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I think this will be the last ATC swap for now that I am hosting, it was fun though!! Here is my contribution to the Flourishes Winter ATC swap. I made a little scene inside a scene, my own Winter Wonderland:

All stamps are by Flourishes. I stamped the little snowman scene inside the ornament, then colored with copics and gold glitter pen. An entire sheet of such ornaments was then sprayed repeatedly with Triple Thick Glaze to get the card stock saturated (looks sort of translucent) and the ornaments shiny.
While this was drying I stamped the everygreen branches with Handsome Hunter, then again with versamark and embossed with Powder Keg “frost” powder. The backgrounds were sponged with old paper distress ink.
Here is a closer look with the ornament straight on = not shiny:

Sunday’s Stitch will resume next Sunday, no stitches were done this week

Today starts a new Rumble at the Cottage Studio! This time Wendi gave us the challenge to use anything digital, and so I did! I made a 8 by 8 scrap page from old photographs, the upper one is my mom and the lower one is me
I used digi images for the peony flowers and the leafy background from Belinda of Clear Artistic Stamps. All was put together using Photoshop Elements (4).

These are the steps that I followed (roughly):

1) Scan in photographs and clean them up some, remove scratches, remove unwanted items etc., crop, re_size and add a spatter frame (styles+effects, frames).
2) Drop pictures into a blank 8 by 8 canvas (300 dpi), show grid (snap to grid) for alignment.
3) Open leaf background and adjust color (enhance –> adjust color –> replace color)
4) Drop leaf background into page, pull corner to resize for full page.
5) Open Peony image. Use dropper to select color from background, adjust to slightly darker, use paint bucket to fill leaves. If color leaks out to background, use black paintbrush to close open gaps.
6) Holding shift key, select most green areas in flower leaves with magic wand and use mosaic tiles filter.
7) Drop flower into picture and move to desired location.
8 ) Going back to modified flower image, flip horizontal and drop onto canvas as well, move to desired location.
9) Add text and drop shadows
10) Add border: using rectangle tool (grid on), modify layer style: salt.

For another fun old-picture page and to see what the others in our Design Team did, do visit the Cottage Studio

I can’t believe thanksgiving week is already here, are you thawing a turkey??

Played around a bit with my favorite fairy from Elemental Doodles, you can find her in the Forest Fairies Set . Christmas cards are all the rage this time of the year, but don’t forget to make some thank-you cards for those unexpected presents and greetings or a last minute Thanksgiving Greeting for your best Forest Friends!

I used an oval JustRite stamper and the curlz alphabet to make the sentiment tag. Some other supplies on the table were: Chocoholic Scent-A-Mist Spary , chocolate brilliance ink, clear embossing powder, fabric scraps, spellbinder’s dies, copics, glitter pens, brown marker for doodling, sewing machine, sponge with brown ink, brads….

The scent-a-mist sprays glimmer in combination with the fabrics give a nice shabby-glitz contrast:

Did you know that the small round decorative borders from JustRite fit nicely into the small oval stamper? They do

I am entering this card into two challenges:
1) “Thank you Somethings” from Stamp Somethings
2) “Paper Kutz Challenge #18″ from Paper Kutz

Today I am playing with digital images at the Cottage Studio. I really do like that I can save my “cards” on the computer and have some at the ready to print out when the need arises. It is a lot of fun to try out things with layers and filters and make different arrangements without getting your fingers inky

These images are from Clear Artistic Stamps with the addition of a woodgrain brush that I found as a free download to build the table. Visit me at the Cottage Studio for some more information of how this was done.

Good news for the non-digi enthusiast! Clear Artistic Stamps are celebrating their third year in business with an awesome sale: 9 sets are reduced in price from $10.95 to $6.49 for a short time only! Find these on the Special Sale’s page here !

Some wonderful people have graced me with fun blogger awards, and as always, I’m terribly late to send on the love
First up is Anita from Praierie Paper Ponderer who sent the Kreative Blogger Award my way:

Thanks so much Anita I appreciate it and had fun reading your 7 things!

