More Challenges

As I've blogged about before the first of every month Hero Arts presents a monthly challenge, the great thing is they have multiple ways to enter and the winners get $50. This month I choose to take on the water coloring challenge.

My awesome Mother asked me to make a card for a friend of ours, Nancy. Over this past year she has been ill off and on... it's come to light she has a fungus in her lungs and the only way to rid her body of it is by removing that lob of the lung. Her surgery is later this month and my mother stated I'll buy what every you need make her something really special. So I got to work. Because I'm a good daughter I didn't need her to buy me anything as temping as it was.

This ended up taking a lot longer then I planned I started out with the Large Flower Pattern stamp and used my water colored pencils for color. I painted away and it was bland.. the colors just weren't bright enough. As an experiment I then took some green Copics over the leaves. The leave's looked great... however the flowers looked really icky.

Next comes the funny ha ha part cuz I like to digress... As I didn't know what to do with it I pushed the it around the desk for a few days. During that time Mom comes over and asks "Hows Nancy's card going?"..... er ah ... it's not done.. "well let me see it" she says. She didn't say it but the look on her face was... oh. "I told you it wasn't done.. we have time.. it will be great" I said. Mom agreed the flowers were to plain. One of Mother's traits I adore is how honest she is. If I ask her something she won't give it to me sugar coated. She'll tell me the truth. She won't pretend to like something cuz that's what mothers are supposed to do. Now don't get me wrong she will like something because I made it, because she's supportive. And she won't beat me down with how ugly things are.... she just gives me an honest answer to a simple question. I know where I got that trait from.

Anywho I set the card aside.. again... and played with Flower Bird Garden stamp and ended up creating this:

The background blue is distress inks Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Faded Jeans. I stamped the pads directly on my craft sheet then sprayed them with alcohol blending solution. Dragged a piece of glossy paper through it a few times... rinse repeat.. done. The birds and flowers were water colored with Jenny Bowlin paints. I sent a pic of it over to Mom she said ooooh I want that one for Nancy instead. Done! I decided to not put a sentiment on it.. that was a bit harder then I thought it would be but I took the plunge. I added the bling after I saw the photo of it on the computer as the flowers needed something. I've still yet to figure out if I love it or hate it, the bling that is. I am very happy with everything else.

Back to the first card. Here I had this painted piece I didn't want to throw away as I had put to much effort into it. But those flowers.. ick.. I ended up water coloring over them again with distress inks..mustard and marmalade much much better.

That bow kicked my butt. I started off with green but the ribbon was to thin and the proportions weren't right... I didn't have the right color... disagreeable (Note to self buy more alcohol inks.... if I owned more inks this wouldn't have been an issue :D)

Over at Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge this weeks theme is torn paper. I had a lot of fun doing it previously and this card needed something else so I stamped.. tore.. colored (faded jeans) and then voila! The butterfly just makes it. I did the butterfly the same way I did the background of the other card. Inked the craft sheet sprayed and dragged. You can't really tell but the little white spots on the butterfly have stickles I added with a pin.

This card will make its way into Aunt Janet's box. (We the ladies in our family these last couple of years have gotten together at Christmas time making cards for Aunt Janet to use during the year... that is what got me started on this card making adventure.)

Feel free to chime in with idea's or suggestions. I'm a big girl I can take it. Mom's trained me right. :D

Fruity Colors

Sorry! I've been busy... meetings upon meetings upon meetings. Thankfully things are slowing down and I'll be able to craft more often. When I have crafted I didn't have enough time to finish an actual project, thankfully last night I was able to finish two cards.

This is one of the cards I've been working on these past few days... my Mother in Law's birthday card. Her birthday is next week however I will be at girls camp. Fortunately or unfortunately I've set a standard with her cards and needed to makes sure this was done before I go.

I used this weeks Simon Says Stamps challenge and Lily Pad Cards as inspiration. Just so you know if you don't already.. Simon Says Stamp is a great place to purchase items. The really good news is their contests are random winners and you can win $50 in product! Your skill matter it not :D It would be silly not to enter.

This week the inspiration is a photo:

The literal person I am really wanted to break out with fruit stamps and use those however I don't own any.... perhaps that could change if I win. I took the colors and used a new (at least new for me) Penny Black Stamp set and created this:

I used Copic's YG05, YG07, G28, YR15, Y19, R27, R29 to color the image. Cut it out and picked a cherry red floss for the bow. The sentiment is from Hero Arts.. I just couldn't figure out a way to make it look good. The newest challenge at Lily Pad Cards is ribbon so I tried stamping on that and it came out pretty cool so I used that. The down side is the ink did bleed a bit... that's what I get for not owning black StazOn. I'll be purchasing some shortly.

