You're so Tweet!

Hi everyone.  Today we are half way through July so it's time for a CAS Mix Up Reminder.  Check out the challenge blog to see new inspiration from the Designers and our wonderful Guest Designer, Sue.

Bonnie is hosting this month and she has us colouring our die-cuts.  It really makes them special when you add some colours and other details.  The sweet little birdhouses above are a new-to-me die-cut.  I cut them from woodgrain paper given to me by a sweet friend. :)  Then watercoloured them with distress inks.

I created a Splash Watercolour background with two layers of Tumbled Glass distress ink.  Once dry, I used some tiny grass stamps and leaf sprig stamps to create my grass at the bottom, and the leaves off to the left side.  I used first and second generation stamping with the leaves to add dimension.  I used the same colour for the sentiment as I did for the sweet little birds.

Here's a close-up ...

Since I used Splash Watercolouring for the background, I'm sending this card over to the CAS Watercolour as well.

I hope you'll be inspired to come play along.  Colour your die-cuts using any colour medium, keep your card CAS, and then join our gallery!

Stamps:  Sentiment - Love Bug (Fiskars); Master Garden #1 (Kittie Kits - Rubbernecker)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah 110 lb.); Woodgrain - gift from a friend; Black (SU!)
Ink:  Distress Inks:  Tumbled Glass, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  water mister, water brush, white gel pen

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up July Challenge - Colour your Die-cuts
CAS Watercolour July Challenge - Splash Watercolouring

Pink Calla Lilies

Hi everyone.  Having fun playing with the CAS Watercolour April Challenge - Green & Pink.  Love this colour combination.

For the card above, I used a beautiful stamp gifted to me by my friend Deepti (designer of the stamp - Dee's Artsy Impressions).  I heat embossed the image in Liquid Platinum and then watercoloured using my Zigs.  I stamped the sentiment in soft green to match.

I thought this would be perfect as a square card, so I cut down the image panel. Happy with how it turned out.

If you get a chance, come check out the gallery.  So many gorgeous Green & Pink cards.  I know you'll be inspired. :)

Stamps:  Smile (dee's artsy impressions); Friendship Garden (Fiskars)
Paper:  Mixed media (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Versamark; Distress Inks:  Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Liquid Platinum embossing powder (Ranger), paint brushes

Challenges:
CAS Watercolour April Challenge - Green and Pink

My Love

Hi everyone.  Back with another reminder that the February CAS Challenge at Happy Little Stampers is now into the start of the second week.  And also at HLS, we have our February Sketch Challenge.  Today, my card uses both.  :)

As you can see from my card above, I pretty much CASED the sketch :)  I had a lot of fun making this card, because I got to experiment with a few new products that I recently bought.

First, I randomly stamped a floral swirl four times for the background in Versamark and then sprinkled with Shabby White Frantage (white, chunky embossing powder mixed with gold glitter).  I had to buy this after my friend Susan brought some over for me to play with.  It's fun, glittery and I love the texture it gives the background.  Be warned, the glitter is really fine, so if you try heating it from the top, it will fly everywhere ... ask me how I know this! :)

Instead, you heat from underneath to get it started and then finish the heating on top once it's started to melt.  Very cool product!

Now for the hearts.  I die-cut them from balsa wood and used my new Red Inka Gold wax to cover.  I love the satin finish from this product ... so pretty.  I just used my finger to spread the wax paste over the hearts.  Once dry, I buffed them up with a paper towel.  Love this product ... but you need to be OK with getting inky fingers :)

This card was lots of fun to make, but difficult to photograph.  The shimmer and shine just doesn't show up so I'm including a close up below that I hope shows it better.

I hope you'll come and play along with our either our CAS challenge or Sketch challenge ... or both! :)

And, if you also enter your card into the same challenge located on the Happy Little Stampers Forum, your name is automatically entered for a random draw prize.

I'll be back next week with another reminder card, using a different way to Emboss. See you soon!

