Wildly Thankful -- Layers at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Layers. I made an easel card for my mom & dad!

The sentiment stamp is from Scrapper's Paradise. The animal silhouette image is cut from an envelope Mom got in South Africa. The Safari papers from Graphic 45, and Mom has used them many times to make beautiful cards, so this is sorta my homage to her.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cardz 4 Guyz #176: Fancy Folds
Dragonfly Dreams: Animals
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Add a Sentiment
Sunny Day Crafting #47: Giraffe

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day

Today (September 19) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so here's my traditional Pirate-themed project!

I've had this Little Pirate rubber stamp by Lili of the Valley for 5 years. Be sure to check out the special Talk Like a Pirate Day cards featured on LOTV's blog, Ideas to Inspire.

The image was colored with Copic markers; I used TH's "Old Paper" distress marker for the newspapers. The patterned paper is from Graphic 45. The sentiment stamp is from Recollections, and it's popped up with some actual fish net. 

Inspiration/Challenges:
Kreativeinkauf-challenge: Easel Card
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: A is for Aaargh


Update: This was chosen as a runner-up at the Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers!

Thank ye for visiting,

Challenge reminders: Winter White + Butterflies in the Great Outdoors

Since it will be winter soon enough, I made this sunny, snowy scene. I also want to remind you of my Design Teams' current challenges: Winter or Summer at Pile It On, Butterflies at Crafting with Dragonflies, the Great Outdoors at the Crafter's Cafe, and White-on-white + color splash at UnstampaBelles.

I used the lovely Flutter Tree D-Lite die from Spellbinders along with the Golf Club Landscape die from Memory Box. The base of the easel card & the layers were cut with scalloped, square dies. I used two white papers plus a white-frosted yellow Core'Dinations cardstock. I blinged up the whole thing with Lemon Ice Stickles. The tree was also cut with white foam to pop it up. I made the butterfly border with dies from the Flutter Tree set, put it on adhesive foam, and covered it with micro glitter.

Challenges/Inspiration:
Christmas Card Challenges: Anything Christmas/Winter Goes
Creatalicious Challenges #77: More than one fold
Scrapy Land Challenges #23: Anything Goes with die brand sold by Scrapy Land (Flutter Tree & Golf Club Landscape)

Thank you for visiting,

Heart Triple Easel Card

A friend gave me a template by HOTP for a Heart Triple Easel Card, and I used it to make this Valentine for my folks.

I sorta surprised myself by choosing a rose-red & teal color theme, but I loved this double-sided heart-and-notebook DP from Lawn Lawn, along with this teal heart-patterned DP from my stash.

I used the Gluber Flower technique to make the ribbon rose, but since I couldn't find my Glubers I used an adhesive sheet. This ruler-patterned ribbon went perfectly with the papers. The heart button is die-cut with a PageMakers die. I used a watermark pen to create the border and messily heat-embossed it in white to create a chalkboard effect.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Amusing Challenges: Valentines
Crafting By Designs #62: Love Is In The Air
DoubleClick Skittles #15: Use a heart
Really Reasonable Ribbon #111: Buttons & Bows + Ribbon

Update: This made the Top 3 for Amusing Challenge #113, and was Spotlight project for Crafting By Designs #62!

Thank you for visiting,

Pilin' on the Pencils

Our theme at the Pile It On! Challenge this week is Pencils: You can use an image of pencils, color with pencils, or even use an actual pencil! We're sponsored by Jellypark, and I used their great Craft Basket digi stamp from their store:

click to enlarge

I colored the image with pencils, although I did use a Copic marker for the background. The ribbon elements are fussy-cut & colored with watercolor pencils. The craft box is pieced with a Graphic 45 DP and decorated with some green Sparkly Fluff.

I made the ruler embellishment with yellow paper and medical paper tape. I inked the tape with a darker yellow and stamped the ruler (from the Sew Pretty set from Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine) on it with black ink.

The "Creativity Takes Courage" quote (by Henri Matisse) comes from Graphic 45's Typography collection, and is popped up with foam tape to secure the easel. The scissors are a Silhouette die cut, cut from gray paper & sprayed with Glimmer Mist.

I can't remember where I got the base card DP... if you recognize it, please let me know! I added some drywall tape that I colored with a green marker. The flowers & buttons are from my stash.

