Altered Pages Challenge 15--Chinese New Year

When I first imagined this project, I thought it would be in book form using the red book from Altered Pages that I had ordered for this purpose.  I began working with two of the Altered Pages Collage Sheets--AP2251 Year of the Horse and AP1025 Vintage Horses.  I cut out the images and adhered them to black Artist Trading Cards that I had also purchased from Altered Pages.  I found some Chinese coins and charms in my jewelry findings, some Jolee's China stickers, gold glitter tape, and black stickers.  I created a multi-layered extra large tag as the focal point for the cover.

Then I noticed the cigar box on the shelf next to my desk.  I liked the way the tag looked sitting on the top of the box.  At that point, my focus shifted to creating a box to house a book.

Because the red book wouldn't fit in this box, I folded a long strip of black cardstock into an accordion as the base for my book.  For each "page" I carefully glued Chinese Opera Paper Cuts from a Chinese Garden Gift Shop (purchased years ago) to white cardstock and protected each one with a sheet of acetate.  I layered black tape over gold Washi tape on the top of each and added coins and dimensional stickers.  On another piece of folded black cardstock, I adhered some of the ATCs I had leftover from the cover tag.  I found two cards with quotes from the Tao Te Ching that I put inside the cover of the box.  I added die cut horses silhouettes using dies from Poppystamps and some black Cloud 9 dimensional stickers.  In the bottom of the box, I used more of the ATCs, a part of a box top I had with Chinese writing on it, and more of the black dimensional stickers.

Below are photos of the interior of the box, the accordion book of Chinese paper cuts, and the other little horses book.  There is room in the box to add some other ephemera--a Chinese red envelope with coins inside, a bamboo tiles bracelet with Chinese characters on it, more coins and charms, and whatever else I find in my odds and ends that would be appropriate.

inside box, top cover

inside box with little books

inside bottom of the box

inside of horse booklet

cover images on horse booklet

cover Chinese Paper Cuts accordion book

What If Wednesday Challenge J814 (April Showers...)

This is my entry for the What If Wednesday Challenge J814 at Repeat Impressions:  April Showers Bring May Flowers.

Materials Used:

• Memory Box White Notecard
• Memory Box flowered paper scraps
• Memory Box Bluebird Distressed Dots paper
• Memory Box Holly Berry and White cardstocks
• Memory Box Stencil No. 88506 Rings and Puddles
• Ranger Distress Ink Salty Ocean
• circle and scalloped circle punches

Designer's Choice Challenge 115 Sweet Treats

This is my entry for the Designer's Choice Challenge 115 Sweet Treats at Repeat Impressions.

Materials Used:

• Memory Box White Notecard
• white and black cardstock scraps
• Delicata Golden Glitz Pigment Ink
• Faith's Clear Embossing Powder
• Memory Box Stencil No. 88522 Texture Diamond
• Memory Box Stamps 
• Gold Ribbon

Because all of the stamping is embossed, this card really shines!

Week 154 One Layer Card: Hearts Challenge at "Less is More"

This week's challenge at "Less is More" is to make a one layer card featuring hearts.  So I made one, and then another, and so on until I had seven done.  All of the cards were made on Memory Box White Notecards and feature only Memory Box stamps.  For inks I used Archival Vermillion, Archival Sepia, and Hero Arts Cup O' Joe.  I colored the owls using Prismacolor Pencils.   Here are my favorite four:

This card features the bramble wreath stamped over the bird heart image.

Winter Blues Week 153 Colour Challenge "Less is More"

I decided today to create a card for the Winter Blues Challenge at "Less is More".
     (http://simplylessismore.blogspot.com)

Materials Used:

• Memory Box white notecard
• Little Yellow Bicycle Winter Twig paper
• Neenah white cardstock
• Paper Source stamp:  SNOW
• Rnger Distress Ink:  Salty Ocean
• Memory Box Gold Finch Die No. 98756
• scrap of blue cardstock for the bird

I placed the card on a sheet of blue cardstock and scanned it into my computer.

Repeat Impressions DCC11 New To You Designer's Choice Challenge

This is the post I wrote to introduce the Blog Blitz this week for Memory Box Inc. on their Outside the Box blog.  Visit the blog and leave comments for a chance to win one of the new dies or stencils.  There will be two new posts each day.  So check it out!

Memory Box has STENCILS!!!

Welcome to Day One of the Memory Box Blog Blitz celebrating the 2014 new release, Creative Elegance.

I am just over the moon that Memory Box now is offering stencils!  Have you worked with stencils much?  I love layering stencils using inks and sprays. Here's a tutorial using two of the NEW Memory Box stencils:  88527 Garden Birch Trees and 88507 Texture Disperse.

• place the first stencil on top of the cardstock; tape in place (I used blue painter's tape securing the stencil from the back.)

• working on a craft sheet, use a blending tool to add ink over the stencil and onto the cardstock (I used Hero Arts Mid-tone Shadow Ink in Wet Cement.)

• place the second stencil over the inked image and secure with tape

• Use an ink spray over this stencil (I used Dylusions White Linen, working on a piece of scrap cardboard box).  Carefully remove the stencil and wash it with warm water and dry--these stencils clean up beautifully!  No ink spray?--press a white ink pad directly onto the stencil to make the dots.

• This is what it looks like after removing the stencil and letting the ink spray dry--snowy woods!

• trim cardstock to the size you need for the card front

Here are two cards I made using these techniques, two of the NEW Memory Box stencils No. 88527 Garden Birch Trees and No. 88507 Texture Disperse, and one of the NEW dies No. 98756 Gold Finch.

 

• white cardstock
• 88527 Garden Birch Trees Memory Box Stencil--NEW
• Hero Arts Shadow Ink in Soft Leaf and blending tool
• 88507 Texture Disperse Memory Box Stencil--NEW
• Dylusions White Linen Ink Spray
• 98756 Gold Finch Memory Box Die--NEW
• scrap of red cardstock
• Memory Box stamp B1960/CS1960B walking in a winter wonderland (masked the top row of words to get just winter wonderland on the card; filled in tops of taller letters with fine point black pen)
• Memento Tuxedo Black ink
• Memory Box Dill notecard

• white cardstock
• 88527 Garden Birch Trees Memory Box Stencil--NEW
• Hero Arts Mid-tone Shadow Ink in Wet Cement and blending tool
• 88507 Texture Disperse Memory Box Stencil--NEW
• Dylusions White Linen Ink Spray
• 98756 Gold Finch Memory Box Die--NEW
• scrap of kraft cardstock
• Memory Box stamp B1909/CS1909B just thinking of you today
• Hero Arts Mid-tone Shadow Ink in Cup O' Joe
• Memory Box Parchment notecard

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!