting on how fast this October

has flown by.

I typed the title out on Word and

made the pumpkin by punching out 3 ovals

and edging them with some distress ink.

Have a great day hopping along the Wicked Blog Line, savor these

last days of October.

Day 20: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-20T07:12:00.001-04:00

Day 20: Wicked Marie Antoinette

Todays ATC is a total internet collaboration. The idea

of dressing Marie Antoinette came from this blog,

Kris Dickinson's "A Nostalgic Halloween"

She has a couple of Blog Posts altering Marie

for ATCs , Banner's and such. I just knew I had to give it a try.

Theme Thusrday is responsible for the "Pink". And

who better than Marie to dress in pink.

Studio L3 is responsible for the background, Challenge # 18,

Dabber Resist, out of the Tim Holtz

book "Compendium of Curiosites"

I got the Marie image from

Digital Collage Sheets. I love the instant

gratification of ordering a download but then they have the

PDF password protected because your not

suppose to use them in Photoshop. Bummer.

The little witch's hat and the skull are also from

Digital Collage Sheets. I used my spider web punch and

Iron Gate punch from "you know who" and also the branch

punch. The little rose came from Iamroses.com. Marie's

bat wings came from the Tim Holtz stamp.

I love all of the Hat pins crafters

are adding to their flowers, and I figure Marie Antoinette surely

had a couple. The "wicked" sign, I printed from Word.

Now from "Wicked Marie", go see all of the

WICKED BLOGGERS

and their WICKED creations (the blog list is to the right)

19: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-19T07:04:00.001-04:00

Day 19: Mystical Owl

Moon, stars and owls.

I found this neat svg file to cut out on the cricut

at SCALe-files.

The background was stamped with a grunge stamp

from Paperbag Studios and I added a

piece of embossed card stock for color and texture.

Have a great day hopping along the

Wicked Blogger Blog list.

Day 18: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-18T07:15:00.001-04:00

Day 18: the Framed Spider

Another ATC "Guinea Pig" card, in other

words I was testing all sorts of stuff out on it.LOL

All of the ladies on this blog hop are so artistic it makes

you want to try different things.

After using three different Distress Inks to color the base,

I used the Broken Glass texture fade

folder. Then rubbed Black Soot on it to make the cracks stand out.

Then I sprayed it down with Terra Cotta Glimmer mist.

I painted the metal frame with alcohol inks and stamped

the spider on the text.

I used alcohol inks on a mini

domino, stamped it with a crow, covered it with

Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint, then rubbed

distress ink over it to bring out the crackles.

Note: And that is a crow, it may look like a Raptor dinosaur

but it is a crow. LOL

I put the Crackle Paint over the Spider too, but I think it works better

on non-porous surfaces. I've also have learned that you

need patience when waiting on the cracks.

On the bottom edge, I broke out the Iron Gate Punch from

you know who.

Day 17: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-17T08:20:00.001-04:00

Day 17: The Enchanted Forest

Today we venture in our dreams

thru the enchanted forest where the trees could grab you

up by your ankles and hang you

upside down until your hero comes along.

My tree lives on a background sprayed with

Rum Rasin Glitter Mist and is

never caught without his bling surrounding him.

The warning sign was run thru the cuttle bug

with the Wood Folder and distressed with

Walnut and Peeled Paint inks. The stamp

for the sign is from Martha Stewart.

Have a great Sunday and stay out of the

spooky forest. Go and check out

what the rest of the Wicked Bloggers have

in store for you.

Day 16: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-16T08:16:00.001-04:00

Day 16: Tombstone

A simple ATC for today, we are plundering around in the

graveyard and this is what we found.

For the background we stamped the text with

Martha Stewart stamps then went over it with

Shabby Shutters and Vintage Photo Distress ink

For the Tombstone, we cut it from

the Happy Hauntings Cartridge.

And the final touch was added with

my new Drippy goo punch from Martha.

Hope you enjoy a great weekend and

don't forget to hop along the

Wicked Bloggers Blog roll for

some wonderful Halloween

inspiration.

Day 15: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-15T07:33:00.000-04:00

Day 15: Scaredy Cat

I love these old images from Halloweens way back when.

this image was from Daisy D's Halloween Paper line that I've

had a while.

I distressed the green card stock and distressed the

image. Then I stamped Tim Holtz Cat

with embossing ink and embossed it with black

powder to get a deep black.

Does any one know which ink pad will give you the

blackest image? When I stamp with

what I have it's just a dark gray. It may be the paper I'm using

and it just soaks up all of the ink.

I had the scariness going there for a while until I

went all "flower child" on it with the bows and flowers.

I need to invest in scarier punches.

Day 14: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-14T07:03:00.001-04:00

Day 14 : BEWARE

Welcome to Day 14 of

31 Days of Halloween, I hope you have taken in

all of the Halloween Goodness of the Wicked Bloggers.

