LOVE me a rainbow!

Hello Everyone,

Well I don't know what the weather is like in your neck of the woods, but in Perth we have been inundated with rain for the last few days. Not just showers either - outright downpours and thunderstorms. Fortunately this has left me with a great excuse to get crafty! With CASology's cue word this week - Rainbow - I suppose all this rain could be considered inspirational.

For today's cards I am combining two different challenges: Paper Smooches Sparks and CASology. Over at Paper Smooches Sparks it is a designer draft challenge. Here is the sketch to follow.

For my card I used Paper Smooches "Just a Note". I have had this set for awhile - loved it the moment I saw it and yet this is my first time really inking it up! I thought this would make a great card to keep in my desk at school. I love this big pencil outline image - just perfect for colouring. I used the challenge word from CASology for my colour scheme. the pencils are coloured with Copics and Distress Markers. 

Of course, I added a touch of Wink of Stella. 

I loved this concept so much, I simplified with a second card for CASology.

Thanks for stopping by - Love to hear your feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASology Rainbow: The Sequel!

Hello Everyone,
Here is my second card for the CASology challenge this week. I created this card by using the left over die cute from the previous card (see post below). I love the bold rainbow Hello juxtaposed by all the white space. I did feel that it needed something to ground it, so I added the black "sunshine" to it and I think it works perfectly with the rainbow theme. I layered the die cut on several white ones to add a little dimension. I also covered it with versamark and clear embossed it. I love the glossy look it gives.

Thanks for stopping by. As always, I love to hear your feedback.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

CASology: Rainbow - Hello Sunshine!

Hello Everyone,
I was so excited to see that this week's cue word at CASology is "Rainbow" - I LOVE rainbow colour schemes. So, I had just seen this amazing card over at "I'm in Haven". The moment I saw this card I loved it. So, I decided to use it as my inspiration and I made two cards. As, I want to enter them both in the CASology challenge, I will split them into two posts. Here is my first card.

I liked the angled stripes on the inspiration card and used that idea to create my background. I used the longest paint stripe from the Hero Arts stamp set "Brush Strokes". I used a variety of Stampin' Up and Hero Arts inks to create my rainbow. I die cut the word "Hello" from the focal panel and set it aside. Then I die-cut several white "Hellos" to create the sentiment. I layered these and covered it with Wink of Stella (my requisite need for glitter).  I love the juxtaposition of the bold background and the crisp white sentiment. Here is a close-up  of the little touch of glitter.

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you have enjoyed my creation. I love the feedback, so feel free to comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

On the Cutting Edge: Flower Power

Hello Everyone,
Just another quick post. Each week I keep meaning to participate in the new "Cutting Edge" challenge, and each week I keep missing the deadline! So, as soon as I saw the new challenge, I thought: "I am not missing this one!" What a challenge - the inspiration card is right up my alley.

I had a piece of paper on my table that I had water-coloured with Distress Inks awhile ago - I wasn't really thrilled with the way it turned out, so I just left it there and knew that at some point I would think of a way to use it. The flowers on the inspiration card gave me an idea - I punched a bunch of flowers from the piece.

To create the focal panel, I die cut the word love using the Paper Smooches "Love" word die and backed it with a piece of the same paper from which I punched the flowers. I stamped the "you" sentiment (from PS "Sweet Hearts") and then popped the flowers around it on foam tape. I mounted the whole panel on foam tape as well. The watercolouring was done with Perfect Pearls spritz - in real life the flowers have a little shimmer, but it was hard to capture in the photos.

I hope you like my take on the fabulous inspiration card. Be sure to pop by the Cutting Edge challenge. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Muse... Just Because

Hello Everyone,
I have been busy in my craftroom - reorganizing a bit. I love the videos that Jennifer McGuire has done on stamp storage etc... If you haven't seen them, you really should head over to her blog. I decided to get the label maker she uses, since I have a pile of new stamps on my table that I have not packaged and put them away ... the hold up is that I didn't feel like setting up and typing all the labels on the computer and I do like things to look "just-so" (otherwise I would just hand-write them)! Anal, I know. Anyway, this label maker is super-easy to use. All this to say that I have spent yesterday afternoon and this morning labeling my new stamps! I also made a label to go on the back of my cards with my name and blog address.

