Tree Tag

The Weekend Tagger challenge this week was to use a Christmas tree on a tag. Here, I used a Club Scrap collage stamp. I dabbed on Distress Inks -- tea dye, peeled paint and broken china -- and stamped on hot press watercolor paper. To finish, I gilded the edges with gold leaf pen, and then added three crystals on the left side in the big snowflake, the star, and on the bottom of the tag.

A simple gold bow finishes the tag.

Thanks for the challenge, ladies. I've had this stamp for a couple years, and this is the first time I've used it.

Autumnal Tag

This week's challenge at Tag You're It! was to make a tag about autumn. This was my third attempt:



The stamps are all Hero Arts. I colored the image with pencils. As always, I appreciate the challenge!

On Leadership

Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.
- Jerry Garcia

The Lady in the Ruff

This week's challenge by the Weekend Taggers was to use a sketch posted on Friday as the design take-off. Here's my interpretation of the
sketch:



I'm stuck in a brown mode, I guess. I love this background paper, and used it earlier this weekend to make a card. The image is unmounted rubber; I'm not sure the manufacturer. I would love to know if her face is famous. I feel sure this is from a portrait somewhere. Anyway, the tag is embellished with self-stick pearls, and the sentiment is "From one chick to another. . ."

Something to Think About

If you invested $1,000.00 dollars last year, this year you would have:

United Airlines: nothing
Delta Airlines: $64
AIG: $26


But, if you invested $1,000.00 in BEER and took the cans for recycling you would have $284.00.

Dream

Here's this week's challenge tag at Tag You're It. The challenge was to use the word "dream" on the tag. Here's mine:



Pretty simple. Stamped the image on an actual manila tag with Versafine Vintage Sepia; image is lightly colored with chalk. Because the image is square, I wanted to soften the edges, so I masked the ends of the tag with post-it notes torn into an arch. Gilded the edges slightly with a gold leaf pen. The stamp is made by Magenta.

Do the math.

Inside, "You're old. Happy Birthday"

This card was completed for the latest challenge at You Know You Rock. The challenge was to use a background stamp as the focal image on a card. So here's my interpretation.



I scanned this, instead of photographing. The scan distorts the colors just a tad bit; the yellow layer is more goldenrod in real life, not quite so bright yellow. The background stamp is Club Scrap, the sentiment is River City Rubber Works. The background is direct to paper Vivid inks on glossy card stock. I've got the perfect birthday coming up for this card!

"The Producers"

Mom and I attended the Billings Studio Theater's presentation of "The Producers." Even though we'd seen the touring edition last winter @ the Alberta Bair, we wanted to see this with Pat Schindle as Max Biyalistock, and Vint Lavender as Roger DeBris.

Usually, the dancing and singing of local productions pale in comparison with the touring companies. We definitely liked the BST production BETTER than the touring company. We were not sure why, exactly. The theater is smaller, and the experience is more intimate than at ABT.

The dancing was good, but fewer dancers at BST, the stage is MUCH smaller. The singing was pretty good. It was just funnier to us, maybe because we've seen these actors in sooooo much. Kelly Martin was his rubber-faced hilarious self as Leo Bloom. He can walk across stage and get laughs. His son played Carmen Ghia, Roger's assistant. The nut doesn't fall far from the tree! He was very entertaining, too.

They just had so much energy and enthusiasm -- it's easier to feel inside BST, and I think that the locals just have more when they're perfoming in front of friends and relatives. A very enjoyable theater experience!

Peachy Ballerina

This week's challenge at "Tag You're It" is monochromatic. I dug through my paper stash and found some lightly checked Lasting Memories, and, miracle of miracles, Vivid Tea Rose ink, which matches the color of this paper. (It's a miracle it's not dried up!) The stamp is from Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers. I cut the oval and the scallop with Nestabilities dies. I also blinged-up (it is TOO a word!)the ballerina's tutu with a clear Copic Spica glitter pen. Trust me on this -- these pens are too subtle to photograph, but if you turn the tag JUST SO, the spangles appear. She is ready to go on stage:



I finished with some tulle I had, in keeping with the tutu idea. It was white, so I laboriously colored it with Copic markers to turn it peachy. It reads a little peachier than the carstock on the photo, but in real life it is a perfect match. TRUST ME.

Elephant Splendor

I made a set of ATC's for a swap, with the theme of elephants. I used an old elephant stamp I had, and added some sparkle with Copic sparkle pens. I wanted the background to look like an old Indian cotton bedspread, like the kind I had at college first year. I used an unmounted background stamp I bought specifically for ATCs, and stamped it with Versamark. I dabbed that image with chalks. I like how the background turned out:



I signed up for a number of ATC swaps for this fall.

Evening in Northeastern Montana

Spent this past weekend up north, visiting. Took these photos at the farm. The grain bins in the evening light:



Looking to the east:


The old hay rake. I take a picture of this old rake everytime I go up to the farm:

Sew . . . on a Tag

This week's "Tag You're It" challenge was to use sewing on a tag. I abhor sewing on cardstock, so my tag actually features faux stitching! I used a push pin and a ruler to make holes around the edge of the cardstock, and then connected the holes with a gel pen. This makes believeable stitching, especially in real life. My photography makes it look like a solid line in spots:



The image (Inkadinkado) is stamped on the green background, and again on the printed paper. The dress on the printed paper is cut out and glued over the top of the image stamped on the green. I cut out the corners freehand -- I'm awaiting delivery of a Stampin'Up punch like this. Anyway, I like the effect, even if the cutting is less than perfect.

