Kit Kraft Wednesday - Graphic x 2

I had a few challenges in mind when I sat down to create for Kit Kraft Wednesday, and foremost was to come up with something graphic for the StampNation challenge last week which was to design a card inspired by graphic or geometric design. 

I had two sketches that I was working with, both from Retrosketches.  One was an old one from several weeks back that I still wanted to try, and the other was this weeks' current sketch.  So, the current sketch looks something like this . . .

And yes, it was Kit Kraft Wednesday, so I had to use supplies from one of my monthly kits, and this was a brand new kit from Studio Calico.  It included some awesome paper, some cute dies, felt twine and a stamp set.  The stamp set was used to create the graphic background that was stamped on the white cardstock in colors to match the pattern papers.   

Going for a second graphic card, I used an old Retro Sketches (from several weeks back) and some old supplies from a Simon Says Stamp Card Kit.  No graphic stamps here, instead I went with graphic patterns on the paper (the graph paper and the chevrons), somewhat graphic wood veneers, and a graphic sketch layout.  

Using my supplies (and yet barely putting a dent in it).

Supplies Used

Cardstock:  Bazzill and Neenah*

Pattern Paper:  American Crafts and Dear Lizzy*

Stamps:  JJ Bolton Stamp Set and Die*

Dies:  Craft Die Frame (Studio Calico)

Ink:  Stampin' Up and Ranger Archival

Ribbon:  Divine Twine*

Other:  Stickles

*from Studio Calico Hello, Hello Card Kit

Supplies Used - Watt's Up

Cardstock:  Neenah

Pattern Paper:  Simple Stories* and Doodlebug Chevron Sugarcoated*

Stamps:  Watt's Up*

Ink:  Ranger Archival

Ribbon:  The Twinery

Other:  My Mind's Eye "Charmed" Glittery Enamel Dots,  Freckled Fawn "Stars & Such" Wood Veneers, Maya Road "Light Bulb" Paper Clip

*from Simon Says Stamp April Card Kit

Merry Monday #114 - Guest Design

I'm guest designing this week for the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge, which is one of my favorite challenges for a couple of reasons.  First, it's an awesome opportunity for me to have a pile of Christmas cards prepared for the holidays come December.  Second, the design team always has a fabulous challenge and incredible designs to inspire. So I was super excited to find out that I had won Merry Monday #112 and could guest design this week for #114. 

So here is the challenge . . .

I love shimmer and shine, and I got mine in the form of some American Crafts POW paper and some awesome sparkly sequins.

I think the hardest part was getting that sentiment straight, as this is a pretty simple card.  When you have all that shine, you don't want to overpower.  I explored a few options for this card and it seemed the more I added, it just seemed busy.  I decided to let the shimmer speak for itself . . . simple seemed to be better.

Black and white is one of my favorite elegant combinations, and then add that shimmer and it takes it to a completely different level. 

I hope you will play along at Merry Monday!  Just think . . . it's June 23rd.  Come December 15th you could have 25 cards finished and ready to send come holiday time. 

Happy Creating!

Debbie

Supplies Used

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up and Neenah

Pattern Paper:  American Crafts POW

Stamps:  CAS-ual Fridays Snowflake Greeting

Dies:  Papertrey Ink Christmas Tree

Ink:  Ranger Archival

Ribbon:  Close To My Heart Seam Binding

Other:  Pretty Pink Posh Sequins

Merry Mojo Monday Combo

I decided to combine the Merry Monday and Mojo Monday challenges to create a card . . .

And here is the result . . .

Blushing Bride ink from Stampin' Up created my background, along with a Cover-a-card Snowflake stamp (although hard to see those snowflakes).  Pink, silver and white . . . not traditional Christmas colors, but a gorgeous combination for a holiday card. 

This one shows a little shine.  One card closer to being prepared for the holidays thanks to Merry Monday.

Cheers!

Supplies Used - Merry Monday

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up, Bazzill

Pattern Paper:  American Crafts POW

Stamps: Impression Obsession Cover-a-card Snowflake, Stampin' Up Ornament Keepsakes, Pink by Design Christmas Wishes

Dies:  Stampin' Up Ornament Keepsake Dies and Sizzix Scallop Circle Die

Ink:  Stampin' Up and Versamark

Ribbon:  Stampin' Up

Other:  Stampin' Up Silver Embossing Powder, Ranger Inkessentials Enamel Accents

 

A Little Nautical

My first nautical stamp set arrived, and I've had a horrible time finding mojo.  I wasn't sure if it was the nautical theme tripping me up, or just a random creative slump.  I fought through earlier today to create a card combining a challenge to use color wash technique over at StampNation, and to create a nautical card over at The Card Concept.

