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.

Alas, not mine - I've already had that pleasure! But it's a big number (uh.. big as in big deal, not as in LARGE... although it does seem pretty large when you hit it... er.. nevermind) so I thought it deserved a little bit more than a card.

I took my inspiration from Wendy Vecchi's project on this post. As you can see, I did lots of things differently.

I used a lot of chipboard with a lot of Distress Inks. I actually cut out the chipboard focal point with Nestabilities Labels 4, although I had to finish with a craft knife as the chip was a bit too thick. (Check out the nice embossing on the edge.) The pretty patterned paper is from K&Co (Life's Journey).

Also included are grungeboard numbers (Distress Inked and Distress Stickled), grungepaper for parts of the flowers which I cut using the Tim Holtz Alterations Die(Tattered Florals). Images are from The Angel Company.

I ended up not using the large brads but instead did a sort of a ribbon thing tied in the back to keep it closed. I didn't take photos again, sorry.

This took me a while to do. Perhaps I should have just followed Wendy's great tutorial - it wouldn't have taken so long to complete!

I'm finally back with a Tag Tuesday (Kard Krazy) submission after taking off for a while. (It's amazing how much work getting ready for a vacation can be!) And I double-dipped today: There's a new challenge in town over at Simon Says Stamp and Show.

I took the Simon Says challenge of "Things with Wings" and Tag Tuesday's "Crowns" and combined them into one tag. They went together quite well, I think!

The bird stamp is from Martha Stewart, a RAK from my friend Ann over at StampHaven, which I colored with Distress Inks. The tag (7 Gypsies) is also a RAK from Ann. I used one of the grungeboard crowns, inked it and covered with Distress Stickles (love those!) in Peeled Paint. (I was going to emboss it but I was too lazy to clean up the mess on my table in order to get my machine out. Bad, I know!)

It feels good to get back to work in my studio. It would feel better if it wasn't so messy, but I can't have everything, can I?

Please take a look at all the other submissions to these challenges - there's some great art out there!

Two weeks is a long time and goes by in a flash. We took a much-needed vacation with family which took me away from the internet (not a bad thing).

This is all I saw for days (click on the photos if you want to see the larger image):

I know. Vacation is rough.

So this post is not completely off topic, here's a little something I did before I left.

* Images from The Angel Company

This card doesn't have a bit of stamping on it which is unusual for me. I created it for a challenge over at StampHaven that called for us to submit a card or project that represented fantasy - as in fantastical creatures. What better way to do this than fairies?

I don't remember where I got the image from - it was a long time ago. I used my Nestabilities ovals for the image and the white backdrop and the background paper is from TAC. The flourishes are cut with Tim Holtz Alterations Elegant Flourishes, covered with silver leaf pen and silver Stickles. I also used Stickles on the image for the fairy dust... What? You can't have fairies without fairy dust!