altenew october challenge - subtle

Been creating, inspired by this month's Altenew challenge, and here are my next two creations. You might have caught my mention of the Mega Succulent stamp sitting in my newly-purchased-to-be-used-before-putting-away basket. A fantastic stamp (which appears to be on sale at Altenew right now ;) but daunting too. So I headed to the interwebs.

Jennifer M. made this version scribbling Zigs and spritzing lots of water. Her video explains it all so I'll skip that part. Here's my version, using the orange, yellow and green tones of the challenge. And some perfect pearl/water spritzes on top for lots of shimmer.

Altenew Mega Succulent stamp

Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens
vellum

white embossing powder

The inside reads "happy". The sentiments in the stamp set work perfectly with the image too, BTW. Love that perfect pearls shimmer! And this is definitely the quickest way to get that stamp colored. I spent a little time adding some shading, but in total it probably took about 20 minutes.

So then I made a version inspired by Therese C's version which you can watch her make here. I used two yellows, two oranges and a green Zig (and more than three times as many minutes as for the first one ;) But that was OK with me cuz I had some "me" time in my craft room ;) I did decide to not cut this one down but rather leave it square. I like the aesthetic of the total image.

Altenew Mega Succulent stamp 

Altenew Super Script stamp

Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens
vellum

bronze embossing powder

Shading. Highlighting. I've still got a long way to go, but I'm glad I gave it a try. Love how the glitter bronze embossing powder is carried through from the outline of the bloom to the sentiment embossed on vellum.

I'll be back with one more version. Don't know if this second one counts as subtle, but the next one? Definitely not subtle ;)

I'm joining:

Moo Mania - Autumn
The Flower Challenge - Add Sparkle

Happy Little Stampers - October Watercolor (got the gold!)

Stempelkueche - Leaves (cuz succulents have leaves!)

Time Out - Colorful

MFT Sketch Challenge - #407 (no MFT products, but inspiration for sentiment placement!)

reed bird swoon

Welcome to my post about a reed bird. He made me swoon when I finished coloring him. I hope he makes you swoon too. Fun word, eh?

Cuttlebug Thanks die

Memory Box Bird die

Savvy Grass die

SSS Thoughtful Messages stamp 

Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens

Gotta love that Perfect Pearls shimmer and what it does for colored die cuts...

Taking this card to:
#thedailymarker30day
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Layer it up (I layered layers of color on my birdie)
CUTplorations - January cuz of the colors
Tuesday Throwdown - Favorite Color (mine is magenta and the tones around it on the color wheel)
CASology - Swoon

CUTplorations january

Well hi, hello and a happy new year to you, friends! Nothing like having a challenge go live on the first Monday of the month which also happens to be Jan 1, 2018! Wow. Good morning! Hope you joyfully rung in the new and are ready to jump back into creating.

Here's our inspiration photo for the January CUTplorations challenge over at STAMPlorations. Speaking of fresh and new...

image source: Jørn Allan Pedersen

Hello die, Stitched Winter Landscape die

Can you say "literal"? When I saw that sky I had to do some ink smooshing with Distress Inks - a whole range of purple, pink and yellow/orange. And a good dose of Perfect Pearls mist too, see in the closeup? Popped the bottom section of the die cut area up on black craft foam for a fun shadow effect.

Hope you'll find time to join us for some die cutting fun this month over at the CUTplorations challenge. Just make a project based on our inspiration using at least one die cut. Be sure to use at least one STAMPlorations product too and hook up to the gallery. Your project might be chosen as a winner. You can see how the CUTplorations DT was inspired by this month's photo here.

And don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code for 20% off in the sidebar should you feel the need to welcome 2018 with a crafty goodies purchase ;) Here's to a new year of happy crafting!

I'm joining the Anything Goes fun at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday and the Something New challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday. And I'm playing with the gals at Mixed Media Monthly Challenge where it's time to Ring in the New. Here's to a brand-spanking new year friends!!!

STAMPlorations inspiration #91

It's time for another inspiration post over at STAMPlorations. I chose to give the tiniest stamp from Kathryn's Big Wishes a work out.

On a die cut wonky panel I stamped using that little confetti stamp. However I used Zig Clean Color Brush Pens to ink up the dots, using multiple colors and only randomly coloring some of the dots each time I stamped. Clear as mud?

After I'd stamped my cascade of dots it didn't look so hot. So I spritzed twice with Perfect Pearls/water mix to get the colors moving a little, plus shimmer. Me likey.

I decided to mount the wonky panel at an angle, but stamped my secondary sentiment from Sentiment Builders Love first. Adhered the panel and then the CUTplorations Birthday.

