Inspired by {Barn & Bunkie}

 This week Kia is sharing the Barn & Bunkie site and I knew before I opened the site I wanted to do something Easter and so, when it opened I started looking for Green/Blue ideas as that is something that appeals to me at the moment and I came across this vase. And what I seen when I went back to the link is it is blurry as all heck so? you get the idea I guess. 

 So the background here is blues and greens ( Broken China & Cracked Pistachio Inks smooshed over the Embossed with Ranger Verdigris powder. The stamp is an old background from Stampin' Up! called Fine Lace. I think it has a blurry almost gritty texture to it and I think the colors are brighter than the vase but, I just kept going. I have a stack of these backgrounds because, when I make them I do a few at a time when I am making a mess. 

And I have been die cutting a bunch of Bunnies and baskets the last week or so and this particular basket is from the Lawn Fawn Build an Easter basket die set and so is the grass. The bunny here is the tiny one from the Sizzix set from Tim Holtz called SideKick Spring set and it has like a little chick and a butterfly and some tiny embossing folder in the set. So, this bunny is smaller than the one from the old magnetic Movers and Shapers Sizzix die. ( I cut some of those as well) 

 The bow was cut from some turquoise shinny paper and the Happy Easter sentiment here is from Personal Stamp Exchange It's number is D2504 Stamped with some Versafine Pinecone ink on some Neenah earthstone cardstock. I cut this with an Nellie Snellen tags 3 die and inked the edges with some Speckled Egg DOX ink. I did use some of that ink along the distressed edges of the green mat paper. This card finished out at A6 in real life. The lace here is vintage. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

More Christmas Cards

 So, I have been "cleaning" in my space er, re arranging piles... and I gathered up images that were colored, card bases that were started, anything like that and put them into one tray and I am calling it a "work in progress" pile... So, I started pulling things out of the top of it and just "finishing" them yesterday with the idea most of this could go Christmas.

 This mouse was watercolored a long time ago ( on not good watercolor paper) and I had cut the circle opening out of this printed paper and taped it to be seen through the opening a long time ago but, its really warped. This was the top of the pile in the tray. The sentiments here were done with the SSS TH stamptember set they are gold heat embossed on Kraft cardstock and the colors are a little wonky here. This batch of cards were all shot before the sun came up there this morning. This one is 6" square in real life and the printed paper layers are up on foam tape above the cardbase. 

 I have a second container that is holding little plastic envelopes of previously diecut sentiments and so the "shadow" layer under these words is vellum cardstock. This one is a Slimline and I think I did this base years ago, seems to me I made another card with this same papers in this size and this was the drop piece, I scored and glued the papers on and set it aside. I don't remember who makes it anymore. 

 When I was looking for a green ish paper to layer under the mouse card I came across this pack that had these Bird wreath sheets. I love this, I did not want to cut it up. It's in a studio light pad I remember that part so I just added this Tim Holtz sentiment to it and called it done. It's also 6" square in real life.

 which lead me to thinking I have other "really pretty" printed papers with birds and I pulled out this one from an Crafters Companion pad and so it has some swiss dots chocolate ribbon on the corner and a Sue Wilson diecut words. Very simple and also 6" square in real life. 

 I had watercolored this kitty (Penny Black) when I was doing all the silly Unity Critters recently and had die cut it with that same Spellbinders perfect touch rectangle die when I was doing the bird one a few days ago for the Inspiration this week and I had done this sentiment recently also and I thought OK these look like CAS Art tile like this with all the green space haha. This one is A6 in real life. I did try to get the gouache on the hat trim to be lumpy for texture and added some stickles for bling as well. 

