SCS - Colour Challenge #214, 2 Sketches 4 You Challenge

I decided to make two cards for today's SCS Colour Challenge. The colours were Pink Pirouette, So Saffron and Bordering Blue.

For the above card, I used a Sunshine Designs stamp that I purchased when Cathy had The Ink Spot. You can pretty much do anything with this stamp. I stamped Black Stazon onto watercolour paper and used the challenge colours to watercolour it. I added stickles in coordinating colours around the rim and on the bottom portion of the cup. I layered that onto So Saffron (textured) and then onto a bigger Bordering Blue panel and tied 5/8" Pink Pirouette grosgrain ribbon. I used a Hero Arts sentiment. My card base is Gina K. 120 lb. card stock. I layered that with Pink Pirouette that I ran through the Script Cuttlebug. For my second card, I used the 2 Sketches 4 You Sketch Challenge. Bordering Blue as my card base. I stamped Seeing Spots in the challenge colours on a piece of Whisper White card stock and layered that on a Pink Pirouette panel then tied some Saffron ribbon from the retired Ribbon Originals (Sherbet). I punched out the thank you sentiment with the 1 1/4" punch and layered that on the Saffron 1 3/8" circle. I punched out the centre flower (stamped in Bordering Blue) with the 3/4" punch. I also punched out the scallop in Pink Pirouette. I punched a small hole through all layers and adhered a pink rhinestone brad in the centre. I used a rub-on from the Chit Chat package on the bottom right and that finished it off. I hadn't used the Seeing Spots set in a very long time so I'm glad I could make my own patterned paper out of it. Thanks for lookin'.

Feeling a Breath of Spring...

Donna has been "blurfing" her little heart out, discovering all kinds of wonderful challenges for us to play. I really like this challege from Our Creative Corner. I knew immediately that I wanted to so something with a soft spring feel to match the sunny day outside my window today!

I've had this stamp from Club Scrap for a few years and I thought it would fit my vision perfectly!

It's been a while since I indulged my love of Asian images and I really enjoyed making this card. The image is stamped with Black Dye Ink, but I used a red marker to pick out the Japanese characters. I coloured the whole lightly with art pencils and used a bit of gamsol to blend just the background. Although you can't really see it in the picture, I used several shades of Art Institute Glitter to highlight the bird, the flowers, and the top edge of the largest leaves. It really added a pretty shimmer to the card!

I cut the circle with my nesties then embossed it with my favourite Cuttlebug floral embossing folder for texture. A prima flower, a pearlized brad and a sentiment panel and it was done! I particularly like this colour combo - you might see it again (and again) from me!

Belli Challenge for April Fools - A day late!

A quick card I whipped up for the Belli Challenge. This challenge was to make a card with the theme of APRIL'S FOOL DAY. I was doing other stuff yesterday and didn't come across this blog until this morning. I'm always up for a challenge, so why not? I had the Regal Rose embossed piece laying around so all I had to do was find a stamp that fit (sort of) the challenge. The stamp and sentiment are from Gina K. I watercoloured piggy using various pink-hued inks. I've been hoarding my hardware (that sounds kinda rude, doesn't it?!) so that I'd break that out too. A few punches and some ribbon - done!

SFYTT - I {heart} stamping!

I found another sketch blog that I'm planning to follow. This one is from www.iheart2stamp.com. I especially love participating in sketch challenges because I have such a hard time with layouts. This takes all of the frustrated thinking out of the craft I love, so I am a happy camper! This card has no stamping on it - something I rarely ever manage. The sentiment is from the S-U Laughter and Love rub-on package. That is something else I rarely use, but I'm going to try that a little more. Anyway, I'm fairly pleased with the way this turned out - it's a little different for me. I used Basic Gray, Whisper White and Baja Breeze card stock. I also used the Urban Garden DSP for my main image and the panel behind it. I used the Dots cuttlebug folder on the white panel. The only other tool used was my Nesties for ovals. I am pretty sure that if I didn't need to sleep, I'd be making cards all night long!

Donna

Cuttlebug baby buggy

Over the past couple of months, I have been trying to catch up on some SCS Sketch Challenges. This one was SC32. A bunch of ladies at work (5 of them - Yikes!) are ready to have babies, so I thought I'd get ahead of the game in the event one of them has a boy. I recently received Parisian Breeze Specialty paper which is absolutely amazing! It was a beautiful texture and is so thick, it's gorgeous. Can you tell I love it? It's definitely worth a couple of extra dollars. I used blender pens with baja breeze and chocolate chip ink on the raised image. I finished the card with S-U buttons and 5/8" striped grosgrain ribbon. The sentiment inside comes from the Best Yet (retired) S-U set and says "a little something for a little someone". I really hope that one of these gals has a boy!



Donna

Zen and the Art of Cutting Stuff Out of Cereal Boxes

A few days ago, I promised (threatened)? that I was going to try Mel's technique for making custom embossing plates using old cereal boxes! Well OMG, I am hooked! I finally have a reason to be grateful for the inhuman quantities of breakfast cereal that my teen aged son eats! (Keep eating, honey).

Mel's folders were made by cutting stamped images out of cereal box cardboard and adhering them to a flat panel, also cut from the cereal box. The whole thing gets sealed with a layer of Mod Podge and then you can run it through your cuttlebug to create your own custom embossed paper! There aren't enough exclamation points in the world to get me through this post!!!!

