Color Throwdown 361!

Whew, finally hunkered down and got some crafting in this weekend (it's never enough... could scrap my life away)...

I love participating in the Color Throwdown  challenges... I think the name of it is bada$$!  But the colors and images consistently inspire.

Here is the palette and inspiration for this week, #361:

& here's my card:

Supplies & notes:

• I painted the flowers with my little watercolors!  (Kinda proud) As I wrote in another blog entry, I've been looking for my paint kit for weeks... Finally found it in my kids' craft bin! 
• Not sure what brand the striped paper is-- it was a scrap. 
• Liquid Pearls  in pearl and Viva Paper Pearls in Anthracite 
• Corner rounder by Fiskars 

FMS #205

This is my 6th entry into a Freshly Made Sketch challenge. 

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

Supplies & notes:

• The paper is all Kaisercraft.  I chalked the edges with Color Box chalk in Creamy Brown and distressed it. 
• The flowers were watercolored by yours truly because I couldn't fussy cut the flowers on some of the Kaisercraft DP so I decided to paint some myself. I am really pleased with the way that they turned out.  Then I popped them up on dimensional tape.  
• My daughter typed up the sentiment for me!  I was going to leave one off,  but I like it,  and I'm glad she helped. (She's 7... still sweet... most of the time! ) 

Sunday Stamps #110

This will be my second entry into a SUNDAY STAMPS challenge.  It was a super-simple sketch,  and I took advantage of that...

And here is my creation :

Supplis:

• Echo Park Paper Co. paper and sticker 

Haha, BOOM! That was it!  I didn't even realize I was using the same company paper.  I had bought the sticker sheet a couple years ago,  and the paper was grad paper from this year. 

VLV Week 3... a week later...

Well, this did not take much effort, but I'm happy with it and I'll use it...

This is the Week 3 Viva La Verve Challenge I didn't aspire to on time...

Here's the sketch:

And here's my simple card:

Supplies:

• A scrap of charcoal paper
• Melissa Frances seasonal cardstock stickers
• Liquid Pearls in Gold Pearl
• Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist on the kraft card

CBD ATC

Alrighty then!Crafting By Designs' new challenge is Artist Trading Cards. I've always been intrigued by these but never made them-- so this is a first!

What you think?

Supplies and notes:

• Started off right with my fave surface: a library card.  Water colored with my old paints... I searched high and low for them... found them!  Finally!
• Stamped a Meer Image skeleton mermaid (but you can't see her tail) and embossed or with Tim Holtz Distress embossing ink and Recollections powder in Snow
• Sprayed Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist sprayed through a Martha Stewart stencil... it's pretty cool-- you can only see it at an angle,  but an angle is awesomely vivid! 
• At the end,  I punched the corners with a Fiskars corner punch and daubed with some Seedless Preserves Tim Holtz Distress Ink.

Boom. ATC.

VLV September Week 4...

...skipped Week 3, mostly because I haven't had any magical feelings from the sketch,  but I think I'll make it a personal goal to go back and do Week 3 this weekend.

Here is the sketch for Viva La Verve Week 4:

...and here is my flipped version:

Supplies:

• MME paper and Authentique Halloween "Enhancements" (the little vintage Halloween pix)
• Viva Paper Pearls in Anthracite 
• ColorBox chalk in Blackbird
• Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint in Clear Rock Candy brushed lightly over the image

Retro Sketches #182...

...IS RIGHT HERE.  This is the sketch:

Here is my card:

Please know that it was to dark to take my normal (decent) quality pix, so I'll try to fix this tomorrow! 

Supplies:

• Simple Stories paper, both sides,  and the gold heart is printed on it. 

•  Viva Paper Pearls in Anthracite 

•  Heidi Swapp sentiment inked slightly at edges with Tim Holtz's Distress Ink pad in Black Soot 

•  Some perfect little sequins

The Kraft Journal Challenge #242 is...

...ANYTHING GOES... PUMPKINS!

Today gave another old library card a new lease on life!  (You can buy library cards at the Kraft Journal store).  Be sure to peep the title on mine...

Here's the card,  and if you like "clever," check out my supplies and notes below!

