My Door is Always Open

I am sneaking in just under the wire with a card for the January Paper Smooches Anything Goes challenge.  I pulled out Bitty Bungalos to create my little scene, inspired by the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch #356.

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Hang in There

I pulled out some Paper Smooches and PTI stamps that I have had for years to create another 'hang in there' card for my customer.  I just love this little monkey, and it was great to have an excuse to ink him up.

I am entering this card at Retro Rubber #46 where the challenge is critter time and old stamps, and Simon Says Monday Stamp It challenge.

While I had that monkey out to play, I made a second card.

I'm so glad I took this little monkey out and inked him up.  He makes me happy.

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New Home Congratulations

I have a new home card that will be winging its way towards a friend who is moving house soon.  I was inspired by the photo inspiration at Paper Smooches Sparks and the one layer HOME challenge at Less is More #228.  I am also playing along at Time Out #33 where we are to interpret these words:  Happy is the Bride that the Sun Shines on.

I used images from Paper Smooches Bitty Bungalows stamped in Versamark and water colored with Distress Ink.  Lots of white and turquoise in the house, as a nod to the colors in the PS inspiration photo.  I masked the car to stamp the house behind it, masked the house to stamp the tree, and then masked the entire scene to sponge distress Squeezed Lemonade ink using a mask I made out of a sun rays die.  Those sun rays and the happy scene are my nod to the Time Out challenge, emphasis on 'happy' and 'sun shines'.

I hope my friend will appreciate the glossy red sports car and the apple tree I have given her.

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Thanks, Hope, and Thinking

Hello there.  I have three cards to post today.  First up is a card with lots of fussy cutting.  When I first started making cards, I never cut anything--it seemed like way too much work.  Now, fussy cutting is one of my favorite things to do--I find it strangely relaxing.

I pulled out a couple of old stamp sets for this card--the flowers are from Friendship Jar Fillers and they seemed the perfect image to water color with Distress Inks and then fussy cut out, just like Ashley showed us in this week's Make it Monday #212:  Fussy Cutting Tips.  I have had this set for ages, and I don't think I have ever used these flowers (shame on me).  I also fussy cut the sentiment, from Script Sentiments, after stamping and heat embossing in white on Basic Grey paper.  I cut a slit into the jar lid and threaded my flower stems through it, to make the scene look a little more realistic. It's hard to see in this picture, but the flowers are liberally coated with WOS and lots of Stickles.  I adhered everything to a card front that I impressed with PTI Book Print Impression plate, another oldie but goodie.

I am also entering this card at Paper Players #245 (CAS Girly Thanks), Simon Says Monday XYZ (yellow flowers), The Challenge #35 and Retro Rubber #14 May Flowers.

I used the bright colors from ColourQ #292 and a couple of Paper Smooches stamp sets to create the little scene on this card, which I am entering at Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes.  All my coloring was done with Copics, and I also colored the white scallop frame with the same Copic I used on the card so it would match.  Both frame dies are from the PTI Shakers and Sprinkles kit, which I had completely forgotten about.  Expect to see more with the dies from that set in the future.

My last card uses the sketch at Stamplorations Sketch Challenge #34.  I was determined to use my Bees Knees houses for this challenge, so changed the orientation and used some faintly stamped houses for some of the smaller butterfly elements.  

I used the color scheme from Sunday Stamps 101, coloring the main house as well as the die cut Ribbon Candy Border with various Copic markers.  I am also linking this up to the Stamplorations Anything Goes challenge, as it does feature Stamplorations products front and center.

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CASology 118 and Paper Smooches Sparks

Hi there.  I am popping in quickly to share another card I made for this week's CASology HOME challenge.  I am also playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes challenge.

All the stamping is from Paper Smooches Bitty Bungalows, and there are lots of different dies on this card--Poppy Stamps for the houses, Memory box for the trees, Simon Says Stamp for the curved hill and Mama Elephant for the stitched clouds.  Ahhhh, I do love my dies.

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My Crafty Week--So Far

Hello there and happy Thursday.  I've been sneaking in bits of crafting time all week, and I thought I'd better get my stuff posted and linked before the challenges end. 

First up is a card for this week's Paper Smooches Anything Goes challenge.  I used Bitty Bungalows stamps and dies, Bitty Dot paper, a sentiment from Love Lives Here and a stitched landscape die from Mama Elephant.  This card will be going to a good friend who is moving into a new house tomorrow.

Next up is a card for this week's CAS-UAL Fridays CFC129 challenge to use 2 shades of grey.  I went back to an older card of Pamela's that I have cased before.  My greys are PTI Smokey Shadow and SU Basic Grey.  50 is cut out of Tropical Turquoise, PTI's newest gorgeous color.   My sister and her husband are both turning 50 this spring, so one of them will get this card.  I used some MME dots I've had for ages, so I am also linking this card at Simply Create Too #56, where the challenge is to shop in your stash.

My next card is for this week's Make it Monday #154, which is all about one layer cards.  I layered stamps from Beautiful Butterflies in Orange Zest (my gallon), Limeade Ice and Hibiscus Burst (my quarts) and Orange Zest (my pint).  All that was stamped over Background Basics Newsprint stamped in Soft Stone.  Except for my background stamp, the rest of the card is all from Beautiful Butterflies.

One more card for Make it Monday #154 and the Hero Arts Birthday Challenge in the FLORAL category.   I stamped a sentiment from Hero Arts It's Your Day and then masked it with a post it.  I stamped various flowers and leaves from PTI Doodlie Do using black ink.  Then, turned each of the Doodlie Do stamps upside down to stamp over the black image with color.  I am loving this technique lately.  I used Winter Wisteria, Limeade Ice, Ocean tides, and Pure Poppy.

Next up are three cards using different water coloring techniques.   I am entering all three into this week's One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #3 to just add water and Virginia's View Challenge #1 to use water coloring.

I used a rainbow palette of distress inks to stamp watery polka dots on top of my card, after stamping the card front with Hero Arts Life of Party background stamp in Versafine Onyx Black.  I used Distress inks for my rainbow polka dots:  Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord.  My polka dot stamps were created by flipping over 2 stamps from HA Birthday Messages and Konnichiwa Lantern.  After inking up, I spritzed the stamp with water.  I will be entering this card at the Hero Arts Birthday Challenge in the Rainbow of Color category.

For this card, I used regular water color paints that come in a paint box to color the flowers from HA Delicate Blossoms.  I'm pretty sure they are from Michaels.  They looked a little dull when dried, so I coated all the flowers with Wink of Stella.  I am also entering this card at the Hero Arts Birthday Challenge in the Floral category.

 

Last but not least is a card using a brand new daffodil stamp I just got from Serendipity.  It really reminds me of spring.  I colored this stamp using a water brush and Inktense Pencils.  This is actually my favorite way to water color.  The Inktense pencils have such vibrant colors, and you can use them in so many different ways to water color.  For this card, I used my waterbrush to wet the tip of the pencil to grab color.  Inktense pencils let you layer colors.  Rather than blending, each layer sits atop of the previous layer.  I'm not anywhere near mastering this technique, but I do think it adds a little something to the effect.  I am also entering this card in the Serendipity SSCB#29 challenge:  stitches.  My stitches are faux (the only stitches I really know how to make), using the Lil Inkers Stitched Rectangle die. 

I will leave you to imagine the state of my desk.  I have a big clean up to do starting right now.

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