PCC366 Paper Craft Crew Sketch Challenge with Stampin' Up! Free as a Bird

Hello and Happy Wednesday!  I've have been MIA with the Paper Craft Crew for a while now but I'm back and ready to dive in with a fun sketch challenge and the Free as a Bird stamp set from the Annual Catalog!  

I have to admit.. I really am a bird person.  Whenever my hubby and I go on vacation, I'm always taking pictures of birds.  My card idea started with a piece of Purple Posy Cardstock but I had to admit that I wasn't sure if there were many birds that were lavender or purple.  So... of course I googled purple birds and found out that there are! 

This little guy looked a lot like the little birds in the Free as a Bird stamp set so I went for it!

I used the floral and leaf images from the stamp set to make a background by stamping them with Versamark for a tone-on-tone look.  I used one of the Stampin' Up! Stitched Rectangle Dies to cut it into my background panel.  I layered that on a piece of Basic Black Cardstock and then adhered it to a Melon Mambo Cardstock.  I then stamped the birds on a branch image onto a piece of Bristol Smooth Cardstock with Gina K Designs Amalgam Ink and colored it with Zig Clean Color Markers.  The Bristol Smooth really allows the Zig Clean Color Markers to blend and it takes water really well.  Once the image was dry, I used one of the Stampin' Up! Stitched Nested Label Dies to cut it out.  *Currently The Stitched Nested Label Dies can be purchased with the Free as a Bird Stamp Set as a bundle! I used Stampin' Dimensionals to adhere to the layered card base.  I stamped the "hello" sentiment from the set with Versamark Ink onto Basic Black cardstock and heat embossed with White Embossing Powder.  I used Multipurpose adhesive to adhere the sentiment to the bird label die.  I added a Mini Dimensional to the left side that hung off of the label so support it.  Finally I added some Gold Glitter Enamel Dots that had been colored with a Melon Mambo Stampin' Blend and adhered them to the front of the card.  The Stampin' Blend alcohol markers dry so quickly that you can add them almost immediately to your card. 

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SIP #201 Color Challenge with SU Butterfly Gala

Hi there!  I hope your week is off to a great start.  My kitchen remodel is almost completely done which means that I am beginning to have a little more room in my craft room again!  It was tough with all of my kitchen stuff packed away and in my way for soooo long!  There are still some things I need to get done but it is so much better and I am finally getting some things unpacked and out of my craft room so that I can make my way to some of my stamp sets!  

This week over at Stamp, Ink, Paper  we have a color challenge for you to check out.

Aren't these colors beautiful?!?

Calypso Coral is one of my all time favorite colors and luckily for me I found a piece of retired Patterned Paper that looked to be a wash of it!  I'm back to using the April Paper Pumpkin floral on the background tone-on-tone again.  I just love this flower so I'm sure I'll use it a lot.  Sorry... not sorry!  lol   I heat embossed  the sentiment on the panel in black and then cut the panel out with my Stitched Rectangle Framelits.  The butterflies from the Butterfly Gala Stamp Set were heat embossed in Black on watercolor paper and then colored with Kuretake Zig Clean Color Markers with an aqua painter.  Once they were dry, I punched them out with the Butterfly Duet Punch.  And adhered just the bodies with Multipurpose glue so that the wings could be lifted up to add dimension.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

SIP #175 Gratitude with Concord & 9th Grateful For Everything Bundle

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  Well here we are in November and it's time to think about Gratitude over at Stamp, Ink, Paper! 

I decided that a Gratitude Challenge was the perfect time for the Concord & 9th Grateful For Everything Bundle!  Not only is the focal image in the set gorgeous but the sentiments are perfect for gratitude/thankfulness!

The sentiment I used on this card is my favorite and the font is awesome!!  The focal image in the stamp set is so gorgeous and very large!  I stamped the image with Gina K Amalgam Ink onto Bristol Smooth Cardstock and then colored with Kuretake Zig Clean Color Markers and then cut with the coordinating die.  Once I decided where I wanted the image on the DSP I cut it and will save the other part for another card!  I went a little crazy with three colors of flowers maybe??  I just wanted to add some colorful flowers since the greenery and wheat were pretty dull.  Hopefully it worked out fine.  I rally love it!  I adhered the image with Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive and then added three Pretty Pink Posh Clear Sparkling Confetti with Glitter Glue.  I added the card front onto a blue cardbase with some Fast Fuse and then tied some linen thread across the top with a small bow.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings!  Tina

PCC #305 Sketch Challenge with Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Kit August 2018

Hello and Happy Hump Day!  I'm over with my friends at the Paper Craft Crew with my take on a new sketch and using some new My Monthly Hero Kit Stamps and Dies!

