2008 Reflections

As I look back and reflect on my experiences in 2008 I would have to say that this wonderful world of blogging has had the most profound impact on me. I wonder how I ever did without it?

Thanks to each and everyone of you in blogland for sharing your passion, expertise, life experiences and most of all your creative expressions. You may not realize how much you truly do inspire the rest of us!!

Thanks to each and everyone of you (you know who you are) who have left sincere and kind comments on my little blog. Your words mean a great deal to me and I always try to respond in kind.

A Big Thanks to a group of women I met at Stampin'D'Amour, an online forum run by Pamela Jin. She also has a very trendy online Vintage themed paper crafting Boutique. These women welcomed me with open arms into their creative world and I will forever be grateful for their encouragement and kind comments at my humble attempts to be creative. They showed me the wonderful world of blogging and gave their advice and expertise without hesitation. Please check out each of these gals blogs and you will see they are all extremely talented:

Kris at Nostalgic Collage
Sarah at Vintage Figments
Lyneen at I Am Dreaming of Castles
Louise at Kard Krazy
Pam at Scrappy Pam Designs

On a personal note, I would sincerely like to thank Sarah from Vintage Figments . She is the most wonderful, kind-hearted soul I have ever met. She truly is an inspiration to me.

Lastly, I want to thank a great group of gals at the Crafty Scrapper who have also been very warm and encouraging in their comments on my blog. They too share their expertise and advice without hesitation.

In closing I would like to say that 2008 has been the beginning of a wonderful journey for me and I look forward to what 2009 holds. I wish each of you a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2009!!!

Happy Holidays!

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support and kind words during this past year of blogging. I wish that each of you and your families have a very Merry Christmas and happy Holiday Season!

Christmas Tag

I created a tag based on techniques Tim Holtz posted on his blog last year for a challenge over at the Vintage Veranda. Thanks to the local Crafty Scrapper store hosting a class taught by Wendy Vecchi, I was able to learn the techniques for creating this tag from a real pro. Wendy is very talented and you should check out her blog for some fabulous work! I used distress crackle paint, distress inks and my favorite Crafty Secrets Santa stamp.

Holiday Images

I found these images at an antique store in my area and thought I would scan and post them for your use during the holiday season. Enjoy!

Happy Holly Days Card

One of my Christmas cards for the upcoming holidays!

ATC's

I found a really neat online store for ATC supplies and was delighted with the fall goody package that was included with my stamp order. I just made these 4 ATC's with the goodies Lisa included and a few from my stash. If you get a chance, please check out Lisa's store yourATCstore.com where you will find all kinds of ATC supplies!!! Customer service was fantastic and shipping was fast!

Holiday Tags

I seem to be getting into the holiday season early and created these tags using some Stampin Up paper that I think is absolutely lovely! The stamps are from Crafty Secrets and I used Ranger Distress Ink in Walnut Stain to distress the tags before applying the SU paper. Hope you are inspired to get into the holiday spirit!

Stampin'D'Amour Weekly Challenge

This is my submission for the challenge Kris is hosting at Stampin'D'Amour. Kris is a very talented artist whose blog is chock full of inspirational pieces, you should check out her blog Nostalgic Collage for some eye candy. Why don't you join in the challenge at SDA, everyone is welcome!

I used Ranger Distress Inks and the wrinkle free distress technique to create the background on this blank rolodex card. The ink colors used are Broken China, Shabby Shutters, Worn Lipstick, Vintage Photo and Black Soot. The stamps are by Brother Sister Design Studio and Cavallini. To give it an even older look, I dipped the rolodex card in beeswax. This background technique is so much fun because you never know what you are going to get and each background turns out different. If you want to see how to do this technique be sure to check out Tim's blog where he has it posted under his November Technique Tim Holtz.

Punch Card Image

I was recently out antique shopping and found a few of these punch cards. I scanned one of them and am posting the image for your use. Enjoy!

Retired

I just retired from a full-time job and hope to start posting more often! Thanks for looking and check back again!

New Vintage Website

There is a new vintage website scheduled to have it's grand opening on October 10, 2008. Please make sure you save that date and check out this new vintage site here: The Vintage Veranda.

