SC320 CC310 for you...

Hello everyone! Today's card is a combination of Sketch Challenge #320 and Color Combination Challenge #310 on SplitCoast. The colors this week are So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, and Pacific Point. These summertime colors are so refreshing and coordinate very easily. This card actually uses stamps from 4 different stamps sets. I really like how many of the sets can blend together to really expand the usefulness. I inked the leftmost panel in Wild Wasabi ink, then sponged on Pacific Point ink on the flowers. After a few moments, the ink was dry and I colored in the flowers with a white gel pen. The middle panel was inked in So Saffron ink, with Wild Wasabi sponged on the very edges before stamping on paper. The stamp was cleaned before each use so that the Wild Wasabi green ink wouldn't contaminate the So Saffron yellow inkpad. I had stamped the polka dot label on scratch paper and cut out the oval circle so that I could use it as a mask to sponge in So Saffron ink on the label that was stamped for the card. The butterfly and label are raised with popdots.

I hope you have a great day and thank you for visiting with me!


Stamps: Baby Blossoms, Just Believe, Vintage Vogue, Great Friend
Paper: So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point, Whisper White
Ink: So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point, white gel pen
Accessories: sponge daubers, dimensional popdots, pearls

Color & Sketch Challenge Combo

How fun to play in challenges today! My card submission is a combination of two challenges on SplitCoastStampers - Karen's color challenge # 309, and Roxie's sketch challenge # 319. The color challenge was to incorporate Not Quite Navy, Cajun Craze and Daffodil Delight.

I used post-it notes to protect the lower area of my bottom background panel before stamping the floral image in black ink. All images are waterclored using SU markers. The bird was heat embossed with Versamark/clear embossing powder, then popped up with dimensional popdots. The edges of my bottom background layer have some sponging done to it.

It's been too long since I last posted - my sincere apologies. I pledge to be better and post regularly again.... there's no denying that I do miss it, so I'll see you again soon. Thanks for visiting today - have a blessed and happy day!

Stamps: Nature Walk
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Cajun Craze, Daffodil Delight, Vanilla
Ink: Basic Black, Versamark, SU markers for coloring/watercoloring
Accessories: post-it notes, eyelet border punch, aquapainter, sponge dauber, heatgun, clear embossing powder, Daffodil Delight Ribbon

Vintage Elements

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday. This card is using Apricot Appeal, Sage Shadow, and Basic Gray colors posted as a challenge over at SCS. I love doing them - the challenges do keep the ideas fresh and inspirational..... try 'em, you'll like 'em! Tee hee!!!

This color combination reminded me of "vintage" when I pulled all the sheets of cardstock together. It was a bonus in the challenge to use lace which pretty much sealed the "vintage" idea I had floating around in my head.

The flower spray comes from a large stamp in the upcoming SU! Summer Mini stamp set called "Elements of Style". It was stamped in Basic Black ink on Vanilla cardstock and colored direct-to-paper with Apricot Appeal, More Mustard and Sage Shadow markers. I ever-so-lightly blended the colors together with a slightly damp aquapainter. I cut the flower spray with an oval Coluzzle, stopping in areas of the image that I wanted "out-of-the-box", and trimmed those areas with small scissors. I lightly sponged Apricot Appeal ink around the edges, and this was matted on a Basic Gray cardstock oval. The lace was attached on the back with Sticky Strip.

The sentiment comes from the Great Friend stamp set. I used a StampAMaJig for that step.

The butterfly is a new single stamp called All a Flutter and was stamped in black and colored with the same markers mentioned above and a white gel pen. The butterfly and flowers only were heat embossed with Versamarker/clear EP. The background was made with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder/BigShot and lightly sponged with Apricot Appeal ink to bring out the dots. This main panel and butterfly were adhered with dimensional popdots. I added 3 small half-back pearls to finish it off.

I hope today starts a fabulous week ahead for you. Take care and see you next time!

Bright is Right!

I thought I'd share a couple cards that I made for the CC264 Color Challenge that was posted on Splitcoast the beginning of April. This challenge was to use Bermuda Bay, So Saffron and Basic Gray colors.

The cake is from this year's SAB set Happy Moments, and was colored direct-to-paper with the In-Color markers. The glow of candles and cake plate was watercolored with the aquapainter and So Saffron & Going Grey inks. The dry embossed Bermuda Bay background is the Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder that was ran through the BigShot. The sentiment is the Modern Label and Word Window punch. Some brads and organdy ribbon from my stash finish up this card.

