Flying Unicorns Santa's Workshop

The Creative Team, aka Alda and her elves(that includes me!), at the Flying Unicorn has been hard at work behind the scenes, getting ready for the month of December. We’re bringing you a technique loaded, fun-filled, December!! Everyday, through December 24th, there will be a new technique tutorial posted for you to try. Some will be simple, others a little more complex, but there will be something for everyone! Look for the Santa’s Workshop thread in the forum to find the daily tutorials. Be sure to post a picture of your creations using any of the tutorials to be eligble for a prize drawing on December 31st. There will be 9 different prizes awarded, one from each of Santa’s reindeer!

Hope you'll stop by!
take care, gerri

A Joyful Red Robin

For today's Retro Cafe Art  design piece, I've made a bright holiday tag. I love making tags for Christmas, some will go on simply wrapped packages with big tied ribbon bows and others will be made into cards. When I saw this Debrina Pratt collage sheet from Retro Cafe Art I just had to use it. I loved the cheery red robin mixed with the Christmas theme. I will also use it for a  challenge at Art with No boundaries calling for "Red and Green".

To make this tag I painted the tag red them brushed gold paint over it. It looks like wood...don't you think? I fussy cut the robin and surrounded it with a glitter leaf. The "joyful Christmas was put on a piece of chipboard that was painted too. The green, red and yellow epoxy circles came next, to add shine. A red grosgrain ribbon tie completed this colorful tag.

Hope you will have a joyful week.
artfully yours, gerri

"A Joyful Christmas"

"Joyful details"

Let's Have Fun

For today's 100 Proof Press design I made this little stamped pendant. It reminds of the fun week I had with our daughter and family during the holiday. Sorry, Mary Lou could not model this but she is busy getting ready for our big move. More about that later....

To make this piece I stamped the Cabaret Line with Signs # 2971and fussy cut out only three ladies.I glued them to a small piece of masonite, you could use chipboard to. The masonite is painted white and the edges are ink kissed with pink ink. I added some purple german dresden scrap too. The ladies were colored with pencil and some Stickles were added for shine. The pink glitter letters came last to spell "FUN".

Hope you will have fun this week.
take care, gerri


"FUN"



Happiness is

My daughter was home for the holiday and this little shrine sums up my feeling "Happiness is being with you". We're taking her to the airport  and she'll be off to the university again.

The little shrine was made using  "Studio of Memories "Pion papers from Flying Unicorn store. I layered different patterns on light blue netting. There's lt blue Stickles for glitz, some fussy cut butterflies and shiny silver filigree buttons. The sentiment reads"Happiness is being with you".

Hope you will find happiness this wee.
sincerely, gerri

"Happiness is being with you"

Flying Unicorn Silent Auction Begins Tomorrow

Please join us November 26th through November 28th for Flying Unicorn’s First Annual Silent Auction of all things scrapbook, all from the private stashes of the Flying Unicorn Creative Team. All proceeds from the auction will go to benefit Women in Distress. Some of us are putting together kits, some of us are destashing. There’s bound to be something you’ll want; place your bid, and it might be yours. Bids will be accepted until midnight November 28th and auction winners will be notified the next day.

As the month draws to a close, we want to thank all of you who posted your lovely work in the gallery, sent in your donations and made purchases in the store. We met our goal of 1,000 uploads to the gallery on November 16th, thereby earning a $1,000 donation from the Flying Unicorn store to Women in Distress. Remember that throughout November 5% of all sales will be donated to Women in Distress.

The Silent Auction is our last fundraiser for Women in Distress this year; we hope you’ll help us help our sisters who have suffered so much by placing a bid. You can peruse the items up for auction by visiting here.

 

Timeless Parisian Steampunk Beauty

Hope everyone had a pleasant day yesterday. Here's the third tag in my recent Steampunk series using the amazing Graphic45 Steampunk Debutante from Flying Unicorn Store. With butterflies, Art Nouveau and tiny gears....how can you go wrong! LOL.

To make this tag I painted the ATC frame from Retro Cafe Art with gold and white paint, then distressed it.. Underneath is the Steampunk Debutante paper and a split tag for the top and bottom. I used gold and green Stickles to add the needed bling. A watch face, tiny gears, some paper gears and butterflies add additional dimension and interest.

Hope you will  approach a timeless beauty this week.
artfully yours, gerri

We Give Thanks

We are continuing this month "On the farm"  at Gingersnap Creations. My Design Team post this week is all about autumn color. The colors are Yellow, Red and Brown and the challenge is GC#128. Come join the fun with us. One randomly drawn winner from the qualifying participants for this challenge will become a Gingersnap Creation Home Page Artist for a week as well as winning a $15.00 US voucher at the Rogue Redhead Designs store. It's their 1st anniversary this month so there are lots of great deals to be had until December 30, 2011 at their brand-new website! Also come see all the inspiring creations from my other Design Team members.

