Tonight I had a little fun with this week's Muse Challenge. I always say that cardmaking is the perfect hobby for me ... because I'm married to a postal carrier. I love collecting postal-themed products ... and my dear friend Lauren found this great game card for me ... and tonight it found a home.
I added some chevron embossing and a Unity Advent sentiment to create my fun card inspired by Laurie Willison.
Mail one of your cards ... and make someone happy today.
Tonight I had a little Chipboard fun with this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge.
I started by coloring my chipboard (grungeboard) skull with PL4 Spectrum Noir Marker (love that coverage). Next I added a spray of Pearl Glimmer Mist for sparkle. I colored my crown with Antiqued Bronze Distress Stain and added a bit of Stickles glitter.
I finished by cutting my frame & adding a Donna Downey Unity Art & Possibility sentiment using this week's CAS(E) this Sketch.
I'm also joining Less is More, where the theme is Frame It.
This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge comes from the amazing designs of Sana Designer Ware ... I chose this gorgeous attire to inspire my card design ... I loved the colors and also incorporated some of the patterns found in the photo.
I started by embossing brown cardstock with the Modern Wallpaper embossing folder, which I thought was similar to the pattern seen in the cabinet in the background.
When I went searching for papers in the colors of the inspiration photo, I found the Steampunk Debutante Collection by Graphic 45 which also had an image of this lovely lady. It also made me finally realize why the art in the Alphonse Mucha exhibit at the National Czech and Slovak museum had seemed so familiar to me ... it's the style of many of the Graphic 45 designs.
I used this week's Retro Sketch for my layout adding a Unity sentiment from She Sprouted Wings for the Unity Friends with Flair & some KaiserCraft Latte Pearls (one of my favorite colors). I'm also joining the Embossability Challenge at Daring Cardmakers.
Remember ... you have until Tuesday to leave a comment here for a chance at a box of card making goodies.
Since I started making my tags on Day 2 of the 12 Days, I decided to go back and make a tag inspired by Sharon Harnist's elegant tag for Day 1. I didn't have any Christmas Angels in my stash, so I decided to dress-up Christy Tomlinson's She Leaped Angel for the holidays.
I wanted a similar effect on the background, but instead of embossing with white powder, I started with White Washed Core'dinations Cardstock that I embossed and sanded. The Angel was stamped on the same cardstock & embossed. I stamped her a third time on DCWV Glitzy Glitter Cardstock for the wings ... first time trying this cardstock ... it is so smooth and sparkly with no glitter rub-off ... I even heat embossed on it.
I hand-cut her crown and added her *Christmas Tree Skirt" (inspired by Berniece from Designing Women in her Christmas Tree Skirt). I finished with some gorgeous May Arts Satin Ribbon in blush salmon pink (to cover the seam in my cardstock) instead of the flower.
Here is Sharon's inspiring tag.
I'm also joining the Christmas Challenge at Pretty Little Ribbon Shop.
This week's Queen for the Day at Splitcoast Stampers is the talented Gabby. I have loved watching Gabby's style evolve over the years, particularly in the SCS Inspiration Challenge, so I knew I wanted to honor her with a card inspired by her designs.
Here is Gabby's awesome card featuring Stampotique designs.
I loved the red & black color palette ... all of the inky fun ... and of course that fabulous lady, so those are the elements I incorporated into my design.
I have been wanting to ink-up these Christy Tomlinson stamps from Unity for some time, and today was the perfect oportunity. She Leaped was stamped in India ink ... the Reversed Punchinella was stamped around the borders of the design in Fired Brick Distress ink. I got a little smudgy with the ink and thought about starting over ... but then I channeled my inner Gabby and called it *distressing* and moved on.
I finished with some punched hearts, colored pencil coloring and of course some bling for her wings.The sentiment is from Empowered Words by Donna Downey (another great Unity set) and reminded me of getting to spend a weekend with Donna at her Inspired Event years ago.
A huge Congrats! to Gabby on her special day.
Playing with some new Authentique stamps by Unity and this month's Authentique Color Challenge.
Papers are from Authentique's Wonder & Celebrate Collections togehter with coordinating Diction Stickers.
Layout is from Chick Challenges with {Ippity} ... the designer paper also hangs over the edge of the card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge. I finished with a Button for the Napoleon's Buttons Challenge at the Drunken Stampers.
I broke out some of my favorite Unity Stamps ... Brave Girls Boots ... for this week's Unscripted Sketch. To get sort of a worn leather look, I inked first in brown, stamped off & then inked with an old red ink pad (that I save for just such techniques) without cleaning the stamp.
I also joined the Texture Challenge at Unity for World Card Making Day. The background texture is actually some packing paper that was included with some things I ordered online ... and it was just too cool not to recycle. I also added texture with adhesive lace and some of the twine we use to tie-up our recycled cardboard for pick-up (you never know where you'll find art supplies). My red cardstock is also textured. I finished with a couple of sticker sentiments.
I'm also linking-up at 52-Card Pick-up.
I'm playing along with Unity Stamps for some of their WCMD Challenges ... this one is a Color Challenge ~ Cream, Brown, Olive & Pumkin. The stamp is called Just Be You.
The layout is from Try Stampin' on Tuesday. I used a combination fo cardstock & some olive washi tape. It's also for the My Time to Craft Challenge where they're coloring on kraft ... I used a pumpkin colored pencil to highlight my butterfly.
Last week, someone asked me if I could make a card to give to someone who just found out they were pregnant. While I had lots of stamps celebrating the birth of a baby, I realized I didn't really have much for this theme ... so I set out to find something that would work ... and found this adorable So Happy For You set from Unity.
The current challenge at the Basic Grey Challenge Blog is to create something using your favorite color combination ... I chose the Marrekech Collection filed with browns, bright oranges and blues ... I love their *not quite solid* papers with the wonderful subtle variations of color like you see in the sentiment strip.
Card sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches.
Back in 2009, I had the opportunity to design with products from Studio Calico when they sponsored a SketchFest at Caardvarks. I am thrilled to see they have released their wonderful papers in new 6" pads, and couldn't wait to add some to my collection. For my card, I used today's Sunday Sketch from the Studio Calico Blog for my layout.
My inspiration came from this wonderful flashcard image from The Moxie Fab World A is for Apricot Tuesday Trigger.
I pulled in the ledger paper background, color palette, the circular elements, and the rectangle shape of the design. Papers are from Studio Calico's Take Note & Abroad Collections. I also added some of their super-cool woodgrain butterfly stickers.
The stamp is from Unity's Delightful LIttle Things & incorporates their Unity Challenge to create a card using a heart, but no pink or red (mine is Burnt Sienna ... always one of my favorite crayons).
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