North Carolina Day 1

Hello!

Whew!  Sorry for being MIA!  Just taken me a bit to get back to my routine after my fabulous vacation. 

After the Steampunk Soirée I flew to North Carolina for some quality sister time. I've got so much to share Ill break this into several posts. 

My big sis Denise picked me up at the Charlotte airport and then we headed downtown. First stop, a mocha to keep me going. Next, the Nascar Hall of Fame. If you are a motor sports fan, or just a car gal or guy, this is a must stop location. They have done a wonderful job with state of the art technology. What a fun place. We were lucky that it wasn't very crowded and took our time exploring, taking photos and driving the simulator. Driving at 200 miles an hour is definitely an acquired skill, lol. I burnt up my engine, had to replace my car, and so only completed two of ten laps. You can purchase a ticket to have unlimited simulator rides. This would be the way to go if you want to become an ace. So. Much. Fun.

The Hall of Fame is right in the heart of downtown Charlotte. 

Didn't realize how much texture the tracks have. Guess that's the grip. 

The audio portion of the tour is worth it. 

Meeting of the minds, lol. 

The race track simulator. Zoom, zoom!  Gotta bring my hubby back here!

If you find yourself in Charlotte and have some time I would highly recommend the Nascar Hall of Fame!

Come back for day 2 of my North Carolina trip. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Creating!

Hugs,Sharon

Steampunk Soirée 2014

Happy Saturday!

It was a fantastic weekend!  Three wonderful classes. Lots of crop time. A costume party. Making new friends, seeing old friends, and meeting in person online friends. This community of crafters are so talented, creative, funny, generous, and fun to hang out with.  Miss you guys already!

So busy having fun I didn't get a lot of pictures but I'll share some here. 

Made good progress on the three projects and will share them in a separate post when complete. Learned some new techniques and gained some inspiration for future variations. Kathryn, Kathy, and Jim rock!

Friday night was a costume gala complete with a red carpet runway fashion show.  Got the opportunity to show off my model moves, he, he, he. It was a fun and scary experience. I found myself at the head of the line as all the other contestants lined up behind me.  Realizing that I wasn't about to get out of going first I just pushed aside my fear and went for it. Everyone did a great job showing off their fantastic costumes. 

Saturday night they announced the winners of the fascinator and costume contests and I won third place in the costume contest!  How fun is that!

Enjoy the pics and I will post some more when I get home. 

In the airport on the way to Virginia. 

Thursday night registration and welcome. 

Our crop space. We each got a 3 x 6 space to spread out on. 

Project one by Kathy Orta. 

Friday night gala and costume contest.  I ended up tying for third place in the contest!  It was a popular vote so thanks everyone. So glad you all liked my costume and stroll down the catwalk!

I actually started this post the Monday after the Soirée but had so much fun visiting my sister in North Carolina I didn't have time to finish it.  More on that part of my trip in another post. 

I'm waiting at San Francisco airport to catch the last leg of my trip. Got delayed yesterday in DC. 

More later on the projects and fun in North Carolina. 

Happy Creating. 

Hugs, Sharon

Compendium of Curiosities, Challenge 7

Good evening!

Blogging from Virginia at the Steampunk Soirée. Tonight was registration and the welcome reception. So great to meet in person so many online friends and see all the amazing fascinators. More on the Soirée tomorrow. Just wanted to give a quick post on the latest Compendium of Curiosities challenge. 

Challenge number 7 is Painted Industrial, on page 46 of the CC3.  This is a favorite of mine. I tend to use it if I'm going for an industrial or steampunk feel. 

I made some floral pins for Jodie and I to wear at the Soirée. 

I used the Tattered Floral die and stacked up the flowers to create a nice layered look.   Love the mix of metal and inked up card stock. 

This challenge is sponsored by Inspiration Emporium. One lucky winner will get a gift certificate. As with the other challenges the Curiosity Crew will select their choices to win a bunch of goodies from Tim Holtz and Mario. 

There have been some really amazing projects in thes challenges so be sure to check them out. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I will do my best to post throughout the weekend so you can see the fun projects we get to work on and all the fun. Please stop on by my blog and on Facebook as well. 

Happy creating!

Hugs, Sharon

Steampunk Soirée Here I Come!

Happy Wednesday to You!

A bit of crazy town around here lately.   There has been lots of prep and planning for an epic event, the Steampunk Soirre!  Seventy five (yes that's 75) of us will be gathering in Washington DC/ Virginia to take classes from the fabulous and fun Kathryn Krieger, Kathy Orta, and Jim Hankins.  It all kicks off tomorrow night and lasts through Sunday. Check out the website at http://www.epiccraftingevents.com to see what we will be up to. 

My costume and fascinator will have to stay under wraps until the big reveal at the event but I will snap some sneaky peek pics to share later today or tomorrow. 

I will be posting throughout the event so check back in to see the fun. 