My card this week is for Thanksgiving and says "Thanks". I started with my fav turkey stamp and layered it on red and yellow(gold) burlap fabric.  These layers were put on a red ticking patterned paper. Some cream painted alphabets, a big ivory button, brown grosgrain ribbon and some brown Stickles complete this card.

Hope you will have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. Enjoy your time with you families and friends.
yours truly, gerri

"Thanks"

"Turkey details"

Christmas Ornament Tutorial

Hello everybody, today's post is a tutorial for a Christmas ornament using  Retro Cafe Art  products.  Hope you enjoy it.


I started by painting  both the top and one side of the bottom of the RCA Classic Gothic Arch ATC frame cream.

 

The next step was to glue the RCA Madonna and Angel image from the Christmas Collage sheet by Debrina Pratt to the inside of the  open part. I did have to piece it abit. I also painted the top portion of the bottom piece of the ATC frame with gold  paint so you can see it thru the top opening.

 

Using a white glue, I glued the top and bottom of the ATC  together. Using gold paint I brushed it over the image as well as, the frame leaving some of the cream exposed.

 

I added gold Stickles for shine, then came the angel button. I punched a hole with a Crop-a-dile thru the ATC and attached the gold tassel.



Next I added gold sequins and gold dew drops to the corners for dimension. The final touch was to add a cut gold sequin for the Madonna's pretty crown.


 Hope you create something angelic this week.
take care, gerri

Dancing Fairies in the Cherry Blossoms

For the 100 Proof Press Design team creation today, I'm posting a dimension flower card. The inspiration for this card was the pretty Dancing Girls #6294 stamp from 100 Proof Press. They reminded me of dancing fairies  which made me think of this paper from  the Flying Unicorn store. It's from Graphic 45 called Once Upon A Springtime.

After stamping and layering the papers, I fussy cut out all the cherry blossom flowers. I know I'm kinda crazy when it comes to cutting out, but I do enjoy doing it. LOL. It is to really hard to see the dimension with the photo, but the flowers do pop. I added my fav...Stickles and rhinestones to complete my dancing fairy girls.

Hope you will dance this week.
yours truly, gerri

"Dancing Fairies in the Cherry Blossoms"

Orange Pumpkin Tag

Here's a little tag to get us in the mood for Thanksgiving on Thursday. I just adore this turkey stamp! I have never used it before but you will probably see it later this week too! LOL.

An orange tag using Echo Park Paper "Apothecary Emporium" paper is the base. It can be found at the Flying Unicorn store. It was ink kissed with brown edges. I stamped the turkey and added orange and lime Stickles accents. The layered flowers are from Flying Unicorn too. The cute little wooden pumpkins are from Retro Cafe Art, they were stamped. A printed paper border and an orange ribbon complete the tag.

Hope you will be in the mood this week.
artfully yours, gerri



"Orange Pumpkins"



The Pretty Pink Cathedral

For Pink Saturday here's a little pink ATC. I'm calling it  "Pretty Pink Cathedral" in honor of my daughter, who is coming home this weekend. We haven't seen her since Sept 1 when we went off to college, so we cant wait!  Like her mother she likes to visit historic churches, houses and museums, so here's a Pink Cathedral!

I used one of my favorite supplies.... a Retro Cafe Art ATC  Frames. It's called Classic Quatrefoil Gothic Arch and  I painted it pink and gold. The image underneath is actually a block of cancelled stamps. You know how I like to recycle stuff! LOL. The medieval manuscripts  fit the frame and the top part of the stamps looked like stained glass. The finishing touches were the pink Stickles, foil flourish, little angel and of course, rhinestones.

Hope you get a visit from someone special this week.
take care, gerri

"Pretty Pink Cathedral"

Speakeasy Rendezvous

I love the images, fashions and music from the 20s and 30s. With that in mind, today's creation is a gift card holder I made for Flying Unicorn Creative Team. It's made from  Curtain Call paper from Graphic45 and you can find it in the Flying Unicorn store. I adore this paper, it has such fantastic graphics and that Jazz age theme.

I am also showing you one of my dear husbands Classic Wrecks that he makes and sells on Etsy. He was asked to create a custom automobile for an actress in the  Broadway show  to open soon called "Bonnie and Clyde" . It's a replica of the Bonnie and Clyde bullet ridden car! Thought it went nicely with the theme of today's post.

To make the card, I layered different Curtain call papers. I cut out a heart and the piano keys. I added some black lace, a Burgundy Black rose from from the Flying Unicorn store, a stick pin and some Dimensional Pearls. The two sided paper made decorating the interior of the card easy.  I made a pocket then cut out the little tickets, the gift card can just slip into the pocket.With that... I was all ready to dance!