All of the ladies have been kicking some

serious spooky inspiration. The

Blog Roll is on the side Bar.

My ATC today started of with the background

made with the Tim Holtz wood grain folder and

inking the folder itself with distress ink

then running it thru the cuttlebug.

The owl is cut from the Happy Hauntings Cartridge. The

"beware" sign was made with a Martha Stewart stamp and the

"poison" sign was made with the Tim Holtz Stamp.

Have a great day and be sure to visit

all of the Wicked Bloggers.

Day 13: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-13T06:43:00.001-04:00

Day 13: The Skeleton

Today's ATC is a "lift" straight from a

tag made by Tim Holtz in the Sept/Oct Paper Crafts

magazine.

Sometimes I gotta follow exactly along

with something to learn techniques and then

I can apply them to other things.

On this card I loved using the checkerboard

embossing folder then rubbing the distress ink over it.

I still need to learn how to line up my spider webs.

They look like their just suspended in air.

Stamps: Tim Holtz Skeleton, Webs, and Happy Halloween

Embossing folder: Tim Holtz Checkerboard

Tim Holtz Distress Ink

It seems Tim Holtz made this ATC but I

promise I put it together.

Day 12: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-12T07:00:00.007-04:00

Day 12 : The Scarecrow

Another "too cute to scare" ATC.

My stamped image is from Dustin Pike
colored with copics

You can't help but love these images.

I used my favorite background, text distressed

with Tim Holtz inks and added

a Tim Holtz swirl from grunge paper that I had also

covered in text and stained with ink.

How many leaves do you count?

Three! there's that number again. LOL
Have a great day!

Day 11: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-11T06:47:00.004-04:00

Day 11: The Haunted House

Today's ATC is made with Delicious Doodles

Haunted House Digi Stamp

printed on Avery Clear Label paper.

I layered it over a torn paper and inked up background.

I don't know why but I have it in my head that bling

has to always be laid out in threes. LOL

I have no idea where the ribbon came from but it

matched.

After yesterday's fiasco I stuck with simple.

And I want to thank everyone for their advice on embossing.

I didn't know you could overheat it.

Simply Betty Challenge # 4

2010-10-11T06:34:00.002-04:00

For the Simply Betty Challenge #4

we were to take inspiration from this picture:

So I put Pumpkin London in the

Pumpkin Patch waiting on her true love......

the Headless Horseman from Sleepy Hollow.

(Tim Burton's version is my favorite)

I think they make a perfect match and I had been wanting to

cut the Headless Horseman out ever since

I got the Happy Haunting Cartridge for the Cricut.

Everything else is cut from the same Happy Hauntings Cart:

the scary pumpkins and the frames

Now the hard part, getting pictures of my DH who

avoids the camera like the plague.

Day 10: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-10T07:49:00.001-04:00

Day 10: The Raven

This ATC will be

"Forever More"

Stuck in my head. Why didn't I listen to

everyone on the web who said:

"Always trim your rubber stamps that are mounted on cling foam

very close so that you can tell where it's going"

Why couldn't I make the little Raven's feet touch the limb?

Cause I didn't trim close enough.

UUUGGGGHHH!

I stamped these with embossing medium,

which is what? Invisible! Couldn't see a

thing until the black powder was added.

And I have no idea why the "Raven" word bled into the paper.

It looks like it melted right in the paper.

And let me just finish my rant, I was also working on my

Simply Betty Challenge # 4 Project,

you know the one with the pumpkins.

I had it all laid out ready to cut in my gypsy, paper loaded,

the cricut started cutting and then

and then,

The Gypsy Died

The battery was dead, it needed charging.

That's what the flashing little red light is

about folks, It's dying. I thought I could

make it. And to top that off all off I can't find my charger.

UUUGGGHHH!

So now I will have to punch in all those pumpkins and cut them

one by one.

UUUGGGHHH!

Thank you for letting me vent my frustrations. Back to the ATC.

Stamps: Michelle Ward, Green Pepper Press Stamps

Paper: My Minds Eye

Distress Inks: Ranger

Ribbon: I can't remmeber

DoHickey with the skull on it: I think it was Recollections from Michaels

Have a Great Day Ya'll.

and

I mean it! LOL

Day 9: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-09T07:00:00.008-04:00

Day 9: Scary Pumpkin

A quick simple card.

Inspired by Simply Betty Stamps Challenge # 4

pumpkins, I had to try out one of the pumpkins

in the Cricut Happy Hauntings Cart before I made my entry.

That's one of the reasons I love ATC's.

You can try out stuff and not ruin whole cards or layouts.

This pumpkin cut pretty easy and I wish I could

have cut out the rest of the pumpkins and put on the card.

(One of the down falls of ATC's - too small when stuff works,

you wanna add more.)

The BOO stamp is Martha's and the spider web border.

I never knew how much I used her stuff until now.

And of course, the card is distressed with

Tim Holtz Inks.

