My VSN cards

I only got to about 4 VSN challenges last night - I was hoping to get to more, but I started later than I wanted to. I was in the middle of a really good book and I couldn't put it down. Which is kinda fitting considering that this VSN is called the Book Club.

How VSN works is challenges are issued every hour on the hour. You're given 45 minutes (you work on an honor system) to complete the card, and have 15 minutes to take pictures, upload, potty break, snack, chat, whatever you want.

I personally work in spurts. Since I don't have a computer down in the Dungeon with my stamping supplies, I tend to do 3 or 4 challenges in a row (timed with a kitchen timer) and then come up for air. If I'm in the cardmaking zone, I really don't want to be distracted.

Challenge A: The first challenge on Friday and the first challenge on Saturday are kid-themed challenges to let the kids get involved with stamping and having fun with Mom (or Dad.) The challenge revolves around Eric Carle's book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and the animals seen in the book. We were to pick an animal out of the book and create a card with it. I chose the Blue Horse and thankfully I have the Punny Farm set from MFT to create my blue horse. I finished pretty quickly - it only took me about 20 minutes to make this card, though I think something's missing.

Stamps: MFT - Punny Farm. Paper: Bashful Blue cs and dp, Whisper White, Basic Black. Ink: Palette Noir. Accessories: corner rounder punch, rhinestones, paper piercer.

Challenge B: The challenge was to take something out of a favorite childhood book and create a card with it. One of my favorite books when I was growing up was "Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast" by Robin McKinley. I read it so much that my original copy fell apart. The change in Beauty's life revolves around a rose - which was a perfect excuse to use the single rose stamp by Rubbernecker.

Stamps: Rubbernecker - single rose. Paper: Barely Banana, Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Olive Press dp. Ink: Palette Noir, Distress Ink: Antique Linen (or Old Paper - I can't remember at the moment), Barely Banana, Old Olive. Accessories: Mat pack, ribbon, brads, dimensionals.

Challenge D: It's all about the warm and fuzzy feelings of a book. So, time to use the fuzzy feelings of flock on a card. I have flock - in all the colors of the Doodlebug rainbow (I bought a sample assortment.) I have these shapes out of glue or tape made for flock and glitter and it was a match made in stamping heaven. I didn't want to create a traditional sized card so my card is 3.5"x8.5" The shape was put on a piece cardstock that I ran through my Cuttlebug with a Square Nestability die and the black mat was done with the same sized die, only scallopped. I stamped part of the card base with Flourishes LLC's Damask stamp and put my focal point where the stamping ended.

Stamps: FLLC - Damask. Paper: Lovely Lilac, Basic Black, Select White. Ink: Lovely Lilac. Accessories: flock, square nestabilites, flower sticker for the flock, adhesive pearl, dimensionals.

Challenge E: To use twine or hemp on a card. Hmmm... hello masculine card! With a masculine card in mind, I pulled my colors - and then realized that they match the Apple Cider dp from Stampin' Up! last year. I made a mat with that and fringed the edges (I think it looks a little like a rug.) My image is stamped in Burnt Umber (now Dark Chocolate PTI) Palette ink and colored using the Gamsol magic technique - in my world, Prismacolor pencils and baby oil.

Stamps: SU - Give Thanks. Paper: Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla, Apple Cider dp. Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate. Accessories: prismacolor pencils, baby oil, blending stumps, dimensionals, hemp.

I'll have more cards to show later.