calling a nest a basket i am

Have you joined us at The Mixed Media Card Challenge yet? It's all about flowers this month. And I actually made a card with not only the flowers, but also the optional element of basket!

Sort of.

Cuz I don't have a basket stamp. Or die. At least not that I know of, which obviously means I have too many of each. But I have this trusty old bird's nest that I like to use. And I've also got "a thing" about putting bird's nests - or baskets - on top of ladies' heads. So all I needed were the flowers...

And some tissue paper that my latest stamps arrived in (which I dabbed some light pink pigment ink to) and a Martha Stewart hydrangea punch took care of that!

A side view...

So what's mixed media about my card? Well stamps and inks and

Techniques: stamping on PP, masking, heat embossing
Dimension: tissue paper blooms, sentiment on vellum, sequins
Texture: clear embossing paste through ARTplorations Shutters stencil on BG and heat embossing

You can see the clear embossing paste catching the light in this shot - upper left corner and on the right by that green swirl...

I recycled (tissue paper) and included LOTS of flowers so I'm hooking up at Mixed Media Mojo's April challenge.

And since this card is on its way to someone's birthday that I missed... I'm joining the Due Date challenge at Simon Says Monday.

not quite leger

The adjective "leger" in German means casual. In fashion, casual and somewhat sloppy. As in, laying around the house in your sweats. Certainly not what Herve Leger had in mind with this:

If you zoom in, there's a golden sheen to the dress which made me grab my shimmer CS from DCWV. I stamped some Inkadinkado mistletoe on it and then added some bling in a nod to the pink and orange on the rest of the dress.

Then I framed the stamped piece with black CS and heat embossed some beaded corners with gold in a nod to the studs running along all the panels of the dress. A WMS sentiment from Festive Foliage finished it off.

I'm also joining the gals at Time Out where #19 is about Embossing with the optional element of sparkle. Got both! Thanks for looking.

evolution of a goldfish (KIS, CFC)

No, not as in science.  As in, where did this card come from?  Take a piece of  paper (not seen here) watercolored with Distress Inks and the squish method .  Have this funky fish BG stamp fall out of the box you keep your BG stamps in as you move it from right to left for the hundredth time. Think "hmm, I could stamp that over the watercolored paper."  Stamp it.  Stamp off on a scrap of white card.  Decide you don't know what to do with the now-watercolored-and-stamped specimen cuz it doesn't look as spiffy as you thought it would.  Decide to color one goldfish on the stamped-off piece cuz you saw the latest challenge at Keep it Simple - White and a Splash (Get it? Fish...Water...Splash) and confused it with Play Date Cafe's B/W with Magenta and taaa daaa... The evolution of a goldfish!

Briefly thought of re-coloring him magenta, but I had a fantail goldfish for awhile as a kid so I consider this a tribute to him!  And I figure I'll hook up at KIS anyway just to stir things up a bit since black isn't really a color ;)

And lucky me.  Messed up for my original challenge plan, but CASual Fridays has a Tic Tac Toe challenge going on in celebration of their 2nd birthday and I'm in with B/W, embossing and birthday.  Whew.

TIP: Nautical is trending.  Need a simple nautical touch?  Use a circle punch to create a wavy water effect like on my sentiment strip.

Happy Monday.

Supplies best fishes:

Paper: card base Buttinette, black Bringmann, white Neenah

Stamps: Stampout, sentiment Fiskars

Ink: Versafine, colored pencils

Tools: circle punch

Other: white embossing powder

mod squad (RIC, SCS)

Remember a show called "Mod Squad" back in the (I'm guessin' 70s)?  Not sure why, but this card made me think of it...

A die cut tag.  Some stamping.  Some masking.  A border punch.  Some twine.  A Happy Birthday sentiment on the inside.

My inspiration came from Runway Inspired Challenge #30.

That dress on the right.  Yello and black.  Graphic.  Some splashes of color.  A few flowers.  I put that into effect but chose a chartreuse cardbase instead.  Just felt funkier.  Thought the tag was a nod to fashion, though I'm sure those outfits don't have price tags!

Also playing at SCS Love Fest 2013F where The Cat's Pajama has an inspiration board, also with yellow and black graphic elements.

Thanks for stopping.

Supplies:

Paper: cardbase DCWV, CS Neenah, striped scrap

Stamps: SEI, BG WMS

Ink :Versafine

Tools: die PTI, punch Fiskars

Other: twine

just keep swimming (TAWS, Retro, Moxie)

I love the sentiment "just keep swimming" - for multiple reasons.  For encouragement, for sickness.  And I'm a Great Lakes girl (although I must admit I'm not a big swimmer)!