Day 8: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-08T06:45:00.001-04:00

Day 8: Forever a Ghostly Bride

I used Tiddly Inks Gossmere to

create a Ghostly Bride forever waiting

on her Groom. I colored her with the copics and
then went over her with the Vintage Photo Distress ink
and highlighted and blended.

Really liking the distress inks over type, I started there,

then I stamped a couple of Tim Holtz's images on top, that

gave me a great background to start of with.

I stole the skull trinket off of a mini tree we

bought at Michaels. The rose was from Iamroses.com and
of course Martha has to have a hand in it with the branch punch.

Ok, Ok, I have to confess I'm going to submit this to a

couple of Challenges:

Tiddly Inks Challenge # 24 - Create an Artist Trading Card

and

Oh, Alice's Chapter 33: Dictionary of Nonsense

Now go and discover all of the Halloween Goodies
that can be found with the
Wicked Bloggers
this has been one amazing week with all of their projects and ideas.

Terra
Tori
Black
Dragon
Jane
Anita Marie
Meredith
Sugar
Kapree
Kelli
Alex
Lynette
Alison
Lisa
Shelley
Danielle
Lady
Brayton

Day 7: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-07T06:58:00.001-04:00

Day 7: Bewitching

Have you ever started out making something

and it turn out to be something

totally different than what

was in your head?

Well that's what happened here.

It was suppose to be Erie and spooky

and we ended up on cutesy street again.

But I like her.

Her name is Cassandra

from

Simply Betty Stamps

She is dressed in copics and black swirlies.

I could have but a bat instead of a butterfly

but it didn't seem to do Cassandra justice.

Imagine this butterfly (a layered Martha Stewart Punch)

has fangs.

Bwa-ha-Ha

Ha-ha

Day 6 : 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-06T06:53:00.001-04:00

Day 6 : Toil and Trouble

A little brighter than than my past ATC's, it's a cutesy ATC.

My Cricut was calling and felt left out.

So I cut the cauldron from the

Happy Hauntings cartridge.

I stamped the orange striped paper

(Ravenwood Manor Paper Pad)

with Tim Holtz spider web

for the background and used the

old trusty label maker to build the title.

There is so much inspiration going round on this

31 day blog hop, I hope you all are

enjoying all of the Halloween festivities

from all of the bloggers. The roster of

Wicked bloggers is just off to the right and at the top.

Day 5 : 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-05T07:13:00.002-04:00

Day 5 -Gargoyles for 31 Days of Halloween

Yesterday over at Haunted Design House their New Challenge
is sponsored by
Delicious Doodles
Challenge # 59 Dastardly Delicious Digis
and I had to go over the and take a look.
Of course I had to have more than one image but today,
I had to work with the Gargoyle.
I love Gargoyles.
They are always the ones guarding the elegant
castles and mansions.
Being in concrete is fine, but when they come to life in the movies,
I'm the first one behind the couch.

The shading is perfect on this stamp, so I just printed
it on some green card stock. For the base, I collaged
some text out of a book and halloween paper
from Ravenhead Manor by Recollections. The foil leaves are from
Making Memories. I had the "G" in drawer and the
bling came from Recollections at Michaels.

And I was also excited to learn I was chosen as one of
Haunted Design House's
HDH056 - Monochromatic Monstrosities Gruesome Twosome

My very first badge that I have earned.
I am tickled orange and green. LOL
Thank you so much, Haunted Design House.

I also want to thank everyone for sharing
their tips and trials with Yesterday's Distress Powder.
There is definitely a trick to this stuff and one day
I will understand. LOL

Day 4 : 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-04T06:24:00.001-04:00

Day 4 of

31 Days of Halloween

Ok, this one looks a little wonky. I'll

give you that. But I am learning new skills

like:

1)this distress embossing powder will not let you

glue anything on top of it. The only thing that will hang

with it is foam tape.

I distressed this with the powder then went over it with

distress ink and it still doesn't look like the

picture in the book.

Looks nice but feels like sand paper.

Stamps: Coffin & Eek, Martha Stewart

Bat, Tim Holtz

Distress Powder and inks, Tim Holtz

Day 3: 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-03T07:33:00.001-04:00

Welcome to day 3.

I hope you have been visiting all of the

Wicked Bloggers

on the side bar and enjoying their

Halloween Awesomeness.

Today's ATC is made with another

technique from the Tim Holtz book:

Dabber Resist

Of course I didn't have the white Dabber paint,

had to use Expresso Dabber paint

with the Distress inks on top.

Not the same result he gets but a nice one to use for

the background on for this card.

I colored the Witch with Copics and then

added Glossy Accents on her eyes.

In person it really makes them pop, in the picture it

added the little sparkle you see.

Stamp: Tim Holtz's Witch

Inks: Tim Holtz's Distress Inks,

Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber in Expresso

Card: 7 Gypsies

HAPPY WORLD CARD MAKING DAY

2010-10-02T22:23:00.001-04:00

Today is

WORLD CARD MAKING DAY
You can click here and read more about the day's history
at Creations with Christina.

