Another card... finally

Today's Ways to Use it Challenge (WT) on SCS was to use white - ALL white.

At first thought, it was a little freaky. I know all white cards are classy and sophisticated, but I want COLOR! Following Julia's (the hostess) example, I grabbed my Glimmer Mist. My quilt and the Primas are sprayed with Sherbet and Spring Violet.

I'm in love with the Quilters Sampler stamp sets by Papertrey. It's so much fun to make your own quilts with paper. To add a little more variety in my quilt blocks, I colored parts of them in with my Copics.

Stamps: PTI - Quilters Sampler. Paper: Select White. Ink: Palette Noir. Accessories: Glimmer Mist, dimensionals, Copics, Primas, lace, brads.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day,

Foiled Again

So today's WT challenge was all about using foil on your cards: foiled paper, kitchen foil, etc.

I happened to find some Karen Foster metal sheets at my LSS on clearance a few years ago and thought it was a perfect choice. They're self-adhesive, so it makes it even better.

So I made my card.
Stamps: PTI - Out on a Limb, Out on a Limb Sentiments. Paper: Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet, Select White, Karen Foster metal sheet. Ink: PTI - Berry Sorbet, Dark Chocolate; SU - Brilliant Blue. Accessories: dimensionals, classic rectangle Nestabilities, buttons.

And my card is driving me nuts.

**warning: rant about the flaws and a pity party to commence**

Nothing on my card is straight, the buttons are an "embellishment opportunity" (aka - I botched something and needed a way to hide it) and I had a fight with my Cuttlebug over embossing my cut out layers.

*sigh*

It's a nice card, but it's days like this that make me question my desire to join a design team. I don't feel like I'm consistent in my quality.

I'm just having one of those days - and it stinks.

Hoping your creative day is better than mine,

Frugal Stamper

Today's WT challenge was to be frugal and find things that help us save. I think Julia was talking about embellishments, but I tried my best for my entire card.

Items I didn't buy:
Ribbon - it was given to me by my boss. She knows I make cards and apparently she's been saving ribbon for me.
Felt Flower - it was part of my reveal gift for the VSN Secret Sisters last August. It's one of the things I dug up when I was cleaning the Dungeon on Sunday.
Damask background - I won a contest on the Flourishes forum on SCS a while back. I don't think it's what I asked for, but I use it A LOT.
Dimensionals - part of a package from a CCRAKer.

Imogen the Fairy is stamped in Palette Noir on PTI Cream. She's colored in with Copics (very carefully, I had bleeding of both the markers and the ink.) The background is another piece of Cream, embossed in clear and sponged with Pure Poppy ink and Fired Brick Distress ink.

**NOTE: As you can tell, Palette inks (Pure Poppy is one) stick to embossing powder. This was a bad move on my part and this isn't what I wanted the background to look like.**

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Imogen the Fairy; Flourishes - Damask. Paper: Real Red, PTI Cream. Ink: Versamark, Palette Noir, Pure Poppy, Fired Brick DI. Accessories: Copics, clear ep, dimensionals, ribbon, felt flower.

It's pouring outside. I'm hoping that we're not about to wash away.

Wishing everyone a dry few days.

A mid-week challenge

And a quickie post because I have to be to work in an hour and I have a headache.

Today's Thursday and the challenge today was to use stripes - striped paper, striped ribbon, striped stamps, create your own stripes, etc. Which is right up my alley because I have a LOT of designer paper in all sorts of patterns: stripes included.

I also have stamps that I haven't used before. Which isn't as big of a shock as it would have been last year - I've been so tired. So I felt required to show some love. Flowahbella is stamped in Dark Chocolate Palette ink and colored in with Copics.

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Flowahbella. Paper: More Mustard, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, white, My Mind's Eye dp. Ink: Dark Chocolate Palette. Accesories: adhesive pearls, dimensionals, Copics.

Grandma's doing better - she's out of the hospital and in rehab at a nursing home. Hopefully she'll be able to get enough strength to go home to Grandpa soon.

Wishing everyone a good rest of the week,

Thursday

Ahhh... the joy of short work days. I kinda like being a little lazy and taking my time in the morning, making a card or two, blogging, etc. I'd do this everyday, but I like to sleep in and that leaves little time for actually making cards and uploading them. Maybe at some point, I'll turn into a morning person.

I get to go to a 2 day conference for work. I leave tonight and it finishes up late Saturday. I'm excited.

Okay, back to the real reason of this blog: stamping. I've made some cards.

First card was for the SCS Color Challenge on Tuesday.

The colors were Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, and Chocolate Chip. I had the cardstock, not the inks, so I had to improvise. I used one of my new Stamping Bella images: Imogen the Fairy. She's stamped in Burnt Umber Palette on watercolor paper. I colored her with reinkers and an aquapainter. I need to practice this technique - I'm not good at it. Imogen's wings and dress have a little shimmer to them from Twinkling H2Os.

