Monday, September 26, 2016

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge 179

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge

This week's sketch is so fun!  So many ways you could play with this.  My card uses lots of different things. And brads!  Whoa....been a while since I used those.  Remember when they were the rage before all the enamel dots?  I can't be the only one with a whole drawer dedicated to a gazillion colors and sizes of them.  Well, they were just right for this card.

 
 
Well, I am off to the Oregon coast for a Girls Beach Getaway! Hope you are finding ways to enjoy the new fall season.
One of the best is to get in that craft room and play along!
 
Products Used
Stamps: CTMH Poster Tidings; Papertrey Give Thanks
Inks and paper:  CTMH Barn Red, Autumn Terracotta, Champagne, Chocolate
Dies: Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Leaves; Papertrey Give Thanks 
Embellishments: CTMH Bitty Brads; twine
Cricut, Artistry; foam tape

 

 

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Stitched up for Fall



Still loving my Lawn Fawn small stitched leaves dies!  And the fall cleaning of the craft room has been fun.  Last year I started 'season' bins....and the autumn bin I 'discovered' has turned up so many sweet scraps of paper and ribbons.  I am contemplating putting some of the cherished older rubber stamps in those season bins as well.  I'm also attempting to organize digitals on the computer...that is like herding marbles downhill.  But there are some sweet gems hidden away in those zip folders.

Well, today's card is an older digital Day for Daisies (when it was From the Heart digis, I Think!!) that I have printed on ivory card stock and plaid background paper and paper pieced.  I added some stitched leaves and used the Simon Says Stamp stitched dies for a panel and flag.  A few sequins....well, because shine is nice.

Linking this to Addicted to CAS #97  and  My Time to Craft #329 "Stitching" and
                                      The Paper Players  #313


 
 
 
 

Monday, September 19, 2016

Seasons Changing

About to be fall...and that means the Christmas card press will soon be on.  Fall cleaning found three lovely poinsettias printed on this Christmas paper...never cut out. I think they were from A Day for Daises. So I fussy cut them and layered them, and dotted the centers with Perfect Pearls. 

Great sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and also good for Addicted to Stamps and More "Anything Goes" - which is today's weather in Tacoma.  Rain, sun, rain, sun, windy....fall arrived a day early.

 
 
 

Friday, September 16, 2016

Your Kind of Beautiful

Today I have been working with a paper collection, Charlotte, from Close To My Heart. I took a break to check on some current challenge blogs to get some inspiration.  Found!!  First there was this sketch at Pals Paper Arts.  It's sketch #318. Then a new to me Challenge blog, Color Throwdown, #410   This was just what I needed. I clear embossed the little flower and then water brushed the color. I used a Copic marker to color 'kind'


 
ppa-318-sep15
 
Stamps: CTMH Springtime Wishes; Create Kindness-Beautiful
Ink: CTMH Whisper, Sorbet, Lagoon
Paper: CTMH Charlotte, Whisper and Lagoon card stock
Die: CTMH Springtime Wishes
Sequins; 3D foam tape

 
 

Monday, September 12, 2016

Sunny Days

Sunshine and blue skies returned to PNW after a few days of rain, and I must say this is my happy place!  I love the crisp nights and how the start of autumn smells.  Many of the colors are richer as the yellows and umbers creep in.

Today's card for #177 at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge uses an old favorite floral. It was a Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month years ago, featuring a late summer flower that I love to see in real life.  The card was also inspired by a CTMH video this week reminding us that we can use the backs of the acrylic stamps as a solid stamp - perfect for water color/misting technique.  I did just that using the CTMH watercolors, then stamped in Cocoa. I used my embossing tool to add a bit of border and dimension to the small panel. It was backed with a thin foam piece. The sentiment is from a set called Happy Autumn. Indeed it is!!


 
 

Friday, September 9, 2016

More Marbling

Making two more cards with the marbling technique at CAS Mix Up September challenge.

On the first one I put the ARTplorations Bubbles stencil on the inked shaving cream, then laid down the watercolor paper.  The circles are faintly there.  Inks were Heavenly Blue and Garden Green
re-inkers (now retired CTMH colors).   The sentiment is Thoughtful Florals, from Verve. Since I had used a stitched panel die (Simon Says Stamp), a double stitch for each side of the green sentiment piece, from Die-Namics, My Favorite Things, seemed to connect the pieces. All on a Garden Green card base.



The second card used Olive and Goldrush re-inkers.  The stitched leaves are Lawn Fawn dies. I used the Atlantic Hearts Sketch  for this week for the design.  The green panel had edges 'roughed' up and sponged. Looking in my 'brown' bin I found a short piece of heavy twine, and unraveled it for the leaf cluster.  Put a stitched panel and a few more leaves inside.


 

Monday, September 5, 2016

Back to School

Pals Paper Arts #316 has a good sketch for some side embellishments. My card using the sketch is another back to school card for the grandchildren.  Images and sentiment from a Close To My Heart set, School is Here. I fussy cut the pencil and crayons.  Simon Says Stamp dies were used for stitching and circles, and a Stampin' Up! punch for the black piece on the side.

 
PPA-316-Sep01
 

Sunday, September 4, 2016

School is here!

Well, for the grandsons anyway.  Me?  I am going to the fun lunch for retired teachers held the first day of school!  We gather to celebrate...then some of us go home and check for substitute jobs.

But even more fun than that was making this card for one of the grandsons.  My inspiration came from a Jennifer McGuire video using acetate and the great sketch at Sketch Saturday, #428



 
I had intended the gold on the acetate to be in the other direction- so they would be hanging down like pennants. Sigh.  Once all was together, I saw my mistake.
 
Image:  Day for Daisies, colored with Copics
Sentiment: Close to my Heart
Gold on Acetate: CTMH Fundamentals
Papers: Bazzill, classic red; My Mind's Eye Alphabet Soup; red check from stash
Dies: Stitched Circles, Simon Says Stamp
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Gold thread
 
 
 

Autumn

 


Fun new dies in my NBUS basket!  And perfect inspiration at two great challenge blogs:

Freshly Made Sketches #252                    and                       CASology
                                                           




My dies are Small Stitched Leaves from Lawn Fawn cut from a variety of Close To My Heart card stocks.  The bottom of the card base was scored and I sponged that, around the outside edge of the card, and the leaves.  The stitched twill and sentiment are also CTMH products (retired).


 

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Marbling

Found a new challenge while admiring posts on Darnell's NBUS link. There is some seriously gorgeous work to see there!

So at CAS Mix Up the challenge is to try the marbling technique.  I watched lots of videos, and tried several types....but ended up happiest with the shaving cream/re-inker versions. But am now craving some Sunimagashi inks....
 
 
 
I had a great time experimenting with colors, and have three finished cards and at least three more I can create with the marbled papers.  For this first one, placed a piece of mat board (from Inchie Arts) on cream swirled with Cranberry and Garden Green inks.  I cut the mat into 1" squares. Sentiment is a CTMH stamp from a retired set, A Holiday. So Stamping + Marbling + Die Cut panel.

 
 
 For the others pieces I used 140# Strathmore cold press water color paper, and made the card bases from it as well.  Stamping + Marbling + Heat Embossed sentiments.

This one looked masculine, and made a great guy card.
 
The blue swirls on this one looked like flowers.

 
What a lot of fun!!