Critter Sketch Blog Hop Challenge

This week the Critter Sketch Blog is teaming with Paper Jewels to sponsor a blog hop. Part of the blog hop was to create a piece of art according to a given sketch. The card was to include jewels as part of the bling. This is my card. All paper and stamps except the sentiment are from Club Scrap. "Hello Spring" is from the Kitchen Sink Stamps set Honey Bunny.

Critter Sketch Challenge 7

Last week I almost didn't make the deadline, so I decided to get right to it today. This week's Critter Sketch challenge was a sketch. We're supposed to get springlike weather this week in Chicago and I haven't used these particular Kitchen Sink Stamps before, so putting two and two together my spring card came to be.

The two sets of stamps I used were Tulip Garden and Honey Bunny. I love tulips because they are usually the first flowers to appear in my yard, and the Kitchen Sink tulips are wonderful. With Easter only days away, the bunny is in the forefront. All of the paper is from Club Scrap.
Color recipes: All inks are from Adirondack unless noted.
Tulips--1 shell pink, 2 mountain rose, 3 cranberry, 4 currant
Leaves and stems--1 bamboo leaves (Memento), 2 meadow, 3 bottle
Bunny--1 sandal, 2 latte, 3 hazelnut, 4 expresso

Critter Sketch Challenge 6

Our challenge for the Critter Sketch Challenge was to create a card using only the colors from a Donald Duck picture--red, yellow, and blue. Although these are not the colors I would usually work with, I had a lot of fun. Actually, as I was looking through my stamps to see what stamp might work, I found this pirate from Rubber Stamp Avenue, along with his treasure chest and pirate ship. I knew he was the one.

He sure is handsome in his red, yellow, and blue, don't you think. I used copics to color him.  The letters are Quikkutz die cuts. Hmmm, I haven't used Quikkutz for a long while. The background is a technique from Technique Junkies called Depth of Field.

Play Date Cafe Creativity Challenge 22

The Play Date Cafe challenge was also a color challenge. The colors to be used were "I Can See the Sea" (blue), "Are We Nearly There Yet?" (magenta), and "Wish You Were Here" (pebble).

I had fun with this card. I used Club Scrap papers and stamps from one of my favorite kits, Cyprus. The papers met the blue and pebble colors. I used Adirondack cranberry and pebble to stamp the images and sentiment.

Color Throwdown Challenge 85

This weeks Color Throwdown Challenge used a combination of three colors baja breeze a light turquoise), garden green (a medium green), and certainly celery (lighter green). I love the color combination of greens and blues, so I felt right at home. This is the card I created.

The stamp is from Earth Art International. I painted the image with Creative Inspiration paints, wonderful shimmery paints. The background was done with the double bugging technique--embossing twice with two different cuttlebug embossing folders. The paper used was Double-Sided Core'dinations Paper. Once you emboss the paper, you can use a sanding block over the raised areas and the reverse sid color shows through.

Bloggers Challenge 144 -- March sketch

This week's Bloggers Challenge was a sketch challenge. First I must say that my scan has a slight blur to it because the dimension on the card didn't scan as well on a flatbed scanner. The flower is popped and layered, the flower center is a brad, and the bee is a wooden embellishment. That said, I'll describe in a little more detail how the card was made. The background is a sheet of Shimmer Sheetz (an acid free mylar sheet which I don't think is made anymore) which was dry embossed with a cuttlebug folder. It has a great shimmer which is enhanced by the embossing.  The flower stamp is from Heartfelt Creations. This flower matches the blossom nestabilities from Spellbinder. I used the second to largest for the flower. I stamped the largest flower and cut away the rounded petals leaving the pointy section. I outlined and color enhanced the flower petals with milled lavender distress stickles. The center is a large brad which I covered with Versamark and embossed it with PK Glitz embossing glitter. The resulting card is very glimmery and dimensional.

TJ Try That Technique 1

There is a new challenge on the Technique Junkies Designers Blog. Each week we'll be given an older technique as a challenge. this week it's the Tapestry Technique from the February 2003 TJ issue. [If you don't have that issue, don't worry, you can get all of 2003 issues for half price. See the TJ Designers Blog for details.] This is my card. I used Adirondack pigment inks in denim, purple twilight,  cloudy blue, and snow cap. The stamps in the background were from Kodomo. The flower stamp is from Heartfelt Creations and is designed to fit the Spellbinders nestabilities blossoms dies. This card was a lot of firsts--the first time to use the technique, the first time to use these particular Kodomo stamps, and the first time to use the flower stamp with the blossoms die. But it won't be the last time.

Bloggers Challenge 143 -- Think Spring

I just officially joined the Bloggers Challenge group. This will be my first official post. The theme this week is "Think Spring".
There are a lot of things that say spring. However, today as I arrived home after running errands, I saw my first robin of the season. I got really excited. Robins to me indicate that spring is near. What better image is there to show spring than a robin and robins eggs. The stamp image is from I Brake for Stamps. I colored it with Copics on Cryogen paper. The punched frame is done with a Fiskars punch. I love the look of the pearl embellishments. Hopefully spring will really arrive soon!

