Snark Meets Valentine's Day

The Snarky Stampers are back with our first challenge for 2020! And we have gone way back to our beginnings, with A is for Anti-Valentine. Do you not love Edna's t-shirt? <3 Obviously Valentine's is an occasion perfect for snarkiness. 
I had a few different ideas for this theme. I knew that one of my Ink Road stamp sets had a sentiment saying, "I dislike you the least" - but when I got the set out, I discovered a sentiment that I think is even snarkier for the annual day of love and mushiness: 

My husb laughed out loud when I showed him this, so I think I succeeded in bringing the snark. ;) I started by blending some distress ink on white cardstock, starting at the centre and letting the intensity fade closer to the edges. It wasn't quite working for me on its own, so I added a very thin layer of Perfect Pearls to add a touch of shimmer before I used   a hearts embossing folder. (It's amazing when you pull supplies by theme; I think I have four different ones.) Black seemed appropriate for the sentiment and card base, and I called it done. :D 

A closeup shows the shimmer a bit:

We have a returning Queen of Snark with guest designer Michelle, and of course lots of snark from the Sisters, as well. Feast your eyes on the inspiration and then join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Recollections black cardstock, The Ink Road Modern Romance stamp, Versamark & candied apple distress ink, Hero Arts white embossing powder, Perfect Pearl Perfect Pearls, WRMK Next Level dotted embossing folder, Tim Holtz/Sizzix Stacked Deckle dies, foam tape

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Addicted to Stamps and More!

I'm excited to announce that I've joined the design team at Addicted to Stamps and More! ATSM is a weekly challenge blog with five rotating themes. We accept cards, tags, scrapbook layouts... and more! ;) This week, our theme is HOLIDAY. 

While there are lots of holidays to choose from, I went for the easy answer: CHRISTMAS. After all, it's not like I've put all my supplies away yet! :D It also seemed the ideal chance to play along with the current challenge at Christmas Kickstart, Penguin Parade. 🐧

Lawn Fawn penguins are so cute! And while I could have had a literal parade of penguins, I decided to go with one skating one. I gave him a sparkly ink-blended circle to skate on, with a silver skate trail. The sentiment is embossed in the same silver. For a little extra interest, I added a strip of patterned paper and a trio of iridescent snowflakes. 

I hope you will go see what my new design teammates have created - there may even be a non-Christmas card or two - and then join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Echo Park Winter Wishes patterned paper, Lawn Fawn Holiday Penguin stamps, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & tumbled glass distress ink, Wow clear gloss & Ranger ultra fine silver embossing powder, Copic markers, Tsukineko sheer sparkle shimmer spray, Studio Katia iridescent ice crystals, foam tape

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Seize the Stencil Birthday

It's time for our second January Seize the Birthday challenge! Our new - but always optional - topping is STENCILS. As ever, we love to see any newly created birthday card, but stencils certainly offer lots of options for adding extra interest to your cardmaking. 

I decided to go with an underwater scene: 

I started with my background, using a fun bubble waves stencil and blending a number of distress inks through it. Next, I stamped, coloured and die cut a variety of critters (and a little vegetation) to make my scene. Since he was the biggest and I would be popping him up, I thought it worked that my one fish had the same colours as the background. For the sea bottom, I used two shades of distress ink and a stipple brush to create my sand. To get the sentiment I wanted to fit on the speech bubble dies I have, I needed to mix words from two different companies, but the fonts play nicely together. Finally, as a finishing touch, I added a little strip of patterned paper that complements the sandy bottom.  

Although I didn't use one of my ARTplorations stencils this time out, I'm going to link this to January's Stencil Challenge at STAMPlrations, as well as Inkspirational's current Fauna challenge.  

