Doggone Good Friend

Recently I participated in a Mystery Image swap on another group I belong too.  We were each sent the same image and had to create a card for our partner using the image.  We could use whatever papers, embellishments etc...that we wanted though.  I was quite pleased when I received the Mystery Image as this little doggie (October Stamps) is just so adorable.

I hope my partner enjoys her card as much as I did making it.

We weren't sent any sentiments so I computer generated one for my card.  My background paper is by, KI Memories.  Pet Shop Multi Stripe.  I loved the paw prints and the colors of this paper a lot.  My image was colored with Prisma color pencils and blended with Gamsol. 

The little "Dogbone" brad was on a card I had received in a swap and I just knew it would be perfect for my card so I recycled it off the swap card and onto mine!

Details:  Card Stock:  Really Rust, Cool Carribean, So Saffron, Designer Paper, KI Memories

Stamps: Dog from October Stamps, Dots & Daises BG from SU-retired,

Other:  Paw Print Ribbon-KI Memories purchased at JoAnn's, Flower Punch-SU, Brads-Pink Hedgehog Crafts, Dogbone Brad-source unknown, Nestabilitie Die, Foam Mounting tape, Punch-Martha Stewart crafts.

Swimmingly Fun

Well the Stamp Girls Gone Wild (SGGW) group just finished up another round of the now famous (well if it isnt it should be!) Mystery Image challenge.  This time our hostess was, Judy Huettel and she chosse this adorable little Changito image by Stampendous. 
For my card I chose to use some Designer Paper from DCWW (Die Cuts With A View) that came on one of those huge mixed packets.  I based my Color Scheme on the paper and away I went.
My card base is: Chocolate Chip layered with Cool Carribean (now retired - insert sad face) that was distressed with CC ink as well.  Then I layered the striped designer paper.  I added a piece of the Polka Dot dp that I added scalloped strips of Creamy Caramel card stock and pierced holes in the scallops.

My focal image was watercolored using the ink pads and an Aqua Painter.  Again I'm not all that great at watercoloring but I gave it the old "college try" as they say and it didn't turn to bad.
For some added fun I used Crystal Effects on the flippers and snorkle.  I also used a Clear Spica Glitter pen to add some shimmer to the polka dots on the inner tube.  The sunglasses have foil tape on them so they look pretty authentic.  I added 3 tan brads (Queen and Co.)  to the side of the cirlce as well and then mounted it to Cool Carribean and Close To Cocoa using my Nestabilities Dies and the piercing tool.  The sentiment is from one of those rolling stamps that has several sentiments on it and I picked it up at JoAnn's.  I stamped it with Chocolate Chip ink and mounted it onto the Cool Carribean.  They were punched using SU Oval punches.  I added 2 small mini brads from Queen and Company and mounted the sentiment and focal image with foam mounting tape.

The Blessing of a Friend

Oh how I enjoy these Mystery Image swaps.  In case you aren't familiar with what I am talking about a group that I belong too: Stamp Girls Gone Wild (SGGW) host what is called a, Mystery Image swap.  The Hostess of the swap picks out an image and then stamps several copies of it to send to each participant.  We are each assigned a partner and mail our card to that person.  The object of this type of a swap is to show how unique and diverse it can be seeing the same image stamped by different people.

This time around our hostess was, Rose Kerry and she chose to send out this adorable little Elzybell image.

These can also be purchased in the US at various places. -  They are just the sweetest images and make me smile whenever I see them.

The inspiration for my color scheme came from a piece of Polished Stone background paper that I had laying around in my UFO (Un-finished Objects) piles.  -  I wasn't the first to claim the UFO phrase but for the life of me I don't recall where I heard it first but I liked it so I've adopted the phrase myself.  I'm sure most of us have UFO piles in our stamp rooms just waiting to be used on a project when the right inspiration hits.

For my Polished Stone piece I believe that I used Orchid Opulence, Pretty in Pink and Bliss Blue (retired now) plus a Metallic Gold reinker (Tsukineko).

I colored my little ElzyBell girls with Copic Markers.  I am still getting the hang of using them but I like how they turned out on this card.  The colors I used are: YR24 (Pale Sepia)

E00 (Skin White), Y15 (Cadmium Yellow), YG00 (Mimosa Yellow), BG45 (Nile Blue), RV17 (Deep Magenta), BV000 (Iridescent Mauve), and V17 (Amethyst). I also used an SU Certainly Celery Marker on the flower stem as I didn't have the shade of green I wanted in my Copic set.  - I colored my image and then cut out the dress on the girl in turquoise and stamped the dots from (Itty Bitty Backgrounds) and added a few more with a Basic Black marker.  The purple dress was also cut out and then colored with a purple Spica Glitter pen.  I also colored both flowers with Spica Glitter Pens and the pink punched flower as well.

