Plaid and Snarky!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is back with another challenge... U is for Up Yer Kilt! :D I thought Edna should look happier about her companions, but then I remembered the passel of kids she had surrounding her for our last challenge... ;)
We are looking for plaid on your card or other creation for this challenge. I tend to use plaid mostly on Christmas cards, but went looking through my patterned papers and found a plaid that I thought would make a fine masculine card. 

I used a Unity set that Is one of my go-tos for masculine cards. Gears make a better embellishment than flowers would for this, don't you think? :D 

My sisters in snark, as always, have been most creative in their interpretations of all things plaid, so be sure to stop by and admire their work! Come and join in on the kilted fun! ;) 

Supplies: Stampin' Up very vanilla, Neenah desert storm & Bazzill tan & brown textured cardstock, Basic Grey Oxford patterned paper, Unity Consider Yourself Vintage stamps, Stampin' Up bravo burgundy ink, MFT blueprints 24 flag die, Sizzix/Tim Holtz Gear Head dies

Seize the Birthday: Splatter!

I'm back with the Seize the Birthday crew for another challenge! We're back with a fun new (but always optional) topping, too... SPLATTER. I don't use a lot of splatter on my cards, but thought it was the right touch on this one...

I used two of my oldest spray mists, but instead of spraying, I used the tubes/straws to flick the two colours onto my main panel. (Neither of them spray very well anymore, anyway...) While those dried, I stamped and coloured my crazy bird in coordinating colours. Once he was on the main panel, I added a little grounding with the blue mist. I think I'll be using this new sentiment a lot! 
Remember, the splatter is optional, so as long as you make a birthday card, come and join the fun! 

Supplies: white & blue cardstock, Sizzix/Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamps & dies, Technique Tuesday Sassy Birthday stamps, MFT black licorice ink, Copic & sharpie markers, Clearsnap pink sprinkles & sea kiss Smooch Spritz, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch, pop-dot tape

Shopping My Get Well Stash

Monday can't be all bad if you can sit outside on the deck and make a card. I needed a get well card, and I really wanted to play along with Shopping Our Stash's current challenge, CAS for Simplicity Day, and managed to combine the need and the desire... 

Not as CAS as I can be, but still, way simpler than it looks! (My favourite kind of card.) That rose? Possibly the second ever Stampin' Up set I bought, and still one of my favourites. After embossing in white on watercolour paper, I misted it with water and sprinkled on some watercolour powder. Here it is, drying in the sun: 

I added a few outline roses to some (truly ancient) patterned paper to tie it to the focal point rose. I could have saved a layer and just used the dark purple as the card base... but it's a get well card and I didn't want it getting TOO dark. :D 
This is actually the second of these roses I've done this way. I'm sure eventually I'll post the other one... 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up rich razzleberry cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Dear Lizzy patterned paper, Stampin' Up Fifth Avenue Floral & Clearly Besotted Say What? stamps, Versamark & Stampin' Up rich razzleberry inks, Ranger clear & Wow white embossing powders, Magenta Nuance berry watercolour powder, MFT Blueprints 24 stitched rectangle die, pop-dot tape

Reminder: Purchase More Shoes

Look at the calendar... it's the middle of July! And apart from a few days here and there, I'm still waiting for SUMMER. In the meantime, might as well stay inside and make cards. To be honest, on nice days, I will take my stuff outside on the deck. Especially good for messy techniques, such as the one I used for my mid-month reminder card for Naughty or Nice Challenges! 

How fun is this stamp from Riley & Co.? I fully planned to use it on my first challenge card, but didn't seem to have the right ideas for it. Then I saw the current CAS Mix Up challenge, to use tissue paper on your card. I did watch the first minute or so of Loll's video on watercolour tissue techniques, but really wanted to just play. So I found some tissue paper, grabbed a few watercolour powders, and ran with it. On some butcher paper, I tapped the powders then spritzed with water before laying the tissue paper on top. The translucency of the tissue allows you to see a bit of what you're doing, so I smushed the tissue around till it looked like I had good coverage. Of course, that meant my fingers had good coverage as well, as the colours soaked through the thin paper. Shouldn't watercolour come off with water? 😂 

Next I used a brayer to add a thin layer of gesso to some white cardstock and adhered my (now dry) tissue. I stamped and sparkle embossed my image then die cut it into the notebook shape. I also have the shoe as a slightly larger, stand-alone image, so stamped it randomly on the white matting layer. 
So all this is to remind you that the Naughty or Nice shoe challenge runs for another ten days! Whether it's naughty or nice, come and play along! 
(P.S. My other choices for CAS Mix Up are heat embossing and die cutting.) 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up basic grey cardstock, tissue paper, Riley & Co. PMS & Shoe stamps, Versafine onyx black & Memento London fog inks, Hero Arts clear sparkle embossing powder, Papertrey Ink notebook & MFT Blueprints 24 stitched rectangle die, Magenta Nuance berry, cerulean blue & wisteria watercolour powders, Claudia Helmuth white gesso, pop-dot tape

K is for Kids!

