Pawesome

July 1st means Canada Day (or Dominion Day, if you are so inclined) and a brand new Naughty or Nice Challenge. This month, we're making it easy for you... it's ANYTHING GOES! 

Just to prove that we mean it when we say "Anything Goes", I have made a card that is absolutely ALL nice with NO naughty! 

I had fun playing with these cat stamps a couple of weeks ago for My Favourite Things' Camp Create, so decided to pull them out again for another card. This is my version of a spotlight card, with the sleeping cats stamped in grey, and the main one stamped in black, embossed in sparkle powder and coloured in. I added a little extra sparkle to his collar, nose and ears, too. 

For the background kitties, I did just a tiny bit of masking so the two cats on the left could overlap a bit. I added a strip of double-sided tape underneath them and added some glitter to ground everyone. I tried a bunch of different papers for the card base, but went with the grey zig-zags so as to not detract from the pops of colour on the main panel. 
What would you know, Simon Says Stamp is having an Anything Goes challenge, too, so off go my kitties to the link-up there. Meanwhile, the current CASology cue word is ROW, as in my row of sleeping kitties. 
With no restrictions, you have no excuse not to come and play along with us! The Anything Goes challenge runs until July 25th. 

Supplies: white cardstock, Studio Calico patterned paper, MFT I Knead You & Cat-itude stamps & die, Memento gray flannel & Luxe tuxedo black, Hero Arts sparkle embossing powder, Spectrum Noir markers, Gelly Roll clear glitter gel pen, Wow powder ultra-fine glitter, dimensionals

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You Rock(et)!

Welcome to Saturday, and to the new Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge, O is for Outer Space! 

Doesn't the challenge badge alone make you want to participate? Although it was very tempting to get out my Doctor Who stamps (I know, geek alert) yet again for a challenge like this, I went a little more generically traditional this time. 

I started by stamping and embossing the rocket in silver and the fireworks and stars in sparkle embossing powders. Then I sponged a night sky over them in various blue and purple distress inks, then splattered a little perfect pearls mist for background stars. While that dried, I stamped and embossed a few more rockets so I could colour, fussy-cut and layer them for the look I wanted. The main body of the rocket is also coated in some iridescent medium for sparkly shine. A close-up:

After embossing the sentiment in silver, I coloured it to match the rocket flames before adding it to the card along with the skyline silhouettes. I think this sentiment would be so much better if it said "You Rock(et)", but perhaps that's just me. 
With all the shimmer and sparkle going on, I'm going to add this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, Add Some Shimmer. 
Be sure to check out the many different galaxies my sisters in snark have visited this week, as well as our newest Queen of Snark and guest designer, Sharon! And then I hope you will strap on your jetpack and join us! 

Supplies: white & Bazzill textured shimmer black cardstock, Hero Arts Rocket Thank You stamps, Versamark & milled lavender, dusty concord, mermaid lagoon, faded jeans & chipped sapphire distress inks, silver & Hero Arts sparkle embossing powders, Zig watercolour markers, MFT skyline border die, homemade white confetti Perfect Pearls mist, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium

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Delightful Die Cutting

I'm up to day four of My Favorite Things Camp Create activities, Delightful Die Cutting! 

While you don't have to use partial die cutting the way craft counsellor Stephanie did, I decided I was up for the challenge. Here's what I made:

I thought this image was perfect for the partial die-cutting technique. For once, I picked my patterned paper and my markers at the same time, rather than looking for a match after the fact. (I have four shades of Spectrum Noir markers, greys, reds, teals, and purples, so my choices are less than infinite. :D) That I found sequins that were a perfect match was total luck. I realize the purpose of bags of mixed shaker sequins is not to go through and pick out a few of one colour, but hey, whatever works. Since this is a birthday card, I'm also going to link this up at Seize the Birthday. 
And now the dilemma — the final day of Camp Create calls for making a shaker card. I don't like making shaker cards, but I don't really want to stay in my cabin with a fake tummy ache for the last day of camp. We'll see... 

