Creating a Galaxy Background

Do you believe in magic?  If not magic, I certainly believe in luck after finding this little wizard for this week's CAS Colours & Sketches sketch challenge.

The sketch posted:

I was going to go a different direction but then I found this die in my stash - it was perfect.  I have so many stamps and dies that sometimes I forget what I have until I clean out my craft space (which I did last week)!

I also entered this into the Shop Our Stash weekly challenge.  This week is Winter Blues - make a winter or a predominately blue card.  I think this fits the bill - it certainly is something from my stash and is blue!

I decided I wanted a "galaxy" background behind the stars.  To do this I blended Distress Oxide inks on a piece of white cardstock slightly larger than an A2 card so the I could adjust where I wanted the stars and then trim the panel.

I blended four colors of the inks not bothering about the bottom as I knew that would be covered up.

I splattered both water and thinned down white acrylic paint to get my stars.  I feel that the water droplets were a bit large.  I should have done them with a less wet brush and from higher up - next time I will.  I trimmed the panel to A2 size and then went around the edges with the darkest blue and a small sponge.  The key to this type of background is to make the edges DARK.  I probably should have used black, but I did like the dark blue with the blue of the wizard's robe

Finally I added a lot of Wink of Stella to the stars between his hands to give it more of a twinkly feel.

I hope you enjoyed my card today and will join us at CC&S this week!

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps Create Magic
Dies: Whimsy Stamps Upon a Star
Copic Markers: skin - E50, E51, E11; shoes - E30, E33, E35, E37; robe - B32, B34, B37, B39, Stampin' Blends Daffodil Delight Light & Dark; beard and fur - N0, N1, N2, N3

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Whole Lotta Love and Using a Stencil Background

I'm the color challenge hostess this week at Splitcoaststampers.  I chose colors that I thought would work for Valentine's Day but have a bit of a twist - the blue.  The colors I chose were Flirty Flamingo, Poppy Parade and Bermuda Bay.

This Bundle Girl with a Heart Trail is new from Stamping Bella and really made me smile.  I hadn't colored a Bundle Girl before but was excited to try.  I find round shapes fun to color.

I started by coloring her with Copic markers and Stampin' Blends.  Then I went over her with Prismacolor pencils.  I can get really lost in coloring when I'm having fun with an image and I had fun this time.  I often listen to music while coloring and in this case it was Led Zeppelin (hence the name of the card "Whole Lotta Love").

I also chose to add a stencil for the challenge "dessert".  I masked off my girl after coloring her and stenciled the heart flow.  I made sure to tape everything down very well so there was no slippage.  I would have been a bit upset had  the stenciling not come out after all that coloring!

Stamps: Stamping Bella Bundle Girl with a Heart Trail
Dies: Penny Black Hearts Galore (used to make the stencil)
Markers: Stampin' Blends Bermuda Bay Light & Dark, Flirty Flamingo Light & Dark, Poppy Parade Light & Dark; Copic markers BG10, BG11, R20 (with the FF), R21 (with the PP), N0, N1, E00, E01, E11
Prismacolor pencils: PP - 923, 924, 722; FF - 928, 929, 930; BB - 105, 905, 992; others - 901, 1060, 1063, 1065, 1067

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It SEEMED Like a Good Idea at the Time....

My second post today is due to the fact that I just learned of a challenge and the deadline is tonight!  The challenge is from the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - a group of stampers with a slightly off-beat but wonderful sense of humor.  The current challenge is "H is for headache". 

I'm pretty sure I know what caused this little guy to pass out and I'm also pretty sure he has a headache!

I colored him using a combo of Copic markers and Stampin' Blends.  The colors were chosen from the paper I used on the side.  It came in a paper pack where other coordinating papers included coral and blue.

The bunny and other images are all separate and I created the scene by masking off the images.  The sentiments in the companion set are great!  It's a lot of individual words and phrases that can be combined to make varied comments ranging from humorous to encouraging to sympathetic.  (Or snarky...)

If you like sarcastic humor you should check out the Sisterhood. Here is their link:

Stamps: Honey Bee Stamps Blah, Blah Bunny; Honey Bee Stamps Blah, Blah, Blah (sentiment)
Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Edge dies
Markers: Stampin' Blends Pool Party Light and Dark, Calypso Coral Light and Dark; Copics BG000, YR00, Y26, Y21, YR30, R81, W00, W0, W1, W2, N0
Paper: retired Stampin' Up DSP

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Some Happy Flowers

Today's card was originally for my design team work at Cottage Cutz, but I also felt it was fitting for this week's Splitcoaststampers CAS challenge of "inspiration."  Who doesn't like flowers?  They truly are "happys on sticks!"

The card is mainly dies cuts and I was able to use scraps for the images.  A definite plus!  These flowers are so graphic and abstract that any color will work.

Complete instructions for the card can be found on the Cottage Cutz blog today.

Dies:  Cottage Cutz Doodle Flowers Set 1; Cottage Cutz Leaves and Stems
Stamps: Elena Zinski from Paper Artsy

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Alice in Wonderland Color Challenge

Hi everyone!  It's been awhile since I used a Stamping Bella stamp.  Not sure why - I love coloring them.  Actually, that may be the reason why - they are so much fun to color I feel if I don't have the time to color an image well, then I shouldn't color it at all.  With the holidays and all, my Stamping Bella images just haven't been given much love.  That is about to change.

