Ornamental Dylusions Christmas

Howdy Candies…So I’m completely smitten over some gorgeous shares lately & I would say they are just stunning Eye Candy heARTistry!  I’m very certain that you will find them to be too!  Along my journey I decided that I wanted to dibble a bit and combine a plethora of products together to create some ornaments that I’m in a swap for & admittedly I also wanted to join in this months Inspiration Emporiums “Joyful Creations” challenge.  I will say that I’ve officially incurred the “Dylusionsenal Syndrome”…Warning: The voices in my head say there is no cure!   Of course it’s no wonder that I’m experiencing an Ornamental Dylusions Christmas lately. 

Whilst I’m inspired by the lovely shares from the Design Team at IE, I’ve also seen many handmade Christmas Cheer along the way from those I admire deeply & personally follow along in the Blogosphere.  They are more then just Designers but heARTists that truly create to share their love of the crafts as much as I do.  Along my journey this past year they have also become Friends!  I’m so excited to share some of their heARTistry with you in what is dubbed “Blogworthy Eye Candy!”  I’m so thankful to them as their inspiration touched my heART & they are some of the most amazingly generous souls I know.  So Stay TUNED for the end of this post for a list of my Favorite Holiday Creations that inspired a bit of mine.  (To leave a comment, thoughts, suggestions, or feedback - just click the title to this post & scroll to the bottom)

Dylusions Ornament – Configuration Style: (Crushed Grape, Bubblegum Pink, Vibrant Turquoise Dylusions sprays, Tim Holtz – Configurations, Ideo-ology Findings, Tinsel, & Woodland, Claudine Hellmuth – Sticky Back ATC Canvas)

Top: Color Ready Ribbon, Tinsel, Broken knob, & Fabric Glue

Inspiration Emporium “Joyful Creations” Challenge Submission: (Click the Photo to Join the Challenge!")

 

Edited FB Cover “Ornamental Dylusional Christmas”

 

Instead of mass producing Christmas Cards this year I wanted to make one single card for each recipient that is a quality handmade card with a small ornament to hang on their tree from the Candy Studio. I thought it would be a Fantabulous way of using these treats & also play around with various techniques along the way. I’m so excited to share each of them in posts leading up to Christmas, Yay! (Doing the Happy Dance) I will also be including one of my treasures in the give-away from my blog post “One BRAVE Evening” isn’t this just exciting!?!

These were also inspired by our CC101 Continued Journey Challenge this month for “Vintage” and/or “Christmas” creation.  This Christmas Card with “Twinchie” ornaments was created using a multitude of different techniques & products.  I was just playing around with different things I received as gifts from Heidi Swap, Inspiration Emporium, Tim Holtz, StudioL3, Ellen Hutson, & Ribbon Carousel.  First I want to say that I love masking!  It is a FUN technique & the trees are not a stamp.  It is actually a 6x6 cardinal thin chipboard set that I punched the pieces out & used the reverse of the inside to spray Heidi Swaps ‘Chartreuse’ Color Shine.  (Love the glimmer effect, just blingy to me!) I also used Tim Holtz Coordinations Distress paper, Paper Stash “Holiday’s Past” & my FAV Glassine, to cover the “Twinchie” ornaments along with some fragments, findings, & glossy accents.  

 

Christmas Card:

Christmas Card Back:

Christmas Card & Ornament Set #1:

I also found myself playing a bit with backgrounds because I plan on making a few of these gorgeously quick Star ornaments that Dyan Reavely shared a video about that you can do in 5 minutes!  Yes that’s right 5 minutes.  Can you imagine them all over your home?  I mean I can get totally Dylusionally Ornamental & that will be my next post!  (Click The Photo For the Video, It’s pretty Hilarious!)

