Asian Artistry

I wanted to play with the Level 2 Hostess Set Asian Artistry today, but I wasn't feeling terribly adventurous -- so ended up with three pretty simple cards.

My dear friends in North Carolina (Hi Katie! Hi Fonda!) introduced me to the Dotted Wave edger punch from EK Success by punching up a pile of SU! cardstock for me to use as card bases or whatever. (I know you're shocked to read that as soon as I saw the borders this punch makes, I had to get a punch of my own!) That batch of cardstock was calling out to me this afternoon to be used, so that's how I ended up resurrecting my old color friend Wild Wasabi for this first card.

Colors: Wild Wasabi and Almost Amethyst
Additional Supplies: Keytag punch, pastel and dragonfly brads from my stash, Stampin' Dimensionals


My second card is similar, but this time colors are Certainly Celery and Cameo Coral.


As sweet as these two cards came out, I was starting to put myself to sleep, so I dragged out a different punch, this one by Martha Stewart, and decided to make a vertical card. Colors are yummy Burmuda Bay, Cameo Coral, and Basic Black. I don't have my new In Color markers yet -- they're on their way! -- so I opted to use a watercolor brush to color in the bird with Burmuda Bay reinker. Despite reading a million times (not that I ever exaggerate) about the quality issues with the Burmuda Bay inkpads and reinkers, I puzzled for awhile over why the bird wasn't the same color as the card base. (Did I mention my brain was a bit sluggish today?) Mental note: Do not use the Burmuda Bay inkpad or reinker until I have my replacements!


Oh! I almost forgot to mention... See those three black dots on the card? Those are not brads. (Gasp!) I thought I'd be hip and trendy and do what the big girls are all doing these days; namely, I used a hand hole punch to make the circles and then covered them with Crystal Effects. Then began the grueling work of watching a two-hour movie (A Room with a View) while the CE dried before I could finish assembling the card.

Ohh!! I got the COOLEST card today that I can't wait to show you! I tried to take a picture of it tonight, but I just couldn't do it justice. You'll have to wait until my new camera (*see Joyce do her happy dance*) arrives so that I can get a decent photo of it. You'll either be amused like me, or else worry about my sick friend who came up with the idea. Stay tuned!

Playing with Chickens

I played with a free digital stamp and a sketch challenge from The Digi Shack this afternoon. For better or for worse, here is the result:


The caption reads, "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you."

Colors: Stampin' Up!'s new Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, and Soft Suede; Ruby Red
Backgroud DSP: from SU!'s Razzleberry Lemonade
And: SU!'s Soft Suede polka-dotted grosgrain ribbon, Boho Blossoms punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, paper piercing tools, blender pens

More Butterflies

I felt compelled to play with the Field of Depth technique some more, and ended up with four additional cards with the butterfly theme. On this batch I used the same butterfly from the background as the focal image. I embellished with Opaline half pearls instead of metallic ribbon, and like the effect better. On one of the cards I used white gel pen instead of paper piercing the scallops.


As I was puttering about with this project, I had a light bulb moment! Why not use silver Encore metallic ink in place of Going Grey dye ink? Although I'm not sure the photo below does it justice, I'm quite pleased with the results. (As ever, click on the photo to enlarge it.)


I wouldn't mind making another dozen butterfly Field of Depth cards, but I imagine it would get pretty dull for my readers. I will definitely be experimenting with this technique again in the future, though.

Blog Candy

I don't usually do this, but I ran across some exceptional blog candy to tell you about:


Ann's Blog Candy Offering, open until July 7

Dream and Discover

I recently signed up to be a Technique Junkie, and one of the perks is getting to be in a Yahoo! group that shares their artwork with each other. One of the techniques people seem to be working with a lot right now is called Field of Depth, which involves creating a background with an almost 3D effect.

Well, last night I was tossing and turning and couldn't sleep, and my mind kept coming back to how one particular butterfly stamp in my stash would work GREAT for this technique. I finally hauled my butt out of bed and set to work, and here is what I came up with. It's not bad for a first try, but I know I can (and will) do better.


Butterfly and Fairie stamps by Enchanted Ink; Dream and Discover stamp by Hero Arts.
Colors: Perfect Plum, Lavendar Lace, Going Grey
And: Punches, sponges, Encore silver ink, Stampin' Dimensionals, paper piercing tools, metallic ribbon, Filigree brad by SU!

Autumn Days

Autumn Days is a brand new set in the upcoming SU! catalog that goes live on July 1st. This set didn't make my heart sing when I saw it on the preorder page, but now that I have it in my hands I've taken a real liking to it.