Supplies and notes:

• Sooo, maybe you already realized, but my little pumpkins are hot-air balloons! As I was awake last night,  it struck me to do that! And I've always thought the gulls on the same Delta stencil looked like bats, so BAM! I used Tim Holtz's Distress Paint in Spiced Marmalade and Black Soot for those. 
• Colors done with Tim Holtz's Distress Ink pads: Spiced Marmalade,  Crushed Olive, and Seedless Preserves. Sprayed with a Mini Mister for sky-interest. Tapped the edges with Black Soot for dimension.
• The vines and leaves are from generic flower bundles... twisted the wire around a toothpick. Tapped the leaves with Black Soot paint. 
• Viva pearl pen in Anthracite for pumpkin design, Liquid Pearls in gold pearl for bat eyes (my fave part of the whole card), and Stickles in Black Diamond for bat details.
• There is some faint reverse-stenciling on the library card from accidental inking in the past-- but it's perfect! 

Pretty stoked on this. .. now I want to make a spookier card! 

Cheers! It's FREAKING FRIDAY!!!!

On Wednesday, Simon Said...

... NO DESIGNER PAPER!

Well, I'm addicted to patterned paper (just like probably 99.5% of anyone reading this... the other 0.5% found this page by error in Blogland)... but... I do like me some plain paper,  too.  One of my fave things to do is stamp with gold leaf using unconventional applicators-- usually an eraser.  I used my triangle-carved eraser and added my own little design... think the angles go well with the border punch I used for my little strip.

Here she is!

Supplies:

• Heidi Swapp sentiment painted with Liquid Leaf
• DCWV double-sided cardstock 
• Martha Stewart border punch
• Liquid Leaf stamped with an eraser

That's it!  Easy-peasy!

Sweet Sunday #287

Sweet Sunday Sketch #287 went all "Halloweeny."...

Here's my spooky (ummm... not so much spooky...) card:

Supplies and notes:

• I believe the ghost is from Creative imaginations 
• Prima letters
• MARTHA star stencil daubed with Tim Holtz Distress ink in Crushed Preserves then sprayed with Distress spray in Black soot
• Tim Holtz stripes stencil daubed with his Mowed Lawn Distress Paint
• Doodlebug twine with a Creative Imaginations brad
• Core'dinations cardstock

The Card Concept #40

Alrighty, then: the The 40th Card Concept Challenge: Forest Friends is here!

And here's my cutesy-card:

Supplies and notes:

• Animal stickers and sentiment from Echo Park Paper Co.
• Clouds made by daubing Tim Holtz's Stormy Sky through a Delta stencil 
• Trees are a All Night Media stamp and Tim Holtz's Distress Paint dabbed in Bundled Sage, Mowed Lawn, and Spiced Marmalade 
• MS border punch chalked with Color Box chalk in Creamy Brown 

Cutesy-cutesy. Will be good for the little boys in our lives.

Mojo Monday #416

Here is the MOJO MONDAY #416 sketch...

And here is my card:

I could not come up with anything I liked... I was up this morning before work, before my kid's were up, to try sketch options! Came home from work and went 180°... Pretty pleased with the results. I think maybe I'll repair the card with the same elements but use watercolor paper as the front panel and tear the edges.

Supplies:

• Ranger Perfect Pearl Mists in gold
• MS leaves
• The Rare Orchid washi bubble stickers
• True Hemp crafter's cord
• Ek Tools gold pen for sentiment and edging

BTW: I have to say that this card is way more metallic than the image shows... Ya feel me, crafters?

Simon Says... It's Monday! Stamp and hop!

Omg, head cold and/or allergies got me down! Wah. So I'm playing sick (well, I am sick,  I just decided to act sick instead of pushing through!  Yeah, I could have handled staying at work all day,  but nobody wants to see me blowing my nose,  coughing,  and wondering if I'm contagious...)

Sooo... wasn't feeling super-creative, but started fooling around with inks on a scrap-paper and decided I should make a Catrina tag.

The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge  is to use a stamp and blog-hop. Perfect for a day like today! (Who am I kidding-- sounds perfect any day, whether sick or well, snowed-in or on a beach in Hawaii!)

Supplies and notes:

• Catrina comes from Invoke's Catrina Paper Doll set.  I stamped her with Tim Holtz's Distress embossing ink, then embossed her with Recollections Ebony embossing powder 
• I used the following Distress ink pads to stamp and mist on plastic, then smudge post-Catrina: Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive, Seedless Preserves.  After I wiped the excess moisture off and dried the tag,  I put a stencil from The Crafter's Workshop over top and sprayed with water to draw up some extra color.  Can you see some vertical stripes and spots above Catrina's head?  Oh, I also barely sprayed with some Harvest Orange Glimmer Mist
• I used Black Soot for the edges
• "La Catrina" is spelled out using Glitz Design stickers
• The polka-dot Washi is from K & Company 
• The ribbon and trim are from my stash!