A Blog Award

Linda from Lambsworld gave me this sweet blog award! I now get to pass it on to three blogs I think you will find are wonderful and full of creative inspiration:

1. Sarah's Blog Vintage Figments
2. Darlene's Blog Dar's Crafty Creations
3. Sherri's Blog Tied Up In Ribbons

Sarah has the most incredible vintage style and is my "shopping buddy" here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Darlene does wonders with cards and has a lot of energy for someone who has an ill loved one. Please keep her and her family in your prayers! Sherri is a very talented and creative person who also hosts many challenges on the Crafty Scrapper Forum. Although I could go on and on about these very talented women, I will save that for you folks to check out for yourselves when you visit their blogs.

Stampin'D'Amour Challenge #49

Darlene of Dar's Crafty Creations hosted challenge #49 at Stampin'D'Amour this week and this is the card I did for her challenge. We were to create something using lace and buttons.

Tim Holtz September Technique Challenge

Tim has challenged everyone out there in blog land to create something using Adirondack Dye Inks as a Watercolor Technique. You can check out Tim's challenge and his blog by clicking on the title to this post. I used a Hero Arts stamp and 4 Adirondack Dye Ink pads (Butterscotch, Terra Cotta, Currant and Lettuce). I even used the Terra Cotta ink to color a wood button so that it would match the card! How cool is that?

Stampin'D'Amour Challenge #48

Darlene of Dar's Crafty Creations hosted challenge #48 at Stampin'D'Amour this week and this is the card I did for her challenge. We were to use black and white with a splash of color.

Stampin'D'Amour Challenge

I am hosting this weeks challenge at Stampin'D'Amour a really cool message board with several very talented and sweet ladies! The challenge for this week will be to make an item, (i.e., card, atc, inchie, twinchie, altered object, etc.) using at least one stamp with the Christmas holiday season as the theme. It has been hot down in here in Texas and I just wanted to do something very cool lol! The challenge is open to anyone who is interested, please come and join in the fun!

Pfatt Marketplace

(Click on the Picture to make it bigger)
I was fortunate enough to win a beautiful set of tags made by Nancy Malay during a recent drawing at the Pfatt Marketplace where they have the most wonderful handmade art. The tags that Nancy made are absolutely lovely and I can't wait to use them this holiday season. Please visit both Nancy's website and the Pfatt Marketplace.

Mannequin Tag

I made this mannequin tag for a dear friend of mine using some wallpaper that I snagged this weekend at a garage sale for the background. What do you think?

Gold Card Award

I received this award from the very talented and wonderful Kris Dickinson. Check out her amazing talent by stopping by her blog: Nostalgic Collage . The rules for this award are: 1. Only 5 people are allowed to receive this award. 2. Four dedicated followers of your blog. 3. One has to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world. 4. You must link back to whoever gave you the award. I would like to honor the following talented ladies with this award:

1. Sarah from Vintage Figments
2. Louise from Kard Krazy
3. Lyneen from I am Dreaming of Castles
4. Carrie from Pinkadoo
5. Rein from plezier met papier

Crafty Secrets Card

I recently purchased a couple of Crafty Secrets clear stamp sets and got a chance to make a card with one of their stamps. I just love their stamps and the vintage images they have on their work is absolutely fabulous!

Blog Readability

Here is another tool for all you bloggers out there to see what level of education is required to read your blog.

Arizona Artist

On a recent trip to Arizona I found this adorable hand painted rusty old sardine can for sale at a quilt shop. Well obviously I had to buy it along with a few other goodies and I wanted to share it with you. You can check out more of Jeannie's Junque for sale at the Quilters Mercantile.

Twinchies Challenge

Louise of Kard Krazy is hosting the current challenge at Stampin'D'Amour and it is to make twin twinchies. We would love to have you join in on the challenge so why don't you check it out and let's see what you can do. This was my first attempt at making twinchies. What do you think? Any suggestions? I welcome any comments. Take Care - Robin

Historic Waxahachie, Texas

Julie of Fabulous Finds Studio has done an outstanding job of showcasing Waxahachie, Texas. This little town just 30 minutes south of Dallas has been my home for over four years now and is absolutely full of vintage historic charm. From the little shops downtown to the historic courthouse Waxahachie is a great place to check out if you are ever in the area. Be sure to check out Julie's blog for some beautiful pictures of Waxahachie!

