CTS #179

I've found a new-to-me blog from which to draw inspiration.   It's called Case This Sketch.  I've been looking at it and loving their sketches for quite a while, but I haven't stamped for quite some time so today was my first chance to play along.

Here is the card I made:

As you can see from the sketch below, I didn't get one bit original!

I actually tried something original first but hated it, so into the trash it went and I decided not to reinvent the wheel.

My color inspiration came from ColourQ;  however, I inadvertently left one color out of my card so I'm not entering this card into their blog.

The colors used for this card are midnight muse and lucky Limeade from SU and sunset from CTMH.  The patterned paper came from a pad called Ready Set Go by American Crafts; the white is from CTMH and the orange from SU (Dusty Durango?)

Thank you for stopping by! 

~La

Star Studded Birthday

Time in my craft room still happens in fits and starts. The last few days have afforded me plenty of time there, which makes me so happy! I finished all of the cards I needed for occasions, so now I can work on building a stockpile.

Today I made a birthday card. I wanted to get away from floral because I use them all the time. I didn't stray too far - I stamped flower pots but used stars for the flowers.

I chose colors using ColourQ.   I love bright pink and orange,  especially at this time of year. I don't have Kraft ink or paper so I substituted with Crumb Cake.  I'm not a fan of the color and never would have chosen it, but I have to say I think it anchors the wild colors quite nicely.

I almost always use MOJO Monday for layouts.  Left on my own cards generally don't turn out looking too great.  I strayed ever so slightly with the background; I was afraid the card would get too busy.

Thanks for stopping by!

~La

One more graduation card, and I think that's it for this year. I went to Color Throwdown for inspiration because I knew they had blue and white this week and those are the colors I wanted to use. Here is their color board:

Santorini,  Greece.  I'm pretty sure I want to live there.  The crisp white buildings with beautiful blue roofs call to me.  A visit, at least, would be delightful. 

I went for clean and simple with this card.  (AKA crisp and white.)  Using CTMH's Charming Cascades, I masked an area of the card front and stamped the star cascade twice with Dew Drop ink in Platinum Planet.  For the sentiment I used the only thing I have that comes close for a graduation card which comes from CTMH's Springtime Wishes.  (I actually combined 2 sentiments from that set.) I simply stamped the sentiment with CTMH Pacifica pigment inks right across the stars.

To finish it off I found a perfectly matched skein of embroidery thread which I tied through a little coin-looking piece I found in my stash of embellishments.

The inside of this card is almost fancier than the front!   I always mount panels to write on, but I noticed that I had somehow smudged ink on the upper half of the inside and it looked tacky.  So I covered it up with a piece of SU's Pacific Point and now all is well.

Thanks for stopping by!

~La

Our kids youth pastor and his wife both graduated from Bible College this weekend and I decided they should each have their own card. I don't know if I ever made a graduation card before; if I have it was a long time ago. I don't have any graduation stamp sets so I set out to find inspiration. I found it at Poetic Artistry; you can see the card I copied here.

I pulled out some watercolor paper, wet it down and rubbed green, blue and yellow distress ink on it. Next I used a wet brush and forced the colors to combine a bit. I picked out some old glittery powder I have, intending to sprinkle a bit here and there. Instead, a rather large amount plopped onto the paper. I did my best to remove the excess but I ended up with fairly glittery paper. That's ok, glitter is rarely bad. That paper served as the main panel for both of my cards. On one card I embossed flowers in pink, orange and green while the on the other I embossed a leaf stem in green.

Next I got a little bleach out.  Using a stencil and a sponge, I bleached out a design on the "male" card.  For the female card I used a small brush and removed a bit of color inside the flowers.

On another piece of watercolor paper, after wetting it down, I rubbed in orange and yellow distress inks and again brushed to combine.  I didn't add any glittery powder to this piece,  but there was enough laying around my counter to glitter up this paper just a bit.  (Without trying!)

I stamped the sentiment for both cards using black ink and embossed them with clear embossing powder.

For the male card I tied some black embroidery thread near the bottom then distressed all of the edges pretty heavily.  I mounted it onto a while panel which also has distressed edges and green distress ink around the edge.  I chose a copper metallic paper for the card base - I wonder where I got copper paper?!

For the female card I embellished simply with a flower brad on which I stuck a rhinestone.   I mounted this one on Melon Mambo cardstock after heavily distressing all edges.  This time the card base was simply white.

I don't think the glittery effect shows in the photos.  Oh well!...  I was quite pleased with these cards.

CASE Watercolor

I've cranked out a bunch of cards recently which will be a gift for someone.  The pictures above are just a few of them.

These are not in response to any challenge but simply made out of necessity.   The background design is copied from Julie Gearinger on Splitcoast Stampers.  I love the technique so much that I can imagine quite a few more cards with similar backgrounds.

~ La

Interesting Inspiration

This morning I opened a new box  (tube, actually) of Kleenex and as I was looking at the design I thought "I could stamp that!"  So I set to work on it.  On my first try I sponged the purple ink, but I thought it was too light.  So I tried again but this time I used my aqua painter with refill ink and painted the background.  (Both times I had first embossed the leaves with clear embossing powder on cream paper.)  The painted version was just what I  hoped for so I proceeded to make a card.  I am pleased with the result!

