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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Happy Little Stampers CAS: Blend

A new month brings a new round of challenges at Happy Little Stampers, and today the CAS Challenge starts with a BLEND theme! I seem to be on a nautical kick lately, and so here's another one: 

I used three shades of blue to blend my main panel and added a few splatters of water. After giving it a good coating with my powder tool, I stamped the compass rose and birds in Versamark and the sailboat in black before embossing with clear embossing powder. Even though it adds an extra layer, I gave my panel a thin black mat. I added the sentiment before adhering the panel on a bit of an angle. CAS to make and CAS to describe! :) 

My interpretation of "blend" is likely the most obvious one, but I'm sure there are other ways to use it as well! I hope you'll join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Recollections black cardstock, Birchpress Designs Let Your Dreams Set Sail, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & tumbled glass, broken china & salty ocean distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder

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Colour Hues: Blue and Tan

There is a new pairing of colours at Color Hues starting today, BLUE and TAN! I'm quite happy to work with these colours, as way back in January, I made this box with blue and tan patterned papers, and now I've made a couple of cards to put in it! 

I had two offcuts of paper from making that box which just happened to be 5¼ inches across, so they became my background panels. I then picked images from the die cut assortment that came in the original box-making kit and added them to each card. Now that I'm looking at them again, I may decide to add a few enamel dots or other embellishment to the tan card on the right, but we'll see. Here's a closer look at each card: 

Having only made two cards, adding content to my box is obviously a long-term project. :D 

Blue and tan do lend themselves nicely to an ocean theme, but you will see other great ideas on the Color Hues blog as well, from my teammates and our current guest designer, Shawna! I hope the colours and the cards will inspire you to join us. 

Supplies: Stampin' Up naturals white cardstock, Graphic 45 Ocean Blue patterned paper and die cuts, Hemptique blue twine

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The Snarky Sisters are Underwater

It's a snarky Saturday! Our new challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is U is for Underwater. Edna has unfortunately taken this challenge far too literally! You don't even have to be underwater while you make your card, unless that's a new technique you'd like to attempt. :D I stuck to having an underwater theme:

This will make a good encouragement card, but really, from the point of view of the small fish, it is rather snarky, don't you think? I started by making my background panel, blending the cardstock with distress ink, laying the wave stencil over and adding more ink, then a layer of translucent embossing paste to finish. While that dried, I got my fish ready. Because the tiny fish get cut all together with one die, I added some blue marker to the white around them so it would blend better with the background. Then, when my shark die cutting was imperfect, I added blue to his edges, too. :D 

Where does our newest challenge take you? Be sure to check out the underwater designs of the Sisters as well as our current Queen of Snark and guest designer, Monika! I hope you'll jump in and join us. 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, MFT Beach Buds & Sunny Studio Stamps Best Fishes stamps & dies, Poppystamps Whittle Sealife Sentiments, Versafine onyx black & mermaid lagoon distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Studio Katia brush stroke waves stencil, Dreamweaver translucent embossing paste

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Inkspirational: Bark

Welcome to a new Inkspirational challenge! We have a word prompt for you: BARK. I thought my teammates might tend toward the four-legged association, so I went with the tree kind: 

It also never hurts to add another Christmas card to the stash, and I tend to use my paper birch dies that way. (I like them, so yes, I have more than one set of birch dies. :D) I almost always hide the cut off ends of these trees behind a frame of some kind, but for a change, let them show atop a patterned paper mat. It was also the first time I just Copic-coloured the outlines instead of cutting them out of dark cardstock - I'll definitely do it that way again! After I added the sentiment and the little red flower/snowflake/? it still seemed to need something, so I added a sparkly snow crystal. It may still need a little something, but I'm not sure what. :D 

Fun and inspiring cards from my Ink teammates! Whatever direction the word prompt takes you, we'd love to have you join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & SU real red cardstock, Echo Park Keeping' Cozy patterned paper, Paper Smooches Birch Trees & Merry dies, MFT stitched rounded rectangle & (?) flower dies, Copic marker, Marvy-Uchida corner-rounding punch, Studio Katia iridescent ice flakes crystals

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Seize the Birthday: Butterflies/Hummingbirds

Welcome to the newest challenge at Seize the Birthday, where our optional topping, chosen by our leader Nancy, is Butterflies or Hummingbirds! I do have a hummingbird stamp, but decided to go with butterflies for my card: 

These two butterflies came out of my stash of die cuts, and dictated the colours for my card. I used a turnabout stamp in two shades each of teal and purple for the wreath, then found a birthday sentiment that would fit nicely in the centre. After I added the two butterflies, the card still needed a little something, so I added a trio of sequins under the sentiment. 

Be sure to check out the beautiful birthday creations by the StB design team and our current surprise party guest, Deepti! Our toppings are always optional, so make a birthday card and join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & (?) purple & teal cardstock, Concord & 9th Wreath Turnabout & Taylored Expressions Diamond Botanicals stamps, Catherine Pooler All That Jazz, Mint to Be & Serene & MFT Purple Rain ink, (?) die cut butterflies, Catherine Pooler Maui sequins

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