Once upon a time

Once upon a time....there lived a beautiful princess is the title for my Retro Cafe Art collage today. It is my way to pay homage to my new  fav tv show "Once Upon a time". If you haven't seen it you should. Now I know it sounds silly, a tv show about fairy tales but it is quite good. The acting, the special effects and of course the story are so creative.

To make this collage piece which is 8 X 8", I layered all sorts of things on the glitter printed paper. There is the butterfly wings with the cameo frame and the darling  best friend woman image from Retro Cafe Art all topped with their metal gold crown. Do check out RCA, they have fun contests, free giveaways and such cute stuff! So, the tickets came next and  are painted and stamped with hearts with a gold heart charm embellishment. The third part is a black stamped image of a crown that I made using a foam board and added some pink rhinestones and gold ric rac. There's a sprinkling of gold and organza flowers, big bling rhinestones, tiny pink rhinestones, gold Stickles to finish this beauty.

Hope you will get to experience a fairy tale this week.
yours truly, gerri

"There lived a beautiful princess"

Enchanted Sisters

Today for 100 Proof Press design team here is a little enchanted tag. I tried something different and stamped then water colored the background added the the darling sister image from Retro Cafe Art on a piece  of chip board.  Speaking of different, yesterday I took a class on soldering. I always wanted to learn how. It really is an art. Ill show you my first attempts soon. Please don't laugh. LOL.

The 100 Proof Press stamp was the gorgeous 3096 Double Arch stamp, then I added watercolor paint and the sister vintage image. The background on the tag is flocked paper with watercolor too. There is some shiny paper fringe, a glass heart, turq ribbon and some Stickles accents too. The sentiment reads "enchanted".

Hope you will have an enchanted week.
take care, gerri

"Enchanted"

"enchanted details"

You...hip hip hooray

Here's a little tag inspired by the 12 tags of 2012 by Tim Holtz and its for you dear friends. Its all about the wonderful traits you have and I just wanted to celebrate you! Though I might not check in as often as I'd like on your blogs, I just wanted you to know that I do care...

I sorta followed Tim's inspiration with a dabbed paint background with distress inks. I do like the depth it creates. I added my own embellishments with a  red flower, blue tissue paper and female image. Tim made his Valentine's day but I choose not too. I added some big heart sequins from Alpha Stamps, some turq hearts from Retro Cafe Art. The Y O U  was covered with red Stickles. The ribbon is distress ink sprayed on twill tape and crinkled up. Some turq paint edges and it was complete!

Hope you will have a wonderful weeks with friends.
sincerely, gerri

"Y O U"

"you details"

The Story of our Journey Together

Really enjoyed our trip to New York City last week. I am always energized and inspired by that location. I do miss it sometimes. Now  when I arrive back here, it is beginning to feel like home....but it is such a departure from this little house in lowcountry with acres of open land, palm trees and water. LOL. Speaking of New York, this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show the challenge is "Show us your pick... London, Paris or New York."

Today's card is a book template I created that has a removable book mark in the middle. Its a gift within a card. For the book, there are two types of  blue patterned paper as the background. I layered the tan paper with a stamped tiny map of the world. The route of our journey was added wit a heart at New York. Where I met my husband! A little biplane and clipper ship were stamped and fussy cut out too. A title on the spine..."Our journey" was stamped and layered. Some perfect pearls in copper, red Stickles, little red glitter hearts and a stamped border were added too. The book mark has "Togetherness" stamped, glittered and layered with a tiny stamped passport tied to the end.

Hope you will have a wonderful journey this week, no matter how close or far.
take care, gerri

"Our journey together from New York"

"Card with bookmark"

The joy of my desire

I seem to be in a monochromatic phase these days...today's large ATC  is another black and ivory piece but this time with a touch of gold bling. It must have been my trip to NYC this weekend that influenced me. We visited Brooklyn Heights and the bold graphic inspiration was everywhere and NYC always has a touch of shiny bling too! I'm posting this on Fashionable Stampers Challenge #15 Monochromatic plus one color and also Stampsmith TSC#27 Love and Lace challenges.

