Paper Smooches Sparks "Anything Goes" and the Card Concept "Butterfly" theme

Hello Everyone,
I am thrilled to be able to get a post in before the weekend. Today I was "sick" - I had an appointment and instead of going back to teach, I took the whole day. My husband was off too and we spent the day running errands - believe it or not it was actually fun! First of all, it was/is a gorgeous day - sunny and 5c... I just love being on the + side of zero. Secondly, we got tons done that we would have had to do on the weekend! I love that our weekend time is now freed up. It also meant that I got to spend some time in my craft room during the week - YAY!

I just got a shipment of goodies from Paper Smooches and I am loving every last little thing that I ordered. So I played with these items a little more. When I saw that the challenge over at PS Sparks was "Anything Goes", I was thrilled - more reason to play with my new goodies. The new Card Concept challenge is to use butterflies. This card combines my new PS "Bold BUzz Words" with the butterfly theme. I think it fits with clean and simple and the clean and graphic styles. I saw this fade-out sponging over on Laura Bassen's blog and just knew that bold buzz words would be perfect for this technique. I think it would be a great technique/stamp set combo for a card set - I love bringing card sets as hostess gifts when we go to dinner parties. I used distress inks for the sponging - masked off the strips with Post-it tape. The sentiment was white embossed and then ironed off. The butterfly is a Memory Box die and is colored with Wink of Stella glitter brush pens. The glitter does not really show up in the picture, but looks great in real life.

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

Happy Stamping,
Meg

*Tim Holtz Distress Ink PAD SPICED MARMALADE Orange Ranger	Bold Buzzwords	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD PICKED RASPBERRY Ranger SUMMER	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD MUSTARD SEED Yellow Ranger
*Clearsnap Colorbox CLEAR Embossing Powder 10175	*Memory Box PIPPI BUTTERFLY Craft DIE 98508	*ZIG Wink of Stella GLITTER DARK PINK Brush Tip Marker 025221	*ZIG Wink of Stella GLITTER ORANGE Brush Tip Marker 025283

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Muse and Paper Smooches Sparks!

Hello
Everyone,
It is Saturday and even though I have lots of marking and planning to do for the upcoming school week, I decided to procrastinate a  little... I just received a delivery from Paper Smooches and could not resist getting inky! This card is inspired by the Muse challenge and by the PS Sparks Designer Draft.

I took a little liberty to play with the sketch at PS Sparks a bit. Over at Muse the inspiration card has this gorgeous sponged background with a striking white focal image. I love this combo. My colour choices are quite different, but I tried to emulate the blended gradient change from dark to light. I used the wonderful "Quotables" PS dies to create the speech bubbles. This is to emulate the white image in the Muse card. For the PS Sketch it was the side by side squares that made me think of the side by side (overlapping) speech bubbles. I am in love with this owl too - she is from the new PS set called Hooties. I added some eye lash extensions and and a little Wink of Stella "eye shadow" - just to glam her up a bit. I think she is stinking cute.

The sentiment is another new PS set called "Bold Buzzwords". Be sure to stop by both challenges. Thanks for stopping by here... I always love to have the feedback!

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Hooties	Quotables Dies	*Copic SKETCH 72 PC SET A Markers AAAS72A	Bold Buzzwords
*Tim Holtz Distress Ink PAD SPICED MARMALADE Orange Ranger	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD PICKED RASPBERRY Ranger SUMMER	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD MUSTARD SEED Yellow Ranger

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CAS 3: End of Class: One Technique Three Ways

Hello Everyone,
I am so sad that CAS 3 is done :( I loved this class... Well I love all the online card classes. If you haven't checked them out, you really should. I sign up everytime they announce and I am never disappointed. I love all the techniques they teach, but really it is the little tips/tricks that are revealed that I find the most valuable - so even if you think a class topic is not for you, take it anyway as you will be  surprised how much you learn! So on the last day, they did one stamp four ways. I wanted to catch up on some of the techniques I had missed, so I did one technique, three ways!

Anyway...I had not tried the sponged mosaic that was demoed on Day 5 and Day 10. I knew that if tried the embossing powder version, I would end up with a mess. Instead I tried the sponged version shown on Day 10. I masked off my pattern and then sponged with distress inks. I must say that I like the soft result, but found it very hard to sponge in those small geometric shapes. I also found it hard to keep the colours from overlapping. The end result, was okay, but the process was a little frustrating. That prompted me to look for other ways of colouring this mosaic background.

My eyes fell upon my Wink of Stella glitter pens...So, I decided to try those. I masked off the design and started colouring. These are not the brush tip pens, but are more of a fine tipped marker. I like the sketchy look it creates - my husband thought it looked a little messy! Whatever! I prefer the vibrant colours and the sparklyness - it was also easy to do.

