Earth Day Challenge

My friend, Jan Hoefler, of Red Rubber Paper and Ink put out an April challenge in honor of Earth Day. It was to try and make some art using recycled materials. This is the card I created. The background is recycled corrugated cardboard packing and the red butterfly is die cut and embossed from a diet coke can (in fact, from a piece of a coke can left over from another project I did).

The background corrugated cardboard edges were distressed using my new Distrezz-It tool and sections of the top layer were peeled off. (Idea credit goes to Lisa Somerville.) Then I highlighted it with tumbled glass and rusty hinge distress inks. I dabbed some cream colored acrylic paint (left over from another project) over the inks. The butterfly collage stamp is from I Brake For Stamps. I embossed the image so I could use the antiqued glimmers technique from Technique Junkies. I used Adirondack markers to highlight the butterflies. The red butterfly was made by using the Cuttlebug butterfly die and then the embossing folder. Coloring was done with alcohol inks--red pepper and gold. The sentiment is from Artistic Outpost "Bluebird" and was stamped on a scrap of paper. Thanks Jan for the fun challenge!

Bloggers Challenge 149

This weeks Bloggers Challenge is to use some kind of embossing in our artwork. In my piece, I created the background using Shimmer Sheetz dry embossed in a Cuttlebug folder. The embossing is highlighted with Stazon. In real life, the background has deep cright colors of green, purple, and blue. It's a shiny mylar material so it doesn't scan true to life. Alice is also heat embossed and then colored with Copics. The stamps are from Artistic Outpost.

Try That Technique

This week we have been challenged to go Retro by the Technique Junkies Design Team. Retro is from the June 2003 Technique Junkies Newsletter. This card has interesting reason behind it. My uncle Len served in the service during WWII and has been invited to participate in Honor Flight Chicago. This organization honors WWII vets by flying them to Washington D.C. to visit the War Memorials. It's a one day trip and when they arrive home, the vets will be met with a a "Mail Call" of letters and cards thanking them for their service. this will be one of the cards he will be receiving. I thought that the retro technique and the Artistic Outpost Heroes stamps made a very appropriate card.

Color Throwdown Challenge 90

This week's Color Throwdown Challenge was to use the colors barely banana, rich rezzleberry, old olive, and pale plum. Color challenges often cause me to think. This time I started with the designer paper in the floral and the solid. That left me with the banana and olive colors to think about. This flower stamp from Auntie Amy was the perfect image. I used a waterbrush and Adirondack inks to color the flower. The card base is a banana yellow also. The sentiment is from Club Scrap.

Critter Sketch Challenge 11

This weeks Critter Sketch Challenge is a sketch with one other criteria. It has to have at least one button on it somewhere. I used stamps from OnyxXpressions. I love this cat stamp. To highlight it, I used alcohol inks for the polished stone technique background after masking the cat. The papers are from Club Scrap.

Try That Technique

Another week, another new, old technique. This week the challenge is to use the Graffitti technique from the December 2004 newsletter. It's an easy technique and is fun to do. I decided that I needed to do a thank you card. I did have to put away a lot of stamps and stamp pads when I was through. I had no idea how many "Thank you" stamps I had. And this wasn't all of them.

Play Date Cafe Challenge 26

This week's Play Date Cafe challenge is to use the colors clay, turquoise, cream, and silver or grey. My stamp is one of the newest stamps from Club Scrap. I thought the colors clay and turquoise were perfect for the stamp. The edges are torn and edged in silver ink. The flourishes and sentiment are silver outline stickers. Everything is mounted on a cream colored layer and then on a metallic silver card base. Of course, the scan shows the metallic silver areas in black and grey, but it has a metallic shine IRL.

Color Throwdown Challenge 89

This weeks Color Throwdown challenge was to use the colors almost amethyst, sage shadow, and bordering blue. As I was contemplating what I would do, I had visions of Darlene Domel from Stampland making beautiful art with her color dusters and Marvy inks. Her techniques seemed to go hand-in-hand with the challenge colors. (That's my story and I'm sticking with it.) So I pulled out her DVD and refreshed myself with some of her techniques, and basically CASEd one of her cards. Of course, the colors are different, and she does a much better job! I also used my Adirondack inks. They were closer to the challenge colors. All the stamps except the sentiment stamp (Club Scrap) are from Stampland.

