BIG News for Retro Cafe Art Gallery! This is EXCITING!!!!

Yup! That's right! I have some SUPER exciting news to share with you today! Retro Cafe Art Gallery has partnered with the amazing artist, Debrina Pratt to offer over 200 BRAND NEW collage sheets! They are available in both printed form AND digital form! This is the VERY FIRST TIME that Debrina's art has been available in printed form (and on a variety of mediums, too!), so this is HUGE, folks!



I created this shabby chic card using one of Debrina's gorgeous ATC sheets (DP124). I cut the chair and the butterfly from the images and I also punched one of the ledger style ATC's to use as the backdrop for my sentiment.



I also incorporated some glistening glass glitter around the frame of the window.



The inside of the card shows off the beautiful doily die cut (Art Philosophy cartrige on Cricut) and the brilliant butterfly from the collage sheet. The ribbon on the front of the card is a beautiful sheer from May Arts.

So...here's the deal, check out the amazing images of Debrina's in the Retro Cafe Art store and then head on over to the blog for your chance to WIN a GORGEOUS original piece of artwork created by Debrina! This is HUGE, you guys!!!! I SO wish I could enter, because it is gorgeous!

Now...I have a ton of stuff to do right now, but it is a beautiful fall day here in Massachusetts and I'm having a hard time remaining indoors... we shall see. HA! I hope YOU have a super fabulous weekend!!!!

Jingle Out.

You Inspire Me in Black and White

It is a crisp, cool Autumn morning here in Massachusetts today. And by 'cool' I mean FREEZING FREAKING COLD, BATMAN!!!! Who the HECK ordered weather in the 40's? I mean, I'm all for fall, but let's actually have FALL and not head straight into winter, K? K. Thanks. Good...now that we got THAT little matter out of the way...

It is Friends With Flair Friday and I have decided to go black tie for the occasion. HA! Yup. Black and white. Just. Black. And. White. I kinda love that combination. Just say'n.



*sigh* Black and white can be SO pretty!!!!! And tell me...no...really....doesn't that birdcage image just SCREAM to be stamped in black and white? I think it TOTALLY does. totally. Just say'n.



The stamp sets are the I Adore You set by Echo Park for Unity and the Heartfelt Sentiments set (Which happens to be just SO convenient to have on hand! I have this sentiment set, a sentiment set from Close To My Heart, and one from Hero Arts and without those three sets I simply do not KNOW what I would do! Love them!) The twine is from The Twinery.

I am linking my card to the Sky Challenge at Charisma Cardz, Shabby Chic Girls' Club Ooh La La Linky, and Little Red Wagon's Twine Challenge.

So...leave a comment, let me know what you think and have a super happy FRIDAY!!!! Come back tomorrow to see a GORGEOUS new release from Retro Cafe Art Gallery!

Jingle Out.

Is This Too Pushy?

Green.  I think I rather like green.  I don't think I use it very much at all.  I don't know why.  It's a pretty darned good color.  Particularly when combined with a bit of black and lots o' white.  Just say'n.




So, do you think it's pushy to send someone a card that demands that they call you?  HA!!!  Kidding, of course.  I really don't care if it's pushy!  If I tell you to do it then just do it, K?  K.  Good.  Now that we got that settled.

HA!!!!  I crack myself up, I really and truly do. 

This super fun card uses the ever fabulous Dial Desk Phone image from the ever amazing 100 Proof Press.  Ummmm....it makes me happy!!!  Totally love the old school phone-age.  Just say'n.




I used this fabulous sketch from the Moxie Fab World Horizontal Sketch Challenge as the basis for my design.  I kinda love it!!!

I have some more fabulous 100 Proof Press stamps on the way and I am SO excited to about them! Just WAIT until you see the fabulous images!!! Have you check out the 100 Proof Press store yet? More stamps that you could dream of! AND...if you are an Etsy kinda peep, you can totally check out the 100 Proof Press Etsy Shop, too!!!

