Happy Little Stampers: Stencils

It's time for the March STENCIL challenge at Happy Little Stampers! I picked a full card stencil for my inspiration this time: 

I started by blending yellow and orange distress inks on my cardstock panel - at first, I tried a third colour, but didn't like the result. I just flipped it over and started again! As you can see, I also splatted some water drops on for a little extra interest. Then I added the stencil and the same two inks. The orange was fine, but the yellow was almost invisible, so I blended off most of the orange ink on my brush onto scrap paper, then added just enough orange to the yellow so they showed. With the cheery colours, I thought the sentiment was apt - and as it turned out, I needed a get well card for a friend who recently broke her leg, and this makes a nice encouragement card. 

I'm adding this to the March STAMPlorations Stencil challenge. 

Lots more stencil inspiration on the HLS blog, and you have the month to join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Papertrey Ink Simple Sunflower stamps, Catherine Pooler orange twist & squeezed lemonade & carved pumpkin distress ink, ARTplorations happy flowers stencil, The Greetery speed tagging die, The Twinery marigold twine, foam tape

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Inkspirational: Photo

Welcome the newest challenge at Inkspirational, where do we ever have a photo challenge for you! Click on the badge above if you want to see this pic in all its glory. It may be a little bit... unusual, but there are certainly lots of different things in the photo from which to take inspiration.  For me, it was an easy choice to pick red and white for my colours. I also wanted to incorporate some polka dots, and see if I could capture a little of the surreality of the photo. Here's the result. 

I likely could have found polka-dot patterned paper somewhere in my stash, but it was almost as easy to just make my own. Red ink on white cardstock, then white ink plus white embossing powder on red cardstock. The funky tree and bug are my nod to the strangeness of the photo, and as much as anything, I made it into a get well card because the sentiment fit nicely into a circle. I'm pleased to say this is the first get well card I've made this year, and it will be added to my stash. No need for it at the moment, touch wood. ;) 

You will enjoy seeing all the different directions the Inkspirational team went in interpreting this new challenge! Hope you will see something in this photo to inspire you, too. 

Supplies: Neenah white & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Unity/Ippity A Little Buggy & Clearly Besotted Message Me stamps, Stampin' Up real red & Colorbox frost white ink, Wow white embossing powder, Heidi Swapp Polka Dot stencil, Spellbinders circle die, rock candy distress Stickles, Echo Park enamel dots

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Gross!

It's challenge #144 at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers, so what else could we do but G is for Gross? 

Instead of adding 144 images to my card, I went for the other definition of gross: 

Isn't he a cute little infectious disease carrier? That is a germ that is proud of his work. Since he's so happy, I concentrated on making a somewhat gross background. Iced spruce is my least favourite colour of distress ink, so I started by smooshing that onto some mixed media paper, adding a little bundled sage and fossilized amber oxide as I built up the layers. For dimension, I scattered some aged silver frantage embossing powder, and finally spattered it with some black soot distress ink. The bacterium is coloured with Copics, and the sentiment heat-embossed. Here's a close-up highlighting the inaccuracy of  my adding Glossy Accents to his eyes: 

Once you get over the cringe factor, gross cards are a lot of fun to make! Be sure to check out the gross creations of the Sisterhood as well as our newest Queen of Snark and guest designer, Helen. Show us your worst! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Recollections black cardstock, Canson mixed media paper, Paper Smooches Healthy Vibes stamp & die, Simon Says Stamp/CZ Design Simple Sentiments #1 stamps, Versafine onyx black, iced spruce & bundled sage distress & fossilized amber distress oxide inks, Wow clear gloss & Stampendous aged silver frantage embossing powder, Copic markers, MFT blueprints 29 stitched rectangle die, Glossy Accents, foam tape

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Colouring Challenge, Day 24

We are entering the last week of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge! Today it is my turn to supply Ardyth, Emily, Tracey, Tasha and Karen with our colouring prompt, and I chose WPlus9's Get Well Gang. 

I sent my colouring friends a variety of the images, but I of course felt drawn to this kitty. For some reason, I also wanted to use a tag in my design and make use of this burlap stencil for my background panel. After I added the embossing paste, I realized this looked a lot like the plaster gauze doctors sometimes use. Subconscious suggestion? :P Of course there are stitches too, on the tag and the rectangular panel. 
Now I have a get well card in my stash should I have a cat-loving friend who happens to break a leg. :P 

Supplies: white & blue cardstock, WPlus9 Get Well Gang stamps & die, MFT extreme black ink, Copic markers, Technique Tuesday This Is tag & MFT blueprints 24 rectangular panel dies, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous burlap stencil, Dreamweavers glossy white embossing paste, foam tape

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Colouring Challenge, Day 7

The end of the first week of The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge... so far I'm keeping up! I'm still not convinced that daily practice alone makes for better colouring; some days the colouring muse stays far away — from me, at least. ;) Today was an okay day, though. It's Natasha's turn to supply the raw material, and she chose some adorable puppies from Clearly Besotted. 