Sonoma Nook Book Project--Club Stamp

The March Club Stamp project was to make a Nook Book. Basically it looks like a book, but when you open it, there is a large nook area where you can create a decorative dimensional page and there are two more pages that can slide in and out of the book.  The month's theme was Sonoma, the wine country. However, I went a different direction with my book. Alice in Wonderland is so popular right now. I've seen both the Tim Burton version and the Disney version in the last month. My book, therefore, is dedicated to Alice and characters. Hopefully, my pictures will give you an idea of what the book looks like.

The cover of the closed book.

I used the holographic card from Disney for the inside cover. The other page shows the book nook without the other page inserts.

The page inserts are reversible, so these show the reverse of the two slide in pages.

This is the side slide in page inside the book.

This is the top slide in page shown in the book.

This was a time consuming project, but it was lots of fun. And I got to use my Alice in Wonderland stamps. Most of these stamps were from Rubber Stamp Avenue and MadRat Rubber stamps. Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I've got more on order from Artistic Outpost. You'll also notice quite a few items from Tim Holtz's Ideology line.

Bloggers Challenge 04-23-10

Here it is Friday again and time for another Bloggers Challenge.This week's challenge was to use the colors moss, blue, and orange. At first I panicked a little. These were unusual colors for me to use. However, using one Earth Art International stamp, three colored pencils, a few pieces of Club Scrap paper, and a nestibility die this card was created.

Critter Sketch Challenge 10 and Kitchen Sink Stamps Crew Challenge 24c

The Critter Sketch Challenge is a celebration of the 10th challenge. The project was to include 10 items on your art piece. This is what I came up with: 6 fruit squares, 1 sentiment, 2 butterfly outline stickers, and 1 cuttlebugged background layer.
The Kitchen Sink Stamp Crew Challenge is "It's hip to be square". We are to use as many squares as we want on our card using Kitchen Sink Stamps. I used the KSS set Berries. They are so bright and summery. I stamped each strawberry, two sets of blueberries, and two sets of raspberries in their own square. Even the background was cuttlebugged with squares.
Color recipes: All inks are Adirondack unless indicated.
Leaves--1 willow, 2 citrus (if 3 step leaves), 3 or 2 meadow
Strawberries--1 peach bellini, 2 lady bug (Memento), 3 ruby (Club Scrap), 4 cranberry
Raspberries--1 pink sherbert, 2 raspberry, 3 wild plum
Blueberries--1 cloudy blue, 2 sail boat blue, 3 stonewashed, 4 denim

Try That Technique

The Try that Technique challenge from Technique Junkies for this week is the Cling and Scrunch Technique from the June 2007 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter. This is such as easy technique and it makes some of the most sensational backgrounds...and there are so many variations you can try with different mediums. For my card I used lumiere paints.

Don't have this issue? No problem! You may purchase the six 2007 issues for HALF-PRICE. From now through Wednesday, April 19th, the 2007 issues are $9.00 plus postage. Email Pat Huntoon for an invoice TODAY -- you do NOT need to be a current TJ subscriber to order these!

Play Date Cafe Challenge 25

This weeks Play Date Cafe Challenge was color splash challenge. This is  a black and white piece of art with a little bit of color, this week it's orange. for this card I used core'dination paper and dry embossed the scene with a cuttlebug folder. I sanded the image and painted the fish orange. Because I used Creative Inspiration paint, the fish turned out more shimmery than dark.

Color Throwdown Challenge 88

This week's Color Throwdown Challenge was to use tangerine tango, basic grey, and so saffron/white. This card's idea began with the stamp. It basically stared at me from its perch on the shelf and I knew I had to use it. It's a fun stamp from Club Scrap. All of the paper is also from Club Scrap, except the grey. That is from Core'dinations. I dry embossed the grey using a Cuttlebug folder. I sanded the embossed piece. Then I highlighted it with Rock Candy Distress Stickles to give it that spring shower look. The shape around the stamp and its frame were die cut using Spellbinder's Nestibilities.

Bloggers Challenge 04-16-10

Whew, another week has flown by and it's time for another Bloggers Challenge. This weeks challenge is a sketch

The stamp is one I haven't used before. It's been sitting on my table just waiting for the right card. The stamp is called Moon Girl from Stampington & Co. I stamped her on print paper and embossed with black sparkle embossing powder. The background layers were dry embossed using a Cuttlebug folder.

Kitchen Sink Stamps Crew Challenge 24-2

This card was so much fun to make. Things fell together even better than I pictured. The Kitchen Sink Stamps Crew Challenge is It's Hip to be Square and the card is to have as many squares on it as possible.

