Organic Silhouette

Happy Saturday! I hope you are having a great weekend. I dug out a few of my favorite SU sets, Organic Grace and Pocket Silhouettes, to make this card. I accidentally deleted the step by step photos (oops!), but I'll give you a quick run down of what I did.

I sponged the background, starting with Memento Cantaloupe in the center. Then sponged Angel Pink, followed by Summer Sky and finally Danube Blue. The silhouette was stamped several times with Garden Green and the dragonflies were colored with Copics.

Since I don't have a bunch of step by step photos to share with you today, I'll post some pics taken during our kayaking trip on Friday.

We went up Baum Lake, near my mom's house and kayaked with my step dad, Glenn. There were tons of noisy Canada Geese up there.

There were several of these nesting platforms. I think all the goslings have left their nests by now, so this one must have just been resting there.

As we approached a bend in the river/lake I snapped this photo of Glenn, just to the right.

Then I took this photo looking straight ahead. Check out that cool snag in the water.

And here is a close up of that snag after we got closer. It was covered with tons of turtles. Several had already been startled off the log before I got my camera back out.

We saw a bunch of white pelicans, too. After kayaking, we went back to my mom's and had lunch and a good visit. Thanks for letting me share. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Happy Tag

I decided to go challenge hunting this morning and found some fun challenges to play along with. I always work faster when I'm doing challenges, because normally, I spend waaayyyyy too much time trying to decided what I am going to do. Challenges take some of the decision making away from me and really speed things up. I bet a lot of you are like that, too.

The challenges I am joining in on are...

CPS - Sketch challenge
Stamp Something - Something Flowery (oops, I was late on this one)
Paper Play Challenges - Anything Goes (well this one was rather easy!)
Flutter By Wednesday - Butterfly, Fairy or Angel

I have been wanting to make more tags lately and finally got around to doing one. I really want to do a bunch of Christmas themed tags to place on packages this year, so I hopefully I'll get started on those soon.

I stamped the daffodils, from Sending Sunshine, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then colored with Copics, starting with YR07 where I wanted the most intense color.

I added Y17.

Filled in most of the way with Y23.

I used a blender pen to smooth out the highlights, then used YG03 on the foliage.

Used YG95 to add some shading to the foliage.

For the background, I sponged Memento Cantaloupe ink on Pure Luxury White cardstock.

I stamped the sentiment in black and butterflies in Memento Tangelo.
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Decided I needed another butterfly and then added the scallop border, from In Stitches, also using Memento Tangelo.

I cut out the daffodils and then adhered them using Pop Dots. I layered with Pure Luxury Tan Leather.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great day!

Wishful Cattails

Hiya! I have a masculine card today. I'm hosting a CHA Envy challenge at StampTV and this is my sample card. The challenge is to use a stamped image sideways, upside down, or at a different angle than it's normal orientation. I hope you'll pop over and play along. I'm offering up my stamp set, Hope Grows as a prize to one random winner.

To make my card, I inked up the cattail image, from Life is Good, with Memento markers. I used Bamboo Leaves on the foliage, Rich Cocoa on the ends and Danube Blue on the water ripples.

I cut out the image with rectangle Nestabilites and then sponged Memento Summer Sky.

Sponged Memento Danube Blue.

I stamped the sentiment, from Tag Lines, sideways on the background, then layered with Pure Luxury White and Black Onyx. the card base is Baby Boy Blue. The two lines are scraps of In The Navy. Yep, I'm still into using those narrow scraps as design elements.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope your day is filled with happy thoughts!

Guest Designer Janice Whiting

Hello. Today, I am so excited to share this gorgeous card from one of my very talented guest designers, for Aloha this month, Janice Whiting! I just love the way she colored the toucan. The colors are so vibrant, I was sure it was Copics, but she told me she used Prismacolor pencils! I love the beautiful floral background she created, along with the CB embossed card base.

I asked Janice a few questions to get to know her better...

How long have you been stamping and how did you get started? I dabbled in acrylic stamping a little bit when I was scrapbooking, but I've been officially stamping for about about 9 months now. I discovered StampTV at about that time and after getting my first GinaK Designs stamp set, I was hooked!

What are your favorite kinds of projects/techniques? I love card making! It is just such a great way to share my art and thankfulness for the people in my life. My favorite technique is paper piercing. I into details so the more intricate the design or the more cutting that I have to do that more I enjoy creating it!

I just love this party favor that Janice made for her son's tropical themed birthday party!

How do you overcome loss of mojo? Oooh, tough question! I usually just look at the images I want to use and think of color combinations that would work it. Once I've tackled that the design part is usually easier for me. I like to just get a "feel" for the images and let them take me where they will! :)

Do you enjoy challenges and, if so, what are your favorites and why? I do enjoy challenges! I love all the StampTV challenges, especially the Color Challenges. Those Challenge Hostesses are super talented and are always coming up with great inspiration for us. I also enjoy participating in the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenges. I love being built up in my faith though their challenges and creating projects that encourage others in God. The other challenge I like to participate in is the Moxie Fab World: Trigger Tuesday challenges. Cath comes up with the greatest triggers that are just so inspiring.

Isn't this card fabulous with the burlap background and brightly color flowers?

What are your "go to" tools? Hmm, I almost always use my kraft knife in some form or fashion! Of course, my Copic markers are a MUST!

What or who inspires you in your crafting? I am inspired by many things: beautiful images, certain color combinations, pretty embellishments or designer paper, anything vintage or shabby chic-ish.

 Thank you, Janice! I loved reading all about you and seeing all your fabulous projects! A huge thanks to both Janice and Vicki for a wonderful month of tropical inspiration!

Now let's head over to Janice's blog to see another gorgeous toucan card!

Thanks for the visit. I hope your day is wonderful!

Tropical Fun

Hiya, stampers! I just got back from a fun weekend visiting friends on the central coast of California. We had a great time chatting, playing games and even golfing for the first time in about 10 years. I'm working on getting caught up on my emails, but I did find a little time to sneak in a card today.

I used images from Aloha to compliment this background made with Melanie's Fun Year Round background stamp. I even tucked in a few leaves from A Year of Leaves. Love how versatile that set is!

First, I stamped the large circle background stamp, from Fun Year Round, with Versa Mark ink, so my embossing powder would stick, then I heat embossed it with clear.

After embossing, I used my Jumbo Sponge Daubers and sponged with Memento Angel Pink ink.

Sponged with Memento Rose Bud ink, keeping it darker on the lower half.

Sponged with Memento Cantaloupe ink, on the lower half.

Sponged with Memento Rhubarb Stalk.

Stamped the palm tree from Aloha.

Colored the palm fronds and foliage with Copic marker YG95.

Colored the trunk with E57.

Stamped the texture image several times with Memento London Fog.

Added some shading over the sand with W1.

Darkened some of the shading, particularly under the tree, with W3.

For the hibiscus flower, I started with Y17 on the stamen.

Then I colored in the petals with YR000. I really saturated the center in anticipation of adding a super dark color that I knew would be hard to blend. I sometimes find it easier to blend darker colors if I have the paper pretty saturated ahead of time, with a lighter color, or blending solution.

Then I added my dark color, R89, to the center.

Added YR02 and went over the dark color, working in small circles to blend.

Then I added more YR000, over the last color, again working in small circles to blend.

I decided I wanted more shading around the edges of the petals, so I addend more YR02.

Added just a tiny line of R89 along the edges, then I used YR000 to blend again. As you can see I was completely careless about staying in the lines, since I planned to cut out my image anyway.

For the leaves, I started by coloring in with YG
03.

Added YG95 for shading and blended with YG03.

Used my blender pen to push in some lighter highlights.

I added the Aloha sentiment to the upper, right corner and popped up my flower and leaves with Pop Dots. I layered with Pure Luxury Black Onyx and used a Cranberry Tart cardbase.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a great day!

Harvest Apples

Hiya! Not my usual style, is it?  I went way out of my comfort zone on this one.  I played along with some of the Dare to Get Dirty challenges at SCS, hence the use of all that DP. Once I had it most of the way put together, I was so relieved I went ahead and glued everything down before thinking to add any kind of embellishment. I think it needs something more, but I was ready to be done. It was stressful using all that DP!

 I started by stamping the apple basket, from Autumn Blessings (JustRite Stampers) and coloring with Copics. I used R24 to outline the apples.

Added R22. 

Filled in with R20. 

Then added some R89 for some deeper shading. 

For the leaves, I colored in with YG95, leaving some white space, then used my blender pen to saturate the highlights, allowing the green to seep in to those areas a bit. 

I did the same thing with the berries, using R89. (Later I wound up cutting out the image and left those berries behind- LOL)

For the basket, I started with E57 on the sides and along some of the lines. 

Blended in from there with E53. 

Then filled in with E51. 

Used E59 to add some deeper shading to the basket. 

Cut an oval, from Pure Luxury Ivory, with Nestabilities and then sponged a bit of Memento Desert Sand. 

Sponged Memento Rich Cocoa along the edges. 

I've had some questions about the way JustRite stamps work and, since a picture is worth a thousand words, I thought I would show you what they look like. Here you can see the oval mounting block with all the grooves. Then to the side is the back of the center image and the back of one of the oval frame stamps.

And here you can see what they look like when placed on the mounting block. The raised portion of the grooves fit right into the recessed portion. They fit like a glove and seem very secure, yet easy to place and remove.  This particular stamp set came with 6 center images and 6 coordinating borders, all interchangeable with each other for a variety of looks.

I placed just the center image on the block and stamped the image on the background. 

Then I colored the berries (again) and added some YG95 to the stems and W1 to add a bit of shading below the image.  Then I adhered the cut out image over the stamped background image, using Pop Dots.

Stamped the border on another piece of ivory cardstock. 

I layered with Memory Box Spiceberry DP and Pure Luxury Chocolate Brown, then used an Ivory card base.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a great weekend!