Stamp Set and Acrylic Block Giveaway

Roni at Ink Stains is having a smART Works Rubber Stamp Set and Acrylic Block Giveaway. Head on over to her blog and check out the details!

Challenge Card at Stampin D'Amour

This ATC was made for a challenge hosted by Kimmie at Stampin D'Amour . We had to create an ATC using at least one stamp, the colors black and pink, a vintage image and the theme was Paris. It was a lot of fun being in Paris......Texas that is, that's right we were in Paris, Texas earlier in the week so I was ready for this challenge!!!

Challenge Card

This is a Tag I did for Kimmie's challenge at Stampin D'Amour. We were to use anything with dolls, so I used a template I found at Alicia G's website. This challenge was a lot of fun!

Giveaway of Treasures

My Little Cottage in the Making is having a giveaway of several beautiful treasures. Click on the link above to enter, but hurry you must enter before tomorrow June 13th. Good Luck!

Pretty In Pink Apron Giveaway

There is a beautiful pink patchwork apron giveaway at Aunt Daisys Cottage. Just click on the title to this post and you will be redirected to the site but hurry you must post before midnight tonight June 12th. Good Luck!

Beautiful Apron Giveaway

Bonnie is giving away a gorgeous handmade apron on her blog at Calamity Janes Cottage. Please check out her blog and enter to win this apron!

Large Tag Templates

During my recent visit to the Scrapbook convention in Arlington, TX, I saw a couple of vendors using very large manilla tags for art projects. These large tags are not readily available at your local office supply store and can be found and purchased online. However, if you want to create your own the St. Louis Tag Co. has the templates for all sizes of shipping tags from #1 (1.375 x 2.75) to #12 (5.125 x 2 10.25). Just click on the title to this post and you will be redirected to their website. Enjoy!

Templates

Looking for a particular template for your art project? Chia's Rubberstamp Art Templates is loaded with free templates you can download from boxes and tags to triptych cards. Just click on the title to this post and you will be redirected to that website. Enjoy!

Contest Winner - Tim Holtz Goodie Box

Roni over at ink stains had several contests posted on her blog celebrating her 6 month blogging anniversary and I was the lucky winner of the Tim Holtz Goodie Box giveaway!!!! The prize consists of a whole box full of Tim Holtz goodies which includes 3 Distress Ink Pads, 3 Adriondack Acrylic Dabbers, 3 bottles of Alcohol Ink, 2 jars of Distress Embossing Powders, 2 jars of Distress Crackle Paints, an assortment of Grunge Board, a few fragments as well as some of Tim's newest line of Hardware/Embellishments!!!!! In addition to some awesome giveaways, Roni has got a lot of great information on her blog and I would encourage you all to check it out, just click on the title to this post and you will be redirected to her blog. Thanks Roni and Congrats on your 6 month Blogging Anniversary!!!

Tags

Well, today was kind of a tag day for me. I was on a roll and made four of them. The firt two I used Inkadinkado stamps. The third one I used a Hampton Arts Stamp and the fourth one I used a Stampers Anonymous Stamp. I sprayed the tags with of all things fabric paint! Spritzing a couple different colors on each tag and letting them dry. I then ironed the tags, added coordinating cardstock to the backs, a silk flower with brad center and finished with some fibers.

Thrift Store Finds

A few weeks ago I was out thrift store shopping when I came across some goodies for my craft space. The first is a Bird House wall rack that needs some TLC, but will fit nicely into a Robin's Nest! The second is a pair of hands and some old wooden spools. I really don't know what I am going to do with the hands, but I will think of something eventually! The third is an old cassette tape holder which works well for my ink pads and stores them correctly with the ink side down and the other rack works great for my markers and stores them correctly!

Templates

I found a website that is loaded with templates for paper crafters. It has many different templates for envelopes, cards, boxes and even a paper doll for all you collagers out there. Just click on the title to this post and you will be redirected to the website.

