Fall

Happy Fall!  We are having some beautiful fall days here.  We just went apple picking a few weekends ago and this card is reminiscent of that.

I used the new Artistic Outpost Hayride plate along with the ruler from the Whimsical Melange plate. Unfortunately the local farm stands around here typically don't have fruit or vegetables that are homegrown as the time to grow them takes all summer. :) 

I also used a ticking stamp from the Kudzu Kafe to create my pattern in the background.  I distressed the edges with a distressing tool and sponged on brown dye ink.
The images are colored with STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils with a touch of white highlight from a Signo Uni-Ball Gel pen.

Have a wonderful Friday!

Suzz

In the Birdhouse

Today the Artistic Outpost Design Team is hopping showing projects that use the Quotes or Backgrounds from AO.

I decided to pull out one of my favorite images from the Whimsical Melange

I started from the birdhouse shape and added the row of birds from the Songbirds along the bottom. I colored the images using STAEDTLER watercolor pencils.   I added the flowers from the Flower Market. The background has a soft text backround from Birds of a Feather.I cut a frame around the image with black cardstock and created a cardbase using the shape of the house.

A view of the card standing up:

 Hop along to see all the other fantastic creations by the Design Team:

Gerrie Johnnic

Lisa Somerville

Suzanne Czosek

Tracy Evans

 Linda Coughlin

 Alison Bomber

Terry Horral

Kate Yetter

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

School Days

Welcome to the June Artistic Outpost Blog Hop!   Today the Artistic Outpost Design Team  is sharing projects for school days! .


I started from this cute notebook. It had chipboard cover and bottom:

I covered the surface with Gaffer's Tape from 7 Gypsies.  I added a touch of color with Ranger Distress Ink Peacock Feathers.  I added a slight smudging of white acrylic paint. 

I stamped the sweet image from the Favorite Book and colored with the distress inks and shaded with color pencils.  I stamped the house frame from the Whimsical Melange using StazOn and cut out using detail scissors.   The letters are from the Secretary Pool and are stamped and cut out.  I added a ring for the pencils.

To see all the other fabulous projects from the design team:

 Gerrie Johnnic

Lisa Somerville 

Suzanne Czosek
Linda Coughlin

Tracy Evans 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

Enjoy Simple Beauty

Happy Saturday!  It's raining rubber at my house!  I have a few new releases just hit my desk that I am creating with. Of course that means not sharing anything too much on my blog. :)

I took a break from my other projects to create a tag for the Fashionable Stamping Challenge of Anything Goes. 

I used a combination of Artistic Outpost Sets to create my tag.  (Keeper, Whimsical Melange, Old Grist Mill) The background was supposed to emulate the flannel shirt. I had embossed using a Sizzix embossing folder and smeared a combination of blues, reds and brown distress inks over the surface.  My favorite was creating the string of fish. I stamped, colored with the coordinating distress inks and cut them out to attach to the twine.

Of course I had to add the ruler as every fish needs to be measured!

We are celebrating my youngest birthday with a family party. A little delayed due to our vacation.  Things are wrapping up for the summer. My older kids are back in school next week.  Maybe it will quiet down a bit after that.

Have a lovely weekend!

Suzz

SpringPunk

The referral challenge over at Artistic Outpost this month is Spring Punk.  I created a fun tag for the challenge which also works perfectly for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Ideology Bonanza.

It was a creative thought process to how do you bring spring and steampunk together. :)  My thought process was and Easter full of metal and light colors. I was pleased with how the two blended together.

I used the stamps from Artistic Outpost Wonderland Collage, Industrial Chic, and Whimsical Melange.  The background was painted with acrylic paint and glimmer misted with purple and pink. Then a layer of gears were stamped in pink/gold and white embossing powder.

The bunny was stamped and colored and cut out.  I framed him with the house outline. The flowers were from a pair of earrings in the clearance section of the jewelry store.

So glad it is Thursday!  Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Suzz

Keep a song in your Heart

Week two of the beautiful colors  at  CR84FN. I created a card using the colors and for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Anything Goes.

I was inspired by a couple of projects on pinterest.  They used paints, birds, and text all elements I love to mix together. :)

My project doesn't look like there is any lavender in it, but it is there. :)  I promise!  I started with a surface of white acrylic paint misted with Lavender glimmer mist.  I also misted the soft mulberry paper used in the nest.