Hope you will get to dance this week.
take care, gerri

"Speakeasy Rendezvous"

"Speakeasy Rendezvous Interior"

"Bonnie and Clyde Automobile"

"Bonnie and Clyde Automobile"

She Took a Pleasant Walk on the Beach

For today's 100 Proof Press Design Team project, it's all about the beach. You know that  the sea this is one of my favorite themes, so I thought I'd visit it again.

The start of this card was the wonderful 100 Proof Press, Lady with Umbrella and Hat stamp  #6371. I do adore her little umbrella. It was stamped on patterned shell paper then colored it with pencils. The cut out pictures of shells, die cuts, assorted real sea shells, star fish and plastic dew drops came next to frame the image. I just discovered Dew Drops in a local Scrapbook store clearance bin and I love them. They come in all kinds of colors, clear, pearlized and metallic too. Don't know where I've been since they came out. LOL. This detailed page was then layered on the pale blue picnic plaid background that was ink kissed with pink ink. Some light blue netting, a forever friend tag finished up this card.

Hope you will get to take a pleasant walk this week.
sincerely, gerri


"A Walk on the Beach"



"Beachy Details"

They Were Both Vocal Beauties

For today's Retro Cafe Art Design Team piece, I created an ATC that makes me think of  best friends. I've been thinking of some dear friends and this is for them.

So, I used the RCA Best Friends XOXO Vintage Ladies Collage Sheet to represent  my best friends! The Butterfly ATC Frame  sets it off the ladies wonderfully. I painted it black and accented with silver Stickles and turq  then silver marker.  I used the Jewel Tone Vintage ATC Background  too. I added some rhinestones for a bit of sparkle.

Hope you will think about a best friend this week.
yours truly, gerri

"Vocal Beauties"

"Vocal Details"

Pretty Autumn Leaves

Hi everyone! Today over at Gingersnap Creations I have a about stamp kissing. It's a great way to make a fabulous new stamp image by combining two of your stamps! I used this technique as the base of my Autumn leaf collage tag.

Let's start with our stamping supplies. You'll need a stamp that has very little detail as your base. I'm using the big autumn leaf. The other detail stamp will be the "Kissing" stamp and provides the texture. I used the tiny leaf stamp on the block. I will be using a variety of ink colors.

The first step is to cover you base stamp - big leaf - with ink. I did a mottled look, but you could use just one color too.Try to keep it a lighter color than what you will use for your detail stamp.

The next step is to quickly ink your detail stamp -tiny leaf - and kiss it (stamp) it onto your base stamp - big leaf. You need to do this rather quickly so the inks don't dry out.

Here is a photo of the stamped leaf image.

After cutting the stamped leaf out, I will add the embellishments. First, there are some velvet leaves touched with ink and Stickles. There's also a chipboard bird that I covered with green and red ink, then stamped my detail tiny leaf stamp. A few shiny colored flowers were layered too.

Here are the embellishments placed on the tag.

This is the finished tag with the embellishments.It needed a little something more so I layered some sparkly green leaves, a Stickles edge and a tiny rhinestone eye on the bird. A pretty orange organza ribbon allows me to hang this autumn tag.

Here's a close-up of the pretty bird.

Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial today and I hope you will be kissing, I mean stamp kissing this week!

take care, gerri

Yes my love, I was moved

For today's post at Pink Saturday I've made an ATC in hot pink. It was this expressive female image from Dezinaworld that inspired me to create this. I love to add details so I overcolored  the image with pink and blue metallic marker. With a marker or paint in hand I can make all papers, embellishments or images coordinate. LOL.

The pretty paper tree is from Artchix Studio and is painted  pink and covered  with glitter. The top of the tree has a silver metal swirl top and a blue paper flower with a hot pink center. The background is blue paper kissed with a pink inked edge. The fantastic fiber trim is from my friend Donna , in Mexico. You can visit her blog to see her fabulous painted goddess canvases. Finally, the blue dots, blue headpiece and sentiment came last and  it says "She nodded, Yes my love I was moved."

So what will  "move" you this week?
take care, gerri

"She nodded. Yes my love, I was moved."

"Moving details"

Delight and Domestic Happiness

You might wonder what  today's post title has to do with my watercolor painting of yellow roses for Paint Party Friday. I must tell you  yellow roses reminds me of my husband. While I was working my dear husband would send me yellow roses for special occasions. Did you know that "yellow" roses mean delight, joy, gladness, familiar love and domestic happiness? Isn't that a beautiful sentiment from a spouse?  One Valentine's Day, I did ask my husband why he sent yellow and not red. He said he wanted them to stand out and not to get lost in a sea of red roses. LOL. So, yellow roses will always be special to me.

