Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and Stencils

It's time for some Die Cuts and Stencils at Addicted to Stamps and More! Recently I had a fun time creating some blended backgrounds, and decided to combine a couple of them with die cuts for cards: 

I was also in need of a wedding card, and so these took shape. For the one on the right, I cut the daisy and the love sentiment from a linen panel, then used them for the card on the left. I went with much more intense colours for that card - in fact, except for needing a little extra yellow for the second colour band, I was able to blend the second panel with just the inks left on my brushes. Here's a closer look at each one:

As always, beautiful cards by my ATSM teammates - I hope you'll be inspired to join us! 

Supplies: (1st card) Neenah white and linen cardstock, picked raspberry, squeezed lemonade, twisted citron & shaded lilac distress ink, Simon Says Stamp fresh daisies, LittleB handwritten sentiments & MFT blueprints 24 stitched rectangle die; (2nd card) Neenah white & linen cardstock, squeezed lemonade, picked raspberry & twisted citron distress ink, Simon Says Stamp fresh daisies, LittleB handwritten sentiments & MFT stitched rounded rectangle die

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Happy Little Stampers: CAS

It's time for a new Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge! This month we are asking you to create an off the edge design. Mine doesn't fall too far off the edges, but enough to count! 

Is this not a showstopper of a rose stamp by Concord & 9th? Best part - the stamps do all the work for you! I stamped and embossed the outline in black onto my card panel. The layering stamps give it such an artsy look. It was just by chance that the top "splash" also went of the edge, but I really like that it did. From there, it was a simple matter to emboss the sentiment with some gold accent embossing powder, and pop up the main panel on some fun foam. 

This rose is seeing ink for the first time, so off it goes to the August NBUS challenge. 

Beautiful and varied "off the edge" cards by my talented teammates can be seen on the HLS blog! Why not play along? 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Concord & 9th Painted Rose stamps, Versafine onyx black & Catherine Pooler Do-Si-Do, Polished, Mint to Be & Bay Breeze ink, Wow clear gloss & clear gold highlights embossing powder, MFT blueprints 24 stitched rectangle die, fun foam

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Happy Little Stampers: Botanical

Let's welcome in the month of October (already???) with a new Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge! 

Our optional theme this month is Botanical. I went with a tree: 

The stamps I used are from an early Concord & 9th stamp set. After stamping and embossing the elements, I used distress inks to watercolour the birchbark and sky, adding red glitter glue to the tiny heart for a pop of colour and sparkle. A quick and easy wedding card. 

I hope you will come and join us with your watercolour creations! 

Supplies: Stampin' Up very vanilla & Bazzill textured brown cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Concord & 9th Tree Hugs stamps, Memento Luxe rich cocoa & tumbled glass, antique linen & gathered twigs ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Recollections red glitter glue

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On the Move at Naughty or Nice!

It's August! And where I live, July felt more like, um, April most days, so here's hoping for some lazy later summer days. August means vacation time for lots of people, so with that in mind, Naughty or Nice introduces its latest challenge: On the Move! 

Travel, moving, transitioning to something new... all these are possibilities. We've added an optional colour challenge, too — and for me, these colours are definitely challenging! With some liberal interpretation, I managed to incorporate them in my card:

The world map implies travel, while the sentiment makes this a good card for an engagement or marriage, so I've got the theme covered as well as (sort of) the colours. I suppose if I wanted this to lean more to the *naughty* side, it would make a fine just-divorced card, too. ;) 
The Troublemakers have many other travel-themed creations to inspire you! You have until August 25th to join us. 

Supplies: Stampin' Up very vanilla & Bazzill Basics textured olive cardstock, October Afternoon Boarding Pass patterned paper, Unity Direction of Your Heart stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Ranger clear embossing powder, Spellbinders circle dies 

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Hatching, Matching, and Dispatching

Happy Saturday! We're offering lots of options with the latest Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge, HATCHING, MATCHING, AND DISPATCHING!

In case this phrase is new to you, hatching=birth, matching=marriage, dispatching=death. I do believe it's British in origin, but is used in parts of Canada as well. I hadn't actually heard it until CBC had a tv series titled that a few years ago. Anyway... all this is to say we're looking for cards (etc.) for one of those events. Of course, the real challenge would be to combine all three. 😉

I needed a wedding card anyway, so that's the direction I went: 

No snark here AGAIN! My snarky mojo seems to be on vacation. (Although, when you think about it, fairy tales are full of trolls and ogres and child-eating witches...) This perfectly nice card uses a technique demonstrated by my friend Ardyth recently (the link will take you to the card and accompanying how-to video). Each layer of the flowers and leaves was inked then misted with water before stamping for a more watercoloured look. Extra added bonus: no need to feel every layer has to be stamped perfectly. This set doesn't have a solid base stamp for the flowers, so I simply flipped over one of the other layers to use. I filled in a few spaces with twigs and unknown small shapes inked in platinum, which is very close to the moonstone embossing of the sentiment. Both panels are popped up on a green card base. 
Have no fear, not all the sisters went snarkless for this latest challenge! We also have a talented return guest designer, and current Queen, Helen. For a chance at a snarky crown of your very own, come and join us! 