 So, I had this one cardbase that was this pretty shade of blue so, I started thinking maybe snow. Found this printed paper with the wood framed rustic snowflakes and I liked the colors together but, not so much of all the blocks. so, I cut up the paper. the center panel is from that same pad and it was really flat so, I ended up finding these already cut Lawn Fawn stitched snowflakes from scraps ( long time ago) and layering some of them over that panel. The Noel is heat embossed with ranger seafoam white on some pale green from that recent TH SSS class kit sentiments and so those panels are up on foam pop dots as I wrapped some silver tinsel type cord ( May Arts ) around the panel as well. This one is A2 in real life.

 one of the cards in the bin was a green base and so, I had these scraps towards the top of a scrap pile from when I was cutting things up a few days ago. and I trimmed them down and layered them across the front. Tied on that big gingham ribbon and then just added the previously stamped and diecut sentiment to the bottom. This one is also A6 in real life. This concludes last nights flurry of gluing session. I am hoping to squeak out a few more from that tray soon. I hope you're doing well & thanks for stopping by. 

 

 

Inspired by {Style Motivation}

 Happy Independence Day People! Tonight Julie is linking us up to the Style Motivation site and I found it easier to look at the photos on their pinterest boards. But, a lot of their boards are group boards so, the pins are on them from random people. And I stumbled across this pin on the weddings board of these tins with scrabble tile words in them. And I thought oh, that would be cool as a tag. 

I have a few old jars filled with scrabble tiles in my space and you know its Love if I give up a J as there is only one in each box. So, that being said I really do not have many J's here ( I found 2 in two of these jars) so.. I just may keep this tag and add a small tag with Hubs name to the Yarn/Hemp string in the hole. That wide edge eyelet is a new thing I found on Amazon not too long ago and I used my crop o dile on it, and it did not work well on the back side so, I did whack this (a bunch) with a hammer and a setter and it did not make a difference in smoothing out the metal) so, that was the reason I chose yarn to go through that hole. I am thinking lace would have just snagged. The jingle Bells I've had some time now and I don't remember the MFG info on them. But, that base was cut with a tag die from Mama Elephant ( retired) its A2 in real life and the plaid ( Tim Holtz old Christmas paper was just eyeballed on the paper trimmer to make it fit inside the stitched detailing of the diecut. The label is an Gina K Designs stamp ( very old ) heat embossed with white powder on some Cherry Cobbler cardstock and cut with a spellbinders die. Those tiles are on the diecut layer with "craft" glue dots. ( the big ones) And that's about it from me, I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by. If you find yourself with free time to play along with us you can find this challenge here and Everyone is so excited the behind the scene's team of IT people at SCS were able to get the galleries up and visible again today after the big update recently. 
 

VSN {Natural Metals}

 Vikki Jo has a use Natural Metals for her VSN challenge (seen here) and so, I found this scrap of Silver metallic paper that I had previously stamped an Stampin' Up filigree background on it and heat embossed it with clear powder to give it that engraved metal look. ( I save these kinds of things old backgrounds, esp. if you make a mess doing them) which comes in handy on VSN nights as I didn't really have to do much more than score and cut for this card. 

I found a scrap of this golds and silvers glitter paper ( recollections) in the stash and then just trimmed the engraved panel and then When I was looking in the drawer with previously stamped sentiments in it, I came across this one done on the black cardstock with gold powder and just kind of laughed. ( its a hero arts sentiment) and decided to use a black base to tie it together. 

I am not so sure either of these shots display just how sparkly this particular card is but, it is very glimmer-y in real life. It's A6 in real life. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Dirty Dozen April Christmas

 This month's photo prompt can be found in the special forums set aside for Fan Club members at SCS here. I had decided to do the angel as my focus and stamped her ( Stampendous WireWorks Angelicia) with some Versamark on Papertrey Ink vellum cardstock and heat embossed with some Ranger detail white powder. ( the tips of her top wing did not get inked and I didn't notice that until the powder melted.)

