Friday, August 30, 2013

Just Inkin' Around - Dragonfly Tag

Didn't want to start a big project today so I thought I would just have some fun and ink around a bit....


I'm using some of the new StampTangle stamps from Just For Fun...the Border 2, the large StampTangle Dragonfly and a couple images from the StampTangle Cube.
 
To start off with I simply stamped the border along one edge using a permanent ink.

 
I squeezed a few colors of Distress Stain onto my craft mat and swiped it through.
I also inked several extra tags for future use with the excess ink.

 
I filled in any areas that weren't previously inked with Mustard Seed.
and heated to dry it all quickly.

 
I then spritzed with water and dabbed away after a few seconds.

 
To enhance the border I colored select areas with a white gel pen
then added some clear stickles glitter glue for sparkle....

 
After that was all dry I added some nifty flourish type images in the background with the lilac ink.

 
I stamped and glittered up the dragonflies
and then stamped the sentiment on a piece of left-over specialty cardstock.
The sentiment was covered with glossy accents and dipped into Rock Candy Glitter for some added sugar-y goodness and sparkle.


and here it is....
I wish you could see the dragonflies in person...
they really pop off the tag with the glitter and sparkle.
 

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Swap Time!

I know, some of you are saying it's about time ;)

Several people have been asking for another swap so I thought I'd post to see what you're wanting to swap.  Most of the people who e-mailed don't have any preference but a few have asked for ATC's while others have asked for more Altered Charms (Halloween in particular - My Personal Fav).  
 
Someone also suggested a postcard swap (decorate a postcard and send it to a swap partner).
 
I thought an ephemera swap might be fun but again, it's up to you all... 
I'm game for whatever you want. 

The poll isn't working, not sure what's up with it so please e-mail or post your preference here.
 
I'm thinking of an early October due date.
More than enough time to make and send our goodies.
 
Can't wait to hear your ideas!
 
 

Green Challenge - HURRY - 1 Day Left!!!

There is only one day left to enter your project for the
 
Only one person has entered a project so your chances of winning are great!
There is also just one day left to vote for your favorite Design Team project...
You can do so by choosing your favorite and voting on the right hand side of the blog.
 
This was my entry....
 
La Fee Verte
(The Green Fairy - a.k.a. Absinthe)


 
Now, let's see some Green Inky Fingers out there!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Club Scrap - Tribal Blog Hop

 photo Tribal_BlogHop_Badge_zps9c75a585.jpg
 
Time for another fun blog hop featuring
Club Scrap August Kit -
 Tribal.
 
The paper in this kit is beautiful, vivid red, chocolate, black, gold, eggshell prints and solids.
The kit stamps are bold, exciting tribal inspired designs with several versatile sentiments.
Also included in the kit is a black and gold hand made paper and a container of Hematite embossing powder.  It's such a cool color ~ one I've never had before.
 
 
 
Well, when I saw the kit I knew instantly what I wanted to do with it.
Despite the heat wave we're now having here in Indiana the colors of this kit reminded me of Autumn so I wanted to create something that I could hang up for all to enjoy.
 
Here's what I came up with....
 
Club Scrap
Autumn Tribal Rosette Wreath
 
 
I cut several sheets of cardstock into strips in varying widths (from 1/2" - 4");
 scored each strip of paper at either 1/2" or 1/4" intervals;
folded, gathered and glued the strips to form the rosettes.
I stacked a few of the rosettes and added a vintage gold embossed button is at the center of most of the rosettes.
 
I stamped several of the tribal circle images and the floral looking tribal design onto eggshell cardstock and embossed using the Hematite ep.   I then cut out all of the stamped/embossed images and glued a few of the circles to some of the rosettes...

 

 
After all of my rosettes had dried, I glued them down to a chipboard wreath base.
I stacked the rosettes and tucked the embossed designs here and there.
 
I'm pretty tickled with how it came out. 
I've made rosette wreaths for spring and summer before but never one for autumn.
I think these papers were a perfect fit!
I know this project takes several hours to create but I think it's so worth it...
 
 
To check out more Club Scrap Tribal goodness
be sure to take a peek at the rest of the projects from the designers below...
 
Roni Johnson
(you are here!)
 
 
 
 
btw...
do you know what day it is?!?!?
???
???
???
HUMP Day!
 
LOL!!! Sorry, couldn't resist!
I saw that commercial last night and
 I can't get that camel out of my mind - LOL!!)
 

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Altered Pages - Bombshell Stamps 2 for Tuesday Hop

Howdy All!!!
 
I'm so excited to be able to share in a fun blog hop today...
 
@[1041128248:2048:Danielle May] Jean said this is a go ;)
 
has teamed up to bring you
2 for Tuesday Blog Hop!
 
The theme for this months hop is
Cowgirls Carrying On.
 
