thinking outside the box

Hi there. I've been working on some cards for classes today. This is one that I'll use this week. Sometimes we don't always see the full potential of a stamp set, unless we really think about it. For this card, I used the SU hostess set, Infinite Goodness. Really! Do you see it? Yes, the flower petals are made from the pear. I just cut them out along the inner most line. Pretty cool, huh? I stamped the pear 7 times on so saffron card stock with basic gray ink. Then I cut them out and cut off about a half inch from the stem end. I sponged the edges with ruby red ink and then glued them to a 1-1/4" saffron circle. For the flower center, I glued the large flower punch from boho blossoms punch and a daisy, both in black. I pierced a hole through all the layers and added a black brad. Then I curled the petals a little with my fingers.

Using certainly celery ink, I rolled Stems & Silhouettes jumbo wheel up the left side of the card. I used my large oval punch to punch two leaves from wild wasabi and glued then to the card with the flower on top. The sentiment was stamped in basic gray ink.

Supplies:
stamps: infinite goodness, sincere salutations, stems & silhouettes
ink: basic gray, certainly celery, ruby red
paper: certainly celery, so saffron, wild wasabi, basic black
other: piercing tool and mat, black brad, sponge, large oval punch, boho blossoms punch, daisy punch

I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open, so I'm heading off to bed.

I'm so glad you stopped by for a visit.

easy earrings

Yesterday I posted a link to Melanie Muenchinger's blog where she had made some cool earrings using page pebbles. I just had to try it and it worked for the final challenge for Cornish Heritage Farm's backgrounder blitz. Instead of using designer paper, I stamped a background and punched some circles from it. Thinking that if the circles of card stock were smaller than the page pebbles, then the adhesive along the edges would stick together, I used a 5/8" punch and 3/4" page pebbles. As it turned out, all it did was leave a gap between the page pebbles. So a little improvising was in order. I took a scrap of copper cord (retired SU) and wrapped it around inside the gap and then filled in the extra space with crystal effects. Worked perfectly. Then I pierced a hole in each piece and threaded a French hook (the part that normally goes through your ear) through the hole and twisted it around to close it. Since I like really long dangling earrings, I added a couple of beads on wire in the middle and then another French hook at the top. So easy and unlimited possibilities.

Supplies:
stamps: geometric flowers II (CHF)
ink: burnt sienna & rose coral chalk ink (Colorbox)
paper: very vanilla
other: copper cord, page pebbles, crystal effects, beads, jewelry findings

Thanks for visiting Today.

CD magnet

Good morning. I have been having so much fun with the backgrounder blitz at Cornish Heritage Farms this week. Today is the last challenge and they are releasing two new backgrounders. Today's challenge was to make something other than a card. I actually started this project for the challenge to stamp on something other than paper, but decided to use it for today's challenge instead, since I knew it was going to be much more involved, and therefore more time consuming, than a card.

I started by stamping the victorian sunflower backgrounder with night of navy ink on a piece of thin cork sheet. This is something I 'inherited' from my mom, so I don't know where you can get something like this. Mine is actually about 2' wide and in a roll. My dad was a sign painter, so he had all sorts of unusual things, and both my parents did crafty things. Anyway, back to my project. . . I glued the stamped cork to a CD and trimmed the cork close to the CD. The CD gave the flimsy cork stability.

The flower was stamped on white mat coat card stock with Adirondack pitch black ink and colored with Copic markers, glued to a second piece of card stock and then cut out. I wanted it more stable than just one thickness of card stock, but in the end it didn't matter, since I glued it down on the cork.

The sentiment was stamped in night of navy on ballet blue card stock. I cut the curve the same as the cd and tore the other edges and then sponged chocolate chip ink along the edges.

The butterfly is made from a piece of cereal box chipboard, die cut with my cuttlebug and a butterfly die. First, I painted it with white acrylic paint. Then I stamped it with the victorian pattern backgrounder in night of navy ink, and then used tangerine chalk ink directly on the butterfly to change the color. The butterfly is attached with pop-up glue dots.