I knew I wanted a sparkle from the lights so, I grabbed a copper and gold gelly roll pens and colored spots and lines on her both on the top of the vellum and on the back side. I did die cut this with a The Greetery arch die and then ran her through an Xyron to make her have solid adhesive on the back side like a sticker. The printed paper night sky treeline paper is unknown, ( my best guess is either Recollections or I really don't know. I don't save too many Blue papers and so it was a lucky find in the drawer. I trimmed it down to just slightly less than 5 1/2" square.) I wrapped some vintage lace across that and added the same glitter gelly roll pen dots to the sky and stars as well.

 

I decided I'd add some pearls to the wing and I came across these translucent ones in the stash from SU.  its kind of an in between copper and gold and had two sizes so I just plunked on a trio of them. 

The sentiment here is from Red Lead paperworks and was diecut with a Tim Holtz labels die. The base here is some textured linen Navy Cardstok. It's not quite this dark in real life but, I was messing with the contrast so you could see the colors in the gown and the gems. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us, we would love to have you. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by { The Postman's Knock}

 Happy Good Friday, It's my turn to host the Inspiration this week and I have chosen the Postman's Knock. The blog is seen here, And the pinterest boards are here . I was totally sucked into how gorgeous this pin here is with the metallic watercolor on the black background. Seeing that, I decided to save time and use a wreath shaped floral. And I have spent hours this last week re-arranging my space trying to put stamps with stamps and dies with dies etc. So, that had me moving stamps that I used to "know" where they were to new spots. And somehow I had this particular wreath stuck in my brain what I can tell you now is, its not with the flowers or the wreaths. days later I found it with the Hearts. Yeah. So, one of these days the next step will be to scan or photograph the containers/drawers each stamp is in so I can plug that into the inventory. One of the things that caught my eye with that shot is I knew I had similar paints. ( if not the same set?) The one below is Coliro - M1200 mica pigment rich pearl, set of 12 (this one on Amazon)

A look at the image taped down and paint drying. This is some Stonehenge black watercolor paper ( found here on Amazon) And I had stamped the Stampin' Up! Floral Wreath with some Versamark ink and heat embossed with some SU Blushing Bride powder. ( I did use a anti static tool on this before but, I still got some pink dust on the paper) The edge of this paper also did not respond well to being taped to a board so, the edges got pilled and rough so I did end up die cutting this panel down to a A2 sized with a trinity Stamps blanked stitched rectangle die. 

The sentiment panel here is from a really old Hero Arts set called year around sentiments OWH (operation write home) and was die cut with a Nellie Snellen tags 3 die. the printed paper is a scrap ( unknown) and I "think" the ribbon is offray. There is a little bit of gold glimmer on the edges of it. This was just tied in a knot. The Cardbase is some Stampin' Up powder pink and this one finished out at A7 in real life. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us, Thanks for stopping by and Have a Blessed Easter.

Some more from Dare to Get Dirty.

 There were 49 challenges in total this year for Dare to get Dirty week at SplitcoastStampers. I have not done them all as of yet, the good news is the inspiration stays up on the site for future use. So, here are the rest of the ones I have done so far. I cannot tell you what the challenge is but, I can say what I did or used. This will be a really photoheavy post so, grab your cup and enjoy.

This was done for Lydia's first challenge, this girl Unity Stamps Just Sorry was stamped with versafine on Neenah and watercolored with some Karin Markers ( skin & hair) and Daniel Smith Watercolors on the rest of the image. The sentiment here is also from Unity Stamps the Crappy Day set. ( its up on foam pop dots)

The front panel here I have cut a hole into the top end of it to tuck the girl from behind and used the same acrylic paint on the edges of her panel as the front to make it a little more seamless. I did run that textured panel through the big shot a few times to flatten it a little more. ( its Masking tape with covered with gesso and paint) I thought it looked like a messy bed. And this one finished out at A7 in real life. 

For Dina's first challenge I used this So Many Hearts girl from the precious moments line at Stampendous ( this is a really old one) colored with pencils and copic markers (skin) and the sentiment here is from Hero Arts Many everyday messages set. the door is an Alexandra Renke called wing door. This one is A2 in real life. 

