Something Artsy

So the challenge this week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog was to do something artsy. The sentiment I used comes from a Shakespearean play so I guess that counts!
I am also entering this in the Hiding in my Craft Room Challenge - Freestyle.

I stamped the background and used Perfect Pearls to give it that nice shine and then spritzed with water to set it. I die cut the flourish that holds the sentiment and used more Perfect Pearls on it. If you look closely you can see that I stamped some music behind the sentiment. It didn't come out very well in the picture.

The card was looking a little dark so I added the segment of doily to brighten it up a bit.  Then I layered on the sentiment and covered the bottom of the doily with some sparkly ribbon. I die cut the music notes, embossed them and sponged through the die to show the embossed areas. I attached everything to a white card base.

I used the following products:

American Crafts cardstock - Black and Turquoise
Perfect Medium
Perfect Pearls - Duo Green Yellow, Turquoise, Misty Lavender and Aztec Gold
Inkadinkado stamps
Colorbox Ink - Ice
Memento Ink - Tuxedo Black
Spellbinders Shapeabilities D-lites - Love Notes
American Crafts sparkle ribbon
Autumn Leaves Stampology Ink - Gold
doily
music stamp and sentiment stamp

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Father's Day card

So Father's Day is coming up soon and some of the challenges this week were for masculine cards. I thought I might actually get my Father's day card made early!

I started with a piece of photo paper for the background. I didn't want it to be too dark and the photo paper doesn't absorb as much ink. I stamped an Inkadinkado design of a cluster of shells with VersaMark ink all over the paper. I embossed it with Recollections Clear embossing powder and then sponged Brilliant Blue Stampin' Up ink all over. I used a paper towel to wipe the ink off of the embossed design.

I then stamped the lighthouse stamp by stampcraft in the Brilliant Blue and coloured it in with Bic Mark It markers in Deep Sea Blue, Rambunctious Red, Woodsy Brown and a touch of Forest Green at the bottom. I used Star Dust Stickles in the windows at the top and down the side. The sentiment from my stash was also stamped with the Brilliant Blue. Both of these pieces were sponged with the Brilliant Blue and all of the pieces were layered with blue American Craft cardstock.

I wanted a bit more red on the card so I punched the bottom of the card with the ek tools zebra punch and put a piece of red cardstock behind it. Then I adhered everything together and popped up the sentiment with some pop dots.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Hiding in my Craft Room - Let's Hear it for the Boy
Mod Squad Challenge Blog  - Patriotic Thank You
Simon Says Stamp Blog - Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Air balloons

Today I have a card that I made for two challenges.  The Mod Squad Challenge Blog has a sketch to follow and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog wants us to use something to do with Vacation or Travel.  I decided to use hot air balloons on my card.

I found some great background paper that was perfect with the balloons. I cut out the oval shapes with my Cuttlebug, stamped the images and cut them out. I sponged the edges of the ovals and adhered the balloons. I stamped the sentiment on the smaller oval.

I used some washi tape and a piece of very thin ribbon to cover up the join between the washi tapes. I popped the ovals up to give it some dimension and I was done!

These are the supplies I used:
amy tangerine paper
scalloped oval dies
Hampton Art stamps
Colorbox cranberry pigment ink
Colorbox yellow ochre fluid chalk ink
StampCraft violet die ink
All Night Media autumn rainbow dye ink
Inkadinkado sentiment stamp
Bazzill Basics paper tape
Recollections washi tape
ribbon from my stash

Thank you card

I needed to make a thank you card so I looked to see which challenges I could incorporate into the card. The Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp Blog is to use botanicals and the challenge at Hiding in my Craft Room is embossing. So this is my card.

I started with a piece of white cardstock and used the Cuttlebug embossing folder from the Paper Lace II set. I inked up the debossed side with VersaMagic Spring Pansy chalk ink so that the background would have the colour and the pattern would stay white. Next I used the hyacinth stamp from the Chocolate Baroque hyacinth set. I stamped it with VersaMark ink onto another piece of white cardstock and then embossed it with Ebony Recollections Detail embossing powder.

