Day 10 of the Colouring Challenge!

It's Day 10 of Kathy Racoosin's current 10 Day Coloring Challenge, and while initially I had hoped to go out with a big, colourful flourish, the day turned out to be more of a clean and simple card day for me. So some on purpose not-blended colouring for my card: 

I hope this gives you a chuckle! I thought the mood of the card lent itself to more of this quick kind of colouring over a super-blended look. While I could have used googly eyes or Glossy Accents for his eyes, I used a couple of dew drop embellishments instead! 

I'm adding this to the current Time Out challenge: Pets. I've even got the optional colouring twist! ;) 

Hope you're having a great weekend! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Recollections black cardstock, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Snarky Cats & Impression Obsession sentiment stamp, MFT extreme black ink, Copic markers, Studio Katia clear drops

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Another Day of Colouring

Day 5 of Kathy Racoosin's latest 30 TEN day colouring challenge! Today I found another stamped image that I've had in my stash for a while, coloured it, and took the time to even make it into a card. 

This little spray of lavender is very pretty, but those little petals are... little! So I added little flicks of colour to them with three different shades of Copic marker, then filled in with a light mauve Prismacolor pencil. I was able to do a bit more shading on the stems and leaves. I offset layered my hello sentiment, giving the top one a coat of sparkle marker. I used the same cardstock to back the die cut aperture as a focus for the lavender. Along with my daily dose of colouring, I kept three challenges in mind - CASology, where the cue word is HELLO, Addicted to CAS with their code word FLOWER, and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge, which this week is CLEAN and SIMPLE. 

Halfway there!

Supplies: Neenah white & (?) mauve & purple cardstock, Technique Tuesday Lovely Lavender stamp, Memento tuxedo black ink, Copic markers, Prismacolor pencils, Little B Handwritten Sentiments & Studio Katia Elegant scallop oval dies, Spectrum Noir clear sparkle brush marker

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Colouring and Challenges

It's Day 4 of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 10 Day Challenge, and so far I'm keeping up! Today I had time to both colour an image and make a card to fit a few other challenges. Here's the card: 

I've had this Paper Smooches rose stamped for a long time, and today it finally got to see some colour added to it. I used both Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils. Although I added a few layers to the design, I think it still qualifies as a clean and simple card - it certainly did not take long to put together - so I'm adding this to The Paper Players Clean and Simple birthday, Addicted to CAS flower and Wednesday's Simon Says Stamp Clean and Simple Challenge. 

Stay safe and well! 

Supplies: Neenah white, Stampin' Up garden green & Bazzill red cardstock, Paper Smooches Rosy Posy & Clearly Besotted Sweet Little Sentiments stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear sparkle embossing powder, Copic markers, Prismacolor pencils, Pinkfresh Studio braided tag & MFT blueprints 24 banner dies, Studio Katia May crystals, foam tape

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Christmas in July

All over the cardmaking universe, it seems to be Christmas in July! And what better time to make Christmas cards than in the middle of a heatwave? So I gathered some supplies and a few challenges, and got to work. 
Both my cards are inspired by my friend Jo's Christmas Kickstart Challenge, where the current theme is Hatty Christmas. For my first card, I was also inspired by the current challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch: 

Although I turned the sketch and took a few other liberties, I think the inspiration is still clear. I love this pair of bears from Picket Fence Studios! Their little in-turned feet are so cute. The only drawback for me with this stamp is the bear cub's hat and scarf are solid, so if it's stamped in black, he's wearing a black Santa hat with a black scarf. This is where making Christmas cards in July is helpful: there's time to decide on a workaround. ;) For this card, I stamped the top half of the cub again in red so I could cut out the hat and scarf and paper piece them. I also added some sparkle, because why not? For the background, I cut masks with a curved die and blended the path with mauves and blue. Then I masked the path and stencilled some sparkly snowflakes on the banks. I used one of the mauve inks to sponge the background colour for the sentiment as well as the border of the card base itself. 

My second card features a hatted snowman instead of a bear: 

This snowman is from the same stamp set as the bears, and I like him too! For the background, I masked off the bottom of the watercolour cardstock panel with some torn masking tape then used Twinkling H2Os and the plastic wrap technique for a sparkly sky. While it dried, I painted my snowman with Gansai Tambi watercolours. Once the sky background was dry, I added some white watercolour and iridescent medium so the snow would sparkle, too. The same sentiment as above seemed to work with this card, too.  