I started with a 3 inch white square. I wanted to use the large rose from the KSS Hearts and Roses set and I wanted it to be a red rose. Happy Birthday is a stamp from the Aloha set. Next I cut a 4 inch red square. I wanted to use the Fiskars border punch with the rose design (first time). I had no idea that the 3 inch square would slip so nicely into the border; what a happy surprise. I layered everything on to the 4.5 inch green square and then finished the card which was a 5 inch square. As a finishing touch I put a thin layer of Rock Candy Distress Stickles over the rose. This gives a beautiful sparkle to the rose.
Color recipes: All inks are Adirondack unless otherwise noted.
Leaves -- 1 willow, 2 citrus, 3 meadow
Rose -- 1 watermelon, 2 lady bug (Memento), 3 ruby (Club Scrap), 4 cranberry

Kitchen Sink Stamps Crew Challenge 24-1

This month's Kitchen Sink Stamps Crew Challenge is It's Hip to be Square! Create a card or project that's SQUARE. The more square the better!!! Well, I combined one of my favorite Technique Junkie techniques, block collage, and one of my favorite KSS stamp sets, Kittens and Pups, to create my card.

In addition to Kittens and Pups, I also used Letters from the Past and Big and Bold Swashes. The finished card is 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches.
Color recipe:
Kittens--all Adirondack inks, 1 lake mist, 2 mushroom, 3 slate, 4 jet black.

Critter Sketch Challenge 9

This week's Critter Sketch Challenge was to use plum, pink and sage in our art. This idea came to me as I was putting away a few stamps. The newest stamp from Club Scrap happened to be sitting on my table. What better image for this color combination that grapes. I used my Creative Inspirations paints. The colors are so gorgeous and shimmery. Perfect stamp and perfect paints result in an accomplished challenge.

Play Date Cafe Challenge 24

This week the Play Date Cafe challenge was to use the colors plum, lavender, and cream in our creation. I took the name of the site literally and decided to play. I pulled out my Spellbinders contemporary hearts pendant die and cut out the pieces from appropriately colored paper and cardstock. Add a sentiment from Tim Holtz and a few pop dots and my card was created.

Critter Sketch Challenge 8, Color Throw Down 87

After a week in bed, I'm trying to get back on track. This card follows the sketch of the Critter Sketch Challenge (with some gingham somewhere) and the colors (pink, grey, and soft olive) of the Color Throw Down Challenge. I really think that these colors and the sketch were meant for each other.

The paper is all Club Scrap. The stamps are from Kitchen Sink Stamps. The tulips and vase are from the Bitty Tulips set. I cut the oval using my oval nestabilities. I used Crackle Accents on the vase. I just love the crackle effect I get.
Color recipes: (All inks are Adirondack unless noted)
Tulips--1 sandal, 2 shell pink, 3 shell pink, 4 pink sherbert, 5 wild plum
Leaves--1 lake mist, 2 willow, 3 willow, 4 pesto
Bowl--1 cool peri, 2 London fog (Memento), 3 smokey grey (Versafine)

Play Date Cafe Challenge 23

This week the challenge in the Play Date Cafe was to create a piece of art using the colors inspired by an image from MarthaStewart.com. I love working with blues and white, so it was a pleasure to work on this challenge.

For the background I used a Technique Junkies technique called Peeled Paper from the latest newsletter. I used a dictionary page for the background paper and stippled the paper with Adirondack denim. The stamp is from Artistic Outpost's stamp sheet, Happy Day. I stamped my focal image on Stampboard which is a wonderful surface to stamp on. I used Club Scrap Sapphire ink for the stamping.

Bloggers Challenge

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter. This week's Bloggers Challenge theme was Easter. I had a lot of fun with this card.

I decided to go digital this week. I have a number of books with CD's from Memories of a Lifetime--Artwork for Scrapbooks & Fabric-Transfer Crafts from the Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York. This particular image is from the Animals book. I just love this adorable picture and I had a lot of fun choosing the coordinating paper (from Club Scrap, of course) to create the card. I used my edge and corner punch from Fiskars for the yellow layer. A little bling and ribbon completed the look.

Color Throwdown Challenge 86

This week's Color Throwdown Challenge was to use the colors yoyo yellow, garden green (or old olive), and soft suede (or chocolage chip). I used this stamp from Stampland, one of my favorites.  The saying is from Tim Holtz.