Inkspirations 64

Hi there,

between a hefty household dose of germs and just being plain busy I haven't had the chance to play along with an Inkpsiration challenge for a few weeks - but an idea struck me after I saw the colour combo this week and so I decided to make the time! The colour combo is just perfect for the lovely Autumn weather we are having right now. Here it is. Aside from Autumn I thought the colours made me think lion - Rrrrrrrrr :) So I pulled out Fox and Friends and set about making a birthday for a little boy.

I settled on a Cajun Craze base, then a More Mustard layer, the next layer was split, embossed Whisper White at the top and Cajun DSP for the bottom with some Poppy Parade ribbon to cover the merge. For the main panel I stamped three lions, one in each colour as well as some spares that I then used to trim out manes and faces from so I could layer them over the base lions with dimensionals. I matted the lion panel and added some buttons to the top left corner, and used a round Happy Birthday sentiment on the bottom right. Then right at the end, once everything was stuck together I added the piercing frame around the main panel - sometimes you just know you need to add something!

I think the colours work well but my only reservation is that the birthday sentiment is too big and overpowers the lions a bit. Ah well I suspect little boys aren't quite as critical as me ;) The inside was finished off to match with another lion.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Fox and Friends, Party Hearty, Think Happy Thoughts (R)

Cardstock: Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Whisper White

Ink: Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Poppy Parade

Accessories: Regals DSP pattern stack, Regals buttons, Pure Poppy button (PaperTrey Inc), Poppy Parade ribbon, 3/4", 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press)

Inkspirations 31 - Sweet Always Birthday

Hi everyone,

I'm back this week with a card for Makeesha Byl's weekly challenge. This week it was a sketch.


And here is my card...




This took me two takes - although I was pretty happy with my first version but Miss 5 gave it the thumbs down, and since its intended as a birthday card for one of her friends I thought I had better have a second go. I did find this sketch rather challenging, its definitely not one that came to me naturally and as a consequence I did jiggle the width of some of the layers around but I figure that still counts. Being a little girls card pink was the way to go so I pulled out my Sweet Always DSP and found two patterns to mix and match for the different layers, then layered those onto a Very Vanilla mat and then a Rose Red base to up the pink factor. For the other three horizontal layers on the card I added two vanilla punched borders (Apron Lace - love it), and a strip of wide Rose Red ribbon. All of those were adhered in the right order (well the one I'd settled on ;) then sponged around the edges with Regal Rose and then I stitched around the edge of the panels with pink sewing thread. To finished off the card I added a flower/ sentiment embellishment, as per sketch. I punched a 2" scalloped circle in Rose Red, then sueded the layers apart, on top of those I added two Pink Piruoette Felt Fusion Too flowers, then the circle sentiment, another Rose Red fusion flower then a rhinestone brad. The final touch - some Old Olive greenery. The inside was just finished off simply to match.

Thanks for visiting :)

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Think Happy Thoughts
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Rose Red
Ink: Regal Rose
Accessories: Sweet Always DSP, Felt Fusion, Felt Fusion Too, Two Step Bird Punch, 1" circle punch, Apron Lace border punch (Fyskars), 2" circle scallop punch (EK Success), Fire Rhinestone brad, sewing machine

Bella Rose Birthday

Hi all,

yep back again so soon. I actually got my card done for Makeesha's sketch challenge a couple of days ago, as I needed a birthday card for my daugther to take to a party ASAP. Since the computer is still in Mr 1.5's room and I was making the card Sat night, and I hadn't printed the sketch out I had to match by memory to the sketch. Speaking of which - here it is:

Now the card....

I went through my DSP's looking for something that a 5 yo girl would like and that also had a smallish pattern on it as I wanted to do some paper piecing. Some of the Bella Rose DSP turned out to be perfect for that. I also wanted to use a lovely stamp set I picked up a few months ago - Anna Mae from Our Craft Lounge. First I stamped Anna using Black Stazon on Whisper White then also onto the DSP, then I paper toiled out - her hair bow, her dress and shoes. I just used SNAIL on the various pieces to adhere them to her. Using inkpad lids and the aquapainter I coloured in her hair, arms, legs, face and dress collar. Using my oval nestabilities I cut Anna out and also gave her a Pink Pirouette frame and then layered that onto a Riding Hood Red scalloped frame. To give the card some dimension I also stamped the present in the set on Kiwi cardstock as well as DSP, then paper toiled out the ribbon and bow and adhered that over the present. To represent the three elements Keesh put on the bottom right (well top right for me as I have turned the sketch around) I stamped three balloons on Kiwi Kiss cardstock and then cut very thin strips of black cardstock as strings and trailed those down the side the scalloped frame. The balloons and present were mounted up on dimensionals as is the sentiment, from Think Happy Thoughts. I used my black marker to ink up half the birthday stamp, stamped it on Whisper white, used circle punches to trim it out and then layered it onto Kiwi cardstock which I also trimmed with circle punches and just by eye using scissors. That was mounted above Anna's hands on dimensionals as well. It's not the simplest card perhaps but I was very happy with how it turned out and to be honest I guess I just enjoy all that fiddly little stuff!