In the process of going through my stamps, I found a bunch that I had not used in awhile. I decided to make a couple of cards with these neglected sets.

Here is this week's inspiration card from the Muse challenge. It is Marion Vagg's design and is CAS sweetness.

I was inspired by that little owl, the blues and the hand drawn frame. This is the card I created:

I used the little dogwood blossom to mirror the owl image and offset the sentiment to create balance. I hand drew the frame - not all together happy with it, but, it is what it is! Overall, I really like the simplicity of this little card. The flower is from Penny Black's "Blooming Garden" and the sentiment is from a CAS-ual Friday set called "Loving Thoughts".

Thanks so much for stopping by - I would love to hear your feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Oops: missed it by that much... Monochromatic for the Paper Players

Hello Everyone,
It has been awhile since I have played along with The Paper Players; this week's monochromatic theme caught my interest and several ideas have been percolating in my head. I decided to tidy up/organize my stamping table and came across a piece of paper that I had water-coloured. When I made it, I wasn't really happy with it, but I kept it because I thought I would be able to use it at some point. I thought right! It was perfect to create this card for the monochromatic theme at Paper Players.

The "Thanks" die is from Simon Says Stamp - I love that it is big, bold and delicate all at the same time. I die cut it from the water coloured panel and then layered this on five white die cuts and inlaid it. I love the tone on tone this technique gives - a sentiment that is monochromatic with its background. I was going to put on some sequins, but nothing really looked right; so, I reached for my clear Wink of Stella and added a little sparkle to the sentiment.

I love the simplicity of this card - I think it would be equally beautiful in a colour wash of greens and blues!

Thanks for stopping by - I love to hear your feedback!

 edited to add: I just missed the deadline for the link up darn.

Happy Stamping,

Meg



Paper Smooches Sparks and CASe this Sketch

Hello Everyone,

Today I am playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks: Anything Goes and CASe this Sketch.

I die cut the hearts and sponged each with a base of Ripe Persimmon Distress ink; then I sponged around the edges with Picked Raspberry distress ink. I covered the large heart with a coat of clear Wink of Stella and then embossed it several times with clear embossing powder in order to create a thick glaze (covered teh heart with versamark and powder, heat and repeat). I die cut the word Love Paper Smooches) from the heart and then die cut it again from white and inlaid it.  You can really see the glitter of the Wink of Stella in real life.

 

 

I stamped the I and the U (PS "Mini Monograms") on the little hearts and then went over them with my white Uniball gel pen before clear embossing each one. I embossed the background white panel with my Swiss dots EF and put the card together. I love the way this turned out - a nice, happy love note.

 

Thanks for stopping by. As always, I love to hear your feedback!

 

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASology Guest Designer: Week 105 - Run

Hello Everyone,
I am so honoured to have been given the opportunity to participate as a Guest Designer this week for the CASology Challenge.

Well, when I saw that the cue card was run - I laughed. I love to run. I have done five half marathons and three marathons in my running career. Every Sunday my bestie and I go for a long run - anywhere from 10 to 18 km. Long runs are done at "chat" pace, so really it is an excuse to chat with my gal and then go for a big old breakfast and chat some more. So, with this in mind, I made this card:

I doubt that I will do another marathon - it is not the race itself that is the hardest part, it is the time and commitment you have to give to the training. I think this card is perfect for celebrating any mammoth accomplishment. To create it, I downloaded the image of the runner from the internet to my computer and transferred it to my Silhouette software where I created a cut file. I used the cut file to make a stencil and sponged the image on my card with Delicata gold pigment ink - this is the most sparkly gold ink ... I love it. Then I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Black Onyx and clear embossed it. The "Congrats" is from Winnie and Walter and the "You Did It!" is from an old Hero Arts sentiment set. To create balance, I made an asymmetric frame by sponging the top and left side of the cardstock with the Delicata gold and then layered on black. The 26.2 (# of miles in a marathon) is done with an old alpha/number set from Hero Arts. The focal image was then popped up on foam tape.

