21st Century Pillow Book

Seasons Greetings! It is time for the very last Bombshell Stamps Hump Day Hop for 2011! I can't believe the year is just about over. I had a great time with the theme for the hop. This month, the theme is "Give it to Me, Baby!" What's that mean? You had to make a gift for someone using your Bombshell Stamps . Even if that someone is you! This also meant no cards. Unless of course, you are making a super snazzy gift card holder, but I wanted the participants to it the old college try and try to make something else. I'm talking jewlery, altered art, mini canvases...anything that you could give to someone as a gift. The possibilites were endless! I combined this theme with Ms. December's (Torrey) challenge, which was Hot and Steamy. Quite interesting challenge titles we had this month, no? ;) Torrey's challenge was steampunk...which is so very Alison! Here's what I made.... I used one of those inexpensive wooden frames from Michaels. I started off wit...

Hello bloggy friends! Welcome to the 12th day of the Smeared & Smudged 12 Days of Christmas. I cannot believe this is the end! But have no fear, I will of course be around with plenty of new things…including some jewelry! But on to today’s card. I made this for a commission I had from Phoenix’s former teacher. She and I have a mutual love and respect for cardinals, so there had to be one in each of her cards (the other card I had made for her was in the beginning of the month). This one is a bit more rustic than the first card. I had done a few versions, each featuring different papers where the green plaid is. But all were very…log-cabin-y, if you catch my drift. The cardinal is perched quite regally on the boughs of holly, as he should be. They are such beautiful birds. Cardinals are the main way my Dad comes to visit me. For example (and there are many, many examples), as soon as I found out I was pregnant with Rhiannon, a cardinal couple made their nest on my porch...

How can it be so late on the month already?! It’s already Day 11 of Smeared & Smudge's 12 Days of Christmas.  I cannot believe it! I had such aspirations! Such dreams of what I could create! I got some of the things done…but very few. Well, there’s always next year I guess! But enough of this bah-humbug attitude! I do have a new card to share with you today. And I utilized a paint chip again. I chose this chip for the bottom color…it’s called “Windy Pine.” Isn’t that a great name for a color? I mean, can’t ya just smell it??? I picked a different tree from Tattered Angels…from the same set I used on Saturday. Love this set! The sentiment is also a part of it. I embossed the tree in a hunter green, and the “Winter Wishes” in Queen’s Gold. I inked around the edge of my cream colored card base, and that was it. Simple but pretty. And now I am off! Off to try to wrap presents, finish gifts, make more cards, and to try to just b-r-e-a-t-h-e! Ha! That will probably have ...

We are nearing the end of the Smeared & Smudged 12 Days of Christmas…I can hardly believe that Christmas is almost here and that 2011 is drawing to a close. Today I have a card featuring Ali from SBS Jude and the Rockers Christmas collection. I colored Ali with my watercolor markers. I wanted her nightgown to look satiny. I think it does. My sentiment is from StampInsanity. And I added some felt holly leaves and a couple beads of red Stickles for berries. Are you all done with shopping? Sadly, I am not. I don’t have much to do (thankfully, the kidlings are done!)…but I really hate shopping at the last minute. I hope you got finished with your list! It’s time for you to head over to the rest of the Jolly Bloggers, listed in my side bar. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Happy Birthday to my son Phoenix! He turns 5 today! I can’t believe I have been a Mommy for 5 years. And to such a wonderful boy! And yes, it is very hectic having both kids Birthdays only 2 days apart. :) Of course, I am sharing the card I made for Phoenix with you today, as well as my latest holiday card. This adorable little monster is from Bugaboo . I thought he was perfect for Phoenix. I colored him pink, since he loves the color. Seriously…what a cutie! I colored the image with my watercolor markers. Here’s the inside. I repeated the border that I have on the outside of the card, and the sentiment is nice and sparkly. I love that my boy loves pink and sparkle. He is already so much his own person. A bit more sparkle on the outside, as I held the cabochons on with Stickles. I think he’s going to really like his card! Now on to my latest for the Smeared & Smudged 12 Days of Christmas. Did you know I have an obsession with paint chips? Yup! That’s a m...

It’s my Baby Girl’s 3rd Birthday today! I cannot believe she’s 3. The time has gone by so fast. Every day she amazes me. I decided to use the newest Desert Islands Crafters Challenge for her Birthday card. Today's Itinerary come from Krissy Fossmeyer , on of our most recent additions to the Island. Krissy’s Itinerary 1. Buttons 2. Brads 3. Brown & Pink/Blue 4. Cake 5. Stripes 6. Rounded Corners 7. Jute or Hemp 8. The Word 'Happy' 9. Flower 10. Acetate This sweet little fairy is from Neatz Art Blog , which is my friend Anita Marie’s blog.  This sweet fairy is named Little Lily, and she is just purr-fect for Rhiannon. I used numbers 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 from the Itinerary. I loved coloring her. And I think that once Rhiannon sees Little Lily, she’s going to want me to print her out so that she can color her in too. I used my watercolor markers for her. Can I just say it was so much fun to color her hair? The way Anita Marie drew it, it’...

