fresh & fun

Here is another card I made with this week’s BIC color combo.

I pulled out another old favorite set that had been neglected for too long.

I stamped the girl from Summer By The Sea in Brown Palette ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and colored her in with Watercolor Crayons.

It was layered on a 3 1/4″ square Old Olive cardstock and a 3 5/8″ square of sponged and distressed Chocolate Chip cardstock.

The sentiment is from One Smart Cookie and is stamped in Brown Palette ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and punched out with the small oval punch. It was layered on a 1″ sponged Pumpkin Pie circle and sponged Chocolate Chip Designer label punchout. I adhered the sentiment layers to the top right after adding a Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware piece with Olive Poly-Twill Ribbon.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Ruby Red cardstock, folded in half. The card front was stamped with the swirl stamp from Baroque Motifs and sponged around the edges. A dotted border was added with white gel pen . Once it was dry, I sponged Pumpkin Pie over it to tone the white down and match it more with the rest of the card. The other layers were added with dimensionals.

For this BIC challenge, I just picked the colors.

The card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Pumpkin Pie cardstock folded in half.

The front was stamped with the Paisley background and Pumpkin Pie.

The sentiment was stamped in Brown Palette ink on Shimmery White cardstock. The flower from Heartfelt Thanks was inked with Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red and Old Olive Markers, stamped off once, sprayed with my water misting bottle and then stamped three more times over the sentiment.

Oval Nestabilities were used to cut it into an oval and to create the chocolate scallop oval underneath.

The Chocolate Chip layer measures 3 5/8″ x 4 3/4″, the Ruby Red and Kraft cardstock were 1/4″ smaller to the previous layer. The patterned paper is from the Summer Picnic Designer Paper pack.  Pumpkin Pie Striped grosgrain was tied around the Kraft layer.

I punched three 1/4″ Chocolate Chip circles out and adhered them under the ribbon knot. Ruby Red brad topped the circles off.

Here is another sample for this weekend’s sketch challenge with this weeks Color Challenge from SCS.

I started out with cutting the Soft Sky card base with the largest Circle Nestabilities template.

Next I cut a Basic Black and Purely Pomegranate layer with the same template.

The Stitched background was stamped on the Pomegranate layer. It was taped to the black strip and paper pierced.

The sentiment is from All Holidays and is stamped in Black Stazon on a Shimmery White Oval. It was layered on a black scallop oval and paper piercing was added. Both oval layers were cut with Nestabilities as well.

The flowers were punched out with the Boho Flower punch, sponged layered and taped down. Half pearls from the Pretties Kit were added with mini glue dots.

I haven’t participated in SCS challenges in week. I miss it. So when I was working on my sample for today’s sketch challenge, I thought I use one of the recent color challenge combos that I had missed: Groovy Guava, Blush Blossom and Basic Grey.

My card base is a 6″ Blush Blossom square folded in half.

The Basic Grey cardstock layer measures 3 1/2″ x 3″ followed by a 3 1/4″ x 3″ piece of Groovy Guava Prints Designer Paper.

The vertical sides of the designer paper were paper pierced. I punched a hole with my Crop-a-dile through both the grey and designer paper layer and tied white Taffeta ribbon through it.

I stamped the sentiment from Enjoy Every Momentin Basic Grey on Shimmery White and cut the cardstock down to 1 5/8″ x 3 1/2″. It was layered on a Basic Grey scalloped rectangle cut with the long scallop rectangle Nestabilities template.

I highlighted the word with my Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen. The small flower was stamped in Groovy Guava on Shimmery white, punched out with the 1/2″ circle punch, taped in the center of the O in enjoy and a Pewter brad was set in it’s center.

The big flower was inked up with Groovy Guava, the edges lined with Basic Grey (with help of a Fantastix), stamped on Shimmery White cardstock and cut out. Next I stamped the circular flower stamp in Basic Grey on Shimmery White and punched it out with the 3/4″ circle punch. It was taped in the center of the big flower and topped with another Pewter brad. (Well….the Guava flower didn’t show up enough over the Guava DP, so I used my R14 Copic Marker to intensify the color a bit).

All layers were adhered with dimensionals.

Before starting to stamp my sample for today’s inspiration challenge, I thought I check out the newest CPS sketch. I hadn’t participated in their challenges for a long time.

It looked like fun and I played with it.

I cut enough the Tres Jolies Paper for a square as well as the rectangle version I shared earlier.

Of course for the rectangle version I completely strayed from the sketch and added the big image layer over it. But the sketch was my starting point.

This card also uses the same Prism cardstock as the previously posted card.