The gorgeous flapper stamp from Stampsmith was my inspiration. I stamped her on a painted Retro Cafe Art dimensional ATC center. This was layered on different patterned  papers and a filigree paper border was added too. Some dyed lace, pearl and gold buttons are the sweet embellishments. It is ink kissed with gold sparkly  ink, gold Stickles and cream colored pearls. The sentiment is from a book of poetry and says "The joy of my desire."

Hope you will find joy this week in whatever you desire.
artfully yours, gerri

"The joy of my desire"

""Joyful details"

I have someone

This month at Gingersnap Creations it's "Tell it like it is" with a focus on faux techniques. This week's challenge is GC140: "Two colors only" and the month is being sponsored by Rouge Redhead Designs. They do have such pretty stamps. Check them out then, come play with us at Gingersnaps Creation, there's lots to see  from the Design Team  and you might even win a prize!

So this card is just cream and black. I knew that would be my color combo when I saw these cute silhouette profiles from Retro Cafe Art. I painted them black and spied the big text ledger stamp from the Relish Reading RougeRedhead Designs RRD001 sheet.  I stamped the background scalloped square base and also a cream painted  Retro Cafe Art ATC Fancy Frame insert  with this text ledger sheet stamp. I layered some black paper cut to mimic the ATC insert and added some lace, black rose appliques, rhinestones and the sentiment "I have someone."

Hope you will be able to spend the week with your someone.
take care, gerri

"I have someone."

"Two color Details"

Beautiful Marie

Here's a little hanging ATC sized piece featuring the beautiful Marie Antoinette collage sheet from Retro Cafe Art. One of my favorite movie sound tracks is Sofia Coppola's movie called Marie Antionette. If you get a chance give it a good listen.

To start this I used Cameo Frame as the base and painted it with that sparklie nail polish again! This time it was burgandy and I love the shiny bits. This was layered on a white piece of chip board edged in burgandy ink with sequins at the corner. I hung it with some beaded wire and added a pink tassle. The accents include pink Liquid pearl, rhinestones and a  tiny bow.

Hope you will feel like royalty this week.
take care, gerri

                  

I am fully occupied

Today for 100 Proof Press here's a collage that I created using a  Graphic Fairy image for Brag Monday.  Can you find the stamping? Well its the  Octagonal Design 6303 from 100 Proof Press on the woman's umbrella.  LOL! I like to use stamps in unusual ways and thought over stamping a vintage image just fit the bill.

The base of this piece is over painted striped paper. Sometimes when I don't care for a piece of paper's print, I just paint right over it. It gives me so many more papers  to choose from and it then can match any project you want. The Graphic Fairy's couple image came next with the umbrella over stamped and accented with paint, Stickles and a pretty blue button. The Bingo card was cut up and placed around the couple image. Some red roses in the corner, water colored areas and more Stickles were the final accent.

Hope you will be fully occupied this week.
yours truly, gerri

"Bingo, I am fully occupied."

"Umbrella details"

Ticket for Love

 It's Pink Saturday  at Beverly's and today I'm showing another  ticket Valentine's Day card. I received so many compliments on the originality of using a ticket that I thought I'd show you one more. I love that on the bottom of the ticket it say the company name "Paper Art". When I painted this I made sure to leave that name exposed.

This was a quick card using a paper doilies heart that is kissed with silver ink and accented with silver Stickles. The ticket was painted and stamped with a floral heart. The card was preprinted with the scallop design so I just added shiny stitches. A "LOVE" brad  layered with Stickles  and other little dots of silver Stickles were the final touches.

Hope you will "LOVE" doing "Paper Art" this week.
sincerely, gerri

"LOVE"

"Paper Art ticket detail"

My Heart Glows for you in Paris

Yes, you will still be seeing a few more Valentine's Day cards, but I can't resist. I really get charged when I have to make a bunch and all kinds of creations are produced, so I just have to share. I adore Paris so when I printed out this clip art several years ago, I felt I would use it some day. Well this Valentines Day was the right day!