The challenge is to use both Bombshell cowgirl stamps paired with Altered Pages collage images.  I decided to go the tongue in cheek route and create a "Wanted" poster a cowgirl (who likes to carry on) might post at the local sheriff & post offices.
 
Triptych
"WANTED - Good Man" 
Poster...
 
 
 
To create this triptych wanted poster I used the following:
 
 
and
 
 
Here are the individual panels... 



 
The digital stamps were colored using a combination of Distress Stains, Spectrum Noir Markers and Metallic Gel Pens.  I printed out the sentiment with an old west font and inked along the edges with both Vintage Photo and Tea Dye Distress Inks.
 
To attach the panels together I snipped the rope on the top of the second and third panels, threaded it through the rope on the bottom of the first and second panels and taped the rope back together.
 
I hope you've enjoyed this little bit of cowgirl fun!
 
Be sure to check out all the stops on the hop (see the full list below)!
If you'd like to be entered to win a fun prize be sure to comment on each stop on the hop.


Start at

and then hop onto our Design Teams Blogs






Roni Johnson
(You are here!)












Kathi Rerek

Gia Lau

and finish back here at

Altered Pages Blog

Have a rootin' tootin' time at the rest of your stops as you carry on like a cowgirl!

Monday, August 26, 2013

Half Century of Progress - 2013

I wanted to share what I've been up to for the last several days....

Dh, our boys, their girlfriends and I have been at the Half Century of Progress in Rantoul, Illinois. 

It's a mix between an antique tractor show and a real working farm operation...with hundreds of participants.  I'm sure this wouldn't appeal to everyone but we love the old tractors and have several ourselves...some we still use and other we have because they have been passed down or we collect.

People from across the country (and a few internationally) bring their vintage farm tractors and equipment to the Rantoul air field to display, harvest the crops (corn & beans), plow, disk, etc. over 4 days. 

We had such fun...it was larger than I could imagine.  We saw all sorts of tractors, combines, pickers, etc. working in one area.   Dh & Ben went 2 years ago and they were able to see only a small fraction of the show because they were on foot.  We learned from their experience though...thankfully we rented golf carts to travel from one display to another because the place is HUGE....miles wide/long.

Not only did we get to see all of the awesome tractors on display but everyone (boys & girlfriends) got along and had a wonderful time.  You know how brothers can be at times ;)

I took almost 400 pictures but I'll just share a few...

Tractors....
 
and more tractors....

 
vintage trucks...

 
Corn Sheller...

 
a really big case....

 
a tractor & folks from Australia...

 
The worlds largest American Flag flown over the show each day.

 
One of the air hangers at the show...
I think there were 3-4 of them total.

 
Harvesting beans....

 
A look down one of the run-ways early in the a.m. before there was too much of a crowd.

 
One of the largest tractors there...
it was nicknamed the Earthquake because it's so big.

 
Ben (oldest ds) knew a guy who had a combine there so he got to take a couple passes in the field with his combine.  He was on cloud 9 after that!

 
I'm so happy that the show was last week...
the temps were in the low to mid 80's with a light breeze.
This week Illinois & Indiana both are forecasting highs in the 90's.
I think I would have melted
because it's all outside and because it's an airport, not a tree on the place!

Farm & Washi Tape Answers & Thanks!

Hi All...

I've gotten several questions about farming and Washi Tape over the few days so I thought I'd answer them all in one post.

FARM ?'s

What's the difference between hay and straw?

Hay is made from a combination of various grasses, legumes, or other forage type plants which is grown, cut, allowed to dry and then baled.  This dry forage can be fed year round either by it's self, paired with green pasture grass, supplemental grains or any other combination of the above.  We use it to supplement our pasture and as a full time feed during the winter when our pasture is covered in snow.    We also sell some hay to area farmers (with beef & dairy cows), folks with pleasure horses, goats, and to the Amish for their horses.

As a side note hay doesn't necessarily have to be dried to be used as a feed.  If you're set up for it, hay can be "put up" green (while it still has moisture) to be used as silage.  There are reasons for using hay vs. silage but it gets complicated so I won't bore you with the details but I didn't want you to think that hay was the only type of feed for animals.

Straw on the other hand is the stalk of a dry grain such as oats, hay, etc.  Once the grain has been harvested depending on what type of combine was used you could have rows of the stalks left over.  These left over dry stalk can be baled and used as bedding or if ground up as a feed supplement.  We use it as bedding for our cows and also sell small quantities as well.

What else do we raise on the farm? do we raise corn?

In addition to making hay the guys also have a field of soybeans (which are sold to a local elevator); wheat which was combined and sold and the straw. 