Have fun hopping!

Color Throwdown 360 in full effect!

Here is the palette:

Here is my little A2:

Supplies and notes:

• Tim Holtz's stencil and Distress Spray Paint in Picket Fence 
• Delta balloon stencil with Tim Holtz paint in Seedless Preserves then sprinkled with some Martha Stewart glitter 
• Thickers and October Afternoon letters

Simon Says... what's your fave technique?

Hmmm... I think it would be easier to say least fave because I love almost all crafting techniques! But I can't even think of a least fave! Well, I dont like rub-ons so much.  There's one.

Lately,  my *most* favoritest is stenciling.  It seems much more manual that stamping. I dont know... I just love it.  Always have.

Here is my simple-yet-elegant  (I think) Halloween card:

Supplies:

• Core'dinations cardstock 
• Creative Imaginations ribbon
• Prima and Recollections flowers
• Sentiment typed with my old typewriter, then chalked with charcoal
• Background stenciled using Tim Holtz's Distress Paints through a Hero Arts stencil, then Ranger crackle over that.  Turned out so cool,  I think! 

HERE is the link back to SSSMonday... check out how everyone in the crafting community is so awesome!  

VLV September, Week 2...

Here is the sketch for Viva La Verve's second week of September:

And here's what I came up with:

I was struggling so I just dove in.  I was hoping to post it prior to Week Three's sketch coming out,  just to stay on top of it, but that didn't happen... busy life... 

Supplies and notes:

• Old BG paper from my stash
• Becky Higgins Project Life card paper used for lower-right quadrant
• Color Box chalk in Creamy Brown and Charcoal 
• Vintage green seam binding
• Darice pearls... you can't really tell in the image,  but they are a taupe-y color... really pretty

NBUS #5... another. ..

**THIS IS THE ORIGINAL POST FROM MY ORIGINAL NBUS CARD THAT GOT ATTACKED BY ANOTHER MEAN CARD... INCLUDING IT BECAUSE MUCH OF WHAT I SAID WAS WORTH SAYING**

Awesome: I just found Djkardkreations and her NBUS Challenge last week... OMG, I love the concept of busting out unused and neglected crafty items!  I always try to go through my supplies fairly, but some things... well, you all know.

What's cool is that since this challenge has been on my radar,  I've redoubled my efforts to use the neglected or virgin supplies, and it is so sarisfying! I've now used all kinds of things in the past week that have either never been used,  or have hardly been used... or that I'm amazed I still even have!

One such item was this old (like, 1999-ish) Provo Craft stencil with camping-type pics... soooo cheesy!  But I looked at it with new eyes and here is the result:

I love the holidays (ummm, like alllll holidays), but I don't seem to make many individual Xmas cards. This will be good to have on hand for, like, co-worker gifts...

For this card, I used a stamp that had never touched oxygen, let alone ink. Definitely not my style-fave, but I do like it.  And other people might like it... i.e.: it's an easy card to have around.

Supplies and notes:

• Core'dinations kraft paper-- was flimsy, so I did the old quarter-fold.
• I sprayed the underside of the card with Tim Holtz's Distress spray in Picket Fence, then used the edge of the Provo Craft stencil as the hill
• Tim Holtz's Distress ink pad in Forest Moss daubed over the Provo Craft tree using a blending tool 
• Generic (also virgin) sentiment stamped using Tim's Distress embossing ink with Stamp-n Stuff embossing powder in Red Tinsel
• Twine 
• Color Box Archival Dye inks in Coral and Glacier Lake. Used my Mini Mister to yield the watercolor effect on the virgin stamp.
• Ranger Liquid Pearls 
• Wilton flower stamen for butterfly antennae
• Core'dinations cardstock and kraft
• Chipboard butterfly from probably a K & Company packet

NBUS #5...

Well, I made an NBUS card... then it got smeared. Rrrr.

I even wrote a nice post saying how cool I think DJKARDKREATIONS is... well, I dumped it when my freaking card got attacked by a wet card. Rrrr.

So I made another.

Here it is:

The neglected item for this one was the slotted punch from Fiskars... I think I used it a couple times over six years ago while I was making my 7-year-old's baby album...

Supplies:

• Becky Higgins Project Life cards... used as my weaving strip and cards on front
• Fiskars slot-punch and Fiskars corner punch
• Tim Holtz's sentiment stamp stamped using Tim's Distress embossing ink and Custar's Last Stamp silver embossing powder 
• Viva Liquid Pen in Cream for accent near owl fuss-cut from an old book. 