Oh, and I'm entering this into the STAMPlorations challenge - Stamps and Hearts! :)

And it works for the February's Mixed Media Card Challenge - Love.

Stamps:  Distressed Floral Swirls (STAMPlorations); Forever (Fiskars)
Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  Frantage Shabby White (Stampendous), Gold embossing powder (Hero Arts), balsa wood, Large Hearts die set (Simon Says), Red wax paste (Inka Gold)


Challenges:
HLS February CAS Challenge - Embossing
HLS February Sketch Challenge
STAMPlorations - Stamps and Hearts
Mixed Media Card Challenge - February - Love

Distressed Sunflowers

Hi everyone.  I'm back today with another watercolor.  This time I was inspired by the very talented and creative Dina Kowal ... Artist in Residence at Splitcoaststampers.  Dina is the Queen for the Day this week (#223).  I chose to CASE this beauty ... and I followed Dina's video tutorial that was posted on the Power Poppy website.  Check out the video to see the step-by-step instructions. FYI, Dina used Distress Markers on her card (hence the name of the post) ... but I used Stampin' Write Markers from SU!

Thank you so much Dina ... I learned A LOT from your tutorial.  I had so much fun doing this card! :)  Enjoy your special week - you deserve it! :)

I'm entering this into the current challenge at Crazy for CAS #51 - Watercoloring (my second entry)

This is also a reminder card for the current challenge at Mixed Media Card Challenge (#2 Summer with optional element:  burlap).  What better way to celebrate summer than with sunflowers??!! :)  The challenges closes on Aug. 25, so make sure to check it out soon ... we'd love to see you in the gallery! :)

Stamps:  Blooming Garden (Penny Black); Friendship Garden (Fiskars)
Paper:  Watercolor (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Staz-on Black; Markers:  Daffodil Delight, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  water mister, paint brush

Challenges:
SCS QFTD #223
Crazy for CAS #51

Dahlia

Hi everyone.  Time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS.  Today, the very talented and always entertaining Marie (baileyrosy) has chosen this code word ....

LOVE this challenge!  Looking forward to seeing all the creative cards in the gallery! :)  I used a digital image printed onto watercolor paper.  I used my yellow marker to outline along the outside edge of the image and then used a wet paint brush to blend it to create a sunny glow around the dahlia.  I then used my inks and blender pen to color the flower (marker layering technique).

This challenge is sponsored by

Prize:  5 free digital images

(please follow the rules to be eligible to win)

I hope you'll join us for this fun challenge (ATCAS Challenge #38 - code word:  Off the Edge).  As always, the challenge is open for two weeks so there's lots of time to play along.  Click on the link to find out about the challenge and see the wonderful Design Team cards by the rest of our team.

We are so excited to have Darnell (djkardkreations)  join us as Guest Designer for May.  If you haven't visited Darnell's blog yet, be sure to take some time and drop by to say hi - you'll be glad you did! :)

Stamps:  Dahlia (Clearly Digi); Friendship Garden - sentiment (Fiskars)
Paper:  Watercolor (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Raspberry Ripple, Pear Pizzazz (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  blender pen, paint brush

Coral Blossoms x 2

Hi everyone.  Today's card is made in honor of a very talented stamper at Splitcoast Stampers.  Angela Maine has an elegant, sophisticated CAS style of card making.  I am always in awe of her cards.  Today's card is a CASE of this beauty by Angela.  I kept the same layout, stenciled background and floral theme, but changed up the colors and used vellum for the sentiment banner.  I absolutely LOVE this layout and will use it again.  Thank you Angela for providing such amazing inspiration!!

I hope you aren't sick of seeing my hydrangea blossoms.  It is my go-to flower and I know I use them A LOT.  I just love working with them.  I'm also stuck on coral right now ... just can't get enough of it! :)

I wanted to try using my glass bead embossing gel again.  I sponged over the harlequin stencil with Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive inks, and then added the glass bead gel.  I used this a little while ago for the card I made for my son's birthday, but I wanted to try adding it to a stencil to see how it would work - LOVE IT!  I wish you could see it in real life - it's so pretty!  I'm including a close-up so you can see all the lovely sparkle ...

