Little Birds Featuring Gabby

While enjoying Gabby's (gabalot) Gallery at SCS I discovered this card and knew it was what I wanted to CASE in honor of her week as Featured Stamper.  Remember the sweet bird stamp that my friend Rena brought to Stamp and Share?  I had some images that I'd stamped in my UFO box.  It was pretty easy to one of them into this....

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Bird Stamp (Borrowed), Four the Holidays (retired)

Ink: Tuxedo Black, Memento, Real Red, SU Markers (Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Apricot Appeal, Pear Pizzazz, Garden Green, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede)

Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black

Other:  Blender Pen

I colored the birds by swiping the markers on a plastic lid and picking up the color with a Blender Pen.  The black was added directly with the marker.

Challenges

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge  ANYTHING GOES

I'm so glad you stopped by.

Enjoy!

Scentsational Season for Queen Susan

We're still honoring past Queens at SCS.  This week we're to honor a past Queen whose screen name begins with S.  My good friend Susan (susanbri) is in that group.  Susan creates a lot of Christmas cards each year and works on them all year long.  She does other beautiful cards too, but Christmas is her specialty.  I chose this card to CASE and here's what I came up with......

This is the only candy cane stamp I have and the hook only goes one way.  It seemed that my third object needed to be something besides a left facing cane.  So I added a gingerbread man from the same set.  I kept the layout as it was and even found an already punched piece of red in the snippet bag.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Scentsational Season (retired), More Merry Messages

Ink:  Real Red, Soft Suede, SU Markers (Real Red, Garden Green)

Paper:  Whisper White

Other:  Holiday Collection Framelit Dies (retired), Scallop Trim Border Punch, Gumball Green Ribbon, Basic Pearls, Kars Snowflake EF (Cuttlebug)

Other challenges:

Festive Friday  theme challenge

Pixie's Crafty Workshop  cuz the red layer, the embossed piece and the stamped pieces are all snippets.  I love to use snippets.  And I love to visit the playground.  I always see wonderful craft projects there and the playmates are so friendly and mischievous.

Cuttlebug Mania 

Thanks for the visit.  I hope you come back again soon.

Enjoy!

Best of Butterflies One Layer

I was fortunate enough to be able to get together with some stamping friends over the weekend.  The inspiration was flying! What fun!

I was puzzling over the One Layer Wednesday challenge that's hosted by Heather this week. Last week was the first time in a very long time that I participated in this challenge.  It's a challenge to find this challenge.  Am I the only one who thinks this?  Unfortunately my computer time is pretty much hit and run and if I don't find it first try, I may not remember what I was looking for when I get back! 

This week Heather said One-One-One.  Use one image stamp, one ink colour, and one sentiment stamp.

That was hard!  

My butterfly was too low.  But I was not to be deterred.

I stamped the sentiment and punched the top corner to try to get the proportion better.

I colored some rhinestones with a brown Copic Marker.  

And dropped the marker on my white capris.  Oh, no!  

But I was on a roll and not going to stop for a spot or 3!

Then to add just a little bit more interest, I paper pierced 3 corners.

After all that I learned that alcohol works well to get Copic marker out of the pants. 

Yay!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Best of Butterflies

Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar

Paper:  Watercolor (?)

Other:  Scallop Trim Corner Punch, Basic Rhinestones, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercing Tool

And an update on the apron that I showed in this post.  I washed the apron just to see if the ink would hold.  I'm happy to report that, although it faded a little, the flowers are still there. I heat set it with a hot, dry iron after the ink dried and before I washed it.  I think that's an essential step.

Two thumbs up in that load of wash.  White capris and colored apron!

I'm so glad you could stop by today.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Scentsational Season

Happy Merry Monday to you.  I used a NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) that had been sitting on my shelf since last Christmas.

Here's the wonderful CAS sketch that Lesley gave us for this week.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Scentsational Season (retired), More Merry Messages

Ink:  Gumball Green

Paper:  Gumball Green, Whisper White, Champagne Glimmer

Other:  Holiday Collection Framelits Dies (retired), Stitched Frames Rectangles (Lil' Inker), Gumball Green Ribbon, Red Rhinestones (Mark Richards Elements)

I stamped the Christmas tree image on my 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" whisper white piece that had been embossed with the Stitched Frame die.  Then I cut the tree out with the Framelit and placed it back in the outcut after adhering the white piece to the card with dimensionals.