Everything is adhered to the cork with clear decoupage medium and was given several coats. Then I edged the cork with a Krylon copper leafing pen. The final touch was to add the blue jewels with crystal effects. Some strip magnets were attached on the back.

Supplies:
stamps: victorian sunflower backgrounder, victorian pattern backgrounder, single coneflower (CHF), sentiment (Stampourri)
ink: night of navy, chocolate chip, tangerine chalk ink, Adirondack pitch black, Copic markers
paper: white mat coat, ballet blue
other: cereal box chipboard, cd, cork sheet, jewels (JoAnn), sponge, Cuttlebug, CB butterfly die, clear decoupage medium (Plaid), magnet strips, pop-up glue dots, Krylon copper leafing pen

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

smiling daisies

I actually made it back with another post today. Here's another card for the backgrounder blitz at Cornish Heritage Farms. Today's challenge was to use masking.

I started by taking a scalloped oval nestability die and cutting an paper oval in my cuttlebug. I used just a small spot of glue to stick this to the creamy caramel card stock. Then I inked up the reverse dots backgrounder with purely pomegranate ink and stamped it on the masked caramel card stock. I then removed the mask, leaving an opening in the stamped background.

I stamped the daisies in the opening with black stazon and then colored the flower petals with white prismacolor pencil and the remainder of the image with markers. Dots were added inside the frame with a burgundy marker. I played with several possibilities for along the bottom of the card before deciding on the ribbon layered over some caramel card stock and eyelets all across.

I originally stamped the sentiment on the caramel layer, but where it overlapped onto the polka dots, it didn't show up very well, so I needed to come up with a solution. I finally came up with what you see. I popped the sentiment up on dimensional tape.

Supplies:
stamps: reverse dots, large daisy detail, sentiment (all CHF)
ink: purely pomegranate, bravo burgundy, more mustard, old olive, purely pomegranate, white craft
paper, bravo burgundy, creamy caramel
other: brayer, cuttlebug, nestibilites ovals, tag corner punch, crop-a-dile, burgundy eyelets, dimensional tape.

I'm so glad you stopped by.

Fun Earrings

Check out these fun earrings by Melanie Muenchinger! So fun and easy.

I should be back later with another card for the backgrounder blitz on Cornish Heritage Farms.

Thanks for stopping by.

floral quilt

You probably realize from my screen name that I love quilts. I love making them. I love using them. It feels so good to wrap up in a warm quilt on a cold winter night. Today's challenge for the backgrounder blitz over at Cornish Heritage Farms was to use two or more backgrounders. I think you can see where I'm going with this. I just had to make a quilt or at least some semblance of one.

I used three backgrounders and pieced them together with faux stitching to resemble fabric sewn together. I stamped victorian sunflower in purely pomegranate ink on groovy guava card stock, climbing floral in elegant eggplant ink on apricot appeal, and victorian pattern in white craft ink on purely pomegranate. I used black cross stitches on the seams and a white running stitch around the edge.

For the focal image, I used modern lily, colored with markers and huffed. I stamped it twice and then die cut a circle with my cuttlebug and circle nestabilities. A scalloped black circle was used for a mat. More stitching and doodling on there.

I stamped the sentiment in black on vanilla, cut it an inch wide and put one end in my key tag punch and cut the other end straight. I matted it on black and trimmed the rounded end with a scissor. Of course I needed more faux stitching on that piece.

I tied the dotted ribbon around the card front and attached the focal image with dimensional tape.