Have a super-d-duper Thursday!!!!! And eat some candy corn for breakfast...I 'hear' it puts you in a good mood. Just say'n. Not that I would do that or anything. And I'm CERTAINLY not doing it right now. Nope. Not me. Never. Wouldn't do it. Don't tell my Dentist. K. Bye now.

Jingle Out.

It's the September Samantha Walker Blog Hop!!!

Yup! Today we are hopping along with some fabulous Samantha Walker projects!!! If you came from Samantha's blog you are on the right track! If not, feel free to hop back that direction! Leave a comment on each stop for a chance to win some great Samantha Walker fat quarters!  They are FABULOUS new prints, too!!!!

I decided to pull out some fabulous Samantha Walker for Creative Imaginations papers and stickers from the Halloween collection to create my card for today!






I particularly love the epoxy stickers! They are so fun!!! I used the Shaped Card Challenge sketch from Moxie Fab World as the inspiration for the design. I went with a hexagon shape that I cut with my Cricut. I love it! Shaped cards are so fun!






A bit of foam tape adds dimension to finish the card off! The next stop on the hop today is Guiseppa!

And, of course, because it is Wednesday, I'm sharing my workspace for WOYWW!  I got a GREAT delivery yesterday with some brand new goodies and I can't WAIT to play with them!!!!





You will be seeing some of that in action soon!!!

I'm Afraid of WIDTHS!!! {Skipping Stones Design Blog Hop!}

***This is my second post of the day! Please check out the one before this one, too! Yay!***

Welcome to the September Skipping Stones Design Blog Hop! I'm so glad you stumbled on by! If you came from Wendy's blog you are already hopping along, YAY! If not, feel free to jump on back to Skipping Stones Design to get started and check out all of the fabulous inspiration!

We have another GREAT sketch from Amy this week! And we also have a SUPER CUTE release today!!! Here is the card I created using the brand new Holiday Cats set and the sketch for the challenge this week.



And...the inside...



HA! I love it!!!! The papers are Crate Paper and My Mind's Eye. I stamped the image in Momento ink and colored with Tombow markers. The ribbon is, of course, May Arts and those tiny gem stones are Making Memories.

Okay, so here's the thing. I am SO not a cat person. I have two black labs and they are the bestest little girlies in the wholest widest world, but I don't so much do cats. Why? Well, primarily because they try to kill me. No...really. I'm horribly allergic to the little things and I'm not talking a little watery eyes, here, folks, I'm talking, BIG TIME. I actually tried to hide one in the basement once when I was little with the help of my older cousin who was living with us at the time. We kept the kitten in a playpen and she used her own allowance money to buy food. As it turns out, my allergy is a direct genetic result of my DAD'S allergy to cats...yeah...he was pretty miserable until they finally heard the "meowing" from the basement a couple of days later. Oooopsies!!!! HA!

BUT...that being the case, I love this stamp set and I totally was having fun with it, so I decided to create another super fun card with it!



The folks over at CAS-usal Fridays issued a super fun fall card challenge that had to include paper piecing! Well, it just so happens that paper piecing is one of my all time favorite techniques, so, needless to say, I just jumped right in head first!



So, that's what I have for you today! Your next stop on the hop is the fabulous Cristina! You know, just that girl who is so crazy talented that she recently won the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol contest. Yeah, just her. LOL! SO GO AND VISIT HER!!!! I have included the full list below in case you get lost along the way! Have fun hopping and don't forget to check out the sketch over at Skipping Stones and join in this week for your chance to win free stamps!

Amy
Kandi
Taylor
Chan
Wendy P
Jingle That's Me!
Cristina
Shannon
Katie
Amber
Karen
JoAnn
Nicole
Vanessa
Stephanie
Wendy J

Happy Tuesday! Jingle Out!

I'm linking up to the Get Your Craft On Party!

Would You Like to Win a $50 Gift Certificate to Retro Cafe Art Gallery?