So I made someone special a Birthday Card.

I used the sketch from

THE BURTONESQUE DOLLS

CHALLENGE # 20:

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS'

CUTTING EDGE DESIGN

I took it and flipped it

and substituted

and adjusted

but I did start out with the sketch in mind

and that's the point right.

Be sure to click over there to
see how the design team used the sketch.

Stamps: Simply Betty Stamps

Cricut cuts: Happy Hauntings

Day 2 : 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-02T07:26:00.002-04:00

For my 2nd Day I

couldn't resist Simply Betty's First Day of Halloween Challenge :

incorporate one or more

SKELETONS

on your card or project.

I covered the ATC with scrap paper.

Colored the flower image with Copics.

Stamped my skull black and broke out the Marshmallow

Glimmer mist, (you can see it in real life)

so he would shimmer,

added Martha Stewart Punch Branch to

the metal roses I got from Etsy

on top of the stamped and embossed ribbon.

And of course I distressed the papers with

Tim Holtz distressed inks.

Wouldn't be complete without it.

Stamps: Michelle Ward at Green Pepper Press

Paper: outta the scrap drawer

Metal roses: Canterbury Lane on Etsy

Day 1 : 31 Days of Halloween

2010-10-01T08:28:00.001-04:00

Welcome

31 Days of Halloween
on
Smeared and Smudged

It's the first day of October.
Each of us Wicked Bloggers has committed to making and displaying
one stamped project each day on their blog in October.

My first project I used the "Water Stamping" technique out of
Tim Holtz's Book :
A
Compendium
of
Curiosities
I imagine I will be refering to this book quite a lot during this challenge.
And then I embossed the the owl and mounted him with foam tape.

Stamps:
October Calender, Spider Web and Owl,
Tim Holtz
Distress Inks:
Tim Holtz
ATC card,
7 Gypsies

Be sure to travel around and view all of the
Wicked Bloggers,
They are an awesome group of artists and
they have some awesome projects and
there are prizes to be won.
Follow them all listed in the Side Bar.
For Rules and Regs on being a
Horrifying Hopper
or a
Sinister Lurker
please click here.

Trick or Treating in Burton's Neighborhood of Horrific Haunts

2010-09-25T21:32:00.002-04:00

Sounds like a ride at Disney World, looking at all of the other entries to it would be an awesome place to explore. The Burtonesque Dolls Challenge # 19 : Create a card or project inspired by Trick or Treating in Burton's Neighborhood.

I found this digi stamp at Make 'It' Crafty, and they have a challenge going on too, it's "Anything Goes Fun Challenge" They have lots of Mushroom houses and Landscape Digis you could use with all of your character stamps. I thought this Haunted House of Rusted Tin would fit right in at Burton's Neighborhood. I colored it with copic markers and "distressed it", I use that term loosely, with Tim Holtz distress ink. And it's not snowing, the background dots are supposed to be fog,LOL

I also used the Cracked Martha Stewart punch and the "Trick or Treat" clear stamp is from Inkadinkado I had gotten last year from Michaels.

I am also entering the Haunted House of Rusted Tin in Haunted Design House's HDH057-Horrific Haunts. Could you imagine the echos and clanging of chains of a ghost in this house, it would deafen you.

Bottoms Up!

2010-09-18T23:19:00.001-04:00

I've been wanting to try monochromatic coloring and so with the Haunted Design House Challenge, I got the chance. Their challenge : # 56 Monochromatic Monstrosities. Now I had to look up how to color monochromatic-ly.

I found articles at Copic Creations on monochrome and shading the background (all the little dots in the background, I got a little carried away). Of course there were lots of examples to study and gather inspiration from the Haunter Design House Design Team.

The stamp is "Perfect Posion" from Kraftin Kimmie Stamps, I also used two stamps from Tim Holtz, the bats and the label. I cut the bottle from the October 31 cartridge on the Cricut, used Martha Stewart punch for the foliage and the rose came from iamroses.com.

Other Challenges I am submitting to:

Kraftin Kimmie Stamps Challenge Blog : # 46 - Mostly Black & White

Copic Creations Challenge : # 35 - Shading on & Around Images

More Halloween Cards and Challenges

2010-09-16T23:18:00.002-04:00

It all started with one Challenge over at Simply Betty Stamps. A One Day only Challenge to use a Non-Halloween image in a Halloween Creation. Could it be done? We gave it a Whirl and here are our entries.

The inside says "What's a nice GHOUL like you do'in in a place like this?" I used School Girl Lola in a Cricut Haunted Mansion and DS used Christian Digi from Simply Betty.

and the inside of DS card just cracks me up.

I am also entering this in the Cricut Cardz Challenge # 42: make a Halloween card using the card feature on any cartridge and the Color Me Copic Challenge # 4 : Straight Hair. I need more practice coloring hair.

