Inspired by {Needle Minders}

This week Brenda has shared with us a virtual collection of needle minders via this Pinterest board.
I thought this was really neat because, A I have never seen these things in real life and B they have to be tiny and miniature things tend to really impress me with the quality of the artwork. And then I found this happy little vintage camper and said Yes! with a fist pump.

Because, I had received the Hero Arts July 2019 Kit in the mail recently and I had ordered this camper die at the same time as an add on. This sentiment is from the my monthly hero kit. I probably did not need to stamp it twice but, I had the stamp in my Misti and I did. ( my Versafine clair nocturn pad is much more juicy with ink than my old Versafine onyx black one) I did cut this camper with some Neenah solar white and then I popped out the windows and placed Scotch tape across the back side of that and then cut the camper again with some thin scrap of vellum to pop those into the holes, its about the same color and covers up the sticky. I colored this camper with 2 prisma pencils and 1 Polychromos pencil and a stardream stardust? gelly roll glaze pen. It is up on foam pop dots over the mat which was cut with a Waffle Flower lacy layers #2 die. The skinny velvety fiber is really not that blue in real life but, the camera seen it as eye popping bright afterwards. This one finished up at A2 in real life.

Isn't that cute? I did leave off the banner and flower box off of this version but, I think it is still pretty cute this card too. I seem to know a few people who are working on restoring old campers like this for she sheds and glamping so, I did give it pretty colors and lacy white layers. You can see this camper here on that site and find this challenge here to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW #529 {foils}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 my "desk" view from Tuesday night...
( laundry room the appliances are metal and that is where I run my laminator) This was expiremental done with some laser print outs of this free digital thing found here a long time ago when Pinterest was fun to view.  I did try it on some copy paper print outs and some thin (80# cover sheet) and it seemed to work on both.

This is a shot of my desk from sometime last week after Wednesday when these things arrived from both Amazon and Ellen Hutson. what I noticed is that Amazon widely varies the cost of the foil and the only difference seems to be the color. on Ellen Hutson all the colors were the same price and they were recently 25% off too. so, I ended up doing a second order to get more colors... I have not tried the smoosh it through a stencil glue, the pen or the use it as a stamping ink transfer things as of yet.
what you see above is all that I had tried so far.

but, I seen a thing on one of those tv shopping channels late at night one time and they were hawking some machine to do this with that was a partial machine, it was something that was supposed to work some how with a gemni jr and I could not tell from watching the tv how the machines worked together to foil things and then I came across some you tube video's showing people using the same laminator that I own and since I have a laser printer in my office at work I thought what the heck.

And for those of you who are here for your Izzy fix, she continues to grow like a weed and does that typical dog sprawl in every direction when she is sleeping too. This one is a new position, the usual is the broken neck off the dog bed one ha ha. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

The rest of Earl's Birthday Cards

 This is for Earl's oldest granddaughter. This gal is Melanie from Rubber Romance, she's stamped with Versafine and colored with copic markers as a base with some polychromos pencils over the top. That printed paper is from the echo park party time pad. She was die cut with a Spellbinders wonky rectangle die. and that crocheted lace is unknown. These letters for the names on both of these cards are from Ma Vinci's. (and I don't remember the set names sorry) The happy birthday sentiments on both cards are from the Simon Says Stamp big birthday greetings set.

 A closer look, I did take a tiny black sharpie marker and do "dots" all over her dress, hat and shoes. I was thinking it gave it a little bit more of a fabric texture because, the bags are all so smooth. and then I ended up going over all the clothes and bags with a clear wink of stella pen.

So, one new thing we found out from Earl on Friday is that Eli is very into the flag right now and that was a handy thing for me as I have a collection of flag stamps to play with. This particular one is from Peddlers Pack. I colored this with pencils and it's not quite a perfect rectangle the way that these Hero Arts dies are, so I was following along with this double matted framing tutorial for Sabrina's ways to use it challenge and I had this white space left on the edge of the flag and it bugged me enough to cut the flag image down with scissors and then I had a hole so, I taped the drop piece of blue ODBD printed paper to the back side of the image so, that particular layer is more like an embedded puzzle piece. (that's why you see the extra line on the sides) The sentiment was die cut with a simon says stamp sentiment strip die and I really like the idea of this and I think I will give this ago more often but, using say cardstock and also maybe an image that does not span so much of the width of the card, I think it may be easier to line this back up on the edges with a wider piece.

 So I had a little time after I finished the flag card before it got dark and I glued together some of these previously cut diecuts and made them into a little tag to decorate the brown sack that his cards are going into. The shape here is from Sizzix called Ornate #4, ( so are the Tim holtz tree lines) I did layer two of those and stagger them for a shadow and the shape also has a second one glue to the backside which hides the fact that I did tape that hemp string on the back side even though it is tied pretty tight.

