Heavensent For You

Last weekend was the VSN "What's Love Got to Do With It" challenge of 20 (if you count "H"s double whammy). I was lucky enough to get to be the hostess of one of them. Each challenge was released at the top of the hour and we were given 45 minutes to complete each challenge. What fun ... I love the challenges, and often look for the SCS ones the night before, if I'm lucky, so putting them back to back to back was wonderful.

I had to leave for a couple of hours on Friday, and then Saturday didnt get home when I wanted to, so ended getting backed up, but I was able to complete all but 2 of them. (And I'm sure I'll go back and finish those soon.)

This was my first hostess 'gig' and it was a lot of fun ... little nerve-wracking, but fun, nonetheless. This time some of the member companies at SCS donated prizes that we could award for each of the challenges. Now THAT part was incredibly hard - picking out from all the wonderful submissions. The winners will be announced by this weekend, I think.

If you're interested in trying these challenges, just for fun, feel free to check this out:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=420718

While the contest is over and submissions had to be in by last Sunday midnight, there are some fun twists to try out.

So, here are the cards I made ...

For the first challenge - we were to use oversized heart and circle on the card. I only had the Creative Memories heart template, so I cut from some rose DP. I distressed both circle and heart and sponged with rose. Because I wanted to emphasize the circle/heart, I kept the image small, coloring with prismas/gamsol and finishing with some rose ribbon.

For this challenge, we were given 3 choices of chocolate with a color theme ...
White Chocolate (too sweet for me)
Dark Chocolate (too bitter for me)
Milk Chocolate - just right
For the milk chocolate theme, we were to use cocoa, amethyst and real red. The image is a Changito (Archiver's exclusive) monkey that I sponged the edge with real red and added the itty bitty speckled stamp to. I matted with cocoa and amethyst. The BG is actually cocoa that I stamped in real red and cocoa from the Changito Valentine or Cupid set (maybe a little from both?).

The title for this challenge was "Bittersweet Love" - to take an unappreciated stamp and make a lovely card. I think I may have tried to use these stamps a handful of times over the last 8-10 years with little satisfaction. I was determined to make it work this time. Maybe new techniques helped? The tree trunk was stamped with cocoa and then I tweaked it with some prismas & gamsol. The branchy part is actually about 1/2 x 1 inch and I colored direct to stamp in 2 different colors so it gave the mottled leaf appearance. While I probably should have drawn in a more curvy or hilly horizon, I'm actually very pleased with how this turned out. I matted on hunter and added some copper brads then punched the corners with the ticket corner punch and popped up on dimensionals. Finished by tying a hunter colored ribbon over the DP. This unappreciated stamp has moved closer to the front of the line now.

This challenge was to use something new. I had just received this stamp, the DP as well as the 'ribbon'. Image was stamped with versamark and embossed with white then sponged with rose. Blush blossom was the base for all the panels as well as the card base. I cut apart the embroidered daisy ribbon to simulate brads in the corners of the image panel and left a strip on the lower panel. Don't know if it shows, but the DP has a bit of a shimmer to it.

Monochromatic was the theme of the day here ... I loved this DP and wanted to make my card based on that. I stamped in chocolate the flower image on vanilla, matting on chocolate and popped it up on dimensionals. The cross panel is cocoa that I embossed with a CB folder then sponged chocolate over - looks just like leather if you ask me - then finished off with a strip of ribbon and some distressed chocolate stickles.

I am definitely going to have to check out more embossing powders to expand my stash. This technique was the split negative technique, which I've never done before. The object is to stamp 2 of the same images - one in dark on light cardstock & one in light on dark cardstock, split them and put the opposites together. Best if you use a silhouette style of stamp image. This was fabulous ... I loved the way they both turned out. If you'd like more information on this technique, Lori Craig has put together a wonderful tutorial here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/split_negative/

I actually had to rent the movie "Princess Bride" to finish this challenge because I hadn't seen it in some time. We were to use our favorite quote and be inspired to make a card. I couldn't come up with anything pithy or original, so I stuck with a castle ... I received this image from **Carol** over on SCS and colored it with prismas/gamsol. I love the BG DP paper - black 'n white toile that just went perfect with the rennaissance (sp?) effect I was going for. I didn't want to pierce the ribbon for brads, so I added some liquid pearls to finish it off.

This card was actually a "two-for" ... What was my Obsession (why, Elisabeth Bell images, of course, haven't you guys figured that out?! lol) ... and to incorporate things from the Sound of Music's "My Favorite Things" song. "Raindrops on roses ... tied up in 'ribbon' ... " The dp is from the Bittersweet pad from Basic Grey - a perfect compliment!

