The Party's Almost Over...

A sad day! My last *dance* as a surprise party guest at Seize the Birthday challenge. (I'm not even going to talk about the cooler weather, the fact it's the last day of August...) For this last guest post, Nancy came up with quite the optional challenge, for me at least! 

The optional toppings this time around are colours... blue, green and teal. And yes, the toppings are always optional, but what kind of party guest would I be if I didn't partake of the toppings! Now blue I like, green is okay in its place... and I wasn't sure I was even going to be able to come up with anything teal. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the dominant colour of the three! 

Here it is, my little teal sailboat sailing on an ocean of blue and green bubbles. Even better, after I'd coloured the hull of my boat, it turned out I had cardstock that was an exact match! I cut my sentiment panel to look a little like a sailing pennant. (My husb won a few local sailing regattas back in the day, so I know what they look like...) 
The latest Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge is the classic Anything Goes, so I'll add my little boat there. 
Maybe you like this colour combination more than I do, or maybe you feel like a challenge! Either way, you have two weeks to join us. 

    

Supplies: white & Bazzill Basics textured teal cardstock, Neat & Tangled Sailmates & Clearly Besotted Say What stamps, Versamark & MFT black licorice inks, Wow white embossing powder, Spectrum Noir & Zig clean colour real brush markers, Heidi Swap Confetti stencil, Dreamweavers translucent embossing paste, MFT sonny stitched rectangle die, pop dot tape

Pin It Now!

Double the Fun with Penguins

Two cards for two challenges, both with penguins! First up, my final card inspired by Cornelia for Muse: ChristmasVisions:

I just had the lower right card left...

I was inspired by the penguins, obviously, but also by that cool geodesic background image. The closest I could get to that was this geometric tree. I sponged an Antarctic sky then added the tree, some presents, a sentiment and my penguin pair. 
Next, I have a card inspired by the latest Muse challenge, where my friend Tracey has the inspiration card this week: 

I needed a teenaged boy birthday card, and was at a bit of a loss till I saw Tracey's card. Inspired by the clean design, a fun animal, the sponged background, and the sentiment banner, I ended up with this: 

Coincidentally, the penguin belongs to Muse CEO Ardyth, and I stamped it at a crafty get-together last year. (I need this set, but for now, I just borrow...) I decided to add a sandy base to the sponged background. Like Tracey, I added a white on black sentiment to complete the card. 
I may not be done with being inspired by the quartet of cards that Cornelia made, but at least I achieved my goal of getting all four done! 

Supplies: (happy holidays) white & blue metallic DCWV cardstock, Memory Box grey card base, Lawn Fawn Toboggan Together & Winter Penguin stamps & dies,Versamark, MFT black licorice & spun sugar, milled lavender, tumbled glass & mermaid lagoon distress inks, Hero Arts white embossing powder, Copic & Spectrum Noir markers, Essentials by Ellen Geo Tree dies, Wink of Stella clear glitter marker, foam tape; (happy birthday) white, black & blue cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, MFT Penguins in Paradise & Neat & Tangled Gifts for You stamps, Versamark, MFT black licorice & antique linen & tumbled glass distress inks, Wow white embossing powder, Copic & Spectrum Noir markers, Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway dies, foam tape

Pin It Now!

Weddings... and Yet Not

It's time for a new challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: W is for WEDDINGS! 

And yet, all is not as it seems. What we're REALLY looking for is a card that follows the tradition of an old English wedding rhyme: 

Something old, something new,

Something borrowed, something blue.

Many of the sisters chose to make wedding-themed cards that also adhered to the rhyme. I decided to provide the contrast, although theoretically, this could be an anniversary card for a spouse...

Let me itemize the challenge requirements:
OLD: my bird stamp and die, Zigs to colour him, my white and black cardstock & watercolour paper, the speech bubble die, all the inks
NEW: the sentiment (new being relative, I've had this set less than two months ;)
BORROWED: (from Emily, my stamping playdate partner) the stars die to emboss the background, the two frames
BLUE: the bird and one frame
My speech bubble sentiment qualifies this for Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge, Add a Sentiment. 
This is a great challenge to stretch your supplies, using up some old or borrowed bits! Hope you'll come and play along with us. Before you do, be sure to check out what my sisters in snark have created, as well as our latest Queen of Snark, Ike! 

Supplies: white, black, blue, yellow & Neenah linen cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Bird Crazy stamp & die, Technique Tuesday You're Not Normal stamp, MFT black licorice ink, Zig clean colour real brush markers, Neat & Tangled seeing stars, Paper Smooches word bubbles & (?) frame dies, foam tape

Pin It Now!