I smeared some ink onto my teflon mat, added water and coloured in the image. I used VersaMagic Chalk ink in Purple Hydrangia for the flower and Sierra Vista for the bulb, Tim Holtz Distress ink in Mowed Lawn for the leaves and Salty Ocean for the water.

I stamped the sentiment from Hero Arts with the Spring Pansy, sponged more Spring Pansy around the edges of the picture and sentiment and layered everything with some textured cardstock from American Crafts.  The bow is from ribbon in my stash.

I wanted to use this on the outside but I didn't have enough room so I put it on the inside.

It really seemed to go with the flower!  It is from Quietfire Designs.

That's it for now. Hope you have an awesome day.

Triple the Fun

I have another card today. It's for the Mod Squad Blog challenge Triple the Fun. I had watched the video on Stamp TV about doing a double background but hadn't had a chance to try it out. This gave me the incentive I needed!

This was really fun to do.  I figured out how big I wanted the card to be and then how big I wanted the borders on the mats and how much of the next layer I wanted to see. This way I could cut all my layers before I started stamping.

I started with some white and light blue cardstock from my stash. I made a 4 1/2" by 6" card base in blue and cut 3 more layers - 3 5/8" by 5 1/8", 2 3/4" by 4 1/4" and 1 3/4" by 3". I cut my white layers - 4 3/8" by 5 7/8", 3 1/2" by 5", 2 5/8" by 4 1/8" and 1 5/8" by 2 7/8". I figure if I write the sizes down here then I will know where to find them!

I used a small piece of removable tape to stick the three largest white pieces together and randomly stamped using Inkadinkado stamps and Tim Holtz Salty Ocean distress ink and Versa Magic Sea Breeze chalk ink. It was a happy accident that the names of the ink colours had to do with water! I then stamped the sentiment from the Art Gone Wild Inspiration set in Salty Ocean. This stamp has a few lines to make a border so I coloured in the outside frame with a marker and it looks like another mat. I sponged a little Sea Breeze ink along the edges of the inside white piece and adhered everything together with Tombow Mono adhesive. I added a little bow using American Crafts glitter ribbon.

Die Cuts

Today I have a card with a few die cuts on it.  There were two challenges that I could combine. One needed die cuts and the other was a sketch challenge that needed Hero Arts stamps. I happened to have a set with stamps and matching dies from Hero Arts so it fit perfectly.

I started with some textured cardstock from American Crafts. I used the Flowers and Butterflies set from Sizzix - Hero Arts. I stamped the leaves with Tim Holtz distress ink in Mowed Lawn. For the flower I used Scarlet ColorBox pigment ink and the butterfly was stamped with Yellow Ochre ColorBox fluid chalk ink. I used the coordinating dies to cut them out. I stamped the sentiment and flowers, also Hero Arts, trimmed it down and rounded the edges. I used more Scarlet ColorBox ink to sponge the edges. I added a piece of Bazzill Basics paper tape along the left edge and used Tombow Mono adhesive to attach the flower, leaves and sentiment. I stuck the butterfly on with some Hampton Art foam dots.

I am entering this card into 2 challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Blog - Die Crazy
Hero Arts Sketch Challenge

Nontraditional card

So this week's challenge on the Mod Squad Challenge Blog was to make a feminine card from a masculine image. So here is what I came up with.

I thought I would try to take an image and turn it into something else. I started with the brick stamp from the Bo Bunny Wall to Wall Textures stamp set with VersaFine Pigment Ink in Onyx Black. I stamped it twice to make it into a quilt shape. I used Laurentian coloured pencils (True Pink, Sky Magenta, Purple and Cerise) to colour in about half of each rectangle and then used a blending stump and some odorless paint thinner to fill the rectangle. This gave it a bit of shading.

