A Corner of Heaven in the Library

This month at Gingersnap Creations is about "Friendship". This week the challenge # is GC120 and it's a color challenge of Aqua, Purple and Blue. The month is also being sponsored by Viva La Vegas Stamps. The image I used on my bookmark is from  their plate 876. Come play with us and see what the Design Team has created for you!

 I do so love to read and consider the characters in the books my friends. When I was young my grandmother would say"Gerri, stop reading and go outside." and like a good child, I listened and went outside. The only thing is that I sat under a tree and read some more. LOL.

To make this book mark I stamped, fussy cut and watercolored the young girl reading. I used some library book labels and cut them so they would appear to be a tall book case. Then painted them aqua, purple and blue. Some pen highlights came next. A fancy ribbon to tie and off with the sentiment "A Corner of Heaven" and it was complete.

Hope you'll find a friend where ever you go this week.
artfully yours, gerri

The Raven Nevermore

MaryLou here, I'm posting for Gerri till she can get back to all of you great artist friends. She really does miss you.

Today for Retro Cafe Art, Gerri made a creepy Halloween Hook with images of Edgar Allan Poe. Gerri tells me that Retro Cafe Art has so many cool things to create with. She also added a tiny embellishments from Coffee Break Design Halloween cutouts, first a raven on his head and a glittered cemetery scene.There's a blood red frame covered with black veil netting too. The words behind dear Edgar say "Be Afraid"

Hope you will be NOT "be afraid" this week.
take care, MaryLou for gerri

"Be Afraid"

Free Pink Fun

Today for Pink Saturday , I'm thinking of dear friends who have their birthdays in autumn. Autumn is my favorite season...it's when you go back to school, see the leaves change and my birthday is in October too! Another thing is that my last name "Herbst" means autumn in German.

Well, for today's simple little card, I ran a Tim Holtz  Texture Fade thru my little Cuttle bug machine. Painted it with pink paint and sprinkled some pink glitter. Added some black pen outlines, a big pink flower and a black wire present. There's a sparkly button and a rub on that says" birthday fun"!

Oh, so sorry  I have not visited everyone in the past few days. I will be back in the swing of things in about a week. Just some family issues to take care of, nothing serious. I do miss you dear friends.... and can't wait to see what you've been up to!

So let's hope you will have some free fun this week,
artfully yours, gerri

"Free Birthday Fun"

"Fun details"

Glittery Wings Fluttering by

My mom always said that the presentation of a gift  was as important as the gift it's self. I  still follow this message, whether I am wrapping gifts or entertaining. I spend extra time designing the look and feel of my wrappings and special meals. I think a great presentation is like giving an extra little gift.

So for todays post, it's all about my gift tag of a family of butterflies. I used Tim Holtz Craft Resist Paper Stash paper as my starting point. After fussy cutting out all the butterflies, I added rhinestone bling flourishes, and lots of Stickles. All of these products can be found at the amazing Flying Unicorn Store. I then used an old broken pearl necklace between this family of butterflies to connect them. A sheer black ribbon ties it on to a gift box.

Hope some one will present you with a pretty present this week.
yours truly, gerri

I'm glad I found you

At Gingersnap Creations this month is all about "Friendship" and this week its about those "Shared Moments" for challenge #GC119. The month is being sponsored by Viva Las Vegas Stamps. They have an amazing assortment of rubber stamps..........Elvis included. LOL. Come join us at Gingersnaps to enter the challenge or just check out the Design Teams wonderful inspirational pieces.

After our yard sale, I was thinking about that special relationship a child has with her doll, when I came across this sweet stamp. To make this  card, I used the little girl with her dollie stamp on plate 876 from Viva Las Vegas Stamps. After stamping, I fussy cut her out, water colored her and then glued her on a Retro Cafe Art ATC image. Distressed layers of different papers and letters are on a sage green paisley paper. Some ribbon, copper Stickles and a Flying Unicorn flower came next. The sentiment says "I'm glad I found you" and was layered on a little tag.

Hope you will be glad find your someone special.

artfully yours, gerri 

"I'm glad I found you"

"Glad details"

Vintage Witches United

For today's Retro Cafe Art Design Team piece, I decided to make a tiny banner of removable ATCs. I love decorating for Halloween and a banner is always a great thing to hang across the corner of a mirror. I promise I will share some decorating photos later next month, you will just have to wait! LOL.

I found this absolutely wonder black patterned pack of playing cards and knew they would make great ATC's bases. This one dollar pack gives me 52 different ATCs bases!The images are from the Retro Cafe Art Vintage Halloweensheet. This sheet has lots of pretty witches and such, perfect for small projects. I added tiny black Coffee Break Designs Halloween cut outs. Can you find the spiderweb, spider, owl, cat, bats and little hat? The little cards were strung on a ribbon with circle paper clips that I used a Sharpie to color orange. The trick or treat was a glitter sign I already had. I can't wait for Halloween to hang my little banner.

