Birthday Wishes Card for Smeared & Smudged

Here's another card for my stint as a guest designer over at Smeared & Smudged.

It features Seriba, one of the digital Goth Fairies from Smeared Ink. She's available alone or part of a set.

Here's the card:


I decided not to go terribly Goth, except perhaps for her green hair. She was colored with Copic markers. Glitter pens from Sakura were used on her wings and to edge the die cuts. The patterned paper is from the Sugar Rush 6x6 pad by Basic Grey. It has papers that matched the B60s series of Copic markers, which are one of my favorites!

The sentiment stamp is from Savvy Stamps. I love their fonts.

Thanks for visiting today.

This card shall be entered in the following challenges:
• Simon Says Stamp "Anything Goes" challenge.
• Outlawz Monday Greetings: "Anything Goes" challenge

Experiment! No black lines Copic coloring.

I've been very taken with the projects that I've seen online that use the "No black lines" Copic coloring technique. I saw a killer tutorial over on Lime Tart's blog.

I had only seen people colored this way, so being me, I decided to try this technique using one of my most favorite Bombshell Stamps, the ship from the Homeward Bound set.

Here it is!


I'll definitely be trying this technique again (in fact I have a project on my desk), with some modifications. First off, I need some full sized Memento inkpads since the small pads were a pita for this usage.

So, I stamped using London Fog Memento ink. The gray was a bit too dark, but I worked around it and made the sails gray and the clouds purple 'n pink using BV23, 20, and RV0000. I wasn't happy with the clouds, but it was late so I went to bed. The next morning I looked at it with new eyes and decided to keep going, so I did and am moderately pleased with it. The running lights and brightwork on the ship were touched with Glaze pen for dimension and shine and I used an Inkssentials White pen for the whitecaps/foam on the sea.

The map/compass Kraft paper is from the Ideology Kraft Resist stack. Love that stuff. I made a small sailor's knot using hemp twine and called it done. I will likely add a sentiment on a tag when I decide the recipient and occasion.

Thanks for visiting today.

I shall be entering this card in the following challenges:
• Simon Says Stamp "Anything Goes" challenge.
• Always Crafting "Anything Goes" challenge.
• Make it Monday: "Anything Goes"

Bombshell sponsors CPS Sketch #356!

Bombshell Stamps is this week's sponsor for CPS's Sketch #356 Challenge! Play along with their sketch and you can win a nice prize from Bombshell Stamps!

Here's their sketch:


Here's my take on the sketch!

As you can see, I flipped the sketch 90° because it worked better for the stamps that I wanted to use, which were the Classic Coupe and the "King of the Road Banner from the King of the Road set.

All images were colored with Copic markers. I'm not a big user of green as the main color of a card, but it is March and March is green! I used a mix of YG & G series markers and am pleased with the way it came out! The "sky" was sponged with Memento ink and the "road" was sponged with my beloved Black Soot Distress Ink.

The map is a real out-of-date map that had gotten semi-trashed with a coffee incident. I rescued it and upcycled. Yay.

Feel free to play along with this sketch and then share it with us. You never know if your work will be spotted by our Roving Prize Patrol reporter!!!

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall be entering this card in the following challenges:
• Outlawz Promarker/Copic "St Patrick's Day/Green" challenge
• Craft Your Passion "Anything Goes" challenge

Now for something completely different!

I was pleased to be asked to be Smeared & Smudged's Guest Designer for March. As the Guest Designer, I needed to set a challenge. I was feeling Steampunky, but it's March, which means that St. Patrick's Day is coming up. That means Green. Green also means recycling! So, here's what I came up with!




Close up of the Grumpie:


Close up of the forest for the trees:


This is not what I envisioned when I set out to Steampunk my Grumpie. I knew that I wanted to use my Alterations Gears die and somehow they turned into trees. The card then took on a life of its own and became a "nature scene" of sorts with proportionally mismatched elements. I can't decide whether it is juvenile or insane or both.

The Grumpie from Smeared Ink's Lil Grumpies set was colored with Copics, then cut out. I used a stylus on the back of him to make him puffy. Then I added a bunch of watch parts, gears, and gemstones.

The gear trees, birds, birdhouse, cat, wings, and banner were die cut from a lasagna pan that was unusable and in the recycle bin. The gears are Alterations by Sizzix. All other dies are from QuicKutz. The cat is an old punch. If you're trying this at home, remember that cut metal is sharp and has sharp edges that puncture flesh!

The bird, trees, and cat were colored with alcohol ink and heat embossed, which surprisingly made the metal hot enough to burn.

All metal parts were shaped the same way Grumpie was, with a stylus on the reverse. The roof of the house was embossed with an old QuicKutz folder. The birds and birdhouse. The cat has a yellow eye thanks to a Sakura Glaze pen. The bird and birdhouse have watch parts on them too.

Yeah. That's it. Actually, it's not. This was freaking difficult to photograph since it's so shiny. If I get a chance, I'll take it outside for a photoshoot. If not, not.

Now I'm really done. Really!

Thanks for visiting today.

"Stuff Happens!" -- Kraftin' Kimmie Sketch Challenge

It's no secret that I love Drucilla by Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps. She makes me smile and totally appeals to me on so many levels. I love her facial expression -- innocence mixed a touch of malicious glee!

Here's the sketch:


Here's my take on it!


I colored Drucilla with Copic markers so that she'd match the patterned papers from the Material Girl 6x6 pad by Cosmo Cricket. I airbrushed the background with my new BG90, but was having a bit of technical difficulties, which resulted in some splotches and mottling. I put together the card, popped the stamped die cut up onto dimensionals and then realized that "Oops! I forgot to add the rub-on sentiment." So I added it and it came out crooked and wonky. Oh well. Perfection is overrated.

BTW, the rub-on is from Wordsworth. I thought it works well with the stamp, though I still love "Karma's Helper" as a sentiment.

Thanks for visiting today.

I shall enter this card in the following challenges:
• Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog: Challenge #117 Sketch
• Simon Says Challenge Blog: Anything Goes

Howdy!

I had a few stamped and embossed Sheriff Pin-Up images left from my Wonder Woman card, so I decided to use them. I followed a sketch from the Outlawz.

Here's the sketch:


Here's my take on it! (I did flip it 90°.)


I colored the Sheriff Pin-Up from the Retro Cowgirls set by Bombshell Stamps with my Copic markers.

The patterned papers are from the Lost & Found Portobello Road 6x6 pad by My Mind's Eye. The patterned paper that I used for the die cut and for the rectangles was just perfect since it had horseshoe/spur thingies on it. (Can you tell that I'm not a rider?). The rectangles were heat embossed with several layers of embossing powder to make them look like tiles.

All edges were edged with seasonal Spruce Distress ink. The strip of patterned paper under the die cut was stamped with a Hero Arts Thank You stamp using Old Paper Distress Ink. I wanted a text stamp and that was the closest at hand!

Thanks for visiting today.

I shall enter this card in the following challenges:
• Outlaws Wednesday, February 29 Sketch challenge
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog's Anything Goes challenge

For S---s & Giggles sake...

I feel like a genius because I created a layout in 2004 using a technique similar to The Tim's March Tag Technique ! He's my hero, so I'm feeling very smug at the mo. *giggle*

Check it!


Mine has scraps of beloved Basic Grey patterned paper cut into linear pieces, adhered to a Xyron covered piece of cardstock, rust Antiquities Embossing powder, but no Glossy Accents.