Scotty Candy

 

This week at Freshly Made Sketches we have a fantastic sketch by Tui.

 

My girl’s and I saw this cute Friends Fur-ever set when the US Stampin Up catty first came out and it was the one set we all really badly wanted.  When we didn’t end up getting it in the Australian catalogue we were SO disappointed!

So when I saw a competition on Michelle Zindorf’s blog to win it a couple of months ago I just had to enter and amazingly I actually won!   Yay!

My girls have had lots of fun playing with it but I hadn’t used it yet.  When I saw this great sketch I decided to “channel” my inner-Zindorf and create a brayered card with the cute scotty dog.

 

 

I brayered celery then olive for the grass and pool party, turquoise and NQN for the sky. I then used choc chip and olive markers for the tree. I actually used copics for the dog and balloon and also added a little shadow to the tree too.  The dog and balloon are on dimensionals and I made the balloon shiny with crystal effects.

Now that I may have you looking at the balloon you might notice a mistake (like I did after I had taken the photo)!  I had tied the linen thread to the balloon but it had fallen off while I was taking the photo I guess.  Anyway I didn’t realise till it was too late, it is fixed now (but you’ll just have to imagine it’s tied on properly) :)

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Friends fur-ever, thoughts and prayers, perfectly penned

Card : white, basic gray, black, going grey textured, red

Ink : stazon, memento black, celery, olive, pool party, turquoise, NQN,  choc chip and olive markers

Other : brayer, neutral brad, ret. ribbon, linen thread, copics, white pen, nesties

 

Please take a look at what the rest of the design team have created with this sketch as inspiration.  They are all gorgeous!  Then give this sketch a try yourself.

And I just want to finish by thanking Michelle Zindorf for her generosity.    She is the absolute QUEEN of brayering and freely shares her talents with everyone on her blog.  She has inspired me greatly.  Thanks for the gift Michelle :)

 

Kathy

Thinking of Retirement

 

At Just Add Ink this week we have a beautiful colour challenge.

I’m not sure it would even be possible to make a bad card with these colours actually.  Take a look at the rest of the design team’s work for some inspiration and then give them a try yourself.

Here is my card :

 

This card was kind of inspired by a thread I was reading on Splitcoaststampers this week.  It was all about the new stampin up catalogue (which isn’t out for ages yet but it’s always fun to speculate). It asked which 3 stampin up sets we thought would retire, which 3 we hoped would stay around in the next catalogue, which 3 sets from mini catalogues we hoped would make it in and which 3 sets we hoped would retire (never to be seen again).

Well I was really shocked and amazed that this Awash With Flowers set was mentioned by quite a number of people as one they hoped would retire.  While I admit I haven’t used it heaps (but I could say that about a lot of sets I own actually :o) I have liked each card I’ve made with it.  I really like this flower in the set especially.  Anyway the thread “made me” use it again to prove it’s a good set and not one we need to get rid of. And in the top 3 sets you would want to retire?  Unbelievable!

I guess everyone has different taste.  But I like it!

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Awash with Flowers, Thoughts and Prayers

Card : vanilla, crumb cake, choc chip, subtles dsp stack

Ink : choc chip, crumb cake

Other : big shot, designer frames, polka dot ef, crumb cake seam binding, pearls, corner rounder punch

 

Well if you’re interested, here is what I wrote in the Splitcoast thread:

3 I think will retire
Under the big top
Season of joy
Friends never fade
Wish they would retire
Flower Fancy
Paisley Petals
Punch Pals
3 I hope stay
Field flowers
Winter post
En Francais
From minis I hope this stays
Open Sea

 

I’d be interested to know your picks for these categories. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you’re hoping retires and stays :)

Wishing you a very Happy Easter and I hope you find some time over the holiday to create something beautiful.

 

Kathy

Island Prayers

Well it’s a new month and that means new challenges at the Splitcoast Stampers Creative Crew.
Here is the challenge:
CCREW0611CF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM - Catalog Focus:* FLOWERS*
Stampin' Up! has flowers! Ribbon Flowers, Rub-on Flowers, Button Flowers, Brad Flowers, Crocheted Flowers, Paper Flowers, Die Cut Flowers, Stenciled Flowers! The challenge is to use any flower except stamped flowers!



I had just bought my first flower die for the big shot and decided to use it for the challenge.  It’s the Island Floral Die.  It was actually in the Summer Mini catalogue but it was carried over and is still available.
I saw a gorgeous flower done by Nikki Spencer and she had a link to a tutorial by Joanne Leddy showing how she’d made them.  They are so gorgeous. I did mine the same way except that she used the fancy flower punch instead of the die, so mine is bigger.  I also don’t have the boho blossoms punch amazingly (I’ll have to rectify that soon!) I used a retired punch (trio flower, I think it was called) for my flower centre.  The other thing I did differently was that instead of spraying the flower with water, I sprayed it with white shimmer paint/alcohol solution. So it is very sparkly in real life.
Ingredients :
Stamps : Thoughts and Prayers
Card : vanilla, suede, pink pirouette, river rock
Ink : suede, crumb cake
Other :  Big shot, island floral die, square scallop die, beautiful wings, little leaves, vintage wallpaper, trio flower punch, pearls, brayer, square punch, piercing tool

I think the flower turned out beautifully and I’m very happy with my new purchase. Yay!
I hope you’ll try this challenge too.
Kathy

Olive tree

 

I was a Colour Queen Courtier last week for my giraffe card hurray!!!