Buttons

During my stamping hiatus the popular style seems to have changed from throw-every-embellishment-you-can-find-on-it to clean and simple.  I think that's a good thing.  There were (are) some artists who made highly embellished cards that I drooled over, but I couldn't come close to copying.  Besides, those highly embellished cards would be impossible to mail. 

My card today, though certainly not highly embellished,  seems too much with its layers, buttons and bows.  I'll have to work on the current style.

In the meantime, this card is my entry for this week's challenge at ColourQ.  They chose Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade and Tempting Turquoise.   I don't own Tempting Turquoise; I used to but it was one of the OLD, original style stamp pads and I got rid of it.  I substituted with Pacific Point - not quite turquoise but the best I could do.  

Flowers were the obvious choice for such vibrant colors but I chose buttons instead.  Both the buttons and the sentiment are from Verve's "Button Best".  I had some fun with the one real button; it was just a plain thing I had in my collection.  I used a VersaMark marker and some embossing powder that closely matched Pacific Point and made a custom-matched button! 

Edited note: I forgot to link to ColourQ's blog.  You can find it here.

Thanks for stopping by! 

~La

She Laughs

I continue to have such fun stamping!  I've discovered that Splitcoast Stampers have different challenges and/or inspiration ideas every day of the week, which I'm so thankful for.

Today was an inspiration day.  We were directed to a specific section of an individuals Pinterest board which was all about minimal design.  We were to choose a photo for inspiration and then make a minimalist card.  I chose a photo of a Scandinavian living room which was mostly white and gray.  (You can see the photo here .)

I had in mind a beautiful floral for the back panel.  Unbelievably, I don't have any of the type I was imagining.  So I made do with one of my many brand new but not yet used stamps.  This is from Verve's set "New Mercies".  The sentiment is also from Verve.  It's one of their "plain Jane" stamps which are very often scripture verses.  I chose this particular verse today because I'm going to send this card to my BSF leader and it's appropriate to what we are studying.

~La

Warm Winter Wishes

The colors this week at Color Throwdown are lovely spring colors of pink, green and kraft. Feeling like I've been on a bit of a flower binge lately, I decided to try for an unusual colored Christmas card.  My first attempt was with ornaments in pink and green but I couldn't seem to make it look good.  So I tried these mittens and thought they worked quite well.

This might be a Christmas card, or it might just make a nice winter note card.  Since spring is beginning to appear in Boise this will have to keep until next winter in either case.

~La

I found a color challenge on Splitcoast Stampers for inspiration yesterday.   I love the soft spring colors - Wisteria Wonder,  Pear Pizzazz and Pool Party.   I've decided to focus on useful cards to have on hand - birthday and sympathy.  It's helpful to have them on hand rather than try to make one under pressure.

There are currently 2 more challenges I'm itching to work on, but today is a busy day.  Sigh...I just want to stamp.

~La

I don't pretend to be creative, I just try to copy those who are.  One of the best is Julee Tillman; my card is a copy of hers.  Julee is the uber-talented owner of Verve Stamps; her card and my copy are for Verve's monthly inspiration challenge.

I started with some blue and cream paper with a wood grain pattern which I thought was a good idea many years ago.  I stenciled over the paper using Tim Holtz's Clockworks stencil and Smoky Slate ink.  I might have been able to copy Julee's choice of stamps, but I opted instead for Paisley Perfect Flair from Close to my Heart.  I inked up the various paisleys with sweet leaf, pear, Hollyhock and blush pigment inks from CTMH as well as purely pomegranate from SU.  I stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo black and then clear embossed it so it would show more.  Added some onyx Liquid Pearl's and a few pink seed pearls from my Grandma's stash for embellishments,  because I don't have any sequins!

I distressed the edges then mounted it over some graphite sparkly paper from my scrap stash and a layer of purely pomegranate,  also distressed.  Finally, I mounted all layers on Basic Gray cardstock.  I hope I get over my gray phase before that paper runs out!

~La

One more for today.  When looking at the designer's cards on Color Throw Down,  I was particularly struck by this card from Vickie Zimmer.  I did my best to copy it, although I am a complete novice with Copic markers.   I am pleased with the result.

My husband is probably going to be sorry I have a new craft room, since now all I want to do is stamp!  It's been so long.  I have several stamp sets that have not yet been touched and I plan to remedy that!

Today I went to my old standby blogs for inspiration: MOJO Monday for the layout and Color Throw Down for the - colors!

I decided to make a clean and simple masculine card, because I never have those when I need them.

Details are short and sweet.  Ink: Poppy Parade and Smoky Slate; paper: Whisper White and Basic Gray;  Stamps: Mosaic Madness and Itty Bitty Banners.

Thanks for stopping by!

~La

Back at it

I finally have a craft room again, and it is beautiful.   I'll have to share photos - another day.  New craft room means I can get back to stamping.   I started by going to Splitcoast Stampers for inspiration.   I CASED this card . (Actually I CASED the 2nd card in the linked blog post.)  Since it's nearly 1:00 a.m., here is my card with no further explanation :

Since I've been MIA for almost 2 years, I expect no one to be viewing this blog.  But I'm going to put cards up for my own sake.  I will have a new craft room very soon and hope to put it to good use.  When that happens I also hope to have cards to post on a regular basis.