CAS94 - Sponging

The CAS challenge for this week is to use sponging.  I love sponging, and if you take a look in the CAS94 gallery, you will find many, many ways to use it.  That is what I love about sponging - you can achieve a variety of different looks with it.

I decided to sponge my background on this card.

I had never sponged with my newer Versamagic chalk inks, so I tried them on here.  It took a little getting used to because the ink is a lot thicker than dye ink and tends to blotch up on the paper if you aren't careful.  Ink can be applied by dabbing or rubbing when you sponge, and I found myself rubbing the chalk inks a lot more than when I use dye ink. 

I really like the texture the watercolor paper gives to this image.  It adds just enough interest without being overly obvious.  I tried spritzing the background with water to get a watercolored look, but didn't notice any change with the chalk ink.  *Note to self to use dye ink if I want that effect.*

This card looks much prettier IRL.  The colors are very rich, and I could not get a good photo no matter what I tried, so just imagine it being a lot more vibrant!

Supplies used:
Stamps - Pocket Silhouettes
Paper - Fabriano 120 lb cold press watercolor paper, espresso, cajun craze
Ink - various Versamagic chalk inks, espresso
Accessories - Nestabilities ovals, Big Shot, sponges, satin ribbon, home made bow easy, dimensionals


On a side note, we are at my parents for the holiday week.  We girls whupped the boys in euchre last night 4 games to 0.  I thought it very interesting that my husband wanted to play a different game after they had lost twice.  Heehee!  Paybacks!

K

Vintage Santa

As soon as I saw this set in the Holiday Mini, I knew I had to have it.  This Santa reminds me of a mug my Mom has had forever that always decorates the mantle at Christmas.  I have seen newer mugs in the same style, but they're just not the same.

Since the Santa reminded me of my Mom's vintage mug, I wanted to make a vintage style card.  There is only one problem; vintage and CAS aren't very compatible.  I gave it a try anyway.

Not too bad.  This definitely has a vintage edge to it, but it's still pretty CAS.  It's almost as close as it can get without stepping out of bounds.

The Ho!Ho!Ho! was made by masking off the "Hol" from the Happy Holidays stamp and stamping it three times.  The dot on the exclamation point is the dot from the "i" of the same stamp.  How creative of me!

Supplies used:
Stamps - Jolly Old Saint Nick, Jolly Bingo Bits, Season's Greetings
Paper - naturals ivory, cherry cobbler, kraft
Ink - Memento rich cocoa, cherry cobbler, espresso
Accessories - cherry cobbler, blush blossom, and pretty in pink reinkers, aquapainter, white gelly roll pen, blue marker, 2-way glue pen, white flock, dauber, edge distresser tool, lace, dimensionals

I'm pretty sure I won't use the other 2 images in this set (I think they're kind of ugly), but I'm glad I have this Santa.  Have you ever bought a whole set for just one stamp?  Do tell.

Have a great weekend!

K

CAS93 A Sketch Challenge

This week's CAS challenge is a great sketch by Lori (ltecler).  Here is her card.

One of my friends was just diagnosed with lupus this past week, and I wanted to make her a card of encouragement.  This sentiment came in a pack with other sentiments by kids of all ages, and I thought it would make a great card for her.  It worked out perfect for the sketch this week, too.

I flipped the layout so it would look like a right handed batter was swinging the bat.  I left off the large layer and scored a simple frame instead.

The baseball is a Nestabilities die cut, and the seams were hand drawn using a circle die as a guide.  The bat was cut out by hand, and a pink card base lends it a girly feel.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Inkadinkadoo, CHF woodgrain backgrounder
Paper - GKD PL white, kraft, pink pirouette
Ink - Memento black, kraft, going gray
Accessories - Nestabilities circle dies, Big Shot, daubers, going gray and red markers, dimensionals, Scor-Buddy

Have you hugged a friend today?

K

Trouble Maker(s)

A few days ago, I noticed a bunch of my cotton swabs all over the shelf where I keep them.  At first I thought the kids must have gotten into them and made a mess putting them away.  Then I saw the bite marks and realized my kids were innocent for once.

Here is the guilty one.