Hope you will find a trick or maybe a treat this week.
sincerely, gerri

"Trick or Treat"

"Witchie details"

Such a Sweet Little Doll

We had a very hectic weekend and I am just exhausted! We had a huge yard sale, that lasted for three days. Sorry if I haven't visited you this weekend, but I will be back on track on Monday. You cant imagine all the work involved in setting up the tables, then putting it away at night only to start again the next day for the sale. There was all sorts of stuff included from vintage, my daughters outgrown toys and house wares.  I must admit...it feels wonderful to cleanse the  house of unused things. I know it all went to other people's loving homes. I even sold some crafting stuff to fellow crafters and managed to convince several people to try it!

 I made this little cutie on a distressed tin for my 100 Proof Press Design piece cause it reminded me of the dolls I sold this weekend.  I used the 100 Proof Press stamp called big cutie baby. My stamping got a little messed up, but I like the look anyway. I painted her dress and tiny shoes yellow. The tin base has a distressed paint technique, which really means I just painted lots of colors on the tin,  then I edged it with a little black Sharpie. A touch of Stickles for sparkle, a pretty flower from the Flying Unicorn store also edged in black and the sentiment "you re a doll" and the little tin was all done.

Hope you will meet a sweet little cutie this week.
yours truly, gerri



"You're a Doll."




"Dollie details"



But today she was home again in New Jersey

Special announcement today from me in New Jersey! Retro Cafe Art and Debrina Pratt have teamed up to offer Land of Enchantment Collage Sheets. For the first time ever you will be able to get these incredible sheets printed out. They can be printed on semi-gloss paper, transparency film, sticker paper, fabric and even vellum! Now that's a lot of beautiful choices. Retro Cafe Art is starting with a whopping 236 different sheets. You must get a look at them. Better yet there is a giveaway too and a gift certificate. You must enter by Sept 24th. Check out the RCA post here.

So, why did I tell you it was from New Jersey, well the Land of Enchantment collage sheet I used for today's card is called ATC Salvaged Maps  and one of the images said New Jersey, so you see I just had to use it! I framed the New Jersey image with a Coffee Break Design ATC rounded square frame found at Retro Cafe Art. I painted  it metallic purple and added RCA black glitter witch, glitter house and covered a cut out house from the same sheet. A background paper of orange dots, some spiderweb die cuts, a sprinkle of rhinestones and the sentiment came next. The sentiment reads"But today she was home again" , I'm adding over New Jersey. LOL. The edges of the black card were ink kissed in orange for a distressed effect. Now my little New Jersey witch was all done.

"But today she was home again."

Hope you will be able to go home again.
take care, gerri

Can you believe it?

Can you believe it...I have been blogging for exactly one full year! Well, I can't believe it. I started out once a week and now I post usually 6 days a week. During that time, I was honored to be chosen for four Design teams, Retro Cafe Art, Flying Unicorn, 100 Proof Press stamps and Gingersnap Creations. Gingersnap Creations was my very 1st one. I have learned so much and gained such wonderful friends.  I have laughed, been inspired and even cried with you and that's what makes you true friends. So, I decided to have a big candy giveaway to celebrate with 3 prizes and will ship anywhere in the world. Now you know my stash is pretty big so in the prize there will be all kinds of fun things from pen nibs, vintage music sheets, ribbons, buttons, blank cards, stickers, fiber, fabric flowers and lots and lots more. The grand prize has over 50 different things. The runner up prize 1 and 2 have quite alot too!

All you need to do is post  a comment below. For additional chance to win please post my announcement below with a link to this post somewhere on the sidebar of your blog. Oh and you  need to be a follower too. If you use facebook that's another chance to win too. Just write a separate comment for each way you have entered. I will pick random winners, 3 of them! on Oct 1st!

I decided to show more pics of my craft studio today too. There's my desk, believe me I cleaned  it up for you. There are also my shelves cause I like to see everything when I create. When I'm not creating and eating bon bons on the day bed, I love to close the curtains and hid the mess. LOL. Here's a drawing I did in college , many years ago of an lovely lady "Ace Flyer". And yes, I also have a big closet with shelves for my papers, punches, scissors and 3d stuff, but that's for another day. My final pic is a pink card that I am entering in Pink Saturday.

Well dear friends...there really is no one like you,
take care, gerri

She glanced at a love letter

There's a new  place to gather if you like shabby chic or Paris inspired creations...its hosted by the lovely Cindy Adkins and it's called the Shabby Chic Girls' Club. I just love that style and decided to share an ATC thats abit shabby. I used Tim Holtz Craft Resist paper, Graphic 45 little envelopes and a metal flower all from the Flying Unicorn Store. I think this Parisian beauty has such an attitude, just what you need for a girls club!