You may think of me as more of a cat person, but seriously, how cute is that pup? :) He's coloured with Copics and popped on a paper-pieced pillow... I thought he deserved one. As I need a get well card for a friend, this card is doing double duty along with my daily colouring practice! 

Supplies: white and PTI smoky shadow cardstock, Authentique be(you)tiful patterned paper Clearly Besotted Playful Pooches & Simon Says Stamp Pillow Talk stamps, Memento tuxedo black ink, Spellbinders oval & Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway dies, foam tape

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Shopping My Get Well Stash

Monday can't be all bad if you can sit outside on the deck and make a card. I needed a get well card, and I really wanted to play along with Shopping Our Stash's current challenge, CAS for Simplicity Day, and managed to combine the need and the desire... 

Not as CAS as I can be, but still, way simpler than it looks! (My favourite kind of card.) That rose? Possibly the second ever Stampin' Up set I bought, and still one of my favourites. After embossing in white on watercolour paper, I misted it with water and sprinkled on some watercolour powder. Here it is, drying in the sun: 

I added a few outline roses to some (truly ancient) patterned paper to tie it to the focal point rose. I could have saved a layer and just used the dark purple as the card base... but it's a get well card and I didn't want it getting TOO dark. :D 
This is actually the second of these roses I've done this way. I'm sure eventually I'll post the other one... 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up rich razzleberry cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Dear Lizzy patterned paper, Stampin' Up Fifth Avenue Floral & Clearly Besotted Say What? stamps, Versamark & Stampin' Up rich razzleberry inks, Ranger clear & Wow white embossing powders, Magenta Nuance berry watercolour powder, MFT Blueprints 24 stitched rectangle die, pop-dot tape

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A Broken Streak

Eighteen days. I managed to colour eighteen straight days in a row for The Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge. Yesterday was the last day... and I missed it. 😡 Shopping and cooking for a birthday dinner had a lot to do with it, so at least there was good food instead. 😉 But then today I decided to make a get well card for a friend recovering from knee surgery, so I'm making up for yesterday. 

Yesterday I did have time to stamp and emboss this flower cluster in sparkly embossing powder, and colour the yellow flower. Today I finished it off, although I overworked a couple of the flowers a bit. Then I discovered my lack of get well sentiments! So I used a put-your-own sentiment-together set instead. The layout of my card had been in my head from the start, so it was easy to put together.
Looking for something to do this weekend? I'm back tomorrow with inspiration for the latest Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers AND Naughty or Nice challenges! 

Supplies: black & Bazzill marshmallow cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Paper Smooches Blossoming Buds & Simon Says Stamp Happy sentiments stamps, Versafine onyx black & Altenew Caribbean sky & Persian blue inks, Hero Arts sparkle clear embossing powder, Spellbinders oval dies

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Watercolour Musing

For Day 27 of The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge, I decided to use the brand new Muse challenge as inspiration. Here is Sonja's pretty inspiration card: 

From Sonja's card, I took inspiration from the framed central flower, metallic embossing and the use of kraft cardstock. I used a flower stamp I've had for more than ten years, and had been thinking would be fun to use as part of this month's colouring: 

I'd only ever used Prismacolour pencils for this sunflower, and even that was quite a while ago! I started by putting a loose wash of blue Twinkling H2Os for the background, then coloured the sunflowers and leaves with Zig markers. Coincidentally, the sentiment comes from a totally different sunflower stamp set. I added a trio of tiny sequins to set it off. (I love those little sparkly sequins, but man, they are tricky to work with!) 
A little closeup of the pretty Moonstone embossing powder: 

Supplies: white & Neenah desert storm cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Rubber Stampede Sunflower II & Papertrey Ink Simple Sunflower stamps, Versamark, Colourbox mango tango & Memento rich cocoa inks, Stampendous moonstone & Ranger clear embossing powders, Zig clean colour real brush markers, Twinkling H2Os, MFT Peek-a-Boo circle window die, Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins, pop dot tape

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Accident Time at the Sisterhood!

I don't know about you, but winter -- the cold! the snow! -- is really starting to get me down. My condition is nothing compared to Edna's, though! 

Edna is definitely in need of a get well card. So that is what the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is looking for! 

I've always thought this Paper Smooches die would make an excellent base for a snarky get well card, so I knew right away I would use it. I added a PS germ coloured in what I think of as a particularly sickly green (Iced Spruce). None of the sentiments with the germ seemed quite snarky enough to work, so I made one of my own and used another PS die to cut it out. I debated both googly eyes and glossy accents for the germ's eyes, but ended up going with beady black enamel eyes and glittery black antenna ends. The germ and the  speech bubble are adhered with a double layer of glue dots for just a hint of dimension. As for the rest of the design, I was obviously feeling in quite a clean and simple mood. ;) 
I am adding this card to the current Paper Smooches Anything Goes challenge. 
There are more get well cards, both snarky and sweet, on our challenge blog! Our guest designer this week is Michelle; I hope you'll leave her a comment, as well! And then I hope you'll join us with your own get well creation.