Used a free digi stamp from The Alley Way Stamps to go with a maritime theme for their "Be Inspired #14" challenge:

And I used Retro Sketch #36.  Again.  Love this top heavy design.

What do I like about this card?  I recycled security envelopes - the blue/white stripe and the map.  punched the top of the kraft piece with a circle punch to create waves.  I handmade a life preserver with circle punches.  And I used my one-and-only square punch to create the flags for the bunting AND to put the notch in the bottom of the banners.  Like this:

Love that trick.  No die cutting or bending the paper to snip it with scissors!  And for that reason I'm parking over at Moxie Fab World's "Square Punch" challenge too.

Appreciate your visit.

Supplies forjust keep swimming:

Paper:CS Neenah,  PPOctober Afternoon, recycled envelopes

Stamps:digi Alley Way Stamps, numbers Glitzi

Ink : alcohol inks, StazOn

Tools: punches EKS, sewing machine

Other: ribbon Sew Sweet, colored pencil

soup and nuts and stencils and die cuts (Three Cool Chicks, Moxie Fab, SSS)

Are we having FUN yet?

My latest fun... I'm playing with Three Cool Chicks and their trendy ideas.  Days 3 and 4 were about stencils and die cuts.  Ta da.  I am (since summer) the proud owner of an alphabet die.  And before I busted a couple individual letters out of the pack, I die cut the whole caboodle a couple times from chipboard.  Cuz ya never know, right?

Enter my luscious Dylusions ink sprays.  I sprayed over the negative and onto white CS.  Ta da.

My plan had been to use the white CS to make a card.  But my wannabe-artist-heart beat faster when I saw this abundance of gorgeous color plus typography.  I was almost more enthralled with the color-intense negative than the positive. What to do?  Then after taking these photos, as I laid the negative on the positive on my way back to my ironing board (read: crafting space), I had a lightbulb moment.  Intrigued?  Stay tuned for more - I got three cards outta these bad boys.

Here is #3, which was actually the third one I made but you get to meet him first ;)

Let me just say this was what I had leftover after #1 and #2.  Now the "hi" in the midst of other letters is no new thing.   Just new for me.  Thought about die cutting some shape out of this piece but I couldn't bring myself to cut off any of that scrumptious color except for a teensy bit around the edges.  So I cut my card base down to be a bit more square and attached.

I had cut the "h" and "i" out of some gold CS (like I said, stay tuned!) and decided I liked the shape of the negative.  Looks kinda like a house, doesn't it?  Stuck it on and stitched for some interest.  The bottom edge needed something.  Not sure I like my solution, but oh well, now it has "something"!  Popped a little scrap of gold behind a few of the holes too.  See?

So, once again thanks to Yvonne, Amy and Julie for all the fun I'M having ;) Check them out if you haven't yet.

So that's my Soup and Nuts for the Tuesday Trigger photo over at Moxie Fab.

And how about one more shot at Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes challenge?

Supplies hi:

Paper: card base Buttinette, recycled chipboard, gold CS Ursus

Stamps: none - wow!

Ink:Dylusions ink spray

Tools: die PTI, border punch Fiskars

Other: sewing machine

mend a broken heart (Tuesday Trigger)

Thought I was sitting this Tuesday Trigger out until we got a call this morning telling us that a friend is in the hospital after having a heart attack.  He's too young for that!

Wanted to make a card to go with a casserole I'll be taking to his family and opted for the colors and feel of the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger and the sketch at Hero Arts.

 

Immediately thought of a sketchy heart stamp I have to reproduce the "broken" heart, but when I pulled it out I discovered that it was way too big for this sketch.  Solved that problem by punching a heart out of a Post It, laying the negative onto a portion of the stamp, inking the stamp through the mask with Versamark and then stamping the "smaller" heart onto CS before heat embossing.

A heat embossed sentiment strip.  Some punched and die cut strips.  A rounded corner.  Easy enough for me.  Hope his recovery goes as smoothly.

Thanks for visiting (again) today.

Supplies Feel better soon:

Paper: CS American Crafts, Coredinations
Stamps: heart Posh Impressions, sentiment Hero Arts
Ink: Versamark
Tools: die MFT, border punch Fiskars, circle punch and corner rounder EKS, embossing powder Rayher and Zing
Other: