Black Friday!!!!!!!!!!

Woo Hoo! Ms November, Mary here and this is my favorite month of the year and I get to choose the challenge. What could be better? This month's challenge is ...... Black Friday. This could be interpreted in several different ways; shopping , the color black (my favorite), or a truly bad day at the stock market (historical - ain't I all educational and stuff ).Even I haven't finished my challenge project yet. I will be back in a few days with a picture. I am so excited that I can hardly stand still (well actually I can't, I am a moving and doing kind of person) so I will see you right back here same bombshell time, same bombshell channel.

Everyone who plays will be entered to win this months prize package!

Here is my Black Friday challenge- It's not a card. It's a shopping organizer. I used all black and white dp and loads of embellishments. This was totally fun to make. The lists inside are downloads free from organizedchristmas.com I used a manila file folder and painted the edges black with acrylic paint then added the dp and embellishments. My wonderful husband took the pictures for me this time but they are not as true colored as I would like - they kinda look brown and I couldn't get it to correct. I don't have a picture of the back of the planner, but I added more embellishments and the handmade by stamp.

Mary H.

Anita Marie

Alaine

Mary G.

Kelli

Kas

Meredith

Alison

Cheryl

Katie

Kathi

SO come and play along with our BLACK FRIDAY CHALLENGE:

Wild & Free

I'll freely state that I love sunsets and am fascinated by them, so I continue to keep trying to capture them. This attempt uses several of the new western-themed digital stamps by Bombshell Stamps, which is running a fabulous Black Friday Sale this weekend. Plus, if you sign up as a blog follower, you get the chance to win a fabulous prize.

Anyways, I digress. The big rearing horse is from the Wild Horses digital set. The cacti and the clouds are from the Desert Background digital set.

The nice thing about digital stamps is that you can change their sizes and orientations, so I did just that. Then I printed out my little scene, colored the horse, cacti, and clouds with my Copic markers. I heat embossed them with clear embossing powder to act as a resist, used the negative of a circle punch as a reverse mask, then sponged Distress and Memento inks to create a setting sun. The next step was to mask the sun with the circle and sponge the sky and desert. I added shadows with Copic marker. I have no idea if I got the position of the shadows correct, but perfection is overrated. *grin*

When I was moderately happy with my little scene, I realized it was really too big for a card, so I decided to make it into a wall hanging. So, I made a frame from old Cosmo Cricket wood-grain paper, heat embossed it, added the pewter eyelets (almost exhausted my stash of those though I have a gazillion colored ones), and added the twine. I computer generated the sentiment, printed it out on parchment paper, then stamped an empty banner from the Banner Sayings set over the words, added some Copic shading, then cut it out and glued it onto the frame. The frame is popped up with dimensional tape and was put over the scene which was matted on green and white cardstock. The angle of the phototograph makes it look uneven, but it is moderately even in real life.

I've got it hanging up on my wall now! Yay.

Thanks for visiting today!

WANTED!!

This pretty little lady is WANTED...for being GORGEOUS!!
I do love this image from Bombshell Stamp's brand new western stamp set called Western Gal, available in both rubber and digital. The WANTED poster is also available for purchase as a digi image BUT...you can get it for free if you're a subscriber to Bombshell's newsletter!

Cardstock used is Stampin' Up's new Crumb Cake (quickly becoming one of my favorites!), Buckaroo Blue, and an unknown DSP. I used a strip of cream-colored ribbon that I recycled from a gift set and natural-colored hemp around the middle of the card. The WANTED poster is printed onto GP110 white cardstock, cut out, distressed around the edges and sponged with Stampin' Up's Creamy Caramel to help age it. Antiqued brads were inserted in the corners as "nails" to hold up the poster. The poster was popped up on dimensionals. The western gal was printed onto GP110 white cardstock, colored with Copics and shadowed using Warm Gray 2. I cut her out and also popped her up on dimensionals.

Check out all SIX of the new western sets over at the Bombshell website. If you shop this weekend, you can save 25% off of your order of $25 or more during their Black Friday sale, but hurry!! To get your discount, use coupon code "BLACKFRI".

Enter our "Follow This Blog" CONTEST!

Welcome to the new Bombshell Stamps Blog! To kick it off and celebrate, we're having a "Follow This Blog" Contest! It's super easy to enter, and the winner will have their choice of 2 stamp sets (1 rubber + 1 digital)!!!