I thought so. So, here's the deal. Retro Cafe is currently running a super fun contest!!! It's all about Halloween, folks! And...it's an easy one, too! All you have to do is create a project (up to three entries per person) with a Halloween theme! Yup. That's it! It doesn't even have to have Retro Cafe Art products in it (although, they have a FANTASTIC supply if you need some goodies!)!!! Here are two projects that I created to get you excited and ready for the contest!

First, I have an altered bottle. I glittered the bottle on the inside with black glitter. The skull is cut from the Happy Hallow 1 Collage Sheet and then coated with Diamond Glaze, punched, and I added a red eyelet to string it to the bottle. I added some Martha Stewart Halloween tape around the bottle and finished it off with a label sticker.




I had so much fun with this bottle!!! I love it!




My second piece is an ATC created using one of the Circle Gothic Arch Window ATC frames in Masonite. I used an ATC base as the foundation and layered images from the Happy Hallow 2 Collage Sheet as the background. The text is from a vintage book.




I used glass glitter to fill in some of the other areas in the arch and placed a piece of german scrap across the bottom. The top is finished with a bat cutout.




So...now that you have some inspiration you simply MUST go make a super fun Halloween project and enter the contest!!! YOU MUST! LOL! Please? Pretty please? K. Thanks. Bye now.

I'm linking up to the Get Your Craft On Party and the Passionately Artistic Party!

Sometimes They Just Don't Turn Out How You Would LIke

Just say'n.

No. Really. Let's take a moment to discuss imperfection, shall we? It is real. We all deal with it. And, quite frankly, it is a very good thing.

No. I'm not talking about embracing the randomness or anything like that. I am talking about stuff that actually turns out like crap even though you had a good idea to begin with. Or...at least...it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Case in Point:



Imperfection. A lot of it. And not in a good way. You see, I LOVE that hot air balloon stamp and I wanted to play a bit with inking directly on the card base so I decided to go ahead and use my scalloped circle punch as my template.

Bad Idea #1: Is a scalloped circle a good template for gradient inking? Absolutely! Was my scalloped circle punch large enough to accomplish the look I was going for? Not. Even. Close.

Yes, it is GREAT to use what you have, but, you have to use what you have well. Sometimes, I fail when it comes to that. I should have pulled out my Cricut or chosen a plain circle or something that would have been a better suited size for the job at hand.

Bad Idea #2: Is a handwritten sentiment acceptable? ABSOLUTELY! Good, even! However...rulers are a good thing. Flat surface...yup...those are good, too. And enough space so your arm can actually WRITE something - excellent idea! Obviously, I employed precisely zero of those good ideas in the application of this card. Just say'n.



One might argue that the hand dyed ribbon could have been applied with a more suitable adhesive, as well, however, to be honest, I think if everything else was done properly, that would have looked good.

Overall, this card is horrible. No. For reals. It is. And I'm okay with that. Do you want to know why I'm okay with that? Because I learned from it. I grow from mistakes like these. A few days after making this card I actually had a SUPER inspired weekend that led to the creation of ten cards that I submitted for publication. I don't know if they will be chosen or not, but what I can tell you is that they are excellent work and I am actually proud of each and every one of them.

Mistakes are a good thing. Crappy cards that look like poo are a good thing. Without them, we have no standard to measure growth. Sometimes I make ugly stuff. I usually avoid showing you that stuff or I pretend I like it just to see what you say! HA! But with this one, I decided to chat with you honestly about failure. This card: Complete and utter fail.

And I'm totally cool with that. I wasn't going to post it. To be honest, the entire reason we are having this conversation is because I neglected to upload the good stuff I had prepared for today to Flickr so I couldn't post it. I will...later. I promise! :-)

So, I challenge you to take a look at the last ugly thing you made. Don't even TRY to pretend you've never made anything you think is ugly! HA! Now...what's wrong with it? How could you have executed that idea better? I'm guessing you started with a great idea - it just didn't turn out how you would have liked. That's the way these things work. SO...you obviously have great ideas...use those uglies to grow so that you can try that idea again or make the next idea work exactly the way you saw it in your head! That makes for happy days, my friends!

Please share your thoughts today! I'd love to hear them!