Cackle, MissingWillow, Rackycoo and I got together last weekend for fun, food and fighting over good stuff at junk shops. We each picked a swap theme for an Altoid tin or ATC.

Here's a link to the ATC I made for Racky: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=408330.0

MissingWillow's theme was zombie sheep:



A mermaid for cackle:





It was such a fun weekend!

Rackycoo, cackle, MissingWillow and I got together last weekend for fun, food and fighting over good stuff at junk shops. We each picked a swap theme and Rackycoo's was "child beauty pageants". The whole "Toddlers in Tiaras" movement really creeps me out, so I went vintage. It's atc-sized on a permanent stand.

Since I couldn't be with my big sister, cackle on her birthday, I sent these guys along to sing to her.



I still ended up squawking out "happy birthday" on her answering machine, but she was gracious enough not to tell me how many windows broke in her house... *grin*

Cheers!

I wanted to share the chunky houses made for the Halloween swap. It was fun!

This is my favorite. The skeleton is a stamped image that was cut out with an X-Acto knife. I patted him on an embossing pad and used clear embossing powder to make him shiny.


The spiderweb is part of the paper design and I "painted" it with Glossy Accents so it has a wet embossed look.


The skeleton here was also "painted" with Glossy Accents. The black swirls were colored in with glitter glue.


I love this vintage image! The background is dry embossed with a brick wall embossing folder then beat up with an assortment of inks to resemble a brick wall in the garden. 


Cheers,
Susan

I dont' see greeting cards much 'round these parts, but I wanted to share these anyway. Hey, it's what I do so why not, right?   They're both made using the same sketch from my design team. I love these vintage images!

Heh. Tea party. Perhaps my favorite card EVER.


I love the Antikamnia Calendar skeletons. I spent countless hours scouring the internets to find high quality downloads and now have a bunch of them. They are all full-color, but this guy is printed in black & white and layered for a little umph.


Cheers,
Susan

This was for the Matchbox Swap, Round 5. My partner was Wulf, who appreciates Steampunk.

I used an easel style for the top, also found on many of my greeting cards. I put so much time into cards and really like how the style says "display me!". I think it lends itself rather well to an itty bitty matchbox.



Here's a closeup of the top gears and such.



The Fairy Gent lays flat for transport or storage and stands up with the help of the metal arrow.



The monocle is made from a short length of chain and a jump ring. I poured a bit of Glossy Accents in the ring to create a glassy effect. The chain is attached to his coat with a single strand of gold embroidery thread.





The black and gold paper is this oh-so-cool Japanese washi paper I found at a trade show. The gold lining inside the drawer is re-purposed envelope liner from a Christmas card. The black decorative bits on each side are there as grips to help pull the snug drawer out (and keep from squishing the back end).



I painted the drawer and inside of the matchbox with black acrylic paint and then covered the whole drawer in washi paper. After it all dried I realized the acrylic paint on the very edges of the drawer dragged against the paint on the inside of the box. I was able to smooth it out with a little wax paper rubbin', but there was definitely a lesson learned!



Thanks so much for looking!

Cheers,
Susan

I had the awesome rackycoo as a swap partner - how lucky am I?!

Here is the tin I sent her:

Alexander, the crystal ball and the skeleton hand are all layered. The crystal ball is covered with Glossy Accents.




Inside is a fortune teller's wheel with a spinning arrow and the mystic's lair.




The crystal ball is an old marble, and the table is half of a dollhouse table.

Check out what racky sent me here: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=376303.0

I'm still plugging away at the little fat book swap for the Tim Holtz Yahoo group. After these I have 3 more and a looming deadline.

Drama Queen

I love this guy. He's inspired me to do a "Theater and the Drama Queen" series on ATCs or cards.

The Hustler

Watch out for this card shark!

Muse

Paris

Cheers,
Susan

Here are 4 of 11 pages I'm doing for a swap in Yahoo. The pages are 4"x4" (left side is blank for binding), and we are to alter the old photos somehow.









Thanks for looking!

Cheers,
Susan

Hiya! This past December I was incredibly inspired by Tim Holtz and his 12 Tags of Christmas posts. I ooh'd and ahh'd and loved all over the techniques... but didn't try one single thing! Heh. I've finally gotten around to trying a tag, if not any of his techniques. I'll get there!



I love vintage. The tatting down the left side is vintage, found at an antique shop. ::swoon:: Everything else is new, from the My Mind's Eye/Lost and Found/Union Square paper line. The metal bits and bobs are from a variety of sources. All together, it feels vintage-y to me!

Cheers,
Susan