Be sure to head over to CASology to join in the fun. Thanks for stopping by  - I love to hear your feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg



Tag You're It #2

Hello Everyone,
Today i am playing along with the Tag You're It Challenge. It is a new challenge blog. I came across it via Laura Bassen's Blog. If you have not seen it, check it out. Here is the inspiration tag that Laura made:

I love the graphic background and the ombre effect she created with the sponged colour. I took my cue from these elements.

 

 

I used a Hero Arts background stamp called - well turns out that I am not sure what it is called. I didn't label it when I repackaged it! I will try to find it and will edit the name in. I inked up the background and white heat embossed it. Next, I sponged the background to create a similar ombre effect to Laura's. I used Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, and Ripe Persimmon Distress Inks. I used the largest leafy die from Papertrey Ink's "Turning a New Leaf" dies and die cut it from vellum. I wanted to keep the softness of the vellum, but I also wanted colour. So, I sponged it with Picked Raspberry and clear embossed it. I ran it through my Xyron sticker maker and adhered it to the tag. I love that the background pattern still shows through the leaves. Finally, I cut several of the Hugs die in black - this is a Simon Says Stamp die - and adhered them together. I attached this to the tag. I wanted to add a little sparkle - let's face it, I always want to add a bit of sparkle... so I covered the sentiment with silver Wink of Stella. Here you can see the added sparklicity!

 

I am super-pleased with the way it turned out. I don't often make tags, but I really enjoyed this! Don't forget to check out the Tag You're it blog and thanks for stopping by - feel free to leave a comment... I love the feedback.

 

Happy Stamping,

Meg



Muse: Watercolour Thanks

Hello Everyone,
This week at Muse the design inspiration is provided by Therese Calvird. here is the gorgeous card she created:

 

I love the purple and green of the flowers juxtaposed with the white space at the bottom. I flipped the design on its side and stamped my flowers along the side and added a slightly bolder sentiment. I just had to try out some new stamps for this card too. I used WPlus9's Spring Blooms and Winnie and Walter's Big Bold You. I stamped my flowers and leaves with distress inks and then painted over with water to create a watercolour look. I love the way it turned out.

 

 

My colour palette consists of Mowed Lawn, Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade. I remember when I bought my first distress inks I was trepidatious since I wasn't sure that I needed a whole different set of inks - All i have to say is I don't know what I would do without them. I use them all the time.

 

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. I love to hear your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment. Be sure to head over to Muse too.

 

 

Happy Stamping,

Meg



Wow! CAS-ology win!

Hello Everyone,
I am blown away to have been chosen as the winner of CAS-ology's glow challenge. You can see my card here.

Super-stoked! That card was special since I made it for my sister who is in hospital. I delivered it to her today - she will be thrilled to know she has a winning creation - haha!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Paper Smooches Sparks #2: Picture Perfect

Hello Everyone,
Here is my second entry for this weeks' Paper Smooches Sparks challenge.  Here is the inspiration photo:

It is a little bit more of a literal interpretation of the photo. I used the stripes in the photo as inspiration for the vellum stripes on my card (coloured with copics) and then added the swirly hello die from PS. Love this little hello and I think it adds the perfect balance to the  wide stripes. I did layer four die cuts together to give the greeting a little more dimension. A very simple and striking card - if I do say so myself!

Thanks for stopping by and would love to hear your feedback!

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Paper Smooches Sparks: Picture Perfect Challenge

Hello Everyone,
 This week at Paper Smooches Sparks there is a "Picture Perfect" challenge. Here is our inspiration picture:

I was inspired by the soft blue stripe of the center jar and made this card.