Supplies: Strathmore mixed media paper, Hero Arts layering cardstock, WPlus9 Pretty Little Peonies & Unity fairy tale stamps, Versamark, Altenew blush, crimson & velvet, Colorbox platinum & iced spruce and peeled paint distress inks, Stampendous moonstone embossing powder, MFT blueprints 24 & Sizzix circle dies, pop dot tape

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Happily Ever After...

If it's Wednesday, it must be time for Crafty Creations Challenges! This week we are looking for a project inspired by your favourite fairy tale. I do seem to have trouble sticking to the letter of a challenge. :P I went for a favourite part of a fairy tale... the happily ever after part! This led me to a wedding card:

As I was pondering what I wanted to create for this challenge, I remembered this cute sentiment from a Unity Kit of the Month. I tried a number of different images to go with it, and settled at last on this bride and groom from PSA Essentials. I played with using different colours to highlight words of the sentiment, but the popped-up heart in red looked best to my eye. I used a clear glitter marker on all the dotted-i hearts as well as the brides bouquet and veil. 
Do you have a favourite fairy tale? show us this week! You could win a great prize from this week's sponsor, Guylou's Inimitability. 

Supplies: white cardstock, Unity & PSA Essentials stamps, Brilliance graphite blac, Memories black & Stampin' Up real red inks, clear embossing powder, circle Nestability, atyou Spica clear glitter marker, pop-dot tape 

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Growing in Unity {Day 3}

I'm back today with TWO cards for Growing in Unity! If you're visiting for the first time from the Unity blog, welcome; and if you're one of the faithful, I do appreciate your visits and comments. 
I'm continuing to give some attention to a few of the under-utilized stamps in my Unity stash. My first card is a less-than-typical wedding card... for a less-than-typical wedding. 

A while back, I felt the need to add a compass image to my collection, and really liked the classic lines of this Direction of Your Heart itty bitty. While I used the sentiment here, I hadn't used the compass yet. But when I wanted to make a card for my nephew's upcoming destination wedding (in Hawaii!), I thought this might be a great way to commemorate it. In my fevered imagination, I thought using a tag element would be a little reminiscent of a luggage tag. (I know, not really, but I can pretend.) And note the subtle, arrow-like shape of the sentiment? Pointing sorta kinda to Hawaii? It all works for me. :D 
My second card uses another itty bitty, the co-branded Webster's Pages Celebrate. While I had used this set once before, it was definitely time to play with it again. 

Several weeks ago, I pinned this image to one of my Pinterest boards. Mine of course looks quite different from the original, but that's the great thing about an inspiration picture, isn't it? I toyed briefly with the idea of reverse-stamping a reflection, but didn't want to wreck what I'd already done, and the image seemed a bit large for that, anyway. I am so pleased with the sponged water effect! Although I suppose to a sailor that's mighty calm water. :D 
I'll just take this opportunity to encourage you to leave a comment -- since one lucky commenter this week will win two itty bitty sets courtesy of Unity! There are close to 400 to choose from. Or maybe you've even seen one you like here today!  
I'm going to stretch a theme a bit here... this week at CASology, the cue word is POND. So I'm thinking of those people that make model boats and sail them around their neighbourhood pond... (Nice little connection here: I built a model wooden boat for my nephew to play with back when we were both much younger!) 

Supplies: (wedding card) white, navy & Stampin' Up kraft cardstock, Pink Paislee Daily Junque map patterned paper, Unity/Webster's Pages direction of your heart stamps, Memento Paris dusk ink, Stampin' Up ticket corner punch, Artemio gold eyelet, blue raffia, dimensionals; (celebrate card) white & navy cardstock, Memento Paris dusk & broken china distress inks, pop-dot tape Pin It Now!

Wedding Bells at Crafty Creations Challenges

This week at Crafty Creations Challenges, we are looking for wedding or anniversary projects! Our sponsor is Digital Paper Craft, and the design team was provided with a great selection of images to use. Here's what I came up with: 

I decided to use two of the images to create my own patterned paper. I picked up on the colour of the cake stand and added some gold ribbon and a gold-embossed sentiment. While I made it as a wedding card, it could also be used for a golden wedding anniversary, I think.
Pop on over to the Crafty Creations Challenges blog to see what the rest of the design team has created!  And remember to link up your own wedding or anniversary design for a chance to win! 


Supplies: white cardstock, Digital Paper Craft images, Judikins calligraphic sentiments stamp, Versamark ink, pirate's gold embossing powder, gold ribbon, pop-dot tape Pin It Now!