The challenge here was to use the melted crayon technique. I stamped the image and popped it up after matting on dimensionals along with the border punched strip of burgundy. The background actually has the melted crayon technique. I used some reds, pinks and beige colors to go with the components on the card. For a tutorial by the fabulous Beate Johns, check this out:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/melted_crayon_background/

This challenge was to create a window effect. I used the TLC challenge from a couple of weeks ago - cut out embossing - to create the window frame and then sponged it with pinks and greens then added 2 eyelets and some rose ribbon. While it's difficult to see, I added some acetate beneath the CB'd cut panel for the actual window pane, and then popped them up on dimensionals to create a 3D effect. The sentiment was stamped on some DP.

Challenge here was "Long Lost Love", or to use a stamp that hadn't seen the light of day for some time. No, not the Quartet image, but the corner embroidered doily image. In fact, the stamp was so clean, I honestly don't remember if I've EVER inked it up. I put it in the corners of some SU dp stamped in Not Quite Navy. The DP matches the Birds Galore SU set, which I don't have, but thought it would look good with this image as well, so I stuck with the turquoise/NQN colors here. I finished with faux pearls and organdy ribbon after popping up on dimensionals.

This challenge was to use products beginning with "L".

I used this lamb image - actually a strip - that I cut apart to make cubed. Also used some lavendar lace (or is it lovely lilac, lol - go figure) ... with a little mat of 'leggplant' ... okay, a stretch, lol. The DP is very old SU dp from when they first came out - this matches the moss/olive/plum colors. Added some purple ribbon and finished with a strip of some pretty butterfly embroidered or crocheted or tatted (I'm not sure). Thinking of postage, I wanted a lighter substitute for brads, so I added some purple stickles to the center of each of the butterflies. I also added some crystal effects to the heart.

This challenge was for the "Joy Fold" card brought to us by SCS's stagccva. The image is from the new Whiff of Joy's Spring 2009 kit, Kneeling Willow. I colored her with the gamsol/magic technique and highlighted her with some white signo gel pen. I used color combo of rose, cameo coral and kiwi, with the raspberry tart DP from Stampin' Up. Finished with a disk of rose and DP then added some pink/green prismas and a flower brad.

For a tutorial on the Joy Fold technique, you can check this out: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/joy_fold_card/

This was MY challenge - The would be a card a man sends to a woman, but, with a Color combo of kraft, vanilla and navy ... only 3 brads ... no ribbon or prima flowers ... images had to be botanical. I have a bunch of leaf stamps that I stamped with navy on the kraft. I had masked an oval using the word window punch from SU on a post it sticky so I could stamp from their warm words set "cherish". I then sponged the edges with navy. The added branches are navy punched with a MS punch then tucked under the navy/kraft photo corner. Where you see the vanilla strip, I kept pulling out ribbon (not paying attention to my own instructions, lol), then pulling them off until I finally realized the vanilla would be my 'ribbon'. I punched edge with another MS border punch in vanilla and the navy background then pierced the top of the vanilla panel.

This challenge was an "Ode to Jimmi", one of the moderators for the VSN challenge weekend. She doesn't like hearts, so our challenge was to skip the hearts and stay away from red, pink and white. I loved this sentiment stamp that I just received, and went with a rusty brown feel. The sentiment panel and 2 background layers were all distressed then sponged with tea dye and a bit of cocoa. I finished with some distressed brown stickles, a peach & brown flower with chocolate ribbon accents and brad that I added some crystal effects to to beef it up a bit.

This challenge from LuvLee (Lee) was to incorporate a feather - whether it be real feather, image, etc. At least she didn't ask me to put glitter on it, lol. This took a bit of a think on my part, but eventually settled on this. The images are High Hopes - and I actually got the sentiment before I got the images, I loved the saying so much. The inside panel I left off for the picture, but this is what the inside of the card looks like. Both images were stamped on vanilla and colored with prismas/gamsol. I made the chicken one of those expensive black ones to incorporate the only feather I could find. I distressed the edges and sponged with tea dye. I also distressed the black mat and then took randomly knotted twine and wrapped around the image panel before popping up on dimensionals. The black feather sits below the image panel on top of the BG image from Cornish Heritage farms (thanks, Stacy/jbgreendawn @ SCS), that I also distressed and sponged with tea dye. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this card - it makes me laugh!

This challenge was to use hearts - either 3D as in a box or other altered item, or incorporate it into a card. The artichoke layer is actually like a postcard. The eggplant heart is actually the 'card' part that opens. I wanted to send a birthday card out, so I used this image that DD picked out at HL when they were 1/2 off. Artichoke and eggplant combo is so pretty - I love green/purple together. I distressed the edges of the image panel after cutting with CM cutting system and sponged eggplant around the edges. When I finished with the card, it looked a bit nekkid, so I added the purple stickles to give it the brad effect. I think it's a cutie myself.