Speedy Recovery

It's time for another card challenge with Cardz TV stamps. I'm thrilled that the challenge is to use ribbon. If you are like me and many other crafters, you have ribbon in all shapes and sizes and colors... everywhere in your craft space. I keep little remnants of ribbon JUST in case. 

I have a family member in the hospital right now, and decided to create a get well card. I started by choosing my sentiment from the CardzTV set, Heartfelt Wishes. I also knew that I wanted to color flowers next to this sentiment since I wasn't going to be sending actual flowers for the hospital room. The flowers I used are from Mark's Finest Papers, Heinrich Collection. I used oranges and yellows to color the flowers and added small dots of gold in the center of the flowers. 

To finish the card, I added a bow and a metal photo corner layered on patterned paper. 

Kraftin' Kimmie Fairy

My birthday cards tend to be similar, mostly using die cuts with little puns, like Best Fishes (yes, I have a thing with fish, especially sharks and mermaids). This time, I wanted something really different for a sweet girl turning 13. This Kraftin' Kimmie stamp called Clarabelle. 

I really experimented with different colors and shading, especially with the blues. I wasn't careful about writing down the actual blues I used, but they are from Spectrum Noir. I just mixed and matched. For the hair, I did the same, coloring each strand in a different red/pink family. The sentiment stamp is from Well Designed, the Caring Thoughts set,  and the butterflies are Paper Arts   die cuts.

She is cut out from a Spellbinders die cut, and I inked the edges in Tim Holtz distress ink. I layered up the papers in bright colors. 

Hello Gorgeous

Today, I challenge you to use a stamp that you have never used before. Don't worry about going to purchase something. We all have unused stamps in our stash. That was the inspiration for this card. This stamp comes from a Penny Black stamp set called, Hello Gorgeous. There are three beautiful stamps of fashionista women and many accessories. I decided to use one stamp as a focal point. 

I actually worked backwards here. Since I wanted the image to be the focal point, I created the card to perfectly fit the image. I added the two Penny Black sentiments, hello gorgeous from this stamp set, and the other from the April Showers set. I used blue liquid pearls to give dimension and shine. 

And done! 
This was a quick one. 

Spectrum Noir markers used:

Skin: FS4, TN2, TN3
Hair: TN3, EB3, EB4
Dress: IB1, IB2, IB3, BT9
Bag: CR10, CR11

Love You

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and this year, I want to make several cards to put in my husband's briefcase throughout February.

For this card, I wanted to work with my stash of The Alley Way Stamps. I used three stamp sets here, Cake Day, Oogles, and Bubbly.

Instead of a full size card, I went with a smaller note card.
I stamped everything in black and then colored with my Spectrum Noir markers: PP1, PP4, CR6, and DR 6.

You are Fintastic!

This crafting-year is all about coloring! I'm destined for coloring certification from both Spectrum Noir and Copics. How can you do that too? Just go to Kit and Clowder and sign up for your first class. I started with skin and hair. After weeks of practicing my "flicking" and cast shadows, I'm super proud of my latest project. This is a digital mermaid stamp from Simply Betty Stamps. There is a phenomenal collection of stamps at Simply Betty. 

I always start with the skin and hair on every image. Her hair is a combination of Spectrum Noir markers: BT1, BT3, BT4, BT5, BT7. I decided to go with pink skin and it is a combination of Spectrum Noir markers: PP3, PP4, PP5, PP6. Then, I blended some purples together for the tail and fin: PL1, PL2, PL3, PL4, PL5.

To put the card together, I lined the bottom of the square card with coral in various colors. The main coral is from Pretty Papers, Pretty Ribbons Sea Life cutting file. To add dimension I added white paint dots around the coral. The sentiment is from Pretty Cute Stamps, the Sea Life Sentiments set. 

Lastly, I added the wooden sun swirl. I was looking to add some wood to this project to fulfill the challenge at 50 Craft Challenges. 

Shake Your Tail Feathers

Today is the day! Another great challenge at DoubleClick Skittles. The inspiration for this week is to use a bird! I immediately thought of the Birds of a Feather stamp set by The Alley Way Stamps. 