Is this a look of mischief, or what?

She thinks she might be able to get away with it this time.  What she doesn't realize is that I have a camera in my hands.

"Yes!  I got one!"

"Yum!  These are so fun to chew on!"

"Here's one for you, Sis.  I don't want to be the only one getting in trouble."

"Oops, I dropped it.  Can you help me find it, Sis?"

"Here, take this one!"

"Aw, Mom!  What did you have to do that for?  No fair!"

Because I've already spent a fortune in vet bills on you this month, that's why!

Hope you're having as great a weekend as I am!

K

Seventy-five Sets

As you know, I have been in the process of unmounting my sets.  I have come a long way, but still have a looooong way to go.  It has taken me a lot longer than I thought it would, but it is so worth it.

And this is why...

There are about 75 SU sets in this 11" space.  That is eleven inches, not feet.  I couldn't believe it when I started counting the sets in this cubicle.  I had to count them more than once because it seemed unreal that I could have that many sets in such a small amount of space.

At first, I was overwhelmed with all my sets and how I would combine them, but once I got started, they just seemed to fall in place.  I have trees sets and leaves together, flowers, Christmas sets, Halloween sets, and sentiment sets together.  I can usually get at least four sets in each case, so you can see how that saves on storage space.

If I can combine the rest of my sets that I haven't unmounted yet in the same way, I will have more than enough room for all my stamps in this 8 cubicle shelf.  I have a few sets that I will probably never unmount, but I will have plenty of space to store them too.

I have to admit that this is another one of my lame excuses for not stamping lately.  Almost every time I pull out a set to stamp, I end up unmounting and combining sets.  Then before I know it, it's time to pick up the kiddos from school, and "Mommy Time" is over.

One of these days...

K

OLW28 - Color Me Bad

The one layer challenge this week is to use at least five (5!) colors on our card.  Since I just made a Rainbow Fish card yesterday, I thought of a rainbow and all its colors for this challenge.  I don't have a rainbow stamp so I improvised and used my Nestabilities circle dies to draw one.

I had the rainbow all colored in nice and pretty, but it looked a little flat, so I colored it again with my Spica glitter pens.  That made all the difference in this card.

The clouds were sponged with bashful blue, and I rounded the corners to tie all the curves together.  The rainbow and clouds are up on dimensionals.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Hero Arts sentiment
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - Memento black, bashful blue
Accessories - Nestabilities circle dies, PTI cloud dies, Big Shot, Copics, At You Spica pens, dauber, dimensionals, corner rounder

O.k.  I just realized this probably doesn't qualify for a OLC.  Duh!  Or is it ok to have a popped image?  I think I already know the answer to that question, but thought I'd ask anyway.

Oh, well, I still like it.  A lot.

K

Rainbow Fish

I picked up a cute little fish set from the $1 bin at Joann's this past week.  Sometimes I get lucky and find a great set.  I had also been wanting the boundary waters border punch, and this set was the perfect excuse to get it.  (Not that I need another punch.  Just wait 'til you see the picture of the punch wall in my craft cave.)

As I'm still trying to get my cave organized, I was also making color swatches of all the Twinkling H2Os I have, and decided to use them for my card.

Isn't this fish the cutest?  He looks just like Rainbow Fish minus his large glittery scales.  This one glitters, but in a more subtle way.

I cut the circle out with a Nestabilities die, then used the border punch on the top.  I made the fish by dropping various colors of Twinkling H2Os on wet watercolor paper so they would run together and feather a little.  After the paper was completely dry, I stamped the fish and cut him out.

The fish's bubbles were made by gently touching my aquapainter to the dried paper and letting the water drops dry naturally.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Studio 112, All Night Media (seaweed)
Paper - GKD PL white, Canson 140 lb cold press watercolor paper
Ink - Memento black
Accessories - Twinkling H2Os, paintbrush, aquapainter, circle Nestabilities, Big Shot, boundary waters border punch, SAMJ, dimensionals

Hope you're having a great day!

K

A Little Behind

Oh, how I wish I had one.  Get it - a little behind?. Sorry, I'm feeling a little punchy today. Not sure why, but I just am.

