It is my turn on the Scrap 'n Stamp blog today, for today's Random Acts of Cardness challenge prompt: OUTDOORS. I also couldn't resist adding another Christmas in July card to my stash. I hope you will visit the SnS blog to see the full card!
Monday, July 26, 2021
Saturday, July 24, 2021
The Sisterhood of Colourful Stampers
The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is here to wish you a very COLOURFUL Saturday with our latest challenge! I am thrilled that Lee, in making our graphic, gave a nod to her Canadian teammates with the badge spelling. Here is my rainbow take on our new theme:
Apologies for this first photo - it was taken on a thunderstormy day! You'll see a better representation of the colours in my close-up below. (Sad to say, I didn't realize how bad this one was until I went to write the post.) Anyway - this is my first time using this fun alphabet die set from Concord & 9th! The funky font is fun, and as you can see, can easily use up the majority of a card front. I made sure I left room for a bit of snark with the secondary sentiment. Since it comes from an older Hero Arts set, I'm adding this to the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp challenge, Out With the Old and In With the New.
So much colourful inspiration from my sisters in snark and our latest guest designer, Queen Stef! Hope you're feeling colourful and will join us!
Supplies: Neenah white, Memory box blue & assorted scraps of cardstock, Hero Arts Irreverent Birthday stamp, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Concord & 9th Tall Type & Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaways pierced rectangle die
Inkspirational: Spots/Dots
It's time for a new Inkspirational challenge, and my sweet friend and teammate Carol has chosen SPOTS/DOTS! In an unusual move for me, I went very... pink with my card:
I have a bunch of this pink polka dot paper, so of course it came immediately to mind when I saw our theme. To let the dots shine, I stamped just this big birthday sentiment in black with black sparkle embossing powder. For the secondary sentiment, I used the reverse side of the paper - a lighter pink with blocks of text. I found a text-free space that was just the right size for the fishtail banner sentiment. I have also discovered the joy of using polka dot paper to help "randomize" the placement of sequins!
You'll be seeing spots over at the Inkspirational blog, with lots of ideas to get you started on your own dotty card! ;)
Supplies: American Crafts pink textured & Concord & 9th graphite glitter cardstock, Dear Lizzy Lucky You patterned paper, Studio Katia It's Your Birthday stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Ranger black sparkle embossing powder, Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins
Thursday, July 22, 2021
Seize the Birthday: Travel
It's time for a new Seize the Birthday challenge! If you know my teammate Glenda even a little bit, you will not be surprised to find out she was the one who has picked our new challenge topping: TRAVEL! Of course, we are happy to see any and all birthday cards in our gallery, travel-related or not. Here's mine:
I had this great Paper Smooches bicycle already die cut and in my stash, so I built my card around that. To emphasize the travel theme, I paired it with some fun map patterned paper. To ground the bike, I used a die cut strip of winding road. I thought the dashed scoring under the sentiment echoed it nicely. No stamping! Rare for me, but occasionally it just works. With that in mind, I'm entering this in the July Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge.
Now it's over to you! For lots more inspiration, be sure to visit the StB blog to see the beautiful cards made by my teammates and our current surprise party guest, Melanie! You have until Tuesday, August 3rd to join us.
Supplies: Neenah white & Stampin' Up real razzleberry cardstock, Teresa Collins Far and Away patterned paper, Paper Smooches bicycle, Technique Tuesday cars on the road & Creative Expressions borderline happy birthday dies
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and Stencils
It's time for some die cuts and stencils at Addicted to Stamps and More! And while you can use one or the other, I managed to combine both on my card:
I also decided to go with the flow and make a Christmas in July card. This poor little penguin has never been through my die cutter before! I cut both parts of him out of white cardstock, so I could colour the head/flippers with Copics and add a little shading. I also Copic-coloured the teeny eyes and beak. I cut the background from a leftover piece of smooshed/plastic-wrap-dried watercolour paper and spritzed it with sparkle mist before framing it. On the blue cardstock panel, I added some stencilled snowflakes. All that was left was to add a sentiment and a few Nuvo drops!