So here is my clean and layered attempt at a nautical card.  My color washed background is supposed to emulate sky and sea.  

 The sailboat and seagulls were embossed in white once the color wash dried. 

With one nautical card done and under my belt, I will hopefully find more mojo!  One can hope.

Supplies Used

Cardstock: Gina K. and Strathmore watercolor paper

Stamps:  Here Comes the Sun Stamp TV Kit from gina k. 

Ink:  Stampin' Up and Versamark

Ribbon:  The Twinery

Other:  Stampin' Up White Embossing Powder; Ki Rhinestones

Floating by for Kit Kraft Wednesday

It's another Kit Kraft Wednesday, and this week I played with my monthly shipment of stamps and dies from The Stamps of Life.  The June stamps and dies were hot air balloon themed. 

I used last week's Mojo Monday sketch to create my card . . . 

The set included balloon dies, as well as those awesome clouds.  I cut the clouds from my dotted pattern paper, and then had the card base serve as my clouds.  

A busy card . . . lots of patterns.  And the inside of the card houses a simple "Hi!" 

Supplies Used - Floating By

Cardstock:  Neenah

Pattern Paper:  Basic Grey

Stamps:  hot4balloons from The Stamps of Life

Dies:  Balloon Dies from The Stamps of Life and Sizzix Fancy Labels

Ink: Memento

Other:  Glitter Tape from Close To My Heart and Pretty Pink Posh Sequins

Merry Monday CAS on Sunday

One layer CAS cards are no easy task for me.  The plight of the the girl with too much pattern paper to think about being CAS. That said, paper piecing is one way that I can go CAS, and when I saw the CAS on Sunday challenge to create with paper piecing, and the Merry Monday challenge to use a Santa hat . . . I said, "Whee!"

For Merry Monday, a tiny popped paper pieced Santa Hat with fluffy, furry white trim (a/k/a Flower Soft).  For CAS on Sunday, the paper piecing continued with the dog and the bone (tiny pieces). 

Paper piecing is like putting a puzzle together.  It's a little time-consuming, but I always love the results.  

That tiny hat! And hard to notice, but his nose is shiny. 

Supplies Used

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up and Bazzill

Pattern Paper:  Basic Grey (that tiny bone)

Stamps:  Paper Smooches Santa Paws

Ink:  Memento

Other:  Flower Soft, Musical Notes Washi Tape, Pretty Pink Posh Sequins, CTMH Liquid Glass

Tools:  Scor-Pal

StampNation Inspiration

I'm often inspired by the creative and friendly group of crafty people on StampNation, and I wanted to share some of the creations that came out of StampNation Live, which I attended nearly two months ago.  I had shared some a few months ago on my blog (this post here), and you may remember that I talked about the "try-it tables" that they had, where we were able to play with some new techniques and products.

I left the tables with some "swatches" and did finally finish up some cards to share. 

Swatch #1 was a piece of white cardstock with  a watercolor image on it.  It was created using the Tim Holtz Distress Markers.  The markers were used to color the stamped images, we then sprayed with water and stamped.  I think this is absolutely gorgeous!  I love that depending on the amount of water, you get a completely different look (you can see I have more water on the flower to the right).  I've already used this technique on some cards.  One was posted just a week or so ago, and if you want you can check it out here.  

When I took my swatch back to my table, I pulled some orange and black cardstock and created this card.  I absolutely love that flower stamp and am so tempted to hunt it down, but I'm challenging myself to find a similar stamp in my stash to create a similar card.  Stay tuned! 

Swatch #2 was a watercolor piece created using the Tim Holtz Distress markers, and I think I probably need to perfect the technique a bit as it looks a little streaky.  I'm not sure if I needed more water, or if running the marker across the watercolor paper needs to be perfected, but I used the panel anyway.  

I took it back to my table, corner rounded, mounted it on black cardstock, added the stamped images, the ribbon, the sequins and mounted it all on a white card base.

Now, Swatch #3 surprised me.  There were beautiful samples at the table, and when I walked away with my swatch I remember thinking . . . wow . . . I really messed that one up.  I though this was my one swatch that would land in the trash bin.

The center piece was done on canvas, and we sprayed with die inks (forgive me for not remembering the exact brand of spray).  We then used a stencil with some embossing paste, and from there I added some super, super sparkly glitter that was available.  Well, let me tell you!  I walked away with that canvas and was thinking, this is a bit of a mess.  It was literally covered in glitter . . . everywhere.  You could see bits of red and green under it.