I'm also entering this into the latest challenge at ATS&M #94 - CAS, and Simon Says - Spring Flowers.

Stamps:  Love Bug sentiment (Fiskars)
Paper:  110 lb. white (Neenah); Pear Pizzazz, Calypso Coral, Vellum
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Calypso Coral, Staz-on Black
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Fresh Foliage die (Memory Box), Hydrangea Punch (Martha Stewart), Silhouette Cameo for cutting harlequin stencil, Glass Bead Gel Medium (Golden), palette knife, sponges, white gel pen, stylus and mat for shaping flowers

Challenges:
ATS&M #94 - CAS
Simon Says - Spring Flowers

____________________

One other quick card to share with you today.  This is a couple of techniques from my on-line watercolor class I'm taking.  The background was supposed to have more white space in the middle ... but the ink had other ideas :)

Other than that, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.  LOVE this Too Kind stamp set from SU!

Stamps:  Too Kind (SU!); Chit Chat - sentiment (Paper Smooches)
Paper:  Watercolor (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Cameo Coral, Calypso Coral (SU!); Black (Memento); Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  Acrylic block, paint brush

Polka-Dot Daisies

Hi everyone.  Quick and easy CAS card today ... this only took me about ten minutes.  That's a record for me as I'm usually so slow.  I love how happy this turned out :)

This is another layered stencil card.  Here's how I made the card ... placed my daisy stencil on my card front, sponged leaves and stems with green and the flower heads with coral.  Laid my polka-dot lace stencil over top of the flower stencil and sponged with white pigment ink.  The white polka-dots make this fun and whimsical set of flowers even more fun.  :)   The sweet sentiment finishes the card.

Can you believe that I just bought my very first pigment ink??  Crazy, huh??  I've never learned much about inks, usually buying the water-based dye inks from Stampin' Up!.  But I'm going to branch out and I'm looking into the Distress inks from Tim Holtz, Pigment inks from Hero Arts and also will look for some alcohol-based inks too.

Oops, hit post before I added the info about the challenges.  I'm going to enter this into CAS-ology #92 - cue word:  Garden, and also Simon Says CAS Challenge.  And because this makes me smile, this will be my second entry into Less Is More #168 - makes me smile. :)

Stamps:  Friendship Garden (Fiskars)
Paper:  110 lb. white (Neenah)
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Calypso Coral (SU!); Unicorn Pigment (Hero Arts)
Accessories & Tools:  Silhouette Cameo cutting machine to cut stencils; Daisies and Polka-dot Lace cut files (Silhouette America), clear plastic sheets (Grafix), sponges, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Challenges:
CAS-ology #92
Simon Says - CAS
Less Is More #168

Watercolours Again

Hi everyone.  Playing around with the same technique as a couple of days ago (Happy Watercolored Birthday).  This time I used the orange and yellow from the Muse Card by Marion Vagg, but changed the blue to Rich Razzleberry (love this bright purple!).

I also kept the white embossed wood grain background from the Muse card, but it looks so different being an A2 card (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") from the square card.  I used a white silhouette of die-cut daisies and white embossed sentiment.

Here's the Muse card from the lastest challenge (#64) ...

I'm also entering this card into CAS-ology #92 Challenge, cue word: Garden and for the Less Is More #168 Challenge (makes me smile) ... playing with inks makes me smile :)

Stamps:  Friendship Garden - sentiment (Fiskars)
Paper:  110 lb. white (Neenah); watercolor
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Wood Grain embossing folder (Sizzix), Fresh Daisies die (Simon Says), white embossing powder, heat tool, water mister

Challenges:
Muse #64
CAS-ology #92
Less Is More #168

____________________

Here are two more of my Dirty Dozen Design Team cards from last October (click here for an explanation as to why I'm sharing them now).  Along with the theme challenge of "It's about Time", there are also challenges within the central theme ... one of them being "More is More.  This is where you make a card, and then make a stepped-up version.