Muse Christmas Card No. 3

After a brief hiatus to participate in real life, I had a chance to make a third card for the current Muse: ChristmasVisions challenge. There are four cards to be inspired by, and I still have high hopes of completing my own versions of all four. 

This time I'm being inspired by the wreath card on the bottom left. I liked the more-than-just-evergreen look. I thought about tracing a circle and creating my own, but then remembered a stamp that would do the job for me. 😉

I have kept the general design of Cornelia's card, as well as the wreath and its colours as the main image, but from there I went off on my own. I started with a sponged background panel, splatted with some DUI perfect pearls mist for sparkle and shine. From there I coloured my embossed image with Twinkling H2Os — more sparkle and shine! The bow is painted with champagne paint. Finally, the sentiment is embossed with the same powder as the wreath. 

I just have the penguin card left to CASE! And I like penguins...

Supplies: Bazzill marshmallow, Neenah white & Recollections green metallic cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Essentials by Ellen Homespun Holiday stamp & die, Simon Says Stamp Big Holiday Wishes stamp, Versamark & tumbled glass distress inks, Stampendous moonstone embossing powder, white confetti Perfect Pearls mist, Twinkling H2Os, Tsukineko champagne all-purpose ink, Winnie & Walter Katharine frame die, pop-dot tape

Pin It Now!

Anything Goes at Seize the Birthday

 

I'm playing along at the Seize the Birthday party again! And this week is a straight up Anything Goes challenge... any birthday-themed card will do! (Actually, that's always true! But there's not even an optional topping this week.) 

My mother-in-law's 95th birthday is in just a few days! So I used the challenge to make a birthday card that will go to her. 

My mother-in-law is a cryptic crossword pro, still works on them regularly, and taught me the arcane art of solving them as well. So I bought this crossword sentiment set a couple of years ago with her in mind. About time I used it! While I totally understand why, it's unfortunate the "happy" is so low on the grid, so I emphasized it by stamping it again on my mauve cardstock and paper-piecing it. I thought my embossing folder was suitably grid-like. The flower is not my usual style of embellishment, but it seemed just the right way to finish this. 
CAS on Friday (which used to be CAS on Sunday) is having a birthday challenge at the moment, so I will enter this there. And since it's definitely front and centre, I'll also play along with the "Add a Sentiment" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp. 
You can always use a birthday card or two, so why not come and join the party! 

Supplies: white & mauve cardstock, Stampin' Up Cross My Heart & Unity Giving It All Meaning stamps, Versafine onyx black & Altenew lavender fields inks, Ranger clear & Hero Arts clear sparkle embossing powders, Spellbinders grid embossing folder, Maya Road velvet flower, fun foam

SaveSave Pin It Now!

On the Move Reminder

Mid-month (wait, what?) means it's Naughty or Nice Challenges reminder time! This month we are ON THE MOVE with an optional colour challenge. I didn't manage the colours this time, but at least the theme is there! 

I missed out on the "naughty" aspect this time, as well. Oops. As I was deciding what to make to fit the theme, I remembered this origami map stamp, and had a thought... watercolour powder! The other times I'd used this stamp, powders had not yet become a THING. After stamping and embossing in white on watercolour paper, I wet the continents one or two at a time before carefully sprinkling green powder on. I like the mottled mappy look using the powder gives! I decided that trying to do the same with the oceans might be a mess in the making, so I used distress ink (salty ocean, of course) to watercolour instead. Shockingly, I found some patterned paper that worked with the green. That, an accent of black, and an embossed sentiment finished the card. 

Why not come and join us with your naughty or nice creation? You have until August 25th to join us. 

Supplies: white & black cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Basic Grey Oxford patterned paper, Neat & Tangled Origami Map stamps, Versamark & salty ocean distress ink, Hero Arts white embossing powder, Magenta Nuance green watercolour powder, fun foam

Pin It Now!

Christmas Card No. 2!

Once I start making Christmas cards, I can find it hard to stop. :P So I went back to this month's Muse: ChristmasVisions for more inspiration. 

This time I'm using Cornelia's upper-left card as my inspiration. The easy part of the inspiration.. I have a very similar sentiment! And while my initial thought was to also go with cookie-themed images, I just didn't seem to have anything that worked for me. So thematically, my images went in an entirely different direction: 

This bear seemed to have just the right "huh, how did THAT happen" look on his face to go with the sentiment. Please ignore my very rudimentary Copic colouring, I'm new to these markers, and have few colours and little skill. :D What I did have was patterned paper that matched his sweater to complete this clean and simple card. 
I'm also entering this into the current CAS Mix Up challenge, since I've used alcohol markers, stamping, patterned paper, glitter markers and Stickles. 

