triple embossed (WW, CMBC)

Well I think it's here to stay. Embossing paste that is. Used to be we had two kinds of embossing - dry and heat.  (TANGENT: Did you see Tim H.'s wunnerful interview where he says embossing got him hooked on cardmaking. I paraphrase.) But I think now that embossing paste has come to town, let's call it three.

There's a "Stamps and Embossing" challenge during October over at STAMPlorations. I made another card using stamps and embossing. Triple embossing even. Can you spot all three?

The peach damask is white embossing paste colored with orange acrylic paint and applied through a stencil. The pink is dry embossed after swiping Spun Sugar Distress Ink onto white CS  and I fussy cut the heat embossed sentiments. Voila!

Since I missed WCMD on Saturday, I've been playing catchup. I'll have a couple more cards coming at you this week.

I'm hooking this card up at Cure for the Monday Blues #31 cuz I think the colors are appropriate and the textures remind me of the comforter and rug. But I've got a better one coming ;)

The colors are from Gayatri's challenge over at Winnie and Walter:

So much great inspiration out there after the WCMD weekend. Are you making cards? See you shortly.

Supplies:

Paper:  Bringmann

Stamps: STAMPlorations, Winnie and Walter

Ink : Versamark

Tools: stencil Prima, die MFT, embossing folder Lifestyle Crafts

Other: embossing paste, orange acrylic paint, gold spray ink Heidi Swapp

STAMPlorations sketch #21

Happy Friday!
Sketch #21 is up at STAMPlorations and it looks like this.

And, well, my card looks like this.

It's portrait, like the sketch. There are some lines on the bottom half. There's a sentiment running along the side. Sort of.

This was one of those "life of its own" projects. Ya know those kind? Remember the lime green tinted texture paste from Exploration STAMPlorations Day 4? Well the excess made its way onto a tag. Which evolved into a tag card using two alcohol-inked acetate daisies that I originally considered using on  Day 4's card! Somehow those "stems" on the tag reminded me of the lines on the bottom of Sketch 21 and thus the funky sentiment was born.

I'm actually pretty happy with the result and it's on its way to a dear friend who could use all the happy she can get.

The funky color combo from A Sprinkle of Imagination's monthly challenge was the inspiration behind this. I just love it.

BTW, the acetate is recycled packaging from my new corner chomper (yes, finally). And the "happy" was die cut from a kleenex box. Love that it's extra sturdy. If letters that skinny can possibly be sturdy...

Take a look at the gorgeous card our guest designer, Elaine, of Craft E Place made for us, as well as my teamies' creations. Then give this sketch a shot. There are prizes and a guest designer spot to be had ;)

Supplies:

Paper:  manila tag

Stamps: STAMPlorations, envelope BG Hero Arts

Ink : Alcohol inks, Versafine

Tools: die PTI

Other: texture paste, ribbon, acetate

happy WCMD and winners!

One day I hope maybe I will get together with other like-minded gals to make some cards on World Card Making Day. Last year I was oh-so-lucky to have a card chosen as a winner at Paper Crafts (the souls who breathed life into WCMD about ten years ago). This year I'm spending the day in the vineyards rather than in my craft room.

But I've got a card to share with you - one of the three that I actually sent in to the PC contest last year. Used one of the best (IMO) Christmas sentiment stamps out there and some PP.

Not certain if Virginia will agree... but I'm hooking up to her Virginia's View CAS challenge. The PP makes it seem busy, but it's really a very simple card.

Now, for the fun stuff. I've got two winners.

Jim, better known as Irish Cherokee. Come on down. DD picked #1 to be the winner of some goodies I promised in my Getting to Know Me post. The early bird gets the worm... ;) Oh and BTW, Kate of pinnedandpenned has her GTKM post up. Check it.

And Carol, better known as cm, you are the lucky winner of a STAMPlorations stamp set. DD went all mainstream on me and picked #27 which was the last comment!

I will be contacting you both.

Happy WCMD to you all. Let's hear it for "hugs with a fold." Go make some :)

STAMPlorations october challenge "stamps and embossing"

Can you believe we're already three days into the month of October? Boy oh boy. That means it's time for a new monthly challenge at STAMPlorations.

Who doesn't remember witnessing the magic of heat embossing for the first time?!? Don't have to ask me twice to emboss. And pair it with Distress Inks and the resist technique and I'm in inky fingers heaven.

Stamped and heat embossed the blooms yellow. Applied yellow and orange DIs in circular motions on each of the daisies, starting with light yellow in the center and working darker around the outside. Grabbed a recycled card base framed with washi and decided I needed some black and white to break it up so I recycled some waste from a recent wine label project. Yay for using paper snippets. Then of course the flutterby and gems had to be black. Or so I thunk.

Embossing doesn't have to mean heat embossing, you know. There's dry embossing too. Check out what our guest designer, the fabulous Virginia Lu, and the STAMPlorations DT created here. And take a gander at the prize up for grabs if you participate in all three challenges this month. Rub-ons.

There's a new Anything Goes challenge over at STAMPlorations, too. Use your STAMPlorations stamps, make a project, post it in the gallery and Shery R. will draw a random winner of a stamp set for every 50 projects in the gallery. There's even a freebie digi stamp you can use.

