Happy Little Stampers: Watercolour

Let's welcome the end of January and the start of February with a new Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge! With an anything goes theme, all themes and styles are welcome. I used watercolour powders and markers for mine: 

I decided I wanted to use my Alice stamps for this card, and started by stamping, embossing and watercolouring this sitting Alice. Although it's a cupcake, not a teacup in her hand, as long as one knows the story she pairs well with the sentiment. (I pondered making more of a tea party scene, but it just wasn't in my cardmaking wheelhouse the day I made it. :D) For the background, I used two shimmery watercolour powders in pink and blue to go with my Alice. For the card base, I blended some pale blue ink around the edges before adhering my main panel. There is also the smallest possible dot of Glossy Accents on the cupcake's cherry. 

There are beautiful watercolour creations from my HLS teammates on the blog - hope you will be inspired to join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Canson & Ranger watercolour paper,  Miss Ink Tea Party stamps, Versafine onyx black & tumbled glass distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Zig watercolour markers, Cosmo Cricket pool & candy Pixie Paints, MFT wonky stitched rectangle die, Glossy Accents, foam tape

12 Kits of Occasions Guest Designer!

I'm honoured and excited to be joining some fabulous cardmakers at The 12 Kits of Occasions! My sweet friend Tracey is hosting this month, and asked a few lucky people to guest with her. The photo above shows the fun kit of goodies she sent out to everyone - the theme is "A New Year of Birthdays". In all these years of crafting, I've only bought card kits a couple of times - and never actually used them as a kit, instead mixing various components with other items from my stash. I had no idea how much fun it was to take the elements of a kit and see what I could come up with! 

My first card is all kit apart from the card base: 

This card highlights one of the patterned papers from Vicky Boutin's Let's Wander pad that Tracey included. No coincidence that the balloons she sent coordinate perfectly! I used some of the twine in the package for my balloon strings, then added the banner Happy Birthday sentiment. 

My second card has a few blingy elements added to the supplies: 

These die cut pinwheels from The Greetery are amazing! I picked two that coordinated with another paper from the kit, and layered the big Let's Party sentiment over top with some foam tape. For a little extra zip to the sentiment, I went over it with a Wink of Stella pen, for shimmer you can't see in photographs. ;) I also added a bit of holographic washi tape and some bling from my own supplies. 

Next up is a two-for-one card! 

Another kit element is this Big Birthday Wishes sentiment from My Favorite Things. I picked a polka dot stencil and mowed lawn distress ink to add a design to the entire panel. I used the outside of the panel to line up my letters on the patterned paper of the first card, then applied the panel itself to a white card base. Simple! 

I was surprised that it took me until this, my fifth and final card, to do any colouring! 

I coloured this image from MFT's All the Cupcakes thinking I would use it on another of the patterned papers Tracey included. Once I had it coloured though, I didn't really like how it disappeared on the papers, so reached deeeeep into my stash for this card base and the die cut vellum heart.  

Five cards, and I still have lots of kit left to play with - thank you, Tracey, for designing such a fun kit with so many possibilities! If you visit The 12 Kits of Occasions site, you will find a list of everything included in this month's kit, and see the creative makes from the regular design team as well as Tracey's guests. Thanks for making it through this long post! ;) 

The Sisterhood of Glittery Stampers

Welcome to my second post today, this time for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers and our newest challenge, G is for Glitter! I barely have the glitter from Christmas crafting cleaned up, and now this? :D Thank goodness for relatively mess-free glitter paste and embossing powder...

For my background, I used a martini glass stencil as well as a circle mask, and blended red, yellow and blue inks before adding a layer of glitter paste over top. While that dried, I stamped the martini glass and heat-embossed it with glitter powder. For the sentiment, I layered a Tim Holtz snarky sentiment sticker on cardstock I coloured with yellow ink. I used the same yellow ink to colour-coordinate my card base. I'm adding this card to the January stencil challenge at STAMPlorations.

