Swaps are done and in the mail. On time! Yay, me!

I have a peek at a couple of projects I'm working on...

Can't say too much about them yet. Not because it's a secret, but because I don't know how they'll quite turn out. Art is an adventure around here - I never know what I'll end up with!

I thought you might enjoy seeing some recent visitors to our yard. First, for the "awwww!" factor, the cute picture:

Can you see it? This baby rabbit was narrowly missed by the lawn mower. Its mom had evidently decided that our lawn looked just right while we were on vacation. We cut around it, leaving an area of tall grass for them.

Now for the "ewww!" picture (for some of us, anyway):

This guy likes our cherry tomato plants. DH took the photo; he asked if I wanted to come see the big spider in the garden and you can imagine my response (it had NO in it somewhere). The picture was close enough for me!

Why, yes - I have waited until the last minute to work on my swaps! Are you surprised?

So that's what I'm doing in my studio. I've also started a bunch of other projects but none of them are finished. I missed out on some of my favorite challenges last week, too, as I've had a lot of "real" work to do. Oh, woe is me!

Here is an ATC I did last year for the Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi cruise, but haven't shown you yet. I hope you're having a crafty day!

This week over at Tag Tuesday (I'm thinking Louise should change the name of her challenge so that it doesn't reflect how late I usually am with my submissions, don't you??) the theme is "not on paper".

It took me a few days to think about what I wanted to do and I was leaning towards metal. Then I saw Lori's tag and decided that there was no way I could top that. (That, and I couldn't get Wonder Woman out of my head.) Then I found some neat suede material stuff (I don't know what it is, but it's cool) in the RAK box that Ann over at StampHaven had sent me (and I haven't put away yet) and decided that was the way to go.

Note: No paper was harmed in the creating of this project!

I realize that it looks like paper. But it's not. You'll just have to trust me. It's a green suede/felt type of fabric. Sort of. Anyway, I stamped on it (Judikins) and put a painted and stamped corrugated cardboard swirl (Tim Holtz Alterations) on it.

You know those thin, foam-plastic place mats that you see at garage sales? I used Tim's Tattered Florals die and cut out some flowers out of the old one I had laying around, which I then alcohol inked and added with a large brad and washer.

The chipboard sentiment says "happiness" in some language (Japanese, maybe? I have no clue) and I topped it off with some ric rac and a metal swirl. I did back the suede stuff to chipboard so that it holds its shape. And ta-da! No paper! (Whew!)

I've been meaning to do the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge all week - the theme is Wendy Vecchi/Studio 490 style. I finally got it together today.

And when I went looking for the challenge in my blog reader, I found a bunch of other challenges that my project also matched. Sweet!

I used Wendy's Art Chic, added some wings (with Rock Candy Crackle Paint), some flowers and a piece of film strip. She's popped up off the ATC, although I'm not sure you can tell in the photo. The background is chipboard covered with Distress inks and stamped with Wendy's fly poop stamp (she calls it that, really!) and then edged with Adirondack Snow Cap Pigment Ink. I also faux stitched around the edge with my white gel pen. (Click the photo for a larger version.)

Other challenges this project works for:

GingerSnap Creations: Go 3-Dimensional

Mixed Media Monday: Embellish It!

Wednesday Stamper: Stitched

Phew! Be sure to follow the links and check out everyone's work (I'm going to).

I got a new stamp while on vacation... OK, OK I got a couple of new stamps while on vacation! This stamp I think is just beautiful and I had to have it.

It's from Paper Inspirations and it has so much depth to it. I stamped it on glossy paper with gold Brilliance ink. The paper behind it is some handmade paper I got at Costco and although you can't see it in the photo, if you hold it just right it shimmers gold just like the stamped image.

Sentiment is from The Angel Company.