Supplies:
stamps: Victorian Sunflower Backgrounder, Victorian Pattern Backgrounder, Climbing Floral Backgrounder, Modern Lily, sentiment (CHF)
ink: basic black, purely pomegranate, elegant eggplant, rose red, always artichoke, white craft (SU)
paper: basic black, purely pomegranate, apricot appeal, groovy guava, very vanilla (SU)
other: white gel pen, circle nestabilities, cuttlebug, key tag punch, ribbon (Michael's), dimensional tape

I'm so glad you stopped by. I hope you're having a wonderful week.

bunny smooches

Now don't get any ideas that I'm kissing a rabbit. Today's challenge for the backgrounder blitz at Cornish Heritage Farms was to use the kissing technique. This has never been a favorite technique for me, because I can never get it to work well. But somewhere back in my memory archives I thought that I had seen it done with pigment ink and it worked well, so that's what I tried today. I inked the Reverse Dots backgrounder with Colorbox topaz ink and the Geometric Flowers II backgrounder with Colorbox chianti ink. Then I pressed them together and then stamped the reverse dots on my card stock. Happy dance -- it worked! Because it was pigment ink, I took my heat gun and dried it so there was no chance of smudging. I backed the piece with old olive and added some olive rick rack.

For the main image, I stamped the bunny from Small Pleasures in basic brown ink and only colored the flowers and grass, using more mustard and old olive markers. I sponged the edges with chocolate chip ink. I picked up a piece of old olive card stock that was already cut to back the bunny. It wasn't quite big enough to border all the way around, but I decided I liked the way it looked, so I left it that way. I added some olive brads and piercing and popped up the main image.

Supplies:
stamps: small pleasures, reverse dots, geometric flowers II (all Cornish Heritage Farms)
ink: chianti & topaz (colorbox), basic brown, more mustard, old olive, chocolate chip (SU)
paper: chocolate chip, apricot appeal, old olive, whisper white
other: rick rack (walmart), mat pack, piercing tool, brads, dimensional tape, staples, sponge

If you haven't been playing along with the challenges on CHF, there's still time. The backgrounder blitz goes until Friday.

I'm so glad you stopped by.

See clearly on a beautiful day

Oh, I had so much fun creating the card for this challenge for Cornish Heritage Farms. We had to stamp a backgrounder on something other than paper. I started with a complete different project, but then set that one aside for another day.

I decided to use two backgrounders on this card. The first one, climbing floral was colored with markers (yes, I know I'm nuts - the flowers and leaves are very, very tiny), then spritzed with water and stamped. I also used this method to stamp the modern lily several times. Then I glued a used dryer sheet over the images to give a softness to the card. Then I stamped the lined paper backgrounder and the sentiment on a transparency and attached them at the top of the card with eyelets and ribbon.

I punched a key tag punch in navy and folded it over the edge near the bottom and then attached a felt flower and a build-a-brad.

Supplies:
stamps: climbing floral backgrounder, lined paper backgrounder, modern lily (all CHF)
ink: jet black stazon, ultramarine stazon, regal rose, always artichoke, brocade blue, night of navy
paper: confetti navy, very vanilla
other: transparency (office supply store), navy eyelets, crop-a-dile, burgundy grosgrain ribbon, build a brad (SU), felt flower (Creative Impressions)

I'm so glad you stopped by. I hope you have a wonderful week.

gold tipped wings

Here's another card that I made for the Cornish Heritage Farm's backgrounder blitz. This challenge was to stamp only a partial background. I stamped the victorian sunflower backgrounder on part of a piece of pomegranate card stock in white craft ink and embossed it with white embossing powder. Then I added a piece of black grosgrain ribbon at the edge of the image. I had fun with the flower starting with an image that had very little color and gradually changing to very vivid color. Each image is colored differently. The lightest one is lightly colored with prismacolor pencils. The next one is colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol (odorless mineral spirits). The front image is colored with copic markers. Spring is handwritten. I added some baubles along the righthand edge and then two black butterflies punched with a Martha Stewart punch. I used a gold glitter gel pen to highlight the edges on the butterflies.

Supplies:
stamps: victorian sunflower backgrounder, single black-eyed susan (all CHF)
ink: jet black stazon, white craft, copic markers
paper: creamy caramel, purely pomegranate, blush blossom, groovy guava, white mat coat, basic black
other: prismacolor pencils, gamsol, white ep, heat tool, butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), black grosgrain ribbon, gold glitter gel pen, baubles (Michael's), dimensional tape

Thanks for stopping by.