The background was painted, misted and stamped using the text from Bluebird. I love the text as it is from the book To Kill a Mockingbird. The edges were distressed with the distressing tool and sponged with brown dye ink.

The center house is from Whimsical Melange stamped with black archival ink.  The banners and butterfly have  a touch of green watercolor pencil.  The bird is from the Birds of a Feather plate. The sentiment is from the Songbirds plate.

Here are the beautiful colors:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

Please visit the wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville * Monika (Guest Designer)

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Keep A Song in Your Heart

I love the ruler image in the Artistic Outpost Whimsical Melange. When I was working with the ruler I thought wouldn't it be fun to create a background of rulers. I think it turned out pretty cool.

Recipe:

1. Stamp ruler multiple times using black archival ink on ivory cardstock.
2. Sponge with yellow, orange and brown dye inks. 
3. Distress edges using distressing tool. 
4. Piece together a staggered background.
5. Stamp little birds randomly on background using black ink. 
6. Stamp birds on ivory cardstock using black ink. Watercolor with green and reds. 
7. Punch hearts from music sheet and spray with red glimmer mist. 
8. Stamp sentiment on ivory cardstock using black ink. Sponge background with yellow and orange dye ink. 
9. Cut out sentiment and mount on black cardstock. 
10. Assemble. 

Products:

• Artistic Outpost - Whimsical Melange
• Artistic Outpost - Typography
• Artistic Outpost - Birds of a Feather
• Artistic Outpost - Songbirds
• Ranger Distress Inks - Vintage Photo, Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge
• Ranger Archival Ink - Black 

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Whatever You Are

This sentiment is a great reminder of being yourself. I had so much fun pairing it up with the Lion and the Tin Man from the Oz collage plate. I thought how appropriate for them as they were all searching for what they really had within themselves. :)

The background and frame is from the Whimsical Melange Plate. The Lion and Tin Man are from the Oz Collage plate and the sentiment is from the Typography plate.

The background colors are a mix of dye inks blended and the images are colored using watercolor pencils. The colors were softened with distressing using a white acrylic paint. The seam binding was dyed with the same dye inks to coordinate.

Have a wonderful Friday!

Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week is anything goes. They are having a special blog hop with lots of fabulous projects from the design team. 

This card uses the beautiful new stamps from Artistic Outpost Whimsical Melange blended with the images from Artistic Outpost Birds of a Feather plate and the Old Grist Mill.

I am working on some really fun projects that I can't share right now. :)   But enjoying the process. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Artistic Outpost Release

I am so happy and excited to share the new release for Artistic Outpost. I have been happily playing with the new plates and finally get to share some of my projects.

There are three new plates being released:

• A Favorite Book - Featuring vintage images of children reading, this collection provides focal images of something we wish our kids would do more of....slowing down, being quiet, and enjoying a good book.
• Whimsical Melange - Designed as background and embellishment images, this collection features whimsical frames sized perfectly for cards and ATCs as well as unique scrollwork, pennants in two sizes, and other whimsical bits.  
• Typography - From Mark Twain to Winnie the Pooh to Bob Marley, this collection of unique sayings and sentiments includes our favorite quotes from some of our favorite artists and characters. 

My first card uses the sentiment from Typography and the beautiful image from She-Roes.  The papers are from Teresa Collins World Traveler. What a great sentiment for a friend who might need a little encouragement. 

My second card uses the wonderful Whimsical Melange images with the sweet Birds of a Feather plate. I used the Whimsical house to create a birdhouse.  I punched a hole for the bird to create his doorway. I added a few stickers to create a fun sentiment on the banner. I also stuck a little bedding in the hole for my bird friend.

My last card uses the super sweet images from Favorite Book and the banners are from the Whimsical Melange. The papers are Authentique and pages from an old book. I used white acrylic paint to soften the papers mixed with a touch of light blue acrylic paint.  I thought what a great set of images and sentiments for beginning of school or thank you cards for teachers and librarians. 

The design team has created some awesome projects and cards which you can go see in the Artistic Outpost Gallery. 

The design team is also sharing wonderful projects on their blogs:  

*Lisa Somerville *Gerrie Johnnic *Lynn Stevens *Barbara Washington *Stephanie Severin*Judy Hayes* Louise Granlund


Thanks so much for stopping by!

Suzz