So a week ago the inspiration went to a home design magazine site and I being an alumni dirty girl also had access to the master list of challenge knew what Lori C's first challenge would be so, I combined these two. The home design photo that jump started mine can be seen here. What an awesome back yard hmm? So, I picked up the My Favorite Things perfect pool stencil when it first came out and this is the first time it has been removed from the packaging. so I decided to tape it down to a piece of cheaper canson watercolor paper and "paint" through the exposed holes. It did bleed a little bit, and I did go over the top of some of the bleeds with white Gouache after the stencil was lifted and the Duck was stamped with some Cheerful (yellow) Versafine Claire and watercolored with Daniel Smith paints, I cut a slit into the water panel to tuck his tummy into and taped over this on the back side to help keep him flat. The sentiment here is from The My Favorite Things you float my boat set, and it finished out at A7 in real life.

This was done for Gem's challenge and I used a Spellbinders hemstitched rect. die on the cover of the cardbase and Their shapabilities Joy set for the center. The letters are up on foam pop dots and the pearls are from Kaiserkraft, ( they are a blush color but on the barn red texture they may show up as cream on your monitor) the inside was lined with some Neenah because, I always put white cardstock on the insides of my colored bases to write on. This one is A6 in real life, and the first Christmas card I have done in months and months. which poked my brain into looking at more of the challenges thinking and over thinking to see if they could be modified to become Holiday cards too. 

Which lead me to Lee's challenge, the base stamp here is a background from Simon Says Stamp that was heat embossed with white SU powder on some pink shimmer DCWV. the Vellum layer is an older holly berry house that was also heat embossed on the top side and then I used water base markers in spots of the back and I really thought that gave it a kaleidoscope look. So, I added some dots of glittered stickles glue in a few spots too. this one is 5 1/2" square in real life. 

I found this image Our Daily Bread Designs the mighty sea already colored with some pencils in the envelope on the table and so, I used some previously made watercolor background for the framing and then while I was looking at this, I have had my Daniel Smith watercolors on the table for a few weeks now, I decided to add some paint here and there over the pencils. The sentiments on this are from the Altenew camp life set. and this one finished out at A7 in real life. 

So Kia has a challenge that I decided I would watercolor for it, and this is the center piece of a frame diecut and so the bloom is from the eclectica3 kay carley 47 the pretty flowers were a feast for the eyes set and heat embossed with white powder over the paint. I did go over the center with white Gouache and some stickles glitter glue. That sentiment, I spent hours over several days trying to figure out which set it came out of. I cannot find it in evernote so, I will probably end up poking around in the stamps them selves here and there and edit later. I found it in the file cabinet in one of those pockets of previously stamped and diecut sentiments. the center panel is up on foam tape and this one is 4" x 9" in real life. 

So this is the actual entry into her challenge and its also a slimline card. the homes and sentiment are from the Concord & 9th city stacks set. 

a closer look at the painting from the card below. The road runner is "on the run" the Wil E Coyote is called "Yipes!" the center has some shimmering from Stampscapes ( but, it is a small stamp, so I deliberately used the paints in lines to add more streaks around them.)

The silhouette in the back is from the sweet n sassy landscape silhouettes set and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession pandemic humor. 

The painted panel is on foam tape above the base and this one finished out at 4" x 9" in real life, the edges were cut with deco scissors. 

You might remember this panel, it happened to fit Pat's challenge so, I did some layers of speckled Neenah cardstock to frame it trying to detract from the fact that I had taped the tape across the top crooked when I painted it a while back and that was one of those hunh moments when it was revealed. 

I probably could just mix up some more blue ish paint and touch up the top left corner but, so far I have resisted the urge to do so. This one finished out at A7 in real life. 

 Done for Liz's challenge, the Victoria's Secret is from the Emerson line at American Art Stamps, the bra-less is from Art Impressions. She was colored with Karin markers and Daniel Smith watercolors with some stardust gelly roll pen on the glasses. 