The contest rules are as follows:
1. Sign up to follow the blog by December 20th, 2010
2. Provide a post on their personal blog promoting the contest (current followers just need to add a post to their blog)

We hope you enjoy your visit and will come back often!

***Western Digital Stamps ARE HERE!!!***

Hey hey hey!!! Fantastic new Western digital Bombshells have been released!! There are several sets with some fantastic images to create backgrounds and focal points for all your projects and they compliment the awesome Retro Cowgirl set!!!

=> CLICK TO VIEW the new Western Stamps!

Here's what the DT made with the new stamps:

GlitteryKatie

Alison

Kathi

Mary G.

Kas Mello

Cheryl

November Sketch Challenge

Here's the sketch!


The only rules are to:
• Use Bombshell Stamps
• Have fun with the sketch and make it your own!

Do a project based on the sketch and link it below to win a chance to win a fabulous prize from Bombshell Stamps!

What is Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) ?

Dia de los Muertos also known as Day of the Dead,
is a holiday originating in Mexico.
The premise of the holiday is to celebrate deceased relatives.
It dates back to a month long celebration of the Aztecs.
Christian missionaries who were unable to stop the practice,

tied it to All Saints and All Souls days, so that it would fit 

better with their holidays. 

In America many people think of death
and graveyards as sad and scary things.
This is not the case in many other countries.

There are many variations throughout Mexico,
but there are certain features they all share.
Day one is to celebrate and welcome back
the spirits of babies and children. 
The second day is celebrating adults

and the third is to scare them back to the underworld. 

In Mexico families decorate gravestones,

light lanterns and have picnics in the graveyard.

 At the gravesites of children marigolds, toys,

hot chocolate and foods are placed. 

For adults, items include placing food,

cigarettes and tequila (a favorite).   

 The gravesite shrines are to encourage the spirits to visit.
Candles are an important part of the decorations
 to help spirits find their way.

Some beautiful examples of the celebration in Mexico can be found HERE

Pan de muertos, bread of the dead,
is often placed at gravesites or shrines. 

Sugar skulls are also colorful part of the celebration.
Some are made to eat, while other
are just for decoration. 
You can make your own using the recipe HERE. 
On shrines, sugar skulls would often have the name
of the departed loved one written on top. 
Sugar skulls have happy faces,
and are not usually made to be angry or
scary like Halloween skeletons.

In America, home shrines are used more often than gravesite shrines.
They can be as simple as a picture of a loved one with a small candle,
or can be quite elaborate. 

At Bombshell stamps,  there are so many wonderful sets to
help you create Day of the Dead projects.

There are some great examples in the gallery of projects like these:

 by Glittery Katie

Using Sugar Skulls and Alter Skulls

 by Perky Nihilist

using Madonna Woodcut

 by Mag

using Mi Amor

by Kas Mello

using Festive Calaveras and Digi Shrine

You can download the digi shrine for free in the forum HERE.

To view the complete collection of Day of the Dead and Sugar Skulls Stamps Visit the store HERE

Bombshell Paper Piecing Tutorial!!

Greetings everyone!!!  I am so excited to be here with you today to show you how I do my paper piecing on the always gorgeous Bombshell Angel!!  I know that many of you know how to paper piece but since we're working with inked up stamps and digital clothing I thought I'd share with you my process.  This will help those of you who are not familiar or comfortable with digi stamps get into your comfort zone so that you can utilize ALL of the gorgeousness that Bombshell has to offer!!

I utilized the awesome November sketch that darling Kathi has put forth for us as my card to use my beautiful lady!

Here is my card!

As you can see, I followed the sketch, adding some stitching and just changing the sentiment arrangement a bit.  The Brains & Beauty sentiment is from the same "Business Bombshell" digital set. 

I used my SU! 1 3/8" and 1 1/2" punches to pop out my sentiment and it's backing.  Angel and her sentiment  are popped up on 3-D foam adhesive for added dimension.

If you have ANY questions on how I did anything in this tutorial please leave a question in the comment section, along with your email and I will promptly get back to you!

Thanks for visiting today!

I hope you enjoy and have been inspired!!  Don't forget - the digi sets are only $4.99!!!  And you can do SOOOOOOOOO much with them all!!  Check them out!!! 

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

Ms. September - 2010