Hello. Did you miss me?

I can't believe it has been over a week since my last post. Shame on me! I didn't do any of the challenges on SCS last week. I've been doing a little bit of stamping, though. Cornish Heritage Farms is having a backgrounder blitz. Each day there is a challenge and random drawings for prizes. So I thought I would show you some of the cards I made for that. I know some people prefer each card in a separate post, so that is what I'll do with these. Here is the first one, which was made for a sketch challenge.

The trees backgrounder is stamped in chocolate chip on really rust card stock and matted on black. The single black-eyed susan was stamped in stazon on vanilla and colored with markers and cut out. The ovals are cut with my nestabilities dies & my cuttlebug. I embossed the plain oval and then rubbed the edge with olive metallic rub-ons. The sentiment was stamped on twill. The main image and the photo corner punches are popped up on dimensional tape.

Supplies:
stamps: trees backgrounder, single black-eyed susan, sentiment (CHF)
ink: chocolate chip, basic black, jet black stazon, various markers (SU)
paper: basic black, really rust, certainly celery, very vanilla
other: photo corner punch, twill, oval nestabilities, cuttlebug, dimensional tape, metallic rub-ons, black brads

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be back with more cards from these challenges.

I didn't do any stamping today, except for designing a card for an upcoming class, but I don't have it finished yet. So I thought I'd show you a few of the cards I made for last weekend's VSN. If you want more details on the challenges, check out this link.

In order as you see them, the cards are: challenge A, B, F & E. Enjoy! Thanks for stopping by.

inspired by a cow

If you're expecting to see a cow, I hope you aren't too disappointed. Well........., if you really want to see one, check out today's inspiration challenge on splitcoast. And if you follow the link to the website, there are many more. Some very interesting pieces of artwork. I was so overwhelmed by so many choices that I decided to simply use the one that was posted as my source of inspiration. The swirly turquoise dress is what inspired this card.
I stamped the girl in adirondack pitch black ink on white mat coat card stock and also stamped it again on turquoise card stock. I used my copic markers to color the girl and cut out the dress and glued it over the white one. Then I added pink glitter gel pen to highlight the dress. The glitterly brads started out plain and drab. I sanded them, dipped them in positively pink craft ink and then in iridescent ice embossing powder and heated them. The pink scalloped layer was made using a slit punch. Dots of glitter gel pen were added to the scallops and the front piece. I didn't know what I wanted to do with the right side of the card, so I finally decided to stamp some swirls from baroque motifs.

Supplies:
stamps: baroque motifs (SU), girl (Stamp Oasis/Rubbernecker)
ink: positively pink craft (retired SU), adirondack pitch black, copic markers
paper: tempting turquoise, pixie pink, basic black, white mat coat
other: brads, iridescent ice ep, heat tool, stardust glitter gel pen, slit punch

I'm so glad you stopped by.

dp delight

The limited supplies challenge today on splitcoast was to create your own designer paper. When I first saw the challenge, I thought this will be fun and it was. However, it was also very time consuming. I'm not going to go into all the detail of creating this other than a brief summary.

I used crinkled chalks, direct to paper, misting with markers, sponging, piercing, and lot of different stamps. The bird is colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Although I spent a number of hours (seriously) on this, I really love the result. I think I should have made a copy or two, so I could use it again.

Supplies:
stamps: touch of nature, garden silhouettes, itty bitty backgrounds, French script (SU), in the meadow (Lizzie Anne Designs), swirl (Hero Arts), crackle background (Judikins)
ink: jet black stazon, chocolate chip, pale plum, not quite navy, certainly celery, always artichoke, creamy caramel, Colorbox chalk inks (don't remember which colors)
paper: chocolate chip, pale plum, not quite navy, very vanilla
other: prismacolor pencils, gamsol, Japanese screw punch, brad, sponge, chocolate grosgrain ribbon, rectangle punch, tag corner punch, brayer, mat pack, piercing tool, mounting tape

I hope you enjoy. Thank you for stopping by.

first attempt at coloring with copics

Hello! It's been a few days. I certainly intended to post some of the cards I did this past weekend for VSN, but somehow, it didn't happen. I still plan to do that, but for today, I have my first attempt at coloring an image with Copic alcohol markers. I made this card for 2 challenges on Splitcoast, the sketch challenge and the ways to use it challenge. The flower is one I love, a single coneflower from Cornish Heritage Farms.