I love this stamp set. Especially this particular bird. This combination was calling me. Once I had the images down, I decided to try some new things with coloring. 

For coloring the single feather and the feathers on the bird's head, I used my NEW Chameleon Pens, color B4 aqua marine. Have you seen these pens yet? One pen does all of the color shading. If you look at the bottom of the feather and look up you can see the natural progression of light to dark blue - just one pen. (It is subtle changes, but I have some close up photos.)

Now look at the feather's on the bird's head. I used the same marker and started with a light blue and then dark blue at the top. Definitely check out these versatile pens. 

To color the bird, I used my Spectrum Noir markers. But instead of coloring from light to dark, I switched up the colors and colored dark to light. I'm loving the final look. Orange is a hard color for me because I have to mix the right amount of brown into the blend. 

I used the following colors in this order: TN6, TN4, OR2 (repeat).

The Pumpkin Skittles were perfect for adding some shine and dimension. 

Poinsettia Sprite

Have I ever mentioned that I love Aurora Wings Digital Stamps? I do. There are so many opportunities for trying new and creative coloring techniques. With this stamp, Poinsettia Sprite, I practiced my 'red' combinations. I used liquid pearls around the crown of her head and Wink of Stella for a hint of sparkle along the lines of the vines in her hair. 

I used my Spectrum Noir markers from this: 

Skin: TN2, FS2, FS9, CR3
Yellows: LY1, LY2, CT4
Leaves: LG1, LG4, LG5
Red: CR7, DR4, DR6 

Challenges Entered
Aurora Wings: Sparkle/Glitter
A Girl Who Crafts: Christmas
Emerald Fairies: Green and Red
Fresh Brewed Challenges: AG Christmas
Little Red Wagon: Christmas
Tuesday Throwdown: Christmas
Card Mania: Christmas
Dragonfly Dreams: Vintage

Christmas Thank You

While we are all making Christmas cards, I try to remember that I need Christmas thank you cards. For this card, I used traditional Christmas colors of red, green, and white, with die cut, stamped flowers. I used my Spectrum Noir markers (DR5, DR3, DR1, PP3) to color the flowers, and while they look like shades of pink in the photo, I actually used red markers. 

The die cut, stamped flowers come from a company I have not used before: Marianne Designs. The thank you stamp is from The Alley Was Stamps, More Than Words set. 

Challenges Entered

Brown Sugar Challenges: Red, Green, and White. 

Inspired by Stamping: Colors

Crafty Creations: Die Cuts

Divas By Design: Seeing Red

At least you're Not Extinct: Happy Birthday

I'm starting to love challenges that provide a photos for inspiration. Today, I am working on the photo inspiration from Muse (A Card Making Club). Take a look at this example by Therese Calvird. Can you imagine my surprise when I recognized this stamp set - I have the same set in my stash!  

I decided to take elements from the inspiration photo and turn this into a masculine birthday card. I wanted bright and bold colors against the soft gray of the rocks. All coloring was done with Spectrum Noir markers. 

Challenges Entered

MUSE: Photo Inspiration 

Creative Card Crew: Birthday with Sentiment

Moving Along with the Times: December Birthday

Count Your Turkeys

Once more for Turkey Day. 

I love this stamp set, Give Thanks, from The Alley Way Stamps, especially because they have coordinating SVG files. So, I decided to count my turkeys here, and pop up one of them using the SVG file. The sentiment and leaves are all from the same stamp set. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones. 

Challenges Entered
Stempelgarten Challenge: All Kinds of Animals
A A A Cards: Thankful
Cards in Envy: Thankful for You
My Craft Spot: Thanksgiving and Fall
Scrap-Creations: Give Thanks

Merry & Bright

For my card today, I was inspired by The Alley Way Stamps Challenge blog: BE Inspired. The challenge this time is a a collection of photos. I found my inspiration from the first photo with leaves hanging from all levels. The leaves metallic and full of glitter. Instead of using glitter on my leaves, I decided to use red glittered poinsettias with green leaves and sentiment from the All Wrapped Up set. 

To balance the card, I placed a metal photo corner on the upper left corner. 