My friends know how excited I was when I received my Hero Arts August kit because this is all about coffee and I LOVE all things coffee!

There are sooooo many coffee images in this cool set and just as many super cool sentiments!  I stamped my coffee image in Versafile Black Ink onto Bristol Smooth Cardstock and then clear embossed it.  I used Zig Clean Color Markers to color it!  I love how the zig clean color blends on Bristol Smooth... so beautiful for an amateur watercolorer like me!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

SIP Challenge #155 Summer Fun and Giveaway!

Hi Friends!  I have some super cool news to share!  Over at Stamp, Ink, Paper this week the top three Picks will get a free stamp Set! It's the Bold and Brushy Uppercase Alphabet!  (Must be in U.S. to win.)  Here's a picture of the cool stamp set to check out!  

There are sooooo many possibilities with this Stamp Set!  I LOVE Concord & 9th!  A matter of fact, I'm using a C&9 Stamp Set for this week's SIP Summer Fun challenge!

I'll tell you that I had a super busy birthday weekend and didn't have time to make a card until Monday night!  I whipped out my Pineapple Perfection Stamp Set and did a little coloring on Bristol Smooth Cardstock with my Zig Clean Color Markers and it was super fast and easy!

Now I don't know if a Pineapple made of flowers seems like fun to you but it does to me so I went for it!  The Zig Clean Color Markers blend so well on Bristol Smooth Cardstock.  If you haven't tried that combination I hope you will!  It really changed my world!  lol

Thanks so much for stopping by this week!  Blessings, Tina

PCC289 April Showers bring May Flowers with Concord & 9th Wonderful Florals Bundle

Hello Friends!  Happy Hump Day!  It's Wednesday which of course means time for another Paper Craft Crew Challenge!  This week we have some options!  The theme is April Showers bring May Flowers which can be about Baby Showers, Bridal Showers, Weddings, Springtime, Flowers, and even rain showers.  So many ideas with this one, right?

I decided to use my Concord & 9th Wonderful Florals Bundle because I have had it waaaaayyyy too long to have not even inked it up!

How fun is this bundle??  There are so many parts and pieces that there are options galore with it.   Believe it or not I kept mine pretty simple.  My stamping was done on Bristol Smooth Cardstock with Versafine Onyx Black ink that had been clear embossed.  I used my Kuretake Zig Clean Color Markers to color in my leaves, flowers and berries.  The die cut wonderful letters were stamped with the little striped stamp in Smoky Slate Ink.  I love the light gray paired with the Yellow.

I hope you have a fabulous day!  Blessings, Tina

SIP #147 Color It Challenge with Gina K Designs Stippled Flowers Bundle

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  I'm finally feeling better.  Yay!!  It took two trips to the Doctor with a total of four shots and seven prescriptions but I finally am feeling alive!  And almost as wonderful, it is actually warming up and I actually feel like I could enjoy being outside some!  Thank goodness!

So this week over at Stamp, Ink, Paper we have a Color It Challenge!  

I finally pulled out my Gina K Designs Stippled Flowers Bundle.  I needed to make a card for Jeff's Mom's birthday and it has such lovely flowers as well as a beautiful Happy Birthday in this set!

I did some stamping and coloring.. can you tell?  Some flowers were stamped with Versamark and embossed in white and others were stamped with Versafine Onyx Black Ink and clear embossed.  I used Bristol Smooth Cardstock for all of my stamping.  It really takes water well.  You can't soak it as much as watercolor paper but it is definitely the next best thing and it is such a beautiful white color.  (I also use it for my Distress Ink Blended backgrounds!)  The Embossing on the Bristol Smooth helps me with watercoloring because it gives me a raised edge to contain my color.  I used Kuretake Zig Clean Color Markers for all of my coloring.  The cool thing about stamping and embossing ahead of time is that I could sit in the living room with Jeff and color while we watched television.  Obviously I was a little more involved with the coloring than the television watching but at least I was in the same room with him.  After coloring I decided that the light purple was my favorite so I used those to make Jeff's Mom's card.  I think my second favorite was the white embossed flowers so I'll probably make something from those next!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

PCC285 Color Challenge - Coffee Because Adulting is Hard!