The background is watercolor paper stamped with the leaves from PTI's Out on a Limb Additions. It was misted with water to blur the images.

Stamps: PTI - Out on a Limb Additions, Stamping Bella - Imogen the Fairy. Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip, watercolor. Ink: Burnt Umber Palette, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive. Accessories: aquapainter, Twinkling H2Os, Stickles, ribbon.

The other 2 cards are for today's Ways to Use It Challenge: Monograms.

Card #2: I took a letter from a Basic Grey chipboard set and embossed it in silver. I love this chipboard because Basic Grey was smart enough to make it self-adhesive. You don't have to use the Tacky Tape or the heavy duty glues with this stuff. Of course, if you're like me and don't realize that it's self-adhesive... it's embarrassing, but true.

Note: if you're embossing chipboard, give it time to cool before you touch it with your hands. It's thicker and holds heat longer than paper. I've burnt my fingers touching the surface of embossing powder on chipboard. I have a pair of crafting tweezers that I use to move chipboard after being embossed. Please be careful.

Other than the embossing, it's a simple card: 2 ribbons, 3 brads and I was done.

Stamps: none. Paper: Apricot Appeal, Dark Chocolate (PTI), My Mind's Eye dp. Ink: Versamark. Accessories: silver ep, ribbon, Basic Grey chipboard, brads.

The last card is the one that I thought of first when I read the word 'monogram'. I wanted something really simple, classic and clean.

When I had my card base, I ran it through my trimmer with the scoring blade on it and scored 2 lines 1 1/4" apart. I laid my piece of Aqua Mist cardstock in between the lines after I wrapped a piece of Aqua Mist polka dot satin ribbon around it. The monogram is PTI's Ambassador Monogram set and the Borders and Corners Monogram edition. They're stamped in Palette Noir and Aqua Mist respectively. It's punched out with 1 1/4" circle punch and layered on a 1 3/8" circle of Aqua Mist cardstock. The monogram is on dimensionals.

After I put the T in the monogram, I almost kicked myself because a set of 4 or 6 of these cards would be great in my work Secret Santa's present.

Stamps: PTI - Ambassador Monogram, Borders and Corners Monogram Edition. Paper: Select White, Aqua Mist. Ink: Aqua Mist, Palette Noir. Accessories: ribbon, dimensionals, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches.

That's all for now.

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

The 4th day in a row... well, kinda

Since it's almost midnight I guess I don't really have the right to say 4 in a row, but it's close.

Today's Ways to Use it challenge was about silhouettes.

As I was choosing the cardstock, I remembered one of the past color combinations. So I grabbed Orchid Opulence, Certainly Celery, and Pumpkin Pie.

One of my favorite solid image stamps is Happy Harmony by SU. I stamped it in Brilliance black to be a "traditional" silhouette. The sentiment is also from Happy Harmony and it was stamped in Pumpkin Pie ink. The panel and corresponding layer are punched out with Classic Oval Nestabilities. I sponged the edges of the image panel with Orchid Opulence ink.

Stamps: SU - Happy Harmony. Paper: Orchid Opulence, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie cs and dp, Whisper White. Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Pumpkin Pie, Orchid Opulence. Accessories: brads, dimensionals, paper piercer, sponge, Classic Oval Nestabilities.

I'm so glad that the weekend is almost here. It's been a WEEK.

I'm BAAAA-CK

With projects done and ready to be posted.

It's Thursday, Ways to Use it Challenge day. Today's challenge is Patterned Paper galore. In the words of the guest hostess today, everything but the base. I think I accomplished the goal.

I was blog hopping and found a gorgeous card by Shelly (her blog's over in my list) where she cut the background up and I thought it looked great. I inked the edges with Palette Burnt Umber ink so that the cuts would stand out. I also wanted to try an experiment with this week's Technique challenge - Faux Cloisonne. If you can do it with magazine pages, why can't you use patterned cardstock? So I stamped the flowers from SU Natural Beauty (retired) onto some Basic Grey Romani paper and embossed it in gold. I cut it out and glued it onto the papers, then added some Diamond Glaze so that it would shine.

Stamps: SU - Natural Beauty. Paper: Georgia-Pacific White, Basic Grey Romani. Ink: Versamark, Palette Burnt Umber. Accessories: gold embossing powder, brads, dimensionals diamond glaze.

The other thing I have to post is a card and Frappuccino bottle. I've been slowly working my way through a 4 pack of Frappuccinos (I'm not really a coffee person) and I finally have something to show you with one of them.

The dp is Sweetwater - Fresh collection - and it's wrapped around the bottle and also on the card. The other colors are pulled from the dp. The top of the bottle (which can't be seen) is painted with white acrylic paint with some Certainly Celery reinker in it to turn it the right color of green.