I am adding my card to a couple of challenges: Addicted to CAS has the code word Geometric, and my little penguin qualifies for Darnell's July NBUS challenge.
My ATSM teammates have used stencils and dies in a variety of fun and creative ways - be sure to check them out to be inspired!
Supplies: Neenah white, Memory Box blue & Sizzix brushed gold cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, MFT Chill Wishes stamp, Catherine Pooler juniper mist ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Memory Box happy penguin, Ellen Hutson essential hexagons & Winnie & Walter Catharine cutaway dies, Copic markers, Uniko Let It Snow stencil, Picket Fence snowdrop white embossing glaze, Tsukineko clear shimmer sparkle mist, Nuvo sea breeze jewel drops, foam tape
Friday, July 16, 2021
A Colourful Birthday Card for Scrap 'n Stamp!
It's my turn to be on the Scrap 'n Stamp blog today, with this colourful and sparkly take on a birthday card. I hope you'll click the link and take a closer look!
Colour Hues: Lime Green and Aqua
Welcome back for the mid-month Color Hues challenge! Today we have a fun colour pairing for you to try: lime green and aqua. As often happens when someone selects specific hues (versus, say, BLUE or GREEN), I had to attend a little mini-conference on what these colours might represent. Sessions included: if Wikipedia says aqua and cyan are the same, is that good enough for me? and lime green - so much brighter than a lime's rind. (I also attended the special break-out workshop: why is random stamping so hard?) All these helped me put my card together:
I began by stamping these flowers - in cyan! identical to aqua! - on my card panel. The centres are stamped in green (no named lime green pad in my collection) and sparkled with a marker. The Paper Hugs sentiment is coloured with the same ink, and sprayed with sparkle mist. It's layered on a black-inked die cut to give that little shadow effect. The card base is also sponged with green ink, so everything could be matchy-matchy.
Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Concord & 9th Filled in Florals stamps, Colorbox cyan, Catherine Pooler garden party & MFT extreme black ink, Simon Says Stamp Paper Hugs & Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway pierced rectangle frame die, Spectrum Noir clear glitter sparkle pen, Tsukineko clear shimmer spray, Studio Katia crystal clear confetti
Saturday, July 10, 2021
The Sisterhood of Exposed! Stampers
Welcome back to a new episode of "Where Has My Creativity Gone?", today featuring the newest Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge, X is for Xposed! Snarky sister Lee was obviously feeling inspired when she created this fabulous challenge badge, but I struggled with this one. Finally I gave up on the snarky part and just made a card:
I did manage to expose the inside of my card, stencil some exposed brick, and have an exposed fish skeleton, so at least the theme is represented. I chose this particular cat stamp set (I may have a few) specifically because of the window to the inside:
I love that you get to see the reverse side of the kitty from the inside. The card was relatively easy to put together - which is always a good thing when creativity seems to have gone walkabout. ;) After die cutting the circle from the front of the card, I added the stencilled brick in grey, and coloured the dreaming cat in similar shades. Added his fantasy fish to the thought bubble, stamped a couple of sentiments, and the card was done.
Luckily, my sisters were much more up for the challenge of being snarkily Xposed, as was our current Queen of Snark and guest designer, Granne! I hope you will decide to expose a project of your own to our link-up!
Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, MFT I Knead You stamps & dies, MFT Cat-itude stamp, Versamark onyx black, Catherine Pooler rouge & weathered wood distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz bricked stencil, Spellbinders circle die
Inkspirational: Photo
It's Saturday and time for a new Inkspirational challenge! We have this pretty picture for your inspiration. I decided to go with the greenhouse/growing/planting theme:
The stamps are all from an ancient Papertrey Ink set - they seemed ideal for the mood of the photo. To start, I stamped and embossed the seed package frame before masking the bottom half so I could add the leaves and flowers. The "green thumb" is added in the same green, while the main sentiment is stamped and embossed in the same red. After trimming and rounding the corners of the panel, I actually managed to find some patterned paper that picked up not only the colours but also the style of the stamped flowers. A kraft card base helps add to the slightly vintage feel of the card, as does the trowel. Maybe not the red. :D
My Ink teammates have been inspired in different ways by this photo, but all have made beautiful cards! Be sure to visit the Inkspirational blog to see what they have created. Hope you will join us!
Supplies: Neenah white & desert storm cardstock, (?) patterned paper, Papertrey Ink Garden Variety stamps, Versafine onyx black & Catherine Pooler rouge & garden party inks, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, MFT stitched rounded rectangle die, foam tape
Thursday, July 8, 2021
Seize the Birthday: Framed
It's time again for a Seize the Birthday Thursday! Our new optional topping, chosen by my teammate TaeEun, is FRAMED. I had in my stash what I thought would be a perfect birthday card frame, but if you aren't so lucky, we always love to see any birthday card added to our gallery.
Here's my card:
In the before times, I die cut this happy frame at my friend Emily's. I only had the one, so it was a little scary to do the heat embossing on it, but I wanted the balloon strings to carry onto the frame, and I also wanted the "happy" to match - it's double heat-embossed to really shine. For the balloons themselves, I coloured them then added a good coating of sparkle marker. For the birthday sentiment strip and the teal shadow panel, I just coloured with the same Copics so they would match. If you've been tuning in regularly this week ;) you may notice that little strip of patterned paper comes from one of the cards I posted yesterday - there it was on my table, saying, look at me, I match! I tried a few different card bases, but liked the frame popped up on this textured white one the best.
Beautifully framed cards by my StB teammates and our current surprise party guest, Melanie! Why not add a birthday card to your stash and join us?
Supplies: Neenah white & textured white American Crafts cardstock, Doodlebug Frosty & Friends patterned paper, MFT Balloon Bundle & Simon Says Stamp Happy stamps, Versamark ink, Ranger fine silver & Wow fine white opaque embossing powder, Copic markers, Catherine Pooler Instant Happy die, Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen, fun foam
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
ABC Christmas: N & O
Are you ready for more Christmas cards in July? The first Wednesday of the month brings with it the letters N and O for ABC Christmas Challenge! N is for North Pole:
I have a few stamp sets that include the words North Pole, and decided to choose this one with its cute bear images so I could make a little polar scene. How to confirm you have Copic markers that need refilling? Attempt to colour a fairly large area like my bear's sweater. :D I was able to smooth out the colour a bit with blue Prismacolor pencils. The smaller areas were much easier to colour. Then I masked off the signpost, bear and bottom of the panel so I could add the sky. Of course some Stickles were needed - and I emptied my bottle of icicle Stickles! I wasn't sure they ever actually ran out. ;) Luckily I was prepared with another bottle in reserve. I reach for it a lot for winter cards.
Our second prompt for July is O for Off to One Side:
I used a beautiful large die from Uniko to cut both a silver and blue snowflake. Taking a cue from the current Jingle Belles challenge, stars and/or stripes, I decided to back it with striped paper. I added a simple sentiment on another scrap of the blue cardstock. I guess I'm not just off to one side, but also off the edge!
Shopping Our Stash is holding a Christmas in July challenge, so I will link both cards there as well.
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Addicted to Stamps and More: Any Occasion
Addicted to Stamps and More is back with its Any Occasion challenge! I needed an anniversary card, so chose that for my occasion:
I'm using my Concord & 9th hearts turnabout again, but this time I used the die, too! After stamping and embossing the hearts once in red, I die cut a second round of hearts so I could have silver glitter paper peek through them. In the middle of the panel, I second-generation stamped a larger heart, then stamped and embossed my champagne glasses over top. I added lots of sparkle to the champagne with some liquid stardust. (So shimmery!) I also added a few xoxo sentiments in the spaces between the hearts.
