Bloggers Challenge 159

This week's Friday Bloggers Challenge theme is an inspiration photo. This is the first time I have done a challenge based on a photo. It took a little thinking on my part so I hope I got it right. When I looked at the photo, several things stood out in my mind--quilt, colors, girl's room, country decor. I hope my card expresses these things.
I started with the quilt idea. The patchwork technique from the current Technique Junkies newsletter seemed the perfect background. The colors I chose--bundled sage green, mustard seed yellow, broken china blue, and spun sugar pink. The patches were sewn together using rub-on
stitches. I used a Stampin' Up background stamp with water for the print on the patchwork. The girls are from the Artistic Outpost Birds of a Feather sheetand the sentiment is from the Country Life sheet. The girls were colored with Creative Inspirations paint. I think the wooden buttons add a little country charm.

Color Throwdown Challenge 100

Color Throwdown is having a major celebration this week. This is their 100th challenge. If you want to join in the fun, just go to the Color Throwdown Blog. There are unbelievable prizes to be won and fantastic artwork to be seen.

The challenge this week is to use the colors regal rose, certainly celery, real red, and baja breeze (or colors that are similar). I chose my stamps from the Artistic Outpost Old Grist Mill rubber sheet. I just love covered bridges, and this is such a great stamp image. I used Creative Inspirations paint to color the image. The pink flowers are flower soft.

Created By Hand Challenge 07-06-2010

This week the challenge for Created Byhand was hot, hot, hot. This stamp, from Beeswax, with images from the desert, jungle, and tropics says hot to me. Stamping it over an alcohol ink monoprint background of the hottest alcohol ink colors -- butterscotch, red pepper, sunset orange, sunshine yellow, and metallic gold completes the feeling of heat for me. (Or is it because the outside temperature in Chicago is in the mid-90's)

Critter Sketch Challenge 21

This week's challenge at Critter Sketch is stars...to use a minimum of four stars in our work. When I saw the theme, I thought immediately of this stamp from Stampland. I stamped the image on ochre cardstock with Adirondack jet black archival ink. I colored the large star and the two earring stars with Copic gold. The lips and brows are also highlighted in Copics. I covered the image with Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. Metallic gold alcohol ink was applied to the four star brads at the corners.

Try That Technique -- Brazen Brilliance

This week's Technique Junkies Try That Technique challenge is Brazen Brilliance from the April '04 newsletter. If you read my last post, you might notice a similarity in the titles of the techniques used. Well, I misread the challenge and did the wrong technique first. You have to admit that there is a similarity in the names -- Brazen Brilliance and Brayered Brilliance. However, other than using Brilliance ink, they are two very different techniques. So maybe this week I'm doing a Try Those techniques. I like both of them. In this Brazen Brilliance card, the Brilliance ink peeks out through the background dye ink. It gives a cool glow to the background. My stamps are from the Artistic Outpost stamp sheet The Outpost.

Brayered Brilliance

This card used the Brayered Brilliance technique from the February 2010 Technique Junkies newsletter. Again this technique looks much more complicated than it really is. The background image is from the Artistic Outpost Birds of a Feather sheet. The inks used were Brilliance moonlight white, and Adirondack dye inks in aqua, pool, stream, and pigment snowcap. The bird image and sentiment are from Oxford Impressions The Bird's Nest.

Oh Alice Challenge Chapter 20

Yes, Wonderland has gone red, white, and blue. And that's this week's challenge at Oh Alice. To make this card I chose my image from the Artistic Outpost Wonderland Collage sheet. I used Creative Inspirations paints to color the image. I love the shimmer they give to the image. I did cheat a little by using a silver marker for the crown and sceptre. Well, silver is a white metal. The background is a dull blue cardstock that was enhanced with a Tim Holtz texture fades embossing folder and highlighted with silver Brilliance ink.