Stamps: Papertrey - Out on a Limb. Paper: Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana, white, Sweetwater dp. Ink: Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana, Creamy Caramel. Accessories: 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" square punches, marvy mega scallop square punch, coluzzle, chipboard, tacky tape, ribbon, baubles, dimensionals.

Skip a day, it's Thursday!

Okay, I'm in a weird mood for some reason.

Today's Ways to Use it Challenge involves music: music stamps, inspiration from a song (that sounds familiar *grin*), etc.

Sounds easy enough. I have some music-themed stamps (SU's Musical Manuscript, Stampingbella's Musicabella) but the one that popped right into my head was Gina K's Heartfelt Hits 1. I really love the couple dancing - it reminds me of those old black and white movies.

When I was going to make my card for Tuesday's color challenge, I intended to use one of the Cuttlebugged backgrounds that Manda (tropicalichick on SCS) sent me for Valentine's Day. I forgot on Tuesday, but I remembered today.

The couple are stamped in Basic Black (gasp - I actually USED that ink?) and the lady is accented with a Stardust gel pen to make her dress sparkle.

Stamps: Gina K Designs - Heartfelt Hits 1. Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White. Ink: Basic Black. Accessories: glitter dots, Stardust gel pen, ribbon, treble clef clips, dimensionals.

I want to buy stamping stuff!!! I have less than a month to go and I know I can do it.

I'll probably post again later today to show off the swap projects I've been involved in.

It's here! It's here!

I have One of a Kind and for some reason, I'm really excited about it.

I used it for the Ways to Use it Challenge: Windows. Glitter Windows, Bead Window, stamps of windows... we could use it all. I chose to make a glitter window. This card actually took about an hour to do - I kept an eye on the clock today.

They look incredible and they're super easy to do. A clear glitter and some clear packing tape and you're all set.

I tried to make my circles be even and symmetrical around the window. I don't know what happened. My guess is my Coluzzle moved when I was cutting out the Pumpkin Pie circle. I like the funkiness of the offset circles though.

Stamps: One of a Kind. Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Bali Breeze dp. Ink: Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise. Accessories: brads, ribbon, white gel pen, glitter, clear packing tape, dimensionals, coluzzle.

A fun project

Today's Ways to Use it Challenge was to create something inspired by fashion. I think it's a great challenge, especially since I watch Project Runway almost religiously.

So I wanted to create a bag. This bag is part of a tutorial for the bag and 9 cards. I might do the 9 cards later, but I just wanted the bag for now. You'll find it on Splitcoast under Templates - it's the Au Chocolat tote & cards OSW (one sheet wonder.)http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=243314&highlight=au+chocolat+tote+cards

The bag itself is one piece of 8.5x11 Tempting Turquoise cardstock - I pulled the color from the other side of this paper. I sponged all the edges with Tempting Turquoise ink to age it. I also sponged the piece of 4"x4.5" Bali Breeze dp - it was sponged with Pumpkin Pie and Creamy Caramel ink. I took my white gel pen and highlighted the dots in the middle of the flowers.

The handles are tacky taped on, then a brad is also there for support.

I couldn't wait to use one of my SAB sets - So Many Scallops. The flower is stamped in Rose Red (also a color pulled from the other side of the paper. The Tempting Turquoise grograin was tied into a bow and I glued it on with Diamond Glaze.

I was curious after I made it, so I tried to see what would fit in it besides cards. 2 tall bottles of Primas fit nicely in there with some room to spare.

Stamps: So Many Scallops. Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Bali Breeze dp, white. Ink: Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Creamy Caramel. Accessories: brads, tacky tape, dimensionals, scalloped circle punch, eyelet, cropadile, ribbon, sponge.

WT Challenge

I haven't done one of the WT Challenges in a while. I guess I'm buy doing other things on Thursdays - like come up with the song/poem I want to use for my STVV challenge tomorrow.

Ways to Use It Challenge. Today is was monochromatic cards. These cards always look so pretty and elegant - but you need to make sure the colors go together. Honestly, I have an SU Color Coach - monochromatic cards are all I seem to use it for now.

Nitty Gritty time:

• Card base is Bashful Blue.
• On the bottom of the card (where you write), I turned it up 1" and closed the sides off with brads to create a gift card pocket.
• The main image is from My Favorite Things Stamps - Baby It's Cold Outside. Stamped in Versafine black on watercolor paper, it's colored in with SU! Markers and shaded/blended with blender pens.
• The sentiment is from MFT - Essential Sentiments and is stamped in Bashful Blue. It's stamped on Bohemia dp by My Mind's Eye.
• Blue velvet ribbon is the finishing touch.

The thing I learned today: Well, technically it was last night, but I was looking at the tutorial by Julie (she's over in my blog list) on how to color with SU markers to make them look like Copics (more expensive alcohol markers) and she uses the SU marker and an aqua painter. I tried this and I found that my aqua painter lets too much water out - the colors were bleeding out of the lines. :( Blender pens work better for me.