Happy Little Stampers Are... Happy!

Hooray for the beginning of May! It really is spring now where I live, and autumn has descended in the Happy Little Stampers' Australia home. As far as I'm concerned, the timing couldn't be better for our new challenge, with its optional theme of HAPPY!

It just so happened I needed a birthday card for my brother, who likes dogs (and cats, and goats, and donkeys...) and wanted it to be a happy birthday, of course, so here's what I came up with: 

How could you not feel happy looking at those crazy dogs! I stamped all three at the same time, watercolored each one with Zig markers, then trimmed them once they were dry to fit in the frames. While I have a couple of polaroid dies, neither of them were the right size, so I cut these to the size I wanted. At least I could use a square die for the inside. ;) As usual, I coloured first and then thought about patterned paper to mat them, but this one seemed to have the right colours and style for my trio. I used two different stamp sets to make my sentiment. I popped up the middle dog photo for a little dimension. 
I'll add my puppies to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday "anything goes" challenge. 

My teammates on the watercolour team have made cards that will make you smile - check them out and then join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Recollections black cardstock, Basic Grey True Love patterned paper, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Mini Crazy Cats & Dogs, Maya Road Picture Perfect Cameras & Paper Issues/Snarky Stamps Ahhhh Birthday stamps, Versafine onyx black & Simon Says Stamp intense black ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Zig markers, Nellie's Multiframes square die, foam tape

Seize the Birthday: Texture

April's almost over, but we do have time to fit in one more Seize the Birthday Thursday! 

Our (always optional) topping this time is TEXTURE. For my first card, I went with a classic way for adding some texture... an embossing folder: 

For all the music-related supplies I have, I don't make cards with them often enough. For this one, I started by making my little musical scene, stamping in black and embossing everything before adding a little colour with Copics. That helped me decide what colour cardstock to emboss with musical symbols. A kraft card base looked better than a white one, to my eyes. As it's the end of the month, Simon Says Stamp has an Anything Goes Wednesday challenge, and I'll enter my musical owl there. 

For a second card, I went with a faux-embossed look by using a cover plate die. 

This cover plate was inspired by a card my friend Ardyth made! I haven't adhered each and every petal down, and may go back and do that - but I'm undecided, I also like the way some are not completely flat. Thoughts? For the rest of the card, I used a hole punch to make a small flower centre and sponged it in yellow and orange, then used the same colours for my sentiment strip. Very clean and simple. 

We have one last card from our current surprise party guest, Tenia! She and the Seize the Birthday team have lots of interpretations of our topping theme this week, so be sure to visit. Hope you'll come and join us! 

Supplies: (musical owl) Neenah white & desert storm, Bazzill rust & Recollections black cardstock, Lawn Fawn Critter Concert stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Spellbinders Embossibilties Music embossing folder, MFT stitched rounded rectangle & Blueprints 24 dies, foam tape; (daisies) Neenah white cardstock, Clearly Besotted Message Me stamp, Versafine onyx black & Catherine Pooler tiara & tiki torch inks, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, A Jillian Vance Design Dancing Daisies cover plate die, hole punch

Nerdy Sisters

Happy long weekend Saturday! The Sisterhood of Snarky Sisters are here to inspire you to spend some time in your craft room this weekend...

N is for NERD! Nerdiness is in the eye of the beholder, of course - and can be considered a compliment or an insult, I suppose. I saw it as an excuse to use a couple of my Dickens books as photo props. 

This cat is from the Ink Road set Meow Mix, and while you can mix and match to create your own personalized cat, this one was ready-made, and just needed the glasses to perfect his already nerdy look. My sentiment came courtesy of Google, of course, and I found some vaguely techy-looking patterned paper to use as a mat. Although my stamp layering and embossing is minimal (clear and two layers of black for the glasses), I'm hoping this qualifies for the current challenge at CAS Mix Up challenge. (I used layered stamping, heat embossing, alcohol ink colouring, fussy cutting and die cutting.) 
The card above was actually the second card I made for the challenge - the one I made first perhaps better justifies my use of books for photo staging... 

I was originally going to use the sentiment "hot girls read", but then decided it would be more fun to use this image and sentiment instead. This card also gave me the opportunity to use some of this Lawn Fawn paper pad, which I had to have since it was book-related... but I don't particularly like the colours. For the younger ones in the crowd, the top paper represents drawers of a card catalogue, which was the pre-computer way of discovering books in a library. :D 
Now it's your turn! Come and see what my sisters in snark have created, as well as our current Queen of Snark and guest designer, Samantha! We'd love to see your nerdy creations. 

Supplies: (nerd?) Neenah white cardstock, Kaiser Craft Check In patterned paper, The Ink Road Meow Mix stamps, Versafine onyx black & smoky grey & Memento Luxe rhubarb stalk ink,, Wow clear gloss & Ranger detail black embossing powder, Copic markers, Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway dies; (hot chicks) Neenah white & Papertrey Ink smoky shadow cardstock, Lawn Fawn Dewey Decimal patterned paper, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Hipster & Papertrey Ink Library Card stamps, Simon Says Stamp intense black & Memento teal zeal ink, Copic markers, Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaways & MFT blueprints 29 dies, foam tape 

Anything Goes at Seize the Birthday!

