ALPHABET CHALLENGE - K is for KITTENS

 

Hi friends, and welcome back to my new Alphabet Challenge DT card!

The theme this go-around is K is for Kittens / Cats. 

You have two whole weeks to play along, and you can enter up to three times any handcrafted items featuring the current theme!

DETAILS

Cats were colored in with alcohol ink markers. 

Sentiment was heat embossed in white detail powder.

Card base was dry embossed with SU’s Subtle folder. 

*TIP*

If tying a bow isn’t your thing but you’d like to add ribbon to your project, try adhering a straight length to your panel, attaching only on the reverse. Then simply tie another piece on as shown, either in matching or corresponding ribbon. Adding a blob of glue on the back side of the knot will keep things from shifting, and tacking the ends down with strong double-stick Glue Dots is helpful when sending out via post. 

SUPPLIES

cat stamps - Rare Image Rubber Stamps, Pets sheet

word stamps and oval die - Taylored Expressions

embossing folder - Stampin’ Up! Subtle

alcohol markers

red card stock

ribbons

Thanks for stopping in today, I can’t wait to see what you create!

VINTAGE GLAMOUR, SOMEWHAT ENTITLED

 

Hi friends, and welcome back to another Alphabet Challenge J is for Just Kidding/Funny card.

You still have plenty of time to play along, and you can enter up to three times any handcrafted items featuring the current theme!

Playing along with this LITTLE RED WAGON Challenge 

#875 - Use a Stamp (ends 9/15)

and this 613 AVENUE CREATE September Anything Goes with Optional Twist:

 Bright and Breezy challenge  (ends 10/2)

I’ve always loved the movement in this image - I’ve tilted her even more to really get that skipping-along vibe. And of course the high fashion of the wealthy of the era - no athleisure out-and-about for those ladies! Fabrics were light and flowy and more beautifully colored than the black and white photos would ever indicate. 

SOME DETAILS

Our gal was stamped in black Memento ink, and colored in with Copics. Some gold metallic pen was added to the purse where brass rivets are. The purse was colored to mirror the fruit tones on her hat. 

Random fact: reddish-brown leather handbags were common in this era, often hand-tooled with patterns, and accented with small amounts of metal trim. 

Just a dash of gray marker helped ground her foot in the white space. 

The swirly under her purse was added as an after-thought to fill a too-blank space without filling up the white space! I thought it mirrored the flow of her hat ribbons nicely. 

Sentiment was stamped on yellow card stock and trimmed into rectangles to reflect her collar shape and color. The stamp came with the words in rectangle borders but it would be easy enough to get the same effect with a fine-line black marker. 

The white panel was corner rounded with a punch on opposite corners.

SUPPLIES

female stamp - B Line Design #BA816E On the Run

sentiment stamp - probably Dylusions by Dyan Reaveley

swirl stamp - Inkadinkado #97634 Dot Flourishes

rounded corner punch

alcohol markers

metallic gold pen

textured green cardstock

Thanks for stopping in today, and I can’t wait to see what you create!

ALPHABET CHALLENGE - J is for JUST KIDDING

 

Hi friends, and welcome back to my newest ALPHABET CHALLENGE DT card!

The theme this go-around is J is for JUST KIDDING / Funny. 

You have two whole weeks to play along, and you can enter up to three times any handcrafted items featuring the current theme.

Year after year, I can never get enough of this penguin pair – I just love them so much!! And I love that he understands her struggle :o) I’m not much of a drinker but I do love a good limeade ice cream freeze so that’s what we’re having poolside today!

Special thanks to Sarah for sharing some of her de-stash treasures with me - could not have pulled this card together so cutely without you!

SOME DETAILS

 Penguins were colored with pencils, then fussy cut. They were stamped again on patterned papers and their clothing was fussy cut and applied because, honestly – who wants to look at naked penguin parts? :o)

 I used a stamp positioner to stamp the main quote in pink as well as black, so that it would be easier to read, and then I die cut it with an oversized quote bubble. I also cut a couple extra blanks from scrap card stock to give the bubble stability. Mr Penguin’s bubble was cut from a larger cover plate full of various sized bubbles. 

*TIP OF THE DAY*

When doing this style of card, if you cut your card base first, you can experiment to be sure your second image has enough room to hide under the fold of the top panel.

SUPPLIES

stamp - Art Impressions #p-3158

quote dies -unmarked, probably Taylored Expressions

patterned paper - Taylored Expressions Hello Happiness 6x6 pad

colored pencils

Thanks for stopping in today, I can’t wait to see what you create!