Beautiful and Dangerous

2010-09-12T21:14:00.002-04:00

A layout I created for the Haunted Design House Challenge # 55 - Elegant and Evil. (but I was a couple of hours too late to post on their website, thought the deadline was at midnight on Sunday, it's at 5:00 pm Central time, I'll have to look that one up) and I used the Very Sketchy September Challenge from Smeared and Smudged.

With all of the cards I've been doing I thought I should do a scrapbook page. This photo is of my daughter dressed up for Halloween and she posed for me on Papa's antique car. I thought that was pretty elegant.

I used Tim Holtz stamps with the flowers and cut the title out from Rocker Girl Cartridge with the Cricut.

The Burtonesque Dolls Challenge - #17 Willy Wonka

2010-09-06T21:12:00.001-04:00

The Challenge # 17: Create a new candy box, candy bag, chocolate bar, any fun and funky new candy you would find in Willy Wonka's factory.

I thought he would come up with the perfect , no side effect, mood changing candy. "Jekyl and Hyde Nice Pills".

The first shot is the front of the card, then you open it up to see the transformation:

These rubber stamps from The Greeting Farm are so cute. I used "Wednesday" for the Grouchy person and "Cheeky Beauty" for the nice side of Wednesday. I also entered this card in the "Rule of 3's" Challenge on The Greeting Farm Blog

The layered Star shapes and Label were cut with the Cricut using "The Shaplies" svg files from Penny Duncan Creations.

I downloaded the Willy Wonka font from Dafont.com, cut the title out on the Cricut using Sure-Cuts-a-Lot and also used the Carnivallee Freakshow and SwingSet BB fonts.

The Burtonesque Dolls Challenge - Vincent

2010-08-22T21:59:00.001-04:00

This week's challenge at The Burtonesque Dolls is to be inspired by this little movie by Tim Burton a while back, "Vincent". #16 Vincent - Take a paragraph from the poem and use it for the basis of your card.

I took my inspiration from this part of the poem:

Such horrible news he could not survive
For his beautiful wife had been buried alive!
He dug out her grave to make sure she was dead
Unaware that her grave was his mother’s flower bed

His mother sent Vincent off to his room
He knew he’d been banished to the tower of doom
Where he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life
Alone with the portrait of his beautiful wife

I could just imagine him looking at her portrait and missing her so much, lonely, and singing that song.

The papers were from My Minds Eye and the Digital Stamps were from Simply Betty Stamps, the Vampire series, colored with copics.

I also entered this card in the Cricut Cardz Challenge, which was : # 38...ANYTHING GOES! Make a card using any cartridges, colors or theme you'd like.

So on the skeleton border, I made it on the Gypsy with the October 31 cartridge. I welded the skeleton bones to a square. If you have the October 31 Cart and would like this file, you can download the Gypsy file here:

Skeleton Border Gypsy File

Derric, my DS, was home with me today instead of off riding 4 wheelers, so he made a card with me. I love his color combination with the brown and red. He made his border too, with the Gypsy and the October 31 Cartridge.

Cricut Cardz Challenge #10

2010-02-03T00:07:00.001-05:00

Lavender, Green, Black, and White Color Challange

Cupid Comes Call'in
Love this color combination. I cut the heart from Potpurri Basket Cart and the cupid is from Southernbelle's svgs. I heat embossed the text as soon as it came out of the printer and it worked. You can't hardly tell in this picture, (I had to take it with by blackberry), it is raised and shiney.

Perry, my Hero and a Beautiful Handmade Book

2010-01-27T22:46:00.001-05:00

Our favorite cartoon right now is Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel. Perry the platypus is my new hero. So of course I had to find a cut file for Perry.

I found cut files for the whole cast at Mardenz's blog site here:

Phineas & Ferb

But perry was just perry, I wanted Perry the spy. So I had to make my own.

For the "007" type shadow I used the blackout base without the piecing. I used plain Perry on the other side of the layout. I've got to finish the eyes and texture the tails.

If you would like my Perry the Agent file you can download it here:

PERRY AGENT WITH LABELS.svg

When you open it up in Inkscape it will show up with labels on the parts, like this:

I separated the parts to be able to cut it all a once when you have the whole 12 x 12 mat covered with the different colors. It doesn't import into SCAL 2 with the labels, so if you have a question about a part refer to the file open in Inkscape.

This weekend I received a very beautiful handmade book from Penny Duncan from our SCAL Social Connection Group Book Swap. Decorated with wonderfully altered papers and her own cut files, it's a treasure.

Stuck on Sketches Jan 15 Challenge

2010-01-27T21:29:00.001-05:00

I came across this challenge website Stuck On U Sketches while on the Cricut Message boards.

All of the designer layouts were gorgeous. I had give it a try. I don't know what kind of style you would call this but I like it more and more.