Some where around Wednesday the watercolor prompt came out and it was to do some free hand blooms and I had a mess of yellows on the palette at that point and I knew what the DTGD line up looked like so this ended up being made for 4 different challenges, the Wednesday watercolor, Jen, Holly & Ann's DTGD challenges. the Sentiment here is from the Penny Black A little bird set. 

You may have remembered seeing this dog face ( Impression Obsession) being painted when he arrived in the mail, the sentiment came out around the same time too, so this was done for Bev's challenge. 

This was done for Shelly's challenge. the birdhouse is from the old SU set called scene in a garden. The sentiment here is a reverse printed one from Simon Says Stamp ( some spring set) That red panel is vellum with alcohol inks on it and to allow the light to flow through like a window, the front panel of the card also has a window cut into it from the inside of the base. This one is A2 in real life. 

This was done for Mary's Challenge. The sentiment is from Riley & Co. the Oscar reading the paper is from Art Impressions ( this was stamped twice as the top colored layer is paper pieced into the scene.) the rest of the room are from two different My Favorite Things sets, Cozy Companions and Our Story. the main layer here was all colored with Daniel Smith paints. 

 Now this I did not make, this one came to me the other day in the mail from Shelly with a sample of some gold leafing flakes to play with and the sticky note that said do not open with the fans running. This is one of her samples she made for DTGD and it sparkles so beautifully in real life. Thanks Shelly!

 Which lead me to playing with them for a little something for Judy's challenge. the cat is from Art Impressions, the sentiment is from the Shut up and Color set from Dylusions. this one is A2 in real life. that pale aqua color is an shimmer cardstock from Micheal's recollections line. 

This week the Inspiration destination is looking at Nordic Wall where I found this piece of art 

and my first thought was you could paint that. ( not a normal thought for me) and my second thought was, you could have a two-fer card and use it as a sample for Tracie's challenge. So, I did this is Daniel smith watercolors with a bit of White Gouache. the sentiment here is from the My Favorite Things anything but basic birthday wishes. It's 4" X 9" in real life. 

 Which leaves me with something I had done for Jayne's challenge. the teabag here was paper pieced back into the design using a used dried coffee filter. the other color around it and on the tag are DS watercolors. the sentiments here are from the Verve Stamps one cup set. the embossing folder is one I had borrowed a while back from my MIL and I have forgotten its name, but there is a heart underneath the image panel in my card on it. the lace here is vintage from the notions dept. and this one is A6 in real life. I do have something drying / de-fume - ing for Jayne's second challenge and hopefully sometime soon I will get it done. I hope you enjoyed this, thanks for stopping by.

Decided to just edit this post with the last card, this was done for Jayne's first challenge. the butterfly was painted last April some time, the cardboard was painted along time ago too. the background panel was run through the big shot inside a Cuttlebug goochie script folder and it has some Antique linen and Salvaged Patina DOX over the top of the leaf pattern. and I realized the reason I never used this butterfly is. I did not leave space to give it a body. ha ha. ( did you notice that before I wrote it?) ( I didn't) 

I did actually get a group mug shot of them all before I started mailing some out.

Inspired by {Miss Vogues}

This week Gail is guesting for the Inspiration challenge and she has lead us to the Miss Vogues store online. ( ohmygoshIheartsomanyofthoseshirts)  yeah, so far none have been purchased but, it  was totally fun to poke around in virtually.

Knowing that I need more Christmas cards I had that thought in the back of my mind when I was looking and I kept coming back to the way this lace shirt was displayed on the wood.

And I came up with this, the Emma background is from Simon Says Stamp heat embossed in Stampin' Up! white powder on some recollections "kraft" sheet ( its really more the color and texture of a paper shopping bag then what I think of as "kraft") Tied off some sheer tan ribbon and stamped the Tim Holtz ( its from the Stamptember 2017 set) on a My Favorite Things stitched sentiment banner. tied on with some natural hemp string, that has some foam pop dots under the end to hold it into place. Very simple, I know its not a traditional Christmas card but, I really like how this one turned out. Its A7 in real life.

