a sympathy tree (SSS, ABNH, Friday Mashup, MIM)

Squeakin' in here with a card that has been in my brain for a couple days but just now came to life. It started when I saw this tree card of Shirley B.'s.

When I saw these challenges I had to give it a try:
A Blog Named Hero #44 - (em)Boss
Make it Monday #166 - deboss stamped images
The Friday Mashup - a tree or embossing or both
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Debossed the Mighty Oak from Papertrey onto watercolor paper.  Die cut a mask from vellum and put it over the tree trunk using temporary adhesive.  Splattered the heck out of it with greens and a blue Distress Inks. Mopped up excess ink with scrap paper and used a strip of it behind the focal image.

Tried to get a good photo and failed. Here is a close-up which shows the debossing.

Off to hook up.  Thanks for looking.

Supplies for with sympathy:

Paper:  CS Bringmann, watercolor paper

Stamps: PTI

Ink : various Distress, Versafine

Tools: die PTI

Other: 

pti may blog hop (PTI)

Well that's what I get for playin' around all weekend. Roll off of the wine wagon today, check my blog reader and hoopla, it's time for another PTI blog hop.  I missed about the past five.  But, after a gorgeous day and some good wine, I figured I'd just whip something up ;)) I pulled out some PTI roses and the right colors of ink and voila.

Unfortunately, at 11 p.m. there's no chance for natural lighting. Sorry. But I made it this month, yippie. Can't wait to see what everyone has made with aqua and melon.

Oh, and I'm hooking up to Make it Monday #165 too (haven't been there for ages either) cuz I spritzed the second and third layers of the roses before stamping to get 'em a bit watercolory. 

Enjoy the hop.

Supplies for life is sweet:

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps: PTI, jar American Crafts

Ink : various

Tools: dies PTI

Other: washi tape Kesi

RIC gone masculine and a winner (RIC)

 Wanted to play along at RIC again.

It was the design on the floor which caught my eye. And yellow. Which became this.

Because I needed a birthday card for my godson who is actually now a man ;) A die cut. Some Distress Ink markers (in Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo and Mustard Seed to go masculine).  A paintbrush and water to "pull" color applied through a die cut template.  And a sentiment heat embossed onto Distress Inked vellum.

And I've a winner from this blog post.  DS picked #14 so the lucky commenter to win a SENTIMENT BUILDERS: Thank You set is

Hussena

Please contact me with your mailing address, Hussena, and we'll get the set off to you. Thanks for looking.

Supplies for herzlichen glueckwunsch:

Paper:  CS Bringmann, watercolor paper, vellum

Stamps:  sentiment Klartext

Ink : distress inks, Versamark

Tools: die SSS

Other: white embossing powder

happy birthday, teamie! (AAA, sprinkle of imagination)

We're having another birthday party over at STAMPlorations.  Can you guess who it's for when you see this?

Image Source

OK, so imagine a luscious, satiny bow tied atop this cake. Or atop a card that rocks big, bold and beautiful colors.  Like B/W and hot pink? Getting any ideas? How about this...

Happy Birthday, dear Vicki!  This card of hers is the one I chose to CASE for our birthday celebration.  Alas, my journey took a few detours.  Interested? If not, just scroll down to my card ;))

So I'm thinkin' "black and white and hot pink with polka dots." Then I see this card Vicki posts and decide I have to incorporate the "gelatos, stamped and dry embossed" thing too. Hmmm - maybe some pieces die cut from a "techniqued" piece of CS, layered over something die cut from B/W PP??

At the same time I see the current challenge photo at A Sprinkle of Imagination and can't get it outta my head. Love that doodled feel... B/W, ya know?

Then enter AAA Cards. Have you heard about this new challenge blog?  Vicki introduced me to it. Clean and simple with some twists.  How fun.  And here is Linda B.'s card to be inspired by this week.

SOOOOO. See the subway art look of the sentiment on the inspiration card?  Ding, ding, ding... STAMPlorations SUBWAY ART: Dare blew into my mind.  And dots, lots of them.  But how to make the doodled flowers play a role too?? And of course a bow, cuz a Vicki-CASEd card must have one?? Well I veered off the big, bold and beautiful road and headed down the lotsa white space one. And this happened.

