Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge 21

Wow! It's November already! Before we know it, it'll be a new year! But the first of the month means a new challenge from the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge.

For my card, I chose across from top left to bottom right - Home Sweet Home; Thread, Twine, or Jute; and Pearls/Gemstones.

I'm actually in the middle of move, so I decided to create a moving announcement that I can send to family and friends. I cut a panel with a Wonky Stitched Rectangle die and then stamped my house and my new home sign in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I masked them with some masking paper and then sponged Green Apple ink for the grass and some Maliblue for the sky. After removing my masks, I colored my image with Copics to look like my new house! I had masked off a small portion in front of the garage to turn into a driveway. I used some gray copics to color it in. I tied some May Arts natural twine around the left side of my panel to balance the image and then added a few pearls to look like smoke (I know there's no chimney, but I liked how it looked!).

I adhered my panel to a Fog Gray card base using some foam tape for a little bit of dimension and it was finished!

Welcome Home	Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX	Neenah Solar White 80 lb	Fog Gray	Green Apple	Maliblue	Memento Tuxedo Black	Copic Sketch Markers
Masking Paper	Misti Stamping Tool	Mini Round Ink Blending Tool	3M Foam Tape	Ranger Multi Medium Matte	May Arts Natural Twine

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Beach Please

Today's card was created for the current CASology challenge - Beach. I'm just starting to make Autumn themed cards, so it's nice to go back to my summer stamps for a little bit. Not to mention that it's still over 100 degrees where I live, so summer seems to fit the climate better!

I created my card base and then used a stencil to blend in my blue waves using a mini ink blending tool. I stamped my image, colored her with Copics, and then cut her out with my Brother Scan N Cut 2. After figuring out where I wanted to place her, I was then able to place my sentiment as well. I used my MISTI to get a perfect impression with the sentiment. (And thank goodness I did because I had to stamp it twice!) I adhered my girl using some foam tape and then added a sprinkling of Sparkling Clear sequins to finish it off.

Beach Face	Waves Stencil	Neenah Solar White 80 lb	Maliblue	Memento Tuxedo Black	Copic Sketch Markers	Mini Round Ink Blending Tool	Brother Scan N Cut 2
Misti Stamping Tool	Clear Wink of Stella	Sparkling Clear Sequin Mix	3M Foam Tape	Ranger Multi Medium Matte

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Homespun

This card was created for the Less Is More Challenge. This week's theme is "homespun". This challenge actually brings up memories of my grandmother sewing for me when I was a kid. She was amazing! She had to quit a few years ago when her arthritis got so bad that she just couldn't finish her projects. I have so many beautiful things that she's made for me though!

I actually won this stamp set from Sweet Stamp Shop a few weeks ago in an Instagram giveaway and it felt like the perfect fit for this challenge. I love the stitched sentiments! I did a bit of simple masking to put the sewing machine image behind the spool of thread, but the rest was simply colored with my copics. I love the simplicity of this card and how clean it looks.

Supplies:
Stamps: Quilt Stitch (Sweet Stamp Shop - retired)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper: Neenah Solar White, Crumb Cake
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Rich Cocoa, Copics
Other: Clear Wink of Stella

Confession Time...

So I have a confession to make...

I'm so much more productive when my husband leaves town! Not that I don't miss him, but I find myself more able to focus on projects than when he's home. I've already completed 2 cards this morning and it's just barely noon! I hope this continues through the day!

First up is a card I created for the Less Is More challenge. This week the challenge was to use jewel tones. I just got my Simon Says Stamp card kit in the mail about a week ago and I'm in love with this heart stamp! I thought it would be perfect for a stained glass look using the jewel tones! I heat embossed it in gold and then used my copics to color in the rest. I cut a banner with a die I have and then heat embossed the sentiment in white. To finish, I added a few gold Pretty Pink Posh sequins. I adore how this turned out!