Lastly, I used my Inktense watercolour pencils (LOVE these pencils). Same as the other cards, I masked off the design and coloured. I used watercolour paper for this as these pencils definitely work best on Watercolour paper. I think this is my favourite version.

I am also thinking that Distress Markers spritzed with water cold be really cool or even using my copics to create a blended ombre look - Hmmmm... I will have to try those later!. Thanks for stopping by - I love to hear your feedback.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

*3M Scotch ROLL GREEN MASKING TAPE Post-It Adhesive 2650-G	Handwritten Notes Photopolymer Stamps	*Derwent 12 INKTENSE COLORED PENCILS Watercolor 0700928	*Zig WINK OF STELLA 6pk Fine Glitter Pens
*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD PEACOCK FEATHERS Ranger SPRING	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD MOWED LAWN Ranger SUMMER	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD PICKED RASPBERRY Ranger SUMMER	*Tim Holtz Distress Ink PAD SPICED MARMALADE Orange Ranger
*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD RIPE PERSIMMON Ranger FALL	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD MUSTARD SEED Yellow Ranger

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CAS 3 Day 11: Combining techniques

Hello Everyone,
So, this card doesn't highlight the techniques from day eleven exactly (I did use masking) - but, it does combine some techniques in a fun way. I just can't get enough of plaid stamping (as is evidenced by my recent posts) and am having so much fun with it. So, Combined that with inlaid die-cutting and then added a twist.

First I created my plaid panel using the technique that Laura B showed early in class. I decided to make it a solid plaid with no white space. I then die cut the "Hello" from it. I really loved the way the plaid hello looked and set it aside. I cut a second senitment from white cardstock to inlay in the plaid panel. It looked nice - crisp white juxtaposed with the bold plaid. Then I had a thought - what if I off-set the plaid Hello to create a shadow effect and did plaid on plaid. Icut a few more sentiments from white cardstock to layer and give some dimension and then adhered the palid die cut onto them - I just off set it a little. I am thrilled with the way it turned out. It was hard to photograph, but it looks really cool in real life.

I must say that I just love these online card classes. I love the inspiration, the learning, and the exposure to other blogs and stampers.

Happy Stamping,

*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD MOWED LAWN Ranger SUMMER	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD RIPE PERSIMMON Ranger FALL	*Tim Holtz Distress Ink PAD SPICED MARMALADE Orange Ranger	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD PEACOCK FEATHERS Ranger SPRING
*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD MUSTARD SEED Yellow Ranger	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD DUSTY CONCORD Purple Ranger	*Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember�® BIG HELLO Craft DIE s203

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Muse, Simon Says Glitter, and Little Tangles

Hello Everyone,
I have been so busy posting for the CAS3 Online Card Class that I fell behind on challenges last week. So, I did not want to miss them this week. When I saw Marion's great Muse card, I immediately fell in love with it. The ideas have been percolating all week. I knew that I wanted to use the rainbow colours and the bold black "Hello". I dreamt this card the other night and finally got into my craft room this morning. In the meantime I saw that the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp is "Glitter It" and that at Little Tangles it was to create a card and envelope. So, I am entering this card into all three. I used some of the techniques I learned in the online card class too (inlaid die-cuts).

So, to create this card I stamped the hello "brick" background with Neat and Tangled's "On the Strip" using a rainbow of Hero Arts Shadow inks. Then I die cut the Simon Says "hello" from the panel. I die cut four more Hellos (3 in white and 1 in black) and inlaid them. This way I get a seamless layered look. Lastly to add a bit of glitter, I added a layer of clear Wink of Stella to my sentiment. I must admit that I love my Wink of Stella clear pen the best - which means I go through them way to quickly!

For the envelope, I used my We R Memory Keepers Envelop Punch to make a standard size envie - I custom made it because I felt the weight of a regular envelope might not stand up to all the ink. I masked off a rectangle in the center for the address and used N & T's " On the Strip" again. I think this would make a geat card set to give away!

I am thrilled with the way the card turned out. Thanks for stopping by - I love to hear your feedback.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

*Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember�® BIG HELLO Craft DIE s203	On the Strip	*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad TIDE POOL Mid-Tone 2012 AF223	*ZIG Wink of Stella GLITTER CLEAR Brush Tip Marker 025320
*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad RED ROYAL Mid-Tone 2012 AF225	*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad ORANGE SODA Mid-Tone 2012 AF224	*Hero Arts SHADOW Ink Pad SOFT LILAC Purple AF134	*PRE-ORDER We R Memory Keepers ENVELOPE PUNCH BOARD
*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad BUTTER BAR Mid-Tone 2012 AF207	*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad NAVY Blue Mid-Tone 2013 af234	*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad GREEN HILLS Mid-Tone 2012 AF209	*Neenah Classic Crest **110 LB** SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE Paper Pack 25 Sheets

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