Some Santas

I promised to post some photos of completed Santa projects and here they are!  Because we won't be doing any craft fairs this year, I am wondering how many different designs we should attempt.  We will only have the craft co-op as an outlet.  We'd better get out there and find some other outlets!

Homespun July 4th

While the Santa eyes are drying, I had time to play with my limited number of stamps I managed to pack to bring north.  I found a jar stamp and filled it with hearts.  That started the idea forming.  Use up strips of red, white, and blue cs to create a herringbone quilt background.  Add a USA heart and mount them all on a white-striped background.  I like the end result and it makes me feel patriotic in a homey sort of way. Smile!

Pink and Green Smile Card

Today was a scorcher, and I spent the day working in the studio gluing mop cord beards on Santas.  We have completely finished two designs and have about 4 more in the works.  I will be posting some photos next week as we complete more of them.  In the meantime, I have been working on a card for the MFP Tutorial Challenge.  It involved stamping an image, cutting it out, using it as a mask, and then using the image.  They are calling it Positive and Negative Masking.  It's a new technique and my pale pink and white flower card is my entry in the challenge.  The flower stamp is from Heartfelt Creations, the die labels are from Quickutz I think, the leaf die is from Provocraft, and there is a Victoriana embossing folder used as well.  The sentiment is from the dollar bin at Joann's or Michael's.  

Always Proud--Our Flag

I was playing with embossing folders and dies and came up with this flag card for the impending holiday.  It's in it's "first life" stage and may end up with some glitter or Stickles on the stars, but it may end up being mailed "as is" because I like the simplicity of it.  It's a happy design and makes me smile.  July 4th is a theme on one of MFP's challenges this week so it goes to press because there are more Santas to paint, LOL!  And we know what colors I will be thinking of:  red, white, black...Maybe I will post some photos of completed Santas tomorrow.

Catching Up

I will have to do a few posts to catch up with what I've been doing these past few days.  Here is a card for a MFP tutorial challenge on heat embossing.  I missed the Summer-themed challenge while I painted Santas, but I combined a summery image with heat embossing and Twinkling H2O's with one of my favorite summer stamps for this one.  The background paper is hand-painted.  We were in Asheville all day running errands and I have just enough energy to post these cards.  I wish my completed cards weren't 500 miles away!  Who knew I would have so much fun doing a blog and entering challenges at MFP!

A Busy Few Days

Today's card is a Screen Door card.  The die by Cheery Lynn is so much fun to use. I saw the kits at Stampfest in Clearwater and had to have the kit.  I thought I could live without the die.  Sure!  Soon I  had to have the die.   Add some screen and a background image like The Angel Company's old truck stamp and you are ready to go.  Hmmm, maybe I need to look at MFP's scenery stamps.....I colored the truck image with water color pencils so that the image would show through the screen.  The wall of the "house" is scored at 1/2 inch intervals and rubbed with TH weathered wood distress ink.  This card went to my brother-in-law and my SIL shows it to everyone.  It was a big hit!  So now I'm going to post it to MFP's tutorial challenge for scored lines.

My First Blog Hop

I've decided to try a Mark's Finest Papers blog hop.  This will be the first time I've ventured out in the blog hop world.  I've become a follower of Karen Letchworth for her blog candy give away so you will have to check her site out.  I hope to visit other blogs tonight and tomorrow to find out how all this blog hopping works.    No card today because we were in town today.  Tomorrow I will be wiring bows onto our Holiday Trio wreaths so we can take some into the shop.  I will try to post some photos when I have them finished. Wonder if I will have time to get inky tomorrow?  Hope so!

Train Tunnel

When we were in AK, we saw some neat train tunnels.  When we went out west on two RV trips, they were there too--long, deep, and dark tunnels.  So when the challenge at MFP was to create a train tunnel using a DT tut by Lois, I was a little perplexed.  The tut was great and I could make the tunnel, and I tried to do a scene, really I did, but my childish train stamps looks silly or my perspective seemed way off.  My best little tree stamps are 500 miles away and why did my trees just seem like they were stacked on top of each other and not nestled on a mountain side.   I ended up with a "Over the Mountains and Through the Woods" stamp from Inkadinkado and found some paper that made me think of a train trip we once took from Dillsboro to Bryson City, NC.  I stamped the theme statement inside the card and added some of the paper to finish it off.  The card makes me smile and I hope it makes you smile too!

Vintage

I made it over to the studio today to work on a few cards. The MFP challenge was vintage so out came my favorite lace and cbug embossing folders.  The typewriter stamp is from a Prima set, and it became the focal point.  I pulled out my Heartfelt Creations flower dies, some dp, distressed inks, and an SU Sizzlit.  I kept adding until I had to "DID" it--I "deemed it done!"  Who uses the word deem anymore?  So I had to think about dinner and this is what I ended up with.  I like it and enjoyed putting it all together. A challenge is a good thing because it makes you s-t-r-e-t-c-h your imagination to go one more step.  I hope I win the stamp set with the vintage sewing machine.  It is really a nifty image!

Masked Center Challenge on MFP

Yikes!  Another challenge deadline!  The card on the left is for another MFP tutorial challenge by Pat Garvin called Masked Center.  It's an interesting technique and I didn't think it needed any more bells and whistles.  Every time I reached for ribbon or another type of embellishment, I put it back.  I like it just the way it is.  Unfortunately, it is storming here and the best background paper is over in the studio.

The card on the right is a variation of the Masked Center technique.  I left the card stock mask on the card.  It reminded me of wood planks and I just kept sponging and left it on.  So maybe I could call it something like "sponged planks" and create a new technique myself.  I couldn't get my Versa Mark to do what I wanted it to.  My pad must need to be reinked so the background is too subtle to be seen in the photo.

Black, White, and a Splash of Color

It's time for another challenge card for Mark's Finest Papers.  When I figure out how to add a link to their site, I will include that in the post.  The challenge was to use black and white and a splash of color.  So here's my You're One of a Kind card with a splash of rusty red.  I missed the tutorial coloring on distress ink backgrounds because I forgot when the deadline was. Tomorrow is this card's due date!  Whew!  I'm right under the line.

Button Challenge

I am calling this card a corner-folded pocket card since it has a tag inside.  The tag reads Wishing You a Sunny Day!  This card originally had a ribbon bellyband, but it just didn't work well.  I like the lace SO much better!  I also was able to use one of my favorite corner punch designs.  Read more about another card...

Greetings!

Welcome to A Fourth Life.  A place for new beginnings.  What will I post?  An art journal?  New card artworks?  Musings? A place to post photographs?  Insights and new perspectives?  Who knows what it will become as it grows and changes.  We'll just have to see...