We’re thanking the Lord for all our blessings as we celebrate the Grand Opening of Layers of Color Art Stamps online boutique! Our “doors” will officially open Sunday, June 1, 2008 at 8:00am Pacific Time Zone! The “Grand” calls for a party and the “Opening” works for the theme at Layers of Color Challenge. I’ve created Celebration Cinderella, and Jessica has created a Fiesta Party Card.

Celebration Cinderella by Laura Cinderella wears her party dress made of gathered tissue paper, Psalter music pages and Audubon Birds. I used several stamps from each of the eight, Layers of Color Art Stamp sets we’ll be offering for sale at our boutique.
Untie the button-styled brads and… the skirt opens, grandly revealing the Layers of Color Art Stamps Logo!

Fiesta Party Card by Jessica The first thing that came to mind when I thought of “party”, was the fabulous Fiesta I attended for a friend’s birthday. She did such a fabulous job decorating that I felt as if I were actually in Mexico.
For my “opening door” I made my friend a card that holds a CD with all the photos I took at her party. I used Layers of Color Garden Borders and Architectural stamp sets. I LOVE interactive cards, so this was a blast to make!

Thank you, everyone, for celebrating with us, and for sharing our family’s dream- come-true event!

Did you know?…Umbrellas have been found in historical artifacts and depictions thousands of years ago. Originally they were made as protection from the sun not the rain. The word umbrella is from the Latin word umbra, which in turn derives from the Ancient Greek ómvros. Its meaning is shade or shadow. An umbrella or parasol are also, sometimes colloquially called, gamp, brolly, or bumbershoot. The first umbrella shop of record, which opened in 1830, is still today at its original address in London. There, James Smith and Sons sold umbrellas that were works of art; many made of wood and whalebone and covered with alpaca or an oiled canvas, some even covered in feathers.

I added an umbrella to my artwork for Layers of Color Challenge. The vintage photo is of a female actress with a cane. I imagined her to be an umbrella shopkeeper, so I turned her cane into a colorful umbrella. Paraplule (para-plui) is French, for umbrella.

All stamps in this piece are Layers of Color Architectural Blocks stamp set. The background is paper rubbing over the stamps using colored pencils, then stamped over the rubbing with chalk inks and pierced through the paper. Details include stitching on the sheer ribbon and adding a decorative upholstery tack.

It was such fun to make that I also created a tutorial for this Unique Technique to show others how to make the paper umbrella and awning.

Jessica also met the challenge with this delightful rainy day dance! I love the bubble umbrellas and book page raindrops. This reminds me of Jessica’s childhood when she would dance in the warm California rain with her little friends…except they wouldn’t bother with the umbrellas… they wore their swimsuits!

I was crowned on Mother’s Day by my eleven year old daughter with a special paper crown she made using the new stamps I designed. Grandma was crowned, too. We treasure our original headpieces handmade with love.

I was inspired to use the paper crown theme for Layers of Color Challenge. I chose to make a paper crown using mostly stamps for decoration. I made a crown for the collector of blue and white ceramics and French Toile. I used blue ink with Layers of Color Garden Borders and Architectural Blocks stamp sets on poster board (leftover from my child’s school project). It’s enhanced with navy blue sharpie and blue paint on the inside. I photographed it on a glass cake dome.

I thought I’d also share this paper crown that I made quite awhile ago. I used a stamp that I designed for myself (which is now Layers of Color Fleur Heart stamp set). Textured wallpaper is the base for the crown and the cut out 3-D leaves. The flowers were made with punches and bent into 3-D shapes. I enhanced it with colored markers and added a little bling with glitter glue. It sits in my studio on top of a glass house that holds a vignette with photos of my family.

Jessica made this incredible royal work of art! She stamped Layers of Color Renaissance Hearts and Fleur Heart stamps on pages from a book, then cut them out and adhered them together to form a crown. Her beautiful embellishments are regal white feathers, altered bottle caps and golden shimmering ribbon. Ooh la la! And whom did she crown with this majestic headpiece…her elegant black poodle! Imagine what fun she had photographing her proud poodle prince!

I ponder in my heart the beauty of the three of us inspiring each other, creating with love and sharing the gift of art…mother and daughters. I can’t help but lift my praises to God, the Original Creator for blessed moments in my life like this, where I treasure all that I see, not because of what is material, but through the deeper meaningful relationships that grow from it. Thank you, Lord.

Wednesday Stamper has challenged us to create using the word, Art. I made two moos this morning. I pondered as I was creating… art isn’t about the object, it’s about the interpretation.  Of course, I used all Layers of Color Signature Art Stamps.

I made a Mother’s Day card for both the Arty Girlz challenge of 3-D and the Layers of Color challenge of Embossing.

I’m fortunate to have my wonderful in-laws live with us. My mother-in-law is a very special person. It’s not unusual to hear her singing hymns or laughing out loud in the other room. She’s the best nurse, a really fun grandma, a special friend, a great wife, and an excellent mother. Her heart is big, and especially soft for young mothers, children and babies. She’s nurtured and taught hundreds through classes she teaches and raised dozens of foster children. She’s wife of a retired Naval Lt. Commander who’s beautiful style of mothering has created two sons that have grown up to be exceptional men, fathers and husbands. I’ve been blessed beyond measure to have married one, and to be a member of this family!

She loves flowers, gardens and Victorian novels so I created a card for her with these things in mind. I chose old world looking stamps, Layers of Color Fleur Heart and Architectural Blocks. One of her favorite colors is purple, so I washed the background with purple watercolor then embossed it entirely with old gold. The heart is stamped then embossed with a stylus, rubbed with ink and chalk, and cut out with decorative scissors. I molded it slightly with my fingers into 3-D and stitched it to the background then filled it with purple and white flowers. I know she’ll see and appreciate the love I’ve expressed towards her in this card.