Party time

We've been playing a fun game at StampNation this month, Tag You're It, where we could step in and create a card that was inspired by the last card that was being posted. This week, I finally found time to join in. I was inspired by a bunch of colourful puppy balloons that reminded me of the Birdie Banner's set by Concord and 9th. I was also inspired by the ink-smooshed background and the colours.

All the stamps I used are from the Birdie Banner's set. All the inks are by Catherine Pooler, except for the black Versafine. The black strip from a washi sheet by Lifestyle Crafts.

I'm playing at:

CWS - #27 Cute animals

Seize the Birthday - Anything birthday goes

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

Cards in Envy - Blue and 'distressed'

Cute Card Thursday - #536 CAS

Flowers and coloured pencils

I have a card to share for the current Flower challenge, if I manage to sneak it in before the linky closes...

 I went with the CAS theme. After colouring in this beauty by STAMPlorations/Dee's Artsy Impressions (Blossom sprays #1) using my Prismacolors in the course of the past 10 days, I die cut my panel using a SSS stitched rectangle die and then die cut the Xoxo sentiment (CUTplorations) from my panel and again from a snippet of black cardstock for a subtle, camouflaged sentiment.

I'm also linking up at:

SSS Wednesday - Bright and cheerful

Kathy's 30 day colouring challenge

ATSM - #297 Make your mark

STAMPlorations never-ending  anything STAMPlorations goes

Can you spot the trees?

I had already given up hope to participate in this month's 'Tree' Twofer challenge, until I started working on my CAS Mix Up card yesterday and chose the tree stamp from an old Artemio set to do some triple heat embossing ... and started wondering if the trees would also make nice waves ... and they did.

I still had the CAS Christmas (Masculine) and CAS Watercolour (Ocean) challenges in the back of my mind, and I love how I've managed to create my cards for these challenges as well. The new AAA Cards challenge that went live today gave me the idea to put my ocean scene into a frame, instead of in a circle window, which had been my initial idea.

So here's a look at my Twofer trees.

I'm playing at Twofer Card Challenge #6

For my Christmas card, I heat embossed a panel of white cardstock using liquid platinum embossing powder and then stamped the 2 trees on the outside using some greyish blue embossing powder. I wanted to heat emboss the middle tree in green, but the green NBUS ep I had was way too bright for my purpose, so I mixed it with some of the grey/blue and some other NBUS glitter ep in a small container and used that instead. To create more unity, I then heat embossed the trees on the outside again using my custom mixture and then overstamped the middle tree again to heat emboss it using the blue/grey mixture, making sure I retained some of the green sparkle underneath. Some of the liquid platinum close to the middle tree dulled because of the extended heat, but I think it fits the scene perfectly. I did not want my sentiment to take away the focus from the trees, so I heat embossed it in white onto a strip of vellum that I wrapped around my panel before foam mounting the panel onto my 13.5cm square, dark blue card base.

I'm linking up this card at:

CAS Mix Up - Stamping & layered embossing powders + vellum

CAS Christmas - Masculine

For my second card, I smooshed a panel of watercolour card using CP ink (It's a boy) and another panel using Sauna, Bellini and Polished (all CP inks). Next, I stamped the bottom of my Christmas tree repeatedly upside down in the same blue ink to create my waves and stamped my starfish and seahorse onto the other panel using Versamark, Bellini and Polished and heat embossing in clear ep. After die cutting my panel and frame, I inked up the frame using Daydream ink (CP) and then heat embossed it in clear ep. The sentiment was also stamped in It's a boy.

I'm linking up this card at:

CAS Watercolour - Ocean

AAA - #118 Use a frame

Ocean fun

Hello there! I'm back with a fun summertime card. It all started with the manatee image from the Hero Arts Manatee stamp and die set that I snagged in a recent sale. I had already coloured the image using my Prismacolor pencils.

To create my water scene, I used a large paint brush, water and several blue shades of Catherine Pooler inks onto a panel of TH watercolour card. For the wavy effect, I 'stamped' onto my dried panel using the waves stencil by SSS that I had spritzed with water. I framed my scene using a stitched circle die (SSS) and adhered the manatee behind two strips of vellum. The fish were coloured in using Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush and then fussy cut. The hat was also coloured in using Inktense pencils and then die cut. For the sentiment, I masked off the 'birthday' part before stamping.

I'm playing at:

CAS Watercolour - Ocean

ABNH - Summertime fun

ATSM - #287 Make your mark

I'm also sharing my card at Kathy's 30 day colouring challenge

One-layer Christmas tree

Hello hello! I cannot believe it's been weeks since I last posted. I did do some colouring in these past weeks and also managed to create a few cards, but did not find the time to post everything on my blog.

Anyway, I also need to get on with my Christmas cards, so I created this one for a couple of current challenges.

I used 2 colours of distress oxide inks to stamp the blueprint tree by Stamper's Anonymous onto kraft cardstock and then spritzed with shimmer spray to make the colours 'light up' and add a soft sheen finish to the kraft cardstock. I did lose quite a bit of the detail as well, but I was able to overstamp the image, thanks to my MISTI. I added a bit a white colouring to the tree and ornaments using a coloured pencil.

I'm playing at:

Timeout challenges - Holidays (optional: one layer)

CAS Christmas - Masculine

CCAYR - Non-traditional colours

Daring Cardmakers - Anything but white (card base)

CLBH - Stencil twofer revisited

Oops, I have just been made aware that I should have created two separate posts for my two cards for the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, so here is my FIRST card again. Yes, I know, I really messed up...

Anyway, I had great fun playing with my new stencil and using my limited supply of coffee-themed stamps. Do check out the amazing inspiration at the hop, if you haven't done so.

Please see my previous post for a list of  the materials that I used.

I'm also linking up this card at:

Word Art Wednesday - #336-337 Anything uplifting/encouring goes

STAMPlorations - Never-ending AG with STAMPlorations

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

And of course I'm joining Kathy's 10th 30 day colouring challenge

Coffee Lovers Blog Hop - Stencil twofer

Hello everyone! I'm back with two more cards for the Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. I decided to revisit a technique that I used on this card back in March. This time, I decided to use one of my new ARTplorations stencils.

For my first card, I used the Tim Holtz spritzer tool and some Tombow markers to create a vibrant background. After carefully lifting off my stencil, I sprayed the stencil lightly with water and placed it onto a second cardstock panel for a mono print.

I will add the list of materials and links to other challenges tomorrow ...

Stencil: ARTplorations stencil - Emanations

Stamps: 

     Sentiment 1st card - Literary caffeine-ations (STAMPlorations/Becca Cruger)

     Sentiment 2nd card - Coffee break (Whimsy Stamps)

     Coffee images on both cards - Coffee break (Whimsy Stamps)

     Background text 2nd card - Birds of a feather (Catherine Pooler, SOA Naturally inspired)

Colouring medium: Tombow dual brush markers

Ink: Versafine black

Cardstock: Neenah solar white 80 lb, black cardstock from my stash

Other: Tim Holtz spritzer tool, Bazill vellum, HA clear embossing powder, SN glitter marker, Lawn Fawn hemp cord

I'm also linking up my second card at:

STAMPlorations - Never-ending AG with STAMPlorations

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

And of course I'm joining Kathy's 10th 30 day colouring challenge