When I looked through my stamps, I just didn't have the images that I wanted for this technique, so I turned to my trusty QuicKutz Silhouette. I selected the images I wanted and cut them from cardstock first since the Silhouette won't cut through cardboard. Then I traced my die cuts onto the cardboard and cut them by hand. Here are the four plates I have made so far:

(I know, I know. But I like cutting things out! It makes me feel very Zen) I used the paisley folder to make the Valentine's card for Kristina Werner's Color Challenge - see previous post. Then I decided to experiment a bit and I made this card.

Basically, I embossed the chandelier on black cardstock, then swiped Gesso all over it. I sanded it to make the embossed image pop, but it still wasn't standing out the way I wanted. So I used Prisma Pencils and Gamsol to colour the background area pink with yellow highlights. Then it was a bit too garish for my liking. So I gessoed and sanded again. Finally, I coloured the raised areas of the chandelier with a clear Stardust pen, which doesn't really show in this picture. In real life, it really adds some glamour! This card is a little funky (even for me) so I'm back to the drawing board to see if I can come up with more ideas for using my new toys.

So now I think I'm going to spend about a week cutting stuff out of cereal boxes until I have the biggest collection of custom embossing plates on the planet! Plus, all that cutting will practically qualify me to be a Buddhist monk!

I'm Feeling the Love....

I'm not usually a big Valentine's Day girl, but when I saw this great paper from K and Company, I felt inspired to spread a little love! The first card, I made for my husband. It looks kind of old and raggedy (much like himself)!

It involves podging waxed paper to a cardstock panel and running it through your machine with an embossing folder. Then I alternated inking and sanding the panel until I got the kind of effect I wanted - kind of like an ancient fresco. I loved the texture on this panel! Then I just layered it up with some masculine (sort of) colours, ribbon, brads, and an embossed cuttlebug heart. The central image is cut from the K and Co. Paper and mounted over top.

Then I decided to make a second card for my son. This one is a little more colourful (much like himself)!

This one started as a plain white cardstock panel, embossed with the perfectly paisley cuttlebug folder then coloured with oil pastels on the raised images. I coated the whole thing with two coats of gesso, then sanded it selectively when dry to reveal more of the colours underneath. Love it! I cut the wave edge by hand and did lots of layering. Another image from the K and Co. paper, some ribbons and brads and it was done.

I'm really enjoying these cuttlebug techniques. There is a tutorial up today at Mel Stampz on how to make your own embossing folders! I can't wait to try it!

Musings on Imperfection

As much as I admire perfection in other people, I have found it just about impossible to achieve both in my life and in my crafts. You know the saying "measure twice and cut once?" This doesn't work for me. If I measure twice, I get two different results. Which then, should I cut?

But I have learned to work with, indeed, be inspired by my imperfections! Last night, as I backed out of the impossibly small and crowded parking lot where I work, I managed to back directly into a parked car. As I heard the metallic crunch somewhere over my right shoulder, it occurred to me that I really should try the new distressed metal tile technique I had read about earlier that day at the incredible Mel Stampz blog!

I love this technique! It's actually not difficult. Start by adhering a piece of aluminum foil to a panel of cardstock - use a brayer to get most of the wrinkles out - then run it through your cuttlebug with your choice of embossing folders. I used "Textile Texture." Then turn it face down on your Scor Pal and emboss a grid on the panel to emulate tiles. Cool huh? To distress the panel, I brushed on a layer of gesso, then sanded it lightly when dry. To really make the texture pop, I lightly brayered some Timber Brown StazOn ink over the raised areas.

To assemble the card, I layered a panel of Basic Grey Sultry patterned paper on a kiwi card base. Then I matted the tin panel with dark brown cardstock and adhered it the centre of my card. I stamped the Wildflower Seed image from Inque Boutique on a scrap of Basic Grey (I think it was from the Wassail collection, then coloured with chalks and highlighted with an opaque white gel pen. I matted the stamped image on dark brown cardstock and layered it on an angle to a Spellbinders lable that I had die cut from a medium blush cardstock. This went on the card with foam adhesive and I finished with a couple of scraps of kiwi coloured ribbon, tucked under the edges of the patterned paper.

Quite frankly, I'm much happier with this bit of distressed metal than I was with the distressed effect I created on my neighbour's car last night!

Dahling! You're a Little Overdressed!

Well, this was supposed to be a super quick and easy demo for a little event I'm participating in tomorrow. And it started out that way - really! But then (sigh), it grew. But it is kinda fun!

I stamped the dress from Hero Arts new "Glamorous" set twice with black ink - once on a panel of Prism Brilliant White cardstock and once on this fun floral paper from Scenic Route. I cut out the skirt and most of the bodice from the patterned paper and adhered them over top the stamped image on white cardstock. Because I didn't feel like cutting around all the ruffles at the top, I coloured them with a red pencil crayon instead. Then, just as I was about to colour the sash with my pencil crayon (and this is where it all started to get off track), I thought it would be even cuter if I cut tiny little slits on either side of the waistline and tied a tiny piece of ribbon through it. And it was cute!

Really, I was pretty pleased with myself at this point, but... the plain brown cardstock panel I was going to mount it on just wasn't dressed for the occasion. So I decided to run it through my Cuttlebug with the Perfectly Paisley embossing folder because, really, despite the bad rep I still feel strongly that paisley is always appropriate! Now, I should have stopped there for the purposes of my demo, but I was really starting to feel this project - know what I mean?

So I made a 5.5 " square red card for the base and added a little hand cut wave out of some coordinating Scenic Route paper to layer on top. I added my stamped panel and it was looking pretty good but... if a girl is going to get all dressed up, she really needs some accessories, right? I just happened to have some citrine rhinestones from Kaiser lying around, so I applied them along the curve and well, there you have it - completely overdressed for the occasion!

So now I need to go back to the drawing board for my demo but... it was fun while it lasted!