Hope someone will make you feel special this week.
sincerely, gerri

"A basket of yellow roses"

"Rosey details"

Little Rabbit you are truly special

For the month of November, Gingersnap Creations' theme is "On the Farm" and this week the challenge is to use "Raffia" (#GC126). Come on over to plant your creation, sow the seeds of friendship and harvest ideas from my fellow Design Team members.

This card started with the adorable musical rabbit  paper by October Afternoon called Thrift Shop Good Junk. You can find this paper at Flying Unicorn.  I layered it on green burlap added some pretty ribbon and put it on yellow paper that was ink kissed with green ink. The embellishments are layered paper flowers that I added the musical centers and pink pearls. The grass around the little rabbit is painted raffia. LOL. The "You are truly special" sentiment completes this card.

Hope you will be able to spend time with someone truly special this week.
sincerely, gerri


"You are truly special"



Early Vintage Holiday Greetings

Well, I'm still in a Christmas mood, so here's a little ATC that I made. I will use as an ornament for our tree this year. It's for my Retro Cafe Art Design Team piece this week. You really should check out Retro Cafe Art besides the great supplies they are having a contest and a giveaway.

The contest is called "I love Retro Cafe Art Gallery". They teamed up with  100 Proof Press, and they are going to be a guest judge for the contest. Their team will be selecting their favorite to win a $30 100 Proof Press Gift Certificate! How cool is that. They have amazing stamps so this is a great prize!There will also be two $50 Retro Cafe Art Gallery Gift Certificates and two Coffee Break Design goodie packs! Not to mention everyone who enters will get a fabulous Digital Collage Sheet plus we will be adding prizes as we receive entries (see below). And it's so easy to enter. All you have to do is submit art that incorporates at least 1 product from Retro Cafe Art Gallery! You don't even have to purchase it from us. As long as we currently carry it, you are qualified! We have SO many goodies in the shop, you are bound to have something at home. Check out the rules here.

But wait there's more how about a Retro Cafe Art's giveaway of there new shrine kits.Check it out here.

So the vintage Christmas image I used is Debrina Pratt. The 5 pane ATC frame was painted red and edged in gold. It was trimmed with gold German Dresden Foil. The corners have gold snowflake confetti and red sequins topped with a red button. The sparkle accents are rhinestones and red Stickles. The finishing touch was the red ribbon hanger.

Hope you will see some sparkle this week.
take care, gerri

"A Merry Christmas to you"

"Christmas details"

Yes, its time to begin

Yes, it's time to begin my Christmas cards. I make over 100 unique cards and like to start early making a few at a time. My friends and family expect a "Gerri card" and now I can't possibly buy any!  LOL. Today's Design team card  for 100 Proof Press is a bit crazy, but still has my trademark bling, glitter and vintage image.

The stamp used for the sign language "Merry Christmas" letters is One Hand Signing  #5685  from 100 Proof Press. It is very versatile since you can spell any word. I stamped and cut out each letter and dotted them with green walnut ink. The vintage image is from Retro Cafe Art  on the cute Christmas collage sheet called Christmas Cuties 2. This is layered on two holiday papers. Some some big red and green buttons, candy cane twine, rhinestones and Stickles  were added for  dimension.

Hope you will get to start a new project this week.
yours truly, gerri




"Merry Xmas"



"Merry Details"



Dragonfly Trash to Steampunk Treasure

Been in a Steampunk kinda mood lately, so today's creation is a Steampunk tag. You know how I love to recycle, so I must tell you that I've actually been saving this broken hair clip from my daughter for years! LOL. When I started making this tag I knew I needed a 3D item and this pretty clip fit the bill. I think butterflies and dragonflies complement this paper with it's gears and Art Nouveau ladies. I am also entering it in a new challenge site that I found called Sugar Creek Hollow Challenge "Trash to Vintage Treasure.

To make this tag I used Glimmermist and sprayed it on a Tattered Angel plastic screen to print it. I edged the tag with gold acrylic paint and Stickles. The lovely lady and her butterflies are from the Flying Unicorn store on a paper called Steampunk Debutante from Graphic45. There are rhinestones, tiny gears and glitter Stickle accents.The dragonfly came next with the same accents. A green ribbon tied this project all up.

Hope you will discover something you have been saving.
artfully yours, gerri

"Steampunk Dragonfly"

"Dragonfly details"

Imagine what you will

I'm trying something different today because..... this creation has no sentiment! Usually the image tells me what they want to say, but this sassy lady was quiet today. So what do you imagine what she is saying? What she  might be saying dear friends is "sorry". I am in the process of moving, so I have not been visiting you as much as I really should. I hope to catch up soon and get back on a regular schedule, so please forgive me.
It's incredibly pink card, so I am entering it at Pink Saturday.

Hope you will be in the pink this week.
yours truly, gerri