You will love the many different ways my sisters in snark have interpreted this glitter challenge! We also have a card from our current Queen of Snark and guest designer, Michelle. Throw that glitter around like confetti and join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, MFT Martini Time stamp & die, Catherine Pooler tiara & candied apple, squeezed lemonade & blueprint sketch distress ink, Wow clear sparkle embossing powder, Nuvo moonstone glimmer paste, Picket fence martini glasses & ARTplorations circles flexi template stencils, MFT wonky stitched rectangle die, Tim Holtz snarky small talk sticker

Inkspirational: Photo

Happy Saturday, and welcome to a new challenge at Inkspirational! Today we have this fun photo to inspire you. Lots of elements to choose from! I almost went Christmas with this - teal and purple is a favourite non-traditional colour pairing, but then decided to go with the fashion elements of the photo instead:

I'm using a new-to-me stamp set for the dress, and stamped it on some patterned paper with colours more or less in keeping with the photo. For the background panel, I ink-smooshed some bristol in two colours of distress ink. The hanger is embossed in silver. As a nod to the snow in the picture, I bordered my panel in some blue snowflake patterned paper. I also added some die cut stitching in honour of the funky shoes. I debated adding some bling, but in the end decided to leave it as is. I'm adding this card to Simon Says Stamp's current Wednesday challenge, Make Your Own Background, and the current Time Out challenge, YOU. I'm hoping they are accepting aspirational you cards. ;) Not sure the pandemic is encouraging me to be classy and fabulous. :D 

Can't wait to see what will inspire you from this photo! Don't forget to visit the Ink blog to see all the different ways my teammates interpreted this prompt. 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Koh-In-Oor bristol, Doodlebug Design Frosty Friends patterned paper, STAMPlorations Party Dresses & Unity Undeniably You stamps, Versamark, Versafine onyx black, Simon Says Stamp extreme black & salty ocean & seedless preserves ink, MFT Blueprints 24 stitched rectangular die

Seize the Birthday: Transparency or Vellum

It's a Seize the Birthday Thursday! Our newest topping is TRANSPARENCY or VELLUM. Vellum would be my definite first choice, so I decided to challenge myself with going transparent and making a shaker card!!! 

If you've never been here before... I do not like making shaker cards. Love seeing other people's, it's just not my thing. So here is my annual shaker card for 2021! (I think I managed to making skip one in 2020... after all, it's the pandemic, don't you know...) This sentiment die cut is perfect for a shaker, isn't it? I die cut it out of purple textured cardstock - I made my shaker mix selection first, then found the paper that would work. ;) To make the shaker element, I cut a slightly larger circle out of some white fun foam and trimmed the panel to just under card size. Behind the shaker, I aded some subtle star patterned paper, since my shaker mix includes stars, too. Since the fun foam adds thickness to the card, I didn't want to add too much extra to the front, so there is just an embossed secondary sentiment. Look how well the two cardstocks match, though! :D 

Lots of fun inspiration from my Seize the Birthday teammates as well as our current surprise party guest, Julie! Even if, like me, you don't like making making shaker cards, you will find a variety of inspiration for your own creation! And of course, we are always happy to see any newly-created birthday card in our link-up, so come join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white, American Crafts textured purple & scrap purple cardstock, Studio Calico patterned paper, acetate, Hero Arts Family & Friends stamp, Versamark ink, Wow white embossing powder, MFT Birthday Centrepieces & Spellbinders circle dies, Little Things from Lucy's Cards Heather sequin mix, white fun foam

Addicted to Stamps and More: Christmas

It's time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More! Today we start with one of our new-for-2021 challenges: Christmas! This means you will see me with even more Christmas cards throughout the year. :D 

The nice thing about making Christmas cards early is that you have lots of time to make whatever you want: 

 

I love Concord & 9th's turnabout stamps, but they need precision, and I don't always bring that to the craft table. So I was really pleased when this one came out close (enough) to perfect. I didn't want to lose too much of my hard-stamped background, so foiled a large sentiment on black cardstock so it would pop against the colours. I added a thin black mat to pull it all together. 

