Beeeee Happy!

Even though it feels like Monday - beeee happy cause it's really Tuesday!

Another challenge card - this time I am playing along with the card sketch week at Always Playing with Paper - Card Sketch #76.

As you can see I decided to turn this sketch on it's side and work in a landscape format instead of portrait.  I used the honey bee hive in place of the circle and a honeycomb print behind it.  Both the sentiment and bees were stamped with Rich Cocoa Memento Dye Ink.  The bees were then colored in with a Prisma Colored Pencil.  I inked all of the edges with the Rich Cocoa ink as well...it just looked better to me than leaving it plain.

Supplies:

ClubScrap.com - Garden Shed - stamps, papers

Imagine - Memento Dye Inks

Grow Kindness CTS #188

Happy Labor Day!

(to my friends here in the USA)

Happy Monday to everyone else.

It's nice to have an extra day off of work - well most of us do.  I decided to (in addition to watching the Cubs beat the Brewers) play in my art room for a nice change of pace!

I am working on a few projects for some DT commitments and while things are drying I wanted to work on a few challenges that seem to be filling my inbox lately.  Today I wanted to tackle the CAS(E) this Sketch! #188.

It matched the newest Club Scrap kit - Garden Shed that I rec'd in the mail on Saturday.  The kit included some cool wooden garden stakes which I thought looked exactly like the little tabs on the sketch.  Since I am going to be mailing it though I thought it would be cool to make the stakes from brown fun foam instead!  It was so quick and easy I actually ended up making several extras.  I grunged them up a bit with some Rich Cocoa and Tuxedo Black inks just to make them look "used".  

The collage image was also included in the kit and all I did was stamp it and color it with my pastel pencils.  Stamped the sentiment on one of the "wooden" stakes and assembled according to the sketch.  Easy peasy!   

This was a really fun sketch, I enjoyed playing along with it.

Supplies:

ClubScrap.com - Garden Shed  stamps, papers, fiber

Imagine - Memento Dye Ink - Rich Cocoa, Tuxedo Black, VersaFine Ink - Black

Stabilo - Pastel Pencils

Fun Foam

Happy Labor Day!

Time to kick back and enjoy a day off (for many of us) here in the States.  Today I have a fun shaker card to help kick off the celebration...

The stars (including the shaker star) were all made by layering several layers of die-cuts on top of eachother.  Some have just a couple layers while the shaker has several.  It's an easy way to add depth and dimension to any project!

Be sure to check out the Imagine blog for all of the details and supply list....

It's Party Time

Club Scrap September Card Sketch Challenge

Happy September my Inky Friends!  

Gosh can you believe it's the start of September already?  This year just keeps flying by. As you know each month over on the Club Scrap forum we post a new card sketch to challenge your creativity.  This month Anne has created the sketch in both portrait and landscape forms to get you going...

The first sketch I took very literal and used a couple dainty little paper doilies I had in my stash.  I used stamps and paper from the Weathered Florals kit.  Can't remember which kit the sentiment is from.

My card for the landscape sketch is a loose interpretation of the sketch.  I used die-cut stitched frames for the background shapes that I inked with a bit of Rich Cocoa.  I then stamped the sentiment on a piece of vellum and added a few stamped & colored sunflowers for the accents.

Now it's your turn!

If you have some free time be sure to give these fun sketches a try...

Have a wonderfully inky day!

Club Scrap Sunflowers Blog Hop

August 31st...already!  

It's the end of the month and time for the

Club Scrap Sunflowers Blog Hop. 

This month's kit Sunflowers from Club Scrap is just beautiful...it's as simple as that.  I know I say it all the  time but they just keep getting better and better.  As luck would have it I recently got a copy of the wedding pics and couldn't resist making something I haven't made in years.... an actual scrapbook layout!!!

I am so excited about this lo...it was so much fun to make. It's so much to have scrapbook worthy pics to scrap!  

I stamped a bit here and there, spritzed with my favorite medium - irRESISTible Texture Spray in Bronze (my fav. color of this spray).  It matched the papers and embellishments perfectly.  I then added some torn papers, more ink, a few die cuts and embellishments ...

and of course this lovely picture of my son and new daughter on their wedding day.

I stamped the sentiment with Delicata Dark Brown Shimmer Ink....you can't see it in the photo but it has a lovely chocolate shimmer to it IRL.  Adds just a little bit of glitzy elegance...not too much though.

I stamped a few of the circles and popped a few of the fun textured crystals - 

also included in the kit - here and there over the page.  A couple die-cuts, sunflower buttons and some hand cut sunflowers finish it off.

I hope you enjoyed my very first lay-out with hopefully many more to come now that I actually have "scrap worthy" pics.

Thanks for stopping by!

Your next inspiring stop on the hop is...

Julie

Remember, the complete hop list can be found here -

Club Scrap Sunflower Blog Hop

Have a lovely day my inky friends!

Supplies:

ClubScrap.com - Sunflower Cardstock, Stamps, Embellishments, Washi Tape

Imagine - Bronze irRESISTible Texture Spray; Delicata Dark Brown Shimmer Ink; Memento Ink - Bamboo Stalk; Dandelion; Rich Cocoa

Spellbinders - Makers Mart Leaf Dies; Circles

Wet/Dry Inky Embossing

Just Imagine....

As you might recall I mentioned that the Technique Challenge on the Club Scrap Blog this month was to create a vintage/distressed look by incorporating Sepia/Browns into your projects.  Today I wanted to share one of my favorite techniques using a bit of StazOn Spiced Chai ink on the above card.