Challenges Entered

Be Inspired: Photo Inspiration

Creative Moments: Make it Sparkle

Craftin' Desert Divas: Christmas

Crafting When We Can: CAS

My Perfect Life: Christmas

Less is More: Jingle All the Way

Thanks for Everything

For my card today, I was inspired by The Alley Way Stamps Challenge blog: BE Inspired. The challenge this time is a a collection of photos. I found my inspiration from the first photo with leaves hanging from all levels and the green leaves behind the photo of the turkey. 

I used the Tickle Me Happy stamp set colored with Spectrum Noir DG3. I added a touch of sparkle with the flower (from my stash). 

Challenges Entered
Be Inspired: Photo Inspiration
Catered Crop: Gratitude
Crafting When we Can: Use your markers
Stamps & Fun: CAS
Frosted Designs: White Space
Simply Create Too: Thank You
Crafting By Designs: Give Thanks


                                                                                                                                                   

Birthday Bright

I often wonder why birthday card themes aren't more popular on the challenge blogs with birthdays of our family and friends covering all seasons and styles. This simple birthday card  is for a lovely young girl. To capture the joy of youth, I used a bright and bold pattern of colors. Mixing orange and pink has always been tricky for me, but I'm embracing that challenge. The circles are cut from both Spellbinder and Sizzix die cuts. I used the Give a Hoot stamp set from Pink & Main's and colored with my Spectrum Noir markers.

Challenges Entered

Craft for the Craic: Birthday
Crafts for Eternity: Bright Colors
Seize the Birthday: AG + Orange twist
Crafting for all Seasons: Birthday
Creative Moments: Celebrations
Fab n Funky: Birthday

Home

One of my monthly purchases from Close to My Heart was Camper Crazy Occasions set (C1578). But it has just been sitting in the pile of purchases from that month (this stamp set goes great with the Timberline kit). So today, I decided to be inspired by this stamp set to make a card. 

I started with collecting scraps of papers from the Skylark collection. I used Cocoa ink (Z2114) to stamp the sentiment and the camper image. I used my Spectrum Noir markers to color the camper image. Finally, I added ribbon from my stash. 

I love the way this came together, and it was so easy to do.

Challenges Entered
My Craft Creations: Anything Goes
No Just Cards: Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door: Anything Goes
Crafting by Designs: Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon: Home is Where the Heart Is

Jawesome Birthday

Today is the day! Another great challenge at DoubleClick Skittles. The theme this week is circles. How versatile. How many ways can you use circles? 

For my project, I thought about making something for my husband's birthday. I am making several extra cards for him so that everyone in the family has a customized birthday card for him. I made him a baseball card recently (HERE), and now it was onto sharks. Yes, sharks. Ken just loves sharks, and he has a collection of shark artifacts. How perfect is it that Pretty Cute Stamps has a stamp set called Jawesome. I bought that just two weeks ago. The best part of the stamps - they come with SVG files. 

I knew right away that I wanted this cute shark on layered circles with a wave cutting through the bottom. That gave me just enough room for the birthday sentiment. To add more circles, I embossed the background with a bubbles embossing folder. I added gray gems to the shark circle and three sailboat blue Skittles to the top. I hope he loves it. 

Challenges Entered
Crafty Catz: Anything Goes
Allsorts: Masculine
The ABC Challenge: W is for Water
Bunny Zoe's Crafts: Animals
Fairytale Stampers: Something New (stamp set)

Tag You're It

I'm announcing it here and now; I'm going to apply to earn Spectrum Noir Accreditation. Yes, I'm committed to it now that I said it out loud. It's definitely going to be a fantastic challenge. But I am so determined. I hope to help you along the way with my own tips and tricks.

To start my journey, I created this dinosaur tag using The Alley Way Stamps, Lava You set and Stomper set. I just love dinosaurs.

To choose the colors for the dinosaur, I looked at the "red" set of Spectrum Noir. When you look at the set, the numbers are in groups of three, and each set of three is meant to work together. I wanted this guy to be a darker red, so I chose the three colors dark red set: DR1, DR5, DR7. I wanted to shade his backside to be darkest.

I like to work with the lightest color first, then go to the darkest and down for blending. I love this little guy.