The star was diecut with the star from the same Framelit set.

Other Challenges:

Christmas Card Challenge Break out your Punches (Remember, though, that the only real rule to play along with us is to make a holiday or Christmas card so that you're not in a mad rush come December.  And if I may point out that today is August 25th which means Christmas is just a mere 4 months away.)

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Inspiration Photo which normally sends me running in the opposite direction.  But I'm learning that it's all up to me and whatever inspires me about the photo.  I see the trees, the red and green colors and the polka dot squares.  That wasn't so hard!

Jingle Belles:  I went diagonally with die cut or punch, red or green, dry or heat embossing. (Although the stitched frames is a die, it really embosses more than it cuts.  At least on my machine.  I hope this will count.)

Rudolph Days at Stamping for Pleasure where the only rule is to create a Christmas card that's festive. 

I hope you'll be in the mood to make a Christmas card and join us at Merry Monday.  Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team cards.  They're fantastic!

Lesley Croghan

Allisa Chilton

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Sue Joyce

Sherry Eckblad

Margaret Moody 

Gloria Stengel (FD)

Linda S. (GD)

I'm so glad you stopped by.

Enjoy!

Carnival Carousel

There are a couple of challenges this week that have to do with carnivals.  So I inked up my Carousel Horse again.

I grew up in a really small town and the annual carnival was something special.  I still remember the smells and sounds and the fun of riding on the carousel.  (We called it the merry-go-round.)  I remember how exciting it was to go fishing for a cheap little toy that we treasured.  What wonderful memories!

I've tried coloring this image in the past and it wasn't pretty.  So I left it as a sketch and added some color with ribbons to imitate the banners and bright colors.

Curtain Call

  

Simon Says Monday Challenge: 

CARNIVAL

Seize the Birthday

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Carousel Horse (Inkadinkado), Morning Meadow (Hostess set)

Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento), SU Markers (Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie)

Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black

Other: Snippets of ribbons

I hope you're having a great weekend.  Thanks for spending some time with me.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Marybeth (a little late)

Marybeth, of Marybeth's Time for Paper had a birthday a little while ago.  Joyce and Cathy have planned a belated birthday/blog party for her.  Marybeth is so inspiring both with her creativity and with her encouraging comments.  How could I not want to particpate?

You may remember that I was playing with this flower last week.  While the stamp was inked and still looked pretty juicy, I stamped again on another piece.  Seeing it on my table and thinking about Marybeth, this came together.

Marybeth, I hope had a wonderful birthday!  Enjoy all the love today.  You are such an inspiration!

Here's the rest of the party goers.  Take a peek and see what they've done for Marybeth.

Joyce

Cathy

Ally

Bev

Bonnie

Carol J.

Carol S.

Christina

Darnell

Helen

Jeanne

Jill

Kara

Kelly

Kim

Lisa

Nancy

Renee

Sharron

Sue

Tracey

Vickie

Addicted to Stamps and More is having a CAS with a Twist Challenge

OPTION 1

Create a CAS (Clean and Simple) project

OPTION 2

Create a project that incorporates a Nicecrane Design Image

OPTION 3

Combine the two and create a CAS project with a Nicecrane Design Image

I chose Option 1.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Blooming with Kindness, Papillon Potpourri, Morning Meadow (Hostess Set)

Ink:  Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Tuxedo Black (Memento), SU Marker (Daffodil Delight, Basic Black), VersaMark

Paper:  Melon Mambo, Whisper White

Other:  Clear EP, Elegant Butterfly Punch, Scallop Trim Corner Punch (retired)

The butterfly was stamped and colored with a Daffodil Marker.  Then I smacked it with the VersaMark pad and clear embossed it. After punching it out and mounting it on the card, I drew the antennae with a Basic Black Marker.

I'm glad you could stop by today. I hope you'll have time to visit some of the other party goers blogs and especially Marybeth's.

Enjoy!