Here I made a CAS Christmas card with some die-cut heated copper.  And by just adding some dry embossing and paper piercing, the card below is the "stepped-up" version :)

Stamps:  Beautiful Season (SU!)
Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Soft Suede (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Holiday Cheer dies (Sizzix), Country Landscape die (Memory Box), Snowflake embossing folder (Cuttlebug), paper piercing tool, template and mat; copper metal sheet .005 thickness (K&S Precision Metals), mini torch

Silhouette Grasses for Kathleen

Hi everyone.  This card is for a fellow card maker at Splitcoasterstampers.com.  Kathleen is a lovely person who always takes time to leave encouraging and supportive comments on other's work on the site.  She is also a wonderful card maker and so I wanted to join in the current Teapotter's Challenge (MMTPT #296), where the group sends cards of encouragement to people who could use some extra support during a difficult time.  This week the group is sending cards to Kathleen as she gets ready for major surgery. This card will be making it's way to Kathleen shortly :)

I used the colors from this week's Color Challenge (#472 - Night of Navy, Old Olive, Bermuda Bay) to CASE (copy and share everything) this beautiful card, along with creating a tag card which Kathleen does often - so it is a combination of two or three of her cards.

I'm also entering this into the latest challenge at Addicted to Stamps & More (#89 - CAS).

The tag is made by sponging olive and Bermuda bay inks, spraying a fine mist of water ... and once dry, stamping the wheat grass in dark navy and then splattering larger drops of water on top.  I added some dark blue and olive twine to the top.  I'm happy with how the tag turned out and mounted (as usual) on my white card front and base.  I thought it looked a little stark, so removed the tag, masked off the edges of the card base and then splattered the card front with all three of the colors (olive, Bermuda bay, navy).  I like how it turned out ... it doesn't have all the beautiful white space that I adore ... so I'm really not sure which version I like better. :)  I'm trying to expand and start adding more background stamping, splattering and stenciling ... it's going to take me a little while to get comfortable :)

Gorgeous, sunny day here and hoping to head out for a walk around the neighborhood soon.  Need to enjoy the sun as rain is forecasted to be back with us by Friday.  Hope you're all having a wonderful week.

Stamps:  Silhouette Grass (Hero Arts); Love Bug - sentiment (Fiskars)
Paper:  White (Neenah), Whisper White (SU!)
Ink:  Old Olive, Bermuda Bay, Night of Navy (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  sponges, water mister, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Twine (Midnight Blue, Honeydew), paintbrush for splattering

Challenges:
SCS Teapotter's Challenge (MMTPT #296)
SCS Color Challenge (#472)
ATS&M #89

Love Grows

Hi everyone.  Time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS.  This time, the challenge is being run by the very talented Sylvia (Poppy's Papercraft Patch), and she chose this word ...

This challenge is being sponsored by

Prize:  Rubber Stamp Set "It's All About You"

(please follow the rules to be eligible to win)

Now, I only used one wheel on my card ... so hope that's OK with Sylvia! :)

I inked the wheelbarrow with my gray marker and stamped.  I used my blender pen to add more ink to the wheelbarrow, masked it with a post-it note and then stamped leaf sprigs and flowers (yellow, red and purple) using generation stamping.  I removed the mask and stamped a few leaf sprigs that are falling over the side of the wheelbarrow and a few of the red flowers as well.  I like the watercolored look.

The sentiment is from a Fiskars set I had bought a while back from my local $1 store (it was $3.00 for the whole set).  I have several of these clear stamp sets, but find I don't always get a crisp and clean stamp from them so didn't use them very much.  Then I watched a video by Darlene Devries (DarleneDesign.com) ... where she describes having the same trouble and how she fixed this problem.  She places the stamp on her acrylic block, figures out where she wants it on her card, places a Stamp-a-ma-jig against the block, inks and stamps.  She lifts up her stamp, leaving the stamp-a-ma-jig in place, and re-inks and stamps again if necessary.  I did that today and it worked perfectly.  Thanks for the great tip Darlene!!  By the way, if you haven't checked out Darlene's blog, please do so if you have time ... she does a video each week showing how she makes her cards.  I have learned a lot from her!