My husband said it still looked like a chimney so I added the clothesline and clothespins and then added the flowers using a Hero Arts stamp and then embossed with Recollections Detail embossing powder in Snow.

I sponged the background with Versa Magic Chalk Ink in Sea Breeze and Tim Holtz Distress ink in Mowed Lawn. I added a few clouds with ColorBox Frost White and shaded the bottom of the clouds with Versa Magic Aegean Blue.

I still wasn't sure it looked like a quilt so I found the sentiment online and wrote it with a Silhouette Sketch pen. I cut it out with a Spellbinders Shapeabilities from the Labels and Tags set and shaded it with Martha Stewart Pink Dahlia ink.

This was definitely challenging but it was nice to have to think outside the box!

Scrapbook Page

I didn't have time to do all of the National Scrapbooking Challenges on Saturday but some of them don't close until this Saturday so I thought I would do a scrapbook page to enter.  

Over at Hiding in my Craft Room there is a challenge to do a scrapbook page - HIMCR01NSD. No specific topic or rules, just make a page.  Simon Says Stamp Blog is having a Five Challenge - make something that has something to do with the number 5.  I decided to combine these two challenges and do a scrapbook page with 5 pictures.

I started with some American Crafts cardstock and stamped the flourish from the Stampendous Damask Chair set. I just stamped randomly all over the yellow cardstock using Versa Magic Chalk Ink in Spring Pansy.  Then I matted the pictures with pink cardstock and added some Recollections Garden Florals paper as accents.  I used Memories Forever Lollipop Letter Stickers to spell out CATS and used a Silhouette Sketch pen for the journaling.  I added some ribbon from my stash and some cute little Recollections brads. There are 5 of those as well!

Another One Layer Card

I thought I would do a CAS one layer card.  I was inspired by the video on Stamp TV - Two Embossing Folders - One Card.  

I started with American Crafts 80 pound cardstock in white.  I embossed the top of the card with a Cuttlebug embossing folder from the Wedding Suite Set. The bottom was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing border - Chuck.  I scored a line beside each of the embossed areas and then stamped the image(Inkadinkado) and the sentiment(Hero Arts) with VersaFine Pigment ink in Onyx Black.  

I am entering this in the Mod Squad One Layer Challenge.

National Scrapbooking Day

So this was National Scrapbooking Day so there were many contests and challenges. I decided to enter a card in the Studio Calico challenge to use a stamp that was still in the package.  

I also wanted to make another card for the Mod Squad Challenge One Layer Wonder.  I decided to try to make a scene using ink sponging. People who make videos showing how to do this, like Theresa Momber, make it look so easy. I don't think I will ever be that good but here is the card.

I used the stamp set Trees by InkaDinkado that I hadn't used before.  I used the following inks:  Martha Stewart - Dandelion, Melon, Blue Sky and Bamboo; Stampin' Up - Brilliant Blue and Cajun Craze; Recollections Pigment Ink - Chestnut; Fiskars Pigment Ink - Chocoholic and Pamass Pigment Ink - Green. The sentiment and cardstock are from my stash.

Thanks to Gracie I am also entering this in the challenge Hiding in my Craft Room - Use Critters.

One Layer Card

This one layer card is trying to bring a little Spring into May!  

I used some ivory cardstock from my stash and embossed the front. Then I went over the raised surface with different colours of ink to colour the picture. Then I stamped the bird and sentiment and I was done. I used the following supplies:

Cuttlebug embossing folder from Spring Set
Versa Magic Chalk Ink - Aegean Blue, Sea Breeze, Aloe Vera, Pixie Dust and Spring Pansy
ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink - Yellow Ochre
Recollections Pigment Ink - Chestnut
Bird Stamp - Stampin' Up
Sentiment - Hero Arts

I am entering the Mod Squad Challenge One Layer Wonder