Hello! It’s time for another Beyond the Burtonesque Dolls challenge! In addition, this project is also for Day 7 of the Smeared & Smudged 12 Days of Christmas. I got this cool digi from Tiddly Inks a while ago. Of course, it’s Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas…done up as an ornament! So, I decided to turn it into a gift tag. I did some shading with my E40 Copic marker, and I used a couple of Sakura Stardust pens on the ornament holder. I added an eyelet and a pretty, sparkly fiber. I added the digi to a piece of cardboard that was a glossy white on one side. Obviously, I left that side on the outside. Then I stamped the “to” and “from.” It’s a simple project, but who wouldn’t want to get this cute little Jack on their present? Now it’s time for you to not only check out the rest of the Jolly Bloggers (listed in my side bar), but it’s also time to go to the Beyond the Burtonesque Dolls Blog. We haven’t had a lot of visitors there since we’ve switc...

Hello! Today I have a snowflake card to share with you. It’s kind of a basic card…no coloring involved, but I had a lot of embossing to do on it. I used 2 images from Tattered Angels. I started off with the large snowflake…inked it, embossed it, and then added the swirl. I inked the edge of the patterned paper in dark blue. I also did it on the card base. But, I embossed with the same gold (Queen’s Gold from Ranger) on top of of the blue, so only a little blue shows. But the added gold was necessary in my eyes. Isn’t it a pretty gold? It’s my favorite that I have. It’s so bright. Last, I added some pearl cabochons from Recollections randomly. I liked the extra texture. I think this is the shortest post I’ve had in a long time! Please be sure to stop by the rest of the Jolly Bloggers, listed in my side bar. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

I have a new Simply B card to share with you today. But, I can’t share the challenge with you, since it doesn’t go “Live” until the 10th. You’ll just have to check the SBS Blog to find out why I made it! But I will tell you this…it has something to do with this sweet little mouse…. I used Seasons Greetings Lola from the Teen Scene Christmas collection. See the little mouse in her hands. I really like this image. You may have seen me use it once before… HERE . This version is very Christmas-y, whereas the last one was not. I used my watercolor markers for the image, and I inked the whole thing up with Antique Linen Distress Ink when I was done, to tone down the white. I like scattering rhinestones around a card, as opposed to always lining them up somewhere. I do that, but the scattered look is more appealing to me. Please be sure to visit the rest of the Smeared & Smudged Jolly Bloggers, all listed in my side bar. Also, be sure to visit the SBS Blog on the 10th...

Hello! Today I have a card that made it’s bloggy debut last night on the Simply B Stamps Blog . It’s for her own 12 Days of Christmas. Today is Wreck the Halls. And there is a lovely little ditty on the blog to give you inspiration. I used a bee-u-ti-ful new image called Oval Portrait from the Steampunk collections. Can I just say, I NEED her dress! Now, I am pretty sure that she wasn’t intended to be a Christmas image. But I thought the flowers on the side looked kinda like poinsettias, and the daffodils could easily be paperwhites, since they are in the same family…and paperwhites are often grown indoors at Christmastime. See what happens when you work in a nursery for 7 and a half years? I mean, that was many, many moons ago…but I have retained a lot of that info. But I digress… Couldn’t you just imagine this being a huge portrait hanging in the Great Hall? I just love the skull at the bottom and the bones at the top. I think I may blow this up really huge and actually u...

Seasons Greetings once again! It’s Day 4 of the Smeared & Smudged 12 Days of Christmas. I have a very sweet card to share with you today. Yup. I said sweet. Not something I do too often, but I think it has a bit of “Alison Flair!” ;) I chose to work with Oscar from the Simply B Stamps Jude and the Rockers Christmas set.  He’s just adorable! Seriously, could he be any cuter? I busted my butt coloring this one. I just had to get the shading perfect on his little PJ’s! Watercolor markers all the way on this image..except for his skin, where I used Copics. He looks so peaceful just looking at all of those lovely boxes. Like as if he’s so content without even opening them! I decided to add my own bow, so I used some American Crafts ribbon. The sticker sentiment is from Karen Foster Designs. I have announced the new Bombshell Hump Day Hop theme on the Bombshell Blog today. I hope you’ll go and check it out. There’s a special added twist this month too! Be sure...

Hello and welcome to Day 3 of the Smeared & Smudged 12 Days of Christmas. Today I have a card that uses an absolutely beautiful stamp. One that may be unexpected from me. Or…perhaps not. My husband was totally surprised when he saw this completed card. Thinking it was so overtly “Catholic” and just not me at all. Please don’t take this the wrong way. It’s just not my tendency to create things with this type of undertone. I begged to differ. I told him that the Madonna is a representation of The Goddess to me. Then, he understood. He liked the card very much, but he didn’t understand why I would have used a stamp such as this one. I think she’s beautiful. This image is from Inkadinkado. I inked her in Black Lightening, from the Brilliance collection by Tsukineko. She how glimmery she is? I then colored her using Distress Inks only. It’s been a while since I’ve done that…and it felt wonderful! I used an edge distresser by Heidi Swapp, and then once again pulled out that ...