Addicted to Stamps and More: Any Occasion

Addicted to Stamps and More is back with the latest challenge: Any Occasion! Sometimes the occasion can be a sad one, and I have a sympathy card this time around: 

I pulled out these layering daffodil stamps again, since they seemed appropriate for a cancer-related death. I kept the colours a little more muted than my last daffodil card. The lighter shade of green I picked for my leaves seemed a little too light, so I darkened it a bit with a green pencil crayon. I added a little interest to the cardbase with some subtle patterned paper and an embossed strip of green down the left side. The sentiment banner even manages to cover a bit of a layering booboo on one of the leaves. 

With my spring daffodils, I'm adding my card to these challenges: The Four Seasons Challenge: Anything Goes Spring and Just Us Girls word week: flowers. 

Lots of inspiration for many occasions from my ATSM teammates. Make a card for any occasion and join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Stampin' Up garden green cardstock, Pinkfresh Studio patterned paper, Sunny Studio Daffodil Dreams & Hero Arts With Deepest Sympathy stamps, Stampin' Up garden green & Catherine Pooler tiara, sauna & garden party ink, Darice diagonal stripe embossing folder, Prismacolor pencils

 

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Happy Little Stampers: Stencils

It's time for the May Stencil Challenge at Happy Little Stampers! Here's what I came up with this month: 

I'm not 100% happy with this card, but decided to share it with you anyway. This is actually my second attempt at making it. The first time, I found some heavyweight blue cardstock, used two stencils - the cat, which actually fills a slimline card, and an oval to keep just the head and upper body - and added crackle paste. I thought the crackles would nicely complement the mosaic style of the cat. I didn't get back to it for a few days, but when I did... all the crackles were flaking off! The paste and paper obviously didn't get along. For my second attempt, I used a different blue cardstock. It's definitely not as heavy, since the moisture of the paste has warped it a bit - but it shows up much more in the photo than in real life, so there's that. The crackle paste also picked up dye from the paper! When it was still wet, it looked quite mottled, but fortunately dried to an even colour. And isn't flaking off! And that's the story of this far-from-perfect card. :) 

As always, this is an anything goes challenge, so as long as you've used a stencil, I hope you'll join us! 

Supplies: Memory Box light blue & Bazzill dark blue cardstock, Studio Katia You're So Sweet stamp, Versamark ink, Hero Arts white satin pearl embossing powder, ARTplorations kitty & oval flexi-template stencils, Nuvo Russian white crackle mousse

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Inkspirational: Watercolour

Inkspirational is back with a new Technique Challenge: Watercolour! I like the forgiving nature of watercolour; if I stray outside the lines, I can often "erase" the extra with more water, or failing that, decide to call it artistic. :D On my card today, I decided to show that watercolours can be either bold or more muted:

We recently needed to make use of a sympathy card, and since my husb mentioned how much he liked it, I decided to more or less recreate it. The pretty stem of sweet pea flowers is stamped on watercolour paper and coloured with Zig markers: intense for the blossoms, and more watered down for the stems. To add a little interest to the background, I dry embossed it with a triangle embossing folder. The sentiment comes from the same set as the flowers. 

The cards by my Ink teammates will show you just how varied and versatile watercolours can be! I hope they will inspire you to join us. 

Supplies: Neenah white, Recollections black & (?) green cardstock, Ranger watercolour paper, Studio Katia You're So Sweet stamps & dies, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Zig markers, Echo Park mini triangles embossing folder

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Color Hues: Blue and Brown

Happy June! It's time for the first Color Hues challenge of the month. Nancy has picked the combo blue and brown. While I don't want to get kicked off the team, this may just be my very least favourite colour pairing! When I was very small, we had this stack of blue and brown Christmas wrapping paper. I hated it! My thoughts obviously haven't changed much. :D 

Needs must, however, so here's my card: 

After a first failed attempt, I decided to go with an embossing paste resist. I've had this stencil forever, and finally put it to use! I masked part of it off and added white embossing glaze. Once it dried, I blended tumbled glass, broken china and mermaid lagoon distress inks on the panel. I wasn't thrilled with my blending, so misted it with some sparkle mist. Just for good measure, I spattered a little blue shimmer mist on, as well. I really wanted to add some scripty background stamping to the panel next - how is it I don't have any scripty backgrounds? Instead, I used a music stamp, inking part and adding to two corners. The sentiment is stamped and embossed. After trimming the panel, I rounded the corners and adhered it to the brown card base. 

Both my sentiment and my music stamps are at least five years old (not to mention the stencil!), so I'm adding my card to the current Anything Goes Retro Rubber Challenge. 

Don't mind me - I know a lot of people really like blue and brown together! And the cards my teammates and our guest designer Michal have made _almost_ convinced me it's not so bad! :D Grab your blues and your browns and join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & PTI smoky shadow cardstock, Unity Bevy of Butterflies & Local King Rubber Stamp Notes stamps, Memento cocoa bean, Memento Luxe espresso truffle & tumbled glass, broken china & mermaid lagoon distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Tsukineko clear shimmer sparkle mist, sea kiss Smooch spritz,  Crafter's Workshop Mini Butterfly Meadow stencil, Picket Fence snowdrop white embossing glaze, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch

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Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and Stencils

It's time for a new Addicted to Stamps and More challenge, and this time we are looking for DIE CUTS and/or STENCILS! To be honest, after I made my card, I had a moment of panic that I was supposed to use both, but luckily it can be either or both! 