These are my wishes for you in your "new year", Vicki.  Hope you had a very happy birthday ;))

I'm hooking up to the two challenges which inspired me.  To clarify, at A Sprinkle of Imagination you are to use at least three of the colors.  I colored the centers of the black blooms lime green, but ya can't hardly see it in the photo :(   I'm also joining in at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where it's about "botanical bliss". I think Ashli's project over there inspired me a bit too ;)

Have a wunnerful weekend, all.

Supplies for image the impossible:

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps:  flowers Hero Arts, sentiment STAMPlorations

Ink : Memento black

Tools: tag die Hero Arts, embossing folder Cuttlebug

Other: gelatos, colored pencil, twine

more butterflies and blooms (CASE, SSS, sprinkle of imagination)

Did you see my card yesterday?  Butterflies. (And a giveaway!)  Well with rabbles on the mind and this cool card of Wida's up at CASE Study...

... and a nudge from Tracey M. to use this PTI Cutting Garden bloom, this is what I came up with. 

Some stamping, heat embossing, dry embossing, washi taping, die cutting, splattering...

TIP: Best to do splattering before you've got your card done. Unfortunately, it dawned on me that splatters were one element of Wida's card that I wanted to CASE after I had everything else done. I had to fake them. Do I like my splatters? Nope. Do I like the two-toned embossing on the Ranunculus? Yep ;)

So with blooms on the mind as well as these challenges...

A Sprinkle of Imagination - May

and

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Botanical

I went on another adventure.  With gelatos.  Everyone makes them look so easy but they are definitely not my BFF. Watched this video and thought "looks easy enough." Ha! This is my salvaged card.

Heat embossed the CHF distressed diamonds BG. Knowing I wanted to stamp the CHF daisy, I applied gelatos in lime, turquoise, purple, orange and fuchsia roughly where the bloom would later be.  Spritzed with water.  Painted with a wet brush.  And the darn blue (around the lime center - nod to Darnell K.) just kept disappearing.  Crazy. 

Kept playing with it until I finally decided it was time to give up and just iron off the embossing.  I do like how the distressed nature of the stamp let some of the color through so that the emboss-remove diamonds were not totally white.

But then the next crazy.  Stamped the daisy with purple Adirondack ink. Didn't work. Is there such a thing as "gelato-resist"??? Dabbed it up as much as I could and restamped with orange StazOn. Couldn't see it well enough so I stamped it again with black StazOn.  Then added some more blue gelato where I wanted it to be. Nothing like force, eh? Geesh.

A heat embossed sentiment on vellum and a couple punched dragonflies decided to hop on board.

The purple layer behind the panel?  That was my stamping off of the daisy stamp after stamping it on the panel and before cleaning it ;)

Happy weekend.  I'll announce the winner of the STAMPlorations stamp set tomorrow, BTW.

Supplies for happy birthday A

Paper:  CS Bringmann, vellum, PP Pink Petticoat

Stamps:  PTI, sentiment STAMPlorations

Ink : Adirondack, Versamark

Tools: butterfly die Hero ARts, alpha die PTI

Other: Heidi Swapp spray ink, gold polka dot washi, white and gold embossing powder

Supplies for happy birthday

Paper:  watercolor paper, vellum, old book

Stamps: CHF, sentiment STAMPlorations

Ink : Versamark, StazOn

Tools: 

Other: gelatos

exploration STAMPlorations grunge floral strips and a giveaway! (CTS)

Welcome to my third day of showcasing three of STAMPlorations latest stamp sets.  Today I am working with this kinda unique VIGNETTE: Grunge Floral Strips:

BTW, those green arrows mark the two stamps I used on my card.  But first off, the challenges I chose to inspire my card - CAS(E) this Sketch #76 and Colour Q #241.

I'm not really a hexagon gal.  When I looked at that sketch I saw a rabble of butterflies!  So I stamped the longer stamp (in brown) and the shorter stamp (in pool) onto scrap CS, and die cut and punched some butterflies.

So I basically used the stamps to create my own PP in the colors I needed.  The small motif lends itself to this, especially for smaller die cuts.What else could you do with these stamps?  How about making fake washi to match your project's colors?  Or creating a frame for a die cut word? Or how about this idea of Nonni's?

Oh. When I was looking for some graph paper-ish PP I stumbled upon this one from My Mind's Eye and decided that those blooms would be sweet down in the corner (thereby disqualifying myself from the Colour Q challenge!). But I still thought a gold flutterby would be fun! And then I added the sentiment from SUBWAY ART: Dare, inking it ombre with pool and turquoise before stamping. And I added a bit of Wink of Stella  to the large butterfly as you can see in the closeup.