The rules are simple:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Copy the logo and paste to your blog.
3. Link to the person who gave you the award.
4. Name seven things about yourself that no one would really know.
5. Nominate seven “Kreativ” Bloggers.
6. Post links to the seven blogs.
7. Leave a comment on each blog so they know you nominated them.

Hmm, seven things no one would really know. Not too sure about this, lets see:

1) After some 40 years of ignorance I finally started to appreciate Mozart.. well, some of his work anyway
2) Every morning after making the beds my dog Theodor and I have a play session on top of it which totally messes everything up again…
3) I have started to enjoy digital “papercrafting” but can’t get warmed up to “digital stamps” to color in.
4) I hate shopping…..
5) This probably ties in with the previous comment, but I am about 10 years late with clearing out my closet to get rid of things that I haven’t worn in probably 15 years!
6) I like to cook, but I prefer to eat raw.
7) I have a passion to listening to books on CD (library) while I do other things, especially fantasy teen fiction.

Now on to 7 other bloggers.

1) Judy’s Crazy for Cards Spot
2) Froglips and Crowns… some of Kim’s Krafty Koncoctions
3) Elizabeth’s Tatted Lace
4) Planet June
5) Bluebirds Living in the Meadow
6) Folding Trees
7) Threads With Cat Hair

I also received the Honest Scrap Award from Kim Marie of Frog of Faith . Thanks so much Kim, but I don’t want to double this one up. (and honestly, how many things can I say about myself, another list? LOL….).

Yet another awards comes from Sue of Sue’s Sentiments . Her blog and paper crafting certainly IS over the top

The Rules are: Pass this award on to five people, post on their blog to let them know you have left this award for them. And then answer a list of questions in one word!
Here’s mine:
1. Where is your mobile?…backpocket
2. Your hair?…goingGray!
3. Your Mother?…Germany
4. Your Father?… heaven
5. Your favorite food?…raw
6. Your Dream last night?…none
7. Your Fav Drink?…coffee
8. Your Dream?…undecided
9. What room are you in?…office
10. Your Hobby?… Crafting
11. Fear?…falling
12. Where do you want to be in 5 years?…here
13. Where were you last night?… Home
14. Something that you aren’t?…big
15. Muffins…wholegrain
16. Wish List Item?…Copics
17. Where did you grow up?…Germany
18. Last thing you did?…blogpost
19. What are you wearing?…sweater
20. Your TV?…off
21. Pets?…dogs
22. Friends?…sure
23. Mood?…nervous
24. Life?…everyday
25. Missing someone?…dad
26. Vehicle?…outback
27. Something you’re not wearing?…lace
28. Fav store?…Michaels!
29. Fav Colour?…yellow
30. When was last time you laughed?…last night
31. Last time you cried?…dunno
32. Best Friend?…dog
33. One place that I go to over n over? forest
34. Facebook?…nope
35. Fav place to eat? home

Now to pass it on to: Mark , Teresa H. , Pamela , Teresa A. and Mari !

And yet, one more fun thing I was named Top Artist by Glue, Scissors, Paper in November for my wordbook entry for their challenge. Now that’s a proud thing to display!! I feel very honored by that

I skipped a week, didn’t get any stitching done, but then picked back up! Here is my progress on the Fairy Flower Garden from Chatelaine Designs:

Two more dragonflies join the first one and some lovely garden flowers tell me I have reached the edge!! The bottom dragonfly is missing her beads yet….

Once I have beaded her I will crawl along the center to complete the border and then repeat the same thing on the left side By that time my larger side extender bars should have arrived at the LNS and I can add on top and bottom.

If you noticed that I am a bit blog-rare these days, I am My grand daughter is visiting for just a few weeks and most of my waking time is spent with her, such a joy! Will be back to regular schedule before we know it….

Ahh, it is that friday of the month again for a new Rumble Challenge at the Cottage Studio! . Jeanie has given the DT the challenge to play with inchies (and twinchies). These little pieces of art are super fun, go read Jeanie’s article about them! I played with the super cute Bear from the Friends are Forever set. My inchie is the top piece on the bear, the other pieces measure 1.5, 2 and 3 inches square, and I am sure those sizes have funky names as well

Coloring was done with copics, the pieces are adhered with pop dots. If you’re in the mood, participate and show us what YOU can do with inchies!