BC Wk 53 - I couldn't "Resist"....

....Taking the challenge this week for the Blogger's Challenge Group!

This week we were to do ANY "Resist" technique on our project.
Generally speaking I am not one to venture out and try a lot of different techniques but I decided to give it a try anyway.

I did a Google search (don't you just love Google?) on Resist Techniques and came up with all kinds of stuff. Some were a little more complicated or required more supplies then what I had on hand so I nixed those ideas. I found this technique: Double Resist here: http://seitlerstamps.blogspot.com/2006/03/double-resist.html and thought it sounded interesting and fun so I gave it a try and I like how it turned out.

I based my color scheme on this piece of paper (Organic Honeysuckle) by BoBunny. Since I wasn't able to use the paper for my card I went with the colors and then a strip of (Coral Dot) also by BoBunny as an accent piece on my card.

To create the resist piece I started out with a piece of Glossy Card stock that I stamped the large and small lady bugs (Garden Whimsy) using a Versamark pad and clear embossing powder. Then I stamped the butterfly with just Versamark ink and let it dry. Next I sponged on Groovy Guava ink and followed that up by sponging on Ruby Red ink and buffed with a paper towel. The embossed ladybugs showed up white and the butterflies took on some of the color but not all of it to create a soft feel.

My card base is Groovy Guava (gotta use it up before it retires!) and layered on Ruby Red. I added the strip of Coral Dot DP that I stamped my sentiment (Hero Arts) with Ruby Red ink and one of the small lady bugs and layered it to a piece of Ruby Red card stock. I used my Nestabilities Dies to cut out a circle of the DP and then a Scallop of Ruby Red. I stamped my butterfly with Ruby Red ink on glossy card stock and sponged and buffed on some Groovy Guava ink as well. Then I created some custom dots by using a piece of Groovy Guava card stock, a glue stick and Melone Glitter (Art Institute) and glued them down on the butterfly. I raised up the wings slightly with foam mounting tape and raised up my scallop as well. To complete my card I added 3 Island Blossom Dew Drops. I'm happy with the results and hope you are as well.

Don't RESIST the urge to check out the other great projects for this challenge by clicking on the Bloggers Challenge Icon on my sidebar.

Wanna Win Some Stamps!

Well who wouldn't! - So check it out and spread the word. Which by the way I heard first from Leigh (http://sunflowerstudio.typepad.com/sunflower_studio/) - Thanks for the heads up.

What adorable sets these are. You must check them out here: http://starvingartistamps.blogspot.com/2008/06/new-blog-candy-and-winner-announced.html - Just a note to make sure you read the entire post for the instructions on how to win these sets.

Okay now I'm off to finish signing up for my chance to win!

BC Wk 52 - What's More Manly Then....

A COWBOY!!! - When I saw what this weeks challenge was I sort of "groaned" as I'm sure some of the other members did. It seems creating a,

"Manly" card is a difficult task for many stampers.

I wanted my card to be something that was both manly but could also be used for anyone not just a man. - Since I am a HUGE fan of the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) and had recently purchased this bull riding stamp (Sutter Enterprises) I just knew that I had to ink it up for my card.

I stamped the bull and rider with SU Basic Brown and then water colored the image with reinkers and my aqua painter. I've said it before and I'll say it again, "Water coloring" is NOT my strong suit in stamping but I keep at it hoping that someday I'll master the technique. I think this turned out fairly decent. I will say that I tried to watercolor a cowboy hat image from another set to use on this card but after stamping about 10 and trying to keep from getting to much water or to much ink on the image I gave up and settled for something much easier for the corner focal point on this card.

The sentiment was computer generated using the "Rope" font and I matched the ink color to Chocolate Chip.

The details are: Card Stock: Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Sage Shadow, Naturals White and Outlaw Designer Series paper.

Ink: Basic Brown, Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, Brushed Corduroy (Distress Ink by Ranger)

Stamps: Bull Rider (Sutter Enterprises) Sheriff Star from Starstruck (SU)

Other: Scallop Nestabilities dies - I used 2 rectangles and pieced them together into the square since I don't own the square Nestabilities "yet"!

Circle Punches 1/2", 1" and 1 1/4"

Paper Piercing Tool, Distressing Tool, Brown Brads (Jo Ann Essentials) and foam mounting tape.

So if you are still reading and are interested the "Cowboy" pictured is Professional Bull Rider, Mike Lee http://mikeleebullrider.com/welcome.html who just happens to be my favorite PBR Cowboy.