Soooo. Did I mention a giveaway? I hope you saw my cards from day 1 and day 2? I'm giving away one of the three stamp sets I used on my cards (courtesy of Shery R. owner of STAMPlorations) and here's the deal...

Leave me a comment (by Friday midnight EST) telling me which set - Dare, Thank You or Grunge Floral - you like best and why. Or how you would use it. I'll pick a lucky winner on Saturday!

Have a great rest of the week and thanks for visiting.

Supplies for dare to dream

Paper:  CS Bringmann, PP MME

Stamps:  STAMPlorations

Ink : blues Inkadinkado, brown Memento

Tools: large butterfly die Memory Box, small butterfly Clearly Besotted, butterfly punch Martha Stewart

Other: Wink of Stella

exploration STAMPlorations sentiment builders: thank you (CASE, ABNH, SSS)

Back with the second installment of my exploration of STAMPlorations' latest release.  This time I've used the stamp set called SENTIMENT BUILDERS: Thank You.

Is that one versatile sentiment set or what?  Even an extra "s" so you can use the "thank you" or "thanks" version in combination with the other words.

So I found these challenges at A Blog Named Hero and CASE Study. And I'm hooking up once more to the Die Crazy challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

And made this card.

Another CAS, like yesterday's, but with a couple more techniques. I heat embossed the large "thanks" sentiment in white on white (although it's lookin' gray here) three times before adding the secondary sentiments in gray ink. TIP: Using an acrylic block with lines on it makes lining up the individual words of the smaller sentiments a piece of cake.

Then I die cut the blooms twice and inked them with the colors of Wida's embellishments. TIP: Leave intricate die cuts in their negative when inking and use a pouncing rather than swiping motion to prevent them breaking. I rounded all the corners and voila!

So, stay tuned for my third and final card tomorrow.  Remember to come by and leave a comment and you might be the lucky winner of a stamp set from the latest STAMPlorations release.

Supplies for triple thanks

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps:  STAMPlorations

Ink : Distress Inks, Versamark, Hero Arts Granite

Tools: daisies die SSS, corner rounder EKS

Other: white embossing powder

exploration STAMPlorations subway art: dare (CASOS, SSS, Colour Q)

Howdy folks! I've got a trio of posts coming at you in the next three days, showcasing some of the newly released STAMPlorations sets. Thanks to the generosity of Shery R. owner of STAMPlorations (and also Stamping Royalty 2014!) you could win yourself one of the sets if you come back here on Wednesday and leave a comment. Just sayin' ;)))

So, I grabbed my first set SUBWAY ART BUILDERS: Dare.  You can use these as a block (a la subway art). Or cut them apart and you've got some great individual sentiments too.  My fave is that last one with the sketched letters.

Then I hit blogland and picked out a couple challenges, CAS on Sunday #33 Sketch, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Die Crazy and Colour Q #241.

Taking my cue from the sentiment "follow your heart", here's my CAS card.

I used pigment inks to unevenly ink up the reverse of  a circle stamp (going for a watercolor look) and to swipe some color onto scrap CS which I then die cut for the hearts. Stitched them on and added the sentiment - doesn't its size work perfectly for a card front? I think it would work well on the inside of a card too...

That's it for today.  Come back again tomorrow, OK?

Supplies for follow your heart

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps: circles PTI, sentiment STAMPlorations

Ink : blues Inkadinkado, gold Tsukineko, brown Clearsnap

Tools: heart die Amuse

Other: sewing machine

STAMPlorations sketch #12

Sharing a card with you for the latest sketch challenge over at STAMPlorations which was actually a submission call reject which just happens to fit the bill for sketch #12.  Love it when that happens ;)

Presenting the sketch...

And my shimmery, glimmery card...

The submission call category was Art Deco.  I used some other stamps for the peacock feathers and glam BG (stamped with Perfect Medium and then covered with Perfect Pearls like here), but the font of the sentiments in VIGNETTE: Art Deco Border Builders is the perfect font for Art Deco style creations, don't you agree?

I heat embossed the sentiment in gold onto some tiny black die cuts and attached them as well as one cut from turquoise shimmer CS with a brad and some twirly metallic thread wisps. Kinda see the sketch if you mirror image it?

Check out what our guest designer, Debbie created, as well as the STAMPlorations DT.  Show us what you've come up with.  As always, there are prizes up for grabs!  Sketch Challenge #12 ends on May 30.