Lots of Christmas-in-January inspiration from my ATSM teammates!Why not start that festive card stash early and join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Recollections black cardstock, Concord & 9th Deck the Halls turnabout stamp, Catherine Pooler rockin' red, stone blue, sauna & Stampin' Up garden green ink, Picket Fence Merry Christmas foiling die, Crafter's Companion gold foil, MFT Blueprints 29 stitched rectangle die

Color Hues: Navy and Cream

Happy Saturday! Look at that, we're onto the second half of the first month of 2021. At least that means it's time for a new Color Hues challenge! We are asking you to use the colours NAVY and CREAM. I thought these hues would make for a classy sympathy card:

While hoping not to need it for a long time, it is always good to have a few of these on hand should the need arise. I pulled out an older floral set and stamped it off the edge of my cream panel. The navy mat is blended with the same ink for a perfect match. The rounded corners are about as fancy as this gets - I always think the simpler, the better for this type of card. 

My Color Hues teammates, and our current guest designer Julie, have covered a range of occasions with their beautiful cards in navy and cream! I hope you will come and join the gallery with your own navy and cream creation. 

Supplies: Stampin' Up very vanilla & Neenah white cardstock, Stampin' Up Elements of Style  & Unity Tulips & Daisies stamps, Catherine Pooler juniper mist ink, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch

Snarky Artist Trading Cards

Welcome back to the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers! After a four week break, we are back with our first challenge of 2021: A is for ATC! If you're not familiar with ATCs, the acronym stands for Artist Trading Card (or Coin), and are little pieces of your art! Lee's graphic is an excellent primer on them.

For me, ATCs are a great way to use up bits and pieces from my stash. This is the way I approach them:

1. Pick a theme.

2. Find backgrounds and other stash to use. 

3. Make some ATCs!

For my theme, I decided on adult beverages, perfect for the ongoing pandemic. ;) Here they are: 

All the backgrounds and die cut pieces are from my stash. I did add some ink blending to the bottle and glasses on my first ATC, and of course had to emboss the wine glasses on the other wine-related one. Other than that, all I really had to do was add the appropriate sentiments! These were quick and fun to make. A closer look at each:

All kinds of fun ATC inspiration on the Snarky blog, from my sisters as well as our current Queen of Snark and guest designer Beverly!  Make a trading card or coin and join us! 

Inkspirational: Mask

It's time for the first Inkspirational challenge of 2021! We have a word prompt for you, and a most appropriate one, all things considered: MASK! So many ways to interpret this, as a noun or a verb. I went with the classic stamping version, and masked a scene:

Can you tell I'm a Doctor Who fan? ;) (And yep, that's a Sonic Screwdriver in the corner of my photo.) I didn't really get into it as a kid (I was totally committed to Star Trek), but since the reboot began, I am all in! (Tenth doctor, just in case you were wondering.) My great-nephew is also a young Who fan, so this card will be for him. Step one was to stamp and emboss the TARDIS, then I masked it, the full moon and the grass so I could blend a night sky. Using the other half of the grass mask, I sponged in some grass for the field the TARDIS has landed in. Taking the masks off, I coloured the TARDIS with Copics and gave a little shading with distress inks to the moon. I also used Prismacolor pencils to add some shading and shadows. The last step was to stamp and emboss the sentiment. 

My Inkspirational teammates have used this word prompt in a variety of imaginative ways, so be sure to check them out! How will you interpret the word MASK? 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Viva Las VegaStamps stamps, Versafine onyx black, Shaded lilac, wilted violet, blueprint sketch, faded jeans, chipped sapphire, mowed lawn,  evergreen bough & antique linen distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Prismacolor pencils. 

