« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 »
This card combines CPS Sketch 61, today's SCS Color Challenge (Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery) and the Backgrounder Blitz Kissing technique.
I inked my Geometric Flower II backgrounder in ColorBox Chalk Pink Pastel and the Lace Backgrounder in Chestnut Roan and kissed them together. I love the soft, almost marbled, effect. I used the Lace Backgrounder on my 1" punched squares. The ice cream cone is an epoxy sticker, and the inside of the card says - So Very Sweet.
Here are a couple more cards I made using the Penguin Pants Family Ties stamp set.
The DP is from Reminisce and I computer generated the sentiment using a Celtic looking font for St. Patrick's Day.
I computer generated this sentiment as well. I stamped another tie on scrap paper and punched out the heart using a Martha Stewart scalloped heart punch.
Head on over to Caardvarks for the Black & White + One Challenge (make any card using black & white and one other color) for your chance to win the great Penguin Pants prize package. Can't wait to see what you create.
Also, check out the brand new April Caard{varks} kit Let's Hang Out ... lots of adorable monkey goodness to be had.
I was rummaging through my craft room looking for something other than paper that I could stamp on for today's CHF Backgrounder Blitz. My dear husband said "don't you have any fabric"? Well, as a matter of fact, I do ... and after my classes at Inspired and the discovery of Ranger Matte Accents, I no longer fear the fabric.
I stamped the CHF Open Circles Backgrounder on Denim & Muslin with ColorBox Chalk Dark Iris ink. I trimmed the fabric and adhered it the strips together and the denim to the DP using a thin coat of Ranger Matt Accents. I tied a couple of ribbons around and attached it to my marbled DP from Provo Craft Slab XI (fun papers for a good price at Michael's this week).
I added the label from SU's Designer Label Punch Box Stamped in Wisteria and accented with a tiny blue adhesive gem.
I love how these challenges are pushing me to try new techniques.
One final card to end the weekend using Beate's weekend sketch.
I used two-sided cardstock from my scrap bin for quick assembly and a sentiment from Stampabilities (love that font). I added two ticket corner punches and two tiny brads to finish. This is a card that would be very quick and easy to mass produce for lots of occasions.
Wishing you a great week.
Today's the 20th & that means Caardvarks has rolled out another fabulous challenge - Black & White + One. All you have to do is make a card of your choice using only black, white and one other color. The gracious sponsor of the challenge is a 
fabulous new stamping company called Penguin Pants ... and look at the amazing pile of goodies they have donated for the prize ... stamps, ribbon, hardware, tools, paper ... woo hoo.
Also, they donated fabulous Penguin Pants stamps to our Design Team, so we could fill an entire gallery with wonderful Penguin Pants designs. Let me tell you ... these are some seriously great stamping stamps. I love how they're packaged between two sheets of acrylic for easy storage and the designs are amazing. You can check out the entire gallery here ... and I'll be sharing more of my Penguin Pants cards with you throughout the week.
My first card uses their very fun Family Ties set. I love how there are little ties in the sentiments.
I used instructions to fold an origami shirt out of an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of musical DP. I added a little turquoise cardstock to the inside of my shirt color and stamped my striped tie in ColorBox Chalk Aquamarine. The tie tack is a decorative brad.
I attached the shirt to a turquoise card base and trimmed the shirt and front of the card, so I could stamp the sentiment on the back/inside of the card. There are so many possibilities for fun shirt/tie combinations with this set.
This card features dice and sentiment from Penguin Pants Let's Play Games set (which Lauren remembered to photograph before she inked it up, so I'll send you here to see the entire set).
This card is inspired by the hours of Yahtzee we played when we were kids. I went to the Internet and printed out a Yahtzee scorecard to use for my DP.
For today's CHF Backgrounder Blitz Challenge to use a partial backgrounder image on your design, I tried a faded background technique. This is the first time I have done this, but it won't be the last. I love the effect.