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Brown Sugar #110: Use Lace
2. Crafting Musketeers #17: Use Buttons
3. Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge #192: Digital (digi stamp)
4. Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper September Challenge: Anything goes with Patterned Paper
5. Fussy and Fancy #122: More than one fold
6. Paper Minutes #337: Buttons
7. Sisterhood of Crafters: Fancy Fold

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Pilin' On the Color Inspiration

This week at Pile It On, we're challenging you to use this beautiful color combo that I found on Design Seeds.

Pile It On #16

Our sponsor is Dilly Beans Stamps,  so I used her Daisy Girl Framed digi stamp to make this floral easel card:

Here's the message section, on the back:

I'm entering this card into the following fabulous challenges:

1. Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge: April Showers Bring Spring Flowers (lots of flowers)
2. Crafty Ribbons #43: Green and Pink
3. Digi Galore: One for the Girls
4. Digistamps 4 Joy #65: Easel Shaped Card + Bling
5. Dilly Beans: Flowers + image (10 challenges only)
6. Scrappy Frogs April Challenge: Think Spring
7. Scribbles Designs Challenge: Shaped or easel card
8. Shelly's Images: April Showers Bring May Flowers...must have a flower
9. Stempelsonnen Challenge: Easel Card
10. Wags 'n Whiskers: May Flowers

Thank you for visiting,

Anything Goes at OSAAT

Today begins another weekly challenge at One Stitch at a Time; I know you'll want to enter this one, as the theme is Anything Goes!

For this challenge, my teamie Nataliya chose Window by My Heart Pieces for her, me & teamie Denise to play with; wait til you see their takes on it! I've known the artist, Priyanka, for a little while now and I always enjoy her fun images.

I wanted to do something special with the curtain, so I printed it on vellum and cut the window shape out of the card. I colored the image with Copics, and added some FlowerSoft to the flowers.

My mom & dad are on their annual camping trip, so Mom sent me some of her crafting supplies (dies, Cricut cartridges) to play with while she's gone. I'm having fun with her collection of Sizzix Bigz Dies; I only own Spellbinders-type dies. For this card, I used the Love Birds, Flower Layers #2, and Flourish dies to create this easel card:

Hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time for our "Anything Goes" challenge. For entries using a StitchyBear Store product (be sure to add a # after your name when entering), you could win a prize this month's StitchyBear Collab. You're welcome to enter the challenge using different products, but will instead be entered into the draw to win a $3 coupon to StitchyBear. Can't wait to see your projects!

Inspiration/Challenges:

Art Impressions Challenge 71: Easel or More than One Fold

ATCs & Cards With Attitude: Anything Goes

Inspire Me Fridays: Always Anything Goes

Poodles Parlour: Use a Digi Stamp

Samuel Taylor's July Challenge: Use die cuts

Sweet n' Sassy Digi Challenge: Fun Fold Card

Totally Papercrafts: Lots of Layers

Thank you for visiting,

Sentimental Shaker for Scrapmaster's Paradise

Not only did I have the honor of my card being chosen for the 100th Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo Challenge, I was invited to Guest Design for their 105th challenge. Hope you will join in this week!

Naturally I wanted to use the fantastic stamps I won, but there were so many possibilities! I finally settled on the Round Sentiments set, plus the two Little Birdie digi stamps the Scrapmaster also sent. I also used some of the fab Echo Park paper I bought from her.

I honestly tried to keep this simple. I created the cut-outs in SCAL, but cut the rest of the pieces on my papercutter (and fussy-cut the birdie border). The final card size is 6x4, and I used 6x6 paper, so added a piece to make 8 inches, and covered the seam with a ribbon.

I made sections with foam pop-tape so that each circle contains a different flower mix. The flowers & inside message section (see below) were punched using a floral Martha Stewart border/corner punch set. I love how many flowers I get! The flowers are made of a white paper that I inked with matching orange & green on opposite sides. I edged the foam with the Chinese Orange Copic.

Inspiration:
Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo #105: Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake

Tutorials (Splitcoaststampers):
Easel card
Shaker card

Stamps by SP & Company: Round Sentiments I set, Little Birdie #1, Little Birdie #2
Paper: Dots & Stripes from Echo Park, Hammermill, Recollections, acetate from stash
Tools: SCAL & Cricut, InDesign, HP printer & ink, Sizzix Texture Boutique, Martha Stewart border/corner punches & detailing scissors, Fiskars papercutter
Other: ZipDry glue, Recollections & Scotch foam tapes, Offray ribbon, AtYou Spica pen
Inks: Memento, CraftSmart, Stampin' Up!
Copics: YR09, YR04, YG63, YG03

Egg Easel Card

The other day I saw this Sun-themed card by Laurence showcased on the TLC Creations blog, and I was hooked! I'd never seen a card like it. I'm not sure what to call it...a fold-out easel card?