I took a piece of cardboard and put layers of glue and red tissue paper and let it dry. I swiped some silver ink that stamped a french script on top of the tissue paper. This base was taught to me by an artist friend back in New Jersey. I layered our Paris scene with a glitter cut out heart. Some glowing gold Stickles accents and gold heart corners finished this bright card.

Hope you will have a bright golden week.
au revoire, gerri

"My heart glows for you in Paris"

"Glowing details"

Now for something completely different.... cement

Now for something completely different, always makes me think of Monty Python. They were a riot when I was in high school and college. I always laughed out loud whenever I watched them! But I hope you won't laugh when you see today's post. I'm going to show you some jewelry I made. Mary Lou is modeling two necklaces and their matching bracelets. Oh and now for the different..... some inspirational photos of  beautiful colored cement, I saw on one of my walks. Yes, I said cement. So here goes ...

Hope you will do something different this week.
artfully yours, gerri

Happy Valentines Day, It's finally here

Yes it's finally here, that being Valentine's Day that is. A day for love. I like to celebrate all kinds of love whether romantic, friendship or even passionate! I do that by creating cards. In our busy lives its nice to have a little celebration come our  way and that's why I send them. So here are my cards  I'm sending to you, just pick one. Happy Valentines Day, dearies!

These cards all started with the Retro Cafe Art heart burst stencil. It made such a versatile base. I added brads, appliques, chipboard, stickers or rhinestones, along with red Stickles details. My favorite is "In Love Forever" where I glued on the music paper and the Candy heart from Retro Cafe Art. Oh do check out Retro Cafe Arts  on Facebook they have lots of giveawys, contests and art samples to make your heart go pitter patter too.

Hope you will celebrate love today.
sincerely, gerri


"Happy Valenties Day, dearies"



"In Love Forever"

"True Love details"

Mona, the talented feather dancer of the Moulin Rouge

For today's 100 Proof Press design piece alittle something different. Is it a collage, mixed media piece altered giant ATC? I guess it is all of the above. Thought I'd make something steamy, since it is sooo cold here this morning, a very low 28 degrees! I used it being from the north, but I'm sure all the southern belles, alligators and pretty birds will be wearing their woolies today. Also over at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week's challenge is "Anything Goes", I'm sure  this Mona would agree to that too! LOL.

I made this creation in pieces then assembled it. The small corset #5394 came first, after stamping and fussy cutting, I added water colored paint and Stickles, both red and gold. The ATC 2 pane frame from Retro Cafe Art came next and was filled with a vintage image of the Moulin Rouge, again paint and lots of Stickles.
The other images were cut out and now it was time for assembly. All the paper pieces were glued together, some red pearls were added and layered on a huge glitter feather used for Christmas decor. It was plastic, so I could bend it into a great shape. It represents the feathers on Mona's costume!

Hope you will dance up a storm this week.
artfully yours, gerri

"Mona, the talented feather dancer"

"Mona's details"

If he soars on his own wings

Living here in the low country has really given me the opportunity to enjoy nature especially  all the variety of birds. My husband and I try to go on an organized walk with a naturalist every several weeks. The snowy egrets, kingfishers and my favorite the great blue heron are just a few we see here every day. This was the inspiration of today's collage. Don't know what kind of birds these chartreuse birds are today though? LOL. There's a weekly challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show for  "Torn Edges, Distress Ink, Button and Wings", so I think this fits the bill. Over at Artchix Studio on face book they are having a "Birds, eggs, nests, chartreuse" challenge too.

The staring point actually for today was the little green chartreuse eggs from Artchix studio free collage sheet from there I was able to find bird stamps, the cute bird couple and a tiny nest image. These were all layered on torn music paper with lime tulle and finally a distressed kissed edge on a marblized back. A stamped bird cage on a transparency and the sentiment "No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings." came next. Some tiny buttons, gold Stickles accents and copper german scrap from Artchix studio add the highlights. My favorite part is the nest made from handmade paper torn scraps, shiny german scrap and metallic thread.

Hope you will soar on your wings this week.
Oh, if any one wants to play with my stash, I still have several packs left, just read yeaterdays post.
take care, gerri

"No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings."

