Few more cards made today ...



For the SCS challenges, I completed quite a few cards for the Inspiration challenge, the Japanese Tenugui calendars found here: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.grap.co.jp%2Fnugoo%2Fcalendar.html&sl=ja&tl=en&history_state0=



These are the 2 cards I posted in the SCS gallery, as well as a bunch extra I made to finish off the paper:

I have a pad of paper "Magic Core" that is colored at the core and back side, but the front is black. I ran these sheets through my Cuttlebug embossing folders (varied) and then sanded the surface of the black side down, revealing the core color. I mixed ethnicities, and I hope no one minds ... While I was inspired by the Japanese Tenugui artwork, the sentiment I used is actually the Chinese "Love" symbol. Simple cards, but I like the way they turned out.

The next two cards were for the Featured Challenge. Judy (SCS: jaydekay) had such a wonderful gallery, but these are my takes on a couple of her cards.

For this first one, I immediately thought of my old Stampin Up's Definitely Decorative Daisy ... Popped the main flower and leaves up on dimensionals, adding the sentiment on dimensionals as well.
Now, this next one ...

My friend, Kim, introduced me to this technique using Teykol (a white masking-type paste that I got from the Netherlands - not sure what is comparable here in the US, but it's a liquid). (Kim got the technique from her friend over in Germany, Christiana.) I stamped the image on a special glossy paper I also got from Netherlands, using Stazon black. Then I painted the white areas and let it dry completely. Afterwards, I sponged & rubbed blue inks over entire surface to bring out the resist. I love the look of this bright blue, silver and white together ...
I'm going to be trying another technique using this Teykol, so stay tuned ...
Thanks for stopping by ...

Blog Candy Alert - over at Sally's Creative Corner: http://sallyscreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Hi again ... Bear with me ... I haven't put alot up since New Years. While I've made some, I've been feeling pretty lousy last few days, but since I'm feeling a little better, here goes.

I was wandering the SCS threads the other day and got into some blogs and got lost, lol ... Okay, I'm fairly computer savvy, but all these people making all these different cards from all these different companies from all these different challenges ... can you see where I'm going? Anyway ... I ended up finding a color challenge (VSLFL1) to combine Riding Hood Red, Kraft and pink pirouette ... what a pretty combination ... somewhere NEAR that challenge, I saw a sketch that I really liked, so I followed it, too ... I need to make sure there's a pad of paper near the computer at all times, cuz you think I could find that again? Not, lol.
This card is actually 3x6. I like the different sized cards as long as they're not too funky or costly to send out (Costly?!, I crack myself UP! - They should just have a stamp at the P.O. made especially for card stampers! Instead of guessing "how much do these brads cost to mail ... is this ribbon too thick?" They should just round it off to a number for all of 'em.)

This next card was for SCS's Technique lovers ... Not sure if you know it or not, but Glitter is the bane of my existence. I made this card a few days ago and I'm STILL finding pieces of that stuff all over the place. I used tacky strips and angled them onto the cardstock. In the jar, the glitters looked white and the other was pink. Not so different on the card, in fact, from the pic, looks a little yellowy, but, that's how it goes. I DO like the way it turned out ... but NO, I won't be searching for any more ways to use glitter just yet, lol.

These two cards followed the color combination of Brilliant blue, Pumpkin and Garden Green. I'm pretty close to using up the very last of this original SU DP (blue swirl behind Oakley). I immedately thought of it when I saw the bubbles in his bath. I'm fast becoming a huge fan of the Whiff of Joy/Elisabeth Bell's images as well as the Sugar Nellies. They remind me of the Precious Moments figurines that I have in my curio cabinet, only grown up.

This next card was a sketch challenge at SCS (210). I very nearly ran out of room ... was going to try it again in a 5x7 version, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I used the Close as a Memory set - image on the left and their sentiment on the right. One of the first times I've done the butterflies, but I think it turned out by punching them from the same DP (Basic Grey- one of my favorite prints).

This actually started off being just some blue cardstock to stiffen my 4x6 postits ... well .. we can't EVER do anything simple, can we? I ended up adding a couple of layers with some designer paper ... Oh, and we can't leave it without an image, right? ... And you can't put an image up without SOME kind of embellishment, right? Ribbons, Stickles later, this is the result. Keep in mind, this is for the post its that I write notes on when I send out birthday cards to all of the wonderful stampers in Splitcoast's BRAK and Wish Rak birthday clubs, so they needed a special house til they 'left the building'.