I love all the blue tones and watercolor look. But I love all that white space most ;) Please check out the other inspiration here and remember to comment for your chance to win a $10 GC to the STAMPlorations store.

spotlight on scissors

Well, scissors and stamps and inks and Perfect Pearls mix. Check out my suggestion for giving your one layer cards a bit of a kick. I'm up with a spotlight post over at STAMPlorations.

STAMPlorations inspiration #90

It's inspiration day over at STAMPlorations and I've got a rabble for you. I gave the butterfly from Gone Postal a good workout.

If you want to find out exactly how I created this card, check out my spotlight post over on the STAMPlorations blog this evening!

And don't forget to leave a comment over there to be in the running for a $10 GC.

MMCC #25

Ready for a fun challenge over at the Mixed Media Card Challenge? This month's theme is "Sparkle" with the option of gems. This is sure to please a lot of you ;)

Now that I think of it, I guess I went more "shimmer" than "sparkle". But I've got some flashy sequins that are doing their parts to be gems ;)

I started with a black cardbase. I stamped PTI Scribble Circles in white on the cardbase. Then I stamped them onto scrap black CS and heat embossed them white. I painted them with Perfect Pearls in purple and gold tones and fussy cut them.

Adhered them with dimensional adhesive a bit offset over the white stamped ones and added some sequins. A heat embossed and fussy cut sentiment from STAMPlorations Bold Sentiments Hello finished off my card. Technique, texture, dimension - it's all there!

Show us your mixed media card using sparkle, with or without gems, and link up to the gallery before the 25th of July. Can't wait to see what you make.

I'm sharing this card over at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge where it's Anything Goes this week.
And at the Simon Monday Challenge where it's Tic Tac Toe. I've done the first row across ;)

winnie walter leading lady - take four - metallics

It's already Easter! Time flies when you're having fun! And boy did I have fun playing with my w&w goodies. I appreciate your stopping by on this holiday weekend for Take Four of my Leading Lady stint at w&w.

I'm wrapping up my gig today with trendy METALLICS.

So. Gold. I don't think you could have missed this trend, thank you iPhone. Just when you thought gold might be going out of style in the cardmaking world, gold foiling hit the market and now metallics of all colors are all over the place. A touch of metallic sure gives a card pep. Let's take a look at some metallic options.

I sneaked a couple cards using gold foiled PP into Take Three. Did you see them? Well, I personally like metallics in stripe form, so I went about creating my own rose gold (thank you iPhone) stripes using recycled Schokokuss packaging to make this banner for my daughter's room. I missed her while she was on a ski trip :)

I die cut the circles using the solid and faceted dies from True Multifaceted Circle. I left some of the facets in and backed the faceted circles with a circle of pink watercolor washed CS. Added punched circles of vellum and die cut woodgrain letters using MFT By the Letters to the circles too.

To assemble the banner I first die cut five solid circles from white CS. I temporarily adhered them to a few sheets of printer paper, spaced out like I wanted them to be on my banner. It's about 50cm long. Then I stitched straight through them all, stitching them to the scrap paper (sounds weird I know - just wait). When done, I flipped it all over and carefully tore the scrap paper off of the stitched circles, leaving the white circles strung on a nice stitched line of thread. You can pull the thin paper up pretty easily right along the stitching. Then I adhered my pretty pieces to the white circles using Matte Medium. TIP: Stitch through the circles a little higher than the middle to ensure there will be more weight on the bottom to keep the circles facing the front. Ask me how I know ;)

Moving on. Another great way to get a touch of metallic onto a project is with those shiny little pieces of plastic we've come to know and love. Sequins. And why not use lots of them from Lucy's Winnie's Sparkly Shaker Selection mix. And pair them up with shimmer cardstock, gold washi and gold ink spray?

Meet Card #1

The Flawless Diamond Cutaways lends itself perfectly to shaker making. I cut it from aqua shimmer CS, cut the solid out of a Neenah white panel and added a smooshed-with-Distress-Inks-and-splattered-with-Heidi-Swapp-Color-Shine background piece behind it. My sentiment is from My Precious which complements the faceted dies perfectly. Just look at all that metallic goodness trapped in that gem! Even tiny little clear stars - how lovely!

Card #2

Another oldie, but goodie for adding a metallic touch to a project is Perfect Pearls. With this faux metal technique (a la Jennifer M.) you brush them onto a Distress Inked area while it is still damp. I inked the masked area with Evergreen Bough and Cracked Pistachio and used white Perfect Pearls. TIP: Use a water/Perfect Pearls mixture in a mini mister to lightly spray the finished area and set the Perfect Pearls.

