Along Came a Spider Photo Bomb

I mailed the ATC, a card, and a packet of goodies off to Sweden for the Stampotique Photo Bomb Swap run by Nikki Woodward. I found out today that it did arrive at its destination, though the recipient moved house and packed it away before taking a photo.

Here's "Along Came a Spider" Photo Bomb ATC with Stampotique's  Peace and Love with Words on the Side (Kate Crane)  and Mr. Stripes (Daniel Torrente).

Peace and Love's face and crown were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko) onto Neenah cardstock, colored with Copic markers, fussy-cut, and edged with black marker. Peace and Love's hair, dress, wings, arms, her heart, plus Mr. Stripes' body were also stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto patterned paper from the Sweet Threads 6x6 pad (Basic Grey), detailed with Copic markers, fussy-cut, and edged with black marker. The bits and pieces were set aside.

Peace and Love was stamped again onto grey cardstock and onto Eclipse Tape (Judikins). The Eclipse Tape version was fussy-cut and adhered over her counterpart. Watering Can Archival ink (Ranger) was sponged over the Stone Wall stencil (Green Pepper Press). Copic markers were used to deepen the color of the grout. Mr. Stripes was stamped onto the top part of the card. I went over Mr. Stripes' legs with a black Copic Multi-liner and then with a Clear Gelly Glaze pen to make them a bit more dimensional.

Peace and Love was paper-pieced onto her stenciled counterpart and Mr. Stripes' body was adhered and trimmed. The piece was edged with Black Soot Distress ink, then adhered to an ATC sized piece of black cardstock.

Here's the card that accompanied the ATC on its trip overseas.

Peace and Love was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, colored with Copic markers, then adhered to patterned paper from a 6x6 pad by Crate Paper. I decided to keep the entire card CAS this time.

I did have fun with this ATC swap and will likely do another in the future.

Thanks for visiting today!

Cinco de Mayo Challenge!

This week's challenge at The Outlawz Coloring Challenges is " Cinco de Mayo (Mexican flag colors, margaritas, Mexican culture, food)".  My Outlawz Coloring Challenge teammates, Carla, Penny, Karen, Vannessa, and I challenge you to use create a project for this challenge. You can use any coloring medium you like, just as long as you color! 

Our May sponsor at The Outlawz Coloring Challenges is Sweet Pea Stamps, who is offering our lucky winner three digis of his/her choice from the Sweet Pea Digi Stamp Store.  Play along with us for your chance to win!

I opted to use margaritas and the Mexican flag colors for my card, with  Martini Girl from the Frou Frou collection by The Crafter's Companion.

Martini Girl was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko) onto Neenah cardstock and colored with Copic markers. Clear Gelly Glaze pen (Sakura) was used to add dimension and shine to the margarita glasses, Martini Girl's shoes, and her pearls. Chalk pencil was used to add a touch of blush to her cheeks.

The patterned papers are from older collections by Fancy Pants, Bo-Bunny, and Authentique and were layered according to a sketch from Papertake weekly. "Cheers" was die-cut from green cardstock using the ever-useful Cheers die (Elizabeth Craft Designs.

Here's the sketch so you can see how I did.

Papertake Weekly Sketch #27

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:
• The Crafter's Cafe Challenges: Food or Drink
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges: Anything Goes
• Papertake Weekly Challenges: Take Your Pick

Photo Bomb ATC Swap!

Nikki Woodward, a very talented and organized lady, has been running ATC swaps over at the Stampotique Facebook page for a while. The latest ATC swap's theme is "Photo Bomb". I've been wanting to play along so I signed up and created an ATC and a card for each of my partners. One of the my partners, received hers, so I decided to share it on my blog.

Here it is with Stampotique's Smitten Mustache Monsters (Kira Nichols), Birdy Up (Kira Nichols), and NY NY (Janet Klein).

All three stamps, Smitten Mustache Monsters, Birdy Up, and NY NY, were stamped onto Neenah cardstock with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. Smitten Mustache Monsters and  were fussy cut, edged with black marker, and set aside. One of the monsters from the three Smitten Mustache Monsters and three of the birds from Birdy Up were set aside for another day and project.