On another note, this wraps up my Exploration STAMPlorations September Release series. Leave a comment on my posts this week and you could be the lucky winner of one of the sets I used ;)

Whew. I'm winded. And you? You should go emboss something!

Supplies:

Paper:  CS Bringmann, PP Pink Petticoat

Stamps: STAMPlorations

Ink : Distress Inks, Versmark

Tools: die Hero Arts

Other: white and yellow embossing powder, gems, washi

exploration STAMPlorations sketched: daisy (Fusion, Sprinkle of Imagination, Time Out, SSS)

Have you seen the inspiration photo from A Sprinkle of Imagination?

"Ox blood red, regal purple, zest of lime" - reminds me of the colors I saw in the vineyards while harvesting Pinot Gris (on flat ground today, I'm happy to report). And to be truthful, the black and white were there too. In the form of mould that has to be snipped away from the good grapes before dropping them into the bucket. Eight people, eight hours, rain and shine. And even local TV. I'm pooped. But I've got a coolio card to share with you. And a story of how my cabeza works.

"Zest of lime". Made me think of Dylusions ink. And I was wondering how to create stems to turn the daisies into gerbera. Enter my SSS Wave stencil and clear texture paste, colored with a couple spritzers of ink.

I had heat embossed, watercolored and fussy cut the blooms. It was just a matter of bringing the blooms and stems together. Somehow.

Enter the current Fusion #25 challenge.

I'm gonna be daring and say I've fused photo and sketch!

Knew I wanted to use another of the cute sentiments from the Bloom Sketches: Daisy 1 on a die cut butterfly (from Clearly Besotted) but the finishing touch came about when I stamped a portion of the tail from PTI's  Happy Trails in red. Thanks for the idea, Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

And I'm playing with some great gals over at Time Out #15 where it's about stamping this time around.

Come back next Monday when the new STAMPlorations sketch goes live to see more purple and lime and another twist on these daisies.

Stop by tomorrow for more daisy action and the last day of my Exploration of the September STAMPlorations release. Remember, I will be drawing a winner (from all comments left on my Exploration posts this week) who will get one of the sets I've used.

Supplies :

Paper:  CS Bringmann, watercolor

Stamps: STAMPlorations, PTI

Ink :  Versafine, Hero Arts, Versamark

Tools: butterfly die Clearly Besotted, stencil SSS

Other:  white embossing powder. watercolors, texture paste

Mixed Media Card Challenge #4

(If you're looking for my Exploration STAMPlorations post it's here.)

Happy October! Leaves changing colors and trick-or-treaters. At least in some necks of the woods! It's time for a new Mixed Media Card Challenge and this time it's about "vintage". My mind went to some Halloween stamps from Waltzingmouse and Inkadinkado that have a great vintage-y feel to them and this is what I did.

If you need a refresher, here's the deal on what makes a card a mixed media card. But basically, it's about TEXTURE, DIMENSION and TECHNIQUES.

Texture? I've got distressed edges and heat embossed witch and sentiment.

Dimension? How about a raised die cut and gems?

Techniques? Inked over the embossing which resists ink and splattered with water.

There is an optional element every month, and this month it's a key. But I opted not to use one. (I'm still maintaining that I can create a mixed media card and keep it kinda CAS ;) Check out the DT's fabulous creations and show us what you've got. The challenge runs until October 25th.

Supplies:

Paper:  Bringmann, Coredinations, Neenah, MME

Stamps: BG Hero Arts, witch WMS, sentiment and stars Inkadinado

Ink : Distress Inks, black Memento

Tools: die Spellbinders

Other: black embossing powder, gems

exploration STAMPlorations sketched: daisy (Colour Q, Just Add Ink)

If you've checked out the September release of STAMPlorations, you may have noticed some fabulous sketched blooms in the bunch too. Today I'm working with the two daisies.

Sketched: Daisy 1

Sketched: Daisy 2

Isn't that angled daisy great? So realistic. And, did you notice those practical and wonderfully-fonted (not a word, I know) sentiments? You know I'm a sucker for good sentiments. Look how fun they are to use...

I chose these challenges for inspiration:
Colour Q - #260 using these colors

and Just Add Ink #233 with this sketch.

OK, so it wasn't much of a stretch from butterflies to blooms (Paper Smooches Big Bloom die) on that banner strip... but I decided to offset them. Love the color combo with kraft. Although it photographs like a bugger.

I die cut the banner strip (by extending the PTI Wine Label die) from kraft and white. Die cut the blooms from the kraft banner. Pencilled the blooms onto the white before stamping with the daisies. A bit of stitching and a heat embossed "be well" sentiment and voila!

Drop by tomorrow if you'd like. I'll be out harvesting again, but you could increase your odds of winning yourself one of the STAMPlorations stamp sets I'm using this week. Thanks to the oh-so-generous Shery R. who creates 'em :)

In case you're interested... the peroneus brevis are behaving after Tuesday's outing in the steepest vineyard the Huff's have along the Rhine. But now I'm all prickles after wearing shorts and standing in stinging nettles all morning! I'm such a wimp, eh?

Supplies :

Paper:  CS Bringmann, kraft Neenah

Stamps: STAMPlorations

Ink :  Aladine, Memento, Versamark

Tools: banner die PTI, blooms Paper Smooches

Other: sewing machine, white embossing powder