Be sure now to go check out the other great "manly" creations and be inspired to create one of your own.

Sweet Taste of Summer

I just love summer here where I live because you can get so much great Fresh produce and one of the things I "live for" here are the delicious strawberries grown in this area. I picked these berries (Klicker's) for 8 summers when I was a kid and never ever got tired of eating them. You can see from this picture that Coleen is sure enjoying hers. Yum Yum Yum!

Whale of a Good Time

Inspiration comes in many forms and for this challenge on SSUS (Sensational SU Swappers) we were given this very "colorful" cake as our inspiration point.

Wow! There is a lot going on here with this yummy cake. We were told we could be inspired by the colors, the stars, the flowers, etc...just as long as we were inspired by the cake in our creation.

I just loved the bright cheerful colors of this cake and decided to use them as the inspiration for my card. I had thought about using some punched out flowers and stars but when I decided on my focal image I just knew that flowers and stars were not going to work. Instead I went with the circles that are on the sparkler sticks (that's what they remind me of) on the cake.

Recently I bought some really fun designer paper (just one sheet - can you believe that!) and since it had the colors of the inspiration cake I went with that. At first glance if you look at the paper a certain way you think it's balloons but once you look more closely you discover that it is indeed covered with these adorable and very colorful little "whales." With that in mind I went with this whale from Silly Sealife (now retired). I colored my whale with chalks (Stampin Pastels) and cut it out using my Nestabilities Dies.

My sentiment is from Hero Arts and it is one that I just love because it teaches us to let loose once in awhile and just have some good old fashioned FUN!

Details: Card Stock: Green Galore, Gable Green, Only Orange, Pink Passion, Whisper White & Desiger Paper (K and Co. - Whales Flat Paper).

Ink: Basic Black, Markers: Basic Black, Pink Passion

Other: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Bubbles), 1/2 " and 3/4" circle punches, Green Brads (Queen and Co.), Corner Rounder punch, Orange Peel Stickles, Dew Drops and foam mounting tape.

Happy Birthday With Sprinkles on Top

The (Stamp Girls Gone Wild) or more commonly known as SGGW have been at it again with another "Mystery Image" swap. This time we were sent this Cupcake image by (Just Johanna) stamps.

I chose my color scheme from this piece of Basic Grey designer paper: Cupcake/cake & ice cream that I recently purchased and the ribbon (American Crafts).

My Card base is: Green Gable then I layered it with Bashful Blue and the piece of designer paper and Pretty in Pink (I ran through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dot Embossing Folder) and added the striped ribbon and pierced the edges using the Cutter Kit.

My focal image was colored with Prismacolored Pencils blended with Gamsol. I cut out the strawberry and highlighted it with a Red Spica Glitter pen and raised it up with foam mounting tape. Then I added some "sprinkles" by cutting very tiny pieces of Chocolate Chip card stock and added sparkle to them with a Clear Spica Glitter pen before gluing them down. I cut my image out using a Marvy Circle punch and layered it to a larger circle of So Saffron that I cut out with a Nestabilities Die. The sentiment Kristen sent us I cut apart and used part on the front and the rest on the inside of the card. I mounted it on Gable Green and added 2 pink brads then raised everything up with the foam mounting tape.

For the inside I used the rest of the sentiment and then punched out a cupcake from the designer paper and added the same sprinkles that I did on my main image.

This was a really fun card to receive and to make. Hope you enjoy it.

BC Wk 51 - Tropical Flowers Smiling

What a week it's been. I was busy all week long trying to prepare for my Stampers 10 Club meeting which was last night. I had not planned at all to participate in today's challenge simply because I just didn't feel I would have the time nor the energy to create anything worth showing. I was up past midnight last night as it always takes me awhile to unwind after my meetings. I cleaned up after the meeting and then watched the results show from (So You Think You Can Dance) yes, I'm hooked on these shows. By the time it was over I was exhausted and this morning I did not want to get out of bed at all but I managed to drag myself out and prepared to meet my day.

This included having Coleen here all day since her Daycare took today off and won't start summer session until Monday. Needless to say with a very busy and active 3 year old around it's hard to find time to stamp but thankfully today she has been a good little girl and pretty much watched movies all day except for the time we ran some errands, a little play time outside and then lunch. But enough about my day as I'm sure you're more interested in my card and what our challenge was this week.