It's taken me forever to blog about the two cards I subsequently made, but since Laurence has just become a follower, I thought I'd better take the time. Bienvenue and thank you for the inspiration!

The paper piecing I did on the egg card took time, but was SO worth it. I love the texture. The completed cards are small (I do love small cards!), only 3 inches.

Egg and sentiment digi stamps: Shelly's Images (thank you for the freebie)

For this one I also tried the "twisted easel" technique for the top layer. What can I say, I really really wanted to use my new Penny Black stamp set! I'm a little in love with these hedgehogs.

March Madness Blog Hop Day #1

It's my first ever blog hop! A word from our sponsor:

Welcome to the Stampin' Dymonz Scrap Shack's Mad About Paper Blog Hop! Our theme for this hop, besides being Mad About Paper, is Sports -- it is March Madness for the Scrap Shack as well as for basketball after all!! Some of the divas have creations with a sports theme. Some of them have simply created out of their favorite medium - paper! This hop shows our madness for all things paper! The hop starts at Stampin' Dymonz's blog, which can be found by going to www.StampinDymonz.com. It ends with NikkiP's blog, found at nikkimopapercrafts.blogspot.com. Along the way we have Lynetta, Cynta, Jessica, JoAnn, Christina, and Tammy who have beautiful creations to share as well. Don't miss out! If you got to this blog hop from any place other than the beginning, go back to the beginning and work your way through. There's lots of inspiration to share and these divas have created some magnificent projects! Don't forget -- this is a two-day blog hop! Creations will be posted both Saturday, March 19th and Sunday, March 20th. Stop back by both days in order to see all of the beautiful work -- you too will be Mad About Paper!

Here's my Day One project: March Madness Wishes!

Basketball-inspired Easel Card. Inside:

You should have arrived here from JoAnn's blog. Tammy's blog is the next one on the line up and you can reach her blog by clicking on her name below. If you have problems with the link, her blog's URL is in parentheses after her name -- just copy/paste it into your address bar.

I hope you enjoyed my project and the hop so far! Don't stop hopping until you get to the end -- there could be blog candy along the way that you don't want to miss out on! Any of the divas participating in the hop may offer some, but the biggest thing you'll miss are the great creations and the greater inspiration for your creations. Have fun!

Stampin' Dymonz (www.StampinDymonz.com)

Lynetta (CraftyNetta) (craftcreationsbynetta.blogspot.com)

Cynta (cynta.blogspot.com)

Jessica (customcreationsbyjessica.blogspot.com)

JoAnn (thecreatorsworkshop.blogspot.com)

Christina (cg-says.blogspot.com) <---You are HERE

Tammy (fromme2upapercrafting.blogspot.com)

NikkiP (nikkimopapercrafts.blogspot.com)

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Day 2!

About my card:
I must admit that I don't follow college basketball, but I have enjoyed a few March Madness evenings in past with my dad, a former player & coach. All I remember about the game is that it's, at its best, a team sport. Of course, there's no feeling like making a basket yourself...or so I've heard! So I decided to challenge myself to make a March Madness-related card for this blog hop. Ooh, I had fun!

I recently rented a woodgrain acrylic stamp from Raisin Boat, and it just felt right to use in this context. The darker piece is simply black on brown; the lighter piece was stamped in two tones of chalk inks. The letters and the inside frame were designed in SCAL, and cut on my Cricut from a basketball-textured scrapbook paper. The inside frame wasn't as easy to design as I might have hoped, but I can definitely see using it again. I'm also offering it as a free SCAL file; see the download link at the bottom of this post. Please let me know if you use it!

The sentiment piece is atop a couple of white foam tapes pieces that I colored with the same black I used for all the edging.

Digi stamp: Use Your Head by Tiddly Inks
Woodgrain stamp by Raisin Boat
Supplies: Recollections cardstock, Memento ink, ColorBox and Versamark chalk inks, ZipDry glue, MS detailing scissors, Cricut & SCAL, Lithos Pro Black typeface (for cut letters), HP printer & ink, foam tape, Copic Markers, Sakura glitter pen

Download circle frame SCAL cut file

PaperFacesDesigns Valentine

Just as some places have two seasons – Winter and Road Construction – crafters have Holidays and Decorating. I'm already anticipating Valentine's Day, so I decided to start with this adorable PaperFacesDesigns image.