I inked the CHF Victorian Sunflowers backgrounder with ColorBox Chalk Dark Brown on the left and Chestnut Roan in the center. I sponged on Chestnut Roan on the right side of the center to get a softer faded effect. The background is stamped on Basic Grey Mellow DP.
The sentiment from SU Always is stamped on ivory cardstock and sponged with Chestnut Roan. The sheer rust ribbon is threaded through the slot punches and tied off with light blue satin ribbon (to bring out the light blue accents in the DP).
Thanks to the ladies at CHF for another fun challenge.
I love Silke's (sparklegirl) creations and was thrilled to see that she is today's SCS featured stamper. I wanted to get a quick card done before heading outside to tackle the first yard work of the year. I chose her pretty and clean Flower Birthday for my inspiration.
I varied the Prima sizes & changed the color palette and sentiment. I like the 4" x 8" size because it allows me to write a longer note inside when it makes its way to one of my wonderful friends. Thanks Silke for the inspiration.
Another highlight from Inspired. This is a photo taken by Paolo In Claudine's poppet puppet class where I made a Lost memorial poppet of Charlie for my sister. I was at the same work table with Ali Edwards and her sister Jessica. Seeing them laughing, creating and sharing the experience of the event together really made me miss my sister, but it was very special getting to make something just for her.
Here's Paulo's fabulous slide show of the event.
Cornish Heritage Farms is hosting a Backgrounder Blitz in advance of rolling out some great new backgrounder stamps. I love backgrounder stamps and CHF has some of the best designs and quality (and I love that they are larger than standard card size). Today's challenge is a sketch.
I wanted to try a file folder batik technique using my CHF Geometric Flowers II backgrounder. I cut a piece from a plain file folder that was several inches larger than my background stamp. I stamped the image using Versamark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I put the image into my spray box, and saturated the file folder with Adirondack Butterscotch Color Wash and Memories Mists in Orange Juice. I used a paper towel to dab away the excess ink where it pooled in the embossing.
I sandwiched the sprayed file folder between two pieces of cardstock and used a high setting with no steam on my iron to melt the embossing from the file folder into the cardstock.
Because the backgrounder in this technique reminded me of Indian sari fabric, I used one of my photo transfers on linen fabric that I did at Inspired, as well as several rub-ons I got in my Dove of the East class.
The center strip was punched with a Martha Stewart border punch and sparkly orange ribbon was layered onto a strip of mustard cardstock. I attached the image with foam tape. India Journey rub-ons were adhered to file folder scraps, trimmed, and tucked underneath the transfer.
I love how you can use one stamp and get so many different effects.
After having so many Inspired experiences last weekend, I knew I wanted to use something from the event as this week's SCS Inspiration Challenge.
Heather Bailey is such a sweet lady ... and she designs awesome fabrics. This week's challenge is inspired by her Freshcut line of fabrics designed for FreeSpirit (this picture is one color palette ... there are two more). The fabrics are described as "vintage nostalgia and modern design," which I think fits the bill ... sort of a hipper version of a bygone era. I love the way all of the patterns and colors work together.
We used Heather's fabric in our Textile Anthology project by Christina Lazar-Schuler (another amazing artist). She is selling kits for the project in her etsy shop if you are interested.
I used this lap quilt pattern as the inspiration for my card. I did the math to re-size the width of the strips to fit on a 2" square of cardstock. I ended up using a 3/4" strip in the center with the other strips cut to 1/2", 1/3" and 1/4" to complete the design. After I finished the first square, I used the same variation of strips on the rest, so they would fit together to form the pattern. All papers are from daisy d's snowflakes and holly 6" pad.
I added an Inque Boutique Quotopia quote to the center framed by some dew drops that I attached using Ranger Matte Accents (thanks Claudine). However it was late, and I was impatient, so I pulled out my heat gun to hopefully speed along the drying process, so I could head to bed. Instead I discovered that a heat gun actually melts dew drops ... which was sort of a cool discovery because i was able to press them flat and produce a different effect.
I hope you find some inspiration this weekend.
