The Play Date Cafe Challenge #PDCC81

So, do you ever start playing with colors and find you just can't stop?  That's what happened to me with this week's The Play Date Cafe Challenge #81.  Look at this gorgeous inspiration wallpaper in hues of deep purple, chartreuse, and silvery gray.  I started out wanting to play with glimmer mists and masks on canvas.  Then I had this wet mask on my hands, so had to stamp with it.... and on it went.  I'll start with the card first (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them if you'd like).

The card started with some hand stamped and misted patterned papers.  Behind the fairy is a paper that was made by stamping the wet, purple glimmer-misted Prima mask onto ivory cardstock.  I added some Stampington swirls in green, and some green distress ink.  I wanted the fairy to seemingly float over the patterned paper, so I stamped her in black on vellum, then turned it around and colored with Copics on the side opposite the stamping.  I cut her out and adhered her to the background paper (Copic side up), along with a fun little sentiment that was stamped on scraps that had various mists on them already.

Now for the background paper that is the main panel of the card.  Had fun with another item that's been sitting in my closet for a while: metallic silver tissue paper. 

First, I took a panel of very old Basic Grey paper that was, um, light grey, and stamped the script randomly in purple. I ran several layers of tissue paper through Tim Holtz's flourish alterations die, and adhered them to the panel using Golden soft gel medium.  After that was dry, I spritzed it with olive green glimmer mist.  I love how it turned out!  There's texture, shimmer, pattern.... my faves.  Here's a really bad photo that at least shows the shimmer:

Next up, that pennant (or bunting, if you prefer).  This was actually what I started with, stamping the violets in the center and coloring them with Copics.  I went over just the image with gel medium to protect it from the mists. 

 

After it was dry, I placed the mask over the bunting and sprayed it with purple glimmer mist, then dabbed the mist off of the image (the gel medium acted as a resist).  When that was dry, I stamped a green swirl randomly, added some chartreuse trims, the silvery word "Fleur" (stamped and silver embossed), some shimmery gray seam binding, and a few pewter brads at the top with a design that reminded me of the violet motif.  

I'm thinking it might be fun to do a whole series of these canvas buntings, each with a different flower. Then tie them all together - probably with that same gray seam binding.  Thanks for sticking with me for this very long post!!! Oh, almost forgot... the majority of the stamps used were from Oxford Impressions' Fairy Sweets plate. The swirl is Stampington, the script is Hero Arts, and the "fleur" is Rogue Redhead Designs.

Play Date Cafe Challenge 50

So, the trickiest thing about the Play Date Cafe Challenge for me this week was photographing my project!  This week the DT challenges us to use a color palette of Green, White, and Melon.  (The melon part was the second trickiest thing... I finally went to the craft store and purchased some cardstock called "Watermelon" to be sure I had the color right, LOL!)  We can use any theme, but it just so happens that the entire team created projects for the holidays, and the sponsor this week, Elusive Images, is donating some gorgeous holiday stamps as prizes.  That totally put me in the holiday spirit!

I've had this idea rattling around in my head for a while - to take vellum, stamp on it, color it on the back, and make a candle surround.  So that's what I did, finally, with this holiday-themed challenge.  I stamped the angel image (from Crafty Individuals) in black on vellum, flipped it over, and colored the image with Copics.  I used very bright colors of melon, green, yellow, and sienna, so that they could shine through the vellum.  I did this twice (for the front and back).  For the sides, I simply took two vellum panels and ran them through a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder.  Here's a better view of the side:

And here's a close-up of the image in brighter light.  The middle angel's dress is colored green, but with the votive burning behind it, it's a bit hard to tell. The music border is from a Hero Arts stamp.

The overall size of the piece is a 5" cube.  I wanted to be able to put my large 3-wick pine scented candle inside.  Unfortunately, the light from said candle was so bright it wrecked havoc with my photos!  I switched it out for a smaller votive, and that worked better.  Whew - photography is definitely not my forte!

There's still time to play along over at the Cafe (until midnight tonight).  Check out the beautiful prizes up for grabs this week, as well as a design team call. ;)

Cornish Heritage Farms One Sheet Wonder Challenge

Whew! I just finished my first One Sheet Wonder project, as part of the last week of the Cornish Heritage Farms Summer Stamp Star Design Challenge. This event has been SO MUCH FUN, and this last week was definitely the most challenging for me, since I'd never made a masterboard before. I will try to get some of my step-by-step photos up over the weekend (since I actually remembered to take them!), but for now, just the cards.....

The CHF stamps I used were Botanical Bliss, Sweet Bee, Ornamental Beauty, and Delicate Wings (Butterfly). My color palette was based on Stampin' Up! inks and cardstocks: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Soft Sky and Baja Breeze, and Riding Hood Red. I also added in some kraft paper and Anita's taupe ink.