I watercolored, distressed and layered my Tim Holtz paper. The graphic 45 envelope has taken apart, so you could hang this ATC. The pretty miss is a sticker that I colored in. A pretty layered metal flower with tulle,  aqua Stickles and the sentiment complete this little beauty.

Hope you will be able to join friends for your own girls club.
take care, gerri

"She glanced at a love letter her mouth set"

"Shabby Details"

You make me smile

The month of "Friendship" continues this week at Gingersnap Creations this a supply focus on "crimpers". (challenge GC118) September  is being sponsored by Viva Las Vegas Stamps. Come visit us at Gingersnap Creations and enter to win a prize or just to look at all the design team members beautiful inspiring creations.

Well yes, I do own a crimper. I had to dig it out, it's not something I use often but I really like the look! Now it is on my work table so I can start using it again. LOL. I used Tim Holtz Craft Resist paper and crimped the background of the tag. The tag part is the same paper but I water colored it. I got the paper at the Flying Unicorn store. The little game tag, stuffed dog/ cat cut out images and the zig zag rub-on came next. The flower is also from Flying Unicorn, I water colored it too and added Stickles. The sentiment, a tiny charm and chenille yarn completed my little crimped tag.

Hope someone will make you smile this week.
sincerely, gerri

"You make me smile."

 

And few could know her

For my Retro Cafe Art Design team piece today, I was inspired by this pretty china doll torso from the Hello Dollie 2 Collage sheet .  Come on over to RCA where they are having a wonderful Halloween contest. You can submit any type of Halloween art! It doesn't even have to have Retro Cafe Art Gallery products in it so everyone can play!

Here's The Rules:

1. Create up to 3 pieces of Halloween Art! You can have 1, 2 or 3 entries. The art can be whatever you wish. Your art does not have to include Retro Cafe Art Gallery products this time around.
2. Email your photos to retrocafeart@gmail.com subject: Halloween Contest or post them to our Facebook Wall and we will move them to the Halloween album. Please do a separate photo for each entry (and just 1 photo per entry). Files between 200 -300 KB preferred. I will post these photos on our Facebook page in this Halloween album as they are received. Please include your full name in your email. We only need photos, not the actual art!
3. Deadline is October 14th.
4. We love our International customers and you are welcome to play!

 

So back to todays collage, I decided to wrinkle  up  the Sweet Dollie and give her a watercolor wash and I have no idea why I did that. LOL. She is layered on a Dauguerreotypes 1  transparency from RCA. Two different green papers are used as her base. The wings and pretty black button that I brushed with copper came next. Two antique skeleton keys cutouts from Retro Cafe Art  are painted copper with ink kissed edges. A sprinkle of rhinestones and the sentiment... "and few could know her" were all I needed to complete this collage.

Hope this week you'll find someone who really knows you.
artfully yours ,gerri

"and few could know her"

Smile filled wonderful world

I guess I was in a good mood this weekend and decided to do a cheery card  in a bright color palette.I have lots of different things, themes and colors in my stash and decided to do something different.  I used 100 Proof Press stamps for this project. They have a huge selection and I always find a new one that I must have. LOL. So this time, I used the pretty tree branch as my starting point for this card.

I stamped the branch on both sides of a piece of joss paper and layered it on some printed paper for stability.The paper lantern stickers were strung across the branches next. A Chinese red New Year money envelope detailed with red and blue Stickles adds some pop. Two teenie tiny birds and my sentiment "Discover my smile filled wonderful world' completed my colorful card.

Hope your world is filled with smiles,
yours truly , gerri



"Discover my smile filled wonderful world."



"Wonderful details"

Be Happy

Pink seems to be my color this week, must have been those gorgeous pink roses in yesterdays post. So for Pink Saturday and Fashionable Stamping Challenge  #3 who are looking for Ribbon or Lace, I created this pretty in pink card. Had a special day with a friend, so I decided to share my happy mood.

The gorgeous  pink and black background paper is from the Heart Warming Vintage Collection "Classic" from the Flying Unicorn store. What I like about it is its double faced , so the recipient gets to see a pretty pattern inside too. I added  several different paper flowers and images of flowers to the corner. A stick pin I created and some heart silhouettes are there too. The lovely Gibson girl is a stamped image from Viva Las Vegas stamps. I fussy cut out the image, colored her in and added Stickles accents. Some lace ribbon, pink german scrap and a tiny ticket  with the sentiment that says "be happy" complete this piece.

Hope you will "be happy" this week.
artfully  yours, gerri

"Be Happy"

"happy details"

Pretty Pink Bouquet of Ruffly Roses

Went to the Studio to paint this week, so I have something for Paint Party Friday. It was pouring rain which means, I couldn't get anything from the garden. It was just too wet and muddy. When will this rain ever stop? It's seems like it's been flooding forever here in New Jersey. I stopped by the grocery store instead and they had these gorgeous pink roses on clearance. They called me to paint their picture. I painted using watercolors in my new  large scale  format 22"x30", I am so loving the large size. Please forgive me for the blurry photos, just couldn't get enough light on this gloomy day.There's a photo of the rose inspiration and where they sit in our living room.