 

I used the white "Thanks" die cuts to create the "stripes" and popped that center blue as the soft blue stripe. Topped it with a little clear Wink of Stella to give it a bit of sparkle.

I love the clean graphic look. Although it is a simple card die-cutting, laying out and adhering all those die cuts does take time. As always thanks for stopping by and leaving me a comment!


Happy Stamping,
Meg

Warm Thoughts and Bright Clouds

Hello Everyone,
Today I am playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks "Anything Goes" and with Simon Says Wedensday Challenge: Clear.

I bought the "Clouds" dies from Paper Smooches a while ago - I have always loved the whimsical swirls. I die cut some for another card and didn't end up using them. I loe that the center of the cloud pops out; so, I decided to colour them and mix and match the centers and rims. I used different Copics to do the colouring. The sun is from a Lawn Fawn set called "Sunny Skies". I also coloured it with Copics. The perfect sentiment was found in my PS set "Sentiment Sampler". You may be asking: "Where is the clear component?"

 Well, it is on the sun and the clounds and gives that scrumptious touch of sparkle: Clear Wink of Stella bruch pen of course! A quick application of that and the card was complete.

Thanks for stopping by - I love to hear your feedback!

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Glowing with Love

Hello Everyone,
This week at CAS-ology the theme is glow. So for my entry I created this card with a glowing heart of love.

 

I die cut the heart from white cardstock (this heart is from a Kristina Werner design at SSS - it has a "thank you" overlay) and sponged the whole thing with Mustard Seed distress ink. Next I layered on Spiced Marmalade, leaving the center alone; then came Ripe Persimmon and finally just around the edges with Picked Raspberry. I think it really creates the "glowing" heart effect that I wanted. I stamped the sentiment - it is from TAWS "Speak Easy" set - in versafine Black Onyx and clear embossed it - I think the clear embossing really adds to it. It just deepens the black to pop more off the background. I layered the heart on four white hearts to give it some dimension. When I went to mount it on the card base it looked a little too plain, so I embossed the card base with a woodgrain EF from Stampin' Up.

I love the way it turned out. Don't for get to head over to CASology to check out all the amazing cards. Thanks for stopping by - I love to hear your feedback.

 

 

Happy Stamping,

Meg

 

 





Inlaid Die Cutting and Tone on Tone Stenciling

Hello Everyone,
Right off the top, I just have to say that I am so grateful that Virginia Lu started her Virginia's View challenges - I love them and am amazed at the fact that Virginia herself comments on every single linked project! I also want to give a shout out to Ardyth Percy-Robb whose beautiful cards inspire me all the time. Her card for the Card Fusion challenge inspired me to make this one.

I mentioned in a previous post that the end of the school year was a little crazy. One of the reasons is that one of my big sisters is in hospital at the moment and really fighting hard for her life - she was visiting her son in Toronto, when she ended up in hospital with a blinding headache. While she was at the hospital they discovered not only that she had a brain aneurysm, but it had ruptured. She was whisked into have brain surgery and thank God, she survived that. It has now been almost three weeks - which is the time when most complications occur - and we have had many ups and downs. I am happy to report that she has been stable for about a week now and is almost ready to have her ventilator removed (so she can breathe on her own), she has regained movement on both sides of her body, and she is aware to be able to write little notes. It has been difficult not to be able to see her all the time (we live in the Ottawa area about 4 hours away), so part of what gives me solace is making her cards. This one is for her, because she needs all the "hugs" she can get.