I'm also adding these cards to the Christmas in July challenge at Shopping Our Stash (while the bears and snowman are only a year old, the sentiment is ancient) and Fezziwig's Festive Frolics where anything festive goes. (Any challenge with a Dickens reference is a winner for me!) 

I'm hoping to build up my Christmas card stash even more this weekend! Time will tell... ;) 

Supplies: (bears) Neenah white & Stampin' Up basic black cardstock, Picket Fence Studios A Christmas Walk & Hero Arts Snow Much Joy stamps, Versafine onyx black & shaded lilac, milled lavender & tumbled glass distress inks, Wow clear gloss & clear sparkle embossing powder, Copic markers, Memory Box Winter Tiny Snowflakes stencil, iridescent glitz glitter gel, Sugar Pea Designs card front element builder die, Spectrum Noir clear glitter marker; (snowman) Canson watercolour paper, Ranger/Tim Holtz distress watercolour cardstock, Picket Fence Studios A Christmas Walk & Hero Arts Snow Much Joy stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss & clear sparkle embossing powder, Gansai Tambi watercolours, Twinkling H2Os, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium, foam tape

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Easter Card

Happy Easter/Happy Sunday! I decided to make one last Easter card to fulfill my obligations for Day 6 of Kathy Racoosin's current colouring challenge. 

This card uses up a little more stash (but no patterned paper this time) - a bunny couple from Mama Elephant stamped long ago and a previously cut sun. The bunnies are coloured with Copics with some extra shading with pencil crayons. I made the background using a mask cut from a My Favorite Things grass die as well as their cloud stencil. I ran the top panel through an embossing folder to add a little extra interest, then popped a sentiment banner on top. I'll see if this is CAS enough to qualify for the current Addicted to CAS animal challenge, and it's definitely very CAS for Simon Says Stamp's Monday challenge, to add texture. 

   

Supplies: Neenah white & (?) yellow cardstock, Mama Elephant Honey Bunny & Clearly Besotted Sweet Little Sentiments stamps, Versafine onyx black & tumbled glass & mowed lawn distress inks, Wow clear sparkle embossing powder, Copic markers, Prismacolor pencils, Spellbinders circle, Lil Inkers stitched sun, MFT grassy edges & Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway dies, Cuttlebug Seeing Dots embossing folder, MFT mini cloud edges stencil, foam tape

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25 Days of Christmas Tags: Day 21

It's Day 21 of Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags! Today Lawn Fawn is our guest and sponsor! 

Lawn Fawn to me is all about cute, and since my tags have seen a distinctive lack of penguins this month, I started with a cute one: 

My little Copic-coloured penguin is skating on a vellum pond, with some pale blue cardstock sky. Just for fun, I paper-pieced penguin's scarf with a scrap of Lawn Fawn patterned paper. I found some matching patterned paper to cut my tag - I'm using a frame element from LF's magic picture changer dies. The twine is from Lawn Fawn too! 

Lawn Fawn sent me a cute new stamp set that coordinates with some that I already have, and so they came out for my second tag: 

More Copic colouring, this time on the sleigh and Santa. The sleigh and I got along really well, but Santa and I not so much - I hope it's not an omen! Despite some marker bleeding and overzealous application of puffy embossing powder, I think he still looks okay. I added some Stickles snow, but didn't worry that the sky isn't blue. 

And finally, a quartet of tiny tags, made easy with Lawn Fawn patterned paper, dies and stamps. 

For more cuteness, head over to Tracey's blog to see the creations of my tag teammates as well as designers from Lawn Fawn and Lawn Fanatics! Play along by making your own tags inspired by those you've seen, comment on designers' blogs... you could win a prize! 

Our many sponsors! 

Supplies: (penguin) Neenah white & Stampin' Up bashful blue cardstock, Lawn Fawn & (?) patterned paper, vellum, Lawn Fawn Winter Penguin stamps, Versamark & Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss & white embossing powder, Lawn Fawn Magic Picture Slider die, Copic markers, Lawn Fawn mistletoe twine, Offray white ribbon; (Santa) Neenah white cardstock, Lawn Fawn Ho Ho Holidays & Toboggan Together stamps, Versafine onyx black & Memento Luxe love letter ink, Versamarker, Wow clear gloss & white puff embossing powder, Copic markers, gold & silver gel pens, Gelly Roll clear sparkle pen, scrap red ribbon & gold cord, $ store jingle bells; (tiny tags) Lawn Fawn Snow Day Remix patterned paper, Lawn Fawn Tiny Tag Sayings stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Lawn Fawn Tiny Tags dies, Lawn Fawn mistletoe twine

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25 Days of Christmas Tags: Day 17

It's Day 17 for Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags - how has the time gone by so quickly? Today we are welcoming guest and sponsor Pretty Pink Posh. 