This was actually a combination of a few tools to create the lovely background panel the sunflower is stamped on.  Initially I inked my embossing fold, inserted my pattern paper and then ran it through my embossing machine with an oval spacer piece.  This spacer allows the embossing folder to emboss select areas of the panel creating a "stamping space" for you to finish off the card.  I love how the ink comes through softly in some areas and a bit darker in others.  It really adds to the vintage feel don't you think?

I use the same spacer to stamp my images and sentiment...it helps keep my stamping in the un inked areas and since it's plastic the ink that goes over the edge is easily wiped away.  I finished the image off with Imagine's Memento Dual Tip Markers.

By the Sea....

Before summer disappears into your memory I wanted to share a few "salty" cards to help ease you into Autumn....  all of the stamps are from Just For Fun Rubber Stamps.

This card was so much fun to make...the mermaid is mounted on a vellum frame that covers a sea kelp panel.  I know it's difficult to tell but that panel was a bit of gesso through a sea kelp stencil that was colored with Brusho Colour Crystals.  You can see the texture behind the vellum IRL.  Couldn't get it to show up no matter how many pics I took.  My red head mermaid has tiny faux gems and pearls scattered in her hair.

A watercolor sunset... The white "foam" is really Pico Embellisher.

My blond mermaid on a stenciled background with a few sea treasures thrown in for good measure.

Finally...a walk along the beach with a few more terns.

Gosh, makes me want to go to the beach and cool off now...

Supplies:

Just For Fun Rubber Stamps - all images

Imagine - Memento Inks, Memento Dual Tip Markers, StazOn Ink, irRESISTible Pico Embellisher

Kuretake Watercolors

The Crafters Workshop - Stencil

Spellbinders - Circle, Scallop Circle Dies
MFT - Stitched Frame Die

Other - Gesso, Button, Twine, Faux Gems, Vellum

Tape Depot - SALE!!

Hey Everyone!

Been wicked busy this week - we were off celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary!!  Just checking in for a moment to let you know about an amazing sale that doesn't happen often...

The Tape Depot (which is where I buy my ATG tape) is having a rare 20% off sale!  It's a great time to grab any tape you might need....and I'm not receiving any compensation to put this on my blog...  I just can't pass up a good sale and I like to share it when I hear of one this great ;)

In Honor of Team USA's 121 medals for the next 121 hours we're offering the Gold: 20% off the entire store including Free Shipping items on thetapedepot.com. Use coupon code USA20 for 20% OFF everything!

Hurry this sale ends Aug 29th at 1 PM

Back To School - CS Artist Team Challenge

Back to School Time!  

That is the challenge for the Club Scrap Artist Team this month.  I must admit I'm VERY thankful not to have the stress and worry of sending my children back to school this year.  I hated seeing the summer come to an end and shipping the kids off to school that first morning back.  I cried each and every year clear up to their senior year.  Silly I know but I loved spending the extra time with the boys and I think they enjoyed it too. 

Well to help ring in the new school year we were asked to create items like organizational projects, planners, calendars, teacher gifts, etc.  I thought about it and decided to make a combo project...it's a little note holder with a desk top calendar - great for teacher gifts or really for anyone including yourself!

And here it is....

I used a wood sunflower button that I colored with Memento Markers as the prop to hold the calendar in display mode.

It's filled with cream note cards under the calendar.

The calendar folds flat if you don't need to see it all the time.

I started off with some Club Scrap book board pieces.

These were sized perfectly so I didn't have to do any cutting at all!

I covered the top of the note holder...

Glued the base together and covered it with a couple different papers.

Inked all of the edges with Spice Chai StazOn ink and

adhered the top to the base.

I then used the twisted twine included in the kit to give a bit of detail to the note holder.

I found a 2017 calendar page, trimmed and glued the top edge.

It was then affixed the calendar to the tent card for the top.

It makes a really fun gift idea for friends, family, teachers, etc. and can be personalized with any theme you can image.  Hope you enjoyed my project.

Your next stop on the hop is

Pam

and if you get lost along the way

the entire list can be found here...

Club Scrap Artist Team Challenge

Walnut Ink Crystals!

This month's technique challenge on the Club Scrap blog Hetty challenged us all to incorporate Vintage/Sepia colors into our art.  There are so many techniques to get this done but I wanted to share what I used...an old favorite of mine - Walnut Ink Crystals!  I love this stuff, it's so easy to use and the results are always spectacular!  If you prefer there are also pre-mixed Walnut Ink Sprays in a variety of colors.

For my first card I wanted to keep it simple to highlight the walnut ink and sunflower...

I started off by stamping and embossing the flower/sentiment with clear ep.

I sprinkled a few of the crystals onto my craft mat and spritzed with water.

After that you just smoosh the paper into the crystals.

Easy as that!

Now you could use the image as is but I wanted to remove the embossing powder to give it a matte finish and to bring the flower out a bit more so I placed it under a piece of scrap paper and ironed away the embossed areas.

Trimmed to size; distressed & inked the edges and you're all done!

Now those few walnut crystals makes LOTS of stain so rather than waste it I made some tags with the remainder.

And here they are....

Told you Walnut Ink Crystals were fun!

Now it's your turn!  Do you have any Walnut Ink Crystals in your stash?

If so now would be a great time to unearth them and put them to good use.

Supplies:

ClubScrap.com - Papers, Stamps, Embellishments

Imagine - Walnut Ink Crystals, Memento Dye Ink; StazOn Ink; VersaMark Ink; Clear Embossing Powders, Memento Dual Tip Markers