Can You Resist?

How on earth is July passing by so quickly? Here we are, ready for another Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge: 

This time around, we are looking for any type of resist technique. For me, that means yay, a justification to use embossing powder! (Like I need an excuse.) Here is my card:

I am so pleased with how the main panel turned out! After embossing the background stamp in white on watercolour paper, I spritzed it with water and started dusting red and blue watercolour powders randomly over it. I love how the embossing traps the colours so adjacent petals will often be quite different shades. I also like that just two powders can give me so many colours. Mostly, I like how the powders do all the heavy lifting on this. ;) Once the panel was completely dry, I cut it down to the size I wanted. I used the diagonal edge as a guide to add a strip of double-sided tape to the card base so I could add the line of glitter. (Because of my friend Stephanie, I suddenly want to add glitter strips to almost every card.) The sentiment is embossed in blue; no resist technique for that. Deciding where to put the sequins may have been the most difficult aspect of making this. :D  
I realize there is no snark in sight on this card, so you will have to head over to the main challenge blog to see if my snarky sisters were able to combine a resist technique with some snark. ;) Our guest designer and Queen of Snark is Helen — back for a second challenge in a row! Maybe it's now your turn to be snarky royalty! 

Supplies: Stampin' Up bashful blue cardstock, Strathmore watercolour paper, MFT BG Bundles of Blossoms Background & CASual Fridays Whole Shebang stamps, Versamark ink, Hero Arts white & Stampendous sapphire embossing powders, Magenta Nuance red & cerulean blue watercolour powders, Wow white ultra fine glitter, Little Things from Lucy's Cards sparkling rainbow sequins, fun foam

I Made a Scene

But that's okay, because it's on a card. :) I decided to sneak a second card into Ellen Hutson's current Mix It Up challenge, and for extra fun, thought I would create a little scene that would qualify for Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Create a Scene challenge. Although now that I'm thinking about it, maybe combining the two companies isn't the best idea ever. :D Anyway, here it is! 

That poor hippo. At least I gave him a more naturally-coloured hide this time (instead of purple) but I can't quite resist painting his toenails. I used a snow marker to give the chocolate cake some textural vanilla frosting. Everything is adhered directly to the sponged background except the hippo; I popped him up since in my mind he's hiding the cake from Bird. Some glitter pen on the toenails and the hat's pompom and I called it complete.

Supplies: white cardstock, American Crafts silver glitter paper, Essentials by Ellen Wish Big & Neat & Tangled Square Thoughts stamps & dies, Memento tuxedo black, Altenew forest glades & bundled sage, peeled paint & tumbled glass distress inks, Spectrum Noir & Zig Clean Color markers, Simon Says Stamp postage stamp edge frame die, Marvy Uchida snow marker, Gelly Roll clear glitter gel pen, pop-dot tape

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Bird Crazy Party

I'll be helping to celebrate a nephew's birthday today, so of course I needed a card. I decided it had been too long since my Bird Crazy stamps had seen ink, and went from there: 

My bird and balloons are coloured with Zig markers, and the balloons coated with iridescent medium and Glossy Accents. I'm not sure I've ever used so many colours on a card without one of them being red. :P There are a couple of little red triangles on the fun background paper, though. Phew. 
I'm going to submit this to the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge, Flora and Fauna; as well as the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge and the current Seize the Birthday Bold and Bright linkup. 
Enjoy what's left of your weekend! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Strathmore watercolour paper, Glitz Finnley patterned paper, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Bird Crazy & Crazy Things stamps & dies, Amuse Birthday Greetings stamps, My Favorite Things black licorice, Versamark & Altenew deep iris inks, Zing clear embossing powder, Zig clean colour markers, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium, icicle Stickles, Glossy Accents, Hemptique purple twine, pop-dot tape

Mixing It Up

Happy Saturday! A quick post to share a card I made for the current Ellen Hutson Mix It Up challenge, collaborating with Neat & Tangled stamps. I have stamps and dies from both companies, but it was so much fun to get together with Emily and Ardyth the other day and use their stuff. ;) Here's the first card I made: 

Since the person I plan to give this to has never watched Grey's Anatomy, I am not wrecking the sentiment (from Essentials by Ellen) by pairing it with a cat (from Neat & Tangled). I used Emily's Copics to colour the kitty. Once I brought the cat and sentiment panels home, I tried some different layout ideas, but decided I liked this really clean and simple design best, to let the image and message be the focus. My contributions to the card's supplies are the Glossy Accents on the heart and the grey card base. 
I have the elements all ready to make another Mix It Up card — but it's a warm sunny weekend, the garden could use my attention... I'll have to see how it goes! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Memory Box dove grey card base, Neat & Tangled Kitty's Favorite Things & Essentials by Ellen Mondo Magnolia stamps, Memento tuxedo black & Altenew ruby red inks, My Favorite Things Blueprints 24 stitched rectangle die, Copics, Glossy Accents, fun foam, pop-dot tape

Creating Art with CASology!

I'm excited...

Yay! Deirdre from the CASology design team was nice enough to select this card as the winner of their ROW challenge. That means I get to play along with the talented team for this cue: 

We were away from home for a few days when I got the news I would be playing along, which meant I had lots of time to mull over ideas. A few of them that were ultimately rejected:
- flowers and a nature quote, since nature is a fine artist
- an art-related quote from an artist
- a card with Art Garfunkel on it
- etc.
After all that, I ended up with this:

Design defined: Few or no embellishments
help to keep a card CAS.