I was in the mood for some ink blending, so grabbed some distress oxides and blended them on my card base. Then I die cut this pretty cattail triptych, as well as cutting a frame around it. I also added the sentiment in a grey ink for a little softness. Adhered the die cut panel to my card base and this simple card was complete. It will be a good all-purpose sympathy card for the stash, although I have no desire to have to use it. ;) I'm adding this to the current challenge at Freshly Made Sketches. 

My teammates at ATSM have used die cuts and stencils to create beautiful cards on the blog! Be sure to leave them some love, and then I hope you will join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Unity Bevy of Butterflies sentiment, Memento London fog & worn lipstick, wild honey, bundled sage, mermaid lagoon & wilted violet distress oxide inks, Simon Says Stamp Cattail Triptych & Winnie & Walter Katharine Cutaways pierced rectangular dies

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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

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Color Hues: Gold & Cream

Believe it or not... it's October. :o The start of the month brings us to a new Color Hues challenge! For our third challenge, we are asking you to work in hues of gold and cream. To me, these colours seem to call for elegance, so it will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with! 

For my card, I chose to add to my sympathy stash: 

A few months ago, I made a similar card. Unfortunately, I've had to use it since then, so thought I would try a variation using cream cardstock instead of white. This led me to discover I'm running out of cream cardstock! Luckily, I had a panel large enough to foil emboss this gorgeous tree. I embossed the sentiment in black over the trunk. The textured card base is a darker shade of cream that coordinates with the main panel. 

I'm adding this to the current Wednesday Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp. 

What will you do with the hues of gold and cream? There is beautiful inspiration waiting for you on the Color Hues blog! I hope you will join us. 

Supplies: Stampin' Up very vanilla & basic black & American Crafts textured cream cardstock, Unity sympathy sentiment, Versafine onyx black cardstock, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Crafter's Companion Blooming Tree Gemini Foil Press die, Crafter's Companion gold foil, Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaways rectangular die 

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Just Us Girls Guest Designer!

Woo hoo! The lovely design team at Just Us Girls has asked me to guest design with them for the month of September! And this week's word prompt seems ideal to kick off the September challenges: LEAVES. Although I'm not looking forward to the end of summer, I chose a fall palette of leaves anyway.

I used a trio of alcohol ink colours, plus a little gold, to create a Yupo sheet of autumn colours, then die cut my trio of maple leaves. The neutral, textured cardstock added some interest to the backing panel without taking away from the colourful leaves, I thought. Finally, a torn vellum strip with the sentiment embossed in gold, to bring out the bits of gold on the leaves. 

The talented team at JUGs have many interpretations of LEAVES to inspire you! I hope you will find time to join us - the challenge runs until midnight EDT Thursday. Thanks again for inviting me to play along this month! 

(This is the first of three posts today - I hope you will come back later for Inkspirational and the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers!) 

Supplies: Papertrey Ink smoky shadow & Bazzill textured beige cardstock, Yupo paper, vellum, Hero Arts sympathy stamp, Versamark ink, Simon Says Stamp antique gold embossing powder, Jacquard Piñata señorita margarita, calabaza orange, sun bright yellow & rich gold alcohol inks, Poppy Stamps Maple Leaf & MFT diagonal stitched rectangle die

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Addicted to Stamps and More: Clean and Simple

This week at Addicted to Stamps and More, we are having our Clean and Simple challenge!  For me this is essentially an anything goes challenge, since the majority of my cards are CAS. For a little extra personal challenge, I dusted off my Gemini Foilpress. 

In the process, I may have found my new sympathy card template - I like this simple but elegant look. After foiling the tree, I added the sentiment in grey rather than black to soften the look a little, then added it to a grey card base. This is perfect to have on hand as I think it could be used for almost anyone when needed. Apologies for the dark photos - I need to work on my shiny-foil-photography techniques. ;) 

I'm adding this card to the current CASology challenge, where the cue word is plant, and to Darnell's NBUS Challenge, since it's my first time foiling this tree. 

Since the foil press was all heated up anyway, I made a second card:

This time I used a beautiful blue foil with this elegant rose. Again, all it seemed to need was a sentiment, so as not to take away from the glorious shine. This card os off to play at The Flower Challenge, where the theme is monochromatic. 

Beautiful clean and simple inspiration from my design teammates - be sure to visit the blog to see their cards. I hope you'll join us! 