Stamps: To you by Penny Black, Hero Arts Find Joy and Envelope Pattern

Ink: Distress Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Faded Jean the Black ink is Versamark

Diamond Stickles are on the flowers

I hope all is well with you!

mmmm Alcohol

I don't drink, but I do love my Alcohol.. ink that is. I just love how bright the colors are and that you can color things other than paper. The last thing I am is an expert on these but what I am good at is pushing buttons and experimenting. What happens if I did....? Some of the experiments don't make it past the recycled bin but some of them turn out to be really cool, and that's how I learn.

Jennifer McGuire suggested via one of her video's buy white and color it yourself. I did just that. Bought some white ribbon and stamped away, as you have seen in my previous postings. I mentioned this to Linda over at Stamp Fever and she asked me how I did it. I told her I would go one step further and bring in samples. I kept the cards a neutral color since the focus is supposed to be on the ribbon. Here they are:

This is a great crape ribbon. (After I discovered how great it inks up I went back and bought a spool.) Then I pulled out the colored ribbons. This next card, the original ribbon color was cream.

I even stamped colored ribbon. Sorry I didn't get a picture of that. The light colored ribbons inked perfectly. I even took a dark red and inked it with green.. it came out amazing. Again, I didn't get a pic but I'm sure I'll be incorporating that into a future card at some point.

As I said before Jennifer McGuire makes the best video's. She teamed up with Two Peas In a Bucket for informative series that was a 9 week class done in the summer of 2009, just amazing! Here are all links to the alcohol video's:

Thinking Inking Alcohol ink Part 1 (part 1 of a 2 part video)

Thinking Inking Alcohol ink Part 1 (part 2 of 2 video's)

Thinking Inking Alcohol ink Part 2

Thinking Inking Alcohol Ink Part 3

Thinking Inking Favorites part 2- Alcohol Ink's

They did the series again last year here is the link to the Alcohol ink video from that series.

Thinking Inking Holiday Alcohol Inks

Feel free to chug away :D

Lawncaping Challenge #11

Woo hoo its Lawnscaping Challenge time! It's been a long 2ish weeks. Usually they do biweekly challenges however last week there was a small hiccup-Monday being the 31st.

No worries its back and this weeks challenge is CAS...aka Clean and Simple.. My favorite. :D

Here's my card:

Originally I was going to just color the Fox and leave it at that but he needed some grass.. and that ribbon was perfect! Except it covered his tail.... so I cut the tale out and slid the ribbon under it. Here's a close up of the fox:

Hind sight is 20/20.. looking at it now I should have cut his little leg out to but o well. I need to work on my Copic shading....practice makes perfect. I bet new markers would help me practice more. Good thing my birthday is coming :D The diamond stickles really show up in the close up.

Stamps used: critters in the forest and the heart is from cruising through life.

Enamel Accents were used on the nose.. black with a pin drop of white for highlight. I could have used a bigger pin drop but the last time I used Enamel Accents it made a huge huge.. huge.. mess.

Diamond stickles are on the bottom 3 hearts, Glossy Accents is in the top 2 hearts

Copics: Fox-E13, E15, E17 & E11 for the tail... Hearts-R27 (I think) Copic's are cool :D

I'm a Winner :D

I've been perusing the card blogs for while now. A good number of them have contests and sometimes I enter. My reasons for not entering are usually a. I don't want that particular prize or b. I know I probably won't be back to that website again.

Finally I won something. Hooray! What did I win you ask? I won 6 gently used rolls of Washi tape. :D

This win is perfect for my first win. When I started this hobby I figured once I get the basic items I'll be set and I won't need to keep buying stuff. lol.. I was naive. I've come to learn this hobby is a bottomless pit that will suck me dry and I'll never be done buying stuff. There is always some new hot item/stamp/trinket/do dad.. the list goes on. Bakers twine is huge right now. Which I'm not to excited about as I have a pretty solid floss collection. I've also seen washi tape in a number of video's.