I decided to use ribbon as a divider here between the pattern and the image. I will attach string or ribbon to the tag to adhere to the birthday gift.

Challenges Entered

Crafty Ribbons Challenge: Tags with Ribbon

Crafts 4 Eternity: Tags

The Crafting Cafe: Not a Card

Anything But a Card: Anything Goes

Craft My Life: Ribbon

Older and Wiser

You may remember that I am on the Design Team for Designs on Cloud 9 where you can find wonderful SVG cutting files (and a weekly freebie). But did you know that the owner of Designs on Cloud 9 is also the owner of the Pink & Main Stamp line. Here, I am using the What a Hoot stamp set to make this birthday card. 

The background paper is from my stash, the die cut for the image is from Spellbinders, and the ribbon is also from my stash. I colored the image with my Spectrum Noir Markers and added Liquid Glass to the balloons and the party hat. 

Challenges Entered

Aud Sentiments: two to three word sentiment

Just Add Ink: sketch

Send A Smile 4 Kids: any holiday

So Artful Challenges: owls

Robotastic

It's all about robots, dinosaurs, and superheroes with my nephews. Since they love to get mail, I often send them cards that speak to their interests. This time, I am going with Robots using The Alley Way Stamp set Bot Time. I wanted to create something that looked mechanical. My color scheme came from The Alley Way Stamps challenge blog. I was inspired by the black, white, and orange colors in one photo. At first, I stamped everything in black. Then in the border, I added blocks of orange. I then added different elements from the stamp set, and kept with the orange. 

The pop of blue is a nod to another of The Alley Way Stamps photos for inspiration. Finally, I inked the edges in an orange shade to give the card some depth - I almost felt like a it was a workshop with dust and dirt and grease.  

Challenges Entered

The Alley Way, Be Inspired Challenge: Photo inspiration
Simply Create Too: New (all items makers, ink and stamps are from my stash)
Addicted to Stamps: CAS
Deep Ocean Challenge: One layer

Stomping Ground

Dinosaurs. My nephews love dinosaurs, so of course, I had to buy dinosaur stamps. The stamps sets used here are from The Alley Way Stamps, the Stomper set. I have been really looking for inspiration on this because I tend to use traditional colors when I color animals. I wanted theses dinosaurs to POP. Luckily, The Alley Way Challenge Blog has color inspiration. I started with a little bit of bone patterned paper and tore that with some darker orange to get the feel for the ground. 

The Alley Way Stamps also include SVGs, so both dinosaurs were stamped onto their SVG shape. No more fussy cutting!

I colored my dinosaurs with my Spectrum Noir Markers (TB 2 and 4 and OR 1 and 3).

I made the mistake of using liquid glass on the eyes, the application is somewhat cloudy. 

Originally, I had the blue background embossed with a star folder, but after seeing that circles were another inspiration for The Alley Wast Stamps, I went with a dot embossing folder. 

Challenges Entered

TAWS Be Inspired: Photo inspiration

STAMPlorations: Stamps and Embossing

CCEE Stampers: Make a scene

The Crafter's Cafe: Things with wings

Cards and More: Get well

Inky Chicks: 3 Stamps

Birthday Punnies

Do you ever get stuck in the rut of using only the same products? I do. So, this month is all about trying new products (and styles). The is my very first "new supply" It is a stamp set by Stampin' Up called Giggle Greetings.

I chose this particular set because I have tons of birthdays coming up this month. This particular card is for my very good friend, Alecia.

All of the patterned paper is from The Birthday Wishes Stack by SCWV.

I stamped the image and used a Spellbinders die cut to help the image to stand out. 

I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers: LY1, 2, 3; IB1, 2; BP1, and 2.

I used glitter on the light of the candle.

Embellishments: watermelon Skittles from DoubleClick Skittles and the yellow bow. 

Challenges Entered

Anything Goes with a Twist: Touch of Pink

Brown Sugar Challenge: Anything Goes

Darling Cardmakers: Sentimental

Addicted to Stamps: Holiday

Crafty Creations: Thinking of You

Red Rubber Inspirationals: Focus on Stamping