Sunday, April 22, 2018

Butterfly Background

I'm still feeling as if it's spring here in the Arizona desert although it reached 93 degrees today. The low humidity kept us comfortable and we never heard the air conditioner turn on.


My card is for a sketch challenge - they're always my favorite type and the optional twist is to include butterflies in the design. This is Sketch Challenge #364, which begins on Tuesday, April 24, 2018.


We hope you'll check out our challenges at Try Stampin' on Tuesday. Each Tuesday we offer a sketch or color challenge that is open for almost two weeks. Once a month we add a technique challenge and over Memorial Day, we're having a blog hop featuring masculine cards!


The front of the card base was texturized with a butterfly embossing folder. A dusting technique was used to lightly brush on gray ink to highlight the butterflies and give dimension to the background. The inside was lined with white cardstock and decorated with the same patterned paper as on the card front. A panel of cardstock and a panel of patterned paper were adhered to the card front. Three squares were tilted and adhered with foam tape. The die cut "hello" was adhered along with some small pearls.


We'd love to have you play along at our challenges! Check out our blog: Try Stampin' on Tuesday.

Materials are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted:
Ink: Smoky Slate
Cardstock: Whisper White, Soft Sky, Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder
Paper: Painted Blooms Collection (retired)
Die: Greetings (hello)
TIEF: "Fluttering"
Misc.: Dimensionals (foam tape); pearls from stash; dusting brush by Judikins

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Scootin' By!


This cute image from Mari Digis Stamp Store was such fun to use on a card! Being a "white hair" myself I wanted to color her hair the same. Come on by the Creative Moments Blog and play along with Challenge #141. The theme is "two flowers". On my card I added a flower to her hair and one for decoration.

The image was downloaded, resized, printed and colored. I had a little trouble with one of my Copic markers dispensing too much ink and some spatter but I persisted. The panels were adhered to the card base with the focal panel being adhered with foam tape for dimension. The flowers were created using a punch. The sentiment was computer generated. The inside was lined with white cardstock and decorated with patterned paper and a few scattered flowers.


We hope you'll stop by Creative Moments Challenge Blog and share your project with us. Just put two flowers on it and post it!

Materials
Stamp: Bzzt by Mari Digis Stamp Store
Inks: Copic Alcohol Markers
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate; SN for alcohol markers
Paper: CTMH "Penelope" (retired)
Punch: Stampin' Up! Boho Blossoms
Misc.: Stampin' Up! Dimensionals (foam tape); gems from stash

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Happy Spring! Step Card

Although my card includes Easter eggs and Easter was a few weeks ago, the eggs symbolize new life, which, in my hemisphere, is what spring is all about! The cactus flowers are breaking out with buds, the Palo Verde and Bottle Brush trees are already bright with color and we have plenty of honey bees.


April 15th is also World Art Day. The date was chosen in honor of the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, a symbol of world peace, freedom of expression, tolerance, brotherhood and multiculturalism.


We hope you'll join our semi-monthly challenge #194 at The Crafter's Café by submitting your project. The challenge begins on April 15, 2018. There is a prize! My image of the jar filled with eggs came from our sponsor, Scribbles Designs. Take a look at their blog filled with digital images for your projects.



My card is a fancy fold called a horizontal center step card. There are plenty of tutorials on You Tube providing instructions to make this vertically or horizontally. After measuring, cutting and scoring the step card base, it was decorated with patterned paper. The jar and egg images were downloaded, resized, colored and fussy cut. The flowers were created with a punch. All of these elements were adhered to the card, some with foam tape for dimension and some directly onto the card base. The sentiment was computer generated and adhered with foam tape. Gems were added for some sparkle. The inside of the card was lined with white cardstock and decorated with a few flowers.


Visit The Crafter's Café Challenge #194 for inspiration from our Design Team and play along with us!

Materials
Stamps: Digital Image "Easter Eggs in Mason Jar" by Scribbles Designs; sentiment computer generated
Inks: Copics Alcohol Markers
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Basic Gray, Elegant Eggplant, Hello Honey, Lucky Limeade, Pink Pirouette, Bermuda Bay, Perfect Plum; SN for alcohol ink
Paper: Dare 2B Artzy "Honey Bloomz" Collection
Punch: Stampin' Up! Boho Blossoms
Misc.: Stampin' Up! Dimensionals (foam tape); gems from stash

Monday, April 9, 2018

All Occasions



Having used this stamp, Artistically Awesome, several times over the past, it has become a favorite to use for any number of occasions. This card is in response to Try Stampin' on Tuesday's Color Challenge #2 - Plum, Sage and Mauve. We hope you'll play along!