KSS Crew Challenge 23-2 Masking

This is an atc card I just finished for a swap. It meets the Kitchen Sink Stamps crew challenge of masking this month. The center chick was masked so the egg could be stamped behind. The egg looks a lot more vibrant in real life, the scan faded it out somewhat. Hopefully, the recipient will enjoy the card.
The stamps are all from the Hey Chick stamp set. All inks are Adirondack unless noted.
Color recipe--
Standing chick - 1 lemonade, 2 sunshine yellow, 3 butterscotch, 4 sunset orange
Other chick -  1 lemonade, 2 sunshine yellow, 3 butterscotch, 4 ginger
Egg (all layers were stamped off first) - 1 cool peri, 2 cloudy blue, 3 London fog (Memento)

Artistic Outpost Celebrating and Bloggers Challenge

This card meets the requirements of the Artistic Outpost party and celebration theme and the Bloggers Challenge birthday theme. All the stamps are from two of the Artistic Outpost sheets--Happiness and Adventure. The paper is from Club Scrap. Happy birthday to the wonderful and creative March celebrants from the Artistic Outpost design team and to GingersnapCreations celebrating its first birthday.

Club Stamp Projects

One of the optional components of Club Stamp (a component of Club Scrap) is a project kit. Each month a different project is included with the kit. This month the kit was a long-stitch album project. I love doing the different projects, especially when it involves making a book.

I went to the Chicago Flower and Garden Show last week. It's one of my favorite Spring activities. I took lots and lots of pictures. This seemed the perfect project to showcase some of the photos. Keeping with the idea of a flower theme, I decorated the frame on the cover with flower and leaf stamp images.

While on the subject of projects, about a year ago I went on a project completing frenzy. One of the projects I almost finished was a wall hanging. I couldn't decide on an appropriate photo to use, so the wall hanging stayed unhung.

The Flower Show provided the perfect photo for me to use with the wall hanging. I am happy to say that the project is now complete and ready to hang.

Critter Sketch Challenge # 4

This week's Critter Sketch Challenge is to create a piece of art using the colors yellow, blue, and green and also to include a flower in some way. This is my card for this week.

Before I go into my description, I want to say that this card was done in honor of Lisa Somerville who is celebrating her birthday this month and who has inspired me to try a number of new things. Happy birthday, Lisa.

The stamps I used are from Kitchen Sink Stamps: Little Lambs, Honey Bunny, and Ready 4 Any Holiday. All inks used, except when noted, are Adirondack. The lambs were stamped in five steps--cool peri, cloudy blue, London fog (Memento), slate, and archival black. The grass was stamped in juniper, citrus, and meadow. The flowers in the grass are flower soft "Spring". The punched frame was done with a Fiskars corner and frame punch.

Color Throwdown Challenge 83

This is my entry for this weeks Color Throwdown Challenge. The challenge was to create a new piece of art using these colors: bermuda bay, melon mambo, wild wasabi, and marigold morning, and if not the exact colors, then similar. I decided to use the colors to create the colorful herringbone background leaving the focal image (Innovative Stamp Creations) in black and white.

Bloggers Challenge for Friday March 8

Friday's Bloggers Challenge theme was a color challenge. Use green/white and neutrals as needed. Well, I fell for it. Of course March celebrates St. Patrick's Day, so what is more green than shamrocks.

The shamrocks are from Kitchen Sink Stamps. The claddagh is from The Angel Company. The sentiment is unknown. All inks used are Adirondack. The large four leaf was stamped with juniper, citrus, and meadow. For the large three leaf I used juniper, clover, and bottle. The small was stamped with citrus, clover, and meadow. I used a gold marker to color in the claddagh. I'm feeling the spirit of St. Patrick's Day. Pass the green beer.

KSS Crew Challenge 23-1 Masking

March's Kitchen Sink Stamps Crew challenge was to use masking in our creations. For this piece I used my new Letters from the Past set. I stamped the pen. I had to first mask the Par Avion sticker and the stamps in order to layer them. Then all of the objects were masked to stamp the script. For the word "Memories" I used part of a longer sentiment from the Daisies set.

All inks used for this card were Adirondack inks. The pen was stamped out of order--Layer 2-stonewashed, layer 1-slate, layer 3-denim. For the stamps I used citrus for layer 1 and clover for layer 2. The par avion sticker was stamped in rust. The script was stamped with currant, my newest favorite color. The post mark and sentiment was stamped with jet black. I did go over "Memories" with the stardust gel pen so it would stand out from the background a little better. I aged the edge of the cardstock with wild honey distress ink, one of the new colors (yummmm), and I framed the stamped image using the torn frame technique from Technique Junkies.

Bloggers Challenge Week of Feb 26th--Boxes

Friday's Bloggers Challenge was to create a box. The minute I saw the challenge, I knew what I would do. In December a Jewel Box Project was included in the Club Scrap kit. Basically this is a photo cube box made from CD jewel boxes, paper, and 4 wooden blocks for the feet. I have four cats and the box had four sides. It was a match made in heaven. Actually, this was another proof that one cannot have too much stuff. Once I decided on the theme, I looked through some of my stash and I found a scrapbook kit that I had bought years ago when I believed I would put together a scrapbook of my cats. (Please understand that I have never done a true scrapbook in my life). In the kit was a set of large slide frames with a cat motif on them. I cut them in half and created four frames, just perfect for my four pictures. This is the box I created. It now holds my copic markers and some stipple brushes. I have to thank the challenge for giving me the push to actually create this box. It was fun to make and it's useful too!