You Cured Yet??

I made this little piggy card for a couple of Challenges on Splitcoast Stampers. I am really enjoying making cards for challenges. So often I sit down to make a card and unless I have an urgent need for something specific, I am at a loss. Not that I get a lot of time to sit down and craft with two little boys, Jameson age 7 3/4 and Spencer 17 months. This really inspires me and strangely enough, I have gone back to supplies and techniques I haven't used in ages. Sketch Challenge 199 and Limited Supply Challenge 190 called Single Blue Eye! The goal of the latter was to use one (single) patterned paper and ribbon, the colour blue and no embellishments other than eyelets. Since I tend to go with fewer embellishments and layers, this suited me just fine. I love other artist's work with multiple layers so I am trying this out myself, just not with this card.

The card base is Bashful Blue 4.25x5.5" with a retired SU! Designer Paper for the panel on the left. The yellow panel is So Saffron and I'm not sure if you can see it well but I stamped 'Hugs' from the fancy Flexible Phrases set several times along the bottom because it just looked too plain otherwise. I am loving the effect so I will use this as a border on other cards. I always felt guilty that I didn't use this set much so I am glad to now be inspired by it. The edges of the saffron panel were distressed with my Heidi Swapp distressing tool. It is the little one that looks like a pink  pacman! You can see it in the bottom right of this page. LOL! It is so easy to use and I get quick results without ruining my fingernails.  The piggy from Farm Fever set was stamped with black Ranger Adirondack Ink on whisper white CS and coloured with Copics. I was happier with the results this time, could I possibly be getting better at this? WOOHOO! Originally, I coloured the pig with RV markers and I wasn't happy, he looked too perfect and clean, not very pig-like. So I tested my colours first, not wanting to make it worse but I likes it so I coloured over with a YR marker (sorry,I didn't make note of the colour numbers, I will for the next post) and it made him more peach and less perfect looking. I edges the white panel with chocolate chip ink to grunge it up a bit more. I used my BRAND NEW Crop-a-dile Big Bite to set the eyelets in the corners of the white piggy panel; that thing is awesome! The punch went through the lower left 4 layers like it was tissue paper. Last step, add the ribbon. Now I have a card in my stash for the next time someone is feeling crappy. Usually, by the time I get to making a card, especially one with colouring, they are feeling better. Come one, I know it has happened to you, be honest! Be sure to subscribe to email updates from Feedblitz to be notified of my future postings! Sorry for the less than stellar photography. I am taking the photos with my iPhone so they could be better but I think you get the idea.

Pink Monogrammed Card

More firsts. First Colour Challenge, first monogrammed card which is my first try at Ways to Use It and first card I have made in ages with me in mind. Now only do I love pink, black and white together but I got to use this stamp set for, wait for it... the first time! Of course, I will probably end up giving it to my girlfriend who is also named Rebecca! CC188 and WT187

The background card is 4.25" square of pink pirouette stamped with pretty in pink ink using the Baroque borders wheel, the edges are inked with pink also. I just loved the Scalloped border punch medallion tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers so I had to try it. I layered it on a basic black square and threaded three grosgrain ribbons through the back. The top layer of pink is punched with the 1 3/8" square punch. That makes the black square under it about 1 5/8". The monogram is from Lovely letters as are the flourishes in the corners. The actually stamp from the set is a double flourish but I carefully only inked one half. The bling are heart shaped from my stash of dollar store stuff. Of the four cards I posted today, this is my favourite. now for time to stamp cards for pink week challenges...

Cute little cow poke!

I know, you will get tired of hearing this, but more firsts, first accordion/stair step card and first Technique Challenge TLC190. I had a lot of fun with this card. I tried stamping 'Howdy' right on the base card in white craft ink but it was kind of lost so I tried embossing it. Not enough powder stuck because the pad was a bit dry, so I tried going over with white gel pen. Disaster! The pen kept jumping off the line because of the few embossing powder bumps. So I had to cover it all up and I like the effect of the red panel better anyhow. I do wish I had used ruby red instead of real red, oh well.