Vermont Holiday

My Dad's home sold last week.  It's bittersweet.  We have so many wonderful memories of that ramshackle camp on beautiful Lake St. Catherine.  I hope the new owners will collect as many wonderful memories as we did.

With this in mind, and seeing this card by Heidi Baks, this week's Featured Stamper at SCS, I wanted to do something similar to remember "The Camp".

I had the view from the porch in mind.  It really doesn't do it justice, but DH knew exactly what it was.

The Addicted to CAS challenge this week is

Who doesn't like going on holiday?? We all do!!! Take this code word and make it your own. Where was your favourite holiday? Is there an object that reminds you of somewhere you have been or would like to go? Is it a time of year that makes you think of holidays? Go nuts and show us what you come up with.

Thinking of holidays as vacations, this was our place to go for many years.

My first try at sponging a scene didn't go very well.  The proportions were all wrong.  So I cut the bottom off and used it to make this card.  I think deep down I was thinking about the lake and the ocean just wasn't working out.

But the beach is my next favorite place to take a vacation.

I raided the snippet bags and made a snippet from the unsuccessful landscape, so I'll get a turn on the slide at the playground over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree (tree on the side), Wetlands (tall grass), Watercolor Minis (retired: grass),  Little Pine Trees (Inkadinkado)

Ink:  Garden Green, Baked Brown Sugar, Always Artichoke, Pool Party, Soft Sky, Not Quite Navy, Crushed Curry, SU Markers (Handsome Hunter)

Paper:  Whisper White, Dark Green (?)

Other:  Hemp Twine

I stuck sticky notes on each side of the space I wanted to sponge and tore other sticky notes to sponge around.  I inked some of the grass from the Wetlands stamp and stamped twice then used the fern stamp from my very old Watercolor Mini's set to stamp into the grass.  I stamped the large pine tree in Always Artichoke to the side.  I inked just the tip of the smallest tree on the Inkadinkadoo stamp for the trees across the lake.  The sun was sponged through a punched circle in another sticky note then covered with the circle to sponge the sky.

My eyes kept playing tricks on me and the greens and blues were looking so much alike that I think the sky got some green in it.  Sometimes there's just not enough light to see well!

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Wetlands, Sanded Background, Too Kind (sentiment)

Ink:  Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Sky, Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper:  Sahara Sand, Baja Breeze, Bashful Blue, Whisper White

Other:  Hemp Twine

Sorry this is so long.  Thanks for coming by.

Enjoy!

Too Kind in Acrylic

During the Dare to Get Dirty challenges a couple of weeks ago, there was a challenge to use acrylic paint.  

I used to have acrylic paint.

But  not anymore.

I was resisting the inclination to go buy some.

But not anymore.

I bought a few bottles of it over the weekend for a project I'll share below.

The CAS Challenge this week at SCS is to use paint or watercolors (ink is ok for sentiment only).

This time I had some.  Two blues and a green.  How's that for timing?

And the CAS on Sunday Challenge is 

"Floral Fantasy"
 (use flowers on your card:  image, papers, accents)

This is what I bought the paint for.

My old apron had worn out and I found this in a craft store.  It needed some flowers, don't you think?

I heat set it and hope the flowers don't wash out.

Cuz I wash my apron. 

Edited to add:  I heat set the ink with my iron on the dry setting both front and back.  I used a clean handkerchief as a pressing cloth on the front.  When washed, the color faded a little, but the flowers are still there.  

A lot!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Too Kind

Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper:  Acrylic Paper

Other:  Acrylic Paint (Folk Art by Plaid: Aqua, Teal, Classic Green), Sponge Daubers

I put a couple of drops of ink in my paint tray and used a sponge dauber to pick up the paint then removed some of the excess paint in a clean spot.  I used the dauber to put the paint on the stamp.  This is a 2-step stamp so I used the lighter blue for the more solid stamp and the darker blue for the overlay.  I got too much paint on the stamp once and it wasn't very pretty.  It takes some experimenting to get the right amount for a good stamping.

There are directions for this technique in the Stampin' Up! 2013-2014 Idea Book and Catalog, page 64. 

The paper has been in my stash for years.  I love the linen texture and now that I have some acrylic paint again, maybe I'll use it more often.