I used the large round Happy Birthday Penny Duncan tribute cut file made by Paul at Scale-files as my base circle for the rest of the design.

On the lower left side of the layout, I made a "Vellma Flower". Check out this You Tube Video for a tutorial on how to make this antique-y looking flowers. It was really easy and it was so neat to see it develop before your eyes.

For the medium size flowers, I used the Pagoda Cricut Cart to cut the flowers and piece them together. The title came from the song by Martina McBride, "In My Daughter's Eyes". I thought it was a perfect fit. The photo is of me and Katie on top of the Castle at Ruby Falls.

Wishing for Snow

2010-01-12T13:06:00.000-05:00

It's been so cold here this past week, you can't help but wish for snow.

It hasn't (yet) but I found the next best thing, snow for your blog.

Go to Shabby Blogs and she has the code you can add to you blogspot site via an HTML gadget, very easy.

Trip to Savannah, Dec 09

2010-01-09T12:32:00.001-05:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

In December my Mom treated me to a little get-away trip with some of her friends from where she grew up. It was only for the day but it was just perfect. It was with a tour group on a big bus and it included lunch at Paula Dean's Restraunt. We were free to roam around before and after lunch and it included a trolley tour. I want to go back someday now that I know a little more about Savannah, lots to explore.

Fungus Layout

2010-01-09T11:54:00.001-05:00

That sounds weird but it is really cute with bright pink and green mushroom and a little froggy.

I scraplifted this layout from Holidays with the Cricut formaly Christmas with the Cricut. She used papers from Jllibean and the Paisley cartridge. I loved the colors and loved the titles. I knew I had to make this layout while the iron was hot.LOL But, I can't wait to order the papers and I can't wait for a sale on the cartridge.

Sooo, I used the paper I had that most closley resembled it, which was the Sugar Plum Series by Collage Press and I went hunting online for some mushroom svg files to use with Sure-Cuts-A-Lot Program.

I found the cutest mushrooms over at Southernbelle's SVG blog , very nice svgs over there by the way. While cutting and pieceing the mushrooms and arrangeing them on the layout I decided I needed a frog.

I found this prince of a frog on Yolie's blog, Just Yolie. Lots of cute svgs over there too. She's part of the

SCALSocialConnection Yahoo group,

a great bunch of crafty (intuitve) people. They almost have a little ESP going on over there. LOL (inside joke). And need to thank Alicia from the group for helping me download the files.

I also used the scalop oval and flower svg file from Penny Duncan Creations, another wonderful person over at the SCAL SocialConnection Yahoo Group. The font I used was Yikes! from Dafont.com.

I think what I like most about the layout was using Kraft paper to shadow the images. I even tried my hand at the details on the photo mats with the ribbon tied ribbon and I used my fiskars edge punch on the other one.

I could use some more training on shadowing letters but I am pleased with the overall layout. But I know one thing.......

It takes a villiage to create a layout. LOL

Sharing pictures through Shutterfly

2009-11-21T23:31:00.001-05:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Testing out the sharing option on Shutterfly. These are pics I took in October and I am just now getting them uploaded to be printed. Bad Photographer.

Paper Cutz Challenge # 17

2009-11-19T21:42:00.000-05:00

Paper Cutz Challenge # 17 - Make a card, LO or craft project using a hand stamped or digital stamped image

For my digital image I used a Simply Inger image. Shelly at the yahoo group SCAL Social Connection had shared the link to her blog and she has some really beautiful digital stamps and she shares them for free. She also has a really pretty Christmas Girl design.

While tinkering around with SCAL I followed Penny Duncan's tutorial on how to use your cricut to cut around your digital image. It gives you a really smooth cut with out getting cramps in your fingers from the small scissors.

Paper Cutz Challenge # 16

2009-11-08T19:54:00.000-05:00

Paper Cutz Challenge # 16 - Use the colors blue, green, black, and white.

Inspired by Mary's (aka cardcrazy09 ) Side Step Snowflake Card Video. I used the Christmas cart for the house, trees, and snowflake and used the Winter Woodland Cart for the Seasons Greeting message. I really like this color combination, Great Challenge.

The Gypsy Spot Challenge # 1

2009-11-08T19:32:00.001-05:00

Here's my entry for the First Challenge from the Gypsy Spot : use the Gypsy Wanderings or Font cart on a project.

I used the Bracket shape which I could size to what I needed on the Gypsy and Grateful word art. The flower I put together using a svg file provided by Penny Duncan. I also embossed the front of the card with embossing ink and clear embossing powder mixed with pink glitter.

On the inside you'll find a neat little Digi Stamp from Dustin Pike, Mr. Squrriel reminding us to be thankful for the small things too.

Paper Cutz Challenge # 14

2009-10-24T23:42:00.000-04:00

Paper Cutz Challenge #14 - Use 3 kinds of paper.

