Where in the World...

That was the title theme for this month's swap at the InkSpot ( www.inkspotofnatalie.com/ )

Even though most of us are from IL, BirchTree is a tiny little town in the Ozarks that unless you are from this area, you probably don't even know it exists. So, welcome to Birch Tree MO!

With the help of my local chamber of commerce, I took state maps and cut out the area I needed. I wanted to use clear embossed glue dots to highlight the town but of course I was out and no place in the area had them. I improvised with the red pen and used a red arrow to point to my house. The cone flower is the state flower. I picked the stamp up on my trip to IL last week. I used LePlume markers and spritzed them for a water-color effect. For a final touch (though not really visible), I used the slick tape transfer to add the title to the card.

I enjoyed making this one. Next month is One Day Of Creation. Hmmm... gonna have to think on that one.

Till next time...

Creative Blessings

New toys!

I'm enjoying my visit to central IL. I have access to Michaels Arts & Crafts, Hobby Lobby, Jeffery Allen crafts and JoAnne's Fabrics. I'm like a kid in a candy store. Today, I made the plunge to Copic markers. The girls at Splitcoast Stampers - http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ - love the way these markers blend without muddying.

Because my favorite stamps to play with are Victorian themed SU stamps I chose Victorian colors. I only bought seven. At $6.49 a pop, that was enough for me to start with. :-)

So when things settle down at the house with the new additions to our household, I'll play and post.

Be watching in the next couple weeks for new Spring Postcards. I've joined a swap with my Stamp&Scrap group and those postcards need to be mailed by end of the month. I already know the stamp set I'm going to play with and I bought new springy Basic Grey papers today. The creative juices are flowing and I'm not home to play.

Until then..
Creative Blessings

Oriental Butterfly

Now that the daughter and granddaughter are here and we're finding a routine, I have finally found time to get into my creative space. It felt wonderful! This is one of 2 birthday cards I was suppose to have done for February. Carol enjoys ATC's so I pulled colors from the Oriental ATC to make a card and included one of the ATC's.

Chinese Buffet ATC link

I was able to upload the photo to my gallery at www.splitcoaststampers.com Not sure why Blogger wanted to argue.

In any event, here's the link to the ATC in my gallery at SCS

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1250582?cat=500&ppuser=32055

Food and Art

This month's theme at the Ink Spot is Food. Deciding on the design for my ATC was easy. I love chinese buffet. A friend of mine and I once made a trip to OK City from Peoria IL for a writers conference. When it was time to eat, we managed to find a chinese buffet for every lunch or dinner stop we made. There was even one right across from the conference hotel where we were staying. I can eat at a chinese buffet seven days a week.

For this ATC, I took my color cue from the take-out menu of our local chinese buffet in West Plaines MO. - Diamond Head. They've been rated the Top 100 Chinese Buffet's in the country.
I used red and black. The dimensional items are from my Photoshop program.

Blogger is arguing so I will come back and add either the actual photo or a link to where it can be seen. Thanks for stopping by.

Valentine Postcard

I participated in a Valentine postcard swap with my Scrap and Stamp yahoo group. I've found I like working in collage. Something about the mixing of textures and prints and colors just sets the imagination into overdrive.



What are you creating? Please link me to your page and let me see.

Creative Blessings
Kelly

Valentine Countdown

Today begins the first of 27 printable downloads from TenTwoStudios over teh next 14 days. Lisa Vollrath always has awesome stuff for us to play with. Every day she'll reveal a new valentine printable. If you can't wait til the 14th to get them all Free, you can purchase the collection now. Here's the link to get you started: http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

I've spent the last couple days making collage valentine postcards for a swap and for friends. I'll get the pics taken this afternoon and, should the dial-up cooperate, uploaded here.

What are you creating for the Day of Love? Tell us what you're doing and link us so we can peek at your creativity.

Creative Blessings
Kel