The card on the left uses a journaling block stamp from Orna- mental Beauty, some blossoms from a "big box store" floral sprig, some rhinestones from Kaiser, and a tiny little Hero Arts flower for the center of the red bloom. These Hero Arts "Art Flowers" come in cream and white, but the neat thing is that you can color them with all sorts of media, such as glimmer mists and markers. I used a Copic marker that was similar to the Kiwi Kiss color. The card on the right is a tri-fold card. I stamped the willow image from Sweet Bees onto kraft cardstock, and colored it with Prismacolor pencils. I cut the masterboard paper using a Big Shotz die in my Cuttlebug, then made a sort of office envelope look with a button and twine closure.

For this next pair, I used a long strip of the master- board paper for each one. For the card on the left, I stamped the poppy image from Botanical Bliss and colored it with Copics, then cut it out with my Nestabilities Labels Four. A little ribbon, a sweet little sentiment in the corner, and done. For the card on the right, I painted and distressed a chipboard frame from Maya Road to set off the sentiment (also CHF - forgot to mention that one before). The border around the patterned paper is from Ornamental Beauty, and the ribbon is from Martha Stewart.

Okay, last set of cards.... Here's the deal with the card on the left.... I had an awkward little piece of patterned paper left after I cut out everything, and I just couldn't let it go... so I punched the butterfly shape, then pondered it for a long while. Kinda cutesy, didn't know what to do. Then I decided to make a card that could go to a younger girl (my daughter is 10), so I wanted to make it kinda free and fun, but still in keeping with the set. I used a border punch for the Kiwi Kiss, added three cute little buttons tied with twine, and then got out my slim black marker and made "messy" style lines all around as a border to finish it off. For the card on the right, I got out those big box blooms again, along with those cool Hero Arts flowers that I colored with Copics, and some rhinestones for the centers. The frame around the sentiment is Tim Holtz grungeboard painted red, then green, then distressed. Those wonderful corner stamps are from the Ornamental Beauty set.

Okay, last picture... the box to put it all in, and a few tiny little gift tags to use up some scraps I just couldn't throw in the trash!! The box has the same button toggle type of closure as the tri-fold card above, except that I used the circle poppy stamp from Botanical Bliss for the bottom "button." The tags are pieced together and cut with Nesties. The tiny sentiment is from Botanical Bliss; added some pretty ribbon, and DONE!

Thanks for sticking with me 'til the end of this long post!! You can STILL PLAY in this challenge, so whether you are a One Sheet Wunderkind or have always wanted to try, hop on over to the CHF gallery for some inspiration and see what you can do! Have a wonderful weekend!

Secrets

Yesterday's Inspiration Challenge over at SCS was the amazing work of Sarah Collier. I chose as my inspiration this piece, entitled Frozen Custard. How amazing is her work?!?! I started by ripping out a page of old text (I liked that the chapter heading was "Secrets" - perhaps those shared by a boy and his dad) and painting it with ivory craft paint. While that dried, I stamped text with StazOn on a piece of acetate (stamps by Hero Arts and Limited Edition). I stamped the main image (Tin Can Mail) on the dry paint with ColorBox Chestnut Roan pigment ink. I stamped it another time on scrap paper and cut out just the sentiment. I then layered the image, the acetate, and the sentiment, and fixed them together with brads. I added a ticket (from Tim Holtz Idea-ology) to the top with a little paper fastener from 7 Gypsies. I then layered this whole thing onto a card base made with Basic Grey and K and Co. patterned papers. Fairly quick-n-easy.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend - thanks for stopping by!

Mojo Monday Week 89

Is it possible to fall in love with a stamp set? Seriously, to actually CRAVE using a particular set of stamps? Because when I saw these stamps, my heart melted! I just had to adopt (um, buy) these cute little bugs! :) Anyway, this is my card for the Mojo Monday sketch this week. This adorable bug stamp set is by Basic Grey, released as part of their Wisteria Collection. I did the card in Stampin' Up's Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, and Tangarine Tango colors, which happens to be the color challenge over at SCS. I colored the little buggies with Copics to match the paper, then added a little Dazzling Diamonds and cut them out with my Nestabilities Labels One die. The patterns in the stripe and the bottom paper were made with the stamp set. The top patterned paper is from SU's Urban Garden collection. I added some leaf ribbon from Papertrey Ink, a blossom from a spray (Michael's), and some Hero Arts bling. The stitching in the circle is actually a Hero Arts faux-stitch stamp (50% off at Archiver's!). I had so much fun with this sketch, the color combo, and my new pets ... er, I mean, stamps! Thanks for visiting and have a great day!