Oh, and for you east coast residents if you feel some shaking it's not an earthquake.  Just the crazy steampunk folks us jumping up and down and partying at the Soirre. Hee, hee. 

So looking forward to meeting in person many of my online friends!

Enjoy the rest of your week and be sure to stop by for updates. 

Happy Creating!

Hugs, Sharon

Compendium of Curiosities 3, Challenge 6

Happy Tuesday,

here is another Compendium of Curiosities Volume III Challenge.  This time its all about the Altered Burlap Panel, found on page 37.  If you have been playing along or following you know that we won't be posting any techniques.  You must work from your own copy of Compendium.

This challenge is sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Find them at www.thefunkiejunkie.com.  They will be giving away a $25 shopping spree to one lucky participant.

The burlap panels have so much texture and are a blast to work with.

My bee friend here is a reminder to savor the moment, and just "bee".

Loving the layers and textures.

With vellum I created some layered wings for the bee. 

Hope you enjoyed this burlap panel.  The CC3 Challenges have been a great creative escape and I'm enjoying trying out some new techniques.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Be sure to stop by Linda's web site to see what the Curiosity Crew did with this challenge and all the other inspirational links of the CC3Cers!

Happy Creating!

Hugs,  Sharon

The Art of Bugs

Hello there,

hope your week is off to a good start.

Remember my bug friends?  Those dies that I waited months for?  Oh yes, I have been having a wonderful time playing.  I have created a piece that I'm calling the Art of Bugs.  A trio of bugs framed up as art work.

Just look at all that yummy texture.  So. Much. Fun.

I will be teaching a class on the Art of Bugs at Chico Scrapbooks on August 10, 2014.   This is my LSS where I teach, hang, and shop in Chico, California.  You can also find them on the web at http://chicoscrapbooks.com/

The brick and mortar store is at 2033 Forest Avenue, Suite 104, Chico, CA.  There are still seats available in the Art of Bugs class and you can call the store at 530-345-9333 to reserve your spot.

Here are a few detail shots of my bugs.

The stunning background paper is from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Wallflower paper stash.  Perfect backdrop to show off my friends.  Thanks Tim for creating these papers and dies!

Love my bugs.  Making my whole summer a lot more fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope you get some time to create some art.

Happy Creating!

Hugs,  Sharon

Compendium of Curiosities 3, Challenge 5

Happy Independence Day!  So grateful for all the blessings and freedom we have in the Good Ole USA.

We are already at Challenge 5 in the Compendium of Curiosities Challenges.  Time has just flown by.  Again, I am down to the wire on getting my piece submitted, hee, hee, hee.

Challenge 5 is all about Distress Watercoloring on page 39 of Tim's book.  To play along you need your own book as Linda, the Curiosity Crew and participants will not be posting the technique.  For more information on the Challenges go the Linda's web site at www.lindaledbetter.com.

Challenge 5 is sponsored by Inspiration Emporium and Joy and the IE gang will award an incredibly generous Fifty Dollar gift certificate to one lucky randomly selected participant.  Be sure to stop by the IE website here to see all the incredible things they have.  The Curiosity Crew's Choice winner will receive a collection of Tim's products courtesy of Tim and Mario.  The previous winners have been amazing so be sure to check them out if you haven't yet.

Since it is the fourth of July I wanted to do something patriotic that could be used as home decor or party decorations to celebrate the day.  I created some patriotic stakes.

I pulled out my Mini Blueprints 2 CMS146 using the flag, USA, star, and liberty.  I stamped these onto the smooth side of watercolor paper using archival ink.

After coloring they looked like this.

I wanted to make some stars that I could mount my images on so I pulled out this original Sizzix die Stars #2.  Anyone still have any of their originals?  Mine are still going strong.  Love the steel rule dies. Using some paper from Tim's idea-ology Seasonal paper stash I cut a bunch of stars.

Unfortunately I found that the even the largest star was too small to mount the images on.  Plan B was to cut some card stock with the Armor Shield Die, 659445 as the base.

I scuffed up the shields with a sanding block and started assembling by patriotic sticks.

Miracle tape holds the stick in place.  These are skewers originally meant for using to BBQ but I find they make excellent craft sticks.  They are about 12" long with a point at one end which allows you to use them as plant stakes.  Or they can be easily trimmed to any length desired.

Here are some close ups of the images.

I think they make a pretty display all together in a vase.  This is 8 of the patriotic stakes in a group.  They would also be fun poking out of plants to add some festivity to the day.

These patriotic stakes could easily be blinged up for those of you who like a little more sparkle.  I wanted to keep them plain with the focus on the stamped images and stars.

What a fun and relaxing day.  Hope you are taking the time to spend some time with family and friends and celebrating our freedom.  

Thank You for stopping by.  I always appreciate your comments as well.

Happy Creating!

Hugs,  Sharon