Appreciate your visit.

Supplies for hello you

Paper:  CS Bringmann, shimmer CS DCWV

Stamps: BG Impression Obsession, feather Kelly Purkey, sentiment STAMPlorations

Ink : Perfect Medium, Versamark

Tools: paintbrush, Christmas tree die SSS

Other: Perfect Pearls, brad Basic Grey, thread

washi in the sky with... stitching (SSS, Virginias View)

Are you like me, you have 20 rolls of washi in your stash but never know quite what to do with it? Well the Open Auditions for Gallery Idol 2014 over at Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking are asking for entries using washi.  Tja.  What to do?

I'm kinda stuck in a hand-lettering, foot-loose-and-fance-free rut these days.  So decided to give it a go with washi.  And since washi seems to always be about big and bold, I challenged myself to make it not.  It almost worked.

Big it is.  Bold, it's not really, right?  I created a watercolored sky BG and pulled out the most delicate washi tape I own.  Laid some down on white CS to make my letters then cut them out. Stitched for added interest and adhered with various height adhesive. And this is what happened.

Hope you likey.

I'm playing at:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challege - Die Crazy (I die cut PC-generated sentiments with teeny MFT cloud dies from some of the leftover watercolored BG)
Virginia's View - Stitching

Supplies for high on you:

Paper:  CS Bringmann, watercolor paper

Stamps: 

Ink :

Tools: clouds die MFT, scissors, sewing machine

Other: washi, PC generated sentiment

happy birthday, sandie! (ATCAS)

You probably know Sandie of London Days (or maybe through one of the other five challenge blogs she DTs for so diligently).  Well, today is her birthday and there are a slew of folks wanting to wish her a wonderful day and year.  Check it out here at Nonni's blog.

I first "met" Sandie when we started working together on the STAMPlorations DT.  I totally loved this card of hers that you might remember from blogland.  Well I chose to combine the sentiment Sandie used on that card, the current challenge at Addicted to CAS (Off the edge) where Sandie also works her magic and a technique I used not long ago to make a card.

Here's to a great new year for you Sandie!  Enjoy your day.

Supplies for let's celebrate you:

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps: STAMPlorations, TAWS

Ink : Distress Ink, Versafine

Tools: circle punch

Other: black marker

hey there birdie (Paper Players, SSS)

Oopsy daisy.  (On a tangent... I actually say that.  As does Hugh Grant in Notting Hill (LOVE THAT MOVIE). And I think Nichole H. must follow my blog (HA!) and liked this card way back when enough to create a new stamp set based on it. Of course, right? (HA HA HA HA HA HA))

Anyhoo, I guess in the excitement of the blog hop for it I forgot to post a card from the Card Creations Volume 12 that came out back in March.  It truly is a great (and still paper, folks) issue. Martha will second me on that - she was lucky to win a copy on my blog back in the hop.

Well I want to share this card with you cuz of how I was inspired.  Got a circular in the mailbox and there was a set of sheets with lotsa white and a branch and leaves in citrusy colors.  So I pulled out a NBUS, Bird die from Lifestyle Crafts and set about to create this card.

Moral of the story... inspiration abounds.  Just gotta keep your eyes open, like this birdie here. Thanks for looking.

I'm joining the fun over at Paper Players where the colors are Coral, Saffron and Pear.  Close enough, I hope. And this week at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge it's all about Die Cuts.  Can do.

Supplies hey there:

Paper: cardbase Bringmann, PP Bringmann

Stamps: W Plus 9

Ink:  Versafine

Tools: rectangle die Lil Inker, bird die Lifestyle Crafts, branch die Sizzix, leaves die MFT

Other 

dreamy hello (SSS, Virginias View)

Have you seen the June 2014 issue of Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking yet?  There was one category that I couldn't get enough of... Inspired by Song Lyrics.  You'll die when you see which song/idea came to my mind first... they shared my card over on the PC and S blog!

But I get to share another with you here.  This was for the Stamping on Different Mediums category. (And the complete opposite as far as style goes.)

Artsy fartsy. I stamped the floral arrangement and roughly colored it with gelatos which I then hit with a wet paint brush. Added some bright orange accents with a colored pencil.  Then I randomly stamped the airy Posies from Technique Tuesday on acetate with StazOn and stitched the acetate over the stamped panel. Love how it kinda floats over the image underneath. TIP: Use temporary adhesive to hold the acetate in place when stitching, then rub it off.