 The sentiment is from the Concord & 9th Butterfly Beauty set Stamped with some Versafine clair Shady lane ink. The ribbon is from Micheal's at either Thanksgiving or Christmas ( they have had it the last couple of years it comes in red & green too) I don't remember which set that tiny tag came from. ( I have a vintage jello mold on my table of tiny tags I cut from scraps to stamp on sitting on the table) That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {The National Audubon Society}

 This was done because I wanted to color birds. and I happened across the National Audubon Society online and thought oh what a treasure trove of feather color inspiration. My Friend Janice gifted the burlap flowers to me a very long time ago, and she probably thinks I forgot about them but, evidently the hoarding of them thing has come to a partial end. ( I still have more haha) :) the sentiment is from Altenew and up on foam pop dots over the vintage lace.

 Funny true story, in all the years I have owned this stamp.. every single time I have used it I have colored it using colors inspired by a Black Capped Chickadee bird. but, the more I look at it now, it looks like something else. These birds almost look like the stamps that Stampendous has for "robins" with the feather pattern. This was colored with polychromos & prisma pencils.

 A peek at the piece that was glued to the inside.  This card finished out at A7 in real life.

You can see this bird's page here inside the site. and find this challenge here at SCS to play long with us. Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW # 528 { the usual }

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

So, these are Tuesday evening shots... you'll notice that in the foreground of this angle there are now two pads of 6" papers that Izzy had decided to chew on from the suit case on the floor. (that dog loves the noise paper makes) so, I guess it is time to sort through those pads and rip them up and sort them by main colors again so the suitcases will close hahaha...

that card was getting ready to receive a second dose of gold watercolor wash on some of the petals. I had originally arranged it in the corner and then picked a sentiment too wide to fit inbetween the bottom petals so, I had to slide them farther apart and that exposed parts where there was no paint as I added the gold wash with them stacked trying to save time over painting each layer of flowers and waiting for them to dry and then glue.

so, the color combo this week at SCS is cherry cobbler, garden green and gold with this being a Christmas in July theme month. that really is cherry cobbler but, the green is unknown ( a little darker than gg I think) the gold really changed that.

So, this is a Sunday afternoon shot... there is a mama duck and some babies up ahead of the fishing boat, and yes you guessed it, she crawled up on the bow and then went right over the side after them... (hubs had to fish her out of the water good news is she swims)
That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

A few Challenge cards

 its been a week or so, but Angie was hosting the free for all and had a Silhouettes challenge and I used these flowers that Janice gifted me with and then added in some stickles for contrast.
a the same time the MM was to do stars and stripes and the ways to use it was stripes. ( all those challenges were within 24 hours of each other)

 one week the try a new technique was to use the clean off sheet from your brayer type thing.

And around the same time the clean and simple was to show a summer garden.

 

 This weeks clean and simple is to do something for Bastille day. and I really do not have any french type stamps but, being a sentiment collector it was either this or the french script background haha.. so this one the toss up because, I think I may never had made anything with this stamp before?

Last week's color comb was soft seafoam, very vanilla and the new rosy ( mauve) color that I have already forgotten its name. that ornament die is from Hero Arts and the sentiment is from Mama Elephant.

The rest of VSN

 The kids challenge is to paint a rock...
(that paint is green by the way)

 There is a rock and roll your stamp challenge. that is a Hero Arts balloon with the Happy Birthday written across it but, the center did not impress well for me rolling it along the edges.

Anita has a tutorial to make a slider card. you can see that here. and that meant I actually did all 16 of them this go around and I have not done that in a long long time.

A Daisy Dash

 I had stamped this Picked for you penny black Hedgehog stamp with some Versafine and colored it with pencils and then there is some (wet when shot) crystal stickles over the yellow centers of the daisy's. The with love sentiment here is from Clearly Besotted message me set and the long sentiment seen below is from the Mama Elephant set called just a note.

Today is the day they reveal the newest featured stamper at SplitcoastStampers and today it is Terry And I chose this fun card of hers because, I love the shape and layers. ( its not a normal style for me to make) I did read that she made her card to fit an A2 envelope so, I cut my cardbase to 4 1/4" square and then when I was cutting my rectangles with a die, I made mine too wide to squeeze in 4 across the bottom and since I used a die, ha ha they were too short at the top too so,out came this My Favorite Things stitched scallop border die to hide that. Changes I made are the stamp, colors, I added a second sentiment and tied it onto the stamped panel. I think the Inside will get the Happy Birthday greeting. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {ten thousand villages}

This week Angie has us hunting inside the ten thousand villages site online.

And I immediately found this really cool crochet headband with awesome textures.

 and my head said ooh its browns and greens and textures... and I had gotten this new Dog & Bird frame die from Impression Obsession recently and I thought oh this will work perfect. so, I reversed the greens and browns and added two layers of notions with the ribbon and the textured ric rac. The image was cut from some shimmery die cuts with a view thin cardstock and the sentiment is from the Stamping Bella tiny townie dawn loves her dog set. ( its so cute it has a girl hugging her dog as the image with it) The mat is some Mellow Moss and the base is some Always Artichoke card stocks from SU. I did add some bitty recollections pearls to the bird and dogs eyes.  And this one finished out at A7 in real life.

