Hero Arts monochromatic color challenge, again.....

One thing I liked about TeleTubbies was when they would say, "Again, again, again!"  I know any number of people who found that particular part of the show to be particularly obnoxious, but not me.  It was probably my most favorite part.  (My apologies, if any of you dear readers hear that now for the rest of the day.)

I really enjoyed looking through the Flickr group postings for the Hero Arts monochromatic color challenge.  I got lots of inspiration and decided to make another card for the challenge.  When I sent the link for the card to my adult daughter, her only response was, "It's very yellow; I hate yellow."  And so you find my post.  Very yellow.  (It's called monochromatic for a reason, Kris!!)

When I first stamped the butterfly & the background stamp, I didn't emboss the ink.  It looked extremely faint on the white background.  So I flipped the cardstock over, restamped, then clear embossed with much, much brighter results.

Putting the rest of the card together was pretty straight forward, so I won't bore you with the details.  As Deb Neerman would say, right click on the photo for the ginormous vision.  And a complete list of materials follows.

Materials: cardstock: both yellows (stash), white (Stampin Up whisper white); stamps (F5158 Heart Winged Butterfly, S1832 Italian Poetry Bkgd, CL140 Thinking of you messages --Hero Arts); ink: black (Colorbox), canary (Versacolor); embossing powder (Stampendous); ribbon (Michaels); adhesive (Pioneer mounting tape & pop-dots).

As always, thanks for looking.

Weekend Sketch Challenge #90

I haven't participated in the Weekend Sketch Challenge for a couple of months.  This card design looked like one I might like to try my hand at.  I'm also trying to do some stamping techniques which are new to me.  The "shadow stamping" on the main image is something that I've not done before.

As I've done before, I apologize for the quality of the photograph.  This card is black, white and silver.  (The monochromatics have gotten under my skin; see previous post for THAT inspiration!)  The original digital image was very grey, so I up-ed the brightness and increased the contrast.  I'm not sure that it does the card justice, but.... there ya go!!

Materials: cardstock (background: Bazzill; main image: Stampin' Up Whisper White; silver: stash); inks (black on silver: Staz-On; black on main image: Colorbox; slate on main image: Ranger); stamps: flowers (Unity March 2009 KOTM), for you (Unity May 2009 KOTM); ribbon: stash; adhesives (Pioneer mounting tape & pop-dots); tools: stamp positioner, Nestabilities, Cuttlebug.

Hero Arts monochromatic color challenge

This week at the Hero Arts blog they had lots of fun examples of monochromatic cards.  Since I've done several monochromatic cards in the past, making a card for this challenge was actually more of a challenge than I'd thought it would be.  What Hero Arts stamp(s) do I use??  What color scheme do I use?

While at the scrapbook store I found this paper by Graphic 45.  This paper was there, too.  So I picked up a piece of brown Bazzill and knew that I had found my color scheme.

The flower is a piece of Grungepaper from Ranger (edited: it's by Tim Holtz from Advantus).  I colored the background with Antique Linen distress ink, then stamped the Hero Arts flower in black ink and cut it out for the embellishment.  The other details are included below.

Materials: cardstock (Bazzill); designer paper (Graphic 45); grungepaper (Advantus); stamps (Hero Arts); ink: black (Colorbox), antique linen  & brushed corduroy distress inks (Ranger); brads: larger (Making Memories), smaller (Bazzill); ribbon (stash); adhesive: tape (Pioneer), pop-dots.

Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday, Cupcake

So the thing is..... I like making birthday cards; I really do.  I've just never gotten on the whole cupcake bandwagon thing.  I don't own any cupcake image stamps.  It's NOT that I don't like cupcakes.  I'm not sure there's a form of cake that I don't like, but.......  I've just not had any inclination to make any cards with cupcakes.  

But as you might be able to tell, there's a first time for everything.  I found these stamps.  Too cute.  And I needed to make a birthday card for my one male co-worker.  (Public health nutrition is pretty much a women's ghetto, with a few cheerful exceptions.)  So...... I went searching at Splitcoast and found this.  Glitter gal made such a cute card and even uploaded the template that she made, so....... there's a first time for everything.

I stamped the candles from Hero Arts twice; once in black ink on colored cardstock and once in black Staz-on on transparency film.  In the first photo below you can almost see the two layers of the candles; the flames are the same, except they were stamped with Versamark, then clear embossed.

In the second photo you can see the shadow of the little tiny bit of clear transparency film that connects each candle to its flame.  The embossing on the green candle really caught the light from the camera flash; it looks a LOT better above.

The body of the card was cut from metallic cardstock that I've had in my stash for more than 6 or 7 years. The lines in the bottom of the cupcake were embossed using my Scor-Pal.  The top was cut from Stampin' Up white cardstock.  I had thought that I was going to stamp and clear emboss on the cupcake top, but ended up just running it through the Cuttlebug.  I stamped the happy birthday sentiment from the Hero Arts stamp set on the inside of the card and I think for a guy, I'm done!  Of course now there's the dilemna of: the envelope!

Materials: metallic & colored cardstocks (stash, sources unknown), white cardstock (Stampin' Up), transparency film (Hewlett-Packard); stamps (Hero Arts); ink: black (Colorbox), black (Staz-On), clear (Versamark); embossing powder (Stampendous); marker (Marvy Uchida); tools (Scor-Pal & Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls folder); adhesive (pop-dots & Pioneer mounting tape).

Thanks as always for taking a look at my work.

Hero Arts -- big week & a card

It's a big week at Hero Arts with a redesign of their website debuting on Wednesday.  This week's creative challenge is to make something that is inspired by some project which is posted at the main website.

My card above was inspired by this card by Shari Carroll. I really enjoyed making this card. I've  gotten inspiration at the Hero Arts site before, but this time was different.

Materials: card base cardstock (Bazzill), kraft & green cardstock (stash); designer paper (Die Cuts With a View); stamps: Italian Poetry background & Three Designer Leaves (Hero Arts); ink: green (Ranger), VersaMark (Tsukineko); clear embossing powder (Stampendous); ribbon (stash); adhesive: Pioneer mounting tape, pop dots.

Thanks for looking.

Unity HHH - my first post

My first post for a Unity Hip Hop Hangover.  I hope that I'm "playing" right.......

I actually started this card with Jen Buck's sketch challenge in mind, but dilly-dallied and didn't get the card posted before the deadline.  But that doesn't mean I can't share, right?

I used the "bird sings" stamp from the May KOM and the butterfly from the March KOM.  Further details follow.  For some of the items used I don't know the sources.  I'm trying to use up some of my stash -- trying to be more frugal & decrease my stash (Kristine Werner's "scrap crap").  I'm hoping to get moved out of this apartment into a house before winter and less stuff to move is good, no?

Materials: cardstock: base (Bazzill), kraft (stash--unknown); ink: brown, dune (Colorbox chalk inks), brushed corduroy used on edges (Ranger); ribbon: satin (stash -- Michaels??), multi-colored & threaded thru buttons (EK Success); buttons: (stash -- maybe, Making Memories???); adhesive: (Pioneer mounting tape) & (Mono-multi).

Thanks for taking a look today.

One Nation under God

I love the 4th of July. I love the United States of America. I'm grateful for the freedom which we enjoy. I do believe that our country is blessed because of our religious freedom and the stamp used on this card is among my most favorite.

Materials: stamp: One Nation (Ann-ticipations); cardstock: colored (Bazzill), base (Georgia Pacific); ink: cranberry (Colorbox); buttons: stars (Dress It Up); adhesive: Xyron & Mono-multi.

A simple card, but I love the sentiment. Happy 4th of July. Thanks for looking.