GOLDEN LEAVES

 

Hi friends!

Playing along with this FRESHLY MADE SKETCHES challenge by Michele (ends 8/31)

 

SOME DETAILS

This leaf die set includes a base and an openwork die in each size. So I cut both bases from a speckled mustardy yellow, and also the openwork dies from white and gold cardstock. Then it was just a matter of gluing in some inside pieces as shown - the gold pieces into the white frame, and the white pieces into the gold frame. 

The dark brown square was embossed with a SU Subtle folder. 

SUPPLIES

sentiment stamp - SavvyStamps Happy Fall Sans Script #697B

leaf dies - Paper Trey Ink Leaf Silhouettes set

dies - Spellbinders Push Pin Notes #S3-550

brown square embossing folder - Stampin’ Up! subtle

tree trunk embossing folder -  Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations 

flat back pearls and gold balls

Thanks for stopping in today!

BEACH CHAIR

 

Hi friends!

Playing along with this THE PAPER PLAYERS challenge

(ends 8/28)

and this DRAGONFLY DREAMS Beach or Seaside challenge 

(ends 9/5)

Congratulations to The Paper Players team on so many years of consistent work to bring us a wonderfully interesting and beautiful challenge!!! You are much appreciated!

 

SOME DETAILS

Umbrella and chair were colored in with alcohol markers.

Ocean and sky were colored with various SU inks and blending brushes. My blending brush had a lot of dry finely caked on ink in it which lent itself well to providing a little visual texture to the ocean area. 

I added some reflective silvery white solid sequins to mimic seashells/sand dollars on the beach

SUPPLIES

 chair stamp and die - Paper Trey Ink Love Notes set

umbrella stamp and die - Gemini Road Trip set

sentiment stamp - Paper Trey Ink Button Bits set 

alcohol markers

Gina K Designs sequins

Stampin’ Up! inks

Thanks for stopping in today!

ALPHABET CHALLENGE - I is for INSECTS

Hi friends, and welcome back to my newest ALPHABET CHALLENGE DT card!

The theme this go-around is I is for Insects. You have two whole weeks to play along, and you can enter up to three times any handcrafted items featuring the current theme.

I thought I could really bring these older images to life by coloring the flowers in with white ink on kraft brown card stock. And these ladybugs got a more lifelike feel by applying a shiny glaze medium to the bodies and iridescent glitter glue to the wings. 

PROCESS

 To start: The rough-edge rectangle was die cut from kraft card stock. I stamped the flowers in black Versafine ink and embossed them with clear fine detail powder. It was necessary to mask off the image wording with a Post-it for this look. 

The flower stems were colored in with a green alcohol marker, and the flower blooms (what felt like a million of them!) were filled in with a white gel pen. 

Ladybugs were stamped in black Memento ink and colored in with a red alcohol marker. I applied glossy accents over the red and filled the wings in with glitter glue. Then the dreaded fussy cutting had to be done LOL A few were raised a bit with foam tape. 

The word Happy was die cut four times from textured card stock, and stacked, before adhering to the card as shown. The word Day is from a pre-printed sentiment strip. 

To finish: For the stem accent I covered a piece of heavy card stock in strong double-stick adhesive, and wrapped fine twine around it. I made the bow separately and glued it on, and added the striped ribbon for extra color. 

Flat back rhinestones were applied all around the sentiment.

*TIP OF THE DAY*

This kind of detailed coloring works much better if you heat emboss your main image - it provides a raised edge and channels to help guide the pen tip. 

SUPPLIES

flower stamp - PSX #K-2048

ladybugs stamp - Inkadinkado #8800-M

rough edge rectangular die - Penny Black Antique Frame #51-397

happy die - Momenta #32265 R8

day word strip - preprinted

white gel pen

alcohol markers

Ranger Glossy Accents

Stickles Icicle glitter glue 

flat back crystal gems 

twine and striped ribbon 

Thanks for stopping in today, and I can’t wait to see what you create!

KITE FLYING

 

Hi friends!

Playing along with this FRESHLY MADE SKETCHES challenge (ends 8/24)

 I took a pretty literal approach to Cecile’s new sketch because this kite set came to mind right away - I’m thrilled to get it out for its first of many outings!

SOME DETAILS

I stamped the kite on four colors of card stock and heat embossed them in white.  I cut each kite at the dividing lines as shown and pieced them together. 

While I was die cutting the colored card stock I also cut a few pieces from white heavyweight scrap to give the final kite some height. I cut the cross piece from brown card stock and glued it over the seams. 