I wasn't sure how I'd like these colors when I first read the challenge, but I found that I enjoyed using them together after all - so I made another card!




A closeup of the flowers below -


After punching the flower shapes from the Boho Blossoms flower punch and assembling them together with a brad to hold them in place, I scrunched up the Bermuda Bay flower tips with my fingers. This loosened the paper fibers so that I could use the tip of my paper piercer to tease the paper layers apart to give the flower petals a ruffled look. A different, but fun technique!

Stamps: Made 2 Last stamp set
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Bigshot, Boho Blossoms punch, dimensional popdots, paper piercer, brads

I encourage you to do a challenge today - they are a great way to push yourself to try something new. Look, I was "ho-hum" about the colors picked for this challenge, and then pleasantly surprised at how bright and cheerful they were together! Give it a go!!!!

WICKED color, Watercolored Rose

Hello again... here's my WICKED submission for the color challenge posted by Brenda (aka QBee's Quest) on Split Coast Stampers. I mentioned alittle bit about these challenges on my previous post. With this particular challenge, we were to use these three colors: Riding Hood Red, So Saffron and Baja Breeze. These are awesome color choices - thanks, Brenda! :)

I love roses more than any other flower, and I especially love the bi-color ones, so this was my inspiration for this card. The open-lined flower was stamped in black ink and immediately heat embossed with clear embossing powder on glossy cardstock. I watercolored the flower with Riding Hood Red and So Saffron re-inkers and aquapainter. The ink doesn't dry immediately on glossy paper, so watch out for that or you might smudge ink in places you didn't intend! :0 (I helped speed up the process by hitting it lightly with my heatgun). I stamped the flower again on scrap paper and cut it out so that it would serve as a mask for sponging done in Baja Breeze and a touch of So Saffron inks. I used my coluzzle to cut out the oval, and hand cut the matted layer out of Riding Hood Red cardstock. This was mounted with dimensional popdots. The cardbase is So Saffron, and I trimmed off about 3/4 inch from the front flap so that I could adhere my Riding Hood Red eyelet border strip down one side.

Thanks for checking out this card project! Remember, you can click the picture and it will open up a larger version for you (so you can see better details). The gloss from the paper made it hard to capture the depth of color with this rose - but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Stay tuned for another WICKED project to be posted tomorrow - so, until then, have an awesome day!!

Stamps - Fifth Avenue Floral, Great Friend (sentiment)

Paper - Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Glossy White

Inks - Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, black

Accessories - aquapainter, sponge, coluzzle/oval template, heatgun, clear embossing powder, eyelet border punch, dimensional popdots

Friends 24-7 Color Challenge

Good morning! Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to order from the Sale-A-Bration mini catalog. Simply click the 'Shop Now' button on my business website and get those promo items while you can!

Here's a card made for today's color challenge over on SplitCoast. The circles were made with the circle cutter after stamping the images in Chocolate Chip ink on Pink Pirouette cardstock. The edges of the pink circles were distressed with the cutter kit distressor tool. These circles were matted with brads inserted, and then arranged on top of a Bella Toile stamped background in Chocolate Chip ink. The corner brads and Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon were added last.

Stamps: Friends 24-7, Bella Toile background
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: circle cutter, cutter kit, ribbon, brads, dimensionals

For those of you in the Phoenix metro area, please be sure to check out my Flip Album Scrapbooking Class coming in April - prepayment/RSVPs are due by April 5th so that I can get your materials in time! :)

3D Glittered Flowers

I know, I know... I have been away FAR TOO LONG! My sincere apologies to you all, but I've been up to my eyebrows with spring cleaning, yard clean-up & maintenance, and painting the interior of my house. One thing lead to another, and with my work hours mixed in there too, time really got away from me. There's still much to do, but doing today's SCS color challenge was refreshing and a much needed time-out for myself to get lost with paper for a couple hours. I had a wonderful 10-10-10 class last weekend, and it was so much fun to spend time with some old (and new!) friends, and am really looking forward to our next gathering!!