We haven't grown corn in several years for a few reasons ~ a few years ago we did plant a field of corn but we had a terrible drought and the corn didn't grow.  The past couple years the price of seed corn and fertilizers have gone through the roof making it more expensive for us to plant/grow corn than the returns would be.  We're "small time" and don't get the price breaks or subsidies (government money) that the large farm operations do.  We do it all on our own so we have to make choices on what we can raise efficiently and the most cost effective. 

Do we have any other animals besides the donkeys?

We have a few Hereford cows & a bull.  We raise them for beef and while they aren't registered they are a continuation of the registered blood line we started with many years ago.  We aren't "certified" organic but our cows don't receive any growth hormones or unnecessary antibiotics and are fed only hay and pasture land with a bit of corn fed during the winter to supplement the hay. 

We would give our cows antibiotics if needed to cure an illness but (knock on wood) we've been disease free and never had any trouble in the past.

WASHI TAPE ?'s 

Where did I find all of my tape at?

I have been collecting tapes for many years now.  I have picked up much of my tape on sale usually when the next wave of new stuff comes out.  It might not always be new but hey, if I like it I'll still use it even if it isn't the latest and greatest trendy stuff out there.

I recently bought several styles of tape that I had to buy as a wholesale type lot (the postal & Steampunk tapes plus a few others).  I am going to be posting the extras on my Etsy store soon but I only have a limited quantity of those sets.

What am I storing my washi tape on?



I am using 10" screw lock rings which are used for fabric samples.  I got them from an auction when one of our sewing customers went out of business.  They had several huge 12x12" fabric swatches from various companies and they were all on these wicked rings.  I knew I could use both the fabric and the rings so I bought them all for $1.00 (nobody else bid!!).  I guess I was pretty lucky as I see they are pretty dog gone expensive.

Once I put my tape on these rings, I don't even take the tape off to use, I just pull off the amount of tape I want when needed.  It works like a charm and I have all of my rings hanging in one area so I can see at a glance which ring of tape I want to use.

Who doesn't like washi tape?

I don't know but some folks were marking the "No Thanks" option on some of the washi posts so I figured they didn't like the tape.... or they didn't like my ideas.  Either way, I know not everyone likes everything out there but I like to vary my projects, supplies used and ideas to keep things fresh. 

Hopefully if you don't like one idea/product/project you'll stick around to see what's coming next.  I try to make something for everyone.

And....

Thanks to everyone who posted or e-mailed anniversary wishes to my dh & I! 

Friday, August 23, 2013

Washi Tape Give-A-Way!

 
Over the last couple weeks I've been sharing some fun ways to incorporate washi tape into your cards.  I hope you've enjoyed the art work even if you're not into washi tape.
 
 
Today I wanted to give away a few sets of tape so you can give it a try for yourself.
I've got a set of tape used on the Steampunk cards; 2 different sets of tape from yesterdays clean and simple cards (one with the poppies and another set with the birds on a wire) and a set of postal themed tape from the Miss You Postal Art Tag on Monday.

 
To be entered to win one of these sets of tape is to simply post a comment on this or one of the washi tape posts from the last 2 weeks.    If you already commented on one of the previous posts you're already automatically entered but you can post here as well for an extra entry!!
 
You will have until 9-1-13 to post a comment to be entered to win!
 
Good Luck Everyone!

27 Years....

ago today I married my HS sweetheart!!

 
Sure doesn't seem like it's been that long :)

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Clean & Simple Washi Cards...

Gosh, I never realized how hard it was to make clean and simple cards....
It took some real effort not to ink the edges or backgrounds and even more effort to let the washi tape shine and stamp only the sentiments.  It's almost painful NOT to ink it up - LOL!!
 
I did it though and created a few cards that are fun, quick yet pack a nice punch.
 
On the first card I used 3 different patterns of washi tape and added a sentiment above and below the trio.
 

 
To add a bit more interest to the washi tape I doodled some lines where the washi tape met with a black fine tip Sharpie.  There is no right or wrong here...just some doodling to break it up a bit.

 
Next card is simply some layering with a couple different tapes and a simple stamped sentiment.

 
O.k...I have to confess...this card was just the sentiment and washi tape to begin with but I couldn't stand it any longer....  I had to add some ink to jazz it up.
 
I simply added 3 splats using my distress stains in various shades of blue and I think it really gave the card some much needed life.  Oh, and I also added a bit of stickles around the splats too...it was begging for some sparkle ;)
 
I'm sorry, I'm just so not good at clean and simple - LOL!!!
 
 
Be sure to check back tomorrow as I'm going to be posting the
Washi Tape Give-a-Way!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

On the farm....

Several people have asked about what's been going on at the farm lately so I thought I'd share some pics....

The guys have been making lots and lots of hay. 
It's second and third cutting ~ looking and smelling great!
Eric coming home with a load of hay...

 
And the wheat has been harvested
and here are the guys baling the straw...
 


 
And my donkey friends watchin...


 
Hope you have a wonderful day!