Supplies: white cardstock, Doodlebug Frosty Friends patterned paper, MFT Cool Day & Riley & Co. Funnybones stamps, MFT black licorice & Stampin' Up real red inks, Copic markers, frosted lace Stickles, clear & black Wink of Stella markers, fun foam

Pin It Now!

Musing and Shopping My Christmas Stash

It's an August long weekend here (with the exciting name of Civic Holiday) and I had time to play today! I decided I would let this month's Muse: ChristmasVisions kickstart my holiday cardmaking. There are four cards to be inspired by! 

And coincidentally, Shopping Our Stash decided to bypass the Christmas in July challenge frenzy and have a Countdown to Christmas challenge this week. Inspired by the top right card, I went deep into my stash and came up with this:

I've had this stamp set for years, but have never used the big head before. Instead of ornaments hanging from his antlers, I gave him a fuzzy red nose — and those teeny pompoms have been around since my teaching days, which is a while ago. I echoed Cornelia's striped side panel with some thin washi tape. 
My plan is to CASE all four Muse cards this month... we'll see what happens. ;) 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Simon Says Stamp/Kelly Purkey Oh Dear & WPlus9 Simply Sentiments 6 stamps, Colorbox frost white & Versamark inks, Hero Arts white embossing powder, Little B thin silver stripes washi tape, (?) small pompom

Pin It Now!

Sisterhood of Furry Stampers!

And here we are in August! So while shorts and t-shirts may be the current fashion where I live, Edna is luxuriating in furs for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers M is for Mink challenge! Don't worry, we aren't really asking you to put fur on your card, just a furry creature of some sort! I went for a bear:

This may look all cute and cuddly, but there is secret snark! The card is for a friend who has a mama black bear and her cubs living in the bush between her and her neighbour's houses. I was quite happy with the background for the bear, which turned out almost the way I pictured it! Definitely doesn't always happen. :P 
I'm adding this to the current Anything Goes challenge at Muse.
Be sure to check out the other furry creatures on display on the Snarky Stampers blog! I hope you'll come and join us. 

Supplies: white, Spectrum Noir & PTI grey cardstock, Essentials by Ellen All Inside stamps & dies, Gina K Designs Tropical Flowers & Stampin' Up Cross My Heart stamps, MFT black licorice, Memento cottage ivy & tumbled glass, antique linen & mowed lawn distress inks, Spectrum Noir markers, MFT cloud stencil, Paper Smooches Word Bubbles die, pop-dot tape

SaveSave Pin It Now!

Seize the Birthday — Tie One On!

I'm back again playing along with the talented crew at Seize the Birthday! The new (always optional) *topping* option is called TIE ONE ON — use ribbon or something similar on your project! 

It seems like ages since I've used ribbon on a card... twine yes, but not classic ribbon. That's not to say I don't have a drawer full of it. ;) So I decided I would take the challenge and use some ribbon. 

I also used the sketch from the MFT sketch challenge, which of course has ended already. It was fun to use a mix of patterned paper, ribbon, die cuts, and of course this cute little kitty face. I couldn't resist putting him on the inside, as well: 

Since my friend Ardyth was courageous enough to open her Muse challenge up to Anything Goes, I'll add this to her link up. 
Ribbon or not, I hope you'll come and play along! 

Supplies: white and blue cardstock, American Crafts Amy Tangerine Sketchbook patterned paper, MFT Cool Cat, I Knead You & Cat-itude stamps & dies, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & Memento London fog inks, Ranger clear & Wow white embossing powders, Spectrum Noir markers, MFT Precious Polaroids die, Michaels ribbon, pop-dot tape

SaveSave Pin It Now!

On the Move at Naughty or Nice!

It's August! And where I live, July felt more like, um, April most days, so here's hoping for some lazy later summer days. August means vacation time for lots of people, so with that in mind, Naughty or Nice introduces its latest challenge: On the Move! 

Travel, moving, transitioning to something new... all these are possibilities. We've added an optional colour challenge, too — and for me, these colours are definitely challenging! With some liberal interpretation, I managed to incorporate them in my card:

The world map implies travel, while the sentiment makes this a good card for an engagement or marriage, so I've got the theme covered as well as (sort of) the colours. I suppose if I wanted this to lean more to the *naughty* side, it would make a fine just-divorced card, too. ;) 
The Troublemakers have many other travel-themed creations to inspire you! You have until August 25th to join us. 

Supplies: Stampin' Up very vanilla & Bazzill Basics textured olive cardstock, October Afternoon Boarding Pass patterned paper, Unity Direction of Your Heart stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Ranger clear embossing powder, Spellbinders circle dies 

Pin It Now!