So, once it dried, I took a baby wipe and laid it over the canvas, pressed it and lifted.  All that excess glitter was coming up.  I repeated a few times, and there was my stenciled design and my color.  

I stamped the scallop circle image from Hero Arts, and then cut a circle window for my canvas to display below.  This one got a lot of ooohs and ahhhs from those who passed by my table.  

I have canvas on my shopping list (have not gotten there yet).

Hope you enjoyed my shared swatches.  

If you are looking to learn new techniques and stay connected with some awesome, friendly, crafty people, I highly recommend StampNation.  It is "virtually" so inspiring.

Supplies Used - Thinking of You

Cardstock:  Neenah, Stampin' Up, Bazzill and Watercolor

Stamps:  Penny Black

Ink:  Tim Holtz Distress Markers and Ranger Archival Black

Ribbon:  Stampin' Up

Supplies Used - Truth Is - Distress Markers

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up and Watercolor paper

Stamps:  CAS-ual Fridays

Ink:  Tim Holtz Markers and Versafine Black Ink

Ribbon:  Stampin' Up

Other:  Pretty Pink Posh Sequins

Supplies Used - Merry Christmas Canvas

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up

Stamps:  Hero Arts and CAS-ual Fridays

Dies:  Sizzix Scallop Circle

Ink:  Memento 

Other:  Ki Rhinestones

Canvas swatch in the center was made at StampNation Live, and I can't remember the supplies used . . . But there was embossing paste, sprays and glitter involved!

Two Cards; Two Challenges

I created cards yesterday for two challenges, the first for Retro Sketches . . .

 And here is my card . . .

 Old scraps from my table, and new dies and stamps from Lil' Inkers! 

And for card #2, a photo inspiration from Paper Smooches. 

This one scared me a bit, and then I saw a celebratory city scene in my head. 

Mmmm . . . I smell paper and ink!  Yum. 

Supplies Used

Cardstock:  Neenah

Pattern Paper:  Stampin' Up

Stamps:  Lil' Inkers Piece of Me Stamps

Dies:  Lil' Inkers Puzzle Pieces

Ink:  Stampin' Up

Other:  Little Yellow Bicycle Pinked Circle Cork and Pretty Pink Posh Sequin

Supplies Used - Paper Smooches Photo

Cardstock:  Bazzill and Neenah

Stamps:  Paper Smooches Metrpolis

Ink:  Close To My Heart, Ranger Archival, and Copic Markers

Ribbon:  American Crafts Glitter Tape

Kit Kraft Wednesday - Hey, Keep Smiling

For today's Kit Kraft Wednesday I again created a card using CASE this Sketch.  This is getting to be a regular weekly thing. 

Here is the sketch . . .

Here is my card . . .

 I thought about washi tape, which came in my Simon Says Stamp June Card Kit, but these particular patterned papers were just calling my name from the kit.  I altered the sketch just bit by adding a panel for added interest. 

Loving those three papers together. 

Challenge for next week . . . use a different kit and a different challenge.  (Let's see how I do with that one!) 

Supplies Used

Cardstock:  Bazzill* and Neenah

Pattern Paper:  My Mind's Eye* Now and Then Mildred*

Stamps:  Favorite Flowers from Simon Says Stamp*

Ink: Memento

Other:  My Mind's Eye Enamel Dots*

*from Simon Says Stamp June Card Kit

Mojo Monday Creation

Not much to say . . . just adding a little creation for Mojo Monday. 

This card was created with the sketch below in mind . . .

This card was created using supplies from an old Simon Says Stamp Kit from 2012. 

The flower was stamped on cream cardstock and then colored using a white pen.

Happy crafting! 

upplies Used

Cardstock:  Simon Says Stamp and Bazzill

Pattern Paper:  Fancy Pants' Country Boutique

Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp Forever and Always

Ink: Memento

Ribbon:  from Simon Says Stamp Kit

Other:  Signo White Pen

If I Knew Then What I Know Now

We learn so much through our crafting  Sometimes we jump and buy things and later ask why.  Sometimes we don't invest in things, and we later say, "Why didn't I?" 

Distress inks are one of those things for me.  I bought a few over the years and would try to stamp with them and the results were never good.  If I knew then that they were not meant for detailed stamping, I would not have bought the few I had.  But if I knew how FABULOUS they were for coloring white cardstock and distressing images, I would have stocked up on the entire collection.  And when I made today's card, it could not have proven my point more. 

Here is a card I created this morning using two challenges for inspiration.  Merry Monday inspired the colors, and My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club inspired the sketch. 