This is the last challenge of March ... which means we have to bid fond farewell to our March Guest Designer ... Karen.  Thanks so much Karen for joining us this month ... we've really enjoyed having you on our Design Team!!! :)

As always, our challenge is open for two weeks so there's lots of time to play along.  Please check out the challenge for Addicted to CAS - Wheels ... and see all the wonderful cards from the rest of the Design Team.

Stamps:  Always Thanksful (SU!); Master #1 (Kittie Kits - Rubbernecker Stamps); Friendship Garden (Fiskars)
Paper:  White (Neenah - card base); Whisper White (SU!)
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Early Espresso, Basic Gray, Black, Gumball Green, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Elegant Eggplant (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  blender pen, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Love Inspired Flowers

Hi everyone.  I have been on a roll making cards this week ... my mojo has returned!!  It never completely left, but for the past several weeks, I struggled over every card I made ... things weren't flowing.  But things are flowing now and I have been having fun playing along with the LOVEFEST2014 challenges to SCS - this one is Challenge F - Color challenge (love inspired) hosted by Sweet 'n Sassy.

I think this pot of heart flowers is so adorable from Bugaboo and I immediately thought of it when I saw the challenge.  I colored the stem and leaves with my Copics and paper pieced the pot, ribbon and hearts.  I added a second layer of paper piecing to add dimension to the rim of the pot, the bow of the ribbon, and the heart blossoms (paper tole).  All the pieces were sponged to add depth and dimension, and I used my white gel pen to add some highlights to the hearts.  A simple sentiment and a shadow for the pot to ground it (drawn with Copics) finishes the card.  Another fun, easy and CAS card.

Stamps:  Flower Pot 4 (Bugaboo Stamps); Love Bug sentiment (Fiskars)
Paper:  White (Neenah), Snap Color Vibe (Simple Stories); Baked Brown Sugar, Real Red (SU!)
Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar, Real Red, Regal Rose (SU!); Copics:  G43, YG67, W4
Accessories & Tools:  sponges, white gel pen

Challenges:
LOVEFEST2014F - color challenge

Bee Happy

Hi everyone.  Day 2 of the stenciling course and lots of new techniques today.  I'm still working on yesterday's lessons.  This technique is to use misting with stencils.  I don't have any mists, but I do remember a long time ago, watching an SU! video about mixing up your own, so that's what I did.  In my water mister bottle, I mixed water, re-inkers and a couple of drops of shimmer paint.  I made two colors, Daffodil Delight and Real Red.

I again made my own stencil using Whisper White card stock and my Silhouette Cameo.  It all worked pretty well to get the background paper for my main panel above, but I had several failures.  I taped down my stencil onto my card stock in a couple of places and started spraying.  Unfortunately it bled on me ... so here are the two things I learned.  Add temp adhesive to the back of stencils to help keep the seal tight ... and it might be worth investing in misting sprays because maybe my home-made one was too watery (although just sticking down the stencil may have solved the problem).  Anyways, the above piece turned out and it is so shimmery in real life (hard to tell in the photo).

I stamped a bee, colored with Copics and added some dazzling diamonds to the wings and then fussy-cut.  It is popped up at the tail end of the Simon Says die-cut "happy".  And I stamped the "bee" onto a separate piece of white card stock and popped it up as well.  I backed the panel in black to tie to the black in the words and then popped the main panel up on my card front.  In the end, I'm pretty happy with this card.