For today's card, I created it with SCS's color challenge in mind. I used the Big Shot and diamond texturz background plate on the artichoke and white oval layers. The beautiful Little Leaves sizzlet die cuts were sponged with artichoke ink to darken them up a bit. The Birds & Blooms sizzlet set was used to create the trio of flowers. I also used the oval template/coluzzle to cut out the white oval, then cut the Rose Red matting freehand around it. The flowers were assembled with a black brad in the center, and the petals were curled upward. Dazzling Diamond glitter was adhered with 2-way glue and adds a wonderful sparkle that's hard to miss (and capture in a photo!). Once the right occasion comes along, I will add a sentiment in the lower right corner punched out with either the curly label or large oval punches, but for now, I think this card can stand on it's own.... what do you think?

Stamps: none!
Paper: Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Black, white
Ink: Always Artichoke
Accessories: Big Shot, diamond texturz background plate, coluzzle, Little Leaves sizzlet, Birds and Blooms sizzlet, sponge, black brads, dazzling diamonds glitter, 2-way glue pen

Garden Delights

Hi Everyone! Here's my card submission for this week's SCS Color Challenge to use Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie and Brilliant Blue... I really like it! This combo really POPS, don't you think!?! My main image is watercolored with the same color inks (with Going Grey and More Mustard too) using an aquapainter. I added a bit of dazzle with a rhinestone for the flower center. I added pen dots around the main panel and finished off with organdy and grosgrain ribbon. The DP is from Summer Picnic... I may have to order another pack soon since it's on the retired accessories list (if it's not sold out already!). Thank you for checking out my blog today... come back again!

Stamps: Serene Spring
Paper: Brilliant Blue, Garden Green, white, Summer Picnic DP
Ink: black, Pumpkin Pie, Brilliant Blue, Garden Green, Going Grey, More Mustard
Accessories: rhinestone, ribbon, white pen, aquapainter, SU scallop edge punch

New Techniques, Retirement List & Free Shipping!

Today's post has alot of stuff - first off, the Fall Winter 2008 Retirement List was just announced today, and I found out this morning that Stampin' Up! is giving 10% OFF all stamps sets on this list plus FREE SHIPPING with any purchase over $70 through December 23rd!!!! Just to clarify something, if your merchandise total is over $70, regardless of your selections (retirement items or not), you will still receive the free shipping promotion. How awesome is that?! If you'd like to shop from the comfort of your computer (hey, why fight the crowds and traffic?), and save alittle cash for the things on YOUR wishlist, you can click the "Shop Now" button located in the upper right corner of my Business Website to take advantage of these fantastic savings!
OK, let's get on with some more fun stuff.... So, how do you like my card today? I'll admit that I have a hard time using ribbon sometimes on a masculine card ~and my boys' preference is no ribbon, just metal :) but I like how this card turned out.... now, for the details....
I was visiting Splitcoaststampers this morning and ran across today's color challenge to use Taken with Teal, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red and Whisper White. I sat in my craft room looking at my stuff for about 5 minutes. Card ideas were forming in my head, but this one idea kept coming back, so I went with it! I have some simple techniques about this card to share with you... This card is my 2nd one made with my new Happiness is a Journey stamp set (the first one is a couple posts below - in fact, take a quick look at that card - see how the train is actually white?). The stamp is sort-of like a reverse from the typical images... instead of the main image being inked up, the background is inked instead to create the main image.... clear as mud? :)
Well, I wanted the train to be colored in Taken with Teal, so I inked up the stamp with Versamark and Baja Breeze inks. I stamped on white and heat embossed the image with clear embossing powder. This created a Baja Breeze glazed surface so that I could use a sponge dauber and sponge in Taken with Teal ink to color in my train. I used a napkin to wipe away any ink on the glazed surface.... Voila! My train is Taken with Teal.... (tee hee!). I matted this main image with Riding Hood Red and Taken with Teal blocks and set it aside.
When I first started stamping and scrapbooking many years ago, mulberry paper was the *in* thing. In fact, I still have alot of it in various colors, but I wanted to see if I could recreate the look of it using ink. This technique, or a similar one, may already be out there, but I've not seen it yet, so I'll post how I did my Faux Mulberry technique. In the picture below and depending on your monitor, you may be able to see some lines that I lightly drew in pencil to approximate the placement of my train block. I followed the edge of this line and used a sponge dauber and Craft White ink to fan outward toward the edges of my Riding Hood Red cardbase. In other words, ink up the dauber and start on the inside edge of the pencil line and swoosh/flick outward (do you like my descriptive words here? ~giggle). The thick and creamy characteristics of the craft ink allows you to move the ink around without absorbing instantly into the cardstock, so you get this cool effect. Seriously, you should try this on a scrap piece of colored cardstock and check it out! Off the top of my head, this would be fun to do around candles, stars, fireworks, or campfire stamps, don't you think?