Seize the Birthday: Snowy Background

After a refreshing (okay, not really, it was December, after all) break, Seize the Birthday is back! Our first "topping", picked by teammate Barb, is ❆Snowy Background❆. I tend to keep snowflakes for Christmas cards, so this was a bit of a challenge for me. To make me feel better, I used a colour as far from Christmas as I could imagine: 

To go with having to use snowflakes for a non-Christmas theme... it's a one-layer card! I was obviously way thrown off my usual game by this whole snow thing. :D I die cut the snowflakes from masking paper and arranged them at the top of my card before blending peach-coloured ink over them. The sentiment is stamped in the same ink - and I didn't even heat-emboss it! Obviously some doppelgänger made this. LOL! 

Lots of wintry birthday inspiration from my Seize the Birthday teammates - and of course, we always welcome any birthday card in our link-up, so if snow isn't your thing (and honestly? It's not really mine)  join us anyway! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Sunny Studio Stamps Daffodil Dreams stamp, Catherine Pooler bellini ink, Tim Holtz/Sizzix mini paper snowflakes dies

Happy Little Stampers: Stencils!

Happy Little Stampers has added a STENCIL challenge for 2021, and I am part of the new design team! As long as you use a stencil, anything goes, so I thought I would create a card that's typically *me*: 

Clean and simple? Pretty much so. A little cheeky? Yep. :D The first step to this card was picking what colour I wanted to use and stencil martinis all over it. I am ready to leave the classic red and green of Christmas behind, blue seemed a little too traditional, so I picked this bright - I could say chartreuse? - green cardstock. Luckily for me, it's quite a nice match for twisted citron distress ink (more so than the photos would indicate), so used it to create the contents of my girly martini. (Lest you think I'm a complete philistine, I like my classic martinis with gin.) I also added the same sparkly paste to the rim of the glass. The black card base made the other elements really pop. 

There's a brand new design team for this brand new challenge, with brand new creations to inspire you! If you have a stencil and a bit of time, I hope you will join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white, Stampin' Up pear pizazz & Recollections black cardstock, MFT Martini Time stamp, MFT Let's Toast die, Picket Fence Studios Martini Glasses stencil, Nuvo moonstone glimmer paste, foam tape

ABC Christmas: A & B

We're almost a week into 2021, and I'm here with my first Christmas cards of the year, thanks to ABC Christmas Challenge! We are starting the year with A for Advent and B for Bells. 

There are many traditions and customs associated with Advent, and I, like many of my teammates, decided to focus on the colour purple/violet, traditionally associated with the season of Advent through liturgical vestments: 

I wanted to combine the colour with Christmas trees, but after several attempts that went nowhere, settled for just the colour. I used shaded lilac distress ink with a snowflake stencil, then added a thin layer of glimmer paste for sparkle and shine. I die cut the sentiment and sponged it with the same ink, spraying it with sparkle mist before backing it with vellum to let it stand out a little more. The card base is also coloured with the same ink. 

With B for Bells, I had a choice between traditional bells and jingle bells, and opted for a jingle bell: 

I really hope this sentiment has less of a pandemic vibe to it by the time Christmas 2021 rolls around! It and the bow are stamped in red and embossed with sparkle embossing powder, while the bell itself is embossed in silver. For the card base, I crossed my fingers, hoped for the best, and embossed a music background on the red TEXTURED card base. Fortunately, with a generous application of anti-static powder, I kept stray speckles to a minimum. Both cards are relatively flat for easy mailing come the season. 

My talented teammates have lots of Advent and Bell inspiration for you - and imagine how nice it will be to have such an early start on your 2021 holiday cards! 

Supplies: (merry & bright) Neenah white cardstock, vellum, shaded lilac distress ink, Uniko Let It Snow stencil, Dieversions Merry & Bright die, Nuvo moonstone glimmer paste, Tsukineko clear sparkle shimmer mist; (jingle on) Neenah white cardstock, Craft Smith textured red card base, A Jillian Vance Design Jingle All the Way & Market Street Stamps Vintage Music stamps, Versamark & Memento Luxe love letter ink, Hero Arts sparkle, Ranger silver & Wow white embossing powder