The blue sky was added to NY NY and the cardstock was trimmed. Two of the Smitten Mustache Monsters were adhered in front of the NY NY to look as though they were posing with the city as their backdrop. The Birdy Up bird was adhered at a diagonal and then trimmed, which didn't hurt him much until I bruised his feelings by tossing the bottom part of his body into the bin. The edges were sponged with Black Soot Distress ink and then set aside.

A piece of scrap cardstock was covered entirely with Commute Idea-ology Tissue Tape, which consists of New York street names, trimmed to ATC size, then sponged with Black Soot Distress ink. The image panel was added to the front and a panel with the ATC info was added to the reverse.

I also created this card, with the same bird from Birdy Up plus Banner, (France Papillon) to accompany my ATC on its trip across the pond.

Both were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, colored with Copic markers, fussy-cut, edged with black marker, and set aside, while I created the background from scraps of patterned paper and die-cuts by Memory Box and Little B. The card was assembled, I packed up the puffy envelope with the ATC, the card, and some goodies, and hied to the post office to send it on its way. I did learn not to use puffy envelopes to protect the envelope contents because (a) I had to complete a customs form, (b) it cost more, and (c) it took longer to arrive at its destination. :(

The second ATC, card, and goodies has not yet arrived at its destination, so I might have to recreate the project. Oh well.

Thanks for visiting today!

That Dotty Queen of Everything

Samantha Read is our hostess this week at Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog. Her challenge is "Polka Dots". Here's what she had to say about this challenge.

"I included polka dots in a previous challenge and everyone who took part seemed to have such fun, I thought we could revisit them :) Have fun!"

If you'd like the chance to win your choice of $30 worth of Stampotique stamps, you should play along with this challenge. Visit Stampotique Designers Challenge blog and be sure to read the rules so that you'll have the chance to win that great prize!!

Here's my card with Stampotique's Queen of Everything with Words on the Side (Kate Crane).

The Queen of Everything was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto white cardstock and also onto the dot patterned sheet from the White Basics 6x6 pad (Basic Grey). The Queen of Everything's head, body, and wings were colored with Copic markers, fussy-cut, then edged with black marker, and set aside while I created a very dotty background for her.

The first step was to sponge Squeezed Lemonade and Wild Honey Distress inks over the Dot Burst stencil (The Crafter's Workshop) onto 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock (Strathmore). The stencil was lifted and clear embossing powder was heat set.

A few drops each of Translucent White, Primary Cyan, and Pthalo Blue Media Fluid Acrylic (MFA) paints (DecoArt) were added to the embossed panel, spread with a brush, and heat set. Cobalt Blue Hue, Translucent White, and Cerulean Blue MFA paints were sponged over the Dots All Around (The Crafters Workshop), Polka Dotty stencil (Wendy Vecchi) and the Dot Fade Layering stencil (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous), then wiped back with a baby wipe. This was done repeatedly until I was happy with the layering, coverage, and patterns. The edge of an old credit card was used to add lines of Tranlucent White and Cobalt Blue Hue MFA to the piece.

The painted cardstock was run through my Big Kick inside the largest Card Creator 5x7 Nestabilities die (Spellbinders) then edged with Translucent White MFA paint. The leftover painted cardstock was die-cut with the Double Scallop Border die (Die-namics) and edged with Translucent White MFA paint.

The Words on the Side from the Queen of Everything with Words on the Side stamp was stamped onto yellow polka dot cardstock (Bo-Bunny), then die-cut with one of the dies from the Fancy Framed Tags die set (Spellbinders).

Due to my mad math skillz and bad measurements, the border and the sentiment only fit along the bottom of the card front, so they were adhered there. Blue rhinestones were added to the sentiment die-cut to make it more regal.