Another Seize the Birthday Thursday, and time for another of our topping-free, ANYTHING GOES challenges - if it's a birthday card, we'd love to see it! Last time we had an anything goes challenge, I test-drove a Concord & 9th turnabout stamp for this card, and I thought it would be fun to use it again for today, but in a different way: 

This time I also used the coordinating dies for this stamp, adding blossoms in blue and leaves in green over the central stamped image. I also tucked a birthday sentiment flag under the leaves and let it overlap the matted panels to the edge of the card. 

I'm adding this to the current Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday challenge: spring flowers, as well as the regular Wednesday challenge: no designer paper. 

My Seize the Birthday teammates, as well as our surprise party guest, Tenia, have lots of birthday inspiration - hope you'll come and join the party! 

Supplies: Neenah white & various coloured cardstock, American Crafts black glitter paper, Concord & 9th Everyday Bouquet Turnabout & Clearly Besotted Many Mini Messages stamps, Versafine onyx black, Memento bamboo leaves & Altenew blush, Caribbean sky & midnight violet inks, Wow clear embossing powder, Concord & 9th Everyday Bouquet, Sugar Pea Designs Card Front Element Builder & (?) stitched sentiment die

Karma at the Sisterhood

Yes, KARMA has finally caught up with us at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - or at least Karma Chameleon has, if Edna is to be believed. Either way, we are looking for your creative take on karma! If I had a lizard stamp, I might have even tried to go Edna's route, but as I don't, I chose to make a card illustrating karma in action: 

At first I thought this sentiment, if it really happened, might be fun... but then I considered that though we may not always like them, if all politicians were, um, incinerated, world anarchy would likely ensue. 😜 To provide the visual for my sentiment (Tim Holtz snarky sentiment stickers are very handy) I combined a jeans stamp with the flame from a rocket stamp - and yes, more masking than I usually like to consider was involved. Consequently, I kept the rest of the card design relatively simple. 

You will love the various interpretations of karma as designed by my sisters in snark, and this week's guest designer, Queen Stephanie! Generate some good karma with us and come and play along!

Supplies: Neenah white & various orange cardstock, Stampin' Up Patterned Occasions & Hero Arts Rocket Thanks stamps, MFT extreme black & blueberry inks, Copic markers, Paper Smooches bam bubble & Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway dies, Tim Holtz/Ideology Small Talk Snarky sentiment sticker

ABC Christmas Challenge: H & I

The first Wednesday of the month brings with it a new instalment of the ABC Christmas Challenge! This month the letters H and I are taking the spotlight: H for "hang it up" and I for "intricate". 
I decided to hang a couple of stockings...

This is one of those stamp sets I had to have (possibly because there was a cat...), and yet don't use very often. I started by watercoloring the cozy fire and the firebox behind it (yes, I looked that up), then added a screen over it with a background stamp. While that dried, I stamped and embossed the exterior of the fireplace and painted the bricks and the hearth. I thought the mantle would look good in white, but it was a little stark, so I toned it down with warm grey Copic markers. The stockings have white puff embossing powder on their cuffs, and on the heel and toe of the red one as well. 

By the time I put everything together and finished the first card, it was all feeling pretty intricate to me, but I knew I wanted a second card that would qualify for the current Christmas Kickstart challenge, delectable die cuts. Besides, isn't the idea to have as many cards ready as possible before the Christmas rush? ;)

It was actually quite fun to mix and match the pieces of this intricate snowflake die until I had a combination I liked. The sentiment is embossed in silver to go with the top snowflake layer of silver glitter paper - and the reason for taking the photo on this funny angle, as it wanted to look dull grey otherwise. I dry embossed the back panel to make everything just that bit more intricate. 

My teammates have created inspiring projects for these two prompts, so be sure to visit the challenge blog - and then join us! 

Supplies: (hang it up) Neenah white & desert storm & Stampin' Up naturals white & basic black cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Stampin' Up Festive Fireplace & Hero Arts Envelope Pattern stamps, Versafine onyx black & Colorbox grey whale inks, Wow clear & white puff embossing powder, Gansai Tambi watercolours, Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway die; (intricate) assorted cardstock, Studio Calico Very Merry stamp, Versamark ink, Ranger ultra fine silver embossing powder, Birch Press Design Issa snowflake die, PTI (?) snowflake impression plate

Have a Jawsome Day

I'm starting April with a card for three challenges - MFT Stamps Sketch Challenge, the challenge to use ombré at Addicted to CAS and the Anything Goes Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp -  this last one wasn't too hard to mix in with the other two. ;) Here's the inspiration sketch: 

And here's where it led me: 

The horizontal strip seemed perfect for a little bit of ombré ink blending. And since I'd been waiting for an opportunity to use this fun Beach Buds set, I went with ocean colours. The sea critters are coloured with Copics - a little blue added to the greys of the shark, and a little grey added to the green and mauve of the shellfish. Anything stamped is heat embossed of course... it's what I do. :D 

Hope you're having, if not jawsome, at least an awesome day! 

     

Supplies: Neenah white & Stampin' Up bashful blue cardstock, MFT Beach Buds stamps & dies, Versafine onyx black & broken china, salty ocean & mermaid lagoon distress inks, Wow clear embossing powder, Copic markers, Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway die, foam tape