Thanks for visiting...recipe is just below.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless noted otherwise

Stamps: Anna Mae (Our Craft Lounge), Favourite Teddy Bear (R), Think Happy Thoughts

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black

Ink: Black Stazon, Chocolate Chip, Blush Blosson, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Bella Rose DSP, Oval Nestabilities, Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon, assorted circle punhes for trimming sentiment, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape

Birthday Princess

Hi there,

well I'm getting this one in by the skin of my teeth. There was me yesterday morning thinking I'll just check but I'm pretty sure there is another week to go. Argh!! nope today was the deadline. Luckily enough I already had an idea in my head so in the scheme of things it may not have taken so long as usual to get this card together. Anyway firstly here is the sketch for the DT application for the new Creatalicious Challanges.

And here's my card.

And a close up to show the crystal effects and glitter.

For some reason I had Regal Rose and Basic Grey in my head and I also knew I had some already stamped images from Pretty Princess, which I borrowed a few months back from a good friend - hi Sam. Cutting a 4'6" by 4'6" in (12 by 12 cm) card base in Regal Rose I then layered that with Basic Grey then once more with some Regal Rose DSP (from the hostess pack in the curtrent SU catalogue here in AUS). I used more Regal Rose DSP for the panel just behind the main image. The central image of the Princess, which was stamped onto watercolour paper, was layered onto Regal Rose and then Basic Grey. The image itself I coloured in using only Regal Rose and a mixture of marker and ink from the stamp pad lid using an aquapainter (Except for using Blush Blossom for the skin areas). Once that was dry I glammed up the image a bit with some crystal effects and finally dazzling diamonds. The flower embellishments were made from combining punched flowers (Spring Bouquet punch) and felt flowers from the Flower Fusion Too pack. A mixture of silver brads and clear rhinestone brads were used to finish off the flowers and for the triple element on the side. Final touches include paper piercing around the two DSP layers and of course adding the sentiment. Which I incorporated into the bottom flower embellishments.

You may have noticed I haven't finished off the inside - I will, I just didn't have the time last night or today to get there. Overall I think it will make a nice birthday card for a teenager or may'be just someone young at heart:)

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Pretty Princess (R), Think Happy Thoughts

Cardstock: Regal Rose, Basic Gray, Whisper White, watercolour paper

Ink: Stazon On Black, Basic Gray, Regal Rose, Blush Blossom (for skin tones), Going Gray (to outline image)

Accessories: Regal Rose DSP, Felt Fusion Too, Silver and Clear Rhinestone brads, Scalloped circle punch, 1 1/4 , 1 3/8 and 1/4 (R) inch circle punches, corner rounder punch, Spring Bouquet punch (R), Crystal effects, Two way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Mat pack and piercing tool.

Flight of Desperation

Ok, may’be not that bad. But I honestly nearly chucked the towel in with this weeks challenge set by Makeesha. I got 50% of the way through with my first card idea and then went urgh – THIS IS NOT WORKING!!! It was nearly 9:30 pm (close to my bedtime). But a cup of hot milo made by my hubby restored some energy, enough anyway to still have a go. So after that preamble here is the inspiration pic.


And here is my card.

I found a piece of Urban Garden DSP that I felt had echoes of the inspiration pic, in colour, and the long vertical flower stalks reminded me of the stripes on the bedspread. I just needed to add some colour – the turquoise from the bedspread. So I grabbed my Pocket Silhouettes and stamped it twice on the DSP, I lengthened the stems on one with my Turquoise marker and a ruler. I layered this altered DSP over a matte of Tempting Turquoise and then over a card base of Basic Gray. Given the flowers on the DSP I decided to girly it up a bit more and so I also scalloped the bottom of the Turquoise layer. To finish the card front I added some narrow Turquoise ribbon threaded with a pewter ribbon slide, a little Turquoise butterfly to fly over the flowers trailing “friendship”. The body of the butterfly was anchored with a glue dot so its wings could lift above the card. To stamp the friendship trail, I used my Basic Gray marker and inked up part of the friendship stamp from Think Happy Thoughts and used my stamp-ma-jig to stamp it twice, once inverted. Finally to balance out the white in the butterfly I added a little layer of white behind the holey scalloped border.

In the end a result that wasn’t too bad for “late” night stamping dramas.

