Asian theme

 As I was looking through my incidental paper stash, I came across the Asian paper you can see in the background. Suddenly my card headed in an Asian  direction.
Today is Friday which means Bloggers Challenge. This week Lisa provided a wonderful sketch to follow. I am also entering my card in the Cheery Lynn Designs challenge which has the theme anything goes as long as there is at least one Cheery Lynn die used.
 I dry embossed the paper using an Asian floral embossing folder from Cuttlebug. I placed the lattice diecut (Cheery Lynn French lattice large) over the background. The center panel was stamped twice using a Kodomo stamp. The center border panel is part of the ribbon eyelet border from Cheery Lynn. The beautiful lady in the focal oval is a stamp from Stampington. She was colored with copics.
It's amazing how art can go in a completely different direction than one anticipates. I had no thoughts of creating an Asian themed card until I got started on it. Yet here it is.

Today is Yours

Three challenges are represented by this card. Stampsmith has an anything goes theme as long as at least one Stampsmith stamp is used. Mojo Monday has its round or square sketch theme. Marks Finest Papers Simple Salutations has an anything goes theme as long as there is a sentiment on the card.
As you see, I followed the square card sketch for Mojo Monday. My focal image is Mopsa (from Shakespeare's Winter's Tale) which is on the Julia and Friends stamp sheet from Stampsmith. I colored her with Ranger dye inks using nibs. Her background was done with a stipple brush. My background is from a Tim Holtz paper stash and the sentiment is a Club Scrap stamp.

Vintage Silhouette

I made it with a day or so to spare. I finished my August tag for the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012 challenge. I just love the vintage look of this tag. I received my silhouette stamps and frame just in time to work on my tag. I love the look that the heat embossed frame gives the stamped silhouette. The dry embossed background with the paint dabber accents and the distress ink shading is lovely. I am really pleased with how the roses turned out. That pinecone die really does make great roses.
I am also entering my tag in the Fashionable Stamping challenge. The challenge is anything floral/handmade flowers.

Life

This month the challenge at Stampendous Impressions is sentiments. Tuesday Throwdown wants to see bold colors this week and Simon Says Stamp and Show has summer distress inks as its challenge.
To make my card, I started by using my ink applicators and adding the three summer distress inks as my background. I just love the bright bold colors. I layered the background on a black panel. I stamped the sentiment (from Club Scrap) on a white piece of cardstock and layered it on a black layer and adhered it to the background. I stamped the butterfly (Stampendous) on the background and slightly over the sentiment with embossing ink. I then embossed the butterfly with black embossing  powder. Rock Candy distress Stickles was used on the butterfly. I love how the butterfly sparkles. A rhinestone flourish finishes off the card front. I then adhered the front to a bright, bold yellow base card.

Domino Art

It's been a while since I worked with dominoes, so when Third Coast challenged us with altered dominoes, I knew I had to enter. With the popularity of Dylusions sprays, I wanted to try to use them on the backgrounds. As you see, I did get a pretty color. The color isn't as intense as it is on paper, but it made a pretty background. I then stamped the images on the dominoes with Stazon. I used my Tombow markers to add color to the images. Both the wizard and Cleopatra are Third Coast stamps. I adhered lace around the Cleopatra domino and added some red rhinestones in the corner. Around the wizard domino I adhered a metallic sticker border and added some of the sticker to the wizard's belt. Now all I have to do is decide whether to add a bale or a pinback to these pieces.

Collage

What fun! This week the Stampotique Designers challenge was to make a one layer card. This challenge worked along perfectly with the Design Junkies Try That Technique challenge which was block college from the Feb/Mar 2009 TJnewsletter.
My focal image, the little sentiment in the top corner, and all of the collage stamps are from Stampotique. I used Ranger's sandal and rust inks for the stamping. this is such an easy technique, but the results are amazing.

Floral Gatefold

This week the challenge at SweetStamps is watercolor. I was happy to be able to use a new SweetStamps stamp as my image. I used the marker watercoloring technique from the Jun/Jul 2008 TJ newsletter to watercolor my image. The markers I used were distress markers.
City Crafters had the challenge, Wishi Washi where we are to use washi tape and only two other items. I used washi tape along the top and bottom of the card. My two items were the image panel and the diecut frame.
The Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Fox and Friends challenge is to use a different fold. My card is a gate fold card. If you look closely, you can see the split in the center of the card.
Finally, the Sunday challenge at Ink on my Fingers is Green Tambourine, use green. My card base and all of the leaves and stems are green.