In Bloom with Naughty or Nice!

And just like that, it's APRIL -- no fooling! Naughty or Nice Challenges is here to usher in a new month with a new challenge:

So far, the only thing in bloom at my house is a pot of daffodils I bought. So it was great to have an excuse to ink up some flower stamps. 

And yes, I went for the nice option over naughty. Never fear, though, you will find an excellent assortment of projects both naughty and nice on the NoN blog. For my card, I went back to the Stretch Your Stamps 2 online class, and was inspired by Yana Smakula's masked and kissed floral card. No stamp "kissing" here, but definitely a lot of masking. Not something I often choose to do; I need to be *encouraged* by a challenge or other inspiration. I do like the effect here, though. With all the Paper Smooches flowers used, I'm entering this in this week's Anything Goes SPARKS challenge. 
If you're still waiting for the flowers to bloom where you are (or even if you're not), why not create some of your own and join us? 
P.S. Please come back tomorrow, when I'm participating in an amazing blog hop! 

Supplies: mauve & Stampin' Up naturals white cardstock, Paper Smooches Botanicals 1 stamps, Versamark & Memento lulu lavender, lilac posies & grape jelly inks, pale gold pearl embossing powder, flower sequins, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch, pop-dot tape


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Do You Watercolour?

If you are a cardmaker, you probably do. It seems that the majority of cards I see online these days have a watercolour component. And of course I am no exception -- I've been really enjoying watercolouring with the real thing, distress markers or ink pads, pencils... I think that's part of the appeal, there seem to be endless variations. 
I've also been trying to get back to watching some of the techniques presented in the Online Card Class Stretch Your Stamps 2. Imagine my shock when a stamp set I actually own was the featured stamp set one day! Debby Hughes demonstrated a fun technique that I decided to try.

Step one was the background. I smushed some distress ink onto my stamp-a-ma-jig plastic square (not owning an acrylic block large enough), spritzed it with water, and smushed the result onto the paper. Next up was cleaning off said plastic sheet so I could stamp the balloons on it. This provides a template to see where the balloons are going to go, and then adding blots of various watercolours more or less where each balloon will end up. (Debby's card more, my card much less precise.) While that dried, I stamped and watercoloured my little bunny. When everybody was dry, I stamped the balloons in their final spot, added bunny, and stamped and embossed the sentiment. 
This card is for two challenges: this month's Mama Elephant "Anything Goes" challenge and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday watercolour challenge. 
If you're looking for a challenge... the current Snarky Sisters challenge is still open! I is for Iconic -- use an iconic person, place or thing as part of your project. You could be our next Queen or Princess of Snark! ☺️

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up melon mambo cardstock, Strathmore multimedia paper, Mama Elephant Up and Away stamps & die, Versafine onyx black & tumbled glass distress inks, Zing clear embossing powder, Koh-in-oor watercolours, watercolour pencils, black sharpie (to add the apostrophe!)

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An Iconic Post

Saturday and The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers are at it again! We are already up to our 18th challenge -- time flies when you're being snarky -- and it should be a fun one:

I is for ICONIC! As always, Edna knows just the perfect way to usher in the challenge. We are looking for an iconic PERSON, PLACE or THING. I had lots of ideas (Eiffel Tower, Mickey Mouse, Winnie-the-Pooh...), but ended up going with one of my favourite sets...

For the non-geeks in the audience, this is the timey-wimey Tardis, in which Doctor Who, companion by his side, travels through time and space. So although my card showcases an iconic thing, it does also manage to hint at a person (the Doctor) and a place (the universe!) at the same time. I almost used another sentiment, "You never forget your first doctor", but somehow this one seems to have slightly snarkier implications if you bend your mind the right way. ;) The space background was made by pressing distress ink pads onto a piece of butcher paper (my low-rent version of a non-stick craft mat), spritzing with water, and pressing my paper into the inky result. Once that was dry, I sprayed with shimmery mist and waited some more. Finally I mixed a bunch of glitter into some embossing paste to stencil the subtle stars. This closeup shows them a bit better: 

All the drying time gave me a chance to stamp my Tardis, also in distress ink. Then, using a technique I picked up on the Stretch Your Stamps class, I pulled the ink in from the stamped outline to shade the image. (I thought if it had worked for flowers, it should work for this.) 
Need more ideas? Check out the great inspiration from my sisters as well as our latest Queen of Snark and guest designer, Lynn! I hope you'll join us with your own iconic creation! 
By the way... HAPPY WORLD CARD MAKING DAY!!! What a great excuse to make some cards. :D 

Supplies: white & black card stock, Strathmore multimedia paper, Viva Las VegaStamps Plate 925 stamps, faded jeans & chipped sapphire distress & Memento tuxedo black inks, Dreamweavers translucent embossing paste, Stampin' Up Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Simon Says Stamp Falling Stars stencil, pop-dot tape

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Friday Joy

And just like that, it's Friday! And for many, the start of the last long weekend of the summer. I thought I would start the weekend by playing along with Unity's Friends with Flair with a card I made inspired by the Stretch Your Stamps 2 class. 

Jennifer Rzasa made a beautiful card using an outline floral stamp, debossing, and distress inks. I decided to try her technique with the poppy from Wishing You Joy. I started by stamping the poppy on some cardboard, cutting it out, adhering it to more cardboard and cutting that out. This created a thick enough layer to deboss my white panel in the Cuttlebug. The pic below shows the debossing a bit more, but it's more obvious in real life. 

