9/28/2018

Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

For today's card I wanted to do a fall theme - after all we just started autumn!  I used the Coffee and Cocoa Warm Wishes die set from Cottage Cutz and the Pumpkin Spice stamp set from Lawn Fawn.  With all the coffee sentiment stamp sets out there, this die set with it's variety of mugs and cups could be used for virtually any occasion.  It is really cute!
Although this set is marketed as a Christmas set it can be used any time of the year just by changing colors, patterned paper and sentiment. 
I don't normally use colored bases much but I felt the color really worked well on this one.

This was a super easy card to make but really makes an impact.  By changing up the layout slightly (for instance elongating one of the rectangles) you could use several of the mugs instead of just one.  I LOVE this set!

Dies:  Cottage Cutz Coffee and Cocoa Warm Wishes and Double Stitched Rectangles
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Pumpkin Spice

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9/25/2018

Sweet Friend

My card this week is for two challenges - the sketch challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches and the Color Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.
These are the challenges:
Colors on Splitcoast Stampers are Mango Melody, Grapefruit Grove and Shaded Spruce.  The colors were really challenging for me this week.  I'll confess it's probably because Shaded Spruce is NOT one of my favorite colors. So I had a tough time working with it.

To counterbalance this I chose a stamp set that is one of my favorite Stampin' Up floral sets (okay it IS my favorite SU floral set!).  The left side image and the lower image are inked with the Mango Melody and then I used a sponge dauber to add some Grapefruit Grove to the outside edges.  The flowers in the top image are just the Grapefruit Grove.

To get a bit more of the Shaded Spruce color I stacked three squares of it under each of the floral squares.
The dessert this week on Splitcoast Stampers was to add stripes, dots or plaid background.  I needed to keep it CAS, so the background stripes are heat embossed in clear.  I still felt it needed a little something so I added few sequins to match the Mango and Grapefruit.

Please join us this week at one or both of the challenges!

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Beautiful Bouquet
Dies: Stampin' Up! Layering Shapes, Michael's word dies
Ink: Grapefruit Grove, Mango Melody, Shaded Spruce

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9/11/2018

Dream Big Little Mermaid

Today's card has a twofold purpose.  It's for this week's challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches and it is also for my daughter's birthday.  I actually started by making her card and then realized that I could lay it out using the sketch.  Perfect!
Here is the challenge posted:
I took a little bit of liberty with the sketch by putting the mermaid and her rock outside the circle, but I think it still follows the sketch fairly close.

For a clean and simple card this ended up taking almost everything in my craft arsenal.  I love alcohol markers because they are so clean.  You color with them and put them away - easy.  But I wanted that underwater background and I knew that Distress Oxide inks would be perfect. So...
Suddenly, I had my inks, blending mat, blending tools, water bottles, water cup, paint brushes, stencils, etc. out making a complete mess. And I wanted to finish before my daughter got home so she wouldn't see what I was doing.   I ended up with this for the background behind the mermaid.
Originally I was going to just make the front of the card pop off the background, but I decided to go with a shaker card since it was her birthday and I wanted something a little special.
I added some sparkle using Wink of Stella and it was good to go.  (And in case you were wondering my daughter is not a child; she's 26 - just obsessed with mermaids!)

Stamps and dies: MFT Birdie Brown Mermazing, MFT Inside Out Stitched Circles
Copic markers: BV0000, BV00, BV01, BV02, BV04, G0000, YG11, YG13, YG17, E50, E00, E11, E23, E27, E29, E49, W00, W1, W2, W3, W4 (I don't have the colors I used for the turtle or fish - they are leftovers from a previous project)
Distress Oxide inks: Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Salty Ocean, Tumbled Glass

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9/04/2018

Have Your Cat Call My Cat

Happy Tuesday!  I loved having a long weekend - last week seemed to drag on so this three day was very welcome.  But I was very busy this weekend and of course put off making any cards.  I became a bit stressed around noon today when I realized I still had my DT cards to make.  This week we're having a color challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches.
The colors this week are:
I was very tempted to make a Halloween card but instead opted to use these strange cats. I colored their companion dogs earlier this year and knew that they would color up quickly.  And it was a good thing too.

I decided to use my new Arteza markers and picked three colors that are very close to the challenge colors.  I bought a set of these markers because the price was so good and I wanted to compare them to ZIG Kuratake markers.   They are very close to the ZIGs.  They don't blend quite as well when using just the markers and no water, but they come pretty close.  It's one of those things  that for the price you get a lot more for your dollar but they aren't QUITE the same.  And if you  use a water brush like I did, there isn't much difference at all.  It's a personal preference and what your budget can afford.

These stamps are all individuals, so I masked and stamped them to get my group.
I colored them in and stamped the sentiment.  It's a good thing that the coloring was loose and went fast because this is where things went horribly wrong!
I usually stamp my sentiment before I color unless I'm die cutting it or the image.  But I didn't this time and when I went to cut out my panel I smeared the heck out of the ink.  I really wanted a simple one layer card and there just wasn't a good way to salvage this card without layers, so I just started over.

On the bright side it allowed me to change up the colors - I thought I'd like more variety in the cats so I used the navy on one and a grey for the shadow.

I love the sentiment for this set.  I have both a dog and two cats and I know this to be so true!

Stamps:  Indigo Blu Kevin's Gang
Markers:  Arteza markers Ube Purple A168, Denim Blue A186, Sunset Yellow A156, Elephant Grey A130
Strahmore Mixed Media paper

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9/03/2018

Eclectic Friend

It's Tuesday and another color challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.
This card uses four different stamp sets and was fairly easy to put together.  I stamped the card base with the background stamp from Beautiful Blizzard in Balmy Blue.  Then I die cut the top panel with the background shape die from Eclectic Layers Thinlits so that you can see the blue underneath.

The florals are all stamped and die cut and glued to the top panel which is popped off the catd base using foam tape/dimensionals.

The sentiment is from the Bunch of Blossoms set and the sentiment is from Love What You Do.


Stamps: Stampin' Up! Oh So Eclectic, Bunch of Blossoms, Love What you Do, Beautiful Blaizzard
Dies: Stampin' Up! Eclectic Layers Thinlits
Ink: Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather, Balmy Blue, Soft Seafoam

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