When the panel was nearly dry I dry embossed it using Cover Model: Multifaceted which I had cut from a cereal box. Isn't this geometric design perfect for the faux metal look? To finish off my card I added an offset layered "wishes" cut from shimmer CS using The Big, The Bold and Party Cutaways. and a heat embossed sentiment from The Big, The Bold and Party.

Remember how I said I like a little touch of metallic on cards? Well get ready for metallic overload.

Meet Card #3

Yep. That was white CS. Applied metallic embossing paste through the Scenery:Pattern of the Rings stencil. Punched a circle out of scrap paper and used the negative as a stencil to sprinkle silver embossing powder onto the lower portion of each of the circles only while the paste was still wet. Let it dry and then hit it with my heat gun. Voila! How's that for sparkle and shine? And the texture is fabulous.

Couldn't cover up all that gorgeousness, so I added a heat embossed on vellum tree from Kindness over one stamped onto PP and fussy cut. The "hugs" is from The Big, The Bold and Friends. The secondary sentiment is one of the many wonderful options in Kindness.

Well, friends, that brings us to the end of this month of my Leading Lady gig! It sure was a pleasure to share my takes on WATERCOLOR, ILLUSTRATED, STRIPES and METALLICS with you. I hope you enjoyed it, too. Remember to leave a comment on all four of my Leading Lady posts to be in the running for this giveaway. Today I'd love to hear if you had a favorite project from my entire Leading Lady gig. I'll announce a winner on April 6th. And if you're celebrating, have a beautiful Easter!

deepti's popped hop

Have you heard the news? There's a new Buckeye in town!

Congrats to my teamie Deepti M., on the birth of her little boy, Siddharth. Hope he'd like this. I hope his mom does ;) The STAMPlorations gals are celebrating with a little hop. You can make a card and hook up too if you'd like! I'm sure it'd make the new mom happy.

This was actually "born" as a byproduct of another project. I had used a die cut piece of vellum to apply Versamark through for heat embossing, and rather than tossing it, I flipped it over and pressed it onto a piece of scrap CS and brushed Perfect Pearls over it!

I used that panel to die cut a PTI tag from and worked with that to make my card. The blue tag was also cut from a scrap of watercolored CS.

The stamps are from Kaisercraft Pitter Patter, a great set. I gave the hand and footprints the Perfect Pearls treatement too, and heat embossed the sentiment. Embellished it all with a brad, feather and tassel.

Join us in celebrating Deepti's new baby, won't you?

Mixed Media Card Challenge #19

If you are looking for my CASEplorations post, click here.

Hope you had yourself a merry, little Christmas and a happy, New Year! It's a time for new beginnings - both on the calendar and over at the Mixed Media Card Challenge! Did you get nice and mixed media messy last year with us? If not, why not join us this year?

January's challenge is all about "Beginnings". And the optional element is "sequins". Sounds like a great time for a New Year's card. Or a shaker. Or a baby card. Or how about a wedding card?

So meet my wedding card. I'm actually sharing a card published in Paper Crafts magazine back in November 2014. I think it fits the bill perfectly.

Just to give you another look at the yumminess of that Perfect Pearls shimmer... depending on the way the light hits it it looks different every time!

Mixed media card? Well, I'm sayin' yes. In addition to stamps and ink, I've got

TEXTURE - heat embossing on frame and sentiment (Papertrey)
DIMENSION - die cuts
TECHNIQUE - heat embossing, Perfect Pearls on Versamark BG (Impression Obsession)

See that sparkle and shine from the Perfect Pearls? I just love this technique. I did a tutorial on it for this card if you're interested.  Join us with a mixed media card for MMCC #19 won't you?

I'm joining the parties at:

SSS Wednesday Challenge. It's "Party" theme there this week!
Inkspirational #98 where it's non-Christmas

Mod Squad where the theme is Anything Goes with at least one die cut and

new to me Stamp, Ink, Paper #28 where it's also non-Christmas!

spotlight on shimmer

Coming to you from Berlin today...

Want shimmer like this on your projects? Check out my Perfect Pearls tutorial over at STAMPlorations.

shimmering autumn leaves

Just a reminder that you can link up your black and orange mixed media cards at the MMCC until the 25th!

I got all glittery with my first card. This time I went all shimmery.

I will be showing a step-by-step over at STAMPlorations in a Spotlight post on the 27th, but it was basically a technique using Versamark and Perfect Pearls (copper, gold and gray). Added some dry embossing, heat embossing and embossing paste and a mixed media card was born. How 'bout that shimmer?

Joining the Colors of Autumn challenge at Stamping Sensations.

Also joining in over at House of Cards cuz I've got some of the colors and definitely a lot of texture happening here!

Thanks for visiting today. Did you see my post for the new STAMPlorations release?