Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Monochromatic Challenge

Hi all! This week's challenge at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long is to make a monochromatic holiday creation. Well, I have a difficult time with this type of technique, but that's what a challenge is for, right? So I looked through my Christmas stamps, found one I don't think I've ever used, and trudged on! Here's what I came up with.

I've had this stamp from Hero Arts called Mona Lisa collage for I long time. I purchased it at JoAnn's for a reason...can you guess why? Mona "Lisa"...my brother used to call me Mona all the time. I even have a picture of her in my living room that I found in an antique store for $20...I love that picture!

So I digress....I stamped this image in Versafine black ink because of all the fine details on it. Versafine is wonderful for stamping these types of images. It's stamped on Vintage Cream cardstock, then I swirled some antique linen, tea dye, and wild honey distress inkson it to make it look more worn and antique. The Vintage Cream mat behind it was run through a Sizzix folder (Tim Holtz?) and I used the same three inks to distress it. The dp behind it is from Basic Grey's Jovial paper pack and then it's layered onto a Vintage Cream base. I added the Riding Hood Red ribbon on the top of the tag, red stickles to the holly berries on the tag, and finally a pretty fabric poinsettia from Prima with a red glitter dot in the center. Of course, this card really looks much better in person...I just can't seem to get a good picture lately (or maybe it's just me that's not satisfied with my photography!).

I'm doing so good on my Christmas cards by doing these challenges! How are you doing? You still have lots of time to get started! And if you play along with us this week you have a chance to be a guest designer on the CSAYL blog in September. You can get all the details for this week's challenge on the CSAYL blog and see all the monochromatic cards the girls have created! We'd love to see what you create!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Recipe
Stamps: Mona Lisa collage (Hero Arts)
Paper: Vintage cream, Jovial dp (Basic Grey)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, antique linen, tea dye, and wild honey distress inks
Accessories: Sizzix embossing folder, ribbon, red stickles, Prima flowers, glitter dot, dimensionals

Copics Colour Challenge #3

Hi everyone! Well, the day is finally here...my first day on the job as a member of the Copics Colour Challenge Design Team! (Can you tell I'm excited?)I think I'm going to have fun on this team! Most of the girls (with the exception of myself and Chris Dickenson) are from the UK! They are a very nice group of girls that I hope to "meet in person" someday! (You can stop by their blogs...I have them listed on my sidebar.)

Anyway, on with the challenge! It's a sketch challenge this week! It's one that had me stumped at first, but I think I managed to pull it off! Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:I had to pull out my drawer of unused stamps for this one! This is an oldie but a goodie from Great Impressions that I got eons ago! I don't think I ever used it because I never knew how to color it! Well, let me tell you how much fun I had coloring it now! I actually colored it twice...the first time on white paper for a "practice" run and then on cream for the "real" one. And guess what? I liked the "practice" one better! But, it was on white and it didn't look good with the dp choice! So, look for it another time as I will be recycling it! I used various copic markers (see the list in the Recipe below) to color the image. Since I LOVE sparkle and shine, I added some using a Sakura gelly roll pen in Clear Star. I shines so nicely when the light hits it. Here's a close-up of the image. The dp is a fabulous design from Graphic 45 called Botanicabella. These colors are so me and "spoke" to me when I saw them in my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff! They are so rich and beautiful! The ladybugs are also stamped on some paper from the same line. The ladybugs are from the Inkadinkadoo clear set called Patterened Bugs. I chose them because there's a little ladybug on one of the pots in the image. The paper and grosgrain ribbon (from SU's Sale-a-bration catalog...I HAVE to get more because it's so gorgeous!) are So Saffron. I also sponged around the image with So Saffron and Creamy Caramel inks.

Well, that's all folks! Thanks for letting me gush! I do appreciate it! Don't forget to hop over to the Copics Colour Challenge and see what the other girls have come up with...some pretty cool cards! I hope to see your creations over there too! You have all week to upload you card to Mr. Linky and you could win a prize, too! Anyone can play (even if you don't use/own copic markers), but you can only win a prize if you use copic markers. Hope to see you there and thanks for stopping by today!
Recipe
Stamps: Great Impressions (sunflower), Patterned Bugs (Inkadinkadoo), Hero Arts (inside sentiment)
Paper: So saffron (SU), vintage cream (Papertrey Ink), Graphic 45-Botanicabella Collection
Ink: Adirondack black, ruby red and chocolate chip markers (SU), so saffron, creamy caramel
Copic Markers: Y15, 17; Yr23; E22,27,71,77; G21, 28; YR23; R46; W-1
Accessories: SU so saffron grosgrain ribbon, Sakura gelly roll pen (clear star), white gel pen, sponge, dimensionals

Decorative Birds

The Featured Stamper on SCS today is Susie (susiestampalot)...isn't that a cute name? Check out her gallery and blog. She's got some talent! I chose this card to case today for a few reasons. First of all, I love that Verve Anniversary Bird Susie used on her card. I don't have that one, but I have a similar one from a Hero Arts set called Decorative Birds. Secondly, I really liked the buttons she used on her card. And last, I loved the layout. When you do a featured stamper challenge, you have to change at least two things on your card. I changed the stamps, the paper, and I tweaked the layout by leaving off a layer under the bird and sentiment. It would have covered my dp too much, so I left it off. I paper pieced the bird using two dps. The blue flower button is new from SU. I also used the new SU scallop punch for the guava piece. So easy to use! The branch is PTI's Out on a Limb. This was the first time using this, and the overlay did not match up properly. I've read that there is an updated version of this set. Does anyone know about this? Was there something wrong with the overlays and did they replace it? I have to email PTI and find out. All the overlays were not lining up. I'm sending this to the family of one of my students who gave me a very nice gift card to Macy's. It's long overdue! Here is the inside of the card. The sentiment is from SU's Many Thanks and I think it's perfect for this. card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps: Decorative Birds (Hero Arts); Many Thanks (SU); Out on a Limb, Simple Little Things (PTI)

Paper: Groovy guava, really rust, soft sky, white, Fall Flowers dp

Ink: Wild wasabi, Adirondack pitch black and espresso

Accessories: buttons, twine, soft sky ribbon, dimensionals, scallop punch