The Queen of Everything was put back together with the sentiment grounding her dress and her crowned head in the dot burst. Clear Gelly Glaze pen (Sakura) was added to the buttons on her dress. Clear Stardust Glitter pen (Sakura) was added to the blue dots in her crown, then Clear Gelly Glaze pen was added over the glitter to make the blue dots dimensional, glittery, and glossy. The Queen of Everything's wings were coated with Clear Wink of Stella glitter pen (Zig/EK Success). The final step was to add the card front to a 5x7 white card.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:
• Craft Cardmakers and More Challenges: Dots
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenges: Anything Goes
• Stamps and Stencils Challenges: Anything Goes 
• Frilly and Funkie Challenges: Stencil Mania 

Springs

Valerie Wilson is our hostess this week at Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog. Her challenge is "Springs".  

Here's what she had to say about this challenge.

"In my town, there is still snow on the ground, but I'm hoping that if we keep thinking "Spring" really hard, that Spring will arrive! To encourage the arrival of Spring, I'd like to see you actually use springs or something that makes things spring up off your project!"

If you'd like the chance to win your choice of $30 worth of Stampotique stamps, you should play along with this challenge. Visit Stampotique Designers Challenge blog and be sure to read the rules so that you'll have the chance to win that great prize!!

Here's my card with Twinkie (Daniel Torrente), Hat Cube (Daniel Torrente), NY, NY (Janet Klein), Taxi! (Janet Klein), Barcode Text (France Papillon), and Super Hero Text (Linda Peterson).

I must admit that I was a bit stymied at first by this challenge, but then serendipity struck. My husband has an old Cross pen and it needed a refill. I unscrewed it to take the innards with me to Staples to be sure I got the correct refill. Lo and Behold! There was a tiny spring inside the pen! I didn't pirate that one, but we periodically get free retractable nib/ball point pens in charity mailings, though in all honesty I wish they'd keep the postage and their stuff instead of inundating us with unrequested things. Anyway, these pens work for about five minutes then run out of ink, so I tested the pens in our desk drawer. The pens that still worked went back into the desk. The pens that were inkless got stripped of their springs, which went up to the craft room to be used in this card and other future Steampunk-style projects.

Twinkie and one of the hats from the Hat Cube were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, colored with Copic markers, fussy-cut, then edged with black marker. 

While cleaning my craft room recently, I came across an old 8x8 pad, called Get Happy (Cosmo Cricket), which features painty-looking patterned papers in primary colors. I thought these papers would work really well with the way I had colored Twinkie and his hat. I started to layer the papers to create a scene, then decided that I wanted Twinkie to be flying over a cityscape after launching into the air by his springs.

Out came NY, NY, which was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto one of the patterned papers from the White Basics 6x6 pad (Basic Grey), fussy-cut, then edged with black marker. A strip of green patterned Get Happy paper was cut, edged with black marker, then layered onto a sheet of blue patterned Get Happy paper. I decided that the Road washi tape would be perfect, so I added that between the blue and green patterned papers. NY, NY was adhered over the washi tape. Then I decided that a taxi would look really cute. So out came the Taxi! stamp, which was stamped onto Neenah cardstock, colored with Copic markers, fussy-cut, edged with black marker, and adhered to the Road washi tape.

The blue Get Happy patterned paper had type on the left side so it needed some type on the right side to balance it. "Proof of Fun" from the Barcode Text set was stamped with London Fog Memento ink. 

Some clouds were needed in the sky, so white cardstock was cut with the Clouds trio of dies (Memory Box), detailed with grey markers, and adhered to the blue Get Happy patterned paper.

It was time for Twinkie to spring up into the air and fly over the city, but first his head got a bit of a trim and then his hat was adhered. A triangle cut from red canvas-textured specialty paper was hand detailed then adhered to Twinkie's back to be a super-hero cape. Foam tape (3M) was added to Twinkie's back and he was adhered in position over the cloudy blue sky. 

Super Hero Text was stamped with Jet Black Archival ink onto the striped Be Happy patterned paper, fussy-cut, edged with a black marker, and a 1/16" eyelet was added. Silver thread was used to connect the sentiment banner with Twinkie's hand and the sentiment was popped up with dimensional foam adhesive. Gold thread was used to add a gold metal spring (these pens only had gold-colored springs!) under each of Twinkie's boots.


The blue scene was edged with Black Soot Distress ink, then mounted onto diagonally striped Be Happy patterned paper. This was adhered to a 5x7 white card and the card told me it was finally done! 

