World Card Making Day 2014, plus a Special Announcement

I am SO excited to announce a life-altering change in my creative life! In short, I've joined the most incredible community of papercrafters at StampNation! WooHooo!!

So what is StampNation, you ask? For me, it's home - a place I've been looking for for as long as I can remember, where I can learn by interacting with some leading designers via forums, galleries, challenges, classes, and swaps while getting feedback and ideas from other card-makers like myself worldwide... and where I can support and feel supported by others who really care about me as a person. The women here are the kindest and most caring people I've seen in any stamping community anywhere, and I'm proud they call me Sistah!

I signed up for StampNation about a month ago, and already I've learned so much! So far, most of what I've learned has been through the forums and by participating in some challenges, primarily for World Card Making Day, but I've just experienced the tip of the iceberg of what is available at SN. I'm not here to sell StampNation, only to warn you that the cards I post here will be getting even better and will probably be more indicative of current trends, if you're interested in such things.

So, speaking of World Card Making Day (WCMD), it was on Saturday, October 4th this year. I wasn't able to join the festivities at StampNation that weekend, but I did participate in some of the challenges the week after. The following cards are the result of those challenges.

Card 1
In one challenge, I was inspired by a photo of Niagara Falls - or more specifically, the rainbow over it.

The rainbow swooshes and "Be happy" are from my favorite Raisin Boat stamp set called Strokes of Wisdom. I was having trouble getting the black butterfly (a Martha Stewart punch) to stand out over the rainbow until I saw a couple of cards on SN that had a window cut out from a raised panel with a focal image inside the window. This inspired me to do something similar on this card. I'm very happy with how this card turned out, especially after the bling was added. Here's the inside (with verse blurred to respect the source, also Raisin Boat*):

Card 2
Another challenge led me to think about the New York skyline, and here's the card that came from that:

The skyline stamp is from a photopolymer Stampin' Up! set called Calling All Heroes. I stamped it over a background sponged with Strawberry Slush, Melon Mambo, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, and Blackberry Bliss. The stars (yep, that's what those dots are supposed to be) are Whisper White (or were before they dried, lol). The sentiment was cut from a die in SU!'s Label Card thinlit set. The inside, stamped with Blackberry Bliss:

Cards 3 and 4
For another set of cards, I took inspiration from colors in a photo of the Golden Pavillion in Japan, which also happen to be Autumn colors:

The card bases are Cajun Craze, a color I usually detest but which worked great for these projects. The brightly colored papers are from SU!'s Color Me Autumn DSP, with the coordinating ink colors of Mossy Meadow, Blackberry Bliss, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, and Soft Suede. Fall Fest is the photopolymer SU! set, and the leaves were cut out with the coordinating Fun Fall Framelits. Additional accents include gold 1/8" ribbon, Autumn Wooden Elements, Crushed Curry candy dots, and the ever-useful Stampin' Dimensionals.

Card 5
And finally, here's a card inspired by the flowers of The Netherlands, which I also used for the birthday of one of my favorite people:

I used embossed Primrose Petals cardstock for the card base, and embossed an oval in Whisper White as the base for the flowers. This oval was layered onto a larger Raspberry Ripple oval. The flowers and leaves were stamped with Raisin Boat's Asian Serenity Bold set in Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, and Summer Starfruit. Before adhering the flowers with Tombow Mono Multi (liquid "froot loop glue"), I rolled my bone folder across the back of each of the petals to curve them, then stuck Dimensionals under them to help them keep the curl. The flower centers have clear Wink of Stella on them. The sentiment is white Dazzles stickers. The inside (with sentiment blurred to respect the source, which is Raisin Boat again*):

*I should mention that the inside sentiments by Raisin Boat are actually part of one of their products called "Innies and Outies" which contains eight inside panels with unique sentiments on nice white cardstock with eight matching envelopes. They come in a variety of themes, including birthday, congrats, and sympathy. It's a handy product!

-------------

So that's what I've been up to lately! Well, that and the ATC swap I'm still working on, and which will probably be my next post. I'd be honored if you left a comment to tell me what you think, or at least let me know you were here!

Smiles,
Joyce Spear / StamperJoyce