I feel very honoured (and excited) when I win a challenge. 

Anyway here is this weeks challenge at ColourQ.

 

Gorgeous colours and again the design team have come up with some really inspirational cards. You should take a look and why not enter the challenge yourself.

Here is my entry:

 

I had to make another male card this week so I thought I would use the challenge for some inspiration.  They’re always hard for me to make, but I’m quite pleased with how this turned out.

I made it sort of like a little book.  I folded the early espresso card on the side, glued an embossed piece of kiwi kiss to the front and then glued a piece of daffodil delight dsp around the “spine” and attached 2 jumbo brads with the crop a dile through all layers. Then I used my bone folder to score the front and back of the card where the dsp ends.

For the tree I inked it up with espresso and then used a baby wipe to get rid of the ink from the leaves and used an old olive marker on them.  I sponged espresso and crumb cake around the edges of the tree piece and sponged espresso on all other pieces. 

The Just for you was stamped in espresso and then the “YOU” is coloured in with an olive marker, but you can’t see it much in the photo unfortunately. Then I sprayed the tree with champagne mist shimmer paint.

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Thoughts and prayers, oval all

Card : white, espresso, kiwi kiss, brights stack dsp

Ink : espresso, olive marker, crumb cake

Other : cropadile, jumbo brads, linen thread, dimensionals, oval punch, big shot, square lattice, champagne shimmer mist

 

I was asked to make this card by a friend who said “Do you make male cards?” and I said “Sure!”  (trying to sound confident even though I don’t feel confident at all when I have to make one).  Anyway I hope I succeeded and she is happy with it.

Kathy

Think Pink

I was a bit concerned that I’d lost my stamping “mojo” this week but then I saw the challenge at ColourQ and I knew they were my kind of colours and I should give it a try.

I also wanted to incorporate these colours into the challenge at SUO challenges which was to use a wheel on your card.  I’ll admit the wheel is very subtle but it really does add to the depth and “prettiness” of the card.

I used Pretty in Pink satin ribbon to make another one of those gorgeous ribbon flowers.  This one turned out quite different from my razzleberry one, I guess every flower is unique! Look here if you'd like to see my other ribbon flower card.
I used my brayer to put crumb cake ink on my vintage wallpaper embossing folder and ran it through the big shot.  I used my square scallop die for the first time too, and of course made a rectangle instead out of blushing bride.(ha!)  I distressed this piece a lot, I sprayed it with shimmer mist and “scrunched” it, flattened it out and then sponged crumb cake on the edges and creases.
I used the very vintage wheel in PIP and then over stamped in crumb cake the thoughts and prayers tree.  I did deviate slightly from the colours by using espresso to stamp the sentiment.
Everything on the card is very sponged and distressed.



Ingredients :
Stamps : Very vintage wheel, thoughts and prayers
Card : pink pirouette, blushing bride, crumb cake, white
Ink : crumb cake, PIP, espresso
Other : PIP satin ribbon, heat gun, sticky strip, circle punch, sponge, brayer, big shot, scallop square, vintage wallpaper, antique brad

I am really happy with how this turned out thanks to two great challenges.

Elements of pink

 

This card is for a challenge at Just Add Ink .

It is Pink Ribbon Day very soon (25th October) and the challenge was to create a card which celebrated the feminine, using “pink and bling”.

So this weeks card wasn’t that challenging for me, but I wanted to make it a truly beautiful one.  I also wanted to use a sentiment which could be used for any occasion really, but one you could give to someone who was going  through a tough time and in need of some TLC.

 

 

I used another new set of mine, Elements of Style. I just love the roses in this set!

I watercoloured them with PIP and Rose Red and used River Rock and Old Olive for the leaves.

I also cut out a watercoloured piece using the smallest butterfly from the Beautiful Butterflies die.

A new technique I used on this card was to spritz it with Frost White Shimmer Paint. It looks so pretty and with a hint of sparkle, In Real Life, but unfortunately I’m not a good enough photographer to capture it.

I used some of the new sating ribbon (vanilla) on the card too.  I love it and will have to buy 1 or 2 or 3 or maybe more rolls!

Ingredients :

Stamps : Elements of style, Thoughts and Prayers

Ink : stazon, PIP, rose red, old olive, river rock

Card : very vanilla, river rock, pink pirouette

Other : Pearls, frost white shimmer paint, beautiful butterflies, big shot, polka dot e.f., aquapainter, vanilla satin ribbon, daubers

Awash 2

This is the second card I have made with my one sheet wonder of Awash With Flowers.
I have used another sketch challenge for inspiration, this time from Stamping 411.  It’s a gorgeous one I think. It’s my first time playing along with a challenge from this site, but I often visit there because they always have such great ideas.
I made this one a Get Well card, as it’s great to have one on hand and ready for when you need one. I have made the ladies a For You, and a Thank you card also.  I’m going to include stamped envelopes too.

Ingredients :
Stamps : Awash with flowers, Thoughts and prayers
Ink : bashful blue, pip, regal rose, early espresso
Card : early espresso, bashful blue, whisper white
Other : pearls, big shot, polka dot folder, bashful blue ribbon (retired), dimensionals