The measurement for the layers are 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ for the card base, 3 7/8″ square for the chocolate layer and 3 3/4″ for the dotted paper.

The horizontal strip measures 1 5/8″ x 3 7/8″ and has paper piercing on both sides.

Giggle is from the Unity Stamp set “Giggle Grove” and was inked with Jumbo Java Dew Drop ink.

I actually sewed on this card with my Janome Mini sewing machine.

I used Unity Stamp company stamps on both cards that were posted today. These are sneak peaks of sets that will be available starting May first. Why I got my hands on some of the stamps before they were released will be revealed tomorrow!!!

I actually stamped yesterday. Just for a little bit after cleaning the house and going grocery shopping. It felt good. I think it has been a week. It’s hard for me to get back into a rhytm after getting off track in my stamping.

Anyway…here is my card for today’s inspiration challenge. I went with all those dots and tried to find a background paper matching. This one is from My Mind’s Eye Tres Jolie series.

I actually made a second card to match. I will post more details later. I have to get Rebecca to school first. Its’ good to be back. Thanks for all the well wishes. Unfortunately the darn migraine stayed it’s three day course. I am all better now though.

Like I said, I started out with the patterned paper.

I tried several different stamp sets (swirls from Fancy Pants - I was thinking stamping them directly over) and a girl from She’s all That. Nothing really tickled my fancy. I decided that I needed to use outline stamps, preferably non-Su, since the paper was already contraband.

I still had my basket with Unity Stamps on the table and grabbed the set Giggle Grove. I think the images in that set are too adorable. So I stamped the tree in Brown Palette ink on beige Prism paper, let it dry and then colored them with my Copic Markers (Y13, YG13, BG11 and W1).

Okay…I have to tell you, I LOVE my Copic Markers. Not that I have played nearly enough with them yet, but here is what I like so much. You can go over and over previous colored images and add and blend. Like for example the tree. I started with coloring the entire “leaf balls (hehe…I said balls)” with YG13. It’s a light green. I added more color the lower right hand side of each ball.

Next I took the Blender Pen and removed some color, where I wanted it to be lighter. That’s right. Those blender pens take away color. Then I went over the entire image again with Y13 to add yellow. I did that several times, then added more green to the lower right side again, then the entire image. I added shadow with W1, a warm, light gray underneath the branches. I also used it to make the lower right side of each leaf darker. Can you tell I am having fun adding those layers? Last I added some glitter with my clear spica glitter pen. I like that this pen is truly clear. It only adds glitter.

I worked on the bird the same way. Again the image was stamped in Brown Palette Ink on the same Prism Paper.  It was first colored completely with BG11, a soft blue, . Next I added YG13 on the bottom of the bird’s body, it’s wings and a bit of it’s tail. Then I colored over it again several times in blue to blend both colors together. The beak is colored first with Y13. Next I picked up some R29 color the Y13 tip and added it over the beak to create my orange. The bird was cut out and added to the tree layer with dimensionals.

Okay…enough babbling about the copics. One more thing. Both of my Prima Flowers were colored with copics to make them match the other colors of the card.

The cardstock for the image was cut down to 2 1/8″ x 3 5/8″. I turned the image so it was facing down and scored lines 1/8″ from each edge to get the frame. The scallop background was cut with the long rectangle Nestabilities templates out of brown Prism Paper. That scalloped rectangle was a bit too long. So I cut it apart, cut two scallops off and taped it back together.

Both the 4 1/4″ x 11″ light blue card base as well as the 3 7/8″ x 4 1/8″ piece of chocolate are Prism cardstock. The photo corners were punched out of matching Prism cardstock as well. The layered photo corners were topped of with three celery brads.

The horizontal layer is the backside of the dotted paper. It measures 1 5/8″ x 4″ and it paper pierced on top and bottom. May Arts ribbon is wrapped around it.

I love the soft colors in this week’s inspiration challenge. I knew I wanted to use Soft Sky, Summer Sun, White, Mellow Moss, Old Olive and a dash of Chocolate Chip and a flower as main image. Here is what I came up with.

The card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock folded in half.

The next layer is a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Soft Sky cardstock. All four corner were punched with the ticket corner punch.

Over it is a 1/4″ smaller piece of Bali Breeze Designer Paper. All corners were punched as well. and the edges were stamped with the Argyle from All in a Row in Brown Palette ink.

I stamped the flowering branch from Embrace Life in Brown Palette ink on Soft Sky cardstock. The flowers were first colored with White Craft ink and Blender Pen. Next I added Summer Sun and a bit of Chocolate Chip over that. For the stem and buds, Mellow Moss and Old Olive Classic ink was used. The edges were sponged and paper pierced. It was layered first on a 1/4″ bigger piece of Whisper White cardstock, then on a scalloped Chocolate Chip rectangle, cut with my Nestabilities templates.