Supplies: white card stock, Studio Calico patterned paper, MFT I Knead You & Cat-itude stamps and dies, Spectrum Noir markers, Little Things from Lucy's Cards sequins, pop-dot tape 

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Wonderful Watercolour Craft Day

I'm back for the third day of arts and crafts activities at My Favorite Things' Camp Create! Day Three's craft is Wonderful Watercolour, and I was inspired both by Francine's beautiful card and instructional video, and by my friend Violet posting a photo of a gorgeous hibiscus on Instagram. Here's what I ended up with: 

This hibiscus stamp is a solid image, so i set myself the challenge of using it for no-line colouring, rather than the more usual outline stamp. I stamped the flower in pale pink, but used distress inks and markers to make the colour much more vivid, with a touch of yellow on the edges much as Francine did. I added some deeper colour to the centre to add more depth. I stamped the smaller stamen of the set by inking it in both pink and yellow. (There's a larger stamen that I just can't bring myself to use; I'll let you hypothesize why). I added a wash of green around the flower, then splattered both pink and green. The sentiment is embossed with sparkle embossing powder, my new favourite thing. (So to speak.) I managed to find a piece of patterned paper that matched the pinks and greens perfectly! Justifies keeping so much of it, obviously. :D 

This card is also going into the current Addicted to CAS challenge: Aloha. 

Supplies: white cardstock, Strathmore watercolour paper, Basic Grey Oliver patterned paper, MFT Tropical Sensations stamps, Memento Luxe tuxedo black & picked raspberry & lucky clover distress inks, Hero Arts sparkle embossing powder, distress markers

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MFT Camp Create — Day 2

I have another card for this week's Camp Create at My Favorite Things! Day 2's craft is Sensational Sliders, and once again my friend Steph has a helpful video about creating a slider card. 

I did not make a slider card. :( Although they are now on my wish list, I don't have the cool dies Steph used to make her card, and my brain didn't really feel like working out a DIY version today. Luckily, any interactive card counts towards today's craft badge, so I went for a wobble card! 

I love this MFT cat! Particularly since our cat Duncan often sleeps like this, flat on his back. As usual, I've used Duncan colours for my kitty, too. I hope the Polaroid background doesn't look too much like water... my original idea was that this colour would match the glitter element I would add to the card, to bring in Monday's glitter craft, as well. Didn't happen. Obviously, the personalized sentiment had to be made on computer. I think this will be a fun thank you card next time Duncan needs a cat-sitter! 

Here is some Boomerang wobble action! 

This is one of those card ideas that came into my brain almost fully-formed... I think I may have had Shopping Our Stash's current "Let Me Take a Selfie" challenge in the back of my mind. I'm also adding this to Simon Say's Stamp's Wednesday challenge, "Animal Magic". (A wobbly, belly-up kitty is magic, right?) 

I'm a little behind in the camp activities, but I generally am a rather reluctant camper. ;) If only the arts and crafts activities had been this much fun! 

Supplies: white cardstock, watercolour paper, Basic Grey Plumeria patterned paper, MFT I Knead You stamps & dies, MFT black licorice & blueprint sketch distress inks, Spectrum Noir markers, Lil' Inkers instant camera die, MFT Blueprints 24 dies, jewellery wire (for DIY wobble), Studio Calico sequins, silver Stickles, pop-dot tape

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I Love Mew

With minutes to spare, I have a card for the (barely) current My Favorite Things Sketch challenge that also incorporates yesterday's MFT Camp Create craft, using glitter! 

My friend Stephanie shared an awesome video for yesterday's glitter craft. While my use of glitter is not nearly as exciting, I did use her method to add a glittery silver strip to my card. Here it is: 

Other than moving the sketch to the right to incorporate my glitter strip, I stayed reasonably true to the sketch. I heat-embossed the kitty and sentiment with sparkle embossing powder to add some glittery goodness to the main panel, and also added a little shimmer to his ears, nose and collar. I popped the main panel up with fun foam for a little extra dimension and interest.

And now I'd better get this posted before it's too late! 

Supplies: white & purple cardstock, American Crafts Amy Tangerine Sketchbook patterned paper, MFT I Knead you stamps, Memento Luxe grey flannel ink, Hero Arts sparkle embossing powder, Spectrum Noir markers, MFT stitched square & Blueprints 24 dies, Wow ash superfine glitter, Wink of Stella clear glitter pen, fun foam, pop dot tape

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