You can find this shirt here in their store and this challenge here at SCS to play along with us. Hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by { Design Pool}

This week Julie has shared with us links to Design Pool's Pinterest boards, and the rabbit hole is very deep there. I ended up staring at this shot of leaves for a while knowing that I have lots of new leaf dies and stamps that have been waiting for me to play with them.

So, the second leaf shot I spent a lot of time looking at was this one with the succulents thinking in the back of my mind that eucalyptus leaves might have pink on the edges. and I got them a little too pink so, I went back over the leaves with more greens a few times trying to tone that down a little. The paper rose stitched eucalyptus branch dies were water colored with some Mission Gold watercolors. The edging and mat dies are also new to me ones from Pink Fresh studios from their slimline card line. ( this card finished out at 4" x 9" and so those mats fit inside that.) the Sentiment here is from the My Favorite Things Sassy pants birthday greetings 2 set. This was heat embossed with some WOW fine detail gold powder on a pale green scrap and diecut with an Waffle Flower A7 rectangle die. The stripe print paper is an old one from Basic Grey and the mat piece under that was some fake bazzill ( thin, really thin ) that I had taken a dry brush and some white acrylic paint to it for texture. You can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us, thanks for stopping by.

A catch up post

 A closer look at the embossed watercoloring for this week's featured stamper case. This week it's Pauline and I really loved this watercolored floral on the dark background card seen here and this it looks letter pressed to me gold holly card seen here and it all kind of morphed in my head while I was thinking about it.

 The sentiment was heat embossed on a scrap of the black watercolor paper and is up on foam pop dots. The floral frame is from the Hero Arts + Pink Fresh you make a difference set and the sentiment is from the My Favorite Things sassy pants birthday greetings 2 set.

 A while back there was a free for all challenge to do something from a child hood memory and I have quite a few of my friends coming over with their horses. ( our breyer horses had barbies when I was a kid) the sentiment is from the SSS reverse sentiments line ( they are printed sheets you cut up) and the pony's are from the stamptember the greeting farm mini pony party set. (from a few years back)

 When Maura was featured stamper I spent a lot of time looking at her Gift tags she shared and I had received this winnie the pooh stamp from an ebay auction in the mail about that same time so these were done jump started by this of her's.

 When Shelly was featured stamper I came across this in her gallery and I had just gotten this shark of mine cut out from the mounting foam the day before this so, it was laying on the table and it just kind of fell together really quickly from there. The sentiment is from Rubbernecker, the shark is from CI stamping and the school of fish are from Picket fence studios 1 year older set. I used a Simon Says Stamp waves stencil to give the water some movement with oxide inks on printed paper.

Something I tossed together one day after both these stamps arrived in the mail (from different orders) and they happened to be on the table at the same time so I laughed, hopefully you smiled too. thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {The grey muse}

This week Angie has us peeking inside the grey muse, I have one of their enamel pins seen here and I did think about doing something off that but, I kept coming back to this card over and over. I love the drama of the gold and colors on the black.

So, I grabbed a piece of this black watercolor paper and heat embossed this old PSX oval floral frame on it with some WOW gold superfine detail powder. I used some Kuretake watercolors on this. I added in the cats Pajamas just let it happen sentiment with the same powder. I had originally thought to do a rectangle card and then after I had cut the panel to be a rectangle I decided this would look better as a square card and since none of my printed papers in the right colors looked good to me I ended up using another piece of the watercolor paper for the mat. I cut this with the large stitched square in the waffle flower lacy layers die set and then wrapped some vintage gold lace along the bottom because, it just needed "something" else to me. This one finished out at 6" square in real life. you can find this challenge here to play along with us, thanks for stopping by.