Supplies:
Stamps: I See You (Simon Says Stamp)
Dies: Small Folded Banners (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper: Kraft, Basic Black
Ink: Versamark, Copics (R39, Y08, G28, BG18, B18, V09)
Other: Gold and White embossing powder, 6mm and 4mm Gold Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Next up is a card for the Addicted to CAS challenge. The code word this week is Dream. I immediately thought of this sentiment from Sweet Stamp Shop. One of my absolute favorites! I cut a rectangle of white paper and then stamped my bunnies in Memento Tuxedo Black. I then cut a mask from some masking paper and covered them up. I cut another mask to use to separate the ground from the sky. I used distress inks to blend the night sky and the grassy hill. I loved removing the mask and seeing the beautiful scene it created! I used my copics to color the bunnies and then heat embossed the sentiment in white. I experimented with a couple colors for the card base before I settled on Kraft. I wanted to heat emboss the rest of the sentiment, but I didn't want the base to be too dark. I'm obsessed with Kraft today, so no big surprise that I chose it! I added a little clear Wink of Stella to the bunnies' tails, but it doesn't show up in the photo.

Supplies:
Stamps: Wishing You (WPlus9), Royal Wish (Sweet Stamp Shop)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper: Kraft, Neenah Solar White
Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics (C1,C3,C5, E31, E34, E35), Distress Ink (Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves, Forest Moss, Shabby Shutters)
Other: Clear Wink of Stella, White embossing powder

Bah Hum-dog

Today's card was inspired by the Less Is More recipe "something shiny" and the Sandy Allnock free class series Go For the Gold. I just received some happy mail from Sweet Stamp Shop and couldn't wait to ink up this festive stamp set!

Isn't that image just adorable!?  The set comes with a Santa hat or reindeer antlers that you can add to the puppy. It also has a Rudolph nose and another, smaller, image of the dog in the hat. I just love this set! Inspired by the Go For the Gold class, I used gold as the main theme for the card. The base uses gold foil paper and the sentiment is all heat embossed in gold. I even added a little gold Wink of Luna to the antlers! I used warm gray copics for the puppy so the main focus would remain on the gold and then added a little stencil of Sahara Sand ink over the image. I'll definitely be using this set often for my holiday cards!

Here's a quick close-up so you can see the fun shimmer of all the gold!

I'm also going to upload this card to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes!).

Supplies:
Stamps: Holiday Pup (Sweet Stamp Shop)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper: Gold Foil, Neenah Solar White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Copics (W1, W3, W5), Sahara Sand
Other: Circle Stencil (Simon Says Stamp), Gold embossing powder, Gold Wink of Luna

Enjoy Life!

This will be my last post for a little over a week. My husband and I are going to be traveling back to the Midwest to visit our family and friends, so I'll be really far from my craft room! I'll still get my crafting fix in though (I'm bringing things to color!). I'll be back right after my birthday around the 19th or 20th. See you soon!

For today's card, I was playing along with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. The challenge is to create a coffee or tea card. I love coffee and have several cute stamps, so I created a little scene.

I stamped each image separately and then colored them in with copics. They didn't look grounded enough, so I roughly sketched in a gray counter to go under them. The sentiment was borrowed from a My Favorite Things set called Donuts and Sprinkles. This is a really simple card, but since it's flat, it'll mail really well! I already have someone in mind to send it to!

Supplies:
Stamps: Cuppa Coffee, Coffee Town, Coffee Boss (Sweet Stamp Shop), Donuts and Sprinkles (MFT Stamps)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (SSS)
Paper: Whisper White, Kraft
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Assorted Copics, Versafine Black Onyx (sentiment)

The Challenge #39

There's an inspiration photo over at The Challenge and it was one that I couldn't resist. I was having trouble putting together a card though. It felt like every idea I had kept falling flat during execution. I took a step back and decided that I was simply trying too hard. I was just adding too much to it. So I took a deep breath and re-imagined my original concept.

My original design had a ton of die cut leaves and foliage. I had sequins and all sorts of embellishments. It was just way too busy. So I went back to basics and did some simple stamping.

 

I attempted using chalk ink at first, but it just wasn't giving me the results that I wanted. I decided that I needed to go a little bolder, so I heat embossed my image on my "blackboard" instead. I really like it like this; it definitely draws your eye! I used WPlus9's Fresh Cut Florals to stamp my foliage behind my blackboard. I love using inspiration photos. These are elements that I never would have put together by myself, but I do like how it turned out. I find myself trying new things whenever I'm looking at a picture, so it's definitely one of my favorite types of challenges!

