Wrap-Up - GC124: Black and Grays

All the submissions were darkly creative and showed a wonderful interpretation of the limited color palette! Fabulous art! Thanks to all who participated!

We would like to thank Alpha Stamps for their generous sponsorship of this challenge!


Our randomly drawn winner will become our new Home Page Artist for the week as well as winning this fabulous prize package which includes 3 yards of seam binding in black, mango orange and cream, 1 Afternoon Muse Chipboard Album, 2 collage sheets printed on cardstock "Witchy Business" and "Poe's Words" and 3 unmounted rubber stamps "Cricket", "Bat" and "El Diablo Matchbox Cover".

We wouldn't want to keep you in suspense any longer! Our randomly drawn Home Page Artist this week is

Sharon Rogers
of
Sharon's Showcase

Congratulations, Sharon. Please email us at gingersnapstamp@gmail.com with your contact details by January 12, 2012 to collect your prize.

Your artwork will be showcased on the Home Page of the Gingersnap Creations Yahoo Group as well as on the sidebar on the blog.

Now onto our fabulous Ginger Gems. When each challenge closes, we also pick 10 Ginger Gems - fabulous creations that we feel really exemplify that challenge's objective. The Ginger Gems appear in a slide show in the blog sidebar for the entire week, as well as in this wrap-up post, and their creators have the honor of displaying this Ginger Gems blog badge.


For more information about Ginger Gems and entering our challenges, please visit the FAQ page.

Our Darkly Delicious
Ginger Gems

Artwork by Beverly

Artwork by Cathy

Artwork by Cheri

Artwork by Dawn

Artwork by Electra

Artwork by Josee

Artwork by Kendra

Artwork by Krisha

Artwork by Pam

Artwork by Terry


Special Guests

Artwork by Yvonne, November Visiting Artist


Artwork by Nancy Johnson, September Visiting Artist

Artwork by Gerri Herbst, Ginger DT Member

Congratulations to all our Ginger Gems this week! We hope you take a minute to stop by their blogs.

Come by tomorrow for a new Color Challenge.

Petra Berendsen - Playing with Seeds

It is November but there are still fruits and seeds to collect from the fields and gardens. Some of the seeds are so pretty with their shapes and colours.

It is almost a shame just to leave them for next year's sowing or even for a meal ... they really invite for playing (lol). First I created a seed combo which looked like the perfect mix for a harvest project.

This mix was the base for a small tag using a pre-cut white tag stamped with Hero Arts Cloud stamp, layered with a little coloured scarecrow image from a colouring page and the seeds which I glued to some white card.

Next, I laid shapes with some pumpkin, they are brilliant with their colour and their very distinct shape ... inviting you to create pumpkin flowers.

These were perfect for ornaments combining them with paper, glitter, paint, ink .... whatever you can think of. With the left-hand pattern I made a napkin ring using left-over rolls from raffia, burlap, ribbon, paper and lots of glitter (which hadn't been dry when taking the photo)

And did you know that you can also stamp on seeds ..... Have a play and show us what you make with your seeds, Petra.

Alexa Noble: Sculpting with Glass Bead Gel

This month we have been featuring seeds and beads and so in keeping with beads, I thought I would have a play with one of my favourite mediums, Glass Bead Gel. I use one which is made by Golden, but any other brand would give the same results.

You will need acetate, glossy accents, tags, pointed sculpting tool or skewer and your images. I have used images which I downloaded from Diva D'Este but this project would also be great for images sourced from magazines or your own stamped ones.

I started by covering my image with glossy accents. Don't make it too thick otherwise it will ooze out onto your acetate and you'll have a lot of clearing up to do! I have tried other mediums to stick my images to the acetate eg Mod Podge, but they all leave small air bubbles so that is why I use glossy accents.

Stick your image face down onto the accetate and then turn it over so you can smooth out any air bubbles. Once all the bubbles are out, turn the acetate back over and clean any excess glossy accents away with cotton bud then leave to dry.

Once dry, apply a coat of gel. It is translucent when you apply it but it driers clear. Once you have covered the area, use a pointed tool to create patterns in the gel and then leave to dry which can take some time so be patient!

While your images dry, cut an aperture in your tag and then decorate it. I used a combination of sprays, paints and stencils to create my backgrounds and then stamped my images over the top.

The large butterflies on this tag were beeswaxed and have idea-ology pen nibs sewn on as their bodies.

There are many more things you can do with this gel. It can be tinted with paints or sprayed with glitter which is great for snowy Christmas rooftops and trees.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and feel like having a play! x

Pennywise Arts: Beaded Thanksgiving Candle

Our friends over at Pennywise Arts keep making some great projects to share with us. They'll be sharing even more projects with us next month when Pennywise Arts will be our sponsor.

This gorgeous candle was created by Michelle McCarthy, part of the excellent Pennywise team.

Michelle wrapped a wide wire ribbon and pleated to fit around the candle. A strip of O'So Sticky Tape from Pennywise Arts was placed onto a strip on cardstock the same size. The decorative paper ribbon was made using an edge punch on a coordinating piece of cardstock. The tape liner was removed, the paper ribbon laid into place and then it was dipped into a mixture of micro beads and wrapped around the candle over the pleated ribbon.

Michelle chose an image from one of the Swingshift Designs Thanksgiving collage sheets that Pennywise sells. She punched out the image and beaded over the center of it with O'So Sticky Tape and clear micro beads. A touch of raffia ribbon finished it up!

Isn't it pretty? A beautiful way to grace a Thanksgiving Day table!

Wrap-Up - GC123: Ravens

We definitely got some great submissions for this one! We had no idea you were all so Ravin' about Ravens! Awesome art!

We would like to thank Alpha Stamps for their generous sponsorship of this challenge!


Our randomly drawn winner will become our new Home Page Artist for the week as well as winning this fabulous prize package which includes 3 yards of seam binding in black, mango orange and cream, 1 Afternoon Muse Chipboard Album, 2 collage sheets printed on cardstock "Witchy Business" and "Poe's Words" and 3 unmounted rubber stamps "Cricket", "Bat" and "El Diablo Matchbox Cover".


We wouldn't want to keep you in suspense any longer! Our randomly drawn Home Page Artist this week is

Anesha
of
Crafting Queen

Congratulations, Anesha. Please email us at gingersnapstamp@gmail.com with your contact details by January 6, 2012 to collect your prize.

Your artwork will be showcased on the Home Page of the Gingersnap Creations Yahoo Group as well as on the sidebar on the blog.

Now onto our fabulous Ginger Gems. When each challenge closes, we also pick 10 Ginger Gems - fabulous creations that we feel really exemplify that challenge's objective. The Ginger Gems appear in a slide show in the blog sidebar for the entire week, as well as in this wrap-up post, and their creators have the honor of displaying this Ginger Gems blog badge.


For more information about Ginger Gems and entering our challenges, please visit the FAQ page.

Our Ravin'
Ginger Gems

Artwork by Sue Roddis

Artwork by Patricia

Artwork by Sandi McLean

Artwork by Tina G.

Artwork by Siobhan

Artwork by Sue the Iron

Artwork by Blackdragon

Artwork by Brenda Brown

Artwork by Silvia-Barnie

Artwork by Maggie H.


Special Guests

Arwork by MeggieMay

 Artwork by Melissa Ustik

Artwork by Nancy Johnson

Artwork by Ginger Annette Goatley

Artwork by Ginger Trisha Neal

Artwork by Founding Femme Sharon Briss

Congratulations to all our Ginger Gems this week! We hope you take a minute to stop by their blogs.

Come by tomorrow for a new Random Redhead Challenge.