A look at the head band that inspired it, you can see that here in their store and find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW #527

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 This is a tuesday after work shot. I did 13 of the VSN challenges from Friday night to Sunday evening and then one more on Monday after work. this is the pre cleaning after effects. with the list of what all there was for challenges.

 This was the one from Monday night, the idea behind VSN is that the challenges you have an hour to work on the project. so, I chose this image to stamp because, its small and I knew I could color it during lunch at work. ( it's an old one from PSX) The rest of the VSN projects can be seen in this one post here.

and the real reason you stopped by was really for some puppy time right? Sunday afternoon Hubs took Izzy for her first boat ride in his fishing/duck hunting boat. and she did well and did go swimming twice. ( not from falling out of the boat either haha) :)

Although we are getting slightly more sleep at night, the sleep deprivation schedule continues, and as she grows it also forces me to pick up things on the floor up here. between card making I also ended up putting all those bubble envelopes and cardboard into the closet and then it was making space for the mirror tray filled with old salt shakers of dry glitter also had to go up and out of her reach. so, in the back of my mind I am not sure I can tell you how glad I am that I have no stamps on the floor hahaha.

that's about it for me, thanks for stopping by. I will be driving all day for work tomorrow so, I am hoping to just visit people really late. other wise I am probably going to stop playing because, I feel like there is not enough time to do everything right now and I  need to start focusing on DTGD samples too when I am home and up here.

VSN {Rock Star Edition}

 Lisa has a challenge to show a clock on it.

 Marg has a challenge to use the color combo from a photo of Uluru rock. ( purple, green & rust)

 Melissa has a sketch challenge.

 Misti has a challenge to show something sharp. and bird beaks were on the list of prompts.

 Jacqueline has a challenge like a tic tac toe grid and you had to pick three things. and I combined the row I picked with this weeks fishing vest tutorial seen here.

 Melody has a challenge to create a fossil background ( its kinda like a polished stone except its just plain dye ink on the glossy instead of alcohol inks) I combined this background with today's featured stamper Lee Ann who has this fun chicken card that I have had in my favorites since she made it.

 Jeanette has a thank you card challenge.

 Kelly has a use the colors on the original pop rocks candy wrapper candy challenge.

 Kim has a rocky & Bullwinkle challenge to show something aviation with a bonus of a squirrel added in. I have no squirrels, who knew?

 Lee has a challenge to start with grey and glam it up with glitter...

 Kim has a second challenge to make a birthday card rock and roll themed based on the colors of your birthstone. mine is an Opal and since I have both regular ones and fire opals I was trying for a mix of those blues and whites.

Chrissy has a challenge called save the last dance that is based on this photograph (seen below) as the IC for the challenge.

and that leaves me with a handful I have not completed as of yet, but the deadline to finish and upload them is a week away.

A few Christmas cards

 This week's way to use it challenge is to have stripes be the design element. and there was a link to a previous one where this was chosen before and Joan had a tip that you could score your cardstock where you wanted to line up your scraps/strips if you wanted and I really liked how that made it look embedded and as I was going along with these scraps, I had one go crooked. and when I pulled that paper up it ripped the card base. ( I tend to work on a piece I make as the front that gets glued to the cardbase at the end as a normal thing so, in order to keep going I decided to free hand cut some wider scraps and change it up a little. the penguin is from Impression Obsession and the sentiment is from Reverse confetti.

 This was done for the June theme in the Dirty Dozen Christmas card challenge. the Santa is from Peddlers pack. the Believe is from Simon Says Stamp.

 This one fits the July theme for the Dirty Dozen Christmas card challenge. The lamb is from Whippersnapper. its on a recollections tag on an Impress pool cardbase. This one is A2 in real life.

 This was for the January theme from the DD prompt. The star Santa is an old one from Stampin' Up and he is colored with prisma & Polychromos pencils.

 The sentiment is from the Mama Elephant holiday messages set. That lace is vintage and the printed paper is from Basic Grey. I did use a black sharpie pen on the button holes when I was done coloring him.

 This fenced in snow image from Peddlers pack is colored with pencils. the sentiment is from Mama Elephant. the lace is vintage and that printed woodgrain is from Carta Bella.

 This was done for today's Mixed Media challenge to use stars and stripes... the Stamp is an old one from Stamps Happen colored with prisma pencils, polychromos pencils, stardust & gold gellyroll glitter glaze pens, and there is some Diamond Glaze on the berries and the star.

The lace is vintage, the panel below the stamped one was cut with a spellbinders hemstitched rectangle die and the stripe paper I have had for years and there is no MFG info on it. I am hoping to work some of the VSN challenges going on now into Christmas cards too so, we shall see. Thanks for stopping by.