I used three distress inks to color my ornaments.  The blending of the color and the way the edges standout . . . well, let's just say that I'm not always mesmerized by things, but I just gazed at these ornaments.  The ornament dies and stamps are from the Christmas Ornaments Die-namics and Stamp Set made by My Favorite Things.  These started out white, and I embossed the top two using clear embossing powder.  The bottom ornament has one of the dies from the set on it which was embossed with some Iridescent Ice embossing powder. 

The ornament tops were covered with Versamark and then double embossed with silver embossing powder. 

Three words . . . THIS WAS FUN! 

I love to create when the creating is good. 

              

Supplies Used

Cardstock:  Bazzill and Neenah

Pattern Paper:  American Crafts Pow and Stampin' Up DSP

Stamps:  Christmas Ornaments from My Favorite Things

Dies:  Die-Namics Christmas Ornaments from My Favorite Things

Ink:  Ranger Distresss and Archival Inks; Versamark

Ribbon:  Close To My Heart

Other:  Stampin' Up Clear and Silver Embossing Powders; Eyelet Outlet Rhinestones

  

Anything Goes for Paper Smooches

I decided to play with some unusual choices for today's card . . . specifically using up some bold black prints I had leftover from a kit, and not really knowing how it would all come together.  It was an "Anything Goes" challenge at Paper Smooches.  I played with stars and hexagons and I landed on flowers (which made more sense with the floral print behind it).   I'm not sure how I feel about it in the end . . .

The surprise for me was using that flower die, which has a separate outline cut (OMG . . . cool).  I did not realize that it was two dies in one.  Win! 

I think it was just one of those days. 

Supplies Used - Pocketful of Congrats

Cardstock:  Bazzill and Neenah

Pattern Paper:  Simple Stories

Stamps:  Paper Smooches Denim & Daisies

Dies:  Paper Smooches Pocket Dies

Ink:  Ranger Archival

Ribbon:  Stampin' Up

Other:  Pretty Pink Posh Sequins

Inky Paws Challenge - Purr-fect Day

A little something for Newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge, which was a challenge to add texture to your card or project. 

I stamped my sentiment on a pinked circle of cork.  I considered coloring my image, but on the black and white background, I decided to stick with black and white images.  

Supplies Used - Purr-fect Day

Cardstock:  Bazzill and Neenah

Pattern Paper:  Simple Stories

Stamps:  Newton's Antics (Newton's Nook)

Ink:  Ranger Archival

Ribbon:  Stampin' Up

Other:  Pretty Pink Posh Sequins, Pinked Cork Circle from Little Yellow Bicycle

Kit Kraft Wednesday - Embossed Background

Kit Kraft Wednesday is upon me, and I better keep up with my rule to create using my monthly kits, because there is another one that will be making it's way to my home on a regular basis. 

So for this week's craft creation, I made a card using my June Simon Says Stamp Card Kit.  I decided to again create using the sketch available at CAS(E) this Sketch which seems to be my ray of hope for Kit Kraft Wednesday.  Here is my creation . . .

I am so used to using either a white card base or white panel on my colored cardstock, that this one was tough for me.  I created my own background with the stamps from my kit and embossing powder from my stash.  All of the product, except for the die cut, the ink and the embossing powder is from my June Kit. 

Supplies Used

Cardstock:  Bazzill*

Pattern Paper:  My Mind's Eye Now and Then Mildred*

Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp Favorite Flowers*

Dies:  Reverse Confetti Doin' the Wave

Ink:  Versamark w/various Stampin' Up Embossing Powders and Ranger Archival

Other:  My Mind's Eye Enamel Dots*

*from Simon Says Stamp June Card Kit

Watercolor Creation for MFT and colourQ

I am absolutely loving the look of watercolor creations, and I wanted to try my hand at it to create a card using the Grand Peaceful Wildflowers set and the sketch posted by MFT's Wednesday's Stamp Club. The inspiration for my color palette came from colourQ. 

What I love most about watercolor creations is that your image looks different each and every time based on the amount ink, the amount of water and the amount of pressure.  I just love how these images came out on these tiny 3/4" squares. 

I've been bit by the watercolor bug! 

The sketch and the palette . . .

           +             

Supplies Used - Watercolor Flowers

Cardstock:  Neenah, Bazzill, and Strathmore Watercolor

Pattern Paper:  Close To My Heart

Stamps:  MFT Grand Peaceful Wildflowers

Dies:  Die-namics Dimensional Banners

Ink:  Stampin' Up and Ranger Archival

Ribbon:  Stampin' Up