Reverse Image “I love not having to waste a single drop of ink with my craft sheet!”:

I want to thank each of you for your outpour of support & response in my last posting.  It’s not always easy to put yourself out there but it did free my spirit enough to find my muse & just have FUN creating!  Of course I had quite a bit of inspirational help from some Fantabulously heARTistic Friends along the way….so without further ado…”Blogworthy Eye Candy”:

1.  The Gentlemen Crafter – “The Joyful Jetting Santa”

2.  StudioL3– “Updated Tim Holtz Configurations Holiday House”

3. Annette’s Creative Journey - “The House That Annette Built”

4. Trash To Treasure – “White & Gold Christmas”

5. The Little Shabby Shed – “Dylusions Cuff”

6. Inky Obsessions – “My Favorite Art Journal – Dylusions”

7. Tim Holtz – “12 Tags of 2012 – December”

8. Dylan’s Blog – “Catch Up At The Studio”

Wowza…those are some seriously creative inspiration flowing through these talented hands.  I hope you have some time to take a gander at those who are inspiring me this Holiday Season!  From different uses of Configurations, Canvas, Sticky Back, to Tags, Cards, & Backgrounds…there is plenty of Eye Candy to rave over.  I’m experiencing Holiday Cheer this year & can’t help but spread it about.  Remember to enter the Candy Give-Away for a personal set of these handmade treasures along with the “Wear Your Words” bracelet from the “One BRAVE Evening” post.  Thanks for Stamping By…(To leave a comment, thoughts, suggestions, or feedback - just click the title to this post & scroll to the bottom)

September 12 Tags of 2012

Howdy Candies…Wow, it’s been a whole month since I last wrote to you!  Where has the time flown by?  Well here at the Candy Studio I’ve been slightly under the weather after returning from our vacation back home to visit Family, Friends & Celebrate my In-Laws 50th Anniversary.  So much has happened in the last month that well I’m going to save the goodies, story, & photos for another day…so keep reading to find out how the Candy Studio Summer went. 

There is a lot to share, so much to celebrate, & a big announcement that I’m going to be blogging about this weekend first.  However, due to some much needed quality creative time that I got to have all by my self in my lil’ ol Studio today I thought I really do need to share this piece of heARTistry.  I was totally inspired by Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012 September Tag…”Riveted Patchwork” or at least my rendition of it.  It kinda has a lil message in there that sums up my thoughts for today.  I just adore Tim’s stamps to bits & pieces & this is why; “Life is what happens to you while we are making other plans”… Profound right?  If only I even knew where to begin.  Sometimes things just happen because…well, they just do! 

I fell in love with this technique & this particular tag because it enlightened me and allowed me to step outside of the box & use products in a way that I hadn’t done yet before or at least shared.  For instance…I used Pitch Black – Ranger Dabber Acrylic paint to stamp on Claudine Hellmuth sticky back canvas, used Dylusions Sprays on the canvas & the Kraft Resist dictionary paper (which was really oober cool to do) & I used burlap with a rustic approach with Fall in my brain when using the colors I had on hand.  This month we get the pleasure of using Adirondack alcohol inks, which I have to say is one of my favorite base mediums to use especially on metals.  Of course I’m limited to a very small pool of colors…so I used Espresso, Ginger, Latte, & Cranberry with Gold Mixative to create my layered base prior to burnishing.  All of the idea-ology elements you see were chosen specifically to match the entire ‘metal’ base pallet.  I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this Steampunkish heART.  I hope you enjoy the photos too.  Thanks for Stamping By…Stay Tuned!

(To leave a comment, thoughts, suggestions, or feedback - just click the title to this post & scroll to the bottom)

September Submission 12 Tags of 2012:

Adirondack Alcohol Inks: Espresso, Latte, Ginger, Cranberry, & Gold Mixative

The Base after Burnished Result:

Close Up of the Top Elements In The Tag:

Close Up of the Canvas using Dylusions Spray’s: Melted Chocolate, Pure Sunshine, & Squeezed Orange, Distress Ink Aged Mohaganny; Dylusions Stencil mini-numbers over the mini Claudine Hellmuth canvas stamped with Pitch-Black Acrylic Paint Dabber.