Stamps:  Garden Oasis (Fiskars); Word Salad (Paper Smooches)
Paper:  Whisper White; black, white
Ink:  Black, Daffodil Delight, Real Red (SU!); Copics:  Y21
Accessories & Tools:  Silhouette Cameo (to cut stencil), Happy die (Simon Says), dazzling diamonds, black twine

Coral Rose

Hi everyone.  Today I made a card for the SCS Color Challenge (CC424 - coral, white, pink).  Love this color combination!  I used the marker layering technique on the rose above and also on the leaves which are actually die-cuts (not stamps).  Once I colored the leaves, I used my black marker to outline them so that they look like they were a stamp to match the rose.  Hopefully it worked :)

Stamps:  Garden Oasis (Fiskars); Happiest Birthday Wishes (SU!)
Paper:  White, watercolor
Ink:  Staz-On Black, Basic Black, Cameo Coral, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Tender Leaves die (Memory Box), blender pen, glue and dimensionals

I stamped the rose in Staz-On Black ink onto watercolor paper; colored it used the marker layering technique and then fussy cut.  I die-cut two of the largest leaves from the die set, colored them using the marker layering technique and then ran my black marker along the edge to outline them.

The sentiment stamp is a clear set from SU! so I didn't even use my Stamp-a-ma-jig!! ... so proud of myself :)  Just eye-balled it and stamped around my 3 1/2" square panel.

Everything was popped up on the card base to give the card lots of dimension.


Here's a close-up of the rose:

Tip:  My son is an art teacher and he tells me that I need to leave some white space when I'm coloring / watercoloring.  I did pretty good with this one ... but think I can do better.  The urge is to fill everything in and I have to fight that :)

With gratitude

Hi everyone,

Today's card is a thank you card for the doctors and nurses of the Intensive Care Unit who looked after my hubby.  They are dedicated, caring individuals and I wanted to send them a thank you card and some goodies to show our appreciation.

I used my Cameo Coral Stampin' Write marker and a blender pen to color in the rose on the card.  Love this color ... too bad it is long retired and no longer available.  For now, I use it sparingly, hoping the ink will last a bit longer. :)

"With Gratitude"

Stamps:  Garden Oasis (Fiskars); Chit Chat (Paper Smooches)
Paper:  White (Neenah); Watercolor paper (Arches); Black Polka-dot DP, Old Olive (SU!)
Ink:  Cameo Coral, Old Olive, Basic Black (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Leaves Die (Sizzix), 1/4" Basic Black grosgrain ribbon, Stamp-a-ma-jig, blender pen, sponge, adhesives, glue dots and dimensionals

I used the Marker Layering technique to color the rose (see link to tutorial on Tutorial page).  I didn't have an appropriate leaf stamp to match with the rose, so I used a die-cut and Old Olive cardstock with more ink sponged on the edges to create some depth.  I'll have to find a leaf stamp that will work with this rose because I think it would be a lot better with a watercolored leaf to match.  Note to self:  time to go shopping! :)

Tip on fussy-cut images ... after I cut an image rose out, I run a Stampin' Write marker (same color as the stamped image) along the outside cut edge to give it a nice clean look.  I used the Black marker with today's rose ... it covers up the white edge from the cut and also disguises any mistakes I made when cutting.

Love is in Bloom

Today's CAS Challenge from SCS (CAS172) is a theme challenge - LOVE.  Everyone is welcome to join in the fun of the challenge, so come play along with us!

I have a few Fiskars stamp sets that I bought from one of my local Dollar Stores ... they were $3 each and have at least a dozen clear stamps in each set - what a bargain!!  Anyways, there is one set called "Love Bug" and I wanted to use the lettering from that set for my sentiment / main focal point.  I paper pieced the LOVE word in Melon Mambo polka-dot DP --- love it!!  It needed something more, so I pulled out a set from SU! from a couple of years back called Valentine Defined.  I just love the heart stems from this set and thought they would make a perfect backdrop for my sentiment.  Hope you like.