Supplies: Neenah white & (?) silver glitter cardstock, Echo Park Head Over Heels patterned paper, Concord & 9th Hugs & Kisses stamps & die, PSA Essentials Love Birds stamp, Versamark onyx black & red satin ink, Wow clear sparkle glitter embossing powder, Lawn Fawn liquid stardust
Happy Little Stampers: Stencils
Are you ready for the July Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge? As always, it's Anything Goes as long as a stencil is used. I have a new stamp and stencil combo that I wanted to try, so here it is!
The stencil makes it easy to add colour to these flowers and leaves. I stamped and embossed two flowers and the leaves, then used the stencil to blend colour out from the centre of the flowers and from the bottom of the leaves. I used the same colours to add polka dots to the card base with a different stencil. I added an embossed sentiment before arranging my flowers and leaves and adhering them.
Show us your stencil cards! And be sure to visit the Happy Little Stampers blog for lots of inspiration.
Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Concord & 9th In Bloom stamps & stencils & Painted Rose stamp, Versafine onyx black & speckled egg & rustic wilderness distress inks, Heidi Swapp polka dot stencil, Wow clear gloss embossing powder
Friday, July 2, 2021
Christmas in July Blog Hop!
The first Friday in the month means it's time for a new Scrap 'n Stamp blog hop! Our theme is CHRISTMAS in JULY. Always a popular one for cardmakers, it seems! It is definitely worthwhile getting a start on holiday cardmaking before the busy festive season actually arrives. So I was more than happy to break out some Concord and 9th goodies and make this card:
I am using an older Concord & 9th turnabout stamp set for my background, but the store carries a newer one that I have to admit, I think I like even more! This was the first time I had tried stamping a turnabout right onto the base of my card, and I'm liking it! Since I also love to make Christmas tags, I decided to use one for my focal point - it leaves lots of the background visible, too. ;) Grabbing a tag from my bin-of-many, I stamped the Merry & Bright sentiment, then added the holly and berries die cuts. Some scrap ribbon and twine finished off the tag. I added a piece of fun foam to the back of the tag before adhering it to give a little extra dimension.
If these cards have inspired you, you might want to check out the Christmas in July sale at Scrap 'n Stamp, too! Have a great weekend.
Supplies: Neenah white, Gina K. kraft & scrap red & green cardstock, Concord & 9th Deck the Halls Turnabout stamp, Merry & Bright stamps & dies & Little Love Tags die, MFT biscotti & Catherine Pooler stone blue, melon ice & rockin' red ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, scrap ribbon & twine, fun foam
Happy Little Stampers: CAS
Welcome to the July edition of the Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge! Our theme for the month is Citrus and Zing. Perfect for summer! Here's my card:
This citrus stamp set, designed by my Seize the Birthday teammate Shirley, was an easy choice for the card. I stamped the citrus outline in a medium green, and then used a lighter green for the segments. There's another stamp for the rind, but a) I like the lighter look, and b) I don't like to push my luck with layering stamps. :D To keep the background from being too plain, I used a shiplap stamp with a third green to add a little extra interest. The sentiment is embossed in sparkly embossing powder. After adhering everything to a light green card base, I added a trio of green sequins to finish the card. I'm adding this to the STAMPlorations never-ending anything goes challenge.
Lots of zingy inspiration from my HLS teammates, so be sure to head over to the blog to see some beautiful cards!
Supplies: Neenah white & Hero Arts green layering cardstock, STAMPlorations Layered Citrus & Concord & 9th Shiplap Sentiments stamps, Versafine onyx black, Catherine Pooler new sprout & melon ice & Simon Says Stamp new leaf ink, Wow clear glitter embossing powder, Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway rectangle die, Neat & Tangled lime satin sequins