Hope you'll see something pretty this week.
take care, gerri

"Pretty Pink Roses"

I need to be beside you again

For the month of September at Gingersnap Creations the theme is to Celebrate Friendship. The first week is all about "Gal Pals" challenge #GC117 and  is sponsored by Viva Las Vegas Stamps Store. They have an incredible selection, with something for every style. Come join us at Gingersnaps to laugh, learn, be inspired and to create.

I find that as I get older with my full life, I sometimes  look back and think fondly of my school days when all my friends were right besides me, all the time. Oh, how I miss that time. It was that memory that inspired this piece today. I used the Regal Woman Stamp  from Viva Las Vegas Stamps to start this collage. I stamped, inked and cut her out. She is layered on graphic 45 Renaissance Faire Collection papers from the Flying Unicorn Store. Bronze brads, punched fleur de lis accents, Bronze Stickles and sheer black ribbon accent my gal pal. The sentiment reads "I need to be beside you again."

Hope you will beside a pal this week.
sincerely, gerri

"I need to be beside you again."

"Regal Details"

Sweet Witchy Ways

Since things are back to normal, I had a great weekend creating. I've only just begun my Halloween creations, with lots more to come. As you all know, Halloween is my favorite holiday. For today's  Retro Cafe Art Design Team piece, I created this cute Halloween wall hook. I used the Retro Cafe Art digital  Hello Dollie sheet . They have the coolest art supplies at RCA, I love using them. I also used their sweet spider web cutout for accents.

I started with a Trick or Treat hook and added a purple paper frame. Then came the Dollie witch which I cut out from the collage sheet and highlighted some details. The spider web corners and purple spiders came next. The details were next with two colors of Stickles and a pretty purple bow.

Hope you will use your witchy ways this wee. LOL.
artfully yours, gerri

"Trick or Treat"

"Tricky Details"

Beautiful and fine to behold

As the final days of summer pass, I thought I would get in another mermaid themed card for my 100 Proof Press Design Team post. But be sure, I will probably continue to do mermaids well into the winter. LOL. The 100 Proof Press stamp called  sunburst  that I used in the background actually reminded me of spiny sea urchins.

The mermaid torso was from Artchix Studio and I created the hand cut fish tail. The corners have painted diecuts, buttons, Stickles, red rhinestones and pearls. The background is stamped, painted and dotted. The finishing touches were the mermaids sparkly starfishes, a tiny bow and the sentiment "Beautiful".

Hope you see beauty this week.
take care, gerri

"Beautiful"

There's no one like you

Today's post is for my daughter...we brought her to college this week. It was sad to see her go, yet thrilling to see her at the university. I remember those days and hope she is getting the most out of them. She has a wonderful on campus suite with 4 other young women. Her room is light filled and she decorated it in such a creative personal way. The most important thing was that all her  clothes fit for the first time. LOL. So darling daughter, "There's no one like you."

I used Tim Holtz Craft Resist Paper  Stash and water colored it. The paper is from the fabulous  Flying Unicorn store. I cut out the  butterflies  and after water coloring then added Stickles, fiber and pearls for accents. A matching water colored strip of lace holds the butterflies on the ATCs, but they can be taken off as well. Added the sentiment to the back, to make this an interactive piece. Some black German scrap and more Stickles complete the little ATCs.

Hope you have a  someone who is unique.
artfully yours, gerri

"There's no one like you."

Farewell Summer Love

Well, it's farewell to Hurricane Irene and at least here at home, we're sorta much back to normal. I do promise to catch up with everyone, I know I've missed some of your fabulous creations. I want to thank you so much for your all kind words of concern.

For today's piece, I have a card that is for my first challenge that I am hosting as a Creative Team member of Flying Unicorn. Do stop by to play, to find friendship or see some wonderful inspiration. The challenge is called "Farewell Summer Love" and you are to use any kind of heart and sea shell in your creation. You know those are two of my favorite things! It can be a card, layout, collage or altered piece. There even is a fabulous prize from the Flying Unicorn store to be won!

All the paper I used was from the The Magic of Oz Collection carried at the store of Flying Unicorn. Who would of thought that the land of Oz could be so romantic. LOL. I created a rosette by cutting a heart shape, adding a glittered shell, some netting and a tiny sparkly heart. Some rhinestones, a vintage image, rub ons and some ink kissed edged  and it was adieu to my "Wicked Heart" of summer.

Hope your wicked heart won't get you into trouble this week.
take care, gerri



"Wicked Heart"



"Summer Details"