I thought this challenge was the perfect chance to create a card for this challenge given all the surfaces you need to cover. I used Recollections Halloween paper pack and 3d sticker to complete the card. I also scrap lifted "cardcrazy09" 's idea of suspending a character in the card.

Be sure to watch her video. I posted the link in the entry before this one. Very Cool.

Tri-Shutter Halloween Card

2009-10-19T09:12:00.001-04:00

Great tutorial on how to make one of the tri-fold cards.

Tri - Shutter Halloween Card

Ideas for embellishing Halloween Shape Book

2009-10-13T12:15:00.001-04:00

Halloween mini album By Marion

Her video has lots of ideas for pockets and tags to add to a Halloween Album. I'm gonna try to add pockets and tags so I can put more in mine. I do love my Shape Book but It did turn out a little smaller than I pictured it on the computer screen.

2009-10-11T20:24:00.002-04:00

My First Halloween Shape Board Book

After seeing the Halloween Shape Book Videos by the BugJunkie, I tried to design my own using Inkscape and SCAL to cut out on my cricut. I used Halloween svg files provided by artists on their blog. (Credits will Follow). Bug Junkie used a lot of shapes from the Dress Up Paper Doll cart, which luck would have it, I didn't have. Even though she used Design Studio by Cricut in her videos, there were a lot of concepts and tips that are important when designing and assembling a shape book.

(click on the picture above if you would like to download the svg file)

When I first imported to SCAL, no file was seen. I could not figure out why my svg file would not import into SCAL. After many attempts on trying to figure it out, I posted my dilemia on the Scalhints Yahoo Group and Penny Duncan came to the rescue and explained my errors.

I cut my page layers from cereal boxes. They were just right in Cricut using the regular blade and setting the multicut on the SCAL to 2. Try not to cut up your biggest pieces cutting your shortest pages, save your tallest boxes for the longest pages. Yes that little tip came from experience. Oh yeah, and when cutting it out, don't forget to nudge the cuts below the Cricut margin, experience talking again. LOL

I covered my pages using assorted Halloween paper and cardstock I ran thru the CuttleBug. My xyron 900 came in real handy gluing the papers down. I have also altered my own pattern, as I just imagine any crafter does to suit them, I changed the pumpkin to a pumpkin svg file provided by Dustin Pike and his file can be found here.

I will bind it just as soon as my binder gets here. I ordered a Bind It All from Zutter and it should be here soon. More embellishments are planned and will be added when it's all together. I'll share the finished book complete with pictures inside soon.

Shape Credits:

Cheeky Magpie   : cat and jack-o-lantern

Southernbelle SVGS   : tombstone

My Cricut Scrapbooking : ghost and witch

SVGcuts   : Barry the Bat and the Haunted house

Dustin Pike  : another jack-o-lantern

Technical Credits:

Penny Duncan from Penny Duncan Creations

The Bug Junkie

2009-10-01T19:32:00.000-04:00

Copic Buzz Challenge # 16

The Copic Buzz group at Paper Craft Planet has added their 16th challenge this week featuring KLM Digital Designs. It's a wonderful group of bowing sunflowers. You'll have to swing by and check it out.

Last week KLM Digital Designs provided a the cutest ghost with pumpkins digital stamp. I barely made the dead line but it was fun. Working against time some how helps me make decisions faster and I tend to stick with it.

I got to use my cuttle bug, my copics, my prisma color pencils (and the shading doesn't look half bad if I do say so myself )and I used the cricut to cut out the freebie "Barry the bat" over at SVGcuts.com. It gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling inside when I've done something with all of the craft supplies and tools I've been gathering.

I'm off to get that fuzzy feeling again with the next challenge.

2009-09-27T20:42:00.000-04:00

Mo's Digital Pencil Fall Color Challenge

I did get a chance to make a card this weekend.

The digital stamp is from Mo's Digital Pencil. The image comes with two images. One, she has a calico dress on with flowers and the second, she is in a solid color dress. I opted for the solid color. I distressed all the papers with Peeled Paint Ink pad from Tim Holtz.

Colored the image with copics and prisma pencils. I have a lot to learn about shading.

Caramelized Apple Tart in a Browned Butter Custard

2009-09-21T13:40:00.001-04:00

Caramelized Apple Tart in a Browned Butter Custard

Posted using ShareThis

2009-08-04T16:33:00.000-04:00

I completed a 2 page Layout using the Cricut. These pictures have been waiting since 2001 to be scrapped. I used the e"Life is a Beach" Cartridge with the Cricut. Cutting out the shapes and letters was so cool.

As I was creating the pages I figured out a couple of things. 1)You do need the tool kit. The one that has the little pick so you can punch out the little parts. 2) I definately see the need for a cuttle bug or Big shot for texturing.

These were also prompted by the August Cricut Creativity Challenge at Scrapbook.com. What a cool group of people over there in the forums. I had always ordered stuff from their and hadn't been much on their forum boards but they are very active bunch of scrappers.