I'm still learning how to use Copic markers, and this was a perfect way to practice. Many, many thanks go to the Mad for Markers blog for their coloring tutorials and guides. I've listed the ones I listed for this project at the bottom of this post.

Although there are a ton of elements on the cards, it's sort of precious at 4x4 inches. I'm going to have to make more of this one!

For this super-simple easel card, I cut a 12x4 piece of cardstock and folded it at four, six and eight inches. Then I taped the figure onto the extra cardstock and traced with scissors. To make the card, I glued down the figure and made a pop-up square to hold the other image.


Digi Stamp: I Heart U Couple by Therese Travis (PaperFacesDesigns)

Copic markers used:
Person 1: E51, YR00 & E02; Hair: E35 & Y08; Clothes: R59, R27 & RV29; RV21 & RV23
Person 2: YR00, E33 & E35; Hair: E35, E47 & R59; Clothes: BG10, BG15 & B05
Rose: RV29 & RV27; G21 & YG41

Skin coloring tutorial by Tracey at Mad for Markers
Clothing coloring tutorial: Tracey at Mad for Markers
Skin & Hair Coloring Guides by Sammi at Mad for Markers

Supplies: K&Company Valentine's Designer double-sided paper pack, Core'dinations cardstock, Copic Ciao BG10 & R59 markers for edging, Fiskars papercutter and corner punch, ZipDry glue, Martha Stewart detailing scissors

Blacked-Eyed Susans' Dream

Card Update 1/7/11
I had so much fun taking artsy photos of the card I made yesterday that I never really finished making it a card. I've already received some lovely comments on it, but since I'm in easel-card mode this morning I whipped up a base for it.

I had originally planned to make a standard 5.5x4.25 card, but due to the size of the image I changed the final dimensions to 6x5.25, so having to cut an odd size for the base wasn't much of an issue with the easel card. For the inside I used a white butterfly that was in my workspace from my mom's punch, which is now back at home in Arizona, and sprayed it with my favorite glimmer mist.

It snowed last night and now is a sunny morning, so I felt inspired to take the card outside. Those who know me best will understand the enormity of this. The photos from the back porch were absolutely worth the whole project.

Additional supplies: Core'dinations cardstock, Martha Stewart Butterfly punch, Tattered Angels glimmer mist (Jack Frost)

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Original Post 1/6/11

It's a chilly yet sunny day, so I thought I'd make something with the sunshiny butterfly I colored on Christmas night with my new Copics.

I've been saving this for a special occasion, and this week's ColourQ and SCS Sketch challenges fit the bill.

Since the ColourQ challenges are based on Stampin' Up! colors, I was happy to be able to use some of my Stampin' Up! paper. It's so yummy I hate to use it for just anything, but I had colors that matched this week's combo So Saffron, Daffodil Delight and Soft Sky. Just by chance, I had met the "basic black" criteria already by making the daisies Black-eyed Susans in a nod to my now-home State of Maryland. I added a glitter border to the "dream" sentiment to offset the black.

Inspiration:
colourQ Challenge #66: so saffron, daffodil delight, soft sky, basic black + white
SplitcoastStampers Sketch Challenge #314

Supplies:
Dream Butterfly rubber stamp cling by Impression Obsession, Stampin' UP paper (Subtles Patterns 2010), Recollections white cardstock, StazOn ink (I know I know, that's a big no-no for copic markers, but I didn't know that at the time & it's the only ink I had. I've mended my ways!), Martha Stewart border punch, Fiskars papercutter, ZipDry glue, Sakura gelly roll pen, Copic Ciao B color set

Sassy Rudolph and Angel Rainie

As I mentioned in my last post, Therese Travis at Paperfaces Designs is rolling out her holiday images. She sent us several adorable digi stamps and svgs, but I just had to drop everything and use her Angel Rainie, who comes with her own reindeer.
I made a two-color (with gold "aging") easel card, and used brads to make the reindeer head and the angel wings move. I used "pop-up presents" to weight the easel. Here is the card laid flat:
And from the side:

Supply list: Cricut personal cutter, SCAL software, Core'dinations card stock, JoAnn Craft Essentials heart brads, Oriental Trading Co. jingle-bell brads, Offray ribbon, ColorBox gold ink, Crop-A-Dile 2, Zip-Dry glue. PaperFaces digi stamp: Angel Rainie.