Meadow Leaves

Hi everyone.  Just catching up on some challenges and wanted to participate in last week's color challenge at SCS (CC412 - Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Crumb Cake). Love these colors together and thought it would make for a wonderful masculine card.

Also used the sketch from this week's challenge at CAS[E] this Sketch Challenge #14.  Here's the sketch:

Stamps:  Just Believe (SU!)
Paper:  Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Comfort Cafe DP (SU!)
Ink:  Basic Black, Soft Suede (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Meadow Leaf die (Poppy Stamps), Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinder)Brick embossing folder (Tim Holtz / Sizzix), Brayer, Stamp-a-ma-jig, adhesives, glue, glue dots, and dimensionals

To create the brick insert, I used my brayer to ink the inside of the embossing folder with Soft Suede ink, added a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and ran it through my Big Shot (faux letterpress technique).  Cut the piece down to size and mounted it on my black card front.  Added a piece of DP popped up on top (with a circle die-cut) and two Meadow Leaf dies in black to balance it all out.  Small sentiment in black finishes the card.


Here's a close-up of the main image:

Hydrangea for Susan

Hi everyone.  Today's card is to honor Susan Bridgman ... she is the Queen For the Day over at SCS ... actually, it's a weekly honor, so she will be wearing her crown for several days :)

Susan is a very talented crafter and she also leaves wonderfully, support comments for so many on SCS.  She is also a fellow Canadian ... and lives not too far from me.  I'm hoping that some day we'll be able to meet up and make cards together.

I chose this card of Susan's to CASE in her honor.  I have admired Susan's hydrangea card for a long time and today was the perfect opportunity to CASE it.  I love the dimension Susan has on her card by adding punches on top of her stamped image ... so I did the same, just changing to the colours of the CAS - Colours & Sketches challenge blog for this week (Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Perfect Plum).

Stamps:  Because I Care, A Word for You (SU!)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Perfect Plum (SU!)
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Perfect Plum (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Hydrangea punch (Martha Stewart), white gel pen, glue, adhesives, and dimensionals

I colored the stamp with my Stampin' Write markers and stamped onto the Very Vanilla cardstock.  I used my blender pen to soften the ink colours a little.  I then punched out several small hydrangea blooms, sponged around the edges, shaped them and then glued on top of the stamped image.  I stamped a second set of leaves, cut them out and adhered them on top of my stamped image using rolled glue dots (paper tole technique) ... this gives them more dimension to balance out all the dimension from the blooms.  Once everything was dry, I added white dots to the center of each bloom with my white gel pen.


Here's a close-up of the hydrangea:

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I couple of other things to share with you.  First, thanks to Mynnette of Inkspirational for picking this card as the winner for Challenge #2 of her new challenge blog.  I'm so honored!!

And also I wanted to thank all of you for taking the time to look at my blog and a special thank you to everyone that takes the time to leave comments.  I so love hearing from you!  The past six months has been a very trying time for our family with many serious and devastating health issues.  I have been absent for the past several weeks from my blog with the exception of my Design Team commitments.  I have realized that I must make it a priority for me to have some "down" time from all the stresses, and for me that is creating and posting cards, and having time to look at other crafter's blogs (which I love to do!).  So hopefully you'll see regular postings from me again soon. Thanks for all your support!

You make life so Sweet!

Hi everyone.  Here is my Design Team card for the latest Addicted to CAS challenge #6.  Each challenge has a code word (selected by the design team) to inspire your creations.

It's Shana's turn to be in charge of this challenge and she chose this sweet word ...

This week's sponsor is

Prize:  New release stamp
will be awarded to the CAS PERFECTIONIST

(please follow the rules of the challenge to be eligible to win)

Stamps:  Sweet Sentiments (Amy R)
Paper:  Digital Design Paper - Eclectic Summer (Uniko); white, gray (SU!)
Ink:  Basic Black (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Lollipop die (C.C. Designs), 2-part owl punch (SU!), Pink Sorbet and Caribbean twine (the Twinery), Crystal Effects, glue, adhesives, and dimensionals

I die-cut two layers of the lollipop die from thick white cardstock and glued them together.  I added glue to the top part and wound Pink Sorbet twine around.  I then covered the top part with Crystal Effects to make the lollipop shiny.  Here in Canada, we call these suckers, but the word has other meanings as well that aren't so nice, so I'm sticking with lollipop.  Besides, who doesn't love a word that contains their name??!! :) LOLL-i-pop! :)

The owl's vest is digital papers available from our sponsor, Uniko.  Love this design and thought it made an adorable vest for this sweet owl.

Used my Stampin' Write marker to add faux stitching around the card.  This card was fun and easy to make.

Here's a close-up of the owl and lollipop.  You can see that the Crystal Effects soaked into the twine, making it hard and shiny ... looks like a real lollipop to me! :)

I hope I have inspired you to join us for this fun challenge.  Check out the other fabulous creations by the Design Team members at ATCAS!

Simply Soft with Love

Hi everyone.  Here's my Design Team card for the latest Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - Make your Mark #6 - use any markers on your project.

This week's sponsor is

(please follow the rules of the challenge to be eligible to win)

I have used the marker layering technique (so fun!) for my card today, using my favorite SU! stamp set for this technique - Simply Soft.  Some stamp sets seem to work best with certain techniques (of course, it's all individual taste) ... and this stamp set works best for me using the marker layering technique.  (Just like I always seem to use the Watercolor Spritz technique with SU!'s Gently Falling stamp set.)

Stamps:  Simply Soft, Field Flowers (SU!)
Paper:  Watercolor, White (SU!)
Ink:  Staz-on Black, Marina Mist, Raspberry Ripple, Daffodil Delight, Summer Sun (retired), Old Olive (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Stamp-a-ma-jig, post-it notes for masks, blender Pen (from SU!), 1/4" Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, glue dot, and adhesives

There's a link on my Techniques Page to SCS's wonderful tutorial for this technique done by the very talented Karen Barber.  As with any technique, you sometimes develop a little different way of doing things than the originator - whatever works best for you!

In this case, I have found that I use my blender pen and swipe it across my ink pads (very, very light touch) and then color directly onto my watercolor paper (light color base coat).  Then I go back and add just a dot or dash of the same color using my Stampin' Write color (much stronger color) to add shading and then blend the color into the base coat using my blender pen.  A few added white dots with my gel pen finishes things off.  Easy and fun and very therapeutic ... reminds me of when I was little, coloring in my coloring books.


Here's a close-up of the flowers:

I hope I have inspired you to join us for this fun challenge.  Check out the other fabulous creations by the Design Team at ATS&M!