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Pocket Silhouettes, Think Happy Thoughts
Cardstock: Basic Gray, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray
Accessories: Urban Garden DSP, Fiskars Threading Water border punch, narrow Tempting Turquoise grosgrain ribbon, Pewter hodgepodge ribbon slide, Corner rounder punch, Stamp-ma-jig, Glue Dot, SNAIL adhesive.

Something old something new

Hi there,

for the first time this year I felt like I lost my Mojo, courtesy of head cold that struck last Friday. I really liked the colour combo that Makeesha picked, for this week's challenge, but could any idea penetrate the fog in my head – nope! So it was definitely time to get inspiration from someone else’s great work. I had seen a card I liked instantly (scroll down to the second card) on Debbie Olson's blog and decided to CASE it for this challenge. Firstly here are the colours for the challenge.


And here is what I came up with. I rather liked the result actually.

For the something new component I inked up some new rubber – the large Fifth Avenue Floral rose (this set was definitely not on my wish list when I first got the catalogue but I had seen so many lovely cards in blog land it ended up on my get soon list). I stamped this in Rose Red on the top Rose Red layer. I also stamped two flowers, in Rose Red, on Very Vanilla. Then I stamped it, overlapping, inked up with Mellow Moss on Very Vanilla. This panel was laid over a Always Artichoke with a eyelet border along the bottom, and a Mellow Moss layer at the top. To colour the two Rose Red flowers I used ink from the lid of the Rose Red ink pad and my aquapainter. First trying to give it a overall base wash and then slowly adding layers of colour to deepen petal highlights. Once that was done I cut out one flower in its entirety, the second I cut out only the central portion. To finish up the flowers I added some little vanilla half pearls to the centre of each and then added crystal effects to the inner edges of the petals. The crystal effects really gives the petals some dimension and shine, hard to see in the photo unfortunately.

To accompany the flowers I stamped a branch from Touch of Nature, twice onto Always Artichoke and Mellow Moss, then loosely cut them it out. Then I turned them over so you have a cardstock branch but no stamping to be seen. These were arranged around the flowers, which I had mounted up on dimensionals. The final touch was the sentiment, including something old and new. New the “happy birthday” from Think Happy Thoughts” and the old with a retired Mellow Moss button threaded with some retired Moss gingham ribbon. The inside, as usual was finished off simply to match the front. Oh and I rounded the the top left and bottom right corners of the card.

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Think Happy Thoughts
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss, Rose Red
Ink: Mellow Moss, Rose Red
Accessories: Eyelet border punch, 1 ¼ circle and ¾ circle punches, corner rounder, Mellow Moss button, Mellow Moss gingham ribbon, glue dot, aquapainter, Kaiser vanilla half pearls, crystal effects, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

Party Time Part One

Hi there everyone,

Well I had a lot of fun as a guest designer for Makeesha Byl and I was definitely kept busy. That hasn’t changed as I went straight from the last challenge to preparing for my first workshop and that is where today's post comes in. The focus concepts for the workshop were to use this years in colours and border punches. Here is the first make and take card.

As you can see I made two colour variations. I decided to go with the Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red version for the workshop. The idea for how the image was stamped I first saw on Di Barnes blog and she referenced Marelle Taylor as the originator. Marelle used the So Saffron, More Mustard, Tangerine Tango combo. The Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose and Riding Hood Red combo I came up with.

As to how you stamp it – well ink up the entire stamp in the lightest colour (Don’t Stamp), then press the lower two thirds of the stamp into the mid colour (Don’t Stamp) then press the bottom third into the darkest colour, blend where the colours change with a blender pen or sponge dauber– now Stamp It!!

The stamped image is balanced by adding a circle sentiment in the upper corner and a bow at the bottom. Rounding the upper corner also provides a link to the circle sentiment. Finishing details include stamping a small flower, cutting it out mounting on a dimensional and adding a brad to the centre of the sentiment. Adding a brad to the corner of the stamped image and down the bottom a strip of DSP and some ribbon provide interest. The eyelet punch provides a decorative finish to the bottom of the card. To finish the inside I also stamped Upsy Daisy but its important to stamp it off first or the image will be too dark.

Recipe (Card one) All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Seeing Spots
Card Stock: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Candy Lane DSP, Red Riding Hood Taffeta ribbon, Eyelet punch, Corner rounder punch, 1 3/8” and 1 1/4 “ circle punches, silver brads, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

Recipe (Card two) All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Seeing Spots
Card Stock: So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Ink: So Saffron, More Mustard, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Haiku DSP, narrow white grosgrain ribbon, Eyelet punch, Corner rounder punch, 1 3/8” and 1 1/4 “ circle punches, gold brads, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.