Simon Says Challenge::What do you say?

The Simon Says Challenge this week is to use a sentiment in your project.  It can be stamped, written, pretty much how ever you want to share a thought.  I've been working on a series of dress template projects using the Tempting Template printed in the current issue (jul aug sep 2012) of The Stampers' Sampler.  If you want to submit some projects you have until Nov. 15, 2012 to do so.  You can find the template on their website.
The little dress and apron made me think of family dinners and all the women in our family who work so hard to make them special.  There are 4 different phrases or words on the card:  Capture Life's Moments, Love You, Kisses, and Memories.  I think that just about says it all.  Personally I love to cook and bake so any type of a shared meal is based on me wanting to make everyone happy with some kind of food that they love.  I never look pristine when I do this, like the sweet dress, I usually look like I've been through the mill.  But I love it and I love the food memories that I help create in people's minds and hearts.

Instructions:  Print out a copy of the template.  Trace and cut out the dress and apron.  Spritz Bubblegum Glimmer Mist on the wide ribbon used for the apron.  Cut out pieces of patterned paper for the hem and sleeves of the dress.  Glue the apron to the dress and glue the paper on the hem and sleeves, attach 2 pearls by Queen and Co.  Randomly stamp hearts by Rubber Stampede on the light colored paper using Spun Sugar DI by Ranger, heat emboss with clear powder.  Glue the decorated dress to the paper.  Attach to navy cardstock, glue to pink patterned paper.  Wrap tiny pink ribbon around the panel attaching the Tim Holtz metal word band in the center.  Glue to a blank card.
Speaking of baking.....I'll be doing my annual baking day with my teenaged neighbor, Kristina, next week for the Bolton Fair.  We're doing Cherry Pie for the fruit pie competition.  It is always fun teaching her how to bake, it certainly brings back memories of all the women in my past that spent a day with me teaching me how to make pie crust and bake bread.  Ah, memories.  Makes me smile.

SDC57: Out of the Box-Stampotique Stamps Only (6/27-7/10/12) 5 p.m. E.T.

Stampotique has a new challenge, "Thinking outside of the box".  Instead of a card I chose to make a tag based on the current Tempting Template in the June issue of The Stampers' Sampler.  In that magazine they had a template that looks like a perfume bottle.  So I made an ocean themed bottle with a mermaid inside.

First I traced the template onto watercolor paper and cut it out.  I colored the paper with Ranger's Distress Ink, I used Broken China and Wild Honey and then activated the inks with a spray of water.  This was followed with a quick dry from my heat gun.  I stamped the image of Smushallaum with Ranger's black Archival Ink.  I colored in the image with Copic ink pens.  I had some scraps of paper left over that had been sprayed with Dyan Reaveley's Dylusion sprays in Cut Grass and Vibrant Turquoise.  I used a Hexagon punch in several sizes and glued this on the stopper portion of the bottle.  I had a dimensional flower from K&Co that I attached to the center of the stopper.  Underneath that I used 5 deep green self adhesive pearls from Queen and Co.  I stuck a tiny sliver of mesh under the pearls and then added a green polka dot bow.  The phrase Sunshine & Seashells was a self adhesive tag from a sheet of cardstock beach stickers made by Paper House Productions.  And there we have our summer beach memory...a mermaid in a bottle.

For your aMUSEment only

So many people talk about their artistic "muse" lately.  Maybe they always have talked about it but then I am relatively new to any kind of art.  I have only been doing my "art" for the past 6 years or so.  The only kind of art I did before that was looking at it in a museum (there is that "muse" word again) or doing little art projects with Holly for our a"muse"ment.  I can see already that I'm running this one into the ground way too fast.  I digress. 
Stampington posted a challenge in their last magazine of a doll type figure completely unadorned, a lady in waiting, waiting for a stamp, some distressing and whatever else we can all think up to do to it.  She reminded me of the Goddess stamp they released last year, only larger.  I immediately thought of the "muses" that so many talk about.  A little research showed me that there were 9 Muses, all daughters of Zeus, each sister goddess in Greek mythology acting as the inspiration for a different type of art, poetry, song or science.  The ones most of us have seen grace theaters in the form of the comedy mask and the tragedy mask.  "An artistic guiding genius" seems to describe it best.  A source of inspiration.  Isn't that what the Internet and all the on-line classes are all about?  Anyway, I made my first MUSE today using that plain doll figure.  I thought I would start with the writer's muse.  I believe her name is Calliope, her symbol is a book.  This is my starting figure from Stampington's template:

This plain jane is just screaming for little ink and bling.  I traced and cut the figure out of 100 year old French book paper.  I decided she really needed a mermaid tail, a crown and a veil of Mica.  This is how she looks now.

The entire piece measures 7 1/4" x 7 1/4".  No book symbol, just book paper.  Looking at her makes me want to write something!  I think I'll do a whole series, probably not nine.  Not unless my muse inspires me.

Happy Dance!

It is always a thrill to have your work chosen for publication in ANY Stampington magazine!  I even get really excited if my work is in any of their ads.  : )   I just received my copy of the February/March 2012 issue of The Stampers' Sampler in the mail.   I have tried to "curb my enthusiasm".   Joe thought someone had died the first time I was published.    I couldn't speak, I just kept crying and pointing to the magazine.  Another time I was at Barnes and Noble when I saw the magazine and kept showing complete strangers my work.  But, as I said before, it is always a thrill and a privilege to have the folks as Stampington like my work enough to put it in a magazine.  They were nice enough to show a box I made using the fabulous Dina Wakley grunge style stamps.  I made the box to hold other projects that I had sent them.  They gave me a two page spread in the Artists-On-Call section demonstrating the use of Kristen Robinson's lovely stamp line called "Love Lines".  So I am doing a happy dance today!

Simon Says Challenge/Tim Holtz Tags

This is a Tim Holtz inspired tag.  The stamps are by "My Sentiments Exactly" and also "IndigoBlu's"crackle stamp.  The flowers are Tim's Tattered Florals die cut.  I used Rusty Hinge Ranger ink, Iced Spruce ink (which I adore) and Graphic 45 Steampunk paper with a little Rock Candy stickles on the butterflies.  I colored  some of Tim's pearls with ink to match the other components and tied them to the top of the tag.  It is a tag that can be used for almost any occasion.