LINDA TRACE DESIGNS: Guest Blogger Virginia Lu and a Challenge!

Hi there friends!! Happy Wednesday!!!

Today I'm SO excited, because we have a special friend of ours visiting, Virginia!

this was me when Virginia agreed to be a guest blogger :)

Virginia's blog HERE is just fantastic and her creations are even more so. She's not only funny as all get-out and sweet, thoughtful and just all-around lovely, she's SUPER-creative!!

I check in on Virginia's blog daily (even though I'm signed up for the alerts when a new post comes up, I can never wait!) and I'm consistantly amazed and impressed with not only how versatile Virginia's style is, but what comes out of her inspiration!

I'm a very "literal translation" kind of girl (maybe it comes from learning languages?!) so when I see an inspiration photo, my 'translation' into a card is usually quite similar to the original.

Here's an example: I recently participated in the etsy inspired challenge, this was my inspiration photo:

which is from the amazing Becky Kazana's etsy shop (HERE).

and here's what I made:

See what I mean?! LITERAL. I saw flowers, I made flowers, I saw yellow, I made yellow. lol! (You can see the full details of this card HERE)

But Virginia?! Nuh-uh. She's AMAZINGLY creative and participates in challenges constantly, which has made her a truly innovative cardmaker.

SO, when she agreed to be a special guest on the a2z blog, we were so excited!! Virginia's cards are rarely super-extravagant, they're almost never highly embellished. They're clean and simple, they're sweet and fun and kooky (just like Virginia I think!!). Hopefully seeing some of her creations will inspire those of you who lack experience (or are just a bit low on mojo). I know I've used her creations as inspiration MANY times.

Therefore, without further ado, I give you Virginia's first specially designed for our blog Halloween Card "Boo!";

See what I mean?! Simple, effective, funny, kooky--FABULOUS!!

Here are some step-by-step instructions straight from Virginia:

1. Stamp house in Versamark and emboss in white on black card stock
2. Cut the house and set it aside
3: Distress the pumpkin color card stock with Antique Linen
4: Run the bottom throught Cuttlbug with Bubbles folder
5: Use hard surfaced sponge and lightly colored the pop-up bubbles
6. Stamp the ghost images in black and cut them out.
7. Plaace all pieces and plan out for space to sentiment
8: Stamp BOO with the Alphabet set and trim and layer them in squares.
9: Apply Glossy Accent on the eyes of ghosts and the letter BOO

and how about this one "

SO CUTE!!! This is my favorite of the two, only because a) I giggled when I saw that little guy sitting in the tree and imagined his crazy high-pitched voice saying YOO HOO!!! and b) that's pretty much what I look like when I wake up in the morning :)

Again, here are some instructions:

1. Stamp house in Versamark and emboss in pink on grey card stock
2. Cut the house and set it aside
3. Distress the grey color card stock with Weathered Jeans
4. Stamp the pumkins in black card stock and cut out.
5. Stamp the pumpkins in green using masking technique
6. Adhere the pumkins with pop dots
7. Emboss the little owl in white and stamp the branches (using makers or small cubes of ink)
8. Attach raffia at the bottom, place the houses with pop dots
9. Apply Stickles in background for the starry sky

--ooOOoo--

NOW--usually, we give you a list of links for the exact products you'll need to recreate a card or project. But this time I want to do things a little differently. You will still get a list of products, but the main Hero Arts Stamps that I've listed are slightly different than those Virginia used.

I've done this, because rather than having you all go out and copy Virginia's gorgeous cards down to the letter, I thought--this blog is called "Creativity and Inspiration". So that's your Challenge--be inspired to make your OWN version! Change things up, make the house different or the tree or the owl a little different, anything!

Use these cards as INSPIRATION for your own creation to come out, not a carbon copy of Virginia's. Trust me, you'll feel better about it if it's truly yours.

THEN, we'd love it if you either emailed us with photos of what you make, or uploaded them to our flickr gallery! (Just search on flickr for a2zscrapbookingsupplies)--of course, we'd also love it if you'd join our flickr group!

Show us how someone as amazing and inspiring as Virginia, has inspired you! (I know she'd love to see it too!)

So here are the links:

Stampendous Stamp N Stuff Embossing Powder White Opaque

Tsukineko Tuxedo Black ink

Tsukineko VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad

Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen)

Cuttlebug Swiss dots Embossing Folder

Hero Arts Country Pumpkin Stamp
Hero Arts Two Houses Stamp
Hero Arts Owl-oween Stamp
Tsukineko Tuxedo Black ink

Copic Markers

Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents

Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Faded Jeans)
Ranger Frosted Lace Stickles