This is from their "Alice in Wonderland" Oddball collection.  The Oddballs - perfect for Alice in Wonderland right?  I don't have all of the stamps (yet) but plan on coloring them all.

I colored this for the color challenge this week at CAS Colours & Sketches:

When I saw these colors I KNEW I had to color Alice.  She colored up quickly since her apron is white and things like hair color are predetermined by the story.

I had some dies for the background I thought would work well and decided to make it an "un" birthday card (in keeping with my goal to create lots of birthday cards this year.)  I'm planning to send it to my daughter whose birthday was in December.  I was so busy I forgot to give her a card, and when I did, it had no sentiment inside and wasn't signed (not intentionally)!  Bad Mom!  Hopefully, this will make up for it.

I hope you enjoyed today's card!!!  Look for more Alice in Wonderland coming up.

Stamps:  Stamping Bella Oddball Alice in Wonderland, Stamping Bella Alice in Wonderland Sentiments
Dies: Mama Elephant Cloud Nine (stitched panel); Lawn Fawn Mushroom Border
Inks: MFT Hybrid Ink Black
Markers (Copics & Stampin' Blends) Green - Stampin' Blends Granny Apple Green Light & Dark, Copic YG21; Stampin' Blends Rococo Rose Light & Dark, Copic RV10 & R83; Stampin' Blends Seaside Spray Light & Dark, Copic B0000; skin - E000, E01, E31; hair - E31, E35, YR20, apron and shadows - N0-N3; mushrooms - W00, W1, W3

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A Floating "Pal"entine

I love the idea of "Pal"entine's Day!  I have friends who I dearly love but for whom a romantic card just isn't appropriate.  Dear hubby is the only one who gets one of those!  So I love the stamps with "Pal"entine's Day!

This card is for the color challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week - Whisper White, Blueberry Bushel and Seaside Spray with sky for dessert, and the sketch challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches.

I used Copic markers and color matched the the balloon to the Blueberry Bushel.  The sky was created by cutting a rectangular mask and stenciling the clouds with the Seaside Spray.  After assembling everything I felt it still needed something - so I added some bling.  You can almost never go wrong with sequins!

All in all this was a simple card to create.  Now I just have to decide who will receive it!  (I may have to make a few more with various colors of kitties!)

Stamps and dies: Simon Says Stamp Pawsome Love
Dies: Mama Elephant Cloud Nine, MFT Rectangle Stax 2 (to create the mask)
Accessories: MFT Mini Clouds Stencil, Pretty Pink Posh Clear Sequins
Ink: Seaside Spray
Copic Markers: B21, B23, B24, B28; N0 through N5

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Happy Bird-Day!

For my 2020 New Year's resolution, I decided I am going to actually send the cards that I create.  Too many times I make cards that I don't use.  I find that when someone's birthday rolls around, I want to make something very specific and don't send what I already have.  I'm also going to make some cards without sentiments so that when I need a thank you, sympathy or congratulations card I have one on hand.

This card was created for the color challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week - Balmy Blue, So Saffron and Early Espresso with the extra "dessert" being trees.  Splitcoaststampers allows Stampin' Up! neutrals in their color challenges so I added the pine needles in Mossy meadow and some Soft Suede behind the pine cone. 

This is a super simple card to make using all die cuts with just the sentiment stamped.  I did some shading of the house with a bit of brown ink and also colored the birds with the ink colors.  For me that was the easiest way to get the yellow beaks and legs.  An eye shadow sponge works great for tiny places.

Stamps and dies: The Stamps of Life Birdhouses2stamp
Dies: The Stamps of Life Ribbon Border Dies


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Aloha!

Aloha!  It's been awhile since I have posted.  I've made a few cards but just have not had the time to post.  (Or in one case, the card was for a friend's birthday and I didn't want to post before.)

This week starts off the new year of challenges at CAS Colours & Sketches blog.  We have some beautiful colors this week:

This hibiscus set is my favorite from the new Stampin' Up! Mini Catalog.  I love Hawaii and travel there frequently for business - and occasionally fun!  This set really appeals to me and I plan to post more cards made with this set.  Stay tuned!

I used a blender pen and the inks to color the main flower and leaves on Shimmery White cardstock.  The flower is in saffron with the pink on the edges and the stamen.  Because of the color challenge I needed to make the leaves in the Bermuda Bay, but I think it works.  These colors are very tropical!

I wanted to keep a vintage Hawaiian feel but that is not necessarily in harmony with a CAS card.  So I used vanilla cardstock for the embossed background and just a hint of brown added with a sponge dauber behind the flower and sentiment.  

Although you can't see it in the photos, I used Wink of Stella on the leaves and flower edges to add some sparkle.  To add a bit more sparkle, I used some crystals I had in my stash - but any clear sequins or rhinestones would do!

I hope you will find time to join us this week at CC&S!

Below are links to the products I used.  If you don't have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to help you with your stamping needs.  Now through March 31, 2020 is Sale-A-Bration where you can earn FREE products with every $50 you spend!  Order the Timeless Tropical Bundle and you qualify for a FREE Sale-A-Bration item. 

Stamps and dies:  Stampin' Up! Timeless Tropical Bundle (stamps and dies)
Ink: Stazon Saddle Brown, Bermuda Bay, So Saffron, Petal Pink
Cardstock:  Very Vanilla, Bermuda Bay, Shimmery White
Accessories: Coastal Weave 3D Embossing Folder, Blender Pens, Wink of Stella
Sale-A-Bration:  Baker's Twine and Sequins (FREE with $50 purchase)


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