My friend Joyce continues as our surprise party guest, and you'll be amazed at all the different ways stencils have been used on our birthday cards! Take a look, be inspired, and play along. 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, MFT neutrals patterned paper, MFT Beach Buds stamps & dies, Paper Smooches Birthday Buddies & Paper Issues/Snarky Stamps Ahhhh Birthday stamps, Versafine onyx black, broken china, mermaid lagoon, blueprint sketch, shaded lilac, antique linen and gathered twigs distress inks, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Heffy Doodle bubble waves stencil, MFT scenic safari & Paper Smooches word bubbles dies, foam tape 

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Jingle Belles Wraps It Up

It is possible that I may need an intervention. I can't seem to stop making Christmas cards!  Granted, a few of them have been for design teams I am on, but the non-Noel mojo seems to have been left behind in 2019. :D Since the Christmas wrapping paper needed to be organized anyway, I decided to play along with the first Jingle Belles challenge of 2020: No Time Like the Presents. I found a remnant of paper with large square illustrations, and made two: 

Look! She's reading a book by a Mitford! Probably Nancy. A mat of red paper, a panel of patterned paper and a white-embossed sentiment didn't seem quite enough, so I added a single die cut snowflake. 

My second snowman is wearing an enamelware pot on his head rather than reading material. (There were Christmas trees in the wrapping paper mix, too, but I forced myself to stop. making. Christmas. cards.) This time I found a leftover panel of stencilled candy canes for a background, and used red cardstock for the card base and the sentiment circle, layering a few together for extra dimension. I'm also adding this to the current CAS on Friday Winter challenge. 

Two more Christmas cards! Which is great, but I may have to lock up the Christmas supplies for a while... ;) 
ETA: And oops, I missed the Jingle Belles deadline! 

Supplies: Neenah white and (?) red cardstock, Echo Park Keepin' Cozy patterned paper, wrapping paper, Hero Arts Get Merry & Flora & Fauna Cozy Cuddles stamps, Versamark & festive berries distress ink, Hero Arts white embossing powder, Picket Fence Studios Candy Cane Lane stencil, Tim Holtz/Sizzix mini snowflakes & Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway die, 1" circle punch

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The Snarky Sisters Have Headaches

We may be more than a week into 2020 already, but that doesn't mean Edna and the Snarky Sisters have fully recovered from the excesses of the holiday season! And so we offer our first challenge of 2020, H is for Headache.  

I have one headache sentiment, courtesy of Tim Holtz snarky sentiment strips. When you visit the blog, you'll see that two of my sistahs have the used that sentiment for their cards! And while it would have been fun for as many of us as possible to use the same sentiment, I decided to cast further afield. As a migraine sufferer, this caught my eye:

While I prefer to use stamps rather than computer-generate a sentiment, I knew I could work with this. ;) 

I considered using adult beverages as my corresponding images, but this crazy cat looked to me like he might have a headache, so I coloured him in. Of course his eyes needed some Glossy Accents for that glassy, dazed look. The bam bubble die cut is for extra added headache effect. :D 

The rest of the sistahs, as well as our Queen of Snark and guest designer, Julie, have lots of inspiration for you - hope you'll come and play along with us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & (?) yellow cardstock, Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz Crazy Cats stamp, Simon Says Stamp ultra black ink, Copic markers, Paper Smooches Bam Bubble & MFT wonky stitched rectangle dies, Glossy Accents

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Happy Little Stampers CAS: Wings

Yes, I've joined the Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge design team! I've always considered myself a clean and simple cardmaker, but this is my first time on a CAS design team! I'm looking forward to matching themes to CAS designs. 
Our January theme is WINGS. I was tempted to think outside the box and use an airplane for my card, but eventually settled on a couple of feathered - and musical - friends: 

To keep my card CAS, I blended some distress ink along the bottom of my card as a ground for my little scene. My birds and music stand are stamped, embossed and coloured with Copics. After die cutting them, I arranged them on the card base and added the sentiment and a couple of notes. 

Be sure to visit Happy Little Stampers to see the great inspiration cards by my new design teammates! A big thank you to Kylie for giving me the opportunity to join the team. 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Lawn Fawn Critter Concert stamps & dies, Versafine onyx black & bundled sage distress ink, Wow clear gloss & clear sparkle embossing powder, Copic markers, foam tape

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