Challenge #39 Vintage Red, White and Blue

Kimmie of http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com hosted this weeks challenge at Stampin D'Amour. The challenge was to combine a vintage image with muted red, white and blue colors with a bit of distressing and a touch of silver or gold. Here is the card I submitted for that challenge. I used vintage graphics, (distressing the sheet music with DTP Old Paper Ranger Distress Ink) yellow ochre chalk ink (Color Box) and 4 gold embossed star brads. If you want more information on the weekly challenges at SDA, just click on the title to this post and it will redirect you to Stampin D'Amour.

Give Away at Sanctuary Arts Blog

The link for this great website is in the title to this post. Go check it out!!!

Challenge #38 Gothic Arch

For Kris' gothic arch challenge at Stampin D'Amor, I used alcohol inks to create the background. I used Raindrops art stamp and Stampabilities Le London Script stamp with black ink. I watercolored the girls lips and then distressed over her image with walnut ink. I used silk flowers that were also distressed with walnut ink and I put a distressed paper doilly behind the gothic arch. Topped it off with tri-colored cording. To find out more about this challenge, just click on the title to this post.

Challenge Card

This card was done for Pam's challenge at Stampin D'Amour where you had to use inks or stamping only on your cardstock. I sponged copper ink on the background paper and used Alchol Inks for the background of the stamped Image (Inkadinkado). Just click on the title to this post to go to the challenge!

Watermark Tutorial

I had been wondering how folks were able to add their copyright design info as a watermark to the pictures they post on galleries. Well, I found this great tutorial at A Day in the Life of Gina K. Designs Blog using Microsoft Photodraw. Even though I don't have Microsoft Photodraw, I was able to use Microsoft Picture It! to create a watermark on my photos. Just click on the title of this post to take you to the tutorial.

Thrifty Find - What Should I do With It?

I found this old cassette holder for $1.25 at my local thrift store and thought it would be a great way to store/organize my stamp ink pads. However, as you can see it needs some work. I need your advice on what you think I should do to spruce it up. Please give me your feedback. I welcome all of your suggestions/comments.

Check out this Blog

I would like to take a minute and highlight one of the inspirational blogs I have listed here. The Graphics Fairy has free downloadable vintage style graphics that are awesome! Thanks to the Graphics Fairy, I was able to create the banner for this blog and I absolutely love it! Thanks Graphics Fairy!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! I hope each of you has an absolutely wonderful day. I would like to thank my daughter Wendy who came into this world just in time to make me a first time Mom on May 9, 1980.

Mother's Day Card Challenge at http://stampindamour.com

For this challenge I used walnut ink to distress Anna Griffin paper, pink paper ribbon and 2 tags. I applied lace to 1 tag and attached flowers with a brad at the top of the tags. Both the flowers and lace were distressed with walnut ink too. The stamp is from Inkadinkado and the letters are dome stickers from Marcella attached to EK Success sticker round tags (distressed before applying the dome stickers to them.

Thanks Card

I used walnut ink to distress the tags and then stamped them with Cavallini Rubber Stamp Set--NATURAL WONDERS.

Card Challenge at http://stampindamour.com

This card challenge I used Cavallini Rubber Stamp Set- BiRDs & NeSTs.

Magnetic Bulletin Board

This was a fun project to make. Old fabric and batting were stapled to cork board and then ribbon was criss-crossed and secured. Magnetic tape was adhered to the back and upholstery pins added.

Card Challenge at http://stampindamour.com

I used a 1950's image, rick rack label and rick rack to make this card.

Recycled CD Clock

This was one of those free AOL CD's that I turned into a CD clock. I used versamark ink and Utee embossing powder for the base. Then I stamped the images on with StazOn ink. Great fun and unlimited theme possibilities.

Card Challenge at http://stampindamour.com

For this challenge, I used Victorian paper/cardstock from Stemma, fabric flowers sewn onto paper, a button recycled from an old suit, aqua rick rack and the definition of Flower/Flowery from an old Dictionary layered onto pink mulberry paper.