Supplies: white & red cardstock, Paper Smooches Healthy Vibes stamp, Ranger Archival black & iced spruce distress inks, Paper Smooches Borders 1 & Word Bubbles dies, black Enamel Accents, black icicle Stickles, Creative Memories corner-rounder punch, glue dots, pop-dot tape

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Sunday SPARKS

I so meant to participate in the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenges every week. That was before a minor bicycle accident either caused or coincided with a serious loss of motivation. Well, I decided I needed to get back in the habit. This week is a sketch challenge:

I have a feeling it's just me, but I looked at those banners, and immediately thought... squirrel! Okay, not just any squirrel, the hanging squirrel from the set Hang-Ups. I used the digital version, and manipulated the hanger a bit in Word.

(Sorry about the shadows... my camera battery was dying, so speed was of the essence) 

It's so good that Kim always says you can interpret the challenge "loosely". :D I'm not always a fan of browns and blues together, but for this card, it just seemed to work. I decided to make it a get well card, although another option would be a birthday card... "still hanging in there?" or something similar. ;) 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up kraft cardstock, My Mind's Eye Cowboy patterned paper, Paper Smooches Hang-Ups squirrel (digital version), Basic Grey Olivia paper ribbon, black Enamel Accents, EK Success 1" circle punch, pop-dot tape


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Singing in the Rain at Crafty Creations Challenges!

Looking for today's Growing in Unity post? Click here.

Our inspiration this week at Crafty Creations Challenges is the phrase "Singing in the Rain"! You could choose to be inspired by music, rain, the movie of the same name... or maybe all three? We are sponsored this week by Bugaboo Stamps, and I used one of Jodie's fun images for my card: 

I decided to colour in this Deacon Rain image simply, using bright, primary colours. I added a little sparkle to the rain and puddle with a clear glitter marker. He still didn't really look like he was in a singing mood, though, so I went with a get well theme, creating the sentiment on computer and printing it onto patterned paper. 
I'll be back in a few hours with Wednesday's installment of my Growing in Unity week! 

Supplies: white & teal cardstock, Creative Imaginations dots and stripes warm patterned paper, Bugaboo Deacon Rain digital image, Sharpies, Prismacolor pencils, atyou Spica clear glitter marker, Creative Memories corner rounding punch 

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Get Well Friday

To me, making get well cards ranks right up there with making sympathy cards. I own nothing remotely "get well" specific. Fortunately, for me -- and the people I know, come to think of it -- I rarely need them. Today, I needed one, however, so mixed a couple of stamps, a computer generated sentiment, and my favourite copied-from-Heather style.  

I may or may not have decided to sponge in green because Heather recently did, and I happened to have the same inks. ;)  Before I sponged in the colours, I stamped and embossed the text background. Taking the post-it masks off, I stamped the butterfly and embossed with holographic embossing powder. I tried to catch a little bit of the iridescence  here:

While the holographic embossing works better (I think) on coloured ink, I liked that it kept the butterfly from being just, well, black. (I had originally planned to do flower silhouettes over the masked panel, but at the last minute thought they might seem a little gloomy for a get well card. Whereas a butterfly is never gloomy!) I could have done all this right on the card base, but I knew I wanted the sentiment banner folded over the edge on the one side. Both the main panel and the banner are popped up. A few half-pearls finished everything off. 
After missing a couple of weeks, I'm linking to today's Unity Friends with Flair hop. Have a fabulous Friday! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Unity Key to Joy & Giving It All Meaning stamps, Memento new sprout, pear tart, bamboo leaves & cottage ivy, Versamark & Brilliance graphite black inks, clear & holographic embossing powders, Recollections black half pearls, dimensionals Pin It Now!

Poor Simon!

Earlier this month, I got to meet Emily, a fellow rubber-stamper and cardmaker. We've known each other online for about a year now, and it was fun to get together in real life. While we were visiting, we made a card for another stamping friend, Angela. Her new kitten, Simon, broke his leg and had to have surgery! How could we not make him a get well card?

We used a digital image from Pink Cat Studio. I let Emily work her Copic magic to colour the cat. We (okay, she) then wrapped some Twinery twine around his leg for a cast. My big contribution was stamping the Verve sentiment before we popped the image on the base. 
Please come back on Wednesday when I'm participating in a blog hop to celebrate the first birthday of Amber INK! You'll see lots of fun creations... and rumour is, there'll be prizes! 

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