I've had a heck of a couple of days at work.  Today I was finally introduced to my new boss and 5 co-workers were fired all in the same day.  I really didn't have a lot of inspiration tonight to make a card for my Design Team project for Paper Craft Crew but somehow I pulled it together..  Here are the colors for the challenge.  You can pick 3 of these if you'd like to enter this week!

So my inspiration came from what else.. coffee!  I love coffee and today adulating really did seem hard so this is what I came up with.

The coffee cups were from a Gina Marie Coffee Stamp Set.  The Coffee Die and the Adulting is Hard Sentiment are both from Cas-ual Fridays Coffee Cup Fri-dies and Coffee Talk Stamp Set

The water coloring was done with Distress Inks at first.. Mustard Seed, Peacock Feathers and Dusty Concord.  I made the shadows with Zig Clean Color Markers and then darkened up the purple and turquoise with them as well.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

SIP #111 Beach Theme Challenge with Mermaid Kisses July 2017 FSJ Bloom Box

Hello and Tuesday!  As always, I hope you're week is off to an awesome start!  It is beginning to cool down a bit here in Middle Tennessee and I'm super happy about that!  Last weekend was truly a wonderful weekend with some nice breezes and I was even able to enjoy a little time with my windows open to allow some fresh air in.  Well... until my neighbor drove by on his riding lawn mower and my dogs started acting like they were going to tear down the screens on the windows.  I mean how dare he drive his lawn mower through our yard!  Most certainly the dogs were there to protect me from what could have been a devastating thrown rock through the window that could  caused me sudden death!  lol  I should be grateful, right??  Well that is when I decided to shut the windows and enjoy the air conditioning instead!   

This is a Tuesday so of course that means another Stamp, Ink, Paper Challenge.  This week is a theme that is dear to my heart... the Beach!  I love anything nautical!

There were seriously sooo many ways I could have gone with this one but I decided to dive into the July 2017 FSJ Bloom Box "Mermaid Kisses"!  I had recently seen a new stamp and die set that featured a mermaid tail so I decided to make a beach scene and use just the tail from one of the mermaids.  What do you think?

I started with a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Bristol Smooth Cardstock.  I used some post-it-notes to do my ink blending with Distress Inks.. starting with the beach portion that was sponged in Antique Linen.  Next the water was sponged in Broken China.  I used a Hero Arts Stencil and some Faded Jeans ink to add some depth to the water.   After masking off the water I tore some more of the post it notes to create the hills with Peeled Paint for the first layer and Iced Spruce over that.  I cut out a post it note circle to mask the sun and then lightly sponged some Broken China Ink onto the sky.  Afterwards I removed the circle and sponged a little Mustard Seed Ink into my Sun.  Super easy but I used a lot of post it notes. lol  Once I decided where I wanted my mermaid's tail, I stamped a few of the bubbles from the stamp set and added some Glossy Accents to them.  Next I stamped the largest of the Mermaids from the Mermaid Kisses Stamp Set onto a scrap piece of Bristol Smooth Cardstock using Versafine Black Onyx Ink and then Clear Embossing it.  I colored my mermaid in with my Zig Clean Color Markers.  I used an Exacto Knife to cut a slit along one of the waves to tuck the mermaid into the water so her tail was sticking up.  I used some Clear Wink of Stella to give it some sparkle.  I did some ink blending with Picked Raspberry and Mustard Seed Distress Ink onto a scrap of Bristol Smooth and stamped the Starfish from the stamp set on top.  I fussy cut out the starfish and added some Glossy Accents on top.  I adhered it onto my card front with some craft glue.  For the beach portion of my card I pushed my versamark ink pad onto that part of my card and then sprinkled some heat n stick powder on it.  I used my heat gun to activate the heat n stick and then used a salt grinder filled with Pink Himalayan Salt to add a salt (sand) layer over the heat and stick.  It looks so realistic in person. Finally I added some FSJ Sparkle Silk to the front.  Once my card front was dry I added it to a 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" piece of Dapper Denim Cardstock Mat.  Finally I added that panel to a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" 110# Neenah Classic Solar White Cardbase that was scored at 4 1/4".  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

SIP #92 Color Inspiration Challenge with Mama Elephant Organic Blooms

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  Hope you had a nice relaxing weekend that got your week off to a wonderful start!  My Hubby was off this past weekend and we got a lot of things done around the house.  It rained quite a bit both Saturday and Sunday which made it easy to get some things done inside for a change.  I love the weekends that he is off work.  It really makes me look forward to our retirement from our day jobs.  I'm hoping to retire at 62 and since I am almost 58, that's just a little over 4 years... not that I counting! lol  

Since today is Tuesday, it means it's time for yet another Stamp, Ink, Paper challenge.  This week we have a cool color inspiration challenge photo for you!