Those of you who know me know that I am not a big fan of the color orange, so you'll understand why these cards, especially the middle two, were a bit of a stretch for me. Still, this isn't just ANY orange -- it's Dusty Durango, one of the new In Colors for 2009-2010. I combined it with Crushed Curry (another new In Color) and Chocolate Chip on three of these cards. I chose Chocolate Chip because it coordinates with the Chocolate Chip Autumn Harvest rub-ons I also used. However, on the third card I used the new In Color Soft Suede. Why? Because I could. *grin* Seriously, my brain has a hard time wrapping itself around Chocolate Chip and Soft Suede being on the same card. Of course, no telling how I'll feel about that a year from now!

SU! stamps: Autumn Days, Teeny Tiny Wishes ("Happy Thanksgiving")
Colors: Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede
Paper: Whisper White, glossy white, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP
Punches: 1-3/8" Circle, Scalloped Border, Large Oval, Scalloped Oval
Fun stuff: Glossy white cardstock, sponges, Autumn Harvest rub-ons, Chocolate Chip corduroy button, stipple brushes, Stampin' Dimensionals

** Special Notice **

For those of you who are new visitors to my blog, Welcome! If you haven't been here for awhile, Welcome Back!

I recently had some technical difficulties which left me unable to post for a week or two. Rather than make one giant post for all the cards I stamped during that time, I've broken it down into several posts. Please be sure to scroll down so that you don't miss anything!

Autumn Days

I decided I better do something productive while I was waiting for my media card reader to arrive yesterday, so I gleefully pulled out the new Autumn Days and Asian Artistry sets fully prepared for another marathon stamping session... and no sooner had I finished one quick "warm-up" card than Mr. Postman brought me the much-awaited toy. Doesn't it always work that way? I should know that anytime I make plans, I'm just asking for them to be screwed up. In this case it worked out well, though, as I've been able to post a boatload of new cards for your viewing pleasure.

Anyway, here's the quickie card I made with Soft Suede cardstock, ink, and ribbon. I think I made the card in about four minutes. The hardest part was tying the ribbon so that the polka dots would be on top -- another practice makes perfect thing, I suppose.

The Moon is Blue

After making those nine Lovely Flowers Stampin' Up! cards (in the post below), I needed to shake things up a little. What a perfect time to work on a "The Moon is Blue" swap! The idea is to make a card with a sun/moon/stars theme. I just love working with stamps that have a celestial theme to them, but since most of my stamps in this category are non-SU!, they tend to be neglected.

I started with a Rich Razzleberry card base layered with a piece of DSP from Razzleberry Lemonade. I stamped stars on this background with gold Brilliance to give it a glow. I used a Kaleidecolor inkpad to stamp the main sun and moon image; the purple in this inkpad is what inspired me to pull out the Rich Razzleberry cardstock in the first place.

I'm not sure who makes the main image stamp or the background stars stamp, but if anyone really needs me to go check, I will. The sentiment in the Keytag shape, stamped in gold Brilliance, is from TAC: "I see the moon, the moon sees me, God bless the moon, and God bless me."

Lovely Flowers x 9

I am thrilled to show off the following cards, all made with the Lovely Flowers Bundle which will be a SU! Hostess Level 3 option in the 2009-2010 catalog! I just LOVE being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator because I'm allowed to pre-order/purchase Level 2 and Level 3 hostess sets that I otherwise would be unlikely to earn given my limited SU! budget. It's a pretty nice perk!

I'll start by listing the stuff I used to make the cards, and then let the photos speak for themselves. If you have any questions at all about how I did something or what I used, just give a shout in my direction.

Lovely Flowers Bundle, which includes:
~ the Flower Lines stamp set (4 stamps)
~ the Lovely Flowers Designer Series Paper (and it IS lovely!)
~ the Lovely Lines rub-ons in both Chocolate Chip and White

Additional Stamp Set: Oval All

Colors: Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, Old Olive

Punches: Scalloped Oval, Large Oval, Word Window, Ticket Corner, various sizes of circles

Ribbon: Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry

And: Paper piercing tools, Circle Cutter Plus, non-SU! button brads (only because I don't have any white SU! brads at the moment)

And here are the pretty pictures:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.


Needless to say, some of these I like more than others. I tend to think the ones with the white/floral DSP are the best!

I don't normally solicit comments, but I would love love love to hear which of these nine cards are YOUR favorite(s)!

ETA: Yes, the floral backgrounds on cards 1 and 8 are from the DSP.