Inspirational Monday

2009-03-10T11:46:00.001-04:00

Following Rhonna’s lead on a Monday, I was hit by inspiration and I actually finished a project.

Kayla Lamoreaux posted at Digital Scrapbooking 101 her revamped scrapbook studio with real “ Scrapbook Paper”. She created a valance and even covered her photo catergorie drawers (an essential part of the Library of Memories system, Kayla is also a coach at Big Picture Scrapbooking in the Library of Memories Class).

I decided mine needed a little decor style and I created face plates for my own drawers using Photoshop and House of 3 “Sunny Papers” and “Bird Cage Printables” I adjusted the color using the Hue and Saturation under the Image menu so the background would be green. Then I built a couple of face plate templates so that when you place paper image over them you can adjust what part of the pattern shows.

I cut out which bird cage I wanted on each and used the Multiply Blending mode to bring up the background behind the bird cage. After they ran thru the Xyron and pressed on chip board, I cut them out with an xacto knife, roughed them up with sand paper and distressed them with ink all around.

They are snug enough around the name plate I don’t have to glue them to drawers. Pop on and Pop off. This allows me to change the paper and pattern when I come across more great designs by Rhonna in the future.

Let’s see, what else can I cover:

the file cabinet drawers
ribbon jars
spice rack for embellishments
the Pampered Chef tool caddy
covers for the notebooks

I could go on and on ………………

del.icio.us Tags: Design,organiztion,decor,damask

2009-03-04T16:57:00.000-05:00

House of 3 Designs over at Scrapblog.com

Just learning how to Digitaly Scrapbook over at Scrapblog.com. You don't need new software, you create right on their site. You can pull photos from your other photo accounts like Facebook and Flickr to create pages and slide shows. Then they make it real easy to publish your creations back to your Facebook account, Blog or a host of other choice to help you share. Lots of video tutorials to show how to do it.

Been a rough week…….

2009-02-27T21:02:00.001-05:00

but I survived to the weekend and things have got to get better.

Anyhow, after surviving the dreaded virus that is going around I am now tending to the other victims. So happy to feel better, I don’t mind a bit. I couldn’t even sit look at the computer without getting sick and dizzy.

Today I was able to finish a little project from the House of 3.

This is the small one, and I’m finishing up the bigger one for my daughters room. Digital printable Spring letters you put together ever which way you want.

I had to get this project out of the way so I could enjoy the House of 3’s House Warming Party complete with a new project to download and work with. Their examples are so inspiring, I know I am going to have to own all of the kits. You can check out all of their blogs (Rhonna’s, Heidi’s and Janet’s) read all about it and get great ideas.

They are also responsible for the new blog duds celebrating their House Warming Party.

2009-01-14T00:14:00.001-05:00

It's January 13th, this is the day I start my 365 Day Project for 2009. I am a few days behind but I have wrestled with this long enough and have nothing else I would like more to accomplish this year. I need the pressure to continue learning and enjoying my photography.

My 365 Day Flickr Set for 2008 shows 122 photos out of 365 days. That is not even half. If I hadn't accepted the challenge last year I would not have these beautiful photos that give a little cross section view of our life for 2008. If I hadn't, I would not have learned that searching for a photo often meant searching for gratitude for the day. If I missed a day, I continued the next day. If I missed a week, I continued the next day. I toted my DSRL camera in a separate bag last year because I worried of damaging the camera. The only thing that happened when carried my camera everywhere I went was "I took pictures."

I love starting a new project but hate the let down of not finishing. I have tried to resist the challenge this year because of not finishing last year. I remember how it felt when it became a chore to find something to photograph. This year I believe more people are showing interest than last year and I hope to feed off of their excitement when my tank is low.

I did not join the Project 365 flickr group last year but I am joining today. A lot of people from last year have written that it has helped them tremendously.

My 365 Day 2009 Project will start Today on the 13th. Following some of the tips found on the internet should make the challenge much smoother.

Project 365 Resources:

Shutter Sisters - Tips for shooting a photo a day for 365 days

Project 365 Flickr Group

Photojojo: How to Take a Photo a Day and See Your Life in a Whole New Way

Beck Higgins : Free Download for Project 365

Becky Higgins: Project 365 Q and A

Becky's Tips and Tricks PDF

It's on the Creative Keepsakes Product Page, even though the kit is sold out you can download the PDF.

Shimelle.com - Looking Back at Project 365 (In 3 parts)

del.icio.us Tags: Project 365,Photography

New Year, New Diggs

2009-01-14T00:12:00.001-05:00

The new blog is being brought to you by Blogspot with background papers and elements from Rhonna Farrer.

She has started a new blog herself and is currently providing us Blogger Newbies lessons on customizing our blogs. Along with step by step instructions she has sprinkled in freebies along the way. But you have to be on your toes, because the downloads are limited.

Links:

Rhonna Designs

del.icio.us Tags: Tutorials,Blogger,Digital Designs