My card base is: Orchid Opulence layered with Tempting Turquoise and my Polished Stone piece.  Then I added a strip on TT and a piece of Pretty in Pink that I ran through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dot Embossing Folder.  I cut my image out using a circle Nestabilites Die and layered it onto a scalloped circle. The sentiment was punched with a circle punch (McGill) and layered onto the Nestabilites scalloped cirle.

I used the 3 For You flower punch and punched out a Pretty In Pink flower and 3 Tempting Turquoise flowers.  I added mini brads (Queen and Company) to the centers.  My image and sentiment were mounted using foam mounting tape.

PS - How do you lik my NEW WATERMARK! - Yep, I figured it out thanks to help from Beth and Kim Howard, who recommended the GIMP program to insert my watermark with.  Thanks both of you ladies for all your help.

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.

Mystery Image

I belong to a really fun group (Stamp Girls Gone Wild) or SGGW and we've been doing some Mystery Image swaps lately. The way it works is one person (the Hostess) picks an image and stamps several of them and then sends them out to those who sign up to create a card with. We are each assigned a partner and send the card we made to that person. Then a file is created that we all post our cards in so we can see how each person used the Mystery Image. It's really FUN and you get a lot of inspiration by seeing how different and unique each persons take on the image turns out.

This round was Janet Rains turn to chose the image and she picked this floral image by Impression Obsession to send out. It's really very pretty but I must admit when I first saw it I wasn't sure how I was going to use it to create my card.

I decided to make my card larger then the standard 41/4"x51/2" size so my card measured 51/4"by51/4" .

I took my color inspiration from a piece of designer paper (Adorned - Fancy Pants designs).

I really liked the striped pattern. My first attempt was to stamp the En Francais background stamp by SU behind the flowers by masking it but I didn't like the way it turned out so I went with plan B and stamped the background instead on the reverse side of my designer paper. I used Chocolate Chip Ink to stamp the background. I really liked how that looked.

My card base is So Saffron which I distressed the edges with Saffron Ink. Then I layered a piece of Rust colored textured card stock (Bazzill) and added my stamped designer layer. Then I added the striped piece on the side along with another small strip of the rust card stock and a crimped piece of So Saffron.

My image was colored with Prisma Colored Pencils and blended with Gamsol. I cut out the larger flower and leaves and layered them with foam mounting tape. The centers of the flowers were highlighted with a clear Spica Glitter pen for a little shimmer. I'm not sure it shows up in the photo but looks pretty in real life. I mounted the flower image on Chocolate Chip card stock that I rounded using a corner rounder.

I added a piece of Hodgepodge Hardware and some Saffron ribbon and added 3 Dew Drops to complete my card.

Can't wait to see what our next Mystery Image will be.

You Quack Me Up

I belong to this really fun group called, Stamp Girls Gone Wild (doesn't that just conjure up all kinds of fun stuff!) We're actually a group of stampers that are not dedicated to just "one" stamp company meaning that our cards can use stamps and supplies from any company we choose.

Our first 2 swaps have been Mystery Image swaps. What this means is that one person picks out an image and sends it to everyone who signed up for the swap. We are then assigned a partner and send our card to that person. All the cards are then posted in a file for everyone to see what we all did with the same image.

Our first image was a Gnome sent out by our Moderator (Kerry) and the card I did for my partner for that swap is found here: http://faithartistry.blogspot.com/2008/03/roaming-gnome.html There were some really great entries for that challenge.

I asked if I could pick out the next image for another Mystery Image swap. I had my new kitten (Callie-Jo) help me out by looking at stamps from http://www.addictedtorubberstamps.com/ and then we settled on this adorable Duck image from http://www.hambostamps.com/ . It was new and I thought it was just to cute to pass up, Callie-Jo agreed with me.

I wanted a cute saying to go with my duck and picked out the (You Quack Me Up) sentiment made by Penny Black at addictedtorubberstamps. I must say here that both places have excellent Customer Service and I highly recommend shopping with both companies.

For my card base I chose: Only Orange (SU) card stock stamped with the Sanded Background in OO ink. My color inspiration was taken from this FUN piece of Designer Paper (Oh Baby!Boy - Garic by Basic Grey) I also added a small strip of Apricot Appeal that I ran through the Cuttlebug using my Swiss Dot Embossing Folder and a piece of Orange Rickrack (JoAnn Craft Essentials). I embossed the sentiment with Bold Black EP (SU) added a cloth brad (not sure of source) and a Felt Flower (Queen and Company).

I colored the duck image with Prisma Colored Pencils blended with Gamsol. Then I added Lemonade Yellow Fun Flock (Stampendous) using a glue pen to the duck and let it dry. I also added Crystal Effects to the mud pond. I used a Scalloped Square Punch (Marvy) to punch out my image an mounted it to Green Galore(SU) card stock and Textured Lavender CS (Bazzill) and added 4 tiny green brads (Queen and Company) then mounted the image with foam dimensional tape to complete my card.

The card measures 5 1/4 by 5 1/4" - I really had fun with this card and my partner loved it so I am very happy with how this turned out.