I'm not thrilled with this little lady's colors, but I started off wrong. I had 2 Copics in lavender shades, so colored her in ... Couldn't find cardstock or designer paper to go with the flow, so I came close with the Parisian dp from SU ... I didn't sent my last secret sister a Christmas card (okay, who's kidding who - VERY few people got cards this season) ... so I wanted to send her a Valentine's card ... She's got 2 boys, so short on the girly stuff, so I wanted to make it a little fru-fru for her.

New Years Eve Wish RAK challenges:

These were the cards I made for the New Years Eve Wish Rak 'party' where all cards are made from WRAK (wishes sent to you) items and then are sent to the troops so they can send home to their loved ones ... Funny thing, there's no Hallmark's over in Iraq, go figure.

First up was to case SCS's Cork1035's gallery, found here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=447. I picked her Tableau of Terror because I loved the circle sunset she used in the back of her images. I had a tough time figuring out which wrak to use, but when I saw this ship, it called out to me ...

Second up was a Thinking of you card ... I love this image - this is where I want to retire if that ever happens:

Third was a Happy Birthday card suitable to send to anyone ...

Next, a birthday card for a boy from age 1 to 21 ... I love these Magnolia's ... can't believe I haven't seen them around until recently. I received this image from my Secret Santa, saxontoy, and absolutely have to get the background bench stamp, too ... I'm starting to get a little brave with the couple of Copics and Prisma markers - the Bic Markits are okay, but they're just not quite the same. Adds a little more when I fine tune them with the prisma colored pencils and gamsol, too. Just wait, I'll get me some more Copics, lol.

Next was to make an Easter card to send home to the kids, so I picked this cute bunny.

I had just received this image for the next challenge: a Spouse's anniversary card. I confess - I used a computer generated sentiment. I always forget to get the stamps w/words on them.

Next was a Birthday card for the wife. Stacy (SCS's jbgreendawn) sent me this image via the PIF thread, but I figured, it's just as good, right? I absolute love her collection of vintage stamps, to die for! The one on the left is the one I submitted. I liked it so much, I made a second one with different colors. The one on the left has a stamped sentiment. The one on the right is actually a clear rub-on, on top of vanilla card stock.

The next card we were given carte blanche - but we had to describe the technique we used (Faux Silk in my case). I stamped the Penny Black Fantasy Tree on a soft watercolored looking designer paper in black Stazon. I then crumpled up a piece of white tissue paper and then smoothed it out a bit. After applying glue stick to the entire top of the designer paper, I patted the tissue paper over the image (so as not to smooth it out too much - you want the wrinkles to show in the faux silk technique to make it look real). This just makes the cards look stunning, in my opinion.

Next challenge was a general Miss You or Thinking About You card. I used Matthew Lying Down from Whiff of Joy's collection.

Happy Birthday to Mom came next ... I've had this bunny I received in a collection a few months ago, but just now used. (I have since purchased the stamp when HL had their 50% sale - it's perfect for anyone.)

Love and Romance came next ... trick was we had to use a Heart in the card, as well as any Green, Pink and Brown color combo. This was a Unity heart stamped in coral, which is close to pink, so I went that route. A different color combo, I'll grant you ... but it seems to work. I cut out the heart image and sewed it onto garden green layer then cut that out freehand before matting on the coral that I ran through CB's swiss dots folder. Didn't have any designer paper to go with the green, so I made my own with one of the itty bitty's from SU with hearts in it.

The next challenge was pretty cool - to make a Patriotic Thank You card, but we were given the flags of the different countries - told to pick a sketch and a color combo we liked. I kept going back to the red and white flags from Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Finland - but I liked the Swiss layout ... kind of like a cross laid sideways. This cutie was also sent to me from my Secret Santa, saxontoy from SCS. I tried to keep it simple as the layout is fairly straightforward ... Not a lot of heavy matting, but I think it works.

Okay ... now this next one was to be a humorous card for a guy ... I don't really have a lot of funny stamps, so I had to go back to my Henrietta and her chicken butt, lol.

Thanks so much for stopping by ... I appreciate any comments you might like to leave. Have a great day.

These cards were part of the Holiday Extravagana leading up to New Years Eve, 2008-2009. This first one was to make a single layer card. Oh My! How long has it been? I think more thought went into this one than most because I had to be particular where everything was placed to make the most of the space. I do like the end result.

This second one, we were given a photograph here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=127285&d=1230364569
While my card isn't a perfect match, I do like the way the birds are sparkly against the white cuttlebugged layer.
This next one was to make scraplings ... yes, s - c - r - a - p - l - i - n - g - s. It's the end of a card that you cut off if you want to make a square card out of the standard sized ones. These little scraps are then made into cards. I have to say, tho, that they ARE a perfect size for a bookmark.


