Thanks a Bunch

Sometimes I find it hard to participate in color challenges when there are just two colors, but I liked the combo at Colour Me too much to not give it a try.  I never in a million years would have thought to put Soft Sky with Elegant Eggplant but once I saw the cards from the design team I realized how pretty the colors looked together.  I added in the latest Sketch Saturday and went to work.

I'm actually re-thinking my decision to use vellum for one of the flags.  Originally I was going stamp a sentiment on it but then changed my mind and used one of these label sentiments because I love that stamp set so much and want to use it all the time!  The placement of it deviates from the sketch but I think you can still see the sketch in there.

It's too nice a day to spend cooped up in the house so I'm headed outside to try and dig up a stubborn patch of grass that has taken root in my garden.  I've sprayed it with weed killer thinking that it would help to pull it out but the roots on this grass are shooting all over the place and I'm having a tough time liberating it from the soil.  But I will prevail.  No stupid grass will get the best of me!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Label Love (Altenew)

Paper:  Soft Sky, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Vellum (SU)

Ink:  Elegant Eggplant (SU)

Accessories:  Gerbera Daisy die, Fishtail Flags STAX (My Favorite Things); Honeycomb stencil (Heidi Swapp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

Ink Splatters and a Hello

I haven't been in a very crafty mood lately.  I think its party the fault of my day job and partly the fault of the gorgeous weather we've been having.  I just can't seem to rustle up the energy to get crafty.  Case in point, it took me two days to make a card for the bold color challenge at Pals Paper Arts and the card I ended up with isn't even the card I started out with!  I wanted to combine the colors with the latest CAS(E) This Sketch but I've got such a liberal interpretation of the sketch I just might get kicked out of the gallery.

I got some new stamps in the mail on Friday which probably explains why I ditched the card I started with on Thursday.  I really wanted to use the grid design that I used as the horizontal layer on the sketch.  Then I added some ink splatters to break up all that yellow and since I already had the flowers fussy cut and colored from the Thursday reject I added those with dimensionals. I cut three of the 'hello' die and glued them together so there's a bit more dimension on the card too.

This beautiful weather we've been having has been great for my vegetable garden, especially compared to last year when some heavy spring rain water-logged a lot of my plants.  I've a zucchini  ready to be picked and in another day or so a summer squash.  Yum!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge, Everything Eleanor (SU); Textures (Dina Wakely Media)

Paper:  Ultra Smooth Pure White (Avery Elle); Night of Navy (SU)

Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy (SU)

Accessories:  Hand Lettered Hello die (WPlus9)

Freshly Made Sketches 144 and Color Throwdown 300

Today is extra special because it's the reveal of a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and I'm also doing a little guest spot at Color Throwdown.  Last week I was chosen as the featured stamper at CTD and so this week I get to play along with the design team over there as a guestie!  And how sweet that this is their 300th challenge!  That's quite an accomplishment and I'm honored to be a part of it!  Over at FMS, Karren is our hostess this week and she's designed a sketch for us with an ever-popular flag.  I admire Karren's fearless approach to card-making.  There doesn't seem to be any technique she's not willing to try and I always seem to learn a thing or two when I pop over for a visit!  Now on to my card.

I will admit I gave a little squeeeee of delight when I saw these colors.  First of all Baja Breeze is one of the best blues ever and I'm not sure I'll ever forgive Stampin' Up for retiring it.  And there's just something about how it looks with a nice navy blue and a true orange that speaks to me.  These colors also inspire me to make less "girly" card, which is not something I do very often, but need to do to stay sharp in the man-card department!

I softened the navy blue rectangle a bit by adding a piece of velllum over it, but I shifted it slightly off to the side so that you could see the blue peeking out.  Then I decided that making my own plaid paper was in order so I set about sponging away.  Finally, I die-cut several of these "hi" letters and glued them on top of one other so that I would have some dimension to my sentiment.  A button, some fiddled-with thread and voila - I was done!

So I owe a huge thank you to the ladies at Color Throwdown who let me join in their challenge this week.  I admire all of them so much and drool over their cards week after week!  And speak of drooling, I suspect  you are going to do some of that yourself when you check out the cards the Freshly Made Sketches design team made to inspire you this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Paper:  Baja Breeze, Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie (SU); Solar White (Neenah)

Ink:  Baja Breeze, Night of Navy, Pumkin Pie (SU)

Accessories:  Fishtail Flags STAX, Happy Hellos die (My Favorite Things); Woodland Park button (October Afternoon); thread

colourQ 249 and Seize the Sketch 24

Are you ready for some groovy colors and a great sketch today?   Well if you are then you've come to the right place!  There's a new palette at colourQ and the inspiration photo will transport you right back to the days of The Partridge Family when you used to drool over David Cassidy.  C'mon don't try to pretend you didn't!  And at Seize the Sketch our hostess this week is Vicki Dutcher who has got an amazing eye for color and is not afraid to create bold designs.  So let's get to it!

I was very excited to pull some More Mustard out of my stamping stash, since I haven't used that color in a dog's age.  I search vainly around my stash for some companion patterned paper but couldn't come with anything so I used the next best thing:  embossing paste in a cool polka dotted design.  It adds great texture and doesn't make the More Mustard layer look so boring!

It occurred to me after I put this together and added the sentiment that these funky flowers look a bit like fireworks.  And that certainly plays to the whole 'celebrate' sentiment I think!  Maybe next year I'll use these on a card celebrating our American Independence!