I was thrilled to see the colours and the sketch for the Fusion Challenge - Nuala, my sister, loves bright bold colours - so this is right up her alley. I also wanted to try the tone on tone stencil technique that Jennifer McGuire demo'd over on Virginia's View. So, I combined everything. I masked and  sponged the thin black stripes with Black Soot Distress ink. Then masked off the top trinagle and sponged the bottom with Broken China; then, I overlayed the stencil and sponged again with Broken China. I love the soft look this creates. Finally, the die-cutting. I used the Memory Box Tilth Flower and die cut it from the main panel. Then I die-cut one in black and one in white. I inlaid the black flower to the main panel. I sponged the white die-cut with Ripe Tomato and Fired Brick Distress inks, then inlaid the centres of the petals into the main panel. The last addition was the Hugs die (SSS) - it has four layers of white topped with black. Last, since I got a new Wink of Stella clear brush tip marker - I had to add it to the sentiment and to the center of the flower. I am sure that my sister will love this card.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I love to hear your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

More new goodies: Viginia's View - Die Cut

Hello Everyone,
Here is the second card I made. I had two purposes in mind... one Virginia's View Die Cut challenge and of course an opportunity to play with more of my new goodies. Yay NBUS!

I have wanted this IO die set for a long time. So, I finally bit the bullet. I am so glad I did. I think the simplicity of the image is just stunning - especially for quick and easy Christmas cards. This was quite straight forward to put together. Simply die cut the trees and bird from white card stock; stick the trees to a piece or Neenah Desert Storm paper; colour the dear little birdy red - pop her on and layer away. Presto, one simple, but beautiful card (if I do say so myself!).

I chose not to put a sentiment on the outside, but you could easily add a banner of some kind. I think I will end up putting the sentiment on the inside.

Thanks for stopping by - it is so nice to get the mojo going again.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

New Goodies!

Hello Everyone,
At the end of each school year to celebrate summer, I always get myself a little present. This year it was an order from Simon Says Stamp! With our move to a new home, and my DH's graduation from college (he now has an MBA, a Phd, a degree in wood production engineering and finally is now a certified heritage carpenter!), it has been a frugal year with not much room to purchase new toys. So, I have been chomping at the bit to get my hands on some new goodies - especially embossing paste and some stencils. Of course I also got some new stamps, and dies too.

Today, I was able to sit in my craft room and play. I made two cards. The first is shown here and was created with the Virginia's View Die Cut challenge in mind and with Addicted to CAS' sky challenge. Here is the process.

I sponged the sky background with distress inks: Black Soot, Dusty Concord, Broken China and Peacock Feathers. Next, I used my new embossing paste and Falling Stars stencil from SSS. Finally, while the paste and the background were still wet, I covered the whole thing in Irridescent Ice embossing powder (from SU!) - it is so sparkly in real life, I just love it.  I die cut the little houses from a memory box die - probably one of my all-time favourites. The sentiment is from the Impression Obsession stamp set "Merry and Bright". It is stamped in Versafine Black Onyx and embossed with Irridescent Ice as well - this gives the sentiment the most glorious subtle shimmer. I really am pleased with the way the whole thing turned out. The sky just turned out so well - it is hard to see in the picture, but the progression from black to purple to blue is really pretty. I love that die cuts make stunning simple. I don't know what I did before we had this great range of wafer thin dies.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I love to hear your feedback.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

I'm Baaaaaaack! PS Sparks Anything Goes and Happy Birthday Darnell!

Hello Everyone,
Goodness - I can't believe I have been away for so long. The end of the school year was crazy busy and my craft room has been woefully neglected. BUT - what better reason to get crafty again than Darnell's Birthday. I am joining in the linky celebration over on Ardyth's blog. If you have not been by Darnell's blog - you really need to go right now! Her card-making is second to none, but her posts are always hilarious and fun. I often find myself laughing out loud and reading excerpts to my husband.
                                                        
I am linking this up to this week's PS Sparks challenge too. I crafted this card with Darnell in mind - this little owl from the Hooties stamp set was my top choice for Darnell's card. I love this owl - normally I don't go in for the super-cutesy animals, but this little lady is my fave. It is hard to tell from the picture, but she glitzed up for Darnell's birthday - she has her pink glitter eye shadow (to match her feathers) and she is sporting some orange glitter "toe-nail" polish too!

So.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARNELL!

Happy stamping,
Meg