A Lame Hello in Metal

The "You Know You Rock" blog challenge this month was to use metal on a project. I hemmed and hawed, and dug through my boxes of embellishments. It was pretty lean pickings, aside from snaps, eyelets, paper clips and brads. I found these metal type-writer key letters which have little pokey things on the back to grab to paper. I used my Flourishes "Poppy" set to make this card:



It qualifies for the challenge, but barely! Again, my stellar photography makes it impossible to see that the keys spell out "hello"!

Atonement

I finally got around to seeing this movie -- it's been in my Netflix queue for a while. It was an interesting, if somewhat confusing, examination of a lie, its consequences, and the lifetime of the liar to make amends.

Thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her older sister, Cecilia, and the housekeeper's son, Robbie, through the window, and misinterprets their actions. Robbie's been educated at Oxford as a result of the benificence of the girl's father, and plans on attending medical school. He's walking the border between two social classes, and gradually letting his attraction to Cecilia overcome his better judgment. Briony sees him and Cecilia playfully tugging on a vase of flowers. That interaction, and an intercepted letter from Robbie to Cecilia, form the basis of Briony's later lie that ruins both Robbie and Cecilia's life.

The story is told primarily through Briony's eyes, although there is some jumping back and forth to tell the story from another's viewpoint. This is where it is difficult sometimes to track where in the story you are.

It was an interesting movie, and I'm glad I finally saw it.

Traitor

I saw "Traitor" this past weekend. In it, Don Cheadle plays Samir Horn, a Sudanese American who, as a young boy, saw his father murdered in a car bomb. He and his mother moved to Chicago, where he spent his formative years in the projects. Now, he is apparently a terrorist, involved in a plot to bring terror to the US.

After he and others are arrested in Yemen for a terrorist plot, he comes to the attention of a couple of FBI agents, played by Guy Pearce and Neil McDonnough. (I love Neil's blue eyes!) A game of cat and mouse ensues, and ultimately, Samir's true purpose is revealed.

This was a good movie, but very violent. It was rated R for the violence and language. It was most disturbing to sit behind a woman and her (presumably) three kids -- an older boy, maybe 16, a girl, 12-ish, and a boy about 8. I can't imagine what she was thinking. Aside from the violence, the topic of terrorism -- and the constant beat of it in our daily lives -- must surely be the cause of nightmares for those young kids. That's what REALLY disturbed me.

Labor Day labors

I made a lot of cards today, but only one photograph is worth even looking at. All the flash photos are sooo yellow. Here, the only really yellow thing is Woodstock:



Colored with Copics, for an upcoming birthday.

Cold and rainy today -- quite a relief from the dry heat. We picked up over an inch of rain between yesterday and tonight -- there was steady rain all night. It's supposed to be drying up a bit for tomorrow and Wednesday. I've got some yard work to do for mom on Wednesday afternoon, so I hope the forecast holds up.

The Kingdom

I finally got around to watching this last night -- I've had it from Netflix most of the summer.

The movie is a fictional account of a terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia. The victims of the attack are western oil workers and their families, relaxing in their highly-secured compound at a Sunday softball game. A special agent for the FBI is on site, and is killed after the first wave of attacks by a huge car bomb that destroys an apartment building(a la the Kobar Towers blast in the early 1990's).

An elite team of FBI agents -- Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman and Chris Cooper -- finagle their way into the country to investigate the deaths of the Americans. They join forces with a reluctant Saudi police chief, who grows to appreciate the American's dedication and expertise.

As the movie ends, and loose ends are tied up, we are reminded that the terror will continue so long as revenge figures into motivation for violence. The movie was very engaging, and I found myself several times with muscles clenched, ready for the next bomb. Yeah, it's very violent.

Wine Country Watercolor

I've been watercoloring images lately, following a summer of Copics. For this card, I used the traditional Adirondack ink pads, the colors which are slightly greyed. This is probably my favorite pallette.

Image is by Stampendous; sentiment is Hero Arts.

I'd enjoy a class of wine right now, if it weren't only 1:30 p.m. ;O

Autumnal Tag

Despite the fact that it was 103F here today, my tag for the weekly "Tag, You're It" challenge is all about autumn. I also had to cheat -- the challenge was to use punches, but I used my die cutter instead. I got a chance to use my leaf dies to make this tag:



I got to use my favorite fall sentiment, the Emily Bronte quote: "Every leaf speaks bliss to me, falling from the silent tree." I am not a good enough photographer to make that show clearly. But I hope you will note that I've created a foam core white board "studio" for my shoots! Ha Ha.

Poppy Prototype

I wanted to use my Flourishes poppy stamps. Each flower, bud and leaf is an individual stamp, allowing you to build your own bouquet. This can be a challenge.
The card started life as a 5 x 5 square, and I cut it down after stamping and masking to about 3.5 x 5. The size of the card is about 5 x 7.