A Soft Focus Visual of my piece of heARTistry:

Here is me outside of Dempsy’s in South Dakota & I truly believe that you should “Never Forget to Smell The Flowers”:

Here is A Rare Photo Op of Our Family Together – (Missing are our Children Miriah, Kadra, & Devon)

Some Candid Shots of Us Together:

Love Life…

Howdy Candies…I have lots of NEW exciting things to share today!  First up is the CC2C challenge #13 from StudioL3.  Now it’s been a bitty since I’ve worked one for them & I truly wanted to partake in the last few that have taken place but as each day passes lately, it seems like something new & exciting is happening & I’m not gonna lie…I’m Loving Life!  There is something to be said for Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities, Vol. 2 that I just LOVE.  Perhaps it’s because he autographed it & I adore his snippets of fabulous techniques or maybe it’s just that when I create from it I tend to feel inspired to do more.  Whatever that reason is, it’s allowing me to mix my mediums & enjoy heARTistry.  

In the midst of this lovely piece I had in mind my ‘Stretch Your Stamps’ course yesterday & one of my CC101 FB Group challenges that’s a BONUS one for this month that is available only to Student Body members that have taken Tim’s online ‘Creative Chemistry’ course.  I used a mix of techniques but the base is apart of what CC2C is all about & the added bonuses are from what I learned in the book as well as the new online course I’m taking.  Hold on to your seats…there is more to share!  So without further ado Photos: (To leave a comment, thoughts, suggestions, or feedback - just click the title to this post & scroll to the bottom)

Technique 13: Spritz & Flick Distress

A Compendium of Curiosities, Vol. 2, page 42

Sponsored by: Simon Says Stamp (Click on the Links for a re-direct in a new window & photo to play along)

It always looks different from the side view…just click the pic to see a larger view of the ranger hologram embossed flower. (CTMH Cardstock Gypsy & Lagoon)

Loving Life really does describe what I’m living at the moment because what I haven’t talked about in a while is my Close To My Heart Business!!!  This last week I’m usually joining my CTMH Sisters in our annual convention.  This year it just so happened to be in Dallas!  WhooHoo feel like kickin’ up my heals & doing the two-step.  Whilst I am, because I’m truly excited to share something. 

While I didn’t get to go this year because I’m headed back to South Dakota to visit my Family & Friends I still received my 5 year tenure charm in the mail.  Trust me it is no easy feat to maintain an active status with all of the things that happen in life & last year I unexpectedly had a mild stroke during our general session…I thought for sure I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with my business.  Thanks to YOU & my oober supportive Family & Friends…I still made it to a major milestone with the company that is so near & dear to my heart & I just have to share it!

It doesn’t stop there because there is tons of news to share & it’s all starting on August 1st!  Your not going to want to miss out on a single thing because I’m going to be on the road over my Birthday & sharing this incredible company that has transformed my life!  Here is a snippet or preview so to speak of just a couple of things that I know your going to love…: NEW Consultant Kit!  Talk about doing a two-step & a YeeHaw now joining Team Creatique Candy is never been easier.  It costs only $49 for an (Essentials) kit that includes some Fabby products to get you started with your business.  We also have our (Master) kit for only $99. 

Bonus is that if you sign-up on my team in August you can get this really cool Damask style bag FREE to store all your items you need to represent YOU in your Journey as an Independent Consultant with CTMH.  Check it out: (Photo Links to Consultant Info on my web-site)

For more Details about my experience, leadership, & story along with all the information you need to download, print, & dream about my team is located on the tab above!  Awesome isn’t it? 

Of course it doesn’t stop there because we have now another Fantabulous Cricut cartridge with more 3-D project abilities & it matches so many of our My Acrylix stamp sets, Dimensional Elements, & more…available August 1st Cricut “ARTISTE” Collection!  Check it out: (Photo Links to Cricut Info on my web-site)

If your over the moon about these lil gems then your going to love that we now offer just 42 colors in our color palette that also include alcohol based markers for shading & pigment inks too & all of our cardstock colors come in packages of 24, so much bang for your buck!  Plus it doesn’t stop there…I will now be offering 2 other types of Workshops for Home Décor & Cards!!! 