This week we had a color challenge: Turquoise, Pink and Green Galore (white or vanilla could be added). These colors just seem so bright and to me they have a "Tropical" feel to them so that is what I decided on for the theme for my card. I recently purchased this wonderful stamp from Inkadinkado and just had to use it for my card. I inked it up using a Kaleidacolor ink pad (Caribbean Sea) as it had the colors I wanted for my card. Then I cut it out using my Nestabilities dies and layered it on a scalloped piece of Pixix Pink. I added various flowers and brads in the color scheme and highlighted the flowers with a clear Spica glitter pen which is hard to see in the scan but really adds a nice sparkle in real life.

My card base is Tempting Turquoise with a layer of Pixie Pink distressed with ink and the Cutter Kit. I then ran a piece of Green Galore through my Cuttlebug with the Floral Fantasy Embossing Folder and cut it in a triangle. Then I added a piece of designer paper that I've had for years. It's from www.cut-it-up.com and was called Celebration Salt. It just reminded me of the colors of a sunset on the sand. I added the pink rickrack (JoAnn Essentials) and some Island Blossom Dew Drops. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Clear Design (Anytime Messages) which I stamped in Basic Black to complete my card.

I hope you like it as much as I do. Don't forget to check out all the other cards by my fellow Blogger's Challenge members. They are such a talented group of stampers and there is always a great bunch of projects to view.

A Snappy Turtle and a Wise Owl

So what do you get when you combine a Sketch Challenge with a Turtle and an Owl? - Well here's your answer. Last week on SSUS (Sensational SU Swappers) we were given a sketch to follow and create a card for our partner.

I started off using this adorable turtle image from Clear Dollar Designs (Cute Critters) stamp set to create my card. The base is Old Olive stamped with SU Sanded BG in Old Olive ink. Then I layered a piece of Lovely Lilac and some DP SU (Halloween Night from 2006 Holiday Mini ) now retired and distressed the edges of the lilac cs with the Cutter Kit.
I colored my turtle image with Prisma Colored Pencils and blended them with Gamsol. Then I cut it out using my Nestabilites Circle Dies and Scalloped Circles I added the ground by masking my turtle and sponging on some Creamy Caramel Ink. I added a Prima Flower and a purple brad to the side of the focal piece. My sentiment was stamped with Palette Noir Black ink on some lavender twill ribbon (JoAnn Fabrics) that I layered on Only Orange Card Stock and added another small flower and mini orange brad (Queen and Co.) Image and Sentiment were raised with foam mounting tape.

I completed this card before remembering that SSUS is an SU only group and so I did the 2nd card per request from my partner in SU products only.

Card #2 - Stamp Set: Owl Together Now - A new stamp set coming in the upcoming catalog
Card Stock: Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Bali Breeze DP
Ink: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise

I used an Aqua Painter and smooshed the lids of my pads so that I could pick the ink color up and water colored this image.
I added flowers from the Flower Fusion felt flowers set and added Rhinestone Brads (Circles Fire Collection and cut my circles with the Coluzzle and again distressed with the Cutter Kit.
The sentiment was computer generated using SU's Journaling Font Vol. 1 - now retired.

This was a great sketch and one I'm sure I'll use again.

Cattitude Monday - Egyptian Cats

Good Morning...Stretch, Yawn....Go get another cup of coffee...Yep it's Monday morning and time for this weeks installment of Cattitude Monday - No stamped card this week as I didn't have time to stamp this weekend.

Instead I am sharing a (Gasp) ©Hallmark card that I bought way back in 1989 just because I liked it. The artist for the card is listed as, Sally Madden. I like this card for a number of reasons. First I like the raised embossing of the cat and the gold embossed trees on the bottom. I have no clue what the hieroglyphics mean but they lend an obvious Egyptian feel to this card. Which in turn reminds me of a saying on a T-shirt that I like:

"In Ancient Egypt cats were worshipped as Gods...Cat's have Never Forgotten This." - So true.

The piece next to the card is a stencil of a cat that I did years ago (probably in 1989) as it was inspired by this card. For some reason I just have never gotten around to putting this on a card. Can't seem to figure out what to do with it. Any suggestions? - I used stencil paste on the cat after it was embossed and then painted it with some Pearlescent Acrylic paints that have now dried up in their jars (bummer) after years of none use.