"Love is in Bloom"

Stamps:  Love Bug (Fiskars); Valentine Defined (SU!)
Paper:  White cardstock (C.C. Designs)
Ink:  Basic Black; Stampin' Write markers: Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  glue, and dimensionals

Colored the heart stems with Stampin' Write markers and stamped twice onto my white card front.  Stamped the sentiment onto Melon Mambo polka-dot DP and cut it out.  Stamped it a second time onto white cardstock, cut out the center heart and glued it on top of the polka-dot DP.  Placed the sentiment overtop of the ends of the stems, popping it up with dimensionals.  Added one set of heart stems to the inside.  Easy and fun card to make!

Two Birgittas

OK, so I stumbled across Pam Spark's blog (Expressions with Heart), several months ago.  I am in awe of her talent.  She is amazing at putting together fabulous elements and creating a piece-of-art-in-a-card.  Please take a few minutes to check out her website ... you'll be glad you did.  Pam is a designer for All That Scraps, and I just received my latest order yesterday ... I purchased figure stamps.  I never thought I would ever try these, but Pam's creations are so wonderful and she freely shares her tips and tricks, so I made the plunge.  I actually bought four figures all together and today I'm posting two cards I made with "Cute Birgitta" ... she's an adorable member of the Swiss Pixies.  I also purchased a few Promarkers and this is my first attempt at coloring faces - so please don't look to closely :)

The first card is done with layers of designer paper, some die-cuts and embellishments (Birgitta's jumper is paper-pieced).  I used Pam's cards for inspiration ... this is really out of my comfort zone, but I had fun ... although I spent HOURS making this card.  I'm happy with how it turned out ... and it is for the Color Throwdown Challenge (CTD193 - Marvelous Magenta, Garden Green, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie).  I had to sub for the Marvelous Magenta (Rich Razzleberry), and for Summer Sun (Daffodil Delight).  Hope you like.

"Birgitta Says Hello"

Stamps:  Cute Birgitta, Spring Bench (C.C. Designs); Friendly Flowers - sentiment (Fiskars)

Paper:  Ruby Red, Watercolor, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, Rich Razzleberry DP, Very Vanilla (SU); Indie Chic "Ginger" (My Mind's Eye)

Ink:  Basic Black, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Garden Green, So Saffron, More Mustard, Rich Razzleberry, Baja Breeze (SU!); Ivory and Vanilla Promarkers (Letraset)

Accessories & Tools:  Aqua Painter, Blender Pen, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Nesties Squares (Spellbinders), Grass die-cut (C.C. Designs), Flower Border die-cut (C.C. Designs), mini Ruby Red brad, sponges, sticky strips, adhesives, and dimensionals

Here's a close-up of Birgitta:

____________________

The second card for today uses the same images but is Clean and Simple (CAS) ... and definitely more in my comfort zone.  It's for SCS Free For All Challenge (F4A118 - Feeling hot, hot, hot - use hot pink on your card).  I also used the sketch Challenge from Clean & Simple (FTL192).  Hope you like.

Here's the sketch for today:

"Thinking of You Birgitta"

Stamps:  Cute Birgitta, Spring Bench (C.C. Designs); Wish you were here (Hero Arts)

Paper:  White Cardstock (All That Scraps), Watercolor paper, Melon Mambo polka-dot DP

Ink:  Basic Black, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, So Saffron, Cameo Coral, More Mustard (SU!); Ivory and Vanilla Promarkers (Letraset)

Accessories & Tools:  Aqua Painter, Blender pen, white gel pen, black sharpie, sponges, clear embossing powder, heat tool, pink twine (The Twinery), glue dots, sticky strips, glue, and dimensionals

Both cards were done very similarly.  I stamped the image onto watercolor paper and embossed in clear.  I colored the face, hand and legs with the Promarkers.  I used Stampin' Write markers to color the rest of the image, blending the ink with the blender pen.  I sponged Cameo Coral on the cheeks of the second Birgitta and blended with the promarkers (the first Birgitta, I used a Promarker for the cheeks and had trouble blending it).  Birgitta's jumper and top are paper pieced.

The sky for the first Birgitta was sponged in Baja Breeze ink using a hand-cut template of randomly-sized scallops.

The border for the second Birgitta was hand-drawn using a fine tip black sharpie.