After going all around the pencil lines, I wrapped my grosgrain around the card front and placed my main block on top. I pencilled in a small dot about 1/2 inch to the left of the train's smoke stack - see it?

Then I took my 1/4 inch circle (hole) punch and punched it out at the dot. I took my snips and cut across to the hole, then slid one end of the grosgrain ribbon through - you don't really need to cut across, just thread it through the hole if it's big enough... Then I glued down the block to the cardbase, pulling on the left tail of ribbon to keep it tight.

The cut line is hidden when I tied my knot.... then I trimmed the ends of ribbon.

Lastly, I stamped the sentiment in Taken with Teal ink and punched out/layered in Riding Hood Red with oval punches.
While typing this post, I realized that I need to play with my camera settings to get better (and truer) color. The first image of the entire card at the top of the post was taken in natural light and show the real colors, and the rest of the pictures were at my craft table under the desk lamp. Anyhow, I appreciate you stopping in today. I hope you enjoyed these simple techniques and get to try them out if you've never done them before... till next time!
Stamps: Happiness is a Journey, sentiment from Fresh Cuts

Paper: Whisper White, Taken with Teal, Riding Hood Red

Inks: Versamark, Baja Breeze, Taken with Teal, Craft White

Accessories: Clear embossing powder, heatgun, sponge daubers, white grograin ribbon, SU punches - 1/4 inch circle, small and large ovals

Pink Ribbons are Symbolic!

Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope that you had a really nice weekend... it was my "long" week at work, so I was going to bed this morning about the time that you were well into your Sunday morning routines... but now, my "weekend" has officially begun....

Well, I made this card Tuesday morning for SCS's color challenge, and it is pretty straightforward. The card is pretty self explanatory - no complicated techniques, although I did add some stitching from a sewing machine for the bug on the 2nd panel. I like to sew on my cards - I think it adds a nice touch and is especially perfect for bug "trails"!!

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I added a pink ribbon to symbolize the fight against breast cancer. Be sure to do your monthly self-checks and get your mammogram, ladies, if it's time.... don't forget!

Take care, and have an awesome week.... see you soon...

Stamps: Garden Whimsy
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Vanilla
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: brads, ribbon, sewing machine/thread, popdots, gluedots

Chocolate Daisies

Good day, everyone... thanks for stopping by! I made this card for SCS's color challenge posted for today. Interesting color combo choices, and it's perfect for this autumn season. You may recognize the alcohol etching technique on the daisies. I used a toothpick this time and it's very easy to control. I think I like it better to create the sketchy lines. I'm sorry I can't chat a bit more right now, but I have to leave for an appointment. I wanted to get this posted before I left... thank you for checking in, and I'll see you again soon!

Edited to add the card recipe (sorry about that!)-

Stamps: Upsy Daisy
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Brown Staz-On, black, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: sponge daubers, post-it note, transparency, brads, piercer, ethyl alcohol, toothpick

Alcohol Etching Technique

Well, I was playing around this morning thinking of a card for SCS's CC186 color combination challenge, and came up with a new technique (to me anyway). I've not seen this done before, so I'm going to call this "alcohol etching". It's extremely simple to do, and couple of practice sessions will make you a pro. Oh, before I forget, those with sensitive noses may want to have a fan blowing because of the use of ethyl rubbing alcohol that is used for this technique.

What you will need:
Solid stamp
Staz-On black or brown solvent ink
acetate (transparency)
double-sided removeable tape (optional)
ethyl rubbing alcohol (just pour a small amount into the lid)
smallest make-up sponge you can find (I actually ended up using SU's chalk sponge applicator, and now this sponge applicator is dedicated for this technique because it does get stained with Staz-On)

OK - ready to start? Here we go....


1) Using the repositionable double-sided tape, adhere your transparency sheet onto your scratch paper. Stamp your solid stamp image in Staz-On ink onto your transparency. Don't worry about any areas with ink that doesn't transfer. Give it a few seconds to dry. Here I used the coneflower from Inspired By Nature.