The horizontal Summer Sun cardstock layer measures 1 5/8″ x 4 5/8″. It was topped with a 1/8″ smaller piece of swiss dotted Whisper White cardstock. 5/8″ Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon was tied around both layers. . The main image was attached with dimensionals.

Sorry this sounds so rushed. I stamped it last night and I have to finish this entry before driving the boys to school ( huge science project - egg launcher to deliver) and a certain size ball to find.

Here is another sample for this weekend’s sketch challenge.

This time I turned the layout and used the sketch horizontally.

I made the card when I made the card shown on Friday and used the same cardstock, ribbon and paper.

The image is from The Saltbox Studio and it is colored with Copic Markers.  I am having fun playing with those.

Unfortunately my air can ran out while spraying the outside, so I sponged around the basket with Bashful Blue and added some specks with the Color Spritzer tool. I already ordered more air cans and preordered a compressor. The Air Brush System for the Copic Markers is the coolest thing. I LOVE playing with it (obviously since I already ran out of air). Even my 13 year old, deep voice talking, 6′ 2″ tall son Austin thought it was AWESOME. Mom got some cool tools! Once I am hooked up with air again, I will take some pictures and show you just how cool it is.

Here is a closeup of my coloring.

I used E55 and E57 for the basket, YG000 and Y13 for the pears, R14 and E55 for the red apples, Y14, YG03 for the green apples and YG13 and YG99 for the leaves.

The fun thing about coloring with the copics is that you can layer, layer and layer more colors on top of each other to blend them together.

All day yesterday I thought it was Wednesday.

So when it finally dawned on me that the sketch challenge is TODAY, I pulled out some new images and played with them and my Copic markers.

They still intimidate me a bit, but I won’t get better if I don’t practise, right?

I stamped this cute little girl from Paper Pretties (remember I won it at their last Pyjama party?) in Black Palette Ink on White cardstock. Joy was so sweet to include some sheet of white cardstock with my Copics on my birthday order so I could play with them right away. I need to ask her where she got it and what brand it is. Because the Copics work great on it.

I stamped the image again on BasicGrey Lily Kate paper, cut out her skirt and set it aside. Next I colored the girl with Copics (E00 skin, E02 bear nose and girl cheek, R83 an R85 for heart, YR31 and 23 for hair, E31 and 33 for bear, BV02 for bow and outlined it with C1). The image was layered on a scalloped piece of Olive Prism Cardstock that was cut with one of the rectangle Nestabilities templates.

The card base is a light green 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Prism cardstock folded in half. Next is a 4″ x 5 1/4″ Olive Prism cardstock piece. The BasicGrey Lily Kate paper was cut into 1 7/8″ x 3″ and 1 7/8″ x 2″ rectangles and pieced together. I added a white gel pen dotted border on the blue paper and paper pierced the paisley one. May Arts double sided ribbon was tied around it and three green brads were added on the bottom left. The brads have 1/4″ circles of the Olive cardstock underneath.

Usually I use today’s sketch just with a sentiment in the lower box.

But since I broke down and ordered Copic Sketch Markers for my birthday, I wanted to use them badly. I first used the flowers from Spring Solitude again, but because I had stamped them on a circle, they didn’t quite look right.

So I got my girl from She’s all That out and stamped her in Brown Palette Ink on a Whisper White Oval piece.

The oval was cut and dry embossed with my oval Nestabilities.

As you can see from the color of the sentiment, it didn’t come out quite as dark as I wanted.

So I went over the image with my E47 Dark Brown Copic. (I hadn’t had much time to play with them yet. but I can’t wait!!! ) Next I traced around her with B000 Pale Aqua. I went over it again with the same color for a little bit darker look. This color is super light. 

I added sparkle to the candle light and her pearls with the Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen.

The oval was layered on a Purely Pomegranate scallop oval cut with Nestabilities.

I added a small flower from the Pretties Kit to top right of the oval. First I colored the inner part with E47, then went over the entire flower with R39 Garnet Copic Marker. Stardust Stickle was added in the center and a half pearl from the Pretties kit was adhered with a bit of Crystal Effect.

My card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Soft Sky Cardstock folded in half.

I dry embossed the card front with my Texture Texture Cuttlebug Folder.

The Chocolate Chip strip measures 1 1/2″ x 4 1/4″.

Scallops were added with the corner rounder and holes were punched with the 1/16″ handheld hole punch.

Purely Pomegranate satin ribbon finishes the card off.