So that's my entry today. Remember if you have a Cattitude Monday card to share please post a link to your card in the comments section on this entry. I'd like to see people start posting their cat creations and hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Flapper Girl

Today I had the chance to travel over to a Scrapbook store about 45 minutes away and spend some $$ on some new stamping stuff. My mom and Coleen were with me and I wasn't sure we'd be able to enjoy ourselves since there were so many things that Coleen wanted to get into. The owner of the store offered to let her sit and color pictures and that worked like a charm. She was so good on the drive over, at the store and on the drive home that as a reward Grandma let her pick out something she wanted. She settled on this "Flapper" costume and has been having a blast dancing around in it since we got home. I wanted to share her Flapper Dance with everyone so sit back and enjoy. It's not very long since our camera doesn't allow very long video posts but I think it's pretty cute.

I'll share the stamping goodies later in another post.

BCG - Wk 50 - It is all, "Black and White!"

What a great challenge! - I have always been drawn to cards done in the colors, Black and White as they just have a "crispness" about them that really draws the eye to them. Naturally when Lisa (our coordinator) posted this weeks challenge I was pretty excited about it and went our right away and bought some stuff that was related to the theme. Then I looked for card layouts that I liked and found one done by Julie Campbell http://stampedinhisimage.blogspot.com/ in the June/July issue of Paper Crafts magazine (Pg. 22). I just checked Julie's blog and couldn't locate the card there but if you have a copy of the magazine you can check out her really fun card and the great sketch she used. Thanks Julie for the inspiration.

I am also sharing a 2nd card today that I had published in (The Stamper's Sampler) magazine 10 years ago!!! - It was for a Black and White challenge as well and was my very first card to have ever been published. - What's funny now is how I've seen the change in the progression of my stamping abilities over the years but I still think it's a pretty cool card.

I've included a close up on my second card so you can see hopefully some of the sparkle that this card has. It's so hard to capture in a photo but in real life it's very pretty.

Card One: Stamps: Teapot by NumNums. Star and Swirl by Judi-Kins

I used White EP on this card and then filled in the stars with White Glitter.

Card Two: Stamps: Live Your Dream (SU) Sentiment from Hero Arts Clear Design Anytime Messages

Card Stock and paper: Basic Black, Whisper White (SU) Designer Paper, Doodlebug (White Bouquet)

Other: Acrylic Frame by Making Memories, Black Diamond EP from Judi-Kins, White Satin and Diamonds EP by Embossing Arts Co. Tiny White Brads by Queen and Co., 3 For You Flower Punch (SU), Black Spica Glitter Pen, White rickrack, Cutter kit for distressing, Foam Mounting tape.

I hope you've enjoyed this challenge as much as I did and be sure to check out all the other great cards/projects by clicking on the Bloggers Challenge icon on the right side of my sidebar.

Cattitude Monday - Another Player

Yesterday I received an email from Technique Junkies (see the icon on my sidebar) that had cards made by Nancy http://www.inkblocks.blogspot.com/ and she had some great cat cards that I thought would be perfect for Cattitude Monday. I emailed her about them and she suggested perhaps having others join in on the fun. If you have a (Cat) card to share please share them by posting a link in the comments section on my blog on Monday's under the Cattitude Monday entry. I'd love to see what you all can do with your furry feline images. - Let the sharing begin!!

Hi There - It's Cattitude Monday

Good Morning! - Yes it's the start of another new work week and of course that also means it's time for another installment of, "Cattitude Monday."

For today's contribution I have 3 things to share.

Up first is this adorable (yes I'm partial) picture of my granddaughter, Coleen. She is reading a story to our cat, Callie-Jo who apparently wasn't to interested in hearing all about a dog!

Next up is my card contribution this week. I bought this cat stamp (Hero Arts) last year and this is the first time it's seen ink. I think it's such a sweet and cheerful little stamp.

I colored my image with Prisma Colored pencils and paper pieced the dress. The grass was stamp by using a mask and my image was raised with foam mounting tape.

The sentiment is also from Hero Arts, it's part of their new Clear Design series. You can find them here: http://www.stampintreasures.com/

I used my circle Nestablities to mount my cat image on.

Card stock: Green Galore (textured) Gable Green, Ballet Blue, Designer Paper (DCWV), Whisper White

Ink Pad: Palette Noir Black

Other: 3 For You Flower Punch, small brads (Queen and Company).

Lastly here are a few interesting facts about cats that you may or may not know.

The domestic cat is the only cat species able to hold its tail vertically while walking. All wild cats hold their tails horizontally or tucked between their legs while walking.

The Giraffe, Camel and Cat are the only animals that walk by moving both their left feet, then both their right feet, when walking. This method of walking ensures speed, agility and silence.

Cats are the sleepiest of all mammals. They spend 16 hours of each day sleeping. With that in mind, a seven year old cat has only been awake for two years of its life!

Have a great week!!!