Playing at:
Virginia's View #3 cuz stitching is a great way to attach acetate to a card
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where it's about Spring Flowers

Have a great day!

ETA:  This card showed up over on the PCS blog today and it's so cool to see what it inspired Go-To-Gal Laura W. to make!

Supplies for hello:

Paper:  CS Bringmann, PP Kesi Art, recycled acetate

Stamps:  Hero Arts/BG, Technique Tuesday

Ink : Versafine, StazOn

Tools: sewing machine

Other: gelatos

string art stitching (Virginia's View)

Remember doing string art in school?  My folks still have my light-blue-dark-blue-parabolas-on-black-velvet hanging in their basement! How about string art on cards?

Fancied up an image from Sew Lovely from The Craft's Meow with some embroidery floss stitched in string art style.  Should have posted this a week ago for Cinco de Mayo, eh?

Joining the fun at Virginia's View #3 where it's all about stitching.  Join in.

Supplies for sew lovely:

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps:  The Craft's Meow

Ink : Versafine

Tools: paper piercer, needle, embroidery floss

Other: bling

simply create too 61 (anything but a card)

No cards allowed this time over at Simply Create Too.  Our theme for challenge #61 is "Anything but a Card". So how about a wine bottle tag?

Do you know this technique?  Apply Versamark or Perfect Medium and then brush on Perfect Pearls?  Learned it from Nichole H. at Papertrey. If you love shimmer, this technique's for you.

Join us for this fun challenge.  So many of you out there create such beautiful paper projects that are not cards.  This is your chance to get some extra attention.

Thanks for visiting.

Supplies for cheers tag:

Paper:  CS DCWV, vellum

Stamps: 

Ink : Versamark

Tools: triangle and you die SSS, tag and alpha dies PTI, 2 die Memory Box, oval die Sizzix

Other: Perfect Pearls

CASAF... (STAMPlorations, ATCAS, Moxie Fab)

... as in "clean-and-simple-artsy-fartsy".  Cuz that's how I described my style back in my Moxie Fabber of the Week interview, all the while thinking that the two really don't go together.  Hmm.

Well hear ye, hear ye - Make a CAS card and make it grungy.  Huh?

Kylie heads off to Europe and leaves us with a challenge like that! Proves that there is room in the world for CASAF!

Well the first thing that came to mind was my STAMPlorations Holiday Artsy stamp set. And as I was admiring the cards in the gallery I stumbled upon this card from Loli.  And in her post, talking about "creatividad", she included this photo.

Image Source

Me gusto muchisimo! It'd make me so dang happy to think that my brain looked a little like this. Had to share it with you!

So I took my stamps, lotsa Distress Paint, the current sketch at STAMPlorations and this is what happened.  And before you ask, one line in the copy under "right brain" in the ad reads "I am the sound of roaring laughter" which instantly brought Katy Perry to mind. Thus my sentiment... figure I can add "it's your birthday" on the inside later.

Took a scrap of watercolor paper (note I left it the shape it was - left brain) and heat embossed my hand-lettered sentiment before smooshing the panel into some spritzed yellow Distress Paint. TIP: Use an embossing pen to hand-letter a sentiment.

When dry, hit it with some purple, pink, orange and green paint then spritz and watch the magic (right brain) happen. TIP: You can stop the magic anytime you want (left brain) with a dab of paper towel.

Repeat for another layer. Remember, I was going for the feel of the "right brain" in the ad.

When dry, I pulled out the stamps, splotched some paint onto my craft sheet and stamped with it. Used the block shape and a brush stroke stamp.

Then some yellow "coffee stains" and after I dried them I repeat stamped the wavy brush stroke at the left, hit it with water only there and let the paint flow.  A la the ad. (very right brain - you OCDers are freakin' out about now)

Waste not, want not, ya know? TIP: Mop up the leftovers with scrap CS or tracing paper.  I also re-heat-embossed the sentiment cuz Distress Paints don't really work with the emboss resist technique even if you wipe the embossing up after every layer.  TIP: Do your embossing after the panel is finished ;) Then came the three graphic strips (left brain)  and voila!

Hooking up at the Moxie Fab Handwriting challenge too. Thanks for sticking around for my oration on CASAF!  Have a good one.

Supplies for ROAR:

Paper:  CS Bringmann, watercolor paper

Stamps: STAMPlorations, chaos Alexandra Renke

Ink :  Versafine

Tools: embossing pen

Other: Distress paint, black embossing powder