A Few VSN Challenge Cards

Here are a few of the cards I did for the VSN Challenges over the weekend.  Oh I had so much fun with these!  Now, I'm being brave and showing the good, the bad, AND the ugly, so be kind! ;)

The second challenge was to make a card using the Serigraph technique.  With this technique, you use your brayer to layer on three colors of ink, and you also emboss an image in white before brayering on the darkest color.  I thought it was a really interesting technique, but I know now to be more careful in my color choices, since this turned out pretty muddy.  I've had this image stamped and colored for about two weeks now, so it was about time I built a card around it!  The purples on this really do match in real life, honest!

Challenge number three was to make a flower pot card using the tutorial at Splitcoast.  The challenging part was to somehow texture the flowers without using patterned paper.  I had made these tissue paper flowers a couple weeks ago, so this one went together pretty quickly.

The fourth challenge was a color challenge, using So Saffron, Kraft, and Cameo Coral.  Now, I have an AWESOME SU! lady who made me a color wheel of all the current colors.  I woulda been really winging it if I didn't have that to point me in the right direction for this one!  This one went together pretty quickly.  The yellow and pink pieces were all actually scraps from my Tower o'Scraps!

Challenge number five was to use Versamark ink on your card, and we could use clear embossing powder only.  I've made a similar card to this one before, but only because I love Love LOVE this stamp set!  And I also have a ton of this paper. ;)

The sixth challenge was to try something new!  You were to use a new product (even if it had been in your stash for several months) or to try a new technique.  I actually did both! The sentiment stamp is from the new line from i[heart}papers called Mint Motif.  I think this is my new go-to set for sentiments!  I also made this ribbon flower, which was a new technique for me.  The lace is something I've had on my table for weeks now and I bought it specifically to make flowers!  The paper is also new, it's out of a paper packet that I've never even opened!  I swear, every day is like Christmas in my scrap room!

Challenge number seven was to include some sort of baby critters on your card, to incorporate the color green, and to carry over the critters onto your envelope if you made a card.  I've had this set for almost a year, and I've never inked it up!  Isn't that sad?  The papers are all scraps out of my tower, and even the stamped panel was already cut and had the corners rounded!  I thought the pup would be cute with a Scooby-like tag on his collar, and then I carried the brads over to the top of the card as well.

Well, I'll be back with more pics on Wednesday.  Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

VSN is Here!

Wahoo!  VSN is here over at Splitcoast Stampers!  VSN is Virtual Stamping Night, it's a series of card challenges on Friday and Saturday.  There is a new challenge every hour for the entire VSN, and the goal is to get the card made in 45 minutes, and have 15 minutes for clean up in between!  I actually took the day off work in order to get my errands all done and my workspace ready before the first challenge... I feel like I played hookey today!

The first challenge was to make a card inspired a few photos of remodeled bathrooms that the hostes had found drool-worthy. We were to incorporate white, blue, and grey into the card, and pink was optional. It seemed to be the perfect opportunity to ink up this Rubber Romance stamp! The patterned paper in the background is a fabric paper, and it reminds me of a terry cloth bathrobe!

Happy Stamping this weekend!  I'll be back on Monday to post some more of my creations!

Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

DT Challenge Card Two

Here is the card I made for round two of the CAS DT Challenge over at SplitCoast:

I just can't get enough of these girls!  I used my Nesties to emboss directly into the card base, then used a mask to stamp the tree.  I held the mask in place while I colored and used my OMS so there would be a definate clean line around the image.  I made the flower using my Nesties, and then crumpled up the layers before stitching them all together.  Here is a detail shot of the embossing:

This is a technique I've wanted to try for months, and it seemed like this was the perfect opportunity!  Good luck to all the ladies who are participating!  There is a LOT of talent over there!

Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

I {HEART} i{heart}papers!!

I had a visit from my mailman on Satuday, and did the happy dance in my front yard!  My blog candy came in from i{heart}papers and HOLY COW! was there a lot in there!  Heres a pic:

I can't believe how much stuff was in there!  The package was stuffed to the brim with awesomeness!  All I can say is, Kate is *extremely* generous, I wish I could just drive out there and give her a big ole hug!! (of course, that would probably scare the pants off her, so I won't!)