I am behind in posting to my blog. I have a lot of excuses, too, but I'm sure you don't want to hear them all, so I'll just get to my post.

This first card was made for last weeks CAS challenge to make a sympathy card.

I tried out some new ink I recently purchased, Versamagic chalk inks, and boy do I like them. The colors are really soft and muted, and they dry fairly quickly. I thought the soft colors would be perfect for a sympathy card.

(One of my kitties is biting my hands as I type this. Motorboat always comes running to my lap when she hears my keyboard and bites my hands very gently until I pet her. Silly kitty!)

Back to my card.

Supplies used:
Stamps - PTI Turning a New Leaf, SU Sincere Salutations
Paper - GKD PL white and ivory, crumb cake
Ink - Versamagic chalk inks Aspen and wheat
Accessories - SAMJ


And here is my card for today's CAS92 challenge. It is a color challenge to use soft pink, old olive, kraft, and white with Marina mist as an optional additional color.

I told you I was feeling punchy today! The idea for this card came to me when I got the owl punch a couple months ago. A previous attempt at getting it on paper failed, so I gave up for a while. This color challenge seemed perfect for it, so I gave it another try.

The word hoot and the boy's eyes are up on pop dots for a little emphasis.

Can you tell who hooted?

Supplies used:
Stamps - PSX Antique alpha upper and lower, PTI Out on a Limb, Owl bellies
Paper - GKD PL white, pink pirouette, old olive, kraft, marina mist, so saffron, black, Raspberry Tart DSP
Ink - kraft, old olive, marina mist
Accessories - 2-step owl punch, daubers, pop dots


Finally, here is one more card I made for this week's CAS challenge. I opted not to use marina mist on this one.

This was inspired by a card in the current SU catalog. Several things were changed to make it my own. The butterfly was antiqued by sponging softly with kraft ink.

Supplies used:
Stamps - SU The Art of Life, So Many Sayings
Paper - pink pirouette, old olive, kraft, ivory (instead of white)
Ink - kraft
Accessories - butterfly and border punches, dauber, dimensionals

If you haven't checked out the CAS challenge on Splitcoast yet, make sure you take a peek in the challenge gallery.  There are some real beauties with this color combo!

Now that I'm almost over my nasty cold and our kitty, Moonshine, is going to be ok (she had some issues with her eyes but isn't going to lose her vision), I will try to get back to posting regularly.

Make it a great day!

K

OLW27 Holiday Card

I'm sorry it's been a while since I've posted.  I have been fighting my second nasty cold of the season, and haven't been doing much stamping.  I've been sleeping instead.  (And irrigating my sinuses - yuck!).  I decided I had to stamp something for the OLW challenge to get me out of my rut.

This week the challenge was to make a one layer holiday card suitable for the inmates in the North Dakota State Penitentiary to send to their friends or family.  One of Susan's blog readers heads up a group that makes cards to send to the inmates, and her letter to Susan inspired this challenge.  In addition to being a one layer card, we were not to use any metal (wire, brads, etc.), gemstones or pearls, and limit the glitter.  We could use ribbon, but I chose not to.

Here is the beauty I came up with.

The scored frame was an afterthought that totally makes this card.  (At least for me).  I like the clean lines of the card and scoring with the fancy font of the sentiment.  A single gold star adds just enough interest.

I am bummed I sold my long rectangle Nestabilities sets because I wanted to use one to emboss the frame.  I didn't think I used them enough to justify keeping them, and I have 'needed' them ever since.  I can't tell you how many times I've eyed them at Hobby Lobby when I have a coupon burning a hole in my pocket, but they never make it home with me.  Something else always wins out, and I end up eyeing them the next time I go.  I know I don't need long rectangle Nestabilities - it's pretty easy to cut a rectangle - so we'll see how long I last before I cave.  : )

Supplies used:
Stamps - Many Merry Messages, Patterned Pines
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - Cherry cobbler, Encore gold
Accessories - Scor Buddy, SAMJ

If you haven't checked out Susan's blog for the challenge, go there now to get all the details.  Let's allow these inmates to send some love to their loved ones this holiday season.

Make it a great day!

K