Now it's time to get dinner on the table.  It's spaghetti tonight.  Do I dare wear my new apron?  Hmmm.  I wonder how it'll look with tomato spots....

Glad you could stop by.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Snowflakes

And we're back again to Merry Monday time.  Here's this week's card. 

Get ready.

I actually used some Decorative Paper....

A friend gave me this sheet of paper from a pack she had.  Isn't it pretty?  What you can't see is that it has some sparkles here and there.

Then I added sparkly snowflakes. 

Take a peek at the sketch Lesley gave us this week.

And if you have some time, go  visit the rest of the Design Team and see what they came up with.  You'll be glad you did!

Lesley Croghan

Allisa Chilton

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Sue Joyce

Sherry Eckblad

Margaret Moody 

Gloria Stengel (FD)

Anja Curvers GD

I hope you'll make a Christmas card and join us at 

Merry Monday.

Here's some challenges I'm entering with this card.

Just Add Ink is a challenge that I haven't entered in quite a while although I always check it out and the wonderful Design Team cards,  This week's challenge is 

Just Add Snowflakes

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge says 

Gimme Glitter...

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Four the Holidays

Ink:  Handsome Hunter (retired)

Paper:  Whisper White, Handsome Hunter (retired) DP (?)

Other:  Snowflake Punches (Martha Stewart, Recollections, Marvy), Dazzling Details, Satin Ribbon (?)

After punching the snowflakes from scraps of Whisper White, I covered them with Dazzling Details and left them to dry.  Usually, I get impatient and make a mess.  I'm learning!  They were added to the ribbon with glue dots.  The center snowflake was added with a Stampin' Dimensional.

I'm so glad you stopped by.  I hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Enjoy!

Butterfly Collection

I love butterflies.  What!  You hadn't noticed?  LOL. When I saw this Butterfly Collection Wheel in the big catalog, you know I had to order it.  And I had to take it off the wheel so I could us it as a regular stamp.

Edited to add:  Lil' Inker Designs is celebrating their 3rd birthday!  I'm new to the Lil' Inker's obsession bandwagon.  But I love these stitched rectangle mats and as soon as I save some more pennies, I'll be ordering more from these folks.

I think hope these butterfly colors kinda go with this picture and along with the stitched mat will count.

Did I say there were prizes?  You know they are and I could sure use a gift certificate to buy some more of their fantastic products! Pennies add up slow!

Did you notice it's a one layer card?  I haven't made a one layer card in quite a while.  I think it's about time I played with the One Layer Wednesday challenge again.  Ardyth of MASKerade is hosting the challenge this week and she posted an inspiration photo.

The Queen for the Day challenge this week is honoring past queens whose blog names begin with P-R.  When I saw this card by pegmac71, I knew just what I wanted to do.  And for a change it worked out just like I envisioned.

Paper Players Challenge #159 is 

Ann's Clean and Simple One-Layer Card Challenge

The Thanksgiving Crusade has been launched by Susan of Simplicity fame. 

In her words " we're crusading to save the message of Thanksgiving amidst the rush-rush-rush of the busy holiday season".   

She has a linky so you can add any Thanksgiving/Gratitude cards over there.  Then send them out and let those special people in your life know how much they mean to you.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Butterfly Collection Jumbo Wheel (gone wheel-less)

Ink:  Bermuda Bay, SU Markers (Midnight Muse, Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, Bermuda Bay)

Paper:  Whisper White

Other:  Stamp-a-majig, Stitched Mats: Rectangles (Lil' Inkers), Rhinestones (?)

I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement of the butterflies and inked with markers.  After giving the whole stamp a good huff, I stamped.  Some of the butterflies didn't stamp well so I swiped some ink on a plastic lid and picked up color with the blender pen to fill in the rough spots.  I like the way they aren't perfectly solid.

To go wheel-less,  use a kraft knife to open the seam then microwave the wheel for 10 seconds.  Gently remove the rubber from the wheel and peel off the glue from the back of the stamp.  I usually trim the end off so it will fit on my longest block measuring @5 1/2".

Thanks so much for the visit.

Enjoy!