Here's what she sent: an acrylic album from Maya Road, two mini stamp sets from Basic Grey, a stamp set from SEI, a stamp set from Sassafras (LOVE the bunny!), a stamp set from Upsy Daisy, a box of awesome chipboard tags from Basic Grey, a 6x6 paper pad from Basic Grey (drool), a package of epoxy stickers from Crate Paper, two spools of awesome ribbon, two packages of flower embellies, and two (yes that's TWO) sets of Spellbinders dies!!!  Ohmygoodness!  On a funny note, I had these same two Spellbinders Die sets in my shopping cart on Tuesday over at i{heart}paper and I took them back out because I wanted to wait until my candy came in to make sure I wasn't duplicating!!  There was also this little package of wire and mesh little embellies, aren't they awesome?!?

Look at the detail on this little guy:

I just love them!  These will definately be saved for something special!  Well, I'm off to create!  Hopefully I can put something together to do justice to all the pretties!!  Head on over to i{heart}papers and see all the slick stuff she has!  Also check out their blog and leave a little love!  They have some awesome cards over there!

Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

DT Call over at Splitcoast!

They anounced a Design Team call for the Clean And Simple Challenge over at Splitcoast.  I've been waiting with baited breath since Monday to find out what the challenge would be, and they announced it tonight!  The challenge is to:

1) have a person, character or group as our focal image
2) add a bit of bold, flashy ribbon
3) keep it clean and simple
and bonus points for texture!

I used my Swiss Dots CB folder for the bottom, then my Scor Pal for the lines on the border. The stamp is from the Greeting Farm and I used my prismas and OMS to color her in. I'm not sure why the color looks blotchy in her shirt because it doesn't in person. The ribbon is from my stash, I had five 4 1/2 inch pieces of this ribbon and NEVER thought I'd use it, because pink is NOT my color! But when I read the challenge, it was the first thing that came to mind! Now I just need to figure out what to do with the last piece! LOL

Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

ETA:  I waited for some sunshine and took a more flattering picture.  The one I had from before was pretty blah!

Summertime Pop Up Card

I came across this tutorial on SCS and have been meaning to try it out for ages.  Beate does such a FANTASTIC job on her cards that she really inspired me to get out of my card rut!  I saw this sample of hers in the SCS galleries and had to CASE it!  This is what I came up with:

I didn't have *exactly* the right shade of blue for the card base, so I improvised!  I used my D'Vine Swirls CB folder and then did some very liberal sponging with Chocolate CTMH ink.  It toned down the brightness of the blue so it looks much better with the DSP.  Here is what the card looks like when it's closed:

Can you believe this is the first time I have cut into a sheet of SU! paper?!?  I have a bunch of it, but it's so pretty that I didn't want to cut into any of it!  Not to mention I have so many scraps that I don't remember the last time I cut into a 12x12 sheet anyway, but the SU! stuff has been in my stash for YEARS!

I am trying to gradually ink up some of my never used stamps and stop using the same old stamps all the time.  This little girl is a set from the Greeting Farm and I have never inked any of them!  I thought she would make a cute pairing with the SU! paper, and I think she turned out pretty doggone cute!

Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

ETA:  I took another photo in the sunshine, and I think it shows off the colors better.  And it was an excuse to go out in the sunshine! :)

Baby Boy Pages - Batch 3

Here is the last batch of pages I did for the Baby Boy Book.  Yes, I did waver a little bit about the inking, but they look sooo much better with it!  The pages really tie together so much better with that little bit of distressing.  The paper has a vintage circus feel to it, too; I probably would never have considered some of these color combinations, but they work beautifully!  All of these patterns are from the book Imagine.

I am sooo pleased with how this project turned out!  The pages went together so quickly I'm actually starting on a Baby Girl Book for my sweet friend Reba!  I just hope she doesn't look at the backs of the pages, since the Frugalista in me uses otherwise unattractive paper as base pages!  :)  For example, all of the pages I did for this book here have a reeeeally bright green as the base paper!


Thanks for looking!

Cheers!