I stamped the flower on white mat coat card stock using adirondack pitch black ink. Because the card stock has a smooth coating on it, I had to wait a while for the ink to dry. Since I've only been able to purchase a few at a time, I have a limited number of Copic colors, , so I had to work with colors I have. There's no doubt that I need a lot of practice using these. After I colored the image, I cut it out.

I ran the river rock card stock through my cuttlebug with the swiss dots embossing folder (also a first time use). The soft sky oval was cut with a coluzzle, and the black was punched with my giga scalloped oval punch. Dots were added with black marker and white gel pen.

In order to incorporate the ways to use it, I added some moss eyelets to the word window punches. I popped the flower up on mounting tape.

Supplies:
stamps: single coneflower (Cornish Heritage Farms)
ink: pitch black (adirondack)
paper: always artichoke, river rock, soft sky, basic black, white mat coat
other: copic markers, white gel pen, coluzzle, giga scallop circle punch (Marvy Uchida), word window punch, moss eyelets, crop-a-dile, mounting tape.

I'm so glad you stopped by.

almost naked

Hi everybody. I was busy stamping this weekend. Over on splitcoast it was VSN (virtual stamp night), although over time it has grown into a weekend rather than just one night. It's a ton of fun and is fast paced. There were a total of 19 challenges. I managed to get 10 of them done. If I was more motivated, there is still time to get one or two more done before the upload deadline of 11 pm Eastern time. But, I'm satisfied with what I did accomplish. I actually did one more card this weekend for Saturday's inspiration challenge. That's the one I'm going to show you tonight. The inspiration photos showed some bedding, which I really wasn't crazy about, so I took my inspiration from a flower on top of the headboard. Since the wall behind it was bare, I decided to leave my card free of any background or extra layers of card stock.

The vase and flower are made with paper tole. The image was colored with markers and I added a line at the base of the vase, so it didn't seem to be floating. The hardest part of this card was cutting out the tiny flower and leaf.

Supplies:
stamps: vases in vogue (SU)
ink: jet black stazon, real red, glorious green, & yoyo yellow markers
paper: whisper white
other: mounting tape

I'm so glad you stopped by. I hope you have a great week.

warbler

When I saw the sketch challenge posted last night on splitcoast, it just called to me. It's a simple sketch and I knew I could use one of my new stamps. Once I got started, however, it ended up taking way more time than I thought it would. My head is really stuffy with a cold, so I'm sure that had a lot to do with it.

I used my new Penny Black image called warbler with versamark resist technique on white glossy card stock with my desert heat kaleidacolor ink pad. I love to use black as an accent layer with bright colors, so that part was easy.

The part I had trouble with was what to use for the other two segments of the layout. I wanted to use glossy to balance out the main image, so I decided to use polished stone technique. I did this with Adirondack alcohol inks. I played with a bunch of different color combinations before deciding on the two I have here.

On the large green piece, I used a new Glimmer Screen by Tattered Angels that I recently purchased from Jacksonbelle Embellishments. It's made to use with glimmer mist, but I don't have any of that, so I just sponged artichoke dye ink over it and got a very subtle image on the background.

I added some swirls from Priceless and a sentiment from a Beautiful Thing in black stazon. A few black brads finished it off.

Supplies:
stamps: priceless, a beautiful thing (SU), warbler (Penny Black)
ink: versamark, always artichoke, jet black stazon, desert heat kaleidacolor, alcohol inks (Adirondack)
paper: basic black, glossy white
other: brayer, mat pack, piercing tool, sponge, glimmer screen (Tattered Angels), brads, alcohol blending solution (Adirondack)

I'm so glad you stopped by. Have a great day.