Colour Q's 308th

This is my second Colour Q... #308.

And here is my card:

I know this doesn't  fit the color scheme exactly, but when I looked at the colors just in a list, I saw "peacock." I only noticed that there is more teal than navy after I made the card.  

Supplies:

• Graphique 45 paper with Stickles glitter for detail
• Pink Paislee charm
• Peacock feather looped around
• I scrawled the sentiment wtf a Zig Emboss Writer with Recollections Ebony embossing powder 

Nacho... my first!

Nacho Average Challenges is another one of those sites I frequently check out but have never been able to participate with.  When Sketch #159 came up,  I looked at it a couple times,  then was elbow-deep in my paper stash when I decided,  "This is it!"  I wanted to used this patterned paper and I felt that the sketch lent to it...

Here's the sketch:

And here's my little card:

Supplies:

• Simple Stories DP, DCWV teal cardstock,  Becky Higgins Project Life cards, and grey Core'dinations cardstock (though it's super-flimsy... not impressed)
• Generic "Thank you" stamp stamped with Color Box Archival Ink in Coral, then restamped  (offset) with clear embossing powder using Tim Holtz's Distress embossing ink 
• Viva Pearl Pen in Anthracite 
• Grey sequins

JUGS #310: Balloons

I had never noticed this trend,  but then again I've been swamped since school started!  It is Trend Week at Just Us Girls, and for Challenge #310, BALLOONS caught the girls' attention.

I have this cheesy hot air balloon stencil... never been used! Perfecto! Actually, since I've had it out,  I've now used it twice.

Anyway, here's my card:

Supplies:

• Theresa Collins modeling paste over a Delta stencil, then sprinkled with Martha Stewart glitter 
• Tim Holtz Distress pad in Stormy Sky dabbed over the Delta stencil using a blending tool
• Core'dinations paper, including for the sentiment where I wrote with a Zig Emboss Writer and powdered it using Stamp-n Stuff in Winter Wonderland 
• Fiskars corner rounder

I'm so tired, and all I want to do is scrap! That's where I'm at right now!  This day-job stuff is a bummer sometimes! 

Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes!

(I always think of Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom when I think of "Anything Goes"...)

Here's my birthday card:

Supplies : 

• Martha Stewart glitter over Viva pearl pen in Anthracite
• Theresa Collins modeling paste mixed with Crayola paints (I had extra paste from another project, so I pasted up a bunch of scraps)... over a Crafter's Workshop stencil
• My twine label is long-gone, as well as the brad brand (but I think it was Making Memories!)

I like the colors... 

CUYL #23: CASE-ing Mone!

I really love the community of the Challenge Up Your Life blog, so when Challenge#23 was listed to CASE  the DT, I thought it was a good opportunity to go browsing, though CASE-ing isn't in my usual suite of inspiration. So a-browsing I went, and I decided to CASE Simone, the Scrappicowgirl!  Not only is her blog-name fun, her work is fun, too!  I liked her use of multiple mediums, and then when I saw the sheet music, I thought, "Yeehaw! This is it!"

I went with Simone's mixed-media approach, added some sequins, and all of this occurred over some vintage sheet music! Here is some of her inspiring work (Uh... I emailed her to make sure it was okay to post her stuff, but I figure since it's a CASE the DT challenge, I'll be ok!):

And here is my CASEd card:

Supplies and notes:

• Theresa Collins modeling paste mixed with my kids' Crayola poster paints (hey-- they were nearby as I was mixing color for this card for the MFT Color Challenge... I had extra paste, so I used it on various scraps.  
• The Crafter's Workshop Stencil
• Multicast Imports sequins in Box of Chocolate palette
• Vintage sheet music
• DCWV paper pack and Core'dinations cardstock and kraft
• Stamp Simply sentiment stamped with Tim Holtz embossing ink and Ranger embossing powder

Cheers to you, Mone. Thanks for the inspiration, girl!

MFT Color Challenge #29: Brights!

Woohoo... I managed another MFT Color Challenge!

And here is my little simple card:

Supplies:

• Core'dinations cardstock
• Yellow dimensional paint for border... Totally loose and free hand, just the way I like it! 
• Theresa Collins modeling paste mixed with my kid's crayons paint... 
• Heidi Swapp stencil
• Zig emboss-writer used with Stamp-n Stuff embossing powder in Winter Wonderland for the sentiment
• Sequins

To get back to MFT Color Challenge #29, click there! Check out what all the people did!