I started by stamping this Crazy Cat on watercolour paper. I die cut the tail from the sticky part of a post-it so I could mask it and stamp the brush. Once I'd done that, I realized that it was more complicated than simple masking; I wanted the brush on top of one part of the tail and under the second part. The easiest work-around was to make the brush handle solid black. :D Once I'd watercoloured the cat, I stamped the paint splash in ombré ink, then stamped and embossed the sentiment. Hey, did you know that even after a couple of minutes, ombré ink, despite not being pigment ink, will still hold embossing powder? I know this now. ;) Because of that fun effect, I added a little Versamarker to the paint drip on the brush and embossed that, too. Finding a patterned paper that coordinated perfectly with my kitty for the card base once again justifies me keeping ALL of my paper pads. 

Lots of amazing ART inspiration can be seen over on the CASology blog. You have until Monday at noon central time (one pm for me in the eastern time zone) to play along! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Strathmore watercolour paper, Studio Calico Memoir patterned paper, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Crazy Cats & Crazy Things stamps & die, Paper Smooches Nine Lives & Neat & Tangled Ink Splash stamps, Memento Luxe tuxedo black, My Favorite Thinks black licorice & Hero Arts neon ombré chartreuse to blue inks, Zing clear embossing powder, Zig watercolour markers, Versamarker

Public Service Announcement

Happy Saturday! Edna is at it again with the latest Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge. 

Last year Edna was advocating for wine, but this challenge, she is being all-inclusive — any booze will do! So I felt it only appropriate to use my card to remind people that there are consequences that can accompany over-indulgence. 

A few years ago, I bought an assortment of Riley and Co. sentiments on a Facebook buy-and-sell group. They come in very handy sometimes! I started with this sentiment and built my card around it. (Supposedly, this was once a popular saying. Before my time... :D) I picked this particular car because it had a little heart floating on top of it — of course, that doesn't matter if you're going to fussy cut it, does it??? I found a small heart in my stash of die cuts, instead, and coated it with iridescent medium. The night sky is sponged distress inks with stencilled stars. 
Booze... the possibilities are endless! So are the projects you might choose to make for our challenge. Be sure to visit the Snarky blog to see how my sisters were inspired, as well as our latest Queen of Snark and guest designer, Helen! Perhaps you will be inspired to indulge in an adult beverage and join us. 

Supplies: white & Bazzill textured green cardstock, Unity & Riley & Co stamps, Memento London fog, Luxe tuxedo black & mermaid lagoon, faded jeans & chipped sapphire distress inks, Zing clear embossing powder, Simon Says Stamp falling stars stencil, Dreamweavers glossy white embossing paste, Paper Smooches Borders 1 & Spellbinders circle dies, Spectrum Noir markers, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium, pop-dot tape

Pin-Sights and More

 Ellen Hutson has a new Pin-Sights challenge, and here is the inspiration photo: 

Just one photo this time (usually it's a photo collage) But there is definitely lots going on! I was inspired by the celebratory nature of the image, the bright colours — purple, teal, yellow, pink — and the confetti/sprinkles on the tablecloth. (The food inspired a snack, but that's different. :D ) Here is my card:

Normally I have trouble going against nature's colours when I'm making a card, but somehow a purple hippo felt right. His toenails just happen to match the bird, and his hat the balloon. After colouring the balloon, I painted it with a layer of iridescent medium and then a thick coat of Glossy Accents. Shiny and sparkly! 

The polka dot washi tape across the bottom is my nod to the sprinkles. 
The CAS Mix Up challenge this month is looking for stamping plus markers. I've got those plus die-cutting, paint (the iridescent medium) and Glossy Accents, so it really is a mixed media CAS card! 

Supplies: white & black cardstock, Essentials by Ellen Wish Big stamps & dies, Versafine onyx black & smokey gray ink, Spectrum Noir markers, My Mind's Eye washi tape, pop-dot tape 

Pawesome

July 1st means Canada Day (or Dominion Day, if you are so inclined) and a brand new Naughty or Nice Challenge. This month, we're making it easy for you... it's ANYTHING GOES! 

Just to prove that we mean it when we say "Anything Goes", I have made a card that is absolutely ALL nice with NO naughty! 

I had fun playing with these cat stamps a couple of weeks ago for My Favourite Things' Camp Create, so decided to pull them out again for another card. This is my version of a spotlight card, with the sleeping cats stamped in grey, and the main one stamped in black, embossed in sparkle powder and coloured in. I added a little extra sparkle to his collar, nose and ears, too. 

For the background kitties, I did just a tiny bit of masking so the two cats on the left could overlap a bit. I added a strip of double-sided tape underneath them and added some glitter to ground everyone. I tried a bunch of different papers for the card base, but went with the grey zig-zags so as to not detract from the pops of colour on the main panel. 
What would you know, Simon Says Stamp is having an Anything Goes challenge, too, so off go my kitties to the link-up there. Meanwhile, the current CASology cue word is ROW, as in my row of sleeping kitties. 
With no restrictions, you have no excuse not to come and play along with us! The Anything Goes challenge runs until July 25th. 

Supplies: white cardstock, Studio Calico patterned paper, MFT I Knead You & Cat-itude stamps & die, Memento gray flannel & Luxe tuxedo black, Hero Arts sparkle embossing powder, Spectrum Noir markers, Gelly Roll clear glitter gel pen, Wow powder ultra-fine glitter, dimensionals