Sentiment was heat embossed in white on the same brown card stock and foam tape mounted over the kite. 

Kite string was glued down at intervals to get a floaty feel. 

*TIP*

If you want twine to trail as naturally as possible let it find its own comfort zone - if it’s been wound up for awhile it won’t pay to try to go against the natural bent.  

SUPPLIES

kite stamp and dies - Sizzix #663196 

sentiment stamp - Creative Worship Stamps #SNS-16-001 Be Encouraged

 cloud die - Stampin’ Up! Sunshine & Rainbows

Thanks for stopping in today!

TRI-PANELED WITH BRANCH

Hi friends!

Playing along with this TRY A SKETCH ON TUESDAY challenge

(ends 8/30)

Hope it’s okay that I swapped the panels of color out for panels of different embossed patterns! 

 

SOME DETAILS

Three different folders were used to emboss the three panels to fit the design as shown. The notebook paper was enhanced with a bit of spiral punching along one edge. 

The branch with flowers was blended with distress inks, and highlighted with white gel pen and a few flat back rhinestones. 

Sentiment was die cut from textured pink card stock and mounted on the shadow cut from vellum.

*TIPS*

In order to raise up lettering with vellum, I like to cut two or three of the skinny letters from scrap white card stock, stack them, and apply on the underside of the vellum to give the whole sentiment height without anything showing through.

To color in skinny die cuts like this, I like to use a small blender brush to color it while it is still in the surrounding card stock on the die cutting pad after going through the die cutting machine. 

SUPPLIES

branch die - Memorybox #98470 Blooming Vine

sentiment dies - Spellbinders #S4-1312 Serenade Sentiments

embossing folders - notebook page -Sizzix, flowers - Cuttlebug, leaves - unknown

notebook spiral punch - EK Success

vellum 

flat back rhinestones

Thanks for stopping in today!

ALPHABET CHALLENGE - H is for HORTICULTURE

 

Hi friends, and welcome back to my new Alphabet Challenge DT card!

The theme this go-around is H is for HORTICULTURE. You have two whole weeks to play along, and you can enter up to three times any handcrafted items featuring the current theme!

I had so much fun finding a different way to use this old favorite stamp! I colored it basically the same as the indexing sticker (wood mounted stamps were a thing of beauty 20 years ago!) but wanted to extend the scene out as much as possible and as cleanly as possible for a light airy feel. 

THE PROCESS

To start: I stamped the scene centered in black ink on a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 white panel. I cut this down to the size shown to allow for a large border on the white card base. 

Next: I colored the scene with alcohol markers, and highlighted with a white gel pen. I used the cloud die to cut a stencil from heavy weight scrap card stock, and blended ink over it for three clouds that would run over the edges. I then laid the image panel with clouds centered on the card base and gave it a washi tape “hinge” on the bottom edge. This allowed me to stencil clouds on the base card to match up exactly with the top. To soften things, I swished the mostly-empty brush over all of it, and then trimmed the merest sliver off the top and sides of the image panel to make sure there was no line of demarcation. I did the same light application of ink with a blending brush to simulate the extension of the hill at the bottom edge. 

Finishing off: The image panel is mounted on a rectangle of fun foam. The sentiment is triple-stacked for dimension. 

*TIP OF THE DAY*

If you need a stencil image you don’t have, check your dies stash. You can use heavy weight scrap card stock to cut both positive and negative pieces!

SUPPLIES

scene stamp - Uptown Rubber Stamps Birthday Topiaries #H23036

cloud die - Stampin’ Up! Sunshine and Rainbows

Happy Birthday sentiment die - Memory Box Happy Birthday Chic Script #94872

white gel pen

SU & Distress ink pads

alcohol markers

fun foam

Thanks for stopping in today, and I can’t wait to see what you create!

HAPPY DANCE

Hi friends!

Playing along with this AAA CARDS challenge

 Well.  This one was supposed to be a sophisticated, classy sort of card, but as you can see - things veered off-track. I think it may have been the bright colors, which led to the googly eyes, which required a nose…

THE PROCESS

To start: I swiped a bright white card with three colors of acrylic paints, using a common rounded flat paintbrush. 

After the paint was dry, I heat embossed a starfish using gold powder. 

To finish: A couple googly eyes were glued down, and an enamel nose was applied.

I added a strip of sturdy card stock to the back of the pre-printed strip and glued the sentiment to the card front as shown. 

SUPPLIES

starfish stamp - Rubbernecker

acrylic paints

gold embossing powder

pre-printed sentiment strip

googly eyes

enamel dot

Thanks for stopping in today!