Supplies:

Stamps: Oolong (Sweet Stamp Shop), Fresh Cut Florals (WPlus9)

Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Basic Black

Ink: Blushing Bride, Wild Wasabi, Gumball Green, Garden Green, Daffodil Delight, Hello Honey, Versamark, Wild Rose (Lawn Fawn)

Dies: Stitched Rectangles (Simon Says Stamp)

Other: White embossing powder

Make It Masculine!

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog is to make something masculine this week. It just so happened that I wanted to create a bookmark for my husband, so I thought this was a perfect opportunity!

What's more masculine than pretzels and beer? I can't think of anything either!

I used the Avery Elle bookmark die to cut out my bookmark shape and then used Sweet Stamp Shop's Festival 30 to stamp my images. I created a mask for the pretzel, so I could stamp the beer somewhat behind it. Then I used Lawn Fawn's Happy Summer to stamp the ants carrying off the second pretzel. Fun! I colored my images with copics and then to hide the bleeding on the back, glued another bookmark to the back. I tied some baker's twine through the hole and it was finished! Super simple and it made my husband smile when he saw it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Festival 30 (Sweet Stamp Shop), Happy Summer (Lawn Fawn)
Dies: Bookmark (Avery Elle)
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Assorted Copics
Other: Black & White baker's twine

A Second Entry to the Watercolor Blog Hop

I was thinking of a card for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and I kept going back to one I made about a week ago. It was a watercolor background with clouds at the bottom and a dragon in the sky. I really love that card and I wanted to recreate it with a "royal" twist to fit the theme for the challenge (Royal, in case you hadn't guessed). And since I was going to create a watercolor background again, I decided to add it to the Watercolor Blog Hop hosted by Pretty Pink Posh!

I changed it up a little. I still used the castle, but this time I added the frog prince in the bottom corner and changed up the sentiment. I nixed the sequins this time and went for some embossed stars instead. I have to say, I really love distress inks for watercolored backgrounds. They always give me such beautiful results! Add a little Glossy Accents in strategic places (the heart and ball in the frog's hands) and some Clear Wink of Stella (flags and crown) and it was done!

Supplies:
Stamps: Royal Wish (Sweet Stamp Shop)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (SSS), Puffy & Delicate Clouds (Poppy Stamps)
Paper: Whisper White, Strathmore Watercolor
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Assorted Copics, Distress Ink (Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Broken China, Tumbled Glass)
Other: Silver embossing powder, Clear Wink of Stella

Casology Week 148 and ShowCASe Your Style #16

I don't normally participate in the Casology Challenge, but I really liked their cue card this week. It also seemed to fit with my idea for the ShowCASe your style challenge. So I combined them and I'm going to enter them in both.

When I first saw the inspiration for ShowCASe Your Style, I immediately thought of my castle and dragon stamp from Sweet Stamp Shop. I'm a huge fan of fantasy movies, so that's just where my mind wanders!

This was a simple card to put together. I stamped the images and then colored them with copics and fussy cut them out. Then I created a watercolor card panel with some distress inks and trimmed it with my Stitched Rectangle dies. I die cut both cloud borders and then just added them to the panel. I heat embossed the sentiment "birthday fly by" and then simply stamped the second sentiment in black near the bottom. Easy peasy.

I also added some glossy accents to the horns and spikes on the dragon and the heart on the castle. For some shimmer, I added some Clear Wink of Stella to the dragon's belly and the flags on the castle. I tried to take a picture, but it's hard to capture it.

I'm also going to enter this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes!

Supplies:
Stamps: Royal Wish, Dragon (Sweet Stamp Shop)
Dies: Stitched Rectangles (Simon Says Stamp), Delicate Cloud and Puffy Cloud borders (Poppy Stamps)
Paper: Whisper White, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Assorted Copics, Distress Inks - Broken China, Stormy Sky, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire
Other: White embossing powder, Clear Wink of Stella, Glossy Accents, Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)