BTW, I tried but couldn't get rid of the shadows caused by everything being popped up and dimensional. Oh well.

Thanks for visiting today!

A Fairy Merry Christmas card

This week's challenge at The Outlawz Coloring Challenges is "Anything Goes with an Optional Christmas Twist".  My Outlawz Coloring Challenge teammates, Carla, Penny, Laine, and I challenge you to use create a project for this challenge. You can use any color medium you like, just as long as you color! 

Our April sponsor at The Outlawz Coloring Challenges is Sweet Pea Stamps, who is offering our lucky winner four digis of his/her choice from the Sweet Pea Digi Stamp Store.  Play along with us using the palette below for your chance to win!

I've opted to do the twist, so here's my card with ching chou kuik's Holly Fairy.

 

 

Holly Fairy was resized in PhotoElements, printed out onto Neenah cardstock using my laser printer, then colored with Copic markers. Chalk pencil was used to add shading to her face and blush to her cheeks. White gel pen was used to accent the shiny bits on the holly berries.

The patterned paper, from an old My Mind's Eye 6x6 pad, was layered according to Sketch 297 from Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge blog. All edges were sponged with Bundled Sage Distress ink. My Celtic Band die (Cherry Lynn Designs) was used to die-cut red cardstock.

Here's the sketch so you can see how I did with it, though you'll note that I flipped it 90° to work with Holly Fairy.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:
• Crafting with an Attitude: Freestyle/Fantasy
• Die Cuttin' Divas Challenges: Garden Month
• The Christmas Challenge #57: Use a Digi

Spring Scene

Due to the late arrival of spring temperatures, the trees, shrubs, and spring flowers are finally blooming, so I decided to celebrate by creating a spring scene thank you card.

I started the scene by stamping the barn from the Nature stamp set (Andy Skinner/Stampendous) with London Fog Memento ink onto both Neenah cardstock and Eclipse Tape. The tree from the Nature stamp set was stamped on the right of the barn with a few branches slightly over the barn's roof. The Eclipse Tape version of the barn was fussy-cut and placed over its counterpart and the tree on the left was stamped.

The mask was kept in place and a cast-off curved piece of cardstock was placed over the base of the trees and the barn. The sky was then airbrushed using a B21 Copic marker, the Copic Airbrush System, and a torn piece of cardstock. The spray was directed over the torn top of the cardstock, which was then moved downwards, sprayed again, and so forth.

The curved piece of cardstock was flipped, positioned to cover the sky, and the grass was airbrushed using a YG13 Copic marker.

All masks were lifted and the barn and tree trunks were colored with Copic markers. Since the tree stamp from the Nature stamp set is a bare winter tree, a variety of YG Copic markers were used to add dots around the branches to look like leaves. Some tufts of grass were added here and there too. When I was happy with the spring scene, it was set aside for a bit.

Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna,  Quinacridone Red, and Titan Buff Media Fluid Acrylic (MFA) paints (DecoArt) were painted onto 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock (Strathmore) and allowed to dry. A layer of Media Matte Medium (DecoArt) was sponged over the painted cardstock and allowed to dry. White Media Crackle Paint (DecoArt) was unevenly brushed over the painted cardstock and allowed to dry. The unevenness (Is that a even a word?) of the Crackle Paint application resulted in a variety of crackling. The edges of the cardstock were lightly sanded to reveal even more of the painted cardstock. Some Frayed Burlap Distress and Aged Mahagony Distress inks were sponged over the crackled painted cardstock to add more visual interest.

A Vintage Lace Alterations Decorative Strip die (Sizzix) was used to die-cut brown cardstock. Dies from he Fancy Framed Tags 2 set (Spellbinders) were used to die-cut the brown and crackled painted cardstock. The Thanks die (Elizabeth Craft Designs) was used to die-cut brown cardstock.

The components of the card were assembled and that's all she wrote. 

Thanks for visiting today! 

I shall enter this card into the following challenges: 
• Artistic Inspirations Challenges: Anything Goes with a Twist of Spring
• A Gem of a Challenge: Spring is in the Air
• Crafts 4 Eternity Challenges: Spring