Plus we have made some drastic changes to our exclusive StudioJ online Scrapbooking Studio, NO more Memberships!  That’s right…now each 2 page lay-out is now just only $6.95 which is just $3.50 a page.  Really cool for me because I tend to take hundreds of photos and without StudioJ they just sit on my camera card.  Well with the new Express Collections I can upload my images FREE & just drop them in the photo wells, do a little journaling & poof I have a completed pages for an album delivered right to my doorstep!  Just head on over to my Candy Basket & check out StudioJ for more information. The quality is just priceless I have to admit so I’m giddy to get going on some treasures made after my trip home. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed some of the snippets that are coming your way very soon & appreciate more than words your endurance of all this great information.  Thanks for Stamping By…

Inspiration Emporium “Watercolor” April Challenge

Howdy Candies…I’m tickled to share this piece as I’ve attempted many different mediums in trying to re-discover my abilities to freehand draw & combine watercoloring with Distress Re-Inkers, Pearl Paints, & Distress Markers.  Suffice to say that I’m a bit rusty in creating a dimensional background drawing so it wasn’t coming up to par for me.  However, it was just pure joy to be able to draw & get in touch with my inner artistry during the process.  After several attempts I decided that I wanted to use my Favorite CTMH Stamp of the Month “Friendship Bouquet” for May 2012.  I’m very pleased as punch with my descion as it allowed me a bit more freedom to create a background & continue to apply the various mediums in shading, enhancing features, & enjoying the effects.  I actually figured either way I would share both (which one is uncompleted) & get some feedback from the experts…You my adoring Candies!  Along the way I do want to add that I absolutely love Inspiration Emporium because of the customer service I receive.  They are so much more than just an incredible outlet for me to find everything I love about Tim Holtz but they also sent me this Thank You gift “rain dots”, in my last order that I was able to incorporate into this “watercolor” challenge tag creation.  The really neat thing about it is that the week before last I won the very generous prize package offered by Sizzix & Glue Dots & though I wasn’t able to use my sizzlet yet I sure did make use of the glue dots in my creation too.  (I’m just itching to use the sizzlet in my next piece)  So without further ado…Photos: (To leave a comment, thoughts, suggestions, or feedback - just click the title to this post & scroll to the bottom)

These were my freehand draws & unusual attempt to watercolor:

Inspiration Emporium April 2012 Watercolor Challenge Entry:

(To play along with the watercolor challenge click the photo)

 

Thank You very very much to Both Inspiration Emporium & The Teams at Sizzix & Glue Dots:

(Just Click on the Photo To Shop with Inspiration Emporium & To View The Give-Away Posts via Sizzix Blog)

 

During this weeks hiatus I also had Spring picture day with my daughter…suffice to say it was a true “bad hair day” as they say. Daddy decided to have lunch and take this quick tag to her that I made.  Well after she came home I thought hmmm…there are a couple of things that I could do to it and truly the inspiration came from her but I wanted a way to thank the CC101 FB Group Admin for all of their hard work, support, & dedication.   So I figured I would share the base tags without the additions I made for them as they are always so encouraging.  I thought what a really cool stamp (CTMH “Be Yourself”) to share with them just for something fun of course:

Now that I’m able to spend a bit of quality time in my Studio this week I have a couple more creations to finish & start posting here. In the meantime I wanted to share a sneak peak of one of my upcoming posts with details that I know some of you have long awaited to join me in my Studio and create.  So in May I will be doing a 10 page lay-out workshop that was so generously created, designed, & provided by the person that has inspired me on my entire journey from day 1 of meeting her in Seattle back in 2007 Miss Fabulously Artsy herself The Stamp Goddess! 

What a whopping combination and We have her to Thank for such a gift!  So Stay Tuned for all the upcoming details this weekend.  Thanks for Stamping By…