2) Dip your tiny tipped sponge applicator into the alcohol and begin rubbing areas of ink that you want to remove. You know, maybe even one of those flat toothpicks would work for this... gotta try it out - I say this because I ended up trimming the very tip of the sponge off the applicator and used the plastic tongue that was inside to scrape the alcohol-moistened areas on some parts of the coneflower.... so I used the spongey part to remove ink from larger areas and the plastic to scrape and create lines as seen above. Oh, did you notice that little grey shading directly under my fingers? That's from the little bit of alcohol dissolving/removing Staz-On from that area of the image .


3) When you've finished removing the ink that you want, simply rub the entire area with your finger to "erase" all the grey shadings (although, you may want to keep it as shadows seem really popular right now). I tried napkin too, but it seemed to me that the area cleaned up easier with my finger. Maybe that little bit of oil on your fingertips does the trick? Anyhow, once you're done cleaning up the area on the transparency, wash your hands so you don't transfer black smudges onto your cardstock or paper while you finish up your project...


And, there you have it - your alcohol etched image!

For the rest of the card details, the background was created by using a post-it and sponging my sunrise and ocean onto Whisper White. I stamped the sentiment in the upper left corner and added the finished transparency. Brads were inserted and this was layered a couple times before adhering to the cardbase. Don't forget to work in some creative time today - I hope you give this technique a whirl....

Stamps: Inspired by Nature
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Whisper White
Inks: Baja Breeze, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, black, Staz-On black, and a very small touch of Pacific Point for the horizon
Accessories: acetate (transparency), double-sided tape, ethyl alcohol, tiny SU chalk sponge applicator, sponge daubers, silver brads, long post-it for horizon, 1/16 hole punch for the brads
Technique: Sponging and Alcohol Etching

Teaser Alert!! The finished card at the beginning of the post was the first coneflower that I did. The picture directly above is the second one done putting together a 3-D item for you to see tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you come back and check out my take on something used for sweets tomorrow morning.... hint hint. ;)

Friend

Hello again! Thanks for stopping by... here's one created for this week's SCS color challenge where we are to use Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke and Basic Grey. I don't have any Basic Grey - I know, I can't believe it either ;) - so I substituted Going Grey instead.

I stamped the image in Basic Black on Vanilla cardstock and used an aquapainter to watercolor the main image from a hostess set called Serene Spring with only the 3 colors allowed for today. (Quick tip for new stampers - I pressed the inkpad lid carefully into the inkpad, flipped it open and used the ink on the lid as a palette of sorts.) I cut out the image with my oval coluzzle, then temporarily mounted this onto RHRed cardstock. I cut around the oval freehand giving about 1/8 inch border all around. I cut a larger Always Artichoke oval using the coluzzle and glued the three ovals together. Using my Grey marker, I inked up the word "friend" from one of the Serene Spring sentiment stamps and put that in the lower right corner of the oval. I did a small zig-zag stitch from the sewing machine on the vanilla/RHRed edges, then put 4 silver brads around the oval. I stamped the Posy background on Vanilla using Going Grey ink, then glued my oval panel onto this and zig-zagged around the oval again. Finally, I glued the posy panel onto RHRed and straight-stitched around the block one time. This was mounted on my Always Artichoke cardbase.

I cut out several flowers and leaves using the Big Shot/Birds & Blooms die in RHRed and Always Artichoke cardstocks. To add depth, I sponged the same color ink on the flower petals. I used a metal ball stylus to put "veins" in the leaves, then sponged the same color ink on them. The flower and leaves were curled on the edges for dimension. The flowers were layered and a brad added to the center. The flowers and leaves were adhered to the card with mini glue-dots.

Hope you enjoy today's card - till next time.....

Layered Trio

This is a card I created for Splitcoaststamper's CC181 color combination challenge posted last Monday. We were to use black, rose red and kraft colors for our card.

I colored in the leaves from the Embrace Life set with a black marker to create my background. I stamped 3 flowers on rose red CS and used my aquapainter to color in with rose red marker. I added highlights by painting in craft white. After cutting them out, I put a gold brad in each flower center and popped two of the flowers up with dimensional popdots (the flower on the right has two layers of popdots, so it's about 1/4" off the cardfront). I like the way the flowers "step up" in height.

I made this card several days ago and sent it to my mom for her birthday, which is today. Happy Birthday, MOM!!!! I love you!

Have a great day, everyone!