I received the very pretty Amaryllis stamp and die set to play with, along with the Stitched Banner Duo 2 dies. Properly colouring this amaryllis is way above my pay grade, but I did my best: 

I stamped the larger bloom in red and green distress inks on watercolour paper, then coloured in the stem and flower using the same inks as watercolours. The smaller bloom need stamping just in red, and apart from a touch of green in the centre, just needed red for colouring, as well. After cutting the tag, I clear-embossed a few snowflakes before blending some of the same distress ink in from the edges. Of course I added a smattering of PPP sequins, too! 

And these cute little guys had to see some ink, too! 

I love that you can mix-and-match the sentiments in their signs - and that you can switch up the colours of the sentiments, too. Some basic Copic colouring, and of course some Stickles on the penguin's hat, made these quick and easy to put together. I backed them on the smaller die from the same tag set as above. 

Another day of both watercolouring and Copic colouring for Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge. 

I hope you are playing along by making your own inspired tags or commenting on the designers' posts each day! Tracey has gathered a terrific array of sponsors to offer lots of prizes! 

26 generous sponsors!

Supplies: (amaryllis) Neenah white cardstock, Ranger watercolour paper, Pretty Pink Posh Amaryllis stamps & dies, Winter Wonderland stamps, Versamark & barn door & evergreen bough distress inks,Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Banner 2 dies, Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins, May Arts ribbon, foam tape; (reindeer & penguin) Neenah white & Stampin' Up real red & garden green cardstock, Pretty Pink Posh Holiday Signs stamps & dies,Versafine onyx black & Stampin' Up real red & garden green inks, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, icicle Stickles, Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Banners 2 dies, May Arts jute twine, Lawn Fawn mistletoe hemp cord

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25 Days of Christmas Tags: Day 16

It's Day 16 of Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags! If you're not already familiar with this festive event, you can get all the details here. Today we are welcoming guest and sponsor Waffle Flower! 

I've made three tags today, the first two using the cute Thankful Mouse: 

First, my little red scarf mouse. This tag has a story...

Of course, all the tags we make have a story. ;) A few days ago, I stamped a sheep wearing a Santa hat. In masking the Santa hat, I lost track of the little pompom at the end. It showed up when I stamped this mouse, leaving a blotch on the right hand plume of steam. Ack! Eventually I came up with adding the little die cut hearts. I rather like the end result! 
My second one in blue:  

I wasn't covering any blotches this time, so could go with my original plan of adding the "for you" sentiment, masking off the first word, "thankful". 

I used another partial sentiment on my third tag: 

This sentiment comes from the set Holiday Hugs. The full sentiment adds "& mistletoe kisses", but it's a little long for a tag. I added a bird and branch from Always - not a Christmas set, but birds work for Christmas! 

I've done both some watercolouring and Copic colouring today for Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge. 

My tag friends Carol, Joyce and Kim have more inspiration for you today, as do some of the Waffle Flower designers - visit Tracey's blog and be inspired! 

Thank you to our 26 sponsors!

Supplies: (mice) Ranger & Canson watercolour paper, Waffle Flower Thankful Mouse stamps, Versafine smoky grey & Memento Luxe Danube blue ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, meridian Twikling H2Os, Zig markers, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium, stash heart die cuts, Offray ribbon, Divine Twine; (holiday hugs) Neenah white & scrap buff cardstock, Waffle Flower Always stamps & dies, Holiday Hugs stamps, Versafine onyx black & Stampin' Up garden green ink, Copic markers, Paper Smooches stitched tag die, The Twinery peapod twine

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Q is for Quip

Hooray for Saturday and a new challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers! Q is for QUIP. Bring us your jokes, your best one-liners, your snarky ripostes! 

Since my crafting brain seems to be stuck on Christmas right now, here's my festive card quip:

I know you've seen these stamps used here before, but the snark is just too good to resist! My card is clean and simple to highlight the laughing Santa face and the sassy sentiment. Santa is coloured with Copics for Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge. 

Many more fine quips on the Snarky blog, from my design team sisters and our newest Queen of Snark, guest designer Lauren! Hit us with your best quip! 

Looking for the 25 Days of Christmas Tags? 

Click here!

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Studio Calico Magical patterned paper, Technique Tuesday Dear Santa stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, MFT stitched rounded rectangle die, icicle Stickles

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