The November Challenge at The Male Room is Feathers.
For some reason, I always associate feathers with sympathy. I used a feather sticker with a sentiment from Honey Bee Stamps Inside Sentiment: Comfort (that I chose to use on the outside) on a light yellow textured card base.
I always like to have a stash of sympathy cards on hand because i never feel like making one when I need it.
I spent yesterday evening trying to bring some order to the chaos in my studio.
As I was collecting bits and bobs, I challenged myself to see if I could make a card with them. I saw the inspiration photo at Global Design Project, and decided to try to use it as my inspiration.
I stayed with a similar card theme. For the central image, I used a tag I had cut from a page of an Alice In Wonderland book. I added some Bellini ink and then topped it with a bloom instead of leaves.
I added a wrap of Sensei yarn in Cabbage and some oh-so-versatile Pinkfresh Studio Champagne Glitter Dots. I finished with a Taylored Expressions Sentiment Strip - Friendship sentiment. I positioned it on a background paper that I thought had the same plaid-like feel.
The Simon Says Monday Challenge is to What's Your Favorite Color? ... mine is Orange and of course it's a great time of year to be creating with Orange.
When I saw that the current Lawn Fawnatics Challenge is Awesome Autumn, I decided leaves were going to be my orange. I die cut the Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves from multiple scraps of Orange Gelliprints to start my design.
I attached my leaves to a light kraft card base using foam tape to attach some of them for a bit of dimension & contrast. I love how this set has a variety of leaves ... our yard was always filled with maple leaves, while our grandparents had oak trees.
I finished with a scattering of orange gems & a sentiment from Lawn Fawn Simply Sentiments.
The September Pinkfresh Studio Challenge is to Layer It Up!
First I layered on inks with the Garden Florals Layering Stencils using my version of the inspiration color palette.
Next I added 7 layers of frames and a sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio Forever in our Hearts.
The August Memory Box Challenge is It's Fall Y'All.
I wanted to use my new Memory Box 3D Embossing Folder Magnolia Blooms, but wasn't sure about Magnolias and Autumn. When I googled, I saw all sorts of Autumn Wreaths made with Magnolias, so I took my inspiration from those for my design.
I embossed a rusty gel press print and then rubbed on chocolate ink several times to bring out the texture. I embossed a second time on ivory cardstock and then used the coordinating dies to cut out the blooms. I went over those lightly with more chocolate ink to tone them down a bit to work with the grungy background and then attached them to the panel with foam tape.
When I looked through my Memory Box sentiment choices, I settled on Sympathy from Memory Box Big and Little Words.
I had passed on the first Smackin' Acetate background I made yesterday for the Gina K. Designs August Monthly Mix Challenge, but when I saw it dry on my studio table today, I decided to use it for another card. The colors were Gina K. Designs Prickly Pear, Passionate Pink and Jelly Bean Green.
I trimmed it down & die cut the Gina K. Designs Swirl Flower Mini Slimline plate from white cardstock and attached it over the inky background and then framed it with a thin border of Passionate Pink.
Since there were more white spots in the center of the panel, I rotated it horizontally to cover more of those areas with a sentiment from Gina K. Designs Have Faith stamped in Gina K. Designs Passionate Pink.
When I saw the July Unity Challenge was to create a card featuring wings, I knew I would have no trouble finding stamps in my collection.
Actually, the trouble was narrowing down what to use. From the first drawer (of six drawers) I found 6 stamp sets, so I stopped there and narrowed down to this lovely collage-like image from Layers of Life Magical and Hopeful - May 2018.
I combined markers and ink with my MISTI to get the look I wanted. Next I used Acrylic paints to gelliprint a background that I thought worked well with the image. I then assembled my card on a kraft card base.
Even though I made three sympathy cards earlier this week, I'm already out, so these Ella & Viv Cardstock Sympathy Stickers would be an easy way to restock my stash.
I started with one of the larger stickers and this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch, pulling the colors of the paper flags from the colors in the sticker.
I finished with a tiny bit of bling in the corner.
Next I used one of the smaller stickers with the Sketch from the Retro Rubber Challenge.
My retro rubber stamps is 2005 wood-mounted Thoughts Are With You by Stampabilities.
Unfortunately I depleted my sympathy card stash this week, so I needed to restock. I decided to use a NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) Perfect Poppies Die from Gina K. Designs with some Alcohol Ink panels I had in my stash, so I'm linking-up at the NBUS Challenge.
I had three alcohol ink panels, so made three mini-slimline cards. The first two use a sentiment from Gina K. Designs Layered Eucalyptus Stamp Set. For the first one I took the sentiment out to the edges.
For the second one, I cut the sentiment to fit the edges of the die cut.
and for the final card, I used a sentiment from Gina K. Designs Natural Silhouettes.
I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge.
I'm glad to have these re-stocked.
It's another Woodblock Wednesday with Amy Tsuruta.
Unfortunately, I needed a sympathy card, so I chose one of my oldest and most-used woodblock stamps from Hero Arts - Difficult Time from 2003 (wow 20 years). I paired it with with Hero Arts Garden Silhouette, both stamped on one of my inked Gel Press Prints in Versafine Black Ink.
I framed the blooms in a tiny bit of black cardstock & attached it to a confetti cardstock base.
I'm also linking-up at Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero Dance of the Flower Challenge.
With my 20 year old woodblock, I'm linking-up at Retro Rubber Challenge Anything Goes.
I'm also joining We Love Stamping In the Garden Challenge.
And my blooms are inspired by the Gladiolas at the Double D challenge, which remind me of my dear dear Grandma and her memory.