The cacti are stamped on Old Olive with the same ink, the tag is the small tag punch stamped on Pumpkin Pie and stamped with the paisleys from Fresh Fillers. 'Love ya' is stamped with the Rough Edges mini alphabet. The stair step background is stamped with the paisleys from the cowboy set with Buckaroo Blue ink on the same colour cardstock.  The cowboy is stamped on whisper white and coloured with Copic markers. In case you can't tell, the cowboy hat and boots are  supposed to be uneven and dirty looking. His legs and arms are replaced with wire held on with glue dots.

To prevent the glue dots from sticking while in an envelope or collecting hairs (ever present in the air in a home with a cat!), yuck :( I used a new tool from EK Success, a powder dispenser. It looks like a stipple brush with a fat handle; inside is baby powder, it even smells good, and you pounce it on to coat the adhesive. It was intended for use with stickers or other embellishments that already have adhesive on them, if you want to pop them up with dimensional adhesive like pop dots. After the powder coats the back,  when you close the envelope or your scrapbook, the foam of the adhesive doesn't compress and cause the bellie to stick to your background. How clever is that!

Watercolour Flowers

 

This was also a first! My Inspiration Challenge card for IC149 'be inspired by watercoloured images by Mizue Hirano'. Her designs are so simple so I made my card to reflect that. I do not naturally tend to add a lot of layers so while my cards may not be as inspiring as those of some bloggers I read, they are easy to CASE as well as easy and FAST to make! The painting I took my inspiration from is the top left on this page. The background is stamped with a shadow flower from Hero Arts, one of my first stamps since I started stamping again in 2005 (I stamped with Inkadinkadoo stamps as a teenager but didn't have enough supplies to fall in love!). The white panel is also stamped with a Hero Arts stamp. The paper is SU!'s new colour, baja breeze and the flowers are stamped in the same colour blue and basic grey. The ribbon is from my stash, it co-ordinates better IRL and the ribbon slider is Pewter Hodgepodge hardware. I really enjoyed the challenge because I know I would never have made flowers in these colours, EVER! I really do like the result.

Professional Artist?? Hmmm...

Well, at least I'd like to be! So from now on, this blog is going to be my attempt to showcase my work and perhaps get paid for my efforts. I am already on one design team Stamp and Scrap Canada so hopefully I can get on more. Of course there are probably thousands of gals like me out there trying to get the same jobs but I can try! Hopefully you will enjoy my projects. Live in the Toronto area? I also teach Bra Making, yes I am serious, you can make your own professional-looking (well it actually looks better and is WAAY more comfy) bra. You do need to know how to sew first though. I teach in my home in Mt Albert, near Newmarket, Ontario and at Sew Be It Studio. Don't live near here but know how to sew? Take a look at my website Sew Fine Bras because I sell kits and patterns. I also host crops and classes at my home so if you live near me, e-mail for details! So, now on to the paper crafting!

I made this card for SCS Sketch Challenge 197. This is the first one I have ever done and bad me, I haven't even posted it to the site yet! Must do that. I started with a whisper white card top folded, 4.25" x 5.5". then I added the pink panel stamped with the tiny flowers from Fresh Fillers. On top of that is a certainly celery panel. You can't see it well but it is a tiny bit wider than the Copic coloured panel on top. when I first saw this card sketch, I knew I wanted to use a wheel stamp I could colour in. The size just seemed right and because I am new to Copic colouring, I look for opportunities to use my new babies. I tried to do some shading but I think I will need to make it bolder because here you can't tell at all! Please bear with me while I learn this new medium. I stamped the celery panel with blessings, sorry but I can't remember which set that belonged to, I now have most of my retired SU! stamps unmounted so I forget the set names. I added a pink spiral paper clip and pink grosgrain ribbon to finish it off.