I, like most people, am on a budget so I can't run out and buy stuff all the time. That and just because everyone else has it doesn't mean I should. So when new stuff comes out I consider it before I make a spontaneous buy. I'll wait til the fad dies down and see what the truth is. Plus I've found it doesn't always work the same for me.

When Susan from Simplicity made her post about the Washi tape I had to enter.. it's a great way to try something new. I will soon be the proud owner of this tape.... I'll give it a whirl, if it doesn't work for me, as it didn't for her, I'll pass it on :D

CASE Study #42

Yea a new challenge, two actually! I've known about the first one for some time however their design isn't not my style so I enjoy the photos and move on. Yesterday morning I surfed over to CASE Study figuring I'd take a peek and surf on. That was my intention.. until I saw their Muse this month.... Jill Foster. If Yoda where a card maker he'd say: Amazing cards she does. :D

Check her card out:

Just amazing. I haven't quite figured out how she did it, not that it matters. I'm guessing acetate was involved. I plan to get to the bottom of this. I tried a few things last night to recreate this.... no luck yet. I'll keep trying. I bet I could ask but where's the fun in that.

Normally when looking at an inspirational card I would take an element or to then make it my own. I had a hard time with that this go around. I'm drawn to her card like a moth to the light. I just couldn't help but recreate.

My card:

Using Alcohol inks sailboat blue and stream I inked a piece of glossy paper. The rest is pretty straight forward:

Stamps: inkadinkadoo, and my two favorites: Close to my Heart sentiment and Antique Engravings from Hero Arts. The dye inks are Momento and Walnut Stain distress.

I discovered the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge. This week a random challenge winner receives a 50 dollar gift card! The theme is your favorite stamps. I just have to enter this card on that challenge, as I adore those two stamp sets and my alcohol inks.

I'm back

*blows on the hypothetical mic* is this still on?..

I haven't forgotten about the world of crafting or blogs. I've just been busy. Actually I have worked in my craft area however it wasn't for crafting, more of getting organized.

Friday was spent with my wonderful Mum who is doing an amazing job of supporting my new habit. Got lots of paper, new stamps and punches. :D Thanks Mom you're the best!

Saturday morning I had to choose between a card class or making cards at home. I choose the class. I'm so glad I did to. Not only did I learn stuff but I'm making lots of new (trouble making) friends. It's always fun to make new friends just as it's fun to poke the bear. :D Plus I got my hands on the new Tim Holtz distress cardstock! His inks are amazing, I just love them. (His designs on the other hand.. blah...I'm fully aware I'm the only one on the planet that feels this way and I'm ok with that.) My one drawback with the distress inks is finding paper to match can be a pain... not anymore. That makes me very happy.

Saturday afternoon I ended up organizing my floss. You see the dentist was disappointed, my teeth were in such good condition.. lol jk.. well sorta.. he did tell me to eat more chocolate and come back with a cavity next time. I haven't had one yet why would I start now?

Many... many .. many.. moons ago I tried my hand at cross stitch that didn't turn out so good. I can do it fine. It's the finishing part I can't do. My mind and body won't sit still that long. I have a beautiful collection of floss but it was dumped in a zip lock and tossed around all these years. Joann's had a great sale this weekend in which helped me manage my rainbow:

It took hours winding those bobbins but it was worth it. The container was only $2.50! I spent $4 dollars on plastic bobbins (it came with paper ones) and a couple of dollars rounding out my collection, I only had 3 purple. Those p colors get me every time. It's been something I've wanted to do for a long ..long.. long time. It's all pretty, let's see if I can keep it that way.

Monday was spent with family eating yummy food. I also put all my new paper away. Having read and watched how others have organized their paper this is the system I have come up with.

The cart isn't made anymore... had I known they were gonna stop making them I would have bought a second one. Disagreeable. I read/watched someplace awhile back, a women recommended taking your paper pads apart and separating the pages by color. 'You're more likely to use what you have' she said. I think she's right. As much as it kills me to take the pads apart, it opens the door for different papers to go together. If I need a red paper I go to that drawer and find all of my reds not just some of them, all of them. From there I can see what would go well with my project regardless of what pad it came from. The down side to this is if someone asked me where did you get that paper? I wouldn't be able to give specifics. Course there's always cute paper coming out so I'm ok with that.

Yesterday was spent working on girls camp. I was drafted to help the young women of my Church. It's a lot of fun, however it's a lot of work, as we are leaving in 20 days!

I'm looking forward to crafting tonight. So much crafting so little time.