Another week of blogland fun:
Have a tremendous Thursday!
The current AAA Cards Challenge is Follow My Lead.
The Leader's example we are using for inspiration is:
I went with the corner white-on-white die cuts using the smallest tag from the Tag Trio & Snowflake Trio from Gina K. Designs.
After layering two of the snowflakes I added a purple flower and hello sentiment from Gina K. Designs Pocket Full of Sunshine. I finished with a clear embellishment in the center.
I'm also joining the Snow Word Prompt at the Inkspirational Challenge. I'm also joining the Clean & Simple Challenge at the Simon Says Challenge.
Finally, the Double D Challenge is White-on-White.
As I was putting away my AALL & Create Blush Washi Tape from last night, I realized the pink heart tape would look perfect with these gnome stickers in my Valentine's Day stash.
The little Gnome with a letter was perfect for the Clean & Simple Postman Bring Me a Letter Challenge at The Paper Players.
I'm also linking-up at the Love is in the Air Creatalicious Challenge.
The animal for the 2025 Lunar New Year is the Snake. I went searching for snake stamps so I could join the Lunar New Year Challenge, and to no one's surprise, there aren't a lot.
However, I found this adorable Sassy Snake Stamp Set at Whimsy Stamps, which took me down the Whimsy Stamps rabbit hole (yep, I bought more than just snakes, once again to no one's surprise).
I went with a fun color combination of teal and lime green using one sentiment from the Sassy Snakes Set and the Happy New Year from Whimsy Stamps Simple Sentiment Strips.
I tucked the snake into a die cut frame and finished with some lime sequins.
AALL & Create had a big year-end sale, so in addition to lots of fun stamps & stencils, I picked up the first new Washi Tape I've bought in a while.
The patterns and colors reminded me of the Inspired by Pillows Challenge.
So tonight, I used the Washi Tape to create a quick & fun inspired valentine.
I attached the washi tape to white cardstock and then die cut with a stitched rectangle. I added two wooden hearts and a sticker sentiment to complete the card.
I'm also linking-up at Just Add Ink with my new Washi.
I was filing away my Gelliarts prints from #GelprintJanuary2025, which got me wondering if I had prints that would work for the most recent Color Hues Challenge - Navy & Lime Green.
What I discovered was that I had lots of dark blue prints, but none that I would truly call navy (note to self, buy some navy paint, which apparently is Prussian Blue), so I had to use cardstock for that color, but I did find a really nice Lime Green print I had made doing text transfer.
Also, during studio clean-up, I found these fun Spellbinders A2 Modern Stationary Dies that make a fun card shape.
It was the perfect opportunity to showcase my new CZ Design Chin Up Die cut.
Using papers I made myself prove there are no rules for art or color challenges, so I'm also linking-up at the TGIF Challenges.
I'm still enjoying making a gel print every day using the prompts from #gelprintjanuary2025.
Day 13 was loop. I looped yarn onto my plate, pulled a print, removed the yarn, and then picked-up this print. I love the green paints.
Day 14 was white. I pulled a print using white paint, and then added a second layer of white paint and pulled it using grey cardstock for contrast.
I think Day 15's Dot print is my favorite. There's something so soothing about printing circles. I love how those colors worked together.
For Day 16 I printed into a map. I have a pile tucked away that I saved from old National Geographic Magazines. I tried printing with florescent paint, so more of the map showed through, but didn't quite get the effect I wanted, so I used a more opaque paint on top. I probably should have used a stencil with larger openings.
Day 17 was Shine. I have these awesome Metallic Extreme Sheen paints from DecoArt that are so shiny, so I pulled a couple of all-over prints for future die cutting.
It's been so much fun trying different paints and techniques. I love making art every day.
We're calling this week's Jingle Belles prompt Candy Christmas - to make a card inspired by this fun Candy decorated room.
This week, I was really drawn to all of the white space and the fun color combination of bright blue on the package bows, the red & pink nutcracker and the bit of bright green I saw in the tree (not to mention the green Grinch peeking out of the chimney). I cut 1/4" strips of papers using those color combination and paired the strips with lots of white space.
I added the Big on Christmas sentiment from Concord & 9th and finished with Doodlebug Designs Candy Cane Lane puffy candy stickers, together with a few other Christmas icons.
I'm also joining the Simon Says Clean & Simple Challenge with all of my white space.
Have a tremendous Thursday!
One of the current Exhibits at our Cedar Rapids Museum of Art is Beyond the Object: Women in Abstraction. To honor that exhibit, the Museum's Education Director led an Abstract Art class at one of the local libraries.
I chose to focus on making abstract papers using paper bags and paint, and it was a lot of fun.
I cut the bottom paper into four rectangles using the current Sketch Saturday to make a valentine.
I topped my painted bag with some ArtChix Inchies that I rediscovered while reorganizing my studio.
And with all of the fabulous layers of painty texture of my paper, I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says Add Some Texture Challenge. And Love is in the Air at the Creatalicious Challenge.