Instead of ink pads, I used distress markers to colour the poppies before stamping. Then with a damp paintbrush, I pulled some of the colour into the poppies from the outlines, and brushed over the stems as well for more of a watercolour look. I embossed the sentiment and layered the panel on matching pearl paper. 
I'll add this to Simon Says Stamp's current Anything Goes challenge, too. And now it's time for the weekend to start! 

Supplies: Neenah solar white cardstock, pale gold pearl paper, Unity Wishing You Joy stamps, Versamark ink, pale gold pearl embossing powder, distress markers, pop-dot tape

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Online Card Class -- Card 4 (and Friends with Flair!)

After all my cards based on the first day of my online card class, Stretch Your Stamps 2, I'm skipping ahead to Day 3 -- alphabet and sentiment stamps! I do have some great panels that I made from the second day of background stamp lessons, they just haven't made the leap to any finished cards yet. In the meantime, I combined the techniques of Debby Hughes and Stephanie Klauck to create a cheery birthday card:

I started with three die cut clouds on which I stamped "birthday" randomly. In hindsight, I also could have stamped first, die cut second, but I'm not sure if that would have made much difference. I sponged around each cloud -- perhaps a little too much, they're pretty stormy for birthday clouds! Then I cut the hill and tried to randomly stamp "happy"... nope. Needed the stamp positioner for that. Sponged around the edges of the hill with green, and the white panel is sponged with a light blue for the sky. Finally I stamped the happy sun, embossing the orange rays with holographic embossing powder. Isn't art great? You can put the sun in front of the clouds if you want. :D 
With the sentiments doing a lot of the work on this card, I'm linking up to Unity's Friends with Flair -- I haven't joined in for ages! Hope you'll come back tomorrow to discover the newest Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge. Have a great weekend! 

Supplies: white & textured orange American Crafts cardstock, Unity stamps (from grab bags) & Simon Says Stamp Color & Sunshine stamps, Memento teal zeal, new sprout, bamboo leaves & dandelion, Colorbox mango tango & tumbled glass distress inks, holographic embossing powder, Memory Box small cloud dies, Paper Smooches Borders I dies, pop-dot tape

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Online Card Class -- Card 3

Another card inspired by the online card class Stretch Your Stamps 2 -- and yes, it's another card just from the first day's lessons! 

This one again uses Shari Carroll's watercolour technique, while the layout is inspired by Lisa Spangler's card. I really like how the distress inks blended on this, and lets the background stamp become a pretty foreground. ;) 
With that, I think I might even be ready to move on to the next section of the class... alphabet and sentiment stamps! 

Supplies: Stampin' Up rich razzleberry cardstock, Strathmore 140 lb watercolour paper, Impression Obsession roses & Papertrey Ink simple sunflower sentiment stamps, Versafine onyx black & Victorian velvet, faded lipstick, stormy sky & dusty concord distress inks, clear embossing powder, pop-dot tape

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Online Card Class -- Card 2

I'm back with another card inspired by the online card class Stretch Your Stamps 2. Just the first day has led me to three cards already -- I may never finish the course! ;) It's a great incentive to pull out all kinds of stamps and try all kinds of things with them. 
For this card, I was inspired by Shari Carroll and her technique of faux-watercolouring a background stamp with distress inks. Shari used a reverse background stamp -- the kind where the design itself stays clean and the background takes the ink. Turns out I don't have any of those, so I pulled out a stamp I thought might work. 

Shari used a patterned background stamp that she cut into inchies to make a grid-style card. I felt the roses on mine might not lend themselves to that, so selectively die cut three sections. The centre, larger square is popped up on the blue panel. 
I have another card using this same technique I like even better! I hope to be back soon with it. 

Supplies: white & blue cardstock, Strathmore 140 lb watercolour paper, Impression Obsession roses & Memory Box happy birthday stamps, stormy sky, Victorian velvet, worn lipstick & dusty concord distress inks, Nellie Snellen square dies, pop-dot tape

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Online Card Class -- Card 1

I was so excited to learn I had won a spot in the newest Online Card Class -- Stretch Your Stamps 2! I found out the day the classes started... and wouldn't you know it, it was the start of two crazy-busy weeks. So yes, the classes officially ended Friday, but I started catching up this weekend.
The first two days are all about using using your background stamps. My card is inspired by Kristina Warner and her multilayer emboss resist technique, as well as Tasnim Ahmed, who cut out portions of a patterned background. 

I used my Hero Arts plaid background, embossed in white and watercoloured in red, green and yellow. I was initially thinking I'd use it for a Christmas card, but a) it looked not at all Christmasy when complete, and b) plaid and watercolours aren't really all that compatible. :D So I chose to minimize the plaidness by cutting one row of the squares out on the diagonal to get a strip of diamonds. I also cut a thin strip from one edge to anchor my bold sentiment and balance the card. I have of course kept the plaid scraps for when a different inspiration strikes. 
So there you have my first class-inspired card! There are more, just from day one, coming up soon! 

Supplies: white card stock, Strathmore 140 lb watercolour paper, Hero Arts plaid background & Maya Road picture perfect cameras stamps, Versamark & Versafine onyx black inks, Wow white embossing powder, Grumbacher cake watercolours, Marvy Uchida corner-rounding punch

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