The stamped image was colored with Copics, ink dusted, matted with green cardstock and backed with foam tape. A panel of patterned paper was adhered to the eggplant card base along with a coordinating ribbon. The focal panel was attached. The inside of the card was lined with a panel of white cardstock that had been dusted with ink. The panel was decorated with ribbon and a fussy cut portion of an identical colored stamped image.  A sentiment will be added when the card is used. One of the Copic markers spattered lightly onto the focal image. I liked the effect so left it exactly as is.


Please share your creations with us at TSOT Color Challenge #2. We'd love to see them!

Techniques: Stamping, coloring, ink dusting, fussy cutting
Size: A2

Materials
Stamp Set: Stampin' Up! "Artistically Awesome"
Inks: Stampin' Up! Perfect Plum; Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Alcohol Markers
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, Lucky Limeade (retired); SN for alcohol markers
Paper: Stampin' Up! Painted Blooms Collection (retired)
Misc.: Stampin' Up! Dimensionals (foam tape) & ribbon (Elegant Eggplant); dusting brush by Judikins

Friday, April 6, 2018

A Poppy for You




The Brown Sugar Challenge #277 for April is up and running beginning on April 6, 2018 through Thursday, May 3, 2018 at 9:00 am Mountain Standard Time (USA). The theme is to create a project for Mother's Day or something using pearls (or both)! We'd love to have you play along.


 
Because poppies vary from gold to orange to red, I colored them using a variety of different markers. I used an image from Crafty Sentiments Designs. The image was downloaded, resized, printed, colored and fussy cut. I also isolated the poppy and printed five of them, which were done the same way as the girl image. Onto a card base, a die cut scalloped strip was adhered along with a plaid panel. A strip of cardstock was die cut along two edges, decorated with a white ribbon and adhered. The sentiment was computer generated and adhered along with two other banners. The images were adhered using foam tape for dimension. Pearls were added. The inside was decorated with a strip of plaid paper and the last remaining poppy.

I encourage you to try to win a prize by joining in the challenge fun at Brown Sugar!

Materials
Stamp: Digital Image "Emmi Lou - A Poppy for You" from Crafty Sentiments Designs; computer generated sentiment (font: Gigi)
Inks: Copic Alcohol Markers
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Peach Parfait (retired); SN for alcohol ink
Paper: Lawn Fawn plaid
Die: Lawn Fawn stitched scallop border die
Misc.: Stampin' Up' Dimensionals (foam tape), pearls & ribbon

Friendship Fancy Fold Step Card



For Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #287, I made a vertical center step card. This is probably the simplest of the various styles of step cards. There are plenty of tutorials available on You Tube for making step cards. I kept this one at an A2 size for easy mailing but because I later added the large pearls, it probably would be better to give this card in person and not send it through the mail. I did not use a die to create the card base. It really is very simple to create the base if you have a trimmer/cutter device.


To the white card base I added the striped paper. I also added a decorated layer of cardstock to the center section that I die cut on three edges with a stitched scallop border die. The rectangular design with the light pink sentiment was cut from patterned paper. The flowers were created using a punch and the word "friend" is from a die. Most of the flowers were adhered using foam tape to add more dimension to the card.

The challenge colors are:

If you don't have the exact colors, that's ok. Feel free to look through your stash and select colors that are closest to these and play along at Color Dare #287. You may be eligible for a prize! Just don't add any colors or neutrals other than what is explained in the guidelines.


Techniques: Fancy fold, die cutting, punch cutting
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

Materials
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White heavyweight, CTMH Blossom & Bashful, DCWV Silver Foil
Paper: Echo Park "Imagine That" Collection - #ITG146010 Journaling Cards & #ITG146007 Bubble Trouble
Dies: "Friend" - source unknown; Lawn Fawn stitched scalloped border
Punch: Stampin' Up! "Boho Blossoms"
Misc.: Stampin' Up! Dimensionals (foam tape), Martha Stewart pearls