Alrighty then, you know what comes next.  I don't need to tell you (but I will) that the colourQ design team and the Seize the Sketch design team have got some great projects to inspire you so make some time to check them out.  You won't be sorry!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Funky Florals (Papertrey Ink); Label Love (Altenew)

Paper:  Island Indigo, More Mustard, Coastal Cabana (SU); Solar White (Neenah)

Ink:  More Mustard, Poppy Parade (SU); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)

Accessories:  Bubble stencil (Tim Holtz); Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); translucent embossing paste (Dreamweaver); My Girl Enamel  Dots (My Mind's Eye); Springs Sprinklers (October Afternoon)

Watercolor Thanks

I found myself with a little extra time in my stamp room last night and I wanted to try a little watercoloring, something that I don't do very often.  I think I'll take the watercoloring Online Card Class soon so that I can at least learn how to do it properly, but it was fun to swish some color around on my own.  

The colors are from Color Throwdown (although the Tempting Turquoise is so light in the picture you'll have to trust me that it's there) and the layout comes from the Sketchbook Saturday sketch.

I tried to just slap the color on so that it was lighter in some areas than others and I kind of like it, but I need more practice.  It's harder than it looks!  To add a little more interest to the flower I went over the center with a Wink of Stella pen.  It's impossible for me to photograph but it really adds some nice shimmer.

Well, I'm off to the great outdoors.  The sunshine and hot temperature are calling my name!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Hennah Elements (Altenew); The Big, The Bold and You (Winnie & Walter)

Paper:  watercolor paper

Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Strawberry Slush (SU); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)

Be Yourself on the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!  Where I live we'll be celebrating the 5th of July because Hurricane Arthur is going to dump lots of rain on the area so all the parades and fireworks have been pushed off a day.  No worries here, though because I'm going to take the opportunity to do some housework, sell some stuff on eBay then get down and dirty in my stamp room.

Today I've got a tag to show you that I made for the new Mixed Media Card Challenge using the colors from Colour Me.  This is my first foray into the world of mixed media other than adding the occasional scrap of ribbon or embossing paste on a card.  I thought long and hard about this challenge before I decided to jump in with both feet and I even searched mixed media on Pinterest to get a feel for what it's all about.

The theme for the first challenge was nature with the option of making a tag, so that's exactly what I did.  I stamped a scripted background on to the kraft card stock then after a bit I smeared on some embossing paste (that I dyed with a re-inker).  Unfortunately the ink bled through the paste and I'm not sure if I should have waited overnight to do that to give the ink a longer drying time of if that would have even made a difference.  I considered re-doing it but decided to proceed.  I cut a floral shape from some burlap then layered some inked leaves and a little butterfly on it.

So that's it then.  I will say that some of the mixed media tags I saw on Pinterest were absolutely gorgeous.  People obviously have an eye for layering and color and adding just the right amount of texture.  I don't see myself turning into a Tim Holtz-style stamper anytime soon (although I do love that style), but it was fun to see if I could incorporate some of those elements into the stamping style I've already got.  After all, I do love a bit of texture on my cards.

Well that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Kinda Eclectic (SU); Be (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Blackberry Bliss (SU); Kraft (Avery Elle)

Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Crumb Cake (SU)

Accessories:  Traditional Tag STAX, Pierced Traditional Tag STAX (My Favorite Things); Beautiful Blooms #1 die (Papertrey Ink); Burlap stencil, Splatters stencil (Tim Holtz); embossing paste (Dreamweaver); Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, linen thread, pewter jumbo grommet (SU); burlap

Freshly Made Sketches 143

Happy Wednesday everyone!  There's a new sketch reveal over at Freshly Made Sketches today.  This week our hostess is the supremely talented Cindy Lovell.  Every time I visit Cindy's blog I add a little something to my stamping supplies wish list!  She's got this wonderful clean stamping style and she's always using something on her cards that once I've seen it I've got to own it!

I fret for two days over the colors to use on my card before deciding on the colors of the inspiration card at Muse.  I used a new floral stamp set that I got because I decided I didn't have enough floral  images in my stash.  I think I put the leaves down when I had my eyes closed because they look a whole lot off kilter and unbalanced to me but they're stuck down with glue dots and there not going anywhere now!

Be sure to pop on over to Freshly Made Sketches and see the amazing cards from the design team.  They will surely knock your socks off!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Summer Garden (Simon Says Stamp); Distressed Background Blocks (My Favorite Things); New Day (Precious Rembrance)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Solar White (Neenah); Chocolate Chip (SU); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi (SU); Black Licorice, Hot Fudge (My Favorite Things); Copics

Accessories:  Pierced Circle STAX (My Favorite Things); washi tape, clear embossing powder, sequins

colourQ 248

We've got some wonderful patriotic colors this week at colourQ just in time to celebrate Independence Day in the US.  The inspiration comes from this subway art style frame.

This is the only stamp set I have that has fireworks and July 4th sentiments which pretty much guarantees that I'll never get rid of it.  I stamped the images in a random pattern and added the sentiment on a little vellum tag.  It's hard to see in the photo, but it's there!  I recently came across a new-to-me challenge called Match the Sketch so I played along with #26.

We'd love to have you play along with us at colourQ this week.  The design team has got some great cards to inspire you so be sure to check them out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  July Fourth (SU)

Paper:  Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy, Vellum (SU)

Ink:  Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy, Marina Mist, Ruby Red (SU)

Accessories:  Banner Bundle die (Verve); Woodland Park button (October Afternoon); Rustic Twine (Papertrey Ink)