I loved the look of the stripes of color so I decided to add stripes of ink blending to my background.

I used the beautiful Mama Elephant Organic Blooms stamp set.  Not only do I love the floral image but there are a lot of awesome sentiments in it!  I can see myself using these sentiments a lot!

I started off with a top folding Neenah Classic Solar White 110# cardbase.  The top layer was a 80# Neenah Classic Solar White that has masked stripes for Ink Blending of Various Distress Inks.  My Organic Blooms image was stamped in Versafine Black Ink and clear embossed onto Bristol Smooth Cardstock.  The image was colored in with Zig Clean Color Marks and an aqua painter.  I fussy cut the image out.. that was not fun.  I need to check to see if Mama Elephant has dies for this one! lol  I layered a doily onto the striped layer and then adhered the floral image with foam tape.  The sentiment Happy Everything was first inked with Versamark and then inked with Blackberry Bliss (retired Stampin' Up!) ink and clear embossed.  I ran a long strand of Natural Twine across the top of my card and tied it into a bow.  I used the side of my scissors to add a little curl in the twine.  I then added a few different light blue Pretty Pink Posh sequins to bring in more of the lighter blue color.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

PCC 236 Shaker Card You're Nauti-Cool!

Hello!  Hope you're having a fabulous week!  I was beginning to think I would never get this post up!  There were some wicked storms that came through earlier today and the power was flickering off and on.  All three of our dogs were hiding in my craft room while I was finishing up my card.  My big 105 lb baby... Monty, is still in there.  He's my be a huge dog but he's a baby when there's a storm and wants near his Momma! lol

Of course, since it is Wednesday, it's time for another Paper Craft Crew and this week we have another fun sketch. 

I can tell you that pretty much anytime we have a sketch with a circle in the middle of it, it will end up either a shaker card or nautical themed card.  Well this time I ended up combining them!  lol

I just received the fun new Fun Stamper's Journey Stamp Set "Under The Sea" so I had to make a shaker card with an under the water scene!  I stamped and colored all of the images from this fabulous stamp set so look out.. there will be more cards.  These images were heat embossed with Gold Embossing Powder and colored with Kuretake Zig Clean Color Markers and an aqua brush.  My background for the under water scene was a piece of Neenah Crest Solar White 80# cardstock that had Broken China and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink blended onto it.  I spritzed it with water once done so get some pitting in the color and add some interest.  It looks super cool up close.  The sentiment You're Nauti-Cool is from the Avery Elle "Knotty" Stamp Set.  It has some awesome nautical sentiments that I love to use.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina

SIP Challenge #90 - Shaker Card - Elphie Selfie Again!

Hello!  I know I talk about the weather a lot but what in the world.. it was crazy this past week.  It was in the high 60's most of the week and then Saturday we ended up with a little more than an inch of snow.  By Sunday, it was sunny, the snow melted and it was about 50 degrees!  I'm hoping that is the end of the white stuff.  It's pretty but I've seen enough of it.  Looking at the 5 day forecast, it looks like we'll have a few morning cold evenings but up to at least high 40's or 50's during the day.  I'm so ready for Spring!   Since today is Tuesday, it is of course time for another Stamp, Ink, Paper Challenge!  This week is a Shaker Card challenge!  I love shakers so this was right up my alley!

So I know I'm wearing you out on my Lawn Fawn Plaid but here I go again with the Perfectly Plaid paper stack and the adorable Elphie Selfie Stamp and Die Sets!  

This time I picked up on the orange in the plaid and used that for my card front.  My dies for the window and the scallop card front are from Mama Elephant and are called "All Prettied Up".  

Here's a list of the products Used:

Neenah 110# Crest Solar White Card Stock

Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie Card Stock

Bristol Smooth Cardstock

Kuretake Zig Clean Color Markers

Mama Elephant All Prettied Up Creative Cuts Dies

Stampin' Up! Foam Strips

Pretty Pink Posh Sequins and Seed Beads

Clear Acetate Window Sheet 

Versamark Ink

Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie Ink

Clear Embossing Powder

Embossing Buddy

Stampin' Up! Fast Fuse Adhesive

Green Seam Binding

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina