Set Sail

During the week I was playing around with some techniques and I tried the straw technique, where you basically blow re-inker around on glossy paper using a straw.  For my piece, I used this week's Splitcoaststampers color challenge, which was to use River Rock; Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy.  It's hard to tell but there is some River Rock on this piece LOL.  To add a little something to the piece, I also used the Faux Mother of Pearl technique and scrunched some plastic wrap and dabbed on some Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, which you can just see at the bottom left of the long panel.

I also used the sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and the Just Add Ink challenge to Just Add a background.  I figure my straw technique pieces count as background.

Pretty much everything on this card is retired or about to be retired (except Basic Black cardstock)!  I pulled out Set Sail as I thought a nautical theme would work with the background pieces.  The card base is stamped with a really old background stamp called Old World Map.  The little anchor is from the Happy Whale clearlits die and I have to confess that the anchor was the only reason I bought the die.

The sailor's knot was tied after Googling how to do it because it's been years since I last tied this knot.  I used the long retired Rope Twine which really adds to the nautical theme (and to the bulkiness of the card)!

Apologies to Allisa the sketch designer, but I couldn't make the horizontal panel work, so I decided to leave it off.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Set Sail; Old World Map
Cardstock:  Glossy White; Basic Black; Not Quite Navy
Ink:  Black Stazon; Not Quite Navy
Accessories:  Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint; Rope Twine; Happy Whale Clearlit Die; Not Quite Navy, River Rock, Baja Breeze Re-Inkers

Cheers
Karren

Coral Delight

This will be a quick post because I've just realised I have 1 hour before the linky tool closes on this week's Retro Sketch challenge.

For my interpretation of the sketch, I used a paper doily as the circular feature.  Because I couldn't get the bow to work horizontally, I went with a vertical look instead.  Hard to see in the photo, but I dry embossed the Old Olive strip with the Needlepoint Border EF.  The roses were made using a 1 3/4" circle punch.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Stamps:  Oh, Hello; Larger Than Life (PTI)
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Brights DSP; 2011-13 In Color DSP; Calypso Coral; Daffodil Delight
Ink:  Calypso Coral; Old Olive
Accessories:  Paper Doily; Calypso Coral Bakers Twine; Larger Than Life die (PTI); Basic Pearls; Jumbo Pearls; Corner Rounder; Needlepoint Border EF; 1 3/4" circle punch

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card received a Shout Out over at Retro Sketches

Swirly Mother's Day

Today is the last day of my week's holiday.  I haven't been in my stamp room as often as I would have liked, but have had a good week with my boys.

Here's a card I made using the sketch challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments, the Anything Sizzix challenge at SUO Challenges and the color challenge at Color Throwdown.

My Big Shot got quite the workout with this card.  I used the Honeycomb EF; the Scribble Swirl  Sizzlet; the Floral Fusion Sizzlet and the large Scallops Framelit.

To mimic the oval shape in the sketch, I paper pierced three ovals.  The DSP comes from a really old pack called Spring Showers.  When I look at the grunged sheets in this pack, I realise Stampin' Up! was ahead of their time with this paper!

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Something to Celebrate
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Spring Flowers DSP; Blush Blossom; Certainly Celery
Ink:  Basic Gray
Accessories:  Scribble Swirl Sizzlet; Floral Fusion Sizzlet; Large Scallops Framelit; Honeycomb EF; White Baker's Twine; Occasions Paper Piercing Pack; Basic Jewels; Jumbo Jewels

Cheers
Karren

Colorful Butterflies

Today was one of those days where everything stampy turned out badly!  I had several attempts this morning at different techniques and finally gave up in disgust at the results!  So finally I gave up on the techniques and made a CAS card - about as simple as they come!

I used the sketch from Nacho Average Challenge and some current and returning colors to make this very simple, but bright and cheerful card.

I punched Itty Bitty Butterflies out of Soft Sky; Pear Pizzazz; Calypso Coral; Perfect Plum and Island Indigo cardstock.  I cut a tone-on-tone banner and adhered that using dimensionals.  Then I positioned the butterflies across the card.  Three little rhinestone jewels on each butterfly and a simple sentiment finish the card.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Made for You
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Soft Sky; Pear Pizzazz; Calypso Coral; Perfect Plum; Island Indigo
Ink:  Island Indigo
Accessories:  Basic Jewels: Bitty Butterfly Punch

Ombre Congrats

This is my first day of my week off work, so what better way to start than with a card?  I chose the one-layer card challenge from The Paper Players and combined that the with color challenge at Splitcoaststampers, which is Melon Mambo; Elegant Eggplant and River Rock, to come up with this card:

After masking off both sides of the card base, I sponged River Rock ink on the bottom half of the exposed strip.  Then I sponged Melon Mambo along the whole strip and Elegant Eggplant on the top.  I went over and over with the different colors until I got a gradation of color that I was happy with.  A simple sentiment stamped in black finished off the card.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated):

Stamps:  Signature Greetings (PTI)
Cardstock:  Whisper White
Ink:  River Rock; Melon Mambo; Elegant Eggplant; Basic Black
Accessories:  Sponges

Monochromatic and Masculine

This is my second post today.  Scroll down for my Apothecary Art card.

The color challenge at Dynamic Duos this week is Basic Black and Basic Gray, with a dessert option of a masculine card.  I thought these colors would work nicely with the sketch challenge at Sketch Frenzy Friday, which was a color-blocking card.

I dug out some old retired Halloween paper, called Ghostly Greetings and an old retired set called Celebrate Everything.  Some not-so-old but still retired ribbon rounded out the card.

LOL it looks like this card has been photographed in B&W, but I can assure you it's color!

I white-embossed the word "celebrate" onto one of the pieces of DSP.  The dots on the bottom right are part of the pattern.  The scalloped border was paper-pierced and the soda pop top is a white-embossed bee on Basic Black cardstock.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Celebrate Everything; Collage Curios
Cardstock:  Basic Black; Whisper White; Ghostly Greetings DSP
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  White EP; Stiped Satin Ribbon; Large Scallops Edgelit; Soda Pop Tops; 1/2" circle punch

Cheers
Karren

Sahara Plum Wonder

Today I combined the Friday Mashup challenge with the sketch challenge at Seize the Birthday to come up with this card.  I also happened to use a new technique called Whitewash which I saw on Deb Valder's blog.  This technique is similar to the color wash technique, but I love the idea of using it on Whisper White cardstock, so you can color without pilling.  So, because this is the first time I've done this technique, I'm also linking to the Just Add Ink challenge to try a new technique.

I black embossed the image from Apothecary Art onto Whisper White cardstock, then colored using Whisper White craft ink and a blender pen.  Once that dried, I colored with Perfect Plum; Wisteria Wonder and Sahara Sand markers, using the technique on Deb's video.  Once that was done, I did something I very rarely do and glittered the image!  The ribbon and flower trim were dyed using Perfect Plum ink, water and rubbing alcohol, then dried in the microwave.

Mashup Challenge:

1. Create a card using the colors "Sahara Sand, Perfect Plum & Wisteria Wonder".
2. Create a card and "Mail or Deliver it to Someone Special".
3. Or Mash it Up and create a card with "Sahara Sand, Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder & Mail or Deliver it to someone special".

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!)):

Stamps:  Apothecary Art; Curly Cute

Cardstock:  Sahara Sand; Perfect Plum; Wisteria Wonder; Whisper White

Ink:  Versamark; Basic Black; Whisper White

Accessories:  Black EP; Apothecary framelits; Vanilla Flower Trim; White Organza Ribbon; Lacy Brocade EF; Holiday Frames EF; Square Lattice EF; Fancy Fan EF; Vine Street EF; Dazzling Diamonds

Cheers

Karren