      

Supplies: (sympathy) Crafter's Companion white cardstock, Memory Box grey card base, Clearly Besotted Sweet Little Sentiments stamp, Versamark smoky grey ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Crafter's Companion Blooming Tree Gemini Foil Press die, Crafter's Companion gold foil; (just because) Crafter's Companion white cardstock, Studio Katia You're So Sweet stamp, Versamark onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Crafter's Companion Rose Bloom Gemini Foil Press die, Crafter's Companion turquoise foil, MFT stitched rounded rectangle die, fun foam

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Happy Little Stampers: Watercolour

Happy Little Stampers is starting May with the Watercolour Challenge! This month we are offering the optional theme of embossing. Of course you can dry emboss, but I went for my favourite, heat embossing: 

Sadly, I needed to make a sympathy card, and decided to start with this beautiful flower image from Concord & Ninth. I stamped it in black and heat embossed with white satin pearl embossing powder - over black, it sets to a lovely almost pewter finish. For my watercoloring, I went with Twinkling H2Os in blues and greens. I played around with a few different embellishments, but in the end decided to leave it alone with just the simple sentiment and blue mat. 

I'm adding this to the current Wednesday Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp. 

You will SMILE at all the beautiful interpretations of our theme displayed on the HLS blog! You have the month of May to join us. 

Supplies: Neenah white & (?) blue cardstock, Ranger watercolour paper, Concord & Ninth Vintage flower & Studio Katia You're So Sweet stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Hero Arts white satin pearl embossing powder, Twinkling H2Os, Marvy/Uchida corner-rounding punch

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Happy Little Stampers Watercolour: Die Cuts

It's hard to believe this is my first blog post for 2020 (in Australian time) or conversely, my last post for 2019 (in Canadian time)! Whichever way you look at it, I am grateful to be part of the Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge design team for this new year. Our first optional theme is DIE CUTS. I think my creative mojo may still be in holiday mode, but I did manage to come up with this: 

I used the current sketch from Freshly Made Sketches to give my creativity a little shove. ;) To start, I die cut the flowers from watercolour paper and used distress inks to loosely watercolour them. Then I cut the two backing panels from watercolour paper and watercoloured them through a stencil. Once I'd put everything together, I decided to use this to add a sympathy card to my stash - it's always helpful to have a few on hand of there's not a lot of time to make one. 

Beautiful cards from my watercolour teammates, including our newest members, Carole, Swapna, and Anna! You have all month to die cut, watercolour, and join us. 

Supplies: American Crafts textured blue cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Clearly Besotted Message Me stamp, Versafine onyx black, spun sugar, picked raspberry & salty ocean distress inks, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Simon Says Stamp Fresh Daisies, Sizzix/Tim Holtz Stacked Deckle & MFT Blueprints 24 dies, Carabelle Studio Mosaïque stencil

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CAS Mixed Media

     

CAS Mix Up challenge is celebrating its third birthday, and I wanted to play along! Their definition of mixed media is just like mine - I always think if I've stretched myself to use a couple of different techniques, or colouring mediums, or the like, it's mixed media! :D 
The technique called for this month is faux stained glass, and here's mine: 

There are a few different faux stained glass methods suggested on the Mix Up blog, but I knew I wanted to use vellum and Copics. I started by stamping and embossing this gardenia stamp on vellum (embossed to make sure the ink would stay put) then coloured the flowers and leaves on the reverse side. Next I die cut the covering panel and adhered it so just a little of the stamped lines showed - in my brain, added a bit of leaded glass look. To keep everything CAS, I added three scored lines down the left side of the card before adhering the focal image. For just a hint of dimension, I added an extra layer of cardstock under the panel.

To sum up, my card includes: faux stained glass, stamping, die cutting, heat embossing, scoring and alcohol marker colouring. 

I'm also entering this in the The Flower Challenge #30, anything goes. 

I'm back bright and early tomorrow with the new Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge! 

Supplies: Papertrey Ink white cardstock, vellum, Neat & Tangled Gardenia Blooms stamp & die, Clearly Besotted Sweet Little Sentiments stamp, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear embossing powder, Copic markers, Studio Katia Pink Tourmaline crystals

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CASology Guest!

Excited to be guesting for CASology for their new challenge starting today! I always check the CASology challenges, almost always mean to play... and too often, miss the deadline. (One week challenges are not for procrastinators, obviously.) But Melissa and the CASology team were nice enough to invite me to guest with them today, after winning late last year for this card (the second one). I'm also excited that the new cue card is right up my alley! 

The CASology team are experts at classic CAS designs. So I decided to go all out and attempt a one-layer card:

I cut a square out of a large post-it note and used a stencil brush with my ink so my colour would stay light. Then it was a simple matter to ink the cat and the sentiment in the same colour! The idea came from these cards by Lydia that I pinned ages ago. 

Since that was truly clean and simple - and QUICK! - I made one more, this time with a layer...

Exactly the same process, except switched up the colour and sentiment with a slightly narrower panel to pop up on fun foam with a sliver of matching blue cardstock showing. 

I can't wait to check how the rest of the CASology team interpreted the current cue card, and hope you will check them out too. And then play along! 

Supplies: Neenah white & scrap blue cardstock, Impression Obsession Mini Cat & Clearly Besotted Message Me stamps, bundled sage & blueprint sketch distress inks, fun foam

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