Do you want to play with me?

It's Pink Saturday  at Beverly's and today I'm showing another Valentines Day card. All my Valentines Day cards are in the mail, 25 of them and I will probably be showing them to you over the next few weeks. I'm even entering  this one at Inspiration Emporium where the monthly challenge is "put on heart on it". Now that's easy for me, since I'll put a heart on anything. LOL.

This sweet card reminded my husband of little children and yes, it is all soft pinks, white, yellow and a touch of baby blue. In his honor I would like to ask you like we did as children.... "Do you want to play with me?".

 If you do, please email me, my email is in the right column.  I will send you a packet of my play things for you to create. All you need to do is to email  a photo of the finished piece back to me and I will put every bodies in one post with  your blog links. I cant wait to see what everyone comes up with. I have about 10 packs of basically the same things, to include German scrap, vintage music paper, shiny paper, buttons, ribbons, appliques, sequins and other goodies, as seen below. I am shamelessly borrowing this idea from Trisha Too at easily amused hard to offend,  who did "what would you make with my stuff" Thank you Trisha. 

To make today's card, I built up the blue tickets with paint, stamps, silver Stickles, a punched music paper heart, paper flowers and heart buttons. This was layered on pink and silver lace. The lace was over a striped card with a watercolored center. To finish it off, everything was edged with a big fat silver pen.

Hope you will have fun this week and play!
take care, gerri

"Cherish Love"

"Pretty Baby Details"



                

                         "Do you want to play?"



Motoring Ahead, His heart so full of glee

I like to switch it up every once in awhile and do a manly piece. It allows me to step away from the all the pink fluff and glitter. LOL. Don't worry, I have a charming pink creation and a surprise tomorrow to share with you. Stay Tuned.  So when Fashionable Stamping  had a challenge to "Make it a Guy thing.", I knew I had to enter it. They have such amazing Design team work there, it is very inspirational. Please do drop by. Val of Bastelmania-craftattack is the  Guest Designer at Just for Fun and her challenge is about guys too called Vintage Men .

This tag started with the stamped Model T and sign post as the focal points, then I had to find what to put around it. I spied a pic in a magazine of the old factory and after cutting it out, I added watercolor paint to fill in the missing pieces. The car was stamped, fussy cut out and painted. A little man's head was put in the window. I used black fabric paint for the dimension this time. The sign post was the same with Liquid Pearls, copper German scrap and the sentiment "His heart, it was so full of glee." The little tag came next with "Motoring Ahead" with some Distress brown paint, lots of watercolor paint and copper German scrap. It was attached with some copper wire.

Hope you are motoring ahead this week with your heart so full of glee.
take care, gerri

"Motoring Ahead. His heart so full of glee."

"Motoring Details"

Read in order to Live

This month at Gingersnap Creations it's "Tell it like it is" with a focus on faux techniques. This week's challenge is GC138: Masking Tape. The month is being sponsored by Rouge Redhead Designs. They have such wonderful stamps, as you will see. If you have a moment , please check them out. Come play with us at Gingersnaps Creation, there's lots to see  from the Design Team  and you might even win a prize! As you know, I'm always reading and that was my inspiration today Right now I'm reading  "Wolf Hall'.  Just started so, I  haven't gotten my teeth into it yet. (get it wolf ...teeth?) LOL.

So this dimensional  tag uses masking tape, can you see it? Well, it's the pretty blue ruffle!  I wanted to do something different, so I made up with is tag template using some patterned paper and stamped the sentiment " Read in order to Live." on both side edges. The lady image is from  a Retro Cafe Art collage sheet called Pretty Women. The books and the sentiment are from the Relish Reading RougeRedhead Designs RRD001 sheet.  After stamping the books, I fussy cut them out and water colored them to match my piece. The bling on the tape and on the woman's wrap is actually chunky sparkle nail polish my daughter left behind. Hope she won't mind me using it for art projects.  Some tiny rhinestones and silver Stickles add the additional needed shine. A crystal bead hanger and my reading beauty was all set..

Hope you will get to escape with a good book this week.
yours truly, gerri

"Read in order to Live."