This next card coming up is a new image stamped on caramel with a sentiment. I love the vintage cards!

This one was super pretty. I stamped the image (a flourish) 2 times in black and then stippled the edges in ballet blue ink. I love the way the silver and white look with the shades of blue paper. I love the scalloped edge on this card, also.

Well, I'll be back later this morning to post some of the Wish RAK challenge cards I made.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

These two cards were inspired by the MacKenzie Child website, found here: http://www.mackenzie-childs.com/index.aspx. I loved the "Honeymoon" pattern in nearly any color. I followed my friend, Eileen LeFevre's, idea about patchworking the DP and then cutting the panel out with the Nesties dies. On the pink card, I stamped directly onto the patchwork, coloring the stamp directly with markers then shading them with my prismas and gamsol. The blue card was stamped using the stamp a ma jig. I actually painted a few candlesticks in ceramics recently that are reminiscent of some of the MacKenzie Child's stuff. Wonder if I could see them for as much as their stuff goes for? It IS beautiful, especially the furniture - Oh my, what I wouldn't give ...

This card was based on a Faux Silk technique. Taking crumbled up tissue paper, I applied regular glue stick to the image that was sent to me by Shannah in Australia. Without smoothing too much, I patted the crumbed up tissue paper over the image. When it was dry, I went over it again with some Tea Dye ink from Tim Holtz to bring out the wrinkles to give it a more realistic silk appearance. I love the way vintage stamps look.
This card was inspired by the Maximo website, home of artwork by Alex. Girard. I punched out butterflies from cardstock and applied them to punched circle then clear embossed over them so they look like they're encased. I like the end result, but it was kind of time consuming.

This card was inspired by SCS's Stampfilled Dreams. She had stamped a row of flowers in her 'Celebrate Summer Botanicals', found here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1038097?cat=500&ppuser=13584. I love this long business size card. I'm going to have to make some more of them. I liked that this card looks so spring-y after all the snow we've had lately.

Here's another one of my Whiff of Joy images. She is just 'a Joy' to color, that's for sure. All these images remind me of the munchkin here at home. But I have to be careful. I wouldn't want it going to her head.

I started off the following card by stamping in Stazon on thick, luscious watercolor paper, then used the blender pen and ink pads to 'watercolor' the image in. Afterwards, I scored the diamond panel then sponged Tea Dye ink to age the image. Little too much, so I sanded it a smidge, which made the image fade a bit, but I like how it looks.

Thanks again for stopping by.

My latest Whiff of J0y cards. (okay, now I need to get some more)

Love these images so much. They remind me a little of the Precious Moments, only All Grown Up.

Here are a couple more I've done ... the first is one of the Magnolia images. I just got this from my WRAK secret santa, saxontoy. Have been shying away from these guys (it's the no mouth thing, sorry) ... but have come around cuz the images are so stinking cute! This was my first try using the Copic markers (and Bic for the blue). I only have 2 yellow Copics, and that's quite by accident. I bought them for a poster for cheerleading - they were out of every other yellow/gold marker at Hobby Lobby in the summer. Little did I know the gem I had.

These last two were based on the Featured Stamper challenge over at SCS (FS98- Cards by America). First thought the pink one a bit too much 'pepto-bismally', but it's actually growing on me. I've made a few more in different colors. Very versatile, lol.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dontcha just love the Whiff of Joy stamps? (I do!)

This is Lizzie with Muff and Herb with Baby. Both of them were for the Limited Supply challenge on SCS where we were to recycle, reuse, just go Green (LSC198).

On the Lizzie card, I took the hardware off of a RAK card that was given me last Christmas before I even figured out how to load pics up on the system. (I have fixed that older RAK card, so the sentiment is just matted, so all's well). I sponged the oval using the masking technique & Tim Holtz' tea dye ink pad with a sponge. My DD has a Rothschild's coat that we bought her years ago that this image reminded me of, so I had to color it velvety green.

On the Herb card, I took apart one of my old cards that I felt was a little too simplistic and used the bordering blue base again. If you look close, yes, you'll see a mistake - I forgot to color the holly berries & leaves on Herb's hat. I have since rectified that, so whoever gets this card will get a completed version, lol. (Just not worth it to re-take the pic, size it, adjust color, add watermark, well, you get the picture).

I've got 2 more Whiff of Joy images 'setting up' so once I finish them & get around to photographing them, I'll be back.

Thanks for sneaking a peek.