Today starts a new challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers... K IS FOR KIDS! Something for kids, something featuring kids... should be easy, right? So of course I struggled with this for a while, mostly because I wanted to incorporate at least a bit of snark. Then I found a photograph on The Graphics Fairy that could portray an ancestor of mine, and a small lightbulb went on...

Isn't she adorable? And believe me, I know just how she feels. I do have a sunburst stamp, but it looked too defined for the background, so I used some scrap paper and sponged a sunburst instead. In the process, I got a smear of some other colour on the left edge of what I'd planned to use as the full background. So, I cut a bit off, added some heat-loving patterned paper, and a fancier card design was born. 
Our latest Queen of Snark and Guest Designer is Donna — you'll want to see what she and my snarky sisters have dreamed up for our latest challenge. Hope you will come and join in on the snarky fun! 

Supplies: white, yellow & Stampin' Up very vanilla & more mustard cardstock, Stampin' Up (I think) patterned paper, Graphics Fairy image, Memento dandelion ink, Lil' Inkers stitched sunshine & cloud dies

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Surprise Party Guest at Seize the Birthday!

I don't have to keep it a secret any more... I'm the Surprise Party Guest at Seize the Birthday for July and August! If you aren't familiar with this, Seize the Birthday is a bi-monthly challenge where it's all about birthday cards. There is an optional "toppings" challenge, but as long as your project is birthday-related, it's worthy of entry! It's a great way to keep your stash stocked with birthday cards and crafts. 

Today is the start of a new challenge, and the topping is "RED, WHITE AND YOU" — the third colour is your choice! 

Do you ever overthink something that should be really simple? Sigh. White and black are rarely included in colour challenges... they are usually considered neutrals and don't count towards the colours used. But here white is named. Does that mean if I used black, that would be my third colour? If I chose, say, blue, did that exclude stamping something in go-to black ink? Sure, I could have asked Nancy, the challenge CEO, but where's the fun in that? My final decision... grey is my colour of choice. 

Grey also let me ink and colour my kitty in my default Duncan the cat colours. ;) He is popped up on a stitched square of polka dot patterned paper liberated from a valentine-themed paper pad, and then on a stitched white rectangle. I used the same grey ink to stamp and emboss the two sentiments. Finally, a grey card base to finish my clean, simple and three-colour card. Birthday and CAS makes this card perfect for the Happy Little Stampers July CAS challenge! And by going with my "grey is a neutral" theory, my predominantly red and white (O Canada!) colours are also eligible for Shopping Our Stash's Flag Day challenge. 
I'm looking forward to seeing what colours the regular party-goers (the design team) chose! You have two weeks to play along. Hope you will! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Memory Box dove grey card base, Echo Park Head Over Heels patterned paper, MFT I Knead You & Cool Cats stamps & dies, Versafine smoky grey ink, Ranger clear embossing powder, Spectrum Noir markers, MFT stitched square & Blueprints 24 dies, pop-dot tape

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If the Naughty or Nice Shoe Fits...

Hey! It's July! And that means a new Naughty or Nice challenge! 

How can you resist a challenge featuring shoes? Sometimes I feel like a bit of an outcast for not having a major thing for shoes. That did not stop me from making a shoe-centric card, of course:

A little summer shoe scene. To accommodate my three pairs of sandals, I made this card 6x3¾. I had already taken a photograph of my card when I decided it needed just a little more, and added the gems and die cut sun. It felt much more complete that way. 
Need more inspiration? The Troublemakers have lots of it, both naughty and nice, on the blog. You have until July 25th to join us! 

Happy Canada Day!!! 

Supplies: white, Stampin' Up basic black, real red & kraft & Bazzill textured green cardstock, Echo Park patterned paper, Unity/Jillibean Soup Watermelon Gazpacho stamp, Versafine onyx black ink, Ranger clear embossing powder, Lil' Inkers flip flop & small sunshine dies, MFT grassy edges die, Hero Arts clear gems